IMMERSION: how does the All Blacks and New Zealand rugby system work?

Interview - Super Rugby. From the benches of the University of Nanterre to the Hurricanes, the incredible destiny of Raphaël LagardeNow that everyone has finally become aware of the situation of the team in the rooster jersey, as well as the double rugby lesson it has just received on the part of the black jersey team, it's time to take a closer look at how the All Black system works as a whole. I was involved during the 2017 edition of Super Rugby with the Hurricanes. During all this time, and beyond the task entrusted to me, I was able to ask the right questions and went to the field to UNDERSTAND!

I will only talk about what I saw or "touched", so you will understand that some points will be missing, such as the organization of the Rugby school. Finally, no comparison with the French system: everyone will be free to form their own idea based on their knowledge and findings. To begin, let's present the different championships of New Zealand. In order from 'lowest' to 'highest' level, we have: Club Rugby, Miter 10 Cup, Super Rugby, All Blacks. There is no relegation between levels.

Rugby club

Club Rugby is the first level of entirely amateur competition, no player is paid: not even a defrayal, an envelope under the table of a few hundred $/match sheet. It's a regional championship, so clubs from the same region compete and at the end there is a winner from the region... and that's it. In Wellington (where I was), we are in the Wellington region and the championship has 16 teams. Each club has its rugby school (and these are the only clubs to have one), its junior, female, under 85kg, reserve team, team 1 etc. categories.

Miter 10 Cup

The Miter 10 Cup is the first national professional or semi-professional championship, which covers the whole country. It only lasts from mid-August to the end of October (13 championship weeks planned). Players are paid and under contract only for the duration of the championship (pre-season and season), i.e. around 3-4 months. From one club to another (14 clubs), the salaries vary (financial means and seniority/popularity/experience of the player) but the players earn enough to live for a year. For example, at the Wellington Lions, the lowest salary over a season is $20,000 (the minimum income in NZ is $2835 gross/month, or €1657.40). We can live properly if we don't have a too bling-bling life (but that doesn't last long, we'll come to that later). Each team has its own Academy which can correspond to a Training Center but which does not work at all like those in France, I will explain it later.

Super Rugby

Championship that everyone knows. It is an international championship, as it currently spans five countries. It is also a professional championship, which starts at the end of February (the pre-season starts at the end of November/beginning of December) until the beginning of August. New Zealand has five teams or franchises. Again, salaries also vary, even more depending on the seniority/popularity/experience of the player but also if it is an All Black.

The All Blacks

The All Blacks! Much more than a national team. When you are immersed in the country and rub shoulders with the players who are there or who want to reach it, you understand that it is much more than a team. It's quite difficult to describe in words, you have to live it to feel it and see it. I think I don't need to make a long paragraph here but to make it simple, All Blacks players are under federal contract, I will explain more about these famous federal contracts.

Now let's see how a player arrives at the Blacks from the beginning:

I told you that the player remains linked to his Club Rugby club… Know that at any time during the season, a player can return to play in Club Rugby, even if he is an All Black. Club Rugby and Super Rugby take place at the same time and when a player is not selected for Super Rugby, he can go and play in Club Rugby. It gives an idea of ​​the level that can be found in Club Rugby.

What can we learn from all this?

For me, I see that if a player wants to become a full-time professional he is going to have to work hard (and it's a truth, all the players will tell you this) because there is a lot of talent in this country. But everything is well organized so that the player exploits his potential to the maximum and does not see his wings grow: quality of the staff, no arrangement of studies with the athlete, etc. The fact that the player's schedule is not adjusted allows and obliges him to develop his extra-sporting life: to complete his studies. Everyone will tell you over there: "we are above all in the development of the individual than of the athlete".

Also, every rugby player dreams of wearing the jersey of his favorite Super Rugby team. Super Rugby franchises are only organized around the professional team: there is no rugby school or training center. There are U17 to U20 training camps (1 to 2 weeks per season) to train young players for the professional world, but none of them are guaranteed to stay for several years by signing a contract or commitment, they can only be called up for one game. It's up to them to work hard to show that they deserve to be there and that they deserve to wear the jersey of the franchise.

I therefore find this organization really intelligent because a young player (U6, U8 etc.) will never see himself wearing the jersey of a Super Rugby franchise when joining the rugby school, because there is none. The day he will wear it, he will have deserved it. The players are very mature because they are very quickly faced with their responsibilities. Most players enter the Miter 10 Cup and Super Rugby (in stride) at 18 and the Blacks at 19-20. When I was at the Hurricanes, I think the average age of the team was 23-24.

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Késako federal contracts?

All Blacks players are therefore under contract with their federation. What does this represent? At first, it's an additional contract and therefore an additional source of income for the players. Note that the federation reimburses salaries from the Miter 10 Cup directly to the clubs. Basically, the players are always paid by their Miter 10 Cup club and the federation compensates the clubs by refunding salaries. These federal contracts make it possible to have a commitment from the player towards the selection and the federation: to be eligible with the team, he undertakes to remain on New Zealand territory. Each time a player extends his contract with the federation, he extends for the same period with his Super Rugby franchise. If you haven't understood it, the players are very attached to their franchise and are very often the players of only one club. Transfers are there but not as important as in France.

Do these contracts give players freebies or other advantages? Nope ! Obviously, the staff of the All Blacks has an eye on the performance of the players of the selection but at no time is there any pressure which is put on the franchises vis-à-vis his/these players. As there are no duplicates, players will never be missing when a Super Rugby match is called. Just during the Miter 10 Cup, which takes place at the same time as the international window, players can return to their club if they are not in the 23 for the weekend and the international match (Bledisloe Cup or 4 Nations) takes place in NZ (in an hour by plane you can be anywhere in the country you want). The only thing imposed on these players is a 12-week rest after the European tour, so the players join their franchise towards the end of the preseason.

Question I asked and a lot of people ask and think in Europe (they told me there): does the All Blacks physical trainer, Dr Nic Gill, give guidelines? Well again, no. There are a lot of exchanges and Nic Gill makes sure everything goes well. He does not tell the staffs what to do because everyone is working in the same direction (the All Blacks) with similar content. There is no disparity as in France on the training of staff, I will say a little more later.

Staff training

The latter is very demanding there, it is not a 6-month diploma. You have to go to university. To talk about the area that concerns me more, all physical trainers are university graduates and have at least five years of training. Finally, a player doesn't put away the cleats and don the coach's coat overnight. As I said, you need diplomas and you ask for more "maturity", experience as a coach to coach in Super Rugby. In addition, the staff glean the rungs in the same way as the players: Club Rugby, Miter 10, Super Rugby, All Blacks. To give you an example: Rodney So'oialo completed his first season as a coach with the Wellington Lions during the Miter 10 Cup which has just ended. Obviously there are always special cases that had an opportunity by being in the right place at the right time. There, everything is done for a common development in rugby: players and staff.

Players can play with one team one week without ever training with and play with another the following week?

For those who haven't noticed, players have this ability to return to play with a team with which they never train just for one match. And that's what you feel when you see the All Blacks play: an ease in playing together and being on the pitch (beyond the technical qualities). How ? Once again, you have to start all over again from the beginning: players can start competing in the same region in Club Rugby or even play together. Training together at the Academy. Subsequently, they can find themselves playing together in the Miter 10 Cup. Then to play together or compete in Super Rugby. To finally meet together at the All Blacks. Throughout their careers, players play together or compete through different leagues with different teams. So they know each other by heart...

For example, with the Hurricanes U20 team, a team composed 2-3 days before the match with players from right to left, we beat the Argentina U20 team. As proof that the exchanges are healthy, each season Nic Gill and the physio of the Blacks, Pete Gallagher, visit all the franchises to discuss the operation and the contents of training in a single and unique goal of sharing that serves everyone. world…

The place of the human

Through all this big machinery, you would be very impressed with the balance between the importance of the shirt/club and the player. For the player, the club is an institution and the jersey represents a legacy that he must honor. And the club honors all the great players who have worn the shirt. Each franchise has its Fifty Club and Centurions standings:

Each time a player honors his "arrival" in the standings, there is a ceremony after the match, and the day before the match for the Centurions for a jersey presentation. The player concerned also has a jersey with special flocking specifying which course he is passing, the date and the match and he can keep the jersey. I was able to be there during Julian Savea's ^100th cap, during the ceremony the day before the match, his mother gave him the jersey. It was touching to see the “Bus” become a little boy again. He even had the right to a haka after the match in the locker room, it's very impressive when you're facing them and less than 5 meters away, unique moment! In addition to this each player has on his locker the date and the match of his first cap.

For the anecdote, when my father came to see me, he suggested that I go to the Rugby Museum, I told him that he would come to the training camp to see what a real Rugby Museum.

Video credit: Raphael Lagarde

It should be noted that a Super Rugby season has 15 games excluding the final stages, so reaching 50 and 100 caps (which may not seem like much to some) can take time and conversely be very impressive for some players: Cory Jane has honored his ^100th cap during the 2016 final at 34 years old and Julian Savea his ^100th at 27 years old…

A short parenthesis on a problem that is hotly debated at the moment: concussion. The New Zealand federation has a protocol with progressive stages of return to performance after a player is affected by a concussion. When all is well, the protocol lasts 7 days so a player will be spared during these 7 days. There is a real protection of the man because they think about him in the long, very long term. They don't want the player to become depressed or worse after his career, due to all the repercussions of these types of injuries.

The Rugby Club

I go back a bit at the beginning to Club Rugby where I told you that Super Rugby players and even the All Blacks come back to play with their Club Rugby club. And that says a lot about the level you can see there every weekend…when I started in NZ, I was not going to watch the matches because I expected to see Fed 3/Honneur rugby in France, a block rugby as I call it, all that I don't like. One day, I went to see a match and thought to myself that it was 10 times better than the Top 14. It was later that I learned that pro players came back to play at this level. For the people there, it's normal because it's always been like this but when I talked about it and they took a step back from it, they told me that I was right when you watch an All Black return playing among amateurs is crazy. And honestly most of the Top 14 and Pro D2 players could not go and play in Club Rugby.

Note that all matches take place on Saturday, so players can party and "recover" on Sunday. So no problem going to work on Monday…

NZ rugby, an institution

I had several conversations with the staff about the comparisons with the French model and the Top 14. Often they asked me if I prefer the Top 14 or the Super Rugby but frankly, from a certain point of view, we can say that it is clearly not the same sport. I was also discussing their organization, the fact that there is no relegation, the clubs are like institutions. Continuity in the education and training of the individual. For me, a franchise is the continuation of a school course like the University.

A few anecdotes to confirm the supremacy

I was telling you about the maturity and youth of the workforce. Here are some examples that prove it:

VIDEO. Miter 10 Cup - Asafo Aumua, the hooker who eats wingers for breakfast strikes again

Conclusion

For all those who will howl at doping seeing the performances of the All Blacks but who would shout at French Flair if France did the same thing: just go see how it goes on site and see how an athlete is forged with an insatiability to be the best he can be. A journey of 19,321.33 km to see and understand why they are the best. Once the understanding is acquired you will see that it just makes sense.

The main watchword that is transmitted there is simple: “You can have results or excuses but not both”. You can have results or excuses, but not both.