It seems incredible that a nation of only 4 million people can become the Rugby World Cup winners against teams with national populations of England 50,000,000, France 65,000,000, South Africa 50,000,000 and Australia 22,000,000. How can such a small nation be so dominant and produce such a great team even without their top two game shapers- their fly halves. Some basics are required such as skill, brawn and athleticism but those are available throughout the professional rugby world. Discipline is key in terms of self discipline but again with the exception of England most world cup sides seemed to possess that.
I believe there are four areas that professional sport ignores at its peril and they are Vision, Leadership and Trust. With these three nurtured and developed over a considerable time comes global success and even dominance if they are maintained in a spirit and ethos of continuous improvement. All too often sport, like business, is so entwined in the engrenage of the here and now and not in the continuation of a sporting cultural ethos. Just look at the way the media drives us to focus on the players within a particular team rather than the genre of the sport as a whole. Players come and players go. Most successful sporting organisations focus on the future continuously and not on the here and now. New Zealand Rugby identifies its All Blacks early and nurtures them within the all black Culture. Manchester United do the same where possible. Look at the story of British. In 2001 British cycling set out to improve its standing in world track cycling and it is now considered the dominant force in world cycling. At the Athens Olympics Great Britain came third in the cycling medal table. From 2004 to 2009, it came top of the medals tally for three out of six World Championships The team has vision which cascades through all its activities from equipment to performance and that success has naturally emigrated to road racing and downhill mountain biking.
Vision is key to long term sporting success for it fosters belief and drives athletes to greater performance. Seeing success and believing it is achievable is key to gaining that success. New Zealand set their sights on World Cup Success in 2011 four years earlier and delivered it. The whole nation bought into that vision and supported the team. Nacho Hernandez studied New Zealand rugby and describes it as a ” nation-wide passion for the sport, tradition, and a very proud sense of having a legacy that has to be protected, All this combined since the early days with a population mix that seems designed on purpose to make great rugby teams. Rugby is lived more as a religion than as a game. Prayer day is Saturday, and the temples are the hundreds of rugby fields across the country, filled from the earliest hours with families sharing their passion. It is this passion, I believe, that ultimately sets New Zealand rugby apart from the rest. Ultimately, I think that any player at the top level, or any kid who starts playing, dreams of playing one day for the All Blacks. The passion for rugby, the sport, in New Zealand goes hand in hand with the passion for the All Blacks, its trademark. The All Blacks are the tip of the iceberg; below them there is a very well organized pyramidal structure with a huge base of kids who start playing rugby at around the time they learn how to walk. From there, the best continue improving and going up the ladder, until the very best crop reaches the top,” Vision and belief creates the environment of success.
Leadership in sport is strategically vital and again one has to compare the English Rugby Football Union and its current difficulties with the way that The New Zealand Rugby Union has embraced the professional rugby era. But leadership is required through all the tiers of the game and leadership needs to be exercised in a consistent and coherent way from on the pitch through the club management to the regions and the national committees. Examples need to be set and the higher the profile the more influential the example is. For leadership behaviours generally migrate to lower levels as they cascade through an organisation. Leadership is also a tactical requirement on the field and the judgement calls and flexibility and freedom of action are critical to overall success particularly in tight games. Just look at the calmness and self belief of Richie McCaw in the final alongside the captaincy of Lewis Moody when under French pressure. Leadership is omnipresent and behaviours on and off the pitch are the ones that influence teams and team mates.
Trust is paramount to team cohesion and success and trust is key on any gladiatorial field that involves teams. Each member of a team has a part to play and each member must play that part and be trusted so to do. For it is when that trust breaks that teams break and begin to try and cover for each other. When that is happening a player cannot focus on their own role. Trust applies as much with coaches and players and coaches have to allow players to play. You don’t drive a Ferrari like a tractor so don’t try to. Let your stars perform as stars or don’t pick them. Trust has to be earned it is not a given and trust has to be developed through effective communication. Effective communication is about honesty and it is about respect for each other. Effective communication delivers results and does not shy away from any aspect that requires debate or feedback. Once it is there in place trust comes and with trust comes cohesion and with real cohesion comes success.