Shades of the cotton-wool club in 2019's All Blacks management policy?
With the ever-increasing demands of professional rugby pushing players to their limits, it’s become an annual tradition for New Zealand’s top players to spend some enforced time on the sidelines during the Super Rugby season.
Last year, six camps spread throughout the season pulled almost 40 players from their Super Rugby sides to spend time training in the All Blacks environment. These camps didn’t overlap with any matches, but the Chiefs were forced to omit eight of their players from a game in South Africa against the Sharks so that they could return to New Zealand for the midweek camp.
All Blacks were also required to be rested from at least two matches during the season to ensure player welfare wasn’t compromised – a rule which has existed for a number of years now.
2019 sees management of All Blacks by their Super Rugby teams stepped up a notch – as has come to be expected in World Cup years. The same two-match rest is required for All Blacks but their transition from the offseason into Super Rugby has also been carefully managed.
Over the first three matches, All Blacks are expected to play for no more than 180 minutes total. Supporters will be hopeful that this is a flexible rule as some players will likely hit the 160-minute mark after only the initial two games.
Some All Blacks who clocked up significant hours last year, including Kieran Read and Beauden Barrett, have also been held back from playing any matches this early into the season.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, All Blacks are also limited to appearing in five games in a row – though whether a bye breaks up this rule has not been made clear.
Although the ire of many will be raised when they realise that we are once again in for a season of Super Rugby that will at times be devoid of some of New Zealand’s top players, this year’s management policy doesn’t compare to the first blanket management policy introduced in 2007 – it is, however, a small step up from what we’ve seen in recent times.
Go back to the last World Cup in 2015 and there were far fewer restrictions on coaches when it came to which players they were allowed to field.
Like now, all All Blacks who were utilised on 2014’s end of year tour were required to stand down for two games during the season. This resulted in some bit-part All Blacks being rested when their workloads were, in fact, lesser than some of their franchise teammates. Other than this restriction, there were no other blanket distractions for Super Rugby teams.
Senior players Read and Sam Whitelock had mini-sabbaticals built into their contracts which allowed them to sit out the early part of the season whilst others such as Richie McCaw spent considerable spells on the sidelines due to injury – but these arrangements were very much on a case by case basis.
Using results as the only benchmark, 2015’s resting policy was a success as the All Blacks went on to become the first team to win back-to back World Cups when they toppled Australia at Twickenham in the latter part of the year.
Four years earlier, McCaw was the only All Black to start the season watching from the stands. Although players had brief spells throughout the season, this seemed to be as much about keeping them fresh and firing for the playoffs as it was about preparing them for the Rugby World Cup. There was no widely publicised resting policy for New Zealand’s international reps in 2011 – hardly surprising, given what happened four years prior.
2007 lives on as an infamous year in New Zealand rugby history for a number of reasons: The All Blacks were knocked out of the World Cup in France by the hosts (the only time NZ has failed to progress past the quarterfinals), no New Zealand team made the Super Rugby final (which has happened only three times in the competition’s 23-year history), and – the cause often blamed for both the other issues – then All Blacks coach Graham Henry pulled 22 players from Super Rugby for half the competition, seriously weakening the New Zealand sides and leaving many players under-conditioned.
You can, to some extent, understand Henry’s rationale for his so-called “cotton-wool club” – the last thing a coach wants during a World Cup is to be utilising tired, overworked players. What happened, however, is the exact opposite; the All Blacks showed up at the World Cup looking they were still trying to find their form after a long pre-season.
The argument for keeping players sidelined during that 2007 season is weakened further when you consider that the All Blacks possessed arguably the greatest depth they’ve ever had in their squad during that period.
On New Zealand’s 2006 end of year tour, the All Blacks swept through England, France (twice) and Wales, with only Dan Carter and Richie McCaw starting all four matches. A year earlier, the All Blacks secured a Grand Slam on their tour and at one point completely swapped out their starting XV between matches against Wales and Ireland (winning both matches by 38 points).
In 2007 the All Blacks had two legitimate contenders for world class players in every single position so an injury here or there would have had limited impact on the squad as a whole.
After their performance at the World Cup, Henry eventually branded the cotton-wool club a mistake – which did little to make New Zealand supporters feel any better about the horror show that was 2007.
Henry’s decision to pull players from Super Rugby in 2007 was the first widespread player management policy instigated in New Zealand rugby for a World Cup year. Given it had been 20 years since the All Blacks last triumphed, you can appreciate why Henry thought that a change might do the team some good. The abysmal outcome of the enforced stand-downs, however, has all but guaranteed that we will likely never see such a comprehensive plan utilised in the future – which all fans will be happy for.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Great story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to comments