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'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules
By Henry Lee
Former World Cup-winning All Black Stephen Donald has had his say on the recent eligibility discussion about whether overseas players should represent New Zealand’s national side.
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The rant from Donald comes after talks of the rules changing due to the possibility of Richie Mo’unga and other New Zealand players, who play overseas being able to represent the All Blacks while playing in a different league to the Super Rugby Pacific.
On his Sports Nation “The Run Home” show with Kirstie Stanaway, Donald expressed his strong views on the longstanding Kiwi rugby policies.
“I always said it and call me old school, call me whatever. There’s got to be an element of sacrifice. I’m sure they are still in the environment saying, you get the guys at press conferences ‘oh, this black jersey means so much to me’. Well, at some point in your life, you got to prove it,” said Donald on The Run Home.
The former All Black passionately believes both Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett have sacrificed a lot for the jersey.
“Let’s not sugarcoat it. This is about getting Richie Mo’unga back. Let’s talk about sacrifice. Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie. Look maybe Richie Mo’unga at his best is better than both of them, but both of them have sacrificed.
“I don’t think I’m being outlandish here to suggest $1 million. They would have both sacrificed $1 million because they put a price on the All Black Jersey, and that’s what they were prepared to give up to go again.
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“And they could have gone to Japan. People like Damian, for example, probably even more attractive in Japan than Richie (Mo’unga) is, because of the way he plays.”
The 23-Test match former first-five looks back on the sacrifices All Black great Jonah Lomu made, and what impact the blockbusting winger had on players back then.
“You’ve got to make sacrifices. Jonah Lomu, the reason why we all got paid as rugby players, sacrificed Dallas Cowboys, sacrificed NRL, fact, sacrificed Super League before rugby was even professional, because the kid from Otara, who went to Wesley, who came from Tonga, who had nothing, decided that the black jersey had a price, and the price he was prepared to sacrifice was all of his offers.”
The dream of playing for the All Blacks keeps many players in Super Rugby until they decide their window for higher honours is over and look to the more cash rich contracts overseas.
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Donald highlights former All Black captain Richie McCaw as one player who spent their whole career in New Zealand.
“Richie McCaw never left New Zealand. Richie McCaw’s never gonna have to work a day in his life, because he’s the greatest All Black of all time. He’s won two World Cups, and he went out and did it, and New Zealand will always look after Richie because of what he’s done for the country.”
Donald suggests the problem with changing the eligibility rules lies with having fewer heroes playing in the local New Zealand competitions.
“Look at Richie, look at Jonah, we need heroes.
“But if you don’t see your heroes playing week in, week out, and they’re up they’re playing a meaningless competition in Japan or playing over there for too long.”
“Beaver” isn’t settling for the excuse of focusing on the next World Cup cycle, saying the development is important too.
“Oh, well, as long as we win the World Cup, but we How many World Cups are you going to win, you might win the next World Cup. Maybe even win one after but if there’s not going to be kids coming through, you won’t win the ones in 20 years.”
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Yup, that's the one. Says it all. Cheers.
Robertson continues to draw a huge amount of attention to an issue that is NOT actually a problem.
Other than Mo'unga, name one overseas based player who would now make the ABs. (Excluding Whitelock, Smith etc... who have taken a fairly obvious decision to retire from international rugby)
In fact in the whole history of NZ players going to play overseas how many of them were in their prime and were not easily replaced in the All Blacks?
I can name only a handful going back 17 years - Nick Evans, Carly Hayman, possibly Piutau although NZ's production line of awesome backs hardly means he was missed, and now Mo'unga. So 4.
The overseas player drain does not really effect the ABs, it effects the standards of NZ rugby as a whole. The issue is the dozens of fringe ABs players going to ply their trade abroad lowering the quality of rugby in NZ. Making these players eligible for ABs selection won't make the ABs any stronger, but it will guarantee even more top players leave sooner, lowering the quality of the rugby even more.
Leicester, Brodie, Lachlan, Frizell, Charlie, Burke, and then if you think about having that rule available, Warner Dearns, JGP, Bundee, Roots, Cunningham-South, Antonio, and then I'm not following the world game enough to know if players like Roots, Nankiville, Bridge, Goodhue, Rayasi, Robinson, Ioane, Murray, McKay, Moorby, TKB, Weber and the like enough to know if they are performing to that AB level. Plus you would have had individuals on sabbaticals that would just not have needed to miss any AB games as well as coming straight back in.
Of course, if you ask me, any coach other than Razor is not likely to pick any of those players even if they are better, form hardly even matters now, it's about cohesion and predictability and going against the grain would wipe the foundation of the All Blacks practices. But hey, if a coach wants to do such a thing why not have it be possible even if no one does it?
Ah! You're last paragraph is were you're going wrong imo, and kinda relates to your question above too. Those fringe ABs are leaving at their peak or just before, so when you asked 'could not be replaced from within at the ABs' I think you're missing a whole lot of factors like form and continued development once that player has left, and dips in specific areas within that remaining AB environment. Think about the 10 dilemma and how that could have been solved by being able to bring back the likes of Sopoaga, Cruden, even possibilities like Anscombe, during those turbulent years around 2017 without a clear first five, ditto more recently with Dmac and BB while they were on sabbatical, and now Mo'unga when all you've got is Dmac.
So there is obviously going to be an upside as well as a downside.
It's people like Donald who lives in the past that is holding NZ rugby back. The game has evolved, and so has the rules, the strategies and most importantly, time don't stand still. Time never stops. Either you move with it or you fall behind.
Look at SA. They were in a slump. Their best players played in leagues around the world because there was just no money or future in SA for them. Fast forward and in came Rassie. Leading from the front, he managed to get the changes he needed to affect change, a change that rocked the rugby world and now in 2024 have a team that is double WC champs. Not with players that played in SA, but with players playing their rugby in various leagues across the world.
Rugby was a dying brand, but he blew life into it being innovative, moving with the times and taking advantage of it. These same heroes are revered, plying their trade in SA or elsewhere. Every youngster have their heroes and they follow them regardless of where they are. Every kid wants to be a Bok. With all these successes, money started flowing in and the heroes started coming back to SA. Suddenly there was money in the sport again in the country.
Rassie's impact stretches far beyond just being a successful WC coach. He changed the sport forever in the country, and it's brought forth a wave of talent, the likes such as other countries can only dream off. A whole new generation of superstars are born, because these kids all want to play rugby and all of them wants to be Boks.
For years to come because of the eligibility rules being side swiped, the Boks will mostly rule the rugby world and until countries drop old foolish habits like their eligibility rules that limits them profusely, they will be stuck at the bottom, staring up at the stars they will never be able to reach. Not because they are not talented, but because they don't have the best available.
So yes, let's not sugarcoat it. Losing eligibility rules is a must for future success to growing the game in your own country. By limiting a players abilities to earn and learn from other leagues will destroy the game in your country. It's a slow poison administration that is effectively poisoning the sport in the country.
Do not cry when your team is subpar filled with amateur players trying to win against an international team like the Boks. The Boks doesn't stay stagnant with strategies that won them 2 WC's, they keep evolving. Rassie does not mind players going and playing in leagues across the world because they spend the money in evolving those players to future stars, money SARU saves and can reinvest in the school, university and club rugby, thus saving hundreds of millions. Young stars that can light up the world stage, already known by other fans and ready to switch and light up the World stage and bring more glory to their country, even though they are not playing in the country.
Fools like Donald is chasing fools gold and is strangling NZ rugby and is stopping them from evolving. Others will follow SA, seeing how they keep evolving and keep getting stronger, with a pool of stars getting bigger and bigger, where they can start to choose more and more teams that could compete and beat the best, even though they are seen as the 3rd or 4th or 5th stringers in SA. The Boks can put out at least 3 teams that can beat any team in the world and all 3 would be top 10 in the world. That is not bragging, just mere facts.
Ten years ago we were discussing how
Australia had made the Giteu Law and how we didn’t have to to do anything like that because NZ produced more talent than Australia.
The current model only works if you are constantly producing players good enough to take over when players leave.
New Zealand will struggle to do this as time goes on because rugby is dying here at the grass roots level.
Rugby league, football, basketball are where young kids are choosing to go more and more.
Even combat sports such as jiu jitsu are rapidly gaining in popularity all the time.
Picking players from overseas will give us a sugar hit of success for a wee while…. But the crash
afterward could be Wales-like.
Yeah, Aus had that crash as well, cant remember why they said. Players didn't last I don't think.
And theirs no league in the world that the players could go to and turn around that change it popularity. If only the French were English! This elite league talked about in US and around could change things? Would only need to be NRL level quality imo.
I think that any NZ player who has been on a full SR contract with a NZ franchise for 7 seasons or more (regardless of All Black caps) has demonstrated great loyalty to NZR and therefore should be free to make the big dollars overseas (it is a profession with a limited shelf life) and be eligible for All Black selection.
This policy encourages NZ players to play in Super Rugby until age 28-29 when their market value is at its highest and very likely to leave NZ anyway as NZR can no longer afford them unless they are core All Blacks.
Another way to think about this. Yes it is a professional game. NZR are (supposedly) a professional organisation and their purpose is to support NZ rugby. NZR employ rugby players to support NZ rugby. That means playing in NZ for our teams, of which the ABs is one. If an employee doesn't want to do the whole job, they won't be employed, just the same as in my job. Players who go overseas have decided to seek alternative employment for a different set of working conditions and as such do not play for ABs. Richie Mounga quit his job to work elsewhere, anything else is emotional baggage.
You're company doesn't use contractors?
What if you treat Mo'unga as a freelancer, how does that change your perspective now?
Spot on.