Tana Umaga's 'shine' concession shows NZR aware of new reality

I’ve fielded some odd requests over the years, but none stranger than this next one.

Years ago, while I was largely writing about cricket for a living, a teacher invited me to a school hostel in Hawke’s Bay to talk to Israel Dagg.

The future All Black was a fast bowler of significant promise back then, but slightly wayward outside school hours and also in high demand from professional rugby teams.

The thinking – which I never understood – was that if I told him to stick with cricket and to be a good boy, everything would work out fine. I’ve never been able to talk anyone into anything, and Dagg was no exception.

Despite being a rising star on the Central Districts cricket scene, along with Marlborough’s Joey Wheeler, Dagg left school and walked straight into a development contract with a Super Rugby franchise. Wheeler, with whom Dagg shared the new ball in CD age-group teams, did the same.

I thought of the two of them this week as I read comments about rugby’s preeminence in New Zealand from leading player agent Bruce Sharrock and incoming All Blacks assistant coach Tana Umaga.

Sharrock, who made his name negotiating deals on behalf of a number of prominent rugby players, said rugby league was becoming more alluring for talented school leavers. To back up his point, he rattled off the names of players who recently declined rugby contracts in favour of signing with NRL teams.

Umaga, meanwhile, was quoted as saying the All Blacks had lost their “shine” and that the lustre of the jersey needed improving lest we lose players to rival codes or countries.

Before you can remedy a situation, first you have to acknowledge it.

Fixture

Nations Championship

New Zealand

00:10

4 Jul 26

France

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Time was — let’s say 20 years ago, in the cases of Dagg and Wheeler — when talented teens didn’t really have a decision to make. Given a choice between being an All Black or a Black Cap, there was only one option.

Rugby was glamorous, it paid well, offered travel, prestige and potentially a status and career path that lasted long after your playing days.

I imagine many people in New Zealand would have their own stories of young men who instinctively chose a career in rugby despite the ability to have pursued other sports. Just as rugby in this country, as a collective, became all too familiar with this situation as well.

It wasn’t a case of having to recruit players – or even treat them well once you got them – kids were falling over themselves for any opportunity in the 15-man game.

I didn’t look at what Sharrock and Umaga said and feel shock or disappointment. No, I was actually encouraged.

My occasional disgruntlement with rugby — whether it be administrators, coaches, players, media, whoever — has always been around complacency. Getting fat and satisfied on previous deeds and talking a good game rather than delivering one.

To see two influential figures in our game acknowledge issues or challenges is heartening. It shows a pleasing honesty and humility from a game that had a monopoly on the nation’s talent and the public’s affections.

There’s a recurring theme to the things I’ve written of late, and it’s this: people acknowledging things haven’t been great and taking steps to fix them.

I now have some confidence in New Zealand Rugby being able to consistently make good decisions, and I also have a strong belief that the public will be prouder of Dave Rennie’s All Blacks than they have been of the team in years.

That, in turn, will help create a sport and a culture that aspiring athletes want to be a part of.

Rugby got used to having first pick. It knew the likes of Leon MacDonald, Kieran Read and Will Jordan – no matter how good they were at cricket – would always opt to be rugby players.

Perhaps not everyone does now, but at least the game has recognised that.

If rugby’s powerbrokers continue to understand that they actually have to sell the game to the masses – rather than just sit back and have us flock to them – the game will be in good stead for generations to come.