Rugby will undoubtedly lose some young, fit, hard-hitting lads simply because they haven't the time to play it.
Rugby will undoubtedly lose some young, fit, hard-hitting lads simply because they haven't the time to play it.
In a column previewing the All Blacks loss to Australia last month, former Wallabies Coach Eddie Jones wrote: "The All Blacks historically were always a bully team of raw-boned farmer types who liked to hit and hit hard."
Jones went on to write in the Brisbane Courier-Mail: "The farmers arefew in the ranks now but the approach, while more sophisticated, is still based on physical intimidation." It's an accurate assessment of one aspect of the All Blacks game, even though it was in short supply in Sydney that particular week.
Jones is an astute observer of the game with an excellent coaching record and it's therefore no great surprise that he's hit on one of the key evolutionary aspects of New Zealand rugby that I dare say is irreversible, what is happening to the country rugby player.
The All Blacks side, while containing a few players who grew up on farms, such as McCaw, Whitelock and Barrett, clearly have no member who is a farmer or who is ever likely to return to farming, they simply won't have to. But their first forays into the game were on country paddocks on frosty mornings, dishing out and receiving bone crushing tackles and hitting rucks as if they were trying to smash through brick walls, to paraphrase Jones, raw-boned farmer types who hit hard. I've written previously about the hardest games I ever played, which were undoubtedly city v country, where eight Andrew Hores redefined the concept of "shifting bodies" with ruthless efficiency.
With the changing nature of the professional and semi-professional game in New Zealand, it's imperative the physical intimidation aspect of our rugby remains intact. But some worrying trends are beginning to emerge that may threaten this down the line.
The prevalence of dairy farming. Former All Black Jock Ross made a salient point on the Farming Show over a year ago that's remained with me ever since. Ross said the sheep have largely gone from Mid Canterbury now, replaced instead with dairy cows, a situation not unique to that area. Twice-a-day milking simply doesn't lend itself to playing and training for rugby, let alone other sports. Shift work has put paid to being able to participate in anything that involves being in a certain place at a certain time. It doesn't take a tremendous amount of foresight to see where this is going, the game will undoubtedly lose some young, fit, strong, hard-hitting lads simply because they haven't got the time to play it.
Ross also spoke of the halcyon days of Mid Canterbury rugby in the late 70s and early 80s, where most young rugby players went to boarding school, came home to the farm and stayed there -- they didn't go to the bigger unions and could remain playing for their clubs and provinces. Nowadays you can't make the All Blacks from the Heartland Championship, nor the ITM Cup.
We owe it to our country legacy to keep playing with that physicality and keep hitting them hard.
