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When New Zealand Rugby (NZR) confirmed the rumours that a national Under 85kg rugby side would be selected to tour South Asia, the question that first sprang to mind was “Why now?”
A national Under 85kg side was selected on paper last year, but the fact a full squad will not only take the field but tour overseas seems a signal that the grade is growing in popularity both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
NZR Head of Rugby Participation, Mike Hester, told the Herald this is the reasoning behind the move and said increased participation at home has seen other nations take notice, particularly emerging nations in their rugby infancy.
“It’s started to generate a lot of interest across the world around the value of weight restricted rugby. It’s something that’s quite particular to New Zealand, it’s not seen a lot around the world, so a lot of countries that want to grow the game are quite interested in some of the things that New Zealand does.”
Those emerging nations are unlikely to have the talent pool equipped to handle a contest against the All Blacks,Black Ferns, Māori All Blacks or an All Blacks XV, but an Under 85kg side would provide an introduction to playing a Tier 1 nation.
Hester says NZR have received “quite a lot of interest” from “a number of different countries around the world” and that gave them an indication that this was the right time to proceed with a national side.
NZR were unable to give an indication further than South Asia as to the destination of a tour, as they want the opportunity for both parties to celebrate an announcement together once the final stages of negotiation are complete.
Hester was able to reveal that the Under 85kg New Zealand team would be facing an open national side, with one caveat for safety, but that the nation had “a history” of playing against New Zealand, albeit a “long time ago”.
“In the instance that we’re talking about, it is a full men’s national open team, but with a weight restricted approach. What we have asked just in the interest of safety is that there are some considerations for the front row.
“A lot of our front rowers in the [Under] 85 grade are more than capable of holding their own against most and so we haven’t asked that it be restricted to 85[kg], we’ve asked that it be restricted to about 105kg.”
Hester says that consideration has been accepted and would be one they would like to take forward for future negotiations.
Weight restricted rugby is not seen often around the world, but that could change. Photo / Getty Images
Asian nations are likely best suited to match up against a weight restricted side, due to players traditionally being smaller in stature, and Hester says that region is where a lot of interest has come from.
“That’s where we’ve seen the interest from and obviously we’ve received an invitation now that we’re going to take up.”
The second question to spring to mind when the news of an Under 85kg national side was announced was about the selection process. The touring side will be selected from the 2024 Under 85kg National Club Cup competition, alongside any existing Under 85kg teams competing in their respective club competitions across the country.
That selection process will involve the nomination of players by clubs, with those nominations being reviewed in partnership with the New Zealand Barbarian Rugby Club (NZBRC).
Last year the NZBR selected the “paper only” team via a selection group that viewed the nominations and reviewed them through game footage, attending matches and watching online streams.
Hester says NZR will be looking to partner with NZBRC going forward and “they’ll help us with a selection approach”.
Coaching is another obvious element that needs to be addressed. This again will be a partnership between NZR and NZBRC, with a balance to be struck between full professional open coaches and those with expertise in coaching at Under 85kg level.
“They’ve [NZBRC] got an extensive coaching network that they’ll probably look to activate both being the head coach and also the manager. But what we also want to do is make sure we’ve included [Under] 85s coaches and managers in that mix as well so that there’s an opportunity for them to grow and develop, but also contribute,” Hester says.
The last point is crucial for the national Under 85kg side to compete as best they can. Restricted weight rugby is unique in the sense of a level playing field of size; set plays and game plans are structured differently to the crash-and-smash approach of open weight teams.
To the future and much of that rests on the success of this upcoming tour, but Hester says there is a feeling at NZR of potential for this Under 85kg national team to not be the last.
“We anticipate that this could become quite a regular thing, it may not be yearly... but already we’ve had engagement with another country that’s interested in matches against representative national teams. So, Under 85s or a Heartland XV. So, who knows?”
Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
