Editorial: Above board - Kiwi rugby deserves the best leadership

The All Blacks haka. Photo / Photosport

The game New Zealand plays so well on the international stage is in a worrying state at home.

Rugby’s greatest show starts this weekend, when the All Blacks meet France in the opening clash of the men’s Rugby World Cup. The hosts are on fire; the visitors are resurgent – both are genuine contenders for the biggest title the sport has to offer.

Meanwhile, at home the failings of the sport’s governing body and the poor health of its domestic scene are being picked over in excruciating public fashion. An independent review of New Zealand Rugby’s governance has found the organisation’s boardroom structures “are not fit for purpose in the modern era”.

A little over a year ago, the governing board and executive leaders of NZ Rugby made the momentous decision to bring in foreign venture capital. They sold a part of our national game.

It was in the tumult around that deal that the NZ Rugby Players Association insisted upon an independent review of the game’s governance structures.

Agreeing to this review – the 11th of NZ Rugby in the past six years – was a key factor in getting the Silver Lake deal over the line.

The panel overseeing the latest review noted those involved in the game could be feeling “review fatigue”. “We have some sympathy with that view,” they said.

“It is this panel’s fervent hope that this is the last review of this type,” the panel said gamely.

The report highlighted a fact obvious to everyone outside of the headquarters of NZ Rugby and Sky TV: fans are not engaging with Super Rugby. The authors noted “difficult matters” that must be addressed to make Super Rugby a viable and commercially attractive competition.

“Super Rugby is in danger of becoming a television-only experience because the fans have not been put front and centre,” the authors note.

The provincial game is harder to follow than a TMO’s ruling, as unions push in different directions. Some harbour grand ambitions, others are outright amateurish and one is effectively no longer committed to developing and maintaining high-performance teams. It should be noted, the report author’s fairly and rightly salute this unnamed union for putting their focus on grassroots development.

One year after the dazzling Women’s Rugby World Cup, the report found NZ Rugby has a lack of awareness about how to best support the women’s game.

It’s the governance issues that are most concerning. It’s governance that encompasses and oversees everything in the game – from the executive suite in Parnell to a midweek scrum practice at Pukerau RFC. This review found those structures are unsound and calls for the creation of an independent process to ensure the appointment of an appropriately skilled, high-performing board.

It would have been nice to have a board like that when the decision was made to open the door to Silver Lake.

An appropriately skilled, high-performing board could have gone over the finer points of the deal, calling NZ Rugby’s executives to account to make sure the Silver Lake deal was both right for the game on these shores and the best value deal we could get.

The rugby community of New Zealand might feel greater confidence in NZ Rugby if the review had come, and its recommendations had been followed, before the decision to sign on to Silver Lake had been made.

Our game – and the people who make it great – deserve to have had a board “fit for purpose in the modern era” deciding whether or not to sell out to Silver Lake.

Better late than never. Let’s get a board fit for the challenges ahead.