Taine Randell: NZ Rugby have taken their eye off the ball

All Black captain Taine Randell at Stadium France, Paris, France. 17 November 2002. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

Former test captain Taine Randell talks to Chris Rattue about his concerns with the All Blacks’ stale game plan, his radical Super Rugby rescue plan, what enthuses him most about New Zealand rugby, the need to break Canterbury’s stranglehold on the national administration, the man he most admires in the current test coaching regime, the big problem with the NZR board, and more.

Taine Randell’s All Blacks career morphed into business success, and has now gone full circle.

Former test captain Randell plus old mates including Highlanders comrades Marc Ellis, John Timu, Simon Maling and John Blackie are in a group that has taken an 11 percent share in Super Rugby’s southern franchise.

Randell had a tumultuous All Blacks career after being propelled into the captaincy and leading the team into the ill-fated 1999 World Cup campaign. His only rugby regret is that tournament, where the All Blacks succumbed to France’s incredible semifinal comeback.

The 48-year-old Randell says anxiety hit him on retirement, as he applied for jobs in London that paid less than he was forking out for a part-time nanny.

“You think you are pretty cool when you finish playing professional sport, and you go from that to starting at the bottom – it’s very humbling,” he says, recalling life after he called time on his stint with Saracens.

The 51-test loosie, who made his way into the finance world, is back in his native Hawke’s Bay.

But his love for Highlanders and Otago rugby still runs as strong as ever. And he also wants to promote major changes within the whole New Zealand game, which he implies needs saving from itself.

How did the Highlanders investment come about – what are your intentions?

We’re all big rugby fans who had great times involving Otago and the Highlanders.

There’s no doubt that parts of New Zealand rugby are going really well, but other parts are not. If we don’t address those, knock-on effects will eventually hurt the top end - the All Blacks - which currently supports everything else.

Which parts are going well?

All Blacks results over the last couple of seasons are not good but we’ve seen that before - history says it will be temporary.

We’ve got so many good players. New Zealand still has the best depth in the world from what I can see, which is why so many of our players are going offshore.

What about the bad bits – who is to blame?

Club rugby might not be on its knees, but it is an absolute shadow of its former self.

Remember the old comments that the NPC was the cauldron from which New Zealand success bubbles – well it’s also a shadow of its former self.

Some say that Super Rugby is also on its knees and compared to when Australia and South Africa were really strong, it is.

New Zealand Rugby has overseen all of that. Our concern is that the only thing left to deteriorate is the All Blacks, and we’ve already sold some of that [to Silver Lake].

We are relying on the All Blacks to save everything. Well what if the All Blacks deteriorate?

We can look offshore to All Black games in Chicago and Tokyo but in any business, you’ve got to be strong at home first. We think they (New Zealand Rugby) have taken their eye off the ball.

All Black Taine Randell performs the haka Photo / Getty Images.

How did this happen, in your opinion?

New Zealand Rugby controls everything, and it has an internal bias because all the power positions have been controlled by people from Canterbury.

As a result, Canterbury’s record is stunning. But the obligation is on the NZR to ensure we have competitive competitions, and they’ve not done that.

They’ve allowed a system in which there are 16 Crusaders in the All Blacks, with 11 from the Chiefs, nine from the Blues, the Hurricanes have five, and the Highlanders three. And guess how the Super Rugby rankings finished this year?

Over the last decade, the teams with the highest wage bill had the best placing. It’s a situation that other competitions in the world try to avoid using things like drafts and salary caps. But the NZR has let that slip.

We need to go into every season with fans believing their side could potentially win it. But people’s interest has dropped off.

It’s taken us 20 years to get to this position and it’s a reason we’ve got involved with the Highlanders. Maybe we’ve got no hope [of bringing about change] but we have got to raise the issues. We want the best for New Zealand rugby.

How could a draft work?

It’s hard because you’ve got different levels, but the most basic would be this: a 35-man squad is named for the World Cup, well okay, when you draft teams for Super Rugby next year everyone gets seven each. That’s as basic as you get, and it won’t be that. We’ve had this system since it all started in 1996 and it will take time to change it.

How strong is the Crusaders/Canterbury grip on the NZR?

Historically the chairman is from Canterbury, same with the CEO, a whole lot of coaches come from there, so does Mark Anthony the high performance coach, Steve Lancaster is in charge of club rugby, Matt Sexton is in charge of school rugby, the All Blacks manager of the last 20 years is from Canterbury, so is Gilbert Enoka the psychology guy.

Don’t get me wrong, they are all fantastic people. But there is an unconscious bias that keeps going to Canterbury. It just developed that way but after a certain period in any organisation you get group think.

Has that affected the All Blacks?

Wayne Smith, Steve Hansen and Graham Henry changed the game, but it’s moved on and it feels like we are playing the same system and doing the same things that weren’t good enough to win the World Cup in 2019.

In schoolboy rugby you find everyone has got the same pod system, the same terminology etc. We have a bit of group think with the style that started with Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. It did fantastically but we’ve been overtaken.

Any glimmers of hope?

I really like the look of [All Blacks forwards coach] Jason Ryan. I may be mistaken, but I’m Impressed when Ryan talks about things like loose forwards having to be freaking tough.

Backs are there to pass the ball and kick and whatever else. Forwards need to be able to do their core roles first.

New Zealand created these incredibly multi-talented forwards but you look at younger players now and there are big props throwing offloads, yet neglecting core roles like how to maul.

Likewise, loose forwards are there to tackle and dominate rucks. We love to see loose forwards score 50-metre tries and throw amazing passes, but first and foremost you’ve got to be the best tackling unit on the field, and the best at rucks.

What makes a guy like Brodie Retallick so incredible is that he can do it all, but if you can’t do the core roles it’s no use having a whole lot of other stuff.

What do you see off the field?

Super Rugby can’t continue like it is, it just can’t. It’s not just us saying it – the Blues CEO Andrew Hore says things must change, I saw something similar from Graham Henry.

When teams are getting thrashed, people melt away. Even in Canterbury - they’ve won so many times the intensity of interest is not the same and that’s not good for the game.

I saw what happened when the Chiefs won the Super Rugby competition, when the Highlanders won, what it did for the region, and also other regions who thought ‘we’ve all got a chance next year’. That’s the sort of interest we’ve got to drive.

We also need to drive revenue to keep our players here - otherwise we’ll have to bring in overseas players.

If we do, the flow-on effect on the All Blacks, well, it might not be catastrophic, but it would be significant.

Highlanders captain Taine Randell (2nd from left) is all smiles , as he runs with fullback Brendan Laney (L) on a lap of honour, after his team defeated the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images.

Other solutions….

We need more institutional knowledge on the New Zealand Rugby board.

We have some fine people there and Dame Patsy Reddy is stunning. Farah Palmer is there – women’s rugby is a huge part of New Zealand’s future and she’ll understand that as well as anyone.

But in terms of what drives rugby revenue, you need people who understand the All Blacks and Super Rugby.

I was really disappointed during the Silver Lake debate when David Kirk, the chairman of the Rugby Players’ Association, who I thought made some reasonably sensible suggestions, was bad mouthed by that guy [Brent] Impey, who was the chairman of the rugby union.

David Kirk won the first World Cup, he’s a Rhodes scholar, with a commercial background in the top percentage, with a huge experience across a number of walks of life. The way Impey dismissed him was disrespectful, considering how emotional the subject was, of selling the All Blacks, and that it was someone like David Kirk he was talking about.

If anyone is incredibly qualified to be the chairman of NZR it’s actually David Kirk. They should eat some humble pie and give him a call. It’s a no brainer. We need people like him there, either on the board or co-opted.

Any thoughts on the state of Australian rugby?

I don’t know too much about it technically but it’s not great that their Super teams are rubbish and the Wallabies are pretty poor.

I’ve got a lot of time for Eddie Jones as a coach. He’s Australian to the bone. I love the way Phil Waugh, the new CEO, came out and said he hates New Zealand rugby. Parochialism in sport is magic, and we need Australians to have that attitude.

The reality is, we need Australian rugby to be strong.

And I would allow our players to be in their teams and still be eligible for the All Blacks. Totally.

That would strengthen the competition, instead of our players having to go to the northern hemisphere. We should take a bigger view – ultimately it would be good for us, because it makes the All Blacks stronger.

Pablo Matera played for the Crusaders, he was great for the competition, and went back to play for the Pumas who then beat the All Blacks. That stuff drives interest.

Any thoughts on the new 12-team Nations Championship, which starts in 2026?

I don’t know a great deal about it. It will have a big effect if you are number 13 in the world though. It might work – I don’t know. It is really positive for world rugby that they’ve all been able to actually agree on something though.

Do you see your involvement as being long term?

You do your best but ultimately someone else comes along with the energy and you pass it on to them.

Initially, [the investment] was almost a buzz. Playing for the Highlanders was such a huge part of my life, as it was for some of my mates. Then we thought ‘ooh, we’ve got some responsibility’, to improve something where we had a bit of skin in the game.’

And not just the Highlanders - we are buying into New Zealand rugby.