Why have the All Blacks won 413 of their 538 test matches since 1903? That’s a 76% winning record.
Only five nations have ever tasted victory against them and since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, they have held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks, statistically speaking, are the best team to have played sport. That’s not just Rugby, that’s all team professional sports.
The answer isn’t in the numbers. South Africa, England, France and Australia have twice as many rugby players as New Zealand. Those nations collect more money from the game with England, France and South Africa having larger domestic competitions, bigger television audiences and bigger wallets than New Zealand.
I believe the answer is in the team’s culture. All of the traits listed in the ‘Respect the Game’ segment, Humility, Discipline, Integrity and Fair Play in sport, are some of the features of the All Blacks culture. These and other traits lead the team to a place where unity becomes their home, where players belong, and where being responsible for oneself and giving to your team is normal not exceptional.
Let us dig a little deeper to see what just one of these words looks like in practice. Humility.
Humility starts with the way players communicate with other members of the team. It creates a learning environment where people exchange ideas from a place where one does not think one has all the answers. It makes players human and able to put the interests of the team before themselves. In this learning environment asking questions about who we are, how we are to act and why we act this way elicits honest and open responses. One must lose the idea of self and give to the team to have answers that have more meaning.
What does that look like in practice? For the All Blacks, after a test, it means when the team has completed the postgame warm down and de-brief, and it’s time to leave, a senior leader will pick up a broom and sweep out the changing room. That’s what humility looks like in practice and it’s the opposite to gratuitously celebrating after scoring a try, talking about a winning streak or even thinking you are better.
That small act ticks so many boxes; humility, discipline, responsibility, sacrifice to name a few but what it does is it creates the learning environment that was mentioned earlier. Now I believe it is this environment that gives their culture a head start. Sure we can be disciplined and humble, we can know who we are and we can have a higher purpose than personal gain, we can even do a haka and play together like we are all brothers. But without the learning environment that states that the All Blacks do not have all the answers they will not strive to improve. To strive to improve in all areas makes them not only better All Blacks but also better people.
This New Zealand Rugby tragic cannot even hope to sum up the winningest culture in professional sport in less than 500 words so I must just show respect and continue to strive to be better.
