Now that a few hours have passed, we get a better idea of how New Zealand has reacted both to the Review and in particular to the stance taken by New Zealand Rugby (NZR).
Three people spoke at the media briefing, Phillipa Muir (Chair), Tammi Wilson Uluinayau (Director of NZ Rugby Players Association) and Mark Robinson (NZR CEO).
Officially NZR has accepted the 26 recommendations of the Review panel. But at the same time it has reaffirmed Glenn Moore as the head coach to take the squad through to the World Cup in October.
How NZR can reconcile the findings of the panel with this decision is beyond easy comprehension.
Moore himself has issued a statement that reads as thought it was composed by his lawyers. He is deeply honoured, etc, etc. In fact it was put out by his own PR company. How many other head coaches of women’s national sides can boast a PR company?
Reactions to the Review include ‘Scathing’, ‘Axed player’s courage helped expose serious failings’, ’A disconnect between management and players’. As so often, Alison Connolly doesn’t mince her words (scrumqueens.com): ‘Failings laid bare’.
The words ‘mental breakdown’ make for very uncomfortable reading, but that is how Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate’s plight was described, and that happened while she was on the Northern Tour of autumn 2021.
How are the players selected for the RWC squad – Ngata-Aerengamate was informed her services were no longer required – supposed to react to Moore’s retention? Most of them will have gone through the tour aware, or partly aware of what was going wrong, including the lack of easy communication between them and the management. Some of them will have been close to Ngata-Aerengamate – and she had been a Black Fern for several years.
Nor was she the only player to admit to personal problems on tour.
How does Moore propose correcting the fault-lines between him and the players? Will he go on a crash course?
He hasn’t resigned, he hasn’t apologised. Robinson called him an excellent coach. How does he expect him to be treated by his squad, several off whom, according to the Review, offered testimony as damning as Ngata-Aerengamate’s? At a time when everyone in the Black Ferns camp in a World Cup year is playing catch-up, personal relations need to be silky smooth.
But we shouldn’t worry, NZR is ‘committed’ to learning lessons and putting things right. ‘Committed’ is a favourite term to employ in contexts such as this, especially popular with politicians. Moore used it too: ‘I am committed to ensuring [learnings] are taken on board.’
What exactly does ‘commitment’ involve? It doesn’t sound much like ‘Action this day’ or a profound change of heart.
In the light of the review we can take a second look at the two coaching appointments announced since the Black Ferns returned to Aotearoa. Mike Cron in January, and Wayne Smith in the last few days, have both been added. Both are pre-eminent in their field. And rumour has it that even Sir Graham Henry is being invited to join the party.
Why have they been brought in? The terse answer is: the current staff weren’t up to the job. On the 4-match tour the weaknesses exposed in the Black Ferns’ skill-sets and game-management were plain to see. Coaches assured Kiwi fans that they were being seen to. By the end we were informed that improvements had indeed been made. The evidence was hard to discover.
The Review’s findings about appointments was equally damning. It suspected it was a case of ‘Jobs for the boys’ or ‘You rub my shoulder, I’ll rub yours’.
We now await the reactions of the current Black Ferns squad – and a possible change of heart from the NZR Board. We have to assume it had advance notice of the Review and was able to prepare its reaction to the damning evidence. Robinson’s performance at the briefing and subsequent interviews looked more like the ostrich burying its head in the sand.
The review reveals a wide area of incompetence within the Black Ferns management and shortcomings at Board-level too. But Glenn Moore, you can continue.
