Lessons to be learned from Kiwi ‘schooling’

The rapidly approaching Rugby World Cup is causing media outlets everywhere to break out in supplements and previews — I can only hope you made the effort to collect last Friday’s newspaper, which had the pick of those supplements accompanying it.

The tournament is also causing widespread rashes of cliche and recycled wisdom. The nodding acquiescence to the All Blacks for their mystic ability to win is one such bromide, usually accompanied by the story of the elderly lady in the supermarket check-out line bemoaning the New Zealand tight-head for getting his angles wrong in a scrum. Not at all hackneyed, that one.

Because of (all of) that I paid particular interest to a lengthy piece in The Guardian over the weekend about the rugby culture in New Zealand. The reporter, Andy Bull, went to schools and clubs to find out how and what exactly is done to produce players who can compete and win at elite international sport.