New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson remains comfortable with the direction the game is headed in Aotearoa after a rollercoaster year on and off the field at both a domestic level and internationally.
Robinson sat down with 1News to reflect on a turbulent 2023 in which coaching selections [and their timings] were questioned, Kiwi crowd sizes remained sluggish unless at Test level, and calls for change both in the game and in the boardroom were proposed.
But despite all the noise, Robinson said it was a good thing they continued to face scrutiny from the public.
"I love [my] role, I think I'm amazingly privileged and honoured to be doing what I'm doing so I'm focused on going forward and taking on the learnings from various stages," he said.
"Every time a team in black goes out on to the international stage, expectations are extremely high and every time we initiate programmes or we're looking to execute on strategies across the game, we're looking to do well and that's the way it should be and that's why the game continues to have a strong presence in New Zealand — because people care about it," Robinson said.
"I'd be disappointed if we didn't have [public scrutiny]. The day when people aren't talking as much about whether New Zealand Rugby's doing a good or not-so-good job is the day that will be unfortunate for us because we may not be in the Kiwi psyche like it is now and we hope that day never comes because we want it to be really, really important to New Zealanders."
But it's not just the public raising concerns.
In September, the 133-page independent review of the constitution, governance structure and processes of the New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated was released — the ninth review of the NZR in the past six years — and was perhaps best summarised by four words: "not fit for purpose".
"In recent years, even allowing for the impact of the global pandemic, NZR has suffered a series of highly publicised missteps and, with those, a loss of wider public confidence and respect," it said.
The report called for "urgent change" and despite none happening so far, Robinson said the NZR board was taking action now that the Rugby World Cup was finished.
"Since [the World Cup] there's been some really good, collaborative discussions around what the future governance of the game might be... in terms of urgent change, I think there was always a signal that this would take well into next year."
'Going forward'
NZR also faced some heat for how it handled the appointment process of new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, including some criticism from his predecessor Ian Foster who said he would rather it had been done after the World Cup as not to distract the team.
Robinson wouldn't be pressed on whether he or NZR held any regrets over the process though.
"Our energy and focus now is very much on going forward. These are some the things you work through in high performance sport."
He also played down recent discussions about All Blacks selections for overseas-based players, sparked by backing from current All Blacks captain Sam Cane.
"The talk about players heading overseas or retiring always exists at this time in a four-year cycle so this is nothing new and so at each of those junctures, we see exciting young talent come through and we're really comfortable with the amount of talent coming through.
"You look at the tales of the Dan Carters and Richie McCaws that sprung on to the stage in a short amount of time and suddenly became household names, and that's the exciting thing about not knowing what's around the corner with this next batch of emerging talent."
2023 hasn't all been bad though with the All Blacks making an impressive run to the final of the Rugby World Cup and the successful launch of NZR+ — NZR's new digital platform for video content.
Robinson said its figures showed it was in a "good space" for viewings on screens although he agreed there was "clearly" some work still to do with attendance numbers at Super Rugby and NPC level.
"We're seeing some nice trends in NPC with a nod to more boutique grounds, more daytime rugby which has landed really well with family crowds so that may be a signal to the future around the NPC."
Robinson said its just another issue NZR have to address and be ready to face that beloved scrutiny for.
"There were moments and challenges in the last couple of years that were well-documented," he conceded.
"But it's like a lot of things in rugby — you've got to learn to be able take whatever you could've gained in terms of insights.
"And that's what we're doing."
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