asked to explain the All Blacks’ continual
success. One of his team’s key strengths,
Henry suggested, was “the ability to play
what’s in front of them, rather than a pre-
conceived gameplan”. Yes, the team prepares
meticulously beforehand. But once they
run onto the pitch they endeavour to play
on instinct.
“It’s all about how you adapt out there
on the field,” Barrett explains. “You need a
cool head to move on from mistakes, identify
what hasn’t worked out, assess the situation
and react accordingly. The quicker you can
move forward, the quicker you can adapt when
the stakes are high and the pressure is on.”
That’s all very well in theory. But easier
said than done when you’ve just fumbled
possession in front of 50,000 people and had
the wind knocked out of you by a rampaging
flanker. The All Blacks management
understands the scale of this challenge.
That’s why they employ a mental-skills team
to coach the players on how to regain their
composure under fire.
In the All Blacks camp, they call it
“red head”, a state of mind where you
feel overwhelmed, desperate and afraid.
Needless to say, this is not a headspace that’s
conducive to playing successful rugby. Where
you want to get to is “blue head”, a state of
mind where you’re calm, focused and loose.
Players are encouraged to find their own
methods of moving the dial from red to blue.
Skipper Kieran Read chooses to stare at the
furthest point of the stadium to try and see
the big picture and shrink the action into a
manageable context. Richie McCaw used to
stamp his feet on the turf as a way to anchor
his body and literally ground himself back to
the here and now.
For Barrett his starting tactic is to
concentrate on his breath. “I just pause and
take a couple of big, deep, slow breathes. It
can calm you down and refocus you.”
By slowing your breath and focusing
on the exhale you kick-start your
parasympathetic nervous system that lowers
your heart rate and blood pressure. Deep
breathing also helps to calm you because it
redirects your attention to your body and
away from the external factors that are
stressing you out. This, in turn, feeds into the
second part of Barrett’s “bluehead” strategy.
“You have to try and be in the moment
as much as you can. You have to be present,”
he says. “You cannot get caught up on ‘What
if this happens?’ or ‘What’s going to happen
after?’ You have to focus on ‘What do I have
to do right now’ and then act upon that.”
That’s why before every single play,
Barrett forces himself to focus on the process
not the outcome. He fixes his attention solely
on his required action in the next phase of play,
whether it’s a kick for touch or supplying
quick ball to his outside backs. A couple of
deep breaths and he’s ready to deliver.
“Don’t get me wrong, I do get flustered
out there at times and I do get frustrated,” he
admits. “But going through those steps helps
to get me back on task. It’s just a cycle, but
the quicker you can do it, the quicker you can
get back to where you need to be and where
the team needs you to be.”- • •
As an All Black “where the team needs you to
be” is at the pinnacle of your game whenever
you pull on the black jersey. This is a demand
that’s non-negotiable. Indeed, former skipper
McCaw believes this uncompromising
insistence on excellence is what drives the
team’s dominance of the game.
“Firstly, they set their expectations,”
McCaw says. “There are no excuses for not
performing every single game. Secondly,
it’s the quality of their players. If you don’t
perform then someone else is always waiting
to take your shirt.”
This is no exaggeration: the All Blacks
strength-in-depth is insane. Going into the
first Lions Test, locomotive winger Julian
Savea was second on NZ’s all-time try-scorers
list and billed as the next Jonah Lomu. But a
couple of so-so games saw him dumped for
20-year-old rookie Rieko Ioane, who hungrily
pounced on his opportunity, scoring two tries.
This ruthless selection policy administers
a stern antidote to complacency. Every
game an All Black must start all over again
from scratch. Every game they must prove
themselves anew. “It comes down to the
legacy,” McCaw says. “No one wants to be the
one who lets it down.”
“Legacy” is a word regularly used by AllTHE BLACK ARTS
Author James Kerr spent five
weeks inside the All Blacks camp
to uncover the secrets of their
dominance. These lessons are
from his must-read book: Legacy:
What the All Blacks Can Teach Us
About the Business of Life.Sweep the sheds
After every All Black match, the
superstars of world rugby
personally take the time to tidy
up their own dressing room
themselves. It’s a symbolic
gesture of humility, discipline,
collective responsibility and
attention to detail that feeds into
the team’s mantra: “Better
People Make Better All Blacks”.
CONVERT: Staying grounded is
central to your team’s success.Character over talent
The All Blacks freely purloined
the Sydney Swans’ ‘No
Dickheads’ motto. Players are
selected on character over talent
and bad influences will not be
tolerated in a bid to control the
psychological as well as the
physical environment. No single
player is more significant than
the collective good of the team.
CONVERT: Hire carefully - just one
person can disrupt team unity.Champions do extra
“Train harder than a non-All
Black” is another team mantra.
It’s informed by the conviction
that putting in greater effort –
whether in the gym or on the
paddock - is necessary to
achieve the marginal gains that
can spell the difference when
playing at the highest level.
CONVERT: If you want to be
extraordinary, always do the extra.TACTICS