There are two types of game being played in international rugby union. The familiar one on the field and another – arguably even more significant – unfolding off it. Long gone are the days when the only big hitters were the players. With the greatest respect to every immovable Springbok prop and 100-cap All Black, they are not the people ultimately shaping their sport’s future.
To be in New Zealand is to be reminded of this development more forcibly than ever. There is still no bigger team in the global imagination than the All Blacks but the world is changing rapidly. Rugby’s century-old certainties are melting away faster than the polar ice-caps and reputation alone is scant insulation from the chill blast of post-Covid reality.
