All Blacks: Justin Marshall calls for outdated policy to be scrapped as New Zealand are not ‘unbeatable anymore’
Marshall has called for New Zealand Rugby to scrap their outdated policies.
Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall has called for New Zealand Rugby to scrap their outdated policies and follow the Springboks ‘recipe’ for success.
Marshall believes that New Zealand Rugby have failed to move with the times which has resulted in the rest of the world catching up with the once-dominant rugby nation.
After winning back-to-back Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2015, New Zealand reached the semi-finals in 2019 and the final in 2023 falling to England and South Africa respectively.
However, it’s not just in rugby’s showpiece event where the All Blacks haven’t hit their usual highs as the side drew a Series with the British and Irish Lions in 2017 and have suffered several first defeats to Argentina and Ireland both at home and abroad.
Justin Marshall calls for change
Marshall believes part of the problem for the All Blacks is that the players are not being challenged enough in their club competitions particularly those who have been playing Super Rugby for several years now.
The former halfback’s view is that many of those players would become better players if they were allowed to join overseas-based teams but still be available for selection to the All Blacks.
Currently, New Zealand Rugby allows for players to take short-term sabbaticals like the one Jordie Barrett will do with Leinster but Marshall feels that the All Blacks are hamstringing themselves by not allowing Scott Robertson to select overseas-based players.
“We’ve had no change in our format that’s challenging the players, particularly the players that have been here for longevity where they’re getting something new and fresh that’s getting them out of bed,” Marshall said on The Breakdown.
“We have to change our mindset, we now have to start allowing players who are playing overseas back into their environment to play for our national teams because the recipe works for South Africa – most of their players are not playing in South Africa – but they are coming in and they are number one in the world back-to-back world champions.”
Host Kirstie Stanway seemingly agreed with Marshall and added: “That’s where our depth comes in that we’re missing at the moment bringing six or seven players back from overseas that are good enough to play and want to play but the rules don’t allow them.”
“Start thinking more laterally”
Marshall agreed with Stanway listing the likes of Leicester Fainga’anuku, Shannon Frizell and Richie Mo’unga before explaining that the current policy of not selecting any players based out of New Zealand was in place at a time when the All Blacks were the best team in the world and playing the best competition but that is no longer the case.
“We used to have this policy because we were unbeatable at home because we were world champions because we were number one in the world – we’re not anymore,” he said.
“So do we have to start thinking more laterally and say ‘Righto, let’s do what the rest of the world are doing’, they’re bringing their players in from all over the place and formulating a team.
“No Argentinian players play in their own country but yet they can piece a team together come to New Zealand and beat us in the first Test match.”
All Blacks star reveals the ‘common trend’ which is harming New Zealand under Scott Robertson
Stanway also highlighted that a change in policy is actually something head coach Robertson is eager for but added that it’s the system and New Zealand Rugby that don’t want it to happen.
Ex-All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina added that he is open to the idea of opening the door for overseas players a little bit but understood why New Zealand Rugby don’t want to go down this route as it would drain the local playing pool.
“They don’t [allow it] because of the system, if you let younger players go overseas it can work the other way as well,” he said.
“Why would you sit here and vie for a Super Rugby contract at a maximum of what 185,000 when you can go earn 400,000 euros as a 20-year-old and that was why it was set up.
“I tend to agree in regards to opening it up a little bit but how much? I think it’s actually our competitions [that’s the problem]. Leicester Fainga’anuku goes over and plays in a competition because he wants to be in the best competition in the world.
“Our competitions, Super Rugby and NPC, they’ve done their dash we haven’t evolved in the way that we should have, we have been reliant on what we’ve done over the years and hoped that it will get us back to that form. We need to start talking about what that looks like because that’s one of the reasons that we are playing the way we are.”
“We were the best in the world”
Marshall sang off the same hymn sheet as his fellow ex-All Black as he believes that New Zealand players can now go overseas and become better players which was not the case previously.
“I just want to throw out there, the dynamics have changed, the rest of the world has caught us,” he explained.
“Sending our players or letting our younger players go was always a worry because they wouldn’t get the type of rugby that they need to be better players now, they can go to England and Ireland and France and be better players – we should be able to still access them if they do so.
“Look at Chandler Cunningham-South, he left Lincoln and he’s now playing for England. Imagine if we had access to him for our loose forward trio.
“I feel that we were stoic because we were the best in the world and we want players playing here we’re playing against the best in the world, the best of the world is all out there now so why not allow those players to go and learn and be better players and yet we can still have them as All Blacks.”
