All Blacks secrets will be revealed in Belfast

Having beaten New Zealand as recently as November, the Irish rugby team might feel they have already cracked the world's most successful sports team.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Feb 2017, 14:01 BST
Updated 1st Mar 2017, 09:23 BST
Irelands Andrew Trimble is tackled by New Zealand All Blackss Sam Cane ©INPHO/Billy SticklandIrelands Andrew Trimble is tackled by New Zealand All Blackss Sam Cane ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Irelands Andrew Trimble is tackled by New Zealand All Blackss Sam Cane ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

Nonetheless, an author who spent a year embedded with the All Blacks, will be in Belfast tomorrow to share the secrets of the All Blacks.

James Kerr, who went ‘deep inside’ the All Blacks camp in 2010, will pass on the secrets of the New Zealand rugby machine to Northern Ireland charity bosses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Author Kerr spent a year with the New Zealand squad watching them at close quarters and wrote a best-selling book, published in 2013, on the secrets of their success and how other organisations can learn from them.

Ireland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy SticklandIreland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Ireland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

He will be the keynote speaker at the CO3 Leadership Conference and Awards at the La Mon House Hotel tomorrow.

Ahead of the engagement, he said: “I know Ireland did beat them last year – that was a magnificent performance – but the fact remains that New Zealand’s achievements are unprecedented in any sport. “They have a 77% winning record in test rugby and frankly, that’s not a coincidence.”

He identified a series of lessons that he believes that charities can learn from. They include:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

• sweeping the sheds: after each game senior players like Dan Carter and Richie McCaw have to clean their dressing room. Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens describes it as an example of personal humility, a cardinal All Blacks value.

Ireland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy SticklandIreland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Ireland's Conor Murray celebrates Robbie Henshaw's try ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

• follow the spearhead: all players are part of an extended family, always working together – if you are not a great team player you’ll not get selected no matter how brilliant you are.

• leave the jersey in a better place: every All Black represents every player who pulled on the famous shirt before him and all those still to come, this creates a sense of higher purpose.

Nora Smith, CEO of CO3 said: “There is a huge amount of interest in James’s work and we can’t wait to hear him speak.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Running a charity might seem a million miles away from coaching an elite sports team, but we need to learn how to lead better and James’s work is both ground-breaking and exciting and many other organisations across the globe are already putting his findings into practice.”

The two-day conference begins tomorrow and includes CO3’s awards ceremony.

Related topics:Northern IrelandBelfastNew Zealand