Arriving at their hotel after a lengthy flight, the All Blacks men’s rugby union team knew what was expected of them.

“If you watch most other international teams, the porters from the hotel are out unloading the luggage van, or luggage truck, trucks plural,” said former All Blacks mental skills manager Gilbert Enoka when talking to the High Performance podcast in November.

“If you watch an All Blacks team arrive after 30 hours international flight, you’d have a human chain from the base of the truck right to the team room where the bags get lodged, and the bags are just passed one by one down the chain and everybody from the squad, staff included, are in that chain.”

The humility expected of each player is one of the core philosophies of New Zealand’s men’s and women’s rugby teams, which also include accountability, legacy, and constant discipline.

“We’d never seen anyone perform consistently that had a poor character,” said Enoka who was instrumental in helping create a culture change when he started with the squad in 2000.

Enoka helped lead the side to a World No. 1 ranking from 2009 to 2019 and also to become the only men’s team to win back-to-back rugby union World Cups, in 2011 and 2015. During his tenure, he worked with some of the sport’s best ever players, in Dan Carter and Richie McCaw.

“What we learned as time went on is that to become unstoppable, two things are important,” Enoka said. “One is your character, and one is your mindset.

“Rather than stressing working on what you needed to do to be a great All Black, the emphasis went on who you need to be.”

That mentality is seen in the team’s ‘sweep the sheds’ ideology, introduced by All Blacks head coach from 2012-19, Steve Hansen. The practice sees every team member, including its biggest stars, clean up the changing room after a match. McCaw was seen to be doing just this after winning the World Cup.   

The luggage transfer at the hotel is another example of the humility required of a player in one of the best sports teams in the world.

But it is about more than just doing the right thing. The Kiwis make a seemingly mundane task into a team-bonding exercise and a fulfilling life moment.