A few weeks before the All Blacks left for this year\u2019s tour of South Africa<\/a>, there was a reunion for the players, coaching staff and management of the World Cup-winning teams of 2011<\/a> and 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was, by all accounts, a memorable evening where giants of the modern game \u2013 Richie McCaw<\/a>, Dan Carter<\/a>, Conrad Smith<\/a>, Sir Steve Hansen, Sir Wayne Smith and Sir Graham Henry \u2013 shared memories, told stories and took time to appreciate what they achieved.<\/p>\n For Henry, and the long-serving mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka<\/a> who was with the team from 2004-2023, there was something about seeing the playing group again that stuck with them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reunion made me realise, wow these guys owned the team,\u201d Enoka says. \u201cThey [other players] would put things in front of the leaders, and it would not be enacted unless the leaders said we want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Enoka had, of course, been aware at the time that the players had a high degree of ownership in how the team played, prepared and behaved.<\/p>\n But a decade on, it hit him, as it did Henry, how important that had been in the success of the All Blacks during that period.<\/p>\n They had a phenomenal record from 2005-2015, winning two World Cups and 87% of their tests. Mostly, the media attributed the success to the quality of personnel.<\/p>\n It was a rare period in which New Zealand had multiple once-in-a-generation players at the peak of their powers, and other rising stars such as Sam Whitelock<\/a>, Brodie Retallick<\/a>, Kieran Read<\/a>, Aaron Smith<\/a> and Ben Smith<\/a> who would go on to become legends.<\/p>\n But the success of the All Blacks was built on something deeper than ability. It was built on the strength of the leadership group and the level of ownership, responsibility and accountability that the players had.<\/p>\n The leaders were involved in every aspect of the team \u2013 from contributing to strategy meetings with the coaches, shaping training sessions, setting standards of behaviour, and determining disciplinary outcomes for those who didn\u2019t meet expectations.<\/p>\n The logic behind giving the players so much influence and control was simple: it would be them making the big decisions on game day. They would be playing, not the coaches and it was about building a culture of ownership so that in the big pressure moments, the players were used to making big calls and understanding they would be accountable for them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were solution-focused and team-driven,\u201d says Henry, who was head coach from 2004 to 2011 and has returned to the national team as an independent selector. \u201cWhen you have Tana [Umaga], Richie and Conrad Smith, Tony Woodcock, Ma\u2019a [Nonu] and Keven Mealamu, Jerome Kaino, Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock leading the team, it is powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n Just how strongly the World Cup-winning teams had been player-led struck Enoka because, like Henry, he\u2019d accepted an offer from new coach Dave Rennie to return to the All Blacks as leadership and mental performance coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n He\u2019d spent the first two months in his new role determining where the All Blacks were at with their understanding of leadership, and how much ownership and responsibility they had.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things I said to Dave when I took the job is that the model we are using is exactly the same as the one I introduced in 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to see if that model was still fit for purpose and we spent two months exploring and mining what was happening, and talking to people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to different coaching groups in different sports and talked to different individuals and we had forums. We got our key leaders and got them to talk to us to ask what moves you as a leader?<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is creating success for you and out of that we said what does that mean for this team, right now for leadership?\u201d<\/p>\n Enoka refers to 2004 because it is the year that should be marked as the genesis of the modern All Blacks. It was the year everything changed: the year in which the All Blacks freed themselves from the shackles of an amateur culture that was holding them back.<\/p>\n It was the year of revolution. The year of modernisation and the success the All Blacks enjoyed between 2005-2015 is down to the enormity of the decision they made in September 2004 to build a collaborative model of ownership and leadership between the players and coaches.<\/p>\n And the catalyst \u2013 or certainly the accelerant of change \u2013 was a heavy defeat to the Springboks at Ellis Park, followed by what is universally agreed to have been a monumental drinking session that left several players passed out on the grounds of their luxury hotel.<\/p>\n The drinking had been well-planned and built around what was known as a court session where players were charged with real and fictitious (humorous) crimes and forced to drink as punishment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the 10th anniversary of Freedom Day and Nelson Mandela was there [Ellis Park],\u201d Henry says. \u201cIt was massive. He was probably the greatest human being who ever lived. He was on the field and he shook the hands of all the Springboks and didn\u2019t shake our guys\u2019 hands, which was fair and reasonable, and every seat had a drum and a scarf on it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were better than us and that was annoying. We got back to the hotel and because they [players] weren\u2019t going to play until the Northern tour, which was about two months away, they carried on like they normally carried on when there was a big space until the next game.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite frankly I was amazed,\u201d Henry says. \u201cAnd I like a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a sad but enormously significant day for the All Blacks. Henry and his fellow coaches Hansen<\/a> and Smith<\/a> had noted the sense of nationalism South Africa had \u2013 and how it seemed like the Springbok players had a strong understanding of their identity.<\/p>\n The All Blacks, on the other hand, seemed to be playing as individuals. And maybe most pertinently, the coaches realised that the players left all matters of decision-making to captain Umaga, who struck a lonely figure trying to deal with the enormity of the job on his own.<\/p>\n And as for the predetermined drinking \u2013 that galvanised the coaches, management and some of the senior players to say \u201cenough\u201d. There had to be change.<\/p>\n The drinking \u2013 and the court session \u2013 was a remnant of amateurism, something that got carried into the professional age mostly because it was what the players had always done and they didn\u2019t know how to break the habit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a rite of passage,\u201d Enoka says. \u201cI can still remember seeing a group of guys on game day sitting together discussing and I can remember thinking, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s good they are looking into the game\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut they were discussing what they were going to do in the court session after it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was what they had always done, and it became a forum for drinking heaps and getting into people that you had agendas for, and it was difficult for a lot of people to endure.\u201d<\/p>\n The post-match carnage was of such a toxic nature that assistant coach Smith slipped a note under Henry\u2019s door telling him that unless there was a giant clean-up of standards, attitudes and behaviours he was going to quit.<\/p>\n This was not the sort of All Blacks team he wanted anything to do with. Henry, and Hansen, were in agreement and on the plane back from South Africa, they started plotting a revolution.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was probably our 10th test of that year or thereabouts and in those days you arrived on the Sunday and played on the Saturday,\u201d Henry says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had visions of changing the culture anyway and I talked to Gilbert about it and Wayne and Steve and others, but we didn\u2019t have the space because it was test match after test match.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that was the catalyst for major change. We organised to meet senior players and staff in Wellington at HQ.\u201d<\/p>\n It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of that crisis summit, and the impact it had across the New Zealand and global rugby landscapes.<\/p>\n As Henry remembers it: \u201cI said to them [senior players], \u2018How do you enjoy playing for the All Blacks?\u2019 They said, \u2018We feel very privileged, Ted, but we don\u2019t enjoy the culture and we don\u2019t enjoy the pressure\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was gold. Because the culture was amateur and it was just the way it was. It had been like that forever. It was a heavy-drinking culture. A pressure culture from senior players to adhere to that way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Umaga\u2019s memory is much the same as it pertains to the mutual desire to kick out the old, bad habits.<\/p>\n \u201cThe game had been professional for a while by that stage, but there were still some things that were holding us back,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe coaches were adamant and so were some of our senior leaders that we didn\u2019t want to do this anymore and we wanted to move forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to feel like that, and we wanted to add to the legacy and we hadn\u2019t performed as well as we could have in the Tri Nations from what I recall.\u201d<\/p>\n Agreement was made that court sessions would be banned. Binge drinking was banned. Taking partners\/women back to the team hotel was no longer allowed.<\/p>\n Along with the cultural change, there were personnel changes as senior players finished with the team.<\/p>\n The All Blacks, in 2005, would also unveil their own haka, Kapa o Pango<\/a>, as a means to strengthen their identity and to better understand who they were representing.<\/p>\n Enoka wanted to lose the culture of silence where players were too afraid to speak up when they were unsure, the culture of secrecy where players appear to have listened but haven\u2019t, and the culture of me \u2013 where the individual puts themselves first, not the team.<\/p>\n Again, there was agreement from Umaga and vice-captain McCaw, but the captain had a critical request for the coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had come back from Europe and had some ideas about the way we should be doing things,\u201d Umaga says. \u201cI remember going into the meeting with Richie [McCaw] and saying, \u2018I am going to talk to the coaches about the fact we have contact sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were bringing in groups of players on a Tuesday just to play against us, and these were players that had just missed out [on All Blacks selection]. There was effectively an All Blacks trial every Tuesday and Thursday and we were just trying to get through to Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe said we need to make sure that we are getting through everything we need to so that we are fast and fresh for the game on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were very fortunate at that stage that Ted, Steve and Smithy really bought into that and listened to us and that was the evolution \u2013 the leadership part they brought in with Bert [Enoka] sharing that around and making sure that wasn\u2019t left to one person as it had been in the old days.\u201d<\/p>\n The upshot was that the All Blacks built a collaborative leadership model that meant the coaches and a small group of senior players worked together to drive the team.<\/p>\n It was a radical shift \u2013 one that led Henry and his coaching team to go against all their instincts and previous habits, and step back to let the players have greater control. It was brave for them to be so trusting and change their own roles to facilitators.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was about being the best rugby team in the world and maybe becoming the best sporting team in the world,\u201d Henry says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what are the cultures and behaviours that are going to be necessary to achieve that? It was about humility, realising that you can always get better.<\/p>\n \u201cBe inspirational \u2013 your behaviour for the rest of the group. It was about keeping your feet on the ground as both an athlete and as a person. And the hunger to do that, the integrity \u2013 it is all very well talking about these things, but you have to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was set up by senior staff and senior players. What\u2019s our purpose? What\u2019s our culture? And it became the backbone of the team for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n For the players, the shift was as dramatic because now they had to be involved by having views, making their voices heard and supporting the captain.<\/p>\n They now had direct involvement in the team\u2019s affairs and a pronounced sense of ownership, responsibility and accountability.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the result [at Ellis Park] that changed us, it was what the result exposed,\u201d Enoka says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt exposed deficiencies in leadership, ownership and decision-making on the field. It exposed the cracks that had been there and forced it to the point where something had to give.<\/p>\n What was born there was the understanding that sustained success wasn\u2019t going to come from having better players. It was going to come from building better people and that was the genesis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed better leaders and we had to have the team take ownership of itself because they were just being told what to do by the coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a simple magical moment, but it was an event that exposed things that needed to shift. That is where it all began and that model exists today. Player-led and coach-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n The incredible thing now that the All Blacks find themselves preparing to go back to Ellis Park for the first test of Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series, is that Enoka, Henry and Umaga (defence coach) are back with the national team and find themselves once again at the birthplace of the modern All Blacks.<\/p>\n That the three men who were the central figures in the single greatest cultural change the All Blacks ever made have been pulled back into the fray by Rennie is no surprise.<\/p>\n The leadership model the All Blacks set up in 2004 pervaded all of New Zealand rugby, all of elite sport in the country, most big franchises globally and even major corporations.<\/p>\n Enoka says now he has had time with the team, he feels player ownership is not as strong in 2026 as it was between 2005 and 2015 and that there is a project underway to fix that.<\/p>\n Henry, who seems to have a roving commission in South Africa to dispense his wisdom to coaches and players as he sees fit, says: \u201cProbably the first thing I said to this group of players is that you have to take greater ownership and responsibility because it is your team. We [coaches] don\u2019t play the game and they will be playing under real pressure at Ellis Park.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to play the game, make decisions and take ownership. We can\u2019t play it for them. We are really the facilitators of that mindset if you like.\u201d<\/p>\n But while the sense of player ownership may not be as strong as it was a decade ago, the collaborative leadership model that was born in 2004 remains at the core of the way the 2026 All Blacks operate.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is across all environments where there is a lot more involvement of the players,\u201d Umaga says.<\/p>\n \u201cRenns naturally runs a similar environment where the players feel like they can be themselves. We know they have a love for the jersey and real intent around what they want to do for the black jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them have played more than 100 tests so there is great experience around, so why wouldn\u2019t you draw on that?<\/p>\n \u201cFor everyone to feel like they can be their authentic selves is key for us because that is why we pick them. I don\u2019t know if it was a genesis [2004] but it is a continuation of that leadership running this ship.\u201d<\/p>\nThe All Blacks had a turbulent year in 2004. Photo \/ Getty Images; Artwork \/ Paul Slater<\/p>\n
A dejected Justin Marshall after the 2004 defeat at Ellis Park. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Nelson Mandela before the 2004 Tri Nations test between the All Blacks and the Springboks at Ellis Park. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Captain Tana Umaga (right) with his All Blacks team ahead of the defeat at Ellis Park in 2004. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Tana Umaga performs Kapa o Pango before a test against England in 2005. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw exiting after winning the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Photo \/ Nigel Marple Collection<\/p>\n