What drives one of the most successful sports teams on the planet? How do they meet the standard founded by their predecessors, and adhere to the expectations of not just fans, but an entire nation? Mike Cron, a longtime All Blacks assistant and commonly referred to as the scrum doctor, has the answers.
Cron was there for the highest highs – drought-breaking Rugby World Cup glory on home turf in 2011, and back-to-back triumphs in 2015 – and the gut-punch lows... namely 2007’s forward pass.
Cron talks all about it in his new book Coach: Lessons from an All Blacks Legend.
After that infamous quarter-final loss to France in Cardiff, officiated by a very young Wayne Barnes, the New Zealand national rugby side went on a tear.
“We had a drive to be the best rugby team in the world, which we ended up being number one for a while. And then we had a drive to be the longest number one sports team in the world,” Cron told Martin Devlin on the DSPN.
Cron made mention of snooker player Stephen Hendry, whose mark of eight years ranked as world number one (April 1990 to May 1998) was a goal of the team’s to overcome.
The All Blacks were number one in the world for virtually the entire 2010s – 10 full years to be exact from late 2009 to late 2019. They were also ranked second or better from December 2003 right through to the 2019 World Cup semifinal loss to England – a period of 5,819 days.
“You’ve got to have a drive greater than yourself,” Cron added.
“I’m talking about a player and a coach, or management. You’ve got to have a drive. What gets you out of bed? What makes you strive for excellence? What helps you coach your athlete to the very best of your ability? What makes that athlete have a thirst to get better today than he was yesterday? It has to be a drive greater than the individual want.”
That’s why the All Blacks didn’t just settle for lifting the Webb Ellis Cup. They set goals that sounded crazy – chasing a snooker player’s record for dominance. And they smashed it.
“Only history will say that we were pretty good,” Cron says with a smile. The record certainly does.
These days Cron helps out with the Wallabies, and is currently in the midst of the British & Irish Lions series. He has been part of the Australian coaching group since Joe Schmidt assumed the head coaching role.
Devlin asked Cron what it’s like working against the All Blacks.
"Very difficult, very difficult, particularly when the national anthem and the haka gets done… [it’s] completely foreign to stand there and keep your mouth shut."
Cron also shed some light on the great off-field relationship between Australia and New Zealand.
“They came into our shed in Sydney last year, and then we were invited into their shed in Wellington. You can catch up with a lot of old friends, particularly the management side of it who I've spent many years with."
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