The Breakdown | ‘Survive then thrive’: All Blacks want to lead rugby’s new global outlook

NZ Rugby’s chief executive Mark Robinson is only too aware of the challenges the sport faces in trying to agree a new calendar

The trickiest job in New Zealand? It used to be generally accepted that even the prime minister had it easier than the incumbent All Blacks head coach. Now, though, there is a third contender, requiring the former’s diplomatic touch and the latter’s survival instincts. To be NZ Rugby’s chief executive at this juncture in rugby history is to be caught between the devil and the deep blue Pacific.

Put yourself in Mark Robinson’s jandals for a second. On the one hand he presides over the most marketable national team in the world, which is not the worst gig. On the other he represents a country at odds over whether a chunk of NZ Rugby’s commercial operations should be sold to a US-based private equity firm. Squaring that contradictory circle – “rugby means an awful lot to our country’s identity and psyche” – will define Robinson’s stewardship, with significant implications for every other rugby-playing country in the world.