August 29, 2026 • 10 mins
Touring is one of the great traditions of team sports - but there's a lot of hidden drawbacks amongst the glamorous parts.
As the All Blacks keep their current series going in South Africa, there'll be some extra pressure on the Kiwi side following this morning's loss.
Coaching expert Wayne Goldsmith joined Piney to explain further.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Pine
from Newstalk ZB. Touring is one of the great traditions
of team sport. You leave home, you travel the world,
you stay in hotels, you play in unfamiliar environments and
spend weeks living alongside the same group of teammates. But
while it can look glamorous from the outside, touring can
(00:27):
also be physically and mentally exhausting. Disrupted sleep, travel fatigue,
being away from family, having very little personal space and
the pressure of staying together when things are not going well.
particularly relevant right now, of course, with the All Blacks
in the middle of a four-test tour of South Africa
and the United States. So what does it actually take
(00:48):
to be a good tourist and how do coaches keep
a team physically fresh, mentally healthy and united when they're
effectively living in a box together for weeks on end?
Our coaching and performance expert, Wayne Goldsmith, is with us
to talk about the art and the challenge of touring. Wayne,
always good to have you on the show. Sounds wonderful
from the outside, playing sport in different countries, nice hotels,
(01:11):
different cultures. But what does a long sporting tour actually
demand of those who are involved in it?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, it's funny, isn't it? It does look glamorous.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And if you're a rugby fan in New Zealand, and
particularly the way the ABs have started the the tour
and i mean not just the test but the way
they came back the other night against the lions and
all things you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Got you go man you'd give anything.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
To be on that tour but look even something and
i know when i went there with with the wallabies
a long time ago that that you you go well
we're in south africa this is going to be awesome
but the reality was it was a lot of gear
and from the previous tour that had been knocked off
and had been stolen at the airport. So we had
(01:58):
to pay for extra security people to be at the
bottom of the plane as it was being unloaded and
have all the bags numbered and labelled and then have
that cross-verified by members of the team. So you think, well,
this is going to be great and everything's handed to you,
but even the simplest thing of landing... and try to
get some bags can cause issues and challenges.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Look, it is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I've been lucky to be to it all over the
world with teams. But yeah, there's a lot more to
it than just going on a holiday with your mates.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I want to unpack a couple of specific aspects of this.
And one that I find quite intriguing is being away
from family and away from normal life. How significant is
the psychological separation particularly perhaps Wayne for those younger athletes
who haven't done a lot of touring.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I find that's a good question and the bottom line
is with the experience that for example the ABs have
got now, and I've always got some very, very smart
people in and around the team, you're going to be
aware of that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And some of the strategies that you.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Can put in place, you say, well, look, no matter
who they are, if they're 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
or if they come from a rural area quite often
where they're used to having friends and family around that
they went to school with, the transition into being really
in a battlefield in another country can be substantial. You
(03:29):
need to know the players before you leave and things
like simple buddy systems, a senior player with a junior
player or two junior players together or relative rookies together
who get each other and have got similar likes and
have got similar interests. They might like to play golf
on their down days or surf or do something together.
(03:51):
So you try to create a little bit of family
structure and within the team and look it's not mum
and dad and it's not partner and brothers and sisters
and schoolmates but in another way it.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Is and you know what I've found from tours.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I often think it's a make or a break is
that if you get it right and you get your
rooming right and you get your travel companions right you're
sitting next to the the people that you've got things
in common with and who you like spending time with,
it can be the making of a group. If you
don't get that right, so they're away, they're lonely, they're frustrated.
(04:26):
And if they're losing or if they're not being selected,
then the cracks start to appear. And that's when that
overall team family environment becomes incredibly important.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
In a normal situation, when you're playing a normal season, Wayne,
you play your game, you train, you go home. You
play your game, you go home. Even when you're playing
away from home, you might only be away overnight. In
a tour of this length, you're basically living in one
another's pockets for weeks on end. Does that lack of
personal space, is there the danger that it creates personality clashes, irritations,
(05:03):
if you like, that wouldn't happen under normal circumstances?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I think so, and you'll see that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sometimes I've been away, and I've been surprised, Piney, when
you've been away and you've gone, I didn't see that
one coming. And it was because I can think of
a tour when I was in Europe with the triathlon team.
And again, it was a long tour. It was about
nine weeks. And the first two or three weeks, it
was just train and traveling and then competing in places
(05:31):
like Lyon and training in southern France.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And it was just idyllic.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Then we get to four or five weeks in and
there's some injuries and there's fatigue and there's a bit
of stress and then there's some bad news coming from
home and all those things.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And you started to see the cracks form. And I
think it's.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Important that, and I know that what we were doing
and what every tour I've done is the first thing
in the morning, last thing at night, you have a
meeting with the coaches and senior players and talk about
where things are at. And if you're seeing any sort
of a cracks or any problem whatsoever, is to get
onto them quickly and not assume that they will resolve
(06:09):
themselves over time. Because, you know, these things have got
a way of.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Spreading, Piney.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It's interesting that when you're in your own little microcosm
and there might be a player who's not playing well
or injured or is out of form, whatever it might be,
and they've got someone who listens to them. So now
you've got two people. talking about things that are not
working or frustrating or annoying or whatever it might be.
That can all of a sudden become nine and you've
(06:34):
got a fracture in the team and things start to
go haywire from there. So really important that the coaching group,
the staff and the management team have got a real
finger on the pulse. You know the people who quite
often have got the best finger on the pulse, quite literally, Pony,
are the massage and physio team because they're they're quite
(06:58):
often in direct physical proximity with players. And there's a
great line I like, which is you tend to share
your deepest secrets with anyone who touches you.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So your barber, your hairdresser, your massage therapist.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And I quite often find that in teams, without breaking
the trust of the players, this is important, is that
quite often I've had a relationship as coach or manager
where the massage therapist will come to me and say, listen, Wayne,
I can't break the trust of the player, but I
think you need to spend some time with John because
(07:32):
it would be important for him to have you spend
time with him right now.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
We leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
All they're doing is flagging that one of the team
needs a little bit of extra love and attention right now.
So you've got to have those mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Where your finger is really on the pulse of how
everybody's tracking.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
On long tours, how important is time off, not just
for players, Wayne, but for the coaches and the management
team as well?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh, they've got to have downtime.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, the days of looking at it say, well,
you know, again, where the All Blacks are at the moment,
you go, it's a tough game.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It's a hard game. Therefore, none of this stays off rubbish.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
No. The idea is that right through the series for
the test matches and the provincial games, the consistency of
world-class excellence across their team in every detail, management, playing, recovery, physio, medical, everybody,
to be at a consistent world's best level all the
(08:33):
way through. No one can do that for a month
away from home, under pressure, different foods, exposed to all
sorts of viruses or bacterial problems potentially, and be.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
At your best for that whole period of time. I've
tried it. doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
And quite often the coaches break down because the coaches
are working, usually the first one's out of bed, the
last one's to go to bed, and they're giving everything
they can to every game, and then they get through
four weeks and then they burn out. So many times
I've been away leading a tour and I've just gone
(09:08):
to the physiotherapist and one of the coaches and said, right, guys,
get on a train, go to Paris, have a weekend off,
just go. Because you started to see that they were–
you could see that they were tired all the time.
Their energy level had dropped. You could just see that
they needed a break.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That's all part of it. The players have got a
great recovery program.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
They'll have all that stuff in nutrition, hydration and massage
and all those things under control. But we often underestimate
the stress load and the fatigue load on everyone around
the playing group.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yet if they break down, everything breaks down.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
As always, Wayne, brilliant advice from you. Thanks for giving
us the benefit of your wisdom, as always, across the
airwaves of New Zealand. Look forward to catching up again soon.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Always a pleasure, my friend. Thanks, Wayne.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Wayne Goldsmith, our coaching guru here on Newstalk ZB.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Pine
from Newstalk ZB. Touring is one of the great traditions
of team sport. You leave home, you travel the world,
you stay in hotels, you play in unfamiliar environments and
spend weeks living alongside the same group of teammates. But
while it can look glamorous from the outside, touring can
(00:27):
also be physically and mentally exhausting. Disrupted sleep, travel fatigue,
being away from family, having very little personal space and
the pressure of staying together when things are not going well.
particularly relevant right now, of course, with the All Blacks
in the middle of a four-test tour of South Africa
and the United States. So what does it actually take
(00:48):
to be a good tourist and how do coaches keep
a team physically fresh, mentally healthy and united when they're
effectively living in a box together for weeks on end?
Our coaching and performance expert, Wayne Goldsmith, is with us
to talk about the art and the challenge of touring. Wayne,
always good to have you on the show. Sounds wonderful
from the outside, playing sport in different countries, nice hotels,
(01:11):
different cultures. But what does a long sporting tour actually
demand of those who are involved in it?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, it's funny, isn't it? It does look glamorous.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And if you're a rugby fan in New Zealand, and
particularly the way the ABs have started the the tour
and i mean not just the test but the way
they came back the other night against the lions and
all things you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Got you go man you'd give anything.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
To be on that tour but look even something and
i know when i went there with with the wallabies
a long time ago that that you you go well
we're in south africa this is going to be awesome
but the reality was it was a lot of gear
and from the previous tour that had been knocked off
and had been stolen at the airport. So we had
(01:58):
to pay for extra security people to be at the
bottom of the plane as it was being unloaded and
have all the bags numbered and labelled and then have
that cross-verified by members of the team. So you think, well,
this is going to be great and everything's handed to you,
but even the simplest thing of landing... and try to
get some bags can cause issues and challenges.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Look, it is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I've been lucky to be to it all over the
world with teams. But yeah, there's a lot more to
it than just going on a holiday with your mates.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I want to unpack a couple of specific aspects of this.
And one that I find quite intriguing is being away
from family and away from normal life. How significant is
the psychological separation particularly perhaps Wayne for those younger athletes
who haven't done a lot of touring.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I find that's a good question and the bottom line
is with the experience that for example the ABs have
got now, and I've always got some very, very smart
people in and around the team, you're going to be
aware of that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And some of the strategies that you.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Can put in place, you say, well, look, no matter
who they are, if they're 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
or if they come from a rural area quite often
where they're used to having friends and family around that
they went to school with, the transition into being really
in a battlefield in another country can be substantial. You
(03:29):
need to know the players before you leave and things
like simple buddy systems, a senior player with a junior
player or two junior players together or relative rookies together
who get each other and have got similar likes and
have got similar interests. They might like to play golf
on their down days or surf or do something together.
(03:51):
So you try to create a little bit of family
structure and within the team and look it's not mum
and dad and it's not partner and brothers and sisters
and schoolmates but in another way it.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Is and you know what I've found from tours.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I often think it's a make or a break is
that if you get it right and you get your
rooming right and you get your travel companions right you're
sitting next to the the people that you've got things
in common with and who you like spending time with,
it can be the making of a group. If you
don't get that right, so they're away, they're lonely, they're frustrated.
(04:26):
And if they're losing or if they're not being selected,
then the cracks start to appear. And that's when that
overall team family environment becomes incredibly important.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
In a normal situation, when you're playing a normal season, Wayne,
you play your game, you train, you go home. You
play your game, you go home. Even when you're playing
away from home, you might only be away overnight. In
a tour of this length, you're basically living in one
another's pockets for weeks on end. Does that lack of
personal space, is there the danger that it creates personality clashes, irritations,
(05:03):
if you like, that wouldn't happen under normal circumstances?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I think so, and you'll see that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Sometimes I've been away, and I've been surprised, Piney, when
you've been away and you've gone, I didn't see that
one coming. And it was because I can think of
a tour when I was in Europe with the triathlon team.
And again, it was a long tour. It was about
nine weeks. And the first two or three weeks, it
was just train and traveling and then competing in places
(05:31):
like Lyon and training in southern France.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And it was just idyllic.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Then we get to four or five weeks in and
there's some injuries and there's fatigue and there's a bit
of stress and then there's some bad news coming from
home and all those things.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And you started to see the cracks form. And I
think it's.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Important that, and I know that what we were doing
and what every tour I've done is the first thing
in the morning, last thing at night, you have a
meeting with the coaches and senior players and talk about
where things are at. And if you're seeing any sort
of a cracks or any problem whatsoever, is to get
onto them quickly and not assume that they will resolve
(06:09):
themselves over time. Because, you know, these things have got
a way of.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Spreading, Piney.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It's interesting that when you're in your own little microcosm
and there might be a player who's not playing well
or injured or is out of form, whatever it might be,
and they've got someone who listens to them. So now
you've got two people. talking about things that are not
working or frustrating or annoying or whatever it might be.
That can all of a sudden become nine and you've
(06:34):
got a fracture in the team and things start to
go haywire from there. So really important that the coaching group,
the staff and the management team have got a real
finger on the pulse. You know the people who quite
often have got the best finger on the pulse, quite literally, Pony,
are the massage and physio team because they're they're quite
(06:58):
often in direct physical proximity with players. And there's a
great line I like, which is you tend to share
your deepest secrets with anyone who touches you.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So your barber, your hairdresser, your massage therapist.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And I quite often find that in teams, without breaking
the trust of the players, this is important, is that
quite often I've had a relationship as coach or manager
where the massage therapist will come to me and say, listen, Wayne,
I can't break the trust of the player, but I
think you need to spend some time with John because
(07:32):
it would be important for him to have you spend
time with him right now.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
We leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
All they're doing is flagging that one of the team
needs a little bit of extra love and attention right now.
So you've got to have those mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Where your finger is really on the pulse of how
everybody's tracking.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
On long tours, how important is time off, not just
for players, Wayne, but for the coaches and the management
team as well?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh, they've got to have downtime.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, the days of looking at it say, well,
you know, again, where the All Blacks are at the moment,
you go, it's a tough game.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It's a hard game. Therefore, none of this stays off rubbish.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
No. The idea is that right through the series for
the test matches and the provincial games, the consistency of
world-class excellence across their team in every detail, management, playing, recovery, physio, medical, everybody,
to be at a consistent world's best level all the
(08:33):
way through. No one can do that for a month
away from home, under pressure, different foods, exposed to all
sorts of viruses or bacterial problems potentially, and be.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
At your best for that whole period of time. I've
tried it. doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
And quite often the coaches break down because the coaches
are working, usually the first one's out of bed, the
last one's to go to bed, and they're giving everything
they can to every game, and then they get through
four weeks and then they burn out. So many times
I've been away leading a tour and I've just gone
(09:08):
to the physiotherapist and one of the coaches and said, right, guys,
get on a train, go to Paris, have a weekend off,
just go. Because you started to see that they were–
you could see that they were tired all the time.
Their energy level had dropped. You could just see that
they needed a break.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That's all part of it. The players have got a
great recovery program.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
They'll have all that stuff in nutrition, hydration and massage
and all those things under control. But we often underestimate
the stress load and the fatigue load on everyone around
the playing group.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yet if they break down, everything breaks down.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
As always, Wayne, brilliant advice from you. Thanks for giving
us the benefit of your wisdom, as always, across the
airwaves of New Zealand. Look forward to catching up again soon.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Always a pleasure, my friend. Thanks, Wayne.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Wayne Goldsmith, our coaching guru here on Newstalk ZB.
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