Jack Tame: The handling of Leon MacDonald's departure has been strangely refreshing

13-year old Jack Tame would never have believed that Scott Robertson and Leon MacDonald weren’t getting along.  

The year was 2000.  Having survived Y2K, started high school, and become a teenager in the space of a few short months, the highlight of my year was yet to come: May 20th, when the Canterbury Crusaders defeated the ACT Brumbies by a single point at Bruce Stadium in Canberra to become Super Rugby Champions for the third year in a row, the first team to achieve the feat. 

It is amazing to go back and look at that starting 15. We didn’t know it then, but several of the winning Crusaders would end up becoming successful coaches after their playing careers were done. Winning finalists included Todd Blackadder, Daryl Gibson, and Mark Hammett, all of whom have enjoyed pretty high-profile coaching careers. The Crusaders’ second-five-eighth was a guy called Mark Robinson, who in years to come would be appointed the CEO of New Zealand Rugby. We didn’t know it then, but in a couple of decades, he would hire his blindside flanker teammate as the All Blacks’ coach and his fullback as assistant.  

But if you could’ve told 13-year-old me that two of the guys from that team would end up having a very split after just a month at the helm of the All Blacks, I would never have believed you.  

I’ve gotta say though... as shocked as I was this week to learn that MacDonald and Razor hadn’t worked out, from what we know so far, New Zealand Rugby, the All Blacks, and both Scott Robertson and Leon MacDonald deserve our praise and thanks.  

I thought that New Zealand Rugby statement and Robertson’s subsequent statements were amazing. Of course we’ll probably never know the full story, but they didn’t sugar-coat anything. No one made up a rubbish excuse – the old ‘more time with the family.’ It wasn’t nasty or spiteful. But it was honest. They didn’t see eye to eye. They have differing views. And after a series of ‘robust’ conversations, it wasn’t in the best interests of the team to have MacDonald and Robertson working together, resentment building as they pulled in different directions.   

It’s so easy to imagine an alternative, another World where they didn’t recognise or didn’t acknowledge things weren’t working, they weren’t clicking, and whatever tension existed festered and grew into something more damaging. Rumours would start. The odd news report would intimate that something wasn’t right. There could be cliques and factions. Players might have split loyalties. And ultimately it would hurt the team.  

Again, we don’t know everything. But given the frankness of the explanation, it’s the best we have. And man, there is so much to be said for calling it early. They didn’t battle on for a couple of seasons. They didn’t try and fake anything for the rugby-loving public. They called it.  

Leon MacDonald clearly has a lot of mana and as a coach he’s had success. I’m sure he’ll get a great coaching job somewhere different. Obviously 13-year-old me would be gutted to see two of his sporting heroes, split. But 20 years since they won that third title, their collective handling of this situation has been mature and strangely refreshing. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'll tell you what thirteen year old Jack Tame would
never have believed that Scott Robertson and Leon McDonald were
not getting along. The year was two thousand, having survived
y two k, started high school and become a teenager
in the space of a few short months. The highlight

(00:33):
of my year was yet to come May twentieth, when
the Canterbury Crusaders defeated the Act Brumbies by a single
point at Bruce Stadium in Canberra to become Super Rugby
champions for the third year in a row, the first
team to achieve the feat. It is actually honestly amazing
to go back and look at the team from that night,

(00:56):
the starting fifteen for the Crusaders. We didn't know it then,
but several of the winning Crusaders would end up becoming
successful coaches after their playing careers had finished. So winning
finalists included Todd Blackadder, Darryl Gibson and Mark Hammett, all
of whom have enjoyed pretty high profile rugby coaching careers.
The Crusaders' second five eighths was a guy called Mark Robinson,

(01:19):
who in years to come would be appointed the CEO
of New Zealand Rugby. And of course we didn't know
it then, but in a couple of decades he would
hire his blindside flanker teammate as the All Blacks coach
and his fullback as assistant. But if you could have
told thirteen year old me that two of the guys
on that team of all teams would end up having

(01:42):
a very public split after just a month at the
helm of the All Blacks, I would never have believed you.
I have to say, though, as shocked as I was
to learn that McDonald and Razer hadn't worked out, from
what we know so far, New Zealand Rugby, the All
Blacks and both Scott Robinson and Leon McDonald deserve our
praise and thanks. I thought that statement from New Zealand

(02:04):
Rugby and Scott Robertson's subsequent statements were honestly amazing. Look,
I mean, we're never going to know the full story, right,
of course, but they didn't sugarcoat anything. No one made
up a rubbish excuse, you know, the old more time
with the family. It wasn't nasty, it wasn't spiteful.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
It was.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I mean, it was honest. They just didn't see eye
to eye. They have differing views after a series of
robust conversations. That might be a bit of a euphemism,
or at least an understatement. It simply wasn't in the
best interests of the team to have McDonald and Robertson
working together, resentment building as they pulled in different directions.
And look, it's just so easy to imagine an alternative,

(02:48):
don't you think to just imagine it for a moment,
another world where they didn't recognize or didn't acknowledge that
things weren't working, or tried to hide it. You know
that they didn't accept that things weren't clicking, and whatever
tension existed fested and grew into something much more damaging.
You just know that rumors would start. The odd you know,

(03:11):
the odd news report would intimate something wasn't quite right.
Greg Or Paul would get a bit of a sniff.
There would be cliques, there would be factions, players might
have split loyalties, and ultimately the whole thing would hurt
the team. Again, we don't know everything, but given the
frankness of the explanation, it's the best we have right

(03:31):
and man, there is just so much to be said
for calling it early. They didn't battle on for a
couple of seasons, they didn't try and fake anything for
the rugby loving public. They called it. Leon McDonald clearly
has I mean, I think Leo McDonald clearly has a
lot of money, and as a coach he has had
real success. I'm sure he will get a great coaching

(03:54):
job somewhere different. Obviously, thirteen year old me would be
gutted to see two of his sporting heroes split. But
twenty years or twenty four years since they won that
third time, their collective handling of this situation I think
has been mature and strangely refreshing.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
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