Can New Zealand Rugby be run by an Englishman? Not without difficulty

Sunday, 16 November 2025

Mark Robinson explains why he will step down from his role as New Zealand Rugby chief executive in December.

NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson will leave next month.
Six Nations boss Tom Harrison and former NZ Cricket boss David White have been linked to the role.
An Englishman would face challenges domestically and internationally.

ANALYSIS: The list of challenges facing New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson’s successor is extensive.

They include, but are not limited to, running the process to retain or replace Scott Robertson as All Blacks coach after the 2027 Rugby World Cup; returning the Black Ferns to the top of the world; elevating Super Rugby Pacific in the face of intense competition from the NRL; balancing the commercial demands on the All Blacks with the on-field task of catching the Springboks; managing complex stakeholder relationships from the professional game to the community level.

And that’s just the items in the day one inbox - excluding the unforeseen events that will pop up along the way.

Robinson will leave next month, with a few more scars than when he joined, exiting up a role that is relentlessly demanding.

The NZ Rugby board is running the process to find his replacement, with Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison and former NZ Cricket chief executive David White strongly linked to the role.

Quite what both men think of their names making the way into the public realm before the process is even finished is unknown, but they should get used to the scrutiny.

Ardie Savea scores a try against England last year.

As NZ Rugby chief executive, they’ll cop the blame if community playing numbers are down across any segment or the All Blacks aren’t playing well: it’s that sort of role.

They’ll also be expected to convey what the All Blacks mean to New Zealanders to potential overseas sponsors.

They’ll have to sit in a boardroom in Tokyo, or Chicago, or London and communicate with sincerity what actually powers the All Blacks and Black Ferns is a dream that starts with five-year-old Kiwis running around in cold mornings in small New Zealand towns.

Robinson has had his critics, but that was familiar territory for a former All Black who had actually lived that experience - and NZ Rugby’s enormous sponsorship portfolio reflects his strength in that area.

That’ll be be harder for Harrison, and the challenges won’t stop there.

New Zealand’s rugby system is a complex beast, from both a high-performance and governance point of view.

Even rugby insiders find it hard to navigate, with fully professional Super Rugby preceding not-fully professional provincial rugby on the calendar - a state of affairs that has no real equivalent anywhere in the world.

In political terms, being the chief executive of NZ Rugby is a bit like being prime minister - dealing with foreign rivals and allies and the great matters of state - while simultaneously being answerable to local councils up and down the country.

Even if Harrison can wrap his head around the organisational complexities - and given his resume his intellect is not in question - he’ll need to quickly acquire the cultural and historic elements.

And it might take time for an outsider to make sense of the fact that the NPC has just produced its most-watched game since 2017, with the Canterbury v Otago final capturing the imagination despite top All Blacks long having stopped being part of provincial rugby.

None of this should disqualify Harrison from the role, but if he gets it he’ll need a strong team of New Zealanders around him to fill in the gaps.