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.