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Sir Graham Henry presented to the IRANZ High Performance Coaches group this week and made a remarkable statement:  60% of being successful as a coach is selection.

“We’re going to have to be hungry for success,” Steve Hansen said, after announcing the squad. In my view this is the key attribute required to win the Rugby World Cup.  We have the players, we have the history, we have the technical and tactical skill and nous.  But we won’t win the Cup unless we have sufficient hunger! We often hear comments like “we need experience at this level.” This is true, but sometimes players with experience lack the hunger.  On the other hand they have the ability to apply themselves mentally – to live, think and play in the moment, without the mind being distracted in any way or form.  This is what we call mental toughness. Most experienced players have this attribute.  The hunger is desire – to be desperate to do as well as you possibly can.

It was an absolute cracker and the Crusaders totally deserved their win.  It might have been by the narrowest of margins, but they led all the way. 

Since IRANZ was established in 2001, 16 of our Player and Coach Graduates from the USA have pushed on to become USA Eagles.