It was just a rugby match. Wasn't it?
Emerging ideas of national shadows and dominance hierarchies
Last weekend saw the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup. I think there’s a decent argument that this was the best weekend of rugby the world has ever seen.
Four matches played with an intensity, skill level, passion and sheer athleticism I’ve certainly never seen before. Drama in every game as momentum shifted right to the end. It was incredible to watch. Despite Wales getting knocked out…
As good as the games were, for me, the most interesting aspect was in the week before. Particularly in the build up to the Ireland vs New Zealand game on Saturday night.
This game meant more to my kiwi mates than almost any other, including their past world cup finals.
I have a hypothesis about why that was. I see something interesting in the shadows.
Where it all began
New Zealand have long dominated world rugby. The All Blacks are - rightly - seen as the ultimate scalp. They won the very first rugby world cup back in 1987, and were the first team to win back-to-back cups in 2011 and 2015. Until this year, they’d never lost a group game.
When England won the World Cup in 2003 they played New Zealand as a warm-up game and famously held on for a win with only 13 men left on the field. Their first win in NZ for 30 years. That was the moment many started to believe that England could win the tournament.
That bears repeating: Beating New Zealand once was enough to show that England could conquer the world.
That’s how consistently good New Zealand have been for decades. Rugby has had world rankings for 20 years. The All Blacks have been world #1 for 16 of those.
This rugby dominance is deeply entrenched in New Zealand culture. Being the best at rugby defines the nation.
Outside of the World Cup they didn’t lose a three test match series at home for 36 years. They lost to Australia 2-1 in 1986 and no-one else beat them over 3 tests until 2022 (noting France won a two test series in 1994).
What happened in 2022? They beat Ireland in the first test, then lost the next two.
Ireland took the series 2-1 in New Zealand with those two wins.
That really hurt the kiwis.
A loss of identity
Ireland went on to win their next 15 matches, hitting a 17-win streak that took them to world #1. Meanwhile, New Zealand stuttered. They finished the 2022 season with 8 wins, 4 losses and a draw - their worst record since 1998 - and fell to 5th in the world rankings.
This really matters to most New Zealanders. Really matters. In my judgement their identity is inextricably tied to being the world’s best at rugby.
A loss of that status hurts a lot. It's an existential threat.
At this World Cup, New Zealand lost to France in the opening game. More hurt to handle. They finished second in their group - the first time they haven’t been first.
Their reward? A quarter-final against Ireland. An opportunity for redemption.
This was huge.
A good kiwi friend of mine, whose Dad played for the All Blacks in the 70s, summed up the fervour for this game:
”I have only seen the kiwi public like this three times: 1995 RWC final, 2011 RWC final and this one.”
In 1995, New Zealand were needing to reclaim their crown having failed to defend it in 1991. They didn’t manage that. South Africa won their first title after extra time in a classic final.
By 2011 New Zealand still only had that 1987 victory to their name, with Australia, England, and South Africa winning in between. The pressure was on at a home World Cup - they simply had to win (and they did).
But this game was just a quarter-final? How could it compare to those huge finals with the Cup going to the winners?
Simple: Their national identity was at stake again.
Lose to Ireland, again, and they would be adrift. This clip really brought home for me what was behind the intensity of the build up:
“Those 23 men trusted to wear black, named to play against Ireland in the Rugby World Cup quarter finals, will be the ones who determine our fate as a nation”
This says it as clear as day. For New Zealanders, this wasn't just a huge rugby match. Their very fate as a nation was on the line.
Dominance hierarchies and national shadow
Why was this rugby match so important to New Zealanders?
My take is that this is about the insecurity of a small island nation physically distant from the world, whose main export is the reputation of its rugby team. Rugby has placed New Zealand at the top of a dominance hierarchy, for generations. Rugby is their source of self-respect.
Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life starts with Rule 1: Stand up Straight with your Shoulders Back. By this he means to take your place as high up in a dominance hierarchy as you can; to project competence and confidence and get the rewards from that. To be respected - a core driver for men.
Being low down in a dominance hierarchy is an existential threat. From an evolutionary perspective you are simply less likely to survive, less likely to pass on your genes.
For New Zealand, I see this as a type of national shadow. A shadow I feel close to, with my Welsh heritage and national identity similarly tied to what happens on the rugby pitch. Wales losing at rugby confirms our lowly status in the eyes of others. In New Zealand, it triggers a fear of death.
Shadow at the level of a whole country can be both powerful, and hard to pin down. Shadow is the parts of us that we hide, repress, and deny. When they are shared by everyone around us they are even harder to spot.
In a way, this is the origin of national stereotypes. Why are the British unable to speak openly about sex? Shadow. Why do the Germans prize efficiency over humour? Shadow. Why are Indians so eager to please Westerners? Shadow.
New Zealand won the match. They simply had to.
It was a brutal encounter. Ireland were emotionally crushed - they’ve never progressed past a World Cup quarter-final, and have their own shadows to deal with.
And I was left wondering: What shadows at the societal level are impacting me? Do I want them to influence me? If not, how can I break free?
All this, and we have two rounds still to play. Bring it on.
Deri.
Footnote: I wrote this whilst the Israel-Hamas conflict is dominating the news. The subject of national shadow is likely at play there too, in many different ways. I am trying to learn but don’t know enough about the complex history leading to those events to say much about it other than this: I felt deep sadness and fear after the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas, and my heart goes out to all the civilians impacted by the ongoing violence.