'Jonah Lomu was the reason we all got paid as rugby players' - Stephen Donald calls for players to put a price on the All Black jersey

World Cup winner Stephen ‘Rex’ Donald has claimed that the All Blacks need “heroes” to remain a global rugby force, stating that sacrifices have to be made to inspire younger generations.

Donald, well known for kicking the winning penalty in the 2011 World Cup final in an incredible return to international rugby, spoke to Sport Nation NZ following the All Blacks Autumn Nations Series tour.

“The biggest issue for me, and I’ve always said it and call me old school, call me whatever, but there’s got to be an element of sacrifice”, said Donald.

There are many forms of sacrifice in professional sports; time away from family, dietary restrictions, extra time on the training ground, putting your body and mind through huge amounts of stress, and much more. Donald, however, has noted a key factor currently affecting professional rugby. To chase the money or the success?

“You get the guys at press conferences saying ‘This black jersey means so much to me’. Well, at some point in your life, you’ve got to prove it. Let’s not sugarcoat it, this is about getting Richie Mu’onga back.

“Let’s talk sacrifice, Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie. Maybe Richie at his best is better than both of them, but both of them have (hypothetically) sacrificed $1 million (contracts to play overseas) because they put a price on the All Black jersey, and that’s what they were prepared to give up to go again when they could have gone to Japan.

“People like Damian, for example, are probably more attractive in Japan and the Japanese game than Richie because of the way he plays. You’ve gotta make sacrifices.

“Jonah Lomu was the reason why we all got paid as rugby players. He sacrificed the Dallas Cowboys, NRL and Super League before rugby was even professional. Because the kid from Otara, who went to Wesley, who came from Tonga, who had nothing, decided that the black jersey had a price, and the price he was prepared to sacrifice was all these offers.”

The financial sacrifices were immense for a young man who, as Donald described, had “nothing.” Yet, the rewards were immeasurably greater. Donald firmly believes that the honour of wearing the All Blacks jersey carries a value far beyond any overseas offer.

“Richie McCaw never left New Zealand. Richie McCaw is never going to work a day in his life because he’s the greatest All Black of all time. He’s won two World Cups and New Zealand will always look after Richie because of what he’s done for the country.

“So you can say ‘We can’t hold guys back, they’ve got to go over and do all of this’, that’s fine but look at historically how that’s happened, look at Richie, look at Jonah.

“We need heroes. This South African argument will never wash with me because South Africa doesn’t have the Warriors, doesn’t have the Melbourne Storm, doesn’t have Steve Adams, doesn’t have Auckland FC and Phoenix now taking all the young kids’ eyes and wanting to be football players.

“South Africa doesn’t deal with it, if you’re an Afrikaans kid in South Africa, you don’t have an option. You are going to be a rugby player and that is what you’re going to do, and you’re going to strive to be a Springbok. Now you can see the impact of the Springboks in their coloured policies that even the coloured boys who in the past would have been football boys are now following the Siya Kolisi’s.

“Why? Because they’ve got heroes.

“But if you don’t see your heroes playing week in and week out, and they’re up there playing a meaningless competition in Japan, or playing over in Toulon, what’s that got for (kids) to aspire to?

“So you’re just giving up on our nation’s game and saying ‘Oh well as long as we win the World Cup’. But how many World Cups are you going to win? You may win the next World Cup, maybe one after but if there’s not kids coming through, you won’t win the ones in 20 year’s time.”

 

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Fans generally agreed with his sentiment, with many of the discussions taking a turn to focus on the always controversial eligibility rules.

hala_back said: “Beaver does make some sense, no need to change the eligibility rule because we will always have the players locally that want to be there. We don’t need Mounga, but it would be nice to have him. Others have gone overseas and come back (Beaudy, Ardie, DMac, Retalick) so the sabbaticals do work.”

valor_rich took a different view, adding: “Nope not onboard. His SA argument actually proves the point of why exactly we need overseas eligibility, he said SA doesn’t have to deal with competing codes taking athletes like NZ does, but that is precisely why we need to cast the net wider. We don’t have the player numbers anymore. World Rugby article 9 says clubs must release players during international windows, so why wouldn’t you let overseas clubs pour money into your athletes for you?”

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