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Steven Luatua: 'Sometimes the decision is made for you'
By Online Editors
Bristol flanker and former All Black Steven Luatua has shed light on the decision to shift to Europe near the peak of his rugby career.
"It is a reality that if the pay gap is that much more and you can earn two-fold over here and you've got a family in mind sometimes the decision is made for you," Luatua told NZME. "You can earn well in New Zealand and live a good life but our stint in rugby is, if you are lucky, five to 10 years."
With Premiership club Bristol Luatua reportedly earns around £650,000 (NZD $1.3m) each season, the same as All Blacks captain Kieran Read's playing wage.
Staying in New Zealand would have seen Luatua net half of that amount if he was lucky. Fellow Premiership-based former All Black Lima Sopoaga recently expressed the opinion that the black jersey is not enough for some players anymore, and Luatua tends to agree with that sentiment.
"With all the awareness around concussion, and awareness in general that we're not going to play forever, I tend to agree with Lima [Sopoaga] that it will start opening up and guys will start to see the reality that if the pay gap is going to be that much different then you've got to look after the family."
At 27, Luatua says he wouldn't trade his time with the All Blacks for anything. Bristol teammate and former All Black Charles Piutau has toyed with the idea of representing Tonga in the future, and there is an opportunity for Luatua to pursue a spot at the 2019 Rugby World Cup with Samoa should he represent the country in Sevens and switch his allegiance, though he hasn't given it much thought.
"For Charles [Piutau] I think it's great he wants to represent Tonga and for other guys who have represented New Zealand in the past as well," he said. "But I made my bed with the All Blacks and I loved my time there and I wouldn't change anything for it. I have Samoan heritage but I wouldn't trade in my time with the All Blacks for that at the moment. That's as far as I see it for now."
Luatua is also yet to rule out a return to New Zealand like former Blues teammate Ma'a Nonu, who is set to re-join the Blues in 2019.
"If Bristol will have me for the next couple of years I'll stay and do my time here," Luatua said. "And then we'll see what happens."
Luatua's Bristol side currently sit 10th on the Premiership table with two wins and four losses. They will next meet Northampton in the opening round of the Premiership Rugby Cup.
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Latest Comments
Special player. The full set.
Go to comments“He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”
He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.
“He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”
He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).
If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.
“You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”
Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.
“Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”
Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.
“You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”
Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.
But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.
Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.
Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.
So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.
Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.
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