Every business has its share of CNEs – CNEs are small things outside the core business that add so much value they ultimately determine the success of the enterprise. What are yours?
But in the past five losses to the All Blacks, four of them have come after the Wallabies were ahead at half-time. Someone has suggested the Wallabies remain on the field and suck their oranges at half-time, as they did decades ago, to stay in the groove. More sensibly, Robbie Deans should use the ploy developed by Clive Woodward when he was faced with a similar problem with his England side. He got his players to change into new jerseys at half-time. The theory was that the pristine white jerseys gave the players a sense of invincibility. The All Blacks, apparently, have adopted the new jersey regime.
Woodward was a great believer in the Critical Non-Essentials business philosophy of a Brisbane dentist called Dr Paddi Lund. CNEs are small things outside the core business that add so much value they ultimately determine the success of the enterprise. The jersey-change is an example. The All Blacks came up with their own CNE that seemed to solve their chronic lineout problems. In the past they have gone to the lineout and sweated out what the throw was would be. In Tokyo, Tom Donnelly made the calls as the All Blacks walked to the lineouts. The ball was thrown in quickly before the Wallabies could work out from the body language of their opponents where the throw was going.
