Japanese rugby taps into our motivational man of the mountains
Japan’s World Cup rugby side is opting to inject more mental determination and grunt into its game, having just enlisted some motivational help from Queenstown high country shepherd Brian Dagg.
Dagg, a mate of former Kiwi Japanese All Black and Japanese Rugby Team coach Jamie Joseph, was invited to join the team at a two-week training camp during the past month, bringing some of his life and climbing expertise with him.
A long-time player and supporter of Wakatipu Rugby, Dagg, the former Coronet Peak Station runholder, successfully summited Mount Everest in 2016, and has climbed the world’s Seven Summits in seven continents. He’s also coached rugby in Canada and Malaysia.
The Japanese Rugby World Cup campaign is themed around climbing Mount Everest and Dagg was there because he’d achieved big goals from humble beginnings, proving that you can do anything with “set goals, strong willpower and mental agility”.
The ‘Southern Man’ face of the Speights billboards and TV ads on his horse, Skipper, in the 1980s - before rugby turned professional, Brian met Jamie through his All Black promotional work for Lion Breweries.
It was a huge honour to be invited to work with the team on motivation last month, he says. The Japanese were particularly impressed that he’d summited Everest and wanted to know what skills he’d used to accomplish that.
A big focus was achieving what you think you can’t do,” says Dagg. “It’s all about drawing on your inner strength and your self-belief.”
He gave three presentations at the first camp and one at the second, both well received, drawing comparisons between mountain climbing and rugby.
“If I make a mistake when I’m climbing that can result in serious injury or death, but if you do that in rugby you just put your hand up and smile.”
He encouraged the players to take what they do more seriously and have accountability for their actions, “even though it’s only game – ‘a profession’.”
Sitting alongside former All Blacks like Jamie, Tony Brown and the rest of the coaching team was an honour. “They were amazingly free with sharing their ideas and imparting their knowledge.”
“They’ve set a target to do better than before, working with a sports psychologist,” says Dagg.
He used a song by American rapper Eminem to illustrate his point. “I told them that if a poor boy from a trailer park in Detroit can overcome his fear of performing on stage to become number one rapper in the world and a little rural Kiwi kid who had Perthes’ disease can climb Everest, there’s no reason why they can’t win the World Cup.” Dagg defied the odds, overcoming Perthes disease as a youngster after his parents were told he’d never play sport and would always have a limp.
“You can do anything you want if you believe it. The mind’s an incredible thing,” he says. “I’ve been tired climbing, but you just force it out, step by step. That’s how you develop that inner strength and realise you’re stronger than you think.”
His message for the team was one of “overcoming odds”. “They’ll be up against Tier One teams in the World Cup and they’ll have to fight and work like never before to achieve, just like Eminem and me.
“Being older and still achieving stuff helps. You’re only old ‘cause you think you’re old. I’m not waiting for my retirement to do things,” says 63-year-old Dagg. “I wouldn’t have been offered this opportunity if I hadn’t climbed Everest.”
Not one to miss an adventure opportunity, Brian took his climbing boots and, after his team commitments, climbed another mountain - Mount Fuji. “I started at 6pm thinking I’d time it right for sunrise.” Walking alone at night he got up there a bit earlier than expected. “It was freezing cold. Luckily, I was able to wangle my way into the huts.”
In contrast, the accommodation with the team was “incredible”, as was the sushi and sashimi. “The players were incredibly polite and quite reserved, but they’d come and chat to me one on one, which was great.
“Everyone was so welcoming, they just made me feel like part of the team in their campaign.”
He and wife Dale took time to travel and explore. “It was a huge life experience. I went to Japan with Wakatipu Rugby in 1987, but to go back and do what we’ve just done was an incredible opportunity.”
The main problem now was which team to support come September. “They’ve got a couple of new supporters now. I will have a foot in both camps,” he grins.
Photo: Brian atop 3776m Mount Fuji on sunrise at 4.30am
