Source: Radio New Zealand
Steve Lancaster is New Zealand Rugby’s new CEO. Photosport
After searching the globe for a new CEO, New Zealand Rugby finally came to the conclusion that the best person was right under their nose.
The New Zealand Rugby Board has confirmed Steve Lancaster as the organisation’s new chief executive.
Lancaster was overlooked when he first applied for the job, but stepped in as interim boss six months ago, following the departure of previous chief executive Mark Robinson.
New Zealand Rugby chair David Kirk said last year’s governance changes might have played a part in their hesitation to appoint someone internally.
A new nine-person New Zealand Rugby (NZR) Board was officially ratified and took office in early 2025 following a significant reform process aimed at modernizing the organisation.
When the new board came in Kirk said it “didn’t have a lot of experience with or understanding of the capabilities of the management team” within NZ Rugby.
“We just weren’t ready to appoint an internal person to the chief executive role, from what we knew at the time, we didn’t feel that there was the right candidate available,” Kirk said.
“But since Steve stepped into the interim role … he’s just really grasped the role and shown us that he can manage a complex organisation …we’ve just seen him in action and we’ve see what he can do.”
Kirk said discussions with some external candidates got quite advanced but the board was never fully satisfied.
Head-hunters assisted with the search, before NZR whittled down a short-list to interview but found none were suitable. So they went out on another external search, which still didn’t yield anyone they were happy with.
NZR chair David Kirk. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
At the same time Lancaster kept moving up in the board’s estimations.
“This is probably the case sometimes when you’re looking to move into a new organisation with a new board, you tend to underestimate the capability of the internal talent.
“We thought he interviewed well but nevertheless we [decided] to go for an external appointment but we’ve been forced in a nice way to review our decision, we’ve been able to see someone in the role performing to a level that is what we need.
“We haven’t been able to find anyone external that’s as capable as him. The hurdle that an external appointment had to jump has gone up and up as we’ve seen Steve’s performance in the role so it just became a natural decision for the board.”
Kirk said Lancaster had all the qualities to excel in the role including the ability to deal with a lot of complex relationships, such as with World Rugby and SANZAR (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby).
Lancaster, who was appointed NZR’s general manager community rugby in 2016, said he was humbled by the opportunity and well aware of the “responsibility that comes with it.”
He said he was fortunate he got to demonstrate his skills during the interim appointment and felt “incredibly privileged” that he stood out, while other candidates dropped off.
“My focus has just been on turning up every week doing the best job that I can for the business and the game and like a player you let the results take care of themselves …I’ve always felt confident I could do the job from the day I stepped into it,” Lancaster said.
Steve Lancaster represented Canterbury and the Crusaders from 1996-2000. ALAN_LEE
He believed his long tenure as GM of community rugby meant he had a very good understanding of the game from grass roots, which he felt was important.
Lancaster said the sport faced challenges, but also opportunities.
“The game is incredibly well positioned, we’ve got a healthy balance sheet, we’ve got a really strong participation base, we’ve got really competitive teams in black that are performing well on the world stage and our opportunity is to build from that and grow.”
Meanwhile, Kirk said he was comfortable with the financial health of the organisation after its latest financial results were revealed at Thursday’s annual general meeting in Wellington.
NZR reported a net loss of $7.5 million for 2025, despite record total income of $304.2m.
The organisation also reported an operating profit of $700,000, which reflected its day to day operating costs.
Kirk said the net loss was money spent on investing in things beyond normal expenditure. He said those investments will help with their growth strategy and NZR had a strong reserves position to be able to do that.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand