On June 9, 2002 former All Black Murray Mexted started the International Rugby Academy of New Zealand (IRANZ), with the goal of providing intensive, world-class tuition to high performance rugby players. He also owns Mexsport, a global placement specialist agency, run from the Wellington office we have been invited into. Over the last few years he has been acutely focused on IRANZ and grown it in scale and reputation into one of the world’s most prestigious rugby academies. He also seems to have done this ‘under the radar’ of most of us. The success of the academy reflects Mexted’s vision, business acumen, determination and commitment.

When we first arrive to see Murray, he is sitting in his immaculate Oriental Bay headquarters, complete with harbour view and cocktail cabinet. I don’t want to use the clichéd word ‘disarming’ but here it holds true. He offers us tea, and then sits down in the perfectly decorated room to chat. And chat he does. Of our 20 prepared interview questions we manage to ask about 4, and yet we still cover everything we wanted to ask, and more. He is passionate about this gig, and it shows. He would have to be – at the beginning it took a lot of 18 hour days, and like he says, it isn’t and has never been, for the money. He’s got to be realistic, of course, and his business mind tells him he needs to make a profit to survive, but he’s definitely not in it just for the dollars.

So what is he in it for? Every business needs a pretty invincible reason to demand their owner’s time. "The altruistic desire to create a great rugby academy." Seriously now? "Better players make for a better game, and that means you end up with a better product. And, like it or not, rugby is a product". There is money to be made, and the All Blacks have certainly proven that. More on that later though.

The company grew from an idea which initially was dreamed up by a marketing student Mexted knew, and he further developed it because he saw the need to better utilise the intellectual property available in New Zealand. He says he saw these industry legends do great things here, but that their knowledge was never really passed on, and therefore was not used to its full potential. And so IRANZ was born, attracting dozens of top players from around the world, and some pretty famous tutors too. Recognising existing knowledge going to waste and tapping into it sounds like an easy and logical business plan, but it takes much more to actually make it happen.

IRANZ began small, with 4 courses in their first year, grew to eight in their second, 15 the next and 20 or so per year since then. "That’s pretty much the most you can do" says Murray. Eight years on, they are still showing steady growth, and the board has some pretty big names on it too. It is made up of 12-year All Black Sean Fitzpatrick, former chairman of the IRB and NZ Rugby Union Eddie Tonks, and Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi. Their tutors include greats such as Laurie Maines, Grant Fox, John Eales, Jeff Wilson, Eddie Jones and Richard Loe to name just a few, its tempting to list more of them as they amount to a veritable ‘who’s who’ of high profile former rugby players, coaches, administrators and even referees. The ‘students’ come to New Zealand from 22 countries around the world, to learn from the best. Almost half the attending players come from New Zealand with demand from overseas continuing to increase.

According to swathes of promo material I look through, the methods used to teach at the academy sound well-researched and solid, but Mexted is quick to point out that the academy is not a ‘whiteboard-blackboard’ type school – as many coaching schools around are. He oversees every part of his academy, and knows what is going on at every turn. He tells of how it is important that they focus on creating a ‘real’ environment to teach in – that is, as close to an All Blacks tour as is possible. Every player trains for his own position, and the student coaches train alongside, everyone getting the opportunity to try out what they’ve learnt in real situations right away. There’s no room for comfort zones either, Mexted says. ‘We put them in actual situations, and push them hard. We want them to find the big man inside." He compares the courses to that of an Outward Bound experience. The group eat, sleep and train together, and go on team-building outings together too.

John Fui agrees that this was an important part of the course. Fui is a player with Old Boys University Club and went through the 3 week Elite Players course in July last year. Sponsorship was through the New Zealand Community Trust, organised by his club, and he says the experience was definitely worthwhile. Asides from mentioning the good food, he says it was "a big stepping stone for me in the way of rugby, and since then my game has just kept going up".

Even during the time Murray managed Mexted Motors, (still running smoothly in Tawa under brother Alan’s managership) psychology was involved. He explained how he always saw the guys working there, as playing certain rugby positions. The salespeople were his wingers, mechanics as the engine room, and all the other guys also doing their part and tying it all together. This is how he best saw to manage them, and encourage them to lead in their own arena. "Everyone has to be a leader in their own position" he says "or else it doesn’t work. You don’t have to talk a lot to be a leader, in fact it’s better if you don’t." He says the same about his coaches too – he tells them it isn’t the volume of words, but what is said that is important.

They focus on ‘doing things right’ at the academy. Murray admits he is a bit of a ‘mission man’ who likes to do things properly. "If you don’t, you’ll win some and lose some but if you don’t get it right up front, you’ll soon fall over." He’s not big on lying to himself either, saying "You will always know if you have done a job well, and you will always know when you are kidding yourself." That all sounds like pretty sound advice to me, and dare I say it – sounds like it all applies to far more than just the field of rugby. In fact, there are quite a lot of pointers that someone running a business could take from the lessons Mexted is keen to impart on his players. Believe me, this comes as a surprise to me too – as someone with a longstanding mild disdain for rugby I found it hard to believe that the two are connected at all.

Rugby is a business, Mexted has a product. And it’s one he is pretty proud of. He has players and coaches from all over the world all the way to New Zealand – and their airfares often cost more than the course does! He believes many conventional clubs have got it wrong. They don’t train position-specifically, and tend to focus on training individuals rather than the whole team. That doesn’t work, says Murray, because you need the entire team to perform in order to achieve anything. Training incorrectly is a waste of time: "There’s no point in running if you’re on the wrong road".

When I ask him what his favourite thing is about what he does, he is stumped. Mexted at a loss for words? First time for everything! He explains quickly that he is finding it hard to answer only because there are just so many things he loves. He finally settles on an answer though: The satisfaction he gets when he sees a young player ‘get it’. "When the light goes on in his eyes, and you can see he’s clicked.’ ‘Everyone learns in different ways, and if you can truly inspire someone, you are equipping them with more than just skills, but desire. And that makes all the difference."

He tells us the story of the time he was at a course in Palmerston North when he got a phone call from the Gisborne Police Station. Turns out, one of his students was actually out on bail, and shouldn’t have even been outside the Gisborne area. Mexted told the policeman the boy was in the best hands he could be, and promised he would cause no trouble while he was there. That’s a big call to make on behalf of a stranger – but he had faith in him. He took the player aside and listened to what had happened and how ‘he’d just gotten in with the wrong people’. Fatherly talk over, problem-free course ensues, boy goes to live in different city, and the story has a happy ending. It may seem a small thing, but it shows the care he has for his people, and proves it by going out on a limb for them. This isn’t a given, and shows that he isn’t a ruthless money-hungry business-man, but someone with true compassion for the people involved.

I wondered how he marketed his business – it’s not exactly the sort of thing a TV ad would work very well for, the clients are so few and specific. The answer, of course, is direct marketing. He travelled around the world in what he called his ‘global attack’ and went and spoke directly to the top-level decision makers. With 12 major clients in New Zealand plus the Rugby Union, and a few smaller ones, he has had to choose his approach carefully – there isn’t much room for error! As an example of his hands-on method he tells us how he was once driving back from Porirua (they used to use the Police College out there for teaching at) and he starting thinking about how many Jerry Collins’s there could be just over the hills, waiting to be discovered. He did a u-turn, drove back into Porirua and got a meeting with the council. After explaining what he was up to, he convinced them to join him. They obtained grants, and began sending 3-6 players every year, and within 4 years, they won the Jubilee Cup for the first time. Coincidence? Mexted thinks not.

How then, does he go about getting such amazing tutors on board? Same way. He approaches them directly, invites them down to come and see what he’s doing, and so far, it’s worked. People don’t turn him down, and some has been coming since the beginning. He tells of being at home, standing over a BBQ, and suddenly having the thought that Eddie Jones would make a great tutor, and addition to IRANZ. He phoned him straightaway, and convinced and cajoled his just to ‘come and have a look’ – and after doing so, Eddie was on board. John Eales took some convincing too, telling Mexted "I’m not a coach! I can’t do this’. But Mexted proved him wrong. He seems to have a knack for knowing who will make a good part of his team, chooses them carefully and then works on luring them in.

Mexted believes that his coaching schools allow players to see that rugby is a great game, but also good business, and possibly great business. In an interview with the NZRU he said "If rugby makes it to the Olympics, both China and the United States will be very interested and that will lift the game into a whole new league." The All Blacks are the world’s top rugby brand, and one of the world’s top sporting brands. They represent New Zealand, and are used to sell everything from clothing for newborns to waterblasters, weetbix and chocolate biscuits. There is some debate that the black brand has taken a battering it will not withstand, what with our failure to well… actually win at the World Cup. One of the intrinsic values to the brand is success… so how long can they go without the big one? Aside from World Cups they do great, well, sort of. They often win TriNations, Bledisloe Cups etc… but the big one they have not, at least not since nearly before I was born! But you have got to admire their staying power. And it is also true that Manchester United haven’t won the European Cup all that many times, and their brand holds strong. That’s not to say that main All Black sponsor Adidas are overjoyed at the 24-year stream of critical losses, but they are still on board aren’t they? Will that stay the case for much longer? I can’t answer that, though I’m sure there’s some hefty paperwork involved.

But whatever side of the debate you are on, you must at least acknowledge that it is an interesting, and relevant one. The Rugby World Cup is the world’s third largest sporting event, and will be held in New Zealand in 2011. It will bring over 70,000 visitors, and an extra $408 million to the economy, win or lose. Some are even debating whether New Zealand is the right place to hold it, or whether rugby needs to broaden its horizons.

So where to from here for Mexted and his academy? Pursuing further growth offshore is the logical option, and one that will be looked at soon. At present, 50% of his players are international, and despite some heat from kiwis over this (he is training people to play against the All Blacks one day) it makes good business sense to set up offshore. That’s where a lot of the money is, and Mexted places great emphasis on the neutrality of his academy. He wants it to be free of politics, a place where everyone can train together, and lift the quality and profile of rugby worldwide.

But Murray is adamant that headquarters remain here in Wellington, and though he plans to manage the opening of the new academy overseas, he will always be a ‘local lad’. "I call it the most userfriendly capital in the world" he muses. From his city apartment he can make it onto a plane in 30 minutes, be in the centre of the city in 5, and he still rides a pushbike to meetings. ‘Really?’ we ask, expecting a punchline. ‘Yep, I just take it up with me into the lift’. Well then, no punchline. He is equally goodnatured when Ken George our photographer needs to pop flashes in his face while we talk, and even still when he is asked to pose on the balcony in the light rain for the perfect shot. Where else but New Zealand could you grab a guy like this and have email exchanges and an interview in his office so easily? He does make a comment actually, about the typical New Zealand ‘down-to-earth’-ness. "We’ve all got our feet on the ground here, we mostly pretty level headed". He does recognise the flipside though, and mentions our unique ‘tall-poppy syndrome’. "New Zealanders aren’t used to people shouting about their successes, but then, you just can’t keep knocking the high-flyers either. In a way, we aren’t quite mature enough as a country yet, and it shows."

Time to end our chat, Mexted has work to do, and a French couple coming for a visit and some wine. We take the antique character elevator back down to street level and wander out into the drizzle, leaving Murray Mexted to get on with the business of rugby.