A rugby pitch isn’t the usual place I look for recruitment lessons. But the recent BBC Sport article by rugby union reporter Mike Henson, “Rugby’s data revolution: can Moneyball be oval?”, has stuck with me. It looks at how Premiership clubs now sign players, and nearly every point in it applies to hiring in financial services, whether you’re the firm making the appointment or the adviser hoping to land it.

The sheer volume of data is striking. One analytics company splits every top-flight match into around 2,000 separate events, from carries and tackles to ruck entries, capturing roughly 10,000 pieces of information per game. Every Premiership club pays for it. Alex Sanderson, director of rugby at Sale, signed 12 new players this summer, and the numbers were a major factor in deciding who fitted.

Yet what interested me most wasn’t the data itself. It was what the people relying on it said about where it falls short. These are my takeaways.

1. Be clear about what the role really has to deliver

When Courtney Lawes left Northampton in 2024, director of rugby Phil Dowson didn’t set out to find “a new Courtney Lawes”. He broke the position down into what it had to deliver: line-out ability, turnover ability, ball-carrying and leadership. He then looked for the best combination his budget allowed, accepting that some of it might have to come from elsewhere in the squad.

Set that against the way many firms recruit an adviser. All too often the brief is a copy of the previous person’s job description, or a wish list no single candidate could meet at the salary on offer.

The better approach is to ask Dowson’s question. What does success in this seat actually look like? 

Winning new clients, retaining an existing book, technical depth on pensions, or developing a junior? 

Once you know which matters most, you can make honest trade-offs, and you’ll stop turning away good people for missing boxes that never really counted.

For candidates: ask the same question at interview. “What will success look like in the first year?” is one of the most useful things you can ask. It shows you’re thinking about delivery, not just the job title, and the answer tells you whether the firm knows what it wants.

2. Everyone has the data. The advantage is knowing what counts

One of the article’s sharpest observations was that clubs no longer gain an edge simply by having data, because they all have it. The edge comes from knowing which numbers genuinely predict success, and setting the rest aside.

Our industry is in the same place. Any firm can see an adviser’s assets under management, fee income and years of experience. Those figures are easy to gather and easy to compare, and that is exactly why they can mislead.

A large book inherited from a retiring partner says little about someone’s ability to bring in new clients. High fee income may reflect a generous client bank rather than outstanding advice. Much more telling are client retention over several years, the proportion of new business that comes through referrals, and how a candidate’s clients describe them. Those take more effort to uncover, and that effort is the advantage.

For candidates: don’t rely on the headline figures to make your case. If your retention is strong, your referrals are growing or your clients would happily vouch for you, say so, with evidence. Those are the numbers the best firms are looking for.

3. Some of the most valuable contributions never appear in the numbers

The article explains why rugby is behind baseball in its use of data. Baseball is largely a sequence of individual actions, so a home run belongs to one player. In rugby, it’s very hard to measure one forward’s share of a rolling maul. Even the definitions are contested: analysts can’t always agree on whether a carry was “dominant”.

Financial advice has far more in common with rugby than with baseball. A client stays for 15 years because of the adviser, certainly, but also because of the paraplanner who produced a clear report, the administrator who chased the provider, and the colleague who covered the review when someone was off sick.

If you hire and reward purely on individual numbers, you’ll undervalue those people and overpay for some stars whose results rested on a strong team around them. One simple interview question helps: who helped you achieve those results? The best candidates always have an answer.

For candidates: be ready for that question, and see it as an opportunity. Talking openly about the people who supported your success doesn’t diminish it. It shows the self-awareness and team spirit that good firms prize. And if you’re a paraplanner, administrator or support professional, your contribution matters more than any league table suggests. Make sure you can describe it.

4. Data gets them to the door. Character gets them through it

For me, this was the core of the article. Sanderson was clear that data and performance analysis “will only get them to the door”. After that, it comes down to character. He noted that plenty of players look consistently good on paper yet still wouldn’t be right for his group.

Dowson drew a similar lesson from an unexpected source. He has been discussing data with Ayao Komatsu, team principal of the Haas Formula 1 team and a keen former rugby player. In a sport driven by data, Komatsu still regards the driver’s feel for the car as the most important information he has. The human element hasn’t disappeared. It has become more valuable.

In advice firms, cohesion matters every bit as much as it does in a rugby squad. A gifted adviser who won’t share clients, cuts corners on compliance or unsettles the team will cost you more than their numbers ever add. Use data to build the shortlist. Then invest real time in the person: how they treat clients, how they talk about former colleagues, and what they want from the next five years.

For candidates: this works both ways. Your CV gets you the interview, but how you come across as a person gets you the offer. Be ready to talk about your values, how you look after clients and where you want to be in five years. And use the process to judge the firm’s character too, because the right fit matters as much to you as it does to them.

Getting the balance right

Rugby clubs have far less money than football clubs, and they still can’t measure everything they’d like to. But the best of them have found a sensible balance. They use data to cast the net wider and spot talent others have missed, then rely on human judgement for the decision that matters most.

Financial services can learn from that. AI screening tools and recruitment platforms will keep getting better at sifting applications, and I welcome anything that helps firms find good people they might otherwise miss. But no algorithm can tell you whether someone will look after your clients the way you would, or whether a firm is the right place for you to build the next stage of your career.

So here’s my challenge.

If you’re hiring: before you read a single CV, write down the three things this person must deliver. Use the numbers to find people who can do them, then make the final decision the old-fashioned way, by getting to know them.

If you’re considering a move: work out the three things you most want from your next role, and gather the evidence that shows what you bring beyond the headline figures. Then look for a firm that wants to get to know you, not just your numbers.

If you’d like a confidential chat, whether you’re planning your next hire or quietly wondering what your next move might look like, get in touch 07768 952212.

Paul Harper MBA ACII Dip PFS

Managing Director, Paul Harper Search

 

Source: Mike Henson, “Rugby’s data revolution: can Moneyball be oval?”, BBC Sport, 22 October 2026.