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‘I’ll talk to Scott’: Scott Robertson reflects on Barrett’s late-game call
By Finn Morton
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson plans on talking with Scott Barrett about the decision to kick for the posts late in the loss to France on Sunday morning (NZST). With a packed house at Stade de France cheering on Les Bleus, the Al Blacks went down swinging 30-29.
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Replacement Damian McKenzie had already converted three shots at goal before lining up another attempt in the 74th minute. The All Blacks trailed by just four points at that stage, with McKenzie stepping towards the ball that was placed about 40 metres out from the try line.
The playmaker sent the ball through the middle of the posts, leaving the All Blacks within a drop goal or a penalty attempt away from snatching what would’ve been a famous win. But the visitors didn’t get that chance as they were instead left parked well inside their own half.
In hindsight, the All Blacks’ decision to go for the shot at goal with six minutes left to play may be viewed as a controversial decision or an opportunity missed. ‘Razor’ Robertson was asked about that moment after full time, but the head coach didn’t give too much away.
“I’ll talk to Scott (Barrett) a little bit more about it,” Robertson said on the post-game broadcast.
“It was his call.”
It had been 30 years since the All Blacks last lost a third consecutive Test match to France, but from that team’s point of view, unwanted history was made in the Autumn Nations Series. New Zealand had lost at the same venue in 2021 and again at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
But both of those matches were fairly one sided by the time the full time whistle sounded. New Zealand were well and truly in the fight for the duration of this 80 minute war at Stade de France, which started quite spectacularly inside the first 30 minutes of play.
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Flanker Peter Lakai slid over for his first try in an All Blacks jersey, and individual brilliance from Cam Roigard saw the All Blacks take a 14-3 lead after 27 minutes. While Les Bleus hit back, the visitors would still take a hard-earned seven-point led into the sheds at the break.
It was a tense Test all the way through, but it became France’s for the taking after they went on a 17-3 run early in the second term. They blitzed the All Blacks with tries to Paul Boudehent and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, and the passionate Parisian crowd loved every moment.
“Awesome first half, we just needed to hit a couple more rucks or a couple more passes to probably put them a couple of scores out in front,” Robertson reflected.
“Then, at the start of the first half, they got that ‘14 pointer’. Will Jordan catches that but they go in the corner and score off not even a missed tackle, and those are the ones – and then the crowd come alive.
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“We knew they were going to have a couple of moments and they took them, and Ramos kept them ahead.
“… I’m pleased but Test footy comes down to, as we know, all this year just a little bit of a moment. We pride ourselves on how much work we’d had, game management, game understanding, our discipline to win those.
“We played a lot of footy but you’ve got to execute and win those key moments and we just didn’t do enough tonight.”
The All Blacks’ valiant performance against the French follows their wins over Northern Hemisphere heavyweights England and Ireland. Last week’s win at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium saw New Zealand knock Ireland off top spot on World Rugby’s world rankings.
With one more match to play on their Northern Tour, the All Blacks will be eager to end their international campaign on a high against Italy at Juventus FC’s Allianz Stadium. This will be the first matchup between the sides since last year’s 96-17 annihilation at the Rugby World Cup.
“Really proud of all our efforts and stuff,” he added.
“The game swings… that’s footy, you’ve just got to be better than that.”
I thought SB's decision was fair enough. The ABs regained possession and even got with DMac's range. Reiko came down with a case of cement hands and they never got another chance. Razor should never have questioned his skipper's decision to the media.
We need center's.
It was a very close call. But I think taking the points so often isn’t the ABs DNA of attacking rugby.
Hind sight is a wonderful thing. At the time, personally I thought going for the corner was best but understood taking the 3 with that much time on the clock. Overall game management however is still lacking we need a proper test match 10.
The Allblacks are guilty of playing too much and squandering.
Gifting top teams runaway tries now every second tests and guys shelling passes with the try line open.
The French deserved this win, thoroughly owned upfront but fed off Allblacks sloppy plays to take a smart victory.
However world rugby needs to look at soft points being awarded for non existent neck rolls and obstruction.
Teams loading up on three pointers that are donated by match officials without the team threatening to score.
The Allblacks are needing to rotate the likes of DeGroot, fresh impact is better.
The adorable thing - France was the better team all match
Not a surprise - the Kiwis not comprehending this simple fact.
He needs to appoint a Captain - Barrett is not one.
They will learn from this … I’m happy with what I’ve seen . We could of won … bad calls aside , we had all the opportunities to win …
I hope mounga comes home , I hope fainganuku plays 12 and I hope Joseph Manu is good enough and gets a shot in the 13 jersey .
I’m going to have a moment, if Razor says Test Footy one more time.
He should talk to B Barrett about his decision to kick thru from 12 m out from the French line. 2 ins later France score. Win game.
Yeah BBs limitations as a first five were on show . He kicks, usually poorly, when he run out of ideas. I was surprised they seemed to keep him at 10 when McKenzie came on. Our Forward pack got enough ball but our backline squandered it, not for the first time this season. With Roigard off and Ratima losing form they had no idea how to get thru the French line. ALB, Ioane and even Jordan were complicit but BB needs to shoulder his share of the effort.