Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Scott Robertson inspires the most belief in 'a long time' in All Blacks

Scott Robertson of the All Blacks. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks are three from three after the opening month of Tests in the 2024 international season, a pass grade by any metric, but perhaps not quite as convincing as many fans were hoping for.

ADVERTISEMENT

One pundit who only had praise to sing after the Steinlager Ultra Low Carb Series was former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains.

Mains was sure Robertson would continue to grow the team after showing some key, promising attributes in the wins against England and Fiji, and professed his belief in Robertson’s vision for the team.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

“Yes, I do (believe in Robertson), for two reasons. What he achieved with the Crusaders; I don’t care how good the players were or where they got their players from. It doesn’t matter. To win that championship seven times in a row is sensational. That makes me know that he’s going to get this All Blacks team performing at their best,” Mains told Newstalk ZB’s Jason Pine following the San Diego win.

“What I saw was they had to fight like hell to win both of the Tests against England. And that just showed me that those players were totally committed to the team and that’s the first achievement for a coach, is to get his players totally committed to the team and to the gameplan.

“Each time they’ve played, you can see more about what they’re trying to achieve.

“That first Test against England I think would have been one of the hardest Test matches to play in. England were good. Defensively they were very aggressive and very strong. Then in that second Test, once Beauden (Barrett) came on it started to open up and he created opportunities.

“Against Fiji, we saw more of that shorter play. There were some beautifully constructed tries in that game.

ADVERTISEMENT

“So, I’m incredibly optimistic about where this team is going to go. The best I’ve felt for a long time.”

Robertson has stressed the desire for adaptability and ability to win games multiple ways since taking the helm of the All Blacks, and it’s fair to say the team beat two very different teams in July in very different ways.

While the opening stretch of any new leadership group is always going to throw different challenges and performances forward, Mains says Robertson needs to hit the ground running, noting while the next Rugby World Cup is three years away still, there is no time like the present to lay the foundations for the next cycle.

“The first two years of a World Cup cycle I think is where a coach and selectors really need to get a foundation and the basis of the team. It’s based on maybe the 10 best players, who are all automatic choices.

ADVERTISEMENT

“From them, you know what style of rugby you can best play. And then, you have to bring in players that complement the strength of those 10.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
M
MO 361 days ago

Borthwick’s gameplan against the Boks in the semi-final was genius; it was executed to perfection and came within a whisker of success. That said, if Stewart had not stuck so rigidly to the plan, and kicked deep instead of an up an under which he knocked on, which lead to a scrum and winning penalty - England would have won. After a dismal start to the 6N, they beat Ireland and ran (admittedly a Dupont-less) France team close, and destroyed “Eddie-the-mouth” Brave Blossoms - it meant England arrived in NZ on a real up.


Nobody should not underestimate the immense pressure Razor, coaches and the team were under for the England series. The two wins over England were a true triumph, given the ABs had not played in 8 months, and had a completely new coaching setup (saying nothing about the retiring players, which is normal after a RWC cycle).


Rugby Championship

Bringing in Hotham, Darry, Havili and Love (Lord as backup) is a good and obvious move. Cane, was not a surprise, but I still believe its a sentimental move - yes he brings experience and is a tough nut, I believe blooding Lakai or Iose would have served the long-term better.


While I feel sorry for Narawa, and think Havili is very lucky to get a berth given his SR form, I believe overall Razor’s squad for this year’s RC makes total sense.


Critically, from the 3 matches (and remember its only 3 games under new management), we can all see are some serious areas needing RAPID improvement.


Farrell, Galthié and Erasmus have over 50 tests in charge of their respective teams, and Borthwick has 20.


The England 2:0 series was a huge success for Razor et al, being 3:0 is a fantastic start. And while I expect the Pumas to bring some new challenges, the real and true test of whether Razor is going to be able to turnaround the ABs will come in SA.


While I am not expecting wins in SA; lets face it the Boks under Erasmus are a phenomenal package, so real hats off to Farrell and Ireland for a remarkable 2nd test victory. Razor needs at least 1 win to demonstrate England was not just luck.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
NH 19 minutes ago
Harness Skelton's might and move Sua'ali'i: How the Wallabies can fix things for Test two

Nice one Nick. I was a fan of Joe’s appointment and think in general he has done well, and I even think the game plan last week was ok, but I am not sold he has gotten his selections right for this series. As everyone has detailed, the pack was too small last week. This week, he has brought in skelton and valetini which is an improvement physicality-wise but now the back 5 is out of balance with only one legitimate lineout option in Frost. The wallabies were poor in the lineout and it meant they couldn’t get into the lions 22 in the 1st half. Its also where most WBs tries originate from. Are they going to opt for a scrum every penalty they get? 3 man lineouts? And as you show, Suaalii is simply too hesitant in D. I guess drifting is better than biting in and taking yourself out of play, but he doesn’t do much more in that last clip. Maxy has 2 involvements in that play, suaalii none. At this rate, Chieka was quicker and better at integrating marika who had more to do to learn the game, than Joe with suaalii.


Do you think that Joe is hesitant to put Suaalii on the wing because he would be exposed in the backfield in terms of kicking, positioning etc? This is the only justification I can think of and also maybe why he has picked the likes of max, potter and kellaway over the likes of daugunu, pietsch and toole. The difference in selection philosophy between schmidt and rennie has come into clear focus to me recently in terms of brain vs braun, power vs graft, workrate vs impact. In my opinion, Schmidt needed to make a hard decision on starting skelton vs a backrow that had bobby and wilson in it and he hasn’t done that. I also feel like he is almost picking a team to minimise the loss rather than win. I think starting a tate, or a pietsch, or bell could’ve signalled some more intent.

3 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The stat in which the Springboks outperformed everyone fivefold in July Where the Springboks outperformed everyone fivefold