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New Zealand rugby commentator’s blunt All Blacks assessment
By Finn Morton
New Zealand’s veteran commentator Grant Nisbett has delivered a blunt assessment of this year’s All Blacks, stating that they’ll only warrant a seven or 7.5/10 rating even if they get the better of international rugby heavyweights Ireland and France during the Autumn Nations Series.
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With Scott Robertson taking over as the team’s head coach, there was a lot expected of the All Blacks in 2024. Robertson was coming off a highly successful stint with the Crusaders, and that left many fans daring to dream of what successes ‘Razor’ could have with the national team.
It was a shaky start for the men in black, who survived two genuine scares against England in Dunedin and Auckland during the July international window. New Zealand backed that up with a demolition of Fiji, but later came unstuck during The Rugby Championship.
The All Blacks suffered a shock 38-30 loss to Los Pumas in Wellington to kick off that campaign, and they also fell to the world champion Springboks in Johannesburg and Cape Town later on in that tournament. They ended up finishing second with three wins from six Tests.
New Zealand have since put 64 points on Eddie Jones’ Japan in Yokohama, and they left it late to beat England 24-22 in a thriller last weekend. They’ve won eight of 11 games during Robertson’s reign so far, but “losing three Test matches is never acceptable” as Nisbett explained.
“Much depends on how they finish this season off,” Nisbett said on SENZ’s The Run Home with Kirst & Beav. “They did well to beat England, it was a bit shaky but the job was done.
“Much will depend on the performances against both Ireland and France. If we get over both of those teams I think we can probably look at about a seven and a half out of 10.
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“Losing three Test matches is never acceptable for an All Blacks side. Losing two in South Africa, but the one at home against Argentina was a shocker.
“Even if we do finish with victories over those two teams, I don’t think we’re going to extend the mark out of 10 much past seven, seven and a half.
“But, nevertheless, I think they’ll regard that as satisfactory. There’s no doubt that South Africa are the best team going around at the moment, it’s just a question of who’s next and we’re about to find out this weekend if Ireland are next.”
In the All Blacks 12th Test of the year, they’ll lock horns with the world’s top-ranked side on their home track. Ireland didn’t make the semi-finals of last year’s Rugby World Cup but some still consider them to be the best team in the international game at the moment.
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South Africa are, of course, the two-time defending Rugby World Cup champions, so their fans would have a thing or two to say about that, but rising to the top of the World Rugby men’s rankings is no easy feat or mistake.
With former captain Johnny Sexton retiring after the quarter-final exit last year, the Irish ushered in a new era this year but stormed home to claim the Six Nations title with four wins from five matches. They also tied a two-match series one-all against the Springboks in South Africa
The history between Ireland and New Zealand in men’s rugby has been well documented, with the men in green registering their first-ever win at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2016. Ireland are the only team to hold a winning record over the All Blacks since the 2015 World Cup as well.
“(They were) always in the same boat as Scotland. Scotland had never beaten us in a Test match, they got a draw once,” Nisbett reflected.
“I think Ireland had a draw early on but it wasn’t until 216 in Chicago that they nailed it and you’d have to say the advents of Joe Schmid and subsequent to that (Andy) Farrell as well, they really have improved dramatically.
“They’ve got some depth, too. If they were to lose a key guy there’s usually somewhere there and that’s the key to it. As long as you’ve got depth, it’s always going to be a test.
“Ireland, even though they took until 216 to beat us, they’ve always been pretty tough to beat. You never got home easily.”
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Grant has on more than one occasion, been perplexed but mindful about refereeing decisions during his time as commentator.
Whereas the Aussies, Springboks, Irish and English on the other hand aren't so mindful of their views about areas of play or refereeing decisions.
They would also constantly replay missed incidents to catch the referees attention and if it was against their team, they would quickly switch to something else.
Nesbit was never critical of his mate Foster. Funny that....
Nz fans think their team is crap unless they are the clear no 1 in the world. Get used to the field catching up to you.
In other news campo reckons his Aussie team of 1984 could beat the current Aussie team. Have a look at the size of the players in the old footage most under 85kg…he is having a laugh
7.5 is generous. Noting it should only be wins, & it's quality, V top 6 ranked teams that count. & Losses, again, & it's quality.
Lose V Ireland & France & there's no way this very flaky near zero '80+ min game' rugby side should rate above 6.5.
What an insane comment. If the ABs beat England, Ireland, and France in consecutive weeks away from home they will have a genuine claim to be the best team in the world - undoubtedly number 2. Time to call it a day Nisbo.
That’s a pretty harsh score but I guess it’s a lot to do with the tries passed up in the England game last weekend as much as anything. However it fails to take into account two significant factors.
Firstly the squad churn razor has been managing has left him very short at 10, with RM out of reach and no clear successor coming through. Did they make mistake allowing FB to leave, who knows but you probably need to trust the judgement that razor knew him inside out already.
Secondly the assessment undervalues England as opposition. They started the 6N well winning in Rome (not a given these days), pipped wales (Eng/wal is always a war!) but came unstuck against Scotland in full flow. But they then beat Ireland (NZ should know how tough this can be…) and came very close to winning a competitive game in France.
So, while I don’t necessarily disagree with the assessment, it probably misses the nuance of trajectory and direction of travel. If NZ win well against Ireland and France, rather than the slightly scruffy wins they had against England, then I would be pretty confident that razor is beginning to get his feet properly under the table and good things may lie ahead. But they still need to figure out a way ($$$s…) to get RM back home…
"If NZ win well against Ireland and France, rather than the slightly scruffy wins they had against England, then I would be pretty confident that razor is beginning to get his feet properly under the table and good things may lie ahead".
I agree re your assessment of England as better than they are given credit for. Surely you can see that your above assessment is for the birds?
France have beaten NZ by 14-15 times in the last two matches. Ireland beat NZ in Durban with a lot of first team players missing almost all of which will start tomorrow.
Yet you maintain that doling out heavy defeats to Ireland and France in Dublin and Paris will be a sign that things are on the up?
I agree the NZ forwards are very good. But this Irish pack, dominated SA in Durban (not in the scrum but everywhere else).
In short, good luck with that prediction but this is 2024 not 1984!
Quite easy to sit on the sideline and pass judgement (or up in the commentary box), another thing altogether to be out there performing on the field. Stick to the commentary, don't pass judgement.
Wow so insightful (it depends on how they finish off 🤣)
It's 5 base points higher than I'd rate the quality of his commentary tbh
Sky needs to refresh their commentary team, this rating reflects the Boomer (and I'm one) thinking of what viewers "need" (autocratic) to hear, not what they want to hear
Nisbo loves talking about his scrummaging "expertise" from the 1960's - really????? I think the game has moved on a wee bit since then - a good segue into Nisbo's next career move!
Nisbett's pronunciation is absolutely deplorable as well. For example, listen to how he pronounces "Perenara" - he rolls the first R but not the second. Just shows he is lazy and ignorant.
Oh so brutal. 7.5 out of 10 eh. Will maybe 8 out of 11 equates to 7.5 out of 10. Seems a very reasonable assessment of the ABs this year.
Nisbett isn't exactly a smart fella.
Hardly "brutal". Quite measured, boringly predictable.