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Scott Robertson explains recent Sydney meeting with Eddie Jones

(Photo by Michael Bradley/AFP via Getty Images)

Crusaders boss Scott Robertson has shed light on his rendezvous with England boss Eddie Jones in Sydney in the lead-up to the recent third-Test series decider. The serial Super Rugby winner has grand ambitions to break into Test-level coaching and having interviewed with New Zealand Rugby to succeed Steve Hansen after the 2019 World Cup, he has recently been touted for roles with the All Blacks and with England.

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Nothing has come of that speculation yet. For instance, it was Jason Ryan, Robertson’s Crusaders assistant, who was drafted in by the All Blacks over the last weekend while the RFU insisted last week their preferred candidate to succeed Jones, who is leaving after the 2023 World Cup, has still to be identified. 

The situation leaves the ambitious Roberston biding his time to see what might unfold. He is contracted with the title-defending Crusaders for 2023 but he has now told The Big Jim Show, a podcast hosted by ex-Scotland international Jim Hamilton, that international rugby is where he believes his long-term future lies.     

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Asked to explain his meeting in Australia with England boss Jones, Robertson said: “Look, I caught up with Eddie but it wasn’t anything to do with the job, it was more, well he texted me. We have a good relationship and he is always watching rugby and stuff, so I just caught up with him briefly and had a chat.

“My best mate lives over there and I went to the game with him, took the wife over, and it was just a great experience, it was good to get away to Sydney for the weekend. Look, what I learned from last time, especially around the All Blacks stuff, is you have to keep your options open. It’s a professional game and I’m probably a little more clearly focused. 

“It’s one job [All Blacks coach] and when someone doesn’t give it to you you have to think differently, what opportunities are out there? I’ll be coming into my seventh year as the Crusaders coach next year, I have loved it all, it has been incredible but no one last in a job forever so I am open. It’s probably the way I can answer it. 

“If New Zealand Rugby want me, great. If there is another club, country, probably country, I wouldn’t go to a club now. I really want to go to Rugby World Cup, I genuinely want to go to a couple. I’m 47, I’ll be 52 by the time the next Rugby World Cup comes around [Australia 2027 after France next year]. I want to get to two or three and test myself, push myself. I am open (to offers), yeah.” 

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So ambitious is Roberston that his aim is not only to win one World Cup, he wants to win two – one with the All Blacks and another with an overseas country. “I want to win Rugby World Cup but I want to win it with two different countries. I haven’t said it publicly before but it would transcend,” he revealed.  

“It would be great to win a World Cup with your own country which I want to do, that is the foremost thing, but I would love to do it with another country. I’m not sure what order it is. I’m not sure how that plays out, those decisions are not mine. They are somebody else’s decisions but I would love to win two and have a different expectation, different culture. 

“You have got to adapt to the country that you are coaching and get the best out of them. It’s when someone goes, ‘How did he do that? That is pretty special. He won seven championships with his club and then gone away and done that’. People will go, ‘Okay, he has got the group, the players will play for him’.” 

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Comments

6 Comments
R
Ruby 946 days ago

If he has a good relationship with Eddie he should try join his RWC coaching set up as an assistant after next year's Super Rugby season wraps up.

It'll get him a bit of international experience and it's not like there will be any headcoach vacancies for any genuine contenders unless Foster loses the Bledisloe cup.

D
Deborah 947 days ago

HERE

D
Deborah 947 days ago

nice

C
CRZ38L 947 days ago

If I'm Rugby Australia, I'm getting into Robertson's ears now. Forget about McKellar as Rennie's succesor.

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R
RedWarriors 22 minutes ago
The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

SA won two world cups but since 1987 there have been major issues with the draw and scheduling.


Lets look at Scotland and England. Scotland were ranked #9 immediately after RWC 2019.

They were ranked #7 a few months after and by 2023 they were ranked #5 in the world.

England were ranked #3 after RWC 2019 but by 2023 were #7 a full 3 ranking points behind Scotland.

There are 4 Pools. Because World Rugby used rankings from 2019, England were ranked #1 in their pool in with Argentina and Japan and Scotland were ranked #3 in their pool in with South Africa and Ireland. The pools went as youd expect: Scotland were eliminated and England got through to a QF where they got to play Fiji and scraped through to a semi.

At the end of that tournament England were now a full 3 ranking points ahead of Scotland. This wasn’t due to better rugby. It was entirely due to the draw.

Now England are in #6, Scotland are in #7 and England are favourites to be #1 Pool seeds (6 pool) in 2027 and Scotland will end up as #2 seeds.

In effect Scotland are still reeling from the draw in 2023 which was based on the rankings in 2027.

Considering the amount of admirable effort, money etc that Scotland have put into improving this is an utterly unforgivable outcome from World Rugby.

This isnt new Draw disasters and scheduling bias has been going on since the start.

The ONLY reason it is being dealt with now is because NZ and SA were affected and the world could see how ridiculous it was having the QFs with opponents that should be in SFs, and having great teams like Scotland not even qualify from their Pool.


(I don’t have beef with SA beyond their (and the Kiwis) high proportion of arrogant, brash supporters (see abuse directed at me above) and in the case of the NZ team, lack of respect for other teams.)

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R
RedWarriors 44 minutes ago
The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

Everyone agreed that the draw was absurd. NZ and SA were the most vocal in criticism before the Pool stages, but then the narrative changed after their squeeked through the QFs.

The reason you had to play France and England was because you lost to Ireland.

The draw helped you in that you got to play France in a QF where none of their players had knock-out winning experience. You play England first and then France, and your task becomes significantly harder. If you are also scheduled to play #5 ranked Scotland the week before France then you lose.


I thought Ireland did rise for the NZ match. Inside a week after Scotland and with resultant fatigue and injury. NZ prepared for a year for that match including identifying a potential infringemnt in Porters scrummaging which yielded 4 penalties. The NZ scrum coach remarked that the ref spent every scrum looking at Porter and not at NZ front row. Kudos, thats clever.


The fact we got within one score and went out attacking in their 22 shows we were right up for it. Particularly given NZ were so much better than SA in the final (except for the red).


Hats off to SA. But the idea that SA are a match for the great NZ team of the 2010s is ludicrous. SA were not the best team in there pool in both 2029 and 2023. They are average in between world cups. They have lost in 4 out of 5 matches against one opponent. Sorry but there it is.


(Anyone can spot a troll, using personal abuse against a person’s opinion being a pretty reliable indicator.)

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