Why Scott Robertson won't be sweating over All Blacks injuries

Super Rugby Pacific is without some big names as we find ourselves at the season’s midway point, and that’s on top of the post-World Cup exodus.

Certain absences have been raising alarm bells ahead of the international season, and there have been rumours swirling over the nature of new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson’s soirees over in the land of the rising sun.

Interpreted by some as a condemnation of the country’s available talent stocks, matters have been made worse by the injury to what many considered to be the country’s premier halfback in Cam Roigard.

Sam Whitelock swiftly responded to reports over a potential return to the international arena by announcing his retirement, portraying a diminishing scope for Scott Robertson’s selections.

“It doesn’t freak me out so much as it’s not the unknown,” former All Black Justin Mashall told Newstalk ZB when reacting to recent All Blacks selection developments. “Look, good players, great players even are going to get injured and that’s just reality. You’ve got to face that and any nation and any team have to deal with those types of injuries to their key personnel.

“The Sam Whitelock thing was never ever an issue anyway until obviously there were some rumours about him coming back. So, that was never an equation that I factored into the All Blacks scenario anyway.

“Look, obviously Cam Roigard was in really good form and equally, when you’ve got a player in good form and he has been an All Black then that’s great because you feel a bit of security in that position. But, unfortunately, he won’t be there when Scott Robertson names his side to play England in July and Fiji in San Diego.

“So, it’s there for the rest of those players to take up that challenge and there are incumbents and there are All Blacks in the mix that have been there before; Mitchell Drummond’s been involved in the All Blacks setup before, Finlay Christie obviously, you would call the incumbent. Equally, Folau Fakatava has been there and so has TJ Perenara so I don’t feel that it’s a crisis.”

The elimination of these big names isn’t expected to dampen Robertson’s spirits either, as the coach steered the Crusaders through injuries to seven All Blacks and still lifted the Super Rugby Pacific trophy in 2023.

The coach has however expressed his interest in adapting the All Blacks eligibility laws to allow for a player like Richie Mo’unga – currently on a three-year deal with Tokyo’s Toshiba Brave Lupus – to join the All Blacks on a special exemption.

“It’s all speculation over what he was doing in Japan, wasn’t it?” Marshall continued. “But he’s not the type of coach to panic and worry about turning Super Rugby players or even provincial players into All Blacks, that’s not an issue for him.

“What he was doing in Japan, why he was there, again, I don’t know if there’s been any confirmation of the fact that he was desperately trying to get some players back, we might not ever know.

“But, equally, his real strength is not so much coming up with an absolutely miraculous game plan that nobody has ever seen before in their life, it’s more that he has the ability to get his players into a squad, into an environment and make them happy and make them want to play. That’s his strength and he’s able to do that with any type of player.

“What this is, is a good opportunity for New Zealand Rugby and the All Blacks in particular to reset. Let’s face it, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster over the last decade. Particularly the last eight years with two Rugby World Cup exits.

“We haven’t been exactly winning everything and we’ve had our history dented so this is a chance to get a new, fresh start but equally there’s quite a few players that have been there that won’t be there and its a chance to launch into the future and launch into something refreshing.”