There was a curious moment ahead of the All Blacks’ clash with the Springboks at the 2019 World Cup – one in which Rassie Erasmus, as only he could, went on a four-minute rant about how New Zealand had, for the last 10 years, won favourable treatment from referees as a result of their number one status.
His theory was simple – that referees tended to make decisions that favoured whoever they saw as the dominant team and that the All Blacks had deservedly earned the reputation of being consistently better than everyone else.
Erasmus seemed to be desperate to air his thoughts on this matter, to be sure that every referee at the tournament knew that while the All Blacks had been the number one team since 2009, they had arrived in Japan a little lower down the pecking order and so the default decisions that had favoured them needed to stop.
It sounded all a bit bonkers, the sort of ‘out there’ theories that Erasmus has become infamous for, and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen called him out for trying to have undue influence on the referee ahead of their pool clash.
But here we are five years on and maybe there was something in what Erasmus said after all. Maybe he wasn’t barking entirely up the wrong tree, because since 2020, the All Blacks have developed an endemic discipline problem.
They have become almost reckless in the way they give away penalties and gather cards and their lack of discipline has become the single biggest issue impacting their ability to regain that number one ranking they so covet.
The stats make alarming reading, as there is a distinct correlation between increased losses to tier-one opposition since 2020 and an exponential rise in the number of cards the All Blacks have been shown.
In 2020 the All Blacks played six, won three, lost two and drew one. In one of the defeats, they picked up a red card.
The indiscipline the All Blacks showed in the defeats to Ireland in 2021, and then in the second and third Tests of 2022, was crippling.
In 2021 and 2022 they played 29 Tests and were shown 13 yellows and three reds. They won 21, lost seven and drew one for a 72 per cent win ratio.
More illustrative, however, of how impactful their lack of discipline had become is that in four of the Tests in which they lost, they were shown either a yellow or red card, and on one occasion both.
The indiscipline the All Blacks showed in the defeats to Ireland in 2021, and then in the second and third Tests of 2022, was crippling.
When they lost to France in 2021, there was an untimely yellow card shown to Ardie Savea that opened the door for the home side to regain the momentum and charge home with the win, while England’s three tries in the last 10 minutes at Twickenham in 2022, to salvage an unlikely draw, came when the All Blacks only had 14 men on the field.
At the World Cup, they were shown a yellow card in the opening game against France and lost, and then in the final they copped a yellow and red and lost.
But what’s connecting this issue to Erasmus’ theory is that the discipline has not been cleaned up under new coach Scott Robertson.
The same problems are persisting and the same correlation between lack of discipline and defeats exists.
There is an overwhelming sense that they won’t win as much as they should until they clean up their act.
The All Blacks were in control of the Test against South Africa at Ellis Park this year until Ofa Tu’ungafasi was yellow-carded for pulling down a maul and a 27-17 lead became a 31-27 defeat.
There were two yellow cards in the next game in Cape Town – another defeat – and while the All Blacks held on to beat Australia 31-28 in the first Bledisloe Cup meeting of the year, their entire game collapsed after Anton Lienert-Brown and Caleb Clarke were sin-binned within seven minutes of each other.
Against England at Twickenham last week, New Zealand still managed to win 24-22 but they were on the wrong side of an 11-7 penalty count and had Lienert-Brown yellow-carded.
The penalty count was 9-1 against the All Blacks at half-time and that fact alone was arguably why England were able to stay in the fight and give George Ford two late opportunities to secure the win.
It’s why the All Blacks couldn’t keep the pressure on England when they had them scrambling at times – because they offered too many easy outs by conceding too many penalties. With a bit of accuracy and discipline, the All Blacks would never have found themselves hanging on at the death the way they did and there is an overwhelming sense that they won’t win as much as they should until they clean up their act.
“I haven’t seen the stats but just being there live and feeling it, feeling’s not always fact but I think the first half was nine to one and that’s not a position we want to put ourselves in around a match,” assistant All Blacks coach Scott Hansen said of the discipline problems at Twickenham.
Mostly the All Blacks are conceding what they themselves call “DAPs” – Dumb Arse Penalties – where they are either impetuous, careless or impulsive.
“What was our accuracy like? We weren’t making smart decisions at times around where we were applying pressure. We put ourselves in positions where England were applying scoreboard pressure because of the penalties. We do have to be better than that.
“So, definitely, as we go through the week we’ll acknowledge, what does that look like? And get some better solutions. But at the end of the day, in Test match rugby you can’t be nine-to-one in the penalty count and I think it was that in the first half.”
What’s really killing the All Blacks is the number of avoidable penalties they are conceding – infringements that are not marginal or the cause of an unexpected interpretation by a referee.
Mostly the All Blacks are conceding what they themselves call “DAPs” – Dumb Arse Penalties – where they are either impetuous, careless or impulsive.
As an example, Will Jordan dived on Marcus Smith after the England fly-half had scrambled back deep into his own 22 to rescue a desperate situation mid-way through the first half.
If Jordan had just bided his time, Smith would have been heavily outnumbered by All Blacks and who knows – he may have been turned over or forced to hold onto the ball.
The point is, the All Blacks created a golden opportunity to get themselves camped deep in England’s 22 and potentially score to go to 21-6 up 10 minutes before half-time.
Instead, England used that penalty to get into the All Blacks territory, win another one because for the second time New Zealand tackled someone without the ball, before the same mistake was made two minutes later.
So instead of going into half-time 21-6 ahead, the All Blacks were only 14-12 up because three silly penalties gave England momentum and opportunity.
The bigger issue would appear to be that New Zealand has remained wedded to an outdated culture of believing players should see what they can get away with in a game – test the limits of the referee and then adjust accordingly.
It is impossible not to wonder why this habit has been formed. When it was happening under the previous coaching regime, they took the blame for it.
It was seen as a coaching issue in the last World Cup cycle. But now it is still happening, is it possible that New Zealand had, as Erasmus suggested, masked their ill-discipline between 2009 and 2019 because they were getting benefit-of-the-doubt decisions from officials?
Was it always a problem, but they weren’t being pinged for it so much? Did New Zealand’s players live a charmed life that they no longer do now that they are the world’s number three team?
There is, potentially, some mileage in that theory but the bigger issue would appear to be that New Zealand has remained wedded to an outdated culture of believing that players should see what they can get away with in a game – test the limits of the referee and then adjust accordingly.
This seems to be the attitude across all Super Rugby teams and perhaps the issue is that the All Blacks inherit players who have come through a system that has not hammered into them the importance of playing strictly within the laws.
How else to explain it? At Twickenham, three times the All Blacks tackled English players who didn’t have the ball. Jordan flopped on Smith and Caleb Clarke was penalised for a deliberate knock-on when he did what all New Zealand players seem to do now – and come into a spot-tackle with an exaggerated wingspan in the hope that a late pass may hit his hand and be ruled accidental.
The All Blacks, amazingly, managed to beat Ireland in the World Cup quarter-final even though they picked up two yellow cards, but it’s hard to see how they can win big matches regularly when they spend so much of each game at a numeric disadvantage.
Interesting theory from Erasmus.
Given that the Boks are now dominant and have been for sometime, does he concede that the Boks are now getting favourable treatment from refs?
He should. They are. And a lot of it started with his destroying of Berry. Refs became scared to suffer the public backlash. Personally Id advise Razor and every other coach to do the exact same thing. Just pick the moment. Make it in the last match of this years EOYTs so the 3 mth suspension means absolutely nothing like Rassie's did.
Horsesht. The All Blacks discipline has always sucked. Between 2009-2019 they were the most heavily penalised and carded tier 1 nation.
I know this because Gregor pointed it out in another of his articles.
The standards for discipline are just not high enough. There are some that happen to every team under pressure, and some that are the referee's interpretation that you have to accept happen in every game. But half of the ABs penalties are completely avoidable, unnecessary, and happen when they are not under pressure.
Will Jordan's one is a perfect example. He must have turned his brain off it was just so blatant, impossible to imagine what he was thinking or why he did that. Same with ALB being the fourth person to just complete a tackle on someone who doesn't have the ball, while on a warning for a yellow card - How can you trust this man to select him again when his decision making is so poor? Or lazy off sides where 3 or 4 players every game get pinged for standing half a meter off side - what do you have to gain by doing this? And are any teams penalised more often than NZ for knocking passes down???
Every player is guilty of this too over the course of a couple of games. The only answer is that it is a cultural thing in this team which everyone has just accepted is good enough.
ABs got pinged for 1 offside that whole game, at the end of the match. Run at gaps, not All Blacks.
Has the ABs 'no dickheads' policy been suspended?
I gather you support all other teams "Dickheads allowed" policy. Ireland certainly have a strong dickheads allowed policy, after-all they had Sexton for years even tho he abused people for years.
Clearly not, in fact that "policy" was a complete media ruse, NZ still continually picked 2 wife beaters in their squad (Reece and Frizell).
We're in phase 1 of the RWC cycle, still building nicely towards the ultimate prize. As for discipline & mindset, Razor will need another year to completely rinse out the bad habits of the Foster era. As we know, muscle memories die hard. A new midfield, 10, 6, & Ardie to 7 will help. I'm already excited about the naming of Razor's first pure squad, in 2025.
And no Gregor. We are not. And never have been. Ever. Bothered. Motivated. Whatever. With the so-called "rankings" alluded to in the header. That'll be the North. I expect that with the cobwebs well & truly blown out, a much more focussed ABs will smash an underdone IRE. Apparently there's also controversy amongst their fans that the test is on a Friday. Something about "alienating 3/4s of the country", whatever that means. All is not well in camp IRE.
The Friday Night game time makes it very difficult for those outside Dublin to get to the game without taking time off work. It also means either having to stay overnight afterwards (and getting ripped off by the gougers in the Hotels) or arriving home at an ungodly hour of the morning. But, of course, the fans don't matter a shyte, the TV Gods must be obeyed.
It had better be a pure squad next year or frankly I will be pretty annoyed.
It seems that OJ is not so mad after all.
It is the Canterbury way tho with McCaw being the all time master exponent of cheating to win.
Scott Robertson is just maintaing the tradition. I don't think he knows anything else. It's like his mind is stuck and he can't process it.
He was never a cheating player like John Eales was. Eales was terrible.
I see you have changed your name from John to OJohn, but your still the same old Ozee with a oak tree of a chip on your shoulder, mate your tired whining about anything NZ rugby is pathetic and you need to get over yourself, because whether your O or just john, your still a tool.
It sounded all a bit bonkers, the sort of ‘out there’ theories that Erasmus has become famous for. - fixed it for you.
Rassie was obviously correct, that pool stage win saw multiple dropped binds by at scrum time right in front of Garces for which no penalty was given. It’s all clear as day on the tape, go watch it for yourself.
Refs are no longer allowing nefarious tactics to go unpunished. This applies to all teams so please don’t feel like the ABs are being singled out here.. they’re just rightly being held to the same standards as everyone else for a change.
Lesson 1. Rassie is never wrong.
As I’ve said before, you can set your watch to the ABs getting a yellow card.
I also think that the all blacks of the past would simply outscore you or make the win happen regardless of penalty count or cards. The impact is higher now because the games are tighter.
In addition to cleaning up their act - The ABs must also beat Ireland and France if they want to return to no. 1. #justsaying.
Haha Lesson 2/Rassie lies to suit his own needs and loves a good video rant. And its worked, as the refs get all scared to panalise the Boks.
What isnt being said here is that for 10 years now WR has collectively decided to bring NZ back to the pack. Wait till its the norm and they will start on SA.
I just wanted to say that Bullsharks are awesome creatures. Cool name. Futhermore it's even worse th
To be fair to the ABs, every other side in the world would've made those tackles; because they ran into OUR GUYS!!!
I will admit the ABs have been undisciplined, but there are a LOT of 50-50 calls which go against them. Not to mention that sometimes the refs are only refereeing us and not the other team.
The yellow card epidemic in NZ has been particularly worrying, and it is probably a consequence of playing against AUS players a lot, and it develops a mindset where getting YC'd isn't a 'big deal'. They seriously need to work on the YC situation, because playing without a man is a huge disadvantage.
No. They'd been lined up for the tackle beforehand. I have rewatched the match and it was another "tactic" that backfired for NZ. What can't be denied is the poor tackle technique by NZ, it's a problem that still needs addressing.
2 hours ago
To be fair to the ABs, every other side in the world would've made those tackles; because they ran into OUR GUYS!!! So sorry Mr Ref his face hit my fist.