LONG READ Robertson plays a smart hand on All Blacks eligibility issue

Scott Robertson was given the All Blacks head coaching role on the basis he’s a proven winner.

In seven seasons with the Crusaders, he won seven Super Rugby titles – a record which unequivocally suggests Robertson is a man who knows how to plan, how to strategise and how to stay in the fight.

These are the qualities that drew New Zealand Rugby to him in early 2023 when they announced he’d be taking over from Ian Foster after the World Cup.

It was an unprecedented move by NZR to have the next coach lined up while the incumbent still had six months of his contract to run, but it signalled how worried the national body was about losing Robertson to an international rival.

And it signalled how much faith NZR has in Robertson. It is 20 years since Graham Henry was appointed All Blacks head coach, before being replaced in 2012 by his assistant Steve Hansen, who in turn was replaced by his assistant, Foster in 2019.

Two decades of promoting within worked well for the All Blacks but there is no doubt that by mid-way through 2022, there was an overwhelming sense that NZR’s board and executive team were convinced they needed a new, enterprising figure to set the national team on a new path.

They wanted to break free from the continuity cycle and bring in someone who would not only deliver an on-field re-brand, but an off-field one, too – a more modern and accessible team that Gen Z could fall in love with.

In his two months in the role so far, Robertson has already shown that things are going to be different with him in charge.

Robertson is the man who has been installed to be that point of difference – to bring fresh-thinking and alternative ideas to the All Blacks and better connect them with a fan base that at times in the last two decades has felt a little shunned by their favourite team.

Having given him the job on a ticket to modernise the All Blacks and better equip them to thrive in the digital age, NZR is now discovering that Robertson intends to stay true to his brief.

In his two months in the role so far, Robertson has already shown that things are going to be different with him in charge.

There has been a significant clear-out of personnel with only two people – forwards coach Jason Ryan and conditioning coach Nic Gill – surviving from the previous regime.

New faces are everywhere in the Robertson set-up, with the arrival of world-renowned sports psychologist Ceri Evans of particular interest as the former international footballer had a huge impact on both Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.

Robertson has also shown a willingness to be open and accessible to the media, fronting an informal breakfast in December before holding a surprise press conference in Auckland a month later when the All Blacks were conducting their usual off-season fitness testing.

Typically, the media aren’t told about these off-season sessions and nor has the coach historically fronted, but Robertson has come into the role with a desire to keep the media close and the public connected and was happy to answer questions about all sorts of things despite the fact he won’t be picking his first squad for another six months.

The unwritten rule has been that All Blacks coaches will acknowledge the importance of keeping players in New Zealand to protect the strength of the domestic game.

There was one question in particular he was happy to answer, which was on the perennial issue of NZR’s All Blacks eligibility policy, which prevents players based overseas from being selected.

This is a hot topic in New Zealand and one that Robertson seems determined to keep in the public agenda for as long as it takes to get some kind of concession from his employer.

His predecessors have all chosen to toe the party line on this issue and not publicly challenge it. The unwritten rule has been that All Blacks coaches will acknowledge the importance of keeping players in New Zealand to protect the strength of the domestic game.

But Robertson broke with convention in April last year when he told the media that he would present the board with a plan to change the policy.

And in Auckland last week, he doubled down when he said: “What I presented to the board, the CEOs of Super Rugby, the PUs [provincial unions], Heartland, I explained about keeping an open mind to where we are in that space, that’s what I’ve asked for,” Robertson said.

“I’ve not asked for ‘can I please have someone come and play for us?’ but keep an open mind where the game is at the moment. It’s moving quite quickly, as we know, there is a lot of on and off-field, players and decisions and contracting, and I want to be a step ahead of that. Decipher that.”

Decipher that indeed because it’s not clear whether Robertson is campaigning for specific change or applying firm but gentle pressure through the media to keep the topic in the public domain or confirming that he’s simply of the view that while he supports the policy as it stands, he feels that NZR need to be flexible and willing to react if market conditions change.

The suspicion at this stage is that Robertson wants the media to keep asking the question and for the policy to continue to be debated and discussed as fervently as it currently is.

If NZR’s executive and governance team didn’t appreciate that their new coach would be asking them to embrace new thinking as much as the players, they do now.

The reason he may be doing this is to create a strong argument for change should the All Blacks struggle to produce results in 2024, having lost access to frontline talent such as Richie Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell and Leicester Fainga’anuku, as well as veterans such as Aaron Smith, Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock.

The All Blacks are facing a brutal season where they will play England three times, South Africa twice as well as facing France and Ireland. If they lose a handful of tests, Robertson will be able to push back and say that it is perhaps nonsensical for New Zealand’s financial ecosystem to be so dependent on the national team being successful and yet deny them access to key players.

It’s a sign of how smartly Robertson operates that he’s building a narrative now that may come to help him later in the year. If NZR’s executive and governance team didn’t appreciate that their new coach would be asking them to embrace new thinking as much as the players, they do now.

NZR wanted an agent of change, a radical operator with the power to engage a new audience, but did they fully understand what that would mean?

Did they know that Robertson would consider that nothing is off the table and that he will campaign to change everything and anything he doesn’t think will help the All Blacks fulfil their brief of being a winning and much-loved team?

The question that seems unlikely to go away this year is for how long can NZR continue to stick rigidly to its belief that the current eligibility system is the right one?

It’s a question being asked in England, too, as more and more star players defect to the greater riches on offer in French club rugby. The sense is growing that both NZR and the RFU have their fingers in the metaphoric dyke trying to stop the flow of player movement through stringent eligibility policies for their national teams.

However well the eligibility policy has served New Zealand in the past, times have changed, and Robertson may have an inkling that private equity investor Silver Lake could become an ally in his quest to soften the policy.

The US fund manager pumped another $62.5m into the All Blacks just before Christmas and is under pressure to generate a better return, having not produced the transitional incomes it forecast it would when it came on board in 2022.

If the All Blacks can’t maintain their amazing long-term win record, they have little hope of achieving their commercial targets and Silver Lake is most likely going to side with Robertson in pushing for some kind of change to the eligibility situation.

Robertson has only ever known success as a professional coach and it seems that on this vexed issue of player eligibility, he will ultimately secure the victory he craves.