Campbell Burnes on Rugby
Former Manu Samoa No 10 and freelance rugby scribe Campbell Burnes says New Zealand Rugby made the right call in elevating Scott Robertson to the All Blacks head coaching post from 2024.
In the end, New Zealand Rugby moved faster than we thought it would.
We had been told the position of All Blacks head coach from 2024 would be named by mid-April. Knowing how NZR moves and works, that timeline looked to be conservative. But then, seemingly out of the blue, on March 21, NZR decided to strike while the iron was hot and name Scott Robertson as the eighth All Blacks head coach of the professional era.
It was a two-horse race, Jamie Joseph the only other serious candidate after Joe Schmidt had withdrawn from the reckoning. It will be disappointing to some that Joseph, with Tony Brown on his ticket, did not win the nod. If not now for that pair, then when? Late 2027 after the next Rugby World Cup cycle? Maybe.
But the man they call ‘Razor’ is the anointed one. Other than leading the UK Barbarians to victory over the All Blacks XV, a not insignificant effort, his international experience is minimal, but
so what? He has won six Super Rugby titles in six years. If that does not count
for something, then that makes a mockery of that competition.
Robertson would have learned from the experience of late 2019 when, under the white-hot glare of a grilling from Sir Graham Henry on the appointments panel, he failed to convince that he was the man to replace Sir Steve Hansen. Instead, NZR opted for continuity. That has proven divisive, with all due respect to incumbent Ian Foster, who may still engineer a worthy RWC challenge in a few months.
But Robertson is seen as the people’s choice. He’s a zany character who loves a surf at Sumner Beach before work and thinks outside the square. Funnily enough, the social media world was split on him, but how much store should be placed on that, given many who inhabit that sphere are fully paid up members of the flat earth society or climate change deniers?
Nothing had changed since Robertson was placed on standby to replace Foster last August when the All Blacks were in turmoil, other than a couple of surprise defeats for the Crusaders in the early weeks of Super Rugby Pacific.
The notion that Robertson was distracted was nonsense. In 2008, Robbie Deans was in the bizarre situation of coaching the Crusaders to a title on Saturday night and then starting with the Wallabies on Monday morning. But Deans’ focus was not in question, at least in hindsight.
The All Blacks of 2024 will look very different. There will be no Aaron Smith, Sam Whitelock, Dane Coles, Richie Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell or Brodie Retallick. We don’t yet know about Rieko Ioane and Beauden Barrett. Ardie Savea will miss Super Rugby. To a certain extent, Robertson’s All Blacks will be rebuilding. In 2012 and 2016 we saw Hansen expertly balance the twin goals of rebuilding
while winning. It didn’t go so well under Foster in 2020.
Razor will surround himself with good men. A coaching team of Jason Ryan, Leon MacDonald and perhaps Scott McLeod is seasoned and high-powered. We should aim high with our expectations. After all, Razor’s been doing that, and winning, for the last decade. He’s in the hot seat but one would think he’ll be up to it.
