The more I think about the 2025 rugby year, the more I think it’s about Scott Robertson.
I think he left New Zealanders underwhelmed and confused, in his first season as All Blacks head coach.
We’d expected a lot from him, some of which was potentially unrealistic.
But the man had years to prepare for his elevation to this country’s top coaching job and he frankly looked unprepared for it.
The team was a shambles and an assistant coach – and longtime friend of Robertson’s – walked the plank after a few weeks.
Selections made little sense, the performances lacked cohesion and the coach himself came across as inauthentic.
Far from being the inspirational and galvanising appointment many had hoped for, Robertson’s belated ascension disheartened people. They’d waited a long time for this alleged saviour to be given his shot and yet nothing seemed better than it had been before.
If I had any advice for Robertson this year, it would be to own it.
Own the team, own how you speak to the media and public, own the results and the style of play.
Don’t try to be someone you’re not, don’t give too much ownership of the onfield tactics to the players, don’t be too loyal to established stars and don’t let them say and do things that you wouldn’t yourself.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) might want – and even encourage – players to drive social change in this country, but I don’t get the sense Robertson endorses that.
Teams work very hard to minimise or ignore noise from outside their bubble. On that basis, I don’t see why a coach would want players generating that noise themselves.
It wasn’t all bad from Robertson in 2024. He eventually pared back the game plan and dispensed with Damian McKenzie as the starting 10, even if he was bloody slow in doing so.
Then there was the Ethan de Groot thing. I don’t know what the prop did, but I do know the team would have been better with him in it.
But standards are important, de Groot clearly fell short of Robertson’s and he was left out of the side. That’s the kind of ownership I’m talking about.
Rightly or wrongly, people believe Graham Henry and Steve Hansen were in charge of their respective All Black teams. In reality it’s a collaborative process between management and players, but the impression remained that those two men ran the cutter.
Not NZR, not the players or the Players’ Association, not the broadcast rights holder, but the coach.
Hansen, for instance, could be charming and eloquent, but he largely stuck to speaking the fans’ language.
Unlike Robertson has done, he didn’t seek to sound wise or to use words he didn’t fully comprehend himself. He rarely resorted to jargon or accentuating scant positives.
Hansen might’ve had agendas he was pushing, but was mindful not to insult the public’s intelligence in doing so.
Like any leader, Hansen also knew you have to take the people with you.
Robertson did that at the Crusaders. He picked players with character, he played rugby that was ruthlessly efficient and he emphasised how much pride they all felt in representing that region and those fans.
The coach’s stamp was all over that team and the public loved him for it.
There’s huge potential in Robertson’s All Blacks but, for that to be realised, he has to make it his team.
I assumed he’d do that from the outset and that we would see demonstrable change and a team with a real identity. We didn’t.
As my late mother often said, you might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. And that’s what I would say to Robertson.
You’ve waited a long time for this job, you’ll only get one crack, you don’t want to die wondering.
