All Blacks great Sean Fitzpatrick gives his read of The Rugby Championship

Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick is positive about the competitiveness of Test rugby, although he finds the emphasis on Rugby World Cups as opposed to winning week in, week out, a disappointing departure from the mindset of his era.

With perhaps the most even Rugby Championship ever entering its third round this week, former Test hooker Fitzpatrick had plenty of enthusiasm for the state of play. He had high praise for Argentina and commended the Wallabies for their recent return to form, while saying his All Blacks are trending well.

Speaking with veteran radio host Martin Devlin this week, Fitzpatrick shared his views on Scott Robertson’s coaching and the advice he gave to Scott Barrett following his first season as All Blacks captain.

“You and I need to change our mindset,” he told Devlin on DSPN. “We’re developing a team for the World Cup, and I think last year they made real progress in developing young talent.

“You look at our forward pack, I think we’ve done really well. Tamaiti Williams and Fabian Holland, and these sorts of names are going to be crucial for us to be successful come Australia in two years’ time. So, I’m quite comfortable.

“Obviously, the loss last week against Argentina, what a lot of people probably know, being rugby experts as we are, is that Argentina are probably the best team in terms of their performance over the last two years, 18 months. They’d probably be the best team in the world in terms of the way they’ve developed, the teams they’ve beaten; they beat the Lions, they’ve beaten South Africa.

“So I think we’re in a fairly good place. There’s a few positions where we need a bit more depth.

“The guys are learning, I said to Scott Barrett last year, after his first year of being All Black captain, ‘for me, my first year as All Black captain, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t like it, and I didn’t enjoy it; you just develop every year. You get better at what you do. You get better every year.’

“So, I think we’re getting better, and it’s just going to take time. In World Rugby, the top five teams are as good as each other. Anyone can beat anyone at the moment, which is great.

“You look at the (Rugby) Championship, as a fan, I love what Australia is doing at the moment, the way that Lions series went, I thought they were phenomenal, I think Joe Schmidt’s doing an amazing job.

“The South Africans have got their backs to the wall, also. They’re looking a bit tired. But I’m sure at Eden Park we’ll see two teams that are desperate for a win.”