Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Scott Robertson reacts to gutsy All Blacks victory over England

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson. Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images

It wasn’t pretty, but Scott Robertson and his All Blacks have claimed a third victory over England in 2024, after a tight 24-22 contest this morning at Allianz Stadium in London.

ADVERTISEMENT

England was in the game till the death, once again putting this All Blacks side under pressure throughout a gruelling 80 minutes.

It’s another performance from the All Blacks that had its flaws. But a late Damian McKenzie conversion from the right touchline secured a morale-boosting win to make it two wins from two on the Northern Tour.

Scott Robertson was pleased with his side’s ability to find a way to victory.

“It probably had every bit of emotion in the game didn’t it, we showed a lot of character, stayed in the fight for a long period of time, and 15 minutes to go coming from eight down is a pretty special moment for us as a group,” Robertson said to media at Allianz Stadium. 

“I’m pleased, just as much as relieved really, I’m pleased because of how much effort, and care, every game we’ve been in this year we’ve had a lead or a chance to win, so to get one for the group, it means a lot for us, it galvanizes us.”

Related

The All Blacks have more business to do in the north, heading to Dublin to take on Ireland before heading to France and Italy respectively.

ADVERTISEMENT

Robertson knows his team will have to improve in many areas ahead of the Ireland test next weekend.

“We need to tidy up our discipline, some execution errors, but keep creating and being brave by volunteering to play. So it’s little small margins, but we’ve definitely got to be better.”

The lack of bench impact in the last quarter of the game has been a crucial talking point under Scott Robertson, but according to Robertson, the bench against England shifted the momentum.

“It’s nice to see them coming on and make an impact, even starting with Asafo Aumua coming on early in the piece for Codie (Taylor), Patrick Tuipulotu was exceptional and the scrum came on with the props, they swung a little bit of the momentum our way, and I was really pleased. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“We couldn’t find a penalty out there until those couple of scrums, that changed the momentum quite quickly and got up the field, obviously the lineout and a couple of missed calls and things that went with it but it was definitely a little bit of a momentum swing for us,” Robertson told media after the 24-22 victory. 

The All Blacks head coach gives credit to England, who for large parts controlled the game.

“We knew England was gonna come out the back and try to tackle the second or third to last attacker, stop us getting to the edge and they did a great job for the majority of it. 

“You know they are a brave team in that department, they’re a hard team to play and a hard team to beat. 

“Hell of an atmosphere and a hell of an event.” 

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

The Rise of Kenya | The Report

New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
NB 24 minutes ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

166 Go to comments
f
fl 32 minutes ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Two comparable achievements 15 years apart (at different clubs in different leagues) represent failure and not continued success for an elite level coach/manager? Not even a hint of consistency? Just gradual, inevitable decline? And all because he is in his sixth decade?”

Why don’t you try reading what I wrote before you start inventing a load of other random things that I didn’t say. I said “Pep hasn’t gotten better with age”. He hasn’t. I don’t think he’s got much worse, and yeah, he’s been fairly consistent over his career and has had more success than almost any other coach. But he hasn’t gotten better.


“You’ve missed that Mourinho’s early start in football was as a translator for Bobby Robson (ironically a much older manager at the time!).”

I was actually aware of that. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant to the fact that Mourinho - aged 52 - had more experience than Arteta does at 43. It also isn’t ironic that Bobby Robson was a much older manager at the time - it actually confirms by point that a lot of the top football managers used to be older than they are today.


“You suggested that Les Kiss would not be suited to an international coaching role because of his age profile…that seemed to relate to rugby”

That did relate to rugby. Let me walk you through the thread…


NB suggested that Les Kiss should become Australia head coach in 2027.

I said: “Given the drop off so many top coaches seem to experience as they get older (e.g. Jones, Gatland) Kiss could be a riskier appointment than you’d think!”

NB said: “Drawing a parallel with the NFL and NBA, plenty of coaches stay well into their 70’s”

I said: “Not all sports are going the same way though” then gave the example of football.


The example of football was introduced in order to make the point that the age profile of managers is not the same in every sport. If you had read the thread you were replying to you would know this!

166 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why NZR's Ineos settlement may be the most important victory they'll enjoy this year Why NZR's Ineos settlement may be the most important victory they'll enjoy this year
Search