'Need to be addressed': Commentator's view on ABs mixed messaging

I agree that there are clear indications that these coaches feel out of their depth at international level. One key indicator is the perseverance with BB, despite most of his contestable being anything but, and despite his inability to ignite the back-line - as an ex loosie, he gives big clues about not being a running threat by not squaring up before he passes, so the defence drifts straight on to his outsides. It’s as if the coaches feel BB knows more about test rugby than they do, so they defer to him. Another indicator was hanging on to Sam Cane and TJ last year. And persevering with players like Reece this year. Yes, experience is important, but the great truth about rugby is that if you do the wrong thing hard enough, it’s the right thing. We need to slip the shackles of BB’s fear and caution, we need the enthusiasm and belief of Roigard and Jordie and Tupaea and Fainga’nuku and Jordan and Clarke to go unfettered at the opposition.

I also agree about Jason Ryan and the scrum. Does the demise of our scrum coincide with Mike Cron not being available this year to mentor Ryan? Ryan needs to be honest about needing help, as he was with Bryn Evans and lineouts (though it was apparently Mike Cron who suggested to Ryan that he needed help there). This should be one of the top items in any review of this year’s performance, because the Boks proved again against Ireland (as they did in Wellington) that if you can’t stand up to their scrum, you’re never going to win.

The key question for NZ is “has Scott Robertson's coaching regime improved any of the players?”. The simple answer is “No”. Eng, France and Ire now routinely go into matches against NZ with the credible belief that they will get a result. The fear factor has gone (was never there for Fra).

Key question for the end of year reviewers - does Robertson’s coaching team have the genuine respect of the players? Honest answers needed because what we are seeing is a team that does not have belief in what they are doing or being told. They are switching off when the pressure ramps up. Sure they may have a bit of a siege mentality brewing - Sititi’s overly defensive response to questions about performance showed that. But that is not enough to be the best in the world again. They need to have complete faith in their leadership and their systems. This can be contrasted with Argentina - vastly smaller rugby resource but they play with such passion and belief that they now worry all teams including the top four. Their Coach is the source of that belief - and the fact he was prepared to march down onto the field to literally fight for them spoke volumes.

They have more coaching roles than that to fill if they want get anywhere near the Nations Championship, avoid humiliation in South Africa, or get past the QFs at the World Cup.

Hansen is not the professor. He has never held a head coach role and is way out of his depth at international level. The longer this coaching team are in place the worse the team gets across all facets of the game.

Tamati Ellison has ended up as the defence coach. We have taken some hammerings this year, and we conceded 4 tries against a Welsh team who lost to Georgia not long ago.

MacDonald and Holland were responsible for years of mediocre performances as SR coaches. Notably their talented teams failed to fire regularly. Any surprises that the ABs stuttering attack now looks the way it does. Easily the worst attack in the ABs professional history, but maybe ever. Their ball in hand play is comparable with Japan or Georgia. It is just horrendously bad. An extremely outdated and predictable attacking structure that every remotely good team can defend very easily.

Jason Ryan was a revelation when he first came into the team, but our forwards are being regularly outplayed. Our scrum was a weapon last year, but South Africa and England are much stronger. I don’t know how much Ryan has to do with forwards selections but our back row gets outworked, outthought, and outplayed most weeks.

Razor should stay, because I don’t think they will replace him now. He should keep Ryan with a caveat around performance in the home leg of the NC, but every other coach involved should be dispatched with haste.

We can’t wait until we lose 0-4 to South Africa next year to make drastic changes.

That stat of 1 try from counter attack is startling, that used to be a major facet of AB rugby. To me, that just underlines how dysfunctional the back line is, as majority of counter attack tries are scored by backs. Also, due to lack of test match 10 we are not playing and putting pressure on opposition in the right parts of the pitch.

It does appear that Hansen is acting as head coach and Robertson sits above him and runs the group culture of the team. Word is that both McDonald and now Holland both left because they have a different coaching philosophy than Hansen and Robertson. As the article says it's amazing that Robertson has abdicated the head coach role and given it to a guy who has never been a Super Rugby hc. Worse still the bloke speaks in riddles and you can clearly see how this impacts the play if the ABs, along with the conservative game plan. I can't really see this working out and the way things are going the ABs will be lucky to make it past the 1/4 final of the next RWC