Ex-All Black Murray Mexted grades Razor's 2025 season

Former All Black Murray Mexted has graded the All Blacks‘ 2025 season a C-, but says that grade is a reflection of growing pains in a young squad with huge potential.

While the three losses during the calendar year soured the 34-cap All Black’s review, Mexted is of the opinion that All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has filtered out some players who were not up to the task, and replaced them with up-and-comers who will serve the black jersey well over the years to come.

While that bodes well for the All Blacks’ future, it doesn’t necessarily provide tangible results during the season, as Mexted explained after revealing his season grade.

“They haven’t improved at all in my view,” he told Martin Devlin on DSPN. “But what they have done is sort out a few guys who aren’t up to it and found a few guys who are up to it, but we haven’t seen the fruits of their labour yet. I think that will come through next year. That’s what I’m hoping.”

The former New Zealand captain went on to analyse the forward pack, delivering verdicts on the front, second, and back rows, respectively.

“The front row at the moment, I think, looks really healthy,” he said. ” But I don’t think I’ve seen the All Blacks forward pack go back as I have in the last three weeks. It’s incredible that we are going backwards in the scrum.

“You’d have to say that there are scrums out there – England’s an example, South Africa’s another example – remember we’re marking ourselves against the top teams, No.1, not against No.4, or No.5 or No.6. We got beaten in the scrum by both South Africa and England.

“That’s not sorted yet, but I think it’s pretty much sorted. He’s found a whole lot of players; there are at least two in every position. Jason Ryan has done a marvellous job; you don’t build these guys overnight.

“Tamaiti Williams is an example, he came on so quickly, everyone thought, ‘there’s the solution, he’s a huge man who can dominate every scrum in the world’. Well, that’s proven to be incorrect. His body’s been reshaped, and he’s got huge potential, greater potential than I’ve seen in that front row.

“When you look at his sheer size, I don’t think we’ve had a front row forward as big as Tamaiti Williams, and I think it’s a wonderful strength.

“It’s not just him; it’s right across the board. (Pasilio) Tosi has come on enormously; that’s a big achievement. He used to play No.8, so he’s a ball-carrier as well. He’s there for scrummaging to start with, and it looks to me like he’s got the business.

“We’ve got some growth there, there’s no doubt about it. Next year they will get better and better, and by the World Cup they will be ready.”

Shifting his attention to the second row, there was more optimism over the promise of the emerging talent.

“The locks are the same,” he said. “Half a dozen games ago, I was worried about the size of our locks, because (Tupou) Vaa’i was being picked consistently as a lock when I think we need him as a loose forward. He’s definitely smart enough.

“I’m happy with what’s happening with the locks. By bringing on (Fabian) Holland and, of course, (Josh) Lord – he was a great success in the last match with the number of opposition balls he won in the lineout.

“So, Lord, Barrett, Holland, and in the background, we’ve still got (Patrick) Tuipulotu, and we’ve got (Sam) Darry, who’s genuinely big. I think we’re looking good there for the Rugby World Cup.

“It’s still a C-, they’re still learning their trade at that level, and they will all get better and better because they’ve got that potential.”

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The former No.8 was not as convinced with the current loose forward stocks, however.

“At one stage, we had such strength in the loose forwards that if you picked a world XV, two of our three players would make it. You pick a world XV now, and that’s not going to happen. There are so many other players around the world in the loose forward who are better than we are at the moment.

“I still think they’re fooling around with the positions. (Peter) Lakai is in the running now, and (Wallace) Sititi is really good with the ball in hand. It’s hard to see on TV, so I can’t be much of a critic. But the jury’s out on those two players.

“I’ve seen a bit more of Lakai at the Hurricanes; he’s quite good and experienced as a seven and an eight. Where’s his ultimate position? I think he’s going to end up at openside flanker. So, therefore, I still worry, have we seen a new No.8? I think we need to be looking at guys who are coming through now.”