Former All Blacks captain says team were in 'disarray', needed change

Former All Blacks captain Gary Whetton has come out in support of New Zealand Rugby’s decision to part ways with Scott Robertson, saying the lack of progress from the All Blacks signalled changes needed to be made.

The All Blacks’ record improved ever so slightly in Robertson’s second year at the helm, including a win over the Springboks, but the same old issues continued to plague the Kiwi national side for much of both seasons.

Consistency throughout the 80 minutes was a primary concern for many All Blacks fans, and was acknowledged by NZR chair David Kirk on Thursday when asked for his personal views on the team’s form.

“We fell into a dark hole in the third quarter at times,” Kirk said, a notion later echoed by Whetton.

The 58-Test lock said it wasn’t a complete surprise to see Robertson’s time cut short.

“I wasn’t shocked at the end of the day when I did hear about it,” Whetton told Sport Nation. “I think there’s been a lot going on, a lot has come out, and a lot might come out yet. And there was a thorough review of it all.

“I think if you’re going to fix something, and let’s face it, it wasn’t fixed, going forward was the big question; what was going to change? They took the bold step, albeit the very difficult step for everyone, especially Scott Robertson, to make a change.”

Whetton added that while only “time will tell” whether it was ultimately the right call to take the All Blacks in a different direction, his confidence in Robertson’s direction had been thoroughly eroded.

“I think you can’t keep on doing the same thing and going nowhere. And you have to be brutally honest here, talking about our national rugby team, we haven’t gone forward at all in the last two years. In fact, it was in disarray, and it was going backwards, and it probably would have continued.

“So there were some bold steps taken at the end of the day, not easy for anyone, including David Kirk and the (NZR) board.

“Time will tell what it’s about, but I think it’s the right decision, yes.”

With much speculation over the roles and responsibilities within Robertson’s All Blacks coaching group, Whetton said the team lacked a clear, firm leader with a tangible vision.

“I think at the end of the day that Scott Robertson needs to understand that a good rugby team starts at the top… In this day and age, Scott Robertson needed to be hands-on, and he wasn’t. He had all these lieutenants doing different jobs, and let’s face it, a few lieutenants left the job and resigned for various reasons.

“It was just helter-skelter. I could see that. You could see it in his selections, you couldn’t get the same All Black team for three or four Tests in a row, you could see it in the way they were playing; I still can’t figure out what their game plan was.

“Yes, it was a very difficult decision, what they did, but in some ways, it was the obvious one.”

Team Form

Last 5 Games

0 - 73

13 - 24

14 - 32

17 - 32

61 - 7

26 - 52

33 - 19

17 - 25

13 - 26

14 - 28

5

Wins

4

5

Streak

1

32

Tries Scored

21

171

Points Difference

47

4/5

First Try

4/5

4/5

First Points

3/5

4/5

Race To 10 Points

4/5

Looking ahead, Whetton was of the opinion that New Zealand Rugby needed to learn from the mistakes made during Scott Robertson’s 2023 appointment, to ensure the new coach gets off to a strong start in what will be an immensely competitive 2026 season. He emphasised the need for someone battle-hardened in the Test arena, beyond Super Rugby Pacific.

“Well, obviously, you’ve got Jamie Joseph,” he responded when asked for his pick to step into the head coach role. “Everyone’s talking about Jamie. Jamie is completely different to Razor in the sense that he’s strong, he’s out there in the sense of old school rugby, and I think if you look at international rugby, the All Blacks need to get back to that.

“We’ve got to start being the bullies again and not the guys who take it all. You look at what the Springboks have done, and I think he (Joseph) can muster that side of it, but he’s going to need to get a good team around him…

“I’m not sure where it goes from here, but they just need to make a call pretty quickly. Not ridiculously fast.”