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Thursday

12:00

Thursday

22:05

International

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

By Ned Lester

45 days ago

New Zraland players discuss tactics during the Autumn Nations Series international rugby union match between England and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, in south-west London, on November 15, 2025. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)

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.

VIDEO

“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

Wins

Streak

Tries Scored

171

Points Difference

4/5

First Try

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.”

Comments

14 Comments

B747aviator 44 days ago

Sorry but NZ rugby has bigger problems than just Razor and the mistakes he made. When people say ‘Accountability starts at the top’ it means the CEO not the coach.

The systems in place regarding support and player retention are clearly outdated. Robertson did very well with Crusaders and even though super rugby and international rugby are 2 different beasts you don’t achieve what he did by accident or luck.

As a Bok fan I’m telling you now we had our fair share of coaching nightmare dramas but firing Razor now was a mistake.

WhennAlistair Coetzee was fired it was for very different reasons, he was out of his depth as a coach and had clearly been appointed on an ‘Affirmative Action basis’, even SA Rugby admitted that and it blew up in their face big time.

Razor is a quality coach who has made his fair share of mistakes, clearly had personality clashes with other members of staff and should have taken a more hands on approach.

In saying that a few tweaks could have easily resolved that situation. The NZRU seems to be the bigger problem and the board and CEO need to take a long hard look in the mirror, the buck stops with them.

Just like a coach is responsible for getting the best out of his players, the CEO is responsible for getting the best out of the entire organisation, this smells of Razor being chucked under the bus.

The coach is hamstrung if he does not get 100% support from the NZRU and as for player power, that story never ends well.

cw 44 days ago

Some balance much needed here thanks B747.

JW 44 days ago

Well said. I will say just because Kirk took the actions he did, doesn’t mean that he might not institute the right changes. He just might have wanted to start fresh in doing what you say needs to be done.

Razor can always come back again.

Utiku Old Boy 45 days ago

Let’s face it. It was Razor’s hair. So annoying.

Blackmania 45 days ago

When I read some people being outraged at the idea of firing a coach with a 74% win rate, I wonder whether they’ve actually watched the All Blacks play over the past two years.

How many meaningless wins are included in those 74%? Which matches were truly controlled by the All Blacks for a full 80 minutes under Robertson? Maybe none…

The win in Ireland in 2024? Even that wasn’t great rugby either.

This team was going nowhere with Robertson at the helm. No progress at all, a frozen team that gradually lost its instinctive rugby from match to match. Robertson was hugely disappointing in this role. I believe he lacked many, many things required for the job, and we should stop defending him because he is indefensible. He had full authority, significant budgets, and an incredible number of assistants for a level of play that was abysmally mediocre.

I’m sorry, I’m going to be very harsh, but Robertson is clueless — he was utterly useless. And I think he will struggle greatly to bounce back after this.

I completely agree with Whetton. The only viable solution was his dismissal. Robertson was simply out of his depth. No one will miss him…

OutRun22 43 days ago

its 73% and thats godamn awful no matter how you spin it. bring back foster stuff

JW 45 days ago

This team was going nowhere with Robertson at the helm. No progress at all

Yep, but neither was South Africa. It was their 7th game of the season, where they turned it around in Wellington.

Could Kirk have seen that happening?

The thing is when you look at Razor, he did have those things, he has proved it numerous times. He just didn’t look like the same guy, even before his first game, and quickly got worse. I don’t know who got in his head, but his first game his comment was “wow test footy is different isn’t it” like wtf kind of response was that, the team played really well, blew a few chances and had to fight off England, but anyone else, even the Razor I’d come to know, would have brushed of those sorts of concern thoughts (and maybe it was a question from TV) and given a far more positive response.

As I read on in your posts, you sound like one of those denial people though. Were you upset at how Foster was treated?

Karlos G 45 days ago

Hoping that Scott’s OK and has plenty of supportive people around him at a tough time! I still feel it’s the right call and am personally thinking that Hansen was the one most disliked but had the support of his boss/mate and turned into a toxic environment for not only players but other assistant coaches.lts kinda of like being in that workplace with a supervisor who’s toxic and horrible but is best buds/has the support of the boss and workers complaints/concerns are being dismissed leading to resentment and disillusionment within the workforce and in turn effects staff morale and productivity!

Onwards and Upwards, hoping the new coaching group are alot bolder with selections and let go of the underperforming old guard and find that mongrel/hard edge that’s been missing for several years in key positions

JW 45 days ago

That was the question I’d not been able to answer to myself for months, would Razor drop his assistant. Not even fire and replace, I don’t even think he could have a conversation where he tells Hansen that he hasn’t done good enough and is bringing someone else in for his role. I bet he would have asked ROG to come in just to assist his coachs.

Im getting the vibe that it was already gone when he was dismissing the players. I don’t think you sack a guy for one month not performing.

GodOfFriedChicken 45 days ago

Just tell that to the Cantabs who act like everything was going swimmingly and that NZR committed a cardinal sin of being an organization actually acting on a review.

JW 45 days ago