'I've got my opinions': Scott Robertson on Ian Foster and All Blacks
Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson has responded to questions over the performance of Ian Foster and the All Blacks in the wake of the team’s successive defeats at the hands of Ireland and France over the past fortnight.
The All Blacks have been scrutinised after falling to back-to-back losses on a tour of Europe for the first time since 1935/36 as they finished the year with 12 wins and three defeats, their worst return since 2009.
Of those tests, four stood out as major fixtures: the two Rugby Championship matches against the Springboks and the two end-of-year tests against Ireland and France.
The All Blacks won just one – the first against South Africa – of those four games, leaving Foster under immense pressure heading into the off-season.
Those results come after New Zealand Rugby [NZR] faced criticism for appointing Foster as All Blacks boss following the 2019 World Cup, mostly because the union backed him against Robertson, who was the only other candidate interviewed for the job.
A highly-successful coach at various levels of the game, Robertson won eight provincial titles with Canterbury either as a head or assistant coach between 2008 and 2016, and guided the New Zealand U20 side to a world championship in 2015.
However, it’s been with the Crusaders where he has truly established himself as a world-class coach as he has created a dynasty at the franchise he took charge of in 2017.
By winning a title in every one of those years since, he has become the only coach in the history of Super Rugby to claim five successive titles, making him a fan favourite amongst the public to take the All Blacks head coach role.
NZR, though, quashed those hopes, for the time being, when it when it decided to re-sign Foster on a two-year contract extension in August in a deal that will see him through until the next World Cup.
That decision was made prior to the All Blacks’ tests against the Springboks, Ireland and France, and since those defeats, questions have again been raised as to whether NZR should persist with Foster or to give the reins to Robertson.
Despite the growing support for him, Robertson rebuffed questions about the recent performances of the All Blacks under the stewardship of Foster following the announcement of the Crusaders squad for next year’s Super Rugby Pacific.
“With the All Blacks stuff, I will leave my point of view private property. They are hurting at the moment, I have got my opinions on it, but it is probably not the right time to express them,” he told reporters on Monday.
“For all the key areas he’s allegedly identified for improvement, the All Blacks are getting worse.”
– Hamish Bidwell on the end of the season for Ian Foster’s side. #FRAvNZL #AllBlacks https://t.co/t03hIc2YvN— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 22, 2021
When asked if he believed the All Blacks were heading in the right direction, Robertson refused to publicly air his view on the matter.
“Look, I observe like everyone else but I will hold my judgment on it.”
Robertson, who has a clause in his current three-year deal with NZR and the Crusaders that allows him to take the All Blacks job if it become available in 2024, had watched the All Blacks from afar, but noted that he mainly took interest in the performances of his Crusaders players.
Of those in the extended 40-man squad that recently completed its tour of Europe, 11 are part of Robertson’s Crusaders squad.
“You look at a bit of everything but mainly your own boys,” Robertson said.
“You have such a critical eye about how they play, their strengths, what is their trademark that they go to? You watch them and how they deliver. I don’t give too much feedback, they get plenty enough on tour.
“They will do their reviews in MIQ. We get handed those and then we will do our own one. What is required when they transition back into that period of time pre-Christmas and post-Christmas, so we get the best out of them.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments