Jake White: We need to talk about the All Blacks

Seven days ago, New Zealand were ranked the world’s No.1 team and the Springboks were under the pump and rolling the dice with their selections. As we now know, the world can spin on its axis in a week and the Freedom Cup has been lost not only by the All Blacks in name but metaphorically.

As Billie Jean King said, ‘pressure is a privilege,’ and it remains to be seen whether they’ll handle being knocked off their perch so unceremoniously. Mark my words, it’s a unique situation they now find themselves in. They are in uncharted territory. They don’t have a ‘how-to guide’ on how to navigate this sort of loss because it’s never happened before. I honestly can’t remember an All Blacks side being so dominated and humbled. For them to be so disorganised and shambolic isn’t the All Blacks’ way, so I was unsurprised when I heard John Kirwan said he felt like vomiting as their resistance ebbed away.

The All Blacks management now have to spin a mini-crisis to their advantage. It reminds me of 2006, when I had lost five in a row and was flown home to a barrage of criticism. Behind closed doors, I used our poor run of form to rally the squad. I told them, ‘No side has ever come back from the lows we’ve endured after the highs of winning the Tri-Nations in 2004.’ I said we’d seen the bottom of the trough and felt real pain, so we could deal with the pressure, and history tells us that less than 18 months later, we lifted that Webb Ellis Cup in Paris.

I said in last week’s column Rassie had been courageous, and he was. I know it’s easy to say in hindsight that he knew he had an irresistible attacking arsenal, but the average guy in the street thought it was a risk to dispose of nearly 500 caps of Springbok experience in New Zealand. It could quite easily have backfired. I have to admit, I didn’t for a minute think that they would win so handsomely because they’ve basically knocked them out of the Rugby Championship and jolted them into a state of panic to the point they’re questioning their very identity. So, it’s time for the All Blacks to show their courage going into the Bledisloe Tests and beyond.

They have to get it right because the modern-day All Blacks brand is about leadership, culture, values and ultimately success wearing that black jersey. As an elite sporting body, they stood alongside McLaren with their obsession with detail and Team Sky with their marginal gains philosophy – it’s all about the one-percenters. I’m not joking when I say they’ve always bragged about their dominance during World Cups. They perhaps inferred that lifting the Webb Ellis Cup wasn’t the be-all and end-all. For them it was about being consistently the No.1 ranked team in the world, but the statistics tell you they’ve been on the slide for some time. Twelve years on from James Kerr’s excellent legacy, they’re in a rut. Comparatively, and in an elite world of private equity and big-money shirt deals, that’s sub-optimal. I used to read about how Saatchi & Saatchi had remodelled the brand, and the worldwide reverence of the iconic haka, but they are under pressure again to be seen as standard bearers in the world game.

So, what’s next? Well, I’m a coach and there’s no doubt Scott Robertson deserved his shot at the All Blacks hot seat. He won seven Super Rugby competitions in a row, but he’s lost six Tests in his first 21 as All Blacks coach and that would have to be one of the poorest win records of any All Blacks coach. There are big questions to be answered. Can the All Blacks and their fans publicly accept that 43-10 loss? What will happen if they lose that Eden Park record to Australia? Traditionally they have backed their coaches, but will they be forced to consider change? You hope not. The NZRU are traditionally very loyal and they will always do things the right way, but in my opinion, they erred by appointing Scott Robertson while Ian Foster was in post, and they also put pressure on Foster to get rid of Brad Mooar and John Plumtree, which was unprecedented in my memory. It didn’t sit right with me. Why? Because when you apply for the All Blacks job, you have to put forward a detailed presentation of your philosophy and vision for how you can take the team forward, but you will also go into detail about your coaching staff, their backgrounds and why they are the right fit for the job. Those contracts would have been signed off at the highest level.

Recent events tell us they let Tony Brown slip through their fingers and he’s gone to their biggest rivals and improved them. The ironic thing is now Kiwi fans are saying, ‘how did we let him get away?’

All of a sudden people are questioning whether Scott Robertson is the right man, but it is a collective responsibility at NZRU. It’s not all down to the head coach to fix everything.

They won’t have long to mope, either. The Wallabies are largely on an upward curve and will feel there is no better chance of nicking a win in the double-header, especially in Australia. They will sense the All Blacks are vulnerable. I’ve seen some Kiwis citing South Africa no longer being in Super Rugby as an excuse but I don’t buy that. Argentina don’t even have a professional team and they’re beating the All Blacks in their own backyard.

All in all, it’s been an incredible Rugby Championship. You have to take your hat off to World Rugby. They have taken a lot of flak, but they have been integral to Argentina’s rise. It is still pretty much ‘amateur’ in South America, with sides like San Isidro, Hindu Club and Atlético del Rosario, and yet the national team is by far the most improved international team in the last 10 years. It just shows you what you can achieve when you get competitive rugby on a consistent level. A tip of the cap too to Felipe Contepomi, who showed the value of coaching internationally, unlike the All Blacks coaches. He got valuable IP from Leinster and from playing in England and France. Nobody takes Los Pumas lightly any more and there can be no bigger compliment.

To sum up, The Rugby Championship has evolved to the point that in future you would say any one of four sides could win it, which is what you want. Jeopardy in every fixture. Organisers will be over the moon.