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Thursday

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International

New Zealand Rugby confirm Scott Robertson's All Blacks exit

By Ned Lester

47 days ago

Scott Robertson head coach of New Zealand reacts after losing the Rugby Championship 2025 match between Argentina Pumas and New Zealand All Blacks at Jose Amalfitani Stadium on August 23, 2025 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)

New Zealand Rugby has now confirmed that Scott Robertson’s time as head coach of the All Blacks has come to an end.

The announcement was made on Thursday afternoon, with a press conference with NZR chair David Kirk set to take place shortly after.

Robertson’s appointment as All Blacks head coach followed seven Super Rugby Pacific titles with the Crusaders, but silverware in the Test arena has proven harder to come by. While the team has maintained its ironclad grip on the Bledisloe Cup, a Rugby Championship crown has eluded Robertson, with a 50 per cent win rate against Argentina and a 25 per cent win rate against South Africa leaving the Kiwis as back-to-back runners-up.

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The All Blacks had won 10 of the 12 Rugby Championship tournaments preceding Robertson’s tenure.

“The mid-point in the Rugby World Cup cycle is the right time to look at the All Blacks’ progress over the first two seasons,” Kirk said in a statement. “The team are set to play a significant 2026 schedule, and the tournament in 2027 remains the key goal.

“We’ve taken an extensive look at the team’s progress on and off the field and have subsequently had discussions with Scott on the way forward. Both NZR and Scott agree it is in the best interests of the team that he depart his role as Head Coach.”

Kirk went on to speak to Robertson’s contributions to the black jersey.

“On behalf of New Zealand Rugby, I would like to thank Scott for his contribution to the All Blacks. As always, he has continued to put the All Blacks first, and we respect that he has done the hard but right thing in agreeing to depart.

“His passion for the team as both a player and coach is evident, and his commitment to and involvement in rugby in New Zealand at every level over a long period is significant. We wish him well for the future.”

The statement noted that the appointment process for Robertson’s replacement would begin immediately.

While several names, such as Highlanders boss and former Japan coach Jamie Joseph, are swirling as potential replacements, what All Blacks fans know for certain is that a historic schedule awaits whoever is backed to lead the team moving forward.

A new-look global calendar, which features the inaugural Nations Championship and the return of expanded tours with South Africa, packaged as ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’, demands the incoming All Blacks coach hit the ground running.

The newcomer will have just one full season before the 2027 Rugby World Cup to implement their vision, although the 2027 Rugby Championship is expected to be a full edition of the tournament, rather than the truncated, three-round version seen in recent World Cup years.

It goes without saying that NZR will want to move quickly to appoint both Robertson’s replacement and to establish a sustainable, aligned coaching group around them, given the departure of two assistant coaches in the last two years, a history they’d rather avoid repeating.

Comments

193 Comments

Blackmania 46 days ago

NZR has finally taken responsibility. It’s been obvious to everyone for a very long time that Robertson was incompetent from the beginning to the end of his tenure, which lasted only two years. A coaching disaster. Incomprehensible communication and, most disheartening of all, a well-known lack of technical competence on the training ground. When he said that Scott Hansen was the one coaching the team, everyone understood… NZR had no choice. This team was going to crash if it kept going with Razor. I don’t wish him any harm in the future, but he’s going to have to work seriously and take a hard look at himself.

Bruiser 46 days ago

I feel sorry for Razor, as he is a decent guy and he has gone out with dignity. His legacy will be to have bought through a bunch of young players, who will in time make this a much stronger team. It was however the right decision by Kirk, who has shown he is the man to make the hard calls, after years of incompetency from Robinson. Razor just seemed dragged down by the weight of the role and was unable to get the right team around him. His appointment of Scott Barrett as captain was a massive error from day 1, culminating in maybe the most rudderless loss of the modern era to England last year. The only guy that should remain in the setup is Jason Ryan, who I suspect has the respect of the team and has progressed the set piece since the Foster days. JJ and TB are the only way to go and hopefully Joe as a strategic advisor/selector. Maybe Cory Jane could be a specialist high ball/defensive assistant? Less is probably more as far as the coaching team goes, I think we probably need less voices and more clarity.

CE 46 days ago

The All Blacks are a great rugby nation. I hope they can fix this before the next world Cup.

PMcD 46 days ago

I didn’t think Kirk would make such a bold decision so quickly (because this really is a big decision) BUT I can honestly say I didn’t think this would improve until Razor moved on and I thought they may throw RWC 2027 through a lack of bravery.

However, if they find the right coaching ticket (which they will clearly believe they can), then I think you have a chance and this could be a huge moment that defines the next 2 x RWC’s for NZ.

EG 46 days ago

Going to miss this clown, especially the press conferences, shame, well atleast he got paid very well:)

Nickers 46 days ago

I am surprised NZR has acted so decisively.

After another lack lustre RC, and another mediocre Northern Tour, with the attack still producing nothing, and with the team clearly unhappy about how they are being managed this was clearly the end of the line for Razor.

Many people comparing the results to Fozzie but remember how that played out - the players came out publicly to back him. This time around they are refusing to join the camp (Papali’i), leaving NZ for good (Sotutu) or threatening to (Ardie).

For anyone saying he should stay on or didn’t get a fair chance or has been “developing depth”, think about how these situation have been treated in the past, and what players have done. Clearly the review was catastrophic and literally no one wanted him there. Even if you bleed Red and Black you have to be able to acknowledge that.

I always post this but in another time line he left NZ rugby after his 3rd consecutive title with the Crusaders in 2020 after he didn’t get the ABs job. He coached a top 14 or URC team for 2 years then joined Ireland or England as an assistant for the 2023 world cup. Maybe they won it. In 2024 he applied for ABs role but missed out to Joseph and Brown. After the World Cup he joined Schmidt at Australia and just took over as head coach.

Alternative timelines aside he has had so much success everywhere he has gone there is clearly something there. Maybe he will win a World Cup with another team. Maybe he will come back in 6 years and take the ABs to victory in the 2035 world cup.

God speed Razor.

More than anything let’s hope NZR have learned something from their previous recruitment rounds and just appoint a head coach instead of forcing them to have their coaching team pre-selected. And hopefully they can all agree the assistant coaches must have had some success in test rugby, rather than mediocre results in Super Rugby.

PMcD 46 days ago

I think that is the key issue - that was a brutal, bold, difficult decision.

Something good needs to follow to justify, so hold on to your hats and enjoy the ride over the next few weeks.

Henrik 46 days ago

the facts: Scott Robertson has a 74% win rate with the ABs, under his tenure the ABs have the following record against other Top7 nations: Wallabies 4:0, Argentina 2:2, Ireland 2:0, France 3:1, England 3:1, Springboks 1:3

so the results are earthly, but good … not sure what the Kiwis are so disappointed about in that respect ….

if his sacking is a result of a players revolt, then we are definitely on dangerous ground

PMcD 46 days ago

From a relative perspective, when he took over they were the 2nd best team in the world, whilst the rankings lag, if you consider FRA at the reigning 6N’s champions and you were then over taken by ENG, the reality is they probably became the 4th best team with ARG hot on their heels - that’s why they made the change and he has paid the ultimate price.

Overall results weren’t bad but 2025 Results confirmed others were making more progress.

Nickers 46 days ago

The France result is massively overstated. We can only play who they send over obviously, but that tour should be excluded from the analysis of the top 7. And focusing just on the W/L column overlooks the nature of the defeats, and even some of the wins.

How they are playing is very important, and they did not manage to solve any problems. If Roigard is not playing they have no way to exit the 22 effectively - an issue that has been around for many years. Absolutely terrible under the high ball and getting worse by the week.

By the end of last year I think our attack was probably only the 8th best in the world. It was an absolute shambles and genuinely got worse by the week. The final two games of the grand slam tour were a perfect yard stick of where we are. Our “A team” is nowhere near as good as England, and our team with a few changes struggled to put away Wales who have become a punchline. We were only leading by 9 with 20 minutes to play and had conceded 3 tries, and no one looked like they wanted to be out there. Very similar to how the team looked against Italy 12 months earlier and unsurprisingly put in a similar performance.

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