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Pour ses premiers mots, Scott Robertson évoque « l'art de l'entraîneur »
Le nouveau sélectionneur des All Blacks, Scott Robertson, a officiellement pris la relève de Ian Foster le 1er novembre et prend tranquillement ses marques depuis.
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Le septuple champion du Super Rugby avec les Crusaders s’est attelé à la finalisation de son staff, après avoir déjà dévoilé le nom de ses entraîneurs adjoints et une poignée d’autres désignations.
Un séjour en France pour assister à la Coupe du Monde de Rugby a précédé une mission d’assistance à l’équipe des Barbarians d’Eddie Jones, qui s’est inclinée face au Pays de Galles lors d’un match d’adieu pour la légende Alun Wyn Jones, qui a disputé 170 matchs internationaux. Mais il semblerait que tous les systèmes soient désormais au point dans le camp des All Blacks.
Construire un récit commun
L’ère très attendue de Razor est arrivée et le sélectionneur ne se fait pas d’illusions sur le défi qui l’attend, à savoir gérer l’exode de talents chevronnés et le passage au niveau international.
« Vous avez vos modèles, vous avez vos structures et vous entraînez la meilleure équipe devant vous », a expliqué Robertson dans une émission matinale en Nouvelle-Zélande.
« Je sais comment j’entraîne, vous ne changez pas en tant que personne, mais vous pouvez changer certaines choses autour de vos modèles.
« Les tests-matchs sont différents, ils sont joués un peu différemment. Il faut rassembler les gens assez rapidement et créer une histoire et une connexion fortes.
« C’est ce que j’aime : raconter une histoire qui nous relie les uns aux autres. J’ai hâte d’y être. »
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En effet, les récits que Robertson élabore pour chaque campagne sont désormais bien connus, car ce conteur autoproclamé s’efforce d’offrir à son équipe une identité claire comme de l’eau de roche.
Combler la perte d’expérience par le talent
Alors que Ian Foster a pris le temps cette semaine de souligner la quantité de jeunes talents qui ont été formés ces dernières saisons sous le maillot noir, Robertson, lui-même ancien All Black (23 sélections entre 1998 et 2002) perdra les services de huit des meilleurs joueurs néo-zélandais en 2024. Des noms comme Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, Brodie Retallick et Richie Mo’unga seront absents de la feuille de match du sélectionneur.
« On ne peut jamais remplacer l’expérience », a regretté Robertson. « Mais on peut la remplacer par du talent, les encadrer et leur donner l’occasion d’être performants. C’est là tout l’art de l’entraîneur.
Avec les attentes considérables qui pèsent sur ses épaules, le sélectionneur a passé « beaucoup d’entretiens », rassemblant « une grande équipe » pour mener l’une des équipes les plus performantes du monde vers un nouveau cycle de Coupe du monde.
Robertson explique qu’il va parcourir le pays pour partager les connaissances et les points de vue des communautés locales de rugby amateurs sur la meilleure façon de faire avancer le rugby.
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« Maintenant, il est temps de parcourir les terrains, de parler aux gens, d’obtenir beaucoup d’informations sur les joueurs qui sont actuellement en place et sur ceux qui vont partir.
« Je passe donc beaucoup de temps à parler à ces personnes, à obtenir ce qui est nécessaire pour les All Blacks, selon eux, pour aller de l’avant. »
Comments on RugbyPass
Getting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
52 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
9 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
14 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
9 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
9 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
1 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
1 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
9 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
52 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
2 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
52 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
154 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
154 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
7 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
52 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
38 Go to comments