Robertson reflects on 'brave' performance to keep the Eden Park record intact

Eden Park’s contest between the All Blacks and the Springboks lived up to it’s billing, coming down to the wire in what was easily the most anticipated Test match of 2025.

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks frustrated and suffocated the Springboks from the opening whistle, making it difficult for the away side to gain any sort of momentum at Eden Park.

Robertson, who admitted this week it was likely the biggest Test match of his short coaching career, was impressed with the way his side competed on both sides of the ball in such a huge match.

“We competed, some of the defensive sets was just immense and we played really good footy, and then the Test turned after a couple of scrum penalties.

“Then we defended and we knew it was going to go back and forward,” Robertson told media at Eden Park after the Test.

“When you play a World Cup winning team, a team that’s been together for a long period of time, with experience, you’re not going to win every moment and yeah you have to stay in the fight.

“It turned into a scrap and when it started raining a couple of calls went one way or another, but we just kept competing and won the ones that mattered.”

Despite some tough conversations being had in camp after the loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires, Robertson says he was proud of the way his team locked in this week.

“What I did enjoy is the way we locked in, we’re really clear and we didn’t want to waste the lesson from Argentina.

“It really hurt us, our performance and our care wasn’t high enough, preparation wasn’t good enough, so our preparation this week was where it needed to be, and that’s what I enjoyed.”

An important work-on for Robertson’s All Blacks was the way they attacked and defended in the air, after a couple of average performances in the air against Argentina last month.

The 51-year-old head coach explained that he thought his team were brave at Eden Park, contesting the Springboks in the air.

“We were good enough, kicking is a real art, and just the accuracy of it to make it contestable, where it truly becomes 50/50, so the technical side of it was really important, and we were brave.

“We kept getting up, we won a lot of the scraps, and you might not win it in the air, but it’s when it’s on the ground that you need to win it and we won a lot of those 50/50’s, so overall our plan and the execution was better.”

It was a fast start at Eden Park for Chiefs winger Emoni Narawa, who latched onto a cross-field kick from Beauden Barrett before going into score the first try of the game in the opening three minutes.

But that was all she wrote for the 26-year-old, as Robertson told media in Auckland that Narawa will need scans early next week, after copping a knee to the ribs while contesting a box kick.

Meanwhile, 101-Test All Black Codie Taylor failed his HIA in the 31st minute and could possibly miss next weekend’s clash against the Springboks in Wellington.