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Scott Robertson explains recent Sydney meeting with Eddie Jones
Crusaders boss Scott Robertson has shed light on his rendezvous with England boss Eddie Jones in Sydney in the lead-up to the recent third-Test series decider. The serial Super Rugby winner has grand ambitions to break into Test-level coaching and having interviewed with New Zealand Rugby to succeed Steve Hansen after the 2019 World Cup, he has recently been touted for roles with the All Blacks and with England.
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Nothing has come of that speculation yet. For instance, it was Jason Ryan, Robertson’s Crusaders assistant, who was drafted in by the All Blacks over the last weekend while the RFU insisted last week their preferred candidate to succeed Jones, who is leaving after the 2023 World Cup, has still to be identified.
The situation leaves the ambitious Roberston biding his time to see what might unfold. He is contracted with the title-defending Crusaders for 2023 but he has now told The Big Jim Show, a podcast hosted by ex-Scotland international Jim Hamilton, that international rugby is where he believes his long-term future lies.
Asked to explain his meeting in Australia with England boss Jones, Robertson said: “Look, I caught up with Eddie but it wasn’t anything to do with the job, it was more, well he texted me. We have a good relationship and he is always watching rugby and stuff, so I just caught up with him briefly and had a chat.
“My best mate lives over there and I went to the game with him, took the wife over, and it was just a great experience, it was good to get away to Sydney for the weekend. Look, what I learned from last time, especially around the All Blacks stuff, is you have to keep your options open. It’s a professional game and I’m probably a little more clearly focused.
Loved my chat with Scott Robertson. @crusadersrugby head coach.
We chatted about getting the very best out of people. His dream job and his dream coaching team. Legend of a human. Enjoy. https://t.co/26g3ooZURO pic.twitter.com/rLBtOEILW5— Jim Hamilton (Vice Captain) (@jimhamilton4) July 26, 2022
“It’s one job [All Blacks coach] and when someone doesn’t give it to you you have to think differently, what opportunities are out there? I’ll be coming into my seventh year as the Crusaders coach next year, I have loved it all, it has been incredible but no one last in a job forever so I am open. It’s probably the way I can answer it.
“If New Zealand Rugby want me, great. If there is another club, country, probably country, I wouldn’t go to a club now. I really want to go to Rugby World Cup, I genuinely want to go to a couple. I’m 47, I’ll be 52 by the time the next Rugby World Cup comes around [Australia 2027 after France next year]. I want to get to two or three and test myself, push myself. I am open (to offers), yeah.”
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So ambitious is Roberston that his aim is not only to win one World Cup, he wants to win two – one with the All Blacks and another with an overseas country. “I want to win Rugby World Cup but I want to win it with two different countries. I haven’t said it publicly before but it would transcend,” he revealed.
“It would be great to win a World Cup with your own country which I want to do, that is the foremost thing, but I would love to do it with another country. I’m not sure what order it is. I’m not sure how that plays out, those decisions are not mine. They are somebody else’s decisions but I would love to win two and have a different expectation, different culture.
“You have got to adapt to the country that you are coaching and get the best out of them. It’s when someone goes, ‘How did he do that? That is pretty special. He won seven championships with his club and then gone away and done that’. People will go, ‘Okay, he has got the group, the players will play for him’.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
69 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments