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Scott Robertson explains why Beauden Barrett was selected ahead of McKenzie

Beauden Barrett of New Zealand looks on during The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies at Sky Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Scott Robertson says the selection of Beauden Barrett at first five for the All Blacks against England is the best call “for this week”.

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The All Blacks have used Damian McKenzie almost exclusively at No 10 this season, with Barrett getting his first chance in the second Bledisloe Test in Wellington, a 33-13 victory.

After McKenzie started against Japan with a largely second string side, Robertson stopped short of confirming a permanent change had been made.

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“A little bit,” Roberston said when asked if the All Blacks’ style will change with Beauden.

“Beauden is experienced. He understands what it is with the northern tours. If it’s out of his hands, or off the his foot, or game management.

“He’s very instinctive, the way he plays, but also knows how to get you around the field, so we believe he’s the best one for this week.”

Barrett proved instrumental for the All Blacks against England when the two sides met in July, with a bench cameo from Barrett lifting the side home at Eden Park in the second encounter.

He produced a game-changing performance in the final quarter, setting up a try and swinging the momentum back in New Zealand’s favour.

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Robertson said that either of McKenzie or Barrett are great bench options, but he is looking for multiple options at the position.

“I think when we gave Beauden a crack, he was great,” Robertson said.

“And as I mentioned before, just tactically, how this game is played, we know either of them are awesome off the bench.

“You know, with Beauden, it’s his chance. You could have two, three 10s in your team that play. Most of the top teams now give the guys opportunities and in this part of the calendar, it’s his.”

Robertson had high praise for Barrett, calling him the “ultimate professional” with his preparation and leadership impressing the new head coach.

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With 131 Test caps under his belt, he is the fourth most capped All Black on all-time and will equal Keven Mealamu in third when he runs out at Twickenham.

“I knew he’s professional, but he’s the ultimate, like day-to-day, his daily habits, his ability to stand up and demand what’s required,” Robertson explained.

“Very articulate and knows the game well. Look, I’ve been impressed in that regard.

“And he’s performed when we have that opportunity, either at the end of games, or now that you know, the last test match in Australia. So he’s had a good week.”

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1 Comment
D
DS 153 days ago

It's Robertson's call but if NZ intend to dominate world rugby with open running rugby, as Wayne Smith suggests, then Barretts at 10 and 12 is not a great start. DMac really needs to look at other offers but plenty of us will miss his magic at the Chiefs. Bring on the rolling maul -yawn!

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f
fl 17 minutes ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


“He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


“You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


“Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


“You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

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NB 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

168 Go to comments
f
fl 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Two comparable achievements 15 years apart (at different clubs in different leagues) represent failure and not continued success for an elite level coach/manager? Not even a hint of consistency? Just gradual, inevitable decline? And all because he is in his sixth decade?”

Why don’t you try reading what I wrote before you start inventing a load of other random things that I didn’t say. I said “Pep hasn’t gotten better with age”. He hasn’t. I don’t think he’s got much worse, and yeah, he’s been fairly consistent over his career and has had more success than almost any other coach. But he hasn’t gotten better.


“You’ve missed that Mourinho’s early start in football was as a translator for Bobby Robson (ironically a much older manager at the time!).”

I was actually aware of that. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant to the fact that Mourinho - aged 52 - had more experience than Arteta does at 43. It also isn’t ironic that Bobby Robson was a much older manager at the time - it actually confirms by point that a lot of the top football managers used to be older than they are today.


“You suggested that Les Kiss would not be suited to an international coaching role because of his age profile…that seemed to relate to rugby”

That did relate to rugby. Let me walk you through the thread…


NB suggested that Les Kiss should become Australia head coach in 2027.

I said: “Given the drop off so many top coaches seem to experience as they get older (e.g. Jones, Gatland) Kiss could be a riskier appointment than you’d think!”

NB said: “Drawing a parallel with the NFL and NBA, plenty of coaches stay well into their 70’s”

I said: “Not all sports are going the same way though” then gave the example of football.


The example of football was introduced in order to make the point that the age profile of managers is not the same in every sport. If you had read the thread you were replying to you would know this!

168 Go to comments
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