Scott Robertson praises clinical edge in All Blacks victory

After the All Blacks beat France 31-27 in Dunedin last weekend, you got the feeling the All Blacks coaches weren’t overly satisfied with the performance, or with how the game played out.

But this week, after a more convincing performance at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, where the All Blacks ran out winners 43-17, Scott Robertson and his coaching staff will be much more pleased with proceedings.

It was a dominant first half from the All Blacks in Wellington, scoring four tries while keeping France scoreless, getting out to an unassailable lead.

Robertson, who admits his team were much better at finishing opportunities this week, was pleased with the overall performance.

“Yeah, it was pleasing, it meant a lot to us, we haven’t had the trophy for a long time because we handed it back to them six years ago, and it was good to get it back tonight,” Robertson told the media in Wellington after the Test.

“It’s going to be good to have a couple of drinks out of it and honour the great Dave Gallaher, so that was a big one for us during the week.

“We realise there’s one next week, but we’re just really pleased the way we performed, we wanted to play fast, keep the ball alive, score some good tries, which we did, and there were some great performances.”

When Robertson was asked about whether he felt like his team finished off their chances a bit better this week, he was quick to point out that the flow of the game was better in Wellington.

“Yeah, a little bit of that, it’s good to see the referee making the calls and the flow of the game, keeping it fast and a couple of good maul tries, so yeah, all of that.

“More polished, we just kept playing but making sure that we’ve got the ability to keep trusting ourselves and our skill set, give it, see it, and just use that skill, so it was pleasing.”

Robertson explains that their plan for the second Test, as well as what they worked on during the week, came off in Wellington.

“So we could put them in the corner, turn them around a little bit and then put pressure on the set piece, and the set piece went great again for the majority.

“That just created opportunity somewhere else where we were able to turn them around and trap their backfield in defensive shape.”

Robertson admits that one of the tactics was to create chaos in and around the high ball, after France were able to get some reward there in the first Test.

“Yeah, they won everything, first eight bounces of the ball last week, so we were clear on the effort areas that we had to be better as a team, and just showed that we were on a few more than them, and made a massive difference.

“It put pressure straight on them.”

An area of the All Blacks game that has clearly improved is the lineout, which could be attributed to the addition of former All Black Bryn Evans as a specialist lineout coach.

The All Blacks have been accurate at lineout time during the series against France, while also scoring a try on the back of a slick lineout variation, likely planned by Evans.

Robertson jokes about how Evans was glad he didn’t know he was getting interviewed for the job, as he might have been more nervous.

“He didn’t know he was getting a job interview when I sat down with him, which is good; he thanked me for not letting him know,” Robertson said.

“I just said to him, what do you know about line outs? Then we sat there and talked for an hour, and I knew he was the right man. He’s innovative, he’s been an All Black, which counts as it’s important that he understands what is required.

“He’s come in and straight at that level, he’s played around the world, and he knows the opposition intimately.

“He knew the French players and the club that they came from. He does his homework, so he’s definitely added to
our group.”