Scott Robertson reflects on tight victory over France in Dunedin

It might not have been the most convincing performance of the All Blacks‘ long history, or in recent memory, but they just managed to get the job done in Dunedin against France, 31-27.

There will be lots to work on for Scott Robertson and his side before next week’s second Test against France in Wellington, but the first Test of the year is a crucial one to win, no matter how.

When speaking to the media post-match in Dunedin, Robertson described the Test match as a “scrap”.

“It was Test footy, we knew that any French team that’s gonna play a game, especially on tour, that’s written off, is going to put up a scrap and fight for everything,” Robertson said.

“They didn’t go away and it was a hell of a test match, the one-on-one little battles, especially off kicks, turnover ball, they’re pretty potent and quick, that was a great Test match.”

The All Blacks were disallowed two tries in the second half on Saturday evening, something that Robertson believes would’ve changed the momentum of the match if it had gone in their favour.

“Yeah, probably trying to get a couple of scores ahead, so they had to play a little bit more, the percentages, territory and position were in our hands, and we just didn’t quite finish enough to put pressure on them, so they would have had to play not kick.

“That just shows how much steel they (France) put in that performance.”

Earlier this week, Robertson named four debutants in his 23-man squad for the first Test: Fabian Holland, Ollie Norris, Du’Plessis Kirifi and Christian Lio-Willie, who all got their fair share of game time in Dunedin.

Lio-Willie and Holland started the first Test, with Holland going the full 80 minutes at his home ground on debut.

Robertson, who said he was impressed with the debutants over the course of the full 80 minutes, acknowledged that there were a couple of big moments in the second half that they were a part of.

“Oh, they were awesome, yeah, I was really pleased for them, all of them, they all stepped up and made an impact like they’ve been there the whole time.

“Pretty impressive, and guys that came off the beach as well, there were a couple of big moments, the scrum at the end there just really effective, and they had lots of energy.”

The All Blacks coach admits the plan might not have been to play Holland the full 80 minutes, but jokingly tells the media that he could probably go for a lot longer.

“Oh, he can go 100 minutes, I reckon, he’s got a big engine. Big Man, big engine and he just kept going. He plays big minutes for the Highlanders, so we were just going to take a look after 50 minutes, and sort of make a call, but no, you keep him tracking.”

Despite numerous handling errors, Robertson doesn’t believe it was because the team was playing too “fast”, which has been talked about in the last couple of weeks by the All Blacks coaches.

“There were 18 handling errors, and a lot of them were in contact and on the ground, so it’s not too fast when you’re carrying the ball into contact.

“So you sort of have to break it down like that, look, I was pleased because playing fast created so much, we just didn’t finish enough, but we stayed brave, which was the key.

“The second half was an impressive performance, minus a couple of finishing choices, the set piece was great.”