Sir John Kirwan: All Blacks 'need to look in the mirror, starting with Razor'

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has been advised to look in the mirror by All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan, as the player-turned-pundit joins the hordes of Kiwi fans looking for answers after New Zealand’s defeat at the hands of England at Twickenham.

Robertson’s men were bested 33 points to 19 at Allianz Stadium over the weekend, their ninth loss to England in the rivalry’s history. The fallout from the defeat has been steep, with pressure mounting on the coach and players to produce more convincing results after a season in which they have also fallen to Argentina and South Africa.

For a team made iconic by its dominant win rate, the lack of that dominance has not drawn harsh criticism from the fanbase.

“There’s just something within the team that we’re just not used to seeing as All Blacks fans. Honestly, there’s some amazing rugby being played, and then we have this other side of our personality,” Kirwan said on the Rivals podcast.

“How often do you see an All Black team miss touch with the ability to go 15 points clear? We missed touch twice at critical times, didn’t take a kick at goal. It’s just really difficult for us to understand what’s going on. We’re pretty gutted. It’s hard to come up with the answers, and there are absolutely no excuses.

“I thought England were really, really good, clinical, had heaps of energy, and we weren’t good enough.”

Points Flow Chart

England win +14

Time in lead

39

Mins in lead

29

49%

% Of Game In Lead

36%

35%

Possession Last 10 min

65%

8

Points Last 10 min

0

The 63-cap All Black said the All Blacks are lacking balance in their attacking game, with failed attempts to attack from deep and missed opportunities to execute clean exits.

“It’s frustrating because I think that if you want to be an All Black now and go down in the legacy, it’s like South Africa – you’ve got to win something like the Grand Slam. For them not to win the Grand Slam as a team, they don’t go down in the history books. It’s frustrating if you’re a Kiwi now.”

Kirwan insisted he is forever an All Blacks fan and hasn’t lost faith, but the players in the environment would be soul-searching this week, and would have to take the loss and the criticism that comes with it on the chin.

“At the moment, we’re just not good enough and if you don’t admit that to yourself first, one of the things I’ve always been taught as an All Black is that the first person you need to look at is yourself in the mirror.

“Sometimes these are turning points, something has to change. What is it? I don’t know. There needs to be some soul-searching within the team, within the coaching staff.

“They need to look in the mirror, probably starting with Razor… and we need to get back on the horse and make sure we finish the tour well. But over the summer, there needs to be some reviews about why we are inconsistent.

“That’s the concern, the inconsistency in our performance over this year is probably not acceptable.”

When boiling the question of performance down to two points, Kirwan said the first point would be the coaches asking whether the game plan is fit for purpose, while the second would be whether Super Rugby Pacific is preparing players for Test rugby well enough.

Former Springbok Victor Matfield weighed in, saying that the All Blacks’ strengths don’t align with what is needed in today’s game, namely the aerial game and scrummaging. Kirwan agreed, but emphasised consistency over the 80 minutes as “the psychological challenge” that the All Blacks need to overcome.

“This happens, but I just care so much; I really care about this team. I’m just really, really upset, and I’m upset for the players and I’m upset for the team.”