Sir Wayne Smith: NZR has jumped the gun on Razor’s All Blacks exit

Borthwick has done what SR did not. Taking risks, new players, new coaches and new strategy. 11 games unbeaten.

Try….

Don't argue with Jacko. He gets upset if you don't agree with him.

For some unknown reason he thinks he knows more about rugby than even people like Nic Bishop and Wayne Smith

Moments like that take a toll and Razor would do well to take 6 months off, rebuild his energy and then go again - his outlook will change over time.

His record at the Crusaders confirms he’s a good guy but International Rugby was more of a challenge than he was expecting, everything is amplified, with shorter time with the players.

I think he was too loyal to his coaching team and day to day club management/training is very different to International camps, which is where they lost a lot of experience of Foster/Schmidt and with hindsight, Razor’s team always looked a little thin on experience.

As you say, it’s never personal but over to the new team to show what they can do differently when they are announced. Tough 24 months ahead but they have the players to suceed.

My comments about TB not leaving the boks are in direct response to the many comments and suggestions that if NZ gets Jamie (which they will by the way) TB will be there to sweeten the deal (which he 100% wouldn’t).

I was actually agreeing with you. But you missed that.

Nor I yours!

If Smith is right about the corrosive nature of the player reviews then someone with extensive rugby coaching experience needed to be on the panel to provide balance. Not Smith because he is too close to the coaching team and the players might not feel able to be open about their issues. Clearly he should however been consulted to give his insights. More importantly only a very experienced rugby coach with relatively recent exposure to modern rugby coaching demands (including its technical demands) would have any realistic appreciation of what a realistic “trajectory” is and be able to cut out the noise. As far as I can tell there was no one on the review with extensive rugby coaching expertise. That is a major flaw in the process.

NZ is going down a slippery path of thinking the head coach is a miracle worker. Like Wales found out it’s ultimately the same players.

The interesting thing for me is weather Razor actually agreed to leave and why he might have?

I reckon they might have proposed sacking some of his assistants and he stood by them.

They might also have suggested hiring another «head coach» to demote Hansen and he backed his plan and didn’t want the direction of the team to change

Almost 48 hours since the new broke about Sir Wayne Smith's condemnation, and Stuff Rugby News and NZ Herald Rugby News, NZ's two primary sources of rugby news, are still refusing to report it. Just when I thought NZ rugby journalism had reached rock bottom, now they've found a new low. We're reaching 1984 levels of propaganda with those two.

When Sir Wayne Smith, the most respected voice in NZ rugby, an employee of NZR and someone intimately connected with the previous setup, comes out and publicly and unequivocally condemns the process that led to Robertson being fired, as well as the decision itself, and two primary sources of rugby news refuse to even mention it, let alone give it the prominence it deserves, its a vivid demonstration of the bias, the selective reporting and agenda setting that defines those institutions.

And for anyone stupid enough to believe they have just missed the info, do you seriously believe that if Smith had come out and endorsed the decision to sack Robertson, Stuff and NZ Herald wouldn't have front-paged it? That they wouldn't have screamed it everywhere they could, and referred to it every time the sacking of Robertson was questioned?

Having said that, you have to wonder if/when Stuff and NZ Herald will jump ship and start a pile on against Kirk/NZR if/when the new coaching process turns to crap. They will have noticed that its already going that way, and fast.

Sir Wayne Smith [I do love giving his full and deserved title] has effectively rules himself out of involvement in the new regime. Rassie has laughed at NZR in telling them they ain't getting Tony Brown, on which so many of these idiots hopes were relying. McMillan has just ruled himself out as well. Having seen the damage Brad Mooar did to himself in 2019 when he abandoned his head coach role at Scarlets for Foster, he's too clever to jump on Jamie Joseph's already leaky ship. When Schmidt says no to any major role, which is almost certain given his family issues, his age and his sense of honour in relation to Australian rugby, that'll be another one down. More to come.

So the real question is, at precisely what point does Stuff and NZ Herald turn on the very process/decision/people they have been loudly endorsing for the last two days? Possibly when the most capable assistant Jamie Joseph has is Jason Ryan. Then, even that collection of propagandists might start reinventing reality yet again and wonder if NZR hadn't rushed to judgment, and displayed cowardice in the face of disgruntled players. Yet again.

Slight correction to Wayne Smith, but Robertson’s standing record was 74% not 76% which may be slight, but the fine margin of possibly beating England at Twicknham last year may have made all the difference.

I think Smith is especially sympathetic to Robertson in that he coached him at the Crusaders and the All Blacks back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Also, Smith himself lost the ABs coaching gig back in 2001 after two years, when he presented himself for re-selection. He had a tough time of it.

The feeling I have is that it is sad but necessary. Something simply was not right in terms of player and assistant coach’s restlessness while the performances in key matches last year were simply not good enough. It is possible that they could have reset with new assistant coaches, as happened in 2022, but it may have not been the precise same issue this time around. All coaches are accountable for their records and performances and while it can be brutal, they know the risks.

What a tragedy if the AB’s are heading in the same direction as the Wallabies, with player power the order of the day!