15-year All Blacks coach names two factors slowing Razor's roll

A central figure in the All Blacks‘ historic run during the 2010s, scrum coach Mike Cron says the team are enduring a “difficult period” at the moment.

Beyond his role in one of men’s rugby’s most dominant teams, Cron was recruited for the Black Ferns’ 2022 World Cup campaign under Wayne Smith and now works under Joe Schmidt with the Wallabies.

While currently dedicating his professional career to Australia, the Kiwi is still locked in with what Scott Robertson has been doing with the All Blacks and had some thoughts on what transpired throughout the recent France series.

The New Zealand side may have emerged victors to the tune of three games to nil, but a French side missing considerable star power ran them close in both the first and third Tests. That didn’t seem to come as a surprise to Cron.

“It’s a difficult period for them,” he told Martin Devlin on DSPN. “And I understand that period where you’re two and a half years out from a World Cup, you’ve got one eye on this Saturday and another on the World Cup selection. So, I understand what Razor and his selectors are going through.

“To be fair, there’s a very big gap between Super Rugby and the top international rugby. It’s bigger now than it’s ever been.

“So, it takes the boys, I find, a few Test matches to get up to international speed. The ABs will be a hell of a lot better heading into The Rugby Championship for having those three Tests and getting up to some sort of international speed.

“Although we had a weakened French team, it’s still international rugby. So, they’ll be far better for it.

“And it’s just about closing that gap between Super Rugby, how it used to be with the Jaguares, South Africa, the Sunwolves, it’s a completely different product now. And the gap between, getting and having them for a week and a half, and getting them ready for the first Test, it is quite difficult.

“So, I fully understand where they’re at.”

As the veteran scrum guru says, the challenge ahead is an almighty one. The All Blacks begin their Rugby Championship campaign with two Tests against a rising, dangerous Los Pumas outfit in Argentina, and round it out with the traditional Bledisloe Cup Tests split between home soil and their Trans-Tasman neighbours.

However, it is the two-Test series that lies in the middle of the tournament that has garnered the most anticipation. The All Blacks host the Springboks at their stronghold, Eden Park, a venue they have not lost at in over 30 years.

Cron has been involved in the iconic All Blacks-Springboks rivalry more than most, and he labelled the idea of that Auckland Test “outstanding”. He also had some choice words for some of Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus’ recent innovations.

“That’s the ultimate, isn’t it? You still think back to the World Cup final, you know, I know, and you see some things going on at the moment that are maybe not quite in the spirit of the game, you think it would be nice if the ABs get up and just give it to them.”