There is no reason why All Blacks can't go unbeaten on tour

I’m not too bothered about who’s lucky or unlucky. 

Nor am I overly fussed about whose return from injury is a welcome one. 

No, as I look at those men named to play for the All Blacks against the home nations, I just want them to win. More than that, I need to see them perform well while doing it. 

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If we go back to this time last year I was unconvinced by the All Blacks. They’d often played poorly, lacked any discernible or reliable pattern of play and generally gave the air of a team unprepared for the rigours of test rugby. 

We also had the slightly bizarre and abrupt departure of assistant coach Leon MacDonald, along with a tendency to simply give the ball to Damian McKenzie and hope for the best. 

I was a bit disillusioned prior to the team embarking on its 2024 Northern Tour. I feared England, Ireland and France might dismantle these All Blacks and that Scott Robertson’s tenure as head coach would scarcely last longer than that of his old mate MacDonald. 

I needn’t have been so pessimistic. The All Blacks were largely outstanding in beating both England and Ireland and lost no admirers in their 30-29 defeat to France. 

Where there had previously been confusion, now there was cohesion. Where there had been a penchant for the unpredictable, suddenly there was a shift towards more conservative, high-percentage options. 

I was moved to opine that Robertson had at last put his stamp on the side and that they’d only get better from there. 

It hasn’t really panned out like that, has it? 

The home tests against France and The Rugby Championship campaign were every bit as patchy as the previous season’s. Compounding the performances, that have ranged between poor, average and occasionally quite good, has been a selection policy that suggests an element of making it up as they go along. 

I’m trying to be optimistic about this year’s trip north. I’m trying to be heartened by the progress made by players such as Leroy Carter, Quinn Tupaea and Fabian Holland. 

I’m glad Sam Darry’s back in the fold, even if it adds yet another lock to the mix who’s potentially better than captain Scott Barrett and I’m constantly reassured that the presence of Ardie Savea and Cam Roigard should mean the All Blacks are competitive most of the time. 

The All Blacks did play well on the 2024 end-of-season tour and there’s no reason why they can’t go unbeaten this time around. 

Whatever challenges rugby in New Zealand faces – and I believe it faces a few – this is an extremely talented All Blacks squad, with all the weapons it needs to comfortably account for Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. 

It’s just that they don’t look any nearer to becoming a team than they did when Robertson took charge. Sure, he’s given up on relying upon McKenzie to do something miraculous, but any successes the All Blacks enjoy still seem to be the result of an individual doing something brilliant. 

The contrast between this team and the great Crusaders sides Robertson coached couldn’t be more stark. The Crusaders were far from star-studded, but had a very obvious method of playing and executed it with ruthless efficiency. 

Almost two years into Robertson’s tenure, that’s the thing I just can’t reconcile. It tends to make you wonder about the extent to which the Crusaders were simply run by Sam Whitelock and Richie Mo’unga, with minimal input from the man who was nominally in charge. 

But, as I said, I’ll try and remain optimistic. I’ll hope this tour is both a successful one and a harbinger of things to come. 

And I’ll continue to assume that what Robertson – and the majority of his staff – did at the Crusaders can eventually be replicated by the All Blacks.