'This is a ballsy decision': Former All Blacks react to Razor's exit

News of Scott Robertson’s All Blacks exit has reverberated through the rugby world, and members of the All Blacks fraternity moved quickly to share their initial reactions.

An emergency episode of Sky Sport’s The Breakdown was held in the wake of the news, and the punditry ranged from jaw-dropping surprise to analysing the unhappy nature of the team environment and labelling New Zealand Rugby’s actions courageous.

Former halfback Justin Marshall has established himself as an outspoken voice in the world of commentary and punditry, and made no effort to hide his surprise at the announcement.

“To be honest, it floored me,” he told his fellow panellists. “It is shocking news. I knew there was a review process that the All Blacks go through at the end of every season, and it hasn’t been a smooth ride for Scott Robertson over his two years. You know that there will be some fallout from that. But that gives the coach an opportunity to take on board the comments, criticism, positivity, and then work towards rectifying them.

“To make un unprecidented call to terminate his contract, out of what they’re saying is mutual understanding, it is something I just was not expecting.

“Whatever happened in that review, in terms of the feedback on Scott Robertson and his coaching staff, has culminated in this happening.

“It really knocked me for six, to be perfectly honest. I couldn’t believe it.”

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Former winger Jeff Wilson was taken aback by the announcement, but wasn’t entirely caught off guard by it, and outlined some issues he had observed during Robertson’s tenure.

“You look at all of the dots that have been connected over the last four or five months, and clearly, there were some issues inside the camp, and then they’ve done a review,” Wilson began.

“When you connect those dots, they were probably in a situation where they had to make a big call or make some sort of change, and they’ve made the big call.

“It is a massive decision, because now, time is short heading into a Rugby World Cup, into a tour of South Africa, all of those things. It’s a huge call from New Zealand Rugby.

“For me, I started to see this was a possibility. Over the last month or so, this didn’t go away. The issues, they kept getting talked about…

“You start hearing about player unrest, and you’ve got one of New Zealand’s best and most influential players in Ardie Savea, clearly not happy with what is happening inside the camp.

“You can’t ignore the fact that they didn’t appear to be a team that was well-connected on the field. There was also pressure off the field, and to me, they didn’t look like a happy camp.

“Whispers do go a long way, and this boat was leaky for a long time. You’d have to say over the last two years, it’s like it never settled, it never hit calm waters.”

Test centurion Mils Muliaina noted the timing of the decision comes at a point where New Zealand Rugby are on the hunt for a new CEO, meaning the decision was made by a board led by interim CEO Steve Lancaster.

“This is a ballsy decision, and I mean that with the utmost respect, from the board,” Muliaina reacted. “It’s one thing to have a review, but when something’s not quite right, and we haven’t got much time, you can brush it aside and say, ‘We can try and fix this’, but they’ve said, ‘No, we haven’t got time, we’ve got to move on.’

“The big question now is, who are they moving on to? Who are the coaches they’ve got in mind? The board is going out of its way to make the decision now, which gives me a little bit of comfort.

“But on the flip side, what unrest will that inspire with the players? They’ve got a camp coming up this Sunday. Who’s going to be there? Jeff and I may as well turn up and do a motivational talk.

“These are the questions we’ve got to ask.

“But for the board to go out of their way and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to move now’. It’s a brave call, but one that will come with a lot of planning behind it. And they’ve got to act fast. Super Rugby is around the corner, so we need an All Blacks coach.”