Why Scott Robertson isn't worried about fielding six rookies against Fiji

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson isn’t worried about the lack of Test experience in his bench for Fiji after naming six total debutants for the San Diego Test.

Hurricanes midfielder Billy Proctor will start, and last week’s debutant Cortez Ratima will run on in the No 9 jersey, while five new debutants fill roles on the bench are expected to see action in the second half.

The selections are not a slight against Fiji, rather Robertson has seen enough over the last month to determine the new players are ready for Test rugby.

“Obviously we’ve given guys an opportunity to play a bit of footy, there’s a few debutants but we’ve been training for over three weeks now,” Robertson told RugbyPass.

“They are really clear in their roles and responsibilities. We’ve trained under a lot of pressure and we’ve played a hell of a two Tests against England.

“We’ve got a beautiful mix of players with experience and young players to go out there and show their talent.

“We are clear in how we want to play now, we’ve been together for long enough.”

While the bench has only two capped players to rely upon, Jordie Barrett and Emoni Narawa, Robertson has picked a number of veterans in the starting side.

He has elevated Beauden Barrett into the starting side to play fullback and midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown at second five-eighth, and kept captain Scott Barrett along with Ardie Savea and Damian McKenzie.

On the six rookies picked to play this weekend, Robertson has been impressed with the level of athleticism that the All Blacks coaches have seen.

“All of them are great athletes, that’s the first thing we’ve really noticed,” he said.

“I could named Wallace, he’s trained well he’s prepared incredibly well for such a young man.

“The great thing is he can play all three positions, he’s a good lineout jumper, he’s a low tackler, he’s similar to Ardie in many ways, he’s a comparable athlete.

“Guys like George Bell are just getting better at their craft. They follow guys like Codie Taylor in their footsteps each week.

“You can see why they are improving and getting better so quickly.”

On how the All Blacks will conquer the Fijian style of play, Robertson is quite aware of the threats they possess.

“We will respect it,” he said on the way Fiji play.

“The get a roll on, they get the arms free, we know those little chip kicks they get a bit of continuity, they are dangerous.

“They’ve put a few big teams away. We are prepared for that.”