Why Scott Robertson must be brought in immediately if the All Blacks cut Ian Foster
A former Crusaders star has given his old boss Scott Robertson a vote of confidence as the All Blacks head coach role comes under scrutiny in the wake of New Zealand’s loss to Ireland.
Speculation continues to swirl about the future of incumbent All Blacks boss Ian Foster after he led the national side to a historic series defeat at the hands of Ireland last weekend.
The series loss, which saw the Irish claim their first two victories in New Zealand, was the first time the All Blacks had suffered a series defeat on home shores since they were whitewashed by France across two tests in 1994.
Having now lost four of his last five tests at the helm of the All Blacks, resulting in their worst-ever World Rugby ranking of fourth, Foster faces enormous public pressure to leave his post.
That pressure was accentuated on Sunday when New Zealand Rugby [NZR] chief executive Mark Robinson issued a statement saying recent results were “not acceptable” and that the national governing body is undertaking a review into the Ireland series.
The outcome of that review is expected to be released on Wednesday, less than three weeks before the All Blacks open their Rugby Championship campaign with two tests against the Springboks in South Africa.
While many have called for Foster and his management team to go once that review has concluded, some see the time between then and the first test between the All Blacks and Springboks on August 6 as too short to make wholesale changes to New Zealand’s backroom staff.
That was the view held by Sky Sport presenter Ross Karl, who suggested that incoming All Blacks selector Joe Schmidt could take over from Foster as a supervising coach for the Rugby Championship.
Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Karl said that would give Robertson – the highly-successful Crusaders boss – more preparation time to assume the head coach role ahead of the end-of-year tour.
However, former Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall said he has “no question in my mind” that Robertson would make an immediate impact on the All Blacks if he replaced Foster ahead of the Springboks tests.
“He’s proven that he can do that,” Hall, who won six straight Super Rugby titles under Robertson during his time at the Crusaders between 2017 and 2022, told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“If you look at [ex-Crusaders head coach Todd] Blackadder, my first time when I came down, we had the talent in the five or six years that Todd was coaching, and we weren’t able to get the job done.
“A year later, Razor [Robertson] comes in with selection and being able to bring those guys together, it’s an experienced group we had at the time, and we were able to win a championship because he instilled things that were able to change the mindset to get the best out of his players.
“If you’re going to do that decision [replace Foster with Robertson], give him as much time… if he gets given that opportunity, I’ve got no question in my mind that he’ll be able to get the best out of his players because he’s done it.
“He’s done it at Crusaders level, he’s done it at U20s level, and at Mitre 10 Cup level.
“If there’s one guy that you can do with a less amount of preparation time, I think Razor will be one guy that I feel pretty confident that he’ll be able to get the job done.”
Despite missing out to Foster in the race to replace Sir Steve Hansen as All Blacks head coach after the 2019 World Cup, Robertson has enjoyed a large swell of public support after his constant success with various teams.
In addition to his six Super Rugby titles, Robertson led New Zealand a World U20 Championship in 2015, and won eight NPC titles – either as a head or assistant coach – during his nine seasons with Canterbury between 2008 and 2016.
During that time, Robertson has worked alongside numerous different coaches, which Hall – who has left the Crusaders to join the Shizuoka Blue Revs in Japan – highlighted as a major strength of his former boss.
“One thing that he does really well, and he’s proven, he’s done it with different coaching groups within his ranks,” Hall told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“He’s done it with Leon MacDonald, he’s done it with Brad Mooar, he had Mark Jones from Wales, he’s had Ronan O’Gara, Scott Hansen’s there now, Andrew Goodman, so he’s pretty good around the people that he brings into the environment.
“He can coach with them, and what he does really well, he understands his weaknesses, what he’s not great at, and the coaches that he has there are then being able to then fill in what he’s not great at.
“When you’ve got that kind of coaching group that collectively – I can only speak from my experience at the Crusaders – collectively the coaching group, they’re all on the same page.
“When you’re on the same page, giving the same messages and going in the same direction, it leads into results like we had in the last six years with the Crusaders.”
In saying that, Hall said it will be vital that whoever is backed by NZR to carry out the role of All Blacks head coach – whether that be Foster, Robertson or someone else – between now and next year’s World Cup receives as much support as possible.
“I think it’s important for Fozzie [Foster] and the coaching group, if that’s the direction they’re going to go, then let’s support the hell out of them and give them everything that they need to go out and win a World Cup,” he said.
“If it’s not, if they feel they need to go in a different direction that’s Razor and his coaching group to be able to come in and try change things, I think it’s important that decision has to be made pretty quickly.
“We can’t afford to do the Rugby Championship and the come to the backend of that, going into the end-of-year tour, still having these questions around having doubt.
“It’s no good for Fozzie and his coaching group, and it’s no good for the players to have that doubt hanging over them.
“Whether that will be the case, I’m not too sure. We’ll probably find out pretty soon, but whatever direction they do go, they need to be able to support that coaching system and players.”
Comments on RugbyPass
He would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to comments