Just when you think the desert storm must have blown itself out, another haboob arises seemingly from nowhere. A downdraft of cold news air hits the ground and the dust devil rises up, and the visibility of the underlying topic is quickly reduced to zero by a gale of voices on social media.
If payments to Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby were triggered by the number of reads and comments from their news items, the bank accounts of both would be sitting very comfortably in the black over the past few weeks.
There is no sign of the pace slackening, even with the start of the Six Nations on the horizon. The home unions may want to believe it’s all about the premier international tournament on the global calendar, but much of their media thunder is being stolen by events on the other side of the equator.
In New Zealand, the ramifications of ‘Razor’ Robertson’s brusque removal are not only still being felt, they are spreading out in huge, billowing clouds of dust. As Bristol Bears head coach Pat Lam pointed out, Sir Wayne Smith – “the icon of coaching, the most revered coach in New Zealand” – was not invited to become a part of the review process that led to Robertson’s resignation.
While NZR could justifiably claim a conflict of interests, with ‘the Professor’ functioning as Razor’s erstwhile high-performance consultant during his time in charge, the opinions of probably the wisest of the three wise men could not, and should not have counted for nothing. Smith made it crystal clear he did not agree with Robertson’s dismissal.
“Unfortunately, Razor hasn’t been given more time, greater opportunity to adapt and overcome many of the challenges new All Blacks’ coaches face,” he said. “I feel sad about that – for Razor and for our game.
“They obviously feel that the win percentage wasn’t going to improve, although that is just guesswork.
“I actually found Razor and his coaches to be extremely competent around their roles.
“It’s a tough old gig when 76% isn’t good enough… Egos abound, 76% [sic] win records are no longer enough.”
Robertson’s record was “only” 74%, not 76% as ‘Smithy’ claims, but his words do raise the shadow of a soccer-style culture where success has to be instant or the sword will fall on the manager’s head. Was the decision to remove Razor bold, or was it impatient, bordering on the reckless?
The news storm gained added impetus when it was revealed that a potential key player in the All Blacks’ reformation, the Springboks skills and attack coach Tony Brown, would not be available to the recruitment of any new coaching panel. The Otago man made it quite clear to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB there was no possibility of him joining his long-time coaching “brother” Jamie Joseph. After the last World Cup in 2023, Brown said “it was definitely the Scott Robertson team versus the Jamie Joseph team, that was the process that New Zealand Rugby set up.
“With me being with Jamie, Scott potentially didn’t want to take me as well. He had quality coaches in Jason Holland and Leon MacDonald, Scott Hansen and Jason Ryan, so they had a strong coaching team. Jamie put his team together and I was part of that, and New Zealand Rugby went with Scott.
“So, it was just the way it was, and I was stuck. Then Rassie gave me a call about South Africa. I played under Rassie for the Stormers and knew him as a coach and he’d obviously done some amazing things with South Africa over the last two World Cups, and I just thought, ‘oh well, what an opportunity to go and learn off him’.
“I’ve even talked to Razor a couple of months ago about potentially joining the All Blacks, but it’s like I said to him – my commitment to South Africa was four years, and I’ve always wanted to honour that.
“I said, ‘I’m just so frustrated that no-one talked to me two years ago’. But that’s rugby, and that’s coaching. He had his coaches, and I just had to go and find another job.”
The idea of renewing the Joseph-Brown connection was one of the main attractions of removing Robertson and it has been shown to be pie in the sky. If the new man is stuck with the same coaching group which was largely perceived as a busted flush under Robertson, he will be starting behind the eight-ball.
Meanwhile Australia is rolling the dice on another league crossover, Sydney Roosters forward Angus Crichton, on the runway to their home World Cup in 2027. The 29-year-old’s reported $650K AUD deal does not register on the Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii scale of investment, but it could potentially fill a Wallaby need at second five-eighth.
The NRL season is not due to finish until early October, which means Crichton, like Suaalii, will probably be selected on a Wallaby tour before he has ever played a game of Super Rugby. The underlying question is whether one November tour, one season of Super Rugby Pacific and one Nations Championship will equip a leaguer who played rugby as a schoolboy but has been out of the game for the last 12 years, to compete at the highest level of the game.
The timeframe of 12 months is not a forgiving one, especially as Crichton will probably be required to learn one of the more complex roles in the modern game at 12. He may have enjoyed the spot at Scots College in Sydney, but the professional interpretation of the role is so far removed from schools rugby that it will be, literally and figuratively, a matter of learning a new game.
The combination at 10 and 12 is the glaring hole in the Wallaby backline. During his two full seasons in charge, Wallaby supremo Joe Schmidt tried out six different 10s, four different 12s and 11 – yes, eleven – new combinations at 10 and 12.
It is the one area where Schmidt’s Wallabies were never settled. The introduction of Suaalii at centre forced Len Ikitau inside, and the Gordian Knot of selection at 10 was never satisfactorily resolved.
At the age of 31 come World Cup time, will Crichton turn out to be more Sonny-Bill Williams than Sam Burgess? The man himself made all the right noises at his unveiling by RA:.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be returning to the sport I played throughout my childhood,” Crichton said.
“Growing up in Young [New South Wales], I have great memories driving up on buses to Canberra with the other farmers and their families for the Tahs-Brumbies game every year.
“To have a chance to play in the same Waratahs jersey as Lote Tuqiri, my favourite rugby player as a kid, is something special. I grew up with a Wallabies jersey and poster on the wall and my dream was to one day represent them.”
In England, Burgess was caught in a deadly merry-go-round, with his club Bath viewing him as a long-term prospect in the back-row and the national side wanting a fix at inside centre in time for the 2015 World Cup. Throughout his six seasons in New Zealand rugby, Williams was a 12 in the national side or with Auckland. There was no confusion about his role, it was black, blue and white.
With Fraser McReight and Carlo Tizzano already holding the fort so strongly at seven and the indefatigable Bobby Valetini at eight, Australia does not need a long-term back-row experiment from the sister code. What it needs is a true second-five eighth who can nudge Ikitau back to his true calling at centre and reposition Suaalii in the back three, where he properly belongs. Sprinkle on some magic dust from ‘Marky’ Mark Nawaqanitawase and Max Jorgensen and that is some three-quarter line.
Crichton knows how to straighten a line as a first-wave ball-carrier and in support.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) January 23, 2026
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) January 23, 2026
He has SBW-like touch on an array of different offloads.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) January 23, 2026
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) January 23, 2026
Stand and deliver? Under-arm hook through the tackle? No problem. He has also developed an understanding with Suaalii during their time together at the Roosters.
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) January 23, 2026
With Crichton and Ikitau in midfield, there will be ample power and excellence at line-running inside. All Les Kiss will have to do is find the right number 10 to provide the bullets for his outsides to fire.
With an unholy alliance of Suaalii and Nawaqanitawase in the backfield, Australia’s range to field and reclaim high ball moves from local to inter-continental. As ex-Wallaby cap centurion Adam Ashley-Cooper commented on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast, “there’s a lot of growth opportunity for Joseph at the back. It would get his hands on the ball in a lot more space [and] something that we’ve struggled with over the last four or five Tests – the aerial pursuit, defusing the bombs, winning the aerial game.”
“There is no such thing as bad publicity”, as the showman PT Barnum once wryly observed, and the state of New Zealand and Australian rugby is in the news. One country has sacked its head coach in the middle of a World Cup cycle with no obvious replacement in mind. The other has holes to fill in its own coaching panel and is reaching towards league for emergency reinforcements before a home World Cup in 2027. In both cases time is running short. Talk, don’t talk, the time is coming to match words with action.
I actually think time is running out for AUS, NZ . . . & ENG.
All of them have a preferred forward pack, most have the forward bench in mind (prevented by injury) but all 3 are riddled with uncertainty and are quickly running out of games to build confidence & cohesion with their back line attack.
It will be interesting to see if ENG settle on a consistent backline this 6N’s and both AUS & NZ will be pretty much all in on new backline coaches & combinations, with little room for manoeuvre before RWC 2027.
Let’s hope it all gels as quickly as SA found this year and we will be in for an electric RWC2027.
I like how even Wayne Smith is talking about win percentages, as if the All Blacks had been playing well under Scott Robertson. The performances were not good and you could argue the team has gone backwards. Also in terms of silverware, the previous coach did a far better job.
As for Crichton, those are some great clips. He could start at 12 or be an excellent option off the bench able to cover both midfield and the third line. In a first choice 23 one of Jorgensen, Marky Mark and JAS could miss out with Tom Wright is healthy. But that seems like an unlikely scenario, so I believe JAS will continue at 13.
Personally, I would leave Jorgensen on the bench (where he does well) and play the others as a back 3 with JAS on the wing.
Ikitau was showing incredible form in the Premiership before injury struck, so he and Crichon could be a really interesting pair in the centre.
WB’s are adding some really good cattle to their farm in the run up to RWC 2027. 🤣
I think this is a masterstroke by Kiss. For anyone that saw his London Irish team, the pack wasn’t the best (it was full of young kids) but they ran the most breathtaking back line attack, going coast to coast in waves of constant attack and they were great fun to watch.
If he keeps Tupou & Skelton fit, the WB forwards will be competitive and they are building a fast, skilful backline which is very close to the WB’s class of 2003.
I think AUS & ARG will be the two dark horses that cause the greatest upsets.