“You’ll see in the last two or three years that if a team is just a bit off in one, two, or a number of areas of the game, they can be beaten by any team.
“We need to acknowledge that, not accept it, because we have very high standards for our All Blacks team. But, I think it’s important that we do talk and acknowledge the fact that world rugby, particularly those big nations, have caught up with us,” he said.
Strachan said the game has changed, including physically.
“When you look at a French team, a South African team, an English team, we are no longer towering over them. We are, in fact, often smaller. So, over an 80-minute period, that physical confrontation will take its toll, particularly if your players are slightly smaller,” he said.
In the immediate aftermath of their defeat to the Springboks, coach Scott Robertson and captain Scott Barrett struggled to comprehend what had transpired before their eyes.
“I think Scott Barrett still is deserving of an All Black jersey, but I just wonder whether, if you take the captaincy away from him, whether he’ll actually be able to just focus on his positional role, do his job,” Strachan said.
“He’s a big boy. He’s good aerially. He’s good at moving bodies, both sides of the ball, attack and defence. But, he seems to be weighed down with the captaincy.
“And we all know how good Ardie Savea is. He’s a wonderful player anyway, world-class, but he grows another leg when they give him the captaincy. So maybe a shift back to that particular scenario.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- What went wrong against South Africa in Wellington
- The side’s defensive weaknesses
- The All Blacks’ identity and culture
- What needs to be done before the next Rugby World Cup?
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
