Liam Napier and Elliott Smith discuss injury gaps, who will cover the third halfback role and the Lions' win in the lead-up to the All Blacks tour squad naming. Video / NZ Herald
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has implemented a new tactical blueprint focused on aerobic warfare.
Robertson addressed last year’s issues by adjusting player selections and coaching roles, including hiring Bryn Evans.
France and South Africa have recently put more forwards on their substitution benches.
Having started the year with a 3-0 sweep of France and then picking a Rugby Championship squad that aligns almost perfectly with strategic intention, All Blacks coach Scott Robertson is proving to be a disciple of the fail-fast, learn-fast, fix-fast philosophy.
Robertson’s first season in charge became memorablefor the absence of a clear vision for his All Blacks, and for his reticence to execute change at the pace his sales pitch for the job laid out.
They never painted a clear picture of what they were trying to be, and in the end, they were an inferior continuation of the previous regime – too often overpowered in the final quarter of the big games and too reliant on senior players with limited longevity.
Scott Robertson led his side through a 3-0 series sweep of France. Photo / Alyse Wright
A return of 10 wins from 14 tests was disappointing, but the real frustration was the passive nature of it all: the sense that having clambered to the control deck, Robertson looked out to the horizon, saw a vast expanse of ocean that he lost confidence in his ability to navigate, and he froze.
He never seemed sure of himself, or certain about which players he trusted and wanted to build his team around.
It meant that Robertson came across as someone who had always known his destiny was to be the All Blacks coach one day, but that he had never known why.
But here he is now cutting an entirely different figure to the one he did last year. Only time will tell whether his tactical blueprint of unleashing aerobic warfare will prove to be the right one, but the important thing is not the efficacy of his vision, but the fact he has one and that he is marrying his selections to it.
What also matters is that he has accurately recognised the problem areas from last year and come up with compelling remedies.
He saw, as everyone else did, how the All Blacks’ scrum started to crack and falter when he injected his bench.
He saw, as everyone else did, how the All Blacks gradually retreated from the gainline in those critical last 20 minutes of big tests; that they couldn’t stop opposition ball carriers from building momentum.
And he saw, as everyone else did, that the All Blacks struggled to win possession in the closing exchanges and couldn’t find ways to manufacture turnover opportunities where they could attack against unstructured defences that were being manned by tired legs.
Robertson’s solution to the set-piece problem has been to draft in Fabian Holland at lock, switch Tupou Vaa’i to the blindside and hire Bryn Evans as a lineout coach.
The net effect of Evans being involved has been to not only simplify and sharpen the lineout, but to free up forwards coach Jason Ryan to focus more on the scrum and shore up the driving maul – with and without the ball.
The selection of Simon Parker, injured for the July series, has given the All Blacks a 1.97m, 118kg loose forward option. Parker brings serious muscle, which Robertson says comes with an intimidation factor.
He’s the big body the All Blacks need to repel those endless waves of opposition pick-and-drive thrusts when they come.
In Du’Plessis Kirifi, the All Blacks have one of the game’s great turnover exponents – an impossibly strong and fearless openside with the ability to pilfer possession. The Hurricanes man can conjure out of nothing a cherished opportunity to take back control of possession and alleviate pressure.
Du’Plessis Kirifi, one of the game’s great turnover exponents, celebrates scoring against France in Hamilton last month. Photo / Photosport
Looking at what happened last year and how the All Blacks have adapted, they really have learned fast, failed fast and fixed fast – although the last point needs to be taken under advisement as the definitive proof has not yet materialised to be certain the fixes are the right ones.
Also, there is the question of how Robertson goes around practically applying these solutions he’s come up with.
If the All Blacks want to bring their masterplan to fruition and improve their win ratio, Robertson has to be brave enough to break with convention and start regularly selecting a bench that has a 6-2 split of forwards to backs.
That may not seem like the most radical departure from conformity, but it would be a game-changer for the All Blacks who have rarely veered from the standard 5-3 set-up.
This is the key to everything, as changing the formula will enable the All Blacks to start with Holland and Scott Barrett as locks, with Vaa’i at blindside, and have Patrick Tuipulotu, Parker and Kirifi on the bench.
That’s their bomb squad – those three plus Fletcher Newell (once Tyrel Lomax is back from injury), Ethan de Groot (once Tamaiti Williams is back from injury) and Samisoni Taukei’aho. This is how the All Blacks can avoid being squeezed out of big games.
The Boks and France regularly set up with a 7-1 split and so a 6-2 configuration is a way for the All Blacks to negate the power imbalance without overly compromising their plan to play at a pace that is a little red blood cell-rich for their opponents.
The risk is that with only two reserve backs the All Blacks could run into trouble if injuries strike, but such is the versatility in their group, they have considerable protection from suffering an unsolvable drama.
Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Damian McKenzie have all started tests in two different positions, while first-choice No 12 Jordie Barrett has played at first five-eighths, wing and fullback and could just as easily add centre to his portfolio should he be required.
Cam Roigard has been hit by injury. Photo / Photosport
McKenzie, when he first came into the All Blacks, was afforded training time at halfback, and it’s not out of the question that once Cam Roigard is fit, Robertson will reprise that idea and not pick a specialist No 9 on the bench.
The two backs reserves could be McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown. While this might seem risky, why else promote the value of players being versatile as Robertson so often does and not have a practical means to exploit it?
Robertson still might be found out as not yet being capable of navigating the high seas in front of him, but now he seems to at least have found the confidence to try.
