In his rookie season leading the All Blacks, Scott Robertson absorbed valuable lessons he seeks to carry into his next testing campaign.
It will feature two home tests against the Springboks – one that puts Eden Park’s fortress status on the line – and a Grand Slam tour.
Reflecting four months on from his maiden All Blacks season that teetered at 4-3 – after the home loss to the Pumas and twin defeats to the Springboks in South Africa – before finishing 10-4, Robertson acknowledged stepping up to the pressure cooker test arena was something of a baptism by fire.
“You only learn by doing, otherwise you’re just reading until you put your hands to it and take a step towards the moments,” Robertson told the Rugby Direct podcast this week.
“All the preparation, all the coaching I’d done before, got me to that point but then it’s the people in front of you and what that environment needs.”
Robertson’s coaching regime represented the largest change to All Blacks management in two decades. And there was further change to come, with Leon MacDonald abruptly exiting as attack coach five tests into the year.
“Because we came in and everything was new – new calls, new staff, it took a while. It took us time to get the balance of the week,” Robertson said.
“We were away 120 days, 21 hotels, she’s on. You spend a lot of time with the leaders and making sure their energy levels are high but still giving them what they need from a rugby point of view and culturally.”
Through the emotive highs and lows Robertson remains heartened by the attacking style the All Blacks are attempting to implement.
“Statistically we made the most line breaks; most defenders beaten, most offloads and most carries in world rugby. We got better and better and our game understanding and calls embedded through the year but we didn’t quite execute and finish enough.
“There were three games with one scores that could have gone each way. A bounce of the ball, ref’s call, that’s test footy.”
Aside from finishing, game management and discipline are the primary focuses for year two.
“The part that gets us excited is how much we’ve created. We’re aligned now. We know how our weeks are. It was a massive change for all of us. We’re in a good spot.”
Probed on the statistics the All Blacks must improve this year, Robertson quipped: “The scoreboard. International rugby is as tight as it has ever been in history.
“The top eight can all beat each other. Look at Italy and Argentina. That’s a great challenge, that’s the way you look at it. You’re going to be tested every week.”
Walking in the constant bright public spotlight required an adjustment but Robertson understood that came with the territory, and felt comfortable enough to remain authentic.
“I’ll always be myself. Mum and dad taught me that from a young age but being a public figure you’re going to get public feedback. That’s a great thing. You’ve got to embrace it.
“If you’ve got someone in the queue at the supermarket and she’s someone’s granny and you should have picked him. Everyone is a selector because they’re allowed to be. Someone gives you a wee snipe but that’s part of the role.
“Now you’re the public figure you’ve got to accept it and realise they care about the game. That’s a real honour, that’s how I see it.
“Everything you say or do someone always has another angle on it.”
Theming campaigns proved a formative influence on Robertson’s Crusaders tenure.
In his first season at the helm Robertson used Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle to help inspire the Crusaders to their success against the Lions at Ellis Park to break their nine-year title drought. Other themes were based on emulating the Melbourne Storm and, in his final Super season, reaching for ‘seventh heaven’.
With the All Blacks, Robertson detailed how he themed the northern tour on the 1924-25 Invincibles team who spent 232 days on tour and played 32 games without defeat.
Robertson’s All Blacks defeated Japan, Ireland, England, and Italy, the latter with an underwhelming performance to end the year, but lost to France by one point to fall short in their quest for an unbeaten tour.
“At the end of the year we used the Invincibles and the incredible tour they had away for nine months after a hell of a boat trip. We just wanted to show respect. One part of the theme was tying in the legacy and the people who have walked before us, how they left their imprint and what we need to do.
“The theme for the end of year tour was embrace it. Five games, 14 games, the most in a test season there’s been. How do we create a togetherness so we take this on?
“Ireland hadn’t lost at home for a number of years and 19 tests; Twickenham is Twickenham and then you go to France with probably one of the best shows there’s been in footy. How do you embrace that? How do you go all in? That’s what the Invincibles were. We tied some of the theme around that.
“We got some good buy-in. The boys still talk about it. Just to learn the stories of what they went through was how we tied it in.”
As he plots this year’s test season Robertson is conjuring more themes.
“Always. I’m a natural storyteller. I enjoy that side of the game. It puts pictures in peoples’ heads so they start seeing it before they do something and what we’re trying to achieve.”
Robertson confirmed his All Blacks coaching team – Jason Ryan, Scott Hansen, Jason Holland, Tamati Ellison, Nic Gill – is settled and that planning is well under way for three tests against an understrength French team – compromised by the Top 14 final scheduling – in July.
“By the end of year tour we started to implement our DNA and how we wanted to play the game. We had the ball in our hands for long times and put a lot of pressure on teams. That will continue.
“You look at trends; how opposition plays, the French because that’s who we’re playing next. You see the opportunities but also their threats. They’re going to bring a hell of a team out.
“Fabien Galthié has been there seven years he knows his way around the rugby world. He’s built incredible depth – 40-odd players who can all play test football.”
The other delicate balancing act is living in the ever demanding now, where any All Blacks coach knows results are non-negotiable, and crystal ball-gazing to the focal figures and depth required for the tilt at World Cup redemption in Australia.
“You look at 2027 because you have to but there’s no development time for me. We’re one of the only teams in world rugby where you win and develop. I learnt that through the [under] 20s. You must have the balance of the two and that’s a real art, giving players opportunities but having to win the test match in front of you.
“We had 10 debutants last year. If we get four or five in the next two years you start to solidify your group. There’s always bolters, there’s always opportunities, I want to make that clear. But then you build cohesion and understanding.
“Teams have to go through tough tests, tough tours, to build relationships so they know how to build relationships and game manage together.”
Robertson will hope his All Blacks are treading that path.
Scott Robertson on:
The Springboks test at Eden Park on September 6 that puts the venue’s 31-year, 50-game unbeaten status on the line:
“It’s a great opportunity. It’s on the line isn’t it? Those are the ones you want to play in. Those are the ones that everyone gets excited about so it’s definitely one the calendar.”
Rumours Newcastle Knights star Kalyn Ponga could switch to rugby union next year:
“He’s done it a few years ago as well, showing his interest. If he comes to us we’ll have a conversation. You always keep the door open. He’s a hell of a player. If he shows interest there could be a conversation if it gets to that.”
Attending recent shape of the game meetings in the UK:
“It was a great chance to sit down with Andy Farrell and watch the England-Scotland game with him. He was there with his Lions selection point of view. It was nice to spend some time with him and understand his approach to the Lions tour.”
Liam Napier has been a sports journalist since 2010 and his work has taken him to World Cups in rugby, netball and cricket, boxing world title fights and Commonwealth Games.
Fabien Galthie has picked a second-choice squad for July's NZ Tests.