Scott Robertson’s All Blacks selections focus on explosive power with players like Timoci Tavatavanawai and Samipeni Finau.
Ethan Blackadder and David Havili were omitted for lacking the ability to convert work-rate into impact.
Concerns arise over whether the focus on power leaves the team lacking in tactical and strategic depth.
It hardly matters in the end what anyone thinks of Scott Robertson’s All Blacks selections in this phony war period between the squad being named and the first test being played.
Only time will tell us whether this line-breaking theme he and his fellow selectors have hit uponis a way to restore the All Blacks to the top of the world order, or a significant mis-read of what it takes to consistently win big games of international rugby.
The messaging from the All Blacks coaches in the wake of unveiling their squad to play France is all about having picked players who genuinely impact – punchy ball carriers such as Timoci Tavatavanawai who get over the top of defenders, and explosive defenders such as Samipeni Finau who splat people in the collision areas.
Robertson didn’t quite go so far as to call the omitted Ethan Blackadder an “honest plodder”, but he did cast the Crusaders loose forward in a somewhat unflattering light of being all action but without the ability to convert his work-rate into meaningful contributions.
Ethan Blackadder on the charge for the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
And in the same vein, David Havili was left out because it was said he doesn’t offer the same ability as the other selected midfielders to smash his way forward.
The 2025 All Blacks are clearly looking to build a game that is based on the raw, explosive power of ball carriers to get themselves through tackles, and for defenders to similarly hit opponents hard enough to ensure that with or without the ball, New Zealand wins the gainline battle.
The thing to like about this is that it is defined. There is no ambiguity or shades of grey. Robertson is taking a position – setting his stall out and buying hard into New Zealand’s abundance of power-based athletes to reshape the way the team plays.
He’s got a vision, and there is now a powerful sense that after a year in the job, he’s going to be less inclined to play around the edges of what he inherited and imprint this team with his rugby IP.
What remains uncertain is whether he came out of 2024 with an accurate take on the full complexities of test rugby.
It is undoubtedly cataclysmic – an endless series of big collisions, and seemingly limitless physical carnage in congested (and even not-so congested) parts of the field.
But it’s all that and more, and the Super Rugby final provided a timely reminder that rugby at the highest level is strategic and set-piece orientated. It was not only the Crusaders’ scrummaging that won them title number 13, but their astute tactical kicking and co-ordinated chasing.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson at the squad naming this week. Photo / Dean Purcell
Weaved into the blueprint of any successful test team is a considered kicking strategy, competent game managers, clever backfield operators and ultra reliable decision-makers who know how to execute under pressure.
It’s layers upon layers and to have gone all in on explosive power feels like Robertson has forgotten that his constant lament last year was that the All Blacks didn’t have the same calibre of game managers as some of their opposition, and that they were struggling to learn the art of using tactical nuance to close out tight contests.
Robertson hasn’t picked a squad devoid of tactical generals; both Beauden and Jordie Barrett come with the all-round skill-sets, experience and innate understanding of test rugby’s rhythms.
But for the All Blacks to have weighted their selection balance so heavily in favour of power athletes, it’s hard not to wonder whether they will ultimately come to feel they left themselves under equipped to subtly manipulate opponents and indulge in a bit of strategic rather than collision warfare.
It’s hard to see how Robertson is going to set this team up in an 80-minute game where 23 players inevitably have a part to play, to ensure there is always enough guile, astute decision-making and depth of skill-set on the park.
Specifically, it’s difficult to understand the rationale for picking both Quinn Tupaea and Tawatawanawi and not Havili, which feels a little like packing two T-Shirts to go on holiday, but not taking something warm.
Havili, if nothing else, feels like a point of difference and to have him in the 33 would open the prospect of using him off the bench where his kicking game, short-passing repertoire and astute reading of space would potentially change the dynamic.
And why not inject his Chiefs teammate Emoni Narawa into the mix? He brings an all-court game to the No 14 jersey, and easily looks the best equipped and most like-for-like replacement for the departing Mark Tele’a.
So too could George Bower have made it in to toughen the scrummaging mix without losing anything in the way of explosive power and mobility.
And this is where the element of doubt sits with Robertson’s overall selection – the central desire to play a high-impact game with power athletes at the core is bang on brand for the All Blacks, but why, with 33 players available, go all-in on this?
Emoni Narawa shone for the Chiefs, but missed out on an All Blacks call up. Photo / Photosport
This is the era of doubling down and so potentially Robertson’s selections simply reflect the wider socio-political environment.
Or maybe this is his analytical super power he showed with the Crusaders starting to manifest with the All Blacks. Perhaps he’s picked it all a part and worked out that if bashing the defence down with Player A doesn’t work, send on Player B and see if he can do it.
