All Blacks great ‘surprised’ by size of Scott Robertson’s backroom team after revealing Jason Ryan story
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and forwards guru Jason Ryan.
Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall has questioned whether Scott Robertson’s backroom team is too large and if the number of voices passing down the information is confusing the players.
The 49-year-old heads up a staff that includes four assistant coaches in Jason Ryan (forwards), Leon MacDonald (attack), Scott Hansen (defence) and Jason Holland (backs).
They are the main people helping out Robertson, but there are also a number of other individuals in the group, such as Tamati Ellison (contact skills), David Hill (kicking) and Corey Flynn (lineout throwing).
‘Nearly a second bus’
When you add in all the other support staff, Marshall states that “you’re probably looking at around 15 or 16” people, which he joked is “nearly a second bus!”
The New Zealand great then added: “I was quite surprised when I came back, I saw Tamati Ellison walking around in an All Blacks tracksuit, and then I saw David Hill as well because they weren’t part of the first coaching selections.
“I think Corey Flynn’s just dipping in and out for a little bit of lineout work.”
Marshall wonders whether it is overkill, sharing a story about Ellison and the highly respected forwards guru Ryan which potentially gives credence to those concerns.
“I certainly know where the strengths of Jason Ryan are. They’re not just scrum, he’s very good at lineout and he’s very good at breakdown,” he told SENZ.
“I know that he changed the mindset of the breakdown to Ian Foster’s coaching group when he came in because I had a conversation with him.
“I said: ‘How’s it going? What’s it been like coming in?’ He said: ‘For a start off, it’s been quite interesting how much of a shambles the breakdown is, and I’ve been put on that.’
“I said: ‘Tamati Ellison, what’s he been brought in for?’ when I saw him (Ryan) walking around Eden Park [before the England game]. He’s been brought in to do breakdown, and I was thinking, ‘oh right, okay…’
“I thought that was an area Jason Ryan knew a lot about. Equally, it’s one of Razor’s strengths. He’s very good at the breakdown.
“I’m not sure, I believe that there will be a reason. Looking from the exterior, I would say that’s a hell of a lot of information coming at the players from all different areas and different voices.”
Robertson’s choice
Marshall also looked at it from the perspective of Robertson, who has quite rightly earned an impressive reputation following his incredible work at the Crusaders.
The All Blacks great therefore believes that there must be a logical explanation as to why they have such a vast backroom team.
“He (Robertson) is a very good coach and at the moment he’s winning, so I’m guessing he’s feeling that he needs that help for some reason,” he said.
“I know Razor really well and he wouldn’t be doing this apart from through necessity. He obviously feels that he needs that amount of detail.”
