All Blacks legend backs Scott Robertson’s ‘ballsy’ decision as head coach searches for ‘next Aaron Smith’

Several All Blacks legends believe that Scott Robertson has made the right call in dropping Finlay Christie from his squad.

The Blues scrum-half was the surprise omission from the 36-man Rugby Championship squad, with Crusaders youngster Noah Hotham being selected instead.

TJ Perenara has recovered from injury to take his place in the group, while Cortez Ratima impressed when given a chance against England and Fiji.

Christie shone when coming off the bench in the opening Test of the year but struggled when starting a week later at Eden Park.

Building depth

Robertson has evidently seen plenty of promise in both Hotham and Ratima as he seeks to build his scrum-half depth in the Rugby Championship.

“It’s actually ballsy but, at the same time, I think it’s valid. Obviously, if TJ Perenara starts, those guys get an opportunity [off the bench], but they’ve still got the safety of Finlay being there [if there are injuries],” All Blacks centurion Mils Muliaina said on The Breakdown.

“He’s played 22 Tests, but you’ve got to test these young guys. Cortez Ratima, in those two Test matches he did play, he played really well.

“Noah Hotham, he’s jumped a couple of guys so he’s obviously impressing in the environment, but also on the field when he came on in a critical time against Fiji.”

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New Zealand saw their great scrum-half, Aaron Smith, end his international career after the Rugby World Cup by signing a deal in Japan.

It is therefore a big task for Robertson to find his successor but Jeff Wilson believes that the young players coming through have the talent to succeed at the top.

“What I tend to love about this is that you shouldn’t forget about Cam Roigard as well. Think about how great he was in last year’s Rugby World Cup and the impact he had in the All Black jersey, and then he started Super Rugby on fire,” Wilson said.

“You start thinking about three young guys who could become [the next] Aaron Smith, or play that type of game.

“If we said to ourselves, ‘how many options have we got?’ I love our options now, I love our options at half-back.”

‘Different type of nine’

Meanwhile, Sir John Kirwan believes that it is impossible to “replace Aaron” but that the youngsters available to Robertson offer different qualities.

“We’ve started to see a different type of nine coming through. These young guys are running around the rucks,” Kirwan said.

“What are the selector measuring these guys on? Is it A to B pass? I used to blow up to the half-back if he didn’t get it into the 10’s hands quick enough because I wanted, and the more seconds that burned up, we never got the ball out wide.

“What are we looking for? We cannot replace Aaron.”

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