All Blacks legend fed up with ‘excuses’ as Scott Robertson fails to fix persistent issue
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and former player Justin Marshall.
Justin Marshall has been frustrated by the reaction to the All Blacks’ narrow victory over England in Scott Robertson’s first Test in charge.
New Zealand scored two tries in the opening period of the clash in Dunedin, but they were generally stifled by the visitors’ rush defence.
Inspired by the Springboks’ blitz, the Red Rose, guided by ex-South Africa coach Felix Jones, fly up out of the line incredibly quickly, looking to put pressure on the opponents’ skill sets.
The All Blacks struggled to counteract that, despite first-half scores for Sevu Reece and Ardie Savea, as Robertson’s men were pushed all the way last weekend.
Not a new problem
They have had another week to prepare for it but, as Marshall stated, this is not a new problem for New Zealand having struggled in the past to break down that type of defence.
“I’ve seen a little bit of the fallout and a lot of the opinions that have been bouncing around, and I don’t buy into this excuse of us talking about rush defence. It’s the thing that’s hamstrung the All Blacks since the 2019 Rugby World Cup,” he told The Platform.
“We knew it was coming, so why is all this analysis going, ‘ah, England’s defence and this is why it was difficult’?
“They’re not the only team in the world that do it to us. South Africa do it to us, France do it to us, to a degree Wales do it to us, and definitely Ireland do. They narrow the field on you. They come up and they cramp you for space.
“Scott Robertson, his coaching staff and the players knew that was coming. Why all of a sudden is it a revelation in New Zealand that England’s defence really frustrated us?
“For goodness sake we knew it was coming so what they had to be doing in their preparation, in the 10 days that they had, was go, ‘well, they’re going to rush us, they’re going to narrow the field and cut it off. How do we beat that rush defence?’
“We know it’s coming, it’s not like it’s going to be rocket science and they’re going to come up with something spectacular. That’s what they do, that’s what we’ve struggled with, so we have to evolve.”
Robertson’s impact
Robertson is a highly regarded coach but Marshall was not impressed by the All Blacks’ first outing under the Crusaders legend.
The 50-year-old is hoping his former team-mate can revolutionise their game, but he believes that there is work to do for the new head honcho.
“I said that when Scott Robertson got hold of this team, I hope that he has thought really long and hard about how the All Blacks go back to attacking across the park; one hundred metres, the full width and breaking that defence down, but we really struggled,” Marshall added.
“The thing that frustrated me when I watched that game was we had half-backs box-kicking from halfway again because they felt they had no other option. To me, that was massively negative and that’s not the way we play.”
READ MORE: Scott Robertson makes one change to the XV as All Blacks put history on the line against England
