All Blacks: NZ Rugby chief praises Scott Robertson’s ‘much needed’ improvements after Ian Foster and defends pre-World Cup announcement
Ian Foster and current All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson.
Outgoing New Zealand Rugby chief Mark Robinson believes that the timing of Scott Robertson’s appointment as All Blacks coach was ‘absolutely’ right.
Ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, NZ Rugby confirmed that then-Crusaders coach Robertson would be taking over the top job at the All Blacks from Ian Foster following the global showpiece.
This came after Foster endured a troublesome period the year before when he stated that he was ‘not sure’ if he would still hold his position after beating the Springboks in South Africa.
At the time, it was reported that Robinson had held talks with Robertson about replacing Foster upon the All Blacks‘ return to New Zealand before a player revolt stopped the move in its tracks.
Announcing Robertson early
Foster detailed his exchanges with the NZ Rugby chief, during that tour to South Africa, in an excerpt of his book that was recently published in the New Zealand Herald and while the then-head coach survived the axe in 2022, it would fall in 2023.
Robertson was confirmed as the All Blacks coach-elect in March of 2023, with Forster ultimately taking New Zealand to the Rugby World Cup Final, where they fell short to South Africa.
The timing of Robertson’s appointment was scrutinised at the time but in an interview with NBR NZ, Robinson defended his and the board’s decision.
“Absolutely, yes,” he replied when asked whether it was the right way to go about the change in head coach.
“There were two parts to it, we wanted to ensure that the team had the absolute best opportunity to win and perform at the World Cup and when you look at it from the organisation standpoint, we are charged ultimately with the team winning and the team performing. It’s a very much a team-first approach.
“At the same time, again the team-first approach for the medium to long term and we believed it was the right opportunity to set out some certainty, very early on in 2023 for the future.”
“I think people have to understand we that see a huge amount of information that we are privy to by virtue of the reviews we do.
“The insights we have in terms of feedback from players and other aspects of the environment, so we’re very comfortable with the decision we made and we stand by it as being the right one.”
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Razor’s influence
Foster was able to make changes to his coaching team in 2022, which included Joe Schmidt taking on a more hands-on role with the team as an assistant coach while Jason Ryan joined as the forwards coach – with the pair staying on until the World Cup.
Still, Robinson believes that the right decision was reached, pointing to Robertson’s impact during his first year in charge. While the All Blacks fell to Argentina during the Rugby Championship and lost twice to the Springboks, the NZ Rugby chief saw positive changes from the coaching team outside of the matchdays.
“I think the benefits of that decision [are evident] when we look at you at Razor’s team environments,” he continued.
“We are seeing a high degree of collaboration and alignment with the organisation, we’re seeing a massive amount of effort that his team are making with sevens, the women’s game, under 20s environment and Super Rugby.
“So there’s a really heartening and growing influence that that group is having in bringing the high-performance system of our game together which is really positive and was a much, much needed change.”
