Eddie Jones ‘disappointed’ by how NZ Rugby ‘handled’ Scott Robertson’s sacking and ‘leaking’ details
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson with an inset of Eddie Jones.
Eddie Jones has hit out at New Zealand Rugby for the way the union handled Scott Robertson’s sacking as the All Blacks head coach.
The Japan boss is no stranger to leaving the top position throughout his career, having worked with Australia (twice) and England.
However, he has taken issue with the manner in which the NZ Rugby board handled Robertson’s dismissal and warns that chopping and changing coaches ‘doesn’t lead to anything good’.
A comprehensive New Zealand Herald report detailed how the head coach was ousted from the position and called to the union’s offices and told to bring a lawyer with him.
This came after a review of the 2025 season, which deemed that the All Blacks weren’t ‘on track’ for the Rugby World Cup in Australia, with many players unhappy with how Robertson was running the team.
Wayne Smith, who was employed as NZR’s performance coach, wasn’t consulted during the review despite working with Robertson on occasion during his tenure.
Eddie Jones hits out at NZ Rugby’s handling of Scott Robertson’s sacking
Speaking on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin, Jones said that he was disappointed by the way that NZ Rugby conducted themselves during the process and how they handled Ian Foster’s departure, confirming that Robertson would be taking on the job before the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
“New Zealand Rugby are entitled to make a change, and they obviously thought it was serious enough to do so,” the Brave Blossoms coach said.
“What I don’t like from New Zealand Rugby and being an Australian we’ve had this sort of love-hate relationship with New Zealand but I’ve always been a massive admirer of New Zealand Rugby’s stability and if you look over the last period of time, like Ian Foster was gone after three years then a miracle winning Jo’burg [saved him], and from all reports, we’ve got the bloke who was going to replace him after three years getting sacked in two years and that doesn’t lead to anything good mate, chopping and changing coaches doesn’t lead to anything good.”
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He adds that issues in the squad and coaching team weren’t handled properly, as they should have been raised with Smith, who then should have addressed them with Robertson.
“If there were problems and I know they had Wayne Smith as the high-performance coach and he was with the team for a period of time, and no one knows better how a team should function than Wayne,” Jones continued.
“Then if there were problems, why weren’t they addressed with Wayne, and then Wayne could address those with Scott? Then that situation could have been cut off.”
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Board leaks
Leaks of player unrest and a possible revolt were detailed in the New Zealand Herald in the days prior to the announcement of Robertson’s sacking, which Jones believes came from the board.
He adds that Robertson didn’t deserve to be treated like that and questioned why a foreign media outlet broke the news of Robertson’s sacking.
“Tell, how does a bloke writing in the Irish Independent get the scoop?” Jones said.
“We all kind of connected those dots,” show host Martin Devlin replied, hinting that it could have been Rieko Ioane, who is playing for Leinster.
Jones continued: “What you would have liked to see from New Zealand Rugby is that they have a discussion with Razor, saying ‘There are these problems, we don’t think we can fix them’, then give him the opportunity to respond.
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“Then, if it’s a ‘We can’t go on’, don’t leak it out. Just get it out, saying ‘We’re sacking him because of this, we’re not happy with his performance in this area’ and be done with it. Do it in a really good way.
“That’s probably what disappointed me the most about New Zealand rugby. It wasn’t done in a good way.
“Everyone knows Razor is a good bloke and he didn’t deserve to get treated like that and you don’t like to see people treated like that.
“The other side of the argument, we’re going into it knowing this is probably going to happen. So, we really can’t complain, but you’d just like to see it done in a better way.”
