Eddie Jones offers three ‘standout’ theories on Scott Robertson’s sacking as he ‘pays the price’ for New Zealand Rugby’s failings
Eddie Jones and former All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson.
Eddie Jones believes that there are three key things to note about Scott Robertson’s sacking after giving his view on New Zealand Rugby’s huge decision.
The 51-year-old was shown the door midway through his four-year contract despite presiding over a 74 per cent win percentage.
That is greater than his predecessor Ian Foster, but it was not enough for him to escape the axe as NZR terminated his deal.
Foster was saved by the players, who gave their backing to him, but the opposite appears to be true with Robertson, whose All Blacks set-up was criticised.
However, former England and Wallabies boss Jones reckons that the dismissal of the head coach will not solve the governing body’s real issues.
New Zealand Rugby’s failings
“Some things stand out to me. Firstly, we’ve spoken about the decline in New Zealand rugby since 2019, and their record against South Africa is less than 50 per cent,” he said on the Rugby Unity podcast.
“There’s an ongoing trend in New Zealand rugby of which Scott Robertson is not in control of. He could have arrested it, but there’s probably a talent issue starting to arise in New Zealand, which they need to look at from a more holistic point of view. Sometimes the coach pays the price for that.
“The second point is I hate how these things are now handled by the administrators, and the third point is that he’s still winning at 74 per cent, which is the highest of any coach in this period apart from [Rassie] Erasmus.
“Foster was similar. It’s down from the 80/85 per cent [under Graham Henry and Steve Hansen] of the previous team and, again, does that show you something longer term in New Zealand of which Scott Robertson is paying the price?”
It was reported that the players were unhappy with the environment created by Robertson, with Ardie Savea named as one of the people who had aired their grievances.
Savea was said to be “seriously unhappy” and considering his All Blacks future, almost becoming the face of the supposed player revolt against the now former head coach.
NZR chair David Kirk was quick to dismiss the allegations of a player-led rebellion, but Jones has questioned the governing body’s role in how this information reached the general public.
‘You have to feel for Ardie Savea’
“They obviously did a survey and review at the end of the year. You would think that the comments made by the players about the coach and any other person involved in the review would be confidential,” he added.
“They cease to be confidential when it’s useful for the union to jettison the coach. You have to feel for Ardie Savea in this situation as well; he’s been made out to be the bad guy.
“Players should always have a say on what’s going on, there’s no doubt about that. If you go to your local Starbucks or coffee shop, there’s 30 people in there. You do a survey, there will be one person whose coffee is too strong, one person whose coffee’s not strong enough, one person who says the air conditioning’s too warm.
“There’s always problems within a team. They think on the basis of the information they’ve got that the problems are too big to be solved quickly.
“I really have a bee in my bonnet about how it’s been dealt with in the media by New Zealand Rugby; there should be more discretion used in this situation.”
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