Eddie Jones on the ‘bigger issue’ within New Zealand rugby and the ‘power gap’ that is causing serious issue

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has claimed that it’s “not smelling good” at New Zealand Rugby, following the recent sacking of former head coach Scott Robertson.

Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast, Jones blames the current issues on a “power gap” left after years of All Black success.

“It’s smelling a little bit like Manchester United,” said Jones. “A long period of success, a dominant coaching group, Manchester United had Alex Ferguson over that period.”

English football side Manchester United were well known for their huge successes during Ferguson’s reign, but have since slipped to levels unrecognisable since. Sadly, from Jones’ point of view, the All Blacks are facing the same future, unless something drastic changes.

“When New Zealand were unbelievably successful, I think they were winning at 85% and probably one of the most dominant sporting teams in the world,” continued Jones.

“It was a Henry/Hansen group that went then to Foster. Now that gap’s fallen away. So when that group leaves, there’s a power gap, and people then fight for that gap because they all want a part of it. They all want to be a part of that success, and it ended up going to Robertson in a difficult situation.”

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The international level is a step above

Robertson arrived on the international scene with glowing recommendations, having achieved incredible success with the Crusaders in Super Rugby. During his time with the Canterbury-based side, he won all seven Super Rugby finals in which he was involved, achieving a record of 98 wins, 17 losses, and 2 draws out of 117 games along the way. The most successful Super Rugby coach to date since the competition began.

Scott Robertson’s record as Crusaders head coach (includes 42-26 win in 2018 over French Barbarians).

Despite becoming the most successful Super Rugby coach of all time, the step up to the international level proved too much for the 51-year-old, and he was soon relieved of his All Blacks position following a player review, which did not pan out in his favour. This was in great contrast to his predecessor, Ian Foster, who held huge respect from his players.

Jones continued: “I can remember being in South Africa for that third Test where Foster was playing in South Africa, and he’d basically been told he was sacked before that; the player power there saved his job.

“They beat South Africa 25-15 at Ellis Park. It turned the tables as they were looking at their fourth loss in a row. And the players stood on the platform, and said, ‘No, you’re not going to sack him’, because the CEO was over there, and it was like it was going to happen.

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“So we’ve seen, in two situations. One, the players saved the All Black coach. Ian was two or three years into his tenure there, and now we’ve seen two years into Scott Robertson’s, the opposite happening.

“So this is all not smelling really good at the moment. Yeah, it’s maybe [David] Kirk’s going to come in, try to clean the stage a little bit, and try to get the ship back on track.

“Because, as I said at the start, I don’t think this is just the Scott Robertson thing. I think this is, generally, a bigger issue for New Zealand Rugby.”

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