How Scott Robertson influenced Sir Steve Hansen’s coaching methods
Split with Sir Steve Hansen and Scott Robertson.
Legendary former All Blacks head coach Sir Steve Hansen revealed that a young Scott Robertson taught him a valuable “learning” early on in his coaching career.
Hansen coached Canterbury and Crusaders from 1996 through to 2001, the same period where incoming All Blacks head coach Robertson was starting out as a player.
Man management skill
Robertson had great enthusiasm for the game, and in trying to help him channel that, Hansen ended up learning a valuable skill in man management.
“One of the great learnings I got was with Razor actually,” Hansen told the Canterbury Rugby Coaches Corner podcast.
“Razor, as a player – great player – but he would get out there, and it was like a little kid when they get up in the morning, they’re charging, and they’re banging into everything and because of that, making mistakes.
“Razor would do that when he was playing, so I would say to him, ‘Look, Razor, just 95 miles an hour when you first get out there and let’s ease our way into the game.’
“One day, he said to me, ‘I wish you’d stop saying that, because I find it negative.’ And I go ‘oh, sh*t.’
“He said ‘I knew I shouldn’t have told you. I knew shouldn’t have.’
“I said, ‘No, I’m not angry because you told me, I’m angry because you’ve waited six games to tell me. I’m trying to get you to be better, I’m not trying to put things in your head that are going to make you feel worse.’
“So, from that, I learnt the phrase, when you say something and it might be a little edgy, it might be a little negative, or it might even be positive, follow it up with something like ‘What did you hear me say?’
“They might say ‘Well I heard you say I played bad’. ‘No, that’s not what I was saying. What I’m saying is today probably wasn’t one of your best games that I’ve seen you play, you still played pretty good, but here’s a couple of things that I think were missing today. Now what did you hear me say?’
“You force each other to have a conversation that’s a bit deeper than just superficial.”
Robertson’s time
Robertson will now follow in Hansen’s footsteps as he steps into the hot seat with the All Blacks for the next Rugby World Cup cycle.
The coach’s record with the Crusaders was remarkable, winning seven Super Rugby titles in as many seasons, making him the most successful tactician in the competition’s history.
It will be fascinating to see how Robertson gets on with the All Blacks starting in 2024.
