Justin Marshall: All Blacks not as ‘advanced’ as Ireland with Scott Robertson still searching for ‘innovation’
Ireland team in a huddle ahead of Springboks Test and ex-All Black Justin Marshall.
Justin Marshall insists that the All Blacks still have some way to go to catch up with Ireland in certain aspects of their game.
New Zealand have so far won three successive matches under new head coach Scott Robertson, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Marshall has particularly expressed concerns about the All Blacks’ work with ball in hand after they struggled to find their fluency during the two-Test series against England.
Although Robertson’s side are not too far behind Ireland in the World Rugby rankings, the former scrum-half believes that they are failing to match the attacking invention of Andy Farrell’s men.
Brilliant Conor Murray score
“I don’t feel that we are as advanced enough yet to start to do some of the things that Ireland are doing with their forwards,” he told SENZ.
“If you want to see what I am talking about, go to the first Test match [against South Africa] and see the try that Conor Murray scored. Off the breakdown, that attack was simply sensational.
“They had two front runners, two runners coming from depth – one inside, one out – and the ball player just left the ball in the middle and literally there were four options.
“The ball runner went right through the middle, an inside pass to Conor Murray and they scored under the posts. We’re not there, we’re not that creative yet.
“Our mindset’s been around the set-piece since Crono (Mike Cron) came into the All Blacks. We scrum to win penalties.
“We’ve got to become more balanced in our thinking of who we select and what they offer us across the park, rather than in one area.”
Evolving the team
Marshall is convinced that the All Blacks under Robertson are beginning to evolve and adapt but that they are not there yet.
“I’ve seen some innovation at lineout, in the way that they have moved away from having four-man lineouts. They’re trying to bring some of the more powerful ball runners into the game off lineout launch, which is good to see,” he said.
“In terms of the overall structure and the pattern that the All Blacks are trying to play, they are very similar to where they’ve been.
“I feel that’s simply because they are looking first and foremost to get players into the right areas, but I do feel there’s innovation coming.”
The All Blacks struggled against England’s rush defence but, as they look towards the Rugby Championship where they will face a similarly fast blitz in the Springboks, Marshall had a simple idea to improve their attack.
“What I feel they need to get to is create more width in that attack,” he said.
“Basically, I’m happy with the system but what they need to do is create more depth and more width so that they are not too narrow to the ruck, which is bringing defenders in to be able to double-team our ball players.”
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