Justin Marshall ‘disappointed’ by Scott Robertson reaction as Argentina loss creates more unwanted history
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and former New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall.
Justin Marshall has been left “deflated” by the current All Blacks side making more unwanted history, which has undermined the efforts of previous teams.
Five years ago, New Zealand had never lost to Argentina, but that changed when Ian Foster’s outfit went down to Los Pumas on neutral territory in 2020.
The All Blacks then succumbed to the South Americans at home in 2022 – another first – before the trick was repeated in Wellington two years later.
Before this double header, Argentina had never beaten New Zealand at home, but of course that changed when Felipe Contepomi’s men overcame the visitors 29-23 in the Rugby Championship clash in Buenos Aires.
Marshall was dejected afterwards and stated that Scott Robertson’s squad have let down every former player and coach that came before them.
‘It sits with you’
“My original reaction and the way I’m feeling is very deflated. Obviously, the All Blacks losing is never a pill that we want to swallow, and unfortunately it’s happening more frequently than what it used to do, which is something we’ve got to be able to cope with,” he told Sport Nation’s The Rugby Run show.
“The thing that has got me down the most is history being changed again, towards a negative. We’ve worked pretty hard as All Blacks, as a nation, to proudly forge our history and Argentina never beating us on their own soil was something a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into.
“Unfortunately, they managed to beat us away from home and they have now rubbed it in our nose by beating us on their own soil.
“As a former All Black, it sits with you a bit. I know what those guys will be going through but I do know sitting in that changing room they will be very well aware that it has a massive effect on every other All Black.”
Justin Marshall slams ‘non-existent’ All Blacks duo as Scott Robertson’s side left ‘vulnerable’
Marshall was particularly disappointed by the post-match comments from the head coach and captain, who made reference to the fact that Argentina “showed more passion” during the contest.
“When you then have to look at the performance and what went wrong, you hear them saying things like, ‘they were emotional, they wanted it a bit more’, you don’t want to hear that,” he said.
“You want to hear, ‘we were inaccurate, we got it wrong in the air, they beat us in that department’. You don’t want to hear that you were out-passioned.
“For Scott Barrett and Scott Robertson to say that is a bit disappointing because that should never happen when a guy (Codie Taylor) is playing his 100th Test match.
“There should be a real desire to go out there and do the opposite of being out-passioned – to show grit and determination.
“I don’t feel that was as on the mark as it could have been. Argentina play with emotion anyway, you’re going to get that and expect that. I just think tactically we got it wrong, we were way off in the way that we played.”
All Blacks overcoached
Marshall also questioned Robertson and his backroom team’s coaching methods after the All Blacks once again failed to spark with ball in hand.
They have yet to really find their fluency in attack since the Crusaders legend took charge, and the former scrum-half has suggested that they are not enabling the players to think for themselves.
“We’ve had this conversation before where we’re questioning whether there’s an information overload and you’re not allowing the players to see the picture in front of them out there on the field,” Marshall added.
“I felt that was something they tactically overthought in this game. Their lineout attack will look completely different this week to what it did last week. There’s that theory of too much information and not working it out, out on the field.”
