Justin Marshall: The Scott Robertson ploy that is ‘detrimental’ to the All Blacks
Justin Marshall reveals the Scott Robertson ploy that he believes will be 'detrimental' for the All Blacks.
Justin Marshall is not convinced that Scott Roberston’s ploy to have several hybrid players will benefit the All Blacks.
The former scrum-half has revealed that his old Crusaders teammate wants players that can feature in four positions in the squad going forward but Marshall believes that will be ‘detrimental’.
Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie were the only two players to start for Robertson at fly-half in 2024 but both players also featured at full-back.
In the opening round of the Super Rugby Pacific season, the pair both started in the respective number 15 jerseys as the Chiefs claimed a 25-14 victory over the Blues at Eden Park.
Players playing out of position
Ex-All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald questioned the selection calls from the two head coaches as he believes that both Barrett and McKenzie should be starting at number 10 instead of at full-back.
“Josh Jacomb [Chiefs starting fly-half] is a wonderful footballer and has a huge future but, from an All Black point of view, from a Damian point of view, I just think the more time he plays at 10, the better,” he said.
He added: “It even seems funny to say that about Beaudy. Now when Beaudy goes and plays 10, he looks like he’s a 15 playing 10 as opposed to what he used to look like.”
Marshall is of the same opinion and agreed with Sport Nation NZ show host Mark Watson that New Zealand Rugby teams are getting into the habit of just trying to get the best players in the starting team even if it means playing them out of position.
The former scrum-half went on to reveal that having utility players is a goal of All Blacks boss Robertson even in key positions such as fly-half.
“Yeah, we have and I think it’s detrimental to be perfectly honest,” Marshall replied when asked if it is becoming a habit.
“I’ll be able to sit down and have a beer with Razor over this and he’ll disagree with me because he wants hybrid players.
“He wants players that can play at least four positions in certain positions and I feel that’s our problem.
“I guess he could argue that he’s trying to get to a certain place and the team playing a type of game that he feels that those types of hybrid players – once they grow into it – they will be very hard to stop.
“But in my mind, I look at some of the key jerseys and 10 is one where do they play full-back or first-five?
“They’re not getting enough time in the jersey to go through adversity. Like I’d like to see someone like Damian McKenzie or Beauden Barrett play the entire Super Rugby competition in that jersey and work their way through problems.”
Playing regularly at fly-half
Playing an entire season at fly-half is crucial according to Marshall as the player is forced to problem-solve in different situations.
“Being a good ten is solving problems, like in a game and being able to then change the picture, change the game plan, the dynamic, kick strategy, all of that sort of stuff comes into it – you can’t do that when you’re finding yourself in different areas of the field,” he added.
Watson noted that there are suggestions that the All Blacks coaching team want Hurricanes star Ruben Love playing full-back this season despite his ability to play fly-half as well.
The show’s host said that the selector telling Super Rugby coaches where to play certain players did not sit well with him and asked Marshall if he believed that such situations were occurring.
“It could be,” he replied.
“But ultimately if you’re strong enough as a Super Rugby coach, you know that it’s your head, not their head that’s on the chopping block.
“So you’ve got to pick the players and the jerseys that you feel is going to benefit your team and keep you your job.
“It’ll be great, ‘Yeah, I get it, I hear you Razor you want him playing 15 but at the end of the day, what’s best for my team now and the way I want to coach the side is he plays 10.’ and then shut the door.”
