Scott Robertson left shocked after Scott Barrett reveals remarkable statistic about All Blacks try-scorer
George Bower scoring his first professional try and All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson.
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson was both amused and taken aback following a Scott Barrett comment in the post-match press conference.
New Zealand had just beaten the Wallabies for the 11th successive time, overcoming Joe Schmidt’s men 28-14 in Perth.
They touched down four times in total with three of those coming in the first half thanks to a Quinn Tupaea brace and a Leroy Carter try.
The All Blacks then had to wait until the last minute to go over again, but it proved to be a special one when George Bower crossed the whitewash.
First professional try
At the age of 33, the loosehead prop managed to get over for his first professional try, having never scored for the Crusaders, Otago or New Zealand in almost 150 games, according to Barrett.
“Without looking too far ahead, it was Will Jordan’s 50th and George Bower scored his first-ever professional try,” New Zealand’s captain told reporters.
The statistics appeared to back up Barrett’s assertion and it left Robertson surprised.
“Is it?” he asked the skipper before going: “Wow, how good”.
The lock forward then continued: “We can celebrate a couple of little things and look forward to getting back home.”
Although they had plenty to celebrate on Saturday, New Zealand could not quite snatch the title from the Springboks’ grasp, who did the job against Argentina at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
The All Blacks duly finished in second place in the competition with that heavy 43-10 home defeat to South Africa proving costly.
“It was pleasing to finish the Rugby Championship with a win like that. It wasn’t pretty but we hung tough in greasy conditions,” Barrett said.
“Throughout this Rugby Championship, we’ve learnt that we have to front-up every week when you put the All Blacks jersey on.
“A couple of times we clearly didn’t do that and those are tough lessons. This group has got a few scars from that. We want to have a bit of a refresh before we head up north and I guess chase the Grand Slam.”
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Looking ahead to northern tour
As Barrett suggested, focus now shifts to their northern hemisphere tour where they will take on Ireland in Chicago before facing Scotland, England and Wales.
New Zealand know that they have plenty to improve on for those games after a mixed Rugby Championship campaign.
“I thought we were probably a little too eager at times around the breakdown, both teams wanted to put pressure on there,” the All Blacks captain added.
“Particularly in that first 30, we were probably a little bit slow to adapt to a few of those decisions, but I thought we adapted and were able to put some pressure on them at the breakdown and got the reward later in the game.”
The lineout was also an issue at times, although they did manage to disrupt the Australian ball throughout the 80 minutes.
“Greasy, greasy night. We probably shifted a little bit and were hoping to get in the air. I guess it wasn’t a perfect night for our lineout either, so it was challenging on both parts,” he added.
