Scott Robertson makes ‘honest’ admission over All Blacks’ issues in tense England wins
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson in 2024.
Usually practice makes perfect but not for the All Blacks in their series with England, according to new head coach Scott Robertson.
New Zealand played their first two games under the Crusaders legend but it was not plain sailing as they only just put away the Red Rose.
They emerged with a 2-0 series victory after overcoming the tourists 16-15 and 24-17 in Dunedin and Auckland, respectively.
Poor execution
There were a number of problems in the All Blacks’ game, which some might put down to getting adjusted to the new regime, but Robertson believed that his players simply did not execute what they had done during a positive training block.
“I’ll be honest, we didn’t transfer what we trained onto the field,” he told Sky Sport NZ. “But we created enough opportunities in the end and that’s Test footy.
“We knew we had opportunities. I’ve got to take ownership of, ‘Look I’ve asked them to do it.’ Now we’ve still got to do it.
“Have I got to coach better? That’s what the next week and the next series is about.”
Leon MacDonald echoed Robertson’s comments about not reproducing what they had done in training, but the attack guru does expect the players to find their fluency eventually.
“Like everything, they look good at training, and when the pressure comes on in the game and fatigue comes in, that’s when names, calls and all that start dropping off,” MacDonald said.
“I think there was a bit of that happening in Auckland, where just that memory recall [failed]… we’re still thinking about where we’re going at times, whereas the longer we train and the more time together, we’re just going to be automatic.
“So, really confident the more time we spend together, the smoother our game is going to be, both attack and defence, and our set-piece.”
Fiji clash
No doubt the All Blacks will improve in time but the games are coming thick and fast with Fiji next up in San Diego.
New Zealand may use this encounter to bring in some of the more inexperienced players, with Cortez Ratima, the only rookie to make his debut against England.
That means Billy Proctor, Wallace Sititi, Pasilio Tosi and George Bell will all be vying for a place in the 23 as they seek to build depth.
Rotating the squad could therefore cause even more issues with getting the game plan nailed down, but MacDonald expects every player to be on the same page this weekend.
“We started very new and trying to embed our game has been a priority. That doesn’t change, we are expecting the whole squad are up to speed with our game,” he added.
“There’s going to be a couple of new faces in there, and the expectation is we just keep getting better from our previous performances.”
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