Scott Robertson weighs in on TJ Perenara ‘noise’ as All Blacks scrum-half offers mature response to heavy criticism
All Blacks scrum-half TJ Perenara in action against Argentina and head coach Scott Robertson.
Head coach Scott Robertson praised the performance of TJ Perenara in the All Blacks’ victory over Argentina at Eden Park.
The scrum-half was slammed for his display in the 38-30 loss to Los Pumas in Wellington, but he was backed by Robertson. Perenara started in Auckland and went some way to silencing the critics with an impressive effort in the 42-10 triumph.
His audacious off-load while falling to ground for Will Jordan’s try was undoubtedly the highlight, but the playmaker’s overall performance stood out.
Playmaking trio
Alongside fellow playmakers Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett, they controlled the match superbly to keep the All Blacks in Rugby Championship contention.
Ex-New Zealand head coach Laurie Mains was among those to question Perenara’s inclusion, stating “I can’t think of a reason why they’d go back to TJ”, but Robertson was delighted that the scrum-half proved his critics wrong.
“TJ, it was a special turnaround. I didn’t really listen to any of the noise during the week, but TJ needed to own that performance and he stood up and did what he did,” the head coach told SENZ.
“He turned back the clock. It was a beautiful thing.”
Ex-All Blacks boss: ‘I can’t think of a reason why they’d go back to TJ Perenara’
Perenara was not the only player to be questioned in the build-up to the second Argentina Test, but they all put in fine individual displays to ease the burden on both the team and Robertson.
“You know that it’s in them,” the 49-year-old said. “You’ve got to back your men but you’ve got to do it with a conversation behind it that’s required, so they’re clear.
“We’ll say, ‘we’re going to support you’, and they did own it and performed. I’m really pleased and proud of them.”
Perenara also fronted the media following Saturday’s win and the scrum-half showed his experience in how he dealt with the scrutiny.
“It’s not my job to buy into that or to prove anything in that space, nor discredit it because you’re doing your job too. But it’s easier, or smarter, not to listen to that and to have my standards for how I want to prepare myself,” the 32-year-old said.
Prop star
Robertson did make four changes to the side for Saturday’s encounter but one of those was enforced with Tamaiti Williams coming in for the injured Ethan de Groot.
The Crusaders youngster is highly rated and made a significant impact off the bench during the All Blacks’ run to the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.
However, Williams has not played a lot of rugby since the showpiece event due to an injury picked up in the first round of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season.
The loosehead, who can also play at tighthead, returned towards the end of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign and showed his class in the victory over Argentina.
“He was special, man. He was bouncing off the ground wasn’t he? He was getting his shoulder on, he was getting square on defence, he was scrummaging. He’s such a big man, he’s maturing nicely, so we’re really pleased for him,” Robertson said.
“When it started raining, [forwards coach] Jason Ryan was smiling all day. He wanted to kick it out on the full and have a scrum on halfway!”
