State of the Nation: All Blacks ‘still a work in progress’ but ‘tracking in the right direction’ under Scott Robertson

David Skippers 24 Jul 2024 4:00 PM

The All Blacks beat England twice and Fiji during July.

Now that the dust has settled on the mid-year internationals, we update you on the state of the participating nations. Next we take a look at Scott Robertson’s New Zealand.

After the introduction of Robertson as the three-time world champions’ new head coach, it’s fair to say that the All Blacks are still a work in progress under the former Crusaders boss’ guidance.

Following an outstanding reign as the Christchurch-based outfit’s coach – in which they won seven successive Super Rugby titles between 2017 and 2023 – Robertson came into the All Blacks coaching job with huge expectations on his shoulders.

There was plenty of optimism ahead of their two-Test series against England and a one-off encounter with Fiji and although they managed to clinch victories in all of those fixtures, All Blacks supporters will be hoping for improved performances during the Rugby Championship.

Mid-year Tests summary

After coming desperately close to winning another Rugby World Cup title last year, there was plenty of excitement when Robertson took over the All Blacks coaching reins from Ian Foster.

They managed to secure back-to-back victories against England, and also beat Fiji, but New Zealand were made to work hard in both those matches against the Red Rose before blooding several debutants en route to an easy victory over the Fijians.

The season kicked off at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin against a resilient England side who put their hosts under tremendous pressure and in the end the result could have gone either way. Both sides crossed for two tries apiece with Sevu Reece and Ardie Savea dotting down for New Zealand.

In the end, England will be wondering how they finished on the losing side and their fly-half Marcus Smith will be kicking himself after missing three shots at goal with one of them from in front of the posts as the All Blacks eventually sealed a narrow 16-15 victory.

It was a similar story in the second Test at Eden Park in Auckland with the English delivering another competitive performance as the All Blacks had to pull out all the stops to retain their 30-year unbeaten record at the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby.

The Red Rose’s forwards put plenty of pressure on their opponents and looked set to cause an upset when they held a 17-13 lead early in the second half. In the end, a strong finish from the home side – with replacement Beauden Barrett leading the way – saw them clinch a 24-17 triumph with Mark Tele’a eventually scoring both the All Blacks’ tries and Damian McKenzie catching the eye with a solid goal-kicking performance.

Following that series, the men in black headed off to San Diego to go head-to-head with Fiji and Robertson handed a starting debut to Hurricanes centre Billy Proctor while George Bell (hooker), Pasilio Tosi (prop), Sam Darry (lock), Wallace Sititi (number eight) and Noah Hotham (scrum-half) all made their Test bows off the bench.

As expected, the All Blacks had too much firepower for Fiji and they cruised to a 47-5 win with Caleb Clarke, Cortez Ratima, Proctor, Savea, Reece, Ethan de Groot and Bell all crossing the whitewash with McKenzie impressing off the tee again as he slotted six conversions.

Overall, Robertson will be the first to admit that there is still room for improvement but All Blacks fans will be happy that their team is tracking in the right direction ahead of what should be a memorable Rugby Championship.

Standout players

Although he played off the replacements bench in the Tests against England, the introduction of experienced utility back Beauden Barrett brought a much-needed calmness to the All Blacks cause in both those encounters.

That was particularly evident in the second Test against the Red Rose at Eden Park when he was the difference between winning and losing as he delivered a 30-minute cameo off the bench that was reminiscent of the type of performances which saw him winning two World Rugby Player of the Year awards.

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Speaking of the World Rugby Player of the Year, the current recipient of that award, Ardie Savea, was, as usual, at the forefront of the All Blacks’ onslaught in all three of their Tests played this year. The 30-year-old continued where he left off in 2023 as his all-action style of play gave his team good attacking momentum and he was rewarded with well taken tries in the first Test against England and against Fiji.

Apart from that, he also shone on defence and worked tirelessly at the breakdowns in tandem with Dalton Papali’i, who was solid at the coalface of the All Blacks’ forward effort in the Tests against England.

Another player who showed his class was Damian McKenzie, who started all three Tests and despite being under great pressure in both Tests against the Red Rose, he handled that well and impressed with his excellent attacking skills and solid game management. He had a moment to forget in the opening England Test when he was timed out by the shot clock but apart from that, the 29-year-old impressed as the side’s chief playmaker and will be determined to kick on in the Rugby Championship.

Meanwhile, new All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett did well in the execution of his core duties with his lineout and ball carrying work solid throughout while he also did his bit on defence, especially at close quarters where he made some big hits. However, his leadership skills were also superb, especially when the All Blacks were under pressure in both Tests against England, and he justified Robertson’s decision to hand the All Blacks captaincy to him.

And although he only played in their clash against Fiji, debutant centre Billy Proctor made full use of the opportunity presented to him and was one of the All Blacks’ best players in that game. The 25-year-old continued where he left off for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby Pacific as he did brilliantly on attack, gaining 96 metres from 11 runs and was rewarded with a try for his efforts.

With first choice outside centre Rieko Ioane not at his best in both Tests against England, Proctor could be a surprise selection in the All Blacks’ number 13 jersey when they kick off their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina in Wellington on August 8.

Success story

Although there were some tense moments in the series against England, head coach Robertson deserves plenty of credit for the successful transition he made to the All Blacks head coaching role after taking over the reins from his predecessor, Foster.

Despite his successful stint with the Crusaders, taking charge of the All Blacks is no mean feat as there is plenty of pressure which comes with the job. It could so easily have all gone wrong if they had lost both those games against England – including their much vaunted Eden Park record – but Robertson’s tenure now has a perfect record of three wins from three matches played so far which will boost his team’s confidence ahead of the Rugby Championship.

It is also worth remembering that it is the first time that a coach has been appointed from outside the All Blacks’ coaching set-up since Sir Graham Henry took charge of the team in 2004 as they have always promoted within since then with Steve Hansen (2012 to 2019) and Foster (2020 to 2013) both taking charge of the team after initially being assistant coaches.

Main regret

There was plenty of hype around the return to the international arena of veteran scrum-half TJ Perenara in the opening Test against England in Dunedin. The 32-year-old last played for his country during their end-of-year tour in 2022 – after he sustained a ruptured Achilles – and with Aaron Smith retiring from Test action following the 2023 World Cup and Cam Roigard suffering a season-ending injury earlier this year, Perenara’s All Blacks return was highly anticipated in New Zealand.

However, things did not go according to plan as he only lasted for 40 minutes before suffering a knee injury when All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett fell on his leg after being cleaned out at a ruck. Perenara subsequently missed the rest of that match as well as the second clash against England and the Test against Fiji.

His absence meant Finlay Christie, Ratima and Noah Hotham shared the scrum-half duties during the next two Tests and while the aforementioned trio did not disappoint, All Blacks fans will be wondering how Perenara would’ve fared if he managed to stay on the field for a longer period in Dunedin. Thankfully, his injury was not too serious as he is on the road to recovery and set to return to action in the Rugby Championship.