‘We’re not copiers’ – Sir Wayne Smith boldly claims Scott Robertson’s All Blacks are ‘starting to change the game’

Coaching legend Wayne Smith has given Scott Robertson and this new All Blacks set-up the thumbs up despite their mixed 2024 so far.

New Zealand go into their end-of-year tour under slight pressure after they relinquished the Rugby Championship title for the first time in five years.

Three defeats – one to Argentina and two to the Springboks – saw them finish second to South Africa in the table.

Criticism and rebuild

Robertson, who took over from Ian Foster following the 2023 Rugby World Cup, has received some flak for the All Blacks’ inconsistent form.

However, they are in a rebuilding phase following the departures of several greats, including Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock and Aaron Smith.

It could therefore take some time before they find their best under the new regime, but Smith has seen plenty of positive signs.

The 67-year-old, who is now employed by New Zealand Rugby as a performance coach for the All Blacks and Black Ferns, spent time with Robertson’s outfit during the recent Rugby Championship and believes that they are heading in the right direction.

“There are people on either side of how the All Blacks are developing. My view, having been in there before the Wellington Test, is they’ve started to change the game,” Smith told the New Zealand Herald.

“You can see the ball movement is wider than it’s been. There’s an intent to keep the ball alive more in the tackle so there’s more continuity. You’re only doing it for 20-30-40 minutes but you can see it evolving.

“To me, that’s our DNA. We’re not copiers. We don’t need to play a detailed over structured game like a lot of teams around the world. We need to play our own game, and I see that in this team.

“The coaches are open to ideas. They’re making changes now and I’m really excited to see how they’re going to go on tour.

“They’re going to be up against tough teams and playing our game might be difficult at times over there but over the next wee while it will really flourish. That’s my view anyway.”

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Pressure of the All Blacks

Smith, who is nicknamed ‘The Professor’, is regarded as one of the sport’s best-ever coaches and helped the All Blacks to the Rugby World Cup title in both 2011 and 2015.

He knows all about the pressure that comes with representing the national team, something which Robertson and his team are very much experiencing now.

The public quite simply expects to win, which may not be helping the new head coach as he settles into the role, but Smith insists that having that attitude from the fans actually benefits New Zealand.

“Having coached at the top our win ratio is based on public expectation. It’s a great thing that the public demands we win. It drives you forward. Most other countries don’t have that,” he added.

“Since 1905 we’ve had national expectations and that’s great. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a club, NPC or All Blacks coach you’re driven to win because that’s what rugby is in our country.”

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