1 day Ago By Christy Doran
Scott Robertson might have seemed especially chilled after his Wednesday morning surfing session with Andrew Johns, but the first-year international coach says Saturday’s Bledisloe opener is his most important match in charge of the All Blacks. Rather than dance around the subject, Robertson met it front-on. “Yeah, it is,” Robertson said after a long pause.
Having waited years for this moment – first as a player and now as a coach – Robertson says he can rest easy knowing his group is prepared as best as possible. “Yeah, I sleep well because we get the process right and you get everything in place,” the colourful figure said on Thursday morning. “We’ve put a lot of preparation into this match, as the Aussies would, and that gives you that underlying confidence in going into it.
“But also there’s always a little bit of trepidation. That’s the appropriate fear that comes with any sport, especially contact sport. The ability to make sure that my job is to get the mindset of the group right, ultimately, and that’s my focus.
” After being named as Ian Foster’s successor well before last year’s international season had got underway, Robertson’s first season has been anything but smooth. Without his preferred fly-half option (Richie Mo’unga), Robertson survived two great freights against England before slipping at the first hurdle against Argentina in their Rugby Championship opener. Although they bounced back a week later in Auckland, Robertson lost his assistant coach Leon MacDonald on the eve of their two-Test tour of South Africa and consecutive defeats followed against the Springboks.
For a nation used to winning, it’s turned the focus on Robertson whose honeymoon period in charge ended abruptly last month and has only intensified in recent weeks due to their recent struggles. Although New Zealanders would have understood that winning away in the Republic was certainly no given, it’s expected the All Blacks do a number on the wounded Wallabies. It’s something the perennial Super Rugby winner knows.
“There’s always the expectation to win the Test match,” Robertson said. “But the Bledisloe Cup is something special, isn’t it? It’s got a lot of history. It’s got a lot of big moments.
“If you look at the history of the first Test of each year, especially in Aussie, those games have been tight. They’ve come down to small margins. One score games for long parts of the match.
Both countries care about it. A little bit of form goes out the window when the Bledisloe Cup starts.” Scott Robertson is preparing for his first Bledisloe Test as All Blacks coach.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images) Robertson says the All Blacks have benefitted from getting away from New Zealand and getting closer together. “Everything’s set now. Everyone knows how the weeks work and the language and the mindset for the weeks that’s required.
Everyone’s got their hands dirty enough to know what’s required during the week,” the seven-time Super Rugby-winning coach said. “Being on tour, which is a gift of what rugby gives you, is you find out a little bit about yourself as a group because you spend a lot of time together. This is just another week, so you’ve got enough weeks under our feet to get over them.
” A Test in sunny Sydney, particularly after the confines of touring in South Africa, brings new challenges. The water is glistening, the golf courses are a dime-a-dozen, and setting up camp in the eastern suburbs can present its own unique distractions. Just ask Beauden Barrett who enjoyed the Bondi surf before sinking putts at The Australian course later that afternoon.
More Rugby It’s something Robertson recognises. “Double Bay is not a bad little place to start it off,” he said. “You could easily get comfortable here.
I’ve sorted that out. A few mandates.” That doesn’t mean he’s had them on a leash, including the man himself.
“Yeah, I have got wet. We surfed around Bronte yesterday. It was good, it was a great morning.
“You’re walking everywhere and everyone’s like, ‘Good luck, Razor, and all the best.’ A few Kiwis have done all right. They’ve come down to Double Bay and Bronte.
“Yesterday I had a surf with ‘Joey’ Johns, so it was entertaining. He enjoys his rugby. He knows his footy.
I was really impressed with him. “He loves a stand-off, or a ten, and he knows the details of them. He’s still in love with Carlos Spencer.
He knows all the pivots from, ‘When are you getting Richie [Mo’unga] back?’ It’s gone global. So it was entertaining, but yeah, it’s a special country, Aussie.” Robertson knows that Bledisloe Cups are a different beast, too.
The former back-rower debuted against the Wallabies in his backyard of Christchurch in 1998 and two years later featured in the ‘Game of the Century’ at the Olympic Park. “It’s a good question. I was actually thinking about this,” Robertson said.
“The first year [1998] was a little bit niggly. But we won a couple of big games. We won the Game of the Century here at Accor; Jonah [Lomu] scored in the last moment, so that’s my memory.
“I was fresh, I was pretty green back in those days. I was really proud to play with Michael Jones, who was my childhood hero. That week had the family coming down on just the occasion.
” Win a Ziggy BBQ for Grand Final day, thanks to Barbeques Galore! Enter Here. Scott Robertson, left and Ron Cribb hug after defeating the Wallabies in the Game of the Century at Stadium Australia in Sydney. (Photo by Ross Land/Getty Images) But he also never got his hands on the prestigious piece of silverware.
“That was when they were at their peak with the old Georgie Gregans and the John Eales’. They had everyone,” Robertson said. “That was a big old year.
That was 1998. “It’s got that little feeling again. You reflect back as a player, but obviously as a coach now, just the history and responsibility that comes with the personal and the performance that’s required.
” Robertson has gone with experience for the vital Test match, with a home fixture in Wellington to follow. The former Crusaders coach has recalled Barrett to the starting side at fullback, while former captain Sam Cane starts alongside Ardie Savea in the back-row. All three men have been instrumental in the All Blacks keeping their grip on the Bledisloe Cup over the past decade and Robertson has turned to them to help ensure the All Blacks don’t slip up.
“Obviously when you first come in, you’ve got to understand the history of the Bledisloe, and that’s been part of the week is understanding the Bledisloe when New Zealand lost it many years ago,” Savea said. “Understanding their feeling from those players and not being part of that team that hands it over. So that kind of creates that feeling in your gut that you don’t want to be part of that team, and that’s how we’ve kind of passed that message on to the new boys and given them a feel of how important it is to us.
“Now being in the team, you know, it’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a privilege as well, so to be able to be a part of this match on Saturday.” Ardie Savea says he doesn’t want to be a part of the first All Blacks coach to let the Bledisloe Cup slip from their grasp in more than two decades. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images) Having farewelled All Blacks greats Dane Coles, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Aaron Smith over the past 12 months, could the pressure prove too much? “Oh, [it] depends how you look at pressure,” Savea said.
“Pressure for me is people at home not being able to eat, don’t have homes. Here it is a privilege. “Like for us, rugby is a game and a sport that we love, understand that people care deeply about it.
So that’s that side, and then that’s the perceived pressure. But for us, it’s all about going out there and going back to the basics of having fun, being excited, and hopefully that nullifies the perceived pressure that people put upon ourselves.”.
