Coach change ensures two fascinating years
Any All Blacks coaching demotion jolts most New Zealand rugby people.
But Scott Robertson, the latest to suffer the loss of his job, is not alone.
His situation is not unprecedented.
You can go back to the start of All Blacks rugby to find examples of coaches being shelved.
Jimmy Duncan sat on the shelf during the 1905-06 Originals tour of Britain, Ireland, and France.
Billy Stead, the vice-captain of that team, was then dumped as coach after the second Test against the 1921 Springboks after having no say in the selection of the first two Test sides.
Dick Everest was a much-liked coach of the 1957 All Blacks to Australia, only to be superseded for the 1960 tour to South Africa by fellow selector Jack Sullivan.
Perhaps the most famous ‘standing down’ was that of Fred Allen in 1968. He had been under pressure to exclude Colin Meads, Ken Gray, and Bruce McLeod from his team to tour Britain and France in 1967, and a small clique in the NZRFU niggled at him afterwards, despite the success the side was achieving.
It reached a point where Allen advised the NZRFU that he would not be seeking re-election in 1969. He said in his autobiography,
They [the NZRFU] never had the guts to speak to me directly. I got it all second-hand. They wanted to get rid of me, alright, there’s no doubt about it. That’s why I resigned. I wasn’t going to carry on in that sort of atmosphere.[1]
In his case, the players did not want him to go as they believed he could help them claim a first series victory in South Africa in 1970.
In 1972, Jack Gleeson took the All Blacks on an internal tour, only to be overlooked for the 1972-73 tour of Britain, Ireland, and France when Bob Duff coached.
More recently, Wayne Smith was overlooked after expressing some doubts about whether he was the right man for the job in 2001, when John Mitchell was appointed.
Therein lies an example that all is not lost for Robertson. Once the emotion and turmoil settles from his stepping down, there is a chance, should he want to take it, for redemption by following a path that Smith took upon a road that saw him share in two Rugby World Cup victories in 2011 and 2015, and a Women’s World Cup win in 2023 that ended with him being regarded as a professor of the game.
Coaching is a fickle business; world soccer has any number of examples of that, and rugby is no different.
Robertson’s disappointment need not be the end of the world. The pointers to a renaissance in his career are surely contained in the review to which he has been subjected. The rest is up to him.
In announcing the coaching change, New Zealand Rugby chairman and former All Blacks captain David Kirk acknowledged the brevity of time before demanding seasons in 2026 and the Rugby World Cup year 2027.
It was a risk to make a change, but it was also a risk not to change.
As the old saying goes, ‘the greatest risk in taking a risk is not taking it.’
Under the right person, it is possible to turn things around.
The most obvious example occurred after South Africa was done 0-57 by the All Blacks in Albany in 2017. A change of coach saw Rassie Erasmus turn things around for South Africa to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
It can be done.
It won’t be easy, but the new coach won’t lack for opportunities to sharpen the All Blacks’ edge in a season as demanding as 2026.
Two fascinating years are ahead for the New Zealand game.
[1] Sir Fred Allen, Fred the Needle, Alan Sayers, and Les Watkins, Hodder Moa, Auckland, 2011