Scott Robertson admits the All Blacks can learn plenty from the Springboks and that they will ‘imitate’ some of Rassie Erasmus’ unique ideas.
South Africa are the back-to-back world champions, having narrowly defeated Ian Foster’s New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup final.
Erasmus’ side have since built on that global success by having a strong 2024 where they won 11 of their 13 matches and claimed the Rugby Championship title.
Four-match losing streak to the Springboks
The All Blacks are currently on a four-match losing streak to the Boks, including going down twice to their arch-rivals during Robertson’s first season in charge of the national team.
There were times that New Zealand struggled in 2024, but a positive end to the campaign gives hope that they can return to the top of the World Rugby rankings.
To do that, the head coach is looking to take aspects of what the Boks do well and combine it with their own “innovation” as they look to lay down a marker in 2025.
“What Rassie [Erasmus] has done beautifully is he’s really clear in the second half of games how to make great impacts. That’s an area of growth for us,” he told the Sunday Star-Times.
“He’s got a really good formula – their Boks style. They can be extremely brutal, can put you in the corner, and they can play some great rugby off turnover.
“Of course you learn off others. Our game has to become a little bit of imitation, but also innovation.”
The All Blacks, and therefore the head coach, had their critics in 2024 and at one stage lost three out of four matches, but recovered to only lose one more – a narrow away loss to France – during the rest of the Test campaign.
Robertson was pleased with plenty of what he saw last year but the Crusaders legend insists that the challenge is to put it together for longer periods.
“You’re always evolving your identity. We created so much in Tests, and just didn’t finish. The effort was there – just not the discipline and self-control,” he said.
“We played some incredible rugby – just not for long enough. Looking at how we can get better is the great part of being a coach.”
Robertson’s personal development
As for Robertson himself, 2024 provided a big personal learning curve in his first campaign as boss of the All Blacks.
The 50-year-old made his name by guiding the Crusaders to seven Super Rugby titles in as many seasons before taking over from Foster last year.
Even for a coach as talented as Robertson, he needed an adjustment period to adapt to the rigours of Test rugby, having never been involved in tier one international rugby before.
There were brief stints with Brazil and the New Zealand U20 side, where they won the World Rugby U20 Championship in 2015, but this is obviously a few levels up from that.
“You learn on the job. You learn on your feet. I’m better for that. I’m also mindful of making sure we’re quick to adjust to where the game is going, and stay a step ahead,” he added.
“That’s on-field. And off-field, it’s how can I get the best out of everyone in the organisation? There’s a lot more off-field than on-field.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/scott-robertson-admits-to-springboks-imitation-as-all-blacks-boss-reveals-what-rassie-erasmus-has-done-beautifully
