The nation’s capital was in a celebratory mood as a calm and mildly warm night welcomed the All Blacks in Wellington. They finished their first Rugby Championship under new head coach Scott Robertson on a high with a pleasing 33-13 win over Australia.
Despite the festive atmosphere of Sam Cane’s farewell tour and a more complete showing in the final Bledisloe, the first Rugby Championship under Razor will go down in the books as a failure despite having plenty of positives.
With three losses from six games the All Blacks gave up the title for the first time since 2019, something not even embattled former coach Ian Foster managed. They retained all key trophies against the traditional southern hemisphere rivals from 2020-2023.
To ignore this failing from Robertson is disrespectful to Foster, given the criticism the latter endured. In the interest of fairness, Robertson must take that on the chin. He’s done what Foster didn’t.
If the All Blacks had decided to roll the dice and build for the future during this campaign, the results would be understandable. Blood the best young talent and begin a rebuild for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
But Scott Robertson and his staff did not do that. They continued a theme from the England series, which was picking experienced veterans and players on reputation in order to win now. That itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It shows a respect for the jersey and puts value on All Black caps.
But when you opt to win now and don’t, it must be considered below par.
The team was in a position to win every single game and coughed up half of them. Up 20-8 against Argentina in Wellington, up 27-17 over South Africa in Johannesburg and up 13-12 late in Cape Town.
We lifted Sam Cane to 100 Tests with a swan song tour, starting him for the last four Tests in a row despite no visible long-term plan at openside. In Wellington he looked past it, conceding line breaks and making errors. Despite Cortez Ratima showing his immense potential in Sydney, we gave TJ a hometown sendoff and reinstated him as the starter. His performance was erratic to say the least.
Aaron Smith took over the starting job at 23. Dan Carter was 23 during the 2005 Lions tour. We knew that Cortez Ratima had more to offer just by watching him at the Chiefs. Instead it was TJ Perenara and Finlay Christie to start the year against England.
It is a little surprising to see the All Blacks become so sentimental. Clearly Cane and Perenara mean a lot to the team and have given everything to the jersey over the years. It’s not to say they are underserving of having such a moment, it’s to say that this isn’t what made the All Blacks the All Blacks.
We are told that no one owns the jersey. Some of the best players this country has produced have been cut a day early rather than day too late. And they certainly don’t get pushed to milestones. Maybe this is the new way. Sweetheart sabbatical deals and farewell tours for our favourite All Blacks. The last of the 2015 World Cup winners get to stay on as long as possible.
Players who were largely absent in Super Rugby, either through injury or on sabbatical, were the cornerstone of this team.
Only a couple of the selections from this group were consistently exceptional, namely Codie Taylor and Beauden Barrett. Ardie Savea hit his straps against Australia returning to some of his best work, but in hindsight, he seemed undercooked to start the international season. It was a similar story for Will Jordan who missed the entire Super Rugby season.
Super Rugby cannot be blamed for this Rugby Championship campaign because half the All Black starting team were not involved in it.
The young players who were given a decent chance to start, Wallace Sititi, Tupou Vaa’i due to Patrick Tuipulotu’s injury, Cortez Ratima, were some of the best performers. Which raises the question, how good could this All Blacks team have been with more form players from Super Rugby?
With Peter Lakai at seven over Cane? With Billy Proctor in over Rieko Ioane? With Ratima over Perenara for the entire Championship? Hoskins Sotutu? Ruben Love? Xavier Numia?
Had a younger team produced the same results, at least they would be a year down the development track ahead of 2027. Instead, the All Blacks tried to win here and now and didn’t, with a number of players who won’t be there in 2027.
In Robertson’s own words he’s said his job is to create depth and competition in the squad. Yet he’s starting players he knows won’t even be here next year, let alone 2027. It’s hard to see how that is achieving his own objective.
We know Robertson has close ties to the Crusaders players and expected some favouritism. Still, after the club finished ninth in Super Rugby, it isn’t a good look when George Bell and Chay Fihaki are drafted in, even if they are just there to hold tackle bags.
At times during the Rugby Championship, Crusaders players held the most starting selections of any New Zealand club while the title-winning Blues had just two. Purely based on Super Rugby results, that meant the All Blacks would by extension be average.
Much has been made of the All Blacks losing their ‘aura’ and standing in the international game. But it could be said that most of the drop-off this year has been self-inflicted, picking undercooked players coming back from injury, ignoring form Super Rugby players and using Japan-based veterans who didn’t get the job done.
It’s on the coaches to back the players that are here, that are young, and that are in form. It is New Zealand’s greatest resource and it will keep providing gems like Wallace Sititi. There are more of them out there.
The All Blacks can always be better. New Zealand has never had an issue with playing talent and it is no different now.
Which is why Robertson’s first Rugby Championship will go down as a failure. It was very much winnable and they came up short.
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