When Bill Osborne reflects on his formative All Black years he is grateful for the selfless guidance from Bruce Robertson. In theory the pair were supposed to be competitors but the senior man gave Osborne stacks of support and suggestions.
Robertson even gave his understudy the invitation to travel to the Cardiff club's centenary in Wales. Those gestures made a deep impact on Osborne who also realized he was probably best suited to play at second five eighths-a move which gave the All Blacks an even more potent partnership particularly on defence.
As Osborne shadowed and threatened opponents, Robertson used his speed to drift onto other defensive tasks as the duo paraded their power together for some seasons.
"Opposition players often blamed themselves for their shortcoming not appreciating what we were doing to them," Osborne said.
That sort of hard work and camaraderie brought the rewards on the '78 Grand Slam' tour where Osborne concurs with many that their success was due to a brotherhood rather than brilliance.