Despite the second-half comeback by the Wallabies in Sydney, it’s fair to say most Kiwis can still see
nothing but an All Blacks victory in the second test in Wellington.
The TAB has the Wallabies as rank outsiders, paying $7 for an Australian win. That confidence in a New Zealand victory is a big reason why some of us, including me, were advocating for damn-the-torpedoes, experimental selections, giving All Blacks rookies like first five Harry Plummer and centre Billy Proctor a chance to start.
In fact, to make the two unforced changes to the starting XV, TJ Perenara at halfback, and Beauden Barrett in at first five, Scott Robertson and his selectors headed to the most senior section of the All Blacks squad.
Opting for a less risky line-up is a reminder that, whether in the New Zealand Rugby boardroom or behind keyboards, cold-eyed critics have always keenly circled All Blacks coaches and selectors, ready to pounce if losses start to mount.
Robertson as a player saw that ruthlessness at first hand, when he was in the 2001 test squad. All Blacks coach Wayne Smith, after losing just two out of seven tests that year, was axed.
Given the tribulations of the 2024 season so far, it gets easier to understand why picking a team to win now, rather than looking mainly to the future, was the first priority for the Wellington test.
Appearances can be deceiving
Robertson’s larger-than-life persona, which is absolutely natural, has been expressed in many ways in his coaching.
As one North Island All Black told me a couple of years ago, after a season as a young replacement player at the Crusaders, “Razor’s so positive every single day, that it makes what could be a slog enjoyable.”
Robertson himself firmly believes the first time he knew the Crusaders had bonded in his first year as their coach in 2017 came when, after a pre-season team meeting at a lodge near Mt Hutt, the players gathered to listen to a team band, led by loose forward Pete Samu. “We were away. It all connected in.”
Add in the post-title-winning breakdancing and I’m sure there were many who assumed his unorthodox team-building would spill over into dramatic selection policies.
The facts are quite different.
In 2017, when Robertson took the Crusaders to Johannesburg and beat the Lions 25-17 in the Super Rugby final, 14 of the 15 starting players for the Crusaders had played the previous season when Todd Blackadder was the Crusaders coach.
The only player in the title-winning side of 2017 who had not played for the Crusaders before was midfielder Jack Goodhue, but he had been in Blackadder’s wider training squad in 2016.
Most startling, in some ways, was that first five Richie Mo’unga was playing his second season for the team, having started in every one of the 16 games Blackadder’s Crusaders played in 2016.
Robertson looks like a man who might take wild, long-shot chances with his choices. The reality is that he’s always approached changes in personnel with caution, just as he is now with the 2024 All Blacks.
Hail to a great chief
Sam Cane’s 100th match for the All Blacks is a reflection of the resilience and work ethic of one of most impressive men in the game.
Cane had the unenviable task of following Richie McCaw in the openside flanker position in the All Blacks. Fortunately, he’s always been someone mature beyond his years, not easily daunted by the challenge.
He was only 18 when he was first selected for Bay of Plenty. In 2013, as a 21-year-old, in just his second year in the All Blacks, coach Steve Hansen put him in the players’ leadership group. Most of the small group, like McCaw, Dan Carter, Keven Mealamu and Conrad Smith, were honing in on a century of tests.
Cane mostly listened and learned the first year, but he also formed a tight, hugely valuable relationship with McCaw. “I’m the type of character, if there was something I wanted to ask him [McCaw] about, I never felt that I couldn’t. We were pretty open about things.”
This week, Robertson talked about how much Cane adds to the current side on and off the field. Cane is, said Robertson, “a bit of a sheriff” who makes sure everyone knows what standards have to be met.
That Cane is still meeting those standards himself, after a string of injuries that have even included a fractured vertebrae in his neck in 2018, deserves the same level of celebration as his century of tests.
All Blacks v Wallabies, Saturday 7.05pm: Live commentary on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and iHeartRadio. Live match blog at nzherald.co.nz
