All Blacks v France: Scott Robertson’s men can put shine on season with victory in Paris – Editorial

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson faces a major challenge in Paris. Photo / SmartFrame

EDITORIAL

Whatever happens in Paris tomorrow morning, Scott Robertson seems likely to have earned a pass mark for his first season in charge of the All Blacks.

Robertson has (so far) seen his men defeated three times: once at home against Argentina (as his approach was still bedding in with the side) and twice in South Africa (against the world champions).

Of those defeats, dropping the ball at home against Los Pumas is the one most likely to be nagging in the back of Robertson’s mind when he’s surfing at Hickory Bay on his well-earned summer break.

The 38-30 margin was the biggest of their three defeats, and it was the one game in which the men in black looked genuinely lost for a plan and unable to exert control as the match entered its final stages.

There’s no shame in losing to any Springboks team, and Rassie Erasmus has developed a special group among the men who have won consecutive World Cups. Claiming the scalp of the formidable South Africans on their turf was always going to be the biggest challenge of the year.

It goes without saying: no All Blacks defeat is taken lightly.

If they perform well tomorrow against France but are still defeated, an assessment of Robertson’s debut season would be hovering just above the margin of acceptability. The past fortnight’s victories over England and Ireland combined with securing the Bledisloe Cup for another year have put his ledger in credit. (There is still the matter of Italy to be faced next weekend.)

They have also improved in their play, displaying more certainty in their structure and a greater acumen for being able to play the game in the right areas of the park.

Ahead of this tour, the prospect of returning home with two wins from England, Ireland and France would have been warmly received by fans. Victory in Paris would confirm a trajectory of consistent improvement.

While they were fortunate to encounter an unusually sluggish Irish side playing their first match of the season in Dublin, the All Blacks were efficient and effective in their core duties with just enough flashes of incisive brilliance.

Against both the English and the Irish, the All Blacks’ substitutions have played decisive hands, breaking the unsettling trend Robertson’s men had fallen into earlier in the year of not scoring and not dominating the final quarter of a test match. The All Blacks’ substitutions were able to take hold of a game in a similar manner to the Springboks’ “Bomb Squad”.

The greatest All Blacks teams of the past were at their most brutal and most clinical in the final stages of close test matches.

In New Zealand, we have always liked to think of ourselves as rugby’s greatest innovators. Our mark on the game is indelible: the wing forwards we unveiled to the world in 1905 became the flankers that define the sport today; the pod system that liberates fast-handling forwards is in use everywhere; the legendary Willy Away lineout move that started with Wilson Whineray charging around the back on tap ball is a staple of junior footy around the world.

True innovators are not afraid to imitate.

When Robertson and his coaching staff sit down to assess their efforts, performance and results from 2024, they will want lessons for 2025.

It’s time to look to South Africa, to nod to Erasmus and stack the bench with impact forwards.