Rugby: All Blacks not robots, says coach

Wayne Smith. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The All Blacks have rejected ideas they have become too programmed to deal with top-calibre rivals.

That inflexibility saw them beaten by the French at the last World Cup and by the same opponents when the test season opened last week at Carisbrook.

Assistant coach Wayne Smith rebutted the contention while explaining every team had to have a foundation of moves, plans and strategies which developed a collective approach and understanding.

The next stage was using one of the choices they had used at training and that, said Smith, was an instantaneous decision rather than just working through a playbook.

"We don't coach that way and never have," he said of robotic rugby.

"The All Blacks have played over the last six years and even longer, a game based on an understanding of what space there is, and we have done that pretty well. It is always the same every year, getting diverse guys in who play diverse styles."

Smith was answering an array of subjects about the All Blacks' impoverished opening 22-27 loss at Dunedin.

He accepted most of the theories about what had gone wrong and what needed to be fixed. He contended that was a process of time.

"There is no magic wand," he said. "I have been in this game a long time and you have just got to work with people you know ... help them improve, concentrate on the process. You can't just expect guys to go out there and play the way you want them to play, immediately, all the time."

There was no lack of confidence, spirit or determination in the squad.

They were learning a new game, patterns and styles from those they had been using in the Super 14 - they were now being asked to play the All Blacks style. It would be a huge challenge this week at the CakeTin and that response had to start in the pack.

But the challenge was no greater than after Sydney last year when the All Blacks were beaten for the second test in a row, 34-19, and there were widespread predictions they would finish last in the Tri-Nations.