Scott Robertson has admitted that Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash between New Zealand and South Africa at Eden Park is the biggest match of his tenure as All Blacks head coach.
After two rounds of action in the Rugby Championship, all four teams have won one and lost one match in the competition, and only two points separate the teams in the standings.
The All Blacks are currently setting the pace at the top of the table with six points, while the Wallabies are in second position, just one point adrift, with the Springboks and Los Pumas having each amassed four points.
Meanwhile, New Zealand are also occupying first position in World Rugby’s official rankings with South Africa sitting in second spot while Australia and Argentina are ranked sixth and seventh respectively.
The All Blacks and Springboks are preparing for battle in this weekend’s eagerly anticipated encounter in Auckland before they face each other in a rematch in Wellington on September 13.
Plenty at stake at Eden Park
Adding spice to Saturday’s clash at Eden Park is the fact that the All Blacks have not lost at the venue in 31 years, while the Springboks last won a match there in 1937.
Robertson fronted the media at a press conference on Monday and was asked whether it felt like the most significant week of his tenure as All Blacks coach, to which he gave a blunt response.
“For sure. One plays two in the world, all eyes are watching,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting for us as a country, we’ve got a record that we’re really proud of and we’ll play for.”
Robertson was also asked how he deals with the pressure that comes with the job of being All Blacks head coach and replied: “As far as your mind goes, there’s a bit of future thinking that goes on and you know where it could be and what happened but then also your job is to be right here.
“So I’ve drawn on my experience as coaching over the years and what’s really important, what wins games.
“My job is to set this team up to perform on Saturday night so that’s it but you always take a couple of deep breaths and realise that the stakes are in hand and you can get on with it, step forward.”
He admitted that he has embraced the pressures which come with his job as All Blacks head coach.
‘There’s a lot of power in that pressure’
“There’s always pressure, it’s part of the job, the role and the responsibility, there’s a lot of power in that pressure,” said Robertson.
“There’s a lot of focus that can come from it so that’s our attention on our performance now. That’s my job as a head coach to make sure we get all lined up for Saturday.”
It was put to Robertson that great All Blacks like Sean Fitzpatrick and Zinzan Brooke have spoken in the past of the fear of losing and using that as motivation when representing New Zealand at Test level.
Robertson agreed with that and said: “That’s natural because the history and the stats show that and there’s a lot of power in fear as well.
“Get your body ready for survival and it’s the most human thing you can do, you’re here to protect something. So yeah, of course there’s a little bit of fear element and that’s part of being human.”