After 27 Tests and two years in charge of this All Blacks team, Scott Robertson and his coaching staff now have a coaching spot to fill, with Jason Holland leaving the setup after two years as the team’s “strike coach”.

This comes after last year, former Blues head coach Leon MacDonald, left the coaching setup after what was reported as “differing views” with the rest of the coaches.

Tony Johnson, who has been commentating the end-of-year Northern Tour for Sky Sport, explains that he believes Holland was well-liked in the All Black camp and that there must be some differences in messaging in the coaching staff.

“Yeah, well, one thing that I have heard is that he was very popular with the players. They like the guy, and some of them are a bit sad to see him go,” Johnson told Sport Nation Morning’s with Ian Smith.

“Now, the question that people are starting to ask now is questions are being asked about the coaching setup. How is it that the guy gets appointed to the job and then hands over, well, this is the perception that he’s been appointed as the head coach, and then hands over the coaching responsibility to someone else.

“Just how effective are they communicating what they want from the players? What’s the connection like with the players? Because when things get out of hand, when something goes wrong and it leads to something else going wrong, and they’re not negotiating their way out of these tight corners or difficult situations without conceding points, that does ask questions of the on field leadership.

“But the messaging they’re getting, or how effective the messaging is getting, and if this team is to progress, then those things need to be addressed. Is there going to be some fresh blood, for example, coming into the coaching setup.”

The experienced Sky Sport commentator explains that an interesting stat around the All Blacks is to do with their counter attacking efficiency, which has declined in 2025.

“I’ll give you one interesting stat, which to me, underlines that become quite conservative this group. Last year, the All Blacks scored 12 tries from counter attack. This year, they’ve only scored one and does that mean that they are just not taking risks anymore.

“Which has always been something that the All Backs have been able to take calculated risks and back their skill set because of the talent that we have.

“So there are definitely questions that will have to be addressed if this team is to achieve its potential, because I think the potential is definitely there.”

Like Johnson discussed, the on-field leadership has been another talking point this year for the All Blacks, especially when Ardie Savea, a centurion in the jersey, takes over when Scott Barrett is injured.

After the Test match in Cardiff, Robertson said that Barrett’s knowledge of the game is “as good as I’ve ever come across”, and that he has full faith in his captain.

Johnson on Sport Nation questions the on-field leadership of the group, and compares them to the previous leaders of the All Blacks in previous years.

“Well, he made it clear when he first appointed him, that he was someone that, because of the background together of the Crusaders, that he could work with. But I just made the point that I think captaincy is a collective thing.

“Now you’ve got to have several leaders in the team and just again, begs the question, have they been effective in developing that leadership group? Because we all know what it was like in that All Black team that really dominated the world.

“Richie McCaw, who obviously was a great captain, but you had Keven Mealamu, Conrad Smith, and you had Dan Carter, and you had Kieran Read, and you had Sam Whitelock.

“Maybe it takes time to develop those sorts of leaders throughout the team, but I think that’s a big work on for the side. They have to do that because, yeah, the captain is the guy that, I guess the buck stops with him, but it needs to be a collective thing.”