All Blacks legend Brodie Retallick insists that Ardie Savea would not have been the key factor in determining the future of Scott Robertson.
Reports surfaced in earlier this month that New Zealand’s star back-rower was considering leaving the country if changes weren’t made to the All Blacks set-up.
A day or so later and Robertson had been sacked as head coach with speculation of a player revolt leading to his downfall.
Those accusations were rejected by New Zealand Rugby chair David Kirk, but that hasn’t stopped Savea from being at the centre of this big call.
Retallick states that he “feels sorry” for Savea and also revealed how these player reviews tended to work having been involved in plenty during his time with the All Blacks.
‘Definitely not taken lightly’
“He’s probably been singled out a little bit,” the 2015 Rugby World Cup winner told The Post.
“For any All Blacks review that I ever took part of there was a wide range of players from the most experienced to the least experienced to gather what their thoughts were and to gauge the feeling of the whole team.
“They’re definitely not taken lightly. [High-performance consultant] Don Tricker used to work for New Zealand Rugby and does a thorough job and is highly experienced.
“So, I think the result of what happened was probably a consensus of the whole group.
“I would suspect and I pretty much guarantee that in any professional organisation that a review to be that thorough and with those kinds of outcomes are not taken from one person’s comments.”
Dave Rennie links
Retallick may only be 34 and could still have something left in the tank if he wanted to return to New Zealand, but he has ruled that out.
However, he may still be impacted in some capacity by the current All Blacks situation amid NZR’s search for Robertson’s replacement.
The second-row currently plies his trade for Kobelco Kobe Steelers, who happen to be coached by a certain Dave Rennie – a big contender for the vacant head coach position.
“He hasn’t given any clues,” Retallick said.
“A lot of people are talking about it, especially the foreigners within our team, and I guess if he was having a crack he’d probably keep his cards pretty close to his chest to stop the rumours going around.
“He’s obviously finishing here at the end of the season [in Japan]. I don’t know what his plans are but if he was given the opportunity he’s a guy that knows exactly what he wants and needs, and has plenty of experience.
“I think he would do the job well if it was an option for him.”
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