{"id":331892,"date":"2025-12-07T02:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331892\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T02:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:51:07","slug":"nz-rugby-ceo-mark-robinson-pleased-with-how-he-departs-role-after-six-years-at-helm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331892\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson pleased with how he departs role after six years at helm"},"content":{"rendered":"

He also faced sponsor upheaval, with major partner Ineos walking away<\/a> from its six-year, $21m-a-year deal halfway through. On the field, his tenure saw the Black Ferns win a home World Cup and the All Blacks fall just one point short of glory in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, amid intense public debate over the All Blacks\u2019 coaching appointment.<\/p>\n

His departure mirrors a raft of changes at board level, with David Kirk taking over as the new chair<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB\u2019s Weekend Sport, Robinson admitted the job was a challenge, but is content with the legacy he\u2019s leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt it was by far the most challenging thing that I\u2019d ever encountered personally,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIt was probably the most challenging thing rugby had ever encountered, sport for that matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I look back, I\u2019m really proud with how we came through that. I don\u2019t think people can appreciate the things we were weighing up and having to consider on a daily basis across those sort of two-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come out the other side of it and I\u2019m sure the new leadership coming into the role will very much be focused on going forward. But it was a tough time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though six months have passed since Robinson\u2019s announcement, a replacement hasn\u2019t been found with Steve Lancaster,<\/a> the current general manager of community rugby, to take over on an interim basis.<\/p>\n

The Herald understands Six Nations boss Tom Harrison, the former head of the England and Wales cricket board, is a leading contender to succeed Robinson.<\/p>\n

Robinson said he had not been privy to any conversations, but whoever succeeds will have the challenge of leading NZR into an interesting period where the global calendar is changing, highlighted by the launch of the Nations Cup and the All Blacks\u2019 tour of South Africa, which takes place next year.<\/p>\n

His time at NZR coincided with some of the most intense scrutiny of the All Blacks in recent memory, highlighted by the handling of the coaching debate between Ian Foster and Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

After the All Blacks had been beaten 2-1 in a home series by Ireland for the first time in 2022, pressure was growing on Foster, with Robertson seen by many as the likely replacement.<\/p>\n

\"ScottScott Robertson. Photo \/ Smart Frame<\/p>\n

Assistant coaches John Plumtree and Brad Mooar were let go<\/a>, as Jason Ryan joined the squad to work with the forwards and former Ireland boss Joe Schmidt came on board.<\/p>\n

Foster, with the backing of senior players, held his job following a staunch defeat of South Africa at Ellis Park, capping a run of five defeats from the previous six games.<\/p>\n

But the support for Foster did not extend beyond the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with Robertson appointed to take over after the tournament.<\/p>\n

Robertson has struggled in the step up as All Blacks coach and the scrutiny was highlighted last month when the Herald revealed his assistant Scott Hansen effectively operates as the head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want the best for the All Blacks, and we have high expectations of them,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cRazor [Robertson] has reflected on this, and so have the senior players, who are keen to understand the periods of inconsistency we\u2019ve experienced and work out why they\u2019re happening, so we can put them right. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some really positive signs in the game, though, and while a few aspects are a little frustrating at the moment, I\u2019m confident a thorough review over the next four to six weeks will provide the answers we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Robinson plans to spend the Christmas holidays with his family in New Zealand before making the move to Australia. He was tight-lipped on any future job prospects, but indicated there could be some opportunities in consulting, governance or another executive role.<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He also faced sponsor upheaval, with major partner Ineos walking away from its six-year, $21m-a-year deal halfway through.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[9490,67263,1929,64,63,12585,185616,185612,185613,2649,1852,1642,126182,1571,8278,611,34827,185615,1697,3289,185611,66215,9747,3206,760,9670,88931,85,185614,8293,9501,14850,8281,3605,32388,3205],"class_list":["post-331892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-after","tag-arrived","tag-at","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ceo","tag-challenging","tag-departs","tag-enters","tag-final","tag-games","tag-he","tag-helm","tag-history","tag-how","tag-mark","tag-most","tag-navigating","tag-nz","tag-periods","tag-pleased","tag-position","tag-robinson","tag-role","tag-rugby","tag-satisfied","tag-six","tag-sports","tag-stronger","tag-than","tag-that","tag-week","tag-when","tag-with","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}