All Blacks legend Justin Marshall has questioned the attitude of the current players after a reported revolt led to the departure of Scott Robertson.
While New Zealand Rugby chairman David Kirk has denied that the players, and particularly Ardie Savea, had a key role in the 51-year-old’s sacking, there is no doubt that the head coach was not given backing by a number of the team.
Savea was supposedly ‘seriously unhappy’ with the culture under Robertson, but it is not as though the All Blacks were not struggling before the Crusaders legend took charge.
Ian Foster’s time in charge was equally turbulent after making unwanted history on several occasions, and Marshall has suggested that the players need to take more responsibility.
Players throwing their toys out of the cot?
“Grenade-lobbing time, is there a little bit of rot in that changing shed? There are a lot of experienced All Blacks within that team,” he said on The Breakdown.
“Ian Foster didn’t have a smooth run, and there was a lot of rocky road in there with coaches leaving – pretty much the same group of players, experienced All Blacks I’m talking about.
“Is there a slight problem with the fact that if things get a little bit too hard and a little bit too difficult, and the coach starts leaning on them, that they throw their toys out of the cot?
“We as players, and we know this, at some stage have to take responsibility for what’s happening on the field.
“Those things a coach can’t control – when you kick the ball when you should have passed it, and when you drop it for no reason. A coach can’t do anything about that within the game.”
Not a bad coach, just didn’t work out
Jeff Wilson, who joined Marshall on the show, disagreed with his fellow ex-All Black, however, insisting that it is the coach’s job to make sure the players are confident in what they are trying to achieve.
“When you’re making errors, sometimes it’s because you don’t have 100 per cent trust and faith in the game plan. I think there are a lot of times players are second-guessing themselves,” Wilson said.
“In terms of that collaboration, understanding and responsibility – accountability is a word we use in sport all the time – I think you’re a 100 per cent right that there are some players who have to put their hand up and go, ‘could I have been better?’
“It’s whether or not you can build and allow those players to lead better.
“I don’t think Scott Robertson is a bad rugby coach, sometimes things just don’t work out for whatever reason, and this is one of those reasons.
“This is not the first time this has happened in the All Blacks; it just hasn’t worked out at the right time.”
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