Ben Youngs has suggested that the decision to remove Scott Robertson from his position as All Blacks head coach would not have been taken “lightly”, with Dan Cole claiming that the governing bodies’ hand has been “forced.”
Speaking on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast, Youngs said: “My gosh, something must have been wrong.
“Something must not have been right. He’s had huge success at the Crusaders. He knows a lot of those players, and he’s got a 74% win rate. He, by and large, hasn’t had too bad a season.
“Now, you’ve almost set a benchmark for any coach that takes over that you can’t afford to lose Test matches. I think they lost three in the whole calendar year.
“You’re not doing that unless there’s a very, very unhappy group of players, and that must be the case.
“Now, we’ve never been in that camp. We don’t know. But for someone like Ardie Savea to almost put the pressure on them to make a decision, to be really sort of, ‘I might go and stay in Japan, I might go to Europe’.
“He was definitely making them aware that things weren’t right, and if they don’t get changed, he’s going to go elsewhere.”
Where the blame lies for Scott Robertson’s All Blacks exit
Debating whether the New Zealand players had too much influence in the sacking of the All Blacks boss, Youngs sided with Savea, claiming that he did what needed to be done.
“You’ve got to stand up for the voices of every single individual within that squad, and some youngsters or some players don’t have that voice, and part of being a great leader is you do have to represent the values and the thoughts of your team. And I think Savea has done that.”
Robertson’s exit comes at a dangerous interval for the rugby-playing nation. With just a year and a half until the next World Cup, and having not won one since 2015, there appear to be serious problems at the helm.
But what went wrong for Razor?
“He wanted that job,” said Youngs. “He was earmarked to get it; he’d had huge success with Crusaders. There must have been a very unhappy camp for that to happen.”
Where does the blame lie, though?
“It’s never just one person,” continued Youngs.
“He does have assistant coaches, and you just don’t know those relationships. But what I will say is this: For them to make that decision, for them to part ways with someone who has had huge success for one of their franchise teams in the Crusaders, that would have not been done lightly, that would have been very thorough.
“There would have been obviously a lot of things brought up, some unrest to the point that they couldn’t be resolved. Some unhappiness to the point that the players maybe lost faith in either him or his assistants.
“But for them to make that call is huge. It is a big, big call, but they wouldn’t have done it unless they think it’s the right one, because of the expectation and the reputation and everything that New Zealand Rugby stands for.”
Who will guide the All Blacks to the 2027 World Cup
With half of the World Cup cycle complete, New Zealand Rugby don’t have time to waste in terms of hiring a replacement. But the question is, who will be able to make enough of an impact this close to the competition?
Youngs’ co-host Dan Cole had his say: “In an ideal world, the union would have to do this because it’s got an inbuilt replacement. New Zaeland are quite specific about having a New Zealander in charge.
“Jamie Joseph is actually coaching in New Zealand, but a lot of their guys are overseas in Japan and coaching elsewhere, so it’s not like there’s a ready-made replacement.
“Think when Eddie Jones got sacked, Steve Borthwick had a really successful team at Leicester. England Rugby knew him; the RFU knew him, and he was the replacement.
“It doesn’t seem like New Zealand have a built-in replacement yet. Which means that their hand has been forced in some regards about the timing and making that change.”
But who will take over? Well, Ben Youngs thinks he knows.
“I’ve got a feeling that someone like Joe Schmidt might be the guy to come in,” he added.
“He obviously worked with Ian Foster at the last World Cup. He was brought in, he went to Australia, he’s done Ireland, he’s got a bucket load of experience.
“I feel like this close to a World Cup, someone like him. Obviously, then Jamie Joseph could be the guy after Joe, after the 2027 World Cup, perhaps.
“Look at candidates that aren’t kiwis. That’ll be interesting, mate. Maybe the great Michael Cheika might fancy a dabble at it. That would be good to see. Brilliant bloke, great coach, that’s a fascinating one.
“They won’t be short candidates, will they. But it feels very much that they closed the door on foreigners, and it very much has to be a New Zealander that does it. So for me, it’s between Jamie Joseph and Joe Schmidt.”