{"id":13962,"date":"2025-09-10T13:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13962\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T13:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:11:09","slug":"scott-robertson-risks-sending-wrong-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13962\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson risks sending ‘wrong message’"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks great Israel Dagg has warned Scott Robertson about tinkering with his side for the second match of their double-header against the Springboks.<\/p>\n

New Zealand kept their Eden Park record intact by overcoming their great-rivals 24-17, putting them in a good spot in the Rugby Championship standings.<\/p>\n

They will look to make it two in a row against South Africa<\/a> when the teams face-off in Wellington this weekend.<\/p>\n

Mass Springboks changes<\/p>\n

Boks boss Rassie Erasmus has responded to the loss by making mass alterations<\/a>, especially in the backline, and there may be a temptation for Robertson<\/a> to do the same.<\/p>\n

Having extended their unbeaten streak at the iconic Auckland ground, the All Blacks<\/a> head coach could seek to give some other players an opportunity in the capital, but Dagg hopes that he sticks with a similar side.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to start building continuity in selection, you have to start building those relationships. They got a result, I think it will be the wrong message to send to go out there and make some unforced changes for no reason whatsoever,\u201d he said on Sport Nation\u2019s Scotty and Izzy show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those players have deserved and earned the right to go out there and perform, and have another crack against the Springboks.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will have to be at least two enforced alterations due to the injuries sustained by Emoni Narawa and Codie Taylor.<\/p>\n

Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho will likely take over from Taylor at hooker, but the decision Robertson will make in the back three is less certain.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of those injuries is wing and there are a couple of solutions you can go,\u201d Dagg said. \u201cCould you go Will Jordan moving over to the wing, Rieko [Ioane] on the left and Damian McKenzie [at full-back] because of how well he went at the weekend?<\/p>\n

\u201cOr do you bring in a specialist winger, a Caleb Clarke or a Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku? What a luxury when you\u2019ve got two of those brutes coming in and having a crack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018pretty crazy\u2019 All Blacks verdict on Richie McCaw joining them for Springboks rematch<\/a><\/p>\n

Dagg\u2019s selection preference<\/p>\n

Dagg ultimately preferred to go with Caleb Clarke, keeping Jordan at 15 and having the Blues wing, who is back fit after injury, as a direct replacement for Narawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Caleb Clarke\u2019s skills and his strengths suit this Test match. I was talking to [ex-Springboks captain] Bobby Skinstad and he was talking about Caleb Clarke and those two games in South Africa when he absolutely dominated,\u201d the former All Blacks back three star added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe destroyed the Springboks with the ball in the air and his big running. He\u2019s a big body, so if they\u2019re going to make that decision to keep Will at full-back and bring in another winger, I think Caleb Clarke is going to get the nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s worked hard and I thought his last couple of games for Auckland were very, very good. He was busy and he\u2019s worked on his game.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Opinion: Springboks were \u2018outfoxed, outboxed\u2019 and deserved to lose to ruthless All Blacks despite perceived referee misgivings<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks great Israel Dagg has warned Scott Robertson about tinkering with his side for the second match…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,16344,111,43,139,69,1465,16345,1466,213],"class_list":["post-13962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-israel-dagg","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rugby-championship","tag-scott-robertson","tag-south-africa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}