{"id":146438,"date":"2025-11-21T13:14:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/146438\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T13:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:14:17","slug":"scott-robertson-explains-ruben-loves-limited-all-blacks-game-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/146438\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson explains Ruben Love’s limited All Blacks game time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plenty of New Zealand<\/a> fans have been singing from the mountain tops, wishing Ruben Love<\/a> would get more minutes in an All Blacks<\/a> jersey. This weekend, they\u2019ll get that wish.<\/p>\n

Love has been selected for just the second start of his All Blacks career in Saturday\u2019s Cardiff Test with Wales, named in the No.15 jersey that he impressed in against France<\/a> back in July.<\/p>\n

Outside of that 80-minute effort, Love has just 45 minutes of Test experience to his name despite being involved in the All Blacks for the bulk of the past two seasons. Even when selecting the 24-year-old in the matchday 23, All Blacks coach Scott Robertson<\/a> has faced criticism for the bench cameos coming on the wing, rather than at fullback or flyhalf.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Love\u2019s long-term goal is to wear the black No.10 jersey, and when naming his team for Wales<\/a> on Thursday, Robertson hinted that the coming Super Rugby season could see more of the budding star in that role.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw him at the Hurricanes<\/a> playing 10 at the back end there, playing some great footy,\u201d Robertson reflected when asked whether Love\u2019s All Blacks future lies at 10 or 15. \u201cWe see him at both. He trains really hard with us in both positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s challenging when you\u2019ve got a world-class fullback like Will Jordan<\/a>, and the balance of selection when you\u2019re going for a Grand Slam. In the back of your mind, you\u2019ve always got Ruben; you\u2019re going to give him a crack at the end there. You\u2019ve also got someone like DMac, who can rip a game apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when you give opportunities, that\u2019s a challenge, a skill set that I have to trust myself on for the team. This is (Love\u2019s opportunity) this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut definitely 10-15, or 15-10. I\u2019m sure the Hurricanes will have him closer to the nine next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to expand on the Hurricanes\u2019 remark, Robertson explained the dynamic between All Blacks and Super Rugby coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned when I was coaching back there, you have conversations with them and you talk about how they\u2019re going to use their team and their squad and their individual players, but you never talk about how they\u2019re going to play, and who\u2019s going to play where. The hand starts to get a bit heavy then, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you do have conversations to say, \u2018look, if there is an opportunity, we\u2019d love to see him there\u2019. And you normally agree. It\u2019s a small country, and a phone call and a connection piece you have with the coaches; they\u2019re good relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Team Form <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Games<\/p>\n

2\/5<\/p>\n

Race To 10 Points<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 matchday 23 has typically featured playmaker cover on the bench, but no such cover has been named for the Wales Test. Robertson explained Love will offer cover for Damian McKenzie<\/a> at 10, but wouldn\u2019t specify whether the plan was to move Love into first receiver late in the contest.<\/p>\n

The coach also shared what he saw as Love\u2019s strengths: \u201cVery good aerially, he\u2019s good in the air. He covers the backfield very well, his kicking game\u2019s really good, and he\u2019s obviously got good timing on the ball. He can come off players and punch that gap and set his outsides up really, really well. So, he\u2019s got a bit of everything back there, it\u2019s great to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis anticipation for the game is good, especially for the backfield coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plenty of New Zealand fans have been singing from the mountain tops, wishing Ruben Love would get more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-146438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146438","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=146438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}