{"id":149606,"date":"2025-11-23T12:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T12:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149606\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T12:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T12:32:12","slug":"the-guys-stood-up-robertson-praises-all-blacks-final-flourish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149606\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The guys stood up’ \u2013 Robertson praises All Blacks’ final flourish"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has praised his side for finishing over the top of Wales in Cardiff this morning in a victory that the visitors had to work hard for.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 final Test of the year was always going to be a no-win scenario after last weekend\u2019s deflating defeat against England that killed their hopes of a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Wales, ranked No.12 in the world, have won only one home Test over the last two years and few expected them to stay with a side ranked No.2 even despite the All Blacks\u2019 inconsistencies this year.<\/p>\n

As it was, the home side performed above expectations during their 52-26 defeat<\/a>, with Tom Rogers the first Wales player to score a hat-trick of tries against the All Blacks; the left wing responding quickly to each of the three tries scored by Caleb Clarke, Tamaiti Williams and Ruben Love.<\/p>\n

Breaking down the All Blacks’ 52-26 victory over Wales – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

There was mitigation for the final-quarter blowout by the All Blacks too, with yellow cards for replacement prop Gareth Thomas and loose forward Taine Plumtree contributing to tries for Sevu Reece (two), Rieko Ioane and Clarke again.<\/p>\n

As they have all year, the All Blacks struggled with their transition defence<\/a> but there were huge upsides in their far greater discipline and 100% set piece success rate.<\/p>\n

Robertson had made 13 changes to his starting line-up, but, while the attack struggled to find its feet at times in the first half, there were signs of promise \u2013 notably from fullback Love, starting only his second Test, No.8 Wallace Sititi, and the impact of Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku off the bench.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

All Blacks replacement Leicester Fainga’anuku makes the break which led to Caleb Clarke’s second try in Cardiff. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys stood up,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cThe guys that got an opportunity played really well. There were some good combinations\u2026 we gave 45 guys opportunities this year to build competition and depth and make sure we give guys exposure over this four-year cycle to the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Blacks also had two tries ruled out \u2013 the first, by Clarke after he ran through two would-be defenders, after Damian McKenzie\u2019s conversion.<\/p>\n

That one was disallowed for a knock-on by Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi but the next, scored immediately afterwards by right wing Will Jordan, was harder for Robertson to understand.<\/p>\n

Referee Hollie Davidson awarded the try for Jordan, who powered through heavy traffic to get to the line, but changed her mind when deciding he had forced the ball down after initially being held up.<\/p>\n

Robertson made reference to the decision by Davidson, who made history as the first woman to referee an All Blacks\u2019 Test, when explaining his side\u2019s strategy for wearing out the Welsh defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had made about 160 tackles and we knew if we held the ball for long enough that would fatigue them and that the edge would become available. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut they just wouldn\u2019t go away and then the held-ups, the reviews upstairs and it was a \u2018try then a no-try\u2019 and then another \u2018try but a no-try\u2019\u2026 the ability to keep the pace on was taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson added, on what would have been Jordan\u2019s 46th Test try: \u201cShe said it was clear and obvious and then it wasn\u2019t clear and obvious… It has to be clear and obvious for it to be turned over and it wasn\u2019t. I think that\u2019s something we have to look at [with] World Rugby. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe blows the whistle and we go back and they still couldn\u2019t confirm it. We\u2019ll ask for clarity on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For skipper Scott Barrett, the tour was ultimately adjudged a failure after the defeat at Twickenham but he felt the \u201ctrajectory as a team is up\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Referee<\/p>\n

Referee Hollie Davidson rules out a try for the All Blacks in Cardiff. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we hopped on the plane we had a clear vision to win a Grand Slam and, last week, England pulled the rug out from underneath us. It probably took a few days for the guys to look forward to tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be plenty of time over the next few weeks to reflect on where we are as a team. I think there has been improvement as the season has worn on. At times, we weren\u2019t where we wanted to be during key stages of the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, our trajectory as a team is up. There is a big two years ahead of us. Razor and the group should be excited about the challenges that lie ahead for this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett was reluctant to review the season in its entirety but assistant coach Jason Ryan was happier to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last two years we\u2019ve had 19 new All Blacks and a lot of those have been in the forward pack,” Ryan said. “They\u2019re trending in the right direction. They\u2019ve experienced the hot environment of Test rugby and they\u2019ll be better for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistency is a big one in big-pressure Test matches. Keeping the pressure on and not making a silly error or giving away a yellow card and losing that momentum will be a big one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really got to look at ourselves and our decision-making under pressure,\u201d Ryan said, with reference to his team\u2019s defeats to Argentina, South Africa and England. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do know is that every All Black team or player and coach has been in the furnace at some point in their career. We\u2019ve experienced a bit of that and we probably still are a little bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand as All Blacks that there is an expectation. We\u2019re hard on ourselves as well. We\u2019re never satisfied \u2013 at times you either lose or don\u2019t win good enough and that\u2019s the reality of what we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be better for this season \u2013 I know we will, heading into a brutal year next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has praised his side for finishing over the top of Wales in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-149606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-all-blacks","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149606","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=149606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}