All Blacks legend Brodie Retallick insists that Ardie Savea would not have been the key factor in determining the future of Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n
Reports surfaced in earlier this month that New Zealand\u2019s star back-rower was considering leaving the country if changes weren\u2019t made to the All Blacks set-up.<\/p>\n
A day or so later and Robertson<\/a> had been sacked as head coach with speculation of a player revolt leading to his downfall.<\/p>\n Those accusations were rejected by New Zealand Rugby chair David Kirk, but that hasn\u2019t stopped Savea<\/a> from being at the centre of this big call.<\/p>\n Retallick states that he \u201cfeels sorry\u201d for Savea and also revealed how these player reviews tended to work having been involved in plenty during his time with the All Blacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Definitely not taken lightly\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s probably been singled out a little bit,\u201d the 2015 Rugby World Cup winner told The Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor any All Blacks review that I ever took part of there was a wide range of players from the most experienced to the least experienced to gather what their thoughts were and to gauge the feeling of the whole team.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re definitely not taken lightly. [High-performance consultant] Don Tricker used to work for New Zealand Rugby and does a thorough job and is highly experienced.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think the result of what happened was probably a consensus of the whole group.<\/p>\n \u201cI would suspect and I pretty much guarantee that in any professional organisation that a review to be that thorough and with those kinds of outcomes are not taken from one person\u2019s comments.\u201d<\/p>\n Springboks great in Ardie Savea \u2018rant\u2019 over Scott Robertson sacking as All Blacks star should have \u2018manned up\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Dave Rennie links<\/p>\n Retallick may only be 34 and could still have something left in the tank if he wanted to return to New Zealand, but he has ruled that out.<\/p>\n However, he may still be impacted in some capacity by the current All Blacks situation amid NZR\u2019s search for Robertson\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n The second-row currently plies his trade for Kobelco Kobe Steelers, who happen to be coached by a certain Dave Rennie \u2013 a big contender for the vacant head coach position.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hasn\u2019t given any clues,\u201d Retallick said.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are talking about it, especially the foreigners within our team, and I guess if he was having a crack he\u2019d probably keep his cards pretty close to his chest to stop the rumours going around.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s obviously finishing here at the end of the season [in Japan]. I don\u2019t know what his plans are but if he was given the opportunity he\u2019s a guy that knows exactly what he wants and needs, and has plenty of experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he would do the job well if it was an option for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n