Reuben Thorne feels the All Blacks\u2019 playing leadership group should all take responsibility for their current predicament after their recent defeat to the Springboks in Wellington.<\/p>\n
The Springboks delivered a dominant performance en route to their 43-10 triumph at Sky Stadium on Saturday and, in doing so, they condemned the All Blacks to their heaviest ever defeat in Test rugby.<\/p>\n
Following that humiliating result, questions have been asked about the leadership of the side, with head coach Scott Robertson and captain and second-rower Scott Barrett the obvious people in the firing line.<\/p>\n
Thorne<\/a> represented the All Blacks<\/a> in 50 Tests from 1999 to 2007 of which 22 of those appearances were as captain between 2002 and 2003 and while he admits that the skipper can become a focal point for criticism after such a heavy defeat, he feels that Barrett<\/a>\u2018s role in the team makes it difficult for him to bear the sole responsibility for his side\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n \u2018All Blacks have a number of very experienced leaders\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWell, look, it depends on it. I mean, I know the focus is always on the captain more than other players, but there\u2019s a number of very experienced leaders in that group,\u201d he told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, you know, you look at his brothers, Beauden, Jordie, they\u2019ve been around a while, Ardie Savea, Codie Taylor. There\u2019s a whole group of them that have a lot of Test match experience who will all be contributing, and they\u2019ll have different roles on the field.<\/p>\n \u201cScott\u2019s the face of it, but all of those guys are involved in that leadership and decision-making part of the game, and particularly, I guess the game management is often not the captain, particularly if he\u2019s in a position like Scott\u2019s where he\u2019s head down in the scrum.<\/p>\n