{"id":402759,"date":"2026-04-29T05:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/402759\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:49:09","slug":"wheres-razor-why-beloved-former-crusaders-coach-missed-super-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/402759\/","title":{"rendered":"Where’s Razor? Why beloved former Crusaders coach missed ‘super round’"},"content":{"rendered":"

One person conspicuously absent from Super Rugby Pacific\u2019s triumphant \u201csuper round\u201d at Christchurch\u2019s new stadium was their most successful and beloved head coach Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

Robertson, who until January was the head coach of the All Blacks, led the Crusaders to seven titles in seven years at the franchise\u2019s temporary stadium in the suburb of Addington. <\/p>\n

A who\u2019s who of former Crusaders coaches and players gathered on the field before the team\u2019s inaugural match<\/a> at the sparkling new arena<\/a> on Friday night including Vance Stewart, their first ever head coach. <\/p>\n

Former coach Robbie Deans was there \u2013 as were former high-profile captains Richie McCaw, Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock. But the man known as Razor was not.<\/p>\n

Robertson has kept a remarkably low profile since his axing from the All Blacks<\/a> at the start of the year. <\/p>\n

Sources say Robertson has spent time overseas and has not been doing any coaching \u2013 including at the Sumner club near his home where he cut his teeth as a coach.<\/p>\n

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge told 1News today that Robertson was invited to go on the 10-minute \u201chikoi\u201d from the city\u2019s Bridge of Remembrance to the stadium and attend the match but elected not to.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Crusaders Adam Whitelock, left, and brother Sam arrive at the new Christchurch stadium for the inaugural Crusaders match. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually sent me a picture text of his knee which had just been operated on,\u201d Mansbridge told 1News. \u201cSo, he\u2019s had the other one done and was laid up. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was definitely invited and he was missed,\u201d Mansbridge added. \u201cI would have loved for him to be there and I\u2019m sure many others would have too \u2013 even if he was in a wheelchair.\u201d <\/p>\n

Robertson, a 51-year-old who played 23 Tests at loose forward for the All Blacks, has had several operations on both knees but Mansbridge accepted that Robertson\u2019s absence was potentially due to more than has latest surgery.<\/p>\n

Robertson did not reply to a 1News request for comment.<\/p>\n

A larger-than-life character who celebrated his biggest wins by breakdancing, Robertson has clearly taken the dismissal from the top job extremely hard. But few, perhaps apart from former head coach Todd Blackadder, deserved a greater welcome at a stadium the city has spent 15 years waiting for.<\/p>\n

Blackadder \u2013 who led the team from 2009-2016 \u2013 had to endure the first earthquake in September, 2010, then the Pike River mine disaster on the West Coast two months later, before the big quake in February, 2011, which effectively changed everything and put the team on the road for the season.<\/p>\n

The former All Blacks captain won three consecutive Super Rugby championships as Crusaders skipper from 1998-2000 but failed to win one as coach, although he got mightily close.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Scott Robertson celebrates leading the Crusaders to their seventh consecutive title alongside Richie Mo’unga in 2023. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

His 2011 Crusaders, who did not play a game in Christchurch all season due to a lack of a suitable home stadium, fell at the final hurdle against the Reds in Brisbane and got extremely close in Sydney three years later. <\/p>\n

On that occasion, Blackadder \u2013 currently coaching Japanese club Toshiba \u2013 got to within a late, erroneous, penalty awarded by referee Craig Joubert in the grand final against the Waratahs. Joubert later apologised for his breakdown decision against McCaw. <\/p>\n

It is understood Blackadder will make his first visit to the stadium when the All Blacks host France in the Nations Championship on July 4.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 1News in January, Mansbridge said he and the Crusaders felt \u201cdeeply for Razor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a great Crusader who has made an incredible contribution to this club \u2013 first as a player and then as a coach,” he said.<\/p>\n

“His influence has been immense, and we will always regard him as part of the Crusaders family.\u201d<\/p>\n

One high-profile player who was also not there for the inaugural Crusaders game on Friday was former All Blacks first-five Dan Carter.<\/p>\n

Carter, who said he was busy in Auckland that day, arrived in Christchurch on Sunday and attended the double header to promote the UNICEF charity, for which he is a hands-on supporter.<\/p>\n

He told 1News that he had received a sneak preview of the stadium on an unofficial tour months earlier and that: \u201cWe always knew Friday was going to be an emotional game for the Crusaders and it lived up to the hype and expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One person conspicuously absent from Super Rugby Pacific\u2019s triumphant \u201csuper round\u201d at Christchurch\u2019s new stadium was their most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,56380,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-402759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-crusaders","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402759","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=402759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}