A former All Black believes that Scott Robertson does not need to copy the Springboks\u2019 Bomb Squad tactics to be successful.<\/p>\n
Murray Mexted says that New Zealand is \u2018totally different\u2019 to South Africa and feels as though Robertson made changes for the sake of making changes in several Tests in 2025.<\/p>\n
That includes the meeting between the two nations in Wellington as the Boks rallied in the second half to hand the All Blacks<\/a> a record defeat in Aotearoa.<\/p>\n All Blacks are trialling players at international level<\/p>\n The ex-loose forward has hit out at the number of players Robertson deployed in 2025, slamming the fact that the team selections were not consistent throughout the year.<\/p>\n \u201cAre we selecting or are we still trialling players? I\u2019d like to see a more stable selection process. There are a lot of guys who seem to be given matches,\u201d Mexted explained on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cStrength and conditioning coaches have a lot to answer to in my mind because there seems to be a bit of a pattern that if you played 45 minutes of a game, you know, it\u2019s time to move on to a replacement. It just seems to be a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n Springboks<\/a> boss Erasmus regularly rotated his team throughout the year, making use of 49 players in total. While he was successful in doing so and made good use of the replacement bench \u2013 as did England \u2013 Mexted does not want Robertson to follow suit.<\/p>\n He believes that the tactic is more of a psychological ploy rather than a tactical one.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that Rassie Erasmus has used that pattern for psychological warfare by bringing on eight players in one hit or something ridiculous like that \u2013 the Bomb Squad, bringing on five new forwards, and they\u2019re all about the same size and of the same ability is a psychological exercise, isn\u2019t it? But what I see is players being replaced that shouldn\u2019t be replaced,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Comment: The year the bench took control of rugby and what comes next in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201c[All Blacks] players who are really performing well and all of a sudden are off because they feel like they have to give someone else a game. And I think that\u2019s flaunting with our reputation and our record. And I\u2019d like to see our credibility in the world game restored, where we quieten down the media every time we play because they love to bash the guys at the top.<\/p>\n \u201cThat winning mantra is a psychological thing that you have, and I think there\u2019s too much focus on fitness and conditioning than there is on mental strength. I think that\u2019s a major part of success, and particularly consistent performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Murray Mexted: All Blacks have been \u2018buggering around\u2019 for two years and it\u2019s \u2018tarnished our image\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n All Blacks are \u2018struggling\u2019 but Springboks legend warns of \u2018dangerous\u2019 mindset for \u2018tough\u2019 Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry Series<\/a><\/p>\n Springboks are different<\/p>\n He added to his notion that some players are being trialled at Test level: \u201cSo that\u2019s really what I\u2019d like to see: a\u00a0greater focus on that, on consistent performance and consistent selection and selecting players that deserve to be selected.<\/p>\n \u201cNot a we\u2019ll give you a game because you\u2019re not going to be here next year. You\u2019re going off to play pro rugby. So, we\u2019ll give you the final game of the All Black tour against Wales, who scored four tries against New Zealand \u2013 that was disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to manoeuvre within your own environment. Now the environment in South Africa and the requirements of creating a team environment in South Africa are totally different to what we\u2019re doing in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one thing that I question when I read some journalists\u2019 comments about this team always changing seven players in a game and all this sort of stuff. Well, we\u2019re not all the same. We\u2019re all different. We have different worlds. There\u2019s a different way of achieving what Rassie has achieved than what we need to achieve.<\/p>\n