{"id":47858,"date":"2025-08-06T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47858\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:16:10","slug":"scott-robertson-explains-hugely-challenging-five-halfback-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47858\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson explains ‘hugely challenging’ five-halfback situation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five halfbacks have been included in the All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 42-man wider squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship, with key injuries making life a little difficult for selectors.<\/p>\n

Both Cam Roigard<\/a> and Noah Hotham<\/a> are under injury clouds heading into the tournament, with Roigard suffering a stress fracture in his foot and Hotham having surgery on a high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n

Roigard\u2019s injury in particular will be of worry to Kiwi fans, with stress fractures being one of the more difficult injuries to manage, or predict a recovery timeline for.<\/p>\n

With one of the most anticipated men\u2019s contests of the year coming in round three of the competition when the All Blacks host the Springboks at Eden Park, head coach Scott Robertson<\/a> will be eager to have as many of his top-form players available as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got two injuries. We\u2019ve obviously got Cam Roigard<\/a>, who\u2019s got a fracture in his foot, and so that makes it hugely challenging, and with Noah (Hotham) with a high ankle sprain, he\u2019s had an operation on it,\u201d Robertson said at the squad announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so those two will have cover. Obviously, with Kyle (Preston) coming in and Fin Christie coming in, we\u2019ve got someone with experience, and a debutant.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said having Roigard and Hotham become available at some point during the Rugby Championship<\/a> was \u201cthe plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe docs have been on overtime in the last couple of weeks, we\u2019re asking for every medical opinion we can get in the world \u2013 that\u2019s what it feels like, so we can fast track them. They\u2019re obviously hugely important to us, and we\u2019re trying to find any way we can to make it as quick as possible for them to return safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team is working with various timelines, meaning not all of the 42 players named will fly to Argentina. 37 will be taken abroad for the two-week tour, which kicks off in Cordoba on August 16, local time.<\/p>\n

One of four potential debutants in the touring party, Super Rugby rookie Kyle Preston<\/a>, has the opportunity to cap a remarkable 12 months by completing his journey from construction worker to All Black.<\/p>\n

The halfback was rewarded for his influence in Wellington\u2019s 2024 NPC title with a Crusaders<\/a> contract, where he has furthered his reputation as one of the fittest players in Super Rugby and as one of the best kicking halfbacks at the All Blacks\u2019 disposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great finisher. He was incredible in the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> final for the Crusaders, and that\u2019s what we need, potentially, in the next few games,\u201d Robertson said of the 25-year-old. \u201cSomeone that\u2019s performed recently, especially with the great kicking game he\u2019s got, his hard work, and his speed of pass is bang on.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Christie, the Robin to Aaron Smith\u2019s Batman during the 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a> was usurped by Noah Hotham in the national setup in 2024, but now has an opportunity to show he\u2019s still got what it takes as overseas clubs try to lure him away from New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where he wants to be, in the All Blacks. Every time we\u2019ve had a conversation with him, he said, \u2018What else can I do better, and how can I improve to be back there?\u2019 And he\u2019s done everything we need, and it\u2019s great to have him back in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five halfbacks have been included in the All Blacks\u2018 42-man wider squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-47858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}