The Ghost of Raelene
David Codey (61)
Please Eddie just lurk down at Coogee Oval before beginning your reign as the Demi God of US Rugby
Australian Rugby / RA
- Thread starter Dave Beat
- Start date
wamberal
Phil Kearns (64)
He'll be able to spend some time with his mum!!
stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
If you haven't seen it this is Gatland talking about Scott Robertson and taking Wales to RWC, Both have some relevance to what we are talking about.
I wonder what Gatland will have in store for us in the RWC. Wales won't be easy.
I wonder what Gatland will have in store for us in the RWC. Wales won't be easy.
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rodha
Dave Cowper (27)
Let's think about his Super Rugby success though. Robertson took a side that looked stale, wasn't performing to their potential and who hadn’t won a title for nearly ten years and starting winning immediately. Stale and not performing to their potential - sounds a lot like NZ, England and Australia to me, so understandably people are interested.
If the full CV isn't enough, there are plenty of comments from players and other coaches about how forward thinking and innovative Robertson is. It's that whole package that gets people excited.
The international experience argument is bullshit - Jake White only coached 1 season with one team (SA U20's in 2003), before being appointed Springbok coach in 2004 (subsequently 2007 RWC winner) without even provincial coaching experience. Rod MacQueen had only coached the Brumbies.
Razor coached 6 Super Rugby titles, won provincial titles, won U20's World Cup & won the Christchurch metro club title.
He inherited a dead last Sumner side & turned them into premier champions within 2 years, he transformed a previously 7th placed Crusaders outfit (2015, 2016), and a NZ-U20 side that hadn't won the World Championship in 5 years.
Crusaders without Scott Robertson - (2015/2016) 7th, 7th.
Crusaders with Scott Robertson - (2017/2018/2019/2020/2021/2022) 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st.
I'd argue that his successes in 2020, 2021 & 2022 mattered slightly more, because I think on paper the Blues were a slightly more talented team, man for man.
The fact Razor's remained so dominant without a sophomore slump, that's a strong indicator that he's constantly evolving & innovating.
If the full CV isn't enough, there are plenty of comments from players and other coaches about how forward thinking and innovative Robertson is. It's that whole package that gets people excited.
The international experience argument is bullshit - Jake White only coached 1 season with one team (SA U20's in 2003), before being appointed Springbok coach in 2004 (subsequently 2007 RWC winner) without even provincial coaching experience. Rod MacQueen had only coached the Brumbies.
Razor coached 6 Super Rugby titles, won provincial titles, won U20's World Cup & won the Christchurch metro club title.
Robertson has a proven ability for taking struggling sides and transforming them.
He inherited a dead last Sumner side & turned them into premier champions within 2 years, he transformed a previously 7th placed Crusaders outfit (2015, 2016), and a NZ-U20 side that hadn't won the World Championship in 5 years.
Crusaders without Scott Robertson - (2015/2016) 7th, 7th.
Crusaders with Scott Robertson - (2017/2018/2019/2020/2021/2022) 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st.
I'd argue that his successes in 2020, 2021 & 2022 mattered slightly more, because I think on paper the Blues were a slightly more talented team, man for man.
The fact Razor's remained so dominant without a sophomore slump, that's a strong indicator that he's constantly evolving & innovating.
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stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
Rodha, it's hard to convince some people that a coach can be successful simply by seeing the world differently from others who tend to copy those who are successful but it's too late mostly. McQueen was a great innovator and Robertson is one as well. We need an innovator, player motivator and manager not someone with a resume as long as your arm who can only do what others have done.
The Ghost of Raelene
David Codey (61)
Has England announced their coach?
60% NZ, 30% Eng, 10% Aus
60% NZ, 30% Eng, 10% Aus
qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Jason Ryan's almost immediate success with the ABs might impact Robertson's resume.
Ryan has been Robertson's assistant since Canterbury's NPC titles and all of the Crusaders' titles.
Robertson fantastic no doubt but might not be the solo genius people think he is, Ryan is surely responsible for almost all of the Crusaders forward DNA.
Ryan has been Robertson's assistant since Canterbury's NPC titles and all of the Crusaders' titles.
Robertson fantastic no doubt but might not be the solo genius people think he is, Ryan is surely responsible for almost all of the Crusaders forward DNA.
stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
Pretty low but still worth a pitch, if the Kiwi's let him go which appears likely with Schmidt having the running atm.
stillmissit
Peter Johnson (47)
No, but it seems already done that Steve Borthwick will be an interim coach to the cup.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Yep took the Waratahs undefeated in 91 I believe.
A mutterer
Chilla Wilson (44)
Call me crazy, but theres a part of me that what's Eddie to coach us again, and implement the masterplan he has been brewing a la squidge and take us back to our rightful place as #1. We could feed off the tears of others for days!
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
I definitely don't want him as head coach again - there's been too much smoke about the working environment he puts together for players and assistant coaches that I can't see it ending any other way than very expensive tears for Australian rugby, and I don't think that's something we can afford.
If he was to come in as a technical advisor/assistant for the world cup like he did for the boks in 07 that's something entirely different. He's undoubtedly brilliant in a technical sense and strikes me as the type that would absolutely relish a bit of a revenge job helping to knock out England.
gel
Ken Catchpole (46)
92-3. No thanks.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
Great as an adviser or maybe a director of rugby, but there's no way I want him as a head coach of an Australian team again.
rodha
Dave Cowper (27)
Unfortunately I think this may eventuate, NZ Rugby aren't going to admit their mistake any time soon.
Ronan O'Gara wrote this great piece about Robertson right after Foster was appointed in 2019, he really highlights how much of a missed opportunity it was at the time & he's only been proven correct since...
Ronan O'Gara: Razor didn’t fall short at all in All Blacks bid
Being a strong advocate of Scott Robertson to replace Steve Hansen as All Blacks coach does not mean Ian Foster is not the right fit in my eyes.
www.irishexaminer.com
Irrespective how I word this, it will be interpreted incorrectly by some.
Being a strong advocate of Scott Robertson to replace Steve Hansen as All Blacks coach does not mean Ian Foster is not the right fit in my eyes.
But — there’s always a but — I can’t help feeling that the New Zealand Rugby hierarchy has missed a trick here.
Timing is everything, they say, and the timing for ‘Razor’ to assume the most prestigious post of his career was absolutely perfect.
He is a brilliant coach, a brilliant people person, and when Sam Whitelock returns from his gap year in Japan, he would have had a brilliant chemistry with his captain moving towards the next World Cup.
When I heard Razor hadn’t got the job, I started wondering where did he fall short? Of course, he didn’t fall short at all.
The NZRU clearly were looking for something different. Continuity? Experience? But what have they given up?
Razor’s vision for the All Blacks is something the players and the country will miss going forward.
I’d love to have seen his presentation, because rest assured, it would have been innovative and progressive and something the interview board would not have seen before. Perhaps too much so.
Maybe ‘falling short’ amounted to being too ‘out there’ for decision-makers in the NZRU, and I am only surmising here.
Rugby and society are changing so fast nowadays, it’s hard to keep up if you are in your twenties, never mind forty-something coaches like Razor and I. But he gets it.
He connects brilliantly with players 20 years younger than him. I believe that should be a pre-requisite for getting a job like this.
He just makes the game so enjoyable. Being in an All Black camp with Razor would have been a fun place to be.
Of course, there’s no reason to assume it won’t be like that under Ian Foster.
Those underwhelmed by his appointment point to the ‘sameness’ of the new set-up, but that does not take into consideration the player turnover in that time.
Foster is 54, he was clearly not ‘the people’s choice’, but that perception is very easily changed when you are racking up the W’s.
I worked closely with Scott Robertson for two years, so I am biased. It is argued that one of his main shortcomings is a lack of international test experience.
That’s an impossible argument to win either way but consider two things here — No 1, that is a stick used to beat a player, not a coach who has dominated the game in the southern hemisphere for three years.
And secondly, two thirds of the NZ team are his own Crusaders, many of them he has developed into All Black leaders.
Razor’s ability to get the best out of the remainder of the group when they pull on the black jersey is beyond dispute when you’ve seen him work at close quarters.
Where does he excel? His abilities in the area of people interaction and connection are off the charts. He stokes players’ passion, their identity, and their focus.
I saw all those things first hand in Christchurch and I think he would even ramp it up had he been the new All Blacks coach.
I do wonder was Razor even over the heads of some of the decision-makers in this process? I don’t mean that in a pejorative way, but he thinks fresh and he thinks different.
Maybe that scared some folk.
Can you spell "zero"? I suspect that's about the chance.
The Red Baron
Chilla Wilson (44)
He might be dealing with the totality of the strength and conditioning, the medical, the rugby side of things, strategy, the review, preview of the game itself and also the individuals.