Scott Robertson’s All Blacks honeymoon is over and 39-year-old warhorse is partly to blame

New Zealand are not the dominant force in world rugby they were in the mid-2010s but that’s not hugely surprising. It can easily be argued that their crop of players during those years is probably New Zealand’s greatest ever generation of All Blacks which is reflected in back-to-back World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015. Since then other nations have caught up, South Africa in particular since Rassie Erasmus returned.

Nevertheless, last week’s away win for Argentina over New Zealand on the opening weekend of the Rugby Championship was a big surprise.

The Jaguares aren’t in Super Rugby any more so Argentina no longer have an outlet where their players can play together week in, week out but they still seem able to perform at a high level with their top players spread throughout clubs in Europe.

There is a lot of goodwill being shown to All Blacks coach Scott Robertson regardless of the result against Argentina. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

New Zealand are still a good team and they’re trying to find their feet under Scott 'Razor' Robertson but I think it’s fair to say his honeymoon period is now over.

Luckily for them, they get to start the Rugby Championship with two home games on the bounce and they host Argentina again this Saturday, this time at Eden Park where they have not lost a Test match since 1994. It's an unbeaten run that stretches across 49 matches. Last week’s game was in Wellington where they don’t have a great record, not having won there since 2018, so they’ll relish being back at Eden Park. They need a huge performance because their next two games are against South Africa in South Africa.

There were maybe issues around team selection last week. Scott Barrett, their captain, was already ruled out of the first two games with a finger injury so that was always going to have an impact. I never got the feeling watching that New Zealand weren’t in control but at key moments they seemed to lack the necessary clout to shut Argentina out and it eventually cost them.

There have been a lot of personnel changes. There’s no Richie Mo’unga, Damian McKenzie has come in at 10 and because there’s a new coach and it’s the start of a new four-year cycle it is inevitable that there will be teething issues as they try to work out their best combinations. However, it’s still New Zealand and you expect them to win every game.

Argentina's Agustin Creevy (bottom) celebrates scoring a try during the Rugby Championship win over New Zealand at Sky Stadium in Wellington on August 10, 2024. (Photo by Grant Down / AFP via Getty Images)

With 20 minutes to go Argentina didn’t look like they were going to win but they were re-energised by some of the players who came off the bench and I have to make special mention of Agustin Creevy. He retired a year ago at the age of 38 after Argentina got knocked out in the World Cup semi-final. He then comes out of retirement because of an injury crisis at hooker and scores the match-winning try against the All Blacks.

Agustin is a lovely guy but a ferocious player, so strong and so powerful. He’s probably not as much of a threat over the ball as he used to be but he is undoubtedly one of the best jacklers in the game we’ve seen at hooker, with these long, long arms and massive hands.

I played against him a few times in my career. Not an overly flashy player but a great scrummager, hard and physical and every breakdown is a battle. He’s my type of hooker: less likely to be making 50-yard breaks but every collision is a battle, every breakdown a wrestle, relentless until the end. But, as I say, he’s a lovely guy and has always spent a lot of time working with young hookers at his clubs.

New Zealand have made four changes for the rematch, one of them enforced because of a neck injury to loosehead prop Ethan de Groot who has been replaced by Tamaiti Williams. De Groot’s had his critics but I don’t think that’s a switch New Zealand would have wanted to make given how strong Argentina are up front.

The three changes in the backs are interesting. They’ve gone for pace and power at 13 by bringing in Rieko Ioane for Anton Lienert-Brown. Ioane has played there a lot in Super Rugby but when I watch him for the All Blacks I never think, ‘wow, he’s an absolute game-breaker’. I’m still waiting to see him consistently bring the x-factor he obviously has in the Test arena. He’s one of the fastest players in the game in terms of straight-line speed although there are still question marks over his distribution game. Will Jordan, who’s come in on the wing, also possess real pace as well as a keen eye for the try line, scoring 31 tries in his 32 Tests so far.

New Zealand didn’t get enough out of their back three last week and they didn’t look great defensively. They weren’t secure under the high ball, most notably when Mateo Carreras broke through to score. It’s hard to criticise the New Zealand tackling because Carreras’ footwork was just sublime.

Caleb Clark comes onto the other wing for Mark Tele’a for perhaps this very reason. Clark has all the physical attributes to succeed at Test level but hasn’t quite convinced when given his opportunity. He has been excellent for the Blues this year, especially in the air, and it’s probably why he’s been selected ahead of Tele’a.

Argentina found a way back into the game from unstructured play. They looked more dangerous the more the game broke up, really coming to life in the transition from defence to attack.

Scott Robertson has got New Zealand moving the ball with a bit more tempo. There are more offloads and it’s a little riskier but I thought they would have tried to shut the game down more in the second half against Argentina. They didn’t, and Argentina capitalised, managing to build field position from New Zealand’s mistakes.

I think the back three changes will give the All Blacks more security because Argentina will try to kick to them. The Pumas won’t play high-risk rugby. They’ll try to create transition attacks so they can get their broken field runners into the game.

While losing 38-30 at home to Argentina was a terrible result for New Zealand, there is a load of goodwill towards Robertson. Even when Ian Foster was still in charge, there was a clamour for Robertson because of his work with the Crusaders. It put him on a pedestal and, rightly or wrongly, he’s seen as the man to guide New Zealand rugby back to the top of the tree.

It was announced as far back as March 2023 that he would be taking over from Foster after the World Cup so he will be given plenty of time to get it right. The two wins over England were unconvincing but you can expect that in your first couple of games in charge. They then beat Fiji. The Argentina defeat will have stung because New Zealand is such an expectant rugby nation. They don’t expect just to win but to blow teams off the park. And everyone is an expert, so there will be a lot of scrutiny around this weekend’s game.

It won’t phase Robertson and I think New Zealand will win well this weekend. They then have a week off before travelling to South Africa for back-to-back Tests against the world champions and that’s where the competition will be won and lost.