All Blacks: Scott Robertson, David Kirk, player power and reputations

Source: Radio New Zealand

Who and what does Scott Robertson’s historic firing as All Black coach say the most about? Or is the most important statement about the team, rugby union itself and both crossing the final threshold into what can finally be considered true professionalism?

We’re into over three decades of pro rugby, which may seem like a while but it’s hardly any time at all compared to other sports. Ma’a Nonu has been an active player for almost 80 percent of that time, so it’s not surprising that for better or worse, it’s held on to quite a few of the amateur era protocols.

One of those is that once you’ve been given a coaching job, it was more or less yours until you didn’t want it anymore. Coaches got let go but generally at the end of their contracted tenures and never in the middle of a season. That sort of thing was for football, the NRL or American sports, a cutthroat mentality that seemed far too ruthless for our national game and relatively small community.

That’s changed now. Robertson’s firing halfway through a World Cup cycle was something that NZ Rugby (NZR) wasn’t prepared to do with Ian Foster, although the situations around both are poles apart. So it was fitting that chairman David Kirk, who has effortlessly taken up the role of NZR’s main character, strode out to explain the situation at NZR’s Auckland office.

“The All Blacks are not on track,” was Kirk’s key message, delivered with the conviction of someone who knew he was standing in front of a collage of images that included one of himself holding up the World Cup.

“We mutually agreed that he would step down from his post. I really have a great deal of respect for Scott Robertson…(but) we believe this is in the best interests of New Zealand rugby and of the team.”

The swiftness of the move has certainly made the new chairman a formidable presence, as if he wasn’t already, as his words started to feel more like an NFL team owner after they’d missed the playoffs. While cards were kept close to the chest regarding the now highly discussed review by senior players, Kirk did give enough to suggest that whatever was said was serious enough to justify the unprecedented move.

“I think fans will probably share that view that there were ways that we were playing, ways we were falling short of the excellence that we’re looking for that never really got addressed over the year.”

So what of the players themselves? We’ve already been through one national team feedback saga in the past 12 months that could be charitably described as incredibly ugly, with the unfortunate irony that Netball NZ’s first good news story in a long time got completely buried by the Robertson axing.

Kirk was very keen to downplay the nature of the feedback.

“I can be absolutely definitive: there is no revolt by the players. The players were very measured and very thoughtful in their responses.”

Really though, that almost makes it harder to swallow for Robertson. If the players had enough calculation to articulate their thoughts in such a way that impressed a Rhodes Scholar, it shows that it was very much a decision taken in cold blood. Kirk called his own number in collating the evidence, handling the feedback process personally along with Keven Mealamu.

Interestingly, Kirk made a point of defending Ardie Savea, who has been linked the most heavily to unhappiness at the outgoing regime.

“It’s very unfair to say that Ardie somehow led something. Not at all. He expressed public opinions … but all of the players are individuals and they make their own decisions, they analyse things in ways that they think are appropriate for them and for the team.”

Savea’s stock is at an all-time high, so it’s understandable that he would’ve been confident speaking his mind to Kirk in the review. He’d played in all but one test match in 2025, so was in probably the best position to comment on the All Black situation and also held some serious leverage around committing to another World Cup as plenty of teams around the world would be happy to buy him out of his NZR contract. It’s important to note that he was certainly not alone in his feedback and didn’t initiate it, as it is a standardised process that involved 20 players and up to 10 management staff.

Will this episode follow him? Even though the public reaction has been far more nuanced than the very one-sided netball saga, Savea has probably unwittingly become the face of change. His outrageous talent will have the most attention from now until he hangs up his boots, but the question could still linger around about what sort of ultimatum may have been issued in order to keep said talent in an All Black jersey.

Then there’s Robertson. It’s too early to say where he’ll end up but his side of this story will be eagerly anticipated, even if it takes a while to come out. If there is one lesson here though, it’s that his regime unwittingly gave pretty much everyone a very familiar touchpoint that drove the thinking around coaching and management.

Everyone, rugby fan or not, has had a new senior in a workplace that they’re unsure of. Someone who you immediately question how they got the job and what business they have telling you what to do. Unfortunately for Robertson, that narrative ended up around Scott Hansen, who took on the tactical element of the All Blacks that most people would assume the head coach would do.

Rightly or wrongly, that feeling was what came through and stuck – especially since it’s been implied that Robertson delegated selection feedback to Hansen and other assistants.

So if Robertson does give this another nudge in a different coloured tracksuit, it’s likely he’ll be far more wary of how every single aspect of what he does is analysed and followed. It’d be a shame if that came at the cost of the wide-eyed way he approaches life, but then again rugby’s aforementioned sharp turn to ruthlessness probably leaves no room for that sort of thing anyway.

While those are the key men of all of this, there are some reputations offshore that have been unintentionally enhanced as a result. Whoever takes over the All Blacks now faces the toughest schedule in decades, starting with tests against full-strength France and Ireland, then followed by four tests against the Springboks.

If nothing else, the players and Kirk’s judgement that Robertson wasn’t up to that task shows just how powerful the All Blacks’ opponents are right now – and how drastic the measures are being taken to ensure ultimate victory.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand