{"id":356199,"date":"2025-08-19T07:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T07:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356199\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T07:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T07:11:12","slug":"scott-robertson-addresses-all-blacks-backline-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356199\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson addresses All Blacks’ backline woes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 forward pack thrived in their Rugby Championship-opening win over Los Pumas<\/a> in Cordoba, but their traditional strong suit, the backline, failed to hit top gear.<\/p>\n

With a scoreline of 41-24 against a team that beat every powerhouse nation they came across in 2024 and toppled the Lions<\/a> in Dublin just a few months ago, there were plenty of positives for coach Scott Robertson<\/a> and Co. to celebrate. But so too were there some apparent work-ons.<\/p>\n

For every bit of Will Jordan<\/a> excellence that generated a try, there was a dropped ball. The execution, at times, was lacking, and that has raised questions about cohesion and selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware of it,\u201d Robertson told reporters on Tuesday morning. \u201cWe\u2019ve got extremely high standards. It\u2019s just a little bit of a back pass on the back shoulder, isn\u2019t it? Just those little moments, you\u2019re creating a lot, but not quite finishing it with the skill execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing to do is understand and own it, then go train it, put yourself under pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys are highly skilled, you know. They\u2019re really professional, and they do their homework. We just feel like we just haven\u2019t quite got that timing in that moment. But the important thing is that you have trust in your skillset, keep giving those passes. It will stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One selection that\u2019s come into the spotlight following the win is that of centre Billy Proctor<\/a>, who was yellow-carded in what was his sixth All Blacks appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly\u2019s got all the skills and capabilities. Sometimes, especially in Test footy, just getting your feet underneath you and feeling confident takes time for people. He\u2019s just a pass away, he\u2019s getting better each week in reading the game and the combinations. You can see it when he plays at his top level, his top form.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put a lot of time into him, and it\u2019s just about staying the course with him, and trusting him, and him believing in himself, and keep giving him feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proctor\u2019s promotion to the starting No.13 job has gone hand-in-hand with Rieko Ioane\u2019s move back to the left wing, a position he stopped playing after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cRieko\u2019s had experience on the wing, gone to centre and back to wing. His work rate and effort are incredible. Like his stats, he leads a lot of our stats and a lot of our effort stats. So, we\u2019ve really been impressed with him in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is he now? Three Tests in? He\u2019ll get better and better with time, and in those combinations. He adds a different flavour to that wing, he\u2019s a big, tall man in the aerial game, which is really critical, so he\u2019s getting better each week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The All Blacks\u2018 forward pack thrived in their Rugby Championship-opening win over Los Pumas in Cordoba, but their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-356199","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"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115054188022417624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}