All Blacks boss Scott Robertson has explained the decision to remove Cameron Roigard early in the second half of the defeat to England.<\/b><\/p>\n
The world-class scrum-half was hooked from proceedings in the 44th minute of the game, shortly after England hit the lead after New Zealand led 11-12 at half-time.<\/p>\n
Roigard<\/a> was influential in the All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 surge to a 12-0 lead with a stunning 50:22 leading to a try while the livewire number nine controlled the tempo well.<\/p>\n This only fuelled the confusion when he was replaced by Cortez Ratima so early after the break. The All Blacks would lose further momentum with Fraser Dingwall grabbing England\u2019s third before the hour mark as Steve Borthwick\u2019s side went on to claim a 33-19 victory, their 10th straight win.<\/p>\n Why Roigard was hooked<\/p>\n Asked about the substitution decision after the match, the head coach explained that the number nine was on the wrong end of a few hard hits as was his half-back partner, Beauden Barrett.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got banged up pretty early and we were just trying to get through as long as we possibly could,\u201d Robertson<\/a> told Sky Sports NZ.<\/p>\n \u201cCam copped one and Beaudy on the leg, there was a lot of\u2026 it was obviously really, really physical and the momentum swung on a couple of injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we got ourselves back into it, you know, that\u2019s what we are really proud of. They are a good team, and the fans start singing that song and getting behind them. It was a great moment. I\u2019d like to congratulate Steve Borthwick and his group \u2013 it was a big moment for them.\u201d<\/p>\n In the post-match press conference, he provided further clarity.<\/p>\n \u201cHe limped off. That maul came back and squashed his ankle, as you saw he was pretty strapped up after half-time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe tried to run it out but wasn\u2019t even running. So, that\u2019s wasn\u2019t even an option so Cortez came on. We got a few bangs early in the piece. We had to make changes that we wanted to leave to the end, but that\u2019s footy.\u201d<\/p>\n England v All Blacks: Five takeaways as Henry Pollock leads \u2018Pom Squad chaos\u2019 in statement win while New Zealand are \u2018toasted\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Robertson rued the All Blacks\u2019 lack of ruthlessness overall with Barrett missing a couple of penalty kicks to touch and fundamental issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had opportunities, we started playing the way we wanted to with really good structure and then we had a couple of kicks for the corner, a couple of fundamental things that we didn\u2019t do that well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they came back and got momentum off a couple of drop goals and the yellow card after halftime and the game changed a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n