{"id":596841,"date":"2025-11-27T09:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/596841\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T09:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:13:13","slug":"all-blacks-great-slams-scott-robertsons-bloody-mess-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/596841\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks great slams Scott Robertson’s ‘bloody mess’ in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former All Blacks back-row Murray Mexted believes that their loose forward stocks are a \u201cbloody mess\u201d after a frustrating 2025.<\/b><\/p>\n

New Zealand won 10 or their 13 matches this year, but they ultimately faltered by failing to win the Rugby Championship title and claim a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

There are still a few questions over team selection which have yet to be answered, and that includes the loose trio, according to Mexted.<\/p>\n

Shifting Ardie Savea<\/p>\n

Scott Robertson<\/a> decided to move Ardie Savea<\/a> from number eight to openside flanker at the start of the year but the All Blacks<\/a> head coach has tinkered with the other positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoose forwards is a bloody mess. At one stage, we had such strength in the loose forwards that if you picked a world XV, two of our three players would make it. If you picked a world XV now, that is not going to happen,\u201d the 71-year-old told DSPN with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many other players around the world in the loose forwards that are better than we are at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think they\u2019re fooling around with the positions, I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve necessarily found the solutions yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray Mexted\u2019s brutally honest grade for Scott Robertson\u2019s All Blacks in 2025 as key Rugby World Cup prediction made<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Various players have been tried alongside Savea in the back-row, including Tupou Vaa\u2019i, Wallace Sititi, Simon Parker, Peter Lakai and Christian Lio-Willie.<\/p>\n

Lakai was handed the reins at number eight towards the end of the Test campaign, while Sititi has featured at both the base of the scrum and blindside flanker.<\/p>\n

\u2018The jury\u2019s out\u2019 on Sititi and Lakai<\/p>\n

\u201cLakai is in the running now and I don\u2019t think he was before. Sititi is really good with the ball in hand, but I\u2019m not so sure when the opposition have got the ball. The jury\u2019s out on those two players,\u201d Mexted said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLakai\u2019s experienced as an eight and a seven, and a little bit at six. Where\u2019s his ultimate position? I think his ultimate position is probably going to end up openside flanker, so therefore I worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we seen a new number eight? I think we need to be looking at guys that are coming through now or we\u2019ve got to change locks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaa\u2019i and Parker have had stints at blindside flanker, giving them a bit more height and effectiveness at close quarters, and Mexted prefers to have a bigger number six.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome locks who are obviously capable in the open and have the skills like [Naitoa] Ah Kuoi from the Chiefs, he\u2019s a classic example to me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not big enough to be an international lock\u2026 but he\u2019s a good footballer. He should be playing at blindside flanker [in Super Rugby].\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jeff Wilson claims \u2018too many areas of concern\u2019 for the All Blacks with Scott Robertson finding \u2018no answers\u2019 to their problems<\/a><\/b><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former All Blacks back-row Murray Mexted believes that their loose forward stocks are a \u201cbloody mess\u201d after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[225,90462,704,12,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-596841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-home-page","9":"tag-internationals","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115620898790442273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596841","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=596841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}