{"id":634707,"date":"2025-12-15T21:32:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/634707\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T21:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:32:15","slug":"pat-lam-drops-all-blacks-truth-bomb-as-nzr-need-a-reality-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/634707\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Lam drops All Blacks truth bomb as NZR need a ‘reality check’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Blues boss Pat Lam has given his honest assessment of the state of the All Blacks and reckons New Zealand Rugby (NZR) are not accepting the reality of their position.<\/b><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, New Zealand have not been the dominant force in the world game and have found themselves making plenty of unwanted history.<\/p>\n

Both Scott Robertson<\/a> and his predecessor, Ian Foster, have overseen some abysmal results since 2019, but Lam is wondering whether there has been enough accountability from the governing body.<\/p>\n

To be the best, the current Bristol Bears<\/a> director of rugby believes that NZR need to understand that they are currently playing catch-up and must adapt accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u2018South Africa is clearly the best\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, in New Zealand<\/a> there are high standards but there needs to be a reality check,\u201d he told DSPN<\/a> with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s biggest advantage now is they\u2019re not the best in the world, they all understand they\u2019re not the best in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa is clearly the best team in the world, but the advantage that all the other teams have \u2013 the reason they\u2019ve climbed \u2013 is because New Zealand\u2019s always been the best, so everyone\u2019s had to get innovative trying to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just from the public but I look at some of the things I\u2019m hearing from the New Zealand Rugby Union, I believe that the behaviour has got to show that we are not the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, how do we become the best and make decisions to become the best?\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand Rugby \u2018gripped by uncertainty\u2019 amid claims of \u2018stinging\u2019 player feedback over Scott Robertson\u2019s All Blacks regime<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

As Lam stated, the All Blacks have tended to be the leading team and therefore at the forefront of innovation, but that is now not the case.<\/p>\n

Other sides have caught up and, in South Africa\u2019s case, convincingly overtaken them, with their head coach, Rassie Erasmus, considered one of the game\u2019s best thinkers.<\/p>\n

There has often been a rather narrow-minded outlook from New Zealand in regards to rugby and the Bristol boss insists that needs to change.<\/p>\n

No knowledge of other players<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when the England team came down [last year] and I think Sevu Reece and Rieko Ioane were asked about Tommy Freeman and Manny Feyi-Waboso \u2013 they were like, \u2018who?\u2019 They didn\u2019t know who they were,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the same when Mils [Muliaina] came up to Connacht, he didn\u2019t know anyone up there, and then they quickly get up there and go, \u2018geez, there\u2019s some good players up here\u2019, 100 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New Zealand, we\u2019re in our world and we\u2019re like, \u2018this is the best, we expect the best, why aren\u2019t we winning?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public are going to be the public, that\u2019s their expectation, but when I look at the New Zealand Rugby Union, they\u2019ve got to realise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come from a position of, \u2018we\u2019re not the best, we need to be the best\u2019 and make decisions accordingly, it can be our advantage, New Zealand\u2019s advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sonny Bill Williams issues Super Rugby plea to South Africa who are \u2018playing hard to get\u2019<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Blues boss Pat Lam has given his honest assessment of the state of the All Blacks and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634708,"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-634707","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\/115725726203611704","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634707","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=634707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}