The only chip in Scott Robertson’s veneer of clipped civility in answering questions came when he was asked about his time playing All-Ireland League rugby with the Ards club as a teenager.
New Zealand’s head coach paused briefly before explaining how appreciative he was of being taken into the Heron family home. “Ooh, a bit emotional, actually. There’s a family there that I lived with when I was a young fella, the Herons.
“I came over here at 18, played a bit of footy in the All-Ireland League. It was a great moment for me growing up and this is a proper chance for me now publicly to thank them for how they helped shape me. It was a great time in my life, and it will be good to see them.”
Are New Zealand underdogs against Ireland?
Roberston, 50, was otherwise word perfect in a whistle-stop rummage through a variety of topics at the media conference to announce the All Blacks team for Friday night’s game against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium (8.10pm). He’s made two changes from the side that squeezed past England at Twickenham last weekend.
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Outhalf Beauden Barrett and hooker Codie Taylor were ruled out of the match after each sustained a head injury at Twickenham – they failed Head Injury Assessments (HIAs) during the game – and are following the return to play protocols.
Damian McKenzie and Asafo Aumua, both of whom started on the bench against England are promoted to the run-on team. George Bell takes over as the replacement hooker while Stephen Perofeta inherits the 23 jersey.
Roberston prioritised continuity where possible so loosehead prop Taimati Williams retained the jersey that Ethan de Groot, disciplined for a breach of team protocol ahead of the England match, was expected to reclaim. The head coach said it was “a performance decision” before he added: “he’s [Williams] a 50/60-minute player.
“He got a couple of tough calls last week [against England], and yeah, he’s fit and ready to go, so he’ll continue. He was asked about not maximising the power of the scrum enough. “We would have liked to have eked out a couple more penalties, to be honest with you, and use it a bit more as a weapon. We put a lot of time into them and you probably could have got a little bit more reward, yes.”
On McKenzie reclaiming the 10 jersey, albeit due to Beauden Barrett’s absence, Robertson said: “D-Mac is D-Mac, you get a bit of everything from him, but when he’s on, he’s world-class and he showed some great touches, [he’s got to) just keep believing in himself.”
Ireland backs coach Andrew Goodman – this is his first game in the role having shadowed the departed Mike Catt in South Africa during the drawn two Test summer series – is well known to Roberston and mention of his name drew a smile from Roberston.
“Oh, Goody? Yeah. Goodman, he’s well named. He’s a good man and a good coach. I love him. He’ll bring a bit of innovation. He knows us well. It’s a real strength for them to have him in their group. He will create a lot, a very innovative coach.”
Mention of Ireland’s attack inevitably drew a question about whether Roberston had noticed a different orientation in the way Ireland set up in the post Johnny Sexton era, with more emphasis on the playmaking skills of scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park.
Robertson ran through a list of Sexton’s attributes describing him as “pretty exceptional” player in his day before turning to the present and Gibson-Park. “Jamison plays a big part. He is a hell of a local boy, isn’t he? Jokes aside, he has done some great things in his career.
“He is evergreen, just keeps going, a great international level player. He’s got a full bag of tricks and can command a Test like no other.”
There was one final question before he escaped the media shackles. Was playing Ireland the toughest assignment of his international coaching career to date? He smiled: “It’s right up there with the Springboks in Joburg, isn’t it? Teams that are on top of their game, away from home, full house, ferocious history, especially now. Yeah, it is right up there.”
NEW ZEALAND (v Ireland): Will Jordan; Mark Tele’a, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke; Damian McKenzie, Cortez Ratima; Tamaiti Williams, Asafo Aumua, Tyrel Lomax; Scott Barrett (capt), Tupou Vaa’i; Wallace Sititi, Sam Cane, Ardie Savea.
Replacements: George Bell, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Samipeni Finau, Cam Roigard, Anton Lienert-Brown, Stephen Perofeta.
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