Scott Robertson sheds more light on Hoskins Sotutu’s absence while All Blacks ‘rip up’ Ian Foster’s playbook

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New All Blacks boss Scott Robertson has given an interesting overview into how each individual coach is involved in selection, which gives more insight into Hoskins Sotutu’s omission.

The number eight was a shock absentee from the 32-man group after a stunning season for the Blues in Super Rugby Pacific.

Sotutu equalled the record for tries scored by a forward in a Super Rugby season, but it was not enough to get into the squad for the July Tests.

Forwards guru Jason Ryan is the only coach that remained from the previous All Blacks era and worked with the back-row when he joined in 2022.

Ryan would have no doubt had an input into that position, but interestingly it was Robertson who was specifically in charge of loose forward selection.

How the coaching model works

The New Zealand head honcho revealed how he splits up the coaches into their area of expertise before they come together to decide the squad.

“The way I set up my coaching groups is to ask them to select the area that they coach,” Robertson told The Telegraph. “Me: loose forwards. Jason Ryan: tight five. Scott Hansen: nine and 10. Jason Holland is midfield and Leon’s (MacDonald) the outside backs.

“They’ve all played in that area and they’ve all coached in that area, so they’re experts. They have tracked all the players and given them feedback throughout the season.

“They’ve built a relationship with those players. And their job is to go through our selection model and explain why they’ve selected those players.

“Then we discuss it. In the end, I have the final call, but it makes it robust. There’s ownership and accountability. You have to own those selections and you have to own the players that you have selected.”

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After picking his squad, the next challenge for Robertson and his backroom team was to decide on a game plan.

Under Ian Foster, they struggled for clarity until the introduction of Ryan and Joe Schmidt midway through 2022.

That duo played a significant role in taking the All Blacks to the Rugby World Cup final, and although the former remains – with Schmidt now the Wallabies head coach – changes are afoot in their playing style.

According to attack guru Leon MacDonald, it will be completely different from what was seen when Foster was at the helm.

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‘Started fresh’

“We ripped up the playbook and started fresh. We looked around at a lot of rugby, we’ve all had projects and come together. And we feel we’ve got a game that suits our players and the way we want to play the game at international level,” MacDonald told Stuff.

“Now, it’s up to us to make sure we give the players everything they need to succeed and understanding how we want them to play. And also coaching them, supporting them and developing their game. It’s on us now to bring this group together and get some cohesion early on.”

After going down a different path to their predecessors, MacDonald admits they can’t burden the players with too much information and that it will be a gradual process.

“We have to be really clever with what we install. We can’t be too left-field, we need some cohesion,” he added.

“Some familiarity is good. But also we need enough to stamp our own mark on the game, as well. We have already been in camp for one week with our non-finalists, and that was a really good dry run.

“We’re not going to be the finished product in week one, that’s for sure. We’re going to grow every week and keep adding on. We’re looking at a skeleton, what we really need to know in week one, then we can add stuff in as we start to be more familiar.”