Dulling the Razor's edge

Coach has lost his tongue, PLUS: Golf, football, spinning wheels and the art of finding a point in pointless cricket.

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A compact and cosy Weekend That Will Be.

The Bounce had a chance to break bread with a reporter this week who has spent plenty of time following Scott Robertson around when he was coach of the Crusaders and more latterly the All Blacks.

He made an observation that resonated and to crunch down a 15-minute conversation into a sentence, it was basically that it looks like he has stopped being himself.

It struck a chord because I made a note after the second test win in Wellington that Robertson’s post-match interviews had become very stilted and bland. Last year was a minor revelation as he joined the Sky panel on the field after the games, going into specific details about the tactics and strategies his team was trying to impose on the match and in particular what he was seeing from the opposition.

Gradually he seems to have got away from that. Some of it is the fault of the panellists, who far too often give statements that are posed as questions, but you can’t help wondering if there is something else at play.

Has the enormity of the job already eaten away at some of his natural enthusiasm?

Is he trying hard to sound like what he thinks an All Black coach is meant to sound like?

Has he been told to be less forthcoming?

Was NZR worried that the whole exercise was becoming too much about him?

Am I reading far too much into it?

If the answer is yes to any of the first four questions, that would be a great shame. New Zealand rugby is crying out for a new type of leadership: more open and engaging, more natural and unscripted; coaches willing to lift the veil on some of the more arcane and mysterious elements of the game.

With his unique personality, Robertson is ideally placed to do that, but already he is starting to sound like a typical rugby coach.

Perhaps the whole surfer-dude schtick was becoming a bit tired, but it beats the hell out of the “credit to the opposition” banalities.

Ask him some open-ended questions and let the old Razor off the leash, please.

Oh yeah, almost forgot… one more test to go, lot’s of changes.

NZ v France, 3rd test, Hamilton, tomorrow 7.05pm, SS1

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Union wasn't always so squeezed. In 2003 the World Cup was held in Australia.

The World Cup pulled more people through the turnstiles and more profit into the tills than any tournament in history. Union was front and centre. However, its subsequent attempts to tap into new territories, launching the Western Force in Perth and the Rebels in Melbourne, did not strike gold.

While the NRL and AFL moved nimbly to accelerate their game and improve the spectacle, union lagged behind.

Talented players were picked off.

So reads an excerpt from a story on the BBC about Rugby Australia’s woes. The premise being, as you might have guessed, that the Lions are in town to save rugby.

First and foremost, you’d think, they’re in town to beat the bejaysus out of the Wallabies, which I have a feeling they will. Saving rugby in a foreign country should not be up to them, but I guess it’d be nice if they could.

Elsewhere, the Guardian had a nice feature on Lions captain Maro Itoje and his importance to the British-Nigerian community.

Itoje tells a story of how one year, for an April Fools’ joke, he sent his father an email explaining that he would be concentrating on rugby and no longer intended to go to university. Efe [his father] did not speak to him for three days. “I totally can relate to that and I think every lad who has Nigerian heritage and a similar upbringing would have a similar story to that,” adds [former Lions player Ugo] Monye.

It has a really instructive section on why there are a disproportionate number of British-Nigerians starting to make their mark in the Premiership. It’s all about schools and the value families of Nigerian heritage place on getting their kids into private education, which is English rugby heartland.

Australia v Lions, 1st test, Brisbane, tomorrow 10pm, SS1

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It’s cheating shoehorning the Warriors into the rugby section, but by far the most interesting story of the week was this from the Sydney Morning Herald.

Warriors superstar Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is on the verge of becoming the first NRL player to agree to a lucrative deal to join the rebel Rugby 360 competition on a deal worth close to $1 million a season.

With the future of Kalyn Ponga in rugby league appearing uncertain following revelations he has recently engaged a New Zealand-based rugby union agent to explore future opportunities, the news of Tuivasa-Sheck’s potential defection will send shockwaves through the game if the venture gets off the ground.

Sources with knowledge of the situation talking on the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality, said that Tuivasa-Sheck is in discussions about joining the R360 competition in 2027 as the first NRL player to jump ship.

“If the venture gets off the ground” seems to be doing an awful lot of work at this time.

For the time being…

Newcastle v NZ Warriors, Newcastle, Sunday 6.05pm, SS1