NZ Rugby claim All Blacks got 'very good outcome' with Scott Robertson sacking

New Zealand Rugby director Greg Barclay has provided an insight into the All Blacks coaching review and insisted that there was no hesitation in sacking Scott Robertson.

Barclay was part of the NZ Rugby board that ratified the panel’s recommendations following the end-of-season inquest into the 2025 campaign.

The governing body decided to take the shock decision to remove Robertson from his position as All Blacks head coach midway through the Rugby World Cup cycle.

The exact details of what led NZR to make this bold call have not been publicly revealed, and may never be, but the bigwig had full confidence in the findings.

The process

“I thought it was an excellent process. I’m a believer in process – if you have a good process, you should get good results,” he told DSPN with Martin Devlin.

“Obviously, circumstances was such that it felt a review was needed, the building blocks were put in place and the outcome is there for all to see.

“I thought it was done very, very well, it was an excellent process.

“We got the report at the end of it which was well written, pretty clear and our role was to really just approve the recommendation, which was done in a pretty short period of time.”

Despite the severity of the decision, Barclay stated that there was not a big debate between the board members over whether Robertson should be sacked.

“They were well researched, well thought through, a good amount of work done by the right people to come to a result,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the recommendations were what they were, it would be a brave board member that rejected them, but the outcome was unanimous and we’re on with the next steps.”

The ‘significant change’ Dave Rennie will bring as All Blacks hero frustrated by approach under Scott Robertson

Dave Rennie has since taken over from Robertson but Barclay is not surprised by the upheaval that has taken place.

‘Roll with the punches’

“Was it a shock? Not really. I’ve seen a lot of stuff happen in sports so you kind of roll with the punches on these things,” he said.

“There was a view that it was necessary, the process was really good and the outcome is the outcome, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I’ve been around long enough that I’m not too influenced or swayed by what the media or talkback radio stations might be saying.

“I think it’s pretty obvious and I back myself around what I saw in front of me.

“As far as my role was concerned, we just talked briefly among the board members. The panel had been set up and the terms for that panel was pretty clear.

“They came back with a really good body of work, it was well researched and easy to follow, so approving the recommendation was pretty simple.”

Asked whether there was unanimous approval from the board, Barclay, who has been chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and is NZR’s representative for World Rugby, responded: “We did the right thing and waited for the outcome. We believed in the panel and the personalities that formed that panel.

“We had a good mix of the right skills and was really confident that Dave (NZR chair David Kirk) was leading the thing. Steve Lancaster (interim CEO) was a great appointment.

“I’m totally confident in the way that it ran. I’ve only been here for just over 12 months, I’m not going to comment on why or why it was necessary, it was done and it was the right thing to do, and we’ve got a very good outcome.”

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