Scott Robertson warns England’s Borthwick over All Blacks ‘connectedness’ : Planet Rugby

Scott Robertson insists England should expect a much stronger All Blacks team than the one that won the series in July.

The 50-year-old took charge of the team following the 2023 Rugby World Cup and started with two Tests against the Red Roses.

New Zealand they were challenged in both matches but came through to claim 16–15 and 24–17 victories in Dunedin and Auckland respectively.

However, the All Blacks were unable to maintain their 100% record and suffered a setback in the Rugby Championship, where they lost three of six competitions.

Rematch

As a result, Robertson The European tour sets off under little pressure and begins with a tough game at Twickenham on Saturday.

But the head coach warned England that the All Blacks have improved since that mid-year series.

“We’ve been on tour a few times, we’ve been in different conditions, we’re much more connected and understand our game now, so we’re in a good position,” he said after the 64-19 win. over Japan.

Robertson was a little disappointed with what he saw in their six-month series as he felt the players failed to execute what they had practiced in training.

“I’ll be honest, we didn’t transfer what we trained onto the field,” the All Blacks coach said after their 24-17 triumph at Eden Park in July. “But at the end of the day we created enough opportunities and that is Test football.

“We knew we had the opportunity. I have to take responsibility: “Look, I asked them to do this.” Now we still have to do this.

“Should I be coaching better? That’s what next week and next episode will be about.”

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Unlike the mid-year series, the All Blacks have the edge over England this time as they head into London battle-hardened after a tough Rugby Championship schedule.

On the contrary, Steve Borthwick’s men were simply frozen, having not played since July. While players have found their feet in the early rounds of the Premier League season, it’s not the same as being involved in a full-fledged Test match.

“They will be ready”

“They’ll obviously still be fit, a lot of their players are in the Premier League, it’s a great squad and they’ll be ready,” Robertson said.

“They’ve been under Steve for a while now. It seems like we haven’t played them for a long time, a lot could have happened in that time.

“We’re playing good football, they’re playing a little better than before, so it’s going to be an exciting week.”

The All Blacks began their preparations for the match with England with a convincing victory over Japan in Yokohama.

The game wasn’t perfect and their second-half performance was once again an issue, but Robertson took a number of positives from the win.

“I thought the Test match had it all, I thought Japan’s start was excellent. They wanted to play fast rugby and that’s what they did. Very quickly,” he said.

“And then when we had the ball, we converted it and looked great. There were some great moments in the first half and we spent a lot of time defending in the second half, but overall we’re happy; finish strong and injury-free.

“Japan is a good team. They were big, physically strong, and they had their moments.

“I’m very proud of our defense. We did the tackles most of the time, had a strong set play and did good things and there is a lot to work on as usual.”