Eddie Jones has compared New Zealand rugby’s current turmoil to Manchester United after the departure of Alex Ferguson.
Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast, the Japan coach weighed in on the fallout from Scott Robertson’s recent exit as All Blacks boss, suggesting the problems run deeper than one man.
“It’s smelling a little bit like Manchester United,” said Jones. “A long period of success, a dominant coaching group, Manchester United had Alex Ferguson over that period.”
Robertson arrived in the Test arena with a glittering CV, having won five Super Rugby and two Super Rugby Aotearoa titles with the Crusaders, and built one of the most dominant franchises in the professional era. But his All Blacks tenure lasted just two seasons before a review process ended his reign.
Jones believes the roots of the instability lie in what followed the era of Graham Henry and Steve Hansen.
“New Zealand were unbelievably successful, I think they were winning at 85% and probably one of the most dominant sporting teams in the world. It was a Henry/Hansen group that went then to [Ian] Foster.
“Now that gap’s fallen away. So when that group leaves, there’s a power gap, and people then fight for that gap because they all want a part of it. They all want to be a part of that success, and it ended up going to Robertson in a difficult situation.”
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Jones pointed to the contrasting fortunes of Robertson and predecessor Foster.
“I can remember being in South Africa for that [second] Test [in 2022], and Foster had basically been told he was sacked before that; the player power there saved his job.
“They beat South Africa at Ellis Park. It turned the tables as they were looking at their fourth loss in a row. And the players stood on the platform, and said, ‘No, you’re not going to sack him’, because the CEO [Mark Robinson] was over there, and it was going to happen.
“So we’ve seen two situations. One, the players saved the All Black coach. Ian was two or three years into his tenure there. And now we’ve seen two years into Scott Robertson’s, the opposite happening.
“So this is all not smelling really good at the moment. Yeah, maybe [chairman David] Kirk’s going to come in, try to clean the stage a little bit, and try to get the ship back on track.
“Because, as I said at the start, I don’t think this is just the Scott Robertson thing. I think this is, generally, a bigger issue for New Zealand rugby.”
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