Scott Maurice Robertson (born 21 August 1974) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the All Blacks, the men's New Zealand national team.
 Robertson in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Scott Maurice Robertson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 21 August 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Tauranga, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 109 kg (17 st 2 lb; 240 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Mount Maunganui College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nicknamed "Razor", he played as a flanker for Bay of Plenty, Perpignan, Canterbury and the Crusaders. He won 23 international caps for New Zealand between 1998 and 2002.
He was the head coach of the New Zealand U20 team, the Canterbury ITM Cup team, and the Crusaders in Super Rugby. With the Crusaders, he won seven consecutive Super Rugby championships, from 2017 to 2023.
During his time as Crusaders coach, not only did he win all seven finals since taking on the role, he achieved a record of 98 wins, 17 losses and 2 draws out of 117 games,[1] making him the most successful Super Rugby coach to date since the competition began.
Playing career
editRobertson grew up in Tauranga and attended Mount Maunganui College.
After college, Robertson moved to Europe, where he played for a number of clubs, including Ards (Northern Ireland) and Ayr (Scotland). [2].
He played for Bay of Plenty. In 1996 he moved to Canterbury to play for the Crusaders in the first year of the Super 12 competition. He played as a flanker. After leaving the Crusaders, he went on to play for Perpignan (France). He eventually moved to Japan where he played for the Ricoh Black Rams, before retiring in 2007.
Coaching career
editAfter retiring from playing, Robertson became the head coach at Sumner Rugby Club in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2004 he was active in establishing an under-19 team at Sumner.
After working as the assistant coach of Canterbury for five years under head coaches Rob Penney (2008–2011) and Tabai Matson (2012), Robertson was appointed Canterbury's head coach in 2013, when they won the Final in the Premiership Division of the ITM Cup.[3] Under his guidance, Canterbury won the competition again in 2015. Robertson was also appointed as head coach of the Brazil national rugby union team for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, as part of a partnership between the Brazilian Rugby Union and the Crusaders.[4]
In 2014,[5] the New Zealand Rugby Union appointed Robertson head coach of the New Zealand Under-20 team, which subsequently won the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Italy.
Robertson coached the New Zealand Under-20s in the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Manchester, where they failed to make the play-offs.[6]
In June 2016, Robertson was appointed head coach for the Crusaders for the 2017–2019 Super Rugby seasons.[7] During the 2017 season Robertson captured a Super Rugby title with a 25–17 victory over the Lions, becoming only the second first-year coach to win a championship after Dave Rennie in 2012 with conference rivals the Chiefs. On 4 August 2018 he achieved a second straight Super Rugby title with his Crusaders team again defeating the Lions 37–18, again following in the footsteps of Rennie being the second rookie coach to win 2 titles in 2 seasons.[8] In winning the Crusaders' third successive title, Robertson became the first "rookie" Super Rugby coach to win 3 successive titles in their first three seasons as a head coach. The last time a team won three titles in a row was the Crusaders as well between 1998 & 2000, where Wayne Smith led them to two championships before taking up a role with the All Blacks, Robbie Deans would then claim the third title in 2000 beginning one of the most successful periods in the franchise's history.
In 2020, and 2021 Robertson coached the Crusaders to two successful Super Rugby Aotearoa championships. These were both considered a soft-competition on the Super Level due to the pandemic and only playing 5 New Zealand teams, with many of the teams suffering key player losses early on. Since becoming head coach of the Crusaders, the only competition he hasn't won was the 2021 Super Rugby Trans-Tasman add-on, and despite earning 5 wins from 5 games, the Crusaders only ranked third (based on points difference), and missed the final. Following on from the successful Super Rugby Aotearoa campaigns, Robertson again coached the Crusaders to a championship, this time in the maiden Super Rugby Pacific Format in 2022. On 24 June 2023 he coached the Crusaders to a 7th consecutive title with a 20–25 win over the Chiefs, in Hamilton.
Robertson is known for his post victory match break dancing routine [9]
In March 2023, it was announced that he would take over from Ian Foster as head coach of New Zealand from the start of 2024.[10] Though his first All Blacks fixtures as head coach did not occur until 2024, his role as head coach began on 1 November 2023, after the conclusion of the 2023 Rugby World Cup tournament.[11]
Media work
editRobertson was a guest commentator for the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour series.
References
edit- ^ "Crusaders Coaches | Past & Current | Stats | Rugby Database". www.rugbydatabase.co.nz. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ^ "When the All Blacks' head coach played club rugby in Northern Ireland". BBC News.
- ^ Knowler, Richard (17 June 2016). "'I will just continue to be myself' – New Crusaders coach Scott Robertson". Stuff. Fairfax New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "The little known international team that Scott Robertson has already coached". RugbyPass. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- ^ "Scott Robertson appointed head coach of New Zealand Under 20". AllBlacks.com. NZ Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ Campbell, Burns (6 June 2016). "Baby Blacks miss semifinals for first time in history". NZ Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Scott Robertson appointed Head Coach of BNZ Crusaders from 2017". Crusaders. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "Classy Crusaders champions again with 37–18 win over the Lions". NZ Herald. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
- ^ "WATCH | Scott 'Razor' Roberston's famous breakdancing celebration after Crusaders triumph".
- ^ "Scott Robertson to succeed Ian Foster as All Blacks coach after Rugby World Cup". Guardian. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ Royen, Robert van (31 October 2023). "Scott Robertson officially takes over from Ian Foster as All Blacks head coach". Stuff. Retrieved 31 October 2023.