Razor’s ready to roll
It’s a good job Scott Robertson is an enthusiastic character.
It’s no secret the former All Blacks and Crusaders loose forward likes a surf, whether it be near his Sumner home or one of the many bays that fringe Banks Peninsula, but when he starts discussing what lies ahead you wonder when he will find the time.
In June Robertson accepted a three-year contract to coach the Crusaders.
Officially Robertson replaced Todd Blackadder when the Crusaders lost their Super Rugby quarterfinal to the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend. The reality, though, is he started the new job much earlier.
From the moment he was told he would be the boss of the Crusaders, Robertson was passed the playercontracting dossier and told to get to work. A number of players, who preferred not to re-commit to the club until they knew who would replace Blackadder, signed up within a few weeks.
Robertson also worked his contacts here and overseas to see who else was available, making it a priority to find a replacement for departing wing Nemani Nadolo.
This week it was revealed Robertson had netted former Wallabies wing Digby Ioane, a 31-year-old who played the last of his 35 tests in 2013 and is currently preparing for his second season with the Honda Heat club in Japan.
Robertson spoke to Robbie Deans, who works at the Panasonic club in Japan and had previously coached Ioane when he was the boss of the Wallabies, and then had several phone discussions with the player on the telephone.
Also involved in the process was Michael Hobbs, the son of the late and former All Blacks captain Jock Hobbs and also a nephew of Deans, who is Ioane’s manager.
‘‘Digby said ‘mate, I just want to score tries’. And I said ‘perfect’,’’ Robertson said. ‘‘Look, he’s in great condition, he is excited and everyone knows what he can bring. He will be a great acquisition, he will bring a lot on and off the field.’’
As part of his intelligencegathering exercise Robertson spoke to a fitness trainer who had worked with Ioane in Japan.
‘‘The trainer had had a lot to do with him and said he was in superb nick. Japan, because there are not as many games, is a great place to get the body right.’’
Although Ioane can also play centre, Robertson said he views him as a ‘‘wing who can play centre’’.
Other positions he may try to fill are at openside flanker, as backup to Matt Todd, and another outside back.
Robertson, widely known as Razor, played the last of his 23 tests against South Africa in Durban in 2002 and later left to earn his coin with clubs in France and Japan. He returned to Christchurch and in 2008 was introduced to coaching at first-class level by former Canterbury coach Rob Penney.
Now poised to begin his fourth season in charge of Canterbury, Robertson, who won NPC titles in 2013 and 2015, will have to carefully manage his workload over the next couple of months.
It has been a busy winter, and the spring will be even more frantic. In June he was in England coaching the New Zealand under20 side at the world championships, where the side was unable to replicate the success of winning the title in his first year in charge last season, and in a few weeks the NPC will begin.
To help lighten the load, Brad Mooar, who joined Blackadder as an assistant this season and will continue under Robertson next year, has been asked to do much of the preparation before the Crusaders’ pre-season.
The task of searching for more assistants will soon begin. Nothing has been decided.
A new man in charge always represents a time for change. Robertson inherits a squad stacked with All Blacks and after dithering for almost a year the club has finally appointed Angus Gardiner as the general manager of professional rugby.
‘‘The place is in pretty good condition, nothing is broken,’’ Robertson said. ‘‘There are things we can do better, things that I can bring. The guys who were here before me did a superb job.
‘‘When I interviewed I said these are the things I can do better, this is the style of play. The biggest thing is I said you have to ask the players if they want me. If they do, well, I am the right man. If they don’t, I am not – it is as simple as that.’’