Razor takes cut on chin

‘‘It’s nothing personal. They chose him and I get to coach a team that I love coaching in the Crusaders.’’

Scott Robertson

Scott Robertson says he’s accepted losing out to Ian Foster for the All Blacks’ coaching job, but confessed the whole process had been ‘‘a hell of a time’.

‘‘It’s been like an election the last six months,’’ Robertson told 1 News at the New Zealand Rugby Awards in Auckland last night.

Robertson and Foster were the two final candidates to replace Steve Hansen and New Zealand Rugby announced on Wednesday that Foster was their man, with a two-year contract.

Robertson offered his congratulations to Foster. ‘‘Both of us have been through a bit of a process,’’ he told 1 News.

The interview process before a panel set up by NZR had been a learning experience.

‘‘My time, the 21⁄2 hours in front of the panel, I gave it my heart. I left it in there,’ Robertson said. ‘‘They made a decision and it went the other way,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s nothing personal. They chose him and I get to coach a team that I love coaching in the Crusaders.’’

Robertson said he had a bit of a time to reflect on the decision and had found it helpful to get back on the field with a training session with the Crusaders on Wednesday morning. ‘‘The best thing to do is get straight back into it,’’ he said.

Asked whether he would have another bid for the All Blacks head coaching role in the future, Robertson said it was a possibility.

‘‘I have a few decisions to make. I have 18 months in this (Crusaders) job and then we will see.’’ But he said the All Blacks role was one that was ‘‘dear to my heart’’.

‘‘If the time is right, why not?’’ Meanwhile TJ Perenara (All Blacks) won the fans try of the year at the awards night for his specyacular effort in scoring against Namibia at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The referee of the year was Paul Williams (Taranaki) while Canterbury’s Fletcher Newell was the age grade player of the year..