mens
international
Old All black people halfback Cam Roigard has had two weeks to reflect on the Greatest Rivalry tour and put the lessons learned from the series defeat into practice ahead of the Bledisloe Cup, which starts this weekend at Eden Park.
Rarely is pride more on the line for the All Blacks than when they face their trans-Tasman rivals in their historic stronghold, and with new Wallabies head coach Les Keys having inspired his side to an unbeaten record through his first five games in charge, there is huge pressure on the Kiwis to right the wrongs of the Springboks series.
The good news, in Roigard’s eyes, is that the two-Test series will see the All Blacks face more like-minded opposition, with key similarities in their approach to the pace of the game and their emphasis on attack rather than set pieces.
The All Blacks are expecting a high-tempo series, which suits their growing style of play under Dave Rennie, even if the shortcomings of the grueling Greatest Rivalry tour were not limited to the set.
As Roigard told Scotty Stevenson Sports Nation this week: “The frustrating thing was probably, well, between the last three, the reasons we didn’t get the results were probably similar; when it came down to small margins, when we should have been precise, we weren’t, and things like discipline let us down in more than one game. Those things sting a bit more when you’re probably not learning or adapting at that quality level like Africa, especially against Africa.
“It definitely still hurts, and it probably will for a while. But yeah, I’m sure we’ll learn from it all. And I think it’s exciting that we don’t have a whole summer to wait before another chance. We’ve got a great opportunity to add to the legacy of the Bledisloe Cup and Eden Park and all that this weekend, so we’re going to take a hugely motivating step forward to ‘play to be better.'”
The 25-year-old’s rise through the rugby world has come during a rare period of coaching instability in the All Blacks environment, starting with Ian Foster, who made way for Scott Robertson before being replaced by Rennie.
Three attacking coaches have also been in charge during that time: Joe Schmidt, Scott Hansen and now Mike Blair, each teaching different lessons and instilling different attacking philosophies. Roigard said Rennie and Blair, 85-cap Scotland halfback, he put extra emphasis on his game from the 9 position.
“I think, especially at this level, there are different ways to play the game,” he said Hurricanes star. “We have great things when the game is fast, when the fatigue is in the game, how we can use it.
“But then also when the game gets tight, potentially slow, like it was in South Africa, how can we deal with the momentum. I guess it sounds a bit cliché, but obviously you have a plan A, but being able to quickly switch to plan B and plan C, quite quickly, is something we’re trying to do and trying to get better at.
“I guess from a front nine perspective, we’re a big part of that because we’re able to sense that and change the way we need to play the run.
“So yeah, I think Mike and Rens in particular have opened my eyes to kind of navigate that, and just make sure I’m still playing to my strengths, not getting too caught up in potentially how we want to play and getting away from things that I’m good at as well. So I feel like we have that good hope, and we can see that week, yeah, yeah.”
