Two former All Blacks clash on success of 2024 campaign

In the last week of the All Blacks end-of-year Northern Tour, after three wins and one close defeat to France, the Sky Sports Breakdown panel debated whether it was a successful year for the All Blacks.

Scott Robertson started his tenure as All Blacks coach with two wins against Steve Borthwick’s England in July. The two home victories were followed by a convincing 47-5 win over Fiji in San Diego before the start of the Rugby Championship in August.

The All Blacks then slumped to a disappointing defeat at the hands of Argentina in Wellington, handing Robertson his first loss as All Blacks head coach. The losses didn’t end there in 2024, going on to lose both Test matches against the World champion Springboks in South Africa and the tight 30-29 Test match last weekend against France in Paris.

With one game to go against Italy this weekend in Turin at Allianz Stadium, the All Blacks have a current 2024 record of nine wins and four losses which gives them a winning percentage of 69.23%. 

Former All Black and current Sky commentator Mils Muliaina thinks the All Blacks are on an upward trajectory.

“I still feel that the All Blacks side is almost there, you think about the young talent we've been able to expose, even up front, Tamaiti Williams getting an opportunity to get going,” said Muliaina on Sky Sport.

“I mean you're building depth within the bench. It's little things once they click and I think they are when you're asked a question, they win one more time and it's a great season for me.” 

Former All Black Jeff Wilson disagrees with Muliaina’s claim and says the season can’t be a “great” season losing four games as an All Blacks team.

“No, no, it’s not a great season, it’s not a great season, no I have to stop you there,” said Wilson.

Wilson, a 60 Test former All Black believes the three teams the All Blacks have lost to in 2024 are some of the best in the world. 

“It is now on the back of that result (All Blacks v France), the best it could be is a good season, we've lost to Argentina, we've lost to France, South Africa twice, and they are the big guns. To me there is only five top teams in the world right now in terms of form and the way they've played in the last few years.” 

“Clearly South Africa, clearly you've gotta put Ireland in that conversation as well as France, and I'll put Argentina in there who were semi-finalists at a Rugby World Cup last year, and their ability to beat us this year, they beat Australia and they beat South Africa, so I look at those five teams they're the ones that I care about.” 

When asked about why it’s not a great season for the All Blacks, Wilson says four losses are too many for Scott Robertson's side.

“We lost to Argentina, we lost to South Africa twice, and we lost to France. So ultimately for me I think it’s only a good season now, it can't be any better than that cause we are going to beat Italy and we should we have to finish well but for me when you lose four Test matches in a single season for the All Blacks, it’s a tough year." 

Sky Sports Breakdown host Kirstie Stanaway asked the panel whether the All Blacks have improved as a team since the Robertson era began.

“I think it’s almost reflective of the 2004 team, we didn't have a great tri-nations, we've had to build some guys around that and look where we got too, 2011, 2015 you've gotta start somewhere and look we've come considering the loss against Argentina, we've come a heck of a long way”, said Muliaina.

Steven Bates, the current Auckland NPC assistant coach highlights that the All Blacks must build on the start made this year. 

“I think the proof will be in the pudding, the key thing is you can handle four losses, as long as there’s genuine learning from that, how do we know that this team learns, that next year we don’t lose those four by one point like today, we get over the top and finish a couple of the opportunities and that’s where the real learnings will be. If you can do that going forward you know that this year has been the building blocks to something," said Bates.