‘I’ll talk to Scott’: Scott Robertson reflects on Barrett’s late-game call

New Zealand coach Scott Robertson plans on talking with Scott Barrett about the decision to kick for the posts late in the loss to France on Sunday morning (NZST). With a packed house at Stade de France cheering on Les Bleus, the Al Blacks went down swinging 30-29.

Replacement Damian McKenzie had already converted three shots at goal before lining up another attempt in the 74^th minute. The All Blacks trailed by just four points at that stage, with McKenzie stepping towards the ball that was placed about 40 metres out from the try line.

The playmaker sent the ball through the middle of the posts, leaving the All Blacks within a drop goal or a penalty attempt away from snatching what would’ve been a famous win. But the visitors didn’t get that chance as they were instead left parked well inside their own half.

In hindsight, the All Blacks’ decision to go for the shot at goal with six minutes left to play may be viewed as a controversial decision or an opportunity missed. ‘Razor’ Robertson was asked about that moment after full time, but the head coach didn’t give too much away.

“I’ll talk to Scott (Barrett) a little bit more about it,” Robertson said on the post-game broadcast.

“It was his call.”

It had been 30 years since the All Blacks last lost a third consecutive Test match to France, but from that team’s point of view, unwanted history was made in the Autumn Nations Series. New Zealand had lost at the same venue in 2021 and again at last year’s Rugby World Cup.

But both of those matches were fairly one sided by the time the full time whistle sounded. New Zealand were well and truly in the fight for the duration of this 80 minute war at Stade de France, which started quite spectacularly inside the first 30 minutes of play.

Flanker Peter Lakai slid over for his first try in an All Blacks jersey, and individual brilliance from Cam Roigard saw the All Blacks take a 14-3 lead after 27 minutes. While Les Bleus hit back, the visitors would still take a hard-earned seven-point led into the sheds at the break.

It was a tense Test all the way through, but it became France’s for the taking after they went on a 17-3 run early in the second term. They blitzed the All Blacks with tries to Paul Boudehent and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, and the passionate Parisian crowd loved every moment.

“Awesome first half, we just needed to hit a couple more rucks or a couple more passes to probably put them a couple of scores out in front,” Robertson reflected.

“Then, at the start of the first half, they got that ‘14 pointer’. Will Jordan catches that but they go in the corner and score off not even a missed tackle, and those are the ones – and then the crowd come alive.

“We knew they were going to have a couple of moments and they took them, and Ramos kept them ahead.

“… I’m pleased but Test footy comes down to, as we know, all this year just a little bit of a moment. We pride ourselves on how much work we’d had, game management, game understanding, our discipline to win those.

“We played a lot of footy but you’ve got to execute and win those key moments and we just didn’t do enough tonight.”

The All Blacks’ valiant performance against the French follows their wins over Northern Hemisphere heavyweights England and Ireland. Last week’s win at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium saw New Zealand knock Ireland off top spot on World Rugby’s world rankings.

With one more match to play on their Northern Tour, the All Blacks will be eager to end their international campaign on a high against Italy at Juventus FC’s Allianz Stadium. This will be the first matchup between the sides since last year’s 96-17 annihilation at the Rugby World Cup.

“Really proud of all our efforts and stuff,” he added.

“The game swings… that’s footy, you’ve just got to be better than that.”