How the All Blacks have become the new Wallabies
The All Blacks lost to Argentina on Saturday. The length and depth of New Zealand rugby's decline depends on the decisions made in the next year or so.
The All Blacks performance on Saturday screamed decline. Read this story in te reo Māori and English here.
The current state of New Zealand rugby is similar to that of Australia. There is a lack of alignment between the governing body and the test team, a stagnant professional competition won by only one team and unhealthy pooling of resources between top two teams. The All Blacks are fifth in the world rankings and Australia is sixth. It is difficult to change the situation through personnel changes. Scott Robertson is aware of the bigger picture. Joe Schmidt's body language in Saturday's game reflected many of these issues. He looked stressed and helpless. New Zealander rugby under the current settings is not all it's cracked up to be.
