The Star: July 11, 2024

Thursday July 11 2024 The Star 23
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
SPORT 23
Will pressure change Razor’s approach?
Bevan Sisson
Rugby matters
DURING MY time coaching at
the Crusaders international high
performance unit based out of
Rugby Park, I would come across
Scott Robertson at different times
and couldn’t help but notice
he had a singular drive and
predetermined plan to get himself
to the top.
That day finally arrived at
Dunedin over the weekend.
Since taking over, he has been
busy finalising his coaching and
management group, getting his
playing roster sorted, choosing
a captain and looking at how he
wants his team to play.
But none of that is the same as
finally walking onto the field and
soaking up the crowd before his
first official game.
Robertson ensured he would
have the best opportunity to start
with a win when he chose an
experienced line-up against an
England team picked with the
future in mind.
Georgian referee Nika
Amashukeli also had a hand,
with captain Scott Barrett even
mentioning he thought they got
the 50/50 calls.
That’s an understatement at
best and Robertson would have
breathed a sigh of relief when
the final penalty was blown for
WINNING START: New All Blacks coach Scott Robertson’s outgoing personality means he’s
a favourite with media, but will this continue if losses start to mount? PHOTO: GETTY
a turnover by Tupou Vaa’i that
should have gone England’s way.
When the final whistle blew,
the win ensured Robertson’s
honeymoon period is extended,
and the media love affair will
continue for a few more weeks.
What will be of interest down
the track is how his ongoing
relationship with the mainstream
media continues.
If he is consistently successful,
they will continue to treat him
as if he is William Webb Ellis
reincarnated.
Even if the next England game
doesn’t go the All Blacks’ way,
the commentary will be “it’s a
new coaching group” and “they
have only had the team for two
weeks”, which are relevant points,
but a diluted argument given the
experience on the field.
There has been no other All
Blacks coach who has the media
eating out of their hands like
Robertson.
With his outgoing personality
and openness to talk, he is easy for
them to promote.
The question is, will that
continue over the next four
years? If, and when, he comes
under pressure, will he be able to
sustain his easy attitude against
an overseas media that will not be
part of his fan club?
With adversity and pressure,
people will change. Will he be able
to face direct questions about his
style, selections and game plan?
Robertson has had the safety
of being a big fish in a very
small pond, with his coaching
success coming in a Super Rugby
competition that was greatly
weakened with the withdrawal of
the South African teams.
He has now left the safety of
the Australasian media pack and
is swimming in an international
ocean that has a different set of
expectations.
The next few weeks will tell us
little as the experienced players he
has picked will rinse and repeat an
already entrenched game plan.
The real test will be in
September when they travel
to South Africa, then look to
HAVE YOUR SAY
Share your opinion on
Sisson’s views. Email
barry@starmedia.kiwi
Keep responses to 200
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lock the Bledisloe Cup away
again for another year against
an Australian side that has a
limited talent pool but will be well
organised under Joe Schmidt.
Finishing the year with a
Northern Hemisphere tour which
includes England, Ireland France
and Italy, the Italians aside, the
true test will be playing the big
three at home.
I personally hope he is the most
successful coach ever, because
that means the All Blacks are
successful and I want them to
win every game they play. Even
though most countries only judge
success on the World Cup, we
expect a high success rate every
time the All Blacks play.
What growth the All Blacks
have over the next four years will
be the true test of this coaching
group, and how they prove
themselves on the world stage.
So for all the media cheerleaders
out there, let’s hold off on the
bronze statue of Robertson
outside the new Christchurch
stadium for a few years yet.
• Sisson is a former player,
Lincoln, Lincoln University
and representative coach
and New Zealand age
group selector
Teen looking forward to
international experience
• By Neville Idour
ANOTHER young Canterbury
golfer is taking his talents to the
world stage.
Alfie Bell, a Russley club
junior, will be competing against
players up to 18-years-old in two
international events in the USA.
It comes as Clearwater club
man Cooper Moore is preparing
to play in the Junior Open
Championship in Scotland next
week.
Bell, 17, leaves on Saturday
for the Future Champions Golf
tournament in Palm Springs
beginning on Monday. He
qualified for the tournament at
an event in Christchurch.
The FCG venues are the highlyrated
Desert Willow and Desert
Falls courses which both stretch
for about 6500 metres.
Both courses are a mixture of
parkland and links-style with
numerous sand areas and will
be a test for the 100 players from
about 40 countries in Bell’s 15-
18 age division. Across all age
groups, there will be more than
700 players competing.
The tournament is a World
Amateur Golf Ranking event and
attracts many university coaches
from across the USA looking to
offer scholarships to the most
talented players.
The following week, Bell will
play in another premier junior
championship, the World Stars of
Junior Golf tournament at Angel
Park, Las Vegas.
The Stars tournament is similar
to the FCG event but on a smaller
scale with about 300 players
from more than 50 countries
competing in various age groups.
Importantly, it is also a World
Amateur Golf Ranking event.
Fresh from winning the recent
Canterbury four ball best ball
championship with partner
Mitch Redmayne (Bottle Lake),
Bell is champing at the bit to
get on the course in his first
international competition.
YOUNG STAR:
Alfie Bell is
heading to
the USA for
two Junior
World golf
tournaments.
“It will be a great experience. I
have played in America with my
dad, so the experience in the heat
will be useful,’’ Bell said.
“I am looking forward to
playing in the sunshine. It will be
good to see how I compare with
overseas players and what I need
to work on to improve my game.”
When he returns from the
USA, Bell has lofty goals for his
golfing future.
“I’m hoping to play well for my
club and represent Canterbury if
selected,” he said.
“In a couple of years I’m hoping
I can get to university in the USA
and play college golf there at the
highest level possible and then see
what happens. It would be great
to be a professional at some stage
and have a career in golf.”
Positive results
for Avon rowers
• By Sam Coughlan
AVON ROWING Club’s
teams have performed well at
the prestigious Henley Royal
Regatta on the River Thames in
Oxfordshire.
The men’s and women’s eights
both made the third round of
their competitions, just one race
short of the semi-finals.
Both crews ended their
regatta on Friday, with the
men, competing in the Thames
Challenge Cup, finishing 3/4 of a
length behind Leander Club.
The women finished their
race 2/3 of a length behind
Thames Rowing Club ‘B’ in the
Wargrave Challenge Cup.
Avon manager Logan Keys
said he was happy with the
teams’ performance.
“We wanted to go and make
sure it was worthwhile. We
knew we’d be competitive, we
just didn’t know to what level.
“It would have still been nice
to go a little bit further, but both
crews ended up in the quarterfinals.”
Keys said he hoped the club
would be able to enter teams
for the regatta more regularly
– the only previous time Avon
TEAM EFFORT: From left,
Ashlee Tacon (cox), Fred
Vavasour, Sam Woodgate,
Fergus Johnston, Josh
Syme, Ted Mayne, Henry
Kirk, Oscar Clatworthy and
Sam Wilson compete in
the Thames Challenge Cup.
PHOTO: BEN RODFORD
PHOTOGRAPHY
competed at Henley was in 2017
when a men’s eight was knocked
out in the first round.
“It’d be easy to say, ‘let’s do
it every second year or every
fourth year’ or whatever, but
in my mind, it’s probably more
about having it on the table all
the time.
“We can use that as a bit of a
driver to keep people coming
out of school. If there’s a group
of athletes that are keen and fast,
then I guess we’ll go whenever
the right people are there.”