New Zealand super coach Scott Robertson has revealed that he wants to win the World Cup – with or without the All Blacks.
Robertson is tipped as an obvious choice to replace Ian Foster as All Blacks coach if New Zealand fail to improve during the forthcoming Rugby Championship after losing four of their past five internationals.
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Robertson recently met up with England coach Eddie Jones during their tour of Australia, but insisted it was just a “chat” and not “anything to do with the job”.
The 47-year-old missed out to Foster when the pair applied to coach the All Blacks after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
“I want to win the World Cup, but I want to win it with two different countries. I haven’t said it publicly before, but it would transcend,” Robertson told ‘The Big Jim Show’, a podcast hosted by former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton.
“It would be great to win a World Cup with your own country, which I want to do.
“That is the foremost thing, but I would love to do it with another country … to have a different expectation, different culture. You have to adapt.”
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Robertson is an ambitious coach with an unorthodox style.
He celebrates winning titles by breakdancing, most recently in June when he led the Crusaders to a sixth straight Super Rugby title by beating the Blues in the final at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Robertson and Foster are set to go head to head in November as rival coaches of the Barbarians and All Blacks on New Zealand’s tour of Wales, Scotland and England.
“What I learned from last time, especially around the All Blacks stuff, is you have to keep your options open,” added Robertson, a former All Blacks loose forward.
“It’s one job [coaching the All Blacks] but when someone doesn’t give it to you, you have to think differently.
“What opportunities are out there? I’ll be coming into my seventh year as the Crusaders coach next year, I have loved it all, but no one lasts in a job forever. So, I am open.
“If New Zealand Rugby want me, great. I wouldn’t go to a club now. I really want to go to the Rugby World Cup, I genuinely want to go to a couple.”
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