A rigorous touring schedule offers the All Blacks learning opportunities, says Robertson

Scott Robertson believes he will find out a lot about his All Blacks team in the next six weeks given the tough schedule he has been given for his first end-of-season tour as coach.

The tour begins in Japan on October 26 before the All Blacks face northern hemisphere powers England, Ireland and France in successive weeks. The final test will take place on November 23rd against Italy.

“When you got the fixture list over a year ago, you looked at it and thought, ‘Okay, here we go, we’ll find out a bit about ourselves,'” Robertson told reporters before the team left Auckland on Thursday.

“We had time to prepare well. Touring brings some great things. You can get tight and get collective buy-in, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

Robertson recognizes that the gap between rugby in the southern and northern hemisphere has closed and believes this will lead to some interesting competition.

“If you look at the historical statistics, you know the game is balanced,” he added.

“Smaller gaps, tighter games. Defensively, teams are better, they are more aggressive, they outplay you.”

“But there are still opportunities, so we’re looking for them. And the people that go into the game thinking, ‘What’s going to happen?’, that’s the fun part of the game.”

New Zealand, who lost last year’s World Cup finalist, are currently ranked third in the world after disappointingly being beaten twice by South Africa and once at home by Argentina in the Rugby Championship.

Robertson has also been dealing with a minor injury crisis in the back row, with Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson and Dalton Papali’i all leaving the squad on Wednesday.

Unused forward Peter Lakai and lock Josh Lord were called in to cover and Robertson said number eight Hoskins Sotutu would also have been on the plane had he not suffered a knee injury that would require surgery.

Robertson said the team would be made up of fringe players for the first game against the Brave Blossoms, but suggested scrumhalf Cam Roigard would get a run as he continues his return from injury.

Robertson, a former All Blacks striker, said he expected some hostility from crowds in London, Dublin and Paris but was also looking forward to it.

“It’s all part of it, isn’t it?” he said. “I think the passion they bring, the singing, coming to the game early and having some quiet moments, it’s just a different atmosphere. We will accept it and look forward to it.”