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Laurie Mains: All Blacks must return to trademark brand of rugby
Stephen Foote • August 26th, 2025 10:26 am
All Blacks after their defeat to the Pumas | Photo: Photosport
The All Blacks' recent struggles are down to a fundamental change in their approach to the game, according to former NZ coach Laurie Mains.
Last weekend's historic defeat to Argentina in Buenos Aires has seen panic stations manned across the nation, with concerns the team may have hit a fatal kind of slippery slope.
A plethora of causes for concern have been highlighted in an ugly aftermath, with the prospect of the world champion Springboks claiming another slice of history at Eden Park in a fortnight's time looming as the ultimate salt in fresh wounds.
According to Mains, any improvement starts at the highest level, believing the All Blacks need to revert to what was once a trademark of men in black - playing with pace, width, and innovation, which he believes has been all too absent from their play under new coach Scott Robertson.
"The All Blacks have got to uptempo their game, not try to play the power game," Mains told Sport Nation's Millsy & Guy.
"The great All Black teams of recent years and the very good All Blacks teams of recent years have played a fast game and get the ball moving."
Photo: Photosport
Head coach of the All Blacks from 1992 to 1995, Mains - who earned 15 Test caps himself as a fullback in the early 1970s - was one of the masterminds behind the team's shift to expansive running rugby at the 1995 World Cup, capitalising on the generational talent of the legendary Jonah Lomu.
As Mains explains, the All Blacks tendency to shift just one play off the ruck is both too predictable and hampering their ability to unleash their backs with momentum, that the team needs to focus on rapid recycling in second-phase play with width.
Only one of the All Blacks' three tries were scored by a back (and from broken play, to boot), as they adhered to a conservative kick-based gameplan which saw the struggle to construct lengthy periods of possession and pressure.
"Speeding up that second phase is critical and that all starts in your tactics. You can't just say you're going to bash into a ruck and clear the ball quickly.
"You've got to have, not one ball carrier, not one cleaner, you've got to have two cleaners there and get that ball away quickly and on again before the opposition defence gets time to be up on the advantage line. It's all how you clean out and how the first ball carrier presents the ball.
Questions surround All Blacks leadership after Argentina loss | Millsy & Guy
"But that's got to be sped up because this nonsense that's going on now it's not good for the game and it's taking away the All Black ability to play a high-tempo game.
"What I'd like to see is creating these rucks a lot wider away from the previous set-play or ruck, so the opposition have got to work hard to get there. This one-off bashing is just too easy to stop."
A key to sparking that brand of rugby, Mains adds, starts with the setpiece, particularly the lineout - an area he highlighted as one of the glaring weaknesses in their miserable outing against the Pumas.
But up against a Springboks side negotiating its own series of issues, Mains is confident the All Blacks have the capability to bounce back and avoid being written into another undesirable chapter in NZ rugby history lore.
That blueprint was written by the Australians' staggering comeback win at Ellis Park, he adds.
"Australia showed us how to upset South Africa," Mains explains.
"They're not as good a team as I think South Africa, I don't think they're as good as they were at the last World Cup. I can see vulnerabilities in that team that I'm sure the All Blacks will work to expose.
"But again, it comes down to what you do up front. You've got to have good line-out, you've got to have good scrums - clean ball that you can do something with."
Listen to the full interview below:
