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Sport Nation
WATCH: Field of Dreams finalists'There's confusion among the players': Laurie Mains weighs in on cause of All Blacks' struggles
Stephen Foote • November 18th, 2025 12:17 pm
Scott Robertson & Scott Barrett | Photo: Photosport
Former national head coach Laurie Mains has identified what he perceives to be the fundamental reason for the All Blacks struggles in 2025.
New Zealand were comprehensively outplayed by the English at Twickenham on Sunday, restocking the fires of doubt amid the fanbase already skeptical about the team's approach under Scott Robertson.
Mains - head coach of the All Blacks from 1992 to 1995 - believes there's a disconnect between the players resulting in a lack of on-field cohesion, questioning whether the raft of coaches overseeing the squad may be the root cause of that issue.
"I get the impression that there's some confusion in the players about their game plan and they're not sure what other players are going to do," Mains told Sport Nation's Millsy & Guy.
"I'm wondering if they've got so many coaches around the team that they're all saying their own thing to some of these players and they're hearing two or three different things."
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As was the case the previous week against Scotland, the All Blacks managed to secure a significant early lead, before letting the contest slip through the third quarter.
While they were able to hold on against the Scots, that wasn't the case against England, who made the New Zealanders pay for their lack of accuracy.
The All Blacks' ability to adjust at halftime and adapt to what they're seeing in front of them has been sorely missing, Mains notes.
"We had a really good first half then came out and thought we could just carry on playing the same, and that didn't work because they just worked out at half time how to stop us.
"We should have had our 'plan B' then and we certainly should have just tightened the game up for a while, got some control, and then started to expand a bit."
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The weekend's result has cranked up the blowtorch on Robertson, whose tenure has been mired with a multitude of lacklustre results.
Sympathetic to his plight, Main's was forthcoming with his advice for the embattled head coach.
"I'm not sure what role Scott Robertson is taking at the moment, but I wish he would start coaching the All Blacks the way he coached the Crusaders, because he was absolutely outstanding with them and not seeing it.
"If I were his mentor right now, I'd say, 'righto Razor, you work out in your own mind why you were so successful with the Crusaders, what role did you take, and get out there with the All Blacks and do the same thing you did with the Crusaders.
"At the end of the day, international rugby's just not a very big step above what Super Rugby is and the players are the same players. I'm sure they want the same leadership as as they had at at Super level."
Listen to the full interview below:
