Record defeat more unwanted history for All Blacks coach Scott Robertson
Sunday, 14 September 2025
The All Blacks are reeling after losing 43-10 to the Springboks, their heaviest-ever defeat.
The Springboks scored 36 unanswered points after trailing 10-7 at halftime.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said once they got on a roll, the Springboks were hard to stop.
Scott Robertson is searching for answers after overseeing the heaviest defeat in All Blacks history.
The All Blacks were unable to back up their victory at Eden Park last weekend, blown off the park in the second half by a rampant Springboks team to lose 43-10 at Sky Stadium on Saturday.
It was a humiliating result, surpassing the 35-7 defeat against the Springboks in the lead-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup as the All Blacks’ biggest-ever.
Robertson has now overseen two historic defeats in the space of three weeks, after losing to the Pumas for the first time in Argentina in round two of the Rugby Championship.
The Springboks dominated every aspect of game on Saturday, from the scrum to the aerial battle, to avenge their last weekend’s defeat in the sweetest way.
They scored five tries, poured on 36 points and kept the All Blacks scoreless in a one-sided second half.
The All Blacks missed a staggering 46 tackles across the 80 minutes and their scrum and lineout were badly exposed, leading to two Springboks tries at crucial stages early in the second half.
Robertson acknowledged the Springboks’ superiority with high balls but he was at a loss to explain how quickly the game unravelled in the second half.
The All Blacks led 10-7 at halftime.
“Not right at the moment. It’s something we’ll have a look at and we’ll have to find out quickly, especially with a big Bledisloe [Cup test] coming up,” he said.
“We couldn’t buy anything, could we? They just went on a tear and congratulations to them.
“There were some great efforts by us and a great performance by them but we’ll have to look at it in a bit more detail. Something like that is going to hurt you.”
Robertson felt there were no signs leading up to the test that suggested this score was coming, especially after beating the same opposition 24-17 seven days earlier.
“If it was the preparation stuff I think we would have seen the signs a little bit earlier but once they got rolling [they were hard to stop],” he conceded.
No. 8 Wallace Sititi said the All Blacks felt “really good” going into halftime, despite the limited time spent in the opposition 22.
Debutant Leroy Carter scored the opening try of the game in the 18th minute, strolling over after a sweeping move from right to left.
It was a dream start to his test career but it quickly became a nightmare as the Springboks’ seized on mistake after mistake to inflict such a heavy defeat.
“We didn’t have much of the ball but when we did we capitalised on our moments and we looked very dangerous,” Sititi reflected on the first half.
“We spoke about starting well but obviously that didn’t happen.”
The bonus-point win saw the Springboks reclaim the Freedom Cup.
The All Blacks will have two weeks to stew on the result before returning to their Eden Park fortress to play the Wallabies in the first of two Bledisloe Cup tests to round out the Rugby Championship.
After losing to the Pumas in Argentina and suffering their heaviest-ever defeat, they will be desperate to avoid a first loss against the Wallabies on New Zealand soil since 2001 and a first at Eden Park in 52 tests.
“It’s tough,” fullback Damian McKenzie said after Saturday’s defeat. “The boys are hurting, that’s for sure.
“We’ve got a week off now and then a couple of tough tests against an Aussie side that are going really well.
“When you take losses, you want to get straight back into it but I’m sure the boys will have a good reflection of tonight and we’ve just got to get back on the horse.”