Scott Robertson and the All Blacks are bigger than New Zealand Rugby (NZR). And yet the national coach copped a public backhander from his boss, NZR chief executive Mark Robinson, over the weekend on the topic of player eligibility.

Our governing body’s position on the subject is a nonsense and always has been.

You cannot prohibit All Blacks coaches from picking players from offshore, while routinely shipping blokes out on sabbatical.

It’s one or the other, rather than the halfway house NZR has occupied for a decade or more.

Sabbaticals aren’t for the common or garden All Blacks. No, it’s only the best who get the perk of a paid holiday in Japan and elsewhere, completely undermining the integrity and quality of Super Rugby in the process.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

I have to laugh when I hear NZR, or its apologists, say picking All Blacks from overseas would be the death knell for our domestic footy when they’ve been studiously killing it off for years.

I hope Jordie Barrett’s enjoying Ireland, but his absence from the Hurricanes is being more keenly felt by the day.

Robertson, meanwhile, has made it pretty plain he would like NZR to come to an accommodation whereby Richie Mo’unga – who’s on a long-term deal in Japan – be available to play for the All Blacks.

Any coach worth their salt should say the same, and most fans too. After all, you only had to watch Damian McKenzie playing at fly-half last year to appreciate Mo’unga’s worth.

Now Robinson, who’s battling to retain sponsors and therefore pay for all the players NZR insists remain contracted here, has basically called Robertson a halfwit.

In a radio interview, Robinson extolled the virtues of NZR’s blurred eligibility criteria, which he claims has “served the game incredibly well for a long period of time.’’

I’m sure being paid around $1 million a year, with sabbatical clauses in your contract, has served a select few players pretty well, but I’m not sure it’s done much for a game.

Robertson might believe leaving Mo’unga to languish in Japan isn’t doing much for the All Blacks either but, it appears, he’s been told different.

“I think Razor would probably be the first to admit that he might have been able to be a little bit clearer with the way he spoke about it last year,” Robinson said.

“He’s also in a space where, being one year into the role, he understands all the tools and flexibility we do have around that policy with the way sabbaticals work, and other terms we have in that policy.

“We are very aligned. Razor himself – the whole organisation is very clear that the policy is in place for very good reasons.”

I think Robertson’s been exceptionally clear: he wants Mo’unga and he wants NZR to get him.

Robinson’s comments are a strong rebuke of the coach and potentially injurious to the All Blacks as well, at a time when NZR needs that team to be as successful and marketable as possible.

Long term sponsors have left the All Blacks’ stable and now one of the newer ones – Ineos – is seeking to break the terms of its contract with NZR.

At the end of the day, it is the All Blacks that pay the wages of the good folk at NZR and fund the rest of the rugby pyramid. If that team is faltering on the park, or ceases to generate enough commercial revenue off it, then no part of the game is being well served.

Fans aren’t dim. They read headlines, such as one from Monday, suggesting NZR could be about to fall in a $60 million hole and they surmise that the governing body’s stewardship isn’t that stellar.

Then they see the chief executive tell the coach to sit down and shut up, all because he wants the All Blacks to be better than they were in 2024.

Rightly or wrongly, rugby in New Zealand is the All Blacks. None of the sacrifices made at every other level of the game make sense if that team doesn’t win.

The health of the game is predicated upon the All Blacks being the world’s preeminent team. NZR can boast about all the policy alignment they like, but no fan’s ever going to cheer about that.

It’s a big call to tell Robertson to get back in his box. It’s a big call to insist that sabbaticals don’t gnaw away at the fabric of the game, but that picking Richie Mo’unga would. It’s a big call to be taking Ineos to court, rather than potentially renegotiating that lucrative six-year deal.

Players and coaches can afford to sometimes get things wrong, because of the depth of the public’s affection. NZR doesn’t enjoy that luxury.