The Beta Blacks: Alpha days are gone for New Zealand and their aura with it

A lack of experience has lessened the impact of the All Blacks as many key players are ineligible for selection after moving to Japan

Thursday afternoon, and the All Blacks are out on the training ground around the back of the Lensbury hotel on the banks of the Thames, it’s a warm autumn day, and the mood is pretty free and easy, Will Jordan is practising catching high balls, Beauden Barrett is taking shots at goal, the forwards are packing up after running some drills, head coach, Scott Robertson, is chatting happily with the media before his press conference. Someone asks if his team are looking to make a statement against England on Saturday, the sort that reminds everyone exactly how good they are.

“A statement performance?” Robertson says, perplexed. “We’re just looking for a result.” Time was when every All Blacks performance was a statement performance, and their head coaches didn’t go looking for results against England, or anyone else, they expected them. The remark hung in the air for a moment. It’s only Robertson’s manner. For 20 years the All Blacks press conferences have felt like being called in for an audience with the family patriarch in the back room of a wedding, Robertson’s are more like a catch-up chat with the uncle you are pleased to bump into at the buffet.