All Blacks coach Scott Robertson says New Zealand’s record 43-10 defeat to the Springboks in Wellington “stung” deeply.

But he insists his team must trust their system and bounce back at Eden Park this weekend.

The crushing defeat was the heaviest in All Blacks history and left Robertson with six losses in his first 21 Tests in charge – a 71% win rate for a man once famed as a serial winner with Canterbury, the Crusaders and New Zealand U20.

Reflecting on the Wellington humiliation, Robertson admitted the first place he looked for answers was himself.

“Personally, you always reflect first on yourself. What could I do? And then the coaching group, the management group, and then the players group.”

“My job is to lead this team, so I probably think more about them than myself. There’s a lot of shareholders in our country that we serve, they definitely let us know what they think and so they should. Our job is to serve our people, and it’s always been our focus and now we can do it again on Saturday.”

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Robertson said his biggest lesson was around trust.

“A couple of things around trusting your system, your group, and how you do that, how you bring the best out … keep trusting your instincts on that. That was a big one that’s front of mind.”

The coach maintained that New Zealand’s problems were not structural but came down to execution.

“Coming out and executing what’s required at that moment is the biggest thing. We continue to practice during the week, and we’ve got another shot this weekend.”

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The All Blacks will bank on their 31-year, 51-match unbeaten run at Eden Park when they face the Wallabies on Saturday. But Robertson knows nothing less than a reaction will be accepted after what he called the toughest week of his coaching career.

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