Justin Marshall pinpoints why Scott Robertson’s All Blacks are ‘not on a par’ with Springboks, Ireland and France

 Justin Marshall insists that the All Blacks’ final quarter woes means that they cannot be put alongside the best teams in the world currently.

Although Scott Robertson’s men do not appear to be far away from the likes of the Springboks, they ultimately failed to be on the right side of the scoreline in South Africa.

As a result, New Zealand have failed to climb the World Rugby rankings and are currently behind the Boks and Ireland in the standings.

In fact, another defeat, this time against the Wallabies in Wellington – where the All Blacks have a poor recent record – would likely see them drop below France and into fourth.

New Zealand used to be the masters of finishing strongly but, conversely, Robertson’s side have faltered in the final 20 minutes of their first four Rugby Championship encounters.

That theme continued against the Wallabies as they scored just three points in the second half, escaping with a 31-28 triumph.

Marshall was not exactly impressed by Australia either and believes that the two countries have work to do if they are to catch up to the best.

“With both teams, I thought there were a lot of inaccuracies in that last 20 minutes and that’s probably why both teams aren’t on a par with South Africa, Ireland and, to a degree, France,” he told The Platform.

“They seem to be much more proficient at that time of the game to make sure all of the good work that they’ve done is not undone in the last 10 or 15 minutes.”

Marshall has blamed the players, rather than the coaches, for the All Blacks’ final quarter issues, but the 51-year-old is ultimately struggling to explain the exact reason for their problems late on in matches.

“We just seem to be buttoning off for some reason, I can’t quite put my finger on why and I don’t think he (Robertson) can either,” he said.

“It’s the players’ responsibility, they know exactly where the game is at. There’s enough experience there for players that have been in those situations before, whether they’re chasing the game, whether they’re trying to basically get the game finished from a good performance or whether they’re making the right decisions in that last quarter. All of those dynamics come into it.

“They certainly need to make sure that they are making good decisions, that they are doing things that are right for the team and equally not allowing the opposition back into the game when they are trying to secure a Test match. You just get the feeling now that that’s what they’re doing.”

‘Nearly worse than the All Blacks’

Marshall did not absolve the Wallabies from criticism either and insisted that head coach Joe Schmidt would have been frustrated by his team’s performance.