Bledisloe Cup 2025 opener shapes as a battle between two very different coaches

In New Zealand this week, the inside noise has been about Scott Robertson’s hands-off approach to coaching, preferring to develop themes and stirring emotion, while allowing assistants to take up a bulk of game-plan training.

So here we are, on the eve of the 2025 Bledisloe Cup opener, with a master tactician taking on a master motivator.

Schmidt’s obsessive mind is a major part of the reason the Wallabies have turned themselves around since the disaster of the 2023 World Cup.

Players say they have absolute clarity in their roles, and are learning more about their positional play than ever before.

Following the All Blacks’ record 43-10 loss to the Springboks, Robertson has come under enormous pressure, amid whispers that senior players have been confused by messaging.

But you don’t win seven successive Super Rugby titles, as Robertson did, without having an uncanny ability to get your point across.

This is Australia’s chance to break a 39-year losing curse at Eden Park, and New Zealand’s chance to extend their grip on the Bledisloe trophy for a 23rd successive year.

“When someone wants to take something away from you that you care (about) and protect and are proud of, you’ve got to make sure you respect it with your preparation,” Robertson said.

“And that’s the cumulative effect and how come we’ve got the record we’ve had, and same goes again this week.”

But there is a real fear among Kiwis heading into this fixture.

The All Blacks have never been so comprehensively beaten as they were a fortnight ago in Wellington, leading former greats to conclude they “gave up” and lacked spine.

And there’s the knowledge that the man plotting against them now, Schmidt, has done it to them before.

Schmidt was in charge of Ireland when they won their first ever game against the All Blacks in 2016 following 101 years of failure.

And when the All Blacks brought him into their set-up to help an under-fire Ian Foster in 2022, he was credited as a major reason for why they went on to make the World Cup final the following year.

In fact, NZ Rugby was keen on Schmidt to remain in the set-up after they’d announced Robertson as Foster’s successor in March 2023.

But Schmidt was loyal to Foster, and as he wrote in Foster’s recently released book, felt Robertson put undue pressure on the process, which has added another fascinating backdrop to an already tantalising match.

But Schmidt won’t be distracted by the personal narratives surrounding this showdown.

“Personally as a coach, I’m sick of watching us getting behind and having to fight our way back,” he said.

“But also, I’m incredibly admirable of the manner in which they do that.

“I think against the All Blacks you can’t afford to give them that head start because they can just keep getting further away from you, particularly if we start over-chasing the game and start overplaying and the game becomes too loose.

“We like to play an open, fast game and so do the All Blacks so I’m hoping that it’s a great advertisement for the game and it’s a competitive game, but we need to start well for that to be the case.”

That’s why he’s named 35-year-old James O’Connor in the No.10 jersey.

It will be O’Connor’s job to unleash the brilliance of 21-year-old backline stars Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Max Jorgensen, neither who had been born the last time the Wallabies held the Bledisloe.

And 25-year-old lock Nick Frost wasn’t alive the last time Australia beat the All Blacks at Eden Park.

“You’ve definitely got to respect it, first and foremost, they’ve done unbelievably well at this ground for a number of years,” Frost said.

“You’ve definitely got to respect it but also it’s something you look forward to as well, as a player and as a team.”

In their embarrassing rout at the hands of the Boks, the All Blacks were missing veteran hooker Codie Taylor, and it showed as their set-piece crumbled in the second half.

Taylor is back this week, and listened intently to various former All Blacks who visited the group this week.

“We treat this as the second most important trophy to us as a World Cup,” Taylor said.

“We often touch on the times when we didn’t have it. There’s been past players come in and talk about that, how hard it is to win.

“I’m sure Australia are sitting there looking at this as an opportunity, rightly so for them. For us, we’ve got the utmost respect for that trophy. We want to take it back.”

Robertson got the better of Schmidt last year, when the Kiwis narrowly won 31-28 in Sydney, before a dominant 33-13 victory in Wellington.

Australia’s last win over the All Blacks came in 2020, with the Kiwis winning the ensuing nine games.

“You reflect on history,” Robertson said.

“That’s what shapes you now, and the stories and what you’ve learnt from the past and the most important thing that we’ve heard, past All Blacks have talked to us around is it’s this year, that’s the most important one, and this game.

“What’s been happening before is, every big Test match, every Bledisloe had its own little narrative and they’ve all added up, so what’s our part in how we play in the story?”