Scott Robertson was a talented loose forward who for several seasons through the late 1990s and into the early 2000s was always among the country's best back row players.

But even though he managed 23 test appearances between 1998 and 2002 he never quite established for himself a permanent and unchallenged place as an international. He had size at 1.90m and more than 100kg, the speed of a player who until his secondary school days had been a centre and a good range of skills.

Robertson may have suffered, as another fine loose forward of the same Taine Randell did, by All Black selection panels never really settling on his best position and like Randell he was shunted between openside and blindside flanker and No 8. For all that Robertson had a worthy career and when he moved to take up an overseas contract at the end of the 2003 season, having been overlooked for the World Cup, he was a major loss to New Zealand rugby.

Robertson entered first class rugby with Bay of Plenty in 1995 and with his athleticism and distinctive fair hair was immediately compared with the Springbok captain of the time, Francois Pienaar. His immense promise was rewarded with 16 matches for the Bay and five appearances for the New Zealand Colts.

In 1996 the Mt Maunganui product, who was related by marriage to the Wallaby captain of the 1960s and 70s Greg Davis, transferred to Christchurch to play for the Crusaders in the Super 12.

Most of Robertson's greatest triumphs would be with the Crusaders and Canterbury and in the south he became a popular cult figure and was nicknamed, "Razor."

Robertson was in the Crusaders sides for the Super 12 triumphs of 1998-2000 and in 2002 and was in the Canterbury sides which won the NPC first division title in each of the 1997 and 2001 seasons and he had a prominent role in the Ranfurly Shield era of 2000-2003.

He played in 86 Super 12 matches for the Crusaders and in 69 matches for Canterbury. But despite this fine record he was not always sure of making the starting XV of either the Crusaders or Canterbury, such was the depth in the province. In early Super 12 seasons he and Angus Gardiner often shared the open side flank position and for the other backrow places Robertson was often competing against the likes of Todd Blackadder, Steve Surridge, Reuben Thorne and Sam Broomhall.

Robertson was soon identified as an All Black contender. After his 1995 matches for the New Zealand colts he was in the Academy XV which played Ireland A in 1997 and in 1998 he had a trial and played for New Zealand A against England, Tonga and Samoa.

He was promoted to the All Blacks towards the end of the 1998 season, but his three appearances against the Wallabies and the Springboks were only as a replacement from the bench.

In 1999 he was back in the New Zealand A side for four matches and his only All Black involvement that season was in the squad for the World Cup where his only match was from the bench for the last 22 minutes in the pool match against Italy in which he scored a try.

In 2000 Robertson was groomed to take over from Josh Kronfeld as the test openside flanker and he was preferred in that position for the tri-nations international against the Wallabies in Sydney. But after some defensive lapses he was subbed for Kronfeld early in the second spell and after six appearances that season he was discarded until the end of the 2001 season.

He played at No 8 on the end of season tour in the tests against Ireland, Scotland and Argentina and in the latter scored the most important of his four test tries with a late matchwinner against the Pumas in Buenos Aires when a defeat seemed likely.

Robertson was at mainly No 8 again for seven tests in 2002 and scored tries against Fiji and South Africa. He was omitted for the end of season tour of Wales, England and France and that proved costly. For though he played well enough during the 2003 Super 12 players like Jerry Collins and Rodney So'oialo moved ahead of him.

Represented
New Zealand Colts in 1995
Rugby Academy in 1997
New Zealand A in 1998-99

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Scott Maurice Robertson

BORN

Wednesday, 21 August 1974 in Tauranga

AGE

35

PHYSICAL

1.90m, 109kg

POSITION

Loose Forward

LAST SCHOOL

Mount Maunganui College

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

Sumner

PROVINCE

Canterbury

RUGBY NICKNAME

Razor

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 1 August 1998
v Australia at Christchurch
aged 23 years, 345 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 1 August 1998
v Australia at Christchurch
aged 23 years, 345 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 10 August 2002
v South Africa at Durban
aged 27 years, 354 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

23 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

0 (0 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

23 (0 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

20pts (4t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

0pts

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

20pts (4t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

974

The All Black Games that Robertson played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1998

 1 Aug vs Australia at Christchurch 23-27 (+) 

 15 Aug vs South Africa at Durban 23-24 (+) 

 29 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 14-19 (+) 

1999

 14 Oct vs Italy at Huddersfield 101-3 (+) 

2000

 16 Jun vs Tonga at Albany 102-0 (+) 

 24 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 69-20  

 1 Jul vs Scotland at Auckland 48-14 (+) 

 15 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 39-35 (-) 

 22 Jul vs South Africa at Christchurch 25-12 (+) 

 19 Aug vs South Africa at Johannesburg 40-46 (+) 

 11 Nov vs France at Paris 39-26  

 18 Nov vs France at Marseille 33-42  

 25 Nov vs Italy at Genova 56-19 (-) 

2001

 17 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 40-29  

 24 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 37-6  

 1 Dec vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 24-20  

2002

 15 Jun vs Ireland at Dunedin 15-6  

 22 Jun vs Ireland at Auckland 40-8  

 29 Jun vs Fiji at Wellington 68-18 (+) 

 13 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 12-6  

 20 Jul vs South Africa at Wellington 41-20  

 3 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 14-16  

 10 Aug vs South Africa at Durban 30-23  

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Italy, 14 Oct 1999

1

-

-

-

5

vs Argentina, 1 Dec 2001

1

-

-

-

5

vs Fiji, 29 Jun 2002

1

-

-

-

5

vs South Africa, 20 Jul 2002

1

-

-

-

5

Totals

4

0

0

0

20

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Australia

5

2

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

Fiji

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

France

2

1

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Ireland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Italy

2

2

-

-

1

-

-

-

5

Scotland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Africa

5

3

-

2

1

-

-

-

5

Tonga

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Totals

23

17

0

6

4

0

0

0

20