All Black scrumhalf Cam Roigard is taking lessons from a difficult Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour to South Africa.
The prodigiously talented No.9 started in all four Tests of the tour but struggled behind a forward pack going backwards in the final three matches as they went down 3-1. Roigard lamented their lack of accuracy and discipline in their last three losses and mentioned adjusting to the pace of the game.
“The frustrating thing probably was, well, between the last three, the reasons we weren’t getting the results were probably similar; when it came down to the small margins, when we needed to be accurate, we weren’t, and things like discipline let us down in more than one game,” the 25-year-old told Sport Nation.
“Things like that sting a little bit more when you’re probably not learning or adapting as fast as you need to at that level, especially against a quality side like South Africa. It definitely still stings, and probably will for a while. But yeah, I’m sure we will learn from it all.
“I think that, especially at this level, there are different ways to play the game. We’ve got great things in place when the play is fast, when there’s fatigue in the game, how we can capitalise on that.
“But then also when the game gets tight, potentially slow, like it did in South Africa, how we can wrestle momentum back. I guess it sounds a little bit cliche, but you obviously have a plan A, but being able to swap into plan B and plan C on the fly, pretty quickly, is something that we’re trying to do and trying to get better at.”
But the battered All Blacks are back on the proverbial horse this week. They return to home soil at their dearly beloved Eden Park – where they have not lost since 1994 – to host the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday.
Roigard – who has started in every All Black test in 2026 – is relishing the chance to hand the cross-Tasman rivals their first loss under Les Kiss.
“I think the exciting thing is that we don’t have a whole summer to wait before another opportunity,” he added.
“It’s an awesome opportunity ahead of us to add to the legacy of the Bledisloe Cup and Eden Park and everything this weekend, so it’s extremely motivating, and we’ll be hoping to take a step forward in how we’ve been playing to get better.”
