{"id":8536,"date":"2026-02-24T19:50:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/sacked-all-blacks-coach-robertson-to-lead-barbarians\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T19:50:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:20:01","slug":"sacked-all-blacks-coach-robertson-to-lead-barbarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/sacked-all-blacks-coach-robertson-to-lead-barbarians\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacked All Blacks coach Robertson to lead Barbarians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/topics\/c8ep7j8w1xkt\">Mike Henson<\/a>BBC Sport rugby union news reporter<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published29 minutes ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sacked New Zealand coach Scott Robertson will return to rugby by taking charge of the Barbarians this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Robertson, whose <a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cgrd9wgpzkyo\">two-year spell with the All Blacks ended in January,<\/a> will lead the invitational side against world champions South Africa in Port Elizabeth on 20 June, before a match against Wales at Twickenham&#x27;s Allianz Stadium on 27 June.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The Barbarians brings the rugby world together, so it&#x27;s special to be a part of it and to honour the jersey,&quot; Robertson said.<\/p>\n<p>Robertson, who won seven successive Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders between 2017 and 2023, will not be short of options when he chooses to resume his career full-time.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand Rugby included a non-compete clause in his severance package which bars Robertson from taking charge of a top-tier Test rival until early 2027.<\/p>\n<p>However <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/rugby\/scott-robertson-chasing-next-coaching-job-as-reds-and-harlequins-options-loom\/premium\/HZTLBVAB3BDYFNN6AZRPOF2UPA\/\">it has been reported, <!-- -->external<\/a> Robertson would be free to join a rival international team earlier if they have fulfilled their 2026 fixtures against the All Blacks.<\/p>\n<p>Robertson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MoAR2uO2dhI\">revealed in 2022, <!-- -->external<\/a> that his ultimate coaching ambition is to win the Rugby World Cup with both New Zealand and another nation.  <\/p>\n<p>At club level, Prem side Harlequins, who are searching for a figurehead after head coach Danny Wilson departed for Wales at the start of this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/rugby-union\/2026\/01\/15\/harlequins-keen-on-former-all-blacks-coach-scott-robertson\/\">have been linked with the 51-year-old., <!-- -->external<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Robertson, who has led the Barbarians on four previous occasions, is joined by Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi in the team&#x27;s set-up for this summer&#x27;s matches.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\">Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cgrd9wgpzkyo\">\n<p>New Zealand sack &#x27;gutted&#x27; head coach Robertson<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published15 January<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c5y2k5pw8z7o\">\n<p>Robertson sacking marks another slip from the summit for All Blacks<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published15 January<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/brand\/p04q5p2n\">\n<p>Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sacked All Blacks coach Robertson to lead BarbariansImage source, SuppliedImage caption, Robertson&#x27;s first experience of the Barbarians was leading them against his native New Zealand in 2017ByMi&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}