@His-Bobness said in All Blacks 2026:
Did the board find fault with his report? Anthony worked with Robertson at the Crusaders.
Sounds like a conflict of interest to me.
Knowing David Kirk, he’s not one to linger in ripping off the plaster if it needs to be done.
Good medical reference!
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
@junior I tend to agree. While I can see a scenario where Reiko, Dalts, ALB and a few other players who haven’t got a look in under Razor kick up a stink, I think Savea’s name being thrown around as the ringleader is telling - and it shifts this from ‘I’m upset at not getting picked’, to ‘he’s lost the room’.
I can’t imagine a scenario where he does that alone, or without at least a few other senior players who are also getting game time support him. In fact Beaudy may be running trainings because Razor has lost the room, and Beaudy is trying to put the team first.
I haven't seen anything to suggest that Savea is the ringleader of anything other than @xman's speculative post about a split between the Crusaders (plus BB and JB) and the rest of the team lead by Ardie. The only other thing in the thread about Savea is @george33's post that Savea won't play again for this coaching group - no mention of any other players being involved in that all.
I am no fan of Savea, and I want him gone (at least from the staring XV), but to suggest that he's forcing NZR and his teammates into a "me or Razor" situation is just wild speculation based on nothing at this stage.
@junior I tend to agree. While I can see a scenario where Reiko, Dalts, ALB and a few other players who haven’t got a look in under Razor kick up a stink, I think Savea’s name being thrown around as the ringleader is telling - and it shifts this from ‘I’m upset at not getting picked’, to ‘he’s lost the room’.
I can’t imagine a scenario where he does that alone, or without at least a few other senior players who are also getting game time support him. In fact Beaudy may be running trainings because Razor has lost the room, and Beaudy is trying to put the team first.
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@xman said in All Blacks 2026:
If all 3 Barrett brothers, Taylor, Jordan, McKenzie backs Robertson but Savea wants him sacked, what does NZR do? Savea would be the odd man out of that senior group. I doubt if less experienced players are dissatisfied that would sway NZR to sack Robertson. Savea alone won’t do it. It will have to be few of the senior players to turn on Robertson. Taylor, Jordan, Scott Barrett are all Crusaders so you would think they remain loyal to him. I’m skeptical the other 2 Barretts would go against their brother. Rieko and ALB are the other senior players but their position in the team is vulnerable.
You control the senior players, your job is safe. That’s how Foster stayed when his job was on the line. I suspect that’s one of the reasons why Robertson chose Scott Barrett as captain and his brother Jordie as vice captain because he couldn’t trust Savea as he was loyal to Foster. If shit hits the fan like now, Savea wouldn’t have the same loyalty. It’s the same in every office environment or politics.
If Savea’s coup fails, then that would be the end of his All Blacks career. No way Robertson would tolerate him. I doubt even the other senior players will trust him. Once the trust is gone, it’s impossible to repair.
The thing about Savea is, is that he is extremely popular with the public. It would be a PR disaster if he was ousted out of all of this.
And it's clearly not one player causing all the problems and we'd all be hunky-dory if he left.
Yeah, it's strange how this whole saga has now morphed into Savea vs the Barrett brothers over Razor's retention. Other than Scott, why is the assumption automatically that the Barrett's are all aligned? Because Beaudy run's training? Maybe he decided to take some initiative at training because he thought that Hansen is an idiot - and maybe Razor thought that was great because Beaudie has heaps of mana and experience and he wants to empower the team. None of that would mean that Beaudie thinks Razor and / or Hansen are not problems.
Anthony was covered in the CEO thread.
Your observations are spot on IMO.
Anthony did the review; and then the guys (kirk/tricker/mealamu) that reviewed the review were probably not impressed.
That seems to have started a lot of gossiping that has ended up at the fern.
I'd say everything is on the table atm, up in the air so to speak, but doubt that anything has been finally decided.
Probably looking at the options.
The second head has rolled tho, Anthony, left . . . real quick.
Robinson has gone; Anthony has gone; but there is still one other head I want, and it aint Razor.
The business with Razor will be sorted, if not now, it will be in the middle of this season (in Japieland), one way or another.
@His-Bobness I agree. The results are what they are. The lack of progress and the seemingly toxic nature of Razor's tenure are the most concerning aspects. The guy and his team appear to be out of their depth when it comes to building a cohesive winning team with honesty, accountability, and unity. I'm increasingly convinced that nothing short of a full excision will suffice if we want to get back on the right track
Did anyone see the news about Mike Anthony, the head of high performance, quitting to go to a performance role in the English Premier League?
This thickens the plot even further as it was Anthony who had been tasked with carrying out the review of Robertson’s 2025 AB campaign.
Did the board find fault with his report? Anthony worked with Robertson at the Crusaders. Perhaps Kirk and the board rejected his review as a whitewash?
I think Razor and his crew are gone. Yes, the AB performances were underwhelming. But the real reason to clear out the coaches are the multiplying signs of real dysfunction in the coaching and management and selection set-up.
That dysfunction began almost as soon as Razor was appointed when Leon MacDonald walked out. Then you had Jason Holland getting out of his contract earlier with little explanation.
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see this is not a happy camp and that the problems are unlikely to get better without radical action.
Knowing David Kirk, he’s not one to linger in ripping off the plaster if it needs to be done. They could muddle through for another year under some stitched-up compromise, but does anyone seriously believe this will get any better?
The disastrous Mark Robinson era is over at the NZR. Razor’s appointment was symptomatic of that era, in which PR spin, image management and careerist politicking took precedence over substance and results.
The only real argument I can see against doing the deed now is that a new CEO has yet to be appointed. (Honestly, the management of NZ Rugby is a shambles.)
For now, though, a hard-headed, cool-eyed assessment of the past two years of drift and endless experimentation would suggest Razor will be packing his bags next week.
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris said in All Blacks 2026:
@xman said in All Blacks 2026:
If Robertson is sacked, the pressure on the next coach will be enormous to get better results. If the next coach loses the South Africa tour, loses the Bledisloe, loses the Eden Park streak, then what does NZR do? Don’t just assume Jamie Joseph will be the saviour of the All Blacks. Coaching Japan where you’re not expected to win, versus coaching the All Blacks where you’re expected to win every game is different level of pressure.
It will bring massive pressure in a very tough year ahead for a new coach.
Then again, if he's takes over a complete shit-show and we start to see signs of improvement, we'll all be happier.
I am of the opinion the RWC is basically gone for us. We need to rebuild our entire team from the ground up. Only then will we have a chance to be great again
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris technically I suppose depending on how you define senior. Any of Lomax, Tungafasi and Tuipolotu are technically senior all blacks though all three have spent more time out of camp due to injury than out of it.
I suppose if any of Groota (Who I could see being pissed off if there’s inconsistency in punishments), Vaii, Clarke or Big Samisoni are kicking up a fuss than you’d think that would carry some weight too given they’ve all been around five seasons or more.
You’d have to think ALB & Reiko are both with Savea on this one too. Doubt Christie is speaking highly of his treatment too. That could be your four players. Maybe throw in Papalii & possibly Groota into the mix as having legitimate concerns and the deck starts looking uncomfortable for Razor. Though by no means impossible.
The real tipping point is if you get a few more players willing to join them. It would only take a few more voices of dissension to make it untenable for Razor or Hansen.
Which has the chance to split the team into 2 factions which is a big shit feast a new coach is never going to sort out as the damage is done ,
Which NZR are very aware of.
Any ABs not in the leadership group also have no guarantee of selection with a new coach which they will be aware of
So a major problem for everyone no matter which way certain people go.
@xman said in All Blacks 2026:
If all 3 Barrett brothers, Taylor, Jordan, McKenzie backs Robertson but Savea wants him sacked, what does NZR do? Savea would be the odd man out of that senior group. I doubt if less experienced players are dissatisfied that would sway NZR to sack Robertson. Savea alone won’t do it. It will have to be few of the senior players to turn on Robertson. Taylor, Jordan, Scott Barrett are all Crusaders so you would think they remain loyal to him. I’m skeptical the other 2 Barretts would go against their brother. Rieko and ALB are the other senior players but their position in the team is vulnerable.
You control the senior players, your job is safe. That’s how Foster stayed when his job was on the line. I suspect that’s one of the reasons why Robertson chose Scott Barrett as captain and his brother Jordie as vice captain because he couldn’t trust Savea as he was loyal to Foster. If shit hits the fan like now, Savea wouldn’t have the same loyalty. It’s the same in every office environment or politics.
If Savea’s coup fails, then that would be the end of his All Blacks career. No way Robertson would tolerate him. I doubt even the other senior players will trust him. Once the trust is gone, it’s impossible to repair.
Fascinating post in that this is the first time in a very long time that we have an AB coach who has actually coached the players involved at the domestic level.
People can bag Foster all they want, and I'll join in, but he wasn't picking people from the Chiefs who he had coached. The last person involved like that was probably Shag but that only probably applied to McCaw, if that, and was years removed. Before that, Ted and Smith will have had such players.
If part of Razor's plan is to transplant success from the Crusaders across to the ABs, you may end up with Crusader players who may be happy with that and the others not happy with that. If the leadership group is filled with Crusaders, and they are the only ones really supporting the team, while fringe players are moaning, NZRU would be in a very tough spot.
