All Blacks 2026
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@DurryMexted That's the thing. There are people saying 'international experience is crucial'. But do they mean:
Coaching an overseas club, or a national team? Does that team have to be successful?
If a national team, does it have to be tier 1? If a club team, which comps count?
Does it have to be as a head coach, or is being an assistant in those environments enough?
What about playing in those environments, does that count? -
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@DurryMexted That's the thing. There are people saying 'international experience is crucial'. But do they mean:
Coaching an overseas club, or a national team? Does that team have to be successful?
If a national team, does it have to be tier 1? If a club team, which comps count?
Does it have to be as a head coach, or is being an assistant in those environments enough?
What about playing in those environments, does that count?Yeah i see what you mean. Be interesting to know how these coaches themselves actually upskill themselves. No doubt theres endless research into high performance coaching and environments.
Thinking of it from that perspective, you would probably look at places like the french clubs as having the most resource and advanced systems. You wouldnt be looking at say the fijian coaching crew and think, these guys are clued up in the modern coaching practices, despite recent success. Point taken
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@DurryMexted I mean if you put the 'business' spin on it, this guys been running your provincial arm for many years, making good profits, do you make him go work for a competitor overseas to gain further experience before being considered for the top job?
I dont think it is essential, and his CV at the time meant he demanded serious consideration but based on what we have heard since, what did he sell NZR on his vision, 1st year, 2nd and 4 year plan (last one included winning the RWC one assumes)
Where a real world model vs the NZR model part ways, is he gets to bring a team with him, in the business world, these other roles would in most cases be filled already.
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@Tim said in All Blacks 2026:
If nothing else, the optics of having an outgoing chief executive who is a former Crusaders teammate of Robertson’s, an interim chief executive, Steve Lancaster, who is also a former Crusaders teammate and who was best man at the All Blacks coach’s wedding and Anthony as head of high-performance, don’t look great.
They are not helped by the fact that the three remaining national assistants – Scott Hansen, Jason Ryan and Tamati Ellison are all also ex-Crusaders.That's not optics, that's a takeover.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
@DurryMexted I mean if you put the 'business' spin on it, this guys been running your provincial arm for many years, making good profits, do you make him go work for a competitor overseas to gain further experience before being considered for the top job?
I dont think it is essential, and his CV at the time meant he demanded serious consideration but based on what we have heard since, what did he sell NZR on his vision, 1st year, 2nd and 4 year plan (last one included winning the RWC one assumes)
Where a real world model vs the NZR model part ways, is he gets to bring a team with him, in the business world, these other roles would in most cases be filled already.
IT's more about demonstrating success in various environments. Show that it's his magic that makes a difference, not the frameworks around him. Canterbury and then the Crusaders is a well established structure with clear culture. Does success transfer? Show it! Penney won the comp after a bad year; how much was him and how much was the framework?
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
On many other points, I think he makes good points - falling interest from the public etc, but his solution (a Giteau rule to free up more money) was rightly questioned by Devlin - taking more stars out of the NZ game isn't going to get punters to the games.
This does my head in. The amount of people who want a Giteau rule while at the same time bemoaning crowd numbers and somehow expecting that we can have both a Giteau rule and increase crowd numbers.
Also, is there really falling interest from the public? Viewership has been increasing in the last couple of years, we had bumper test viewership and the highest Super final viewership in over a decade this year. To keep up their doom and gloom scenario the stupid media had to write articles pretending there wasn't less games in Super this year so they could highlight a slight drop in total viewership.
We just don't, as a nation, seem to want to go to live matches anymore. I wonder if that is just price point? The Warriors reinvigorated themselves with cheap tickets, maybe rugby needs to bite the bullet and do the same?
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Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
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@Nepia There are several factors stopping people going as frequently as they used to. The price, as you say - and not just the tickets. Better quality streaming and TVs. A bit of over-saturation of rugby. More competition from other entertainment. Lower-quality competitions, with no All Blacks in the NPC, etc.
This one might just be me, but Super Rugby seems to have lost its appeal a bit with all the changes to teams and competition structure, South African teams leaving, Australian teams underperforming.
I also think atmosphere decline feeds on itself. Smaller crowds create a vicious cycle: empty seats reduce atmosphere, poor atmosphere discourages new or casual fans and once a ground feels quiet, people assume it’s not worth going.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
We'd become the equivalent of Brazillian football. Up and coming stars leaving early, with NPC level players becoming super rugby regulars mixed with washed up former ABs who can't get a decent contract overseas.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
Being in Sydney, my live attendances comes down to whether the Chiefs/Blues/Highlanders get a game in Sydney. Maybe the Canes if my mates want to go to it but then I'm left cheering for the reffing team.
SFS is a good stadium to watch games in, same with Commbank, but the combo of prices for AB tickets and especially the dog that is Homebush stadium has seen me choose not to go to test matches which would have been unthinkable in the past.
I always try to get to a match in NZ when I'm on trips home, especially the Magpies.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
We'd become the equivalent of Brazillian football. Up and coming stars leaving early, with NPC level players becoming super rugby regulars mixed with washed up former ABs who can't get a decent contract overseas.
I was going to cite the exact same idea, but we'd be Brazil without the local population, so even worse as our domestic comp would likely struggle to even stay afloat.
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
Being in Sydney, my live attendances comes down to whether the Chiefs/Blues/Highlanders get a game in Sydney. Maybe the Canes if my mates want to go to it but then I'm left cheering for the reffing team.
SFS is a good stadium to watch games in, same with Commbank, but the combo of prices for AB tickets and especially the dog that is Homebush stadium has seen me choose not to go to test matches which would have been unthinkable in the past.
I always try to get to a match in NZ when I'm on trips home, especially the Magpies.
I should add that I don't think the issue is the quality of the product.
Super rugby this year was great, and the teams were all pretty fun to watch - and the Landers will likely be the team to really watch moving forward.
So, the issue is likely a combination of cost, population, transport etc etc. You can avoid all that by getting F&C and enjoying at home.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
Being in Sydney, my live attendances comes down to whether the Chiefs/Blues/Highlanders get a game in Sydney. Maybe the Canes if my mates want to go to it but then I'm left cheering for the reffing team.
SFS is a good stadium to watch games in, same with Commbank, but the combo of prices for AB tickets and especially the dog that is Homebush stadium has seen me choose not to go to test matches which would have been unthinkable in the past.
I always try to get to a match in NZ when I'm on trips home, especially the Magpies.
I should add that I don't think the issue is the quality of the product.
Super rugby this year was great, and the teams were all pretty fun to watch - and the Landers will likely be the team to really watch moving forward.
So, the issue is likely a combination of cost, population, transport etc etc. You can avoid all that by getting F&C and enjoying at home.
I agree, anyone who was death riding rugby (at Super and NPC level) this year just wasn't watching.
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
Going to rugby has always been thus mate. In fact it used to be you couldn't buy a beer there anyway. But I genuinely think if people don't go to rugby because of shitty beer, they were never going for rugby anyway. Probably same for food, my only concern would be price for people in family groups, but the same in any sport or where there temporary food stalls. I (and mrs) usually have something to eat before a game, and same with having a beer etc.Geez and I drive always an hour for NPC games, never under 2 hrs for a super game and about 3.5 hours for tests.
It's ok to say I don't want to get off couch, got a brother in law who says exactly that, why go out when I can watch it from couch.
I go to games because I love the game, think it deserves my support, and above all else can actually see more. -
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Agreed, I reckon a Giteau rule is the start of the end of NZ's domestic game being anything more than a development league for other comps. It's worth noting that would help Lam btw, but also his rationale was on this aspect was faulty all the way through, so I'd recommend listening to the interview in full.
Edit:
On live games, I'm not going given how much it costs - no only in terms of money, but also the 1 hour drive there and back again, plus traffic, and the shitty food, and shitty beer. I'm surprised people actually go.
Going to rugby has always been thus mate. In fact it used to be you couldn't buy a beer there anyway. But I genuinely think if people don't go to rugby because of shitty beer, they were never going for rugby anyway. Probably same for food, my only concern would be price for people in family groups, but the same in any sport or where there temporary food stalls. I (and mrs) usually have something to eat before a game, and same with having a beer etc.Geez and I drive always an hour for NPC games, never under 2 hrs for a super game and about 3.5 hours for tests.
It's ok to say I don't want to get off couch, got a brother in law who says exactly that, why go out when I can watch it from couch.
I go to games because I love the game, think it deserves my support, and above all else can actually see more.Just because something is a bit shit doesn't mean it has to be.
Just because the rugby is the main attraction, there's no harm in the ancillary stuff being good.
If you make it easy and affordable and a good experience, people will go and more importantly will come back, and they'll also bring friends who maybe aren't as into the footy. If people come away with a mild sense of regret at how much it cost and disappointment re quality vs price of what they got, or hold off on buying drinks and food... they don't come back and we get empty grounds. -
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
I agree, anyone who was death riding rugby (at Super and NPC level) this year just wasn't watching.
I was really impressed by what I saw of NPC this year, seemed better to my ignorant eyes than the hoopla of Super. Messier, maybe, but far less diluted, and more exciting!
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
I agree, anyone who was death riding rugby (at Super and NPC level) this year just wasn't watching.
I was really impressed by what I saw of NPC this year, seemed better to my ignorant eyes than the hoopla of Super. Messier, maybe, but far less diluted, and more exciting!
Yeah I'm on board too, the actual footy has been great fun.
