All Blacks 2026
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TBH, I don't believe this conspiracy theory, if Richie Razor Jnr Mo'unga was in NZ all this time he would have been starting.
No coach is going to stay in a job where they're being dictated by marketing over team selection. Surely Razor is not that much of a yes man ....
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@Nepia you might be right...but there are also only so many top tier coaching jobs out there and generally people want to keep their job
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia you might be right...but there are also only so many top tier coaching jobs out there and generally people want to keep their job
I think Razor could have found alternative employment pretty easily if he didn't want to be a yes man.
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
TBH, I don't believe this conspiracy theory, if Richie Razor Jnr Mo'unga was in NZ all this time he would have been starting.
We'll never know how it would have played out over the last couple of years, but we will get an indication next year. I suspect BB would have still featured heavily if RM was around. I reckon DMac would have been the one missing out.
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It’s quite easy to see how marketability would influence a player’s contract. That definitely happens around the world in various sports and competitions. When it comes to actual team selection, however, marketability should become almost a non-factor - winning becomes everything at some point.
Once a player is in the team or under contract, it does become easier to select them though. As mentioned earlier, if they’re being paid a lot, that investment needs to be justified in certain people's eyes and if it comes down to a close call with no other player clearly better (and I’m not suggesting that with Barrett and Savea), it’s easy to see how the player on the bigger contract, or who is seen as more marketable, can get the nod.
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@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
TBH, I don't believe this conspiracy theory, if Richie Razor Jnr Mo'unga was in NZ all this time he would have been starting.
We'll never know how it would have played out over the last couple of years, but we will get an indication next year. I suspect BB would have still featured heavily if RM was around. I reckon DMac would have been the one missing out.
Well we know RM would have been the number 1 (why pretend otherwise), and I agree with you that DMac would have missed out.
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@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
TBH, I don't believe this conspiracy theory, if Richie Razor Jnr Mo'unga was in NZ all this time he would have been starting.
We'll never know how it would have played out over the last couple of years, but we will get an indication next year. I suspect BB would have still featured heavily if RM was around. I reckon DMac would have been the one missing out.
RM isn;t some unknow quantity...he's got 50 caps...we've seen what he can do....i imagine it would have been very similar to what we saw before bb and RM rotating in and out with the add DMac because none of them quiiiieeett did enough to truly own the jersey...whenever they would have played the other one would have been the solution to their mistakes
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@Crazy-Horse said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
TBH, I don't believe this conspiracy theory, if Richie Razor Jnr Mo'unga was in NZ all this time he would have been starting.
We'll never know how it would have played out over the last couple of years, but we will get an indication next year. I suspect BB would have still featured heavily if RM was around. I reckon DMac would have been the one missing out.
Well we know RM would have been the number 1 (why pretend otherwise), and I agree with you that DMac would have missed out.
Shit yes, RM would have been number one, no arguement from me. We may well have seen BB at 15 and Jordan on the wing...
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia you might be right...but there are also only so many top tier coaching jobs out there and generally people want to keep their job
I think Razor could have found alternative employment pretty easily if he didn't want to be a yes man.
Training people on PowerPoint ?
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Been pretty slack posting over the Christmas break but here’s what I’ve been told that I can post.
Beauden Barrett is heavily trusted by Razor and co to the point he is effectively running the trainings. Dmac has a say but by all accounts BB is the guy who has final say.
Yes your 10’s usually run your team runs etc, but from what I’m told BB is doing more than just that. Makes you wonder what the roles of these current coaches actually are.
There was also a high profile All Black that was out after the England game until 5am which broke curfew, he didn’t get dropped or punished which is a bit of a double standard as EDG was kept out of a couple games for the same thing on last years EOYT.
By all accounts, and I’m pointing out the obvious here, it’s pretty toxic in camp.
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2026:
There was also a high profile All Black that was out after the England game until 5am which broke curfew, he didn’t get dropped or punished which is a bit of a double standard as EDG was kept out of a couple games for the same thing on last years EOYT.
I looked over Jordan and what did I see, coming home at 5am....
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2026:
Been pretty slack posting over the Christmas break but here’s what I’ve been told that I can post.
Beauden Barrett is heavily trusted by Razor and co to the point he is effectively running the trainings. Dmac has a say but by all accounts BB is the guy who has final say.
Yes your 10’s usually run your team runs etc, but from what I’m told BB is doing more than just that. Makes you wonder what the roles of these current coaches actually are.
There was also a high profile All Black that was out after the England game until 5am which broke curfew, he didn’t get dropped or punished which is a bit of a double standard as EDG was kept out of a couple games for the same thing on last years EOYT.
By all accounts, and I’m pointing out the obvious here, it’s pretty toxic in camp.
Am loving the rumours and speculation... let me rephrase that. I'm
pleased...glad... um OK that news is starting to filter out. Assuming these stories are correct. But seems there's enough smoke to assume some sort of fire.How does the current sentiment compare to the Fozzie years?
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2026:
How does the current sentiment compare to the Fozzie years?
Pre speculation on my part, but players very loyal to Foster would need some careful management by the new coaching team and if that wasn't done properly, then there'd be problems .(I think @Tim posted a few months ago that the players were open-minded about Robertson at the start but things deteriorated last year.)
If the rumours of infighting, toxic camps and Robertson having lost the players are half-true, then Kirk and NZR need to take some serious action before it really gets out of hand/players go public
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@george33 said in All Blacks 2026:
So review is done for ABs and decision is on hold if Razor and coaches carry on apparently there is a get together with players and coaches next week and nothing confirmed yet if it goes ahead.
You mean he may be fired????
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
Surely Razor is not that much of a yes man ....
I don't know at the moment, is he as employable elsewhere as he was when he started his AB coaching job?
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Is there a chance that Razor and his team goes before the RWC if we have a poor year?
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And also, without turning this into a Hoskins Sotutu argument, to those who may hear things, did his non-selection cause any friction in the camp? I'm sure he'd have a fair few close mates in the side?
Again, not trying to start up an argument that's been done to death, but I'm wondering if some of the players were annoyed by it?
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Is there a chance that Razor and his team goes before the RWC if we have a poor year?
Could be a step too far/or too big a risk IMHO, and not all of the problems are down to the Head Coach - though I can see Robertson being kept on a shorter leash as it were.
Hopefully the review has identified the key problems and the next step should be to find and fix the root causes. There'll be risks in fixing those - team disruption, PR, Contract/Financial issues - and managing those risks will be key. Any changes will need to address the current issues while forming a plan to fix the wider, deeper issues in NZ rugby. (Sorry if I've slipped into ex-Business Improvement Consultant mode...). I'd imagine Kirk and co. will be very aware of this.
Personally, I'd prefer Robertson to stay but be managed more tightly with someone like Joseph or Schmidt on board to step in if it becomes really clear the axe needs to fall.
