All Blacks 2026
-
@booboo said in All Blacks 2026:
Considered writing for a living Bob?
Writing for money? It's in his nickname.
-
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
I assume the Highlanders will get razor in return for fucking our season?
It's Hammer time!
surely we've suffered enough!
-
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2026:
A bad culture, players thinking they are bigger than the team… only one person for the job.
IT’S HAMMER TIME!
Actually Nonu might make a useful assistant coach, what is he doing?
Still playing for Toulon.
But as player/coach I thought..ok, I just read he is training as a coach there since about Feb...with some playing because he is still a legend.
-
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
It's Hammer time!
surely we've suffered enough!
With Hammer's style of coaching I get the impression there was always more suffering around the corner..
-
@Chris said in All Blacks 2026:
One player has the reigns the other hates Hanson who has a lot of power in the group.
It sounds more personal than just a difference in tactics?
-
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
given how keen they were to get him there in the 1st place.
And I'm keener to get rid of those guys than Razor!
And I think two of them have gone (Robinson/Anthony). -
@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 Actually, adding a bit more. One person (I can’t remember who) posted on The Fern that Papalii allegedly threw a punch at Razor during the EOYT 2024. That wasn’t substantiated, and my source couldn’t confirm it. I personally highly doubt that's true.
What I can confirm is that coming into 2024, Papalii had been told he was firmly the No. 7 the All Blacks wanted, with Cane leaving. He came into camp, was asked to play a certain way, then was dropped after a handful of games and barely featured again in 2024. He was pretty frustrated with the communication, selection, and style of play. On top of that, someone along the line had apparently floated that he might be future captain material. So to go from “potential future captain” to being dropped with limited communication clearly put him offside.
It seemed the natural move, he does have concrete feet in traffic at times, but still plays very much in the way of current international 7s and was needed if we were to carry Ardie at 8 in his choose-to-get-involved-when-I-want style.
The Dalton situation was the weirdest and hurt the ABs the most given the way our loosies have been getting bitch slapped around. He was always the obvious replacement to take over 7 and captaincy from Cane, and his form has absolutely warranted it as well. I'd love him to get the captaincy this year.
-
Wow reading through all this it sounds like it is possible Scott Hanson has been fired and Scott Robertson has said 'if he goes I go' and David Kirk and co are working through possibilities of what that looks like.
I can live with Robertson getting fired but not if Jason Ryan, Ardie Savea and Beauden Barret carry on in their current positions.
I agree with a previous poster that said it was unacceptable no new players where selected on that EOYT but I would go further and say that generational athletes like H Sotutu and A Ioane where unnecessarily thrown on the scrap heap in a humiliating manner (whether or not they actually where bound for greatness) and lost to NZ rugby and maybe now to be followed by Dalton Papali'i is unacceptable. Jason Ryans head needs to roll also along with Savea who has been the crutch for supporting the destruction of our loose forward talent.
-
@Frank Thats what i would like
JJ and Cotter (presuming to hard heads would work together) are NZ contracted so $ saved
Schmitt still has some Oz commitments but is finishing
Brown is other option but comes with a price to SAOutside of them ..Pat Lam
-
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
If I were NZR, I'd still look at Rennie pretty closely.
Rennie is a good bet for turning around an underperforming team in a short period of time.
Fair, he's a win now sort of coach, I'd back him in the lead up to 2027. If eyes are post RWC then I'd prefer a Schmidt type coach, blood juniors in crucial positions and build depth.
-
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 Actually, adding a bit more. One person (I can’t remember who) posted on The Fern that Papalii allegedly threw a punch at Razor during the EOYT 2024. That wasn’t substantiated, and my source couldn’t confirm it. I personally highly doubt that's true.
What I can confirm is that coming into 2024, Papalii had been told he was firmly the No. 7 the All Blacks wanted, with Cane leaving. He came into camp, was asked to play a certain way, then was dropped after a handful of games and barely featured again in 2024. He was pretty frustrated with the communication, selection, and style of play. On top of that, someone along the line had apparently floated that he might be future captain material. So to go from “potential future captain” to being dropped with limited communication clearly put him offside.
Don't forget about the headbutt
-
@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
I can live with Robertson getting fired but not if Jason Ryan, Ardie Savea and Beauden Barret carry on in their current positions.
I agree with a previous poster that said it was unacceptable no new players where selected on that EOYT but I would go further and say that generational athletes like H Sotutu and A Ioane where unnecessarily thrown on the scrap heap in a humiliating manner (whether or not they actually where bound for greatness) and lost to NZ rugby and maybe now to be followed by Dalton Papali'i is unacceptable. Jason Ryans head needs to roll also along with Savea who has been the crutch for supporting the destruction of our loose forward talent.
Yep. You can get away with not picking the outstanding Super player of the year if your ABs are dominant without him... But if the ABs are then a bit shit, with our loose forwards regularly outplayed, that decision looks incredibly poor.
Ardie has turned into a poor man's David Pocock. Doesn't do enough other things, and with less turnover highlights (and more chip kicks).
BB seems like a nice guy who cares a lot about the ABs, but he's never really been a 1st 5, and he's old. The backline is simply far superior when he's not at 10. -
Don't mind Rennie, seems to build team spirit up nicely. Doubt it would be him though. And his Wallabies record would count against him.
-
If this happens it would be a return to a level of ruthlessness not seen in NZ rugby for a long time. If it reverberated through the whole game here that would be a good thing.
It is a harsh reality of professional team sport their is no real second or third there is only the winner and the losers. The disaster of that Wellington defeat combined with failing to achieve a GS can't be wrapped up as anything but failure last season given the expectations and record of the All Blacks.
Looking back to what happened with the benefit of hindsight it really was a huge error not to fire Ian Foster after that similarly disastrously home defeat to Ireland. What message did that send to all involved in NZ rugby? That that those kind of results where acceptable? Maybe if Robertson, Hansen and Ryan as well as the players knew that NZR was ruthless in pursuit of results and their jobs where hanging on winning that Grand Slam after what happened at Wellington things would have been different.
Mark Robinson should have fired Ian Foster along with his assistants back in 2022 and given the job to Roberston, Hansen and Ryan then. Their record and public support certainly merited at the time. They would have then had their opportunity until the 2023 RWC and this whole nasty period for the All Blacks would have been wrapped up in 4 years, one RWC cycle rather than dragging on as long as it has. The game here has become mired down in mediocrity. NZR with the benefit of time could have then reviewed their whole coaching setup for a 2024 appointment with Joe Schmidt, Vern Cotter, Dave Rennie, Jamie Joesph and Tony Brown all in the picture.
-
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
Don't mind Rennie, seems to build team spirit up nicely. Doubt it would be him though. And his Wallabies record would count against him.
Jesus you'd hope theyd look past the result and look to the cattle he had and what he was trying to achieve.....nope, you're right....they'll just look at the scores
-
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
Don't mind Rennie, seems to build team spirit up nicely. Doubt it would be him though. And his Wallabies record would count against him.
Jesus you'd hope theyd look past the result and look to the cattle he had and what he was trying to achieve.....nope, you're right....they'll just look at the scores
Looking at the results immediately afterwards might be an idea...
-
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
Don't mind Rennie, seems to build team spirit up nicely. Doubt it would be him though. And his Wallabies record would count against him.
Jesus you'd hope theyd look past the result and look to the cattle he had and what he was trying to achieve.....nope, you're right....they'll just look at the scores
For a team with shit cattle they should be looking at the Poo, he didn't make them world beaters but he made that disgusting province competitive.
Also proved with the U20s he could get the best out of the elite cattle too.
-
@reprobate re BB, I wonder if he is at that point in his career (and has been for some time) where his mind is still sharp in seeing things and knowing what he needs to do, but lacks the pace to exploit gaps or the execution (and luck that good players seem to have) when you put through these 30/70 kicks/passes.
