All Blacks 2026
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@MN5 said in All Blacks 2026:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2026:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2026:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@booboo Yeah during the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour in the week after the Brian O'Driscoll "I could have died" incident, Brendan Gallagher, an Irish journalist at the Daily Telegraph, made a quip about Kevin Mealamu being poached from the South Sea island of Tokoroa.
To this day, I am still not sure if he was being ignorant or ironic. But it was good trolling, I guess.
I thought it was the Walrus ?
Fuck the Walrus in any case.
Urban legend. Wasn't Jones. I think @sparky is correct.
Sweet.
But still, fuck the Walrus anyway.
It was from an article in 2003 about the RWC where the Walrus was listing NZ players of PI descent and their islands.
Not an urban legend, I had a copy because my mates in London cut it out and sent it to me.
Incidentally as Gallagher has been brought up, in my very brief period with a twitter account I had a fight with him as he was whining about PI players who didn't make the NZ U20s one year (when they didn't select younger players) then playing for a PI team but switching back to NZ. He just wouldn't admit that they were NZers.
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Unbelievable Absolutely unprecedented in the history of NZ Rugby in terms of massive story
Only other things I can think were just as big in and around NZ RugbyAll Blacks 2007 exit from the RWC and it’s fair to say that coach could count his blessings the board listened to him (luckily it turned well 4 years later )
Rugby going professional and the direction that it could have gone back in 1995-96 and the controversy surrounding players secretly signing
Once again thanks to an initial group of players staying loyal and signing with NZ Rugby and the work of the late Jake HobbsKeith Murdoch being sent home from the 72-73 UK tour
The lack of support from the NZ management team and NZRFU was a disgraceYou could add in Buck Shelford’s dropping as captain ,The Wylie & Hart coaching duo debacle
and how could we not forget McCaw and Rutherford stuffing up the RWC hosting rightsI had heard some murmuring after New Year via a media contact that some big news was coming
Feel for Razor it’s never a good thing when any coach is fired even more so when it’s as high profile a job as this one is.
Possibly caught between the different ceilings from super level to International and dealing with players across Motu as opposed to predominantly crusaders region based players.
Met Razor a couple of times i found him a pretty decent type , Hope the guy bounces back mentally and is able to move on
Came onboard at a very tricky transitional period and given the expectation of the black jersey the pressure is another level compared to superWhomever comes in has a massive job in front of them because player power has determined the fate of 2 coaches in 2022 and 2026
Jamie Joseph may just be the old school coach that’s required ,who knows?Mark Robinson seems to have escaped any inquisition for me he has a lot to answer for
the one positive that has come out of this unfortunate process is the chairman David Kirk , next step is to find a CEO that’s singing from the same song sheet and has the best interests of NZ Rugby because current group are massive part of the bi product of where we are sitting -
Here’s a list of Kiwi coaches currently coaching in Europe:
International:
Andrew Goodman (Ireland / Backs)
Simon Mannix (Portugal / Head Coach)URC:
Clayton McMillan (Munster / Head Coach)
Filo Tiatia (Dragons / Head Coach)
Dale Macleod (Dragons / Defence)
Tyler Bleyendaal (Leinster / Attack)
Jared Payne (Scarlets / Defence)PREM:
Pat Lam (Bristol / Director of Rugby)
Nick Evans (Harlequins / Attack)Top 14:
Rudi Wulf (Toulon / Outside Backs)
Jerome Kaino (Toulouse / Skills)
Steven Setephano (Castres / Forwards)
Karena Wihongi (Castres / Scrum)
Joe Rokocoko (Racing 92 / Skills)
Benson Stanley (Montpellier / “Rucks and Contact Attitudes Coach”)May have missed a few... A lot of the Top 14 assistant jobs feel like jobs for former players.
Fuck knows what Benson Stanley is doing.
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
That seems to suggest the review did not result in the Ardie standoff that the media painted
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
Good, should get them used to the idea that some of them ought to be fucken next.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2026:
@MN5 said in All Blacks 2026:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@booboo Yeah during the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour in the week after the Brian O'Driscoll "I could have died" incident, Brendan Gallagher, an Irish journalist at the Daily Telegraph, made a quip about Kevin Mealamu being poached from the South Sea island of Tokoroa.
To this day, I am still not sure if he was being ignorant or ironic. But it was good trolling, I guess.
I thought it was the Walrus ?
Fuck the Walrus in any case.
Urban legend. Wasn't Jones. I think @sparky is correct.
"The UK rugby media also questioned the authenticity of All Black teams containing Polynesian players. During the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour, the notorious Stephen Jones asserted that “the All Blacks continue to steal the best talent from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga” and “are now an amalgam of four nations.” This, he declared, amounted to the “rape of the Pacific.”
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
Aaaah, good old plausible deniability.
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
I'm getting the impression not only did the board think they were problems but they became convinced Razor didn't have the team or motivation to fix the problems.
If Razor defended his communication and or that of his coaches that simple act of tenacity or loyalty could have sealed the deal. All speculation, of course. -
@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
I just recalled - the first ab test this year is in Christchurch and so is the super round.
Players are probably going to be hedging over the next few months.
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I think the idea that Joseph is nothing without Brown is incredibly stupid.
His body of work and personality still makes him the number one pick for the job - his reviews for the NZ XV were very good.
The only other one is Dave Rennie, but you could argue he has almost been away too long - you might get the reverse problem.
My money is on Joe Schmidt helping with the attack through to the World Cup before going properly upstairs as a Director of Rugby, if Brown is not available - Kenny Lynn is also well like by Joseph so don’t rule that out.
I also saw a suggestion that David Kidwell should be discounted because he is tied to the Highlanders - he has zero ties to this group of players have joined five minutes ago. If that is who Jamie wants he should be allowed to have him - though I suspect he may take Jane and Mackintosh.
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
That's the thing, was Razor willing to work with that support given to him if offered? I may be wrong, but I get the feel that Razor only wants to work with people that he feels comfortable working with. I'm not convinced that things were gonna get better and Razor wouldn't have taken well to being offered outside help. He may be a great guy away from it all, but he also gives my way or the highway vibes too.
Are the players shocked because someone actually took action?
I agree with @Steven-Harris regarding Mark Robinson. He's done his best to drive NZ Rugby into the ground.
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
Scott Barrett is 32, I think he's had an injury. If the coaches played him at not 100% I wonder if he should be to blame. Not my first choice as captain but we actually don't have fantastic lock depth.
I think he is awesome as a player - athletic for a lock but not huge, physical in the tackle, carries with intent, hits rucks. Some criticise the yellow cards but they come because of his intent to make a difference. Not a dirty player. Pairing with Patty (if he can stay on field) or Holland gives you a reasonable combo.
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@Wurzel said in All Blacks 2026:
Am hearing the players are shocked Razor lost his job.
They gave the feedback in the review in hope and belief that NZR would fix the communication issues or put support in place for Razor.
They’re gobsmacked Kirk actually pulled the trigger.
Awkward but understandable given nobody else in the professional era has been moved on mid-term like that, so I could see them honestly venting their issues on the assumption not that much would happen.
Also entirely possible that Kirk's original plan wasn't to
axemutually terminate the contract, and that actually came out of discussions with Robertson where it became obvious that him continuing as coach was untenable.
