All Blacks 2026
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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. -
Didn't Kirk say they'd be doing the appointment properly? Meaning there will need to be applications along with other work behind the scenes for applicants to assemble a team, honestly cant see that JJ has been appointed and TB decided to bail on SA, all in a few days.
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@Godder said in All Blacks 2026:
@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.Kirk no doubt would've spoken with Razor to see what his plan to address the feedback was. Only once it was obvious he had no suitable plan, or was entirely oblivious, would he have contemplated the best course of action was to make Razor realise his ongoing employment was beyond tenuous.
Standard governance. I think @Nepia mentioned this previously.
I'm not going to pretend I care about Razor's feelings in this either. It might make me a fluffybunny in the eyes of some, but to me personal ambition counts for naught when it comes to the success of the All Blacks.
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@Chuck72 said in All Blacks 2026:
@frugby what is his body of working with that makes him the best choice?
I belive Rennie has a better CV than JJRennie’s stint with Australia was fairly underwhelming. I think people remember it to be better than it was because Eddie Jones was even worse.
Not a lot in it, but I think wha Joseph did with Japan tips it.
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@Steven-Harris said in All Blacks 2026:
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 sittingYep.
I'm hoping the termination has an impact across the entire NZR organization, not just the senior XV.
Seems that as an institution they got "comfortable."
Kirk guna give the whole place a shake up. No one is to be "safe." -
@Godder said in All Blacks 2026:
@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.@antipodean said in All Blacks 2026:
@Godder said in All Blacks 2026:
@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.Kirk no doubt would've spoken with Razor to see what his plan to address the feedback was. Only once it was obvious he had no suitable plan, or was entirely oblivious, would he have contemplated the best course of action was to make Razor realise his ongoing employment was beyond tenuous.
Standard governance. I think @Nepia mentioned this previously.
I'm not going to pretend I care about Razor's feelings in this either. It might make me a fluffybunny in the eyes of some, but to me personal ambition counts for naught when it comes to the success of the All Blacks.
Early rumours on here were that Hansen was gone, not Razor. Pure speculation but any chance he was told Hansen has to go, he said no, and the final response was then you have to ... ?
