All Blacks 2026
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@W32 said in All Blacks 2026:
Apologies if this has been asked, but if the ABs were rated #1 in the world instead of #2, does the fern think he still would have been canned? Has this happened because a NZ coach (TB) is assisting Nzeds biggest rival and Kirk et al are thinking this is a genius move? Word is that it wasn't a player revolt so one has to think it’s because the ABs are not number one.
Or is this shake up because NZ rugby as a whole is in a shambles and Razor has effectively been the scapegoat?I think that Kirk has come out in the press and moved the emphasis away from the players feedback in an attempt to take some of the heat off them and minimise the narrative of a 'player revolt' - which is smart because it does not end well if this whole saga gets blamed on senior players - especially if they start getting hit with point blank questions when interviews start flowing this season.
But i think deep down that must have been a large part of it
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@Yeetyaah said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
he won back to back titles straight away
Not to mention he took over a horrible Chiefs team who placed 10th the 2 years previous.
And he had an almost 70% percentage over 6 seasons.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@hikastags Evolution rather than revolution is what we need.
I've always been really impressed with Steve Hansen's skills as a selector and in man management so I'd love to see him with something like the selector/mentor role that Brian Lochore had early in the Graham Henry era, although he's no longer a Head Coach.
Steve Hansen was voted by his peers World Rugby Coach of the Year four times.
We have guys with knowledge of leading successful World Cup campaigns, we'd be stupid not to tap into that a bit.
sorry to go back a couple of days
I feel the opposite, we had evolution with Henry > Hansen > Foster and i thought there was pretty universal acceptance it was time for change with Razor...but got more evolution (same players trying variations of the same gameplan)
I would say from the last year or two of hansens time onwards it was flat or downhill....and i think thats because the rest of the world has had 15 years or more to work out how to break down our "evolving" gameplan...we need some surprises....to get the other nations back on their toes not sure what we're going to do next
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@Kiwiwomble I thought what we got with Robertson was a very impatient, helter skelter style with the players looking for miracle plays too often and not playing appropriately to their field position. Our exits were appalling.
I want a game plan that relies on our traditional strengths more and allows players time to think.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kiwiwomble I thought what we got with Robertson was a very impatient, helter skelter style with the players looking for miracle plays too often and not playing appropriately to their field position. Our exits were appalling.
isnt that the game plan the hansen started? the attack from anywhere, kick pass in our own 22 and open them up when they werent expecting it? the big difference is he did it with he class of 2015 so it had grounding in the skills of the players we had
I want a game plan that relies on our traditional strengths more and allows players time to think.
that would be revolutionary to what weve seen over the last several years, maybe i miss read your original post
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@Kiwiwomble Steve Hansen's game plan was about pressure rather than possession: punishing turnovers and opposition mistakes, using dual playmakers to make decisions on the field and change the structure of play, getting forwards to pass before contact and finally using loose forwards as finishers or to set up tries alongside back three players in wide channels.
With Robertson, it felt like the backrow player were being encouraged to act as playmakers wherever they were on the park.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kiwiwomble Steve Hansen's game plan was about pressure rather than possession: punishing turnovers and opposition mistakes, using dual playmakers to make decisions on the field and change the structure of play, getting forwards to pass before contact and finally using loose forwards as finishers or to set up tries alongside back three players in wide channels.
With Robertson, it felt like the backrow player were being encouraged to act as playmakers wherever they were on the park.
still feels like an evolution of that the last three coaches were doing...but like a photo copy of a photo copy its got rough and ugly
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
I want a game plan that relies on our traditional strengths more and allows players time to think.
I agree with this though
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
....we need some surprises....to get the other nations back on their toes not sure what we're going to do next
I thought we'd get some surprises in Robertson's 2nd year.
Sadly we did, but got the wrong ones.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
....we need some surprises....to get the other nations back on their toes not sure what we're going to do next
I thought we'd get some surprises in Robertson's 2nd year.
Sadly we did, but got the wrong ones.
100%....i even hoped we get it in year one...and then accepted he wanted to settle int he role.....and then.....just kept doing the same stuff
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
want a game plan that relies on our traditional strengths more and allows players time to think.
This was the frustration for me. We had the players to take it up the middle and tighten things when needed, but constantly looked for miracle plays.
Maybe just me, but countless times we were making progress thru the forwards but threw it out wide far too soon in an attempt to open up play. Usually ended up back where we started - or worse.
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@Victor-Meldrew and we did it predicably, i feel oppositions were knew after 2-3 phases we were going to go wide regardless and so were ready
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@Biorealism said in All Blacks 2026:
As I feared, he blames the ABs for a book written about them.
Then throws Napier and Savea under a bus 'Napier wrote that Savea was of a mind to forsake the All Blacks rather than continue under Robertson. That’s not something a reputable journalist would write without tacit approval from the player or his representatives.'So it better be true.
The same for his conclusion: 'New Zealand Rugby chose the player over the coach.' That's a reach. A reputable journalist would have info it was a single player who was crucial in the decision, making Kirk a liar.
Not to mention his 'logic' is buttressed with a starting article about golf and ends with a tv series. I read that he is 70, and was a character referee for Tom Humphries, that might explain some of the wandering.
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This is weird isn’t it?
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
This is weird isn’t it?
I loved KP as a player. Great swagger and talent to burn.
This obsession with the All Blacks is beyond weird though.
He should stick to Cricket.
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@MN5 i dont actually follow him, someone else posted this, does he post other stuff about the AB's...feels like ive only seen him posting about vaai
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@MN5 i dont actually follow him, someone else posted this, does he post other stuff about the AB's...feels like ive only seen him posting about vaai
Yeah I might be slightly exaggerating when I say "obsession" but even a couple of posts seems odd to put it mildly.
