All Blacks 2026
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Absolutely not. What Crusaders team has a loose forward attempting chip kicks in front of his own posts?
That's what makes the whole episode so bizarre. Razor gets the job he covets, then departs from everything that seemed to underpin his success up to that point
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Absolutely not. What Crusaders team has a loose forward attempting chip kicks in front of his own posts?
That's what makes the whole episode so bizarre. Razor gets the job he covets, then departs from everything that seemed to underpin his success up to that point
Maybe he does just let the senior players he has dictate the style of play and sticks to motivating. I imagine Sam Whitelock would want to play a different way to Beauden Barrett.
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@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Absolutely not. What Crusaders team has a loose forward attempting chip kicks in front of his own posts?
That's what makes the whole episode so bizarre. Razor gets the job he covets, then departs from everything that seemed to underpin his success up to that point
Maybe he does just let the senior players he has dictate the style of play and sticks to motivating. I imagine Sam Whitelock would want to play a different way to Beauden Barrett.
Just seems odd
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@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Absolutely not. What Crusaders team has a loose forward attempting chip kicks in front of his own posts?
That's what makes the whole episode so bizarre. Razor gets the job he covets, then departs from everything that seemed to underpin his success up to that point
Maybe he does just let the senior players he has dictate the style of play and sticks to motivating. I imagine Sam Whitelock would want to play a different way to Beauden Barrett.
also, maybe a team thats been building together through a full preseason etc forms a cohesive gameplans semi organically.....where as those same players rock up to much shorter international camps all with ideas of what works...and razor is unprepared to pick one....so kind of just says yes to it all
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@mariner4life I had the same read. Think they were actually heading in the right direction and then Razor got scared.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Thats the point. They were trying to but it failed because the players he picked weren't suited to that approach
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2026:
@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Absolutely not. What Crusaders team has a loose forward attempting chip kicks in front of his own posts?
That's what makes the whole episode so bizarre. Razor gets the job he covets, then departs from everything that seemed to underpin his success up to that point
Maybe he does just let the senior players he has dictate the style of play and sticks to motivating. I imagine Sam Whitelock would want to play a different way to Beauden Barrett.
also, maybe a team thats been building together through a full preseason etc forms a cohesive gameplans semi organically.....where as those same players rock up to much shorter international camps all with ideas of what works...and razor is unprepared to pick one....so kind of just says yes to it all
He does seem like the sort of coach who would let players ‘express themselves’, ‘back their instincts’ and ‘play their natural game.’
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Thats the point. They were trying to but it failed because the players he picked weren't suited to that approach
Trying to? Then why did he pick looser players instead of DP, and even Hoskins who had both demonstrated they could win playing a forward dominated game? Akira too
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@george33 said in All Blacks 2026:
@george33 And I'm hearing that Leon McDonald will be involved obviously not head coach tho.
Whaaattt!!
Pigeon amongst the cats! -
@brodean said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Thats the point. They were trying to but it failed because the players he picked weren't suited to that approach
or maybe overseas teams have greater depth in tough physically imposing forwards?
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@brodean said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
Was what we got actually Crusaders rugby? I don't recall our forward pack being anywhere near as physical as the Saders packs of my memory. I also seem to recall Saders teams playing with more structure, something we can't accuse this latest ABs team of
Thats the point. They were trying to but it failed because the players he picked weren't suited to that approach
Trying to? Then why did he pick looser players instead of DP, and even Hoskins who had both demonstrated they could win playing a forward dominated game? Akira too
Sounds like he should have asked Vernon Cotter for help then, Cotter got the Blues forwards playing tight and tough...
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I find it extremely hard to believe that the fastidious and professional David Kirk and his review panel would deliberately neglect to interview any Crusaders players in Robertson’s All Blacks squad. That would be ridiculous and would render the entire process redundant.
They would have interviewed as many people as they could within the camp, including the senior Crusaders players Scott Barrett and Codie Taylor.
All this silly talk about player power and rebel factions is also fanciful. Even from outside the AB environment it was evident the team and the coaching set-up was dysfunctional. When McDonald walked and then Jason Holland, it was clear things were going awry.
The manner of the losses, and the jammy nature of some of the close wins also tells you, to use Kirk’s word, that Robertson and his coaching panel were on the wrong ‘trajectory’.
The player interviews were really only about assessing the internal culture and formed part of a wider review. In that sense, the notion that Kirk and the panel were given a bum steer by Savea and others with an axe to grind defies common sense or awareness of how Kirk - a former All Black captain and world class business executive - operates.
The big question for me now is whether Jamie Joseph can rightly be seen as the inside favourite when his ‘running mate’ Tony Brown has admitted he is locked into the Boks contract till the World Cup.
Without Brown, I think Joseph looks far less compelling, leaving a possible combination of Schmidt , as director of rugby, Rennie, as head coach, and MacDonald and Ryan as assistants perhaps the best mix - assuming they are all available.
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@His-Bobness would potentially open the up to legal action too if the review wasnt conducted fairly.
Only way SB wasnt involved if he chose not to, which would probably be more damning cos wasnt he one of the ones that came out in support of Fozzie?
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