The Silver Fern

@Canes4life said in Japanese Rugby:

@African-Monkey said in Japanese Rugby:

@Canes4life said in Japanese Rugby:

@Duluth said in Japanese Rugby:

https://www.rugbyjp.com/post/7-newly-qualified-foreign-stars-who-could-debut-for-japan-in-2026

I know it's a small list of players but man some of them left NZ too early in their careers.

A bit of nostalgia with that list. Felt like a who's who of Super Rugby players from 2020/2021

Vince Aso was massively underrated, he was electric at centre and wing.

He was. Was even gonna get a call up at one stage but was injured.

Even without Pascoe and the fedora man, the Tigers are still the most shambolic outfit in the NRL in a league that includes the Titans.

@African-Monkey said in Still talking about Foster:

@nzzp said in Still talking about Foster:

@nzzp said in Still talking about Foster:

Good call. Naive is probably right.

Update: I think a mix of thin skinned and naive.

His talking about the games in 2021 were something like (not a direct quote) we smashed Tonga 102-0, then beat Fiji by 57 and 60- but still some people weren't happy.

I remember those Fiji games. They were coached by Vern and Ryan - and their forward pack scored a try or two against us up the guts. They looked sharp. People were right to critique the performances.

Yeah, that first Fiji test we had Blackadder, Sotutu and Frizzell who were beaten to the punch at breakdown a lot. It was only the last 20 where Fiji faded and Coles scored about 4 tries from rolling mauls where we pulled away but we struggled for large periods of that test.

Beating that Tonga team shouldn't even be mentioned as a test. They had to pull a bunch of guys out of Auckland club rugby to make the numbers as covid rules at the time didn't allow for them to pick most of their overseas players.

That Fiji test essentially made Ryan's name, they were really well drilled. What's stange is that it doesn't seem to have given Cotter much pop. I know that he is planning on retiring but he is one of the names who I think has the philosophy to be very successful at the next level with players of AB talent.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2025:

@junior said in All Blacks 2025:

@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2025:

is our set piece particularly bad?....i think almost everything could do with improvement but didn;t think set piece had stood out, especially since holland came in

Lineout generally good and can be a genuine threat - although that threat seems too often to be inconsistent within games (see England a couple of weeks ago where we picked off copious England ball in the first half but barely bothered to put up a contest in the second half). Scrum, generally good but not at all a threat to opposition ball and prone to late capitulations in big matches (see Boks at Eden Park and England a couple of weeks ago).

In short, definitely room to improve the set pieces and, given the tight 5 stocks at the moment, we should really be aiming to turn the set piece into a genuine weapon rather than simply a re-start.

From your post it sounds like we have the players but not the strategy (or perhaps the brains).

We definitely don't have the strategy - which is probably good indicator that we don't have the brains either. As for the players, I think we have raw material that is not being properly harnessed (as to which, see the previous points about strategy and brains).

@Kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby 2026:

Classic have really made every idea they could think of, havent see this before

alt text

That one's based on the 96 training jersey

@Chris he almost had to be the last name but thank god it's confirmed

@reprobate said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@booboo said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@taniwharugby said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@sparky not to mention who's gonna buy the kit?

Or watch the games?

and @sparky if they made a few rule changes that I thought could improve the game... that's about the only thing which would mean I'd watch a few games.
I actually think that is the existing game's biggest weakness to a competitor - the constant box kicking, the rules, the impossibility of error-free reffing, the cards and TMO bullshit. If it's better, more entertaining, running rugby - but retains the 'for all shapes' aspect and needing a few brain cells to play (i.e. not league), then things might start to get interesting.

You just described Tindall

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16EhyiVWfT/

@booboo I think it means the 1st test is the first game Auckland would host on the tour, but the article could have been clearer.

Award for Bunnings Npc player of the year
Tom Christie Canterbury
Dillion Pledger Otago
Lucas Casey Otago

Tom Chistie takes this one out for me

@Dan54 said in New All Black Coach:

@reprobate said in New All Black Coach:

@taniwharugby yup, though in NZ. I think my point is that you don't need a fancy coach to be a shitload better than where we are currently. Schoolkids do it better.

Shit reprobate, I think one of our problems is coaching at school kid level. I been gobsmacked at how structured out 1st XVs have become. I think because of top level schools are so focused on winning or whatever our kids are getting a lot of the flair coached out of them.
And unfortunately, I think from a couple of things I have seen watching some kids games it starts at a lot lower than that. I was watching a couple of kids training sessions at different times and places, and was pissed off seeing coaches yelling at kids about 10-12yo and getting them to bridge etc when ball was on ground, then spending a lot of times on lineouts etc just clinical. At that age I firmly believe kids should be learning how to pass ball , and just run towards gaps etc. I still think it not helping us in our skills with kids coming through.
Maybe I wrong, I always believed coaching kids is about how to and not why too. Show them how to pass, where to put ball on ground when tackled, how to pick and go. And the most important thing to teach them with breakdown is the safety factor, come in with head up and eys open, so they don't get hurt and go off the game. Just seems we have too many kids coaches who seem to think they coaching a senior team who's ONLY job is to win.

Lol ok my rant for day.

Agree that coaching basic skills to kids is more important Dan, though I do feel that a lot of our historic ability in pass/catch/run/look for space comes from the unstructured games of touch, league, bullrush etc rather than training. That's just what happens naturally.

Skills like the cross-kick and overhead catch come from AFL, kids who grow up with football are invariably superior kickers in all facets, basketball skills are great for accurate passing to moving targets, offloading and finding a way to get the ball to where it needs to be through traffic. These skills are all things that you don't get to a high standard from just playing rugby or practising lineouts and scrums - there are clear areas where specific training can quickly make a difference because the standard required at international rugby level is actually pretty low compared to the sports where these are core skills.

I do find it astonishing that professional sportspeople can't e.g. kick off a left foot - or in the case of many players, kick effectively at all. Such an easy skill to improve with basic repetition, and you can't go to the gym 24/7.

Yep, and I doubt that they will have any interest in developing women's and girls cricket either. They will just want "names" on a plate all round.

I know it's not about games etc , but am absolutely stoked to read the mighty Nua (HKRU) has posted a surplus for their financials for 17th year. Apparently player numbers etc up too, but all in all it's f***en great to read a good news story on our game from grassroots!👍

@W32 said in November International, England v Argies:

@Catogrande said in November International, England v Argies:

@W32 said in November International, England v Argies:

This is the same player who accused bongi of calling him naughty names. Such a gentleman

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/c93wpwwq7pvo

Well two things there. The Bongi incident was explained by the Saffers and accepted albeit with some slight feeling of "Hmmm. Really?"

Secondly, there is the clash between a current rugby player who has generally behaved extremely well, does not tend to mouth off or whine about injustice, nor become physically aggressive or confrontational outside in the way he plays against a former rugby player that has a history of aggression, some dirty play in the past, constant whining and mouthing off, exaggerating any small thing to get an advantage, perceived or otherwise.

Hmmm. Who to believe?

Fair enough. Hopefully there is some camera footage to clear Curry…..the argies are asking for it.
The bongi thing… ..well I always thought that Curry was a bit precious there. Damn colonials eh.

They certainly say that they're asking for it. I don't know whether they have formally requested it though. If it exists.

On the Bongi thing, I can understand a non Afrikaans speaker thinking Wit Kant. might be an insult, but the translation is white side so no great issue. I am though reminded of the Douglas Bader story of when he was giving a talk about his WW2 experiences to a girls' school.

There were some Fockers in front of me. More Fockers behind me. There were Fockers all over the place. Cue lots of girls giggling. The headmistress then said that Bader should tell the girls that a Focker is a type of German aircraft.

Apparently he said yes that is correct. These particular Fockers were Messerschmidts.

Watched a replay of the game from Sunday morning as i actually only saw the 2nd half
First thoughts was the performance of Holly Davidson i actually thought she was outstanding and her communication was first class

The TMO and the local production on the other hand the less said the better
Ruben Love in the main was very solid and did some very good things , the odd mistake but in the main very good and considering how much rugby hes played since the French series in July , it worked out to around 245 minutes rugby and good number of those minutes were across 3 games for Wellington in the Npc

I personally would like to see Love start in the 10 jersey for the Canes in 2026

I really liked how the loose trio operated as a combination knowing their specific roles , they were all able to operate by keeping to the game plan and shape and that gave Sititi opportunity to operate like a number 8 ,Parker and Du Plessis Kirifi just doing their core roles effectively
finally a game were the ABs discipline was on point
I’m certainly not saying these 3 should be the loose forward trio moving forward but just great to see players completing their roles with accuracy

Set pieces in the main were superb
Ratima is a great competitor but i dont see him in a match day 23 with young Pledger waiting in the wings , although it was great to see him and D Mac match up as a combo
I know theres been a bit of chat about Parker but even the great Jerome Kaino took around 4 years to finally nail down the 6 jersey
We tried Samipeni Finau in the 6 jersey and for me despite his size and supposed physicality we never saw it in the Black jersey
So for me i’m willing to persist with Parker especially given theres not a lot of big options out there , maybe Tupou Vai into 6 ..

Full credit to Wales , they had a few missing and the chaps that came in did very well , however the Boks will be a more ruthless beast

@canefan said in Cameron Suafoa:

@Darren said in Cameron Suafoa:

‘Ribs removed, spine shaved, steel rods to stabilise back’

Wow and congratulations if you can come back from that, and be healthy, let alone play rugby.

He's trying to win the game of life right now

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

@Toddy said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

Rieko was poor. Was it two bad defensive reads leading to two tries

No. If he hadn't turned in when Holland was coming across the attacker likely wouldn't have passed and his momentum would've got him well over the line.

The other I'd have to recheck - I think that's the one he turned in because it was the "world's best fullback" next to him.

That was a poor read and he didn’t trust the inside (who had the ball carrier covered).

Other than those, he was pretty solid.

While I agree that he should have stayed on his man, after watching it a couple of times I don't think it was conclusive at the time he turned in that WJ was going to get the attacker - he only really scragged him.

And 100% agree with your following post.