The Silver Fern

Whoops only voted once and for Taylor which is who I said when asked by the bartender in the pub right after the game. Fark he was good!

Ahh - A is for Aaron! 🙂

@pukunui said in Wayne Smith documentary - tonight:

@canefan said in Wayne Smith documentary - tonight:

Finally watched the Wayne Smith doco. What else can you say but "Bloody Legend". What a great watch (apart from his try in Bernie's Corner to take the shield). The back story about him losing the ABs head coach job in 2002, his return, 2007 2011(still hard to watch) and 2015, he is a national rugby treasure

Funny you should mention 2011 being hard to watch. I watched my recording of this doco the other night. I punched the air when they showed Beaudy gather that kick and score at the end of the 2015 rwc final. Love it.

I've never watched 2011 on tv, despite having it on my old now dead sky machine. One time at EP was enough

@catogrande said in 2018 June Internationals:

England are looking good too.

Every silver lining has a cloud 🙂

@magpie_in_aus said in All Blacks Tickets:

Hey team I am organising a stag doo/bucks weekend in June for the AB's vs French test in Dunedin.

Plan is to fly into chch hire vans and drivers and do an undy500 type trip down to dunedin (where many of us studied in yesteryear).

We are doing a costing for some of the lads at the moment. Roughly what would the cost of the tickets be for a June test in Dunners. Exams etc would have finished at least 2 days prior so lots of students won't be there as well.

Cheers

Tickets for the Wales game two years ago were from between $70-$150 depending on the quality of the seats. Regardless, there aren't really any bad seats at Forsyth Barr (well, comparatively speaking), so if you don't mind being end on, you can get away with some cheapies. Ticket-wise, you can generally select exactly where you want to sit, which helps, especially if you're buying more than 10 (the limit per person).

@taniwharugby said in 1995 RWC ABs team Dr confirms our suspicions:

@jegga given how little we play the Scots, be safe to assume someone still remembers!

The ABs always run scared when it comes to taking on the mighty Scots. It's getting tiresome.

@chris-b said in Defining Who We Are ... NZ All Blacks:

They've gone on to list just six players who are overseas who might be called up to the ABs if the rules were relaxed - of which only Cruden and arguably Piutau are certainties. There's literally hundreds of others who wouldn't be protected.

I was a massive fan of Cruden, and thought he was under-rated -- the ABs virtually never lost if he started, and he turned the Chiefs around. Beauden Barrett already has more losses.

But I wouldn't pick him from overseas unless every other 1st-5 option was broken. And maybe not them.

Our experience is that even the best players returning from overseas need time to readjust even to domestic rugby. And many of them fail to do so at all. Putting them straight into an AB side would be a disaster.

Is that the Fern record for a thread necro?

Retallick.

@act-crusader said in All Blacks Player of the Season:

Geez Havili is under rated

Not entirely true.

I rate him very highly as an average player.

@majorrage

As I understand they can’t do your first idea for sevens and remain an Olympic sport (can someone confirm?)

Personally, I don’t think rugby should be an Olympic sport. That plus five year eligibility rule, and problem solved.

And fuck you Piutau.

Judging on today, to have any hope of making the World Cup semis, the ABs need a kick up the backside.

@pakman said in First and second AB XVs:

@kiwimurph said in First and second AB XVs:

@stargazer if you are picking players who have worn the black jersey then chuck Ngatai at 12.

Waits for incoming jokes about Ngatai hype

I think MN5 is off with some injury.

Concussion?

Here's another cool one from reddit... Todd's goal line defense:
https://streamable.com/v6a9a

@stargazer said in 2018 All Blacks Test matches:

Ireland set to face All Blacks next year

Ireland are set to face New Zealand in the 2018 November series and may even get two chances to topple the All Blacks. Joe Schmidt's side have only once beaten the back-to-back World Cup winners, famously claiming a victory in Chicago last year. Speaking in the aftermath of Ireland's three-win Guinness Series, Schmidt, quoted in the Irish Independent, said of next year's autumn fixtures: "You never know the Tier 2 (team) until later but I think it is Argentina and New Zealand. "We are very conscious of looking after the provinces as well. Wales playing next week (against South Africa) - the week before Europe - I think it makes it very tough for their regional teams leading into Europe. "It is a little bit of a compromise I suppose." While there is no official word yet, Schmidt said that he was open to an add-on fixture, possibly abroad. He said: "At this stage (it is just three games). Again, we'll always get asked for a fourth game. "We haven't had a formal request from anyone yet but if there is one, as we got for the match in Chicago, then we'd consider it if it comes up and we'd try and stay in touch with the provincial coaches and see if we can make it work."

As long as it doesn’t become another fucking ‘exhibition match’....

@booboo said in AB's v Wales:

@pakman said in AB's v Wales:

@stargazer It seems Read is suffering from sciatica. With luck, rest and right exercises will ease disc back into place: fingers crossed!

Sciatica killed my "career". Took 18 months 2 steroid injections and lots of physio to get right.

Prolapsed disc L5S1. Caused by dopey fucking prop who wouldn't bend down properly, exacerbated by trying to deadlift too much.

No doubt knowledge and treatment has improved in 20 years. But it wasn't straightforward.

How much is "too much"?

Speaking of deadlifting, Justin Tipuric must have the least impressive physique of any international rugby player.

Hames, Dmac and SBW for me. They created many inspirational moments for their team-mates in a toughie