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.
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 ... ?
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2026:
Only once it was obvious he had no suitable plan, or was entirely oblivious,
Yep, 100% this
Concerns raised. Razor has many strenths, but I am not sure articulating a plan to a board is one of them. I suspect he struggles to write well - hence his (reported) request to speak to the board.
The Board winds up in a tough place. If you have concerns the Board thinks are legit, and the coach can't or won't address them properly, there is only one course of action in a high performance environment. Note that Razor also didn't have Robinson running interference for him.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
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.
Yes, he has commented that he had not been happy with the previous selection processes.
That'd be the Hansen/Foster/Robertson appointments.
Having said that, I am sure the process will be a bit different this time, and so it might be some time before a new selection is made.
And they do have time.
A quick Joseph (next cab off the rank) appointment, would probably just be more of the same. -
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2026:
Concerns raised. Razor has many strenths, but I am not sure articulating a plan to a board is one of them. I suspect he struggles to write well - hence his (reported) request to speak to the board.
He'd have no hope if he articulated to the board like he did with the media.
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You know the one thing that is so weird about how this has all gone down with Razor and his lack of social skills is I met him briefly in Hamilton the Friday before the France 3 test.
He came out to meet fans there for the AB training, there was a French couple standing next to me and he talked to them in French, talked to me and my son and asked where we were from etc. bantered for a bit got a photo with him. My son doesn't follow rugby that closely but he was like "Razor is cool".
He was very jovial and friendly and obliging. He does not come across like your typical grumpy type of coach - it's the strangest thing that he couldn't manage the social interaction part of the job when that seems to be his strength.
He really is an enigmatic, different person. Hard to figure the guy out.
