All Blacks 2026
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@His-Bobness said in All Blacks 2026:
Why would Wayne Smith, aged 68, and semi-retired on the Gold Coast want another high pressure rugby gig at this time of his life?
He didn't even want a high pressure gig 20 years ago.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
Wayne Smith, Clayton McMillan, Robbie Deans and Eddie Jones have publicly distanced themself from any future All Blacks involvement.
Dissapointed. The Fern meltdown would have caused the corn to pop itself.
There's still hope that old Fern favourites Cueball and Scotty Hansen might form a dream coaching team.
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I didn’t mean to sound ageist about Wayne, BTW. I am virtually the same age. I just know at this stage of life there are other things worth doing other than what I did for 40 years. On the other hand, if doing rugby coaching still invigorates him, go Wayne. My gut feeling is new ideas are needed. The toss-it-around-the-backyard like when we were kids ‘this is our DNA’ thing is a very romantic image, but I’m not sure it works at test level in professional rugby in this era, particularly if you can’t catch the ball. Razor clearly was seduced by it as a marketing image, but I really think that was the problem all along with the generational change idea.
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@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:
In all honesty, I wouldn't be particularly unhappy for Fozzie to come back as head coach
Why when he is doing so well in Japan? I guess he could pull the ABs back to fourth in the rankings though, so there is that...
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@ARHS said in All Blacks 2026:
I would like to see Rennie and Joseph paired in the role, with Leon as assistant.
Have you noticed Leon's coaching record in Japan?
https://league-one.jp/en/news/135
Basically the club's worst losing record in a decade. -
@His-Bobness It made sense when our players had better handling skills and were fitter than their opponents. The best international sides have caught up so it doesn't any more.
Also everyone knew that was exactly how we were going to play so they developed counters for it.
So we need something smarter and more cunning.
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@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:
In all honesty, I wouldn't be particularly unhappy for Fozzie to come back as head coach
Why when he is doing so well in Japan? I guess he could pull the ABs back to fourth in the rankings though, so there is that...
The Fern had misgivings about Fozzie; no test level HC experience, uninspiring SR HC record, the perception that he was part of a dying coaching tree that had run its course by the end of 2019. He almost walked away with RWC19, but let's not forget that all of our misgivings played out over most of his tenure and almost got him fired but for his players standing up for him
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@sparky Yes, this is an Australian political reference, but the rate at which the ‘call the Professor and see what he thinks’ card is pulled is beginning to have an element of how the Liberal Party in Australia drags out John Howard when their fortunes are flagging (which is quite regularly these days BTW). In these cases, Howard, looking like the corpse from
Weekend at Bernies, is wheeled out in front of the cameras to give his tuppence worth in the hope that the magic stardust is still there. I’m not suggesting that the Professor is anywhere near Howard in terms of age or ideology, of course. He seems a thoroughly decent bloke. But the frequency with which NZ rugby calls on him, as if he were a miracle worker, looks increasingly like desperation and a rather worrying signal they are out of ideas. -
Putting Schmidt aside if he doesnt want a HC role due to family reasons, JJ, Cotter and Rennie are easily the three best coaches we have available regardless of who is or isn't interested. The names @sparky listed as not interested is good by me as I wouldn't want any of them. If any of the above three are HC and/or involved then that is already a ginormous upgrade.
I mentioned in a post earlier in the thread before all the sauce got leaked that I thought some coaches may join the fray a bit later on if they decided to move Razor and co on - was alluding to Brown and Schmidt there - given the circumstances I think NZR would be looking at that.
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@His-Bobness We pretty much used Brian Lochore in a similar capacity for quite a few years.
There's a bit of a lack of stardust in any of our potential coaches and assistant coaches at present. Let's hope some healthy pragmatism will deliver.
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@Chris-B Healthy pragmatism has clearly been in short supply at NZR in recent years. I blame the private equity deal and the influence of ‘brand’ marketing. The odd thing is they opted for
Razor supposedly as a new broom, an innovator and someone who represented generational change. But then he appeared to do very little in terms of innovation, I suspect because of the asymmetric risks involving in dropping game. He was overly conservative and loathe, for instance, to change the attack shape. Maybe they need an old head with a young rebel streak? -
@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2026:
Ryan has to go. We have to pick the best players and he was a big part of NOT doing that.
Wasn't Ryan leading the selection of the tight forwards and Razor the loose forwards - which I presume you Blues guys are mostly upset about?
I thought the tight forward selection was pretty much spot on.
No tighthead locks on EOYT was a mistake.
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@His-Bobness said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris-B Healthy pragmatism has clearly been in short supply at NZR in recent years. I blame the private equity deal and the influence of ‘brand’ marketing. The odd thing is they opted for
Razor supposedly as a new broom, an innovator and someone who represented generational change. But then he appeared to do very little in terms of innovation, I suspect because of the asymmetric risks involving in dropping game. He was overly conservative and loathe, for instance, to change the attack shape. Maybe they need an old head with a young rebel streak?He showed a surprising lack of courage. To quote a line from the movie The American President, he was so busy keeping his job, he forgot to do his job (or at least trying to keep)
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I still think it's they to go . . . but . . . you cant build an 80 minute game plan around the-way-we-tossed-it-around-in-the-backyard, and expect to beat the good teams.
More like, pick your moments . . . 8 minutes worth of it, in total . . . certainly not 80. -
This is from the SMH, behind a paywall which I can’t access. But based on the headline looks like Joe won’t be involved with the AB’s . https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/golden-loyalty-schmidt-rules-himself-out-of-race-for-all-blacks-job-20260125-p5nwt7.html
I’m disappointed…naturally…….and concerned. Linking with the AB’s post July would have seemingly provided him with a great situation, still involved with rugby at the top level but not the high pressure HC and back home with family. A bit of a worry that he has chosen to continue with the Wallabies, and that they’ll have his expertise leading up to and at the RWC.
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@allblackfan2 said in All Blacks 2026:
This is from the SMH, behind a paywall which I can’t access. But based on the headline looks like Joe won’t be involved with the AB’s . https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/golden-loyalty-schmidt-rules-himself-out-of-race-for-all-blacks-job-20260125-p5nwt7.html
Don't think Joe was ever a realistic choice, after reading his comments on his son etc last year needing him around more.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@allblackfan2 said in All Blacks 2026:
This is from the SMH, behind a paywall which I can’t access. But based on the headline looks like Joe won’t be involved with the AB’s . https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/golden-loyalty-schmidt-rules-himself-out-of-race-for-all-blacks-job-20260125-p5nwt7.html
Don't think Joe was ever a realistic choice, after reading his comments on his son etc last year needing him around more.
I’m assuming the Wallabies gig requires him to be regularly travelling to/from Oz. I’d have thought being based back in NZ would have been the more attractive option given his family’s needs.
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@allblackfan2 said in All Blacks 2026:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@allblackfan2 said in All Blacks 2026:
This is from the SMH, behind a paywall which I can’t access. But based on the headline looks like Joe won’t be involved with the AB’s . https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/golden-loyalty-schmidt-rules-himself-out-of-race-for-all-blacks-job-20260125-p5nwt7.html
Don't think Joe was ever a realistic choice, after reading his comments on his son etc last year needing him around more.
I’m assuming the Wallabies gig requires him to be regularly travelling to/from Oz. I’d have thought being based back in NZ would have been the more attractive option given his family’s needs.
Though perhaps NZR haven’t or weren’t going to approach him for a senior level non HC role.
