The Silver Fern

Some general updates

Politics Subform

It's gone

Too many complaints/shitty behaviour and less and less people were reading it. 'Contentious Threads' section was a last ditch attempt to fix things. It failed.

Apologies to @MiketheSnow @Catogrande @pakman @Victor-Meldrew etc The UK thread was good, if all the others were like there wouldn't have been a problem

Also we have some changes coming up over the next few months which are more likely to be successful without that sub forum

So no chat about politics, politicians, elections, foreign policy, wars, climate change please

I'll move a couple of threads over to 'Off Topic' like the tranny one as that impacts sport

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New Server

A new server has been purchased

I'll be doing a practise migration this weekend and hopefully the real one early next week

That will give us a decent hardware speed boost, a few more methods for combating bots/AI scrapers etc. Also we have been stuck on an older version of the software for ~12months because of some prerequisites.

After that I'll open up the forum to the public again

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New Toys

Lots of new features coming

Me and @Kirwan have put aside some time for coding TSF enhancements. We have a list of new stuff we're working our way through that we want to use ourselves

I think we're already the best place to keep track of the NPC. The new stuff should make that lead even bigger

SBW out? Rieko to 12!

@mariner4life just call it the gashes

@Chris said in Fern Outage:

Brilliant work @Duluth and @Kirwan
you don’t know how much you miss this place until it is gone.

It was so strange having a couple of big games to watch without the chat

Well that was a fuckup. A quick history..

The site has been up in some form since 1999

In 2002 @bartman registered thesilverfern.com (a .co.nz address was also used for a while)

That url was registered to Bart's brother and I don't think had been touched for a decade or so. He's locked out of that account for now

Oops

The url is still registered to us but no one can log in to pay for it right now.

We'll get it back eventually. Tomorrow? Next week? Next month?

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I quite like the silverfern.rugby url

When we get the .com url it will redirect to the .rugby address

Thanks @BartMan for your help. Also thanks to @Hooroo for helping us track him down

TSF version of Godwin’s law:

“As a thread grows longer, the probability of discussing the RWC failure or Akira Ioane approaches 1”

There's been some comments in the media that the current situation is similar to all the other Blues coaches. I thought I would check out the win percentages vs other NZ sides

Yes, the form of the NZ teams has ebbed and flowed but they are generally strong. Also, they are the one constant across the various number of teams, competition structure etc

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Umaga 6.7%

15 games 1 win

The one win was the first game vs the Highlanders (33-31)

If his team the next 5 NZ games (2 vs Crusaders, 2 vs Hurricanes, 1 vs Highlanders) he can just edge in front of Kirwan

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Kirwan 29%

24 games 7 wins
(3 Hurricanes, 2 Highlanders, 2 Crusaders)

Crap

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Lam 37.5%

24 games 9 wins
(4 Highlanders, 2 Chiefs, 2 Hurricanes, 1 Crusaders)

I think there has to be a note about the injury crisis in Lams fourth season. Crazy number of injuries, players with no NPC experience starting... locks in particular, we were starting our 7th choice lock with a loosie next to him etc

First three seasons prior to that injury crisis:
9/16 56.3%

This included the best streak since Henry: 6 in a row versus NZ teams. The streak Included all other NZ sides. That season was the last time the Blues made the playoffs

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Nucifora 50%

6/12
(2 Chiefs, 2 Highlanders, 1 Hurricanes, 1 Crusaders)

A bad first season cemented reputation then his team went ok (0-4 in that first year)

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Sloane 52.9%

9/17
(3 Crusaders, 2 Chiefs, 2 Hurricanes, 2 Highlanders)

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Various 1 season coaches all got 50%

Yes, even Jed Rowlands

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Henry 92.9%

13/14

13 in a row before losing the final in 98

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Clearly Henry belongs in his own category.

From 1999-2011 all of these coaches had a minimum of 50% success rate against NZ teams:
Rowlands 50%
Hunter 50%
Oliver 50%
Sloane 52.9%
Nucifora 50%
Lam 56.3%

Sure, thats not good enough, but they were competitive. They all got a lot of criticism in the press compared to the current coach.

Then came the injury crisis in Lam’s fourth season. I have never been convinced the right action was to sack Lam after that amount of injuries. He had very little support in the media and from the board so he had no chance.

The new normal of shittness has settled in under Kirwan/Umaga

At the moment the only punishment is some public humiliation and going to whatever anger management course his lawyer enlists him in.

I would like to see him removed from the current AB squad. At least then there would be a financial penalty. It also serves as a warning to others

We have a perfectly good squad replacement in Robinson. He should've made the original squad IMO

After that I don't really care. It sounds like a low level incident - he can come back later if he's good enough (..and based on his efforts at Test level so far, he is not good enough)

@Chris-B said in Exodus:

I think he'd be 33 at the next RWC - not too old but high milage.

Good pickup for Tonga

Plus NZ streets will be a little safer. Good news all around

@frank said in Depth at 10:

Zarn Sullivan is the obvious guy to try.
Problems
-he won't get game time there because of BB playing for Auckland
-he is being used at fullback
-Fozzie is way too conservative to think outside the box and pick him

I think this is getting a bit silly. Sullivan hasn't even had a single start as a ten at NPC level

He's unlikely to get a run at ten because he's been very good for the Blues at fullback. MacDoanld (a decent fullback himself), has raved about Sullivans natural lines from fullback. Maybe his best position is actually fullback?

Maybe he becomes a ten, maybe he doesn't. But the rating he is getting in thread based on almost no adult rugby in the position is over the top

@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2025:

Bidwell might be the dumbest of all the blokes who get paid (i assume) to talk about rugby

Dumber than everyone that posts on the fern too.. and we have some absolute tards here

@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:

Didn't Sotutu already turn down a call up in 2024

He was injured.

Here' what Robertson said at he time :
"We were going to bring Hoskins in, but he’s injured,” declared Robertson. “We’ve been considering it over the last couple of days, but with his knee, after scans, he won't come"

He's a player that some people like to make shit up about. A similar rumour was pushed last week

Merry Christmas. I hope there isn't too much covid talk during your family gatherings

Ah shit, MN5 found us

I'll mention a positive

Great to see Hodgman get a bench spot. He's been on a steady improvement for a few years now. A well earned debut

Plenty of other spots to disagree with.. in particular Sotutu should've got a start

Just cancel it. The current ground is good enough for Canterbury. The Crusaders should move to their new power base of Nelson

Cane/Sotutu/Ioane

Savea on the bench

@stargazer

I'm going. I will give comprehensive updates on everyone that doesn't play for Hawkes Bay

@Damo said in Springboks vs All Blacks 2:

I want to stick up for the ref. I thought he was really good. I couldn't find major fault in any decision. I thought he got the YCs exactly correct. He was good in the breakdown about not allowing tacklers to help jacklers get onto the ball. Where the tackler cleared the area he was consistent in penalising isolated players.

With the pace of the game at this level and the complexity of the situation, I don't think that is as good a game as you will ever see.

Also I did not like TJ making sarcastic comments in commentary about last week's ref. That sort of thing is churlish and unbecoming.

Yes the ref was not an issue

TJ's commentary was so unprofessional. Whining first and then occasionally pulling back when watching the replay

It's a wider issue too. I think too many fans are leaping to blaming external forces rather than looking at the coaches/players and the quality of the opposition. We have to earn success.. currently we aren't very good

Agree with the main point of that rugbypass article that it's time to get some new blood in at halfback

Smith, Christie & someone new

Time to move on from TJ & Weber