The Silver Fern

@antipodean said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwi_expat said in All Blacks 2021:

@voodoo said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwi_expat said in All Blacks 2021:

Also, I remember a video segment from RNZ where he mentions his desire to quote 'show that he is 'innovative'..

And to be fair to him... being the first AB coach to lose to Argentina, was a ground-breaking achievement for Foz.

I think the worst thing he claimed, and didn't deliver on, was the commitment to physicality in the forwards.

He correctly identified the issue, then failed completely to bring along/select the right players to address the problem

We have played powder puff (copyright Walrus) rugby all year.

Go to 55 seconds, he pretty much addresses this, and even gets pressed further by Campbell about it.

Mortifying to watch now after what's since transpired under Fozzie, he hasn't fulfilled these points to any degree.

Watching this right now it's apparent he's completely & utterly out of his depth as an international coach & is simply clueless with regards to the best course of action that should be required for this team going forward.

Just words alone cannot describe the inadequacy on display here.

How is this level of incompetence acceptable for the NZR?

States the obvious; "we got smacked against England, what have we learnt from that?" and then proceeds to vomit HR twaddle about "freshening an organisation, how we deliver messages, the people that we use to deliver messages, grow our leaders, grow our mental skills, culture, younger group of players coming through from different backgrounds that we need to take into account and figure out how we link and communicate with them."

And some people still wonder why we've seen no development in how we play in over two years? He's not helped by the snivelling shit of an interviewer, but if that was the brief to the NZR selection committee, small wonder the game is in the parlous state it is. From the top down the organisation is being replaced with mediocrity and as they permeate through it becomes harder to identify them.

It all starts at the top, because we have idiots on the NZRU Board we end up with an incompetent coach - even though we won The Rugby Championship you could see the cracks appearing... on the UK tour we lost really badly against Ireland, didn't learn from those obvious mistakes, so lost the same pathetic way against France too.

We are not even doing the basics in the forwards when we have possession, there's a real lack of mongrel/urgency taking the ball up, also we're not getting enough numbers to clean, blowing their players out the way so we can get quicker ball to our backs.

Foster's tactic to use box kicks to counter the rushing defence is pathetic... when the opposition are really slowing your ball down you need to kick, but is has to be smart kicking, like wipers kicks deep towards the sideline or corners, get them scrambling back, because the opposition are standing up so flat with this rugby league type defence there's going to be acres of space behind them.

Highlanders were going bloody well in the forwards, but that red card really affected them - de Groot was excellent at loosehead, also impressed with the passing & running game of Fakatava at 9.

Blues blindside Akira Ioane showed again how fast & skillful he is for a big bloke... surely he has to be starting at 6 for the ABs in the first test this year.

Each individual posts the songs they enjoy, which is how it should be... so fucking pointless me posting songs that I don't really like.

@l_n_p said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwibloke said in All Blacks 2021:

@l_n_p said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwibloke said in All Blacks 2021:

@l_n_p said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwibloke said in All Blacks 2021:

@antipodean said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwi_expat said in All Blacks 2021:

@voodoo said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwi_expat said in All Blacks 2021:

Also, I remember a video segment from RNZ where he mentions his desire to quote 'show that he is 'innovative'..

And to be fair to him... being the first AB coach to lose to Argentina, was a ground-breaking achievement for Foz.

I think the worst thing he claimed, and didn't deliver on, was the commitment to physicality in the forwards.

He correctly identified the issue, then failed completely to bring along/select the right players to address the problem

We have played powder puff (copyright Walrus) rugby all year.

Go to 55 seconds, he pretty much addresses this, and even gets pressed further by Campbell about it.

Mortifying to watch now after what's since transpired under Fozzie, he hasn't fulfilled these points to any degree.

Watching this right now it's apparent he's completely & utterly out of his depth as an international coach & is simply clueless with regards to the best course of action that should be required for this team going forward.

Just words alone cannot describe the inadequacy on display here.

How is this level of incompetence acceptable for the NZR?

States the obvious; "we got smacked against England, what have we learnt from that?" and then proceeds to vomit HR twaddle about "freshening an organisation, how we deliver messages, the people that we use to deliver messages, grow our leaders, grow our mental skills, culture, younger group of players coming through from different backgrounds that we need to take into account and figure out how we link and communicate with them."

And some people still wonder why we've seen no development in how we play in over two years? He's not helped by the snivelling shit of an interviewer, but if that was the brief to the NZR selection committee, small wonder the game is in the parlous state it is. From the top down the organisation is being replaced with mediocrity and as they permeate through it becomes harder to identify them.

It all starts at the top, because we have idiots on the NZRU Board we end up with an incompetent coach - even though we won The Rugby Championship you could see the cracks appearing... on the UK tour we lost really badly against Ireland, didn't learn from those obvious mistakes, so lost the same pathetic way against France too.

We are not even doing the basics in the forwards when we have possession, there's a real lack of mongrel/urgency taking the ball up, also we're not getting enough numbers to clean, blowing their players out the way so we can get quicker ball to our backs.

Foster's tactic to use box kicks to counter the rushing defence is pathetic... when the opposition are really slowing your ball down you need to kick, but is has to be smart kicking, like wipers kicks deep towards the sideline or corners, get them scrambling back, because the opposition are standing up so flat with this rugby league type defence there's going to be acres of space behind them.

"It all starts at the top". Is it just me who feels that SuperRugby for all it's intensity in the NZ derbies, no longer prepares teams for an elite international defensive structure?

(There's a great 1014 interview on Youtube with Scott Robertson and Ronan O'Gara where Scott admits that ROG really challenged his own ideas on defense ... just a good example)

Regaining a coaching innovation edge is only part of the problem, I suspect some some structural issues and complacency are underpinning this too

Spot on mate - it's not just a problem with Super Rugby, but in world rugby too.

Heaps of times in games we see a ton of aimless kicking, deep down the middle of the field directly to a player, that's just giving good possession away, also those bloody box kicks are way overdone, need to vary your tactics accurately.

Players tend to grubber kick directly into the legs of an opposition player & don't get the weight on the ball right either, if they had any sense they'd look to guide the ball along the deck between the other sides players.
Really annoys me when dumb intercept tries are given away & silly passes in general are thrown to gift the opposition the ball, also charge downs from kicks - christ, these blokes are meant to be professionals ? ...these things would hardly ever happen if each player bothered to read the game properly & have a quick look for a split second to see if a kick or pass was on or not, clearly if it isn't go to ground & set the ball up.

The joy of watching the ABs has always been that fantasic philosophy that a great attack can outwit a great defense "somehow" ... tactics and skills and speed (fitness can no longer be a point of difference)

Given this, what gets me is that NZ tactical innovation seems to have stalled vs modern defenses ... yet SR is the only experience route to prepare up-and-coming / fringe ABs, so I see it as a structural issue, not just a pure AB-level coaching issue ... how to best use SR teams/coaches to prepare the future ABs (who pay all the bills)
And assume that Sean Edwards-style defenses need to be a new defensive benchmark they'll face more and more, not the exception

Hansen was a good coach, but not a great one, he didn't have much insight how to counter a rushing defence either, that showed in the Lions series in NZ - Foster is a complete clown though, so all he's going do is continue to ruin the team, Schmidt has a good rugby brain, hope Foster takes a lot of advice from him, because he desperately needs it.

Against a rushing defence there's really only two options, taking the ball up in phases when you have some momentum going forward - when the opposition really slow your ball down it's pointless to continue to run into a brick wall... so adjust to execute a smart accurate kicking game, wiper kicks into space deep into the corners, grubbers weighted into space etc.

That's a really dumb tactic the AB coaching staff have against a rushing by executing a lot of box kicks/up & unders - with those type of kicks you have less than a 50/50 chance of getting the possession back, also the ball only travels about 30 metres up field.
The players have to take some blame as well, they're the ones playing on the field... our playmakers 9 & 10 should be reading play far better, by consistently taking good options & executing them accurately.

Just that imo future AB playmakers 9, 10, maybe 12 need to playing against more aggressive rush defenses at SR level consistently to learn to deal with it at the next level down ... how to achieve that is a structural and coaching issue for NZR

All the other comps around the world are no more aggressive rushing defence wise than in the Super Rugby Comp - yeah, part of it is about a coaching & structural issue - the majority of it though is about 9, 10 & the midfield not using that thing between their ears called a brain very much... like any bloody sport it's about reading the situation at the time, then taking the best option, not difficult to analsye.

That womble Foster made a big stuff up by not wanting Laumape - we lack that intimidating midfield power runner that can consistently get us over the advantage line... Laumape also had good all-round skills sets, plenty of gas & reads play well.

@dan54 said in Blues vs Hurricanes 02/2022:

@nzbloke said in Blues vs Hurricanes 02/2022:

@canes4life said in Blues vs Hurricanes 02/2022:

Julian Savea looked more comfortable on the wing

In general Julian Savea has a pretty poor work rate, hardly noticed him in the match until Umaga-Jensen slotted into the midfield & Julian Savea moved out to his usual wing position where he improved his work rate a bit.

Sangster & Sullivan have really made the most of their opportunities... Canes are looking very good, even our scrum is fairly stable, hope Holland doesn't continue to stuff the team up too much with some of his strange selections.

Have to say I like the look of young Sangster

Yeah, Sangster has impressed a lot, he's 115kg... him & Scrafton would be a top locking pair for the Canes.

@bayimports said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

[rant] Wow what a disaster, fair play to the Bangladeshi team for exploiting our arrogance/ineptitude or whatever it was that lead to a complete lack of adherence to the recent blackcap standards and Im talking about actions in the field. The form was well below par, but the behavioural aspect was one of the most disappointing aspects of that game.

Also this shows again that the selection management of the squad was again poor, not just the prep which was also below par. Stead is a joke. I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong, but I heard on TV commentary that Patel didn't even make this squad?, yet spin played a major part. The irony is Stead would have probably left Wagner out if he actually read the pitch

Banglas deserved to win - but yeah, that was an absolute bloody shocker by us losing to a team that are ranked near the bottom of the test table in our own backyard... it was like our mob thought they had already won the match before it had started, that's about the dumbest mindset you can have going into a match, we played like it, batting was poor & we bowled both sides of the wicket.

Agree with you about Stead too, this isn't the first time he's really stuffed up concerning selections & preparation & strategy - crazy that Patel wasn't in the 11, the bloke took 10 wickets against India, & he is only the 3rd bloke in the history of the game to do than in an innings... also I would always have a specialist spinner in a team, gives the bowling attack a much better balance.

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2022:

@machpants said in All Blacks 2022:

Because it was in NZ and we didn't win, that's a loss as far as I'm concerned. The Lions were pretty shit, and turned up so late and with so little prep. But we had a dumb red card, then a dumber decision to put Savea back on the wing where he shelled a couple of almost cert tries, and choked like '07.

Gats gets a lot of stick on here, but I really rate him as a coach. That Lions side were very well drilled.

What doesn't get much air time is the injuries that smashed the ABs, and left the Lions largely untouched. Losing Ben Smith, a midfield that had Laumape on debut -- Naholo getting his arm broken, it just was really an unlucky series for the ABs

Don't really rate Gatland... in that Lions series we won the first one comfortably, in those last two tests the Lions focused on rushing defence, we didn't adapt, so we were very predictable on attack, making it way too easy for them to nullify us.

@Chris said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

@booboo said in Black Caps tour of England 2022:

Fuck crucket by the way.

Ut's conplete shut

Off to bed

You did that last night and we got 7 pommie wickets .

Hope he does that again tonight, keeps working really well for us

@winger said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@nzbloke said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

Real brain explosion stuff by Canes kicking for the corner, when we could've slotted a very handy 3pointer to go into golden point time.

I wonder what the Crusaders would do in a similar situation. Against the Canes

Crusaders in general play the percentages well, so reckon they would've gone for the 3pointer to go to extra time, also in that match the Canes played bloody well in the forwards... for years the Crusaders have had the edge over the other NZ teams because they're better drilled in the forwards.

@kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2021:

@kiwibloke ...that list excludes the ab's...as @KiwiMurph said

and nowhere did he say it had nothing to do with the players, but conversely Fozzie has a couple of world players of the year at his disposal and hasn;t done as well....OR if we're going to say the players play the biggest role then we cant hang 2007 on henry and rotation....cant have it both ways

What I'm saying is without all those class players for the ABs how good would Henry's record be ? ...look back at the hold onto the ball policy no matter where they were on the field, to keep holding onto the ball a couple of metres out from your own goal line is mindless, naturally you never stuff around deep in your own territory, you exit as quick as possible.

You can't compare Foster to any other coach we have had, as every knows he is an incompetent pillock as a head coach, which says a lot about the current NZRU Board too.

Couple of classics from John Clarke & Billy T. James.

@nzzp said in Brumbies v Crusaders:

@Chris-B said in Brumbies v Crusaders:

@Bovidae said in Brumbies v Crusaders:

Work rate around the park is more important than scrummaging ability, as often there aren't that many scrums. Obviously, you would prefer props who excel at both but the balance should be in favour of what you do outside of scrums.

Can't really agree on this.

You can survive without ball-running props, but if you've got a weak scrum that can be heavily exploited with endless penalties and cards.

There's a gap thuogh - between penalty conceding weak, and able to hold your own, and dominant. Dominant is nice, but not every ref whistles that appropriately (see RWC 2003 final).

I think the argument is to avoid 'weak' rather than have to be dominant. Frankly, our tight 5 is our weakness at the moment, and that's where we are going to get consistently found out by good teams. We are nowhere near where we were, and I think NH packs are ahead of us in quality on the ground and playing the ball.

NH sides are not doing anything special, just doing the basics well in the breakdown area, for some strange bloody reason we are not doing the work there enough ...as mentioned before the breakdown area is easily the most contested area in the game, so why are we not focusing a lot more in the breakdown stuff ???

@chris said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

@kiwibloke said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

@dogmeat said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

@kiwibloke said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

Anyway, it was a no-brainer before the test 11 was selected that Patel should've played at 7 ahead of Ravindra

How many wickets has Patel taken in NZ?

Oh - that's right ZIP, ZERO, NADA, NONE.

No brainer

I guess it must be his batting that would have you picking him - after all he averages 6 in NZ (& 10 overall)

Take the Indian outlier away and despite playing the majority of his career in spin friendly countries he has 29 wickets @32.48. Very respectable for a Kiwi spinner but hardly a performance that demands inclusion in home conditions.

You're missing my point - which is Patel was always going to be a better spinning option than Ravindra, who hardly spins the ball, lets be honest either of them are not going to add that much to the tail batting wise anyway... but your best chance of winning a match is bowling the other side out twice, so the better your bowling options the more chances you have of winning a test.
As mentioned before the real responsibility for scoring most of the runs is on your top 6, if they bat poorly in both innings your team is basically stuffed anyway, making it pretty vital that you get a very good score in your first batting innings.

Even though I prefer a specialist spinner to play to give your attack better balance, we can only select from the squad they picked against the Bangla's - don't rate Henry, Ravindra is a young bloke & doesn't offer much at this stage, so Mitchell has to slot in at 7 or maybe 6, he's a pretty handy pace bowler & has scored a couple of test hundreds.

One of Australia's strengths is their 8,9 down being able to score runs they get a lot out of Cummins and Starc with the bat even Lyons as he adds some value.

There is a massive emphasis put into coaching the tail to bat in Australia.

I work with some of the Qld state u/19 squads and part of my set coaching week is working with the tail to be able to bat.
It gives your side massive strength.

The other thing I will say is the Systems for identifying talent and developing it is excellent.

The amount of 2m tall Quicks coming through the system is insane we have player's in the Qld u/19 squad that are tall and bowling mid 140's these players were identified at 12 and 13 and worked with using coaching nutrition,Gym sessions etc but a lot of work on elasticity to prevent injuries.

Usually our tail bats much better than that pile of rubbish we showed against the Banglas, other than a couple of players our team had a real shocker.
NZ have a lot less depth & money than Aussie & we don't play as many tests as Aussie, India or England... just shows what a superb effort it was by our blokes to win the WTC.

Having a batting tail that's bat well is a top asset for any side... lot of that comes down to the each individual putting a ton of hard yakka in, practicing their batting over & over again.

@mn5 said in Favourite Comedians:

@nzbloke said in Favourite Comedians:

Atkinson is one of the best at physical comedy.

Saw some Mr Bean quite recently. Holds up well, I quite like how he treats the nerdy girl like shit haha.

This is a cracker with him & his nerdy girlfriend at the movies.
It's the really silly things done cleverly that makes you laugh.

Hope the Blues win... then we will have two teams that will play positive rugby when it's on to do so in the final, whether that's against the Crusaders or Chiefs.

@mn5 said in Black Caps v Bangladesh 2022:

@donsteppa said in NZ cricket 2021:

I would have kept Ajaz in the squad ahead of Matt Henry on sheer principle after that 10 wicket haul, while acknowledging it would make him no more likely to play on a green seamer...

Henry is a waste of a selection. He’ll only play if one of the other seamers is injured. A really ordinary record reminiscent of some of our seamers in the 90s too.

Astonishes me they keep on selecting him at test level - he doesn't have variation in his bowling, no changes of pace, can't swing the ball etc, he's too easy to read with his predictable bowling... in English conditions where they get a ton of movement off the wicket he's very effective, just need to land the in good areas at off stump or just outside & the ball does all the work.

Great that we bowled them out for a very low score, reckon we took the foot off their throat though for a while with our bowling, if we'd kept the pressure we probably would've rolled them for well under 100.
Was hoping we'd knock them over for a low score, keep our bowlers fresh, be ideal if we can get a couple of very early wickets in the first session.