The Silver Fern

@taniwharugby This is just getting embarrassing.
Can he please now concentrate on being a bloody coach.

@Victor-Meldrew Could not agree more with this statement.
It has been bloody embarrassing listening to an AB coach pining for a player who knew when he left NZ for Japan that Razor would be the coach.
Just do your job Razor.

@akan004 I loathe Mark Robinson just as much

Hey Rapido, I agree with the first line but not the second. I do not need to harden up and I am not a princess.
This was not the game to do that. In the leadup to this game we had all and sundry from the AB camp talking about how good a side Ireland are and also how this AB side wanted to set new standards on and off the field and add to the legacy. A 111 year old record is something to treasure and not to give up without a fight.

This game demanded the best we could put on the field.

Aaron Smith got yanked against the WBs for getting flustered and has been seriously stuffed up by the well known shenanigans in Christchurch. TJP has really stepped up this year and copes miles better with aggression around the breakdowns and scores tries that Smith can't. He is the form 9 and should have started.

ALB has amazed all of us with his maturity and his play for someone so young. He is to the manor born. I refuse to believe the bs that he is tired and not to have him on the bench defies belief. Fekitoa has been around for a while and has just not improved his game at all which is inferior to the variety in ALB's game. In no time at all ALB has formed a good partnership with Crotty and should have started. Again, in a game of such massive importance you DO NOT fucking rest and rotate. Moala is definitely worth persevering with but with his shortcomings this was not the game for him.

Two big bruisers on the wings, WTF, both of whom have limited skillsets. I thought we gave this away in 2009. Again, we knew what the Irish would bring and they did. Dagg on the right wing has added balance to the side this year and the Irish would have got a lot less change from their efforts if he had been there. Apart from his bust for the first try Naholo looked all at sea which for me pretty much sums up his season in black. Again, Shag, why ?

Jerome is the world's best 6. I don't buy the reasons for not starting Barrett at lock. He is a lock. Why weaken the blindside to plug a hole at lock because you have then successfully weakened two positions. Squire for all his potential is not a starter yet and we really missed Kaino at 6.

Read made a comment about their heads not being 100% right. You said what Keiran. I have said for ages that my biggest worry at McGod's retirement was the captaincy. Read was quoted last week as saying that he has demanded that he and his leadership team are in control of the team from Thursdays on. The coaches pull their heads in apparently from that point. To my eyes there was a deficiency of captaincy smarts in Chicago. That seriously needs to be addressed. All well and good when you are winning but captaincy in adversity is a much tougher gig.

Anyway, just my views. If we were going to lose to Ireland I would rather have done it in a less insipid manner. I am an old geezer and probably get the shits too easily but geez I would have liked to have been able to say that I was immensely proud of a losing effort when the Irish won.

Just referring to the ABs as a team I used to play for is enough for me to agree with the passport withdrawal.

Cannot listen to Hansen anymore.
He should have gone in 2017 as he said he would and his strenuous efforts to have Foster installed as his successor enraged me at the time and still do.

@broughie and that is something that Foster is clearly never going to acknowledge which is why we are where we are.
His constant references to learnings is a joke and intended to fool us into thinking he has some analytical skills which he will diligently apply to the next game plan.

@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2023:

@sparky you cannot ever have a perfect combo with Savea at 8

Bloody hell has anybody checked to make sure the Ferret wasn't in the coaching box with Colin Cooper.

@Chris said in All Blacks 2023:

@frugby

I put it in perspective 4 years in charge as HC, 8 years previous as an assistant coach 12 years in the AB environment as a coach.

That would make you think we would have come to this WC in a better state game plan,Selections etc.If Foster was up to the job he would have been better He would have achieved bugger all of his KPI's.
We have lost a lot of Respect as a Rugby nation under Fosters reign.

Should he not be put under the spotlight as HC for the state we are in.
I blame Foster for most of the shit we are in.

I wish I could give this post multiple upticks as it says everything that should be said.
After 12 years in the environment all we get is “ gee we’ve got to be better “ and “ we were taught a few home truths tonight” and he says these with a straight face.
Just go please Fozzie, just go.

Mr Boo Boo, apologies for my slackness in not replying to your welcome to the Fern about 600 posts ago. You asked if an olive branch had been extended and the answer is no. Is there one ?

It has taken me a while to move from reading and loving the Fern to contributing and I am sure I will have fun. Thanks again.

@nzzp this and more. Reappointing a guy ahead of a planned review smacks of arrogance and dodginess.
If the review had been done at the agreed time Foster probably would have been gone after the 2021 EOYT.

@canefan and I agree with both of you. The damage he has done will take quite a while to repair.
His acceptance of mediocrity and poor performances and his mealy mouthed justifications really piss me off.
He has never seemed disturbed at what he has overseen and his interviews and pressers have made the colour beige look real exciting.
I’ve been watching the ABs since the 1970s and have never felt this detached until this turkey came along.

Bugger you Mariner I thought I had sorted out my halfback selection for this week and then you come up with that post.
Absolutely dead right, since when do we pick any player because our forwards played like fairies.

Smith it is.

BB for the same reason because the forwards will play like non-fairies and Smith will send bullets his way and he will make the Irish defence look very porous.

Todd on bench because Ardie doesn't like breakdowns and we have to smash these bastards.
Barrett on bench if BBBR and Sam start because he applies himself every minute he is on the field. No point in being big and strong like Pat T if you take a holiday during the game.

ALB and Fekitoa because the prospect of Seta starting scares the hell out of me. He just looks lost in the matches he has played so far.
Dagg just has to start. End of story. Two wingers with dubious form is one too many and I think it has to be Jules due to experience.

Also I want him to overtake that muppet Howlett's try scoring record after I saw pics of him seriously enjoying the victory over the ABs in Chicago with some Irish teammates. In the accompanying report he referred to the ABs as "a team I used to play for". Now that really pissed me off.T

Hopefully Hansen and the other 14 players on the field all read the Fern and make this happen because that fucking record has to go.

@Machpants as long as Shag doesn’t teach them how to do a 2019.

10 is now our only real worry

@KiwiMurph great to hear a coach speak intelligently and honestly.
So good to have him back home.
Bloody good player and now a bloody good coach.

@NTA He will not go because the whole sycophantic board would have to admit they cocked up. And that won't happen, not while they are being handsomely rewarded.
All this has a touch of the Titanic about it.

Taniwha, if he has done those things then that is good. I always felt uneasy about the possibility that the top AB tryscorer may have been someone who permed his hair.

We will have to leave the number of tries at 49 but leave the name blank like Lance Armstrong had his name excised from the record books.

A good day's work boys.