The Silver Fern

@African-Monkey yep criticism is fine and for Sam as he has his limitations. But, that mistake wasn’t the turning point of the game. Just one of many by a lot of players. The bigger issue is why the Blues don’t have a functioning backline?

@taniwharugby the Blues play a static game with power players, there is no one in their side with any pace. Forbes and Sullivan (nice line for his try) don’t offer a point of difference at the back, Clarke is your power winger. Inside them the passing looks laboured - so it just adds up to blah. As a whole the pack looks powerful but no one stands out as being explosive. Didn’t notice Sotutu at all, Papalii was industrious without standing out - Barnes looked really good comparison.

Compare that to the Chiefs who alway looked more threatening . Their backline had some snap, Taukeiaho and Vaii where a class above their opposites. The Blues always looked like they would lose even when they were ahead.

The Sam Nock hate continues. His mistake was not pulling the ball out from the mall that was moving forward. Yes he should have but turning point etc is overstating the error - that was 11 minutes out. They were still had Waikato in the corner until Perofeta was offside and didn’t retreat giving away a penalty. That released the pressure.

The problem with the Blues is their backline still doesn’t function ( but early in the season ) and they lack pace. Patrick Tuipulotu will make a huge difference to the forward pack.

Just love the ball movement - holding the ball, taking the line on, passing…what the ABs used to do before we thought rugby was a game you played by giving the ball back to the opposition.

@Frank said in All Blacks - New Coach Selection:

I can't see them keeping Scott Hansen under any circumstances.
Too tethered to Razor in the players' minds and too much of a cock.
I can't see Ellison being retained either. Too shit.

Let’s just hope the new assistants are demonstrably better.

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@gt12

I genuinely don't think we're too far off and it's been a morale/poor man management thing more than anything. Focus on consistency could work wonders

Some of the structural issues seem to have been addressed too - the AB XV providing a testing ground for future AB players and coached. More needed and hopefully on Kirk's radar

We are way off the Boks at the moment. They do everything better than us by some way. But we are good enough or competitive with other nations.

Generally I would like to see what a better first five does for our attacking game and we need to be a lot better in the air. We are awful.

But vs Boks …their forwards are monsters so we need some new thinking or tactics to achieve parity - keeping the ball, managing set piece, winning the gainline, not conceding penalties etc

4 tests plus other games in SA right now is like climbing Everest.

@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.

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@kev said in All Blacks 2026:

@Godder maybe the culture in Crusaders is very different to ABs and he was unable to change that. I think the thing that nailed him was none of the AB performances were good. Mostly just ugly wins…he needed to have made more bold choices that gave everyone a sense of his new direction …dropped some senior players (BB) for new blood ( e.g. Love?), toughened up forwards ( Ardie doesn’t know what a shoulder tackle is ). Didn’t do anything like that so it was just blah

Scott Hansen was operating as the head coach and fell out with Ruben Love.

Hansen talks in riddles - wouldn’t surprise me

@Godder maybe the culture in Crusaders is very different to ABs and he was unable to change that. I think the thing that nailed him was none of the AB performances were good. Mostly just ugly wins…he needed to have made more bold choices that gave everyone a sense of his new direction …dropped some senior players (BB) for new blood ( e.g. Love?), toughened up forwards ( Ardie doesn’t know what a shoulder tackle is ). Didn’t do anything like that so it was just blah

@KiwiMurph just saying that no one knows the future. Razor may still go on to do well somewhere else….although as a comparison the ABs still ranked 2nd in World I think.

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2026:

@kev said in All Blacks 2026:

I bet the Warriors wish they had never let Ivan Cleary go - a shocking decision. Still based on performance and trends this seems like the right call.

Cleary situation seemed more like Foster where it was announced earlier in the year he was leaving and ended up making the final in his last year.

Which might be the point. Sometimes success is just around the corner ….not saying that was the case with Razor as there wasn’t a game where you could say we played well.

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

@kev said in All Blacks 2026:

@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:

@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2026:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/17/tough-old-gig-when-76-isnt-enough-sir-wayne-smith-on-razors-exit/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPXdb9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeYSVcZ7jrYfZlnoTT8vWy7XANjGc6-LlU1h7zqWhNhko0k3pPTO-_arOzQFc_aem_TA6RaHRb4NvbDxpu41ZeGQ

Fairly biting remakes from Smith. Not saying I agree it was a bad decision, but interesting nonetheless

That is interesting, because Smith was - I think - still in his performance coach role with the ABs so surely someone who was interviewed and presumably had supportive things to say.

"Disaffected players speak behind your back and get to rubbish you, incognito, during end-of-campaign reviews," he said.

I think that is an issue. There is the power dynamic of not wanting to ruin your selection chances by criticising a coach directly. But context can help you respond to criticism if you’re the coach.

Hard to know what the future holds. I bet the Warriors wish they had never let Ivan Cleary go - a shocking decision. Still based on performance and trends this seems like the right call.

Wonder how long they will take to appoint the new coach?

I thought Cleary left because the Wahs wouldn't give him a contract term that he asked for?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ivan-cleary-book-supercoach-says-warriors-didnt-want-me-john-hart-helped-him-link-with-penrith/FHS4FR6ZBFH4NAXN2CB45BMEJA/#:~:text=Ivan Cleary says he left,Everything Counts%2C But Everything Matters.

@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:

@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2026:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/17/tough-old-gig-when-76-isnt-enough-sir-wayne-smith-on-razors-exit/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPXdb9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeYSVcZ7jrYfZlnoTT8vWy7XANjGc6-LlU1h7zqWhNhko0k3pPTO-_arOzQFc_aem_TA6RaHRb4NvbDxpu41ZeGQ

Fairly biting remakes from Smith. Not saying I agree it was a bad decision, but interesting nonetheless

That is interesting, because Smith was - I think - still in his performance coach role with the ABs so surely someone who was interviewed and presumably had supportive things to say.

"Disaffected players speak behind your back and get to rubbish you, incognito, during end-of-campaign reviews," he said.

I think that is an issue. There is the power dynamic of not wanting to ruin your selection chances by criticising a coach directly. But context can help you respond to criticism if you’re the coach.

Hard to know what the future holds. I bet the Warriors wish they had never let Ivan Cleary go - a shocking decision. Still based on performance and trends this seems like the right call.

Wonder how long they will take to appoint the new coach?

Be interested to see what a Kirk led board will do with the shit sandwich that is the non performing Silver Lake deal. Having given away permanent ownership / revenue share you have to make it work somehow.

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2026:

@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:

There does appear to be plenty of revisionist defending Ian Fosters record as well as Ardie Savea and Beauden Barret and their inability to create a winning team environment.

I've been super consistent in thinking Foster should have gone after 2 years and that Razor should have had a crack. We'd be where we are now, but 4 years earlier.

Our board and management were not competent. Any time you put accountants and marketers at the front you wind up in a shit place eventually.

And Lawyers.

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2026:

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2026:

Foster knew this. Foster accepted this. He was not treated badly. He was failing.

Foster knew this. He was treated badly - but only by having a board and CEO without a backbone. Foster should have had one of two things, either moved on quickly and painlessly, or endorsed and supported. He got both with no indication of whether he was meeting expectations or not.

Kirk is a breath of fresh air. The last boards should hang their heads in shame - they screwed Super, sold part of the family silver to the 'lake and botched coaching appointments and high performance.

All of this with CEO added in bold.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

I'm not really a fan of BB as starter.

That’s a very nice way of putting it. As a starter he rarely challenges the line, shovels ball sideways. Cross kicks incessantly especially under advantage which is such an all or nothing play. But has uncanny ball skills and acceleration - plays his best rugby in the broken field situations you more often get at the end of a game.

One of the lowlights of 2025 was in Wellington seeing BB chip kicking for Ardie around our 22 (with the game on the line) the ball being turned over with the Boks scoring. Our senior players are a large part of the problem including Ardie. The new coach will need to address player power.

@sparky said in Bokke vs Ireland:

Ireland have been a really dirty, negative team for such a long time. Good to see them getting their deserved.

Never had a a beef with the Irish but today they were lucky. Missed the first 38 mins but after that Ireland were offside every ruck, their scrum couldn’t stay up…honestly if the ref used yellow cards consistently they would have been lucky to have 10 on the field. Match that with their constant bleating (those NZers in their team seem to be the worst) they make themselves a hard team to like.

@Mattasaurus said in England Vs All Blacks:

@Steven-Harris said in England Vs All Blacks:

@jimmyb you are correct
The discipline is as bad as it was under the back end of Hansen,Foster and now Robinson and it has’nt improved under the later
The aimless high kick and cross kick game still a major problem under all 3 coaches

I think a lot of it comes down to BB being immune to being dropped - aimless, low percentage kicking has been his bread and butter for years now.

The bigger problem of the above is that our forwards win enough ball to expect the backs to progress the game or even score - these moments are not that common and when they are duly wasted on yet another feckless BB kick you have to wonder what it takes to roll the dice on some of the younger options

It takes away from the DNA of our rugby. Heads up rugby with players who like to run with the ball. The most frustrating play is the cross kick when under penalty advantage - a low % play when the ref is going to give you every chance to work space and score close to the line. We know the balance is important but when the ABs were down against Boks in Wellington and we had low % plays like chip kicking for Ardie Savea… ffs.

The other aspect of this is how incestuous our rugby community is - ex ABs as player agents and commentators on the game, a press that incessantly talks up the coaches narrative on the kicking game yet ignores how poor we kick and our inability to retain possession and build pressure. You can critique players/ coaches for decisions, performance and skills without denigrating them. Instead we talk in cliches until it smacks us in the face.

@canefan said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@kev said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@canefan said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@Jet said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@ACT-Crusader said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

Overall a clunky game but always great to beat Ireland.

Fainga’anuku was very good. Plays direct and is hard to get to ground. The way Ireland defend you need that extra time on your feet to allow support players to arrive. Him and Clarke and also Quinn provide that.

Plenty of negative that no doubt will be highlighted, but happy to win and a shame we couldn’t get that last try.

I think we have to call it like it is. We are not very good. The coaching and selections are mental.

Mexteds infamous quote comes to mind.

We are like blind men in a brothel. Just groping.

It's not cohesive. Not authoritative. We dont have any players giving us 8/10 every week.

Someone always saves our arse.

Who are the bona fide world 15 players in the squad. Jordie (at a push)?

The lack of strong game plan is making us much poorer than we should be

I thought they created space and attacking opportunities in first half but poor passing and lineout execution cost them.

Failure to create phases up the middle, and the narrow field, meant almost everytime we went wide we lost it

I thought we lost a lot at restarts when on attack. Usually Codie throws well but we were picked off, knocked on coming down, not straight etc. Then we had a clear break and Jordan dummied and then threw a passs to Carter who has overrun him. I would hate to see visits to the 22 and points scored in the 1st half.