The Silver Fern

What an annoying game to watch and bonkers that we had that big a win based off that performance. For 60 minutes we were utter poop. Happy with the result, not that happy with the performance. If Ireland could have taken some missed chances earlier on we might be singing from a different song sheet.

BB plays like a scatterbrained teenager. How is it that DMac has that reputation still while BB is serving it up consistently.

For as good a rugby player that he is Jordan lacks some basic skills. His passing is a lottery.

Roigard had two excellent moments in a match where he didn't quite live up to the Fern hype.

LF had a good game. I guess he's now our number 1 centre because we may as well try out four of them this year.

How has it taken me this long to realise that Furlong and De Groot are twins?

FFS the ref pissed me off when he gave Ireland another go at a miss kick because they didn't kick off the mark. Either let it play on or scrum to us, instead they were rewarded with a mulligan.

What is Lakai's role? He's supposed to be the blockbuster running guy, but he didn't do any of that.

Sititi looks to he coming back into form, put in a handy shift. In fact all the replacements seems to add something in this match.

Ah well, win number 1 in the box, maybe this is going to really kick off the era of Razor if we can build on the direct play of the last 20.

@Machpants said in All Blacks 2024:

Well said Beaver, even more of a legend

https://www.planetrugby.com/news/this-springboks-argument-will-never-wash-with-me-ex-all-blacks-epic-rant-in-response-to-scott-robertsons-plea

“Let’s not sugar-coat it, this is about getting Richie Mo’unga back – it’s one person,” Donald continued.

Yep, and we all fucking know it. If he was DC it would make more sense, but he's not, not even close to being close despite his fluffers.

I think @Dan54 might have been around in the 70s when the ABs were losing matches to Baabaas teams on an internal tour. That would have been tough to take.

Apologies Dan if you're not that old.

This year has felt worse for me personally than 98 for the way we lost games, and are playing. I'm as disillusioned with AB rugby in a way I haven't felt since the Mitchell era. And rightly or wrongly I'm more disillusioned than the Fozzie era because we were sold a lemon this time round when we supposed to be getting the messiah.

@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:

@booboo said in All Blacks 2025:

@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:

were they just dazzled by his success that all but demanded the job?

Still, to be fair, I was.

Apparently Razor said he was going to head overseas so NZR bent over and signed him instead of letting him leave. That's looking increasingly like a poor decision

Did anybody think he'd shit the bed this bad? I fucking didn't .

I just don't know how to approach this at the minute.

It's hard to think of a coach who has had so much goodwill going into the job and tanked it completely.

I'm back, thanks to a Saffa poster on Planet Rugby and a few goes at remembering a nearly two decades old password.

@chchfanatic said in All Blacks vs England 2:

Blame the last coaches for not creating depth then.
How do we reckon Hoskins would’ve gone in the tight stuff on Saturday night. He wouldn’t have handled it. That’s why he wasn’t picked.

Jesus christ, how do you type this rubbish with two hands around Razors dick?

For one, one of the main coaches from the last lot is still there anyway. But it's not their job to create depth for the next coach. Razor isn't selecting Jacobson and Blackadder for the depth of the next coach.

Secondly, Sotutu would have been as good/bad as any of the loosies that played on the day in the tight stuff. You haven't watched the Blues this year if you think otherwise.

@mariner4life said in Aura watch:

to me it feels more like a commercial stage show than the challenge it used to be. It's the microphones, and the "ooh which one will they do" followed by "oh it's the old one, they don't respect you bro" and the legislated allowable responses. It's a sideshow, play the bloody game.

And it's lead by a bloody half back.

Note: the advantage shit is absolute horseshit though.

How the F would you know, you haven;t watched it in ages.

I bugger off for the anthems and come back for the haka. I missed the haka in 1994 vs the French at Eden Park because my mate and I got lost driving to the ground, and the girls we asked for directions were pretty so we dropped them off where they were going first and then went to the game, made our seats just as the haka ended. We lost to the try from the end of the world. I'm not risking missing the haka again.

@chris-b said in Highlanders 2021:

@kirwan said in Highlanders 2021:

@chris said in Highlanders 2021:

@nepia said in Highlanders 2021:

@snowy said in Highlanders 2021:

@nostrildamus said in Highlanders 2021:

@snowy said in Highlanders 2021:

@billy-tell said in Highlanders 2021:

I remain scarred by Michael jones vs Argentina. Each time there is a knee injury I think « career in jeopardy ». Jones came back but he was never as good.

Didn't he play 6 mostly after that? Had a bit of a different role and wasn't quite as visible? Or has my memory failed me - again...

It is shit news about Fakatava. It looks like most of us thought he was going to be in Black this year. Just have to hope it isn't as bad as we fear.

Yes but Jones speed factor set him apart in that era until the injury. Not a bad tackler though. He also played 8 for Auckland if I recall correctly.

Yeah think I saw him at 8. The move to six was due to the loss of speed you mentioned, and in a very rare Fern occurrence we could both / all be right.
He was better as a seven until his knee was fucked, slowed down a bit, played six. Was still very good. How does that sound?

Best 7 we’ve ever had and then 2nd best 6 of the past 30 years.

In this bloke’s opinion anyway.

Nah McCaw IMO Best 7

It's a good problem to have, arguing between two of the greats. McCaw in the professional era, Jones in the amateur. Sorted.

I think you're pretty much right.

Different eras.

MJ would need to pack on nearly 10kgs to play 7 these days - and 10 cm to play 6.

http://stats.allblacks.com/asp/profile.asp?ABID=443

Tall enough for lock at the Canes though, but probably too dynamic.

I'm still in the don't pick overseas players camp. Any time we discuss this I usually come to the conclusion that barely any currently overseas players will get picked anyway.

@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:

One thing I noticed this younger generation just don't have that same intensity and edge like the older ones.

Its even down to stuff like I heard Cully said the old schoolers like Zinny and Fitzy really would not give the newbies like him the time of day until they had established themselves.

That type of shit got rightfully punted eventually during the Henry era, and it contributed to one of the most dominant AB eras ever.

I think we're over analysing this a bit now. We're just a but shit, our coaches are shit, whether players are mates off field with the opposition, or whether there's an 80s style hierarchy doesn't matter.

We can't even do the basics right, we can't catch, we don't kick for territory even though we have a couple of guys who can get distance, we appear mot to have a defensive coach ...

I'm hoping Razor can turn it around and it's just taken him this long to adjust to this level.

@Hooroo said in All Blacks v BI Lions Test #3:

So the general feeling about the town is that while it is a pity we didn't win, it was a hell of a series and a really good result for Rugby.

I don't disagree either.

The Lions fans have to be the best travelling fans of any sport?

I'm not too miffed about all that happened. If it was against England or Aussie or South Africa then I would be more gutted.

I'm going to go a little against the grain here of the Fern wisdom - just a personal opinion so pitchforks can stay holstered. As someone who isn't over there soaking up the atmosphere, after the heady early days of the tour I've actually found this tour has broken my spirit for rugby a bit. I'm sure if I was there intermingling with the travelling fans and not just following online on forums and through the media my thoughts might be different.

Firstly the officiating, I know some people think we should rise above the officiating but that's a bullshit cop out, it should be held to account like everything else that happens out on the field - if we can moan about TJs flapping, Cruden existing, SBW being SBW, Fatty being unfairly/fairly picked on, etc etc then we can discuss the ref as well. As I've mentioned earlier in the thread I think the 'spirit' of the reffing switched between the 2nd and 3rd test (and even times within the 3rd test) and it negatively affected the ABs both times. The final test draw was worse than the 2nd test loss for me to take personally because of the bullshit at the end.

The tour also served up a bunch of negative rugby that was at times penalised and other times wasn't. The offside line was at various times policed and not policed. The ABs tries in the first test and the Lions counter attacks in the second should have been the takeaways from the tour but it was the negative play that overshadowed everything else. Both teams dished out a wee bit of dirty and or reckless play (IMHO and with my biases one team got penalised a bit more for it) that probably didn't need to happen. Oh and fuck Connor Murray and his ball rolling and fuck the refs for letting him do it (Smith also did it on occasion as well in the 3rd test).

The Lions management chipping in the media was annoying. As noted above the Lions played right on and over the borderline of the laws throughout the test series yet they spent a bunch of time moaning about the ABs tactics to the media and refs. It's like they don't own a mirror. The moaning about blockers was particularly annoying as they were consistently guilty of the same tactics. Speaking of blocking, in the 2nd test BBBR was penalised, a penalty that gained the Lions 3 points, for an act that happened throughout the 3 test series on both sides.

The media just did my head in on this tour - and that's really only through posters linking to it on here. How come all rugby media is just trolling? From both sides.

Should we have won the series? Yes. Would it have made my thoughts any different? Probably, I guess we'll never know, a few less dropped balls, a couple less injuries, a couple of not dropped on their head French babies and I might be singing a different tune.

@number9 said in 2019 Rugby Championship:

So how does that drop kick Aumua make the ABs when he has played like shit all season.

I guess because Harris is liable to hit me in Australia when throwing into the lineout in Auckland.

@Joans-Town-Jones said in Bledisloe 1:

I'm sorry but why are they celebrating??? They had ample opportunity to put that game away with all the YCs, fucked endless opportunities to score, showed complete lack of aptitude in defense and got a unicorn at the end to win. I feel dirty and the ABs again, are complete shit.

FFS bro, they just won a close game, they're fucking human, allow them to celebrate.

@Chris-B said in Hansen:

Of course, they have been - but, that doesn't mean they're right.

Doesn't mean they're wrong either. Being able to say I told you so is the only thing keeping me from slitting my wrists at the moment.

You play that game again with the different players and get to change five plays/decisions - e.g. Cane smashes England players and the ball doesn't reach Daly, Savea has the freedom to run rather than contest rucks on his own, J Barrett doesn't come on and turnover ball when we finally have momentum, and Ioane makes ground in contact and pops a ball to TJ in space - and you could easily get a different result.

FYI - I'm 100% not in the Hansen is shit camp, I'm in the Hansen has been bloody good for a long time but made some errors and got out-coached, and I'm definitely not in the new camp of "England were always going to win", we had the team to win and we didn't.

Great to see he's turned his life around after the Crusaders (and AB) gave him a lifeline.

@frank said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

@billy-tell said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

Rennie is one of the most overrrated coaches. Initial success with the Chiefs then very average.

Overrated mostly by Nepia. Not sure who else is stroking his schlong.

Wheres the yawn emoji? Wins Super rugby twice with long term failures the Chiefs, wins three U20s in a row and lulls us into thinking they're easy until we start loosing a few, takes over a basket case province when their coach quits and makes them way more competitive than they should be. Oh, also won a rare NPC for Wellington when he was a baby coach back in the day.

But yeah, overrated and average.

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2022:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2022:

@nzzp said in All Blacks 2022:

I tend to think of leaguies as being big units

Isn't that a perceived holdover from the pre-professional days?

He looks way more jacked than Reiko Ioane who should probably spend more time in the weights room than on his phone.

Why? He’s faster than anyone else we have and he doesn’t really lose physical exchanges. Plus RTS is flexing while doing exercises while Reiko is sitting on his arse reading the Fern and thinking “I’d like to see you fat fucks play centre”.

This discussion has gone a little bit off the rails. No way Roigard should be starting over Smith, and especially not based on coming on in a losing match and a match against Namibia.

2nd halfback over the Ginga? Hell yes. Starting over Smith. Fucking absurd.

So it's confirmed, Ryan was the puppet master at the Crusaders.

While I'm in semi rant mode (procrastinating from doing work), while I think it's time to move on from ALB I think some of the commentary about his tenure in the ABs on here has been fucking stupid. The fact some posters are trying to rewrite his career and make out he was always at this level is bonkers. For most of his AB career ALB was a sold AB, not a superstar but a decent glue player, and more often than not didn't let us down in black.