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@Bones said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan right! And yet last time I was home, every plonker was moaning about the state of the roads and traffic. I live in south London and the main way out is the M25 or country lanes...
Yup, driving in NZ is awesome. Even if you screw up and make a wrong turn there is always a gap in traffic or a slow moving car coming the opposite direction to enable you to turn around or get across traffic.
@Bovidae said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan Unfortunately TSF died on the day of the Hamilton test as I was going to post a couple of options to watch either a 1st XV game or club SF game before the AB test. Good to read you had a great time and I hope you got the obligatory photo with the Colin Meads statue in Te Kuiti, and enjoyed your rugby experience at FMG.
Thanks, yeah no worries, I could not access TSF and I was assuming that it was just problems being overseas on the internet with my cell phone. We ended up going to the Fraser Tech clubhouse to park but the game that was being played just finished as we pulled in.
Te Kuiti was such an unplanned bonus, nothing more than dumb luck - I knew that Colin Meads was from that neck of the woods (King country) but it wasn't till I saw the Waitete ground and the signs that I realized we had stumbled upon his hometown. The drive from Taupo to Te Kuiti was just so wonderful that this experience was the icing on the cake.
Driving in the countryside in New Zealand is so enjoyable. At some points in Waikato we did not see another car for miles upon miles and you are surrounded by this stunning greenery with just some sheep and cattle dotted on the landscape.
Thanks for your assistance in planning an epic trip.
Some highlights were the drive from Taupo to Waitomo - beautiful countryside, stunning and capped off by coming into Te Kuiti. There was a Colin and Stan Meads exhibition in the tourist office (which we just stumbled upon) with lots of his memorabilia including his first All Blacks jersey. One of the locals took us down to where he farmed and it was a magical experience.
Then on our last day we had time to kill en route to Auckland so.stopped off in Pukekohe and Counties were training right next to the stadium. Watched that for half an hour or so and then asked for directions to Wellesley college - again, pretty magical to see where Jonah went to school and the fields he played on.
Overall, incredible trip, got to see Auckland, Rotorua , Taupo, Waitomo, Raglan, Hamilton, Tauranga and the Coromandel peninsula. Very beautiful country, pristine tbh and can't wait to visit again.
Thanks again.
@voodoo said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan if you’re planning doing the Luge in Rotorua, make sure you hit the dip perfectly straight as you will get airborne…
We rode the gondola but just because of time constraints did not do any rides...... Probably dodged a bullet there. 
@canefan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@canefan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
Been in NZ for a few days now, having arrived Friday in Auckland and just today drove down Highway 1 to Roturua.....
Love it tbh...... To say its clean is an understatement, every part of NZ we have seen so far is spotless and immaculate, the drivers are all very courteous too even when I am driving a tad too cautious and slow no-one is giving me a hard time and have loved the green rolling hills of Waikato en route to Rotorua.
Welcome mate. I hope the trip is everything you hoped it would be
If you are still there and want a yummy dinner option, this place is great
El Mexicano Zapata Cantina https://share.google/ZVmonRAVC512wnxOL
It is, thanks, tbh it is surpassing all of our expectations which were relatively high to begin with. My sons words were "it is the best maintained place I've ever been".
I think we are around the corner from that restaurant, appreciate the tip.
It's family run, outside the main tourist part, the food is great and the staff were lovely last time I went (a couple of years ago)
Canefan, I took you up on that - it was as good as you said. Thanks.
Was able to go to the national kiwi hatchery and saw two kiwi birds, one older who will not be able to survive in the wild and a younger one who is being raised to be released into the wild. Also, had the added bonus of seeing someone training a sheepdog - 3 sheep in a closed pen and the dog being trained on voice command to corral them.
@canefan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
@nonpartizan said in Help with a travel itinerary to NZ:
Been in NZ for a few days now, having arrived Friday in Auckland and just today drove down Highway 1 to Roturua.....
Love it tbh...... To say its clean is an understatement, every part of NZ we have seen so far is spotless and immaculate, the drivers are all very courteous too even when I am driving a tad too cautious and slow no-one is giving me a hard time and have loved the green rolling hills of Waikato en route to Rotorua.
Welcome mate. I hope the trip is everything you hoped it would be
If you are still there and want a yummy dinner option, this place is great
El Mexicano Zapata Cantina https://share.google/ZVmonRAVC512wnxOL
It is, thanks, tbh it is surpassing all of our expectations which were relatively high to begin with. My sons words were "it is the best maintained place I've ever been".
I think we are around the corner from that restaurant, appreciate the tip.
Been in NZ for a few days now, having arrived Friday in Auckland and just today drove down Highway 1 to Roturua..... Thought Auckland was a lovely city, did a boat tour in the harbour from the NZ maritmne museum.
Love it tbh...... To say its clean is an understatement, every part of NZ we have seen so far is spotless and immaculate, the drivers are all very courteous too even when I am driving a tad too cautious and slow no-one is giving me a hard time and have loved the green rolling hills of Waikato en route to Rotorua.
@Steven-Harris said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Money also trumps anything we see down here in NZ
It's true but one thing NZ has that no other country can match is heritage, tradition and pride in the jersey.
To me the respective approaches to this series speak to how New Zealand have something that the French will never be able to buy or throw money at.
The word I would use is integrity.
Btw, the weird thing about the French approach to this series is how do you explain to the players who acquited themselves well in Dunedin why they were left out for the second test. Dropping 10 players from the first test makes absolutely no sense from a team building point of view.
Players want to play and they want to win, I'm just not sure how you sell players on being part of a project that is pretty incoherent.
@DaGrubster said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@nonpartizan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@tomk said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Heard France could be making a lot of changes to the team. One french reporter said as many as 10 changes. Hard to believe
So their game plan is to ensure the All Blacks coaches scouting reports on last week's test match is futile..... Wheres the All blacks are a known quantity to France.
I can kind of understand what they are doing in that their approach takes all the pressure off them.
I heard there are a grand total of 72 caps in this French squad.
I dont care what they are doing - it is incredibly disrespectful to do this. France vs All Blacks is an iconic fixture i. Rugby and they have turned it into a joke.
I really hope that we spank them by 50
Points in the next two tests and tell them don’t darken our door again
Trust me, I don't disagree with you at all.
What it does is not only undermine the fixture and test rugby at large it puts them in a no loss position of they either excuse the loss as it wasnt our best side or they crow about their second string winning.
Their approach takes all the pressure off them but it's unsportsmanlike. I believe the term would be it's not cricket.
@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2025:
@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:
If Manu does return to pursue his All Blacks dream he will only have the 2027 Super Rugby season to prove himself, should he go down that path.
Joseph Manu makes next career call amid NRL return rumours
NRL fans hoping to welcome Joseph Manu back to the league will be bitterly disappointed, with French rugby side Racing 92 announcing the signing of the former Sydney Roosters star until 2027. Manu was long-rumoured to be joining the French-based club; however, many had hoped his departure from...
Comparing to Sonny Bills timeline he went to French rugby in 2008 and was playing NPC for Canterbury in 2010 and the Crusaders in 2011. So it would appear to be an even tighter timeline than SBW.
I'd love to know to what extent the NZR and the coaches build relationships when this stuff happens to increase the likelihood of being able to integrate the player into the All Blacks setup, of the stars align.
From what I can recall Tana was with SBW in France and may have acted as a bridge builder in this sense.
Both Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Brad Thorn (who turned it down) were selected after their first Super Rugby and NPC seasons respectively but they were selected on reputation and name as much as for their performance on field and neither was selected in a World Cup year. It’d be a big gamble to pick a league convert for the first time in a World Cup year not knowing how well they’ll make the step up. He’d have to be an absolute stand out in Super Rugby.
Agreed, 100%. It seems in a best case scenario he is about a year behind where he would need to be in the process as a convert.
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:
If Manu does return to pursue his All Blacks dream he will only have the 2027 Super Rugby season to prove himself, should he go down that path.
NRL fans hoping to welcome Joseph Manu back to the league will be bitterly disappointed, with French rugby side Racing 92 announcing the signing of the former Sydney Roosters star until 2027. Manu was long-rumoured to be joining the French-based club; however, many had hoped his departure from...
Comparing to Sonny Bills timeline he went to French rugby in 2008 and was playing NPC for Canterbury in 2010 and the Crusaders in 2011. So it would appear to be an even tighter timeline than SBW.
I'd love to know to what extent the NZR and the coaches build relationships when this stuff happens to increase the likelihood of being able to integrate the player into the All Blacks setup, of the stars align.
From what I can recall Tana was with SBW in France and may have acted as a bridge builder in this sense.
@tomk said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
Heard France could be making a lot of changes to the team. One french reporter said as many as 10 changes. Hard to believe
So their game plan is to ensure the All Blacks coaches scouting reports on last week's test match is futile..... Wheres the All blacks are a known quantity to France.
I can kind of understand what they are doing in that their approach takes all the pressure off them.
@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks v France 2:
Robertson can obviously do whatever he likes but I find wholesale changes don’t work very well in terms of either team performance or finding out how well individual players go.
What we tend to see is the A team run out several weeks in a row and then the B team for a week. I’d prefer them to make a couple of changes a week to see how certain players go playing alongside the core group.
The bench can also be used well here, making replacements at (or even before) half time, instead of giving players ten minutes at the end of the game.
Agree with you entirely.
If you make wholesale changes it becomes impossible to evaluate the contribution of individual players because they aren't playing in a consistent and stable side.
I think it's better to strive towards having a very clearly defined first choice XV and then just tinkering with a selection here or there.
@Frank said in All Blacks v France I:
Rieko came on the scene with insane athleticism.
Fast, strong and elusive.Since then, he has not improved his kicking game, aerial game or passing game.
Yes.
In rugby as in any sport players whose best attributes are athleticism, speed etc age badly if they don't add to their repertoire because once they lose a bit of pace they can't reinvent themselves.
@ACT-Crusader said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@nonpartizan said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Bones said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
We turned the ball over 16 times to their 12
12 seems like a lot of times to turn over the ball for a team with fuck all possession and no BB/WJ.
27 points seems a lot of points for a team to concede when they have 62% possession.
That try Gulliard scored was soft as butter. They made a break and we can only defend 1 forward carry close to the line before he powers over.
Indeed.
Contrast that with the French defence - they did a pretty good job covering and scrambling after line breaks.
Tbh 31 points and 3 disallowed tries is a pretty decent attacking output - it's conceding 27 with France having less than 40% of the ball that was the problem.
Possession stats need to be put into context with territory though. We had a lot of ball it seems in our defensive half. Which comes back to our kicking game - not deep enough etc.
Just wondering if Jordie tweaked something in the warmups given he wasn’t kicking goals and we barely saw him do any field kicking ie stepping into first receiver to use his big boot. There was footage of him practicing goal kicking in the warmup.
Yeah, the kicking strategy seemed pretty hard to figure out.
At the start of the game Roigard was launching box kicks that weren't really being effectively contested - I think one bounced into a crowd of players and flew backwards. I'm not sure who they were targeted to or who was supposed to be contesting. It was pretty messy.
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@Bones said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
@brodean said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:
We turned the ball over 16 times to their 12
12 seems like a lot of times to turn over the ball for a team with fuck all possession and no BB/WJ.
27 points seems a lot of points for a team to concede when they have 62% possession.
That try Gulliard scored was soft as butter. They made a break and we can only defend 1 forward carry close to the line before he powers over.
Indeed.
Contrast that with the French defence - they did a pretty good job covering and scrambling after line breaks.
Tbh 31 points and 3 disallowed tries is a pretty decent attacking output - it's conceding 27 with France having less than 40% of the ball that was the problem.
@Bones said in All Blacks MOTM v France I:
@nonpartizan said in All Blacks MOTM v France I:
Would you say he went better than expected?
Yeah I think that's it for me, I find it hard to give a guy man of the match just because he was passable and not an abomination.
. I'm with you. I'm just giving him his flowers. Based on SR form I did not anticipate him playing that well.
@reprobate said in All Blacks MOTM v France I:
You can't get man of the match votes in an international test match at 10 if you miss touch from a penalty and continually give the ball away with shit short kicks.
The tip-on for the try was really good though.
Would you say he went better than expected?
I was personally surprised at how well he played tbh. His goal kicking was immaculate, splitting the posts perfectly on those touchline conversions. He struggled on those types of kicks a few times for the Blues in SR this past season.
@Bovidae Yeah Barrett was flawless in his goal kicking and otherwise was setting the backline up nicely. Must be his best performance of the calendar year.