The Silver Fern

@mariner4life said in RWC: France v All Blacks:

@reprobate said in RWC: France v All Blacks:

@mariner4life said in RWC: France v All Blacks:

The World XV is a bit different these days

The talent around is very even, and very spread. If people were asked to give the XV you would get a heap of different answers.
I'm not switching our 13, 11, or 14 with anyone. Sam Whitelock is still a very very good player. Aaron Smith is still the best 9 if you want a guy who gets the rucks fast and gets the ball well away from the breakdown super fast.
That's a 3rd of our team who would be in the conversation

1 good forward and some good outside backs sounds a bit like early 2000s Hurricanes - except those outside backs were all best ever candidates, and they still finished 9th or so out of 12 teams...

Except that's not what I said is it?

God when did we become such scared bitches? You would think that every opposition team is full of the best players in the world (despite the impossibility of that statement) with no weaknesses

The French are good but they aren't 2015 ABs good, and they have key injuries
The Irish are good, but they lack points and if you nullify sexton the rest will fold
We beat the Boks pretty handsomely already this year

The way I see it is the rugby we see over the next few weeks will be a different sport to that we have seen win the interim since the 2019 World Cup. It's a well trodden path at this stage. It's typically scoreboard advancing in increments of three, cagey affairs where the players and refs can be perceived to freeze big time depending on whose fans you talk to.

Wayne Barnes in 2007, Joubert in the Scotland v Australia game in 2015, Bryce Lawrence in 2011 (which ended his career), Joubert in 2011 final etc.

This New Zealand team does not have a body of work behind them that suggests they can come from behind against the big teams or grind out an arm wrestle and win by a score in the dying minutes like McCaws boys could. There was a mental steel to that vintage which I haven't seen in this crop.

For most of Fosters tenure the team has been all fur coat and no knickers. Flashes of brilliance with no cohesion, no discernible game plan to the amateur eye and headless chook stuff on the field in some of the defeats. It's one thing to lose. But lose like you know what you are doing out there. I also think Foster has got a lot wrong at the selection table and players like Cane and Beaudy have lived charmed lives. There is a lack of ruthlessness from the top down. Even Robinson dropped a bollock in not sacking Foster. The only time in recent memory the team showed (for want of a better phrase) "big dick energy" was when they ran over the top of the Springboks in NZ this year.

I can see us pumping some teams and taking a scalp or two but it will be harem scarem stuff with some Will Jordan or Telea magic getting us over the line.

I also think its fair to say the Aura is well and truly gone. We are the most carded team in the world since the 2017 Lions tour and Allblacks are routinely sent off for infringements that other teams (at times) seem to get away with. It's almost like a CV padder to ping them off the park. To show your "strength" as an official.

I also think rightly or wrongly the refs don't really "fear" Cane in the same way they were aware of McCaw's presence.

I think with McCaw in the team, the opening ten or so minutes in Twickenham against the Boks doesn't happen. It would have been sorted with the ref after the first ping of the whistle.

I also think we have been led a merry dance off the field in relation to ref/laws/citings/TMO chat and playing the media. We have been on a charm offensive throughout the social media age turning the other cheek after any perceived shafting. Other coaches (rightly or wrongly) use the build up to a test match to build a narrative, plant seeds and reflect on stuff that happened in the previous test. Rassie in the Lions tour, Eddie Jones etc. Sexton does it on the field at every ruck!

Foster should have been talking to media about Springboks getting tactically injured every time they have a player in the bin. Running the clock and acting the maggot. There are diplomatic ways to say it. Similarly he should have cried blue murder after Porter broke Retallicks orbital bone and only got a yellow after Ta'avao the week before. You need to kick up such a stink that they daren't do it to your team again. Its professional sport folks.

In spite of all of the above, by luck (through injury) rather than design, I think we can cobble together a superb 15 on any gameweek and fancy us to beat anyone in the tournament on any given day.

Can we do it 3 or 4 weeks on the spin is the question...

Gregor Paul was on Irish podcast after the South Africa game to talk about Fosters backing from NZRU.

He opined that maybe a lot of the players backed Foster because if Razor was appointed they would be dropped....

@broughie said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:

@Steve doesn’t this sound like NZ right now.? It seems the country has been neutered by Cindy highlighted but a fear approach to Covid.

Yeah pretty much.

Like I remember Goldie as a player. Loved a bit of sledging and an over exuberant rub it in your face try celebration.

He is completely insipid as a pundit. All he is missing is the pom poms.

Muliaina did a Vox pop on Cane post Ellis park and outlined "that's why he is our captain".
You played with McCaw for pretty much your whole career mate. Thats the standard.

Leave the jersey in a better place than you found it was the mantra.

Most of these lads aren't doing that.

Whitelock is the only oldie doing himself justice.

Cane , Aaron Smith, Havili, Taylor, Coles, dare I say Retallick. Most of the props.

They can foxtrot Oscar for a few games. They have lost 6 out of 8.

The crest on the front is bigger than any name on the back.

Someone else deserves a chance.

There are plenty of diamonds in the rough who just need a chance. Fletcher Newell was sat at home two weeks ago and I watched him push an Argentinians head up his arse today aged 22.

Give the boys a chance. Inject some exuberance into it.

@BerniesCorner

It has been so scattergun post 2019.

Robertson overlooked for the gig.

Laumape got ran out of town.

Sowakula. Capped and scrapped. Jacobsen similar.

Ennor doing the Hokey Cokey in and out of squads to ride the pine.

Clarke goes off to 7's for a year and doesn't get a gig.

Papalii utilised on EOYT and played decent enough in Dublin. Not a look in this time.

RTS comes on against Ireland at 13. Played all year at 12.

Fainganuuku been sent to coventry already.

Still really know nothing about Vaii due to lack of meaningful minutes.

Karl T gets called in against the Irish with one foot out the exit door. Hailed as our "best scrummager" but doesn't get picked.

Samisoni dropped for 3rd test after playing well .

Will Jordan benched for the second test.

The whole thing is a dogs breakfast.

Nobody knows where they stand bar Cane, the Barretts, Ardie, Aaron and Whitelock.

I am rooting for the boy big time now.

Hope he turns into the second coming of Carl Hayman.

@stodders I don't think the insularity is a problem.

There is no sensible gameplan.

Look at the Ireland back 3. A Brumbie cast off, a NZ cast off and Hugo Keenan.

None of the 3 of them would get in New Zealands team.

Keenan is not Christian Cullen.

Hansen is a journey man and Lowe was being slagged by Chris Ashton for being slow and fat last year.

But the three of them catch all their kicks and kick back intelligently. They don't get tackled into touch, they recycle and they make their tackles.

James Lowes left boot is used the way Dagg's used to be. They play all the rugby in our half. Their wingers fall over the line from 5 yards for their tries. Will Jordan has to score his from 70 meters. They have a system and we don't. Imagine what Andy Farrell could do with Reece, Jordan and Jordie.

Every player on that Ireland team is squeezing every ounce out of their ability.

Gregor Paul also mentioned on a podcast that Schmidt had been approached to work as attack coach during the Irish series but didn't feel it was "appropriate" as he was so close to the Irish. So he stuck to his strategist/selector role until the paddies had departed.

My immediate reaction was ....fuck off then and clear your desk, if that's where your allegiances are.

Im absolutely seething over Tupea.

Fucking disgraceful.

Side entry. Knee targeted.

There are no excuses.

@Tim said in All Blacks v Pumas 1:

Sam Cane gets by from being a nice guy from the middle of nowhere. He is an absolutely terrible rugby player. He should get the fuck out of the All Blacks.

I really like him. I think it was circa 2016 he put on the most dominant tackling display I've ever seen against Wales in Cardiff. It was frightening.

But those days are long gone and he is yesterdays man.

He should have been picked for the RWC semi final but Hansen Guardiola'd himself by trying something mental in a knockout game.

The talk about succession planning is a farce when Hansens assistant gets the head coach role and then gives the same bloke that was dropped for the semi the captains armband.

At this stage of the cycle we should have a core 12 players and then time and wiggle room for a flavour of the month , a Milner Skudder type with the hot hand (Stevenson) to be the icing on the cake.

4 games from word cup and we are still fluting around with Frizell, Beaudy, Caleb.

Its an omni shambles.

Mo'unga has won super rugby 7 years on the spin??? Is that right? And he has never been properly given the keys to the castle.

I love DMAC. He could play a blinder this week....and you know what happens next week? He is either dropped or shunted to 15 so Mo'unga gets a go.

EVERYONE has been done a disservice since 2019 including Beaudy. Backrow the same.

@game_film said in All Blacks 2023:

These lads not included may have received a message shortly after taking a hammering on Friday night. Not sure what they could have done. Other than the cool hand sign emoji, perhaps?

Why partake in this old fashioned - assistant calls if you’re in, head coach calls if you’re out - nonsense? And instead have everyone find out the same time on TV - the Sunday after the super final. Then coach can call them a few days later and say ‘X,Y,Z… stay in shape, keep going’ especially with such an injury prone set of players on board in certain positions.

Yeah and its the age of professional sport.

Show me a good loser and ill show you a loser.

These lads have grown up being told their shit doesn't stink from a young age.

Imagine telling Stevenson "yeah mate you're in as injury cover". Im sure he's sitting there thinking, "im fucking better than Caleb Clarke who has dined out on one big run against Australia during covid 3 years ago and who's defence is no better than mine". "and im outscoring him at a rate of 3 to one at this stage".

"cheers Fozzie"

Anyone even looking at a ruck should be getting put on his arse this weekend.

None of this Lukhanyo Am nudging Bower to create a gap for Marx to jackal.

Every single arsehole within 5 yards of a breakdown should be getting torpedoed. Ref included.

Ruck Jihad.

Samisoni is already world class.

Foster should have been sacked.

Team plays like a bunch of teenagers. clueless. headless.

Caleb Clarke can ride the pine. Sotutu given a chance...didnt take it.

Papalii was disappointing.

Jordie is new 12.
Jordan to FB
Reece to 14

Put Jonny Sexton in instead of Beaudy or Mo'unga and they would win the World Cup.

Darcy Swain is a fucking dog.

@Bones said in All Blacks Vs Springboks RC Week 2:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks Vs Springboks RC Week 2:

So news comes out today about McCaw meeting with the ABs leadership in January and McCaw was at the captain's run today - meanwhile ABs all wear black boots all of a sudden.

Coincidence? I think not.

Love the picture and love your thesis.

"You're shitting on everything I and great men before me have built you bunch of feckless clowns"

"Im angry"

"Tell them how angry I am Liam"

"He's really angry lads"

Tupou Vaii and ALB are wasted shirts on the bench for me.

Prefer Lord and Finau if he could be squeezed in.

NZ humping OZ twice a year looks like stat padding at this stage.

@Machpants said in RWC: France v All Blacks:

Herald are reckoning
Laulala for Groot duh Lomax
Codie to start
Paps in 6 (three 7s is a winner)
Jordie not risked and ALB in 12

ALB will be gobbled up. They don't need to worry about him at all. Can drift off him onto Rieko all day long.

Has no kicking game, no pace, no physicality, no RTS style step. Vanilla. A shirt being filled.

Id sooner give Leicester a go there with no practise.

@Billy-Tell said in RWC: France v All Blacks:

Foster is the worst choice ever. Seems a nice guy but he is just not up to it. The icing on the cake would be losing to Ireland in a ¼ final.

The senior group of players who went to bat for him in the hotel in South Africa need an uppercut too.

We nearly had him out the door and they convinced Robinson not to pull the trigger.