The Silver Fern

@canes4life said in Foster signs 2 year extension:

The thing is, if we win the World Cup he will most likely be reinstated again. Ffs.

Yeah, it would really suck if we won the World Cup!

Spend three years away, come back for the world cup. Absolutely get fucked.

From the BBC's live scoring:

Let's hear no more BS about Beauden Barrett being finished. He won that game.

Ratima looked good.

The absolute worst selection this year for me was Sevu Reece. The guy is shit at test level, as was revealed constantly in 2024. He is never making the world cup, he is never doing anything good. Why the fuck was he there. Terrible. Only an idiot would select him.

Sowakula doesn't have the skill level for test rugby. A really dumb selection. Sotutu is a much better player.

NZR's high performance manager, Chris Lendrum, has stated that selecting players from overseas would mean reduced contact time with them, and would necessitate using a simplified game plan to compensate for that. Combined with the poor form that many players display after returning from Japan, I see a rather weak case for selecting overseas players.

The players most talked about are Mo'unga and Frizzell. They are average players at test level, and we have better players in NZ.

Record losses, three in one year, that's cool?

That is really tough on McKenzie.

@mikey07 said in England v All Blacks:

Scott Barrett was on the verge of tears in the changing sheds.

He seems like a good guy who shouldn't be in that position.

We desperately need some rugby.

Buying him out of his contract would have been a waste of money.

@Stargazer said in Crusaders vs B&I Lions:

Okay, my 2 cents. I haven't read most of the comments, because to my great surprise (well, not really), all these Ferners who have always expressed their dislike towards the Crusaders (remember the hatiest team thread?) suddenly come out of the woodworks to dish the Crusaders and individual players. The frustration about the Crusaders being unbeaten this Super Rugby season must be huge. And the frustration with some of their players not being selected in the AB squad. Really pathetic.

LOL. You have to take shit for one game this year and you get that worked up.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/david-kirks-nuclear-option-nzrs-deficit-between-promise-and-performance-the-high-performance-conundrum-chasing-the-boks-inside-rugby/premium/LVBD3PXCFZERHJRMWFOTCRIQFI/

The Herald has spoken to several high-profile Kiwi coaches based overseas, who say that while they love their country and want teams in black to win on the world stage, they have no interest in coming home because they don’t believe the high-performance system is operating at best-practice levels, and they don’t trust NZR to consistently make good decisions around coaching and management appointments.

Some coaches have said they fear NZR has become dismissive of what it could learn and borrow from other countries and that it has shut itself off entirely from the rest of the world, which is partly why they say the All Blacks’ defensive and attacking patterns are outdated and ineffective.

At least no Havili.

Big challenge for Ryan tomorrow. His forwards have been very poor in the last two games. Are we finally going to see some connection between ball carriers and cleaners?

A lot of Japanese expats I've met have been good "lad" types, who are up for a crude laugh. I wouldn't do that to them on national TV though ...

Also, Wheeler is one of the stupidest sounding, backwards hicks in NZ, so he's in no position to take the piss out of anyone.

Congrats to Roigard, but I'm a bit worried about who will start in Smith's absence without Weber there.

Christie is very lucky.

Gutted for Stevenson, that boot from the back is a huge asset.