All Blacks 2025
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@kiwiinmelb yeah kinda.think it was more a mutual thing, probably makes it easier to get a new gig than if he is forced out.
But hey, who knows, Razor obviously has a unique style that it would seem isnt to everyone's liking, if he was getting results, they'd just have to suck it up, but we arent, so things gotta change, and like Fozzie before him, the underlings are first to go.
But agree with someone above, seems daft to drag this out over the tour.
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Actually I do seriously remember about 3-4 years back reading an interview with Holland in Rugby News. In it he said one of reasons he left Canterbury set up, that he and Razor (although good mates) had different philosophies on coaching. Kind of rung a bell when he joined ABs.
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@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
Wonder what photos he showed Holland
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@pakman said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
@nonpartizan having had a couple of sessions with Rennie decades ago ( one being defence focused) and usually with a terrible memory, the learnings stuck in my head to this day. Extremely good communicator and enabler.
So how is it best to hold a tackle bag?
Knuckle grip.
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@nonpartizan said in All Blacks 2025:
Timing is interesting since the backline looked like it had markedly improved in the Bledisloe Cup and frankly wasn't too bad versus the Boks, save for that second half in Wellington. It was terrible in Argentina ofc.
The defence is my overriding concern. It's too porous and prevents the ABs from being able to put teams away, even if they lead from the first minute to the last.
Before the Bledisloe we were the bottom for all the attack stats.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
FFS... that's... ridiculous.
We are fucked. Guess I support France for the next RWC. -
LOL that's insane if my manager did that I'd think he's mad and start job hunting
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
Hopefully Scott Barrett did a lot of barking practice growing up in rural Taranaki. If not we’re in trouble.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
I can see that sort of thing working with someone of profoundly low intelligence but anyone with half a brain would surely double over with cringe.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
Did anyone else hear David Brent's voice while reading that?
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@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
I can see that sort of thing working with someone of profoundly low intelligence but anyone with half a brain would surely double over with cringe.
Sweet, we should be fine then!
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
The similarities are quite striking in terms of their management speak and also how they like to celebrate victories.
Lol
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@sparky I am forever more going to think of David Brent whenever Razor is mentioned.
If I could be bothered learning Generative-AI - I'd also make a project of recreating every press-conference from here on featuring Razor, replacing him with Gervais. -
@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2025:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:
@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.
From Sam Whitelock's book.....
Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.
A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’
‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.
What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.
I can see that sort of thing working with someone of profoundly low intelligence but anyone with half a brain would surely double over with cringe.
I can't quite figure out if Whitelock, who's clearly a very smart dude, was beIng ironic or not.
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@ShaquilleOatmeal so all the Crusaders he worked with over those successive championships were dummies
From here, it does seem an odd approach, but if it works, who cares...time is running out for Razor, and you'd have to think his coaching future with the ABs surely hinges on a successful tour north?
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@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2025:
LOL that's insane if my manager did that I'd think he's mad and start job hunting
The sheep were probably thinking "We walk together..."
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:
@ShaquilleOatmeal so all the Crusaders he worked with over those successive championships were dummies
From here, it does seem an odd approach, but if it works, who cares...time is running out for Razor, and you'd have to think his coaching future with the ABs surely hinges on a successful tour north?
I think he's nailed on until 2027. NZR have invested too much skin in him. Lose too much face if they get rid of him.
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@Victor-Meldrew probably, but the damage to the All Black brand in the past 5 or 6 years is a bigger deal, if we lose 50% of the games, there needs to be some serious change, but expect this will just be more assistants moved on, but given Razors, er, innovative style, are you going to be able to attract any quality coaches to work with him?
As an aside, I am not adverse to a non-Kiwi in the team, provided they have the right credentials.
