All Blacks 2026
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2026:
The problem is I don’t actually think we have many loosies that are international standard.
I think it's more we don't have a gameplan for the loosies to work to and/or we don't don't pick the right players to implement the gameplan.
The chopping and changing at 6/7/8 is getting ridiculous.
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@Snowy said in All Blacks 2026:
@MacDazzler said in All Blacks 2026:
Foster got far more criticism from the media.
Yep and Foster had many more years of poor performance to earn it (could even go back to his time with the Chiefs, if the point really needed to be driven home).
We should judge and critique AB coaches on their performance as AB coaches. - not on their performance in SR or their work with Hamner Springs 3rd's or whatever.
Same goes for the media - though I suspect having invested so much capital in extolling Robertson's genius, that's a pretty hard emotional wrench.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2026:
I think Razor was always up against it , no matter how well he did. The nth island journos hammer him on everything.
I know @Duluth refuted this point already but it bears repeating, this is fucking nonsense. The media kissed him on the dick constantly and even now he's got a team of journos running defence for him.
Also, when you did spend time here, you would have noticed that Razor had pretty much broad support from all the posters of here who think too highly of ourselves when he was first chosen to be the coach.
There was a lot to agree with in the original post. But the idea that Razor was up against the media from day one just shows what flag is pinned to chchfanatic's mast. Pure fiction that
I make no 2 ways about it, I support Razor (because he AB coach, even if not one I wanted), but I certainly agree to say Razor was up against it in media, someone read different media to me.
I think you will find everyone on here wants him to succeed. But that is different from believing he's just not up to it. I'm waiting for Razor to prove me wrong
I definitely think (or bloody hope) he learning on the jab as he goes.
I do prefer my coaches to have a bit of wider experience I admit, but sometimes in this day and age it's as much about using press etc unfortunately. -
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey for years Ardies game.has unbalanced our loose trio, not so much because he isnt able to play the way required, we have had many coaches let him play how.he plays and try to fit people around him.
This has lead us to current Ardie who is undroppable, despite doing probably less work than previous years, and still affecting our loose trio.
Hopefully the lighter load in Japan will see him refreshed and hungry for some real work when he gets back...
That's also the issue I have with guys like Ardie going to Japan all the time. It's virtually touch rugby up there where he doesn't have to do any hard work and can do what he want, whilst having a holiday in the process. At least Rieko and Jordie have gone up north to challenge themselves a bit, why can't more of our players go up there for a stint?
I actually think Ardie better to have a season in Japan, than carry MP on his back for another super season. Doesn't seem to hurt the Boks players in Japan, as Malcolm Marx , Kwagga Smith etc have shown as players get older they probably help themselves to not get hammered every week , but have a few easier game to help you see out season.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey for years Ardies game.has unbalanced our loose trio, not so much because he isnt able to play the way required, we have had many coaches let him play how.he plays and try to fit people around him.
This has lead us to current Ardie who is undroppable, despite doing probably less work than previous years, and still affecting our loose trio.
Hopefully the lighter load in Japan will see him refreshed and hungry for some real work when he gets back...
That's also the issue I have with guys like Ardie going to Japan all the time. It's virtually touch rugby up there where he doesn't have to do any hard work and can do what he want, whilst having a holiday in the process. At least Rieko and Jordie have gone up north to challenge themselves a bit, why can't more of our players go up there for a stint?
I actually think Ardie better to have a season in Japan, than carry MP on his back for another super season. Doesn't seem to hurt the Boks players in Japan, as Malcolm Marx , Kwagga Smith etc have shown as players get older they probably help themselves to not get hammered every week , but have a few easier game to help you see out season.
Difference is, is they go back into the boks setup knowing they need to perform and that no spot is safe in that side. Ardie will come back from his holiday and nothing will change.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2026:
I think Razor was always up against it , no matter how well he did. The nth island journos hammer him on everything.
I know @Duluth refuted this point already but it bears repeating, this is fucking nonsense. The media kissed him on the dick constantly and even now he's got a team of journos running defence for him.
Also, when you did spend time here, you would have noticed that Razor had pretty much broad support from all the posters of here who think too highly of ourselves when he was first chosen to be the coach.
There was a lot to agree with in the original post. But the idea that Razor was up against the media from day one just shows what flag is pinned to chchfanatic's mast. Pure fiction that
I make no 2 ways about it, I support Razor (because he AB coach, even if not one I wanted), but I certainly agree to say Razor was up against it in media, someone read different media to me.
I think you will find everyone on here wants him to succeed. But that is different from believing he's just not up to it. I'm waiting for Razor to prove me wrong
Happy for him to learn in Year 1 and liked the way he stuck with people to allow them time to bed in (Proctor, Parker), but there was too many down-sides for me. Not just the losses, but the nature of the losses.
I am genuinely confused over what he actually does and brings to the party. Coaching set-up needs a reset, better leadership and roles clarified.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey for years Ardies game.has unbalanced our loose trio, not so much because he isnt able to play the way required, we have had many coaches let him play how.he plays and try to fit people around him.
This has lead us to current Ardie who is undroppable, despite doing probably less work than previous years, and still affecting our loose trio.
Hopefully the lighter load in Japan will see him refreshed and hungry for some real work when he gets back...
That's also the issue I have with guys like Ardie going to Japan all the time. It's virtually touch rugby up there where he doesn't have to do any hard work and can do what he want, whilst having a holiday in the process. At least Rieko and Jordie have gone up north to challenge themselves a bit, why can't more of our players go up there for a stint?
I actually think Ardie better to have a season in Japan, than carry MP on his back for another super season. Doesn't seem to hurt the Boks players in Japan, as Malcolm Marx , Kwagga Smith etc have shown as players get older they probably help themselves to not get hammered every week , but have a few easier game to help you see out season.
Don't forget he did that the year before Dan, and was underwhelming on his return, after being world player of the year before going to Japan.
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It's not just a loosies combo issue, the backs are unable to build consistently on the forwards' platform, and the second half, where the good teams regroup, our coaches/captains don't seem to have an answer. We are too predictable and too disjointed.
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The All Blacks have been in a significant decline for some time now. By international standards, they are average at the breakdown and poor in defence and they don't have great pace out wide. They have a few world class players, but even they rarely go 80 minutes without making big mistakes. They lack on-field leadership. Add to that a lack of attention to detail and a poor and unclear game plan from the PR-obsessed coaching group, it's little surprise they are a long way off being world beaters. South Africa are the dominant side in world Rugby in the 2020s.
I think that pattern will continue in 2026. South Africa, France and England being better coached and having more talent than the ABs. Scotland, Argentina, Ireland and Australia are about the same standard as the ABs, but don't have the same depth to cope with injuries, fatigue and suspensions. With the ABs having to wait for games against Wales or Italy to score big, convincing wins.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
We went through this with a lot of people when Lomu played, there were some thought he was a highlight package player, because he didn't play as they though wingers should.
I blame the coaches for that.
I don't think he was ever employed as effectively as he might have been by the AB coaches.
Too much coming off the wing for some midfield crash ball.
Any big boofhead can do that.
And I think the opposing coaches were happy with that too.
Much better than seeing him outwide in a one-on-one, or a none-on-one.The coaches were working with his size, when they should have been working on utilising his speed.
Mega speed and mega size . . . in the one player; that is what made Lomu unique.Not enough effort put in to trying to get him in space.
"Normal" wing play.
With his speed, plus the size, he'd be under the posts everytime if he got into space.
That did happen, but should have happened a lot more.On the side . . . he'd be completely shite dropping back to get under to-days high ball.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:
I definitely think (or bloody hope) he learning on the jab as he goes.
Haha.
I certainly f'n hope so, or we got no chance!
I don't think any "New Zealand only" coaches have the correct formula for Test match rugby ATM.
Not just Razor.
Or at any level of international rugby for that matter . . . guys/girls/juniors/15s/7s.
We just gettin by on individual skills. -
@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2026:
I think Razor was always up against it , no matter how well he did. The nth island journos hammer him on everything. Which is par for the course and something I’m sure he expected.
I don't know who are from N or S Island (unless they write for NZ Herald I guess) but is there a marked N v S island distinction in the press regards Razor coverage/opinion pieces?
I believe (don’t know) that he never got the coaching group he wanted at the start.
Apart from Brown, I wonder who he wanted.
He put forward the group that NZ rugby would want to see , to win the job. If you know what I’m trying to say. I think we may see ROG or Andrew Goodman at some stage.
I thought ROG was in a secure role overseas?
I think he thought his theming and culture from the crusaders would work and it hasn’t. From what I’ve heard Ardie has been quite hard to deal with.
Any more details on where/why Ardie was allegedly difficult?
Did the All Blacks actually have that bad a year.?
Looking back, average. Looking forwards, worrying.
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Ardie allegedly difficult? So why did they not drop him? Hoskins allegedly lazy, then he won SR and was player of the year, so why didn't they try him? Dalton allegedly won't play for the ABs while Razor is coach. Panadol and Holland both leave, Leon allegedly had difficulties with the coaching setup. Where there's smoke surely there's fire right?
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2026:
I think Razor was always up against it , no matter how well he did. The nth island journos hammer him on everything.
I know @Duluth refuted this point already but it bears repeating, this is fucking nonsense. The media kissed him on the dick constantly and even now he's got a team of journos running defence for him.
Also, when you did spend time here, you would have noticed that Razor had pretty much broad support from all the posters of here who think too highly of ourselves when he was first chosen to be the coach.
I thought he was the Messiah when we gave him the gig.
He has well and truly fluffed his lines though.
All I want is whats best for the Allblacks.
And Razor aint it.
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Current player rankings at January 1.
AB25 and SR26 player rankings.
Rankings are by starts in 25.
The SR26 players are ranked by NPC25 selections.
Unavailable thru injury drops a player down the rankings.
No SR26 WTG players are included.
The stand-out observation is at the No. 7 position, which is quite topical.
Assuming all NPC squads run two 7s in their squads (28 players); only one of them actually made it onto an SR roster.
This must be a policy decision by the selectors.
In SR26 the 7 position is going to be filled by 6s and 8s.
Remembering also, that the national team No. 7 does not play for an NZ SR team, and does not play the position in what most ferners would consider the "proper" way. -
Actually while not quite understanding how the or who rated the player above , I always wondered how Segner would go at 7 at top level. I first saw him playing for NZ schools team against Aus in Brisbane a few years back, and thought then he had the makings. I like how he's played for Blues and Auckland, but seems he never caught selectors eye.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
The All Blacks have been in a significant decline for some time now. By international standards, they are average at the breakdown and poor in defence and they don't have great pace out wide. They have a few world class players, but even they rarely go 80 minutes without making big mistakes. They lack on-field leadership. Add to that a lack of attention to detail and a poor and unclear game plan from the PR-obsessed coaching group, it's little surprise they are a long way off being world beaters. South Africa are the dominant side in world Rugby in the 2020s.
I think that pattern will continue in 2026. South Africa, France and England being better coached and having more talent than the ABs. Scotland, Argentina, Ireland and Australia are about the same standard as the ABs, but don't have the same depth to cope with injuries, fatigue and suspensions. With the ABs having to wait for games against Wales or Italy to score big, convincing wins.
I think this more or less get's the point. We had years where we had best ever players , and now we in somewhat of a depression. As I have said, I have seen it before, I think it show even more now because the rest of world just have top players.
We along with probably Ireland may just still be considered punching above weight, and we may need to see some players coming through younger ranks., which we seem to be struggling with at moment.
On South Africa, France and England they are finally showing the strength they should with size of population and player numbers. That's not an excuse it's realism, we have always had that fact, and have been fortunate that these places took so long to take advantage of what they had going for them. SA I believe have after 30 odd years of being held back by apartheid (and only having a small amount of population etc in game) have got to where they will be hard to knock off for a while. I recall in early 90s when game was leaning looking at going pro, many saying NZ would be struggling to stay competitive within 10-20 years. Of course coaching etc makes a difference, and we still have a few (in my opinion) good ones, but I genuinely think we still got a few more years of not being number 1 (much as dislike thinking it).
I wish I was smart enough to have answers.(mind you if I did I would be back on rugby union boards and trying to get ideas through), but I don't. -
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@Snowy said in All Blacks 2026:
@MacDazzler said in All Blacks 2026:
Foster got far more criticism from the media.
Yep and Foster had many more years of poor performance to earn it (could even go back to his time with the Chiefs, if the point really needed to be driven home).
We should judge and critique AB coaches on their performance as AB coaches. - not on their performance in SR or their work with Hamner Springs 3rd's or whatever.
Same goes for the media - though I suspect having invested so much capital in extolling Robertson's genius, that's a pretty hard emotional wrench.
Which is why the SR comment was in brackets. It has some relevance though as they get the job in the first place based on their previous experience and results. A person's expertise in a field is generally judged on their whole body of work and Foster's was not great before, or during, his AB time (as a head coach, difficult to know too much when he was assistant). We all know how you feel about Ian so I'm not going to labour the point that he (deservedly IMO) got a tough time in the press. Robertson will end up there as well if the results continue to be poor for a s long as Foster's were.
I do agree that Robertson was over hyped to start with, and a more measured approach would have meant that a change of opinion (for some) wouldn't be quite such a loss of "face".
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@Snowy said in All Blacks 2026:
We all know how you feel about Ian so I'm not going to labour the point that he (deservedly IMO) got a tough time in the press.
I thought NZR should have got rid of Foster after the Ireland series. I just didn't fall for the theory that all the AB's problems were down to one bloke, thought there were way deeper problems and the Coach Messiah theory was bollocks. They missed an opportunity to dig deep, find and fix things.
Robertson will end up there as well if the results continue to be poor for a s long as Foster's were.
It'll be worse, probably. Let's hope the rumours which came out post-EOYT are overblown and the review actually identifies and fixes things - otherwise it could get really ugly. Hell hath no fury like a conned press.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@Snowy said in All Blacks 2026:
We all know how you feel about Ian so I'm not going to labour the point that he (deservedly IMO) got a tough time in the press.
I thought NZR should have got rid of Foster after the Ireland series. I just didn't fall for the theory that all the AB's problems were down to one bloke, thought there were way deeper problems and the Coach Messiah theory was bollocks. They missed an opportunity to dig deep, find and fix things.
Robertson will end up there as well if the results continue to be poor for a s long as Foster's were.
It'll be worse, probably. Let's hope the rumours which came out post-EOYT are overblown and the review actually identifies and fixes things - otherwise it could get really ugly. Hell hath no fury like a conned press.
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NZR didn't, and completely lost the plot after that, falling into a
I'm looking forward to the next part of your post, do I need to subscribe ?
