All Blacks 2026
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One thing I’ve observed from speaking to a few people about this is that whatever has happened behind the scenes hasn’t just involved the players.
I gave a call to a bloke I’ve known for the better part of a decade last night. He’s very close to a lot of All Blacks staff, and an absolute iron wall when it comes to information from inside the camp. In the ten years I’ve known him, I’ve only ever gotten a single piece of inside scoop from him, and even that was a slip of the tongue. He’s an absolute professional who does not bad-mouth people.
Yet last night was the first time I’ve heard him admit that things are “not good” and “quite a shambles” in the camp. He specifically highlighted high performance as a “real problem”. Now bear in mind, it’s not much. But to me, the fact that someone I’ve known for years, who’s well connected to staff, is breaking ranks to admit there are problems is significant. Even in the darkest days of Foster, that never happened. In fact, he refused to comment during the period when Foster’s job was on the line. To me, that suggests the issue is much deeper than just the players.
I think it’s easy to call this a “player revolt”. But my sense from the conversation I had last night is that this involves both staff and players, not just the players.
Again, it’s not much to go by, but it’s an interesting observation.
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What's Robbie Deans up to now he's no longer coaching Panasonic Wild Knights?
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@Chris said in All Blacks 2026:
That is not my point and you know it,Sack him on his record not on players saying I won't play if he is coach those players can Fuck right off.
I suspect this played out differently - noting that this is pure speculation like nearly everything else on the Fern. Remember, there is no CEO between Razor and the Board Chair - so Kirk and Razor probably connected directly.
I suspect it went with Kirk asking Razor what he's going to do in response to a review that daylighted issues. If you don't get good answers, you keep digging - and I can see Razor's style being less specific or not getting to the heart of issues that satisfies Kirk.
So the issue quickly escalates from 'player raised issues that need addressing' to a coach who may struggle to identify changes needed to be made and articulate that to a competent chair. Ultimately, Kirk's job is to make sure there is a plan in place that satisifes the board. If Razor couldn't or wouldn't do that, then that's how you get to a sacking.
So @Chris I think this isn't necessarily player power, but an emerging situation triggered by concerns in the camp.
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thats some top tier healdining
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Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
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@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
I'm not even trying to dig Razor out here, but he needs to walk and accept defeat here. It would be worse for his own reputation if he hung around after all this. He has to go.
@SammyC has made the point here a few times about him only giving a shit about RWC success and then moving to another country. That's probably why he's digging his heels in and putting up a fight.
The thing about the ABs gig is that every test matters. We're more than just a RWC team.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
I'm not even trying to dig Razor out here, but he needs to walk and accept defeat here. It would be worse for his own reputation if he hung around after all this. He has to go.
@SammyC has made the point here a few times about him only giving a shit about RWC success and then moving to another country. That's probably why he's digging his heels in and putting up a fight.
The thing about the ABs gig is that every test matters. We're more than just a RWC team.
Yeah agree he has to walk.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
I'm not even trying to dig Razor out here, but he needs to walk and accept defeat here. It would be worse for his own reputation if he hung around after all this. He has to go.
@SammyC has made the point here a few times about him only giving a shit about RWC success and then moving to another country. That's probably why he's digging his heels in and putting up a fight.
The thing about the ABs gig is that every test matters. We're more than just a RWC team.
Agreed, our overall winning record is far more important to me than world cup success.
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And another thing on Razor, is he's never been in a situation like this ever in his career, which was one of the concerns I had with him taking the job in the first place. He's only ever known success in the Canterbury region.
I don't know where he ends up, but he'll probably learn more from this experience alone than he ever did in the 10+ years of coaching in Chch before taking this gig.
He should have gone through these learnings before taking the ABs gig, he would have been far better for it in my view.
If he learns from this, then he may still end up being a very successful coach wherever he ends up.
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@game_film said in All Blacks 2026:
Always liked Jamie Wall:
He confirmed that Razor would be the first AB HC to be fired. Also the information regarding Fozzie's near firing backs up the idea the players had faith enough in him to support him
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@SammyC said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
I'm not even trying to dig Razor out here, but he needs to walk and accept defeat here. It would be worse for his own reputation if he hung around after all this. He has to go.
@SammyC has made the point here a few times about him only giving a shit about RWC success and then moving to another country. That's probably why he's digging his heels in and putting up a fight.
The thing about the ABs gig is that every test matters. We're more than just a RWC team.
Agreed, our overall winning record is far more important to me than world cup success.
Same here. If one of our missed kicks in the 2023 WC went over and we won, I still don't think people's opinions of Fozzie would have changed, and even I still wouldn't have forgotten the poor period we had between 2021-2022.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@SammyC said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:
Okay, second update. I’m hearing that Ryan is on probation, Hansen has been fired, and NZRU is approaching Schmidt, Smithy, and Tony Brown to assist. My source isn’t clear on what the story is with Razor (my assumption is he's gone as per reporting but I haven't explicitly been told that) except that apparently he’s absolutely seething and refusing to go down without a fight.
Only got that as a text message so will update when I get more info.
I'm not even trying to dig Razor out here, but he needs to walk and accept defeat here. It would be worse for his own reputation if he hung around after all this. He has to go.
@SammyC has made the point here a few times about him only giving a shit about RWC success and then moving to another country. That's probably why he's digging his heels in and putting up a fight.
The thing about the ABs gig is that every test matters. We're more than just a RWC team.
Agreed, our overall winning record is far more important to me than world cup success.
Same here. If one of our missed kicks in the 2023 WC went over and we won, I still don't think people's opinions of Fozzie would have changed, and even I still wouldn't have forgotten the poor period we had between 2021-2022.
I think it would have greatly changed the narrative in the eyes of the public; just look at Beaver. At the Fern? Less so
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Taking some of those old past it players on that end of year tour was completely unforgivable. I wanted him to succeed but he dug his own deep grave. What a complete shambles.
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Been said earlier in the thread, but well played with sharing the oil!
Some others too who joined in (@handa457 and @Landers92 and @Chris and who am I missing?), brilliant work to you all for just kindly sharing what you've heard.Big shout out to @Nogusta that the oil on Papalii that has finally been confirmed
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@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:
Been said earlier in the thread, but well played with sharing the oil!
Some others too who joined in (@handa457 and @Landers92 and @Chris and who am I missing?), brilliant work to you all for just kindly sharing what you've heard.Big shout out to @Nogusta that the oil on Papalii that has finally been confirmed
It's funny with the Papali'i oil. It was confirmed on here so long ago that it's just old news now. @handa457 has already started chapter 2 of the story.
