All Blacks 2026
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@His-Bobness said in All Blacks 2026:
Why would Wayne Smith, aged 68, and semi-retired on the Gold Coast want another high pressure rugby gig at this time of his life? Is he short of super? Or is he suffering from relevance deprivation syndrome?
Maybe it’s not a high pressure position e.g. head coach, people manager? If you’re 68 or older and feeling physically and mentally fit, want to keep your brain active and feel you can contribute to a team or an organisation, and enjoy a challenge …why not?
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@His-Bobness Maybe he needs something to do for 10 years until he's old enough to go into politics. (It's a bipartisan joke, guys!).
I sort of wonder whether the pool of applicants might be quite a lot thinner than we might hope.
Razor's 2024/2025 schedule did him no favours in terms of maintaining a high winning percentage and developing youngsters - and 2026 is going to be at least as difficult and probably even moreso.
If whomever is selected gets out of 2026 with a 70% winning record in tests I reckon they'll be doing well. If the wheels come off with injuries etc there's a hell of a lot more loseable matches than that. You look at the Gats Lions tour to NZ and they got rolled by several Super teams.
And then you've got a RWC where your most likely QF opponent is SA. If you're young enough to go again, you might be best waiting till 2028 to pick up the pieces.
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@His-Bobness said in All Blacks 2026:
Why would Wayne Smith, aged 68, and semi-retired on the Gold Coast want another high pressure rugby gig at this time of his life? Is he short of super? Or is he suffering from relevance deprivation syndrome?
Wayne Smith seems to have taken David Kirk's decision to sack Scott Robertson very personally indeed.
There's history between the two going right back to the cancelled All Blacks tour in the mid-1980s and the Cavaliers.
"The Professor" was a central part of the All Blacks coaching box for many years and I'm grateful for his contributions. But it's time to move on.
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If the new coach and their team are able to work their magic leadership, skills and strategies wise do we have the players available to match it with the likes of SA, England, France and the Pumas?
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@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:
I sort of wonder whether the pool of applicants might be quite a lot thinner than we might hope.
I think NZR's dream scenario was to get Tony Brown and Joe Schmidt out of there South Africa and Aussie contracts. Neither is going to happen.
Wayne Smith, Clayton McMillan, Robbie Deans and Eddie Jones have publicly distanced themself from any future All Blacks involvement. Not that anyone was asking Eddie.
Steve Hansen, Ian Foster and Warren Gatland seem to be happy doing what they are doing or not doing.
Jamie Joseph, Vern Cotter and Dave Rennie are publicly courting the job. Hard to know if John Mitchell is interested or not.
So yeah, the pool of applicants is smaller than hoped, but there are still some very experienced international coaches who want it.
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@sparky I hope - contrary to David's public pronouncement - that he had a pretty fair idea of who is available and keen to apply.
TBH - I haven't seen any of the three you mention publicly courting the job - but, I've been a bit busy.
I'd expect Jamie to apply and Rennie to think hard about it. Wasn't Vern taking Blues contracts on a year-by-year basis?
In all honesty, I wouldn't be particularly unhappy for Fozzie to come back as head coach, Ryan to stay as forwards coach, and Schmidt or someone similar to take up his 2023 role. At least we'd have plenty of workable structures in place.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
Wayne Smith, Clayton McMillan, Robbie Deans and Eddie Jones have publicly distanced themself from any future All Blacks involvement.
Dissapointed. The Fern meltdown would have caused the corn to pop itself.
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@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2026:
Ryan has to go. We have to pick the best players and he was a big part of NOT doing that.
Wasn't Ryan leading the selection of the tight forwards and Razor the loose forwards - which I presume you Blues guys are mostly upset about?
I thought the tight forward selection was pretty much spot on.
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@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2026:
@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2026:
Ryan has to go. We have to pick the best players and he was a big part of NOT doing that.
Wasn't Ryan leading the selection of the tight forwards and Razor the loose forwards - which I presume you Blues guys are mostly upset about?
I thought the tight forward selection was pretty much spot on.
I'd fire him just for mentioning Frizell coming back, you're likely defending him for the same reason.
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@Chris-B My dream scenario would be Steve Hansen coming back, knocking a few heads together but also showing empathy for the guys in squad and uniting them.
I think he's the one Head Coach just about anyone would want to work with. I think he could be a father figure to younger, talented Assistant Coaches.
But I can't see it happening. He seems pretty content to have moved on from the All Blacks.
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris-B My dream scenario would be Steve Hansen coming back, knocking a few heads together but also showing empathy for the guys in squad and uniting them.
I think he's the one Head Coach just about anyone would want to work with. I think he could be a father figure to younger, talented Assistant Coaches.
But I can't see it happening. He seems pretty content to have moved on from the All Blacks.
I don't want him back as HC. His last two years weren't great. We stagnated, guys like Luatua were chased away, and it ended with capitulation in Yokohama. Maybe he and GH can help Kirk and Kev pick the next HC and the rest of the team
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@canefan That's not unfair. I think he lost his hunger in the last two years a bit and probably knows it. But before that he was an absolute top international sports coach.
But yeah, I think Jamie Joseph, Vern Cotter and Dave Rennie are still very interested in the All Blacks job. Perhaps one of Scott Hansen or Jason Ryan too. (But I wouldn't welcome either).
Hard to know about John Mitchell, Ronan O'Gara or Jacques Nienaber. They are dark horses but wouldn't be available until after the European season.
I think it will be Joseph, Cotter or Rennie. Maybe with one of those as a Senior Assistant Head Coach too.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
@Chris-B My dream scenario would be Steve Hansen coming back, knocking a few heads together but also showing empathy for the guys in squad and uniting them.
I think he's the one Head Coach just about anyone would want to work with. I think he could be a father figure to younger, talented Assistant Coaches.
But I can't see it happening. He seems pretty content to have moved on from the All Blacks.
Maybe he and GH can help Kirk and Kev pick the next HC and the rest of the team
Graham Henry and Steve Hansen know how to lead the All Blacks to World Cup victory. You'd hope they be involved somehow in the selection of a new ABs Head Coach.
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@sparky I wouldn't be particularly averse to it (Hansen) - but, I take @His-Bobness' point.
As someone who is a similar age to the current proposed coaches, I don't really know anyone who wasn't significantly sharper a decade earlier when they were 50. And Steve is 66, while Fozzie is a bit younger at 60 and would have liked another go. A bit unlucky not to have walked into the sunset with a RWC.
Razor should have been the transition coach to a new generation, but it's been derailed.
So we're going back to the Boomer coaches! That's flattering, but a little bit fucked up, IMO.
I hope @Tim will at least fix their VHS recorders, or we'll be entirely fucked!
