The Silver Fern

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

There's no "should" in rugby, young man.

Touche' mate.

You're a good sport, sir.

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

@antipodean said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

@Toddy said in All Blacks MOTM v Wales:

Rieko was poor. Was it two bad defensive reads leading to two tries

No. If he hadn't turned in when Holland was coming across the attacker likely wouldn't have passed and his momentum would've got him well over the line.

The other I'd have to recheck - I think that's the one he turned in because it was the "world's best fullback" next to him.

That was a poor read and he didn’t trust the inside (who had the ball carrier covered).

Other than those, he was pretty solid.

While I agree that he should have stayed on his man, after watching it a couple of times I don't think it was conclusive at the time he turned in that WJ was going to get the attacker - he only really scragged him.

And 100% agree with your following post.

Watched a replay of the game from Sunday morning as i actually only saw the 2nd half
First thoughts was the performance of Holly Davidson i actually thought she was outstanding and her communication was first class

The TMO and the local production on the other hand the less said the better
Ruben Love in the main was very solid and did some very good things , the odd mistake but in the main very good and considering how much rugby hes played since the French series in July , it worked out to around 245 minutes rugby and good number of those minutes were across 3 games for Wellington in the Npc

I personally would like to see Love start in the 10 jersey for the Canes in 2026

I really liked how the loose trio operated as a combination knowing their specific roles , they were all able to operate by keeping to the game plan and shape and that gave Sititi opportunity to operate like a number 8 ,Parker and Du Plessis Kirifi just doing their core roles effectively
finally a game were the ABs discipline was on point
I’m certainly not saying these 3 should be the loose forward trio moving forward but just great to see players completing their roles with accuracy

Set pieces in the main were superb
Ratima is a great competitor but i dont see him in a match day 23 with young Pledger waiting in the wings , although it was great to see him and D Mac match up as a combo
I know theres been a bit of chat about Parker but even the great Jerome Kaino took around 4 years to finally nail down the 6 jersey
We tried Samipeni Finau in the 6 jersey and for me despite his size and supposed physicality we never saw it in the Black jersey
So for me i’m willing to persist with Parker especially given theres not a lot of big options out there , maybe Tupou Vai into 6 ..

Full credit to Wales , they had a few missing and the chaps that came in did very well , however the Boks will be a more ruthless beast

@MiketheSnow said in All Blacks MOTM v England:

My bad

Lord

I still reckon I should have voted Holland

@nzzp said in England v All Blacks:

@MN5 said in England v All Blacks:

@Dan54 said in England v All Blacks:

@MN5 said in England v All Blacks:

@Dan54 said in England v All Blacks:

@reprobate said in England v All Blacks:

@Dan54 said in England v All Blacks:

@reprobate said in England v All Blacks:

@Dan54 said in England v All Blacks:

@reprobate said in England v All Blacks:

Cleaning up after yourself is basically a good thing. Recording it and posting it to social media to get congratulated for it is fucked up.

Geez mate when I played , scoring a try or winning a ruck was a good thing, but needing to celebrate (high fives etc)was f***ed up in our minds, but if players today wish to do it, up to them.
All I saying times change etc.

So he's celebrating cleaning the sheds?
It just comes across as the worst 'look how humble i am, doing this menial job when I'm a superstar'. whether it is him or NZR doing it, just fucking stop it. Doing it is a good thing, deliberately publicising it for praise is cringeworthy and about the least NZ thing I've ever heard of.

What is this least NZ thing you ever heard of.
I think to pretend NZers are all quiet humble farming type people is perhaps a lot more cringeworthy.

Are you serious bro? Well if you're right and there are NZers who aren't farmers, I've never fucken met 'em.

Yep well I met one who claimed he wasn't a farmer, but the bastard sounded awfully like he had an Aussie accent. And the prick didn't even know Colin Meads' home town(or town he had farm near)!

Jonah didn't even know who Colin Meads was before he met him. What a hopeless New Zealander.

Was he though, he was never a farmer!!!!! F***en imposter I think!

Not sure how much Jonah knew about farming but he could certainly plow through defenders better than anyone before or since.

Certainly caused some furrowed brows in opposing players and coaches

He rode roughshod over Mike Catt

The locks and obviously McKenzie for me. Yeah a mistake or two, but so too everyone else who is getting votes, and he basically won that game singlehandedly with us under huge pressure - so if you didn't vote for him, go and have a look at your biases, then give yourself an uppercut. And if you're Scott Robertson, FFS start him, and give yourself two.

@pakman said in Scotland v All Blacks:

@BerniesCorner I want Parker in 23, and think it makes sense for him to start. Wally is brilliant to come off bench at about 50.
Flexibility to end with SSP or SSL depending on how things are panning out.

Flexibility seems a bit optimistic. I think I'm right in saying that in the last game we had 2 loosies who had a 10 minute rest, and we left the guy who hadn't had a rest on, and subbed the guy who had just had his rest?

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks MOTM v Ireland:

@sparky said in All Blacks MOTM v Ireland:

@Tim said in All Blacks MOTM v Ireland:

Thought Taylor got through a lot of work on defence and at the ruck.

I think he's probably our best player, but I didn't vote for him on this occasion because of the lineout woes.

Yup fair shout, hence why I was surprised that Holland got MOTM. Everyone involved is at faultfor the lineout woes imo.

Yeah, definitely seems to have a lot more intensity and passion, puts fucking everything into it. Bizarrely, the adversity he faced has probably made him into an AB star when he was looking more like a bit part Crotty type.

@stodders said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@nzzp said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@MN5 said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@nonpartizan said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@Catogrande said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:

@DaGrubster

Who the fuck penned that load of shite? The Walrus would be my guess.

Yep. He was on a roll in '04/5. Remember him claiming Martin Johnson playing rugby in NZ almost ruined his career.

Haha, wtf.

It was like a gap year of sorts at a time when he wasnt an established first team regular at Leicester never mind England.

That is crazy shit.

Stephen Jones: "Why Neil Back was a better 7 than Richie McCaw"

Stephen Jones: An All Black shagged my wife. Memoirs of unbridled hatred of a national sporting team.

He was the buzzfeed of his generation. Understood that clicks/eyeballs were kings. In another life he'd be writing listicles on the net, not for the Times

Jones rates the 96 ABs as the greatest team of all time. So he doesn’t hate NZ. I think he just enjoys being a wind up merchant.

He does hate nz rugby

@Kruse said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@nostrildamus said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

@Kruse said in Ireland v All Blacks - Chicago2:

And that's definitely a coaching thing... I wouldn't know how to coach that: "play naturally when you're feeling it; but play differently when maybe that's not quite working and just do this structure"

plan A, here, have some free beer
plan B, ok, the wife's here, she's got the keys and she's not happy...

Are we now saying though... Use Plan-A despite the wife arriving?
Coz... metaphor-aside, I'm currently 100% on that train

If not clear - I'm smashed, and just took a toke. And just hit a button which made my screen do something I don't know how to get out of...

if you're on Plan A, Plan B sounds possible but at some point it isn't and you don't really care. So, enjoy your jump into the multiverse...

@mariner4life said in Grand slam? Poll!:

@Paj said in Grand slam? Poll!:

Interested in thoughts on here if you regarded this as a proper Grand Slam?

All talk out of AB's is they targeted this tour as a goal of winning the Grand Slam, and media did the same. I listen to Scotty & Izzy every morning and most of listeners felt same way.

I don't, I believe to win a Grand Slam you play the nation at home. AB's beat Ireland at Soldiers Field which is no where as intimidating as Aviva Stadium/Lansdown Road would have been. It's why in all comps home ground advantage is better, why you play quarters, semis in NPC to get a home game.

Just interested in others on this, or is winning all four nations a genuine slam?

agree. I have always laughed at the 6N Grand Slam when you will play half the games at home.

Did the term not originate from that then?

@Jet said in All Blacks MOTM v Wallabies II:

@Bones said in All Blacks MOTM v Wallabies II:

Yep, JB, QT, FN. Newell has really raised his game around the park, seemingly without suffering at set piece. Great stuff.

Fletcher "The White Rhino" Newell.

Here. First.

Actually, heard it from his dad first.

@brodean said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe II:

The two best at disrupting the breakdown and winning turnovers were easily Savea and Kirifi in SRP. We tried them and they didn't exactly set the world on fire as a combo. Its just not an area where you need more than one guy. For us its Savea. For South Africa its Kwaga Smith for 30 minutes.

South Africa have a team of forwards who dominate collisions as a priority.

Malcom Marx is their best disrupter.

Jordi seems to step up when Beauden not there, like he becomes the leader and not the listener

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:

@Darren said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe I:

You can't win a game with 39 missed tackles, no matter how crap the ref is.
Wonder what the most missed tackles when a team still wins us, in an international.

South Africa comfortably won against NZ a couple of weeks ago with 33 missed tackles and a 72% completion rate.

When we missed 46 tackles @ 71% and there wasn’t a big difference in overall possession, that certainly contributes to a big win.

Also from a couple of sites, they have revised the missed tackles of Oz to 40!

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@MN5 said in Who should be AB captain?:

@nostrildamus said in Who should be AB captain?:

@MN5 said in Who should be AB captain?:

You want someone massively overrated ?

No, I think it is clear now we don't need any more Scottish players in the ABs....

For once I agree 100% with you. Finlay Christie is hardly a fair swap for Sean Lineen, the Leslies, Metcalfe, Maitland etc.

Maitland was pretty good. Not sure I remember the other ones.

@mohikamo said in What is decline?:

@nonpartizan

This is one advantage that NZ should have over everyone else.
So you'd like to think they were all on the same page.

I'd say coaching philosophy is a big part of the AB head coach selection process, and NZR Pro Rugby would ensure that that philosophy is in alignment with all other NZ & SR teams.

Having said that; an environment like that might stifle the introduction of fresh ideas.

Yeah, agreed on that, you don't want to stifle the imagination that is for sure. I guess finding that happy middle ground is the challenge.

The big one for me would be the AB staff relating down the chain of command where they see skill deficiencies and positionally where they see the biggest areas of need.

@Chris said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks II:

@ploughboy said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks II:

@Chris said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks II:

@ARHS said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks II:

Jordie was pretty good tonight. And Carter and Dmac did a lot of good things amidst the mess. In the forwards Parker and Sami went ok.
Poor Reuben Love, had a shocker, but what horrible circumstances and out of position.

Aye ST missed a crucial line out throw when we were on attack he got bumped off a few times trying to make tackles he was poor.

on that lineout savea and vaii were complaining cause lift seemed to be interfered with.still missed a couple of tackes though

part of a poor front row as well at scrum time.

true

@NTA said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

@pakman said in All Blacks vs Springboks II:

On the box kicks, in particular post AB kick offs from around 60 to 70ish, Boks regathered four in a row. Noticeable that e.g. Hooker rushed almost beyond where the kick was likely to land and owned the space. I suspect the wind was playing ball back towards them as it came down. A skill which can be learned.

Jump a bit early and get into the space before the opposition - turn sideways or present your back to the opposition to deny them a fair crack, and reduce the chances of you knocking it on.

Looks like a fair contest; is anything but.

Saffers had a tactic a few years ago of going into that space early and flooding the zone with multiple people. Was very effective as most refs didn't seem to care - knocking people away from the all

@Snowy said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks I:

@voodoo said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks I:

@Kirwan said in All Blacks MOTM v Springboks I:

The pins Duluth has been plunging in his voodoo doll hurting? 🙂

All good, I quite enjoy it TBH

That would depend where he puts the pins ...

I'd be nice if I was you.

guess you don't know me that well