The Silver Fern

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@MN5 said in All Blacks 2026:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:

@Yeetyaah said in All Blacks 2026:

Robert Van Rooyen circle jerk for ya

Crusaders circle jerk with Knowler there alongside him although Knowler was playing the (only) slightly more balanced role in the exchange.

Takeaways:

Mo'unga was finally coming right after 50 tests when he took the Yen and ran. Everything was BB's fault. The assistant coaches are all good because they once made the Crusaders backline "hiss". Barrett is fine despite the fact he needs to play better and tidy up his discipline which has been shit all career. Razor doesn't have the cattle but also the team makes too many unforced errors and they'd threaten the Boks without those (so wait we do have the cattle?) The most important thing it the ABs are peaking in 2027 (fuck off, we're not a RWC only team).

They've done that with the ABs backline too in that they hiss while they're deflating.

You'd think these 2 fanboy 'journos' would have gotten the message that Super Rugby and Test Rigby are worlds apart by now.

Regular Show is wonderful, used to enjoy watching it with my boys.

But to address your point, Ardie Savea made quite a number of World Teams of the year so that should tell you all you need to know.

A great highlights reel player.

Has someone put together a highlights reel for him for 2025?

Has someone put together a lowlights reel of him walking on defence, refusing to hit rucks and being miles away from where he’s required? I’m only semi-joking here - it’d be interesting to see the reaction from fans who only watch highlights.

They'd just call it fake news

'He's allowed a break after carrying the team on his own for all these years'

I just don't get the Ardie hate that goes on in here. He was absolutely worn out at end of this year, but bet he be one first named in team going forward. Well he would be in my team, Hiw man problem year just gone was coaches running him into ground, and that started with Tana in super.

You also think James Parsons is a good analyst and claim to have seen much worse performing All Blacks teams.

Yep ! And your point is? Are you upset because I see things differently than you?
I also don't believe I have seen as much strength of test teams around world.

Not upset at all. Just pointing out you seem to be well off the mark fairly often and are very accepting of mediocrity from the team. How exactly do you think it’s okay for an openside flanker to not bother hitting rucks? How is it okay for any player to walk on defence? How does that not place more burden on the other players? How is it okay for any player others look up to to and follow to phone it in the way Savea does?

Am I off the mark, or are you? You seem very confident you know a lot more about game than those who don't agree with you. You seemed to point out I enjoy Parson.s analilysis too? Hell I take notice of Mauss on here, I find he does work on analysing games, where as I watch them at park or on tv, and take my opinions from that. Which is ok, but very very limited.
Mate as I said it all opinions, I got mine, as I said I don't understand the hate. hey many paid pundits and coaches agree me with me obviously. Hey I not in the Will Jordan at 15 fanboi group either, but figure coaches work on having a plan for how he plays.
We had a poster/s (can't remember who) saying they couldn't see what the big deal was with Fabian Holland too. I haven't seen all this walking on defence etc, and it's actually not unusual for loosies (especially 7s) to not hit rucks, as they tend to go for steal, but often if they can't get it set up in defence, I think some loosies hit rucks because they think that's there job, but sometimes (as with Props, locks etc etc) you better to stay out of them, as Boks looked to do in Wellington at times.
Also by all means tell me where I said mediocrity is ok from All Blacks, or are you just making stuff up. I am one who argues against picking teams on what we need for WC, as I think we should try and win every game.

I’ve decided to briefly respond to this by saying I’d like you to explain your options more and answer some of the questions being asked of you.

When did you see worse All Blacks teams than the 2025 lot and in which ways were they worse? I’m genuinely interested in this because I’m not old enough to remember anything earlier than the mid-90s and there are a few reasons I think the terrible 1998 run wasn’t as bad as 2025.

And what makes you say Savea performed well in 2025, other than being on the field a lot? I also find it strange you watched the Wellington loss and didn’t see the players walking around, basically not bothering.

As far as Parsons is concerned, he comes across as someone trying to come up with excuses for the All Blacks’ poor performances, scraping at the bottom of the barrel for random statistics because he’s worried about getting offside with his mates. It’s not so much that I think I know more than him. It’s that I don’t think he’s being honest.

I saw teams a number of times that I believe were pretty average, we had teams in (particurlarly late60s/early 70s, probably 90s also) that were at (like now) what I call swing points where we were perhaps struggling to produce a number pf good young players.Hell in about 94 we only won 2 out of 6 tests (and I was at one of those tests, and you could feel almost the struggle to operate, even with the likes of Jones, Zinzan etc)! Apart from perhaps 2006ish to 2017 where we were full of world class players, and among them all time greats we have at times struggled. I clearly remember early 2000s many pulling out hair and wondering how we could compete with supposedly no locks etc. Hell in 1998 we lost 5 tests, and was supposedly worst AB team ever etc.
As I said I have watched rugby a long time and while I not happy how we are going, I still say it's not worst I have seen, though I do think we will have to get a bit more used to it.
What makes me say Savea performed well this year, well hasn't been stella, and should of been rested late in year, and all I said I don't get the Ardie hate, he wasn't that bad ( I also believe he suffered from super carrying MP on his back)
On Parsons. I was at Wellington test, and was as pissed as most especially those at game, there wasn't a whole lot of walking . but to me an inexcusable mental switch off in last 15-20 minutes where most of the team seemed to struggle.
As for Parsons (like most proper pundits) he may come across to you as someone coming up for poor AB performances, and could be, could also be coming across as someone showing what they did wrong or just as importantly what other team did so well. One of reasons I enjoy his work he (and Hall) talk of what they work on in how detailed it is etc. It's a bloody complicated game at top level and the more I get it broken down the better for me. The fact teams even work on the best way to charge down box kicks from different 9s , haw big the play book that players have to learn with calls etc I get real interested when I hear any pundit who has actually played top level rugby. (to fsee this point, listen to some of those commentators that do NH club rugby, tsome are great)That a point I try to make, sometimes we will ( and have always been) get beaten by a team that is simply plays better. If we win is it only because other team plays poorly or we play well. It's all hos you chose to look at games.
I make no apologies for enjoying pundits, I a rugby nerd, am no more knowledgeable than anyone else, but love to hear from people who actually have played game at top level, as much (or maybe more) as reading and discussing the games with plebs like us.

Mate just remembered, almost wish I could find the forums I read them in, beginning of 2025 there were also a number of people who assured us all that Richie McCaw was past it and should be dropped, and their opinions were valid then to, I just didn't quite understand them.

Should have won in SA as well as james dalton lost the ball over the line when scoring the winning try

@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!

5dbf04e2-7a4a-4ce2-bd00-f5eefd0e067a-image.jpeg

@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