The Silver Fern

@handa457 said in All Blacks 2026:

@handa457 Actually, adding a bit more. One person (I can’t remember who) posted on The Fern that Papalii allegedly threw a punch at Razor during the EOYT 2024. That wasn’t substantiated, and my source couldn’t confirm it. I personally highly doubt that's true.

What I can confirm is that coming into 2024, Papalii had been told he was firmly the No. 7 the All Blacks wanted, with Cane leaving. He came into camp, was asked to play a certain way, then was dropped after a handful of games and barely featured again in 2024. He was pretty frustrated with the communication, selection, and style of play. On top of that, someone along the line had apparently floated that he might be future captain material. So to go from “potential future captain” to being dropped with limited communication clearly put him offside.

It seemed the natural move, he does have concrete feet in traffic at times, but still plays very much in the way of current international 7s and was needed if we were to carry Ardie at 8 in his choose-to-get-involved-when-I-want style.

We have plenty of journos or sources to journos on here, so it's surprising to not have heard from the most accurate sources we have here yet.

I'm still with @taniwharugby, we may see an assistant go but Razor would need to walk IMO.

@SammyC, that was a fascinating post coming from one of the Canterbury-ish mafia, and hard to argue with, do you think he's signed up to Ben Darwin's 'data' that experience of playing together is the secret sauce?

Streetclothes supposedly out for surgery now, and likely to be traded for pennies on the dollar. Fuck the Mavs.

In other news, it looks like Ja will get the Trae Young treatment and be traded away to whoever might give up any expiring contract to get him. The Bucks might be interested which could be an improvement on fucking Kuzma, but Ja is such a jumped up little fluffybunny I don’t think I’d want him on my team (apparently he’s from a middle class home, just likes acting like a gangsta, silly stupid piston wristed gibbon).

@xman said in All Blacks 2026:

If all 3 Barrett brothers, Taylor, Jordan, McKenzie backs Robertson but Savea wants him sacked, what does NZR do? Savea would be the odd man out of that senior group. I doubt if less experienced players are dissatisfied that would sway NZR to sack Robertson. Savea alone won’t do it. It will have to be few of the senior players to turn on Robertson. Taylor, Jordan, Scott Barrett are all Crusaders so you would think they remain loyal to him. I’m skeptical the other 2 Barretts would go against their brother. Rieko and ALB are the other senior players but their position in the team is vulnerable.

You control the senior players, your job is safe. That’s how Foster stayed when his job was on the line. I suspect that’s one of the reasons why Robertson chose Scott Barrett as captain and his brother Jordie as vice captain because he couldn’t trust Savea as he was loyal to Foster. If shit hits the fan like now, Savea wouldn’t have the same loyalty. It’s the same in every office environment or politics.

If Savea’s coup fails, then that would be the end of his All Blacks career. No way Robertson would tolerate him. I doubt even the other senior players will trust him. Once the trust is gone, it’s impossible to repair.

Fascinating post in that this is the first time in a very long time that we have an AB coach who has actually coached the players involved at the domestic level.

People can bag Foster all they want, and I'll join in, but he wasn't picking people from the Chiefs who he had coached. The last person involved like that was probably Shag but that only probably applied to McCaw, if that, and was years removed. Before that, Ted and Smith will have had such players.

If part of Razor's plan is to transplant success from the Crusaders across to the ABs, you may end up with Crusader players who may be happy with that and the others not happy with that. If the leadership group is filled with Crusaders, and they are the only ones really supporting the team, while fringe players are moaning, NZRU would be in a very tough spot.

I don’t see Razor being fired.

I appreciate the info from the sources here btw, keep it coming, however I’ll be shocked unless he has decided to walk away.

A new coaching group would be fascinating if they can pry away Brown from the springboks.

@george33

Was that on the radio?
That would be a huge huge thing and I think we would definitely see change if true, even though we would have a better more balanced loose forward trio if he left.

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@gt12 said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

Is there a chance that Razor and his team goes before the RWC if we have a poor year?

Not much, noone else would take the job as it would be a no win I suspect.

Makes me wonder who was the last coach if any to win an RWC within 2 years of being appointed...there is of course the tactical surprise/potential advantage of a new kid on the block...

Plus there is always the option of keeping the head coach (the ra ra guy) and getting rid of an assistant coach (the Captain Bligh guy)...

In case this is not a rhetorical question, the current WC winning coach.

Appointed 2017, they won in 2019.

Yep , mind you he was already their director of rugby. Not sure we have similar. Wayne Smith is perhaps close, but I will bet he won't take job on.

He took up the DOR role in December 2017, became coach in February 2018.

He may have been planning since June of that year, but the point stands that people can take over and win.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

Is there a chance that Razor and his team goes before the RWC if we have a poor year?

Not much, noone else would take the job as it would be a no win I suspect.

Makes me wonder who was the last coach if any to win an RWC within 2 years of being appointed...there is of course the tactical surprise/potential advantage of a new kid on the block...

Plus there is always the option of keeping the head coach (the ra ra guy) and getting rid of an assistant coach (the Captain Bligh guy)...

In case this is not a rhetorical question, the current WC winning coach.

Appointed 2017, they won in 2019.

@frugby said in Blues 2026:

Have heard Dalton Papalii is looking offshore, possibly already signed offshore. Anyone got anything on that?

That's unsurprising and very fucking annoying.

@Dan54

Glad you are coming around, they are different with different needs and serve different purposes.

So let’s get them out of using too much cash trying to win a semi-pro competition so they have to spend more of their money on their core role - growing the game at the grass roots.

@voodoo said in NBA 25/26:

Trae is absolutely shit. A 6’2 nothing on D that shoots 40%!from the field and a pathetic 30%!for 3 this year

Great trade for Atlanta

That's fair, and he is shit on D.

But he's a career 25 point 10 dime point guard who might actually fit with the Wizards. He'll get his and should be able to share it around wit the young core they have there.

I reckon this is one of those trades where both sides get better.

@mohikamo said in Exodus:

@SouthernMann said in Exodus:

Having 20 semi professional/professional teams across two competitions is stupid.

We do not have 20 pro teams in NZ as far as the players are concerned.
We have 5 for half the season, then there is a reshuffle of those players, and 9 more teams worth of players are brought in for the second half; so 14.

(And one teams worth of players [the best players] taken out in the second half of the season, the one team that makes the money to pay all the players).

So that is 5, + 9 more later in the season, as far as the players are concerned.
BS model, but with the current financials, a marginal improvement might be made somewhere, but nothing that will be of much dif to the players pockets.
Looks like NZR has accepted this situation.

As for rugby league in NZ, well . . . the direction things are heading RN . . . i can see the Kiwis being a very very good team in 20 years time.

This isn't about the players per se, this is about driving further profit (which can be passed on to players) through reducing costs by reducing the number of pro / semi-pro organizations and creating a better product that broadcasters will pay for (as opposed to NPC).

That's totally apart from the fact that having only one pro team to play for will give more stability and opportunity for development.

I think there is general agreement on here from many that 8-10 teams (depending on how MP and the Drua are counted) would be the ideal number.

@mariner4life said in NBA 25/26:

Trae young Traded to Washington for fucking nothing.

oof

People (e.g., Marks) were saying that Atlanta might have needed to sweeten it with a pick or swap!

Washington have scored here IMO, they'll have a guy who can share it around to their young players and will get fans in, and they have to use the money given the minimum spend for the cap.

If Washington now gets a high draft pick, it could finally help turn them around...

The lengths people will go to to keep the NPC.

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@pukunui said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal
It seems people have forgotten just how bad 2022 was.

• First home/series loss to Ireland
• First loss to Argentina (at home)
• Well beaten by Boks in the first game
• Saved by the ref calling time wasting against the Wallabies with time almost up.
• Close calls against Japan and Scotland
• Escaping with a draw v England

All of this coming off the back of the 2021 eoyt where we got smacked by ireland and france and had to sack multiple assistant coaches.

Also worth remembering this was all with multiple AB greats still in the team and a 10 who was a much better player than 2025 BB.

2025 was shit, but I would argue 2022 was rock bottom.

It was ordinary, saved by the Boks win in Joburg, but I think we showed signs that there was light at the end of the tunnel for 2023. There were a few hairy moments after thw Joburg test, but I felt at the time that it was to be expected with the coaching team changing mid season and we did also hammer Argentina and the Wallabies in the return fixtures that year. I felt like we were a more settled XV at the end of 2022 and the coaches knew what their best lineup was going into the 2023 RWC.

Can't say I feel the same optimism going into 2026 and they still seem unsure on their best XV.

2022 certainly stands out, and is the right year to compare to for this last year. In 2022, the team was underperforming and the NZRU made changes to the coaching group that did dramatically improve the quality of play. The Twickenham result was a shocker in 2023, but we went a fluffybunny hair away from winning a WC - had we a proper kicking coach or had they let Dmac loose 5 minutes earlier, we win that game, even with the RC.

So, that raises the question, does this caoching group need the same realignment. I think yes, but also that we need to completely shake up everything about coaching development, application, and selection. There is rot in the NZRU and the silly procedures they use to get the result that they want which needs to be starched out as well.

@cgrant said in NH Club Rugby:

This is the average salary, of course. I do not have the explanations for these differences. I also thought - like you did - that THP was one of the top salaries.

This is where averages probably lose out to medians, quartiles, and ranges. If all teams are carrying a bunch of props, but two or three are on much higher wages and the others on the lowest, the average will look similar but the reality could be much different. The situation for locks could also be similarly skewed by fewer of them and a couple on very big contracts.

This shit about walking to get beer is one of the problems.

@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2026:

@gt12 i think players should realise squads with depth win things....and players in squads that win things get looked at

but i get it and i suspect maybe Jacomb isnt a long term option, will do his contract, at which point mika can step up

@Bovidae said in Highlanders 2026:

A sign of the times where all SR clubs will try to lock in young local talent ASAP.

Southland schools produce more 1st 5s than Otago.

hows that measured?

The irony.

Good on the Landers, but strange to see them now with two good young players. The timelines are not that similar (24 vs nearly 19) but it may be interesting to see whether Muliaina gets the game time he needs to develop, he may end up similar to Jacomb in not feeling that he gets the opportunity early enough.

@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:

I like the suggestion of NZR select the head coach and then set about appointing the assistants with input from the head coach, rather than complete free choice.

We need to spend some time and money defining exactly what the structure and requirements are of the assistant coaching setup with properly written job descriptions and metrics for measuring performance.

This seems to be what Rassie Erasmus has done with SA. Their coaching setup is way more complex than ours but they have a well defined structure and everybody seems to know their role.

We would have to review it every 5 years to make sure it is ahead of the game or at worst keeping up. I think this is a big part of our problems. We caught a break on the rest of the world when we appointed GH, Hansen and Smith and our coaching setup was better than the rest of the rugby world. Unfortunately this lead to complacency and the rest of the rugby world looked at what we did refined it and now have better coaching structures than us and we are trying to do the same thing we came up with at the turn of the century.

We've had discussion about what kind of overseas' experience is needed, in this thread.

Rassie is a great example, as he may not have had international experience, but his work in the NH is basically the backbone he has built the Springbok set-up around.

History doesn't repeat but it does rhyme a bit, and what we are likely seeing is that in the early 2000s, we had the overseas experience of Henry etc that went on to set the standard.

In the last 10 years - and this was really highlighted by Lam - the NH clubs have redefined professionalism in rugby, and that's where Rassie got his core experience first-hand at Munster.

I think @Victor-Meldrew argument is getting reframed in a way that I don't interpret it, we don't have a system to keep and develop coaches, and our approach to coach selection seems very much from the 1980s (with in my opinion, some corporate enshittification layered on top to make it look legit).

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:

I agree, anyone who was death riding rugby (at Super and NPC level) this year just wasn't watching.

I was really impressed by what I saw of NPC this year, seemed better to my ignorant eyes than the hoopla of Super. Messier, maybe, but far less diluted, and more exciting!

Yeah I'm on board too, the actual footy has been great fun.

Strangely enough, that could signify that the public may be aligned with us becoming Brazil-like, the NPC was fun but it was mainly about finding and enjoying the new talent coming out. It was certainly not close at all to premier domestic competitions in terms of level of defense and organization, which are essential as the step to international rugby.

So, to take a side I don't actually agree with for arguments sake, if we have local competitions which are focused on getting players to the ABs, we could just turn into SA, pick from overseas, and use AB revenue to focus our local competitions on finding the next big thing. That is basically Lam's argument.