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.

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2026:

Yeah well not according to Crusaders CEO who reckons a lot most it was down to the young talent unearthed by Aaron Webb.
But, as Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said: “Everyone goes ‘Razor, Razor, Razor’, maybe there should be more ‘Webby, Webby, Webby’.”

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

@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2026:

This is the year of Riley, he’s primed for a big season.

And I've never heard that before...

@chchfanatic said in All Blacks 2026:

I think Razor was always up against it , no matter how well he did. The nth island journos hammer him on everything. Which is par for the course and something I’m sure he expected.

I don't know who are from N or S Island (unless they write for NZ Herald I guess) but is there a marked N v S island distinction in the press regards Razor coverage/opinion pieces?

I believe (don’t know) that he never got the coaching group he wanted at the start.

Apart from Brown, I wonder who he wanted.

He put forward the group that NZ rugby would want to see , to win the job. If you know what I’m trying to say. I think we may see ROG or Andrew Goodman at some stage.

I thought ROG was in a secure role overseas?

I think he thought his theming and culture from the crusaders would work and it hasn’t. From what I’ve heard Ardie has been quite hard to deal with.

Any more details on where/why Ardie was allegedly difficult?

Did the All Blacks actually have that bad a year.?

Looking back, average. Looking forwards, worrying.

It's not just a loosies combo issue, the backs are unable to build consistently on the forwards' platform, and the second half, where the good teams regroup, our coaches/captains don't seem to have an answer. We are too predictable and too disjointed.

There was an early round moment when Joshua reached out to graze Paul's cheek then looked horrified when it looked like Paul was accidentally going to turn his face into the punch. Phew! He just missed him. Those early rounds he was just patting Paul down to see if he had any twinkies on him. Sure it was an honest fight, and not a rigged one at all. And I'm a hot Polish chick with a sophisticated yet subtle sense of humour.

I reckon they had an agreement not to box with any serious intent the first x rounds. Glad I didn't pay to watch that glorified bout of knee-hugging.

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2026:

Who is going to want to take over the team 1 year out from the WC

He was very reluctant though

and be judged on that
Smithy

Not sure he wants to ever be judged on being an AB head coach.
Unfortunately!
Seems to me we have at least two good coaches who don't want or can't be head coach (Smith, Schmidt).

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

Not saying I'm a supporter of Razor - far from it infact, but I too, would be surprised if he went before the 2027 RWC.

He has a hell of a 2026 season to try and negotiate first.

True. Really is make or break for him.

But 2026 would be an uphill battle for almost any coach. Seems overkill to me. Hope it doesn't longterm injure any 2027 potential RWC ABs.

On the bright side, our hookers are getting bigger:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360915611/best-decision-why-all-blacks-hooker-asafo-aumua-took-break-after-concussions
"All Blacks coach Scott Robertson picked Codie Taylor, Samisoni Taukei'aho, George Bell and Brodie Retallick as his hookers this season."

@tubbyj said in Highlanders 2026:

Blues should chase Cam Millar. He is the kind of 10 they need, more Grant Fox than Carlos Spencer.

I'd be happy with a young Carlos Spencer. He went alright for the Blues, 608 points if I recall.

@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:

A wrap of week two.

Jim looked a bit nervous

Jim's definitely a hugger. Maybe he should play hooker!

@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!

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@chchfanatic (wherever he is now) can confirm for us that they hated Akira. He was at a bbq with them and Akira's name got bought up and they all laughed at him circa 2018.

Laughed at Akira, circa 2018? Professional coaches did that?

According to him, yes.

I'm a little bit shocked!

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:

@chchfanatic (wherever he is now) can confirm for us that they hated Akira. He was at a bbq with them and Akira's name got bought up and they all laughed at him circa 2018.

Laughed at Akira, circa 2018? Professional coaches did that?

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

Speaking of All Blacks, Richie Mo'unga is preparing well for the ABs, his Toshiba Brave Lupus team went down by 46 points, unanswered.

How many current Springboks are in that team?

not enough! I only know of one South African in that team, Stephanus Du Toit and I don't think he is the famous one (he's a fullback), nor an international (?) but he may be related to the famous one.
But on the winning side, Saitama Wild Knights, one Lachlan Boshier scored a try. And they have Damian de Allende.

Speaking of All Blacks, Richie Mo'unga is preparing well for the ABs, his Toshiba Brave Lupus team went down by 46 points, unanswered.

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

as @Tim noted, Ireland are technically an international team.
But can I add Gatland (3 6N titles) ? John Kirwan was also an ex-international head coach. And Robbie Deans. And John Mitchell. Maybe we missed a bullet.

So, aside from bullets dodged - Schmidt then - who probably didn't want the job?
Point remains, we can't expect to have a range of first rate internationally tier 1 experienced head coach candidates available when we want them. It's just not realistic.

I agree with your overall point. The only exception I can think of would be Wayne Smith, and that was obviously not going to happen. We don't have the (coaching) cattle. It does lead me to wonder if there will be pressure to allow non NZ AB coaches in the future - like many other countries.

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

as @Tim noted, Ireland are technically an international team.
But can I add Gatland (3 6N titles) ? John Kirwan was also an ex-international head coach. And Robbie Deans. And John Mitchell. Maybe we missed a bullet.
There was also Kieran Crowley (who wanted to continue to coach Italy, not sure what happened there or what he is doing now). You can say Italy (don't add Ireland) were tier 2 but Crowley's team had recently beaten Australia (end of 2022 I think).