The Silver Fern

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal

Not sure exactly what you asked AI, but I was around for all of these teams.

1967-70
All of these teams were good. Supremely confident we would win every game..
Some saffas consider the 1970 AB team as better than the 1974 BI Lions team that beat them 4 zip.
I was confident we could beat SA in SA for the first time. A total contrast to how I feel 26.
Surprised we lost, but probably should not have been. The boks were good and they had a bit of extra assistance, of course.

1971
We were definitely on the slide a bit this year.
The third test in particular was a bit of a new experience as a youngster.
That game reminds me a bit of some of the losses in 25. Was goin "what the fuck happened!" We had nuthin.

1972
Was ok, all wins, but the wins were like wins in 25, none were emphatic.

1973
This was a bad year. Not for just onfield stuff. SA were meant to tour, but the govt came over the top and canned it.
Then we lost to an England team in their pre-season! (I think this was a hastily arranged subsitute game.)
Just about the worst AB loss ever!
The ABs also had a bit of an internal tour, which was complete BS, and no one was really interested.

1994
94 was actually more of a concern to me than 98. Really starting to have my doubts about Laurie Mains. A bit like my thoughts about Razor now. What happened in 95 was an unexpected turn around. And the turnaround seems to have been driven by the players (Laurie getting some player buy-in). Maybe something like that could happen this year.?

1998
The opposition was good; but we were ok. Could have won all the games. Thought we could turn this around easily.
Not the feeling I had in 25.

2025
In 25 I thought when we ran into a good team playing well, we had no chance. Probably never had that feeling with an AB team before.

The main problem with the 1998 team was the lineout. Anton Oliver could not throw properly. He was fine in the loose but incredibly poor at throwing. There were a lot of bloody good players in that team.

@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

@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?

@voodoo I understand the biomechanics a bit. As for the dark arts, that's outside my knowledge. But I don't doubt there are many tricks and treats.

easy money.

@booboo said in Poll: AB wins on EOYT for a decent season:

@nostrildamus said in Poll: AB wins on EOYT for a decent season:

@booboo said in Poll: AB wins on EOYT for a decent season:

@nzzp said in Poll: AB wins on EOYT for a decent season:

Lucky win against England

Nah. We were better. Sliding doors.

Life is so unfair, a win solely due to our superior climate.
It's almost like NH scribes were destined to choke on a giant pie slice of karma.

Huh?

The English climate works against sliding doors...

@dogmeat said in Best win over the weekend?:

Most importantly it's a bogus WC. It's played every fucking year

Did not know this. Even biennially it takes the gloss off somewhat. Still, nicer to have won one than not.

Was nice scrolling through this thread again!
Can see us getting pumped in both white ball series however. India have been shit at tests recently but they would be favs for the T20 WC next month and in ODIs Kohli is still scoring heavily

@Chris-B said in If we win Bled 2, are you happy heading into the end of year tour?:

@Frank Be confident and say it yourself if that's what you believe! 🙂

Havili - if they take five midfielders he'll be the fifth.

Christie - probably not.

Cane - for the past month it has looked an awful lot like they think he's still the best openside in New Zealand. What have you seen the makes you think they think someone else is better?

TJ - I wouldn't b surprised.

@Frank You bewdy - 100 percent on another test! 🙂

@Mr-Fish said in Blues 2025:

Moananu rumours incorrect?

It was me who posted he was likely headed back to Auckland but it wasn’t decided on which Auckland club he was joining(or I just wasn’t being told). Both were keen. The Slater signing threw a spanner in the mix. All signs point to Moana you would now assume if what Frugby is posting is correct

@canefan Eddie would agree.

@Tim said in QF: Blues v Tahs:

@Nepia Just sign up, you lazy fuck.

You're 100% correct here.

@TeWaio said in Black Caps v England:

@Donsteppa said in Black Caps v England:

Joys of one run or one point in sport. Had it been a one wicket loss...! I've occasionally wondered how NZ rugby history would have gone had 2011 finished up 7 - 8 at Eden Park instead.

Or if Merths' late droppie in 1995 had gone over...

or if Mils try in the corner was awarded

@rancid-schnitzel said in Mens Health:

Ultimately it's about moderation and I'm guessing Warne still wanted to party like he was 25 rather than 52. I'm also guessing he was the type who would go on an extreme diet then bender - rinse and repeat.

It seems to me that the whole getting healthy or weight loss thing is so unnecessarily complicated. You don't need the expensive supplements or gym equipment. Eat and drink less crap and go for walks and you're already most of the way there.

Everything in moderation including moderation.

I put very little thought into what I consume but I shy away from anything overly processed to start with and and cooking is almost always 'from scratch'.

The best thing you can do food wise is learn to cook and by that I mean be able to look in the fridge/garden/pantry and throw something together without recipe. A full range of ways to put together proteins and greens and keep the carbs dialled back by portion.

@duluth said in Hurricanes v Blues (pre-season):

@kiwimurph

Oops, yes I forgot

it's Northland, totally understandable

@mariner4life said in Poll: Foster reappointment:

@frye i think there are a lot of factorsstill in the Crusaders favour that slightly skew the number of titles.

But

Having talent and depth but getting the best out of it is what being the AB coach is all about.

However, for all the talk of the head coach, at test level i am more convinced than ever that the quality of the assistant coaches has more to do with the overall success of the team than just the HC.

In the current game, the most important coaches are arguably the defence coach and the skills coach. Our skills dropped off when we lost Mick the Kick and our defence is obviously shit

really wish I had unfollowed this thread

@damo said in Blues v Waratahs:

@kruse said in Blues v Waratahs:

@daffy-jaffy said in Blues v Waratahs:

Now thats a good lift -
dadf6eb0-93af-493f-94aa-7b98de7dac2b-image.png

Genuine question... why did they ever change the laws to allow lifting?
It's always seemed to me that it just caused more problems than I can think of ever existing pre-lifting.

You're just looking back with rose tinted glasses. Lineouts used to be an absolute shit fest. Scrappy forwards elbowing at each other to win rubbish ball for the halfback to deal with or get smashed by the opposing players.

Lifting in lineouts is the best change they ever made.

Fair 'nuff
Like I said - honest question... I think a few people have said similar things - I'll bow to the masses.
Could the same effect have been achieved done other ways? Probably.
Doesn't matter... we are where we are, and it is better than before. Like so many things, I sometimes wonder if it could have been fixed by just proper application of the laws at the time.