The Silver Fern

An extremely predictable and disappointing squad. It’s obvious they’ve moved on from Reece and Lienert-Brown as options for big test matches, so why are they in the squad? Robertson knows they’re not good enough but doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. He’ll wait for them to get injured or retire before replacing them. Those two, along with Christie and a few others, simply aren’t test quality. Robertson’s selections are the opposite of ruthless. He is infuriatingly timid.

@george33 said in All Blacks 2026:

Latest rumors are that the NZR have approached a former AB coach to return and work as a mentor with Razor or option 2 take over completely.
Didn't name which coach that is .

One of the rumours you've posted must be right.

@Duluth said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

I think you have listed the most likely duos in the appropriate (descending) order for likelihood of selection

I would like all of them. Joseph (head coach), Brown, Cotter as the main coaches. Schmidt as a high performance manager who joins later working with SR sides and the ABs.

Thinking about this a bit more and trying to get them, plus Rennie, all involved. Would that look something like the following?

Head Coach: Jamie Joseph
Attack Coach: Tony Brown
Defence Coach: Dave Rennie
Forwards/Set Piece: Vern Cotter
Technical/Game Management Advisor: Joe Schmidt

@Kirwan said in All Blacks 2025:

I don't mind players that have put in the time to the ABs getting a break. It's helps those players last longer and recover from all the contact.

But players like that Mounga and LF that leave early? They can fuck right off.

Faingaʻanuku has played a total of seven tests (two of which were against Namibia and Uruguay) and wasn't deemed good enough for the 23 in the World Cup semi-final or final before he left. Talk of him walking straight back into the squad doesn't sit right.

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2025:

@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:

I'd love to know what he really is like as a coach, from the clips I have seen at training, he just seems to oversee things without being too directly involved, but I could and probably am totally incorrect.

From Sam Whitelock's book.....

Without doubt Razor sees things differently. Here’s a story from our first year working together that sums him up perfectly. I had played massive minutes for the Crusaders and the All Blacks over the past few years, and my body was screaming at me.

A niggly Achilles would plague me for the rest of my career. Razor got me into his office and showed me a photo..... of a rooster leading a group of hens across a bridge. He pointed at the rooster and said, ‘This is you.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where are you going with this one, Ray?’

‘If there’s something that needs doing, you’re the first one to do it. If there’s a drill that needs demonstrating, you’re first up and doing it. But I need this …’ Then he showed me another photo, and I saw a dog with three sheep in a little mob.

What Razor was showing me, in his inimitable style, was that he needed me to bark from behind.

I can see that sort of thing working with someone of profoundly low intelligence but anyone with half a brain would surely double over with cringe.

@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:

Love this thread. Not only are Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown going to come in and turn us into world beaters in record time but the snowflake senior players are all going to love Jamie Joseph's style of 'old school' coaching that from what I hear involves swearing and abusing players.

Also not only do the posters on here know more about international coaching than Scott Robertson but also Wayne Smith now.

The overexcitement around Joseph and Brown is nowhere near what surrounded Robertson before he took over.

I don’t think there’s any question that Robertson was the right appointment. NZR handled the process poorly, however. Ideally, Robertson should have been surrounded by other top-level coaches, not just his mates. And while he deserved the job, that doesn’t guarantee he’s up to it. He still has time to turn things around, but at this stage it looks far from promising.

As much as I'd like to see certain changes in the backline, I'm not expecting it to happen. Robertson seems like more of a motivator than coach - he leaves the coaching up to the other guys. At the Crusaders, with the majority of the side All Blacks, he could motivate the players to play to their ability and that'd do the job against a side with a handful of internationals. But when the playing field is even and the opposition is just as motivated, you need ruthless systems. Right now, the team doesn’t look like they have them.

The motivator vs coach idea also fits with the way he tries to be mates with the players and the cheesy “walk together” stuff, which is less like strategy and more like a way to keep them onside so he can fire them up. That might explain his reluctance to drop senior guys too. He sees the level they've played to in the past and thinks he can motivate them to play to that level. It works when you’ve got the best squad in the comp, but at test level sentiment can’t come before standards.

This idea that you can’t drop underperforming players and select inexperienced players or players with 'work-ons' is ridiculous. At some point, when he knows a players can’t do the job, Robertson has to take a punt on someone with potential and back himself to help them realise it. Two years out from the World Cup. The All Blacks will either be full of guys who are two years worse than they are now, or new players who haven’t been given any time to get used to test rugby.

@nzzp said in All Blacks v Springboks I:

Stuffed reporting injury to Kyle Preston.
Sounds like good oil on a Fakatava joining squad - would be the prudent thing to do!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360810170/injury-all-blacks-halfback-kyle-preston-could-add-injury-crisis-scott-robertson

Kept out of NPC to avoid injury, misses out on valuable game time, gets injured at training.

Don’t worry, guys - I’ve just received some inside information on Robertson’s coaching plans for 2026. Honestly, it all looks pretty bloody effective to me.

@Nepia said in All Blacks v France III:

FFS, no lock reserve.

Locks are 6's and 6's are locks now.

And all loose forward positions are interchangeable so all opensides are blindsides and all opensides are locks. Kirifi is lock cover.

With Clarke, Ioane and Narawa out, they still haven't gone back to Reece. Hopefully, they've moved on from him for good. Lienert-Brown also may have slipped down the pecking order permanently.

@rewa267 said in All Blacks vs Wallabies Bledisloe II:

I definitely think Lakai should start at 8. With Siti coming off the bench. I would like to see Lakai start a game at 7 and Siti at 8. The issue for Siti playing 8 is that he & Ardie are to similar & Ardie is our best player so you are not dropping him. Potentially Lakai takes over at 7 after the World Cup and Siti then can start at 8.

Ardie Savea avoids doing parts of a loose forward's game he doesn't care for and disrupts the loose trio balance. He's a negative multiplier for the team despite his one or two impressive moments each game.

@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2025:

@Mauss said in All Blacks 2025:

And yes, with hindsight there was, once again, too little attention given to international experience. I’m guessing it will return as a deciding factor in the next coaching selection post-2027, which is good news for guys like Jamie Joseph and Vern Cotter (and perhaps even Schmidt and Rennie, should they be interested).

Well, for a little bit of Devil's advocacy....

For all of the "Woe is us" and "All would be well if only we'd got Joe", the scoreline reads Razor 4 - Schmidt 0. Which is better than Sir Graham managed vs Robbie in his first four tests. And while it can be argued that it's "only Australia", it's an Australia that took a test off the Lions and beat SA in SA.

Record vs Rassie isn't great 1-3, but Rassie's coaching a generational SA team and has had umpteen years to get them where they are - and didn't have the same post-2023 exodus that we did.

3-0 vs Borthwick.

3-1 vs Galthie (you can only beat what's in front of you - but, could've been 4-0).

2-2 vs Contepomi, which is the most annoying.

And we've won the rest vs Fiji, Japan, Ireland and Italy.

Looking at a couple of other coaching options - well you couldn't get more international experience than Gatland, but he came back to Super rugby and totally shat the bed. How could this happen?

This time last year, there were strong calls for Cotter to join the squad - but then he took the reigning Champion Blues to a 7-9 record this year. You've got to ask why his significant international experience didn't help him arrest this debacle?

The ultra-internationally experienced Jamie Joseph led his Highlanders to the bottom of the table.

How did these things happen with all this international experience?

And, the maligned Hansen actually has quite a bit of international experience. As has Ryan - he nearly won a RWC.

And now Razor has too. He's coached 23 tests - and only lost 6 compared to all of the guys above.

The genius Rassie is 36/49 = 73.5%
Razor is 17/23 = 73.9%

It's not a fucking disaster!

Im not into the idea of defending the current coach by way of speculation about how other coaches would be worse.

Robertson is the coach now and while it might not be a ‘fucking disaster’, comparing him to what Schmidt, Cotter, or anyone else might have done is pure guesswork. While his win–loss record is solid-ish, that doesn’t automatically mean everything’s tracking well. The concern isn’t about numbers, it’s about whether the team looks cohesive, improving and confident under his leadership.

It’s easy to say ‘well, the other guys have struggled too,” but that doesn’t change what’s happening with this All Blacks side. Results matter, but so does the direction of travel and people are seeing a team that looks lost. It’s more than fair to expect more than just okay from the head coach of New Zealand.

And when people talk about Robertson’s lack of overseas experience, it’s really his lack of experience anywhere other than Canterbury and the Crusaders. He’s used to coaching the top team, a lot of the time against much weaker opposition, in competitions where the style of play and the formula for winning didn’t need to change much for him.

The selectors continue to be as conservative and boring as possible.

All Blacks team to play South Africa in Wellington on Saturday: Damian McKenzie, Will Jordan, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett, Leroy Carter, Beauden Barrett, Noah Hotham, Wallace Sititi, Ardie Savea, Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa'i, Scott Barrett, Tyrel Lomax, Samisoni Taukei'aho, Ethan de Groot.
Reserves: Brodie McAlister, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Fabian Holland, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Finlay Christie, Quinn Tupaea, Ruben Love.

We'll be waiting till 2028 to see the All Blacks begin developing a new first five. That is extremely depressing.

I think this shows how easily people (the general public) get caught up in the highlights and overlook the fundamentals. When people look back at Dan Carter, they remember the chip-and-chase against the Lions or other moments of brilliance. But they forget that what made him world-class was his complete skill set: an accurate kicking game, smart decision-making, an ability to control and direct play around the field. Because of that, when we search for the “next great first five,” the focus of the casual viewer often shifts to the flashy, running players, rather than the steady organisers with strong kicking games who actually win matches. Over time, that might be part of the reason why so many first fives at Super Rugby level fit that mould — exciting with ball in hand, but lacking the organisational skills and kicking game that actually win test matches.

@nonpartizan said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:

In contrast Razor will select a player like Love with no intent to play him and do the same with an older player like Jacobson or ALB.

Then brings up how many players have debuted while he’s been coach in the press conference and tries to claim two minutes off the bench playing out of position when the player is only there because the players he wanted to pick are injured means he’s not being conservative with his selections.