Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc
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@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@nepia said in All Blacks 2022:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones said in All Blacks 2022:
@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
our leading most experienced coaches are not in NZ.
It's an easy thing to say, but how about some names? Jamie Joseph I think could be handy.....who else?
Schmidt is already in. Gatland?
The more involvement he has the worse the Chiefs are. When MacMillan has been in charge they look a much better team. Maybe his NH style doesn't work for our players?
IIRC, Gatland wasn't all that rated by many Welsh fans up to 2017 with his style of play being derided as "Warrenball", but he won 4 6N's has been relatively successful with the Lions.
Now he's full-time with the Chiefs we'll be able to see how good he is in SR and how he goes with the team over the next year.
Yep, but being rated by fans doesn't really mean a lot as most of us have favouries without knowing much about what goes on. And the Warrenball was a press term which just showed ho some fans get their ideas from press and don't actually stop and think, he had 2 big centre who were best in Wales, and they took the ball up and set it for forwards (a little like Nonu) and so press came up with a name and so of course 'fans'then got into it.
I always remember how many 'fans'in NZ were spitting tacks and disgusted when Henry and co were reappointed after 2007 WC, don't actually recall too many of those 'fans'saying well mayne they were right when ABs went on to win in 2011 and Robbie Deans went from being the messiah to the devil in Australian rugby circles.
We tend to only see a very small amount of fan's opinions on the net, and they should always be taken with a huge dose of salt! -
I will also add, I not a Foster fan or otherwise, just I know I wasn't part of board that appointed him, don't know how interview went etc etc, and have said before , I have been part of rugby boards from club level to provincial that have appointed coaches, and have always seen how expert people who are outside the whole set up tend to be, so I do admit that until I have the minutes etc of meetings I assume the ones doing the appointing know more than me.
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@kiwi_expat said in All Blacks 2022:
@dan54 said in All Blacks 2022:
@broughie said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones Rennie. The big fish that got away.
Rennie jumped to Aus when they offered him job, and I liked him as a super coach, (when he had right support ie Smith).
That's the thing isn't it? Rennie's success was very much dependent on the team around him (similar to Henry & even Gatland with Edwards at Wales/Wasps). Rennie had a coaching group of Wayne Smith, Tom Coventry, Andrew Strawbridge & Carl Hoeft from 2012-13, and once Smith left Rennie's Chiefs went from averaging 2 losses per season with Wayne Smith there (2012, 2013) to 6-7 a season.
Jamie Joseph is very similar in that regard as his record at the Highlanders was subpar without the services of Tony Brown, Clarke Dermody (setpiece) & John Preston (skills/backs) than people recall. 2010 (11th), 2011 (10th), 2012 (9th), 2013 (14th). Brown, Dermody, Preston added to coaching staff for 2014 season (5th), 2015 (1st), 2016 (3rd). Overall, Joseph managed a 53% record over 6 seasons, it only came together for them when they appointed outstanding technical coaches to assist Joseph.
Yep ex-pat, so do we give the coaches credit for picking a good team to help them, or do we give the asistants credit for being a good team? Both I believe, I said before I tend to think maybe test coaches are more like DORs than actually straight out coaches. I do seem to recall reading Rennie only standing for Chiefs job at Wayne Smith's pushing and Smith saying he would be his assitant if he did, and Smith went to Chiefs board with that idea I believe.
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@dan54 said in All Blacks 2022:
We tend to only see a very small amount of fan's opinions on the net, and they should always be taken with a huge dose of salt!
Yeah, Warrenball was a press thing, but I recall my two Welsh mates with serious rugby smarts also agreeing with the general feeling about Gatland and I value their opinions highly. Their view seems to be about lack of creativity and not making the best of his resources.
Came right in the end though, I guess.
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Machpantsreplied to Victor Meldrew on 11 Apr 2022, 22:14 last edited by Machpants 11 Apr 2022, 22:15
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@nepia said in All Blacks 2022:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones said in All Blacks 2022:
@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
our leading most experienced coaches are not in NZ.
It's an easy thing to say, but how about some names? Jamie Joseph I think could be handy.....who else?
Schmidt is already in. Gatland?
The more involvement he has the worse the Chiefs are. When MacMillan has been in charge they look a much better team. Maybe his NH style doesn't work for our players?
IIRC, Gatland wasn't all that rated by many Welsh fans up to 2017 with his style of play being derided as "Warrenball", but he won 4 6N's has been relatively successful with the Lions.
Now he's full-time with the Chiefs we'll be able to see how good he is in SR and how he goes with the team over the next year.
Harsh, he is by far the most sucessful Lions coach ever!
But I think the reason we only had 2 people apply for the ABs job was timing. They left it until well late, so would you apply for your dream job with the ABs when, if you donβt get it thereβs no decent jobs left (and the encumbent was in a very strong position to take the role)? Thatβs why Razor went for it, he was good to do some more years at sadres after. I wouldnβt do that, against a stacked deck and the posibility of coaching outer mongolia afterwards as that was the only job left.
IMO NZR did this on purpose, so they could have their choice confirmed. Not their fault only 2 applied, and one doesnβt have any international experienceβ¦ /tinfoil hat
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@machpants they may have assumed that Shag would win out in Tokyo therefore making Foster's succession feel like a natural step
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@canefan said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@machpants they may have assumed that Shag would win out in Tokyo therefore making Foster's succession feel like a natural step
They mustβve had their eyes closed since 2017 if they thought that! But that could be so
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@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@canefan said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@machpants they may have assumed that Shag would win out in Tokyo therefore making Foster's succession feel like a natural step
They mustβve had their eyes closed since 2017 if they thought that! But that could be so
NZRFU arrogance
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I agree with @Dan54 about Rennie, as he (Rennie) has said that he was already in discussions with Raelene Castle well before the RWC. I'm not absolving NZR, because they should have been proactive in approaching all potential candidates well in advance of Tokyo.
I've always been bemused about the term "Warrenball" because there are plenty of examples of teams he has coached that played expansive rugby. Wasps and Waikato being two. Maybe he was more pragmatic at international level but I don't think that Wales have changed too much since he left. So it is now Pivacball?
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The good thing about the next AB coach is it will be his own success without argument.
Henry took over a successful Mitch Squad, Hansen over Henry and then Fozzie sucked the Kumara. The new coach will get to build from Scratch again and make it theres.
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@bovidae said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I agree with @Dan54 about Rennie, as he (Rennie) has said that he was already in discussions with Raelene Castle well before the RWC. I'm not absolving NZR, because they should have been proactive in approaching all potential candidates well in advance of Tokyo.
I've always been bemused about the term "Warrenball" because there are plenty of examples of teams he has coached that played expansive rugby. Wasps and Waikato being two. Maybe he was more pragmatic at international level but I don't think that Wales have changed too much since he left. So it is now Pivacball?
Yep well many of net experts have to wait for media to come up with name to jump on board mate. You will notice that some of our press even used the Warrenball crap when Lions were here in 2017, and then same on net. If anyone thought the Lions went so well by playing Warrenball ie a big centre carrying it up etc, they not watching the game. The other think about Warrenball, how many keep harping it the way ABs should play, and moaned about Laumape etc going because he played it to a "T".
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@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in All Blacks 2022:
We tend to only see a very small amount of fan's opinions on the net, and they should always be taken with a huge dose of salt!
Yeah, Warrenball was a press thing, but I recall my two Welsh mates with serious rugby smarts also agreeing with the general feeling about Gatland and I value their opinions highly. Their view seems to be about lack of creativity and not making the best of his resources.
Came right in the end though, I guess.
Funnily enough by best mate is a Welshman too Vic, a real rugby man, him and I have been known to chase rugby all over the place to actually watch it, and he was always keen on what Gatland did, but didn't like some of Hansen's decisions.I always remember talking to a load of Welshmen during Lions tour to Aussie in 2001, and them asking me how NZ let Henry go, they thought he was great. I myself reckoned Hanry got better as an international coach AFTER theLions and Wales, as did Hansen, who says he learnt so much doing that job.
And even Razor says he would like to get international experience, why he wanted to go as an assistant on Lions tour to SA.And I know it's thought that promoting from within is not the thing to do by many in here, I will bet that Dan McKellar get's the Wallabies job after Rennie, RA is already hinting strongly that is the case.
And already Rennie is starting to cop it a bit in at least one Aussie forum. -
@bovidae said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I've always been bemused about the term "Warrenball" because there are plenty of examples of teams he has coached that played expansive rugby. Wasps and Waikato being two. Maybe he was more pragmatic at international level but I don't think that Wales have changed too much since he left. So it is now Pivacball?
IMO really good coaches have an ability to see the way rugby should be played, but pragmatic enough to adopt the best way for the talent at hand.
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@hooroo said in All Blacks 2022:
The good thing about the next AB coach is it will be his own success without argument.
Henry took over a successful Mitch Squad, Hansen over Henry and then Fozzie sucked the Kumara. The new coach will get to build from Scratch again and make it theres.
Almost every coach brings in own players and so really makes team his own, Henry had a few of Mitchell's, same as Hansen and Foster. It will be same with next coach who will have a decent amount of present players. It has been same for as long as I have watched rugby, with maybe the only real new team was the baby Blacks where most of preferred team was stood down.
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@antipodean And I thought that's what Gatland did with Wales.
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@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Harsh, he is by far the most sucessful Lions coach ever!
I'm so old I go back to Syd Millar and Carwyn James...
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Victor Meldrewreplied to Dan54 on 12 Apr 2022, 08:14 last edited by Victor Meldrew 12 Apr 2022, 08:16
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I always remember talking to a load of Welshmen during Lions tour to Aussie in 2001, and them asking me how NZ let Henry go, they thought he was great.
I've heard that too. His legacy was far more than simply coaching the national team and been told he was heavily involved in re-structuring the game in Wales.
As an aside, my Welsh mate's wife was an Assistant Headteacher and went to talk by Henry on education & extra-curricular activities. She said it was poss. the best lecture she'd ever been to and he was clearly top of tree on education thinking.
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@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@nepia said in All Blacks 2022:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones said in All Blacks 2022:
@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
our leading most experienced coaches are not in NZ.
It's an easy thing to say, but how about some names? Jamie Joseph I think could be handy.....who else?
Schmidt is already in. Gatland?
The more involvement he has the worse the Chiefs are. When MacMillan has been in charge they look a much better team. Maybe his NH style doesn't work for our players?
IIRC, Gatland wasn't all that rated by many Welsh fans up to 2017 with his style of play being derided as "Warrenball", but he won 4 6N's has been relatively successful with the Lions.
Now he's full-time with the Chiefs we'll be able to see how good he is in SR and how he goes with the team over the next year.
Harsh, he is by far the most sucessful Lions coach ever!
Cough. Cough. Sir Ian McGeechan?
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@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I always remember talking to a load of Welshmen during Lions tour to Aussie in 2001, and them asking me how NZ let Henry go, they thought he was great.
I've heard that too. His legacy was far more than simply coaching the national team and been told he was heavily involved in re-structuring the game in Wales.
As an aside, my Welsh mate's wife was an Assistant Headteacher and went to talk by Henry on education & extra-curricular activities. She said it was poss. the best lecture she'd ever been to and he was clearly top of tree on education thinking.
Looking in from the outside I'd say one of the biggest successes he had with Wales (aside from the re-structure - jury still out I'd say), was how he instilled belief in the national squad. His biggest mistake for me was taking on the Lions job in 2001 where I feel he lost that belief by overlooking many Welsh players. Gatland didn't make that mistake.
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Victor Meldrewreplied to Catogrande on 12 Apr 2022, 08:45 last edited by Victor Meldrew 12 Apr 2022, 08:46
@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I always remember talking to a load of Welshmen during Lions tour to Aussie in 2001, and them asking me how NZ let Henry go, they thought he was great.
I've heard that too. His legacy was far more than simply coaching the national team and been told he was heavily involved in re-structuring the game in Wales.
As an aside, my Welsh mate's wife was an Assistant Headteacher and went to talk by Henry on education & extra-curricular activities. She said it was poss. the best lecture she'd ever been to and he was clearly top of tree on education thinking.
Looking in from the outside I'd say one of the biggest successes he had with Wales (aside from the re-structure - jury still out I'd say), was how he instilled belief in the national squad.
And convincing Kiwi players they were eligible to play for Wales if their ancestors had once shagged a girl called Bronwyn.....
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@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
I always remember talking to a load of Welshmen during Lions tour to Aussie in 2001, and them asking me how NZ let Henry go, they thought he was great.
I've heard that too. His legacy was far more than simply coaching the national team and been told he was heavily involved in re-structuring the game in Wales.
As an aside, my Welsh mate's wife was an Assistant Headteacher and went to talk by Henry on education & extra-curricular activities. She said it was poss. the best lecture she'd ever been to and he was clearly top of tree on education thinking.
Yep Vic my daughter went to some safety education thing or something he spoke at a couple of years back and said he was most enlightening, and entertaining as he got message across.
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@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@nepia said in All Blacks 2022:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones said in All Blacks 2022:
@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
our leading most experienced coaches are not in NZ.
It's an easy thing to say, but how about some names? Jamie Joseph I think could be handy.....who else?
Schmidt is already in. Gatland?
The more involvement he has the worse the Chiefs are. When MacMillan has been in charge they look a much better team. Maybe his NH style doesn't work for our players?
IIRC, Gatland wasn't all that rated by many Welsh fans up to 2017 with his style of play being derided as "Warrenball", but he won 4 6N's has been relatively successful with the Lions.
Now he's full-time with the Chiefs we'll be able to see how good he is in SR and how he goes with the team over the next year.
Harsh, he is by far the most sucessful Lions coach ever!
Cough. Cough. Sir Ian McGeechan?
Nope lost too NZ, hardest tour to win. Garland got a draw, otherwise results equal, 50-50
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@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@machpants said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@nepia said in All Blacks 2022:
@victor-meldrew said in All Blacks 2022:
@bones said in All Blacks 2022:
@dagrubster said in All Blacks 2022:
our leading most experienced coaches are not in NZ.
It's an easy thing to say, but how about some names? Jamie Joseph I think could be handy.....who else?
Schmidt is already in. Gatland?
The more involvement he has the worse the Chiefs are. When MacMillan has been in charge they look a much better team. Maybe his NH style doesn't work for our players?
IIRC, Gatland wasn't all that rated by many Welsh fans up to 2017 with his style of play being derided as "Warrenball", but he won 4 6N's has been relatively successful with the Lions.
Now he's full-time with the Chiefs we'll be able to see how good he is in SR and how he goes with the team over the next year.
Harsh, he is by far the most sucessful Lions coach ever!
Cough. Cough. Sir Ian McGeechan?
Nope lost too NZ, hardest tour to win. Garland got a draw, otherwise results equal, 50-50
I'd say his two Lions tours wins puts him ahead of Gatland's one. A counter argument would say that they both have a 50% winning record, either way it kinda disproves an assertion that Gatland was "by far the most successful Lions coach ever".
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@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
It has been same for as long as I have watched rugby, with maybe the only real new team was the baby Blacks where most of preferred team was stood down.
1974 The AB selectors named a squad of 24 to tour Australia that featured 15 debutants including the captain Andy Leslie and a new coach in JJ Stewart
this after a 1973 season where NZ played five matches, all at home - losing to NZ Juniors, NZ presidents 15 and an England team that was labelled the worst to tour NZ having lost all their lead up games (Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury) and having only beaten Fiji by one point en route to NZ.
Lets trust things never get that bad again
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@dogmeat said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
It has been same for as long as I have watched rugby, with maybe the only real new team was the baby Blacks where most of preferred team was stood down.
1974 The AB selectors named a squad of 24 to tour Australia that featured 15 debutants including the captain Andy Leslie and a new coach in JJ Stewart
this after a 1973 season where NZ played five matches, all at home - losing to NZ Juniors, NZ presidents 15 and an England team that was labelled the worst to tour NZ having lost all their lead up games (Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury) and having only beaten Fiji by one point en route to NZ.
Lets trust things never get that bad again
Ok I will pay that mate. I forgot about old days when the coaches had that much fun with selection, hell I remember being like everyone (including ABs themselves) thought they only had to turn up to win against Juniors. AB s got together 3 days before game, and seem to recall a write up before Juniors game that they didn't even train properly. That was in days when Juniors were under 23 I think, colts were under 21.
That's if I remember correctly. I think Poms were only home test we played that year, and basically no trials or anything , just basically picked from tourists to NH end of 72 early 73.. I think we beat Poms at England during that tour and drew with Irelnd and lost to French
Geez mate I was only18 when they were played -
@dogmeat said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
It has been same for as long as I have watched rugby, with maybe the only real new team was the baby Blacks where most of preferred team was stood down.
1974 The AB selectors named a squad of 24 to tour Australia that featured 15 debutants including the captain Andy Leslie and a new coach in JJ Stewart
this after a 1973 season where NZ played five matches, all at home - losing to NZ Juniors, NZ presidents 15 and an England team that was labelled the worst to tour NZ having lost all their lead up games (Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury) and having only beaten Fiji by one point en route to NZ.
Lets trust things never get that bad again
Think that was when JJ Stewart took over from Bob Duff. Duff's reign included a disastrous 72-73 NH tour which showed how far behind NZ rugby actually was.
JJ Stewart took over and thoroughly cleaned out the stables and halted the decline. There was also a concerted effort to provide a development path for players with tours to Argentine etc which provided players like Mourie, Wilson and Haden. Looking back, he did a real good job but it was a shit time to be an AB supporter.
Oh, and I recall Duff being touted as the Canterbury "wonder coach" who would restore AB fortunes after the '70 & '71 Test series defeats as everything else was good in the NZ garden. Sound familiar?
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Catograndereplied to Victor Meldrew on 13 Apr 2022, 09:13 last edited by Catogrande 13 Apr 2022, 09:18
Disastrous 72-73 NH tour? Test match record of P5, W3, D1, L1.
High expectations I guess π
Edit: Wiki has Bob Duff as only assistant manager. Ernie Todd as manager.
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@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Disastrous 72-73 NH tour? Test match record of P5, W3, D1, L1.
High expectations I guess
Murdoch incident and other sundry disasters. Manager was Ernie Todd who was ill and should never have been given the job.
πEdit: Wiki has Bob Duff as only assistant manager.
Think that was what they called the coach in them days
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Ah. I see. Wiki only has the bare facts.
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@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Ah. I see. Wiki only has the bare facts.
Believe it or not, the word "coach" was associated with professionalism for quite some time.
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@catogrande Disastrous because as @Victor-Meldrew said the Murdoch affair, the culture of the team but above all the results.
The test side was not too bad and came within minutes of redeeming the whole tour if they had beaten Ireland and thus become the first NZ side to complete the Grand Slam. Instead they lost to Llanelli (remember learning about it when I got on bus to school 'we lost to a bloody Welsh village" ) North west Counties, Midland Counties, and drew with Munster before Tom Grace scored in the last minute for Ireland (Spike Milligan wrote By Jesus By Grace we are saved). If the touchline conversion had gone over we would have lost as it ended the game.
We were then schooled by the Baabaas and went on to France which no one wanted to do and lost in Paris.
So an unhappy touring party with a back seat of the bus who had a serious attitude and apparently were a bunch of bullies. In the main played boring 9 man rugby despite having some really talented backs. Grant Batty was the emerging star scoring what seemed like half our trys.
P32 W25 D2 L5 is really not good enough for an All Black side.Remember it like it was yesterday - getting up in the middle of the night to watch B&W live coverage from the Northern hemisphere for the first time ever. TBH probably remember it better than I do last years tests! .
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Victor Meldrewreplied to dogmeat on 13 Apr 2022, 20:55 last edited by Victor Meldrew 13 Apr 2022, 21:14
@dogmeat said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
In the main played boring 9 man rugby despite having some really talented backs.
Yep. Players like Ian Stevens and Mark Sayers had become converts to Carwyn James rugby philosophy and their form meant they really couldn't be left out of the touring squad. But they were criminally treated by Bob Duff and the management - almost as if they wanted to prove the playing revolution the '71 Lions brought to NZ was a type of heresy.
Grant Batty was the emerging star scoring what seemed like half our trys.
I still have his book somewhere. IIRC he was/is scathing about Ernie Todd, Bob Duff, Welsh Rugby and Senior AB players (Wylie, Kirkpatrick, etc) in reverse order. One of my favourite AB's, Batty made JPR Williams look stupid on defence in that Baa Baa's game - which is possibly the highest accolade a player can get.
EDIT: Getting confused about the thread title - seems to have morphed from "Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc" to "Old AB Tours" and back again. Either I'm pissed or the mods are...
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Twas on a dark and dismal day in a week that had seen rain,
When all roads led to Stradey Park with the All Blacks here again,
they poured down from the valleys, they came from far and wide,
There were 50,000 in the ground and me and Dai outside.The shops were closed like Sunday and the streets were silent still,
And those who chose to stay away were either dead or ill,
But those who went to Stradey park will remember till they die,
How New Zealand Were defeated and how the pubs ran dry.Oh the beer flowed at Stradey, piped down from Felinfoel,
And the hands that held the glasses high were strong from steel and coal,
the air was filled with singing and I heard a grown man cry,
Not because we'd won but because the pubs ran dry.Then dawned the morning after, on empty factories,
For we were still at Stradey, bloodshot absentees,
But we all had doctors papers and they all said just the same,
that we all had Scarlet fever and we caught it at the game.Now all the little babies in Llanelli from now on,
Will be Christened Roy or Carwyn, Derek, Delme, Phil or John,
And in a hundred years from now they'll sing a song for me,
About that day the scoreboard read Llanelli 9- Seland Newydd 3.And when I grow old, my hair turns grey and they put me in a chair,
I'll tell my great grandchildren that their Datcu was there.
And they'll ask to hear the story of that dark October day,
When I went down to Stradey park and I saw the Scarlets play.Max Boyce
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Best mate still likes to tell me he was at the Llanelli game. Says still one of highlight of rugby watching career.
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Victor Meldrewreplied to Dan54 on 14 Apr 2022, 08:01 last edited by Victor Meldrew 14 Apr 2022, 08:11
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Best mate still likes to tell me he was at the Llanelli game. Says still one of highlight of rugby watching career.
Sean Fitzpatrick once said he'd never meet a Welshman under 60 who wasn't at Cardiff Arms Park in 1953.
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@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Best mate still likes to tell me he was at the Llanelli game. Says still one of highlight of rugby watching career.
Every man in Wales was at that game. Even those not then born.
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@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Best mate still likes to tell me he was at the Llanelli game. Says still one of highlight of rugby watching career.
Sean Fitzpatrick once said he'd never meet a Welshman under 60 who wasn't at Cardiff Arms Park in 1953.
Yep, only trouble with that theory, is mate 67, and got a team photo of boys from his team at game. I will pass on message that he's considered a fraud though!! I sure he won't care what people he doesn't know who post anonimously think .
Actually one thing with mate, like me he actually goes to a hell of a lot of rugby, unlike me he doesn't post on forums. Him and I are such desperates we arranged a holiday to Wales a couple of years back , so we could do club rugby in and around Wales. Unfortunately on way we stopped in Italy where my son lived and a nameless person slipped on ice and broke his ankle and had to head home -
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@dan54 said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
Best mate still likes to tell me he was at the Llanelli game. Says still one of highlight of rugby watching career.
Sean Fitzpatrick once said he'd never meet a Welshman under 60 who wasn't at Cardiff Arms Park in 1953.
Yep, only trouble with that theory, is mate 67, and got a team photo of boys from his team at game. I will pass on message that he's considered a fraud though!! I sure he won't care what people he doesn't know who post anonimously think .
Actually one thing with mate, like me he actually goes to a hell of a lot of rugby, unlike me he doesn't post on forums. Him and I are such desperates we arranged a holiday to Wales a couple of years back , so we could do club rugby in and around Wales. Unfortunately on way we stopped in Italy where my son lived and a nameless person slipped on ice and broke his ankle and had to head homeThoroughly recommend this book. Gives bios of the players and the game to frame the growth of Rugby in Wales and NZ.
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Catograndereplied to Victor Meldrew on 14 Apr 2022, 20:38 last edited by Catogrande 14 Apr 2022, 20:39
@victor-meldrew
I know both sides have a view about the rivalry, probably based on the importance of the game to both countries, but really? A rivalry is usually based on a bit of to and fro results wise. For sure Wales have run NZ close a good few times and often approach the game in a similar way. But itβs been almost 70 years now and never away from home. -
@catogrande said in Foster, Robertson, Rennie etc:
@victor-meldrew
I know both sides have a view about the rivalry, probably based on the importance of the game to both countries, but really? A rivalry is usually based on a bit of to and fro results wise. For sure Wales have run NZ close a good few times and often approach the game in a similar way. But itβs been almost 70 years now and never away from home.Wasn't really one sided until 1980 when we smacked them up in the Centenary Test. Still really close matches (st least in Wales) in the 70s.
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