Foster, Robertson etc
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I'm on the Razor bandwagon.
I used to think that if you had the cattle then any vaguely competent coach could get them across the line - but, Rennie (and Smith) vs Foster and then Razor vs Toddy Blackadder convinced me I was thinking bullshit.
Instantaneous improvement to repeated victory.
I reckon under Fozzie we're getting similar results to what we'd be getting under Toddy. Decent people, competent coaches, trying their best - but, they just don't quite have the magic touch.
Razor may not be able to work his magic with the ABs post-2023 (see Rennie and the Wallabies), but I reckon we'd be silly not to give him the shot.
Not sure how you comparing Rennie/Smith and Foster to start with, Rennie won a couple with Smith when Chiefs were markedly different team than the year before, maybe when they picked up the likes of Rettalick, Cruden, Elliot, Schwalger etc (who under the previous year's rules would of been Cane's players or other squads. made a difference, because NZR opened up criteria for super team selecting. That is in no way rubbishing Rennie and Smith, who did great job, just saying you comparing apples with oranges. And no I not arguing that Foster should get job, though am not as yet convinced Razor is the the answer as I said Deans was poor as a test coach and he had similar record. Mind you I am not the one who will be deciding the next AB coach and if it is Razor he will get my full support!
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@Windows97 said in Foster:
@Chris-B They lost one mid-week game against a province, drew against Scotland and lost to England.
I'd still venture a series loss at home against Ireland and your first ever loss to Argentina at home is a little worse.
I'd venture you don't remember how poor/limited NH teams were in 70s. Hell we used to regularly win , without great AB teams, hell I was a youngish one eyed AB supporter, but even I used to admit we were fielding teams of players who weren't going to be mentioned in the same breath as the ones form 60s etc. Best team from NH in 70s was 71 Lions who cleaned us out in test series, and that was after losing a game against an Aussie provincial team on way over. They were a bloody good Lions team, but we were fairly ordinary
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@kiwi_expat said in Foster:
so perhaps you should change your record.
The irony is STRONG in this one.
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@Dan54 Yeah - the rules changed - and who took best advantage of the rule changes?
Rennie did. He recruited those players - part of being a good coach.
Retallick is from Amberley and was a bad miss by the Crusaders' system, but largely because he wasn't the player he became - primarily at the Chiefs.
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@Windows97 said in Foster:
@Chris-B They lost one mid-week game against a province, drew against Scotland and lost to England.
I'd still venture a series loss at home against Ireland and your first ever loss to Argentina at home is a little worse.
Hmmm a loss at home to world number 1 Ireland and an Argentina that beat South Africa and Australia is plumbing the all time depths??
Remember that the All Blacks used to blood players in midweek fixtures or tour matches and lost a few of them along the way. Ask Pat Lam if he remembers. Nearly lost to Fiji too but was not a test match.
Now the second stringers are tested in the first xv against even the strongest opponents. Maybe that is more the reason for the variable results.
I think you might find that all teams struggle a bit for form in the couple of years before World Cup as they test players and tactics.
This is no great AB team but it is very far from the worst I have seen.
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@Dan54 Yeah - the rules changed - and who took best advantage of the rule changes?
Rennie did. He recruited those players - part of being a good coach.
Retallick is from Amberley and was a bad miss by the Crusaders' system, but largely because he wasn't the player he became - primarily at the Chiefs.
Pfft, don't you dare mofo, the Magpies made him, we sent him to the Chiefs fully formed in 2012.
He was a bad miss by the Crusaders though, they opted for Central Hawkes Bay's Dom Bird instead (and turned him into a pussy in the process), and now BBBR is one of the AB greats and lives in Central Hawkes Bay.
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@Dan54 Yeah - the rules changed - and who took best advantage of the rule changes?
Rennie did. He recruited those players - part of being a good coach.
Retallick is from Amberley and was a bad miss by the Crusaders' system, but largely because he wasn't the player he became - primarily at the Chiefs.
Yep like I said there was no way I was dissing Rennie or Smith, just saying comparing the teams from 2011 and 12 was like comparing apples and oranges, one was basically an area team, the other was a wider selection catergory. You can't compare what coaches of each team did with what they had is all. I will say I was always a Rennie fan, even if really looks to be struggling as a test coach.
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@Windows97 said in Foster:
no I'm not 50 but even then I assume the terrible teams of the 70's didn't lose to Ireland and Argentina and I assume would have beaten Japan more comfortably too.
No. We lost to Ireland club teams instead...
Two points.
The rugby world outside of New Zealand has moved on hugely in the last 5-10 years (just like the 1970s...) and the competitive environment is much, much tougher. I think it's a huge mistake for NZ rugby in general not to factor this in and assume our talent pool in players and coaches, is and always will be, relatively stronger than our competitors and a magic solution is available. Dangerous complacency that.
Secondly, I don't want to bang on about the olden days like a GOM, but it wasn't just the awful results and the endless string of wonder-coaches promising to recreate the glory days of 10 years past, it was the head-in-sand-recreate-the-past attitude of NZ rugby in general that was was worse. We ended up with real concerns about the future of the game in NZ as younger players left it in droves as they found game boring and unappealing. There are some echoes of that at the moment.
I think Foster should have departed after Ireland III, but I'm a lot more optimistic now than back then. Ways to go but here's some forward momentum and Foster has the coaches he wanted and a team firmly behind him. And NZR seem to be addressing some of the deeper issues, e.g. around player development with stuff like the AB XV tour.
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@Windows97 said in Foster:
@booboo no I'm not 50 but even then I assume the terrible teams of the 70's didn't lose to Ireland and Argentina and I assume would have beaten Japan more comfortably too.
Drew with Ireland.
And lost to Irish & English club teams.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Foster:
@Windows97 said in Foster:
@booboo no I'm not 50 but even then I assume the terrible teams of the 70's didn't lose to Ireland and Argentina and I assume would have beaten Japan more comfortably too.
Drew with Ireland.
And lost to Irish & English club teams.
And Welsh. Don’t forget that famous day at Stradey Park.
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@Catogrande said in Foster:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Foster:
@Windows97 said in Foster:
@booboo no I'm not 50 but even then I assume the terrible teams of the 70's didn't lose to Ireland and Argentina and I assume would have beaten Japan more comfortably too.
Drew with Ireland.
And lost to Irish & English club teams.
And Welsh. Don’t forget that famous day at Stradey Park.
Where?
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@Catogrande said in Foster:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Foster:
@Windows97 said in Foster:
@booboo no I'm not 50 but even then I assume the terrible teams of the 70's didn't lose to Ireland and Argentina and I assume would have beaten Japan more comfortably too.
Drew with Ireland.
And lost to Irish & English club teams.
And Welsh. Don’t forget that famous day at Stradey Park.
Where?
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And no I not arguing that Foster should get job, though am not as yet convinced Razor is the the answer as I said Deans was poor as a test coach.Robbie Deans was poor as a test coach?
Wallabies coaches post-Macqueen (minimum of 30 tests):
Eddie Jones: 57%, Ewen McKenzie: 52%, Michael Cheika: 50%, Robbie Deans 59%, Dave Rennie: 40%
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If I can work out how and have the time, energy and sobriety I'll split the 70s Bad Old Days from the whinging about Fozzie. It's kinda fascinating to remember how bad we were.
And still had Aura.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in Foster:
It is hard to pinpoint the problem with this current group. The talent is there, they try their hearts out, they have good support, but what happens on the pitch is just not good enough or ruthless enough to get the job done IMO (consistently win against top-tier opposition and win the World Cup). Here is my theory and I think Carlos sees it as well. It seems that the ABs camp has become too comfortable and isolated. They are the "AB family". That absolute ruthlessness and desire to get that 1 or 2 % to get over the line is not there anymore. If they don't play well, and there are few consequences. Once upon a time one bad performance and you were out of the team, possibly forever. Now we have players still there that can be terribly off the pace (Sam Cane is the classic example). Go away to Japan, no worries, you are automatically back despite not showing you are better than others. They are consistently answering their critics by saying they only worry about what is happening inside the camp, etc, etc. Not all bad things of course, maybe it is even a sign of the times and I am a grump, but just maybe it has led to inadequate performances.
Hence I really think a "clean out" is what the ABs have needed since 2019.Could it be our key players in key positions aren't quite as good as before and the combos are still not gelling?
We don't have great depth at props but we do have a new world-class hooker, the locks are experienced, the loosies should be great but still don't combine well, our 10s have plenty of experience but don't look dominant, our wings are at least ok, the midfield might be up and down but the players still have potential (and some have enough experience), and we should have enough fullbacks.
What really worries me, about 5(?) years ago a fringe player would leave an AB camp and return to the comp a better player. That is not so evident now, and our tactical ability and capacity to change tactics and control play seems to be getting worse and worse IMHO. Who has improved since breaking into the ABs, Samisoni, George, perhaps?
And well-organized sides seem to have our number. Are we really that tactically transparent? Joseph said as much. Carlos said it. We have enough experienced playmakers in the team, but this seems to be a continual problem.
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@nostrildamus said in Foster:
Who has improved since breaking into the ABs, Samisoni, George, perhaps?
I would think the list is a lot longer than that. Ethan, Scott, Jordie, Reece,...blah
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@nostrildamus said in Foster:
Who has improved since breaking into the ABs, Samisoni, George, perhaps?
I would think the list is a lot longer than that. Ethan, Scott, Jordie, Reece,...blah
Not sure about Ethan.
Scott? Maybe, but he was on an improvement trail at the Crusaders.
Jordie? At FB? Seems to have been a little better a few years ago.
Reece? Not sure about that.
I don't remember anyone of them once leaving AB camp clearly playing better at their role. Hard to prove, of course.
