All Blacks 2024
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He won promotion to the Hurricanes for the 2004 Super 12, but his debut match lasted a mere 10 minutes when he broke his leg putting him out for the Super season. He recovered to return to the Wellington side and some convincing performances won him a place in the All Blacks’ end of the year European tour. The only other national side which Smith had appeared in previously had been a game early in 2004 for New Zealand Universities.
Smith enjoyed instant success in his All Blacks Test debut, scoring after just one minute with his first touch of the ball in the comfortable win over Italy. However, injuries and the competition from other accomplished midfield backs, including Umaga and his Wellington teammate Ma’a Nonu, made Smith mainly an All Blacks fringe player for the next three seasons. By the end of 2007 he had played only 12 Tests,
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2024:
@george33 said in All Blacks 2024:
@Jet Think a big casualty will be Billy Proctor come EOYT.
On what basis? Best performing centre all year in Super, one of the standout players in his one start against Fiji. I guess Razor doesn't like players that consistently perform to a high standard, instead he prefers players that spend half of their career broken or alternatively players who have experience but are about 5 years past their best.
No wonder the All Blacks don't have the mana and the winning % they once used to.
On the basis of al his talk about players being able to play more than one position, I guess. One position well is less than two poorly in Razor's eyes
Not that I agree but I feel this might well happen
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There are going to be some crazy, wild theories, assumptions, concerns, etc. about Razor until the team starts humming again. The team really needs a good win this weekend to let steam out of the Silverfern mental health valve. Although, a win against the Aussies won't tell us much I think. A loss may tell us a lot ......
A statement win in the past has set teams up for successful eras. The Paris 2004 win launched the Henry era. Let's hope the EOYT they can find their mojo and have a good performance against quality opposition. -
@Canes4life to many midfielders especially with Ennor, Havilli, Reiko, ALB, Jordie, and apparently Fihaki can play midfield as well. Who would no tho. Another rumour is Gallagher will also make EOYT.
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@Chris-B so before becoming established as first choice....but over 80 tests in 8 years tells me he played most test for a long time....so exactly who we should be building a team around
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
Here's another way of looking at the ABs and the Crusaders.
How many tough decisions has Razor made regarding his old Crusaders players that were already AB capped and not selecting them for the ABs?
He hasn't made a single tough call on a capped AB Crusader that I can see.
And what tough decisions has he made with capped Hurricanes or Chiefs players?
He selected Narawa, barely played him and then cut him
Hasn't selected Tupaea at all
Those are 2 off the top of my head.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
Here's another way of looking at the ABs and the Crusaders.
How many tough decisions has Razor made regarding his old Crusaders players that were already AB capped and not selecting them for the ABs?
He hasn't made a single tough call on a capped AB Crusader that I can see.
And what tough decisions has he made with capped Hurricanes or Chiefs players?
He selected Narawa, barely played him and then cut him
Hasn't selected Tupaea at all
Those are 2 off the top of my head.
Tupaea, Ennor, McLeod.
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2024:
@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2024:
Here's another way of looking at the ABs and the Crusaders.
How many tough decisions has Razor made regarding his old Crusaders players that were already AB capped and not selecting them for the ABs?
He hasn't made a single tough call on a capped AB Crusader that I can see.
And what tough decisions has he made with capped Hurricanes or Chiefs players?
He selected Narawa, barely played him and then cut him
Hasn't selected Tupaea at all
Those are 2 off the top of my head.
Tupaea, Ennor, McLeod.
Ennor wasn't eligible (injured) and it sounds like he might on the end of year tour now he is fit
I'll add McLeod to the list alongside Grace - though Tupaea was much more an established AB than McLeod was.
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@george33 said in All Blacks 2024:
@Canes4life to many midfielders especially with Ennor, Havilli, Reiko, ALB, Jordie, and apparently Fihaki can play midfield as well. Who would no tho. Another rumour is Gallagher will also make EOYT.
Proctor is ahead of Ennor in the pecking order and Fihaki isn't a centre. Apart from being Cantabs, there is no reason to suggest they will push out Proctor from the EOYT squad.
It's going to be interesting times when the ABs start sliding down the World rankings with some of these pathetic selections if they end up being true.
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@Machpants said in All Blacks 2024:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2024:
@george33 said in All Blacks 2024:
@Jet Think a big casualty will be Billy Proctor come EOYT.
On what basis? Best performing centre all year in Super, one of the standout players in his one start against Fiji. I guess Razor doesn't like players that consistently perform to a high standard, instead he prefers players that spend half of their career broken or alternatively players who have experience but are about 5 years past their best.
No wonder the All Blacks don't have the mana and the winning % they once used to.
On the basis of al his talk about players being able to play more than one position, I guess. One position well is less than two poorly in Razor's eyes
Not that I agree but I feel this might well happen
Well in that case we will never have the best players playing for the ABs, we'll just have a bunch of average Harry's that gain selection only because they can play multiple positions. What a crock of shite. This is exactly why the ABs continue to struggle because we keep doing the same shit and expect different results.
When the ABs were at their peak in 2015 we had our best players playing in their specialist positions. ie. Conrad Smith was seen as purely a centre, Nonu as a 12, Kaino as a 6. McCaw as a 7, Read as an 8, Carter as a 10 etc etc. We achieved consistently excellent results because selection wasn't based on the bullshit that we see today.
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@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2024:
@Chris-B so before becoming established as first choice....but over 80 tests in 8 years tells me he played most test for a long time....so exactly who we should be building a team around
People wrote exactly the same thing on here about Conrad (and Kahui) - always injured, need to move on....
TBH if we followed the prevailing fern logic, we'd have fuck all players, because we wouldn't be picking people from overseas, or who've signed overseas, or are perceived as a bit old, or who get injured too much, or who play for the Crusaders.
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@george33 said in All Blacks 2024:
Have been told , that barring another injury expect to see Brayden Ennor in the EOYT , don't agree with that 1.
This barely qualifies as evolution of Foster's reign when we were promised revolution.
Insert AI generated image of Back to the Future with Marty replaced by Razor.
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Good post. We need more specialists but unfortunately it's definitely not part of Razor's philosophy. It's worked for him at Super level but it's a struggle at test level.
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@Machpants said in All Blacks 2024:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2024:
Hopefully more to come.All Blacks boost as Scott Robertson lures ex-Crusaders superstar back to New Zealand – report
Scott Robertson looks to have bolstered his All Blacks playing stocks.
Clarke's position in the squad is now tenuous
More like Telea who's 28 and past it now, Clarke is peaking and will only get better - same with LF, he's only 23.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2024:
@george33 said in All Blacks 2024:
@Jet Think a big casualty will be Billy Proctor come EOYT.
On what basis? Best performing centre all year in Super, one of the standout players in his one start against Fiji. I guess Razor doesn't like players that consistently perform to a high standard, instead he prefers players that spend half of their career broken or alternatively players who have experience but are about 5 years past their best.
No wonder the All Blacks don't have the mana and the winning % they once used to.
Hey mate, I mentioned you in an earlier post, was wondering about hearing your thoughts as a Canes fan.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2024:
When the ABs were at their peak in 2015 we had our best players playing in their specialist positions. ie. Conrad Smith was seen as purely a centre, Nonu as a 12, Kaino as a 6. McCaw as a 7, Read as an 8, Carter as a 10 etc etc. We achieved consistently excellent results because selection wasn't based on the bullshit that we see today.
I reckon you'd find there was a bit more shifting around than you recall.
Just in the 2015 RWC Final, SBW replaced Conrad at halftime and played at centre - a position he only ever once started in for the ABs.
Beaudy came on for NMS - I pretty sure at fullback and pushed Ben Smith to the right wing.
Beaudy was also our first five reserve and started there in at least one of the pool matches.
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@Chris-B i feel that kind of proves the point, mostly the versatile player came off the bench (SBW and BB)....but specialists mostly started...almost we should be treating them as specialist positions rather than seeming randomly rotating player on and off
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@Kiwiwomble Don't get me wrong, I like specialisation - but, hasn't that largely been the case this year, as well?
Have we had anyone who's not a specialist at any of 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13?
Sititi playing 6 has been a bit of a surprise. Blackadder got a run vs Fiji at 7. He and Jacobsen are bits of Chris Masoe/Victor Vito utilities.
ALB has been a midfield utility for years, so I don't count him.
And the transition of Jordan to fullback has been well telegraphed.
Slightly surprised that they've pushed Rieko to the wing a couple of times.
Who else?
