All Blacks 2025
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@reprobate and somewhat ironically for Razor, the emergence of Sititi is a counter point to his conservatism.
Can't recall if anyone under Fozzies tenure had such an impact in thier debut season, probably Samisoni?
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
Several months to go and it wouldn't surprise me if the French bring some (or indeed most) of their top players to NZ.
...just over 2 months
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:
@Donsteppa said in All Blacks 2025:
So the Eden Park record will stand for 31 years.
Well the record is going to fall one day.
The Boks will see it like a World Cup final.
Time for Razor and his team to become a win at all costs All Blacks side and protect the proud record.
I actually think the fear of losing is a decent part of the reason for Robertson's overly conservative selections, and Foster before him. It's holding us back.
AB players of the past talk about a fear of losing and upholding the AB legacy.
It’s striking a balance isn’t it? Fear of losing but going out and playing with no fear…
Defending Eden park record against the Boks is exactly the type of match for players and coaches to have for them to improve.
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:
@Donsteppa said in All Blacks 2025:
So the Eden Park record will stand for 31 years.
Well the record is going to fall one day.
The Boks will see it like a World Cup final.
Time for Razor and his team to become a win at all costs All Blacks side and protect the proud record.
I actually think the fear of losing is a decent part of the reason for Robertson's overly conservative selections, and Foster before him. It's holding us back.
Foster had no trouble surrendering longstanding records to opposition teams....
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@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:
@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:
@Donsteppa said in All Blacks 2025:
So the Eden Park record will stand for 31 years.
Well the record is going to fall one day.
The Boks will see it like a World Cup final.
Time for Razor and his team to become a win at all costs All Blacks side and protect the proud record.
I actually think the fear of losing is a decent part of the reason for Robertson's overly conservative selections, and Foster before him. It's holding us back.
AB players of the past talk about a fear of losing and upholding the AB legacy.
It’s striking a balance isn’t it? Fear of losing but going out and playing with no fear…
Defending Eden park record against the Boks is exactly the type of match for players and coaches to have for them to improve.
Where's Gilbert when you need him
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@DaGrubster im sure they all know about the eden park run but we saw after the home loses to Ireland, when ardie came out and said he didn;t know we'd never load at home to them, i think the current generation of players are less about history and honour and more just about personal excellence (or when im feeling harsh, its just a job to them)....it works until you need a team to lift above themselves...i think previous generations often played better at international level where as the current one dont seem too as often
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David Kirk tipped to be new Chairman of NZRU.
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@Darren said in All Blacks 2025:
@Kiwiwomble said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
Hoping France bring a decent squad to NZ in July.
I hope they do send an under strength team and we pummel them.
But it's going to be embarrassing if we do lose.
France's depth is the biggest in the world, even bigger than South Africa's, IMO. If Dupont doesn't travel, his potential substitutes are all a class above most of the halfbacks in the NH, with the notable exception of Gibson-Parkes (Le Garrec, Serin, Couilloud). Where France's depth is the most impressive is in the loose forwards. There is a bunch of young, exciting players, who are or will probably be better than the current ones (Ollivon - Cros - Alldritt) : Castro-Ferreira, Gazotti, Matiu, Jegou, Boudehent are certainly going to form the French back row for the next RWC. The same could be written about many positions. The team which will play in NZ next July will be a team of no names but it will be stronger than expected by most of the Ferners.
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@Machpants said in All Blacks 2025:
Interesting article. And the comments section had similar sentiment to what I read on here
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@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
Good to see Razor is a big fan of Zoolander
Looks more to me like Razor impersonating Popeye impersonating Zoolander..
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@cgrant said in All Blacks 2025:
France's depth is the biggest in the world, even bigger than South Africa's, IMO.
I’d agree with this. The JIFF-rule in the Top14 seems to have worked pretty well, their academies are quite comfortably the best-resourced in the world. Looking at the France 7s over the weekend, fringe Top14 squad players like Celian Pouzelgues and Victor Hannoun have a nicely developed skillset but they aren’t required by their XVs teams at all. That’s a luxury.
@cgrant said in All Blacks 2025:
There is a bunch of young, exciting players, who are or will probably be better than the current ones (Ollivon - Cros - Alldritt) : Castro-Ferreira, Gazotti, Matiu, Jegou, Boudehent are certainly going to form the French back row for the next RWC.
I myself am not quite as confident about the upcoming class of loose forwards as likely being better than their predecessors. Not just because I think that Ollivon, Cros and Aldritt were and are still very good (Aldritt will only be 30 in 2027!), but also because not all the U20 guys have performed as well as might be expected. I’ve watched a lot of Gazzotti these past months and I feel like he still has some way to go. It won’t have helped that he’s being played across the backrow from week-to-week but when watching him closely, to me it looks like he still struggles to impact the game without the ball. I’m sure he’ll get there eventually but I was honestly surprised he was called-up by Galthié this November.
Agree on Jégou, though, very good player. Excellent at linking play and at operating a lineout. France should be more than competitive in July.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Machpants said in All Blacks 2025:
Interesting article. And the comments section had similar sentiment to what I read on here
It’s not a fair comparison - Rassie has been there 6 years. Razor’s 1st season.
Rassie has the freedom to do what he wants based on his success. Razor has been given a lot of support but has yet to build up a body of success that will allow him to do what he wants and not have any scrutiny.
Case in point, he gives the springbok captaincy to Saalman Moerat on his 7th cap. Why? It seems a crazy decision to give it to a relative unknown above more deserving Boks. They lost the game. Rassie is not questioned.
Can you imagine Razor doing that with a player of similar test caps?
Boks had quite a few injuries, have a weird 12 month season where they have to rest players due to workload as players come together from SA, Japan, Europe and they recognise they have to blood new players due to an ageing squad.
They used 9 players more than us this year? Or around 18% more. 52 in total, but have only really added Fassi as a player who has arguably taken ownership of a starting jersey.
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It would be interesting stat would be the spread of minutes as opposed to just number of players. A guy like plummer being counted as a new player with like 25 seconds is not the same as a guy getting a start.
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@DaGrubster I think people would have understood if he tried some of the form players in SR. Not doing so, instead picking old stagers, along with some homer picks and losing matches anyway eroded much of his goodwill
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2025:
It would be interesting stat would be the spread of minutes as opposed to just number of players. A guy like plummer being counted as a new player with like 25 seconds is not the same as a guy getting a start.
Likewise - only played against Japan or Fiji.