The Silver Fern

@Nepia said in All Blacks 2025:

@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:

@Nepia He's only not eligible because NZR say so. I'm saying he should at least be allowed to train with the squad next year and maybe be considered for some of the Tests next year (e.g. the EOYT). There are precedents for this happening with returning players.

Yeah, and so what? It's up to NZR to determine who is eligible.

Why should NZR have to pay the costs of having an ineligible player train with the squad? And if he negotiates a deal with NZR to be eligible on the EOYT then good on him, but as it currently stands he isn't eligible because he chose to go to the NH on a permanent contract.

Can’t see much uptime for either party so LF can train with the ABs.

@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:

Leicester Fainga'anuku looks in cracking form for Toulon. I know he is rejoining the Crusaders in 2026 so why not picking him for the All Blacks in 2025 if he is playing well enough?

Because he would be contracted to Toulon and not NZR.

We don’t know what is in his contract that may stop him playing for the ABs.

He is playing at centre isn’t he? Would Razor select him at centre or wing?

What are his strength and conditioning like. Is he carrying any injuries that we don’t know about?

If he plays in July for the ABsz will he play in the Rugby championship? If so, when is his off season?

I know you want to take advantage of Nz players for the ABs but this shows how hard it would be to select players from European leagues for the AB season

@taniwharugby said in All Blacks 2025:

@gt12 so Ford & Steinlager moving on, or Silverlake moving them on?

Better not be replace by Chevrolet and miller lite!

@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:

I not huge fan of Razor or otherwise, he's got the job (like Foster before) so has my complete support. The one thing I will say about his so called sticking with old players, I would of picked both Cane and TJ myself, this crap about just building for WCs, I personally disagree with. If it's a test match where possible put the players on field you think will win the game. Age old or young shouldn't come into it, what a player will contribute towards winning said test should be the marker!

I can see why he wanted to pick certain players such as TJ and Cane.

Cane to a lesser extent because he hadn’t played since February with a back injury but he was in and around the squad at Razor’s first squad naming which may have made it harder for Scott Barrett to put his own stamp on the team as
Captain.

Both have now gone and the only real veterans are Taylor and B Barrett

Taylor has proved his worth this year and we should have 3 world class hookers in the squad next year barring injury.

I agree with your sentiment about winning test match now. Winning test matches creates a positive team culture and with rugby being so attritional, there will always be a need for a large squad to cover injuries and workload.

Razor hasn’t been as good as I expected him to be. We saw how good his team can be at times and I am looking for him to now kick on and see the ABs improve next year in Razors second year.

@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:

@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

I agree. Players like Sititi/Lakai, Tosi Darry to a lesser extent, have shown that super rugby does produce players who can excel at test rugby. We need to put more faith into it and not get hung up on experience for experience sake.

Razor went down the experience route this year. I hope he has seen he can put his trust into younger players next year.

Perhaps one of the reasons for Rassie using more players is that he could afford to as they had an easier year of fixtures than the All Blacks

@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:

@Machpants said in All Blacks 2025:

'Razor's conservatism is in danger of halting New Zealand's progress'

Scott Robertson, highly untypical of New Zealand's approach, has taken a risk-averse view of selection.

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.

@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.

@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.

@Bovidae said in All Blacks 2025:

@Duluth said in All Blacks 2025:

So Scotland is going to play the NZ Maori in Whangarei but no Test match? Scotland hasn't played a Test in NZ since 2000

I wonder if that means it will not be a full strength Scottish side

It won't be as the BIL tour is on at the same time. They play NSW on the same day.

Normally Scotland get a couple of consolation players in the Lions so the Māoris may face a pretty strong line up!

Although, the make up of the Lions next year suddenly doesn’t look so green. Maybe Ireland, Scots and England will have a fair share between them?

@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:

Boks v ABs at Eden Park, everything will be on the line.

You would think that Rassie will prioritise the assault on Eden Park as the last remaining citadels for him to conquer.

We need to win those two games in Nz to establish a new world order.

@ACT-Crusader said in All Blacks 2025:

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2025:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:

@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:

I hope Robertson picks Hoskins Sotutu next year and fewer shit Cantabs and old men.

If he didn’t this year he won’t next year. Hoskins was literally Super player of the year and still didn’t get a look in.

I wonder if that has ever happened before? The player of the competition and eligible for the national team but ignored for selection .

Must be close to being unprecedented.

A part of me hope he goes to England and rips it up for them at Twickenham

Josh Blackie was the best performing openside during one super season and he didn’t make it. The year he made the 7s side.

Did he win the super rugby MVP award? Was there one!?!

@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:

@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:

I hope Robertson picks Hoskins Sotutu next year and fewer shit Cantabs and old men.

If he didn’t this year he won’t next year. Hoskins was literally Super player of the year and still didn’t get a look in.

I wonder if that has ever happened before? The player of the competition and eligible for the national team but ignored for selection .

Must be close to being unprecedented.

A part of me hope he goes to England and rips it up for them at Twickenham

@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2025:

@Machpants said in All Blacks 2025:

@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:

@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:

I hope Robertson picks Hoskins Sotutu next year and fewer shit Cantabs and old men.

If he didn’t this year he won’t next year. Hoskins was literally Super player of the year and still didn’t get a look in.

Remember, to play the ABs DNA way requires you to be playing overseas...
... Or be injured

Breaking the overseas rules to bring back Richie Mo'unga and Shannon Frizzell.......

And maybe Sotutu after he moves to England 😂

@DaGrubster said in Springboks 2024:

@OomPB said in Springboks 2024:

Springbok home fixtures in 2025 (venues and kick-off times TBC):
5 July: SA v Italy
12 July: SA v Italy
19 July: SA v Georgia
16 August: SA v Australia
23 August: SA v Australia
27 September: SA v Argentina

Will be interesting to see how Australia go over there.

They are improving and will have the benefit of the Lions series the month before the Boks matches.

They may be able to nick a match off the Boks if Rassie continues his rotation and depth building policy.

In reality, it’s a pretty easy home run for the Boks

@OomPB said in Springboks 2024:

Springbok home fixtures in 2025 (venues and kick-off times TBC):
5 July: SA v Italy
12 July: SA v Italy
19 July: SA v Georgia
16 August: SA v Australia
23 August: SA v Australia
27 September: SA v Argentina

Will be interesting to see how Australia go over there.

They are improving and will have the benefit of the Lions series the month before the Boks matches.

They may be able to nick a match off the Boks if Rassie continues his rotation and depth building policy

@booboo said in Italy v All Blacks:

BB's last touch in tests is a try?

I do t think so. He is the incumbent 10

@African-Monkey said in Italy v All Blacks:

@KiwiMurph said in Italy v All Blacks:

This game will really convert the locals to rugby.....

Reminds me a bit of the Italy test in Milan in 2009.

I was there. It was shit.

@Darth-Sader said in Italy v All Blacks:

Little known fact: if you invert the image on the Shroud of Turin, it shows Ethan Blackadder’s face

If only Ethan would recover from his injuries in 3 days

@akan004 said in Italy v All Blacks:

Vaai celebrating opposition mistakes is so annoying

The new itoje