The Silver Fern

@cgrant

..and Havili is currently rated higher than 3 of those 12's you listed

@Bones said in NZ and World Rugby Awards 2024:

Did Carter win 7s player last year then?

Rokolisoa

Navajo Stirling makes his UFC debut this weekend.

I'm confident this guy will have a good career. Another quality kickboxer but according to Bareman he's more advanced as a grappler than some of the other CKB fighters were when they first arrived

Here's his KO in the Contender series

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UFC on Sky was mostly about him this week

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Also Ulberg is fighting Blachowicz in March. The winner likely gets a title shot

2025 might be a very good year for Kiwi fighters. Not saying all of this will happen but:

• KKF probably has the next title shot v Pantoja
• Ulberg is probably one win away from a title fight
• Adesanya is probably one win away from another title fight
• Hooker might be one win away from a title fight (prob needs an impressive finish though)

"Without hesitation, Spencer says he’s a fullback in 15s after switching from the All Blacks Sevens programme"

Nothing new there. However I think he'll have a better chance of making the 23 if he can cover wing too

Assuming one of the 10's at 15, Sullivan possibly in the midfield. Spencer might be competing with Forbes for chances

New Zealand Rugby Award winners

Fans Try of the Year:
Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong (King Country)

New Zealand Rugby Referee of the Year:
Ben O'Keeffe

Charles Monro Rugby Volunteer of the Year:
Conor Croke (Waikato)

Rugby Club of the Year:
Green Island Rugby Football Club (Otago)

Te Hāpai New Zealand Rugby Community Impact Award:
Erin Rayner (Sense Rugby NZ)

New Zealand Rugby Age Grade Player of the Year:
Xavi Taele (Auckland)

NZRPA Kirk Award:
Dan Carter

Outstanding contribution to New Zealand Rugby:
Ian Kirkpatrick

Ian Kirkpatrick Medal (Heartland Championship Player of the Year):
Alekesio Vakarorogo (Whanganui)

Duane Monkley Medal (NPC Player of the Year):
Timoci Tavatavanawai ( Ta$man)

Fiao'o Fa'amausili Medal (Farah Palmer Cup Player of the Year):
Hollyrae Merekara Mete (Manawatū)

National Men's Coach of the Year:
Vern Cotter (Blues)

National Women's Coach of the Year:
James Semple (Waikato)

New Zealand Coach of the Year:
Cory Sweeney (Black Ferns Sevens)

Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year:
Hoskins Sotutu (Blues)

Super Rugby Aupiki Player of the Year:
Katelyn Vahaakolo (Blues)

Tom French Memorial Māori Player of the Year:
Tyrel Lomax (Ngāi Tuhoe, Muaupoko)

Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year:
Dylan Collier

Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year:
Jorja Miller

Black Ferns Player of the Year:
Kaipo Olsen-Baker

All Blacks Player of the Year:
Wallace Sititi

National Men's Team of the Year:
Blues

National Women's Team of the Year:
Blues

New Zealand Team of the Year:
Black Ferns Sevens

Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year:
Jorja Miller

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

@MiketheSnow said in UFC / MMA:

On paper not a bad fight all night

A very deep card. The early prelims could almost be a fight night

Dan Hooker

In good form and chasing a title shot. Loves fighting, always good value in interviews etc

His work on the Sky UFC show is great.. gives good info in a non media trained way. Puts the rugby talking heads to shame.

Akira

Changed to a middle of the field role and smashed people. Plenty of hard work. Good to see him end as a SR champ and the best tight loosie in the country

Caleb Clarke

I think he was carrying an injury last year.. remember that RWC game where he looked really slow. He's back to full pace and finishing opportunities a lot better. One of the more reliable AB backs this year

I'll nominate a few posters. These guys were busy and/or interesting in the SR & NPC live match threads

@Machpants
@Bovidae
@African-Monkey
@nzzp
@KiwiMurph

@nzzp said in Blues 2025:

Injuries weren't kind to him, but he's had a good career

Yeah those shoulder injuries really delayed the start of his career

He did get the goal kicking yips early on too. When 10's are missing goal kicks their general play gets judged harder. I think he was playing better than he was given credit for in those early seasons

@Landers92 is just outside the 12months. He always has good info on the Highlanders etc

@nogusta for having the best success rate with rumours

I'm also non ironically going to say @george33

He gets more right than people give him credit for. Also it's better when people post what they've heard rather than wait until news breaks and say "yeah I already knew that". Fuck those people

I probably need to do the nominations as there's no way to get to older articles right now... I'll fix that one day

Any of the long posts @Mauss has written in the past couple of months (link to them all) are worth a nomination. Here's the two most recent:
jason-hollands-attack-from-lineouts
all-blacks-defence-v-ireland

There's a few season summaries:
highlanders-2024-review by @frugby
warriors-2024-review by @mariner4life
premier-league-review by @MajorRage
hurricanes-2024-review by @Canes4life

A few others:
the-adhd-blacks by @His-Bobness
a-day-in-the-life-of-scott-robertson by @Victor-Meldrew
sid-going by @mohikamo

@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024:

here you go you ignorant fluffybunnies, proof you know fuck all

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/12/03/the-shambolic-bledisloe-half-that-turned-the-all-blacks-season-around-and-the-call-that-made-razors-year/

A Savea best player of the year
Best thing that happened to the ABs was getting BB back to 10
oh wait, who played there for the best performance again?

Good lolz

Merged all the posts into a new thread. It was being talked about in a couple of places

Whats the story with Luke Aiken? Is he NZ qualified? NZ family?

Looks like he was in the Aus system in 2023 but moved to NZ in 2024. Grammar TEC, Auckland and Blues u20 since then