The Silver Fern

While I can completely understand a bit of the frustration at some of the selections, I think people are letting one or two decisions cloud their judgement on the squad (and Robertson and co) as a whole.

Of the seven Crusaders selected, who didn't deserve their spot?

Taylor, Williams, Newell, Barrett and Reece are all incumbent All Blacks and there are very strong cases for all five to get a call-up. Blackadder has had some strong games in the black jersey and, worst case scenario, he breaks early in the year and is replaced by someone else.

Bell is the only one of the seven that is a real head scratcher, but it's not like there were any other obvious options available to the selectors. Until Taukei'aho was injured, there weren't any other hooker names being bandied about because none of them were even close to the level of Taukei'aho/Aumua/Taylor. Riccitelli has performed well this year but it's not like he's been banging the door down for a number of seasons or has the physical attributes that would make anyone stand up and take notice. Is he realistically going to be starting a World Cup knock-out game in four year's time against the Springboks? Would he measure up against the Springboks (or England) now? Further, Riccitelli is two years older than Aumua and three years older than Taukei'aho.

Bringing in a young hooker to learn from Taylor and Aumua (and Corey Flynn) makes sense and when you look around the country, it's really only Bell and Thompson who have previously been earmarked for the future (with their selection in the All Blacks XV). With Thompson's future rumoured to be up in the ear and Robertson and Ryan already familiar with Bell, it's not the most outrageous selection, all things considered.

And for the people who are now bringing race into the equation, four of the five debutants are Maori/Pasifika. I think some disappointing conclusions are being jumped to when there are far more sensible answers...

@Frank said in All Blacks Vs England, Twickenham:

The Guardian rating

Beauden Barrett Started out always looking to kick but when he started to vary things he found some joy. Not as explosive as he was but still a masterly operator. 8

Absurd.

McKenzie is so far away from the problem the All Blacks have at the moment.

Toggle with the loosies, lock down the first choice fullback and give the guys a few games together and the results will come. The team isn't far away from clicking at all.

@Davesofthunder said in All Blacks XV vs Ireland A:

Really frustrated this is not on in the UK.

Thanks for any updates, all appreciated

This should work:

The worst thing isn't not having access, the worst thing is finally getting access back and realising that no one else has been able to post anything for you to get upset about.

From Hansen's comments, it sounds like that's exactly what they're going to be doing.

@Tim said in All Blacks 2023:

Foster admits the performances in the semifinals did change the squad. 'One went in and one went out'.

Possibly Samipeni Finau in for Akira Ioane?

Obviously, the final call will be based on what happens in next week's final but it's been a remarkable season from the Chiefs.

Despite suggestions that they've let the pedal off the gas a little bit in recent times, they've actually not given up a bonus point since they played the Blues on April 1 - the only bonus point they've given up all season.

Even with the close recent games, neither the Brumbies nor Reds came within 7 points in the finals - and then the likes of the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Brumbies only got within 10 points during their regular season matches with the Chiefs.

They won't want to again find themselves in an arm wrestle with the Crusaders next weekend, but they're certainly battle-hardened and have found ways to win more than their fair share of games. It's very similar to the way the side performed under Dave Rennie in 2012 and 2013.

@Duluth said in Crusaders 2024:

@SouthernMann said in Crusaders 2024:

That TVNZ piece on Rob Penny is a real watch. Reporter Thomas Mead certainly won't be getting a Christmas card of or a free scarf after Penny called him a see you next Tuesday

Tough questions are fine but there was some low quality shit at the start. Penney did well to stay mostly calm

Full interview here

Defiant Penney says he won't step aside from struggling Crusaders

I'd say pretty low-quality throughout, to be honest. Repetitive, silly questions and it came across far more like a legal interrogation than any sort of conversation, which is just poor technique on the interviewer's behalf. I know he was after a soundbyte but jeez...

Bar one or two blips (including his goal-kicking in the weekend, which is normally very reliable and with another option in the backline in Jordie Barrett, not really a major reason to drop him from playing 10), McKenzie has been very good this year. I actually don't think he's been a step down from Mo'unga at all, to be honest.

What I'm hearing is that Ethan Blackadder should be captain?

@LagerLout said in All Blacks v France:

We are miles off being a good team, personnel wise and strategy wise. We were bloody slow to the ruck in the second half. Our wingers are bollock slow. The only places we look dangerous are in in the starting front and back rows, the rest of it we are struggling. Feels like a bleak WC cycle to me. We had so much talent and where is it now.

I have pretty much the completely opposite view. NZ lost to one of the top four teams in the world at their fortress (and it is a fortress, the loudest and most partisan atmosphere you'll get at any ground around the world).

NZ have a great front row with Samisoni Taukei'aho still to return, some very good young loose forwards, two very promising halfbacks in Roigard and Ratima.

There are a few issues across the line-up but Razor will probably push the boat out a little more next year. There's a few pieces of deadweight that probably need to be moved on but already Cane and Perenara will be gone next year, Reece has probably played his last game in black, and there are a few more players who will be under a lot of pressure. It bodes well for the future, even if they didn't always get the biscuits this year.

@sparky said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:

@Mr-Fish said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:

Of the seven Crusaders selected, who didn't deserve their spot?

Bell and Blackadder should be nowhere near this squad.

Ardie Savea should have been captain instead of Scott Barrett.

A lot of people would disagree with Savea as captain.

And a lot of people would (and do) disagree with the selections of Vaa'i, Sititi, Jacobson, Christie, Perenara, Barrett, Perofeta - none of whom play for the Crusaders. So is Robertson (the man who ultimately would have had final say on the squad, regardless of the various selectors' specialty areas) biased, or does he just not share the exact same opinion with everyone on the internet?

@darylmitchell said in All Blacks 2024:

We've lost the equal most tests in a year (2022) since 2009 & all wins against England were extremely unconvincing - We almost threw all 3 England matches at the death FFS......

I think people got carried away after beating a poor English side who have lost 5 on the bounce by the skin of our teeth, then an aging Irish side who showed they aren't really at the races against Argentina as well. If we look earlier in the season, the win against Australia in Sydney was also by the skin of our teeth. Not many convincing performances this year in the big games with a win now side and a huge amount of caps.....

I would still take Schmidt/Foster from 2023 were we actually won the RC convincingly, beat Argentina 42-10 & 44-6 in the Semi's, South Africa 36-20 at Mt Smart & only lost 12-10 in World Cup final (despite having 14 men) over this facade of 'improvement'.......

The losses were also all by the skin of their teeth. It goes both ways.

@Dodge said in World Rugby confirms changes to be implemented across the global game:

Not enough of a disincentive to make people tackle lower IMO, thought the way it was refereed in the NH before the World Cup last year was fine, consistency, protocols to allow mitigation, refs supported, players understood it. If Super rugby had done the same we wouldn’t have got into the shit we did at the World Cup.

How is being ejected from the game not enough of a disincentive, and what would you change if you were in charge?

For individual players, it's the exact same disincentive as with the old red cards. I don't really think players are thinking, 'Well, even if I get sent off for the match and banned for three games, my team will still have someone back on the field after 20 minutes so I'm not going to bother trying to tackle lower'.

One of the Australian commentators has just said Sititi is so good he's going to play 40 or 50 Tests - sure hope it's a lot more than that

@KiwiMurph said in RWC squads 2023:

This is a really good read explaining Eddie's thinking

It's not like Jones has just dumped a whole lot of older, out of form players and replaced them with in-form ones though.

Yes, guys like Hooper (and potentially QC) probably don't deserve to be heading to France on form, but does Suliasi Vunivalu? What about Ben Donaldson? There are still plenty of players in the team with question marks over their form, and they don't have the pedigree to fall back on.

Max Jorgenson is the only player in there who I think is actually a semi-inspired selection - but then Australia also have a history of anointing talented youngsters as the 'next big thing' and then shattering their confidence by drafting them into the team too early. So it's not actually unprecedented what Jones has done - heck, Jordan Petaia wasn't in a hugely dissimilar boat ahead of the last World Cup to Jorgenson now, and look how long it's taken for him to turn into even a consistently decent Super Rugby player (I think even there the jury is still out...).

So I don't think Jones' squad is a master stroke. I think he's mostly replaced average, experienced players with average, inexperienced ones. Now he has an excuse for not performing at the World Cup - what's going to be his excuse when the Lions arrive in a few years?

Players in camp: Jordie Barrett, Scott Barrett, Ethan Blackadder, Finlay Christie, Caleb Clarke, Ethan de Groot, David Havili, Rieko Ioane, Luke Jacobson, Will Jordan, Anton Lienert-Brown, Tyrel Lomax, Damian McKenzie, Emoni Narawa, Fletcher Newell, Dalton Papali'i, Cam Roigard, Samisoni Taukei'aho, Mark Tele'a, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Tupou Vaa'i, Tamaiti Williams.

Koroibete was unavailable but to be fair, he was absolutely dire during the TRC.

@BorderJB said in All Blacks EOYT:

Questions:
Did BB play well??? he had a large influence on the game and seemed in the pocket more with Jordan at FB, we didn't start as well but finished better with Dmac coming on. Could we develop that on the tour?

I don't think he played particularly well.

We can't sacrifice our good starts for good finishes. If McKenzie is our best 10 (which I think he pretty clearly is) then he should be starting. If Barrett's not good enough to come on make an impact (at 10 or 15) then we need to find someone who is.