The Silver Fern

Howlett, Piutau, Luatua, Vito, Thorn, Retallick, Ioane, Evans, Nacewa, Fainga'anuku all good players

Afoa and Faumuina are the obvious choices for props.

@mikey07 Assume Finau is out, he looked bad after that collision. He seemed to slip as he went to tackle, and at the point of collision the back of his head was facing forward, and was the contact point.

The Crusaders still have a shit coach, but at least they have cut Moody and Franks. Who will be the bench props now?

@Bones Gets pinged a lot coming off the bench. Tosi was a big upgrade.

@sparky Not against England or Ireland. How many penalties against France? The dodgy neck-roll call?

@Nevorian Should have been our starting 10 at the 2007 World Cup.

@Canes4life Who is most likely to play 6 for the Canes?

Looking at props now. There are four good options: Williams, Tu'ungufasi, Lomax, Tosi. de Groot has really regressed. Ball carrying was poor, he was unfit, and he got found out in the scrum. Newell is mediocre in the scrum at test level, and offers nothing else.

3rd loosehead and tighthead are wide open.

The Chiefs' young props (Norris and Dyer) were disappointing in 2024, but might bounce back. de Groot still can too. Numia and Fusitua are options at loosehead, Mafileo might be in the mix too. Any tighthead options?

Riccitelli to Montpellier according to Rugby Direct.

Is Narawa still with the squad?

Peering into the crystal ball and trying to make out the shape of next year's squad, although there are red and black barriers that appear intermittently and obscure my vision.

Loose forwards:

Papalii
Lakai
Savea
Sotutu
Sititi
The last one is a bit hard to make out, there's Finau, there's another player in a six jersey, but a really overrated player, who's lying injured on the field, keeps obscuring my view.

@African-Monkey We'll see, Ta'avao is getting old and has already been surpassed by Reneta.

I suspect it would be worth recruiting a specialist scrum coach. What chances that we will have one next year?

@MiketheSnow Maybe the players and the club systems are the problem, and he did a brilliant job with limited resources in 2021? They've only gotten much worse since.

After Gatland's 11th consecutive loss is it time for a reevaluation of Wayne Pivac's tenure? He won the Six Nations in 2021, and though they lost 5 games in the 2022 tournament, they did beat Scotland.

@Mr-Fish said in Exodus:

There could be a mass exodus of No 10s after next year's Super Rugby season. Three or four by my count.

Barrett is signed through 2027, so probably not him.

Plummer, Perofeta, Cameron, Trask?

Shouldn't have been in the squad.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/11/15/rugby-stars-sign-up-to-f1-style-breakaway-competition-in-bombshell-move/