All Blacks 2026

@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

Speaking of placating the hordes, normally the ABs losing enrages the hordes. But it might be a sign of how far we've sunk that average fans seem accepting of it all

Looking at social media comments, I’m convinced most people either don’t notice the team’s lost or just don’t watch the games. The sycophantic nature of the comments and ignorance of the overall performance is crazy.

We have to accept the opposition has improved seems to be a common one now ,

I don’t remember seeing that much when foster was coaching , they wanted his head .

That's also Canterbury fans for you too. They"re a noisy bunch until they get their way,

Ardie sin-binned for dissent in his first match back in Japan. Make him captain right now and don’t think twice!!

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.

Long time head coach of Ireland.

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

as @Tim noted, Ireland are technically an international team.
But can I add Gatland (3 6N titles) ? John Kirwan was also an ex-international head coach. And Robbie Deans. And John Mitchell. Maybe we missed a bullet.
There was also Kieran Crowley (who wanted to continue to coach Italy, not sure what happened there or what he is doing now). You can say Italy (don't add Ireland) were tier 2 but Crowley's team had recently beaten Australia (end of 2022 I think).

@Tim said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.

Long time head coach of Ireland.

hahaha ah yep.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

as @Tim noted, Ireland are technically an international team.
But can I add Gatland (3 6N titles) ? John Kirwan was also an ex-international head coach. And Robbie Deans. And John Mitchell. Maybe we missed a bullet.

So, aside from bullets dodged - Schmidt then - who probably didn't want the job?
Point remains, we can't expect to have a range of first rate internationally tier 1 experienced head coach candidates available when we want them. It's just not realistic.

@game_film said in All Blacks 2026:

Ardie sin-binned for dissent in his first match back in Japan. Make him captain right now and don’t think twice!!

The messiah's team lost 46-0 to Deans' Wild Knights.

@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks 2026:

@ShaquilleOatmeal said in All Blacks 2026:

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

Speaking of placating the hordes, normally the ABs losing enrages the hordes. But it might be a sign of how far we've sunk that average fans seem accepting of it all

Looking at social media comments, I’m convinced most people either don’t notice the team’s lost or just don’t watch the games. The sycophantic nature of the comments and ignorance of the overall performance is crazy.

We have to accept the opposition has improved seems to be a common one now ,

I don’t remember seeing that much when foster was coaching , they wanted his head .

Following the game against Wales, I saw a comment from someone pointing out that letting Wales score 26 points wasn't all that flash. There were countless replies claiming that was absolutely fine because Wales are a tier 1 team.

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate said in All Blacks 2026:

@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

The thing is, I think the people that hired him knew exactly what they were getting.

A marketing man's dream?

The problem I have with this argument is that he's absolutely not. He's barely coherent in an interview.

Does bloody great PowerPoint presentations though, apparently.

It's pretty obvious why he'd be picked: absolutely excellent Super rugby coaching results. I don't think it is valid to say that marketing had become more important than results to NZR and that's why he got the job - he had the bloody results, that was literally the strongest argument in his favour.

It's the powerpoint presentations which should have countered that - and that's on the people doing the hiring. Every time he opens his mouth seems like a red flag to me.

Nah. The people who hired him wanted someone who looked like a winner at international level - plus he was fresh and "different". They knew he was untested at international level but that was an inconvenience to be ignored.

There simply are not going to be candidates who are tested and a proven success at tier one international level on any sort of regular basis.

Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and Dave Rennie say "Hi"

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the time of Robertson's appointment:
Brown had not been an international head coach (and still hasn't).
Joseph had coached tier 2 Japan.
Joe Schmidt had not been an international head coach.
Dave Rennie had just been sacked from the Wallabies - after he had been passed over for Foster, who had also not been an international head coach.

as @Tim noted, Ireland are technically an international team.
But can I add Gatland (3 6N titles) ? John Kirwan was also an ex-international head coach. And Robbie Deans. And John Mitchell. Maybe we missed a bullet.

So, aside from bullets dodged - Schmidt then - who probably didn't want the job?
Point remains, we can't expect to have a range of first rate internationally tier 1 experienced head coach candidates available when we want them. It's just not realistic.

I agree with your overall point. The only exception I can think of would be Wayne Smith, and that was obviously not going to happen. We don't have the (coaching) cattle. It does lead me to wonder if there will be pressure to allow non NZ AB coaches in the future - like many other countries.

Speaking of All Blacks, Richie Mo'unga is preparing well for the ABs, his Toshiba Brave Lupus team went down by 46 points, unanswered.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

It does lead me to wonder if there will be pressure to allow non NZ AB coaches in the future

is there actually something in place for that (like the players eligibility) I just assumed it was that up until now, the best coaches were usually Kiwis, so coaches from other nationalities were never considered.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

Speaking of All Blacks, Richie Mo'unga is preparing well for the ABs, his Toshiba Brave Lupus team went down by 46 points, unanswered.

How many current Springboks are in that team?

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

he shouldn't have been considered for the HC job unless that's exactly what Robinson expected of him

They knew exactly what they were getting; and I wouldn't particularly point at Robinson, there were others involved.
(Not the Board; they leave the rugby decisions to the "experts;" their focus is commercial, of course.)

Interesting to look at the opposition; SA hasn't gone the cultural/whisperer route; their HC is actually a bit of a DH; great results tho.
Not saying we have to go the DH HC direction; somewhere in between would be about right, and has been in the past.

Looking forward, I'd say the pool of NZ coaches with OE is going to get smaller.
Being the rugby bench-mark meant the demand was high for everything NZ rugby; with less success, that demand will start to drop-off.
Which does bring up the spector of a non-enzeder in the role.

@reprobate

I dont think being an international HC is an important requirement for being the AB HC.
But when the next AB HC is appointed; having experience with an overseas coaching system, should be an essential part of the resume.

@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2026:

The ridiculous love for Ardie is unreal.

Haha
The 21st century interweb "slurp up"!
Have to be careful tho; it can turn to a nasty "pile-on" real quick.

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

@reprobate

I dont think being an international HC is an important requirement for being the AB HC.
But when the next AB HC is appointed; having experience with an overseas coaching system, should be an essential part of the resume.

Rassie had NH club experience, not test nation HC experience didn't he? The other part of a structure like that is not picking a toxic guy like Hansen appears to be

@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks 2026:

We have to accept the opposition has improved seems to be a common one now ,

The opposition have improved, but they have also "figured us out" as well.
It took them over decade to do that tho.
During that run I always maintained that it was the way we played that the other teams couldn't cope with.
Sure, we had good players, but it was the style of play that had them fucked.
Most of the time we probably had them beat before they were even on the field.
Not like that now; the way we are going at the mo; the serious teams will not be intimidated in the slightest.
Licking their lips!

The inability of Hansen/Foster/Robertson to change the old formula and come up with a counter is the problem now.

@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2026:

the way we are going at the mo;

hopefully the way we go with the 'Mo is better. But I am not confident anything will change.

@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks 2026:

Speaking of All Blacks, Richie Mo'unga is preparing well for the ABs, his Toshiba Brave Lupus team went down by 46 points, unanswered.

How many current Springboks are in that team?

not enough! I only know of one South African in that team, Stephanus Du Toit and I don't think he is the famous one (he's a fullback), nor an international (?) but he may be related to the famous one.
But on the winning side, Saitama Wild Knights, one Lachlan Boshier scored a try. And they have Damian de Allende.