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Super Rugby's sorry state takes the blame for All Blacks' losses
Ultimately, I blame New Zealand Rugby and Super Rugby.
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I did blame Ian Foster for a long time and I could blame Scott Robertson now. Just as there are one or two players whose lack of game management ability continues to hamper the All Blacks.
In the end, though, the decision to dispense with South Africa and Argentina from Super Rugby is not helping our national side.
Without those nations being represented in our franchise competition, the standard is abysmal and rugby one-dimensional.
That lack of diversity and competition is limiting the All Blacks’ ability to a) win away from home and b) absorb and then repel pressure.
They will fold – and run out of ideas – at some point and every team knows it.
I think it’s absolute insanity to be rolling out the same game-drivers every week, but I can only assume that Robertson believes they are his only options.
He tinkers on the wings, in midfield, the loose forwards and so on, but the guys charged with winning games never change.
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The object of this exercise was to opine about what might happen – or what it might mean – if the All Blacks lose to South Africa in Cape Town this weekend.
Honestly, it won’t mean or change anything.
Nor would a win.
For much of my life, teams were beaten before they even took the field against the All Blacks. Now they’re not.
That doesn’t mean South Africa or Ireland, France, Argentina and whoever else will beat New Zealand every time. But the fact they believe they will – and the fact they’re not remotely intimidated by the men in black – means the damage is done.
Robertson has already lost two of his six tests in charge. Are we going to start calling for his head should that become three, on Sunday morning NZ time?
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No. Because all of us can see there’s only so much he can do with what he’s got.
On that score, I will apologise to Foster.
I still believe he owed being All Blacks head coach to succession planning, rather than ability. And I still think he should have gotten more out of a team in which Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga were regulars.
But I think it’s clear that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has not managed our resources well.
Allowing players to take up sabbaticals and contracts in Japan has not prepared them for test football, while badly diluting Super Rugby.
You see that in a guy like Harry Plummer, whose performances for the Blues this year were largely dismissed by All Blacks assistant coach Scott Hansen.
Essentially, Hansen said, yes, Plummer had done well in Super Rugby Pacific, but it’s such a mediocre competition that you can’t use it to measure potential success in the test arena.
That’s on NZR, I’m afraid.
Wallace Sititi and Samipeni Finau are others in this All Black squad whose 2024 Super Rugby Pacific campaigns were outstanding.
Yet their impact on test rugby this year has been next to nothing. In fact, more often than not, Robertson doesn’t have enough confidence in them to put them in the match day 23.
Asafo Aumua – another who was physically dominant in Super Rugby Pacific – is a regular on the bench, but isn’t trusted to play significant minutes.
This is more complicated than whether there is enough direction coming from halfback, first five-eighth and fullback. This is about the fact that the New Zealand pathway no longer equips players for test rugby.
Time was when players, fresh from running rings around their peers at secondary school, went into club rugby. They played with and against men and, if they proved themselves in that arena, went into provincial rugby.
There they met seasoned pros, All Blacks, you name it.
Survive that and your reward was a Super Rugby contract and trips to Pretoria and Canberra or a packed house at Carisbrook.
Now they go from school and into Super Rugby setups, without ever doing a genuine apprenticeship and still relying on athleticism alone to succeed.
By the time they get to the All Blacks, having excelled in the touch footy that suffices for Super Rugby these days, they remain completely ill equipped to cope with Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth and the like.
And that leaves Robertson to keep picking blokes whose winning percentage as All Blacks has sat below 70% for five years now.
If you do think New Zealand’s model remains fit for purpose, then riddle me Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. How is it that, seven caps into his test career, he can manage a game and yet our vastly experienced playmakers can not?
The All Blacks could win this Sunday. Heck, Robertson might even make a clinical team of them before his time is done.
But it’ll be in spite of the system we’ve designed to produce elite players.
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The standard of Super Rugby is a contributing factor but poor coaching is just as much to blame.
SA were average and getting worse until Rassie got back involved and he has helped transform them (although they are still inconsistent between world cups). The Blues look a different team under Cotter, likewise Hurricanes under Laidlaw. ABs improved 50% in the space of one week when Ryan and Schmidt got involved in the set up instead of Moar and Plumtree.
And now, just like under Fozzie, coaches who are out of their depth are being found out.
To compete against the best team we have to have the best coaches, which we do not have. If the ABs had Tony Brown and Vern Cotter in their set up they would be better for it. Tamati Ellison may or may not be a good coach, but he has nothing on either one of those guys, and neither does Jason Holland. Look t how much better the Hurricanes are now. Ryan turned the forwards around in 2022 but even he must be on notice now - The line out has been somewhere between shaky and bad, kick off returns and absolute laughing stock, and our loose forwards are not winning the battles - Parity with England at best, dominated by Argentina in the 1st test, and thoroughly outplayed as a unit by the SA loosies.
No amount of tinkering with the backline can solve those issues.
ABs have A- players, but B coaches. They need to become As quickly or they need to go.
U seem to know every thing bro ..why don't u put your hand up
Howzit Nickers.
Just curious. “Still inconsistent between world cups”.
Rassie’s only had one chance between world cups. The period between 2019 and 2023. And yes their win ratio was worse than Irelands and NZ during that period. But that was the team he was rebuilding after the Coetzee stint that left them at 7 in the world.
Rassie never expected them to win 2019 (no one did for that matter) and they seem to be being quite often criticized about their form between world cups - only because they won a World Cup they weren’t supposed to.
Weird hey?
So after building a team from 2018 to successfully win the 2023 World Cup (and just happening to win a World Cup in 2019 along the way) I don’t think they are inconsistent between world cups at all. They’re actually strangely very good for a rebuilding team.
Everyone else rebuilds between World Cups. NZ is right now for example. But the boks are labelled inconsistent.
And considering that they are currently sitting on a 90% odd win ratio currently - it’s premature to call them inconsistent in this period between world cups.
Just saying.
I gave the ABs one of these games this year. Cape Town. ABs by three (I hope I’m wrong). I expect the boks to win the rest of their games this year and finish with 11/13 (84%) in case you were wondering.
I think the naysayers should look at it from South Africa perspective.
Our sides play in a competitive URC and have the two European competitions to try and qualify for.
Also, we pick intensional players too. We love seeing players like PSDT and Kwagga playing for the Boks.
I think it's clear the Boks are richer for it.
There are other factors too like Rassie rewired SARU on a player management level and won two world cups, which means rugby interest is at a all time high.
The All Blacks don't have a lot of these benefits or options.
And that's why they're worse off.
What nonsense. If SR was so great back in the day, why didn't we win the 2017 British & Irish Lions series or the RWC2019?
The first 3 seasons under Foster can't be explained away by a decline in Super Rugby. Proper coaching in the form of Jase Ryan & Joe Schmidt introduced mid 2022 raised the ABs levels (especially the pack) & nearly achieved the unthinkable a year later, a RWC2023 win (IN SPITE of Foster).
The Razor era seems to be more about teething problems than systemic ones. Also, rinsing out the ingrained residual impacts of the Foster Effect of mediocrity & incompetence, will take time. The signs going forward are very promising.
I think it's time NZR comes to grip with reality and accepts that we need to change our setup. We haven't won a U20 WC for seven years now and that's a development issue. We need players in top comps like the Top14, where the heat is on every weekend. The Top14 is the toughest comp in rugby. Words from Bakkies Botha who knows a thing or two about toughness.
We have too many pro teams in NZ. With SR and the NPC, we have 19 pro teams.... Ireland by comparison has 4. Our coaching and player talent is too spread out. SR could also be turned in to a comp similar to the Euro Cup. The top 5 or six NPC teams qualify. You save on 5 pro sides and NPC sides have something to aim for, next to the title and Ranfurly Shield. Australia, Japan and teams from the Americas could complete the competition. Just an idea.
They need to do something that wouldn't destroy their broadcasting revenue, otherwise the game would struggle to remain professional.
I think SR teams need to be culled to 8 (4 teams from NZ) and find some kind of future with JL1. The NPC then needs to remain professional and shrink to 8 - 12 teams, or become amateur/semi-pro and have a professional reserve grade of Super Rugby and semi-pro U20s.
Look in my opinion - the GOLDEN Era of NZ rugby were DOMINANT. They had the 2 of 3 WORLD CLASS players for EVERY position. That is not the case anymore.
Here are the ages of SOME players at the 2023 World Cup :
Dane Coles 36****
Codie Taylor 32
Ofa Tu’ungafasi 31
Nepo Laulala 31
Brodie Retallick 32
Samuel Whitelock 34*****
Sam Cane 31
Aaron Smith 34
Beauden Barrett 32
Richie Mo'unga 29
Some of these guys retired after the WC.
Boks made the same mistake in 2015 WORLD CUP. They took 15 players 30 years or older.
In 2016 10/12 of them didn't play for the BOKS.
All Blacks need to start giving youngster more game time. Nobody remembers who won the rugby championship but EVERYBODY remembers who won the World Cup.
Bigger picture.
Yes the rhetoric is very overblown - no country in history could ever hope to sustain the brilliance of that 2010s AB team. Throw in the fact that France and Ireland have improved out of sight and it's quite obvious it is now a 4-5 teams who could beat anyone.
Aussie regression has hurt us far more than the saffa teams leaving super rugby.
I think the only way forward for Super Rugby is to go free to air. Can't understand why people are so shocked how popular AFL and NRL are. Both more simplistic games therefore easy to follow but the biggest difference is both are free to air. With games Thursday through to Sunday nights and when there aren't games on, both sports are projected by every news channel with updates on who's playing who's injured who's banned etc, therefore always in the public eye. You cannot beat that kind of advertising.
Really nrl and afl on free to air .and silly me I pay for kayo and stan ..the real fact is nrl have Thursday night..Friday night and a Sunday afternoon game ..none of them live..afl have 3 games live a week on channel 7 ..so really bro if u want live nrl u pay for kayo .and apart from 3 afl games u pay for kayo ..think u not really telling the truth bro
Super rugby will be fine. The competition had their biggest viewing numbers in nearly two decades this year. What is most encouraging is the large increase in younger viewers for Super rugby. They don't tend to view the SA teams through rose tinted classes like some of the older generations.
In NZs much smaller economy the advertising revenue that free to air television can generate is no where near what streaming or subscription TV can provide.Less revenue equals less salaries for the elite players and before you know it more often are plying their trade overseas. The sports themselves would love to be on free to air because of the wider coverage but they know the money is not there. It’s the competition itself not the coverage that is flawed here.
Super Rugby was in decline before the SA teams left and continued to decline after and is now in a sorry state. The pathway is poor but it was even back in 2019 just before the end of SR. The reality is the SA teams were stripped of their best talent with the majority of Springboks playing overseas before SR ended. The competition was stale and the fans and administrators knew it. There are still 5 or so world class franchises in SR today. unfortunately the comp is small and the rest are actually rather mediocre. The Force, Rebels and Waratahs were in a sorry state this year. Moana, Crusaders and Highlanders were really average as well and the Drua are also Mediocre. Brumbies are class, Blues, Canes and Chiefs are also excellent and the Reds are a work in progress but with high potential. SR is flawed and is a limited pathway for players these days but its really not just down to the SA and Arg sides leaving. Thats just one factor in a multifactor equation that keeps many an administrator up at night trying to figure out how to improve the pathway and SR
I agree the loss of SA and Argentinian teams to Super Rugby has seen a decline in NZ and Australian rugby. On the plus side we beat England twice with little time to gel as a team and my feeling is the altitude had more bearing in the last twenty minutes against SA than has been mentioned. The Blues layed out the blueprint we should be playing like, in the loss to Argentina the 51st minute try was the only highlight, heads down , direct, make the opponent make so many tackles they can’t cope. The same was how we played in the opening minutes against SA and we shell shocked them.
Aided by one of the poorer matches played by South Africa. They were so shell shocked they engineered a 15 point swing in the last 10 minutes.
Boks won’t be that poor in a match again soon. AB’s blew a prime opportunity.
They could well bounce back on Saturday, but they blew this one.
Not surprisingly a pessimistic point of view from Hamish. I thought this season super rugby was one of the best for a long time. Interesting to note the hardest faught matches are the local darbies,esp New Zealand teams. And I definitely think Australia has strengthened its resolve and commitment and its ability in the last eight months. So they didn't quite get there at the end but definitely so signs of improvement and a solid future. I know everyone loves to bash Super Rugby but I think it's showing signs of solidity and improvement. Can't say Super Rugby is a total failure when It took us to the final of the World cup and withn a whisper of a win. Five games in with Robertson and we pretty much put South Africa to the sword at least for the first 60 minutes. Unfortunately big let down in the last 15 to 20. Bad kicking decisions and possibly a little panic led to offering up penalties across the field. Can't wait for Cape town and hopefully seen some improvement if not resilience.
I don't think your view of the rugby played by the Super teams of today is anywhere near realistic, Hamish. "......in the touch footy that suffices for Super Rugby these days..." Think you might be on your backside with broken ribs within 5 mins if you took the field against the Super players of today. While not the world's best, it is hard and tough rugby, played by increasingly big and highly skilled players.
Cape Town will be a typical South African response. Beat us up front if you can? No secret about those tactics. Why would you want the ball going past Sacha -Feinberg M at 10. A real talent, excellent kicker and game manager after 7 tests.
How do we WIN? Simple just beat up their geriatrics with pace and quick ball for our backs and put pressure on Sacha - Feinberg M at 10
Simplistic. Absolutely. Less kicking the ball back to S.A. and more running.
Maybe spend an hour during the lead up on the "Rules" pertaining to the penalties we did give away. Surprisingly Rugby Players, apart from Ritchie McCaw aren't that flash on the rules.
Hence 14 Penalties to 5.
Laws, BJ, not rules. Subtle difference !
True that at least if u kick ..do it with some intelligence ..last week was like watch BB and the blues play the crusaders in the 2022 final ..the won Richie gave a lesson .
Maybe go check who are the geriatrics.
The ghastly mistake was the creation of Super Rugby instead of biting the bullet, stripping the NPC down to 10 provincial sides as per the Boston Report. The undermining of the traditional pathway from Club to Province to ABs supplanting them with artificial super teams replete with academies divorced from treibalism and what worked was the real disaster.
Boston report asked for five teams I thought?
Other sports & dating shows for you dear author!
I have to assume this is written by a bot, ie an ironically named ‘ A intelligence ‘ bot as like AI its just a cut n paste of the ‘I’m bored Super rugby doesn’t entertain me anymore’ bandwagon. Bored with rugby? Bye, bye. No need to stay, watch & irritate us still interested fans.
& because, quote, ‘ South Africa and Argentina’ were ousted?
Those training bag clubs were killing SR with their constant thrashings ( bar just 1 max 2 Saf teams). Good riddance. No loss them. &, quote, ‘ Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth ‘ . You mean the same guys that played & soundly beaten in the above SR.
&, quote, ‘teams were beaten before they even took the field against the All Blacks.’ Another line of the media story myth of AB ‘aura’. More bandwagon BS. Any team champions because of hard accurate work … & note 80min play, ie not the AB since 2018.
&, quote, ‘Plummer had done well in Super Rugby Pacific, but Hansen thinks it’s such a mediocre competition’ and &, quote, ‘Asafo Aumua, Wallace Sititi and Samipeni Finau. Robertson doesn’t have enough confidence in them to put them in the match day 23.
They’re junior, inexperienced ABs! Like ALL previous AB coaches, best & most high performance experience team picked. It’s not a dating show for the young, pretty & exciting. Maybe you stick to dating shows.
&, quote, ‘Spite of the system we’ve designed to produce elite players’. Again other sports & dating shows for you. Yes any comp needs regular updating, eg like, ‘ South Africa and Argentina’ were ousted due to performance.
I would add that currently NZR negotiated idea of combining with the ‘internationals’ dense Japan Premier league (almost the same season timeline) is the only option.
And perfectly correct to exclude non NZ based players from the AB … as all who like fact know there’d be NO higher NZ level comp ( NPC would be it) if OS ABs allowed….exactly as in Saf, very lukewarm local rugby. Super Rugby (+ Japan Premier League) for ever ! & the resulting top class ABs! ( even ones that can play 80min again).
NZ thought it was being pretty clever getting Australian teams to hire kiwi coaches, to sabotage Australia.
Trouble is it weakened Australia so much the lack of challenge to kiwi teams has weakened NZ teams. Quite funny and ironic really.
NZ needs to get the hell out of Australian rugby so we can develop some competitive teams like we used too.
I don't think kiwis are smart enough to figure this out tho.
Aus are just crap. No players no decent attitude and no skill. They KEEP HIRING NZ coaches thinking they will be a magic wand. Sorry but you cant make ice cream out of turd juice.
More nonsense
Funny enough we don't want them there either! Schmidt, Tony Brown, Jamie Joseph. Maybe Gatland, but he keeps putting his foot in it, fulla can't help himself.
We'd rather all our Head coaches come home and get our game back on top. Aussie, your just guna have deal with old Eddie on your own.
What a miserable pessimist! I love that the 5 top teams can and do beat each other. This is the best and most even World comp ever. I love that a team that Hamish, Sky, and SENZ wrote off lost by 4 points, and 1 less man. All this rubbish that the ABs must always win is exactly that - rubbish! Razor is building the team nicely. The ABs can win this weekend. SA are the world no 1. But as Ireland showed, they can be defeated!
SARU left because of more money and better traveling. Nothing to do with Nz or Aus but then the Argies had to go too. The All Blacks will play the same with or without Sa sides in Super Rugby. The All Blacks are not even remotely a bad team but because the 2011 to 2015 side were so dominant it becomes easy to suggest that they are. Once they have belief and a few changes to the team things will be ok again.
Oh dear Hamish. Well I guess if I want a more intelligent article Ill just follow the dog around after he got into the chocolate.
Hey Hamish... wasn't it SARU who spat the dummy tabling the excuse of being slighted by NZRU for their unilateral, non consultation in the decision to what is now SRPacific, during Covid...or maybe their teams poor strike rate when they were playing in Super Rugby...1996-2019...NZ:18, SA:3, and AR:4... the blame game excuses for mine were never going to change SARU's predetermined actions to flip the finger at NZRU Super Rugby.....Go the AB's... reload, rebuild, reinvent..it's in their DNA...
Yes Cheika has confirmed he was in a meeting in 2018 where SARU made threats and demands around their participation in SR.
Simplistic answers. NZ handled England OK and should have won the recent test. The ABs lost that test by closing up shop in the last 10 while they were ahead. Kicking overturned attack ball away is criminal in any game and at any time in that game. Looked like coaches instructions. See no reason why NZ can't win in Cape Town if they get their tactics right and play with similar intensity to the first 60 mins of Test 1.
Really and u know that's a fact Razor told themt kick the ball away so the boks could run it straight back at us even though we needed a try to win 😆 🤣..come on bro ..at least if u going to kick do it to get a better field position not those pathetic kicks last test ..mainly from BB ..
Interesting view from the author. To be honest I thought SA really struggled when the All Blacks were able to play with width & pace which their players won't be used to now. The All Blacks were able to match & even dominate the SA fowrads in large parts of the game. A little bit more composure & spark of the bench & i think the All Blacks will win. It definitely didn't look like the All Blacks were struggling now that SA arent in Super rugby. You have to remember the Kiwis still play against each other during the domestic season.
Yeah I thought they were awesome..just really need a q0 with a brain and can kick at the right times ..gain a better field position..like Carter ..Merts Fox..Richie..wonder what all the throw in the towel fans would be saying if we had of held on
If my uncle had boobs, he would be my aunt!
Exactly. NZ looked like they had more improvement in them than SA who revert to the rolling maul when threatened. Don't think NZ rugby would improve playing in the Celtic competition, just the opposite. Besides NZ rugby is more fun to play and for many of us to watch.
It’s not so bad. It will become bad when the players who were playing in a diverse Super Rugby competition before 2020 start retiring in the next four years. Then only players who were 20-23 years in 2020 and who only know how to win against the weak Australia teams will be fully exposed.
Seems a bit harsh. Tamaiti Williams never played super rugby in South Africa and looked fine to me. Likewise Newell, Roigard and De Groot never played SA super rugby franchises and looked fine last year against the Boks. Darry and Finau have played about 6 tests between them and while Sacha is only 7 games in too, he is behind the bomb squad and not being asked to maul against them which even the most experienced forwards would struggle against at altitude at Ellis Park. Maybe we were missing someone like frizell, but remember it took him about 4-5 years before he started to become really effective at test level.
And let's see what happens when the Saffer forwards who grew up in Super Rugby start retiring!
Our younger forwards look like they'll be better than our older forwards.