The All Blacks have been pretty ordinary but now will win the World Cup

Well well well…🙈

“Lord knows I’ll never be accused of being an All Blacks cheerleader, but I can’t see any other result in this final than a win to New Zealand by 10 to 12 points”.

JL what happened to:

This one is in the bag. Mortgage it and thank me later. Over by half time.”

unfortunately the only thing over by halftime was Cane’s world cup! Hope you followed your own advice and “Mortgage it”…..enjoy sleeping under the stars Boet!!😂

Can’t see any other result you said Hamish…hope you see it now. It was also you who said back in July that this was an old Springbok side nearer the end of their careers😉 Guess these oldies showed you a thing or two

This gotta be the most bait article I’ve ever seen. Or just another of Hamish’s jumping the gun takes.

This type of arrogance is hilarious even as an All Blacks fan myself

its going to be a really interesting one. sa have gone a 7-1 bench. but then maybe we will see a late “injury” change pre-kickoff. won’t surprise me. i would. mind games.

wayne barnes will once again be the decider as he was all those years ago. he will decide nzs fate as both a fresh ref and as a retiring ref.

if we get more than 40 minutes of play or we go to extra time its nzs game. but if sa can force stoppages and drink breaks then its probably going to them. sa wins when there is very little time where ball is in play.

thankfully nz is the fresher team. if it had been the other way round, nz would not have been able to match up front. but maybe they will come saturday. 15 tired boks vs 13 fresh ab forwards. i’ll call that even. will 4 young props be heros.

I completely agree. The author nails it. The ABs are going to teach the Bokkies a lesson they will never forget. I look forward to inflicting generational trauma on the Bokkies and their supporters. All NZ pundits are predicting an easy win. AB by 20, at least! Ben Smith agrees and so do the bookies. This one is in the bag. Mortgage it and thank me later. Over by half time.

I’m new in the rugbyworld. I’ve watched the latest WC and the 6 N over the past years. I love the importance of the role ‘respect’ plays in this beautifull sport, at least for what I can observe on tele on the field .. Up to now my dissappointment in this tournement is that for the first time (to my .. ) on a high level, a large part of the crowd, in casu the Irish supporters refused to show respect to the Haka by keeping silence, in the quarter f. Thus boosting up the tension and drive in the Blacks . I might sound naïve. No prob. Lack of respect and it’s consequences .. go see soccer/football.

Likely? Its 50:50 at BEST. Rubbish article

Excellent article, basically summarizes exactly where many if not most longer term Allblack supporter's beliefs sit.

The big question mark remains, there is no question it’s an Allblacks side that's currently very dangerous, the most dangerous team of the two finalists by far, the best forward pack and the best backline.

However do they really have the killer instinct to impose themselves on the Boks? They've been at times an absolute disgrace, disgraced the legacy and the jersey like never before during this cup cycle. They've been an absolute roller coaster ride.

The reality is the Allblacks have switched gears, they've got rid of most players that didn't have the burning hunger and have brought in two exceptionally high quality coaches in Ryan and Schmidt. There's not a single starter that isn't hungry, likewise the bench with it's greatest weakness being an aged Whitelock.

The Boks still have key players like Faf, Pollard, Etzebeth, but losing Malcom Marx was a huge blow, as good as the Allblack hookers are Marx would be starting ahead of them all. Marx looms as a huge shadow of deepest despair over the Boks, in the prime of his physicality Marx has been replaced by a tiny 37 year old that doesn't even play hooker. An extremely disrespectful decision by the Bok coaches that's a ticking time bomb that the Allblacks will use to target Bongi’s poor stamina.

The Boks are worse than the 2019 team, least liked supporters, low on confidence, many of the players including the captain are not worthy of being in the 23, the coach is deeply unpopular within the team and even more unpopular with match officials, they're inferior to the Irish team and shouldn't have beaten France or even England.

However the Boks remaining x factor players are still going to turn up and will try to drag the rest with them to carry the tradition of getting up to play their most respected rival. The Allblacks are going to have to be clinical because if they start timid the Boks will have a chance at pulling off the greatest upset since 1995.

There is a mistaken belief that to criticize is disloyal. It is not. It is a vital pillar of civilized society as long criticism does not encourage or lead to violence or hate. This applies to politics or sport.

To question decisions made by a coach or a player is not disloyal. To suggest a coach or player is not up to the standard that is expected for his position is not disloyal.

The simple truth is because Kiwis are so passionate supporters of the All Blacks that, after the home series loss to Ireland, they pressured NZR to fire Foster and replace him with Robertson, Foster was forced to fire his assistants Plumbtree and Moar to avoid his own dismissal, and hired Ryan (Robertson’s forward coach) and Schmidt to replace them. And this was the catalyst that turned around a sinking ship.

Foster does deserve a share of the credit for the turn around. He allowed his assistants the freedom to implement the structures they wanted under their area of responsibility and gave them a say in the selection of players they wanted for those structures.

While I agree RM has perhaps not nailed the 10 role over the years, he has noticeably improved over this WC campaign since the French outing. There has been a noticeable change that has happened, Beauden Barratt has touched the ball a lot less and has hardly stepped into the 10 position in recent matches. Foster has undermined RM’s authority throughout his tenure but for whatever reason a change has occurred. RM and the team are noticeably better for it - there’s so much more clarity. As Foz is a stubborn old mule, I can only assume Schmidt has finally convinced him this duel playmaker thing just isn’t working. Better late than never I suppose.

Cognitive dissonance = “But, as I said before, here we are. On the brink of glory” + “they couldn’t front at the Rugby World Cup”. Hope it does not have a mental toll on the poor writer of this article.

You know what needs to be done, Easy Company, and those of us who proudly embrace the black jumper with the silver fern, have invincible faith you’ll get the job done!

Wayne Barnes was on the breakdown panel, a couple of years ago, that recommended a bunch of refereeing interpretations. If he is strict on NZ obstruction at the breakdown SA will either get a lot of penalties or get fast ruck ball and jackling turnovers. Either way it swings the game in favor of SA. Schmidt will be studying Barnes's recent breakdown interpretations intensely.

No matter how the all blacks play, make sure you stay miserable.

If they lose, miserable.

If they win, that’s just doing their job so who cares, miserable.

Far too much damn enjoyment going on. Winning a World Cup is supposed to make us forget the times they didn’t win?

Yeah.. lets wait & see. Zero pressure against a woeful argentina & against a determined Bok team will be very very diffrerent.

Your support from BB (who has played well only at the RWC recently) and criticism of Mo'unga who out played Sexton and Ireland in QF shows that have lost the plot.

Also the evidence is that the Abs setpiece with the right starters can mix it with anyone. So I really don't know that you look at facts vs holding on to your opinions regardless, and for a scribe that is the worst sin

There are a number of things to dislike about this article. Firstly, it is prematurely assuming a win - which is never a good thing - and secondly, it is doing so with a stroppy tone that denotes an attitude that wishes his own team would have lost already.

I will say that I am an All Blacks fan who has had plenty of criticism of the coaching appointment and the personal record of Foster. I stand by those criticisms as fair too - it isn’t as if the NZR didn’t intervene to make replacements for Foster’s assistant coaches or that observable errors have not been made along the way. I also felt that, fundamentally, the appointment process wasn’t based on merit but on a flawed policy of ‘continuity’ which has also had to be addressed, moving forward.

All that said and done, however, the team as a whole is winning on merit not because of some prejudicial opinion that they deserve to win or lose. They deserve to win because they are winning - and that it the end of it. As an All Blacks supporter, I approve.