The Premiership round one trend that 'surprised' Phil Dowson

There are players like Aki, Nonu, a handful of others who are able to keep performing in the midfield in their early to mid 30s, so maybe something in that.

More than anything if the current backs are still knocking around in 8 years it will have shown a very big breakdown in NZ rugby player development and we will probably be a tier 2 team anyway!

My above statement is trolling. That is what you are doing. You are writing in the same style, troll. Also, stop liking your own comments weirdo.

No one watches bad rugby, I know I flick it off if the game sucks. So NZR lose a lot of money in ticket sales and broadcasting rights.

With less money, they can only pay so many All Blacks contracts. So, more players go overseas, bolstering other leagues. Eventually, these players will not even be allowed to play for the All Blacks during the Rugby Championship due to contractual issues, causing NZR to lose a lot of prestige in that regard (notice how Australia cannot select some players due to contract issues with French teams, same with Fiji).

Slowly, All Blacks fade into the background, just like Australia. Decent, top 10 for sure, but not a powerhouse or #1 contender like they are now.

Also, you should note how much worse players are when they return from Japan and France. Ardie Savea has been out of form ever since he returned, same with Brodie Retallick for a while. So the players might even get worse.

No need for the racist comments bro, New Zealand embraces a lot of Maori (who are Pacific Islanders) culture, and many Pacific Islanders who play for New Zealand are born here. Better than the South Africa B team in Scotland and the least Irish man in the world playing for Ireland (Bundee Aki).

Fit compared to the teams they are playing. Physical fitness has a huge impact on your ability to focus and make the right decisions a.k.a. composure.

I think they are losing at all three of those things you listed in the last quarter, which is why they are giving away so many penalties, getting players sent off, and spending the last 20 minutes of every game under huge pressure, mostly defending getting even more fatigued.

Botching basic passes and dropping the ball cold is not something the best players in the world do when they are fresh, they are mistakes that happen when players are fatigued.

It's not surprising when you look at the build up most of the players had - they are not coming into this international window match fit. Ardie was in Japan which is much less intense, and had a relatively long lay off before the ABs season started, ditto Beauden Barrett and Cane, although Cane was also injured for a huge part of the JL1 season. Scott Barrett, Will Jordan, and Blackadder played about 10 SR games between them. Add to that Razor leaving guys on for 70 mins plus or even the whole game who would normally come off after 50 - 60 mins and you have a recipe for disaster which is playing out every week.

Watch the body language of the players as the final quarter plays out, they are absolutely out on their feet, hands on hips, bent over trying to catch their breath. Slow to get into position, slow to move around the park.

Ratima showed you just need a bit of intent and to take them low (he can bench 180 though to be fair) and those wingers go down.

I said it more for a dig at Rieko than anything.

They are doing some things very well that previous ABs teams have not been able to, but failing in other areas.

It has been very frustrating that teams like Italy and Argentina that have had a change of coaching staff in 2024 have immediately built on previous success and improved this year, whereas we have to accept for some reason with the ABs that a change of coach means that learning these "new systems" means the team has to become terrible for a period of time. Not that they would stagnate, but that they will get obviously worse, and actually play very poorly. It makes me think they are complicating things.

Also this team is not fit, which is why they can't close out a game.