Tongan stars shine in Tokyo, dismiss Canada in fifth-place final

The first half of Foster's tenure, when he was surrounded by coaches who were not up to the task, was disastrous due to this type of reactionary chopping and changing. No clear plan of the direction of travel or what needs to be built to get there. Just constant tinkering. A player gets dropped one week, on the bench the next, back to starting the next, dropped for the next week again. Add in injuries and other variations of this selection pattern, combined with vastly different game plans from one week to the next and it's no wonder the team isn't clicking on attack and are making incredibly basic errors on both sides of the ball.

When Schmidt and Ryan got involved selections became far more consistent and the game plan far simpler and the dividends were instant, and they accepted bad performances as part of building towards the world cup. They were able to distinguish between bad plans and bad execution and by the time the finals rolled around they were playing their best rugby as a team.

Chopping and changing the team each week sends the signal that you don't really know what you are doing or why, and you are just reacting to what happened last week, selecting a team to replay the previous game rather than preparing for the next one and building for the future.

I am not sure when I said that NZ was still part of the British Empire, that appears to be a strawman argument on your part. Your King is Charles II of England though even if his official title is 'Kind of New Zealand' for State purposes.

The proportion of immigrants in Ireland for rugby purposes is a tiny tiny percentage of the figure in NZ.

Again, any NZ having a go at Ireland due to importing players is an utter hypocrite. Just wind your neck in.

Before the CT team was announced, everybody and his neighbour was saying that Jordan should be moved to FB to give him more space so that his speed and flair can be properly used, etc.

One game later, against a side that is notoriously physical with a near-impenetrable defense and the "Jordan for FB" chorus has been replaced by the "Back to Wing" brigade.

Really? After a single game? Was he that bad?

In 2016, Allister Coetzee had the audacity to move PSdT from his established lock position to flank. We lost rather badly against England. It included a try by the England no. 9 where PSdT was badly shown up. Needless to say, every critic p*ssed on Coetzee from a dizzy height (tbh, he was a pretty bad coach...), specifically about playing PSdT out of position.

And in 2019 PSdt had established himself as the premier blindside in the world and was duly named the Rugby World Player of the Year, still "out of position".

Maybe Jordan should get another chance?