What Steve Diamond said about first Newcastle win in 25 league games

Unfortunately to achieve anything great in life, you've got to be prepared to take a few risks and be comfortable with the possibility you might fail. Gone are the days the ABs can turn up with any old 15 and expect to win 80% of their matches. Playing it safe is not going to win us any WC's given the quality of the other top 4 or 5 nations we are up against.

As the saying goes, you generally get what you focus on in life. If you focus on not losing, unfortunately that's what you tend to attract.

The problem for Razor is that relying on the old guard could be a risk in itself. Both Cane and particularly Perenara have been heavily involved in the current win / loss ratio. Should the trip north not produce the desired results, it become more difficult to explain his approach.

It would be easier to claim progress and paint a bright picture for the future if losses came about with new talent being exposed to the cauldron of northern test rugby.

Besides, as fine a servant as Cane has been; it's difficult to escape the fact he is heavily tied to the worst period of modern AB rugby.

When we voted with our keyboards for change, that's exactly what we wanted. Too many of the current leadership group have become a bit to used to losing.

I genuinely don't know if holding on to the same leadership group for as long as possible to impart their knowledge onto the next generation is the radical change of direction fans were demanding.

I'd prefer they would invite McCaw to tour north and share some knowledge. There's a bloke who knows something about turning a losing culture into a winning one.

Fresh players bring less baggage. We've seen that clearly with the likes of Sititi, Roigard & others, who haven't yet learnt how to gaze into the void when things are going wrong.

Perhaps it's our fault as fans. Razor will be only too aware how quickly the public can turn if things go badly having watched Foster's show. Perhaps it's NZR HQ, who sell the ABs brand to any bidder with some cash to spare - promising wins, wins and more wins.

Certainly the NZR financial model which is almost entirely based on flogging the ABs eternal winning brand probably can't afford a period of rebuilding.

Whatever the cause of Razor's fear, the real fear is that the short sighted thinking will come bake to haunt us.

SA are busy building two squads of test ready players, while Razor prefers to shun young talent in favour of soon to retire servants who are past their best.

Watch an amateur game of rugby and its absolutely stark how much slower the professional game is. I cannot fast forward in scrums or lineouts in age grade games because they're happening so damn quick (which is good I suppose)!

What measure is that?

The other tremendous change was how good restarts were in the U20 World Cup. Not being able to kick it deep at a restart changes the contest completely.

A side note, is that they can't just lump and dump these law changes/additions, they need to be reworked (incl not straights). I hadn't seen a lot of the 50/20 law being used until I viewed more overseas rugby and it's terrible how it's being used in an anti attack mindset by kicking the ball into touch after you've actually made a break. Theres no way you should be able to win a lineout by playing negatively like that it goes against everything the law was introduced for.

The series will also see referees use on-mic explanations to clarify decisions, enhancing the viewing experience for fans in stadiums and watching broadcasts.

That's terrible. The onfield ref having to make up an explanation of why the TMO has upgraded to a red is terrible. The current 'excuses' the refs are coming up with are already way too much. We don't need to know the intricate reason why one person was penalized where the other wasn't, if the ball is not out and some comes into play the ball and comes from the side or does this or that, simple say 'offside at the ruck', we don't need a paragraph explanation of the law book. Same with the new one of a player only being penalized for not rolling away or clearing out when theres a turnover, we don't need a second by second breakdown, again it's 'offside at the ruck' or 'not releasing the player'.

I think it’s more likely that they are stuck with each other and he’ll be given grace to 2025.

I think the ABXV is his saving grace. I think he and his employers are in this boat together and at least are showing they’re trying to build

Some AB depth (in the event the 1st XV loses to England, France and Ireland).

It makes absolute sense that he would choose this tour to use them.

I think you're suggesting fans come from around the region right? Nothing wrong with that but twice now I've seen (at roar and Miz here) only refer to the city as being where the fans come from (nothing wrong with that either from my perspective, or their crowd sizes which I think are great).