I think if you look at the whole picture it’s clear to me that the selections of not just the wings but the whole team is about trying to capitalize on our points of difference relative to other teams. The easy conservative selections against Springboks would to choose defensively and match them. Choose Owen Franks, choose a big 6, choose Bender at fullback and Jordie on one wing to counter their kicking. Instead Hansen chooses to capitalize on our points of differences areas that we don’t just match the opposition but where they will struggle to beat us. Props who can handle, an electric back row, form wings who can finish, an irrepressible full back. I salute Hansen for making the aggressive selections and I think he was leaning that way on the wings in 2015 with NMS and Naholo, but Naholo disappointed in pool stages.

I am wary of getting pulled down twitter/facebook rabbitholes but probably helpful to add some perspective as a person of color is the US. The content of the initial letter is nothing new in the US and many countries that do contain underpriviliged and undersestimated people. I am doubtful that it was written by a black professor but that claim will always give it a bigger push. The core of the argument is familiar, always slightly different, why do light skin blacks perform better than dark skin blacks, why do black women perform better than black men, the same things were heard on plantations, in Southern Africa why do coloreds perform better than African, or elsewhere why are Tutsis better than Hutus, why are Carribean american Blacks better than African-American blacks. The common thread is that many of these differences are minimal but have roots in oppression, and were perpetuated for the benefit a few. There are a long list of ways and reasons that there effects still manifest themselves and many books which cover that ground. Yes particularly in America there is opportunity for everyone, but even successful blacks , Robert Smith, Oprah Winfrey , Lebron James who laud hard work will bring light to the extreme inequality that makes the road very tough for any young person of color. The unequal opportunity starts at kindergarten, continues through school, continues in police interactions, the legal system the list is long. The struggles are not limited to socio-economic status though this is clearly a factor. Very instructive to hear the NBA players, coaches (Doc Rivers, ) GM (Masai Ujiri) opine on their feelings and experiences and one understands the fear , anxiety and frustration to be a black man in America. Particularly Doc Rivers talking about the talk every black family must have with their young sons.

The other notable point was the idea that "Black Lives Matter" is some kind of a political, party composed of anarchists and rioters a narrative that has been effective for Trump and co but a source of frustration for most supporters who are peaceful. At its core I dont think the statement could be clearer and simpler " We matter, our lives matter, see us, help us". On the other side I do love the mobilization and voting efforts initiated by NBA players and others , making voting difficult for black people is something that has happened for years and to make this more accessible and easier can be a game changer. For the record black voters pretty much brought Biden from the brink , so lets see what happens in November.

@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

@nzzp said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Bledisloe Cup?:

I think half the problem is, up until the start of last year, the ABs thought they were perfectly positioned. And then they got muddled in their thinking, panicked, and left us in a mess. And a few chickens came home to roost as well with regards to developmental processes.

Lost faith in their senior players who fell off a cliff, didn't keep experience on the paddock, had terrible luck with injuries, missed a strong leader, and you get the volatile performances that wind up in a semifinal spanking.

In a world cup year it's a bit much to
change your back 3
constantly shuffle your midfield
change your 10
change your thinking at 6. twice.

In my mind way simpler than that, our three workhorses Rettallick, Whitelock and Read all came up empty. Read probably stuck around 2 years too long, Rettalick underdone and Whitelock nothing left in the tank.

So far it just seems to be a masterclass from Hansen and his coaches, Despite my complaints about leaving J. Ioane at home and B Smith out of the 23, the selections have been outstanding so far. The balance of experience and youth has been perfect, even if it would have been easier to go the conservative route Hansen has been aggressive and it’s paid off. The young Crusaders in the backs have repaid Hansen’s faith enormously. Also amazing is tactically the ABs seem to be adjusting to the rush defenses and defensively they also seem to be going lower in the tackle. Was always confident ABs would win by more than a try but the possibility of a hiding was material and that’s what we got. Bring on England.

I appreciate responses from some posters that I should continue dialogue and with out sounding like a softie it is difficult. I think I feel a little like Doc Rivers when he said he does not want to talk about this stuff he wants to coach and its true, talking about rugby way more fun.

I'll just go through some points super quick, I am not trying to avoid anything but lots to go through

I have seen plenty of videos like Mikethe Snow posted and it has been very frustrating for many, often the instigators I see are white but I could not venture to say what the exact numbers are by race but fair to say its the instigators are an absolute minority. I also would not write off the influence of right wing instigators, this is absolutely a factor.

I think @Rembrandt said something about 30+ murders since George Floyd, I don't even know what that means, I believe there are at least 45+ murders a day in the US in general. Outside of these protests I also would not discount general social unrest that is fermenting through the growing wealth inequality, lockdown etc, but thats a whole thread in itself.

I would repeat BLM is really about the core statement and actions that can be taken to address that statement. I know some thing that its a "cute" statement but I watch CNBC everyday and its great to see business leaders of all races taking it absolutely seriously. Perhaps that will be the first driver for change. Forget about the supposed BLM leaders or the people who have claimed websites, most people don't even know who they are. Think about the overwhelming number of blacks and majority of whites who support the statement and movement.

Sorry if I am all over the map, but just letting it all out. I saw someone mention that LeBron James said "We are scared", I can confirm , I am petrified for myself and for my family. Guaranteed every black person of all economic classes has least one person close to them who has had a jaw dropping interaction with police. For those who say just comply, that's the point, compliance is no guarantee against safety , humiliation or death, we are not making it up, its just that a fraction of these interactions are now being captured on video. And guess what unarmed people in fear of their lives sometimes act irrationally. I hear so many stories of drunk, mentally ill, or armed white kids having the most "civil" interactions with police, not sure why that same care isn't taken with all American citizens.

What about the stats you ask , ah another old time hit. But blacks are more violent , blacks commit more crime, black-on-black crime? Lets start of with black population 48million people? Enough to say that an attempt to smear the vast majority of that number with US murders and crime falls short in my opinion. And how about a higher percentage convicted than whites? I won't even get into the legal representations or overall legal system but just enough to say it would be much more informative to see the numbers broken down by socio-economic class as well as the actual numbers we are talking about with respect to population. Black-on-black crime? Not much different from white-on-white crime.

Sorry tired now.

I really don't get why Akira/Frizell is is making heads explode, I am happy for the depth. When you think historically how long the likes of Zinny, Kaino or Buck had to wait its a nonissue for Akira to wait. The rate of attrition in test rugby is so high, having 5 class loose forwards is not a problem.

@cgrant said in RWC: England v New Zealand (SF1):

People in this forum are great fans of Richie Mounga. He's had a mare : missed an easy tackle on Daly who is not the quickest fullback nor the strongest one (this led to England's first try), then could not handle the English rush defence. Let's hope he'll learn from this very disappointing performance.
The Bounga experiment was clearly a failure with BB's kicking from hand being an issue. Would DMac have done better ?

I hate the loss but I hate these kind of posts after the loss even worse. No complaints about Bounga after Wallabies, South Africa or Ireland , now its a failure? Nothing to suggest any other available combo would have done better. Really did not think Ritchie was the problem.

I think I am mostly with Bones and Booboo here in general I would say

1. Fozzie is probably not most peoples first choice but he is the coach now , I think its only fair to give him a chance.
2. Fat jokes are pretty old.
3. Not much point in comparing ABs to SA or England when we have no clue what they will be like, better to concentrate on whats in front of us for now.
4. I'll take the record so far but obviously 4 tests to go to judge the year.
5. I'll take the selections so far, plenty of debate but no disasters and has blooded 5 new ABs in the first 2 games. Selections have been pretty close to what I would have selected.

@Bones said in Argentina One: Parramatta, 14 November:

@pakman said in Argentina One: Parramatta, 14 November:

I agree with a lot of the general theme of posters about the development (or not) of AB game, but if players don't use their heads not a lot the coaching team can do.

I'm on the fence on this eh. I started off blaming the players for being stupid and still do to an extent but like I said in my first post, what the fuck is going on outside the games that is causing very accomplished players to become shells of their former selves?

A year or two ago Taylor was easily our best hooker and many were touting for Perenara over Smith. Now they look like NPC is their level. That can't all be on the players? It's so prevalent.

Yes I am struggling with this, over the last two games seem to be so many of our experienced guys who are underperforming. That’s 2 games in a row where I would struggle to find 3 MOTM candidates.

@sdrggyy said in Worst All Black RWC exits:

2019 we lost solely because of own our fault - no external factors involved.

I think England were an external factor, honestly don't think there was much between ABs, Boks and England, on any given day any of the three teams could have won imho. England caught us flat, Boks caught England flat.

@booboo said in US Politics:

@DMX said in US Politics:

@Crucial said in US Politics:

@dogmeat said in US Politics:

@Crucial Does anyone pay for Herald 'Premier'?

I don’t know anyone that does. I guess that luddites with a printed delivery of old news might get it included.

I believe it dates back the 60s and it was a way to insure that black canditates would not have an easy path to win when there was a split field.

Not sure that reply pertains to a NZ Herald subscription? Think you have quoted the wrong post?

Yes meant to respond too why Georgia has runoffs.

@Crucial said in US Politics:

@dogmeat said in US Politics:

@Crucial Does anyone pay for Herald 'Premier'?

I don’t know anyone that does. I guess that luddites with a printed delivery of old news might get it included.

I believe it dates back the 60s and it was a way to insure that black canditates would not have an easy path to win when there was a split field.

@TeWaio said in US Politics:

@Crucial said in US Politics:

@canefan said in US Politics:

So if the Dems win both races what happens?

Senate has even numbers and the VP has deciding vote.

...and this man becomes the most powerful person in America:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Manchin

(conservative Democrat senator from West Virginia who has already come out against tax hikes, court packing and Green subsidies that hurt mining in his state)

Astute observation.

@junior said in NZ and World Rugby Awards 2020:

I agree, Read's omission is not the most egregious in that list. What I can't fathom is just how underrated he is on this forum.

I think to many you are only as good as your last World Cup!

@Machpants said in Los Pumas 2020:

The incident mentioned before that had put rugby in a rather bad light

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/11-rugby-players-arrested-after-21320585

The tweet which is probably the most damning isn't actually what it appears on the face of it (quoted from news corp Australia, so public knowledge now) “SOUTH AFRICA baby! I’m finally leaving this country full of blacks ouch.”
That is when he is leaving Argentina to go to SA. Blacks, is a term Peronists use for lower class and lefties, not so much skin colour as wealth and political affiliation. People like Maradona.

That kind of puts some context that I didn't get, I guess that explains some of the ruckus over Maradona.

Not sure that there is really much different that Argentinian RU could do. They had to condemn the tweets and Matera, and once they did that if they took zero action it would risk ringing pretty hollow. I get the discretions of your youth stuff and all but plenty of youths pay a much steeper price than that for their errors. I don't see losing the captain's armband as being that steep a price.

Always amazing what time does, I remember when Jonah used to get abused frequently on this very forum.

@nostrildamus said in When should Foster go?:

@DMX 2 losses and a draw out of 5 is not a great AB record.
Against a weakened Wallabies with a new coach and Argentina playing away from home it is atrocious.
Plus throw in a lost RWC, loss to Ireland... etc.. etc.. while he was in the coaching setup.

They paid big bucks to get the team performing. You won't get two years as a corporate exec with a record like this. And the ABs are a nation-sized business.

So the Argies should never be able to play well enough to be beat ABs?

@Snowy said in When should Foster go?:

@DMX said in When should Foster go?:

@nostrildamus said in When should Foster go?:

@DMX said in When should Foster go?:

what kind of message are you sending to the next coaches.

That they need to win matches? That being selected to be head coach should be based on merit, and retained based on performance?

2 losses and your fired? I think any new coach will say first year I need to build , even Henry had that.

Two losses and a draw (as good as a loss - someone even mentioned that we "lost" the Lions series - we drew). So just two wins from 5 might be a better way to put it. With players that know how to win. Throw in his history of failure with the Chiefs, the lack of enthusiasm from both him and the players, a lack of obvious game plan (although @bones post above might contain one, as he said it isn't working - yet anyway). I guess the way they are playing doesn't inspire confidence in the leadership / management.

As a Blues supporter, I have been through this from corporate structure (management personnel) to the appointment of coaches. It can be turned around quite quickly with the right people.

True 2.5 losses not great ( though you could argue Ozzie loss a dead rubber ) but NZR already chose him so I don't think you can fire him after a year based on his qualifications when they were good enough when they hired him. Fozzie wouldn't have been my choice either but think it reflects even worse on NZR to fire him a year in. 3rd loss might change the calculus though.

@nostrildamus said in When should Foster go?:

@DMX said in When should Foster go?:

what kind of message are you sending to the next coaches.

That they need to win matches? That being selected to be head coach should be based on merit, and retained based on performance?

2 losses and your fired? I think any new coach will say first year I need to build , even Henry had that.