@No-Quarter said in All Black Coach - Ian Foster:

I recall everyone on here being stoked with the team we selected in Perth...

It was a decent team. I don't think the players were the problem.

The Fern, collectively, had been banging on about how poor our game plans had been since the Lions series.

I maintain that we were right -- it was in the coaching box that we failed, not the players on the pitch.

@ACT-Crusader said in All Black Coach - Ian Foster:

Conversely there were high expectations heading into 2000 after the Wayne Smith appointment and things didn’t really pan out that well....

Wayne Smith is the first guy I would put on any coaching list. He's absolutely brilliant.

Our assessment of his ability was correct except one rather key flaw -- he isn't a head coach.

Well that will take all the emotional stress out of watching the All Blacks.

I learned to not care about the Chiefs after the first three years of Foster there, because caring just set you up for major disappointment. (Even when we made the final I recorded it for later, because there was no way I was going to get shafted again, Charlie Brown style. It was a wise decision, as it happens.)

It should make the Bledisloe rather more interesting.

@Bovidae said in Same old Russians, always cheating:

The Russians have become a modern-day East Germany and then tried to frame and discredit the whistleblowers when the truth became known. Corruption started from the top.

I don't think it is counted as "corruption" when it is a state organised activity -- technically the Russian doping agency would be corrupt if it didn't do its government policy, and actually tested properly. This is much worse than corruption, because it can't be rooted out until the government changes its policy.

They need to ban all Russian athletes until Russia agrees to play by the same rules as everyone else.

One way round it would be to exempt the current Russian athletes from the normal country qualifications. Once established as drug free by a country that actually tests properly, they could then compete for that country.

That would drive Putin crazy, because all his athletes would then be winning medals for other countries. Even worse if they won medals for other countries only because they were expertly doped by Russians!

Dropping out early seems weak to me.

Where I work, you apply for jobs you want to show willing, even if another candidate is likely to get the position. That way the people in charge know that you are interested in promotion, and consider pathways to get you there.

Neither Rennie nor Joseph can be so busy at the moment that they can't take a few days to be interviewed by NZR surely.

@mariner4life said in [Poll] Next All Black Coach:

@KiwiMurph said in [Poll] Next All Black Coach:

how underwhelming.

JJ had 10 years coaching Super rugby and won once.

True, but with the Highlanders.

Not a feat anyone else has come close to (except perhaps the Queensland Reds win under Ewen McKenzie -- from rabble to winners back to rabble).

Even Rennie had more to work with when he came in.

@junior said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

@taniwharugby said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

@Chris-B agree to a point, but there were concerns with our small backs v SA in pool play, but it didnt affect us.

I expect Jack could put on a few more kgs easily enough without affecting him.

there arent too many big bruisers playing the mid-field in NZ presently who look like they will make the step up in the next year or 2...

It doesn't seem there's too many big bruisers in NZ fullstop! Given the style of play our domestic teams play, half the battle for most players seems to be their ability to keep (especially in the forwards). Couple that with the increased focus on skill speed (especially with catching and passing) in the last 10-15 years, this naturally favours smaller guys who don't carry as much bulk and can move more quickly. All of the sudden, you're naturally selecting against big guys and they start getting phased out of the game at lower and lower levels.

I think this is wrong. Our forward packs, both at franchise and national level aren't smaller than their opponents. Sometimes a bit shorter, but rarely lighter.

With regards to backs, we have lots of big boys. We just play them on the wing, whereas other countries play them in the centres. You'd be pressed to argue that the Bok backline was big if you look outside the centres.

Reiko Ioane will be bigger than most of the guys he is marking, by some distance. It was just unfortunate that his form disappeared this year, or we would have had him to use a battering ram in the midfield. (We use wingers all the time for this role in NZ, because so often they're our biggest backs.)

@rotated said in [Poll] Next All Black Coach:

If it goes well; the NZRU have shown they will honour succession, and if things go badly there is still time/opportunity to come back (Smith, Mitch if he had wanted IMO).

There are some areas where bodies have to respect previous decisions, because it enhances trust. You don't shit on your present sponsors because you know that will affect later potential partners' willingness to trust you.

But the people who are making the decision this year aren't bound to select the coach based on how previous panels decided. The panel are different people. The applicants are different people with different histories. The All Blacks are in a different situation from previous years.

@Tim said in [Poll] Next All Black Coach:

3. Ian Foster

Eight years as Steve Hansen's right hand man hands Foster the argument for continuity, one that has worked for the All Blacks since 2008.

Chance of being involved: Highly likely

The All Blacks have been on the slide since the peak of 2015. I was rather hoping that the losses to Ireland, the Lions, the recent thrashing by the Aussies etc, the narrowing of the gap by the Boks had been remedied by the RWC. Dry powder and all that.

But they hadn't fixed the problems, and our direction will continue downwards if we go with the "continuity" candidate. Why anyone would be happy with that is beyond me.

I recall Blackadder taking the reins at the Crusaders as a continuity candidate of a system that brought constant success -- except it didn't.

@Chris-B said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

@junior said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

For 2020, I'd be happy enough to shelve the idea that we need an entire backline of small guys who pass real good but can't generate any go forward

Yeah - having people like Nonu, Savea and SBW who win collisions was pretty handy in 2015.

Conveniently "forgetting" the other members of that backline, who weren't very big. As in, most of them.

It's not like we played Nonu and SBW beside each other even.

@shark said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

@taniwharugby said in 2020 All Blacks Squad:

@shark I expect Savea will be at 8 next year.

I hope not. We need bulk with mobility at 8 and 6.

Yeah, Savea is notoriously lacking in mobility!

It's all bullshit anyway that big is better. The Springboks -- famous for their size -- have a huge PSDT. But alongside him they have a Francois Louw and Siya Kolisi, neither of which are huge, and a tiny by modern standards Kwagga Smith. Duane Vermeulen isn't enormous. We've beaten them most years -- indeed this year -- without requiring huge men.

Better is better, and if you think a bigger man is going to be better than Ardie Savea has been this year, then you're mental.