SBW out? Rieko to 12!

TSF version of Godwin’s law:

“As a thread grows longer, the probability of discussing the RWC failure or Akira Ioane approaches 1”

There's been some comments in the media that the current situation is similar to all the other Blues coaches. I thought I would check out the win percentages vs other NZ sides

Yes, the form of the NZ teams has ebbed and flowed but they are generally strong. Also, they are the one constant across the various number of teams, competition structure etc

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Umaga 6.7%

15 games 1 win

The one win was the first game vs the Highlanders (33-31)

If his team the next 5 NZ games (2 vs Crusaders, 2 vs Hurricanes, 1 vs Highlanders) he can just edge in front of Kirwan

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Kirwan 29%

24 games 7 wins
(3 Hurricanes, 2 Highlanders, 2 Crusaders)

Crap

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Lam 37.5%

24 games 9 wins
(4 Highlanders, 2 Chiefs, 2 Hurricanes, 1 Crusaders)

I think there has to be a note about the injury crisis in Lams fourth season. Crazy number of injuries, players with no NPC experience starting... locks in particular, we were starting our 7th choice lock with a loosie next to him etc

First three seasons prior to that injury crisis:
9/16 56.3%

This included the best streak since Henry: 6 in a row versus NZ teams. The streak Included all other NZ sides. That season was the last time the Blues made the playoffs

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Nucifora 50%

6/12
(2 Chiefs, 2 Highlanders, 1 Hurricanes, 1 Crusaders)

A bad first season cemented reputation then his team went ok (0-4 in that first year)

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Sloane 52.9%

9/17
(3 Crusaders, 2 Chiefs, 2 Hurricanes, 2 Highlanders)

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Various 1 season coaches all got 50%

Yes, even Jed Rowlands

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Henry 92.9%

13/14

13 in a row before losing the final in 98

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Clearly Henry belongs in his own category.

From 1999-2011 all of these coaches had a minimum of 50% success rate against NZ teams:
Rowlands 50%
Hunter 50%
Oliver 50%
Sloane 52.9%
Nucifora 50%
Lam 56.3%

Sure, thats not good enough, but they were competitive. They all got a lot of criticism in the press compared to the current coach.

Then came the injury crisis in Lam’s fourth season. I have never been convinced the right action was to sack Lam after that amount of injuries. He had very little support in the media and from the board so he had no chance.

The new normal of shittness has settled in under Kirwan/Umaga

I want to have a thread where I can make my political points and no one can disagree with me.

At the moment the only punishment is some public humiliation and going to whatever anger management course his lawyer enlists him in.

I would like to see him removed from the current AB squad. At least then there would be a financial penalty. It also serves as a warning to others

We have a perfectly good squad replacement in Robinson. He should've made the original squad IMO

After that I don't really care. It sounds like a low level incident - he can come back later if he's good enough (..and based on his efforts at Test level so far, he is not good enough)

I'll mention a positive

Great to see Hodgman get a bench spot. He's been on a steady improvement for a few years now. A well earned debut

Plenty of other spots to disagree with.. in particular Sotutu should've got a start

@stargazer

I'm going. I will give comprehensive updates on everyone that doesn't play for Hawkes Bay

Cane/Sotutu/Ioane

Savea on the bench

We now have an All Blacks results page. It's similar tot he SR & NPC pages where you can search for and filter results

It contains every Test the ABs have played

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Navigation

Direct link here

The menu at the top of the forum (not visible on phones):

Or via the front page:

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Searching

It works similar to the SR & NPC pages

It defaults to the current season

You can filter on the following:

• Opposition
• Home/Away/Neutral
• Year range
• RWC games only
• RWC stage (Pool, QF, SF, 3rd/4th, Final)

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Table

The table works better on larger screen sizes but there is a compressed table for phones

Re-order by clicking on the order header

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More Details

Games from the last few years have a 'Details' button (every match from the 2015 finals onwards)

This opens up a new tab with team lists, youtube highlights and the top ten comments from the match thread

The team lists may have a few errors in them (late injuries/changes might be missed)

The comments on popular match threads may take a few seconds to load. It's not a huge amount of data but multiple queries have to made to the forum to get the top comments

Top comments of course are just the most upvoted. They usually relate to the game..

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@Stargazer said in All Blacks starting 10: Beauden Barrett or Richie Mo'unga:

No, he had low scores in the first 3 rounds. Currently, he's kicking better than BB, but obviously, if you average it, BB is still higher.

But if you ignore some of BB misses his %age is even higher

Shannon is shit

Shannon is shit

Terrible defence

Picks for 266?

Volkanovski v Ortega
Shevchenko v Murphy
Diaz v Lawler
Blaydes v Rozenstruik
Andrade v Calvillo
Moraes v Dvalishvili
Hooker v Haqparast
Abdurakhimov v Daukaus

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Not that confident about the main event though.

Volk is the most underrated champ but Ortega is a scary opponent. He can go from nothing to a submission so quickly. Also his striking has improved recently.

Plus Volkanovski has had a limited camp because of gov policies in Aus. If he turns up as well prepared as normal I'll back him to outlast Ortega and get a stoppage late

Shevchenko is the best female MMA fighter and she'll win however she wants

I hope Diaz puts up a good fight. The signs aren't looking good

Good matchup. I think Rozenstruik might be slightly underrated at the moment. Only lost against the two best fighters in the division. All depends on how he copes with Blaydes takedowns

A dangerous fight for Hooker. All the other ranked LW fighters don't want to fight.. they're waiting on the outcomes of some other matchups. So it's a big risk with little upside
Both fighters had visa issues and shitty travel itineraries. Hooker had some other external bollocks during his camp. I expect a pissed off Hooker to be more aggressive than normal

1 Aidan Ross (c), 2 Nathan Harris 3 Jeff Thwaites, 4 Justin Sangster, 5 Manaaki Selby Rickit, 6 Angus Scott Young, 7 Penitoa Finau, 8 Whetukamokamo Douglas, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 10 Otere Black, 11 Onisi Ratave, 12 Inga Finau, 13 Sean Wainui, 14 Emoni Narawa, 15 Kaleb Trask

Reserves: 16 Te Ariki Te Puni, 17 Benet Kumeroa, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Stan van den Hoven, 20 Nikora Broughton, 21 Luke Campbell, 22 Joe Webber, 23 Chase Tiatia

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/300415225/super-rugby-pacific-fijian-drua-unveil-former-abs-skill-coach-mick-byrne-as-head-coach

1 Xavier Numia, 2 Bruce Kauika-Petersen, 3 Alex Fidow, 4 James Blackwell, 5 Dominic Bird, 6 Caleb Delany, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 8 Iona Apineru, 9 Connor Collins, 10 Aidan Morgan, 11 Wes Goosen, 12 Peter Umaga-Jensen, 13 Vince Aso, 14 Pepesana Patafilo, 15 Ruben Love

Reserves: 16 James O’Reilly, 17 Vince Sakaria, 18 Pekahou Cowan, 19 Tyrone Thompson, 20 Sam Smith, 21 Richard Judd, 22 Brandyn Laursen, 23 Tomasi Alosio

https://www.wellingtonlions.co.nz/news/news-single/post/lions-back-experience-for-hawkes-bay-clash/

Josh Moorby, Solomon Aliamalo, Isaac Te Tamaki, Matt Whaanga, Rory van Vugt, Marty Banks, Josh Renton, Tony Lamborn (c), Matthew James, Grayson Knapp, Joel Everson, Mike McKee, Chris Apoua, Greg Plesants-Tate, Joe Walsh

Reserves: Flynn Thomas, Paula Latu, Tom Ross, Dustin Coveney, Sione Misiloi, Lisati Milo-Harris, Marty McKenzie, Willie Tufui

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https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/126477404/southland-stags-name-debutants-for-canterbury-npc-showdown

@canes4life said in Taranaki v Wellington:

Isn’t Castle apart of the talent identification team at the Canes? Therefore he pretty much announced that he failed at his job.

Why do you assume the Canes didn't offer him a contract?

It's seems more likely he had a few options and opted for the Chiefs?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/126432501/i-cant-see-them-getting-close-laurie-mains-slams-springboks-before-all-blacks-test