The Silver Fern

The often anti-AB BBC comment section is staunchly pro-AB:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/67252413

England's real golden generation. Will make anything less than silverware even more painful.

@Billy-Tell
Have you? Serious question.
Because I doubt the viewing figures were fantastic past the QFs. Also doubt any neutral non-rugby fan will be excited about another game like that.

World Rugby won't grow the game by chucking money and token games at tier twos, it will grow by making a better product. Professional sport is entertainment, sucking all Joie de vivre out of the game to engineer a result is only going to keep only a certain sect of diehards happy.

@sparky
Ban trolls IMO

TMO

We beat the 8th ranked team by 2 points and had 37 point put past us.

Context.

@sparky
That's nothing to crow about, 95% of anyone who knows anything about the situation would have said the same thing.

The NZRU, Foster, AB players obviously feel bulletproof from criticism and reality. All that matters to them is keeping the gravy train going as long as possible. If it was about pride then they would have stepped down. They aren't even bothering to show any contrition. Sadly even if the ABs manage to recover from this, they have lost historical records that can never be recovered.

Cane has been plagued by injuries. Great player in his prime but if there are better options at 7, he must go.

I say this as a fan of his as well.

Thread should be pinned.

@Steve
I made a comment in another thread, the ABs will always be "dirty" in the eyes of neutrals, so why worry about being nice guys long as you win?
They are the reverse Black Caps. The Black Caps will probably always the nice guys, and many neutrals second team even when they are actually very good. Likewise the ABs will be hated by any tier one nation even when they are shit e.g. now. McCaw was hated by many (some jokingly) but also called a GOAT. That's where you want to be.

Most sports with any sort of mainstream following are entertaining as a viewer as long as you are invested in the outcome. The NZRU seems to be taking for granted casual and even hardcore viewers will still tune in regardless, but if the ABs keep losing then they won't. We can see that in many comments here. A lot of them won't come back if they become invested in other sports (or other interests in general). A national team isn't the same thing a local rivalry. National teams get massively bandwagoned by casuals when they do well, and lose fans when they don't. It's not that they won't support them and want them to win, but they won't invest their time and money. Especially when they see the whole thing is run with a toxic combination of arrogance and incompetence that allowed Foster to get the job and keep it despite 90% of fans being against the appointment and hating the outcome.

@taniwharugby
That's fair, though his optimism doesn't seem to be helping anything except maybe his own mental health. At what point does optimism start to hinder his ability to do his job? Seems like we are well past that now.

Can anyone name a single positive trait of Foster?

@booboo
Boycotts. NZRU only sees one result these days: $$$.

But it will never happen because kiwis are too laid-back and/or think it's unpatriotic or something. Despite the fact we will happily bandwagon sports we start doing well in. Think of this as the reverse of that.

@Rancid-Schnitzel
Agreed. The nervousness that used to be there is gone, because I have zero faith we can pull it out of the bag.

The effects of the Foster era will be felt long term as fans and neutrals stop tuning in.

I pray we lose to SA and the Bled. Because the small sliver of hope is that it's enough to dump foster and go into the RWC with some optimism (justified or not).

@Jailbreak7
According to some posters, he should be happy to be Fosters assistant and if he doesn't accept being an assistant then he doesn't deserve the top spot.

@canefan
They have the best of both worlds, treat the ABs purely as a business enterprise except your biggest customers will keep buying the product no matter how shite it gets. I support a boycott except I know it won't happen and half of you will think I am being melodramatic or disloyal. What's the point in supporting something if the fans have zero input?

@Chris
Exactly: "Foster must go, except my behaviour will not change if stays".

I love how everyone just hopes the board or Foster will magically see the light with zero external pressure. It's only their successors who will have to deal with the repercussions of dwindling support.