Seen this a few times when All Black players come off or at the end of the game. They touch heads - like forehead to forehead.

Not an English thing so maybe just a culture thing.

Are the coaching staff keeping him or the bench for impact or until he’s back at 100% fitness? For me he’s the best 9 we have by a mile

Also Aumua playing 78 odd minutes is insane and it’s a shame we won’t get 10 years of Savea & Sititi

8 November 2024.

Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

Referee: Nic Berry (Aus).

###Result:

####News articles:

Website	Article
Stuff	>!<
NZ Herald	>!<
RNZ	>!<

Good to see Reiko Ioane lead the Haka this time.

What’s the style of play we have to come up with to counter the irish? They are going to play it slow up the middle but what do you think is their weakest point because of this?

What a legend of NZ commentary

You have our top two try scorers of all time (John Kirwan and BG Williams), our multi-talented, equal 4th highest try scorer (Jeff Wilson) and our highest test try scorer of all time (Doug Howlett).

I can see arguments for all, although personally I’d have to lean towards BG (for a number of reasons)

Thoughts?

View Poll

I can see genuine arguments for all 4. There is perhaps no other position where our ‘all time greatest’ is less set in stone. Maybe right wing or blindside flanker…

View Poll

So far this season we have won 8 of our 11 games, losing to South Africa twice and Argentina once. While this isn't up to our lofty standards, our situation is by no means dire.

All three of our losses had us winning right until the final twenty minutes where we've had a complete inability to score points. This no longer looks to be the case particularly after our bench won us our last game against England.

Our Back 3 looks very settled and is world class(maybe the best in the world?) Caleb Clarke, Mark Tele'a and Will Jordan. How good. Our forwards have really stepped up this season with Tupou Vaai going from a player that plays due to lack of other options to really stamping his mark. It's still early days for Sititi but he genuinely might be the best player in the world right now at a position where since Jerome Kaino, we've really struggled with nailing down a starter. He might become captain as soon as 2028.

Our props also look very good, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that all 6 of them are highly skilled.

Admittedly Hooker depth is a problem with Aumua being an unreliable lineout thrower but if he can continue to improve and Codie can remain relatively injury-free then the situation should at least be manageable. 2028 might pose some problems though.

Savea and Scott Barrett also haven't looked as convincing as years gone by- they've been relatively quiet but still they bring a wealth of experience and power.

Our halfback situation is absolutely terrific. Roigard and Ratima are some of the best halfbacks in the world and Hotham and Pledger look to be very promising future prospects.

Mckenzie is a highly accurate goalkicker who showed last weekend, how his attacking flair and accurate goalkicking can cause our team to rise.

A lot of people think this is the weakest ever All Blacks team, but I think that our team has improved since 2021/2022. The Rugby environment isn't conducive to utter dominance like in 2016 where we had a rating of up to 96.57 pts but make no mistake, New Zealand seems only whisker away from reclaming the number one position.

Just rewatched the test again. Cam Roigard is unreal. One of those players where things just seem to happen around him (like with all the greats pretty much) but I focused on him when I rewatched and the reason things always happen around him is that the man actually works so hard on and off the ball. His positioning is like flow state, and his fitness allows him to go and go and go and continue to make effort after effort. Go and watch the last play when you have time. He makes the final tackle of the game, instantly reloads and is the first player there to put pressure on Ford to make him miss the drop goal. What a player we have on our hands.

Can't really see Ardie moving back, there's Papalii, Lakai, Kirifi, Blackadder and many others

I noticed that the AB line is always flat, closely bunched, and static, so that when the rush defence is encountered they are easily pressured and end up shuffling the ball in hospital passes or putting up panicked box kicks. The English and Australians stand deeper, and run onto the pass.

Can some rugby expert tell me if there is more to it that that? Foster used to waffle about "pods", is there some Baldrick-like cunning plan behind this, or do we simply need coaches with more clues?

View Poll

Harry Plummer, Du Plessis Kirifi and Quinn Tupaea today all proved why they should be in the All Blacks. Harry Plummers ability to build foundations and establish attacking opportunities which the All Blacks critically need, Du Plessis ability to work hard while also being athletically gifted and Tupaea returning to form while the ABs struggle to get good centres means these 3 guys should definitely be in the All Blacks and not the ABXV. Ruben Love, Hotham and Kini Naholo are also on track to being in the team as well, hopefully all of them get the recognition they deserve and get the opportunity