networkn:

tukapa1:

Scott Robertson living rent free in the heads of conservatives everywhere. 

 

Rational people usually wait till the end of a coaches term to measure that, but you do you Who was your pick for ABs coach again? The one you could guarantee would have done better against this SA team at home, than a sub 7 point loss?

I think we are all disappointed we aren't winning everything.

networkn:

 

Rational people usually wait till the end of a coaches term to measure that, but you do you Who was your pick for ABs coach again? The one you could guarantee would have done better against this SA team at home, than a sub 7 point loss?

 

I don't think you should be required to submit homework assignments if you want to express an opinion in this thread.

GV27:

 

I don't think you should be required to submit homework assignments if you want to express an opinion in this thread.

 

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"

I posted the following on a rugby forum. Its well past due that the majority of NZ rugby fans realised that we no longer have the players to match it with the top 2-3 teams in the world (SA & Ireland).

The sooner the media starts to accept that the better. Then the fans that grew up with the AB's being the world's best can begrudgingly start to accept the truth and stop putting unrealistic expectations on the team.

Betting markets had the Bokke as favourites in both games and they were correct, people shouldn't be surprised we lost.

Ardie is about the only NZ player I would put in a world XV and even then it wouldn't be guaranteed. The future looks pretty grim too, I don't see any players coming through who could reach that status like some NZ greats that have come before them.

I think the thing that is bothering me about the losses we have taken this year, isn't that they happened, but they *seem* preventable. 

If I am honest, I expected to get beaten in SA, if not twice, at least once. 

In reality, we most definitely could have won both of those tests, we led for the majority of both matches, regardless of how we accumulated the points, and we outscored them in the first test. It's letting the game go at the end which rankles me. 

Argentina are a good team, they have beaten everyone multiple times now, but we just didn't seem mentally prepared for that game. 

We aren't getting thumped either, but it still rankles. 

JPNZ:

 

I posted the following on a rugby forum. Its well past due that the majority of NZ rugby fans realised that we no longer have the players to match it with the top 2-3 teams in the world (SA & Ireland).

 

The sooner the media starts to accept that the better. Then the fans that grew up with the AB's being the world's best can begrudgingly start to accept the truth and stop putting unrealistic expectations on the team.

 

Betting markets had the Bokke as favourites in both games and they were correct, people shouldn't be surprised we lost.

 

 

 

Ardie is about the only NZ player I would put in a world XV and even then it wouldn't be guaranteed. The future looks pretty grim too, I don't see any players coming through who could reach that status like some NZ greats that have come before them.

 

We don't have many unicorn players as we have had in the past, but we are absolutely good enough to beat any team. 

We lost by less than a converted try away from home, to the number one team in the world, and both times we could have won. 

I think we lack the consistency you get with having lots of unicorn players. 

Winning is a habit and we haven't earned that just yet.

On a more positive note, I think Wallace Sititi has had an excellent first test under real pressure. I hope he can can perform consistenly and doesn't burn out as so many of our promising loose forwards have done. 

I think Ratima played well in a big test start too. 

I think our front row were pretty solid until Lomax gave up that stupid card. He was leading for tackles at that point I think. 

We will be better off for the experience, win or lose. 

Onto Australia. Let's hope we don't fall asleep at the wheel. A few losses will hopefully prevent any complacency.

GV27:

networkn:

Rational people usually wait till the end of a coaches term to measure that, but you do you Who was your pick for ABs coach again? The one you could guarantee would have done better against this SA team at home, than a sub 7 point loss?

I don't think you should be required to submit homework assignments if you want to express an opinion in this thread.

Handle9: 

It’s just a bad faith way of discussing the topic. Demanding a guarantee of anything is generally indicative of a poor argument.

As is deliberately mis-reading someones comments. 

I didn't demand any guarantee, I asked, since the complaining about the coaches and their selections never ends in this thread, whom people would have chosen instead that they think could have guaranteed a better result? Doesn't seem an unreasonable question. 

Handle9: I'm still in disbelief about the way the subs were managed in that game. It's once of the strangest things I've seen in a while. 

Yeah, I was puzzled by it too. The conclusion a lot of people seem to be drawing is that he didn't trust the bench. It doesn't feel consistent with the way he has coached until now.

If anything, I've seem him replace players earlier than I would have expected, though I think that he's been succesful when he has done that. He was pretty late replacing people the week prior as well. 

My thought was he was hoping to tire the replacement SA players out so that he could massively increase the tempo, but it didn't happen either time. 

I have confidence he will look at those decisions and adjust if they weren't the right ones.  People make mistakes.