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The All Blacks, are they 'That' good, or...

The Alpha Bro said:
But he won those six nations! He won and SL and Gatland didn't, he employed tactics to win a tournament and has been succesful 2 of 3 times... He employed different tactics to beat SA in SA with a rag tag team this year, he used different tactics week to week to beat SA and Aus in 2014. He plays to his teams strengths,. It was the same in Leinster, he never drastically changed the rugby that was played but tweaked it from game to game evolving over time. No coach ever changes tactics week in week out win world rugby, it's adapting to who he plays every week that makes Schmidt what he is.

You conveniently left out where I said 'since the start of Schmidt's tenure' when throwing in England's win over NZ...
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I can respond but, as others have said, wrong thread.
 
Alright lets give New Zealand back their thread, but I'm going to kick your ass after school ragerancher I swear on me mum.
 
A bit of both. I think last year a lot of older players were just hanging in there and the All Blacks probably would've been a better side had they dropped a few of the old buggers for some younger blood.

Timing is definitely a factor, SA are simply not good enough anymore. Loss of identity and infrastructure and the same goes for Aussie, there's more of a lack of interest in Australia than anything.

The Lions tour and the England match in 2018 will finally provide more of a measuring point than the current state of the Rugby Championship.

Ireland will give us a good test to. If they're dispatched in Dublin with ease then that's pointing to bigger and better things.
 
Makos said:
A bit of both. I think last year a lot of older players were just hanging in there and the All Blacks probably would've been a better side had they dropped a few of the old buggers for some younger blood.
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So true.
Woodcock was the prime example. He was there for his experience but his body had been to the well too many times and thus he broke down physically as the increased demands of the later rounds took their toll on the old warrior.
Mealaamu as well but he avoided a lot of the pain suffered by Woodcock as he rarely started a game and only had to summon his best efforts for the last 20 minutes at most.


Makos said:
Timing is definitely a factor, SA are simply not good enough anymore. Loss of identity and infrastructure and the same goes for Aussie, there's more of a lack of interest in Australia than anything.
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They are both in disarray and there is every chance that NH teams may prove a bigger challenge especially away from home, that awaits to be seen.

Makos said:
The Lions tour and the England match in 2018 will finally provide more of a measuring point than the current state of the Rugby Championship.

Ireland will give us a good test to. If they're dispatched in Dublin with ease then that's pointing to bigger and better things.
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The Lions tour is in New Zealand may not be the great gauge some of us are hoping for next year. We have home advantage and when touring in NZ teams often talk about how they weren't playing an opposing team, they were playing a country. Playing away at Twickenham will be about as tough as it gets on the current world map.
Ireland can certainly give us a real fright. Their belief is lifting and that is the key when playing the AB's.
 
The Lions are an interesting beast to me. I'm not sure how they're going to pan out. The general consensus seems to be negative, especially from the English quarter. Gatland does need to be sensible in his selections. I think if he picks a core starting XV that has plenty of players that have played together regularly and some already existing combinations he has a competitive side on his hands.

If he's bias and "experimental" then he's looking down the barrel of some hidings. He just needs to have continuity and to be astute and realistic. He should be careful in his selections during the Super Rugby and Mitre 10 team fixtures. He could easily get spanked if he puts out a cold team with no combinations.

With a properly coached side and decent selections there's definitely a chance for the Lions to run the AB's close.
 
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The AB winning margins in their current run have been: 28,10, 44, 33, 38, 49, 2 (RWC SF), 17, 18, 14, 40, 34, 20, 35, 28, 19, 42, 27.

Partly reflects the quality of opposition, but mainly tells me that the ABs are ruthless when they get a sniff. Which they will against a scratch side containing very few players of true world class. I expect the Lions to be competitive for lengthy patches, but for the ABs to run out easy winners on the scoreboard in each match.
 
Makos said:
With a properly coached side and decent selections there's definitely a chance for the Lions to run the AB's close.
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The Lions won't get within 10 points in any test, it's an impossible task to have a squad of players who, for the most part, have never played with each other with a packed schedule beat a cohesive unit with better players and coaches, never going to happen. Its not an outrageous prediction to say that the Lions will never beat NZ again, they probably only have 6 or 9 more chances.

If NZ are going to lose before 2018 it would require a huge upset in Chicago, Dublin or Buenos Aires or a slightly smaller upset in London, SA or Aus...
 
The All Blacks are human beings.
Human beings get fatigue.
They get weary and pressure creates a greater fatigue and needs a correspondingly longer downtime to recover from.
The AB's can be beaten by any of the top sides in either hemisphere when they get tired and do not meet their normal high standards across the board.
When they meet a team with more motivation, a growing sense of belief and fresh legs thats when the danger will become apparent and it could happen in 3 of the 4 games coming up if the AB's take their foot off the gas for any reason.
I'm not saying it necessary will but it could.
Ireland will break their duck against NZ at some stage...
 
I see it this way.

NZ play x number of tests each year, each test is just another hit out where they have to turn up and work there asses off, every win is fought hard for.

Every other test playing nation plays X number of tests per year, but to be honest I would say most teams want to be the one that gets the AB's scalp as that win is rare, so they turn up and put in the best performance they have done all year most of the time.

It must be hard mentally for the AB's to do that week in and week out, I can see the 2nd Ireland game as been the big test for us, we all now what happened in 2013 when we played Ireland in Ireland on the EOYT.
 
Yes, Ireland are certainly the danger, I wouldn't write off France either (even though they look pretty average of late). They love playing the All Blacks and have the best NH record against us. This is also after a tough test match in Dublin, so this is certainly a game to be careful in.

I think it's good we have the softer fixture of Italy before it as well. Our first team will be rested and won't be effected by the trip from America to Europe so much. We should be fresh enough to put them away. Hansen and the players were taught a lesson in 2013 and I think they will be really prepared and fresh, can't see us being too tired this time round.
 
Makos said:
Yes, Ireland are certainly the danger, I wouldn't write off France either (even though they look pretty average of late). They love playing the All Blacks and have the best NH record against us. This is also after a tough test match in Dublin, so this is certainly a game to be careful in.

I think it's good we have the softer fixture of Italy before it as well. Our first team will be rested and won't be effected by the trip from America to Europe so much. We should be fresh enough to put them away. Hansen and the players were taught a lesson in 2013 and I think they will be really prepared and fresh, can't see us being too tired this time round.
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Its demoralising how you can refer to winning one of the best test matches in the professional era as being 'taught a lesson'. :D

I think the answer to the thread is right there to be honest!
 
Makos said:
They love playing the All Blacks and have the best NH record against us.
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No they don't, England do. England have beaten the Abs 7 times, Ireland never have. In the last 5 encounters Ireland have a points difference of -117, England have -40. Ireland finished 2 of the last 5 games within 1 try of the ABs, England have finished 3 within 1 try. In terms of overall wins vs the ABs that would be France with 12.
 
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ragerancher said:
No they don't, England do. England have beaten the Abs 7 times, Ireland never have. In the last 5 encounters Ireland have a points difference of -117, England have -40. Ireland finished 2 of the last 5 games within 1 try of the ABs, England have finished 3 within 1 try.
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He's talking about France Cromwell! :D
 
ragerancher said:
No they don't, England do. England have beaten the Abs 7 times, Ireland never have. In the last 5 encounters Ireland have a points difference of -117, England have -40. Ireland finished 2 of the last 5 games within 1 try of the ABs, England have finished 3 within 1 try. In terms of overall wins vs the ABs that would be France with 12.
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:huh:
 

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