My hot take is that he's the best lock in the world right now originating from New Zealand. Imagine a lock pairing of Dearns/Holland. And he has the mobility of a loose forward but the size of Holland at 2.03m. He's basically a supercharged version of Tupou V'aai mixed with Kieran Read. Playing him as lock or 6 would almost immediately fix the All Black's lack of grunt vs the Springbok and France packs.

Attention now turns to the WTG selections announced tommorow. Who are some of the best players in nz without a super contract?

Seems to be a lot of movement, especially with the Blues and Highlanders.

Highlanders look like the have recruited well, while the Crusaders have only listed one recruit so far.

Any picks on who will have the strongest team on paper going into 2027?

Just checked and there's no All Blacks XV team travelling north this November, like there has been other years.

Got me thinking who would be in the side, after there were so many stand outs in the NPC.

Who would you have? Doesn't have a to be a full XV or 23.

Where: Te Kaha Stadium, Christchurch
Teams: See slide 2

Kick Off: 2:10pm NZT

Officials:
Referee: James Doleman
ARs: Marcus Playle & Fraser Hannon
TMO: Liam Scanlon

Winner of the greatest domestic rugby competition in the world will get the trophy added to their flair. Wear it with pride.

So is it because we underestimated the intensity of the bok

Or is it because we genuinely do not have the mind Enterprise to prepare our players as a coaching group

Today Luke Jacobson have attended Bayonne v Lyon Top 14 game. According to Canal+ commentators, he will join Bayonne since next season.

What's your predicted squad? The squad is expected to be 36-strong, and will be without at least nine players due to injury:

Ollie Norris - loosehead prop; knee injury

Samisoni Taukei'aho - hooker; calf tear, recovery period makes him unavailable for the tour

Tyrel Lomax - tighthead prop; neck injury, remaining in NZ to continue treatment

Shannon Frizell - loose forward; posterior cruciate ligament rupture, recovery period makes him unavailable for the tour

Luke Jacobson - loose forward; elbow tendon/bicep injury, currently recovering from surgery

Ardie Savea - loose forward; dislocated right shoulder, currently recovering from surgery

Ruben Love - five-eighth/fullback; ankle ligament injury, currently recovering from surgery

Caleb Clarke - winger; ruptured shoulder tendon

Leroy Carter - winger/halfback; ankle injury, requiring surgery

Richie Mo'unga is presumed available unless there are any further announcements.

Hooker

Codie Taylor - Captain

Asafo Aumua

George Bell

Props

George Bower

Ethan de Groot

Xavier Numia

Fletcher Newell

Pasilio Tosi

Saula Ma'u

Locks

Scott Barrett

Fabian Holland

Josh Lord

Patrick Tuipulotu

Tupou Vaa'i

Loose Forwards

Ethan Blackadder

Peter Lakai

Veveni Lasaqa

Anton Segner

Simon Parker

Wallace Sititi

Halfbacks

Kyle Preson

Cortez Ratima

Cam Roigard

Five-Eighths

Richie Mo'unga

Josh Jacomb

Damian McKenzie

Midfielders

Jordie Barrett

Rieko Ioane

Anton Lienert-Brown

Timoci Tavatavanawai

Quinn Tupaea

Back Three Quarters

Beauden Barrett

Will Jordan

Josh Moorby

Chay Fihaki

Emoni Narawa

anyone else feeling threatened and fearful watching the urc ramp up over the weekend
I know we go our NPc tomorrow happy holidays but dammmn —

Anyone notice how strong Sititi sister is

Hi everyone,

User flair rework is basically complete. NPC and Super teams are there and of course the ABs. All with custom emojis.

From this year onward to signify this subs reset, teams that have won the Ranfurly shield or a comp will have the respective trophy added to their flair until it changes hands (Counties and Canes you’re up) so Northland or Canterbury this coming Monday evening, the winner will get that sweet silverware added.

Post flair has been overhauled too - streamlined, updated and custom emojis. There’s a few NZR teams, a ref whinge, appreciation, rising star etc

I will get around to adding some more - Heartland teams have been started, more banter/meme type ones and rare limited edition one day only special flairs. But for now the bones are in place

For those in NZ enjoy the long weekend, for those working the long weekend I’ve been in that same spot, for those outside of NZ hope life is treating you well.

Cheers.

Can anyone help me out starting an official petition in New Zealand for Will Jordan and Braxton Sorensen-McGee to go on some dates with the future view of making a new generation of New Zealand rugby players to rival the Barrett's?

Watching two of them bat now.

Hi all,

I was a little surprised by the ruling by the referee in the second Bledisloe test between the Wallabies and the All Blacks that Samisoni T could not be replaced by Cody Taylor until a scrum had set and that once Taylor came on, the All Blacks had to reduce their player numbers to 14 on the field. This seems like an error to me under the laws?

Here is a description of what happened.

- Cody Taylor is replaced by Samisoni T early in the second half. I believe this was a tactical substitution rather than an injury substitution otherwise Taylor would not have been able to eventually come back on.

- Samisoni gets injured and has to leave the field. The referee says that Taylor cannot come onto the field to throw in the lineout and that they have to wait for a scrum.

- The All Blacks knock the ball on at the lineout immediately and Taylor comes on. However, the referee says that the All Blacks have to stay at 14 players so Timoci Tavatavanawai goes off.

According to Law 3.33 (reproduced below), it seems that there is no requirement to wait for a scrum or for the All Blacks to go down to 14 players. Could someone please enlighten me what laws the referee/officials were using? I can't find them anywhere. By my reading of the laws, Taylor should have been able to replace Samisoni??

Law 3.33: Tactically replaced players may return to play only when replacing:

a. An injured front-row player.

b. A player with a blood injury.

c. A player with a head injury.

d. A player who has just been injured as a result of foul play (as verified by the match officials).

e. The nominated player when applying Laws 3.18-3.20.

f. A teammate who has received a qualifying red card, after 20 minutes playing time has elapsed. (Elite rugby only).

***trigger warning for sycophants

He was interviewed yesterday and he said that:

A. We didn't have the fitness to implement The game plan that we tried against South Africa

B. They learned from South Africa that you need to train at the same intensity that you play at in a game.

Wow.

I find both of those points unbelievable. Almost sounds like amateur hour.

Why would you try to implement a game plan that you don't have the fitness for unless it's desperation or the usual all black lack of plan b.

How would an organisation that has been as successful as the All Blacks have been over 100 years not figured out that you need to train at the same intensity as a game?

If I didn't know that before the series they do now because that's what South Africa does and they ended up beating us.