Hamish has been an opinion and sports writer for over 20 years in New Zealand, featuring on RNZ, New Zealand Herald, Stuff.co.nz, and RugbyPass.
Who’ll be the star of the show at Marvel Stadium on Thursday? Will it be Rieko Ioane? Captain Fantastic Sam Cane? Marika Koroibe…
The team and NZR can’t have it both ways. Either every test result is important or none of them are.
Commercialising the All Blacks’ brand relies upon the team winning and they haven’t done a lot of that lately
The All Blacks are going to win and that no-one will be accountable in the unlikely event that they don’t.
Whether the decision to retain Ian Foster as All Blacks head coach amounts to the blind leading the blind remains to be seen.
It’s my view that Foster came into the All Blacks’ head coaching role believing he was entitled to the same respect his predec…
Nine scrums out of 10 against the All Blacks, you’ll win a penalty. Let’s say half of those are in kicking range, so that’s …
Robinson and company aren’t out there on the park. That’s still the players’ domain and just because things may be shambolic…
Well, they’ve made their bed now. They’ve staked everything on Foster and they’ve absolved him of any blame.
The losses being piled up by this coaching regime is doing more damage to the All Blacks’ brand than any admission of failure ev…
Ireland barely bothered to celebrate their 23-12 win. Victory over these All Blacks is so commonplace as to only merit a high-five…
Their scrum was lamentable and I thought they played too laterally. The All Blacks can be beaten up the middle and Ireland didn’…
The addition of Joe Schmidt to the coaching group is an incredible stroke of luck. He’d have been a welcome addition to the staf…
And on the strength of Saturday’s decider at Eden Park, it’s a shame the All Blacks were picked so prematurely.
Cane is captain and has to play somewhere, while Ioane’s probable inclusion in the first test team to play Ireland probably owes…
Barrett’s performances for the Hurricanes at 12 might not excite All Blacks coach Ian Foster, but they do enthuse me. And many o…
Steve Hansen remains a very hard act for Foster to follow. Hansen was a superb communicator. Considered, commanding, challenging: …
New Zealand’s not short of former All Blacks. Nor are we limited in our affection for them.
I can understand, even applaud, the idea of Australia being awarded the 2027 tournament by World Rugby, but I’m afraid I don’t…
What happens when it becomes clear the competition’s a closed shop and our Pacific neighbours fall further and further behind an…
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