New results from Kiwi player poll reveals New Zealand's 'biggest grub', best and worst Super Rugby referees
New results from an anonymous poll conducted among current New Zealand Super Rugby stars has revealed who the majority of players believe the “biggest grub” in the country is.
A 40-question survey conducted by NZME’s Sam Casey has offered an insight into the real opinions held by New Zealand’s Super Rugby players – from established All Blacks to professional rookies – about the state of the game nationwide.
Casey said he surveyed “over 100 players” from New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises, with the release of initial results on Monday causing a stir following the revelation that almost half of the poll’s participants disagreed with New Zealand Rugby’s decision to appoint Ian Foster as All Blacks head coach.
46 percent of pollers, which included at least 15 players from each Super Rugby club, said they weren’t happy with Foster’s appointment.
Only 28 percent of players supported NZR’s decision to promote Foster from his position as Steve Hansen’s assistant, while a further 26 percent said they were “happy with Ian Foster but not the assistant coaches”.
With the results of 10 questions from the poll to be released each day this week, other interesting revelations found from Monday saw Beauden Barrett voted the best player in New Zealand with the backing of 40 percent of the nation’s players.
Barrett was also overwhelmingly voted the best first-five in the country with 58 percent of the vote, while Anton Lienert-Brown (66 percent), George Bridge (46 percent) and Damian McKenzie (47 percent) were regarded as New Zealand’s top midfielder, wing and fullback, respectively, by their peers.
Arguably the biggest talking point in the release of a further 10 results from the poll on Tuesday was that 44 percent of players voted Dane Coles as the “biggest grub” in the New Zealand game.
Brodie Retallick sat in a distant second with only 15 percent of the votes, while Jordie Barrett wasn’t far behind him with 13 percent of players voting for him.
Another intriguing aspect of Tuesday’s findings was that Australian official Angus Gardner was picked as the best referee in Super Rugby, receiving almost half of the players’ votes with 47 percent of the participants’ backing.
On the flip side of the equation, recently-retired referee Glen Jackson received 48 percent of the vote in the running for Super Rugby’s worst official.
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Here is a full list of the poll results released so far:
Do you think NZR got it right with the new All Black coaching team?
No: 46 percent
Yes: 28 percent
Not assistants: 26 percent
Who is the best player in NZ rugby?
Beauden Barrett: 40 percent
Ardie Savea: 20 percent
Brodie Retallick: 12 percent
Eight others: 28 percent
Who is the best player 23 years of age or under in NZ rugby?
Jordie Barrett: 33 percent
Will Jordan: 22 percent
Luke Jacobson: 14 percent
Sevu Reece: 14 percent
Six others: 17 percent
Who is the best first five in NZ rugby?
Beauden Barrett: 58 percent
Richie Mo’unga: 32 percent
Aaron Cruden: 9 percent
One other: 1 percent
Who is the best winger in NZ rugby?
George Bridge: 46 percent
Sevu Reece: 21 percent
Rieko Ioane: 13 percent
Ben Lam: 11 percent
Four others: 9 percent
Who is the best midfielder in NZ rugby?
Anton Lienert-Brown: 66 percent
Jack Goodhue: 21 percent
Ngani Laumape: 11 percent
Two others: 3 percent
Who is the best fullback in NZ rugby?
Damian McKenzie: 47 percent
Jordie Barrett: 25 percent
David Havili: 18 percent
Beauden Barrett: 10 percent
Two minutes to go, down 4, need to score a try. Whose hands do you want the ball in?
Damian McKenzie: 30 percent
Beauden Barrett: 24 percent
Richie Mo’unga: 10 percent
17 others: 46 percent
Who will be the next breakout star and make the All Blacks?
Cullen Grace: 17 percent
Hoskins Sotutu: 14 percent
Mark Telea: 12 percent
27 others: 53 percent
Who is the best professional coach you’ve had?
Tony Brown: 17 percent
Scott Robertson: 16 percent
Dave Rennie: 9 percent
Warren Gatland: 9 percent
Jason Holland: 9 percent
16 others: 40 percent
Who is the most respected player in NZ rugby?
Same Cane: 24 percent
Brodie Retallick: 17 percent
Dane Coles: 11 percent
Ardie Savea: 10 percent
10 others: 38 percent
Who is the biggest grub in the NZ game?
Dane Coles: 44 percent
Brodie Retallick: 15 percent
Jordie Barrett: 10 percent
Seven others: 32 percent
What player 25 years or under do you think will play 100 tests?
Anton Lienert-Brown: 40 percent
Jack Goodhue: 15 percent
Jordie Barrett: 13 percent
Eight others: 32 percent
Who is the best referee in Super Rugby?
Angus Gardner: 47 percent
Ben O’Keefe: 24 percent
Paul Williams: 22 percent
Three others: 8 percent
Who is the worst referee in Super Rugby?
Glen Jackson: 48 percent
Mike Fraser: 29 percent
Rasta Rasivhenge: 9 percent
Four others: 14 percent
What is the best ground to play at in NZ?
Forsyth Barr Stadium (Dunedin): 61 percent
FMG Stadium Waikato (Hamilton): 18 percent
Eden Park (Auckland): 8 percent
Five others: 13 percent
What is the worst ground to play at in NZ?
Central Energy Trust Arena (Palmerston North): 22 percent
Orangetheory Stadium (Christchurch): 20 percent
Sky Stadium (Wellington): 18 percent
Rugby Park (Invercargill): 15 percent
Four others: 25 percent
What player from another franchise would you sign at yours?
Scott Barrett: 28 percent
Beauden Barrett: 14 percent
Brodie Retallick: 10 percent
Ardie Savea: 10 percent
17 others: 38 percent
Who is the toughest player in NZ rugby?
Sam Cane: 44 percent
Brodie Retallick: 18 percent
Ardie Savea: 7 percent
11 others: 30 percent
Who is the hardest player to tackle in NZ rugby?
Ngani Laumape: 37 percent
Sevu Reece: 17 percent
Mark Telea: 9 percent
Ardie Savea: 9 percent
10 others: 28 percent
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments