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Super Rugby Pacific

The Breakdown | Episode 21 | Super Rugby Aotearoa is back!

Rugby is BACK and The Breakdown is here to chat through a blockbuster opening round of Super Rugby Aotearoa. New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson is also on hand to chat through the latest developments at the World Rugby table.

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Tony Brown: 'I talked to Razor a couple of months ago about joining the All Blacks'

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Ange Capuozzo misses out on Italy's 33-man squad for the Six Nations

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Seven candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job

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Report reveals Damian Penaud one of two France stalwarts axed for Six Nations

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Toulon issue snarky statement after 6'7, 124kg rookie defects from club

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As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

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Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jen 7 minutes ago
Ex-All Black George Bridge starts as Force unleash new signings in trial

He’s a great player. Good to see him back.

1 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 10 minutes ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

Rebuild is not in question.

What is in question is 1. Will it work and 2. How patient will AB fans be?



...

10 Go to comments
G
GM 14 minutes ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

That’s a shit-load of supposition, Bleed. Most of the information you seem to be hanging out for would come under the categories of privacy and/or commercial sensitivity (quite apart from Razor’s mental well-being). No ‘clear plan’ - how would you know?

10 Go to comments
J
JW 14 minutes ago
'Stages for history': Rugby World Cup 2027 venues revealed

One stadium for every game in the last two weeks of the cup, what is that about?

3 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 20 minutes ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

Is that men and women players combined?

The sport has seen a staggering 20 per cent rise in females playing since 2022. However, junior male playing numbers continue to decline.



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10 Go to comments
J
JW 23 minutes ago
‘If I don’t do it now...’: NRL star Angus Crichton explains code switch

Could make a good utility option on the openside, or even a specialists bench as backrow and traditional 12 cover. Tell him to watch Timoci this season to get a few tips.

1 Go to comments
C
CP 36 minutes ago
Tony Brown: 'I talked to Razor a couple of months ago about joining the All Blacks'

🤣

5 Go to comments
G
GRB13 51 minutes ago
Tony Brown: 'I talked to Razor a couple of months ago about joining the All Blacks'

“Let England”. 😂

5 Go to comments
A
Ardy 52 minutes ago
'Stages for history': Rugby World Cup 2027 venues revealed

No Canberra?

3 Go to comments
J
JWH 58 minutes ago
Seven candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job

Because, respectfully, Vern Cotter is a rubbish coach. Watching the Blues last season was utterly painful. You cna hardly even call his SRP 2024 win fair because of the Crusaders falling off the wagon with a new coach and insane injury depth issues.

49 Go to comments
p
pc 1 hour ago
Tony Brown: 'I talked to Razor a couple of months ago about joining the All Blacks'

All in hindsight. Razor had the better super rugby credentials. He knew the core players so they would have been backing him too.

My plan is let England topple SA to avoid their 3 peat and then the Jamie and Tony show takes over. SA won’t repeat their 23 effort. They have to beat nz, France and then England. They scrapped in by 3 points over 3 games. Their luck is done



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5 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

Why do admire the process GM as opposed to the outcome? We have no idea what was assessed, what the criteria for retention or removal was, why the decision was made - other than a vague allusion to “trajectory” (whatever that means) who was spoken to, what the feed back actually was, what the counterfactual was for the purpose of a cost benefit analysis, or what contigency planning has been or is. What we do know is that the review panel had no one with rugby coaching experience at any level let alone international experience, there is now no coach and that the ABs will face there toughest challenge since the 2011 WC - 4 tests against the World Champion and World No1 Boks, 3 at their home. As to efficiency, outside of an emergency, an efficent decision involves is having a clear plan before you make a decision that exposes your organisation to great risk - apparently they have not given any thought to a new coach - so no plan other than to make another decision at some time in the future. Crazy.

10 Go to comments
O
Over the sideline 1 hour ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

I hate lies. 6% increase in player numbers in 25 compared to 24. I put the rest of your anti NZR post in the same category.

10 Go to comments
s
sb 2 hours ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

Very funny. Theres no way this debacle indicates a brighter future. Fact is nz rugby is in a right mess. Fewer people playing the game, less cultural relevance, no money to hold onto super rugby players and a private equity “partner”constantly trying to kill the golden goose. Call a spade a spade, nz rugby is in serious trouble. Sacking the coach is just the very tip of the shitberg

10 Go to comments
G
GM 2 hours ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

Another equally valid view of why Kirk has ‘failed’ to release the MPAC report might be because he, like you, Bleed, considers it ‘profoundly stupid’.

And far from wandering around aimlessly, producing nothing, he’s made a huge and courageous call (sacking Razor).



...

10 Go to comments
c
cw 3 hours ago
Seven candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job

Really pushing this barrow eh SC. So lets clarify a few things. First both Joseph and Dermody were part of the coaching team at the HLs in both years - with both undoubtedly playing an instrumental role in their performance. Second, it is simply erroneous to measure future performance at International level based on the performance of the most under resourced team in NZ and arguably the Super comp. Third, much more relevant is Joseph’s international performance - 45% for Japan including a win over the Boks (cf 55% for Cotter for Scotland). Fourth, in anticipation of the TB theory of Joseph’s success, 83% win rate for Maori All Blacks* and 100% win rate for ABXV.

* including wins over Ireland and England



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49 Go to comments
B
BleedRed&Black 3 hours ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

That's a lot of faith in a chairman who has failed to construct anything worthwhile in the more than a year since he took over, despite the importance of what is not being delivered.

Mark Robinson announced publicly in June last year that he was leaving, which means he told NZR months before. NZR is still on a CEO hunt having barked up one wrong tree after another. Acting CEO Steve Lancaster is massively out of his depth, so has been sidelined. Kirk is now effectively an executive chairman. Maybe that's what he wants. NZR are now trying to appoint an AB's coach when they coach will have no idea who the CEO is. Or the High Performance manager.



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G
GodOfFriedChicken 3 hours ago
Seven candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job

The Blues forward pack before he came in was regularly criticised for going backwards when it mattered, with some star players being singled out for their workrate and lack of physicality. Vern turned that around and created a bulldozing blue bully without having to import any new talent. Jason Ryan broke the ABs forwards out of a slump when he came in, Vern Cotter had the Blues forward pack looking like a completely new group. Even backs were getting in breakdowns and looking like forwards.

49 Go to comments
G
GodOfFriedChicken 3 hours ago
Seven candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job

Gotta remember though that the Blues in 2025 were hampered a bit by injuries to key players throughout, especially at the start of the season with the likes of Hoskins, Papali’i, Tu’ungafasi, Tuipulotu, Darry and Clarke being out for decent chunks of the season (or in Darry’s case, the whole season). I don’t think they really got their preferred starting XV until the midpoint of the season and up to that point most of the losses were still close (and the one game they won vs the Canes was when they actually had most of those starters again). They went on a tear towards the end of the season once the team got healthier and let’s remember, they only lost to the Crusaders by one try in the semi and that try came from a sequence when the Blues lost 2 starting props to HIAs and had to scrum with 2 hookers vs an All Blacks front row, so they were closer to repeating than people give them credit for.

In saying that, if Vern ends up with an All Blacks role, I’d rather him be a forwards coach rather than a head coach (or at least if he’s head coach, I hope he delegates the attack).



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49 Go to comments
S
SC 4 hours ago
As the sun sets on Razor's tenure, renewal points to a brighter All Blacks future

The Minister of Propaganda for NZR, Gregor Paul, has spoken.

10 Go to comments
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