kiwis....

You would have noticed  the media  labelling the current AB's as the "Unbeatables" and the "best AB side ever" and I guess the statement carries a bit of weight and then some considering the amount of silverware in the cabinet and an unbeaten run in the current calendar year. Trophies aside though, in my humble opinion the '95/96 AB's were a better side, for starters after losing the WC final(and yes they were the best team at the '95 WC) they came back the next year and won a series against the Boks something no other AB side had achieved. To me players like Fitzy, Zinnie, Lomu, Merts and Bunce were giants of the game, there was an aura about them as individuals and as a team. In comparison I can only think of Carter and Ritchie living in that same stratosphere but then I would have to pause to find any others.

 

Again, just my opinion, based on the allround success of the current team many would dispute my opinion....your thoughts?

There is a certain anonymity about the current ABs. Even their last try had a sort of busy bee aspect. Team members working in close union. It's all very effective and very admirable. But it's like trying to write a great aria without any high "c's".  
The moment I remember is Kearney racing 90 metres for a try....or more broadly, Willie finding JP with that magnificent piece of vision. The Busy Bees, not so much.
So I'd rather watch Bunce and Lomu, even if the current group  are " better".

 Abees last try is what everyone else probably remembers too ! A 'champion" team vs a 'Team of Chaampions " perhaps ? 

 Mate, Lomu with a full steam of head screaming down the left wing, trampling defenders or defenders bouncing off him as he heads for the tryline.....if that's not awesome, pray please tell me what is?

 

 Lomuh turning Catt into a very small speed bump ! Yes please !

 Mozie, Kearney's long range try was all credit to his speed BUT you would have missed what the ABs were so focused in trying to do which left a gap in their defense. Once the switch is flicked for an All Out Attack, everyone is in - all or none! That is my humble opinion .

An "all out attack"? Last time a Bok coach suggested that they gave him a tranquilizer. 

I think Mozie that the ABs will vary their playing style next year - Something that I see Meyer already starting to do on the Boks NH tour  and he picks different players to implement different tactics - interesting .

mistakes like the one that led to kearnys try are bound to happen now and again to the All Blacks.
but under hansen, it is something that is happening less and less.

the reason why the Boks wont be as effective is cos just like every single one of the All Blacks opponents, the Boks have and prob always will make the All Blacks come out ready to play both mentally and physically.

all respect to the irish, but the All Blacks always need to dig deep and find something to put them into supersayain mode, and thats hard to do against an irish team which has never beaten the All Blacks in its 108 year history.

the senior players in the team know its important to keep that fire stoking, cos complacency can and will lead to unfavourable results.

the Boks and the wallys for that matter automatically bring out the All Blacks game, weve battled long and hard enough times since SANZAR was formed to know thats what is required.

we need to learn to get into that mode for every opponent though, cos the next time, we might not get that injury time try.

its not easy though, every win and every powerful win we get only adds to that complacency snowball, and come the last 2013 test against ireland, that snowball was avalanche.
luckily, the avalnche didnt kill us, it only gave us a scare, :oP

 Interesting Cloudy, we think exactly the same and you also only mention Richie and Dan as the only legends in the current squad. I still believe the Fitzy team was a better team than the current one and I also believe the competition in Fitzy's era was a lot tougher than what it is now hence the reason your current team is more successful trophy wise. Take Oz for example, they had their own stream of legends in Larkham, Gregan, Roff, Horan, Burke etc to mention a few and were very capable of beating the AB's.

 

In comparison, how many legends are there in the current OZ side or for that matter in the Bok side?....and if you cast your eyes around the world there aren't any to be found in the better teams up north either. NZ will rule rugby for a few more years before they are seriously challenged and I don't believe that the Boks will be the only ones threatening their dominance either but the Boks will be their most dangerous threat.

 Denny, while I will always be a AB supporter, One thing I have to say is how sick I am of continuously seeing the media write pre emptive articles lauding the AB's as stratospheres ahead of other nations after a scillintilating win ala Boks , then the AB's slip (England 2012) or almost slip (Ireland 2013) on their own banana skin!!!! The AB's are very, very good but also fallible as well.  I rolled my eyes reading in NZ media how this might be the greatest team ever....not by a long shot....with the congested calendar now these days there is a certain disconnect at times with these AB's I suppose due to over exposure, the 87 team I rate not because they won the 1st RWC but because they recognized the need to act professional in an amateur era and revamped the way the game was played (Auckland squad in 80's pioneered this), as you said the 95/96 team wasn't too bad either.

 Oh look, you might be right, perhaps the current team will develop their own special players, MCCaw is one powerful leader, just think that special players become just that regardless of their leader. I think the legends of the past, in any sport sport would achieve greatness regardless of the generation or where or whom they player for.

 

It's just meant to be.

 Like I say, those kind of players are blessed with so much talent to be great in any team in any era, the only difference would be that they would be so much fitter.

 

 

There's a player, his name is Rupeni(can't spell his surname), a winger, think he played for Fiji.....what a talent! Think he played for Auckland in S12 for a short period of time and then went onto playing for a French club, by the country mile one of THE most talented and skillful players that I've ever seen. Would be up there in my top 3 of greats. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you either have it or you don't ,Rupeni could have been born in any country and would still have been great.

 Maybe its hindsight that gives us the perspective of greatness to the Fitzy era ABS ,we may well say the same about some of these fellahs when they are done playing.NZ rugby until recently still had an air of naevety about them but now the players and management are quite ruthless .

 "Maybe its hindsight that gives us the perspective of greatness to the Fitzy era ABS...."

 

 

Disagree. There are great individual soccer players playing for minnow teams, Rinaldo for Portugal as an example.....there's another playing for Sweden, can't remember his name....both greats, no hindsight needed, they are both legends. Maradona was a legend long before he retired, Tiger Woods had an aura before he fell from grace, will still go down as a legend of the game. The Fed Express will go down as a legend, same can be said of Djokovic.