The real reason why the All Blacks will never be a super power again

The All Black aura has been destroyed over the past 6 or so years ever since they capitulated in the Semi final against England in the Japan World Cup. England was on fire that day and they had the most fluid attacking play any England team could ever conjure up. I do feel Eddie got a raw deal, but he was also his own worst enemy by breaking the locker room spirit. Rassie builds culture, Eddie creates a dog eats dog culture.

I came across this insteresting article on planet rugby, where they highlight how many foreign players from different countries are propping up European rugby. South Africa seems to be at the short end, but they are not real reason for Europe being dominated by players from the southern hemisphere. Based on country NZ don't seem to ship that many players, 56 to be exact, but 56 Kiwi players not playing in their domestic comp.

It is the 56 odd Pacific Islanders that have made their way abroad. These were the players that would load the Kiwi super rugby teams, given them an adge over any other country in Super rugby, fast forward to late 10's and you start seeing more PI showing up in Australia, but with rugby being so week in Australia and that the PI players have families to support and it is no longer about playing for NZ or Australia but making proper money, you see the player drain.

NZ player pool has been wiped out over night with over 100+ professional players taking out complete, weakining the competition, reducing their options to select and keep PI players in their structure and providing proper testing to their local players.

The most startling is that NZ have 180 of their own players abroad whom they won't select, mostly in Japan, their peal farming field from the Pacific Islanders are also gone now. Close to 250 PI players all gone, out of the NZ club system be it their provincial cup or their super rugby teams. That is ore than 400 professional players no longer in the Super Rugby. You remove South Africas 250 players out of the mix and not to forget, 140 Australian players gone abroad, but what is even worse are the players that are not accounted for that has code switched. These include both Kiwi and Aussie players.

So in summery, New Zealand will never be able to get to top of the pile unless they break with tradition and accept that their local rugby is not lekker and that some how Rassie and SARU made the right moves. We get our best players to extend their careers in Japan. Facing the best from Australia, Pacific Islands and New Zealand, while having one foot in Europe and allowing other unions to pay their wages while having the best available.

https://d3gbf3ykm8gp5c.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/2026/06/19111312/Plate-B-exodus-stats.jpg

https://d3gbf3ykm8gp5c.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/2026/06/16103917/Plate1-Rugbys-Migration-matrix.jpg

Fck Korn, I hope this post doesn't come and bite the Bokke this year ...

It probably will.

He has his head up his own bottom.

The problem with know it all's - Is that in reality they don't know fuck all.

The All Blacks would continue to struggle even if all those players were in New Zealand. They still could not assemble a world-class pack of forwards, let alone have depth on the bench to cover a bomb squad scenario.

It may just be a temporary problem - a coincidental lack of international-standard forward resources in New Zealand at the moment.

The Tight 5 is the biggest weakness. It is just not test standard. They are no standout individuals, and their is no settled combinations.

The All Blacks have some quality loose forwards, but they no longer have a fetcher as effective as those of the past. That is where McCaw had the most impact. He could change the game from the ruck and helped New Zealand control phase play, which allowed the backs to get quality possession, even when first phase and second phase were not producing results. Kieren Reid was also effective at the breakdown.

The All Blacks have to get off to a good start, as they fade in the game as their forwards get tired.

The last 20 minutes used to be the All Blacks' forte, and they could always come back. Now they rarely score in the last quarter against quality opposition. They can still beat any team on their day, but they will struggle to win a tournament where they play 3 back-to-back games against all-round opposition

The backs continue to play well, but they are often playing behind the advantage line, and off the back foot.

When Retallick started to fade at the end of his career or was injured, the cracks started to appear. Whitelock also faded later in his career and lost physicality. When that lock combination was at its best, and with McCaw on the pitch, their forwards could dominate. Now their pack is not in the top 5 in the world.

Canes v Chiefs final tonite ... lekker kyk

Ungodly hour on this side of the Gulf of America...

As soon as the rid of Dmac they'll start doing better again ;)

Ungodly hour on this side of the Gulf of America...

about midnite ?

livetv901.me/webplayer2.php?t=ifr&c=3028364&lang=en&eid=387359803&lid=3028364&ci=434&si=33

Blowing a gale in the nation's capitol

Canes 12-0 ... 15m

Canes ahead 29-0 at HT ... wivawind

Canes 48-0 53m i kid u not

epic records abound

60 - 5 Hurricanes victorious

Aura broken, didn't say they won't be competitive or not able to win a series, but they don't have depth or player pool they once had.

The problem is that if you take 400 first class players out of the mix your competition becomes weaker. Look at the boks when they came out of isolation.

SA rugby became so inbred, the lost a decade of competitive rugby and thought the Currie cup and provincial rivalry set them apart from the world and thought their past test glory would help them come straight back into international rugby.

The boks got lucky and won a world cup but it took a massive effort.

NZ had that aura. Unbeaten for many seasons, then the British and Irish lions showed and played to a draw. Followed by Argentina knocking them over a couple of times at home. SA managed to get a couple and Ireland actually won 2/1 in NZ. The last was SA putting on a record score against them, yet, they got to a world cup final and nearly won had it not been for Kane red card and the boks wanting to play all out defence.

It is not a secret. You remove the competition which they have always had the upper hand, be it fixtures or being able to select players.

This will be very painful for the AB. However, I would never underestimate them. But will they ever be the same team that we saw for two decades dominating the world. Before that, only France was able to win a series in their back yard in the 90s and no other team ever came close since then until the start of this decade

KC

New Zalad Rugb face a multitude of other problems as well and I wrote about it in the past. Most of those have to do with finances.

Lets go back to Super Rugby and what happened because New Zealand Rugby and I will use Rand to ilustrate the problem and that is telling a major parf the story, When Superrugby was in full force Supersport as a platfom of DSTV and the amount involved used to be R1,6 billion a yearm Of tat money R400 million would go to NZ Rugby - R400 million to Australia Rugby, R100 million to Argentina Rugby and he rest to SARU,

If you divide the above by ten to get the NZ$19 that NZ ruby was in he red in 2024-25 it amounted to getting NZ$40 million every year. So NZ Rugby has to pay the players, Top players get paid more than others - if the Top Players stay in NZ the money to pay the othe players getting paid less. So who wins? Nobody, So getting rid of SA and Argfentine - engineered by NZ Rugby kicked t hemslf in the arse,

Now lets get back to two other major problems The one can be called the WOKE culture amiming at destroying national pride and the comopute games culture, NZ struggle with the fact that the feedrs iro rugby is weak - rugby is a hard game to play - the younger generation is not interested so sportis no/t an attractive soort to participate in. Compute games is much more attractive, So th e question remains - whn last did NZ win any Under 20 or school rugby tournaments? Without reiable feeding troughs rugby is negatively affected,

In SA Rugby changed from a race-based sport to a national sport, NZ has a relatively small population compared to England, France and SA and the issue of sport in particular.

. . ,

Never is a long time. No one speak to never.

One move, picking overseas players, will be a big boost to NZ. If NZ results are not up to scratch you can be sure they will change and start selecting their overseas players.

Financial issues are harder to solve but probably not insurmountable.

I can't see the wee abs fading away. Should always be in top 3 to five.

Netso Beenz!

Hi Draad.

Where is Mozzie?

Perhaps it won't be long now before the Boks come crashing down..............