78 minutes 24 seconds – New Zealand win their lineout and set up a maul, but the maul breaks into two and the part with the ball collapses. The referee calls this a ruck and awards a penalty to Australia for New Zealand (in possession) not releasing.

What should of happened.
Maul was collapsed by Australia – penalty NZ, try scored same result- NZ win.
Aus fans furious that ref got call wrong for collapsing the maul, same result – all the refs fault

I think its time to move on – every rugby player/team that has ever played has had a decision made that they disagree with, it is the nature of a large rule book that’s open to interpretation and a human being in charge of making a decision on the run, there are multiple decisions every game that are arguable depending on your view, and every single one of them has an impact on the remainder of the game.
Most are going to agree/disagree with the decision depending on where allegiance lies and I don’t think any comment on social media has ever caused the opposing view to change.
What I find disappointing is paid commentary teams who have never refereed a game continually playing the narrative of we was robbed, the ref is bad etc etc – given the continual reviews and borderline harassment, it is surprising we can get anybody to ref the game.

Yes just my pet peeves – I just find it annoying that refs have become so verbal, just apply the rules consistently and players will adapt.

As an ABs fan, Im not sure we deserved to win this and not because of the Ref – I just dont think we played well and that Aus played better.

The Refereeing I would like to see improved is time wasting but for the following
1, – Half-backs – setting up for box kicks, repeatedly being told to use the ball at ruck and mall, having hands on the ball but not removing it from the last feet.
2, – Injury stops that are not head injuries or in the way of play.
3, – Refs endlessly explaining the rules to players – penalty is for xxx and move on – I blame Nigel Owens for this one – Ref does not even need to say anything the hand signal tells you what the penalty is for.
4, – Endless replays from TMO and conferences from the Refs
and 5, – huddles before lineouts then walking in as same time as the throw in, that’s not setting a lineout and allowing competition for the ball.

I think we need to dump Super rugby and have a whole new format.
1, Each country runs its own internal comp – NZ(NPC), Aus(ARC), Japan(League One), SA(Curry Cup), Plus optional – Arg/US/Can – 2 x Pacific Island teams – 1 to play in NPC(Moana Pasifika
), 1 to play in ARC (Fiji Drua)
2, The winning teams from the internal comp form a new 10-14 team comp where NZ(2\3), Aus(2\3), Japan(2\3), SA(2\3), optional -Arg/US/Can(2).
3, You could run a 2 level comp – L1 – Champions League for the winning teams, L2 same 10-14 teams but those who came 4th-6th in internal comps

NZ run a professional tier of the NPC with 12 salary capped teams so talent is spread evenly across teams – 2nd level of NPC – non or semi pro.

This should provide plenty of content for TV and plenty of rugby for players and fans.

I agree, problem is with Admin and coaching, we have and are producing enough talent.
It’s most disappointing, we seem to now be behind the pack rather than leading innovation in our game.
We have had 5 or so years to overcome rush defence but we seem to be getting worse not improving.

Not disagreeing with you Scrum – just how its is from my point of view as a 50+ year supporter of the ABs.
Never said I was reasonable in my expectations but what fanatic is reasonable in there beliefs, desires etc.
While we may not have the players above I still think we have/produce players good enough but we are being let down by admin and coaching.
I dont see the likes of Nonu, Conrad Smith, Carter, McCaw, Kaino and Franks, ben Smith, Read, younger Whitelock etc etc. in any other team either but they are doing better than they ABs at the moment – the players above all in one team i doubt i will see again in my life time.

1, Kiwis expect win – Of course the expectation of Kiwis is that the ABs win, who plays/supports a game/team not hoping or expecting to win, given our record against most teams the stats also say we have won alot of the time, when we don’t win we still expect our team to play well – Problem for kiwis is, at the moment we are doing neither consistently, and we can not see improvement in the plan, the team or individual players, couple this with a coach that is just straight up not liked and you have very disgruntled fans.
2, Kiwis don’t acknowledge how good other teams are – Partly true, but why would we, our focus is on the ABs because this is our team and our passion and as above we have expectations which currently are not being met, we do acknowledge when we have just been outplayed and lose a game, but then our focus is then channelled back onto what the ABs need to do to improve, when i watch a game my attention is on what the ABs are doing, how our players are going etc – I have no skin in the game for how well the opposition is playing but lots of passion for what we are doing or not doing, this naturally leads to not how well the opposition played but to what we did wrong and how we could/should improve.
3, Kiwis feel entitled – I don’t think so, not entitled but until this year definitely confident which maybe comes across to others as arrogance, in our defence look at the record and history of the ABs and particularly the dominance of the last 10-15 years and tell me you would not feel confident and have expectation of winning the majority of time.
In conclusion – I think the above is common with all fans/fanatics of any sport, especially of a team that has had a sustain period of dominance and a history of wins more that losses.

Get off the ref – he was not the problem and thinking so is a smoke screen to hide the real issues – the ABs losses in last few years have all been there own fault.

At the end of the day its the plays who are on the field, but its the coaches job to prepare them and provide a plan etc.
It must and always will be the coach who takes the fall for performance not being what is expected/required – you cant sack 35 players in the squad, a new coach will most likely still select the majority of the same players anyway.
Its no different to any business, a business unit fails and management take the blame and move on, new management usually inherit the same team and will change a few heads but will generally implement a new plan and provide new motivation etc to turn around performance.

Foster was an assistant coach when the rot started so is a big part of it – I remember an interview Foster gave before the last world cup where he stated we were going to unveil this new attacking strategy to unlock rush defence – I am still waiting.
It was obvious after 2019 WC that we needed regeneration not more of the same, 4 years wasted if he carries on the next WC.

The ref was the same for both teams as always and never an acceptable excuse.
Good teams adapt – this AB team is not good, does not adapt, seems to lack a plan and regardless of the Ref never imposed itself on the 2nd half and did not look like being able too so – the result was fair and the better team won on the day as far as this long term diehard very disappointed AB fan is concerned.

I can handle losing but we are being soundly beaten by better teams, at no time watching that test did i think we could win and the same with game 3 vs the Irish – we don’t even seem to even turn up for 20-30 minutes.
The best coach I had always said win the 4 P’s and the 5 will come, at worst dominate 2 of the 4 to give yourself a chance
1 – Possession
2 – Position
3 – Power
4 – Penalties
and 5 – Points
We don’t seem to be able to even get parity with any of the 4, let alone be dominate in any.

Self-entitlement is when an individual perceives themselves as deserving of unearned privileges – not self entitled but as explained above a fanatic who wants my team to win, I expect to have losses and can live with it but what i don’t want and wont accept is continually underperforming in my and many others opinion and not doing something about it.
I fully support my All Blacks players and don’t bag them but i will fully bag the coaches and administrators who take very handsome salaries and are expected to put out a team with a strategy to a least give them a chance of winning and then if failing either move aside and give the next person a go or at the very least articulate a plan for change and improvement – none of which i currently see.

With out fans who buy tickets and merchandise there is no All Black team – we the fans who play(ed) the game and supported our whole lives own the ABs regardless of NZR think – we are there employer/sponsor etc.
as for over the top, there have not been riots in the streets etc – in the age of social media this reaction was to be expected and thus properly managed by NZR.
It is the the unrelenting nature of expecting excellence and winning that goes with the job and one of the reasons a small nation can excel.

I not sure why people are surprised at the over the top reaction to ABs losing 4 of last 5 games.
Fan is short for fanatic and passion often overrules logic.
When you have a coach who was never the majority of the fans choice and a CEO, coach etc who then hide for a week, people rightly or wrongly will fill the silence with there own noise.
Failing to show for the Sunday press conference was a major failing that allowed the noise to escalate, comments since of a full review conducted and that Foster has support for SA tests does not say to fans (fanatics) that the ship is being steered in the right direction – it just looks like more of the same, which is just not working.
We the fans want to see/hear a plan we can buy into but this is just not happening.

The message is garbled and wrong at best
Foster – I am strategic but in the same breath Schmidt is going to be doing analysis and strategy
Foster – we will have a game plan to be proud of, same statement as before last world cup – we have a new attack strategy, no evidence yet to support either statement
With a new forwards coach, Foster now running the backs, who is doing the overall head coach role or is this now shared between Schmidt doing the planning and Foster the implementation.
Its all very shuffling the deck chairs type feeling – I just don’t see a plan or even cohesion from a coaching team.
Its also very cowardly to chuck your assistants out when you were the person who hired them, also to make the statement that they are “great coaches” so why then are they being fired.
I for one am a very disillusioned fan – but I have been here before with the john Hart saga and i am sure we will rise again just don’t think it will be with Foster in charge.
Regardless of short term outcomes an All Blacks supporter i shall remain – just currently a frustrated one.

Graham Mourie for me was the best – 61 caps, 57 as Captain, late 70s early 80s.

Of 240 minutes of rugby the ABs played well for about 30 of them, we were out thought and out muscled for the other 210 and the results speak for themselves.
We will lose to SA and Aus if we continue to let teams dominate for 70% of the game, most worryingly we did not seem to be able to change any momentum but instead dug our hole deeper.

Difference was game 1 was at Eden Park and by game 2 Ireland had altered defence to cover Smith wide pass and we did not adapt.
the worst part for me is that the rush defence has been used for a number of years now and the Abs have not adapted – we are no longer the innovator.

How is this good for World rugby when a top team and a major draw card is playing so badly.
I always wanted to beat the best at there best and World cup is the best of best playing it out for bragging rights
I would think if you ask most players/teams(other than kiwis or saffas) a dream final is beating the All Blacks or South Africa.

It would be good in a 3 test series to have the same refereeing team in the same roles for the series, consistency for all concerned – the way it is now is like changing a judge for each 3rd of a trial and then having to work out why interpretations are different.
Would also make it easier to review refs during and after a series.

I was worried we would lose this game from about the 15 minute mark when it was obvious that we were going to play the same as the previous game (Smith passing to 3rd man trying to get outside rush defence) but Ireland had adjusted there defence for this, we didn’t have any variation just the same over and over again – all look very pedantic and also slow, our forwards don’t seem to have any speed on when getting the pass and just trucking up because the game plan says so.
All very disappointing to watch.

My conspiracy theory for this week – Foster sidelined with Covid for game 1 and we seem to play with intent and commitment and win, Foster back in camp for game 2 we lose.

Joe Stanley and Frank Bunce

Horan and Little – a magic combination