The angst is real right now, and rightly so. That loss to Argentina on Sunday morning stings. Fans are hurting, embarrassed by the ineptitude on display. They are worried about how out-muscled the All Blacks were, and confused as to how a backline stacked with talent can look so toothless. And slowly but surely, doubt is creeping in. Doubt not just about selections or tactics, but about whether this coaching group has the ability to give these players the tools, the game plan, and the confidence they need to perform at their best. Nineteen test matches into this regime and the All Blacks remain a muddling side.
That’s the part that really gnaws away. Five tests into this year, we are still waiting to see one cohesive performance. Not the perfect performance, just eighty minutes of looking like a team. Instead we are left clinging to patches. Forty minutes in the second test against France. Twenty in the third. A couple of bursts against Argentina. That’s all we can genuinely point to and say, “gee, the All Blacks looked good then.” Everything else has been scratchy, stop-start, unconvincing. The coach keeps telling us “test footy is tough,” or “a couple of passes didn’t stick.” But after five games those explanations are starting to sound like excuses. When you hear the same words week after week, it becomes clear the issues run deeper than one or two dropped balls.
It’s not as if the players aren’t good enough. On paper, this is a squad worthy of the black jersey. Especially up front. Against Argentina the selectors picked just about the biggest, most physical pack available. They were meant to monster the Pumas. Instead, they got monstered. That’s not a talent issue, that’s either a systems issue or a clarity issue. Players who dominate at Super Rugby level don’t suddenly turn into passengers when they put on the black jersey. The problem is that they don’t look like they know exactly what they’re meant to be doing, or they lack the belief that their systems will work. Either way, that’s on the coaching.
And then there’s the backline. The great strength of the All Blacks for decades has been strike power out wide, the ability to rip a team open from anywhere on the field. Now we’re stuck watching a unit that looks flat, predictable, and error-prone. One or two moments of individual brilliance, sure, but no fluidity, no combinations, no sense that the pieces fit together. That’s not because the players lack talent. It’s because the structure around them doesn’t bring their strengths to life. The fact we still have wingers struggling with the basics of catching a high ball tells you something’s gone wrong in preparation.
And that’s the biggest frustration of all. This isn’t year one of a rebuild. This isn’t a side finding its feet. This is a coaching group 19 test matches deep, and still we’re asking the same questions. Where’s the identity? Where’s the progression? Erasmus stamped his on the Springboks within a season. Joe Schmidt gave Ireland theirs inside two years. Razor Robertson at the Crusaders did it in year one. With this group, the All Blacks look less convincing now than when they started. That’s not growth, that’s regression.
Fans don’t mind “work-ons.” That’s rugby. They can stomach the odd loss. What they can’t accept is the sense that the team is going backwards, that the excuses are recycled, and that nothing’s changing. If this was Ian Foster in charge, he’d be getting savaged from all sides. The only reason the knives aren’t fully out is that this regime still carries the benefit of the doubt. But even that is starting to run thin.
The next fortnight against South Africa looms as a line in the sand. Win both and all this noise will quieten down. People will start talking about building nicely, peaking at the right time, and timing the run for 2025. Lose, especially if it’s in the same rudderless manner, and the blowtorch will finally turn on the coaches. Because the patience of All Black fans isn’t limitless. Nineteen tests is long enough to demand an identity. If we can’t see it now, when will we?
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