Tag: Highlights
Absence Of Ben Smith Is A Loss For All Blacks
It is not possible for Ben Smith to think about in a clear way what would be his strategy during his four-month sabbatical until after the test, which is going to take place on Saturday.
However, Ben Smith will for everyone else start; however, the process has already started for wondering how team All Blacks will succeed in his absence for the year’s remainder.
If someone says Smith is not the best back outside in the rugby world, it would be really interesting to know who they presume is better.
It is really hard to discuss that there is any player of the backfield who is more efficient and can offer more than what Smith has done for the team. It is hard to find a player who has a higher impact and has been more effective and contributor than him, after he became regular of All Blacks in 2013.
His ability to influence the tests is astonishing. Read More
New Zealand should not fear anyone
New Zealand coach Anthony Hudson has stated that his team should learn to become competitive and not to fear anyone.
He said that his team can now beat any team in the world and that they should believe this when they come on the pitch.
Anthony Hudson said for so long New Zealand has been considered as an outsider, but he believes that things should change now. He said that New Zealand players should ditch the mentality of being an inferior footballing nation and believe that they can compete with the best teams in the world.
New Zealand will be facing Fiji in their next game which will count for the World Cup qualifiers in Russia. However, Hudson said that he is focusing more on the Confederations Cup where New Zealand will be playing against the likes of Russia, Portugal, and Mexico. Hudson said that his team will be going there to win the competition and that they do not fear anyone. Read More
DEPARTING FOOTBALL DIRECTOR SAYS ALL IS WELL
Rob Sherman, the New Zealand technical director who just stepped down from his post has expressed his optimism for the performance of the all whites in the New Year.
After a particularly challenging period, Sherman believes the team will encounter what he termed as ‘reasonably calm waters’ ahead. Earlier this month, the national body of the team had announced that Sherman would be stepping down from his post as director for personal reasons; he had taken up the position last year in October.
Sherman, who was the head of coach education at Football Federation Australia and a former technical director of the welsh football association, had become the teams technical director after the previous director Fred de Jong had quit in light of the Olympic eligibility issue.
“The organization is performing really well, so much has gone out with the whole of the game. There is a whole raft of things which perhaps don’t attract attention when there are one or two items that do but we need to focus on the positives,” Sherman said.
The saga had caused the Country’s under 23 men’s team to be kicked out of the qualifying tournament in Oceania for the Rio Olympics; this was because the team had fielded an ineligible player. Aside that, there were a host of other problems which the team had encountered in early 2016,the team coach had complained about a lack of matches for his team and was bitter about the soft nature of some of the younger players in the team.
In February 2016, team striker Alex Jones was sent home after they had missed FIFA’s deadline for completion of loan application. However, Sherman believed that while the team had faced some unfortunate occurrences, they were some good work that had been done in a few areas.
“I see reasonably calm waters. There is a clear strategy and direction and they’ll be committed to bring that to life,” the ex-director added.
Hudson Happy with Friendly Games against US and Mexico
New Zealand coach Anthony Hudson express his delight at being able to test the team in the friendly matches against Mexico and the United States before the start of the World Cup qualification campaign.
New Zealand are one of the international teams not having a fixture in September. Instead, the team will be playing in use against Mexico and the United States in the first half of October. This will be used as a preparation for the oceanic World Cup qualifying group stages, which begin in November with a home match against New Caledonia.
After having successfully negotiated the second round of oceanic World Cup qualification, New Zealand will come up against New Caledonia and Fiji. Unlike the other two opponents, New Zealand have the ability to improve themselves when they come up against such tough teams. Fiji andNew Caledonia do not have any preparatory matches going into these tough qualification games. Hudson says that the players are extremely serious about making it into the World Cup 2018 in Russia. Since taking over the national team in 2014, Hudson has been working towards the single aim of achieving qualification. New Zealand shocked the world when they appeared at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
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