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

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.

Anthony Hudson Dismisses Reports Linking Him with Derby County Job

New Zealand manager Anthony Hudson has become the surprise transfer target for Derby County.


The Championship outfit recently parted company with Nigel Pearson after he spent only four months in charge of the club. The exit was largely down to his falling out with owner Mell Morris. In a news that would upset most of the New Zealand football fans, manager Hudson has become a surprise candidate to take over from Pearson at the Championship club. The Englishman would be one of the youngest managers in the Championship should he accept the role.

However, the manager is understood to have dismissed all the speculation by saying that he wants to stay with the New Zealand national team. Hudson has been in charge of the national team since being given the job back in August 2014. Even though the team has been going through an up-and-down period, Hudson has the possibility to make a name for himself as he is building the team from the bottom up. Read More

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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New Zealand will have four referees officiating at the Rio Olympics

The New Zealand Football Referees Committee has announced that 4 referees have been selected for the Rio Olympics.

They are namely Matthew Conger and Simon Lount for the male tournament while Anna-Marie Keighley and Sarah Jones have been selected for the women competition.


Rod Pelosi, who is the deputy chairman of The New Zealand Football Referees Committee, has stated that it is a big honor to officiate at the Olympics football tournament. For him, it has the same value as officiating at the FIFA World Cup. He said that the referees have earned the right to officiate at the Olympics thanks to their excellent performance on the pitch.

He stated that it had always been the objective of the New Zealand Football Referees Committee to develop quality referees that can officiate at the highest level. He said that the four referees that have been designated to officiate at the Olympics had been consistent at different FIFA tournaments, and this is why they have been rewarded. Read More

Zidane’s appointment has made a positive impact in Real Madrid

ZinedineZidane took up the coaching role of Real Madrid on January 4 of 2016 and even though it has been a short period of time since this managerial switch was done, it has already appeared to have made a positive impact in the Spanish club.

So far, Zidane has been in charge of Real Madrid for 2 matches and both of these games concluded with resounding victories.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid has recently stated that the appointment of ZinedineZidane as the new head coach of the Spanish outfit has raised the spirit of the team and this is starting to become evident in the overwhelming results that they have been claiming. Even though these results haven’t been against top teams in the Spanish League, they still are great results which keep Real Madrid in the higher section of La Liga along with their rivals Barcelona and Athletic Madrid.

“I honestly notice an improvement in the team’s attitude with Zidane’s arrival. The players feel a little more empathy for Zidane, do not ask me why because I couldn’t tell you, that’s football. Truthfully, with some coaches you have more empathy than others. The players feel more empathy for Zidane.I don’t like to draw comparisons with Rafael Benitez but Zidane is closer to the players, he knows the players better because he was one, he is a great manager and is going to show that with us. My relationship with Zizou has been good for the last two years, when he was assistant manager.” Real Madrid’s star Cristiano Ronaldo said. Read More

New Zealand under 20 team will be taking on the Portugal

The New Zealand under 20 team will be taking on the Portugal under 20 team in the knockout stages of the under 20 World Cup.

Since this is a home World Cup for New Zealand, they have been expected to do slightly better. However, not many gave them hope of reaching the knockout stages of the tournament. They will be taking on Portugal, who already have a strong line-up of youth players. The winner of this tie will be taking on either Brazil or Uruguay, who are both even stronger. Hence, reaching this stage of the tournament is seen as a big achievement by the junior all whites.

National team manager Anthony Hudson will be in the stands to witness the game and he believed that the weather will not be a major threat to a great game of football. It is expected that there will be bad weather for much of the game. More than a victory, game time for some of the players will be an extremely important aspect for Hudson. He has already given as much as six junior all whites and opportunity in the senior team. The manager believes that it will be a great experience for those players to be involved in such a major event. Read More