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.

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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Anthony Hudson is currently preparing New Zealand for the upcoming Confederations Cup

English coach Anthony Hudson is currently preparing New Zealand for the upcoming Confederations Cup in Russia.


The England national team will not be a representative at the upcoming Confederations Cup in 2017, but they will at least have a representative in the form of Hudson. The national team coach is determined to take New Zealand back to lofty heights once again. Under the regime of the previous manager, the national team managed to do that and thinkable by qualifying for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Since then, however, the team has not been performing well.

The retirement of several high profile players has also contributed to New Zealand’s demise. Hudson has the task of rebuilding the team once again. It is easier said than done since there is an extremely small pool of players to choose from. Furthermore, even these small number of players are largely playing their football in different parts of the world. It makes it extremely difficult to bring them together as a unit. Confederations Cup preparations, though, are expected to help in this regard and Hudson himself accepted this aspect. Even though New Zealand’s Olympic team was disqualified, the team did extremely well under the management of Hudson.
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New Zealand wants to motivate junior coaches through a competition

New Zealand Football wants to motivate junior coaches to perform better by allowing them to participate in a Coach of The Year competition.


The reward will be two tickets to assist at the FIFA Club World Cup that will take place in Japan. The competition will be run in association with McDonald’s.

New Zealand Football knows that if football is going to develop in the country, it needs to start at the grassroots level. For this reason, they want to make sure that coaches work in the best condition and that they are motivated to do their job.

Simon Kenny, who is the head of communication for McDonald’s New Zealand, said that it is an honor for the company to be supporting this initiative. He stated that he is also a junior coach himself, and he knows the challenges that are associated with this position. He said that junior coaches are influential on the development of a young footballer. He stated that it does not matter whether the child is playing for fun or want to become a professional footballer, a junior coach is an essential part of his development. For this reason, McDonald’s want to provide this extra piece of motivation to junior coaches.
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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