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Transcript

Rugby Direct - Episode 130 · Rugby Direct

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
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  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on Iheartradiot.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Inside the Game from every angle.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: It's Rugby Direct with Elliott Smith powered by News Talks EDB.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Welcome into Rugby Direct, powered by Excess Solutions, elevating you
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: and your business to a higher level. Elligott Smith with
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: me as always Liam Nape, your chief sports writer for
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: the New Zealand Herald and Rugby Correspondent. We are live
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: from Rugby Directs, Dunedin's studio for this one. Liam and
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: the All Blacks are on the board for twenty twenty four,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: sixteen fifteen win over England. We're recording this on Sunday
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: afternoons and not even twenty four hours after the final whistle,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Still there, pab periala hory, God, Holy God, it's a
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: summer in the show.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: But the old Max, Who's when this first test of
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: the year han only holding on all right? Solder Popular
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: was the man. They got the penalty and now the
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: All Blacks need just to get it into clutch. Everyone
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: needs to take a deep breath. Damian McKenzie taps texts
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: it at the touch and you We're right of All
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Black rugby because with an old natured Test match time
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: wrestle you see at sixteen and for fifteen full time
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: at bull Side bart Stadium and dun Eden.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: This dig right into it. Your initial reactions to the
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: first eighty minutes under head coach Scott.
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: Robertson rusty, nervous, unconvincing, I think on the whole, but
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: not totally unexpected given the limited preparation window, the eighteen
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: new managements that have come in the biggest change for
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks in twenty years. A lot of personnel
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: have left since the World Cup, a lot of experience,
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: so did expect them to be a bit rusty to
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: try and come together and put it all on the
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: park straight off the bats, But look, I think it
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: was an escape. The All Blacks were somewhat fortunate to
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: come away with victory and have a positive story to
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: sell to spin. It's a platform, it's a start and
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: England will rule this Test. This was their best chance
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: and it is one that got away from them.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: How did it get away from them? I guess is
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: what we look at. They were fifteen ten up in
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the first spell and second spell and it kind of
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: felt like the bench perhaps for England didn't quite add
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: the impact that maybe was necessary. I thought Alex Mitchell
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: had a superb game at half back for England. When
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: he was replaced Ben Spencer comes on, it felt like
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: they just lost a little bit of pace out of
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: the ruck. Marcus Smith I thought had the All Blacks
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: guessing a lot more than Finn Smith who came on,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: and just a couple of those other changes apart from
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Tom Curry, I thought as Per is excellent. They got
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: sixty minutes out of Baxter on debut as well, but
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: just felt like maybe that last twenty twenty five minutes
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: when the All Blacks went up evil and had some
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: of their replacements come on and make impact, England didn't
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: quite have the same impact from their bench.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a fair assumption I was equally impressed with
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: as a former halfback retired now myself.
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: Alex Mitchell was exceptional.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: His darts from the base down the short side ball
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: in two hands, putting doubt in the All Blacks defensive mind.
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: He was a real live wire for the English at
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: half back. His box kicking very accurate as well. Mara
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: a ToJ world class, isn't he the way he competed
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: at line out time and at the breakdown. England's increasingly
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: made a mess of the All Blacks ball. I think
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: they got six turnovers. Four of those came from the backs,
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: Olie Lawrence getting too so Chandler Cunningham South was another
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: big presence with ball in hands. So look, England left
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: their mark, but I think they were fortunate to be
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: locked at ten or a half time. The All Blacks
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: should have collected more points. They were extremely dominant in
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: that first half. England came out of the gate in
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: the second and really put it on them in that
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: third quarter and had a lot of momentum in descendancy.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: The All Blacks had to fight their way through a
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: lot of adversity. The game basically comes down to Marcus
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: Smith missing a number of kicks. If you do the math,
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: the game should have been a draw, and I think
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: that probably is a fair reflection of a scrappy contest.
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Marcus Smith missed eight points, Damien McKenzie seven, including that
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: not controversial but a very rare timed out penalty. He
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: missed seven, So you do the math, that's a draw
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: and it was very hard to separate these teams. So
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks look, they fought their way through adversity.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: They took Damian McKenzie kicked to penalties to finish and
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: they had to repel England after the time out penalty
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: to finish the match. So you could say they were
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: more composed and took their chances.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: But there was nothing in that.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: No, there wasn't, and it was a narrow tester. It
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: felt maybe just before halftime the All Blacks were beginning
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: to get the ascendancy just a fraction. They were leading
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: ten to seven, and then I think the momentum swung
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: back England's way by a pretty shoddy decision I thought
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: from the All Blacks to continue playing after the siro. Now,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: nothing wrong necessarily with having a little bit of a crack,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: but they weren't getting over the advantage line, the game line.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: They're being repelled by England. At that point, someone needs
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: to go kick it into touch. We'll take a ten
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: to seven lead into half time. Didn't happen quickly enough.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: England get a penalty, Marcus Smith kicks it over ten
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: all and psychologically they head into the sheds just a
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: little bit happier, probably than the All Blacks, even though
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the game is on an even keel, at least on
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: the scoreboard. They come out of the second half Marcus
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Smith is an early penalty, but they spend the first
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: ten to twelve minutes. It felt like anyway of the
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: first a second spell camped and All Black's territory. They
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: got rewarded with a try through Emmanuel fa Woboso, who
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I thought was very very good when he got ball
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: in hand for England, and it felt like they'd taken
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: the momentum away from the All Black sides. Little things
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: like that that you can decide to change your arm
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: a little bit, but there needs to be some leadership
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: on the park and go let's get this into touch
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: and take the half time. I know, with the little
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: bit rattled by t J. Petinara's injury there around that point,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: but the decision making I thought was better later in
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: the game for the All Blacks, and it certainly probably
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: was either side of halftime.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: It's a good point, and I think the TJ. Peter
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: and a injury did affect them at that time. They
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: felt like they were really ragged, just going side to side,
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: not really going anywhere, and like you say, at that
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: point somebody needs to step up and say this isn't
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: worth the risk. We're inside our own half, let's kick
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: it out, let's regroup. Because Pedinara's distribution to that point
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: had been really good. I thought his clearances off the
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: left boot box kicks very accurate. I thought he was
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: you know, this's his first test for twenty months and
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: made a real impression when he went got injured with
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: the cleanout, which I don't have an issue with. I
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: think it was just so straightforward, cleaner. Unfortunate in the
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: way that Scott Barrett fell on him and twisted his knee.
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: That definitely affected his ability to lean over his passing
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: leg and that contributed to the All Blacks becoming ragged.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: And yeah, it was a bit of a turning point
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: England going in a halftime level when they didn't really
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: deserve to be.
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: They've been on the back foot.
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: The All Black scrum, which I think we should touch on,
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: was extremely dominant, probably the best part of their game,
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: and from an officiating perspective, some really perplexing rulings around
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks not getting the rewards they deserved there.
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: What was your read on that?
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it felt like they had found England out at
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: scrum time. In all honesty, first scrum the game, England
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: gets awarded a penalty. Now for me, I think you
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: as a referee need to have a little bit more
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: feeling in the game and go, let's just let the
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: two packs settle rather than because making a penalty in
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: the first game, whichever way goes, you're kind of setting
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: a little bit of precedent. But in subsequent scrums, the
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: All Blacks had the ascendancy, didn't always get the rewards.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I didn't think from Nick imusher Kelly, who by and
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: large ike you thought had a pretty decent game, but
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: they sort of didn't get the rewards there. But it
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: was a very very good part of the All Blacks
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: game used it as a bit of a weapon. Just
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: probably the platform has laid to an extent. We just
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: didn't see enough from the backs to really dig into
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: what the Scott Robinson game plan is going to be
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: when backs get ball in hand. We saw obviously Severi
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: score an early try Ardie Savilla scorer as well, both
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: coming down the right wing flank. But I guess if
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: we look at it from a whole eighty minutes, did
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: you see Scott Robinson game plan beginning to emerge at
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: all and is it too early to perhaps expect something
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: I think there were the elements there around the scrum.
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: I think they would have liked to have used them
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: more more. That will be a big part of this
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: All Blacks game. I think they will be appointed at times.
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: With their defense. It wasn't as aggressive enough if you
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: look at the way England defended with their line speed.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: Now you don't have to bring that umbrella style, but
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: just getting up off the line in England's faces. I
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: felt like the All Blacks were a bit passive and
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: they allowed England to come to them, particularly in that
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: second quarter, gave them meters.
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: That's right attacking perspective wise.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: You could see the way they were trying to get
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: around the English defense with one or two pods a
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: wee bit wider and I was impressed on the whole
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: by Stephen Peterfetz's contribution at the back. There was the
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: biggest talking point selection wise last week him over Boden Barrett.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: He jinked out of ben Earle's tackle to set up
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Artie Severe. But look, it is early and they would
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: have thrown a lot at the players. Stylistically, there wasn't
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: too much to pick out of it other than the
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: pillars that you would want. If we break it down
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: even further and go into what you'd expect out of
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks, what you take away from let's say
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: the forward pack.
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: We've talked about the scrum, the.
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: Line out struggled, lost three of their own throws from
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: a ball carrying perspective, looking at the breakdown the defense,
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: did the All Blacks pack provide enough punch?
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I don't think probably as much as they would have
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: liked necessarily, and that's because of England's umbrella defense as well.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: I think in terms of the carry, you know, some
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: of those big men like to groot. We're getting sort
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: of half over the advantage line and being pushedback. Lomax
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: as well. I thought Semipenny Fena had a quietish night
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: to an extent before he went off with his hia,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: which he passed. By the way, Don Papoli, you thought
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: I had a good game. Artie Savia was excellent. You
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: wouldn't known that he's been in Japan and away from
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: New Zealand rugby for quite some time. And I thought
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Patrick twp so Patrick twe Blood and Scot Bear. I
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: don't think eyone had a bad game to say, but
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: it just felt like in terms of the carry, just
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: a little bit more punch from some of those forwards
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: and the All Blacks could have the advantage line a
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: little bit more and set themselves up for a bit
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: more success. The lineout is the worrying one as well.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Now Marotoji had at least a steal too, depending on
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: how you read it, and Scott Robertson pointed that out
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: when we convened so with him from me decision earlier
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: in the day. One of those was balking as well
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: that it can be fixed from a suffer a more.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: But the line out throwing has been a worry of
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a Mullward's game. So I felt that the lineout was
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: a little creaky first test of the year and you'd
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: want that to be fixed as you had to eaven
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Park next week.
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: Well, it's a massive area.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: The All Blacks pride themselves on their set piece and
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: there was always going to be a big spotlight on
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: the line out. Posts Broder Metallic and Sam Whitelocke. I
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: thought Scott Barrett was really good around the field there
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: was one big counter ruck that he drove into. He
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: was busy, but the lineout needs to be better because
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: it's such a focal point of an attacking platform. That's
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: where you want to strike or from all over the
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: park and England did well to disrupt that and they
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: will be looking at that again, so Jason Ryan his
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: area of expertise and Scott Robertson to a degree, they
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: will be drilling down into that.
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: What about the back line.
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: Let's pick up on Damien McKenzie's game in particular, big
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: test for him. I think it was only his fifth
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: or sixth start and forty eight odd tests in the
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: ten Jersey. We had Richie Wonga sitting in the stands
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: with Richie's bus tour. They looked like they had a
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: hell of a time him and Shannon Frazelle with the punters,
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: which is great to see. But we can also pick
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: up on Richie's future but later, But how did what's
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: your assessment of how Damian McKenzie went pretty good in
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: the first half, but when that platform wasn't there and
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: the rush got to him a little bit, some of
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: the option taking accuracy maybe dipped got a.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Little bit rushed at times it felt Damian McKenzie and
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: rushed into his options, and that was a credit to
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: the way that England were able to put the pressure
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: on him. Felt like a couple of times he he scrambled,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: you know, obviously the penalty goalkicker or timed out aside,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: you know, kicking those two crucial penalties, getting the All
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Blacks first behind by two then putting them in front.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: That's the kind of steal you want from your goalkicker.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: So I can't fault him there too much necessarily. I mean,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: you keep those conversions in the first bow you take
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: a fourteen seventeen leading to halftime game slightly different as well.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: So he got the kicks when it matted, I say
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: out loud, but maybe he also didn't. But he was
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: an integral part and why the All Blacks won that Test.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: But at the same time could have even asserted his dominance.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: I thought a bit more on that Test match. And
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: he's got to find ways when he's not getting time
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: in space to counter that and figure out ways to
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: pull apart defenses when you know the platform isn't necessarily
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: being rolled out for him.
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and he can't do it alone.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: He did set up severy recent the crossfield kick to
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: get around the rush, but is going to be a
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: massive focal point for the All Blacks. How do they
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: escape Felix Jones's rush defense and the pressure. How do
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: they create more time and space? Is it through kicking
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: him behind and you know Chip kicks Chip crossfield kicks
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: to the wings. It been more direct trying to go
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: through the middle of the English pack, around the fringes
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: or switch moves around the ruck. So I think Mackenzie,
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: for me, had a very good first half and then
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: got a wee bit rattled. He went back to buzzing
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: around and struggled to assert himself in the same way,
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: and I think his performance would be viewed very differently.
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: Headingland snatched at the death because that timed out penalty
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: would have been extremely costly, and to his credit, he
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: fronted up post match and said, look, yeah, if England
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: had won that game, it would have been a disaster.
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: So that timed out penalty could have been a massive
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: talking point.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: I do want to throw a question about you seven,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Peter Feder in just a moment, but let's talk about
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: that timed out penalty because a bit of confusion post
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: match as to how it all play, I don't know
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: how it played out on SkyTV and what comms viewers
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: at home we're getting. Certainly in the stadium you don't know.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: There is no shot clock, and that's perhaps an issue
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: that they need to fix and make permanent around grounds
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: around the world. I know some do, but certainly not
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: a standard that World rugby in force. But in my
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: years hearing during match commentary the referee said twenty seconds.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: He was quite clear and then gave another warning to McKenzie.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Now where the McKenzie can hear it is another matter entirely.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: The rest might up We hear it throughout commentary effects,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: but you've just got to be a bit better and
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: cognizant of that. Yes, late in the game you want
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: to use up as much time as possible, but these
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: are the rules now. The shot clock exists and you
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: can't use up any more time than you're entitled to.
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: No, I don't have a problem with it, and I
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: think you've got to be self aware that the spotlight
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: is a lot more on you in the seventy eighth
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: minute than it is in the fifteenth, because naturally you're
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: more inclined to want to waste time when you're up
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: by one point, potentially going to go up by four,
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: then you're at the start of the match. And Keewis
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: can't get on their high horse about this because it
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: was only a couple of years ago in Melbourne that
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks escape because of this not exact scenario,
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: but it was from a penalty where Bernard Foley was
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: paying for time wasting and there was certainly a few
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: ossies on on Twitter out there reminding everyone of that.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: So look, I think mackenzie was aware of it. He
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: was warned in his previous kick that he was pushing
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: the envelope and again to his credit, he acknowledged postmatch
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: it was his own fault.
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: This is where the game's going as well.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: Scott Robertson said this, it's about speeding it up, not
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: just in this regard, but when you look at scrums
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: and lineouts, and the All Blacks have had frustrations with
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: opposition teams going down and feigning injuries or trying to
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: slow the pace of the game.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: So they need to embrace this and own and they are.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought a big call from Nickarmischa Kelly to
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: make in front of a home crowd, you know, late
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: in the game, but he made the right one, similar
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: to Machi Ray now in Melbourne a couple of years ago.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: So big call Stephen Petterfetz to fullback was the surprise selection.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: We certainly didn't pick it when we convened last week
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: on Rugby Direct that he was going to get the
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: fifteen jersey. He did and played what fifty four minutes
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: I think it was in Saturday night's Test match. How
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: would you assess Stephen Peter Feeder's biggest Test start to
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: this point.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: I thought he grabbed his chance by and large. There
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: was obviously the one movement where he's set up the try.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: But what I like about his combination with mackenzie is
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: he's far more natural in that second playmaker role to
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: allow McKenzie to take the reins and to try and
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: be the man outside him to play second fiddle. He
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: is very comfortable in that role where I feel like
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: when it's Boden Barrett, it's almost the reverse the Barrett
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: as a senior guy. Almost you know, it has taken
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: him a number of years to feel comfortable playing second
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: fiddle to a degree from fullback. So I thought Stephen
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: Peterfizer played very well. Bowden off the bench, I thought
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: he played well as well. He made an impact when
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: he came on from the backfield, couple of kicks in
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: the behind the defense.
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: So I think that is a very live discussion for
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: the second Test.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, wouldn't surprise me, and we might get into some
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: of the changes a wee bit later on, but maybe
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: they flipped them around for this test. Any other points
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: that you want to add about the All Blacks first
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Test of the.
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: Year, Well, that's one question. Who's your man of the match?
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Probably Addie Save. I thought he was immense, just gets
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: over the game line every time he carries big on defense.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: You know, obviously scored that the second try for the
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: All Blacks, but he's the kind of player and I
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: thought that he stood up, you know, in a team
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: that needed that kind of performance last night. I don't
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: think anyone had a bad game per se, but I
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: thought Adie Savy was just a little bit better than
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: the others.
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: One of yourself, Yeah, Artie was good. I'll go someone
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: different just for arguments sakes. Severy Reese outstanding a guy,
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: first Test in two years, and it wasn't just what
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: he did with the ball. Both him and Mark Tillia
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: are superbot going looking for work, coming off their wings,
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: getting involved, great feet, quite deceptively strong. But on defense
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: chasing kicks, I think it was Furbank. He absolutely barreled,
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: and the crowd in front of him on the far
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: side to us and directly in front of you on
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: commentary went ballistic. So I think he enjoyed, relished being
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: back out there and really took his chance.
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: And it's very contestable, wasn't it.
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: Because the All Blacks have stacks of outside backs, but
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: Talia and Reese really stood out for me.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought they were both exceptional and Reese perhaps
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: or one of those preaps unfortunate not to result in
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: a penalty as well for the All Black. So I
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: guess signs of improvement what they need to improve on
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: for the next years. We've covered a few of them,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: but you know, I think line out and getting some
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: clarity around some of those scrumbles are the wrong with
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: the referee interpret it incorrectly or weren't seeing the pictures
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: that the All Blacks thought that I was putting there
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: seem like obvious things that they'll look at this week
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: in the training.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: I'll probably drew down to four things. They'll be the lineout,
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: the breakdown, the better decision making on attack, and just
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: being a bit more aggressive I think on defense.
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: So yeah, I think who's going to improve more is
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: a question for you next week, England or the All Blacks.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: I think the All Blacks, which I don't mean to
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: some disrespectful to England, but I think the All Blacks
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: can go and improve more than he had ten days together.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: I think England will improve. I think it's natural that
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: look like a team that is improving with every game
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: in world rugby. I think there are a team really
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: on the rise, and you look to twenty twenty seven,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: a lot of young players in that Max and that
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: England team. I think they're really on the rise. But
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: if you look at the next six seven days for
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: the next test at Edon Park, I think the All
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Blacks can prove more than England that time frame.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, And I don't know how much more England can
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: throw at the All Blacks in terms of surprise packages.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: And I also don't know how much more the All
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: Blacks will throw at their players because it is a
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: small window. It's probably more about refining and an element
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: of continuity and cohesion more than it is throwing more
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: moves and set players. But the more time this team
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: has together, the hope, certainly the expectation is that Razor
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: will improve them. So this for me, that's why this
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: was England's big shot and they blew it.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Let's take a break on Rugby directs Powered by Excess
• 21:56
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• 22:00
  Speaker 2: This is Rugby Direct, a podcast for real rugby fans.
• 22:07
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• 22:15
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• 22:18
  Speaker 3: You're back with Rugby Direct power by Excess Solutions from
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: our Daneden studio. Time now for our final four for
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: rugby topics that we dissected. Mate, well, there's plenty of
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: other matches on the go. We had Australia Wales, South
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Africa versus Ireland in the Republic, Argentina and France that
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: the Maldi All Blacks and the Japan fifteen playing as
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: well might be missing one or the other thing. Canada
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: played Scotland a.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: Couple of wins for I think some are in fests.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, indeed so plenty of rugby as the window opens up.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Let's start with Australia Wales potentially what stood out for
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: you in that one limb.
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: Two pretty poor teams I think on the whole, two
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: teams at low ebbs, but from an Australian perspective, a
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: very important victory for Joe Schmitt to start that tenure.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: And I saw a comparison last November. The Wallabies lost
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: to Wales by thirty old points World Cup at the
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: World Cup, and they're here they are beaten them by
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: by ten a matter of months later, So that's a
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: massive swing in the context of a very short space
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: of time. Joe Schmidt didn't pick any overseas players, picked
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: a lot of workers in Australia.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: I think you.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: It was very.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: Script for Joe bore retention, low error rates, late try,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: individual brilliance from Tom Wright helped them get over the line.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: So it was in the context of where Australian rugby
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: is at that was just so needed to start that
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: rebuild on that.
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: Sort of note.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: And look, gats is under massive pressure, isn't he Increasingly
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: it looks like he's yesterday's man.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: How many losses? Isn't that I think it's eight for Wales. Yeah, look,
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: I don't know that they've got the cattle necessarily Wales
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: at this point in time, but I'm not sure, as
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: you said, Gatland is the right bloke to be leading
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: this team, especially what this team needs now in terms
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: of building towards twenty twenty seven or maybe even beyond that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: You know, few young players in there, but it feels
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: like they don't have a generational player or two like
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: an alan Wynn Jones or some of those great front
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: rows that they've had through the years, great tens, fifteens
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: they've had in recent times. Yeah, all those Sam Wilburton,
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: you know, it feels like they're missing. They've got players,
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: you know, Aaron wayIn Wrights and impresses me when he
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: he looks good, but fuel and far between, and that's
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: the big issue for Wales among others in their system.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: At the moment, I thought the Wallabies did exactly what
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: they needed to do. Tom Wright's got a wonderful long
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: range try and you keep perform like that the Eddie
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Jones era. We'll get further into the review mirror and
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: maybe positive times here again for the Wallabies.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: It's just about baby steps. Isn't it rebuilding confidence? You
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: think about the damage just that Eddie Jones did to
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: future generations, Carter Gordon leaving and you know he picked
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: a squad for last World Cup with the next World
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Cup of mines, so we were told, and so Joe's
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: had to come in and start from scratch, start from
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: a low ebb. It's about building, rebuilding confidence and momentum,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: and that's a great start for them.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: It is. Indeed, South Africa island. This was in the
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: early hours of the morning in New Zealand, but goodwin
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: for South Africa beating Ireland first up. It was a
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: weird old game to an extent, sort of was in
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: fits and starts for a period. South Africa leading twenty
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: points to eight with about five six minutes to go,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: and then all hell breaks loose essentially and find it
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: was twenty seven to twenty and Ireland had a position
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: right at the end and maybe could have mounted something
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: to at least draw the game. But I think South
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Africa would be relatively happy with what they were able
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: to do in that performance. A couple of crucial erarors
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: from Ireland and in Rass's men continue on their mirror
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: way they do.
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: Indeed, this is an important win for South Africa too,
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: because they hadn't beaten Ireland for a number of years
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: and they'd hyped it up significantly with the promotional material
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: that Ruzzi and their official accounts have been put out,
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: and I love that by all means, bring the hype,
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: bring the noise, bring the eyeballs and attention to rugby.
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: These are two best teams in the world going at it.
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: South Africa is an incredibly tough place to tour, loft
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: of sad altitude, and Ireland competed well to a degree,
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: but it never felt like they were going to win
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: that game. They were always behind the eight ball and
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: South Africa stuck to their blueprint in terms of rolling
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: six forwards off the bench, all at the same time
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: monstering the Irish scrum, which was a real definitive moment
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: in that game. And I think it will be hard
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: for Ireland now to not be swept over there. But
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: in a very intriguing series and two quality teams, I
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: think if you sat back and watched all three of
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: those games this weekend, there's a definitive difference between the
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: All Blacks England Island, South Africa and Wales and Australia.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's probably fair. The other one I
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: want to touch on before we do it, I'll throw
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: to you feed any other thoughts. But Argentina France. Now,
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: France left a whole lot of players behind in France.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: Funny enough, no top fourteen finalists.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: No, and.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Perhaps the expectation was that Argentina, with most of their
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: key players there would be able to beat this French team,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: but probably speaks to the depth of France have got.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: There was a stand around how many debutantes I think
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: twenty in the squad of forty odd there were captain
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: by a bloke that didn't make the World Cup last year.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: But this generation of French dragging now, whether results in
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: a World Cup title or not, very very rich in talent,
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: and we saw that with them comfortably beating Argentina.
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: I think it's fair to say most informed rugby people
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: would say that the domestic scene in France is the
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: richest in the world. That's a well supported, well funded,
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: well contested competition and like you say, it's their strength
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: and depth that they've got. They've been a powerhouse in
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: the under twenties in recent years. New Zealand fantastic win
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: last week to get up over the French side, but
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: like you say, so many debutantes in that team to
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: go to Argentina, who are not a powerhouse of the
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: rugby world currently, but that's a great one for them.
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: And I think France and South Africa could name two
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: international teams and be very competitive that I would say
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: they have the best depth in the rugby world right now.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Any other thoughts from those games that we perhaps not
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: necessary watch but a quarter a glimpse of over the
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: course of the weekend.
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: It's hard to take it all and isn't it, But
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: I think on the whole win for the Southern hemisphere,
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: France the only nation to win, but Fiji and Samoa
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: getting up and my prediction of US of a sweep
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: in those other games and other nations.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: Still on indeed topic two in the final four on
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Rugby Direct, any changes likely for that All Blacks team
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: heading back to Auckland for the second test.
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: Well, as you mentioned, we're recording this on Sunday and
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: we will learn on Monday. TJ Pearra's fate, but I
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: would be very surprised if he is fit to take
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: the field at Eden Park and the second Test against England.
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: It looks like a bit of mcl We saw him
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: wandering around the lobby today. It didn't look horrific long term,
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: but maybe maybe a medium short to medium term knee ligaments.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: And if that scenario plays out, Finlay Christie is likely
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: to go on to start.
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: That's a concern for me.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: I thought Finlay was off the pace in the second
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: half against England, didn't necessarily have the platform with some
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: of his kicking accuracy. He's quite undecisive at the base.
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: But I can see the All Blacks favoring that experience.
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: That would scenario would bring Cortez Ratima onto the bench
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: for his debut, and that would really excite me. His
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: dynamic prospect, running game, quite physical point of difference for
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: the All Blacks.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: There.
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: Before we get to the rest of the changes in
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: the squad, let's say that happens. Piranara's out for the
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: rest of July. Who's the All Blacks wall call on
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: in a half back replacement? Who are they going to
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: call on? That's a fascinating question, isn't it. As I
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: buy myself some time while I ponder, I mean I've
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: ponder what I'm going to say here. Look, I think
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: Noah Hotham is the man to call in now, similarly
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: to perhaps someone like a George Bell.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: It's an eye to the future selection. You know, Ken
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: Royguard is going to be back. We hope around the
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: end of year tour mark. I'm hearing positive signs from
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: people that know him quite well that he's on track
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: for that point. If not, maybe let's hope Counties, maybe
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: towards the back end of the NPC. You know, you
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: got TJ Hopefully, let's hope that injury is not too bad.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: So you're looking rather than a misaffects it, You're looking
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: towards the future, but something that could also is also
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: capable of debuting in the next week. While I think
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Noah Hotham has that role, he impressed me during the
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: latter stages of Super Rugby. Has he got more starts
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: under his belt, dynamic from the base of the right
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: good kicking game. It looks like a really, really promising
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: player for the future. His time is probably a wee
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: bit further down the track. But I think if you're
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: looking for a replacement a third half back in the squad,
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: then he's your guy. I look, I'll throw the question
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: back at you before I entertain some of the other options,
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: but who would you go with?
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: Personally?
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: I would go with Nah Hotham as well. I'm a
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: huge fan of his running game and his vision, just
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: as the style he brings. I think in the wheeldgame,
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: if you take a step back, your half back needs
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: to be a threat around the fringes, and I don't
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: see Finlay Christie as that guy. He's good support player,
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: but he doesn't really bring a running presence to hold
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: those ruck defenders. And if you don't have that, you're
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: really missing a trick. So I think Hotham does bring that.
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: Where I think the All Blacks might go is if
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: you look out there in terms of a lightful like
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: replacement for per Andara falal Fucka Tava is probably the
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: closest because he's a big presence, he's physical, he brings
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: that running presence. He didn't have the greatest season with
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: the Highlanders and probably has faded from where he was
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: a couple of years ago, but he has test experience,
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: and I think there is an element of risk of
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: having two rookie halfbacks in your three pronged nine mix.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, although Fucka tavas not really an experienced half back himself.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: We've played two tests in twenty twenty two. Was discarded
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: after that injured, also scarted.
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: He's played a lot more super rugby than I hope has.
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: But it is fascinating to see where they go. Yeah,
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: you had one left field suggestion that almost got got
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: my backhand with said.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Your cheese whole cheese rolls, chucking on your cheese rolls
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: at lunch time, Mitch Drummond don't like it a player
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: that has had one All Blacks cap and as a
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: player that would probably be most likeful. Like in terms
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: of Finlay Christie, You've already got Finlay Christie in the squad.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: But I think you see what Scott Robertson did at
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: the Crusaders. His half back wasn't the star of the
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: show ccesserely in his era at the Crusaders, you had Drummond,
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: you had Britain Hall with auduistict to both of those,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: they were only tangentially in the All Blacks conversation for
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: a long period of time. Wasn't what the All Blacks
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: were looking for, but it was exactly what Scott Robertson
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: was looking for in his time in charge and allowed
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: the franchise quarterback and Richie and Wanger to basically pull
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: the strings of the team. Whether that's what he wants
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: at an All Blacks level is another matter entirely. But
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: if you're looking for a mister fix it for a
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: let's say, let's hope best case scenario TJP in an
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: hour's out for say a month. I'm not saying he's
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: going to play, you know, more than one of those
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: tests necessarily, But mittch Drummond could come in and do
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: a job. He could where there's not many options running
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: out to it.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: No, look, I think it's a possibility for me.
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: That's incredibly conservative, safe stopgap measure, and time has passed
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: him by Mitch Strummonds. Noah Hotham was starting over him
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: for the Crusaders and should have been since the start
• 35:06
  Speaker 5: of the year. But look, when you've got a former
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: Crusaders coach in charge and two Crusaders assistants in their
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: mixt what about be.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Ruled out Willie Hines, he's completed as international stand down
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: from England. How special would it be for him to
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: come and play again? I did have a when you
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: were just running your stories earlier.
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: And Hyland this country you got a back for our
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: day and I didn't I.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Think any other changes we touched a bit earlier. Possibly
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: I could see Pea Fetter and Boden Barratt being switched
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: for Eden Park Para Feder dropping to the bench. Hard
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: to see too many other changes too. That makes I
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: mean you could perhaps look at even blackout or off
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: the bench for Luke Jacobson. Don't know that Luke Jabson
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: did much wrong last night, but it could just be
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: a switch that they look to give some of them
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: a bit of game time in these first couple of
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: tests this season.
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: I think, broadly speaking, there's not going to be a
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: lot of changes, and Scott Robertson alluded to that today
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: when he talked about continuity and cohesion, that the All
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: Black SEV comes together short space of time, throwing a
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: lot at each other, and they'll want to build on
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: that platform without throwing too many changes into the mix.
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: And they've got a lot to fix. So I think
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: the live discussions are fullback. Whether Boden comes in that's
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: interesting given the explanation given for Peter Fetter was that
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: he had played more than Barrett Boden had had one
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: game at club level for Coastal in the past five weeks,
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: so there would be rationale there, but it would be
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: an extremely harsh call given the way Peter Fetter played
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: and blindside is a live discussion. Like you, I didn't
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: think some opinion necessarily imposed himself in the same physical
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: way that we saw him. You know, he was the
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: chiefs hit man, he was the enforcer. We didn't see that,
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: and that's the difference between super rugby and test level.
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: So I think ethan blackheader is if he's fit, I
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: would like to see him coming to the mix, whether
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: that's starting or off the bench. It's hard to see
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: too many other changes. Is that Damion McKenzie will retain
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: the berth at ten. You don't change the wings. I
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: don't think you changed the midfield, the front row, the locks.
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: So it'll be more about refining, being more accurate with
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: the execution.
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: They're making major positional tweaks.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Agreed Topic three in the final four slightly rhetorical, but
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: what point is there in a shot clock if it's
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: not on the big screen, if.
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: There's none And this is as much about your audience
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: as anything else. It's about the crowd and you're paying punters.
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: What the Dunedin Force Life bar did well was put
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: a line across the screen with the refereeing decisions keep
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: people informed.
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: And not only did Damien McKenzie.
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: You know he's required to count in his head to
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: be aware of how much time he's using. Just a
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: weird explanation here as well. Six because I didn't know
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: this how it works. Sixty seconds for a penalty kick.
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: That's from the time that the referee blow his whistle
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: for the penalty. So you've got to get your tea on,
• 38:11
  Speaker 5: you have to get the ball, you have to lie.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: When you signal that you want to take the shot of.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: Go yes, sorry, that's right. So you have to rush
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: that tea on, get it set up and knock it over.
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: It's not a lot of time, but you're right. How
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: hard would it be to put a little shot clock
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: on the big screen. And for those pain punters at
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: home watching every kick, I think it adds a bit
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: of jeopardy to it as well. It just seems so simple,
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: such a common sense thing.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: There are some places around the world and I can't
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: think of the top of it that do have that
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: on the that have implemented that should be mandated by
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: World Rugby. Hopefully look at Eden Parks. Scott Robertson said
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: they leave it to Mark Robinson to get on the
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: blod and Nick shaught it. Maybe they can make it
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: happen this week.
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: The only thing I would say about that is the
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: referee as a sole adjudicator of time, right, So if
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: the shot clock is deemed to be out and the
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: referee doesn't blow it or there's a discrepancy there, then
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: you put a lot of scrutiny on the referee when
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: he might have judicated it differently. So maybe that's part
• 39:08
  Speaker 5: consideration to it, but it's good punt. I think ultimately
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: you need to be keeping your audiences informed.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: Topic number four throwing around a bit on x formerly
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: Twitter today suggestion that maybe the new head coach of
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: the All Black, Scott Robertson, is getting an easy ride
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: on the basis of that one point when in the
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: first Test in England and against England and maybe comparing
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: it to the previous era under Ian Foster from the media.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: I guess your thoughts on that, Liam and whether Scott
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: Robinson's getting an easy ride.
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: Look, I don't think he's getting an easy ride, but
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: there's no denying that the perception, the backdrop, the public
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: good will will favor towards Scott Robinson is incredibly different
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: than it is for Foster, and it is funny when
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: you compare their respective starts. Foster drew an eighty eight
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: minute Test match against the Wallabies and Wellington in October
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: of twenty twenty, so we had to wait three months
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: in the COVID year, and you know that sparked a
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: lot of concern. Scott Robertson could have easily drawn his
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: first tests and emerges with the one point one everyone saying, look,
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: give him time. He's had a limited preparation window. So
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: I think there's validity to the different perceptions. But I
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: think there's still many people within the media and public
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: that would be sitting back unconvinced with the All Blacks performance,
• 40:37
  Speaker 5: asking questions, being critical, expecting improvements next week. So there
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: is validity in the different perceptions. But I don't think
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: he's getting an easy road.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: Mine. So that is they won. It's a test match.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: They won, Yes, not as pretty as perhaps we would
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: have liked, but they won. The Test match and winning
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: here was virtually everything.
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a great point, right.
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: A couple other points of business before we wrap up.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: You mentioned Richie wong early on in the show bit
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: of media he did around the traps last week with
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: our good friend Paul Cully and also the New Zealand
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: Herald as well, suggesting that now whether talks are in
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: motion or not, but certainly there's an openness from Richie
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: Moonger suggesting that he has unfinished business in New Zealand
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: and wants at some point to return to New Zealand.
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: What was your take on this, look, I don't think
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: it's a surprise.
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: You know, we had Chris Lendrummond a number of months
• 41:36
  Speaker 5: ago and he signaled that those talks were happening. To
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: put it bluntly, I think I would put my house
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: on the fact that Richie Muonger will come home after
• 41:46
  Speaker 5: his second season in Japan. So we're talking July next year,
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: which would be a year earlier than expected. And like
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: you say in Paul's piece, he certainly referenced the fact
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: that it was hard watching the Crusaders, that's seeing the
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: All Blacks first Team of the Year be named. There's
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: a longing to be there. This is a guy at
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: the peak of his power. He needs to be playing
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: test rugby. It's a crime that we don't get to
• 42:14
  Speaker 5: see him. He's sitting in the stands on Saturday night.
• 42:17
  Speaker 6: How hard would that be? From ye, he had a
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: great time on the bus, but that's not where he
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: really wants to be.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: We can have great times on the bus, but you know,
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: this is what he's paid to b He's in the
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: prime of his athletic career, should be playing for the
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: All Blacks, and that's one they let it get away.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: He's on rugby.
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and from a he's a competitor and don't discount
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: the Scott Robertson fact. We heard from Seva Reese last
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: week that he basically walked away from an overseas deal
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: because Racy said to.
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: Him, Hey, remember I got you to the Crusaders, mate,
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: you owe me.
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: And he's a raiser, is an extremely popular figure, particularly
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: with those Crusaders guys. Raised his relationship with Richie Wong
• 42:59
  Speaker 5: as well documented. So Richie will want to come back
• 43:03
  Speaker 5: and be a part of an All Black team that
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: he is leading, and I feel like he will be
• 43:09
  Speaker 5: back in July and that would give him the best
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: part of what's that two years to lead into a
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: World Cup. But it does create a very interesting dynamic
• 43:17
  Speaker 5: around the All Blacks number ten, Jersey and mcdamion, McKenzie
• 43:21
  Speaker 5: and Bowden, Barrett's role and others Stephen Petterfetter, that dynamic
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: is gonna be fascinating to see how Scott Robertson manages
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: those personalities and those selections.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: It is. Indeed a few super Rugby transfers announced last
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: week as well as flagged a couple of weeks ago
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: on the broadcast Swine Tangatao leaving the Blues to go
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: to the Highlanders. A couple of good pickups for them.
• 43:48
  Speaker 6: Zach Gellah has seen the light and going to the Canes.
• 43:51
  Speaker 6: Smart man, Smart.
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: Man, you're behind Jamie Hannah future all Black and a
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: good move for Zack Gallagher, I'm sure, joining the Hurricanes.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: Hurricanes also losing just In Sankster to Japan. Josh Moreby
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: well flagged that he's moving to France, and another one,
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: Selessie Rayasi going to France as well.
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and young talent moving on, isn't it. I guess
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: it makes sense to a degree those guys aren't in
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: the all blacks frame and you cash and while you can.
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: But I'll see one of the sort of what ifs.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: Maybe I think perhaps a few defensive frailties and his
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: reads on the game. But when he's got ball in hand,
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: he's explosive. He's fun to watch, really really good player,
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: strong at sevens, good for Auckland and the NPC, and
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: when he's taken those opportunities for the Hurricanes, I think
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: has been impressive as well, but just probably just a
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: tear blow where the All Blacks and with the log
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: gem of outside backs probably sees the writing on the
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: wall a little bit.
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: Extremely gifted athlete, isn't he ball in hand?
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: I think he scored a hat trick for the Hurricanes
• 44:52
  Speaker 5: and one match this year, But you're right, defensively and
• 44:56
  Speaker 5: just consistent struggled. So yeah, he's decided to cash in
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: and you can't begadge those guys. What about the best
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: news of the week, curiously of Rob van Royan out
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: of krash search that the great Man, the Messiah Rob
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: Penny has resigned with the Crusaders.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, not officially confirmed, so there is time to
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: backtrack on this. Still look, I suppose he's got a
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: contract for two years, doesn't he, Rob Penny, and he
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: was never going anywhere?
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: Was here?
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. It would have been a
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: bold move and an a precedented moved from New Zealand,
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: from a New Zealand rugby franchise to make that sort
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: of decision.
• 45:39
  Speaker 6: I can hear the enthusiasm in your voice out there.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: We talked about Warren Gatlan being Yesterday's man and I
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: think that falls under Rob Penny as well. In all honesty,
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: and sometimes you don't know that the sport has passed
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: you by until you're at the top eleven realize it has.
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: Warren Gatlan was an by and larger failure at the Chiefs.
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: Warren ball didn't work in Super Rugby. Doesn't look like
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: it's working up in Wales now orbit with a different
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: crop of talent to the one he had perhaps under
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: a previous regime. But I think Rob pennies the same,
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: just not the kind of coach that the Crusaders want. Sorry,
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: the Crusaders players knees. When you've gone from perhaps the
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: new school of coaching to Scott Robertson, now you're going
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: back to dar I say it from what I understand
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: the old school and look, from all accounts, Rob Penny
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: great bloke, lovely man, but I just do not think
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: he's the man that crusaders need at the top of
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: the tree at the moment. And that's why I would
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: pull the trigger if it's Tumbody Allison from twenty twenty six,
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: put him in from twenty twenty five if that's your
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: game plan, or look elsewhere. Yeah, but look, good reporting
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: from Rob van Royin on that front. And I'm sure
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: we'll see if that review is released.
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: And all yeah, I think the review will be released.
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: But whether they make a song and dance about Rob
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: Penny being retained, probably.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: Probably not want to make a song and dance about it.
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: Probably going to go well of the socials. I suspect
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: probably free size Pity not going anywhere. It's not going
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: to get likes.
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: There's some good memes to be had there.
• 47:04
  Speaker 5: Look, what I would say is it's not a news
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: yelling Rugby's culture to fire coaches generally speaking the All Blacks.
• 47:12
  Speaker 5: That was the exception to the rule in mid twenty
• 47:15
  Speaker 5: two when they were forced basically to change assistant coaches.
• 47:18
  Speaker 5: So from my mind, I never expected the Crusaders to
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: get rid of Penny. I don't believe that's the right decision,
• 47:26
  Speaker 5: but it is quite a cultural thing where you look
• 47:29
  Speaker 5: abroad and it is more common. But sorry, there are
• 47:33
  Speaker 5: big questions about Penny's tenure and some of the selections
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: the continued like a discipline that we saw last year,
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: that their inability to win tight games. There was a
• 47:44
  Speaker 5: litany of things that you could point to, and I
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: agree with you, he's not the right fit, not the
• 47:50
  Speaker 5: right man for that job.
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: There's always a lot of talk about high performance standards
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: and what's best for high performance culture, and if it's
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: getting rid of the coach, surely that is part of
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: the top tier of high performance standards. It may not
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: be the quote unquote efficult thing to do, but if
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: you were preaching a high performance and environment and looking
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: for the best type performance you can possibly get, then
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: that needs to transfer to being as brutal with coaches
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: as you would be with players.
• 48:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree.
• 48:20
  Speaker 5: The other thing I would say about the context of
• 48:24
  Speaker 5: the Crusaders obviously lost a lot of personnel next year
• 48:27
  Speaker 5: if they can keep will Jordan Ethan Blackhead, A Scott
• 48:29
  Speaker 5: Barrett Cody Taylor. These guys didn't play a lot of
• 48:32
  Speaker 5: rugby for the Cruisaders. This year they will make a
• 48:35
  Speaker 5: big difference. But with Penny in charge, I still don't
• 48:39
  Speaker 5: see them as a top four team, and that's.
• 48:42
  Speaker 6: Where they should be.
• 48:43
  Speaker 5: They consistently set the standards and the empire basically crumbled
• 48:47
  Speaker 5: overnight and there's got to be a degree of accountability
• 48:50
  Speaker 5: for that.
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: It does. That'll about do us for a Rugby Direct
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: nursing a little injury, so just going to call it
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: slightly earlier than what happened there. Well, I believe in fact,
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: I know for a fact you punched me right on
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: the near bit of the elbow, right in the bone.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: And this is a out as the recording, probably about
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: six hours ago, and I am struggling still to move.
• 49:14
  Speaker 5: I'm not look I'd just like to go on records.
• 49:16
  Speaker 5: So I don't generally go out to bully people. But
• 49:19
  Speaker 5: when you when you live in a confined space for
• 49:21
  Speaker 5: a short space of time, sometimes is a few tour
• 49:25
  Speaker 5: casualties and.
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: Like bath housing and it's ended in a tour injury.
• 49:30
  Speaker 6: Yes, well you rest them.
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: That's gonna be in the media inside on a Friday.
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: Ragby Direct at the scenes until next week on Rugby
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: Direct thanks to your company. We'll catch you next week
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: after the All Blacks have their second test of the year.
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: Thanks as always to excess solutions and also laughs and
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: bars and was retiring this all together. See you next
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: week on rag
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Betterrect For more from News Talks B listen live on
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.