Latest / Rugby Direct / Rugby Direct: Episode 220

Transcript

Rugby Direct: Episode 220 · Rugby Direct

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio, Straight
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Down the Middle Trust try get inside the game from
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: every end goal. It's Rugby Direct with Elliott Smith and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Leam Navier powered by News Talks EDB.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Welcome into Rugby Direct powered by NS and Safety Black Woods,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Everything tradees need sorted back for another week. Elliott Smith
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: with me Liam Napier, Big Old podcast head. Very shortly
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: we will get into the tipping some team you, some
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: big team news out of some of the teams for
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: this week. Also some more changes in the all Black setup.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: We'll get into that very very shortly. But first and foremost,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: we are joined by Hurricanes cheer Malcolm Gillies and co
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: owner Malcolm Gillies on Rugby Direct to talk a ray
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: of issues. Obviously in the wake of Morna Pacifica disbanding
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: after the season, Malcolm was good enough to give us
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: some of his time early in the week to go
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: over some of the key issues in rugby and where
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we sit. Great pleasure to have Malcolm Gillies with us
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: on Rugby Directs.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Welcome Malcolm to Rugby Direct. Thank you very much for
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: making the time today. We want to kick off. I
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: guess by discussing your role with the Hurricanes last year.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: You know, the franchise lost over two million dollars and
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: you bought in fifty percent steak. Can you just talk
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: us through why you did that? And I guess the
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: motivation behind getting involved with the Hurricanes.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, it wasn't just me. It was myself and
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: a gentleman called John Mallon. We got together up and
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: the reason we got involved is both willing to rugby
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: and the Hurricanes are tenants of mine. CIAC. Wellington Rugby
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: came to me and we've been helping them, sponsoring them
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: and allowing them to basically stay here rent free. They
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: came to us and explained that their situation was pretty
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: dire and that they needed to effectively sell their shares
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: in the Hurricanes. So you know, it wasn't my wasn't
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: my bournie. The ambition to own a sports things quite frankly,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: but you know, I'm very passionate and so is John
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: about rugby and particularly Wellington Rugby. It's something very very
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: special to me. So it was really about helping them,
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: so we got involved initially thinking well, it'll help Wellington
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: and you know, we need to get involved with the Hurricanes.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: There wasn't until we decided to help Wellington that we
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: actually found out the Hurricanes were in probably worst position
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: what Wellington were, and by that stage there was no
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: getting out of it. Initially, you know, we led to
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: believe that they might be running a small deficit of
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: two to three hundred grand, and you know that blew
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: out to about two and a half million. So you're
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: in that jet. What are you going to do? So
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: we sort of thought, well, we're going to be positive
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: about this and we're going to sort it out so effectively,
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: that's what we've done. We just got boots and are
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: all Wellington. You know, hopefully that helped them. I know
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: that they've still got struggles themselves, and of course what
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: we've done is you know, ripped into how we're going
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: to try and sort the Hurricanes out.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: If are you good on?
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: You're for getting involved in obviously the greatest franchise and
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: Super rugby.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Elliot might disagree. He's a he's a staunch Cantebrian.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: This year they win both the men and the woman,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: so what a turnaround next?
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: I look forward to it.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: If we take a step back and look at the
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: super rugby landscape as a whole, you know, it's a
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: very challenging financial climate. The last couple of years have
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: seen the rebels go under Miner PACIFICA highly likely to
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: end at the end of this year. It costs, as
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: you know, around ten to twelve million to run a
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: super rugby team. It's challenging to get crowds involved. Do
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: you consign yourself when you get involved as a as
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: a major investor that this is a loss making venture.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: No, not at all. I think the reality is when
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: we got involved with you was losing money. When we
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: actually got involved and looked, the model doesn't work and
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: unless there's change, it's not going to work. You've got
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: five franchises, six franchises in New Zealand, and none of
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: them are exactly making a lot of money. So you
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: know there's got to be change. And you know, I'm
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: advocating that there has to be changed. The whole system
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: has to change. I don't think it's sustainable as it
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: sits right now.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: What means to change.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: A hell of a lot the way it's structured. My
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: belief is that probably needs to be privatized and you know, yeah, look,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: I could go on and on, but you know, I
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: think it's kind of knowledge that it has to be sorted.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Cannot continue the way it is at the moment.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Malcolm, do you think there are too many restrictions on
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: what you can do from a New Zealand rugby and
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Super rugby level in terms of player recruitment and everything
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: else like that? Is there too many handbrakes on what
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you're able to do with what is your team?
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: We're working within the boundaries, all right, and I think,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: you know, let's be honest, that's what you've got to do.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: But if you were looking at all the problems you've got,
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: and if you listened and read things that grow to
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Graham Henry saying the competition isn't producing what it should do.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: It's not producing quality players that can compete on the
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: international scene. So it's not producing what New Zealand rugby wants.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: New Zealand Rugby wants a super competition to produce black
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: ferns or blacks and at a level that they're going
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: to be competitive, and everyone's saying we're not doing that.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: So that's got to be sorted. Now, How do you
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: sort that. You guys probably know it better than me.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: But there's some short term strategies and there must be
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: some long ter. You've got to change the competition to
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: give you a competition, to give you those sorts of people.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: And people say, right, yoh, well, should we bring in
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: South Africa? Should we try and bring in Japan? Should
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: we try? And you know those things when you look
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: at it, I won't be here long enough. I'm sixty seven.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I'll be dead before that's even results because they take forever.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: What is the short term strategy to improve the competition? Now,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: there's so many answers, but surely those some of those
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: things is to allow our overseas players to come and
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: play in our competition. That's just a suggestion. Why wouldn't
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: you You imagine that you had that big guy from
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: the big South Africa lot coming over here. That had
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: certainly solved some of the crowd problems, wouldn't they Because
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: you're going to fire, You're going to get people wanting
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: to come and see some world class players. Look, I
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: don't know if it's practical, but I do see that
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: it's a major problem is we're not doing what they
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: expect us to produce. We're not producing world class players
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: and that's because the competition apparently isn't strong enough. Now,
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: the game I saw between the Chiefs and the Hurricanes
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: on Saturday night, I thought it was a pretty damn
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: good game. But if that's not good enough, and wouldn't
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: be for me to tell Sir Graham Henry, but he's
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: come out in the paper and saying that competition isn't
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: doing what it should be doing. So it's up to
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: us to come up with some answers to that. And
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: if you start to really brainstorm, you know, the short
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: term strategy seems to me is that maybe if we
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: can't get other countries to get involved, might be a
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: short term strategy to get other players to be allowed
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: to come in and play. And you look at the
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: guy Doings that came in out of Japan. Now look
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: what a difference that made. You know, it's the Hurricanes
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: become a bit of a sort of a folk hero,
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: isn't it. So you know, maybe maybe you should be
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: allowed to open the gates and maybe we should be
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: looking at bringing more people in like that.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Do you think, Malcolm, that there's the money to bring
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: in some of these overseas studs.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: No, I didn't say it was going to solve all
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: the problems, but you know there's there's more than one
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: play here. I mean, you've got to look at all
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: your stakeholders and I think what we're doing now is
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: super Clubs is trying to get round the table and
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: be proactive. Everyone with half a brain knows something's got
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: to change, and that's part of it. All I'm suggesting
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: is we've got to get this competition producing quality all
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: blacks and make firms. How are we going to do it?
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: And money will leave one of those issues?
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: What about things like a There's been long talk about
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: a system and eligibility where the zeal And Australian players
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: can swing between the countries and still be eligible for
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: their national teams. What's your view on our draft system
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: and their eligibility in its current form.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: Well, once again I'm not the NZ at R anyway,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: but it seems to me that that would be practical.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: You know, if you looked around, if you want your
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: players to be getting quality competition and you can't give
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: it to them in this country, why wouldn't you allow
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: them to go somewhere else and play and still select them.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: That to me seems one way of getting the competition
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: you need. Wouldn't you agree?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? And I think you know, there seems that we
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: are willingness from people like yourself and other CEOs, you know,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Carl Budget the Blues to try something different, look at
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: this competition a little bit differly. Do you think that
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: across the board people are willing to perhaps explore things
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: a little bit differently and not use the status quo
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: as a reason for withholding change.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: I don't think there's ever ever been as much motivation
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: to look at things differently as there is right now.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: As chattan of the Hurricanes, I've only just got involved
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: on the new boy on the Block. I've only been
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: to two meetings. I haven't been evicted from any of
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: them just yet. But what I do, since there is
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: a there's a will to explore change and all options,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: and I think most from what there's a desire to
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: not to just try and tweak it. There has to
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: be there has to be something, you know, fundamentally change
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: for this thing to work. And I think all things
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: are going to be on the table. You've got to
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: be looking at you know, when you really look at it.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Why have we got a system where a player goes
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: over so why aren't we getting a transfer fee? Why
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: isn't that passed back to the rugby clubby come from
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: to the Hurricanes. Why is it that we sit here
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: and we train and we nurture our people and we
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: can't afford to meet and they go to Japan. You know,
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: we've got SNC trainers that are ruining three times. You
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: can't blame the guys, know for to taking the money.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: We need to have a goal in Super Rugby to
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: have the best competition in the world that pays the
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: most to their players and to their coaches, and that
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: should be driving us to try and get some sort
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: of result out of us. You know, you can explore
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: all things. Should we be actually contracting and paying the players?
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: Mm hm, you know, should we have a contract just
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: to release them for international journeys? You know, there's a
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: lot of stakeholders here and you're going to get them
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: all onside. But I mean, some of these things all
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: of us can see. They're no brainers, aren't they. You mean,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: what wouldn't you look at the league system and say, well,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: should we not be looking at the way how that works?
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: And bringing some of that back into this running the clubs.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you want private investment into these super clubs,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: you've got to give them someone to investor. There's not
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: a lot there that you would get people to invest
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: in what I've seen.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Well, if you open up to private investors, obviously there
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: could be some overseas brands potentially that come in, you know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: New Zealand. We talk about New Zealand's economy and whether
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: that's got the funding. But if you open up to privatization,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: there are no doubt I'm sure you know be seeing
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: bill Fold come into the A League and various other
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: ventures around the globe that I'm sure be interested in,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: you know, buying the license or running those teams, you know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: on a on a bigger scale end. They'd probably look
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: at the rules and go, why can't we do that?
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: I think so yeah. I mean there's going to be
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: a lot of challenges, isn't there. I mean, if you know,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: if you look at it, but they're not insurmountable. And
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: if there's a will, there's a way. And if you
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: can get round the table and the stakeholders all want
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: to you know, it to work, I think you can
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: work your way through it. I mean you can find
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: a big list of all the things that you've got
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: to deal with, like you know, and there are things
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: that you can say, right yeah, well, I mean from
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: my point of view, I know that there has to
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: be changed and we've got to make you know, we're
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: going to have to get out there and make some
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: change and some things maybe it just will never work,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: but we've got to get to that point.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: If we look at your backyard that the Kings, how
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: difficult is it to retain players currently, particularly that middle tier.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: You look at Vienna North for Roley Higgins is leaving,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Devin Flanders has got a big money offer on the
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: table from Japan. How difficult is it for clubs to
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: attain these players?
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Well, do you want me to state the obvious or how
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: it's impossible. It's impossible when we know how it all works.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: They get paid so much from the Zone Rugby Union
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: and then there's an ability to have other payments made.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: But you know, everyone is struggling, and so within New
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Zealand we're struggling to keep our players from going from
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: one super to the other. But from the overseas, there's
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: just no comparison. You know, we just cannot pay those
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: players the numbers that they're being often and that's a shame.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: What's the latest you're hearing about the competition? It could
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: be a ten team competition next year. There's potential change,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: as you mentioned, everything's on the table potentially. How do
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: you envision the competition looking in the short term next year?
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: I don't know. We're just really still trying to get
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: our head around what's going to happen to the CIA
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: and how that's play out. But yeah, really haven't got
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: a view on that at the moment. I think it's sad,
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: but you know, it's obviously it's not sustainable.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: So then, Malcolm, a couple of weeks ago, about a
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: month ago now, you wrote an open letter to your fans,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the Hurricanes fans, and urging them to fill the seats
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: at Henry Stadium for the season. What motivated you, apart
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: from us the numbers themselves, what might have motivated you
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: to to put pen to paper or keys to the
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: keyboard and write that letter.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Now, we had a bit of a strategy we when
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: we got involved with the Hurricanes. We felt that as
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: a as a group, previous to that that we there's
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: a lot of things that we hadn't done that well.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: We we we believe we hadn't necessarily looked after our
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: provincial union as well. We hadn't brought them on the journey.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think at that stage we felt that we
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: treated our fans right and that we basically looked after them.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: We also felt our past players and when we looked
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: at you know, why why aren't people going to the
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: stadiums anymore? We felt, Look, the best thing we can
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: do is let's find out what's going on and let's
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: start making some linroads. Let's start looking after our pus.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: So we engage with our provincial unions and ask them,
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: you know, what do we need to do. We've got
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: to plan now our past players. We've got a very
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: very strong past player group. They were very supportive, but
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: we've worked harder with them. We had them at the
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: stadium and it was great to have them there the
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: ninety sixteen going out on the ground and we've surveyed
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: our fans, found out what they want and we're try
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: and do as much as we can against all odds,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: trying to address that. So for Henry's Stadium, you know,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: we've surveyed them and they're saying to us, and they
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: were saying to us because we want to get on
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: the field. So we go to the stadium and say
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: we need our fans on the field of it, you know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: and you know, we've had to fight tooth and nail. Oh,
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: you can have them this week, but next week we've
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: got to do some seeding, so you can't have them.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: So having to fight hard. But we've had two two games,
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: and the fans are coming back and saying, this is
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: what we want. We want to get back on the field.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: After the game. They're telling us, you know, and it's
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: no secret, but they're telling us the stadium the food
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: is too dear, the alcohol is too dere. They're wanting
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: better experience. So we've doubled our spin. We went and
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: found out what sc is doing. How much is their
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: spind with Kojo on Prenaturally Entertainment. We went and found
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: out to talk to the worries what they're doing. We
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: doubled our spin. We've got more lights coming up, more bands,
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: so you know, we're doing everything we can to provide
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: a better entertainment. We're trying to work with the stadium.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: You know, like fighting tooth and nail. But we know
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: what people are saying, I mean, money's tight. We surveyed
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: them and we thought that, you know, maybe three transport
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: was something that was stopping people. But you know, that wasn't.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: That wasn't one of the things. What came out of
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: our last four thousand we put out. We've got four
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty back. What came out was basically conflict
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: and lifestyle. You know, the times that we're playing. People
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: want four o'clock games and we're forced to do it
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: at seven. We want mom and dad and the kids
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: to come, but we're playing at seven. We should be
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: playing at four, they're saying. The next thing is they're
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: saying it's two beer, you know, fourteen dollars a can
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: of beer, seven fifty. We've worked with our supplies, our Brians,
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: and we've got them to package up ten dollar fish
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: and chip yields. We've got them to give away five
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: and are there are five hundred and ten dollar out
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: just three food for kids. We've got them to allow
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: food trucks in the concourse so that people have a choice,
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: different foods, different prices. Next thing we need is to
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: ensure that we've got our fans on the field every
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: game because that's what they want. And we've also probably
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: you know, still got a bit I think with the
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: food and beverage to get that pricing down to that families.
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: To afford it.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: The Warriors are coming to town this week and they've
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: sold out Henry Stadium. Is that a scarcity thing? What's
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: your reaction to the Warriors being able to fill those seats.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: But obviously, and as you say, you guys are doing
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: everything you possibly can to figure out the crowd issue
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: for Super Rugby.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: Well it wasn't that many years ago. They couldn't either,
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: so we just found out what they did, we're doing.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: It's hopefully in a few years from will be in
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: the position. I think that they've done some things really well.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: I think they've got an emotional attachment to there, to there,
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: to their fans. I think they've maximized they've spent the
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: money on the gate pregame entertainment, and I think, you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: they've got to here city thing, the only pray here
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: once a year, and I think they've got a good product.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: I think they've done a bloody good job, to be honest,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: and I think if we take on board some of
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: the things that they've done and look after our people
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: the way they have, that's a waste war.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: Some bloody good initiatives there, Malcolm around the stadium and
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: and you know, really appreciate what you're trying to achieve.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: H I'm not sure how long you're looking to be
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: involved for, but what is your vision for the Hurricanes,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: for Super Rugby? You know we've discussed a lot of
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: challenges here, but are you a believer? I believe in
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: what and that Super Ugby can I guess rise again
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: and captivate people like it used to.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Unless there is a fundamental change. No, all right, If
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: it stays the way it is now, I see for
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: I fear for it. If there's change, then I believe
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: we've got a product. But if it just stays the same,
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: I think it's going to die. That's my mister opinion.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: And I think even more than that, if it doesn't change,
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: it's not going to achieve what New Zealand Rugby wants.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: It's not going to achieve what private investments want, and
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: it probably isn't going to achieve what the fans want,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: and it certainly won't achieve what the players want. So
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: the answer is it's got to change.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: And do you believe that change will come?
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to give it the best shot, but
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: if it doesn't, I won't be hanging around.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I guess there's not a lot of.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: People out there like yourself that are willing to invest
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: significant sums of money.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: You know, Miana the rebels.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: That these are examples of cases where it hasn't worked.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: So if you can't achieve change, then it's going to
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: be very challenging for other people as well.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: No, you did, right, But I mean you guys probably
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: can see it as much as I can. If it
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: doesn't change, it will not survive, right, So that's just
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: you know, I can't change that. And I also if
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: people won't change, then all I can do is try.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: And I'm sure that you know we'll give it our
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: best shot. But then what do you do.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Unless some elliot's got anything else? Should we finish on
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: a positive note? And you can tell us why the
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Hurricanes win the title this year?
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: Why they will? Well, I tell you they've got really,
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: really good coaches. They've got a fantastic group of coaches,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: They've got a great roster, they've got great team spirit.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: This didn't all happen just because when I got involved,
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: I had nothing to do with any of those things.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: To be fair, over the last two to three years,
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: it's been building. You know, they've recruited well, they've got
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: quality coaches and so from you know, what we're trying
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: to do is just we honestly believe this is our year.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: And I talked to Clark last year. Last year he
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: told me it was going to be the Hurricanes year
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: this year, and I think he was, you know, he knew,
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: he knew that they were growing. So you know, there
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: are a great group of guys, and you know, really
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: I hope we can do them justice by turning around
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: the finances. Behind the scenes, you know, we've made a
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: lot of the roads into into getting more sponsorship, sorting
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: out better business systems, making sure the board is all
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: aligned with the team, getting direction. Everyone's working really hard.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: The most exciting part is you wait till those women
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: start playing. They're going to show a brand of rugby
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: out there and the determination to do well that we've
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: never seen down here before.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: But certainly music to our is here. Rugby directors, big
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Hurricanes fans, Malcolm.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: Well you know, there are a great team of guys
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: and I think everyone that's really involved in rugby and
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: New Zealand Super clubs. I think, you know, if there's
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: ever been a time when everyone's aligned that something has
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: to happen. You know, you've got a lot of good
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: men there. You've got Bill Osborne from the Chiefs, great
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: great man. He you know, he's pushing. You've got a
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: lot of good people out there that know that we
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: have to do something for the betterment of Super Rugby
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: and New Zealand rugby. And there's no use just being
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: the person that just complains that I ain't doing what
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: everyone wants it to do. I think we've just got
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: to get out there and try and get it sorted out.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, great passion, that's what we want to hear in
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the game. Malcolm. Really appreciate your time with us on
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Rugby Direct and look forward to catching up again and
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: maybe once the Hurricanes Men and Women when the titles
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: he might speak again later in the year.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I hope so, I hope. So I won't say
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: I told you so.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Malcolm Gillies joining myself and Liam on Rugby to reach
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Liam some really interesting thoughts from Malcolm Gillies. We recorded
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: a couple of days ago. We've had a couple of
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: days to think about what he had to say. Look,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: he raised some really interesting and different perspectives, didn't he.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think very forthright views and that's what the
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: game needs right now. I think in large part he's
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: right that Super Rugby needs to evolve, needs to change.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I don't necessarily think that all of those things that
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: he put forward are achievable, but you can't knock his passion.
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: He's stumping up.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Millions of dollars to prop up the Hurricanes and so
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: his voice needs to be heard.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Would privatization work is my question?
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Is it?
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Like I guess, New Zealand's not a huge economy and
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: you need probably overseas in vestors. You've seen Bill Foley
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: with Aukland FC, but he's now taking an interest in
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Exeterter Chiefs in the last few days. But is there
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: enough money around New Zealand Slash the World to come
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: in and go yep, give me those one of those
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: five franchises.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: Not in a New Zealand's context alone. And I think
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Malcolm makes a good point that right now, being a
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: private investment in Super rugby is not attractive because you
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: don't have that level of control.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Your players a contractors in New Zealand rugby, you bet
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: the b his hist of maybe whether they want to
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: risk players and various other things there. You are a
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: franchise basically, it's like owning you know, I mc donald's
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: or whatever. You are reportable to the top office that
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: have to release a lot of those controls to make
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: it a legitimate private run competition.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's not just player contracting, it's also the stadiums.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: They're all separate entities in their own right. Malcolm was
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: talking about having to fight tooth and nail to let
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: players on the ground and all the changes he's trying
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: to make. Well, it's the same for most, if not
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: all other Super rugby teams as well. The Blues they
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: have to work with Eden Park to change anything. The
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Crusaders in the new stadium, they'll have to pay quite
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: a significant fee from what I'm hearing to go there
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: with no horses, no horses, they can't do what they want.
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: So not only is it with.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: The players and recruitments. Malcolm talked about wanting to recruit
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: more overseas stars. So you are quite restricted at every turn.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: So if you're a wealthy backer there, how much influence
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: can you have? How attractive is it? How many people
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: like that are out there too? Sure, but if there
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: were more, if there was a better avenue for more control,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: then maybe it would be more attractive.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Indeed, his point late in the interview about Super Rugby,
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: if it doesn't change, it'll die, was fairly stark. And look,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: as he said, there are people willing to get the
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: heads around the table, get the bodies on the table,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: and try and make some big calls here. But that
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: was fairly start from an owner or a co owner
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: of a franchise to go things don't change, this comp
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: will die.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And look he is in a more informed position
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: than many of us in that he has the Hurricanes
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: box in front of him and.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: Moana the Rebels. They aren't alone. Super Rugby is struggling.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: Financially, and that's not isolated in this part of the world.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: It is a very prevalent issue throughout professional rugby globally,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: perhaps other than the top fourteen where the bank are
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: backed by hugely wealthy individuals. Not just from a financial perspective,
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: look at crowds, you know, You can talk the scarcity
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: of the Warriors selling out Wellington and the Hurricanes getting
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: thirteen thousand to the Blues, but attracting crowds is an
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: issue that's not going away. That's directly tied to generating
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: enough revenue to keep you afloat. So there are massive
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: issues and whether it is a draft, whether it's eligibility, privatization,
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: kickoff times. Malcolm mentioned he wants to play at four
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: o'clock and they are told they can only play at seven.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: All these little things can make incremental gains, but there
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: does need to be changed.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what was that quote that's done the rounds from
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: John Flett, the former owner of Sky or CEO of
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Sky going in play games in the afternoon. But here's
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: the difference in the fee between what you get for
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: that and what you get at seven o'clock at night
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: in terms of the broadcast. There are reasons I guess
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: on every turn as to why things can't be done.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: But just to wrap up, it is good to hear
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: an owner of a team or a franchise come out
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: and go, you know, things do need to change in
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: the sport, and he's got some ideas and maybe they
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: won't work some of them, but maybe some of them
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: can work. It's refreshing to hear some big corse here.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you've got your head in the sand.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: If you think everything's rosy and super rugby, you can't
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: sit there and say the competition is amazing, we're making bank.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: Everything's great. Look, the on field product has been good
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: and the law tweaks. The entertainment product is right up
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: there in terms of rugby globally, and the viewership we're
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: told is good. But things do need to change. They
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: need to evolve because you're looking at a ten tem
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: competition next year. There's not that true Jeopardy, and you've
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: got people like Graham Henry coming out and saying this
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: competition is not preparing enough athletes to compete on the
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: world stage. And you'd have to say the competition on
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: a regular basis is not there, is not at the
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: level you want it to be.
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: So things do need to evolve.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Quick break Malcolm Gillies with us on rugberect will take
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: a break, come back and get into some more rugby
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: news after this, you're back with rugby. It's a rigged
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: power by ns he in Safety, Blackwoods some more Rugby
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: news during the week. The return of Gilbert and Noke
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: to the All Black set up his leadership and mental
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: skills coach doctor James mcgavey, also returning after a couple
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: of years away. I guess leam your reaction the final
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: perhaps pieces in the puzzle to Dave Reni's staff.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Perhaps a bit of a surprise, I think, well to
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: me and most people didn't hear that, didn't know it
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: was on the table. Gilbert and Oke left a couple
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: of years ago and went up to Chelsea, but of
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: a short term stint. They're not too sure about how
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: that wents. But look at his time in the All
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: Blacks was largely marked by great success and if you
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: talk to a number of senior players, they really.
• 34:06
  Speaker 6: Valued his inputs.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: I probably have some reservations about the modern day player,
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: the younger guy, and whether that same connection piece is there,
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: But I think it's a great recruit from Dave Ready,
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: very savvy. I think he would have listened to player
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: feedback and taken that on board and gone after anokah,
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: and he's done well to bring him back in that regard.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: So's that's a tick.
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: What about you?
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: What sort of things do you think Anoka could bring
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: to the environment that perhaps Kerry Evans didn't.
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: I think he's obviously had some experience away from rugby
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: in the last eighteen months. As you mentioned, he's been
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: with Chelsea, he done it with the England cricket team,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: done to work with the new South Wales state of
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Origin team, experienced some different environments and no doubt would
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: have taken the lessons of what has and hasn't worked
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: in those respective fields and probably come back with a
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: different perspective. I know who He spoke to Darcy Watergrave
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: earlier in the week and said, you know, time away
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: has been valuable and you know, just getting away from
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: rugby and the all Blacks environments and taking stock of that,
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: so probably comes in with a different appreciation of what
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: makes some players tick. When he comes back in there'll
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: be some players that he knows, obviously that you know,
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the Cody Taylor's bow and Barrett's of the world, but
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: there'll be a lot that he doesn't though, and you
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: know it's going to be a fresh face and a
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: different face and that'll be challenging in terms of engaging
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: with that. But he is highly regarded and hearing what
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: he had to say around the number of ex coaches
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: that urged him to get back involved. You know, Graham, Henry,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Wayne Smith, Steve Hansen, Joe Schmidty and Foster all basically said,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: you know, get in touch. I believe was Wayne Smith
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: who passes number on to Dave Rennie. Yeah, I think
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: it's a good appointment for the All Blacks. So we'll
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: see how it goes.
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I watch this space.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: Look, it is an incredibly important field, I think, and
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: having a sounding board between the coaches and the players
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: is valuable because as much as a head coach develops relationships,
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: they're still the selector. The buck still stops of them.
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: They have to create a bit of distance. They can't
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: be too matey mate. So having someone who is a
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: bit autonomous, a bit detached, is really valuable. I think
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: from a players perspective, it'll be up to an Oka
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: to build that trust with the players that he doesn't.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Know it will be indeed become unstoppable. Read his book
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: over something very interesting reading on that front. Let's get
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: into the weekend here and it is of course super
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Round in christ Church, the new National Stadium opening up.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: We're very excited. I'm looking forward to It's been a
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: long time in the making as a cantabri in myself.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: As if there weren't already enough storylines ahead of this weekend.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Rob Penny comes out and goes right, Lester, fang Onuku,
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: you're gonna wear the number seven jersey. What was your reaction?
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the marketing department of Dunewell to convince Rob to
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: do that, haven't they?
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: Look?
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: The Crusaders are clearly down on troops. No Ethan Blackheader
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: and a number of others there. But I think a
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: massive surprise, really, Lester. I interviewed him in Perth last
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: year as he made his comeback for the All Blacks
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: and he talked about switch from the midfield to the
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: loose forwards playing for Toulon in France. But I don't
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: think he ever started at open Soide Flanka to my knowledge, No, no,
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: So it's a massive shift. I don't think it's a
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: long term move. I think maybe he has that potential
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: in him, but it's going to be very interesting to
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: see how he goes. You think about Andre Esterhesen in
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: South Africa, Oli Mathis, there are examples around the world
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: and he's got the frame for it, but it's a
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: massive change.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: It is a massive change, but I'm intrigued to see
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: how it goes. Like, if it comes off, then it
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: just changes everything. But it changes the dynamic of the
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Crusaders the rest of the season and what they think
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: about in terms of the makeup of their team.
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: Do you think we'll see it again?
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: Maybe look for a success and he's pilfering turnovers and
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: he's making big strides across the park, and his work
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: at the breakdown it's good, and he's still able to
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: roam around. Maybe, like, if it's a successful move, why
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you look at it more often?
• 38:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: I think here word value closer line, he's incredibly difficult
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: to stop. So from the base, I'm sure he'll be
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: sniping around there. And my question is really around the
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: finer details of jackling the breakdown. Does he give away
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: too many penalties? Does he get his timing right? Is
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: he going to stay on his feet? Does he get
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: his hands on the grounds.
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: Over the ball?
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Some of those intricacies are really hard to master and
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: to actually take a long time.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: He won the penalty that got the Crusaders the victory
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three against the Chiefs and Hamilton Jack
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: with the ball got over the top of it. He
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: is a good presence at the breakdown. Again, you're gonna
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: have to do this full time now, it's not you
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: spot an opportunity when you're playing the Backs. This is
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: his full time job for this game. So it's gonna
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: be fascinated to see.
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: How it goes.
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: I absolutely can't wait.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Yeap, we'll see the all Blacks implications of that, but
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: you know, following the steps of armor core him Todd
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: in terms of we're in that Red and Black Crusaders
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: number seven pretty special. Who you tipping for that game?
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Crusaders were at seven to thirty five, incidentally half an
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: hour delay to the usual kickoff time.
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: Look, the Crusaders won that comfortably. Some big names coming back,
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: Cody Taylor, Fletchernewell, a couple of others as well. Still
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: down on troops to a degree, but surely the Waratars
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: can't spoil that homecoming party you.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Certainly hope not describe at halftime. Doesn't get much better.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Hurricanes Brumbies five oh five, Saturday afternoon. This is on
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: neutral territory. The Hurricanes have not traveled that well to
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: canber in recent times. Do they continue or bounce back
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: rather from their loss last week?
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: I think they do, but I'm expecting this to be
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: the closest match of the weekend. The Brumbies have gone
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: really well against New Zealand teams this weekend. As you mentioned,
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: it's neutral territory. I think the fact that's under a
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: roof probably suits the Hurricanes. We talked about how they
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: played too conservatively with the one that back in the
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: second half last week. I hope they go back to
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: that more attacking brand of rugby that served them well
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: this year. So I'm tipping the Canes, but I do
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: expect it to be a bit squeaky.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. If the Brumbies hadn't lost last week to the
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: Drewer in canber It inexplicably, then I might have looked
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: at the Brumbies potentially, but I think the Hurricanes will
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: just be too good to just say under the roof
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: in christ Blues read seven thirty five on Saturday what
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: is now a traditional and Zach Day fixture between these
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: two sides. Reds won last year at Suncorp Stadium. The Blues, though,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: you know, we're poor against the Hurricanes week prior to last.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: We're good for an hour against the Highlanders, then sort
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: of lost the plot a little bit, interesting game, but
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: I think the Blues get home.
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Blues and I think they'll do
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: it comfortably. The Reds down on troops. They are missing
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: Carter Gordon and one of their other tensins out as
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: well here Onliner, So yeah, I think the Blues will
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: go through the middle and maybe be a bit more
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: expensive as well, with the conditions set to be pristine,
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: So I think they do it well.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: Been Volivo coming off the bench with the Reds and
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: Jack Debrassini coming off the starting for the Wartars. Some
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: really interesting selections been volivil E Scrusader of course. Homecoming,
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: homecoming for the great Man Highlanders. Moana Pacifica on Sunday afternoon.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: Interesting old game this Mourana were good for periods of
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: that game against the war Tars last week. A lot
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: of emotion around that. Obviously. Can they carry themselves to
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: a win against the Highlanders.
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: It wouldn't be a total shock, but I think the
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: Highlanders win. They smacked Mowana in Albany earlier this year
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: when the lights went out late in that game, which
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: is really bizarre. So I think they get up again.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's a tough old scenario, isn't it. How
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: long can Moana carry that spirit with the guillotine effectively
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: hanging over them?
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Oh look, I'm going just to be slightly different because
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: we took the same so far. I'm going to tip
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: more on to Pacifica for an upset and the Chiefs
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Fijian drew it to wrap up super around full thirty
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: on Sunday afternoons.
• 42:17
  Speaker 6: To be a cracker, won't it.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: And I think high scoring the ball have plenty of
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: air the Duror coming off their famous win in camera,
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: but the Chiefs are pretty stacked, so I think they'll
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: enjoy that trip to christ Church.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they will as well. I'm going to
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: go the Chiefs for that one. You incidentally picked three
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: right last week, Blues, Wartas and Force the Great Force. Yes,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: so you're on thirty. I picked one right. It was
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: a tough It was a tough round, so you got
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: thirty to twenty six lead in that one. No mail
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: bag this week, Tim, I am working away at that question.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: I'll come back next week with some answers. We'll be
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: back with the mail by next week, though Rugby directed
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: at news Talk ZB dot co dot in z to
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: get in touch and we'll be back with one pod
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: late next week once super Round has calmed down a
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: little bit. Maybe on Thursday. It dost settle a little
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: bit and re group for another podlem.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Ristener recover. Looking forward to ripping in and enjoying
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: everything crushed.
• 43:13
  Speaker 6: It has to offer.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: It's very hospitable.
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: Give you the red carpet for me.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: I've arranged that. I've spoken to the people at christ
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Year Report and you just wait when you get off
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: the plane. We'll be back with another episode as a
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: CD next week. Thanks to Mark Kelly for producing, and
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: thanks to Ends in Safety, black Woods, Everything Tradees need.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Sorters for more from News Talks ed B. Listen live
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: on air or online, and keep our shows with you
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio