Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB Rugby Commentator on the second Bledisloe Cup test

Transcript

Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB Rugby Commentator on the second Bledisloe Cup test · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, there's another game happening in Sydney, and it's happening
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: with the All Blacks versus the Wallabies in Bladderslow Cup
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: number two. And our man calling the game and who
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: has woken up very early for us is Elliot Smith.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Elliot.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Morning, Andrew.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Did you watch the league last night?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I did. Not at the ground, but I watched it nonetheless,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: and it was. It was everything you just described there.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: The Kiwis did outplay the Kangaroos for... Majority of the game.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Yet a couple of intercept tries that they threw. And
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: then Caelan Ponga going off that broken arm. They were
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the better team. But as you said, finished on the
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: wrong side of the ledger. So yeah, look, some promising signs.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, a loss to start that tournament.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Gosh, I'm amazed at your constitution. You're a machine, mate.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And this is magnificent. And now you're getting ready to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: call this game, which is going to happen in front
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of 70,000 people at Sydney's Accord Stadium. That's the old
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: home bush as well. What's the weather like?
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: It's been horrible all week, actually, Andrew, although Saturday is
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: going to be the best day of the week from
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: our time here. It's been raining most of the week.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: It rained on and off. yesterday here in Sydney. I
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: think it's been about two hours worth of sunshine, but
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: conditions should be all right for tomorrow afternoon, hopefully. So
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: that's a positive sign. And perhaps the All Blacks might
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: be able to use that running game we saw so
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: much of in Auckland last week when the conditions were
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: good again, if the weather holds up. So that's a positive.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: And look, they'll be wanting to go out and deliver
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: a similar performance to to what we saw last week
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: at Eden Park, given they sort of got back on
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: track after those three losses in South Africa.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Dave Rennie has named eight changes to the matchday 23.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Only three of those, though, on the run on 15.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: A lot of this forced by injuries, of course. So
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: what do you make of the team?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think maybe there's even a chance for
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a couple more tweaks. You know, you think about some
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: of the players that we've seen for a lot of
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: game time this year. Roy Gard, Geordie Barrett, McKenzie, Will Jordan.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: But he's resisted the temptation recently. To change too much
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: and I guess that's fair enough when you've just got
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: back with that win after three losses in South Africa
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: but look I think considered changes is probably the way
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: you'd describe this change in the front row with Ethan
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: DeGroote rotating out, Fabian Holland comes back in. in the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: second row to partner Scott Barrett and then Josh Mulby
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: on the wing. I really like the bench that Dave
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Rennie's named, though. Andrew, I think there's a lot of
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: impact there. Timothi Tavatava-Nawai gets his opportunity. He's been training
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: for a number of weeks now in the All Blacks.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Dave Rennie's wanted to see more work race out of him.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Dupliti Karifi has had a tough old MPC season, captaining Wellington,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: so it's no wins through the season. He's a sort
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: of core celebrator of many a fan in New Zealand,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and he gets his opportunity off the bench as well.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So I really like the impact that potentially the All
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Blacks could look to utilise there.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We've kind of run out of time to talk about
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Les Kiss and the Wallabies, but they'll be smarting and
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: they'll be wanting to come back. But what do you
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: think is going to happen in the game?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Look, I think the All Blacks are too strong again.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: The Wallabies just don't have the cattle at the moment.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: A couple of injuries to them as well. And I
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: suspect there might be another victory for the All Blacks again.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: I'm loving it. And I thank you so much for
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: getting up early for us.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays or follow
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.