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The Muster- James McNamee: From Soweto To Baltimore · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Before we wrap up
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: for the week, we're away over to New York. Catching
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: up with James McNamee, of course, of Garston Hops. He's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: been following the All Blacks around on the Greatest Rivalry Tour.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: He's been over at the UK for the past couple
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of days, and this morning, New Zealand time actually, just
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: landed in New York, making his way to Baltimore. James, firstly,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: good afternoon, and Garston Hops, congratulations. You guys got an
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: accolade during the week.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, we did, actually. Yeah, that was really, really good.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: We've tried for that one for a few years, and
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: referee's law is we won it when I was a, Well,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: I was away, but it still means we're very excited
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: to have it, though.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well done. So, firstly, before we talk about being
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in New York on quite a poignant day, Soweto, the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: big stadium there, Soccer City, whatever they call it, like
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: 93,000 people. What was it like?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, intimidating, exhilarating, and pretty good.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's just literally in the middle of nowhere,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: and they bus you in... safely and get you out safely.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: But it was pretty impressive.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: How would you explain the feeling in there as opposed
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to Alice Park? Yes, the All Blacks won that game,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: but that many people in that ambitheatre must be terrific.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I think they expected to win more. And the first
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: couple of games was probably a little bit nice. They
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: must have been nice to each other. And then we've
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: had one game each, so the third game was definitely
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: the gloves were off.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So they definitely.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: thought they were going to win, and I actually thought
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: we were going to win as well. But the Nazis
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: had faded a little bit, but it was still a
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: pretty good banter.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So you're on your way to Baltimore. What do you
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: make of this game? A lot of people are saying
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: it's a dead rubber. Arguably, the tournament, the series, sorry,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: finished last week in Soweto. Do you still think there's
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a lot on stake on the line with this game,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: just bragging rights perhaps?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: We might be clutching the straws a little bit. to
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: go for a draw, but it is a four-match series.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: They chose to have the fourth game here. So Africa
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: are taking it very, very seriously. I think it's the
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: first time for many years they've kept the same team
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: consistently through. They're definitely up to win it. It's good
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: for the public to try, and America to try and
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: raise the profile of the game.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's working. We looked at the
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: website before.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of tickets still left for sale, so
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: hopefully there's some Hopefully it's the same fills, but it
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: might not be as full as I hoped it would be.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: So are you in New York at the moment? Is
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that correct?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Correct. Yep. No, landed.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: So this morning I got up and visited a couple
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: of breweries in London. So I dealt with London sharing
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: stations and tube station. I dealt with the M25. If
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: anyone listening understands.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: What the M25 is.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: No, the M25, yep.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: It's a special treat in itself, dealing with the M25. Yeah.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Got myself to Heathrow got the reverse injection and then
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: came over to New York and then I dealt with
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: the New York system so pretty close to Times Square
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: at the moment just had a couple of sharpeners to
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: revive after the trip and about to go out and
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: have a look around Times Square in the town and.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Have something to eat I love the way you talk
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: about going and visiting breweries on the way to the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: airport in your line of work it's essential.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Well it is Absolutely, yes.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to think of a nice way to explain that,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: but essential is a good word, Andy.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: 9-11, it's in New Zealand at the moment. You guys
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: there obviously a little bit behind due to time zones,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: but quite a poignant moment. Have you seen anything at
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: all on your journey to date to actually understand that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the stay is close over there?
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: I haven't seen anything yet, but when I was boarding in...
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Last time I was in New York, I went and
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: visited the World Trade Centre and the sites they've done,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: and they've done a really good job, actually, of doing
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: that and, I guess, memorising the people and the first
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: supporters and live people that came and helped them in
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: those days.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: It's a pretty good set-up.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It would be a very sobering moment, I'd imagine, too,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: visiting that memorial.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: I was lucky enough to get up the towers while
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: they were still there, So that was pretty cool and
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: then go there and realise they're not there anymore and
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: just understand where they were, how big they were and
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: they had nowhere to fall really apart from causing a
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: lot of damage.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So what's the plan? Watch the game in Baltimore a
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: couple of days over there then back home is it
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: to do some work?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, work is definitely calling. Once I finish here I
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: need to get back on a call back to the farm.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: The hops have broken out of dormancy probably a little
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: bit earlier than we expected. So they're on their way.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: So we need to sort some stuff there to get
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: ready for building a new garden. But, yeah, the plan
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: is tomorrow take the train from Penn Station down to Baltimore.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: We've got a rental car. We'll go and see a
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: couple of breweries because, as you said, it's essential. It's
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: your job. See a couple of breweries tomorrow night.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: It's a cool description. And then get ready for the game.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: The game originally was lunchtime on Saturday, but they pushed
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: it back to 5 o'clock.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: So you can have a sleep with Andy.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, good to know. Hey, now you've got a mate
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: over there as well. He is 100th game watching the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: All Blacks, and he had a special presentation by a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: couple of AB legends.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so all the group are over here. Steve and
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: I did 100th game in 2019.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: We got A.J. Whitten.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: We were lucky enough for A.J. to come and do
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: our jersey, so. We were wondering what to do for Grant,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: and lucky enough, we managed to arrange three World Cups.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Can present his jersey for him in Cape Town, Richie
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: McCool and David Kirk. So they met us in a
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: hotel in Cape Town and gave Grant his jersey. So
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: it was pretty cool, and they were really nice about it.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Good talking to them.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: They had a busy schedule, so it's good that they
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: took their time to do it.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Good on you, James. Better leave it there. Go the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: ABs on Sunday. Happy travels. Sounds like a hell of
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: a journey you're continuing with, and we'll catch up in
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: due course, mate.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Perfect. Sounds good. Thanks, Andy.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: RIP to my neighbour. He told me his wife was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: going out to get some sewing thread, but spent the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: day in the pub. Gone, but not forgotten. Right, that's
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: us over and done with. The podcast will be up shortly,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: thanks to iHeartRadio.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I'm Andy Muir.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The show's brought to you by Peter Genetics. Go the stags,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: go the ABs, up the wars.