On Sports Fix with Jason Pine and D'Arcy Waldegrave for 1st May 2026, Karl Budge is wanting to take Super Round to Auckland next year. Colin Mansbridge responds
Piney has his thoughts on the Wellington Phoenix Women's finals chances
Plus, the lads are in the Chamber discussing a big sporting weekend
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is Sportsfix. Howard by News Talk said.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Be hello there, Welcome to May. Although we've been here
for a few hours now, but this is the first
Sports Fix podcast for May Friday, the first of May.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Great to he be listening, and I'm Jason Pine.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
My name's Darcy Waldergrave. Indeed very happy to be here
and in your ears.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
What are we talking about today?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I want to look ahead to the game between our
two Super rugby sides, the Hurricanes against the Crusaders tonight
at Erich Magan.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
It personal, now, are you piney?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The good thing about it is we can, finally, for
the first time this season talk about our two sides
playing one another. We've been dancing around this for a while.
And when the Hurricanes are playing, I can't be objective.
When the Crusaders are playing, you can't be objective. Tonight
we can be totally parochial. So maybe we can give
the case for each of our sides tonight when we
get into the chamber.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
How does that sound?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
It sounds absolutely wonderful. I think so Anyway, Hey, our
guest today is Colin Mansbridge is the CEO of the Crusaders.
Because Carl Budge, his opposite up at the Blues, said
he wants the super Round. It's like, I'm sorry, he
wants to steal it from under the nose of Colin Mansbridge.
So I thought it was worthy of a reply. So
we'll get Colin on to tell us why they shouldn't
(01:28):
have it and how the super Round could be even
better under their stewardship.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Looking forward to him from Colin Mansbridge, I've got some
thoughts on how the Wellington Phoenix women might approach their
home and away semi final series against Brisbane. And the
latest and sports news too jam Pack Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
In other news.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
As per usual, let's kick things off with a look
at some of the big sports stories around today, the
game of rugby in Wellington. Tonight lester fighting and Nuku
has outlined his focus as he gets set for a
second Super Rugby start.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
On the open side.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
The All Blacks back has retained the Crusaders seven jersey
for tonight's derby against the Hurricanes's.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Tryna not stuff of both the lineouts instrums you know,
I know how much our big boys pride themselves up
on that, so yuffif we the whole weakssis try now
that area aw as the rest of us sort of flows.
You know, you run on the ball, tackles, everything's sort
of normal.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Chris Wood has helped move Nottingham Forrest a step closer
to Football's Champions League. The All Whites captain has scored
from the penalty spot in a one nil first leg
europe The League semi final win over Aston Villa's twenty
eight successful penalty in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That's what I have to do and that's what I
try and do.
Speaker 7 (02:38):
That's the job, the responsibility my team gives me and
we go from.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The TACTX netball coach Donna Wilkins mean time backing her
side to collectively fill the void of injured captain Ericana
Peterson in the foll's A and Z Premiership. She set
for a stint on the sidelines after landing awkwardly on
her shoulder during last weeknd's road win over the Magic.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
You know, we've got a lot of leaders.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I know we're a new group, but we do have
a lot of experience with our youth, so I'm you know,
everyone needs to be a leader out there in this concession.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
It's Sports Fix with Jason Hine and Dussy Wildegrave.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
We're joined now on the Fix by Colin Mansbridge. He's
the chief executive of Crusaders Rugby. We're going to talk
about well, the possible heist. Can the Blues pinch the
super Round? Colin joins us. Now get a fella.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Hello, Darcy, how are you mate? I'm good.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
I'll use these three words fight, fight, fight, because Carl
Barge at your opposite up at the Blues. He has
been pretty open about the fact he wants to It's
basically a heist, isn't it. He wants to turn up
and steal what Canterbury have done very very well in
the super Round. He wants it for Auckland. What's your
initial response to hearing that from I suppose i'd say
(03:49):
one of your colleagues, you're all CEOs, you're all working
in super rugby. Does this punch you in the nose
or what do you think of that?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
It's a punch in the nose, mate, It's interesting. We
on the day of super Round he hugged me, shook
my hand and said good job mate. As he left
and we were you know, we looked in each other's
eyes lovingly, and then then he walked out him and
Don very generously wrote us a letter and thanked us
(04:19):
for putting it on. And within minutes of the letter arriving,
I hear he's trying to do a deal to take
it to Walkland, mate. But that's Look. The good thing
about Carl is he's you know, he did the ASB
Classic in Auckland, obviously in Auckland, so yeah, he probably
(04:41):
doesn't look and he did. He was tied up with
sal Gp in Canterbury as well, but I think that's
about the closest he's come to having red and black
flowing through his veins. So well we'll yeah, I'm lost.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
For words, lost for words?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
How locked in is it?
Speaker 5 (04:59):
In? Christ? Could Pliny? It was a roaring success. I
haven't spend anyone has anything bad to say about it.
It blew the doors off and made Souper round actually
worth attending and watching. So you've only got it for
a year, you got two three hack? Can you lock
this down?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Column?
Speaker 7 (05:16):
Well, I think that's the plan now, Darcy would be
try to try and lock it down We've got to
convince a few people to do that, including Super Arabi
Pacific and others. We've got to convince them that we
can do it again. It's interesting when we first put
our hands up for it. I think Jack's talked publicly
(05:36):
about us, you know, promoting it to him in the
super Aby Pacific board. When we first put our hands
up for it, we were there probably wasn't as much
enthusiasm for it as what there is now, you know,
so it was a bit of a punt. Punt's the
wrong word. We were always confident. We love to look
at the venue. We knew at work in a proximity
(05:58):
to town community. Rugby community very very invested in it.
We sort of knew it would work, but maybe not.
It probably exceeded even our expectations, and our expectations were
higher than others. And of course, once somebody sees you,
you know, having a good time so to speak, or
or you know, things working for you, the old fomo
(06:18):
kicks in and they're after And the thing about Auckland,
of course, is big is not always better. I know,
you know that blomen Eden Park. They keep talking up
National Stadium, but actually it's never about size.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It's about quality, that's my view.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
What about the other franchises, do you think now they'll
be in boldened like the Aussie franchises. You look at
maybe Wellington, you look at Dunedin, the White Couple. Do
you think they might climb in now that Carl said, look,
let's have a crack worth taking on, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Surely you know that we've had these chats before, Dars.
Speaker 7 (06:54):
You know that there's this we have this view amongst
the five founding Super Abi Club CEOs, we have this
sort of quite what would I call it the eighty
twenty rule, where eighty percent of what we do we
do it together because we care about the competition. It's
a great competition, and we're all aligned and we grave
a competition, and then twenty percent we're stabbing each other
(07:16):
on the back, you know, trying to meet nick each
other's players and coaches and things like that. It looks
like there's let's now move from eighty twenty to seventy
five twenty.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Five now as the way I feel about it.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
So that's fine, you know, we'll still respectfully deal with
each other on the other stuff. But I am expecting
I am expecting a couple of sort of knives just
starting to come in now, so good on them, Good
on them, bring it on.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
As far as your event, and it was successful, but
you can't dwell you rest on your lures there in
all sorts of troubles. I know it's say, only been
a week, but where do you think you could do better?
Where do you think the franchise could make this an
even better experience and encourage Super Rugby Pacific to say, yep,
you can have it again, one, two, three years, where's
(08:04):
the room to move?
Speaker 7 (08:05):
So probably the first thing is we're actually the staff,
Crusaders staff and some of the super and jedr stuff
and actually some ra stuff who were involved and put
it together completely rinsed by the end. So I wasn't
expecting to see any debrief material. And then I happen
to miss another appointment, and I missed a debrief yesterday,
(08:25):
and I've got the output from it, and there are
lots and lots and lots of little improvements.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That we could be better.
Speaker 7 (08:32):
Nothing that was really really negative, because the feedback's been
overwhelmingly positive and we're pretty pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Confident we can make an even better event next year.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Spatstacks tuck right into the end of this big sporting weekend.
Is the biggest game the Wellington Phoenix women's side have
ever played. They are into the semi finals of the
A League Women's competition. They will play home and away
against Brisbane Raw for a place in the Grand Final.
The first leg, the away leg, is the game I've
(09:03):
just mentioned seven o'clock Sunday nights away against the Brisbane Raw. Now,
two legged matches like this always bring with them a
bit of a conundrum. What do you do in the
first leg, particularly when it is away from home? Because effectively,
when the full time whistle blows on Sunday night, it
is only halftime in the tie, and the second half
(09:26):
of the tie is played back at home at what
is likely to be an absolute cauldron at Pottydoor Park
on Sunday week. So do the Wellington Phoenix go across
to Brisbane and think to themselves what is a good
result to bring back? Clearly, every time you go out
on the pitch to play a game of football or
any kind of game, you'll want to win that game.
(09:48):
But is there a wider thing to consider here? With
the two legged nature? For example, are you happy enough
if you come back and it's nil all, if you
don't concede in the first leg, have a clean sheet
to bring back home. Is that a good outcome? What
if you were to go one nill ahead, for example,
would you then, rather than push for second as you
(10:09):
normally might in a ninety minute game, would you sit
on that one nil lead and say, right, we're happy
to bring that back. What if you go one nil down,
do you chase that equalizer and say to yourself, well,
we need that goal because otherwise they'll come to our
place one nill ahead. Or do you think to yourself,
you know what, we can overturn a one nil deficit
at home. So we're not entirely concerned about that. It
(10:32):
is a very very interesting dynamic for BEF priestsmen, the
head coach and her players to navigate. You look at
the way they've played this season though, and they've never
been anything other than on the front foot. This team
has scored more goals this season than any other in
the A League Women's and they've done that by showing
intent and vigor and energy and enthusiasm when they're in
(10:54):
front of goal. I would not imagine that that would
change it all On Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfax.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Into the Chamber we go. Okay, let's get to it. Hurricanes,
Crew Mersaders tonight Henry Stadium just after seven o'clock. This
game will kick off. I check some odds on this
dark and I was astounded, flabbergasted by how long the
tab have the Crusaders defending champions four dollars forty. When
(11:26):
have the Crusaders ever been four dollars forty against anybody?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I don't know. That was pause was I was going
to run out of the studio and put some money
on it, but I'll better stay here and do the podcast.
That is extremely long. But look, let's face it. The tab,
as much as I hate to say, they know what
they're talking about. They're in it to make money. They're
not in it to set people up. They want to
make cash. So they see a whole lot in this
(11:52):
home team coming up tonight, and it's hard to disagree
because they're a phenomenal team and they've been playing so
well when it really counts.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
How much shorter do you think they would be if
Will Jordan was playing. He hasn't mean there for the
last three games. I know, I And isn't it weird?
Isn't it crazy that one guy can make such a
big difference. You know, the last three games that Will
Jordan played the Crusaders were very comfortable winners. The three
(12:23):
games since his injury layoff have been losses to the
Reds in the Force, and then the emotion charged first
game at Takaha last weekend, where I think, you know,
in many ways, you know, emotion and the occasion helped
get the Crusaders across the line. He is a massive
miss for them dos he's huge, But I think that'd
be the players take umbrage with that, suggesting it's twenty
(12:46):
three guys, it's not just one, and we refuse to
bout that.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
And I don't know if you could say that the
losses that experienced without him were entirely due to not
have him playing at the back, you know what I mean.
I think that they lost these games themselves and that
probably shouldn't have happened, so they'll be keen to earn
that around. Of course, for me, the big event here
(13:11):
is not whether he's there or not. It's whether the
brand new open side flanker Lester paying a nuku can
actually play the game and maybe embarrassed to perceive Carriffy
the co captain. That is going to be quite the fight,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
It will be.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I do look at the loose forward battle and think
to myself, look, Lester fighting Luka had a ready good
game last week against the against the Waratars. But with
all due respect to the war Atars, Lucy's they are
not braid And you'll say, duplasecrely Fee, Peter Larkeye with
Brad Shields and Devon Flanders on the bench, they are
not the same. And look Lester fighting onok. I think
(13:48):
you know he said, Look it doesn't really matter what
numbers on my back. If I see your body, I
hit the body. If I've got the ball, I run
at a person and try and go past them, don't
matter what number I've got on. So look it's a
fascinating layer. You talked about it being a twenty three
man proposition. If you look at the Hurricanes twenty three,
are there any particular players in that twenty three who
you would quite like as a Crusaders fan to have
(14:10):
an off night?
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I couldn't cam ruy gad.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
It's not a bad not a bad place to land.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
So sorry what it is he's got and maybe fit
in an offer. I'm going to spill that one out
and get that right. But that guy's an absolute fruit loop.
He's a freak show to watch, and it's part of
me wants to support my team, but part of me
wants to see him tiar shreads.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Because he's such a good player.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Fourteen tries, he's got us fourteen tries. He's just he's
by daylight, the tri scoring leader. As we know, it's
been well publicized. He's off at the end of the season.
All sorts of conversations about how they can possibly keep them.
I'm sort of more of the mind of, hey, let's
enjoy and while he's here. He signed a contract overseas.
(14:56):
They're very very hard to get out of, so let's
enjoy and while he's here and and his try scoring
exploits have been have been quite something.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I yeah, quiss him back to you now, you've been
throwing them all at me. When you look at your midfield,
there should be a lot in that. The other co captain,
Jordi Barrett and Billy Procter, they've got quite stout competition
in the midfield from the Crusaders. When you look at
the likes Ofvily and in All they didn't come down
(15:25):
in the last shower. Again, this could be another fascinating clash.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Great matchup, great matchup to land On absolutely and David Harvili.
I know this doesn't matter to players, you know when
it's happening, but one hundred and fiftieth game for the
Crusaders tonight, only the tenth player to do that. You know,
he joins rarefied air in terms of that very proud franchise.
So look, you know, you know what it's like. He
probably doesn't care, but the other twenty two will say, look,
(15:50):
we're not going to let our man down tonight on
the occasion of his one fiftieth So yeah, Heavili and
in Awe against Barrett and Procter. I mentioned the loose
forward battle before. There's all sorts of matchups, very good
type five that both teams have, so yeah, who knows.
I get the feeling it'll be a bit closer than
those suggest You know, the last five games between these
(16:11):
two have been decided by single figure margins, so I
wonder whether where and for the same tonight.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
So who do you want from the Savors then to.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Not play well? Yeah, David Harvelli. I think he is
the most influential player in that team. If David Harvelli
has a stinker on his one fiftieth, which I'm almost
certain that he will not, then I think that would
help the Hurricanes, you know, hugely. I don't think it's
going to happen. I don't think I've hardly ever seen
the guy have a bad game. So yeah, but then
neither has camera reguards.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We're in the same boat.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Yeah, right, And I don't want to wish l on anyone.
I want my team to win playingly, but more importantly,
I would like both teams to come through without anyone
in the sick bay.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
That would be good. That would be good.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Warriors go in search of a fourth straight win tomorrow
against Paramata. How are we feeling about this? Should we
feel confident about this? Should we feel as though the
Warriors are firm favorites against an ill side that's sort
of in the lower reaches of the table.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Just three wins from.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Eight Does that really count for anything in the NRL notation?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It doesn't, No, it doesn't. I was just I was
clutching its stats.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
That phrase before I like it. They'll there will be
a party because they're playing at home and they're weeded
down the bottom of the table. On the Warriors, why
they're way at the top of the table, so you
should say the Warriors will flush them. And I am confident.
And you know why I'm confident now, because whether I'm
confident or not, it has no bearing on the game
(17:40):
at all. I want to go into this game with
a huge amount of joy and confidence, thinking actui. These
guys have got a real opportunity to carry on their charge.
So I'm going to take that attitude into the game
and if they're down three tries to nil after fifteen minutes,
I'll change my mind.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's why I like you go an unencumbered by expectation. Yes, yes,
don't even worry. It's only sport.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
As we often say, as you often say, it's far
too it's it's only sport. It can't be taken seriously,
or words to that effect, far too import to be
taken serious.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
There you go, and do you think of around s
because it's a good looking team, this wise team. Although
I think that Andrew McFadden Cappy who looks after the
recruitment of players. Is a little upset at what's going
on in papul and New Guinea in the fact that
they're going to be picking players everywhere because you pay
tax over there, and I get that. So that's all
(18:31):
in the background too.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, pretty attractive carrot and if you're looking for good players,
a lot of good players and the Warriors. So who
knows what that mon off contract too? Yes, exactly right, Yeah,
so what might that look like? I guess that's a
discussion for another day because we are all out of
time in the chamber today.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Later needing a vix, We've got just the ticket.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
It's Sports Fix powered by News Talks IVY.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And that'll do us for Sports Fix today. It's been
a great pleasure bringing you the podcast across the week.
We will have a fresh episode in your podcast feed
at about the same time on Monday and every weekday
actually Monday through Friday.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
And on that note, I wish you fare well as well.
It's been great fun bringing this to you. If you
would like to carry on sports Talkers on News Talking
ZB between seven and eight pm Monday to Friday. Piney's
got the Monday Gig I have Tuesday through Friday and
then we hand everything over to mister Pine four.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Weekend Sports Saturday midday till three, same time on Sunday
as we get right into the guts of the weekend
sports wise. Always good chatting to you on the podcast us.
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, tell your friends, tell your family, get involved, subscribe
to this And on another note, a the Wellington Phoenix,
the Wahinix, the women's side, wishing them everything for this weekend.
I'm so proud of what their team has done and
I'd like to see them carry on in kind up.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
The next For more from News Talk SEDB, listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is Sportsfix. Howard by News Talk said.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Be hello there, Welcome to May. Although we've been here
for a few hours now, but this is the first
Sports Fix podcast for May Friday, the first of May.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Great to he be listening, and I'm Jason Pine.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
My name's Darcy Waldergrave. Indeed very happy to be here
and in your ears.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
What are we talking about today?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I want to look ahead to the game between our
two Super rugby sides, the Hurricanes against the Crusaders tonight
at Erich Magan.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
It personal, now, are you piney?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The good thing about it is we can, finally, for
the first time this season talk about our two sides
playing one another. We've been dancing around this for a while.
And when the Hurricanes are playing, I can't be objective.
When the Crusaders are playing, you can't be objective. Tonight
we can be totally parochial. So maybe we can give
the case for each of our sides tonight when we
get into the chamber.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
How does that sound?
Speaker 5 (01:06):
It sounds absolutely wonderful. I think so Anyway, Hey, our
guest today is Colin Mansbridge is the CEO of the Crusaders.
Because Carl Budge, his opposite up at the Blues, said
he wants the super Round. It's like, I'm sorry, he
wants to steal it from under the nose of Colin Mansbridge.
So I thought it was worthy of a reply. So
we'll get Colin on to tell us why they shouldn't
(01:28):
have it and how the super Round could be even
better under their stewardship.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Looking forward to him from Colin Mansbridge, I've got some
thoughts on how the Wellington Phoenix women might approach their
home and away semi final series against Brisbane. And the
latest and sports news too jam Pack Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
In other news.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
As per usual, let's kick things off with a look
at some of the big sports stories around today, the
game of rugby in Wellington. Tonight lester fighting and Nuku
has outlined his focus as he gets set for a
second Super Rugby start.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
On the open side.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
The All Blacks back has retained the Crusaders seven jersey
for tonight's derby against the Hurricanes's.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Tryna not stuff of both the lineouts instrums you know,
I know how much our big boys pride themselves up
on that, so yuffif we the whole weakssis try now
that area aw as the rest of us sort of flows.
You know, you run on the ball, tackles, everything's sort
of normal.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Chris Wood has helped move Nottingham Forrest a step closer
to Football's Champions League. The All Whites captain has scored
from the penalty spot in a one nil first leg
europe The League semi final win over Aston Villa's twenty
eight successful penalty in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That's what I have to do and that's what I
try and do.
Speaker 7 (02:38):
That's the job, the responsibility my team gives me and
we go from.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The TACTX netball coach Donna Wilkins mean time backing her
side to collectively fill the void of injured captain Ericana
Peterson in the foll's A and Z Premiership. She set
for a stint on the sidelines after landing awkwardly on
her shoulder during last weeknd's road win over the Magic.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
You know, we've got a lot of leaders.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I know we're a new group, but we do have
a lot of experience with our youth, so I'm you know,
everyone needs to be a leader out there in this concession.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
It's Sports Fix with Jason Hine and Dussy Wildegrave.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
We're joined now on the Fix by Colin Mansbridge. He's
the chief executive of Crusaders Rugby. We're going to talk
about well, the possible heist. Can the Blues pinch the
super Round? Colin joins us. Now get a fella.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Hello, Darcy, how are you mate? I'm good.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
I'll use these three words fight, fight, fight, because Carl
Barge at your opposite up at the Blues. He has
been pretty open about the fact he wants to It's
basically a heist, isn't it. He wants to turn up
and steal what Canterbury have done very very well in
the super Round. He wants it for Auckland. What's your
initial response to hearing that from I suppose i'd say
(03:49):
one of your colleagues, you're all CEOs, you're all working
in super rugby. Does this punch you in the nose
or what do you think of that?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
It's a punch in the nose, mate, It's interesting. We
on the day of super Round he hugged me, shook
my hand and said good job mate. As he left
and we were you know, we looked in each other's
eyes lovingly, and then then he walked out him and
Don very generously wrote us a letter and thanked us
(04:19):
for putting it on. And within minutes of the letter arriving,
I hear he's trying to do a deal to take
it to Walkland, mate. But that's Look. The good thing
about Carl is he's you know, he did the ASB
Classic in Auckland, obviously in Auckland, so yeah, he probably
(04:41):
doesn't look and he did. He was tied up with
sal Gp in Canterbury as well, but I think that's
about the closest he's come to having red and black
flowing through his veins. So well we'll yeah, I'm lost.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
For words, lost for words?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
How locked in is it?
Speaker 5 (04:59):
In? Christ? Could Pliny? It was a roaring success. I
haven't spend anyone has anything bad to say about it.
It blew the doors off and made Souper round actually
worth attending and watching. So you've only got it for
a year, you got two three hack? Can you lock
this down?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Column?
Speaker 7 (05:16):
Well, I think that's the plan now, Darcy would be
try to try and lock it down We've got to
convince a few people to do that, including Super Arabi
Pacific and others. We've got to convince them that we
can do it again. It's interesting when we first put
our hands up for it. I think Jack's talked publicly
(05:36):
about us, you know, promoting it to him in the
super Aby Pacific board. When we first put our hands
up for it, we were there probably wasn't as much
enthusiasm for it as what there is now, you know,
so it was a bit of a punt. Punt's the
wrong word. We were always confident. We love to look
at the venue. We knew at work in a proximity
(05:58):
to town community. Rugby community very very invested in it.
We sort of knew it would work, but maybe not.
It probably exceeded even our expectations, and our expectations were
higher than others. And of course, once somebody sees you,
you know, having a good time so to speak, or
or you know, things working for you, the old fomo
(06:18):
kicks in and they're after And the thing about Auckland,
of course, is big is not always better. I know,
you know that blomen Eden Park. They keep talking up
National Stadium, but actually it's never about size.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It's about quality, that's my view.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
What about the other franchises, do you think now they'll
be in boldened like the Aussie franchises. You look at
maybe Wellington, you look at Dunedin, the White Couple. Do
you think they might climb in now that Carl said, look,
let's have a crack worth taking on, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Surely you know that we've had these chats before, Dars.
Speaker 7 (06:54):
You know that there's this we have this view amongst
the five founding Super Abi Club CEOs, we have this
sort of quite what would I call it the eighty
twenty rule, where eighty percent of what we do we
do it together because we care about the competition. It's
a great competition, and we're all aligned and we grave
a competition, and then twenty percent we're stabbing each other
(07:16):
on the back, you know, trying to meet nick each
other's players and coaches and things like that. It looks
like there's let's now move from eighty twenty to seventy
five twenty.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Five now as the way I feel about it.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
So that's fine, you know, we'll still respectfully deal with
each other on the other stuff. But I am expecting
I am expecting a couple of sort of knives just
starting to come in now, so good on them, Good
on them, bring it on.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
As far as your event, and it was successful, but
you can't dwell you rest on your lures there in
all sorts of troubles. I know it's say, only been
a week, but where do you think you could do better?
Where do you think the franchise could make this an
even better experience and encourage Super Rugby Pacific to say, yep,
you can have it again, one, two, three years, where's
(08:04):
the room to move?
Speaker 7 (08:05):
So probably the first thing is we're actually the staff,
Crusaders staff and some of the super and jedr stuff
and actually some ra stuff who were involved and put
it together completely rinsed by the end. So I wasn't
expecting to see any debrief material. And then I happen
to miss another appointment, and I missed a debrief yesterday,
(08:25):
and I've got the output from it, and there are
lots and lots and lots of little improvements.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That we could be better.
Speaker 7 (08:32):
Nothing that was really really negative, because the feedback's been
overwhelmingly positive and we're pretty pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Confident we can make an even better event next year.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Spatstacks tuck right into the end of this big sporting weekend.
Is the biggest game the Wellington Phoenix women's side have
ever played. They are into the semi finals of the
A League Women's competition. They will play home and away
against Brisbane Raw for a place in the Grand Final.
The first leg, the away leg, is the game I've
(09:03):
just mentioned seven o'clock Sunday nights away against the Brisbane Raw. Now,
two legged matches like this always bring with them a
bit of a conundrum. What do you do in the
first leg, particularly when it is away from home? Because effectively,
when the full time whistle blows on Sunday night, it
is only halftime in the tie, and the second half
(09:26):
of the tie is played back at home at what
is likely to be an absolute cauldron at Pottydoor Park
on Sunday week. So do the Wellington Phoenix go across
to Brisbane and think to themselves what is a good
result to bring back? Clearly, every time you go out
on the pitch to play a game of football or
any kind of game, you'll want to win that game.
(09:48):
But is there a wider thing to consider here? With
the two legged nature? For example, are you happy enough
if you come back and it's nil all, if you
don't concede in the first leg, have a clean sheet
to bring back home. Is that a good outcome? What
if you were to go one nill ahead, for example,
would you then, rather than push for second as you
(10:09):
normally might in a ninety minute game, would you sit
on that one nil lead and say, right, we're happy
to bring that back. What if you go one nil down,
do you chase that equalizer and say to yourself, well,
we need that goal because otherwise they'll come to our
place one nill ahead. Or do you think to yourself,
you know what, we can overturn a one nil deficit
at home. So we're not entirely concerned about that. It
(10:32):
is a very very interesting dynamic for BEF priestsmen, the
head coach and her players to navigate. You look at
the way they've played this season though, and they've never
been anything other than on the front foot. This team
has scored more goals this season than any other in
the A League Women's and they've done that by showing
intent and vigor and energy and enthusiasm when they're in
(10:54):
front of goal. I would not imagine that that would
change it all On Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfax.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Into the Chamber we go. Okay, let's get to it. Hurricanes,
Crew Mersaders tonight Henry Stadium just after seven o'clock. This
game will kick off. I check some odds on this
dark and I was astounded, flabbergasted by how long the
tab have the Crusaders defending champions four dollars forty. When
(11:26):
have the Crusaders ever been four dollars forty against anybody?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I don't know. That was pause was I was going
to run out of the studio and put some money
on it, but I'll better stay here and do the podcast.
That is extremely long. But look, let's face it. The tab,
as much as I hate to say, they know what
they're talking about. They're in it to make money. They're
not in it to set people up. They want to
make cash. So they see a whole lot in this
(11:52):
home team coming up tonight, and it's hard to disagree
because they're a phenomenal team and they've been playing so
well when it really counts.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
How much shorter do you think they would be if
Will Jordan was playing. He hasn't mean there for the
last three games. I know, I And isn't it weird?
Isn't it crazy that one guy can make such a
big difference. You know, the last three games that Will
Jordan played the Crusaders were very comfortable winners. The three
(12:23):
games since his injury layoff have been losses to the
Reds in the Force, and then the emotion charged first
game at Takaha last weekend, where I think, you know,
in many ways, you know, emotion and the occasion helped
get the Crusaders across the line. He is a massive
miss for them dos he's huge, But I think that'd
be the players take umbrage with that, suggesting it's twenty
(12:46):
three guys, it's not just one, and we refuse to
bout that.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
And I don't know if you could say that the
losses that experienced without him were entirely due to not
have him playing at the back, you know what I mean.
I think that they lost these games themselves and that
probably shouldn't have happened, so they'll be keen to earn
that around. Of course, for me, the big event here
(13:11):
is not whether he's there or not. It's whether the
brand new open side flanker Lester paying a nuku can
actually play the game and maybe embarrassed to perceive Carriffy
the co captain. That is going to be quite the fight,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
It will be.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I do look at the loose forward battle and think
to myself, look, Lester fighting Luka had a ready good
game last week against the against the Waratars. But with
all due respect to the war Atars, Lucy's they are
not braid And you'll say, duplasecrely Fee, Peter Larkeye with
Brad Shields and Devon Flanders on the bench, they are
not the same. And look Lester fighting onok. I think
(13:48):
you know he said, Look it doesn't really matter what
numbers on my back. If I see your body, I
hit the body. If I've got the ball, I run
at a person and try and go past them, don't
matter what number I've got on. So look it's a
fascinating layer. You talked about it being a twenty three
man proposition. If you look at the Hurricanes twenty three,
are there any particular players in that twenty three who
you would quite like as a Crusaders fan to have
(14:10):
an off night?
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I couldn't cam ruy gad.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
It's not a bad not a bad place to land.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
So sorry what it is he's got and maybe fit
in an offer. I'm going to spill that one out
and get that right. But that guy's an absolute fruit loop.
He's a freak show to watch, and it's part of
me wants to support my team, but part of me
wants to see him tiar shreads.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Because he's such a good player.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Fourteen tries, he's got us fourteen tries. He's just he's
by daylight, the tri scoring leader. As we know, it's
been well publicized. He's off at the end of the season.
All sorts of conversations about how they can possibly keep them.
I'm sort of more of the mind of, hey, let's
enjoy and while he's here. He signed a contract overseas.
(14:56):
They're very very hard to get out of, so let's
enjoy and while he's here and and his try scoring
exploits have been have been quite something.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I yeah, quiss him back to you now, you've been
throwing them all at me. When you look at your midfield,
there should be a lot in that. The other co captain,
Jordi Barrett and Billy Procter, they've got quite stout competition
in the midfield from the Crusaders. When you look at
the likes Ofvily and in All they didn't come down
(15:25):
in the last shower. Again, this could be another fascinating clash.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Great matchup, great matchup to land On absolutely and David Harvili.
I know this doesn't matter to players, you know when
it's happening, but one hundred and fiftieth game for the
Crusaders tonight, only the tenth player to do that. You know,
he joins rarefied air in terms of that very proud franchise.
So look, you know, you know what it's like. He
probably doesn't care, but the other twenty two will say, look,
(15:50):
we're not going to let our man down tonight on
the occasion of his one fiftieth So yeah, Heavili and
in Awe against Barrett and Procter. I mentioned the loose
forward battle before. There's all sorts of matchups, very good
type five that both teams have, so yeah, who knows.
I get the feeling it'll be a bit closer than
those suggest You know, the last five games between these
(16:11):
two have been decided by single figure margins, so I
wonder whether where and for the same tonight.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
So who do you want from the Savors then to.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Not play well? Yeah, David Harvelli. I think he is
the most influential player in that team. If David Harvelli
has a stinker on his one fiftieth, which I'm almost
certain that he will not, then I think that would
help the Hurricanes, you know, hugely. I don't think it's
going to happen. I don't think I've hardly ever seen
the guy have a bad game. So yeah, but then
neither has camera reguards.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We're in the same boat.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Yeah, right, And I don't want to wish l on anyone.
I want my team to win playingly, but more importantly,
I would like both teams to come through without anyone
in the sick bay.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
That would be good. That would be good.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Warriors go in search of a fourth straight win tomorrow
against Paramata. How are we feeling about this? Should we
feel confident about this? Should we feel as though the
Warriors are firm favorites against an ill side that's sort
of in the lower reaches of the table.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Just three wins from.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Eight Does that really count for anything in the NRL notation?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It doesn't, No, it doesn't. I was just I was
clutching its stats.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
That phrase before I like it. They'll there will be
a party because they're playing at home and they're weeded
down the bottom of the table. On the Warriors, why
they're way at the top of the table, so you
should say the Warriors will flush them. And I am confident.
And you know why I'm confident now, because whether I'm
confident or not, it has no bearing on the game
(17:40):
at all. I want to go into this game with
a huge amount of joy and confidence, thinking actui. These
guys have got a real opportunity to carry on their charge.
So I'm going to take that attitude into the game
and if they're down three tries to nil after fifteen minutes,
I'll change my mind.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's why I like you go an unencumbered by expectation. Yes, yes,
don't even worry. It's only sport.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
As we often say, as you often say, it's far
too it's it's only sport. It can't be taken seriously,
or words to that effect, far too import to be
taken serious.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
There you go, and do you think of around s
because it's a good looking team, this wise team. Although
I think that Andrew McFadden Cappy who looks after the
recruitment of players. Is a little upset at what's going
on in papul and New Guinea in the fact that
they're going to be picking players everywhere because you pay
tax over there, and I get that. So that's all
(18:31):
in the background too.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, pretty attractive carrot and if you're looking for good players,
a lot of good players and the Warriors. So who
knows what that mon off contract too? Yes, exactly right, Yeah,
so what might that look like? I guess that's a
discussion for another day because we are all out of
time in the chamber today.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Later needing a vix, We've got just the ticket.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
It's Sports Fix powered by News Talks IVY.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And that'll do us for Sports Fix today. It's been
a great pleasure bringing you the podcast across the week.
We will have a fresh episode in your podcast feed
at about the same time on Monday and every weekday
actually Monday through Friday.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
And on that note, I wish you fare well as well.
It's been great fun bringing this to you. If you
would like to carry on sports Talkers on News Talking
ZB between seven and eight pm Monday to Friday. Piney's
got the Monday Gig I have Tuesday through Friday and
then we hand everything over to mister Pine four.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Weekend Sports Saturday midday till three, same time on Sunday
as we get right into the guts of the weekend
sports wise. Always good chatting to you on the podcast us.
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, tell your friends, tell your family, get involved, subscribe
to this And on another note, a the Wellington Phoenix,
the Wahinix, the women's side, wishing them everything for this weekend.
I'm so proud of what their team has done and
I'd like to see them carry on in kind up.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
The next For more from News Talk SEDB, listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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