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November 18, 2024 8 mins

The All Blacks will be wondering what they could have done differently following their narrow loss in Paris.

The team were beaten by France 30 - 29 after trailing on 26 towards the end of the game.

Former All Black Ant Strachan joined Piney to discuss what went wrong.

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talks'd be well.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I's mentioned plenty of talking points after the weekend's All
Blacks France test. One of those was the withdrawal of
starting half back for the All Blacks, Cam roy Guard,
after just on ten minutes in the second half. Cortez
came on and endured I guess what you'd call a
challenging half hour, and it raised questions really about the
use during a game of the players wearing the nine

(00:34):
and twenty one jersey, so the starting halfback and the
impact half back. Now here's the response from All Black's
assistant coach at Jason Holland when I put the question
to him yesterday on Weekend Sport about the earliest withdrawal
of cam Roy Guard.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Oh look, come, she was a quick game out there,
and the Nines are covering some massive meters and we
know what Cortes can give us. Come can come on
and speed the game up. And I think of that
little bit Ken was good and fifty fifty whatever it was,
fifty two or fifty three minutes and nine's a you know,
a new nine as a real freshener for the team.

(01:12):
So you know that was that someone set there.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
So there's the rationale from Jason holland let's bring in
form what all blacks half back and zebe rugby analyst
and Strawn and thanks as always for your time and insight.
In broad terms, First of all, is there usually a
pregame strategy for when a reserve halfback will replace the
starting halfback?

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Ohan, I'd probably say historically the nine is not generally
included in those particular strategies around bringing players off bench.
Obviously the front row goes without saying, bigger boys, they're
working harder, a lot faster game nowadays to bring them in.
Obviously the middle row loose forwards as well. And then
you know, obviously the configuration of your back three or

(01:53):
midfield sometimes needs a bit of a tweet. But I mean,
if you look over time, the niners are the ones
that we're probably going the longest in the games. You know,
we're talking about you know, sixty five, seventy, even eighty
minutes sometimes, So it's new phenomenal phenomena made I think,
But yeah, I mean it was pretty early, wasn't it.
To Paul cam Roy gad. I know he hasn't played

(02:13):
a lot of football this year, but he was cilly
right on top of his game. And I mean, you know,
it's one of the burning creases, isn't it for most
of these calendars today? Have you know? Could he have
stayed on a little longer? But curely speaking, nine should
probably stay on longer than you know, sixty minutes.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah that, And that's kind of I guess what I'm
driving at, because when a game's tight and an experienced
halfback is controlling that game for you, why wouldn't you
just leave the guy on?

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Well? Yeas I say, I mean you probably normally do.
The one thing I did notice in the game is
that the New Zealanders we're actually starting to flag a
little bit. I watched Will Jordan for a moment and
I don't know, he'd done a lot of repeated efforts,
but he was he was he was guessed, you know,
and when he's looking a bit tired. And there were
a few others and then around that back division then

(03:00):
at Brown as well, he come on as a replacement.
You know, you sometimes need someone to come on. List
them just I'd be like a fuse, you light a
fuse and bring someone on and your nines are off
in that person. Of course, Cortez, that is his strength
to increase the tempo and the speed of the game.
And bear in mind, too, man, he started the last
few debts for this All Black team arguably, you know,

(03:23):
in the number one spot. So to bring him on,
whether it was early or even later, I mean, he
probably hurnt that right, But of course it's always the
timing that's going to be in contention.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So do you think I know you're sort of addressed before,
but do you think cam Roygard was taken off too
early yesterday?

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Yeah? I think so because if you look at his
I guess his involvements in the game. You know, nearly
everything he touched turned to goals. His ball clearance was
really good, as speed to ruckt excellent. He's ever present
when things are happening in and around the ball, and
of course I thought he got the better of the pond.
And I mean he is arguably the best that's been

(04:02):
running around for many years, so that contest also, you know,
he was actual He's starting to have a bit of dominance,
so to keep that flavor going for longer did certainly
stack up, But I did expect, to be honest, for
Cortez Ratherman to come into the test met at some
point in time. But yeah, I think, like most of us,

(04:22):
probably it was a bit early.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
What did you make of his performance, Cortez once he
did get on, Yeah, it was a bit.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Messy, wasn't it. I mean I always feel for nine
that come on and you set up off the first
line out set, you know, and you get a really
poor delivery in the distance from where he was standing
to the line out, it's quite a large gap, maybe
three meters or so, and of course when the balls
delivered down at your feet, it's pretty hard to grab
that and shift it quickly to get with the place
of the game. And he knocked that one on, didn't he.

(04:50):
And there was probably a bit of a knock on
effect from that, you know. Just yeah, you just drop
confidence and it's hard to turn that around the course
of the timing one of the kick, the clearance kick
inside the twenty two. You know, that was another big moment,
wasn't it. But I have to say, if you're entered
the whole game, Piny and you clocked the ponts time

(05:11):
to clear the wall from the back of the ruck
and exit form and the one he got Courtiz on.
The timing was all over the place, and that's a
bit of a concern I think for me, you know,
as players trying to adjust to the speeding up of
the game.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Indeed, I guess we all thought when Cam roy Gud
was out injured, you know, waiting for him to come back,
waiting for him to come back, we all just assumed
that he would come back into the starting halfback role.
Is there a case for Courties Latima to start test
matches and for Cam Rouygad to come off the bench
or would you like to see Roy Garden the nine
jersey more often than not.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Look, I think it comes down to the way you
want to play and who you play. And I mean nowadays,
I guess when you look at your nine position at
such a pivotal role, the massive leaders of the game,
they drive your attack again, they ignite the tempo and
change the tempo of the game, and of course you
have to be up me multi skilled. Well, cam Rouygard,

(06:06):
what a miraculous recovery he's made from that significant injury
and he's just right on top of his game. And
you know, I think they were always grooming him to
come back to start. But again, I don't think they
want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, would
courtiers of artimoney? Because you've got Christy and Noah Hope.
I'm sitting behind the other four without a shadow of

(06:27):
a doubt. But maybe they do need to decide now
the big Test matches, it's marked them off in the
calendar every year. That's the man who starts those games,
and maybe some of the other test matches, the lesser ones,
when you start to groom and give those other ones
a chance to come off bench, you know. So that's
probably would be my philosophy. I think he's the best

(06:48):
we have, so when you play the best teams, start
them and stay him there for as long as to
keep him there for as long as you need.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
And just on those four that you mentioned, we say
goodbye to t J. Pennata. Of course, at the end
of this year, how do you see the next three
years of this World Cup cycle playing out? Roy guard
at them, Hope them, Christy. There's probably gonna be a
couple of others who stick their heads up hands. It's
an interesting selection quandary for Razor isn't it.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah, it is, But you mentioned those names, isn't it
a good challenge for him to have. There's a young
man Pledger too, who was excellent for the Inded twenties,
so he's probably number five and when we haven't even
talked about fucker Tava as well, and he can certainly
light a game up, you know. But I think what
they need to do is you've got to keep all
the players playing at a high level. And of course

(07:35):
that New Zealand And fifteen is a nice platform to
have that sort of second, second tier, second layer going.
But you know, we are actually really blessed with Halfbecks
right now. And I mean we're now at Smith left.
We were sort of seeking guessing a bit of that game. Mate,
we're going to be weak in that spot, well, I
don't think we are anymore. But we just got to
keep working with these players, making sure they understand how

(07:57):
to run and direct an attack for this all black team,
which I think is improving all the time. You know,
I was disappointed like everyone on the weekend, but you know,
there's some things in this group. Just see them playing
as a team a lot more, and they just forced
the pace a little bit too much. I thought in
some of those critical moments we just couldn't converted we
I mean, I guess it's been talked about today. You know,

(08:18):
you convert a few of those things and you put
the foot on the throat and keep the foot on
the throat. You know that result could be different. But
I do like the way they're shaping with their nines
across the country.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's a good, good demonstration again of the good old
New Zealand rugby production line delivering again an exciting time ahead.
And thanks so much for joining us as always, really
appreciate your time.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Here's Binny, take care you.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Take care soot. Thanks Adeed that's anstron former All Blacks halfback,
one of our top rugby analysts. Here at News Talks EDB.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
For more from sports talk, listen live to News Talks
EDB from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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