October 17, 2024 • 7 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport.
Right O, time to talk rugby now or a rugby comment
of the week. Gregor Paul, one of New Zealand's most
respected rugby writers, joined this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Gregor, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You are you heading to the Northern Hemisphere for the tour?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I am on the plane tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Ah, fantastic. Well, it's going to be an interesting one actually,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Really?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
They begin that tour with the game against Japan in
a week from now, and you wrote an article about,
well about Damian McKenzie, who'll be lining up obviously in
the squad as well, but how he has to be
managed delicately. What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You said, a bit of a us time to be honest. Look,
I think we started the the international season began with
Damien clearly identified as the long term prospect. Yeah, for
the All Blacks to be their number ten. Yeah. Through
the World Cup cycle. That was fairly obvious and he
earned that because he played particularly well in Super Rugben
(00:59):
was the right guy and there was a sense of,
you know, everyone was on a journey with them, the
coaches they knew it wasn't going to be easy for
him to find his feet at this level, but you've
got to invest in your number ten. It's not an
easy position to play. And there was a distinct sense
of they were investing in him. They were watching him,
you know, defending his mistakes, but enjoying the way he
was growing into things. And then after about eight and
(01:22):
nine test, it started to change a little bit, didn't it.
There was a sense that they were being a bit
frustrated with him. He wasn't growing as quickly. He wasn't
he wasn't learning and reck to find the mistakes that
he was making. He wasn't developing as much. And then
we saw the narrative change a little bit. We saw
Bonon Barrett put into the number ten role, and now
there's a feeling that, well, you know, actually that looked
(01:44):
a lot better with him. There is that now the
long term future for this team Bond Barrett number ten
and if so, that's a really big change for Demion
coming into this tour and he's going to have to
really understand what his role looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So what do you think happened with that with Damian?
I mean, you're right at the start of the season,
he was mercurial, but then he just dropped off.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, I don't know if anything happened as such. I
think it's a big jump up into the international arena. Yeah,
and Super rugby, particularly at the moment for a number ten,
looks a lot different in a kind of aerobic ball
in hand, open contest that you tend to find in
Super rugby to the you know, the tighter game management
(02:27):
requirements that come with international rugby, where kicking strategies are
a lot more developed. You've gotta be a lot more
accurate there. There's an intense pressure on you. Your time's
cut down, your space is cut down. All these things
are completely different. You've got to know how to navigate
your way through an eighty minute contest. And I think
that's it is a journey because other than Dan Carter,
(02:47):
who you know, was obviously freakishly talented, it's not often
do you see an international number ten, you know, comes
straight off the bat and look the part in the
in the international game. I mean, let's be honest. Richie
Muwangan was a Super Rugby superstar, but it took him,
it took him three or four years really to find
a state at international level. Before he was the same
(03:08):
kind of play, So I don't think anything happened. I
just think it's it's a difficult job to learn and
you're under pressure to win games at the same time,
and the coaching group probably are feeling that, you know,
they've got to get that balance right between developing a
player and winning games.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
A good way to start I guess with I guess
opening with Japan. Do you think he'll be the first
pick against Japan for start off? No?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Probably not. Actually, I think they'll look deeper into the
talent pool than I mean, they haven't lost faith in
Damian and they know what he can do. Maybe maybe
he's on the bench for that one. I don't know,
but I think that's the sort of game where Stephen Paraceta,
Harry Plummer. I'm trying to think that they've got there,
but one of those two maybe to play at number two.
That they know, they know what Damian brings, they know
(03:54):
what Bonden Barrett brings. I don't think that's a game
that you'd want to you know, I won't say squander,
but you want to see who the next one behind
those two is, and you need to get down to
sort of three or four deep in the international game
because injuries come really quickly and they often come in
the same position, so you've got to go that deep
into your pool to find out.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It's certainly got to have been interesting too. The five
game tour really isn't There's a lot of pressure on
the team to perform.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, there's a huge amount of pressure and there's three
teams in particular who are really looking forward to having
the chance to play the old backs. Ireland in particular.
I don't think they're loving life of the moment around
New Zealand, and I think they were obviously upset with
losing that quarter final last year. That hurts them enormous place.
(04:43):
There's been a few exchanges between players over the years.
It's built the tension and I think Ireland are sitting there.
It's their first game, by the way, they're not playing
the week before, so they'll be coming in hots fired up.
On a Friday night in Dublin. We've had a few guinnesses,
I think, but the home of the game there and Ricka, Yoannie,
you'll probably be going cheaper. Why did I ever see
(05:05):
what I said turned out to get me?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Oh, it's going to be absolutely fantastic and you're very,
very lucky to be going on that. Let's turn our
attention to the Bunnings NPC Simi's this coming weekend. So
who are your picks? We've got the first game on
Saturday bay Plenty Steamers in Canterbury.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I'm going to disappoint someone in you, not too far
away from you, but probably Canterbury. Look, they kind of
blasted out of nowhere last weekend with that, with that
performance against Tasman. I mean, I guess it's always possible
given the quality of player that they have. I don't
know if anyone saw that coming. Are they on a roll?
Probably would love to see the bee just because I
(05:47):
love seeing the you know that the smaller unions get
into finals and win things. But probably realistic there will
be Canterbury all right.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And the other game is teen past seven on Saturday
night Wellington and why Cattle?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Probably Wellington. They just look like they're set up quite
well at the moment and probably playing the best rugby
in the competition. I suppecial they might even going to
win it. So yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Been a great competition, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Gregor? Yeah, Look, I think as just saying before it
came on air. Look, people are going to be really
careful what they do with this competition. I know it's
under review at the moment. I know. I think we're
about to find out shortly, by the way, what the
future for it looks like. Yep, there might be issues
around its costs. You know, they might want to keep
them down a little bit because it is difficult in
(06:35):
this day and age. But it is a treasure thing
and it connects a lot of people locally still who
don't find Super Rugby the thing that they want, and
you know, they want this and if we're not doing it,
wonder if there are high quality players for Not All Black,
what are they going to do between August and November
if we start mucking around with this competition. And it
(06:57):
is a massive part of New Zealand's able success that
they've put guys through that competition and that everyone still
loves playing and a lot of people still really enjoy
watching it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, leave it alone.
We love it. Hey, Gregor, I enjoy your trip. I
guess we made check when you're in the Northern Hemisphere.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Thank you, Thank you, Gregor Paul
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Joining us with his rugby comments of the week.
The Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport.
Right O, time to talk rugby now or a rugby comment
of the week. Gregor Paul, one of New Zealand's most
respected rugby writers, joined this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Gregor, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You are you heading to the Northern Hemisphere for the tour?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I am on the plane tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Ah, fantastic. Well, it's going to be an interesting one actually,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Really?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
They begin that tour with the game against Japan in
a week from now, and you wrote an article about,
well about Damian McKenzie, who'll be lining up obviously in
the squad as well, but how he has to be
managed delicately. What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You said, a bit of a us time to be honest. Look,
I think we started the the international season began with
Damien clearly identified as the long term prospect. Yeah, for
the All Blacks to be their number ten. Yeah. Through
the World Cup cycle. That was fairly obvious and he
earned that because he played particularly well in Super Rugben
(00:59):
was the right guy and there was a sense of,
you know, everyone was on a journey with them, the
coaches they knew it wasn't going to be easy for
him to find his feet at this level, but you've
got to invest in your number ten. It's not an
easy position to play. And there was a distinct sense
of they were investing in him. They were watching him,
you know, defending his mistakes, but enjoying the way he
was growing into things. And then after about eight and
(01:22):
nine test, it started to change a little bit, didn't it.
There was a sense that they were being a bit
frustrated with him. He wasn't growing as quickly. He wasn't
he wasn't learning and reck to find the mistakes that
he was making. He wasn't developing as much. And then
we saw the narrative change a little bit. We saw
Bonon Barrett put into the number ten role, and now
there's a feeling that, well, you know, actually that looked
(01:44):
a lot better with him. There is that now the
long term future for this team Bond Barrett number ten
and if so, that's a really big change for Demion
coming into this tour and he's going to have to
really understand what his role looks like.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So what do you think happened with that with Damian?
I mean, you're right at the start of the season,
he was mercurial, but then he just dropped off.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, I don't know if anything happened as such. I
think it's a big jump up into the international arena. Yeah,
and Super rugby, particularly at the moment for a number ten,
looks a lot different in a kind of aerobic ball
in hand, open contest that you tend to find in
Super rugby to the you know, the tighter game management
(02:27):
requirements that come with international rugby, where kicking strategies are
a lot more developed. You've gotta be a lot more
accurate there. There's an intense pressure on you. Your time's
cut down, your space is cut down. All these things
are completely different. You've got to know how to navigate
your way through an eighty minute contest. And I think
that's it is a journey because other than Dan Carter,
(02:47):
who you know, was obviously freakishly talented, it's not often
do you see an international number ten, you know, comes
straight off the bat and look the part in the
in the international game. I mean, let's be honest. Richie
Muwangan was a Super Rugby superstar, but it took him,
it took him three or four years really to find
a state at international level. Before he was the same
(03:08):
kind of play, So I don't think anything happened. I
just think it's it's a difficult job to learn and
you're under pressure to win games at the same time,
and the coaching group probably are feeling that, you know,
they've got to get that balance right between developing a
player and winning games.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
A good way to start I guess with I guess
opening with Japan. Do you think he'll be the first
pick against Japan for start off? No?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Probably not. Actually, I think they'll look deeper into the
talent pool than I mean, they haven't lost faith in
Damian and they know what he can do. Maybe maybe
he's on the bench for that one. I don't know,
but I think that's the sort of game where Stephen Paraceta,
Harry Plummer. I'm trying to think that they've got there,
but one of those two maybe to play at number two.
That they know, they know what Damian brings, they know
(03:54):
what Bonden Barrett brings. I don't think that's a game
that you'd want to you know, I won't say squander,
but you want to see who the next one behind
those two is, and you need to get down to
sort of three or four deep in the international game
because injuries come really quickly and they often come in
the same position, so you've got to go that deep
into your pool to find out.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It's certainly got to have been interesting too. The five
game tour really isn't There's a lot of pressure on
the team to perform.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, there's a huge amount of pressure and there's three
teams in particular who are really looking forward to having
the chance to play the old backs. Ireland in particular.
I don't think they're loving life of the moment around
New Zealand, and I think they were obviously upset with
losing that quarter final last year. That hurts them enormous place.
(04:43):
There's been a few exchanges between players over the years.
It's built the tension and I think Ireland are sitting there.
It's their first game, by the way, they're not playing
the week before, so they'll be coming in hots fired up.
On a Friday night in Dublin. We've had a few guinnesses,
I think, but the home of the game there and Ricka, Yoannie,
you'll probably be going cheaper. Why did I ever see
(05:05):
what I said turned out to get me?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Oh, it's going to be absolutely fantastic and you're very,
very lucky to be going on that. Let's turn our
attention to the Bunnings NPC Simi's this coming weekend. So
who are your picks? We've got the first game on
Saturday bay Plenty Steamers in Canterbury.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I'm going to disappoint someone in you, not too far
away from you, but probably Canterbury. Look, they kind of
blasted out of nowhere last weekend with that, with that
performance against Tasman. I mean, I guess it's always possible
given the quality of player that they have. I don't
know if anyone saw that coming. Are they on a roll?
Probably would love to see the bee just because I
(05:47):
love seeing the you know that the smaller unions get
into finals and win things. But probably realistic there will
be Canterbury all right.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And the other game is teen past seven on Saturday
night Wellington and why Cattle?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Probably Wellington. They just look like they're set up quite
well at the moment and probably playing the best rugby
in the competition. I suppecial they might even going to
win it. So yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Been a great competition, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Gregor? Yeah, Look, I think as just saying before it
came on air. Look, people are going to be really
careful what they do with this competition. I know it's
under review at the moment. I know. I think we're
about to find out shortly, by the way, what the
future for it looks like. Yep, there might be issues
around its costs. You know, they might want to keep
them down a little bit because it is difficult in
(06:35):
this day and age. But it is a treasure thing
and it connects a lot of people locally still who
don't find Super Rugby the thing that they want, and
you know, they want this and if we're not doing it,
wonder if there are high quality players for Not All Black,
what are they going to do between August and November
if we start mucking around with this competition. And it
(06:57):
is a massive part of New Zealand's able success that
they've put guys through that competition and that everyone still
loves playing and a lot of people still really enjoy
watching it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, leave it alone.
We love it. Hey, Gregor, I enjoy your trip. I
guess we made check when you're in the Northern Hemisphere.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Thank you, Thank you, Gregor Paul
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Joining us with his rugby comments of the week.
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