September 2, 2024 • 8 mins
On his new book "views from the Second Row" The most capped All Black in history speaks for the record about his storied career, spanning three rugby world cup grand finals, nine Super Rugby finals, and 153 appearances in the black jersey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on
(00:03):
Gold Sport joining us on the show this morning. I
won't give away too much at the moment, but All
Black coach Scott Raiser Robertson said this about our next
guest in a few words, he said, he's the ultimate winner.
He's just published his best selling book, his first book,
View from the Second Row. Samuel Whitelock, the most capped
(00:26):
All Black in history, joins this morning. Sam or Samuel?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Is it? Yeah? I answered to both. Thanks for having
me on, and yeah, it's pretty cool to to have
a book out. It's something I never thought i'd ever
do in my wildest imagination, so pretty pretty cool to
have it now.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I love reading sports books, and I love reading the
stories behind the scenes, and I've got to say this one,
in particular, I couldn't put down. It was gripping from
from the very first chapter where you started going into
all the details of the injuries you've had in your career.
And I think that took up about a page and
a half.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, but believe it or not, I've actually been very,
very lucky with my injuries as well, so I've managed
to avoid a few extra surgeries that I didn't want
to get and yeah, I think I had five in total,
so pretty lucky really.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And there were times where you sort of spent it
in a recovery teent as well. What is it a
hyperbaric chamber.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah. Yeah, So spent all the time just trying to
do the right thing of you know, stretching message, all
those extra little things, recovery sessions, swimming sessions, just taking
time out of the day to do the right thing,
and sometimes probably did too much of it, But very
very happy. I've kind of finished with a body in
(01:42):
pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Max. Let's go back to the beginnings, and I think
you were probably always going to be an All Black,
although you did make a decision regarding basketball as well,
but you grew up in a family of former All Blacks.
Your dad was a top player for the manor or
two as well, So it was really going to be
rugby for you, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. The cool thing about all of it was we
were never pushed. We were never you know, those kids
that were playing sport because it was what their parents wanted.
We were so into it and so enthusiastic that they
didn't actually have to push us. They had to tell
us to relax a little bit at time, and that's
a cool thing now seeing and hearing people's stories and
(02:23):
we're no different than anyone else. We had the love
of the game, and that's why I think we've played
so long and had the success, because I've always loved
the game of rugby.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There's a piece in the book where your dad, Bryden,
you said he dedicated himself to coaching his boys to
be men first and play a second.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah. I think that was something that he did very well.
He knew, you know, four boys were probably rough around
the edges because we had no sisters, and we didn't
slow down for too many things, so he knew that
he had to probably take a bit of sting out
of us. Father, that's what he saw was the best thing,
and he was one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Probably fair enough having a farm as well, because feeding
the four of you, along with your dad and the
rest of the family, that would have taken quite an effort.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, we used to definitely put away attacking. I'm trying
to limit the intake now because I'm not playing, but
when we were all there playing at the Crusaders together,
go home for pre seasons and things like that, and
Dad would see what was on our plate and then
he would tie compete, and it got a little bit
out of hand in for a while, but I'd like
to say we've pulled out eating a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Let's go back to you making your debut for the
All Blacks. I think it was in twenty ten. You
were twenty one years old and you were taken really
under the wing of Brad Thorn, weren't you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, that's exactly what happened. And I was in the
privileged position and very fortunate to have someone like Thorny
to pass on so much knowledge. And he took a
liking for me, and it said, look, I'm going to
help you. What do you want to know? And the
best thing was I played with them at the Crusaders
and All Blacks, and I just this was like a sponge.
(04:05):
I tried to loose everything off him. And there's so
many other senior guys that did the same, but he
was one for me and play in the same position
that he just passed on all this knowledge and it's
no way I would have had the career without him.
And sometimes it was just that too, telling me, hey,
look you can do this if you want. It's all
up to you, and just installed a bit of that
belief that was probably at times wavering with that self doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
One thing that impressed me about the book, and you
talked about it in the book about writing all your
goals down and you kept basically a small diary or
an exercise book or something. How many have you got
now with all your goals written in them?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, I've got all the ones from my professional careers
every year, and I've still got all the ones from school.
They're all in storage at the moment. I'm not sure
if I'll ever keep out and have a look at them.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Maybe one day I will.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But for us it was what was expected at school.
We had mister Rick Francis, the hostel management Christophine coach.
He set us up to succeed in that sense because
he wanted us to challenge ourselves to be bitter and
grow only on the sports field, but also the academic.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
There's so much wicked. There's so much we could touch
on in this book, and we know time is limited,
but I want to talk about that first Test at Twickenham,
and that was a very special special occasion for you.
Really wasn't it because your granddad had played there.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yes, who grew up with Grandad's hour of the day
cigar and cigarette lighter and we used to get it
out of the cupboard and smells and always say, oh, yeah,
I was terrible when.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
He occurred and to him had my first start at
Twickenham was awesome and it was probably the time I
brought a few things up with Graham Henry at the
time and Ted was awesome. Peter the head coach just
allowed me to be me, but he knew all the.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
History and explained where and what it would have been.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And for me it was so special to have it
for you start there because of the family history.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
And that cigar is still in the in the trophy
room today, I believe.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, Mom's had always said when one of us was
an all black smoking, But I'm just so happy to
have it. It's still there and even and again we
still got there and have a look at it and
had the smell of it as well, so hopefully never
get smoked anyway.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The view from that view from the second row. Samuel Whitelock.
The other story I love him there is the day
that you went along to a gym in Wellington to
have a little bit of basketball with an up and
coming player tell us that we tell us that story.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, it's amazing, a little bit of confidence with time.
But there's no way I would have said anything to
anyone because the team I think Rifew had broken his foot,
Dan had just done was about to do his quad,
Brenda was injured and I was covering a whole lot
of different positions. But we stuck away and played back
(06:56):
up basketball with Steven Adams, Kenny has coach and another
guy and Peter. He was like, I was just gonna
be a little bit of pole, so he strapped a
few of us up ankles and we would have played
for two hours of just pick up basketball and it
was a really nice moment just to get away from
the pressures of the World Cup. But at the same
(07:17):
time pretty cool now to see what Steven Adams has
done with his career. Obviously an amazing family with his
sisters and siblings as well. So cool to say that
I pick up game with him for a few hours.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And there was a crossroads for you deciding whether you
should go and play basketball or rugby at one stage
and in the early days wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It was to a point a school. I was lucky
enough to be selected the first New Zealand sites for
both sports, and yeah, it was a pretty hard decision
because I definitely loved both sports, loved to had gone
the other way and given basketball good or crack. But
you only pick one watching out of school and I
(08:01):
think breaking in really yeah, one of those ones that
was hard at the time, but I think, well, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
The whole of the country is pleased about that one indeed.
And of course now you're evolved, you're back on the farm.
You're farming because you're involved with Farm Strong, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, So we get to the farm tomorrow and the
real life starts them and looking forward to putting a
lot of the principles that we've talked about and that
Farm Strong put up and a beneficial to use, like
it's going to be a quick change for us, so
we will be put at different stages, looking forward to
(08:39):
the keeping the community and hopefully helping him out as
much as they're going to help us out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well, Sam that the book is absolutely brilliant. I've absolutely
loved reading A view from the second row. Samuel Whitelock
well done, congratulations, thank you very much. Same wide block
joining us on the show this morning, How Family, Farming
and Footy
This is the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on
(00:03):
Gold Sport joining us on the show this morning. I
won't give away too much at the moment, but All
Black coach Scott Raiser Robertson said this about our next
guest in a few words, he said, he's the ultimate winner.
He's just published his best selling book, his first book,
View from the Second Row. Samuel Whitelock, the most capped
(00:26):
All Black in history, joins this morning. Sam or Samuel?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Is it? Yeah? I answered to both. Thanks for having
me on, and yeah, it's pretty cool to to have
a book out. It's something I never thought i'd ever
do in my wildest imagination, so pretty pretty cool to
have it now.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I love reading sports books, and I love reading the
stories behind the scenes, and I've got to say this one,
in particular, I couldn't put down. It was gripping from
from the very first chapter where you started going into
all the details of the injuries you've had in your career.
And I think that took up about a page and
a half.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, but believe it or not, I've actually been very,
very lucky with my injuries as well, so I've managed
to avoid a few extra surgeries that I didn't want
to get and yeah, I think I had five in total,
so pretty lucky really.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And there were times where you sort of spent it
in a recovery teent as well. What is it a
hyperbaric chamber.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah. Yeah, So spent all the time just trying to
do the right thing of you know, stretching message, all
those extra little things, recovery sessions, swimming sessions, just taking
time out of the day to do the right thing,
and sometimes probably did too much of it, But very
very happy. I've kind of finished with a body in
(01:42):
pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Max. Let's go back to the beginnings, and I think
you were probably always going to be an All Black,
although you did make a decision regarding basketball as well,
but you grew up in a family of former All Blacks.
Your dad was a top player for the manor or
two as well, So it was really going to be
rugby for you, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. The cool thing about all of it was we
were never pushed. We were never you know, those kids
that were playing sport because it was what their parents wanted.
We were so into it and so enthusiastic that they
didn't actually have to push us. They had to tell
us to relax a little bit at time, and that's
a cool thing now seeing and hearing people's stories and
(02:23):
we're no different than anyone else. We had the love
of the game, and that's why I think we've played
so long and had the success, because I've always loved
the game of rugby.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There's a piece in the book where your dad, Bryden,
you said he dedicated himself to coaching his boys to
be men first and play a second.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah. I think that was something that he did very well.
He knew, you know, four boys were probably rough around
the edges because we had no sisters, and we didn't
slow down for too many things, so he knew that
he had to probably take a bit of sting out
of us. Father, that's what he saw was the best thing,
and he was one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Probably fair enough having a farm as well, because feeding
the four of you, along with your dad and the
rest of the family, that would have taken quite an effort.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, we used to definitely put away attacking. I'm trying
to limit the intake now because I'm not playing, but
when we were all there playing at the Crusaders together,
go home for pre seasons and things like that, and
Dad would see what was on our plate and then
he would tie compete, and it got a little bit
out of hand in for a while, but I'd like
to say we've pulled out eating a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Let's go back to you making your debut for the
All Blacks. I think it was in twenty ten. You
were twenty one years old and you were taken really
under the wing of Brad Thorn, weren't you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, that's exactly what happened. And I was in the
privileged position and very fortunate to have someone like Thorny
to pass on so much knowledge. And he took a
liking for me, and it said, look, I'm going to
help you. What do you want to know? And the
best thing was I played with them at the Crusaders
and All Blacks, and I just this was like a sponge.
(04:05):
I tried to loose everything off him. And there's so
many other senior guys that did the same, but he
was one for me and play in the same position
that he just passed on all this knowledge and it's
no way I would have had the career without him.
And sometimes it was just that too, telling me, hey,
look you can do this if you want. It's all
up to you, and just installed a bit of that
belief that was probably at times wavering with that self doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
One thing that impressed me about the book, and you
talked about it in the book about writing all your
goals down and you kept basically a small diary or
an exercise book or something. How many have you got
now with all your goals written in them?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, I've got all the ones from my professional careers
every year, and I've still got all the ones from school.
They're all in storage at the moment. I'm not sure
if I'll ever keep out and have a look at them.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Maybe one day I will.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But for us it was what was expected at school.
We had mister Rick Francis, the hostel management Christophine coach.
He set us up to succeed in that sense because
he wanted us to challenge ourselves to be bitter and
grow only on the sports field, but also the academic.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
There's so much wicked. There's so much we could touch
on in this book, and we know time is limited,
but I want to talk about that first Test at Twickenham,
and that was a very special special occasion for you.
Really wasn't it because your granddad had played there.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yes, who grew up with Grandad's hour of the day
cigar and cigarette lighter and we used to get it
out of the cupboard and smells and always say, oh, yeah,
I was terrible when.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
He occurred and to him had my first start at
Twickenham was awesome and it was probably the time I
brought a few things up with Graham Henry at the
time and Ted was awesome. Peter the head coach just
allowed me to be me, but he knew all the.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
History and explained where and what it would have been.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And for me it was so special to have it
for you start there because of the family history.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
And that cigar is still in the in the trophy
room today, I believe.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, Mom's had always said when one of us was
an all black smoking, But I'm just so happy to
have it. It's still there and even and again we
still got there and have a look at it and
had the smell of it as well, so hopefully never
get smoked anyway.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The view from that view from the second row. Samuel Whitelock.
The other story I love him there is the day
that you went along to a gym in Wellington to
have a little bit of basketball with an up and
coming player tell us that we tell us that story.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, it's amazing, a little bit of confidence with time.
But there's no way I would have said anything to
anyone because the team I think Rifew had broken his foot,
Dan had just done was about to do his quad,
Brenda was injured and I was covering a whole lot
of different positions. But we stuck away and played back
(06:56):
up basketball with Steven Adams, Kenny has coach and another
guy and Peter. He was like, I was just gonna
be a little bit of pole, so he strapped a
few of us up ankles and we would have played
for two hours of just pick up basketball and it
was a really nice moment just to get away from
the pressures of the World Cup. But at the same
(07:17):
time pretty cool now to see what Steven Adams has
done with his career. Obviously an amazing family with his
sisters and siblings as well. So cool to say that
I pick up game with him for a few hours.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And there was a crossroads for you deciding whether you
should go and play basketball or rugby at one stage
and in the early days wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It was to a point a school. I was lucky
enough to be selected the first New Zealand sites for
both sports, and yeah, it was a pretty hard decision
because I definitely loved both sports, loved to had gone
the other way and given basketball good or crack. But
you only pick one watching out of school and I
(08:01):
think breaking in really yeah, one of those ones that
was hard at the time, but I think, well, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
The whole of the country is pleased about that one indeed.
And of course now you're evolved, you're back on the farm.
You're farming because you're involved with Farm Strong, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, So we get to the farm tomorrow and the
real life starts them and looking forward to putting a
lot of the principles that we've talked about and that
Farm Strong put up and a beneficial to use, like
it's going to be a quick change for us, so
we will be put at different stages, looking forward to
(08:39):
the keeping the community and hopefully helping him out as
much as they're going to help us out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well, Sam that the book is absolutely brilliant. I've absolutely
loved reading A view from the second row. Samuel Whitelock
well done, congratulations, thank you very much. Same wide block
joining us on the show this morning, How Family, Farming
and Footy
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