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September 5, 2025 13 mins

Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick is adamant the Eden Park 50-match unbeaten streak will heap pressure on South Africa —rather than New Zealand— in tonight's Rugby Championship test. 

The Springboks will attempt to become the first team since France in 1994 to win at the Auckland arena, having beaten the All Blacks the last four tests in a row. 

Fitzpatrick says he'd dread playing at South Africa's fortress, Ellis Park. 

“[The Springboks are] all saying, “we love going to Eden Park”, they don’t love going to Eden Park,” he told Piney. 

“Because that’s our home, that’s where we’re successful.” 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks edb.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
SO ahead of this monumental Test match to I had
a great pleasure to welcome in one of our truly
great All Blacks one hundred and twenty eight Game ninety
two Test, former All Blacks captain Shan Fitzpatrick who led
us to one of our most iconic series victories.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
It's from the five meter learn the All Blacks drive
in with great gust. Can they get something gain here?
Funder Vestas and.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Waits chive drive, jive.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Highness and New Zealand we've created history. Thirty three points
to twenty six South Africa child in vain. It was
a last to che effort by them and one must
admire their courage. But then full marks to the All Blacks.
It's a great All Black TEAMNUS and they have created
history here.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
They created a history that in nineteen ninety sixteen by
winning a series in South Africa for the very first time,
led by Sean Fitzpatrick who joins US now. Sean, I've
been replaying that nineteen ninety six tour over here all
week in the lead up to this game tonight. The
first time the All Blacks won a series in South Africa,
sealed by that thirty three twenty six win in Pretoria.

(01:22):
And amongst everything else you achieved in rugby, where does
that series win rank for you?

Speaker 5 (01:28):
I've seen well, good morning, Jason. It's just brings a
smile to my face, which you know, I remember that
tour as I it was yesterday, and you know it
was quite a few years ago now. But I'm like you, Jason,
I never I never thought i'd go well.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Firstly, I never thought I'd be an All Black.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Secondly, I never thought after I became an All Black
that I'd actually get the opportunity.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
To go to South Africa.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
And you know, I was brought up, you know, I
was brought up on the you know, the sixties and seventies,
and you know, the probably my first real vivid memory
of the All Blacks playing South Africa was when Dad
sort of woke me up in the early hours in
nineteen seventy six to watch the All Blacks play South
Africa and Bloomfontaine.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
And I remember looking.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
At the field, I'm saying to Dad, wise in no
grass And then Joe Morgan scored that great try and
they were all wearing pat know things over their knees
to stop them getting grazers.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
But that was how we were brought up.

Speaker 5 (02:39):
And you know the eighty one Tour, good and bad,
whatever and ever it thinks of that, and then and
then becoming an All Black sofery weren't even on the agenda.
And so to go there in nineteen ninety two and
to play against the great mask both Danny Herber, to

(03:01):
play at Alice Park, which was just a dream come true,
and then to go down to King's Part these great
stadiums that we've heard so much about.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
And that rivalry from me was just immense.

Speaker 5 (03:13):
And you know, to to be able to go there
in ninety six and be the first all Black team
after the disappointment obviously had ninety five to play the
World Champions four saturdays in a row. It was we
played them and you know, to win that series. And
I've told you that told you this before in terms
of the great Don Clark, when he greeted me in

(03:36):
the tunnel tunnelt loftus verse Velt and hugged me and
said thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
I can die a happy man now. I was just
sort of summed up.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
You know, we were having to educate the Christian Collings
of the world and about what this was all about,
you know, and Hearty just did such a great job
of making the whole thirty six of us that were
in that touring party, plus the management, what this actually
meant and for us to go four saturdays in a

(04:07):
row and then to do the job that loft us. Yeah,
it was a great memory.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I love that Don Clark story. I still get
goosebumps every time you tell it, and today today no exception.
There's also some great footage of those who weren't in
the match day squad up in the stand and there
and their white shirts and their ties led by Eric
Rush and Joan Olomu doing a harker afterwards. That must
have been spine.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
That's that's what.

Speaker 5 (04:34):
Mike Banks and and and Artie did so well. They
made where we're this thing that we had to win
every game on that tour was.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
It was an old.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
Traditional tour that probably half of the team that been
brought up with in terms of you know, in the
eighties we toured.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
Island and Wales and we were away for eight.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
Weeks and we had a Saturday team and a Wednesday
team and it was the job of the Wednesday team
that to put the pressure on the Saturday team. And
there was no way that the Gatlands of the world
going to get on the Saturday team. So that was
and that just cemented this power of thirty six of us.

(05:16):
They were going to do this job together, and we
all came together on test day and we were powerful
as a unit and you could see that, and that's
what I love. That's probably my other than waving to
the nuns up in the stand it loft us. My
outlasting sort of memory of that day was obviously hitting

(05:37):
the ground hugging hearty, but Jonah and Rushie you know,
on the sideline in their number ones doing a harker
to us, which was pretty special. So we had an
amazing bond. We believed in each other and we were
playing the world champions. And that's that's what I love.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
About about this afternoon, for this evening.

Speaker 5 (06:01):
Is you know they're coming to our place, and that's
that's what I That's what I love is that they've
never won there. These South Africans, they the double world champions,
all of them have never won at Eden Park or
never won a New Zealand and most of them weren't

(06:22):
even born the last time we lost this.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
This is a huge advantage to us.

Speaker 5 (06:28):
That's as long as we use that as a real
crux to make sure that we enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
There's no extra burden, is there shown with that record
fifty unbeaten tests at Eden Park. It should be used
as a superpower rather than any sort of burden.

Speaker 5 (06:47):
No, I don't for me personally, is you know if
I went to Alice Park, it was a challenge mentally
to get over that because we struggled there. You know,
we always struggled at Alice Park. And I much rather
go to Loftus Verse found. I'm much rather go to
King's Park. I didn't want to do at Alice Park.

(07:07):
And that's what that's what they're all saying. We love
going to Eden Park. They don't love going to Eden
Park because that's how that's our ground, that's our home,
that's where we're successful.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
And the All Blacks will go there very comfortable.

Speaker 5 (07:21):
They know where they sit in the changing room, they
know every inch of the grass, they know that the
atmosphere will be very much pro the All Blacks.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
So you know, they've got to embrace that and enjoy
it all.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
You played there a lot the first five of the
fifty tests, you were involved in from from ninety four onwards.
But of course also played in that game against France
in ninety four and we've seen a few replays of
that this week as well. They try from the end
of the Earth. What are you most vivid memories of
that day?

Speaker 4 (07:55):
Well, we were back to the wall.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
We you know, we lost in christ Church against the
French and Saint Andre and he's an old old made
of mine and he reminds me of that regularly that
they were the last team to win it Eden Park.
But yeah, we just say, I just you know, I remember,
you know the ball game. It's that right hand corner.
I'm hoping it's going to go out. And then they

(08:20):
just do what they do. They try it from the
end of the World, I think they called it. And
you know, Saint Andre and his men they developed something
as we all know, they can you know, the blankers
of the world. You know that that great team of
the late seventies, early eighties, they if they believe they
can do it, they do it. And you know, you

(08:42):
know that's what we probably need more in rugby is
moments like that that light up, light up the game.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Sure, you played in some outstanding All Black sides. I
think of that team of the late eighties that went
three calendar years without losing a game eighty seven through
eighty nine and into nineteen ninety as well, and then
the team that went to the Rugby World Cup in
ninety five, ninety six and ninety seven, incredible years. What
were the hallmarks of those those great All Black sides

(09:10):
that you were a part of.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
When we're individual of that team from eighty seven to
ninety was as a group of individuals who were very
good at what they did and and we were perfectionists.
It was one hundred percent wanted to be the best
we could be. And if you get everyone doing that,

(09:35):
you're unbeatable. And that's so that team there, you know,
ninety two to ninety four, Jason, it was that that
was a pretty tough time we had. We had to
go through a major learning curve and I sort of see,
sort of see you know, I said to Scott Barrett
last year, You're going to get better and better every year.
But you get but you're going to have to take
some pain along the way and and and that's what

(09:58):
I see in today's game this evening, is that the
big boys need to stand up because we've got a
lot of there's a lot of new new that haven't
been in this environment before, haven't been put at this,
you know, standing at the store. Do I open it
and go through or not? And that's why we need

(10:18):
the big boys. You know, he's playing this hundredth game
to night. There's a few other that's bear up there.
There's a there's a few others that are that are
the big boys, and they need to stand up tonight.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
To deliver.

Speaker 5 (10:31):
And and that's what I sort of think about, you know,
the early in ninety two, ninety three, if Foxy played badly,
if if JK plaid badly, if I played badly, we
would lose.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
And that's why.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
And it's always so Foxy and and Karma and those
boys Lowly and hollow. We need to front and if
we can do it, then everyone will just becomes an
easy an easy job. But you're playing against the world
champions and they know how to put the pressure on. So,
you know, I love the look of the All Black team.

(11:07):
We've got some real depth off the bench. To have
Limax and Williams sitting on the bench there, I just
think that is fantastic.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
And then probably for me the.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
Find of this year has been favoring in Holland to
have him coming off the bench. To have my dream
player of last year Satiti, you know, playing at number eight,
only playing as one hundreds.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, we've had.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
A really really good team, so you know, just embrace it.
And we're playing the World Champions at home.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Is this game going to be as tight as everybody
thinks it will be? There's been the odd blowout between
these two sides, the fifty seven nil at Albany twenty seventeen.
The game before the World Cup in twenty twenty three
at Twickenham was a bit of a blowout in South
Africa's favor. But is this going to be a typical
all black South Africa game tight?

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I like to think so it's you know, you've got
to have a blowout. I can't see that. I can't
see South Africa.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
They look pretty rusty at their first game against Australia,
but they came back last week or two weeks ago,
so no, I can't see that, and I can't see
the all blacks blowing out either at Eden Park. So
this is going to be This has been a proper
test match, which which is why I think everyone's so

(12:22):
excited the quality of the players, and I think it's
going to live up to its villain.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, I think you may well be right as you
usually are to see. Thanks so much for joining us
across news.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
We can't wait.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
You've passed your past teen enough ten minutes of the
way to.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Kick off for us.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Look forward to catch up again sometimes so owking mate.
Enjoy you, enjoyed to you, enjoyed to the one and
only Sean Fitzpatrick joining us with some great memories and
some great thoughts, in particular on the home record and
how it's not a burden. It's not something that should
bring with it extra pressure. Instead, it should bring with

(12:59):
it a feeling of supreme confidence that any team coming
to Eden Park is going to have to do something
pretty special to come away with a win.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
For more from Weekends Sport with Jason Fine, Listen live
to news Talks at b Weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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