Scott Robertson's first All Blacks team of the season raised a few eyebrows.
The team selected to go up against France at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium features four uncapped players, with a few major names relegated to the reserves.
Former All Blacks Captain Taine Randell joined Piney to discuss the selection choices and preview tonight's clash against France.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We'll come to your live from Emerson's in Dunedin. It's
absolutely humming in here. Andrew Hore has arrived. We're going
to get the chance to chat to the eighty three
Test All Blacks hooker very shortly, but it's a great
pleasure to be joined by former Otago Highlanders and All
Blacks captain Tane Randall sixty one games for the All Blacks,
including fifty one Test matches, Test captain twenty two times,
(00:37):
seventy seven Super Rugby games for the Highlanders, eighty three
provincial games for Otago, and the big highlight for Otago
was when he led them to the NPC First Division
title in nineteen ninety eighteen. Randal Worll, it's great to
see you mate, Thanks for stopping in. How do you
feel when you fly back into Dned in a place
which is so special to you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thanks for making me feel really old. Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
When you come back to Duneda and you've got so
many rugby memories here. I'm sure what's it like back
because you're based on Hawk's Bay now.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Yeah, based on my family's from there, my wife's families
from Hawk's Bay. You know, we came down here to university,
had an a mazing time live for a good dozen
years and just loved the place and got two kids
down here now right in the thick of the university
Castle Street careers. So probably spend more time down here
than I should do, but it's great when I am.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
What are your what are your fondest memories of rugby
here in Dneda and down south?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I think, depending how I'm really happy of the career
I had made, Maybe because it sort of spanned amateur
sort of the first few years of professional rugby, which
was really semi professional where he got paid like professionals
but trained like semi amateurs, and then you know, going
through to fully professional I really really appreciated and it
(01:58):
was a bitter was it worse?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It was just different.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
And I think when I when I look back, you
make a lot of friends playing rugby, the closest friends
I've got at the university friends and also the ones
who molso in the amateur days where you sort of
did things because you're passionate about it. And that's what
I'm really really contrasted to when I'm playing over the London.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
By the time I'd finished Ragby.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Was my perspective was very very professional, and you became
workmates is rather than you know, really good friends. So
when I come down here, I catch up with the people,
as I say, I used to flat with, you go
through all that sort of stuff I used to play
rugby with. And you know, my wife puts a limit
on how many times I come down, and I usually
(02:41):
whant to do come down.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It takes a few months to get over. But anyway,
great to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's great to have you here just before we move
on and look at this game tonight. That that move
from amateur to professional or semi professional as you call it,
you know that to spend across the back end of
the nineties and MPC was still big too, wasn't it.
Otago was still you know what was that a team
you enjoyed still playing for even though the Highlanders were
there too.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, you know I enjoyed playing for me both the
Tiger and the Highness. It was seamless.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You know, a lot of the same guys played in
both teams. I couldn't say I enjoyed one more not.
I just loved them both. And you know my wife
to Ah, would you do the same thing I do
it if given the same, given the chance, I do
everything the same.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
If I could say yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Love that, or I lest look at the game tonight.
How do you feel about the all black side that's
been named in particular? I mean the loose forwards are interesting,
right too? Plevited to six, Artie Savita seven, Christian Leo
Willie will Day boo at eight for a couple of
loosers on the bench, how do you how.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Do you like the mix?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
To be perfectly honest, I mean, I've never been this
I haven't been this excited about an all back team
for a long while. It seems to me, finally, after
a number of years, they've actually picked a team with
a strategy in mind of how they want to play
and what they want to do, rather than picking the
best players and putting them in the team. Probably the
best example back but Boden Barrett was World Player of
(04:04):
the Year twice at first five. So what do we do, Well,
we're two good first fives. We'll put them at fullback
to fit everyone in. Now Ardie Save and Sam Caine.
We had two worlds, in my opinion, to world class
number sevens, and rather than making a really brave call
of you know, choosing the best loose forward combination, they
(04:25):
chose to put them both in the team.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And d'gan mirror they.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Both played really well alredy fantastic, but as I don't
think they played it as a combination as well as
they could have. And you know, for for most, for
most teams, when you you know, the All Blacks are
putting the best players on, it's good enough to beat
most teams.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
In the world.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
But when you're in South Africa or front of your
top two or three four teams, and Iland were not.
We weren't good enough to do that. And that's been
proven over the last number of years. And so you know,
I still know the Richie mccare, Karen Reed, Jerome Cano,
the combination of one plus one plus one equals twenty
the way you know, they just had a fantastic combination.
(05:04):
I think fetching Hart, hard working defensive seven, a ball
playing eight, you know, a big strong man at six
or thereof.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We've sort of hadn't done that for the last five
or six years.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And I see, you know, with with Ardie at seven
Lear Williets artist is a fantastic He's a fantastic over
the ball and his great running Willie Willie big work
rate defensively and there is some risk with to purvey
on on on the blind side, but you know, he
fits physically the description of a number six in terms
(05:36):
of really I don't given that, I believe we've got
the sort of seven.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And eight role in place.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
He fits the description of what competes at combination. So
I love Elus for trio just the fact that they've
chosen a combination and the same way with Billy Procter
and at center.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know where I think about key roles, what is it?
What is this center?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
In New Zealand overseas teams fair outside wingers.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
You know, we've historically had strike.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Wingers who just you know, get the ball and cause damage.
They're not high work rate little guys that big impact
winger Joan Olomu, Sibvatu, the whole, just big impact wingers.
And with Riccon he's a winger to me. But the
core role of the center two things I believe. Firstly,
defensive organization. Billy Proctor's got that now Rico is a
(06:24):
great defender one on one, big hitter, but in terms
of organization, he's not Frank, but he's not Conrad Smith.
And that's what I think Bellieve procter Us and the
other key one. The key role, as I see the
center is get the ball to our wingers. With Rico,
he's devastate, played incredibly well, but I guess the issue
we had there. He he'd do really well in the
(06:46):
midfield in terms of making breaks, but we never saw
our wingers as much as we should have. I'm hoping
that tonight, with you know, Billy at center and Rico
on the wing, that Rico gets at least three tries
because we're getting the ball to the wing.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
This is just outstanding, and ellisis honestly, this is just brilliant.
I just writing all of this down for you during
the commentary later on. The all backs are up against
the side they should be comfortably. We know France haven't
haven't sent anywhere close to what is their top side
as an all black and an all black side. How
do you approach a game like that when it could
be a bit of a no win situation. Really, if
you wouldn't, you're supposed to. If you don't when convincingly,
(07:23):
you probably get you know, some bad headlines.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Yeah, and in a funny way. Okay, the top teams,
it's going to take a lot of edge off the series.
But I when I look at the All Backs team
what they've known, it's actually a great opportuny that the
French team are going to be difficult.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
What they've done. They've chosen some big, big fours.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
It's going to be a physical battle and I think
that's you know, I think from our given the way
that I think the All Backs have changed strategic direction
in a way. Yeah, maybe not as impactful a series,
but I think the long run, if we can get
a really good run at these guys, and they will
(08:01):
be difficult, it'll be a hard there. Guy's going to
get battered in this game, it'll be quite a good
we may look back and go Actually, that was quite
a good series for us to really kick start the
way that Scott Robertson and etc.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Have chosen to go.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Just before you go, mentioned Jonah before that test in
two thousand in Sydney, one hundred and ten thousand people.
Your pass to Jonah to send him away for the
winning try where does that rank among your favorite rugby moments.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That would be up there. He never did thank me
for setting him up, and.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I jonah, we played at school so all the way
through under sixties and that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
He was just phenomenal.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
I as I said, I loved every moment of my
rugby career, but that game, especially given that you know,
Ossie with a world champion a little bit to make up,
I've been dropped as the All Black captain and it
was just a phenomenal game. And the fact people are
still talking about it twenty odd years later, and not
just New Zealand as others as well, I think shows
the impact that that game had to be a you know,
(09:06):
at the time we were and fantastics only.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I guess I didn't really think it took a lot longer.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I think afterwards maybe the Bears have dim the memories,
but that makes it one stick out more.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
But I'm very proud of have done that.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And yeah, as I say, it was, it was a great,
great occasion and yeah we're still talking about now, so
that can't be too too bad.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Absolutely right, Tane. It's great to have you stopping here
at Emerson's to chat to us, enjoy the game tonight,
really appreciate your time. Chess A's Tane Randall among the
patrons here at Emerson's. Everywhere you look you see somebody
with a bit of rugby history. Great to have Tane
Randall join us.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It is for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine.
Listen live to News Talk said B weekends from midday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We'll come to your live from Emerson's in Dunedin. It's
absolutely humming in here. Andrew Hore has arrived. We're going
to get the chance to chat to the eighty three
Test All Blacks hooker very shortly, but it's a great
pleasure to be joined by former Otago Highlanders and All
Blacks captain Tane Randall sixty one games for the All Blacks,
including fifty one Test matches, Test captain twenty two times,
(00:37):
seventy seven Super Rugby games for the Highlanders, eighty three
provincial games for Otago, and the big highlight for Otago
was when he led them to the NPC First Division
title in nineteen ninety eighteen. Randal Worll, it's great to
see you mate, Thanks for stopping in. How do you
feel when you fly back into Dned in a place
which is so special to you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thanks for making me feel really old. Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
When you come back to Duneda and you've got so
many rugby memories here. I'm sure what's it like back
because you're based on Hawk's Bay now.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Yeah, based on my family's from there, my wife's families
from Hawk's Bay. You know, we came down here to university,
had an a mazing time live for a good dozen
years and just loved the place and got two kids
down here now right in the thick of the university
Castle Street careers. So probably spend more time down here
than I should do, but it's great when I am.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
What are your what are your fondest memories of rugby
here in Dneda and down south?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I think, depending how I'm really happy of the career
I had made, Maybe because it sort of spanned amateur
sort of the first few years of professional rugby, which
was really semi professional where he got paid like professionals
but trained like semi amateurs, and then you know, going
through to fully professional I really really appreciated and it
(01:58):
was a bitter was it worse?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It was just different.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
And I think when I when I look back, you
make a lot of friends playing rugby, the closest friends
I've got at the university friends and also the ones
who molso in the amateur days where you sort of
did things because you're passionate about it. And that's what
I'm really really contrasted to when I'm playing over the London.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
By the time I'd finished Ragby.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Was my perspective was very very professional, and you became
workmates is rather than you know, really good friends. So
when I come down here, I catch up with the people,
as I say, I used to flat with, you go
through all that sort of stuff I used to play
rugby with. And you know, my wife puts a limit
on how many times I come down, and I usually
(02:41):
whant to do come down.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It takes a few months to get over. But anyway,
great to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's great to have you here just before we move
on and look at this game tonight. That that move
from amateur to professional or semi professional as you call it,
you know that to spend across the back end of
the nineties and MPC was still big too, wasn't it.
Otago was still you know what was that a team
you enjoyed still playing for even though the Highlanders were
there too.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, you know I enjoyed playing for me both the
Tiger and the Highness. It was seamless.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You know, a lot of the same guys played in
both teams. I couldn't say I enjoyed one more not.
I just loved them both. And you know my wife
to Ah, would you do the same thing I do
it if given the same, given the chance, I do
everything the same.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
If I could say yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Love that, or I lest look at the game tonight.
How do you feel about the all black side that's
been named in particular? I mean the loose forwards are interesting,
right too? Plevited to six, Artie Savita seven, Christian Leo
Willie will Day boo at eight for a couple of
loosers on the bench, how do you how.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Do you like the mix?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
To be perfectly honest, I mean, I've never been this
I haven't been this excited about an all back team
for a long while. It seems to me, finally, after
a number of years, they've actually picked a team with
a strategy in mind of how they want to play
and what they want to do, rather than picking the
best players and putting them in the team. Probably the
best example back but Boden Barrett was World Player of
(04:04):
the Year twice at first five. So what do we do, Well,
we're two good first fives. We'll put them at fullback
to fit everyone in. Now Ardie Save and Sam Caine.
We had two worlds, in my opinion, to world class
number sevens, and rather than making a really brave call
of you know, choosing the best loose forward combination, they
(04:25):
chose to put them both in the team.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And d'gan mirror they.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Both played really well alredy fantastic, but as I don't
think they played it as a combination as well as
they could have. And you know, for for most, for
most teams, when you you know, the All Blacks are
putting the best players on, it's good enough to beat
most teams.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
In the world.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
But when you're in South Africa or front of your
top two or three four teams, and Iland were not.
We weren't good enough to do that. And that's been
proven over the last number of years. And so you know,
I still know the Richie mccare, Karen Reed, Jerome Cano,
the combination of one plus one plus one equals twenty
the way you know, they just had a fantastic combination.
(05:04):
I think fetching Hart, hard working defensive seven, a ball
playing eight, you know, a big strong man at six
or thereof.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We've sort of hadn't done that for the last five
or six years.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And I see, you know, with with Ardie at seven
Lear Williets artist is a fantastic He's a fantastic over
the ball and his great running Willie Willie big work
rate defensively and there is some risk with to purvey
on on on the blind side, but you know, he
fits physically the description of a number six in terms
(05:36):
of really I don't given that, I believe we've got
the sort of seven.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And eight role in place.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
He fits the description of what competes at combination. So
I love Elus for trio just the fact that they've
chosen a combination and the same way with Billy Procter
and at center.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know where I think about key roles, what is it?
What is this center?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
In New Zealand overseas teams fair outside wingers.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
You know, we've historically had strike.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Wingers who just you know, get the ball and cause damage.
They're not high work rate little guys that big impact
winger Joan Olomu, Sibvatu, the whole, just big impact wingers.
And with Riccon he's a winger to me. But the
core role of the center two things I believe. Firstly,
defensive organization. Billy Proctor's got that now Rico is a
(06:24):
great defender one on one, big hitter, but in terms
of organization, he's not Frank, but he's not Conrad Smith.
And that's what I think Bellieve procter Us and the
other key one. The key role, as I see the
center is get the ball to our wingers. With Rico,
he's devastate, played incredibly well, but I guess the issue
we had there. He he'd do really well in the
(06:46):
midfield in terms of making breaks, but we never saw
our wingers as much as we should have. I'm hoping
that tonight, with you know, Billy at center and Rico
on the wing, that Rico gets at least three tries
because we're getting the ball to the wing.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
This is just outstanding, and ellisis honestly, this is just brilliant.
I just writing all of this down for you during
the commentary later on. The all backs are up against
the side they should be comfortably. We know France haven't
haven't sent anywhere close to what is their top side
as an all black and an all black side. How
do you approach a game like that when it could
be a bit of a no win situation. Really, if
you wouldn't, you're supposed to. If you don't when convincingly,
(07:23):
you probably get you know, some bad headlines.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Yeah, and in a funny way. Okay, the top teams,
it's going to take a lot of edge off the series.
But I when I look at the All Backs team
what they've known, it's actually a great opportuny that the
French team are going to be difficult.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
What they've done. They've chosen some big, big fours.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
It's going to be a physical battle and I think
that's you know, I think from our given the way
that I think the All Backs have changed strategic direction
in a way. Yeah, maybe not as impactful a series,
but I think the long run, if we can get
a really good run at these guys, and they will
(08:01):
be difficult, it'll be a hard there. Guy's going to
get battered in this game, it'll be quite a good
we may look back and go Actually, that was quite
a good series for us to really kick start the
way that Scott Robertson and etc.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Have chosen to go.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Just before you go, mentioned Jonah before that test in
two thousand in Sydney, one hundred and ten thousand people.
Your pass to Jonah to send him away for the
winning try where does that rank among your favorite rugby moments.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That would be up there. He never did thank me
for setting him up, and.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I jonah, we played at school so all the way
through under sixties and that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
He was just phenomenal.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
I as I said, I loved every moment of my
rugby career, but that game, especially given that you know,
Ossie with a world champion a little bit to make up,
I've been dropped as the All Black captain and it
was just a phenomenal game. And the fact people are
still talking about it twenty odd years later, and not
just New Zealand as others as well, I think shows
the impact that that game had to be a you know,
(09:06):
at the time we were and fantastics only.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I guess I didn't really think it took a lot longer.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I think afterwards maybe the Bears have dim the memories,
but that makes it one stick out more.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
But I'm very proud of have done that.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And yeah, as I say, it was, it was a great,
great occasion and yeah we're still talking about now, so
that can't be too too bad.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Absolutely right, Tane. It's great to have you stopping here
at Emerson's to chat to us, enjoy the game tonight,
really appreciate your time. Chess A's Tane Randall among the
patrons here at Emerson's. Everywhere you look you see somebody
with a bit of rugby history. Great to have Tane
Randall join us.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It is for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine.
Listen live to News Talk said B weekends from midday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com