Jason Pine: Sportstalk host ahead of the All Blacks' upcoming clash against the Springboks

The All Blacks are prepared to wait as long as they can to clear Cortez Ratima to play Saturday's test against South Africa.

The Chiefs halfback is battling a rib injury - but is yet to be ruled out.

Coach Scott Robertson says they will wait, otherwise Finlay Christie and debutant Kyle Preston will play.

Sportstalk host Jason Pine explained further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sport with a tab app download and get your bed
on our eighteen bed responsibly.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Jason Pine sports talkhosters with me, Hello Piney.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello Heather.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I can run me through the injury list for the
All Blacks.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Okay Toamathy Tabatavannahwe out for twelve weeks, cam Royguard, Patrick
Twop a lot to know, a Hotham three to four weeks,
Caleb Park and Luke Jacobson still going to play another
game of MPC before they're considered. And Cortez or Atama
in a race against time after a whack to the ribs.
So quite a few half backs in their heather you
would have picked up Roy, Guard, Hotham or Atima. So

(00:32):
we may be in a situation on Saturday night, biggest
home test probably since the Rugby World Cup Final in
twenty eleven, where we've got a debutant halfback on the
bench Cayle Preston Lot good player but massive pressure on him.
On the plus side, Leicester fight Engler Nooku was back
in the All Blacks. The New Zealand Rugby Board have
ticked off his eligibility, so he comes in. He might

(00:53):
come straight back and the team that raised the names
on Thursday going to be very interesting.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Indeed, Yeah, must be feeling a little bit nervous about this.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
What do you think I think you should be? Yeah,
I mean I think you should be. It's probably it's
certainly the biggest test of his genure and like I say,
the biggest test the All Blacks have played, certainly in
New Zealand for a very very long time.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
His test of his tenure, well.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I mean last year he was kind of well he
was new, wasn't he And he went to South Africa
and lost both test matches over there. They were big tests.
But you look at that Eden Park record. You do
not want to be the All Blacks coach who is
running the cutter when a test record that stretches back
to nineteen ninety four falls. You don't want to be

(01:37):
the coach who oversaw the first loss of Eden Park
since the mid nineties. And I think also off the
back of a loss in Argentina the very first time
that's happened. You don't want back to back unwanted history
on your CV as All Blacks coach. Heather.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, and I mean what you're not saying, but what
I think you kind of hinted at is that the
grace period is over like it was. Okay perhaps at
as to lose two tests the spring Box in your
first year, but not your second year A you can't
start losing.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I wouldn't have thought so. And look, the stats only
tell half the story. But it took Iain Foster a
lot longer than this to lose his first five test
matches as All Blacks coach. That can be looked out
in a number of ways, of course, but look, I
think you'd want to win on Saturday night. Put it
that way, yeah, totally.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Now is there any chance at all that the Warrior
is to make the top four?

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yes they can. Here's what needs to happen, No, there is.
Here's what needs to happen. They need to beat Manly
first of all, that's non negotiable. Then they need the
Storm to beat the Broncos and the Bulldogs to beat
the Sharks. That's it. If those three things happen this
coming weekend, the Warriors will finish fourth. However, the Storm
and the Bulldogs know that they can't improve their table
position at all. They're going to finish second and third,

(02:47):
so they may well rest some players against the Broncos
and the Sharks, respectively, which would make victory over those
teams a lot harder. The Warriors still had to be
manly as well, and I'm not sure that's a foregone
conclusion the way they've been playing. I think most likely, Heather,
they'll finish sixth, and that'll mean the Penrith Panthers more
than likely the four time defending champions coming to go

(03:08):
media for a knockout game in a couple of weeks time.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Poney, that last try that the Warriors scored and then
were denied, was that fair? I was really sad about that.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
No. No, you cannot tell me he's knock that on
and I don't see any knock on. No, And you
can't unequivocally say in the timeframe that the bunker took
to make that decision, they could unequivocally say Dimitric Vomonga
said afterwards, Yes, it brushed my fingers, but that's not
the point. Did it go backwards or forwards? And did
they have enough time from the camera angles they had

(03:39):
to say absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt that's
gone forward. I don't think they did.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, thank you, Parney, I appreciate that that's Jason Pine
Sports Talks.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drave, Listen live to
News Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio