Jason Pine: Weekend Sport host on the changes the All Blacks could make ahead of Springboks clash in Baltimore

2-1 down in the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series flying to Baltimore across the aisle from the Springboks isn't exactly how the All Blacks wanted to head into their fourth matchup.

The Kiwi side is down a few key players, with Ardie Savea, Quinn Tupaea and Luke Jacobson out of commission following some injuries.

Weekend Sport host Jason Pine speculated about the kinds of changes the team could make following the big match. 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jason Pyne, host of Weekend Sport, is with us. Hello, Pyne. Oh, Lord,
hang on a tick.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
There he is.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Bear with. Pyne, are you there?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm here. Hello, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Sorry, that's a technical difficulty for me. I forgot to
press the button. Now, Pyne, tell me what you're expecting
in terms of the teams for the test.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Quite a few changes, obviously, needed for the All Blacks.
We've got three who started last week who aren't available
this week, and that's Artie Savia, Luke Jacobson and Quinn Pyre.
So that's three enforced changes to the 15th. And then
you've got to start thinking about, OK, without Artie there,
without Luke Jacobs in there, who is captain of the side,
and you think, OK, Cody Taylor might come back in,

(00:36):
but does he actually start the test match? Asafa Wamua
had a good test last week. So is Geordie Barrett
perhaps going to captain the side? On the reserves bench,
do you look for a bit of different impact? I mean,
by comparison, Heather, Ratio Rasmus is named pretty much the
same side. He hasn't buttoned off at all. So, yeah,
8.45 tomorrow morning, I think it's when we find out
about the team. And, yeah, apart from those enforced changes,

(00:57):
I think the ones that are selectorial will also be very,
very interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Is it true that the trophy is magnetised so you
can split it in half if it's 2-2?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's like a child's toy. If you have two children...
and both of them want to play with the toy,
you can split it in half and then put it
back together with the magnets. Yeah, so that's true. That's funny.
If the All Blacks win on Sunday, they take half,
and South Africa take half.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
That's just ridiculous. That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Is it not dumb to you, Piney?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
It seems odd, doesn't it? It's like, yeah, I mean...
I think I said to you last week, for me,
the series was the three-match series in South Africa. I
feel like they should have left it there. South Africa,
it's yours. Oh, by the way, we're going to play
one more game in Baltimore. Bit of a cash grab
and it's a one-off, you know?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Take half your trophy so you're stuck with half a trophy.
That's just going to look hideous as well. Who wants
a trophy with only one handle?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
I suppose there are some out there. Hey, Carlos Alcaraz
being knocked out of the tennis, is that weird for you?
Was that a shock?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Big surprise. Defending champion at the US Open. He won
it last year. He won the Australian Open earlier this year.
He has been out with injury. He didn't play in
either Wimbledon or the French Open, so he's coming back
from injury. But he'd look pretty good getting through to
the quarterfinals. Ben Shelton, young up-and-coming American, eighth in the world.
So it's not like a shock for the ages, but
it is a surprise. He's never beaten El Coraz before.

(02:20):
And as I say, Carlos is good on the surface.
So Yeah, Shelton goes forward. He faces another American, Francis Tiafoe,
in the semifinal. Alexander's very on the outside. He's the
top seed, the favourite now with Alcaraz gone for sure. But, yeah, no,
it's a big surprise. Also a surprise to the locals
that it finished at 3.34 in the morning. That's when
that game finished in New York. So a late night
for many of the tennis fans at Flushing.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
I would not have lasted that long. That is just crazy. Piney,
thank you very much. Jason Pine, weekend sport host.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
For more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to News
Talk ZB from 4 p.m.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.