Kevin Putt: Former Springbok and Rugby Commentator ahead of the second All

Will this week bring redemption for the All Blacks?

Last week saw them lose to South Africa, the Springboks taking the win at Ellis Park. 

This Sunday will see them facing off again in Cape Town, and Coach Scott Robertson has made a few changes to the lineup in preparation. 

Former Springbok and Rugby Commentator Kevin Putt joined Ryan Bridge to preview the match and give his thoughts on the changes to the squad. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is it redemption time for the All Blacks? They lost
against the spring Box in South Africa last week. They're
playing them again early Sunday morning. Scott Robertson has made
some changes to the squad, you could say, including adding
the youngest All Black in this year's squad to the
starting line up, twenty one year old Wallace a Titi.
This will be his second test for the All Blacks.
Kevin Partz a former Springbok and rugby commentator. He's with

(00:22):
us this morning. Get a Kevin, Good morning, Ryan, good morning.
Good to have you on the show again. Tell me
is this a bold, brave mood move from Razor?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I think it is, but it's also necessary. They had
no impact from the bench last week. I guess they
had the option of starting with the same fifteen. But
what they've done is they've bought in the person. They
probably looked for a bit of impact on the bench
and they've said, well, here you go, young man, have
a go, and they put them wrong right from the start.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Some people are saying this is the start of the
real start of the Robertson era where he's setting us
up for the next World Cup.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, you know, he's sort of, he's got to play
that hand. Now South Africa have sort of won the
Four Nations competition, now's that opportunity where put away the result.
Now he's got to start shaping and get some real
value out of this. The good news is he doesn't
just need to try and win games to please the public.

(01:20):
He now needs to shape a team that's going to
be good for the future. And you see a young Rasima,
you see the tit on the blindside, and people are
joking that it might be the bomb disposal units with
the likes of Barrett. It's coming from the bench as well,
who's an outstanding finisher in any game he's played previously.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
What about the veterans, if you can call them that
of the squad, what is the message to them.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, I've got to be honest. I think it's a
good message. He's shown you loyalty to have brought back
a guy like Caine and kept them in the squad.
I thought we were very good last week. That is
a very tough place to go and win. We found
that about you can't win. But he's also very short
of personnel and that, by the way, that's a New
Zealand problem. That's not a Scott Robinson problem. Very short

(02:11):
of personnel, and what he's done is he's kept the
nucleus of it but said, right, we've got to just
shape this up for the future a little bit and
there's a few changes.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Kevin, thank you very much for your time this morning.
Go the ABS come Sunday morning. That's Kevin part form
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