Jason Pine: Not everything you try on is going to fit

There was a lot of hyperbole when the news of Leon MacDonald's departure broke. 

"The news sending shockwaves around the rugby world." 

The All Blacks were supposedly in turmoil, in chaos, in crisis, in disarray. 

But that's not true, is it? Yes, it's unexpected. It's certainly big news, but when you peel it all back, it's one of a number of assistant coaches in the All Blacks set-up departing. 

He's not the head coach, he hasn't been sacked, this isn't performance based.  

There's nothing improper here. It's just two guys who are passionate about the game of rugby in passionate disagreement on how the most iconic team on the planet should be playing to win test matches. 

Sport is all about opinions – my radio show exists largely because of them. 

There's no one right way, otherwise everyone would be doing the same thing. 

The best thing that happened out of this whole thing was how quickly this was done. If something's not clicking and not working, with no sign the gap can be bridged, why pretend? It's best for everyone to move on in separate directions. 

I think it's a very courageous decision by both men, especially Leon MacDonald. He could easily have toed the line, gone against his rugby beliefs and carried on in a job he was unhappy in. 

Instead, he trusted his instincts and stuck to his convictions. 

That means he's not part of the All Blacks coaching group anymore. This seemingly dream job that turned out to not be what he hoped or expected. 

He would have gone into this, both he and Razor would have, with the best of intentions, but sometimes things don't work out. 

One of my favourite sayings is "fail quickly". And that's actually the wrong phrase, because there's no failure here, but I think you'll get my drift. 

Find out quickly and move on, because not everything you try on is going to fit. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from newstalk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I must say there was a lot of hyperbole when
this happened. I thought a lot of hysteria, and I've
read stuff like the news ascending shock waves around the
rugby world. The All Blacks are in turmoil, they're in chaos,
they're in crisis, they're in disarray other words I heard.
But that's not true as it Yes, it's unexpected, it's

(00:38):
certainly big news, but when you peel it all back,
it's one of a number of assistant coaches in the
All Black setup departing. He's not the head coach. He
hasn't been sacked. This isn't performance based. There's nothing improper
that's gone on here. It's just two guys who are

(01:00):
passionate about the game of rugby with different views on
how the most iconic team on the planet should be
playing to win test matches. Now, sport is all about opinions.
This radio show exists largely because of them. There's no
one right way, Otherwise everybody would be doing the same thing,
wouldn't they. The best thing that happened out of all
of this was how quickly it was done. I said

(01:21):
this during the week. If something's not clicking and not
working with no sign the gap can be bridged, then
why pretend it's best for everyone to just move on
in different directions. I think it's a very courageous decision
by both men, especially I have to say Leon McDonald.
He could easily have just towed the line, gone against

(01:44):
his rugby beliefs, carried on in a job he was unhappy,
and instead he trusted his instincts and stuck to his convictions,
and that means he's not part of the All Blacks
coaching group anymore. This seemingly dream job for any rugby
coach that turned out to be not what he hoped
or expected. Probably he would have gone into this lee
on McDonald, both of them would have. He hand raised

(02:05):
it with the intentions, but sometimes things don't work out.
One of my favorite sayings is fail quickly, and that's
not even really accurate here because there's no failure here.
But I think you get my drift, find out quickly

(02:25):
it's probably better and move on, because I mean, not
everything you try on's gonna fit.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
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