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June 24, 2024 42 mins

Jason Pine returns to recap a full day in the world of sport! Highlights for tonight include:

All Blacks assistant coach Jason Holland discussing Razor's first All Blacks squad.

All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara ahead of the upcoming test matches.

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk s EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, Kyotic, good evening and welcome into the Monday night
edition of sports Talk on news Talk said B. June
twenty four, Happy birthday, Leonel Mercy. Happy birthday Stuart broad And.
One of the absolute greats of All Blacks rugby Ken
Gray was also born on this date in nineteen thirty eight.
Fifty matches in the front row for New Zealand. Widely
regarded as one of our greatest prop forwards, he passed

(00:47):
away at the age of just fifty four in nineteen
ninety two. Today's also the anniversary of the nineteen ninety
five Rugby World Cup Final. June twenty four, nineteen ninety five,
Ellis Park, South Africa, fifteen New Zealand twelve. From memory
after extra time, I'm Jason Pine Show producer Andy McDonald.
We're here talking sport until eight and speaking of the

(01:07):
All Blacks. A major milestone for new head coach Scott Robertson.
He has named his first squad thirty two players to
take on England and two Test matches in Dunedin and
Auckland and then against Fiji in San Francisco. We've got
all the reaction to this tonight, including yours. Assistant coach
Jason Holland is standing by the chat to us from

(01:28):
christ Church at the Tapai Convention Center where this announcement
was made a short time ago.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
T J.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Pet Natta also going to join us this hour. I'd
love to get your thoughts on the squad. Is it
largely what you expected? What are the big surprises and
who is unluckiest to miss out? Going to open the
lines all hour on this, I'll give you the squad
in just a moment. There are a couple of there's
one bolt, one absolute bolter, and let me define bolter

(01:56):
for you. It's somebody that nobody had written down last year.
Dallas McLeod was a bolter. This year the All Blacks
bolt for the first squad of the year, as pass
Leah Dossi the Hurricanes prop Nobody had him in their
equation for the thirty two man squad, but he's there.
A couple of others who I guess have have edged

(02:18):
players who haven't made it for various reasons. The Sotutu
Satiti conundrum has fallen the way of Wallace, Satiti Over Hoskins,
Setutu and other bits and pieces to chat about as well.
Lines open all evening I eight hundred eighty ten eighty
and it's Monday night, so we've got a fresh batch

(02:41):
of Piney's Power rankings, rating the best, the worst and
everything in between from the Sporting Weekend Live Sport tonight
Monday Night am Z Premiership Netball of course Mystics v
Magic at Trusts Arena in Auckland. Pretty important game this
for both of these sides as they look to make
the playoffs. They're in third and fourth place at the moment.
CENTA pass at seven forty will keep you posted on that.
As mentioned, Lines open right across the app I eight

(03:03):
hundred eighty ten eighty. You can text in your thoughts
to two ninety two or email them through to me
Jason at NEWSTALKZEDB dot co dot MZ. Just go one
nine past seven.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
The great call is your call on oh eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty Sports Talk call on your home
of Sports News Talks EDB.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
All right, so here's the team.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
If you're in the car or just tuning in and
you haven't heard the thirty two names here they are
I'll go through them in positions. Hookers Asafua Moor, Cody
Taylor and George Bell uncapped. Prop forwards Ethan degrut Tyrel Lomax,
Fletcher Newell, Pasolio Tossi uncapped off of the Fussy and
to Mighty Williams. The locks are Scott Barrett who's the captain,

(03:45):
to Paul Vailly and Patrick Twoey Pilottu and the loose
forwards Ethan Black, add A Summer Penny, Female, Luke Jacobson,
Dalton Papaale, Ardie Savia and Wallace Setiti uncapped. Into the backs,
the halfbacks are Finlay Christy, t J Pettinada and Cortes
Ratima uncapped. The first fives are Boden Barrett and Damien McKenzie,

(04:05):
the midfielder Jordi Barrett, Rico Yowani, Anton, Lennart Brown and
Billy Proctor uncapped, and the outside backs Caleb Clarke, Emmoni Nadawa,
Stephen Petefetta, Sever Reese and Mark Talaya. As mentioned Scott
Barrett as the captain, his vice captains are Ardie Severe
and Jordi Barrett. The following players were not considered due

(04:26):
to injury, Sam Caine, Will Jordan, Sammasni Tokiyahor and Cam
Roy Guard. All right, before we take some of your reaction,
we're joined from the Tapai christ Church Convention Center by
All Blacks Assistant coach at Jason Holland. Jason, thanks for
jumping on sports Talk with us tonight. How did you
settle on these thirty two names as a coaching group

(04:48):
and what was the process behind whitling them down to
just the thirty two.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
Yeah, Look, she's been a long process. Right from January.
We're really clear and around our roles as coaches, had
position groups that we were watching intently, minding the midfield,
and so you had an opportunity all through the all
through Super Rugby to to just watch.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
I was watching.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
Twelves and thirteens for every team, going through them pretty
closely on a Monday Tuesday, and you just roll over
from week to week looking at all the midfielders.

Speaker 6 (05:21):
So it's been a pretty thorough process.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
We'd come together every month or so and present back
to the other coach and what we've seen and who's
in the who we think is in the hunt, and
staying pretty open on and being challenged by the other
coaches as to what they're seeing. So it's been a
great process over the last six months. And yeah, she
jumped up a little bit over the last couple of
weeks obviously, and that's where we've ended up.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Were you allocated a certain number of midfielders, they did
raise us say okay, Jase, you've got four spots or
was it fluid?

Speaker 6 (05:52):
It was fluid all the way through.

Speaker 5 (05:53):
We always knew from a midfield point of view, did
either be four or five and that was you know,
dependent on how the what the balance of the rest
of the backs look like. But you know, finishing up
with four and there might be potential when the squad
goes to thirty six for after the first three games,
we'll see if the another midfielder is one of those

(06:14):
that's added.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Billy Proctor is one of the young capped players, a
player you know well from your time as Hurricanes head coach.
I mean, it must be a really nice feeling for
you to be able to name him and you in
as part of your first all black squad that you're
involved in. How have you assessed Billy's progress across this
season and the time you spend with him as well.

Speaker 6 (06:34):
Yeah, look, I think he just couldn't.

Speaker 5 (06:37):
He just kept being in the doordown, didn't he? Billy
all through the Super Rugby? Obviously I knew him from
the Hurricanes. I knew what he could do. But this
week in week out he performed for the Hurricanes added
to his game. I feel in this year as attacking game,
you know, definitely saw pay and power and line breaks
in his game. He's always been a really solid defender

(06:59):
and works as socks off, but real rounded performance this year,
week in week out, and really fits the way that
this team will play.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
While you were given as you've outlined your specific areas,
were you able to also chime in and other places
like I'm not suggesting that you had anything to do
with the front rowers, for example, but were you able
to talk about the back three perhaps or all the halves.

Speaker 6 (07:22):
There's lots of chiming in in this group. Don't worry
about that.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
Yeah, no, Look, we all had to go like you know,
obviously myself and Leon and Scottie. With a bit more
in the back space, we'd still be challenging forward selections
around the attack and d spaces, you know, around tackler
and carry around work creating all those sorts of things. So,
as I said, every time you presented back on where
you're at as the season went through, the next part

(07:50):
was sitting and have the challenge and the questions frownature
around where you're at and let's see some clips and
those sorts of things. So yeah, we all had all
had and put in and it was good to get
to the final good to get to today.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolutely when you are looking at a player who hasn't
played for the All Blacks before, and Billy Proctor, we've
talked about Cortez Love to my Wallace, a Teti Pussily
or Tossi George Bell. What gives you confidence that that
player will be able to make the step up?

Speaker 5 (08:15):
Yeah, Look, I think the consistent performance is a big one.
You see the traits of their game and how they play,
and you know, you think around how you want to
play and what's important and it comes back to some
of the real simple things around the game and around
the collision zone and the ability to work and then
some of.

Speaker 6 (08:33):
The technical bits.

Speaker 5 (08:34):
But yeah, I think they've all sort of shown over
a good period that you know, they've got a lot
of those real core basic things that we think you
need to win international games of.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Footy and no room for another player I know you
rate very highly, and that's Ruben Love, who had a
very good season for the Hurricanes. A lot of people
were talking about him as a possible All Black. Not
this time, but do you sense that Ruben Love will
wear a Black jersey one day?

Speaker 6 (09:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Rub's has has a really good year as well, and
it's not really a of what a lot of people,
including Roobs, can't do. It's more that there's some The
competition to be an All Black back three player as
massive and as it should be. So Rubs has had
a great year, is progressing really nicely and he can

(09:22):
be pretty proud of what he's done through super.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
How are you enjoying being an All Blacks assistant coach? Healthy, Yeah,
it's cool. It's been a long time getting players.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
We had a non finalist week last week out at
NZCS and at the Hut and it was great to
get the whistle and get on the field and rather
than be watching footage and trying to see what viewer
is going to watch it on from the computer, it
was better to get out on the field. And get
a bit wet and get amongst it. So yeah, we'll
see it's all go from now. And he's exciting.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
And just to finish, how much of a sense of
excitement do you have as a coaching group that now
you do get your hands on these players, you can
get on the grass with them and you can start
plotting for England, for thj and for the Rugby Championship.

Speaker 5 (10:01):
Yeah, it is great because the plotting for England has
started quite a while ago. And to a degree, you
can only have so many discussions and watch so much
footage as coaches.

Speaker 6 (10:11):
You just want to get into it.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
So that time has come and we can put all
the things we've talked around over the last few months
and to play and jump and jump until.

Speaker 6 (10:20):
With the boys.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Exciting time for you, for the coaches, for the players.
Jas thanks so much for taking the time for a chat.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
Pleasure as always, pointy, thank you.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
No, thank you Jace.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Jason Holland their assistant coach with the All Blacks, so
one of the new assistant coaches basically apart from Jason Ryan,
they're all you, aren't They into the All Blacks environments.
It must be a pretty cool time for them as well,
to get together, to look at all the best players
and to come up with these thirty two names. Very
keen to get your thoughts lightings are open, oh, eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty in particular, what were the
biggest surprises for you, the.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
Standouts, the takeaways. Call it what you will.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
What was it about this thirty ten squad that rarely
caught your eye or your ear as you heard it? Yes,
it can be natural, I think to look at the
players who aren't there, because we all know there are
fun more good players then can go into any all
black squad. There are always going to be very good
players who miss out. And then you start to think

(11:14):
to yourself, Okay, what does that mean that he's not there?
And he is, and you start thinking about what kind
of game plan might be employed by Scott Robertson compared to,
for example, the game plan that was employed by the
likes of Verncotta, and you land on Hoskins setutu, don't you?
And you think to yourself what a season he had

(11:34):
in the eyes of many the super rugby player of
the season.

Speaker 7 (11:39):
I know.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
The Rugby Direct podcast hosted by my colleagues and good
friends Elliott Smith and Liam Napier had him as their
player of the Super Rugby season, and yet here we
are and he's been omitted, presumably in favor of Wallace Setiti,
an uncapped player who, while he caught the eye, is

(12:01):
still very raw. So that maybe tells you a little
bit about the style of rugby that Scott Robertson wants
to employ, that Wallace Setiti works better than Hoskins Setutu.
I thought Ricky Rickattelli might be in with a shout
as third hooker. We all know Summer Sauny Talkiya who
was coming back, and Cody Taylor was always going to

(12:23):
be there, rusted on a suffer a more terrific season.
I thought Ricky Rickettelly might be rewarded for his excellent
season with the Blues again overlooked in favor of George
Bell out of the Crusaders. And you think to yourself, Okay,
well the Crusaders were pretty bad this season, weren't they.
So to catch the eye out of there, you've got
to be doing something well.

Speaker 8 (12:43):
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I mean, I always thought that Severa Reese had a
very good season for the Crusaders, and then there was
a big gap to whoever else was playing well. George
Bell never really caught the idda, but again Scott Robertson
knows him from his time down there. Who else Rubin
Love I was? I had Rubin Love in my thirty two.
I understand why he's not there. Stephen Petafetta and Bowden

(13:06):
Barrett presumably are the fallback options, even though Boden Barratt's
been named as a first five, So no room for
Reuben Lovey and police to see Caleb Clark there. I
must say I didn't have him in my thirty two,
but after well, first of all, after chatting to him
on the radio on the weekend, I just really liked them,
and at Trika Tries the other night, maybe I don't know,

(13:26):
pushed it in his favor. Others who thought they perhaps
might be him with a chance, Braden Yosse, Peter Larkeye,
David Harveli's not there at Tenny nano I said Toto,
I'm not sure what he has to do to get
a looking And Harry Plummer was the other one. He
guided the Blues around all season, didn't he, and effectively
so in a position that he hasn't played a heck

(13:48):
of a lot of Super Rugby in but when handed
the keys to the car the number ten jersey, he
did a magnificent job. And whenever a team wins Super
Rugby you automatically think about the players who had a
big part to play, and that Harry Plumber had a
massive part to play, and the Blues run to the
final and Super Rugby title, so much so that Stephen Peifetta,

(14:10):
who many people at the start of the season, probably
including Vern Codda, thought was going to be the first
five when he came back, he didn't play first five
played at fallback. Oh eight one hundred and eighty ten
eight nine two nine two on text. Aiden on text
a good first squad picked by Raiser and others. Would
love to see them play against an overseas based KIWI selection. Yeah,

(14:33):
I don't trust Razor yet, says this text. There's a
big difference from coaching a team for a season and
having them weak in and work out to coaching a
team and fits and starts a couple of weeks at
a time.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
I hope we go well though.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Look, I think we need to give Scott Robertson the
chants to at least oversee a game before we jump
to any conclusions about his coaching. I like the team,
I like the thirty two. There's no obvious glaring omissions
for me. Massa's Piney. You need to apologize. Harry Plumber
outplayed Mackenzie one hundred percent on Saturday. I actually think
he's unlucky not to make the squad, but I'm actually

(15:05):
happy to be wrong for a chain. How good was Plumber?

Speaker 9 (15:08):
Though?

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Very good? Very good?

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Indeed, Oh eight hundred and eighty, ten to eighty is
our number nineteen nine to two on text or email
us or email me Jason at NEWSTALKSHADB dot co dot NZ.
More to come from christ Church, but we'll take your
calls when we come back. On news Talks HEADB seven
twenty two, you no.

Speaker 9 (15:25):
Need for the DMO.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
We've got the breakdown on sports talk call oh eight
hundred eighty News Talk, said B.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
A couple of people making the point about the number
of crusaders in this team. I think there are seven
and six of those are in the forwards who we
got on a bows on in the team, so I
can't count him. So Fletcher newle To Mighty Williams, George Bell,
Scott Barrett, Ethan Blackadder and Severu Reese. I think that's

(15:57):
it as far as the crew to Saders concerned. So
six six of the thirty two are Crusaders, so it's
not as though he has jammed a whole lot of
his former team in there. And six feels about right
when you finish outside the top eight, doesn't it? How
many Highlanders Ethan de Groot, just Ethan DeGroot, doesn't it?

(16:20):
I think he's the only Highlander there. Oh, eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty. Going to get to some more
texts in a minute. Let's get to the lines.

Speaker 10 (16:27):
Though.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
What do you make of it?

Speaker 10 (16:28):
Mark?

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, I reckon that Tomoji Williams is going to lose
a boo way before last time I saw her, though,
he's thinking only played it thirty minutes, so it's looks
like he's been one hundred and fifty kilos. But however,
I'm sure they'll crack him into lie pretty quickly.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
He's quite mobile. He's quite mobile. I think he's a
big guy. He's quite mobile.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think I listened to a podcast with him on it, Mark,
and he learned rugby by playing touch, so he's actually
got some quite silky skills for a big guy. And
to be fair, he didn't play, he didn't actually get
he didn't play a lot this season. They're think only
about three or four games with that injury picked up
very early on. And yeah, but look, I I think
they like him as a as a project necessarily, but

(17:10):
I think they can see a bit in him.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
M m oh, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, there's a
lot of Hurricanes in the squad. I think fucker Tarbor
for me is as strange as they've sort of obviously
overlooked him now as a as a potential halfback. I mean,
you know, last year he was sort of in the
mix before he got injured, and then he's just seems
to have obviously faded away and obviously pushed you know,

(17:36):
Christy's you know, the number. I don't know whether he'll
start over tej or what. But yeah, I think Tarbor
for me is obviously amission that I thought might might
make the squad. Yeah. I think Love probably has the
Super Rugby final probably didn't do them much help in
the end, but it's quite good to see that he's

(17:57):
in there in the widest squad type thing. So that
I think he's definitely a player for the future back
in that full work position. But for me, it's going
to be interesting to see who they put in the
in the ten fifteen because both those three, you've got
d mac bowden and Peter Fetter who both can play
ten and fifteen, can't they?

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Interesting? Yeah, who's darts in the test?

Speaker 2 (18:19):
I guess because in the they when they seen the
squad out, they do group it and I read there
at the start of the show mate, they group it
into into positions and they've listed Boden Barrett as a
first five. But it would be absolutely no surprise at
all if he wears fifteen.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Oh, absolutely not. And I guess, you know, some of
the selections might have come just down to personality classes.
I mean, obviously Leon mcdog's here and he's got that
relationship with Pedifetter, and maybe maybe he didn't get on
with Hoskins, Tuto or something or someone else didn't. But
I think Hoskins, as you said at the beginning of
the show, probably is the unluckiest player not to get on.

(18:55):
You can sort of see what they're doing you know
with yeah, with what's his name the number one for work?

Speaker 4 (19:02):
It over Wallace.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah, you can see what they do him. He's obviously
a young player with a lot of promise there going forward,
and you know they're probably looking out to the next
World Cup, you know, looking at him as a prospective,
you know, player in that. So you can see maybe
why they chose him over Hoskins. But I still feel
like on form he's probably the player in Super rugby
who probably is there the chance to make squad.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I thought, yeah, And I think if it had been
Stutu picked and not Satiti, I don't think too many
eyebrows would have been raised. I don't think people would
have gone high. That's but a lot of people I've
seen online and the text coming in here and others
are that's the decision which I think is the one
that most people are raising an eyebrow about in terms

(19:50):
of form, because Stutu wasn't magnificent for the Blues this season,
really really good.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
And I think they've picked the other lies forwards from
White Kiddo, was it female and Jacobson? I think, yeah, yeah,
they have quite big, quite big units aren't there, So
they're obviously there. I've sort of got an option for
a more mobile swards and with those two or three
players and the big units back there as well, maybe
they deal with the the English team. I guess maybe

(20:18):
that's he's thinking.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
I'm thinking, yeah, perhaps Mark, good stuff, mate, good to chat,
has always no doubt. We'll yarn again soon. Yeah, if
you wanted to, you could play an entire chiefs loose
for trio. You could play Summer Penny Fee now, Luke
Jacobson and Wallace Atiti. I'm not at all suggesting that
they will, but you could mister crusader Cody Taylor of course,
so there are seven crusaders in this team. A couple

(20:41):
more texts. Bret says, Jase, the Blues four pack dominated
Super Rugby, you could only get three players in the
All Blacks. I think that's pretty tough, he said. A
look offer Tulna Fussy, Patrick tuy Pilotu and Dalton Papa Lee.
You're right, Brett, only three of the eighteen forwards picked
from the Blues, the Super Rugby winning Blues. It's a

(21:02):
good point you make, Brett. Henry says, I like the squad,
but how has Hoskins Settutu not been picked best player
in the comp this season? Glenn says, a lot of
Crusaders in this team. Yeah, only seven, Glenn only seven.
And this one says people are forgetting the Blues got
beaten by the Crusaders a few weeks ago. Yeah it

(21:25):
was only one game, wasn't it. They won fifteen of
their seventeen games? So how many Blues in the backs?
Christy Bone Barrett didn't play the season, Petifetter, ricco you
Onny Caleb Clark, Mark tolas At quite a few backs.
It's funny, isn't it. Veron Kotta built the Blues success
this year on the forwards, and yet there are far

(21:45):
more Blues backs than the All Blacks than there are
Blues forwards. Go figure, how are you feel?

Speaker 8 (21:51):
That's not too bad? Party yourself? Very good, thanks mate, excellent, excellent, Yes,
there the resting here in you're saying that. You know,
there's a few echoes of people saying, oh, there's a
few Crusaders in there, But I don't think there's any
buyer there anything like that. I don't think Scott Robinson's
that sort of guy, you know. I think he just
picks on what he thinks is the best in performance,

(22:13):
and he has a plan in his head, in his
mind and just matches people into that plan. Interesting though, that,
like you say, the Blues have only got three forwards
in there, when it was their forward pack that really
won the competition for them and was so dominant over
the Chiefs forward pack as well, you know, in that game.

(22:34):
But then an interesting point, like someone said, you said
they won you know, fifteen or seventeen of their games,
which is a fair point. But then, like someone said,
when they did get beaten, it was by the Crusaders
and possibly their forward pack. You know, I stood up
that day. But I like the look of the team.
I like the look of the team and the sound
of it. I for me, like you, I thought I

(22:55):
thought maybe Plumber would get in there. I thought he
would be a bolter and get in there because he's
really impressed me with not only the way you know,
he's directed the game and is kicking on the field
and out of well, but also he's a fantastic goal kicker,
and we all know how important a great goalkicker can
be when it comes down to moments. You know, when
you think back to how many times of Fox he

(23:17):
saved the All Blacks and won us a game. I
thought the Auckland blues boy. I don't know his name,
I can't think of it. I think he's a big
lock and he played really well.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
Sam Dowry. Sam Dowry, was he the one?

Speaker 8 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, I think so. And I think he missed
out and I thought he might have gone in there.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah, they've only picked three locks, which I think is interesting,
especially given the fact that one of them Patrick twy Plot,
you know, clearly isn't one hundred percent fit. He played
on Saturday night and I mean, what what a herculean
effort from him, But he put a moon boot on
straight away afterwards.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
And they've only gone with three locks.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
I think Sam Dowry, I think I heard Scott Robertson
saying that in the short Little Q and A Tod
feel that I think Sam Dowry might be attached to
the squad's cover. So it might be that he does
get he does get a little bit of it. I'm
not saying he'll get any games, but he's he's certainly
attached to the squad.

Speaker 8 (24:09):
Okay, that that's good, because the other thing I'm thinking
too is I'll say as well, just I'm not actually
surprised that he really didn't get him because I think
his form has been a bit patchying up and down,
you know, and there was even like I know Jeff
Wilson didn't when he made his choices, he didn't include
the Canterbury winger.

Speaker 11 (24:28):
What's his name the I don't yet.

Speaker 8 (24:33):
He left him out, but he's But I'm not sur
surprised about how verely TJ Pier and Aara. I'm not
sure on t J. I'm just wondering if he's getting
a bit long in the tooth, and I'm just thinking
of the World Cup, you know, and he didn't looking
there for the future.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
But sorry, tell you what, I'm just about to chat
to t J. So you can never listen to yourself.
I won't put it to him that you think he
might be a bit long in the tooth. I think
he knows. But you're the other point you raise is
valid what happens in terms of the thinking around now
and planning for the next World Cup, because as we

(25:09):
know all Blacks coaches, any coach is judged on World
Cups and so how much do you do you start
thinking about, Okay, what's the next four years going to
look like? Having said that, Scott Robertson would not want
to start off with, you know, anything other than a
very very solid winning record in his first year as

(25:31):
All Blacks coach. So it's a balance you have to strike.
Let's get to TJ. Actually he's on the mic down
in christ Church at the Tippei Convention Center with us. TJ,
thank you for jumping on Sports Talk tonight. Your last
Test match was back in twenty twenty two, so how
special was it to hear your name read out again tonight?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Ye?

Speaker 10 (25:53):
Is pretty special A I found out last night. I
got a call from raiser to say to come down
to the announcement, so I was able to tell my wife,
but I still didn't feel it. Didn't feel like it
was done until whom my read out, and I hadn't
told my parents and that they heard it for the
first time when the rest of the country did too.
So it was a pretty cool moment hearing that.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Man, I know you're a part of a very very
tight family. No doubt once you get done with all
your media duneies, your phone will be blowing up.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
But how special is this? You know?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
As I say, you've done it pretty tough over the
last year to eighteen months with the injuries you've had to.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Come back from.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
But here you are now again about to play in
that black jersey that I know you covered so much.

Speaker 10 (26:32):
Yeah, it has been the tough journey man. Like the injury,
the reinjury, the couple surgeries. There's some tough moments. There
was a lot of time alone, a lot of time
actually spent with our physio and Willington Nick. So thankful
for her and the work that she put in. She
was just constant. She was a constant in that rehair process.
So it was long. It was a really tough journey,

(26:55):
but I'm grateful for it because it makes me so
much more grateful for the game of rugby and the
opportunities I get to go out there and play the
game I love.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
And what a season you had.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Did you feel like you were in the mix again
or is that not something that you think about?

Speaker 4 (27:07):
That's an outcome, right? Do you just think about process?

Speaker 10 (27:10):
Now? I thought I was in the mix. As a competitor,
you go out there and you want to be better
than the players in your position, and I thought I
thought I played well this year. We had some Nunes
play some really good footy. This year, and I saw
myself up there with the best of them, so I
always backed myself in and thought I had an opportunity
to be in this environment. I also understand that it's

(27:32):
not my decision who's in the environment, and that's into
other people's hands. But I just wanted to put myself
in the best position I could, play the best footyo
I could and then leave it to the hands.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
Of the selectors and in the half back group from
like Christie obviously, but Courties will at him a brand
new All Black. He heard his name called out for
the first time today. Did that kind of you know,
take you back a bit what twenty fourteen when when
it was you who heard your name for the first time.
Can you imagine the feelings he's feeling tonight?

Speaker 10 (27:57):
Yeah? I can. Hearing his name was pretty special. As like,
I spent some time with Quartz. We played Maybe's fifteen
together room with him, and every time we play against
each other we always catch up. So I'm super proud
of Courtiers Finlay as well. Like he had his injury
this year, for him to come back and play some
awesome footy at the back end of the season and

(28:17):
win a championship it's amazing for those boys too, so
I'm super proud of those boys. There's an there's another
couple hunts in this country who who were playing some
amazing rugby as well. So our stocks at nine are high.
It forces us all to continue to be good, continue
to grow, and continue to expand our game because of

(28:38):
the healthy competition that we do have.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
And another couple of new faces to the All Blacks
environment a couple of Hurricanes brothers, Pussily or Tossy and
Billy prop To how please day for those two?

Speaker 10 (28:48):
Yeah, super stoked dude. When I saw Pussy at the
airport this afternoon, I started jumping by. I'm so proud
of him. He only started playing prop three or four
years ago and to see the growth in him has
been amazing.

Speaker 11 (29:01):
Man.

Speaker 10 (29:02):
He deserves it. He deserves He stepped in for Lowe
this year when Louie was injured than he had done.
Our scrum man like dominated as well, so I'm super
stop for him and Billy Proctor when his name got
called out, so as Palm d he it's probably been
the best player at the Canes for the last two
or three years. With Ard. Artie is obviously a freak too.
But the consistency Billy has for our team. I'm so

(29:26):
glad that he's been given this opportunity to be an
All Black because I believe he deserves it. I believe
he's worked so hard and he's he's such a good player.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
You've worked hard and you deserve it too. I'm so
pleased for your TJ. Thanks for taking the time for
a chat mate. All the best for an exciting back
end of the year.

Speaker 10 (29:41):
Thank you, my brother.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
You take care of you, Take care too, TJ. Thank
you mate, t J. Pet Andada.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
They're back in the All Blacks as one of three
half backs for like Christie and Corties Rotima, brand new
cap the others. Let's get back to the lines. What
do you make of it all, Carlton, Yeah.

Speaker 9 (29:55):
It's a pretty interesting team. You know, experience and you
know up and comers, and yeah, I'm happy with the team.
And you know, after all these years with Scott Roberson
coaching teams, yeah, you know, not to doubt him. You
know he's got a plan for the guys he's brought in.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, I think we I mean you can look at
the team and you can say, oh, what about this guy?
And why if they picked him. But really, there's not
a hic of a lot to really wail and gnash
your teeth about. And I guess now what we have
to do is wait and see how they play under
his game plan, because he's obviously got a game plan.
He's split players for that game plan. Now let's see

(30:33):
how they go.

Speaker 9 (30:35):
Yeah, you know, I mean you can go and by
the team he out in front of you. Yeah, I'm good.
I'm just wondering. I'm Tom Christie. He must be the
most unlucky Rocky player. And you feel like because the
last three years it's been close to top tackle list,
but he still can't make the old work, you know,
because you know defense and attacks point matches that he
still can't make it.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, it's an odd one, that doesn't it. He obviously
just doesn't fit the profile for some reason. Carlton, You're
right though his stats are incredible. He tops the tackle
count not just for the Crusaders but for the entire
comp most of the time, Tom Christy, and you'd have
to think of anyone was going to pick him in
the team, it would be his former Crusaders coach, who
knows full well his value but yet no Tom Christy

(31:19):
the other Lucy's who I guess were in the conversation.
Callen Grace was another one. His name's been thrown around
a bit. Braidon also mentioned Peter like Eye, Hoskinstituto. Of course,
even Duplasi Khalifi out of the Hurricanes had a really
good season. It's just such a stacked pack of loose
forwards it's hard to get in.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
How are you, Conrad?

Speaker 10 (31:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (31:41):
Good, thanks piny G. That Sive rugby final was like
the ninety six to ninety seven Blue squad with the
former dominance going on. I was thinking, gee, this is
real old school from Cotra in terms of the way
they played. They were only get doing in the first
half with they was just doing the old school forward dominant.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
Yeah. Seemed to work though, didn't it. They just monstered them,
didn't they.

Speaker 11 (32:02):
Yeah. Well, I'm going to get to my point about
the seation with us. So he's got Satuzu there. Who
actually is he the top try scorer in the competition
or something?

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Well, he's certainly, I know he's he got twelve I
think now of his check here, he got twelve tries.
I think that was top I'm just someone else got
twelve severa Reese was it? Yeah, s got twelve and yeah,
Hoskin's got twelve.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Sorry, my producer was just giving me the stats. In
my ear, he's very good like that.

Speaker 11 (32:32):
Yeah, I'm just thinking that's that's a kind of like, well,
obviously he was part of that performance on Saturday, and
I'm thinking kind of zim Zan Brook like stuff, and
he's not in the squad and then but so, so okay.
That's the other one is I think Peter Barkley from
the Hurricanes is I thought he was looking good. But
the overall point here is that Cottas game plan and

(32:54):
the fowards on the real old school I mean, is
Robertson going to go that way? I mean, obviously he
got his own weakness is all mystery to us. We
don't know what style of play he's going to employ,
but it's just that you've got I think the Hurricanes
and Blues the Affords dominance was important, well, especially the
Blues in the Hurricane and lark lives not in a
neigero situit. So yeah, that's interesting talking points for the

(33:16):
rest of the season.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
Thank you, No, thank you, Conrad.

Speaker 12 (33:19):
No.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
You're right about the Blues, and as I said before,
it seems almost counterintuitive that the Super Rugby champions, who
built their title effectively on their forwards, only have three
in a thirty two man all black squad. In a

(33:40):
group of eighteen forwards, they've got one Prop, one Lock
and one Lucy. And yet I don't think anybody can
argue that they out muscled and out forwarded every other
team this season. So then you think, okay, well who
else could have should have been there? And you look
at the guys who played a lot in the Type

(34:02):
five for the Blues, and I guess they were never
really going to go back to Angustar though he played
a lot of rugby though this yes, he played every
game and get for the Blues. Rocky Ricattelli I mentioned before,
I thought he might be in with a shot of
third hooker Sam Dowry, we mentioned as well in the
Loose Forwards Hoskinstutu. Obviously a couple more texts coming through.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
Pointe.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
All the armchair selectors had better remember that some of
these will play themselves in or out of future squads
and the end of year tour. Chris, You're right, you've
only got the jersey until somebody better comes along or
you play your way out of it. So yep, absolutely,
And for the Rugby Championship they're going to add four
four more players to this group. So yeah, there'll be

(34:53):
some players. I mean, ideally you think the thirty two
would go into the Rugby Championship and four would be added,
But it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that
somebody of this thirty two drops out. Hayden sees Jason clearly.
The selection panel and the line last one think very
much the same. This team's very similar to last year.
Only one I can think of who went to the
World Cup that's available and not picked as David Harvey.

(35:15):
Hey didn I think he might be right. I'll fact
check that, but yeah, I think David Havily might be
the only one who you're right went to the World
Cup but hasn't been picked. Here, very good point you make, Peter,
Likekeye Piney has to be in the conversation, surely an
absolute workhorse. Yes, I agree, and I'm sure he was

(35:35):
in the conversation, but he has only so many only
so many vacancies in such a stacked deck. Matt says,
Hoskinstituta was top tri scorer and top try assist maker.
He changed his game, played eighty minutes every week, his
tackle accuracy stats were top of all lusis, and he

(35:57):
was the top target for a back of the line
out option. I think it's a disgrace to only have
three of the eighteen in the forward mix. Like I
said before when I was chatting to I think it
was mark A bit of a litmus test for this
is if it had been so two two picked and
not Titi, would people have gone, oh, that's a strange decision.

(36:21):
I'm not sure about that. I don't think they would have.
I think everybody acknowledges what a talent Wallace Atiti is,
but he's still very raw. It's his first season. Hoskins
Tutu has been in All black and was a huge
part of a Super Rugby title winning side. But that
obviously only counts for so much. You have to then

(36:41):
look at Okay, what does this mean about the game plan?
That Scott Robertson will likely employ lots of conversation and
that conversation will continue. The next thing I guess we
have to think about is what the starting fifteen might
be what year twenty three might be for the first
Test against England down in Dunedin, there's going to be

(37:03):
nine of these thirty two aren't even involved, so we
can start thinking about that in the in the in
the days ahead, probably fourteen away from eight. We'll take
a break, come back Monday night Piney's Power Rankings coming.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Up days our rankings mortday.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Monday night means a fresh cohort of Piney's Power Rankings,
rating the best, the worst and the in between bits
of the Sporting weekend ten ten and it feels like
this is actually but high for them, the Warriors, a
record breaking afternoon on the Gold Coasts and the Warriors, well, what.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Do you say? What do you say?

Speaker 2 (37:44):
A sixty point loss to the team in last place?
Nine nine is our old mate Max for Stappan, and
for the third year.

Speaker 7 (37:53):
Running in Barcelona it is Max for Stappan who wins
the Spanish Grand Prix.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Nothing against Max, but there's not a heck of a
lot of variety going on in Formula one is there?
Eat eight is the Hungarian football. So they left it
until the one hundredth minute to keep their slim hopes
of advancing to the knockout rounds at the European Football Championship.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
Alive should be their last shirts.

Speaker 7 (38:16):
Suppersize, Stretchers, busy, Javan Chompers stores his first internasenal coal
and instantly.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Becomes he hung Jerry.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Legends seven seven is a legend.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
Scottish Cheffler.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Scottish Scheffler comes out of the chaos in Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
With another tournament title, another win, his sixth this season.
That equals Tiger Woods's Telly from two thousand and nine,
and they're still a couple of months ago.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Six six to the NHL.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
The Edmonton Oilers forcing a Game seven in the Stanley
Cup Finals after being three kneeled down in the series.

Speaker 13 (38:59):
Cold Finn on ten has set this place into the
delirium and at four one, Oilers Game seven is on
the horizon.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
Let's get you into the top five. The Rabbinos.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
The week started with them losing Damian Cook from next season,
but ended with their fourth win on a bounce.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
It's que a what between tries two and three, but
you're can logging in any selves of what four in
a row?

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Four four is the wonderful Afghanistan cricket team at the
T twenty Cricket World Cup.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
Down the ground.

Speaker 13 (39:36):
But this is.

Speaker 12 (39:38):
So much history the Afghanistan cricket. But is that the
last pot of cash he's taken in his career? They
have done it, Afghanistan running.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
From a hug in the path.

Speaker 12 (39:50):
Why are Greg Knights oh Afghanistan cricket.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
The tremendous stuff beating Australia at the T twenty Cricket
World Cup in the Super eights three three is the
Black Foils in New York.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
That is an amazing performance. That's five wins out of twelve.
It's the Kiwis take to win in New York City.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
You're winning a spot in the championship final in San
Francisco next month. Two to the Blues Super Rugby champions.
That sounds good, doesn't it, Blues fans Okay.

Speaker 13 (40:19):
To lute to hear these words again.

Speaker 12 (40:21):
The Blues are Super Rugby champions for the first time
in twenty one years now.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
I know a lot of people thought the Blues will
be number one tonight, but knocked off top spot by
this one talk back caller Jared from twenty eighteen, who somehow,
somehow looked six years into the future.

Speaker 11 (40:42):
You just want to quickly just say a few words.
We're going to Warriors. Yeah, I'll start with this.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Boom boom, boom.

Speaker 14 (40:51):
Boom, you're playing the Titan the Titan tythan it was crap, sop,
lazy week, heartless, it was no mental fortitude. It was
so boom.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Awful. That was from twenty eighteen.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Sort of jump back into our consciousness given the events
of Saturday on the Gold Coast. Those are Piney's power
rankings for tonight four to eight final. A few pieces
of correspondence throwing the all black, Davids says and rays
all we trust.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
It's a good side.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I feel sorry for Plumber so too too, Larkey Love
and Rica Telly. But let's see how they go. And
Cam says, what does Nani Setuto have to do to
get there? I understand Caleb Clark has been good, but
we don't have a guy back there that has a
significant boot apart from Stephen Petafetta.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
It's a good point, Cam.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
And look, there are a number of different players who
could have been included, you know, right across this team.
But yeah, he's gone with the thirty two and that's
where we are.

Speaker 4 (42:07):
Have I have I gone too? Long or have I
gone early?

Speaker 6 (42:10):
Andy?

Speaker 2 (42:10):
I thought, yeah, I thought I wondered that I could
hear the music playing, and I thought to myself, is
my clock wrong?

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Have I gone back to twenty eighteen with Jared? Finally?
What has it?

Speaker 15 (42:19):
Turns out I can't read the clock. I can't read
a digital clock. So that's entirely my fault. Put me
on the power rankings and dead last next week to
that one, mate.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
And he's timekeeping skills. Huge.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Thanks to any McDonald for everything up until seven fifty six.
Thanks mate, enjoying your week. Thank you for tuning in
Marcus Lashes on the radio to eight o'clock. We're back
on weekend Sport Live from the All Blacks training camp
with Scott robertson for an hour on Saturday between one
and two.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Looking forward to that. Have a great week. See Saday.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
For more from Sports Talk. Listen live to News Talk
said Be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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