September 4, 2024 • 7 mins
Former All Black Josh Kronfeld joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss the return of tours between New Zealand and South Africa every four years.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Ten Pars seven. It is so it's not absolute rubber
stamped official. This is going to happen, but it's as
good ass because it's South African rugby of kind of city.
This is happening, the return of the tour South Africa.
Come here and go up and down the Matsu with
their gang of big gnulled Fords in the bomb squad,
(00:33):
beat up on the All Blacks from time to time,
smash a few provinces, maybe lose to a couple, go
home again. Fantastic, great for the expat South Africans that
are over here, great for the provincial sides, great for
the All Blacks. And then four years we head over
there and do exactly the same thing. It's an old
school tour and those of you long enough in the
(00:56):
teeth that remember that will be going. This is what
we want. This is rugby as it should be. This
is not event based. Let's go for a game and
fly the next day. This has got so much going
for it. And old rant on about that later on
the piece before I ask you to climb on in.
But before we do that. Let's talk to a bloke
(01:17):
has actually been there, done that. His name's Josh Cramfield,
a former All Black part of the successful ninety six
tour to South Africa. Hey, Josh, how are you mate?
It's a it's a kind of a return to the
good old days, isn't it. Does this give you like
the warm fuzzies?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Look, I mean initially, you know, I mean, I think
they said it was going to be the last of
the tours because of obviously the way the championship and
the various different cups that they had from that period,
the way veessionalism was going, and so it kind of
felt kind of neat to be part of that last
sort of system and also.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
You know, to have the win that we did.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
But when you look at it now, because the South
Africans aren't in our super competition, that asked the question,
are we distancing from what we under stand is high
level competitive rugby? And so to reintroduce it and have
that connection, you know, have more games, it's probably not
(02:16):
a bad thing. It will probably also mean that, all right,
we'll have the tours, but we'll have midwek games too,
I'm assuming anyway, But those midweek games could be as
precious as the tests.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The fact that you get guys that dirt trackers or
whatever they call them in your day to get to
go over there and experience being in a group I
like the All Blacks for a few weeks time and
playing at that different level. It gives you so many
more arrows to your quiver, doesn't it. When you move
on and up. It's kind of necessary and long forgotten.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah, I've got to think it makes sense going forward.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
We need to stay competitive and I think everybody will
agree that not having South Africa and now you know
the franchise rugby has made a difference and it has
had an impact on quality of the rugby that we're
getting exposed to. And if you're playing the top teams
week and week out and playing at level, it brings
everyone else up to whether the benchmarkers and so going forward, Yes,
(03:17):
I think the tours are great idea and maybe it'll
rein ignite some of the love and the passion and
the excitement of the nineties rugby. To me, you know,
when I speaking to a few of the boys that
it was a bit of a golden period of rugby.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I thing, you know, just in terms of the turnouts.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The crowds, the build ups, the excitement that seemed to
go into whatever city or town that you're involved in,
and it's some of that stuff's sort of fallen by
the way with rugby.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I feel, you know, I can I say that on
my being been a bit bit rude to the game
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Josh, you can say whatever you want. That's what we've
got you on the radio. Josh Cronfell did join us.
I don't think too many people out there will disagree
with you. Maybe getting up in the middle of the
night to watch it tour over several weeks might not
encourage a lot of people, But the opposite is then
when the spring Box come here and go up and
(04:12):
down the nation. I think what you're talking about is
sitting a touch paper off getting a fire going in
for a tour, because the enthusiasm behind that is I meant,
especially in the provinces.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, I was fortunate enough
to win when a Springbok hit and and I'm assuming
they'll bring that back and that that's pretty special too
to have it new trophy. Cabnet.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
No, you know, I know for a targo.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
At that particular time, I felt like we were building
into a special sort of phase of rugby in that
period and that was just the start for me, you know.
It was that springbok here. I remember Gordon Hunter, you know,
having that under his arm and you know, proud as punch,
you know, and that's that's kind of what led me
to be being an all back too. So it's you know,
(05:01):
I'd love to see that sort of stuff. It's got
a romantic side to it too, doesn't it. You know,
like the historical all of that sort of stuff. And
to have another team go over there and when in
South Africa a traditional tour that that sounds pretty epic
to me.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What about the development of players, Josh and the development
of that second tier simply being with a full all
black squad and learning as the weeks go on about
what it meant to be an all black and not
not necessarily just in playing style, but everything that encompasses
wearing that ferm.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
It is massive and it is cool too, you know,
like you do get a bit of.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
An US and them sort of concept going on, and
there's a few people floating between the test team and
the midweek team. But that's that's competition of old, you know.
And because you're in the mix and you're training alongside
of these guys and you're playing and you're just on
(05:59):
that fringe, you see how you can bring yourself up
to that next level and what's expected, and you see
how your test players build into the week and you
start to emulate some of those good qualities and you
take your game from where it was and find a
(06:21):
way to sneak in in the back door I guess
to getting a test opportunity. And you can do that
by playing well during those midweek games, and the club
sides that you end up playing, you know, whether it
was Natal or whoever it is, or here like in
New Zealand, they rise for the occasion as well, so
(06:42):
that you end up seeing quite great spectacles.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Of rugby as well, you know, because you've.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Got a midweek team that's just trying to do something
special to try and get as many as their players
into that test side, and then you've also got the
team that you're playing against trying to do something special
and festive to try and unhinge it and get a
win over the All Blacks.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, it is quite unique and special.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
For more from sports talk, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Ten Pars seven. It is so it's not absolute rubber
stamped official. This is going to happen, but it's as
good ass because it's South African rugby of kind of city.
This is happening, the return of the tour South Africa.
Come here and go up and down the Matsu with
their gang of big gnulled Fords in the bomb squad,
(00:33):
beat up on the All Blacks from time to time,
smash a few provinces, maybe lose to a couple, go
home again. Fantastic, great for the expat South Africans that
are over here, great for the provincial sides, great for
the All Blacks. And then four years we head over
there and do exactly the same thing. It's an old
school tour and those of you long enough in the
(00:56):
teeth that remember that will be going. This is what
we want. This is rugby as it should be. This
is not event based. Let's go for a game and
fly the next day. This has got so much going
for it. And old rant on about that later on
the piece before I ask you to climb on in.
But before we do that. Let's talk to a bloke
(01:17):
has actually been there, done that. His name's Josh Cramfield,
a former All Black part of the successful ninety six
tour to South Africa. Hey, Josh, how are you mate?
It's a it's a kind of a return to the
good old days, isn't it. Does this give you like
the warm fuzzies?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Look, I mean initially, you know, I mean, I think
they said it was going to be the last of
the tours because of obviously the way the championship and
the various different cups that they had from that period,
the way veessionalism was going, and so it kind of
felt kind of neat to be part of that last
sort of system and also.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
You know, to have the win that we did.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
But when you look at it now, because the South
Africans aren't in our super competition, that asked the question,
are we distancing from what we under stand is high
level competitive rugby? And so to reintroduce it and have
that connection, you know, have more games, it's probably not
(02:16):
a bad thing. It will probably also mean that, all right,
we'll have the tours, but we'll have midwek games too,
I'm assuming anyway, But those midweek games could be as
precious as the tests.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The fact that you get guys that dirt trackers or
whatever they call them in your day to get to
go over there and experience being in a group I
like the All Blacks for a few weeks time and
playing at that different level. It gives you so many
more arrows to your quiver, doesn't it. When you move
on and up. It's kind of necessary and long forgotten.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah, I've got to think it makes sense going forward.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
We need to stay competitive and I think everybody will
agree that not having South Africa and now you know
the franchise rugby has made a difference and it has
had an impact on quality of the rugby that we're
getting exposed to. And if you're playing the top teams
week and week out and playing at level, it brings
everyone else up to whether the benchmarkers and so going forward, Yes,
(03:17):
I think the tours are great idea and maybe it'll
rein ignite some of the love and the passion and
the excitement of the nineties rugby. To me, you know,
when I speaking to a few of the boys that
it was a bit of a golden period of rugby.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I thing, you know, just in terms of the turnouts.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The crowds, the build ups, the excitement that seemed to
go into whatever city or town that you're involved in,
and it's some of that stuff's sort of fallen by
the way with rugby.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I feel, you know, I can I say that on
my being been a bit bit rude to the game
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Josh, you can say whatever you want. That's what we've
got you on the radio. Josh Cronfell did join us.
I don't think too many people out there will disagree
with you. Maybe getting up in the middle of the
night to watch it tour over several weeks might not
encourage a lot of people, But the opposite is then
when the spring Box come here and go up and
(04:12):
down the nation. I think what you're talking about is
sitting a touch paper off getting a fire going in
for a tour, because the enthusiasm behind that is I meant,
especially in the provinces.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, I was fortunate enough
to win when a Springbok hit and and I'm assuming
they'll bring that back and that that's pretty special too
to have it new trophy. Cabnet.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
No, you know, I know for a targo.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
At that particular time, I felt like we were building
into a special sort of phase of rugby in that
period and that was just the start for me, you know.
It was that springbok here. I remember Gordon Hunter, you know,
having that under his arm and you know, proud as punch,
you know, and that's that's kind of what led me
to be being an all back too. So it's you know,
(05:01):
I'd love to see that sort of stuff. It's got
a romantic side to it too, doesn't it. You know,
like the historical all of that sort of stuff. And
to have another team go over there and when in
South Africa a traditional tour that that sounds pretty epic
to me.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What about the development of players, Josh and the development
of that second tier simply being with a full all
black squad and learning as the weeks go on about
what it meant to be an all black and not
not necessarily just in playing style, but everything that encompasses
wearing that ferm.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
It is massive and it is cool too, you know,
like you do get a bit of.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
An US and them sort of concept going on, and
there's a few people floating between the test team and
the midweek team. But that's that's competition of old, you know.
And because you're in the mix and you're training alongside
of these guys and you're playing and you're just on
(05:59):
that fringe, you see how you can bring yourself up
to that next level and what's expected, and you see
how your test players build into the week and you
start to emulate some of those good qualities and you
take your game from where it was and find a
(06:21):
way to sneak in in the back door I guess
to getting a test opportunity. And you can do that
by playing well during those midweek games, and the club
sides that you end up playing, you know, whether it
was Natal or whoever it is, or here like in
New Zealand, they rise for the occasion as well, so
(06:42):
that you end up seeing quite great spectacles.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Of rugby as well, you know, because you've.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Got a midweek team that's just trying to do something
special to try and get as many as their players
into that test side, and then you've also got the
team that you're playing against trying to do something special
and festive to try and unhinge it and get a
win over the All Blacks.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know, it is quite unique and special.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
For more from sports talk, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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