CSB - Neil Barnes - NPC

Catching up with the Taranaki coach ahead of their storm week clash with North Harbour this evening LIVE here on GOLD SPORT. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sport, the latest from the land and just great rock.
It's the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport,
your home of live commentary.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
We're talking Buddings NPC now on the Country Sport Breakfast
where the final game of Round seven kicks off tonight
defending champions Taranaki hosting North Harbor and we'll have a
commentary with Phil Quinny live here on gold Sport from
seven joining us on the show this morning. Taranaki coach
Neil Barnes. Morning, Neil, very well, Thank you. More importantly,

(00:31):
how you guys you survived last week? Everything's okay in
the team. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Look, we're having a fierce share of injuries at the moment,
which is unfortunate, but all teams go through that, so
you just have to have an attitude. But it's next
cab off the rank and get on with it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Absolutely. And last week's game sixty three nineteen over poor
old hawks Bay, how pleased were you with with a
Naki effort?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Ah? What really? Please? We're hanging in the balance here
as where we're going to finish up in the top
eight or bloody be out the after end of its
Hawks Bay are team I've got a massive amount of
respect for and yeah, and they are a top spot
at the moment. They've had a massive Ramfley Sheeld campaign
and they're not the first team to have that type

(01:15):
of pressure for a long time, and when they lose
it suddenly struggle. And on top of that, they've got
a truckload of injuries as well. So all due respect
to them, but mate, it's cut throat. At the end
of the day. We came out with our a game
and they copped it.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
You're sitting fifth in the table five wins, two losses.
I think, do you failure on the right track to
repeat as champions?

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah? Obviously all our vaspirations to win the competition, and
like our focus has been on trying to grow right
through the season so that when we're at the other
end that we're a chance. It's not a matter of
just making the top eight. It's a matter of getting
there and your games in the right place that you
can compete with anyone. So I'm not disappointed where we're
at at the moment. They're just nice to get some

(01:56):
cattle back on the track would be handy if.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Your big forwards from last year have departed. So how
have you found the new boys this year, particularly say
Locks and Lucy's.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, they're all growing. The more experience you get in there,
the more you realize what it's like. We're fortunate to
have good experience and some of bad typeboards as well,
especially in the front row. So yeah, it's a learning process.
But like I said, our whole motivation here is to
just keep growing our game so that when the other
end when the right position on the table and their

(02:28):
games in the right position, that we can cope with anyone.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
And you've got a young first five, I think Josh Jacob.
I mean, he's taken a huge leap this year playing well.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, you know, he came on board right at the
end last year, stepped into the starting jersey and did great.
So I'm pleased with the way he's handled himself. So
last year he had a fear bit of growing to do,
and he played most of his games for our development
and we were really really impressed with his footy. So
he has turp with an open mindset, works really really hard.

(02:59):
He watches footy, so he scools himself up on how
that he needs to play. So I've got a lot
of hope for him that he will make higher honors.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Storm Week's always tough for any team with North Harbor
tonight there one or two on Sunday. So how do
you approach the Storm Week games? Have you got a
couple of fifteens you're working with?

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Look, yeah, you've got to manage some people through it. Obviously,
you have some of your better players are playing big minutes,
and inside your team you've got others that are working really,
really hard and taking a few knocks. So you've just
got to be a little bit careful that you don't
pup people under undue pressure and they finish up getting
injured from the amount of work they're doing. So yeah,
I don't go in there with a direct plan. Like man,

(03:41):
we had nowhere to go in the Hawk's Bay game.
We're down to our last players and we copped a
few bloody head knocks in that game too, so we're
still in a position where we've practically got no one
left when it comes to picking the team. So yeah,
we are.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
What we are and on Harbor that coming off a
big loss. Again, it's Northland their seasons on the line too.
What would you have to do to stop their game?
Making sure you come away with the win.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
The first thing is treating them with a lot of respect,
I guess, because they've got some firepower out there and
their team are a lot of players that can hurt you,
so you know that they have an open mindset. They've
played to attack from anywhere. So we need to stay
on the whole game and make sure we shut that
down and then just apply what we're good at on
top of them and hopefully get the job done.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
We wish you all the very very best for the game, Neil.
You're a dairy farmer and the nake house things down
on the farm.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, not bad like We've had a pretty kind winter
the last three weeks or so. It's been quite wet,
but we can't complain. I think most cockies up here
have being a reasonable place and just waiting for some
warmer weather. Now things are really kick away, so we're
pretty positive about how things are.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Fantastic. We wish you the very very best of luck
tonight we'll have a commentary here on god Sport.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Thanks Neil, Cheers Brian.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's a twenty one year The game set to kick
off at five past seven hours