August 12, 2026 • 9 mins
Nathan Burdon looks at the Southland Stags and injury woes ahead of their NPC clash against Waikato.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome back to the Muster. The scene today is Texas
for no reason whatsoever. Part of some good Junes. That
song there called say what you Want resident spoorting Gary
Nathan Bird in good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you? Yeah? Pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
How are you where it is that you won't need
to bring your boost to Stags training tonight?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
They're suffering? Well, yeah, so you'd be getting pretty desperate
if we got to that situation. But it's been The
Stags are going through some challenges at the moment. It
hasn't been a bit of an emotional sort of a
hangover this week. I think after the weekend obviously, you know,
we celebrated five years of your good self on the
Muster on Friday night, and there were the highs and
(00:46):
then things got even higher on on Sunday afternoon into
the late evening with the Sharks at the NBL Grand Final,
and then and then things ended a little bit of
a disappointing note. So a bit of a bit of
an emotional rollercoaster over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
How bad is the injury situation with the Stags? Sounds
like Jack Taylor maybe gone for the season.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Doesn't seem promising, does it? And if you was a
player that you didn't want to lose, it was definitely
Jack Taylor. I mean, I think we were initially not concerned,
I guess, but we were initially sort of wondering whether
Jack might have been on his way over to South
Africa for the Greatest Rivalry Tour and the you know,
(01:26):
the All Blacks loss was our game, super rugby quality
player already having a big season, and I guess we
saw it in that first half the Stags against Mano
or two that Mitch Dunche, Jack Taylor combo was just exceptional.
Lineout was absolutely firing in that game, and I guess
Jack and the injury coming off in the second half
(01:48):
was I guess one of the reasons that the Stags
started to stumble and ultimately couldn't get across the line
up at Palmson North.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Losing in the last minute like that, conceding those three
tries and doing a box kick with ninety seconds to go.
Whatever it was. Charlie mush a very very good player.
Somebody must have called for a bit in hindsight, Gee,
he's won his time again.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I think you Charlie will undoubtedly learn from that.
But also, you know, there's also I guess there's a
bit of a crawel element to look at one particular
mark in the game. If the Stags had have won
that game, we wouldn't even be talking about that about
that box kick. Then there were moments before and after
that that you know, that contributed to that, and we
(02:29):
could even wonder, you know, were there not a couple
of other TV angles that we possibly could have looked
at in terms of that that last try. So I
guess it just when we're getting down to those fine margins.
It's such a such a key result. These are two
teams who are battling away at one end of the
spectrum in terms of this years m PC, so it
(02:51):
would have been fantastic to get that that went up there.
I think we talked about it as a must win game.
Really interesting to see one of them old coaches, David Henderson,
actually bring a bit of sensibility to the argument and say,
hang on, you know, let's treat this more around a
longer term project. We've got some really good young talent
(03:12):
coming through South and rugby at the moment. Let's not
get too disparated around eighty minutes of rugby. This is
about ensuring that we can sort of put a team
together that over the next few years we can see
the likes of Jack Taylor, Jimmy Taylor sewn with you
see some of these guys that have been coming through
the academy and the pathways and actually give them an
opportunity to shine, and this could be a Southern team
(03:34):
that they, if they do it well, you know, in
the next two or three years, could do some special things.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I've seen that comment by Dave and it was interesting
and I suppose the other side of it, as we're
consistantly being told this competition is a sprint and you
just got to hit the ground from the get go,
So those combinations need to be formed.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, It's the tricky thing is it's professional sports. So
the WUS and ours are what it's about at the
end of the day. But I guess you know, you
look at the South and Stags in a different way
than we do. Is to maybe a Southern Steel or
a Southern Sharks, where you know it's all about winning
that it's all about winning that title. Is this team.
(04:15):
This team's more about sort of we want to win,
but we also you know, we could just draft in
twenty three overseas guys and try and win a title
or something like that. But it's it's about sort of
giving as many of the local guys a chance to
shine as they can. And again, I'll just I'll just
go back. There are some real positive signs and I
think you know it some of the stuff that Rugby
South is done around the academy and keeping some of
(04:39):
those players that up in the need and keeping them
in the fold. There are some positive things in there,
and you know, we need to look beyond sort of
eighty minutes and parting North.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Why didn't the referee go upstairs in that last minute?
Or is it not available? Did they not have the
camera available?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's not that cemtu l That'd be my assumption that
you know, I guess that's there's not as much money
probably going into the production. I could be right, could
be wrong, but my assumption to be there's not as
much money going into the production, not the same angles
that we see, thank goodness from international rugby, where we
(05:19):
can spend ten minutes sort of over analyzing every single
decision that gets made and the game gets killed off.
So I guess you know that we can can we
have it both ways. Can we have it so that
every decision is one hundred percent correct or do we
want to actually just get on with the game.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Here's one get rid of the team over those super
rugby level. Bang, it's gone. Let's just live at the decision.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You had to argue with that one.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, The Sharks South had Sharks Jonathan Jim on the
show on Monday. He was a fantastic chat as well.
Not long after the Sharks beat the Saints in the
final the NBL, you were there at the game. You've
had a bit of a skin in the game regarding
this team. Just describe what it means to this franchise.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I've just like I've loved the last season. The last
two years have been an amazing project. You know, the
Sharks as an organization took a real punt to bring
Jonathan Yim. No huge coaching experience, but obviously massive work ethic,
(06:17):
some amazing connections at a huge basketball IQ brought him
out here. And I think, you know, a huge leap
of faith for Jonathan and his wife too, to come
out here all the way from San Francisco to in
Vicago and put this team together. And then when you
(06:37):
look at the players, I guess. So they fell just
short in that Grand Final in twenty twenty five and all,
but you know, Josiah Alac sort of coming back and
trying to get the job done in twenty twenty six,
and it was one of the special occasions to be
at Ilty Stadium south and a real privilege to be
there for that Grand Final. The irony of a south
(07:00):
wind chance sort of coming out later in the late
stages of that game, something you'd normally hear coming from
the Rugby Park terrace. You know, it was my hands
were shaking heading into the into the last sort of
minutes of that game and then it goes to overtime.
It was just it was a fantastic occasion, knowing what
we knew about the backstory, knowing that you know, Jill Bolger,
(07:22):
who'd been there for seventeen years, had helped establish that team,
and you know this was her last game potentially in
in that role. You just so barely wanted the team
to be able to do it for Jill and all
those people had been there throughout the seventeen years of
that franchise. So it was it was very very cool,
just a great way to finish the season just.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Quickly to wrap up Ethan. The Greeks re signed through
to twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah great, fantastic, isn't it. And just listening to some
of his comments around wants to be a one club only,
wants to play for Southland, only, wants to play for
the Highland as loving as time with the All Blacks
four three Tests and counting playing some of the rugby
of his life. He said, a fantastic Super Rugby campaign
and he's just boxed on under Dave Rennie. But yeah
(08:10):
he'll learn a lot during this tour, you know, loving
his time coming up against some of these packs in
South Africa as well. So yep, fantastic to help him
back on board.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Get on your nath enjoy the weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Lovely thanks mate, Laugh out loud with ag proud because
life on the land can be a laughing matter.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Brought to us by sheer Well Data working to help
the livestock farmer. How warm is the baby when it's born?
It's womb temperature that deserves a belly laugh. Okay, I
am out of here. The podcast will be up shortly
thanks to iHeartRadio, I mean de Mure. The show is
brought to you by Peter's genetics. Enjoy the barbie. Afternoon
(08:55):
mid temperatures, mid teen temperatures round fifteen degrees apparently, Go
and enjoy See tomorrow you
Welcome back to the Muster. The scene today is Texas
for no reason whatsoever. Part of some good Junes. That
song there called say what you Want resident spoorting Gary
Nathan Bird in good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you? Yeah? Pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
How are you where it is that you won't need
to bring your boost to Stags training tonight?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
They're suffering? Well, yeah, so you'd be getting pretty desperate
if we got to that situation. But it's been The
Stags are going through some challenges at the moment. It
hasn't been a bit of an emotional sort of a
hangover this week. I think after the weekend obviously, you know,
we celebrated five years of your good self on the
Muster on Friday night, and there were the highs and
(00:46):
then things got even higher on on Sunday afternoon into
the late evening with the Sharks at the NBL Grand Final,
and then and then things ended a little bit of
a disappointing note. So a bit of a bit of
an emotional rollercoaster over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
How bad is the injury situation with the Stags? Sounds
like Jack Taylor maybe gone for the season.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Doesn't seem promising, does it? And if you was a
player that you didn't want to lose, it was definitely
Jack Taylor. I mean, I think we were initially not concerned,
I guess, but we were initially sort of wondering whether
Jack might have been on his way over to South
Africa for the Greatest Rivalry Tour and the you know,
(01:26):
the All Blacks loss was our game, super rugby quality
player already having a big season, and I guess we
saw it in that first half the Stags against Mano
or two that Mitch Dunche, Jack Taylor combo was just exceptional.
Lineout was absolutely firing in that game, and I guess
Jack and the injury coming off in the second half
(01:48):
was I guess one of the reasons that the Stags
started to stumble and ultimately couldn't get across the line
up at Palmson North.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Losing in the last minute like that, conceding those three
tries and doing a box kick with ninety seconds to go.
Whatever it was. Charlie mush a very very good player.
Somebody must have called for a bit in hindsight, Gee,
he's won his time again.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I think you Charlie will undoubtedly learn from that.
But also, you know, there's also I guess there's a
bit of a crawel element to look at one particular
mark in the game. If the Stags had have won
that game, we wouldn't even be talking about that about
that box kick. Then there were moments before and after
that that you know, that contributed to that, and we
(02:29):
could even wonder, you know, were there not a couple
of other TV angles that we possibly could have looked
at in terms of that that last try. So I
guess it just when we're getting down to those fine margins.
It's such a such a key result. These are two
teams who are battling away at one end of the
spectrum in terms of this years m PC, so it
(02:51):
would have been fantastic to get that that went up there.
I think we talked about it as a must win game.
Really interesting to see one of them old coaches, David Henderson,
actually bring a bit of sensibility to the argument and say,
hang on, you know, let's treat this more around a
longer term project. We've got some really good young talent
(03:12):
coming through South and rugby at the moment. Let's not
get too disparated around eighty minutes of rugby. This is
about ensuring that we can sort of put a team
together that over the next few years we can see
the likes of Jack Taylor, Jimmy Taylor sewn with you
see some of these guys that have been coming through
the academy and the pathways and actually give them an
opportunity to shine, and this could be a Southern team
(03:34):
that they, if they do it well, you know, in
the next two or three years, could do some special things.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I've seen that comment by Dave and it was interesting
and I suppose the other side of it, as we're
consistantly being told this competition is a sprint and you
just got to hit the ground from the get go,
So those combinations need to be formed.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, It's the tricky thing is it's professional sports. So
the WUS and ours are what it's about at the
end of the day. But I guess you know, you
look at the South and Stags in a different way
than we do. Is to maybe a Southern Steel or
a Southern Sharks, where you know it's all about winning
that it's all about winning that title. Is this team.
(04:15):
This team's more about sort of we want to win,
but we also you know, we could just draft in
twenty three overseas guys and try and win a title
or something like that. But it's it's about sort of
giving as many of the local guys a chance to
shine as they can. And again, I'll just I'll just
go back. There are some real positive signs and I
think you know it some of the stuff that Rugby
South is done around the academy and keeping some of
(04:39):
those players that up in the need and keeping them
in the fold. There are some positive things in there,
and you know, we need to look beyond sort of
eighty minutes and parting North.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Why didn't the referee go upstairs in that last minute?
Or is it not available? Did they not have the
camera available?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's not that cemtu l That'd be my assumption that
you know, I guess that's there's not as much money
probably going into the production. I could be right, could
be wrong, but my assumption to be there's not as
much money going into the production, not the same angles
that we see, thank goodness from international rugby, where we
(05:19):
can spend ten minutes sort of over analyzing every single
decision that gets made and the game gets killed off.
So I guess you know that we can can we
have it both ways. Can we have it so that
every decision is one hundred percent correct or do we
want to actually just get on with the game.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Here's one get rid of the team over those super
rugby level. Bang, it's gone. Let's just live at the decision.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You had to argue with that one.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, The Sharks South had Sharks Jonathan Jim on the
show on Monday. He was a fantastic chat as well.
Not long after the Sharks beat the Saints in the
final the NBL, you were there at the game. You've
had a bit of a skin in the game regarding
this team. Just describe what it means to this franchise.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I've just like I've loved the last season. The last
two years have been an amazing project. You know, the
Sharks as an organization took a real punt to bring
Jonathan Yim. No huge coaching experience, but obviously massive work ethic,
(06:17):
some amazing connections at a huge basketball IQ brought him
out here. And I think, you know, a huge leap
of faith for Jonathan and his wife too, to come
out here all the way from San Francisco to in
Vicago and put this team together. And then when you
(06:37):
look at the players, I guess. So they fell just
short in that Grand Final in twenty twenty five and all,
but you know, Josiah Alac sort of coming back and
trying to get the job done in twenty twenty six,
and it was one of the special occasions to be
at Ilty Stadium south and a real privilege to be
there for that Grand Final. The irony of a south
(07:00):
wind chance sort of coming out later in the late
stages of that game, something you'd normally hear coming from
the Rugby Park terrace. You know, it was my hands
were shaking heading into the into the last sort of
minutes of that game and then it goes to overtime.
It was just it was a fantastic occasion, knowing what
we knew about the backstory, knowing that you know, Jill Bolger,
(07:22):
who'd been there for seventeen years, had helped establish that team,
and you know this was her last game potentially in
in that role. You just so barely wanted the team
to be able to do it for Jill and all
those people had been there throughout the seventeen years of
that franchise. So it was it was very very cool,
just a great way to finish the season just.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Quickly to wrap up Ethan. The Greeks re signed through
to twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah great, fantastic, isn't it. And just listening to some
of his comments around wants to be a one club only,
wants to play for Southland, only, wants to play for
the Highland as loving as time with the All Blacks
four three Tests and counting playing some of the rugby
of his life. He said, a fantastic Super Rugby campaign
and he's just boxed on under Dave Rennie. But yeah
(08:10):
he'll learn a lot during this tour, you know, loving
his time coming up against some of these packs in
South Africa as well. So yep, fantastic to help him
back on board.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Get on your nath enjoy the weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Lovely thanks mate, Laugh out loud with ag proud because
life on the land can be a laughing matter.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Brought to us by sheer Well Data working to help
the livestock farmer. How warm is the baby when it's born?
It's womb temperature that deserves a belly laugh. Okay, I
am out of here. The podcast will be up shortly
thanks to iHeartRadio, I mean de Mure. The show is
brought to you by Peter's genetics. Enjoy the barbie. Afternoon
(08:55):
mid temperatures, mid teen temperatures round fifteen degrees apparently, Go
and enjoy See tomorrow you
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