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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from News Talks EDB.

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Speaker 2: Circle Back to Rugby to finish. Jack Measley is CEO

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Speaker 2: of Super Rugby Pacific and Joins is now about to

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Speaker 2: fly out. I think back to Australia having spent the

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Speaker 2: first weekend of the competition here in New Zealand. Opening

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Speaker 2: rounds done, Jack, thanks for taking the time for a chance.

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Speaker 2: What were your biggest takeaways from the first weekend of

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Speaker 2: of Super Rugby twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: Six, Thanks Fani. Yeah, I mean it was a great

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Speaker 3: start to two great matches in New Zealand that went

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Speaker 3: right to the wire, really willing contests and you know

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Speaker 3: all the hammer and tongs over there, and some really

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Speaker 3: impressive performances from the Warrators and the Brumbies in Australia

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Speaker 3: and then MP you know, continued on their great form

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Speaker 3: from last year with a with a big win and

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Speaker 3: a tough against that away game at Latoka is tough

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Speaker 3: and they got the biscuits, so yeah, and some really

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Speaker 3: great stuff.

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Speaker 2: How important was it to you? Is it to you

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Speaker 2: that the first round is nice and strong to set

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Speaker 2: the tone for the competition.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's what you hope for. And you know,

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Speaker 3: to kick it off on Friday night with such a

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Speaker 3: great game down in Dunedin and the Highlanders upsetting the Crusaders.

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Speaker 3: You know, they have our champions from last year, you know,

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Speaker 3: get beaten by the guys who finished eleventh last year

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Speaker 3: was a really good start. Yeah, and it helps momentum

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Speaker 3: and crowds have been looking pretty good. We haven't done

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Speaker 3: a full wash up obviously, it's still pretty fresh, but yeah,

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Speaker 3: I think it's really really important to get a fast start,

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Speaker 3: and I think it looks like we've got that now.

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Speaker 2: There was rumors that you were going to be in

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Speaker 2: the Zoo for some or all of Friday night's action

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Speaker 2: and Dunedin. Can you confirm.

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Speaker 3: That we had a quick look. I know Kevin mlloy

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Speaker 3: sat down there this year, which was good. I was

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Speaker 3: with Kevin down there, so our chairman was down checking

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Speaker 3: out the Zoo. And then last night, yeah, I was

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Speaker 3: in the new student section down at Eden Park and yeah,

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Speaker 3: great to see some of the initiatives the clubs are

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Speaker 3: putting in play to make the stadium experience great. I

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Speaker 3: don't know if you saw it, but there was a

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Speaker 3: there was a spa bath and a DJ going in

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Speaker 3: this new student's corner at Eden Park, which was really

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Speaker 3: well attended. Actually it was fantastic to see.

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Speaker 2: I'll need to said the fut of evidence of you

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Speaker 2: and the spa if there is any.

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Speaker 3: Well I did warn people I might have to bring

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Speaker 3: my budgets mugglers and.

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Speaker 2: Well let's move quickly on the law tweets we talked

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Speaker 2: about last week aimed at speeding the game up. Did

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Speaker 2: you see what you wanted to see from them and

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Speaker 2: weekend one?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I think so. You know, I think there was The

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Speaker 3: really positive thing is that those changes, you know, they

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Speaker 3: brought about some of the consequences we wanted and they

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Speaker 3: didn't seem to be any unintended consequences, which is always

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Speaker 3: always what we're looking out for. So that was good clearly.

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Speaker 3: Around one. You know, there's always there's always a bit

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Speaker 3: of you know, a bit of the team's few get

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Speaker 3: finding their feet, so I'm sure sure things will continue

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Speaker 3: to improve as we go. But yeah, again we'll do

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Speaker 3: I know all of the match officials are doing their

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Speaker 3: reviews as we speak, and we'll sit down and have

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Speaker 3: that full of you.

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Speaker 2: To my I think the hallmark of any good competition,

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Speaker 2: and any sport probably is a bit of jeopardy, a

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Speaker 2: bit of unpredictability, and look, I would defy anybody to

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Speaker 2: have picked all five winners across the weekend. Is that

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Speaker 2: kind of what you're after week on week Absolutely?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So sorry about the background noise there, mate, I'm

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Speaker 3: just in a taxi. Yeah, that's absolutely what we want,

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Speaker 3: I think, as you and I have spoken before, you know,

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Speaker 3: we want super rugby fans, every siber rugby fan from

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Speaker 3: all eleven teams going into a weekend thinking they've got

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Speaker 3: a chance. And yeah, I mean they have had quite

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Speaker 3: a few unexpected results this weekend certainly delivered on that

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Speaker 3: and it's really important and you know, I think it

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Speaker 3: just goes shay. The competition is really close. And you know,

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Speaker 3: whilst I mentioned the Highland getting over the Crusaders and

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Speaker 3: the Highland is finishing last last year, there was not

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Speaker 3: much in that. I mean they must have had about

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Speaker 3: six games that could have gone either way last year

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Speaker 3: and you know, great to see them come out and

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Speaker 3: put that performance on the board. So yeah, it's really

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Speaker 3: important for us. And you know, the teams are certainly

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Speaker 3: all scenes are certainly getting better mixing up with the

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Speaker 3: guys that have traditionally been at the top of the

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Speaker 3: top of the ladder.

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Speaker 2: So around one of the books now all done, what

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Speaker 2: are your key priorities for the competition over the next

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Speaker 2: few weeks.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's always things that you iron out,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think, you know, some of the systems

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Speaker 3: and processes are a little rusty, so we'll look to

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Speaker 3: make sure all of the little things get sorted out

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Speaker 3: and we try to make the operation of everything as

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Speaker 3: smooth as possible. And you know, coming into you know,

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Speaker 3: we've got Club Rugby Round, which is the first time

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Speaker 3: we've run that execution. We're really looking forward to that.

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Speaker 3: We're really looking forward to connecting with the community game

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Speaker 3: and to help drive registrations into the new community season.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, we're certainly focused on driving that over the

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Speaker 3: next couple of weeks as well.

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Speaker 2: Obviously on the side of the tess when most of around

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Speaker 2: Christas and the New Zealand teams, but from a wider

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Speaker 2: competition point of view, War Tars looked right, didn't they,

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Speaker 2: you know, outside the playoff spots last year, are you

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Speaker 2: you're looking at them as a bit of a smoky

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no doubt. I think they've certainly improved year

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Speaker 3: on year and Dan mckeller's obviously for fingerprints are more

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Speaker 3: firmly imprinted on the war retars and the whole sort

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Speaker 3: of set up there at the war Retards is getting

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Speaker 3: a Dann mckeller field to it. You can just hear

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Speaker 3: it in the language the teams are using and you

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Speaker 3: can see the bonds they've created in the off season.

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Speaker 3: So you know, it's important we have a strong war retard.

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Speaker 3: It's a very big market for us, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I think everyone's everyone's hoping they do well.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, hey, Jack always got to catch up. Thanks for

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Speaker 2: taking our callers always and for speed weekend over on

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Speaker 2: the side of the Tessmen.

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Speaker 3: Catch up again soon, no worries, mate, look forward to it.

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Speaker 3: We hope you're you're you're going to be at the

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Speaker 3: Canes next week.

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Speaker 2: I'll definitely be at the Canes next week as they

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Speaker 2: open their season against Mowana PACIFICA. It is with a

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Speaker 2: degree of some trepidation, I must say, after watching more

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Speaker 2: uffin you know, I mean, but it'd be great to

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Speaker 2: see them beck out there as well.

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Speaker 3: Awesome mate, well listen, I'll see you so eh.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look forward to that.

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Speaker 3: Jack.

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Speaker 2: Thanks and day Jack Measley, their CEO of Super Rugby Pacific,

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Speaker 2: joining us on Weekend Sport.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk said B weekends from midday, or follow

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