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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 Talk ZB.

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Speaker 2: In this new cycle, as mentioned, landed on Wednesday afternoon

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Speaker 2: in The Herald, courtesy of Liam Napier, who joins us now. Liam,

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Speaker 2: your story revealed a scathing internal review at the end

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Speaker 2: of last year. How deep in your understanding was the

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Speaker 2: dissatisfaction in the All Blacks playing group that was revealed

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Speaker 2: in that.

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Speaker 3: Review, Afternoon Piney, Yeah, My understanding is that it was

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Speaker 3: widespreads and not confined to one or two players, and

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Speaker 3: it's some of the most stinging feedback came from a

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Speaker 3: number of senior players. You know, guys that have played

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Speaker 3: one hundred Tests, been around a long time, experienced the

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Speaker 3: highs and lows of Test football, and they effectively weren't

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Speaker 3: getting what they wanted. And you can have bad years

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Speaker 3: and Test rugby, and you can have bad weeks, but

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Speaker 3: I think this had steadily built the frustration over the

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Speaker 3: two year tenure. Score Robinson's to your tenure, and I

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Speaker 3: think that that feedback certainly came through loud and clear.

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Speaker 3: Nizella Rugby, What were the.

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Speaker 2: Main areas of specific concern do you think.

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Speaker 3: Well, there are a number I think communication was one trust.

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Speaker 3: There were grumbles about selection, which I think there are

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Speaker 3: in any team. You're always going to have to satisfy

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Speaker 3: players who are potentially not getting picked or not getting

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Speaker 3: picked as often as I'd like, but also things around

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Speaker 3: strategy that the culture within that environment was not happy.

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Speaker 3: A number of players were just really frustrated with how

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Speaker 3: things were being run. I think from my understanding of

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Speaker 3: previous regimes, all black regimes, the players were empowered to

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Speaker 3: speak about things, whether that be defense or attack, where

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Speaker 3: I've heard that in this scenario, particularly after losses, the

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Speaker 3: coaches would take more on themselves and they would talk more,

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Speaker 3: and there would certainly be a heightened sent of tension

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Speaker 3: among the environments, and so the players probably didn't feel

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Speaker 3: like they were empowered to the same degree that they

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Speaker 3: have been previously. So that was one, I guess change

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Speaker 3: from from previous regimes, but it was just one of

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Speaker 3: one of many sort of festering issues that ultimately these

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Speaker 3: Arabia determines that coaching group and playing group could could

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Speaker 3: not get past.

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Speaker 2: There's been a lot of talk about the spread of

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Speaker 2: responsibility within the the coaching staff and the fact that

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Speaker 2: you know whether it's been correctly reported or not, and

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Speaker 2: I can only presume that it has. That Scott Hansen

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Speaker 2: was taking a lot of the what we would what

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Speaker 2: we would regard as the head coaching responsibility, whereas the

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Speaker 2: likes of where Scott Robertson was was the culture coaches

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Speaker 2: he put it. Is this something that you've heard as well?

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Speaker 2: Is it is?

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Speaker 3: It?

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Speaker 2: Is it a factor in this whole thing?

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Speaker 3: I think it's unique to a degree. I think in

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Speaker 3: the modern coaching and vine moment, it has evolved a

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Speaker 3: lot over time, and every head coach is different. Every

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Speaker 3: head coach goes about things their own way, and to

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Speaker 3: how have a helicopter type coach sitting off over the

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Speaker 3: top of an environment over arching is not uncommon. But

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Speaker 3: I think from what I can gather and certainly what's

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Speaker 3: been reported, Scott Hansen delivered was delivered a lot of

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Speaker 3: the detail of that environment. So maybe he was a

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Speaker 3: traditional head coach in that sense, where Scott Robinson was

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Speaker 3: big on theming on player relationships like the Grand Slam

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Speaker 3: Tour was themes, you know, taking the kingdom and this

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Speaker 3: has worked really well at Super rugby for him. Of course,

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Speaker 3: seven Straights titles with the Crusaders. They had things when

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Speaker 3: they won their first title in South Africa around Muhammad

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Speaker 3: Ali and the Rumba and the jungle and various others

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Speaker 3: around theming a campaign that worked really well with the Crusaders,

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Speaker 3: but I don't think that stuck or resonated within the

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Speaker 3: All Blacks environment. And it is very different test football

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Speaker 3: week to week. The pressures the athletes that you're deal

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Speaker 3: dealing with the type of rugby is very different, and

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Speaker 3: so that coaching setup was not working and we saw that,

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Speaker 3: didn't we with two assistant coaches leaving, And no matter

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Speaker 3: what's been said about that, that's the All Blacks is

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Speaker 3: a dream environment. You don't walk away from that unless

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Speaker 3: something's not quite right. Brea McDonald and Jason Hollins had

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Speaker 3: a vision I think, for how their roles would run,

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Speaker 3: and that didn't work out. So you're a number of

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Speaker 3: red flags I guess that have cropped up even prior

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Speaker 3: to this player review, but it is unprecedented, Piney, I

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Speaker 3: don't think we've had an All Blacks coach be moved

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Speaker 3: on mid World Cup cycle, so very interesting to see

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Speaker 3: where it goes now.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, you also reported that Artie Savia and others were

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Speaker 2: considering their All Blacks futures. Was there a genuine risk

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Speaker 2: that the likes of Artie Savian maybe others wouldn't play

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Speaker 2: for the All Blacks if no change was made in

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Speaker 2: the coaching structure.

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Speaker 3: Well, I know for a fact that Ardie was one player,

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Speaker 3: he's certainly not alone, that was very unhappy and has

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Speaker 3: been exploring his options offshore in Japan and in Europe.

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Speaker 3: New Zealand Rugby has adamant that he has contracted until

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven and that he will be returning home.

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Speaker 3: But I think he's one of many players that was

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Speaker 3: very dissatisfied and made their voices very clear collectively that

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Speaker 3: unless coaching changes were made or serious shifts made, that

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Speaker 3: they were going to be very unhappy. So I think

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Speaker 3: there was a risk that players would be reluctant to

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Speaker 3: play for this coaching team. And we saw that even

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Speaker 3: outside the All Blacks group. There was one senior Blues

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Speaker 3: player who was asked in the final week of the

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Speaker 3: All Black tenure Yeah sorry and Cardiff to go from

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Speaker 3: the All Blacks fifteen into the All Blacks, and he

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Speaker 3: declined because he didn't want to play for Scott Robertson.

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Speaker 3: So it's not Artie Severe alone, but he was certainly

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Speaker 3: one player that was unhappy.

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Speaker 2: Such interesting times, great reporting as always from you, Liam.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for backing it up with a chat this afternoon.

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Speaker 2: We'll catch up again soon, no doubt, no worries. Piney,

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Speaker 2: take it easy, You take it easy to Liam. Thanks indeed,

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Speaker 2: Liam Napier from the New Zealand Herald, so Wednesday his

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Speaker 2: piece appeared and then it all kind of spiraled from there.

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

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