Speaker 1: Kyoda.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. All Blacks
Speaker 2: head coach Scott Raiser Robertson is out of the role
Speaker 2: just two years into his four year contract after reports
Speaker 2: of widespread frustration from players and staff and a damning
Speaker 2: internal review. Questions remain, what went so wrong for Razor,
Speaker 2: what does this mean for our World Cup campaign? And
Speaker 2: who will have the job of cleaning.
Speaker 3: Up this mess?
Speaker 2: The All Blacks drama spells the beginning of a huge
Speaker 2: year for sport. Twenty twenty six sees hopes of a
Speaker 2: record medal hole for New Zealand at the Winter Olympics
Speaker 2: and a chance to cheer on the All Whites on
Speaker 2: the world stage.
Speaker 3: And of course we're all curious.
Speaker 2: To see how Natbow and Z will rebuild public trust.
Speaker 2: All this and more today on the Front Page with
Speaker 2: Herald Sports reporter Alex Pound.
Speaker 3: So, Alex, a major.
Speaker 2: Start to the year, obviously, the sporting year that is,
Speaker 2: with Razor being cut. How surprising or unsurprising is this news?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a weird one, isn't it, Because in a
Speaker 1: way it's sort of the only thing that makes sense
Speaker 1: if what's been put out there is true about the
Speaker 1: play on happiness and the failings of the environment. But
Speaker 1: at the same time this is really uncharted territory for
Speaker 1: the game in New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Is that because it's two years into a four year contract.
Speaker 1: No, it's never been. You don't know, we have never
Speaker 1: outright sacked a coach. You know. You remember the twenty
Speaker 1: two Women's World Cup. Glenn Moore left at the start
Speaker 1: of that year, but that was his choice because of
Speaker 1: you almost similar findings and unhappiness within the playing But
Speaker 1: this one being two years out does give a bit
Speaker 1: more time. You remember the twenty nineteen World Cup when
Speaker 1: South Africa won it, at the start of twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: they changed coach and like that sort of scene is
Speaker 1: now the absolute latest you can do it. If you
Speaker 1: do want to salvage a World Cup campaign, you sort
Speaker 1: of have to give yourself at least two years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And because people do say, well, the World Cup
Speaker 2: is eighteen months out seems like a miles away, but
Speaker 2: in rugby world it's really not an especially given that
Speaker 2: the All Blacks Tour in South Africa as due this year.
Speaker 1: Hey, yeah, absolutely, like the way rugby is now was
Speaker 1: not just those two. But you have also got the
Speaker 1: New Nations Championship and no one knows how seriously that's
Speaker 1: gonna be taken walk that'll efty the game, like you
Speaker 1: don't really have much room to breathe. It's always something
Speaker 1: into something into something and if it's now, you know
Speaker 1: with a World Cup at the end of twenty seven,
Speaker 1: New Zealand rugby kind of have been backed into a
Speaker 1: corner here and.
Speaker 2: Scott Robertson he was really lauded as being like, this
Speaker 2: isn't a major opportunity for the All Blacks when he
Speaker 2: came and took over the side as head coach.
Speaker 3: Can we pinpoint where he lost his edge?
Speaker 1: I think the disappointing thing is that what New Zealand
Speaker 1: rugby and what fans saw in Super rug beat the
Speaker 1: Crusaders was never reproduced with the All Blacks and obviously
Speaker 1: Super rugby and Test rugby are two completely different environments.
Speaker 1: But if Super Rugby is the proven grounds to step
Speaker 1: your way into Test rugby, no one had done what
Speaker 1: Scott Robinson did you know the amount of titles the
Speaker 1: Crusaders won in a row and the All Blacks just
Speaker 1: never looked like being able to be as successful as
Speaker 1: the Crusaders were.
Speaker 3: And why not.
Speaker 1: I think the test game and the club game are
Speaker 1: just so different and maybe now we do actually have
Speaker 1: evidence of that. You remember, you know, so Graham Henry
Speaker 1: and Steve Hanson were both incredibly successful Black coaches, but
Speaker 1: they both had to go and fail with other countries
Speaker 1: before they were able to step into the They both
Speaker 1: had really difficult times of Whales, but that what it
Speaker 1: did was it grounded them and how the international game
Speaker 1: actually works before they could take the big job.
Speaker 2: In terms of who could be set to replace him,
Speaker 2: are there any early contenders?
Speaker 1: You can think of Jamie Joseph Looms as the big one.
Speaker 1: You know, he missed out to Scott Robertson after twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three to actually take that job. He was in
Speaker 1: the running in twenty nineteen, when's the Steve Hanson stepped down.
Speaker 1: He's come back to New Zealand to take on the
Speaker 1: job with the Highland as he was in Japan for
Speaker 1: the last for a better part of a decade. Last
Speaker 1: year he was given the All Blacks fifteen jobs, so
Speaker 1: effectively the side beneath the All Blacks as a way
Speaker 1: of I guess, keeping him in the picture and maybe
Speaker 1: putting a bit of pressure on Scrubs and saying, hey, look,
Speaker 1: if you can't do it, we do have someone else here.
Speaker 1: So he would loom I guess for many people. As
Speaker 1: the next gave off the rank, he would probably bring
Speaker 1: Tiny Brown with him, those who have a very good relationship.
Speaker 1: Tony Brown is currently with the Springbook. So if you
Speaker 1: can strengthen yourself and weaken your opponents at the same time,
Speaker 1: New Zealand Rugby would be silly to not explore that
Speaker 1: you've got a guy like Dave Rennie who has also
Speaker 1: been in the All Blacks running at one point or another.
Speaker 1: He's now offshore in Japan. You've got a guy like
Speaker 1: Vancotta who's got test experience currently Blues, so there won't
Speaker 1: be a shortage of options with this. This is a
Speaker 1: job that any coach worth their salt will want, you know,
Speaker 1: to coach the All Blacks. So it's just about making
Speaker 1: sure they get the process right. And that's the other
Speaker 1: thing is New Zealand Rugby would be really foolish to
Speaker 1: act and make this decision if they didn't have someone
Speaker 1: else lined up. But it would be a very unneeded
Speaker 1: on rugby like thing to do.
Speaker 3: So we're not going to see an add out onseek
Speaker 3: or anything.
Speaker 1: Maybe I mean search the pay bands and see what's
Speaker 1: playing the month.
Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, And of course you know by now
Speaker 4: who our new head coach for the All Blacks from
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four is Scott Robertson. So I want to
Speaker 4: congratulate Scott on his appointment. It's come following presentation to
Speaker 4: the board at our board meeting this morning and I
Speaker 4: confirm that the board was unanimous in supporting Scott as
Speaker 4: our incoming coach from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: What kind of pressure will be on the shoulders of
Speaker 2: whoever comes in.
Speaker 1: Next, I mean it's going to be huge, isn't it.
Speaker 1: You know you think of where the All Blacks have
Speaker 1: always been historically a team that wins ninety percent of
Speaker 1: the games, and they just haven't done that for you know,
Speaker 1: basically since twenty twenty. You know, that's six years of
Speaker 1: a team not at the level the fans expected them.
Speaker 1: I think that's really been interesting to see New Zealanders
Speaker 1: have to adjust to that, and a lot of them haven't.
Speaker 1: You know. You think of where South Africa are you
Speaker 1: think of where Ireland have been wear England are. So
Speaker 1: the pressure on the next coach, whoever that is is,
Speaker 1: is going to be huge and it's going to have
Speaker 1: to be an immediate improvement because you know, the New
Speaker 1: Zealand rug beib sament says they don't have a coach,
Speaker 1: So that's really interesting to make this kind of move
Speaker 1: and not know what the next one is or do
Speaker 1: they well you'd think that has have a short list
Speaker 1: of course, you know, but now having to actually act
Speaker 1: on it, you know, are they going to have to
Speaker 1: get someone out from an overseas contract to come and
Speaker 1: be an assistant. You know, if it is Jamie Jo's
Speaker 1: from Tiny Brown, Tiny Brown's currently with South Africa, that
Speaker 1: won't be cheap. A guy like Dave ENnie, he's in Japan,
Speaker 1: that won't be cheap. So yeah, I think there's going
Speaker 1: to be pressure not just on the airbacks but on
Speaker 1: Newzealand Rugby to really get this right.
Speaker 2: Have you heard anything about those internal frustrations from player
Speaker 2: players and head starts.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably going to be the most frustrating
Speaker 1: thing for Scott robertson. This isn't really new like we
Speaker 1: had the review that would have happened at the end
Speaker 1: of last year, which Liam Apim, my colleague wrote earlier
Speaker 1: this week that that did not reflect well on Scrubson.
Speaker 1: You had Ardie Savia, you know, reportedly considering his future
Speaker 1: if he still wanted to ben All Black, is it
Speaker 1: worth going overseas? Because let's not forget being an All
Speaker 1: Black as a professional is not in your financial interest.
Speaker 1: You can make so much more money going overseas. You know,
Speaker 1: we saw it with Richie Moyng. I've seen it with Shanafrazell,
Speaker 1: Harry Plummer who was a fringe All Black and is
Speaker 1: now making exponentially more money in France. So for a
Speaker 1: guy like Ardie to actually have that up his sleeve,
Speaker 1: I think it really would have set a lone bells
Speaker 1: off at New Zealand Rugby.
Speaker 2: And in terms of when we hear about it the public,
Speaker 2: I mean, and I say we because I'm the public
Speaker 2: when it comes to sports journalism. As you know, when
Speaker 2: I read something like that Ardia Savias stuff from the
Speaker 2: back end, when the information gets to you, how solid
Speaker 2: is it when it ends up on the site?
Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: I mean, as a general rule, not just with rugby,
Speaker 1: but with all sort of sports him. If you can
Speaker 1: get it from sort of two places that don't have
Speaker 1: anything to do with each other, you've generally got something
Speaker 1: that you feel is worth going on. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't speak for haw Liam goes about doing his stories,
Speaker 1: but he's not silly and now he does this.
Speaker 2: Yes, So generally when you see Ardie Savier's looking overseas
Speaker 2: at other interests, he really actually probably is.
Speaker 1: You know, he's already in Japan right now, He's been
Speaker 1: there a couple of years ago. Like the desire from
Speaker 1: both parties to continue that relationship would be very strong.
Speaker 1: You know, Japanese rugby would get one of the best
Speaker 1: players in the world playing in their league. Ardie Savia
Speaker 1: would have a much easier life. While let's not forget
Speaker 1: the physical demands of playing in Japan is so different
Speaker 1: to playing in New Zealands. You're playing for much less time.
Speaker 1: By playing in Japan, he wouldn't be alible for the
Speaker 1: All Blacks, so they wouldn't have to worry about that.
Speaker 1: So if that's the sort of the way Ardie Savid
Speaker 1: would want to go, it would absolutely be open to him.
Speaker 3: And in terms of Razor what next for him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I imagine he won't jump straight into
Speaker 1: another job. He has always said he wanted to win
Speaker 1: the World Cup with two different countries, okay, which I
Speaker 1: mean fair play, Like I mean win it with one
Speaker 1: country first, Razor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, has he?
Speaker 1: But Scott Robinson finished his playing career in France. You
Speaker 1: know he speaks fluent French like there has always been
Speaker 1: a French connection, if you pardon the pun. So I
Speaker 1: can see him getting a nice club job over there,
Speaker 1: like club sides will not hesitate to get Scott Robertson in.
Speaker 1: You know, as soon as anyone is made or any
Speaker 1: possison is made available, they'll go for Scorobson. He'll be
Speaker 1: at the top of a lot of clubs. I remember
Speaker 1: before he got the All Blacks job, there was talk
Speaker 1: England wanted them, Fiji put in a bid for him,
Speaker 1: and he came out and said buller at the start
Speaker 1: of a pressure was just to sort of give ins
Speaker 1: at Irishov and say if you don't hire me, someone
Speaker 1: else will. Whether or not what's happened with the All
Speaker 1: Blacks has scarred him, it doesn't change the fact that
Speaker 1: he's a very good motivator. Of a group.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: You hear about his time at the Crusaders, you know,
Speaker 1: and what he was able to do there, Like, they
Speaker 1: hadn't won a title for years.
Speaker 3: Well, it was legendary to say the least.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they hadn't won a title for a
Speaker 1: decade when he turned up, and then they only won
Speaker 1: when he was there.
Speaker 2: Well, I moved to christ Church originally, and I thought, well,
Speaker 2: and that was around his time at the Helm, and
Speaker 2: I thought, oh, amazing, I'm going to go for.
Speaker 3: The Crusaders because they obviously win all the time. But
Speaker 3: I've come in at the point where Razor turned it around.
Speaker 1: I think there was a stat so the first year
Speaker 1: Raiser wasn't at the Crusaders, and the Crusaders struggled under
Speaker 1: Rob Penny. There were children in year three in christ
Speaker 1: Church who had never lived in an era where the
Speaker 1: Crusaders weren't super rugby champions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: The medals for the twenty twenty six Winter Olympic Games
Speaker 1: have now been revealed.
Speaker 5: Today, organizers unveiled the medals for the Milan Courtina Winter Games.
Speaker 5: The big reveal comes about two hundred days before the
Speaker 5: start of the games. The medals designed by the Italian
Speaker 5: state Mint and Polograph against Jude are made from recycled
Speaker 5: medals using renewable energy. Each one features a split design
Speaker 5: to symbolize both Olympic Paralympic values. The game start February
Speaker 5: sixth Paralympic Games, so follow in March.
Speaker 2: Anyway, if we move on, twenty twenty six is going
Speaker 2: to be a massive year for sports anyway. You look
Speaker 2: at it Winter Olympics, Alex, do you think we will
Speaker 2: likely get our best medal count ever?
Speaker 3: We're hoping for it.
Speaker 1: New Zealand's still relatively quite young in terms of the
Speaker 1: Winter Olympics. So you remember the last one out in
Speaker 1: Beijing was you know, as the benchmarking now because you
Speaker 1: had you know, Zoysidowski, Senter and Nikols both win gold.
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's realistic to come out before
Speaker 1: a Winter the mix and say we need to be
Speaker 1: doing this, this and this and we'll have our best
Speaker 1: every games. Like it's just not really Hell's obviously Za
Speaker 1: Sadowski Senate is going to be there again. Alice Robinson
Speaker 1: does loom as a metal hopeful this time of maybe
Speaker 1: even a medal favorite. So it's you can never really
Speaker 1: say this is what should happen at any Olympic Games
Speaker 1: or winter all summer. But I mean it's always the hope,
Speaker 1: isn't it?
Speaker 3: And what about COMM Games in Glasgow?
Speaker 1: The Comm Games is weird?
Speaker 3: Does anyone watch it anymore? Or is that naughty to say?
Speaker 1: It's probably as naughty to say, but you're saying it
Speaker 1: on the grounds like no one wants to host it.
Speaker 1: You know, you remember all the drama with everyone dropping
Speaker 1: out and now you know they've they've found somewhere to
Speaker 1: host it. But it does feel as though we're moving
Speaker 1: into an era where the Commonwealth Games just might not
Speaker 1: carry any sort of weight. But I mean saying that
Speaker 1: I can't watch set the civil furns too after all.
Speaker 2: That last year exactly, Hey, they'll be the one to watch,
Speaker 2: especially in the COMM Games.
Speaker 3: How do you think that they'll go around?
Speaker 1: I think if they can get to the gold medal
Speaker 1: match against Australia, you know, let's be honest, I think
Speaker 1: that's sort of the bare minimum of where the side
Speaker 1: should be. I mean, obviously all the fallout from last
Speaker 1: year as we're still yet to see how that'll all
Speaker 1: be resolved, but I think that is always the expectation
Speaker 1: where a silver Fern side into a Commonwealth Games. And
Speaker 1: I've just said we can't go into an Olympics and
Speaker 1: think for expectations, but silver ferns Commonwealth Games like it
Speaker 1: is an event that New Zealand have historically performed in.
Speaker 2: Another one football World Cup. It'll be a big one
Speaker 2: this year given the all Whites will be there and
Speaker 2: we'll be able to cheer them on on the world stage.
Speaker 3: What are their chances overall.
Speaker 1: Though, that's another interesting one. Like the last time they
Speaker 1: were there in twenty ten, the New Zealand got out
Speaker 1: with three drawers. It wasn't enough to advance, but that
Speaker 1: was such a huge moment to you know, they were
Speaker 1: the only unbeaten team in the whole tournament. You know Spain,
Speaker 1: who won, had lost the game. This time. Around New
Speaker 1: Zealand football, you would say probably stronger position, like there
Speaker 1: are so many more players playing and good overseas leagues
Speaker 1: than there were in twenty ten. Football at home is
Speaker 1: obviously a lot stronger now with the Phoenix and Auckland
Speaker 1: FC having two teams in the Australian League. But World
Speaker 1: Cups are just so special like this isn't just the
Speaker 1: pinnacle penny down. This is the pinnacle for maybe even
Speaker 1: all the sport. Like I don't think there's a bigger
Speaker 1: sporting event on the planey bar the Olympics then the
Speaker 1: Football World Cup. They're going to have a tough time
Speaker 1: of it with the group. You know, it seems like
Speaker 1: Belgium will.
Speaker 3: Be, you know, very difficult.
Speaker 1: They got the chief of but Belgium aren't as strong
Speaker 1: as they were, you know, four eight years ago with
Speaker 1: the last couple of World Cups. So I mean, you
Speaker 1: never know that these things we've seen, like you remember Morocco
Speaker 1: at the last World Cup noms, especially them, and then
Speaker 1: they got as far as they did.
Speaker 3: Yeah that's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so who knows.
Speaker 2: And it's the Cup, the first Cup to be held
Speaker 2: by three nations. You've got the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Speaker 2: And I've seen some stuff online, especially about there's apparently
Speaker 2: going to be the first halftime show and people talking
Speaker 2: about this americanization of football and people are not really
Speaker 2: into it. The fact that they're probably going to be
Speaker 2: calling it soccer the entire time, we'll probably get.
Speaker 3: On people's nerves. What are your feelings about.
Speaker 1: That I'm definitely in the against camp there, like are you.
Speaker 1: That's the whole point of football is that it's not
Speaker 1: America's thing. Yeah, like I know that, Like the US
Speaker 1: has such high representation in football at all levels because
Speaker 1: you know, there's such a big influx of immigrants and
Speaker 1: second generation.
Speaker 3: So it's not we had David Beckham at LA Galaxy.
Speaker 1: Look at some of the the players playing and there domestically.
Speaker 1: Now the women's team is incredible. Oh yeah, you know
Speaker 1: they they win everything, but it still just feels a
Speaker 1: bit wrong. Yeah, like you have your own sports America.
Speaker 1: This is our thing.
Speaker 2: It'll bring him big money though, and if the Super
Speaker 2: Bowl was anything to go by, AKA, the.
Speaker 1: Super Bowl is always a misnomer of people saying, oh
Speaker 1: it's super bowldruin this many viewers and brings them as much.
Speaker 1: It's there are so many like for America. Sure, because
Speaker 1: you're only really comparing it to the NBA, Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball hockey. But when you compare American football with football football,
Speaker 1: it's chalk and cheese.
Speaker 3: Let's talk cricket. The black Caps will perform in England,
Speaker 3: Ozzie and the T twenty World Cap. How do you
Speaker 3: reckon they'll go.
Speaker 1: The England tour is really interesting because it'll be the
Speaker 1: first one post the Ashes for England. Obviously a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on the captain and coach Ben Stokes and
Speaker 1: Brenda mccllum.
Speaker 2: And I was in Australia over Christmas, so I know
Speaker 2: a lot about that.
Speaker 1: I think that the World Cup comes before that, so
Speaker 1: there might even be a scenario where McCullum gets fired.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: In terms of New Zealand, look, there are so many
Speaker 1: tournaments crack it now. There's one a year until twenty
Speaker 1: thirty one out the Earls at least one a year,
Speaker 1: so the ability to come in and perform on that
Speaker 1: stage isn't really anything new to any of the teams.
Speaker 1: This will be the first one under Rob Walter, the
Speaker 1: new coach. He was impointed last year, so I have
Speaker 1: high hopes for the team. Walter with South Africa took
Speaker 1: his team to the final and they'd only been together
Speaker 1: for three days before that, so you never know what
Speaker 1: can happen. But it's just such an interesting time with
Speaker 1: the amount of tournaments and credit now the Australia too.
Speaker 1: At the end of the year, like you remember than
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen I'm sure you do. You're a huge cricket fan, Shiel.
Speaker 1: New Zealand went to Australian in twenty nineteen with high
Speaker 1: hopes that was the best New Zealand team in a
Speaker 1: long time and they got absolutely smashed. Yeah, there'll be
Speaker 1: similar things this year, not just that. But this is
Speaker 1: a very old Australian side. Like I think there's only
Speaker 1: one player in the starting eleven under thirty, maybe two
Speaker 1: if the start a well to go to Australia and
Speaker 1: when is about so much more than being better than
Speaker 1: that cricket. You have to have so many things go
Speaker 1: your way and everything go against them. But if there's
Speaker 1: no real better time than now, and last.
Speaker 2: But not least, the controversial enhanced games will be this year.
Speaker 2: That's the one which permits performance enhancing drugs.
Speaker 3: Encourages it, doesn't it encourages it? First off, what are
Speaker 3: your thoughts on I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things that I want to see
Speaker 1: what it looks like.
Speaker 3: You want to see what it looks like. You're intrigued
Speaker 3: or you're completely outraged.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if someone's you know, lining up on the one
Speaker 1: hundred meters start line, they're hard explodes from all the
Speaker 1: drugs they've taken. Then, I'm sure that'll be bad, but
Speaker 1: you just want to see records broken, and that's their
Speaker 1: whole rationale for doing it in the first place.
Speaker 2: Alex, give me your wildest prediction.
Speaker 3: Of the year.
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, I can't say Scott Robinson's No, I
Speaker 1: don't know, silver ferns when Commonwealth Games gold?
Speaker 3: Right? Is it that that's the wildest?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean you've put me on the spot, hedge
Speaker 1: else I was not warned. I mean, well, okay, what's
Speaker 1: your thing?
Speaker 2: I would say our cares sinner in a majority, if
Speaker 2: not all Grand Slam finals.
Speaker 1: The two of them against each other. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're the next crop, the cream of the crop, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, tennis is in a really interesting place now
Speaker 1: in the post Nadal Federer, I mean, Jokovic is still there, murray,
Speaker 1: So it really is rife for the next generation to
Speaker 1: come through. I mean here, So.
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us, Alex, Thanks having me. That's it
Speaker 3: for this episode of the Front Page.
Speaker 2: You can read more about today's stories and extensive news
Speaker 2: coverage at enzidherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page
Speaker 2: is produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is
Speaker 2: also our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the front
Speaker 2: page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 2: tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.