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

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Speaker 1: from News Talks EDB, Super.

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Speaker 2: Rugby Pacific Final Day.

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Speaker 3: We're coming to your live from Rock Paul eighty five

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Speaker 3: Hereford Street in the heart of christ Church as CBD,

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Speaker 3: we have assembled a Super Rugby CEO Super Panel. Super

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Speaker 3: Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Missley is here today. Jack, get

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Speaker 3: nice and close to the mike, you guys, so we

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Speaker 3: can hear you behind with the ambiance in the background.

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Speaker 3: Crusader's CEO, Colin Mansbridge is.

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Speaker 4: Here to day mate, mate, how are you going? Very good?

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Speaker 3: And Chief CEO Simon grafis hello mate, good to see

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Speaker 3: you all here.

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Speaker 5: Jack.

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Speaker 3: We think back to early February when Game one was

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Speaker 3: played here in christ Uch Valentine's Day was christ Church

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Speaker 3: where you thought you'd be on Grand Final weekend?

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Speaker 6: Well, with the history of this joint, you cannot rule

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Speaker 6: it out, can you?

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Speaker 4: So it's right up there every year.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I guess we were sort of hoping we might

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Speaker 6: visit somewhere else.

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Speaker 4: But it's great to be here.

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Speaker 6: What a great city and these two teams are so

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Speaker 6: deserving to be in this match.

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Speaker 3: Simon, how are your emotions as you contemplate a third

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Speaker 3: straight Grand final.

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Speaker 7: Oh, we're as pretty grateful to be here at this

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Speaker 7: time of the season, so yeah, the work's been done.

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Speaker 5: And see what happens on the park tonight.

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Speaker 3: What what sort of connection do you have with the

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Speaker 3: team today? Do you kind of leave them, leave them

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Speaker 3: to it and you'll see them afterwards or have you

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Speaker 3: connected with them today.

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Speaker 5: Only in passing?

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Speaker 7: But I think it's important just to leave the boys

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Speaker 7: to do their stuff today. And yeah, they've got a

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Speaker 7: job to do tonight, so pretty focused on that.

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Speaker 2: Colin.

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Speaker 3: Great to have you hosting us in your city back

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Speaker 3: here twenty twenty four. Must have been tough for you

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Speaker 3: watching everybody else play finals for such a proud team

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Speaker 3: like yours.

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Speaker 8: It is it doesn't make much fun watching others play,

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Speaker 8: so it's actually nice to be in it. But actually

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Speaker 8: I saw Simon's coaching group today walking around Hagley Park

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Speaker 8: as I was going for a jog around there, so

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Speaker 8: I've managed to get in their heads a bit before

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Speaker 8: they've turned up today, So don't worry about that, Pinning.

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Speaker 2: Can we get the cow bell thing out of the way, really?

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Speaker 5: What is it like?

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Speaker 3: Have you brought any down Simon to start with, Oh,

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Speaker 3: hang on.

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Speaker 5: I'm actually having Colin wat smuggled them for me.

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Speaker 8: There's only one person that we're going to be searching

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Speaker 8: at the gate today and that's the one that you've

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Speaker 8: just seen.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Jack, Before we talk about the game specifically, what

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Speaker 3: is your assessment of Super Rugby twenty twenty five and

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Speaker 3: do to leave it also with the benefit of some

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Speaker 3: hard data as well.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been a great season and I think undeniably

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Speaker 6: one of the best seasons for many years, but importantly

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Speaker 6: another year of growth on last year, which also grew.

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Speaker 6: So at the start of the season, we kind of

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Speaker 6: had three key measures to look at, you know, three

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Speaker 6: key pillars. One was about the quality of the products

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Speaker 6: between the white stripes, the level of competitiveness in the latter,

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Speaker 6: and then engaging fans with more things, more tools around

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Speaker 6: that and across all of those things, we've seen really

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Speaker 6: great growth and you know, ultimately we want that to

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Speaker 6: translate into more fans watching us more often. And you know,

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Speaker 6: all the data is showing that, so really pleasing season,

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Speaker 6: but you know it comes down to this point, you know,

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Speaker 6: tonight and today is all about culminating a great season

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Speaker 6: with a great Grand Final, and I've got no doubt

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Speaker 6: these two teams will give us one tonight.

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Speaker 3: Look absolutely, I think we can all agree the two

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Speaker 3: best teams are in the final. Across the season, your

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Speaker 3: sides were the most consistent during round robin eleven wins

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Speaker 3: from fourteen, dominant through the final series.

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Speaker 2: Colin and triested. How much pressure did.

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Speaker 3: You come under after last season to make a coaching change?

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Speaker 4: A lot of external pressure, Piney.

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Speaker 8: But it's interesting, you know, high performance is about very

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Speaker 8: small margins. I mean, if you look at the table

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Speaker 8: this year, I think Jack was mentioning yesterday Highlanders were

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Speaker 8: in the thing till the very very end of this competition.

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Speaker 8: So you're always there or thereabouts, which shows you how

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Speaker 8: close the margins are in high performance. But when you

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Speaker 8: go when you look at the whole organization and you

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Speaker 8: look at all the things you could have done better,

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Speaker 8: everybody pulls a lever or two and you go from

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Speaker 8: where we were to we are and so so I

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Speaker 8: think internally the pressure wasn't as severe as what it was.

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Speaker 8: Extern I got plenty of the bite. It's very hard

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Speaker 8: to go to the pub on occasion, but yeah, not

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Speaker 8: so bad now.

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Speaker 3: All right, Well, you've clearly made the right decision because

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Speaker 3: here we are, Simon, you're going to make a coaching

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Speaker 3: change soon.

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Speaker 2: Can you just talk a bit.

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Speaker 3: About Clayton McMillan's impact on your organization as he prepares

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Speaker 3: for his final game in charge.

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Speaker 7: I look, Clayton's a pretty special individual and as record

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Speaker 7: speaks for itself, you know, four finals and five years.

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Speaker 7: But what he has brought to is just that connection

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Speaker 7: to what's important to us, to the region, to the people,

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Speaker 7: to culture, and so he leaves us in a much

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Speaker 7: better space. And you know, obviously we're saying about once

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Speaker 7: a chief, always a chief. He's always going to be

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Speaker 7: a chief. He's always going to be held on the

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Speaker 7: highest honor. He's always welcomed back. So yeah, we've been pleased.

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Speaker 5: To have them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, certain cats have been let out of certain bags,

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Speaker 3: I think by some of your former players. Actually, in

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Speaker 3: terms of your new coach, when will you make the

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Speaker 3: official announcement on that?

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Speaker 5: Wow, it's interesting.

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Speaker 7: Actually, I'd hope to be part of that process, which

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Speaker 7: we haven't done yet, so I'm not quite sure what

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Speaker 7: those guys are on. But we'll go through a process postseason.

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Speaker 7: You know, if we had foreseen us getting to this point,

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Speaker 7: perhaps we would have made some decisions sooner. But yeah,

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Speaker 7: the best thing you can do is focus on the

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Speaker 7: season and get that.

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Speaker 5: Get that out of the way, all right.

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Speaker 2: So you haven't given it to John O Goobbs yet

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Speaker 2: then absolutely not.

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Speaker 7: So like I said, postseason will run a process and yeah,

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Speaker 7: but get it. Getting to this point helps helps make

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Speaker 7: helps us make a decision too.

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Speaker 3: Jack, we spoke a few weeks ago and you were

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Speaker 3: keen to look at the possibility of super around here

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Speaker 3: in christ Church with the new.

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Speaker 2: Stadium, which I know you've seen it.

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Speaker 3: It's hard to miss as it looks good as you

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Speaker 3: walk past it and you can imagine games in there,

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Speaker 3: but you still caen to pursue that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, we're working hard.

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Speaker 6: We want super Round to be a part of our

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Speaker 6: fixture every year and we'd love to bring it to

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Speaker 6: New Zealand for the first time.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, we really hope we can.

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Speaker 6: There's still a bit to do on it, but hopefully

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Speaker 6: we can get that sorted in the next couple of weeks.

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Speaker 6: And just while we're just talking about Clayton and probably

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Speaker 6: Rob as well, I just want to say that beyond

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Speaker 6: the great work they do on the field, amazing work

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Speaker 6: to support our efforts off the field as well. And

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Speaker 6: you know, I think both coaches, coaching teams as well

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Speaker 6: as all of the rest of the clubs have just

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Speaker 6: really worked hard to give fans access. If I think

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Speaker 6: about the Chiefs documentary as a great example, and so

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Speaker 6: you know, I think it's also acknowledging the work those

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Speaker 6: guys are doing off the field as well as the

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Speaker 6: great work they do on the field.

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Speaker 2: Can I just endorse that from a media point of

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Speaker 2: view as well?

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Speaker 3: And I know this might be a bit of a house

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Speaker 3: but you know, dealing with the Chiefs, the Crusaders, but

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Speaker 3: also the Blues, the Hurricanes and the Islanders, it has

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Speaker 3: been nothing but.

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Speaker 2: Seamless as far as the media is concerned.

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Speaker 3: And I know that's not the most important thing, and

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Speaker 3: I know players would rather do other things than talk

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Speaker 3: to us, but I know I start to the top,

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Speaker 3: so so clearing the way for that to be to

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Speaker 3: be possible as well as greatly appreciated. Colin Takaha g

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Speaker 3: you must be looking forward to getting in there. What

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Speaker 3: will it do to boost your team but also boost

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Speaker 3: this community.

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Speaker 8: I think the excitement already you know, people are putting

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Speaker 8: their hands up to get memberships, sponsors, looking to get

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Speaker 8: into suites and hospitality.

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Speaker 4: It's already the demands already there.

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Speaker 8: You know, well over jew well over done.

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Speaker 4: But it's very, very special. It's a beautiful place.

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Speaker 8: When you get in there and you walk around it,

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Speaker 8: Jack and I have walked around it together and you're

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Speaker 8: actually you're closer than you are at what where we

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Speaker 8: are at Addington now. So Addington's a really intimate stadium.

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Speaker 8: I think, you know, when we see her go and

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Speaker 8: we're sad to see her go, then an intimacy and

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Speaker 8: a closeness that you're right right on the field seeing

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Speaker 8: what's going on. Well, this new place one New Zealand

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Speaker 8: sad make you closer. You'll feel like you're when you're

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Speaker 8: doing a commentary or making an observation, you'll feel like

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Speaker 8: you're going to catch the ball.

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Speaker 4: It's that close.

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Speaker 8: It's just's it'll be the venue in this part of

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Speaker 8: the region.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt about it.

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Speaker 3: Oh saying before, I don't think there's any crusader who

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Speaker 3: predates Eddington, but Mitch Drummond might.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 4: No, No, I think Sam was ours. I think Sam

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Speaker 4: was our last.

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Speaker 8: So yeah, so fourteen years and this thing here, so yeah,

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Speaker 8: it's so that's the interesting thing. These players have only

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Speaker 8: ever played here, and so that's all they know, and

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Speaker 8: that they're really grateful for the opportunity to have played here,

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Speaker 8: and it is home and they're really stoked about it,

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Speaker 8: and they'll be sad to see it go. But I

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Speaker 8: reckon they play one game in the new one and

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Speaker 8: they'll go, oh, my goodness, what have we been missing

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Speaker 8: out for for over a decade?

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Speaker 2: Simon, surely this is your year.

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Speaker 3: Surely, I mean two Grand Final losses in the last

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Speaker 3: two years twenty twenty three. I think we can all agree,

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Speaker 3: even you Colin, that you were the best team across

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Speaker 3: the regular season before the Crusaders came to Hamilton that night.

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Speaker 2: Do you have to lose two to win one? Is

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Speaker 2: that how this works?

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Speaker 7: I don't know if there's any formula to that one.

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Speaker 7: I think the best team tonight to win, and you

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Speaker 7: know we've got we've got another chance. So you know,

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Speaker 7: we always want to be there, be there or thereabouts,

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Speaker 7: and we've got an outstanding group of group of men

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Speaker 7: that will that will, that will give their best and

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Speaker 7: I just hope that the winner tonight. You know, it's

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Speaker 7: a good result and it doesn't come down to any

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Speaker 7: contentious decisions, and both teams are worthy to be there,

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Speaker 7: and we know there's a real rivalry that goes back

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Speaker 7: a long time now. And yeah, I look, I've got

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Speaker 7: a group that I think can do the job. And

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Speaker 7: if they play as well as they can, they'll be Yeah,

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Speaker 7: they'll give it a good note tonight, and I'm pretty

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Speaker 7: confident that they will do.

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Speaker 3: Your coaches and even yourself and other members of the

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Speaker 3: organization talk to your players about they're all black aspirations

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Speaker 3: or is that more of product of the process they

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Speaker 3: go through as chiefs.

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Speaker 5: I certainly don't.

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Speaker 7: I mean, I think the coaches, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 7: the all black coaches come into all our environments and

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Speaker 7: I think they probably give some direction around what they

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Speaker 7: what they're wanting to see. But our coaching groups have

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Speaker 7: all got all got things they're trying to achieve her

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Speaker 7: and I think the best thing you can do for

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Speaker 7: you all but our desperations is deliver on the park.

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Speaker 5: And we've got a few. You know, there's.

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Speaker 7: Lineups across the park for probably all black positions, and

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Speaker 7: so it's not just a championship. It's also all black

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Speaker 7: jerseys that are at stake tonight. That just adds another

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Speaker 7: dimentioned to it, doesn't it?

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Speaker 2: It does? It does well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the all black squad or first one of the

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Speaker 3: year named on Monday, Yeah, I mean, goodness me, any

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Speaker 3: number of these players tonight could hear their names called out,

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Speaker 3: some of them for the first time. Look at a

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Speaker 3: guy like Leroy Carter, you know what a season he said?

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Speaker 3: Could he be read out? And then there's the others

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Speaker 3: who have been in and around the team for a

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Speaker 3: long time. Jack, anything this season that surprised you?

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Speaker 5: Did you?

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Speaker 8: Did?

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Speaker 5: You?

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Speaker 3: Were you surprised in any way by any part of

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Speaker 3: the season.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I've learned at you know, and great to now

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Speaker 6: have a full season under my belt as we go

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Speaker 6: into another planning phase, you know, and it's important that

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Speaker 6: you sort of do take that opportunity to really learn.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, I've been surprised, learnt a lot.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 6: But I think the really pleasing thing that that I've

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Speaker 6: learned is that we've got a really great group of

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Speaker 6: stakeholders that all want the same thing, and we've now

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Speaker 6: got a bit of permission and license to go and

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Speaker 6: with that momentum and with that collective desire to go

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Speaker 6: and continue to take this competition forward. You know, we

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Speaker 6: have no KPIs to do with the international teams, going

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Speaker 6: back to the all black discussion. You know, our focus

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Speaker 6: is on this competition and on making this competition as

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Speaker 6: best it can be. We know if we do that,

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Speaker 6: that will help the national unions that are in and

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Speaker 6: around our competition do well. But our focus is absolutely about,

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Speaker 6: you know, taking the collective group of stakeholders and continue

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Speaker 6: to grow this competition and continuing to add value to

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Speaker 6: our stakeholder. Those are our owners of our clubs, our fans,

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Speaker 6: our broadcasts and media partners and our sponsors. So you know, yeah,

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Speaker 6: lots of learnings, and we'll sit down and really dissect

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Speaker 6: a lot of those in detail, whether that's the shape

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Speaker 6: of game where we have a great group of people

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Speaker 6: that represent all of the different parts of that ecosystem

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Speaker 6: that will review the laws, the interpretations of the match officials.

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Speaker 4: You know, that's just one example. We'll have a.

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Speaker 6: Whole lot of groups that will go to work now

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Speaker 6: and take those learnings forward, you know, and and and

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Speaker 6: you know, the feedback we've got, we really welcome that.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 6: I know there's been some discussion about the final series,

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Speaker 6: you know, and that's great.

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Speaker 4: You know, we really think it's a really good series

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Speaker 4: for final series.

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Speaker 6: So you know, here we go, so we got We've

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Speaker 6: got two teams here who love the final series. But

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Speaker 6: you know, I mean that's the difficulty of my job

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Speaker 6: is we'll have a whole lot of different feedback, but

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Speaker 6: we like the feedback. We welcome the discussion, and my

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Speaker 6: commitment to all of our stakeholders is, you know, we

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Speaker 6: will do the work, we'll look at those things and

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Speaker 6: and we'll come forward with a solution. Now, not everyone

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Speaker 6: will be happy, right because you know, for every piece

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Speaker 6: of feedback there's an opposite and equal piece of feedback.

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Speaker 4: But all I'd say is that we are listening.

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Speaker 6: Our intention is to grow this for everyone and continue

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Speaker 6: to make this the greatest club rugby competition in the world.

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Speaker 8: I think point is, well, just before we go off Jack,

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Speaker 8: I think Jack's arrival, we all talk about it amongst

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Speaker 8: ourselves that the CEOs when we get together or when

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Speaker 8: we're on calls, his the rival's been outstanding because I

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Speaker 8: think we're on a call the other day and he

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Speaker 8: banged Simon and my head together about some things and

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Speaker 8: suggest that we could do some things better. He's just

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Speaker 8: passionate about how it shows up for the fans. So

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Speaker 8: it's actually really neat that we've got someone who is

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Speaker 8: just myopically focused on how this thing goes for fans.

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Speaker 8: So his impact has been quite quite significant. I think

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Speaker 8: we should take a moment and say thanks man, I

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Speaker 8: don't think you've done a really good job.

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Speaker 4: Man, thank you.

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Speaker 2: Great to hear it, great to hear it.

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Speaker 3: I want to finish on tonight's game, but just before

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Speaker 3: I do, being in christ Church, man, this city's been

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Speaker 3: through a lot, Colin hasn't it. And had the chance

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Speaker 3: to have a look at Patocky early this morning the

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Speaker 3: new indoor facility. I'm going to have a little tour

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Speaker 3: of Tikaha tomorrow. I spoke about it before. How much

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Speaker 3: does the Crusaders.

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Speaker 2: Mean to this city?

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Speaker 3: How much do they mean and how much do they

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Speaker 3: bond the city together through what has been a difficult

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Speaker 3: decade and a half.

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Speaker 8: I'm just going to get a few chairs and prickles

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Speaker 8: up the back of the neck Piney. When I first

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Speaker 8: started here at Crusaders, a member came up to me

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Speaker 8: one day and he said, he told me a story

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Speaker 8: about how the earthquakes. He couldn't he couldn't function, he

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Speaker 8: couldn't go to work, he couldn't get out of bed.

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Speaker 8: And then he watched the Crusaders play that season, and

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Speaker 8: yes they didn't win the championship, but they went all

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Speaker 8: away and they never compromise on anything. And he said

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Speaker 8: to me, I was in real danger of doing harm

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Speaker 8: to myself. Then he said, the thing that inspired me

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Speaker 8: to get out of bed every day was the fact

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Speaker 8: your lad's got out of bed every day and did that.

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Speaker 4: And I think that to me that moment there was,

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Speaker 4: oh shit, I've got in the right job here. That

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Speaker 4: they do mean a lot to this place, no doubt

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Speaker 4: about it.

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Speaker 3: All Right, let's talk some rugby to finish the same

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Speaker 3: question for both Colin and Simon. Colin, who was the

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Speaker 3: most important player for the Chiefs tonight?

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Speaker 4: We all know the answer of that, don't we.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, and hopefully it's very cold and he pulls a

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Speaker 8: hamstring do something like that. So but yeah, no, there's

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Speaker 8: one very good play there. And I think he should

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Speaker 8: have come through our academy system. I think he was

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Speaker 8: nicked to what it was near by the Chiefs.

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Speaker 3: Maybe there's a discussion for another day. Who's most important

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Speaker 3: Simon for the Crusaders tonight?

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Speaker 2: Do you think?

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Speaker 5: Great question? But uh, there's probably a couple.

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Speaker 7: I think I probably can't split it between Cody Taylor

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Speaker 7: and Scott Barrett, and I think those.

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Speaker 5: Two of their talisman.

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Speaker 7: So yeah, they if they get up for it, which

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Speaker 7: I assume they will, it'll be it'll be a tough night.

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Speaker 5: So I'm not sure between those two. To be fair.

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Speaker 3: All right, a type five battle, many people would think

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Speaker 3: that will Jordan, but maybe doesn't get out that far.

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Speaker 3: Maybe it's played. They say it all starts up front.

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Speaker 3: All right, let's finish with you, Jack, who wins this tonight?

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Speaker 5: Mate?

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Speaker 6: I've just given you a big compliment, A big compliment,

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Speaker 6: well for the for the listeners.

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Speaker 4: That card says, I am sitting between these two, and

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Speaker 4: for fear of my own safety, I might dodge it.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I'd love an extra time.

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Speaker 5: I must say.

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Speaker 6: I don't want to go to the kickoff, but I'd

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Speaker 6: love it to go deep into extra time.

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Speaker 4: Keep fans on.

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Speaker 5: The edge of this.

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Speaker 8: See good if it's a kickoff and Jock finished it

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Speaker 8: off with the final kick.

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Speaker 4: That would be prett good, wouldn't it. Don't you think

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Speaker 4: we don't want to kick off.

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Speaker 2: I don't think we want to kick off.

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Speaker 3: I think we want a game that is worthy of

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Speaker 3: the occasion, and I'm sure that is exactly what we're

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Speaker 3: going to get. Great to see you, guys, Colin Mansbridge,

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Speaker 3: Simon Graphis, Jack Measley, enjoy the game, guys, and thanks

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Speaker 3: for stopping and to Rock Pull this afternoon.

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Speaker 4: Change point seven o five.

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Speaker 2: Kick off everyone, seven o five.

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Speaker 3: Indeed I ran up applause from the team here at

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Speaker 3: Rock Paul for our super panel of super rugby CEOs.

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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 st B weekends from midday, or follow

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