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Speaker 1: Samuel Whitelock story one of legend. The Farming family, who

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Speaker 1: have contributed all blacks through several generations, turned out to

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Speaker 1: be the most captive all time. Of course, one hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty three of them ended up a two time

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Speaker 1: World Cup winner and World Rugby Player of the Year.

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Speaker 1: And of course Captain just ended his career in France

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Speaker 1: with Poe final ever. Actual game was for the bar

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Speaker 1: Bars the other day against Fiji. Now the whole story,

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Speaker 1: the autobiography view from the second row. Samuel Whitelock is

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Speaker 1: with us from Greece.

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Speaker 2: Very good morning, Yes, good morning. Right.

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Speaker 1: Let me, before I start talking about you, talk about

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Speaker 1: somebody else, Scott Robertson, who writes a very very nice

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Speaker 1: forward in the.

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Speaker 3: Book about you.

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Speaker 1: Your observations of Scott so far as an all black coach,

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Speaker 1: and what you make of the man and the magic

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Speaker 1: he's brought to you and other players.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Rais has been awesome for myself and not only

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Speaker 2: myself actually all three four sorry, all three brothers of mine.

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Speaker 2: And that's one of the reasons we want him to

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Speaker 2: write the foreword of my book, because he has a

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Speaker 2: great relations not just with myself but the whole family.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's Nom and Dad really well, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunties,

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Speaker 2: so he probably understands us best in the social side.

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Speaker 2: But also the coaching study has had all of us

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Speaker 2: there and from what I've seen so far, and I've

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Speaker 2: seen the three games that he's been in charge, they've

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Speaker 2: got the job done and that's the main thing. He'll

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Speaker 2: be out there to win the first couple and get

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Speaker 2: settled into the new role that he has, and all

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Speaker 2: the other coaches and players of these feeling ex ext' same,

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Speaker 2: So it's pretty different. Yeah, another side of the world

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Speaker 2: with thirty five degrees watching a game of rugby becommends there,

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Speaker 2: especially that first one underneath and that look pretty cold.

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Speaker 2: So it's a different feeling for myself at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we should explain that you're sitting talking to us

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Speaker 1: from Greece. You are retired as you sit on your

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Speaker 1: balcony this morning. Do you feel complete and content?

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Speaker 2: Yes? And no? I think you always be that part

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Speaker 2: of me. It'll say one more and you know, if

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Speaker 2: that phone d ring, I'd jump at it pretty quickly,

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Speaker 2: I think. But at the same time, here's my family

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Speaker 2: sitting on balcony looking out at Albania, sitting in the

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Speaker 2: Greek island, thirty five degrees today and I'm sweating as

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Speaker 2: it is in its eight o'clock at night. So it's

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Speaker 2: a pretty hard thing to go past.

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Speaker 3: How did this all come about?

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Speaker 1: How was Is there a moment or is it a

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Speaker 1: series of moments where you go this is it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, there's a couple of times where I kind

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Speaker 2: of thought, you know, I've got to end there at

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Speaker 2: some stage otherwise someone will, for me being a coach,

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Speaker 2: saying hey, look, we're not going to slip through all this.

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Speaker 2: There's no contact going forward. And we had an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to fly over the side of the world and play

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Speaker 2: in France with my little brother, and I was really

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Speaker 2: enjoying my time at the club. But I just got

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Speaker 2: to a stage where I thought, I've got to be

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Speaker 2: sensible here. I could go another season, still feel like

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Speaker 2: I'm playing pretty good rugby, but just thought, hey, it's

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Speaker 2: time to actually prioritize the family and not rugby and

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Speaker 2: look forward to the next chapter of life. And we

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Speaker 2: know that rugby is going to be a part of it.

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Speaker 2: But what that looks like is exactly We're still working out.

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Speaker 2: So we're just trying to take a bit of time

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Speaker 2: at the moment, and we thought we'd enjoy some of

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Speaker 2: the summer over here rather than race back to the

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Speaker 2: cold southerly that our he has gone up the country.

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Speaker 1: So this era that you're in at the moment, this

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Speaker 1: unknown aspect of it, is it exhilarating or concerning or.

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Speaker 2: What it's part of everything. It's new and different. We

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Speaker 2: are moving back to Hawk's Bay, to our fami there,

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Speaker 2: so we know what ninety percent of the time is

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Speaker 2: going to look like. We're going to be starting the

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Speaker 2: real world, the hard world, so he's going to be

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Speaker 2: heaps of things to do and things to keep my

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Speaker 2: teeth back into. But at the same time, it's going

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Speaker 2: to be completely different to playing professional rugby and setting

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Speaker 2: around the world and staying at these splash hotels and

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Speaker 2: playing in front of sold out crowds. So it's going

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Speaker 2: to be challenging and different, and there's a whole lot

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Speaker 2: of different emotions that go with it. The excitement, the

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Speaker 2: nerves is one can imagine changing jobs and changing we

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Speaker 2: are living. Obviously, the support networth is one thing, but

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Speaker 2: the best thing about rugby is no matter where you go.

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Speaker 2: You've always got great mates that are there somewhere and

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Speaker 2: they'll look after you if you need.

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Speaker 3: Listen.

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Speaker 1: Listen just quickly back to Scott Robson. He talks a

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Speaker 1: lot about You've referenced that you know your family, the

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Speaker 1: tradition and all the rural community. Do you think, given

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Speaker 1: that you're part of it, how it shaped you? But

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Speaker 1: if you think that you know that tradition between the

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Speaker 1: All Blacks and the magic of the key we combination

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Speaker 1: of rural New Zealand and type family, the all Blacks connection,

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Speaker 1: do you reckon that served you exceedingly?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there was one thing that I had to kind

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Speaker 2: of open up about a little bit more in the book.

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Speaker 2: And Dylan Cleaver, who helped write it, he wrote and

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Speaker 2: I did the interviews. He was outstanding. He did his

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Speaker 2: homework and understood that their farming runs through our family.

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Speaker 2: I think all my aunts and uncles are farmers. But

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Speaker 2: then also understood the rugby side of it. Rugby has

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Speaker 2: always been the side and side with farming. So he

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Speaker 2: went through and talked around my uncle was an All Black,

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Speaker 2: to talk about my grandfather that was an All Black,

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Speaker 2: my brothers that have played for All blacks on New

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Speaker 2: Zealand and sevens talked around what it's like growing up

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Speaker 2: as a farming, mad rugby, mad household, four boys, no sisters,

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Speaker 2: how it was pretty rough at times, and it was

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Speaker 2: because we were probably a little bit naughty. But I

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Speaker 2: think that's why I decided to end up writing it

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Speaker 2: in the end, because at the start I wasn't too

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Speaker 2: teen and said no a couple of times. But as

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Speaker 2: actually Wayne Smith said to me, what are you going

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Speaker 2: to get to your grandkids when you know your story

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Speaker 2: fade a little bit, But you can give them this

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Speaker 2: hard copy and say, hey, this is what granddad did

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Speaker 2: hopefully in time and say this was part of our

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Speaker 2: life that was pretty amazing. But it's not really my

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Speaker 2: sort's the family story.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: What's your observation on families and excellence? Like the Barretts,

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Speaker 1: if you are born into a family, can you achieve

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Speaker 1: excellence at athletic pursuit if you simply try?

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Speaker 3: Or is it genetic? Do you reckon?

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Speaker 2: I think there's a generic part of it. Obviously, if

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Speaker 2: you want to be a basketball fire in your five

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Speaker 2: feet tall to think you might be a bit tricky.

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Speaker 2: But I think families and this is my experience with

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Speaker 2: our families, it's the standards that you keep at home,

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Speaker 2: and whether that's making your bed in the morning, whether

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Speaker 2: that's fming the door for a grandmother to walk through first.

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Speaker 2: Those little things, those subconscious things, they shine out when

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Speaker 2: you're under pressure on a football field. And I think

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Speaker 2: that's ninety of it is the family you're born into.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's not just family. It's

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Speaker 2: also your five or six y snakes. And I know

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Speaker 2: for myself, I talk about in the book a little bit.

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Speaker 2: I got into a bit of trouble at school, but

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Speaker 2: then fell in love with basketball, and the five guys

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Speaker 2: that were playing basketball were awesome guys, and they helped

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Speaker 2: me get out of that a little bit of trouble

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Speaker 2: and fell in love with another game, and it definitely

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Speaker 2: helped me down the rugby pathways a few years later.

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Speaker 2: So family is definitely part of it. Jimmyricks is another

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Speaker 2: part that your five us snakes is definitely clear in

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Speaker 2: my mind.

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Speaker 1: I wonder also, I think about your career because I

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Speaker 1: followed the whole thing, But I wonder if you came

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Speaker 1: along you were lucky, you came along at the right

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Speaker 1: time in the sense that rugby has transformed itself in

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Speaker 1: the most remarkable way during your career, whether it be professionalism,

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Speaker 1: the money, the opportunities, the health, the fitness, the dietary requirements.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's a different game from when your dad

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Speaker 1: or granddad played.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's completely that. Even sitting with some of the

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Speaker 2: young guys at the last couple of years and an

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Speaker 2: old game comes on and looking at the scrum, the

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Speaker 2: scrum's completely different now and they all ask and oh,

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Speaker 2: you used to play there, and you know you joke

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Speaker 2: here and you know I missed Jonah Bye. I think

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Speaker 2: it was one or two seasons. And thenone goes, oh,

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Speaker 2: you're really old now, and yeah, a few grave years

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Speaker 2: coming in slowly. But it just shows it's always evolving,

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Speaker 2: it's always growing, and I think that's the best thing

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Speaker 2: about sport in general. People always trying new things. And

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Speaker 2: I think of the Kiwi way, the number eight. Why

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Speaker 2: we're always coming up with a new idea of doing

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Speaker 2: something different, and I think that's the cool thing to

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Speaker 2: be a part of them. I think you nailed it.

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Speaker 2: I've had an outstanding introduction to the sport. The guys

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Speaker 2: that set me up, the brand Thorns of the world

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Speaker 2: just passed on all their knowledge and said, hey, look

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Speaker 2: this is what I did. This what worked for me.

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Speaker 2: If you want to take it, great if you don't.

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Speaker 2: At school as well, and I just grab it with

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Speaker 2: two hands and just try to keep the nose clean

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Speaker 2: and keep stuck in. And it's amazing how quickly your

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Speaker 2: regular career finishes.

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Speaker 1: Actually, there's a very nice piece of advice in the

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Speaker 1: book from you to current players, because you say you

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Speaker 1: talk more about players who are past as opposed to

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Speaker 1: players who are current because you don't want to talk

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Speaker 1: them up too much. But what a wonderful piece of advice.

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Speaker 1: It's over before you realize.

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Speaker 3: Isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I remember sitting there talking to the

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Speaker 2: brad Thorns of the world, and Thorny was a massive

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Speaker 2: influence on me. But like he had four kids, I

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Speaker 2: was twenty one, playing for All Blacks, playing alongside them

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Speaker 2: with a whole other all black locks, and he keep

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Speaker 2: grumming it into Owen Franks myself saying, look, you guys

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Speaker 2: can play team plus years if you want, but it

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Speaker 2: will go so quick. Enjoy the whole journey. And something

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Speaker 2: that I'm reinforcing insane people now because it honestly feels

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Speaker 2: like I've blinked and my whole career is done. Doesn't

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Speaker 2: mean that Luggy's funished. That means it's just going to

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Speaker 2: look different, whether it's some coaching staff from mentoring or

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Speaker 2: even just seen as total fan. And that's what we're

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Speaker 2: enjoying at the moment, tuning in early in the morning

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Speaker 2: over here and doing what we used to do as kids,

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Speaker 2: and my kids are doing the same now for they're

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Speaker 2: getting up and watching some of these awesome players get

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Speaker 2: out there and compete against some other teams around the world.

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Speaker 3: Good stuff.

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Speaker 1: Well, we've enjoyed it. I hope you've enjoyed it. The

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Speaker 1: book's fantastic. Lovely to catch up with you and have

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Speaker 1: the best time in Greece.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Mite.

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Speaker 1: Samuel Whitelocke view from the second row Dad's Day Gift

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Speaker 1: or was that two six us? These days could be

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Speaker 1: for anybody but now of us?

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Speaker 3: Just a thought. I was just thinking Dad's Day Gift

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Speaker 3: from outside you Anyway.

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Speaker 1: That book is out as of today. For more from

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Speaker 1: the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to news talks it'd

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Speaker 1: be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,