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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at Me.

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Speaker 2: I have done my best, as I always do over

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Speaker 2: the summer period to avoid the headlines. Over the last

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Speaker 2: few weeks turn the notifications on my phone off, which

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Speaker 2: is an amazing feeling a little bit anxiety inducing it first,

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Speaker 2: but it soon comes round. That being said, for as

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Speaker 2: much as I have enjoyed time with the family, time

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Speaker 2: on the beach, Scott robertson being booted from the All

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Speaker 2: Blacks snap me right back into news mode, I wanted

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Speaker 2: to read every sentence of every single article and look,

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Speaker 2: I feel for him, man, I really feel for him,

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Speaker 2: just as I did for Ian Foster last time round.

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Speaker 2: These guys are in high profile jobs coaching high performance athletes.

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Speaker 2: All top coaches know that it is a perilous business.

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Speaker 2: But to be cut after just two years in the

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Speaker 2: job and after a period of inconsistent and occasionally very

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Speaker 2: poor but not absolutely catastrophic results I think will leave

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Speaker 2: Raiser and his keenest supporters forever wondering what might have

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Speaker 2: been now. Look, I don't have any inside running on

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Speaker 2: the process or the review that led to David Kirk

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand Rugby swinging the acts. But it occurs

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Speaker 2: to me that one of Scott Robertson's biggest errors was

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Speaker 2: one of his first major decisions in the role. I

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Speaker 2: keep coming back to this, and over the last few

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Speaker 2: days I've been wondering to what extent it ultimately set

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Speaker 2: the tone for his tenure as All Blacks coach. June

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Speaker 2: twenty fourth, twenty twenty four, the All Blacks were preparing

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Speaker 2: for their midyear tests against England in Fiji and Scott

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Speaker 2: Robertson named the man who had captain the All Blacks.

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Speaker 2: I was stunned when he made that announcement, and I

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Speaker 2: said as much at the time on this show. Not

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Speaker 2: because not because I don't think that Scott Barrett is

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Speaker 2: an incredible rugby player. I do. And not because I

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Speaker 2: don't think he's an outstanding leader and he isn't deserving

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Speaker 2: of the All Blacks captaincy. All of those things are true,

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Speaker 2: but because for anyone with even a passing interest in

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Speaker 2: the game and this team, there was a much much

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Speaker 2: more obvious candidate hiding in playing sight. Scott Robertson said

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Speaker 2: he had an established relationship with Scott Barrett from their

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Speaker 2: time at the Crusaders very well, But surely coaching the

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Speaker 2: national team meant other factors should be prioritized. Surely getting

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Speaker 2: the best was more important than sticking with what you know,

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Speaker 2: And surely winning the trust of the playing group begins

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Speaker 2: with empowering their obvious leader. Surely captain c carries different

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Speaker 2: responsibilities different sports, and cricket is a significant tactical burden.

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Speaker 2: Right every ball that your team bowls, you are theoretically

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Speaker 2: making a decision. In football, netball and rugby perhaps a

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Speaker 2: little less. You're not setting fields or choosing bowlers. You

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Speaker 2: have a game plan or a formation, But apart from

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Speaker 2: the odd decision on penalties and a well timed word

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Speaker 2: to the ref, most of the game, more or less

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Speaker 2: happens in the moment, and it puts a different kind

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Speaker 2: of demand on leadership, one that is perhaps less overtly

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Speaker 2: tactical and relies more on communication or focuses on the

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Speaker 2: sort of person whose play and behavior will unite his

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Speaker 2: or her teammates and inspire their play and set a

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Speaker 2: standard for the team. And come on, come on, I

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Speaker 2: say this as a lifelong Canterbury and Crusaders fan, does

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Speaker 2: anyone in this country think that Ardie Savia is that man.

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Speaker 2: If you were picking fifteen starting players for the All

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Speaker 2: Blacks in order of value to the team, there is

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Speaker 2: surely not a single rugby fan who wouldn't pick Ardi

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Speaker 2: Savia first almost every time. If you were picking a

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Speaker 2: World fifteen, He's maybe the only current All Black who

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Speaker 2: would be assurn. The man is an incredible physical force.

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Speaker 2: He has a cool head, he's tactically I think, as

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Speaker 2: good as anyone else, and above all, he ooses manna.

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Speaker 2: And the frustrating thing is we can all see it.

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Speaker 2: You can see it in the hukka or when he's

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Speaker 2: charging with those high knees or winning a turnover. You

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Speaker 2: can see it in the way that opposition players like

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Speaker 2: Sea Kalisi embrace him. You can see it when a

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Speaker 2: side like Moana Pacifica goes from averaging twelfth place in

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Speaker 2: Super Rugby in its first three seasons to finishing seventh

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Speaker 2: under his leadership, with more points than the previous two

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Speaker 2: seasons combined. I think if we were to go back

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Speaker 2: ten or even fifteen years to the White Lock McCaw Smith,

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Speaker 2: Smith Carter era, you could argue that our talent was

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Speaker 2: so much better than in most other rugby playing nations

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Speaker 2: that perhaps the captaincy didn't matter quite as much. But

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Speaker 2: now that the world has caught up, it beggars belief

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Speaker 2: that Razer didn't make Ardie Savier captain, that he didn't

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Speaker 2: see the leadership and esteem that was honestly jumping out

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Speaker 2: of the television. That was the crazy thing to me.

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Speaker 2: We can all see it. If I can see it,

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Speaker 2: the rest of the players can see it. And what

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Speaker 2: did making a different decision? What did that say to

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Speaker 2: the team? Look, I don't know what happened, but maybe

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Speaker 2: Scott Robertson's mistake was that he thought by emulating his

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Speaker 2: Crusaders set up as much as possible, he would replicate

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Speaker 2: that success. But I think he needed to go further.

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Speaker 2: He needed to take greater risks and forge new relationships.

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Speaker 2: Over the last few days, as I've reflected on, I've

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Speaker 2: come back to this single point. I think that one

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Speaker 2: decision had a huge, outsized impact on Razer's fortunes. And now,

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Speaker 2: having worked for so many years to win the job,

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Speaker 2: just like that, Scott Robertson's opportunity is gone.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or

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