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Speaker 1: Liam Nabier, powered by News Talks ed B.
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Speaker 3: A higher level. We are in.
Speaker 2: Test Manchester City, Wellington, Napes and we're in my hotel room.
Speaker 2: We need to record another edition of Rugby Direct on
Speaker 2: a Thursday evening, which is becoming a regular thing. First
Speaker 2: and foremost, I'm listening would have seen the team by now?
Speaker 2: What did you make of that solution?
Speaker 4: Great to be here in the capitol. First and foremost
Speaker 4: isn't that we survived?
Speaker 3: Were you fluent today?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: It's a bit more ropy than yesterday.
Speaker 4: The All Blacks needed to do a couple of loops.
Speaker 4: I think I went up to the carpety coast and
Speaker 4: had to come back again. So yeah, I hope they
Speaker 4: will hope for a smoothie ride this weekend. Look in
Speaker 4: terms of the All Black selections, I can't still shake
Speaker 4: the sense that it's a bit conservative that's not disrespect
Speaker 4: to Italy. I just probably expected Dave Renny to go
Speaker 4: away bit further and maybe that's a bit harsh. Maybe
Speaker 4: that's my perspective on things. But they have made a
Speaker 4: number of changes. I think it's eleven in the squad
Speaker 4: five and the starting team, and I can understand where
Speaker 4: they're coming from around building cohesion and combinations and getting
Speaker 4: more clarity at this stage of the year under a
Speaker 4: new management team. But there's just a few more elements.
Speaker 4: I would have liked to have seen Anton signer, Josh
Speaker 4: Moreby given a crack from the outset, Kyle Preston on
Speaker 4: the bench. I don't particularly like the complexion of the bench,
Speaker 4: but I can't understand the rationale. With a big tour
Speaker 4: of South Africa and you're going to have those midweek games,
Speaker 4: You're going to have a lot of time to give
Speaker 4: players opportunities, aren't.
Speaker 2: You You are indeed, yeah, I tend to think the
Speaker 2: same vibe. I probably would have started Signa at blindside
Speaker 2: this week. I think you can have a testing starting
Speaker 2: test open side of Jacobson and Signa together Artie Savighert
Speaker 2: at eight. I would have liked to see moreby in
Speaker 2: the back three Finago would have been interesting to see
Speaker 2: if he would have played a role. Didn't get coursed
Speaker 2: have asked to Dave any earlier, but is this cald
Speaker 2: Clark been moved out of the team.
Speaker 3: Or is it horses for courses.
Speaker 2: There's a few unanswered questions I suppose around it, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I would have liked to see it. Just another step
Speaker 2: taken forward from the all blacks around some of those selections.
Speaker 2: And you know, Dave Rennie was quick to point out
Speaker 2: that Cortez Ratama only had five six minutes or similar
Speaker 2: off the bench in christ Church, which is true, but
Speaker 2: again that's no reason why he couldn't start Preston this week.
Speaker 2: We'll start righting or even and move Preston off the
Speaker 2: bench and then you bring Royguard back in for the
Speaker 2: Irish Test. I think though that could have been a
Speaker 2: live option potentially. I do get the sense that they
Speaker 2: are wanting, though, to give Reuben Love the best possible
Speaker 2: start to twelve before they begin to tinker and move
Speaker 2: players around him. And that's why again we're probably looking
Speaker 2: at a Barrett at twelve and Royguard at nine rubbed
Speaker 2: and some of those other combinations. So I tend to
Speaker 2: agree that I probably would have gone a step further
Speaker 2: than maybe Dave Rennie has. But I also think there's
Speaker 2: a bit to like about this team as well. Love
Speaker 2: gets another crack at ten. We also see Billy Proctor
Speaker 2: out as thirteen. I'm still not sold on quint to
Speaker 2: pirate at thirteen. I think there were a couple of
Speaker 2: defensive moments last week where he was out of position.
Speaker 3: I think that first try from memory was one.
Speaker 2: Of them, whereas Billy Proctor very involved and his defense
Speaker 2: is one of his real assets in a test match. So,
Speaker 2: all in all, an interesting team, and it should been theory,
Speaker 2: be good enough to beat Italy Italy comfortably in all honesty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. And look, I can understand the
Speaker 4: rationale around a quartet of Hurricanes in the back line.
Speaker 4: Cameray Gard rubin Love is, as you say, retaining that
Speaker 4: combination giving Love the best possible opportunity with Jeready Barrett
Speaker 4: outside him, and then also with Leea Ricarda coming onto
Speaker 4: the wing. I think if you look at players with
Speaker 4: the most of the game here, you're looking at Lea
Speaker 4: Ocara on the left wing, Billy Propter at center, Wallace
Speaker 4: a Titi at six. I think if we draw down
Speaker 4: into those three guys, who has the most of the
Speaker 4: game for you.
Speaker 2: I don't know that Walla City has the most again
Speaker 2: because I think he is a vital part of the
Speaker 2: All Blacks twenty three. I think Lucky was good last
Speaker 2: week and the Titi is as good. I think they'll
Speaker 2: probably form a combination this year where basically they might
Speaker 2: end up starting fifty percent of the Test roughly by
Speaker 2: and large and something the other will come off the bench.
Speaker 2: I think Leroy card is an interesting one. Probably didn't
Speaker 2: have the best back end of last year on their
Speaker 2: end of year tour.
Speaker 4: Faded, didn't he end and then didn't play a lot
Speaker 4: of Super Ruguay this year, only came in at the back.
Speaker 2: End injury wise. I am intrigued to see whether the
Speaker 2: Rennie views him as an asset off the bench in
Speaker 2: terms of what he can play, whether he sees him
Speaker 2: as potentially a Test thirteen. He's played but there for
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. He's played half back. He's obviously capable on
Speaker 2: both wings, were seen at to Test level. So to me,
Speaker 2: he's the you know, the pocket knife you put on
Speaker 2: the bench potentially, if you're looking at maybe a six two,
Speaker 2: but that's another step forward. But I think he's got
Speaker 2: a bit to gain this weekend. And similarly, Billy Proctor.
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of Billy Proctor. We haven't seen
Speaker 2: the best of him in an All Blacks Jersey as yet,
Speaker 2: and Quinti Pie player is super rugby. I don't know
Speaker 2: how you fit them all into a back line, but
Speaker 2: I'm still, as I said before, not convinced that Quinta
Speaker 2: Pie's best position at thirteen.
Speaker 4: Billy's a very different prospect, isn't it. He's the best
Speaker 4: distributing center that New Zealand has, I think, and we
Speaker 4: saw that in Super Rugby. Josh Morby and fing ngon
Speaker 4: Or four scored seventeen tries single season record each and
Speaker 4: that's the reflection of what's happening inside them and the
Speaker 4: pace and the width that the Hurricanes provided also, so
Speaker 4: I think he's got the most Again. One of the
Speaker 4: other big questions around this, I thought this week was
Speaker 4: an ideal time to rest art a severe and it
Speaker 4: was very interesting to hear Dave Rennie talk about the
Speaker 4: prospect of Artie having a late start to South African tour.
Speaker 4: That's come as a bit of a surprise. I thought,
Speaker 4: if it wasn't this week, then maybe you look at
Speaker 4: the Bleeders lows he's the new captain. How was sort
Speaker 4: of put in the cart before the horse a little bit,
Speaker 4: But that seems far from ideal to bring Savia. But later,
Speaker 4: even though the All Blacks start with a match against
Speaker 4: the Stormers in Cape.
Speaker 3: Town, yeah there is a break.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: It's similar to line series in the fact that the
Speaker 2: first Test isn't until the twenty first of August, so
Speaker 2: current there's New Zealand or South African time, but regardless,
Speaker 2: it's sort of that weekend, so there's a few tour
Speaker 2: games to get through and so you could possibly have
Speaker 2: him missed the first couple come in the week before,
Speaker 2: maybe plays that last tour match before the All Blacks
Speaker 2: first Test, and you know is there and that that
Speaker 2: basically gives them sort of essentially close to three weeks
Speaker 2: off between next week's Test against Ireland, which I'm sure
Speaker 2: they're not going to rest them for, and you know,
Speaker 2: the tour game there. So maybe that's a possibility. But
Speaker 2: I tend to agree with the original point that this
Speaker 2: was probably set up quite nicely for Artie sa Viga
Speaker 2: to have a week off. I get they're betting in
Speaker 2: new combinations, the new leadership, everything around that, but you
Speaker 2: could have had them either coming off the bench or
Speaker 2: you know, none of the twenty three entirely.
Speaker 4: He looked pretty battered and beat up last week. He
Speaker 4: took a knock on the warm up, played through that
Speaker 4: and then was beaten and bloodied. So he's played for
Speaker 4: eighteen months. He is going to need a rest at
Speaker 4: some point. I can see the rationale around that South
Speaker 4: African window and maybe stepping out of the environment entirely.
Speaker 4: But I thought this was an opportunity to go with
Speaker 4: other people in the loose Ford trio. Another big takeaway
Speaker 4: today there's four players I think a right that will
Speaker 4: not feature in the first two weeks of Rennie's tenure.
Speaker 4: Boden Barrett, Kyle Preston helped me out here, Simon Parker
Speaker 4: and Patrick two Plotu and Rennie said today not necessarily,
Speaker 4: as he held bent on playing everyone in his thirty
Speaker 4: four man squad in this three test series. I thought
Speaker 4: that that was very interesting. Most coaches would want to
Speaker 4: give everyone game time, but maybe that is a reflection
Speaker 4: of what's to come in South Africa. But you'd have
Speaker 4: to think of like Boden Barrett would be absolutely being
Speaker 4: down the door ittching for an opportunity looking over his shoulder.
Speaker 4: Ye would be fascinating. If he's not used at all
Speaker 4: in July.
Speaker 2: Well absolutely, Look and this is two medi conferences or
Speaker 2: two weekly media conferences in the row now that Dave
Speaker 2: Rynny has been quick time to line just how valuable
Speaker 2: Boden Barrett has been in this environment even though he's
Speaker 2: not playing.
Speaker 3: Last week he said it.
Speaker 2: Before the first Test, he said it again today that
Speaker 2: he was carving them up a couple of points and
Speaker 2: their training today obviously he's acting as the ten for
Speaker 2: Italy and the reposed training session. So I think he
Speaker 2: gets an opportunity potentially next week. Maybe they look at
Speaker 2: fullback for him starting in Edden Park, maybe comes off
Speaker 2: the bench.
Speaker 3: They having gone with.
Speaker 2: A specialist playmaker on the bench in the first couple
Speaker 2: of weeks, so that may be going slightly against the grain,
Speaker 2: but I would be surprised if we don't see Boden
Speaker 2: Barrett next week. Been battling a lot of injuries, I
Speaker 2: mean that's the story unfortunately of his career is that
Speaker 2: he's never quite been fully fitt. He's an absolute warrior
Speaker 2: and a great player, but he's he's battling injuries, but
Speaker 2: I think is a vital player. And then yeah, I
Speaker 2: would have liked to see Preston this week. Absolutely. He
Speaker 2: may get a chance next week. Depending on how long
Speaker 2: Ratama gets this week, they may be more comfortable to
Speaker 2: go We'll put Preston on the bench next week rather
Speaker 2: than Royguard and Parker. Hard to know. He may be
Speaker 2: the one unlucky one that doesn't doesn't quite get an
Speaker 2: opportunity in this series.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the other one just now think about Xavier new Mair,
Speaker 4: George Bowers come on to the bench. They've gone with
Speaker 4: Ethan de Grue and Tyrolomax because they respect highly Atalys
Speaker 4: Scrum personally. I would have liked to have seen new
Speaker 4: Mare go again. I thought he was very impressive off
Speaker 4: the bench. He's that all court modern day prop and
Speaker 4: I think he brings a lot more than a George Bauer.
Speaker 4: So he's a final line decision. Yeah, but I think
Speaker 4: new Mire is the future and you need to be
Speaker 4: progressing those guys, so I would have gone that.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: I suspect they'll revert back to the mix they had
Speaker 2: last week for next week would be my thought that
Speaker 2: loom Max probably drops back to the bench on Will
Speaker 2: comes back in on the bench and maybe Naw me
Speaker 2: on the bench as well. They're all hurricanes, but that
Speaker 2: me again the newill comes back into the starting side.
Speaker 2: Lonax hasn't had a lot of rugby really since September
Speaker 2: of last year. He's been in and out, you know,
Speaker 2: thumb injuries and various other bits he's had to have repaired.
Speaker 2: So I can understand him hopefully getting fifty to fifty
Speaker 2: five minutes under his belt on the again. Here's a
Speaker 2: fun fact for you. This Saturday were the first time
Speaker 2: that Luke Jacobson has started back to back All Blacks
Speaker 2: tests in his career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's the reflection of his career at
Speaker 4: test level, isn't it. That's he's been selected by successive
Speaker 4: All Black coaches but never sees that chance to say
Speaker 4: I'm I'm a must have selection. And Dave Rennie today
Speaker 4: and I think he's right. I'd agree with him. Last
Speaker 4: week was Luke Jacobson's best test. He got a couple
Speaker 4: of early penalties, but has worked great his defense front
Speaker 4: on defense, his ability to clean bodies and provide that
Speaker 4: quick rock ball, the slick off fload for Will Jordan's try. Look,
Speaker 4: I wasn't a big fan of his selection and I
Speaker 4: think he proved me and a number of other people
Speaker 4: are wrong and he's been rewarded again with another.
Speaker 2: Start he has men and look, I've still on this
Speaker 2: podcast that you can never you know, I've always wanted
Speaker 2: him to succeed the Test level, but never quite seen it.
Speaker 2: But maybe we are beginning, and this early days, but
Speaker 2: you know, if he can back it up again this week,
Speaker 2: And as I said, I went through the stats before
Speaker 2: he's played back to back weeks off the bench or
Speaker 2: starting one week off the bench next week, but this
Speaker 2: is the first time he's getting back to back starts
Speaker 2: and maybe better lat than ever. It might be that
Speaker 2: the kick start he needs to his Test career. So
Speaker 2: that's the All Blacks twenty three. They should do a
Speaker 2: job on this Italian team. Look on the davern he
Speaker 2: was quick to point out the heat in Japan last week,
Speaker 2: and it can be oppressive at.
Speaker 3: This time of the year. We've seen that.
Speaker 2: But Italy were really poor and really disappointing given the
Speaker 2: moments they've had in the six Nations over the last
Speaker 2: couple of seasons. I know they're missing Angkapuzzo who's back home,
Speaker 2: and a couple of other players that weren't selected but
Speaker 2: just didn't quite get going. And it's hard to see
Speaker 2: twelve hour flights in New Zealand being the tonic they
Speaker 2: need to everything for everything clicking them to.
Speaker 4: Get Yeah, look at Italy's first test in New Zealand.
Speaker 4: Since two thousand and nine, they have made a couple
Speaker 4: of key changes at fullback, left wing and blindside flankers,
Speaker 4: so it's a stronger team by the back end of
Speaker 4: their year. They haven't got everyone in their squad, leaving
Speaker 4: a couple behinds. It's going to be a tall order.
Speaker 4: I would expect the All Blacks to put fifty plus
Speaker 4: on this Italy team, particularly given the strength of the
Speaker 4: All Black team, the combinations, the directives around prioritizing cohesion
Speaker 4: over maybe fast tracking some of those rookies. I think
Speaker 4: we see this All Black team taking another step up,
Speaker 4: particularly on attack, and they need to make some big
Speaker 4: shifts on defense as well. What about the Wellington who
Speaker 4: doo h? Was it three from their last ten? I
Speaker 4: think the last match here was that record defeats to
Speaker 4: the box Does that play any part, Well, I.
Speaker 2: Don't think it plays a part, But the more it
Speaker 2: gets talked about, the more it is sort of in
Speaker 2: the back of the mind. And there's no reason for
Speaker 2: them to have been this bad and willing obviously it's
Speaker 2: from Boxer are a very very good team, but it's
Speaker 2: become almost comical how they found ways to lose and
Speaker 2: conspire to play really badly in the Capitol. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'm sure I listeners caught up with us as well
Speaker 2: that they only arrived into Wellington today. Maybe that was
Speaker 2: a factor in trying to change up some of the momentum.
Speaker 2: This decision was made by the previous all Blacks coaching regime.
Speaker 3: Maybe they did this to.
Speaker 2: Basically try and shake off the Capital who do Whatever
Speaker 2: it might have been, I can't see it happening on Saturday.
Speaker 2: I think they should be far too good for this
Speaker 2: Italian team. But it is quite a funny sideshow to
Speaker 2: have this still going on, because really some of them,
Speaker 2: you know, they shouldn't have lost half of them, if
Speaker 2: not more.
Speaker 4: It's funny they had prior to this run that she
Speaker 4: had a great record in Wellington. I think it's a
Speaker 4: bit of a non factor, particularly for Italy, and with
Speaker 4: Dave Renny coming in as well. He's from Wellington coaching,
Speaker 4: started coaching the Alpert Cults was a teacher and a publican,
Speaker 4: won a provincial title with Wellington in two thousand, knows
Speaker 4: this region well, so I think he feels entirely comfortable.
Speaker 4: And I really don't even think the All Blacks will
Speaker 4: touch on that this week.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so either. I think it'll be
Speaker 2: left to the side of the discussion. So the All
Speaker 2: Blacks Italy on Saturday afternoon two plus five sold out
Speaker 2: crowds got there in the end with the locals and yeah,
Speaker 2: great to see and hopefully the occasion matches it because
Speaker 2: the last time there was a high profile rugby game
Speaker 2: played in the Capitol, you know, we got ourselves entertained.
Speaker 2: Maybe not if you're a Chiefs fan, but it was
Speaker 2: assumably great occasion. So hopefully more of the same on
Speaker 2: Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll keep an eye out for trains and maybe
Speaker 4: you can do some tooting. And you are on the
Speaker 4: Hurricanes bandwagon now, so.
Speaker 2: The only bandwagon I want, that white bait wagon that's
Speaker 2: on the Viaduct, which we do need to go check
Speaker 2: out instantly on Saturday morning at some point.
Speaker 4: Yes, indeed, I can't wait for that.
Speaker 3: That indeed, we'll do us. Rugby Director.
Speaker 2: Quick update on the nation's championship Juicy Patch Saga. I
Speaker 2: had a response from New Zealand Rugby and I was
Speaker 2: told that they aren't required to wear them the badge,
Speaker 2: so they're not wearing it at this point in time,
Speaker 2: So there you go. I think they're the only ones
Speaker 2: that didn't.
Speaker 4: So yeah, fair enough in that infancy, isn't it It is?
Speaker 2: Indeed yeh see guys, and there's no sponsor attached to
Speaker 2: this competition. You I think cut always are just pulling
Speaker 2: back until they're you know, back on solid ground and
Speaker 2: not getting entangled. And other developments worldwide put it that way,
Speaker 2: they will do us for Rugby Direct. We're back early
Speaker 2: part of next week with the reaction to this Italy game.
Speaker 2: We built up to Ireland as well thanks to Mark Kelly.
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