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

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Speaker 1: from Newstalk zed B.

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Speaker 2: The Chiefs back to the top of the Super Rugby

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Speaker 2: Pacific Ladder, are forty sixteen hiding of the Highlanders in Hamilton.

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Speaker 3: He comes to.

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Speaker 4: Kick, Oh Sammer Penny Fee. Now he's on the left wing.

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Speaker 4: He's getting the ball, he waits, he picks it up.

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Speaker 4: Penny scores and he's gonna make it worse. He's gonna

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Speaker 4: go into the post just to annoy the Islanders.

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Speaker 2: That's the voice of Graham Minty mead Our, Goldsport commentator

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Speaker 2: for Chiefs games. Just sounds like you enjoyed yourself last night, Minty.

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Speaker 3: Well, the second eighteen minutes of the second half were

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Speaker 3: quite exhilarating. The first half. The Highlanders came out with

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Speaker 3: a plan and I think the Chiefs were still carrying

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Speaker 3: New South Wales for the first forty minutes and the

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Speaker 3: Highlanders nearly had had the wood on the defensively, the

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Speaker 3: Chiefs couldn't find anything, so I don't know what Clayton

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Speaker 3: McMillan said at half time, and the boys reckoned nothing.

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Speaker 3: They just sat in silence. But it came right in

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Speaker 3: the second.

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Speaker 2: Half, Well, sometimes silence is the best they It's like

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Speaker 2: it's they probably knew Clayton mcmiller was extremely disappointed with them.

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Speaker 2: Rather than ransom, rave and throw things around the change

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Speaker 2: and we probably just let them sit there and stew

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Speaker 2: And as your Saymnty, it was certainly a very different

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Speaker 2: second half. What did you see differently, you know, different

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Speaker 2: from the Chiefs in the second half, Well.

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Speaker 3: Just all retention we talked about the Hurricanes. I had

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Speaker 3: just talk about the mistakes in the first half. The

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Speaker 3: Chiefs for mistake ridden. They weren't protecting possession, they weren't

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Speaker 3: sort of how I'd just say putting two or three

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Speaker 3: around the rucks and walls in the Highlanders really had

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Speaker 3: a plan to actually knock them back off their feet

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Speaker 3: and it was a solid defense. But in the second

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Speaker 3: half they started to realize their skill. They were running

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Speaker 3: off each other off their shoulder beautifully, and then just

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Speaker 3: gaps opened up and wow, it just it just took

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Speaker 3: the Highlands apart and once the Chiefs got up there

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Speaker 3: was no coming back from that. Thirty three unanswered points

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Speaker 3: in about nineteen minutes was pretty exciting.

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Speaker 2: I want to ask about a couple of players specifically

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Speaker 2: Minty first as Quintupaia, who we know had that long

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Speaker 2: term injury but his back and has started the majority

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Speaker 2: of matches at second five for the Chiefs this season.

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Speaker 2: How do you assess his performances and is he back

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Speaker 2: in that all Blacks frame.

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Speaker 3: I think he's got to be piney goody, and I

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Speaker 3: had a good yarn about it last night. He negated

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Speaker 3: Taatava Nahai. That was a great battle there. But he's

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Speaker 3: doing a lot of carrying first off the ruck and

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Speaker 3: the mall and the scrum. His defense is outstanding. He's

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Speaker 3: got his speedback, he's fit. There's not worse players around

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Speaker 3: in the Super Rugby at the moment than I'd be

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Speaker 3: hoping he'd have a sniff of that. He really has

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Speaker 3: become a bit of the backbone of that back line

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Speaker 3: now with Lennart Brown having a couple of concussion injuries.

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Speaker 3: Daniel Rohan is an unsunning hero, but yeah, Tupi makes

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Speaker 3: everybody around him look pretty good and his defense is

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Speaker 3: outstand outstanding.

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Speaker 2: Brody McAllister, now you've got a team that's got Summersauny

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Speaker 2: Tokiyaho in it, and maybe Clayton McMillan has decided, as

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Speaker 2: he did earlier in the season, that impact is as

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Speaker 2: important as starting. But Brody McAllister, I think, well, he

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Speaker 2: won two, three, four or five half a dozen games

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Speaker 2: he started. What have you made of his performances at hooker.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think he's come up here and kJ caught

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Speaker 3: up with him last night. He sort of reinvented himself,

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Speaker 3: he said. New surroundings, new people, new challenges, and the

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Speaker 3: fact you've also got the one other one you miss.

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Speaker 3: You've got Slaters sitting there as well. There's three starting

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Speaker 3: hookers at the Chiefs and Super Rugby and competition makes

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Speaker 3: for better play. And the Takiajo's coming on. I think

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Speaker 3: he's a bit ropie. He's not starting. But by Jingers,

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't mind having a bench that the Chiefs have

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Speaker 3: got coming on every week.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's that's it too. You know, they are very

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Speaker 2: deep and they've already used more players than most of

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Speaker 2: the other teams. And CLAYK McMillan at the start of

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Speaker 2: the season, I mean you look at the as you say,

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Speaker 2: look at the bench that he had. Even in the

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Speaker 2: very first game against the Blues, he had he had

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Speaker 2: two porv some a penny female courtis love to anteon

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Speaker 2: Lena Brown and him on in Nadawah on his bench.

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Speaker 2: He's spoilt for choice just on female some a penny

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Speaker 2: female another a big performance for him last night as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, mate, Look, I think he's contained his unwillingness to

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Speaker 3: sort of tackle a bit high. They've been working really

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Speaker 3: hard on that. He's still aggressive, he's still big, he's

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Speaker 3: still vicious, but he's maintained a tackling stance that's getting

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Speaker 3: underneath sort of that chest line and it's making him

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Speaker 3: better player. He's not spending time in the bin and

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Speaker 3: we need him on the field. And he had a

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Speaker 3: big game last night. He's around the ball, his speed,

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Speaker 3: Lots of things to like about the guy. But again,

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Speaker 3: the Chiefs have got depth. We looked at the Highlands

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Speaker 3: last night. We said, okay, all blacks Ethan the grout

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Speaker 3: hurt his ankle as he warmed up. We've got Fuckert Tava,

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Speaker 3: We've got Tavatava, Nahai and Fabian Hollanden. That's about the

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Speaker 3: ones that are in line for anything the Chiefs. Look,

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Speaker 3: the Chiefs have got probably an all black side.

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Speaker 2: Well that and again it speaks to their depth. But Minti,

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Speaker 2: the big question is, look, they were good last year

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Speaker 2: as well. They were very good in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 2: In fact, I thought that they were as good as

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Speaker 2: I've ever seen or certainly in the last decade since

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Speaker 2: they won it in twenty twenty three when they made

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Speaker 2: it all the way to the final but couldn't beat

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Speaker 2: the Crusaders in Hamilton. Is this not third time lucky?

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Speaker 2: But is this third times a charm for Clay McMillan

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Speaker 2: as he set sail for Munster at the end of

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Speaker 2: the season.

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Speaker 3: I hope. So, finally, tenth of May is going to

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Speaker 3: be the talent game of the season. I think down

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Speaker 3: in Crusader territory one versus two, if it stays the

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Speaker 3: way it is, if the Chiefs play eighty minutes like

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Speaker 3: they did forty last night and they struggled to put

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Speaker 3: an eighty minute together, there won't be a side that'll

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Speaker 3: stay with them. But down there, you know that stadium's

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Speaker 3: running out of time. There's a new one coming. The

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Speaker 3: Crusaders have got their tails up at the moment. That's

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Speaker 3: going to be the telling blow for who has the

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Speaker 3: final and who has the final will win it? All right?

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Speaker 2: Minte will and Georgia call. Last night. I was flicking

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Speaker 2: between television, radio and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

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Speaker 2: Loved your highlights that I listened to this morning as

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Speaker 2: well the enthusiasm and energy you bring. So thank you

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Speaker 2: for your commentary. Thank you for joining us on Easter Sunday. Mate,

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Speaker 2: enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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Speaker 3: Not a problem matter, will say one thing. Steve Gordon

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Speaker 3: came and commentated with me last night. He tore his

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Speaker 3: bicep on his left arm two days ago and it

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Speaker 3: was strapped up the poor bigger car, hardly walk and

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Speaker 3: he still turns up to play rugby.

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Speaker 1: Is that.

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Speaker 2: He's not playing rugby? He can still talk with a

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Speaker 2: torn bicep. Cardy goody to know.

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Speaker 3: He wasn't moving too much, and he wasn't a happy camper,

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Speaker 3: but he wasn't going to miss the game of rugby.

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Speaker 2: I want to tell you why I put it this way.

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Speaker 2: You wouldn't have known. You wouldn't have known listening to

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Speaker 2: him that he'd torn his bicep. Thankfully he didn't. He

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Speaker 2: didn't tear his vocal cords. Stay well, mate, we'll latchet

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Speaker 2: again soon.

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Speaker 3: Thanks bidey, take care all of.

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Speaker 2: Us, mate, that's Minty Graham, Minty Mead from the White Cuttle.

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Speaker 2: He calls our Chiefs games on Gold Sport and iHeartRadio

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Speaker 2: and enjoyed that last night a forty six' teen win

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Speaker 2: for The chiefs last.

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Speaker 1: Night for more From Weekend sport With Jason, fine listen

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Speaker 1: live To News talk ZED B weekend from, midday or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast On iHeartRadio