Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed B.
Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: This is Sportsfix Howard by News Talks ed B.
Speaker 2: Hello there and welcome into the Sports Fixed podcast for Thursday,
Speaker 2: the twentieth of March. Already and what I said already,
Speaker 2: it was always going to arrive at this time. I'm
Speaker 2: Jason Pine.
Speaker 3: It's hardly a surprise.
Speaker 2: No, it always follows the ninetees. Ah, there it is.
Speaker 3: Where did that come from? Great to be back on
Speaker 3: board with you again, Piney. It's been three long empty
Speaker 3: days without the two of us on Pineing Well.
Speaker 2: I knew there was something coming at the end of that.
Speaker 2: While we while we congratulate one another on getting back together,
Speaker 2: let's have a look at what's coming up. Amazing scenes
Speaker 2: in Auckland last night with Sam Ruth becoming the youngest
Speaker 2: ever man, youngest of a person to go sub four
Speaker 2: minutes for the mile. We want to talk about that today.
Speaker 2: Football is going to be sent a stage in Wellington
Speaker 2: tomorrow night and then again in Auckland on Mondays the
Speaker 2: all look to qualify for the next World Cup. You
Speaker 2: got a football interview lined up for us.
Speaker 3: Indeed, sorry to steal your thunder and thanks very much
Speaker 3: for Chris Wood yesterday. But Ricky Hubert's going to join
Speaker 3: us to talk about the relevance of the forty eight
Speaker 3: teams and whether it diminishes the result from over the weekend,
Speaker 3: Should New Zealand get through, which they should, and what
Speaker 3: that means. Were forty eight teams obviously now and then
Speaker 3: of course and the one hundred year celebration, there's sixty
Speaker 3: four team. So we've joked about this before, Pinty. Maybe
Speaker 3: we could put together a team and qualify.
Speaker 2: Maybe someone who knows what expansion might look like in
Speaker 2: the future as well. We've got that to or to
Speaker 2: cover off, plus the big sports stories of the day,
Speaker 2: so let's get into it in other news. As always,
Speaker 2: we kick things off with the big sports stories going
Speaker 2: around today, and the biggest one by far, fifteen year
Speaker 2: old Sam Ruth has become the youngest person to break
Speaker 2: the four minute barrier for the mile, posting three minutes
Speaker 2: fifty eight point three five seconds last night.
Speaker 3: The crowd rolls them down the home straight here at
Speaker 3: comdiaout Club Stadium, Tanna smiling Radia.
Speaker 1: That's a sub for baby that's a sub.
Speaker 2: For former All Blacks coach Ian Foster will spearhead the
Speaker 2: coaching staff for a combined Australia New Zealand side to
Speaker 2: face the British and Irish Lions in July. Foster was
Speaker 2: approached by Rugby Australia to take charge of the side
Speaker 2: when it plays the Lions and adelaide a week out
Speaker 2: from the first Test.
Speaker 4: I wanted me to go away and think about it
Speaker 4: and I basically said yes straight away. It's a great
Speaker 4: opportunity if live series or iconic special and this is
Speaker 4: a new innovation from Rugby Australia to bring this team
Speaker 4: in and the chance to be involved in it was awesome.
Speaker 2: And no retirement timeline for White Fern's cricket captain Sophie
Speaker 2: Devine just here that she prepares for the three match
Speaker 2: T twenty series against Australia starting on Friday.
Speaker 3: Just taking things day.
Speaker 5: At time, to be perfectly honest with you, I think again,
Speaker 5: it's probably one of the things reflecting on is not
Speaker 5: trying to look too far into the future. I just
Speaker 5: want to enjoy every day and just the most of
Speaker 5: being in this environment because never know how long you're
Speaker 5: going to be here for.
Speaker 1: Leading of Vix.
Speaker 2: We've got just the ticket.
Speaker 1: It's Sports Vix, Power by News Talks.
Speaker 3: IV Ricky Herbert. Big game tomorrow coming up for the
Speaker 3: All Whites, and then another big game coming up on Monday.
Speaker 3: I suppose the biggest point of this game will be
Speaker 3: if they lose either of them, which is highly unlikely.
Speaker 3: So before we move on to the topic of the day,
Speaker 3: you've got to rate the chances of these guys. I
Speaker 3: suppose the most important thing is as they get through
Speaker 3: that any injury.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, like I think you spot on us. I
Speaker 6: think you know. It's a wonderful opportunity. It's clearly different,
Speaker 6: isn't it from let's say, you know, the two times
Speaker 6: that we've gone to a World Cup, you know, fifteen
Speaker 6: games and nineteen eighty one, tough traveling all around the world,
Speaker 6: having to beat the fifth best Asian team in twenty ten,
Speaker 6: and now we get an opportunity through our own confederation
Speaker 6: to go back to make it three times. So yeah,
Speaker 6: fingers crossed, hugely surprised if it doesn't happen, Darsie, But yeah, look,
Speaker 6: wishing them all the best and then be fantastic to
Speaker 6: see us back on the world stage, you know, competing
Speaker 6: against the best in the world, and you know that's
Speaker 6: what our sport needs.
Speaker 3: Well, it's great to see Chris Wood really fully one
Speaker 3: hundred percent as the captain behind it, saying this direct
Speaker 3: route through Oceani And now that there's so many more
Speaker 3: teams that can actually get through to the World Cup,
Speaker 3: does that diminish at all what the All Whites will
Speaker 3: achieve by getting to the next World Cup. The fact
Speaker 3: that there are so many more teams.
Speaker 6: Look, I think there's going to be so much opinion
Speaker 6: out there, Darsi, and you know at times that's okay.
Speaker 6: The game's evolving around the world and I think, you know,
Speaker 6: so many countries. I look back now when I was
Speaker 6: young and growing up, I mean, you know, you had
Speaker 6: your heart set on sort of England. You followed English teams.
Speaker 6: That's where professional football kind of was. You know, it's
Speaker 6: really global now and around the world. I mean a
Speaker 6: lot of our players are leaving New Zealand to go
Speaker 6: to different parts of the world to pick up professional contract.
Speaker 6: So it is evolving and I think, you know, the
Speaker 6: outcomes are going to be a little more clearer when
Speaker 6: the forty eight too. Sorry, forty eight teams do rock
Speaker 6: up to the twenty twenty six World Cup and see
Speaker 6: what those performances look like from a results based point
Speaker 6: of view. And it may take a couple of World
Speaker 6: Cups to get it to a certain level. But look,
Speaker 6: I think it's great. I think it's fair and I
Speaker 6: think it puts the onus back on us now in
Speaker 6: New Zealand to make sure that our players are getting
Speaker 6: prepared properly, that our younger players coming through World Cup
Speaker 6: opportunities which we go to regularly, getting the level of
Speaker 6: competition they need before going into World Cups, because that's
Speaker 6: what all standards in good stead when we're at the
Speaker 6: big dance and we can compete against the best teams
Speaker 6: in the world.
Speaker 3: So the easy enough route or the easier route through,
Speaker 3: you don't think diminishes New Zealand's involvement. Should it happen
Speaker 3: in the next fee for World.
Speaker 6: Cup, well, look, I think we've got to go, don't we.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think it's you know, there's been a
Speaker 6: worldwide decision to change this. I mean there's going to
Speaker 6: be opportunities for you know, more teams coming out of Asia,
Speaker 6: more teams coming out of all the other confederations out
Speaker 6: of Europe, so you know, it is branching deeper and
Speaker 6: digging deeper into providing that opportunity. And yep, I think
Speaker 6: everybody would look at it and go, yep, this is
Speaker 6: a fantastic chance. It's you know, our easiest chance, you know,
Speaker 6: And I say that in real respect because we've got
Speaker 6: a job to do tomorrow night. You know, we've got
Speaker 6: to go and win tomorrow night, and then we have
Speaker 6: to step up again and win against Tahiti or New
Speaker 6: Caledonia on the Monday. So there's still obstacles there to
Speaker 6: get over, and we need to respect what those teams
Speaker 6: will come up challenge wise, but we've got to be
Speaker 6: good enough. And you know, the standard for us to
Speaker 6: be good enough is going to be recognized again, hopefully
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty six when we play some of the
Speaker 6: big countries in the world.
Speaker 3: I'm hearing here, Recky that the fact there are so
Speaker 3: many more teams that have got an easier path. You
Speaker 3: can't look at New Zealand and go, well, it wasn't
Speaker 3: as difficult as it used to be because they're in
Speaker 3: the or the pool with a whole lot of other
Speaker 3: teams to experience exactly the same thing in this lifts
Speaker 3: world football in general, because I'm interested when you bring
Speaker 3: all these teams in to competition, does maybe even stand
Speaker 3: at the World Cup level drop or inherently does it
Speaker 3: lift because people are going to the big dances you
Speaker 3: called it?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Look, I think you know, I can only hope
Speaker 6: dar see that. It's just, you know, really challenges countries
Speaker 6: around the world to be better, and I think it's
Speaker 6: going to challenge us to be better because you know,
Speaker 6: and I'm saying this again with the fullester respect that
Speaker 6: you know, we should be able to go to a
Speaker 6: World Cup now every four years. It's what we do
Speaker 6: between those four year cycles. And I think that's critical
Speaker 6: now that we really work hard as an organization to
Speaker 6: provide the national team with the best challenging competition, fixtures,
Speaker 6: quality games countries that we can and between those windows
Speaker 6: because the qualify the qualifying format is not going to
Speaker 6: change now, so we understand what that looks like, and
Speaker 6: we understand that we need to win fixtures to go
Speaker 6: to the World Cups. But for me, it's what we
Speaker 6: do in between, and you know, I draw I'll draw
Speaker 6: that down a little deeper across you know, both genders,
Speaker 6: male and female, seventeens, nineteens, twenties, whatever the respective age
Speaker 6: groups are. That we're working hard as a football organization
Speaker 6: to make sure that we're implementing a very very solid
Speaker 6: football program for these players to not only qualify for
Speaker 6: the World Cup, but let's go and win a game
Speaker 6: or progress out of our group. And that's clearly an
Speaker 6: opportunity for this team. You know, should we be there next.
Speaker 3: Year, Let's talk about the progression of the team, Recki
Speaker 3: Herbert and what they have to do and use it
Speaker 3: on football.
Speaker 2: Have to be overly engaged.
Speaker 3: It's getting a quality competition the Aussies when there's no
Speaker 3: point in this, we're going to shoot off to Asia.
Speaker 3: Has that lifted the quality of their performance? They're better looking,
Speaker 3: better prepared. Have they made the most of this move
Speaker 3: to get out of Oceania?
Speaker 6: Well, I think you're kind of twofold. You've got I
Speaker 6: guess from a personal opinion. I mean you've got a
Speaker 6: look and a lot of their youth teams have not
Speaker 6: qualified to go to World Cups. But then you you know,
Speaker 6: you have the concept of they're playing Japan, they're playing China,
Speaker 6: they're playing Saudi Arabia, they're playing Kuwait, They're playing a
Speaker 6: lot of big countries coming you know through that that
Speaker 6: Asian confederation, you know, the Korean teams so regularly through qualifying,
Speaker 6: that competition is arguably as good is the you know,
Speaker 6: some of the majority of games that you get at
Speaker 6: a World Cup anyway. So you know, I think they're
Speaker 6: getting tested, and I mean look at the you know,
Speaker 6: look at the last you know, a couple of cycles.
Speaker 6: I mean Australia had to go through a second qualifying
Speaker 6: campaign to get through to the World Cup. You know,
Speaker 6: they are in the mix at the moment on kind
Speaker 6: of what that looks like for them. We're up against
Speaker 6: an Indonesian team that you know, we were playing Indonesia
Speaker 6: in nineteen eighty one, beating them five mil at home
Speaker 6: and turn away. Look where that country's got to now
Speaker 6: where they are very very difficult to beat in an
Speaker 6: Asian confederation on the global stage. So you know, the
Speaker 6: game is changing. Teams are getting better, countries are getting bigger,
Speaker 6: and there's more of those countries getting bigger and better
Speaker 6: and stronger with a lot more depth. So you know
Speaker 6: it's going to provide a challenge for US not so
Speaker 6: much in qualifying, but certainly when we go on the
Speaker 6: world stage sports.
Speaker 3: I know it's fair to say that Super Rugby Pacific
Speaker 3: this year has been fantastic. After years of punching down
Speaker 3: on Super Rugby for various reasons, I think finally this
Speaker 3: year the people that run the competition have turned up
Speaker 3: with quite the product. We don't necessarily know who's going
Speaker 3: to win. They go down to the last five minutes,
Speaker 3: the competition champions and favorites they've disappeared off the face
Speaker 3: of the earth. We have Mwana pacifica and Fijian drew
Speaker 3: it having a huge effect and a big toll on
Speaker 3: some of the opposition. No, they haven't won everything, but
Speaker 3: they've taken it very very close. So at the moment
Speaker 3: it's all smiles and all celebrations for Super Rugby Pacific,
Speaker 3: and rightly so the big question is, and I know
Speaker 3: I sound miserable, I know I sound like I'm the
Speaker 3: bloody media, but let's face that I am. How long
Speaker 3: would this last? How long before Super Rugby Pacific falls
Speaker 3: off a cliff? And why dare I say it? When
Speaker 3: you look at the nature of the Blues ahead of
Speaker 3: their game against the Crusaders. This weekend, you're seeing exactly
Speaker 3: why the competition may well fall off a cliff. It's
Speaker 3: called attrition. You look at the nature of the Blues lineup,
Speaker 3: you look at the amount of players they have lost
Speaker 3: through injury, and you start to see the effect of
Speaker 3: this hard nosed competition over weeks and weeks and weeks
Speaker 3: and weeks and weeks. These players are not Superman, as
Speaker 3: much as they want to address them up as superheroes
Speaker 3: last week, they simply aren't. And it's only a matter
Speaker 3: of time before teams start to stagger as their playing
Speaker 3: number is decreased through the vagaries of injury and too
Speaker 3: much time in the sick bay. Hey, I hope this
Speaker 3: doesn't happen. I hope we carry on with the same
Speaker 3: mega engaging rugby that we've had right from the get
Speaker 3: go of this competition. That there's something about what's happening
Speaker 3: to the Blues, and you look across the competition that
Speaker 3: suggests to me sliding off a cliff might come with
Speaker 3: the injury. Told that a high contact and aggressive game
Speaker 3: like this tends to generate.
Speaker 1: The chamber is now in session.
Speaker 2: Sportsfax into the chamber. We go together and let's chat
Speaker 2: about what you just chatted to Ricky Herbert about, and
Speaker 2: that is the qualification process for the next World Cup
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. For a long time, I think
Speaker 2: we've you know, we've wanted Oceania to get direct entry
Speaker 2: to the World Cup, and I guess we hope that
Speaker 2: that would be through a thirty two team World Cup.
Speaker 2: The expansion to forty eight made it almost inevitable. What
Speaker 2: we you main takeaways from what Ricky had to say.
Speaker 3: Well, I asked him a couple of times around does
Speaker 3: this diminish the success the team has should they get
Speaker 3: through which they should over the next few days, and
Speaker 3: Ricky kind of walked around a bit and he's like, well,
Speaker 3: it's all about lifting your game to compete at that level.
Speaker 3: And I get what he's talking about as opposed to
Speaker 3: be critical, and I like to see it. This way's explained,
Speaker 3: is that the new level to judge this team on
Speaker 3: is not if they qualify for the World Cup, but
Speaker 3: how well they go in the first round. That's got
Speaker 3: to be the new mark, the watermark, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. I think
Speaker 2: because now qualifying for the World Cup through Oceania, with
Speaker 2: no disrespect to the other teams in Oceania, should be
Speaker 2: a walk in the park now for the All Whites,
Speaker 2: I fully expect them to win comfortably against Fiji tomorrow
Speaker 2: night and then comfortably against one of Tahiti or New
Speaker 2: Caledonia on Monday nights. So in order to to put
Speaker 2: the way that they're playing into context, they do have
Speaker 2: to achieve now higher than just making a World Cup.
Speaker 2: Of course, there's the old testnut of should New Zealand
Speaker 2: have followed Australia's lead and joined the Asian Confederation. Yes,
Speaker 2: the path is a lot harder, but it does improve
Speaker 2: the level of your football. You get the chance to
Speaker 2: play against Asian teams, you know, Japan, South Korea and
Speaker 2: other Asian sides who are really playing at a high level,
Speaker 2: thus improving your own game. The trade off, of course
Speaker 2: is and has been, you know, certainly at underage level
Speaker 2: and in women's football for the last however many years,
Speaker 2: is that apart from the senior men's side, Oceania has
Speaker 2: got direct int to every under twenty and under seventeen
Speaker 2: tournaments and every women's tournament, so there was no real
Speaker 2: desire to leave that behind. From New Zealand.
Speaker 3: Football has the quality of Australian football. The silly name
Speaker 3: socker ruse. Can't they change it to the football or
Speaker 3: ruse now anyway? Is that actually lifted since they moved
Speaker 3: to Asia as there been a marked difference in the
Speaker 3: way they play the game?
Speaker 2: Pony, Absolutely, it has, Yes, without doubt, it has one
Speaker 2: hundred percent. They have improved as a football nation and
Speaker 2: the way that their national team is playing. Look, they
Speaker 2: still get plenty of flack from their sporting public. They're
Speaker 2: a pretty tough crowd, the Australian sporting public. But yes,
Speaker 2: the answer their question is they have improved. I think
Speaker 2: New Zealand if they'd done the same thing bit in
Speaker 2: the bullet when Australia did back in two thousand and
Speaker 2: six and decided, yep, we want to improve ourselves, you know,
Speaker 2: holistically globally, then the same thing would have happened to us.
Speaker 2: But that ship has sailed now and now we've got
Speaker 2: a forty eighteen World Cup and direct entry for Oceannia.
Speaker 2: There's absolutely no no tension, no desire to do this.
Speaker 2: So I think the improvement of New Zella footballers will
Speaker 2: now have to come through their clubs, and as you
Speaker 2: I'm sure have seen, that is happening both here and overseas.
Speaker 3: And all over overseas as well as everywhere right through
Speaker 3: America and Asia and Europe and England, which is great
Speaker 3: to see. What about the overall quality of the World
Speaker 3: Cup with the forty eight teams, let's not talk about
Speaker 3: the sixty four that is another story. Do you think
Speaker 3: that will lift or is it saying let's go back
Speaker 3: to that opening round and see how well the groups play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think with forty eight teams then the logic
Speaker 2: would suggest that the standard will be lower than with
Speaker 2: thirty two teams. I mean stands to reason, doesn't It
Speaker 2: does that if there are more teams, then you know
Speaker 2: lower ranked ones will get through. So on that, on
Speaker 2: that metric you'd have to say, yes, it is going
Speaker 2: to be a lower standard overall. But I do like
Speaker 2: the opportunity for teams to go to a World Cup,
Speaker 2: And Chris Wood said this yesterday at the press conference.
Speaker 2: If it's truly a World Cup, then country from all
Speaker 2: over the world should have a pretty good opportunity of
Speaker 2: making it. So that's what directly entry for OCEANNEYA does.
Speaker 2: Look the I think exactly as you said before the
Speaker 2: performance of New Zealand. You know, in group play at
Speaker 2: next year's World Cup will be almost the new metric
Speaker 2: by which we measure the team. I think that's what
Speaker 2: we're heading. That's the road we're heading down.
Speaker 3: Great stuff, chasing Pyne. You know all about football a
Speaker 3: lot more than I have and will say thanks for
Speaker 3: your education as always, that's fantastic. Now, Ruth, last night,
Speaker 3: do we celebrate this? Is it a junior record or
Speaker 3: is that diminishing what he did and that youngest man
Speaker 3: to ever compete and sorry ever break the formative mark
Speaker 3: in the mile has to be It has to be celebrated,
Speaker 3: you know, in whatever fashion you want to.
Speaker 2: I think you know, when you're the youngest ever to
Speaker 2: do anything in athletics pursuits, whether it be track and
Speaker 2: field or anything. Really, have you the youngest player to
Speaker 2: ever you know, score a try for the All Blacks
Speaker 2: or the youngest youngest man deverscore century for New Zealand's
Speaker 2: Black Caps. This is you know, he is the youngest
Speaker 2: person ever to break a global standard for the mile.
Speaker 2: If you can go under form minutest least not't forget
Speaker 2: dus last night you know, he and the bloke who
Speaker 2: finished third were only the forty ninth and fiftieth New
Speaker 2: Zealanders ever to do it of any age. So you know,
Speaker 2: we're not talking about something that is commonplace. Is it
Speaker 2: is quite rare. My main, you know, little thing sitting
Speaker 2: in the back of my mind is he is so young.
Speaker 2: So I hope that and I get the feeling that
Speaker 2: he is. I hope that he's surrounded by good people
Speaker 2: who know how to guide him, because you know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen now. There'll be shoe companies knocking on
Speaker 2: his door. There'll be any number of American colleges coming
Speaker 2: down here and offering him big fat scholarships to come
Speaker 2: and run for them. He's only fifteen, you know, he's
Speaker 2: still a kid. He has to be able to be
Speaker 2: a kid, but hopefully fulfill the undoubted potential that he has.
Speaker 3: Many times have we seen child prodigies just blow out
Speaker 3: before they're twenty years old across a number of sports.
Speaker 3: It is not uncommon, but we know that now. I'm
Speaker 3: sure as parents who are involved in the industry anyway,
Speaker 3: and all of his support crew are very very well
Speaker 3: aware of the falls of what he's just done. So
Speaker 3: we're wishing in the best. And don't break this bloke,
Speaker 3: Please don't break this land. He's going to look great
Speaker 3: in a black singlet.
Speaker 2: Yeah he is. And I hope he also gets the
Speaker 2: chance to be a teenager.
Speaker 3: You know you.
Speaker 2: I remember my teenage days. I know you remember some
Speaker 2: of yours, So I hope he gets the chance. There, mate,
Speaker 2: too late, mister Ruth.
Speaker 3: You can always be a teenager in your mid fifties.
Speaker 3: On testament you.
Speaker 2: You are the personification of never ever acting your age.
Speaker 2: But that is always I've thought, anyway, a positive quality
Speaker 2: in you. Dusk. Anyway, we're getting into a really weird
Speaker 2: are are you here? So let's get out of the chamber.
Speaker 3: Good idea, old man.
Speaker 2: I'll follow you sports Effects, And on that note, I
Speaker 2: think we should bring Sports Fix to a close. I
Speaker 2: think it's the sensible thing to do. But don't worry.
Speaker 2: A fresh episode will drop into your podcast feed at
Speaker 2: about the same time tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken to us.
Speaker 3: You've got to subscribe, of course. If you will, this
Speaker 3: will happen Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Tell your friends,
Speaker 3: tell your family, tell your work mate, tell anybody and
Speaker 3: get them all to do the same thing so Sports
Speaker 3: Fixed can carry on its merry old way and justify
Speaker 3: our employment, right poney, that's right.
Speaker 2: Yes, we need the justification of our employment, which is
Speaker 2: actually on the radio as well, So we need to
Speaker 2: we need to make that clear to people that you
Speaker 2: are actually on the radio tonight and most weeknights, and
Speaker 2: I'm on the radio on the weekends.
Speaker 3: It's a weekend sport twelve midday to three Saturday Sunday
Speaker 3: and then Sports Talk myself and or Piney. Actually we
Speaker 3: never do it together, do we? Maybe we should. That's
Speaker 3: seven to eight Monday to Friday PM on News Talk
Speaker 3: z B. Get amongst interact and thanksful listening to The Fix.
Speaker 2: See tomorrow Sports Fix sexxxx for more from newstalkset B.
Speaker 1: Listen live on air or online, and keep our shows
Speaker 1: with you wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.