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Speaker 1: Rugby unions across the world have declared war on the

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Speaker 1: new Saudi backed Rebel League. They've banned any players who

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Speaker 1: take up the contract from playing for the All Blacks,

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Speaker 1: the spring Box, the Wallabies any other national team. The

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Speaker 1: CEO of New Zealand Rugby is Mark Robinson.

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Speaker 2: Harmark Heather Hike. How are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, thank you? So are you banning someone

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Speaker 1: from being an All Black if they've played in the league,

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Speaker 1: like while they're playing in the league, or if they've

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Speaker 1: ever played in the league.

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Speaker 2: Look, no, this is not a change to anything we've

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Speaker 2: done historically. Our eligibility criteria will remain exactly the same,

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Speaker 2: So we obviously sleep players out of our own domestic competitions,

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Speaker 2: and if players choose to play the club bag the overseas,

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Speaker 2: then they're not eligible for.

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Speaker 1: The rights to play for Japan.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, I mean the reason I guess there's

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Speaker 2: a bit of wider context here around joining as a

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Speaker 2: signatory to the statement put it out from national unions overnight.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't change our policy in this space at all.

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Speaker 2: But why we joined the list was basically do signal

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Speaker 2: some concerns and questions about the R three sixty competition

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Speaker 2: and to put out, you know, a unified position from

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Speaker 2: national unions. A lot of those national unions haven't been

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Speaker 2: or aren't always as clear or public as we are

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Speaker 2: because of the scrutiny that sits in New Zealand about

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Speaker 2: this policy. So they wanted to frompective.

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Speaker 1: So you guys, you guys are being consistent. But the

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Speaker 1: likes of Australia, where they do select overseas based players,

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Speaker 1: they are taking a different stance, aren't they.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it's it's for Australia or other countries to

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Speaker 2: speak to that. But that's right man.

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Speaker 1: Can you explain to me why why are the why

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Speaker 1: why is wild rugby these rugby unions banded together to

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Speaker 1: take such a hard line on the Saudi Back League.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's not like I say, from our position, England's position.

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Speaker 2: There are a number of countries where this is very

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Speaker 2: France Island, that's very consistent with what they've done historically.

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Speaker 2: I think the key part of the apart from eligibility,

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Speaker 2: is for the statement is to outline the roles of

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Speaker 2: national unions and the roles that we have to what

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Speaker 2: we call a whole of game approach around investing in

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Speaker 2: community rugby volunteers, referees, you know a wide range of

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Speaker 2: activities which where you want to just signal some concern

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Speaker 2: about if the league comes into the rugby ecosystem and

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Speaker 2: is not clear on how it wants to invest in

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Speaker 2: the wider game, what the impact of that can have.

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Speaker 1: Have you read Grant Robertson's book, No. Page two hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty three in the halftime break?

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Speaker 2: What have you got a view on our three sixty

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Speaker 2: or something?

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Speaker 1: No, listen to this Mark. In the halftime break, I

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Speaker 1: confronted New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson in the big

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Speaker 1: reception room at Eden Park about the absence of senior

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Speaker 1: New Zealand rugby people in Fungata. This is during the

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Speaker 1: Women's World Cup tournament. Our conversation grew a bit heated.

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Speaker 1: Mark was very defensive about how much work they had

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Speaker 1: put into the tournament. I felt the investmentl blah blah

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Speaker 1: blah blah blah. He reckons He realized is that people

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Speaker 1: in the room had stepped several meters away, and on reflection,

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Speaker 1: I was probably being a bit overly harsh. Do you

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Speaker 1: remember that really? Now?

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Speaker 2: I don't recall either having anything too heated with Grant.

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Speaker 2: What I would say though, is that I'm glad that

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Speaker 2: he recognized we did an amazing job to get the

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Speaker 2: tournament here, considering what other countries put on the table

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Speaker 2: from a government investment point of view, that we managed

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Speaker 2: to get it here. So I'm glad that it got recognized.

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Speaker 2: But they always had a lot of time for Grant

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Speaker 2: and had a lot of fun to around some great

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Speaker 2: sporting events around the.

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Speaker 1: World nicely handled. Mark Mark Robinson, the CEO of New

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Speaker 1: Zealand Rugby. For more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive, listen

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Speaker 1: live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,

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