Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks at B.
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Speaker 2: This is Sportsfix howard By News Talks it B yay right,
Speaker 2: Welcome into the Sports Fix podcast. My name is Darcy
Speaker 2: Waldgrave and coming up in this edition, out of a
Speaker 2: yarm with Gregor Paul New Zealand Herald Rugby scribe around
Speaker 2: the alignment between n z RS CEO Mark Robinson and
Speaker 2: the head coach of the All Blacks Scott Robertson. Have
Speaker 2: they actually come to an agreement? Is it all as
Speaker 2: it seems? Around player eligibility. We'll talk with Gregor shorty.
Speaker 2: I'm predictably going to shoot my mouth off around F
Speaker 2: one and what Liam Lawson achieved, Yes, achieved the weekend
Speaker 2: at Albert Park and will be joined in the chamber
Speaker 2: by Alex Powell, sports news journalist from New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 2: That's our plan, so let's put our foot down and
Speaker 2: get mongst here on the.
Speaker 1: Fix, dissecting the sporting agenda. It's Sportsfix with Darcy.
Speaker 2: Waldegrave and in sports Speak today Super Rugby as well
Speaker 2: Super Again, jed Our CEO Mark Robinson and AB coach
Speaker 2: Scott robertson ron Zby's Rugby Direct podcast, and Mark told
Speaker 2: the boys that there are a number of reasons by
Speaker 2: the upsurge and interest teams getting unexpectedly beaten or nearly
Speaker 2: stumbling at the last being one of the reasons.
Speaker 3: And that's you know, creating jeopardy as Raises mentioned, and
Speaker 3: real uncertainty and results. And then I think combined the
Speaker 3: commission to be able to stand up in a ralidly
Speaker 3: short amount of time, as we've always said, have a
Speaker 3: real dedicated focus on the competition.
Speaker 2: And Raiser has spoken of hijacking some successful Springbok tactics
Speaker 2: such as the Devastating Bomb Squad, which incorporates the seven
Speaker 2: to one pro forward split on the bench. When you
Speaker 2: can bring in extual loose forward, it makes a massive
Speaker 2: difference to it. Yeah, so you look at it. You know,
Speaker 2: we've considered it. It's working in the renovative and you've
Speaker 2: got to keep it on that trend. Check out news
Speaker 2: to Talk at z B and take a listen to
Speaker 2: the whole chat with two Robbos, Elliot Smith and Liam Napier.
Speaker 2: That's Rugby Direct. Proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performances.
Speaker 2: Rory McElroy sort of dad out before letting his nine
Speaker 2: to nine set up his Players Championship victory over the
Speaker 2: stumbling JJ Spawn who found the wet stuff for a
Speaker 2: triple bogie on the seventeenth, And it was on sent
Speaker 2: Batic's day for Rory as well.
Speaker 4: Ah tried to hit a few shots with the cm
Speaker 4: Win direction on the range and I knew it was
Speaker 4: them distances yesterday and I just sort of had that
Speaker 4: little three quarter nine iron dialed in, so once we
Speaker 4: got up there, I knew.
Speaker 2: What to do and made a good swing and a
Speaker 2: respectable tie for twentieth for Ryan Fox. And that's some
Speaker 2: sports spoken today news.
Speaker 5: It's Sports Fix.
Speaker 6: With Valde Greve.
Speaker 2: We'll join now on the Sports Fixed podcast by New
Speaker 2: Zealand Herald at rugby writer Gregor Paul talking about the
Speaker 2: united front around eligibility. This front is n z Our CEO,
Speaker 2: Mark Robinson and Scott robertson the All Blacks head coach.
Speaker 2: It looks like they've come together and they have drawn
Speaker 2: a line in the sand around eligibility. They are a
Speaker 2: united front. Well that's what it looks like, right Gregor.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it looks like it I'm not buying it, to
Speaker 6: be Frank, I just don't believe that you have a
Speaker 6: coach in Raza who spent what five six seven years
Speaker 6: in super rugby looking at player trends, trying to pull
Speaker 6: onto his players at a crusaders level. He then had,
Speaker 6: what did he have het about six months notice that
Speaker 6: he was going to be the All Blacks coach, So
Speaker 6: you know he was appointed early. He had six months
Speaker 6: building up to that where he gave a lot of
Speaker 6: thought about what the right eligibility model might look like,
Speaker 6: where market trends were going, you know, what players were
Speaker 6: looking at from the contracts. And he was absolutely adamant
Speaker 6: that the current eligibility laws were not fit for a purpose.
Speaker 6: And this was in November December last year. That he
Speaker 6: was still even more certain after coaching the Oblacks per
Speaker 6: year that they were not right. Now did the Rugby
Speaker 6: Union like the fact that their coach was publicly not
Speaker 6: aligned with their eligibility policy. Of course they didn't like that.
Speaker 6: So I suspect that what's happened here is that Razor
Speaker 6: hasn't changed his mind at all. He's still very much
Speaker 6: of the view that the eligibility rules aren't quite right,
Speaker 6: But he has also realized that as the all black coach,
Speaker 6: he can't publicly fight with his employer. He needs to
Speaker 6: be publicly aligned support their policy. He can badger them,
Speaker 6: he can advocate behind the scenes as much as he likes.
Speaker 6: He can tell them I don't believe it. But when
Speaker 6: they ask him and they say, well, we need you
Speaker 6: to be publicly aligned and tell the media that you are,
Speaker 6: then he's going to have to do that because that
Speaker 6: is how you know, that's how employment works start. So
Speaker 6: we all have to accept that your employer has a
Speaker 6: hold on you to some degree.
Speaker 2: Well, I've had that situation myself. You've got to understand.
Speaker 2: See lock, I'll agree with you because of my boss,
Speaker 2: but don't tell me how to think, and I'll behind.
Speaker 2: And that's that's understandable. So could you say stage managed?
Speaker 2: These guys both put up front, both put up in
Speaker 2: a couple of good rugby journalists for a Rugby direct
Speaker 2: to I suppose draw a line in the sand. We
Speaker 2: are aligned, even though maybe they're not.
Speaker 6: Yeah, a necessary pr function because because given what Reason
Speaker 6: has said at the end of last year, given that
Speaker 6: the New Zealand Rugby Board has changed in its entirety
Speaker 6: in early February. This issue would become if nothing was said,
Speaker 6: it would continue to fester, wouldn't it. Media like you
Speaker 6: and I would continue to pukhi prod and questions about
Speaker 6: what phrase we're thinking now? So I think a smart
Speaker 6: pr move by New Zealand Rugby to get Raiser to
Speaker 6: publicly align, try and kill the issue as a media topic,
Speaker 6: try and just put it to bed. So as you
Speaker 6: know France who come in in July, they don't want
Speaker 6: any kind of discussion around peripheral topics around eligibility, so
Speaker 6: that's why they've done this.
Speaker 2: But this is leaked to the longer this has gone on,
Speaker 2: it's like the boy with the finger and the dike,
Speaker 2: and it's going to swallow them whole. But they also
Speaker 2: don't want to open a Pandora's box. So it's a
Speaker 2: very delicate balance they have. And if you think for
Speaker 2: a second the media are going to go away, well
Speaker 2: that's not going to happen, isn't it, Because we can
Speaker 2: not necessarily see the future. But things change, and they
Speaker 2: change in a hurry, and you've got to be cognizant
Speaker 2: of that. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Well, I guess people could argue that the player market
Speaker 6: trends haven't necessarily changed overly dramatically on the broad picture
Speaker 6: basis that there are more there is more money and
Speaker 6: more opportunity overseas for New Zealand's best players. The money
Speaker 6: they can earn overseas continues to be greater than the
Speaker 6: money they can earn here. That's never really changed from
Speaker 6: the first days of professionalism, but I think it's become
Speaker 6: a little bit more nuanced than that now because you know,
Speaker 6: Japan is the game changer in my view, because these
Speaker 6: guys are offering at times quite significant amounts of money.
Speaker 6: We're talking sort of one million, two million dollar contracts.
Speaker 6: They're building a level of credibility in Japan in terms
Speaker 6: of the quality of the rugby. It's backed by massive corporations,
Speaker 6: so it's got a sustainable financial model. Toyota are going
Speaker 6: to continue to fund a rugby team forever because that's
Speaker 6: part of their corporate culture and their code of conduct
Speaker 6: almost or their charter. Is what I'm trying to say
Speaker 6: is to pump money back into sport, to produce better
Speaker 6: people and to engage with the community. So it's all
Speaker 6: viable and there's a lot of people gravit heating to
Speaker 6: Japan and the power of that in three to four
Speaker 6: years time will be significantly more than it is. No
Speaker 6: to your point and the ability of Japanese clubs to
Speaker 6: lure New Zealand's best players over there with the lifestyle,
Speaker 6: with the quality of rugby and the money on offer,
Speaker 6: it will be very difficult for New Zealand to stop
Speaker 6: more and more players from going there.
Speaker 2: Sports Vex William Owson didn't set the world on fire
Speaker 2: over the weekend at Albert parkin Melbourne for the opening
Speaker 2: race of the twenty twenty five Formula One season, but
Speaker 2: he didn't set his car on fire either. He didn't
Speaker 2: set himself on fire and when push comes to shove,
Speaker 2: it could have been a lot worse. Granted it could
Speaker 2: have been better, but he hasn't burnt any bridges for
Speaker 2: his future at red Ball. Being next for Steppens teammate
Speaker 2: is never easy. Essentially, the car is set up for
Speaker 2: the whims of the Steppen. He is a very fast,
Speaker 2: very aggressive driver who likes to power in and out
Speaker 2: of the corners. Liam Lawson just has to get used
Speaker 2: the way the car actually operates, and from what I
Speaker 2: know of Lim Lawson, the way he goes about his business,
Speaker 2: he will take to this setup, he will take to
Speaker 2: this car design particularly well. It might take a few races.
Speaker 2: Red Bull are notoriously impatient with their co drivers maxves
Speaker 2: Stappen four consecutive championships. Plainly, they'll do everything they possibly
Speaker 2: can to give him the car he wants, but all
Speaker 2: of the other teammates couldn't deal with the bucking Bronco
Speaker 2: that he desires. Lim Lawson will have a handful of
Speaker 2: races to show the superiors at Red Bull that he
Speaker 2: has what it takes. It was his first race at
Speaker 2: Albert Park. It was an awful race. It was full
Speaker 2: of stoppages, full of rain, full of generally horrid behavior
Speaker 2: in a Formula one track. So I don't think it
Speaker 2: can read too much into that. Next week, well, in
Speaker 2: a few days now, the circus is off to Shanghai.
Speaker 2: This is a race. It's not a track cobbled together
Speaker 2: on public streets. This has been designed for racing. Again,
Speaker 2: Liam Lawson has never raced a race in anger in
Speaker 2: a single seater at Shanghai, but I think we saw
Speaker 2: enough over the weekend to show that Liam Lawson has
Speaker 2: got a future in Formula one. And for those out
Speaker 2: there the naysay is going. But that wasn't great. He
Speaker 2: didn't look fantastic. Look closely at the race, look at
Speaker 2: what he achieved in that car, with the very limited
Speaker 2: running he had to that race. I think he did
Speaker 2: pretty good. And I'm sure that the faith shown in
Speaker 2: him by the Red Bull bosses will be well and
Speaker 2: truly repaid sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1: The Chamber is now in session on Sportsfix.
Speaker 2: And we'll joining the Chamber now by sports journalists from
Speaker 2: the New Zealand Herald. Alex Palell, Greetings to you, Alex.
Speaker 2: I trust is still smiling after what happened at Albert
Speaker 2: Bark over the weekend.
Speaker 5: Smiling, mate, how are you now?
Speaker 2: I'm very very good. I wasn't exac smiling. It was
Speaker 2: it was damp, wasn't it damp? Literally? Damp figuratively. That's
Speaker 2: not the race anybody wants to start the season. If
Speaker 2: anyone says, oh, you're just covering up the Liam Lawson,
Speaker 2: I'm not. It was a crappy race, and it happens
Speaker 2: from time to time.
Speaker 5: It was a tough race, wasn't it. I mean, that's
Speaker 5: as bad of a weekend as he could have asked for,
Speaker 5: but for me, there was good signs in there. You know,
Speaker 5: you look over all, he did have the second fastest
Speaker 5: lap in the Grand Prown. I know that's mitigated by
Speaker 5: being a wet, dry race, but he was getting better
Speaker 5: throughout the weekend. He was limited time on track during practice.
Speaker 5: I think ultimately that did cost him and qualifying and
Speaker 5: that's why he started so far back. But I don't
Speaker 5: see any reason why he can't recover from.
Speaker 2: That, whether improvements. And this is what I saw, and
Speaker 2: this is the big thing. I know it's small. I
Speaker 2: know it's tiny, but like you, I was looking at
Speaker 2: him as much as I can. Well, I couldn't dial
Speaker 2: up my f one thing into the TV at my
Speaker 2: mate's house to get all the in car cameras and
Speaker 2: all of the information between Lim and the team, mainly
Speaker 2: because my mate said, you're not touching my new TV.
Speaker 2: Get away from it. We go what's the regular coverage?
Speaker 2: But watching it as was, he showed incremental advances.
Speaker 5: I mean you look at when he overtook Estebanokkhon's HEAs
Speaker 5: it would have been about the thirtieth lap, and that
Speaker 5: put him behind Gabriel Bordoletto. The gap when he overtook
Speaker 5: Ochen was about eight seconds. By the time the rain
Speaker 5: came that gap had been cut to three and a
Speaker 5: half seconds. That is a long time in mostport.
Speaker 2: That is a big well when you're talking about tenths
Speaker 2: being a long time and one hundred's being closer.
Speaker 5: And that wasn't a pit stop that gave him quick
Speaker 5: a tize. That was just being in a better car
Speaker 5: and using it.
Speaker 2: So it's all there, well, the setup time, the time
Speaker 2: that he didn't have in his car because something mean
Speaker 2: pitching early on on the piece. So if you're not
Speaker 2: used to a race track and you go there and
Speaker 2: you lose thirty laps or there or thereabouts, it's so
Speaker 2: hard to catch up from that.
Speaker 5: You look at the guys who were retired early got
Speaker 5: Carlos Science didn't make it till the end of the
Speaker 5: first lap. He's a multiple race winner and even won
Speaker 5: that race last year, so he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 5: At Melbourne, Fernandu l Lonso didn't make it past the
Speaker 5: first ten lamp, you know, and he's won two well
Speaker 5: titled so it's not as though Lawson was the only
Speaker 5: one that struggled.
Speaker 2: That was a tough race and the turn, the quick turn,
Speaker 2: so three undred and twenty k nine teen through there
Speaker 2: was so that caught a lot of people off guard,
Speaker 2: especially if they dipped a boot in the grass. It's
Speaker 2: all over. But this week back into it again, straight
Speaker 2: back on the horse, Shanghai proper race track.
Speaker 5: Yeah, how could you have Shanghai back on the calendar.
Speaker 5: It was gone for a couple of years because of
Speaker 5: COVID understandably, but geez, I love China. I love that
Speaker 5: long back straight.
Speaker 2: The place is. I have actually been there, went saw
Speaker 2: a race there once. I tell you what long backstrake
Speaker 2: the train journey from Shanghi to the race track. Talk
Speaker 2: about a long back straight. Yeah, I'm pleased to see
Speaker 2: it again. I'm looking forward to seeing how these new
Speaker 2: cars were, what they can achieve around that track, and
Speaker 2: hoping that Ferrari can lift their game as well. Huh.
Speaker 5: I mean poor Lewis Hamilton, he's watching the Mercedes cars
Speaker 5: he left finished.
Speaker 2: But at least it's a beautiful shade of red. Really
Speaker 2: got it right this time around, haven't they.
Speaker 5: What's the quote? You let a kid designer race cardhill,
Speaker 5: paint it red.
Speaker 2: Red cars go faster? We all know that let's move
Speaker 2: away to rugby union. The two Robbos Robertson and Robinson
Speaker 2: on the Rugby Direct podcast with Elliott and Liam talking
Speaker 2: with Unity around what happens next with the All Blacks.
Speaker 2: The big takeaway out of that probably that Robertson's backed.
Speaker 5: Down, yeah, over eligibility, no overseas all backs, which I'm
Speaker 5: kind of upset about. I think you look at what
Speaker 5: could have happened if they'd open the doors and let
Speaker 5: guys go overseas and plan different competitions, that could have
Speaker 5: been a lot better for the All Blacks. But I
Speaker 5: think it's going to be baby steps on this front.
Speaker 5: You know, it might not be till the next World
Speaker 5: Cup cycle that they begin to actually let guys experience.
Speaker 2: But they're terrified of opening a Pandora's box, and because
Speaker 2: as soon as that happens, it's all over, they can't
Speaker 2: do anything. They've got to be very careful in that space.
Speaker 5: Exactly right. But I mean the counter argument to that,
Speaker 5: you look at Ireland and the Kiwi guys they've got
Speaker 5: playing for the Bundi Aki Jameson, Gibson Park, James Low
Speaker 5: when Bundy a Ken Jameson Gibson Park were here, they
Speaker 5: were never going to get near the All Blacks. Oh
Speaker 5: now they've gone and played in a different system and
Speaker 5: a different rugby culture and the two are the best
Speaker 5: players in the world. You know, guys will get better
Speaker 5: when in different environments. And that's not saying everyone who
Speaker 5: guys overseas is going to get better. Because you look
Speaker 5: at a guy like Lemasopowanga. You know, he really struggled
Speaker 5: playing in England, you know, and it wasn't until you know,
Speaker 5: he comes back here and he finds what he knows.
Speaker 5: But different you know, different structure, different folks, isn't it.
Speaker 2: I think that for the future they constantly have to
Speaker 2: look into this. They don't, they'll fall behind. But as
Speaker 2: I said, they go on too fast. The don't even
Speaker 2: know what damage they might do to this famed All
Speaker 2: Black brand. Have they got their money off the billionaire yet?
Speaker 6: Do you know?
Speaker 2: No doubt it. He was at the Grand Prix, oh
Speaker 2: waere you go, having the time of his lifelo And
Speaker 2: I did note that Dan Carter was there as well,
Speaker 2: and it said Dan Carter, former New Zealand rugby player.
Speaker 2: It didn't mention All Black and I thought that's got
Speaker 2: to hurt the NZR surely.
Speaker 5: Ah, I mean we're talking about Modus bought brands in
Speaker 5: not clicking with rugby, which isn't anything new.
Speaker 2: I couldn't help myself when I saw it, though, Way would.
Speaker 5: You see he was hanging out with Oscopy Estra before
Speaker 5: I was hanging out with Liam Lawson.
Speaker 2: Well there you go. Look at that all up there,
Speaker 2: along with the Zuru bloke and everybody else, all the
Speaker 2: life stars of the rich and famous. So one last thing, autumn,
Speaker 2: because it is even though we have very late summers
Speaker 2: now in New Zealand, the Indian summers, if you will,
Speaker 2: what a place to schedule a couple of tea twenty
Speaker 2: matches Dunedin.
Speaker 5: Mate, the great Autumn of cricket lives on. I'm glad
Speaker 5: we've sold our summer. Yeah, I mean, look, it's just
Speaker 5: by we might. We might just limp to the finish
Speaker 5: line of the summer of cricket. And if it means,
Speaker 5: you know, a T ten in Donedan because there's rain,
Speaker 5: then that's what we've got.
Speaker 2: I'm willing to cut them some slack. It would have
Speaker 2: been more so if the black Caps had won the
Speaker 2: Champions Trophy, but if you look back at the criticism
Speaker 2: of New Zealand cricket the lack of preparation the head
Speaker 2: of major tournaments for their team, they didn't lack preparation.
Speaker 2: It blew the home summer away, so the fans got
Speaker 2: to punch on the nose. But we did get into
Speaker 2: the final, right.
Speaker 5: Well right, But I mean, this is the issue with
Speaker 5: this T twenty series is we've seen the peak of
Speaker 5: the summer that was the Champions Trophy and now we're
Speaker 5: back here they going, no, this is good too. So well,
Speaker 5: you've just given us something that's better than that.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I'm old school. I look at T twenty as my
Speaker 5: least favorite of the three formats and now we've got
Speaker 5: five of them.
Speaker 2: I just want to see test crickets. That so much
Speaker 2: to ask. Yes, Okay, thanks very much for that. Alex Powell,
Speaker 2: Sports Journal, saturdayw Zealand Herold. Thank you very much for
Speaker 2: your time and your expertise.
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