Scott Barrett | Backyard Cricket and the Long Road Back

Mac Leesburg: If you got him out and then he'd go bowl and honestly he'd come off the long run up. He'd be like Laslie Malinga. You know the Michelle Angel Fast Bowler. These ones And the faster he'd go, the bigger the side angle like he'd just absolutely roar in. Welcome back to Inside the Black Jersey. What a weekend of footy it was. The All Blacks have locked away the Bladerslow Cup once again. 50 points to 19 at the Garden of Eden, the Fortress. It just doesn't get too much better. Seven tries to three, and we've got Scott Barrett, the 90-test All Black, joining us very shortly indeed. How good was it to see him running it hard and forced. Brad Weber, what a what a view that would have been for you to see. Back home in New Zealand, it just doesn't get much better as an all blacks fan. Nah, that's that's what we wanted to see, George. The second most important trophy locked up in the cabinet once again, the Bleslo Cup. And wasn't it great seeing the boys take it around the crowd, giving everybody the chance to to touch the the the coveted silverware? Can you can you fit in that trophy? I think I probably could. I I could mono into it, I think. Well, I was the I was certainly there with the with the punters in the stands. It was a great night, just so like especially that second half performance, mate, was incredible. And you spoke about Scott Barrett and it was so good to see him back on the field and put in a hell of a performance for having was it ten months off in the end? Couple of NPC games for Tatunaki and certainly didn't look out of place with a good shunt at seventy minutes. And so why don't we stop wasting our time and let's go and talk to Scooter now. Well, the man of the moment back in action, Scooter Scott Barrett. First and foremost, welcome back into the Black Jersey, mate. It's been a fairly long time off. How good was it to to get back out on Eden Park and and on the Black Jersey again? Yeah, I was loving it. George, it was yeah, like you said, there's a long time coming. sort of second time around planned start. ten months down the track. So it's yeah, a longer than expected sort of sabbatical and then with injury in there that sort of reared its head unexpectedly. So yeah, no, it was a great feeling to get back out there again and you know, nice and footy. How are the lungs, mate? I know like it doesn't matter how much MAS running, how much you know, sort of running or fitness you can do on your own, nothing quite prepares you for actually playing rugby. Like were you quite nervous around How the lungs were gonna hold up. What what did you get through in the end? It was about seventy minutes. Seventy one, yeah. Yeah. yeah, I was I was actually a little bit nervous at like when the team got named, first sort of week back in the environment. I know I was sort of, you know, thinking maybe be on the bench. And then Remens, you know, in passing said, you good to go this weekend, like on Monday night. And I was like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like sweet. So we're into it. So yeah, like had two games for Tanunaki, like forty minutes and then sixty minutes the week before that. But yeah, like you said, like nothing can prepare you for rugby, you know, like the lanes were yeah, certainly feeling it, but I I always try to tell myself if you're if your lungs are hurting, like you're you're in the right place, you're working. Yeah, that's part of my job. What I have to do is just work hard for teams. So yeah, it was it was good. And often the opposition's probably hurting more than you, but actually Harps had you on the bench as well last week and his team. I personally had you starting scooter, so I I had full faith in what he you had done NPC. Yeah, I I think Yeah, no, I I I think I was I was ready to go. It was just speed with I guess the new calls and how the team wanted to play more than anything. So it was a bit of homework and me and Shannon were in the same boat really, learning sort of you know, the game plans and I actually probably had a slight advantage 'cause a lot of lot of the language is similar to last year, but Shannon hadn't been in in the team for three years and has like you know learning a whole another language. Yeah. You must be pretty satisfied with with how the rig held up and and the fact that you could throw it around pretty freely at Eden Park. Yeah, yeah. I was quite pleased getting through that that game and yeah, like I said, got through a bit of work, so probably set the standard. A bit too high, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you've gotta you've gotta seriously punch above your weight again this weekend. What was it like, mate, having I know this is probably a a regular thing over your career and we're we're nothing it's nothing abnormal to see three Barrett brothers in the same starting lineup, but it's been a fairly long time between drinks for all three of you. it must have been nice for for the lads to be back together again. Yeah, it was it was great. you know, Richie going down during the week sort of through a bit of a spanner and then it was an opportunity for Bodhi. So yeah, we rejig in the in the in the squad and you know, he certainly took his opportunity and, you know, Geordie's been playing you know, some of the best rugby I've certainly seen and you know, if not in sort of career best form. So yeah, it was it was great to be back out there and share the field share the field with them and you know, and particularly in a game that was a good good performance at Eden Park. Which one of you Barrett boys bullied Geordie the most? Because the way that he Like runs around and looks for contact. I've lo I've likened him to Bobby Boucher and the Water Boy scooter. Like he just gets like a little knock and then he's just flying around looking for contact. So who was it? Was it was it you? Was it Kane as the oldest? 'Cause he he he certainly seems like the youngest brother of you know, the the way that he plays. Yeah, like funnily enough, it wasn't actually anything rugby related. it was more the intensity of a of a backyard cricket game. Yeah. You could actually you could actually wind them up, wind them up, wind them up, just chip away, chip chip. And brilliant. If you got him out and he'd go bowl and honestly he'd come off the long run up. He'd be like Lasif Malinga. You the Shelly fast bowler. These ones. And the faster he'd go, the bigger the side angle, like he'd just absolutely roar in. And it would get to the point where You know you'd break him by chase after you after he's delivered the ball. Brilliant. Brilliant. It was marginal, but like I think it's probably a byproduct of you know, the competitor that he is today, you know, you know, putting up with a couple of older brothers that were sort of just chipping at him. but yeah. The sledging must have been so good. I would have loved to have just been around just to hear what you bloke scooter. Who was the most creative? Who who'd be who'd come up with the most creative sledges? I imagine it might have been Yeah you've you've got a bit of something about you. Back in the day. And we used to we used to throw a few nicknames around there too. Yeah, so no, it was it was good. Like we'd have like we're neighbour our neighbors are the Crowleys, so that'd have two Crowleys come down and then we'd cousins live down the road, so yeah, often we'd have enough for at least a four or side if we're playing footy or you know, there'd be a good couple of slips in the cordon. couple around the helmet. Couple around the back of the helmet and just you know, it was trendy we we pressure sort of cooker for the pressure cooker. I love it. But it was it was really competitive. Brilliant. One thing one thing I've always loved is the fact that you've got three lads in the team, but all three such different positions and body shapes. Like where does that come from or how was it was grow growing up were you boys always completely different in a physical aspect? Yeah, I think I don't know, I probably won the race to the table. Yeah, no, Bodie from along like from primary school, Bodie was like a cross country runner. he was fast. He'd go to like the Taranaki Champs, he'd be in the top three there. Geordie would be similar. I don't know, I think I think like mid high school, probably late high school, I started in the gym a bit and saw my brother. Like he he went down to university at Lincoln and then come home. And he would have put on, I'd say twelve kilos, And I was like Wow. I know so I don't know, I might have similar five and some. and we we just started I know, I started lifting weights with Kane a little bit and those other two probably playing cricket in the summer, whereas I was, you know, fishing and in the gym with Kane, so that's probably where I put on a bit more mass than the other two. Scooter, can you talk to us more about your Injury? I know it was was it a dystectomy that it was a bulged disc or something like that? Like did did that happen at training or was that kind of like over time it just got worse and worse? I I had a bit of a sensation probably the start of this year, like just in my hip. I just thought it was a tight hip. we're on rowing machines and we did a bit of running and felt this weird sensation like my calf was cramping and I couldn't run. I was like, what is going on here? And yeah, my my calf just wouldn't fire, so it's like went and saw the medips and yeah, after that sort of developed all the sciatic pain stuff. so sitting down for longer than five minutes would be uncomfortable. Yes a lot of people have dealt with that sideic pain, but the thing that I th I guess the pain was one thing, but not having a car firing was, you know, certainly limiting what I could do on the paddock. So yeah. gave it about four months sorry, four weeks. Sorry. Gave it four weeks to try and settle on its own because sometimes yeah, any bulged discs they can sort of sort themselves out. But it was just sort of flatlining if not getting a little bit worse. So Yeah. the specialists suggested that best thing for me as a rugby player and long term would be to have the procedure where they yeah, do a dyscectomy, micro dyscectomy, they shave away the disc that was putting pressure on the nerve. So it was almost like instant pain relief. and then it sort of just gradually over a period of four months just getting back to yeah, one, getting the core strong again and then two is getting the calf back 'cause I had a bit of a sh deficit from yeah, not firing properly. So yeah, it was a wee sort of bump in the road and you know, I was I was hoping to play the back end of that super rugby but wasn't to be and yeah. subsequently lock missed out on opportunity to go to South Africa and be part of that tour, which was a huge occasion, but nonetheless I'm back in the environment and just took the long way. Like if you've got an injured one A and then you're like, my God, I need every lit little movement I need my back all of a sudden. So I imagine that was sound. Yeah. Nah it's but I just it's it's quite irritable. Like as a rugby player you you can sort of learn to put up with a little bit of pain. and the pain was it was annoying, but like, I couldn't really run. I couldn't do a calf raise. so yeah, I was running around on a flat tire basically, so yeah, got fielded. And we know we know you've got to get going now, so just finally we should probably just briefly tap on the game that's coming up. we we've spent too much time having fun. But how pumped are we to be over in Sydney and go round two against the wallabies, mate? Yeah, I think for us really is the challenge of backing up a performance. yeah, I'm excited about that and you know, week two being back in the environment it's always a challenge when you have a decent performance is to, you know, back it up and the Aussies at home. whether their backs are against the ball or not, like they'll always play with confidence and I I personally think that they'll probably play a little bit more. you know, we we previewed that last week and I may have been a little bit surprised with how much they kicked. So we're sort of preparing for them to, you know, challenge us with a bit more ball in hand. So yeah, we'll we'll have to be on and make adjustments this week and yeah certainly look to finish this sort of part of this Aussie league w with a was the po with a strong performance. Yeah. Yeah, the Australians are kind of annoying in that way where you can be up by thirty points and they just don't they never give up. They're a style punch but short oil. Like interestingly you say that when I was playing against your magpies in At Hawke's Bay, I watched the first half and then I went to bed and I said when they're playing South Africa, I said a wee feeling that man, they're in this game and you know you just tell when they've got their confidence, they're pretty hard to beat. So yeah. We're giving them the full respect this week and they'll want to come out and play well in front of their fans. Go well, man. Thanks so much. Sweet, cheers guys. Now that he's gone, we can pump his ties up more than more than the humble Barretts are allowed to. What an incredible performance from Scoot. Like coming back, he was honestly he looked as strong as ever, didn't take a backward step, just snapping, snapping people at will. How good were all three Barretts? mate, they were all good and yeah, wasn't it good to see Bodie as well put in a great performance at the back there's first opportunity with the full A side, I suppose you could call it. after just a couple of performances on the greatest rivalry tour, one off the bench in the test side and the other games in the midweek game. So I'm I'm sure he would have been relishing that. Him and his combination with with Damien I thought was outstanding. He made some huge defensive reads and defensive plays coming up into that wide channel, which is a really hard place to defend. I thought him and Damien were just outstanding. And then yes, like you mentioned Scooter, man, it's seventeen carries and twelve tackles. In in seventy minutes after having ten months off and a couple of NPC games, mate. I don't think there's too many blokes out there with the engine like that. Yeah, it was seriously impressive. And you look at look at the big boys up front, your Wallace Atiti, eighteen carries, Quinta Pie fourteen, Tupu Vai getting up there as well. The big boys were really setting the platform, weren't they? And that allowed little Jim at first five, Damien to to run an absolute muck in that first half in particular. Yeah. Isn't it just like I love the variation in his depth that that Damien plays with? He he's got a real clear understanding on when the team's playing with momentum that he can actually come from depth and hit the ball hard, like call for it out the back from that forward pod, which we saw in the in the try that he set up for for Peter Luckeye. like it's just the timing that has come from experience with him now. I think he's just got he's just got the complete game. and you mentioned like some of those those carry numbers. Tupo, Vai and Quinta Pyre getting stuck in there. Like the what what I what I've been noticing too, Harps, I wonder if you've noticed this as well, is there's a there's a couple of times now where if if the if the all blacks kinda l maybe if they lose a little bit little bit of momentum, they call I think it's Royguard just calls all eight forwards into a fifteen metre channel to the sideline. So from the sideline to the fifteen and then they just go to work. You saw Quinto Pyre Get in there and play halfback and he's like looking for his little pick and goes. I think he had two or three carries in that sort of scenario. Like this is obviously an area of the of the game that the All Blacks have have recognized that it's a good place to restart some momentum. And you're you're basically carrying at the same six or seven guys on the defense, you know, multiple tackles in a row. So you're making those guys do a lot of work and tie them down. And that's when I thought Towards the back end to into the second half, sorry, like the the Australians just couldn't win any any physical battle. We were winning, we were getting into weak shoulders, we were winning gain line all the time. So I just think like that that sort of stuff where you're just grinding five or six, seven players down at a time, like that's when at the back end of the game you're starting to we we started to see the the fruits of that labor, like the Cody Taylor try where the Poor Australians just looked absolutely out on their feet. So yeah, tactically they're looking good, man. And it was interesting though, Harps, did you think from what Scooter mentioned sort of towards the the end of our of our chat was that he didn't think that the Australians played that much with the ball in hand. which and they kicked a lot more than perhaps they were expecting and he's now potentially expecting the opposite this weekend. Yeah, I just felt like they had no real chance, right? It almost felt like the all blacks were doing what South Africa did to us a few weeks ago. Just no chance to play footy, no chance to be on the front foot. and then like for example, Fraser McWright, he got zero turnovers because obviously we were just on the front foot so much and for him a flanker of his fetching ability to get zero turnovers must must mean he's just never in a good position and always on the back foot. So I just thought I just thought the big boys did their job so well in the weekend and it allowed Roygaard to take full control of the game. I really thought that he he took a massive responsibility. He he was the main kicker. He kicked 15 times and Damien only four times. So it was clearly a tactic and you mentioned the tram lines and as a halfback I'd love your opinion on this. He all his kicks were so accurate down those tram lines and if you look at the mapping of his kicks, they're all in very similar areas, contestable as ever. Which is just super impressive and and he really controlled the whole game. I I think that's the best kicking performance I've seen from Cam Rugaard yet. Like it was incredible. Some of his clearing kicks from five meters out from his own line as well were were were really good. And then he gave his wingers and and Geordie Barrett as as well was getting in there on the on the chase as well. He gave them plenty of opportunities to go up and get them. I think we retained five or six kicks ourselves, which more. Yeah. And going back I suppose to what to what Scooter was talking about around how they d the Australians didn't play as much as they were expecting. I do wonder if the preview for the Australians they saw how poor we we were against the South Africans under the high ball and we know how good a highball catches they've got in Tom Wright and Joseph Soylee and Jorgensen's pretty good but even though he's not quite as has the same height as as Joseph. But Maybe they thought that's where they were gonna try and attack our our boys, but they've you've clearly seen that they've they've put in fair bit of work. We we won a lot of those aerial battles. and obviously that tactic didn't work, so perhaps that's why Scooter thinks that this week they'll be like, Okay an area where we thought maybe the the we could expose the all blacks is clearly not as as fruitful as as we thought. So we're gonna have to go back to to what what is Australian rugby and that is keeping it in hand and And having a crack with some of their athletes. Yeah, and s and scooter Scooter touched on it briefly and we we skimmed over it, but I want to go back to to the younger brother. As as Scott said, he's in career best form, and it's pretty hard to argue. What a what a amazing performance on and off the ball. The way he is defending at the moment, throwing himself completely into everything is just incredible. What's impressed you so much about him? Because it's not like he's Making ten line breaks and setting up a hundred tries, but it's just every action that he makes is a hundred and fifty percent at the moment. Yeah, and it's not it's not just every action i i it's the fact that he's doing it over and over again. It's the amount. It's like it's it's not it's not just quality, it's quantity as well put together. And that's why he's been talked about as potentially a a world rugby player of the year this year. It's just the amount of work he's getting through is just incredible. We know he's got a big engine. We've seen it for for a long time, but now he's just doing it over and over again. and again, mate, I I take you back to it. He's Bobby Boucher, he's the water boy. Rob v Rob Valentini bumped him off with with one of the great carries which you don't see happen very often with Geordie. And then five or so minutes later, you i the the steam's coming out of the ears of of of Don. He's flying around and just flying into everybody. He's smashing Donaldson, he's smashing Jorgensen, he's smashing everybody. So like yeah. He's he's been by far the most consistent all black so far this year, and if not, he's probably been the best player. You think he's been the best player in or you know, best mo most man of the matches so far this this season, Harps? Yeah, I think I think him and Roygaard's always been so influential, especially at the early stage of the this of the season. whether it's world rugby player of the year stuff is is Maybe maybe pushing it. I think those South African boys have got a fair few names they could throw in the hat there. But I'm just loving his fizz, loving his energy. And there was this great replay which I which I just love was him him lying like a child on his back. He's just like like almost just couldn't move and he was just celebrating that they got this turnover and his his hair which sits so sturdily on his noggin was all over the show and He's just a passionate bloke and and whether that's on the rugby field or not, like he is incredibly passionate about sport. Like I've never met someone who knows so much about the other sports, your golf, your cricket, everything. He's just a sports nuffy. so it's it's always great to see him play well and and exude all that passion. He he's one of those annoying blokes that is literally good at everything. I know. What's what what's Don's flaw, genuinely? what's this for? Probably just his lack of tan, maybe. We we might need to talk to we might need to talk to his fiance, Alice, and she might be able to give us the the inside word into maybe maybe somewhere in life that that Don isn't bloody good at. Maybe his golf grip. He doesn't interlock his golf grip, which I think's a bit of a nick, a bit of a flaw. it's a nick, but then he'd still beat us by like ten shots on the course, so it's like mm. Yeah. Yeah. No, that is that is true. But Harps Harps like I w I wanna I wanna know from from you because I could see it at the ground, but if you watching on the tally and it i it's it's interlinked with r around what we're talking about with Geordie, around just being physical and winning collisions, that's where I thought the step up from our South African series against the Australians, that's sort of where this the the growth was in in our game. Did you see that on T V and but Do you also think is that just because we're playing the Australians and is that like so about our opposition? I thought it was I thought it was a little bit of what we said last week on the pod when you talked about Shannon Frizel having dad strength. It just felt like all of the boys had that dad strength this weekend and it's like we've been in the cauldron, we've been in the trenches over in Africa. Now it's our turn to bully. And unfortunately for the Aussies, we've got to remember like they They have been down to six in the world rankings recently as well. So they've they've they've had a up and down year, and obviously beating South Africa was their highlight, but you know, they're not quite number one and two in the world. So it really showed on the weekend when they all just rolled their sleeves up and and the boys went hard. And it was for me, there was a lot of chat about the being their best chance to win at Eden Park and break the hoodoo. But I I I wasn't having a bar of that. The boys the boys were ready, they were fresh. and even I was actually quite impressed even with the late changes, with the likes of, you know, third f third first five in the mix and and scenarios like that, it just didn't seem to phase us, you know. Th third first first five in quotation marks, by the way, Harps, because Damian Mackenzie is like he'd be a first choice in just about every single e every single team going around. And the ten and fifteen role is so interchangeable with this all black team as well. They're they're often sitting in the bat backfield. That's where I thought Damien and and Bodhi's combination I thought was was really, really strong. And like mate, I just thought Damien was outstanding. but he he's so experienced now. He's played ninety tests for the All Blacks, you know, well over a hundred super rugby games. He's been the best super rugby ten in the in the country over the last five years. and then he's won us some massive test matches like we spoke about in previous tests, like against against Ireland and Dublin, he was incredible. He won us the game against Scotland at Murrayfield as well, so he has big you know, big game ability. But it's gonna be give a bit of a headache for Well, I was gonna say there's a few tests a few tests to go here. Is there any point in even asking someone with such a chief eye patch on? if you if you'd keep him there for the long run. Well, he'll he'll he'll obviously get a run this weekend. and I'm not sure about the nation's championship, but r regardless I it it seems to me that Dave just wants to get his fifteen best players on the field at once. So that's why Damien's moved to fifteen. That's why Will's been playing on the wing because that combination w even if you s sort of say again in quotation marks if they might be slightly out of position, or not in their preferred positions, they're the best players. So let's just find a a an area on the field for them all. But speaking of our fifteen best players, Harps, a few injuries popped up Over the weekend, a couple of concussions with Amur and Segna. Ethan Blackhatter pulled up with I think it was a calf injury and the warm up. Richie Mose obviously hurt himself during the week as well. So do you do you see more changes than just what has been forced through injury? Like will will he throw a few other guys in there or is it be a relatively settled squad and then just replace those injured guys? Yeah, well, first and foremost, I couldn't wish anything worse upon anyone than having a head clash with a software arm moa. That head looks like a full to the brim gas bottle. That is rock solid. And I'm surprised Segner's alive to tell the story. wow, that was bad friendly fire. but you know, it that's that's the great thing about our squad at the moment. Like speaking of Moor, we've got Sam Masoni just sitting in the wings. To go, hey mate, I'm still playing pretty good code as well. So I think the great thing is we'll keep our core as similar as we can and and a lot of these guys can just s you know, shift into the system. I'm gutted for Bunk for Leroy Carter with the hip drop. Obviously quite interesting timing with that rule change coming up in November and the amount we've seen in the NRL of hip drops getting punished and so many injuries and even Nathan Cleary in the in the It'll and it'll it'll happen less in union it'll ha happen less in union though, won't it, Harps? Like because there's so there's such a focus on chop tackling, just getting the guy to ground really quickly. I think it'll happen less. The the majority of the time you'll see it is the exact ones on the weekend, right? Is the post sort of line break when you're chasing them down trying to halt their momentum there. So yeah, hopefully we w we won't see as much of it or some graphic ones like we did with with Nathan Cleary, but Yeah, poor old Bumfer. That looks sore. He did bloody he did bloody well just to get the ball down, knowing that he was in a fair bit of pain, right? You see him grimacing while he's doing it, right? It's screaming and that's it. Yeah, I'm I'm interested to hear what the what the results of that are. Hopefully it's not too bad because they can be they can be pretty niggly injuries, those ones. So thoughts thoughts are with him. One thing I loved with the Leroy Carter try was Peter Luckeye playing off the ground that last offload and it just shows that all this practice, all this training, all this high tempo footy is actually starting to pay off because that looks so natural, Brad. Like the way he popped it up popped it up and put him away was just clinical. And I think that's how we're expressing ourselves and that's how we're scoring such amazing drives. Yeah, that's right. And it's like I know Dave Rennie and Co. they do certainly encourage the boys to keep the ball alive. And you're you're seeing that, but it's not it's not offloads speculators, you know, it's it it's high quality, high percentage plays when when when you've won momentum and you're right in behind the gain line, that's the time to give it a go. Not not when you're being beaten physic physically and trying to throw a speculator. So it's it's just smart play. I think yeah, the the team clearly really n knows the game plan. you know, week to week they're getting better and better. So it's exciting to see. I can't wait to see what the finish result is by by the end of the season. One thing, Brad, I'm not sure if I'm getting a little bit over analytical here, but I'd love your opinion on the tries we have led in or some of the line breaks we've led in, and in particular the first try that the Wallabies scored as well. We seem to be doing a lot of umbrella defense, whether that's Will Jordan, Quintapie just sprinting up. hovering out of the line to try and shut things down really quick. And a couple of times it's opened up a little bit of space. Is there something in that that they're trying to achieve? Is there something that you could give us an insight to behind that umbrella technique? Well, it it is a little bit live by the sword, die by the sword, right? You y you do leave yourself pretty exposed if if teams are able to punch into that space that you've left. And you've seen, yeah, a lot of it's it's mostly a center and winger so Quinn Lee Roy Carter and and and Will Jordan like to get up high on the on the outside and try and force them back in. the the the specific scenario where the where they scored on the weekend, I think was just you you just gotta tip your head. There was just really, really good play from from the Australians. And particularly from malls like that, it is hard to defend the nine to twelve pass and back and behind. You really need everybody going with you. And I think maybe Will might have just been a little bit slow. outside Quinn to go up with him recognising that he was going to go and shoot, he needs to sort of potentially get up there, up there with him. So once Donaldson sort of got that freakish ball away to Jorgensen, it kind of left them all sort of on a a little bit of an island. But you're seeing it in phase play as well, which has been working really well actually, because we're we've got wingers that are fast enough that if they go over the top, Will Jordan can still turn around and get back and and make that tackle. So that's sort of the whole reason behind it is just try and not give them easy gain line. You can just force them back into where our strong defenders are and our loose forwards and our in some of our our second rowers. So that's sort of I guess the reason behind it. And certainly seems like they're more so on the same page than they were in the first two or three tests in that nations championship, right? When we were sitting here going, like the attacks looking good, but geez, the defence is looking potentially a little bit ropey. I'm actually pretty happy with how how it's going. And if you let one in, then so be it. I'm just glad that they stuck to it and they just keep keep going. I liked it. Before we preview the next test, we've got some mail coming in from everyone listening at home. Thanks so much for sending in your questions, whether that be on YouTube or Instagram, we love the feedback. So thank you very much. we've got Tony Soprano here. Tony Soprano twenty five. This one's for you, Brad. Tanner gave a great pep talk to fire up the All Blacks at half time and we've heard a little bit about his pep talks in the media. Who gave the best speech during your time and your career? Who were some of your your highlights in the halftime sheds? So it wouldn't have been anybody in New Zealand actually, certainly not in my All Blacks career. Most of those coaches were very you know, th they weren't giving big emotional speeches, but my time in France was incredible. We're we're this we this w my my captain at Stud France, Paul Gabriel, absolute legend of a bloke, has played well over two hundred games for Stud France, he's Parisian, he like so he froths being from Paris and playing for Stud France, and he used to just give the most passionate speeches in the pregame before we were about to run out, like spits coming out, he's just speaking in French. And he had this like I I don't know if it was just almost like a coping mechanism to how much fizz he was bringing. But for whatever reason he'd just like lock eyes with one person. And so you're just trying to before you're going into the huddle, you're trying to maneuver yourself so you're not like d in direct line with with Gabriel, because if he locks eyes on you and he's just literally he's giving it the spits coming out and he's just giving it these ones. But I tell you what, you're so fizzed to get out there and act and play. Like I can see why the Frenchies play with so much emotion and why they play so hard when they're at home and when you're playing under a leader like that, like he he just embodies he was like the bro he was incredible. So it's it's the Frenchman for me. You ever had any any good ones in your cricketing career or your Well cricket yeah probably more probably more cricket. We we were coached by Ian Trott, Jonathan Trott's old man and he is a fiery South African and he used to poor passion like no tomorrow. I've never I've played with him for over five years and I never once saw him outside his cricket whites, no matter what time of day he was wearing them. And he used to get so passionate and then I used to get the giggles and then he'd get angry at me and then we played pranks on each other and one day I knew I was the only wicket keeper left in the squad and I faked an injury in the warm-ups and he absolutely lost it. and and long story short, I won that battle. and it was it was great, but no, I not not too much on the on the rugby front, you know, the the varsity squid social team, it was more like, hey, you'll there'll be a bar tab on if you can come from behind and win, which was enough to get us revved up. what brand I was actually sat I was actually sat behind sat behind a couple of varsity squids on the weekend. They were They were good value. And as much as I'm more of a college rifles man, but anyway. Yeah, we d we don't want to hear about that. But I I do want to g talk to you about the halftime chats, Brad, because as an all black, what what actually goes on at halftime? Because sometimes you get a sneak preview into changing rooms and there's a the backs are over here, the forwards are here, the whiteboards out here. Can you briefly describe all the many little things that go on at halftime in an all black sheet? Yes, usually you'd come straight in. sit down in your in your little zone and the first maybe couple of minutes is just for the players. So you'd have a chat a a as the players if anyone's got anything that comes to mind really quickly, you get that out then. Then you split into backs and forwards. So the backs will talk about what's going on there just as players in general. And then then the coaches come in and and they they give what what they've been saying and talking about attack and and defense in your little pod. And then after that, the backs and forwards come back together, kind of feedback what they've been saying, what they've been talking about, and coaches are kind of taking a lot of control here. And then the last two or three minutes. So you might take a break for another minute just to compose yourself, get ready for the second half, and then the last couple of minutes is to the leaders again. And that's when they take over and then you're back out there again. So that's probably I think it's about a fifteen minute half time usually and that's usually how it how it all goes down. Brad, before we move on to Sydney, I will say the atmosphere looked absolutely electric, both at Eden Park and afterwards as well. And from the footage I saw, looked like you were signing some sort of forehead at one point. how was the atmosphere in general and and and what did you get up to afterwards with the fans? No, it was good, mate. There was with the daylight savings, it was quite interesting seeing the boys run out and it was still a bit sunny over here. You don't often see that these days. in New Zealand. But certainly in the second half the the atmosphere was a lot better, I think. Maybe perhaps a few of the Steinlagers were starting to settle pretty well in the crowd and they're getting a little bit more boisterous. But first mate f after the game, first time catching the new train in Auckland. Goes ahead as a is an underground underground train now. So I literally crossed from from Kingsland. It took me all the way to Sky City and then I could walk down to the Viaduct. yeah it was quite a hard case on the on the train. I was talking to punters on the around me and this one guy goes, Mate, if if I had a pen I'd let you sign my forehead right now. And then this lady right next to me is like Well actually well actually I've got a pen. And so she like pulled it out of her purse, gave it to me and I was like, Well mate, you gotta let me do it now because then all of a sudden he's like, and I kinda don't want you to So I signed his signed his forehead and then gave it back. So shout out to that punter. It was good stuff. But Nice to see Auckland getting some good infrastructure finally. Yeah. Yeah. Extend that a little bit further. Yeah, maybe. Catching up with the rest of the world finally. So it's great to see. What are your thoughts, Bradles? Because I can't see it being as one sided. The wallabies have to fight back, don't they? Yeah, they do. I was actually on the kick offs and kick ons podcast that obviously you hosted Mac Gitto last week, so we reciprocated that relationship and I jumped on theirs during the week and they were Pretty disheartened by what what had happened. But most of their question marks came from like how they let that sort of momentum just absolutely slip away from them in that second half where they just got blown away for in that sort of 20 minute period where we scored so it's so many tries. So I think what has been talked about by Scooter, I was really interested about around how maybe the Australians are gonna play more. They kicked a lot. Because they thought that was an area where they c they could go. And from talking to Matt, Drew and and and Adam on Monday, I think that was that was sort of vibe that I got from them too, is that they wanted them to go back to Australia f Australian football and that's giving it a decent crack, letting their athletes go to work. so I think we'll it'll be a bit more running rugby on the weekend as opposed to a bit of a kick battle that we saw on the weekend. Ladies and gents, thanks very much for your time. Brad, always a pleasure to lock horns and talk footy. And hopefully we'll have more access inside the camp next week. But best of luck to our all black boys. Enjoy your Blederslow Cup footy. And hopefully we can get the job done once again in Sydney. If you're in Sydney, get on down there. Get on down there and support the lads in black. but it's going to be great stuff. Brad Weber, thanks very much for your time. Cheers, mate. Thank you, George Harper. Thank you.