Full Show Podcast: 30 March 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
The only place for the.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Big names, the big issues, the big controversies and the
big conversations. It's all on Weekend Sport with Jason Vine
on your home of Sport News Talks ed B.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Care a good afternoon and welcome into the Sunday edition
of Weekend Sport on News Talks EDB. For March thirty
two giants of New Zealand sport. Born on this date,
one of our truly great fast bowlers, Jack Cowie, he
passed away in nineteen ninety four, and All Blacks and
New Zealand rugby icon Taney Norton, also born on March thirty.

(00:52):
He passed away in twenty twenty three. I'm Jason Pine
show producer is Andy McDonald. We're here to talk sport
with you until three this afternoon. The big news of
the week was Liam Lawson's demotion by Red B after
just two races in the full time seat. Huge story
here and in Formula one circles around the globe. I

(01:15):
really wanted to read your pulse on this. How I'm
going to chat shortly with Toyota Racing Series founder Barry Tomlinson.
Liam Lawson raced in that series as part of his
motorsport education. Want to take your calls as well. What
did you make of the treatment of Liam Lawson and
what do you predict for his future? After one o'clock

(01:35):
the issue of stadiums in our biggest city, Auckland Council
backed an upgrade this week to Eden Park in preference
to the construction of a new waterfront stadium. But what
does this actually mean? They're not going to kick any
money into it. Central Government don't seem too keen to
do that either. So where are we have we progressed

(01:56):
at all? Going to kick this around from a sports
fan's point of view After one o'clock. Other matters around today.
Malwana pacifica magnificent achieving their most faith as Super Rugby
victory beating the Crusaders forty five twenty nine in christ
ch last night. Coach Tana Umanga with us after two.
The black Caps one till up in their three match
ODI series against Pakistan. Going to cover that off for

(02:18):
you and the Ocean Race, the world's toughest test of
a team in sport is returning to Auckland in the
twenty twenty seven edition of the iconic Round the World
Offshore Race. Among those taking part of Kiwe Conrad Coleman.
He's going to join us in studio this afternoon too.
James mccony in his regular slot as well. Live Sport

(02:40):
today three final round Planket Shield matches into their second day.
It's raining in Dunedin though no play there, which has
opened up the table to Wellington and Canterbury who are
doing battle at the Basemin Reserve, and Auckland against CD
in Palmeston North. Will keep eyes on that for you.
And Dame lydia Coe nearing the end of her third
round at the LPGA Tour's Ford Championship in Arizona and

(03:05):
as we speak, lydia Co is three under for her
round through thirteen holes to day, twelve under for the tournament.
It's a tightly congested leaderboard. She's just three shots off
the lead held currently by Charlie Hull and Lila Vu
at fifteen under. Lydia Co is currently twelve under for
the tournament. She has five holes to play in her

(03:27):
third round. Please join us if you would like. Two
lines are open all afternoon on oh eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty. You can send your text messages into
nine two ninety two or emails to me Jason at
newstalksb dot Co dot MZ. Just gone ten past midday.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
The suit from the track field and the Court on
your home of Lord Gamsport with Jason Vine News Talks.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Nb SO News broke late on Thursday evening New Zealand
Time that Liam Lawson has been demoted from the Red
Ball Formula One team, confirming widespread speculation in the early
part of the week. Liam Lawson lasted just two Grand
Prix behind the Wheel Melbourne and Shanghai, after winning the
partner defending champion Max for Stappin at the end of
last year. He's been replaced by Japanese driver Yuki Sonoda

(04:13):
for his home event next weekend at Suzuka, less than
one hundred days after he was signed. So Lawson will
joined the Racing Balls team and race for them. Team
principal Christian Horner says watching Liam Lawson's struggle has been
difficult and they've decided to make the switch early to
help him develop. There are widespread reports that Max for

(04:35):
Stappin himself does not agree with the decision. Red Bull
Motorsport advisor Helmet Marco has confirmed that Barry Tomlinson is
founder of the Toyota Racing series, which many of our
top drivers, including Liam Lawson, raced in. Barry, thanks for
joining us on weekend sport. Before we get into some specifics,
what did you make of this decision by Red Bull

(04:57):
in general terms?

Speaker 4 (05:00):
Good morning, Jason, Well, it's actually afternoon, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Look, yeah, of course, like most of New Zealand, you know,
in a state of shock as to you know why
this has happened. But you know, I guess most of
us would also know, you know, if we follow the
sport that you know, we saw Liam at the first
two rounds enduring some pretty difficult situations that frankly you know,

(05:27):
would to test that well did test is confidence? And
you know, so it's just one of the things that
have happened unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Two races though barrye was he given long enough?

Speaker 4 (05:40):
No in terms of not long enough. But if we
go back a step, Jason, I think you know what
they've done by making this move. Really Red Bull have
admitted that they probably made an era last year by
putting Daniel in the car for that first part of
the season in twenty twenty four and stood Liam down

(06:02):
and I think, you know, when you look backwards, that's
the big era that Ball made, you know, because Daniel
obviously did Melbourne, he did all early tracks and while
Liam sat on the sidelines and really suffered for not
having the opportunity to gain the experience in a less
pressured environment. And then of course to step them into

(06:24):
this highly pressured environment with a four time world champion,
a driver that's been in the sport for ten years,
driving in the same team is very very high pressure.
So yeah, it was very difficult for Liam to step
in there on tracks that he didn't know in a
car that was, you know, they've obviously admitted now is

(06:45):
extremely difficult to drive and very much centered around, you know,
the driving style of Max, which is a very you know,
different driving style to probably most racing driver's preference.

Speaker 6 (06:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
I want to pick up on a couple of comments there,
including the car itself, but we're red bull right to
give Liam the full time seat for this year.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
Well obviously, you know, if we look at it, no,
you know, if you know, with what's happened, you know,
you'd have to say no, they weren't right to give
it to them.

Speaker 7 (07:17):
You know.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Here, look it's a high performance sport, Jason. And in
the end, you know, Liam's been thrown into the deep
end really and you know it's it's it's not worked.
And I think also important to remember that, you know,
unfortunately in Melbourne f P Three, for Liam he sat
in the in the in the garage and that particular

(07:40):
practice session on the Saturday morning really instigated Limb's mise.
And I think also you know that you know, doctor
Marco's kind of intimated the same thing that you know,
to sit out that that session, which was so important
because that's where you know, build confidence, find the speed
to go into that first qualifying session. And it didn't

(08:01):
didn't work for for Liam, you know, sitting in the garage.
So there's a whole bunch things that can spied against
Limb unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Indeed, and many beyond his control. He hasn't even driven
yet Barry on a track that he knows that opportunity
would have come next weekend and will still come in
the racing balls car. Why wouldn't they have given him
a chance to at least race in Japan, a track
that he knows.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
I think also importantly Jason, that you know, yes, the
word demoted has been used, but we've got to remember
he's not been demoted to a back of the grid team,
So you know, I say, you know, yes, it's difficult, Yes,
you know, it would be nice to have been quite different.
But in againd he has the opportunity to go into
really what effectively is last year's Red Bull you know,

(08:48):
RB twenty. A lot of the parts that are on
that RB twenty are now on the current Racing Bulls car.
So you know, in the end he's moved to a
very competitive team, proved by the qualifying results in the
first two rounds, by Yuki and by you know, has
a Hedger. So in the end, you know, you've got

(09:11):
a great opportunity in a very competitive car to score
a lot of points this year. And I think let's
look at the positives on that side, and I think
probably with a little bit of thought, you know, I
know that Limb would have been very down about the decision,
but now I think he'll be on the up and
he'll be looking forward to going forward and being showing
why he deserves a top role in the future.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Oh, no doubt. And you've led me into the next
thing I was going to ask you about, and that
is whether Liam could actually drive better in the Racing
Balls team. I know he hasn't done you know, any
good in the in the Red Bull car only two races,
but could he be better inside an environment with lease
pressure and the chance to rebuild some confidence?

Speaker 4 (09:52):
And you know, I think, you know, it's well proven.
The Racing Bulls car is highly competitive, certainly in qualifying
and even in the race. I think it's doing, you know,
done very well. The other part is that the Racing
Bulls team has run by Lawrence Mecki. Now Mecki came.
He's had a very long career in junior formula with
young drivers and then before going to Racing Balls was

(10:15):
with Ferrari IF one team is a sporting director. He
worked with a lot of young drivers at junior drivers
in Ferrari I know he work with sim drivers, one
of which was Brendan Hartley. Brendan not well probably not
well known, but Brendan drove the Ferrari IF one simulator
for a season in his time after you know, his

(10:35):
various career changes, but as part of his role. So
you know, Lawrence will really help along with the engineers
who are used to working with young drivers, but they
really helped Liam and get around them give him opportunity
to show that he actually, you know, world class driver.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
The Red Bull card clearly shut up for Max, for
stapp and clearly very difficult to drive. Will Yuki sonoda
be able to drive it any better than Liam Lawson's
been able to?

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Well, you know, Yuki's made a lot of comment, hasn't he.
You know, he's ended this fifth season in Formula One,
and I think that's important to understand as well. You know,
Liam has done eleven twelve Grand Prix and Yuki's done
well in five fifth season now, so you know, Yuki
has been thrown into the deep end and now he

(11:24):
has to show that he is a world class driver,
capable of being a teammate to maximstaff. And look, he's
had a lot more experience in various set up cars.
He will have probably a little bit more skill and
knowledge on how to get the best out of the
car that Max, you know, drives. And I know now
I believe that Red Bull are now looking to set

(11:46):
up the second car in a different way than they
do maxis, which is a new thing for Red Bull.
I've always, i think, really followed Maxis set up the
whole way. So I think we'll find in Japan that
Max will have his car, which I know, you know,
is being developed. You know, in the week weeks since
the last one, they will be furiously frantically developed trying

(12:09):
to redevelop that car because in the end it's probably
the fourth best car at the moment, and the second
car with Yuki in it will be probably running quite
a different setup and I think, you know, so it'll
be very interesting to see how that goes. And you know,
time will tell on that one. Jason, red Bull.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Have never promoted a driver back into the top team
that they have previously demoted. Can you see a scenario
under which Liam Lawson drives for Red Bull again?

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Look, the fact is, you know that Max will leave
Red Bull at some point. There's just you know, in
the end, Max has been ten years at red Bull,
you know, as with Lewis Hamilton, Max will look for
new opportunities and so at some stage Red Bull need
two quality drivers to be able to step into the

(13:01):
Nimbe team. So if Liam can show that he's a
world class drive, which we all in New Zealand believe
he is. By going to Racing Balls doing a really
good job this year and importantly beating his teammate, then
absolutely they will promote them back into that Red Bull
team at some stage. There's just no doubt in my mind.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Very interesting, Barry, thanks so much for learning us your expertise.
I've learned a lot. Thanks for taking the time for
the chat this afternoon.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
My pleasure, Jason, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
All the best, mate, Barry Tomlins in there, an. It's
Barry Tomlinson, the founder of the Toyota Racing Series with
some really interesting thoughts there a good insight as well.
Keen to hear your views now. As I said, your
chance to react, oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
I'm sure you've read and listened to plenty of reaction
to this. What Red Ball have done to Liam Lawson,

(13:50):
for me is an absolute disgrace. He's been given an
opportunity to be the second driver in their team and
has been given almost zero support whatsoever and now demoted
with Ukisino have given that seat will not convince me,
and of course I stand to be corrected but you

(14:10):
will not convince me Yuki Sonoda is a better driver
than Liam Lawson. Lawson was put in that seat for
a number of reasons, one of which is his mental resilience,
and he is going to need all of that hour
as he tries to bounce back from this in many ways.
As I said to Barry, the pressure comes off now
he goes into the Racing Balls team. Yuki Sonoda, though,

(14:31):
isn't going to be able to drive a car that's
set up for Max Verstappen any better than Liam Lawson can.
Interesting to hear Bowry say, then red Baller now looking
to set that car up differently. Well, that would have
been helpful for Liam, wouldn't it. Two races on unfamiliar tracks,
one of which was in the pouring rain in Melbourne.
It's far too small a sample size for his driving

(14:53):
to be accurately assessed. And we're about to get to Japan,
a track he actually knows, and I've taken the keys
off him. Look, he'll recuperate, he'll bounce back. He is
resilient and no doubt he'll drive well for Racing Balls.
But it paints red Ball in an absolutely appalling light. Yes,

(15:13):
I know they are massive results drive an organization, but
they have been utterly negligent in their duty of care
to Liam Lawson. And this is where we now are.
In an elite sporting landscape of instant gratification. We have
lost any ability, any ability at all to be patient.
Imagine if you opened a restaurant and after a couple

(15:37):
of nights you didn't get the tables as full as
you wanted, so you sacked the chef. Things take time.
You cannot simply say, okay, well he's had a couple
of races, hasn't done the job with dropping in. Well,
they have done that, but it's not the right thing
to do. You might have listened to Mark Webber on
the radio with me last week. In the first seven
years of Mark Weber's Grand Prix career he made the

(15:59):
podium twice. In the next five years he made the
podium forty times forty four. It takes time. Red Ball
have been shown here to have absolutely no patience at all.
And I know they're under pressure, but we've lost the
ability across a lot of elite sport to just hover
above things, take a breath and say, actually, this is

(16:22):
going to take a bit of time. Imagine if we've
got rid of Sir Graham Henry after the two Sat
thousand and seven Rugby World Cup, we never would have
had twenty eleven. He never would have been Sir Graham Henry.
Same goes for Phoenix coach John Calotaliana. Right now they're
calling for his head. A year ago he was top
of the pops, guiding the next to their best ever finish.
It's endemic across elite sport, this drive for instant results,

(16:46):
and it's not helping anybody. In fact, it's hurting players, drivers, coaches,
everybody associated with elite sport because those in charge simply
cannot see pass the end of next week. Oh, eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty join the conversation. Mine isn't
the only opinion. All opinions welcome nine two ninety two
on text. But let's get to the lines as they

(17:07):
start to fill up.

Speaker 8 (17:09):
I'll be high afternoon, Jason, How are you very good?

Speaker 3 (17:13):
LB, Very good? Thanks for calling in.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Yeah, bad advertising is good advertising, and good advertising is
bad advertising. And always here for airs and airs and
airs as read bull read ball, read ball. It's free

(17:38):
advertising for them.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, you mean for the energy you mean for the
energy drink. Is that what you're saying.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
Yeah, you just think of better and in the air
read bull, read Bull, read Bull.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, well, yeah, you're right. They probably couldn't buy that
much publicity, Lbie, could they. Yeah, you know, you make
a good born I'm sure their energy energy drink sales
of sword. Thanks for your call, mate, Hi, tim.

Speaker 9 (18:06):
Of I think it was horrific how we've been treated
as an absolute bloody disgrace. But in the light of day,
he's conducted himself well. I think Red Bulls dominance years
are over, and I think if he has a real
solid season and condigenies to do well in a dignified
way and get the experience under his belt, which I'm

(18:27):
sure he will, I think the market will be a
pretty open place. I mean, I don't think the staffing
will be there for too many more years. I don't
think Red bull are going to be dominant. They're they're
you know, they're there. Star is falling now and there's
other teams that will be looking for the top men,
and I think he can be in a surprisingly good
position of being hunted down or taking a pick of
a new team at the end of this year. I

(18:48):
don't think he will go beyond the end of this year.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
With Red Bull.

Speaker 9 (18:51):
I think they've sort of I just don't think they're
much of the crowd, and it seemed to be a
particularly environment and people don't seem to be want to
be around him, for staff, and there's been a lot
with Hornan's behavior and so forth. It's just a team
that seems to have lost its shine. And I think
he'll be a competitive car and if he doesn't continues

(19:11):
to do incredibly well, I think he'll be the sort
of guy that you know, with the dignified behavior and
improving results, he will be. It'll be a hot item
with a number of teams will be looking at him.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
I would of thought, yeah, great point, Tom. I think
you're so right. He's got the opportunity now to show
what it can do in a different car, albeit a
slower car potentially, But you're right. I think the way
he has conducted himself has been a credit to Liam
Goodness May. Can you imagine what it must have been
like to be called into that office and told after
two races, you know that you're you're out mate, Well

(19:44):
you're not out, but you're you're not racing for the
top team anymore. It must have been an incredibly tough
pill to swallow for him, but you're right. Publicly he
has been so dignified. He said, Look, I'm looking forward
to get into the racing balls car. It's something I've
always wanted to do. And that's what we need to
remember as well.

Speaker 6 (20:00):
Tom.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
He's not out of Formula one. He's still got one
of those twenty seats and an opportunity now with probably
less pressure, show what he can do.

Speaker 9 (20:08):
I think there'll be plenty of people watching him. He'll
be in a good midfield car and there'll be a
huge amount of people watching him. And I think sort
of the helmet Marco and this dictatorial god syndrome of
red Bull. I just think watching them from Afar, I
just think that that model seems to be failing.

Speaker 10 (20:26):
And you've got.

Speaker 9 (20:26):
People like Toto Walt will take a breath, and all
the McLaren team moving up in Ferrari, and even Williams
getting a breath. I think you'll find there'll be opportunities
for him to secure himself in a top team in
years to come. And I just don't think race b
are going to be around forever at the top of
the game. I think they're on the way.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, that's Pete good Man, Tim good Points well mate,
thanks for calling through. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten
eighty lines filling up twelve to twenty seven. There is
a spare one and if you can't get through the first time,
please try again back with more of your calls on
Liam Awson in just a Moment On Weekend Sport.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Crouch hold Ngage Weekend Sports with Jason him and Gee James,
New Zealand's most trusted news talk to.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Bang on twelve thirty talking Liam Lawson for boarder calls.
Can you get through as many as we possibly can?
So let's go, Hi, Jude.

Speaker 11 (21:17):
Hello, we do I start.

Speaker 12 (21:23):
Well?

Speaker 11 (21:23):
I am Elie Liam Lawson fan. So I'll say that,
you know after to start off with. But there's some
things in the program so far that I haven't heard
being said over the radio, and one is that Liam

(21:44):
has has was not able to do all the practicing
of the of the vehicle when he was pre season.

Speaker 13 (21:52):
He didn't. He had an old car, not the car
that he's he was given to drive. The other thing
that I've heard is that one of the reasons why
they want Yuki in the Japanese Grand Prix is that
his father is very high up in Honda, so they

(22:14):
want in Japan, they want Honda, and weird Boors tied
up with Honda, so there's a little bit of bias there,
and I believe that they will will give Yuki a
car that is more suited to him and not.

Speaker 11 (22:31):
First stave him.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, that's look, that sounds like that's what they're doing, Joe,
Which is a bit like for Liam Lawson, isn't it.
And yes, the Honda connection has certainly been talked about. Yeah,
I'm sure that that Honda will be delighted that Yuki
Sonoda is competing in the top car at his home
Grand Prix next week. I'll be very interested to see
how he handles the pressure. One of the reasons Liam

(22:55):
Lawson was put into the team, and it was specifically
mentioned by Christian Horner the team principle was his mental resilience,
which I guess means that perhaps they didn't think that
Yuki had that number mark high.

Speaker 10 (23:14):
Hey Pine, Yeah, I can quick quick congratulations Tatana. Sometimes
I think being the Auckland Blues coach was a bit
like being the second driver at Rebull for a long time.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
A bit of a poison tellis for the likes of
Tana j Kai and Pat Lamb.

Speaker 10 (23:27):
You Ricken, Yeah, it looked like a pretty good car
on paper, but no one could drive it.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 10 (23:35):
I think what RedBull have done is a really sacrificed
winning the constructors championship, for winning the drivers championship and
engineering that car for Max for stuff, and that no
one else can seems to be able to drive. And
I'm just wondering the question I guess if maybe I
mean I'm on an expert or not, but like, why

(23:56):
is the car so set up for Max? Is that
because if he stacks it into the wall and the
last qualifying that he can just step into Liam's car?

Speaker 6 (24:05):
Is why it works?

Speaker 10 (24:07):
Or I mean that's what I can't work out. Why,
if you're trying to get your second driver to win points,
why you'd have a car that, you know, looking at
it on paper as four or five good drivers haven't
been able to driver.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
And it's a great question. Mark, Yeah, it's good.

Speaker 10 (24:24):
That's a cleanly loest.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, I mean, clearly they want to win. They want
him in the driver's championship and he's been very successfully
doing that for the last four years. But they've specifically said,
haven't they, and you've picked up on this, that the Constructors'
Championship is just as important to them, So you're right,
why why wouldn't they give the second driver, you know,
as good an opportunity as possible to get points. I

(24:47):
guess what they hope is that they'll find I mean,
Maxwastappens a genius, absolute genius of a driver, and what
they're hoping, I guess, is to find somebody who is
at least eighty percent of the genius that he is
and can turn that car into one that'll finish in
the top ten and pick up consistent points.

Speaker 10 (25:04):
Yeah, I'd just like to say I think one last
point is I think that they're running scared that makes
the stuff and is going to leave because without him,
they haven't got a team because no one else can
drive their car. So I think that they just almost
like afraid that he's going to go somewhere else. And
I mean, you can you see drivers switching around all
the time at the moment, like contracts go what do

(25:25):
you mean anything they can just sort of be torn
up and were my yives and seed leaves. They're just
going to be stuck with probably two drivers who can't
drive their car they developed over the years for extra stuff.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
And thanks Mark, good thoughts from you as always on
text here from Ben. I think Red Bull needs to
take a look at themselves and their ability to destroy
drivers careers. Clearly they've bought the car that's very difficult
to drive, but Max can get it to the front
of the grid. Imagine what Mexican doing to McLaren hit
smoke everyone. It's the car more than the driver in
this case. Come on, red Bull, pull your socks up,

(25:58):
see has Ben hi? Roger? Hey here we do good Roger?

Speaker 5 (26:05):
Great?

Speaker 14 (26:05):
Great?

Speaker 15 (26:05):
Great up Yet yeah, I've done a few a few
things to say if I may. I watched Lim's testing
for Red Bull. They had Max come out on a
Saturday morning and did a few laps, and then they
put Limb in the car and he did a few
laps and then they analyzed that he was one or

(26:26):
two tense behind him. But they also said the information
that he sent back to them was top class. Now,
Max the set of himself has said that he's been
disappointed about what they've done to them. Liam's also said
that as far as he's concerned, he's still in Formula one,
so he's happy. And the other thing about the car,

(26:48):
what people haven't thought about is that you don't have
the wonderful Adrian Ubie around anymore because he's gone to
Aston Martin, So they haven't got anyone that can really
develop that car. And you're right about Max because if
you put him in a goat he'd probably beat them too.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, terrific driver, and that's he's one of a kind,
isn't it. You can't recreate another driver. But I get,
like I said, does that sound accurate to you that
Red Ball are just trying to find someone who is
as close to the stepping is as humanly possible to
try and pick up points in a car that's pretty
difficult to drive.

Speaker 15 (27:22):
Well, I think they won a number two, but I
think now, of course it's awfully embarrassing for them. So
Yoki Sonoda goes and doesn't perform at the Japanese Grand Prix,
that's going to look terrible for them. So they are
going to set that carra Now. The other thing, when
Liam was doing testing off season with the old car,

(27:45):
it wrote down all the time, so he never got
a good deal. That guy Kimmy Antonelli who's driving for Mercedes,
he got sixty hours in the driver's seat of the
two year old car last year before he really started
in a Formula One car. And Liam Okay did a
few races which I thought he did well, And you're right,

(28:06):
and his attitude is strong as and he has that
been a harrig considered. I think you need too, you know,
And he would have been a good partner for Max
because I don't think he would have taken these craps,
so to speak.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
So indeed, Roger, thanks mart I appreciate your call and
your thoughts. Just on the Honda thing. A lot of
people have made the point about of that Honda. So
what the situation is is Honda supply read Ball their
engines and they've been a major supporter of Yuki Sonoda
and apparently now they have contributed an additional undisclosed amount
of money in the millions now that Sonoda has been

(28:40):
promoted to the main team. Now that's part of this obviously,
But if that was such a consideration, then why didn't
they give Sinoda the seat in the first place. Doesn't
make sense, right, If the money was the driving factor
and they knew, and I'm sure they would have, that
Honda would give them more money if Sonoda was in

(29:03):
the seat, then they would have given Sonda the seat.
It can't have been the only factor. They must have
had doubt about Sonoda as much as they had confidence
in Liam. So interested to see how Snoda drives this car.

Speaker 16 (29:16):
Bruce, Hi, Yeah, Hi, Piny. Just a couple of quick points. Firstly,
so far as the Honda thing, I read somewhere about
a week ago that pressure had been coming on by
Honda with Red Bull to put Snoda into the car

(29:37):
for the Japanese Grand Prix, and I wish I could
remember what it was in and I thought, Oho, something's
happened here. And then I've since read another couple of
articts where they've said, not only this Honda put a
huge amount of money in each year, but the fact
being is that there has been a substantial amount of
money was offered to put Snoda into the seat. So

(30:03):
that's probably some point yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Million, Bruce, sorry, Bruce, twenty million New Zealand, so temillion
euro is what's being reported. So and apparently that money
was offered that money was offered before they made the
decision to put Liam in there, so clearly at that
time it wasn't enough to turn their head and ye,
well now maybe it's just maybe they look they're quite

(30:26):
within their rights to say we made a mistake in
giving Liam the seat. They've done it terribly, they've handled
it terribly, but everybody makes mistakes, so they're quite within
their rights to say, hey, we made a mistake. But
the twenty million is for me a bit of a
red herring because they could have taken it when they
made the decision originally and didn't. Christian Horner rejected the

(30:47):
offer and promoted laws in ahead of Sonoda. So I
don't think it's the reason, but I think it's a
well it's a happy byproduct for red Bull for starters.

Speaker 16 (30:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (30:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 16 (30:58):
The only other quick point I'd like to make was,
and it's a very important one, is that the total
lack of practice switch Liam was lad to have. I
mean in Australia, his car was out from one complete
season session. Sorry, he just hasn't had a chance in
that car to really get a pre season He didn't

(31:20):
get it, And I mean with racing, you know you can't.
You've got to practice in them.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Indeed, Bruce, Yeah, practice makes perfect, as they say, and
you're right. I mean, the less time he hasn't it,
the worse it was going to be for Liam. Just
from Simon, the second car has to be one that
Max can jump into if he wrecks his own one
in practice or in qualifying, or if it has major problems.
All teams operate that way when they're in a title fight.
Thanks Simon. Yes, that's kind of what I suspected, and

(31:51):
I think what Mark suspected as well, that you know,
you have to be able to lock and load MAXI
stepping into a second car if he writes his first
one off because he's clearly the most important person here.
Nineteen to one, Hello Debrah.

Speaker 17 (32:04):
Hello Piney there in Melbourne?

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Where was it?

Speaker 18 (32:10):
Now?

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Was it?

Speaker 7 (32:12):
Well?

Speaker 17 (32:12):
Liam did a three sixty in front of us at
one stage, but that day the Sunday so cold, so wet,
and poor Liam he didn't really have a chance because
they kept tweaking his car and when he we were
on the stand right on the hip and then where

(32:33):
they have to slow down so that then they can
speed up for the strait, so we could you know,
we got to have a good look at each one,
and then we saw Oscar. Do you know when he
went over into the grass and try and get out.
So we're all standing there, Come on, Oscar, Come on, Oscar,
Because even though we're Keywi, we sort of had to
cheer them on. And it was great to know that

(32:56):
he learned from Jeremy Clarkson how to back a tractor
because he used those skills to get out of the
grass it was so wet.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
What do you predict for Liam now that he's in
the Racing Balls team, Deborah? Do you think it might
actually be in some ways a good thing for him.

Speaker 17 (33:16):
Oh, he'll make the most of it because he's Liam.
And somebody said on your show yesterday what I had
thought in the morning. Wouldn't it be really funny if
in that car he is right up Max's and Max
let him get passed. It's not likely to happen, but
he would be funny, Debra.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
It would be it would be. I hope you can
get back to Melbourne at some stage and we can
watch Liam. Look, Liam's future is so interesting now. You
know he has the opportunity over the rest of this
season in that Racing Balls car, to prove what a
good driver he is, to show us all what we
all knew, what Christian Horner knew and all of those

(33:55):
in power at Red Ball when they gave him the
full time seat. He hasn't become a bad driver overnight.
Things haven't gone his way in the first two races.
He will probably freely admit as well that he hasn't
been at the top of his game either, but there
are many contributing factors here. He's got the rest of
twenty twenty five to prove what he can do to

(34:16):
make himself a tractive not only the Red Bull but
to other manufacturers as well. And you know what, having
been treated this way, why wouldn't Nev's head turned. Red
Bull have never promoted a driver they have previously demoted.
That's not to say they wouldn't with Liam if he
performs well for Racing Bulls. As Barry Tomlinson said, Max

(34:39):
fist happens off at some stage. Could even be at
the end of this year. It could well be that
in the future Liam drives in the Red Bull seat again.
We have to wait and see what he can do
now is drive well for Racing Balls and turn a
few heads sixteen to one back with more of your
calls right after this.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
You be the TMO.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Have your say on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty
weekends for It with Jason Pyne and GJ. Guvnerholmes, New
Zealand's most Trusted home build a News.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Dog thirteen to one, Allen says on text. Remember Liam
put in the second fastest lap in China, second only
to the winner. So he is fast, but he's unfortunately
driving a bit of a peg, says Allen. Thanks Ellen Murray, helloh.

Speaker 19 (35:21):
Okay, cool piney. I was actually I made similar point
to that that if you look at I went through
and looked at all the sector times and what have
you during the race in China, and Liam Lawson was
about one to two tenths slower than Max in the
first sector and as fast or slightly faster than Max
in the second sector of the as you go around

(35:42):
the last, but he lost most of his time in
the last sector, which is onto the back straight and
then the hip and then the turn back onto the
front straight. So he was losing about half a second
in that sector there, and that was because he couldn't
get it onto the back straight well enough to get
the terminal velocity at the end of the back straight
to have, so he lost time all the way down

(36:03):
the back straight. So the ability, the ability for him
to get the car around the corners is where he struggled.
And if you're looking against the racing balls, he was
faster than the racing balls pretty much everywhere, which is
why he was the only driver that made up five
places in the Grand Prix in China. So he started
twentieth and finished fifteenth and got promoted with his qualifications

(36:26):
to twelve. No one else made up five places in
that Grand Prix.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Would have had. Yeah, sorry, Mary, why would he have
trouble turning into those into those straits? Have you got
any insight into that?

Speaker 10 (36:41):
It's all.

Speaker 19 (36:42):
It's all because the way the car is set up
and designed at the moment where it has max for
step and likes a particularly pointy front end, so it's
really sharp at the front end, which means your back
end tends to slide more, and so Maxican control that
because he's got the fuel for it, and Linam Lawson

(37:02):
just doesn't have that same fuel for it currently. He
would have got it over time, but you know, so
because he struggled with the feel of the back end
sliding out on him, he was going a little bit
slower into the through the final corner, which meant that
he was starting slower on the back straight. And no
matter how long the backstraight is, if you were ten

(37:23):
kilometers slower coming out onto the back straight, you're going
to still be ten kilometers slower at the end of the.

Speaker 6 (37:28):
Back straight than what everyone else was.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
M can't make it up. They see them, yeah, they said,
didn't they They wanted him within three tenths of a second
of a step, and that was kind of a metric
they were after. So you were saying for large parts
of China, he was well.

Speaker 19 (37:43):
For the first two thirds of the track, he was
within he was under three tenths of the second of
max a step, and it was the last sector where
he lost half a second basically, but he was still
faster than the racing Bulls cars and the vast majority
of the other cars that which is why he made
up five places.

Speaker 4 (38:00):
In the race.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Thanks Mark, good insight, mate. Thank you really appreciate you
taking the time to call on and having done all
the research for us. Terrific and Hi, Hi Jason, how
are you good and good things? It's Pam, Sorry, Pam, sorry, Pam.

Speaker 7 (38:17):
Yes, from the Naked as a mum, I'm going to say,
what about Liam's parents who had to sell their home
to afford to get him to where we've got you?

Speaker 3 (38:36):
I was, yes, I heard that story, and look, I
think you know, I can't speak for every parent out there,
but I think you know you do whatever you can
to allow your kids to chase their dreams. And look,
I'm reasonably sure that Liam's parents wouldn't regret that even
given what's happened here. He's still an F one driver,

(38:58):
still got a big future ahead of him, and he's.

Speaker 7 (39:01):
Still lives son. I've got two boys now in their
fifties and invite to say, you do anything for your
kids to get them into a tea sport or whatever.
And it's appearance in this case that I wonder how
they're feeling about what's heavens with Liam?

Speaker 6 (39:21):
Pam.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Do you know what? Yeah? Yeah, Pam, do you know
what I reckon? They'll be feeling. They'll be feeling like
any parent would when their children suffer a setback the whole,
you know, selling their house to help them Fulfiller's Dreamers
is one thing that's a demonstration, a material demonstration, I think.
But every parent wants the best for their kids. Every

(39:41):
parent's heart breaks when their kids suffer hardship in any way,
shape or form, but it not getting the part they
wanted in the school play or being demoted from Red Bull.
I'm sure Liam's mum and dad feel distraught about what's
happened to their son, but they will be wrapping an

(40:03):
enormous amount of support around him, ironically enough to support
that hasn't been wrapped around him by Red Bull. But
then again, Red Ball are not Liam Lawson's parents. His
parents will be proud of him. Whatever he does to
even reach the heights that he has is extremely credible.

(40:24):
It's so good. And whatever happens from here, Liam Lawson's parents,
like any parent, will be very very proud of what
he has done and what I am absolutely certain he
will go on to achieve. Pam, thanks for youh Cale
seven to.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
One breaking down the Hail Mary's and the epic fails
weekends for it with Jason Vine News Talk ZENB.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Four to one, final couple of texts Pinty so many
experts commenting from far away. We don't know the whole story.
These Red Bull people aren't falls not likely to shoot
themselves in the foot, ruining their reputation without having done
their homework. Let's see what happens, Yeah, Rob, let's see
what happens. You're right, they're not you know, they even
just come down the last show. Have they still think
the treatment of Liam's been absolutely appalling? Money Talks says

(41:10):
Malcolm and Red Ball are so unpredictable. They're the worst
team to work for while having the hardest car and
f one to drive. The best thing for Liam is
to beat the Japanese driver next weekend. Thanks Malcolm, I agree.
There will be so many eyes on the Japanese Grand
Prix next weekend. I cannot wait to see how Liam goes.
Thanks for all your causing correspondence. Great our folks, Thanks

(41:31):
for calling him with all your expertise. Next, now, what
are we gonna do about Auckland Stadiums?

Speaker 1 (41:37):
The only place to discuss the biggest sports issues on
and after fields.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
It's all on weekends Forward with Jason Vane on your
home of sport.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
US Talk Well one oh seven, Welcome into the show.
This is weekend Sport. I'm Jason Pine. Andy McDonald is
show producer this how I want to talk of it?
About Stadia. I never feel right saying the plural form
of stadium stadia. I know it's correct, but I just
prefer stadium anyway. Maybe we can save venues instead, to

(42:09):
save me the grammatical discomfort. Auckland Council this week have
said we don't want a new stadium. Well, if we do,
we're not going to back it. We back an upgrade
of Eden Park, but we're not going to put me
money towards it. It's a very odd situation. Rather than
delve into the politics of it all, I mean, we're
all sports fans, aren't we. I wanted to get a

(42:30):
fans perspective, which we'll do in just a moment. James
mcconey this hour as well, and if we have time
into the black Caps camp. Lydia Coe has picked up
a shot and is now four under through seventeen holes
in her third rounds at the LPGA's Ford Championship. Thirteen
under for the tournament, now just two shots back from
Charlie Hull and lily A Vu fifteen under through sixteen

(42:54):
and fourteen holes, respectively. So Lydia co well and truly
in the mix. Sixty eight and sixty seven to start
this tournament and a four under round so far so
looking very good as per usual Lydiako will keep eyes
on that for you, as we will on plunket shield cricket.
No plan to need in which doesn't help Northern's Northern's cause.

(43:16):
Auckland and Canterbury battling away in the sunshine in Wellington,
can I tell you? Auckland Council has this week endorsed
a staged redevelopments of eden Park, deciding against backing the
construction of a new downtown stadium. They stop short though,
of backing a full upgrade to eden Park and furthermore
said they don't want to pay any money towards redeveloping

(43:36):
eden Park and in fact they don't have any money.
The government also suggesting it doesn't want to contribute the
one hundred million Eden Park needs to start its upgrade.
Eden Park reckons the upgrade will cost around five hundred
and fifty million. There are suggestions that's very light and
that it'll actually be closer to one billion dollars. So

(43:58):
what do we have here? Pretty much a non decision right.
The council said, we back Eden Park, but we can't
slash won't throw any money at it. We don't back
a new stadium, say the council, and we probably wouldn't
invest in that either even if it was to be built.
So where does it leave us in terms of world
class sporting facilities for Auckland and simply with places in

(44:20):
Auckland that are good to watch live sport at. Rather
than delve into the politics of this, I wanted to
get a sports fans view one of the biggest I know,
Mike Lane, co founder of the Base Brigade, head of
the Alternative commentary collective, Thanks for crossing brands onto zb
for us, Mike, How are.

Speaker 12 (44:39):
You no worries? Piny man? Is this the world's most
boring non debate of all time? God, it's like it
is so tedious man, Like I guarantee every outside of
Auckland listen to this. Are like who gives a staff
with a bunch of Aucklanders who can't make their mind up,
who are being held hostage by small minded procrastinators, which

(45:01):
Gregor Paul mentioned on Friday. Man, it's frustrating, man, we suck.
I'm embarrassed to be in Auckland. I'm embarrassed to live
in Auckland. This is this is this is the worst
as a sports fan, this is the worst. We're the pits,
we suck.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
You'll be pleased I gave you the call to come
on the show for such a No.

Speaker 9 (45:20):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 12 (45:21):
Like you look at every other Australasian major city in
throughout Australia, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Purse, They've all got
new stadia, they've all got sports precincts. What have we
got Auckland Nothing. It's embarrassing, It is embarrassing.

Speaker 4 (45:38):
I I don't.

Speaker 12 (45:40):
Know if it's going to happen in my lifetime. Piny,
this is this, this is the stage I've got to
our forty six year old man. I don't think I'm
ever going to see a new stadium built in Auckland
in my lifetime. That's how depressed I am about this.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
That is crazy, Because I've got a question here for you.
Can you see a time where a new stadium is
built on Auckland's waterfront? So clear the answer is not
for the next fifty years anyway.

Speaker 12 (45:59):
No, I just don't get it. There's just no no vision.
There's no vision whatsoever. If you anyone who lives in Auckland
knows that a downtown stadium would change the face, that
would revolutionize downtown Aukland. You think of the bars, the restaurants,
the hotels, all in the stones throw You think about
a Friday night where you could leave work, have a beer,

(46:20):
grab a meal, go watch some football, some rugby, some
rugby league, you know, down at the waterfront, and then
crews home. That's not part of our routine.

Speaker 6 (46:28):
At the moment.

Speaker 12 (46:28):
Our routine at the moment is how we're going to
get to eat part, how we're going to get to
Mount Smart, how we're going to get home.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
You're going to basically a whole day.

Speaker 12 (46:36):
There's no routine, there's no habit here, and we're going
to require someone with a lot of vision and a
lot of nuts to do it, and unfortunately, at the moment,
no one has got the actual gumption.

Speaker 6 (46:48):
To do it.

Speaker 12 (46:48):
We'd rather build a two billion dollar in a city
rail link that goes nowhere. I don't know, pointing it's
going to have to take bring in. Maybe we make
it a part of it's a Russian Oli gap ONTs
to live in New Zealand. Maybe part of that is
you're going to have to build a stadium then you
can go live up the Bay of Island somewhere. That
should be one. Maybe that's a concession we should have
because it's going to have to take a Bill Foley.

(47:11):
It's going to have to take a billion in. Look
at the Mowbrays. Come on, what are they up to.
It's going to take someone like that to actually instigate
this because I'm afraid it's not going to come from
the Council and it's not going to come from the government.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
We'll get to the Mowbrays in Bill Foley in the
moment and what they want to do at Western Springs.
But so is it the access? Is it the getting there?
Once you get there?

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Eden Park?

Speaker 3 (47:31):
What do most people think about watching sport at Eden Park?

Speaker 12 (47:33):
Do you think, oh, look rugby, it's not bad. It's
not bad. Look I don't hate on Eaton Park. I've
had some great times at Eaton Park. The people that
run it amazing. The fact they turned around three codes
in four days the other weekend, it's great. But cricket,
no thanks, Test Match cricket. When was the last time
there was a Test math Test match played in Auckland.

(47:54):
I can't remember what fifteen ten years ago. Maybe yeah,
you know, as a cricket fan, move out of Auckland
because you're not going to see much international cricket. But
the thing was Eden Park. It's a great stadium. I
like it. It's just in the wrong place, Bony. It is
in the wrong place it needs. It's not serviced by
any major bars or hotels. They say you can catch

(48:15):
a train straight there. Yeah, if you're willing to hang
around for kind of an hour to get home, that's fine.
But I don't know's it serves a purpose. At the moment,
it's the best we've got and we're kind of living
with it when we don't have to. We don't, like
I said, with the only Australasian city without a modern stadium.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
How do people feel about Mount Smart?

Speaker 6 (48:36):
Same?

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Same thing?

Speaker 6 (48:37):
Is it?

Speaker 14 (48:38):
Is? It?

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Just getting there?

Speaker 5 (48:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (48:39):
I look Mount Smart. If you took a if you
took a visitor from overseas, because I just came back
from you called me in Vegas. I can't hardly remember
the phone call, but I did go to a couple
of it hockey games. Over there, and obviously we went
to Aldi Stadium for the Warriors. Man, that's next level,
like in terms of the stadium there, in terms of
what you can do in terms of the facilities. If
you took someone to Mount Smart, mildly embarrassing. And I've

(49:03):
got a very faithful group of fans in the AFC
and the Warriors. But if you take a step back
and look at that stadium, it's not great. And it's
in the middle of industrial Penrose, South Aukland. Again, no bars,
no restaurants, no hotels. It's not serving anyone downtown. It's
not helping the city out at all. So look, they're

(49:26):
not great. I'm frustrated. You you could probably tell Pioneers
a sports fan, it's frustrating to watch all this unfold
and it's you just end up yelling at the clouds.
I don't know. I don't know how we're going to
fix it. I don't know how what's going to happen.
We'll probably still be you'll bring me next year, we'll
talk about this and the year after and the year after,
and we'll probably just you can just press repeat on
my interview, go it'll be the same thing.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
Yeah, And so it feels like you're right, it needs vision,
it needs somebody. But the I mean billionaire oligarchs, all
those with the resources to do something about this are
pretty thin on the ground, aren't they. So Like I mean,
you look at a place You've mentioned a couple of
places where you go, and Melbourne a good example. There's
some magnificent venues to go and watch sport over there

(50:10):
and most most of not all of that has been
funded by state government. Right they've decided, Okay, we want
to get people here, We'll put money into into venues
so they'll come. It just doesn't feel likely to you
that there will be any of that sort of vision
in the near future.

Speaker 12 (50:24):
Oh God, it's going to have to take someone special
in terms of council to have the vision to do it,
because it will pay dividends. It will pay dividends in
central UK. And if you have someone who comes in
with a bit of vision, I feel like it's probably
going to have to be a kind of private public partnership.
I think there's going to have to be someone like
a Bill Foley.

Speaker 6 (50:43):
He will go, hey, I'll help out here to.

Speaker 12 (50:46):
A degree, But who's going to benefit the most from
having a new stadia in a sports precinc in downtown Auckland.
It's going to be Auckland. It's going to be all
the hospitality, it's going to be the tourism everything else.
So they have to front up and be involved and
invest in the city. So they say they want to
invest in infrastructure whatever. I mean. The Inner City rail

(51:09):
Link is the biggest joke that was ever been. It's
caused billions of dollars. They can't even mow the burns.
And as Gregor and Paul mentioned in his article, so
you know what, Piney, I'm moving a christ Church. You
know what. That's the new that that is the new
home of sport in New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
It is.

Speaker 12 (51:23):
It's got Hagley Oval when takahas finished. It's going to
be a covered stadium, perfect for football, built for rugby.
You're right on the sideline, You're not thirty meters back
like you are at Sky Stadium in Wellington. You know
it's it's going to be the news home of sport
in New Zealand. And that's it. That's it. I'm out,
I'm done. I'm moving a christ Church. I never thought
i'd say that. I'll still support the chief.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Well, I don't have any more questions. Do you have
any more comments?

Speaker 12 (51:50):
Sorry, Piney, you can tell you've rung the wrong person
on this one. I have, you know, even the choice
of going to those two options Key Park, they're completely
ignored the Winyard Quarter, the Tank Farm option, which was
the only pitch in there that took into count cricket,
and using Victoria Park as a cricket option, as making

(52:11):
that part of the sports precinct with a stadium on
the Tank Farm, a smaller ten thousand six stadium for
basketball tennis, and then building a walkway down to Victoria
Park where you could host international cricket on Victoria Park.
They were the only ones that fought through the whole vision,
yet they were ignored in favor of Key Park, which,
let's be honest, is never going to happen with the

(52:32):
fact they had to move railway tracks or build over
railway tracks. So I don't know this whole We've on
our Agenda podcast, Pony, we've banned any more discussions on
the autum stadium debate because it's just so tedious, it's
so boring, and nothing's ever going to happen, and it's
so frustrating as a sports stand to sit back and

(52:52):
watch the shambles.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
Well, I'm glad the embargo doesn't doesn't extend to News
Talks MB's weekend sports show. Mike. It's been educational listening
to you, made and entertaining and in many ways quite
frustrating as well. So I'll tell my friends in christ
Church to expect your inquiry into some of the some
of the bitter real estate in that area soon and
hopefully we can hopefully we can catch up again soon.

Speaker 12 (53:15):
Yeah, I go, man, We're coming to christ Church. We're
coming christ Church.

Speaker 10 (53:18):
Watch out.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Mike Lane. What a legend of a man, head of
the alternative commentary collector, forthright in his views, extremely honest,
authentic and makes a lot of sense, doesn't He makes
a heck of a lot of sense. Your chance to
have your say on this? Oh eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty Aucklander's sum this up for us. Your stadium

(53:41):
landscape is what Mike is saying. Does that resonate with you?
Is that how you feel as well? And what we've
got you? Where do you like watching sport? Where don't you?
And can you ever see a time a new Waterfront
Stadium is built. Mike's right. Eden Park's actually not the worst.
I quite like watching sport there. It's too big most

(54:06):
of the time, of course, but when it's full like
rawbacks tests terrific. It's oval that never helps, right, it
never helps. You're too far away from the action in
a rugby game. But the place has got a bit
of history and loser's history. Beaver's kick in the twenty
eleven Rugby World Cup Final, Grant Elliott's six in the
twenty fifteen Cricket World Cup semings, and name just too.

(54:26):
It's got some history about it. But is it is
it fit for purpose? As Mike said, and I think
this is the nub of the issue. And the same
goes for Mount Smart. It's just in the wrong place.
It's just in the wrong place. Hello, Kelvin, here you.

Speaker 20 (54:46):
Got afternoon, Jason. I always originally thought Maun Smart was
the way to go before it became the Warriors home.
But the railway line is only just down the road.
But the main to do at the stadiums for me personally,
your memory is far better than mine because mine's heading
on to eighty four years of age. I seen to
recall in my mind in recent years, I'm sure it

(55:07):
was the government put eighty or ninety that's eight zero
or nine zero million into man.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Eden and to Aiden Park.

Speaker 20 (55:17):
Yeah, to Eaton Park.

Speaker 9 (55:19):
Yeah, I mean yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 20 (55:21):
It didn't the Gavin put all that money into it.

Speaker 14 (55:23):
So what.

Speaker 20 (55:25):
You know, what was the spruce up with eighty or
ninety million. I'm sure it was that figure.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Well I can I can only imagine that was before
the twenty eleven Rugby World Cup, to increase the capacity
of it govern that is, that might be what that
might have been, what it was. See now, like I say,
the I mean the powers of being Eaton parks are okay.
A full upgrade is going to cost five hundred and
fifty million. Most people think that's light and only about
just over half of what actually will be needed to

(55:51):
make a truly world class A billion a billion dollars
to upgrade a stadium that, for many people is in
the wrong part of the city.

Speaker 20 (56:01):
Oh yeah, no, there's no hotels or anything around there
is there. But I support the residents in a way
with with Haton Park. I know true sporting people won't
agree with that.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
But I think I think I think I think a
lot of true sporting people will agree with that, Kelvin.
You know, a stadium which has got access to the
harbor and everything that you know that goes with it
down there on the waterfront of the viat Act. Look,
I'm not from Auckland, but you know, it feels to
me as though if you if you plank a stadium
down there by the vite Act, there's all sorts of
facilities around their accommodation, retail, hospitality, all of those sorts

(56:36):
of things an easy reach. So a sporting precincts created
there will never that will never happen at Eden Park.

Speaker 14 (56:43):
No.

Speaker 20 (56:44):
Well, what you said just then about all the facilities,
I'm building one on the waterfront down there. That part
of it is correct. But for me personally, I'm here
in the tron I would absolutely hate to see a
big blob on the waterfront there at Auckland Harbor. It

(57:04):
would just ruin the whole cold comple Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Guess that's the other part of it, Calvin. That's the
other part of it, isn't it. You know, we're never
ever going to get full agreement on this, never ever,
And in many ways it's probably as Mike Klain said,
a discussion topic that you know that is relatively fruitless
really because it's been proven by a succession of those
in power in Auckland that they just don't have the
appetite for it. They're not of the mood to be brave,

(57:32):
to have courage to say yep, we will back it.
I mean, it's hard enough to get them to commit to,
you know, to commit to having sale GP there every
year without a bed tax. So are they really going
to throw a big chunk of money at a new
stadium Because it would have to be a combination of

(57:52):
private and public funding, right, public funding, a combination of
rate payer money and tax payer money. So the government
would also have to come to the party here, the
central government that is, and say, okay, if this is
going to be truly a national stadium that is going
to attract big, big sporting and other events here, then
we're in. We're in for this much. Ratepayers in Auckland

(58:16):
would also have to be in the mix because it's
their city, so their economy, their ecosystem would benefit more
than those outside of the Auckland area. And then there's
the the private money, and that is the big one
that is the big one here, and there are only
so many people who have access to the kind of

(58:39):
money that is required for this. Oh, eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty one, twenty four. God, a bit time
to talk about this. If you'd like to jump on
nine two ninety two for your text messages. We'll keep
an eye on lydia Coe too. I'm just trying to
see if she's finished her round before we go to
an AM break. I can't refresh my screen at the moment.
For some reason, it has refreshed just in time for

(59:01):
me to give you an update. Maybe lydia Co's finished
her around. She has. She has fired a four under
sixty eight to be thirteen under for the tournament through
three rounds. Lilie Vou is up to seventeen under three
under through sixteen holes today, so she's got a four
shot jump on lydia Co. There's some very low scoring here,

(59:23):
leader Lilvo at seventeen under, a couple of players at
fifteen's and then about seven or eight at fourteen under,
and then back to lydia Co at thirteen so very
low scoring in this tournament. But lydia Co has fired
a very a very credible third round of sixty eight
to go with a sixty eight she shot in the

(59:44):
first round of sixty seven and the second thirteen under
for the tournament, so well and truly in the mix
for the fourth round tomorrow twenty five past one. We're
back with more after this on Weekend Sport.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
It's more than just a game. Weekend Sport with Jason
Pine and GJ. Carnerhomes New Zealand's most trusted home builder
news Dogs.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
They'd be holy. The texts on this plenty of feedback.
I want to get to a few of them. We'll
get you to some actual sport as well. In just
a moment. Let's get through some of these comments here
on text. Pinty, don't close Mount Spartan Eden Park because
there are no bars, hotels, restaurants. Rezone so that there

(01:00:25):
are bars, hotels and restaurants around those stadiums. That means
private ens price past Yeah, just count. I don't know
what's less likely, David that or or those in power
committing to a new stadium. Thanks for your text, though, Afternoon,
says Stephen. Stadiums don't return the money invested in them.
Look at any stadium economic report. That's why the professional

(01:00:47):
sports teams in the US get the city to pay
for most of them, Thanks Steven. Yeah, as I say,
would have to be public private partnership, and the sums
inside that equation are the ones that are hardest to
to formulate because everybody wants to give as little as possible,
don't they. For cricket, says Chris, I love the noise

(01:01:07):
at eden Park when a balls hit around the ground.
It's a good atmosphere for cricket, probably more than rugby.
I don't really care about its funny dimensions. I mean
I watch games of cricket at eden Park. In fact,
I watch any sport at eden Park, And because it's
so big, it can be cavernous, can't it. Fifty thousand people,
Even if you get twenty there, you're still not even
half full. When was the last time we year twenty

(01:01:28):
thousand for a cricket game? How many were there the
other night for the double head? Would there have been twenty? Maybe?
But it's still a big ground to fill up, isn't it.
Eden Park, says Steve, is always going to be like
the house built with bits out of here and there.
HeiG Aldy peggldy. I love that phrase. It's time to
stop spending hundreds of millions putting lipstick on a peg.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
See where does the money come from to upgrade eden Park?
Because even though Auckland Council said, yeah, look we our
preference is an upgrade of eden Park rather than a
new stadium, they didn't commit any money to it. Neither
have Central government. And I say David Seymour quoted the
other day saying Wall We're not that keen. So what

(01:02:13):
it won't happen, will it? If they need one hundred
million to get it started and they can't get that,
how are they going to get the five hundred and fifty,
let alone the billion that's actually probably going to cost.
Paul says, guys Auckland can't get five to ten thousand
to eden Park, now, why would you want to revamp it?
Everyone forgets we're a small population. We need a smaller stadium.

(01:02:35):
Thank you very much indeed for your text on one
final one here Morris says Jason. The best Auckland stadium
by fast Mount smart. It's the right capacity, which is
why League and Football are selling it out. It's well
serviced by train from South Auckland easy to get to
free car parking due to being in an industrial precinct.
We've got in other stadiums in Auckland. North Harbour is

(01:02:55):
the only white elephant. Yeah, I guess the only thing
about Mount Smart is is its access to the likes
of restaurants, bars and hotels and you know Mount Smart is.
You know it certainly wouldn't be among the most aesthetically
pleasing venues. But I think for the Warriors and for

(01:03:16):
Auckland FC, it works brilliantly. I don't think Mount Smart
pretends to be anything that it's not. It doesn't pretend
to be a stadium that's going to attract high quality
international sport. We played we played rugby. We're a game
against South Africa there in twenty three, didn't we because

(01:03:37):
Eden Park was being used for the Football World Cup.
But there is no way you'd play rugby test at
Mount Smartley's yet to. But Mount Smart does a very
very good job of what it does. Hello, Bill get a.

Speaker 9 (01:03:54):
Hey.

Speaker 18 (01:03:56):
What I can understand is where's the rugby union in this?
I mean I look at Scotland and Wales and that
and their rugby unions on their own stadiums are all
privately owned. Glasgow, for instance, has got about ten stadiums
and it's hard the size of Auckland all privately owned.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
I don't think New Zealand Rugby are in any mood
to be in the stadium ownership business, Bill if I'm honest.

Speaker 18 (01:04:25):
Yeah, But I mean where did all the money go
when it was an animateur sport scot I mean Scotland
owned theirs, the English owned theirs, the Irish demolishtairs and
built a whole new one and they're rugby unions about
a tenth of the size of New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
That wasn't That wasn't complete one hundred percent investment from
Irish Rugby though, was it, Bill Well?

Speaker 18 (01:04:50):
I don't know, but I know that in Scotland the
soccer grounds that are huge, like Celtic Park and Hampton,
they're all and eye books, they're all supplied by the
soccer clubs. They're all privately owned and so and like
I say, Glasgow is a third of the size of allment.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
Yeah with a great well, yeah, with a I think
with a with a probably a bigger, bigger population. But
I don't know the ins and outs of the Scottish model.
I can almost say, without fear of contradiction, there is
absolutely no way New Zealand Rugby would want to want
to own the venues the All Blacks play. They were
on recorders saying that they liked the Key Point proposal

(01:05:36):
the new stadium. They liked that idea and perhaps would
have considered being some sort of partner in the building
of a of a Rugby precinct or a sporting precinct
around Key Park had that been given a tick. But again,
giving it a tick is one thing. Finding the investment
is is another. That is the big thing here, Dave

(01:06:01):
says Pinet. If you're starting with a blank sheet of paper,
you wouldn't have Eden or Mount Smart. You'd have something
in the heart of the city to bring everyone together. Yeah, Dean,
you're right. Unfortunately we're not starting from scratch. We have
Eden Park, we have Mount Smart and like I say,
I think Mount Smart does a great job for the

(01:06:22):
tenants that it services. I've been to the Warriors there,
I've been to Auckland FC there. Great job on both fronts.
Rectangular good capacity of twenty five twenty six thousand, not
that hard to get to, is it? Public? Transport. It's
serviced by the train. It's not that hard to get

(01:06:45):
to by motor vehicle. You just got off the motorway.
And if you're coming from the city anyway, which is
how I normally get there. When I'm going to Mount
Smart for football coming from the city, the CBD around
Victoria Street where where z B is. It takes me
about twenty minutes to get from Victoria Street in the city.

(01:07:05):
So that's the skytower to Mount Smart. People say it's
hard to get to. Maybe I think it probably is
on a Friday night. When when you're trying to get
to a Warrior's game on a Friday night, I think
that's a different set of circumstances. But like I say,

(01:07:26):
I don't think Mount Smart is pretending to be anything
that it's not. I just wanted to mention Sam Ruth
and Sam Tanner last night before we move on. They
were running in the Muri stand meat in Melbourne. We
spoke to Sam's dad being yesterday on the show about
the auction for Sam shoes. Eventually they went for about

(01:07:48):
eleven and a half grand. So Sam Ruth and Sam
Tanner were in a stacked fifteen hundred meter field Last night,
Sam Ruth set another world record for a fifteen year old.
He ran a PBE of three minutes forty point one

(01:08:08):
to zero. He was ranked twelveth of fourteen runners in
the field, and he was last at one stage got
up to seventh. He beat a runner who's run three
point fifty one for the mile and a runner who's
run three thirty four over fifteen hundred meters, And in
a race that no one ran their best times, he

(01:08:30):
lowered his best by another one point one three seconds,
and then if you extrapolate that out to the mile,
it equates to a three minute fifty seven mile, which
is quicker than the sub four he ran a week ago.
So he's obviously continuing on this upward trajectory. Robert says,

(01:08:55):
you're dreaming about taking the motorway. It's a car park
these days. I'm only going from my own experience on this. Robert,
like I say, I often come up to Auckland for
Auckland FC games. I'll leave work when i finish here
at three and I'm at Mount Smart by three twenty

(01:09:16):
three twenty five, even in traffic, and yeah, the motor
ways it's a bit of a grind. Isn't it. But
I'm just telling you that's that's that's my experience, very.

Speaker 9 (01:09:29):
High good a how are you good? These stadiums, and
that it should not go on to rate payers.

Speaker 18 (01:09:39):
None of it.

Speaker 9 (01:09:42):
Money should be coming out of the ratepayers pockets. Councils
are there for infrastructure only. And these stadiums you've got.

Speaker 21 (01:09:51):
Big corporate and that, and you've got Eddy Dance and
all these people making money out of it the wrong
you know, these other players are making huge money and
the rate payer is so obsidizing the indy Barry.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
Do you agree, though, that the Auckland economy also benefits
from having events at big venues?

Speaker 21 (01:10:16):
It may do. I don't believe the figures that are
being quoted, though. I would be very suspicious of the
figures quoted. I would think maybe a quarter of what
is quoted. It's easy to pluck a figure out of
the sky.

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
I think we can agree, though, can't we that Let's
say there's an all blacks test, a big all blacks test,
that it brings people into a city and therefore adds
value to retail, hospitality, accommodation and such like. Look, I'm
not saying that you're right or wrong. I just think
there is a case. There is a case that a

(01:10:59):
region that benefits from having events in their city should
perhaps subsidize venues to hold those events.

Speaker 21 (01:11:07):
Okay, I've put it to you that for everyone who
goes to those games, it interrupts someone else's life who
isn't into sport. Sport plays zero in my life, zero,
because I am busy doing other things, active things, and

(01:11:29):
quite frankly, I look at the big players, the Adidas
and Nikes and all that, and the rugby unions and
all that, and quite frankly, they should be standing on
their own two feet.

Speaker 3 (01:11:43):
How does a person coming to Walkland or wherever it
is you are, Barry, to watch your game of rugby
interrupt your life? Well, traffic, I think, look, Barry, you
know how bad allcand traffic is anyway.

Speaker 21 (01:11:59):
Traffic's one thing for traffic, motor vehicles, all sorts of congestions,
and I think you get a congestion charge and that
sort of thing, you know, the noise factor.

Speaker 3 (01:12:12):
Oh very sorry. I think those things are there anyway.
And look, I get what you're saying, and not everybody's
a fan of sport. It's great to have you listening.
To Weekend Sport. But I think most people would say
that visitors to your region are a good thing. Otherwise,

(01:12:33):
why would counsels up and down the country be spending
money on promoting themselves twenty to two or take a break,
comeback chat to James mcconey.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
The Tough Questions after Turf Weekend Sport with Jason Hyne
and GJ. Gunnerholmes, New Zealand's most trusted home Builder News.

Speaker 3 (01:12:52):
Sixteen away from two after two o'clock. Tana Umang, a
coach of Morea Pacifica, joins us off the back of
I would say the best victory in the short history
of that franchise is always on a Sunday afternoon. Though,
great pleasure to welcome James mconey to the show.

Speaker 6 (01:13:08):
Hello Mateka Poney, how's it going very good?

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
We're having some good, robust conversations this afternoon. I'm not
sure whether you've been taking it all in about Stadia etc.

Speaker 6 (01:13:21):
Oh stadium chat years. Mike Wayne is probably on the
same page as myself. Not that not just because I
do work for him at the ACC. But you know,
the wind Yard quarter proposal was the best proposal. They
turfed that out. It was the most sensible, pragmatic, financially viable,
also had the support of international concert promoters, so there

(01:13:45):
was a lot to like about it. But somehow, I
don't know. I just think egos and maybe even just
sort of thoughts of delusions of grandeur getting in the
way because that stadium could have been built, and I
think it could have been done, and now we may
never know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
Yeah, inertia, I think that's what we've got here. I
think that's the right word. It might not be, but
I think we've got inertia. We're not going anywhere. Maa Pacifica,
Maana Pacifica. Last night? Did you enjoy that?

Speaker 6 (01:14:11):
I love that? And in fact, the way more A
Pacifica played, even Rob Penny admitted at the head he
said they were just o thought out, you know, sort
of the tactics are outplayed. They kicked well and did
all these things where I think the Crusaders went, hey,
that's what we used to do, which has put pressure
on teams in their own half, and instead it was

(01:14:32):
one of Pacifica with you know, six tries all converted,
and that's just that's hard to come back from. And
I mean, Killer Green is just an absolute revelation at
first five, so that that has unlocked a lot of
the potential. But what Tana and his team have done
as coaching team is just managed to give them that belief.

(01:14:56):
And I think Artie Savia is a captain, is a
big part of it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
Huge, huge, And I think also when the Crusaders got
back to within I think it was nine points and
code Taylor's coming off the bench and to mighty Williams
is coming off the bench. A couple of All Blacks
front rowers. You thought, right, I can see what's going
to happen here. I've seen this one before. My ONEA
pacifica are going to get run over by a Crusader
side that just mentled the Blues a week ago. I

(01:15:20):
just thought the way that they they you know, showed
utter resilience to then score a couple more tries of
their own and really secure the match was really impressive
to me.

Speaker 6 (01:15:31):
And there were a couple of moments where you're just going, okay,
that is something special. And I think it was peppersona
Patafilo who just shrugged off Ethan Blackadder. This is you know,
seasoned all black Ethan Blackadder, and then he also thinks
scored under the posts under some pressure. And I mean
he's been in the Crusaders system and you know, I'm

(01:15:51):
not saying he got chewed up and spat out, but
you know he's probably one of those guys wondering where
his next stop was going to be. And now you
look at him just looking like an absolute world better
at Wina PACIFICA.

Speaker 5 (01:16:05):
So they do.

Speaker 6 (01:16:08):
I think they developed players really well. It was always
going to be a mainland cheese. Good things take time,
so the scenario. But then with miracle fire Langey, as
we've talked about, he will be the best blindside flanker
almost is the best blindside flanker in the world. And
I'm sure the I'm sure he's going a Rugby would

(01:16:28):
have been wondering how do we actually get him over?
But I think it's too late that he will be
someone in Superstar and let's hope he stays in Super
Rugby as well.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
It would take a miracle to get him across James, wouldn't.

Speaker 6 (01:16:44):
It It would it would.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
That's terrible. Sorry, that's just a pall.

Speaker 6 (01:16:50):
See they've done him. So that's why I always think,
you know, like their eyes must light up, and I mean,
we know that our Cura and talboyful out will qualify
for the All Blacks next year. Wants to play in
the Black Jersey. But Miracle Fire Langy was born in somewhere,
so this is the whole thing that's like and it's
played for money or samoa. I mean, i'd say hands off.

(01:17:11):
Just let's you know, let them cook, let them be amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
And absolutely absolutely and let let.

Speaker 6 (01:17:18):
The Pacific Nations actually come up with it, because can
we just be honest here? They were so close one
pass away from beating England in that World Cup last year,
so you know they're not far from being genuine giant
killers at the highest level.

Speaker 3 (01:17:33):
Yeah, let's just enjoy miracle failing and a lot of
the others as well while they are playing Super rugby.
It's it's terrific a couple of other sporting matters to
kick around. Mark Chapman got one hundred yesterday for the
black Caps. Muhammad A Bass I'm not sure many people
knew about him before yesterday. Quickest ever a half century

(01:17:54):
by a debiton for New Zealm. He's got a bit
about him, this kid.

Speaker 6 (01:17:57):
He does what a not and it's kind of nice
bit of symmetry and poetry really playing in the nation
of his birth, Pakistan, and so having Muhammed Bus there
really just shows the sort of the changing face of
New Zealand sport and New Zealand cricketers has obviously shown
a little bit bit of that from going back a
couple of decades now, but he was coached by d

(01:18:20):
pet Pattel up in Auckland and Depak is one of
those guys. He just does amazing work and you know,
sort of unsung hero really and such a great servant.
He still loves the game so much, will help anybody.
Just a wonderful human being. And MUHAMMEDA Bus has sort
of down his way into this New Zealand team via

(01:18:41):
Wellington and really that knock was you know, batting at
two hundred strike great, was fantastic. So we look forward
to seeing what he can do. But Mark Chapman is
the interesting case is and he's played for Hong Kong.
He's he was their best player and then said well,
I'm going to give him his Zeland the crack. And
he's not a huge man. You would have met him,

(01:19:02):
Piney would have towered over him. And he's uch player,
and yet he hit six six's in this century. Yesterday
it was just Lance Kim stats And that's the thing.
That's just a changing game and the way that we play.
And I like the fact that someone like Mark Chapmanton
can still make it through all the sort of like

(01:19:25):
the gym rats if you like.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
Absolutely, he's a good bat. He strikes it over one
hundred in one day internationals. He's now played a decent
sample size of thirty, so he's battered I think twenty
five twenty six times, striking over one hundred and one day.
He seems like he's the kind of guy who always
gets dropped when Caine comes back. I feel like he's
worth more than that.

Speaker 6 (01:19:47):
Now then, so so it will just remain to be seen.
Like once the space, I think Chapman's could make it
in the Test team. I mean, what's happened with Ratchen
Ravender has been amazing. Of course he's a young talent.
Chapman's been around, but I'd definitely like to see what
he could do at Test level as well. Yeah, No,

(01:20:08):
it was, it was, it was. Actually it's been a
really good extended summer of cricket and and we've we've
found you know, we've found another star in the bus now.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
The last time we spoke a week ago, it was
the day before the All Whites were playing New Caledonia.
We were both supremely confident that they woul gett the
job done. They did eventually. Did you have any nervous
moments during that game.

Speaker 6 (01:20:29):
Though, well, they had a shocking first after the Navy
or Whites.

Speaker 5 (01:20:35):
It was.

Speaker 6 (01:20:35):
It was horrible and I was actually watching it with
Ricky Herbert. Sorry to name drop, but I'm sure you
won't mind.

Speaker 3 (01:20:41):
It's a good one.

Speaker 6 (01:20:42):
We were having a debate on who, which which World
Cup team was the best, and I think this one
would be the most talented. But currently it's just hard
to say. Really they need to go and do something
next year. But I've got all the all the talent
and potential. I think a couple of things I really liked,
which was a Costa Barbarossi's pretty much exercising the dmans

(01:21:06):
of losing the Costa Rica a few years ago. He
said it still haunted him every night. He was concerning Piney.
We've all got moments fight there though in our careers.
And then and then the other thing is someone like
Eli just now speaking of you know, he's got his
mixed race kid Chinese mum. He weighs sixty five kgs.

(01:21:31):
He you know, sometimes you think, oh, you're going to
be okay out there, and of course he's absolutely fine,
scored a beautiful goal. He's he's one of those guys
who's just a little bit of the X factor plays
in Austria currently and I think another year was perfect
for those guys of Eli's generation. We need to give
them another year. We need another year to find Stubleetsing

(01:21:53):
a better club, perhaps so that he can realize his
full potential. Because the beauty of qualifying this early and
we've done it with only a few other nations I
think Japan and Iran. Obviously the host in Argentina is
the defending chancellor and it just gives us time to
plan piny and that's that's invaluable.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
Absolutely right. Look, you wouldn't believe the stuff that I
think about every night that keeps me awake, James, but
talking to you on a Sunday is not one of them.
Always a pleasure, mate, Thanks for joining us, James mcgoney,
big part of our Sunday seven to two news talks.
He'd be news talks had been weekend Sport. What are
we three and a half away from two after two?
Tana Umanga wa a win from Mowana Pacifica last night

(01:22:31):
the most significant I think of their short life, going
down to christ Church and beating the Crusaders who were
in a pretty good run of form. Weren't they beating
the Blues comfortably at Eden part just seven nights before.
Tanah Umanga, coach of Moana Pacifica after.

Speaker 1 (01:22:48):
Two the only place to discuss the biggest fours issues
on and after fields.

Speaker 2 (01:22:55):
It's all on We James Sport with Jason Taine on
your home of sports New Talk.

Speaker 3 (01:23:03):
Two o seven. Welcome into the show. Another hour of
this and then to be average takes the reins. We
can collect a Sunday edition. Before we get to him.
Tana Umonga standing by the chattist coach of Minor Pacifica.
He must be so proud of what his team did
last night, finally managing I think, to blend the wonderful
pacifica style of rugby that would come to know and

(01:23:24):
love from this team with a steely determination, a structure
and a resilience that allowed them to fend off a
very very very good team in the Crusaders tana Umunger.
Shortly and also this hour. The Ocean Race used to
be called the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo
Ocean Race. It's coming back to Auckland in twenty twenty

(01:23:45):
seven and there'll be a key week taking part. Conrad
Coleman is the man. He's assembling a team to take
on that challenge. He's going to join us in studio
to tell us a little bit about that. Other bits
and pieces around, some live sports and plankets sheild to
keep an eye on, and other things too. And our
lines of communication remain well and truly open of course.
Eight hundred eighty ten eighty if you want to pick

(01:24:07):
up on anything, yeah, nine two ninety two. If you
would prefer to correspond via text, eight past two, as
we always do just after the two o'clock news on
weekend Sport, we like to bring you up to date
with everything, well not everything, but a few things that
you may have missed in case you missed it. We
start in Hong Kong for the iconic Hong Kong Sevens,

(01:24:31):
and our blackbern and Sevens continue their strong run ninety
seconds to play just under for New Zealand on their
way to a semi final, and Machina Pause on your
way to another try slicing right through the heart of
the Brazilian defense.

Speaker 14 (01:24:44):
Maina Paul adds her.

Speaker 11 (01:24:46):
Name to the scoresheet in this one in New Zealand
going through to the last four.

Speaker 3 (01:24:50):
Yeah, Blackburn Sevens continue through to the semis, but the
All Black Sevens will have to settle for fighting it
out for the minor places.

Speaker 22 (01:24:57):
New Zealand look for the steal, look for the turnover.

Speaker 3 (01:24:59):
No, they get penalized.

Speaker 22 (01:25:01):
That sign Matters doesn't get what he came for and
the man who's kicks dream in this quarterfinal, Enamo Artso
gets it off the field and only Timo He's got
a dance on the biggest. France had ended New Zealand's.

Speaker 3 (01:25:18):
Run here in Hong Kong, close to home. The Wellington
Phoenix close to victory yesterday in Wellington, but they'll be
kicking themselves. It's still time to play. Plenty of at
Fort Western Sydney. Millenna bates you want to go aline
littlest millenovits he's drilled at top corner and we'll level

(01:25:39):
again at Toutore, conceding late to have to settle for
that drawer against Western Sydney and Super Rugby, the Reds
have gone top with a twenty eight to twenty four
went over the Force, shoulders up Nastes in the middle.
Looky for the Gowey here can't he now?

Speaker 14 (01:25:56):
To Victa Vgona, it's his name come and the Reds.

Speaker 3 (01:26:04):
Retain the league. And to the n Rella big upset
and Illawara the Dragons toppling the Melbourne Storm.

Speaker 20 (01:26:13):
A little little Jacob level catches.

Speaker 14 (01:26:17):
Them unaware out of Dunny hat off the fix with
great effects.

Speaker 22 (01:26:23):
Jacob little Sense and George Lawara.

Speaker 3 (01:26:26):
To the Lee fourteen eighth. They won that which paved
the way for the undefeated Bulldogs to take top spot
with a twenty points to six win over Cronulla Sherry.

Speaker 5 (01:26:36):
The lad had a cut through Tenascus Channibray play flex.

Speaker 14 (01:26:44):
How strong have they been?

Speaker 6 (01:26:47):
Channery bestown Bulldot's Michael are the real ships?

Speaker 1 (01:26:52):
Breaking down the hail Mary's and the epic fails. Weekend
Sport with Jason m Newstalk.

Speaker 3 (01:26:59):
Zenb eleven minutes past two. Mwana Pacifica have claimed the
biggest upset of the Super right season so far.

Speaker 5 (01:27:09):
Molana magnificence a mauritele ad marts for Tano who.

Speaker 3 (01:27:14):
Mugger's been for the first time. They packed the Crusaders
a famous forty five twenty nine win over the Crusaders
in christ Church. Inspirational captain Ardie Savia led the way,
scoring the first two Moana tries as they claimed their
second win of the campaign. It was also the second

(01:27:34):
most points the Crusaders have ever conceded in christ Church,
surpassed only by the forty nine the Blues put on
them in Super Rugby's very first season back in nineteen
ninety six. Maana pacifica coach Tana Umanga is with us
Tana thanks for taking the time. In general terms. First
of all, how special a win is this for you

(01:27:56):
and for your team?

Speaker 18 (01:27:59):
Oh?

Speaker 23 (01:27:59):
Very special. I suppose anyone's a special win. But when
you come down here, you know, to christ Church and
you play against the team that's obviously formidable at home
and you know that they're one of the form teams. Yeah,
you know, it is very special to do that. So

(01:28:21):
you know, I'm very proud of the group and also
you know the ones that came down here. But also
the ones at home, you know that help us prepare
for You know, what was our best performance of the year?

Speaker 3 (01:28:32):
Was this the eighty minute performance you've been looking.

Speaker 6 (01:28:35):
For for sure?

Speaker 23 (01:28:38):
You know, you know we've been good at patches as
we've seen, and uh, you know it was probably you know,
we don't want to get too far in front of
ourselves here, Jason, but you know there's obviously still things
to work on. But no, you know, this is probably
again probably our best performances I've been here, and we

(01:29:02):
know we've we've got more on us and we don't
we know we have to have more on us because
we can't just rely on this one game. But you know,
we enjoyed our performance and our win last night and
now we're already you know, as you do in this competition,
you can't keep thinking about what's in the past. You've
got to move forward and you know we need to
do that now.

Speaker 3 (01:29:23):
How hard tin of have you worked at blending the
traditional style of Pacifica rugby which we all love to watch,
with a work right and a structure that's needed to
consistently win matches?

Speaker 23 (01:29:37):
Well, probably since we've got here, and I'm sure, yeah,
look at and that's the thing.

Speaker 5 (01:29:48):
You know.

Speaker 23 (01:29:48):
We know we can play the game, we know we're
exciting to watch, and traditionally that's in us, but we
also know what's the coaching group and the playing group
and the leadership that we have that we can't just
rely on that to win games. And we want to
be more than just attend that everyone loves watching and
a highlight real team. We want to be a team

(01:30:09):
that is consistent and can put out performances that people
are proud of, not losing sight of who we are
and what we can do. And we know we've got that,
but we want to show exactly what you talked about
around our work creating those effort areas and also you know,
the detail around what good teams do to win games.

(01:30:30):
And I think you know you saw a bit of
that last night, and it's great to hear people talk
around our work create not just the flair that we
naturally bring to games.

Speaker 3 (01:30:39):
And so in that way, then will last night become
something of a blueprint for you? Will it be something
you can you know, you can reference with your team
as you as you look for more performances.

Speaker 9 (01:30:49):
Like this.

Speaker 23 (01:30:51):
Exactly exactly. It's you know, we've had the blueprint for
a while, you know, putting that plan in place, adhering
to the plan, trusting the plan, and you know, just
you know, for us, it's combining the emotion we have

(01:31:12):
and all that energy that we want to do well
and understanding that you know, we do this for a
bigger purpose than just ourselves as a group. But we've
got to channel that energy somewhere and channel channel it
in a way that you know, we're all doing it,
all doing it for the same reason. And you know,

(01:31:33):
as we see were singing off the same hymn sheet,
because we know when we do that, when we channel
that energy in the right places at the right times
and as a collective, then you know, we know we
can get more, more results like we did last night.

Speaker 3 (01:31:48):
Early in the second half, you were thirty one, ten
ahead and then a couple of tries to the Crusaders
got them within nine. What were the conversations you were
having when they got back to within nine points but
still want about twenty five minutes to go.

Speaker 23 (01:32:02):
Oh, those are the big moments for us. There was
a huge moment for us. And talking to skip Ardi,
you know, he said, those are the moments that that
you know, the boys stood up again. That's around uniting
us around what we were going to go to next,
and that that's something that we've worked on from especially

(01:32:22):
from the last game, is that coming together in those moments,
you know, and understanding that we know what to do,
you know, have faith, trust the plan and you know,
just go back to doing what we were doing and
not not lose faith in that. And I think that
was probably a turning point for us, and a big

(01:32:43):
part about growth, especially from last week, was you know,
swinging that momentum because it was turned against us when
we had it all And obviously we know what it
feels like when we let that momentum keep going to
and giving that to the opposition teams. But again, you know,
our leaders stepped up. The players understood on with Benea before,

(01:33:05):
but now we want to chain this and uh, you know,
for credit to them.

Speaker 3 (01:33:09):
They did a lot of players called the eye last night.
I just want to ask you about Patrick Pellegrini. What
have you seen in him? How proud have you been
of his growth and his I get you he works,
I'm sure closely with Jackson Garden Bashop inside your playing group,
But what have you made of of Patrick Pellegrini's introduction
to super rugby.

Speaker 23 (01:33:27):
Obviously he's you know, he's really taken to it. He's
done everything that was after him from the preseason to now.
And I was, you know, we've seen him play internationals
and you know, from a guy that started in Sydney,
took a punt and and you know signed with Division
three in England and ended up playing Division two and

(01:33:51):
then wanting to come back and play and always drink
about playing super rugby and from what we saw and
obviously him playing for Donna infitted into.

Speaker 18 (01:34:00):
What we were about.

Speaker 23 (01:34:02):
And then he just worked. And when you talk about work,
but he worked hard in the in the off season
and our pre season block. You know, he had a
few things to work on. And you know, fortunately with
the backstretches we have and Stephen Jones and Lovast and
Mules sure, there's a lot of saw that you know,

(01:34:22):
they just kept building his game and you can see,
you know, when someone he has the flare. You know,
I think that's the tongue in side that comes out
on me. He loves he loves that side of the game.
And you know, it was the other part in terms
of managing a game, and he's learned a lot from
Jackson as well, and now you're just see that. And again,

(01:34:44):
you know, for someone who's coming to Super Rugby for
the first time, you know, he's he's taking some learnings
and he's he's worked hard on his craft and now
we're you know, for him, it's the consistency. It's for him,
it's you know, obviously everyone's talking about him now and
that's a lot of guys, you know, they're talking about
them now. Now it's you know, from talk, you know,

(01:35:06):
taking on negative and being able to block dad. And
it's also us just learning from it. You know, it's
the same with all the positivity. For us, we can
take confidence from it, but you're still just going to
go back and do the job that we need to
perform for our team.

Speaker 3 (01:35:20):
Just to finish it. It almost seems silly to ask
you to find more ways to describe Ardie Savia. I
don't know that there are too many more words. Couple
of tries to start you off last night. Can you
articulate what he brings to your team in any new way?
Tata oh I was asked.

Speaker 23 (01:35:38):
The same question yesterday and I just said, look, it's
everything that everyone says. But I get to see it
every day, just like our players. You know, even last
night after the game. It's keeping anyone's feet on the ground.
You know, it's great. We enjoy it, you know, we
love what we do and obviously give that result, but

(01:35:59):
you know we want more, you know, we want their feeling.
We've got to want more. We've got to know that
this is not it, and that's the challenge. And you know,
just hiding him, you know, I think just gives everyone
confidence and lifts everyone to realize, actually, she's this is
the s guy, you know, who's sacrificed but to be here,

(01:36:23):
and they know they have to lift their levels. And
then they realize when they lift those levels, they jeez,
I can play at this level. You know, I can
play it at a level that I mean, we can
compete with the best. And so that just builds confidence.
And that's the biggest thing that I think that he's
brought to us. He's a confidence builder. You know, he's
a leader both in his actions and his words. And

(01:36:47):
I think he's someone that you know, we're very fortunate
to have and unfortunate that he he aligned us hisself
with with us so yeah, I think probably the word
it's just really disgrateful, you know, for what he brings
and what he does for us, and you knowing sure
the players would say.

Speaker 3 (01:37:06):
This, congrats Tana, terrific performance, mate, thanks for the chat
this afternoon. Thank you, Jose, appreciate it, No, appreciate you,
Thank you, Tana. Tana Among that Mowana Pacifica coach off
the back of a significant night in their history forty
five twenty nine winners over the Crusaders in christ Church
last night. So round seven of Super Rugby pacificas in

(01:37:29):
the books, the Hurricanes beating the Warridzars fifty seven twelve
Friday night, then the Brumbes thirty four Highland is twenty
seven that result from Mowana Pacifica, followed by the Reds
beating the Force as you heard in case you missed
at So what that does to the table is put
the Reds on top. The Reds are top of the
Super Rugby table twenty three points from the Chiefs with

(01:37:51):
twenty two. Now those two play one another in what
is now a top of the table clash in Hamilton
this coming Friday night. The remaining games are all on Saturday.
You could sit there and have a quadron head if
you want it. Wanda Pacific are welcoming the Waratars to Albany.
They will be in high spirits welcoming a Waratar side

(01:38:15):
that was pretty ordinary, particularly in the second half against
the Hurricanes on Friday nights. So more wann pacifica will
back themselves to go back to back the Fijian drewer. Meantime,
will welcome a wounded Crusaders side to Suva where they
always play well the drewer, so that's a challenge. The
Crusaders will have to meet head on then Eden Park

(01:38:35):
next Saturday night. Blues for Hurricanes. Hurricanes are very intriguing
game there with the Blues off the back of the
bye in a very ordinary start to their season up
against the Hurricanes who kind of kickstarted themselves on Friday
night against the Waratars. And then the Highlanders are across
in Perth to take on the Force. And the Highlanders,
who started well this season, have kind of very much

(01:38:58):
dropped off recently and they're now outside the top six.
So Round seven of Super Rugby Pacific next weekend is
set to be another very very very Round eight. It
is actually a very very intriguing set of matches. Anything
on the Mona Pacifica Crusaders game that court. You're right,
You're okay down there in christ Church Crusader supporters. Look,

(01:39:21):
it's probably just a blip for you. You're still there
or thereabouts. You're still third, and you know, I think
the way you played against the Blues last weekend would
suggest that there's still plenty of gas in this Crusaders tank.
Somebody says, here, why do you like Mina Pacifica winning.
That's the wrong attitude in so many ways. I would

(01:39:44):
really like to know why that is the wrong attitude
in a lot of ways, because I just think we
all want, have always wanted a strong competition from top
to bottom jeopardy in knowing that we don't know from
week to week who is going to beat who. Look,

(01:40:05):
I don't think any body picked out last night. I
was certainly expecting a comfortable Crusaders win. TAB certainly thought
so a dollar nine six dollars. But I think we
all want all teams to be strong. Why wouldn't we
want Mowana Pacifica to be playing this way? I don't

(01:40:28):
understand that text. Anyway you might have some thoughts on
eight hundred and eighty, ten eighty or nine two ninety
two on our text machine. Two twenty five, we're back
and four after this.

Speaker 2 (01:40:37):
The biggest things in sport are on Weekend Sports with
Jason Paine and GJ.

Speaker 1 (01:40:42):
Gunnos, New Zealand's most trusted home builder, News Talks the.

Speaker 3 (01:40:46):
B two twenty seven on News Talks. They're not going
to talk ocean racing before we knock the show on
the head at three, but super Rugby is what we're
yarning about at the moment. What did you make of
Mowana pacifica beating the Crusaders film?

Speaker 8 (01:41:02):
A yeah, I'm gonna say very good, but not for
the fact they bet the Crusaders because I live here
in Canterbury now, so but I know I was impressed.

Speaker 10 (01:41:16):
I thought.

Speaker 8 (01:41:18):
It was funny because I said to a friend that
I'll go with the Crusaders on a parochial sort of sense.
But I wouldn't be surprised if my Ana Pacific actually
doing that, beating the Crusaders and bugging me. They did,
but because just watching their performances, you know, so far
they've been close and you can see they've got.

Speaker 10 (01:41:36):
The potential but.

Speaker 8 (01:41:38):
Yeah, last night I thought when I was watching them,
a couple of words come to mind, and you used
one earlier on was resilience, and also I think a
maturity maybe that's come of age or sort of come
of age and maturity that's come about them through maybe
the influence of Tanna Humannger's coaching and all his experience

(01:42:01):
and Artie Savia. But because last night they were just
beat the Crusaders and then Rob Penny kind of I
listened to him afterwards and he basically said virtually the
same thing, and that you know, they just for some
reason it seems like their mind wasn't so in the game,

(01:42:22):
but they were just basically beaten by Ryana Pacific to
the breakdown. Because the thing when I say resilience and
coming of age, I think like in the past, Malana Pacific,
I think I've had a tendency to if they get
behind or things start going wrong, they tend to sort

(01:42:43):
of that expression, drop the bottom lips, so to speak,
and get a bit discouraged and maybe a bit disheartened.
So therefore you know that they don't I won't say not, Troy,
but you know they just tend to give up the
ghost of bit as I say, i'd say, but last
night I didn't see that. And that's why I use
the word maturity and resilience, where they stuck to the

(01:43:05):
game plan and they executed well, you know, their moves
and that, and they just manned up and put their
head down. And I'm looking for the right word to use,
but they didn't drop that lip, you know, they just
even when the Crusaders started coming back, like you said,
and I will start and I was sort of thinking, oh,
here we go, Tody Taylor's on the come back too

(01:43:25):
quick tries, We're going to roll them. And I think
in the past they might have done that with on
the Pacific, but the attitude was different, you know, that
maturity where they they didn't give up the ghost. They
just put their head down and played.

Speaker 3 (01:43:41):
I think I think maturity is exactly the right word pill.
I think that's what's happened to this rugby team. They
have matured as a rugby team to the point where
as you say, they've always been able to score tries,
but defensively, can they put in an eighty minute performance
that will keep teams out like the Crusaders and others
when they're ahead, and they have, you know, for the

(01:44:02):
most part, not really been able to do that. So
I think last night they showed maturity that I was
delighted to see and look forward to seeing more of.
For Rob Penny's part, and you picked up on it,
Phil some of the language he used afterwards beaten up, physically, fragile, no,

(01:44:22):
emotional energy poor, they were some of the words that
Rob Penny was using. He was utterly displeased with his
team now. Losing David HARVILLI clearly didn't help because he
was a big part of the win over the Blues
last week, and in fact it's been a big part
of the Crusaders all season. And by the sounds of it,
he won't go to Fiji next week either, so they'll

(01:44:43):
have to have to make do in midfield with a
different combination as they did yesterday. They moved Dallas McLeod
into second five and Levi Armore came into the centers.
Hasn't played, certainly not from the start very often this season,
Levi l Moore. They'll probably have to go with something
similar next week. It was interesting, wasn't it, Because you
looked at that team and Noah Hotham and James O'Connor

(01:45:05):
teaming up for the first time. I'm in the halves
Macas Springer, Will, Jordan Schaffee Harkey as a back three,
even without Harvey and with a Ford pack that's always
strong and with plenty of reinforcement off the bench. I
don't think there was anybody who thought the Crusaders wouldn't
win that game. Well, there were a few, and they

(01:45:25):
were wearing Morena pacifica gear. Good to chat to, you felt,
thanks for calling. In twenty eight Away from three, We're
going to take a break again and come back and
go ocean racing. Well not exactly go ocean racing, but
chat a bit about it with Conrad Coleman, who's got
his hand up for an entry into the Ocean Race
of twenty twenty seven when it's set to head Auckland

(01:45:47):
for the first time in a week while he's gonna
pop in a studio for a bit of a chat
right after this.

Speaker 2 (01:45:51):
Don't get caught off.

Speaker 1 (01:45:51):
Signed eight eighty ten eighty Weekend Sports with Jason Hym
and GJ. Gardnerholmes, New Zealand's most trusted home builder.

Speaker 3 (01:46:00):
News Dogs ENV twenty four to three the Ocean Race,
the world's toughest test of a team in sport, is
returning to Auckland in the twenty twenty seven edition of
the iconic Around the World Offshore Race, formerly known as
the Whitbread Round the World Race The Volvo Ocean Race
last scene here in New Zealand in twenty eighteen. Among
those taking part will be key We Offshore sailor and

(01:46:21):
two times solo vond Globe racer Conrad Coleman, who has
announced his new team Altdo Ocean Racing will take on
the challenge. Conrad Coleman's in studio with us. Great to
see you mate, Thanks for stopping and tell us about
this project and your motivation for it.

Speaker 24 (01:46:37):
Well, it's pretty epic because it's rare, as I'm forty
one now that we get to live out a childhood
dream and I grew up here in Auckland and every
couple of years then we had this epic Whitbread as
it was then fleet that came ripping in and out
of the harbor, typically with New Zealanders that were lifting

(01:46:59):
the trophy. You know, obviously Peter blakeground Dalton and all
of these legends and as a schoolboy. This is what
got me excited, and I have now sort of had
a long and winding road, but it ultimately became a
professional ocean racing saleer myself, but in a very particular sector.

(01:47:20):
You know, I moved to France to do this solo
ocean race, the Vonne Globe, and that is completely completely unique.
It's a professional ocean racing circuit based around sailing solo
either across Atlantic or indeed, as I've just done two
times around the world. And now the ocean Race as

(01:47:40):
it is now called has adopted the same fleet of
boats that I have just become an expert in sailing,
and so I kind of feel like quite by accident,
is that I've become sort of centrally located in this
fusion of.

Speaker 3 (01:47:51):
These two worlds.

Speaker 24 (01:47:52):
What used to be called the whipbread fully crued ocean
racing coming to New Zealand and what I've just completed,
the NonStop solo race around the world.

Speaker 3 (01:48:00):
So the boats then tell us about those are they?
Are they failing boats? Yes, absolutely so around the world racing, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 24 (01:48:08):
So if you can imagine what we've had the chance
to see out on our harbor here recently with with
SALGP and of course the America's Cup foiling. They're foiler assisted,
so they don't completely fly or not at least in
a very stable manner, which is kind of problematic. You
end up doing these sort of quite dramatic hop skips
and jumps and of course big splashdowns. But these are wild,

(01:48:32):
wild boats. You know, if you could, if you can
make the parallel to you know, Formula one is definitely
the America's Cup. You know, these are fragile beasts that
you know, gets shammy down at the end of their race.
Everybody goes home and sleeps in nice comfy beds at
the end of the day.

Speaker 12 (01:48:47):
This is not that you know.

Speaker 24 (01:48:48):
What I do is if we go to a parallel
with the Motorsport World it is World Championship Rally, and
so that is gritty, it is brutal. It goes all day,
all night, you know, up up over mountain passes, and
so it's the same kind of thing. You know, we
don't have a big, big, short crew. It's the sailors

(01:49:09):
that fix the boats. You have to be incredibly multi
talented to be able to fix the boat and get
hands stuck into the electronics keep a very complicated racing
machine alive in some of the most treacherous and dangerous
places on our globe, so most notably the Southern Ocean,
where I was just a couple of months ago. And

(01:49:29):
so it's incredibly exciting and challenging because you know, one
day it's never liked the other. And what I am
now super excited about is taking all of my expertise
that that I've developed over the last fifteen years in
the French solo saving world and sharing that with key
we sailors. Because I had to move to France, I

(01:49:50):
didn't know anybody, I didn't know the language, and I
have created, you know, my life all over again in
the sort of little west westy wild corner of Brittany
and France. And I've been the first key to go
and fully integrate myself into the French Silian circuit. And

(01:50:11):
so the barrier to entry is just huge. You know,
if you don't know people, if you don't speak the language,
then you just don't have access to this kind of
of sailing. And I'm now in a position where I
can open the door as wide as possible, bring in
the rest of the country with us and then get
Kiwi sailors both onto the boat and then also technicians
and members of our marine industry into the team as riggers,

(01:50:35):
as boat builders and so on. And the goal is
to get the whole country on board with us as
we enter the Ocean Race in twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (01:50:43):
Amazing, amazing. So how BIG's the crew and how have
you gone about assembling your crew? You've obviously started that,
what's the process behind that?

Speaker 24 (01:50:52):
Yeah, well, again, the contrast with the wetbread back in
the day is pretty different. And you know, we used
to have these these huge boats like New Zealand Endeavor
that had sort of eighteen burly bearded, hairy, smelly dudes
on it. Now, you know, things have moved on a
fair bit. First of all, it's a mixed crew and
so women are on board and that is fantastic. It's

(01:51:14):
it's really good to have a bo both sexes involved
in a high performance team. It tends to mellow out
the crazy crazy side and so yeah, so, so first
of all, that's really good. And then also the definition
of fully crewed has changed as well. And you know,
for the for the aucland yachtes that go and do

(01:51:35):
the Coastal Classic and so on. You typically have sort
of ten people on a relatively small boat, maybe a
forty footer. We have a sixty footer and it's fully
crewed with only four sailors, and so that means that
each person has to have a number of strings to
their bow. You know, you can't have specialists. You know,
specialists are for insects. You know, humans are really good

(01:51:56):
at doing a whole bunch of things, and that's what
we have to do in the crew. And so you
can't just have you know, don't want to get to technical,
but you can't just have a bowman or somebody who's
involved and just on pulling strings. Each person has to
have a global perspective as to what the routing or
the navigation is. I have to have somebody that's really
good at putting sales up on the front of the
boat when it's blown a wholly, and they also need

(01:52:19):
to be able to fix the boat if it goes
banging as well.

Speaker 3 (01:52:21):
Wow, well, multi talented people are the ones you're after.
So ocean racing itself, I'm sure you get asked this
a lot. Yeah, what is the attraction for you?

Speaker 24 (01:52:34):
It's not just getting spashed in the face for eighty
five days in a row. For me, and particularly with
the race that I just completed, the Vonde Globe, where
you do the solo, and the attraction is the fact
that it's multidisciplinary that both on land. I'm an entrepreneur,
so I have to run around and find sponsors and
make that connection with responsors. I do lots of speeches

(01:52:56):
and engagements with my sponsors to activate the partnership within
their companies. And so first of all, I provide value
to my sponsors and I have to go find them.
I run my own company. I do my own accounting,
often at two am. And then the actual sailing side
is well. I put together a technical team and so
I'm a manager of a small company. I drive a

(01:53:21):
fantastically passionate group of really really skilled technicians on how
to prepare the boat in the most appropriate way. And
then when I'm actually out there by myself. It's it's
rare now in our modern era to be fully reliant
only upon yourself, and that is not only in competition,
but also in safety. You know that I I've had

(01:53:42):
medical training, so I know how to do sutures and
when sailing double handed. I once had to open a
split you know, close a split head somebody and you know,
putting tens ten stitches up his face to sort them
out again. And to be totally reliant upon myself in
terms of looking after myself, figuring out how to look

(01:54:04):
after the boat, all of the complicated systems on board,
the navigation, and finally there's the sort of actual sailing,
the pulling on the string spit is actually a small
minority of what I actually get up to. And and
so it's it's this eclective mix which is really interesting
and really passionate and exciting. And then ultimately having that
expertise in the and creating that opportunity to get down

(01:54:26):
into the Southern Ocean, to be there with the Albatross
by yourself, and to be in control of this wildly powerful,
crazy machine and to feel at ease in the middle
of a storm is an incredibly powerful moment. You know,
it's it's it's a long journey that's got me there.
But to be in the Southern Ocean in a storm
and to be feeling good about it, and to be

(01:54:48):
in attack rather than survival mode, it's it's an incredibly
addicting experience.

Speaker 3 (01:54:53):
What can I just ask you a bit more about that.
I think we've all seen footage of the Southern Ocean
and boats like yours in the Southern Ocean. Is it
in any way scary?

Speaker 24 (01:55:06):
It can be, It really can be, and yet I
do it anyway. And so as they said, this is
a sixty foot boat, eighteen meters long. It's one of
the fastest boats in the world. And you're trying to,
you know, be a jockey on the back of that,
you know, control the beast. And the way that I
talk about it is if I'm in phase with the boat,

(01:55:29):
if I'm changing sales at the right time, if I'm
on top of the maintenance, if everything's going well, then
I feel like the boat is really small.

Speaker 6 (01:55:35):
You know.

Speaker 24 (01:55:35):
It's almost like stating in a laser out in the bay.
You know, I can whack a GiB in anytime I want.
I'm on top of my of my program. But as
soon as something goes wrong, the boat gets real big,
real fast, and that's when you realize that, oh man,
I'm out here by myself. I've only got two hands.
I've only got you know, relatively small small amount of

(01:55:56):
power that I can bring to bring to beer hair.
And so that's why anticipating is so so crucial. Experience
is so so crucial. You know, I've got a few
great here's now, and I'm happy that those count for
something these days. So yeah, So it comes down to
controlling the beast and staying on top of it and anticipating.

(01:56:17):
But ultimately, when you're fully locked in and things are
going really well, it's amazing to be cruising through five
hundred miles a day on a boat out there by yourself.
It's amazing, I'll bet.

Speaker 3 (01:56:28):
And another feature of it, you completed the last two
Vondi globe campaigns without burning any fossil fuels at all.
So how strong is your commitment to decarbonization?

Speaker 24 (01:56:38):
Rock solid? And just for those that are listening, yeah,
it's a sailboat, but sailboats have lots of complicated systems
on board now, and so we have computers, we have
Satelle communications systems, we have a very high tech autopilot
because we don't actually drive the boats ourselves. We put
on the strings and trim the sails and do the

(01:56:59):
navigation and all the rest of it, but actually the
boat drives itself. For ninety nine percent at the time,
and all of that takes energy, obviously, and so everybody
else in the race runs a diesel generator that charges
the batteries, and they fire up the old Donkey a
couple of times a day. And I felt like of
all of the mechanical sports in the world, we had
the opportunity to really show how things can how things

(01:57:22):
can be and should be. You know, we're pushed by
the wind. I think we should be charged by the sun.
And so during the course of several refits of the
last couple of years, I completely covered the boat in
solar panels and then developed some small we call them
hydro generators, but they're basically turbines that we can drop
off the back of the boat and then as the

(01:57:43):
flow of the water rushes past, and then that'll work
like a dynamo on a bicycle wheel and actually charge
out the batteries that way. And so I was the
first sailor to ever do that. In twenty sixteen, so
the last time that I did the race, and then
this time I doubled down on that principle of again
going zero missions with main energy, but then also adopting

(01:58:06):
pliers that were in line with my philosophies, and so
I was the only sailor that was fully equipped with
sales that can be recycled. And so normally sales are
sort of linear. You know, they get built somewhere in
the world, shipped to you from a long distance, and
you put them, put them up. They are really robust.

(01:58:27):
They survived the riggers of the Southern Ocean, and then
when they can no longer serve on the boat, you've
been them. And so this is a technology that allows
you to recapture the value of the resources that go
into those sales, and so that was really important to me.
And then also the ropes that they had on board
were biosourced and so not petrol based. And so basically,

(01:58:48):
you know, if you think about it in terms of emissions,
we talk about scope one, Scope two, Scope three, what
we produce, what our suppliers produced, and then what our
customers produce. And so I was I also drive electric
delivery vans from Maxis. I've got an electric bike and
that I used to drop my kids off at school.
And so I've gone through all of my actions both

(01:59:09):
on land and at sea, to be as coherently possible,
to be totally invested in this idea of being charged
by the sun outstanding.

Speaker 3 (01:59:19):
Have you thought about what it might be like to
lead the fleet into Auckland in March of twenty twenty
seven to just saying that gives me goosebumps.

Speaker 9 (01:59:25):
You know that.

Speaker 24 (01:59:27):
I've had the incredible good fortune already in my career
to win a race around the world, and that included
winning a leg into Wellington, and that was an experience
that I held near and dear to my heart. And
just the dream of doing that into Auckland and sort
of living the same life from two perspectives. You know,

(01:59:48):
I was that sort of young boy in the eighties
and nineties with a goofy looking hat and you know,
out there walking around the Viadict Harbor looking at all
the boats, and you know, with stars in my eyes.
And if I have the opportunity in the next coming
years to be the you know, the here smelly sailor
on the other side of that experience and then you know,

(02:00:09):
look up and inspire the next generation, then absolutely that's
the goal.

Speaker 3 (02:00:13):
Fantastic and to finish next steps. So here we are
in March of twenty twenty five. We get the feeling
it will roll around fairly quickly the start of twenty
twenty seven. I'm not saying there's a heap of time pressure,
but what are the next steps for you?

Speaker 24 (02:00:24):
Well, the next steps are to fully launch our campaign
and so we're doing that now. This is the start
of New Zealand's new national national sports team, so out
to out ocean racing. As I've said, we want everybody
to get on board and in many ways we're hoping
to make this more of a grassroots New Zealand based

(02:00:46):
campaign because the America's Cup has got so big and
that can't really maintain its connection with New Zealand from
what I've seen and obviously went overseas. Now we've got
the stop over locked in. We are coming here. We've
got a strong connection with the New Zealand marine industry
and sore. We're connecting not only to partners that are

(02:01:09):
in our sector, but also looking for partners that can
get involved and want to use our platform to be
visible overseas. So it's about creating a coalition of people
that are psyched to go ocean racing and can see
the power and the value of this team. And so
that includes corporate partners that include sailors that can include technicians,

(02:01:32):
and then concretely hopefully that means either building the boat
or acquiring a high level existing secondhand one. And then
obviously that means getting sailors over to France where our
technical base is at the moment, and starting to get
qus on boats and go fast.

Speaker 3 (02:01:48):
Amazing. Conrad has been energizing having you in the studio.
I must admit, yeah, I think you have that effect.
I would imagine on most people you come into contact with.
What a project, what a time it is ahead of you.
Thanks for popping in. We'll get all your details up
on our socials so people can get in touch if
they want to. But thanks for stopping in today.

Speaker 24 (02:02:04):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (02:02:05):
It's a pleasure stuff Conrad. Conrad Coleman there who is
heading up Alto Alto, I'll get it right. Ocean Racing
for the Ocean Race which we'll head Auckland during its
twenty twenty seven edition eight Away from Three News Talks Hebb.

Speaker 1 (02:02:21):
When it's down to the line, you made a call
on ten eighty Weekend Sports with Jason Pine us Talks Eb.

Speaker 3 (02:02:29):
Five to three, and that is us. The show is
flown by Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon,
and for all the interaction we got via phone, text
and email. Always great when we get your viewpoint. Don't worry,
we don't get the opportunity to read around all the texts,
but we do. I assure you read all of them.
So thank you for taking the chance or taking the
opportunity to let us know your thoughts on a variety

(02:02:52):
of issues. Tim Beverage on the radio after three o'clock
with the Weekend Collective. Huge thanks to Andy McDonald for
producing the show as per usual, Top work mate. We're
back tomorrow night on sports talk. Song to take us
out today, while I wanted to kind of celebrate more
Waa Pacifica. Really, we spoke to Tanna humung a short
time ago and well, his team brings together a bit

(02:03:16):
of a fusion of of Polynesia, Cook Islanders, Tongu and
some Rans and Uh and Mali ancestry too, as did
the music group from the back end of the nineties
and the early part of the two thousands Nesian Mystic.
So that'll take us out today. Congratulations, more Wanna Pacifica
more to come from you, I'm sure see tomorrow night

(02:03:37):
five and our.

Speaker 2 (02:03:45):
Command by Gasolu.

Speaker 14 (02:03:55):
Deathquen Your Soul.

Speaker 1 (02:04:09):
For more from Weekends Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news talks at b Weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio

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