The All Blacks have their own official podcast now: A review
The All Blacks podcast is a surprisingly rough and ready affair – and that’s exactly what makes it worth listening to, writes Calum Henderson.
Some All Blacks news: the all-powerful New Zealand men’s rugby team now has its own podcast.
Something about this is extremely funny to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. After all, the All Blacks logo is on everything these days – no one raises an eyebrow at All Blacks breakfast cereals or sugary sports drinks, golf balls or 4WD spare wheel covers these days. The team is a global megabrand. We get it!
Also, every man and his dog has a podcast these days. Any new media guru will tell you a pod is a must-have in your content arsenal; it’s almost weirder that it took the All Blacks until February this year to get one. In some ways having a podcast is the most normal thing NZ Rugby has done in ages.
Still, it’s funny. Seeing ‘All Blacks Podcast’ alongside ‘Hamish & Andy’ and ‘My Dad Wrote a Porno’ is funny. Imagining Steve Hansen and Kieran Read in a little podcast recording booth with headphones on chatting away is funny.
Of course, the All Blacks themselves don’t literally make the podcast. It’s done by a couple of rugby-mad Wellington lads called JP Tocker and Andy Burt, the latter of whom is the digital content editor for allblacks.com while the former just seems to love both rugby and podcasting.
The lads are not expert broadcasters – in fact, bits of the pod are rough as guts. But that’s a big part of what makes it so enjoyable. After years of intense media training seemingly sucking every last drop of personality out of the All Blacks it’s a welcome change to hear a guy like Dane Coles talking candidly and at length, like a normal bloke, in the first episode.
To be fair the first seven minutes are a bit of a slog. The hosts’ lengthy preamble is like being at a barbecue with a bunch of people you don’t really know and everyone’s just talking footy because it’s the default topic of conversation. The other Kiwi default conversation topic – the weather – also gets a decent amount of coverage too (shit summer in Welly this year).
But hold the phone! It turns out the guy who’s hosting the barbecue is mates with Dane Coles, everyone’s favourite All Blacks hooker, and he’s only gone and shown up at the gate with a tray of meat rissoles and a six pack of 440ml Tui. Suddenly this is a conversation you definitely want to eavesdrop on, right?
“What are you up to at the moment?” they ask him. “I’ve come to meet you mate,” Coles deadpans. Classic. Just like that, we’ve got a good podcast on our hands. As a loosener they put him through a quickfire round of ‘Try or No Try’: Guns n’ Roses? “Try.” Sparkling water? “No try.” Man buns? “Definitely no try.”
“What about Cory Jane,” the hosts ask, “does he get grief for having a man bun?”
“Yeah he does, anyone who has a man bun in this team get’s pretty heckled eh,” laughs Coles. “They’re terrible.”
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This is cool. What’s also cool is that in the three subsequent episodes they don’t talk to a single other current All Black. On the second episode, the lads chat to New Zealand broadcasting legend and rugby romanticist John Campbell over a ropey Skype connection. JC’s enthusiasm easily overcomes the poor audio quality; he speaks with warmth about going to games at Athletic Park as a kid, and his successful campaign to get the All Blacks to play a test in Samoa (“one of the most special experiences of my life”).
Black Ferns and New Zealand women’s sevens player Selica Winiata guests on the third episode, then out of left field, Jessica Pimentel, the actress who plays Maria on Orange Is The New Black is the special guest on episode four. One of those surprising international celebrity All Blacks fans, Pimentel was in the country on tour with her partner’s metal band (Meshuggah) – why not?!
It’s a welcomely diverse range of guests, and a surprisingly casual, unpolished and enjoyable listen. I expected the All Blacks official podcast to have the charisma of Steve Hansen reading out the All Blacks end of year touring squad in a hotel conference room, but it’s just about the exact opposite. It’s worth a listen.
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments