Do All Blacks Think This Springbok Tour is More Important than a World Cup? | Weekend Preview

Welcome to the weekend preview. Friday mornings, we have a bit of a chat about what's coming for the weekend. But Ari, this time we're also going to be looking back a little bit because since you and I spoke last on Monday, Rossi announced his 43-man squad for the Argentina match. I'm just saying that because apparently that's not the final squad for the All Blacks, and we'll talk about that just now. I was wondering, what's your thoughts on this?

Quite a few surprising things that a couple of players sent home that I wouldn't have expected to. Tell me what you thought. Yeah, I think it's tough to try and get the players to not be in the squad. It's almost like if you turn it around. So 43, it's an exciting squad.

The big news, of course, was the 10 injured players that's coming back. So it was interesting to see all the comments from overseas. I think it's often good to just see what the reaction is from New Zealand, etc., etc. So they're trying to make something out of that there's too many players that haven't played enough and too much.

They also have Fabian Holland that's coming back, that's had a shoulder injury for five months or something. So they're in the same boat as well, ironically also at locks. So I think our biggest concern, as we spoke about that, was all those locks that need to urgently play rugby. So I hope they can urgently play against Argentina and do well and come through that. What's concerning is about Yvonne Etzebet's concussion concerns.

So there's been quite a few of that now. Lourdes Yaffe seems to be a little bit injury prone, but hopefully he's through that. And then Mostert is key as well. But those two that I just mentioned, Mostert or Yvonne Etzebet and Lourdes is important. So good to see them in the 10 players coming back.

So some of the players we expected, like Sasha and Vanneberg and those players, shorter-term injuries like Hooker and Kanan Moody and those we knew would be back. But Sia and then the locks, they're important to play against Argentina. So that's maybe the takeaway for me as well. Good to hear that it's not the set one for the All Blacks. You would think that there's going to be lots of rugby in between as well.

Argentina will show us many things. and then obviously they probably have one eye on what's happening against the franchises or the franchises as well. But then again, not too many of the players will be involved in that, it seems like, for the Stormers and the Bulls and the Sharks before the first test. So, yeah, it's good to see. What I do want to talk about a little bit is just the options for Rassi maybe.

That's something that I had a discussion with a person or two that's quite close to their process as well. and it was clear he's building layers. And we've been used to him building layers, depth, and with teams and players, at least one, two, three, four players in certain positions. But it feels like, for me, like, almost like if you talk about layers, we think about the onion. It's almost like a green onion for me, if I can put the green through the spring box.

So where I see the layers, it's layers related to options and these plans and these adjustments. Why I say that is if you want to win four tests, we saw it in playing against the British and Irish Lions, if you want to win three or four tests, there's going to be adjustments the whole time. It's your ability, how you adjust. What's happened in the previous test, injuries, game plan, all those components that come into play. But I will say that we can talk about that.

It's his options and his plans and his adjustments, what he's building depth in that. And just briefly in adjustments, maybe, I mean, we're the only team, as an example, that can say you've got a Jan Hendrick Vessels that can play comfortably at international level, hooker and loose set. There's no other international loose set that we know of for New Zealand or for France or anybody that can play comfortably on both of them. I don't know of any other Andre Estreason that can comfortably now play in the loose forwards as well and play centre. even if Grant Williams that can play wing that 43-10 win against New Zealand in Wellington Williams was on the wing taking the last pass passing to Estrezen so so that's that's on adjustments we know that he's been thinking out of the box there so that's part of the layers that I'm talking about when you talk about onions the thing that comes to mind to me is tears hopefully there's not going to be any tears when those layers start being peeled away and it's not going catch up that we're trying to be too clever kind of a thing now i understand what you're saying depth is quite important and i think that's probably one of the all blacks biggest concerns is the depth now we talked to martin devlin the other day um and quite a few of you watched that video thank you very much and um he like you said he was fishing around a little bit what are we expecting who's going to play for the franchises interesting enough it seems like the all blacks are taking this one very seriously it might even be to the degree that they think uh it's more important than the world cup are those rumors true is it gonna be the can this will be more important than the world cup in any way yes i actually heard him say that on one of his podcast podcasts um so devlin and one of his guests they said no it's more important than the world cup and they agreed so so maybe it's just in the moment sometimes you're in this moment it's 2026 it's it's about to happen and then you get more motivated by that maybe it's also got to do that they haven't won the world cup in a while so let's just focus on something else we can winner.

So that's also maybe a factor. So if I can get that one in. Just on some stats, I read the other day, it's interesting, they won that first World Cup in 1987. Remember when we like to remind them that South Africa didn't play in that tournament and had a team that beat them the previous year in South Africa. We will park that one in.

But it took them 24 years to win the next one in 2011. So it's not as if they kind of dominated that World Cup scene as well. They won it again in 2015 and then from then it's the frustration. So World Cup is not the be all and end all. I looked at the stats, the team between 2010 and 2020 and just before that as well.

Just yeah, that team that really won the World Cups, how successful they were. They they had an 87% success rate, a winning margin. Since then, from 2020 to 2027, the All Blacks' win rate is 72%, so they dropped considerably. So that's why there's frustration in New Zealand, and that's why they're not kind of used to taking all these losses. And so they're quite excited about Dave Rennie.

I think he's doing good things and playing to their strengths, so that'll be interesting to see how that plays out in the tour but uh yeah it's interesting they maybe should have added the fifth test just to make it an uneven number so don't don't want the risk for ending uh to all but it's the home best so that that's an african need to try and win all three and then anything can happen at the neutral field in baltimore you know we've sort of unofficially decided that the three tests in south africa are the only ones that really matter we're going to count them except if we lose them then the last one america is obviously going to go we can we'll adjust our sails to the wind let's call it that we know what we like no i'm just kidding but i think there's three tests in south africa you have home run advantage with the crowd going you know going bananas around you altitude for two of the three games it's important this um for me that's what it is about i think the last one is basically just a a money spinner uh get a lot of there's a lot of south african fans over in in america from what i've i gather there's lots of excitement building for that i can see the the benefit of the but i also think back to that game against the island versus the all blacks in america it was a bit of a damp squib you know there was no anthems and the cameras weren't rigged for it and you know the sound wasn't just didn't just didn't feel right i suppose i hope they've learned their lessons and we'll see how that goes we're going to get back to your layers analogy quickly your onion analogy so what what's the plan i mean if you go you know in an onion you go down the deeper you go the smaller it gets so what is the actual plan where where where do you feel feel that we still have a a bit of a problem with that, with depth for the Springboks. I mean, locks, obviously an issue, like you said. Eben's coming back, but there's a question mark around him. Lourdes coming back, but there's a question mark around him. Ruben van Heerden is not in the 43 because he has to go to Montpellier, but he's on standby, and I've got a feeling about him.

I think he's wanting to watch for the future. Where do you see the actual layers not deep enough, for example, in this group? I think it's, he built good layers all over. Like I said, it's options and plans and adjustments, but I would say there's It's when you can adjust, on adjustment, there's two options that layers will help you. That's in the tactically and also mentally.

So tactically, it's as it happens before you play the test on the 22nd of August, how you're gonna play, who's gonna play, et cetera. So that's obvious. That's gonna play out on the 22nd of August as well, but to win four tests it gonna be how you tactically then move on from the continuously who playing so that is where there layers so if he needs different players and different roles maybe somebody's not playing good enough maybe there's an injury um he's got that layer so that's where the layers come in tactically um who to play and how to play as well so how to play they've got a strong team they will know how to play and apparently they've got this book that's 85 pages or something that they have their home game plan and all these things that they're doing. So I think they know how to play. They know the opponents.

We'll see with the referees, all those things come into play. But also mentally. And the layers have been built mentally, and people underestimate that, Emre. I think it's alignment camps. So we've seen many alignment camps.

On alignment camps, they do a little bit of gym and maybe here and there one or two things. But alignment camps is mental. It's about aligning. it's everyone. It's about relationships, understanding the players, getting to know the coaches, understanding the whole English talk about a vibe or what the spin box want to do, how they want to play.

So that mental approach that is important. And then the big thing is attention to detail. So attention to detail also comes into layers. So individually, everybody needs to know what they need to do, how they need to do it, where they fit in, stay within the system, but also probably have the freedom if they see something, players like Sasha. If they see something, play it.

If Grant Esraison sees something, play it. So that, and Damien Willems as well. So you've got players that can play. That's what the All Blacks do a little bit more maybe. But back to the green onion, I think.

So I think there's layers in tactical options in terms of how to play and who to play. And then you've got layers in terms of the mental approach. that's continuous so once you're in that environment for those four tests it's going to be lots of pressure lots of information um and and they need to make decisions but when they make that decision somebody needs to be able to step up and that's where they've built the layers through alignment camps through giving players exposure and the mental side comes in in in feeling comfortable in the system as well so you can see some of these new players coming in they just they just slot in and they haven't been there like the four players that played the last test against Wales. So you can see that they stepped in seamlessly almost. But that's where he's building layers.

So I think he's got enough players. We're going to miss Erges Neumann. We're going to miss Kouacher-Smith, so that we know. There's like five positions that we just, player-wise, would be great if Marks can play all four tests. That would be amazing.

If Peter Steff can play all four tests. If Kriel can play all four tests and Damien Willemse can play all four. The other positions you feel that they can be replaced. It's not perfect. But maybe Jasper Vise as well needs to be fit as well, those five.

But the rest you can feel that you can maybe pick a few different locks and props and flanks and fly-offs. There's a few options. And even scrum half-centers you can play around a little bit at 12. Andre Estesne will be a good backup for Adele Lendy. Wings we can play around.

But you get the feeling that Willems is a lot better than Fassi, for instance, if you look at it like that, or Quinn Horn that's not played enough. So that's my example. So those five players need to stay fit. But if they don't, he's got layers to fit in. And if you look at the All Blacks, if they lose a few key players as well, if they lose Roygaard, for instance, they're thin on nine.

So every team's got that. but the stats tell us in line series and low series when you play four tests like that there's going to be injuries there's going to be problems so you will need to adjust so you're not going to have the same 23 for four tests so there's probably going to be one or two injuries a game maybe you have a game there's no injuries a game with three injuries you never know but throughout the four tests there's probably going to be a few changes so I think that's where he's building that green onion that hopefully will work right on that subject talking about the franchises we've got two tickets to give away for the Bulls versus the All Blacks and two tickets to give away for the Sharks versus the All Blacks. We'll give you some details during the course next week, so keep listening out for that. I want to tell you a little story. Our friend Paul Avernant is on holiday in South Africa after taking the matches.

He's going back home and then he's coming back for the All Blacks and he's at a game reserve and they went on a game drive and they bumped into Rossi Rasmus on a game drive. Can you believe it? What exciting to see the biggest springbok of them all, I suppose. and Paul said he was so starstruck he didn't know what to say. So talking of Paul, on Sunday we're publishing an episode of The Long Way Home.

We go into a bit of depth with a new addition to the Megafoorn roster, Gráinne Shoggy. She's now agreed to join Megafoorn. So you'll see more of her. She'll have her own show. We talk about that, talk about her details.

You know, somewhat of 30 years of experience in Irish broadcasting, Western Sky News and everything. I mean, it's a bit of a coup for us to have her here on Megafoorn. So we're looking forward to that. I just want to ask you something else I've been accused this week of laying into you and you know getting some pleasure out of asking about the stormers, penalties and the likes, just please explain to people that we are friends and I don't intend to make you look bad or anything like that, I'm so tired of that, same guy accusing me of the same thing every single week you know, get over yourself, tell people we're friends man For sure, we're friends there's good respect and I can just put it in context I grew up in the in the northern Farenhoort, in the far northern Transvaalville. I was there.

My parents got transferred. I was born in Cape Town. And then Benforster, Wurr School in Sanin. That's where I went to school. So I've got most of my friends, mostly all of my friends are blowballer.

So I'm used to that. I was one of the only WP supporters in Benforster Wurr School, I think. I think the headmaster was also, Basi Janssen was also a VP on the Stenner. He went to Potsdam Sturm later. But, yep, so, yeah, there's good banter.

But I will try to stand up a little bit better. Maybe his concern is that I must kind of fight back a little bit more, Envia. But it's good banter. So, sometimes you could sometimes give it. Last week, remember, you asked me, we must talk about those 13 penalties that Sturm has conceded in the first half, remember?

and we discussed it beforehand I just brought it up but now apparently I make the Bulls look bad they will always be bad that's what it is there's good respect so that's important as long as there's respect I can't wait for this, we've got so many plans for this greatest rivalry Martin Devlin has agreed to be with two of us every single week, once a week on Dakarabi part because we love hearing from him and of course Martin is a little bit different when he's on Lacker Rugby Port than when he's on his own show because yeah, it's different, banter like you just said when we talk to him and we've got a couple of other ones lined up as well you've got a couple of guests lined up for us as well so people, we'll be keeping you busy you will have to go nowhere else no other place than Megafone Rugby we've got it covered, don't you worry so anyway, let's get back to the Springboks quickly I think the biggest surprise for me of that squad that was announced was the players that didn't make it, players that were sent back. And, you know, Andre Endo Egefente is sort of there or thereabouts. You know, Junu got a chance, but it's still early days for him. And, you know, the biggest surprise me was Evan Roos and Embrose Papier being sent back. I mean, I said yesterday to speak to my friend Angus Opperman of Rackley 365.

It feels like these two players are not getting a proper chance. And I'm trying, I'm using both of them, the Stormers guy and the Bulls guy. Like they're in and out, in and out. Embrose last played in 2018, got one game, scored a try, did very well, and now he's being sent back. And a guy like Mordev van der Baag just comes right back in.

And Herschel Jankies was out of it. It doesn't make sense to me. Evan Rue is the same thing. Yes, I know people say he doesn't have good handling, or he doesn't have the right temperament, whatever. But I mentioned the example of Ruben Love yesterday for the All Blacks.

He got a chance in all three tests to prove himself. Not one game, but all three of them. So he can get used to the pressure, start settling in. I mean, if you look at physicality, Evan Ruiz is probably the closest to Jasper Wieser as an eighth man, as a backup kind of thing. Cameron Hanekom is a different type of eighth.

Alrik Lowe will be a different type of eighth. Even if Marko or Marko goes to play his eighth, or Sia plays eighth, they're different eighths. It doesn't make sense to me. Talk to me about those players that didn't make it, who were being sent back. Yes, I think it is a challenge for Rassi to try and pick them.

And I think the challenge that he's got at the moment is that those two players, Ruis and Papyr played well in the URC. So Papyr had a great season, he got accolades in the season. So it proven week on week out that he plays well Ruis as well Maybe one thing that may be a bit of a factor is that there were perceptions on both of them on certain areas that they had to address. So in Papir's case, it was maybe more defense, maybe kicking, etc. We also always knew his strength in attack and his fast.

So he worked at that. I think he's a lot better. Ruiz, again, there was also perceptions that it was easy to kind of get under his skin and maybe get him to react out of frustration, etc. He worked on that, so he's a lot better. I think you're right, he's close to Vise.

So you would think that if you look at who would be the backup eight, if that happens, I'm still wondering if he's not thinking about Sia Kulisse as well as another eight because he played some of that rugby at the Sharks for eight so maybe he's kind of in the discussions maybe somewhere in the reckoning for eight otherwise it should be Hanukom Elric Lowe might be as well but I think it would be Hanukom he's the only other one that really in that squad that's also played eight I don't think I'm missing anybody At one stage, you had Kubis Visser at eight, remember that one test. He played in there. So maybe he can consider him as well, but that's playing out of position, especially in a big test like New Zealand. So, yes, I was also surprised with Ruiz. Maybe he could have sneaked to the 43 to 44 or something, but he's got his 43.

So he needs to make that decision somewhere. I've got a suspicion that those players will come into the mix as August come closer and September. And also I hope that the Stormers allow and Drussy allow those players from the Stormers that went back to play against the All Blacks. It's early enough in their tour. So they're lucky in the sense that they play them on the 7th of August.

So it's quite a few weeks still before the 22nd. 22nd. It's different maybe for the Bulls players on the 15th compared to the 22nd. But Ruiz and Ntunu and also Jojo Fenter can, with good performances against the All Blacks on the 7th of August, just take their claim again. So I think that will happen.

Hopefully, if they're kind of 50-50 in the mind of Rossi, especially Ruiz, that will be a perfect game for Ruiz to say, well, this is who I am. This is what I can do against the All Blacks. So I think he hopefully will be included in the Stormers team. That would be good for the 7th of August and that will probably address that. But I feel sorry for Papita as well.

Like you say, you've got Yankees that are in the same conversation, so very similar players. But Yankees just got the nod. But there's a good chance there might be some injuries in that area as well throughout the series. So I I think they might be back in the reckoning again. I think it's going to be, all of them are going to play against the All Blacks.

I mean, Rupert van Jürgen is going to Montpellier, so he's not in the running. He's also on standby. Because I know it's a bit of a challenge for the franchises. They're running low on players. I mean, the Bulls and the Stormers have so many springboks in the Sharks to the degree as well, that they can't pick.

And they've got injuries, they've got the Curry Cup to contend with, they've got the Curry Cup has to have a certain number of under-23s in it. it's a challenge. Getting a player like Emre Swapita back maybe for that specific game is going to make a big difference, I suppose. I wonder if Kirwan Bosch is going to make his debut interestingly enough. That's going to be an interesting one or maybe it's too early, maybe it's going to be kicking you on us.

I think it's probably going to send him back, give him a chance and then, you know, when they announce his squad again, some of them might be pulled back in. Just four games, four tests. It's going to be tough. It's going to be physical. So I assume there's going to be a lot of, you know, players getting injured and falling by the wayside.

We'll see how that goes. Yeah, that is the case. And I would like to see the URC teams putting lots of pressure on the All Blacks. So I know that Devlin, when he spoke about the New Zealand, what we remember from those tours as well is like the test teams playing against Auckland and Wellington, et cetera, et cetera, and the same happened this side. But it's just not possible.

He was asking who would play against the All Blacks from the URC teams. But the reality is, if this was in New Zealand, and the first test was the 22nd of August in Auckland, and they played the Wellington Hurricanes on the 15th, they're not going to play Roygaard and Ruben Love for other Hurricanes against the Springboks a week before the test. So that's an unfair part, specifically where the Bulls game fit into this. The 15th compared to the 22nd, the next Saturday is the test. So the 7th for the Stormers, you can still maybe get away with it.

You can still have some players that's in that one and maybe play and then get into contention. But the 15th is too close to the 22nd. By then, Rossi will have his team already confirmed and he will maybe have a look at that first Stormers game and then you'll get a feel. And then that Tuesday coming, it's just they're going to follow quickly. The 7th and then the 11th, they play the Sharks.

So it's quick, quick turnarounds. And then the 15th. So that first three games is in a space of seven days. So that's going to happen all very quickly. So when we kind of blink, it's all done.

And then they play the first test on the 22nd of August. So there's not much time for Rossi to kind of, he can only kind of really gauge what's happening on the 7th of August, maybe, with those players that we mentioned. Alright, let's just move on to Curry Cup a little bit. Last weekend, a couple of surprises. The Bulls losing to the Boerland.

Stormers eking out a victory against the defending champions. The Griequas, Pumas giving the Sharks a bit of a go. Losing by two points though. And the Cheetahs, the old men of the Cheetahs scraping by against the young guns of the Lions. So what are we looking forward for this weekend?

I saw the Cheetahs versus the Sharks first up tonight, Friday night. Five o'clock, well, this afternoon I suppose. That's going to be an interesting one. What are you expecting from that match? We don't know where the teams are.

I mean, the Cheaters are there. I've seen the Cheaters team sheet, but I don't know much of the players anyway. But it's still, other teams we don't know. What are you expecting? It's interesting in week two, you have these combinations of teams playing each other that's won the first week and teams that lost the first week.

So that's interesting combinations because that's happening in the first game. The two winners kind of from the first game is the Cheaters and the Sharks. So they play the first game. and then the other two that one will play on Sunday, that's the Stormers and the Borland. So sometimes that's got a, or often that's got a role to play there.

I think it's got a big role to play in Timberley, if I can go to that first maybe. And the Cheetahs, the Greek was being the defending champion, lost in the last minutes. It was frustrating last minutes of actually winning that game as we spoke. Guard in the end there, right on the goal line of the Stormers that overturned a try. And we know what happened there in the end.

but um so that's frustrating so uh to go to kimberley now for the bulls is a tough ask because greek was will be really up for it uh to win again in kimberley um but the same is is in johannesburg and the same uh for for the the cut you know the the lines against the cat fight yeah the cat fights um so so that that's the both of them need to get back on the horse again so um i think the pumas were surprised by the sharks maybe um in that first game um maybe the pumas expected that one to win. And then a tough one for the Lions also in Bloemfontein. So it's tough to win in Bloemfontein now. They've got a good team. So it's an interesting game.

So just like it one by one, I think the Cheetahs at home will be tough to beat. If you go to Alice Park as well, so it will be tough for the Pumas. They're under pressure now and the Lions will be desperate as well. I think the game for me of the weekend probably is going to be that Krikos-Bulls one. I think that 5 past 5 on Saturday.

but again it's tough to play in Kibberle and they settle aside more experienced players well coached you've got George White there you've got Alexander playing his 50th game Leon Lyons on the prop that's experienced that played for the Stormers as well Dylan Mart on the wing that's going to the Bulls so they've got experienced players so the Bulls also not bad I mean they're definitely not bad Dylan Smith on the prop Nikolaus Janssen van Rijnsburg experience Keevan Johannes, Devin Williams. So there's enough players in between there that will make that a big game. And then obviously Sunday, a big one. I'm going to that one as well in Wellington. So that will be a big local derby.

Seems like they expect a full house there. So Boerland hosting the Stormers 23. So that is going to be a big one in Cape Town And both of them won the first round But Boerland being well coached by Javi Sfouri I like what he doing there He got experience in Sreede at nine He got Williams at lock There Thurmo Mars, that's a great inspirational captain, and Dane van Veste is an experienced player. There's quite a few that you can mention in the team. But Javi Sfouri is doing great things.

He's settled now. He's been there for a few years now, and he's a well coached team. And that comes from coaches and that I spoke to to Tom Dawson's script, the new coach of the Storms 23. And they lost a friendly game against, the Storms lost a friendly game just a week or two ago against Borland by 56-26 or something. So he said that he was impressed by Harvis, how well coached he was, et cetera.

And he, tongue in the cheek, said that last year in one game, he actually texted Harvis for it and he said, well, I just want to say I'm so impressed by how you play and how you've played now. And so he said, but he needs to delete that message now. because they're opposing coaches now. But he's got lots of respect, so good things are happening there. So I'm looking forward to this Curry Cup.

It's a good appetizer, so leading into big test mates to outpear again. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. The big thing for me is I saw someone that I know is quite close to the Bulls, for example, who said this weekend in one of our comments that it's clear that the Biggie Unions are not taking the Curry Cup seriously anymore. Is that a true statement to make? Let's look at this clip maybe of Jean-Luc Duplessis.

This was after the Stormers played at the Greek West and just what it means to them and why they play the Curry Cup. Thank you for saying that people have been very hard and determined. It was very fantastic to see. And yes, I think that we knew that the Greek was in the last year. They came here and they were able to go to the south and they had to.

But for us to start the tournoi, it means that we know that there are still many wars. and it's a long time to go ahead. But it makes a big difference if he loses or loses. And to win it, my last three, I mean, a man for good and a man for good. And it's a good man in the rest of the competition.

He's one of the older players that grew up with a curry cup and his dad played curry cup and won a curry cup, etc. But they're quite serious. I could see the different approach of the Storms 23 as well. and they want to win this they want to be competitive they've got stronger teams as well and all of a sudden if you look at that stormers team as well you've got also youngsters but you've got ungara at nine that's going to be captain but you've got some experience in there as well ollie cable playing gary porter that played for zimbabwe you've got herbrand groble that was signed now with the stormers again playing at lobskaran to benny's in that group so you've got some experience and then you've got the younger players coming through so so they're taking it very serious and they're getting more competitive as well. I think they've had enough of taking losses against the Pumas and the Griequas and the Boerland in Curry Cups.

I think all of the franchises, not only the Stormers, the Bulls and the Sharks as well. So I think we're going to see a lot more competitive. I think they're taking it serious. So it's good to see. I'm interested to see these new names of the coaches.

Sharks coach Mike Fowles, I have no idea who that is. Tom Dawes, a squad we know who he is he's now the stormers coach but he was a high case coach very successful i mentioned earlier this week that he was actually the psychologist or even the motivator for the proteas in the 2023 cricket world cup he knows his stuff young dynamic coach there pion om lomo at the bulls france stein of course at the at the cheetahs doing well peter berg has proven himself more and more over and over he's now won you know the curry cup came close the year before this is Jimmy Stonehouse what can we say about Jimmy Stonehouse the point is some new names and some old names but some exciting new names, I like this new environment almost this new generation of coaches coming through Yes, it took a while for us to embrace the Curry Cup again in the new format and it was the older generation maybe that was kind of frowning upon it and remembering the good old days and it's not like that anymore and we know the reasons for that But I think the coaches and the players make a difference. And that was what Peter Bach, I think, also in the media after the Storms game said that we talked about the standard of rugby and the quality of players, et cetera, et cetera. So his theory was that because the standard is rising and it's more professional, all the franchises doing well. Remember SVD and all those franchises also did a lot better all of a sudden.

And they've got strong coaching teams in there as well. Instead, there's more and more players coming back. They want to play there. There's a bit more money as well. And they see this happening and there's more opportunities, more competitive, and there's a way to get into higher rugby.

So this is a stepping stone for many of the players to get into the URC. And that's where you want to play. So you already see Dylan Mart that was with the Stormers and the Stormers wanted to keep him and he went to the Bulls, et cetera. So it's players that's in demand that's playing Curry Cup that's going to play URC next year. And there's quite a few of these Curry Cup players that's young and exciting.

Remember, we must still see all the influx of the SA Under-20 team that won that World Cup to come into this Curry Cup as well. So that's going to happen soon. And so there's going to be some of the players that's going to get chances, maybe a Marcus Muller. There's quite a few that you can mention. Definitely, Giloumi and those players will come into it.

Jousta will definitely come into it. So there's lots to mention, and that will lift the standard of the Curry Cup even more. I see the Lions have included two Gsb Moksmali, Sittoli and Tandu Biela. They already included. So that's going to be an interesting one.

Just by the way, we mustn't forget Friday night, the final of the First Division, Curry Cup First Division. It's WED Eagles, Andre Henneke Meyer taking on the Volker. And what a difference Henneke Meyer has made in his first season back in rugby. I mean, you can't keep a good man down. No, for sure.

And he's a brilliant coach. You could just see the difference even in just a short amount of time. But he loves that area. He knows Georgia and that area very well. I remember going for one specific game when Western Province played against SVD that was extremely competitive in the Curry Cup, strongest Western Province team that they could pick.

I'm talking about the late early 2000s now. And it was just so difficult to win there. I remember Barney Foster and those guys on the wing. I don't know if you remember them, and Marnie. They said Marnie, Marnie de Touyette, fullback, and those players.

So it was, but it was, I think, Leonard was also playing them for them. But so it's a great tradition that they have. There's always been good players, good talent coming from those schools as well. And many of those talents from Oakdale and those schools have been scooped up, unfortunately, by many of the other big franchises. I mean, the De Villiers brothers, Paul De Villiers, and all of them come from that area, and they were in school there.

And his brother is also going to the Stormers now, so that it happens. But maybe more players are staying there, but they're doing a great job in the coaching. Okay, Ari, I think we have to wrap this up. We can only talk about the Curry Cup so much. It's only the second round.

We still have to see how it goes. Like you said, we might get a bit more excited, But I mean, it's overlapping with the greatest rivalry, too. I suppose it's fighting a losing battle, yeah. But still, it's going to be interesting. At least we've got some nice rugby to look forward to.

Otherwise, it would have been a dead rugby. No rugby this weekend whatsoever. We're talking about komkomertijd, you know, that famous saying, where there's nothing to report about. Yeah, we went from komkomertijd to green onions. So we tried our best to keep it topical.

This is a French salad. A Greek salad. We have the Greek salad. A Greek salad. But exciting times.

Caricup is still great to see and looking forward to the All Blacks as well. All right, guys, remember, like I said, we have so much planned for this Greatest Rivalry. And also today, look out for the video I posted earlier today on the lunch break. I'm talking about the Megafone Clubhouse that we've launched, which is an exclusive new Megafone community. And we're looking for volunteers to help us test it before the Greatest Rivalry rolls around.

I'm going to put the link up here. Go watch it. See what it's about. I'm very excited about that. And lots to talk about.

Ari, thank you very much. Have a good weekend. Enjoy the rugby, the little bit that there is. And best of luck to your stormers, I suppose. And let's help function my bulls.

And once again, I'm not laying into you. I'm just having a nice little rugby chat. So have a good one. See you Monday. See you Monday.

Bye-bye.

Transcript generated automatically — may contain errors.