Ardie Savea

In your opinion, did it?

Um, I think the, the, the injuries that New Zealand suffered in the third test compromised them quite considerably, taking out Ardie Savea, as well as Quinn Tupaea, Luke Jacobson, who've been so important to them.

And then Savea, just, uh, his, his scar- star quality clearly led to a little bit of a dip for the All Blacks.

I'd still think they were certainly in it, and until that controversial, uh, Kurt-Lee Allen try in the second half, it, the margins were fine again.

Um, we keep going back to a group of players who, for whatever reason, have been part of this sort of very clunky All Black era, um, and they're the common denominator that runs through it all.

Clearly there are some players who I don't put into that category that have been part of that era as well, obviously the likes of Ardie Savea.

Um, but we can't just rely on, on, on, on one player, can we? Um, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's head-scratching, mate, because yeah, I just don't, I just don't think we learned too much.

I, I hope Dave Rennie's not becoming a cuddle coach too, where, you know, like giving Beauden Barrett a thing on the bench today.

We're optimistic.

Uh, someone saying, "So is Ardie copycat for the two other games? Not according to everyone.

He's the Messiah." Oh, I don't think you can blame Ardie Savea for the way things have gone in the last couple of weeks.

He's not the reason.

And, um, it feels like we're, we're sort of getting that back, which is awesome.

Co- Cody, obviously losing Ardie and, and Jacobson are huge losses for the team, but you've got guys like Blackadder and Larkham stepping in who are absolute guns at their craft.

So what are you expecting from them once they've got Tupou gone to six?

Yeah, look, we've got, um, you know, Pete's playing some great rugby.

You know, he's got a real desire to wear the black jersey again, and, um, he gets an opportunity tomorrow, and I'm sure he'll go out there and give it his all.

You know, he's a tough little bugger, and, um, he's pretty classy, too, so I'm excited for him.

Okay, that was Cody Taylor, captaining the All Blacks after Ardie Savea had gone home now, uh, with injury.

And just final thoughts, Jipper, um, just the tour, uh, in general, are the All Blacks where you want them to be a year out from the World Cup?

We're gonna see Luke Jacobson to Ethan Blackadder, what's the drop-off there, if there is any.

Uh, we're gonna see no Ardie Savea in the team.

Peter Lakai, who I think has had a great series, starts at eight.

We're gonna see if there's drop-off there.