Manaia Stewart

If he said...

I don't know if I'll play the World Cup if Razor's in charge.

Yeah.

That is a death blow for New Zealand rugby.

That is the equivalent of Trent Bolt turning down a central contract because the precedent it sets is the All Blacks are no longer the biggest possible thing that they dine out on.

It would have been the death of the All Blacks.

That would have been all over.

It would have been a massive... It's basically what's happening to cricket right now when all the boomers are like, well, how come they don't just play for the bloody jersey?

It's like you're offering them generational money to go and play in Japan and France and this kind of stuff and then expecting them to turn that down for the pride of the jersey.

Maybe a Dame Knowles type situation.

Maybe.

Yeah, maybe.

I don't know.

That part I don't know.

Yeah.

But crawling through the weeds and read it last night, there was another story about a senior...

player from the, what do they call them?

The All Blacks 15 who declined to go and play for the All Blacks in the last test of the year.

And that is the kind of thing that never happens.

Again, if the All Blacks is supposed to be the pinnacle.