DSPN - Devlin Sports Podcast Network
MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM DAVE RENNIE'S SQUAD! | MURRAY MEXTED'S INSIDE WORD
25 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the DSPN. Straight into it. What a pleasure. This is the All Black legend, that is Murray Mexted. A real deep thinker about the game, cares about the game, loves the game, and wore that All Black jersey with so much pride for us. Mex, welcome back. We've got lots to talk about.
Yep, no doubt about that.
Hurricanes, obviously, you were in the stadium, and then the All Blacks squad. But I want to kick it off by those two questions I put to you over the weekend. What did you think about the final? What do you think about the squad? And your reply I've got here. It was a great final, and I love the squad. Talk to me first about the final.
Yeah, well, I mean, Wellington historically is relatively conservative. But they weren't on Saturday night. It was incredible actually to see the warmth from the stadium. As I look around, you know, everyone was happy and smiling and talking to each other.
Chapter 2: What insights does Murray Mexted share about the Hurricanes' championship victory?
So it was like a sort of a festival. And our boys could do nothing wrong, of course. They were on fire and they had been on fire for most of the year actually. You have to critic Laidlaw for that. There's no doubt about that. I mean, he had a lot of experience with New Zealand Sevens, didn't he?
And now he's putting it into action with Super Rugby, which I think is commendable because it's a new game. And when you see this many points scored every match, You know, you've got to be entertained, whether you're a rugby nutcase like me or whether you're just an ordinary person wanting to be entertained. So I think it's good news.
When you're talking about the stadium, it was just such a relaxed feel. That was because the score just kept piling up and piling up. And I know that you would have been the same as me. You were a little apprehensive, a little nervous, thinking it was going to be a really tight game. Am I right?
Chapter 3: What advantages does the Hurricanes backline have going into the championship?
yeah i i mean i didn't know who would win because the chiefs are obviously a good side and about a month before i think on your show you know i think we spoke about that and said that these two will be in the final and there was no doubt about it they both were worthy finalists so you can't say that the hurricanes you know were lucky because they were playing as a team that was on form and doing well i mean that's and that's what we want to see we want to see the game open and
played well I think the referees contribute towards the game today too I think they're loosened up and they're not looking for reasons to blow the whistle so much but I thought that the atmosphere at the stadium was just wonderful you know there's always sort of negative people and I remember going into the loo at half time and everyone's all excited and then they got this one guy there and he said oh it was a 40 point wind and I said a 40 point wind
In the first half, he said, yeah, because there's a hell of a wind there. Oh, yeah. When the ball was kicked tactically up in the air, it would blow back. You had to really punch it up in the air to get the thing to go as far as you wanted. And I think that sort of changed the game for the Chiefs in many respects. There were a number of kicks that sort of backfired. The Hurricanes probably...
have the benefit of knowing the wind better because we have more wind in Wellington than anywhere else in the country, I think, because of that Cook Strait. But yeah, no, I thought it was a great game and I enjoyed it. The stadium was on fire. It was full of people that were happy and it was a great environment.
I just want to go back to, so you talk to men in the toilet, obviously, and I'm just hoping that this is while you're washing your hands or something like that because there's a couple of unwritten rules here, Max. Look, rugby stadiums are traditional, people. There's no unisex toilets in there, but there's also an unwritten rule amongst men when we're standing at the urinal.
You don't look sideways and you don't make conversation.
Well, there's plenty of conversation because everybody around the toilets, you know, because at halftime at a rugby ground, There's not as many toilets as there are people wanting to go to the toilet. And so there's hundreds of people around and maybe there were 10, 20 people all poking their nose in.
And of course, everyone was happy to talk because, you know, the hurricanes were winning and winning beautifully. And it didn't look like they were going to stop at halftime. But there's always one negative guy, isn't it?
Always, mate. You also said to me that this is a good all-black team. So when that team was announced on Monday, that was your initial reaction. Talk us straight through that.
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Chapter 4: How does the weather impact gameplay in rugby, according to Mexted?
This is the highest level we can get in rugby. The All Black team playing against France, for example, France, Ireland, and South Africa later on, it doesn't get any harder than that, particularly when you're playing South Africa in South Africa, where you have to get, if you don't get 50% of the ball, you're not going to win the game.
um you know and probably you want about 58 of the ball actually when you're in south africa the bounce of the ball seems to go the south africans way yes it does they'll accuse us of doing that over here though of course all that sort of stuff so yeah you know i felt really good um uh marty and i understood the way the game was going you know i couldn't see so i couldn't see at half time things turning bad and they didn't they just kept on going but um
Wow, and he's selected the players who are on form, hasn't he?
Well, that's where I want to come back to, Ed. A couple of things, and look, I'm very reluctant to take any sort of, or even look as I'm taking any sort of swipe at Scott Robertson, because I just don't think there's any good comes from that, and also I think he deserves a lot more respect. But when you're just talking about, just quickly, the clear messaging,
Is that the contrast that you're talking about, that Razor did seem quite confused at times what he was saying? And I don't know whether that translated to the players, but are you talking about that in terms of the clear messaging from Dave Rennie from what we have just recently had?
Yeah, no, I wasn't talking about Razor at all. In fact, Razor's got... Everyone's got different attributes, Marty. And Razor's got this fantastic attribute that people want to die for the cause for him. And you saw that with the Crusaders for years and years and years. And generally speaking, in rugby, if your players are going to die for you, they'll win.
Doesn't matter who the hell they're playing. Generally, that's the way it is. But when you step up to the very highest level... then you've got to have everything happening, not just a desire to win. You've got to have the right strategy. You've got to have the right selection. You've got to have the right support.
The coach has to have the right support, saying the right things to their people, like scrum coach talking to his front row, et cetera. And that's where Dave Rennie is very, very good. So I'm really I'm highlighting Dave's strengths and weaknesses. I'm not trying to compare him with anything, but I just know that he is really, clarity is the thing with Dave.
And it doesn't matter whether you're playing in the front row or fullback. There seems to be a clarity that everyone understands. And of course, at an academy, you need that. There's no good appealing to three or four players. So that's what I loved about Dave is our head coach. You know, everybody understood where they were. And that's a great start.
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Chapter 5: How does Murray Mexted assess the All Blacks' new 34-man squad?
Yeah, Lakai and Satiti. Satiti and Lakai are probably pretty similar in size. I mean, Satiti's probably a little bit bigger, but Karifi's even smaller again. And like I said, you can take one, maybe two of those guys if you're naming a squad. You can definitely take two, but you can't take three and four. And the other thing, and I think John O'Gibbs has recognised that.
Chapter 6: What is Dave Rennie's approach to coaching and communication?
And so Jono Gibbs moved his captain to open side flanker. Now he hasn't been playing open side flanker for the Chiefs this whole year. And all of a sudden in the last couple of games, he's playing in an open side. And that's because he wanted to play other guys that could actually win the ball at eight and six particularly.
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Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Product disclosure statement available at generalfinance.co.nz. Megs, do you believe also now, after 17 weeks of Super Rugby, in terms of the first All Blacks selection, since it's so close, he's got, what, 10 days with the team or something like that, how important are the combinations then?
Like, if you're looking at, say, a centre combination, obviously we all think Quintu Paya is going to start with Geordie Barrett, but do you play... Barrett and Proctor because they've been playing together. The other question is, do you play Roy Guard and Love together? Does Ruben Love start for you at 10 because he's got that combination and then with Geordie Barrett outside him?
Or do you change that up? I think when you play together with another player, it becomes instinctive and you just sort of, and I'll often use the example of I was lucky enough to play with Dave Loveridge for all those years. And when you're under pressure, You know, so I was under pressure to clear the ball or put the ball in a certain position. He knew. He instinctively knew.
and he would drop back just a little bit more to give me a little bit more room to move. Those sorts of things, I knew what he could take and what he couldn't take. You get to know what that player instinctively can and can't do, and you react instinctively. Because this is all happening very quickly, you know, and you're under pressure at the same time.
So I think if you can play players that play well together, And are currently playing well together, not two years ago, but are currently playing well together. It's bloody hard to beat that instinctive factor as well. So I think that Hurricanes back line was just dynamite. It's on fire and they're doing it week after week. And he picked the bloody lot of them and he had to.
So does love start? Does love start for you?
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