Rugby Direct

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier wrap the Super Rugby final as the Crusaders ascended to Seventh Heaven with their seventh title in as many years.

We talk the major moments and controversies of the final, as well as how the narrative of the match has unfolded since fulltime.

Elliott and Liam also crown the prestigious second annual Rugby Direct Medal winner for Super Rugby.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam beam in from Te Awamutu to discuss the 36-man All Blacks squad named by head coach Ian Foster, who also drops by the podcast to offer his reasoning on some of the key selections, along with forwards coach Jason Ryan.

We discuss the Super Rugby semi-final match-up that has left us with a blockbuster grand final this week and we discuss the Hamish McLennan edition of the podcast which created a bit of controversy and our takeaways from how it's played out.

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On this special edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are joined by Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan for a feature-length interview covering plenty of issues around the game on both sides of the Tasman.

We talk about McLennan's idea for a Super Rugby draft, whether he's willing for Super Rugby to be run by an independent commission and if there's a real chance of the Rugby Championship moving. We also ask McLennan to assess his relationship with NZ Rugby powerbrokers, Eddie Jones and future Super Rugby expansion.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier review the Super Rugby quarter-finals and debate whether Ardie Savea scored that try and whether the referee made the right call.

We also zero in on the Chiefs' close-run game against the Reds and the Blues and Crusaders comfortable wins.

It's nearly time for the first All Blacks selection of the year as well and we pick the spots where the selectors will likely be spending their final days discussing ahead of the announcement on Sunday.

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This week on Rugby Direct, it's a bumper episode as we look at the Super Rugby regular season, a new rugby Knight and a couple of new coaches for the local franchises.

The Crusaders have appointed Rob Penney as head coach and the 'Canes Clark Laidlaw, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier discuss the appointments and how they might fit with each franchise from 2024.

Sir Wayne Smith has been knighted for services to rugby and he speaks with the podcast about the honour and we're joined by Sky Sport commentator and All Blacks great Jeff Wilson to discuss the Super Rugby playoffs and his prospective All Blacks squad with just a couple of weeks until it's announced.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam recap a busy week of rugby news with Will Jordan re-signing with NZR top of the list, before offering their thoughts on Wayne Smith's new performance coach role and the Ruby Tui-Weetbix card saga.

Super Rugby comes to the pointy end of the regular season with 11 teams to go into eight playoff spots after this weekend, we review the penultimate round of the competition and figure out who will be in the quarter-finals and where.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam discuss the breaking news out of Moana Pasifika that coach Aaron Mauger has resigned as head coach and won't be back in 2024. We contemplate the different options to take on the job and where it leaves the franchise.

In addition, we cast our eyes over the European domestic final, debate the resting of players and whether anything can be done about it as well as the technological innovations about to sweep rugby by storm.

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On this week's Rugby Direct, we review the Chiefs fall to their first defeat of the Super Rugby season while the Crusaders have the better of the Blues in a highly-anticipated local derby... we discuss the implications for the playoffs.

We also pick apart New Zealand Rugby's memorandum of understanding with Japan and whether Roger Tuivasa-Sheck should stay or go if he's on the outer at the Blues.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier discuss the Fijian Drua's win over the Hurricanes and Moana Pasifika's close loss to the Blues and what these sides need to do to take the next step as they continue to build.

We contemplate the All Blacks back three situation as crunch time for selection nears with a couple of Chiefs players continuing to put their hands up and ask whether the draft idea put up by Rugby Australia is really what Super Rugby needs.

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This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier react to NZR re-signing Damian McKenzie and Ruby Tui for a couple more years each.

They also assess the Chiefs v Crusaders match and other games from the latest round of Super Rugby, before contemplating the debate around All Blacks players being selected from offshore after it cropped up again in recent days.

We also ponder what would possess the Hurricanes to get rid of their iconic song/chant from their match-day experience.

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