Bryn Hall has not only been one of the best 9's in NZ rugby for the last decade but he's also been the voice of the game for many with his gift to articulate rugby union in a way to relate to the masses on the Aoteroa Rugby Pod and in Commentary. What stood out in this episode for me, was just how dedicated Bryn was to achieving the dream of being a professional rugby player from a young age. Then once he was in there, it was his drive to compete and always grow his game, trying to take on as mu...
Jul 14, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 249
Shiray Kaka is the NZ Black Ferns 7s star who is also one of the biggest personalities in the game! Her bubbly energy combined with a unique ability to be real and share her feelings, made her a dream guest for this. Her journey through professional rugby hasn't been an easy one and this episode reflects that with plenty of laughs, a few tears and plenty a relatable advice. Some topics we cover in this episode are... The disappointment of her latest injury taking away her Olympic dream How she w...
Jul 07, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 5Ep. 248
Timoci Tavatavanawi is the Fijian powerhouse who has quickly become the most destructive ball carrier in Rugby. The man is an absolute nightmare to tackle with his combination of power and leg drive and just the physique which is has hard as rock. I t was awesome to get the man they call Jim on the share his journey from growing up in a Fijian village to playing for Tasman Mako, Moana Pacifica and the Highlanders. He talks about the importance of family and the Fijian community support and how i...
Jun 30, 2024•50 min•Season 5Ep. 247
Jamie Hannah is one of the most impressive young players in our game, you don't often see forwards with the skillset and game awareness that this kid has as well as the engine and toughness to boot. He is one very impressive player. He is also a massive lad as well, growing up in North Canterbury living the good life on the farm riding motorbikes and playing footy. Some key points in this episode were.. His journey from playing in the academy to making his mark in professional rugby. The challen...
Jun 23, 2024•44 min•Season 5Ep. 246
Cam Roigard is one of the most exciting talents in the game right now. In the last couple of years he has made every post a winner, rapidly climbing through the ranks after starring for Counties Manakau, carving up Super Rugby with the Hurricanes before heading of to the RWC with the All Blacks. It was here on the world stage where we all got to see the huge talent that this young man possesses and has got plenty excited about where he can get to. The beauty of this story is that Cam wasn't the ...
Jun 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 245
Norm Maxwell was pound for pound the hardest hitter this game has probably ever seen. At just 90kgs the All Black lock through himself into collisions like no other every time he stepped on the field. However you tell Norm that he's tough and he's not buying it. From growing up with feeling the field was the only place he was free and his first big collision being the first time he felt respected, Norm always was going to play rugby. His Crusaders contract came quicker than he'd ever thought and...
Jun 09, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Season 5Ep. 244
In this episode I am joined by the legendary Black Fern sisters Chelsea and Alana Bremner. These two champion humans have a very special bond, having grown up in the same room together until 17, to winning a RWC together. They have shared many special moments throughout their journey to becoming professional rugby players. As you will hear both Chelsea and Alana are such great inspirations for all athletes in our game especially the young females. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more ...
Jun 02, 2024•51 min•Season 5Ep. 243
This week we are joined by the lad Peter Breen, who is the founder of Rugby Bricks which is responsible for improving goal kicking all over the world with the production of some of the great kicking tees ever. He’s also played the game professionally for Otago and Northland and has been coaching professionally all around the world, including plenty of NRL clubs and has just recently finished as an assistant coach with the mighty Matatu. Theres plenty of gold in this episode, whether you're an as...
May 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 242
For this episode I jump on one of the biggest podcasts in the country, The Dom Harvey podcast which is of course hosted by the great Dom Harvey. I talk through everything from footy, coaching and podcasting. If you enjoy Dom's work go and check out his other episodes as well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 11, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Season 5Ep. 241
One of the great lads of Welsh and NZ rugby Johnny McNicholl is on What a Lad this week, after returning to Super Rugby in red hot form! Having started in Christchurch with Canterbury and the Crusaders, Johnny then spent 8 seasons over in Wales with the Scarletts as well as playing international rugby for Wales. Now he has returned to where it all started and is back with the Crusaders passing on his wisdom and ripping it up on the field. Some bits that stood out in this chat were... How setback...
May 05, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 240
For this episode I jump on the other side of the mic by going on the O-Studio podcast hosted by the 2 time What a Lad guest Tim Bateman and his co hosts Sophie and Matty. They do such an awesome job hosting as I share my journey and a few things I have learnt along the way. To listen to more episodes of theirs head to the link below... https://www.ostudio.co.nz/community/o-studio-podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 5Ep. 239
Tim Naki has to be one of the most likeable lads you'll meet. He's as down to earth as they come, he's quick witted, he loves a beer, he loves a punt and to his amazement he has somehow managed to get over 1 Million people along for his Blackjack journey of turning $1500 into over half a million dollars. The champion Tim Naki will answer every question you have ever wanted to know about the man in this one some key topics... How the idea started to bet 10c for every follower, How high or low he ...
Apr 24, 2024•51 min•Season 5Ep. 238
Sam Whitelock is one of the all-time greats of rugby! In this episode he discusses his recent decision to retire from Rugby and future plans. The man who is the most capped All Black ever has had an incredible career which was so cool to go through with him. You will be sure to learn plenty in this one! I loved hearing around Sam's mindset to the game, his consistency to perform in some of the biggest games has been special to witness. Also his leadership is something that has really stood out f...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 5Ep. 237
Dexter Dunn is one of the greatest Harness Drivers ever, period. His strike rate since he started out as a teenager speaks for itself. He was NZ's leading driver for 10 years straight, winning almost every big race there is to win in Australasia. He then moved over to America where he has quickly becoming the leading driver in America and the world winning over 50 Million in stakes! In this episode you will hear an incredible insight into the life of a world leading reinsman, from how hectic his...
Mar 31, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 5Ep. 236
Will Jordan is one of those rugby players who is just a joy to watch. He's fast, he's got all the skills and of course he scores plenty of tries. His strike rate speaks for itself, having scored 31 tries in 31 games for the All Blacks at international level and he's quickly approaching 100 if to add on his Tasman Mako and Crusader ones as well. However as we always hear on these episodes, the rugby professional rugby career is not just all good fun and scoring tries there are always ups and down...
Mar 17, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 235
What a Lad is a podcast by James Marshall who talks to some of the biggest names and best lads on the planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 03, 2024•1 min
Matt Todd is one of the most understated Canterbury, Crusader and All Black legend there is! A man who just went about his work consistently every week racking up 20+ tackles, missing none and doing it all again the following week! There’s not many tougher than the great Matt Todd! Some highlights in this episode were… How much passion he has for the game from a youngster up until now. What he lacked in natural ability he made up for with hard work and the ability to keep turning up. Why he neve...
Mar 03, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 234
Mulls & John from The Sporting Rumble and Jimmy Marshall from What a Lad have joined forces to bring you the the perfect poddy to get fizzed up for Super Rugby Pacific. On the show we preview the 6 kiwi teams (including Moana Pasifika), look at the Coaches, All Blacks Bolters, who'd you live in a tent with on a deserted island, and who will win Super Rugby Pacific? Follow The Sporting Rumble here: https://bit.ly/4bjy96U Follow What A Lad here: https://bit.ly/3SFcJsi Hosted on Acast. See acas...
Feb 19, 2024•34 min
When I think of genuine superstars of Australian rugby, I think James O’Connor. He is the youngest ever player to play Super Rugby at just 17years old. He burst on to the rugby scene with his boy band looks and his incredible talent. At 18 he was playing international rugby for Australia and with that came high expectations of him as a role model, a role he wasn’t ready for. I loved this episode so much because you can hear in raw honesty what these young professional athletes go through when bu...
Feb 18, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 5Ep. 233
Not many thought I would be able to rope in the humble All Black legend Joe Moody on to What a Lad but here he is. In his first ever podcast, the great loose head prop (and a bit of tight head) shares his journey through his raw and honest nature that he approaches his life with. Some of the highlights of this episode were... Hearing how Joe grew up with 3 older sisters doing the odd dress up, How he dominated for his country at wrestling up until the age of 21, Why he moved to prop and how hard...
Feb 04, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 5Ep. 232
Brodie Retallick is one of the all time great All Blacks and also one of the all time lads so what better way to start What a Lad season 5 than with the great man himself! The man they call Guzzler has had an incredible journey and in his first ever long form podcast he goes through it all! Some highlights... - Turning up to CHBS as the tallest kid in the school at Year 9. - How he went from missing out on the Crusader Academy to becoming an All Black in the space of 3 years. - How his training ...
Jan 21, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 231
Here it is, the last episode of season 4 and as always I love to finish the season with one of the all time lads and who better than the All Black and Chiefs legend Anton Lienert-Brown. Anton in my eyes has been someone who has been a real trailblazer for keeping things real, openly speaking about the highs and lows of his rugby journey. In this episode he goes in to detail about.. The recent Rugby World Cup and his feelings pre and post some of those special games How he went from being a Prop ...
Dec 03, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Season 4Ep. 230
We always hear about the journey from an athletes point of view but never from the one behind the scenes doing all the hard work. However in this episode with Kayla Ahki we get the best of both. The former NZ 7s rugby super star was the best female player in the game in 2013 after switching from Netball not long before. She won World Series Circuits and even a Silver Medal at the Olympics, while her combination of speed and strength made her a genuine star of the game. Now this is the part as ma...
Nov 26, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Season 4Ep. 229
Gambling addictions are growing in society rapidly and even more so if professional sport. Disposable income, plenty of spare time and chasing that buzz you get from professional sports make pro athletes high risk. As you'll hear in this episode with one of the greats Paul Iffil, it was those things that had him lose around 2 Million pounds in his career. Paul was an English Football star playing in some of the biggest games against some of the biggest names. New Zealanders will know him more fo...
Nov 19, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 228
The life after rugby transition has been a struggle for so many who have been through it and as you’ll hear in this episode with Ged Robinson, it doesn’t have to be that way. Our mindset around how we approach this next stage of our life needs to change and there are many pieces of absolute gold advice in here from Ged. The former professional rugby player who played for plenty of teams including Manawatu, Wellington, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury and in Super Rugby played for the Hurricanes, Rebels...
Nov 12, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 227
Corey Flynn is the definition of a lad! He's just one of those truely genuine good blokes who has had a rugby career take him on some journey. He's had some huge achievements like winning the Rugby World Cup but hearing what he had to go through to get that opportunity made it so much more special then the trophy. In this episode we got through plenty including, The tough decision to leave Southland to go to Canterbury and the Crusaders. Being named in the 2003 RWC squad out of no where (crazy s...
Nov 05, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Season 4Ep. 226
That’s it! The 2023 RWC is all over and man has that taken us on an emotional rollercoaster. So much to discuss in this last ever episode of the Dance in France review show. It’s been awesome having Searley and Jacob Atkins join me for the RWC to give their analysis and for this one last time they go hard. 7 out of the 8 knockout games came down to the last play! Again the final was no different, the All blacks playing a majority of the game with 14 men, South Africa playing with plenty of passi...
Oct 29, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 225
Hugh Renton is one of the NZ rugbys hard men, he's tough, he's aggressive and he has a reckless regard for his body. He's also had to be very tough mentally with some of the challenges he has faced in his professional career to date. From being signed on a 3 year contract with the Hurricanes straight out of school with a non functional arm, to losing his Dad to suicide. Hugh has had plenty to deal with. The best thing from all that, is he has learnt so much about himself and the mind through his...
Oct 29, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 4Ep. 224
Here it is! We are at the pinnacle of the sport a Rugby World Cup final with 2 of the most dominant teams in the history of the sport going at it as the mighty All Blacks get set to take on the Springboks. What a way to finish which has been such an incredible World Cup. So many good games and I’m sure this weekend will be no different. As always on here, we are joined by two of the great rugby analysis in the form of Searley from Searley talks sport and Jacob Atkins as we review last weeks semi...
Oct 26, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 223
Shane Christie is one of NZ's great lads! This is one of the the most honest, raw and engaging episodes I've ever done, as we talk about topics which are very close to home, like concussion in rugby and the incredibly sad passing of a good mate Billy Guyton. Many will know Shane as a Super Rugby winner with the Highlanders, or an NPC winner with Tasman as both a player and coach, or maybe even for his time with the NZ Maori All Blacks. However I think what every one loves about Shane Christie, i...
Oct 21, 2023•1 hr 51 min•Season 4Ep. 222
