James McOnie from the Crowd Goes Wild joined Piney to discuss the All Blacks, Westlake v Rosmini, the Black Ferns, and the Warriors. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Formula One driver Liam Lawson has qualified in 8th place for tomorrow morning's Dutch Grand Prix, and will start on the grid beside Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen. Lawson had earlier finished 11th in the Sprint Race at Zandvoort, won by the Mercedes of George Russell. NZ Herald sports journo Alex Powell joined Piney to discuss. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi mixed martial artist Carlos Ulberg has teamed up with Six60 and Mānuka Phuel as part of a new giveaway. Eight Kiwi fans will be flown to Baltimore to watch the All Blacks play against the Springboks from a private suite, get VIP access to Six60's Baltimore show and take part in a private training experience with Carlos Ulberg. Carlos Ulberg joined Piney to discuss the competition further - learn more about it here.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast for Sunday 23 August. Get the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast every Saturday and Sunday afternoon on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coach Andrew Webster's lauding the Warriors' stay in the fight attitude, overcoming the Rabbitohs 45-26 in Sydney to move top of the NRL ladder. The Rabbitohs bounced back from a 24-point second half deficit, coming within a converted try of the Kiwi side - with less than 20 minutes to play. Webster's impressed with how his men kept their heads, scoring two late tries, topped off with a last-second field goal - and he joined Piney to recap the win. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A series lead to savour for the All Blacks. They’ll head to Cape Town - although a dance with the Lions awaits first - with a 1-nil advantage in the test series against South Africa. The 33-16 win over the Springboks is New Zealand’s biggest at Ellis Park. Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Elliott Smith joined Piney to recap the action. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan has explained what went wrong in the scrums in the first half of the 33-16 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park. The New Zealand scrum was getting dominated until the reserve front row of George Bower, Asafo Aumua and Fletcher Newell came on. Ryan says the South African pack got the hit on them early. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

That was - without doubt - one of the great All Blacks performances in recent times. The best since the last Rugby World Cup for sure, and probably the best since our win over Ireland in the 2023 quarter-final - it was well worth the early alarm. Resilience and grit in equal measure, a triumph of soaking up pressure, taking some hits, and refusing to buckle, let alone break. The 15 minutes after half-time may well be one of the most significant periods of All Blacks rugby in this entire World Cup cycle. They were absorbing pressure, withstanding wave after wave of attack and emerging unscathed. South Africa average 5.5 points every time they enter the opposition 22; today it was 0.9 points. That is an absolute triumph of taking punches and staying in the fight. Fabian Holland was immense. Remember he didn't play any rugby at all between the 23rd of November and the 24th of July - eight months out of the game with that shoulder injury, 80 Herculean minutes from him today on the high veldt. Jordie Barrett is fast becoming the All Blacks' most important player. Two massive pieces of defence to deny Malcolm Marx and Jasper Wiese - he made 15 tackles all up, more than any other player on either side, and effected 5 turnovers, also a game-high. Jordie is now the rock upon which the All Blacks backline is built. And the impact the All Blacks got from their front row reserves is also worth mentioning - George Bower and Fletcher Newell had really influential shifts today. When David Kirk announced a coaching change at the start of the year, he talked about trajectory - at that time, it was a downward trajectory, or at best a plateau. Since Dave Rennie took over, it has been trending upwards, and today it spiked skywards. He's transformed this team since taking charge, and has them back on track for next year's World Cup Seven 7 wins from seven, with obvious, intentional, noticeable, crucial improvements during that time - Dave Rennie has now coached internationally against South Africa five times and won four of them. Rugby Australia's decision to get rid of him in favour of Eddie Jones may well go down as one of the all-time great fumbles in rugby history. A word on referee Matthew Carley; we're quick to criticise referees, but he was excellent. He remained calm and composed in that cauldron, and over-ruled the TMO twice. You love to see it, more of that please - referees who trust their instincts. The respect South African crowds show the haka tells you an awful lot about them. Rassie Erasmus even took to social media ahead of the game to ask his nation's fans to stay silent during the haka, and they did. While English and Australian supporters try to drown it out with Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Waltzing Matilda, the silence around that magnificent arena during the haka shows you why this rivalry is indeed the greatest one. There is massive mutual respect between these two teams and their fans, who love their rugby, but can absolutely appreciate the greatness of the other and the history that has led us to this point I said yesterday that we were about to find out how far apart the All Blacks and the Springboks are. On that evidence, the answer is not very far apart at all And yes, there are work-ons for the All Blacks; 14 penalties conceded is too many, they still had a few problems with the aerial ball and South Africa will come back with a vengeance in Cape Town. But for today - for right now - enjoy it. Because that display has most certainly pumped a fair degree of positivity into the veins of even the most pessimistic of All Blacks fans. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AFL community has been rocked by sexual assault allegations involving five Sydney Swans players.  Victoria Police are investigating the incident, and the players have been stood down by the club for the remainder of the season.  Australian Correspondent Adam Peacock outlined what has been happening and the fallout the situation has caused.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the last time —on this show anyway— we can talk about this test series as a future event.  The next month is a blank page, stretching before us with storylines just waiting to be written.  In all honesty, up until now, all we've been really doing is having a guess. An educated guess, based on history, analysis, reading, and listening to the respective coaches and players...  But a guess nonetheless.  We're now going to have some context. Next week we can talk about test two with the context of test one, and so on.  We're going to find out over the next four weeks how far apart South Africa and the All Blacks are, with 13 months to go until the Rugby World Cup.  Three specific areas the All Blacks will have to be particularly good in to repel what the Springboks will throw at them tonight:  One: The scrum.  South Africa scrum for penalties, and they do it very, very well – better than anyone in the world. Our scrum must be solid, legitimate, and competitive.  Having Tyrel Lomax there is a huge boost because the Springboks will look to assert dominance as soon as they possibly can – on their feed or ours. So keep an eye on the first scrum or two.  Two: Maul defence.  If South Africa get the aforementioned scrum penalties, or any penalties, they will, without question, kick for the corners and set up a lineout drive. It really is one of the hardest things to defend in rugby because there are so many moving parts.   Jason Ryan and Co. will have prepared the NZ forwards for what’s coming, but knowing it’s coming and doing something about it are very different things.  The key really is to limit those penalties in the first place – don’t let South Africa get themselves into the position to test us close to our line in the first place.  So discipline and limiting penalties becomes super important.  Three: The aerial assault.  It's coming, there's no doubt about it. Josh Moorby, Will Jordan, and Damian McKenzie will need to be ready to defuse those Ellis Park bombs.  I must admit I do worry a little bit about Damian McKenzie's ankle injury – if he comes down awkwardly from fielding one of those high kicks, that might be a problem. But you have to assume he's good to go.  The aerial game has been a major area of focus for the All Blacks this year, and while they still haven’t absolutely nailed it, there has been improvement. And there’ll need to be more.  This South African team is formidable. Utterly formidable.  I felt pretty good about the All Blacks' chances until I saw the South African team unveiled on Thursday night. They are a genuine heavyweight side. Number one in the world for a reason.  What a lineup: Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth, and Pieter-Steph du Toit in the forward pack. Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, and Damian Willemse in a star-studded backline.  They are favourites, and rightly so.  But we're good too.  Slowly but surely, Dave Rennie has built the All Blacks into a side capable of going into the Lion's Den and emerging intact.  We're not going to win the series 4-nil, but this group can build the belief that on any given day, they can beat South Africa.  And in just over a year from now, that's all the All Blacks will need to do at the Rugby World Cup. They’ll only need to beat the Springboks once.  And one of the keys to that will be believing that they can, and that all starts in just under 15 hours from now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.