Between Two Beers Podcast: Josh Kronfeld: Legendary All Blacks Career, Chaos at the '95 World Cup, Life After Rugby (Re-Release)

On this episode of Between Two Beers we're rewinding the clock back to April of 2022

when we sat down with Josh Cronfeld. Josh is an All Blacks legend who played at two Rugby

World Cups across 54 games for the All Blacks and was a cult hero in Dunedin where he played

over 100 games for Otago and the Highlanders. In this episode we talk about what it was

really like to play with and against Jonah, destroying his downstairs operation on The

Crowd Goes Wild, how he avoided food poisoning at the 95 World Cup, what it was like playing

in New Zealand's first Super Rugby season, why Schoolboy Rugby is better than All Blacks

Rugby, how he won consecutive seasons of Celebrity Treasure Island and much much more. Josh is

not your average rugby player. He's a trained physio, he surfs, he paints, he's a reporter for

Crowd Goes Wild, he restores classic cars, he's a family man and a deep thinker and this was a

really fun yet that we wanted to re-share with our new listeners. Listen on iHeart or wherever

you get your podcast from or watch the video on YouTube. This episode was brought to you from

the Export Bear Garden Studio. Enjoy!

Josh Cronfeld, welcome to Between Two Bears.

Nice beer boys, definitely Between Two Bears, ain't I?

Yeah, you are.

One big one and one skinny one.

And you've been doing a bit of surfing today, have you?

I've had a fantastic day, dropping the kids off, raced out to have my first surf at Maori Bay.

Tom Robinson took me out there.

How does he go on the surf?

Oh, he looks amazing in the surf. You know, those big ginger locks just blowing around, you know.

I saw him go over the falls a few times, but no, no, he goes good.

That's cool. How often are you getting in the surf these days?

Well, the last couple of months have just been incredible. I've managed to procure a lot of

windows and that's how surfing works for me. Sometimes I don't get to surf for months because

I just can't create a window with the surf working. But for whatever reason, the last two

months has been just consistent, two to three foot swell on the west coast with offshore easelies.

And like it's unheard of, like most of the old boys are given the chat like, oh,

I don't think I've ever seen it in my lifetime. So when they're saying stuff like that, you've

got to kind of believe that that's for real, you know. So it's been pretty epic.

Yeah. And you're spending a lot of time in Raglan?

Not as much time as I like. You know, I've got a house there. I've had it for, you know, well over

20 years now and we get there at least a few times of the year and stay for a duration.

But lately it's just been all in my backyard. So Raglan's, you know, that's a big trip.

The way we do things at Between Two Bears, we tell the audience how we know the guests,

so Shay, how do you know Josh? I am a massive 90s Otago and Highlanders rugby fan. So I would

watch Rugby religiously. 96, 97, 98, 99 are probably peak years for me for me watching

at Hamilton Boys. My worst years, man. My worst years.

At Hamilton Boys, I somehow, I loved Brendan Laney. So Brendan Chains or Laney. And I had

a mate, Michael Edwards, who he called Eddie Hickenewi, who was a backup first five. But

my other Cronfeld link, my older brother used to always tell me to back myself.

And it was something that he reckoned you said on an episode of Sports Café. Now,

this is my opportunity to find out whether it's true or not, because I've been

going with that mantra for about 22 years now. So back yourself. Just be like Josh Cronfeld,

just back yourself. I would say that I would possibly say something like that.

That's good enough for me. I'm great. I'm great believe in, you know, like the only

person that can make a difference is yourself. You know, so back yourself. Have a go. There you go.

Chance your arm. But if you're shit, don't do that. All right. 22 years in the making,

I've finally been able to find out whether that was fact or fiction and it's fact enough for me.

It's relative though, isn't it, man? Like, you've got to trust in your own skill sets and stuff.

And if you've got those things in place, you know, you have to back yourself and it's important.

You know, that's part of being successful. So it is, you know, it is a great line.

I don't know if I actually said it, but it is a good line. You know, it makes sense to me.

Good enough for me. And Steve's a few years younger than me, so you maybe don't remember

as much of the on-field stuff, but what's your Cronfeld link? Yeah, two strong ones.

Headgear, I think, just Josh Cronfield, Headgear. I was about 10 in the 95 World Cup

and John Alonmin Rugby, the commentary is like, Cronfeld! Have you ever played that?

Yeah, it was a burrowing like a demented muck. It's really, it's really good.

I can't do the axing, but... Steve's the axing guy, you could do it.

Like a Sherman tank going down the field there. Yeah, good. Bill Beaumont, that's you.

Anyway, so what we do, we reached out to our contacts and friends and colleagues and things,

try to get some good stories. So I've had two little bits thrown to me and I'm not really

sure where they're going to lead, but I'm just going to put them out there just to see if we

can get something going. So the first one says, back in the day, a British tabloid

did a list of the hottest rugby players. Definitely ask about that. Yeah, so 99 World Cup

and we were sitting down at breakfast. I just arrived at breakfast and all the boys

were having a bit of a giggle and stuff like that. And they'd put the sort of the top hundred

best looking guys down to and sort of rated it from best to worst, if that makes sense.

Okay. So at the top, you had your Jeremy Gascots and I think Jeff Wilson at that time was at

number five with his blonde flowing locks. And all the people that were at the start

were all dressed in immaculate, like, you know, number ones or bow tie, you know, like dress,

you know, black tie. It was just wrong. And then any person that was remotely ugly was either

screaming at the ref, you know, just like a horrendous photo, right? And so my photo was pretty

much, you know, he get screaming at the guy at someone, you know, and I was 98. Wow. And

so I was a bit gutted. I was a bit gutted. And so I'm having a little bit of a, you know,

like cracking with the boys about it and stuff like that. And we're all laughing and Anton Oliver

walks in and he goes, because what are you guys all laughing at? And they say, oh, Josh is second

ugliest, second ugliest man in Will Rugby. And he goes, oh, yeah, who's number one?

Yeah, well, great enough.

It's good. Gold. It's good. Delivered. Delivered on number one. Okay. So the second one,

ask him about injuring his crown jewels interviewing Mahi Drysdale.

Yeah, look, I never even made the interview to be fair. So we've gone down and these,

these lovely people had a hydrofoil bike and takes a little bit of a getting used to ride,

but it's not, not too hard. And I think it may be my first or second go at it.

I kind of sunk on it and it went down and but the bike still was quite buoyant. And so it

started to float back up past me, but it kind of clipped the underside of my wetsuit and just

started pulling on it. But as it clipped the underside of my wetsuit, I think it must have

just wound on my balls and start and just grab into that perennial area. No, just grab the sack.

Oh, okay. And literally just kept pulling it. And I kind of unhooked myself and went, oh,

geez, that was uncomfortable. So we carried on filming. I did 40, 40 more minutes longer

in the water, swimming and riding this bike and got got the hand of it and even like that.

And I got it down pat. And so they says, all right, you ready to race Mahi? And I says,

yeah, we can get him over. And I says, oh, just before we do that, I just want to have a check

of things down there because every time I'm in the water, I get this flushing sensation and a sting.

And I think, you know, I might have nicked something, you know. And so anyway, I strip the

wetsuit down and I pulled out and there's just blood everywhere. And I'm looking at that and I'm

thinking, it looks a bit weird. I think I might have ripped my sack. And anyway, so I said to

my cameraman at the time, I said, Nate, I don't usually ask a man to look at my nuts. But can

you tell me if we need to make sure we need to go to the hospital? I think this might be hanging

out. And I pulled the old fella to the side and dropped the wetsuit. And I swear to you,

if I could have filmed anything in my life, it would have been that moment of watching his face.

Yeah. Yeah. He said it was just hanging out on the stream.

Buck Shelf for the podcast. I had a Buck Shelf for the moment.

So whenever anyone talks about that stuff, I fully know what's going on. But the story even gets

better because this was two days before we meant to be going on holiday with the whole family to

Bali. And I'm just going, oh, that's it. It's not going to happen. And we get to the hospital.

And I said to the hand over the thing to the lady and she says, oh, I says, do we go to A in here?

Or do we go to urology? She says, oh, you know, you've got to go to urology for that. So they make

me walk in the undies. I've got like, like I'm wearing a basically, you know, ladies bloody

a pad, a double whammy pair. And so holding my balls and I'm walking through the middle of the

hospital in Waikato. And they make me walk all the way to the urology. Oh, no, no, that's A&E.

And they walk all the way back. Meantime, Nate, the drivers are parked up and I says, I think we're

going to be a while. You go, you get most will go to the movies or something. And then I think I'm

going to go have to go on surgery. So then I'm lying on the bed. And of course, I'm lying there

with my everything hanging out. And every five seconds, someone's some nurse is popping her

head and having a look. And I'm going, what's what's going on here? You know, like, clearly,

someone said, oh, someone's words got out. Anyway, finally, the the head nurse comes in

goes, no, that's it. You're all there's too many people in here. She said, everyone else kicked

everyone out. And then the registrar comes in and and he goes, look, mate, the guy that's going to

do your surgery, we want to have wants to see the damage and make sure that we need to get you into

surgery straight away or whether you can wait. And I'm kind of gutted. He says, I'm going to take

a photo of your balls. Yeah, so it makes sense. He takes a photo. And you know, like when you send

a text, and you know, you usually wait 30 seconds, someone takes it in. And then he was like,

straight back. Yeah, you're going in for surgery. And so, but I wish I got that photo.

Because, you know, I wish I got the footage if you walking around the hospital. Oh, yeah,

it was so wrong. So wrong. So he ended up having the surgery. And so I'm, I'm thinking, well,

that's it. You know, like, pretty, pretty dangerous area, you know, going to Bali in the water,

water, all that sort of stuff. It's not going to really work. So I don't think it's going to happen.

And he goes, look, just see on the Saturday, you can go go and see, you know, like a

white cross doctor or something like that. And we'll give him this phone number and he can

ring me and we can have a discussion whether we think it's relevant for you to go. And so

I go home Thursday night. It was not too bad. I mean, I had some good drugs. I fell asleep.

But then on Friday night, dude, I was walking around like with bollocks like that. All right.

And they were black. And it would look like I had like human monsters stitches through the

I swear you each stitch, like my balls that was coming out of the stitches, like,

like my fingers do. And I was just looking at, I'm going, there's no way. There's no way.

Like my old fellow disappeared into my balls. You know what I mean? There's a lot of swelling.

That's a lot of swelling, man. They were just massive. And I couldn't walk. I was like,

literally, like it was it was horrendous. But by Friday and then on Saturday morning,

they'd gone back to reasonably normal size. I mean, they probably they were still kind of double

size, but at least big plums, but not no. But they didn't look they didn't look like

like they were about to explode. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus. Yeah. So I actually, and then of course,

again, he had to take photo of my balls to see this guy. This doctor must have all these photos

of my balls on his phone. You know, you didn't take any of your own and send it to your mates.

I took the photo. I took the photo. Do you guys want to see?

Now I'm not going to show, but it is, it is quite, it is quite.

We'll have to describe it for the podcast audience. It'll be one of those reaction videos.

I like how he's got it saved.

Yeah. I've just got to work out how you get the favourites. Here we go.

Favourites. Yeah. My chair.

Profile pictures. It's a great start. Yeah. It's a strong start. Oh my god.

What am I looking at? That is just that's the that's the stitch on the bollock.

Oh, I don't even, that didn't, I know it could be anything. I know, I know, but it's

baking. It's just swollen. How's everything looking these days? Well, this is this is the

cool thing about having this for at least two or three months because that was all tightened up.

I had the balls of a 20 year old. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? Sitting high. I just come in and

wink at my muscles and she go, you're looking good. In terms of discomfort, where does that rate

compared with some of the rugby injuries that you had? Look, that was nothing, bro.

Really? Yeah, no, like it's surprising. Don't get me wrong. When they were swollen,

that was uncomfortable. But they give me medication for that. It didn't really matter. But

no, I think some of the worst injuries are the least damaging, you know, like a hip spiker.

That's really, I don't know, it sounds really like nothing, but it's when someone's bony part

connects with the top of your hip. And it's right where all of your everything connects. So it's

like it's like a the muscle comes in layers over itself and layers. And so when you get it like

this crazy ass bruise, you cannot talk, cough, move without hurting. I've found that is a pretty

good one. Yeah, I would have thought ripping your ballsack would have been up there. But there you

go. I'm assuming this story was was a crowd goes wild job. Was it with? Yeah, it was. It was the

story was with crowd as well. That's I'm interested in just spending a little time talking about that

side of your life. So obviously different to the rugby that we're going to get into. But how does

that work? Like do they come up with an idea and they send you down for an afternoon or a day and

you come up with an idea of how you're going to make a little entertaining two minute package?

Yeah, look, it's it's it's a bit like that. So sometimes they'll already have

a concept and in a storyline and between you and the cameraman, you'll you'll film that out. And

and sometimes you can have that story already plotted and ready to go and it works really well.

But then other times you'll get down there and you think, yeah, I've got this story, it's going to

work. I mean, just doesn't pan out. And sometimes you end up with an even better story, you know,

you know, because just the dynamic of whatever happens. I think the key part to it is that as

long as you don't mind embarrassing, making it like a minus of yourself, then it doesn't actually

matter. You know, like it'll come out funny. Yeah. Because I mean, you can't really take the piss

out of the athlete. The athlete is they are the color and and they are the people that you're

wanting to promote, you know, you want to make them look good. And so it's you that has to be

the piss has to get taken out of their particular types of stories where when they're kicking

them around, they're like, yeah, this is this is a Josh story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I have a

I'm not really an angry man, but like they created the created that component in my

in my repertoire. And there's there's been a couple of moments where I've strutted out

in my speeders, and they seem to go back and that seems to come into every second story I do.

It's I don't know, like, it's a great show to work for. I really love meeting athletes. I think

out of everything that I've done in my life, that's probably the coolest part of the show,

you know, yeah, we create some awesome stories and some some moments in history and cover

and stuff like that. But it's it's actually meeting those people and getting them to

talk like we are now. But in a dynamic that is news. And and and when you do get that,

like some of the content that we've got or little things that we've managed to sneak over the over

over the fence have been gold, you know, like no other media company would have got an interview

like we've got. Yeah. So I do cherish that part of it. And unfortunately, we the stories are only

ever to two minutes to three minutes tops. And so a lot of our best content often doesn't make

make the final cut. Yeah. Which is a shame because, you know, some of the things the stories told it

just with the origins of that kind of style of of media coverage around when you were playing

like the Sports Cafe days. So Sports Cafe was was the start of it. So both Sports Cafe and

Kragos Wilder, Rick Slito's babies originally. And so he always knew that that dynamic was

going to work. And then using athletes to to sort of, I don't know, to interact with other

athletes is kind of good. Because I mean, I think when you get a normal media person come in and

talk to an athlete, they're already reserved and worried, you know, we're talking about the

dynamic right now, Josh. But I've been around enough for you morons. We'll be right back after

this short break.

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shop if I as you were saying how the rewarding it is to talk to the athletes I was thinking

fuck that's exactly the reason we're doing this podcast me to the feeling that you get

when you talk to others is what we're getting right now talking to you so I'm really looking

forward to digging in and getting into some of the meat of it I want to start with Hastings so

you grew up in Hastings went to Hastings boys high and I've heard you say on a number of occasions

that schoolboy rugby is better than all blacks rugby meaning that is where you got the most

enjoyment it's enough it's such a different dynamic it's probably the most unique brand of rugby

that you'll ever play you know all blacks is a special club and I think that's something at some

point in your lifetime whether it's as a child or whether it's as an adult or somewhere along the way

you go I want to be an all black you know and and that that is sort of I think in New Zealand

the general aim if you're a rugby player you know at some point

um but in terms of like

the stuff that you do in first 15 it's just it's next level because like we announced you

these are guys that you've kind of grown up with with a lot of them not all of them but you know

you may have gone started at primary school started playing footy together and you've gone all the way

through the grades you and you might have gone away into different schools and then come back in

at high school and you go through the different grades up to there and then all of a sudden you're

in the first 15 and it's a special thing for the schools you know especially rugby schools

there um that's for a lot of schools you know and like mags here or something like that that's

having a good first of things an important part Hamilton boys or Hamilton boys or gizzy boys you

know it's an important part of of that school and um but the the thing is you you get up you get

into that team and then you're you're you're with all your friends um and you create a family mode

and if it becomes a really good team it gets really tight um you learn to go out and socialize

together so every party that you had there be at least a few of the first of thing at that party

that you're at um it connects all the different social groups because there'll be surfing there'll

be skaters there'll be um occasionally there's a few geeks in there yeah you know like rugby just

embraces if you can play code just embraces all those those that that network shouldn't have been

drinking beer and um you know you go out you're socially you probably dated the same girls a

couple of times you know you're probably I don't know it's just you just make all the discoveries

together and then at the end of it you're you're striving to achieve as a group and I think you

know it was a stepping stone uh in discovering a little bit of who I was as an individual

and also the the start of um the camaraderie of what rugby offers you know I can't say that I've

always that's always been in it like for some rugby boys that's that's the thing about rugby

it wasn't that but that was the discovery for me you know like this is actually pretty special

and some of those so you want to take all the good qualities of different teams and you want to

take it into and keep putting it into the next one and the next one no matter what level you know

did that observation come through in later life I think so mostly but I I knew so I went from

like I think my rugby transition was pretty special you know like I started playing first

of thing uh in fifth form which is pretty young and um and so all of a sudden that's

that was my whole education into drinking came from hanging out with seven formers

you know like two years older than you it's a massive curve you know um I probably got to

feel my first set of boobs you know uh in fifth form and it was simply because

she thought I was a second year sixth you know like it's like it's just it's such a

coming it's coming of age stuff it's coming of age you know so it's it's there's all of that and

then I went uh so from being the young young guy and transitioning through to our final year and

us going to top four and again a special thing for our first 15 to do and our our school had never

had a team in top four until that year so it was that's a cool thing too you know you know how

that like the the best rugby player at school is always kind of the center of attention well it

was in my experience anyway you're in the top four you've got a really good team are you that

central guy like what is what are you like in the group uh I guess I was I can't remember um I

might have even been captain I think I definitely had a part um you know like in in in the school

you know like I was definitely uh but our school was full with of that particular period was full

of athletes like high end athletes you know like uh I think our soccer team was like um had gone

through all the different you know gone to different tournaments and progressed sort of same

same ilk with the top four um our hockey team had had similar uh um success success and um

and then we had numerous like long distance athletes and stuff like that so um I think we were

just that was just a golden year or golden little period in the growth of our school I mean I think

I think uh you know it's been more recently that you know top four has been won by Hastings boys

big rivalry now between Hastings and Hamilton but I mean like even the transition like uh you know

like the Haka for instance like uh Mr Morris uh created the first ever um Haka for our school I

think it was called Akina and um and I can't remember any of it but I just remember how difficult

that was because I'd never done any Haka to my seventh form answer me this and we were terrible at it

we were so bad whereas now I'd say you watch those kids do it they'll just be next level

is is 15 16 year old Josh Cronfell practicing it in the shower like every kid did that went to a

boys school I didn't learn I didn't learn the Haka till the seventh I'll tell you a story about uh

the Haka so I just made the first 15 um the uh Cameron Stitchbury who was our uh head boy

at that time he was the New Zealand six number seven and uh so he was like he was like the man

gonna be the guy that was gonna progress into the all blacks and all that stuff and he got

three concussions in in a short period of time and that ended as that he never played rugby again

wow uh and so I got pulled up from and I was tiny dude I was so small and uh I would have reckoned

it would have been my second or third game uh for for the for Hastings boys in the first 15

and um Te Aotea come down from from their school and they loaded their whole school

into their six buses or whatever and drove them down parked them up around our our paddock

and then they lined from our pavilion because our school just built a brand new pavilion built this

from that pavilion entry all the way out to our ground which was probably um which wasn't right

in front of the pavilion it was just off to the side a little bit I guess probably maybe 120 meters

or so maybe a little bit longer and lined us with two lines all the way out to the ground

so we had to walk through them while they were doing this crazy ass Haka and I just remember

looking at it going you know like I was freaking out and I remember the game was 18 all which was a

big was a big coup because Te Aotea at that time were really powerful yeah anyway okay just who

turns up to your own score and then gets hucket out to your main ground by the opposition by the

opposition and it's just not right um I want to move you along so so 18 you moved to Dunedin

to study PE at Otago Uni four-year degree but rugby starts to take center stage and you started

off you you mentioned you were small I've heard that you were a wiry sort of 88 kgs which kind of

overnight turned into 100 kg beast yeah yeah so the 88 kg was this is like the tail end of university

so I haven't really I've got taller uh and longer I guess um this is the tail end of university so

you've gone through uni yeah pretty much uh so uh in 1993 um which was the um so 1990s first years

91 92 uh so in 1992 um Gordon Hunter invites me to come train with Otago and uh at that time I'm only

88 kg so I've put on some beastie weight and I just remember going down there and training like

a crazy man and he gave me one game against um against uh Southland and uh it was awful I just

poor innocent just made me look like a fool you know it was just it was quite embarrassing and and

Gordon basically said you need to speak to Junjun and have a discussion with him and I didn't want

to do that because that was embarrassing you know but he made me do it and I did it and he gave me a

whole little tips and he actually said to me I shouldn't really tell you those because you're

probably not taking my position and sure enough yeah I pretty much did you know like so um but

I realized that I was too light and I'd had a bit of a uh a a messy breakup as a young man I was

I thought I was in love and um and I did and it really bugged me was that the first heartbreak

yeah it was the first heartbreak you know like there was and I think I took it rather badly

and I know I took it badly and so I went home and I was dark man I was dark with everyone

and so I was working 70 hour weeks working um you've you've used this as fuel haven't you yeah

and I was what were you doing uh so I was working at a uh for uh fantasy land which was a fun part

which is now a splash planet or something like that it's a lot of hours at a fantasy park yeah

that was during the during the day okay and then so I'd run the air in the morning and then I'd run

from the end of the gym I'd pound out the gym then I'd run home and mum would have a massive

feed and I just hope you know this is all pre-proteins and shit like this smash food again

and then I'd uh get in the car drive to um the happy tev and have a look and work the door or the bar

or um clear glasses just did it all and so just um just trying to smash money back into the bank

account you know as a student well putting on some serious timber 12 kgs well the funny thing is

the funny is I just I don't reckon I put on a lot of weight then if you're running everywhere you

no no I wasn't and so I think I was actually over training and so when I tuned up back uh at the end

of the year into the sort of year to come back for Simmons training I was just like like cut

to pieces like I had striations on striations and you know like I wish you had a speedo photo then

that they could use on cgw in fact I think I started the beach a couple of times but um

look I was I was absolutely like gaunt cut you know like as though I've been bodybuilding

sort of scenario and I like that you're looking at me when you say that look like I would I would

know I would know and um but I think it's sort of coincided with it being about 2021

it's you know a man a young man often fills out around that period and so I reckon it coincided

with that and then the fact that I've been over training and when I went back and started

training with the sevens boys I was super fit and super keen and suddenly I was having a few beers

and uh which I hadn't done all summer and I think just the extra carbos I just went

like overnight filled out yeah just filled out and it was like so everybody was going out

it's Josh being you know yeah taking the roys because they they'd seen me last

before christmas and then all of a sudden I was just like but literally twice the size

but it was amazing you know like it just made me understand you know like if you train hard and

you work hard you can have real success you know and suddenly things that were uh sort of hard

were really easy you know I just I can remember the first uh contact that I went in with the sevens

competition and it was one of our real big boys and I just kind of brushed them off and I went

and ran around someone else and then thought it in the corner and I just went what just happened

there did you did you ever go NZ sevens no which was kind of I would like to I like to I I never

got like uh we went our team was pretty good we we won the south islands and came second in the

in the nationals and a couple of our boys uh I think JT and that made it into the sevens but I

never got a nod we'll be right back after this short break

I'm not sure I've got the timeline right here but 93 20 year old PE student you're part of the

Otago team that beat the lions right that's like an incredible result was that 88 kg Josh

no that was that was 9800 kg that was that was beast mode josh what do you remember about that

experience what a tour that was because yeah phenomenal uh well so this is a spring box game

so 93 or was it or was that the lion's game so lion's game full strength lion's game um

my memory is of that game is just just the sheer noise like I don't think I played in a game

at carousel book at that time that had that number of people um I'd had a couple of games for

Otago at that particular time um and yes it was full but not like not like a lions game

and I remember um Scott Hastings coming in to make a tackle and uh then I gave the ball to

John and he scored in the under the post and he broke his jaw and went home on my knee

I've had a few good bears with him since yeah yeah we um we had Dwayne Sweeney on who talked about

he played I think for the divisional 15 against the lions and just how special it is yeah it's

amazing in your career because not everybody gets a chance to do it right just because of the nature

of it because do it as an all black um which I think that would have been wonderful because

because you're actually playing the best in that kind of most of the northern Ames you know what I

mean like that is their cream and so to actually beat them it's it's it's a big kudos you know

to beat them as astute like as a scarf yeah you're astute day in Otago you got Mark Hallison

the team you're coming down from I think you're 18 eight down like what does that look like after

you win like do you even remember what the celebrations were like that night oh dude there's

just too much yeah you actually couldn't I couldn't even tell you legally on here

no like um is it a new court session in the garden oh no that was later on that was 98 um

yeah look I can be honest like that was the one thing that made I think the Hollanders or the

Targo team or the or that group of people of that period so amazing is we we were already professional

in a lot of ways like in terms of how we trained and applied ourselves like there was just like you

didn't turn up to training and stuff around like that like all the old boys in there be just like

you know you get you get your brains knocked out or something you know like they're just

and you literally would be that wouldn't be like you get told off you get a slap around the ears

you know so you didn't really want to stuff up so there's there's that essence to the to the

training and then on top of that when you did have success or you did have uh even a negative time

there would be a downtime to to deal with it and our our uh celebratory stuff was always

next level you know I and I think you know it was just an extension of university and

you can see you light up just thinking thinking thinking back to it just good people wanting to

play rugby together really well and then when we did we wanted to have a great time celebrating it

and that that was the one thing that was always very apparent you know court sessions were always a

big part of that period but people don't quite get court sessions like for for their the their

target group court sessions were a moment to uh really broach some of the things that don't get

broached you know like that undercurrent that might be going in a team there's some negativity

or something that's been knocked down quite right it could be the finger can be pointed in

that in these situations and and on the flip time flip side that person put their hand up and and

and make the apologies and it's all done in doubt with rather than sit there and stew you know and so

as much as some of those court sessions were amazingly fun and out of control um

um they also had some you know had some real serious components to them where um stuff was worked out

and you know people um you know admitted because it's a big thing to admit when you're wrong but if

you can do it in a in a setting where you're where you suddenly felt comfortable and every you can

see everybody go yeah fair enough man good shit and and then it's done you don't you don't have

that hanging over you anymore so mentally I think it helps you know that some of that mental health

stuff you know because as you know like it seems to be more than in today's world our athletes seem

to struggle with mental health a lot more than they did back in the day um I know there's a lot

more stressors but a lot of the things or the tools that were available back in the day so that

maybe you addressed some of those stressors uh don't exist anymore because one we're not allowed

to and it's seen as not right yeah you know um there's a lot to be said for that old school culture

a like work hard and you've got the authorities at training that don't let you slip and you go and

have the bear and you're responsible about it and you get held accountable and and yeah it is

it's missing a little bit these days I was speaking to Tom and I hope he doesn't uh Robinson

about it today and I hope he doesn't uh you know see this is wrong me talking out from you know

but he was saying about their most recent game you know like COVID's been really hard you know like

just in terms of the dynamic of the team because you know especially like on the weekend they had

that amazing win against the Chiefs which was kind of a you know like next level of footy play you

know uh where they actually moved into another realm for that game and wicked opportunity to

celebrate that and cherish that you know but because of COVID and they can't I'm not allowed to

you know and and he said it was kind of stink you know I like I came out of it I was go

and then I was just alright weekend on a bus and we're going home you know it's it's so

he says and then because he said and then he cheekily said winked at me and said I

must have been cool in your time and I says yeah we would had a shindig for sure yeah that's what

it does it's that altered state of consciousness that alcohol provides or creates that same sort of

sensation you get from when you go in the changing rooms everyone's dancing around hugging for it's

only a couple of minutes until it dies down alcohol gives you that freedom to you know lose the filters

and express yourself more freely which yeah obviously you can't do it in a professional

I think where Tom was coming from a little bit it was more that just you know just to be able to

sit down and socialize and celebrate with the general public as well because it was it was

I might be wrong on this but when those days supporters clubs and stuff were a big thing

right you don't have a beer with the supporters after a game in a targo we would go uh as soon as

game finished it got changed up the first point of call was to go to the supporters club and the

supporters club would all know what you like drinking and so this guy would come and go oh

Josh there's your drink mate and I always had a jack and coke you know yeah it was just like nice touch

yeah and everyone had their own little thing that they like drinking and then obviously there was

boys just drink beer but it was just you know like but there was no aggro right there was no aggro

right from the supporters or anything yeah man they loved loved this coming in you know oh they

definitely sometimes it was never ever aggressive never you know the sports club was a was a cool

part of that whole package but I think that sorry I think that changed too when obviously supporters

club were a big part of what was the original carousel brook and their their club was a dingy

little part in the back you know and and added to the whole flavor you walk in through a couple

you know back doors through the air and up over something and then and then you walk in the back

part of it and then they bring you down and everybody a clap and you'd have to walk past everyone

it was it was cool the mulu bar was a little bit like that in the back of wakata stadium yeah I mean

it's like my foot like when I think of university days like the university club rooms was the most

spectacular uh club rooms and that I've ever ever been like I've been to a lot of the whole it was uh

covered in uh dark um velvet uh um crimson type velvet and uh had looked booths and little bits

and pieces everywhere it was all like you know like turned the wood and and like little cordoned off

areas and everything like that and then a head in the bar and you used to walk in through this

the stadium walk past our changing rooms and it was this dingy little thing and you could

there could be a whole party going over there and you could still have a little

little quiet piece over in the corner and because everybody smoked in those days it was just a

haze of smoke about chest level all the way through it and it was awesome man and all the girls used

to come uh and and like that was the starting point of finding out where we were going to go for the

night and then it was like a mad rush to get down to uh where we get our free free jugs and who

got there would smash those free jugs before everyone else and get there get really trollied

and then we go to the party because that was you know that was that's just what happened in those

days i can glory days i've heard you speak so positively about your university experience as

well similar to what you're saying about high school in terms of mixing with different people

it i just grew as an individual like i became genuinely a different person from when i uh from

you know my childhood and don't get me wrong like i was the basis was formed and and my friends

would probably wouldn't say i was too different when i came back home i'd make that maybe i don't

know but um but the key thing that i that i i got exposed to so many unique things because of

university it's it's it's an incredible institute like it like um it's the only place in all of

society where everybody comes from different walks of life social backgrounds economic

backgrounds um cultural backgrounds and so diverse the whole of samples from all over new

york right and you all come together and you've all got one thing in common you're studying at

this university and that makes you connect so suddenly you know i got exposed to people that

played music next thing i was harmonica yeah learning to play guitar and harmonica and and then

getting into bands and stuff like i'd never never done anything like that at school never even existed

in my world you know um and and so you've just got all these little subgroups within the university

which you can get exposed to you know like i can remember going to poetry evenings you know

me going to a poetry evening and loving it thinking it was the most fantastic thing you know

they'd have wine and cheese and and it'd be in this oh and you know and i can even remember doing

one poem myself yeah you know like it's just but that's the cool thing you know like um it didn't

matter that you're a little bit different you could be different and you could but you could connect

with all these people and that's what university does really well and so i say to young people like

if you don't know what you're doing you know because none of us know what we're doing i'm like

15 and i still don't know what i'm doing these days you know but if you want to if you want if you

want to discover about yourself go to something like an institute like a university because it's

the most it's the biggest growth thing you know like everybody of them you know like

in today's world we're so worried about what gender we are we're so worried about uh

how i'm uh perceived in this world to the point that i'm anxious and worried about it i'm so

worried about failing and anxious you know we've got all these things that we're just stressing

so hard about as young people and whether that's social media or whatever that's caused it but

it doesn't actually matter you don't need to worry about it it all pans out you find your way

but no one ever says that they're going oh you know this is the way you deal with it or you know

actually it's okay to not know it's okay to be uncertain look i i can tell you in my

childhood i have moments where i was uncertain about all of that stuff i didn't have a clue but

because i guys exposed to the real world and different things i got little tools and little

tips and little things that just made it okay and and that's i so i just i feel sorry for our

young people today because they just constantly you know because of social media i guess um created

this this false pressure that doesn't actually exist other than in there you know it's really cool

hearing you talk about these different aspects of university and i want to bring it back because

you're quite uniquely placed in that you were part of the transition to professional rugby

so 20 year old josh cronfeld is a pe student at university who's just beaten a full strength

lions team yes anyone in that situation now who's 20 years old and speaking to full strength lion

you're a locked on certainty to be a professional rugby player right but that wasn't even a thought

for you like professional rugby was still three years away no so like you're enjoying these aspects

in parts of university and culture and doing different things whereas someone in those that

those shoes now would be locked on to rugby right they would be because it was 24 right you made

your black debut if i got that late late in today's will yeah today's will oh i'd love to made it at

21 gee i was so much faster and quicker and stronger but did you consider rugby as a career

at that point it's it's pretty the whole process is pretty funny like i remember um

you know like in terms of professionalism there was like you could get someone to maybe

put a little bit of pay a little bit of your rent um you might get a sack of meat to take back to the

meat sack you know and josh is a meat sack petrol vouchers full of sausages and corn beef and then

then you'd go well i don't like suicide but my poly boys do and then they'd we could trade off

stuff you know like it's just it was just that was that was kind of the start of it i guess and

then obviously at the top level you're um they were doing deals with with with big brands and

stuff and giving and employing the boys and so there was that there was there was an essence of

it starting to breathe but no one even conceived that it was going to go professional i remember

traveling with my girlfriend and i would have been 19 at that time just sort of

maybe 20 just on the cusp sort of breaking into that otago side of things and um oh no i would

have just got into the otago sort of things and we came back over the the the christmas holidays

and we went traveling by my mum dad's van we're traveling around sleeping in the back of the van

and we came over to raglan and we stopped off in raglan and i walked past this house and on the

front gate uh had for sale and and i and i would been there a couple of days and i've been surfing

loving in the place and i says oh rugby goes professional i'll buy that place and we laughed

about it and we joked and even like that went down and i surfed and everything like didn't

hang out with it and then jump on uh you know another four four years or whatever it is and

rugby's gone professional i ended up buying that place wow you know like it came up on sale again

and so you know it what on a crazy crazy crazy journey to to where we ended up do you catch

wind that professional rugby is coming are you thinking oh shit i'm like no no no dude i'm oblivious

to most things you know if you ask any of my mates i'm the most ignorant man i've always i've always

thought that being ignorant is blissful you know because the the less you know you can obviously

get out of trouble because i don't know you know like um and and and you don't you don't um you

don't digest stuff if you don't know it do you know what i mean yeah you know if there's hurt

or there's negativity you just you're not taking it in because you just didn't know um

you know it's it's it's an intriguing world um for for today people you know like in terms of

because we've got so much information getting chucked at us all the time that we're having to

digest and um i quite like the fact that you know i think the best thing i've ever learned was not

reading newspapers i remember coming home um that after you know i've been successful so i would have

been uh my maybe 96 97 and i bought had bought my first ever computer and i mean it was kind of

newish in those days that you know and sort of 96 you know to own a you know in kata 96

anyway so i had this this flash computer and i came home and uh from a footing evening and

but it was early and and i wasn't quite ready to go to bed and i thought i'll sit on the on the

computer and i started you know just looking around and stuff and i said and then i thought

what what happens when you type your own name it so i type my own name and for whatever reason

i ended up on this chat chat room and these guys were going to town on me like absolutely

bagging the shit and there's one guy just defending me you know like all the way through it and they

were going on about how great the way monkey was and he was it was uh he was a great player and you

know i don't argue with anything they were saying but the stuff they were saying about me was kind

of personal like in terms of the attack and everything like that and i read it and for about

two days i was moping around i was so like affected by i couldn't believe that someone

would think that about me you know like i'm not that person i i i would never be like that you

know what i mean and um and so just holler to me actually being ignorant is good and i stopped

reading newspapers i'll stop watching any media and so i never it just meant that whenever anything

came up someone'd go oh i saw that you would uh i said oh really just didn't know so so where does

ignorance versus consciousness come into play with the world rugby council after the 95 world cup

so the the entire all black squad is basically gonna signing up to join this rogue sort of world

rugby council corporation right corporation would have any and robin bro yeah so all our

senior senior members they've been talking all right so uh pre pre 95 world cup and it had been

mentioned to us that there was something in the pipeline we didn't didn't know much about it and

then after the the final we stopped off um and i think we might have gone over and played Australia

and they put us all into a room and then we got the full details and that was kind of how

professor's on started um they did say to us that there's a chance we might not be all blacks if we

signed with that particular thing and i remember saying thinking well geez i've only played six

games with all blacks i you know and originally i never thought i wanted to be an all black and

then when i decided i wanted to be an all black and i've only got six games in my bout because

i'm thinking now if i'm an all black i want to be a good all black you know that was my

before process and it was like well i'd like to continue being an all black if that's the case

you know and just a frame for those who don't know what we're talking about this is before

super rugby starts and there's a proposition to pull all blacks away to a different competition

right and you and jeff wilson stood up yeah well we did initially we'd um signed an agreement

with everybody else um that we would go forward with the process as it was um as everything was

getting but the problem was we weren't getting told all the truth and because uh all the teams that

were uh sort of top teams top four teams in new zealand at that time had been in super eight super

ten uh this is pre uh professionalism but it was the start of that particular competition

um we've been made friends with guys in south africa and guys in australia so we had a network

outside so we started talking to them and they were and so our top all black boys were telling us one

thing and then we go oh really really so everybody signed from everywhere and then we go

through our networks and they say no no none of the side like no one's signed you know we're going

what yeah and then i remember jeff wilson coming in at like about six thirty seven o'clock because

you didn't lock your doors in those days he comes barging into the bedroom jeff what do you need

mate what's going on because they've gone they've all gone they've all gone what do you what do you

mean they've all gone he says the honda are the tug-o-boys have all signed with the new zealand

ruby in so that actually changed the thought process because like we're meant to stay together

as a group and try and get this other competition over over the line and because the the hot uh

target boys had all signed with new zealand ruby and that that was became a real issue and then i

said to jeff will but we've been dealing with the current senior players and and whatnot and

they've been telling us one thing and then our boys have been telling us another who do you trust

the most out of this and he says well they're tug-o-boys and i says well if you just answered

your question what we're gonna do and he goes oh yeah i guess we have i says well sweet then

fuck off but that clarity of thought or that that where did that come from was it just purely

that loyalty to that group of players that you'd spent so much time with i think so like mate it's

like anything mate like um like it i'd learn you know in that all-black scene that you know like

yes we were a tight group and yes we played ruby together but

there was a lot of looking after yourself in there as well and you know and you and you

learned very quickly that you needed to look after yourself you know you you whereas in the

otago side and set up everybody looked after everybody and that was that was one of the the moot

sort of ground unwritten rules you know like i know if i was in the bottom of a rock someone was

kicking the shit out of me the guy that was getting the shit kicked out i was kicking the shit out of

me would would not probably leave that would probably not end up continuing playing on the

game you know there was that sort of coverage and um and i'm not saying it was different

or you know but it was there were some differences between the two teams you know in terms of that

sort of thing does it create friction in the squad when you guys are getting pulled in different

directions when you come back together like do you address it in a court session like you talked

about or with with the target we would have yeah i don't think that would have happened with your

all-blacks um i mean you you got the only reason you know people was asking you do you still hang

out with your all-black mates and i said yeah when we catch up at functions or whatever you know

and there's a few that you know that you you're tighter than that but you're only mates because

you come together to play on that team you know you you haven't forged those those long-term bonds

that uh that that sort of surpassed the time you know um whereas in otago setup man like

a lot of those guys that were in that that otago side were guys from the university times and you

know like there's a real there's a real connection just outside of rugby so um oh look it was special

man i i can't say anything negative about my time and in deniden i love that place it's it's it was

like i said it was a birth of me um i just grew as an individual and um and i had so much fun doing

what i did you know like like even the negative and all the wrong shit that went down at different

times in my life which happens to everybody yeah i do it all again exactly the same it was just so

much fun we'll be right back after this short break you've you've done so much in your life

and i'm wondering when you get asked when you get talking about rugby is there one question

that keeps popping up is it 95 world cup what happened with the food poisoning yeah i mean

yeah that crops up a lot um you know and then the you know the greatest player that you played

against and stuff like that uh 95 look would we have beaten them if we hadn't got sick probably

you know like i always said to people like that team we could play them 10 times and

nine out of 10 times we would have beaten them and ironically the the 10 times that you if you go

back in history from the time that they beat us and and from 96 through we had played them 10 times

and they're the greatest ones it was the it was that one that one but i also feel um there was

something there was something bigger going on and in that whole crazy coffee pot of crazy you know

like brewing away in south africa yeah i'm really curious about post-apart because it was only what

four years post-apart i'd three four years so they just returned and like we've been going

we've been over a couple of years i've been over maybe two three times previously uh before that

world cup and it was really a part of it was still part of it there you know and um like you

didn't see any if we were in the white area didn't see any blacks and i mean that's the

bit i don't know if i'm saying it yeah pc correctly i don't know but you just didn't and then when we

went over to uh in that that world cup you started to see a little bit more of that mixing and then

when we were going and training all the the black population would come out and they'd be

turning go black go black you know and be in our corner and then you go to the games and walk past

the white population they'd be spitting on you because you're you know you're a kiwi and and

you know like just you're sharing a team with with other ethnicities yeah yeah yeah so it was just

kind of it was it was it was and then there was guns and it was just this incredible energy always

going on you know and the car parks the alarms were always going off every night and even you

know it was just it was just really unique and dynamic and even even how uh south africa made it

into uh into the finals you know the the games that they had to get through to get there was like

there was always some crazy event like the heavens opening up against france is the gold watch is that

well no that that was the final but the the the heavens opening up and remember that they they

they uh postponed the they delayed the kickoff didn't they for six hours yeah and and the french

were down at the ground for the six hours while the south africans were at their hotel for it you

know and it was just remember they were mopping up the it was it was it was nuts and then there was

the disallowed try that still to this day the french will say it wasn't it shouldn't have been

disallowed you know so um and then there were events in in the uh in the final as well where we

could have won it you know um but i think possibly because mental attrition from being you know so

many of our guys being sick you know we just just weren't quite there to make good decisions you were

healthy right you chose the the beef over the chicken or something yeah i i ate beef over chicken

always choose beef over chicken i don't know if it was in in the in the beef as well but

the chicken uh you make was make your own burgers and the chicken burgers were green and i remember

asking the guy well what are those and he goes oh they're chicken burgers i said green chicken now i

don't know and i ate the beef burgers and um i remember being going to the toilet maybe five

times that night but just you know diarrhea sort of not nothing too serious and then the next day

i was fine but for a few of the other boys they were just chundering you know and do you have a

crisis meeting like you're waking up everyone's so sick like yeah yeah they got us they came they

brought us together and said there was something going on and i just still didn't even understand

even on the till game game again even if it's just yeah um but i mean like like i said i you

know there were moments where we could have uh turned that game into our own we just our our

senior members um had a bit of brain fog i think talk talk to us about being in the presence of

nelson-mandela yeah um what does that actually lie because i don't know too many people that

have met him do you want what the truth will answer go on all right so you know when i warm up uh for

a rugby game how i sit there and jiggle right because for me uh when i first started playing

footy it was about getting warmed up come out humming to play footy right and then as you get

up further in your levels you get all of a sudden you go from uh starting right when the whistle

you know run out whistle goes play game right to suddenly oh you got to go out uh you've got to do

a hucker or you got to do a single national anthem or in our case two anthems you know

and then you meet dentaries it's how they're every good they've got two now so it's like

suddenly from starting from when the when the whistle the referee pulls you out the tunnel

and going straight on and playing you've got you've gone from 10 minutes to 20 minutes to 40 minutes

to an hour before you actually play and so for me it was all about like shaking out and getting in

the zone and being in in full rugby josh mode you know and know how that empty baggage but

i remember uh Nelson Mandela walking down and thinking what the fuck are they doing now

you know because i mean there was a lot of stuff going on you know like the main floor

over there was also yeah i didn't see that i didn't see that but ignorance is bliss but the whole

stadium shook when it went over yeah and um and uh but i'm just thinking see i just want to play

rabie i'm just you know i'm i'm in my zone i've hit my zone and i'm ready to go and it's like

everybody tells you about there's an arousal if you're too over aroused heedless chicken if you're

under arousal you don't get it so i'm trying to keep myself bang on that right spot next thing

there's this dude walking down shaking hands and i'm saying what and then i realized it was

Nelson Mandela and i think fuck Nelson Mandela wow you know and then i went run me oh and then i

started i looked up at the ceiling and i'm going and i'm looking up and as i look up and i'm shaking

and i'm juggling and i notice there's all like all the way across the top of that stadium it's like

surrounded like that is um guys in full sas um black smock you know with sniper rifles looking

over the thing and i'm thinking fuck man this is this is the this is a moment that you know this

is a stage for someone to make a statement you know like someone's gonna shoot this bugger

and i don't know mate but i do say when i when you shook my hands i might have moved my head

but who has and so this is the genuine genuine i was having those thoughts as you was coming down

wow yeah you know like that's that's just not right you know like it's good for you so you know

like yeah it's a lot it's a lot to take in um the other moment of course in 95 is Jonah

Jonah against England i'd love i mean part of there's lots of reasons i was excited to get you on

but i'd love a little Jonah interlude if you'll indulge us um i'm just i'm just i'd love to hear

from someone who is so close to him to perhaps educate listeners who didn't see him play in his

prime have seen a few highlights but how big and fast was he like what combination of of strength

and power and speed well if i put both my uh thighs together like that that was one of his

thoughts that's crazy yeah i definitely these days as well um uh and he he was like what he was he was

six foot four was he six four yep yep six four so basically he was a lock that could run under

11 seconds for the hundred now that's not normal you know and he was a hundred whatever plus kgs

uh in those days i think i think it is best he was 118 and so he had all these crazy attributes

in terms of skill sets but i guess the best description i can give you is i remember we

were playing against uh counties in Pukekoe uh with itago and i saw them you know this it was

always part of my um i think i had great vision for reading shit so i could turn up at situations

at the right time and i could see him in my periphery because it's a big part of the periphery

and i could see him come in and i knew he was coming into the back line and i and i read it

perfect and so just as he got the ball i hit him as hard as i could and i full fully leveled

and i felt i felt him fold in half you know and felt felt the knee drop and i knew i'd leveled him

and then i was on the ground i looked up and he ran through John Leslie and scored under the post

yeah and i'm looking and i look at my hands in frustration to go how did he get through me

and i've got two pieces of his shorts in my hand wow both hands yeah and i see you know

even even the technology couldn't bloody stop did did you know about him at Hastings Boys when

he was coming through whesley no because i mean because social media didn't exist hey Jonas uh

what do he be what four years younger than me yeah but he you know like he

yeah i mean he was playing well above his age bracket very quickly you know when you're playing

against him for counties he's playing for counties is there like talk in the lead up to the game

like shit is Jonah gonna be playing is there talk in the changing room like do you make it a big deal

was he not no i don't think so i think i think uh you know most most of us will address uh you

know like that that's a weapon but at the same time you know a target had its own weapons and

they'd be doing the same thing paul cook oh yeah cookie was cookie uh was highest tri-scorer and

see a number of years but never got given the big job yeah which was i always thought was a shame

in 1993 i think he went like 17 tries for the season you know i couldn't understand why they

didn't take him away to england sorry hijacked you Jonah you Jonah chat i'm still in Jonah okay so

so ab's training or whatever yeah like there's some absolute whippets so you played with christian

cullen and jeff wilson and Jonah you were gassed before you injured your ankle you were fast yeah

like how do you compare like are they little sprint drills where you can see which of those

so they do test it they do testing like to be honest i think from my memory the quickest person

uh in my time of playing footy was actually um joe elli van derie yeah really so like i think he

he was like uh like being off the spot you know like their first five meters is like um and doing

it in like 185 he was like 145 or something wow you know like something crazy um and look i could

be inventing numbers there yeah but i just know that he was like a whole another 30% quicker than

anyone that was quick you know um we spoke about him on he had karen read on and karen read was

talking about the game where counties came down to rugby park as it was then and joe elli just teared

like had a lot but how phenomenal like that time of that time of rugby was such a great time yeah

look i like um then they fucked it up with the central Vikings yeah people always ask me um you

know you talk about those questions that people always ask me and they go what was better the

professional rugby or or amateur and i can safely say i feel blessed that i got to play both

you know if i'd finished my career i would have been disappointed i never got paid for it

you know um if i you know in the amateur scene but i got to do both and yeah the amateur side was

the most magical rugby and it's just hands down you know because there's nothing in it other than

just playing you know there's no there's no rep repents or reparation um for what you're doing

it just wasn't there you know you might have got a beer or something like that yeah for those

watching the video you'll see josh light up when he talks amateur rugby like it's it's all over your

face um i guess on the other side of that was when you get lester was that what was that to get some

money uh yeah i wanted to change like i like if i could do it all again that's probably one thing

in my career would you know like don't get me wrong when i went to lester uh it was a unique

experience and the fans are awesome like they were wicked um and i had this great group of people

that would come see me after every game and you know like that was awesome it was awesome there was

there was that that whole sort of feel that i guess the targo feeling and that respect to the to the

fans um they might have had a bit of that one eye canibri side that took them as well but you know

when you're playing for that a team that doesn't really matter but um you know they were just they

were just cool but going to lester was probably a poor decision you know like i it was just more

frustration than enjoyment um you know like in my first year i had a number of random unique

injuries and i didn't get to play a lot but i didn't play anything for the entire time i was at um

the club i don't think i ever played in any semi finals or finals and yeah i was on the bench you

know so there was some issues with the coaches at different times and uh and and you know like i

just couldn't get my head around it you know like in my second year there uh there was just random

things like they hadn't been playing me and then so we start off the the pre-seasons and um i'm warming

up and i'm feeling good and maybe like that and they say oh look can you look for another club

we can't really afford to pay you and i just went i've just bought a house you know like and you've

just told me that you know and i went because that was the thing you did in those days you bought a

house where you were staying and and and then you just sell it when you leave you know and um

so i went oh okay and i didn't really look that hard i thought stuff them i'm still going to get

paid you know that's that's right and as ironically there two star open sides all got injured and

suddenly they needed me and so i started playing footy and i started playing footy really well

because i guess i was a bit pissed off as well you know and um that year it was pretty magical for

for me but was not for our club we didn't we didn't have a very successful year um but i got

you know i just i got players player at the end of the year to give you an example you know

but if the bloody administration had been picking it i wouldn't have been getting you know you know

and so i found that really tough to to deal with that sort of stuff because i mean i i enjoyed the

rugby and and the culture there was a bit weird in terms of how they treated a lot of the younger

players and i had um i bummed into one of them a few a year or so ago um at an event and and he

said he just wanted to say oh thanks man i said what for and he says dude you are you were the

shining light uh for us and you know for the juniors when you were there because um none of

the senior players looked looked twice at us you know but i could just see the that but their

culture worked for them that that team uh won the number of honokin cups and and national i mean

and local championships and then on the flip side most of that team was what was the 2003

world cup holders so that ingredient worked but it was this you know it was a sign of the times

changing the guard you know you got to really look after young people and i found the old

fellas uh bloody boring to hang out with he's going to hang out with the young fellas they

always had great stories yeah a bit of energy you kind of glossed over it there with injuries like

how much of your career were you hurt or injured or week to week because you threw yourself into

games yeah you really put your body on um yeah i like i i think uh for me

i was pretty lucky my injuries always seemed to happen at really random times so i tended not to

miss too much of say all black rugby which is you know i guess that's the if you wanted to miss

rugby that's the rugby you wouldn't want to miss you know uh so but i i actually missed a couple of

super super um 12 seasons or 15 and that as well um through um one was the ankle when i blew that

out in france i um walking out onto the ground which is pretty crazy yeah was that a talk us

through walking out of the room blowing your ankle i i i in the final against uh Auckland

i rolled it pretty badly and so they said that i could go on tour it was the french tour uh at

the end of uh 95 and um should be right to play the tess you know do all my homework right so i

just worked and did all my homework right uh i didn't and then they said right we need this you

to play this game in bayon um i can't remember who we which team we were playing at the time

and i felt confident about playing it and i've been having a bit of a tight calf on that side so

i wanted to have a quick massage then get strapped up and and then go out and play and ironically um

as i didn't strap my ankle because i was coming in for the the massage and one of the boys was

behind me he said he saw it happen i stood on a like a stone that just rolled my ankle but um i

so we're walking walking through the tunnel they had a side tunnel because they were doing some

alterations right anyway i was end up standing in a pothole basically and my ankle just went

all the way over flip right over and um it was gone it was destroyed like no ligaments left you

know and so i hopped in through the door and a bit of pain i had pain that time yeah and um

and the doc they took me over to a side room and i remember look sitting in the room there was

the doc the physio the doc was playing with my ankle uh lory manes was here and column meets was

there and um the doc just grabbed my ankle and he just bent it over and it just kept rolling all

the way over with and there was no pain there was no pain just keep it just but it just kept going

yeah and um and the doctor said oh it's fucked he's gone and and i just burst into tears

and then i started laughing and then i started crying and then i started laughing again going

what the fuck you know i was having all these emotions all in front of circular meets the toughest

man of New Zealand rugby yeah and uh i um rick solito he was our um tool manager um media manager

in those days um he told me afterwards that tree came out he goes what do i do what do i do rick

i've got i've got one of my boys and then he's crying i don't know what to do i don't know what

to do and uh he goes oh don't worry about it mate he probably just needs a moment he'll he'll be right

and uh to his credit um about i don't know maybe 10 minutes later he comes in he goes

and he he throws a an all-black but you see at me goes you take this home dad don't turn anyone

so it's it's an official one's got the like the label and everything like that and it's but um

you're not meant to get a juicy on tour when you unless you've unless you play yeah a test

no you're like you you wouldn't have got that game i wouldn't have got one for playing that game

just a test so i got to take that home which was which is pretty funny um was it was at the

tour that you were going to do the no nukes in my backyard on the headgear yeah so you weren't able

to yeah so again so it's the column meets like i've got a lot of trouble for that so uh because i

wore it against playing against the white cat i think from memory and um i got this letter in the

post and they just and then i remember i had to go and see them at a at a function the all

black management and uh at a meeting and then tree said to me took me aside and he says look

i don't want to see that headgear for the rest of the time that we're here

we'll get over to france i don't give a fuck

where did so where did that conscientious kind of objection to that situation come from

because i stand i stand by it i'm not a massive eco person um or greenie or um but i just think

some things are just damn wrong and like if if nuclear testing is so safe why are you doing it

in the pacific ocean and not in in france you know why are you doing it by right next to your

people that are supposed to be your citizens you know it's just it's it was just horrendous you

know and i mean i i didn't know all the facts or and it just seemed i don't know that particular

time or whatever i didn't realize it was going to create such a yeah like uh yeah i just didn't

realize i remember myself and my girlfriend at the time holly mills um we were we were saying

talking about it and she goes oh you should do it i don't know how to pull you out you know and we

but we decided to do it and remember sitting down there with my headgear twink it was twink wasn't

it it was twink you know but not not not a twink pin but you know the one that you paint remember

the one yeah yeah yeah paintings how many of those did you have to go through no just one one one

bottle one bottle thin font oh dude i was good at what i did um and the funny thing was because like

uh all my headgears uh with with uh canabry at the time because it used to be body armor that

they owned the and they sold that to canabry and so i pretty much had a was i guess integral in

and in the development of their headgear and what what the final design was and um

and so like the deal was i would always have like a different version of yeah have a different

version of um of what was available at the market you know but it kind of pissed me off because i

remember i used to have all these multicolored ones and everything like that and then all of a

sudden other guys would start having these oh wait man that that was that's my thing that was my thing

are you quite proud of 20 or 23 24 year old josh who made that stand made that statement sort of

put your head above the pit yeah i guess i am like i just i just i just didn't i think part of me

didn't know exactly what i was doing either you know i just it just seemed like a good idea um and

it would have been it would the french would have loved it yeah they love that sort of stuff

you know any good um you know protests they were into it they don't mind confrontation do they

well they they they they encourage it yeah you know they love that that the emotion it probably

would have been a significant thing for them you know um i've spoken to a few french uh

reporters at different times and and they've all said it would have been amazing for it to have

happened because i think a lot of france were negative about it as well so um i mean the the

photo that that uh with it because i had the no nukes on the moon boot uh end up being quite a

i guess sort of i don't know if the word's famous but like a a notable photo that that went with

that headgear scenario but before we leave headgear if i got this my memory right that when you

first started playing you rocked the shaved head and the headgear yeah yeah now if i'd known my

hair was gonna fall out well no i wouldn't have been shaving my head man well that's what i was

gonna say it was that yeah there's there was no need to do that i just thought that was a like i

thought that was like a rough shaved head hard look and then i realized you've got a full head

of hair like there's no issue there's no need to to go so so so soon yeah so short so early it was

kind of catch i guess at the time um you know it was it was i i remember doing it um because was

it the full blade yeah it was eventually eventually it was just like that remember the mike tyson's

look we had the like the full shave with just that like that kind of number one i sure told

like a buzz like a marine but he had that little but it all kind of yeah kind of went at the front

there i was running that for a little bit and then i can't picture that from but from longish right

to to that and um and i went under the headgear this is actually quite good because the headgear

gets quite hot and uh you know the more hair you got on the hotter it gets so it actually worked

oh no it was like i said like everything's thinning there now i'm almost a comb over you know i've

got it all coming forward trying to hide it what do you think he's wearing a hat yeah i'm a hat guy

now um for very similar reasons i would have enjoyed long hair for that whole period i want to

move on to post rugby but you woke up one day i've heard you say and you knew that it was over

you knew it was time to hang him up any regrets about how it ended no no i was done mate

what's that feeling like waking up and going off i'm not gonna do this anymore

is it liberating is it a tinge of sadness you know like i don't i think i had any sort of negative

thoughts about it or positive thoughts about it i was excited about next parts of the journey

you know um but i didn't hadn't put a lot of thought in it all i remember is

because i remember the morning like it was tomorrow you know like oh yesterday sorry that's the

expression but um i rolled over and i stuck my feet on the on the floor and got sharp

sharp pains up my feet and i went fuck i hate this i'm done and that was it that's it i knew

the end of that season i was gonna finish and again you have to get flicking back um i

said to the club that i was done and they wanted me to play for six months and they kept

planting and planting and i did end up staying for an extra six months because

i thought the money was pretty good yeah um so that yeah although that that vision or that that

i knew that i was done and i still played the next six months um i was really

and actually i guess maybe that's that's why it made it so easy because i did that

the next six months i went yeah this is a good decision you know it felt really right um and

then i came back to new zealand and i um and i sort of packed up all everything from england

and new zealand and traveled for a year where'd you go i went uh kind of i went back through the

uk um into america and did all the west coast of of america from north to south and i'm sorry

from south to north it's by yourself yep on a harley davison is that the sort of thing you

dream about doing but you couldn't because you're always playing rugby like i don't i don't have

a dream about it i just mean oh that's what i'm gonna do you know um and it just seemed i don't

know logical someone had mentioned about doing it something like that and i just thought oh okay i'll

do that and so i was just i just had my bike um with a tent on it and so i just and it was sort

of off season so most of the everything was just an honesty box so you you put your money in the

in the envelope in the honesty box and i turned up into camping grounds and there'd be nobody there

be like empty um and i didn't even think about it like i used to have all my food with me on me

because you know like beers and shit yeah i didn't even think about it but maybe they were going

into about to go to sleep or just waking up i don't know i don't know i didn't see i saw i saw a

bobcat and stuff like that but um i just traveled all up the coast and then yo yo through down through

the i guess the the west side of uh the rockies and um down into their full state

where they all meet and then across to austin texas i just i thought i've got to go to texas

got to go to texas i'm going to austin to they had this blues festival thing that was going to be on

so i just i did like all right i looked on the map i'm going oh yeah okay it's that's not very far

on the map it's like solid two days of 10 hour driving like straight to get across there get there

and then um pull up and have the most amazing time uh ended up buying uh a pair of cowboy boots

you know that's that was the other reason i wanted to get austin i wanted cowboy boots

and then i came back through and did all the uh the grand canyon and down through the bottom of

new mexico and then back to uh la dropped the bike off i did laugh when i dropped the bike off

i i was thinking i'll just need to get a motel around with a with a where i have to drop the

bike off because i arrived in the evening and everywhere i was going they're going um i said

i just wanted to have a hotel um got a room and they're going for a night and i was going yeah

and they go nah and i go okay so then i'll drive to the next one then i go oh i just want to get

a night a room for the night for a whole night and they go yeah and they go nah and then finally i got

this one that that render me and then i walked in and there was like porn playing on the thing

and what i realized like i'd only had to have gone like one kilometer further along and then i

would have got normal hotels but the area that i was was was all the porno up you know like with

people going you know get a girl for the night something no no for an hour not not not not

for an hour yeah for an hour so it was hilarious and then and then from there uh i flew flew from uh

sander yago up to uh new york and i'm sorry to la and then across to santiago

and uh in chile and bought a truck and um pretty much got stuck in chile ready i was

meant to go over the border but when i bought the truck i had i you get a license for the truck

and it has your photo on it but i couldn't get it because i wasn't a resident of chile so i had a

letter of uh dedication or whatever you want to call say that i i had this vehicle to use

and um but every time i try to get over the border i get arrested yeah and so la policía

wouldn't uh wouldn't let that run no no no and also yeah there was lots of little funny incidents

couldn't jail for four hours once and just traveled all the chilies amazing like it's you

know like it's three times the length of new zealand and it's only as wide as our probably

narrowest part of you know it's that sort of so schoolboy rugby go to university away from

your hometown and travel yeah well i didn't i mean i traveled as a rugby player but i hadn't

traveled you know i hadn't done it like my mates you know like they'd all finish university and

you know i did the big oe overseas i never got to do that so but i knew i needed to do some travel

and so you know i'm gonna i did what six months in chile a month in peru uh a month in uh or just

under a month in uh easter island really rapid noi yeah holy shit are you using this time alone

traveling to figure out like what the second x gonna be like you've done so much since so i applied

for university again uh while i was away and i almost i almost didn't come back to be honest

i was enjoying it that much there was a moment um but i end up coming back and going back to uni and

starting as a physio four years three years because i was able to use one of my previous degree

is it true you went to more 21st in the second act of your university standing the first

probably did yes i'm probably true that's that that is pretty true man i did get invited to a lot

of 21st and i think i was just because i was a token all black i was gonna say i was gonna say

do people know that you were josh cronfeld x or black or are they just like that's just josh the

adult student they did they did he's just a good dude like i was so funny so i mean we see this this

is where some other connections happen you know and wonderful connections the uh six sixty boys

um they they were uh in our team and we coached from john lezzie and i used to coach them so

i made that connection and so got to be part of their little initial journey as well yeah you

know so that was that was kind of cool um and but they you always used to make me laugh you know like

you know it it's so funny going to university as an adult uh second time around and especially in

physio like they literally just lay our work on work on work on work and all expect you to have it

come out at the same time rather than going oh that's we're going to have our assignment finished

here we'll get you know so there's a progression so you just got a steady lot of work they just

freak you out and people that are having mental breakdowns and girls are crying and everything

like that and they go oh josh you want to come to a study group and run it and i go oh no no

and they go why not and i go i'm gonna go for a surf

how can you be surfing at this time i said well it's pumping you know they couldn't get the head

around that whole thing but i i knew they're actually you know like if you've done enough

then that's okay that'll be enough to pass the exam you know it didn't need to be stressing about it

stress isn't going to help me you know either i've done enough or i haven't you know and if i

haven't then i'll fail but you know like and so it just made that whole thing so easy and i but

it just cracks me up i reckon the university actually do it on purpose to freak young people

out yeah life doesn't get that busy as it does in university at that one specific moment in the

year you know it's so funny to me you sharing these conversations with a 20 year old student and

you've got like so much worldly experience about how the world works you play the lester and you

play the world cup final and you've traveled us like no it's okay like just imagine you're rocking

up to the parties as well i mean like oh yeah they always wanted to do kickstand i was gonna say

i was going no he's got the best drinking games honestly his drinking games are amazing i'm not

gonna do a kickstand in the old good war manual surf yeah i'm soft okay every now and then like

you pull out like you know like they're going they're tough they aren't like because like back in the

day quite quite good at doing um you know a jug skull jug skull and like like really quick quite

good and so you used to be able to get all right all right okay i think i'll do i'll do one and you

just go oof and you just put it down they go oh it's so good oh man how where is the celebrity

treasure island and the dancing with the stars fit in the university journey is it post

yeah it's all post qualification all come back um yeah i look i really enjoyed the the first one

um it's the one that lana got sick and i thought she was putting it on she was such a bitch on the

show and so when she got sick i thought she just wants to go home she nearly died i know she nearly

died when i when i found out because i i made it into the final so i didn't find out till i came

back that she'd almost died and i felt so guilty for having those thoughts um but and how much

truth is there to you a shit in yourself thinking if Simon Barnett beats me i can't come back to

new zeal and i was never gonna be yeah but you know was there a little thought thinking if he

does remember there was this there's a segment where they were dragging us behind this boat

and you're literally underwater and they're dragging you under you know like and and i've

seen there's no way i'm letting go there's no way i'm letting go and i didn't realize that he'd

let go ages before me you know it meant that i had like a 200 meter head start so he was never

gonna catch up but um yeah no i did did did think of it a little bit and it's legit right like

they don't give you food and all of that stuff like it's with it with another it is to a degree so

like this is my niche area is reality so in the start in the start and i might be giving stuff away

but because it is liberty treasure on you can't imagine that you're not going to let the girls

put their makeup on right or um not feed them because if you don't feed them particularly that

first series as well by the way they don't do well if they're not fed there's you know there's

stuff to be considered you know like um is that a nice way of putting it um you know like that whole

process of you know like the hangry uh person um that definitely exists but i look i found the

whole thing quite interesting like you know across the board um just mentally how people react when

they're not getting food and stuff like that that's why i like it is a study of human behavior

under pressure like but i'll tell you one story right so i'm from the first one so this is a

celebrity one it came it came back and so finished it and you're not allowed to say anything you know

you've won it maybe like that and then all of a sudden um this woman's weekly comes out and it goes

and it's bagging me as being just basically saying he's a wanker and he's been mean to one of the

girls on the thing i was going i was never mean to anyone on the thing i never even had an argument

with anyone you know like i was like never said a horrible thing to anyone and and then and then

i'm watching so the final show comes around and when the show and i'm they show me going off

and i realized and i was thinking i never did that to anyone and then i realized i'd had a had a

fucking sorry i'd had a bunny with uh the head producer of the show oh because she was changing

rules and to me you cannot change rules yeah that's just that's just yeah you can't change rules

midstream and i went uh so this is julie christie i went off of her and she's she's tough cooking man

she deals with guys she's like she speaks to you like a guy you know so we're having a full head

to head bunny at each other you know like and the camera switched it on recorded the whole thing

right and then they took the best parts where i wasn't swearing and used that to make out that

i had an argument with this girl when she had a moment for something else oh yeah real creative

editing i couldn't believe it this is reality tv but you know the thing that cracked me up the most

about it so you're sitting there and you know how you have like an incident happens and then you

have people talking about the incident right in that incident i'm in three different i have three

completely different looks all right so i'm completely shaven at the first one all right

or in one of them uh so that would have been right at the start of the show uh of the 16 days

and then the next the next one i have a full beard and then the next one i have a moustache

so if you didn't pick that i'll need it you you're a bloody moron if you haven't picked that up

you'd be raging you'd be raging oh no well i mean but you know it's it used to sell that

stuff itself and then it still does um so but i enjoyed that show i mean what a lot of people

wouldn't know is like i remember um we weren't meant to be together but everyone sort of went

stuff it and we would light a bonfire every night i would kind of keep it going during the day

on the beach and everybody would come in like um you know like um there was charlotte dorsen lana

the girls all would come over and and then it'll be all our guys and we'd all sit around the fire

and the conversations were amazing because like you only it was pitch black at six o'clock and so

you'd hang around till maybe nine o'clock and then you'd all go go to bed basically because

there's nothing else to do but you'd have these conversations and you know simon is quite a religious

man so yeah there's amazing conversations about religion and then you and because everyone had

from different walks of life you know mesquin surfer and successful people from yeah yeah yeah yeah

and so like there was all these different views and then i mean life to charlotte dorsen what an

amazing woman and so um just so disappointing to see a past the way she passed you know like just

um and sorry for her you know so got to know everybody really in your part every show or

every day there'd be one person would disappear out of the group so the group gets smaller it's

more than smaller it was it was quite it's quite a unique thing but then i got roped into in the

second one which was the surfer stars where the winner gets to take all and um

you know you got to keep the the prize winning and um wow that was a different dynamic that was

i just because i keep saying to julie i'm not doing it not doing it not doing it not doing it not

doing it not doing and she finally twisted my arm enough and i did it and oh my goodness it was

evil it was evil oh wait because the money was for real the the backstabbing was for real yeah

really you know all the you know shit was going on but the funny thing is like we weren't meant to

hang out but my mate brian tov was in the other team and we used to walk down the beach in the

evening and and i'd sit there and i'd just go and just tell them all the bullshit that was going on

in our camp and he'd tell me all the bullshit that was going on in his camp and we would purse

ourselves but it would also set us up for not having to deal with the shit the next day

and you won it right you're the only person that's won back to back yeah yeah yeah yeah i'll guess

yeah that's true do you did your competitive instincts kick in like when you when you eventually

get roped back into it ii like i'm gonna if i'm coming i'm gonna win it yeah yeah oh i can't help

it oh there's a there's a scene with um we're Brent Todd and um coxie have a have a have a

you know like they compete and like the tv never showed it like it was amazing because

they we hadn't been getting food right there was no food really i remember i i think i hadn't eaten

for about three two maybe three days and we won a steak and so we went and got breadfruit out of

the trees and we made this massive stew out of it and like i hate shit like that you know i i was

do it you know put mango in it even though it was amazing it was amazing and um and of course

fed it to everybody and uh but he hadn't had any food and they didn't really show it on the

telephone but he he actually lost the plot he just couldn't he couldn't like in my brain i'm

just going dude you just need to walk out to the water and move some bricks but he kept trying to

pull it the with a rope and and you've got no purchase in the water to do that you know he's

trying to swim yeah yeah yeah he actually just needed to walk it out you know and but he couldn't

his brain wouldn't didn't work you know and that and that was another just it just made me think

wow you can see why people blow it when they blow it without having any food for ages

my dude Todd he was a beast that day he i just remember him he had no nothing and coxie had all

his tools and even he just loaded his t-shirt up with all these bricks and just walked out underwater

like a hundred meters out underwater with all this shit yeah i just went what no one expected it

you know just a beast of a man yeah it's a mental game the the fast thing or not eating

not going without food for a long time men shaded a 72 hour fast uh a few months ago

January the big guy worked out every day hey got into that mental space of i was gonna go 96

yeah he just he just accepted that he wasn't gonna eat and and went with it so anyway i'll go

i'll go good on celebrity treasure island yeah maybe next one julie if you're watching um i love

hell with that was really good chat about celebrity treasure island i love how we've got like a

legendary all black and we're talking about treasure island um but shea any last bits and

pieces before we wrap up yeah the physio stuff yeah did it ever enter your mind to like actually be

part of a team and be a team fizz and over yeah like um you know i've i've done teams and people

invite but i i just kind of sit there on the sideline someone goes down injured i'm still

standing there because my brain goes into coaching um and i kind of think more that way than i do

as a physio and the other thing is i'm really callous you know like you know i'm going that's

not so do you know just carry on carry on strap it up yourself some shit you know i'm just not

good physio yeah comes to sports teams um yeah and like i said like especially with rugby i just

i really feel the coaching side of it you know and um yeah i'd probably be undermining coaches

if i was a physio because i'd be saying oh you know you should be you know which is not a great

thing because you've got to be on the same team as a as a package you know but i don't know that's

just me so what's the sweet spot then tv physio celebrity surfing chilling surfing is definitely

a sweet spot um what's the day anyway yeah um i don't know man like i've i've tried really hard

to create a life that has lots of bits and pieces to it you know like a work part-time tv

work part-time as a physio work part-time as daddy home care you know um and so

you know it i've just tried really hard to to have lots of things in my life uh so that i don't

get bored you know i mean i'll there's there's lots of things i love doing and and i've put

them on the side burner you know because life's so busy yeah you know like i i i caught up with some

of my music cronies and and one of my patients the other day knew a lot of my um connections

those same connections so we've been reminiscing and i was just going and he still plays in a band

i go oh damn man i'd love to still be doing that but late nights where the family doesn't work

you know playing in a band because you like you've done proper gigs right yeah thousands of people

thousands of people man yeah it's sick it's the greatest like it's better than playing rugby

like you know like if if there's anything i could ever do i'd want to be

lead singer or guitarist of a genuine hardcore rock group wow yeah man just like yeah you can see it

yeah it'll be sick man it'll be sick but you know like like i said i um i've tried really hard

to make my life full of different things um and you know uh but consequently i've there's still

lots of things i still love doing that um just doesn't get the time that it used to you know

like my art doesn't happen anymore um you know and i miss doing that so i have these little binge

moments where i just go into my own realm and and the little fellow come in oh dude you're gonna

play with me today or what yeah it's going oh yeah i don't know yeah hey i love having guests

where the second act is just as entertaining and enthralling as the first and what you've

done since rugby physio and art and cars and you know all of it is in surfing and and family

it's really impressive yeah so there's a whole lot of stuff we didn't even talk about 99 we'll

cut either we left that all to the side don't need to yeah we don't need to um but shei i know

you've probably got a nice little outro lined up oh look it's been an amazing chat traversing so many

different topics the part like where you light up talking about deniden in the 90s i i think i

always wanted to go down there and do my university there and i never got the chance but

yeah true adult student bro yeah it's just gonna take the time around yeah those 21st

you laugh a lot you laugh a lot but it's like hearing you hearing you reminisce and light up

about it that's the best thing about this and also the point that you made about um

your crowd goes wild stuff and being able to spend time and meet different people

exactly why we do it and steve made the point earlier and this has been amazing to kind of

share some time with you hear some stories and laugh along the way so it's been awesome thank

you very much yeah cheers for your time rock and roll hey guys if you've made it this far

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.