Brodie Retallick has finally said out loud what he yelled at Peter O'Mahony in the white heat of the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final — and he is not at all sorry about it.
Speaking to RugbyPass from his base in Kobe, Japan, the All Blacks lock recalled the exact words exchanged with Ireland's captain in one of the most ferocious 80 minutes of his career.
"Oi, Peter, four more years, you [expletive] wet," Retallick recalled telling O'Mahony in the dying moments of New Zealand's win in Paris.
For all the niggle, Retallick was clear that the relationship between the two enforcers has only grown since the final whistle.
"Have talked to Peter a few times, had a beer with him and think it's all part of the game and hopefully he sees it that it was left out there," Retallick said.
Asked what made that contest so memorable, the two-time World Cup winner ranked it among the very best matches he has ever played in.
"I think that game and the quarterfinal of 2015 with the French were probably my two most exciting games to be in," he said.
Retallick was also generous about the size and physicality of the man he was wrestling with for so long.
"I think he made 27 tackles in the World Cup final," he said of O'Mahony. "Like… they're both holding each other like this and my arms look like two picks and his are like cannons."
The conversation turned, inevitably, to the man who had partnered Retallick in the All Blacks second row for the better part of a decade — Sam Whitelock — and what it has been like adjusting to a Test career without him.
"It's obviously time," Retallick said of Whitelock's retirement. "I guess he obviously realised that maybe it is time and had had enough and moved back to the farm. But how can you say what can you say? He's had such an outstanding career and whether he wanted to carry on or hang up the boots like he is — he deserves to make that choice, which I'm glad he got to."
Retallick was open about how much that rivalry, and partnership, drove his own career.
"I think with me and Sam, like we were probably just both so competitive, and when I was kind of trying to make the All Blacks, he was the next big thing," he said. "That's what spurred us along during our career. It's just trying to be out there to each other probably and kept us going for as long as we did."
Asked to put Whitelock in his all-time New Zealand XV, Retallick did not hesitate.
"He's got to be top five for me. Most caps — there's a reason you can endure, and the professionalism and the ability to play. So he's definitely in the top five."
The rest of Retallick's all-time XV reads as a love letter to the modern All Blacks dynasty.
"Number one, I'd have to go Dan Carter," he said. "He'd be my number one. He's an absolute wizard as we all know. And I was lucky enough to then play with him here for a couple of seasons. And I think even at 38, like he was last off the training field, always kicking goals, just his level of professionalism."
Carter's "partner in crime" was next.
"Richie McCaw would have to be right behind him. Number two. Obviously, same thing — like a legend and just so good on and off the field and his leadership."
At nine, Retallick picked the man he is still convinced could play at the top level today.
"I'm going to say Aaron Smith. Played with Nugget a long time, and just — he is an unreal number nine. Just his ability and his competitiveness. He could still be there right now. He's obviously over playing in Japan, but how energetic and how good he is — I think he could continue on if he wanted to."
He rounded out the spine with the man he calls the modern hooker.
"Number four, I'm going to go someone else I play with as well, and that'll be Dane Coles. For the hookers, you know, and he probably changed the game a little bit in terms of what a hooker does with his skill set and his speed. And again, he's just so niggly and I enjoy that side of the game."
Now playing his rugby in Japan, Retallick believes the standard of Japan Rugby League One is closer to Super Rugby than outsiders realise. "It's probably not far below super rugby a lot of the teams to be fair," he said.
But the All Black brand, he was clear, never leaves you.
"As an All Black when you first make it, they say, you know, you're an All Black 24/7 now for the rest of your life. You always be referred to as an All Black."
