Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 2- Episode 35- High Class Hookers (Super Rugby Aoteroa Round 4 & Super Rugby AU Round 1)
28 Plays5 years ago
Those American Rugby idiots are back for your enjoyment or whatever reason it is you listen to us. This pod we cover quite a bit, including some dumb former fly-half that just simply doesn't get it. We also take our crack at tiering those in international rugby that dawn the #2 shirt, likely a few eyebrows raised here. We also discuss briefly what's going on with the finances at RFU, some player movement and of course we cover both Super Rugby competitions with a bit of an emphasis on the new laws that were on display in Australia. All of this and of course the usual banter & laughs. Kick those boots up and enjoy everyone!
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Welcome in. Come on in. Hopefully everybody enjoyed last week's pod. Thank you again to George. We'll give our thanks to George. It's great having him on. The fancy rugby geek. Good, good laugh, man. I laughed. I laughed quite a bit last week, I have to say.
Podcasting Joys
00:00:29
Speaker
And I'm sure some of our listeners might've got annoyed, but man, I can't help myself sometimes. I was just having a good time, man. I don't know what to tell you.
00:00:38
Speaker
It's, it's, you know, it doesn't even feel like work sometimes. No. Listen, listen, if this is work, I want to get paid, but if it's not work, then fine.
Platform Availability
00:00:48
Speaker
Fuck it. All right. I'm ready to drink some beer. Have their money back then. Yeah. Yeah. Here's your money back.
00:01:00
Speaker
Obviously, you want to find us on your favorite podcast app, whether it be Apple, Spotify, Google Play, any of those, although I think Google Play just renamed their app system too, but I'm just not sure where it is because I don't have one of those phones. But in either case, you can probably find us wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:20
Speaker
Download us, rate us, subscribe to us, the whole shebang. We might have a new listener in Virginia that download basically every pod we ever did. Whoever you are, thank you for coming. Thank you for joining us. That'd be great. That's awesome.
Thanks to George and Rugby Mag
00:01:35
Speaker
Also, thank you, Misera. Thanks to George. Thanks to the rugby mag, obviously. Ed and company always treat us well, and they do a great job. We can't wait.
00:01:44
Speaker
to get back to the rugby mag fantasy with our teams coming up once, uh, once things kick off in like mid August is what, um, England moved, moved their, their, their progressions forward. So it looks like they're on track, which is awesome. So we're looking forward to that.
America's Challenges and BLM
00:02:03
Speaker
This past weekend, it was happy birthday America, but not so happy birthday America because the most American thing we can do this past week is take a hard look at what's going on in the United States and want to improve it. And if you don't want to improve it, then maybe you can go find somewhere else to live. That's all I know.
00:02:12
Speaker
Um,
00:02:25
Speaker
So yeah, Black Lives Matter and we will continue that message probably until Ben and I are well under the dirt. So just keep emphasizing it and let's make sure that everybody has a fair shake here. Speaking of,
00:02:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So we had an interesting... A non-American. You guys can keep him, by the way. Yeah. Just saying. Goody being the knob that he can be sometimes.
00:03:03
Speaker
I guess I commented back because he's a Twitter troll and you can't help it sometimes. Talking about, oh, if a police officer stops you, just be polite and go about your business and then everything will be okay. That's such an easy way to take it.
00:03:20
Speaker
Totally ignorant and at this point it's deliberate. It's deliberate ignorance. It's like, okay So you don't know that you know black people get get stopped and harassed by police like constantly Oh because they fit the description and yada yada and and this was in response to I think it was a I don't know the story. Unfortunately. I just kind of only heard about it right before we were gonna get on this but but yeah, there was a I think a
00:03:43
Speaker
English track star who got pulled over and was she was pissed about it and rightly so and or otherwise harassed by police again, I don't know the story. I wish I did And that's I guess what he was responding to and it's like it's not it just because a police officer does it a doesn't mean it's right and be Yeah, you know after a certain amount of time, it's targeted harassment and we all know it So like don't ask a question disingenuously. No, you know already knowing the answer
00:04:13
Speaker
And just not caring. You don't like the answer, so you act as if it doesn't exist. And that's just old. It's done. You had your chance to be naive and, oh, I didn't know. You know. Now you know. If you don't know now, then you're choosing not to know. Right. And so it's not a question to be taken seriously and treated with any sort of respect. So it's just enough goody, again, being goody. But this is why it's important to support
00:04:43
Speaker
you know, concepts like Black Lives Matter. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to care at all. Premier League has definitely been pushing it for sure. They take a knee before every match, and I mean every match. Every player, the referee, yeah. Yeah. It's being taken seriously if a big outfit like Premier League is starting to take this seriously. Maybe it's something to take notice that there might actually be something to this. And there's just a thought. That's a big diverse background right there, too.
Cultural Sensitivity in Sports
00:05:11
Speaker
You gotta remember that.
00:05:12
Speaker
Right. And let's let's not talk about just just, you know, we're not just talking about Black Lives Matter, too. There are two, actually, I should say three potential name changes on the horizon for teams. At least two. At least two, and then maybe a third. And so the two are the Washington
00:05:31
Speaker
And I don't say that. I've never, I've never, since I started to kind of figure out, I'm like, this is actually a very inappropriate name. So once I figured that out, I was like, all right, I'm stopping. You know, that was like three years ago. I stopped. Right. The Washington NFL franchise is considering changing its name, although they're potentially changing it to something that's just more of a dog whistle rather than a bullhorn. But we'll get over that. Like, you know, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let them make a mistake before we criticize it.
00:05:56
Speaker
Um, the other is the the Cleveland Indians, um, which I don't feel is I don't see that as being disrespectful, but I get it So i'm like, okay, you know again i'm willing to go with it. It's a team name the fuck do I care? Yeah, who cares? The team name doesn't mean anything about the team. Yeah, I saw though the uh
00:06:14
Speaker
Like the crack the obvious crack that they're gonna rename it something, you know, they're gonna rename the cleveland indians something less offensive So say hello to the ohio indians Oh, man, it's like yeah, you know, sorry cleveland. Yeah Cleveland what are you gonna do? Um, but yeah, and then uh, i'm also here hearing rumors about the exit or chiefs Yeah, we'll see some issues with that. I I don't think it's gonna make it there because I really don't think it's
00:06:44
Speaker
That doesn't quite have the legs. Yeah. I just think it's a stupid name, but it has no, it's, it's needlessly, it is a little dis I think, I think it's a little disrespectful only because there never been American Indians in the UK. So like you only took that name to make the mascot a kind of a racist thing. Like it's, it's, it's not, I don't think it's cool. And I certainly don't think the chant is cool. Obviously. Um,
00:07:14
Speaker
And so that at least has to go, but I struggle with the Exeter chiefs too, just cause it's, you know, the, I mean the New Zealand, you know, those chiefs, like there's actually, you know, there's, there's, there's inhabitants there. Right. Um, that's what, that's where they came from. Right. And even the Kansas city chiefs, it's, it seems a lot more, you know, respectful.
00:07:38
Speaker
Because there were there were again inhabitants right out in the middle of the Midwest here before you know, we went and fucked them around but you know Yeah, we're an exit or where they want to know this no, so it's literally just to use that Ethnicity as a prop and I yeah, I'm not really comfortable with that So I'm hoping they change but I'm not expecting it anytime soon. Not to not not this year likely There's only room for so many
00:08:08
Speaker
Shit storms going on in the premiere.
Rugby Transfers and Team Dynamics
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah This is true. This is true. And there's been plenty and there's already been a few of them at the very least Speaking of let's go to player movement we talked about last week we hit on at least a little bit lesser Tigers possibly heaven
00:08:23
Speaker
some sort of Exodus and some sort of Exodus. So listen, if I own it was on his way out, it looks like he's heading over to stop from say who are bolstering their, their squad a little bit. Uh, Gerberant grubblers also walking his way over to stop from say over to Perry. So it'll be, uh, be an interesting thing to see if they ever come back to, you know, life. Cause I haven't, I just haven't seen a strong, uh, stud team for a while now that I think about it, you know,
00:08:49
Speaker
It's been, you know, wrestling, wrestling's come around and kind of been one of the big bullies since they just injected a shitload of cash. Obviously too loose, too long. The likes, Claremont's always been just complete pain in the ass. You know, they're just, they're always there. They're nagging at your heels and making you really fight. But yes, that hasn't been, been there for a little while now. So it'd be interesting to see, see these guys kind of rear their heads and say, Hey, we're back.
00:09:13
Speaker
So we'll see if that that will help. I would say that those two guys right there for sure, especially by I know I love on his game for sure. Yeah, those guys will fill some holes there. That'll probably helpful for them. Where's risk? I didn't see blues back to back to pro 14. Okay. All right. So, and that's a permanent move. I mean, that makes sense. The guy's gonna, you know, I think he wants to play for whales. So,
00:09:39
Speaker
Yeah, no, I didn't, you know, it's almost as if when the second he signed for the Saracens, he came on Warren Callan's radar. Yeah. And then obviously Wayne Pevac kept him on the radar as well. Right. So yeah, I mean, it totally makes sense for the guy, you know, he...
00:09:55
Speaker
He gave us a damn good year and, you know, he owes us nothing and no apologies whatsoever. Yeah, no, that was a good... Solid move on his part. And, you know, it's one of those like, oh, you want to use us? Well, we can use you for a little bit too. So, you know, it's good. Right. Win-win. Thanks. Thanks a lot, dude. Yeah, nothing but good things to say about... Yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker
Agreed.
Premiership Salary Disputes
00:10:21
Speaker
So, you know, we have Tui seems to be finding a new home. Genj is probably looking for a new home. So, which is funny because Dan was just beating the drum about how much he loves Lester. But obviously the contract dispute has changed the tune just a little bit. You know, it sounds like I think it comes down to they just weren't honest with these guys. And, you know, in what level the
00:10:45
Speaker
Hit they were gonna take and now that they found out They're just like what the actual shit guys like you did not tell me this is the way it was gonna be So that's probably why they're pissed and I don't blame them. No, I don't blame them and yeah, always I always almost always side with the Player over the team some things and especially in these circumstances when they're there, you know, the players are the one really putting
00:11:11
Speaker
it on the line. And if you can't, you know, if you say this is how much we're going to pay you to play rugby for us, that's, that's on you. If you're playing rugby, that that's on you to make, to pay your players. Um, so it's one of those like, you know,
00:11:26
Speaker
I, I, yeah, that obviously, you know, we know there's issues with around the premiership of being a mature league. So this is just another one of those kinds of instances. Although I know, you know, we're seeing that with major league baseball too, but that's also to me different. They're playing a shortened season. Whereas it seems like the premiership is just.
00:11:48
Speaker
We're dragging the season out, unfortunately, but again, I think it's something to do with aligning the rugby calendar into some sort of cohesive order here.
00:11:59
Speaker
Um, so we'll see how that goes. Uh, RFU announced today or yesterday that they're making big cuts, like 25% of their, uh, their staff is going bye-bye. I was like, yo, so that's, you know, I mean, and that, and that sucks cause it's not that they're, it's, it sucks twofold. It makes the people who are leaving, you know, they don't have a job, they need to go look for a job.
00:12:23
Speaker
It also makes the people that are still there. They're gonna have to pick up all that slack. Yeah, that sucks You know and they're gonna get paid probably the same if not less Than what they're being paid right now to do more and that's right You better friggin love that job in that case because damn and can we can we contrast all this with? The and I guess it's a player, but it kind of goes to the same point. I
00:12:48
Speaker
the Pat Mahomes contract. Oh my God. So we're talking about. So much dough. We're talking about, you know, the rugby, we're talking about cutting players' salaries and now, you know, cutting staff for the national, for the, you know, RFU national team. Like that's, this is, well, RFU structure.
00:13:10
Speaker
Whereas, you know, and they're coming back, they're getting ready to restart and be back, you know, plan to be back and get going. Whereas the NFL, there might not be a season, like they're shorting the preseason. They're doing all the things you expect them to do to stop from saying, yeah, we're just not going to do anything. Um, so like, but for the NFL, this guy signs a record breaking contract for ridiculous money at a ridiculous length. It's like, you know,
00:13:40
Speaker
I'm telling you, world rugby, you got to get in on USA TV. Because you will never worry about money again. There's a big slice of pie there, man. You don't even need to get that big of a piece, and you're going to be okay for a while, and it just will grow over time. I mean, and I keep referring back to this, but look at the Premier League contract that happened. But for the longest time, it was a small chunk for ESPN, and then Fox had the rest.
00:14:09
Speaker
Obviously those two are now one, but then NBC just to say, you know what? We're going to drop some majorly cash and make it our own. And they did, and they've done a great job in my opinion. And I'm a primarily fan, despite the fact my team is not in it, but they're working on that part.
00:14:24
Speaker
But they were when they bought the contract, but they paid so much money for that, and then they just re-upped for a shit ton more. So, I mean, that's really, that's where it started with. It was just, that was a nothing contract for the longest time for mostly Fox. And then NBC just came in and just threw money at it, and they were just like, yep, this is ours.
00:14:44
Speaker
It only takes one one TV company to say one one one network to say we want this and we and we want and we want to make it ours. So, you know just Nuzzle your
Rugby's TV Opportunities in the U.S.
00:14:56
Speaker
way in there. There's plenty of space. I promise and there might be this this fall Like like I am I am actively rooting for there to be no football season in a lot of ways because first off America like there was a oh the Washington Nationals pitcher just I think yesterday the day before
00:15:14
Speaker
You know, baseball players are, they're not smart, generally. Well, no. There's a lot of them that aren't. Right. And I don't mean like, oh, the guy's missing a few. No, there are some dumb ones. There are some pretty dumb ones.
00:15:28
Speaker
there is a nationalist pitcher who says, you know, sports are kind of a reward for living in a civilized society. Like, I don't know that we should be playing right now, given where we are as a country. And I'm like, hey, it took a baseball player to say it. What does that say? Yeah. Like, yeah, he can figure it out. How can we like, we're, look at our numbers. We can't be playing right now. So no,
00:15:52
Speaker
There's not gonna be a lot that can happen right now, especially in the south shit. You look at where you know, the the hotbeds of it, Texas, Texas, Florida, California, no, no, no, no, Arizona. Yeah, these are like hotbeds of football.
00:16:08
Speaker
And they're the ones who are, you know, it's basically it's not going to happen. Um, yeah. So what I want to, you know, we got to start marketing this to Americans now, like you miss, you miss football. Well, guess what? Here's some grown men beating the shit out of each other. Like you'll, you'll get the rules. It's not that complicated. Just, just watch. Just watch and get the hits. Yeah. Turn off your brain. You do that while you're watching football anyway. Yeah.
00:16:35
Speaker
So I'm hoping that that could happen. Yeah, it'll be for, for world rugby. Yeah. And I mean, people that are just like, well, the really brutal hits are gone. I'm like, I don't know. Did you watch Sam Underhill at the World Cup? He was laying some pretty ferocious hits and they were all legal. They were all legal. There were some, there were some big hits this weekend too. Like it's not a,
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's not for the faint-hearted this week. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I was going to say. Hang on, America. We're coming for you. I hope so. I don't know. We've got a little bit of time to add in something to the agenda here that I'd forgotten. Did you see the old coach of the Glendale Raptors? I can't remember his name. Basically, it was like, yeah, the sleeping giant in America, it's going to sleep for a while longer because they just don't have their shit together.
00:17:24
Speaker
It was like, yeah, this kind of operative. I have to say, that's a bad example of a team though. Glendale's in shambles and you and I both know this. It's pretty good representation of American rugby though. Yeah, maybe. Maybe, maybe. They're a shit show. They're functioning well kind of on the field, but they're just a shit show in general. That's pretty much representative of USA Rugby.
00:17:48
Speaker
Um, yeah, we'll see. Well, I mean, we'll see what happens. We got, hopefully we get MLR back up. He was saying that there's no, and he's right in this because among it was, and I've been complaining about this. You've heard me a bitch about it enough. Everybody else can too. Now, um, in the U S there's no real coach training.
U.S. Rugby Coaching Needs
00:18:09
Speaker
It's,
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah. There's here's some rugby concepts that you want to include in your coaching and it's the very basics. Um, but there's no, there's no concept of structures and, and, and any kind of systems it's all like, yeah, they're just gonna, the kids are gonna play rugby and you just kind of watch them play rugby. And you know, here's how you, you know, here's how you, you, uh, do the, the little coaching things, you know, like organize a practice. Okay. Well that's great, but what are you pushing towards? And there's not, you know,
00:18:40
Speaker
And he correctly identified it how he's like, yeah, the East Coast people play a certain way. The West Coast people play a certain way. The Midwest people play a certain way. And so you can't really bring everybody together. And all of a sudden, they're like, well, I don't know that way. I don't know that way. He's like, we got to teach everybody, you know, more. Be open to different things for sure. Yeah. And they all think they have it exactly right. And he's like, they only have pieces of it. That's how. Yeah, that's kind of I was reading and saying, yes, this is all true.
00:19:09
Speaker
Damn it. Like I thought people knew this already. Yeah. I was hoping people knew this already. I mean, anytime you think that you have it all figured out, you don't know if you're one of those people that thinks I got it all figured out. Guess what? You're probably two steps behind everybody else in reality. So maybe just wake up to that a little bit too.
00:19:26
Speaker
Yeah, but yes, exactly. Like I know I don't have it all figured out. I have the same, but at the same time, I know I haven't figured out more than a lot of Americans. Also that. Yes. It's like, Oh boy. Yeah. This game can be so much more fun and enjoyable than we allow it to be sometimes. Yes. But that's just, I think again, that the whole football mentality or hit that guy in front of you and that's it. And that's all you think about. Yeah. You got to change that mentality a little bit. Yeah.
Ranking International Hookers
00:19:55
Speaker
All right. Um, a little bit of fun for us to do today. Um, we did the, we did tiers of half backs and whether somebody agreed with them or not, I don't know, but I don't care. Um, um, so I forget, we'll, we'll shift our, our attention to more or less the quarterbacks of the, of the forward group, which would be, uh, our, our number twos are hookers. Um, and I got a nice little list here, that I, uh, that I threw in there.
00:20:21
Speaker
And, you know, it was, I think the toughest to look at for this group will be the Irishman because nobody knows a damn thing about any of those three guys. Yeah. These are the guys that Andy Farrell picked for the Six Nations this past year. And, you know, what I've seen of Herring and Keller, I loved.
00:20:42
Speaker
But I haven't seen that much on the international level. So that presents a bit of a problem. So really, they're just up in the air, and you can't really judge somebody on one or two caps.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah, but they've got a, yeah, they, they, but they have earned a place on the list just by being an Irish international hooker. So, Oh yeah. I mean, that's not to sneeze at by any means. Yeah. And you got a few things to live up to with the likes of, uh, you know, Keith Wood and Rory Best. Yeah. Wood stuff. Whatever. No pressure. Yeah. No big deal. Um, next to where the nine or the 10, no big deal.
00:21:20
Speaker
Right, so I'm tempted to just man, especially after all the way I've seen him play. I almost have to put Cody Taylor as a tier one guy right away.
00:21:30
Speaker
You know, I put both, both the New Zealand hookers. Okay. Oh yeah. I mean, fuck. Have you seen what Coles is doing? Oh, I saw what he would do this weekend. It's one of those Coles is one of these guys where you're like, yeah, you know, he's good. He's always solid. Like, you know, even, even at his most plain, he's still the top, you know, hooker. Um,
00:21:54
Speaker
but all of a sudden he hasn't turned on the jets in a while and now he's done that a lot. So yeah, he's back. He's my number one right now.
00:22:06
Speaker
him, Taylor and probably Jinx go into that. Yeah. That top tier. So these are guys who I think in that top tier who, um, you can put them in and pencil them in for 80. I mean, the only reason that Dane Coles doesn't play 80 is because Cody Taylor is there. And the only reason that Cody Taylor doesn't play 80 is because Dane Coles is there. Yeah, correct.
00:22:25
Speaker
And Jamie George plays 80 at an international level fairly regularly, which is ridiculous for any forward position, much less of a front row. Yeah. So those are guys who you pencil them in and you're like, yeah, I'm not worried about you anymore. Yeah. Anybody else on this list that goes to the tier one or do we skip down to tier two after this? There's a tier one A at least for two of these guys. Somebody that's on two on their own, maybe.
00:22:54
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean they exactly and to me that's Joe T and Stuart McAnally Because they're because they're playing the loose for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah tough Eddie's not the best thrower, but I can live with that As the Irish are the Scottish how that worked He was a nightmare for them
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't lose like if he can make the US like in he's tough Eddie's one of the only real attacking threats In the forwards for the US and he just shredded Scotland That day. Yeah day and he also does well, you know, he did he had a very good representation of the World Cup And again for a really bad USA team so it's one of those like if you're standing out in a match as one of the top players and
00:23:45
Speaker
You're playing with those 14 other players like you're doing you know, yeah, not that I mean There's some good players. Don't get me wrong. I'm not completely shitting on Team USA, but There's no doubt. Yeah, she stands out. It's not a mystery. Yeah, right Alright, so 1 1a to whatever you want to call it So the next year down and this you know, this is really almost insulting they call them three but they're not really three they're like
00:24:12
Speaker
a sub two or sub or whatever it is. Like if they're starting for your international team, um, you'll never complain. Yeah, you're doing all right. Um, I would put Ken Owens on that list. I
00:24:28
Speaker
The problem is that you got to take him out at around 50 minutes, though. He usually plays 60. He doesn't play, but he's not that short of breath. He's not that effective in the last couple of minutes. I see him as a... Yeah, I mean, though he's good. Don't get me wrong. He's fine in that tier.
00:24:47
Speaker
I would put him maybe one lower, but I'm not going to argue that much here. He's solid. He's a good player. He's better than a lot of the other guys on the list. So that kind of makes that decision for me anyway. Yeah. Who, who joins him in this list? The next, the next standouts. Um,
00:25:09
Speaker
Oh, short show to Hari. Yep. Definitely. He's an impact player. Japan's okay. Yep. Right. Just had a hell of a World Cup. You know, again, he played 80 in a lot against Ireland. He put shifts in. He put big shifts in this World Cup for sure. Yeah. He is a beast. He had to be dragged off the field, essentially. Like he was an excellent player.
00:25:38
Speaker
And then, yeah, we're kind of getting into like... Either the South African guys make three. They're close. I'm struggling with both of them. Although I think Ambunambi, I'd take him before Marx. Marx is like the same thing with Poles, how he kind of disappeared. Marx disappeared, but then he just... Yeah, he dipped for sure.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm not sure that he's, um, you know, kind of a flash in the pan potentially and just kind of lost it. Um, other Southern here with your guys. Um, I'm looking at the two of the top of our list here. Yeah. Fine. Yeah. Fine. It would be on the list. Yeah. That's fair enough. Um,
00:26:26
Speaker
And this is another thing that's probably not fair to them. Marshawn and Malvaca are not super experienced guys at this level, but still very good players. We haven't seen enough. Right. So to me, the next step down, which is guys who I would like as my hookers, because I think they're going to be something more of a long-term thing.
00:26:54
Speaker
I have both the French. I'd probably put all the Irish hookers on there. So they all kind of go on the same level. I might put Malcolm Marks at that level with the arrow pointing the other direction. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. And Lot 2 at that same level too. Tall Lot 2. Where does Karen Dickey fall? Is he in 4? Is he a 3 that we missed?
00:27:21
Speaker
I don't think he's that good. I think he's, I mean, he's fine. He does. He scores some tries, but usually, you know, he's, he's a solid spark, fresh legs player. Like he's your, if he's your backup, you're, you're doing okay. Um, I don't know that he's a starter level at this for what we're, you know, when we're talking about this group of, of players, um, he's, he's, he's a supporting kind of backup rather than a starting level.
00:27:46
Speaker
So we probably put he and maybe Gus creepy on their own level. And then probably put a meta Basie and BG the next level down.
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. Probably fair. Yeah, it's fair. All right. I think that's, I think that's a fair assessment. Um, you know, you can, a couple of these guys could be shoved one way or the other, depending on their form. Um, but yeah, I mean, really, I don't think you can go wrong with the top tier here with Taylor and Cole's and, uh, Jamie George. No, I mean, yeah. And there's the, that second tier is where it's nipping at their heels. So.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think there's, I think there's kind of a clear separation between obviously guys. You, if you, if you could have like a draft, yeah, you pick them first, um, over some of the other guys. Yeah, it does get fuzzy towards the middle and the bottom, but doesn't everything. Yeah, definitely gets fuzzy. I mean, the bottom kind of sorts itself out and then, you know, not to say that I don't like busy or, or Mattabasi, but we just have, you just have to recognize where they're at. They're great hookers for their, for their countries, but they're just not necessarily,
00:28:57
Speaker
somebody that would, you know, really jump at you if they were playing for another country. Yeah. I mean, you can see that with Matt Avec in the premiership. It wasn't like, it's like, yeah, he's another guy. Here's a solid signing for them, especially at the time where they, you know, they didn't have Dylan Hartley who kind of unexpectedly retired. Um, yeah, they needed, they needed to, they needed to see the guys that were getting hurt all over the place. So he, he filled in, but again, it's just not like he, you know, he wasn't,
00:29:23
Speaker
Like, say, Jamie George or even Luke Cowan Dickey in the Premiership, Luke Cowan Dickey is the top-tier hooker. Right. But when he gets out to the bigger international scene, he's okay. He's good. Mm-hmm. Okay. But, you know, that, you know, Matt Avecie in the Premiership was okay. Mm-hmm. So it's like he plays on a good team. I don't know how good he is at the international level, just, again, based on how they play. Correct.
00:29:49
Speaker
Correct. Okay. Yeah. I think that's, I think that's fair. Um, yeah. Cody Taylor and calls in the one.
00:29:58
Speaker
1a 1a or yeah, especially for those damn all blacks in the two in the 1a 2 slot Macnally and tuffet a and then down down from that we have We're gathering a bunch of bunch of names. Oh, and it's and banan be hoary flying those are guys that nobody would ever sneeze at when if they had them by any means whatsoever and
00:30:23
Speaker
You know, some of those guys you've run, you know, I put Ken Owens on there only because he's a good leader and he's something that you would run through a wall for. And, you know, if he wasn't the heart and soul, if Valinwin Jones wasn't the heart and soul of Wales, he would be.
00:30:38
Speaker
you know, right. And that's an, and to me, that's kind of the X factor that puts him a little bit of having the other guys. So, and that's why I didn't argue too much about it. Cause it's like, you know what? He, he, he provides more than just, he's, he's more than just the sum of his parts. He's a, he has intangibles. Definitely. For sure. Okay. So hookers, if anybody has an idea of what you'd like to, like us to discuss next, don't be shy. Send some Ben.
00:31:03
Speaker
A little message over there.
Australia's Partial Rugby Audience Return
00:31:06
Speaker
Alright, let's go to Australia, where they had a few fans allowed in, which was nice. Melbourne, you won't see anybody in Melbourne for a little while, but that's a different story for a different day. Everybody in Melbourne, be safe, please, please, please, please. If you're in Victoria, stay home, chill out, be safe. We don't need more. We don't need more issues. Okay, this world does not need more problems.
00:31:30
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so let's go to, uh, so we'll recap the scores here real quick. Uh, red 32 ties, 26, uh, Brumby 31 and rebels 23. Let's go to, let's go to, um, was it Suncorp, Suncorp C and yes, that one, uh, the almighty clash of reds and ties. Um, no Nick Phipps for the ties. That was, that was a big name that was missing for them or among others, among others. Um, you know, the, he's now applying his trade from, you know,
00:32:00
Speaker
Elsewhere so that was the the big loss that they've had but Didn't look to the backup didn't look too bad. This the sub didn't look too bad So I will give him props for sure But this is a this is a big one for the Reds because they haven't won this fixture in a little while now But the state the standout name for me for the Reds Had to be a name that we didn't talk about last week was Tate McDermott. I
00:32:27
Speaker
Oh, he was unreal. Yeah. He's a little quick, huh? Yeah. Johnny on the spot on the quick tap. He asked Nick Berry, can I tap it? And Nick Berry said, yes. Ta is not alive to it. And oops, down they go. He gets up, he sneaks over. He had a hell of a 50-22 kick. Yes. That right there made me happy that they had the rule. I was like, you know what?
00:32:55
Speaker
Yeah, we'll get to a different one Another rule change in a little bit. But yeah, he that just a heads up play There was nothing there. All right kick for the corner just like you would do naturally except you know the it worked but yeah, but some guitars were asleep and the Dude lets it bounce and then it didn't you try to play it quickly and they're like no. Okay. You can't that's not yours Yeah, that's not yours. So yeah, it's uh, you know
00:33:21
Speaker
I mean, maybe that play changes when the players get a little bit more used to it. Perhaps, yeah. Still. A little sleepy on it, yeah. Yeah, it was a heads up play and it worked really well. His halfback partner, O'Connor.
00:33:37
Speaker
What a cutout pass to get to Agnew over the trial line there. He was brilliant all day. I'm so happy this guy has just found his groove back in Australia rugby. He's definitely, I mean, he was in the World Cup team. He's gonna be in the Wallabies team for Dave Rennie for sure. If he's not, then I don't know what Dave Rennie's been smoking, but damn. This guy looked brilliant, ran the team very well. I think he missed one kick.
00:34:04
Speaker
but just, just the same awesome, awesome job for James McConner. Um, God, you know, I know. Harry Wilson can, can we talk to Harry Wilson? Uh, from the, let's try, number one, for sure. From the opening. Yeah. Getting in, uh, um, Michael Hooper's face right off the opening kickoff and then. Yes.
00:34:27
Speaker
I'm here, I'm gonna get used to me being right here. And then that just didn't stop the whole match. No, he was everywhere. I mean, he had to come off after, he blew his gasket after a little while. But yeah, he was obviously got a clutch try that really gave the, cuz the toss was back. Let's give them props.
00:34:46
Speaker
15 jersey for the Waratahs. I think it's got a home. I think it's got a home in Maddox. What a line that was for his try. I mean, gap mile wide, but you have to run that line still to get there. And he ran it, he ran it hard and he ran into perfection. And he just looked really good the whole game. So tons of props to Jack Maddox. They were talking about it on the broadcast, how it might be his best position. It might be. It might be. He looked really good there.
00:35:17
Speaker
So, loads of props to that guy. Yeah, and he showed a good boot, too. He did a lot of good things. Maddox did. And to me, there was a lot of good young players on both sides. We've mentioned a few. And Maddox is only 23. I like the youth that are coming through in Australia rugby right now. This is looking...
00:35:44
Speaker
very positive for them. If they can get some of these players and even some of the guys who didn't have a great showing, um, was James Ram did he had a couple of blunders, right? There was a, there was a time where, so here's, here's an opportunity and an issue that I think, uh, it's going to be missed. Maybe they'll pick it up in, um, in the film. I hope so. Um, where Ram broke the line inside his own, um, inside his own half and
00:36:14
Speaker
What was it? He like he could have had a 50 22.
00:36:18
Speaker
So like he could have just chipped it ahead. There was nobody in front of them. Hey, chip it ahead. You're still, the fullback's going to tackle you at some point, but, but take a line out inside there 22. If you can, I would, I would be coaching to go for that. Um, you know, if you, there's nobody in front of you, just, just fucking grubber it up the field and, and, um, hope it rolls out at the 22. Right. Like you had the opportunity that that should be a, you know, you should be able to have that skill at that level, um, to do that. And I think that's a better tactical move. So I'm hoping that, that,
00:36:48
Speaker
coaches kind of see that opportunity. Like I hadn't even thought of it until I saw it. I was like, he just broke right through the line. I was like, Oh, we'll chip through with a do really well here. Yeah. And, and so I thought of it, but that's not something I would expect a player running with ball in hand the way they've been trained to do.
00:37:04
Speaker
No, it'll be a learn thing for a while here. But he did a lot of good things, but then he would make like one bad decision. Yes, he did. A couple passes that didn't go to hand or something like that. Right. So there's a lot of even, again, and who was it? Angus Bell got worked by Tupou in the scrum. Yes. Tupou made it.
00:37:29
Speaker
He still looked good. He's 20. That was his first start. Shit, yeah, you're getting worked by an international prop. Sorry, kid. It won't always be this bad. You can fix that. You can fix that with time. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was doing fine except he was just getting worked. Yeah, that red scrum was strong. That red scrum was very strong. Yeah, I mean, we mentioned too, but what a bonehead.
00:37:57
Speaker
Twice. Twice he ran into somebody after the kick. Got away with one. The second one was definitely going to be bad news. Yeah, at least it's got to be a car because at that point you're just being a dick. It's like now you're being an asshole. Go, go, go to time out. You idiot. Yeah. I mean, great. It was, it was well played game all around. Will Harrison not to be dismissed by any means whatsoever.
Goal Line Restart Rule Debate
00:38:20
Speaker
Harry Johnson Holmes, youngster 23. He was everywhere as a tight head. Like he was running all over the place.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah, so this was an excellent match to watch. Maybe I haven't watched it. One other issue. What was it? So there was a goal line, the goal line restart law. Yeah. So there was a huge kick, and I can't remember who it was, from the Reds and all the way from inside their own 22 into the in-goal line or in-goal area.
00:38:56
Speaker
they, the Taz touched it down. And so instead of it being a 22 or a goal line, yeah, it's goal line recently. Yeah. Goal line droppy. Um, and so instead of a 22 and kicking and all that ends up, um, they, they have a little line break, uh, and the reds have a little line break and ended up getting a penalty and, and the, uh, um,
00:39:23
Speaker
It was, Oh no, there's a try. It was the Maddox try. Um, it was, uh, it was off that goal and restart eventually. So that was, that's a, that try scoring kick essentially. Like I like that. You know, you kick from your own end and get that in the 22. Yeah. I think we're into the goal in goal area. I liked it in goal dropout. Like, I think I could, I think I could live. I liked the idea on the held up that, that I, that I definitely like you reward the defensive team for standing up and saying, no, not happening. Um,
00:39:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's why I would prefer the 22 meter come back You know, you don't measure the damn kick well enough then you're not gonna get I don't think you quite deserve that much of a reward but on that on that though this was like this was a the Taz player had every opportunity to take it and then kick it to touch themself like you have ever you know, you have the opportunity to
00:40:16
Speaker
um to clear it on your own and you choose like that was a choice not to the choice to you know at one point take the 22 dropout which I mean that just starts the game back inside the other team's half and now you're just playing at midfield and it gets boring again um because then they could I don't I don't think we I don't think we can sacrifice you know we we we don't need to make rules just for entertainment's sake I think we need to
00:40:44
Speaker
balance the, the, the fairness of, all right, you can't wait your kick for shit. So every time it goes into the goddamn 22, then you know, yeah, you should go. There's got to be a happy medium. I think from your own 22 to do that though, I think there's got to, because in that situation, um, I like
Rugby Rule Changes Discussion
00:41:02
Speaker
it. Maybe not. You're right. Maybe not in the, yeah, we would be, but for a, um,
00:41:07
Speaker
you know, just chip it into their territory and we were under pressure. So they talked, tapped it down like that. Yeah. I'm all for that being a 22 cause you're trying to score. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see in a place like this where you're just trying to clear it out and it just rolls and the other team decides, well, we could do something with it, but now we're going to choose to, um, to touch it down. Yeah. It's going to be tough to find that middle area. We'll see what happens. Yeah. I do like to go line dropout for the, for the held up and for the light that
00:41:35
Speaker
That's getting rid of so much more fun than Nick Barry and Nick, even Nick Barry on the scrums, which are like, let's go guys. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. So I appreciate that for sure. Um, I think a lot of people will. Yeah. Cause he can't just have it be scrums all the time. So that's, that's a, that like, is it right? Yeah. Hold up. I think that's a good, cause that also helps the defense a little bit. Like you can really boom it if you want. And now you're, they're playing outside of the 22. Fine. Find your kicker and hoof it. Right. For sure.
00:42:03
Speaker
No, I agree. Um, uh, one, one guy that definitely stood out. Uh, I want to mention them. We'll move on. Um, Swinton have a great game until he didn't had a couple of boneheaded penalties at the end that definitely, uh, definitely cost him. Um, Hooper, the, I believe the penalty that Hooper was going to win was not given because Swinton had committed a penalty at an earlier rock.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah. And that would have kept the ties on the front foot and possibly on the comeback trail. Instead, James O'Connor knocks over a penalty, then the game. They're already ahead, but he just kills the clock. Yeah, that was it. With that one. Oops. So, I mean, doesn't take away his very good game completely, but just a couple of hard-headed moments when you're at clutch time.
00:42:46
Speaker
And then let's go to Brumby's, Brumby's and Reb's. Matt Tumwell walking out for a big match for him. How was it? 100 for him. You got most of them. You got most of them with the Brumby's ironically. So, uh, maybe appropriate that he gets, got it there. Um, you know, play, he's still, he's still very good. There's no, there's no denying that. Uh, Reb's kind of spotted the Brumby's a little bit to start this one. He did. A lot of my, a lot of my early notes are mostly Brumby's. Yeah.
00:43:16
Speaker
It was, it was, um, yeah, not good. I mean, they had the, I mean, that's some good, that's just, that was, I mean, that was, it was interesting to see the way that the Rumbies use their line out in the non-traditional ways because everybody knows the Rumbies line out drive is a pain in the ass to stop. So they, they're like, we know this too. So we're going to screw with you and we're going to run a couple of variations. Yeah.
00:43:41
Speaker
Oh, that was yeah, I mean Yeah, it was but it was good line. But I mean hell of a throw hell of a pass By fighting back over shoulder because that's that's you know, that's an easy forward pass Right, but and and we as we saw in a later match The referee will allow it to certain teams At certain positions if you're you know, a star fly half you're going to get that call
00:44:05
Speaker
But if you're a hooker at any level, you're likely not unless you still might even get the benefit of the doubt against you. Like, oh, he probably threw that forward because he's a hooker. So, well done, Define. I'm going to make sure there's no way that the referee could
00:44:24
Speaker
Call that forward. Call it off. Call it anyway. Yeah, all the pass. Very good. Hooker doesn't make that pass forward. Yeah, a pal use the line out again to sink around and get over himself. If I think I got over, but not via the line out, not via the line out. Nice Anders line. Yes. Very, very good stuff. Yeah, I will say it has to be said.
00:44:50
Speaker
I think Australia's two scum halves are Paul and Tate. I don't know if there's anybody else right now that's in the country that they could say is playing better than those two. It's really hard to grasp at this point, you know? So I think they're, I think those are your two. I think those are your two right now. If you're going to any sort of TRC.
00:45:15
Speaker
I think L'Olessio just kind of, I think, you know, we talked about change O'Connor, but I think L'Olessio might be, might have something to say about that 10 jersey.
00:45:25
Speaker
Oh yeah. I think he's going to be wearing a gold Jersey sooner rather than later for sure. Right. It's just a question of if he's, if he's ready to take that, that starting gig now.
O'Connor's Mentorship Potential
00:45:36
Speaker
Well, here's, here's my thought on that. And I had this thought while I was watching it because this is the position that James O'Connor was in when he started to go awry. He was a young, very good, you know, star for his, for his super team and
00:45:55
Speaker
then it went very sideways for him, kinda got shunned and went and did his work in Europe for a little while, comes back. So if there's anybody that can show this kid, hey, here's how to not fuck this up at your age, I think James O'Connor's the guy. So if you wanted to pair the two of those guys together on the team, you don't have to have to start them, but you talk about a guy that can make sure that Alessio doesn't go too far awry,
00:46:21
Speaker
I think James O'Connor is a guy that can definitely do that assuming he wants to take the role because he has to be willing to do that But I think I think O'Connor just learned his lesson So I don't see why he wouldn't walk and guys who learn that lesson like guys who learn that lesson are usually the kind of guys who are like Yeah, I'll do that like mm-hmm. I guess he needs like
00:46:41
Speaker
I don't want to see what's, what's the use of, of me saying, no, I'm either the clear cut starter or I'm off. Um, cause that's like, that doesn't help. That doesn't help. And it just, if it creates the same situation that he was in, then what good is it? You know, I think we're, uh, hopefully as a society talking, you know, working more on, on, uh, breaking cycles. And I think that, that rugby is,
00:47:06
Speaker
is better than a lot of sports about it. So, um, and especially in Australia, as we've seen from a recent, you know, at this point it's old news, but it's still, you know, a big step forward. So, um,
00:47:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think that there's, you know, there's good culture there. And I think O'Connor would take that just based on his, like, you know, the past as we talked about. Yeah, yep. I think it'll be just fine. Rebels did fight back as we, as we know, gave them a taste of their own medicine with Ulysses getting over with the driving mall.
00:47:43
Speaker
And then DHP got himself over as well. What do you think of the decision? And I was screaming at the TV, no, don't do it. To go for three and get themselves down one instead of go for the corner and possibly take the lead. Closing minutes, not right at the end, but man, it had to be within the last eight minutes easily. Do you really need to answer that? I know, I know. I'm just making sure that you haven't left us here.
00:48:10
Speaker
No, that's always a go for the corner and try to work it in. Their line out was shit. One of the few line outs that wasn't very good this weekend. They couldn't throw a straight either hook. The crowd got on the referee. There were times when he was right to let it go because it didn't really impact the play. It wasn't that.
00:48:34
Speaker
not straight. Like it would be like the guy throwing it to the guy at the back, no challenge. And it catches it like mid chest. It's like, yeah, let it go. Yeah. Just let it go. Cause there's no, there's no point. It's not contested then. Then just let it go. Um, but when you throw it to the inside, you know, the inside shoulder or outside shoulder version today, um, when they challenge,
00:48:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's not straight. It's just plain simple. It's not straight. Even if they don't challenge and you throw to the first jumper and it's still on his outside shoulder, the referee's gonna be like, no, like that's, it's, I can't, I can't just sit there and watch you do that. Like, no, that's not straight. It's not how it works, man. You do that anyway. I don't, I, I don't understand how lineouts can be this bad at that level. This, this, this, it's,
00:49:24
Speaker
This is meat and potatoes. You shouldn't be able to get to that level without being able to throw a fucking line out. Yep. No, you know what I mean? Um, what'd you think of Corbetti in this match? I mean, exactly. That was kind of what I was driving at. That was kind of what I was driving at. Not, uh, not super noticeable. No, only noticeable when he was doing something wrong. That's not a great thing. Or you're like,
00:49:50
Speaker
oh it's the beard again like here we go oh no nothing happened like it's yeah like you know you can't it's a shame that they they talked him up a lot because i mean and they should because he's technically a star he's excellent um not he was not excellent he was not excellent as much no agreed agreed agreed so yeah grumbies take it without tom banks at that
00:50:15
Speaker
So let that sink in just for a minute. They're gonna have a buy, and I assume it was because they knew they had the buy coming up. They're like, all right, we can probably manage this without him, and then we'll get him back after the buy. So... They were correct. They managed what they did. Good game. A little tired than the scoreboard, indicated for the most part, but Brumbies did never really look... Well, definitely tried to defend it, so...
00:50:38
Speaker
Grumbies never really looked quite out of control, even though the Rebels did fight back a little bit, which I was happy with and I want the Rebels going down without a fight. So yeah, there was that. Let's go over to the other island. New Zealand, Aotearoa, Highlanders 20, Crusaders 40, Chiefs 18, Hurricanes 25. Let's talk about the one under the roof first.
Highlanders vs. Crusaders Match Review
00:51:03
Speaker
Highlanders let it half in this game and let it get away.
00:51:07
Speaker
That is just frustration right there. I know that's true. We'll sort things out in the first half and then all right, second half. Let's crack the knuckles. Let's go. I mean,
00:51:21
Speaker
All right, let's, we'll hold on for him. I will say, Shannon Frizzell, still an All-Black. Still should be an All-Black. He's been playing his ass off of this team, got himself over the line near, but- And that was a key, that was at a nothing. Yeah, he just muscles himself over. Frizzell there was not the first option. I don't think he was the second option. I'm not sure he was either. Because it looked like Aaron Smith wanted to go out the back.
00:51:44
Speaker
But it looked like that first receiver was like, no, I'm good. I got nothing. And then there was a tight player who could have been like a nice little just off his shoulder run, who kind of was standing there with his finger up his ass. And then there was Shannon Frizzell.
00:51:59
Speaker
standing flat footed like 10 meters away flat. And Aaron Smith's like, yeah, I'm gonna hit my boy over there. You know what he could do, I guess. Okay, let's go. I mean, starting from nothing. Like, yeah, 100% flat footed and just powers over the line. Like, you don't just do that. Use a monster.
00:52:22
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, yes, he's um, absolutely got it. Got to still be in all black, but in a performance like that. And speaking of all blacks, Aaron Smith with that little dart off the back of the line out. Showing the wheels, showing the wheels. Brad, Robert's not the only fast flow. Let's go math. Aaron Smith. He's, he's also dipped in a couple of ways, but that's, this is, this is what we, this is the Aaron Smith we want to see.
00:52:46
Speaker
This is what you want to see if you're, if you're an all blacks, you know, if you're a Keely, you definitely want to see this, but if you're a hounder spoiler, you need this, you need him because he is your go guy. Yeah. Um, good job by put divided to make sure that that one got down in the corner. Um, two very good young wings on the point of, uh, left, uh, for the hounders though, him and Nurekki.
00:53:07
Speaker
I thought Nurekki was making, you know, I don't really note wings for tackles, but he didn't look like he missed too many. Nurekki didn't, so. He put his shoulder into them too, so. Yeah. That was pretty good. We talked about wings that don't like to...
00:53:22
Speaker
to contact, I would say in the rec, he's kind of the opposite. So well done to him. Um, but then let me, let's, geez, we got to talk about the, the, the guys on the other side. Cause they, they fixed it and they played brilliantly great calling grace out for what looks to be the remainder of the competition. Maybe the very last week, um, Tom Christie comes in and no problem. He gets a pair.
00:53:46
Speaker
Not a problem. Man, it's so hard to find a spot to pick out against this team. It really is. If I knew who started this match, but Will Jordan was the star for this team, my goodness. Once again, this kid is amazing. I don't know where he is coming from, but holy shit.
00:54:11
Speaker
I mean the first try great, you know, it's that's typical but man that one to end the game that was Special that was so special just a little just a chip that gets that gets Like it's not yeah And turns on the wheels. It's one of those like so we used to I'm gonna get into my old man rugby thing where we did we set a guy on our team back when I was first starting there's a guy who'd recently
00:54:40
Speaker
Uh, retired and they talked through all they talked about was every time he kicked the ball, it just found him. Like he would just be like, yeah, I'm going to kick it like 20 meters that way. And then just stick my arm out as I'm running and it'll just bounce right to me. Um, that was that, but that, that's, you know, the legends about Clemson. Uh, it's, it's, well, Jordan's doing it at the super league level of, of, yeah, I'll just, I'll chip it. And when it gets tipped, it'll just come to me like,
00:55:07
Speaker
knows where it's going to go. He's got a good sense of the game. Although this, and I did have this as a note, but I neglected it until just now, but the game really ended when Severus came on.
00:55:25
Speaker
Acrobatic acrobatic to say the least what it's but it's now it just expected out of him. Yeah, you know So every Reese's got the corner on you. Yeah, he's just gonna you know, he knows how to fix it man. He'll stay in in play and yeah agreed The Was a mongol with the touch prep pass ended in the second Christie try and
00:55:49
Speaker
That was Cody Taylor. Oh my god. This is why he's a one. This is why he's in the top tier. I couldn't remember who it was. I was just thinking Milwaukee because it was first receiver, but nevermind. Yeah, I'm glad you asked that because I actually did take that note. That was Cody Taylor.
00:56:08
Speaker
It's just not fair. It just doesn't seem fair. How is this guy this good? And, you know, he got, he came off this, he didn't need to come off. No, he got subbed. I was like, he doesn't need to be subbed. He could actually finish this match. I just want to get the other guy minutes. Yeah, right. That was the 77th minute. Like that was it. That's the something that I don't quite understand is, is you put a guy on for like two minutes. It's,
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah, that never made sense to me. It's like, all right, kind of a fucking talk tease. You gotta have, in my opinion, if you want to go to have an impact on a match, it needs 10 minutes. Yeah. Minimum. Or even to get into it, like two minutes in, you maybe have made one, you've been around for like one phase of rugby, especially when it's like a restart action. Yep. And especially when you're just closing out the game, like, great, the guy's going to be involved in a ruck on a pick and go or short.
00:57:01
Speaker
then before you kick the touch, like that doesn't really tell you anything. It doesn't really get him anything other than a cap that doesn't really mean much right now. Right. So like, yeah, that way, you know, when you talk about a hundred appearances, how many, you know,
00:57:18
Speaker
10 of them comprise 20 minutes. Do you really get 10 appearance? Oh man. I don't know. But yeah, so it's, um, and let's be fair, you know, the score line, we, we talked about it before, um, but I don't think that's completely fair on the hounders. They did play a very good game, but the crusaders just turned into their crusaders in the second half. And you know, it's really hard to explain otherwise because
00:57:43
Speaker
the hollanders are a good team. They put a good performance in, but man, when you have the likes of Will Jordan that just knows where the trial line is, several Reese, the two of them just, you know, they do it for fun. They just keep finding wings that will just score, you know, on a whim. Like I feel like scored now. Okay. It's just ridiculous. It's just so ridiculous. Oh, it's too bad. All right. So, um,
00:58:11
Speaker
All right, and that wraps up.
Chiefs vs. Hurricanes Game Analysis
00:58:15
Speaker
Ben's trying to skate on this one. So chiefs and canes in Hamilton. No ALB for the chiefs, which automatically I'm sure put you in your not so happy mood right there. Especially by who fucking replaced him. Tapiah moved in at 12 and Manu went to 13.
00:58:36
Speaker
I think you and I will both agree that Ben O'Keefe did not have his best match in a lot of ways. I think we'll both agree on that one. So we'll just throw that part out there and start with that. I mean, Cobus Van Wyck. Easiest try I'll ever score in his life.
00:58:56
Speaker
Where was the, what happened to the defense out there? Who walked in from their wing? Who walked in from their wing? Shame on that. I'm guessing it was, I'm guessing that the problem started earlier and people had to pinch down, but that's just possibly the guy I want to blame.
00:59:11
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah. I mean, that was, I mean, just good, good little pass for, from Jordy and he returned with a vengeance for sure. Um, but yeah, he, um, made sure that that ball found the next guy over as fast as possible. And obviously he was able to just kind of saunter in no problem. Um, yeah. Mashman go really go too far after that though, for a little while, um, kind of stalemated Mackenzie knocked one over for to get them on the board.
00:59:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very disappointed in Mackenzie's play. You did a lot of running into double tackles, like on kick returns, and not like getting caught by the centers. He's like running into a prop and a lock. Yeah, that's somebody you probably want to just pants and go by. Right. Like why are you, what are you doing? The decisions that some of them made,
01:00:10
Speaker
I just, I don't quite get it. To me, the game really changed when Alemalo came on. They got to get him more time. I'm sure he's in the plan. I'm sure he's in the plan. He got to run out in this one and they'll have to buy and then they'll obviously they'll come back with a little bit of rest. And I think that'll change a lot.
01:00:33
Speaker
Especially if you get ALB and LMLO there, that is going to be just dirty. Yep. That's going to be a pretty good combination. They got to first off open up a little bit more room for Mackenzie, who obviously is struggling to make his own space.
01:00:53
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, they, they, they live, he lives off broken play. That's the thing. And they, and the broken play hasn't been super broken because it's been very predictable that he's gone. He's just kind of take off with it because there's nobody else that's really a threat. You know, so it's, it's, yeah, he's kind of doing it on his own at the moment, which is unfortunate because, uh, give him a little bit of space and he's going to make it happen.
01:01:16
Speaker
um arty soviet seems to be back a couple of good runs from uh from the gentleman playing eight for the hurricanes he can run a little bit yeah um op-ed was was bumping some dudes off again that's what he does best
01:01:31
Speaker
Uh-huh. Um, so he seemed to be in the mood. Um, let's talk. All right. Let's admire what it was first and let's admire what happened maybe leading up to it afterwards. Uh, or not admire. Let's talk about it. Um, Jordy Barrett's poke from almost 60. God, it would have been good from 63, 64, I think if he had needed it. He's a dick. That's the second time he's done that to you, hasn't he?
01:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, like halfway line ish and slotted it beyond. Yeah. Just all the dick and balls. What a kick. No, I got it. Yeah, obviously you gotta.
01:02:22
Speaker
And he doesn't even do it like this is how you know, there's he's a he's at least a good striker the ball whether he's accurate or not a different story, but you look at his kit at his head and it's he's not over swinging He's just hitting it normal and it lies and it's like holy How good is that? Yeah, he doesn't have to he's not putting he's not
01:02:43
Speaker
kicking for power he's just he's he's going through his motions and he just has the natural power like it's not like he's he's he's changing his yeah like you said he's he's he's just his mechanics stay the same um he just gets a you see the guys who maybe like really get twisted up and you know throw their hips into it and really just over
01:03:05
Speaker
Um over exaggerate the motion just to get as much power as they can and he's just like nah Like he said give a little poke. Yeah And it flies flies like nowhere, but it may or may not have been taken from the wrong spot. Oh Yes, it's um, it was pointed out and I don't remember who it was um on twitter somewhere that the penalty might have been actually about eight meters back
01:03:30
Speaker
and O'Keeffe spotted it wrong and that that to me is not necessarily on O'Keeffe because the play went way forward it went way forward afterwards and then he called it back for a penalty long long advantage it's a penalty um that to me is on the TMO to say no Ben you need to go back you need to go back more um so to me that's on the TMO or the touch touch or touchy would have been AR would have been helped there too either one one of those two has to
01:03:56
Speaker
Yeah. Cause he's not going to remember. He's trying to freaking free the game. Oh yeah. You call advantage. You're like, well, I was kind of in that direction. You're running around on the field. You don't really have a time to spot it. That really needs to be at that point on the touch judge. Cause they don't, they don't have anything else to do at that point except just look at, you know, whether if there's, you know, the, the, if there's any, whatever foul play, that's whatever, but you don't need, all you need to do is point like figure the spot you market and then move on. Yep. Right. Um,
01:04:27
Speaker
Jamie Booth looked pretty good for a backup guy. I'm not, I'm not a huge fan of the TJ parent, our 10 experiment. I guess this is the time to do it, but I just don't love it. You know, um, you know, cause we're obviously, we're obviously playing for almost nothing here at this point. Um, playing for all white caps at this point, really probably.
01:04:44
Speaker
for most of these guys. And plus they want to keep them on the field. It makes sense just to provide that leadership. I get it. We'll get to. So I do want to point out that Bossier got his deal for sure. Yeah, he did. He got his penalties and his try. Yeah. So he got what was coming to him. He deserved that. Long time coming for that guy.
01:05:11
Speaker
I will say, let me just say this. I don't believe that the two scrapped and yellows add up to a red. I'm still not convinced the first one was yellow. It was a nothing. He barely touched them on the way down. I don't know. Again, he jumped across the line, whatever. If that's what you're gonna do.
01:05:31
Speaker
I get that, that that particular penalty was not a yellow card offense. I think it had been their third or fourth time doing that. I think the ref had talked to him about it as far as jumping across the line, being offsides at the line out there and playing with the man, things like that.
01:05:50
Speaker
I think that was, again, like I said, O'Keefe didn't have his best game, but I think that was him trying to tell them, look, this is really not like, it wasn't this penalty. It's the fact that I've had to tell you a couple of times and penalize you for the same thing. Um, so he went to his, he went to the pocket that, that, that was my take on it, that it wasn't the, in that particular infraction, but the buildup of
01:06:12
Speaker
of similar line out infractions. So he's trying to police that. So, and I'm not saying that I'm not going to disagree with that. I think that that's, that was the mitigating factor of like, you guys now are just being dicks to be dicks, not listening to me. Maybe you'll listen now. Um, and it is unfortunate that it led to a red cause it didn't, you know, he didn't deserve a red for, for that. Um,
01:06:36
Speaker
He deserved a yellow for that second fraction for sure. So I think there's got to be a way to move around that as far as like make it be like a team yellow rather than the player. So, you know, maybe he sits it out because he got the last penalty, but it shouldn't be a yellow charge to him. Possibly like that. If there's a way to do that.
01:06:57
Speaker
I'm not sure. And maybe it's just one of those, you don't just have to live with it. And this was a situation where it would have, you know, and now that they had that 20 minute rule, um, the only reason that they didn't get a player back was because it happened to, you know, just after the season before. Yeah. Yeah. And so that to me, that kind of mitigates it. It was, yeah, I, I,
01:07:18
Speaker
It's a hard red to take. It wasn't my favorite red card ever. No. Hard done for Scott Scrafton. Yeah, it's just kind of shitty that O'Keefe got put in that situation, that he had to do it.
01:07:35
Speaker
Of course, he put himself there, but it wasn't the plan. So I've said enough about Tupiah. He had a shit game. Again, mostly that every time he got near the ball, something bad happened. Bad luck. But no, but it's like they're getting...
01:08:03
Speaker
You know, they're, they're down 20 to 20 to six and you're, you're, you're in the second half and you get a little bit of a chance to play in your, you know, in their other teams attacking end. And he just hits a grubber to touch. Yeah. I remember that one. I was like, Ooh, that's not going to be a good one.
01:08:20
Speaker
you're down 14 in the second half and you know this is not the time to play like you're you're in the first half um and you're you you need to make something good keep possession um he got shredded by jamie booth to set up that that venwick second try that so that that definitely was was tupaya
01:08:38
Speaker
And then even then the movement that ended in the Bashir try, Tupiah got it twice, and all he did was slow down the ball. Like, they had a really good rhythm going, and all he did was slow it down, and then they had to build it up again, you know, once he stopped fucking it up. So it's like, you gotta provide some sort of boost.
01:08:59
Speaker
So, you know, as much as I've talked about him, I talked about him some more. I'm kind of, I'm kind of on the outs with, with, uh, Peter Gusso, uh, Sowakula. Yeah. He's not done anything special.
01:09:12
Speaker
I will, you know, if, if I want a player to run into a double tackle as hard as they can, I'm picking him, but I don't want to do it. So I don't want to do that too often. Right. That's all he does. He's directly into contact. Um, he got stripped in the contact situation to once. Yeah. Um, you're, you know, you're an eight. That's not, that can't happen in an in tackle situation. You got to take that ball to deck without losing it. That's no, there's no,
01:09:40
Speaker
You know, there's some players you can, yeah, um, it happens, especially if it's like a back on a forward, but when it's your eight, like you're the guy who's, once he gets the ball, he's not given the only way it's coming out of his hands is if he's passing it like, and not, so it should be, it's, it is, he, he's done himself a favor by getting rid of that bright yellow scrum cap. So he's harder to notice doing nothing. Um,
01:10:06
Speaker
but he's still doing nothing. He's still doing nothing. It hasn't helped him hide on the field in attack space. He keeps running into contact. So yeah, there's, there's, there's just gotta be a little bit. And I obviously trust Gatlin to get it right in the long run.
01:10:26
Speaker
Um, but he kind of, you know, he's, he's, I think some guys fell into some, some old habits that they had previous to him coming in last season. Uh, and that's not really going over too well. So I think he's got to crack some heads a little bit and get their heads out of their butts.
01:10:43
Speaker
Uh, I think we'd be, I think we wouldn't do it, do ourselves a, uh, any justice or at least not this guy, any justice. If we didn't mention the dinkles intercept, sneaky little, okay. That's why he's a one. Right. It is. And it, but
01:11:01
Speaker
Yeah. Good play to him. Stupid, stupid pass to make though. He was in the passing lane and it's like, well, I want to pass to the guy who's on the other side of him, but he's standing in the way. He's going to run by you. Wait. Right. And so it's like, no, I'm going to make the pass now. I want to make that pass and I want to make it now. It's like, well, there's a guy in the way. No, no, no, no. I'm going to do it.
01:11:28
Speaker
That was the impression of Ben as he's watching that all happen You're gonna do it anyway, you've already decided you're doing it whether or not fucking Dean Coles is Right there ready to take it from you. Okay. Thanks
01:11:43
Speaker
God damn it. Yeah, good play by him, but just so yeah, I was like poor decision making. And my note after that was I either want this half or this match to end right now. Not sure which one yet. Yeah. Yeah, that was great. Well, that's why he's good enough though, you know? So yeah, the hurricanes are the ones that get off the Schneider, the two of them. Hooray, hurricanes. Now let's see what happens this week.
01:12:10
Speaker
Yikes. Um, we have some separation. Hooray. And our pick them. Yeah. And you know, and really, I mean, we, we might not have, I could have got that one right. And you could have got, you know, rebels and, and, and Brumby's right. And or vice versa, but nope, we get, we get to, we get a two game lead. Woo. All right. Concerning that like, I look at her, I look at her. Yeah. There's not been that much separation.
01:12:39
Speaker
going forward. There was one where I took a pretty good jump and then you caught me after a little while and then now we've been back and forth since. So, yeah. It's been interesting to say the least going through. Okay.
Game Predictions
01:12:55
Speaker
Let's go to Ateroa. There's blues. Big one. Big one down in New Zealand. Let's see what happens here. It's it, Orange Theory Park.
01:13:11
Speaker
I'm gonna take the blues. I'm taking the crusaders. I can't. Yeah. I can't go against the crusaders at home. Yeah. And yeah, and thank you for giving me this opportunity. That might be an easy one for you. And I might give you another one chance to catch up because this is going to be the hurricane's first batch back in Wellington with Geordie Barrett, hopefully with Geordie Barrett. So I'm gonna take the hurricanes over. I'm gonna take the hurricanes. I'm not, I,
01:13:38
Speaker
I was not terribly impressed by the Highlanders this past weekend. And I was in the Hurricanes a lot. I think that they have sorted a lot out. As much as I'm bagging on my Chiefs, a lot of that was because they had the Hurricanes across from them. I mean, the defense on the Hurricanes was much improved in this game. So yeah, in that game. So that certainly helped. And can I say that I also love by Fafita at five.
01:14:06
Speaker
I play in the second row, I really do. We'll see what happens with the second row this week, because Grafton is probably going to get a one game.
01:14:15
Speaker
One game ban, so might be digging through the coffers for a second over there. Yeah. But I also, you know, we didn't mention it, but I really liked the way Karifi played a lot. Although it's hard to see him now. He braided up that lettuce of his. He put it under control a little bit. Right. So it's still, it's like, it's like, oh yeah, that's right. That's Karifi now.
01:14:42
Speaker
Who's that guy doing them that looks like creepy except for the hair? Oh, no, that's just crazy. It is him Yeah, all right and then over to rugby Oz. This would be interesting rebels. They're not gonna play at home and gonna play They're gonna play away from home even though they are technically the home team Against the Reds Reds won last week rebels fell Despite tough effort
01:15:10
Speaker
Man, this is tough. There's a lot of good youth on both teams. I think the Rebels chance to win a game while they're under this quite a bit of pressure in the circumstance and the really unfortunate things that are going on with them. I think that was their chance last week. So I'm going to go with the Reds. And I'm just not sure. I mean, the Reds put in a real good shift and they were a really young team.
01:15:43
Speaker
So that could lead to them kind of having a little bit of a letdown. Good.
01:15:48
Speaker
But at the same time, they're really fucking talented. So yeah, I think I'm going to stick with the Reds. I think I'll go with them. Although, because I could see the Rebels lost, so they might be going to, you know, that might be some motivation to get some things right. And the Reds might get a little cocky. Possibly. So that's, you get young players that, you know,
01:16:13
Speaker
Fire it up one way complacent the other but I still think the reds have enough especially with their you know, I think they have You know, they're they're solid veteran leadership that can keep them keep them on on course. So Yeah, i'll say the reds winning this week. I think it's going to be get dangerous for them. I think they'll though Oh, yeah by less than they should this will be this will be a tough game for both This is not going to be a wash by any means whatsoever
01:16:38
Speaker
And then we have our first appearance by the Western force playing against the war toss As much as I want Marcel Brahe and his crew to Become come away victorious in this I you know better in my brain and I love the war toss. Yeah, I will also pick the war toss One time I picked the toss Pretty much how they play but well, maybe maybe you'll pick them in the second game to the second time to play in Perth as well
01:17:07
Speaker
So yeah, we'll see how that goes. So it's round two of Super Rugby AU. We got a big clash in Super Rugby at Tarawa. It's gonna be a whole lot of fun. I'm gonna dig into.
Conclusion and Social Engagement
01:17:26
Speaker
I'm gonna dig into draft rugby stuff later on this week, and I'll probably publish something on the old Twitter feed. So if you guys have any interest in that, be on the lookout for that. But until then.
01:17:41
Speaker
Thank you guys very much for coming along. As always, we appreciate you. Hit us up on Twitter, fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. Let us know any questions, any comments, review us, rate us, yell at us. I don't give a shit. Just let us know what you think, all right? Other than that, we'll catch you guys next week. Thanks a lot for coming along. Have a good one. Cheers. Later.