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Season 4- Episode 32- What Did Bath Keep? (Champions Cup Round of 16-1st leg & Super Rugby Round 8)
30 Plays4 years ago
It's those American rugby knuckleheads once agin, entertaining that brain of yours, or trying at least. On this episode we get into the action for the 6 Nations, including the bumping crowd over at Kingsholm, all the best to Abby Dow in her recovery. We also have a look at how professionalism is starting to catch around the game for women, and what that brings. We then take a big jaunt around Europe for all the round of 16 action in this first leg, including the revenge of a certain former Premiership Number 8. We hop down to Super Rugby too! One of us can't shut up about how excited they are for what it means to have the two new teams, especially the Fijian Drua. Of course, we take a look at the happenings back home, including our mighty Free Jacks that are riding high, with a look at the rest of the MLR. Relax, get yourself a good drink and come along for the ride!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Welcome
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy word. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's dive in. We got, let's get this. Yeah. First things first, beverages, all the beverages. Well, mine's a cider this week. Yeah. You grabbed one of the new sponsor ones. Storm Alongs. Yeah. Back to Free Jack sponsor.
00:00:29
Speaker
Not a bad idea. It's okay, fine. I'm still having, let's move this way. The blanchers that you used to go to and that I still go to, that doesn't carry the free jacks go right now. Yeah, they're hard to find now. They're annoying. You have to go to the free jacks game. Yeah. A friend of mine said they saw it in the one over like in Austin. Right? Not really ideal. Right. Not really ideal. Super convenient. There is another one over in JP though. Maybe I'll try that.
00:00:59
Speaker
Anyway, digress.
Sports Schedule and Social Issues
00:01:02
Speaker
Let's get let's get to the good stuff first here.
00:01:07
Speaker
by Georgia Coffee. The man is busy as usual, especially with all three women's Six Nations, Super Rugby and Champions Cup. And he still throws out when the URC is going, he has that on his docket as well. So yeah, busy boy over there. Yeah, he even works for the inferior product. Sorry.
00:01:31
Speaker
I just say that because we can't really watch. No, we can't. We can't watch it all now. We used to be able to do it anymore. Right.
00:01:38
Speaker
Grab your TRM upgrades, because once we are done this week with the second leg of the 16, we're diving back into the prem. And again, players coming back, who knows who's rested, all that good stuff, especially after, you know, teams kind of cycle injuries in Champions Cup. Yeah, all that good bye weeks coming up. Yeah. Who's on the bye when we get out of the sale or were they just on by? I think they just were.
00:02:04
Speaker
Hold on, I have my, I do have my team up right now. No, it is sale. It is sale. Okay. Good to know. Good information there. But yeah, grab that so you can make sure you know, you know, who's in, who's out, who probably needs to get dropped and all that good stuff.
00:02:22
Speaker
As always, Black Lives Matter on this podcast and there is no room for racism in sports or in life. I had an unfortunate incident going down in Brooklyn and I actually had a coaching friend that faces his gym out of there and I was immediately stricken with fear that something might have happened to him. So thankfully he wasn't but still awful news about
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, people being and really wounded. Yeah, and it's horrible what happened, obviously. But I want to bring it up since we are using this as the as the BLM segment that, you know, not, you know, it was two years ago when we were.
00:03:07
Speaker
and protests across the country about about the George Floyd death and murder. Sorry. And, you know, defund the police and people are like, oh, no, we need the police. We need we need to keep funding that like we can't, you know, we have anything they need more funding. Well, the police did nothing to stop the shooting. They did. They were lost and whatever. They couldn't. They didn't really do anything. They let him go. He got through there. You know, they didn't set up a perimeter or anything like that. He got away.
00:03:37
Speaker
they didn't help the people, like, you know, the individual people had to, you know, citizens had to step up and, you know, take off the jacket to make a tourniquet and shit. You know, regular citizens had to call 911 because the police weren't calling in ambulances. They didn't do anything. And then today when the guy was caught, it was because a Bodega clerk spotted him and said, okay, now here's where you can find it. They didn't do jack shit to really look for him. And the anti-terrorism unit,
00:04:06
Speaker
Because it was supposedly a terrorist attack. The anti-terrorism unit was at a – they were clearing out a homeless encampment. That's what they were doing. That's a good use of the resources right there. Yeah, right. We need police funding. They didn't fucking do anything in here. So think about that. Next time you want to say, oh, defund the police, it's a bad idea. Think about how little police did here and how much funding they get.
00:04:29
Speaker
The New York City Police Department, it's like the 24th biggest army in the world. It's like dead serious. It's way up there with funding and personnel. And they did fucking nothing about any of this.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, great job. But a spot of good news though on the other side of the coin. Katonji Brown was confirmed, which is awesome. That's very excellent. Yeah. So very good news as well.
Celebrations and Rugby Highlights
00:05:01
Speaker
Right. Let's expand the court, put some more people on there.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah. Very awesome for her and for her to make the history that she's making. Absolutely. It's a good example to set that standard as well. Right. Like the depth to be seen as
00:05:24
Speaker
being competent for the position and because there weren't many black, let alone black women, and there were no black women, and very few women as it is. The representation isn't there, so now it is.
00:05:41
Speaker
She'll be seen by I mean, that picture with her daughter at the confirmation hearing is just like that. Yeah. OK, I mean, I melt every time I see that. So it's it's great shit. Yep. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. Let's get into it. Speaking of women, Six Nations women's over to King's home first with a raucous crowd over in Gloucester. Yes. Great crowd.
00:06:11
Speaker
Really awesome. Another North American with the whistle, Julianne Sussman had it. Did a really good job and the whole thing started off with a real sour note with Dow. It was just like, you know, it's one of those, it was one of those moments where you heard her scream and you're just like, I am like, I am like,
00:06:36
Speaker
shivering in terror with that scream. It was just awful. And I watched the replay sans the scream and it looked like I was waiting for it. I was just like, all right, I'm going to watch this quick and not be done with it. It looks like one of the players, one of the tacklers kind of rode down her leg and that's what I thought. Yeah, that's not good. That'll do it.
00:07:01
Speaker
Right. That's one of those where you you see it happen so many times, you know, obviously when you're watching on TV, it doesn't look quite the same when you're when you're on field level. But you see it happen, but then you're still like, oh, is ever like, I hope everybody comes out of this. Like you just kind of hold your breath a little bit. Even when you're playing, you're just like, I hope he's all right. You still have your job to do and focus on the other thing. But it's like, you know, nine times out of 10, they're fine. But then you that one time and you hear that sound and you're just like, oh, it's awful. It's just awful.
00:07:31
Speaker
And the worst part is when it's you and you just feel like a fucking idiot because you're making this sound that like, you know, like I've been there. Everybody. Yeah. You're like, oh, yeah. I've got one or two. Yeah. And it's yeah. Right. It is a pretty awful feeling. And I just yeah. You're like. Just yeah, no good all around. So wish the best for her. Wish her well on her recovery. Yeah. Speedy recovery as fast as you can get back. Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker
But the game, um, for the first half ish, uh, you know, Wales took it to him. Honestly, like that, that is a sign of the progress that we're seeing with them being a more professional unit, which is great. Um, the scrum was amazing for a little while. I was, I was very, very impressed and.
00:08:23
Speaker
But then, you know, there's still not as professional as England. So of course, I was going to overtake them and pulls away at the end. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, there was what three tries in the last 10 minutes or so.
00:08:35
Speaker
Yes. Yep. We had browns. It's just, yeah. Yep. That'll do it. Right. And yeah, especially turn off the second half. They scored one, two, so they scored three tries in the first half and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven in a second. So it's like, yeah, that's, that happens. Yeah. There's, there's a disparity there. It'll get better.
00:08:57
Speaker
There is, there is, there is. And again, somebody I said I liked before, and I still like her Kelsey Jones. She got Wilson's only try, but she's a she's a good player, you know, that's not just a consolation try for her. She is a very great player, actually. She is. They have some serious players on that team. There's no doubt about it. It's just the depth isn't quite there yet. That's that'll it'll come. They're on the right track.
00:09:22
Speaker
you know, again, this thing with sight is kind of good. Yeah, I mean, it's a huge disparity right at the moment. And this is how it is at the current time and time we're at right now. But obviously, there's there's hope around the corner here. There really is just keep fingers crossed here. We don't, you know, see too much more lopsidedness for much longer.
00:09:46
Speaker
And then we, we are going to hop over to Scotland and one of the few remaining non-professional teams or at least like basically no professionals. And it showed, it showed so much. And I was, I was so disappointed by Scotland's performance because only because the match was there for them. Well, and you look at last week's performance and what they showed and you, you would hope they would
00:10:16
Speaker
kind of rolled over into this, but you can't always expect that either. So it is where it is with that. No, I just, I didn't like the attacking structure at all. Everything was, was in the forwards and everything was cutting back in towards the center of the defense. So even when they had the, um, then they had a man advantage, right? Cause yeah, there was a yellow card. There was a short time. Yeah. And it was like, it could be dangerous. You had the chance and they just never,
00:10:44
Speaker
What they were doing was not even intending to disrupt Francis defense. And that's like, if you're not going to do that, if you're making it easy on the defense, when they have, when they're, when they're down a player. Yep. Yeah. You're making life easy. What are you doing? Rawley tried, did calm during the yellow card period though. I will say that.
00:11:05
Speaker
The, oh, okay. The Chloe Roll, yeah, it did. It did. Because Chloe Roll is just excellent. Well, she's very good. Well, that's the thing. They have those players that, you know, Lisa Thompson was fantastic. I really, really liked her a lot. I do. But in the same time, what the forwards are just, I don't, I'm not impressed by any.
00:11:29
Speaker
individual forward, which is unfortunate because I know they have some decent ones. Right. You know, well last week, but you know, you got to back it up weekend, week out. Yeah. I know that's a lot to ask sometimes, but it's the truth. Right.
00:11:46
Speaker
So there's a lot of room to grow there, but again, there's
Rugby Analysis and Critiques
00:11:51
Speaker
good individual players and they'll get there. But that's also the professionalism. Totally. It's easier for me, and this is just my perspective.
00:12:04
Speaker
that I recognize for what it is. But it's easier for me to see the women's forwards, whether or not they're in shape by their front row. I go by that. And no disrespect to the ladies, they're roly-poly. And it's because they're not professional.
00:12:19
Speaker
Right. They have other things going on in their lives. They have they have to work for a living. You cannot. You can only get to a certain level of fitness from that. And they're not at a prop level. Like being a prop especially takes a lot to be, you know, Ellis Genjis don't grow on trees. You know, they don't become good. From Adam Jones is to Ellis Genjis overnight. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No disrespect to Mr. Jones either. Right. No, no, no, not at all.
00:12:47
Speaker
It's a different breed. Right. It really is. And Scotland will have to get to that level. And that's throughout the forwards. Agreed.
00:13:00
Speaker
Bit of a bright spot for Ireland to think about and they're not even, they're another team that's not even professionalized in any sense. Except Italy just signed 25 players today. Right. That was the one, that was the one, that was what I was saying. There's only one, there's only two teams now, Scotland and Ireland and now Italy have changed that. But this is,
00:13:22
Speaker
I will say from a lot of the things I've read so far about the Irish, I can't remember the coach's name, but he really believes in this project. This is not something that he's just taking on just because it's a role and he thinks it's a stepping stone. He really believes in this project. So you can tell by the way his players are playing.
00:13:41
Speaker
Yes, that that speaks well about him and it obviously speaks well of where they're going. But obviously, the next step that we're all clamoring for and banging the drum drum and the walls down for is for Ireland to get some sort of professionalism for these for these women. I mean, Jesus, they can decent performance by them, obviously, they're at home, which helps but you know, still,
00:14:06
Speaker
Think about, you know, think about the, just kind of extrapolate from there, you know, brain and what happens.
00:14:13
Speaker
So it's there. And, you know, you have some fantastic players like Bubay and Parsons. I again, we talked about the Murphy Crow. Yeah. Neve Jones, like you mentioned before, Monahan. I like her a lot. So I do, too. She was. And she's she's got some good shit house or ego into it is proper rugby player there. Yeah. I thought you had a
00:14:40
Speaker
match overall. And that's because we're another good player that we've come to expect better from, which is a good sign. It is. But yeah, I don't think you're wrong in that case. So great stuff. And Lucy Mulhall got totally screwed over by the referee.
00:15:00
Speaker
That was I called it live, too. I said, no, no, she was held. But like, as soon as I saw the replay, I was like, oh, my mind's changed. And the referee's like, no, I see exactly the way I did before. And it's like, I know. It's like, oh, come on now. Yeah, that's clearly like, yeah, I want Italy in the game, but at the same time. Yeah, that was God damn it. Yeah. And again, Italy is
00:15:27
Speaker
And I think this is, I don't know if this was planned to be announced this week after, you know, probably what could be considered a disappointing loss for the user. I don't know if this was planned for this week or if they moved it up because of that, but at least, you know, now we know that, all right, maybe they didn't put their best foot forward here, but they know that we now know that they at least have some backing from... Yeah, they're backing the ladies. They're like, we're not, you know...
00:15:54
Speaker
And it's a good, it's as good a time as any, right? It gives that, you know, a little bit of confidence boost to do it now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So and, and overall, you know, we've talked about Italy and the men and, you know, both sides, I really like what they've got going on here. And they clearly are looking at how to do this the right way as a as
00:16:16
Speaker
a rugby country and not just, you know, one team or the other. So I have an appreciation for that at the very least. So I'm rather happy with the way they're going about it. Yep. So all that bit of fun. And we get to jump into last 16 for Champions Cup. Little time travel back to Friday. Yeah. Hit the rewind button to the sports ground.
00:16:47
Speaker
over in Galway. Connick and Leinster, I mean, two familiar foes, obviously, we talked about there's some that are brave, there's some opposition in this round that are going to be very familiar and others not so much. This is obviously one of the very familiar pairs. And James Lowe.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah. James Lowe from Hugo Keenan at that. It was all three of them. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Yeah. But to me Conack never really, they didn't seem to want to win the game.
00:17:21
Speaker
Right. Way too many penalty kicks. Like James Lowe, I had laid down the markers. I'm going to run and kind of like, OK, well, we'll just settle for penalty kicks. And it's like you realize this is the home leg of a home and away. You might want to get your like points are what you need. You know, you can worry about the penalty and all that shit. You know, the scoreboard you're taking over, you know, the second leg if you need it. But now you need to go and you need to go into Leinster and.
00:17:49
Speaker
And win by six or seven? No. Yeah, by six. Certainly not that way. Yeah. Yeah, that's not going to work there. No. I promise you that.
00:18:01
Speaker
Um, I mean, and it's not to say that there weren't good parts of what Connick had, but yeah, the decisions in the end are what hampered them, right? You know, with those, with those pens. And yeah, you know, we talk about it all the time, bringing kicks to a tri-fight. Yep. Um, and that's what they did once they wanted to, wanted to tri-fight and yeah, Connick kept it close, but you're going away now. Yeah. That's tough.
00:18:25
Speaker
You know, that's really tough. So, yeah, they're gonna be asking themselves a lot of that. Well, they're good for Jack Cardi for getting in Sexton's head. That was fantastic. That is true. That is true. I completely forgot about that part. Yes. He had Sexton all kinds of pissed at him. He was all kinds of pissy. Yeah. And the Jameson Gibson Park, that was a red card. I can't believe it got
00:18:55
Speaker
negated. I don't like. Yeah, it's bad. This is not the way rugby needs to go. How many how many rugby players recently have been we've been mourning at games? You know, you have games because they got injured and died after the match or something because they got a headshot. Yeah, a couple. This is like, yeah.
00:19:19
Speaker
maybe start dealing with it a little bit better. I mean, this is not good. You can't be allowing this shit. Right. Well, and then there's the whole.
00:19:30
Speaker
trial of the 20 minutes and that's that's not that's that's that I'm not into obviously right and we'll get to that in a little bit as to why that's bullshit yeah a little bit later in this competition yeah yeah and even and even we can we run to Friday night for a challenge cup to really see a nasty incident um but either way um got to take it more seriously and and Gibson Park the whole he was retreating he was he didn't look to be retreating to me and either way he's always high there was no ever there was never any
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, never any account for player safety. That's just not... Yeah, it's not like he was running at an angle and got stepped and, you know, sometimes things happen. This was he was always standing in the way with his shoulder and head height. Like, never, yeah. Never trying to get away.
00:20:20
Speaker
Always going to be tough. And the other one, do we need to spend a long time on this one? On the first one on Saturday morning? No. Bristol on sale at the AJ Bell. Really? The only thing we need to talk about is
00:20:39
Speaker
the red rider try and that's it. Everything else kind of poo, you know, a little bit of poo. Yeah. You know, like just what everything else was a little bit shit, but that, yeah, that's bad. And that's the, that's the big thing that it's the away match and they're going home up a point and sales just don't have much of anything.
00:21:01
Speaker
There's just not much there. Not with Robert Dupree at 10. Right. Really plain simple. Honestly. I mean, I'm sorry. To me, it just goes to show how good AJ McGinty is because Robert Dupree, I mean, he's not great, but it's like they're just so bad without AJ McGinty. Like, just awful. And that they're so good with him.
00:21:26
Speaker
It says so much. It does. It does. And they'll be fine next year with Ford. Don't get me wrong. It's not all AJ, but it's like that's just how good he can't wait to see him at theirs. Yeah. And really, it's that and just the disparity of what the two bring to that 10 shirt. Right.
00:21:45
Speaker
And then really that like, if you want to just look at that in itself, that should tell you a lot. And that's toward us. I did find it interesting that this that sharks went for the for points at the end of the match. Yeah, that made no sense to me. That made zero sense. Your line out is the one thing that's a weapon.
00:22:08
Speaker
Use it. You need points. Like, now, not only do you have, like, if you went into Bristol up points in this, you could shithouse your way to a win there. You could tie it. You could come within three or whatever. You could do something. But now you have to win the match. And so it means you have to play rugby. And that's why, you know, playing rugby isn't your thing right now. I'll say, don't force yourself to do it. Yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker
wasn't, wasn't their best decision. And by that, I mean, you know, playing loose rugby, playing actual, you know, expensive rugby. Yeah. I'm not playing the boring shit. Right. Um, and then over to, over to wine country, uh, Bordeaux and, and La Rochelle, again, two familiar foes and man, La Rochelle just look absolutely fantastic. Like I hire West look downright competent. Yeah.
00:23:00
Speaker
Who knew? Yeah, not sure I had that one out there. Yeah. I think we texted during the episode, like, is this the best you've ever seen Wes play? It's like, yeah. Been a while since I've seen him play like that. That's for sure. You know, the last time I saw him play that well. Grant, we don't watch all the talk 14, but. Right.
00:23:19
Speaker
Last time I saw him play that well was probably in a hurricane shirt. So that was a while ago. Yeah. Although the last time I saw Raymond Ruhl play that well was the last time I saw Raymond Ruhl play. Right. Yeah, he's just so he's but apparently he's very Jekyll and Hyde. Just from what I've heard. I'm only seeing the so far. Maybe this is his comp and everything else. Yeah. Should be left on the back burner or something.
00:23:46
Speaker
And Dante was fantastic. Yeah. He is so freaking good. Like, yeah. I mean, we talked about how good he was in the French shirt and obviously he's become a real stalwart for La Rochelle and just like, wow. Yeah. Every time you're like, man, they could really use some physicality and attack here. It's like, there he was. It was like, oh, okay. Well, then. Yeah.
00:24:09
Speaker
They're just rolling people over, bit and pass the game line in space, setting up, you know, even bigger plays or scoring tries. Right. And here's, here's a really wild thing about France in general right now. How well did Bruce Doolan play this weekend? He was, he was ridiculous. Yeah. And he can't even get in the first game. He can't even get a sniff. And that's not because
00:24:35
Speaker
Galtke is picking bad players. He's picking the right guys. Yeah, I'm not going to break. I am not going to.
00:24:46
Speaker
second guess that. Nope. I mean, it's just that two lands that good that it's like, okay, he could, if you, if you need him, he's there. Yeah. And they're resting. Yeah. No kidding. So yeah, there's all, there's all that to just like, and then once you get to the world cup, fuck, you're going to have all of them there anyway. It's like, okay, well, if somebody's tired, you go in. Right. Right. Just as good. Yep. Good luck. Um,
00:25:09
Speaker
Have fun storming the castle. Oh, they gonna. Let's go over to our old friends Toulouse and Yikes. Malia just absolutely hampered his team. And, you know, they don't, we talked about red charts don't ruin games. But still like, what happened after the red chart for Toulouse was they just went flat.
00:25:36
Speaker
Right. They went very flat, not to say they were sparking, you know, and running at a high octane. But, you know, they got the Mayafu try and then kind of went sideways. Yeah. And they didn't score again until... Intimac at the end there. Yeah. Which was a big one. It was a big one. Very big. And so it's like, I think towards the end, they were kind of like, all right, let's try something. We need to get into striking range.
00:26:05
Speaker
And they certainly did. Right. But at the same time, you can't just let ballad coon loose that many times. Nope. He will make you pay.
00:26:15
Speaker
if there's one player for Ulster that you can't let loose right now, it's him. I mean, it's also Michael Lowry. Yes, also him. And it's also James Hume, okay? Yeah, Hume's pretty sure. That's true. And it's also David Vermeer. So it's like, you kind of, yeah. There's fun for different reasons, but yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
Yeah, I thought also did a really good job using the players that they have in the roles that they have, although Lowry could have touched the ball more.
00:26:46
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I agree a little bit on that one. I didn't feel like I saw enough of that boy. It's weird. He had 88 meters on eight carries, which I don't remember him getting the ball eight times. I remember it was like three or four, but damn. He's a sneaky little bugger. He is. He is. So it's like, I guess he got the ball a little bit, but certainly not in space enough. Yeah, I think a lot. I think I'm sure he would tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just but and here's the thing.
00:27:13
Speaker
Also have built a built themselves a nice, nice looking team here going in top to bottom. Um, yeah, Toulouse were a little hampered by a few things like, you know, they had frickin phlegm on playing seven that, that, that speaks to how hampered they were in terms of the injury. Eventually Jones came on, but like that was not.
00:27:34
Speaker
Right. That was not that they didn't want to start that way. They're not exit or that's not what they want to do. No. And plus seeing and plus seeing had to come off as well. That was not awesome. And then we see it shape or form.
00:27:47
Speaker
So we'll see, maybe they get a little healed up and we'll see. I don't doubt we'll see DeTune out there somewhere in that wide channel instead of Malia. So maybe that'll help them out. And we're still kind of a man on Zach Holmes as well. Like I always have been. I think his day is gone. Right. I like him. Actually, I do like him at 13. I thought he played acceptable at 13. He's just not a wing anymore. So like it's not, he's not great. He's not like,
00:28:16
Speaker
Well, they've got, they've gone, they've put them all over the park. Right. They really have. He's actually, I think a decent place for him. He's not a wing anymore. Yeah. He was full back. He's certainly not bad. That's what it was. I think that's where he was in the outside backs. And then they put him at 10 a lot. So, um, yeah. And, you know, for, for their sake, hopefully Marshawn's back, not to say that Malvaca is a huge drop off by any means, but
00:28:39
Speaker
And then hopefully by can start and so they're coming off the bench that'll that'll help them. And if there's any way they can pull this off going going to any stadium in the world, it's a team within on it. So yeah, right. They're not out of it. Six, six points. Like it's not like contact going to Leinster. This is
00:29:00
Speaker
It's a very different, different prospect here. Right. And prospect. And it'll be, you know, I can't wait to watch that match because the, the King span is going to be rolling. It's going to be awesome. It will. It will. I will be very happy to be watching that. They'll be ready to meet the moment. It'll be really, so that's going to be pretty cool. Um, stop from saying rousing, you know, and barring, let's, we won't get to a lot too yet, but like really,
European Rugby Focus
00:29:30
Speaker
What did Rossing do that was special in this match? Nothing. They, they kicked penalties, but they didn't even, they didn't really make as much of an effort for kicking them, but like, yeah. Yeah. They didn't do anything special to win this match, but all that said, what the fuck did Saad do to win this match? Even less. Just ridiculous. Yeah. I don't know. I was, I was kind of,
00:30:00
Speaker
kind of stunned by the overall blendness of this match. Yeah, same. And it's too, it's too very familiar. So, you know, it's almost like a stalemate to a point. Yeah. But it was just no, like, I don't know. There was no, you know, you hear, you know, French flyer. This is more like super conservative. Just yeah. Yeah. No, didn't like, and then you get to the lot. Yeah. And then,
00:30:28
Speaker
Tallahawatu, that's two red cards and two championship games. That's not a really good strike rate.
00:30:33
Speaker
And that, well, did you see his teammates react like right there? Like the one just jumps up, like just completely shows them up. Like, I can't believe you fucking did. And, and, uh, yeah, I'd, I'd, I'd make him leave the field myself. I'd be like, I don't want you out here. Like Jesus. Yeah, there have been, yeah, absolutely. There's teams, you know, especially like a professional team like this, like there's been, you know, traveling teams that I've gone to people and been like, look,
00:30:58
Speaker
You know, this guy keeps getting red carded and we, you know, we lose a match because of it and that we're just a tournament team. It's like the only person I come here is a play rugby. I'm not playing with him again because it's no fun. I want to play on Sunday. That's kind of what I saw in the players. And the coach apparently said that's our fault for putting him out there.
00:31:19
Speaker
Like, I think that's... That says a lot. That really says a lot. I can't believe we ever thought that he was a good player. Yeah, I know. But he certainly isn't. And yeah, I'm not gonna... I don't... I'm not gonna miss him. I don't think Stade Francais is gonna miss him. Nah, there's no either.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, they actually, excuse me, and you know, that's one of those things along with the red card that happened in the series. I watched, I did get to see the red card incident. Oh, I didn't see it.
00:31:54
Speaker
You're getting whomped, so you decide to be a dickhead. Oh, is that what happened? Super. Yeah. Tried to take Vencell's head off. Yeah. So, and again, and that's the same shit house right here with Law 2. Right.
00:32:10
Speaker
That is not 20 minutes for player welfare. That's not 20 minutes. No. You know, and I don't remember who I saw say, put the tweet out there, but like, well, rugby doesn't have the sack to tell the old coaches, like, teach these guys to tackle better, teach these guys the rules better. Right. And they're not wrong. Like, well, rugby just wants to bow to the old fucking heads and say, no, we'll do whatever you want. Sort of. Yeah. But again, that trickles down. And that's why, you know, players at lower levels are not because
00:32:40
Speaker
There's got to be some consideration for, you know, for safe for basic safety and also from the 20 minute red card is obviously insufficient. It won't stop things like this. And we need to put a stop to things like this. And it's not just.
00:32:54
Speaker
You know, it's not, you talk about, oh, you don't want to punish the other players. Well, like I said, you know, you see those players' reactions. They don't want to play with him. So it's like, that's what it should be. That's how it should be. It should be that, you know what? Fuck that guy. Like, for keep, he keeps putting us in this position. It's not as though, you know, like, we're not, yeah, we're being punished, but that's because we keep putting him out there. Like, that's what it is. You know, don't put the guy who's going to put you in a bad situation out there.
00:33:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. We're not going to put certain player, you know, at Boston, we're not going to put certain players out there in a league match because they're just like, no, you're a hammerhead. You're going to throw a punch and get red carded. It doesn't matter how good you are. Yeah. And you're not very good anyway, but you guys that have that. But yeah, but yeah, so yeah, it's it's simple as that. You know, you
00:33:43
Speaker
you do you keep the you keep the full red card for the sake of there's nobody that this guy's gonna listen to more than his own teammates tell him you're a fucking asshole like that is quite plain and simple like
00:33:56
Speaker
and you won't feel, there is no way you'll feel worse than when your teammates are all looking at you like you're a frigging moron. Yeah. So, yeah. Cause then they're just done with you. Like it's not even, it's like this is one year. And then you need to earn your way back. And the way you do that is you start actually playing like a rugby player instead of being a complete asshat. Yep.
00:34:13
Speaker
So, yeah, there you go. Problem solved. We've solved your problems. Well, go fuck yourself. There you go. Speaking of go fuck yourself. Exeter and Munster. Oh, go fuck yourself. Exactly. Oh, man. Like, the hog try was fantastic. I don't think we're anyways going to say otherwise. No, of course not. That was the drop goal. Like, outside of that, what the, like, you know, and I'm thinking of the moment in my head
00:34:43
Speaker
I think it was Craig Casey that tried to go short when he had numbers wide. And I'm like, you dummy. Yes. And if I'm one of those guys out wide, I'm like, you idiot. Right. Like if you're going to do that, get there. Otherwise. Yeah. You owe everybody in that back line to drink at least. Yeah. Yes. That's bullshit. Absolutely. Because that was there were a couple of times I was looking like, go wide, go wide. And they went short. I'm like, right. It's like, no, you're at the very least like
00:35:11
Speaker
both these teams played the same way. And that was, that's already annoying because I hate that style of play. Same. But it's like monster actually have talent. I mean, both teams have talent that, you know, Exeter chooses not to use it. Um, you know, they, they end up with, oh wait, hold on. Who was it? Seven? You have, you're, you have, you're the new, it's not, you're not really trying to, to run around anybody. Um,
00:35:35
Speaker
Sam Simmons was largely irrelevant this match too, which was shocking. But it's like, you have Damien Delende, you have, you know, Keith Earls. Daley was not bad. And it's like, just give them the ball in space because, you know, Woodburn and especially like Ian Witten,
00:35:56
Speaker
They would run at Ian Whitten and go back in contact 10 meters and then allow the defense to reset because they'd run as just a short playoff. It's like, use the fucking batter him backwards and then use the space. Like, how hard is that?
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah. It's like it was available to them and they just chose not to do it. And again, maybe this is setting it up because look at it. I mean, Munster are going back home. They only have to win by six. Exeter are not that good.
00:36:27
Speaker
No, I think this is, this is eminently winnable for, you know, if anything, like, yeah, they may not have been the result of a match that they want, but this is kind of in the ballpark where they wanted to be going away to exit her and coming, then coming back home. So fair play to monster. If they, if they pull it off, then they can, and they, they have players that.
00:36:46
Speaker
aren't of, we're not available this weekend, but could be available this coming weekend. So Zebo was one of them. He was originally slated to start and he got dropped. Didn't even make the trip because he came down with some sort of bug after getting basically right after the team announced the team, they announced it. So
00:37:05
Speaker
I think there's still better to come for Munster. So I will choose to believe that for right now. That's where I am. You know, and we'll see what happens. And if there isn't better, if there isn't any better than Munster have, then yeah, Exeter are going to win this. Right. That was that. So now Exeter can go to Munster and play Shithouse Rugby and win. Which they're near experts. That's pretty much all they can do. Yeah.
00:37:30
Speaker
Also, shout out to Don Armand, who is retiring at the end of the season, has always been a favorite of ours. Same. Yep. Yeah, always someone we thought was underplayed and we wanted to see more of it. And now we probably won't see much more. We won't see much more of them, unfortunately. I'm sure we'll see him get another run or so before this is over. So that'll be nice. But best wishes because it was really fantastic to watch Don Armand play. It was a pleasure. Yeah, he's quite a good player. Makes for good watching.
00:37:57
Speaker
Good watching, speaking of Montpelier and Quinn's. Whoo. I mean, it took the Quinn's a full 40 minutes to wake up, but they got there eventually. But man, like.
00:38:13
Speaker
So here's the thing, and again, we talked about it before, and with this Montpelier team, this is what we wanted to see from the work go. And I'm not even talking about the COVID team that they sent to Leinster. I'm talking about the team they sent to Exeter, which was complete shit house, and did not take that seriously whatsoever. I think Mercer was on the bench for that match. I think so too.
00:38:35
Speaker
And then you see them do this. And it's like, why aren't we watching this all the time in Champion's Cup for you assholes? Because this is not the first, this is the first time in however long they've been in the Champion's Cup for the last five, six times they've been in it that we've really seen this. This match and the one that they played against, they're like,
00:38:56
Speaker
Bring this more often, and this will be a fun team to follow. Like, you have Garbisi, you have Mercer, you know, Villains is in there. Indigabe is awesome. Like, I love watching the scene. Boucher, like, this is a great team to watch. Right, right.
00:39:12
Speaker
Like now I'm sad that one of these teams has to lose. Right. I would love to see them further. As opposed to the other two teams we just talked about. Right. And TT's on this team, for God's sake. Like, yes, exactly. I want this team to do well. And he scored a try. Yes, he did. Apparently his misses wasn't there for like the first time ever. She's like, you know, you scored a try when I'm not there, finally.
00:39:36
Speaker
So, yeah, like, this is a lot that I like here. And God damn it, I wish it was more often because that's that's fun to watch. But it brings me back to a grievance, though. What was so important for Bath to keep that they that they had to lose Zach Mercer and Elliot Stu? What the fuck do they have that was so goddamn important that that Mercer had to leave the country? Like, why do you not? What the fuck? He's better than like anybody else they have right now.
00:40:05
Speaker
Yep. And he's only gotten better too. I mean, it's like halfway through them. Well, not halfway through the match. Halfway through the first half, even before he'd scored his tries, I was like, Mercer, you realize you're not playing against Bath. This isn't the team that let you go. He was out for blood. This was like personal, it seemed.
00:40:31
Speaker
But then again, it's also him versus Dom Branton. I'm sure that there's a chip on his shoulder there too. It could be easily. Like, fuck you. I'm the better eight man. And not, you know, not that it's right or wrong, but he was. He was on Sunday. He was on Sunday. Yeah, he was that day. No doubt. I don't think there's anybody that would deny that. Absolutely.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah, but at the same time, finally, they found out like Quinn's found a way to get space and and to make it happen. Now, that's still quite a mountain that they got to climb with 14 bucks. And even though it's a home. Yeah, if there's anything that could do it, it's them. Just the way they play. But yeah, it's really they did leave themselves quite a hole. And you know, there's a lot of inspiring. It was and this is
00:41:23
Speaker
This is that I think they still have one more and not to say that they're not a good team. I just feel like they have this one more experience.
00:41:32
Speaker
of possibly having a sour note at the end of this competition before they get to that next level where they're getting to semi-finals and finals. We saw it last year where they kind of just and just crashed out and that's fine. They really hadn't shown a whole lot into it and that is what it is. And they're always right to focus on the premiership, a team like that. But now they have
00:41:56
Speaker
they've done the resources and they they clearly are you know they're and they're battling down the hatches and they're resigning a lot of guys to make sure they can hang on to them um smart obviously yeah especially after tizzard goes he wanted to keep him right and they were so with all that there's there's a lot to like and in in what they're doing now and they're they're building and
00:42:19
Speaker
know, they just don't have an experience in this competition. Right. Bar, Marlar, and Danny Care. Like, that's really it. Other than that, like, you know, maybe a couple, I think, Collier's maybe, you know, been into Europe once or twice. But other than that, this is all a very foreign venture. Joe Gray brings a little bit of the experience that he got when he was at series. But
00:42:43
Speaker
you know, can't really say that there's a lot there to pull on as well. So now it's different being on the pitch. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be shocked if this is the end of the line for the twins, but they revamped it. They rally, never know. But at the same time, I think there's, there's lots of positive to look forward for the twins either way, but they're not done. So we'll, they'll, they'll open it up this weekend and we'll see what happens. At least be a fun match to watch. Don't doubt that.
00:43:14
Speaker
And our old friends, Steve Wirthwick and Gensh, going to Marcel Michelin and just, yeah, a little bit of Beth from Claremont, especially in the second half. No, but they just, I mean, yeah, I just was super impressed with Lester. They're just a fucking machine.
00:43:38
Speaker
Good luck stopping them. They're hard. They're just, they can beat you anyway. They're very, like even within a match, it's not like they need to change their strategy. It's just, you know, what they have to do with for that exact moment to do well, they'll do. Freddie Stewart. So we've talked about players who get a cup of coffee at the international level and then kind of poop out for a little bit and kind of it's kicking the balls.
00:44:06
Speaker
Freddie Stewart is not that. No. I mean, if anything, they've been like, oh, wait, not only do you can you diffuse bombs from them, you can be a bomb yourself. Okay. Highball from Ford. What a thing of beauty. What a thing of beauty.
00:44:29
Speaker
I couldn't even tell that Lester were down a man once Porter went off. No, the way they were playing, you wouldn't have known it, honestly. They were just so in rhythm, and so you wouldn't have even known it, honestly. And that speaks well to the players that were on the field. They worked extra hard to make sure they covered that bare spot. I don't know if
00:44:52
Speaker
Where's Porter playing on in the centers? So I don't know. It's like the worst place we can lose a red but right depends on who you are. Yes. So yeah, there you go. Yeah, and there's just and very disappointing honestly from from Claremont and I think they'll all tell you that they are they were you know, they they had some chances and they just could not get done.
00:45:14
Speaker
They really spoiled some key moments out there. It wasn't even like the red card. I was like, oh, this could change.
00:45:26
Speaker
It's pretty much over. Right. Right. And things like that happen. And we've talked about it and then many others have talked about it before. But you get a card and you have to teams react one or two ways they either relax, or they bring it up. And I think Claremont relaxed. And yeah, you they should have brought they should have brought a tenfold. Unfortunately, they didn't and they
00:45:50
Speaker
they didn't get anything out of this match. Now they get to go to Wellford road down 19 points and see you later guys. This is going to be another year that you don't get to the final. No, they're not, they're not going to get, you know, get that trophy. So they're not winning by 20. No, I do not. I do not envision that happening by any means whatsoever. Uh, let's jump over the equator here and go down, go down to the Southern hemisphere. Highlanders Moana. Um,
00:46:17
Speaker
Well, yeah, more than the same, unfortunately, for Moana. Moana Pacifica. I mean, the Highlanders are starting to put it together a little bit. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little bit. You know, there may have been a shot, you know, potentially depending on how Highlanders were feeling for Pacifica to take this, but
00:46:38
Speaker
No, that wasn't happening today. No. This weekend. No, it was, um, and you know, in the highlanders and Tony Brown saw this and said, all right, we got to get off the snide. We got to get off the mark here. Yeah. Having got zero wins so far. And I think maybe one or two points and that's it. So they, they were, oh yeah, they were in desperate need of getting the W. And if you're going to, you know, if you're going to go up against, you know, it's, it's,
00:47:06
Speaker
It's the new team. No, no disrespect. It's a practice team. It's the new team. Yeah, it's the new team. No, no doubt. You know, despite all the respect in the world here, it's still the new team. Um, most of that says, do I pretty good last time? From, from, from start to finish with a little dangerous. Yeah, dangerous. Yeah. Very, very excellent. Um, you know, and a guy that kind of has turned back the clock a little bit for Moana Pacifica though.
00:47:36
Speaker
despite the results, is Laelia Fano. Like he's really doing an excellent job of just steering this ship and guiding teams. I think McClutchie started the very first match, but I think that's because Laelia Fano was still feeling the effects of COVID. And since he's had that 10-shirt, there's no reason to take it off him at this point.
00:47:55
Speaker
No, honestly, he is not the problem. No, not at all. Not at all. There's a lot of problems and some of it has to do with it. It's experience, but that's not, you know, that there's really like the most of the problems are stuff that will get better just naturally as players get experience. Yeah. Yeah. He's not great. He's fine with the experience and he's fine with how he's playing. He's not the problem. No, definitely not.
00:48:20
Speaker
Let's go over to WA, forcing Rebels. Rebels finally get themselves in a little bit of a groove here. They've got, because they just beat Fijian Trua and now they've gotten just an inch over the line against the force. They did what they needed to do. Yes. That's pretty much all you can say. That's pretty much all you can say. They had one try in this game, didn't they? It was just ULA.
00:48:48
Speaker
Uh, Reese, Reese Hodge had two. Yeah. Two. No, he had two parents. Sorry. I was looking at the wrong things. Nope. Um, okay. Cause I, I was, I also noted he had two in his score line. That was under. Okay. Oops. Anyway. Um, yeah, I guess that, yeah, that was it. Wow. Yeah. And I mean, and so.
00:49:11
Speaker
to rare occasion that bringing kicks to a tri-fi doesn't work out or that it works out because Forsythe 3, Ali Godwin and Lacey all got over.
00:49:22
Speaker
But if you continue to be ill-disciplined in, you know, and we know that Rhys Hodge is obviously feeling himself a little bit better now with Rhys Hodge kicking from where he can kick, which is a boomer, and then Matt Oumoua, who's obviously very excellent himself off the tee, especially when he's feeling right.
00:49:44
Speaker
Yeah, if you're going to be that ill disciplined that often, you know, I'm sure the what the force coaching staff is just sitting there banging the drum like what the fuck guys, right? You know, why are we being able to split in these silly areas, you know, and they pay for it. And that is that is pretty much how it happened. And that's just, see you later. Sorry, guys. So good and good on the good on the rebels. This is it's nice to see them going again.
00:50:08
Speaker
Hopefully, lots of turnovers. I mean, yeah, I seem to recall like the force just kept knocking it on and just everything. Yes. Yeah. And those are the two Cardinals since discipline and not taking care of the ball. Right. You can't you can't do worse than that, honestly. No, you really can't. I mean, the fact that they scored three tries was pretty impressive.
00:50:30
Speaker
Yeah, the rebels like it. I just feel like the force lost this more than the rebels want it as well. That might be true. That might be true. No, I'm not. I won't disagree with you on that one. Keynes and crusaders over at Sky Stadium. I have to. I have a thing with Jordy Barrett at 12 and it's not.
00:50:57
Speaker
It's not that he's not a good 12. And if that's where he envisions his all blacks future, okay. I don't get it, but okay. Okay, whatever. I can live with it as far as him playing 12. It's worked out all right so far. My problem is
00:51:13
Speaker
what the fuck are we doing at fullback? And that's my problem with that. And I'm not trying to shit on Josh Morby. And I know we could try and stick Ruben Love back there. I actually wish they had done that more often. Cause I do, I really like him and we'll talk about him in a little bit when we get to the other game that the games played. But yeah, just, you know, you have such a very big defensive security blanket with him. And I understand you can drop him back still, but like,
00:51:40
Speaker
Yeah, it is a little bit extra work to get from 12 to 15 if you're not already playing 15 and right. Yeah, it's just it feels a little off to me. And again, it's not playing 12 is not playing 15. Yeah, that's it. Right. But you also in that transition when you want to if you want to back they're covering, you have to work to get him back there. And during that time where you're working to get him back in position,
00:52:04
Speaker
that you're vulnerable to the kick. Cause it's like, there's got to be, you know, it's the shift change. That's when you're, you know, the night watch is out. So go nice. Right. Absolutely. Um, and just a little, just, and this is all the team like the crusaders need. They just needed a little bit and the hurricanes gave it to them. And that was all that was going to take because the crusaders don't need an invite.
00:52:30
Speaker
No, they'll take a couple miles. Yeah, they will. And even one a couple. Yeah, they, they did our and, you know, hurricanes obviously stayed in it. They were right there, right there to have it and just couldn't couldn't get it done. But they they left it too much. They left too much too much for themselves to do, which has been the MO so far this year for the hurricane. And it's really, as a hurricanes fan, it's really annoying.
00:52:57
Speaker
But if you're a Crusaders fan, you're finding ways to win games. Yeah, no, you wouldn't know what the hell that's like. Although they did have a couple of the dry patches.
00:53:10
Speaker
Yeah. And it's these, this is a great team that just seems to click in a lot of good ways. Um, sorry to see Quentin Strange go down the way he did. Jeez. And that looks not awesome in NCI. That's bad news. Bad news. So, um, but yeah, it's, it's a fantastic team. Tom Christie is a, is a monster. He was going to be on the bench and I wish he stayed on the bench.
00:53:35
Speaker
So, I am annoyed as the Hurricanes fans, but I also acknowledge the fact that, God damn it, those Crusaders are very good. So, they are. That's how it is. It's, you know, a pretty okay team that can bring Lester from playing a new Google off the bench. Yeah, I know, right? And I was like, that's a luxury right there. Good Lord. Yeah. Unfortunately, we gotta go to here, guys. No. Chiefs and Blues.
00:54:01
Speaker
I mean, yeah, you can understand the lack of results. I mean, after all, you know, there was a time where Chiefs were down to 13 and then they, you know, they got another card late in the match too. So yeah, it's going to be hard to score. Oh, wait.
00:54:23
Speaker
No, that was that was the blues. I don't know. I don't know how the Chiefs didn't score. I don't get it like that. There's just how can they look so much different? You don't have to provide. You don't have pretty metallic. How does that change the entire team? You know, I think you're sorry. I don't know when a brown gets hurt.
00:54:50
Speaker
Um, obviously, but right. Not helpful, but you have Quinn to pie. You have an all black right there. A guy who's a rising all black. They're looking to lean on in the next couple, you know, for this cycle, he sucks this year again. Like straight up. He's bad again. He's not, he's not doing anything. Like I, yeah, I thought, and I thought Bryn Gatlin didn't do too bad. There was just nothing.
00:55:14
Speaker
It was uninspired outside of him. Yeah. You know, that's so cool is the only forward who was really worth a damn. Sam Kane has been pissing me off too. I'm throwing down. He's been fucking pissing me off. No, it really he really has, though. He's he was like. I don't quite understand how he got captaincy. I mean, I understand he's like, you know, the guy or, you know, rah, rah, good, good emotional leader, but he's not a good player.
00:55:41
Speaker
at least he hasn't been this year. And he certainly wasn't this match. He was poor. So I've just, obviously I can go up and down the lineup, but it's like, these are the guys who you're supposed to be leaning on to bail you out. And they're the ones who were getting you in trouble. Yeah. That's not, that's not good.
00:56:01
Speaker
to Sam Kane's defense dudes to work dirt dude works. No, he was, he was in position to make good plays a lot. He just made a lot of bad plays when he was in position ball and hand might not be as 40. I think, no, I think they need someone else besides Petey Gus and the forwards who can run with the ball because there's nobody. Yeah. No, that that's, that's not wrong by any means whatsoever.
00:56:22
Speaker
Um, yeah, he had that's why it's the two. So, yeah, that's why I mentioned, that's why I mentioned, you know, by and, and, um, and Retalic. Cause there was, those are guys who will do things with the ball. Yeah. This wasn't a, you're right. You're right on that one for sure. Um, and then the blue, the blues have obviously have excellent players and they took advantage when opportunities were given to them. And that's right. That's the simple facts. And you know, we, we talk about.
00:56:49
Speaker
Talk about a guy that's just been rising through the ranks. Steven Parafetta has played amazingly for the Blues this year. We talked about him before and I have no reason to not talk about him again because he's been awesome. And to have him and Bowdoin Barrett both in the same lineup for the Blues has been awesome for their sake. And it works quite well if you haven't noticed. And they also at least still have some
00:57:14
Speaker
they also have a fairly fairly sizable, a notable bench, let's put it that way. Right.
00:57:20
Speaker
You know, Renata's pretty good, although he got himself a yellow card this time. Rick Cutelli's got a lot of experience under his belt for whatever that's worth. AG Lamb is another talent. Like, yeah, they're not, those aren't all Blacks, but they're still, that's a very good bench there and they're only getting better. And it literally doesn't matter who is at six for the Blues. They're scoring like a couple tries. I know. Tom Robinson was not somebody I had on my bingo board.
00:57:50
Speaker
It happens. Right. Well, there we go. Who did it the other week? It was the the palm tree. Yes. Let's say the coach's son. Yes, you're right. Who knew? Yeah, who knew? But six to all places.
00:58:08
Speaker
No, the Blues played an excellent match. I'm glad I don't want to see Buden Barrett for a while anymore, either. But yeah, Blues played a hell of a match. The Chiefs just didn't... I don't feel like they showed up even a little bit. And that's frustrating. Yep. Yep. No doubt. And then the last one of the weekend, before we get to round nine, for Giandrua and Brumbies and Tom Wright at 15 seems to work.
00:58:36
Speaker
I won't. Yeah. Just got to point that out. His name is Tom, right? Just put him back there. He'll be fine. Yeah, right. We're 15 and his name's Tom. It works out for the Brumbies. Yeah. It'll be okay. It'll work. It'll work. I promise. Um, on the other side though, and obviously this was not their best match, but there's so
00:58:59
Speaker
So we talk about names that look great in this Fijian team and they're starting to become more number, like more, like more plentiful here. There's the word I was looking for. Got there eventually. They're starting to become more plentiful and the numbers are starting to become greater. You know, we have Vata who's obviously a great 13 at this point, you know. Habosi has been lights out for the majority of this competition for them. Rotave is now starting to come into form. They, you know, Tela has been-
00:59:28
Speaker
Yeah, yep. And and Tela has been a great 10 for them. Lamani, you know, Lamani, you know, Mira Mira has been awesome. Tawaki is becoming a very good prop for them. I have to say, you know, I poo pooed all over him in the first couple weeks, but he's definitely right at the ship. So good. Good for him. No, it's it's a lot of it's this is this is the great thing about this team, because
00:59:49
Speaker
they can carry this over to the Fijian national team now. And these are players that are played professionally together, you know, and they don't have to have the concern about, oh, we don't meet up more than once a year. Right. You know, they can have this, they can have this familiarity with each other. Yeah, you're still calling other players from from around the around the world. But
01:00:13
Speaker
still the majority of them will be very familiar with each other and then you call them into a camp and kind of get to know each other a little bit for a few weeks and then bang you're off and just insert players where you need to you know where you feel the most comfortable and off you go. So I'm very excited to see what this does for for G and rugby. Yeah and especially like the opportunity to play at a speed like this. Oh yeah. That's what it is. It's not just like
01:00:43
Speaker
The game is so much faster. It's ridiculous how much faster it gets. So, you know, even if you're, you know, wherever you're playing this and especially this competition where the game doesn't get played too much faster than this overall.
01:00:59
Speaker
There's a lot going on. The ball's always moving and, you know, they're, they're always attacking. It's not like, you know, Northern hemisphere where it's like, okay, well, you know, set up, we're going to set up with a couple of phases to take a kick and it's like, okay, take a breath. Doesn't work like that here. So, and it usually doesn't work like that at the international level. So it's good for them to get that experience and keep playing in those kinds of matches because then it slows down.
01:01:21
Speaker
Agreed. Agreed. So they'll get there. Yeah. So it's just awesome to watch what's going on with this. Right. They have so much talent, as you're saying. I'm looking forward to it. And, you know, for the Brumbies, hey, our old friend, Cam Clark, got on the board again. Yay. That's awesome. Really good to see stuff like this. You know, guys like him going to another competition from MLR. Right. It's really what we want out of our league.
01:01:48
Speaker
for the moment and hopefully we get better. Did they just like build a machine in Canberra and it just has a number two shirt on it and that it's just, it just spits them out, right? Cause Billy Potter played very well and they're just calling on them all the way down the line. I think McInerney was in this lineup if I remember right, but like you still have,
01:02:17
Speaker
long again you still have fighting god i know i don't love him but at the same time i don't i acknowledge what his value is at the same time so they have four they have four hookers now that are worth a damn like as a hurricanes fan i'm pissed because i have none i have none they're all banged up both both both their hookers scored tries
01:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So bite me, Brumby. So Brumby's get it down to stay at the top of the table, which is probably going to change around a little bit. Once we get
Free Jacks and Team Performances
01:02:50
Speaker
to around 10 and we get to that super round in Melbourne, that'll be interesting. Start crossing the teams over here. Um,
01:02:57
Speaker
But then the beginning of round nine has already started because we had a game last night, conversation yesterday morning. I've not seen it though. I have. But I've seen the result. Yeah, I've watched it and
01:03:11
Speaker
I talked about him before. I really like Ruben Love. I really do. He played very well without, you know, Sam Shorty. Yep. Really good stuff. This, this is a team that knew what they did last time was not good enough. So they turned it around. They started. Here's the thing. They did the right things to start. They got to try it, but also when they had some kickable penalties, they decided, let's take the points for now because it bit them on the ass last time. And I don't have a problem with going for it, but.
01:03:38
Speaker
you also have to acknowledge the fact that you're down to Kirou Saimes who was nowhere near the starting hooker at the beginning of the season and now you're down to him. So your lineup might be a wee iffy and it's going to be probably challenged if Moana was smart and I know their mall defense is awful right now but
01:04:00
Speaker
um still they would be smart to challenge up in the air and right with a shaky with a new with a newish hooker and being a little shaky okay yep points on the board to start and then they started to build the score and then the scoreboard pressure gets starts to take over against um the the islander boys and eventually you know you start getting tries from everywhere teach your parinara read prince app like yeah just sign everybody up because they're gonna get one at that point
01:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's Beto's second in two games against more. Yeah. That'll do that'll do that'll do so. Yeah, it's it's good. Aidan Morgan, if this was not.
01:04:42
Speaker
this team, I wouldn't want him in there. If he was not playing one Pacific guy, I wouldn't want him in there yet. And I'm sure we'll see Jackson back up actually. Let's see, maybe the release didn't line up. Finally, hurricanes. But either way, yeah, let's get him back in there. Let's see. Oh yeah, because he was a, you know, Chiefs haven't either, so. No. Thanks guys. Jerks.
01:05:07
Speaker
We're trying to do something over here, man. Right. We'll see how it goes. Um, where the fuck is it?
01:05:13
Speaker
Damn, dude, yeah, that's disappointing. Okay, well, that's too bad. Anyway, yeah, that's, that's, that, that I don't, he's not ready and without needing to throw him into the fire yet, pump, pump the brakes just a tiny bit, just a tiny bit. And yeah, again, the, the usual suspects for Moana Pacifica are the ones that are doing it. Leliofano, Tuala, Amua, like, yep. Oh, the chief's lineup is out, by the way. Oh, good. Hopefully there's no surprises in there.
01:05:42
Speaker
Vyze back. That's good. Ooh, there you go. That's a good one. No, Peter Gus. Oh, geez. Bitch. Well, I mean, Luke Jacobson has been fine, but damn. I don't have him in any way like so. No same thing. I haven't been both of our leagues. So I'm kind of I got to go take care of business. Yeah. And the double team does not have him either. So.
01:06:01
Speaker
Okay, all right. Let's do a little whip around for the MLR and then get the hell out of this off this one and get on to the next one. Obviously, we'll start with the free jacks and their triumph over Seattle at home. Score flattered Seattle a little bit, honestly.
01:06:19
Speaker
I agree. Yeah, they got that late. They got that late one at the end there. I didn't feel like they, yeah. I mean, it felt like a win. I didn't feel like it was a struggle. Like I'm sure. Squeaky. Right. I'm sure what's his butt. Matthew is probably going to kill everybody on the team for letting that last one up. Right. Exactly. Yeah.
01:06:45
Speaker
Yeah, it was, it was, it was, they were, they were fairly well in control. And of course, you know, Seattle's not awful, but at the same time, like, I think we had this in the bag the whole way. Um, pretty much came out because they were scoring the free Jax for scoring at will, it seemed like just for fun. Um, but they didn't, they just, it almost like they didn't feel like it for most of the, like, I felt like they probably, they would have probably gone for bonus point had it been, you know, possible, like, or, or, you know, put the wind in jeopardy. So I'm glad that they kind of just didn't, but
01:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, no. Damn, that that slayed try. I thought it was Poland that was trailing because that was like the perfect scrum half line to run. But but no, it was your seven in the nine spot like.
01:07:35
Speaker
Beautiful spot for him to be beautiful thing. Paul Bellicana was back in the lineup after obviously. Here's the thing like we're missing some of our frickin usual wings to like, we know Barlow is going to be out for a while. Mitch Wilson was in this game. Yeah, and there's so there's still plenty, plenty to be calling upon here soon. So I'm really kind of played well. Yeah, he didn't know that now they have a week off.
01:08:00
Speaker
which is probably a good time for them to just chill out for a bit. We didn't even start Ken Roddy or Johnston, the mechanic.
01:08:12
Speaker
They both came off. They both were fun to watch. Yes. Yes. Agreed. And and good on holding younger for getting 50 games in the MLR is one of the few guys that have it now. So that's that's pretty cool. Thanks, Nola. Yeah. Thank you, Nola. He's a fantastic nine. I mean, he's the he's the backup, but that's only because Poland is that much better. Yeah. But younger it is. I mean, he's very good. This is a pairing that is just tasty. Absolutely.
01:08:42
Speaker
Hardly agree, and somebody should have talked Travis Larson into coming back this way. Yeah, right. Josh's brother. And then we had a quick conversation with Ben Landry afterwards, and I wanted to just be like, so you sure you didn't want to come back? Because it seems like this might have been the better option.
01:09:01
Speaker
He carried it. He carried that ankle injury the whole game too. He's freaking wackadoo with that. The guy we were sitting with, we were like, just run at six. And he's like, you guys are cruel. No, man. That's what you do. If you're going to stay out there as a wounded animal, you're going to get run at.
01:09:16
Speaker
Right. And simple. Oh man. He laughed. He was like, no, you're right. But he was like, you're trying to add insult to injury. And it's like, well, he's staying out there. So yeah, don't like go down, man. Yeah. I was, I was surprised he finished the match. Um, yeah, it was too. Uh, so, and then the rest of the league arrows beat. Oh, glory. Surprise. Everybody until glory right now. They are, they are the practice girl right now. Um,
01:09:42
Speaker
Nolah lost to rugby ATL. Nolah's not that good. They beat O'Glory twice, I think, and they beat CL. That's it. Houston beat Dallas. Dallas is terrible, but this is their first year, so what else is new? Legion fell to Austin in San Diego, so that's an interesting one to kind of note there for
01:10:03
Speaker
You know, the sake of the West and then certainly is rugby, New Jersey gets bageled out in the Coliseum. At least we didn't do that. Right. Jeez, that's not even like a close one, not even like a 12. Nothing else. Forty forty three. Nothing. Oh, man. Off the fucking field. Yikes. Mm hmm. We play down there again next, which I find weird. Yes, we do. That's stupid. That's annoying. And then we and then we play them here at the end of the year.
01:10:33
Speaker
That's fine. I'll play them twice. I'm good with that. I'm good with that. Yeah. And we play NOLA twice. I just wish they had mixed up the schedule a little bit so we could play. We could play San Diego one place or the other, preferably here so we could watch some of their guys.
01:10:52
Speaker
And if we're going to play a team three times, can it be all glory? Totally. Totally. I mean, I'm good with rugby, New Jersey, but but come on. Yeah. If it's easy listening. Sorry, not sorry. Yeah. All right. Cool. So there's that.
Fantasy Corner and Closing Remarks
01:11:10
Speaker
That's the Rugby Pod Pod. We will be heading over to the fancy corner in a hot minute here and we're going to try and reorganize ourselves for some of the new lineups that have been dropped finally. Thank you. But we'll head over there and yes, I did a good job of getting it up last time. So we're trying to do the exact same thing I did last time this time.
01:11:29
Speaker
But if you are not joining us up on the fantasy corner, we appreciate you for coming around and listening to us battle for a bit. We will catch you next week. Enjoy the Champions Cup. See how you're going to get fancy on the brain. Enjoy the Champions Cup second leg and all that comes with it. We'll catch you guys next week. Have a good one. Later.