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Season 6- Episode 28- You Sir, Are the Joke (Premiership Round 17 & Super Rugby Round 12)
51 Plays1 year ago
It was a big weekend in the rugby universe so it was a big episode for us. On this episode with those American rugby dummies, we are talking about the penultimate round of the Prem regular season, where teams sit, what are their chances of a semi-final and who needs the sack in a couple weeks time. Then it's a hop down to Super Rugby as their season gets to the business end as well and what in the world is happening with some of the teams shooting far below expectations? It's also a return to the PWR, we recap the happening at the Gardens with England stars returning to their clubs. All this, some stupid stuff about a commencement and so much more. Kick back and join us friends!
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Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
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
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Transcript
Introduction and Support
00:00:05
Speaker
It is the Fantasy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody handled that. A collusion. Hey everybody, welcome back. It is the Fantasy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke.
00:00:33
Speaker
Let's go. I'm Ben Glauser. You're here, there, and everywhere. Yeah. Which means I'm popping this right now. Find us on your favorite podcast app. Share. Download rate review. Be back. You're always welcome per usual. Also make sure to let other podcasters know how to pronounce my name. Use clothes. That's all right.
00:01:01
Speaker
He's a lot closer than he could have been yeah, no True that's actually like it's funny is there's Yeah, obviously there's multiple branches of the glowsers were fucking everywhere but like so my grandfather's brother His family does say like his descendants called the closers so
00:01:27
Speaker
You know, not the way I pronounce it, but it is an acceptable pronunciation. It got about halfway there. Maybe 40% there. Yeah. Make sure that you buy our good friend, the right fantasy, where we geek, a coffee or beer. Busy man as we all are these days. He never missed that. He feels the love and gets the reward for his hard work. Good lad. As always, there is no discrimination here on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life. Well,
00:01:56
Speaker
There isn't sports in life this week. Of course it's graduation season for schools and colleges and so on and so forth.
Controversial Remarks on Women
00:02:08
Speaker
And it means there's people invited to make speeches and there's a lot of little tiny colleges here in the United States and sometimes they just reach for straws and find some asshat that is only famous because he kicks a ball. It literally only kicks a ball. It doesn't do anything else.
00:02:25
Speaker
then do anything else, doesn't hit a ball, doesn't throw a ball, kicks a ball, that's it. Nope, definitely does not. Doesn't catch a ball, just kicks it. He's a fucking kicker. Doesn't tackle, no. Idiot. Those of you that are old enough to remember this idiot kicker, if anybody remembers the name Mike Vander Jack, congratulations. You're at least as old as Ben and I are.
00:02:54
Speaker
But that was funny because he was a great kicker. He was a great kicker and actually earned the right to be a little shitty about it. But, yeah, Peyton put him in his place. Yeah, Pat Mahomes needs to have a chat with his kicker.
00:03:10
Speaker
because the other thing is like I don't know that they would expect that like it's a you're a kicker like you kind of you invite like a middle linebacker you invite you know like a strong safety and you maybe expect some toxic masculinity stupidity just moronitude like you know you invited Ray Lewis he's gonna say some wild fucking shit
00:03:31
Speaker
You invite a kicker. You're like, oh, this guy's just happy to be here. Nope. Let's do the old hold my gear thing and watch what happens because the shit that unfolded out of this dude's mouth. Yeah. Talking about how women should be more excited to be wives and mothers than to
Toxic Masculinity in Rugby
00:03:46
Speaker
graduate college, which is the most absurd thing I've ever heard in my fucking life. You're allowed to be excited about both, by the way. He doesn't have to be one or the other.
00:03:53
Speaker
Um, and just sounds like he, uh, intimidates the shit out of his wife because she's probably not allowed to do fuck all the way he's talking about her. The stupid thing is this guy's mother has like a blossoming career of her own as a physicist and like where he picked out this idea. I can't imagine he picked out this up from his mother. Maybe I'm telling tales out of school here. I don't know, but like what in the actual fuck, you know,
00:04:25
Speaker
There is a remarkable run of like super conservative Christianity among athletes, especially football players. It kind of feeds into the toxic masculinity that goes into it.
00:04:43
Speaker
It's just weird that they would, you know, I don't know.
Rugby Expectations and Observations
00:04:48
Speaker
That's the funny thing is like in the world of like, you know, for someone who's this big on again, that toxic masculinity, you're the kicker. Like you get shit on by the entire team, like in that kind of regard, like nobody gives a shit about you. All you do is kick, shut the fuck up. Like don't fuck up. That's your job is to not fuck up.
00:05:10
Speaker
Because you don't do enough. That's literally all you have to do is practice kicking the football. You better hit every field goal. There's no reason not to, unless there's a bad hold or a bad snare. Unless the timing gets a little messed up, OK. There's some times when it's acceptable. But other than that, it's not like the fly-off who also kicks. There's a difference. It's totally different. You just come onto the field for one play.
00:05:36
Speaker
you know two plays in a row you kick make your field goal or your extra point and then you kick sometimes they don't even do that sometimes the punter does that and then you sit down for 20 minutes yeah exactly like you might be on the field for you know you know maybe if your team is doing really well you're on the field for a dozen plays yep that's it and you're just kicking it
00:06:00
Speaker
So like these guys, you know, it's it's hilarious the way, you know, having played college football, even like it's fun to shit on a kick. Even if you like the guy, it's just it's fun. So like this guy is the lowest in the food chain and acting like he's, you know, big strong. Like of all things, it's like the hilarity of it.
00:06:26
Speaker
the double standard there. Like, yeah, you want to be a big man and tell women in their place. Like, first off, shut the fuck off. But second off, like- You're a kicker. Shut your face. Who the fuck do you think you are? Nobody cares, dude. Yeah. Yeah. I mean- Your wife's probably tougher than you are.
00:06:47
Speaker
It's, it's one, it's one more reason for me to dislike city chiefs. Anyway, whole, whole city, whole city of Kansas city can just go fuck off, but you know, different server, different day. We can, we can approach that another time.
Fantasy Rugby Updates and Challenges
00:07:03
Speaker
Right. There's more, there's, there's actual sports. Harrison, but your goes on a hot iron speck, um, spike, whatever it is. Um, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Whatever.
00:07:15
Speaker
Sit on it. Something as hot, something as iron. Just sit on it. Make sure that you grab our Patreon as well. Sheets should be... Are they out yet? They're out, yes. Okay, the super rugby's out. Obviously, I'm waiting on lineups for the prem. But since there's no Friday games, it's everything's on Saturday, you'll have that with plenty of time to set your team. Speaking of, let's go.
00:07:44
Speaker
to the, to the return of the prem. Uh, we'll go up to sale first. I know here's what I'm sure happened with Lester for a lot of things. Like they probably had some guys on the fence about continuing on and playing and, you know, going under the knife or at least wrestling and getting themselves in better shape for going forward.
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah. He's like, once they lost that, they were just like, yep, you're, you can go do what you need to do. Whether it's a minor surgery or a major surgery, just go get it done. And then we can address it later. Right. So left them in a less than ideal situation for a lot of, for a few places at least. Um, yeah. And they've, they've got huge problems in terms of,
00:08:38
Speaker
the health of their back three, this, you know, and, and Brownie was suspended from the other week. So that didn't help either. Brown. Wait, who was suspended? Yeah. Oh, right. Right. And that's why shellcock was at wing. Yeah. When Jamie shellcock's at wing, you got, you've got problems. Nice scenic Dolly back. And he's still, they still played all right. I mean, but still nice to see Nick Dolly back. Like, yeah, it's a bad day.
00:09:06
Speaker
It's a bad day. Exactly. Yeah. When when I saw who like, um, yeah, definitely one of those. Oh, yeah, more scores. Sam James scores. You're that's not. No. Although that was that was actually a quality score. That wasn't like, you know, the Sam James one was like, OK, Sam James, like he was just the finisher. Like, what the hell? Like you're letting him just walk it in. That's not good. War actually did real good work to and was smart. That was off of them.
00:09:37
Speaker
You know, Tooey actually being Tooey, but okay, so here's where that fucked up. Why would you have Ollie Hassell Collins standing on the tracks against Tooey Laggy? What the fuck are they thinking? Dan Kelly and Matt Scott out there who should be faced up against this guy no matter what. Right. That's their job.
00:10:00
Speaker
Right. And you put a house of Collins who gets a yellow, not only does he get trucked, leading to a good little bit of go forward in the tackle. Should have been more, honestly, if Tui was the Tui that we all remember. That was a try there. But instead, he still gets good go forward. And then, who was it? Was it Martin who was then forced to be outside or maybe it was- Yeah, or one of those two. Well, it was either one. One of the two.
00:10:29
Speaker
scrum capped locks. And then that just gives war an opening right there for a try like good job spotting it and running through it. But but then and then also hustle cons gets the yellow because he went high. Because he's not it's not his job. He doesn't stand on the tracks. Which where he shouldn't they shouldn't put him in that position to be there in the first place. You're right. Right.
00:10:55
Speaker
So yellow, you know, try and yellow card, just awful. You know, that's the result you get. And that was kind of the game in a lot of ways. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know how they say in a baseball game? I'm mentioning that because I'm watching the Phillies play right now, but like the first batter kind of sets the tone. Yeah, that was like the similar. That was it right there. That kind of sets the tone for the game. Like, yeah, you did your best last year, but it's not going to know.
00:11:21
Speaker
If Tui was the guy that we thought he was, or that people think he is, he was trying to get around the corner. I think Kerry Wells got him. I was just like, that's not the guy that people think he is. And no disrespect to Kerry Wells, but Tui should be able to get away from him, trying to get around the corner and could not. So it spoke. Again, no disrespect to him, but he's not the best lock.
00:11:48
Speaker
Because that's the way Tui used to be. He used to be the guy who could run over you or run around you. And now he can still run over you a little bit if you're Ollie Hustle Collins, but he can't run around well. Like, yeah, it's not important. You know, that's not why you guys getting paid and, you know, good for him. He's getting he's going, you know, and it was cool to, you know, clap everybody off, you know, Sam James, Tui, get their moments, you know, good to see them get theirs. And then obviously Tommy Taylor.
00:12:18
Speaker
He's been around. How old is I know it still looks like he's in his 20s, but he's been around for like, yes. Yeah. I was starting to say I went to wasp. There's like, it's 150 and then back to sale. Right. Mm hmm. I'd forgotten that he was a sale before wasps. I doubt. Yeah, but he's there for a while. Shit. Yeah, I am. I am scared of what
00:12:48
Speaker
Lester's going to do next year. And it sounds like they have Paris coming in, which is going to help them. Um, that'll be helpful. But what are they going to do without Jasper? Like, I don't know who their answer is. Maybe the kind of kid we'll see. Um, they got a couple other younger guys that maybe the answer, but man, they are,
Gloucester's Struggles and Analysis
00:13:11
Speaker
they're gonna be in trouble in the back row a little bit. They've,
00:13:16
Speaker
Leibnberg and Raphael do their jobs to the max. They're not number eight. I think Leibnberg's probably the likely is to fill it to start, but then who do you put in his spot? Yeah. Questions should be answered for sure. Yeah. For them. Dan McKelvie's got his work cut out for him.
00:13:39
Speaker
Right. So let me see. Hold on. I'm going. I'm just was typing and I'm going to see who who might be coming in. Yes, a pretty see Nicky Smith. Yeah. Nick Dolly's going back home. Matt Scott's for. Yeah, they're. They're going to be in trouble unless they have some people coming through the pipe or they just have yet to
00:14:06
Speaker
Who knows? Major announcements. I don't know what to do with that. Up to the tune and get really didn't get myself a chance to catch a ton of this match, but sounds like Newcastle made it interesting for a bit. Yeah, I mean, Beth did not play well for drugs.
00:14:30
Speaker
But I mean, and right. They scored four. Like that was it. They got their four tries in the first half and they were like, they were good. It was not. Yeah. Oh, I haven't seen his try, though. I don't know if you saw that. I can watch it and watch the highlights. Goof. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah, you can just watch the highlights. There's not really not much else to see in this game. It was not a it was not a fun game to watch. Let's put it that way.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, Coconuts, he got like, first off, he had already gotten smooshed by, hold on, who smooshed him? I'm trying to get, I'm going back to the lineups. Might've been Ben Redshaw, got him, good.
00:15:16
Speaker
Um, on the, on the touch line. And then, um, he wasn't having that and he, he struck us worst, like two or that's how we're going to play it. Yeah. Oh, it's like that. All right. I see how it is. Let's do this. Um, yeah. So that, that was the entertaining, that was the entertainment of the, of the day. Yeah. So, I mean, they did the job they needed to do.
00:15:40
Speaker
And sometimes that's the best thing you can ask for. Right, exactly. And then they kind of just packed it in. Nobody came away with injuries, did they? At their five-point win. Haven't heard anything, so. I don't believe so. A positive sign. Because like, let me see. They were like, hold on. I think they pulled some people. Like, Barbie came off 50 minutes under Hill at 66. Finn came off at 72. Pulled their valuable assets away.
00:16:06
Speaker
And then the rest of that back line. Exactly. The rest of the back line played all 80. Like there he goes. Good. Yeah. The front row came off in the fifties. Um, they're good. Let's go to the Saturday games. We had some dudes eyes for sure.
00:16:28
Speaker
I mean, it was a fricking nailblader. Um, so we'll join the echo chamber on the whole skips thing, because I think it's, I think it's worth mentioning. And if they don't win this challenge cup, this is a disastrous season for them. And it skips fault. There's nobody else. I mean, yes, they've got some injuries, but like,
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah. Even to start the season, like they, so even rewind, let's put it this way, rewind it back to the beginning three weeks when Saracens were, um, pretty poor. And right. Yeah. What they just totally spit the bit against us. And it was like, Oh,
00:17:20
Speaker
Well, it also didn't help that. I mean, I can't remember one of the props knocked out Mercer. Still, that can't be the end of your freaking game. That didn't help. Zack Mercer is an extremely special player. I think most of us would admit that. But that can't be the end of your game plan. That's the end of your game plan, then just... No. Yeah. You're really screwing up. You really are. And I... Right.
00:17:46
Speaker
And I can see, like, I can see being like, yeah, we're going to see, we're going to see our, our young guys see what they can do. But it's like, dude, what are they, what after, hold on. When was the, I mean, yeah, for banks was like right off, literally right off the bat. Um, and then it just didn't take long. It took, and they, they beat the clock. They beat the block. Like that is never good. Yeah. I 10.
00:18:16
Speaker
It's just at some point you got to realize that no, that was not the right call. Good to see Jack Reeves getting a start. He is clearly not up to it right now. Prim. Right. That's the problem because now you get like Charlie Atkinson.
00:18:33
Speaker
played at, he didn't play poorly, but at the same time, what, you know, there's nobody around him to help. Josh Hathaway is first off is a baller. Um, so like, yeah, that's, that to me, that's what you noticed out of this Atkinson showed up. Hathaway showed up Reeves is just, I don't think he's ever going to be that guy at this point. Um, but you know, do you know what you have in two weeks? No, no, no mysteries there. Right? Like,
00:19:06
Speaker
And, you know, Clark and Thomas are decent, but your locks aren't going to win you or this game. They're not going to really help that much. So what are you doing? And, you know, what are you doing with Stephen Varney making it like just getting his ass kicked? Like not. Not good, just not a good look.
00:19:23
Speaker
They better win this match in two weeks. Because the thing is Gloucester on paper aren't that bad, so fucking play your guys. He was lauded when he came in and had a pretty good first season, maybe two. And it has tumbled off the edge of the table. It really has. And it's been, I mean, ninth place in a 10 team league where you have a new castle.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, the funny thing is that they were saying if if Gloucester do win the the Challenge Cup, it will be their most trophy season in like decades. Yeah. But it's like because they won the prime cup. Those are not that's not the double you want. It's not a bad double, but that's not the double you want. Right. You want the second. You want the second year? Like that's not good. And your first. Yeah, your first sight at four wins all season. That's not.
00:20:17
Speaker
You know five if they beat so which we don't then yeah, he definitely needs a sack I Don't care what's the next week, right? I Don't care Yeah, let's go the gate I Was definitely nervous watching this game
00:20:39
Speaker
Um, by the way, fucking the deal with Fox for rugby network is garbage. If it's behind that paywall, I was able to fool the computer enough times that it gave me two, one hour previews and I was able to split two halves down, down each.
00:20:57
Speaker
I was way out of patience for the day. I had just come from watching film with the kids. So two teams of kids watching film and listening to them chatter behind my ears, trust me, I was fresh out of patience. Plus the screening, maybe. Mix that one in. Mix that one in. Yeah, exactly.
00:21:20
Speaker
for, let's look at Bristol real quick and pretend that we don't give a shit about the other team. And obviously they started hot. They had, uh, Joe Battley's try. They got, they got to attend nothing league pretty quickly.
Saracens' Offensive Excellence
00:21:34
Speaker
Probably on that second one. Yeah, for sure. And then. Sad. No, I think even on the first, the first more than the second, because at least the second was during a yellow, which you understand and Saracens weren't taking
00:21:50
Speaker
good advantage of that yellow up until they finally died down with Morrow, but. Right. But that, you know, again, that was right after, that was two minutes after the sad field goal. So what are you doing? Um, but I guess my, my point being that, you know, even, even Oz. Who needs to shut up.
00:22:12
Speaker
First off, I love that Flats was just putting him in his place and basically got him to shut the fuck up for the most of the match, which is great just to stow his bullshit. But like, you know, I was just noticing, hey, this Saracens team is not there. They're not box kicking. They're running there. They're in this to score points. And he noticed it before Bristol noticed it. And that's kind of the problem is that, you know, the thing with
00:22:41
Speaker
that style of play. And they had to, because that's the way, I mean, that's the way the Bristol normally play, is they're going, you know, they're going for it. And that's what that's what makes them them. And that's what, you know, pet lamb likes to do. It's going to score points eventually, especially with the fucking talent that Saracens have up and down the field. So Bristol should have known that they're going to this is not this is not a field goal kicking game. This is a try scoring game.
00:23:08
Speaker
And like I said, they kicked those two sad field goals and then Sarri's finally clicked a couple of times. And then by the time Bristol really got going again, it was, yeah, I'm not too late. How about I want to talk about one more period for Bristol, but first half first. Um, yeah, yeah. Big stand for the Saracens end of the half, uh, got it, got it to turn around and we're able to
00:23:40
Speaker
just kind of shut the whole thing down.
00:23:43
Speaker
And then the 22, 22 from Farrell, he stopped goal kicking for cause something was bothering him. I don't know what foot or what leg I presume it was a straight leg. Maybe not because he put a fricking house or into there. I think it was a plant leg. That's how it's her downfield. And I, I'm not sure anybody expected that. So that's why it was able to hit it so far and do it. But it was in, yeah, it turned it, I believe it turned into one of the Maro tries as well. So.
00:24:11
Speaker
Oh, I think, yeah, if you want to try, um, but then we have second half fucking tower comes on for McGinty, which hopefully AJ is okay. That sucks. Well, why? I don't understand that because that's been happening.
00:24:27
Speaker
I mean, he must be, this must be like a, I mean, he, he was hurt early, you know, earlier this year. No, Asia was banged up when he was, he was not walking well. So he came off, uh, for precautionary reasons. Obviously they don't want him breaking. Williams is an okay 10. It's, you know, it's, this is going to be their problem going forward. Even, you know, Shidi hasn't really stepped up to it, but still like not having a proper 10.
00:24:53
Speaker
James Williams is a good center, he's probably not a great 10 though, so that being kind of an issue. But nonetheless, they only get one score, Harry Thacker, of course, out of that double yellow card period. And shortly after that, daily,
00:25:18
Speaker
gets a, another long kick at goal, which he is able to convert. And that kind of just tones down the, the tribes from, you know, seven to four terms of your differential. Like, I'm sure Pat Lamb is looking at that. And it wasn't like, uh,
00:25:34
Speaker
15 minutes where you had five and five, and then a five minute in the middle where you had two off. It was about nine minutes of two guys on the bend. And that is like, oh man, that is a gold mine usually. And they did absolutely nothing with it. Right. And I also, I need someone to explain to me what Earl did wrong. Someone heard Oz moaning, that's all I can tell you.
00:26:02
Speaker
Because there were there was an earlier like a couple times earlier where I think it was Randall got a steel where he put clearly put hands on the deck to brace himself like he was off his feet. Very inconsistent. So yeah. And so it's like
00:26:21
Speaker
Right. And so I'm just like, I don't I don't see what Earl did wrong there and certainly not why it was a yellow. I don't like that to me just looked like a good turnover. But obviously, like I said, like you said, it didn't really matter, because at that point, you know, especially after Elliot Daly kicks that other that pique and now it's like all that work to get the seven. Now you got to go back to work again yourself and body scores.
00:26:51
Speaker
put it just a little bit out of reach. And then Lucio Sinti, he knew what he was doing to he he and Argentinian one of the most mobile props in the world, but he's still a fucking prop. And he knew it. He's like, I got you, dude. And he fucking scared him and he knew exactly where he was going. Because you're
00:27:10
Speaker
Right. So over an hour into the game at that point, every prop is big time. It doesn't matter what. Yeah. And he's like, I'm just going to, you know, make it look like I'm going in. So this, this, this, this second defender, you know, commits to his guy. Well, now I'm just going to run through that. Yeah. And on he is one of the fastest out there. Bar Ben Earl, honestly, he really is like,
00:27:37
Speaker
This, this, but this trio though, of Gonzo Earl Willis. It is. God, it's tasty. It is, it is. And that just kind of pretty much came out of nowhere in a way. Well, Saracen saw that right on the wall for the Venupolos, at least Pilly, especially. Yeah. Yes. Bye, Billy. Don't let the door hit you with the dog. Should've got you. And listen, overall,
00:28:06
Speaker
I want to talk about gonzo in a second, but, um, overall, I have, you and I have enjoyed a lot of what the Vinopolos have done on the field, especially Mako and Billy, um, and to an extent, Matt and Matt too. I liked when Matt came on in a couple of years, he's definitely shown some, some really good stuff. Um, not set, not, you know, I don't regret any of it. It was, it's always been fun.
00:28:31
Speaker
Um, we know that the turning, the page is going to turn soon here at the end of the season with a lot of things. And there may be some growing pains, but I appreciate, this is why you celebrate those, those, those titles, those trophies, because you don't know how long it's going to last. You never do. Look at the Patriots. They, they're just now and just pooping all over themselves and all over Foxborough after, you know, being the best dynasty ever.
Vinopola Brothers' Impact
00:28:56
Speaker
You celebrate it. Trying to be a dickhead about it. Steven Jones.
00:29:01
Speaker
Um, right. And then enjoy it. And then when things move on, you live with the memories because it was fun. You know, you and I were watching the Newcastle final down in Newport after, after a day, after a day at a tournament. And, you know, those are the types of memories that obviously I'm going to have with, you know, this group of guys that.
00:29:22
Speaker
are here. Obviously, we went over to England a couple of years, a couple of falls ago and had ourselves a blast and got some great pictures with some really awesome guys. Yeah. It's just good teams though. Do they do reload? That's kind of what the Saracens are doing here. You're still having most of this lineup is coming back.
00:29:51
Speaker
I think the only one who's leaving out of this specific lineup, I mean, Mako of the starters, anyway, Mako's gone. Yep. And Farrell's gone. And yeah, Farrell, no, not to question, I don't play Farrell. Huge, huge loss. Yet, Fergus Burke, Louis Johnson are gonna come in, and yeah, like you said, there's gonna be growing pains there. But having a back row like this,
00:30:18
Speaker
And you still have some decent guys not in this back row that are still not quite getting playing time. They've got the depth there. It's going to make a lot of things easier.
00:30:30
Speaker
you'll get a lot of opportunities to do good things. Fergus. I really want to hammer home Gonzo again one more time, though, because we said it before, and I'll say it again. Irish, what were you doing ever benching this guy? Bar the fact that he might be hurt or, you know, he was away. That's it. Like, no other reason to bench this guy. Why were you playing knuckleheads like Cracknell and Rodgerson and Toosui over this guy? Please explain it to me like I'm two years old. Like, what the fuck?
00:31:01
Speaker
Like it should have been him and Pearson unquestionably in that back row forever. Absolutely. And I have no idea what the fuck they were doing, but neither did they, apparently, because they're not even in existence anymore. Right. Yeah, this is me. This is how much I care about it. I don't. Their loss is our game. So fine. Oh, the butt crack.
Harlequins' Strategy Failures
00:31:29
Speaker
I. Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
I don't know what to say for the sake of quins, honestly. The fuck was that? Yeah, they just laid a poop. Like 21, 21 and a half. And not only that, but you were up right before half. The shitty try.
00:31:52
Speaker
at halftime by Dan John that they left through and then letting Skinner go like right away. Right. Boom. Fourteen points in literally two minutes. One right before. Right at half. Talk about becoming irrelevant because someone scores. Fucking Harvey Skinner. Like what the fuck? Right. Fantastic. That was a sweet try. That was a good try. Shouldn't have been allowed. No. And and then especially the like almost the.
00:32:19
Speaker
It was kind of like obscene. That last try for the line, a try that like now you're going to choose to be like to follow her. Like why aren't you? Yeah, they played way too buttoned down and it's like, dude, you realize you're playing for playoffs? Do you know where you are in the standings like?
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah, not not a good showing from from Quinn's. And, you know, to be to be fair, extra played like they're in the position that they were in. So that's what they want. If we're honest to which they need to. Right. And Queens did not. There was no urgency whatsoever to Quinn's game.
00:33:05
Speaker
Until like that, and that's, I guess, where that, you know, we're talking about with that last, the literally last minute try, because it was like, oh, now you show some urgency. You need to show urgency like 20 minutes ago. 40 points down. Where the fuck is this? They got their bonus points and they would have been, you know, probably better off to get a second bonus point, putting themselves in the driver's seat for this weekend, potentially, depending on how much money went otherwise.
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah, and now it's like now it's now you're really quite an interesting picture. We got here with three, four, five, six and seven. And I mean. Absolutely. And not only that, but Bristol and Harley play each
Playoff Prospects and League Debate
00:33:48
Speaker
other. So one of them's out. Absolutely out. That's that's a win and you might get in.
00:33:56
Speaker
And then you're rooting for Lester. Not awesome. That's not a good place to be. There's nothing wrong with rooting for Lester, Duncan. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that if you're pitting your season on it. And they have one for the beach. Lester beating Exeter. And that's how it is. Yeah, exactly.
00:34:18
Speaker
Um, and you know, and pieces bags probably packed. And it's going to be very interesting. And we'll talk about, um, and we do pick them in the second part here, but it'll be interesting. You have North Hampton who are going to definitely be playing for a home semi-final that are for the top spot for the top spot though. They don't have potentially bath or whatever. They want the best match that they can possibly have. So they won't name super full noise, but there's also a week break.
00:34:45
Speaker
coming up as well. Cause we have champions cup final, right? So they may name a damn near full squad. I don't know. That is a bath. They're going to have to try and edge into a bonus point somehow to secure the spot. Um, sale obviously are traveling to stone X, which is not really a picnic.
00:35:07
Speaker
It's, it's really interesting. Right. And then, then saris are still playing backs against the wall. Cause again, they can't, you know, and since all these matches kick off at the same time, that's, that's the best part is Saracen's have to play like bath or getting a bonus point win. And really they just, they gotta, they gotta get the dub, which means they have to, they need, they need to win. Right. Um,
00:35:31
Speaker
So they're going to be playing for the win, which doesn't bode well for sale. That mean that that's your opening right there. But again, now you have Exeter sitting there ahead of you. So. Not not good places to be for. And so the tiebreakers are wins. Bath has 10. So that's kind of a. That's kind of the one for their sake, quintet nine.
00:35:57
Speaker
which is really not awesome. So they're gonna need some help. They're gonna need help. That's bottom line for that. And then you're looking at point differential. So like Saracen's at 145, that's pretty solid obviously. Sail is only at 16, which is less than good, because they did let Lester kind of crawl back in that match a tiny bit, a tiny bit. Exeter at 93, fairly solid. Quinn's at minus nine, that's not awesome. And then Bristol at 119.
00:36:28
Speaker
They also have 10 wins as well though. So interesting happenings this last weekend. I do think that one of the only reasons that we're at this super exciting ending, there's no denying it, but the only reason that we're here is because of the number of teams. It's not, if we were in a 12 team league, I think this would be a little bit, we'd be looking at like probably five and six at most trying to play in not five, six, seven and six might be generous. Um,
00:36:58
Speaker
Right. Because there really are only two poo teams in this, you know, and Lester have been a little Yeah, they hit a decline. I mean, you can look at their form table over here. They've lost the last three. Yeah. Right. And there's only there's only three teams that have losing records. Yeah. Mm hmm. That's ridiculous.
00:37:22
Speaker
And of course, if you had, if, you know, we're back up to that 12 team league, the talent, the talent pool would be, you know, thinned. And there would just be a little bit, you know, be different. Like you said, like Gonzo wouldn't be with Saracens, that would kind of lessen them. But I don't think that that might part into like, you know, a couple of the guys would be a little bit different for them. But some of the teams have benefited greatly from it. So who knows?
00:37:52
Speaker
It's, it's like, yeah, this, I do like the 10 team league. Um, and it is making it that much more exciting. If they can, if we're on, if we're honest though, a strong 12 team league is obviously way better. Like there's no denying that, but even before these teams went belly up, wasn't necessarily that strong of a league. Yeah. I think most people admit that.
00:38:18
Speaker
Let's jump over. Yeah, we're going.
Chiefs and Reds' Performance Highlights
00:38:21
Speaker
All right. Should we head down under? To discover much of what happened at Mount Smart Stadium. No. I mean, the Chiefs just thumped him from the start. It was not like, you know, when you're making Josh Jacob a look like he's just pulling the strings.
00:38:45
Speaker
Not not good. The party like a rock star. Not good. Although, you know, I was wrong and I think I got it exactly backwards because I think to to pay. I was the best. Who knew? Center. Leonard. But of course, he's the closest one. So he and he had all sorts of gaps to run through. And Tawala played like crap. But he also he's out of position. Like they, you know, they play guys out of, you know, Tawala has been much better.
00:39:13
Speaker
As the 15 now, he's drawing 13 if he needs to be somewhere in the midfield, honestly at most. Yeah Yeah, just not Not a well-constructed team from Moana and they played like it and Yep, Jesus took it to him. It was yep. It was ugly so over to Brizzy and
00:39:38
Speaker
I, so I turned, I went to work late Friday and actually got to catch part of this match as I started and the rebels were killing it. And I'm like, huh, this is weird. I didn't think this would happen. Little did I know that they would just decide to spit the bed a little bit. And I was like, Oh, okay. This looks more like it as the red started to just turn it on and, you know, jock Campbell scored and McRite scored and freaking
00:40:06
Speaker
Uh, Tim Ryan score, like Jesus, I was like, here we go. This looks more like it. And I know they got kind of a charity one at the end to make it look a little interesting and get that bonus point loss, but like, damn dude, like they, after the first, I don't know, 25 minutes, just all over themselves. Yeah. Cause Festler got a, got a pretty standard try. Like that wasn't like a, Oh wow. Dominance. It was just like, yeah, okay. That's, you know, standard hooker. Try over there.
00:40:38
Speaker
Right. You know, exactly, literally exactly as you drew it up. But. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If I'm Kevin. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the thing is, you know, we're talking about teams folding. Rebels don't know what the fuck's going on with their team. Which is not helpful. So that can't be helpful, that kind of distraction. This is the kind of stuff that will happen.
00:41:06
Speaker
You lose a game like this. You probably. That like you shouldn't have, you know, going into it, you probably didn't have it as a win, but you're going to give it, you know, it's one of those we're give it our all, see what happens. And then it's happening and then you just can't finish his again. Yeah, that's not a fun feeling. I think that's not good. Even if it, you know, so, you know, subconsciously is living in your brain. That's not a fun feeling at all at all. Yeah.
00:41:37
Speaker
Over to Eden
Blues' Playmaking and Highlanders' Strength
00:41:39
Speaker
Park. Speaking of not fun feelings. Blah. How you doing big guy? Now, with me saying this, it doesn't change the way things unfolded and doesn't mean that we deserved less or more. James Dolman can suck it. Like he is trash. But I will say this. There's one player I was thinking about this whole match and how he is just
00:42:05
Speaker
played so well in what was not expected to be his role, but has been, and that's Harry Plummer for the Blues. Yeah. Shockingly well at that 10 role. Did not have that on my bingo board to start the year, but he's been really good and obviously off the tee, he's been brilliant. So that's helpful. I'm sitting here thinking, if we're honest, like the Harry Plummer from like two years ago doesn't hit the kicks he hit in this game.
00:42:34
Speaker
And to this game, he's just like, I miss a ball. I'm like, motherfucker. Can you miss one, please? I need that. But it was, yeah, it was deserved for their sake. Um, I think the hurricanes did some silly things and got where they went for a reason. Uh, walk away where I made a couple of knuckleheaded decisions. Um,
00:43:00
Speaker
And the interruptions were super unhelpful too. No Billy right off the bat. No Lomax right off the bat. I mean, God, they had Lomax's picture on the fucking graphic. That's how late that was. And then no Delaney, who's been brilliant as a lock this year. I think he's on the cusp of being picked the all box. He's actually been that good for them.
00:43:25
Speaker
So yeah, you have guys coming in late. That's really annoying. You know, Riley Higgins was not playing. I'm playing in this match at all. Ben Grant, same thing. Right. And they're down to fourth to string hookers. O'Reilly's back this week, which is good. But like, you know, overall.
00:43:42
Speaker
Did we do ourselves justice? No. But honestly, if you look at things on paper, and I know Blues have had their share of guys, they don't have Rico, they don't have Perafetta, but the last minute change is really just can fuck with you sometimes. And the fact that they were able to knuckle down and put in a shift and get
00:43:59
Speaker
Get it to the point where they could possibly win. TJ did not want to come off with this game, by the way. That's the thing. Right. You don't have Rico for the Blues, but you're putting AJ Lamb in there who is not bad. Not bad. Whereas you don't have Delaney. OK, now Sangster is in. And again, Sangster is not terrible. But if you want to talk about comparison-wise, Lamb is a much better center than Sangster is as a lock. You're losing a lot there.
00:44:29
Speaker
Guys dropping late, it's not helpful in that situation. Although, did you see the news about the kids re-signing?
00:44:39
Speaker
Shields, Flanders, Tosi, and Jose all are assigned to your extensions. So they're coming back for through 2027, all four. A couple of them could probably be in the mix with the All Blacks, and obviously if the success of this season keeps going that direction, then I'm all right with this. The hurricanes are still in second, which means if things were to go all chalk,
00:45:07
Speaker
you won't see the blues till the last game. Um, if the, but if things go chalk, where to go chalk in the playoff, then it means we go back there for another one. And I'm okay with that. Yeah. Right. Uh, I'll just 32 crusaders 29. Wow. Shocking and just, I don't know what the fuck is up with the crusaders. This was another one where
00:45:38
Speaker
I mean, the Highlanders were kicking their ass early. It wasn't quite on the scoreboard. I think it was close at half, but the way the two teams were playing could not have been more. Although, to be fair, the Fakatava yellow, yeah, they scored, what was it? It was re-scored, McLeod scored.
00:46:07
Speaker
I don't think anybody else scored off. That's enough. But still, that's enough. They let up two tries. But other than that, it was the Fakatava and Offom show. Those guys were murdering out there. Very good games. I was impressed.
00:46:23
Speaker
That that Gregan ball that Fakatava threw and I can't remember who ran through the gap, but it was one of the back gorges. Yeah. Oh, maybe you might be right. And just they were they were. Yeah, they were they were put on a scrum half clinic. Well, we'll see in the two of them. Yeah. And then I mean, the game was made a little bit closer with the last springer try, but I. Mm hmm.
00:46:52
Speaker
I wonder if maybe they just weren't comfortable. I'm talking about the Highlanders. They weren't super comfortable with throwing Cameron Miller out there right away. But I also feel like now having seen what I've seen and when he's given the nod, he's okay. And we've talked about it before, living with mistakes from young halfbacks. I think you got to roll with him and then plan on having him as your 10 next year as well.
00:47:24
Speaker
I think so. He was, he was fantastic. This was a great game for him. I mean, they've really, they have developed, they have come a long way since the beginning of the season. Let's, let's be honest about that. Yeah. They had an okay beginning and then they hit that huge dip in the middle of the season where they just didn't seem, they couldn't get out of their own way. Now, now it's been better.
00:47:50
Speaker
And they're coming, they're getting, they're putting some shit together. Like it's, they're building towards something. That's good to see. I mean, you know, you know, they're not going to be out for very long. It's not going to be a long-term thing for them. Um, but yeah, if Miller is what he's showing to be good news for them. Yeah. Good to see Cody Taylor back. Yeah.
00:48:12
Speaker
Certainly, he played a lot better than David Avili did. Yeah, Curry Taylor still might be one of my favorite hookers in world rugby. So I do enjoy watching him play. So I was personally glad to very glad to see him back.
Waratahs and Force Match Analysis
00:48:29
Speaker
Toss and Brumby's this I think will be another one that the TOS go. What do we do? What do we do wrong? Like this was
00:48:41
Speaker
This was a good game at halftime and it just seemed like they pissed it away again.
00:48:51
Speaker
I think the problem is that they're just not doing it. You might be right for a lot of reasons. I mean, Jack DiPercini on the other side shouldn't be the one beating you, but he kind of was. And it's funny because I felt like even recently they were better than they are, but I'm just at that point where it's like they're just not... I don't like Will Harrison that much, but again, how old are you? So he's not that old.
00:49:11
Speaker
24. He should be better than this. No. Yeah, he's not that old, but he's not that young. I mean, look at the action right after halftime. The Valentines try, and then the Ikatao try. Talk about just pissing it away at that point. Like, holy shit, guys. What are you doing? What are you doing? I don't get it.
00:49:29
Speaker
Like you had it, you had, you were going toe to toe with what most people would consider Australia's best team. And you just fricking let it go. And, you know, they made it interesting with the admin try and I mean, they were, yeah, they were, they were within a penalty kick of winning it. Big proper try there. Um, yeah. Um, yeah. And it's just one of the, it's one of those ones where,
00:49:57
Speaker
And that's the thing. Why is, why is, why is it not playing? Why is he coming off the bench? I know Harrison hit that drop goal to beat the Crusaders, but shouldn't get you a place in the starting 10, starting 15 automatically. But no, no, he's not, and he's certainly not playing better than Edmond. Edmond is by far the form player. And I think Harrison's starting this week too. Get him on there. I also think they're playing before. So that's
00:50:28
Speaker
But still, I mean, I'm only, I'm not just saying this because it admits on my fantasy team, but like, he's a better player. What the fuck are you doing? Another game I didn't get to watch, get to watch a ton of force in Drua. Disappointing. Just looking at the score line. Oh, I watched it. I watched it live because it was in the morning. I was asleep, believe it or not. I usually sleep that late, but I managed to somehow.
00:50:59
Speaker
And it, this was a game at half. I think it was, it was, uh, it would have been 10, 10. Hold on. Let me see. I think it was 10, 10 and a half or, or something close to it. Um, or maybe with the 13, 10, it was something like, cause where, I hate that this site doesn't really give you, no, cause there's actually, I'm not escorted 45 minutes. I don't know.
00:51:30
Speaker
ultimate right here. But as you were. Either way, point being, it was within reach drew a warrant, like, completely out of it. And then they just really didn't do much of anything second. Yeah, maybe 13. There's like 13 three or something like that.
00:51:58
Speaker
Yeah, because Revula hit one hit hit a penalty kick at 39 minutes. Yeah, revolution Mata scored to 45. So I was like, Okay, now you're getting yourself into it. Like this is a thing. Like keep with keep the pressure on. It's the force that you have this opportunity. And they just, I mean, they've shown that if they if you keep the pressure on them, they will have their moments where they kind of spit spit it out and go, I don't know what to do with this. And right.
00:52:25
Speaker
But this this is a game where Michael Wells. We reset status. OK. Yeah. So. There you go. That was that, you know, it was that game. Yeah, no good. Donaldson did play pretty well, so that helped. I don't know what to make of this Fiji team there. I mean, there are different at home versus how to play a little bit on the road somehow in this competition, because
00:52:55
Speaker
Should they ever pull it together and get themselves a home game for one of these semi-finals? It's going to be hard to win there. I'll tell you that much right now. One of these playoff games, whatever it is. Yeah, right now they're eighth, which means they're going to be going to the blues, depending on how things shake out otherwise. Oh, shit. Have fun with that.
00:53:22
Speaker
Just, yeah, just a disappointing effort from them. I was expecting more. Yeah, no good. No good. Sad. Um, it wasn't on our sheet, but I do want to go just kind of touch on the Loughborough and Gloucester game from PWR. It was returned. Um, those of, those of you, those of you that may be racing in our fantasy league, I have not calculated everything yet. I apologize.
00:53:51
Speaker
No, and some people have sent me their lineups, which I have. Good enough. As long as we have them, it's the important part. We can deal with the rest. But it was interesting for a bit, and then Gloucester just Gloucester them and just pulled away. Mohan, Alex Matthews, just running a riot.
00:54:15
Speaker
Disappointing part for this for me for Loughborough is they actually had patches where they were playing really really good stuff and Sometimes it just didn't go to hand and then they'd have one error and you know We talked about it's talked about all the time and you and I talked about when we're talking about coaching don't back up an error with another error and unfortunately too many times Loughborough got caught with that and
00:54:37
Speaker
you know Gloucester is good enough to make them pay. So it was unfortunate. But still, Loughborough, if they continue to play that type of stuff, they will do good things. I know they're not doing well in terms of the table and they're probably nowhere near getting into the playoff. But I would still be very, very happy with the way things are going if I was the Loughborough coaching staff and hoping that just you develop this game and you continue to
00:55:06
Speaker
get players playing the style. And yeah, then they'll learn, okay, this pass needs to stick here and good things happen afterwards. And they'll figure it out. They'll figure it out. Yep. And Gloucester's just too fucking bad. They will. It's mean. They are. That's the... It's just mean-spirited. Yeah. I mean, good for Loughborough to get to 26, honestly. Exactly. That's the way they look at it. So yeah.
00:55:34
Speaker
Yeah. And this was, this was a, uh, uh, no free jacks this past weekend, but they'll return to action this coming week. Uh, they are, they are going out to San Diego.
00:56:00
Speaker
Which it's, it's better. It makes bad for it has been for us this year. So it'll, it'll be a good game in any case. So we'll be, I'll be glued to the TV on the 19th there and make sure that we don't fuck it up. Right. But, and you know, the, the, but for their off week though, they did get a little bit of help. Yes. So how, how, how?
00:56:26
Speaker
No, I'm not asking how many is 21, 22 pounds and glory. Oof. Yeah. Oof. Sharks one down in Miami over Utah, too. So they get. Right. And they added added. That was my guess is Orlando where he was going. He was either going there or he's going somewhere in France. I don't think he was going anywhere else. Maybe Japan. Yeah, I thought maybe he would he would
00:56:55
Speaker
Join me potentially join that super league or whatever it is. Yeah, whatever. ARC or whatever it is. Yeah. But that was, that was just like a shot in the dark. Cause I think there might be a, an Argentina team there. Well, there's kind of an Argentina team in MLR. It's Miami. He's got a couple of teammates in that, in that joint. So I'm sure he's happy to join up with them and hang out. Yeah.
00:57:27
Speaker
Okay. Hey, we made it. Look at that. Oh, look at, look at us cruising around here. What's going on with this? Ben, you need to talk a lot more and we beep. Ask me twice, but, uh, I thought we rambled here.
00:57:48
Speaker
The universe is backwards. I swear to God, I was texting with someone the other day and I was just like, there was some funny things going on in the, in the high school league around here. And I was like, what universe are we in? Did I slip into a paradox or something? What's going on here? Oh, anyway. Um, yeah, it's, um, we're going to head over to the fantasy corner pod here in a second. Um, if you're not joining us there.
00:58:12
Speaker
We appreciate you listening to us and hope you enjoy the final round of the pram. It's going to be an exciting one. If you're heading over there, we'll see you over the first quarter. Have a good one, everyone. Cheers. Later. This has been the fantasy like the next podcast.
00:58:37
Speaker
If you'd like to ask a question or leave us general feedback, email us at fantasyrugbypodcastatgmail.com. You fart, you die, by the way. Yeah, exactly. The ticky tackiness kind of absolutely pisses me off. Be sure you check out our Patreon at patreon.com slash thefantasyrugbyings. Yeah.