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Season 4- Episode 36- What Are You Playing For? (Premiership Round 23 & Super Rugby Round 14)
29 Plays3 years ago
Those American rugby dopes are back after an unplanned week off. On this episode we have a goo look back at the penultimate week of the Prem and where that leaves teams in couple weeks time. We also, look at another penultimate weekend in Super Rugby, with some teams locking down spots and giving breathing room, others, not so much. Of course, we look at the happenings in the MLR, including the fall of the Free Jacks north of the border. Bonus content, we discuss the Premier 15s Semi-Finals and what we are looking forward to with next weeks Final featuring a classic rivalry of clubs. All this, and one of us whining about neck pain. Have a glass of something good and join us for a laugh.
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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 Apologies
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody, welcome back. It is the fantasy podcast. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Welcome in. Sorry we missed the week. The kids just couldn't help it. It happens. And it's for the for the kids. So for the little ones for the
Challenges in High School Rugby Scheduling
00:00:23
Speaker
greater good. I wish I could say come back with better news, but we got one. But there is there's something that I don't want to dig into this too far, but for whatever reason, the law has not caught up here.
00:00:35
Speaker
with rugby in high school, because we should not have played the match that we did on the day we did, because that was two matches in five days. These kids were hammered, right? They were just absolutely exhausted after the first one. And the second one got them all. And we actually ended up picking up a couple injuries. So USA Rugby, MIA, all that shit, please catch up, because these kids really, really would like that. Yeah. We need to really walk the walk on player welfare. Yeah. Especially at that age. Yeah. At that age, definitely. All right. Let's go.
00:01:05
Speaker
Yep.
Podcast Engagement and Social Chat
00:01:10
Speaker
Grab us, obviously, on your favorite podcast app that you're probably listening on right now. Share, download, rate, review, all that good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Shower over here. Time for a beer and a few. And that storm along for a little bit. Yeah.
00:01:25
Speaker
I drank all my beer out of a can this weekend, so no pouring was done. So I'm clearly rusty. There you go. Yeah. Neck was on fire for two days. It's better today, but goddamn all that propping. Yeah. Got to stretch that neck out, old man. The whole weekend of it. Yeah. Especially when guys are fucking hinging on you and the referee doesn't know what that is. And it's like,
00:01:53
Speaker
You're making my life hard, you asshole. Hey, Jared, what's that over your left shoulder? Right behind you there. Which one? No, I don't. Oh, that? Turn your head about now.
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah, no, it was what it was. It was turning to the left. Actually, that was bad. OK, well, this is going this way with the worst. Like, yeah, I'd be. Day two, I was like the worst. You're on my left. I'm not going to see you. So that was the end. I was the worst when you're driving and you just look at it. My whole body is turning. My whole body is turning. I'm not using my head to move. I'm just turning the whole body.
00:02:35
Speaker
Oh man, it was unpleasant. But hey, you know what? Good weekend, just the same. The Newport tournament's always fun. If you've never propped before, you will never understand. Nope, nope, nope, nope. You will not get what we're talking about here.
00:02:52
Speaker
Obviously we want you to buy our good friend, the fans here. We keep George a beer and or a coffee, however you want to see it. Love them. Yeah, we love them. Big weekends for a lot of people this week.
Fantasy Rugby and Team Changes
00:03:04
Speaker
Finals for two comps going. Good luck in yours, sir. Can't believe I got there. I'm super happy I avoided the sack out. I'm done. That's a good start. I'm super happy to walk away. Hands off. I'm done.
00:03:19
Speaker
So yeah, you're obviously, some of you are obviously going to be leaning on his advice. So do yourself a favor and grab that. Grab your T on upgrades, cause I'm sure they'll carry over the next year if I'm out or maybe I'm speaking out of return here, but either way this coming weekend.
00:03:34
Speaker
the weekend after is going to become real and handy because I don't know what each team is doing. Some teams are going to, it's a dead rubber and they're going to throw out a whole new lineup. And some teams, it's going to be, you know, one more, one more good, good go around. So depends on the coach, depends on what they're looking at, you know. And I, it's funny, you mentioned that I was just on my team.
00:03:57
Speaker
And was like, oh, there's Ollie Hoskins. I'm still on my team and he's got the yellow disc of not playing. And I'm like, oh, okay, cool. Well, wait a minute.
00:04:05
Speaker
his value is as high as it's ever going to be. It's only going to go down from here. So I'm like, Oh, well I'm here. Got him. That's what kind of having the upgrades helps with sometimes. Cause you're just like looking at my team and I'm like, Oh yeah, I don't know what I'm doing this coming week, but I know it will not involve him. So bye. Like I'm taking my profit off of him from the year and walking away a week early. Like seriously, that's another thing is get your teams, you know, sort some of your teams and drops.
00:04:30
Speaker
like that this week before everyone else starts dropping them because the lower owned they get the lower value they get. Yeah, more than likely.
00:04:40
Speaker
Um, sorry, I'll keep the rest of the fantasy pod. Yeah.
Commitment to Social Justice and Criticism of James Haskell
00:04:44
Speaker
Um, as always black lives matter on this podcast, there is no room for racism and we are always seeking, um, equal equal rights and equal opportunities. And there's a lot of this we can fricking cover, but we're going to stick to rugby because I can't right now. I'm going to start breaking things otherwise. Yeah. I still might break things with this, but right. We'll talk about it later. We need to be further away from it. Yeah. And now it's too, it's too,
00:05:09
Speaker
Anyway, fucking Haskell. You're just doing every step wrong. Every step, and it's making it all about him, and now he's trying to be some sort of victim.
00:05:30
Speaker
Toxic, feminine, no, no, no, no, no, stop. Like you made it. You fucked up. Just yeah, we fucked up. That's not that hard.
00:05:41
Speaker
Just say it fucked up. Everybody fucks up. And, you know, this guy and I are included. We'll fuck up, admit it and we can move on. Like, yes. What are you doing? What are you doing? And it's he's making it all about him from even from the start. He made it all about him. You know, Simmy, take a day off and it's like they don't get to like you don't even fucking get it. Like they didn't get to like you think you're some sort of ally, but you're just kind of there. Whereas she's the one who's actually going through it. And you're going to tell her to take it. It doesn't work that way.
00:06:11
Speaker
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. And the worst part is that like, so I, as someone who has, you know, I feel like I've walked that walk. I've, I've coached for multiple women's teams and try to do my, my share of making them better. And I feel like I did in both, both instances. It's not easy to, to gain the trust and then rightly so. And people trust anybody.
00:06:36
Speaker
And I don't, it doesn't help me any cause I have, I'm, you know, I'm bald and beard. I think the profile of that, you know, um, yeah. And I'm not. Um, so it's still, it's still hard. Um, and, and guys like Haskell just make it that much harder. Cause it's like, Oh, I'm no, I'm an ally, but I'm still gonna fucking shit on you. Like, no, that's not, God damn it.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah. So he's making it that much harder for actual male allies to, to be trusted when he does shit like that. So that's why he's got to get called out. Yeah. You're, you're, you're doing it. No favor to anybody around here that actually wants to support women's rugby.
00:07:17
Speaker
And he doubles down on it, too. Like, right. One of my favorite players won one national championship this weekend. Mo McElhenney from from Nova. And it was awesome to watch her her win it. So, yeah, fuck. Yeah. Good for her. Anyway, sorry. Go on. No, that's right. I mean, just fucking helmet doubles down on it, too, which is like, oh, like who's holding my beer? And I don't know what the hell he's you're holding at this point with that, because that is just otherworldly dumb.
00:07:46
Speaker
It really is. We really need to trade Jim Hamilton to GBR for Haskell, and then when Haskell and Good can shit up one pod together and just be shitty. Go cock up one pod at a time, please. Right. We can have one pod that's listenable because there's reasonable people on it. It fucking sucks. Jim's missing pieces by the lecture.
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, he he's but at least he gets it and will will listen to reason occasionally occasionally. Some argue otherwise. Oh, shit. I think he gets when he gets encouragement from, you know, the worst angels around him. That's one thing. But if it was him and and tens, I think that would they would they would, you know, there's positivity there. So, yeah. No, and I really do like tens. Yeah, that sucks.
Patreon and Off-Season Content Plans
00:08:41
Speaker
Also, don't forget, there is our Patreon out there. It's going to be, we still have to make a decision of whether or not we're going to, what we're going to do in the off season, but we will try and keep things going and content going for the off season. Whether it's, you know, new developments or maybe I'll write, who knows.
00:09:02
Speaker
I do it on the reg anyway, might as well just add it to the pile. But either way, we'll make sure that there's content for the summer. And then obviously next year we will have another Frankenstein of a sheep probably that we've recreated all over again. Yeah, I have some thoughts on some additions to it too. There you go. So yeah, then you'll be all set for next season when it rolls around. And I'm thinking about also putting on the Patreon a list for
00:09:30
Speaker
TRM, you know, for the comps we follow, names to remember for next year, so that we'll have them, you know, and I will publish them so that they'll just, you know, be there. Yes, yes. All right. Let's go to the Prem place we haven't visited for a wee bit. Wait, what? Yeah, right.
Premiership Rugby Recap and Analysis
00:09:52
Speaker
Ashton Gate, Bristol and Exeter. He loved to see it. Yeah. Wow. I mean,
00:09:59
Speaker
this is the sad thing is like saris must be breaking the salary cap again i guess yeah that's got to be why this is happening right rob that's what tony roe says um backster too
00:10:14
Speaker
And this here on the other side of it, like this is unfortunately what we've been waiting for for Bristol the whole season. And finally, you know, it comes for fruition and they're in just like the weirdest no man's land in terms of the table. They can't go higher. They can't even be caught. So, I mean, they're playing free, which is obviously very helpful.
00:10:34
Speaker
You know, that that turns into things like what we saw on Friday. And that's a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. And so many just quality tries that offload to Leo. I mean, shut up. That's that's naughty. Here's what I didn't realize. I thought she was leaving for Wales next year. No, but they're keeping him in Asia and they're bringing in Asia.
00:10:57
Speaker
Right. But they are anticipating him eventually leaving for Wales. Right. Right. OK, yeah, it's going to be a probably a one year thing. But still, damn, I don't know what you do with if if she's playing like that. That makes all the difference, like with with him, some he's been upward up and down certainly this year and need to seem needed. They needed much more of this.
00:11:23
Speaker
from him. Yeah, no doubt. He's been hurt too. And that is the time with whales. So none of it's been helpful. But this also may be just indicative of Chidi being fully fit maybe first time this year. Could be. Yeah, I think we all know that that's a possibility out there.
00:11:43
Speaker
And then we, it was a great send off for Jonofoa as well from the gate. And you got a very nice hand on the way out. He's been, he's been a class act, no doubt, through and through. And he's done a lot of good for the prem, especially at Bristol. Yeah. Going to be, going to be one of those characters that you love to see and going to be a miss for a lot of us.
00:12:06
Speaker
will not forget the match against Lester last year. No, we're like, he's that prop. It's like, look, I'm hurt, but I'm going to come off the bench for one strum and I'm going to win it for us. So because just to fuck you, like the whole thing was was just poor strategically by the. Buster coaching staff, but a phone really just backed up like he's the guy who's going to say that and then just back it up with actually doing it. Right. Yeah, you missed guys like that.
00:12:36
Speaker
you did, you did. And so obviously, this does exactly what everybody knows at this point is Exeter are not making top four and they are now at risk of also making not making champions cup. So it's
00:12:55
Speaker
And we've hard, we've hammered on it. And so I don't want to be, I don't want to beat the dead horse. Um, you'll love to see as it were. Um, but like you, you look up and down the lineup and it's, uh, I can't help but sit there and just tear my, tear my hair out of some of it. And it's like really like, who's your attacking option in the forwards? Really?
00:13:18
Speaker
Supposedly yours, but I don't believe that for a fucking second. Kirsten is a seven. Like, nope, I don't buy that fucking out of here. No, like you have four, you're starting four locks and vermulin is like six more than an eight. And it's just like, they're all immobile. They're not going anywhere. They're not challenging anybody.
00:13:41
Speaker
You know, you're playing Ian Whitten at 12 for Ian. Well, when you have Tom Henderson and Harvey Skinner on the bench. Oh, the bench. Like, dude, you're playing, you know, Kirsten and yours at six and seven when you have Grindone on the bench. Right.
00:13:57
Speaker
who's proven that he is a very, very good mobile forward. And he did okay when he came in. Yeah, he did. He was a nightmare for a lot of it, for a lot of reasons. So yeah, back to the drawing board and get rid of some of these, some of this dead weight, because it's not doing you any good.
00:14:16
Speaker
You know, they don't have Tom O'Flaherty next year. They don't, they won't have Skinner or, or Hill. So you're gonna have, you're gonna have to move one of these freaking, you know, supposed to lose forwards in the lock. So live with that. You know, I know they like David Jenkins a lot, but I'm not entirely sure he's going to be ready for the level of competition he's going to face weekend and week out in the prem. So there's a lot to be addressed here.
00:14:46
Speaker
You know, I think the one position that I would sit there and say they are okay 100%, or there's a couple, but the one in the forward, I'd say they're okay and have no issues is hooker. Yeah, because they're just solid hookers. They're one, two, and three choice hookers. All good. You have no issues there.
00:15:07
Speaker
The locks are decent. There's nothing wrong with the locks. I like too many of them on the field at one time. Yeah. I like Johnny Gray, but you need to actually play your locks and locks. Like, yeah. Kirsten, he was playing four earlier in the year, like not that long ago, and he was fine. Like, that's a perfectly fine place for him. Play him there. Right. Stop pretending he's a seven of all fucking things. He's not a fucking seven. Like, Exeter, just the problem isn't that you're
00:15:35
Speaker
You're limiting yourself because you have no fetchers either. Who's really going to turn the ball? Who's that guy who's over the ball before anybody else is even thinking about getting over that ball? None of them. They're all lumbering lummoxes who are lucky to get to the tackle, let alone the tackle assist for a jackal.
00:15:55
Speaker
You're limiting your defense and that makes it easier for teams to run around you, you know, like you see it when there's that difference in, Oh, you got to hold in for a lock versus if a back is needs to launch and there's a flanker inside their true flanker inside him. He's like, okay, cool. Like I got, I got my help a lock. No, now I got to hold up my run because I can't give a too big a gap inside. Like it hurts them on defense and then they just don't attack well at all anyway. So.
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, this is what Bristol did it right. We know that they have a hard time keeping up with that play style and a lot of teams exposed them to it this year. And that is what it is. You run into, you know, you do the one-ups into their defense. Yeah, they can defend you all day, but go a little bit wider than that. Yeah, turn into a fast-paced game, an open game, and that's not that...
00:16:48
Speaker
There were times where they could live with it and they could actually play a little bit with it and they'd be okay. And that's when they were near the top of the table and they were winning Champions Cup and all that stuff.
00:17:00
Speaker
And that's good. You have to be able to do that. You have to be able to do your own thing and then live with the fact that a team's doing their own thing too sometimes. And they can't live with that right now. And that is the biggest problem without a doubt. Yeah. Like if you go width to width on their defense in one phase, one way, all the way, one phase the other way, all the way, their defense is just carved apart at that point. If you don't get a line break off of that, you get a line break the next phase because they're like...
00:17:29
Speaker
teams have figured that out. You just run them side to side and then that's when it opens up because they don't have the agility. Nope. Nope. Super not enough of it. That's for damn sure. Like you can't ignore that. No. Baxter does because he's an idiot. Because that's how he does it. Right. I actually didn't watch the other Friday night game. That's one of the, if you didn't know, if you didn't hear before, I played a lot of rugby this weekend so I didn't get to watch it all. Was in sale. I watched some of it and
00:17:57
Speaker
Wish you hadn't. There's nothing from from wasps. There was a I saw at one point that late in the first half, there was a yellow card for for sale, and I couldn't quite tell who it was until John Ross came running back on the pitch. I'm like, you know what that fucking makes. That makes a lot of sense. That tracks. Yeah, I'm just and unfortunate for Jimmy Goppard, you know, his last his last taste of of rugby.
00:18:26
Speaker
And Coventry is missing a kick to that had a bonus point on the line. And so he was pretty broken up about that. Yeah, that's that bonus point could make a big difference next weekend.
00:18:39
Speaker
We could, we could, we could. But it was, he shouldn't take it too much to heart because Wasp just played terribly all match anyway for the most part. Like it was not, like they didn't do anything on that, the Ross. Yellow, yeah. Yellow, like they weren't that creative. They didn't hold the ball enough. It was just not going well for them.
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, I was not, I was not impressed by them. It's too bad. Yeah. It's actually pretty well. So I didn't watch the rest of the couple of weeks ago. They played pretty well a couple of weeks ago too. So it's too bad. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they just looked at all. They might've just looked at all on my own. Honestly, I wouldn't be shocked. It's possible. Yeah. Wouldn't be shocked anyway. She performed. Let's go to Saturday. Um,
00:19:28
Speaker
Let's go. I'm not. There was a couple of exciting ones. Let's start with the less exciting one first. Newcastle and Lester up at Kingston Park. Yeah. I mean, for Lester, Nick Dolly getting. Yeah. Well, that was. And I don't want to hear about the role. Shut up. Shut up with the role. I don't want to hear it.
00:19:45
Speaker
Okay, I get it. All right. But at the same time, like, there's a lot of those a lot of issues. So just shut up. And I don't want to hear it. Yeah, let's just stop talking about that. There's so much more to talk about. That is not something that we're going to get into. Right.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yeah, you said don't watch that. I had my head down for the initial injury. And then I heard Sam Roberts say, oh, it's Nick Dolly on the floor. I was like, well, not watching that replay. Yeah. And they showed it a couple of times. I was like, okay, stop, stop, stop, stop. Usually if something gets as bad, they don't show it at all. And they're like reveling in it. I'm like, dude,
00:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, eventually they got that. There was a close up that they were going to show and they were like, oh, no, we're not going to show that. Right. It was not. They realize how bad it was. They're like, nope, never mind. Try again. But other than that, how was the play? This is. This Lincoln. Anyway. Yeah, other than that, there wasn't much to the to the match that's worth discussing. Oh, except Josh Basham is
00:20:51
Speaker
He looks like he could be the real deal. That's, that's important. Yep. And the quick and getting over again, cause that's just what he does. Shocker of the day, right? He seems to be, he seems to be a predictable thing at this point. Yeah. Yeah. You know, as
00:21:08
Speaker
As little credit as Newcastle would get, they had less serve away from a bonus point. This was actually closed for a while. This was, this got busted open at about 70th minute. Yeah. Just short of that, just short of that, Porter got over and they were whole, the problem was, you know, there's only so long you can hold the water until the dam's going to break. Right. And there was a lot of ball on the wrong end of the 22 for the sake of Newcastle. So it was always going to end poorly, but just,
00:21:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I was shocked that of the two, Nemani Ndolo stayed on for 80 and Ashton came off. Which old guy you're going to take off? But it's like, yeah, it's like pick your fucking poison. One of them is going to do something terrible to you. So and it wasn't Ashton this week, but Ndolo certainly did. Yeah, he's they're both they're both nightmares in their own way. Right. And having them that kind of balance on that field.
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah. I will say this. I'll give him credit. Ford didn't get the tee fast enough and he's like, fuck it. And he knocks off with a drop bolt in the wing. I'm like, all right. I mean, if you can just say, fuck it and do that from the wing. All right. You win. You win. Cool. Well done, sir. Well done. There is no doubt that that man's talent. That's not never been a question. That's never been a question.
00:22:32
Speaker
It's just how he plays in his attitude. That's all. Yeah. That's the end of that one. That's all we need to discuss. Let's go over to the rec because that was a doozy as well. That was, I don't think I saw a minute of it though. I did.
00:22:48
Speaker
London Irish really spit the bit at the end there. They had it. Yeah. Oh, they had the ball. They fucking and we'll talk about this more in super rugby, too. They fucking had the ball and they and they just let it get away from him. And then Bailey knocked over a penalty eventually. But the try from year was huge in that whole thing. And here's the thing. There's so much about this bath team in the end that you got to love, you know,
00:23:17
Speaker
You have mirror coming off the bench and he's probably going to be an out and out starter from week one on next year with no Rocco. We found out Rocco is leaving. Right. A lot of bodies leaving. You know, we knew Faletau was leaving Wales. That's not a shocker.
00:23:32
Speaker
Hey, here's one. Mike Williams got on the sheet, but it was for a good reason. Wait, what? You scored. No. You fucking scored. Lies. Although, you know, this London Irish team would be the kind of team that would give a try to Williams.
00:23:49
Speaker
Yeah. And they played some very good open rugby, but at the same time, they couldn't defend it. And there's just like, there's so much that I'm sure Declan Kidney is going to go back and be like, guys, this is how we're going to end our fucking season because they're done after this week. They don't play.
00:24:06
Speaker
Right. And that's how they go out with, you know, with two lot. Well, to be fair, they did shit the bed earlier in the week and they had to deal with that. So was that last week? That was last week. But still either way, they're just they're they're. Yeah. Yeah. So it's rough. Yeah, it's here's the thing, though. How do you shit the bed, especially with Exeter? You already knew that Exeter
00:24:35
Speaker
you know, was within your grasp of getting ahead of them. And that it might be enough to stay there. Yep. And that if you know, you get ahead of you get ahead of Exeter, you know, one of wasp, you know, actually, if they got ahead of it, they'd be away from wasp, they'd be clear. It's not just the they knew that too. Yeah, absolutely. These things and this is what they do. Like,
00:25:02
Speaker
Oh, I'd be, I'd be furious to bath to bath. I don't care what the, who's, who's that? Yeah, no. Yeah, that was bad. So it was poor. It was poor and bad. They, they, they, they played out of their skins for the most part as well. Ben, Ben Spencer had a great game. Oh, I saw that. The whole, the whole back row had a very good game.
00:25:22
Speaker
Really, really awesome news and visuals to see Benno Abano back. Thank God. I love that, man. I'm so happy he's back out there after that knee injury. So that was fantastic to see. I was like, is that? Yes, it is. Yes. I love that guy. I was excited to see that. Kind of a sad way for Sean O'Brien to call the career.
00:25:44
Speaker
as well. Yeah, did get a nice hand from some of the bath faithful. You they recognize his his talent and his career and right what he's done. But yeah, really, really kind of shitty way to go down. So
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, that's, that's the, the team you picked like, that seems to be what they do. Right. Um, and then we, and another team that's got a lot to, um, I was trying to get into this before, like, there's a lot to love about this bat team for next year. And with van grand coming in. Well, they got seven guys going to Australia, right?
00:26:20
Speaker
Potentially, I think that's just one camp. I think that'll get rejigged and pared down and all that stuff. We still got a few weeks to go for that one. Right. Yeah, still some good stuff. And we know Orlando Bailey's on the up as well. That's only good for them.
00:26:45
Speaker
So there's a lot of really good things here that are happening. Red path should be healthy. Once again, he's had a rough year with injury that'll help them. Yeah. There's. And red and I'm sorry, Miles Reed. Yes. Like he's coming back. Yeah. So they're getting like, you know, in all, you know, I'll do respect for, you know, for saying what I said about, you know, bath and all, but like they are getting guys back. So this is a different team than has been playing most of the year. And they'll be.
00:27:15
Speaker
There'll be a problem next year. I don't know. Let's go over to Twickenham. A game worthy of Twickenham, I would say. Certainly was. I would say that was fan-freaking-tastic. You know, you think, you know, an international stadium, you want to see some good rugby and
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah, we got treated to that one. No doubt. A show was put on. It was a show. Yep. No question. That was a display. Both teams. Both teams really put it out there. Freddie Clark, you behave, sir.
00:27:51
Speaker
Oh my. Somebody lost their horse. Right. He's just fucking loose. We have a horse. Oh, wait. That's pretty far. Yeah. Damn it. Can you wrangle that horse? He's loose again. Fuck. He was. That's all he did was get loose. Yeah. He was. Yeah. The fucking world of a game.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah. So good for him. It's like I don't think at least, you know, we don't get to see much rugby coverage. So I don't know how much love he's getting in the media over there, but however much he's getting up until now, it's not enough. So it's good to see him get some some do. You know, like that. That's awesome. Yeah. Good timing, sir. No doubt. And then, you know, and this is.
00:28:42
Speaker
Well, glosser in front and I'm sitting there watching. I had no idea what the result was coming, but watching this game on replay. I watched it yesterday morning.
00:28:53
Speaker
I'm watching it, and I'm like, all right, there is no way the Quinns are out of this, right? Because I knew the halftime score was kind of dire. But that's the same exact way we felt watching it live. Pretty much everybody was like, they're not out. It's OK. This is the score. Yeah, they dug themselves a hole, but they've done it before in worse circumstances.
00:29:16
Speaker
True. So true. And then boom, they start working it back. Dom brand. Um, did he swear their first one or was he there? One of the, let's see, this started to come back. I use, was he the second? Oh, no, he scored off. He was scored in the first half. He was the first, he was the first Martians, the run was the one that did it. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, Oh yeah. We can do it. And then a second. And then. Mm-hmm.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah. Any care was everywhere again. Yes, he was. No shock to anybody. Not getting a yellow. That was that was smart. Yeah. Don't get a yellow. Yeah. Smart decision there, Danny. Smart decision. So this is this is everything that, you know, the we expect of the twins, whether they can put two halves together, sometimes the question, unfortunately. But here's the thing. If you look at their bench. So let's let's take a look at, you know, the impact players that they're bringing in.
00:30:12
Speaker
Right? Yep. On the one side, you've got Andrew Davidson. Okay. Reed, which Reed is this? It's Jordy Reed. That's a good one. That's a good one. That guy will make an impact. Me and, yeah, he can. 12 trees. Yeah, old man. Seabrook.
00:30:34
Speaker
You know, and then you look on the other side and you got Madister Vicious and Will Evans. Evans has been great. We know how good Will Evans is. That's not a new thing. And oh, by the way, you know, yes, you've had Hugh Jones spot and learned what he can do for your roster. There's Nick David right there. Do not sleep on him. And Tommy Allen. Yeah. And Tommy Allen, like, yeah. It's always. He came off the bench in this game too.
00:30:59
Speaker
He did too. Although I think you, I think, I think you're regretting that star rating. I'm honestly. Yeah. Um, but it was just, you know, when you have those kinds of impact coming onto the bench, when the other team and Gloucester just kind of doesn't, it wasn't going to hold up. So that's, that's really what I was thinking at half. Um, yep.
00:31:17
Speaker
And the Queens wanted this at the moment to put pressure on the later match. Right. And make sure that, you know, the guys, the boys in North London did their jobs and felt the pressure, although. Right. It helps. Yeah, they're there. It helps them either way because they either, you know, if Sarri's win, then it puts more distance between them and Saints. And if Sarri's lose, then Queens are right up their butts. So. Right.
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah, certainly a big win for their cause. And Gloucester, it turns out, huge, huge loss. Very. Like, for the standings. Not, you know, you really needed that win. They did. They needed everything they could give that out, and they only end up with one point, yeah. One bonus point, yeah. Yep. They only scored three tries.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, we'll just had to push one more over and you would add a lot more. Speaking of, let's go over to the stone X and the boys in black and first half a little lackluster to say the least.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah, I was happy when they decided to kick, you know, when I was like, just kick for points, fucking get this half over with, you know, maybe come out and attack the second half because it's not really right.
00:32:38
Speaker
Well, and then they they they treated that first, what, 10 minutes? Well, here's the thing. And I was sitting there watching it and I'm thinking, I've seen this movie before because I'm referring to the double yellow card period where they had that and did fuck all with that. And I was like, oh, no, are we going through this again? I was I'm sure McCall was also extremely disappointed, but just overall and, you know, in that same point right after or right near the end of it. Frickin Tommy Freeman.
00:33:08
Speaker
pops up and says, Hey, everybody. It's like you can't give them. You can't give them too many bites at the Apple, right? This team, this Northampton team, and we saw it at the end anyway, they will throw points up like it's, you know, their jobs or something. And so like you can only keep them hanging around for so long. Like that that whole tactic of the kicks, like I kind of get it. I got the first one. I think even the second one, I was like,
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, because I think they'd spent enough time in the territory. It was like just coming away with something, but you knew they were going to have to start putting up tries. Had to. Had to. This is going to come down to tries. They kept themselves in it in the first half. And that's really all I was about. I was like, because they can, you know, Theo McFarland could like do something crazy and like
00:33:58
Speaker
you charge down a kick and score a try and then fucking 90 meters or whatever it was. That's just, you know, that could happen. So, oh wait, that's, that's what happened. That's exactly what happened. Oh, what, what a find.
00:34:15
Speaker
What a find. I was not man of the match this. I mean, I don't know because it's what Oz was. Whatever. Yeah. No, it was it was Oz or was it Ben Kay? Oh, I can't. I can't remember. I don't remember who the fuck it was. It's not important. Yeah. But yeah, it it. Yeah, I do McFarland.
00:34:34
Speaker
What a find for this team and what an athlete he is and it's they knew they had an athlete when they got him and they just they did. And so credit to the Saracens coaching staff because and and I'm not saying that the only ones that would have done this, but you can take in a raw athlete and you can do absolutely jack shit with them and they on the pine for three years and eventually they might figure it out.
00:34:59
Speaker
But they coach the, they must have coached the crap out of this kid. And, or they've simply just encouraged him to do what comes natural to him. Right. And either, or credit to them. Yeah. Whatever it is, they, they decided that was best for him this season. It worked. It worked quite well if you didn't watch that. And, you know, like that's the second time he's charged down and got a try out of that, by the way. Right.
00:35:23
Speaker
Like that, that seems to be, that's a role. We know Maro, a sequel are usually the guys in those roles, but he's just got that tiny bit of extra athleticism about him. That if he does that, he'll be able to find the ball, scoop it and get it over the line. Right. Right. And that's not a mistake. I need the tip to himself. Like all that, like, yeah.
00:35:44
Speaker
It's like, that's going to count. Like, yeah, they talk about the basketball skill, like there's certain things. And I felt that same way when I first started playing rugby, I was like, OK, this is like a combination of pretty much every single other sport I've ever played. Like there's some element of it in here. So, yeah, if you have a basketball player like he what do they use his strengths? They use his strengths of his agility, his his height and his like overall athleticism.
00:36:11
Speaker
I mean, you can't coach, like it doesn't matter what you do. You can't coach a finish like that.
00:36:17
Speaker
No, no, that was there are skills involved in that that you learn elsewhere is in life because you just don't practice it in rugby unless you're fucking around with your friends. Right. That's about it. Right. Yeah, just so excellent. You know, that's what you do. You use their skills the best, you know, to you highlight the things that they're good at.
00:36:42
Speaker
They just encourage him. Yeah. And he's getting good at the other things. That's what you do. You hope they get good at the other things, too, along the way. Yep. And he's done well. You know, full credit to Saints. They made life difficult for the series for a little while. Obviously, they started to walk away, but they kept fighting for those extra points, which they desperately wanted and needed, especially knowing the results. And if anybody sits there and tells me they didn't know the result, I call bullshit.
00:37:09
Speaker
I knew the result of what happened at Twickenham. So they were like, all right, let's get a couple points and get ourselves in front. Because then if we go take care of business next week, we can't lose. Yeah. You know, even if they get four next week, they don't even get a five, they just need to win. Right. They're in. Game over. No matter what. Yeah. Against a Newcastle team that's meh, you know, to say the least. Right. Especially away from home. They're a little meh. Right. A lot meh. Right. So...
00:37:40
Speaker
So credit to them to go to Saris. Yeah. No, I think I think Saris are going to Gloucester. Other way around. Yeah. Sorry. I'm reading that in American. Way to go, dummy. See what you did to us. Let me. Yeah. So. Wait a second. So can the series catch? Yeah.
00:38:04
Speaker
It's 90 to 87 by about the count that I am aware of. So wasps, please, by all means. Yeah. Do your, do your job yourselves. Do your job. Damn it. Yeah. Um, cause yeah, even if the series just went and tigers don't get a point, right? All right. I mean, it's a home semi-final for both teams you delay, but it's a matter of opposition. I see twins. I see saints. I'd rather have saints. And I'm not saying that's an easy game by any means whatsoever, but I don't want to play Marcus Smith right now.
00:38:34
Speaker
Right. I don't want to play Smith. I don't want to play Dom Brandon. I'm not taking anything away from Saints, but those two guys are just not people I want to deal with. Exactly. I'll take my chances with the Saints and at home, which we just just watched. And I think Sarries know how to beat them now.
00:38:53
Speaker
versus the Quinn's where you just don't know how you win that. No, I mean, ask Bristol how easy it is to beat Quinn's on the road. You never fucking know at home either.
Strategic Preferences for Premiership Semi-Finals
00:39:04
Speaker
Right. And then you send one of them. You hope you do business against the Saints and you hope Lester and Quinn's take it out on each other.
00:39:14
Speaker
one of them come shows up like, you know, a little limpy and self-questioning because holy shit, they just put up all these points on us. You know, what are we going to do here? Right. Yeah, never know. Right. Never know. That would be a preferable round. Yeah. Yeah. Either way, I'll take the home semifinal at the very least. Call it up. Let's jump over to the other the other hemisphere and Super Rugby won't spend much time on this crusaders for G and Jua.
00:39:44
Speaker
I watched the first half. Yeah. And that's the end. Yeah. Crusaders, crusaders and that is it. Yeah, it really is like finding your new scores right off the bat. It's like, it's going to be this, this can be this type of game. And unfortunately, the jury couldn't get one over the line even now. No. And that's because they and I did note that they were fighting. It's just wasn't.
00:40:06
Speaker
Crusaders are a machine on the sides of the ball. They have so much firepower. You know, even with Fergus Burke pulling the strings and not, you know, Richie, it's like, oh, shit, you know, Scott Barrett's back, which is, you know, and then they seem to very much like this Zach Gallagher character. So if they're willing to, you know,
00:40:30
Speaker
have Barrett be one or the other a six or lock. And then you know, bringing Gallagher when they see fit. That's pretty terrifying in a lot of ways. Yep. Especially if you're looking to have
00:40:43
Speaker
Uh, a more solid lineup. It's helpful to be able to chuck one of your locks at six that can do the job and then bring in another jumper, another skill jumper. So yeah, pretty terrifying in a lot of ways. So I would, and you know, they, they had the loss to the ties and they've come back full bore on the last couple of opponents. So yeah, I would be very careful if I were anybody about to go against the Crusaders. And that's the thing. They had a rough stretch of the season and it's like,
00:41:13
Speaker
For what other people is a rough stretch, it's just them realizing what they can and can't do as a team this year. And then doing what they can do, a lot of it. And then you get scores like that. Yeah, 61 to three. And I just had slightly better hopes for the Drew in this one, but unfortunately, I just didn't kind of fruition. Yeah. Sorry, guys. Sorry, guys. Love you, but just ouch.
00:41:37
Speaker
And then let's go over to Brizzy and at Suncorp Reds and Moana Pacifica.
00:41:43
Speaker
Just a tough old campaign overall for the Moana Pacifica. They played this one. I haven't watched The Force and Pacifica game from Tuesday either. They've had that happen to them multiple times this year, and it's just shit luck. It's not anything else I can do about it. It really is just awful, awful rotten luck. This most recent reschedule wasn't even them. It was The Force that had happened to them. So I was like, ouch. So they've had a few really rotten luck.
00:42:13
Speaker
you know, incidences and yeah, I full credit to them for just continuing to just put forth the effort and put in a shift even if you know, the score line gets really lopsided really quick. It wasn't so lopsided so quick here, but there was also a point where you just felt like the Reds had it the whole way. Yeah, right. So yeah, ouch. Ouchie ouch ouch ouch.
00:42:40
Speaker
Same sentiments for the next match. Yeah. Like this was, this was all chiefs from. Yeah.
00:42:46
Speaker
the word go was and I was like, this, this is disappointing. This is more disappointing for me because the four started so well and they looked like they were going to make it another season like last year where they were going to be, you know, top four competitors and, you know, make life miserable for most teams that they played. And I have to say after the first few matches, this kind of just fallen off the cliff.
00:43:13
Speaker
and it's not gone well. And you know, they lost to the Rebels and as soon as they lost to the Rebels, I was like, oh shit, this is going very sour very quickly for this team. And I feel for them, but at the same time, I'm extremely disappointed in the performances they put in. And it's not like they're missing a ton in terms of what are their preferred starting 15. They're not. And they got the Quinn to pay a mercy rule.
00:43:38
Speaker
Like he's going to start and they're like, all right, get him the fuck out of this match. Like he's done. Like he's done enough. Yeah. And here's the other thing. I have been kind of pooping on the Sam Cain a little bit. And, you know, I hope he he's OK, obviously. Didn't like to see him come out, but it's not like they lost a beat without him. So I'm.
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still not that big on Sam Kane for the Chiefs anyway. I don't quite get it. But that is their leader just to say it. Yeah, I get that. But damn, they have such talent there that they couldn't use in that spot.
00:44:22
Speaker
Well, I mean, we saw it come to fruition with Brown coming off the bench. It was not really my first choice to come off the bench for them in terms of back row. No, I would have liked to see Hamilton Burr come on in that spot. I wanted to see more of him, especially in this match. Like, they didn't bring him until 72 minutes in. Like, that was a shame. That was a definitely a shame. Like, you pulled Tupiah. Now it's time to put in guys like Hamilton Burr and let him in this match. Like, this is the match where you give him 20 to 40 minutes, like, because you can. Agreed.
00:44:53
Speaker
Yep. I agree. I agree. Um, so let's move on. Let's move on to hurricanes and rebels again. Unfortunately, a lot of the matches, the last few weeks, even for super rugby have been as these first four are in from this weekend, where it's like result wasn't, wasn't really in doubt. Um, better team started run away with it very early.
00:45:17
Speaker
And the second, and, you know, the trailing team, you know, fought back eventually, but that's when the football came off the gas. So it's like, you know, uh, yeah. And, and came from a forced into a host of lineup changes because of the flu, which is still a thing, but despite the fact everybody remembering that thinking that it was COVID, I was like, nope, the regular old flu. Wow. That's crazy. It's like, yep. Regular flu just slept through the team and made a host of changes. But, um, the one thing I will say is,
00:45:47
Speaker
for the hurricanes, they have some interesting thoughts that they're gonna have to kind of mull over in the off season, and we're obviously not there yet, but you have Aiden Morgan, you have Reuben Love, you have Jackson Garden Bashup, and if you have to pick one of those three, or two of those three to keep,
00:46:06
Speaker
I love Jackson garden bachelor, but I think you're going to keep the other two because of their youth. I think Morgan's only 20. I liked it. And I'd like the way he played in this match too. Right. And he has the way, the way he's been playing and they looks great. Um, and Reuben loves only 21 and you know, Jackson garden bachelor's not an old man by any means whatsoever. He's freaking me 27. Right. He's actually, you know, in a good spot in terms of that. So.
00:46:32
Speaker
If they, I hope they don't have to make that decision yet because I love the fact that they have all three of these guys. Yeah. Um, I hope they don't have to make it more expensive too. Like, you know, like you still have the kids are a little cheaper and you know, they're going to give you near the, the, um, the performance. It's not worth, you know, the investment. I think ultimately like they have, they have a lot of potential in this team. So.
00:46:59
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I'd look to bolster elsewhere or keep people elsewhere. Right. Yeah. Well, you have to consider the players that you can keep in the care players. You can get rid of them where you have the depth and where you don't. One thing. So a couple of weeks back, I was kind of like hammering on the Jordy Barrett at 12 thing and just kind of.
00:47:18
Speaker
I was still kind of met on it, but there's one thing about it itself, and I'm still a little met on it, but the one thing about it, him playing 12 in this particular team is he does provide a nice steady guiding hand to whoever's wearing that 10 shirt if he's not Jackson Garden Bashup. Bashup does not need the help. So if he's at 10, you can shift authority back to 15. No issues. He can guide the team perfectly fine and run the ship.
00:47:46
Speaker
this 20 and 21-year-old kid probably needs a little bit of help and having a guy of the class and the ability of Geordie Bear that has steered the ship, whether he's wearing a 10 or a 15-shirt, is obviously very, very helpful for them. So it's not something I considered in my brain, but then I'm watching this match and I'm like,
00:48:07
Speaker
You know, it probably helps to have that guy standing next to you that's got a bunch of all blacks test caps into his pocket and, you know. You can just, you know, do what Jordy tells you to do. He's like, hit the short, hit two plus E short. You hit two plus E short. If he says, give me the ball, you just transfer the ball right to him and you let him do what's coming next. Like, it's super easy to... And the best part is, as that happens,
00:48:32
Speaker
you know, a smart young man like Aidan Morgan, I'm sure, is seeing what's in front of him and realizing the reads that Jordy is making and learning from that. And that's what you're talking about is that guiding hand. It's not just the telling, you know, cheating on the test, like giving the answer to
00:48:52
Speaker
to three. It's like, no, this is how you solve the problem in the first place, too. So, yep. Excellent shit. Don't just copy up Jordy's paper, you work. On the other side of the coming up for the Rebels, kind of bad news, good news. We obviously saw
00:49:12
Speaker
Reese Hodge lead the match and that was really, really unfortunate barrier as early as it was too. But Lucas Ripley with the haptaric. Okay. You know, it's good that they have that and that's another, you know, this is another team that just, they're developing and they need to bring guys like Lucas Ripley along. If I'm foot,
00:49:41
Speaker
I don't know if I want Joe Powell as my starting nine next year.
00:49:46
Speaker
It might be controversial, but I don't know if I do. I like James Tuttle. I don't know why that would be controversial at all. I don't know. Well, I'm sure there's some people that are huge Joey Powell fans out there that might be rugby supporters, might be rebel supporters. I don't know. I don't know. I think you lean on James Tuttle for a bit and see how he does. And then if he goes to hell, then you still have Powell in the wings. But I think you need to lean on him a lot more. And they started to basically because the season was lost and they knew it. Right.
00:50:15
Speaker
I think you write it. You write it as long as you can. You know, I don't see a reason not to. I see. Yeah, because I see pal is a Jag and it's like, you know what the ceiling is there. So you get the title. Agreed. Yep. Find find out what you have in James Tuttle first. And then, you know, if you have nothing else. All right, cool. Joe, find something else. Right. Fine. And I tell you, Tuttle has not been the problem, really. Like, no, no, there's a lot. There's a lot of things going on going wrong. There's a lot of things going on here. He ain't it.
00:50:45
Speaker
You know, they've not been able to keep Ulyssi healthy. They've had issues at prop. They've had, you know, issues in the back line. It ain't him. It ain't him. You know, their defense has been quite frankly cut to pieces quite often. And that's such a shame because they have been like, it was not that long ago that they were in championship matches and being a shutdown defense. Like they just pooped hard and they're kind of pulling it back together.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Over to Forsyth Bar. This is actually the other match I did not get to. Taws and Highlanders. I also did not get to this one. Well, it looks like we have a Sam Gilbert red card, so that's not a good start for me. I was like, knowing what I know, now that makes sense seeing the score line from before. God damn it. Yeah. It looks like, but it looks like this is,
00:51:43
Speaker
This is the Highlanders that we thought they were, Danny Green. Yeah, exactly. But they are who they thought they were. Yeah, they're not that good. And Taz are decent. No, I think they had to make a late switch. I don't think Van Voot was in the original. I think you might be right about that. 15. And so they had to shift Gregory to 12. Josh Honig plays for them. How good can they be?
00:52:08
Speaker
He doesn't usually pay for them. I will say that. I will say that. Josh Koenig reminds me a lot of one of our friends in New England. Which one's that? He's a he reminds me of Kyle. Oh, that one. You were using the word facetiously. Now I understand that sarcasm thing. Oh, shit. OK, yeah, that's not a good thing either. That's not really a good thing. You know,
00:52:37
Speaker
We talked about the war toss and this is going to be a much better team than it had been in the past and it has been. Obviously we can't speak a whole lot on the game, but.
00:52:47
Speaker
They've there's so much. There's so much. Again, this is another team. They've got so much to like. Tane Edmund has been great and they don't even have freaking Harrison back yet. Like, right? He's been in and out with injury and you know, Parise's out was out for this game. He's been, you know, otherworldly to at times. Dylan Peach coming over from the friggin program. I must have watched some of this because all these, you know, I'm remembering like I'm remembering will my I'm sorry, Michael Hooper score it. Yeah, no, I watched at least halftime. Oh, there you go.
00:53:16
Speaker
Because I just remember I was walking into Wassey's. Yeah. And who right right after him. Okay. No, I didn't remember that. Yeah. And then no, he was having a hell of a match. Yeah. Head of them too. Good for him. Yeah. I'm sure the Sam Gilbert red card was deserved because if you get in a red card and super rugby, it's usually something that's. Yeah. I can't recall. I can't remember it.
00:53:35
Speaker
It's all right. So, well, I should bank on getting rid of him then. I think it was one of those. I was watching it really early in the morning. So, I was just like... Oh, that'll do it, man. Yeah. That'll definitely do it. Okay. Like, definitely the way I watched Brumby's Blues. I just woke up at the butt crack of dawn. Yeah. Which we passed over because I want to get into a better match than the last couple, obviously. Right. Brumby's Blues was the match of the weekend in Super Rugby. Bar none, obviously.
00:54:05
Speaker
And the Brumbies, Dan McKellar is going to be kicking players, I swear, because they had this. They did. They had this and they fucking gave it away. Right. At the end. And it's not even down to the penalty that, yeah, the drop. It's not even down to that point where they gave away the, here's the thing about the penalty we can get into in a second, but like,
00:54:30
Speaker
Rewind all the way to the back where they gave it the fuck away or what, the 10, the 22, somewhere in that neighborhood? Like, jeez, I'd be so irate if I was Dan McCaller. I'd be like, no, we just gave the ball away in a fucking terrible spot because despite Parafetta's game from the tee, he's still very good and Bodhi Barrett's there too. So that's a problem either way if I'm on the Brumbies. But the penalty is one of those things where
00:54:56
Speaker
For me, that needs to be, you are 100% gonna get it or leave it the fuck alone. And there's no way that was 100%. If he thought that was 100% and he needs his eyes checked. Like, why the hell he was digging for that? I don't know. But yeah, and especially since Damon Murphy is kind of iffy when it comes to the breakdown, that's not something I would want to leave the chance. No. So that was a little silly. I think it was the same move that went for it.
00:55:23
Speaker
I can't remember. I don't either. It was either Sam. It might've been Hooper, but either way, not good. Bad decision, bad decision all around. Then you look at Bowdoin Barrett has, you know, he's two penalty kick. Well, one penalty kick 40, you know, right after halftime for, well, you know, yeah, of halftime. And then again, at the death of the game, like finish your fucking hands. You finish two halves and just chill. You're, you're gone. You're done. You're through, but.
00:55:51
Speaker
Nope. You can't do that against the blues. They're too good. You can't, you can't lose your discipline like that. You got to, you know, I, that was, I was, I was worried about that little SEO kick myself. Giving them too much time, like a minute. They don't need that minute. And obviously they didn't. Yeah. Just a shame.
00:56:14
Speaker
Yeah, they had it. And again, this is something they're going to have to remember how to remember how to finish and, you know, scores. And I was like, damn. Did you see the halftime show at all? I didn't because I was watching it live. So I got to actually like paid attention to it. They interviewed Anton Segener. I'm going to butcher his name. They interviewed his mother who was at the match. Oh, cool. Who surprised him. She hadn't they hadn't seen each other in three years.
00:56:41
Speaker
because of COVID and all that. And she's she lives in Germany. And well, he's from Germany. Yep. And apparently, like, that's great for him. He's him playing for the blues. It's like a big thing for Germany. And, you know, of course, yes. Yeah. Yeah. He's a source of pride back home. So that was cool. That's cool to see. That's great.
00:57:03
Speaker
And she was talking about, she like knew her shit. She was like legit like throwing down all sorts of insights. And it's like, fuck, this is great shit. It was really good content. So love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah. The whole weekend was, um,
00:57:21
Speaker
was was the cultural weekend as well, which was which was really cool. There was we saw some really cool stuff from a lot of the teams and you know, the Hurricanes put something out during pregame which spoke to their you know, their natives and I was like, this is cool. So I
00:57:37
Speaker
I have a lot of appreciation for stuff like that, because, you know, there aren't enough people that we don't do enough to honor stuff like that. And so when there is some sort of honor given to that, that's like, yeah, like, and the kids are cool. Like the ones that the Australians do are really fucking cool. I would buy those all day. Like, hell, yeah. On top of that, like, fuck, yeah, I don't care what the reason is, but that's the fact that that's the reason also makes it work. It makes it better, rather, excuse me, makes it more so. I guess I would definitely buy that.
00:58:09
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's, it's really, it's really cool to see that. And you know, you'll love to hear the story of site and Aaron. Yeah. What, what kind of pride they have for him back. And then it wasn't, I think he was man of the match, wasn't he? I mean, he put in a shift. So he's at least in the conversation. So, um, I can't recall though.
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah. It's cover. I'm all I real quick and I want to do. I was prepared for teens. Picked a good week. Take a shit. Yeah. Yeah. Free Jack's not so good. But, you know, they they went up to Toronto a little light. And, you know, no, no, no boat in Waka. They pulled they pulled Poland early. Yeah. But here's the thing with all that they left behind.
00:58:56
Speaker
There's no longer that patchwork that you can cover up for a really, really bad performance. And guess who had a really fucking bad performance? Kyle was terrible. He gave up awful. He gave up 13 points.
00:59:10
Speaker
Like he literally led directly to 13 points. He gave up that pick and go try because he just didn't bother to put in an effort to make a tackle. He just kind of fell over. And then he created two penalties that were kicked over. And it's like,
00:59:31
Speaker
When you don't have the attacking players that you normally have, and you guys are still a little sore because you're playing a quick turnaround, which I hate. I hate the fucking Thursday game, but yeah, I'm just the same. Yeah, not good. You can't be personally responsible for 13 points in one half.
00:59:51
Speaker
No, not at all. And expect to win a match like that. It's the stakes are too high. You got to put that shit away. Yeah. Yeah. It really, really annoys me how bad he was. And I'm sure they're still going to put him in the lab for the fucking weekend. So I don't see what they I don't I do not understand how.
01:00:07
Speaker
They don't see it. They're professional. Like I can see it and I just watch the games. Like I don't watch film. Yeah. Like I just can tell like, hey, this guy, every time every time something shitty happens, he's been around the ball. Yeah. Like what the fuck? You don't even see that. It's not hard. It's not hard. It's really annoying. And it's like once you see it, you can't unsee it. Just like, oh, there's OK. I was tackling down. He's missing. All right. Then they get a blind break. Fucking great. Great job.
01:00:36
Speaker
Yeah. So, uh, rest of the league, uh, Houston beat beat up. Oh, glory. Well, glory is still pretty bad. Even though they got a little bit of a boost from the new coach. Uh, Los Angeles beat up Dallas Dallas is awful, but not a news thing. Uh, San Diego beat New Orleans. Again, New Orleans was highly overrated going into this thing. Um, now they're found out. So thank God. Um, Utah beat Austin. That wasn't, that was kind of a, Ooh.
01:00:59
Speaker
moment. Utah has not had a great season, but everybody was, you know, propping up the Gil Grownies, but not so much no more. So that's, that was an interesting result there. That was, that was in Utah. And Laseke was within the lineup. So that helps. He was in the 23. He was, and Teo didn't start. That also helps. Huzzah. And then, right when New York laid an absolute egg against Atlanta,
01:01:27
Speaker
They were just saying something about best back three ever. Dude, that back three was lightning in a bottle. How did they lose? That is terrible coaching, in my opinion, in that case. They didn't score a try. No.
01:01:43
Speaker
No, you have Naholo, Scuds, and Fiddo in the back three. How the fuck did you not score a try, let alone lose through a BHL? Like, what were you doing?
NY Rugby Team Struggles and Women's Semi-Finals Drama
01:01:54
Speaker
The simplest game plan ever. Give one of those three the ball and let them work. Like, you have three of them. Fucking hell.
01:02:02
Speaker
Like, oh, that's so bad. I, yeah, I'd be absolutely livid if I was a New York fan. So I'm super, I'm like fine, you know, like- I'm fine with them losing. It helps us. So, perfect. Like, okay. Thank you. I'll take the, yeah, I'm okay with the loss to Toronto now. Like, no big deal. Yeah, I can live with it. It doesn't matter. No, all we have to do, all New England has to do, New England just has to get like fricking two points this weekend. And we have the East wrapped up.
01:02:28
Speaker
So I think we can manage that. And Nola's coming, right? Yeah. So we got our old friends, Nola, coming into town. Fuck you, Cam. And I'm sure they'll do the job. I think so. Hopefully bodies are rested. And we've got, you know, we've had the extra day, which is helpful as well. Well, we'll have a few extra days because we're playing Sunday. Yep. We're playing Sunday. So Thursday to Sunday is very nice. Yeah, that is the upside of that, I suppose. And I'd rather have fresh bodies for this one. That was a fine one to throw a B team at.
01:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, clearly we knew what we were doing on that one. So it works out. There's a tactic in baseball where you have a favorable count and you kind of waste a pitch to see what the batter does. That's what that was last week. Yeah, more or less. Maybe we can throw this out and win it now. Okay, fine. Cool. I wasn't even that upset. I mean, I was kind of upset by the referee. I was annoyed, but I was like,
01:03:22
Speaker
This doesn't matter. I just didn't think we were going to win. I was like, we are not winning this match. I can feel it. I can feel it from the get-go. I was like, this is ending poorly. Right. And then, can I talk about the Allianz Premier 15 semi-finals? Because this was something we were looking forward to all week. I got to go back and watch the replays. But are they available? I didn't even know that we could watch them. I think we can watch the replays. I'll double check that. But last I knew. Anyway,
01:03:52
Speaker
The champions have been dethroned. Saracen's took down the holoquins. So there's that. A little revenge, a little revenge. A little revenge. I love Kelter as an absolute monster, which is not news for anybody that's watched her for a little bit, especially us over here. We love Kelter, Poppy Cleo. That's basically the story it looks like. Yeah. That looks like it's the story. So that needs to be said right there. No. And so loads of credit to them. Let me see.
01:04:21
Speaker
Two cards to the series. That's not awesome. Yeah. That's less than awesome at that. It's not ideal. No, it isn't. But if you come away with a win against the Harlequins, you did something all right.
01:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, they probably did all right. It looks like they got off to a flyer. They were out in front real quick. Cleo, Packer, Kelso with a pen, although she got a card too, it looks like. So they got them out there real quick. Yeah. Points to the card. You're holding serve, girl.
01:04:56
Speaker
And then the other one, which was two newbies to this whole
Upcoming Finals and Player Highlights
01:05:00
Speaker
semi-final thing, it was Exeter and Bristol. And it's going to be like it was three years ago in the prem. It's going to be Exeter and Bristol Terries in the final. Yeah. Except I kind of am cheering for this Exeter team because they have like five American women on it. Right. There's no loss here, really. No, it's all good. It's a big W for American rugby.
01:05:24
Speaker
That's all I care about, really. It is that everybody has fun. Yeah. I mean, I want Saris to win, but I do too. Hope Rogers, I guess, was I think she was playing the match, which is awesome. So it is for her. That's she she was one that she was one of the American women that I was really hoping would get one of these deals over here because I liked what I saw her of her. But at the same time, I was like,
01:05:49
Speaker
One, she wasn't as fit as I want her to be in terms of just her general getting around the park. And two, I was like, all right, she's missing something from her game. I can't put my finger on it, but she was missing something from her game. So I'm glad she got this and she's over there.
01:06:06
Speaker
there's no American coaches that can really help her because why would she listen to any of them? There's nobody who has the talent that she has at the position she has that's coming before her really. So there's nobody to be like, this is how you do this and that she would listen to. So for her, it's a good deal to go over there because now she had to work
01:06:28
Speaker
like that there's certain things that are expected and demanded that you can't really like, she could just not do any work in the US and be the best player on her team. And there's not much you can do as a coach with that. Yeah, I will be I will be included. That are good. I will say that. Right. And, you know, so just respect to the American coaches that she's had, it's just that it is the way it is. So that's what she needed to do. Yeah, that is what's up. So this will be very interesting to see how it goes. You know, I love
01:06:58
Speaker
Rachel Johnson, KZ, but sorry, go. Come on, Saris. Still our club. Right. Still our club. So it'll be interesting to see how they get on. I think that's next weekend. Yes. Am I making that up? I can't recall. I think it's coming up. Let me double check that. I can double check that. Unless they get a week off. They might get a week off, which I wouldn't blame them. It is June 3rd. So, oh, we got time. Oh, we got time. We got another week. Oh, yeah. Okay, cool.
01:07:27
Speaker
All right, cool. So organize yourselves June 3rd. It's a Friday. So there shouldn't be any action from the pram to get in the way, settle in, go watch this final. There should be absolute dandy. No, no, that's the same weekend as that's the same weekend as the, the pram final, but it's the thing on, you said the third of June, right? Yeah. Right. But the pram plays next weekend.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be the final weekend, but I think it's all gonna be on Saturday or Sunday. It is. It's all Saturday. Right. So yeah, no reason to skip it. No reason to skip it whatsoever. So go settle in, kids. Cool. All right. So we are back in the saddle. Getting this thing done.
01:08:19
Speaker
We are, we obviously are going to be jumping over to the fans, fancy corner and a little bit. So you're going to hang out with us over there. Hop on over. We got a lot of important shit to talk about this week. Um, finals week. Yeah, if not, um, we'll probably catch you next week for the roadie pod pod pod. We got a big final in itself to talk about with, um, going on in Marseille. Finally, Marseille gets a.
01:08:41
Speaker
gets the final they've been awarded for three straight years, basically. Poor guys. So finally, we get to see what's going on over in there and watch two teams go at it. And I think we all know we'll talk about the picks that live later on the fancy corner. But I think I think we know who the favorites are on the money line at the very least. So if you are joining us over there, we'll see you then. If not enjoy, enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the final. Have a good one. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Have a good one later.