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Episode 8; Premiership Round 8
33 Plays7 years ago
Got the mic sitch fixed! We talk about ENG v AUS, an ugly round 8 of the Prem, who's going down, preview Round 9 and talk about our favorite cowboy of a coach. Also featuring other banter about rugby things.
Twitter jdyke8man & admrablsnackbar
Email fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com
Music by Royalty Free Music http://www.soundotcom.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Overview
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It's the Fancy Rugby Inc's podcast. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glaser.
International Rugby Summary
00:00:10
Speaker
And we are broadcasting from just outside Boston, Massachusetts. It's Tuesday and it's round eight and end of the Internationals and we got some fun shit to talk about. Let's get right to it. Jesus, man. Crap rugby.
00:00:26
Speaker
All around. I mean, there were not even a handful of matches. There were like three or four matches worth watching this weekend. And only two of them were internationals, as far as I could tell. And two of them were in their premiership. Everything else was just not worth watching, which was fine because it's Thanksgiving weekend. So there's only so much rugby you can watch, you know, in between football with the family. That's true. That is true.
Challenges of Watching Rugby in the U.S.
00:00:50
Speaker
I still somehow squeezed it, but definitely felt lazy as hell.
00:00:55
Speaker
Well, that's the weekend to do it. Yeah, I suppose. Alright, so let's talk about internationals. We'll talk about the England game. You watched it. I didn't watch it because
00:01:07
Speaker
Folks, the U.S. sucks when it comes to covering internationals. Yes, it does. You have to pay something like $120 a year for flow, and that's the only thing they definitely service that carries U.S. matches, and luckily it carries some of the other internationals too, but that's twice as much
00:01:27
Speaker
as MVC Sports Gold and ESPN+. There are $60 a year each, which is fine. That's a beer a month. I can spend a beer a month. I can do a beer a month. But you double that. Now all of a sudden, you're paying, rather than two beers a month, you're only buying four beers a month. I might as well buy a frickin' four-pack of heavy or something. Right. So it does make it annoying, but it helps when you have a rugby-playing wife, as I do.
00:01:54
Speaker
And so she she it's not so much a request for her for us to have the access to flow rugby It's a must because I mean I look, you know, I love the women's game. Yeah, she plays it So there at least we have that kind of convergence. She wants to be able to watch women's rugby and the WPL There and that's the only place you can watch it. You can watch it. So it's worth it for me. It's worth it Yeah, so you're good.
England vs. Australia Match Analysis
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's hard to convince it was kind of a
00:02:24
Speaker
I'm doing this with ESPN Plus 3. That was like, I'm doing this and oh, I think I did the trial and I never canceled it. That's what it was. Honey, I'm going to try this out just to see what it's like. Oh, I forgot to cancel. Oh, I forgot to cancel. Look at that. Would you look at that? That's a shame.
00:02:48
Speaker
England, Australia, let's talk about it. Fun match to watch. We'll start with the good. Ben Young's just started off with an amazing performance right off the jump.
00:03:00
Speaker
Um, uh, charges down a kick, uh, creates a, a five major scrum right off the five major scrum. Uh, he freezes Hayley Petty out on the wing and, and gives it to me for a walk over try really just textbook stuff. Yeah. You said Hayley Petty had a, he had a, he had a tough, tough match because he had that one where he was just, I mean, that, that was tough cause there's nothing he could do. Uh, but then he also had a really bad miss tackle on the, uh, coconut Sega try. Um, it, it, he had it.
00:03:31
Speaker
every opportunity to line up Koka and take him low and do what you want to do on a big man like that. Yeah. And you just put his head on the wrong side and... Do you get knocked out?
00:03:41
Speaker
Didn't know, but he got sat down pretty hard. And the worst part was they were in really a man defense at that point. They were straight up man to man. And once he was beaten, there was just nobody that stopped Coco on the way to the tri-zone. So, and fair play to him, he actually stopped him in his tracks. But he fell over, he lost.
00:04:04
Speaker
and Kogan and Sidney was just able to accelerate through and run for the try. And then, yeah, so it's a tougher hilly petty. Better luck next time. And speaking of better luck next time, Faz has to watch himself.
00:04:21
Speaker
I see I haven't seen that they untackle yet. Was it the same as South Africa? No, it was worse. It was blatant and it was right on the try line. It should have been and I don't know why it wasn't.
00:04:38
Speaker
Um, but he basically shoulder checked like a hockey check. Yeah. And the referees, I don't know how he missed it, but he missed it. I don't recall. I don't remember, but nobody, right. Nobody who I was like, Oh, this, it's this guy. Um, right. So it was just, it was just a bad call.
00:05:04
Speaker
and unfortunate for Australia, but credit to Hooper and his post-match comments. The first thing they asked him was- What did he say? I've read stuff, but I haven't actually seen what the hell he said. So obviously the first question he was asked was, what about Farrell's tackle? And he replies, he said, look, they won the game. And that try, whether or not that was a penalty try, it wouldn't have mattered, because they let up a whole bunch of points
00:05:31
Speaker
Later on the batch. So he's like you would have had that tribe, but it's not like that would have saved us So, you know When it's close to what was it? 20 point game something like that. Okay Seven points isn't gonna do with that much. Yeah, it was 37 18. Yeah co-piper was the was the referee. Yeah co is in my book a little hit or miss he's had some good ones and he's had some once I'm just like
00:05:53
Speaker
Jaco, you need to go back and relook at your book there. He's not one that I immediately recognize, so obviously he hasn't made an impression either way on me. Well, he's a Bach. What are you going to do? Right.
00:06:05
Speaker
Um, but, uh, I have to, because, you know, I am the grumpy old prop. And so I have to, to give my man Kyle Sinclair a little bit of credit. I know he's, he's not your favorite, but what a day he had. I mean, I wrote it down at 64 minutes. Uh, he was my man of the match. That was before he, um, before they pulled him off. And that was well before they picked him. Um, he, uh, that, that try by Cook and Asiga was set up by a Wilson line break.
00:06:33
Speaker
And then hands went through Sinclair. And Sinclair is basically the one who put him through. Really? Yeah. So that was huge. And then at the 64th minute, it was at that point where he earned a scrum penalty, a big scrum penalty. And I don't remember exactly the situation, but it basically ended the game. He earned a scrum penalty? He earned a scrum penalty.
00:06:57
Speaker
Jesus, who the hell was he going against? I don't recall, but he was dominant all day in every phase of the game. He made great tackles, he did really well with the ball in hand, had a couple of great runs, had a couple of great passes, and his scrum performance was top tier. We talk a lot, Jared and I talk a lot back and forth about Cipriani. We call him Good Sips and Bad Sips, and we'll get to that later.
00:07:22
Speaker
but this is good sink and if good sink can can keep up this kind of performance then That'll be great for England and great for him too. Yeah, but he's too. Yeah. No, you don't like I'm still not convinced he's England starting tight-headed when everybody's healthy He might not be but but he clearly put his hand up and said I'm a good option I mean when you had that kind of performance against Australia
00:07:46
Speaker
Right. You know, I mean, he went on the line store. It wasn't a mistake that he went there. But there's a difference between being on the tour. Yeah, he was still
Ireland's Coaching Changes
00:07:55
Speaker
amongst the Shags. And being on the Midway team. Yeah, he was still kind of there. And then being on the 23 frame line and being
00:08:04
Speaker
You know, they're they're they're not even penciling pen him in if he plays like that continues to play like that He's he's a that's that's his position to lose. It's a it's a one-off game and you can't take it away from him I'm not I'm still gonna hold my breath on whether or not Kyle Sinclair can actually prove that he's going to be consistent Scrumager what? There's there's this trend that seems to be going through maybe it's just England But these big ball carrying props that can't scrum for a fuck I
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah. Mako, honestly, let's be real. I love Mako, but he can't scrum worth his life. And Sinclair, this is a one-off game for him that he's been able to scrum, so. Well, it's such the, and I, you know, I can only speak a little bit towards that level of rugby. Yeah. Well, my experience has always been you really can only focus your energy on so many, in so many areas. And when you're dominant in the scrum, you're focusing just on that. It, it, it, it gets your, it, it.
00:09:05
Speaker
it's hard to run in the loose, it could be quite honest. And then when you're running in the loose, it's hard to use that, you know, it's the anaerobic versus aerobic activity, right? So if you're focusing on that aerobic activity and you're running in the game, it's hard to transfer that towards scrummaging for the front row. But you did it all. Yeah, well, I mean, and there,
00:09:30
Speaker
Well-class props are more than capable of doing it, even in a one-off. You know, I remember a couple years ago, I think it was... Oh, it was France. I remember just watching a French and South African game, and there was a French prop that was happening today. He was carrying, he was scrummaging. This was many years ago now. I don't remember the guy's name.
00:09:51
Speaker
But again, I don't remember the guy's name. He had a one-off where he did everything. So it's not impossible for any of these guys at this level to do this, but at the same time it doesn't. You have to acknowledge it, but you can't just be like,
00:10:05
Speaker
Oh, this is the next coming. I'm like, no, you need to calm down. Let's put the pump the brakes on that. Yeah, he yeah, he had a kid. He had himself a great day. And let's leave it at that for now. He did. And it's another one, then. OK, now we can start really thinking, OK, these might be one of the best tight heads in the world at that point if he plays at that level. Yeah, he can do that. Yes. Yeah. So other big news is.
00:10:30
Speaker
Joe Schmidt stepping down from Ireland at the end of the World Cup and Andy Farrell, Owen Farrell's dad, taking over the Ireland job potentially. It sounds like that's the guy they want, assuming nothing goes awry between now and the end of the World Cup and next fall, then Andy Farrell will be your Ireland coach. It could do worse. Yeah, fact, fact, fact, fact.
00:10:54
Speaker
He did a great job with Ireland, obviously. I don't think I'm overstepping. No, by no means. We've seen Ireland have a couple of nice ascents to the top now, obviously the big thing.
00:11:08
Speaker
with them is what happened four years ago was they had peaked too early. They peaked in 14 instead of in 15. And it tossed them. And the question is, are they doing it now? Did they peak in 2018? That's going to be the big question. I think they almost got a little too satisfied with what they had done. Obviously, Johnny Sexton's been named Player of the Year.
00:11:31
Speaker
Did you see? Poor, poor guy couldn't talk to save his life. He had to have Bestie do it. Yeah. Bestie did a great job. Yeah. Filling in his voice. They even had the nuts to just be like, Johnny, can you say something? He's like, literally can't talk to me. I was like, no, you cannot. Yeah. Oh my God. But we've talked about back to Ireland. We've talked about them. We talked about them last week and
00:11:59
Speaker
My point is that they've changed their game. They're not just that bash, bash, bash. They have a bit of skill behind it too. So they see their true physicality for defense and on attack, they move the ball and they play some little bit of champagne rugby. Yeah, a little bit. That's the perfect team. So if they can keep that up, then they should
00:12:23
Speaker
Have a very good showing at the world cup. Yeah, this is questioned if they slipped on that they won't slip on defense We know that no, that's never gonna happen. It's just I mean their creativity and on attack if they can maintain that then they'll be they'll be dangerous, right? Yeah, absolutely and I'm Gotta be the Gotta be the one that throws this monkey wrench into it. They did not look good defensively against Argentina in that semi in 15 though. I will say that I watched it and I was like
00:12:52
Speaker
Is there anybody that wants to play defense for Ireland in case Argentina were just cutting them up? Well, and that's the problem with that style of play, the kind of the bash fest, is if you have a bad day on defense and it turns into a shootout, you got nothing. Nope. And you have nothing left in the tank. Right. And let's keep in mind this whole international window, Ireland did not have Conor Murray, who's probably the second best halfback in the world.
00:13:18
Speaker
So let's not forget that, too. So there's more in the locker. I'd settle for the best outside of New Zealand. I don't know if I'd probably take Aaron and TJ. I don't know if I'd take TJ. He's a little too hot. The problem is TJ's too much of a hothead. Oh, true. But when he's on, there's no one better. He doesn't always remember to turn it on. It's the consistency. Yeah, that's his problem for sure.
00:13:48
Speaker
All right, okay, so let's have a look at the dream team from this past week. Boy, there was some bad rugby, but there were some big numbers put up too. That was amazing. Oh man,
Premiership Match Recaps
00:14:03
Speaker
there was some big numbers. All right, so let's just go down the list here. Jake Cooper-Wooley, and I think this was his first game back for WASP, or at least in the Premiership, I think he's actually played in Europe.
00:14:13
Speaker
So Jake Cooper pull Cooper Willie the prop for was 43 Harry Thacker returns to Bristol puts up a 66 you Greg Bateman puts up 43 for Lester the their prop James Gaskell and Will Rowlands the two second rows from loss 61 for Gaskell 40 for Rowlands Brandon O'Connor from Lester with 40 the blindside flanker or the flanker you can just call it a flanker It's fine Lewis Ludlam from Northampton with 37. I think that's his second week in a row in the team
00:14:43
Speaker
Josh Beaumont with 39 from sail back rower for them Will Chudley the bath scum half Chudley's gonna he's just gonna keep them going They didn't have a great week, but he's still just gonna keep scoring. I promise Ryan Mills from Worcester
00:14:59
Speaker
Their center combination is very good and very underrated. Ryan Mills is definitely a big part of that. They put him in at 10 in this team in order to fit everybody in that scored points well this week. But trust me, he's a good, wherever you put him, he'll work. Denny Salimona from sale, the winger, he had 52. Ross Neal makes his debut for WASS as well.
00:15:23
Speaker
62 for him. They put him in that center even though he played the wing this weekend. Joe Marchant had a nice day for Quinn's. He had 35 at their center. Alex Cuthbert from Exeter, 45 for him. And a not so pretty but still effective game from Exeter. Cuthbert puts 45 up, not bad. And Rory McConaughey from Bath with 37 as a sub. Not too shabby for the kid. That's two weeks in a row, I think he's done
00:15:49
Speaker
pretty well, if I remember right. I'll check my numbers here real quick, and... Drumroll please. Rory McConaughey, yeah. Okay, yeah, you had 13 off the bench last week, but obviously a 37's a big step up from that. You also got a lot more time, and we'll talk about that game in just a second, but let's go to Worcester Quinn's.
00:16:12
Speaker
This is what I was talking about. The Bashfest. Yeah, it was. Both teams were throwing one to two passes off the breakdown. Any more than that and something bad happened. They were running out of touch. They were throwing the ball into touch.
00:16:28
Speaker
they they really there was just no no attacking skill whatsoever in that in that match bad passing all around yeah i mean the the three tries in that match one was off a mall one was you know the shove over after you know being on the goal line and the other was an interception by martian yep that's you know yeah
00:16:49
Speaker
It's just you know when your scores are coming from from ugly rugby You know that's what that's when the good stuff is happening Yeah, you got I mean you gotta you gotta win the ugly one side everything's gonna be there's a lot here and March It was the only impact player in the match as far as I could see everyone else kind of making a line breaks Yeah, everyone else kind of you know They got their yards and you just like we were talking about last you know last week got their yards in contact and and in the rock so
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't great. It's frustrating to watch. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, we'll look at the big scores from this game. Francois Huguard with 31. Ryan Mills, as we just talked about, with 44. Nick Schoner with 31. Good for him. Hopefully he continues to put his hand up for England. Matt Cox, their back row, and 8-man for Worcester with 28.
00:17:45
Speaker
Phillips with 27, their second rower, Sam Lewis with 26, and Francois Venter, their other center with 25. Again, their center combo is a little underrated in my opinion. I don't think you can ignore it, but also I think I looked at the other week. I think teams score the most
00:18:04
Speaker
Nope, let's go the least. That's what it was. The least against Worcester for centers. They give up the least amount of points to centers because, again, these two are fairly good players, if not, you know, very good players. And they don't go anywhere because they don't play for anybody internationally. So they play together the whole time. I think there's something to be said about the whole continuity type of thing, you know? Definitely.
00:18:29
Speaker
You know, so yeah, and then let's see Quinn's we had Marler with 15 care with 20 off the bench Makes his return trying to make make a point to Eddie Marchant as we just talked about with 35 Charlie McCrone had 29 in his start Marley with 36 nice looking nice looking day for him even though it was basically nothing else to be had Mike Brown with 32 Marley's not doing too terrible out there for Quinn's considering that they're kind of banged up back there
00:18:58
Speaker
I mean, I'm actually surprised it's Murley that's making the impact and not somebody like Nathan Earl who left Sarries who, I mean, he had a long wait. He had a long line in front of him for guys that were ready to play, but man.
00:19:16
Speaker
I'm surprised Nathan Earl hasn't done a lot. He's in my team and I've been a little frustrated with him because He's not cheap. He's not expensive, but he's not cheap and you know, he just he's not putting up big numbers and he's there attacking me Yeah, so and he just isn't isn't getting that done
00:19:33
Speaker
nope nope understatement of the day let me see he he had one week of 44 everything else is yeah everything else is like low 20s yeah he's kind of pedestrian yep it's it's not it's not something you want you want you know high mid mid 20s and higher as consistently as possible you know one down weeks okay but you need it as much as possible to be in that mid 20s and not
00:19:58
Speaker
And that's the fun with fantasy rugby, or in fantasy anything, same with football, just because the guy is a good player doesn't mean it shows up on the fantasy sheet. Right, we were just talking about that. But yeah, this was not a good match to really wet the palate by any means whatsoever. 20 to 13, Worcester taking home a victory against Quinn's. Quinn's after a nice win.
00:20:24
Speaker
Did they win last week, didn't they? Am I already losing my mind? I thought they won the other week. What the heck? I think they won. Yeah, they beat the Falcons last week. Yeah, OK, yeah. And they showed up against a team that could have easily beat them. I thought the Falcons were definitely going to win that game. And sure enough, they decided to lay an egg. Well, like I said, when it's bash, bash, bash, it's kind of a coin flip as to who's going to win, right? And especially when both teams are
00:20:54
Speaker
Um, I kind of shit in the bed. Yeah. Um, it's kind of, uh, you know, it could go this way. It could go that way. And this week, you know, last week, last week, you know, it went the Harlequin's way against the Falcons this week. Not so much. Yeah, no, it's, you know, with guys like Mike Brown in the squad, probably.
00:21:13
Speaker
really having a point to prove to Eddie. You'd think that he would be just super motivated to put this, put the, put the queens over the line as much as he could. I just didn't understand. But I mean, even the score line is, is kind of, uh, somewhat misleading because they stay, uh, take the penalty.
00:21:30
Speaker
With two minutes to go just so they could get the the losing bonus point. Yeah, so it's not as though I mean, it was a 10 point game No, really and I mean, yeah, they get the three points, but it's not as though it was uh, you know a Particularly good match for the quiz, right? Well and marker smith had a rough day off the tee, too Yeah, I think he what he missed two or three. He missed two or three at least. Yeah, that was not it That was not a good day for him. So
00:21:52
Speaker
Better days ahead for Marcus Smith, I'm quite sure. Let's also factor in the weather here. Yeah, it was pretty shite. Pretty much every match was either affected by rain or it had recently rained and the fields were slick. That's true. So it's not as though the footing was great, especially for kickers. That's going to come in important because they're going to have to have a solid base. I think Worcester's sharp, but still it becomes a soap.
00:22:20
Speaker
what you're what surface playing on when it's wet that's a that's a bar of soap right there no fun um all right yeah let's get to let's get the new castle yeah let's get to that one this again friday these friday fixtures were great last week they were a little they were more fun to watch especially that glosser match this week we were not treated to anything very good
00:22:39
Speaker
I was so excited for this match because I really wanted to see, uh, Burns versus, uh, flood. Yeah. Well, well, I got about 10 minutes of that. Yeah. Yeah. 12 minutes. I don't know. I don't know what the report is back on him, but, uh, I'm not going to speculate. It didn't look good. Doesn't look good. Didn't I wasn't Alex Smith, but it wasn't good.
00:23:05
Speaker
No, that was not that was not pretty either But yeah, so it was a it was a
00:23:11
Speaker
Beautiful 16-8 win for Newcastle. At least they finally get off the mark and get a win. Good Lord. I mean, they're still stuck on the bottom, but at least they got a win. Yeah, a win's a win. Got away from that. Maybe they can start moving themselves in the right direction. I hope so, especially, like we said last week, they had a great showing in Europe. And suddenly they just lay eggs again in the premiership.
00:23:39
Speaker
and maybe that has something to do with their internationals not being there, but at the same time...
00:23:45
Speaker
I'm not certain that that would be a much of a difference. You can't make that, you know. It's not something you can just sit there and say, yeah, we don't have internationals. Well, neither does, like, half the team. So, you know, deal with it. Yeah, but they figured it out. 16-8, Johnny Williams got the, I will say Johnny Williams. The two tries that were scoring the match were very nice. They were not ugly tries by any means. It was the one-off pass from Johnny Williams that ran a nice looking line.
00:24:13
Speaker
And then it was a little bit of footwork from Atkins that put McConaughey into the corner. So that was good I mean, you know Homer came off as well and You know that that yeah, both of them are problems. But but you think you said you got Johnny Williams who's an Olympic sevens player Not the worst option to have back there. Well, I think you're the wrong one. I think you're crossing them up You got Johnny Williams. He did come off Johnny Williams eventually came off
00:24:40
Speaker
Rory McConaughey, who yes, he played international sevens. You're right. Okay. He did. He always hit. All right. I got the wrong name. They both came on at the same time. So, well, you got them on the wrong side because Williams is a Falcon there. I was, oh, then I was talking about someone else. I was talking about the guy who replaced Homer. McConaughey. He's McConaughey. All right.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe maybe your scribble might be getting the best We'll go through the scores before I choke on it Count green with 37
00:25:22
Speaker
young with thirty four flood with thirty good to see flood actually not being a pile of garbage stewart the scrum have mickey young i don't know why he did not play that he pulled out sick uh... so he had twenty three but we had twenty three off the bench not bad for uh... george and we can definitely an underrated asset and fancy and they use it with twenty three trying to fill in for mark wilson niggles is not keeping his spot there i hate to tell mark wilson's gonna take that back pretty fast
00:25:52
Speaker
But yeah, so not some not too pretty scores On the other side bath Ruckon di Goni a disappointment with 17. Yeah again, Jamie Roberts another disappointment with seven
00:26:05
Speaker
Burns only had two, he came off injured, so that's something to be expected. Will Shudley with 49, very nice. McConaughey with 37, again, very nice. Nathan Cat with 28, looking good for a big guy. And then Zack Mercer trying to make a point to Eddie that, uh-uh, you were not getting ready to be that fast. He had 26. And he was doing everything he could to get back forward. But dear God, for whatever reason, they just couldn't.
00:26:34
Speaker
get anything done. Every time they looked like they had something, they found a way to screw it up. Right. They did. And you know, it could have been a lot worse, too, for Bath, because Hammersley had had some really bad unforced errors towards the match. So, yeah, that that score line could have been, you know, could have got at least two more, maybe a bonus point if they got lucky. You know, you never know, you get that lucky one. So, yeah, that was that was not a pretty one from Bath. Tom Blacketer is going to go back.
00:27:05
Speaker
and rethink the whole thing. They have who's next on their list. I think sale is next to for Bath. I think that, yep, that's the Sunday fixture next week. Sale comes to town and plays at the Rec. So yeah, we'll see what happens. All right.
00:27:22
Speaker
Friday games, we can just flush those and get rid of them for many reasons. Saturday games aren't much better. Saturday games weren't better, but there were still a couple of good ones at least. There were some competitive ones and some ones that were at least watchable. There were actually two matches on Saturday that totaled over 30 points. That's a nice thing. That's double the output from Friday. Dear God.
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, so let's start. We'll start with Gloucester Chiefs because we talked about bad sips and all that stuff. Bad, bad sips. Bad sips. This was bad sips. This wasn't even mediocre sips. This was bad sips. He got yanked. I don't know, probably about 60 minutes in. Too late. Yeah, probably too late, honestly, but you know, better late than never sometimes. Yeah. But he didn't have a good one. No. And just
00:28:14
Speaker
throwing the ball away. I mean, I mean, Cuthbert had 45 points, and I will get to that a little bit, but basically, he had 45 points because of bad sets. I mean, just two bad plays with the ball, one of them, Cuthbert just...
00:28:35
Speaker
And that was just a bad pass. I mean, just why would you throw that pass? The defense was more than set and it was a slow developing play that he ran. At that point, just keep it and eat it for the next phase. But no, he decided he's going to, you know, again, I'm kind of talking out of two sides of my mouth here because I talked about the lack of creativity this weekend.
00:28:58
Speaker
And then there, but there's a difference between not having creativity and then trying to force creativity when it shouldn't be there. And Sips was really trying to force it this weekend. This is the bad side of him, for sure. This is exactly what the bad side is. He sees things, and Finn Russell from Scotland is actually very similar. He will throw passes that...
00:29:17
Speaker
have no business being thrown, but then they work out and it's like, what a brilliant pass. And then there's the one that shouldn't be thrown and it goes the other way and you're like, you moron. And Stips is obviously case in point here, same thing. Cuthbert and Cordero were cutting these two up. I'm actually surprised Cordero only had what he had, but Cuthbert definitely had himself a day. I had him on my team like four weeks ago. What the heck was this?
00:29:45
Speaker
Well, he wasn't playing against bad sips when we see him. No, clearly. Maybe that's what I need to bank on.
00:29:49
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so we'll go, let's just run through the scores real quick for the, the big, the notable scores, at least Supriani 10. That's just, you don't need to know more than that. That tells everything right there. A good fly half on a decent day can put you, give you 30. You know, when you're having a bad day, you're definitely not going to score more than 10, more than 20. And he only scored 10 Woodward. Again, this is so opposite of what happened last week. Woodward was carving up along with Thorley.
00:30:18
Speaker
With 12 Ben Morgan with 17 Willie Hines with 31 the highest scorers your scrum half or second highest scorers your scrum half Ali thoroughly thoroughly with 26 and Frazier bombing with 33 you had a nice solo run that piled up piled up his his
00:30:35
Speaker
But Thorly, I want to point him out because we talked about him last week. He had another great game this week and it was kind of spoiled a little bit. That interception that sips through to Cuthbert, that was off of a long ass run, just a brilliant run by Thorly. He only had 26.
00:30:57
Speaker
Thor Lee, but that just goes to show that's a guy you want on your squad because he's cheap and it looks like he looks like he's gonna be getting you You know in the mid-20s this looked like a floor game for him Yeah, this is this is the problem. This could be the worst you get out of thoroughly depending on the team They're playing and how they defend him but but he just looked like he's ready to he's ready to play right well and and
00:31:18
Speaker
Thoroughly being as cheap as he is at you know under 115 120 whatever you may have ballooned since then But that 3pg number that we talked about and you want to try to keep that as low as possible. He's at 2.9
00:31:31
Speaker
You know, you want to compare that to, you know, even somebody on his old team. Where's Charlie Sharples, who has a good number by himself? He's at 8.3. Yeah. So that's that. Also, I just screwed up. Frigile Balmain did not have 33. I was thinking of somebody else on another team and I screwed up the names. My bad. So don't go after Frigile Balmain. Don't do it. I'm telling you right now, don't do that.
00:31:54
Speaker
So for the Chiefs, you know, it was, it was Gloucester the first, what, 10 minutes when they kicked those two penalties. And I thought, Oh man, Gloucester is really going to take it to him today. Wrong. They just disappeared or exit or stop messing around either way. One of the other, you know, a little bit of both, maybe whatever it was. Um, but yeah, Chiefs, Chiefs players to note, Cordero with 21, he is definitely looking, I mean,
00:32:19
Speaker
21 is not a lot, but just look at the eye test and the man looks like he's on a mission. He's probably missing playing for the Pumas, but at the same time, he's here to make a statement saying, I'm not just here to screw around. There's a new player note that we should mention about Exeter 2. We'll talk about it in a second.
00:32:37
Speaker
Don't arm him with 16, not fantastic, especially for the price you're probably paying for him. I'm paying for him, yeah, definitely. Yeah, so exactly. Cuthbert with 45, Nick White with 31, the scrum head. What a try he had. Yeah, nice looking. Nice looking. What a mustache.
00:32:54
Speaker
or a mustache on me. Jack Andal with 26 and Gareth Steenson with 22. So even in a subpar performance from Gareth Steenson, he gets 22. So that's exactly what you're looking at. You want a fly half that can do that on the reg. It's okay to have sips in your team, but you have to know who you're scoring, who you're playing against. And I think I told you this the other day, I did the math.
00:33:22
Speaker
Up until this weekend is not up to date but total points Exeter give up the least fantasy points total in in this in this format Saracens Gloucester are actually three right behind them, but I think Yeah, it's it's a pretty good number between Exeter and Gloucester. It's about it's about a hundred points.
00:33:49
Speaker
Not not gigantic but definitely
Team Changes & Transfers
00:33:51
Speaker
no notable gap between exit and Gloucester and exit or at home, too So that's the other thing you got a factor in Yeah Gloucester and then bath actually give up some of the lease although we'll see what happens after this weekend when I calculate everything But yeah, so that but that's exactly what I'm talking about with Steenson and sips and mediocre fly half
00:33:51
Speaker
I
00:34:13
Speaker
Day still gets you 22. That's that's okay. That's fine. You it doesn't kill your team It doesn't make your teams week, but shit. It doesn't kill your team like a 10. Yeah, but right Let's let's talk about a newcomer that's coming little little cherry little merry-go-round that happened a few weeks ago We we didn't get to it yet. But so Christian Wade does what he does and does the stupid thing and we know we know my opinion on it
00:34:37
Speaker
That's how that that is where it is. I think it's everybody's opinion. I think so too, but you know with the exception of the few and far between but then you have Cup and narrow go to Was now he's away with Italy, but he leaves leaves Exeter and goes to goes to wasp because they have somebody they needed to make room for next year Stewart hog
00:35:04
Speaker
This will be interesting to see him and I've said it before this Exeter team is a little terrifying to take a back from Sometimes because they are so forward-heavy, you know and with all their big guys come back now They're gonna have all you're gonna have their two
00:35:21
Speaker
They're missing three, what, three, four props right now? Williams, Francis, Moon, and Hepburn. So yeah, they're missing four props right now, so they'll be back. Kyle and Dickie will eventually get healthy, and that'll be, you know, that's fine. Yandel and Kyle and Dickie are almost interchangeable for this team. So that's not a big deal, but Sam Skinner will be back.
00:35:43
Speaker
then you'll have, obviously you're gonna have Henry Slade back, which is not a forward, but still he don't, you know, that's just more bodies in there to take points away from your guys. So yeah, just, it's a little scary, but I think a guy like Hogg, you look at the damage that Dolman does right now as their fullback, and you gotta think, man, he could definitely do some more. And there'll be a little clog back there with Cuthbert, Knoll, Dolman, Cordero.
00:36:10
Speaker
Great, great problem to have for Exeter, but problem for fantasy owners next year when this, when this comes around. Definitely. So I think that'll be, I think it'll be fun to see. That's a good problem to have there, right? Yes, absolutely. Well, we talked, I talked about it. At least if you're a fan of just watching the rugby. Yes, absolutely. Oh, I have.
00:36:29
Speaker
One, I have one international winger that I can sit and three that I need to play. No big deal. Yeah, so good problem to have for him. But yeah, Gloucester don't show up very well today or this weekend. And they are, are they still, they're still sitting third though, aren't they? No, they're fourth, Woss jumped them with good reason because Woss showed up. We'll get to them in a minute. Salem Saints. Oh, our old friend Steve Diamond figures one out.
00:36:59
Speaker
Oh man, this was not Man, they they couldn't finish neither team could really but I want to finish the game. Yeah, I know right It was a it was a sludge the end got a little better. Okay, but man, it was it was a sludge just so many You know, what's was the kid's name read? I think is that the one year's name that was playing the skin? I
00:37:25
Speaker
Bloody hell. Let me look. I know the name. I know the name. If I see somebody showed up on the best of the week No, he wasn't which is really weird. I was just like yeah breed. Yeah Where for sale? Yeah, he only had 16 but like he is the problem He would get to the line or get short of the line and they wouldn't they couldn't he the one couldn't break it or two He was just
00:37:49
Speaker
I don't even know. It just wasn't good. He just couldn't figure it out. He couldn't figure out a way to get through. Grand, one, one brick. He tried to cut through three people. Yeah. Well, that's inadvisable. If it was Salomon, I'd say go for it, but Reed's kind of small. The, um, there was one, I think it was, uh, John Ross was breaking towards the line and chose to really try and run somebody over rather than try and run by somebody. And he actually ended up paying for it. Um, two guys from,
00:38:18
Speaker
Northampton, one of them I think was Tamana Harrison got on top of them and with two guys, one of them being Harrison on top of you as far as holding on to that ball, there's no way you're gonna, there was one guy that came in from the side with a half-hearted attempt. Yeah, no, not happening. Maybe next time, avoid the tackle. Did you see the dislodged son of a try?
00:38:37
Speaker
No, I didn't. I really like this. You were drifting in and out on this one. I don't blame you. Not yet. Not even. I think I might have started it and then just shut it up. Nope. This one's not worthy of my time. Yeah. So it was clearly not in my opinion. It was clearly a dislodged try because John, the same guy, he had issues, obviously. John Ross was coming back.
00:39:01
Speaker
after a kick had gone over his head from McLaren's of some sort and Came back was coming back Salomon afield did it fine Tamana Harrison was gonna go go after Salomon and Ross changed his line on his retreat and got in Harrison's way and
00:39:19
Speaker
Obviously obstruction. See ya, you know, it wasn't Overwhelmingly like he didn't smash him, but he clearly changed his he looked at him The camera angle just is like ooh you looked right at him And just like turned his back into him and bumped right into him Yeah, the cameras not gonna miss that one buddy. Sorry. We do have TMOs in this league Bad news to you. Yeah. Yeah again, so what happened to a Will Crifton?
00:39:47
Speaker
He, oh man, he looks broken. He looked broken. Yeah, one point for the guy. I had him in my lineup as well. So it was a heartbreaking one. He hurt his shoulder and they card him off. They structured him off. I think he broke something in that shoulder. He seemed to be in a good amount of pain. They came over and gave him the mask.
00:40:13
Speaker
He's been Plugging him in and not even yeah, he's been a beast. So I see the one sitting there and I'm like, what the hell happened to him, right? Yeah, I mean 8.63 PG 1.1 pound per point. Yeah, not not not not bad. He's averaging 18 points. I
00:40:31
Speaker
Every time he plays, that was just a heartbreaker for him. That's a shame. We hope he's better. That's him for sale. They keep losing people. Yeah. They just, they, they, well, I mean, obviously our boy, A.J. McGinty went down. That was a heartbreaker. He'll be back in the new year, but that's why they went and called him Gopriya. So, I mean, you know, I have to say though, the fact that I think the same, seems to above
00:40:56
Speaker
They sit above the sharks, don't they? Right now? Yeah. They do sit above them. They sit only two points above them, but they sit above them. How long has Steve Diamond been in this league? Too long. How long has Chris Boy been in this league? First season. First season. You just came from the Hurricanes. Yeah. And he's, he seems to have it kind of figured out.
00:41:18
Speaker
And granted, there's some guys missing from Sale. There's a lot more guys missing from the Saints. And Sale barely got this win on their home patch. Yeah. You know, Phyphler Clark was a beast, as he usually is. He's amazing. If Sexton didn't win the World Player of the Year, I thought it was going to be him. If it was anybody else but the two of them, I thought it was a cry. I have trouble with Phyph.
00:41:39
Speaker
Yeah, I do too, but that's the difference. I have trouble with him as watching him and the pain in the backside that he is, but again. He's one of those, if he was playing for my team, I'd probably love him. Yes, he is, he absolutely is. But he doesn't. He ends up playing for teams that I'm just not. It's like, no.
00:42:00
Speaker
No, but yeah, just you know, do you have an international scrum half like him? Obviously with Dupree and the back row options that this guy has the Curry brothers Beaumont Strauss when he's a bit when he comes back John Ross, you know
Coaching Critiques
00:42:15
Speaker
It's unfathomable how Steve Diamond has done so terrible, but I think we talked about it. He's one of, he's definitely a cowboy. Oh, absolutely. You know, just absolutely. I mean, those comments when he was talking about, oh, we're going to have a, you know, woodshed practice and we're going to have to, you know, beat, beating the crap out of them. I'm like, that's not, that doesn't do anything anymore. These guys are in a level where they, that doesn't do anything anymore. You know, these are not schoolboys. Right. Some of them might be schoolboy age, but believe me, if they're there, they're there for a reason, you know? Um, man, I don't, I don't understand.
00:42:45
Speaker
Oh, all right. Let's, let's, we'll, we'll go through it real quick before I get mad. Um, Oh, if I knew, if I knew it, uh, John O'Connor 19 for sale to Clark with 30 sell motor with 52 had a couple of nice runs that he cut, cut them up. One of them went for a try and actually counted. He had one that did was disallowed. Um, Sam James was 29, uh, Ben Curry with 27.
00:43:11
Speaker
Robert DiPrio with 26, Josh Beaumont 39. Nice day for Josh Beaumont. He's a solid option. He's not too expensive. He's a good one. Phillips with 25 and Rob Webber with 25. Bloody hell.
00:43:28
Speaker
Saints, Nairavaro with 15. Yeah, yeah. How do you feel about that performance compared to last week? I maybe, you know, pump the brakes. I was ready. I was ready for Nairavaro to be taken over and, you know, he's not going to be going off every week, but 15 is a little bit less than I would expect. Yeah, I'm sure.
00:43:51
Speaker
I'm not a big fan, but he had a nice Johnny on the spot try where I think it was nine roll actually threw it back and it just kind of flopped around in the middle of the field for a while and then he got over the line. My boy Lewis Ludlam with 37.
00:44:05
Speaker
Loving, loving, loving, loving. Now that everybody's back, I'm still gonna keep that guy, because that dude has just turned into a beast. Is he gonna play every week? No, but not a terrible option to have in the pocket. Frazier Dingwall with 30, and obviously at home with 22. Dingwall continues to say, you know, even when these guys come back, like Pierce Francis and the likes, I'm not going away. I'm gonna be, I wanna be here. But boy, I will say this, this team needs Dan Bigger.
00:44:35
Speaker
Man, oh man, they could have won this game if they had damn bigger it really came down to kicks they had a couple of kicks they should have made and they didn't and You know with a what a five-point game Para kicks ones you the game. Yep, you know, it's it's it really is bad. It's too bad, but It's a lot of pressure on on the young kid with the hexes name Don't tell me don't tell me
00:45:02
Speaker
Grayson, that's him. Grasp, Grayson. Yeah, Grayson was not a good day. He had a decent day last week and they obviously had a good day overall. They won, they'd be lost at the gardens. No, wait, yeah. Do they have gardens? Yeah, they were. Yeah, they were. I'm on drugs. Not the bad ones, I promise. Only the best drugs, too. Yeah, right. fantasy rugby games.
00:45:35
Speaker
14 for Grayson was not something worthy of starting fly-off by any means. And then he's obviously, it's a lot of pressure on the kid.
00:45:45
Speaker
Get it and you know, he got thrown into this because it was definitely thought that Harry Malander would be the next one in Pierce Francis could have played ten if they really need him to well Oops. Hello Pierce Francis went into the England team. So there goes that But you know, so he just kind of he got thrown into this a little bit of the fire We'll see if Dan bigger is healthy and able to play next week We'll talk about the situation that weeks situation next week to see what happens. But yeah really came down
00:46:16
Speaker
Damn damn bigger could have made that those kicks are not and I think he could have so Saints will have to get back to the drawing board. I believe they play
00:46:27
Speaker
They're at home next week. Falcons. Yeah. See what happens. That's going to be a. Dean Richards and the company might be getting some momentum. We'll find out if they. That's two teams, two pretty desperate teams right there. Yeah. That should be a good match. Yeah, because Northampton probably have aspirations for top six, if not top four. And Newcastle certainly don't want to go down. So this two teams that really need some points. Yeah, two teams that really need some points. All right.
00:46:53
Speaker
Wasp Bristol probably the most watchable match of the weekend and I hate saying that because I flippin hate Diane I don't really dislike his fat butt, but you know, I just but it's very much I like this His game plan for the week, which was we're better than the bears. Yeah, we're more skilled on the bears and
00:47:16
Speaker
So let's open it up and attack. And they had the backs, right? So it's like, you know, they did an excellent job with it. And, you know, again, another another newcomer announcing his presence with authority. Yeah, Neil. Yeah. I mean, that was that was just a lot of fun to watch that I finished them. Well, yeah, I was only able to watch the first like 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately, I ran out of time. That was when I was I really wanted to keep watching. But but I got.
00:47:44
Speaker
stuff that you watched. Yeah, exactly. But that's the problem with Thanksgiving travel and whatnot. That's true. There's only so much I could do. Only so much to be done. But I loved it and I was like, I need to come back and rewatch the rest of it. I just haven't done it yet. Yeah. You're going to want to...
00:48:04
Speaker
I don't know if scintillating is the word, but the kid definitely had some jets. He did. And some finishing power and some unselfish play. He scored a try three minutes in and four minutes later he sets up another try. What more do you want? That's a great match, let alone a first seven minutes from your ship.
00:48:29
Speaker
Christian who yeah exactly he can have him yeah I'm sure I'm sure they'll be happy to see good riddance yeah especially if this kid's gonna play like that I'll do a penalty shot if he makes the squad if he makes the squad I'll laugh
00:48:49
Speaker
Yeah, so great match to watch it was definitely all wasp with a little bit of a resurgence from Bristol I will you have to get you have to give them that good for them for trying to for the attempt in the comeback Yeah, they got up they did get the two points out of that Yeah, they got two points out they got a bonus try and they got they lost by less than seven. So yeah They really they really put it to them
00:49:08
Speaker
in the last 20 minutes, the last 30 minutes, the problem is they didn't do enough of them in the first 40. Right. And that's just, again, that goes to the game plan as far as, yeah, we might exhaust ourselves, but we cannot score them because we'll put up
00:49:24
Speaker
30 real quick and then can they can they come back and match it and obviously the bears couldn't yeah so it's no there was a you know it maybe it wasn't the most pretty win because they let him come back but it was effective yeah it got the job done got done uh great job die yeah die you and i are going to be on the wrong page for a long time it's okay um so yeah let's go through the lost scores we'll go through both teams real quick and then we're going to get into a bit of
00:49:50
Speaker
Oh boy, moments. Liam Estelpawaga with 37, redeemed himself after he's had some up and down weeks too, especially for as expensive as he is. Ashley Johnson comes off, he only gets five. As we talked about, Ross Neal was 62.
00:50:07
Speaker
One of both back rowers had good days, second rowers had good days, some other back rowers had good days too. But Rowland had 40, Gaskell the large gigantic giraffe went for a stroll and got a try. So he had 61, Ben Harris had 40, Jake Cooper-Willi again first, I think this is his first action in the premiere, the permission for a boss, he had 43.
00:50:30
Speaker
Hampson down to the third I'll give him this down to the third string from half and still look pretty good offensively Yeah, leave us open walk. It does have that ability to be to be to do like it helps when you're passing to him and he's got the experience he has you know, so let's not completely
00:50:47
Speaker
put it all into Hampson's bucket, but you gotta give him credit. I mean, let's also remember that for scrum heads, you know, the passing amount of passes you complete plus accuracy really helps. Yeah. So, so for a team that, that had not only has soap a lot, but the forwards that wasps have, you know, he just throws the pass and they do the rest of it. So that's where he's getting his points. It doesn't have to do a whole lot. Yeah. I don't think he made any real darts or breaks. Just a lot of passing. Tom Willis with 26.
00:51:18
Speaker
Tom young with 36 Yeah, Tom Willis with 26 Tom young with 36 Again, I I don't like Diane. I love his kid. The kid needs to play international rugby somewhere I don't know where he's eligible for I presume he's eligible for England because he's been there for long enough That's a hard nut to crack but I think he's only the only other place he's eligible is Wales. That's a hard nut to crack too Good luck. Yeah
00:51:45
Speaker
Juan Deong, 29, and Rob Miller with 34. So by all the names I just listed with the exception of Ashley Johnson, that's a lot of names with a lot of points. I upped my threshold for the names I wanted to note, and there were still a lot of names on this team. Yeah, well, did you mention, I didn't see it, but Ben Morris off the bench? Yeah, he should be on there. No, I had Ben Harris. Sorry. Ben Morris came off the bench with 32. Okay.
00:52:19
Speaker
They obviously had a great 50-60 minutes against a team like Bristol who give up some of the most fantasy points I think. If I remember right, they were on the bottom. Yeah, the total fantasy points, they give up
00:52:32
Speaker
their second second to last only Lester has Yeah, and it's not by much it's by like 20 points To be fair the backs usually don't give up as much. They're usually middle of the table, but Today was not the day But yeah, so they look good and Obviously the the score showed it for the first 50 minutes, but Bristol
Fantasy Rugby Anecdotes
00:52:58
Speaker
Did it did make this a game? Mm-hmm. John F. O with 24 Charles Pietal with 27 Harry Thacker with 66 Thomas with 29 not young Thomas think it's Dan Thomas with 29 Callum she deal 25. We'll talk about him in a second and Stephen little to 22 This is this is my confession of the week
00:53:23
Speaker
I didn't even have Harry Thacker in my match day squad. I have him on my team. I didn't even have him in my match day squad because I didn't see that he was on the bench. If I had seen he was on the bench, so I transferred out
00:53:38
Speaker
Elia Elia and Hodgson had to get rid of Hodgson because he was broken. Elia Elia, it seems like he's getting thrown to the scrap heap because he got something real early in the game last week. So bad news bears for those. Had I realized Thacker was on the bench for Bristol, I would not have transferred from Crompton. I would I would have ditched Elia Elia and ditched
00:54:02
Speaker
And then ditch Thompson at the same time would I have ended up with we're I don't know whoever I would have ended up with We'll just call call it about the same. Yeah But then so I ate 20 points We're making two transfers and then and then Harry Thacker with 66 so I let's see Crompton had what do you have? You know, you know nearly that much obviously Max Crompton had
00:54:32
Speaker
Where'd you go, Compton? Max Compton had 15. So 86 minus 15 is what, 71? So that's a 71 point hit I just took because I didn't pay attention and follow my own damn rule. That's what happens. You don't follow the rules. Oh man.
00:54:53
Speaker
See, that's even worse. It's one thing to sit a guy. It's another thing to make transfers and take away points and then sit him anyway. So he scored three, I mean, God, he scores three tries in the second half. He was motivated, obviously. He also hasn't played for a little while. So he was definitely like, if nothing else, mad that he hadn't played. Right.
00:55:15
Speaker
She's certainly putting his hand up there and saying, no, this is my 10th shirt. I don't care how good Ian Madigan is, and Ian Madigan's a very good player. Don't take anything away from him.
00:55:25
Speaker
He should be on the island squad if you and he would be if he wasn't playing in one of the four provinces and You know, she's just like no my not bad for a championship player, you know, really not bad at all 25 this week and yeah number last week if I'm not mistaken Let me find the number
00:55:45
Speaker
She had a 31 last week. That was in that. Oh, so heartbreaking loss to the Chiefs at the death. So yeah, that's right. A couple of heartbreakers. Yeah, this one. They look like they were going to be able to do something. And, uh, yeah, uh, really right up until, right up until the end, he was Peers O'Connor who knocked it on to lose the game for them. And I was like, Oh,
00:56:11
Speaker
looked like he was about to make a nice break and just coughed it up. So Bristol are not a team to be messed with, that is for sure. Even if they spot you, if they spot you at 30 points, they can come back and score 20 some odd points. So don't go to sleep. Yeah, even at the bottom of the table, it doesn't mean they can't.
00:56:32
Speaker
I mean, they have, I mean, just looking at the point, yeah, the point differential's not the best, but at the same time, they've got it, they're, you know, they scored 177. Yeah. Yeah. Their problem is conceding at this point. You know, they just concede too much, but they have the quality.
00:56:48
Speaker
with the likes of Thacker, Ofoa. Obviously, Charlie Pietao is a huge thing. Sheedy's coming into form clearly. They have some players. They really do. It's just you guys start putting it together. Right. So we'll see if Lam can pull that out before the end of the season here. But they're still adjusting to life in the premiership, so. Yeah. Who goes down?
00:57:15
Speaker
You know what, at this point, I kind of want Newcastle to go down, just for the shits and giggles of it. Nothing against them. I want to see Bristol for another year. I want to see sale, stick it out. And really, those are the only three options that I see. I mean, Northampton, I can't imagine they're going to go down.
00:57:40
Speaker
And so it really is, it's between those three teams. So if I'm going to, if I had to pick one and again, no personal bias involved at all as far as what team I like, what team I don't like, because really I'm kind of meh on all three. And I loved seeing what Newcastle did last year.
00:58:00
Speaker
but at the same time, just the hilarity. It's calamity. Yeah, exactly. I kind of, yeah, I'm okay with that if it's them. I really don't want Bristol to go down, just because, again, I want to see them repeat up. I think they'd be a great addition to keep in the Premier League if they can survive and remember how to play defense. And then, who knows? If it would get Steve Diamond out of sale,
00:58:30
Speaker
I'm okay with that too. And that's where I was going. If sale, don't sack Steve Diamond between now and... Tomorrow?
00:58:43
Speaker
between now and say like the new year. If they don't do it between now and the new year, they will go down. They have so much quality and I don't want AJ to go down. And I hope he will sign with another team that's not in the championship cuz he's better than that. But if they don't sack Steve Diamond sooner or later.
00:59:06
Speaker
That win's gonna get last them another two weeks. Watch. It'll last them at least a week into Europe, even though they're playing the Challenge Cup, not the Champions Cup. Which is, it's just a shame. Like, you know, we've all had our girlfriends or boyfriends, whatever. Whatever your pleasure, man. Yeah, exactly. No judgment here. That you're like, you know what, I just...
00:59:46
Speaker
I need to have a reason to get in. Damn leech. Yeah, exactly. You just got to cut the cord. Yeah, cut it. And that's where I am with Diamond. Yeah, I think so. I think a lot of people are. Yeah, you got to win. Congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah, right. Here's the door. I think a lot of people are. Like, actually, that would be the perfect way to end his career with him, right? Yeah. Hey, you got us a nice win. See you. See you later. See you later. We're going to build on that win with somebody else. You know, I mean, Bath are trying to groom a coach of their own.
00:59:50
Speaker
I need to get rid of them.
01:00:16
Speaker
when it's blackener leaves, but that won't be until 20, I think. Stuart Hooper, but maybe Newcastle picks up the phone and says, hey, do you want a job for the next like four years? Because we got one for you. Yeah. And there's obviously other coaches out there that could easily step in. And there's some young, now retired players that would probably love to step into coaching. This is the worry I have for sale. Alex Anderson, the defense coach from Saracens.
01:00:44
Speaker
He is a very sought after coach. And Mark McCall, I think, eventually is going to leave. I don't know when. And he's probably going to eventually take a national team job. He might take the England job after Eddie. Who knows? And I really want to keep Sanderson around because he knows the system. He knows the players. There's no reason to. There's no loss of continuity if Sanderson stays and takes the job. But he's also probably just like, when the fuck?
01:01:11
Speaker
is my turn coming and I don't blame him at all for that too. I do not blame him at all. He's a very quality coach. But then the other question is if you're him, do you go to plays like sale? It's surprising what people will do for a head coach or spot.
01:01:27
Speaker
Yeah, I get it. It's really surprising when people will just be like, yeah, head coach, even though it's in a pile of garbage, I'm still gonna coach this pile of garbage. There's a crap out of it, you know? Yeah. Well, because then there's also the ego involved with, oh, you know, they're a pile of garbage because I'm not coaching them. True. True. And a lot of coaches have that. All right, let's wrap this up. Let's wrap this up. Believe me.
01:01:52
Speaker
Oh, that was loud. He's your outside voice for the helmet. All right, last game. Obviously, we were just talking about them Saracens and Lester at Walford Row.
Saracens vs. Leicester Highlights
01:02:07
Speaker
Slobberknocker.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, really a freaking it wasn't a brawl but there was some maybe it's getting laid out. And the referee was not having any. That's how it was going too. That was a good match. Other than you take out the shit but you know we were texting during the match and you know
01:02:33
Speaker
Lester as much as I you know can tolerate them. They're front row. It's just a bunch of goons Right, right, right And it's just not it's like don't be goons. Don't be like don't don't bring that into rugby It's bad enough in football. Yeah, no, no, no They just remind me of some teams that I've played where they weren't really even trying to tackle. They were just swinging We will not name names
01:03:01
Speaker
But I'd kind of like to keep that away from because it just spoils the match and then it gets both teams chippy and then the referee has to deal with and then it becomes the referees match rather than the players match. So it avoided that. Don't get me wrong.
01:03:17
Speaker
I didn't like the two yellows on Saris. Yeah. One of them was for persistent infringement, which take or leave it. Right. And the other was the early engage on the line out. No, that was that. That was that one? That was that. No, the knockdown was the other. Oh, that. Which me, the URI thought was forward and that was probably straight down at worst, but. A little hard luck there. I think the big issue was there was no super conclusive angle to say,
01:03:44
Speaker
Yes, it was definitely backwards or straight down. It was all angled on stuff. Both the referee and the AR had said it was a knock on. So it was up to the TMO to go ahead and say,
01:03:56
Speaker
No, there's conclusive evidence that it was brought back. And I thought it was pretty clear on the replay that where he touched the ball versus where it landed was closer to the Sarri's trial line. So I thought that was a little hard there, but I hate it.
01:04:15
Speaker
At least he didn't call the penalty try because that was an option for him, but I think that the yellow was enough. It was enough for a hard call like that. Yeah, I think the referee kind of sympathized with the two and not giving the penalty try as well. He said it was 26 meters out, but he's not going to call it that.
01:04:37
Speaker
So we'll talk about the scores, but then we got to talk about somebody, you know, committing too much friendly fire in this team. Dan Cole, 35. Tom Young's with 12. He went off injured. Greg Bateman with 43. Sam Harrison with 45, somehow, method. Brennan O'Connor, 40. Garrett Owen with 29, despite the disallowed try, which I 100% agree with. And James Kerr with 21 off the bench, not bad. Not bad, not bad. I mean, he had plenty of time to make damage because Young's came off early.
01:05:07
Speaker
series Alex Goode continues to be consistent performer for them 24 Barrett again consistent performer 23 Lozowski on the wing with 29 Big Willy style Big Will skeleton with 32 Ben Spencer looking more and more like he belongs in an England shirt with 41 Alex Lewington Enjoying life. Yes as opposed to London Irish with 32 max mail-in is just plug-and-play baby between him and Farrell 35 for mail-ins Tompkins with 28 looking great
01:05:38
Speaker
It did not mean for that to run. Mike Rhodes with 25, and Wustenkraff with 25. Did you see his run at the end of the match? A little bit of a darting run down the sideline to eventually gas the penalty, which pretty much sealed it. That was big. Yeah. Coley taking out his own guys.
01:05:57
Speaker
He didn't turn your homes he did or yeah, or no wasn't home to what it was the fullback I don't remember who it was. But yeah, he came off and Yeah
01:06:13
Speaker
Dan Cole. He hit Dan Cole and Dan Cole was just like, was it a fly? Yeah. What was that? What just hit me? It was on a kick return. Yeah. And Cole's just doing what he's supposed to do, which is stay still, let the runner run off of him so that he ends up as effectively as a blocker. Basically, yeah.
01:06:39
Speaker
Worth just decided to put his head down and run into Cole's shoulder. Keep your head up, kid. It doesn't do you any good to just put your head down and run into a brick wall like Cole. Everything about that was wrong. Put his head down. What did I say to you, head up when you're going there, Lendross? Yeah, something to that effect. Oh, God.
01:07:00
Speaker
You're not looking up. First off, we know we've got no looking down when you're in contact. Nothing's going to happen. Crunch. That's your own man. Come on, man. Yeah, very bad idea. Looking at the scores, you can tell
01:07:14
Speaker
you know where it came from in a way for the Saracens, it was line breaks. It was an errant kick or an errant pass. It was an errant kick, it was a really stupid decision. I think it was a grubber through that Spencer scooped up and
01:07:30
Speaker
decide, oh, nobody home. I'm just going to run my ass off, and he's got the wheels to do it. Yeah, that was right. No, it wasn't an errant kick. It was a good kick that you tried to chip it through, and somebody got their foot on it. And it wasn't Spencer. Spencer got his foot on it, too. But it was basically charged down, I think, right from the jump. Oh, I didn't see that. And Spencer just stopped it, picked it up, and ran with it. That was really well done. Johnny on the spot. Yeah. Yeah, he's good like that. He finds ways to be in the right place right now. It's good weekend to have Spencer as your captain and your kicker. Yeah, you did. That's right. That was a good one.
01:08:00
Speaker
So for 82 points to you not too not too terrible But yeah, and then was oski looking like he's played wing his whole life cutting him up He's too good. He's too good. So he's one of those guys are even we saw it for in the last year or two also just Have a guy you're not ready to play or some fit that week. Oh just in the back line just
01:08:25
Speaker
You plug and play with him. For Loz back there, he'll be fine. He's played it all at every- It's like Scarmap. Right. So he hasn't played the backline, he hasn't played Scarmap. Yeah, when they were talking about that this was his first start at Wing and I was like, the first- only that kind of makes sense, because I know he's played Wing before, but he hasn't started there. No, he's been shifted there once or twice. Yeah. But yeah, so I mean, he carded him up. It was a nice, nice little play on his part. And then the the Lewington dry looked like Malin's completely botched it because he cut the wrong way. He really did.
01:08:55
Speaker
But then with some vision and some ingenuity, got that pass out wide and Lewington had nothing but space in front of them to score. I mean, good for Maylands.
01:09:04
Speaker
made a complete screw up, still managed to put the tri over the line. So you got to give it to them. Yeah. If it works, it works. It works, man. Yeah. Yeah. Wustenkraff's little jaunt down the sideline when the Saracens were down to 13. I think we were still down to 13. Yeah, we were still down to 14. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of obvious when
01:09:26
Speaker
the team that you're scoring and playing can always score against you when you have 13 men right about the love like you just you just needed to keep the discipline up even if they did 14 i don't think less over to scored right i think 13 obviously it's real i mean
01:09:41
Speaker
They celebrated like they had scored the winning World Cup try but you know, it's what you're trying to build off that momentum, but at the same time It was uh Yeah, you're down with the other teams on the 13 like you're gonna be okay for the next couple minutes Yeah, if you don't get points at that point like Wasn't it who was it against didn't the series have somebody that they played?
01:10:04
Speaker
the sale last week. They were up a man and they powered him up with like three tries. Skeleton went out with a yellow and they had two tries off of it. And sale was like, well. That happens, you know you're in trouble. That's the mesh. So yeah, it's good. I mean, it's good if you're up a man, especially if you're up two, to put two over, but. You better put one over, Jesus. But yeah, so it was what it was. The other one,
01:10:33
Speaker
The Gareth Owen disallowed try. They had two disallowed tries. The Holmes one was borderline. I thought he might have rolled forward with the ball, but I didn't think he got it to the line.
Controversial Referee Decisions
01:10:43
Speaker
He didn't clearly get to the line. That was like a double move, though, to me. He was tackled. He tried to throw his body over the line and didn't quite make it. And then kept trying to pull the ball over the line. And he can't.
01:10:56
Speaker
I I was you know, I I think that what they called it a penalty in the end Which was the right absolutely the right call was it was a double or triple move? Um, you can't can't be doing that. Yeah, you know that's I mean they were at a five five minutes from to to lesser anyway, okay Yeah, I think they just said inconclusive and let it go and then The oh and one was I from the get-go. I thought it was a penalty when he said when he picked it up I was like
01:11:23
Speaker
That rock was formed, wasn't it? And they got up in the middle of it and picked it up and scored. Somebody explained to me why that didn't get called penalty. Eventually they got it, but the fact that it took them a replay to get to it, I was like, maybe we can do better. Yeah, I'm not quite certain what the referee was looking at there. They eventually got it ready.
01:11:42
Speaker
Oh man.
Upcoming Match Predictions
01:11:43
Speaker
Well, I mean, so let's look at the fixtures real quickly before we get to get to overboard here. Um, Quince and Exeter. Exeter take that one. Yeah. Even though they're at Stu.
01:11:57
Speaker
some internationals back when both teams probably. Yeah, who knows though. Again, who knows who's playing. They might be arresting people going into Europe. So I gotta say, I gotta think Exeter takes this anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's two teams that are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. It's Exeter and Saracens, no doubt. I think Exeter could put out the shags and still beat Quince, honestly. Unless, you know, Sinclair and Myler all of a sudden become
01:12:25
Speaker
You know, the two most dynamic props of all time, which, you know, which probably isn't happening. Probably not. I mean, you know, who knows if maybe what if, you know, it's possible Sinclair doesn't even play. Yeah. Cause he needs some rest after this test. He probably does. Um, uh, all right. Bristol and Lester Bristol are at home at, um, at Ashton gate. I would love to see Bristol take this. I think they might, I think they might. Their, their, their team's very, very,
01:12:51
Speaker
It's a lot of continuity going on there. So, and again, in terms of everything, so this one could be a, this one could be a fancy feast because the two teams that give out the most points as of this, this isn't the most recent thing I have, but they're going to be somewhere in that neighborhood either way.
01:13:11
Speaker
going at it, Bristol at home, Lester away, Lester being the lesser team in terms of most points given up. They've given up the most in the league. So yeah, I mean, these are the two teams. And if we're talking about even outside of families, we're talking just straight points, points, the other, the two.
01:13:27
Speaker
Well, there you go. Case in point. The two worst teams as far as points, I guess. Lester's given up 251 and Bristol's 262. So they're not that far apart. And then you look at their attacking points and Lester's at 204 and Bristol's at 177. It's hard to, you know, it's hard to take anything from that except that they both give up a lot of points. So absolutely could be a barn burner.
01:13:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think it could either be a bar. I think you're looking at 20 points a piece of at least for both teams. It could be it's either that or it's like a 6-3 game. Oh god, please no, please no, please no. Robey Gods, hear us pray, please no. Let this be a great match. Right. Give us the day our daily points. Yeah, please. Saris at home against Wasp.
01:14:10
Speaker
I think it's going to be a mixed bag of who comes back for both teams. I think you'll see some guys come back from Saracens, because they did have a lot of guys away, and so did Woss. So again, I think you'll see both teams get a few guys back. I don't think they're going to all have their contingency back then. My assumption is you don't see Feral. You probably don't see a Toji.
01:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, probably not. And, you know, everyone else is probably a possible... Depending on how they feel. Depending on how they feel. But I bet they can still... I bet they'll roll Spencer in anyway and bring... Will you probably play this one again? He'll be on the bench at least. Right. But I don't think that matters. I think that's, you know...
01:14:47
Speaker
half a wiggy and anyone else they got for Sarries against wasps. I'm not terribly concerned about wasps, only because it's Saracens. I want to like wasps at times.
01:15:04
Speaker
They can't play, they can't do what they did this past weekend against Bristol to the Sarries. They can't just open it up. No, they won't be able to. That will not work out well. You throw one hospital pass, bribery cuts you in half. Exactly. That's the end. That's the end of you. Right. And I just, you know,
01:15:22
Speaker
The Sarries, their back line is so strong, they'll be able to, I think, take advantage of some of the inexperience and the holes that will open up in Wasp's back line that Bristol opened up towards the end of the match. Yeah, they figured out where the holes were. If I'm Sarries, I kind of do what they did last week, this past week where they
01:15:42
Speaker
They hunkered down. They spent the first 20 minutes just weathering everything Lester could take it and throw it there. And then they said, all right, now it's our turn. Now it's our turn, and they score three tries. Right. And if I'm Sarri's, I probably prepare for the same thing and say, yeah, they're going to throw everything they have at us. Absolutely. All we have to do is wait them out. All we have to do is say, you're going to throw what you got at us, we're going to shut it down, and then we're going to score. That's my impression of this match. That's pretty much what I would think would happen.
01:16:11
Speaker
Northampton and Newcastle. We talked a little bit about it, I think. Yeah, I think with I think it bigger in lost play. This is a I think if a couple of the internationals from Northampton play, this is a Northampton game. Mark Wilson probably will. Mark Wilson is the type of guy that doesn't want to sit, so he's probably playing for Newcastle. Don't doubt about that. I'm just not sure that's enough. Yeah, I don't think it was either. I think I think this one what I fear from Newcastle is their
01:16:39
Speaker
they're questioning themselves, I would assume. You know, not knowing too much about the, about, you know, I don't, I don't know the inner workings of it. I mean, Dean Richards used to be a great, was, did a great job with Lester for a while. And, you know, but now he's worked with a different animal for sure. Yeah. And the players just have to be questioning what's happening. Honestly, because again, what happened last year and, and then, uh,
01:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, if I can't make that much of a difference I mean he's a fantastic player, but he is not that much of a difference right now, right? So yeah, I I would give them the edge to Northampton Yeah, give it give it to the Saints coming for I guess dolphins coming down to the gardens right Gloucester Worcester
01:17:20
Speaker
I think Gloucester is going to be so mad after that performance. They're probably going to get Ruan Ackerman back, maybe not. They're probably going to get Jake Poledri back again, another guy that does not want to sit. No. Just the whole of them are going to come back very, very mad. I think this one goes to Gloucester. Unfortunately, Worcester, they do have continuity as well.
01:17:41
Speaker
But yeah, and they're missing a few guys, but still I think I think Worcester has been playing a little bit above themselves this year at least a bunch about the weight for sure. Yeah. They were tired to go down. Right. So I think I think this is where it kind of starts to fall apart for them. So I think in Gloucester is really they're they're only say it sometimes they're strong. They have they have a couple of, you know, things to work out. It's you know, are they going to get good sips or bad sips? That's really
01:18:09
Speaker
I think that's going to decide by how much they beat Worcester. With good sips it's a close game. See ya.
01:18:28
Speaker
he could be having like he did last week a stinker and then one magic play and everything's better and you're like I am so glad I didn't pull him but then there's the times like last week you're like yeah he's done so it's a it's a tough one for Ackerman to figure out so hopefully hopefully he can sort it and then the Sunday game bath and sale I think
01:18:50
Speaker
I think Bather, again, another team that's going to be very angry with the way they played last week. It was not pretty. I know Freddie Burns may not be there, but they'll have the option of going to Reece Priestland more than likely. I would guess that as long as he's not really, really banged up, they're going to go to him. And then you have guys like how can a singer come back as well.
01:19:11
Speaker
Uh, you know also very helpful. So and then um under hill Sure, if he's ready to go again, he's I think he's another player that probably is just like i'm playing Yeah, get out here. So, you know, he's somebody who needs to stop You're gonna have to stop him because he is not gonna stop himself. He's gonna say yep. I'm playing Yeah, he had a he had a rough match though this past week. So he might he might need a rest Yeah, we'll see what they do with him. I I think that take this one though. I do too. Yeah, I think so. So
Podcast Conclusion & Contact Info
01:19:38
Speaker
Alright well we went a little over but thanks for joining us and we will be back for the final round of premiership for this little patch and then we get to talk about Europe again. The back-to-backs will be so much fun to look at so we'll look forward to that.
01:19:56
Speaker
You can email us at fantasyrugbypodcast at gmail.com. You can find us both on Twitter. I'm at jdike8man. And Ben, you're that funny Admiral Snack Bar thing. OK, I will put the show notes again. But yeah, thank you very much for joining us. And everybody have a good weekend. Enjoy the rugby, as always, right? All right, so thank you very much, everybody. Have a good day.