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Season 5- Episode 38- You Know You’re Bad When (Champions Cup Final & Super Rugby Round 13)
33 Plays2 years ago
It's a big one, but not a long one. On this episode with those American rugby knuckleheads we are looking back on the big Champions Cup Final in Dublin and how in the world La Rochelle overcame that initial onslaught to claim their 2nd title in a row. Yes, we have a glance down at Super Rugby including the big result out in Perth with the Big Caboose. Oh yeah, to Quincy we go with a big smack to New Orleans and you know you're bad when.... All this, so much more and our heads out of our collective bums, kick back and have a laugh!
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Don't forget, TFRY is coming up on Episode 200! Get your questions in for us and our much better halves.
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
Intro & Fantasy Rugby Chat
00:00:02
Speaker
It is the fantasy rugby angst. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. A collusion. A collusion. Hey everybody, welcome back. It is the fantasy rugby angst. My name is Jared Dyke.
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm Ben Glauser. Let's go, baby. Not much, again, not much to talk about, but lots to talk about at the same time. Not much in matches, but lots of shit to talk about. It's nothing to talk about. Not as many matches as we're used to, but no, that's all right. Well, I mean, geez, unless you want to rewind till the beginning of the season when we were only doing Crown. Right. And sometimes we'd only do three or four matches because of the way the schedule shook out with all the
00:01:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's true. That was that was poop. Yeah. That's just a prime season. This baby is
Podcast Promotion & Rugby Season
00:01:07
Speaker
the three days from being over. Yeah. Like this one has been one of the most cursed seasons. Oh, it's been so so broken in a lot of ways. Yeah. English rugby has a lot to work on. Yeah. Do make sure that you find us on your favorite podcast app as well. Download, share, rate, review all that good stuff.
00:01:31
Speaker
Sharing is caring after all. Feedback. Always welcome. Make sure that you get a good friend, the fancy rugby geek, a beer. If you are anywhere near your position of winning a semi-final or getting into a final for your super rugby or you won your prime final, you owe this man. So you go ahead and do that right now. Just go on. You do that. Especially if there is money involved, you know, 10% is a proper
00:02:00
Speaker
Pay homage. Yeah, exactly. As always, there is no discrimination here on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life. Though we lost
Tribute to Jim Brown
00:02:15
Speaker
a legend in many ways, but also that brings us to this segment as well. Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns running back has passed away, an all time great for many reasons and
00:02:29
Speaker
We talked about players that were ahead of their time in terms of their abilities. And he fits that bill for a lot of reasons. Absolutely. I mean, he was a fucking hoose. He would be like there are some NFL players or some players in any sport who can play in any era. There's a lot who are, you know, they can play in this era, but, you know, the guys get bigger and faster and stronger. And no, you're out like.
00:02:55
Speaker
guys who are my size would have played like I would if I was born 50 years before I was, I'd be in the NFL. There's a reason I did not go to the NFL. Things get a little different. Right. So. But he could have played in any era, he was just bigger and stronger and like beasting everybody around him. Like it was not fair. And he just quit. He walked away.
00:03:21
Speaker
when he was still youngish, he could have played for many more years if he wanted to, and decided now I'm gonna be, you know, this environment is so toxic, I'm gonna go be in Hollywood. What does that say? What does that say? And he was an activist, like, you know, like, very much trying to make the world a better place. Was he a perfect man? No. And definitely not by today's standards.
00:03:51
Speaker
But also, again, consider the time. We can't we can only apply so many of our standards to back then and to know it's wrong. You should know he was not nice to women. No. And that's unfortunate. It's but.
00:04:08
Speaker
let's, you know, we have to acknowledge it. Let's move on to the good things he did. Like, you
Podcast Updates & Apologies
00:04:13
Speaker
know, this guy brokered a truce between Crips and Bloods during the 92 riots. And they're like, no, we're all on the same side. Like, we're trying to make the world a better place. You know, and we've seen, you know, police are, you know,
00:04:32
Speaker
no better now than they were then, but what have you. It's unfortunate, but like, you know, he was one of the people who's actually pushing for change and he achieved some positive change. It's just that, you know, it's been fucked up since he had to step away from the game. Right. But just a giant of a man in every way, every single way. Absolutely. Go watch The Dirty Dozen if you haven't. It's excellent. He's excellent in it. And
00:04:56
Speaker
God, if there's one. If there's one somebody posted the other day, I saw like if there's one part of a movie, one just thing you could change about any movie, any time it involves him in in The Dirty Dozen. No spoiler alert. It's an old movie, but that's a spoiler. Fuck you. Don't watch. It's still an excellent movie. You're too young. Yeah, no, no excuse.
00:05:26
Speaker
Yeah. Good and bad to the man, but yeah, the good. Yeah. He very good. Rest in power and he will be remembered and hopefully his legacy will continue for positive change. Yeah. Positive change
La Rochelle vs Leinster Analysis
00:05:39
Speaker
always. And also don't forget, we are still have our Patreon up and running apologies for totally bawling everything last week. Um,
00:05:52
Speaker
this, I'm still trying to coach my high school team and they totally screwed with me. And I was like, Oh, this is going to mean that I can't do shit with the pod.
00:06:02
Speaker
So, yeah, we've both been getting, you know, life happens, especially when we're both working. Like there's two of us, which you hear constantly if you listen to the show fairly often. So usually we're there to back each other up. But last week was like, oh, I need back up. And you're like, no, I need back up. I was incapacitated. I was still bone. Yeah. So apologies about the
00:06:30
Speaker
The analytics sheet is up for super rugby through the last two weeks. So sorry about missing that last week. It's up as of yesterday on Tuesday. Woo hoo. Yeah, boom buses up as well. Yeah, I was like, no, but yeah, I was like, no, I I was like, I could wait till Wednesday morning. I'm like, no, why? I have it done. Just fucking post, especially because I missed last week. So right. So apologies to everyone. My bad. All the things.
00:07:02
Speaker
Yeah. And then also don't forget we're climbing towards episode 200. I believe officially it's in two weeks. I could be wrong when you go out to look back at that, but yeah, we are just about approaching that. And as I wind down the coaching, I can start to focus back on other things that you started by my time. So that'll be one of them for sure. Okay. To Dublin. There's hardware on the line. It's always a good weekend when there's hardware on the line. Always. And.
00:07:33
Speaker
I mean, spoiler alert, LaRochelle, when, if you didn't see the scoreline, sorry, you're listening to the wrong pod. I just spoiled the dirty dozen, well, semi-spoiled the dirty dozen. Now you're spoiling Saturday.
00:07:48
Speaker
A bunch of spoilers over here. Anyway, here's the funny thing. But I turned the game off after like 10 minutes because it was like 17 nothing. I figured that was it. Yeah, I did say, oh man, I think that's it when they got I think after the.
00:08:08
Speaker
I think after the 23rd minute penalty, I think that was like, yep. You know what, though? You know, OK, so I've come up with a corollary and I kind of applied it to this game to see how it would work. Or I don't know one of those fucking things where I think this is something. Once two tries have been scored. Unless you scored both of them.
00:08:33
Speaker
And if there's no other, you know, nobody else has scored tries, then you don't kick, then kicking for points is a fucking waste of time. Like if you want, both teams have scored a try and you're, that is certainly not, you know, unless it's like the end of the match and you're like, yeah, I'm kicking this to win. Fuck yeah, go ahead. Anything other than that. And it's kind of a cop out. Right. And to me, that was like a,
00:08:58
Speaker
What the fuck are you doing moment? Because you've already scored three tries. At least one of them was off the line out. Yes. Deep in the other team's end. The first one, the first minute of the game. It's literally on their score sheet at zero minutes. It was so fast. Why the fuck are you ever kicking for posts?
00:09:26
Speaker
It's just, as soon as I saw that, I was like, well, that's, you know, it's not like this La Rochelle team can't score. And it's like, you want to win this. Like, if you want to, like, they were playing to win it instead of to beat the other team.
00:09:44
Speaker
And this is, and this is the team gets to be, this is like, you know, Michael Myers here. This is Jason Voorhees. If you just, ah, the monster is dead. Let's kick for three. We're good. Um, you turn your back and next thing you know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Husk of a corpse is laying there. Yeah. And that's what happened. So. And to law Rochelle's credit, never panicked. Never ever, never ever panicked. They were like, yup. You know what?
00:10:12
Speaker
That's okay. Well, well, yeah. And they, they, they did the best thing they could after giving up three quick ones was bounce back and get their own, which was the time to try. And that was great. That was a great looking move as well. It really was. And they survived the Kerbal yellow, which was huge. Yup. Without returning a ton. Um, I know, I know they did eventually score with, with she and she
Rugby Match Analyses
00:10:34
Speaker
and that was, that was the ensuing penalty after that. So right. Well, without after that, they're good.
00:10:42
Speaker
Right. Yeah. They scored with him in the bin. Dante scored with with Kerbalo in the bin. Yes. Yes, they did. Yeah. So. Yeah. But like, I also thought that that Leinster got a little bit chippy and to me, it looked like they were starting it.
00:11:06
Speaker
And Rochelle, Rochelle, we're kind of like, what the fuck, dude? Like, we wouldn't just play rugby. Like, fuck you for making us have to scrap you a little bit. Yeah. Like, Skeleton, I think at one point had had enough. Ready to be like, like, fuck off. I will slap you all. Yeah.
00:11:29
Speaker
And it's like, that's not someone you really want to make that mad because he can take over a match even with your, you know, the mooses you have. And I thought he was excellent. I thought skeleton was excellent. He was certainly dominant in contact. I mean, and that's his job is to just pound the opponent. I don't remember what passage it was. It's almost irrelevant. Like there were passages where I saw him carrying three dudes.
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like, all right, that's great for me. Makes my life easier. Right. Like that's three dudes. If it takes, you know, I tell the players this a lot, you know, it's like, if there's three of them in there, you know, if it takes three of you to take one dude down, you know, by my count, they've got 14 other guys and we've only got 12 and that's not a, that's not looking good for us.
00:12:22
Speaker
Um, yeah. And that, that certainly was helpful because then they had to, anybody who's that big, who has to command that much attention just opens the door. Like so 10, he had gaps to run through. Yes. Yeah. And he took advantage of a few of them as well. He did. And that's because the forwards were, were taking up that, that, um, contact and, uh,
00:12:46
Speaker
and attention from the defense and that's how you get the backs through certainly the centers. Yeah, those midfielders. Yeah, absolutely. I do wonder what impact more leadership wise James Ryan leaving had and it's not to say they didn't have other players to lead on the field. They certainly did. They had, you know, they'd bring those eight headshot. They had all these other guys that should have stood up and
00:13:12
Speaker
taking the hold of the whole thing, but he obviously does bring a lot of leadership to the team without, especially without Sexton in there. Um, and I don't know much about the desktop in the tunnel. So if anybody's here for that one, sorry, I don't know much about it. Yeah. Well, I don't believe much about it.
00:13:31
Speaker
Right. Although I can imagine cause like these guys were not liking each other. No. Um, and of course, O'Gara being a Munsterman is absolutely out to be Lenser in Dublin. Absolutely. He was, um, I would say muted, uh, restrained a little, no, a little, a little.
00:13:54
Speaker
a little. No, he was certainly, certainly fired up. It was great. Yeah. No, he was fired the fuck up. It was excellent. Um. A better number eight than category Aldred.
Rugby Tactics & Player Performance
00:14:12
Speaker
Um. Certainly the place already for rugby right now. Oh, no, no, are these
00:14:22
Speaker
And Artie might not be a true eight, so. That's true too. But like, it's that to me was like a one two. You mentioned Mercer on the weekend and that I want to see like I want to see him play international. Yeah, that being kind of the thing. That's the thing. I want to see it at that level because he's excellent at the club level. There's no doubt about that. No.
00:14:49
Speaker
But this was, the best thing about the, especially not so much when it's France versus France, that kind of sucks. But when it's like Ireland, this was like Ireland, France. Very much. Like each of these, they mentioned it. This is an international feel to it. And yeah.
00:15:15
Speaker
because it has an international feel to it because you look up and down each lineup and it's international players or equivalents. And, oh no, Aldrich was just dominant. Josh Vanderfleer disappeared.
00:15:36
Speaker
Yeah. Um, much of the back row did put where I thought he got, did he, did he actually get, did he get hurt? Like, did he get taken out or did they just not do a stinger at some point? But yeah, I remember that there's some, some say it might just say it might've been his bride. Yeah. It's hard to, yeah. Hard to figure out what the hell was going on with that back row. Cause most of them are gone. Like really like, all right, where are you guys?
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, he didn't come out. At least he's not showing up on a search. So he's not showing up on the score summer. That's summary sheet anywhere. That's bad. Like, yeah. And then the moment that things just, that was it for Lancer. They had no, they were, they were boned. And that was, I'll tell her, what are you doing, man?
00:16:27
Speaker
No need. No need. I saw that and I was like, oh, this is not going to go well, is it? And then Columbus was down. I was like, oh, oh, you dummy. There's no mistaking that there's a guy down. Like now, like it's one thing if he was able to get up, like, you know, if you get lucky, that's one of those sometimes you get lucky and it's just sneaky enough that no one's going to like, but as soon as you know, there's a player down.
00:16:54
Speaker
Like they got, they're going to stop the match and the ref's going to be like, huh, what happened to him? Like TMO, can you tell me what like, and then I don't know that the TMO was on it exactly. I mean, you don't hear, we didn't hear that. So at least I didn't on my feed. Like what, what, you know, the TMO over the third, over the third referee in this whole thing would not shut up. And I was trying to listen to as much as I don't like Piper. And I want to listen to him when he's talking about shit.
00:17:21
Speaker
Um, yeah. The reason that whoever that third, third guy was on the broadcast, I wanted to slap him and just tell him shut the fuck up. Um, yeah, yes. I think the comms were not great. Um, but yeah, either way, like, and that was stupid because it was one of those, like, that's, yeah, of course the guy's down. Like, you, yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
I'm glad he was able to be standing by the end, but it's always scary when a dude takes a shot and he's dizzy and or out. And it's like, oh, not good. And there was there's no need to do it. And like, yeah, it was. Yeah, that's
Team Performance Critiques
00:18:00
Speaker
right. Because it was it was like in the rock. Yeah, I was like, I knew there was a headshot, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was. No, the headshot. Yeah. He like. He's really silly. Like there's it's completely silly and that's completely mitigatable by if you're binding.
00:18:15
Speaker
Like, just don't tuck your shoulder. Yeah. And that was the one thing I saw immediately on the replay, too. I was like, oh, he's stuck in the shoulder. He's fucked. Right. At least getting sent to the bank if not sent off. Yeah. Because, yeah, it was that's exactly it. In that replay, I was like, no, there's this. I mean, it doesn't matter because it's what, 78 minute or whatever. Yeah. Right. So because I think they'd already he'd already issued a yellow at the 71st minute. So it was like, you know, so, yeah, Kelleher was already gone.
00:18:43
Speaker
And they had already mentioned that that's for the match. So it's like, right. So it's like, OK, well, do they, you know, are they going to really go through this? But it's like, no, that's so obvious that they have to give them a straight red. Like, yeah, there wasn't a question. It's not just a yellow and play on, especially when the guys hurt, you know, he's receiving treatment. You got time to look at it. Yes. When to determine it. So, yeah, that was and that was you're right. That was it. That was the last hope right there. You know, they got you down. They got the lifeline with the Dante yellow and that and then
00:19:13
Speaker
Just, oh, yeah, yeah. Leo Collin will kick himself until next season, basically. And this is a disappointing end for Leinster. Both finals were supposed to be in their backyard. Instead, they're looking at a URC final down in South Africa with Munster playing in it, who beat them the previous week.
00:19:36
Speaker
They deserved it. Like, Leinster put out a pretty disrespectful line up. I would have put up their ass too, personally, but that's just me. So it's... I mean, that's pretty bad for Leinster overall. Yeah. It's not... People chewed on this for a long one. And that's the problem. Like you can't... Again, they made the minor mistakes that you just can't make from a
00:20:05
Speaker
If you're a championship team like championship teams don't do certain things they don't put out a shag lineup in the semi Yeah, even if you have a final the next week. Yeah, you play back-to-back fun. What fucking do win one of them? But instead they put out a shadow like we're okay. We're just gonna we're just gonna focus on champions come first off the fucking arrogance. Hmm As if we're just gonna win Champions Cup
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, you didn't so fucking you got what you deserve. I don't like I'm
Team Management & Coaching Insights
00:20:36
Speaker
thoroughly unimpressed with and it's not the that's the thing. It's not the players. It's not at all the players. They didn't choose to the you know, the tactics. That's that's on the management. Mm hmm.
00:20:52
Speaker
And then it lost in two hardwares. So two pieces of hardware. What did we learn? What did you learn? But now everybody's talking now. What's the juju around Ireland? That's the big thing that the chatter that I saw was, is this the typical Irish world name here? No. And Andy Farrell, I'm sure, will put the kibosh on that as fast as possible.
00:21:20
Speaker
You know, you have until, when do they regather for everything? July, August. I'm sure. Don't like that. And that's when they'll open out a little bit. Yep. Everybody gets, goes away, shakes off everything and just kind of refocuses. You got, you have players that have a huge tournament in front of them in the next, you know, in the fall here in September. So there's going to be a little, yeah. And for some of them though, there's going to be a little bit of a, um,
00:21:49
Speaker
It's gonna, they're gonna need a little bit of a sports therapy session to get their minds, they're gonna need something to get their minds right. Because that's this one, you know, again, they, it's not their fault, but they lost out. They didn't, they're not getting any hardware this year and they're so fucking good. So what does that say? Like there's a little bit of a way. What's, what does that say about us? Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
Could be not the squad. Like now they're looking around at each other and, you know, wondering what the fuck is going wrong. Um, yeah, they're going to need some. Yeah. Well, if it's going to be more than just at the very least, they need to sort out that back row and the back three, because most of those two units are going to come from monster. Yeah. Right. Right. So I got to sort the back at the minimum. So, well, you know,
00:22:39
Speaker
All that said, you know, some guys did their job like, you know, she and no, no notes. No whatsoever. Like, you're good. Hard to hard to knock them. And I thought the starting pack for the starting, I remember Leinster being fairly dominant in the scrums early. Yeah. And then La Rochelle, the backups. They have, I mean, both teams do, but La Rochelle, a really solid group of second players.
00:23:09
Speaker
Leopiek, who's probably not talked about enough, played really well in this. When he came on, I thought Sklavi is obviously Puma, so that says a lot as well. Yeah, lots of quality for them as well. So it wasn't just Lester that had the quality coming on from the front row, it was also La Rochelle, and people kind of overlooked that a little bit. Colom is not bad himself, so.
00:23:31
Speaker
Got the winner. Yeah. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid, like you did with that knee job, he's fine. Yeah. Don't do nothing like that. You'll be fine. Yeah. And again, we focus on Leinster, but fuck hats off to La Rochelle. Absolutely. Double, you know, back-to-back champions is never a good, easy thing in this competition. Can tell you that firsthand. I'm riding with our boys.
00:23:59
Speaker
It's it's tough and it needs to and it needs to be noted as you know, a great group of players and people are like, oh, all these guys have won it before. Well, number one, nobody's ever wanted back to back. So shut up. Yeah, not in this team, at least. But number two, you know, you have guys that still have more astroid was not there last year. Delann was not there last year. You know, guys like that, they they want it. They want this. They want this one. I think Soutani was elsewhere last year, like
00:24:29
Speaker
These guys want this. So yeah, you don't just mail it in because you've won it before, yet you've won it before. You go after it because you want to be remembered as one of the best teams in this competition's history. And when you win back titles, that does it.
Cultural Impact on Rugby
00:24:45
Speaker
You guys want to win it first, the second, the other guys who experienced, they wanted to make sure that it wasn't a flute because there was a lot of, oh, well, you know, obviously, Saracens wasn't in the tournament.
00:24:55
Speaker
And, you know, unless they didn't bring their A game that day or whatever it was when they wanted over in France. Well, they just weren't in Lancer's backyard. And that is just reporting of the kibosh and all that chat right there. Right. Like, okay, you beat a French team in the final, whatever. It's like, no, that's like, okay. Then they were the two best teams. Now, you know, this is showing that, okay, it's not that...
00:25:17
Speaker
You know, they stepped up and beat to lose. It's that they stepped up and beat, yeah, as you said, Ireland in Ireland's backyard. Like, yeah, fuck it. No, this was a rematch of last year, so they beat these guys in the final two. Oh, I thought it was too long. No, they lost it to lose before. OK. So this is this is their third final in a row. Fuck's sake. That and that and I didn't realize I lost that I lost again. Last week was squirrely. So I lost track of a lot.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah. So this is the third final row. So that itself speaks loudly and then winning two of them, you know, the last two in a row, you know, they, they hadn't been to the final before. So it's understandable that they lost the first one, but getting back here again and again. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they don't, and it is guys like, you know, has story.
00:26:08
Speaker
Uh-huh. And Carr-Barlow is not, you know, again, not an international, although maybe you should be. And like, they have international-ish players, but they're not, you know, it's not exactly the look top to bottom like Leinster, where it's kind of hard to find a non-regular on the Iron Squad. So it's like, yeah, these guys stepped up and they
00:26:38
Speaker
you know, they're putting their hands up. So, I mean, fuck, you know, we've talked for every year about whether or not Will Skelton, whether or not Australia is going to waive it for him.
00:26:53
Speaker
I haven't seen items. I know Eddie put out his first team. I haven't seen it, or at least I didn't take it for him. I can't remember if Skeleton was was on it. I can assume he was, though, because Eddie's the kind of guys like, God, I hope so. Give me give me Will Skeleton. He's seen him enough. It's not enough at Saris. Yeah, he saw him first, even if he wasn't necessarily paying attention to him. Right. You can't not. Right. So.
00:27:22
Speaker
Well done to the, well done to those boys and yeah. Yeah. I, I don't know. What else can you do better at this point? If you're these guys like, holy shit. Yeah. That's
Team Dynamics & Future Prospects
00:27:39
Speaker
what's, what's next. Yeah.
00:27:41
Speaker
I mean, I think they, I think in one, one league. So maybe if they can get the double this year, that'll kind of be icing on the cake. Although I thought they're doing shitty in the top 14. In which case that sucks. Oh no, they're second. Okay. Good. Okay. I thought they, I thought I heard some, I don't know.
00:28:11
Speaker
Maybe I just, I hear things sometimes. I'm like, wait, I are not doing well in the top 14. No, they're, they're doing just fine. They're just behind Toulouse. Right. Well, there you go. Well, and then it's a big gap between them and stud Francais.
00:28:30
Speaker
Well, then that makes no sense. Yeah, it does. All right. Let's change. Let's jump over the other, the other side here. Uh, don't need to spend too much time on one and Crusaders. Um, that was there's a little bit of the match I want to talk about. And then we'll, and then there's actually another piece that concerns both teams that, uh, that we want to look at. Uh, first of all, we know all of them's not bad. No, he's not. Um,
00:28:58
Speaker
might be the most and I'd scrum half that's going to play for Crusaders for a bit here. And that's, that's how that's always saying a lot, but you know, get up and go. Oh, I mean, he's like, he's dynamic. Like, I mean, I remember what was it last week we were talking, like I was gushing over Mitch Drummond and catching a ball that was like right after it was kicked. And that was like the coolest thing I've ever seen him do. So, um,
00:29:27
Speaker
No, Hotham is... He's got more skills than these guys do. Yeah. I'm guessing he's going to be there for a little bit. He's going to be hanging around there for a while, I would guess. Yeah, and this was kind of... I mean, they got to kind of... At this point, they might as well play him, right? Over Drummond. I mean, they will, but yes. Yeah, I mean, maybe... Right. Maybe play him until it's time for...
00:29:53
Speaker
knockouts and then work him into that. Right.
00:30:00
Speaker
But typical stairs, you know, well, Jordan is getting back into form, which is great to see. And that's only bad news for one other super rugby teams, but two for international teams that are going to have to play him and potentially the fall here. So it's like he was never I mean, I mean, he was obviously he was hurt. He didn't play. But it's like he just stopped playing for a bit and he come back and he's exactly where he was. And that's
00:30:27
Speaker
Fucking frightening. Well, to their credit, they were very patient with him. Yeah, I was. Yes, they were. They were. How many times before he finally landed in a lineup like three, four, something like that. Something like that. We saw him in warm ups and then finally got a lineup named lineup. So, yeah, great. I'm glad that your shares are smart with that and just took their time and waited to make sure that he was in fact ready. It's hard to not like razor.
00:30:56
Speaker
Yeah. There's going to be a lot of people that don't like him in a little bit. But there is one thing that I'm concerned and this is not a new concern for a lot of people, but it's more just like I do want to share my concern and know that I do see what they're saying and I haven't been blind to it. Levi Aamua has now signed for the Crusaders for the next couple of years after this. And there's talk of him getting into the All Blacks quad.
00:31:25
Speaker
This was kind of the thing they were talking about when this team was created. Like, you know, there was another franchise group that wanted to create the same team, but make sure that it was more independent of New Zealand rugby. And unfortunately with that being the thing, this has been a possibility and that sucks because
00:31:45
Speaker
You know, because it also is this is supposed to be the islands team is supposed to be Samoa and Tonga's team and let them play for the these guys and let them get some professional review matches under the belt and then go play for these for these nations and not It's not it's not a it's not a feeder team for the all blacks That's what the other super rugby franchises in the country are for not this one
00:32:10
Speaker
Right. So that's a little annoying. That is annoying. I'm peeved. I'm definitely peeved about it. And I know like in Fauzi is like so desperate to save his to save himself from being one of the worst all black coaches in recent history. He's going to do whatever the fuck it takes. And that's he is. And that's a kind of gross and feels really icky. Yeah. So I. And there's not as well. Where's he? Where's he actually? Is he is he?
00:32:41
Speaker
I believe he's born in Auckland. Yeah, but I believe he is of tongue and descent.
00:32:58
Speaker
I'm always of Samoan and Fijian heritage. There you go. So he's from Samoa. So he's from Samoa. So his family, yeah, his family's. He should be property of Samoa. It would be better. It would be better. And he's 28 too. I, I, I really think that's, you know, yeah, you're not really different. Like he's not, he's what he's going to, I mean, and maybe, Hey,
00:33:20
Speaker
If this is his only World Cup, you know, 32, he probably, I don't know. You would probably make this a more squat again. You probably could if he's still playing.
00:33:32
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe he's got other, I don't know. So, but he has, you know, he's apparently lived in an Auckland, so I'm not sure, you know, yes, going home is good. But if he wants to play for the, if he's always wanted to play for the All Blacks, if that's where he grew up watching, I can't really fault him too much. Well, I don't fault him. I fault the All Blacks for doing that. Well, yeah, that's true too. That's what, that's, I don't fault him at all. And that's just what, because Roger, two of us are Czech.
00:34:01
Speaker
There's a complete bomb out, right? And he's going to go back to NRL. Like, right. Cause he, like your, the experiment's not, he's not a 12. It didn't work. When has it, how many times has it worked? Not many. Very few. Like, I think, I think, uh, Tom writes a elite convert, but yeah, there's like, I mean, there's a couple, there's, there's always a few. It's always an exception, not the rule. Whenever, but whenever they make a big deal about it, whenever they make a big deal, like this guy's going to come change the game.
00:34:32
Speaker
Like, I mean, Sonny Bill, but like he kind of what he grew up in both. That dude is just a freak of nature. And he's also right. He could play. He's never picked up a baseball bat, but he could go play fucking left field. Yeah. For any major league cricket. He could do whatever he wants. Yeah. He's an absolute monster. He'd go play for the Nuggets or something like he would be all right.
00:34:58
Speaker
He's a huge fan, apparently. OK, let's go play for the Bulls. If he's tall enough, I don't know. It's like six to six three. I'll pass. Get away with it. He'd get away with it in his eyes. Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. He'd be people in the post, man. Yeah, he would. Maybe just five inches tall. I'd be like, fuck you. Move. Right.
Fantasy Rugby Standouts
00:35:25
Speaker
All right, let's move on to go reds blues again. Don't need to spend much time on this red spot back. Yes, but I mean blues are garbage time. Thank you for the points. Yeah, that's that's the most useful. Yes, it was. Jack Campbell, of course, Jack Campbell, of course, of course, of course.
00:35:46
Speaker
Of course, it's Jack Campbell scoring in garbage. Shut up. Yeah. Uh, um, so I'm going to give this another shot. And I just looked at it again. Roger my to buy. Oh, shit. I already fucked it up. Nickens. I'm trying to get, I heard it a couple of times. It helped. Right. So my to Vicky.
00:36:13
Speaker
Rajumai Tavuki Neekins. That's it. Yeah. Thank you. And this has been, this has been. It's not fair. Yeah. I like, dude, come on. You cannot be a famous athlete with that name. It won't work. But it can.
00:36:32
Speaker
But he can and he's going to be so we all know it's it's it's it's rude Like I would totally respect the heritage and I guess there's name should be honored not the last fall not the last fall Gotta get better at like you. Could you imagine having a shot every time you line up? Could you imagine being his kindergarten teacher and having to teach him to spell that shit? Have fun. Yeah
00:36:59
Speaker
I mean, he's probably learned how to spell that very early, let's be honest. Yeah, but still, fuck. There was a guard for the Philadelphia Eagles back in my day, whose name was Joe Panos.
00:37:15
Speaker
And that Joe Panos was not his name. His name was Joe Panagiotopoulos. That's right. But his kindergarten teacher was like, no, you're just going to be Panos. Come on. She didn't want to write the whole thing out. And they went with it. Not cool, man.
00:37:35
Speaker
I want to be his own person. Right. But look, if I learned to say Panagiotopoulos, I could probably say Ratuma, Tuvuking, Neepkins. Yep. There you go. See, look at you learning all the time. Yeah, this was, it was going to be always be hard for the rest to back up the performance they put in against the Chiefs to do another one. Yes, they were home, but
00:37:59
Speaker
blues work knew what was coming for them. They're like, yeah, that's the other thing. I'm not going to get nap, caught napping again. Right. That's that like now it's like you call down the thunder. Well, now you got it. Like you poke the bear. Like you sent the signal that you can do to it. And once that's you can't unring that bell. It's like the look at what's going on with the Drua. Like
00:38:23
Speaker
Now you're not the practice girl. You know, we got to show the fuck up to beat you. And if you don't show up, we're going to fucking hammer you. Yeah. And the.
00:38:34
Speaker
The red's got Mark Talia to just shit all over there basically. This is a wonderful defense for me to poop on. And the funny thing is he only had the one try and it was towards the end, but like he was just... He was all over the place.
00:38:55
Speaker
Oh, two meters. Right. Chewing, chewing, chewing. Like running through gaps that that that I don't think the Reds knew were there. No. Tillia created him. Yeah. He's mean and he's fast and like because he can be just so many different ways. He's strong enough to to just. Yes. Run through a gap. Very much so. Through through a shoulder and
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's he's got to be on the all blacks. He's got like agreed.
Match Strategy & Player Highlights
00:39:28
Speaker
Got to be. Mm hmm. Agreed. Him and finding a new group, we didn't really mention him, but he's kind of like those two are very similar like that. They will outpace you. Yeah, if I'm going to be a little bit beefier in terms of just his frame. Yeah. Yeah. A little bigger frame. Like, yeah. Here's the thing. Here's the thing.
00:39:49
Speaker
What wing in the England campus is anywhere in sight of those two? Marley, maybe. Maybe Freeman. I mean, for speed maybe, but not for, I don't think they can, either of them have the physical, overly physical element. They're both more physical than they look.
00:40:13
Speaker
At least for me. Freeman's a house. People don't realize how big that fucking dude is. Yeah, he is pretty big. Yeah. Fair. And Murley plays bigger, you know? He does. He does. No, that's fair. But those are probably the two I can think of off the top of my head. Right. It's just that they're just in such another... Tell me they're in a different stratosphere. Right. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, the scale sets they possess might not be matched. That would be more of a point.
00:40:41
Speaker
And that's, that to me is again, England have problem, like, because it's not that, okay, great. Your wings aren't as good as New Zealand's it's, that's not really much shame in that is that. Yeah. Something deeper. You're looking at who's the top tier and what are they good at? And it's like, you know, you can look at delay and be like, no, you can, we can use you in any way you would need to use a way. Absolutely. There's, and there's, you know, Johnny May and
00:41:09
Speaker
Anyway, um, sorry digress. We haven't talked about the English rugby in a while. So I get a little hurt. We're getting back there. Um, let's go over. Let's go over to four size bar and highlanders rebels competitive, which was nice. You know, nice to see the highlanders show up and the rebels show up at the same time. That's true. They, they, yeah.
00:41:32
Speaker
Yeah, neither. I'm saying it's pretty. Nothing is pretty. I'm not saying it's pretty. Let's get this down right. Okay. I'm not saying it was pretty. But yeah, it was competitive. They played a very even match. Yeah. It was.
00:41:52
Speaker
The sad part was like, I know both teams wanted to go for the jugular and neither could execute. And that's a really disappointing part of this whole thing. It's like, I know you wanted to go and just go for the kill shot, but you fucking can't do it. So you're forced to just go points and it sucks. It does. It does.
00:42:19
Speaker
I don't don't know what else to say. I was not. There was not. I wasn't terribly impressed with the match. There was something. That's exactly it. Just right. Not like, you know, I thought Hardwick was. He's bloody good. One of the more visible and a good way. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's something like it's like Tellaway, Anderson and Ioani. Out there like.
00:42:50
Speaker
There's value there. It's just not. They're not using it well. Right. And I think that's probably why they put, well, I don't know if that's why they put Reese at 10, but. Gordon's back there this week, so. Yeah. And so, you know, and Reese will be about 12 and maybe that'll help. I'm not sure. Yeah. Nice to see Jonah Nurecki.
00:43:13
Speaker
turning back itself, which is good. That is good. Yes, he's getting knocking the rust off still, but it's it's close starting to slowly get back to itself, which would be nice. Right. Like you see flashes of it and you're drooling a little bit like that would be nice, especially pairing when he and Gilbert are are hitting strides together. It's just a rough, rough year for the Highlanders. It really is. I didn't feel bad for them at first, but I do now.
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know how else to say it, but they won this so good for them. Like there were there were problems galore with this team way before. Yeah. The coaching staff got a hold of it. I mean, and really you can kind of look at like how problematic the coaching the coaches coaching has been for them. When you look at like look at the other teams, how many of them look at the other New Zealand franchises, I should say specifically how many of them are about to have a coach that goes on to the all blacks roster once this World Cup is over.
00:44:10
Speaker
Holland's going, John McDonald's going, Macmillan's going, if I remember correctly, and obviously Rachel's taking the job. So like, the only one on that list that's for the New Zealand franchise is that's not having coach go there. And it's not knocking the coach, but I'm just saying like, this is where the issues started. And it started way before he got there. So not giving him shit, just more like pointing out like, this problem's been coming for a bit.
00:44:38
Speaker
But look at the talent they've got still. That's the problem. They do. They're not. They're not playing like they're not playing anywhere near to the potential that they have in talent. And that's even with, you know, Freddie Burns at 10. I don't give a fuck. He's I know he's playing great, too. Oh, my God. He's been amazing. You know, he's he's playing as well as like better than he's played in like four years. World Cup here, baby. Right. Like I'm saying even before the World Cup, I don't think he was all that great in the last World Cup, like.
00:45:07
Speaker
He knows this is his last ride. Yeah. So he's he's coming. He's giving it all. Yeah. Right. One last one last hunt and he's ready for it. Yep. Absolutely. And Gilbert was was amazing himself. I really I like the kid. I don't know that 12 is where he should be. No, I think he needs to be moved back to somewhere on the outside. Yeah. Especially when Jonah Lowe is giving you. Fuck all.
00:45:34
Speaker
Fuck all. Tim and Julian Sevilla should like form a fucking club. Bags of talent, useless on the field. Right. Like, we should be better than this. Like, Chase Tia Tia should be in that list, too. Yeah, he's on that list, too. I agree. Oh, man. We should be better than this club. Yeah, definitely. Let's go to UNI's match.
00:46:03
Speaker
Hurricanes kind of took a bit of a knee with the lineup they lame. There's no arty, there's no Jordy. For me personally, and yes, the weather was absolute dog shit. Oh, it was pissing. Play to an advantage to some degree. But I will say there were some performances that I was extremely happy with despite the score line. I thought Josh Morby was great. Billy Proctor still been playing amazing all year.
00:46:27
Speaker
the hall was pretty good yo say again just absolute stud i was i was honestly like not and i know you were talking about like you didn't like their lineup but i'm like i really like yo say so i would yeah yeah that was a that's so this is one of those
00:46:44
Speaker
plany moments. He's telling the coaching staff, like, look what I just tore up the chiefs. And if, you know, you had already with, if I had already with me, he might've been different. But that's, I think that's, I think this is Jose putting his hand up here. They have to answer that.
00:47:03
Speaker
He hasn't played enough this year. I thought Dewey stepped up big time. Aidan Morgan played really well. I'm really pleased with Aidan Morgan because if you remember, we were talking about, is it going to be Aidan Morgan? Ruben Love was coming along nicely. And Aidan Morgan just broke that plan with a fucking baseball bat. Like, no, no, no, no, you silly bitches. You're going to talk about me for a while now.
00:47:28
Speaker
And here's the thing. It's hard even it's not even like you can move one of them to 15 because Josh Morby's been like, no, no, no, I got this one. No, no. Good guys. We good. We're all fine here. Yeah, absolutely. So it's it was a great performance, I thought, from the boy from the boys in yellow. I know the score line wasn't great, but shit that she seems fucking good.
00:47:50
Speaker
I mean, they were like. So it was I noticed that it was really, really rainy when the hurricanes had the ball, but when the Chiefs had the ball, it was like like a sunny day. They did do that. They did shift their tactics a
Free Jacks in MLR
00:48:10
Speaker
little bit to wet ball stuff, but like they did not to the extreme that a lot of teams have to because this team is just so skillful and so good. Right. You know.
00:48:20
Speaker
It's really, really baffling in some ways. I hope we were, you know, we were talking about last year or even, you know, beginning of this year about the all blacks in the second rows and how they kind of have some old fuckers that are in there that maybe like need to go by the wayside at some point. And maybe, maybe, maybe should maybe, and I'm not gonna just blossom me, but shouldn't make the World Cup squad.
00:48:51
Speaker
That said, I don't know how you keep Tipo Vai out. He's been playing absolutely spectacular rugby for the Chiefs this year and obviously has caps, but also just like is one of those second rows that can play like a back row. And that is something that should be treasured and valued and played almost every week, whether it's on an international level or on a club level.
00:49:15
Speaker
I believe firmly that the one, the all blacks have a selection problem, but the chiefs also have like
00:49:23
Speaker
The best problem to have where they have Retallic Lord in him and then throw an Akoi into the mix. Yeah, don't. Yeah, exactly. Don't don't sleep on Akoi. No, no, no, no. That's why I want to make sure they just have a fucking stable of right. All of these guys could be international quality, although to me right now, Vi is the best. And that includes Retallic the other way. No, I'm not arguing that. I think I think he's cooked as far as.
00:49:47
Speaker
Um, yeah, he's had it. He's on the downswing and, uh, he's no longer as effective at the club level as he used to be. I hate to say it. And then, but he's also, he's also banged up to be fair. He was amazing early in the season, but like he's beat up. I, he's not a guy I would honestly, I would, I'd be like, we gotcha. Like.
00:50:11
Speaker
I mean, you know, if you're going to win the world, maybe, maybe bring him up with on the team. But like he's not a starter right now by years to me. And Sam Kane has no place on that squad at all. Like they really need to to have the conversation with him because, you know, after that, his neck injury, I feel bad. He's not the same player. He's not. No, he's not.
00:50:34
Speaker
Um, he's, he's still making an impact, but it's, it's not the same. No, he's like, he's making the impact that Jackson Ray can make for series. Right. Right. Like it's like, okay, thanks. You're here. Like you're not going to shut the bed for us. That's what we need someone who can do that. And we'll work around you. Um, you can't have that at the international level, certainly not as your captain. So that's, there's got to be an injury thing out for that because
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's concerning. I thought Antoine Leonard Brown had a day. He did. I was. He's not. He's a little pure, but still. Yeah. You know, he's had. I probably would have brought po hippie and po hippie in a little earlier than 72 minutes. But I also think he needed to get the run. I think this is still him coming back. He's still coming back from injury again. Yes, he is. And he had a lights out day against the Islanders, but it's the Islanders. Like. Exactly. They're not like. Yeah.
00:51:34
Speaker
And that was also a big day for him in terms of number of games played. And of course, he was going to show up that day. Right. And I was also a little bit, if you can imagine, I was annoyed by the kicking for posts. From Damien McKenzie. He did honk a couple. Right. It's like just, yeah.
00:51:56
Speaker
And I'm like, why don't just go for the, just score and try, just score tries, just keep score and try. And that's all, you know, that's what, that's what your team is good at. Like, you know, like I say, dance with a girl, what brought you? It's not that, you know, they're what, but they're good at is putting points on the board and, and they don't, they don't do that through threes as well as they do with, with the other ways. Yep. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Yeah. Uh, let's go over to Sydney. Taz and Jua.
00:52:25
Speaker
journey to go home. Those poor fellas need to go home. That's the worst trip they've ever been on. Yeah, they've had a tough trip. They are back home and they get a nice layup with Moana. That's going to be a fun match. Yeah, it's going to be a fun match to watch, but yeah, they need to go home.
00:52:50
Speaker
neither are that bad and nor are the war toys that good. Right. But the combination of the two on that field made it look so. Right. And yeah, you know, 30 like again. 32 to 18 is about right for this for the score the way this this match was played. And to me, it tells me that
00:53:17
Speaker
The druid, they didn't defend their best stretch. Um, and they didn't attack their best. Like if, if they had played better, this could have been like 30 to 24 the other way, something along those lines, maybe 21, you know, but 18 points like drew the way they play. If they're only scoring 18 points, that's not a good thing. No.
00:53:43
Speaker
No, no, no, that's it kind of I don't know what more there is to say. No, I I'm out. I'm on that one because they they need you right. As you said, they need to go home. Yeah. Mikey Mark's going to be Mikey Mark's going to be a name to watch out for at the World Cup. Yeah.
00:54:05
Speaker
It's just, he's, he's excellent. I don't know what else to say. Yeah. He's like, I know. And I learned how to say walking into Wassey so I can learn. You can learn the other ones. Yes, you can. I'll get it. Um, but no, he's, he's been dominant. So like call him up, likes to see what he can do, especially cause he wasn't looking
00:54:32
Speaker
He hasn't looked great in a while. He was off, he was off somehow for like the last year or so. And then, but this year he's, he's. Right. And actually things, right. Right. And I think the thing that got him set, right. Was going on the November tour with Australia and he played brilliantly for them. And what was not a great tour for them. Um, so it's kind of what's got him back on track. And here he is, you know, when we talked about, we talked about like a teammate, his Jorgensen who actually played pretty well.
00:55:01
Speaker
getting figured out and then figuring out, all right, what else do I have in my locker? Can I do something else other than what I've been doing? My opponents have figured it out. And he has. So good on him at, you know, was he 22?
00:55:16
Speaker
Like he might be younger than that. Yeah, exactly. He's a puppy puppy. You're furthering my point. Yeah. So that's good. There's this good shit there, especially with the peach, too. I mean, that's a that's a fucking quality back three. And there are no doubt about it. And I got to say, I, you know, I like Roberta Amata and I like Rick, but Mercuro.
00:55:44
Speaker
Drosessi. I'm not really like. Yeah, Drosessi. Yeah. And Rovovo, I thought was he's been kind of mad lately. I'm not. I got to see more. I think he's in that kind of same boat. Like he's gotten a little bit figured out and needs to up his game. Right. I think he's he's played a lot, too. He might get me. But he also might need.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah, but he's he's gotten some but you know thinking about he's gotten some rest But yeah, even when he doesn't start he's on the bench. So right that's usually what it is. Like he needs an outright day off Yeah, I think he's had one match this year where he wasn't on the sheet. I know you're right. I think that's okay fair That's a good point. I'll be nicer to him. Yeah. Yeah boy boy needs a rest Yes, this week might be it See how it is right and then over to Perth and
00:56:36
Speaker
Bit of another, a bit of a shock result. Force get done. While playing us as hello, old team, I will send you back packing with your tail between your legs. He really did. And I think I, oh yeah, that's right. I started watching this match at half, at half.
00:56:54
Speaker
It was, cause it was, it was aired early in the morning and I was watching the chief's match, um, before. So I joined that in, I think it was a close at half. It was. Where is it? And I think force just poured it on on the second half. The dead. Um,
00:57:19
Speaker
Oh, no, it was it was nine over a head nine points. It doesn't give me a score, though. OK. Yeah, I can't. I hate when they don't do that. Either way, I think it was semi-climatic. I was like, I guess it was nine points at half. Yeah. Right.
00:57:44
Speaker
Oh, cause wait. Yeah. Um, okay. So while we wait, what are you talking about? Oh, sorry. I'm trying to read this article to see it. It was like wallabies. What the fuck? Oh yeah. Cause I was looking for Darcy Swain, which team he was on. I was like, Nope, not this match there, but, um, I thought the Brumbies had still had a shot, but yeah.
00:58:06
Speaker
Yeah, Sam Spink played really well in this match. He's he's been he's been great for them. He's coming. He's coming back north, right? I hope so. I thought I could also see the. Yeah, I mean, oh, that's what I want to say. How how fucking good is Max Burry? Played really well in this match. All played. He was excellent. He's been and he's been insane the last three weeks.
00:58:35
Speaker
Yeah, if my recollection is correct. I think he's been started. I think he started the last three. I think that's like who. He's your he seems to be your 10 now, and they think they think they do that a lot. But look, I keep feeling like the force keep having these guys. Who was their guy last year? It was a young guy. Oh. Yeah, Rishon Passatoa, like haven't seen him in a really year, which is right. But he was never I don't think he was ever this good.
00:59:05
Speaker
So maybe they, and maybe it's a recency bias thing, but it's like, man, I, this is the best. I was very impressed. I want to see more of him.
00:59:17
Speaker
So I'm hoping you're probably going to wish. I think he's right. What else do they got to lose? Right. So, okay. Good. Oh, yo, he is. He is. Because I keep looking for him in FRD and he's not in the game. So he's such a recent addition to their lineup or to their roster. Yeah. So all their injuries, two weeks left. Well, you know, right now, fuck it. Have fun, guys. Whatever. I don't blame him sometimes. No, I don't either. I've been in total fucking mode sometimes, too. Yeah.
00:59:46
Speaker
Because they were doing prem. They're there. We get it. The season is a long season. Guys, we're with you. We're with you the whole time. Right with you. We go away. Yeah. No complaints. I want to say thank you, Ryan Lonergan, for not doing the cheeky. I'm going to throw it into my opposition and buy the penalty because that actually was one. He probably had every right to just like slap that dude in the balls and do it. Yeah. Like it was Felix. I was getting up.
01:00:19
Speaker
Was it the Saris? No, because somebody was like, oh, it was Tizard, was like hunched over, but he was a big ball. No, you know what? It was Lamani doing it for the Joe against the Hurricanes, and I was getting really annoyed by it. And it was not as egregious as Callapoo had been. It was pretty like, I'm on her knee, and you're going to just hit me in the head because you want to be a dick. Thank you, Brian Larkin, for being a little more honest about it.
01:00:38
Speaker
And I saw, God, I don't remember what game I was watching where a couple of-
01:00:48
Speaker
Right. Much appreciated for everybody out there. Sign yours. See what, right. And also, but here's the thing, if I'm a coach, I don't want the penalty. I want advantage.
01:00:58
Speaker
Right. Yes. So if a guy's there, then, and he's, he's, if he's, you know, in an offside position, then like run into him or something and then pass it, keep the ball alive. Give me something. Unless you're going to tap and go and, but you can't tap and go. Cause you think the balls goes wherever once you hit the part, you know, it goes off the dude's belly and you don't know where it's going.
01:01:19
Speaker
Right. So it's like, do you know what's best for the team? Like, yeah, draw the penalty and then and play it. Yeah. Or just fucking play it either way. You know, again, situationally dependent. If it's like really like the end of the match, fuck it. And you're just killing it. Might need that pen. Or you need the or you need the three, then yeah. OK, you're all right, though.
01:01:41
Speaker
I know I, I, that's one of the things that I, yeah, I, I note that it doesn't matter. Even if it's on the team that you're rooting for, if you see a scrum have to do it, you don't like it. It's one of the big rugby, pet peeves and never, never, never. I think because I'm the commercial ones that I know. I think it was magical ones that told us to come have to fuck off with that shit once. And I was, and he forever became my hero. I was like, yes, thank you. God. I hate this. Right. Yeah. Right. Um,
01:02:10
Speaker
Anywho, uh, see, I, I just, I never liked getting stomped on. So I'd much rather just a Trump half throw a ball at me and get a penalty. Well, right. Exactly. So if we
MLR Highlights & Future Matchups
01:02:22
Speaker
can have one of the two, because we've seen matches where if the referee doesn't, doesn't enforce it, there's like nothing the team can do anymore. Right. Right. Yeah. It's like, no, no, stop that shit. Um,
01:02:35
Speaker
boots or how you did that. Yeah, it was. Let's inverse this. The direction we went and go back a little bit further west. It could have for Quincy because. That was fun. That was one of the most fun matches I've ever been to. This was supposed to be a better NOLA team, too, wasn't it? Yeah, I guess I'm not sure. I don't know.
01:03:04
Speaker
Like I'm really like the free jacks as far as the East is concerned are like, again, from the Simpsons, Tom Brady on the whatever the segue with the everyone sucks but me banner behind him. Like there's nobody good in this division really. And I mean that like, I mean, not I'm not saying that like
01:03:31
Speaker
biasedly, I'm saying watching, I'm watching these other teams and I'm like, wow, you all fucking just are not good at rugby. And it's not, it's just that the free jacks are actually MLR quality. And the other five in the division are just, they're not that good. They're not well-coached. I mean, we're all blacks. You can go around and pick up either. Right. Exactly. So like, once that's out, how good are you? And, um,
01:03:58
Speaker
You know, I really like what the free jacks are. I like how they play. I mean, those tries that they scored, they will test your defense no matter what, and they will score from anywhere. They put pressure, their attack puts practice, their best defense. Like 100%, they put, they can score. So that,
01:04:19
Speaker
Balacana try. Was it a charge down? No, it was thrown out the back of a little more like a guy tried to throw it off the back and right. Flopped around and Balacana picked it up and said, oh, this must be mine. Thank you. And they just kept dribbling. They dribbled it up. They've had they offloaded. They did like they they transferred the ball like every way you can transfer a ball. And
01:04:46
Speaker
scored a try and there was like three of them. It was a beautiful little weave. Like these are things that I want to coach my team to do because like, this is what scores tries. Like if, you know, if you, if you don't take advantage and look, the thing about the free jacks is they're, they are sloppy. They're not, uh, uh, you know, we're looking at other, you know, versus again, what we were looking at before with the, um, European cup and, um,
01:05:17
Speaker
and the key was a super rugby. Like, yeah, it's a different level, but like the free jacks,
01:05:26
Speaker
When they take it, they take advantage of the opportunities that are given to them every single time. It's excellent. And that's the thing that Nola gave them a ton of opportunities. Yeah. Probably 15 points in there. Right. Right. And like some tonkings are boring after a while. Cause when one team is simply dominant, like Nolan was, they had every opportunity to score points in this match.
01:05:51
Speaker
Every opportunity. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was yelling. Yeah. The three points really helped. They just they just shot the bed every time they got down into the 22. Absolutely shot it. And then the free jacks would be down on their side of the field. Like literally like that. Yeah, it was.
01:06:16
Speaker
And it was a hell of a spectacle. So definitely, you know, huge crowd had a lot of fun. Um, they're singing good songs there now. Um, so barely we're, we're, we're, we're Quinn's ish. We're singing a lot of the, we're adopting a couple of the Quinn's songs or something like that. I'm into that. And I'm super into that. I'm very into that. It's much better than the remember the Titans bullshit. It's more dignified. Hey, Nola. All right. You want to know how bad you are?
01:06:45
Speaker
That's better. Fucking Kyle scored on you. Yeah. Oh, that was bad. I mean, I get right. Again, I even I mentioned like he's never scored, has he? No, yeah. Up until that point. No.
01:07:03
Speaker
That's how bad of course you are like I saw it I saw it coming cuz like you know he wasn't exactly a fast try it was just the floor it was a slow it was a it was a it was a slow truck just slowly hitting someone basically
01:07:22
Speaker
Like that scene in Austin Powers with the steamer. Exactly. That's exactly that. It was exactly that. And he started coming up like, holy shit, yeah, he's going to score. I was like, there's nothing I can do. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, he's going to score. Well, so we do. There it is. With that win and combined with the other results, Three Jack's magic number is five to close the East.
01:07:48
Speaker
And they played Toronto next week. They played Toronto this week. Yeah, Toronto tied to Old Glory on a Thursday game. I still hate Thursday games. That's stupid. But it was not good. It was not a good match. It was a shitty match, unfortunately. And Toronto deserved better. I was so I was that they didn't miss the conversion. Yeah. Like I still thought, like, Old Glory, I was actually kind of happy when they scored.
01:08:16
Speaker
last because I was like they left enough time. Their defense was done all glories. It was just a shame that Toronto laps themselves because they were ascended for the good like the second half. I felt like they were just on the attack and and and beating him back and I was I was excited. I thought I thought they were going to win and but the tie is a tie and
01:08:44
Speaker
You know, good for all glory for, for not completely shitting the bed, I guess, but I mean, I think so. I guess to me, I still think they're, they're looking up a little bit at Toronto. Um, I hope I have hope for them. I don't want them to be this bad. No, nobody does. Uh, ATL gave us the surprise results of the weekend by losing to Dallas in Atlanta. Um,
Major League Rugby Results
01:09:08
Speaker
Utah beat Houston, another big result for them. Utah might be cooking up with something here. Seattle beat Chicago. Seattle is going to be a tough fucking get. Thank God we don't have to play them until a couple of weeks from now. Yeah, freejacks. So what I'm excited about is that the freejacks have the opportunity here because
01:09:30
Speaker
you know, they're looking at a five pointer this weekend, right? If they if they handle their business, so you have to earn your business, but they have to you have to earn it. But if they earn it, they get to go to Seattle and see what Seattle's got. Yeah, so that's not for two weeks. That's not till the 11th. Right. But it's what I guess what I'm saying is like, they don't need to work, you know, by that by that time, they should have sewn up the East.
01:10:00
Speaker
If everything goes, you know, everything goes OK. Right. Because I guess what was it? Oh, glory goes to Seattle this week. So.
01:10:12
Speaker
Right. So the freejacks, if they get a five-pointer, they're probably clear. They can go to Seattle and get a feel for what they've got and then have an opportunity to see what their strategy would be against the freejacks and maybe run a neutral strategy against them to show them nothing. Yeah.
01:10:33
Speaker
Or maybe both teams show him nothing and it's fucking boring. And maybe you win. So maybe. But it's a good, you know, it's like the Seattle still has to, they're still not clear. They have to get points where they can get them. Right. So it's that fast that they can. Exactly. That, that, that's the benefit. So like, we'll take the points and you get to see what we were about. And then we'll see it in the final. Hopefully something like that.
Pretend Rugby & Audience Engagement
01:11:04
Speaker
Okay. That is the rugby talk. We're going to jump over and talk about the pretend rugby in a little bit here. We're heading over there. We'll see you there. If not, we do appreciate you hanging out with us. Fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com for any questions, comments, so on, so forth.
Closing Remarks & Weekend Plans
01:11:24
Speaker
Tweet up NRI.
01:11:26
Speaker
Know the shit out of us all you want. Please. We're not gonna see you on the fancy pod. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the final. Ben and I are gonna destroy my house while my wife is gone. And we will talk to you all next week. Enjoy all that will be coming up. Have a good one everyone. Later.