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Season 5- Episode 18- Unimpressive to Say the Least (Premiership Round 14)
31 Plays3 years ago
It's another fun filled episode of those American rugby dopes babbling. On this episode of TFRY, we talk about the happenings on Monday Night here in the U.S. and a certain TV personality's response to it (it wasn't a good one) with a personal story to attach to it all. Then we get a little lighter during our run around of the Premiership action, though it wasn't the most amazing rugby of the season, including a very forgettable performance at Kingsholm. Sit back, put the feet up if you wish, get something cold to drink and enjoy with us!
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Light Banter
00:00:02
Speaker
It is. The Fantasy Robias. 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. Collusion. Collusion.
00:00:27
Speaker
Happy New Year, everyone. And what's going on? It is the fancy rugby yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's go to it. We're going to try and keep this week short and sweet because we got some monsters coming up and we just put out a monster last week. Yeah. So we'll even it out. This will be one of the smoothing out the averages. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Bring that average down a little bit. Yeah. But in the meantime, beer. Well, I have a cider.
Thoughts on Dry January and Odd Celebrations
00:00:58
Speaker
Fuck. Try January. Kidding. If you're on try January, I do not judge you. I do. No. If you're on try January, I do not judge you, but I'm just, just not my thing. You do you. What is it? What they, isn't it like, yeah, I guess it is just January. Cause it was no, not November. Yeah. Yep. There's all sorts of weird celebrations that none of which I take part in. Same.
00:01:27
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. Intuit.
Fantasy Rugby Geek and Bar Singing Memories
00:01:31
Speaker
So we're getting closer to the return of the fancy rugby geek, but in the meantime, make sure that you are picking him up a coffee. That deserves it. He does. There's it all. We were just reminiscing about our trip with the guy as well. Oh, yes. That was a fun time. That whole stuff. Good old stuff.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, being very drunk at a bar, singing Spin Doctors while everyone around us is like, The hell is wrong with these three? And once again, if you're nuts, like, no, you're the ones who are wrong for not singing along with us. Right? I say you're the one that's wrong. Yeah, we're doing it right. What the fuck is your problem? Shit.
Sports Discrimination and DeMar Hamlin Incident
00:02:18
Speaker
There is no discrimination on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life.
00:02:23
Speaker
It's not outright discrimination, but obviously we need to address the happenings last night. Um, we had something on deck for this, but then, um, last, uh, not last night, Monday night happened and we need to address it somehow because there was some pretty shitty stuff going on. Away from it, like in reference to it. So we just need to kind of bring this whole thing in right now. We do. Um,
00:02:52
Speaker
And there's so much, and it ties so much together because it doesn't everything. But we try to not have too many hot takes. Apologies for our hot take about glass onion being better than knives out. It wasn't supported. That's his act. That's an accurate complaint. We apologize for that. But we're trying not to do that, right?
00:03:21
Speaker
We had an issue with a player, an NFL player, as you know, if you're listening to us, I'm sure you're at least tangentially aware of NFL in American football. And so you've known about DeMar Hamlin. He's in the hospital right now. He's in the hospital right now, died on the field, was resuscitated.
00:03:47
Speaker
Twice from what I understand. I that's what I understand too, but he they were they resisted on the field I think I guess they had to do it again later. Yesh So It was uncomfortable like to me at the time like I know Jared wasn't watching because Jared doesn't watch football unless he's
00:04:07
Speaker
being forced to, which is fine. It's perfect. And this has nothing to do with, this is, you know, as I've been saying to him too, it's not a football injury. This is, this is, this could happen in rugby just as easily as any, and it could happen in soccer. It could happen. It could happen anywhere. It happened in hockey, um, to Chris Pronger. Um, who was resuscitating. He got better pretty quick. Like he recovered fairly quick. Like it only took a couple of weeks off. Um, crazy. Yeah. Um, but
00:04:37
Speaker
like Skip Bayless, this douchebag who is part of the say things to to shock people to get attention. You know, tweets out about how. Oh, you know, what are they going to do about the game, essentially? You know, I'm paraphrasing. It was somewhat insensitive as I'm everyone is concerned for the guy literally. And he people are fighting for his life. Right. It's out of his hands at the moment.
00:05:03
Speaker
And he's talking about the game and like the NFL, you know, the players had already, you know, I will, they eventually decided we're not, we're not playing tonight. Like, fuck you. Yeah. Players Association was like, no, this is not happening almost immediately. Right. And the players on the field, like they, they, the Bengals team, actually, when they were like, they both huddled up there. The coaches were deciding they don't know what to do. What can they do?
00:05:26
Speaker
And basically, I heard it was Joe burrow that spoke up and said, Hey, if they're not playing we're not playing and can and but not furthermore can we go hang out with them in their locker room to to show our support. Can we go be there for them.
00:05:41
Speaker
And I'm as a Steelers supporter for me to say nice things about Bengals and that is hard. But they handle it like that's how you handle things classy. You do. This is a game, man. We're done with the game. This is about the guy's life. And Skip Bailis has to be douchebag about it. He wasn't the only one. But it was just the thing is prominent. The thing is, though, this is what he does for a living. This is how he makes his living being an asshole. I hate him.
00:06:07
Speaker
Everybody hates him. Yeah, I've never liked him for a second. That's supposedly his appeal. Oh, everybody wants, nobody cares what he, that's the other, that's the problem. We've gone past this whole Howard Stern thing, who at times, yes, he was an asshole, but mostly was just talking honestly and just rapidly about things people didn't like being discussed. And that made him angry. This is like, this guy's deliberately provoking people, showing no class and all that. And we got to get past that. Like, this, it is kind of, it's,
00:06:37
Speaker
just showing your ass to everybody just for the attention. And we don't need that anymore. There's enough misery in the world. So that's to me why it ties in together. There's enough misery in the world to deliberately add more for attention. If you want to get attention for good cause, if you want to be a dick for a good cause, I'm with you. I am 100% with you because you need some of that. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I have no problem doing that.
Mental Health and Negative Commentary
00:07:02
Speaker
Sorry about that if that comes across your feed, but whatever.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's when it matters. It's you step up and do the right thing. Right. And Skip Bayless just so this time to me this rewind like I did not like the guy from the word go and he just buried himself.
00:07:24
Speaker
For me, way back when, so also concerning NFL, Dak Prescott, who quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, lost his brother, his brother died by suicide.
00:07:39
Speaker
Dak, that's hard. Anybody you know dying by suicide makes life hard. Doesn't matter if it's your brother or your relative, a good friend, a teammate, doesn't matter. If it was somebody in your life, that is a hard mental hurdle to get over and some people never do and that's how hard it is. But Dak went to therapy, rightly so.
00:08:03
Speaker
Somebody in your life dies, period. You should go to therapy, in my opinion. I think everybody should be going to therapy at all. I go to therapy every week. And I should be going to therapy, but don't. I love loose heads for all that that they do and the likes of that. So I will ring that bell all day.
00:08:23
Speaker
But anyway, Skip Bayless decided this is a good time to call him out for being mentally weak. I was like, are you kidding me? Like you're trying, for me, he was basically trying to get dacked to commit suicide at that point or to, you know, die by suicide himself. Promoting the condition in which that would be a result. Right. And that is to me, absolute horseshit. Like that is so harmful.
00:08:51
Speaker
for anyone that sees that, that is anywhere near the edge of like, should I go to therapy? Shouldn't I go to therapy? You know, I'm having a hard time with this. Oh, Skip Bayless said I shouldn't, and it makes me mentally weak. And that's mostly a dude thing. It's mostly a guy thing, because it's a macho thing. And, you know, anybody that might have been on the edge of finally crossing over that line of, I should seek mental help. I should seek some sort of help for me to get through this.
00:09:17
Speaker
that probably put them back on the wrong side of the fence. And that is just awful.
Critique of Provocative Sports Media
00:09:26
Speaker
dislike the sports personality more than Skip Bayless, maybe a couple others, but he's right at the top of my list. Just could not be a bigger asshole for the sake of being an asshole and could not do more, he could not do more harm with every word he says than anybody else, honestly. And there's a reason that ESPN dumped him and he's now on that shit show at Fox. And as you stated, like,
00:09:51
Speaker
There are times where I'm betting and Sharps are more on the guy that's on the, Chan Sharpe, the guy that's on the show with him, has probably wanted to reach across the table and just choke the life out of him. And Sharps are not doing that effort. He almost did today.
00:10:08
Speaker
Shannon wanted to talk about he didn't go to the he called out yesterday. It didn't didn't go on the show because he didn't want to. He couldn't be physically near Skip. Don't blame him. And he shows up today and that was his first thing. It's like we got to talk like I just want to say this is where you went wrong here and started talking about it and skip interrupts him. And it's like, well, it's not. And he's like, there it is.
00:10:31
Speaker
like, you can't even sit there and listen to why you're wrong. You have to be like he has to be and continue to be an asshole about it because literally and and that's the problem. What I said when you know, like there's a quote and I can't remember who was from but it's we are what we pretend to be so we must be careful what we pretend to be. Skip has pretended to be an asshole. I mean, if he ever wasn't
00:10:58
Speaker
But he pretended to be an asshole professionally. Right. But like, that's his gig. That's how he got the job was by, you know, by playing the part of an asshole. So long that I don't know that he knows any other. I don't think that he knows any other way to do it. And that's the problem. And it is, you know, he's catering to an older crowd who, you know, I like things better back in the old days and we used to be tougher and bubble. And it's like, no, we're doing things better. Like it's not about toughness. It's about.
00:11:27
Speaker
Maybe not dying on a fucking football field. How about that? How about we start? Right. So, yeah. So if you if you watch that show, please don't. And it's the same. But it also goes the same way all around like this is what Elon Musk does. This is what Joe Rogan does. This is what all these Andrew was it hate, Andrew Tate? Jesus Christ. You know, aside from the the sex slavery and sexual trafficking, like human trafficking, like
00:11:58
Speaker
This is what they do. They inflame, they get you to be like, don't give them oxygen. Just shut them down whenever you can. Tell your friends if they listen to them to stop doing it. Like, we can talk about them being assholes all we want, as long as we don't watch and engage with them wherever, because that's what they're sure we want to engage. Right. Yep. Just call them assholes and move on. Totally agree.
00:12:22
Speaker
Totally, totally agree. And I'm sure there's other personalities we've skipped over and right now that are in that category. But the point being, it's all the same. Yeah. Not helpful to us or anybody out there, especially those with, um, the dealing, the grieve and are grieving right now for one reason or another, whether you're talking about the teams in the NFL that are thinking about Hamlin, are you talking about somebody that's just at a recent loss? Grieving is hard. And to start going down roads like that, just,
00:12:52
Speaker
It makes things worse. It really does. It doesn't do any good. And speaking from personal experience, what has happened to Demar Hamlin in terms of his heart itself, I experienced that myself firsthand. And I'll talk about it right now just because it's our show and we can. It's very scary what's going on with his family right now because the question right now is how long did his brain go without oxygen? Right.
00:13:20
Speaker
I have an uncle that died at 37 because he had a heart incident and he went too long without oxygen. So what was left of my dear uncle was just a body, just a body. And you're talking about a guy that was very exuberant, very, very funny and loved to make people smile and laugh.
00:13:42
Speaker
And he was just laying there. He was just a body. And I am really with Hamlin's family, and I hope he recovers because that is a really hard thing to experience. And anybody that's ever had to experience such a thing, I'm with you. I understand how hard that is. That hits deep personally. This guy was essentially growing as a little kid, my best friend, to see him.
00:14:07
Speaker
in that condition is, was extremely hard. So, anybody that's, you know, having to deal with that, you know, to the Hamlin family and all his friends and family and just, yeah, it's hard. So, yes, it helps to have people to talk to and it helps to have a professional to talk to and to skew people away from that is just completely idiotic. So,
00:14:31
Speaker
All in all, fuck Skip Bayless and I hope he sits on a hot iron spike and rotates. Let that be the end. Right. All right. Let's go to something
Patreon and Rugby Updates
00:14:44
Speaker
happier. Our Patreon. Yeah, let's do that. Boombust is up. Got that up. It was it was ugly scores to talk about. So I mean, this this week's column very interesting to say the least. So go ahead and give that a read.
00:14:57
Speaker
and analysis was up last week it'll be up this week because we've got almost everything buttoned up at this point so makes life easier on us to just spit it out when when it's ready you know well that'll be out there soon um but yeah grab that grab that if you dare and hopefully it leads to more success we know Alex is a patreon supporter and he seems to have responded well to
00:15:20
Speaker
his poor start in FRD. I'd like to think that I have something to do with that. I hope so. He did. I know it helped him in, uh, in, uh, keepers TRM. Yeah. Once upon a last year, when that was a thing, he, uh, he, he waxed me the other weekend keepers too. I think he did the same to me. Anyway, grab that, grab that when, uh, when the time comes for you. All right.
00:15:50
Speaker
Let's go to round 14 of the career ship. And this point is now 11. We'll talk a little bit at the end about, you know, where everybody stands now that we're 11 games in. Would have done it last week since we hit the official halfway point, but, but, but lots to already talk about. We didn't really have time. But this week, this week, we got a little bit of time. We got a little bit of time to get over to it. Let's go Friday night up to the A.J.
Sale vs Leicester Analysis
00:16:17
Speaker
Bell, um, Salford City Stadium.
00:16:20
Speaker
sale and Lester and I think you put it perfectly earlier like just strangle the life of the Tigers apart from their their clear issues with personnel which yeah you know can't really play it for that that's no you can't that's just really annoying yeah it really is and guys getting hurt early is not and then guys getting you know being
00:16:44
Speaker
like done late also hurts. So when you have to bring in Ben Young's for your 10. Yeah. Yeah. It's a problem. It's at 50 minutes in. It's not going well. No, it's automatically going to be bad news. Right. Because Watson got her. I mean,
00:17:04
Speaker
Porter came off early. Right. Right. Porter came off. Watson came off. Yep. All of a sudden, they're like, uh oh. Yeah. And I feel bad for Watson, but it does seem again, this seems to be this is one his biggest bugaboo ever. You know, the only hole in his game, Watson's game is is this. Yeah. Availability. Yeah. He you know, subbed out of 41 minutes and it's not because, you know, he's not doing his job. It's because he's broken.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, I really want to I really want to see him. You know, I want to see him be able to play.
00:17:42
Speaker
longer. Right. Cause we've seen, we've seen good things out of him and what he can do. And, you know, he's, he's shown the ability flashes this season. And obviously we saw him put in a, many a good shift with bath. So to see, you know, we want to see the good side of Anthony Watson. We want to see the good side of every player we can, obviously, but especially a very talented and very good player, like what like Watson, um,
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah, and then Jenson got the yellow card. I was like, if it wasn't over before, it is now. I was like, yeah, and that's the game. You know, the Pollard tried pulled him back to a reasonable margin because it made it 16-5, but then he had to come off. And that kind of just put the kibosh and the whole idea of, yeah, they're going to make a comeback. And, you know, Burns had to come off and Augrey came on for him. And it was just like, oh, Jesus, this is just turning into
00:18:34
Speaker
hell on earth for the, for the Tigers. And when you have those types of issues compiled with the fact that Lester, Lester, excuse me, sale just choked life out of you in so many ways. But, and even up to that point, when things kind of went sideways, like it's not like Lester were playing super well. And their game plan was kind of falling into sales hands as well. So, you know, what Wiki was doing, I haven't got a clue.
00:19:01
Speaker
And there weren't many Leicester players that put their hand up to say, I played a good game at that point either. No, no. So put that on top of it all. Right. Rocky's making noise. She is. She's so if, yeah, everyone meet Rocky named after Rocky Clark. And she's incredibly cute. She's my second Australian shepherd. First one still kick into 15.
00:19:28
Speaker
So she's 15. I was trying to guess what hold she was the other day. Kylie's 15. Yeah. Turned 15 this past year. So, um, he's actually now 15 and a half, I guess. Cause she was, she's a, the summer. Pup summer. So I'm going to go close the door so you can't. That's a good idea. That's a good idea. While you're doing that, I'll switch my report over. Quick. Everybody screw up. Screw it. Then shit.
00:19:59
Speaker
There we go. Hopefully that helps. She's not that much of a barker, but apparently she is. She decided otherwise. Yeah. All
Bath vs Newcastle Review
00:20:07
Speaker
right. So let's jump over to the rec very wet and rainy wrecking.
00:20:11
Speaker
You know, the games this week weren't great in any way, shape or form, really. The weather was probably the best in this game. No, the first game. Oh, the first game. No, sorry. The weather was the best. The competitiveness was probably good in the middle two games where we will talk about in the next few minutes here. Start with Beth in Newcastle and yeah, very wet, very rainy. But it's
00:20:40
Speaker
Did you? Did you ever think Newcastle was going to win this game? No. Yeah. No. First off, you show up in those kits. You're not winning. That's pretty. Yeah, you come dressed as the one Irish. It's not going to go well for you. Certainly on this year anyway. But no, I. You know, they really didn't threaten that much, even. It didn't seem like they were they were they stayed close, but. They were never really a threat to take the lead.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. Kicked way too many penalties, you know, especially second half, the second half penalties. Right. There were points where I was scratching my head, like, why the fuck are you going for post? Go for the quarter. Yeah. Like I get that your, your, your biggest weapon is now playing at King's home. Right. Fucking inexplicably, but okay. Um, yeah, no kidding. I mean, you still have Blomire who, who not mistaken score to try in the first half.
00:21:39
Speaker
I don't think it was a mall try. What was the mall try? Sorry, I guess it was. So like, you got you can still do it, right? It doesn't take it really honestly, and no disrespect to George McWiggin because it does there is there is talent to it. But for the most part, there's not much that's needed to just hang out behind a mall as it shoves its way over and you don't be the rudder guide it. Yeah.
00:22:00
Speaker
and make sure that nobody comes through and gets you. Right, right. Create the separation and write it in and know when, you know, you got to know how to keep that separation and know when to dive. That those are the two biggest things as that hooker in the mall. And they got a guy who knows that. Right. You know. Well, let me go back to this. The halftime score was ten seven. So, yeah, the Falcons were winning.
00:22:28
Speaker
Right. But it never felt like they had control by any means whatsoever. Right. You know, there was. And Bath are dangerous now. I mean, fuck that. Also, Ben Spencer.
00:22:39
Speaker
Ortho, please. That Ollie Lawrence try, that kick through, the placement on that could not have been better. Just out of the reach of, was it? It was the nine. Or was it Stewart? It was Stewart. Doesn't matter.
00:22:59
Speaker
And no, it wasn't Obie. It's pretty easy to tell Obie and Stuart apart. It was Stuart. And it just went behind him. He couldn't quite gather it. And I think Obie went to cover. Oh, maybe that's why I was thinking that. Yeah. But it was just out of Stuart's reach and made it possible for his guy to score. Yeah.
00:23:22
Speaker
Just well done. I mean, obviously, he's going to be a favorite of ours, being a former Saracen, and who we've done dirty by Eddie, hopefully, who will be.
00:23:31
Speaker
Oh, Spencer. Spencer. So wait a minute. Yeah. Oh, he is also. I hope he's also also a former serif. Sorry. He was not favored by any. Never. No. Wait a minute. Not even terribly favored by McCall. So no. Like, yeah. But Spencer, everybody loves Spencer. So hopefully he can get at least a look. I don't know. At this point, he might be a little. There's enough young guns looming. Yeah. Randall's going to be healthy soon as well. Right.
00:24:00
Speaker
So there's that, right?
Gloucester vs London Irish: A Poor Show
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, lots of young talent to look at. But and then so the other guy I wanted to point out for Bath was Ted Hill. And we've talked about him many a time. But, you know, his arrival along with the likes of Lawrence has been astronomical to a point. And it obviously is going to just bolster this team because it gives them such a nice option at six.
00:24:27
Speaker
Now they have Underhill back, he's healthy. He absolutely clattered Sam Stewart too. Oh my god, he melted him. I was like, how did you get up from that? That he just, I was like, ow. But yeah, so you have Underhill, you have Bayless. And then you look at the depths of it. You have Reed, you have Klute, you have
00:24:48
Speaker
uh, could see it when he, whenever the fuck he gets healthy. So you have really nice options there. And, and really at this point, the locked in player for that back row is undoubtedly Ted Hill. I don't think he would argue with that for a second. So, and he scored a score to try, but like just more than that, so much more than that as well.
00:25:10
Speaker
You know, he's one of those guys, he's like, you know, a Jackson Ray type where he's never leaving that, you know, he would never have left Worcester willingly. No. I believe that wholeheartedly. He would have been the captain for his entire life. Right. And I feel like the bath got that guy. And now it's like, well, you know, maybe he goes back to Worcester if Worcester come up, but.
00:25:33
Speaker
That'll be a while. And if they don't, I don't see him ever leaving bath either. Like, I don't, I don't know. He just seems like that kind of guy. Like if he's there, he's there and committed there. Totally.
00:25:44
Speaker
And you've got to love guys like that, because they drive team clubs, they drive them. And he's clearly making him, and all he wants are making such an impact for this team. Two really good players that found new homes to their benefit and to their new clubs benefit as well. Right. Oh, yeah. We've been talking about Bath's resurgence and where it was going to be this year. It's like they've accelerated it just by adding those, just by adding those two. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:26:14
Speaker
We don't need to spend much time on Gloucester and London Irish, but we'll talk about it for a hot minute. I mean, this was ugly as sin. Like, yeah, this was awful. Like, what was it? It was, it was five. Yeah. So I guess five, six until the final kick, like, right. But it was five three until like the last 10 minutes. Yeah. And, and it was like, then it took a kick and a kick and I was like,
00:26:44
Speaker
Who would even score the trial? I don't even remember. Like this just. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just muscled it over. Right. It wasn't even that. Right. And I respect Louis Ludlow and he was talking about how great Ben Meehan played. If Ben Meehan playing great is that, and that's like his ceiling, then
00:27:09
Speaker
He, sure, he's a very good premiership. Nine, no doubt. Will he ever exceed that? Fuck, no, he will not. Service, box kicks, kicked away possession a little too much in my opinion, honestly. Every once in a while, good, but there were some points where Gloucester seemed to be on the front foot and he kicked away with the possession. I was like, fuck you doing? Come on, man, pull your head out of your ass. And for me also,
00:27:39
Speaker
And I said it in my column as well, and I'll reiterate it here for those that don't want to go through the gibber. I think Skivington made a huge mistake by not sub again, at least a couple of those back subs, maybe Seabrook and Varney being the two that probably could have come on.
00:27:55
Speaker
But it was, but yeah, so I, you know, 12 trees, uh, you know, he is who he is, but really like just a, a bit of freshness and a bit of, a bit of jam to, to give, you know, I thought some actions and played fairly well, but on all things considered, but, uh, we can row having a decent game, but right. So good for him, young players still trying to find his feet, but as clearly as starting to figure it out and how to play, play rugby at this level. Is he related to Mark? I honestly don't know.
00:28:23
Speaker
No, I think he's I think he's related to Charlie. Oh, well, that's interesting. Yeah. I swear he's like his brother or his cousin or something like that. OK. Yeah, I could be wrong. But yeah, no, not not Aki's relation. But I think it's Charlie. But anyway, yeah, it's just.
00:28:47
Speaker
If this is the game plan for skips going forward in these really ugly months, and I know he lost. So, you know, early in some of his throws early, but still, like, where was the attack? Right. Where was the attack? Right. I'm well, I'm terrified to say people. Right. And I'm terrified to say this team misses Adam Hastings. And I'm not the biggest Adam Hastings fan by any means whatsoever. But this attack and this team really misses him. And that's.
00:29:14
Speaker
terrifying to say in some ways. But it also speaks to maybe just the they did build a good game plan around him. And I don't think they have much of an answer, apart from when he's away, you know, no, isn't very good. And do it. But it's not it's not clicking. I don't think the same. He's not the same. The way that Santi does it for Argentina is not Skivington style. No.
00:29:41
Speaker
Nope, but that's also problematic because again, that's the style of rugby that wins these days. Like skivvys is his is being way too much of a Rob Baxter right now. And, um, that's limiting them. You know, you, you lose, you lose Clark, you lose your, you know, you have.
00:30:00
Speaker
That is unfair to say now because I'm like, you know, you think about all the people who are out, like you said, the hookers who are both very good in space. Clark is hurt, who's amazing in space. Re-sam it. You know, me and was playing not like Chapman or even Barney. Both of those guys can, can, can skedaddle and move the ball well.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah, you're 12 is whole is kind of a whole, but you still have Harris, you still but like, again, then outside of, you know, thoroughly being back helped a lot. Yeah, because Johnny May is to you brought it up last night, you know, useless is a poopy flavored ollie pop. Like,
00:30:45
Speaker
You know, you need those three Sabbath, you need those guys, you know, you need the attacking players out there. And the guys who are, you know, there's no next man up for Gloucester once they lose those frontline players. And that they've lost a lot at every position. You know, we're naming a lot of guys. That's going to hurt them. But even without those guys, Irish have been shit this year.
00:31:04
Speaker
Not amazing. Not amazing. So it's not a good look for a team that is currently top four. You can't be only beating them by two points like that in that kind of shit show. At least make it a game. Pay no attention to the Saracen's losing to London Irish. But that was a bad game. That was a very bad game from the series. I think most people would say that. Right. So, yeah. Speaking of Saris.
Saracens' Win over Exeter
00:31:33
Speaker
up to the soda and Rob Baxter. Should he just pack it in now? Is it done? Apparently Ali Heifer is like the guy that's supposed to be making the decision, but this doesn't look a whole lot different from the chief's teams in the past. Like apart from the fact, apart from the couple of seasons that they were very good, um, you know, like last year.
00:31:56
Speaker
really isn't a whole lot of change. And I don't want to hear the excuse can never be, and it never should be for any team. If only we had X, cause I don't want to hear that shit. That's not how you coach. That's not how you prepare. Right. And yes, Sam Simmons is obviously a huge miss, but
00:32:15
Speaker
apart from him. But has Simmons even been that good this year? I mean, I'm not I'm not saying that he has he's been he's been good, but he has he been Sam Simmons. Has he been still one of those guys you have to note in your in your in your in your game plan? Like certainly worry about number eight for Exeter. You know, certainly. But he really hasn't had much of a follow up, much of a shout since that, you know, record breaking season.
00:32:38
Speaker
Right. Well, I mean, it's hard. It's hard to match that. It is. But it's like he's gone from like, like just untouchable to just a very good eight man. Mm hmm. Like run of the mill. Like not run of the mill. He's still very good. But he's still very good. Let's say that he's still very good. His impact has been has been lessened somehow. Right. You may have to deal with playing with, you know, a team full of locks. But that's not his fault. That's not his fault. Right.
00:33:07
Speaker
So in general, the game plan for either team was clear in terms of the effectiveness because
00:33:20
Speaker
both had to deal with that wind. People were talking about the wind and yeah, the yeah, Exeter couldn't get out of their own way. But so how does that explain what the Saracens were able to do? Right. You know, it's you can't just blame it on that every time. And, you know, weather sucks and it is what it is sometimes. And there will be games that always impacts. But the teams that deals the team that deals best with the conditions will always be the team that's in front bar a few exceptions. And
00:33:49
Speaker
It's not like this was a nothing like. Nineteen three at halftime, thirty five three at full time. Yeah, that tells me a lot, though, because like, you know, you talk about so my concern at halftime was, did we get enough points? Because to me, this this looked like I was certainly more than a 10 point win. And it may have been as close as it may have been close to 20 points. It was it was that blustery and that in favor of Saracens in the first half. So like,
00:34:20
Speaker
There's a good, it's a good tactic, in my opinion, to take, to go against the wind in the first half as a choice. Right. You know what you have to deal with. You know, I have to deal with, and you know what you need to hit in the second half when you hit halftime. To go in for a, to go over after halftime with that wind.
00:34:42
Speaker
You don't get to complain about anything. Pretty bad. Yeah. Don't get to complain about anything. And especially, you know, 16, you give up 16 points against, you know, the other team going against the win. No, they just kicked your ass. Like that's all it is, is one team is that much better than the other. Yeah, it was nothing else. Nothing else for it. Like you can't go. And it's not as though Exeter didn't have opportunities. They had plenty of opportunities. They just talked every single one of them up. They did. Yep. Agreed. They totally cocked a bunch of them. And Grant, you know,
00:35:12
Speaker
Some of that could be down to, you could say, exit a Cocteum. Some will say put a pressure on him and play defense. It doesn't matter. The opportunities were still there. They did not capitalize. Right. I've seen, I have seen Exeter beat Saris when Saris put that kind of pressure on them. Yeah. Granted, it was the years that we were talking about earlier, but they haven't been that way since. And at that point, that's when you know, well,
00:35:38
Speaker
A good coach would know something's got to change, right? If you're not responding to the pressure that you used to do, we're not putting the pressure on the other team the way you used to do. As Exeter, it really hasn't for a few years now. It's not going to go well.
00:36:00
Speaker
You know, Dave viewers wasn't out there. So we can't put it on him so much, but you know, it's not like, what difference would he have made? Like, Oh, don't, don't, don't besmirch the day viewers, the dumb ass Dave that people absolutely besmirch him. Cause I don't think he's anything like, I don't think he's, he's a, he's a lump out there. I would, I would a hundred percent argue that granddaughter is going to be a way better six for any team. Certainly. Dave viewers, hands down.
00:36:25
Speaker
Yeah, and I know they threw a young kid at number eight because they really didn't have much choice, although they could have easily just thrown, you know, Lewis Pearson back there because they're not, you know, they're not opposed to that. Maybe put Grudana back there. I don't know. And why take Chunzi out for Pearson? Oh, Jesus, no. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't understand that.
00:36:45
Speaker
Like, no, no, no, no. Unless it was carrying something. That's the only thing I can think of. But it was just like, Oh, he's out. Right. Okay. Yeah. I was like, great. Like, please, like for like, I'll take that. Bye bye. Go away. Yeah. And then this part, I mean, I, the only reason that they picked Owen Farrell for play of the match was that.
00:37:08
Speaker
Just behave. Behave Owen Farrell. Behave. Knock it off. Knock it off. That's the only reason I picked up her player in the match. Let's be honest. That was an amazing pass. I was like, did that count? And that went backwards and all that shit? Yeah. Something good there must have fucked up. Nope. And that pass is so easy to get going forward. Oh, easily. You could totally cock that.
00:37:33
Speaker
But when you're up certain points and you have an advantage, you're like, man, let's do it. Fuck it. But the special credit should go to Marco Riccioni. I thought he played an absolutely fantastic game. He got over the line. Yeah, he came out at 65 minutes, but fuck was he good in that scrum and just making life miserable on a team that everybody touts their scrum as like one of the best ones in the league. And honestly, I don't see it. Harry Williams is a joke.
00:38:01
Speaker
Number one, just no, pass no. CO is obviously experienced, but at the same time, like he's gone by the wayside. Shickling's a joke. Giuseppe Scott has potential, but it hasn't come good. Yeah. Shickling has potential, but he needs to, he needs a life coach too. Yeah. He needs to be less of a douche. Yeah. And look less of a douche. Right. I think the one that was like, you know, he does some things where he does some things pretty damn well.
00:38:30
Speaker
Um, in this case, he did a lot of, um, like I think the one time I saw him do something good, he just, what, like fumbled it away. It was like, all right, thank you. Like, and I think it put the salaries in a better position than if he just hadn't made the play in the first, like you think he made a turnover and then fumbled it to somebody and good shit happened afterwards. And it's like, you know, you probably would have been better position if you just hadn't gone for the turnover in the first place. Yep. Absolutely.
00:38:59
Speaker
All right, let's get back on the winning streak. And yeah, the winning side and always good to see exit or go down that. Never sad about that. Right. That happened. You know, that game ended. I was off on the road to get the puppy. So, um, I was in a good, yeah, that was already, I didn't, I was already in good mood in that game and the game just made it even better. So thank you, Saracens for that. Yeah.
Northampton vs Harlequins: Defense or Errors?
00:39:23
Speaker
Let's go over to the gardens. Um,
00:39:27
Speaker
Did Northampton get a new defense coach that we weren't aware of or maybe somebody got a rocket fired up their bum? I have no idea what the hell happened, but they played so well in all facets of the game. Yeah, I really took the air out of the whole thing. And to me, I was unimpressed with the Harlequin's performance. To me, this was more about it's like they switched jerseys.
00:39:50
Speaker
in a way, like the Quinn's defense was non existent at all. And their attack was was mediocre at best. And for the Harlequins to have a mediocre attack, they can't do it. You can't that their their style of play does not lend to you having getting a flat tire. No.
00:40:19
Speaker
It's like they need to have everything humming. They need to have at least a movable machine and they didn't. And that's what that cost them more than anything. And I like, I would credit saints, but I can't yet. This is one of those like, you know, maybe it's a fluke, maybe it was them, but you know,
00:40:43
Speaker
If I'm looking at what makes the most sense, what's the most likely outcome here is that it was just that the Quinn's were misfiring. A little bit. Because Allen has been inconsistent. Yeah, Tommy Allen's had a few hiccups here and there. But let's not take away credit completely from Saints because James Ram is someone that, you know, neither you or I necessarily touted coming into this and a lot of people didn't.
00:41:10
Speaker
has seemingly made himself almost irreplaceable on this team with a team filled with players in the back three that would start on most clubs as well. So, you know, especially, you know, slate homes aren't healthy right now, but he's all in this. You got like you then played and they still have, you know, ridiculous wings. Yeah, pretty pretty wild to think about that for those types of reasons. And
00:41:39
Speaker
Another thing I talked about when I wrote this this week, two guys that seem to have just kind of found their home and found their way a little bit better as time has gone on. Sola Caluto and Scott Young, the two Reds boys have just started to very much endear themselves to the fans and make it known.
00:41:59
Speaker
They'll be fan favorites for a couple of years here. The Saints are like the sale of of Australia. Oh, yeah. Right. Ram. Those two. I'm sure there's a couple of other are missing. Well, it doesn't matter. They had them to fuck who. Who was there with their fucking ginormous winger? No, not at all. Oh, no, you're right. To Kelly. Nairoboro. Yeah. Yes. I got the wrong one.
00:42:27
Speaker
And I think there were some others in there too. So yeah, they just roll them out and it works well for them.
00:42:36
Speaker
The Saints have never had problem scoring this year. It's been their defense. And the thing is, I think they were, their attack was afforded more opportunities because the Quinn's attack was not going anywhere. It was like one of those that just built on itself where Quinn's got nothing done. And the Saints was like, all right, well, we get the ball. Okay. Well, we get enough opportunities. We'll pull one over. And then you keep giving them enough opportunities to keep putting them over.
00:43:00
Speaker
Yeah. I just hope Finn Smith is okay. That looked, he'll be all right. He was in, he was not having fun. No, he'll be all right. Just probably maybe this week off, but yeah. Um, yeah, just really, I did add James Grayson to my fantasy team just in case, just in case might be for a bank to the, as we saw him slot in this, we did. Yeah. Um, I'm thinking, but that also might be a matter of personnel. So it could see, we'll see. We'll see. Um,
00:43:32
Speaker
Yeah. And then one final note, I think the two, there are two wingers in this, in this game that, uh, one played a little bit on the other only because he was on the wrong side or on the right side, depending on how you're looking at it. Um, Freeman and Murley, if they're not.
00:43:47
Speaker
If they're not in thing on cam coming, you know, coming up here, I believe they, they are going to be, they should be, they should be. I thought Tommy Freeman played so freaking well and has the last couple of weeks, despite the fact that saints haven't played super well, um, over this last period. I still think he has just been one of the, one of the guys that stood up every match, despite the score line, despite the result.
00:44:09
Speaker
Just absolutely. And in Murley, it was probably has probably been the best wing this year, you know, most times with the exception of like one or two matches. So, yeah. Oh, and one thing before we move on from this match, though, how good was Nick David for Quinn's? Excellent. I thought he was really good. You know, that's the best I've seen him play in a Quinn's shirt for a little bit. So, yeah, certainly. Yeah. Like made a bunch of plays consistently throughout the whole game. So good stuff for him. Good to see him, you know,
00:44:39
Speaker
Another one of the Worcester guys doing well elsewhere. Yeah. I mean, he made his move early, thankfully for his sake. Right. And they have to go about the helter skelterness of the whole thing. Exactly. Save, save yourself some. Aggravation. Yeah. Yeah. There's been a, there's been a couple others who just never seem to catch on them. I don't know why. Cause they, they, they're quality players. Yep.
00:45:02
Speaker
I'm sure we'll see them soon. Yeah, please, please, please.
Rugby League Season Overview
00:45:10
Speaker
So let's look at, again, we'll look at kind of halfway here and then we'll wrap this up and call it a day. Halfway, do you see any changes in what you were thinking at the start of the season?
00:45:24
Speaker
Well, yeah, I had Bristol in first and they're in last. That's a yes. I would change things. Sale are much better than I thought they would be. I'm still not sure what they're going to do, but I think Sanderson has them certainly playing above their overall talent level.
00:45:51
Speaker
That's hard to do. I just don't know when it, when it gets to like, you know, semi final time and it's winter go home. I'm not sure I trust sale at that point, but they're putting themselves in good position to succeed. Yeah. Being at home will obviously be a huge boost. So if they can manage that might be all right. You know, ever from everywhere else, I'm not, you know, London Irish, I'm surprised are this bad. Yeah.
00:46:17
Speaker
But then I think about it and I'm like, well, where else would I, you know, I think they would really be. And maybe, you know, I think maybe they'd be where Exeter are. And Exeter, I think would be where like. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think it would be or Lester, you know, better than they are. But I didn't think Lester, I don't think they had Lester in my top four at the beginning of the season, but I thought they'd be better than this. I think I had them. Well, maybe I did have them six. Hold on. Wait, I can actually go back and look. Look at that.
00:46:45
Speaker
But I will point out while you're looking that up. Third to six is separated by everyone's point when. So things can change very quickly on a dime without, you know, without notice. So obviously that makes things very important to get victories and to get over the line and all that shit. So my early season prediction
00:47:09
Speaker
was Bristol, Saracens, Gloucester in 3rd, Quinzen 4th, Saints in 5th. Well, you got that one right there. Wow. Okay. London Irish in 6th. Wrong. Exeter in 7th. That's right. Yep, bang on. Leicester 8th, Salem 9th, Newcastle 10th. Hey, that's right.
00:47:32
Speaker
And then Beth 11 and then wasps and Worcestershire below. I had them out of the way. There. So yeah, it's some teams are doing what I thought they would do and others are surprising me. Yeah, shocking. Yeah. So sale obviously being the big shock in terms of the up and the big shock obviously being Bristol being the down. Right. It's still time to turn it around. I mean, like you said, from the 21 points,
00:48:02
Speaker
with still a game in hand, they're, they're only played 10 games. So they could catapult up into the top four without, without realizing it until it's too late. Exactly. They're nine, they're nine points out of the top four. You know, that's, that's a few games. Yeah. With that, I mean, and that, that leaves all the way down to seventh within reach of the top four in a matter of a game. So it's all the, it's all there. Um,
00:48:32
Speaker
Of the bottom four, which one of those is likeliest and not necessarily they're going to, what likely is to get into the top four? Oh, it's still Bristol. And I'd say Bath have an outside chance. Like I'd say Bristol have them. I. With Roger back. Genj playing again, hopefully. I mean, they still haven't put their best. I don't remember the last time they put had a like a.
00:49:02
Speaker
Genj Thacker or Sinclair. Front row, probably first game. Yeah. And like Lewa to it, like they've had guys in and out of the lineup. You know, AJ has not found form and he's probably the better tenon that in that game as well. Right. Right. And Piers O'Connor has been OK, but without Radra, he can't really do his full thing. I don't know. I think O'Connor has definitely held the midfield together. Hmm. I think yes. I just mean he has a bit of game changer.
00:49:31
Speaker
When you're standing next to you, it's hard. It's hard. It's a lot easier with Raja Raja there. So them coming back, though, now you have two game changers at center. You know, and. And they're not alone, there's also fuck who are like a big toy has been ridiculous since he came back. So there's talent there. And then, you know, we talked about Bath with their infusion of Worcester guys, Worcester guys. Yeah, there's a lot there, too. So.
00:50:01
Speaker
Both of those two, if you told me today that both of those teams are gonna end up in the top four at the end of the season, I'd be like, okay. Well, what happened to Quinn's would be really the, or Sale, one of those two, like what the hell happened to them? Other than that. On that, who's the biggest pretender that's punching above their weight right now?
00:50:31
Speaker
I kind of say Gloucester. Yeah. As much as they've lost some bad matches, they lost a Newcastle. They almost lost this one. Right. Like, you know, they they threw away the one against Saris and I'm sure they'll live that never live that one down. Yeah, they threw away some matches that they should have won. Most people would agree with that. This just seems like the league is like the crabs in the pot. They're all pulling each other down.
00:51:01
Speaker
Like, there's saris who were out of the pot at this point. They're cruising. They will do just fine. Ten points in front. Yep. Right. Sail are kind of, they're not... They're almost there. They're almost there. They've got like, you know, one, there's a claw still hanging on their foot. Maybe they can get it out, but they can still get pulled back if they lose their grip.
00:51:22
Speaker
Right. Other than that, it's. It's the really wild thing for sale is they still have quirky to come back and Ford's going to get healthy soon, too. So yeah, that that makes them real dangerous come to run in. So I would be very, very, very cautious if I was anybody else thinking they run down sale. Oh, one thing I wanted to bring up while we're here, though. Could you imagine if if Benno Abano wasn't hurt? Perhaps. And Stewart. Yeah. Yeah. Where they would be.
Joe Simpson's Retirement and Future Plans
00:51:50
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I just wanted to put that out there. Yeah. No, I was thinking that while I was watching the game this weekend, I'm like, they're good. They're so good. And they could be even better. And that's because they mentioned, I think they mentioned it even they're like, you know, like even they've done that without Obano and Stewart being hurt and all that. Damn, that's not fair. Right. They're going to be good. Yeah. Yeah. And like Saints, Gloucester. Tigers, Chiefs, they're all.
00:52:19
Speaker
Kind of a bucket of men. I'm not, not really terribly impressed with any of them. None of them are like, wow, they, I want to see them in the, in the knockouts. I'm taking, relieve them. Right. Agreed. And before we forget hats off to Joe Simpson and calling it calling it a day. He played a hell. He did a hell of a shift in that.
00:52:41
Speaker
for a career that he, to the career he had and, um, best wishes to him going forward. So I think he's going to get right into coaching sounds like so good on him, but, um, yeah, that's off to him and happy 22 or three. Enjoy your time at big guy, little guy, whatever you want to call yourself. Okay. So that'll, that'll do it for that.
00:53:04
Speaker
We're going to head over to the fancy corner and just a moment here and talk about all the fun stuff in championics league and start sits and pick them and all that good stuff. Um, if you're not joining us over there, uh, we'll catch you next week and we'll talk about probably probably about as much of a length at, um, about the games on the weekend. And then we'll also be obviously preparing for champions cup as well. Uh, but if you're on.
00:53:29
Speaker
jump over to this fantasy corner. We'll see you over there. But either way, we appreciate you all for listening to us and supporting us and letting us babble into your ear for 50 minutes to an hour or so most weeks. We will catch you all next week. Enjoy the Rutgers. Have a good one. Later.