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Season 3- Episode 5- Ready to Ride...Again (Premiership Round 3)
26 Plays5 years ago
It is the latest episode from those American rugby hammerheads. What don't we touch on in this one? Very little one assumes, but also a lot at the same time. In the latest and greatest we cover much of what popped up in the rugby news cycle the last 6-7 days including Steve Diamond's departure, the Puma's 180 on Matera's status, concussion issues coming down the road in many ways, the World Rugby all decade awards and we look towards home with a look at the MLR aka the New England Free Jack's schedule release and we also hit on who should wear the arm band next for the red, white and blue of the Eagles. Of course we wrap all the action in the international scene & the Premiership. Give a recap on the goings on in the Champi-Yanks League and give some Start/Sit advice for the first week of Champions Cup FRD. Crack a couple open, kick your feet up and tune in.
Don't forget Episode 100 is coming up! We want to hear from you about what you'd like us to discuss in this special episode for us. E-mail the pod or hit us up on twitter for ideas and questions for this episode (coming in January).
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. 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
Rugby News and Updates
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. Here's the fancy rugby H. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glaser. Here we go. New cycle keeps just feeding us more and more shit to cover every week. It just keeps dropping. I mean, shit, we thought we had it last week with Matera. You know, we might be the first to get to talk about it.
00:00:26
Speaker
And then suddenly, right after the pod drops, comes the other news. Oh my god. And then it just hasn't stopped since. So here we are. No, here we are. Yeah, this news cycle seems to never end in rugby right now. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But hey, so be it. Let's drink some beers. I'm going to need one for a few of these here. Yeah, definitely.
Podcast Engagement Encouragement
00:00:46
Speaker
Obviously, you want to find us on your favorite podcast apps. Download Great Review. All we want is to know what you guys think. That's all.
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm disappointed in my head performance, but what else is new?
00:01:15
Speaker
All right, so bang this out real quick.
Fantasy Rugby Tips and TRM Support
00:01:18
Speaker
Check out our friend George, the fantasy where we geek for your tips for this opening weekend of the Champions Cup and your FRD teams. Go ahead and give him a look and buy him a coffee as well, because he'll appreciate it. And so will we actually, because we like George. George is our friend. Exactly. I will be going to George for help that I need. We all need a little help this weekend. You'll be getting coffee from me.
00:01:40
Speaker
TRM upgrades, obviously TRM's on a pause, but hey, this is a good time to grab that thing. You know, you got a couple weeks to get that thing in there. They are supporting the RPA and restart rugby, which is a huge thing and it needs to be pumped up more and we'll talk about a little bit extra later on here. But yeah, we need to have that.
00:01:58
Speaker
Black Lives Matter, as always, it was really sad for me as a football fan, as a soccer fan, to see the actions of the Millwall fans in the championship in England this past weekend, although apparently their opposition scored today and in response took a knee.
00:02:18
Speaker
I was like so and I'm not a and you know, I have a Fulham hat on I am not a Rangers fan at all QPR is Fulham's arch rival and every time I want to smash their face in but This is the one time you'll hear me say good on you QPR way to go Rangers. So yes black lives matter all we need to we need to just
00:02:38
Speaker
It's clear. We need to keep this going You know Ashton Hewitt continues to point out cases and we love him for that for that because it needs to be called out So blows that yes We are celebrating episode 100 this year. We're gonna look to change it into some sort of a
00:02:56
Speaker
Maybe interview format if anything and we'll find a host or something like that And so get your questions in either way because we want to we want to answer them Ask us anything Whether or not it makes it on the air is a different story, but Yeah, which is not always that interesting so Go ahead and give us a give us a question that you can email the podcast and that'd be that'd be perfect If you want to tweet us, that's fine,
Episode Format Change Tease
00:03:21
Speaker
too
00:03:21
Speaker
So yeah, episode 100 next month, woo hoo. It's gonna be fun. Okay, to the news cycle.
Coaching Changes in Rugby
00:03:28
Speaker
Dimes out as of today at sale. It is. Wrong timing.
00:03:39
Speaker
I've been thinking about it, too, even before now, because we look at something similar. One Dai Yong, who was certainly no friend of the pod, much like Dimes. And ever since then, though, ever since they made that change, and it was something somewhat unthinkable like that, it has worked out very well for wasps. And... I'll be back. Blackett's doing a really good job for them.
00:04:06
Speaker
Yeah, and sale have had some You know that they're they're under they're getting to the point now where they're underperforming And so the question is has he took into my mind? He's done Diamond has taken them as far as he ever will whether that's a you know, that's not as much a knock on him as it is the situation because he got to a point where he's
00:04:28
Speaker
You know, he he can do whatever the hell he wants there or he could sometimes that's I guess to a point Sometimes it's a bad thing, right? Because then it becomes you know, because at the same time he hasn't He's done. He did a great job of maintaining sale and and pulling him out of dark times into something decent Correct. Yeah, they're not I mean, obviously, you know, they were fighting for top four last year They're in the champions cup again, right in the last couple years. So Not to say that's nothing by any means whatsoever
00:04:57
Speaker
But yeah, very mysterious circumstances. Somebody did tweet saying, you know, he looked a little
00:05:04
Speaker
uneasy or distracted at the end of the Irish match. So I was like, oh, that's interesting. So I I don't like him. But as much as I don't like him, I do hope there's nothing very wrong. Yeah, I hope he's OK. You know, him, his family, I really hope nothing's wrong. I'll save I'll save my true feelings for him as a person for after we find out what's wrong with him. Yeah, what's going on for now? I wish him the best. And I'm interested to see what happens with Salem. Yeah, be very interesting.
00:05:34
Speaker
It's just a weird timing. Unbelievable timing. Because I might even look back for it. I was like, maybe. What if you wanted to go out with a win? Maybe. But at the same time, like.
00:05:47
Speaker
Let they they won week one. So I was like, you know, what if you know that would have yeah, I don't know if that would have been a better time but yeah, still you would have given another coach a couple weeks before you get into champions Yeah, there's a little bit of my use sake of that too. So we'll see. Yeah, I don't know. Um
Rugby and Concussion Safety
00:06:05
Speaker
Uh, very obviously we talked about Matera briefly and now it's, you know, this is what people were scared of with the Argentina rugby union. And they've done a full 180. They reinstated Matera and his teammates and made him captain again. I, I don't understand. That is, that's just screams, smoke and mirrors and posturing. It doesn't say anything but that really. They wanted the headlines for a day.
00:06:30
Speaker
And and now it's off and they don't even wait for like a Friday or something like that It was or like, you know a time when nobody was paying attention, right? They could have done that like, I mean have they played since then? I don't think so Yep Yeah, probably probably an unmemorable game, but yeah, I didn't watch it so I
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, okay. So one match and then that's it and they could have waited for like the champions cup, you know, they could have waited until things There's a lot going on at that point. You could have waited months and then done this so to just turn it around in 48 hours is um Ridiculous. They kind of also stupid. Yeah, you set the right message and then you just completely fuck it up. Yeah, absolutely I I'm very I'm very pissed about that. Honestly that just screams
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, yeah. That screams the exact wrong thing. Not good. It really does. So RG's do better. Recent news today as well, concussion litigation should be coming towards many entities in rugby.
00:07:39
Speaker
brought by some older players. One, Steve Thompson, I believe, is on the list, and this is a World Cup winner for England, so certainly a name that will jump at you if you're a rugby fan. So we'll, I, there's a lot that's unknown right now. Yeah, I will say this.
00:07:59
Speaker
having been a part of both sports as they go through something like this and especially with football. So, you know, you compare football to rugby, the NFL football, American football.
00:08:15
Speaker
I was a part of really one of the first rounds of concussion studies in football when I was in high school. Nobody was doing it. Nobody was thinking about it. I was in the first wave in the 90s. It was the first time when people thought, oh, it actually stopped calling it, oh, you got the bell wrong, and it's not too, no, this is a concussion, and it's not good. And even then, it was like, oh, you got your bell wrong, get back in there. And like, no big deal, no product, no anything.
00:08:44
Speaker
And so I was, I was a part of the first studies. We did a whole baseline studies on concussions. And if you had a concussion, you had to go back. Like the stuff, the NFL played, like the stuff that's the protocol these days. I had, I was one of the first two. Yeah. You didn't really even see, did you even really see some of that stuff?
00:09:00
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean we had players who had concussions and they yes within 24 like they were they had to be within 24 hours do a test But but this was not this was not a protocol to get back to playing. This was uh, how's your brain doing? How long does it take to recover? This was this was part of the studies to figure out how long it took to recover from a concussion And you know how they can grade them and understand what what they mean. So
00:09:23
Speaker
That was back in the 90s, and now it wasn't, you know, even in this decade, you saw players get the shit kicked out of their heads, get up stumbly, walk maybe to the wrong sideline even. And then two plays later, they're back in the game. Oh, I remember that one quite well. So, like, the football response to it has been terrible.
00:09:44
Speaker
And the pro, like they haven't changed any, any rules into the game to, to, to fix concussions. They've only said you can't smack a quarterback in the head, but. Yeah. And you can't leave with the crown of your helmet is now a thing. And, you know, supposedly they're teaching better technique. I've talked to the kids that I coach and supposedly they're teaching some better techniques, but, um, it's not being reinforced to that level. I think it needs to be. Right.
00:10:10
Speaker
Because you're still using yourself as a missile and no raps and that's all and it's encouraged too, right? You know in this, you know We talk about stupid shit that's encouraged and you know, the other thing that pissed me off this week was the the afb player american football player in texas that was oh, yeah that took out a ref like
00:10:29
Speaker
And if you watch the video, he comes from the sideline always. This is not like he gets flagged. He gets kicked out and he was two feet away. So he just has a momentary freak out. He came a ways to intentionally hit this guy. And, you know, and I'm sure it's a problem in other sports in other countries and I don't know it. So I only have us to go by. Right.
00:10:50
Speaker
But you know treated like gods in texas are our high school football football players These are kids that are still developing in their head and still trying to figure out how the world works Right and they get treated like they can walk on water So yes, that shit's gonna happen because they think they can just react however the fuck they feel like and you know That kid's thinking about like will this hurt me? I'm never gonna be a pro again. You're a pro
00:11:15
Speaker
Not again, but eventually like he's thinking he's thinking he's gonna make the pros and that this would hurt him And that's why he you know shit like that is why they attack officials, too It's like, you know, it's not just you kicked me out of the game. It's this hurts me long-term like that. So yeah either way so and rugby's done a lot though. Yes, even without The the the impetus to do it like so they haven't been doing the studies they haven't been doing those kind of things and but they've been taking a lot of the concussive hits out of the game and
00:11:45
Speaker
And and though the part of the game that's most like football Is the scrum because that's really like that the hit that used to happen Oh, yeah when you had that meter gap, right? And so that's not just the thing in mall. That's a hard hit on the front row That's not just the front row that's moving a meter and then coming to a sudden stop. That's 16 players. Yeah
00:12:07
Speaker
coming and that's a hard hit. And yes, there were definitely concussion like those sub concussive type hits that build up. Yeah, we're I'm sure the scrums are a big part of that. I don't doubt that. So that's why they changed the laws 10 times over. Right. And now the head the ear to ear that hit is nothing.
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, compared to what it used to be. It's still a good pop, but it's no longer the, I mean, god, you think, you rewind that to what it was before they started changing laws. Holy shit. That's a big difference. Yeah, you're not at full speed by the time you hit the other person. You're just right there. It's just who wins that two, three inch gap. Yeah, who's got the strength at that point until we get a power. And so things like that, and then the high tackle hits, and the no arms.
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah. All those shots to the head, unless of course you're, um, Christopher. Yeah. Um, but those have been taken out of the game and yeah, it, it, it fucked with the game for a little bit as players responded and learned.
00:13:09
Speaker
But it's been helpful. So it's been do it yet. Maybe they haven't. And I always back the litigation because the players deserve it. They went through a lot. Absolutely. Especially what we didn't see behind the scenes. No.
00:13:23
Speaker
But I really do feel like this is not a long term problem for rugby the way it is for football. I feel like rugby has done so much more than pretty much any other contact sport at this point to take concussive hits as much as they can out of the game. And I think they'll do more. I think there's probably something that'll be coming out around the rock.
00:13:43
Speaker
Because that's really where now the big hits happen. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of Problems around the rock as we as we all know That's one of them for sure So, yeah, we'll see how that goes what would be awards and we talk about
00:13:59
Speaker
The special in terms of this was the Decade Awards, which was really, you know, really look back on it. This has been a special decade for rugby in general. The leaps and bounds obviously culminating in 2019 with a World Cup final in a country that had never hosted a World Cup. And that did very well at that, which puts certain countries on the table. I'm not going to jinx it yet, but I like it.
00:14:29
Speaker
So yeah, it was certainly a great decade for rugby. I mean, as if there was going to be, I mean, I know it's a fan award, but as if that was ever going to be anybody that was for men's player that was named player of the year. Of course, it's reaching the only ever double World Cup winning captain.
00:14:49
Speaker
Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
00:15:18
Speaker
a sevens player of the year, 15s tri of the year, and obviously she makes the all-decade team, which is no shock to anybody. No shock whatsoever. And everybody has their thoughts about, you know, the men's and the women's 15 of the decade. Of course, everybody's getting, you're not going to appease everybody. No. Like, no shit. Like, people are talking Karen Reed over Parise. I'm like, I would do Parise. It's fine. I don't see anything wrong with the man. The man's played, you know, a lot. He's had to do a lot.
00:15:47
Speaker
And he's gone through a lot of shit this past year, so don't give him shit. At the very least, give him a fucking pass for now. Let him have it, man. The guy's gone through enough. Yeah, let him have it. Yeah, certainly a large contingent of all blacks on the 15s team. You win two World Cups and you get to a semifinal on another. It's going to have an impact on it, obviously. Right. I mean, yeah, you're looking at it and you're like, wow, Ben Smith. But it's also the problem is there's the recency bias. You know, you think of the guys who've played now, but like, fucking like Ben Smith.
00:16:17
Speaker
No fucking legend ben smith. Yes, put some respect on that. Like it's not just like absolutely uh, like yeah, just because he's kind of ho hum for a a kiwi Yeah for a kiwi That's good enough for a lot of people sometimes, right? Um, and then brody italic and sam white lock too really hard to say no to those for second row And I and I know they were both players of the year at one point. Yeah, i'm pretty sure lock position. Yeah, crazy
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's just ridiculous. So let him have it. Be quiet. If anything, I thought Pocock was a stretch, but then again, that's also recency bias because he was fucking ridiculous. He was really good for the time that he played. I know he hasn't played for a little while, but for the time he played, he was really good. To me, that's less of a recency thing, but also more of a
00:17:02
Speaker
Longevity thing for on his you know, he had like four or five real good years. Yeah, I feel like but also Yeah, the hiatus that he took and he still came back pretty damn good. Yeah, and it's like Okay, fine. I mean, I can't think of it somebody who's having five years five good years in one decade Yeah, it's pretty pretty darn pretty darn good. Like you think of somebody like Maro Atoge who is
00:17:27
Speaker
Well, probably, I mean, he'll probably be up for this in the, you know, 10 years from now. But it'll be a stretch because he played amazingly this past decade and will have to do a lot in the coming decade to be remembered for what he did then. Because right now he's going to be remembered a lot for what he's done so far. Yes. Yes, absolutely.
00:17:49
Speaker
So Pocock did all his work within 10 years, which gets you on the list. I can get you on the list for sure. Trim a year for the women, get to the player, player of the decade. You know, obviously the French have been, have definitely had some very good teams and it's usually taken a lot of really good individual efforts from, from the French women. So, um, no argument out of me, man. Um, our old friend, um, Rocky Clark, she didn't make the,
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, which which is which is odd, but you know, again, it's a fan vote as opposed to awards panel choice, you know, so it is what it is. Yeah, but yeah, our old friend Rocky Clark and obviously the an amazing player in Emily scared. We talked about Portia Woodman already in there. So I like to see NDA in there. Yeah, I do too. She she had I mean, she came up very young.
00:18:41
Speaker
um who has it all but shockingly as many players do yeah i'm not sure um and and had a little bit of she struggled a little bit as far as really getting to the next level like she she became a solid international player but only solid for a little bit which was kind of a let down and then but now since then she's been the last like
00:19:04
Speaker
year or so now that France have moved into a more organized attack, she has been reaping the rewards. So it is showing that it's less of her lack of development and more of the team development that she's thriving in. So good to see her make the list. That's awesome. Yep, good stuff there. The MLR schedule has dropped. Obviously, that means our very own New England freejacks have had their schedule released as
New England Freejacks Excitement
00:19:33
Speaker
well.
00:19:33
Speaker
Yay. Let's ride. If you're out there and you don't have an MLR team, congratulations. You're now part of the brigade. You're a Freejax fan. Thank you. Best kids in the league. They're consistently some of the best kids that's out there this year and last year, especially.
00:19:52
Speaker
The first ones were terrible though, I will say that. They're definitely making up for it now. Those first ones were not good at all. I bet we can talk about that now because I think I was like, I don't really like them. No, I didn't either. I mean, it was definitely a shut up. We have a team who cares. But now it's like, all right, we have some way sexier kids now. So let's just talk about that.
00:20:14
Speaker
way better obviously even George so it's just like that's actually a pretty snazzy kid it is yes it is we will open the freejacks will open with rugby in the United New York at home as far as the home opener goes we got
00:20:31
Speaker
We're going to Houston and then we are going to Utah. So not as long as old road trip as we started with last year, which is good. So as good of a team as they're putting together, the Guillotineys are coming here. Stupid name, very good looking team. So I will say that. So that's looking very interesting. We'll play the arrows and Rudy a bunch of times. So we'll see how that goes. But should be exciting year. And we could take it to the games.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yes. Finally. Finally. Let's go. With our beer holsters. Yes. I got one right now. Yeah, it's just gonna be a lot of fun. You know, I'm really looking forward to this season and seeing who gets to the end. Can we please change the shield though? Can we change it to a cup? Like, please. Pretty please. Kill Brew. You can make this happen. Mags. Let's talk about this. It needs to be a trophy. It needs to be a cup.
00:21:23
Speaker
How can you, if you can't drink out of it, what's the point? It's no good. You know, we actually end the season as the last game, potentially, as well. Oh, neat. Arrow's at Freejax, and it could be some Eastern Conference playoff talk on the line at that point, especially with some of the good stuff that both teams are bringing in lately.
00:21:42
Speaker
And Carrick, I'm watching you. I see you out there. I see you. We'll see what happens come the end of July here. That's a long way off now. I mean, I'm not trying to jump that far forward, but I also am not going to be sad if we get there when we get there. And yeah, Toronto. I think that could be a pretty damn good rivalry, too. I think it's going to be. I'm excited to see that as much as I've sworn off
00:22:08
Speaker
Making fun of canada. I think we'll get reprieves for yes Yeah, we get a we get a one day hiatus for making making fun of canada. This is nothing personal Damn you And then let's talk about so let's talk a little bit about the u.s.
Future U.S. Rugby Captain Discussion
00:22:25
Speaker
Team We have we we don't have a captain right now Blaine Scully's gone. Um, he's he's rode off to the sunset. Um, yes wiles Yeah, he's he's off
00:22:39
Speaker
It's been a bit since we've had a forward captain that was clever And that was before the 15 World Cup, right? So even that was even before that so because I think Wiles ended up being the captain that year at the World Cup, so it's Yeah, it I really want to see us come back into closer to the pack and
00:23:01
Speaker
There's a few names that are jump, that jump to my brain right away. Um, Tafete, um, Lamborn, maybe Dolan and AJ. I struggle with Lamborn because he's not really American and doesn't play anywhere near America. Well, he, he's out of contact and super rugby. Yeah. So if he comes here, then yeah, I'd be in on that. Um, at least with like Tafete or AJ, it's like they're close. Um,
00:23:31
Speaker
So I don't yeah, I'm I'm uncertain at that at this point who I would like to be. I'd be OK with any of those choices for sure. I just don't want it to drift outside again. Yeah, not that it's very hard to be a captain outside. Yeah, you don't want an outside back as as captain if you can avoid it. It's it's it's annoying for everybody. Yeah, referee. Although, I mean, apparently when Odresco was captain, he would talk to the referee
00:23:58
Speaker
and pull in paul o'connell and say all right paul here is going to do a lot of the talking if there's anything serious you can come you you can ask right so you could do that but i just i didn't see the u.s doing that so that was yeah that was that's also awkward it can't be a little bit it's like i will concede my talking powers to this person yeah so that you somebody can talk to you but if you need me then i'll come jog if it's really bad like yeah yeah we have a
00:24:22
Speaker
We have a nasty bit of foul play to talk about. So guess what? I need you two. Let's go. So yeah, we'll see. I would be okay with any of those names. Even he's been playing so well. And when he first kind of came into the US shirt, he was...
00:24:42
Speaker
bit of a hammerhead. Craig Peterson's been playing great for Newcastle. He'd be on my shortlist too. Yeah, so he's definitely on that as well. So I would be okay with him too. So we'll see what Gary Gold goes with. But looking forward to it. All right, let's go into international roundups.
Match Highlights and Performances
00:25:02
Speaker
We got to see Fiji. Yes, we did. And it was worth it. Yeah, right now I'm sure everybody was thinking that as well.
00:25:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, they rocked it. So again, for all these people who were talking about you need time to get together and these guys were in isolation. Yeah, I loved that. Quarantine. You know, Nadolo is tweeting every few minutes about how fucking bored he was. He expressed himself
00:25:35
Speaker
quite well quite well um with yeah three tries to try assist at least one um just fucking everywhere uh um absolutely and yeah these guys came out flying and the final score line of 38 24 doesn't
00:25:52
Speaker
Doesn't exactly show the the full measure of it. I mean, um, but georgia georgia scored two tries in the last 12 minutes To make it reasonably close at that point. Yeah at that point fiji was like, okay We're just gonna fuck around until the game is in is over and see if we can score another one Just out of fun, but definitely getting loose with the ball and georgia took advantage You don't say yeah, um
00:26:18
Speaker
I mean just a good all-around fun game and Fiji showing that they're ready to play. It's coming out firing. Good for them. I'm sure they needed it too. I'm sure those boys are itching.
00:26:35
Speaker
We don't need to dive into either the other matches too deeply other than England. Well, Italy gave Wales a bit of a scare, but not for very long. No, they eventually figured themselves out. Right. Wales did that. I'm glad she and Lloyd are getting time with the scarlet there. We'll only do good going forward here. Speaking of scares, did
00:27:03
Speaker
Did somebody tell anyone to show up to Twickenham like before the 70th minute or so of that match? Yeah, they were just.
00:27:12
Speaker
They're not good. They're not good. But what else do you expect? I mean, they're not playing a very attacking. They're showing no intent. Really. You know, there one trike. It was Luke, how and Dickie. What? He peeled off them all. And it was like it was late. And he was even after or whatever. It doesn't matter. He might have been just off of picking goes at that point.
00:27:39
Speaker
Um, yeah, they didn't really I mean they they just went for penalty kicks the whole game Yeah, and farrell was way off. He saved with the missed you know, unfortunately, I mean as As it was a shock obviously like you don't expect that to happen with on farrell. Mm-hmm. So but at some point like You know, I just it's so boring watching penalty kick after penalty kick at some point like yeah, your guy's not working
00:28:06
Speaker
Just go for the corner um and make it you know have to have some Try to score points. So it I don't understand what inland we're trying to accomplish. Um I know what jolly bear was trying to accomplish on the other side. Um, he was outperforming the guy in front of him he absolute Oh, he was fantastic. I don't know if you saw uh, the doula tribe that he set up I understand it was quite the show
00:28:30
Speaker
He just he just picked a line and and uh jelly bear tore through the uh the england defense and then And I didn't see who was outside even outside of him. It was it ended up at three on nobody Essentially, that's easy. And yeah That's easy pickings right there jelly bear tossed because he was kind of stumbling he he I think he expected contact And just made it through the line so he gathered himself and was like, okay I think I think the fullback's gonna get me and then just
00:28:58
Speaker
Yep. Nice little pop, nice little cutout pass to, uh, to Doulan. Uh, Doulan ends up with the player of the, of the tournament. So good on Doulan for, you know, obviously having himself a world year tournament where France got short, you know, they got handcuffed by the, they got handcuffed by the top 14, which really is unfortunate. They did. Um, imagine if they'd had two, even two of the, of the regular players in this match. What does that do?
00:29:28
Speaker
A lot. Yeah a lot cuz I mean speaks I was still a toji, you know Billy Vunipola despite the Then not the uncalled knock-on. Mm-hmm. This is man of the match Yeah, it's made but it's like he didn't have that great a game. So it's like yeah, they could have I mean it was right there for France obviously, yeah, and the unfortunate part of this is that
00:29:53
Speaker
England fans and Eddie Jones will go on continuing believing what he's doing. This this cycle is OK. And, you know, we're starting to grasp with straws and really cut cut things really thin here. But you do have an aging team and some players that are aging in positions that are key with a plethora of talent that you could be picking from. And he did blood some new players. Max Maylands got in there. Ollie Lawrence. How much? He was playing in this match, wasn't he?
00:30:24
Speaker
Uh, you know what? I don't recall. So, but anyway, he did blood some new players and how much he did. You're right. How much did he, I don't know. You know, Ollie Thorley got a run out finally for, for them at the end of the six nations, um, against Italy. So yes, there's, there's that good things, but there's still some key positions that need to be addressed and we all know where they are. They're right now they're in that.
00:30:48
Speaker
that 910 channel that needs to be addressed with inconsistent, if nothing else, Ben Yangs, a player in George Ford that just has a complete panic attack when there's a defense on him. And Owen Farrell, who's just not getting any younger. And that's a Saracen's hardcore supporter saying that about Owen Farrell. So take that for what it is. Yeah, he's got, there are gonna,
00:31:17
Speaker
I think England's peak has already hit and that was that semifinal against it in New Zealand. It was and that and certainly certainly Eddie Jones. Certainly Eddie Jones. I'm not sure why they brought him back after that too because that was yeah just like we're talking about Steve Diamond. I'm kind of feeling that way about that Eddie too but.
00:31:37
Speaker
He's not they're they're not bringing in the new talent to replace these guys They're running these guys into the ground and then the new guys are gonna come in with absolutely no experience and there's no real plan Like I'm sorry All box kick attack is not going to win anything. No, so when you have to like Yeah, when you have to go up against New Zealand again, I mean, yeah, they employed box kicks, so I'm not gonna be
00:32:03
Speaker
But i'm not going to use them in a very different fashion by far um They look they look for open broken and open play and exploit it and they do it quite well, right? And that's kind of how england beat them by by shutting that down and then engaging a little bit of attacking Rugby of their own which they just didn't do against france and they didn't they haven't done in a while So it's like if you save something until you know Just because it worked out that that was the last time they actually tried it and it kind of worked
00:32:32
Speaker
Um, obviously when because they beat them, but why aren't you doing that against every other team? Like it's a disservice to your players That they're not
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah, you know fuck I would be I I'd be half bored Yeah, like oh, okay. We're setting up a box kick fucking great. Great. That's exactly what I want to do right now Yeah, oh and then and then maybe you'll get returned and and the all of us forwards would just be standing in the middle of the field like All right. Yeah, well, we saw that a couple times in the premiership to last couple weeks Not this weekend, but we'll get to that in a second. Yeah, it's
00:33:10
Speaker
I just don't know what value the Auto Nations Cup really brings you by winning it. Right. And by putting so much value on it with your senior and more veteran players. Right. And the fact that the way they celebrated it, first off, you didn't deserve to win the game. You shouldn't have won the game because your try was involved in knock-on that somehow did not get reviewed.
00:33:39
Speaker
like you didn't play that well so why are you yeah you can be happy that you won another um another trophy but like you didn't really you you were expected you did what you were supposed to do actually did less than you were supposed to do yes you you should have swept france out of that you know they should have ran france off the pitch and they they buy you know
00:33:58
Speaker
By eddie's design they didn't and I don't understand that what are the what are the players getting out of that? I don't know. What's a young flanker? Looking to do in eddie's system. I Right now if I was a young flanker in that be a little scary. Yeah, honestly I don't I don't have the we're actually really a young lock because he really does like his old locks and there's not mmm He rides locks right into the ground for sure with the exception of johnny hill is probably the new the newest right of blood in there And he's done quite well, and he's heard it too
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know Yeah, and Scotland, you know is here's the thing and Scotland didn't win But they used this chance to recall some players and to get some new blood on there, you know Duncan Weir had served his purpose and they were like, right. I
00:34:43
Speaker
Let's get Vendervalden there and Duhan van der Merbe and these guys that they want to Involve in the Scotland team going forward and I don't love Gregor Townsend by any means whatsoever. Let's be straight about that But yeah, he just he saw it as an opportunity. Let's get some fresh blood in here Let's get some new bodies and some guys
00:35:04
Speaker
that probably need to, you know, experience international level rugby. And they and he played them and, you know, played played them a lot. So that's that's how it goes. Yeah, I don't I don't have a problem with that by any means whatsoever. And matter of fact, I encourage it. And I wish I just wish more. And you know, when when people and listen, Wales played like shit this whole tournament. But when people give Wayne Peaback shit, I'm like, listen, he's blooding new players in there, too.
00:35:33
Speaker
Williams has obviously been a sensation for them. He's brought in Lloyd and Sheedy. He's looking to get the younger bodies through because he knows he's going to need them in four years in France. That's where the value is. If some of these guys for England, especially these old guys,
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah, there's so many on that team who knows who knows how good they're going to be in four years. So then you want to depend on somebody who doesn't have much international time being your full time nine or ten. Mm hmm. And that's why it's you want to get these. These are the opportunities. It's a this is a missed opportunity for a lot of players in the England pool. Yeah, there's and not their fault that they missed it. Yeah. And there's a there's a lot of people that will talk about
00:36:21
Speaker
you know, coaches that, you know, I hated playing for them, but I also had great years playing for them in terms of my career. And I think Jones is going to go down as one of those guys for a long time, because just every person I've heard talk about him, pretty much the exact thing, just like, I fucking hated playing for that guy, but I had some of my best years for them. And I established myself as this
00:36:41
Speaker
as, you know, one of these people. Yeah, but it's only going to be like 23 players who say that rather than like 50. Agreed. So that's where I don't, you know, you should be as a coach, you should want to give that impact to as many people as possible, not just find your
00:36:58
Speaker
You know, in this case, what 23 25 players and say these are my guys if you're not in this this group Fuck off. Yeah, like yeah, maybe you'll get something but as soon as my guy's healthy again, you fuck off Like I I don't need you really unfortunate and that's not that's not a good message. Nope I agree. Um, we had and I know you didn't watch watch a bunch of it but the
00:37:26
Speaker
a rather not pretty match down in Australia. So on Kailoto end up with a red card midway through the second half. Another draw. Yeah, but she said Delgi ends up with the only try for the Argentinians for the Pumas and then the Wallabies end up with their captain Michael Hooper getting over as well. Nothing really special about this game in terms of the jumps out at me.
00:37:54
Speaker
I thought I thought it was officiated just fine people were giving him shit And I don't love Ben O'Keefe by the way. Yeah, if I'm saying that it's probably not that terribly officiated match Was it O'Keefe or was Gardner I think it was Gardner actually I think that I think that wouldn't know the match report might be a little off here. But anyway There's one player I do want to give a load of credit to and he had to do a tough role at the end done much That's Reese Hodge
00:38:21
Speaker
Mmm, he had to play ten doesn't play ten a ton. Okay. I saw I saw him He O'Connor did start this match but the previous matches when O'Connor was hurt and they didn't have to move Tim was out for a little while They were talking to him on the sidelines and Alessio's just not ready. No, he's not ready So that he had to step in at ten. Okay, and he's done an admirable job by any by all means Yeah, so I saw significant Twitter's about him. So I Yeah
00:38:47
Speaker
He's played and he's played everywhere. He ended up playing fullback for the most part of this match, but obviously James O'Connor came off and that was that. So yeah, a lot of credit to him. He needs, he needs some because he had, he had a lot to do it. He had a lot to do for this Australian team that really needed him. That really needed him in a lot of ways. That's bad. All right, let's move on.
00:39:13
Speaker
to the weekend of the Prem Let's hit Oh What I believe was probably the best game of the weekend Bristol and Northampton and I don't you know 1817 doesn't scream best game of the weekend. No, but really it might have been look here's just made it that way and Everybody in the whole world, please note
00:39:39
Speaker
The game management of luke pierce and i've been saying this forever. He's one of the best referees out there by far Um, he doesn't get enough credit and you know people like fucking roman plot or put ahead of him for whatever stupid doesn't make you know, yoko piper like, right Come on. What are we doing? Right? But he uh, what was it? He gave away one of those the uh, the scrum
00:40:01
Speaker
He awarded a scrum off the, uh, the use it call. Um, and was good about counting. He would give them a, okay. I said, use it. Like, yeah, he was giving them a heads up. Like you are going to be in trouble, dude. And enough of these, but nothing, these referees should have raised children by now to know that like, if you just start counting,
00:40:19
Speaker
Things do happen That's true. I've said dude. I've seen I don't have kids but you know, like, you know And you coach them you just start okay kids bring it in, you know, if you're coaching even high school kids Yeah, bring it in what five for the kids do not Get there get there. Thank you. There was a I'll get them out of their seats Back when my wife was playing in the the women's Premier League and you know in here for
00:40:49
Speaker
club called Keystone in Pennsylvania there was a hooker and I can't remember her name I think she went out to Glendale um ultimately and she would at the at the scrum she would throw her hands up and go three two yeah and she everybody get in here now she was my wife was college teammates with a um another player uh and they they ended up at both playing for Keystone after college and and that the other player ends up being a prop
00:41:17
Speaker
And Jess was like, so what happens if she gets to one? And Cal is like, I do not want to know. I'm not ready to find out. I'm not prepared to find out. No way, man. But yeah, that's the kind of officiating that we needed that breakdown. So good done. Well done. Good on him.
00:41:36
Speaker
Yeah, as far as Northampton goes this is really an unfortunate another unfortunate result They played very well. Yeah, they really did and just you know, the bristles so good, you know, there's Bristol seem to have figured out how to turn out really good players over and over again cuz you know even Tiff Eden who's got the worst haircuts You know perform fairly well for a stand-in and you know
00:42:05
Speaker
you know, Sam Bedlow who was a center by trade has performed well and Yeah, Henry Purdy made a match I Just turned it on on yeah. Yeah, so so that's another thing if we go back to the sick to Dymo I'm getting getting kind of shown the door showing himself the door. Mm-hmm. You look around the Prem it players like Purdy who how old is he? I
00:42:31
Speaker
Shit He's 26 He's really come on the last year right from someone who was like, okay. Yep that and then Yeah, we'll talk about some of the other players later, but you know, yeah Developing this young talent is so huge for things like this, you know, they're missing Bristol missing so many players here not that the Saints aren't missing anyone. However, it's
00:43:00
Speaker
Bears are missing a little bit more, I'd say. Yeah, the impact of the guys that the Bears are missing is huge. Sammy Rodriguez, Max Malins, Ben Earl, and Sheehy, right there, just those four. Pia Tao's hurt right now as well, so very hurt that. And Thacker's very hurt right now. So they're missing so many guys and still rock up.
00:43:23
Speaker
and get it done yeah so tough spot and um yeah i do you know we have to give we talked about the Saints and we gave him credit Pierce Francis getting that try and a little chip over from i believe it was Grayson um yeah good recognition you know Purdy doesn't play a lot of fullback so
00:43:42
Speaker
very recognized, very much recognized it and said he go go chase. And so Grayson had a good match. This is this is a match they've been waiting on. Ribbons showed up a little bit. Yeah, he's he's an easy unit. No doubt.
00:43:58
Speaker
I would sort of like to frances. Oh back to frances. I would have liked if he could have stayed on longer. Unfortunately, you got uh I think you get it what concussion I think yeah Yeah, I think he did too And you fit you failed it Um, so this is this is better from north hampden. So we hope this is the north hampden We see the rest of the season
00:44:18
Speaker
We know Bristol are going to do what they do, bed low with the Clangers to hit the winner. After potentially picking up some sort of strain in the warm-up, it obviously healed up enough while he was sitting on the bench to be able to knock that through, so good on him. Same story, different day for Worcester.
00:44:36
Speaker
Can't finish. Can't finish. Can't finish. Not even a little bit. Perry Humphries looked extremely good in this match. I will say that. Um, kid looks really good. You know, that's the, as far as youth goes, these guys got some really talented young Nick David, Perry Humphries, Tom Howe, even if you're like, yeah.
00:44:54
Speaker
They have some good talent out there on the outside backs. Maybe slide one of them into, into outside center if you need to really badly. Yeah, Bath played very well for a team that was super disheveled. Matt Avecie and Priest both going off early. Matt Avecie went floppy.
00:45:12
Speaker
Like that dude was dead. I was like, you need to come off. Like he, he got hit and I saw him just kind of roll over and he was just like folded up. I'm like, like, like, I must've missed that. He just went ragdoll. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I didn't see that. I didn't see the priest injury either. Yeah. And he, he got a little head on head contact.
00:45:29
Speaker
Well, we did see it, but I was drinking because we were yeah, we were doing that thing Ethan statin comes on and is the youngest bath player to play for them since Ian Bolshan He's actually now younger than him down. So and that's not that's not a nobody name either. So right on him But yeah bath. We're able to finish down to this one though camera red path
00:45:51
Speaker
Yeah, play in 10 playing coming into play 10 and and doing a hell of a job. Um, where did he come from? So yeah, and he's 20. Yep. He's a baby. I think they could have used him this year. I mean, geez. That makes me wonder what the James brothers are doing. Like, I don't know. It's possible that that we get sale get a new coach.
00:46:12
Speaker
you know, we see a new coach at Salem who actually knows how to use the back line. And the James, what if the James Brothers are another Cameron Redpath or two Cameron Redpaths sitting right there and they have, hey, you've got players in the next five to seven years right there that are really talented. Yeah. And people don't shut up about their talent. Right. I want to see more out of them. Yeah. Personally. So hopefully they get the, you know, the
00:46:35
Speaker
It's players like Cameron Redpath that give me hope for the players that Sail have that Diamond couldn't get anything out of. We talked about Lester and Exeter. Lester were full value for the first 40 by far. They were the better team for most of the match.
00:46:53
Speaker
even though even as Exeter was just rolling up points. Just started to just turn it on. Of course, it's not an Exeter game these days without Sam Simmons getting over the line. Of course not. Yeah, because that was one of those like, okay, that happened. It's like, oh, this is over. Game over. I mean, a little bit better from, again, on the team, a little bit better from Lester. We see some good things. We see some glimpses.
00:47:22
Speaker
Oh a better defense out of Lester which is again is something a very good defense, you know, excellent It's hard. It's it's we haven't seen this out of them for a while Yeah, it's odd to say in a match where they gave up 35 points, but that deep they if they had played anything other than then top drawer defense They put yeah 50 to 60 points on him easily easy. So Good on good on Lester. Mm-hmm
00:47:47
Speaker
Those words he's coming out So Does somebody want to like pull the the Falcons back down from way up there like break up the foul what is going on up there like Newcastle downing another semi-finalist finalist even was
00:48:09
Speaker
Boston, they did a few things very wrong in this match. Yeah, to themselves. Yeah, absolutely. You know, the biggest glowing highlight was the Limasopawaga Intercept tribe, where he threw a pass way too late. I was thinking Levi Douglas and James Gaskell taking over. Oh, I know the two of them. Poor guys. Losing both your locks on the opening minute of a match. Inadvisable. Yeah.
00:48:31
Speaker
Probably not a great thing. Douglas did come back, thankfully, but yeesh. I shocked Douglas did. And he even scored a try at the end, so he got the shit kicked out of him. For the day he had, he needed something. Poor guy. Oh, man. But yeah, the Falcons are playing quite well. They are playing very well. They have a forward pack that are all believing in what they're doing. And one through eight, you don't screen the names, but
00:49:00
Speaker
McGuigan, Willapola, Peterson, and Graham are all guys I would take on my team all day. Right now, yeah. So, you know. Robinson's playing out of his mind. And he's playing incredibly well, yeah. Yeah, he's scoring tries and kicking ass. Yep, absolutely. And I mean, I would not love the combination of Brett Connan and Mickey Young if they're my own team. No. Let me tell you, but they are working just fine, clearly. Right.
00:49:22
Speaker
So I honestly rather have those two then then Young's and Ford right now. So You and a lot of people think and then Ben Stevenson. Yeah, the tastefully he's you know, we talked about Young players and you know, obviously Newcastle have done a very good job and and Dean Richards has made a point of this bringing young Players through that are Newcastle area-born and getting them time in in the squad and I
00:49:49
Speaker
It's showing, you know him rad ones playing fairly well Penny generally has been playing well not so much this match No, not as much this match Jill Hodgson's obviously a Newcastle dude through and through and these guys get their their players back out Mark Wilson, right? It was like the ultimate Newcastle guy. So And you look at that team right now where on the forward pack
00:50:11
Speaker
The biggest hole and he's playing all right. I would say is call it he's playing all right But he's not like if you could replace him. Yeah with I would a fetcher Like a true like international level fetcher like Mark Wilson. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes, please Wilson's a banger to on top of that, right? You can do both
00:50:31
Speaker
Can we, one more thing about the wasps though. Odagu. Yeah. He can play a little bit of attack. He's playing well with 13.
00:50:42
Speaker
What's going on with that? Pull that back a little bit because he can't tackle for a lick. Well, that's true. Give me that. So he can attack. Part of the reason that wasps. Well, he can't kung fu kick, so. Right. He bounces off of players, unfortunately. Yeah. He did a lot of flopping it instead of tackling. So Lee Blackett, there's your job. Teach yourself about attacking. You get yourself a decent player there. Exactly. And everything else worked out incredibly well, obviously. Officially two missed tackles, but that's still not great.
00:51:11
Speaker
Well, I think that's because even though he was getting ragdolled, he was, it was part of like, even he was getting hit, it's like part of double tackles. And the tackle is still being made. So they're like, all right, we'll get to both of them because they both made the hit. It's like, no, kind of sort of, kind of sort of a dog who was present. He didn't, he didn't do a whole lot. Didn't do a lot of that tackle. Yeah. Um, and last thing on this one.
00:51:35
Speaker
When do you start to, because here's the thing with Barbary, and that's who I was going to talk about. His problem is throwing. Yeah. At what point do you wave the flag and say he's not going to be a hooker and you stick him in the back row? I feel like they've done that already. Do you think so? I think so. I think that's why Agree is the backup hooker. OK. Otherwise, I think Barbary would be starting in the hook, if they thought he could do it.
00:52:02
Speaker
Um, okay. I mean and I don't know what he's really got if they're still gonna right they could still work on it And that might be it just uh, you need to get you on the field So this is where we're gonna do it. But yeah, we talked about last year and we'll I think we'll find out. Um
00:52:16
Speaker
This weekend. Yeah. Because honestly, if they think he can throw just a little bit, how is it? And I love Taylor. Yeah, I like trailer and cruise. I don't think either one of them are terrible. No, but they're not. They're not as talented as this kid. Right. No way. And if you could have Tom Young, Brad Shields,
00:52:41
Speaker
Jack Willis and Alfie Barbary on the field all four at the same time. You do it. Yeah. So that's really it. If they think he can throw a little bit, it'll be their hooker this week. We'll find out. Over to the Brentford. And again, we talked about before, so good to see the fans back. So good to see the fans back. What an Irish, you know, Brentford Community Stadium. They were very happy to be back.
00:53:08
Speaker
cheering for their exiles and just wasn't quite enough and now you know the in I Wish I could say it didn't have an impact but it did the the non-red on John Ross Absolutely, you know, I wish I could I wish I could sit there and say it's a referees decision and it shouldn't have that much of an impact. I
00:53:27
Speaker
How is that not a red? It is a red like I first off I don't I don't know what they were looking at where they saw an arm in contact like when you You know, how would they when? Looking at a friend instead of a flying elbow, right? They're looking at whether the arm is tucked or whether it's up and if it's tucked they're saying okay The arm is tucked. There's no there's no friend. There's no Right. Yeah
00:53:54
Speaker
Well, in this case, yes. Ross lifted his left hand in the tackle. That's a T-Rex. He gave a T-Rex an arm. And didn't get around anything. And threw a shoulder into it directly to a hand. At least a yellow. At least a yellow because of the direct contact. If you want to mitigate out that he was falling.
00:54:20
Speaker
I don't agree with that, but okay. I mean, because there was no arm. So there's no arm, direct hit.
00:54:28
Speaker
Wasn't legal. It's two yellows equal or red get the fuck off my feet Yeah, john ross is not my favorite player either. So right and and he was he was huge after that too and and so iris lose one of their better forwards and Um sale get to keep their captain. Yeah, that's a that's a a terrible trade Um, I think that the referee should have stepped in. Mm-hmm. I agree
00:54:55
Speaker
Well, especially after already giving the didn't he already give a yellow? You know, he'd give it a penalty against Kepu against Faf, which I thought. Right. Right. Yeah. For nothing. For nothing. That kind of smack around the head like that. Wasn't it was after after a knock on. So it was like it went from it like reversed the possession and gave a penalty and all this.
00:55:14
Speaker
So it's like, how can you have set that standard there and not continue it on? Christophe, I love you, kid. You got that one wrong. You got that one way wrong. And it was very much. So this is where I was thinking about it today, because after the Diamond News was that, man, it's almost like they just gave sale a win.
00:55:34
Speaker
Like here like get the fuck you left you leave on a high note get the fuck out All the probably not get the fuck out like thank you Steve for being so awesome. Here's your win here. Here's your watch, right?
00:55:50
Speaker
That's after that was after that was when I went back to see what their last win before that was Because I was like, I know he wouldn't want to go out on the Way the last season ended. No, and then maybe he wanted to get to the first win and then be like, alright I'm out but no they won week one. So I don't know what the fuck Yeah
00:56:07
Speaker
Um to the king's home Speaking of odd card decisions. I mean I I can I Get what tempo saw and what the TMO saw like Lloyd did come up with Brett with a little bit of clarity on his nose. Oh Well that yes
00:56:27
Speaker
That was less than ideal. I was thinking more. I was thinking earlier in the match. I was starting back in the beginning. Oh, which one's that? The Ford Robinson. And who went on? You know, Spada? Yeah. All for Robinson did. He did everything right there, which is unfortunate that it escalated the way it did. Yeah, I think in and I don't like the decision and I'm telling you what it probably was in their head was that he went to the head.
00:56:56
Speaker
if he had gone to shoulders or his hands, might've been fine. Yeah, but he also didn't, he didn't strike, he just shoved. No, I, oh, I, I totally understand. So I feel like that's not a, that's, I feel like if, if you, he shoved away the, the part of the body that was presented to him, like that's Bob's fault. It happens to be Butta's fat head. Right. And he, he shoved the back of his head, like everything that he did was as gentle as possible. And, and, you know, obviously I'm going to stick up for my man, Jamal Ford Robinson, cause he is,
00:57:23
Speaker
Awesome. We like him. But even in a neutral aspect, that was harsh. But Bada didn't have to be an asshole. Like, Bada chose to be an asshole. I will say this. So in Ford Robinson's defense, I am probably the biggest dick on the field when that's happening to me. I am punching and kicking until you let me go.
00:57:45
Speaker
And I'm not gonna hit anything vital. I'm not gonna go for your head. I will hit your hands I will hit your hands until they break right if you're not gonna let me go So that's that's what I don't get that and I think that you clue being on that because you see around the mall Mm-hmm or rocks like that where you see somebody holding onto an arm. Yeah, and you see players That's okay
00:58:09
Speaker
But because Bada reacts negatively and does and enhances his knobbery Both of them have to go. No, no, no, no Bada. You were the dick. You started everything. Nothing. None of this happens if you Don't start you get the yellow. Yeah, I think yeah and and play on after that like, you know start with the penalty but That kind of fucked everything. Well, not fucked everything but it did kind of
00:58:31
Speaker
the, you know, as disheveled as Gloucester got from that. There were some guys that played well. I thought Moyle played pretty well, and I thought, Jacob Morris played pretty well as, also, both came on.
00:58:49
Speaker
Well later, uh, but but 12 trees going off evan's going off that hurt that hurt so much. Um That's that's what we call in the business bad. Very bad. Um, especially against a team. That's very good, right? Uh, but it's also bad long term now because now what are they like if I don't know what 12 trees injury was ankle like like is he gonna be fit for this weekend? Um, they might be taking our knee on champions cup, unfortunately. Yeah, I
00:59:16
Speaker
Spoilers for later, but yeah, yeah Whereas and then but then wins cheese this turned into the Marcus Smith show
00:59:23
Speaker
It doesn't everything. Involving twins. In between him and Dom. Him and Dom rant. The two of them. God, they're so good. Yeah. Like, how do you... Eddie, are you watching? Right. Like, come on. How good are these two? And they're just like, they're doing it week in and week out and right now. Because Marcus Smith does everything George Ford does. Only a shit ton better.
00:59:47
Speaker
And he kicks better than Faz does, so what the fuck? Yeah, kids improved his kicking so much too, and that cannot be understood. You know, that was definitely his big bucket, but he was not hitting kicks for the life of him, and the kid has just improved it so much. He's not quite Joe Simmons level, but fuck, is he good? Yeah.
01:00:04
Speaker
So, um, Marcus Smith, I like you a lot kid. I hope, whatever the hell that's worth. I hope you, uh, I hope you eventually get what's coming to you, buddy. Yeah. And I'm looking forward to seeing, um, the Quinn's with their full back line. Not even just, you know, yeah. Well, we'll get players back. I believe we'll see some good.
01:00:24
Speaker
Some good American blood in that team this weekend, possibly. Oh, that would be good. Because, I mean, you got to figure Esterhizan's going to be suspended. Yeah, he's probably off for at least a game. Be my guess, at least. OK, let's look at this past weekend in the Champions League. No, let's not. Well, it's not my fault that you played me. Twice. I know. So let's go through it real quick. $100, move on. Justin.
01:00:54
Speaker
only a 0.3 nudge over Duncan. Duncan stays on three. Oh man. That is just painful. It's just understatement of the day. Um, Anton was able to take care of Mark. Uh, George is still having a bad showing in champion's league. Unfortunately, uh, character takes care of him and I was able to outdo my podcast co-host here.
01:01:18
Speaker
Kind of by a good margin, if we were honest here. It was 50, 60 points here. Well, at that point, you know, when you had the week you did, it's like, okay, I'd rather my guys say- And I had that situation. That's the bad part. I had that situation. With negative 11. But Humphries and Purdy. Humphries was doing everything. Humphries was doing everything in that match to try and get that team over the line and they just couldn't get the fucking ball to go down. He did eventually get his.
01:01:45
Speaker
Outside of, uh, Piers O'Connor and also had a good week. We had a good week and Ed Slater. I know none of my guys cracked 10, so that's not good. That's less than, that's less than great. Suboptimal. Yes, quite. Um, and then in the, in TRM, Justin did everybody a favor by having an illegal team. Oh, it's so harsh. It's recoverable. You're only in week three, so it's recoverable. And this was a bad, this was a down week. So let's, the scores were low.
01:02:15
Speaker
Props scores were really low for the most part. Yeah.
01:02:18
Speaker
I will say that I was looking through props course. It was a couple of 20s, but and I think there's 130 I think it was moon Yeah, I mean that the top scorer for the week for overall was 538 Mm-hmm. So that's that's a low week. So if you're gonna if you're gonna get fucked in a week This is the one to do it. Yeah moon and Paul from them were your best props for the week. Yikes Paul from and I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah, so sorry Justin so everybody moves up one that was not on the bottom because
01:02:47
Speaker
Except George. George somehow stayed right where he was.
Fantasy Rugby Insights
01:02:51
Speaker
How did that happen? He had 392. That's not a great one. Yeah, he was kind of right average. Yeah, he was dead even. Yeah, so that's how we stand this week. This week we get into Champions League. Champions Cup. Be very interesting.
01:03:09
Speaker
Let's have a look at the matchups. I believe it's you and I again. Oh, son of a bitch. I wish I was kidding, but I think that's the case. Let's have a look. Matchups for the weekend. We have. I am playing Finn for the win, yep. Yep. So it's Mark against Carrick, Anton and George. Maybe George can finally get himself off the Schneider. Duncan and Justin and then you and I.
01:03:36
Speaker
So we'll see how this one goes. It's gonna be very interesting contest here as far as the competition goes. So we shall see. Speaking of which, let's talk about a few games here, shall we? And players and all that shit. So...
01:03:54
Speaker
Well, I will run through it and let's name a player each. And if we get the right thing, if we get it right, we'll talk about it. If not, we'll just move on. How do we want to do this? Because I've laid them out by team. OK, so let's talk about Northampton and Bordeaux. I didn't know nobody on there. I only did the top teams. OK, so that's fine. I gamed out who my who my top. So I'll say I'll say this. Jelly Bears probably out. Ben Botic is probably going to be his replacement. Ulster to lose.
01:04:25
Speaker
Uh, to lose. Yeah. Kobe DuPont into Meg Ramos. Yeah. All those guys. Yeah. All the guys. Um, so I would say the guy obviously to keep an eye on here, um, is on the other side as well. And his name's John Coney. So play. So obviously that's another, he'll be a guy that you ride until maybe the quarterfinal and that's it.
01:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, I don't think he's going to make it. Um, they're not on my, my list of teams, maybe on the, um, Bristol, Bristol Claremont. Give me, give me a name that you really want to talk about. Send me Rod, Rod, Rod. He'll be back and he'll be fit and he will just play the match already. So he's got all the rust knocked off.
01:05:04
Speaker
Exactly. So yeah him between him are all mail-ins and peers. Yeah on the other side This is gonna be a very heavy Fantasy matchup I have a feeling between them and the likes of the Claremont have and you know, we're talking about guys that were picked in the top 50 There's four or five guys in their team as well. So like moala and pano and
01:05:23
Speaker
Raka, all them. So yeah, it'd be very interesting. Pietal, again, likely out. Maximilian's as likely as a replacement. Or Lloyd, it'll be one of those two. Both will do just fine. Baths, scarlets? Neither of them. I don't think either of those teams are going to be doing, making too much noise. Yeah, I would look at Lee half-penny because he's probably going to take the kicks. Yeah, good point. You have to worry about Reese at this point. So what's that going to do for Bath?
01:05:52
Speaker
God, it's probably not a matter of ACU, there might be a red path. There might be a red path. That's an outside back. That might be good. But overall. Do you have the room on your roster? That's the other thing. Do you have the room on your roster? Do you want to shunt somebody to get him in there? No, you don't. That's kind of what I'm saying. When I'm saying I'm not even bothering with them,
01:06:11
Speaker
It's mostly because I want to I want to be looking mostly for players who are going to move on if you can reach to the quarter So I've kind of You know, I'm not expecting to yeah, see a whole lot with that one To loan and sale bracing Bryce heme is on my list. Yeah, Bryce heme play the two are very well when he was yeah, so so here's the problem though you've got sale who are notoriously
01:06:39
Speaker
A nightmare against front rows and FRD. And against all fantasy scores. It's just a bad idea. But, but... Is this the... Well, is this the... What the fuck is their mentality right now? Is this the... So there's two things that almost always happen when a manager leaves. It's the letdown match or it's the galvanizing match. I don't know which one they're gonna get.
01:07:00
Speaker
And because it happened midweek, I don't know what they're going to get either, but it's also in a way match. You have to factor that in, in the champions. This is going to, this is a, this might be that I would not be surprised if sale just turtle for the champions. You know what? We got to focus on the prem. Um, we, we, we want to win one.
01:07:20
Speaker
you know, like, and that's, that's our shot. We have there's a little bit too much to overcome to focus on both. And if they do focus on both, they'll lose both. I think they will too. Yeah, agreed. Montpelier Leinster.
01:07:35
Speaker
all of Leinster. Leinster are one of two teams, only two teams that I think are going to go forward in this competition. But with those really, James Lowe. Ring rose for me. Yeah, he's on my list. The front row, Lowe, Larmor, Ring Rose. The guys that I'm seriously looking at. Dragon's Wasp.
01:08:00
Speaker
Do you want, okay, you know who the other team that I'm predicting you a 4-0 is? Who? Wasp. They mine. Because you look at their schedule. What's their other, what was their other two? Their two are dragons and Montpellier. Now you realize, so they're, let me make sure that I have this accurate. That might work. Because. That might work. It all depends on, so here's the thing. So they're traveling two dragons. Yes. First. That shouldn't be too bad. That shouldn't be too bad. Then they have Montpellier at home.
01:08:28
Speaker
Okay. Now Montpellier is probably going to be 0 and 2 at that point if they win. Right. So they both fold in. Right. And they just have Leinster. Right. So we'll see what happens with that. And well, no, then wasps to play, you know, let they go back to Montpellier. Then they travel to Montpellier who are probably just fucking around at that point. And then they come back for dragons who are also just fucking around at that point. So yes, wasps.
01:08:53
Speaker
You know, actually thinking about this, like, holy shit, they're going to go for it. They could easily go for it now. We'll see. They're front row. Yeah. Lost front row. He's a barber. He's in line up and he's a he's considered part of the hooker, the front row group. Yeah. Yoo hoo. They will get points. Yeah. Yeah. Either way, he's probably going to be in line up. Let's be real. So Jimmy Goprath is a good ad. I think they will go far using using his especially as that midfield that he's got a barren wasteland that can be the midfield.
01:09:22
Speaker
Um, Edinburgh, La Rochelle. Anybody in there? La Rochelle. Um, I have them moving on, um, at, at three and one. Uh, and we, we've talked about him enough earlier price too. Um, very good. I think he's gonna, this, this is definitely underrated. Yeah. And he's, he's informed. So yeah. Um, this, this will be a tough one. Leon Gloucester. Um, I don't think this is going to be a tough one.
01:09:49
Speaker
I don't think it's gonna be a tough one in terms of that but like yeah picking out the good players and this one thoroughly will probably be the the big one to Watch I don't know who's gonna get in the ball. Like I mean, it's probably gonna be sips at 10. I assume Yeah, so I'm looking at and Leon are among my three and one team. So In pool a only have that I had there my top four were clear. There's two four no teams There's two three and one teams. Everyone else sucks Pool B
01:10:18
Speaker
is is a shit show and a half. I have one, two, I have six, three and one teams. Oh, so good luck with the boss. Absolutely good luck with that. And it's really because of the matchups that are the matchups and pull a are fairly straightforward, I feel. Yeah, I think we're going to go through one and I think really their front row, maybe Kiyo. I'm not sure. We'll see. Rossing and Connick
01:10:49
Speaker
Rossing, I have Rossing also going three and one, likely making it. And as much as I like Vakatawa, Imoph. Oh, I love Imoph. I love Imoph. I definitely do.
Match Previews and Predictions
01:11:04
Speaker
I think it'd be very fun.
01:11:05
Speaker
And then last two Exeter Glasgow, obviously a lot of the Exeter players are going to be on everybody's lips. Noel, again, out for Condo Cordero is probably the replacement there. Right. So keep your eyes peeled for that lineup coming out. Adam Hastings is out as well. That's Peter Horn, I believe, is the guy that's been standing in for him, who's traditionally a midfielder. So yeah, I'm also interested for this because
01:11:30
Speaker
We saw, we've seen in recent years with with the last two years Saracens had Glasgow in their in their pool. So both of us have watched all of those. Quite a bit of Glasgow, yeah. Enough and we enough to see that the Saracens have beat them pretty much every way there is. So you can bully them over or you can just... Track meet. Track meet them. Saracens did both to great effect.
01:11:54
Speaker
But i'm wondering if if exit or play their game will they so the big thing here is i'm seeing six three and one teams here It's going to come down to point differential. Absolutely. So I'm interested to see this really how how um exit or go into this because sometimes, you know, you me we all know baxter runs home to mom and and of the the go for penalties and then go for the corner and and
01:12:18
Speaker
and pick and drive him to death, you know, spend 10 minutes getting points. You don't really have the time to do that. You need points quick. So I'm interested to see how he... You need points quick. You need points differential. Yeah. You need both. And then monster quins. I mean, the two that we talked about before really are the ones that stand out and not to say monster doesn't have any assets.
01:12:40
Speaker
But I mean don't stop right so right and Harley Quinn's I also have them as a three and one team And I'm interested to see them that again point differential with can they can they score? Can they keep? We'll see. All right, so I picked the start of the week and It's gonna be very me back a towel Connect they're gonna get there at the la de France
01:13:02
Speaker
Vacatawa has shown how good he is especially in the other blue uniform that he wears And he just and especially at the end of this this competition All of a couple months ago. He showed class. He's he surely show class. No, he doesn't have fin next to him. Yeah
01:13:20
Speaker
I hope in my feeling is that he's going to take that on himself and say, I need to make an impact and help my team. So that's why I have my list as start of the week. I'm going the same position, different team, different colors.
01:13:36
Speaker
Well, no slightly different colors Lenster and Gary ring rose Cuz he is going to run through Yeah, yeah, sorry guys I was pulling for you until I started going through all this he was in Buckle them down somehow we'll see and then my sit is gonna be a guy on the opposite side of the team you just talked about and
01:14:04
Speaker
I love this player and I have spoke glowingly about him and I'm not saying that I don't like him but I think this week's gonna just be really tough for him and my state of the week is Pelle's outside back Vincent Rates. Hmm. Yeah That's gonna be rough. They're in are they in? No, they're at least at home. So that's the that's the chance but Leinster just have such a They just have such a way about them
01:14:28
Speaker
And regardless, I don't think the coaching change is going to mean much at this stage. So I'm going to go with a fairly obvious sit of the week. And you sail to a great effect as much as I can with that defense. And I'm going to go with Charles L'Olivre. He might be a guy you'd want as a loose forward in general, not against sail. The wrong team to play a fancy asset against, generally. In general. And I'm assuming that their prem
01:14:58
Speaker
Defense will translate to this at least to a point, right? Okay, until they give them. Uh-huh. All right, so we got lots of games to pick through Northampton Bordeaux Northampton Yeah, we talked about right. Yeah, I have them split it might be a little bit home So yeah, I'm going with the home team there ulster to lose This should be very interesting to say the least it's at the king span in Belfast. Oh I have to lose
01:15:25
Speaker
Yeah. I'm almost I was almost tempted to say Ulster, but too much class would lose. Yeah, too much. And Ulster aren't playing terribly great. No, they're missing a few guys, which doesn't help. But yeah, definitely not. Bristol Claremont, is this?
01:15:42
Speaker
Oh man, it's really hard to sit there and say not Bristol, but Claremont is so good at home Bristol at home I guess that's the that's I have them splitting with Claremont home and away. Yeah Shit we need some separation here I'm gonna do Claremont and that's not to say that I don't like Bristol, but Claremont had been here before Bristol haven't been here for a while. So Baths, Garlet's Bathgate at the Rec
01:16:08
Speaker
They've had some bad losses opening the rounds at the wreck. I'm going to go with Scarlett's. Oh yeah, because Scarlett's also beat them there, and Toulouse beat them there. Yeah, but Scarlett's aren't either of those teams. I understand that.
01:16:28
Speaker
So I'm going to go, I'm going to go with bath who are, who have a fairly decent team or getting players back. Um, it will depend on priest, but, um, yeah, we'll see what happens. Too long and sale. This is in France. Oh, too long. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
01:16:50
Speaker
Montpellier and Leinster are probably Leinster. You know, Montpellier is extremely, extremely talented team, but Leinster are Leinster and they're gonna be pissed about the end of the last Champions Cup and they let themselves down and they know it. I'm sure.
01:17:10
Speaker
Why am I spacing on their coach's name? Leo Cullen. Thank you. Leo Cullen's going to have it for them. Dragon's Wasp in Wales. Well, I've already said wasps are going for now. Yeah. I mean, they're going to be a little upset with themselves after last week too. Edinburgh in La Rochelle up in Scotland. Let me make sure I have this right. Yeah, no, I have La Rochelle. Really? I'm going to take the Scots.
01:17:38
Speaker
They were in this competition a couple years ago. Cockrell had them playing really well. Just didn't quite happen for them in the protein 14 year before. So they weren't in it last year. Yeah, go with the Scott. Yeah. And then we're actually playing decent. But again, we'll see. We'll see. Leon and Gloucester in France.
01:17:59
Speaker
Oh, Leon, Gloucester, Gloucester, I think are, they have to, they at this point, they have to turtle in the Champions Cup and focus on the prem. They have too many problems right now. Rossing in Conak. I don't think there's any question in most people's minds, except for a Conak fan, Rossing. And then Exeter, Glasgow, Warrior on Warrior. I mean, Exeter get it done. I think it's just to what extent?
01:18:25
Speaker
You know, exactly. I think I was clear about that. Yeah, this one. Yep, and then monster Quinn's is tomb in pock Can monster finally get back to where they really belong? No No, I got Quinn's. Yeah. All right. I'm gonna take monster. It's really hard to be monster in monster. I
01:18:46
Speaker
Yeah, no disagreement. I think there's just so much there for the Quins to attack and attack and attack. Potential for separation this week, but also potential to stay the same because we have four games difference. In the way it's gone so far, that's kind of what happens. It is. I don't have any answers for that. Okay.
01:19:09
Speaker
Thanks for hanging out with us, everybody.
Listener Interaction Encouragement
01:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna be fun to see how this FRD plays out. We will do starts at the end of the week. We'll try and limit the names we put on there because we are only human. I wish I was superhuman otherwise. And again, this is very different from, you know, the premise. Well, you don't have props and hookers to pick through or anything like that. So that helps. But significantly more teams is ultimately where I'm going with it.
01:19:39
Speaker
You don't say. Yeah. Twenty four to twenty four or no shit. Yeah. Jeez. Double in the team. So, yeah, there's there's a lot more to choose from. So there's no need to to go into the into the player depth. No, it'll be fine. But other than that, yeah, fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. Ask us questions for pod 100.
01:19:59
Speaker
Ask us questions for the Champions Cup. Yeah, that'll be that we would be happy to throw out there. I'm sure there's other people that have thoughts, especially the guys in the Champions League. But yeah, other than that, we'll catch you guys next week. Thanks for having along with us. Later.