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Season 3- Episode 4- Crashing Down to Earth (Premiership Round 2)
30 Plays5 years ago
It is the latest and greatest from those American Rugby knuckleheads. On this episode we chat about the ugliness that reared its head for the Puma's Captain, and how to move forward. We also chat about some of the poor ideas we are seeing out there on how to make rugby entertaining again (hint law changes aren't the answer). We wrap the international action including the match featuring one of the world's worst international referees, as well as all the action from Round 2 in the Premiership. Of course, we also recap the action in Champi-Yanks League, pick the draft order for this coming weekend's Champions Cup Draft and finally, start or sit for Round 3 of the Premiership this weekend. Tune in, kick back, and pop one open with us!
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. #AskTFRY is in full effect for this season once again for each Friday. Interested in getting in on the action for Champions Cup next week? Reach out and we'll make sure you get in a league.
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Transcript
Introduction and Show Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy Ruby. Thanks. My name's Jared. Oh, man, we got we got much to cover this week. Thank you. New cycle that fucking definitely contributed to it a little bit and just Twitter verse in general. But, you know, that's how it goes.
Twitterverse Impact on News and Entertainment
00:00:24
Speaker
Well, thank God for the Twitter verse.
00:00:25
Speaker
Yeah, Twitter keeps you not bored, that's for sure. I mean, I'm not one to aimlessly scroll through social media all the time, but when I do, it makes for entertainment. That's for sure. It's important to cultivate a good following.
00:00:40
Speaker
Yeah. Um, cause yeah, sometimes I'm like, Oh man, that makes me so angry, but that person has a good point. And then all of a sudden, you know, you have like grant Davies with an awesome fucking video. Yeah. Um, yeah. Yep. Yep. For sure. All right. Crack them.
Podcast Engagement and Listener Feedback
00:00:58
Speaker
Hell yeah.
00:01:02
Speaker
Check us out where you get your podcasts. Download us, subscribe, rate, review, definitely review. Like I said, we always want to know what you guys think.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, we're always looking for, we're always looking for a little feedback here and there, but that's it. And if you don't like it, tell us why. Send us some happy thoughts. Yeah. Or some thoughts in general, angry thoughts in general. Yeah. Criticism. Not, not being an asshole. Criticism. There's a difference. Constructive criticism. Yes. We're okay with that. Um, I mean, if you're going to be an asshole, you'd be an asshole, but those people are going to respond to you. Yeah. You know, um, yeah. So make sure that you are,
TRM Upgrades and RPA Support
00:01:41
Speaker
Getting your TRM upgrades for sure. It's a good time for right now. We got one more week of this and then we are into a different competition obviously, but yeah, it doesn't mean you can't go get them. And obviously they're supporting the RPA, so that's obviously a big, big thing. Yeah, if you're not supporting the, I mean, support the RPA, support TRM. I don't see any downside about that whatsoever. And you get an upgrade. I see zero downside to this.
00:02:10
Speaker
I kind of feel a little bit bad that I had my upgrade before this. I'm not sure eligible, but... Yeah, just the same, you know. Good call. Like for everyone else out there, good call. We're doing what we came for, just the same. Exactly.
Tips and Competitions Discussion
00:02:26
Speaker
then you obviously want to go check out our, everybody, the fancy Ruby geek buy him a coffee. He's always got some good tips, especially for those of you that may or may not have struggled in some of the leagues that I saw out there. Does he have a tip for beating me yet? He hasn't. Well, he doesn't have a tip for beating either of us and at least in standard scoring yet. So we'll see. No, he did. Well, he, he beat me last year at something.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. There was one of our FRD leagues. Yeah, we were. But if I remember right, I think he won once out of like four or five shots. Yeah, it was it was bad. Well, I've already started the the news. Well, no, have we both started the news? I mean, I beat him last week. So yeah, Sam Simmons does that to you. Yeah, about that. Yeah, that guy. Yeah. So and we'll get into this.
Pablo Matera's Accountability and BLM
00:03:16
Speaker
And this only just took another subject, obviously, Black Lives Matter. Racism is wrong, plain and simple. If you don't see it, then you and I got a problem. Simple as that. And then obviously related to this is the news about Pablo Matera.
00:03:32
Speaker
Did not see that coming. I don't know enough about him, obviously, in that case. And apparently, at least from what I've heard there, you know, Matera, I think what happened is he's pissed some people off lately. Not so much, you know, just whatever. Being his own thing, I think people kind of dug into his past and dug it up, which I'm not saying is wrong. I'm just saying it didn't happen organically.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, probably not. And somebody, I think, just dropped the dime on a couple of people to get a little bit of personal revenge. Not that that doesn't make what Mattara said and what his, you know, a petty and the other guy said. Right. It's wrong. It's just an odd, the whole situation is fucked up. But they're doing the right thing. He seems like a stand-up guy, at least.
00:04:30
Speaker
taking on the, yeah, I'm taking responsibility and I'll take the punishment. Good for him. That's what we need with this whole Black Lives Matter movement. It's not about being perfect. It's about accountability and becoming better people. And that's not to say he can't become the captain of Argentina again, but there has to be consequences for actions. And so he's accepting them. And as much as it's wrong what he did,
00:05:00
Speaker
Previously, eight, nine years ago, him taking accountability for that now and not whining like a little bitch. I have to respect that because that's how you do it. If you react like you're the victim, nothing gets better. You have to take accountability for what's being done that's wrong, especially when it's by you.
00:05:23
Speaker
I agree. It's all about learning and being willing to change.
Argentina's Controversy and Need for Change
00:05:29
Speaker
You can apologize until the cows come home, but if you're not willing to learn, that's just a whole other subject that continues the problem.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's really sad. I guess Argentina are obviously going to catch a little bit of shit for more or less, sweeping the sun to the rug for so long. And they've had a history of it. So hopefully now this is a
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah. Hopefully now this is a way for them to change and go forward. And this is not just some sort of posturing. Hopefully this is them saying, all right, we've done this so wrong in the past. Let's get it right now. And with a little bit of luck, hopefully that's what happens.
Criticism of Rugby Referees
00:06:13
Speaker
It's just really, it's, yeah. And Argentina took decisive act, like we woke up to the, literally woke up to the news as it was breaking. I got the tweet, like the first thing I did when I pulled up my phone and that was the first tweet I saw and I immediately sent it to you. You immediately replied, it's like. I was like, shit. Not good.
00:06:38
Speaker
Not good at all. Well, hopefully he learns and he's able to show people how to be better and how to learn from a situation like this and why it's wrong. As we're on the subject of Twitter, there's been some real asshats and there's some deep dives that we can go into in a second, but I do want to point out Martin Gilliam
00:07:04
Speaker
I don't care if I have his name right in this situation because this is a stupid point, putting Roman Poit on the same table as Barnes and Nigel. And by the way, Nigel Owens.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, sir. A hundred tests for that man and all of them deserved. He didn't fuck it up. But yeah, putting him putting plot on the same card as Barnes and cheese. And they say I'm crazy like Nigel. Like, no way. Like, especially after this weekend. Yeah. So he saw the match. But as we as we'll recap later, it was not great. Not great from Roman.
00:07:45
Speaker
But yeah, just the general, general helmetry and we talked and the Caterpillar right now is one of the biggest discussed things. And the best solution I have isn't a solution in making a law, it's reinforcing
Rugby Game Issues and Law Enforcement
00:07:57
Speaker
that use it law from almost the moment it's free. That ball is free. That's where I'm at.
00:08:02
Speaker
That's exactly where I'm at. Um, it's, it's, as soon as the ball is playable, it should be an automatic use. So like for, for rucks and scrums, there should be no use it call. Those should just be at the balls available. So like, if, if you're not moving forward in the scrum or that ball sitting there at the rock yet, no, it's available. You can play it. Time to use it. Yeah.
00:08:22
Speaker
You don't have to do that. No more use it call, just the referee sell. If there's any question, all is available. And that's it. That means you've got a five count right from there. So if you want to set your catapult a ruck and work it through and complete it within five seconds, God love you. And it's not just the box kicks, it's the open play. That's from half, just kind of standing there and looking around, scratching his ass. No kidding.
00:08:51
Speaker
Or if he's Ben Young, he starts flapping his arms like a bird for no fucking reason. The ball's sitting right there and he's looking at the ref and flapping his arms like, what the fuck? It's like, dude, just fucking play the ball. Shut up, chicken. Yeah, it's, you know, and then I sent you that article and I honestly don't remember the BBC guy that it was, but like,
00:09:11
Speaker
He wants to get rid of the jackal. Okay, my answer to that is stop running. He wants people to run alone is what he wants. But that's gonna lead to such selfish and self-centered styles of play. Grand, it'll bring some more exuberant personalities, but we have some pretty exuberant personalities. We don't need to reinforce this whole idea where a one-man show can win you a match. To me, it's the ultimate team sport.
00:09:38
Speaker
Even more so than football, because in football, everybody's highly specialized. This is what you're doing. In rugby, you have a prop out there on the wing. You better hope he can run a little bit this phase, because if you need to use him, he's the guy you're using. Oh, well.
00:09:57
Speaker
as Marcus Smith found out that forwards can also do a wings job sometimes, too. Yes. Yeah, it's just, you know, reinforce better, better play and better habits from a coaching standpoint. And you talked about this, too, like, you know, yeah, if you're running alone, you're
Coaching Strategies and Teamwork Importance
00:10:16
Speaker
going to get poached. No shit like that shouldn't change. Why should it change that you were dumb enough to run alone, that you get turned over? You absolutely deserve to get turned over if you're going to run away alone.
00:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's 100% your problem. Like, I don't get that. No way, man. But I also think that the people are missing the point. I think they're thinking past the problem. So they're expecting laws to change the game. And it's not the laws. And it's not the caterpillar rock. It's the frequency of box kicks. And the fact that coaches don't attack
00:10:49
Speaker
So if you look at all the international matches, and I'm fucking sick, honestly, this has got to change. We have to stop giving coaches this, oh, they're only on the job. This is only their fourth game.
00:11:04
Speaker
I'm sorry, were they never a fucking rugby coach before? Are these rugby players new fucking rugby players? No, these are professional rugby players. These are the best rugby players in the world, Wayne fucking Pevac. You have a number, what used to be the number one overall team. Why? Because they fucking attacked. And now you've get them in this whole thing where it's, okay, well, you know, I need to make sure they're executing the system. Okay, so you what? You need to make sure they execute, perfectly execute this forward crash.
00:11:31
Speaker
Take 15 seconds for you to execute another forward crash. Cause you didn't get quick ball that you wanted and then organize a caterpillar rock to kick it away. Perfectly. That once that you have to get that exactly fucking right. No, it's bullshit. I'm sorry. Like it just pisses me off that. What, what do they look, what, what is, what if I'm a coach and I'm watching like whales again, you know, cause it's pivots the new coach.
00:11:57
Speaker
I'm, what the fuck do I take away from that? Who's a good player? Who's a bad player? Who's doing what I want them to do? Fuck, you're not, they're not doing anything. Like that. You have to do something like throw that, you know, you look at the way Argentina beat, beat New Zealand and the fuck do they have? What excuse do they have? Right? No, they're out there. Right. They just, they just went out and played the ball around. What? They hadn't played since the World Cup. Exactly.
00:12:27
Speaker
And they go out there and they play some attacking fucking rugby. And they say, you know what? We don't need this forward crash ball, you know, five second, you know, five to 10 second rock and then another forward crash ball. We're just going to attack this for the spaces. And because their space, you know, you can see it even in these, you know, the Northern Hemisphere games, the space is there. They're just not using it. And so it's like, what are you doing? You know, what how long does it take for you to coach playing the space?
00:12:55
Speaker
That should be training camp shit. That should be, you know, putting in your structures shit. That doesn't take that long. It takes a couple of weeks. No, it doesn't. It generally doesn't. So, yeah, the coaching's got to get better. We have to have standards. And it's not just about, you know, like, yeah, we have, there's a lot of,
00:13:19
Speaker
then we see it here in the States, obviously on the lower level, but it's the same idea. Oh, this person was this coach and this team did okay. That must mean he's a good coach. It's like, maybe he's got some good players. Maybe one club folded and all the players went to another club and suddenly they win a national championship and suddenly the coach thought of as decent. Oh God.
00:13:41
Speaker
Yeah. If you know who we're talking about, you know exactly who we're talking about. If you don't, then you can message Ben or I and ask about it. But it's like, is he that good a coach? No. He's not. We all know, but we all know he's not. He wasn't for years until. Right. Yeah. So exactly like you know, the good coaches out there and you know, the ones that are just fucking mailing it in or just really getting away with some sort of, you know, you know, just absolute criminal.
00:14:10
Speaker
And it's one thing at a local level, but this is, you know, this is your international national. You should have you should have, you know, of a team that has been in the last 16 months, number one overall in the world. They should be playing better than this and just playing better rugby. So it's not it's not the box kicks. That's the problem. It's the fact that they don't coach them to play rugby.
Pressure on New Rugby Coaches
00:14:32
Speaker
They don't coach them to attack.
00:14:33
Speaker
No, it's just don't make a mistake. It's play not to lose. It's not play to win. That's not that's not good rugby in general. And that's a terrible philosophy in general. Doesn't matter if it's PVAC or anybody else. That's a terrible philosophy in general. So that's how you're coaching, you know, international players like. Oh, like, are you that worried about your job? If you are, then maybe you don't deserve it. And again, I'll go back to my point of
00:14:58
Speaker
Yeah, you know, they're, they're new and yes, they're, they are coaches, but to, you know, to fire a coach for in year one of a four year world cup cycle is silly. So the likes of Farrell, Peaback, uh, Fozzie, um, obviously Dave Rennie, uh, Delo, Dave Rennie's not under any pressure whatsoever. Um, no, after this year, he's, he's done quite well. New Zealand. He's good. He's done quite well so far. Um,
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, Andrew on their on their turf as well. Not bad. He's done his job. So, but yeah, just the same, you know, all those guys are.
00:15:31
Speaker
all those coaches, you know, they should get some leash. If you get to year two and your team is just looking, they're not, it's not even the losers. They just look terrible. Okay. Maybe pull the plug. Cause you're not going to pull the plug on year three. You know, if you get to the end of year two, that's probably the time to do it. Not after year one. Year one, there's a whole lot of figuring out and you know, we're obviously still coming through this weird time of COVID and did anybody get any off time and all that shit, you know?
00:16:00
Speaker
So yeah, there's a little bit of wiggle room to go, but definitely coaching overall can go up. And I will say this about Wayne Peaback. I didn't mean to trash him as much as the whole concept of he's new. Give him, you know, his team can play boring for some reason. It doesn't work that way. His team did play. His team was the better team on the weekend. So I heard so.
00:16:22
Speaker
I'm not just talking about him. There's other coaches who have no excuse whatsoever because he's been there for long enough that this should not be slowing a game down for no fucking reason.
00:16:36
Speaker
It's not like, that's why I'm saying it's not the box kicks and it's not the caterpillar rock. It's, it's just deliberate slowing the game down and doing nothing. I mean, I, fuck, I can watch football and watch a game that's deliberately slowed down by the laws. I don't need to watch that and rugby. I want to watch.
00:16:52
Speaker
Three second break, 10, three seconds, three seconds of action, 10 minutes to break. That's obviously exaggerated, but yeah, you get the point. So yeah, coaches, we got to do better out there. That's just bottom line. Yeah, that's it. And that'll make it attractive to fans again. That's really what it is. That makes it, it's not only good rugby, it's actually fun to watch and a good spectator sport. Amazing. No argument out of me this weekend.
00:17:19
Speaker
Okay, international roundup.
Referee Decisions in Wales vs. England
00:17:22
Speaker
Obviously, we talked about Wales and England. Anything else to add to that? Obviously, we know plot has really good. So I don't understand plot, you know, bigger gets taken out in the air.
00:17:39
Speaker
And the TMO goes, hey, check, check. And what goes, no, no, no, is I will not go back and watch. And it's like, but that's not your like, yeah, that's your that's your call. Yes. As the referee to say, I won't do it. But there's a time and a place and on a dangerous play. No. And then the high tackle on
00:18:01
Speaker
It was Daley. Yeah, Daley hit it. I can't remember who Daley hit. Was it Adams maybe? Yeah, it was Adam. It should have been at least a yellow and it should have been reviewed in case it was. I couldn't tell if his arm and shoulder, or I'm sorry, his arm kind of rode up from the shoulder to the head. So that wasn't so much, but I think the shoulder made direct contact with the head or neck area. So that could have been a potential red card.
00:18:31
Speaker
You should be looked at. Right. Things like that. The potential red cards and that's looking ahead like that's pretty basic, especially after the first one where it could have been a potential yellow card and you don't look at that. Then you back it up and.
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah, just awful, awful referee. And just in general, awful referee. Not just those two, those were just the microcosm of the day for Poit. He was just garbage. And it's a shame because the game deserves better than that, but he's awful. Yeah, I can think of one French referee that I can stomach, and it's Garces, and he's not even that good.
00:19:12
Speaker
Rinal plot, Ruiz, they're all awful. Like, of all the things, you know, one, we need to do one more thing, but they need to step in here and be like, and that puts some fucking sense here. Like, he cannot be an international referee. I don't know how he grades that way at all. I don't either.
00:19:37
Speaker
I know the, I know the, it's up to the unions to put guys forward, but you can't approve him. Right. He's not even young. He's not even young. That's the thing. You can't even give him the pass. Oh, he's young. No, he's kind of old. So yeah, it beats me. Kiwis exercise their demons here and there just a bit. Just a little bit. Um, I think they were a little angry.
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and you and I both are in the agreement. Sam Kane's reaction after their loss previously wasn't a good one in the words he chose, but I think the people he was probably aiming at were, well, guess
All Blacks' Response and Player Highlights
00:20:19
Speaker
what? Some of these same fucking helmeted pundits. So I'm sick of them too. So Sam Kane, I'm with you. You just got to choose your words a little bit better, because this was, yeah, you're totally right. Like these guys need to shut the fuck up.
00:20:32
Speaker
Really? So that's just how it is, you know? Yeah, it's just, it was bad. But anyway, to the game. All Blacks fixed it and fixed it quite well. They did well. Yeah, and they just threw a butt kicking. Caleb Clark.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah, I love he's pretty good. It's just impressive to see him. I he's incredibly young, but the stage doesn't make him flinch. He's completely unafraid to express himself has not done that. Yeah. And that's kind of so that's also the thing. So I'd like to see what Sam Kane said about, you know, you don't understand. And it's the truth, because again, you don't know what the coaches are telling players and what they want them to do and how they want them to play.
00:21:24
Speaker
Sometimes they don't let them, you know, as much as, as fun as it is to watch Caleb Clark express himself. A lot of players are not afforded that luxury. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of, you can't do this unless you have some sort of gravitas or there's got to be some like it that you have been.
00:21:42
Speaker
Granted. And then you can do that. And it's like, yeah, if you want one player X to do something, but you don't want player Y to do it, what the fuck? You know, it's the same thing we talked about with Brad Shields. And it's like, you know, Brad Shields can do stuff, but he's being coached not to.
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah. He's been told somewhere along the lines of his WASP adventure to not do what he used to do with the hurricanes. So, happy to me. So, anyway, but that's where I took, you know, that's where I'm going with the Sam Kane thing too. But then you see Caleb Clark, just not afraid, like, fuck you, this is what I'm going to do. And how do you say no? Because all he does is kick ass. Yeah, he does quite well last time I checked. Like Will Jordan.
00:22:24
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, Jordan knows where the trial line is. That's for sure. He's he's going to be he's going to be a piece of that team for a while. I have a feeling. Yeah. I think they'll watch the two. And also the furor over the yellow card that was not a red. Mm hmm. Last I checked the time was up. Does it really fucking matter whether it was red or yellow? It's it's a card. It'll get reviewed. Leave it at that. It doesn't matter. The game's over. It's yeah. That's really what it comes down to. So just chill out.
00:22:52
Speaker
Yeah. If they, if world rugby deems that he needs to be sarded, he will be sarded and, or Sansar, whoever, whoever does that makes those decisions in that case, doesn't matter. He'll be sarded. Chill the fuck out. Um, anything from the other two internationals? Probably not, not much. Um, I don't know that even watch them. Yeah.
Italy's Struggles in Recent Matches
00:23:12
Speaker
I think I watched, I, um, no, I did watch the France who they play Italy. Mm-hmm.
00:23:18
Speaker
Uh, Italy needs pelagi back. Yeah. It'll be a while. Yeah. That, that was hard. Yep. I'm sure. All right. Uh, let's go to the prem round two. Um, so let's, let's, let's play this fun game. Best match of the week. Saints, Queens. Um,
00:23:50
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I'd have to say St. Quinn's. I'm, I'm looking close, close, close runner up, probably being Friday night. Yes. Only because of the result. Right. Like five seconds of that match. No joke. I'd watch 80 minutes of that. Yeah, absolutely. Um, worst match of the weekend was probably the Sunday match.
00:24:15
Speaker
Oh, so there's another thing. Talk about kicking. All that was was thump, thump, thump. Yeah, it was a lot of foot to ball on that one. No putting pressure, but not to do anything, just to kick. They weren't putting pressure on the other team. They weren't trying to force them into making an error. They were just, all right, we'll thump it down. Like they were literally kicking it almost to each other. It was like a baseball rundown. It's like, what the fuck, guys? You're not...
00:24:41
Speaker
you're not gaining anything and you're not, you're not right. You're not changing field position. You're not putting any pressure, like the comms are even like, yeah, the forwards have just stopped at midfield. Like, fuck you guys. So like that was Friday too. Oh, maybe that was Friday too. Yeah. Yeah. But still just the same. Not, not wrong either way. Yeah. Um, good to see Irish opening a new home for themselves that they don't have to
00:25:05
Speaker
And they're in London and they don't have to be schlepped out to, you know. Right. And with the dubs. Good way to get away. No way to to, you know, you know, break the seal. Absolutely. Anything anything from Kingston Park up in Newcastle, other than the Mickey Young to Toby Flood try? Yeah, I don't think anything. Yeah, it's really just a lot of kick tennis in that game. Yeah, that's really what it was.
00:25:34
Speaker
I will say, and you and I both agree that sale Twitter is a bunch of idiots.
Social Media Blunders and Team Performance
00:25:39
Speaker
Um, they probably want to learn the names of the guys that are scoring the tries on the opposition, especially when they beat them. Ooh. What'd they say? Um, they called, they called Toby Flovinson.
00:25:53
Speaker
And they call it Tubby Blood, Adam Radlian. I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Big old bucket of nope there, kids. So no, try again. Coaches son, he doesn't give a fuck. Yeah, I know. Idiot. Um, Northampton and Quinn's definitely entertaining. You know, this was,
00:26:13
Speaker
And you said it too, far better from the saints the last couple of weeks than we even saw posts locked down on the restart. So there's something there for them. They just have to tighten it up.
00:26:25
Speaker
And well, they got to they got to get through these three weeks. This is like they're in the foxhole, you know, sale, Quinn's and Bristol. Fuck. And then right after that, they go play. They're going to play. Yeah. Honestly, I don't think Bordeaux knows what's going to what's coming. I don't think they have any. They're not ready for it at all. They are not. This is going to be an angry Saints team that's just going to take it out on them.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, the Saints have been, yeah, they've been good. I mean, they put 23 on sale. Nobody, you don't put 23 on sale. Not a lot of people do that. And they put 29 on the Quinn's, which, yeah, that happens a lot, but, and they they they're letting up 49, but it's not, it's- Marcus Smith was special in this match. Let's be real about that as well. Okay, don't doubt it.
00:27:11
Speaker
Um, they, they, they, they had a couple of, of, uh, of, of breaks. I should say Quinn's did that, you know, so shit's not breaking, uh, saints way, unfortunately, but they're playing so, they are playing so much better. It's, it's not a pain to watch them. It was painful to watch saints at the end of last year. Oh goodness. Was it? Was it ever? This is fun. I mean, even if they're losing, you're going to see something. I mean, they made this, they made a sale match in entertaining. So.
00:27:38
Speaker
What does that tell you? Let's go to King's home. Gloucester 40 in was 24. Not sure I saw that coming after last week from Gloucester, but does what? Yeah. Does Lloyd Evans belong at 10 for a while? I can tell you this. Cipriani does not belong at 10 for a while.
00:27:58
Speaker
And maybe that's the answer. It's it's only that he's not whatever. Whatever he's doing, it's not working. It's not connecting. And then he's not he's not the first one for that to happen to. You look across the way and leave us up for one of the best tens in the world. Can't sort it out. No, he has a sort of since he got since he got to England. So it's just not for it's not clicking right now. And maybe he's got a little bit more work to do. And maybe he's he's going to be right now. He's a 20 minute player.
00:28:28
Speaker
Um, until, until he, he, his form improves and his working with his teammates. So did, um, did quite well. So did Billy Paltry a little bit. Good. Good. Uh, good read on the intercept kind of a day. Yeah.
00:28:46
Speaker
And then, you know, the assist on, I believe it was the Simpson. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So, I mean, turn him back to clock, Billy, 12 trees. Good for him. How much fun was it to watch Matt Garvey score that? Oh, God.
00:29:01
Speaker
You talk about a giraffe on the loose. That was definitely one right there. It's the weirdest. So if you've never played before, or even if you have, you can commiserate with the feeling. One of the weirdest feelings in any contact sport is when you expect contact and it doesn't come.
00:29:19
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And you're just like... Makes you make so many bad moves. Yeah, sometimes you're like, oh, I'll relax. And then you get fucking laid out and it sucks. Yeah, it hurts. But then sometimes you just walk in for a try like Matt Garvey. But the look on his face... Anybody here? No, no. Anybody? I don't remember who was in front of him. Ah, Freddie Clark, I think. Yeah, Clark was like, get out of the... I'm in the way. Like, this is a penalty. Go away from me.
00:29:45
Speaker
yeah you just come this way and be done with it just go right there right there yep so good on the classroom and they got it done um let's go to we're not going to mention no dog we were just coming under the game and i couldn't you know it i had mixed joys about the kid i know he's super talented but
Recognition of Player Performances
00:30:02
Speaker
I feel like this was just him coming into a game that was more or less lost, but he did put two over the line and that's not nothing. So they weren't bad tries and they weren't again. Yeah, they were garbage time, but one was a good one was a very good line. I would give him that one was a very good line. So I'll give him that. So he did. He did well. And then Barbara did well enough that he's already in the England camp.
00:30:23
Speaker
Man, he just he just shunts people left and right too. That's the thing like he just nopes everybody. Nope. Nope. Not today. And just it's amazing. He's fun to watch because he's got that baby fat on him. Yes, he does get a little chunker. He's a little chunker. He but he moves like a motherfucker. Yes, he does. Let's go over to Ashton Gate Bristol. Get back on the get back on the board against Worcester. It was the Lloyd show.
00:30:52
Speaker
I thought he was going to be with Wales. I was like, why is he here? Yeah. And he did. He shows why he's got a Welsh cap now. He really does. Well, I mean, it seems like he's he didn't score, but he had to try assist. He is leading to points every time he's in the game, even if it's like late in the game. So, you know, it's like that Caleb Clark thing. Like if the guy if all he does is perform.
00:31:18
Speaker
Why would you get in his way? Let him, let him do his thing. Now. And Pat Lam's not the type to do it either. And Harry Randall's doing very well, um, without Andy urine so much, although urine did come in late, but yeah, it's nice. You know, they've had to lean on rent. Randall has not had the option to, uh, to have an off day. Yep. No, he's not. Um,
00:31:40
Speaker
Betlo's not terrible. He hasn't been bad. He hasn't been bad. Not at all. On the other side. Oh, first of all, Matt Kovesik, I know you're okay. But man, you scared the shit out of me, man. Yeah. Like don't do that. Yeah, don't mind, man. All right. I'm glad he's okay, though. Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
And we talked about the youth in Worcester in their outside backs.
Exeter's Motivation and Team Dynamics
00:32:04
Speaker
Tom Howe obviously was the man of the moment, this match. Excellent job from him, but the two of them are both supremely talented. So don't let that ball get to the wing against the Warriors because these kids know what to do with it. Good on them. But overall, yeah, good performance from Bristol in the grand scheme of things. It appears O'Connor doesn't need any help right now.
00:32:28
Speaker
We talked about maybe he might need help. He doesn't need any help anymore. He knows what to do with the ball exactly. Yes, he does. And that was a shit. Who put him? Was that Lloyd to put him away? I think so.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah. That was a hell of a decision. He had the inside ball to, I think it was Randall at the time or, or pass it out to, to Piers and, and made the right to sit like, and a decision that was, it's a hard one because it's so easy to hit your, your inside center. Um, but he realized that the help was coming from that direction. So he put it on the outside where the help wasn't really fucking smart and Piers was, was perfect being there. Yep. Man, did he have some runs too on his own?
00:33:08
Speaker
some good stuff going on there over there with the bears for sure always right yeah as we anticipated for the season um that's all the uh the late match on on saturday you said and i'll and i'll say it again i guess you have a point to prove
00:33:26
Speaker
They're they're angry. Yeah. People almost feel like they got, you know, and and to their to their credit and their point, people are almost writing off and they deserve this last year. Don't get me wrong. They're almost writing it out. People are almost writing it off. Oh, well, Saracens weren't.
00:33:42
Speaker
competing last year. So they got it by default. And now they're just out to put boots up everybody's ass and say, nah, that we got this by absolutely and they earned it. There's no doubt about that in my mind, they earned this 100%. So you know, just, yeah, don't don't even get that wrong. That's, that's not how it is.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, but they're planning their flag is what they're doing. And you have to respect it because it is them stepping up and saying, they could just be content to be like, yeah, we won. And we're going to just win the same way again this year. They're saying, no, we're going to need to prove that last year wasn't a fluke. And actually, we didn't even play our best rugby.
00:34:24
Speaker
So yeah, this is not what I expected from them. They're shown a level of character. I did not expect a Rob Baxter led team that still does the champ. They promised they would stop doing.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah. That's Tony Rose. That's Tony Rose issue. That's Tony Rose issue. That's not Rob Baxter's issue, although he could take a, take a stand on it, but that's definitely Tony Rose issue. Um, I mean, how good was the Toma Toma flirty try? That is just skill. My goodness.
00:34:59
Speaker
Never mind. I'm not even going to let this touch the ground. I'm just going to tap it forward in midair. I was like, whoa. I didn't think he did that. And then I saw the replay. I was like, he did do that. I was doubting it 100 percent of the time. I was like, there's no way he did that. That's bullshit. George Brigian of him. Quite, quite.
00:35:17
Speaker
But I think Bridge did it off of a pass. This was a kick to a kick. And that ball is wobbly. Yeah, it's fucking. Yeah. Well done. I mean, you know, I wouldn't go so far as to call him a friend of the pod. We appreciate his his talents. But he's he's working his way up the charts on that.
00:35:36
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's quite good. He's quite good. Yeah, so it was it was very good stuff from from extra Chiefs.
London Irish's Strong Home Performance
00:35:43
Speaker
They're out to prove a point and they just absolutely trounce bath in their first home match this year. And then we talked to we talked a little bit about Irish and Lester Lester just, you know, look a shadow of the team they were the week before. And Irish came to play and this is a home opener. They did not want to lose it. So they, you know, opening up the new stadium,
00:36:03
Speaker
They didn't want to go down here. So, uh, get on the boys to just get up for it and say, no, if we won't win another match this year, at least we won our home opener. And, and Lester didn't, they looked, they looked like their, their last year form here, which they didn't look at all last week. So I don't, that's just a weird, weird league so far thus far. Yeah. Cause what, wait, you know, with everybody's Mercurial, you know, Gloucester,
00:36:33
Speaker
One, well, you know, all right. So let's, let's talk about this. Um, now that we get, now that we got here of the own two teams, Northampton and bath, which one of them are you more worried about bath?
00:36:48
Speaker
Because Beth have their fly half. They have their halfback pairing. This week they had their front row, essentially. Yeah, they didn't have Stuart. But that shouldn't be it. Yeah. And I seem to remember somebody calling for a sit of the week.
00:37:06
Speaker
You know, yeah, it worked quite well the last time I saw that. Did you see a blue scrum count look bright? Like definitely not. Yeah, he was not. I mean, I saw it, but he was not doing a whole lot with it. Right. That that's a problem. I mean, that's not so much a problem. It was it was that was an exit or shutting him down. But but. What do you think? What do you do? You know, they they got sat down pretty good for the second time in a row.
00:37:37
Speaker
And I don't think they're, I'm not worried about either of them in terms of relegation. Um, I actually, at this point, wouldn't be surprised if, if Northampton finished in the top four. Um, if they keep playing this way, they have a good shot. Yep. I agree. I'm not saying they are. I would be surprised if they finished outside the top six, but I would, um, fair enough. But I would not be surprised if they finished top four. I think they're their top six material this year. Yeah. Um, Bath could be if they get themselves together, but they could finish eighth or ninth fairly easily.
00:38:06
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, they got the guys with themselves out over those two at Hooper, especially after the finish they had last year, which was really, really surprising to be the way they are. It's it's hard. Well, it's also it's it's emotional, right? And they just had that letdown. You know, a lot of teams usually you get the the whole offseason to to get over the moans and the sulks sometimes. Yeah, but they had three or four months. Yeah, about a month give or take. It's hard. And yeah, I.
Newcastle Falcons' Surprising Start
00:38:34
Speaker
Jeez, Newcastle, do you have a nosebleed up there? Are you comfortable up there? Are you scared of heights? What's going on up there? Holy shit. Second in the league after two weeks isn't seeing much, but it's not nothing either. No, it's not nothing. I think they have likely erased their relegation concerns.
00:39:00
Speaker
Um, cause they'll really get a good start off it. Yeah. Uh, well, yeah, I just don't see them. Fuck. I mean, even Lester looked.
00:39:09
Speaker
really good, but really shit. Luke has all just looked good. And again, you don't, you don't just take, you don't just beat sale. No, it doesn't matter. Yeah. And even if it's at the death, it doesn't matter. Yeah. You know, that's, that's nothing. I thought they played better. I thought that was, you know, they wanted the, they wanted the death, but I thought they were a better team that whole match. So I thought they deserved it. So I was happy to see them take it. Not just cause I don't like sale there very much, but, um, right.
00:39:38
Speaker
Yeah, sale didn't play well. So yeah, I will give, I'll give you this. So here are the, here are the totals of the less three teams. Um, if you consider Lester, the bottom team from last year, not Sarah since Sarah since we're only the bottom cause of penalties. Um, Lester had 29 and then, and they could have got relegated with that total. Um, the castle at 31. Mm-hmm.
00:40:05
Speaker
And then Irish had 22, I believe. And that those are the last three relegation totals. And so, yeah, so basically Newcastle has to get the 30 points. Yeah, they got to get 30 points. So at least have a shot at it. Right. Then they need 22 in the next 20 matches. Mm hmm. That's not that's that's doable. That's very doable.
00:40:29
Speaker
It's very double. Yep. And then even, even going back another year, let's see. Um, Bristol went down with 20. That was bad. They were, they were not good that year. They were very bad that year. Um, that was before they changed to the bears and they hired Pat Lamb and all that shit. So yeah, that was way before that. Yeah. I mean, they, they've played two of the tough and they've played two tough teams, right? That's the other thing. It's not just that they have beaten, um,
00:40:55
Speaker
you know, won two matches and, you know, to open their, their season back up in the, in the prem. They, they beat two top five teams last year. Those are, those are these are eight points that Newcastle should not have. You know, they should be at, at, at one or two maybe, you know, if they're lucky. Um, so to have eight at this point, they're, they're well ahead of schedule.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yep. So, hey, good on Dean Richards and the boys. Dean Richards obviously coming back from a little, a little scandal many years ago, but, um, has obviously corrected himself and got a, got a decent looking Newcastle team and he's encouraging local talent too, which I applaud. Absolutely. Um, so good on him. Yeah. They had somebody, I can't remember who it was on the team that they were talking about coming through the academy. Um, I'll go back. I think.
00:41:46
Speaker
Possibly. I thought it was a lock, but it might've been Brocklebank. Yeah. I mean, they've got a couple of those too. Um, yeah, let's go to some start or set.
Fantasy Rugby Tips and Advice
00:41:57
Speaker
I'll lead us off actually. Friday night match Bristol and Northampton. Yeah, Bristol have both have found ways to score fantasy wise. I think this is going to be another similar match. So the one that Northampton just played with Quinn's. So you'll see some many good fantasy options. But let's talk about the guys that maybe people are
00:42:19
Speaker
giving too much credit for or whatever, or not enough credit. So two guys want one position only at homes and Joe Joyce, cheap, lock only, but both have been have produced. So if you need that cheap option, you know, and a lot of people look for that cheap option, like where's the cheap option that I can plug in there once in a while when like Johnny Hills away, you know, this is not the, these might be the guys.
00:42:48
Speaker
I just love seeing, I love seeing Joe Joyce rake in fantasy. I love seeing it happen because he's a hell of a guy and a damn good player. It's just cool to see that what he does translates to fantasy because. Yeah. Especially in TRM for sure. Um, Brian Byrne, like I said, I mean,
00:43:09
Speaker
There's two good scoring, fairly cheap hookers out there. And Brian Byrne is one of two. The other one is Barbary. So don't sleep on him. No, right now we'll see if Eddie sends him back. Oh, true. Good to have him. We'll find out. And I don't know where you put Owen Lloyd when everybody comes back, but right now you're playing him. Playing something. Full back is a need position right now. It's hard to get point scorers at full back.
00:43:39
Speaker
So that definitely worth looking at him as somebody who holds score points. Yeah, certainly Adam Tear, FRD line in plan this weekend. Um, on the other side of it, Nathan Hughes is still an absolute paperweight, not producing, he didn't produce last weekend. I only, I know he's only played one game, but
00:43:58
Speaker
He just hasn't changed anything from last season. He's not writing an open space at all. He's not playing badly. It's just fantasy wise, not worth it. No, not the value that you're paying for in TRM, especially. We are now in the...
00:44:14
Speaker
We're gonna have the purely fantasy portion of this. We're not evaluating players for the players. No, I don't know. And then CIP O'Tow, again, not great in TRM, but absolutely worth that whack in FRD as a midfielder. As a position that is always just so hard to find a good option for, he's done quite all right. Especially the 12th position. The 12th position doesn't score as much. I mean, you got your Jimmy Goprath, but he gets his points from kicking.
00:44:41
Speaker
Esther Hazen did so well for me this weekend. I wish he had been on the right side of the result, but, um, and he was off holding everywhere. So, yeah. So it was the Quinn's were in general, but yeah, he was definitely a big part of it. Um, talk about 12, um, so we can have a center.
00:44:57
Speaker
Um, touch is angry. He's angry. So he's, he's motivated the season. I think, I think it's going to only benefit those that are looking to use him as a fancy asset. So, uh, go ahead and snag yourself a little Rory Hutchinson and make sure that you don't leave my lineup. Um, especially if he's starting, obviously, um, Lewis Ludlum, again, returning to form something about the world cup last season, definitely threw him off.
00:45:21
Speaker
So, yeah, again, returning to form, looking like his old self played super well this weekend. I had no complaints. I think George had one or two. Two tries. Two complaints. Two tries, yes.
00:45:37
Speaker
Harry Malender looks quite good. I don't know where they're gonna, another guy, I don't know where they're gonna stick when everybody else is back, but while there's space for him, if he's in, play him. He's not, he's good. The set of hands on this kit are very good. I will say that from where I saw. And in FRD, he'll get point, he got, he had a, did he have a couple of conversions or kicks this week? Yes, he did. He slots in at, he's their backup 10 at this point, so. Right.
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah, other side of the coin, James Grayson, whole lot of meh lately, whole lot of meh. And I know he's played one team that's very good and one team that just absolutely humped him, but he's just been a little bit of not quite what we thought he would be this year. So, temper expectations, maybe in a maybe on both formats. I'm just looking for other options if you can. Yeah, that's where I'd go. Hooker is not named Mikey Heywood.
00:46:31
Speaker
Uh-uh, stop. Reese Marshall, James Fish, decent players, not good fans. Yes, I move on. And then Tom Collins, for every good thing he does, he does something bad. So just leave him away. No, don't do it. Don't even do it. Don't be tempted. I know he looks pretty, but his points don't translate, I promise. Right. When you need him, he won't be there for you. Terrible. It's personal.
00:46:58
Speaker
Because he lost me in a game list last week. Not this past week, but before. All right, we're on to Worcester Bath. You are. Excellent. On Worcester's end, we'll go front to back. The front row. I think Bath are doing OK against front rows. I don't have the sheet up. But I do have it up. What am I saying? Anyway.
00:47:27
Speaker
I'm not sure I'd go with them in FRD. I mean, you can kind of go with them if you want, but Ethan Waller and Alanet, they should both be playing. Yeah. So you might want to leave them alone in FRD, but for TRM, yeah, the hooker and the prop who score, they'll score. The rest of the forwards
00:47:52
Speaker
I'm just not. Then well, maybe not so much the locks, but the loose forwards, especially eights. Yes, play him. They will. They'll do OK. As far as scrum halfery. Shit, where did I lose? Bath our 9th in FRD and 11th in TRM against scrum have so who guard is an excellent option. This is someone to someone to look at. As is Billy Searle, because bath are terrible against flyhaves also.
00:48:22
Speaker
11th in FRD and 7 in TRM. So they're giving up points to fly-haves and not even fantastic fly-haves. Let's put it down. In the centers, Venter, I'm not sure. Morris, if he's healthy, I'm not sure what happened to him. But if he's healthy, I'd give him a start in this match.
00:48:45
Speaker
And we mentioned Tom Howell before, got to be in your lineups because he's just putting up the points. And then in TR, I'm sorry, an FRD only, Melanie and I should do extremely well against Beth, who have been getting crushed by some fullbacks. On the Beth's end, their front row, yeah.
00:49:06
Speaker
What is it? Worcester are giving up points to the front rows. Afoa, Dell, Hoskins all scored well, whether they were starting or not. And then Hookers have been raking against them. So yeah, if Dom Don's playing, start him. What's the name? Walker? Walker, yep. Start him. The Bath Lock should score decently in TRM, but not FRD.
00:49:32
Speaker
Be careful with loose forwards in both formats. Worcester are kind of doing pretty decently. It's hard to know which one will score. And Beth aren't really, aside from... Mr. Mercer. Mr. Mercer, they're not really scoring anyway. Priestland is probably going to struggle in both formats, except as a kicker. So if you're going to start him in TRM, making your kicker, I think that's the only way you're going to get too many points from him.
00:49:59
Speaker
And Worcester giving up massive points to midfielders and wings. So Matt of AC, Redpath, and McConaughey are excellent options this week. To Glanville, no, he's been crap, even if Worcester are giving up points to 15s. I would not have him on my team this week. Yeah, I tried to roll him out there a couple weeks ago, it didn't work. It's not working, yeah.
00:50:21
Speaker
Oh, Lester and an Exeter. Oh boy. This could be interesting. So comma slash embarrassing. All right. So Lester, there are some, some spots that you need to look. Hanra Lee Bittenberg has probably been their best forward so far.
00:50:35
Speaker
Jasper Veese kind of disappeared last week. Leibenberg has been pretty consistent if nothing else. Harry Potter will come good. And the silly name, good player. He's kind of a whole bad game though. Yeah. Is it time to pet? No, it's not time to pet. Not quite. And then Jordan Tafua came back last week and I'd be willing to bet that their best, their best back row is going to be Tafua, Leibenberg and Veese. I would not be surprised to see him in there alongside those other two.
00:51:04
Speaker
Um, and if he's in play, it doesn't matter if he's playing six, seven, eight, he's, he's a good ball carrier. So he'll get it done. I think so against Exeter. And I get it. And there's also tackles that we can have. He makes a point. He makes a point too, as well. He's, um, he might muscle one over, you know, even Berg's useful in the line out. And I know that's useful in FRD, but he's a little heat, but whatever that's how it is. Um,
00:51:28
Speaker
But yeah, he's a strong ball carrier as well. So we'll see. Oh, this is an other side of the coin. This is the wrong week for their fly-offs to get on track. Henry and Benia had a rough week last week, and it's not going to get better. It's not going to get better. Jaco Tata came crashing back to Earth last week. Zippo out of him, just about. And it's not going to get any better. Nope.
00:51:50
Speaker
As bad as that midfield is scoring, Exeter's midfield is at scoring. They're pretty good at stopping points too. So yeah, there's not a lot of points in the midfield this week in this match. And then Dan Cole, way too much money still. 288, he's way too highly owned. He doesn't produce. That's 288 that you can go spend on at least one guy and put towards another one as well. So get rid of that. On the other side, Exeter.
00:52:19
Speaker
Start everyone. Yeah. There's a guy named Cordero. Oh, yeah, there is. Yeah, he's pretty good. And he doesn't look he doesn't look dissimilar from his brother. So play him for sure. He scored quite well the last couple of weeks. Sam Skinner is back. He played. He's played. He played exceptionally well this past weekend. He certainly did. Tom Hendrickson. He and Whitney needs to go away eventually, right?
00:52:54
Speaker
Anyway, if Hendrickson plays, you're playing him. Absolutely. He will eventually make Ian Witten go away. I don't know when, but he will. He'll play. On the other side of the coin, Don Armin is really useful right now, but only in TRM because he's playing as a lock
00:53:12
Speaker
and he's a loose forward in FRD. So that's not super beneficial. So yes, TRM, roll him out there, cause he's eligible at lock. So go ahead, do your thing. But other than that, no. Jack Monder is still a whole lot of meh. Whole lot of meh, whole lot of meh. Ollie DeVoto, same thing. Very meh in TRM. FRD is actually serviceable. So if you, especially in the land of, I don't know if I'm going to be able to find a good midfielder this week,
00:53:39
Speaker
Cause he'll get, he'll go for a run. He'll find up the space to get, yeah, he'll find it. Yeah. Get loose a little bit. So he'll, yeah, he'll get you like an easy three to four points. If you're, if you're worried just from that. And then I think he's got, I think the week before, I think first week you get seven and last week you got like 12. So yeah. So he'll get you a decent amount of, you know, he'll, he'll hover around 10 and that's damn good for a fill in. Especially at the mid. Yeah.
00:54:06
Speaker
All right, on off to the Rico for wasps, Newcastle. This will be a bunch of fun. This will be interesting. Wasps, front row, as always. And in FRD, not so much in TRM until they finally, once they get everybody back and Barbary is their hooker. I hope so. Right. And then we'll see.
00:54:29
Speaker
Newcastle are giving them up the most points to locks. So I'm going to point towards James Gaskell on this one. Cartel's not scoring that well, but Gaskell's pretty, pretty consistent. So I think he's just, he's going to get the bump.
00:54:44
Speaker
Don't bother with any, whoever's at eight. We, we, I think we saw that again last week. It doesn't matter if it's shields, it looks like they use their eight men the same way, no matter who it is. Um, and it's not to score fantasy points. Unfortunately, Tom Wells came up early. Unfortunately, that didn't help. He did. But even when he was on, he wasn't, and even his backup didn't really. No. Produce much. So it's just that position that they're whatever they're, you know, doing with it. Um,
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah. So, uh, but there's sixes and sevens. Hell yeah. Start them everywhere. Um, nines and tens I'd look elsewhere as well. Um, goppers is obviously very valuable in, in, in FRD. Um, as a 10, even though he's, he's in midfield, that said, avoid the other wasp and fielders. I mean, the bourgeois scored a try that he kind of like, hello, it's got to fell into. Um, other than that, did Jack shit. And you're not going to rely on that. No, you can't count on that.
00:55:37
Speaker
And then yes to Bassett and Kiberige, no to Sipawaga. Any format, Bassett and Kiberige will, the same kind of thing we were talking about before, they'll get you around 10 points each. And maybe they'll blow up, but they won't get much under that. So very good for FRD.
00:55:55
Speaker
Not to the visitors Newcastle, the front row. Yes, McGuigan yes logo, maybe hard to tell because he played sale. The second week, and the same thing for Peterson.
00:56:09
Speaker
Um, wasps are 11th in both formats against locks and Peterson is their scoring lock. I think even last week, he only got 18, but he was still the highest scoring lock for new castle. So I think he's there, their danger man and their focus at the lock position. Um, and he's a yank. So fucking sign him. Um, and then the six, seven, eight for new castle. Cause wasps are giving up the most points to Lucy's by a lot, by a lot.
00:56:33
Speaker
Um, yeah, uh, Mickey young may score some points in both formats. Um, somehow wasps are bad versus nines also, but, uh, sit bread cotton. Um, and then the centers, the wasps are vulnerable, but I don't really like flood or burl here, so I'm not going to know. Um,
00:56:54
Speaker
And, uh, Stevenson play him. Yeah. As a mid, he's a midfielder playing outside back right now. Then yeah, that's a, that's a good, that's a good get. And Penny might, Penny might be in that same situation. He's a midfielder playing as an outside back at the moment. Right. And I'm staying away from, um, from the, the rest of their back line. Fair enough. Fair enough with that. All right. Um, has the exiles and this sale. Um,
00:57:22
Speaker
So let's talk about the exiles a little bit here. This is going to be obviously a tough one for them because sale are just a fancy match-up nightmare. So look at your loose forwards for the most part. Blair Cowan's back and he's still making plenty of tackles. So he's certainly valuable on TRM. Might sneak over for an FRD try. Cool. Matt Rogerson's played consistent the last two weeks. I would play him for sure. And Curtis Rona is very quickly becoming one of the most dangerous weapons on this London Irish team.
00:57:52
Speaker
Showed it last week by getting over, but man, he was also busting loose left and right. So he's looking for off loads. He's looking for potential try assist. So that's going to be a big one for them. So I would definitely go ahead and roll him out there in that midfield where again, it's kind of the land of nether regions and you don't know what you're going to get in that area. So consistent player, if nothing else.
00:58:12
Speaker
Uh, on the negative side, Sokopi Kepu is extremely expensive and he has not produced a damn thing. So I would get rid of him as quickly as possible. That is a lot of dead weight right there.
00:58:24
Speaker
Ben, me and, um, I'm not so high on them this week. It matter of fact, you can probably drop them. You know, honestly hurt. Uh, he came off injured. So that also might, might be one more reason to just ditch him. Um, but yeah, don't, don't play him and Phipps didn't do anything, especially there. Nope. Um,
00:58:46
Speaker
All you hassle Collins, this is the wrong matchup for him to get right. He played fairly well the first week. Last week was awful for him. And you know, a lot of people were like, I need a big week from hassle Collins. He, they're a little inconsistent at this point and against this team is not the place to look for it. FRD, if you're stuck TRM, you can definitely get away from him. Yeah, I could do something else.
00:59:08
Speaker
Yep. Um, for the sharks, the sharks. Um, cause they've added another shock. Yes. They added another South African Jesus. Also a giant of a man at that. Um, another Dupriya because apparently Dupriyas grow on trees down there. I guess they do.
00:59:28
Speaker
This one is a tree. JLDP might see him in the back row again this week. So FRD is a significant thumbs up and TRM is serviceable at the very least. Again, another serviceable AJ. If nothing else, he's serviceable. He's usually good though as well. So roll him out there as long as he's starting. Ben Curry has been pretty darn good since
00:59:52
Speaker
since the start of the season and, you know, with obviously guys away, he's, he's taking advantage. So play him out there while, while he's still got an opportunity on the other side.
01:00:04
Speaker
Faf is just not playing well in general right now. I don't know what's going on in that little tiny Lannister's brain, but he's not playing well and he's not benefiting anybody in any format right now. He got minus points last week. That's bad. And he didn't get a card at that.
01:00:23
Speaker
E so look for other options if you can. Um, either James brother right now is not a viable option. Usually they're not, they're not, but they're definitely aren't and they're owned a fairly highly. So, and yeah, they played multiple positions in TRM and they, they sound like a sexy option in FRD, but they're not just 10 score points. They're not good. Um, Ben runs Berg.
01:00:44
Speaker
an absolute paperweight in TRM. He's better in FRD. So again, midfielders are hard to come by and he's not terrible. So if you have them, you're definitely rolling them out there in FRD, but you've got to get away from in TRM because he's just a paperweight at the moment.
01:01:00
Speaker
All right, off to Gloucester Quins to end the week. The front row should work just fine in FRD. Valor Pavaruskin and whoever's at hook for TRM, there we go. I still don't like the Gloucester locks just yet. More points, I think, are available elsewhere. Garvey, I do like a lot, but I'm not ready to recommend him because he's mercurial.
01:01:25
Speaker
Same thing with the loose forwards. There's probably going to be one of them that'll go off, but I'm not sure which one. So I'm not going to recommend them. You know, you're going to pick wrong. So to just stay away or else. Start Joe Simpson in either format. Fucking duh. Wasps are ninth in points against in both formats. So he's probably going to score. And as we talked about before, only start Evans, not Sips until Sips proves it. Twelve threes, though, you're going to start him for his boot, you know, whether or not
01:01:54
Speaker
Um, Evan starts, uh, he, he'll still, he should still be taking the kicks. Yeah. Um,
01:02:01
Speaker
Woodward, I'd go with him in FRD only. Thorli, it's a maybe. It's harsh because that first half was kind of a, was direct and reigning against WASPs. So Thorli just didn't get the, I don't think he'd get many opportunities to express himself, but just unfortunate on his end. But he still, I think got to stay in your lineup.
01:02:29
Speaker
for the upside. Quinn's front row in FRD, yup. Only Baldwin though in TRM. Yes, he's the driving force on that one. Stay away from the Harlequin's LOX cluster, R1 and 2 in FRD and TRM. Oh, interesting.
01:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, I would not expect much from Harlequin's locks this week. Certainly if it's not Levis. Right. I would expect much from Dombrandt. He's not playing Exeter this week again, so he should be okay. That helps. Gloucester haven't played a 9-10 combo like this, an actual 9-10, just yet. I mean, Goprath is, but it's been a while since he's been a regular 10. Yep.
01:03:17
Speaker
I'm just not trusting their points against rankings, six, four and seven, two. So, yeah, I would be okay with going with Care and Smith because they put up some points last week. Yeah, I would not trust their higher rankings, especially in TRM. I would still go with both of those nine tens.
01:03:42
Speaker
I've given up points to one center in both matches. So I'm going to go with Esterhosen. Yay. Oh, I'm the giant. Flip a coin. One of them will have points. The other one won't. Although Marchant might be if he's at 13, that changes things. That might change some things for sure.
01:04:01
Speaker
But if he's at the wing, also changes things in that, put him in your lineup because he'll do well from the wing. Right. And at a midfield position on your lineup. Quite good. Outside of that, yeah, Mike Brown in FRD puts up points. Yes, he does. Because he runs, and so he'll get you some points. Yeah, he's a good attacking fullback, so that helps.
01:04:29
Speaker
He's not one of those who catches the ball and kicks it right back immediately. He catches it and says, you know what? I'm going to see if I can run through your defense. And for some reason that's actually good. 15 or eight. It is. Right. Cause you're actually fucking crazy. Yeah. Absolutely wild idea. Right. Um,
01:04:45
Speaker
Of the weeks, um, my start of the week, um, the person I am choosing to put the hex on this week, cause it seems to be, I've put the kibosh on a couple of people so far. Um, guys been good, no matter what position he plays and going against the team. That's very terrible at the moment in terms of fantasy. My start of the week is Bristol center and wing peers, O'Connor. That's an, well, fuck you can't go wrong there. That's a good start. No matter who he's playing against. Hmm.
01:05:12
Speaker
My start of the week is going to be a bit of both. It's a combination of the player doing well and the matchup. First off, can you tell me who has the worst points against as far as wings are concerned? And TRM? Yes, TRM. Wooster. And who has the second most points against given up to outside backs in FRD? That'd be the Woosters.
01:05:40
Speaker
Who's a really good outside back for the team that they're playing against? I'm thinking Scurry McConaughey. Scurry McConaughey is my start of the week. Yeah, pretty good one. He's going to be Scurry McConaughey. Yeah, I hope he is. I got him in a couple teams, so I could use it. Good old Scurry. My state of the week, this might be kind of sound like a layup, but it's actually something I actually try to put some thought into. This guy's far, so here's my reasoning for this. This guy is far too highly owned. What's up?
01:06:07
Speaker
Did it hurt? Yeah, it definitely hurt. My brain a lot. This guy's far too highly owned. I understand he's a cheap option. We talked about good cheap options and bad cheap options. He's the bad one.
01:06:22
Speaker
He doesn't make it worth the investment in his opposition this week. As we've talked, as Ben and I both spoke about, are out to prove a point. And that's the detriment to anybody that has a fantasy asset going against them. My city of the week is the far too owned and not super useful Harry Wells. He's 12% owned in TRM. It's the same as Genge. The highest tiger owned in TRM is Wells and Genge. That baffles me. Yeah. I mean, I think it's just because he's been cheap. I don't get it either.
01:06:53
Speaker
Nope, nope, nope. So I am going that we're right next to each other on this one. Um, so I'm going, I'm staying in the same match, same team and same position group in a way. Um,
01:07:07
Speaker
And, but not nearly as owned, but somebody who should have opened your eyes by now as someone who you may be considering adding to your team and you should not do that. Um, not this week. Um, and that's Jasper Reese. Oh yeah. My start of the week last week. I put the mush on him.
01:07:25
Speaker
Yeah, again, for the same reason that I named Mercer, but also the fact that we might be somebody who you're looking at for your team as a potential option. Not this week. Just hold off. He's cheap. You can get him later. Not worth it this week. No, not the week to do it. But this is the good week, I would say, especially in FRD.
01:07:49
Speaker
This is a good week to look for him in the waivers after this weekend, because somebody will be pissed about him not realizing that. Yeah, there's a chance that that he just played Exeter and won't score well. Yeah. Give it some give it some slack,
Fantasy Rugby Draft Recap and Strategy
01:08:03
Speaker
kids. OK, Champions League. Let's let's have a little rundown of this, because we also got some fun to do with that today, too.
01:08:11
Speaker
Oh, man, my head no longer number one in TRM. Yeah, no, we'll talk about that in a second. Let's talk about FRD real quick. Yeah. Carrick absolutely trounced me nearly doubling me. But you absolutely house George, I have not seen the scoreline that lopsided for a while. My goodness. Anton smashed Duncan and then
01:08:35
Speaker
Yeah, all wax this week, all huge halls this week. Justin gave out, put a good number on Mark and then TRM, there was some movement in TRM, all over the place, really.
01:08:48
Speaker
Our TRM newbie, Mark King crashing back down to earth and is now holding up the rest of us, unfortunately. But George is right in front of us, is right there. So they'll be sneezing at that. Duncan is that far away from Duncan. Yeah. And Duncan and then I jumped a couple of spots. Thankfully, I had a much better week than I did last week. Anton took the top.
01:09:09
Speaker
Yeah. Right. It was, I mean, a few bad decisions. He made some good decisions and that'll do it. That'll do it. That'll do right there. And then obviously Justin and Carrick round up, round it out. Um, so it'll be interesting. And then this coming week for FRD, um, it is, it is the yank and yank. Yeah.
01:09:30
Speaker
yanking yanks a turdie at law do battle. Duncan is going to go against Justin, Mark and Anton go toe to toe and then George and Carrick, our other division opponents that Ben and I are alongside, they go out at Georgia time, pick up his first win here. And then I have to point this out because I didn't point out in the last podcast.
01:09:55
Speaker
The Fantasy Rugby Yanks 2, Mallover Podcast Zero. Yay! It's a podcast grudge match.
01:10:06
Speaker
Although American Ruby pod got the better of one of us this past weekend as well. Yeah. Or just nipped. Yeah. Just got me. God, you couldn't be any closer than that. Half a point. Yeah. Couldn't be any closer than that. I went to bed Sunday night thinking I'd won. I woke up Monday morning and the scores had changed. Those, those, those, those stack corrections will get you, man. I'm not saying stack corrections, just the totals. Right.
01:10:31
Speaker
This is the tolling up. So it's it's all it's all the play for still plenty of time to go here. We have another civil war in that match to in that league. Is it that one or is it there's our podcast league and our stars are podcast league is the podcast league. Yeah, I've I've got two wins against Yuri as well this year. Sorry, buddy. Okay. We're gonna pick the draft or
01:10:56
Speaker
All right. Now, just so everybody's aware, we are doing this remotely because after Thanksgiving, we're just trying to be a little smart. Yeah. I did not. I mean, I went to my mom's. I didn't do anything too stupid, but I'm still going to make sure that I'm not doing anything stupid and risking Jared because I love him.
01:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, let's be real about the show for me. But I can watch the, I said that too. Yeah. I texted him saying he's old and I want to protect him. He reminded me that I'm a few years old. Yeah, that's how it goes. But we're doing this on zoom so I can see everything that's happening there. Yeah. So, and I'll show Ben the names and numbers too. So let's go, I believe these are numbers. So let's go with the first one, the first number here.
01:11:45
Speaker
The first pick that we're going to determine is number five. Yep. That is number five. And then we need, and then we need one of those. Uh, Vermeel and you don't get number one this time.
01:12:06
Speaker
For me, I only got number one in the, in the prem, prem draft. The next pick that we'll go for is Trey, number three, and then the name manager, whatever. And the divisional set will be odds and evens again this year in this comp as well. Duncan gets number three. You're number three in my book, Dunk.
01:12:37
Speaker
Oh, here we go. Two are right in front of Duncan. Oh, number two. Number two. Yeah. And that will be Mr. George was the fancy. Here we go. All right. And Tom message me thinking he's going to get number one here. We'll see.
01:13:00
Speaker
eight. All right. So this could be a good, bad pick, especially with all the depth that's going to be in, in a champions cup this year. True. Carrick Carrick with the last pick of the first, but the first pick of the second, I got to say I enjoyed the being in that position. I think that that's a place I'd like, Oh, is that the only position you enjoy being in?
01:13:26
Speaker
No. As long as you can admit it. Number one. All right. Here we go. Here's the number one overall pick for the Champions Cup here. And it goes to. Oh, it is going to my co-host, Mr. Ben Glauser. Ben's going to get number one. So are you taking Bakutawa? I don't know. Yeah, I know. We got to do some digging. What the fuck do I know?
01:13:56
Speaker
Number seven, right in front of Carrick. Not a bad spot in that turn. Four or five is a pain in the neck. That's the biggest one. Oh yeah, that definitely is. It definitely is. Well, it's going to be me anyway. Number seven. And then the next pick. So we have four and six left. Number six. So that means number four is left. Here we go.
01:14:29
Speaker
moment of suspense and it's Mark. So that means number four goes to Anton. Sorry, Anton, not number one this time, buddy. Good try. I'm calling you shot, but not quite. Still coming in behind Justin. Yeah. Justin's five. Justin's five. Okay. So
01:14:53
Speaker
Yeah so here so the divisions will be the odds will be Ben, Duncan, Justin and myself. What the shit? Can I get away from you please? We're in the same division in one of our other leagues too. This is bullshit. You love me. And then the Evens will be George, Anton, Mark, and Carrick, although George and Carrick are in the same division in our
01:15:15
Speaker
Premier League as well. So yeah, that'll be that. That's coming down, going down this Saturday, Ben and I will be doing a live draft podcast as we like to do with these ones. Why? Because they're fun. And that's the point. Yeah. And they're, you know, yeah, they're fun. And I hope that they're informative because you can hear us screw up or not screw up. Right. You can learn at least tactics and it's almost like you're sitting in on a
01:15:45
Speaker
A practice draft or something. Yeah. Like a, like a mock draft or something like that. You can take mental reps. That's the important thing. Yeah. That's the idea. Okay. Um, let's do pick them and we will, we will bounce out of this. All right. Um, let's start with Friday night up at, or down at Ashton gate. No fans for Bristol. Unfortunately, sad to say, um, but no Bristol and North Hampton.
01:16:12
Speaker
Uh, Bristol. Yeah. Same Bristol. Yeah. I'm really happy. I, as much as I believe in the saints, I really have to see it first. I it's, and it's not right. It's not that I don't believe in them. It's that they're, they're playing well, but they're not playing well enough to beat top teams and Bristol are a top team. Correct. Oh, this would be interesting. Worcester and Bath at six ways. Worcester should have fans back, um, 2000 of them or so at six ways.
01:16:40
Speaker
I'm going to take the black, black, white and blue. Yeah. I got to go with bath. They have to fix it here. Yeah, they have. They do. This is, this is, I mean, they should have, I should have got it. Um, you know, start off the season. All right. Um,
01:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they this is where it's got to start. You got to have the wins you got to have. So and Worcester just. I mean, they can't finish. So no, they they don't know how to score tries, unfortunately, for points in two games. I mean, the bath can really boast about anything more, but at least bath have played one opposition in one in one case at least. Speaking of top opposition, Lester next year. Yeah, definitely.
01:17:30
Speaker
Oh, man. Oh, this would be interesting. Washington, Newcastle. Hmm. Can Newcastle stay unbeaten going up to the Rico? You know what? Wasps did fine at home, so I'll give it to them. And yeah, it's got it wasps are going to. They're going to put it on them. Maybe I think this is going to be Newcastle coming back to earth. Yeah, just a little bit. And wasps have a little bit of a.
01:17:57
Speaker
They should have a chip on their shoulder cause cause they let Gloucester kick them in the ass. So they can't let it happen twice. Absolutely. Um, one Irish and sale. I mean, Irish can play amazingly, but not at its sale, but sale are still a tough defense and Irish aren't scoring points by the bucket loads by any means whatsoever. Yeah. Oh, here we go. This would be fun. Gloucester and Quinn's.
01:18:23
Speaker
I love the sandwich of this weekend. The way it starts and the way it finishes will be tasty. I think those are going to be the two matches of the week here.
Rugby Tactics and Player Impact
01:18:34
Speaker
I'm going to go with Quinn's because
01:18:38
Speaker
You tell me who has the better 10. I don't care who the fuck is playing 10 for gloss. Oh, yeah, I was about to say I'm choosing the team that Marcus Smith's on. And end of fucking story. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, all right. International time. Is Liseke hurt? He must be. He must be. If he's not even making the team, she. Yeah, you must be a match that I would I think I would like to see him.
01:19:06
Speaker
start for, cause I would love to see for this match, uh, uh, let's see gay Esterhuizen, um, and Marchant 11 or was it 12, 13, 14. Yeah. That'd be interesting. Um, that would be.
01:19:20
Speaker
That would be why Northmore is getting run in there. He must be hurt. That's the only reason I can come up with it thus far. If he's not hurt and Northmore is giving time over him. Yeah, I got something to say because now. Yeah. So I would really like to see the C.K. play in this match that I think that would make it for a fairly easy Holocaust win comfortable. I should say not easy.
01:19:44
Speaker
But I can't pick Gloucester. They're too inconsistent right now. Yeah. And Quinn's are just they have Marcus Smith. What the fuck do you want me to say? Let's go abroad. Australia and Argentina. Argentina are depowered and really reeling probably after that. I'm going to go with the Aussies. They can't keep that. The thing is, it's not so much the
01:20:07
Speaker
their lack of play time hurts them in the first match. It's the second and third match. You can't keep that level of. It's tough. Play up. You're not used to it. It really is. And Australia are. Yeah, they want to also show that.
01:20:26
Speaker
They want to, yeah, they want to close this with a win. Absolutely. Georgia and Fiji, we're going to get the, and it is confirmed or more or less that this is a one-off competition. Teams are starting to confirm fixtures for next year that don't include anybody on this list. Right. So I'm going to Scotland already confirmed. So I figured as much too, but you know, people were trying to push it. I was like, Nope, give me one off.
01:20:51
Speaker
Gotta be one off those. I mean, it's an interesting idea. Those fault tests are fun. Those fault tests are fun when the Southern hemisphere goes North. Like that's, that had to have that rule. Let's not change that. Let's not change that whatsoever. Um, so Georgia and Fiji, um, Fiji are going to be a little balled up after being in lockdown for two weeks. So I'm going to go and play. Um, I think most of them are cleared at this point.
01:21:17
Speaker
I think only a few of them got sick. So I'm going to go with the Fijians. I mean, the Georgians are not putting up a physical fight. And they're that's rare for them. Yes, it is. But they're also not playing with the ball very well. That's not something to do especially well, although they're 13 had a fucking fantastic try.
01:21:41
Speaker
Um, I'm very much a 13 try. So, uh, good on him. I'm not even going to try to pronounce his name or have remembered it, but, um, fuck, it was an impressive try. Um, I, yeah, Fiji's going to take this one. Yeah. Ireland and Scotland. It's it's in Dublin. And there's no, there's no section. There's no, there's no Adam Byrne. There's no Joey Carberry.
01:22:10
Speaker
Yeah, but there's no there's no opposition. They got the cabin. They had a cabbage on the other side. Oh, that's so much fun to watch. Oh, it's so fluffy. Oh, I want to watch it win. All right. I'm going with Scotland.
01:22:26
Speaker
Yeah, I am too, actually. Yeah, that's right. We actually didn't get to talk about that. Oh, I don't know if you've seen a clip of him just running. Oh, I've seen the running. It's majestic. It flows. When he sprints, it was a fro that was flowing behind him on a bike. I didn't quite recognize him because the fro was
01:22:47
Speaker
Why that? Until he stopped and it sprung forward again. I was like, oh, okay. No, it's okay. Oh, shit. That's funny. Oh, man. But, yeah, I think I'd like to see him take this match. Both these teams are going to be a little annoyed at the way they've played, but... Mm-hmm. Likely. Wales, Italy, Wales.
01:23:12
Speaker
Wales. Yeah. England, France, France have been depowered because of certain top 14 rules, which I was like, um, if I'm the French rugby Federation, I am getting my hooks into this frigging league and being like, what the actual fuck. Yeah. Um, so unfortunately I don't think if Dupont and Intimac aren't playing in this match. I don't know how French one. Yeah, no, there's no way. Yeah. Um,
01:23:37
Speaker
England went ugly. They went ugly. There is not. It'll be ugly. It's not bad. No. Uh, yeah, no, no, he's not. He's not into Mac, but that's also why I'm wondering if they're going to keep the guys like barbery up. If they're going to, I mean, fuck if I'm England, but that's not, and it's been explained to me. That's not Eddie style. Like he's like, now let's try it out. Some old heads out there and just, you know, put an embarrassment out there instead of getting some youth and injecting some of the pace into the game.
01:24:09
Speaker
This would be a very good game to give Sam Simmons a cap. Yeah. Well, you didn't get called in the camp, unfortunately. No, he didn't. But I'm just saying, that's what it should be. That's what this should be. Because friends are good, but they're missing too much. Oleval is a bit like, it's not just the 910. It's a lot. Guys who are ever... I mean, come on. Do you think if...
01:24:36
Speaker
Fuck. Although, between Teddy Tomah and George Ford, who least wants to actually be playing rugby out there? I know. They're just two of the most disinterested players I've ever seen in my life.
01:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, there's that to think of, but tomorrow actually scored this past week. It was pretty good, but again, it was, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. That's why I'm going to go with, with, with England. Yep.
01:25:08
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Yep. So no separation for us. Maybe we can at least change our record. We went six and four the last couple of times. Hope we do better and we'll do, we'll be different this week. Yeah. Yeah. There's one more game. Hopefully not just six ones this time though. All right. Um, so we'll be back Saturday with, um, live draft. That's always a fun one for us. Um,
01:25:32
Speaker
We'll probably have a match on in the background as well for Ben and I to chew on as we go through it. Yeah.
01:25:41
Speaker
fantasy rugby podcast at gmail.com. Any questions, download us, rate us, review us, tweet at Ben and I, we'll get started and sit, um, cheat out this weekend. And it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be a blast. I can't wait to talk about you. It's come once again. I know it's like four weeks, but I'm still looking forward to it. That's going to be a bachelor crazy competition. That's definitely for sure. So until then, uh, thanks a lot for coming along and we will talk to you guys next week. Have a good one. Cheers.