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Season 2- Episode 50- Defense Wins You Trophies (Champions Cup Final)
28 Plays5 years ago
It's those American Rugby knuckleheads back for more fun! In this episode, we can confirm, Eddie is still not OK. Discuss World Rugby's total muck up of the player eligibility policy (here's a hint, look at the countries opposing it). Dig in to the Irish Autumn squad a little bit. As always, we recap the action from this past weekend including both European finals and the action from Auckland. Crack one open, kick those feet up and enjoy!
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.
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If you didn't get one, but want to participate in a lower tier of the competition, hit us up at our e-mail above and we'll start piecing it together.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Goals
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It's the Fancy Rugby Inc. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben and the others. Yes, we are. All right. You know, spectacles of your sport or what you want in finals and big finals. And we got it.
Super Rugby Final Reflection
00:00:24
Speaker
You know, we talked about, I remember the end of our first season was the Super Rugby Final between the Crusaders and the Haguares.
00:00:33
Speaker
Oh, what a terrible final that was. Yeah, no, little one sided there. Oh man, that was a bad final. So, um, you know, we're, we're obviously closing to the end of this, this season. And, uh, that was, that was better. That was much better. Refreshing all around just to smooth, good, good edge, your seat, rugby, even in the match that wasn't so close.
00:00:54
Speaker
Right, yeah. We'll get into that obviously, but still some entertaining stuff in that. So it's not like that lacked value by any means. No, everything was worth the price of admission.
Season Three Launch and Content Control
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah. And there were people that actually got admitted to certain places. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. All right, let's pop on. Yes, there we go. Find us on your favorite podcast apps, folks.
00:01:24
Speaker
Subscribe, download. Yes, we are doing season three. Don't worry about it. You don't need to panic and wonder if we're doing a season three. You know why? Because we can't be canceled. We control it.
00:01:40
Speaker
Obviously. They're the only by our wives. That's
TRM Upgrades and Six Nations Discussion
00:01:44
Speaker
how we'll get canceled. Yeah, that's pretty much the only way that happens. And even then, you might put an act of defiance and do it in secret. You won't name names anymore. You're still doing that damn thing.
00:02:03
Speaker
All right. So obviously it's a little late for your TRM upgrades, although we do still have six nations to go this week and next week. So maybe you can snag that and then carry over for you and ride it right in. Yeah. Yeah. Have it roll over right into the next season. Um, so make sure you grab ahold of that, especially, you know,
00:02:20
Speaker
And they did a really good favor for everybody. It's unlimited subs for the two Six Nations matchups left. And really, we're just closing out one round of four. And then for five, you just get to make them all. Just go ahead. Full change. You only get five each, I think, though, right? I don't know. I don't recall. I think it's five. It sounds right. So...
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah. So if you, if you did happen to get stuck last week or last week at the end of the beginning of lockdown, when they canceled the Ireland, Italy match, guess what? You can pick one of those players that you actually want to play and not just like, you know, be stuck with one of them. Like I had Brown stain and Larmor and I might stick with Brown stain, but Larmor might get changed depending on who starts and all that stuff.
00:03:08
Speaker
We'll see how that plays out. But hey, good on those guys for making it right and trying to do right by their players and their fans. Obviously, you want to check out George. I'm sure he had some good insights and got one of you out there.
00:03:24
Speaker
an FRD champions cup final win. So congratulations to you all that finished the job there. I was, I limped into the toilet bowl and that was the end. The soccer bowl, the soccer bowl, whatever it was. So, say lovey.
World Rugby Policies and Inclusivity
00:03:39
Speaker
And then we, I don't want to get too deep into it, obviously, but we always want to mention Black Lives Matter. And we cannot, as a sport, cannot pound the drama of rugby for all with the current policies that have just been put in place by world rugby. And I think it should be a huge wake up call for them when the two finalists from the 2017 World Cup both have said this is wrong.
00:04:07
Speaker
And obviously we're talking about the transgender, but yeah, first thing the US has done right in a while. Right. We're the first team that their first country is like, yeah, we're not doing any of that shit. Canada jumped on as well as Australia and I'm sure those won't be the last country. So I think as more, we need the tier ones to really, you know, make the statement and say, nah, you guys fucked up.
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I mean, come on, we have we have a bunch of old white dudes sitting around trying to tell women. I mean, this isn't unusual. We're trying to tell women how that how their how their activity should be done like
00:04:45
Speaker
Are you kidding me? Are you freaking kidding me? Like, what the hell? Like, you didn't bother to ask the athletes that actually play the goddamn sport. No, just let it be as is. Like, stop being dumb. Right. You know, yeah. And as you said, like, we've been consistent on that where it's not
00:05:04
Speaker
I even saw on a Twitter argument with people saying, I didn't participate. I saw it and I noped right off. But it was like, oh, it's not fair. Think of the other athletes are so much better built and this and that. If you're a man, you just go play. They literally think it's a man playing
00:05:23
Speaker
women's rugby, and it's not how it works. It works. Yeah, like there are still policies around it. You can't just say, yes, I'm going to go change. But there's a there are guidelines that USA rugby has had. There's no reason not to have guidelines like that where there's a process, a transition process. And you work within that and then everything should be fine at the end of it. So just go with that.
00:05:52
Speaker
Like,
Criticism of Eddie Jones' Player Selections
00:05:53
Speaker
it's not difficult. No, I totally agree. You know, I've I had this, I kind of had this conversation in my head last week. I was like, you know, there's people and there's just people and they're all and we're all people. So I'm now categorizing them into two things. You're either an asshole or you're not.
00:06:12
Speaker
Which one are you? I don't care what you are beyond that. That is irrelevant. You can be anything, but you can still be an asshole or not an asshole. So let's just keep it at that. How's that? We categorize them in two ways. If you're an asshole, don't make any fucking rules. If you're not an asshole, all right, let's have a chat.
00:06:33
Speaker
Yeah, the problem is the asshole's the one who wants to make the rules. No shit. That's the problem. Oh, man. Let's show me. All right. Well, you know, not our job to solve. No, unfortunately, it's not. I wish it was. But things that we can influence, which is why we talk about it within the context of rugby, because that is something we can influence. Correct. Do our best at the very least, right? Right.
00:07:03
Speaker
Hmm. Oh, yeah. Yeah, let's get on to this. Eddie, you are not OK. Where the fuck is Ben Spencer? Come on, man. Like, what the hell? Really? Willie Hines and and and fucking Young's, you know, Young's is there for nostalgia at best. Yeah. And then that's it. I mean, he sucks. Like, can we can we can we just be honest that that Ben Young's is not a good scrum half anymore?
00:07:33
Speaker
And the George Ford is also not a good, like, you think, you'd think if this was, if this was a national team worthy nine and 10 combination, what the fuck is Lester doing at the bottom of the table? You know, like, if you have, if you have a start, you know, it's from the fucking World Cup final, no less, like there, how much more do you need to know that these people are being carried by the players around them, not the other way around? Like,
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm done with both of them. Same. And Ben Spencer is so good. He was so fantastic this year. It should be a no-brainer, unless he said, I want to rest, but why the fuck would Ben Spencer say that? He would not say no to an England paycheck, I promise you that. And Spencer has done everything Eddie asks. Spencer is at Bath because Eddie told him to go to Bath if he wants to play. Like, you have to go somewhere else outside of Saracen's.
00:08:29
Speaker
If you want the Jersey, cause I need to see what you can do as a leader. Fuck. All he did was take bath to the, the semis. Yeah. And really was a huge catalyst in that too. Like don't, don't make any mistake about it. So Eddie, what the fuck dude? Not cool. Not, not at all. Like it's just a, it's a dick move to do to, to, to, to have someone do everything you've asked of them and be better than the people that you're selecting.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm at a loss and you know, maybe he's building Billy Heinz for the future, you know, because that's what you do around like, 33 year olds. I know. It's like, uh, what? No, I'm so lost. I'm so lost. Um, there was, uh, one of the England coaches I missed, which one was probably the attack or the basket backs coach. You know, people were obviously going to ask
Ireland Squad Analysis
00:09:18
Speaker
him about, um, why Ben Spencer wasn't there and all that stuff. And you know, he,
00:09:26
Speaker
Eddie likes to town himself as somebody that will front up and take the bullets when they're coming at the players. He needs to do it now cuz I haven't seen anything on some missing something. If I missed something, okay, cool. But I haven't seen him say anything and give reasoning. People want answers, people want answers. And I realize we're now trying to pick at the very minute because they obviously did get to a World Cup, World Cup final and we're really,
00:09:55
Speaker
probably a good 40 minutes away from from wanting it. So you know, it's it's really just, you know, I mean, I can promise you if it was the US, we'd buy your hand off. But you know, that's just not how it's working right now. Right? Yeah, I just I think we need to just understand that context. But still, get Ben Spencer in there. Come on, you did he did everything you asked him more. Come on, right? And what you can't have a space for? I guess what I don't get like, oh, we don't have a room for him. Like, that's not
00:10:25
Speaker
You know what? Just bring it on. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter. Like, come on. You can say, hey, I'm taking an extra person. I'm taking 45 instead of 44. Something like that. And then that's it. It's shit. It's not hard. It's not hard. You know, just frickin' A. And I mean, I'm glad to see some of the best guys that got in there. Obano played his balls off again this year and finally got the phone call, which was so deserved. So I do want to give him a round of applause because that's really good on him.
00:10:52
Speaker
Let's go to another squad that's been talked about in recent weeks, most recently last week or so. The Ireland squad that name with James Lowe in it. This sounds like something that's got a little fishiness to it.
00:11:09
Speaker
I'm fine. Whatever. I'm fine seeing James Lowe play. I do, too. I mean, I do. I'm not taking that away from him. He's obviously a fantastic player. He's done great things for Lester. But, you know, when he's like, oh, I think it's when he calls the eligibility rule stupid, it's like, all right, I don't think you ever clarified, but he may or may not have said that maybe he was thinking it should have been longer. But at the same time, like.
00:11:31
Speaker
He's bitching about a rule that he gets to take advantage of, so. Okay, I mean, the five-year rule kicks in at the end of this year, so. Hey, yeah, cuz he just got it, cuz they changed it last minute. Yep. That's right. Yeah, they changed it, basically, so it would affect this World Cup, this coming World Cup. Right. This next World Cup cycle, so. Oops, Daisy. Yeah, he's in, Jameson,
00:11:59
Speaker
Jamison Goodson Park is in which I was really excited to see I thought he played really well for Lancer and needed to be on some sort of higher stage and obviously he's gotten there. Marmee comes in at scrum half as well. It looks like Farrell's trying to, you know,
00:12:17
Speaker
figure out who his halfback is. That's not named Connor Murray. Connor Murray's obviously in there. McGrath is, I think he's, is he beat up? I think he's beat up. And then John Cooney's beat up as well, so. Yeah, they both seem to remember both of them getting hurt. Yeah, so. As much as I follow. Not that much.
00:12:45
Speaker
I do notice there is nobody, is there nobody? Nobody in the squad with over 100 caps, which is a lot, but still. There are a bunch of guys with 80 plus. He and Healy has 98. Yeah, he's close. Healy. He's close. Murray's got 81, Sexton's got 91. Sexton's got 91. Who else? I saw one more, I thought. But yeah, so you're gonna have a couple of guys that get 100 real soon here.
00:13:13
Speaker
67 caps. Yeah. Fuck. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Ian Anderson has 55. That's 12 different. Like, no. I feel like, oh, man, he's been around forever. And, you know, his playing style, he always takes a wallet at some point and it gets himself hurt.
00:13:34
Speaker
True. Maybe it's because he looks like he's 60 already. He does look like an old man. He looks like they dragged him out of a pub. That I would believe. Took off his cap and just threw him out there. That I would 100% believe. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. No time for a shave. Just get out there, Peter. And he was like, he kicked ass. I was like, all right, well, we'll just keep him doing this then.
00:14:03
Speaker
Oh, shit. That's the story of the beginning of Peter Romano's rugby career. Pretty much. He was 45 at the time. Oh, man, they're still looking for the answer of Rory Best, too. And that's I'm sure that's, you know, Farrell's number one goal is to find a guy that can do that before you're about two years out, probably. So good luck with that. That's a heck of a role to fill.
00:14:29
Speaker
The Ryan brothers are in there together. That's interesting. Pretty sure they're both related unless I'm making that up in my head, but- I'll go with it. Yeah, I'll run with it. I'm not one to counter. Yeah, so it's definitely some fresh faces in there. So we'll see how it plays out. They got a match this weekend. I'm sure we won't see all the big guns, but they do want five points. So we'll see.
00:14:58
Speaker
Bit of news that popped up before, not too long before I got on the computer here.
Coaching and Player Movements in Rugby
00:15:05
Speaker
Tony Brown has now taken over for Aaron Major at the Highlanders. I don't know if they've, it's unclear if they've sacked Aaron Major or if he's left on his own accord. So Highlanders have a new coach in Tony Brown. Tony Brown will continue to assist.
00:15:20
Speaker
Jamie Joseph with Japan as well. Is that so? Yeah, that's cool. And the Japanese are? Yeah. I mean, I like Tony Brown. I thought he was doing some good things with the Sun Wolves. Obviously, the Sun Wolves have gone all belly up and stuff. But yeah, so that was interesting. And then I'll say it ain't so TJ. He's training one hurricane for another. He's going to the red hurricanes in Japan.
00:15:47
Speaker
Apparently, it's just for a year. I can't imagine he's not going to come back to the hurricanes, of course, when he's done. But, you know, hey, listen, expand your horizons. This is not a World Cup year. You don't need to necessarily be eligible. Somebody else can backfill the all blacks while he's gone.
00:16:04
Speaker
you know, because he's obviously just like the solidified number two. There's no question about that. Like, again, we talked about nines and how most people would kill to have TJ Panera as their starting nine, and he's the backup for the All Blacks. So yeah, you know, how it is. But he's very good at that role. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to do that, to have that, you know, the ego of being able to do it with the humility of being okay, being the number two.
00:16:35
Speaker
and doing a hell of a job every single time doing his job professionally. Like that's a special kind of person to be able to do that. Yeah. And he has a good relationship too. So that always helps. Yeah, it does. That definitely does. All right. Let's dive in. Let's go up to France.
Bristol Rugby's Triumphs
00:16:58
Speaker
You know, I saw the pitch and I was like, this has to be a plastic pitch. This has to be turf. And sure enough, really the one place that there probably should be more more turf pitches is in France because their fields are garbage. Yes. They are garbage. Right. You're going to play on a pitch in France and it's plastic. You could do a lot worse. Yes.
00:17:19
Speaker
I mean, really like we, I bitch about law defense, but that's probably still one of the nicest fields you can play on in the whole league because it's, it's inside, you know? So it's, it is what it is. But we, if you were getting your tea, if you're getting your beer, whatever the fuck you were doing, you missed the first try. Harry Randall getting over with a little bit of help from Rod, Rod, Rod, and Layua.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, blink and you miss it. And he's gone. That takes a lot of guts to do that right off the opening kickoff. They mentioned it on the broadcast too. I'm going to throw it right off the bat. I'm going to throw one pass out to the wing real quick, like a little snap pass.
00:18:11
Speaker
And just like be everybody's tuned in. It's just rare to see that right off the, um, you know, for that to be effective. Sometimes people need a little bit to, uh, to get their head into the game, but, but those three were ready. Certainly. Yeah. I mean, nary a, a quicker scrum half in.
00:18:33
Speaker
in, you know, we're certainly in England than Harry Randall. So that was, he got the ball and he knew there was one place he needed to go and that was home. Get over that line. Yeah, it was fairly. I mean, he did, I can't remember if he beat anybody or if he was just gone by that point, if Leo had taken the last man, but. No, there was one more guy chasing him down. I can't remember who he was, but. Okay. But he went, he won. So. Yes, he did.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah. He won by a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It was, um, I mean, so we talked obviously, you know, really, I should have let off with congratulations, Bristol. That, yes, that is so, that is so great for this club. Um, and the spirit they have, and, you know, they talked about on the broadcast, uh,
00:19:23
Speaker
If you're not a Bristolian, the Bears are your second favorite club probably right now. This is just how it is. Can you confirm? It's really hard for me to say otherwise myself as well. So I can definitely appreciate that. Too long made this a game. They did not go away. Obviously Bristol jumped out to a lead real quick, but then they fought right back with a Heem try, of course Heem.
00:19:53
Speaker
You know, you know, who else is gonna score one for that guy for those guys. And you know, and Bristol got, they got hit with a couple of things real, real late, you know, Lue Tua pulled out to stay home with the kid. You know, Vui left about halfway through, you know, they got hit with some, some, some big blows, you know, in unexpected times. And they wrote it well.
00:20:16
Speaker
Um, so that's a load of credit to the, the Bristol players and obviously Pat Lamb and the coaching staff. Um, yeah. And you know, the guys that, uh, two of the guys that made the difference were the guys that from Saracen's Earl and man, Earl got man of the match, didn't he? Yes, he did. Yeah. Um, he is enjoying himself there too, that his post-match interview. Um, he's, you know, as much as he, and the last time he was talking about Saracen's, he was calling them we.
00:20:45
Speaker
uh on a previous uh previous interview um this one he's clearly impressed by what he's seeing there um which make which that means a lot because he's coming from uh say what you will about you know hey on them all you want but they're a class organization as far as they they they develop players they they're as far as rugby is concerned an extremely class organization um
00:21:11
Speaker
So for Ben Earl to look as earnest as he is when he talks about how impressed he is with life at bears, that means a lot and people should listen.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, so they're doing good stuff there. And trophies, you know, as they won and the celebration, you know, Bowie down there on the field with the players, like he's worked so hard for this, you know, no harder than they have, but he's been doing it for so fucking long. And to have the representative in Joe Joyce and for Joe Joyce not taking that try, I mean,
00:21:48
Speaker
Oh, so close to a fairy tale. So close. That would have been perfect. You know what? He'll take the memory of of of putting it down and the athleticism that it took to get that. It did. It did take quite a bit. Yeah. His his momentum was carrying him towards touch and he he never never hit. I was impressed by that. Yeah.
00:22:14
Speaker
So yeah, but tell the memory of doing that awesome thing. Unfortunately, the past two of us forward, and he gets the trophy. Yeah, he still gets the... And there was a great picture of him on their shoulders with a trophy in hand, so good on him. But we do need to go to...
00:22:36
Speaker
a real significant point and that was what the 10 minute that they the 10 minute you know goal line stand that they had with two on knocking on their door and that would have given two on the lead had they been able to
00:22:48
Speaker
pull it over and the defense from the Bears just, you know, we're talking about, I think Heenan was able to just like get a hand in front of somebody from trying to shift it over the line. That's how close they were. And then they ended up pushing them all the way back to the 22 and getting them to knock it on.
00:23:05
Speaker
Like that is a defensive set that champions are made of right there. John Afoe gets special mention and I'll tell you this much. There was one moment and it was just that clever veteran awareness. His hand was in front of the line and his position did not change, but he still had his hand on front of the line. He's like, oh shit, I will get caught.
00:23:28
Speaker
big time if I don't put my hand back and he didn't change his positioning other than just moving his hand from in front of the turf to the white line and that's and that kept him on site by only a little bit but you know it would have been that minuscule tiny error that would have you know given two on the penalty and they might have either gone to the corner or gone to the post either one
00:23:49
Speaker
And then, you know, this game is still, you know, very much alive. Yeah. So just that one little moment. And then he put in a handful of tackles that made sure that they didn't go anywhere on top of that. Well, there was also he had the he was the one who started the he was the first touch on the the mail-ins. We had a mail-ins tray. It was where he was coming backwards and tipped it on to. I can't remember who was coming, going the other way. So, yeah. Connor, maybe.
00:24:20
Speaker
probably, um, maybe more hand, but yeah, one of those two likely, but certainly, yeah, whoever it was. Um, yeah. F O was the one who was getting back in and getting in position to give him the ball. So he was, uh, right. This, you should be, you should be, first off, you should be Harry holding this egg thing and you should be going the other way. You're supposed to be going at yours.
00:24:45
Speaker
Take the hand, take the hand egg. Like a good forward. He was retaining possession and then giving it to the people who do the thing with the running. That's weird. Yeah. I don't know what that is, but here you do it. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. I mean, excellent work from the Bears for sure. And obviously, you know, Max got over and that was the end. That was pretty much that was pretty much all she wrote when that happened. I was like, yes, good on Max.
00:25:11
Speaker
If he honestly, and as much as I want him to come back to Northwest London, if he wants to stay, I don't mind it. I'm okay with it. I get it. I don't mind it.
00:25:30
Speaker
Right. I think I see those conversations happening in his head, but that's, I don't know the guy. So, um, but I, you know, given that, that, again, that post-game interview, uh, doesn't seem like it's, it's out of the question. Uh, he's certainly enjoying himself there. And, and you know, I, that's one I would absolutely wish well, as you said, you know, kind of like a Ben Spencer situation where it's like, yeah, if you can't come back, like good on you.
00:25:57
Speaker
I wish you well. I will definitely be a Ben Spencer fan, barring Ben Spencer doing something to make me not a fan. And that would have to be away from the rugby pitch.
00:26:12
Speaker
which we hope not. And then one more special notice, Sheedy's boot was on. I don't know if he missed it all night. If he did, it wasn't by much. The dude was on fire. So loads of credit to Calum Sheedy and obviously he's been
00:26:31
Speaker
He's been picked by Wayne Peaback to play for Wales. Uh, yeah, I will declare it to the guy, you know, and he is not shied away from it at all, at all. I think that's one of those things where you say about time. Cause he's been, he's been the glue on that team, you know, cause if you look at who their MVP would be, well, fuck first off, it can't be Rod Roger. Cause they were good even without him. They were, they were, they were damn good.
00:26:56
Speaker
It can't be either of the scrum halves because they both complement each other. None of the forwards individually were fantastic. Thacker's been great, but he's also been hit or miss playing. He's had to rotate it around, as have they all.
00:27:16
Speaker
You know, the one constant, the one if they needed somebody at some position, Sheedy was at 10. Anyone else, they could kind of work around. Yep. So Sheedy's definitely a guy, one of those guys, like a Ben Spencer, who, you know, if he's available for your national team, you got to want him on there. Yep. And he's earned it. So good on the kid.
00:27:40
Speaker
But then let's go to Saturday, equally as entertaining, equally as crazy. It's just, so let's look at the guy that stood in the middle for this match first, cuz he deserves a whole lot of praise and applause. This was a wild match and I don't know how many, I don't know if Nigel put more than a toe wrong.
00:28:07
Speaker
Honestly, so good on the guy for making it happen. And again, in a crazy match, to really not be able to pinpoint a ton, good on him. No, so even at the end, when I was like, I can't believe how badly he's mismatched this, I say, wait a minute, no, none of this is his fault. It's all Exeter's fault. And then I'm like, okay, that's right. All right, they fucked it up for themselves. They can sit, they can have a sweaty bum for a second or two. Yeah.
00:28:37
Speaker
They should have just said, oh, it's you dummy. Right. He's like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Let me know what you're doing. And then all right. Well, then he's Nigel is Nigel. You know, he will blow his whistle if he if you make him. And so, yeah, they make him blow, blow his whistle. And then the restart happened or he restarted it and that whole thing. And I mean, they got it right in the end. But it's like.
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah. As much as you'd want to blame the referee for that. He's, he's blameless on that one. He did the best he could with what was being given to him, which was Jack shit by his, his team and by Exeter. Hmm. Yeah. So let's, let's talk about the Parisians first and then we'll get into the guys that took home the trophy. Um,
00:29:21
Speaker
I thought, really, this came down to the management of the players in a lot of ways for wrestling. I just, you know, and we, you and I both were on the same page, like Teddy E River and needed to go very quickly. And he didn't. And that really baffled me. I was like, I don't know, you know.
00:29:42
Speaker
What's his face? Laurent, whatever. I don't remember his last name, but yeah, the coach there, just he remember and needed a quicker gank than he got. Honestly, you know, he freaking absolutely honked the kick going for touch. You know, he honked the, he really honked the
00:30:02
Speaker
The quick restart. Yeah, the quick restart. That was bad. Like if you're going to do that, you need to understand you have no support and this needs to go back downfield very fast and you need to chase it.
Management Decisions in Racing 92 Match
00:30:13
Speaker
So right now. And instead he was like looking to run the whole time. And it's like, that's Jack. No.
00:30:17
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I wouldn't want to tackle like, you know, Parisa, but, but you, but you don't know. And yeah, even then he'll, he'll still, I wouldn't want him to tackle me with an ankle. Yeah. He's going to eat you for breakfast. Like this is, this was just a terrible idea. Like, I think that was the, the first 20 minutes. Um, I think we were, we were pretty much in agreement that, that Rossing did not plan at all for their opponent.
00:30:46
Speaker
Like none of it was like, Oh, exit or do this. So we should do why it was like, Oh, okay. Well, we're just going to fuck around. It's like, no exit or eat you alive. If you do this and they're like, well, we want to do this. Cause it's fun. Yeah. All right. Good enough. Um, so yeah, they sorted it out. And that's why, that's why they came back. Cause then they started to,
00:31:11
Speaker
But what was important, it was winning the match. And they play and they play and, you know, and to this is not a team. So we all know that here's the thing.
00:31:24
Speaker
French teams have two things. They either play goddamn awful defense or they play really good defense if they're a really good team. There really isn't a whole lot in between usually. This Rossing team stepped up and played some really good defense for a long time. I saw somebody that said, and we were talking about player management, there are two guys that probably should not have left this field at all. One of them was Simon Zebo, the other one was Camille Schat. I think it might have been Flats that said it.
00:31:51
Speaker
I would agree. Yeah, I was totally in agreement. I was like, what's that? I agree with flats or whoever else said it. Yeah. Same. So we're both. Yeah. And, you know, if you're going to bring if you have to bring Beal on and bring him on for the back three, put Zebo at wing and get rid of the Doopie show. He's done nothing. Nothing. No, he didn't. He didn't do a single invisible. So, yeah, that's who I would have done that for. But I mean,
00:32:21
Speaker
You can't blame any of the two, any of the other two back three there, Ymaf or Zebo. They did everything in their power to make this thing happen. They both scored. So Zebo had two. And that was even it. Like, I think I texted you at one point saying, oh, if
00:32:40
Speaker
X still happens, Zebo's getting a hat trick. And it was like right then that they took Zebo out. It's like, well, what the fuck? Like, no, give him a few more opportunities. Like, he's been getting it. He's like, yeah. Yeah. This guy has been getting too many opportunities to score. Yeah. Taking it out for, as you said, for Curly Beale. Yeah, no, no, no. Was not a fan of that one. You know, and the other person that was, you know,
00:33:05
Speaker
Noticeably absent, not absent, but he just didn't quite have the impact, was Vacatawa, because he's not a passer per se. He looks to make that half gap and then offload and Exeter were doing a really good job of just making sure that that offload was not there. I think the one break that he got very close on, that's on his teammates for not being close because there were definitely gaps to offload there and that's not being close enough.
00:33:32
Speaker
I thought Exeter did a good job taking away his arms. So it wasn't that he couldn't, that the offload wasn't there, it's that he literally couldn't get the ball away, even if he wanted to. You could see him sometimes and have that longing that, I want to get you the ball, but I can't. It would have been like fingertips only.
00:33:53
Speaker
or something yeah it would not and it wouldn't have worked so um better to hang on yeah i thought they did a really good job of of as you said kind of shutting them down yeah i mean really for him i'm wondering if zebo i am wondering if zebo was was hurt or um or just gassed at that point because he was doing everything like they were you know because
00:34:14
Speaker
You saw the changeover at one point before Zebo came out, where they were just doing these chips through. And in the first half, it was Zebo running them down. And then towards the end there, it was Vakatawa running them down. It's like, okay, well, I wonder if they made that switch because Zebo just can't do it or they're just showing something different. Maybe.
00:34:35
Speaker
And then last night on the Parisians and then we'll get on to Exeter. The Maverick, you take what you want with them. Listen, the only pass that was bad was the one that Noel picked off.
00:34:50
Speaker
Everything else was on point and really, really causing problems. So that's the good with the bad that you have to take with Finn Russell. And somebody said it, unfortunately, I think it was odd. So I agree with them. That's the miracle ball that he threw at Twickenham the other year. And it worked. So this one did not. Right. You know, and if had it hit, Rossing has a try and they probably win the game. You know, and that's just the difference. And but that's what you that's why you have Finn Russell because he's
00:35:19
Speaker
He's got that edge. He's got that creativity. He's willing to just, you know, dare to do some things that you don't think he should do. And they come off more often than not. When they don't, you pay for it. But yeah, it's what you get with Finn Russell. And that's why Rossing signed him. And that's why he actually fits quite well in this team. But yeah, I thought other than that pass, he played brilliantly. Really? Yes, he did.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, just absolute like darts. He was growing seeds all over the place. I'm like, God, that's like not fair. Like it gets it skips three guys and it's flat. I'm like, right. It's a nobody's got a shot at it besides his teammates. I'm like, that's not nice. Like, God, he should like, honestly, he should be playing for somebody besides Scotland International because good God, if he was on another international team not named Scotland, this would be ridiculous, you know?
Finn Russell's Playing Style
00:36:10
Speaker
So, I don't know. You take, like I said, you take the good with the bad. The guy's amazing. I take nothing away from him. Right. That's one of those, yes, he fucked that up. He shit that particular bed, but you can't blame him because of everything else. It's like without that, he wouldn't be there.
00:36:33
Speaker
You live by the fin, you die by the fin. It is what it is. And he's still more than made up for that. So what does it matter? That was not...
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's not like he played shit and did that. It's not like he was Erebar and like we were talking about. He was fucking excellent. And the national was excellent when he came in, too. Yes, he was saying like he was very good. He was on. That's that's about when that that's about when the score started to change. Right. Right. You know, and that's really and, you know, had he been on from.
00:37:08
Speaker
that from the back-to-back era, maybe five minutes later, you pull him and say, all right, he's got nothing in him really, just yank him off and come with it and put on a quality and I'm like, Mash, no, and you're set. And had they, I think you might, the kicking might have sorted itself out going towards the posts and you're gonna be talking about the trophy being in a different spot. But say, LaVie.
00:37:36
Speaker
But yeah, to the champions. Deserved 100%. This team, we talked about, and we talked about the defensive stand that Bristol had to make, and Exeter had to make their own. With 14 men, because Tom Pence was the one hitting it. Lucky, lucky boy did not be red carded. He was going to get yellow card only, obviously. Actually, so I'd stand first on that.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah, to not give a penalty try. Yeah, he's lucky there was there was friends around because otherwise he would have been in deep trouble. So that's how that goes. But yeah, just I mean, the Simmons brothers. Good God. You know, they're their menaces. What else is new? Just they cause trouble all over. You know,
00:38:22
Speaker
Every time the ball goes to the middle of the field, it's like the two of them. Seems it. It's not slow. It's okay. Simmons to his brother going, you know, going wide and it's like, Oh, well, fuck. Something awesome is about to happen. Yep. Yeah. And that happened. Okay. I can, I can take a breath. It's like watching football, watch an exit or like, all right.
00:38:46
Speaker
the play happened, I can kind of chill, they'll do some crashes and this and that. Oh, that's the Simmons brothers again. Yeah, look for the Simmons brother or hog. Right. Yeah, so it was Yeah, they have they have they have others. But those two are just yeah, they're definitely excellent. And they're fun to watch in and of themselves. But Dan together, they're they're fantastic. Absolutely. And it was I thought that they I mean, jeez, it's really hard to
Exeter's Success and Player Debate
00:39:14
Speaker
It's hard to pick out more than them, but you know who I do think played particularly well for his skill set and what he has been able to do was Jack Monder. I don't think he did so bad. Yeah, he did okay. He is what he is, and he knows what he is, and he stuck to it, and he didn't get crazy. And that was probably the best thing that Exeter could have asked to him, honestly, because sometimes you get a young kid that's not used to doing these things in a big game like this.
00:39:40
Speaker
And he kind of just, he goes to pieces a little bit and you're like, whoa, whoa, this is not who you are. What are you doing? Like, why are you trying these weird things? Like- This is not what you do. Yeah. That's what the girl would bring you. Absolutely. Do what works. Yeah. So I thought he did a really good job of playing with himself and playing well in those skillsets. So good on him. And I still say, you know, there's precedent here for the team.
00:40:08
Speaker
with Scrum Heffery, such as Jack Monder and Sam Hidalgo Klein. I'd say they're kind of the equivalent of Trent Dilfer winning a Super Bowl.
00:40:18
Speaker
with the Ravens. These guys, they did their job. They Yes, were they along for the ride? Fuck Yes, they were. But they, you know, the scrum halves you want if you're trying to win Europe? No, they're just not. I mean, that's not the first names I'm signing up for. No. But you know, they did their jobs. Well, like they, they didn't try to do
00:40:45
Speaker
You know, they, they weren't trying to be Nick white. They were trying to just do what they could do themselves. They were trying to be themselves. Yeah. Which is all you can ask for in that situation. Right. Yeah. So, and then yeah, it was, it was Joe Simmons down, obviously down to the kicking and you know, it really was what made the difference. Cause wrestling had what? Three, four kids miss kicks and Joe Simmons didn't miss a thing. So that's really it. And so good on Joe Simmons, you know, and we talked about.
00:41:11
Speaker
his kicking ability from the T and he's clearly proven it at the highest level now, you know, you know, outside of obviously getting a getting a phone call for an international team. I don't understand. I just don't understand. I don't know what's gonna take to get him on the on the England team. Honestly,
00:41:31
Speaker
Well, you know, we're talking about Ben Spencer, and Joe Simmons should just naturally replace Ben Young's and George Ford like those. That's a natural handoff right there. There's so many young 10. There's so many good young 10s in England that I would absolutely bite your hand off to get get a piece of
00:41:50
Speaker
And I, you know, ride him beats me. Yeah, I, I, I agree. I'll just put it that way. I agree. And I'm leaning towards, I don't know how much longer I would keep Faz over some of them, to be honest. We'll see. We'll see. No, just respect to Faz, but the change is going to happen eventually. And
00:42:11
Speaker
I'm seeing, you know, his form has slipped. That's not Mint's words. He's not, he's not the, I mean, he's good, but he's now more towards the beach with his mind and not with his body.
00:42:26
Speaker
at stage of his career. Yep. Sometimes that's good enough, though. Right. Sometimes. Exactly. You need those guys. I mean, shit, we can't say enough about like Brad Barrett. But right. Yeah, it's just like the positions that the way that the the 10 game is being played, even the 12 in a couple of years, you're going to need much more, more mobility and, you know, and the passing to not just one or the other. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Agreed.
00:42:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I thought the show was the future. Yeah, Joe's Joe's excellent. I really, you know, NBC done got fucked up again. I'm so glad I'm not an Exeter fan, because I would have been pissed to not see the trophy presentation. You fucking idiots, NBC.
00:43:12
Speaker
Um, but I thought the moment of Sam and him, uh, present, you know, Sam presenting a Joe with the, uh, with his, with his, uh, award for, uh, man, the master of the natural, the hell they call it. Um, I thought that was a really cool moment for them. That was cool. I really thought that was a really cool moment. And then we do have to, we do have to, uh, yeah. Yeah. So you know what that means? Eddie's not picking him.
00:43:37
Speaker
Cause he doesn't pick that player. He does not pick if, if an English player wins European player of the year, he doesn't fucking pick them. Like what the hell man? I mean, I don't, I don't understand. I'm so at a loss with that anyway. Um, but, uh, you know, we, I think we'd be silly if we didn't talk about, um,
00:44:02
Speaker
the Finn and hog picture that was taken at the end. And I am not so, and I've seen the reaction and I get it. We're not trying to say rugby is morally superior by any means whatsoever. We just wanna point out why we love it. There is a significant difference. I'm not talking down to anything else right now. I'm talking up as to why I love the sport. The two of them, they just fucking went to war over
00:44:31
Speaker
Europe's biggest war biggest trophy that there's possibly outside of the World Cup. This is one of the biggest trophies outside of the World Cup. And they just went to a frickin battle. It's not a war. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. But they went for they frickin went at it for 80 minutes and put in a hell of a shift for each team and to be able to sit down and yes, they're Scotland teammates and they're both very good friends. But just to be able to sit down and have a chat and have a beer and
00:44:57
Speaker
you know, put it all aside is just is fantastic. And I love it. And I'm not saying it doesn't happen anywhere else. But man, when it happens in rugby, for me, it just, it gives me that that warm fuzzy. And yeah, that's what I like.
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's the difference is you wouldn't, like, you may see, you know, NFL play, like somebody took a showed, you know, I saw a response to that with Tom Brady and John Runyon Jr. Fuck, I can't believe John Runyon's son is playing in the NFL now. Right.
Sportsmanship and Cultural Moments
00:45:32
Speaker
I'm sure Tom Brady feels the same way because he played with him in college.
00:45:43
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, that's cool. They saw each other. But when was the last time you saw an NFL player having a beer after a game?
00:45:49
Speaker
That's probably the difference right there. They're so against it. It's so puritanical over here. That's really the difference, too, for me, is that they were not that they were hanging out. So they were having a beer openly in uniform in the stadium that they just played in, like just hanging out. And it's like, you don't see that in American sport at all. You don't see that you come in for a beer. You only see them drinking after a championship. That's the one time you're allowed to drink as a
00:46:13
Speaker
as an American athlete seems criticized. And they're not even good athletes compared to some of these rugby players. So it's just a little scary sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, it's, um,
00:46:27
Speaker
It's, yeah, it's really, it is, but I, you know, I love the moment just the same, you know, you know, whatever it is, you know, if you're sports, you're sport and you have your moments that you love, I love seeing that moment, you know, I really did. So that's just it for me. It's special. It's definitely special. For sure. For sure, for sure. All right, let's go to, yeah, let's go play this slow. Woo! More fun.
00:46:57
Speaker
I was excited before this match even kicked off. The anthems and the haka. It was early in the morning, but I was ready to fucking go. The beautiful anthems, really just the heartfelt, well done. You could feel them meaning it.
00:47:20
Speaker
I mean, the Kiwis were singing theirs because they had no music that went with theirs. And I was like, this is one of those fun moments where you just want to be in the stadium. Yeah. Goosebumps and everything's going to feel really, really awesome. It's like you feel the energy and obviously having the crowd there is obviously a huge plus. Right. So the match itself never never mind. You know, what happened with that? Right. Yeah. Yeah, just a real good moment there. And then the haka was
00:47:50
Speaker
Another I mean they won. Yeah, there's hakas and then every so often, you know, there's ones that you that stand out right? That was one they were they were ready to go. Yeah, it was Sam King second time standing at the front but the first time they did that with him at the front so that particular variation so Yeah, that just kind of set the tone Excuse me
00:48:18
Speaker
I mean, how can we lead the show off without talking about this game without leading off with Kale Clark?
Caleb Clarke's Impactful Debut
00:48:26
Speaker
Okay, can we talk for a moment about how fucking Ron Weasley this shit is?
00:48:35
Speaker
Cause then I say that cause he's the only one silly enough to have like a dream like this. Cause everyone, you know, everyone has that dream of, of being like the star, being a, you know, a star athlete who, who in their right fucking mind would say, I want to have my debut, you know, I'm going to debut for the all blacks at Eaton park.
00:48:57
Speaker
And when I come off, they're going to give me a standing ovation. When I leave the match, nobody. If your friend tells you that this is what I want, you slap them around, because fucking idiot, no. Stupid. That's never gonna happen. What's wrong with you? Right. And fucking here it is, Caleb Clark. And well-desert. What a problem he is. Yeah, just a bit. Just a bit.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, how many times, how many defenders did he bump off? Too many. Yeah, quite a bit. I couldn't believe it. Is anybody tackled him yet? What's going on here? Yeah. Man. And they're like, we're trying, damn it. Yeah, no shit, right? You tried. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm getting in the way, honestly. Honestly. No.
00:49:51
Speaker
Yeah, you know, so, you know, kid Clark played it brilliantly. So did the likes of Sam came in R.D. Sevea, um, to Hawaii played very well in his first start. Um, good on him. Dean Cole's got into it with Tupo right away. Yeah. I was like, Oh, here we go. It's gotta be one of those games, isn't it? Um, but, yeah.
00:50:11
Speaker
Shannon Frizzell, because I've spent enough time being rude to him. Very Lachlan Bashir-like match for him. That's what I want to see a six-beat be doing. They're certainly on this stage.
00:50:28
Speaker
huge turnovers in the first half. That really meant a lot when Australia had really, they spent the first 10 minutes kind of knocking on the door. Really what was repelling them at first was Shannon Frizzell doing his best Lachlan Bashir impersonation. So get on him. And yeah, that's
00:50:51
Speaker
So I have to say that for as much as I've knocked him. He had a hell of a match at that six spot. Absolutely. Yeah, he's. He I mean, he's a six, but he's he can be a modern day six, you know. And if that's what he's learning, if he's developing that, then fuck. OK, he made eleven tackles. He did miss five, but he made eleven tackles and he had three turnovers. Not bad. Not bad. No, not at all.
00:51:21
Speaker
to give away any penalties and give away any penalties either. So he earned at least two. So that's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good. Um, yeah. All right. So let's go to the other, the other team wearing gold. Um, I have to talk about this moment and I'll, I'll talk about Ned Hanigan and give and finish with an up, but Marika Corabetti against Wanda.
00:51:47
Speaker
You've got a submarine that you can't... This is not a measuring contest of how big your colonies are. This is... You got to fucking score that because if they score that, this is a completely different match. Oh, yeah. This does not end 27-7, obviously. They don't score that. They score that at least it ends 27-12. But yeah, it's a completely different match.
00:52:08
Speaker
And instead, he gets into a freaking, you know, kahane measuring contest with Mwango, who's a decent defender, but still gives him a chance to roll them over. Like, right? Yeah, get underneath them and get to the trial line. You're not going to get to the middle. You have to face that fact.
00:52:23
Speaker
Right. Oh, like, that's what I didn't get there is. So first off, let's be honest, fucking beautiful truck on him. Knocked him back. Yeah, he absolutely did. It's like, but then why do you run over him? Why not just like, as you said, go down at that point, dive under, dive in his legs. Like, he can't, he can't stop you down there. Like, why would you put yourself in that position? The job's done. Just fall down.
00:52:48
Speaker
drive, continuing to drive yourself forward. He wanted that look. And so that's, to me, again, I wanted to bring that up. So I'm glad you did. Because we've talked about Corabetti and that he's one of those guys who's like, does he do stuff that nobody else can do with that position?
00:53:11
Speaker
And I look at the guy on the other side, Doug Unu, and I say, yeah, fuck, he does a lot of stuff that he can't do. And he had to try, but any wing in that, is there anybody really in that spot? Yeah, he did.
00:53:30
Speaker
So, you know, Corvetti is just the finisher and fucking anybody can do that. And same thing for his try the last week where he was just the wing out on the left that they were trying to isolate. And, you know, OK, give wing the ball, make him run fast towards the corner. Like, I really don't I want to see a different wing in there because that to me was not so frustrating. You got it. Yeah, it's not enough. It's not good enough. I do want to go on the up.
00:54:00
Speaker
So apart from, he had a couple of moments with penalties and like those were easy ones that Gus Gardner was trying to prevent him from doing, but he still fucking did them. You know, can only take so much sometimes, but Ned Hannigan played his ass off in this game.
Ned Hanigan's Defensive Prowess
00:54:14
Speaker
And I am not a Ned Hannigan fan whatsoever. And I thought he played very, very well in this game. And, you know, to top off the run he had, he had, he won a turnover. He had 20 tackle attempts. He missed two.
00:54:30
Speaker
So he made 18 tackles out of 20. So I will give him a shitload of credit. That's tough. That's tough right there. So I'll give him a load of credit right there. Deserves everything crazy he gets from his teammates. Because Liam Wright replaced him, right?
00:54:49
Speaker
And I got to say, Liam Wright did not play as well. Liam had, I think, one poach that I saw. Other than that, there wasn't a time when I was like, you know what, Hannigan could have done this better today. Yeah. Other than maybe not. Right.
00:55:06
Speaker
Also on the downside, Matt Phillips pants. Tie your shorts, kids. Tie those shorts. Make sure you wear your compression shorts underneath them or your bungee. Whatever it is. Half the fun of playing rugby is you never know when your bum's going to be on display. Oh, my God. That was significant. It was just staying there. It was not going anywhere.
00:55:33
Speaker
He was, you know what, I think he should have been penalized for doing nothing about the situation, doing absolutely nothing to fix it. Stop the hand away and pull your shorts up for a second, bro. You listen, the bad part about all that being out there is somebody might check your oil and then you got to be real for a surprise. Whoo, what's that?
00:55:52
Speaker
Well, fortunately, this is not, you know, 20 years ago. Oh, yeah. So we definitely doing something bad. Or I guess at least Joe Marler wasn't in this match. Yeah. There you go. Okay. Yeah. He wants, he wants, he wants the other side.
00:56:10
Speaker
That's true. Yeah, specific tastes. Yeah, I felt bad for Timo even. Yeah, he did. He's he he definitely has a big role in this team. And when he left it, there was definitely a difference not to say that Pattaya is bad. Pattaya came in and had every intent of trying to make this team go right in his own way. But you could tell that with that that Pattaya and Pizami are not
00:56:37
Speaker
like they're not they're not ready to be the center combination against the all blacks and that's it's a lot to do you know right it's not a that's that's very easy to stay but um yeah who the fuck is ready to be a center pairing against the the all blacks it's a real tough ask
00:56:58
Speaker
It really is. But to say that means that they played decently. They didn't play poorly because they were playing against the All Blacks.
00:57:09
Speaker
It was stuff they hadn't seen that was being thrown at them. So it's one thing when you have O'Connor and Tumu were there to calm things down and to help guide you. But once it's just one of them, the centers are on their own. We'll come off a wee bit. Good luck, boys. It's tough. It really is tough. I will say, Boden Barrett is going to see Harry Wilson in his sleep.
00:57:33
Speaker
He's dumped him at least twice, if not three times. That's like, ooh, those are ones that you reach and like crack a rib. Ooh. Right. Oh man. Harry got him twice. And I mean, Wilson putting his marker down, like that's one of those ones. Find the baddest, biggest dude, obviously not the biggest dude, but the baddest dude on the team and make sure you take him out. And he took him out a couple of times.
00:57:54
Speaker
Well, that's what he did. I remember that at the beginning of the super rugby, super, super rugby Australia season when the Reds were playing, I guess, must have been the the ties because he was up in Hooper's krill. Like, fuck you, dude. Here I am. I'm going to see you all day. Like that. That's if that's his style. Good. Because he he also played well outside of that, too. Yes. Yes. He played an excellent, excellent match for them. He was one of the bright spots of that team.
00:58:24
Speaker
For sure. I do want to mention on the San Caine try, Tuy Palado thinking that the line he was running was coming into a defender who just turned out was not there. And he just completely braced for a hit. And then it was like, you could see him on the replay, kind of unblink his eyes, like, oh, all right, we're going. Yeah, he was bracing for impact. Yeah. Well, then we're running.
00:58:51
Speaker
away we go. Yeah, good for Sam King getting getting his on that one. Yeah. Yeah, this is this was a lot of good stuff. Did you see I saw an article when Caleb Clark went on that crazy run. I guess Cooper got a piece of his nuts.
00:59:08
Speaker
When he was still on one of the misses, I was like, ooh, that's uncomfortable to keep running on. It happens, yeah. Ouch. Ouch, man. But the all blocks right the ship. Fauzi gets his first win. Kane gets his first win. Yeah, so it looks kind of reset, but...
00:59:31
Speaker
but Australia could still win blood slow if they could matches in Australia in the next couple of weeks here or not, which could happen. This was a, this is, you know, we'll see to me, to me, the different, the ultimate difference in this match versus the first one was Australia in the first match was determined to play the rugby match that they wanted to play. Like this is what's going to get us to win. And in this match that
00:59:55
Speaker
Like the middle, just middle period of the match, um, late first half, early, early second half, Australia was like, fuck it. Let's do it. New Zealand, or do it like New Zealand throwing the ball around and Australia start throwing the ball around. And that's what fucked them most of all. So it's like, if Australia just gets back and like, all right, Hey dummies, like, um, let's, let's do what we want to do. Cause when, when Australia was doing what they wanted to do and playing their structured game and, and, and.
01:00:25
Speaker
Dedic, you know, well, coordinated attack, they were doing really well and controlling the game. So absolutely, they could come back. Yeah, they could. They could. All right. Bit of fantasy talk for the rugby mag. We have to we have we have two competitions still going on the rugby mag. Six Nations is concluding, as well as the premiership finalist weekend to conclude the premiership rugby magazine fantasy.
01:00:55
Speaker
Let's do rapid fire. Top two props in the potential matchup that we're looking at. Was an exit will go as was an excerpt even though there's some hearing this going around on around with that. Hold on one moment. I have McIntyre and Hepburn. Yeah, I still think Williams might be a good play here. As we saw in the in the Euro final he could sneak over. It's true.
01:01:21
Speaker
I just, I don't, I don't know. I don't trust the wasps front row. You never know what they're going to do. At least, at least with, uh, um, exiters, you're, you're probably guaranteed 10. You won't, you know, you might not get 30 from anybody but Hepburn, Kevin Dickey, but still. Yeah. You're not going to get like a two. Right. So yeah. Is LCD probably your number one hooker in this match? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I might go and, um, I don't know who my backup hooker is just yet.
01:01:49
Speaker
So maybe, um, yeah, that's how that might be a wasted roster space, but still I'll be, um, Sam Simmons, Jack Willis have to be your top two back rowers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Probably there. And, and probably young.
01:02:08
Speaker
As the other would you? Hill, Roland's gray, which one of those three, which one of those two would you pick out of that for a second row? Hill and Roland's. Yeah, same. Yeah. Because gray might square, but he might not. He does, he does some things, but he's not contributing, certainly not tries. He may be on my bench. Correct.
01:02:32
Speaker
Scrum half shouldn't even be a question. Robson. It's gotta be Robson, not Monder. Monder is not the Scrum half you want in this. If, yeah, no. Fly half. Simmons got part of the Umaga probably the, probably the order for your fly half. Probably. Yeah. Um, and then.
01:02:53
Speaker
Center pairing is, it's really, I would probably take the one of the two, not named Umaga or Goprith, or whichever one you didn't take out of that for your fly half, if you need a center and put them there. And then it's really a toss up. You know, I want to say Slade, but man, it's scary.
01:03:15
Speaker
It is either midfield's a little bit dicey. And if you have Stuart hog, you can always throw him in, in, in the, the midfield too. Yeah. That might be, I think the answer might be Wasp at 10 was at center, Stuart hog in the middle. Joe Simmons goes to fullback. It could be. No. Yeah. That might be your answer. Um, of the, of the wingers, who's your favorite Kibera. Yee. Oh, Flaherty Bassett. No.
01:03:47
Speaker
Uh, so Noel just doesn't score points. So I don't, I don't know. He's not, he's not in consideration. Unfortunately. Um, right now I have it as, um, a Flaherty ambassador with, with Kiberge on the bench, but that's going to be, uh, uh, Flaherty is going to be one of my starters. Cause he, he, he, he's, he does the work. This is his comp and this is the work he's going to do. Yeah. He's going to score points here. Um,
01:04:14
Speaker
It really just depends on, you know, it might end up flipping a coin because it seems like one of the two between Kiberige and Bassett end up scoring points. Generally not both of them. So it's going to be a question as to, all right, who do I trust more today? Right. And I don't know. I may figure out whoever's, it might be whoever's going against O'Flaherty because as we saw this past Saturday, O'Flaherty can be, he will go for that. He definitely is.
01:04:43
Speaker
He's definitely beatable for sure. Yeah. Much more than no less. I mean, Menotti is going to be eligible to play in this game. Italy are going to keep, they're going to say keep him. But I don't think that if as far as out and out fullbacks go, I don't see how you change. I don't see how you change.
01:05:05
Speaker
I don't see how you sit hog over him. If you need to pick one of them, tog. Right. That may be why like Umaga slides into the centers or something. Correct. Yeah. I agree. We still would have Slade on the bench because he may score points. But yeah, I'd settle for half one guy's points. Yeah. Assuming, you know, not knowing if he's going to be good or bad.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's not bad. Yeah, so that when we'll talk about more, we'll talk in depth about Six Nations next week, but good luck to anybody that still still has an Italian or an Irishman sitting in their lineup. I'm one of them. I was just checking to see if I'm one of them. If if Piledry is eligible, I might drop Bromstein for him. Because I bet you I bet you Piledry plays. All right. Oh, I've I've
01:06:03
Speaker
Stockdale and Ryan in my teams. So yeah, I can, uh, I can move some things around. You got some, you got some guys to play with. Yeah. Oh, that'll be fun. Um, so we do want to talk. We do want to, uh, we have, we have our contestants. Hopefully. Um, I'm assuming they all want to be hanging around with us. Um, but for our champions league, um, for next year, multi multi-platform, um, we'll be across FRD and TRM.
01:06:32
Speaker
We'll do the three that are currently sitting. Well, we'll see. It might be two, but definitely as many FRDs as we can, starting with premiership, which we will do a live draft coverage with special guests. And then we will do a
01:06:52
Speaker
We'll obviously do a Champions League and that's going to be, this is going to be an 18, eight teammate owner league. And I think we'll put probably more point values on prem and super rugby competitions because the other ones will be probably a little bit.
01:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, they're just a little shorter and, you know, not quite as, they're not easy to manage by any means whatsoever, but to be able to sustain and go the distance in both TRM and FRD in SuperAV and Prime is just, it takes some willpower at the very least. So we'll probably put more value on that.
01:07:29
Speaker
If the winner's not Ben or I, we'll probably get you a nice t-shirt with our budgie smuggler ball on it. If you haven't seen the logo yet, you probably should go check it out. But yeah, so we have our invites out there. So if you've got one, or if you haven't checked your inbox, check your inbox. But we already have two accepted. Our good friend, George Hawes, of course, is gonna join us. Yay. And then,
01:07:58
Speaker
One other accepted was our friend Duncan Keene. Duncan got a question right that we asked on Twitter way back when we were covering the World Cup many months ago. I just never forgot it, thankfully. Who knew? So yeah, Dunk got himself a spot in here and he's keen, so.
01:08:21
Speaker
I see what you did there. You're welcome. Yeah, I don't do that very often, so you're welcome. So yeah, there are other invites out there. So if you're wondering if you got an invite, check your inbox. Make sure that you check out and see if it's from Ben and myself. Yeah, final preview. Good God. Here we are. Two more shows. Two more pods and we're done in season two. Who knew? This is the season that never ends.
01:08:48
Speaker
Well, how do we preview the final if we don't know who's playing in the final? I mean, we'll we'll assume it's wass until we know otherwise. I mean, if it's if I will say this, if it's Bristol, I'm sorry, Exeter, there's going to be an asterisk on this motherfucker when you if and when you guys win. But it would be hysteric. Oh, but but what if first off, if it's Bristol, you're guaranteed a double. Somebody is doing the double.
01:09:18
Speaker
And second half of it's Bristol, Bristol could win and then it could be, you know, genuinely happy for whoever wins rather than relieved at best that Exeter didn't win. I'm fairly happy for the wasps. I mean, yeah, once once die young, he's gone. They've been a different club. Yeah, here's the thing. Like we and I think I texted you this. I don't understand how Rob Baxter won DOR of the year. How did Lee Blackett not get this?
01:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Like took the team from, you know, the depths of God knows where and now they're second, you know, there's obviously a slave to play in the final like.
01:09:55
Speaker
how, like this, this, that's not something that just goes to the best, best manager, best DOR, that should go to somebody that's obviously done a hell of a job with a team that was fucking garbage before, before you guys hands on it. They were, they were hot garbage before Lee Blackett started coaching this team. Sorry, you do suck. No, no, I'm not sorry. Diane should be sorry. That's just facts.
Rugby Predictions and Season Finale Plans
01:10:17
Speaker
Um, that's not, I don't know how Lee Blackett didn't, didn't get this, didn't get that award.
01:10:25
Speaker
I'm not in charge of that ship, but God damn, that's just, that doesn't seem right. Anywho, a certain loss this weekend. Let's go to pick them. Is this gonna be, there's no chance that either one of us is gonna shake, like try and distance ourselves from each other, is there? I don't think so. Yeah.
01:10:51
Speaker
It would be stupid to pick wasps. It's just, it's strategically poor. Yeah. And I'm not going to, we have, we have as much as I move next week. I'll screw around with that. Yeah. I'm going to root for them. I really hope they win. Um, I'll be happy for them.
01:11:10
Speaker
If they do, they win. Um, but no, I, I consider are going to win there. Yeah. Although the, you know, wasps do have a, had a little bit of a break, um, that, that I sort of didn't have extra put themselves through fucking hell to get that win. Yes. And it's going to be the same team. Likely. So there is a chance that, that wasps, um, right. That wasps have, you know, have a little bit of a break and can put that to good use.
01:11:42
Speaker
I'm not going to talk myself into it though. So thanks. Yeah, fair enough. I'm blaming you. Um, yeah, I have to pick Exeter. I'm not, I'm not, that's still not that damn foolish. I love, I love that back row wasp, but I'm not that damn foolish. They have a chance, but I'm not that foolish. Oh, absolutely. They do. They absolutely have a shot at this. Um, assuming that they can pull out a full, put out their, their full noise team. They absolutely have a shot at this for sure.
01:12:08
Speaker
And then we're wrapping things up here. Ireland and Italy, coming around the corner here, finally, finally. Ireland. Yeah, that's not even a question. Yeah. I mean, so if Ireland get, if they bonus point both games, so they're gonna play Italy this weekend, and then they're gonna play France next weekend. If they bonus point both, they win.
01:12:36
Speaker
Wow. Wow. Yeah. After the start, they had to this to this campaign and they did not play well against England. I don't know. Previously. Yeah. Yeah. So they've taken a lot of advances the last couple of the last couple of competitions. So they definitely moved away from that style of play. Let's see. Let's see how they work.
01:12:58
Speaker
Um, as one now after the, you know, as they've, they've had chance to play after the restart, um, as, as clubs. So let's see what they got. Right. You know, have that national team again, it's a different style. Let's see if they can maintain that. Um, and let's see what Italy can do, but no, there's no fucking way. And there, yeah. And Ireland and France are the last game next weekend too.
01:13:21
Speaker
So that'll be, that'll be fun at the very least. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and we'll say, I mean, we all assume that England's got a bonus point. Italy next weekend as well. So yeah, we'll see how that plays out, but they have a shot. So we'll see the way we go.
01:13:41
Speaker
All right, we're off. Shit, we only got one of these left. Only got one. And then we'll take them ready for the live draft. We got like, what, three weeks after that, and then we're going to come back with. Yeah, nice little probably a prime preview of sorts and then and then live draft. Well, we'll get that sorted because for those of you that don't know, it's
01:14:07
Speaker
It's it there is a holiday over here in America. It's called Thanksgiving on Thursday. But was the fourth Thursday of November or something like that? Something like that. So yeah, there will totally hopefully it doesn't. Yeah, because all you do is fucking eat. It's all
01:14:24
Speaker
You eat and you watch football and then whatnot as a family. I just, I just eat and fall asleep. Yeah. That's the end. That's about it. Yup. Chair's gone. Bye bye. Oh shit. But yeah, so we'll make sure we get ourselves around that. Yeah. So just keep your eyes peeled. If you have an invite from us, can you please just reply yes or no?
01:14:48
Speaker
We'd appreciate it greatly because then we want to invite other people. If you're not into it, we don't take offense to it. We like you anyway. But until then, we'll see you guys back here next week for the season finale. Shit, we got to do something special, a little special for it at least. You know, it's the most bizarre fucking finale we've ever had. All of two, but you know what I mean? It will be the most bizarre one we've had for a while. It will. And probably the most bizarre one. Right.
01:15:21
Speaker
So that's what that'll be. But other than that, thanks for hanging out with us. We appreciate it a lot. But yeah, we'll catch you guys next week and have a good one. Later.