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Episode 13; Premiership Round 12
29 Plays7 years ago
Maybe one day we’ll learn how to not yammer on so much, maybe, this was not that day. We talk about the law changes that are being asked for in the press (3:04), the silly talk about the Premiership and the RFU splitting (10:02). The main point of contention being scrapping relegation. Hint: It’s a BAD idea! Of course the games; SALvSAR (19:43) LEIvGLO (33:14) WORvBAT (44:10) NEWvHAR (52:22) EXEvBRI (1:04:04) WASvNOR (1:09:33). We pick our pools to watch, literally watch, and our Leather Ball Pick Em (1:22:05). Don't forget to e-mail us to play Fantasy Super Rugby with your favorite rugby knuckleheads.
Twitter jdyke8man & admrablsnackbar
Email questions at fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com
Music by Royalty Free Music provided by http://www.soundotcom.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Rugby Chat
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey everybody, what's up? It's the Fancy Rugby Yanks. We are your favorite American rugby morons that have no idea what we're talking about or those guys that talk about that funny sport with that bigger ball than a football. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We're recording from just outside Boston, Massachusetts. It's Tuesday and it's sad because we won't see Premiership rugby for a little while after this one. You know what? After last weekend, I'm kind of okay with that. Well, yeah, there was some bad ones.
00:00:31
Speaker
Yeah, there were some bad ones just poor poor play from the normal quality teams and yeah, I agree it's it's kind of hard to To get up for it. So I uh Yeah, I'm actually I'm looking forward to some champions cup. Yeah, you know higher quality. Yeah Yeah, don't have to watch any stinkers. Yeah, hopefully. Oh, I hope not. There's gonna be couple stinkers. There'll be some stinkers Yeah for sure. That's right. All right ceremony ceremoniously first Thank you all commits for making wonderful beer
00:01:02
Speaker
I win. Yeah, and you're gonna win on the part because my glasses are much smaller. It's not the size of the glass, it's what's in it. That's what my wife keeps telling me. She's being very kind to you.
Fantasy Rugby League Setup
00:01:18
Speaker
Wait for the Yeah, head to die down on that one patience on the head. Oh, it is a heady topper Yeah, it is message with them earlier this week or over the weekend They are gonna have their self themselves set up soon so we can schedule a draft that's coming up real quick sweet and the season season for that is a couple other competitions that are coming up soon We'll talk about that
00:01:39
Speaker
Um, but please Let us know if you want to play we we want to have some fun with you all Otherwise we're just joining a random league and making fun of random people that we have no idea about So i'd rather we'd rather have some fun with and interact with everybody else out there. Um As we try to touch on a few subjects without over
00:01:59
Speaker
Prolonging
California Holiday and Rugby Ruck Rules
00:02:00
Speaker
this there we go. That's the word I was looking for. My brain's not working. Well today. No, it's Tuesday Tuesday after the holiday Did you have a holiday like I don't know if I had oh, I totally had a holiday This is hot man. This is my first five. Oh, yeah, you got a holiday since like frickin October October get out of here You don't count. I do not count. No, I had a holiday my friend. I didn't man just like
00:02:25
Speaker
three day, three nights in California is just like too short of a stay for me. Yeah, well, yeah, because then it's jet lag getting out there. Oh, yeah. Back. You took a what, a red eye coming back. Coming back. It's always a fun experience. I was actually okay. The boss. Not so much. Yeah. She was having issues. Well, it's never it shouldn't say it's never it's something if it doesn't get you immediately. Finds you. It finds you. It catches the reaper comes. I've taken enough long ass halls that
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, you're well experienced in that one, especially more than me. But yeah, that's all right. We're back and we're trying to get the get the old engine going. Anyway, let's talk about the couple of the couple of big things that I've seen pop up in terms of the premiership and what has to do with European rugby. There's a couple of things that are possible surrounding the ruck and the scrum.
00:03:15
Speaker
Um, I have my thought and we'll, we'll talk about the ruck first. Cause I think it's actually the easiest to clean up honestly, cause the ruck isn't that bad. Like people are like, Oh, the ruck doesn't require anything. Well, it does, but it requires the referees intervention a little bit more.
00:03:31
Speaker
So tell me, I saw you, you messaged me earlier, and I was fucking super busy at work, so I wasn't able to read through it. What's this ruck change? What are you talking about? The ruck change that they called for was just to get guys from going off their feet. And I don't disagree with it, but there's two things that need to happen for the whole going off your feet thing. One, you need to get guys to stop laying on top of the tacklers to stop laying on top of the ball carrier.
00:04:00
Speaker
because I want quick ball, and guess what I'm gonna have to do? I'm gonna have to go submarine this dude to strip him off by ball carrier, my friend, so my scrum half can spin it wide. Sorry, that's just, if you can get these tacklers away from the ball faster.
00:04:17
Speaker
Otherwise, this is the only way to the tacklers that like to roll towards the clear out players and the scrum has feet. Yeah. I mean, they took away the boots for a reason. Right. But man, when those days were around, that didn't happen because you thought better of it. Yeah.
00:04:32
Speaker
But maybe you did that once when you were learning to play. And then you were like, oh. Did not do that a second time. No, somebody stomps on you nowhere, or your hand, or something dumb. And it's like, oh, OK, I won't do that ever again. Now it's up to the referees to clean that up. And if you're going to take out my legs as I'm trying to clear somebody out, I have no choice. I have to freaking kind of dive in, because I'm going forward. That's just how it goes. And then the last thing was the crocodile roll.
00:05:02
Speaker
Honestly, I get what they're saying about it. And you know, the neck roll is obviously out. That's fine. And that's good. A good a good crocodile role isn't bad, but you have to. There's no other way to get a poaching player off the ball. So I mean, that's it. You get them off their feet and they have to to leave it. Right. And that's that's the goal. And there was the the person that wrote the article cited one thing with James Horwell, but it was from like, I don't know, I think it was from 2011.
00:05:28
Speaker
And it was a knee injury, and it was a really unfortunate knee injury, but you can't make a rule change based on one random knee injury, honestly. Well, and from so long ago, too. Right. So, yeah, that's, and as you said, it's pundits. It's not the premiership, or not World Rugby itself. No.
00:05:46
Speaker
That's looking at this. So yeah, that was like the New Year's resolution for somebody that spat it out there I was like, all right, you're just trying to find clickbait. Yeah, it's clickbait and and hey I am I'm very happy that that rugby is encountering clickbait because it means that people find it click baitable So that that that's a positive I'll take that as a kind of a backhanded compliment from
Relegation Debate in Rugby
00:06:07
Speaker
from some international pundits Absolutely. And then what's what's going on with the scrum and just like
00:06:13
Speaker
We have one I read today, again, super clickbaity, like, sure. Oh, do we have to get rid of the scrum? If we get rid of the scrum, we might as well just get rid of the sport because that makes, that's a big part of rugby last time I checked.
00:06:25
Speaker
It's a, yeah, it's a, it's a great way to restart. It's, I mean, otherwise you're going to turn into either league or, I mean, just an extended version of sevens. Yeah. I mean, sevens has a scrum too, but it's not. It's not a scrum. It's not a scrum. Nine times I attend the team feeding the ball wins it. Right. It's just a way to restart the match. And that's, that's acceptable for that sport, especially with so much space on the field. Right.
00:06:48
Speaker
I like that What the scrum does it concentrates the people like, you know the forwards all in one specific area and let's let's the backs I mean fuck could you imagine being a back and going from a scrum filled world to a non-scrum world they lose their mind like The space is gone. Right and all the stuff they love to do is now Fucking gone you get that opportunity, you know to get that opportunity, you know a dozen or so maybe 20 times a game It's fun
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, I would assume for a back now. Yeah, I mean, it's a strategy you people like know their back lines are dangerous. So they suck in the forwards and they isolate certain back players they know they can probably exploit and they use it as such. There's, there's not a lot of ways to do that. Otherwise, outside of
00:07:34
Speaker
I don't want everything to turn into a friggin' line out. Because that'll get messy eventually too. Next thing they'll start calling, well, let's get rid of them all. And that'll be the next thing to go. Listen, referees just need to clean it up better. I'm OK with getting rid of as many resets because somebody talked about this weekend. Let's get in, let's get out.
00:07:55
Speaker
That's even better now than it used to be. We talked about this last week. It used to be you do the same scrum for 10 minutes. Good Lord. Right. And come on. We saw that in one of the matches this weekend. I'm sure we'll get to it. I'm having a brain fart right now. That's right. It'll be there.
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah, there were a couple where I'm just like, and it might've been the Saturday sale match where it was just like, get the fuck on with it. Let's, let's go. Like I've seen it in this scrum too many times. It's fallen down either call a free kick, call a penalty, do something. Um, but let's, let's move on with it. If they can't, if they actually can't scrum, then that's a problem.
00:08:31
Speaker
start punishing them, less resets. I get the one reset where you, all right, new front row or first gram of the day, fine, and then you get the occasional sloppy footing reset, that's fine. You gotta start figuring out, all right, listen boys, we're either gonna play, we're either gonna,
00:08:46
Speaker
Get free kicked or we're gonna scrum you tell me and There's still guys that will call for a reset when the balls at the back. It's like just play the damn ball Yeah back there right available. Yeah, play it play it play it be be done with it That's the easiest fix right? We don't need to ditch the scrum No, the annoying people that are asking for it need to go do something else besides besides frickin muddy this thing up So yeah, that's that's the big thing that i've seen in terms of the law changes out there
00:09:13
Speaker
It's always something every year, though. It's something like there'll be a small tweak here or there. The people that know what the hell they're doing will make a decision about it and that will be done with it. Right. And we'll just move on. Yeah. Thank God. Yeah. But I think that there's.
00:09:28
Speaker
There's changing the game for for you know in too drastic a way would be counterproductive I like I really like where the scrum is now as opposed to where it used to be And yeah, maybe yes, maybe there are ways to improve it but uh eliminating it all together Right is not it's not the way to go i'm all for improving the game with tweaks here and there i'm not afraid You know for lack of a better term. Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water, right?
00:09:54
Speaker
So just let's just park that for a little bit, please please please So the net this is actually something you brought to my attention the premier ship the RF you having a split Wanting to get rid of relegation right? I am so effing against relegate getting rid of relegation It's one of the it's one of the greatest miseries
00:10:16
Speaker
Yes in this in this in this world like I and I can speak i'll speak Real quick from a fan of the premier league the the soccer league the football league whatever you want to call it My team went down probably four or five years ago that I support fullum And oh what what what misery it was? But we didn't we didn't deserve to be in that league. We didn't and we kept we kept trying That was the thing. We didn't just ditch it. We kept trying
00:10:43
Speaker
But it was just so, and then, and we're back this year, we're back up, might go, might end up going right back down. But again, it's one of those great joys of you don't get to just mail it in for half a season if you suck. Right. And there is a, I really, not only should they not eliminate it in premiership, they should bring it to other goddamn sports. I would love that. It will never happen, but I'd love it. It will never happen.
00:11:12
Speaker
We look at say, you know the NFL big example just ended the regular season just ended
00:11:18
Speaker
And there's teams out there, and maybe not so much this year. I don't think anybody did anything like that this year. But a couple years ago with the Colts, they sucked for luck. That was the motto, sucked for luck. And for those who are overseas and not aware, there was a quarterback still playing in the league, still playing for the Colts, named Andrew Luck. And he's not terrible at all.
00:11:41
Speaker
And he was coming out of college looking like a clear cut number one overall pick The worst team in the league gets the first over. No, so that's the difference is the nfl actually rewards teams Yeah for being the worst team in the league They give them the give them the number one overall pick. So the colts went What won in 15 something? Yeah, because they weren't they were one of there's there's only two teams that have been over so they went at least they won at least one game yes and and uh Yeah, it
00:12:12
Speaker
That's that was their that was their strategy. They said, you know, we're gonna suck anyway We might as well be good next to your wing or at least down in the future and i'd rather see teams get punished for gross incompetence Yeah, and and there should be a standard you look at the and you look at the nfl 12 teams make the playoffs How many of those teams are good and have a legitimate shot at winning at all like four?
00:12:38
Speaker
So what kind of a league are you where you have, what, 32 teams and only four of them? Are really that good. Right. At that point, I would rather, and I realize there's, there's ridiculous amounts of money involved as a way to put it, but.
00:12:54
Speaker
Damn, yeah, we saw the product would be so much better if they really had here's your developmental league with You know, uh, maybe a side yep, and and your pro team your pro your your premiership league. Yeah with 18 teams or something like that and yeah, sorry, you know You wouldn't get teams like the browns who are finally turning it around. That's great Yeah, but they how many years did that take?
00:13:20
Speaker
Since they started back up again Basically 20 years. Well, they made the playoffs once in that time. Yes, I was that Wasn't Tim couch cat no quarterback. No team. No, who was it? Was that Anderson? No, it was. Yeah, it was Derek Anderson But so and I can tell you we talk about money and how much is involved like I
00:13:42
Speaker
They used to call the promotion match for the last Premier League spot, which is a game that my team just played in last year, Fulham. They won it. They used to call it the million dollar game. It's worth way more than that now. It's worth way more than a million pounds, whatever. But yeah, it's worth way more than that now because of the TV money involved in the Premier League. It's almost as absurd, if not more absurd, than the NFL.
00:14:11
Speaker
So yes,
RFU and Premiership Rumors
00:14:13
Speaker
there's tons of money involved. But you got to figure out a way to not do this. I even encourage the lottery system, which I'm not an NBA fan, but I like that. Yeah. And I mean, you and I both huge NHL fans. So right, you know, we both like that. So that that to me, at least has a little bit more to it. Yes, you get a better
00:14:30
Speaker
odd of getting a high pick if you suck, but you're not guaranteed. No. And we've seen that in the NBA a bunch of times where a team- Guys got like number five instead of one. Right. It was great. I was like, yes. Yeah, fuck you. Sucking. Yeah. Don't be tanking it out there for us. You're putting a product out there. People are paying good money to see you out there and give it and put a good team on the court or on the field or whatever. Stop tanking it. You're robbing these people of money. That's just
00:14:57
Speaker
Like, ethically, that's just wrong. It is. You know? So, sorry, you know, if the RFU and premiership can't come to terms, maybe, what I think, I don't know if it's on the table, I didn't get a good enough read into it. If, like, dual contracts for England are on the table, possibly for a premiership and RFU, I think that should happen, because Ireland do it, Wales do it, Scotland do it. I don't see a reason why RFU can't do it. Yeah.
00:15:21
Speaker
I understand they don't want to because the teams aren't owned by the rfu they're owned by Individuals as opposed to the other way around with those other three countries. Yeah, but still to work something out in that fashion I think would be beneficial for both parties That's just right. Right and and well that and that aside I think our favorite fat fly half Made a good point about it and said that
00:15:47
Speaker
First off, this is not happening the possible split. There's no way that's happening within the next couple of years because they're signed through like 2021 or 2024 something way out there. So it's not happening anytime soon. And then the point that he made was that these are
00:16:02
Speaker
fairly successful businessmen who run these teams and this league and the RFU, they're smart. They consider all potential possibilities and that all this is is a report that they talked about it. It's not that they're considering it. It's not that this is anything that's going to happen. It's just that they considered. They talked about it because it's a possibility if that's the route they want to go.
00:16:28
Speaker
It's unlikely to happen according to the fat fly. It'd be an atrocity if it happened in my opinion. It would be stupid. It would be incredibly stupid. So I feel like, you know, when you're brainstorming, there's no bad response. You always have to list, you know, if you think of something, let's talk about it. I have a feeling that that's what it was. It was more of an open discussion. So maybe just somebody misreporting and trying to restore the pot.
00:16:55
Speaker
Right. Which is what we have already talked about. Right and I think that's that's probably what it was somebody saying or somebody floating that out there for a specific reason to get a specific reaction from either one of those organizations. Fair enough. So I think I think that was a tactical thing. Things at play here. Yeah I think I think we got some some intrigue and espionage going on on this shit.
00:17:19
Speaker
Uh, all right. That's good. So yeah, it sounds like that'll be good because um, you know, we're already working on trying to grow the game Let's not try and throw the freaking grenade in already. Damn it. Yeah, let's not Yeah, please. No, that's like a petty about this shit. Let's let's just have a product that everyone's enjoying 100
Fantasy Rugby Dream Team Review
00:17:37
Speaker
all that stuff right we'll start with the dream team first uh for the latest week and last week for about six weeks or so of premiership fantasy we have our dream team uh Mako from Mako Bonapolo from the Saracens uh the loose head he had 33 Tom Cruise from was thank you Tom their hooker with 38 Frasier Balmain with 25 that's a week week that's a week week that's a soft week from from props if Balmain's making it with 25 that's
00:18:05
Speaker
That's not great. Good for Balmain, but no. Strange seeing so many Gloucester men on here. Balmain, now Gerberant Grubler and Franco Mustard, both rounding out the second row from Gloucester with 51 each.
00:18:21
Speaker
The Dominator Alex Dombrandt from from Quinn's with the flanker. He had 45. He played a lot of eight though. Yes, he did Mike Fitzgerald from Lester. He had 45 Zach Mercer. He had 44 Ben Young's and George Ford the halfback pairing from Lester 43 and 51 respectively
00:18:38
Speaker
Johnny May, the player of the week probably, with 59 from the winger from Lester. Bryce Heem, a big week for him. He probably had the only good week on Worcester, honestly. 42 for the winger from Worcester. They shoved him into the centers because he's eligible there.
00:18:53
Speaker
Juan de young from was the center 40 he had a he had a he was everywhere He was a he had a great game for wasp. Yeah, so well deserved to be in that team. He had 40 Gabriel batoy from Harroquins with 40 he had he was a part of their big day up at Kingston Park and Jonah Holmes with 39 another guy that had a big day with it for a big bird team had a big day Yeah, so Lester had their 9 10 They're 11 and they're 15. Mm-hmm
00:19:22
Speaker
uh make the uh make the the dream team back line was tearing it up if they won yeah yep so there was there was that um we'll get to kind of the somewhat halfway pull of the leading point scores in the format um after we go over the games but uh let's go over the games first because and i'm also trying to delay this as long as possible because i don't let's just get past it i just screw your teeth and get past it
Saracens vs Sale Sharks Analysis
00:19:50
Speaker
So our boys there since falling to the cowboy that is Steve Diamond and sale sharks. A lot of people are complaining about how the press was a lot of Billy V returns and sale spoil it as opposed to sale playing a great game.
00:20:09
Speaker
sale didn't play a bad game, but acknowledge that you're playing the defending champs, a team that's favored to do it again, and also win Europe. And they didn't play well, they didn't know as simple as that, and they're missing their leader. So yes, you played well, okay, you get a nod, I'll give, I'll certainly give declared the nod because he obviously was everywhere in a pain in her ass. But I'm not going to sit here and talk so much up about
00:20:33
Speaker
sale when really, yes, they took their chances when given to them, but they were given their chances because Saracens didn't play well. No, they didn't. Saracens played like poop. And so that's why and that's why it was the story had Saracens played an amazing match and and sale outright beat them.
00:20:55
Speaker
Then yes, the storyline would be wow, look at sale doing an amazing job instead. It's uh, sale spoils because vinopolos return because what else What what's the other storyline from the game? No, I mean and I mean he returned with a with a bang Yeah, freaking ran one right over right away like right over two three people. Yeah Those guys are just like oh no. Yeah, it's nice to have him back. But are we are we sure this isn't jackson ray? No, it's billy vinopola crunch
00:21:18
Speaker
So he he did very he played pretty well for the most part Especially for a guy that hadn't played 80 minutes a long time and was forced to play 80 minutes Because of the subs and sub needs here and there by by Saracens There's something I want to mention yeah, you guys you got talking points because we We had it out on over text. I Wish we I honestly wish we had live to you that to see what everybody else said, but right. Yeah so
00:21:48
Speaker
Go for it. Faz's yellow card. To me, that was kind of a lifetime achievement yellow card in a way, in that Faz has gotten away and we've talked about it for a couple of weeks ago. It's been a while. He's been good. He's kept his nose clean up until that tackle.
00:22:12
Speaker
Let's let's be honest. That was not a yellow card offense. Absolutely not a yellow card offense. Nope It was barely a penalty offense. He he hit him. I hate seat belts already as a pen itself So but and he he's he's swinging but but he kind of came through on the shoulder and it slid up which Generally is is a penalty at worst. Yeah the problem is Farrell has had so many
00:22:40
Speaker
legitimate yellows if not worse in very high profile matches and Gotten nothing no sanction at all. Not even sometimes not even a penalty sounds like the South African referees problem ours and that is but
00:22:57
Speaker
They can't let that kind of just go and continue on. So to me, that was a, look, Fez, you've gotten some favorable calls, some clearly favorable calls from other refs. I can't be that ref. I don't want to be the next ref to let something go that I see fishy. And I'm certain, I'm absolutely certain that
00:23:18
Speaker
You know, if it wasn't this, who was this ref? Matt Carly Carly. If it wasn't Carly, it was going to be, it was whoever, whoever was the next official to see something they didn't quite like in a tackle from Owen Farrell was going to get a yellow. So, so now he's got it. Now they can kind of, it's one of these like, okay, we can kind of reset and give him a fair level playing field. We'll, we'll call it, right. He's got his yellow that he's earned.
00:23:42
Speaker
two or three times over and and not gotten anything so I think he's a victim of his own recent past in this case that might and that might be true now here is the issue I don't necessarily disagree with everything you're saying there the problem is Matt Carley has now set the standard of the match and then he can't and he doesn't want to uphold it which is a problem that's and that is the problem ultimately and I don't I don't like the way he officiated and I don't like I don't like officials
00:24:13
Speaker
that talk harshly to one side and yuck it up with the other. Because that that it's it's a bad look it's not even it's not it's one of those we know where they didn't get paid off but you know the appearance of conflict of interest that's the thing is a conflict of interest yeah and for him i and there was a i think we were we're texting i don't know if we were texting you but no i was watching it on my own texting you about it though yeah i think you were because i watched it at the replay yep um he was he was
00:24:41
Speaker
just jawing at some one of the one of the saris saying something along the lines that don't speak to me like that again or something like that wasn't the billy vina polo on where he did say that don't speak to my ar that way it was a different one right before scrum where i think he he said something to to vinson coch and i don't remember what it was but it was something this is the most malmannered guy ever so that's funny that you would ever say that so for coxigan on the the wrong side of her unofficial which i felt like he did and i think it was i think it was the that's why i think it was the saris sale match which had the the scrum that yeah
00:25:14
Speaker
He's shitting on the saris for being whatever whatever the fuck he felt like saying to them And then right after that he's turn around and joking around with faff to clerk Yep, and then right after that there was a scrum and he goes immediately right on the engage goes to a free kick for for sale. Yeah
00:25:29
Speaker
And i'm like that doesn't to me just doesn't look good. It doesn't look good And I don't i'm not saying he was biased i'm just saying that The officials need to really that that to me and then you to expect saris to not get mad Yeah, when i'm playing and I see that i'm gonna get fucking pissed at the ref because absolutely the fuck dude You're calling you're calling us for it for what we feel. We you know, we're feeling a little bit aggrieved here. Absolutely and
00:25:55
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes teams feel that way and they don't deserve to. I feel like he just was judging them harshly. And then to be laughing with the captain of the other team.
00:26:07
Speaker
Oh man, i'd be fucking furious. I would be in his ear constantly. He would hate me More than he would are normally probably probably more than yeah, and yeah, and so to me i'd feel aggrieved about that It's not so much that I thought he did a shit job And he did but I don't think he did a shit job on purpose, but it just it's a bad look Yeah, it was yeah, and you know seemed to be chewing out farrell more than he chewed out ross and I felt like ross got involved in a
00:26:35
Speaker
A few extra afters as much as Beryl might have been John Adam.
00:26:41
Speaker
And he did talk to him once, but it didn't seem like it really set in. So anyway, so enough about Matthew Carley. So in layman's terms, fuck him. Do better next time, dude. He had a bad game. And it wasn't, it didn't, it didn't affect the, I'm not saying he affected the outcome. The salaries played like poop and deserved to lose. Brad Barrett is a huge mess. It is. You can tell, you can really tell that not having him on the field is
00:27:06
Speaker
It's affecting their defense that's really affecting it because he is, you know, he's basically an eight man sitting in the middle that's able to play center and he just doesn't miss tackles. He's just I mean, if if Brad Barrett's in that game, do they give up 24 to the sale?
00:27:19
Speaker
Well, there's one try or two tries they did because it's the two long breaks that end up burning I'm especially the salamona one, you know that that ends up being the big thing I wasn't a fan of the the final pass on I think it was ashy or whoever went over in the corner there Maybe it was Sam James, whatever it was
00:27:38
Speaker
I think it was Sam James in the end. Anyway, I wasn't a fan of one of the passes. I thought it needed to at least have a check. Right. Yes, I remember that. It is what it is. You know, so Farrell's yellow card and then tall food was an absolute idiot for I mean, I get it. You want to you're intense. You're trying to clean out the rocks. The guy he hit was not even close to that rock. No, he had no reason to hit him. He needs to just like cool his jets a little bit and be like,
00:28:04
Speaker
Let's put it this way though. There's a reason that Wussencroft has surpassed Tolofua as the backup hooker right now because Wussencroft has played much better than Tolofua had in the substitution appearances he had and you know He he he's probably gonna stick around for a little longer as well Tolofua I think he's on the way on his way out to go join his brother in France, right? So have fun, dude. Yeah. Yeah, that's your That's your giveaway. That's your giveaway present. Yeah, so in the end
00:28:32
Speaker
So Saracens lose 1824. They kind of just said let's get out of here at the end of it They had the bonus point is you know, they tried they tried and then you know what instead of giving away the losing bonus point They said screw it and they kicked the ball out. And yeah, I think Pharaoh was just had enough. Yeah Fuck you fuck you fuck you. I'm out. Yeah later. Yeah, so that was that was that I
00:28:58
Speaker
Let's go over the points for sure, you know the the goodness of our hearts here We'll start with the home team the winners. Oh James O'Connor with 14 five to Clark with 20 Ashton with 12. So those are the three big players not a lot done for now, but the damage obviously done elsewhere
00:29:15
Speaker
Danny salimona 31 sam james 31 tom curry 29 both curries were on the field at the same time. That was kind of amusing You like that? They were gonna swap them off. Yeah, but then I guess somebody else had there was like Two curries on the yeah, and they both and they both taped their head their twins So it's like yeah look for the number of them and I mean maybe they wear a different color boot, but that's about the most yeah
00:29:45
Speaker
Good luck. Just see Curry. It works out. See which one. Curry. I'm not sure which Curry, but Curry. Josh Beaumont with 29 for sale. Saracen's have a much longer list because they have more players that are a higher cost. Ferrell with 22. Otoje did not play. God, England are going to be really sitting on the edge there. Hopefully he gets back at some point for the Six Nations. Happy to see this guy back. Billy Bonapola with 21. Mako with 33. Team in the week, as we mentioned. Alex Goode with 20.
00:30:15
Speaker
We'll talk about him in a second. Jamie George did not play. Apparently he was on his honeymoon, got married, something because I saw him on Instagram and I was just like, I was like, Oh, so that's where you were. Got it. I mean, well deserved break. The guys, the guys played pretty darn well. You saw at the last game, he's probably a little tired. So gave him the week off. Fair enough.
00:30:33
Speaker
Liam Williams returns with only four. Brad Barrett, as we talked about, didn't play. Huge, huge issue there. He needs to get healthy fast if they're going to have a shot at any. I'd love to see a double. I want one trophy. I don't care which one. I'd love to see a double. I want one trophy, damn it. That might be selfish, but I don't care.
00:30:51
Speaker
Alex Lozowski with 14, George Cruz with 13, and Will Skelton with 15, Nick Tompkins with 30. Now I know we miss Barrett, but man, I love this kid. I really do. They'll be in fine hands. Just give him a little more. But he's a little seasoning. Yeah, he needs just a little seasoning. And then somebody to organize that defense.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, somebody else has to do it because I don't ferrell has to organize the offense already He shouldn't have to organize the defense. We need somebody else out there to lead it Yeah, it doesn't have to be a backing could be a forward. It doesn't matter. It just has to be something that's happened It just takes the grandpa game by the scruff of the neck on our defense because that's really that's how we built That's how the sergeants built themselves as they are is that wolf pack, you know, yeah, so hopefully that hopefully that changes I'm glad we have nick tomkins though
00:31:37
Speaker
So, as I said, Saracens 18, Sail 24, Saracens sit second as they have before, and Sail have climbed to fifth. So, they're one spot outside the playoff now. You know, somebody said, oh, to the St. Peter's, the journalist that we talked about last week. Oh, I think, you know, it was Healy.
00:32:00
Speaker
Oh, I think you I think you owe him an apology. Listen, whether what Sam James has written was wrong or right. What Steve Dimon said to him in that last press conference is not excusable. End of story. I don't care who says that it's not a big deal. Like you can't
00:32:20
Speaker
Yes, press are going to write shitty things about you when you start. This is supposed to be a sport that's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You're going to have more people that write big old shit burgers about you. Yeah. Deal with it. Right. Deal with it better. And, you know, you get I'm sure directors of rugby get paid.
00:32:38
Speaker
Decently enough to live on no doubt. So Fucking take it. Yep, you know all coaches have to deal with that shit and You know what did he say anything wrong? Did he write anything incorrect? Did he get any facts wrong? Maybe he got the story wrong But if he didn't get facts wrong
00:32:56
Speaker
The fuck does he have to apologize for? He's a journalist. That's what they do. They're paid to piss you off very much. That's just that. That goes back to Diamond being a cowboy and being just a total asshole. I'll pass on Steve Diamond. Thank you. I know he's a one time Saracen staff member, but I'll pass on him. Thank you. That's enough. That's all I have to say about that.
00:33:17
Speaker
Alright, let's move on. Your side piece against your mortal enemy. Dude, take like you need to start like buying gloss for some nice diamond rings. You know, take them out to a nice fancy dinner in the seaport. You gotta do something man because these guys are just like not in it.
00:33:32
Speaker
It's and I'm convinced it's Ollie Thorley. I feel like he's and I know it's weird that it's a 15 man game. You got to have all your guys. I feel like every time they need a spark, he's kind of been there. Yeah. And him not being there is not untrue to say. Right. And well, and then to not have Cipriani or Woodward also. Yeah. So the three of them being out. And if they had one of them, obviously, I think if they had one of them,
00:34:01
Speaker
They would have won last week probably and you know, uh, williams picked a hell of a time to just have a shit match. Yeah, he was god. He's He and the last two he's really not been been good. No, you know, he really hasn't been and that that's a shame I would have thought that that having a little bit more time in training as as the that 10 Would help him. It feels like you know when he's come on to replace cipriani He's been very good
00:34:28
Speaker
in the past. So as a replacement, he's been fine. But for some reason, starting and... It's a different mentality sometimes. And maybe when you're not fresh legs, when everybody else on the field's tired. Yeah, that's easy. That's fun. Yeah. So maybe there's something to that.
00:34:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely uh, but man he he he was not He was not the quality that they needed in that match. No. No. No Um, I mean luster brought their hands for sure. They were moving the ball pretty darn well Everybody on that team was trying to ship that ball on just to get to the next gap and they did they did pretty well, um
00:35:06
Speaker
If I remember right, I think it was genj and for yeah combining to get may over eventually was it was I can't recall I think that's what it was that led to I think maze first try Gloucester just you know We talked about him own own Williams needs to step up his game big time in Cipriani's place. He's got a lot to um
00:35:29
Speaker
He's got a lot to take charge of and really has to he's got a lot of a lot of work to do in the terms of Directing the traffic and I'm a big and some could say oh, well, you know Willie Hines or braley or whoever could do that now obviously behinds didn't play in this game you
00:35:45
Speaker
I thought really did a pretty decent job though. Right. But it's it's hard to direct traffic when your heads up a forward butt half the time. Yeah, that's why I'm a fan of having the 10 direct the traffic to not the nine. Yep. There are certain teams and countries that would prefer the nine take charge but
00:36:00
Speaker
Um, i'm a fan of the ten because he sees everything not you know, somebody's thigh. Yeah um, so yeah, I felt that uh I I felt a little bad for him because obviously he's feeling some big shoes But he still needs to do a little better. He doesn't need to do better and and it again it hurts to not have Two of of your star players in that back line, um drawing some attention away from you So, you know, yeah
00:36:27
Speaker
Obviously the cipriani he's the replacement for cipriani, but but woodward and thoroughly being out. Yep killing him It kills him because you know if you can throw Um, you know if you can get starting to get creative like, you know, banahan was was was around this week, which was helpful Yeah, he probably needed to do a little more work to to find work because he's a right He's a guy that can play center and certainly has a body of a center and certain certainly can can do damage in the middle of the field So right he eventually started to look for work, but that was way too late
00:36:56
Speaker
It was yeah, it was already decided at that point. Yep So, you know if you can you can shuffle that lineup around and maybe have you know If you have still have williams because you have no other choice right now, but you have 12 trees in banahan in the centers And thoroughly in charples at wing and woodward back and at the end, you know
00:37:13
Speaker
With the back line, yeah, I mean and trinder's obviously yeah and trinder Yeah, there's a nice well because in 12 trees and and bandhand can be kind of similar bodies and similar as playing styles Grant 12 trees can ship it on a little bit better than banners can but To have one of those two and trinder would certainly make things really really appetizing looking there I didn't think I can send played particularly well now. So You know was certainly a ghost to say the least, right?
00:37:37
Speaker
You can't have three backline players just kind of vanish right and they they had that Absolutely, and that was reflected in the score. I will say To be give it again. This is gonna be a lot of pride for you here All right, I'm gonna say this I was impressed with the way Lester played I
00:38:02
Speaker
I'm not going to expand on that because that took all of my energy, all of my strength. So, May's Intercept eventually leads to Ford getting paired up against Honeck one on one and he sees it and says,
00:38:19
Speaker
Oh, hi fat prop. Yeah run around you and he does now grant props these days can move a little better for it's pretty fast. I was still disappointed because You know, I I have a I have a high standard of You know what I expect out of a prop because I I feel a certain kinship with them but
00:38:40
Speaker
He bought the fucking dummy. Yes he did. What kind of a prop buys a goddamn dummy? You have a chance to clean out that ten after he throws that pass? You fucking clean out that ten. Yes he does. You don't buy that dummy? What are you doing, Honek?
00:38:56
Speaker
Silly kiwi Man yeah, and for so many reasons that I mean he bit and Ford said thanks. Bye Over, I don't blame him. I don't blame Ford. Nope, you know, and that's why you know, I'm as much as I am Yeah, I'm not enthused about Lester fuck it if you're going up against a prop and the prop doesn't want to make a hit I
00:39:18
Speaker
Run run run run baby run. Yep. God damn. Honestly, um May 2nd try I need another look from the Eastman pass. Yeah, absolutely. That was forward. Yeah, they didn't look at no doubt about it I I couldn't imagine they saw them and didn't there's not the one that Lester kicked a dick did a quick kick on it I think so because they were like Yeah
00:39:40
Speaker
I think so. But yeah, it ended up counting. Yeah, I mean good for Johnny May. He took the opportunity. That was Yeah, the referee says it's for it was it was good past and it's a good pass The TMO doesn't buzz down then it's a good pass. TMOs were all over the place as we can work out more Well, we can talk about more right here. Oh a fellow try not given
00:39:59
Speaker
after he made all that nice acrobatic move and you know, it was borderline, but Austin Healy being the former Lester man like we talked about last week was all about it. Give the try, give the try. I appreciate what he was saying and the fact that the move deserved a try, but if the referee decides the call is the call, listen, there's been many a move that deserved a try and didn't come out. You've seen that in a fair amount the last couple of weeks.
00:40:27
Speaker
And it's not like they needed it. So no they were they were good and you know just for the kids sake okay, but other than that yeah, yeah, no So it's a but then you look at the jersey and then you look at the score line and I'm you know Yeah, I mean kids don't get did all right general Holmes had himself a nice match I had a try assist and a try on top of it very very good for him I almost picked him and my team and I really really really wish I did Yeah, he would have done me some good a little bit. Yep
00:40:56
Speaker
All right. We'll go through the names real quick. At least there's more names on the sheet this week for Gloucester after since last week was not so pretty. That's true. Cipriani did not play. Obviously Woodward did not play. We talked about Thorley pulling out late. They thought he'd be fine to go, but his concussion wasn't quite cleared up. Honestly, what it probably was is he probably went out for warps and started having headaches and
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, when that happens, you're out, you're done. There's no option. The physios have to pull you. Yep. Ben Morgan with 17. Frank Armistart and Gerber and Cruella, the two second rows for Gloucester obviously did very well with 51. Both of them went for some strolls and made a lot of tackles. They did everything they could. Freddie Clark with 39. Gareth Evans with 30. Between those two and Morgan, I thought they were their best ball carriers for sure. And I thought they sure had the ball more. Evans obviously read
00:41:48
Speaker
Read the read the pat write a pass for an intercept, but I feel like morgan Had a he had some really good runs. He didn't he did a A lot of good when he had the ball in his hand. He just didn't get it enough. Like you said. Yeah, like give him the ball more. Yeah Agreed, uh, belly trout 12 trees with 27. That was obviously with all his um
00:42:07
Speaker
his kicks and then Fraser Balmain with 25, barely making it onto both the sheet and the dream 15. Rough week for props, like we talked about. For Lester, Dan Cole with 19, again, bait. George Ford with 51, not so much bait. Ben Young's with 43, Johnny May with 59. Matt O'Toole with 10, he's had better games. He's up and down. Talissa Vayano and Tom Young, neither one of them, played both still out with long-term injuries.
00:42:36
Speaker
Mike Fitzgerald with 45. Jonah Holmes with 39. Graham Kitchener, he's coming back slowly but surely here at 36. And Cioni Calamifoni with 30. Thank you, Cioni. I thought...
00:42:51
Speaker
I thought i thought ford was I have not i'm not the biggest george ford fan, but he's uh slowly slowly convincing me that he's Not a i know he's not terrible 10, but he's just slowly convincing me that he might not be the worst 10 in the world I'm withholding opinion. Yeah, fair enough Again, look at the jersey. No, um, it's you know, I Scary thing. I was thinking that exact same thing. Yeah while I was watching the match. I was like, you know this
00:43:15
Speaker
Sport guy ain't so fucking bad to bet his dad's a dick. Yeah, you know it's different story for a different day. Hey, it's not his fault. Nope But yeah, I wasn't pressed so no III think he's a fine ten. I'm not but that was that was
00:43:34
Speaker
That was international quality, his match. Yes, he was. Well done. I got it. I got you. It's Leicester 34 and Gloucester 16. Leicester are up to 7th. I don't know if that's a change or not. That actually might be about where they were before.
00:43:58
Speaker
fall to fourth still in the playoff Certainly in need of riding the ship. Maybe this break
Worcester vs Bath Game Highlights
00:44:04
Speaker
further comes at a good time for them Yeah, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. I have I have theories. Yep. All right Worcester bath, whoo Everything Is irrelevant up to the last like
00:44:04
Speaker
Gloucester,
00:44:19
Speaker
10. They played almost an extra half hour in this game or an extra 20 minutes or whatever it was. It was ridiculous. It was ridiculous. I know you didn't see it. No, I didn't get around to it yet. So many cards. But this is one like even after we felt we we we have to have to record this. I'm still going to go back and watch because I've heard such good things about it. Ridiculous. Let's I'll just get through the things that happened before the last five minutes of actual time.
00:44:47
Speaker
Beth initially came to play Mercer looking like he wanted an England jersey again. He deserves it in my opinion. He gives effort all the time. He wants the ball and he wants to make the tackles. So you can't ask for more. Ted Hill certainly showing he was probably worth at least a look for England. Saved a try at the, somewhere in the midpoint of the half, knock on the ball, James Wilson's hands before he got it over or when he was over, but he hadn't got it down yet. So all effort from Ted Hill.
00:45:17
Speaker
Ben Teo certainly is still playing with a bit of a point to prove. First half, he was definitely their best ball carrier. And they didn't play very well in the first half. Wooster. So there's that. And then I thought, I thought, I thought Francois Huguard was pulled a little early for a team that was trying to go on the comeback trail. This is a guy that can certainly lead that ship and has led that ship.
00:45:39
Speaker
A lot yeah to pull him for and i'm not trying to take anything away from johnny r. I don't think johnny r is terrible But french hoo guard is very good. He is. I I feel like uh hoo guards play Has been up and down lately a little bit and I think then to only have where where is he?
00:46:00
Speaker
14 points again not having seen the match with 14 points for a scrum half doesn't to me doesn't indicate a good game Well, they didn't have any of the ball the first half. Okay, well that explains it really they didn't have any of the ball So, you know to say to say that's on him is kind of unfair and I'm not saying that because I captain Let's talk about the last few
00:46:24
Speaker
Um, the first, the first thing, um, we're talking about is the Ross Batty red card. Uh, had a guy around the neck, drove him into, drove his head into the, into the, into the ground. I mean, wasn't the prettiest thing, wasn't the ugliest thing, but the letter of the law says red card. And I don't disagree. So, so, and I don't, and Batty didn't argue really a whole lot. So he either one did had no idea what he did.
00:46:49
Speaker
or two, did not even oppose. He's like, my bad. I think it was more the second part. So then we have the whole bath front row eventually, like they had replaced their whole front row, eventually the whole thing gets sent off.
00:47:06
Speaker
That's for one reason or another between the red and two yellows. Wow. Yeah, so Nagira gets sent off for I think a cynical foul near the goal line. And then who's the other one? Shoot, why am I forgetting that?
00:47:24
Speaker
Uh, nope, you they both had negatives. So let's go in there. Uh, la heif. Yep. You're right. La heif. That's who it was. So la heif gets sent off, um, for persistent scrum penalties and then a lead brew gets sent sent to the bin because he comes in from an offside position and, um, stops what probably could have been a try. They weren't convinced that it was a, it wasn't a penalty try with all the penalties that happened. I was very shocked and in all the cards that were given, I was very shocked, especially in this last.
00:47:54
Speaker
You know all this red clock time there was no penalty try given by you in tempest I was very very shocked if he didn't get over for the winner. I think we'd hear about it a lot more Yeah, but because he eventually got over because there were 15 on 11 and dear god if you can't get over at that point anyway, right? Yeah, there's only I mean
00:48:15
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't that extra time. It's hard. It's hard. You better be damn certain if you're given that penalty. Everything was on the five meter line that he was given. So you really if after especially after like the frickin fifth scrum penalty that he'd given to give especially if there was one that was moving even a nudge.
00:48:35
Speaker
And we have seen a match end on a scrum penalty, uh, try earlier this year. I can't remember the match, but I remember we, we discussed it. So it did happen. It did happen. It did happen. I just can't remember what match it was. I remember off top of my head, but yeah, it's happened. So there's, there's, there's a precedent. Yep.
00:48:57
Speaker
So Beth certainly came to play in the first half second half I Don't know what the hell happened that it all blew up and they were having of it We you know, especially with the front row setting offs. They had to sub all their guys on and off For different positions to get their right their other front rowers back on so I was like, oh man
00:49:18
Speaker
Either way, I'm perfectly happy because this team, I scored both. Right. And I've thrown him into my lineup recently and he's been he's been paying off. No, I mean, he's cheap and he does well. So not a not a terrible option, but someone to maybe consider. Absolutely. If you're struggling or want to fill somebody in or you want a consistent starter, he's done really well for me in the past two weeks. Right. Yeah. He's a he's a good player to just in general as well. I like I do like him.
00:49:45
Speaker
Go through the scores real quick, and then I want to talk about one unfortunate individual on this Worcester team. Francois Huguard with 14, like we talked about. Teo with 17, didn't reflect the game he was trying to stamp down on. Trust me, he was doing a good job with it. Heim with 42, we just talked about that. Francois Vents with 33. So that's for Worcester. And Bath, Falatau, again, wasted space. Rucka Noguni, another kind of wasted space, 16.
00:50:13
Speaker
uh roberts was 17 not a great week for him low with 12 down week for him as well freddy burns with 23 not bad if that's the little wind you get for freddy burns that's pretty good uh well chudley with 30 zach commercial with 44 thank you zach um he muscled himself over for a trial looked like you probably had to blow through two guys yeah um phrasing uh
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah, I've been thinking about Mercer a lot. He's been on my radar as far as somebody to consider picking up. But again, what's his price tag? Oh, god. It's up now. I promise you that much. So it started fairly low. It's been up. Right. Let's see. Zach Mercer, he is in the 276. That's not terrible. I picked him up at 241, though. Well, there you go. That's pretty good. Yeah.
00:51:01
Speaker
So that's not bad. No, it's still not bad. Yeah, but he means somebody's not 300 guys because he gets a lot of opportunities to run with ball in hand. Yeah, he does, especially with volatile hope. Yeah. So that's a big one. Worcester had to bring on Callen Black. Is Callen Black not the funniest shaped head in the premiere show? If he isn't, I want to know who is because it almost looks like his forehead juts out
00:51:24
Speaker
and it comes back in and there's no juts, no juts out. Poor guy. Man, you gotta warm me ahead of time. I'm trying to think of who's got a funnier shaped head. No, I'm fine with that. That's it. Free for view in my head. No, you're right. Yes. I mean, God, if there's a funnier shaped head, somebody tell me, please.
00:51:43
Speaker
Poor guy. I mean, I got a gigantic doll myself, so what are you going to do? Friendly fire there. Yeah, I love that. Oh, I'm thinking more of the, you know, I'm thinking the Bateman, so that's just, he has no neck. It's not that his head is shaking. Yeah, it's a different story.
Newcastle's Strategy and Performance
00:51:57
Speaker
All right, so Worcester win 21-19 over Bath.
00:52:01
Speaker
Bath our hat are a little bit on the struggle bus after that one. No, that was pretty ugly. Honestly Better decent first half. But man that second half was pretty bad when you get four cards Yeah, if you finish with 11, it's not good. No So a bath or an eighth Worcester are now propelling themself away from the bottom of the table with at 21 from Newcastle and that's our next game poor poor quarter Falcons. I Don't know what to do with these guys
00:52:29
Speaker
Oh, and we may have put the kibosh on somebody's frickin luck Who's that Toby flood? Yeah. Remember we talked about guys that played every game and goddamn right he goes and sits out this game, you know, I'm Well, yeah, let's get to it now because this is the last of the premiership teams
00:52:51
Speaker
That that are playing in the champions cup that lost yep, so let's get to this now you look at sari's new castle glosster. What am I looking at? uh beth They're in but they're not really in Yeah, and I don't really count beth because they'd have nothing so much to play for in either in either competition, unfortunately, right?
00:53:15
Speaker
I i'm wondering how much if i'm if i'm coaching new castle my thoughts are We got to turn this around obviously obviously you have to because you don't want to get relegated No, and then they're coming really close to it. I feel like the best Maybe the best way to turn it around is to say we're gonna sacrifice this game in a way We're gonna say you know what flood take it take a seat. Mm-hmm
00:53:41
Speaker
And we're going to come at the champions cup the last two matches Full out now I don't They're not going to they're not going to advance But they're playing against top competition so that when they come back to the premiership, hopefully they're they're on a different level mentally and and their their standard play is higher from that and
00:54:05
Speaker
to be fair they've beaten both these teams that they're about to play right so there's there's no reason that they can't win right but it's not to me it's not so much about the win as it is about the the form playing better and playing better and meeting that challenge because i don't know what the fuck is going on there i really yeah certainly certainly those of us it's a good it's a good he's a good coach dean richards has done very well in a lot of places he's gone so it's not like they have a shit it's not like they have a garbage coach by any means whatsoever
00:54:33
Speaker
Right. So I, I feel like that might be what he's trying to do is to say, you know what, guys, let's just get through this week. Then let's get into the champions cup. There's, there's no pressure. There's no, there's nothing to play for them. They're not expected to do anything in that competition at this point. So they got nothing to lose.
00:54:52
Speaker
So play hard and finish that out and hopefully and ride some momentum even if you lose You know do some you do something each push them to the brink that that builds your club for the for the home stretch Yeah of the of the premiership. I hope that's what they're doing because I mean we've This is becoming serious now. Yeah, I mean, you know, we we joked about it even joint bottom They're not even joint bottom anymore. They're there by themselves now and and pretty far away
00:55:22
Speaker
You know four points away. That's It's a win and they haven't looked like they're gonna find a win anytime soon But that's a win and Worcester losing and not getting any bonus point, right? So And that's just that's just a tie and the way this yeah the way this is going right now. It's not looking good So they need to they need it's not it's not about that one one week isn't going to change their fortune It's going to take two or three weeks, which means
00:55:46
Speaker
They have to be can stay have to be at their top form for the in my opinion for the rest of The premiership otherwise. Yeah, probably true. Otherwise, they're probably going to get relegated. Yep, that'd be unfortunate As much as I joked about it Yeah, that's true. It's it's it's actually not funny. It's his fault guys. It's his fault. I sort of got
00:56:06
Speaker
It's not funny anymore. It is funny. It's not funny anymore. It's looking like wait a minute Yeah, so guys I hope that's what's happening Yeah, I hope they're they're gonna sort their shit out the next two weeks and I want to see it cuz they're good They're good squad. They've got a lot of good talent. There's so much down on this team
00:56:26
Speaker
I that they need to stick around. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. So the thing to me is is Hodgson and Flood were a great one, too. I like Brett Conant. I don't think he's bad. I think he's like I talked about he hit that pen from 50 against against Northampton and just nailed it. Like, yeah, I got this guy's no problem. Let me hit this. And so, you know, he's got the guts, but I just don't think he's quite there. So I do have a little bit of a soft spot for these guys. They
00:56:56
Speaker
They more or less handed, uh, the Hilah Quinn's two tries here. Uh, Josh Mattivacy had a rough game, knocked on a break, handed Nathan Earl. It was a, it was a bit of a Hail Mary pass. If it, if it goes to hand, it's probably a try for them.
00:57:12
Speaker
If it doesn't, it's probably a try for Quinn's. It went the wrong way. Nathan R. runs like hell because we know he's got speed as a former Sarri. And then somewhere amongst the whole thing, it looked like he was about to, he took a kick that was just kind of like a, fuck it, kick, and it got blocked. Like he was just not having a good day.
00:57:37
Speaker
Quinn's executed, so to start the match, the Quinn's execute the same exact move, more or less, that they executed against Watts to start that match. Try. Dom Brant, over the line, Dominator. Playing really well, man. I hope this guy gets a shirt for an international team at some point here. He's really playing well.
00:57:54
Speaker
He's out of his fucking hair right now. Yes, he is. And he was a filler coming off the bench when everybody was away. And that's the best part of it. I love that. We've talked about that in the past, where we've seen two guys, Manila. Samu. Yeah. Poor guy just canceled his contract at Cardiff. Yeah. Well, but he got his start. For good reason. Yeah. Got his start because of what, it was Six Nations.
00:58:19
Speaker
No, it was a World Cup. It was a World Cup. And he said, and he said, listen, I'm going to take it out. I'm not going to pay for the U.S. the U.S. is my team, but I'm not playing for it because I think I can make a mark with Northampton while everybody else is away. And he did. He did. He ended up starting alongside laws in the playoffs. So much fun to watch. Right. Those two together. So, yeah, that takes second. So.
00:58:38
Speaker
Fucking step up while while you know, yep. Well, some of the big boys are away you get your chance your chances There's it and love it. I don't see him I don't see him coming out of that lineup except to give him a rest Yeah, just to give him for the rest of the season. Well, yep, I agree. So Dom brand pick him up if you haven't already. Yeah, absolutely Um cap and not only pick him up, but maybe captain captain him. Uh, faraniki ganovis is starong
00:59:05
Speaker
he bullied his way through three or four guys to get over the line.
00:59:09
Speaker
And I mean, this isn't something that he did once. He does it routinely. Maybe not three or four, but usually it's two or three guys he's making miss just by his sheer power to get by guys. And it's just so, if these guys go down, he is not going down with them. I promise you, somebody will sign him. So, I mean, sorry, Newcastle. If you go down, if he stays with them, I commend him for being like, you know what? I got you guys. I'm gonna stay with you guys. I mean, we're gonna go back up, okay? But if he doesn't, you can't blame him either.
00:59:39
Speaker
No, no, the championship just isn't isn't much fun, right? And some people there are certain, you know, team aside, there are some players who should be on that that level on the premiership level no matter what. Right. Absolutely. And Joe Marchant continues to be just a huge, huge key to this this Quinn's team. He he does everything he chases. He you know, he obviously reads and reads good passes for intercepts. He goes after kicks.
01:00:09
Speaker
This guy, I mean, he's not going to wear an England shirt, but man, Quinn's just need to thank the lucky stars. They have him, especially now they don't have Jamie Roberts. Yeah. Sometimes it's better to have a guy who's that good, who's not going to wear. Right. It is because you get him for all every game. You don't have to worry. Are they going to call him up? Yeah, absolutely. Is Eddie going to give me a call and say, sorry, I'm taking this guy off your hands for a week or two? I'm sure because he's happy to not get that call for him.
01:00:35
Speaker
Yeah, angel marla too. Honestly, I mean marla doesn't do much in terms of our fantasy value But obviously he's a huge leader in that dressing room, right? He's a props prop. Yep. So that's uh loves to get a little lippy You know, we we were talking before we we started recording About players you you love to have on your team and guys you just don't want to go against oh
01:00:59
Speaker
Marler is one of those. Oh, obviously he's one of those guys. He's mr. Windup, but he's he's you know, even when he's winding up my team Well, he doesn't a funny way to be fair You know, it's like Jamie George kind of thing to worry like how can you
01:01:16
Speaker
How can you be mad at him? You can't be mad at that guy. There's only one person in the world who can dislike Joe Marlar and even he's coming around. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Jimmy, we hear you, buddy. Oh, man.
01:01:33
Speaker
Alright, so Quinn's thump Newcastle 38 to 17. Quinn's go up to third. Jim might be getting a tattoo on his bum. I am so rooting for that. I can't tell you how much I'm rooting for that.
01:01:48
Speaker
Oh man, that'll be great. Let's go through the scores real quick. Not a lot of big names in terms of price on Newcastle, just Gunova and Flood. 26 and obviously Flood didn't play. 26 for Gunova. Gary Graham, very good player, still putting his hand up for Scotland. I think he'll get called up.
01:02:07
Speaker
in the in the six nations here. He's got he had 30 Callan Chick with 30. Will Whitty returns with 29. Nice return for him. Brett Cotton with 28. Again, he's not bad. I just think that Flood and Hodgson are are have a little bit more than he offers. So that's all it is, you know. And again, Newcastle really were a couple of mistakes away from being being in this match. They technically won the second half. Wasn't pretty, but I think the Quinn's also took their foot off the gas, too. Yeah. Yeah. When you got that lead, you kind of just you cruise. Yep.
01:02:35
Speaker
Marler with 17 Mike Brown with his record-breaking appearance for Harlequin's that was a lot of appearances for the big guy 15 he gets 15 on his on his record breaker Danny care with 20 Rob shop did not play Chris Rob Shaw
01:02:51
Speaker
Just move past it. Get on with it. You talked him up. Might be worthy of an England shirt, but definitely not worthy of your lineup in this format. He should not be on your lineup at all. We talked about bait before. That's bait too. Yes. Big time. James Horwell continues to be out with a long-term injury. The dominator, Al Stombrandt, was 45.
01:03:15
Speaker
a bit toy with 40. He did look a little rough around the edges. I have to say he misjudged a couple of kicks that went over his head and landed
01:03:23
Speaker
either into touch that he probably could have prevented or bounced and went into touch that he could have prevented. So a little bit of kinks to a little bit of, you know, working out with him does not show up on your fantasy lineup. No, thankfully. Nathan R with 38. I guess we talked about him. He's when he shows up, he shows up. That's a big one. Jack Clifford with 35. He's he's obviously happy to be back playing rugby again. Max Compton with 32 and Joe Marchant with 29. Our buddy. Yeah. You know, again, we're not supposed to like twins, but there's a couple of twins I can't help but like
01:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, you know what are you gonna do? Yeah, you just kind
Exeter vs Bristol Match Review
01:03:55
Speaker
of live with it. Yep Just don't just don't let it rot your shoulder. I think yeah, you don't you don't go overboard with it. You just appreciate it All right
01:04:06
Speaker
Exeter 14 Bristol nine. And let's move on. All right. Oh, my God. It was so I think I watched some of this. Oh, this was ugly. This was terrible. This was bad. If you had somebody that you sat like if some poor sucker that went to Exeter this weekend and it was like their first rugby experience. Yeah. Oh, God. It was such a bad thing to see. Knock on galore. Knock on it. It wasn't that wet.
01:04:34
Speaker
That's the sad thing. It wasn't that wet. It was just mishandles and garbage passes and people not paying attention and just, oh man. But that's the same thing as before. We talked about the other Champions Cup teams that.
01:04:49
Speaker
That played like shit. Well Exeter played like poop. It's just that they were in a competition played Bristol. Thankfully. Yeah and Bristol Equally pooped the bed. So it's they actually played well for good patches too, which is sad to say that they only end up with nine points Yeah, you know, they were Charles Piotow pulled out and pulled out late with an injury, right? Um, steven luatua didn't play in this match. Jonathan did not start this match. Harry Thacker didn't start this match Yeah, and they were in this match
01:05:15
Speaker
So without those four, which are, you know, regardless of fantasy or not, are a huge four to not have in your lineup.
01:05:22
Speaker
That's for as well as they played at certain spots That's good for them. Yeah, you know good for them. They have some guys that definitely stepped up and did well Exit over just man there were there was a point where they they got their tries by by remembering who they were and winning scrum penalties kicking to the corner right and either driving it over or at least setting up a try with a drive and
01:05:47
Speaker
You know, it was when they remember those times, they looked like Exeter. That was very few and far between. Yeah. And got to give it got to give him a little a little shit. I gave him a little shit last week. So probably a sign. Craig Craig Maxwell Keys just not.
01:06:04
Speaker
Not controlling the scrums very well at times. A lot of resets, you know, free kick them. He did start free kicking teams eventually, but it just felt like it took a little too long to get to that point. Maybe it was this match that I was thinking I was seeing too many scrums. This is before I turned it off, I'm sure. I was like, watch something else.
01:06:19
Speaker
Yeah, last little thing last couple things i'll say real quick. Um again, nobody seemed to like want Nobody really wanted to take this game by the scruff of the neck. Really? Um, you know Bristol had a chance that they let go at the end with a tacker forward pass Yeah, you know i'm also wondering if if that's the same idea that we talked about with new castle But with bristol is saying look we're trying to avoid relegation now. They're in a better position much better position much better position but still again new castle being new castle
01:06:49
Speaker
If they do turn it around, then they're, they're dangerous. And that now it's all of a sudden it's Bristol and Worcester fighting it out. So I'm wondering if Bristol are doing the same thing saying, you know, they, look, you said they rested a couple of guys. They pulled a couple of guys late. Maybe they're saying, you know what, let's just go into the, uh,
01:07:08
Speaker
A little extended absence here. Yeah, and just kind of chill out and and and be healthy just be healthy for the stretch, right? So That's kind of where I am with with possibly these two teams is Exeter looking at the Champions Cup and and Bristol looking at the rest of the season right and saying, you know what? If we sneak up and bite Exeter on the ass fucking a excellent
01:07:32
Speaker
They almost did the first time around at Ashton Gate and exited their way over for a try, and that was it. But man, shoot, I thought, give Bristol credit. They played this team to the brink both times. One very well, one very ugly. So give Bristol a little bit of credit there, Jack Lamb.
01:07:51
Speaker
And Pat Lamb, sorry, Pat Lamb, not Jack Lamb, Jack Lamb's, his nephew is, because I'm whatever it is. The older one, Pat Lamb, could give him credit. He's got the team playing pretty well and really feeling like that they can beat a lot of teams. So good for them.
01:08:07
Speaker
And I I get I gotta give this one last shout out jack monders doing a really good job of holding on to the nine shirt for Exeter Despite the fact that nick white's there. I know nick white's a little dinged up But still he's looked uh, he's doing a good job of not like making Exeter a question Do we do we need to change him out? Yeah, no, he's actually doing all right, you know, so i'll give the youngster the credit. I like it Uh, so good for jack monder
01:08:30
Speaker
All right, so I guess they're obviously see top they Go to first Bristol are in the middle of the pack. They are where they at they are Come on And no Bristol or our 10th.
Relegation Zone Tensions
01:08:44
Speaker
Okay, so I'm not quite the middle of the pack But they have a three-point cushion on Worcester and a seven-point cushion on Newcastle So relegation isn't quite there but that's still pretty that's a little it's a little tight maybe for this year that's really big because of
01:08:57
Speaker
What new castle banana will do and what what little winds people have had to take right? But still it's again that's too bad weeks and they're in trouble right new castle regaining their new castle remembering that their new castle and coming on strong and all of a sudden it's it's it's bristol and wuster
01:09:13
Speaker
Yeah, fighting it out. Right. Guys like McGuigan and Sanati, Sanati and Flood and Hodgson and Johnny Williams coming back and Mark Wilson being back would be a gigantic thing for them. Yes, it would. Granted, they're gonna, they might miss, if he gets healthy, they're probably gonna end up missing him for Six Nations, but still.
01:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, that'll be that'll be something we talk about soon. So we'll get into that um Last one so the sunday game which was a very entertaining game
Wasps vs Northampton Jersey Confusion
01:09:37
Speaker
as well. It was it was uh, wassa north hampton That was was it was wasps and and some team playing in a fucking weird jersey Yeah, those red and whites one. I can't the red and white kids. I can't get used to those It's almost like those champions cup kits that I can't get used to you know, and that it's just weird. I was turning it on and My wife jess was saying oh who's playing and i'm like
01:10:00
Speaker
Well, I thought I was watching wasps versus Northampton, but I really don't. I don't know who that one is. And then they cut to the wide shot, because they were showing the Northampton players getting set for the kickoff. And then they pulled back to the wide shot, and I could see the wasps kit. And I'm like, OK, no, I'm definitely watching the right match. One of these teams is correct. The other one's just wrong. Oh, man. But yeah.
01:10:24
Speaker
so they I liked I like the way was reacted um die young I dislike you still you fat mother you know what um but how how fast is Thomas chasing down everything in sight that kid was unbelievable somebody give this man a cap yeah my god my god he was everywhere he was and and he the
01:10:51
Speaker
He made his mistakes But that's but the mistakes he made were just effort mistakes. Yeah, so it's like, okay, you know, he got a couple bad penalties if he was like The the no try on his Yeah for well because it was either gonna be Somebody holding him which was only by a finger or needs him car clearing out. Yeah Somebody off the ball, right there was
01:11:16
Speaker
Something went wrong.
Refereeing Quality Discussion
01:11:17
Speaker
I thought that was beautifully officiated, by the way, as well. The other like it was like, look, you have to it was one of those. He gave Luke Pierce. Yeah, he gave you two options. Look, you either have he was tackled and held and got up without releasing the ball or tackle off the ball.
01:11:34
Speaker
Or was it? Yeah, it was right. So either way, no matter what happens, it's a penalty here. So fuck it. I'm not making a ruling except for a penalty here for one of you all fucked up. Yep. I mean, and well done. It's that's, you know, as you know, I'm harsh on officials.
01:11:51
Speaker
me too and i'll give luke pierce this one for sure yeah that was absolutely the right call it was well done tmo helped everything was just just beautifully done i was very impressed best bit of tmo work on the weekend probably there's only one bit of of television review that was better than what happened there
01:12:11
Speaker
And that was in the Eagles Bears game in the NFL That was actually pretty well done too, but this this this was pretty well done so yeah, and I you know, I crapped on I crapped on Carly I crapped on Craig Maxwell keys a little bit. I'll give Luke Pierce credit this, you know, he refereed a International some of the international tests this this past summer. I think he did one of the French and New Zealand matches and
01:12:39
Speaker
And I wasn't overly impressed with him, but he is certainly of that quality. And I'll give him that. He's and he definitely has showed it with his officiating this year. You know, JP and and Barnzy, no question. They if you ask them to go ref a test match, it is. Nobody's got a bat and I know I think Luke Pierce is getting himself into that situation, too.
01:12:59
Speaker
And I think carl dixon will eventually end up there as well. The the former player that's now referring Um again, the match he did with wister and sherry's. I thought you made one big mistake and that's it You're forgiven for a mistake most of the time. Anyway, so everyone makes mistakes, right including the officials Absolutely, but it's just not to don't compound them. Don't do it on top of one another. That's when it's bad That's when it gets bad and you lose control of the match so but this that I thought that was well officiated in in such a way that when um
01:13:25
Speaker
Who'd he talk to, Launchbury? I love Launchbury. Please tell me I'm not the only one that loves to listen to that man talk. I love Joe Launchbury just to listen to him. But yeah, he was trying to, he just couldn't make a case. And I thought the official handled it well. I was like, look.
01:13:50
Speaker
This happened. Sorry. It's a penalty. No track. But yeah, and but getting back to the point Thomas young Give me a cap. Yeah, give me a cap. Guess that so many get this I'm gonna give an international team Cap him before somebody else does basically is what right? Do you want this guy? Cuz I you're gonna want I think you're gonna want this guy for a couple years He could be a seven on a lot of teams
01:14:13
Speaker
for a while. Yes. Yes. Because he's very, he's very young. He's a pup. Juandong. Effort, effort, effort. Chasing down his own kick. Snatched it to Walla's hands. To all took it kind of half-assed. And really, he's not making me regret that I put him in my team. Yeah, I was not impressed by him. But by to Walla, to Jeong. Yes. That's the fucking lutely. Great chase. I was like, yeah, you know, I've seen him play before and all that. And it just.
01:14:43
Speaker
He's had bags of quality forever. I've seen him play very well many, many times. This year has not been his best year. That was a great game. He put together. Well, I'm going to say put together 80 minutes. I don't remember if he got pulled at one point, but put together a nice match, put together a hell of a match and.
Wasps' Performance and Fantasy Picks
01:15:02
Speaker
Just the effort the continued effort the whole match and and he was uh, Just flying all over the place making an impact if it wasn't young making a play it was dejong making a play Yeah, it seemed to be you know, it was uh, it was a I mean, I hate saying this is one of those things like you were doing I hate saying that but man wasp played a pretty darn good match there's one
01:15:25
Speaker
We've been we've been kind of harping on them a little bit. I'll say I'll say a couple things else before I get on to get on this guy's case
01:15:35
Speaker
Burrell did admit that he knocked the ball on in the tri zone. Yes. He's like don't check. Oh, okay. Done Um But yeah, I thought that was I thought that was pretty good And I I just want to brag a little bit because I had uh for this match so This weekend. I was going through my lineups and trying to figure out what the fuck I had I could do Yeah, and I even texted you about this on on friday I had no hooker. Nope. I thought because mcWiggin
01:16:03
Speaker
And Thacker were both on the bench or out. Right. One or the other. And I'm like, fuck, what do I do? And then there's Cruz just sitting there on my bench who hadn't. Thank God. I don't think he'd been anywhere in my lineup for a couple of weeks now. You need three hookers in your squad, for sure. Absolutely. So I was like, oh, well, OK. Fuck it. I'll put Cruz in there. Boom. He's on the dream team. He did really well, man. So credit to me for having a fucking awesome lineup. Yep. And then the Tawala pullback on Bassett, Penn only, yeah.
01:16:31
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't think it was. No, it wasn't. It wasn't a card. Somebody was calling for a card or a pensioner and I was like, yeah. So so was carrying it and he he pulls on on dailies. Might have been the room. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it was the roof. You're right. Yeah. It was the roof. The roof was like, I'm scored. I'm going to I'm putting this in myself if I can. He wasn't even looking to pass the ball out. Yeah, definitely touch board. Right. To all pulled him.
01:16:59
Speaker
Yeah, that was right decision again the story very well officiated. Yeah, I thought that was well done the what the last the last bit I'll just say it real quick. So Polaga still still not good. No Which is unfortunate and has no excuse because those guys like Robert Dupree who came here very short notice Yeah, and are performing very well for the team. So Whatever's in his head. He needs to fix it. Yep. Go see a psychiatrist or something did
01:17:28
Speaker
But the one where it was, the LaRoucheye, where the ball was everywhere. I think it was, was it Mitchell or Reinack had darted it down for a five meter and it should have been dead and holy crap. Where was the TMO on that? That was the one thing like, that was the one big TMO. Oh my God, where the hell you been? Where the hell were you on that one? I agree.
01:17:49
Speaker
You know, that was the whole, I mean, LaRue will take it. LaRue's been, eh, so he'll take it. We'll go through the teams, the scores right now. I will say one, one thing also. Wasn't, didn't Daly have a fucking long ass penalty kick early in the match? Yep. Yeah. Dude's got a bomb.
01:18:10
Speaker
I'm just saying I could get used to seeing that for another team we like to. Yeah. That's all I wanted to say about that. That's a possibility. You're welcome. Allie, I promise, man. You'll be treated well. Yes, you will be. We win trophies.
01:18:26
Speaker
So big players, big scores. Willie LaRue with 35, Elliot Daly with 13, not a great game for him. So Puwaga, again, not a great game, 14. Nathan Hughes comes off the bench and gets 13, good for him. Well, Joe Launchbury, so good to see him back, 24. Every England fan will be jumping up and down to see him in there. That's a solid return. Yeah. Brad Shields with 23, followed the best you'll see out of him. Joanne DeYoung, 40. Thomas Young with 38, Tom Cruise with 38. Very, very good days for those bunch.
01:18:55
Speaker
Northampton had a couple of good ones and a couple not so good ones. Northampton Haskell is still out with a long-term injury. Hopefully he gets back soon. Courtney Law is still very good, 34. Naya Arvoro, that expensive paperweight that's out there, won. He's gone. He's on your team. Don't ditch him. I'm sorry, no. Don't ditch him because I need to ditch him first so that I don't lose his value. That's true. Keep him for another three weeks.
01:19:20
Speaker
Um, a hundred or so another guy that's probably an expensive paperweight in your lineup. Eleven. Uh, Tamana Harrison. I talked him up last week and look what happens. He gives me nine. He gives 19. Thank God. I didn't put him in my lineup yet. Um, Dan bigger with 31. Good for him. Very, very good game from him. Co was run act with 33 and Frazier Dingwall with 32 Frazier Dingwall.
01:19:39
Speaker
Not making you know, the absences in the centers look too bad. No shit with a guy like real good filling Pierce Francis. So hey give the kid He's just a baby face everything man. Holy shit, man. Makes me feel old Welcome to the club. Yeah, right So Northampton have fallen now that they have lost this game. They're down to ninth and was go up to six and
01:20:05
Speaker
now in the europe spot that they want so desperately at the very least i'm sure they still are looking for top four got a lot of work to do but um good start for them and wasps break in the actually possibly in the exception that proves the rule they played a fucking hell of a match and they got uh champions cup this week yeah they got bath so basically playing another premiership game right um all right so to the quasi halfway point
01:20:34
Speaker
halfway point plus one. At this point, your top 10 scores in the prem mag format or the rugby mag format for this salary game. Number 10, Danny Care, the scrum half from Quinn's. Ed Slater, the second row from Gloucester. Will Rowlands, we talked about him last week as a guy that doesn't miss too much time too, knock on wood. He's right there at number eight. Tamana Harrison.
01:21:00
Speaker
the eight man from Northampton, Francois who guard Scrum half from Worcester. Cowan green second rower from Newcastle. Harry Thacker. The hooker from Bristol. He's not number one anymore. Nope. He was the he's the best forward. Okay. Cobus Reinach is the is the number one. Scrum half and the best the number one score in this game, George Ford.
01:21:27
Speaker
Well, and if you didn't see it, I put out a for a first half dream 15 dream dream team. Actually, I did the whole 28 had to get funny with the budget. But, you know, so the end of the bench looks a little funny for the guys that are up in the stand. Went for some of the specialists that you need like scrum halves and props, you know, hookers as much as you could do. But, you know,
01:21:50
Speaker
I think, I think that's a pretty good team if you had, and that's all within the budget too. That's all within the 7 million. So I thought that was, that was, that was, I thought that was pretty good. So yeah. All right.
01:22:05
Speaker
You beat me. Pick your pool there, sir. Champions Cup this week. We're going to split it up in pools as to who's watching what. I assume we're sharing pool three, because we're both going to watch the Saris. Well, basically, if one of us picks pool three, the other one's going to sit through the Glasgow Leon map.
01:22:25
Speaker
Not to say that's not not to say it's a worthless match Glasgow have a lot to play for Or the Glasgow Cardiff match actually, excuse me and there and that's that's a pro 14 rivalry So they might rock up and yeah put a good performance into well I'm gonna for the uniform sort of situation sorted out and not that light blue and light blue shit. Yeah did last time I'm gonna go I'm gonna throw what I think might be a curveball at you. I'm gonna go with pool one. I
01:22:50
Speaker
Ah, because you want to lose L'Enster, you fucker. I do. I can completely fucking ignore Bath versus Wasp. I'm picking the one match I want to watch and one match I don't, and I can probably get away with not watching it all. You can watch the highlights probably. Exactly. Just don't come back with a no report, because then I'm going to shoot you. That's not an actual threat. Don't sue me.
01:23:15
Speaker
Um, huh. That actually puts me in a bind too. What do I want to do? I mean, I'm going to watch the Toulouse-Lester match. Let's be real about this. Right. You know, the whole world's going to watch that one. The whole Ruby universe is going to watch that one. I'm going to go pull two. All right.
01:23:29
Speaker
which has a lot up for grabs between like Gloucester could easily win these last two games as well as Exeter and overtake Munster. Yeah. So this is, there won't be a runner up from this pool. It's going to be whoever wins this pool that wins it, that gets to move on. And I'm also going to do something kind of similar in that I'm going to go with, as I did in my first pick, but I'm going to go with pool four.
01:23:58
Speaker
Yeah, good. Good shout. I want to see that. Ross and Ulster. Ross and Ulster game. Oh man. And I watched Scarlett's Leicester rooting for. Scarlett's. To nobody's surprise. Nobody's surprise.
Champions Cup Pools and Predictions
01:24:12
Speaker
Yeah. In that case, I really want to see how pool five shakes out. Well, there you go.
01:24:24
Speaker
And then we'll both end up watching at least part of pool three. So maybe that worked out for the best. It did. All right. I'll let you pick your pick them first. So we're going to pick them the whole way through. If you look at the number on the left, that's the pool that they're in too. So just to give you an idea. So the first match we're picking is Gloucester Monster. I hate doing this. I'm going with Monster. Yeah.
01:24:55
Speaker
You too? Yeah. Okay. Oh, are we doing that? We're doing sir. Okay. I'm going monster. That's gonna be a
01:25:02
Speaker
That's going to be a tough one. Munster, they just beat Leinster not too long, a couple weeks ago. They're in a good patch right now. They're doing well. All right. Montpellier versus Newcastle. I'm going with the home team on this one. Going with the French. Going with the French side. OK. And I actually am going to as well, because remember, Newcastle won this game at the death. Right. At the death.
01:25:28
Speaker
And they want it at the death at home. So yeah, so going away And they have their forms been shit. Mm-hmm. They may try to be turning they might be trying to turn it around I'm in the I need to see it first one before I even think about For any match, yeah The one everybody's gonna watch lens turn to lose for the pool leader
01:25:53
Speaker
You know what? I'm gonna go the opposite way and I'm gonna make this a fun match. I'm gonna go for Toulouse.
01:26:01
Speaker
You go for the French. Yeah, I mean they that's not a bad pick Neither one of these teams is i'm gonna go with the boys in blue because right a few friends that would shoot me otherwise Um, but they're not a bad pick right now like a couple years ago. They were a joke, right? But now they're they're not a bad pick by any means they are playing some good stuff. They're doing it the right way So you mean this is not a listen i'm not saying that once there's gonna win it by freaking 20 i'm saying they're gonna just eke it out
01:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, to be honest, I I expect lunch to win, but I'm picking them here because They kind of yeah, yeah, I mean they did they did pull it off at home So see if they can do it again, you know, I did they did once Nobody gives a shit bowl one bath and wasp. I'm gonna go wasps
01:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably a good pick because bath did not look good So that's basically what it is is that wasp looked like they're on form. Yep bath. Not so much grand throughout the wreck but Actually, you know what they play so well at the wreck. I'm playing but i'm going back. There you go You talk yourself into it. I did talk myself into it and I do I like I like my story like freddy burns Yeah, what you do? Um
01:27:08
Speaker
Hopefully we see good freddy burns and not the freddy burns we saw a couple weeks ago ulster wrassing This is another one that they're gonna pick wrassing are in really good form finn rustle is just tossing the ball around everywhere and it looks like it's he's Commanding it by remote like it's ridiculous. I'm still gonna go with ulster. Yeah. Yeah, I think to me
01:27:31
Speaker
I don't know. I think the home, I think in the difference for me, and this one is just the home team. And I know I went completely counter that before. Don't look for consistency from me, please. Bad, bad, bad, bad look on you guys. But I'm going, I'm going for Ulster. Yep. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stand up for the Ulstermen too. All right. Um, Scarlett. Scarlett.
01:28:01
Speaker
Last time saying that other teams last time I saw last time I saw this uh, the scarlets They were bad. I know luster weren't great right in there, but They've won two in a row. They have and maybe they're maybe they're getting their shit together All right, jordan murphy. Don't make me look too stupid luster too long this will be interesting because n burly in the pool, but too long are obviously the most talented team with the Loads of talent they have it's just a matter of which team shows up
01:28:29
Speaker
I'm going with Edinburgh. To me, with Toulon not really having anything to play for here.
01:28:39
Speaker
Yeah, you're probably right. I just i'm not seeing them and i'm i'm basing this off of The the the basically french rugby culture of we don't have anything to play for you with a play But I well, I never realized that fucking half most of them aren't even french But yeah point being that i'm not sure that they're gonna this is not what they're getting up to do not you're not wrong No, I uh, I I do agree. I think that the
01:29:05
Speaker
That too long. We'll just kind of check out of this one. Unfortunately, which is too bad. Yeah Exeter and cast French former friend the French champions from last year against the English runners. Yeah last year. I'm I'm gonna go with cast
01:29:27
Speaker
Going to get another French side winning. Oh, why do I have so many French sides winning? What's wrong with you? I'm still keeping it. That's right. I think Armand is back. Henry Slade is back. Cordero is obviously going to play a lot better than he did last week. Yeah. And they have so many good front rowers. They're going to be mad after the match they lost in France from last time. I'm going to give the Chiefs a run.
01:29:54
Speaker
Yeah, at Exeter. I like that call. I'm sticking with Cast, but yeah, you're probably right. Leon Saracen's in France. Don't tell me you're going to pick this one as a French team. No, I'm not. I'm going to pick Saris. Yeah. Well.
01:30:11
Speaker
to me that, you know, Leon doesn't have, literally has nothing to play for. They've played like shit the whole, the whole tournament. Hopefully, hopefully get a point. That's what I was hoping for. Yeah. If that's all they're fighting for, then have fun. But I, yeah, I'm not seeing that going on. It really comes down to Sarri's form, which has been off the past couple of weeks. Yeah. But I think they get a reaction here. I think, I think, I think McCall and Farrell, hopefully Barrett's rate is fit and ready to go.
01:30:38
Speaker
I think now's the time they nut up and say, no, this is, I'm sure they had doing this, you know, Billy's back. He just played it. Even that's hopefully he's feeling a little bit less, less like crap on the watch. Um, so yeah, hopefully I, uh, I'll give, I'll give the men in black this, the nod there. And finally St. Paul Glasgow and Cardiff and same thing, Glasgow. Yeah.
01:31:00
Speaker
Same. They already beat Cardiff at Cardiff. Cardiff's got nothing to play for here. Right. I think Glasgow are going to. And Hastings, great form. Guy's looking very good. He's creating. He's certainly looking to push Finn Russell for that shirt. Maybe they go 10-12 combo in Six Nations. Who knows? Who knows? So yeah, I agree. I like Adam Hastings and crew. Glasgow Warriors will hopefully pick that one up.
01:31:27
Speaker
Alright, thank you so much for everybody for sticking through this with us for super, super rugby. All that good stuff. fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. We are going to have a show next week and the week after but the one the week after what will likely not include anything in terms of
01:31:46
Speaker
Preview because it's prem cup that week for the premiership We'll go on a break after that for the week. We don't have Premiership that's it's prem cup There's nothing to talk about the following week is a bye week for the premier league But I think we're going to have a third voice to talk about six nations. So we'll do that So i'm looking forward to that. Uh Jamesy, hopefully you're listening to this buddy. Um, we'll let's start figuring it out. But um
01:32:12
Speaker
But other than that, thank you so much for listening to us and putting up with our shenanigans. God knows that we commit plenty on this show. But thank you all so much. Enjoy the European matches this weekend and have yourself a good week. Cheers.