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Season 4- Episode 40- Season 4 Finale (Premiership Final & Super Rugby Final)
27 Plays3 years ago
Well it is the end of the world as we...wait nope, just the end of the season for THOSE American rugby knuckleheads. On this episode, we cover it all, well we cover quite a bit anyway. We have a look at some of the squads that will be traveling this month, and we can confirm, Eddie is not OK. A look at 3 of the big matches and some of the lackluster performances that were on the pitch, but also some of the great stories including a certain Tigers player that etched himself in to the club's history forever. All this, we wrap up the legendary Champi-Yanks League and recognize those that make this thing happen every week during the year. It's a doozy and you might not need anything to drink, pretty sure we had enough for a few, but join us for the finale of Season 4!
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Podcast Finale Announcement
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glaser. Diving in. I hope that I haven't figured it out. This will be our finale. For better or worse. This is the pod we never should have recorded on the week that never was. Never happened. Never happened.
Listener Engagement and Feedback
00:00:31
Speaker
Obviously, download rate review, share us on your favorite podcast app. Feedback, always welcome. Yeah, and especially as we get to next, you know, this is this being our last pot of the year. If you have anything you want to see or hear from us.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah. Let us know. Cause obviously we're there, you know, we have a whole like what a week or two until it's time to start up. Right. So it always feels like that. It was like that. But, uh, yeah. Um, September is not long, not too far away, but it gives us time to, you know, maybe add a segment or something to our pod or change
Shoutout to George and Fantasy Rugby
00:01:11
Speaker
up how we do things. If you want to hear something different, let us know. This is, this is ultimately the time to do it. Absolutely. I agree. Um,
00:01:18
Speaker
Cause we will not remember it comes to Denver. What the fuck? What are you talking about? No, no, no, no, no. Tell us now when you leave notes, you know, leave those love notes now. Um, speaking of love notes, grab our good friend, George is the fancy rugby geek coffee. George he's packed it in for the year, but I'm sure he's going to be prepping as we will be for next year. And all the fancy goodness that we'll come with it. We're all wondering, um,
00:01:46
Speaker
Who won the league? We'll get to that, you fucking bitch. I honestly don't know, because I don't know if George got points. So I'm asking from a point of, fuck, did George end up squeaking this one out against me or not? OK, keep you in suspense. See if I give a fuck.
00:02:06
Speaker
Oh shit. Um, so obviously we are, it's now done dusted, but grab your TRM upgrades next year. We'll set that money aside. You will not regret it one single bit. Right. I mean, it's summer. You should be cutting back on beer anyway. Put like a beer or two aside.
Inclusivity in Sports - Nick McCarthy's Story
00:02:22
Speaker
Um, as always black lives matter on this podcast. There is no room for racism in sport or in life. Um,
00:02:30
Speaker
Again, we've been mostly celebrating pride month this month with, um, with the being June. And as so happens, we have, you know, another professional rugby player out there that's come out and, um, Nick McCarthy from Leinster has, uh, talked about his experience of coming out and it's, it's hope. It gives me hope. That's what I can say. It gives me hope for other people out there that are absolutely terrified of doing this. So I grew up and we, we,
00:03:00
Speaker
Okay, Jared and I didn't grow up in, you know, two separate times exactly. We're not that far apart. But on certain things, there's just a mild difference and it is even today too. I couldn't imagine if like one of my teammates had come out when I was in high school or something, you know, maybe not so much once I got out of college, everybody was kind of used to it by then.
LGBTQ Support in Sports Evolution
00:03:25
Speaker
Fuck, it would have just been horrible. It was not a thing that people were comfortable with. No. And even at the professional level, there wasn't nearly enough public support for it. It would have gotten really bad. So I'm glad to see that this is being
00:03:47
Speaker
you know, like supported at the international level. So right. Even like this guy is. Yeah. You need to if you want your players to be their best, you have to let them be who they are. Absolutely.
00:04:04
Speaker
And so it's good to support them for being who they are. This is it's a it's good for rugby and it's good for for Leinster. Yeah and it's you know it's more it'll be more encouraging as we see more men do it. We know that women are obviously more open to it which is great and I do wish that the men were more
00:04:23
Speaker
willing to come forward, but there's obviously a billion other undertones that we can get into that we're not going to, but, um, this is a good step at the very least to get it, get it out there and be like, Oh, okay. This is, you know, this is what this is. Okay. This is, you know, you have a role model out there that says, this is, you know, you should do this when you can, when you're ready. Um, so hopefully more kids feel comfortable when they're ready, you know, um,
00:04:52
Speaker
I had a, I had a player that used to play for the high school come back, um, a couple of years later and lo and behold, I was like, all right, I didn't know that, but good. I'm glad you're comfortable. It's not one telling me, but two, like that you've gone to college and you've played with your teammates and you, and you, and you, you're comfortable expressing this. So, and you know, letting people know who you really are. So, uh, you know, good on you. And I hope more of that stuff starts to happen again. Right.
Patreon Plans and Content Strategy
00:05:18
Speaker
You know,
00:05:21
Speaker
Um, yeah. So we talked about Patreon already. We'll probably turn it off for the summer in terms of charging, but then the next we're cooking up some things. Um, right now we have some ideas that are kind of spinning around in the heads and then I will probably sink half a bottle of whiskey and trying to figure these out one night, but, um, or more, or more, you know, never know. It depends on the depends on the day. It depends on what happened. So, um, but yeah, we will, we will obviously, um, be happy to have everybody, um,
00:05:50
Speaker
tune into that and, but hopefully everybody that wasn't sure what was going on behind the curtain, as it were, when you look at it this summer, hopefully you're intrigued and that interests you for the fall. Right. That shit got me like what? I was 25th overall last I checked anyway. So something like that. Yeah. That was, those were the numbers that I was going by starting from last year's numbers and kind of making
00:06:14
Speaker
Some obviously adjustments to that, as we saw, who is doing well and not throughout the year. So when used well, it's quite valuable. Yeah. When used properly. Yeah. Can't make the trades for you, but now can give you the give you the information. Right. We can give you the information.
International Rugby Series Focus
00:06:38
Speaker
All right, so let's dive into, as promised, we would talk about the international call-ups that are happening around the world. We're going to focus on two series plus, obviously, because we're in the U.S., we're going to talk about the U.S. We're going to focus on the series in Australia and the series in New Zealand. So let's talk about the one that probably everybody's talking about, or at least a lot of people are talking about, which is the England squad. And Eddie is not okay.
00:07:08
Speaker
I mean, we saw, did you end up watching any of the barbarians? Okay, good. Cause like, you have to attack, right? There's, there's two sides of the ball. There's attack and defense and that's, you know, in certain teams, they actually kind of flow together. And that's like ridiculous. In this case, you know, Eddie picks these defensive specialists
00:07:37
Speaker
And what happens? They get fucking pounded. So what does that tell you? Like, okay, if you could only play defense, how, and yeah. And how can you only play defense to give up 50? Like, I mean, it's the silliest fucking thing. To 14. Right. Like, no. Awful. I don't understand what Johnny, I don't understand what Johnny May or Jack Nolle are doing on this team. I don't see what they add.
00:08:05
Speaker
anywhere. They're not fast enough. They're not, um, they're not strong enough to be that slow at that, at that position. And, um, yeah, they're, they're a little selfish. So yeah, no plays more like a center, which is not good. And Johnny may honestly, like, I think it's time for him to move to scrum half. Yeah.
00:08:28
Speaker
Cause like, yeah, he, he's got the motor. I'll give him that. Um, he can't play physical and he, he's not going to outrun anybody. So, um, going through it.
00:08:45
Speaker
This was going to be wards Freeman. Yeah, sorry. Go ahead. Forward. Excuse me. Um, Johnny Hills. I still don't understand what, what is earthly purposes in this team, but okay. Well, didn't you see that awesome pass that you threw into touch? I'm nearly into touch, but Jack Willis got fucked. Oh, that's okay. That's right. Yeah. Jack Willis gathered it, but boy, he got completely assholed after that. Yeah. So, I mean, you don't have,
00:09:13
Speaker
either of what would probably be rumored to be the preferred out and out eight number eights, but you do have Billy who's come back into form and we'll talk about Billy and a little bit more in a minute, but he won't hurt you, but no, at this point he's not going to. So that's good for him. Um, I'm not too angry about anything in the forwards. Honestly, Walker just makes me scratch my head, but okay. Whatever. Yeah. And I'm still not, I'm not, yeah, obviously I'm not a huge fan of Luke, how and Dicky, but I can get over that. Yeah. I just, you know,
00:09:44
Speaker
I think I think we're missing Ben Earl here. How are you missing the right? Because like that's the only thing. Let's let's put it this way. I there is a lot to like about Tom Curry and I'm not trying to shit on him in any way because he's a defensive like he'll go get that ball. But there were a couple of attacking opportunities that he had that if you put Ben Earl in that position, it's a try.
00:10:09
Speaker
Like he would have had two tries given the ball that Tom Curry was getting and Curry got like a few meters. I think one time he didn't even break the line. He's got to be more well-rounded. There's a lot there and I know he's young and can develop it, but Earl's like, what, a day older than him?
00:10:28
Speaker
can run. So I don't say I'm not saying that it should be a curry for for oral replacement, but it's like, if Earl, you know, if curry is kind of the guy you want, why wouldn't you want the guy who can do all that and more? Never know. And I like love them. I hope I hope Ludlam can be on that on that. Like, I'd rather him be on the on the pitch. I don't think you can do what they did against the the Baba's and put
00:10:54
Speaker
Underhill and Curry. We're not, which is disappointing because I do like Sam Underhill. I know. But they're like the same player. Except Underhill, instead of the turnovers, he's the guy who just fucking brings the thunder. He does at least some friggin serious wood. Yeah. Although he'll get the turnovers, too. Yeah.
00:11:12
Speaker
Backs, obviously, wing is just like a total thing that we can George for a bank. Every person I've talked to says George for a bank shouldn't play for England again. So that's terrifying. A couple of princess players. Okay, Jacqueline Portley on tour with Harry Randall and Danny care.
00:11:32
Speaker
They're going to have some fun there. That is interesting.
Young Talent in England Rugby Squad
00:11:35
Speaker
I will give them that. That is interesting. You know, we talked about it. Ben Young's probably shouldn't be describing half in 2023. Is he going to be? All bets are off at this point. I don't think so. I hope not. But he might. But still, at least they're looking at other players and they're going to give them a serious run because
00:11:54
Speaker
He's not, Youngs is not on this tour. Maybe he's taking time off and that's certainly well earned. I'm sure that's fine. This gives somebody else a chance to stand up. Guy Porter's interesting.
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not I like things. That's a great one. Yeah. Yep. That's a great one. But you know, and, you know, some usual suspects with Pharaoh Freeman being in there, I thought he looked great on at least for the first half on Sunday. For the airlines, we know what he's doing. Right. And as well as Marcus Smith. So yeah, I mean, I'm kind of hoping for like a I mean, there is a there are really good lineups in there. Like, you know, the
00:12:40
Speaker
Marcus to Farrell to Marchant and then, you know, put Freeman on, although Freeman, I think is better. Like that's the problem. You have like Freeman and Stewart and Arendelle who are fullbacks, right? Although I don't think we're going to see him much, but it's like, those, those are your best back three.
00:13:02
Speaker
Like, you know, you didn't bring mail in, figure out which ones can play, which ones can play wing. Yeah, that goes back to the, you know, Johnny May and Noel. It's like you're taking them over a man. May, Noel and Coco, like, I don't know why. Right. Coco's the only one I can justify because he only has 11. He has 11 caps. He's still fairly young. You still don't know what he's quite going to do at test level. Right. He is a specimen on top of all of that as well. So he had the best run from the backs that we have from a non-Marcus Smith.
00:13:31
Speaker
against the Baba's like so that when I saw him get that burst and like he's not running through or past like, you know, slubs here, he's he broke that line like a mother against some some talented players. So I'm kind of like, OK, I could if he's doing that, he doesn't do that at Bath. But if he does that here, then great. Yep, agreed. Let's look at their opponents. They'll be playing down under the wall of bees, obviously.
00:13:58
Speaker
haven't put haven't done this one since I think was it 16 but they did this this was first this was the first tour under Eddie Jones and they and they swept him quite and quite convincingly at that interesting look about this with Dave Rennie
Australian Rugby Selection Challenges
00:14:16
Speaker
A lot to like and a couple of head scratchers for me. I think, first of all, we can talk ad nauseam about the problems that Australian rugby are about to face with the rule change that they did in terms of their selection eligibility.
00:14:32
Speaker
But still, like you see, there's some names that should be shown on this list and they're not. And it's like, did you screw yourself over? Kway Cooper is on the list though. So that brings that X factor, that wild tried that could absolutely just turn things along with the steady hand of James O'Connor and the young guy with Lola CEO. So lots of good things to like about that. I have no idea what the hell Rudy Galo is doing in this team.
00:15:00
Speaker
like, what in the actual fuck are you thinking with him? He was terrible this year. And I was like, okay, this doesn't, Mark Nolakotin Owosse is not worth a shout here. Are you sure? Yeah. Are you sure? And you want to commit to that? Muirhead too. Muirhead is very much, he's in that, to me, Johnny May, Jack Nol kind of territory, although I think he's
00:15:27
Speaker
A little younger than him. He's younger. So there may be more to it, but. Yeah. It makes me ask questions. That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think some of the, I'm unsure about Caden Neville. I thought Swain was obviously the standout for the Brumbies in terms of their forwards for the most part. Neville being his locking partner might be the thing that's getting him the benefit of the doubt right now. Right.
00:15:55
Speaker
Was there another name to put in there? Maybe Isaac Rotta would be the only one. I don't think he's on this team. He's on the list that I'm seeing anyway. Okay. Well, the initial announcement was not, he was not included.
00:16:14
Speaker
Let me see. I'm looking at the rugby pass thing. So in which case that's good. Yeah. Hopefully that's not to say because this one is from the 11th. So if you ever, I know it doesn't have a date on that. Okay. Well, then that might, that actually might be the updated one. Um, half backs are an interesting one here as well with, um, Jake Gordon and Tate and Nick white and
00:16:39
Speaker
If I had my pick, I picked Jake Gordon and Tate McDermott. I know they're going to pick Nick White. You know, for whatever reason, Renny's got a spell over Dave Renny, so that's what that is. I like the other two, though, a lot. Right.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I mean, Carter Gordon wasn't in my nine of the year for super rugby, I think so. You mean, the other one? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, like you go for the attacking threat. I'm not a big, you know, I mean, that's I know you're shocked to hear me say that, but yeah, go for the guy that can jump start something, especially against this England team. Like if you just fuck with them a little bit,
00:17:22
Speaker
Although the same thing, Tim Tim Tim time, Nick White does that. So well, he annoys the shit out of everyone is what happens. He just pisses everybody off. And the last thing that people who are getting mind fucked by their coach need is getting mind fucked by the opposite nine. So yeah, I could go with Nick. I could go with Nick White on this one, too. One name that stands out to me that had actually a really good return season. He was away for a little bit was Jed Holloway.
00:17:51
Speaker
uh, war ties guy, um, good on him. I, you know, honestly, there was a little bit of shit house re from him every once in a while. So that made me question it, but all in all, he say that trouble. So I'll give him credit. And that's, you know, sometimes that's enough. If you let your talent go through and stop being a fucking idiot, you're good. You're going to, you know, you're going to get some real notice and maybe if he, you know,
00:18:15
Speaker
If somebody gets under a skin, who knows what's going to happen? We don't need another freaking what's his butt that kept getting carded before from Australia, the six. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is definitely not their splint that I'm not that lucky. Was it lucky Swinton that kept getting carded? Yeah. Yeah. A couple of red cards like he's got like two red cards in the game games or something like that. I was like, yeah, that's not good. It's not a good rate. So if you can avoid doing that,
00:18:44
Speaker
He'll be okay. I think so. It'll be interesting. Um, for me, glad to see two posts is healthy enough. Yeah. I hope that, I hope that is accurate. That'll be great. Um, of the players that are picked from abroad, this is a, there's a couple, there's obviously only three of them and they're all like right within each other's vision. I think if I'm looking at this, right, it's Cooper, Caribbean, Cora Betty. Um,
00:19:06
Speaker
I don't know if I really am a fan of Coravetti, like we've talked about it before and I'm still not a fan of this. He's too inconsistent at even the club level. So I don't like, that rarely works itself out for international. So then it leaves,
00:19:31
Speaker
another spot open, which could be debated who's going to take it left, right and center. But so there's that all the whole thing there. But that's so you can you can take a lot more out of that to say the least. Maybe, yeah, maybe he take maybe he takes, you know, gets taken. What's it's about? Now, walk into the water gets taken instead of him, and then they can go look elsewhere for somebody else. Yeah.
00:19:58
Speaker
big guy that played it talking to me, even though you got a red card. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Let's jump over the
00:20:11
Speaker
the ditch there and go to New Zealand. Let's talk about the host first, because that's always a big name, a big series when it drops.
New Zealand Rugby Squad Insights
00:20:22
Speaker
Everything they've announced is accurate as of right now. Sands, Josh Lord. Josh Lord got hurt and needs surgery, so he's, I think he did, it's ACL actually, which is not possible.
00:20:32
Speaker
which is not awesome. So, um, but that was of the, we talked about the chiefs, you know, second row contingent. And that was, that was all three of them right there. Right. That was all of them. So, uh, we weren't, we weren't way off on that one, at least at least not according to Fauzi. So I don't know if that's good or bad in that case, but, um, either way it was there. Um, there are some interesting choices in here. Uh, Kohl's Taylor, Tonkiah, how totally accurate. I don't have any issue with that whatsoever.
00:21:02
Speaker
Not a lot. None whatsoever. We see three of the four blues front rowers in there. That doesn't shock me in the industry before. Davao, I thought it was all, you talked about it when I think he was in your team, wasn't he? So yeah, he had a great season as well. Bauer, I'm so just like, forget it. Aiden Ross, good for him. He's in there. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean,
00:21:27
Speaker
When you look at the second row contingency that even without Josh Lord, you have the young guy into Hawaii and you have three guys that are going to bring him along and teach him everything he could possibly want to know with white lock, Barrett and Retallic.
00:21:42
Speaker
If you're too Bovai, you are living the dream right now. Oh, really? Those three guys are going to teach you everything you ever need to know to be the best all black lock ever. Right. Like and a couple of those guys are in that conversation currently. So, yeah, like, I mean, he already has. I'm convinced that Retalic being around has helped him out considerably since last year. And you're right, getting around, being around Barrett and Whitelock is only going to
00:22:13
Speaker
Why a little, why a little bunch? Yeah. Learn, learn more about some other things that, you know, learn some of their tricks firsthand. So, um, and then we move on to loose forwards and your guy, your guy, Peter Gus, puts his hand up and he's in the team. I don't see how you can't consider him. So yeah. Yeah. I'm sure the Fijians were hoping they could keep, keep ahold of him. But, uh, Fauzi says now we're going to take him.
00:22:42
Speaker
And that's great. I mean, if that's, you know, for his, his choice, I guess. So I would, I would assume it's his choice. You know, you could, you can turn them down if you really want to play for Fiji in which case it's good on him. Yeah. But yeah, whatever your choice is, then, you know, you back that and that's okay. Yeah. Um, so good for him. Oh, and that's, that's such a back line. Like I don't, again, um,
00:23:05
Speaker
I'm kind of down on Sam Kane right now. So I look at everyone else and that's where I am. I'm like, oh, this is such a great lineup and then loose forwards and then Sam Kane's there too. And he's captain, which is kind of, I'm still a little mystified by that, but still he's a solid player. Maybe he was kind of the
00:23:26
Speaker
of all the Chiefs back row players, he was kind of the quietest. So, and the least impactful compared to what he should be. So, maybe we see what we talked about. You know, Reid wasn't the most impactful player beforehand. You know, you know who Richie was. It's not a fucking shock by any means whatsoever. He wasn't impactful either. So, I guess that's kind of a... But even like before that, like I think Xavier Rush had a stint as captain way back when and
00:23:53
Speaker
Rush wasn't that impactful by any means. He was a good player, no doubt, just like all these other guys, but still. So Jerry's out on him, and I'm not saying that game's going to be great by any means whatsoever, but the Jerry's out on him. So I'll wait to pass judgment on that, but he's got a good understudy in Dalton Papalee. So certainly does. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
00:24:16
Speaker
Papa Lee, he came in and to the final and made himself known too. So, yeah. Well, we'll get to that. Um, halfbacks, Baka Tava, Aaron Smith and Finley Christie. Very interesting to say the least. Indeed. Um, Baka Tava is a live wire. So yeah, he was one of the only good things about that. So I'm okay with that. You know, um, yeah. And I, I, I don't imagine this is like,
00:24:43
Speaker
Fauzi necessarily telling TJ Parinara, he needs to step it up. I think this is Fauzi saying, TJ, take a time off. Because he was hurt to start this year as well. And they may, and this will be a completely different squad or not a completely different squad, but you'll see probably a good 10 changes for
00:25:00
Speaker
the rugby championship. So certainly this is just a kind of a warm up. And I think it is more of a parent. You know, you know, as much as I like fakatava, parent are is better. So when when push comes to shove, I think that's what we'll see. Right. No, no, no argument here. First five. Well, I have Perafetta Barrett, Malunga Perafetta. Good for him.
00:25:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's, you know, it's another signal about how good this Blues team was as well. You know, and then the no shock of Bodhi Barrett and Mwanga and Bodhi Barrett and Mwanga could be on the pitch at the same time. And really, if you really want to be around with it, you could put Para Federal in this pitch at the same time, too, because Blues did, you know, for quite a bit of the season. So,
00:25:47
Speaker
Midfielders, your old buddy Quintupi is in there, Goodhue, Ioani, Haveli. I was a little meh about David Haveli, so, personally. Two of us are Shaq, I get it. But meh, again, so.
00:26:03
Speaker
I'm not, I didn't see that out of him. Rico, you want, he was pretty quiet in the last, in the latter half of this year as well for the blue. So all these guys need, I think pretty much this whole group needs to step their game up. And the only one that's going to get a pass from me right now is probably two pie and good hue. Cause good. He was hurt. And two pie actually didn't play that poorly. So now much as we want to, as much as you wanted him to.
00:26:26
Speaker
You didn't play that badly. Yeah, I mean, I know it's more like as much as I expected him to. In big games, he still shit the bed. So I think that's I want to see more. Yeah, I like that's one of those, you know, big time players come up big and big time games, and he doesn't do that exactly. He comes up big in the games that don't get that you're crushing the other team. So I want to see.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, that to me is not like promising for a national team, though, you know, when he shows and when he doesn't. So maybe the black jersey will change his fortune here. It could. And, you know, you play at that level, it raises your game. And I know he's obviously he's tapped already and his game has risen. So I'm feeling hopeful. I think the more time he gets at that level, the better. Yeah. Yeah. For your sake, for for the outside backs,
00:27:18
Speaker
Three crusaders picked. We know our opinions on seven reasons, that's not a new thing. Fanga nuku, okay.
00:27:25
Speaker
Will Jordan, Jerry, Jordy Barrett should be a part of that back three no matter what. Yup. And then after that, it's everybody else is playing for scraps.
Ireland Rugby Squad Analysis
00:27:33
Speaker
Right. You make a choice who gives a shit. Flip a coin. Make them do rock, paper, scissors. Yeah, you could. You very well could. So, yeah, the sucker is kicking off in a couple of weeks, so it won't be that long. So it'll be interesting. I'm looking forward to that one. And then let's look at the folks that'll be visiting on their behalf.
00:27:52
Speaker
Ireland. Andy Fales named his squad. Beelums back in there. Lofman. Interesting. He was actually US eligible, believe it or not. Yeah, what the fuck. There were two of them, I think, that were US born. Gary, what are you doing, man? Tommy O'Toole.
00:28:10
Speaker
Ulster prop, interesting selection there. But no issues with it, honestly. I thought Ulster had a pretty damn good season despite what happened in the URC, what I saw in the Champions Cup was a different story. So sometimes you got to weigh what each one was and all that stuff. So that's just from what I saw. I'm okay with that.
00:28:31
Speaker
Heffernan, I assume if Heffernan's in this team, then Kelleher is out because I would not have him in there at all. I'd have Kelleher, Sheehan, and Herring, and that would be it, no question. So I assume that is the issue. And if that is in fact the case, all right, you're probably going to play Sheehan and Herring, and Heffernan's going to be emergency backup. Didn't Kelleher get hurt in the Champions Cup?
00:28:58
Speaker
knockout stages. That might've been, yeah, in the final, even semi-final, excuse me. Right. Or no, final. Yeah. I think it was in the final. Yep. So that's a possibility now that I think about it. Now that you say that. Fuck. I can't believe I remembered that. Blocks.
00:29:15
Speaker
Burn Henderson, Treadwell, James Ryan. Joe McCarthy getting added in there is interesting. I know this is again a young guy that's coming along and they're trying to bring him along. So okay. We talk about guys that you can learn from and learn a whole lot from. The first three not named him on this list, Burn Henderson and Ryan. They can teach him a whole lot. Yeah. They can teach him a whole lot. Quite a bit.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's just depth adding depth. That's what I see that as.
00:29:49
Speaker
And if I'm not mistaken, O'Connell is part of this coaching staff, Paul O'Connell. And let's add to that right there, that whole thing. So not terrible by any means. Bekro, what I saw of two guys that, apart from the obvious, Gavin Coombs and Ian Pendergast, I really liked what I saw. So I'm really happy to see that they're on this tour. How much time they get, I don't know. But that's the same thing, right? They get to work.
00:30:18
Speaker
I know right in the same team with Conan, Doris, Omani, Vanderfleer, like the guys who were fucking stuck in there. Yeah. Because those are the batch day for back row players. Yeah. Like that's just the way it worked. And Timoni, there was a guy playing out of his skin for ulcer for much of the Champions Cup. So really, really awesome to see him in there. Yeah. Just sliding over scrum abs. Step that into depth. Yeah, definitely.
00:30:47
Speaker
It's going to have Craig Casey gives him Park and Murray. So Craig Casey clearly kind of putting his hand up saying, I am the guy for when Connor Murray's done. And, you know, good for him. It'd be very interesting to see how that goes. I do hope they don't just waste him on the bench and not play him. I agree. You got to give him some time. Harry Byrne. I believe this is Ross Byrne's brother that's getting the call for the 10s.
00:31:14
Speaker
So it'd be very interesting to see how they move that around with Carver, Sexton, and him. We know Sexton is no longer an 80-minute player. So, you know, he'll be out there for safety. And then you're going to have to... So whoever's playing the backup 10 role, they're going to get time. They're going to get on. They're going to get, yeah, significant time. It's not going to be a five minutes at the end kind of thing. No. No, they're going to get some significant time. They're going to have to, you know, they're going to have to step their game up. Because you also know the Kiwis, like,
00:31:45
Speaker
You know, Johnny Sexton lives off of attacking the line and taking the hit to to get the pass off and the Kiwis will oblige him. Not taking the hit portion of it. Yeah. No, I don't. I don't know about that. For the for the centers, we know Bundy, you know, he goes home. Frowley was it was the one that was kind of interesting for me. I know it's another it's another Leinster player. Like we said, with Leinster, a good island is usually decent. So we'll see if that proves to fruition with him.
00:32:15
Speaker
But, yeah, Henshaw, Ringrose, Hume, Aki, Bundy, Aki, you can't do anything wrong with any of those. So, no. Although, where's Jimmy O'Brien? Oh, wait. He's up. He's in the back three. Superbrew had that one wrong. Yeah, he's in the back three. So, O'Brien, Mike Lowry, who we all, you know, we all loved. Champions Cup and Six Nations Time. Yes. Matt Kansen, same thing. Keith Earls is interesting here. I'm...
00:32:44
Speaker
I'm kind of scratching my head on that one. I mean, I would say veteran presence, but you have, you have Larmor, you have Keon, you have Lo, like, do you really need him?
00:32:57
Speaker
maybe instead. That's my thought, but call me nuts. I'm just a dumb American. What do I know? Because like, I mean, James Lowe has been ridiculous as an all around wing. I think if you need a veteran to show some of the younger guys the ropes, you already got a couple of them.
00:33:24
Speaker
And then at the same time, I like you there also, I'm not going to. Okay. Take him. Yeah. I don't, I don't hate him, but I'm just like, I'm wondering, you know, what else could have been done in that spot? Cause you, you have Jimmy O'Brien. I get it. He's a youngster, but he's, he's definitely proven. He's, you know, should be ready to at least give a shot at the next level. Right. But it also helps to hear certain things from, like, I think that is a, like a coach on the field type thing. Maybe not that he's going to be on the pitch, but I mean, like, and on the, you know, on the trading paddock, hell yeah. He's going to be.
00:33:52
Speaker
like coaching him more directly than some of the, you know, the position coaches and whatnot. Yep. I think that's what that is. Yeah, maybe. And then let's go over to
00:34:04
Speaker
to the Eagles, to the home front here. The Block Monster is back.
USA Eagles and Samu Manoa's Return
00:34:10
Speaker
Semimino gets the phone call. He's decided that he is not done playing international rugby, and that is only good news for the United States. And I am happy about that. And he's clearly made it known that he's going to be a lock. You know, he was a back row once upon a time, but he's no longer a back row. We all know this. And our back row has actually come a little bit of ways now. And so,
00:34:31
Speaker
That's why he's not in there anymore anyway. So I am I'm not mad about this in any way. Damn him, him and Peterson together. Oh, please. Pretty pleased with sugar on top. Pretty, pretty pleased. Like that is what I want. I'm in.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah, please, please, please. Like, Gary, if you're here, if you're listening, pretty please. And we know you and Peterson's do it. Do it. You know, you want to do it. You know, whatever he wants to put in for that match, John and Houston for the French barbarians, whatever. Fine. OK, go for it. But after that, like, I don't want to I don't want to hear so that a break, you know, that shit in the second row, it's.
00:35:10
Speaker
It's definitely Peterson and Manoa end. Yeah. It should not be an argument. So the one thing about the current list is we saw it on Saturday. No algebra. He's really out. Yeah. He does not look great. He was out. He was literally out.
00:35:35
Speaker
So I would guess it would be high team. That's the next on the list. Uh, the Seattle guy. Um, so, and as long as he's healthy, I think that's in there. Ben Landry is another name I'm going to throw out there as well. So just, just going to throw that one out there. Um, Joe Johnson, another one. Oh yeah. I was saved a bit of it, but Hey.
00:35:55
Speaker
Also that one. No, no question. Yeah, he's a player with a funny accent, but it's actually an American one. It's, you know, it's nice. Yeah. Or put Lacy Gay up there. Yeah, I know. I put him in the back row. Speaking of, I'm glad to see he's in the team. The potential for this back line is actually pretty mouthwatering, honestly.
00:36:23
Speaker
right? Basket into hospitals both I think have a lot have done well in their time given. We know the man in the middle there wearing the 10th shirt AJ McGinty's going to make this thing happen. As long as he's healthy.
00:36:37
Speaker
Honestly, I give him like 40 minutes and that freaking French barbarian team might pull him at the end. If he comes through unscathed, done. We need him for these games against Chile, unquestionably. But of course, we would be remiss to not celebrate the one Mitch Wilson for making his first Eagles team and that is- That's great. Yes, yes, yes. So now we have two guys that have gotten phone calls from Gary Gold and
00:37:04
Speaker
I'm excited about that at least. Talk about the rest of it later, but yeah. And who's the other guy? Dyer on Saturday, I thought showed really, really well for Houston. So he excited me a little bit too. I'm still the one guy on this list that I'm still kind of meh is Bryce Campbell. I was really high on him for a little while, but he's definitely come down off that cliff for me.
00:37:29
Speaker
I don't know who else we're going to talk to Chuck in there at the moment, but right. That's the thing. Like, yeah, I would have rather have Campbell than Lopetti. Yeah, we'll see on this list. So that's what I guess. Right. Well, I mean, that's it. I only see three true centers on this list. There is like Rocky can play 13. Yeah. When asked to. Yeah, but he's not that he's no broken.
00:37:56
Speaker
No, I know he might be. Yeah, once upon a time Marshall Brahe would have been finance center, but I'm not convinced it's going to be that way now. He doesn't have right. I think I remember it was in the animal area. He was not getting a breakaways in the MLR. It's like every time he got the ball.
00:38:11
Speaker
We can watch it. It's like, you're not going anywhere. Good. Yeah. Try to run. See what happens. Right. Yeah. Go for it. Let me play the free jacks. Yeah. I was just like, uh, um, I'm not worried about you doing this. So you do what you got to do. Like, okay. Keep getting him the ball. Yeah. That'll that's not young anymore. He's not fast anymore. Um, give it to him. He's not doing anything. So I'm not really. Yeah. I'm not really excited about that at the international level.
00:38:41
Speaker
Keep it. So keep your under hat there. Yeah. Get Mitchie in there. He'll do it. Um, let's jump. I'm speaking of Southern hemisphere. Let's jump down there and we'll briefly talk about Eagles and the black ferns. Cause it was more black ferns than anything else. It was not a whole lot of Eagles going on without one. I was like, what are you going to do? Right. I mean, jeez. Um, they, the minute one, it was like, Oh boy, this is going to be a long way. Isn't it?
00:39:08
Speaker
How many times did they run that same? That inside ball. Yeah.
00:39:14
Speaker
The hands from every one of the Kiwis too in the wet, in the wet was like so impressive. I was like, Jesus, this isn't even fair. Like everything's sticking. We have, we have opportunities out wide and they're all sliding through our hands. And for the Kiwis, it's like, it's like they got fricking stick them on. I'm like, God damn, dude. What the hell? Well, they're just better at, you know, playing with the ball. They understand the weather a little bit better than we do, obviously.
00:39:41
Speaker
Certainly to this point, having not played it all with a lot of it. Yeah. Although the players who've been over it in the Allianz Premiership should be. They should be somewhat familiar with it. You're right. You're right. I don't agree with that. So let's dive a little bit into the Eagles because, you know,
00:40:06
Speaker
Blackfern's just wiped the board with him, but let's look forward because we have a lot to look forward to with this team. So for right now, I think there are some important position battles that need to be decided. I think we can all agree that Hope Rogers has nailed down her spot at one. I'm okay with Kitalinski. It doesn't bother me. I don't know if we have anybody else optioned otherwise, so we'll ride that.
00:40:32
Speaker
Tight heads, a different story. Nicky James and Charlie Jacobi are going to be at hammering tongs to see who takes that three. James didn't impress me this match. So yeah, she goes back and forth for me. Yeah, so there's that second row was wide open.
00:40:47
Speaker
There's a lot of names in there that could possibly pop in there. We'll see which one stands up. I know Matias is a favorite of everyone's, but she's still coming from seven, so you got to kind of remember that. Yeah, she was not great. No. No, she would not show well this one. Yeah. Seven and eight. No question in my mind who seven and eight are. It's Johnson and Zachary. Right. Hands down. Six, again, might be another second row that just gets bumped out. I don't know. So there's that.
00:41:12
Speaker
Nine, no problem. It waters all day. And I don't mind. Kaylee? Yes, I don't mind her either. I thought she did all right the other week. Showed quite well in the first two games, despite the first one being kind of an embarrassment. She was one of the few that actually showed up. Yeah, that was one of those, like, yeah, that was her first cap. She was starting. There's a lot, like, that game was so far ahead of her, in front of her, like,
00:41:40
Speaker
The fact that she's gotten that much better, she's going to be a terror for Bean Town when she comes back too. Yeah. Yeah, she will be. 10 to 12 is an interesting conversation because of Kintorna and Foster and Katana Howard. 13 is not even a question right now. It's Leila Kelter. It's a love Kelter. Yeah. I don't think anybody would question that. Lottie Clapp has a spot for me unquestionably.
00:42:06
Speaker
Did I miss something? Where was Ditavo this match?
00:42:11
Speaker
Don't know. Yeah. Okay. So I'm not crazy at least. Good to know. Yeah, maybe I'm nuts. I don't know. Maybe I'm off my rocker here, but either way. So, yeah, two of the back three spots are TBD and also that 10-12 combination is TBD as well. So, a lot to fight for there. And some of those, like the back three, the two remaining back three spots is more of like a big question mark. Like who was going to do the job back there? 10-12 was like,
00:42:40
Speaker
what's going to be the best combination, which is a different story because there's options there that, you know, could suit depending on game plan and situation and stuff like that. But I really want to see two players put their hand up and say, these are my shirt. This is my shirt. You will not take it off my back. So that's what I want to see from that one. Because like I said, there's three options in there. The back three is a different story.
00:43:02
Speaker
That's it's a lot of clap and then somebody else like that. I think that's it. Um, so be very interesting. I know they got two or three more warmup games before they head back to New Zealand. Um, it'll be real interesting to see who puts those, uh, puts a marker down for those shirts. So I'm looking forward to it just the same. And then we'll talk about woke up when we come back at some point here.
00:43:26
Speaker
All right, let's rip the band-aid off here. Yeah, you do that. You do that. I'll be getting the next one in a second here. Yeah. Prem final. You know, everything could have gone the way, the exact way you expect it to with everything going wrong for the Tigers. And it didn't. And to their credit,
00:43:53
Speaker
God damn, they just friggin buckled down and said, no, we're not gonna let this get away because of this unfortunate incident or because of this, you know, referee decision. They just kept it together. Like they really did. I'd like to point out, if we will, if we could roll the tape on last week's pod. It's my, sorry, I'm kind of drunk here. Kind of have to be. I remember a certain someone, bald,
00:44:23
Speaker
fat but amazingly good looking, saying that, you know, Bortho picked his squad to do a job, a certain job, they were going to kick, they were going to put the ball in the Saris end and make them do shit with it, see what they were going to do.
00:44:41
Speaker
And that it was up to Saris to run at them instead of try to play that game right along. And they totally went. Saris did everything that we said, like, this is what they have to avoid doing. They did it. And it's like, well, how are you going to win that way?
00:44:57
Speaker
Like what was there? I don't know what they could have, but like we, we both knew that that was the best way that for Lester to stay in it. And then they did obviously, um, you know, and we talked and we talked about it a little bit last week, but
00:45:12
Speaker
Something that so many good head coaches can still find a way to bottle in very, very key moments is selection.
Leicester's Premiership Victory
00:45:20
Speaker
And it's very tempting to pick your usual scrum half in Ben Young's here, but he picked Wigglesworth for a purpose. He did. And it worked out
00:45:30
Speaker
in their in their favor beautifully. Yeah. It could not have asked for it any better, honestly. You go with the guy who's not only this. I mean, he's a steady hand. So it's not like you're you're losing anything. But no, not at all. Him and Ben Jones. But he knows Saris. He knows he knows what they're going to do. And he knows how to fuck with them. And that's the same thing. As I said, you fuck with with some of these teams a little bit and they kind of don't they don't like it.
00:45:58
Speaker
Yeah, his his boot was ridiculous. Right. And there's no there's no bigger difference. So put it this way. I've heard people say that a lot of exiters problems can be put down to the fact that they don't have a quality scrum half. Sarson's made the goddamn final without a scrum half. So like,
00:46:20
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to hear that. A couple of dumb ones at that. Right. And he's like, oh, Davis. He's lucky he only got a yellow. Yeah, they're crap. Both of them.
00:46:32
Speaker
I think this play better than either one of them did. I agree. I agree. It's just a sad fact. I mean, of course, that's something to look forward to. Maybe they'll get a different, you know, maybe they'll pick one up off the scrap heap between now and next season. I mean, that goes, speaking of rewind the tapes, look at what I had last year or what we talked about too.
00:46:55
Speaker
Two, three weeks ago with Sarries and Ruben de Haas. Yeah. Let's give him a shot. See previous statement. And then there is the man, the myth, the legend that is one, Freddie Burns. And as angry as it was about the result, I could not be mad about him being the hero at the same time. Right. Right. I was like... The more pissed that the Sarries has fucking cocked it than I was about Lester winning, per se.
00:47:24
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, Lester, I'm not mad. I'm not good for fucking Lester. Let's let's let's let's rip that band it off. Yeah, I got to get a little drink for this out of what, you know, but you have Genji, you have Freddie Burns, you have there are a lot of guys Chasm was fucking huge. Yeah, he played great.
00:47:40
Speaker
He's he's earned a spot on that plane, at least, you know, I agree. He was one that I was kind of like, no, no, no. I mean, I mean, but who else are you going to take to launch for again? Right now? Like, no, no, got here. Like, I know he's hurt, but still you wouldn't take him anyway. Right. I hadn't really noticed the dynamism to chess in this game, but how many beaten how many defenders beaten did he have? Like four or five, I think. Yeah. OK. All aboard. Come on.
00:48:11
Speaker
So, but yeah, it was, it was, it was really good stuff from them. That backline play or the other back of my play. Sorry. That, that goal line play hit six defenders beaten. That's there you go from a lock. Take it. Yeah, not bad. Um, but that, that goal line, first off, they, they do the, uh, they go down to the corner, um, get them all penalty. And then rather than go for the, uh, um,
00:48:39
Speaker
the line out again, they just tap and go and you're like, okay. And they did the fucking really smart thing. They bring in visa tight to the left and then swing them around to the right at the last second. And it's like, uh, that, you know, you're, you're on a back there. I can't remember. Oh, he knew who he was picking on. There's no question about it. So well done. I, that was it. That was a try set up by the coaching staff and executed super well by the players. Yep. Very. And you know, it was, um,
00:49:03
Speaker
You don't get to do that if you only call for the fucking posts. No, no. And that there's put that that way. There's 10. There's 10 different ways you could you could point for the Saracens in terms of that. You know, we talked we've talked about it before. Who scored the tries this match? Esther, the guys were in green. That's the two and series didn't even bother to fucking go for any. Nope. So compared to them, they did. They did the things that we talk about to win themselves a championship match and they did it. You know, there's no question about it. And they set it up so well at the end like.
00:49:32
Speaker
You know, I knew they were kicking that shot. Damn. God damn it. But you, they've won this whole, this whole match. They've been able to win field position with their boot. They do that. And then they like, just work it down the field slowly themselves. And then set yourselves up for a droppy from a guy who really needed a, like that's,
00:49:58
Speaker
So, so good for him. So for, for Freddie, like that, that was it. It's like, as much as I wanted saris to win, I wish I, I didn't want them to hit that kick too. Um, you know, cause there was still time. It was, it was possible, but obviously that didn't happen, but it didn't happen.
00:50:15
Speaker
That was one of those, you know, the, the, it's just like, you can feel the blood draining out of you. That's happening. I knew it was, I knew we were fucked. So I was like, all right, well, there's a lot, there's lots of good storylines to enjoy about the lesser tigers when Bortho obviously taking his first crown, um, Genji getting a good send off. Excellent. Send off the crown jewel. The whole thing is the picture from the young's family, which absolutely not dry. I had mouse now. So, um,
00:50:45
Speaker
Yeah, super happy to see that. And that was that was the thing, too. And when you when I saw, you know, when you the trophy, which was good, right as well. So I did not expect him to be there, although I should have. I wasn't sure how that would work out. I don't know if I would be able to be there, but so good on him. Yeah, real good on him and good on the I mean, that's just somebody had to have encouraged him to go because he thought about it about not going. That's right. That's got to be no like it's more like we'll be there for you.
00:51:14
Speaker
We want you to be there for us too, and we'll enjoy it together afterwards. And that's good for him and good for the team. And the same thing we were talking about with Leinster. This is what good
00:51:32
Speaker
clubs do for their own. And so full credit to Lester on this one for the win and for the support for Tom and winning it for Vito, part in part for him and the Lester family as a whole. So yeah, it sucks the way, you know, and again, as you said, I'm more mad at salaries for their just
00:51:58
Speaker
the tactics and selection and whatnot than anything else. I'm really, if you can't tell, I'm kind of souring on McCall. Not fully, but, you know, because he can still do it. It's just that he's got to change up their tactics. To me, tactical kicking to change the field position means either you kick for possession or you kick to touch. Like you make sure it goes to touch and that, you know, you restart the match from up the field.
00:52:28
Speaker
They do neither of those things. To me, that's not tactical kicking. That's just aimless kicking. You know, the best kicks from Farrell in the past are when he's just put them, you know, just asshole the other team in their own 22. Not this, oh, I'll just hook it up the field to their 22 and let them kick it back. It doesn't work. Yeah, it's just, it's not quite the, and they don't quite go for the same New Zealand style kicking where they look for broken play either. Right. It's just, it's not quite what they look, they go after either. Right. It's aimless. There's no tactic to it. It's just,
00:52:58
Speaker
Here, you guys do something with it. What the fuck? Doesn't work anymore. But we'd be remiss to not say goodbye to one Vincent Koch. Very sad to see him leave, obviously. Lots of good things coming into tight head. But man, what a server to the club he's been. And yeah, good luck at WOS.
00:53:19
Speaker
I couldn't ask for a better servant to the club than he's been and I think the club's done. I think it's been a great relationship. The club's done him well and he's done the club well. So yeah, love to him. We'll miss him. No doubt. All right, let's jump over to...
Super Rugby Final - Crusaders vs. Blues
00:53:41
Speaker
Another disappointing file in a lot of ways, but at least it didn't have a whole lot of skin in the game, which was the Super Ruby file between Crusaders and Blues and... Jeez, the Crusaders just frickin' stranglehold this fuckin' thing, like...
00:53:56
Speaker
And blues totally caught it at the same time. So it's like blues didn't do fucking anything. My God. They're one. They're one try was because they have a quality scrum half who jumped on a loose ball and put it over. Right. Like, OK, but that's it. That you know, you lived off of the one mistake that crusaders made. The one mistake. Yeah, you could score a try. Right. You got to. And there comes a point where in a final, you have to create your own stuff and you can't. The mistakes will be few and far between. So, yeah, you can jump on one.
00:54:26
Speaker
But after that, you got to come with... Make them make mistakes. Right. Right, right, right. There was a point where I was fed up with O'Keefe, but that's not a new thing. I do think you got the Nepal O'Lala decision right, at least. So there's that. There is. You know, what little bit that might hold.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah, I just... Fuck. It's the goddamn Crusaders. Yeah, and they just... Well, there was a point where the Blues were looking at their... I think it was a line out in the Crusaders 22, and they threw it wherever the hell Sam Whitelock was standing. I'm like, dude, that's the guy you fucking avoid. Like, that is not hard to miss. Like...
00:55:13
Speaker
Whoever made that fucking call, like hit yourself in the face really, really hard because that is the one guy I want to steer away. I know Barrett's not a ton better, but that's the guy I'm avoiding is Sam Whitelock. He is way too goddamn smart. He reads the game way better than like 99% of the locks in the universe.
00:55:31
Speaker
That's the guy you fucking avoid. Right. Why would you be anywhere near that? I mean, if you have the colonies to try and challenge them, good for you. You lost, dumbass. So stop. And then they just kept doing it. And then they tried the long throw twice. And I was like, you got away with it. Like, I think they got away with it twice. The third time was going to be way too easy to see. I was like, yep, they're going to try this the third time, aren't they? And sure enough, totally fucked that one up. The Crusaders did make one other mistake, and that was like towards the end of the match when
00:56:01
Speaker
They they did that same thing, long throw and overthrew it. And the Blues were like right on it. And none of them jumped on it. It was like they're all looking at it and it bounces and they end up on it. And then that ended up with what? The Matera to chip kick ahead to Reese. Yeah, that's how it that's how I want to see this this super rugby season in Pablo Fucking Matera. And I've got several reasons.
00:56:22
Speaker
Fuck you, Auckland Blues. I have learned as much as I'd like to see players celebrating. I've learned how much I fucking hate seeing several we celebrate the last couple of weeks. Same. Same, same, same. But it was like.
00:56:38
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was bad. It was really bad. But I mean, good. Yeah. I mean, it was obviously a fantastic play from the Crusaders. There's no question about that. Certainly. We learned that they're not going to have Bryn Hall this this coming season this next season. Right. Going to Japan. So Mitchell Drummond and Taro Rangi will be the options. And honestly, in terms of that, I hope. Well, I hope.
00:57:05
Speaker
Tarangi takes this as an opportunity to potentially get a starting spot. He was on the fringe of the All Blacks for a little while. Brad Weber came back and crashed that party. Really, you're taking over for a Jag with either Drummond or Hall. So he's young enough and got the talent that he can be special in that spot. And if he's learned anything from Brad Weber, he should be able to overtake.
00:57:32
Speaker
Mitchell Drummond for the starting spot next season. So there's that as well. So I'm, I will look forward to that as it goes forward, assuming he also stayed.
00:57:40
Speaker
Excuse me, sticks around. Speaking of Brad Weber, I just wanted to put out tying back to one of our old segments. It made me super happy to see Brad Weber tweeting out and supporting Nick McCarthy, too.
Inclusivity Advocacy by Brad Weber
00:57:52
Speaker
I like seeing that. That's like, you know, in a world full of, you know, Izzy's, you know, be a Weber. Yeah, no joke. You're from the neighborhood Spider-Man.
00:58:03
Speaker
Right. So, you know, all the things that we thought would come to fruition for the Blues did not because it just kind of followed it. And the Crusaders took every opportunity. They, they, they starved them up the ball too. Like, they just, they're like, nah, our ball. Like, you want it, you come take it.
00:58:23
Speaker
And it never, it never really got back into the blues possession. Really. I mean, the numbers are, I'm gonna write the numbers are pretty ugly in terms of possession and field position. They were ugly. They were. So it's like, all right, well, this is not, that is like the old fashioned way of taking care of it for in rugby, but it's still freaking work because it's the fucking crusaders and they know 10 ways over to frigging win the damn match. That's just how they are. Let me see. Just got to it.
00:58:51
Speaker
Nope, that's not the one I wanted. Come on, that's the one I wanted. Yeah, almost 60% possession for the Crusaders over the whole match, 57%. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. And the territory is, yeah, it's pretty lopsided. It's almost, it's, a lot of it's in like the wrong part too. It's like, like they're, the lowest percentage of possession for them is in their defensive password.
00:59:17
Speaker
the highest percentage is in the attacking 22 of all that percentage like yikes yeah there oh there oh my god wow just just beyond it's just above the you know in between the 10 the 22 but still like
00:59:33
Speaker
when your biggest percentage of time of possession is in the attacking 22, nothing bad is going to happen more often than not. And 3.1%. Oh, 3.1%. That's like... Yeah. In the other end. Right. Yeah. 25%. Basically, what we're seeing there is that the crusaders spent
00:59:58
Speaker
You know, or the ball spent 20, 20 minutes of the match inside the blues defensive 22, 20 minutes. Not a really good, not a really good time there. You're not going to have a good time. No. And then not only that, but, but just under that 20, 22. So for 40 minutes, let's go be conservative here. 35 minutes of this match, the ball was spent with the crusaders in possession in the, uh,
01:00:29
Speaker
And the blues half. And the blues half. And the blues half. Yeah. Pretty ridiculous. Pretty ridiculous. Oh, man. All right. Damn it.
01:00:43
Speaker
Somebody bring me the whiskey. This was going to be a three-beer pod. You're already on the way there anyway, so it doesn't matter. Two-beer pod right now. Yeah. This one's too much. God damn, 8.5%. Thank you, Jared. I appreciate it. You're welcome.
01:01:05
Speaker
There's a lot to say about this match. Those I haven't figured out, we're moving on to the NY Eastern Conference final with the Free Jackson in New Jersey. Excuse me. All right, I'm not gonna put it all on this particular person, but man, there's a reason that Federico Asame is not a referee in Super Rugby anymore. And he shouldn't be here anymore either.
01:01:30
Speaker
He's horrible and doesn't know how to use this. And the TMO, for all the money that people were pissing and moaning about the MLR spending on the TMO, it's been almost irrelevant.
01:01:41
Speaker
in this whole season. Well, it's irrelevant if you don't use them too. Right. That's the thing. Like, and it's not like you're telling me that, you know, oh, if we use the TMO three times in this match, it's going to cost us X amount of dollars. No, no, no. You're paying a flat fee more than likely. And it's not going to go up and down by that much, even if it's not super flat. So don't give me that shit about
01:02:04
Speaker
You know, oh, it's going to save the money. No, no, no. If you go spend the fucking kashish, you goddamn well better use it in key moments in a fucking Eastern Conference final. Like, come on. You're a league semi and you allow a forward pass for a try.
01:02:19
Speaker
Um, and that, you know, Larson immediately goes over and says, Hey, you want to check that? And the referee's like, no. He like literally like basically blew him off. Go away. I will not. And then it was up on the fucking, they played it in the, in the, um, in the stadium. They played it. And it's like clearly like the, the, the player who passes it was, um, it was right down on the five meter line. So you can see the lines and he's like two or three steps away from the five meter line and he passes it and it's caught at the five meter line. And it's not, uh,
01:02:48
Speaker
a two handed pass. It's a it's an option. It was a one handed, like, right push off. And it's like, that's not that's never hands going backwards. Like you can't physically do that unless you're chicken winging it and it wasn't a chicken wing. So there's no oh, the hands were going backwards and it went forwards. It's he's just pushed it out wide. It went forwards two meters. No try. It was a simple review. And then no, no. And then if that wasn't enough. Late in the match.
01:03:19
Speaker
There's a, like, and it ends with, um, Walker, you know, sprinting up the field. He's kind of in a two on two situation. And instead of trying to beat him, um, he chips it up the field and like a couple of steps after he chips it there, what their backup hooker comes in and just throws a shoulder into his face. Like no straight red. Yep.
01:03:45
Speaker
And somehow they end up going back. We see with, with, you know, the teeth referee goes, this is what we, you know, we're, we're in the stadium. We don't get to see the fucking broadcast. And so we show the, yeah, I haven't watched either. They're like, you know, it goes for the TMO. And so we're watching the replay they show in the stadium is fucking walk again, rocked to the head with a shoulder and a barely, you know, I don't know that there was much of an attempt to wrap.
01:04:11
Speaker
And what's the result of the TMO review? A yellow card to to fucking freejacks for something that happened a few minutes earlier. Like. And nowhere in the laws does it say that you can't do both, honestly, right as well. You want a yellow card, one and red card, the other. There you go. There's your answer. All right. And to me, one's worse than the other. So you it should have been freejacks penalty, but.
01:04:36
Speaker
I don't even know what the yellow card was for. There are certain times when I'm like, yeah, that was a high tackle. Like you can see it. You're like, that'll get looked at. That's probably yellow. This, I have no fucking clue what it was for. So it obviously, it couldn't have been too drastic.
01:04:53
Speaker
Maybe it was, fuck, I'm not gonna talk about it. Cause I didn't see it. But like, how do you not review both? And I don't know how that peer to play and peer to review ends with a card to free Jax and nothing. Yeah. Nope. And they scored the ensuing penalty too. And we saw even before that, there was a penalty where New York gained possession by going off their feet at a rock.
01:05:21
Speaker
And like that we could see from the stands, like the guys on his belly on the on the free jacks player with his knees on the deck. And then he like kind of pushes up real quick to get to his feet when he stole the ball. And it's like, you're already off your feet when you when you took possession of the ball. Right. I'm sure that probably the way should have been a penalty that way. We see a play then like, you know, so they get the turnover, they work it down the field, a little bit of a break. A free jacks player stops that ball.
01:05:47
Speaker
similar not exactly the same but similar circumstances like maybe he put his hand like his hands hit the deck before the ball because but I thought the other guys elbow was on the deck anyway so right um and the referee calls it a penalty and that's what led to their their try so it's like so much like
01:06:05
Speaker
Consistency, let's get some consistency and use the fucking TMO. I'm so, for, you know. To have two referees on the sideline that were actual referees and ARs like, and to still not use them is just complete bollocks. Like I used them once at the end of the half, which stopped at what would have been an eventual New
Criticism in Rugby League
01:06:25
Speaker
York score. But like, no, just now. And he is,
01:06:33
Speaker
Insomni is like has got such a big head when he's in this league thinking that he's better because he's been in super rugby. He was pretty fucking shit in super rugby if we're honest. Right. I tried to be nice about him being in the league, but at this point I'm done with it. So yeah, here's here's where I come down on this because you know, I we're not we are far from blame the referee people here and we
01:07:01
Speaker
at times can be objective. He pissed me off, so I'm not being infected right now. No, this case, it's well, it's a little bit of both because it's like, first off, that was that was shit for the league. As much as I've been saying, you know, I was I was proud of the league last week, disappointed in how how that was done. That was really fucking poor, a poor showing from the league. And where I also come down is the free jacks put in a championship effort.
01:07:28
Speaker
New York put it in championship ever. I'm not taking anything away from either of those, the two performances. To me, the referee was the balance of the game. And so it's like, I don't know how to, if this was referenced appropriately, I don't know how this would have gone. So that's why I'm kind of mad that it's like, we got fucking hosed and that piss and like,
01:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's not that shouldn't be acceptable. But so the league needs to hopefully I don't expect them to say anything because they can't. They should. I expect them to. I expect to see some some some some changes in the offseason. Let's put it that way, whether it's increased use of like, you know, use the fucking team, especially in a big fucking game or you get a little bit, you know, fucking.
01:08:19
Speaker
Yeah, and Amelia can't get a job out there. Like, get the fuck out of here. God. Get the fuck out of here. She'd be way better than that guy. Yeah. So that's got to get better. And to me, so the really disappointing thing is because
Freejacks Squad and Future Prospects
01:08:38
Speaker
It is not going to be the same squad that trots out there come next March for the free jacks because of the way this league is set up. And because of the way we do things in this league currently, the squad is going to be very different. So to sit there and say we'll be back next year because we'll have a lot of the same guys don't know. We don't know. We really don't. And it's a complete crapshoot in those moments. So
01:09:03
Speaker
And that's why it meant so much to be here and to do that. You know, it's really hard to get back to where you're to the same spot every time. And, you know, so it is a credit to the team to do it continuously because those squads are almost never the same as well. Like they're freaking, you know, they've changed over pretty hard. Hell, New York's changed over like mid-season when they signed all blokes. Yeah, like that. That's also kind of the bullshit too. That does a little shit. Whatever.
01:09:32
Speaker
So, yeah, there's that. Do we need to ignore the other rhino, hippo, elephant in the room? Kyle's got to go. Yeah, I'm done with him. I'm very done with him. And I'm kind of- Gave away a lot of penalties. I'm not sure about Matthew.
01:09:56
Speaker
I attribute like, cause how does he not see it in Kyle? How does he not see what's, what's going on there? Like we were talking about taking Kyle out five minutes before. Oh yeah. By the way, he, he had to have three penalties in a row that led to it. Fuck. You got to get him out of there faster. And then the worst part is because newcomer comes in.
01:10:16
Speaker
And the first scrum, after a newcomer comes in, he fucking dominates that that tight head and pushes him back. And the referee says, no, it was it was a wheel. And then he penalized him and penalized him. Right. Because and then then he wanted the next. So good. But it's like. The referees already had it in his head that your one sucks. And so it's a new one. That's the first scrum. And then he sees that it's like a dominant. The problem is.
01:10:44
Speaker
Domination and cheating at one look very similar. Yeah, they can. It's because it's a weird fucking position. You like it, like your loose head, like your head in order to get your head in a dominant position, nine times out of 10, you got to angle.
01:10:59
Speaker
There's there's always that one time when you're like, holy shit, this all just worked out. How the fuck did that happen? That was just my experience anyway. I was more of a tight head. But yeah, it's it's like it can look the same. But no, if like he was going forward, you can you can always tell. And it wasn't that he was going around. He was going straight forward. The referee is like, no, fuck that. He went around. Of course he's not. Of course he's not. Right. There's no way that's happening on this side of the scrum, is it? You've let Kyle in too long and and
01:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, that was like one last penalty by Kyle. It wasn't Kyle. Yeah, I know. Right. Yeah. So he's got, he's got to go. Like, I don't care what the feel good story of the whole thing for me was cam. It was not right. Fucking fuck face. It was cam. Well, and he got, he got free Jack's player, you know, the fans player of the year, deservedly. So, um,
01:11:52
Speaker
Brilliant for him. You know, I yelled at Joe Johnson like, please come back, bro. Bring Alex too. Please keep Alex in shape so we can come back and start right away. So it's, yeah.
Rugby League Results and Fantasy Highlights
01:12:08
Speaker
It is the reason that this is our last spot because I ain't doing another one about next week. I don't want to, I'm like, go Seattle and that's about it. Yeah. Which is like bitter to say in a lot of ways.
01:12:20
Speaker
It's not easy. I'm glad I'm drunk. A little stoned. Yeah, it's not.
01:12:28
Speaker
and proud of the boys and what they did. Exactly. And then they have so much like, boating is fucking great. So I hope we get to keep him around. I hope nobody comes across. Some of these guys deserve to be playing. Like, what are you doing here? And I'll be the first person to be very excited for them getting a new deal overseas. Hope that works.
01:12:54
Speaker
those two centers, those Safa center. Oh, fuck's sake. Yes. Vanderbank and Milan. Brilliant. Brilliant. The two of them. Yeah. It's very piano. I was I was worried when we weren't going to get a little my Morris and freaking what kind of bound back. And right. Man, look at me eat my words right now. Yep. And they've been fucking amazing. Two of the best players in the league.
01:13:18
Speaker
So yeah, like any of them could just be, get a call that they're not going to say no to. I don't care what their contract situation is with the Freejacks. No, I know. Yeah. The gay, baby blam. Right. The Freejacks. Yep. You go, go ahead. I mean, they did that with, uh, with, uh, uh, we and Ken Roddy. Ken Roddy. Yeah. Things just didn't work out, but that was different. Yeah. So, um, yeah, really disappointing.
01:13:43
Speaker
Which brings us to, as we get into our conclusions. So let's conclude one thing, which is the MLR, excuse me, CYL, goddamn dude. I am- Conclude this beer. Your, your, your junkness is wearing off on me. TRM final for the prem.
01:14:07
Speaker
not enough was done to get Ben off the top. Obviously George did manage to get himself in there and scrape it by a point and scrape it together a point, but it's not going to be enough for him. Unfortunately for that. So boys, we fucked up and we let Ben run. I don't know what to tell you. Um, so we'll get one more. The same group will get one more, uh, go at glory here, but then we're going to definitely be doing, um, we're obligation promotion, assuming FRD shorts, the sorts of shit out. Um,
01:14:37
Speaker
But yeah, so we'll feel like this legitimizes the US as a fantasy rugby. Yeah, so it'll end with.
01:14:49
Speaker
Been on top with 20 and George was 19. Um, Mark did not do enough to overtake me. So I'm going to be able to hang on the third. Duncan will jump into fourth mark. Mark will be down to fifth. Um, and I think it's going to be marking Anton and a tie for fifth. Actually Justin hanging on to, um, the seven and
01:15:11
Speaker
Good old care. Pulling up the bottom. Everybody needs a foundation. That guy's got like 20 jobs. Yeah. What are you going to do? Right? Right. This is, yeah, we are, we're slackers here. This is our game. Yeah. We're a bunch of losers over here. We have nothing else to do.
01:15:29
Speaker
I do want to talk about division two real quick. Okay. I don't want to dismiss them because they were willing to be part of our Frankenstein experiment here. So Franco took top spot. Cobus came in second. Terry, John came round out the top four. Yuri made some moves to get himself over up to
01:15:50
Speaker
up to six and Liano and then Larry. And then unfortunately Bob just didn't really join up. So that's how it is. So yeah, we'll figure out division two next year.
01:16:02
Speaker
Hopefully, I'm assuming there'll be a good like five or six guys that want to give it another go. And those that will need your place, we can find you a new spot. No problem. And we'll be happy to have you in every other league that we have. If you don't want to. It's a hell of a good time. So I would, if you're a listener and
01:16:22
Speaker
even if you're a casual fantasy rugby player, yeah, feel free to jump in. If nothing else, it's people who like the fantasy for the fantasy. It's not like we're too much of assholes about it. No, it's generally not.
01:16:38
Speaker
Generally not. So yeah, well, lots to talk about with Champions League in the offseason. Well, again, a part of that whole Patreon powwow and sinking a bottle of whiskey will probably be a part of that.
01:16:54
Speaker
But that does bring us to, yeah, this is our last episode of the season. So some of you are probably celebrating. Some of you are at this point, I don't know which one, but that's okay. Either way, I'll live with it. Yeah, so- Feeling is mutual either way. Yeah, right. Definitely on that edge. Yeah, make no mistake about Ben and I love what we do here, but man, those dark days that we talk about in some of the leagues,
01:17:23
Speaker
It's for us. Yeah. Right. It can be a guy that's like, you know, yeah. But it's for. But, you know, in the end, I always it always makes me I always remember like this is for fun and it is something I actually enjoy. It's just like sometimes there's days where I'm like, I'm just in a pissy mood because I'm tired. It's not because I'm actually like don't want to do this. It's just because I'm fucking exhausted. There's a difference. There's a difference. It's not because I don't want to do it. It's just like, man, I am wiped. And I always I always feel better after doing it.
01:17:53
Speaker
This is the truth. This is the truth. I agree with that. It's cathartic, especially on weekends like this. Right. Like I kind of because I can't, you know, I I don't tweet out my thoughts too much, but they kind of, you know, save them for this in some ways. But right. Because I do have this outlet, which is nice. It's always nice. So
01:18:15
Speaker
Of course, we say thank you to TRM for putting up with RBS and FRD for putting up with RBS and our new friends at Superbrew, who are apparently very awesome to deal with. So we say thank
Acknowledgments and Season Reflection
01:18:29
Speaker
you to them. Yeah. I look forward to using their product more. I think we need to get into that. We'll talk into that, no doubt. We need more fantasy leagues, right? Yeah, because that's what we need. We don't do that, right?
01:18:42
Speaker
So yeah, we say thank you to them very much. So thank you very much to our patrons this year for those that decided to plunk down. One of our patrons, Alex, sent us a very nice message. And we appreciate him and our patrons very, very much. So thank you guys for supporting us in that way because it really does
01:19:08
Speaker
from the bottom of my heart, and I'm sure Ben and I close this as well. We really appreciate that you saw value in what we were doing. Right. This is something, as most of us will know, this is something that we do for fun, but at the same time to be supported even just a minute little bit. Really, it means a ton, and that's because of you guys, so we really appreciate that. Very much appreciate it, guys.
01:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, it does feel like, wow, people pay for like, it does also make me do it too. Like, if I just was doing it for myself, I wouldn't, but it's like, okay, people find this valuable enough to the point where fuck yeah, I'll devote like, what, probably an hour a week at least to update it and then make sure it's correct. Like, there's a lot of
01:19:54
Speaker
Oh, there's so many things that could fuck up in that thing. We found we found a few of them. We found a few really. Yeah. And so we try to correct them as best we can. But the amateurs and yeah, it's it does make it nice to know that people appreciated it. Yeah.
01:20:13
Speaker
I do want to say a special thank you to, there was a nice person that walked up to me after the game at Fort Quincy and said, you appreciate what we do. So thank you very much to you and for taking the time out of your mood that I was definitely in to say so. So if I came off rude, I apologize. I was half in the bag and very pissed, but I do appreciate just the same. I wish I could have been there to say thank you as well. I think you were pooping.
01:20:43
Speaker
I was, oh man, I broke that second half. It was no good. Yeah. And of course, it goes without saying like, you know, for me, thank you to Catherine for putting up with my bullshit. And she always knows it's in for her to her credit.
01:21:01
Speaker
Are you doing pod stuff? Yes. And she just says, okay, I'll ask you afterwards or I'll, or have you do whatever I'm going to have you do afterwards. And so to her credit, she does that. She lets me take, you know, God, we, this takes about three hours on a, you know, mid week night for us to get cranked through between recording and then posting. So, um, to her credit, she does it with in stride and
01:21:24
Speaker
never bats an eye. So I say very much thank you to her and putting up with that and you know, supporting me doing this and being like, yep, this is something you really like. So I'm gonna get behind you on it. So you can't ask for anything better than that, by all means.
01:21:40
Speaker
Right. And same thing goes obviously for my wife, Jessica, who has to do with my drunk ass after the pod. What an experience that must be. Because like, look, I don't I don't drink that much to be you fucking like one. So yeah, that's that's exactly it. I have had twice as much as I normally have. So I am in a state right now. And
01:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, she has to deal with me. Thank you to Jess. She does the same kind of thing. She knows, okay, we can sort our own stuff out. Although we're pretty good at that. Over the years, we've learned to be good on our own when we have to be.
01:22:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, okay, so we're back to that. Yep, just for one night a week. Right. Just deal with it for one night. Right. Yeah. And then, of course, you know, I think we need to also give a nice special thank you to George. George has been the one in the rugby, fantasy, rugby community that has supported us from the word go. And he's our bestest friend in the world. We're going to be right.
01:22:49
Speaker
from a fantasy perspective yeah like he was like and and what a guy too yeah yeah so it'll be
01:23:02
Speaker
I get the sense the next season, George is going to be involved a little bit. So, um, for one reason or another, we know we can, we can fit. I'll bring an air mattress. Um, but anyway, um, we appreciate everybody else out there. That's, you know, listen to us for two seconds or for the whole episode or whatever. And maybe you thought we were all full of shit, but we appreciate just the same, um,
01:23:27
Speaker
So, yeah, we will be back sometime probably September. I would guess so. Yeah. Like probably right before the Prem. Yeah. Give or take. Yeah. And I'm not sure when those dates exactly start. We'll get there. But we'll talk. Prem, we'll talk.
01:23:43
Speaker
World Cup, we'll talk. Champions Cup, we'll talk all those things. We'll dive into that. You know, we'll look back on the summer internationals as well as, you know, what's going on in TRC. But until then, this is the Champions, the Champions. Jesus Christ, here we go. Damn it, Ben. Stop getting me drunk.
01:24:05
Speaker
Um, see, he got me drunk. I can't, um, yeah, I have nothing to add to this. Yeah. I'll try again. Yeah. Yeah. Until then, this is a fancy Ruby Yanks signing off. We appreciate you so much. Everybody have yourself a great, great summer, winter, whatever the hell it is. Seven season later. Cheers.