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Season 6- Episode 30- Don't White Knuckle It (Champions Cup Final & Super Rugby Round 14)
39 Plays5 months ago
It's another action-packed episode from those idiots from the U.S., talking about rugby. On this ep of TFRY, we start by talking about the passing of two athletes and their significance to our world today. It's then a big talk about the big game in London. Is it time for one #10 to step aside for the runner's up? How the Toulouse celebrations compare to things we wish we saw. Then we hop down south for Super Rugby and really only two games worth getting into at length, with many lopsided, disappointing results otherwise. Then, the black and red actually playing good rugby...in the PWR, we talk about the big result at the StoneX. Then, a trip to Miami...and we were ready to bail as fast as we arrived. We talk about where it leaves the Free Jacks and the problems they're facing going forward. It's all this and the banter to make it amusing. Kick back and join us fam, won't you?
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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 [email protected]. Of course, we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:04
Speaker
It is. The Fantasy Europeans. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody handled that. A collusion.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the Fancy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We're in, buddy. Uh, yeah, not as, I mean, plenty to talk about, but at the same time, not nearly as much. Right. Um, you know, big games, but just not as many.
Games Overview and Excitement
00:00:44
Speaker
No, no, but still, still lots worth, worth, uh, spinning the yarn over though. A couple. Let's pop these while we got them. Want to turn it to your podcast app.
00:00:58
Speaker
Share a download rate review. Hmm. Do, do, do.
Support and Social Issues
00:01:06
Speaker
Make sure that you buy our good friend, George, the fancy rugby geek, a coffee of beer, especially if you made your FRD final this past weekend. I'm in a final. Yeah. Was that a SACO final? Actually, I'm in two finals and they're both SACO finals. Wait, are you, am I playing you in the SACO?
00:01:30
Speaker
I was like, oh, I guess I still got to pick a team. I can tell you this much. I haven't picked that good of a team, so it's going to be interesting talking about a pillow fight. Yeah, right. That might be the definition of a pillow fight right there in fantasy. But good God. But anyway, by our good friend, George, the fantasy review geek, a coffee, and he will appreciate very much for all his hard work this season.
00:01:59
Speaker
As always, there is no discrimination here on this podcast or should there be in sports or in life.
Mental Health Discussion
00:02:04
Speaker
A couple sad deaths and they're sad for different reasons. One of them, which is something that we talk about all the time here and it's sad that another life was lost to suicide. Grayson Murray, the golfer on the PGA tour, struggled with his demons clearly, but never
00:02:26
Speaker
never really got the help he needed, it sounds like, and obviously he's not here anymore, which is sad. This is one of the reasons that neither Ben nor I are okay with things like toxic masculinity. You don't white-knuckle life, man. It doesn't go well. It often ends poorly, and unfortunately it ends
00:02:47
Speaker
all too often in the same vein as Grayson Murray. Right. It doesn't matter what walk of life you're from. He's obviously a pro golfer. They're not the same as your typical NBA, your NFL drafty, as far as upbringing.
00:03:11
Speaker
So it doesn't really matter, and it's not a sign of weakness to get help, but please, if you're struggling, please get help. You have friends who want to see you keep going. It's sad when things end like that.
00:03:31
Speaker
I'd rather hear your story than tell it at your funeral, something to that degree, which is extremely sad. I saw something the other day, but it was like, they related it to rugby, so it obviously spoke to me. You know, in the time it takes to kick a penalty, a man will have committed suicide or will die by suicide, excuse me. And it's just,
00:04:00
Speaker
It's just so, so bloody sad. Anytime it happens, it doesn't matter if it's a pro golfer, if it's just, you know, a dad of two or a single, a single male, it doesn't matter. And I remember, we're obviously speaking of men because it's just, it tends to be men that do this because we're told that we can't be soft. We can't be, we can't talk about our feelings. We can't talk about, um,
00:04:26
Speaker
shit that's bothering us. We have to just man up and deal with it. You said white knuckle it. And it's like, no, you're allowed to have feelings. That's the other thing is when you accept that you have feelings and you're able to talk about them openly, it helps so much.
00:04:43
Speaker
Um, and it's, it's this whole, you know, like you just, you said this whole toxic masculinity thing of, uh, we don't, you know, men don't have feelings. We have to shut up. Like that's the problem is like, you're, you're being an asshole and belligerent because you can't deal with your feelings. And like, that's a lot weaker than just doing, I'm not saying anything about, um, buck racing here. That's not, that's not the point. It's not where that it's the culture that needs to change so that, um,
00:05:12
Speaker
people feel comfortable getting help and the help that they need and deserve. Yeah, they don't feel gun shy on going to find help and they're not going to be afraid of what will my friends think of me if I go do this because I can't do this, do that. I personally, I'm not trying to, you know,
00:05:35
Speaker
virtue signal or anything like right here, but I personally am at least once a season talking to both the boys and the girls teams about, you know, talking to me should they, should they need something and talking to me, you know, and I, and I'll talk about, you know, shit that happens in my life and just tell them, we'll make them understand like, listen, guys, my life ain't perfect and neither is yours and that's okay. And you know, you gotta be able to talk about it because if you can't talk about it,
00:06:01
Speaker
People end up self-medicating and you wonder why people end up with, you know, abuse problems of all kinds of sorts, whether it's alcohol, drugs, you name it.
Bill Walton's Impact
00:06:12
Speaker
It really doesn't matter. Right. Then there's, you know, the other side of the coin. A life very well lived. And it's amazing to see I saw someone comment on it.
00:06:28
Speaker
yesterday that nobody is talking about Bill Walton, the basketball player, and he was a fucking all time or basketball player at the college level. He played an undefeated team on national titles, won NBA trophies, was a monster on the court, was referenced in the movie Airplane. And but everybody's talking about him, the person, because just what a larger than life
00:06:57
Speaker
human being he was, you know, not, you know, it's you see the disparity to and this, you know, kind of ties into no discrimination about the way he was a social activist, a peace activist, back when it was, you know, one of the people who was told to shut up and dribble. Right. And he used his and he was open about it. He's like, I'm gonna use my white privilege. This is back in the fucking 70s. He's like, I'm gonna use my right.
00:07:23
Speaker
Because he's like, I have black teammates, they're really friends, they have to, they live in a totally different world than me. And they have to do things and carry themselves in ways I don't have to. Because if they do one thing, if they say one thing, at all, you know, put one step out of line, and their, their, their life is over, and maybe literally, he's like, I can, I have the ability to say this stuff, and to speak out for what's right.
00:07:48
Speaker
And so I'm going to do it because, you know, it needs to be said. And the way he, you know, and then watching the highlights of him announcing, you know, calling games and his partner just.
00:08:04
Speaker
just exasperated with him because he's having bills having fun. Like he knew when things were, he should be for fun. And that's the way we got to carry ourselves. So certainly a Hall of Fame human being. Absolutely. Whether or not he's an athlete, this is how you should carry yourself in all things. Take the serious things serious. Stand up for what's right with whatever the consequences, especially when you have
00:08:32
Speaker
you know, some privilege on your side, you should be using that for good. And then having a lot of fun. The guy just had fun and was level. There's, you know, he didn't, you know, we talk about in rugby, there's comms who just mourn the game. But Bill made it fun.
00:08:54
Speaker
And that's one of the things I do. I'm not a huge basketball fan, but that's what I do love about it is that they really enjoy themselves when they're talking about the game. Because it's a different animal, but it's a lot more fun than pretty much any other sport. It's physical, but it's brutal sometimes. One was known as somebody who'd be pretty mean out there on the court. Yep. You want him to be.
00:09:24
Speaker
but still have fun with it. Throw it down. And one thing I'll say about Bill Walton was he was never afraid to tell his son, Luke, that he loved him. And again, that's one of those things we talked about, you know, being soft and bullshit, all that bullshit. And yeah, he was never afraid to tell the son, Luke, I love you. You know, and that's one of those weird things that people just
00:09:49
Speaker
You know, dads shouldn't tell their sons they love them and you wonder why some of these sons end up so messed up. It's like, yeah, maybe we should tell them that more. Just an idea. Just an idea. Throwing that out there. Throwing that out there. All right. Thank you for listening.
Podcast Extras and Parenting
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for listening to that part. Make sure that you go check out our Patreon. We are getting to the pointy end of the season, obviously, but I'm sure some of you could use a little bit of help here and there, whether it's in the Prime Semifinals or
00:10:19
Speaker
the run into the super rugby's or whatever. Yeah, I'm going to try to get the, uh, the premise stuff done tomorrow. I don't see the super rugby happening though. I'm sorry. Life's getting in the way. What do you have a kid or something? Yes. Well, that sounds stupid. As I was telling Jared, who's about to roll over, trying to crawl, like all these things that it's like, all right, no, we got to keep an eye on her and she's teething. Um, all of these things, like,
00:10:48
Speaker
Well, another advance of where she should be. So it's like she's still figuring her shit out while trying to do more than she should be doing. And that's making us. Why is this going to massive cranium? Well, big old noggin on them. Yeah. That's to be expected. Yeah. I mean, dad probably. Yeah. When he starts fitting into my hat, it's going to be bad news. It's like, okay, there. Yep. You're, you're screwed, kid. Yeah. Honestly, I think I'm,
00:11:18
Speaker
I think my hat size is like round the edge of the ones that they make like mass produce. Otherwise he's going to be getting like, I know my shoe size was some 13. Yeah. I am just on the edge. If I needed 14, I would have been so boned. Yep. So boned. So I hope this kid's not one of those unfortunately, but he might be. We'll find out I guess. Anyway, uh, do do
Rugby Matches and Player Performances
00:11:43
Speaker
do. Oh yeah. Some stupid match that happened in London.
00:11:48
Speaker
No, it wasn't stupid. It was, it was less certain to lose. It was brilliant. It was a classic. It really wasn't, you know, we didn't get a, we didn't get a score until, uh, over the line at least until extra time. But damn, was it still a good game?
00:12:04
Speaker
How many opportunities did, did Leinster get in? Oh, they showed the way at least a handful. Every time they would run just, you know, they would be doing fine until they would run somebody unsupported and then it was over. Yeah. And so they just didn't, could not, it was, you know, who, who kept their discipline and Toulouse did, um, for the most part. Right. And Richie, I don't know, maybe not, but you know. Yeah.
00:12:33
Speaker
Uh, I mean, just, uh, just, uh, byproduct of being extremely tall, unfortunately. And I honestly don't think Richie Arnold has that many red charts in his career. So if this is like the one, then I feel bad for him at the same time. He's done pretty fucking good up to this point. So got to give him credit for that. I think the question needs to be asked.
00:13:02
Speaker
And I know he hasn't been in amazing form, but why did Josh Van Der Fleer start on the bench for this game? You came in right shortly after half was over. Like that didn't shock me. But and then I think, yeah, I think that was the thing. They think they wanted to to have him as fresh legs because his form has been crap and because I think he's just tired. I think he's blown out. And I went with a six two split, which I still fucking hate.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah. That is annoying. And yeah. So I, I don't know. Will Conner's didn't exactly impress me. So no. You know, I don't know. I don't know why other than that. That's my only, that's my only insight into it is that, um, Vanderfleer is just cooked at this point and needs, needs a party. Maybe they didn't, maybe they need to leave him home this summer.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah. I'm sure that's not what Andy Farrell wants to do, but I think that'd be the smart thing to do, honestly. You know what did impress me was the entire back row from the Toulouse team, obviously. Did you see the-
00:14:22
Speaker
I don't remember which organization put together their team of the final and it was basically the entire Toulouse team. Oh God. Like no, no Leinster players at all. It's like, oh, but at the same time, it's hard to argue. Yeah, I agree. Um, I wonder, and it's been kind of hinted at before from other people in the, in the Leinster slash Irish camp,
00:14:51
Speaker
Is this the end for Ross Byrne? He was not what they needed from him. No, no, they brought Fraley on and they played a little bit better. Yeah, but, but I think he's not, he's not doing himself any favors for the, uh, um,
00:15:14
Speaker
Certainly not for the Ireland job. No. The other point is, he's 29 now. If he was going to be transcendent, it would have happened by now. Absolutely. I realize who he was sitting behind and whatnot, but at the same time, you should be learning from that person and emulating them. Absolutely. It's not there.
00:15:37
Speaker
He's a good game, like, and that's the thing. He's a good game manager and in football with a quarterback, a game manager is fine. You can use that. Um, but in rugby, if you don't have some athleticism, if you're not going to challenge the defense at all, you need to be bang on with your shit. And you, and you look at like Intimac who is just another world in terms of.
00:16:00
Speaker
a 10 and what he can do. And, you know, he's a threat, but also he's got a wonderful foot and he can distribute well. And just, yeah, it's really hard to sit there and say, yeah, you're, you're at that level, which it's not fair necessarily to stick them there. Cause into max, one of the best in the world. Um, but still you need to, you need to at least approach that level. If you think you're going to play for one of the best teams in the world right now, Ireland. So yeah, I, yeah, I'd say Ross Burns days cooked. Um,
00:16:30
Speaker
I don't know what the number was that you and I saw. I can't remember off the top of my head, but our friends at Ultimate Rugby have Willis down for 29 tackles. Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker
I saw 41, but that was one of those. That was an unofficial number, I think. Yeah, that was totally unofficial. Anywhere in that stratosphere is just absurd, and neither Ben nor I are like rah-rah about tackles, but that is kind of a gaudy number at the same time. So deserves at least a look and a shout, and it's... He didn't do, obviously, he...
00:17:05
Speaker
It was a well-balanced back row. They didn't actually do a ton in terms of eating meters, but I think they let Mayalfo do that for them. And they did the work that you would expect maybe Mayalfo to do.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. And then the rest just did amazing things. Good call on Peter Ockey by the way. Did that last long, unfortunately? I think I started him anyway. Oh, he's broken. Yeah. Yeah. I think I was like, I don't have much of a choice. I had, you know, I made some other questions. And I was like, I don't know who else to go with. So I'm like, he's going to suck, but I'll, and then he was out. I'm like, oh, there's not even a chance that I was wrong. Yeah. Yeah. I took a bar, I just came in and actually did a pretty good job, I thought. You did.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's, and it's another question for Leinster, you know, how do they get over this hump? And, you know, Toulouse obviously is a wonderful team and their, their club is just one of the gold standards of Europe right now and club rugby in general. Um, I don't, here's the thing for Leinster, Leinster is
00:18:06
Speaker
maybe their own worst enemy in a way because they are one of the reasons that the URC is so good and so competitive and you can't take an off week very often in that league right now, especially when it comes to getting to the business end of it, which they're at as well. And they're one of the reasons that it's that competitive. So, you know, it's chicken of the egg. And if we did, if we, if we weren't this good, then it wouldn't be this competitive and then you'd have other, you'd have other problems. So, uh,
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think they just need to be able to deal with it a little bit better. And I think most people would say, yeah, they're just maybe in something about the pressure. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. I just haven't been able to get over that hump since the Rossing final in Bilbao, which was a while ago now. But I also want to take a look
00:19:00
Speaker
And this is because I'm going to bring this back to our rooting interests in a way. But if you see the celebrations from the Toulouse fans and the difference between that and certainly what we see in the Prem anyway, and the people are flooding this town square and it's like thousands of people
00:19:29
Speaker
going ape shit about rugby and having fun. Whereas then you look at, say, Saracen's not meeting their ticket, like the reserve ticket quota, giving back 500 seats. And because, you know what, nobody wants to buy a ticket and travel to see their team just fucking kick away possession. They want to see their team play with the ball and have fun, like Toulouse, have fun. Now, it's different. I know Toulouse are, you know, they don't,
00:19:59
Speaker
Their salaries, their funding is way higher. But at the same time, that builds. You get people interested in it and suddenly you have a lot of money. There's all sorts of money in French rugby because they entertain people. Yeah, they entertain. Whereas for some reason, English rugby is just so mournful.
00:20:23
Speaker
Well, go back to- You're playing not to lose. Yeah, no. I'm 100% with you on that. Go back to something that we've talked about at least twice, if not three times. You have a huge thing that you have to compete with in England and that's the Premier League. You need to put bums and seats. You need to get eyeballs on the TV. To your point,
00:20:46
Speaker
putting up a box kick every five phases ain't gonna put people in seats. It's not gonna make people stop and watch.
Rugby Strategies Debate
00:20:53
Speaker
You need to play and this is one of the reasons I was so happy that Saints and Quinn's made the semi finals of this competition. You need to
00:21:04
Speaker
throw the ball around a little bit with some, you know, some thought to it at least not just helter skelter like certain teams like to do, but still be willing to throw the ball around. You know, and you saw, we saw Bristol the final weekend of the regular season and what they could do when they were just say, yeah, we're just going to put pedal to the metal and see what happens. And I am a huge fan of anything like that. And if your mentality is we have to box kick every five phases, then I'm sorry.
00:21:33
Speaker
I might, I might like you as a person, but I don't like you as a rugby fan. You suck at your killing the game. Right. Like play with the ball, try it. And, and you look at, I mean, look at Anton DuPont that 50 22 where it's first off, it's still slow ball, but he doesn't box kick it exactly. He takes a couple of steps and, and, you know, gives himself some space. He does something that the other team is not prepared to do. They are actually even in good position. That was covered.
00:22:00
Speaker
The coverage was there, he just kicked it over the guy's head. On a fucking rope. Like none of this, but what's this like, oh I'm gonna put it up high. No, do what you gotta do.
00:22:14
Speaker
And the thing that crushes me about it is back before the 50-22 was a thing, Owen Farrell was the master of, I'm going to kick to one side and then if you kick it back, now I'm going to run you back and forth. And yeah, if I kick it into touch, fine, you're in your own 22 and we were going to put pressure on your line out. Right.
00:22:38
Speaker
And now it's just not that anymore. It's let's fucking boot a high ball and see what happens. And it's like, there's no skill. There's no tactics. It's just, maybe it'll work. So like, you know, and then that's, you call it a 50 50 ball for God's sake. You know, like, why is that something you want to do?
00:22:58
Speaker
Right. So the way that Toulouse play is just fantastic. And there's a reason that they're champions and teams should try to emulate that rather than, well, that's not good. Obviously, it's good rugby. They crushed everybody. Anybody's arguing that that's not good rugby, you need to really just take a reconsideration on watching rugby and commenting on rugby ever again.
00:23:23
Speaker
Because it's just not helpful. Yeah. And then again, Anton DuPont is just fucking amazing. Another planet. Everything he does is. Another planet. Good God. Good Lord. And that's the thing, like there was nobody on Leinster who like, you know, early on, as you said, James and Gibson Park had had his one up on DuPont, but that was it. Mm hmm. Yeah, there's nobody really like.
00:23:50
Speaker
shined for them. It was all kind of, they were always under pressure. Um, you know, even when they were putting pressure, they were losing it. Cause you know, they, they, they couldn't handle it. No. And yeah. And we can, we picked out a couple of names and yeah, I don't think, I don't think James Lowell played badly. Well, if they were going to win, they needed him to be
00:24:16
Speaker
DuPont level of performance, not obviously he's not going to do the same thing as DuPont does because they've played different positions and such, but just the level of performance that he put out needed to match that. And it didn't. And again, he didn't play poorly, comparing him to the best player in the world, probably. So it's not necessarily a fair comparison, but it needed this game, this performance, this one performance for their sake.
00:24:40
Speaker
need to be to that level. And it wasn't. And that's, that's where we're at. You know, cause I think most people would agree at this point, the best player online is probably low, if not Doris. And that's, that's that. So, and it's not to say that the others aren't good, but that's, those are probably the two best players right now. So we'll see. I, yeah, if you're Leo, Colin, you got to keep scratching your head and just, man,
00:25:06
Speaker
I mean, you got to figure the odds catch up to you. You keep getting to a final. One of them is going to kill with the line, for God's sake. Yeah. We shall see, though. I'll be interested to see what happens in this competition next year as well. Yeah. There's a lot of things that need to be talked about and decided.
Rugby Awards and Match Analysis
00:25:26
Speaker
By the by, did you see the RPA awards were tonight? Did you see who won the players player of the year? No. Finn. Finn Smith.
00:25:37
Speaker
who did not make the prems team of the year. That seems wrong. So, yeah, no, everybody apparently loves him. Yeah, I mean, what's not to love about the kid? He was, for lack of a better term, booted from the team he was at. But he knew he was bound elsewhere, and they were happy to scoop him right up.
00:26:07
Speaker
And he took the, he took the shoes of a legend as well. It took the place of, of, of, you know, one of the better tens for a while. Like that was 2019 or 2020, I guess. Um, one of those two. Yeah. No, it was the 2019 to 2020 season. And, um, okay. That makes sense. Yep. Yeah. And bigger, just absolutely thrashed Finn and with the, um,
00:26:37
Speaker
when he was with Luster and afterwards was talking, like took him under his wing and was like, you know, here's, here's how I kicked your ass. Um, and you know, short time later, here we are. Talk about Vince Smith is maybe the best, one of the best sends in league, probably not the best, but he's in the conversation. Yeah. He's in the conversation for sure. And he's the 10 for the bet. The team, the team that's probably won the league. Yeah. The team that's probably gonna win the league, if you're honest. Right.
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah, no kid deserves it. Got him. Anywho, sorry. That was not in the, uh, in the agenda. It was worth, it was worth the conversation that happened today. It did. It happened. Let's go over down to the South and go to the Southern Hemisphere here and go super rugby. Um, I know you don't want to talk about this one too, too much chiefs and hurricanes.
00:27:34
Speaker
You're not I don't know. Yeah. Where's the yellow card on him? Yeah, I thought he was not. Paul Williams was not at his best. I don't think he was terribly helpful in this game. And then he played defense for the Hurricanes and that really pissed me off because there was a huge gap. He's like, I'm just going to stand here. It's like, fuck you, dude. Get the fuck out of the way.
00:28:03
Speaker
Yeah. And at the same time, again, once again, Damien McKenzie, not a 10. He got outplayed by Brett Cameron massively. And I'm sorry, if you're getting outplayed by Brett Cameron, not that, you know, Brett Cameron is not poor. No, but you're trying to be the All Blacks 10. You have it in your head that you don't want to be 15. You want to be the 10.
00:28:28
Speaker
And you're getting outplayed by Brett Cameron. Guess what? You're not. I don't know that one of them on the Eagles is 10. Like, he doesn't do good things. So, yeah, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, this, this was, again, like you said, with, with James Lowe, this is one of those, like, get it done, man. You need it.
00:28:54
Speaker
If you really wanted to be top ball at this point, you wanted to be top three. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. That's not going to happen. But you guys played well. Yeah, I thought that, I mean, Tupa Tupa put us in a fucking hole early. I was like, oh, boy.
00:29:15
Speaker
And I will say this, you asked me this about the reds game where we won. If that stupid 20 minute red chart didn't exist, we might've lost. Yeah. Let's say it's a higher probability that we lose. Cause not, not, cause we initially started off Joe say, which I was like, why the fuck didn't you take Flanders off number one. That was silly.
00:29:33
Speaker
I was like, number one, why didn't you take Flanders off? Uh, number two, not awesome. Going down a player. Never ever an awesome thing, but it was what it was. Um, yeah, I thought there were, I thought there was some really good pieces though. And I was like, I am loving what I'm seeing and certain was something else. Yeah. That was a piece of work right there. Good Lord. I mean, so was new me is, but damn. Yeah. Dorties was.
00:30:04
Speaker
For the Chiefs, I wonder why it took them so long to send on Wallace the TT.
00:30:11
Speaker
because he was bit between his teeth, especially for Bossier. Bossier was having a bad day. He was on Paul Williams' radar all fucking afternoon, all night. And as soon as that started happening, I've been like, you are done right now. Right. And I think that was like, I can't remember. It's been too long at this point. Was that on the mall?
00:30:35
Speaker
A couple of them. Yeah. But that yellow card. So the no, it wasn't. It was he was it was shortly after it. I feel for Bashir because it didn't look I don't think he meant to do it. The picture it painted was probably what got him there, which is sometimes what happens. And that sucks. And I can totally understand if people were fucking pissed because if I was on the other side of it, I'd be like, what the fuck? But
00:31:01
Speaker
I'm not taking advantage of a card. But at the same time, I'm kind of out on Kaitlyn. He's certainly not his brother. And it's not looking like it's going to get, certainly not this year. No. No, I don't think Wallace and GT should leave the Chiefs lineup ever again. No.
00:31:18
Speaker
No, and I'd be much, I'd be much happier with him at eight Jacobson at six and even Parker at seven. Um, then, then set up, I think, is he playing, I think any plan this weekend. Nice. Yeah. That'd be good for them. They need him. Hold on. Let me see. I should do this because I have their,
00:31:43
Speaker
Um, Finau's playing. Yeah. I was like, that's why I'm pretty sure he's going to show some on the team sheet. He's yeah. He's he's six. Yeah. Finau Jacobson at seven city T like it. Yep. That's probably the best background right there. Um, I don't think we need to talk about.
00:32:01
Speaker
anything until we get the Crusaders, but we can mention it like I watched half of Brumby's Rebels and I saw exactly where it was going. I was like, yeah, I don't know if I need to watch this no more. Nope. She's no, I think I watched the second half and I was like, yeah, OK. Did you? Yeah, because it was what it was left the five thirty a.m. game. So I I saw this. I was like, oh, look at this. This is yeah. This is this is this is happening. Three, three tries in seven minutes.
00:32:30
Speaker
Yeah, not awesome. And that, I mean, and that was with a guy in the bin. So that should tell you everything you need to know about how you do things when someone's in the bin right there. Yep. Really good. So good stuff in the rubbies and then they have cards themselves in the second half. They did. And nothing. Yeah. Uh, I mean, Moana awesome for them. They're going to, they're actually competing in the final round finally, which is great. Yeah. Um,
00:33:00
Speaker
Are they? I don't think they're out right out. There's a chance they're in. Oh, they're in. Yeah. So I'm sorry. You're saying compete. Yes. I was thinking they're in the fun. No, they're not in the playoffs, but they're competing competition for it. Yeah. They could get in. So that's good for them. Um, yeah, a little bit of help there. Even if they don't get in this season, their trajectory is obviously much better than what the word ties are at right now, where they're just kind of hanging around the bottom and.
00:33:29
Speaker
screwing around and I can't, I don't understand what the actual fuck is going on with the war ties. And you wonder why Mark, you Mark wants to jump ship. Right. Yeah. Shouldn't shock you. Not really. Yeah. I was watching this game kind of in passing and
00:33:53
Speaker
couldn't believe some of the things that I was like, how did that? Yep. Nope. Okay. Yep. I mean, wonderful play between for Moana, especially, um, I think it was a nieces maybe a second try. It might've been his first or second. I can't remember what it was. And I'm pretty sure it was both him and his brothers that touched the ball with really, which was great. I was like, that's why you play rugby right there. That is just glorious. So I, yeah, I, lots of,
00:34:22
Speaker
Praise to Moana and yeah. Coleman, if you wonder why the Huartas are, you know, letting you walk. Exhibit A. Right. Right here. This game alone. This game alone. Right there. Because there are some, and they were, they weren't bad all year. It just, it gets just the bottom dropped out. Yeah. At this point it has for sure. I would say, I would say that's a fact. All right. On to another team that hasn't quite had the bottom drop out of it.
00:34:52
Speaker
And it's actually starting to play some decent stuff because they're putting some of their better players on the field. Finally. Crusaders. Can I just say I'm very excited for Fergus Burke to come play for Saris. Yep. Well, that's why I was watching this. Crusaders are a different team with him than with the direct they've been putting out there because he's been hurt.
00:35:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like it. Yeah. Looking forward to it, please. Can we do it? He doesn't even have to change most of his training gear because it's still black and red. Yeah. This team, obviously Burke as well, but this team got more exciting to watch and started putting up points and putting up a fight the second that they started playing Hawthorne. Yeah.
00:35:51
Speaker
just get the team going a little. Yeah, Ken obviously scoot as well, which always helps. Yeah, I think people understand there are many scrum hats that make the world go round. I still think having one that can go for a scoot now and again is it should be like one that you want as a starter, or at least it should be one of your two. Name a great scrum hat that can't.
00:36:18
Speaker
Yeah, there's not many that did at least didn't did for a while if they stopped eventually.
Referee Calls and Game Critiques
00:36:23
Speaker
But I mean, you know, DuPont can do what he does right now. Right. You know, it's there's there's a lot. There's a long list of players that have been able to get around the corner when when the gaps have been left there and or run the proper support line and be able to follow the line as I did, obviously. I mean, and you look at the you look at the scrum heads that are left in the prem and
00:36:46
Speaker
the guys who are likely to start. The guys who can who can burn. I mean, Vencell, maybe not so much, but he's all right. And he'll go around the corner when he's big, but right. Corky more than war. But, you know, like if you want to play well, you need a scrum half who can be a running threat. That's the bottom line. Yeah. And Hotham has that dimension to him that.
00:37:13
Speaker
They just haven't seen from their other scum has like drama and certainly not. No, no. Drummond's a Jag. He's just yeah. He just fills a jersey. That's pretty much it. But massive loss for the blues. We can't have that when you're I know you're away. Still, this is something where like you're still playing for for one seed and
00:37:42
Speaker
You poo out. That's not helpful. Especially when you know the canes have won, because you're playing the next day. Yeah. So pressure's on, and you're just kind of like, mm. I will say, it's good to know that James Stillman sucks for every team, because that yellow card on Parafetta was extremely harsh. I thought that was a dog shit call. Parafetta's going up, gets two hands on it, and is not a position to recover it.
00:38:12
Speaker
I think I missed what the definition of that is. I can't tell what it is. I don't even know what it is anymore, really. Like, this is funny. It's like, you know, when they talk about, I don't know what a catch in football is anymore. Like, I've seen so many of these. They all look the same, called so many different ways. And, you know, it's one of those things, again, where world rugby just doesn't. They're like, yeah, here's the rule. Here's the law. It's up to the refs to interpret it. But there's no like right or wrong way. It's not like this is a right interpretation. This is the wrong interpretation. And there's no there's no framework.
00:38:41
Speaker
No, give it give it at least a framework. It doesn't have to be, you know, right? Do you know about the high tackles? Yeah. Like, you know, we talked about in the with. Fuck, who was it? Who got the red? Yeah, Irish Arnold. Oh, yes.
00:39:02
Speaker
They went through it. They're like, there's this, it's high, high degree of danger, blah, blah, blah, red. There's no question about it. There's got to be something to- Yeah. What I had with two hands wasn't a realistic position to grab that. Had he done it, he even gone the other way. Yeah, really harsh. Like I said,
00:39:28
Speaker
to just show that I'm not just dogging on him because he did dog shit against the canes, win, lose, draw against anyone. He's pretty crap. Yeah. And this game showed it for sure. So thank you very much for validating my thoughts. Good job, James Dolman. James Dolman, go fuck yourself. Um,
00:39:50
Speaker
Red's force to happen. Yeah. Oh, God. I know. Like they happened. And that is like the most like that is the kindest thing I can probably say, especially for the first one. Like, what was that? So the one fun part about this and obviously, you know, this this is like, you know, me saying to both of them all used to play fly half. Was it the Reds have had four hat tricks and super rugby and Tim Ryan has two of them like.
00:40:19
Speaker
Yep. Yep. He's got. He's been playing like he's played like five games. But I say he hasn't played many games. No, that's the fun part. Right. He has not played many games at all. I like the junkyard dog. Like Nick, I love the whole thing about it and he backs it up. So. Damn, they really needed that because, you know, Mac Greeley and Jack Campbell
00:40:48
Speaker
Okay. They're more jags. Someone like him. Oh, someone opens it up space for them. Yeah. Yeah. And gives them, gives them room to run. So it's, it only helps them. And they have a really good center combination with fluke. And by saw me as their first, first two choice guys. So I think it's good. Um, I don't mind it. One thing that one thing I noticed, and maybe it's not entirely accurate, but just in this match alone, like, I feel like Ben Donaldson is one of those guys that just loves his own boot.
00:41:18
Speaker
And that's the end. It's detrimental. And if it works, it works. But it doesn't. Yeah. Because he can be a guy who's flinging around. But I don't think. Hasn't done it recently. No. Not so much. And the time, I was like, I think it was the second pound where they were already down two tries. I was like, why the fuck are you going for gold? Get the fuck ball in the corner. Yeah. No, he played well, I guess, at home against the drill. That doesn't.
00:41:54
Speaker
That's like going from California to Europe right now. I think probably a little bit longer. That's probably a little bit longer. It's like, yeah, it's like playing, you know, hosting one of the, um, South African teams in, uh, the champions cup. Yeah. It's not fun or challenge. Oh, wait. Sorry. Gloucester. Sorry. Oh man. Sorry. Yeah. I think we can say bye bye to skivs. Yeah. I should think so. Yep. Um, that was embarrassing anyway. Yeah.
00:42:12
Speaker
Okay, cool. The longest trip into rugby right now. Doesn't exactly count.
00:42:22
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, yeah, that happened. And I will say there's the Highlanders staff is figuring out their, their formula a little bit better, which is good. There's some players that didn't belong that were out there. And now they're obviously, I mean, God, give the ball to their back three and just let them work. Yes. And they'll be fine. Um,
Women's Rugby Highlights
00:42:52
Speaker
I think, um, Phillip hang up is very good. Obviously he's very young and between him and the other kid Miller, I think they have two great, you know, first receivers that one of it's like conventionally convert to a second receiver if they want to. And, um,
00:43:09
Speaker
I think Sam Gilbert's time is running out now that they have these two kids because they seem to be more at it than he is. So I don't know what's going to happen with him. We'll see. But at the same time, they're certainly, you know, going into the year, I thought they were the worst human in New Zealand. Turns out they're the second worst. Good for them. Most people wouldn't have had on their bingo board that they were better than the Crusaders.
00:43:36
Speaker
Right Yeah, that's that's more due to the Crusaders pooping out than it is. Oh totally highlanders But still the highlanders are in their own right not not terrible there like as you said, they're sorting it out and and that's the good sign of a good team and good coaching staff ultimately, so You know kudos to them Yep, pretty good stuff Not good stuff
00:44:04
Speaker
was the crap that was laid waste to. No, there was good stuff. We're still doing good stuff. Oh, we are doing good stuff. Sorry. I got too far ahead of myself. You did. Shame on me. Yeah.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah, the PWR game of the week. Whoo. That's right. That was good stuff. Thank you. It was great stuff. Saturday's women showing the men how it's fucking done. Ain't that the truth? God damn. That was some performance from them. Absolutely fantastic. Yeah. Like, yeah, I don't even like that was this was like a real like,
00:44:46
Speaker
knockdown drag out Smash Fest with Marley Packer playing well, but certainly not Dom. I thought Dom Gloucester did a really good job of containing her. Obviously, you can only do that so much before Cleo gets herself over, so that helps. Yeah, you can't not pay attention to Poppy Cleo.
00:45:09
Speaker
Right. That's the problem. So yeah. But, you know, again, gutting it out at the end. You let them kind of get back into it, but then you held firm when you needed to. Yeah, it was.
00:45:27
Speaker
really, really good stuff from the house. I was excited to watch that thing. When that conversion went off the post, big doings. I couldn't believe it. I was like, oh boy. I was like, dong. Okay, we're in business here. Let's go. Couldn't tell if it was the hit or the full-time dong, but no, it was too early for that.
00:45:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was hard. It did. It did. She smashed that thing into it. I was like, OK, Miss Kaldwin, Kaldwin. Yeah, and they had. Man, they. I love.
00:46:12
Speaker
the options that the Saracens have in the back three between clap who saw she's ever going to be completely a complete world leader. Although she did pretty well in the Pacific for Korean grant, who we know, we know that she's about to just light the world on fire coming up here. Um, did really well in the six nations for Scotland. And then just breach is press page varies again, another one that just performed so well in the pack for, and obviously just,
00:46:40
Speaker
made everyone stand up and knows that Canada is not to be one to be fucked with. Right. Awesome. Just awesome. And then, you know, just don't forget about Sydney Gregson on the inside and then you have in the league with Zoe Harrison. So it's like, this is this is going to be good home semi secure. Nope. No worries whatsoever. And I wonder, and because I saw the interview with Osterbury,
00:47:07
Speaker
And he's probably inclined to give some girls from us this week. So when we do P W R picks, keep that in mind friends. Um, there'll probably be some names that are on the sheet that we're, that we see from this weekend that will be in there next week, but there will definitely be like, I don't know if Zoe Harrison is going to play 10. It'll be someone else probably, um, so on and so forth. Um, might be McDougal and play that place 10. Um, but yeah, good stuff. And.
00:47:38
Speaker
not taking away anything away from Gloucester Harper. He like totally shit that team was hard. Like there's a reason that Saracen celebrated as much as they did when they beat him because that isn't a fucking good team, really good team. You know, fricking one through 23 really. And it's just, yeah, a really, really great team to, to watch if you're not, if you're not, if you're not a fan of the opponent, you know, Sarah Beckett was just a monster. What else is new there? Like,
00:48:07
Speaker
I really have just a love for Mohan too. She's a solid leader on top of the fact that she's just such a wonderful player as well. And again, talk about back threes. We're talking about Pip Hendy.
00:48:24
Speaker
Venner and sing and you know, they can throw a few other girls in there. It's just like, uh, shut up. Yeah. Did Alex Matthews got up? Yeah, she did. No, she didn't. She did not. No, it was Sarah Beckett who got over. Yeah. That was a hell of a joke. That was it. No, I don't know what happened with that exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So girls are going to play back at the Stonex in a few weeks time and they get to
00:48:49
Speaker
lick some wounds that might be that night might need licking and others that maybe need to bang some rest off or at least stay sharp.
Personal Connections and Team Discipline
00:48:56
Speaker
They'll send them out to Loughborough this weekend and see what happens. And then the, and then the dog shit didn't want to, for whatever reason, I felt like rushing into this. I don't know why. Cause you just want to get over earlier. We got to it earlier. Like a bandaid. Wait, no way. What's up.
00:49:19
Speaker
The one assistant referees. I go back and watch this. I feel like I know him. Huh? I think I played rugby with him at Maine. Huh? Son of a bitch in the in the free. I can't imagine that there's many people that name Tom Champa out there. Probably not spelling it like that. CIA, MPA son of a bitch. What the fuck's he doing down Miami?
00:49:42
Speaker
I will say he tried to be a referee when he was at Maine and he was pretty crap. Well, so he's had a lot of quality. Hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. He meets their standard. That's for sure. OK, so here's my problem at this point now. I don't care anymore that the refs are dog shit. I'm I'm over it. They're dog shit. I just I don't I'm at this point, I'm mad at the free jacks for just being so goddamn
00:50:11
Speaker
ill-disciplined in all respects. Like they're, they're living, you know, it was one thing they used to in the last couple of years be a quick strike team. Now it's the other team has to make a mistake and yeah, they'll, they'll, they'll, they are quick strike team, but it's more of like a, they'll pick it off or, um, loose ball, they'll jump on it and then put it in or the team, you know, there's just a massive gap and then they run through. Yep.
00:50:40
Speaker
but there's not, they're not doing the work to get, make it happen. Like it's not like they're, they're going multi phases and then through, it's more like, Oh, they just took a shit. The other, the other team just took a shit for one phase pretty early on. And they took advantage of it. They took it in like, I'm they're too ill-disciplined. They, they keep, you know, getting, yeah, they're getting marched back at some point, fucking adjust. At some point be, don't, don't do things that the rest are pinging you for.
00:51:09
Speaker
Yeah, it does come point. And I think it's at that point, you know, and I, I still am reasonably happy with Matthew, but I'm starting to think if it wasn't so much, you know, now that we're seeing more, you know, last year wasn't exactly his team, right? It was, he was, he was new. So he was kind of, you know, a mix up. He's not a bad coach because he could keep him going, keep them and let him go and they won.
00:51:37
Speaker
But now that it's really becoming his team. Yeah, this is his third year now. Yeah. So it's the more his fingerprints get on it, they're honestly the worst they're playing. And they've got some good players. I like Senate Baker a lot. I'm really glad we have it. I do too. But even Patras is looking. Oh, he's being asked to do a lot. So I'm going to take it easy on Patras. He's really asked to do.
00:52:07
Speaker
Right, this season has to do way more than we did last season because of just the way the team's playing. It's not very good. No, but I mean, that's kind of...
00:52:18
Speaker
I feel, eh, I'm not sure I agree with that. Cause they still have the same, most mostly they have the same guys in the back line and he's just not getting the ball where it needs to be. His performances are very Damien McKenzie esque where he's kind of guessing a lot and the ball's not for any, you know, and look, it helps there, you know, hurts his cause that John Poland's not there. So we have to factor that in. They don't have the best nine in the league anymore. And that's, so he's not getting the greatest service. Um, they're still, for some reason starting Kyle.
00:52:48
Speaker
Um, not helpful, not helpful. Cause he's again, another guy who just is a knucklehead and gets, um, gets penalized stupid penalties, like get lazy penalties. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Which are, you know, going in from the side when you didn't want to get your ass back around, um, you know, falling on your face in a scrum flopping on the ball because you just couldn't keep your feet, all that shit. Right. Yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
And actually that's the other to me. The other thing is like that last try, um, that Miami scored. If you go back and look, it was a free Jax player just dropped. Like there was a Miami sharks player on the deck and he just flops onto him for no reason. He's like, Oh, I'm going to fall. And then the, the, whoever it was that the guys scored, it was just like, well, okay, that gap that you just opened up, I'm going to run through it. And there was nobody there. No joke.
00:53:40
Speaker
And it's like why you didn't have, there was no need for you to, like, you just wanted to hit somebody. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And I think it was on the deck. So you leave your feelings. Yeah. Getting to, you know.
00:53:53
Speaker
two zoned in on something that you don't need to be zoned in on. So it's like, yeah. Why? Why? So much why? So much why? I'm not pleased right now. At some point the discipline, it's like, yes, the refs are bad, but your ill discipline is your own at this point. You know what it is. There's a point where you just have to be like, yeah, guys, like the same, all that. There's also other problems and we need to fix them like now.
00:54:22
Speaker
Otherwise we, yeah, we're gonna be fucking watching things from home. And I would really like to not do that. Not about you. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it. I'm like, that's the thing. I'm not looking forward to the game anymore. Yeah. Like coming up on Sunday, I'm like, we'll go, but I'm not going to go with the same. I'm no longer expecting, it's not like, yeah, we're going to go and crush them. I don't know.
00:54:50
Speaker
I'm hoping to see the expectations are not as high as we, as we once were, obviously. This is not like, there's not a team that looks. Repeatish. And at this point they don't even, you know, they're, are they the best team in the East? I still think so. Talent wise on paper, they're the best in the league, but the way they're playing, I don't know. They're not that good.
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, not look not looking as as much as much. So I think a lot of people have been watching would agree as well. Yeah. So I think we're totally out of left field by any means. Sad. I missed the wheelbarrow.
Team Signings and Future Teasers
00:55:29
Speaker
Harry, come back. Yeah, please. Although I liked Toby Fricker. I like
00:55:35
Speaker
Yeah, the signings that they got should help between Fricker, Lennon, and it's the new one, the North Harbor boy. Yeah, Toby Fricker's a good get. It's a very good get. I didn't realize he was US eligible. Jed Melvin. That's the name.
00:55:58
Speaker
So yeah, they got some, they got some cover where they really needed it. They needed a scrum half. Um, yeah, sorry. Having Holden younger. That's your second nine is not that helpful. It's not working. Um, Nope. Uh, they needed some, some back row cover.
00:56:13
Speaker
And, um, need some wide backs cover here, especially, we need to find someone else to be able to rotate in because Reese needs to stay healthy. We need to be able to not have to use him the whole fucking, you know, 80 minutes, especially with his shoulder and his knee kind of bump, bump, bugging him now. Not awesome. Anyway. All right. That's that. That is that.
00:56:42
Speaker
We're going to go over to fancy corner land. And if we're going to see you over there, see you there. If not, enjoy the premise on my father's weekend and we'll catch you guys next week. Thanks a lot, everyone. Later. Cheers. This has been the fantasy podcast.
00:57:08
Speaker
If you'd like to ask a question or leave us general feedback, email us at fantasyrugbypodcastatgmail.com. Too far, you guy, by the way. Yeah, exactly. The ticky tackiness kind of absolutely pisses me off. Be sure you check out our Patreon at patreon.com slash the fantasyrugby. Yeah.