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Season 3- Episode 21- The Ride Has Come Home (Champions Cup Round of 16 & Super Rugby Round 7)
34 Plays5 years ago
It is those American rugby knuckleheads that you sometimes hate, but secretly love. On this episode we dive into who in the world is going to take Sam Cane's 7 shirt now that he is likely done for the majority of the season, if not all of it. We take a dip into the 6 Nations this past weekend and how good the two big winners were on the weekend, plus the Cleals. We have a look at what the Highlanders did to put in their performance of the season thus far and how the Blues got back on track. Of course, we have a jaunt around Europe in the Champions Cup Round of 16 with all the action that came with that, there wasn't a lack of it, that's for sure. Plus, how viable is it really to stick with a Round of 16 going forward? All this, a Champi-Yanks League look in and yes, Start or Sit for both Super Rugby & Champions Cup this coming week.
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. 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 Rugby Events
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody. Welcome back. This is the fancy rugby game. My name is Jared. I'm Ben. Let's go. Uh, lots to talk about. But, uh, thankfully there's going to be a little relief on the back end of this episode for Ben and I, cause we don't have to do so much. Start sit. We had that chopped almost literally in half. So that was, that was good. That's, that's, that's like the nice short, that's like a shortest one. We'll have that and like when the semi-final and final come for champions, right? Be on it.
00:00:35
Speaker
be about it until we get to the end of the prem and then that's just TRM. That's just TRM and super rugby at that point too. So yeah. And we'll see what that looks like. Cause yeah, I don't know what we'll have for finals and stuff like that for super ready. I haven't looked at the calendar that closely yet.
Podcast Engagement and Listener Insights
00:00:52
Speaker
Got another scaredy voice. That's a lot. That's a lot of work. I don't know either. I'm not. Nope. Nope. All right. Let's drink beer.
00:01:02
Speaker
Find us on your favorite podcast app as always. Download rate review, all that good stuff. And obviously just let us know where you found us. We like to know those things cause it's just.
00:01:18
Speaker
We're curious of nothing else. Yeah. Cause sometimes a listener pops up out of nowhere and you're like, well, okay. And you see like they'll download. What intrigued. Yeah. Yeah. I do want to have a conversation with those people that are just like download all Mike. Are you nuts? I don't think you need to hear about rugby that happened a year and a half ago. No, you probably don't. You probably don't.
00:01:40
Speaker
unless you really want to, you know, reminisce about certain things, certain things. Hey, yeah, that is true. Yeah. Right.
Fantasy Rugby Tips and TRM Upgrades
00:01:51
Speaker
By our friend Georgia coffee, the fancy rugby geek.
00:01:54
Speaker
Uh, we got crucial, crucial times coming up this weekend with semi-finals starting. So, uh, you're going to want all the help you can possibly get. So, but go look at George, buy him a coffee and also he's got the good stuff for the women's fantasy six nations. So, um, very successful first weekend for that. Yeah. It was amazing. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Um,
00:02:19
Speaker
TRM upgrades, you're going to want them when we come back because we're going to be full throttle all the way to the, just about to the finish line. They'll be interrupted slightly by semi-final and final of the current competition we're in, but, um, get them, get them and support the restart rugby. And so that's all I got to say about that. Um, black lives matter has always
Social Issues in Rugby: BLM and Trans Rights
00:02:39
Speaker
with us. Um, it's, um,
00:02:42
Speaker
It's just, we obviously, you know, what we highlighted last week was the trial of Chauvin. And now it's seems like everybody's just got their own goddamn opinion now. Yeah. It is interesting, though, to see that cops are testifying against him.
00:03:02
Speaker
So that's maybe it was a shit bag. I mean, really, it was a shit bag. But, you know, yeah, it's not this wasn't his first kill, too. So I think I think people like that are just sick of it. And they know, you know, this is yeah, he's he's they're going to convict him. They have to otherwise.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's gonna be a problem. Nobody's gonna believe in the system if you don't do it. So I think this may be a turnaround. Let's hope that's where I'm going with it. Maybe it'll get better from here. Maybe this time. That's the best we can ask for, right? Maybe this time it works. We don't have to do this again.
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah. And then obviously same way we, you know, just because we say black lives, we, we talk about trans lives and all that stuff. England had a little, little step food that they were stupid enough to
Player Inclusion and Rugby Policies Critique
00:03:49
Speaker
try. Like, Oh, these people, these people at this height or this way are a danger. I'm sorry. Um, why are they a danger all of a sudden when other, there are other players that weigh the exact weight and height already playing. Exactly. That doesn't make sense. That makes zero sense. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who it is. It does not.
00:04:08
Speaker
It's funny, my wife, who played back her whole career, for the most part, every so often, she spotted an interflank in a pinch. But she looked at their qualifications. She's like, that's me. She's like, that was me when I was playing. She's 5'7". And it was a height. It's like 5'7". Why is it a height? I don't get it.
00:04:30
Speaker
Most of your locks are going to be at least that tall. Like, what the fuck? That makes zero sense. Like, yeah, you're going to have like, it doesn't make sense. Oh, how stupid are you? Yeah. You fucked up England. End of story.
Player Highlights and Team Impacts
00:04:44
Speaker
Shocker the day the RFP watches another one. Wow.
00:04:48
Speaker
to the insensitivity and not thinking things through. Yeah, they're never good at that, right? Yeah. God damn it. All right. To the good to the good news. Nick Tompkins coming home. Dragon season is virtually over. They're going to do the that exhibition cup. But you know what, he probably he probably wants to play some competitive rugby and not to say that that competition people aren't going to try but
00:05:15
Speaker
I think it's just, yeah, they're like, we don't need, they don't need them. So they don't need them. Wales, they're, um, they probably don't want to keep them on the books either. Right. So that's true too. Um, it is a cost saving maneuver and a little bit. Um, yeah, so good. The saris will have him back and that'll, that should help, uh, post with that midfield a little bit.
00:05:36
Speaker
I would say, yeah, I'd say I would look forward to seeing him at 13 at some point here. And he'll be alongside either Duncan Taylor or Sloan or even Don Morris at some point here. So that'll be good news for them. So we had an unfortunate bit of news drop for the All Blacks captain, Sam Kane. He's done for probably the summer. So it means he's probably out of the rugby championship, which will be happening later on.
00:06:05
Speaker
So I mean, and the question was already being asked, can somebody take his shirt even if he's the captain? Well, somebody's going to get a chance to now. Right. It's going to happen. So I, you know, I would if I'm, you know, New Zealand, I would think about, you know, my future. So I as much as, you know, there are some experienced people who could get some of that. But
00:06:32
Speaker
I think I'd like to throw R.D. Sevilla there. He's all over the place. And that's what you want from your seven. So I know that might not be a traditional position for him, but fuck, I'd throw him there. Well, that's where he started before, you know, shifted back to eight. So that wouldn't be a new position for him. A lot of people are tapping Dalton publicly as the possible replacement there. Absolutely another fantastic option.
00:06:59
Speaker
Um, the only reason that I'd go, um, Sevilla is that I'd want to, um, get to two, two, some runs at eight too, but fuck Papa Lee's. Yeah. Excellent. Maybe I put him there and already to six. That's a good possibility. I'd say that's a good possibility. You'll see that. And you know, you could have somebody like you were coming off the bench. Like, Oh, that would be terrible. Cause I was like, yeah, I wasn't even really, I mean, when I was looking this up or looking at the agenda, I was like,
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, Papali's been good, no doubt. I'm like, am I ready to throw him in there? I'm like, I really would like Yawani. Oh, he'll get run, don't worry about that. And Satutu, but it's like, wait, you can get all of that and more.
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah, I would say six, seven, eight, 20 involves those four players more than likely. So we'll see. And then, you know, they'll have a good problem at that point. If, you know, they find another in form seven, they'll find a spot for Kane to play on the field. That's something they'll do because that's something they always did. And that's just how they work.
00:08:08
Speaker
All right. Uh, let's go to the kickoff of the six nations from this past weekend.
Six Nations Analysis and Strategies
00:08:13
Speaker
Um, we did get to bet. I got to watch England and Scotland. Um, Ben, you watch well, France and Wales as well. Um, yeah, I mean, it was clear both for in both matches really, but you know, for me in Scotland it's there's, you know, there's a lack of certain professionalism, which is not their fault. Um, it's just how it is.
00:08:34
Speaker
Right. It's the mirror image. Well, not mirror. It is just the same image. France, Wales. The lack of professionalism was apparent in, you know, the like.
00:08:48
Speaker
Like there's no, and it's interesting because it's like the speed is no different. The physicality is no different. It's just execution was the problem. Supremely a problem. Even the shapes were pretty decent. Like it just wasn't, you know, the passes weren't there. It's such a higher speed to play at at that level. And it was clear that some players were used to it and some players weren't ready for it. And it's not that they won't be, but they need development.
00:09:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. We saw the Cleo twins score each for England. I was like, oh, that's a good day for the family. Not bad. I'm a yellow card on the day too. God damn it, Poppy. What you doing? I was like, no, don't get hurt. Shit. That was the end. Oh, man. There was a lot of good stuff that England did and it was not.
00:09:39
Speaker
you could see the rest was on both teams for sure. But England just have the class just a class above. And that's just how that that turns out. And that in that match, and obviously that turns into a shitload of points. So say love me. But it's, it's not lack of effort for Scotland, although I think their captain looked like she was down for the count Malcolm. That's not good.
00:10:01
Speaker
I was like, oh, that's a knee in a brace. And that's generally a bad thing. I was like, that's not good at all. Not good. But yeah, I mean, they did play well at times. It's just frustrating to not see, you know, to not see it, you know, help on the scoreboard at all. No, fortunately. No. Yep. It's too bad. And then France, well, as you said, very similar. We had a hat trick in the first, what, 15, 20 minutes.
00:10:28
Speaker
Yeah. And Bujard wasn't even the...
00:10:33
Speaker
player of the match. She had three or four tries and someone else had two and yet it was like an inside center who didn't score but made a ridiculous amount of tackles, I guess was player of the mesh. So yeah, kind of weird to see it that way. Did French TV pick that one? Yeah. Maybe that's the answer. There you go. How French.
00:11:01
Speaker
I think it was Joyce, the announcers even noticed that basically every set piece that Wales were like just trying to give it to Joyce, their winger, not Joe Joyce's sister. Good try.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah. I think I can't recall her first name. Yeah. Cause it's Jazzy choice. Um, they were just like fighting, trying to get her the ball and France was like, okay, well we'll just mark her and then you're not going to do anything. And that's the lack of professionalism. Cause it's lack of trust in one to 15. It's, you know, when you're not a professional style team, you find like one or two people to rely on or, you know, if you're lucky more, but right.
00:11:43
Speaker
And, and whales are like, okay, we have our one player that we're going to rely on and. Okay. A professional team is going to key on that and shut down. Absolutely. That's it. I mean, they did place, they had some reasonably good place. Same, you know, same as before, as I said, for Scotland, it's just not 100% yet.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and hopefully with TV deals coming through and especially in the preparing 15s, that'll be awesome. And that'll, that'll help that professionalism. Cause they do both Scotland and Wales do have players playing in said league. So that'll, that'll certainly help that out a little bit. And I think, I know there's a shitload of Bristolians on, on, on Wales. It's funny. Um, Hey, whatever works, man. It's good for continuity if nothing else. Um, so there, there is that, uh,
00:12:29
Speaker
So the French get the weekend off along with the Scottish, Italy are going to be hosting England and then Wales are going to be hosting Ireland. Yeah, that should be a good one actually. I was just thinking about that. So I think we learned in the fantasy game on this one, maximize your French and your English players when they're playing and just hope you have the right ones because really
00:12:51
Speaker
It's the win bonus. That helps. Absolutely. That absolutely helps. But really you look at from the other two teams, there were only one or two that cracked above 10. And it's really unfortunate. One was, I believe it was Hannah Smith for Scotland, along with Helen Nelson for Scotland, and then for Wales. I'm trying to remember who it was.
00:13:15
Speaker
Uh, let me look. Oh, it was a little crap. Uh, I didn't know that Sue on little crap. That's a frigging Welsh name. And she actually, nope, she was their top score, but she didn't even get 10. She got 6.9. So really you're keying on, you know, the best.
00:13:31
Speaker
England, French players you can get and then in a match like what's coming up this weekend with Wales and Ireland, you can probably lean on them a little bit more because they'll score much better. This weekend, France isn't an option. So all you need to do is you have five from England, five from Wales, five from Ireland. There's, there it is. Cause, cause Wales, Ireland, it shouldn't be a blowout. England, Italy will. So it'll get all those points. And then, so yeah, so you just, um,
00:14:00
Speaker
Right, so figure out from there where you think you should go with your whales in Ireland and you have no Italy because they'll all be negative. Correct. Yeah, I believe Italy is going to, unfortunately, just be the whipping buoy, the whipping guttles in this case. And then it smoked. So that's going to end. So don't play any Italy players. Go get Ireland. Make sure you hang on to your England players. If you have to make a change, make a change. And then, yeah, play your Ireland.
00:14:30
Speaker
um trm where you only get a certain amount of changes per week it's just you can do the whole recycle if you want yeah you can change out one to 15 if you want yep absolutely
00:14:43
Speaker
All right, let's let's go back to down under Crusaders and Highlanders. What the holy hell have all the Highlanders been eating? Good Lord. That is right. Here's the problem. I believe and I can't prove it, but I believe that they switched jerseys before the match because the Highlanders played Crusaders ball. They played very well. I mean, they.
00:15:08
Speaker
They, you know, it's funny, because there's, you look at their set piece, you look at their set piece, there's not a lot of all blacks in their forward pack. And that is something that Crusaders just eat you alive on their set piece all day long. And they held their own to a tee. That was a beautiful display by by the Highlanders crew. That was very, very good stuff. So that was amazing. I was like, Whoa, where did these guys come from? And then outside of the set piece that the Highlanders just
00:15:36
Speaker
like they exceeded meters. They're like, okay, look, if you're going to run on us, fine, but we're not going to, we're going to make the tackle on this phase. And they just made the tackle, made the tackle until it was time to go for the turnover ball. And boom, there was their ball. Like they're extremely patient and disciplined on defense. Yeah. I think even Robertson said after the game, he's like, he's like,
00:15:59
Speaker
He was pissed, but he's like, what are you going to do? They, they, like everything they, they play, they did all these good things. By the way, I love this new, this ESPN coverage thing that we have because all the post-game stuff, like they, they stay for fucking like an hour just talking about it.
00:16:17
Speaker
I love it. That is something I would just crave. That is definitely something I would crave if I was here. I crave something like that. So like to that extent, obviously that's not going to happen for a long time here. But man, that is something I just absolutely crave. I was like, I will watch this whole thing. I don't. I mean, I, you know, I was watching a little bit during my workday and so, you know, some of it I'm watching more closely than others.
00:16:41
Speaker
But like, I kind of, you know, I wasn't paying attention to the end of the match because it was, I think it was this one that I was like, yeah, this is, this is over. It's amazing, but it's over. And then next thing I know it's like an hour later and or something like that. It's like a half hour later I've been doing work. I look up and I'm like, they're still doing post game. Sorry to digress from the match, but all the interviews afterwards. Yeah. They, they're, um,
00:17:06
Speaker
I mean, the, the, the kicking just to take the points. They played like a test match. The Highlanders did. Yeah. They didn't want to lose this one after the other week. So yeah. Cause I mean, after, you know, a one man show beat them, I'm sure they were, they were read the riot act.
00:17:22
Speaker
And you really hope, you know, you should be happy, you know, be happy you're not playing the Crusaders this coming week, right? About that. One more thing about this and we'll move on. Mitch Hunt possibly working his way in as another 10 option for a certain black shirt.
00:17:43
Speaker
Possibly. He's been very, very good. He's definitely been the guy putting his hand up for the Highlanders. So, you know, along with he and like the likes of obviously Smith, Frisell is the other one that I would think of as well.
Champions Cup Highlights and Match Previews
00:17:56
Speaker
But Frisell is Frisell. So we'll see. Another option for six for the... Yeah, because that's what they need.
00:18:05
Speaker
We talked about the seven and we involved a lot of their back row, but didn't even talk about Frisell. Frisell, who's definitely worthy of the shirt. It was not disrespectful to him. There's a lot there. There's a plethora of goodies there. Over to Auckland.
00:18:27
Speaker
Decent fight from the hurricanes kind of had a feeling this was going to come. I'm so done with open ledger. Good Lord. He is bad. Um, he's Rafi out there. Yeah. He's very Rafi out there in a lot of ways. Um, I was very unsatisfied with the decision to Ben and penalty try already survey. I don't know what the hell the referees were looking at and why that didn't get changed, but that was yeah. 100% an incorrect call. Yeah. I don't think he pulled it down. Um,
00:18:55
Speaker
No, his own guy, the swam through and he got he got he came through the middle. And then the guy that took it down was the second row that came in and tried to knock it down to get it over the line. Right. Was not already. Yeah, that was an attempt to dive over. That was an attempt to dive over the line that came up short. But yeah, I.
00:19:15
Speaker
Unsatisfactory from everybody. Williams, Pickerel, O'Keeffe, all of you, you suck. Yeah, that's the truth. That's, yeah. O'Keeffe. Yeah, right. I mean, we obviously we want to speak highly of the likes on the blue side. They did have some really good stuff that we're playing for them properly. He played his brains out, which is not unusual for him. Played well.
00:19:45
Speaker
Parafetta was able to shut me the fuck up. We saw AJ Lamb, Ben Lamb's brother.
00:19:52
Speaker
make his debut. That's, that's terrifying. Good Lord. He's got a, he's got a brother. Yeah. Cause that's exactly what the whole thing needs. You know, and you look at, um, we talk about guys that might be learning their way to a black shirt. You know, there is that third hooker spot. We know who the first two are in the all black shirts. It's Cody Taylor and Dan Coles. There's no question about that. Um, Amu was out for a while.
00:20:15
Speaker
Um, by the time we get to this, uh, TRC, will he be healthy? I don't know. That was their guy that they wanted as that sort of hooker. I will say, um, let her, to lie is putting his hand up the, the blues hooker. Um, he's definitely in, you know, James Parson was, is a blues legend and he's filling some mighty big shoes. In that case, he's doing a very good job. So I would give a shit ton of props to that dude. He's playing very well and looking like he might be in line for a black jersey come later on this summer.
00:20:45
Speaker
That'd be interesting. Yeah, right. All right. Let's come on up to the Champions Cup. So, we had one match go, oops, and go sideways a little bit. Yeah. A couple actually. Well, the one with COVID. Right. One with COVID just didn't happen. Yeah. Unfortunate.
00:21:10
Speaker
I'm not sure there's much of a wine that you can really have about it. You fucked up. So you lost. No. Yeah. Contact tracing is a thing and it works guys. I hate to tell you as much as you don't want it to be. Like you can feel, you can feel cheated out of it, but you cheated yourself. So.
00:21:28
Speaker
Um, before we get into it, I know, I know there was, there's, there's been banging out of the drawer, um, about, you know, putting, making this the, the around the 16 of thing. I'll tell you this much last year, if we had around 16, the 16th worst best team would have been like Montpellier or Conak or something like that. So if you really want that in the knockout stages every time, okay. Like sale.
00:21:53
Speaker
are the weird one because they probably shouldn't be here, but they are. And they ended up playing, their matchup was favorable in many ways. So they got lucky with that. So I think it's, listen, it's kind, it's much like the FIFA World Cup. Same thing for, for Rosson really. I mean, you know, Scotland's 10 wasn't available. Oh wait, no, I'm sorry. He doesn't play with Edinburgh.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah, no, that was always going to be a fucking talking. Yeah, I know. So and, you know, it's much the way of FIFA wanted to expand the World Cup. And really, you're going to have some shitty matchups with that. And oh, well, we don't want, you know, these teams they were they talk. People talked about because the US and Netherlands both missed the last one. I'm like,
00:22:39
Speaker
They didn't earn it. Like, why are you just gifting it to them? That doesn't make sense. So no, I don't necessarily agree. I like the quarterfinals. I'm sorry if I'm being an old head here, but I like the quarterfinals. There's a lot to scrape and claw to get to the quarterfinal itself.
00:22:59
Speaker
This is happening only because things went really pear-shaped this year. We had some great matchups, but we also had some really bad ones. But I like the way they did it with the 16 and 16 and play on that way. It's very much tournament style.
00:23:20
Speaker
It's like, um, almost, you know, like, uh, what can am, right? Where you win one, you lose one and you go on and that's, you're, you're in the round of, well, I think, you know, it's less than that, but still same idea. I know you're around a 16, essentially 16 or 32. Yeah. Cause it's yeah, about 32 teams each year. So around a 16, there you go. Boom. And it's just, but also consider you'll have the first round match ups that are shit, but.
00:23:45
Speaker
Right. Yeah. It's always going to be. So that's just more. Is it more? Is it just more rugby for the sake of more rugby at that point? Like, you know, the best team that played this past weekend. This is a one off. This is a one off. Yeah. In the Champions Cup, you know, that it's not it's not it's not can am. Right.
00:24:05
Speaker
No, definitely not. Let's not turn it into it either. Right. So that's not this is the Champions Cup. So it's either you you kick ass or you go the fuck home. Yep. We ain't got time for you. That's how it is, man. So, yeah, yes, absolutely. You should go right to a quarterfinal round, you know, your top eight. That's that's your top eight. It's like college football. You know, people whine about, oh, I don't know about the playoffs if that's right. Dude, your nine teams, your ninth best team is going to get slaughtered by your top five. So, yeah, no.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, it doesn't. It just doesn't make sense. But we did have some good ones. Gloucester Law Rochelle. Gloucester fronted up for sure to make this one interesting. I was very impressed by the number 10 George Barton and the way he played. Fascinating. Yeah, I love it. Yeah.
00:24:50
Speaker
And we had some, yeah, and they came to play and it was clear, that was clear, you know? So I commend them heavily for that one. But La Rochelle just have so much firepower for, you know, outside of really outside of 10, like I'm not impressed with the Ohio West. But, you know, outside of that, there's a lot there to like, I'm like, little bit, I'll drink, didn't even start this match. Like, right.
00:25:17
Speaker
That's terrifying. That is terrifying. That's really terrifying. LaVonny Bhatia was just amazing. He was, he was just a fucking house. Good Lord. That man's he's so hard to tackle too. He's like, it's just so wide. It's like, that's not nice. How am I going to tackle that? No, no, you're not. You're not. No, but it was a good, it was a good performance from La Rochelle that it was well-earned and they're going to get to host a court semi-final this weekend.
00:25:46
Speaker
And then, so that wouldn't have been the second match on Friday, but we had the first one canceled. Um, to the next day, Claremont was visiting wasps. That was, that was, geez, probably the mess of the weekend. Really? You know, if not close, kind of close, but fuck fucking wasps just had a frigging break for it to give it away at the end. Yeah. They were, um,
00:26:12
Speaker
They played pretty, they played pretty well the whole match. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, they fucked up too much just right at the end there. And then here's what I don't understand. And then we texted about a little bit as it was happening. So I have proof if you, you know, anybody really wants it. The both wasps props played 80 and well, 80 plus they didn't come out. Nope.
00:26:43
Speaker
At the yellow card, when you're down to 14, and it's last play essentially. Fresh legs. Fresh legs. How do you not, but there's yeses and buts to all of it because now you're bringing on a prop who's not,
00:27:05
Speaker
Who knows if they're warmed up properly at that point, because they've probably been sitting, you know, been like, OK, you're probably not playing for, you know, 10 minutes or so. Now, all of a sudden, you're going to have to, you know, get them warmed up and, you know, over in the match. But either way, they should have been in at that by that point. So it was all and allo. And I would have been OK with either one of them coming on. They've got plenty to offer. So because it was it was Brooks and West who were who were on Harris Harris Harris and Brooks. Right. West was a home.
00:27:36
Speaker
those guys were blown out. Like you could see them making tackles and just taken forever to get up. And then it's like, you're on the, you're on, you're on the line. Like you don't have to be like, and you have to get back up and you have to keep fighting. Yeah. And I'm not saying that's what, you know, that didn't change the outcome, but maybe it did. So yeah. It's a little, it's a tiny decision that gets it right. You know, that you have to get right.
00:28:01
Speaker
We did see the return of Paolo Odagu and he's in style. He is. Yeah, he's quite good. Oh, and so here's the question though that we did raise. What would wasps look like if they actually had a 12, like a serious 12? Somebody not Jimmy.
00:28:27
Speaker
Not Jimmy, but like, yeah, even if, even if Jimmy was Jimmy of like two years ago, Jimmy, I'm talking about like, you know, like an Ollie Lawrence type, some, you know, an actual like threat. Cause you saw Le Bourgeois on that, the first try, put a shoulder down and really smash low Lopez and then just pop it inside to a dog woo for the try. Like.
00:28:51
Speaker
He did that every time. Normally, Le Bourgeois is on his ass. So that doesn't really help. And that just made me think because Fekitoa also has been running.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. And running well with ball in hand. So it's like, wait, maybe it's just the fact that he doesn't have really anybody, a threat inside of him that's making him look less effective. And it's like, man, they really are. And Kiberigy and oh, it was his card. I think I maybe have said it was right at the end. Yeah. Yeah. I think I may have said it was Fekito earlier. It was Kiberigy and Bassett. Fuck. They're fucking excellent.
00:29:28
Speaker
Um, and, and even, um, Minazzi other, you know, we won't talk about the fact that he knocked it on everything, everything up to them. Amazing. Um, yeah, I just wonder what wasps would be if they actually had a real, real 12.
00:29:44
Speaker
Right. I think, I think it would be maybe light years ahead of where they were. And that's just how it's at. Um, the Claremont team does have a 12 and a 13, a pretty good 13 at that when George Moala, he was unstoppable. He was almost unstoppable. He was just carrying people with him every time he touched the ball. That was ridiculous. Um, so this Claremont team will be something, it'll be something fun to watch. Come on, come this weekend here.
00:30:11
Speaker
But then Johnson over to over the sea to Tomin Park. This would have been normally a very rowdy Tomin Park. And it's really unfortunate that we don't have the fans right now, because I can imagine what atmosphere this would have been. This would have been one of those hair raising, you know, wood drawing experiences for sure. Because Toulouse were in town and that was just whoo. Yeah, that would have been in, you know, as tight of a game as it was.
00:30:39
Speaker
as well. So this was what you want in a Champions Cup match for sure.
00:30:49
Speaker
No question. It really was. And I'm glad that the team won that one because of the players that we get to see move on. Agreed. It's nothing against, you know, the losers. It's because they have some good players too. I mean, fuck, Coombs and Earl, fuck. Play it off. Like, just play it off. Play it amazing. And I'd love to see him. Deal and play.
00:31:13
Speaker
But no, I want to see DuPont and Intimac. I want to watch them play rugby forever because it's just fucking amazing. They're fun watches for sure. It should be a cheat code to start both Rory and Richie Arnold in the same second row. Yes, that too.
00:31:35
Speaker
I was like, what? That's not nice. Come on, man. I would not be, I would not be happy about that. I'd be like, Oh, fuck me. Really? No, that would not please me at all. Um, really good stuff from, from both teams. Uh, the seed that it wasn't really a seed, but it was a, it was a very good pass to put rolls away from Murray. I believe it was the first try. Maybe there was a second try. Excuse me. Deal on. They got, got the.
00:32:02
Speaker
was the system the first try. So, you know, to say Munster didn't show up is wrong. Yeah, they played. They played well.
00:32:10
Speaker
You know, and then, but to lose just played or a monster just played to lose with into Mac and, and DuPont both in full form. Yeah. And you know, that's just not, that's not going to work out well for you. And then it's poorly held for a lot of people that it's nothing to be ashamed about DuPont. Some other players too. It's not just them. It's just like, indeed they do. There's no doubt about that. You have to deal with them. And then once you're, you know,
00:32:36
Speaker
Once you're past that, oh yeah, there's still Marshawn, you know, no big deal. And Julian Marshawn and, you know, Peter Aki played pretty well this game and just, you know, yeah, there's not a lot of room to hide. No. And so much for this team being depowered. That looked pretty fucking good.
00:32:52
Speaker
you know i think i'm sure homes at 10 was or at 13 was probably not their most ideal situation but i mean it worked out fine worked out fine so i'm sure that he didn't lose that's all that matter it didn't kill him it hurt but didn't kill him nope um and then
00:33:09
Speaker
Back across the C2, Devin to Exeter and Leon. Leon just kind of poked the bear a little bit at the beginning. Just like, hey, hey, look at that. See what it did? See what it did? And then Exeter woke up and that was the oh, yeah. All right. That's what we're going to do. It's going to be that kind of party.
00:33:27
Speaker
Oh man. I was like, Oh no, this is going to end poorly. Isn't it? Like as soon as Exeter started to find their feet, I was like, this is not good. Like Leon needed to just be on top of them the whole game or they didn't. And that was not good.
00:33:39
Speaker
I love how you're, you were at the, uh, I think in the message board and you're talking about how much you hate Dave. You that they revolve their offense around Dave viewers at six. And then he scores the try. Exactly. And caveman scored, scored like a minute later. I mean, it wasn't anything special as a fall over special, but right. But that's, that's where he, that's where he lives. That's, that's his house. That's what he, that's what built his house. Probably try like that with nobody.
00:34:06
Speaker
I mean, it wasn't, yeah, I mean, it wasn't anything special. Let's be real about this. Right. The, um, but yeah, the Exeter machine turned on and that was the, that was bad news for Leon. It really was.
00:34:17
Speaker
And it's just, you look at the two lineups and not to say Leon don't have some really good players. They have some fantastic players, but man, Exeter's lineup, this was their full noise team. And this is just not good for anybody at all. Hell with two, you know, just a clarity. He was underrated. Davada was obviously in a mood, so.
00:34:40
Speaker
and woodburn. But yeah, the wings were rampant for Exeter. Both flarity and woodburn were threatening fairly often, but both ended up scoring.
00:34:57
Speaker
I mean, Baxter was so confident that he had this in the bag. He pulled Simmons at 60. Yeah. Harvey Skinner. I think I was. And then he pulls all of it for Ian Whitten. No, for the other one. For the other one, he got pulled too. Oh, who got pulled? Sam got pulled at 61. Oh, that's right. There was. Yeah, there was. Yeah. Joe got pulled at 66. Shit. So he felt like he had it in the bag. I just forgot that they pulled Sam. Now I remember him coming up and being like, what the fuck?
00:35:26
Speaker
It's like, what do you mean there's still 20 minutes left in the game? Yeah. Nope. Didn't, didn't matter. Um, I think I've sat in, he has, when was the last time he sat and watched 20 minutes of rugby? I don't know. I do not know. Um, did he, did anybody, they didn't, they scored at the very end curtain scored and that was it. The, the, the, so, you know, the, the, the muscle try and that was it though. Really? They had the two early's and yeah.
00:35:52
Speaker
Yep. So Exeter, Exeter get to continue to defend. And then we go to Sunday, which was not nearly to the same entertainment level. Um, I had a lot of fonts. It was just all Rossing all day long, you know, mesh did everything he could. And you know, the likes of other play the, there are other, you know, high end players, but man, that there's only so much you can do when you have a team like Ross that just play the way they play.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah. That's that same thing where, you know, the, the, the champions cup, you know, eight versus, you know, 16, um, Rossinger in the eight and Edinburgh are.
00:36:32
Speaker
Definitely below. Yeah. So no question. Right. And then Rossinger comfortably within the eight. So and and burr top three. So yeah, it's not that this is that that talking that you're just going to have to expect because the way it goes. Yeah. And freaking Jordan Joseph like
00:36:55
Speaker
just turning out players one at a time as the U20s are over in France. Like what the fuck? Like I, if there's a system to be jealous of right now, it is definitely the French U20 system. Cause that is just like, it's just turning out players. Well, the England U20 system is turning out players. They're just not turning. They're not, they're not getting native to the national team. One of them did win a
00:37:19
Speaker
an international game at Twickenham recently, but he was playing for Scotland. Right. Eddie. Anyway. About that. But yeah, about that. But yeah, Joseph was just a problem. Yeah, I can't. I cannot wait to see more of him, too. Yeah, that'll be fun. He had not been on my radar until this match. Same. We don't get to see pro 14. Yeah, I know. We don't get to see the top 14 over here. It sucks. Oh, yeah. Top 14. Yeah.
00:37:49
Speaker
Bullshit like that. So it's nice to see him on this.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah. It's fun to watch. It's fun to watch guys like that for sure. Yeah. Um, please. Yeah. There's a, you know, there's a conversation to be had about you 20 systems and, and, uh, and the U S over here, but that's for another day, but I definitely, I definitely would be curious about exploring it, but we'll have that conversation the other day. That's a, that's a, that's a dark rabbit hole that I don't need a couple more beers for that. Yeah. I'm going to need more beers and maybe something else. Um, so let's go over a little jumped over to Sasha Bondama. Um,
00:38:23
Speaker
Yeah. Oof. This was... It hurts my feelings. It did. And it was, you know, it was a good match, but it's getting a little overcrowded by a not good decision by a referee. And that's really unfortunate. But it was a bad decision. We'll start by saying that. It was an inaccurate decision that he just didn't want to correct. I'm like, it's...
00:38:48
Speaker
It's there, like, it's there. What else do you need to see? I don't understand.
00:38:55
Speaker
Right. Like the, the hand goes, sticks, go, you know, extends to between, and you can even see that if there was a frame there, you could see the hand making contact with the ball. It was like a half finger that you could see bend. At least. And then, you know, there's, it doesn't pop out of, you know, right away. There's a couple of frames too. Like he swatted, he swatted that. His hand got between the, you know, the ball and Raja Raja.
00:39:22
Speaker
And a story. And to say that, oh, we can't really see. But either way, fuck. Either way, Bristol didn't play well enough to like, that's why I'm not even considering that so much. Bristol didn't play well this match. They had a try that they knocked on, unfortunately. Yeah. But they just like it wasn't the same Bristol team that we've seen. They weren't they weren't threatening nearly as much. And that wasn't due to Bordeaux.
00:39:52
Speaker
playing excellent defense. It was due to Bristol just not like, I mean, you can tell when they kind of retreat into a shell a little bit. And because you can tell by how angry Pat Lamb looks. And even, you know, he came down to the, he was on the sideline at half. And then I think, you know, towards the, you know, well, before half, you know, they're still playing. He was down on the side and he was that upset then.
00:40:18
Speaker
And then still even afterwards, after the game or towards the end of the game, he's looking even more upset because it's like they're just not attacking. He's like, I know, you know, having followed Lamb and knowing when he gets upset, this is usually what he's upset about when they look like this. And it's yeah, they they weren't really threatening. Not nearly enough ball. I mean, when they did put ball in play or ball in hand and keep it alive a little bit, you know, ABA.
00:40:43
Speaker
I think they looked good, but they weren't doing it nearly enough. Yeah, KBA like Ron Agara said, I love listening to that too. I mean, we had mentioned that before. I love listening to that guy. He's always a fun listen. Yeah, it was probably, it's not a knock on Bordeaux, but this Bristol team can play better and we know that.
00:41:03
Speaker
Um, but Bordeaux took their chances when they were handed to them. So credit to them and they've, they've gotten themselves over the line and they're, and they're, they're playing in a quarterfinal. Right. Right. They have great players too. I mean, jelly bear is, uh, it was amazing. He's an excellent player. Like God is an excellent player. So, um, I mean, so it's not as though I'm, you know, I'm not trying to discount Bordeaux. Um, you know, a bear supporter or so in my own, in my way, um,
00:41:33
Speaker
So yeah, I, it's, it was disappointing. So that's why, that's why I feel like it's not so much the referee decision that was just on top of it. I'm like, I, yeah. Yeah, it was frustrating. It was not their best.
00:41:47
Speaker
And then we back it up with his other fucking man. Parkey, Scarlett's in Lanelli. Like, uh, yeah, I just, Oh man, this was, this was ugly from the work. You know, Scarlett's haven't played for, uh, for a couple of weeks too. And they're just getting their whales guys back and trying to intermingle all that. It can be very difficult to say the least. So that was clear. And you know, we probably saw that a little bit with Edinburgh as well. Um,
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's not easy to get them going. And there was a lot of good things that the, that the sale sharks just took advantage of. They out muscle them for sure. Then there, and then this, this 10 that they have that people don't believe is good. If they made you believe he's good motherfuckers need to straighten up was what the fuck? What are they smoking?
00:42:36
Speaker
Do you really think that this, he's not the fastest, but he knows how to, he knows how to jig and step and make you miss. And then he doesn't, he knows he's not going to finish yet, but he looks for the people to finish it and he usually finds them. And we saw that a couple of times. Plus he got his own. He did get his own on his own. Nobody helped him to do it. There was something in there. I think there was a little, you know, gremlin running around the field somewhere, but I don't think it really affected the play.
00:43:04
Speaker
I'm not sure. I'm not, I'm not overly convinced of that. Let's put it that way. It certainly caused a distraction, biting somebody's ankle. I think that happens sometimes.
00:43:22
Speaker
Quirk scored though. Yeah, it's a nice little try. Yeah, I was. I was glad to see him. I was glad to see him. Not the other. Yeah, not the other. Yeah, I love seeing what he's got. He's definitely a darter and that's something that I like as a as a coach and look for a scrum have to do every once in a while. Make yourself a threat. So it was it was really good stuff.
00:43:48
Speaker
I mean, Marlon yard scored in this game. So, you know, it's not, I know. Yeah. And there was, that was a fairly easy one too. Not, not super easy, but he finished it without really a whole lot of question. So it was, it's, you know, it was a good performance by sale, but they took advantage of a Scarlet's team that was not together. Simple as that really, you know, right. All didn't even have a chance to fuck this match matchup.
00:44:10
Speaker
No, he didn't. It was, it didn't, it was out of his hands and that's how you, that's how you do with a French ref. That's exactly what you do with a French ref. Oh man. Okay. Um, let's go. Yeah. So we'll see what the quarter, the quarter finals bring this weekend. Should be more, should be some really good stuff. We'll, we'll pick them later. Um, yeah. Okay. Let's go to some start and the sits. Uh, we're not going to talk the, the, the
00:44:38
Speaker
Oh, duh. We do have one more item. Why the hell did I skip over that? Because I wasn't looking at that. Do you not remember going to the match? I do because I drove home. Thank you.
00:44:48
Speaker
Freejax, home opener, oh man, how much fun it was. There was a lot of hiccups going on with this match and there was a lot wrong with it as a home opener. But you know what, it was still a lot of fun. It was cool to see the fans turn out. I think for a home opener that was limited in terms of the number of people that could attend, this was a very good home opener to have.
00:45:12
Speaker
I did abstain from going because I mean, I'm glad, and I'm kind of glad I did. There was a little bit more than I would have been comfortable with there. Right. And I totally get it. Yeah. Listen, you staying home would have been better than you coming and being a poopy pants. That's all I know. Exactly. I'm not working out well for anybody. So I was always having a good time. No reason to be a poopy pants. Right. So I'll stay at home. I'll have a good time at home watching it.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah, we saw some old friends and it was really good. It was just a fun rugby environment in general. A certain teammate prop did not yell loud enough clearly, according to Ben.
Major League Rugby Results and Previews
00:45:52
Speaker
No, I couldn't hear him over the...
00:45:54
Speaker
You could hear that stupid vuvuzela though. God damn it. Yeah, you could hear that. That was audible. Somebody please take that away from that person. I don't care who it is. Just take it away. Break it in half. We don't do that here. Oh man, it was awful. But the game was great. We talked about this I think a couple of weeks ago or at least last week.
00:46:14
Speaker
Harry Boyle is probably not the greatest with his feet, but he's very good with ball in hand. Yes, he is. He's very good with ball in hand. So I was, yeah, he put the score line flatters, Utah, a little bit, 22, 21, New England. They got one right at the end. Joe Johnston was a monster. That dude was everywhere. Good luck figuring out how to get by him.
00:46:36
Speaker
And then Larson has another. I really like the way he plays. I really do. He's, you know, he takes command at the line out. He, you know, he sticks his nose in there. I really, really, I'm really glad he's our captain, honestly. You know, and then we had like a little bit knucklehead for now that was that feeds. Oh yeah, he's definitely a knucklehead.
00:46:59
Speaker
He gets to find a replacement for that. It's multiple line out penalties in a row for doing the same thing. Even after the first time the referee's like, yeah, I can't remember what the infringement was, but it was like, oh, you came into the mall offside. He entered from the side. And then it was like, okay, next line out. And I'm watching him because I'm like, okay, let's see how he does it because they're going to do it again because that's what they do.
00:47:22
Speaker
Because they mall. That's how you do it. And boom, I see him do it again. I'm like, it's gonna get him again. And sure enough, boom, there it was. And it's like, I don't maybe might not have been that one, but certainly another one before I'm sure they took him aside. Someone coaching staff was like, okay, you don't enter a mall at all. Please don't do that ever again. Don't do it again.
00:47:46
Speaker
Yeah, no kidding. Um, so yeah, the free jacks, um, you know, we, and you and I talked about this last, last season before the whole thing got put on the shelf. Um, they gave up a lot of tries first phase and you don't see it as much certainly not in these two games. We now have a barometer for how good the guilty knees are. Um,
00:48:05
Speaker
So, you know, that match doesn't bother me as much. These two matches that they played recently certainly give me hope that this is going to be a team that fights for playoff contention. Yeah, I think they are playoff contenders at this point. They just have to, you know, maintain this. And if they get, shit, who's the flanker who's still yet to show up? Ram.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And then we got Intendu coming through for the back three. Yeah, this is going to be fun. So Artie with Fife Wilson and Waka who I liked that three and Barlow is pretty good. He's definitely worthy of the sub shirt with Intendu coming through. That's going to be a pretty, really, really yummy looking back three. I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be fun with Wakanda about at 13.
00:48:55
Speaker
I like, I like a lot. I'm looking forward to, um, walk again, getting a little healthier. I don't think he's, he's certainly not a hundred percent. They're off this week. So he can, he'll get a bit of a rest. Cause he, obviously he tweaked something against the Guiltini's. That's why he missed the Houston match.
00:49:11
Speaker
Right. And then he was he was certainly limited. His boot wasn't. No, no, you knew where that was. Yeah, he found that out with him. But yeah, he's not he's not attacking exactly the same. So I'm hoping a little bit of rest gets him. And that's not to say he didn't play well. He played fucking awesome.
00:49:28
Speaker
You could hear, you could hear him barking commands. He's a leader. He's a leader in that back three. That's awesome. So really, really glad we have him. Yeah. So yeah, another scores. Um, Toronto finally got off the Schneider and beat DC, uh, in DC at that, Atlanta finally got themselves over the line as well. 41 22 over the Legion, the Legion are going home. They're going back to San Diego now, which is awesome news. So they get to go back home. Um, Austin continued Houston's, uh,
00:49:55
Speaker
Duck and blank them 26 to zip. So Houston's got some serious problems. Houston, we have a problem. Yes, I said it. So it will be interesting. There was no games on Sunday, probably because of Easter if I had to take a wild shot in the dark. Prejects are off next week as well, but there's still some good action. So download the Rugby Network. It's free. It's free. If you're out there in the universe, it's free. You can watch these games for free. So do that and enjoy.
00:50:25
Speaker
Now we can do start set. Okay. Now we can do start set. Thank you. Do you lead us or do I? Let me look. I'm not certain. Let me look. It's me. It's okay. It's me. Cause I have rebels. I have rebels force. You do. Okay. Uh, rebels and force. So force are, well, they're,
00:50:42
Speaker
now the league's team in super rugby on average. So here, here we are. Same, same spot as we were last year. Shocker of the day. Um, rebels obviously have some good options, but I'm going to throw some different ones out there as well. Uh, Stacy Ely, we've been poo poo and all over them, but force give up a ton up the middle. So if you're in a pinch, this might be your option this week. Uh, Trevor Hosea,
00:51:05
Speaker
If there's one time to grab a random lock off the bench, it's against the force, because they give up the most. So do it. And they do it, and they give up the most by quite a bit, if I remember right. And on the other side of the coin, Rebels front row, not saying it's to sit them, but this is actually a place that the force are strong. So they don't give up a ton of points, so temper expectations at the very least. It was what I would say. There's still plenty of potential there, so you're probably still going to play them.
00:51:30
Speaker
On the other side of the coin, or the field, excuse me, the force. Karunjani's at 13 this week. That should free him up a little bit. So that'll pay off big time. And Miyati gets the nod at 10. Still trying to figure out their 10. Might as well give him a whirl, because I guarantee you that you were probably in a pinch. Somebody's in a pinch and needs a 10 badly. So go ahead and play him. And then on his halfback partner, Ian Prior, find another option if he can. Doesn't score well. Rebels are tough against the halfbacks.
00:51:58
Speaker
On to the two top fantasy defenses going up against each other. Yikes. Reds, Brumbies. Yeah, that's actually my notes. The two top defenses, yikes. Approps. The Brumbies are... So when I say weak, I mean relatively weak. They're like, you know, fourth instead of first or second. Against nines and tens. The Reds are weak against the front row, loose forwards and fly off.
00:52:29
Speaker
So for the Reds, the front row is the only position that I would really expect to maintain their scoring because they're just ridiculous.
00:52:40
Speaker
I love that guy. Yeah, that guy. Ah, Frazier McRae, Tate McDermott. I love McRae. James O'Connor and Bryce Hagerty. Did you see McRae's score from this past weekend? No, I haven't. I've got to go back and watch some more stuff, but I do want to go back and watch that. Just an excellent cut.
00:53:02
Speaker
took out two guys who didn't touch him. They took, they basically took each other out. Um, I think he's in Dave Runny's recent camp squad. So, and just stepped inside for the try. Um, yeah, he was right, right on the line pretty much. And guys just got over eager. And I think one was a back who like just didn't want any of it. And he kind of ducked out of it. No, no, no, no, don't do it. And this, and then James O'Connor and Bryce Hagerty, uh, round out the, uh,
00:53:28
Speaker
the reds there. On the other side for the Brumbies, their front row, yes. Pete Samu has been yummy, and Lola Cio also. And then start the back three, but again, don't expect so much there.
00:53:43
Speaker
All right. That happens sometimes. All right. Highlanders and Chiefs over to the Atero. The last time he's two-played, we saw quite a few fireworks. You know, Islanders scored a bunch, but Chiefs scored quite their share, too. So I'm hoping for more as a somebody that's just a neutral.
00:54:02
Speaker
For the Islanders, him and O, he looked good in his first start and gambling. I'm gambling. He's back at eight this week. Chiefs aren't super strong against loose forwards. Josh Duwany should return to his lineup after serving his short ban for not using his brain. As if you haven't seen the article, the guy that wrote it's just an idiot, but basically they were having parties at Josh Duwany's place.
00:54:25
Speaker
It doesn't make them smart, but also you don't need to sit there. Like there's a billion other things to write about. You don't need to write a super long thing about that. Like, come on man, waste your time with something else.
00:54:34
Speaker
Speaking of tempering expectations for front rows, Chiefs give up the least to front rows. And Highlander's front row isn't the most amazing and most dynamic. So just keep your expectations tempered there. On the other side of the field, for the Chiefs, Chiefs front row, there's some good news for front rows. Hunter's the one of the worst to get some front rows. And Tanki Ajo at Hooker for the Chiefs makes this a super viable option the way he runs.
00:55:01
Speaker
ALB should return to form this week. Highlanders are soft up the middle and as if you weren't gonna play him anyway, it's ALB. On the other side, Trask and Gatlin, Highlanders give a police to fly half. So if you have another fly half, play them pretty much anyone else, maybe not Miyati, but that's it.
00:55:21
Speaker
Over to Kain's Crusaders, as I mentioned earlier, Crusaders are coming off a loss. It's never a good thing to play Crusaders after a loss. No, and let's also not forget the Blues were coming off of a loss when they played the Kains this past week. Yeah, once again, the Hurricanes face the team that is
00:55:43
Speaker
Angry. Pretty mad. And talented. And so I pray for them. So for the Hurricanes though, Karifi, Sevilla, the back three. And that's about it. I think I may have to start Rafi, but that sounds good. Blue candle's not bad.
00:56:03
Speaker
On the other side for the Crusaders, both the locks, you know how we don't mention locks generally, but Barrett and Whitelock should score extremely well. They usually score pretty well. And I'm pretty sure the Hurricanes are loose against locks.
00:56:18
Speaker
That's right. Mwunga, yes. And then pretty much all the back centers in the back three are full go, which we don't have the lineups yet. You'll have them when you listen to this, but we don't- Likely, yes. Very likely. All right. So starting since the week, let's start of the week.
00:56:36
Speaker
His guys are at home. They're going to be pissed after last week and he'll make it happen just because he wants to and that's how he operates. I'm currently one of the best, if not the best tens in the world. My start of the week for round eight is Super Rugby is Moblax and Crusader's first five, Ricky Mwanga. Oh, there should be no Mwanga rule for start of the week. That's cheating. I haven't picked him yet. So true. Fair enough. My start of the week is, uh,
00:57:04
Speaker
You didn't mention him when I'm kind of surprised because he actually, Oh, I guess you haven't seen the match yet. He had a pretty sweet try, uh, this, this past week. Um, and he's going up against a team. That's the leakiest against the midfield. Um, and so Reese Hodge is my starter. That dude. I like that dude.
00:57:21
Speaker
I like him a lot. Yeah. All right. Um, yeah, hopefully that's not the kids of the death. Um, okay. So, you know, that might, I might just crush my own team for that, for that Mongol one. Uh, so the week, um, this guy has been odd man out, uh, most weeks for his clubs back row in terms of fantasy scoring. I do like him, but he plays the wrong position and he's playing the wrong team this week too. So my say the week for round eight for super Ruby is red's blind side, man. Angus got young. Hmm.
00:57:50
Speaker
Um, my set of the week is somebody you might want to think about starting, um, because you need somebody to start. And in this case, you're probably best serve not cause he could probably end up negative, uh, Nick white for the Brumby's. Yeah. He just doesn't do it anymore. He doesn't really score that much. And he's going against a, um, yeah, really tough defense. Yep. Reds are not reds are no joke. Brad thorns got him clicking.
00:58:20
Speaker
Okay. Champions Cup, FRD, La Rochelle and sale. This has potential to be a black hole or lots of viable options. I don't know which one's going to be. It's really one side of the pendulum of the other likely. Very La Rochelle, Will Skelton. If you have him, he's going to be like, you should be, he should be owned.
00:58:38
Speaker
He's playing sale who gave up seven plus to Jake ball. Skelton is way better than Jake ball. So yeah, him for sure. He'll get, he'll get loose and probably find an offload possibly for a try assist. So they, um, Arthur Rettier, uh, let's do as a halfback playing on the wing apart from a player like DuPont. This is a no brainer.
00:58:58
Speaker
Got to play that. On the other side of the coin for La Rochelle, Vian Levenberg playing in that six trap. Definitely not a great play against sale. So I would bench him if you can. There's enough loose forwards out there for you to collect that you don't need to lean on him. For the Sharks.
00:59:15
Speaker
Van Rensburg, I might take a chance on him this week. Lauer showed you about plenty of the middle to Gloucester, and he's the likeliest candidate to get points for sales in midfield. DDP absolutely should be in there. Lauer showed you about 12 to Ackerman. Yeah, that's with a try, but DDP's gonna better that, and probably that's without a try. So I think that, I think you'll be fine. On the other side of it, either James, this is not where you wanna get cute and lean on a James brother for a semi-final.
00:59:43
Speaker
I think God, make a trade or something. Yuck. Well, how much you can't really trade anymore, right? It's that's that's settled. Trade with somebody that's actually well, depending on what you're playing, if you're playing champions, we actually get everybody's playing still. So right trade with somebody. Maybe I will.
01:00:05
Speaker
Oh, am I up now? Yeah, you're up, dude. Okay, cool. I wasn't sure you were done. I thought we were just riffing out. Oh, we got that. Okay. Exeter Lenster. This is basically... How do two teams put each other under siege? Is it just going to be like... I don't know how it's going to go. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting one.
01:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, tactics wise, this will be very interesting. Right. Because the thing is, both teams could just go, you know what, we're going to play wide open rugby and let's go punch that way. But it's more likely that they're going to play close to the chest and just pound it out, literally punch for punch.
01:00:51
Speaker
In that case, the exit or locks are certainly valuable Sam Simmons will still get his, his meters in the open field. Joe Simmons, well, you know, he has options in there. Devoto slay in the back three, you know, whichever.
01:01:09
Speaker
whichever style ends up playing, all those guys will end up getting some points because they, they do end up using their, their space occasionally, you know, enough to get, you know, at least a line break in a couple of meters in the pocket. So they'll get, you know, they're certainly worthy of five to six points each.
01:01:25
Speaker
at the least. So that's starter-worthy in these circumstances. On the other side, for Leinster, van der Fleer will get his points for the same reasons. Whoever's at nine, because they have options that will also go for a scoot, Henshaw low and Keenan should still get meters even with Exeter's defense the way it is.
01:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see how that goes. Alarm was due to be back this week too. And I was hoping we'll see what they named for this coming week for Leo Collin. All right, Bordeaux and Rossing, these two matchups should be fun. Hopefully they'll be fun at least. And it's all familiar opponents, so we'll see.
01:02:06
Speaker
I'm thinking this one's going to be pretty open Bordeaux Guido petty, a lock playing loose forward. He was playing seven this weekend. So I'd give that a thumbs. He got 10 against the Bristol defense. That's usually pretty tough. So thumbs up to him. Maxine Luku got two tries this last week and an open game like this. I expect this to be absolutely, you know, opportunities galore for that. So he's a go. Kane Douglas on the other side of it scored negative points in both champions cup matches. He's played them so far. That's a big old bucket of note right there.
01:02:35
Speaker
For Rossing, Antoine Guebert, he worked out fine. He got like 10 odd or something like that and that's without kicking. So that's pretty good. It seems like it seems to be Rossing's guy while Finn's on the suspension chair. So we talked about him, Jordan Joseph, yet another off the line of that France U20 machine should be fine and plenty of space to run this weekend. So I'd give him a go.
01:03:03
Speaker
on the other side of that coin shoes in all probably a popular pick not sure he's he gets like a mediocre score like six so you want to shoot for something swing for the fence guys so this is the semi-final swing swing and swing hard right don't go with the shoes I know
01:03:21
Speaker
Onto the other French quarterfinal, Clermont to lose. Yummy. Yeah. For Clermont, the lose forwards. Fritzli, Yado, yes please, they'll find points. Kamu Lopes, Moala, Penno, Matsushima,
01:03:40
Speaker
And then the other side to lose their front row will be beastly this week, as will DuPont and Timac. And LaBelle, hey, he looked excellent. You look pretty good. I would ride him if, you know, unless you have a better option, which I wouldn't imagine. I mean, you're riding the hot hand right now. There's nothing wrong with that. That was a pretty good one. All right. Start of the week.
01:04:05
Speaker
He's playing a familiar foe, and he looks to have picked up his form right back from his Six Nations performance. His team needs him, and he seems ready to rise to the challenge, waiting for him at Stadt-Marcelle-Michelin. So my start of the week for a semifinal week one of Champions Cup FRD. It's France, interludes number 10, Roman Intimac. Excellent choice. I'm also sticking with that same nation.
01:04:33
Speaker
I'm going with a similar position with the scrum half, not the out half. And I'm going to go with Maxime Machino. Not only can he play in the loose, but because with Finn out, he's been their kicker. So he'll get to those kicking points too.
01:04:52
Speaker
And so that's usually is too, I think. So that's, but yeah, he's, he was excellent last weekend. He was excellent. And so I would, yeah, that's a good pick. I like me like, uh, so the week this guy is his club's leader. No question about it. But as far as the fancy asset,
01:05:10
Speaker
That might be up for discussion at best. Yeah, really the question's been answered. He's not, not yet scored more than a point in FRD Champions Cup. So that's why my facility for semi final week one of Champions Cup, FRD is Rossing 92 Talisman and Captain Henry Chavonci.
01:05:32
Speaker
My set of the week.
Strategic Match Choices and Super Rugby Predictions
01:05:33
Speaker
It's fairly easy because of the opponent. He's he's playing against and that's Ohio West versus Sarah. No, no. Yeah, there's a whole there's a whole lot of not not like that stuff right there. I totally agree.
01:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, that even is a, if you have no other option, it's a yes, you don't have any option. If you have no other option, you don't have any option. Just don't do it, all right? Yeah, you'll get negative points and you'll be mad at yourself. Yeah. All right, let's look at...
01:06:11
Speaker
Champions League last week to round out the final round of pool play for, um, before semi-finals, uh, you were able to top Duncan. I got the best of Justin for all for nothing. Cause that was my first one in the, in this champion's cup, but oh well. Um,
01:06:26
Speaker
Anton took care of business and toppled, toppled Karakwe easily. And then without a doubt the matchup of the weekend, George took down Mark by all of four points. And it was, they were both well into the 140. So that was a great matchup leaving this week to be
01:06:42
Speaker
So we have our first championship in Sacco brackets. Yay. Anton's going to take on Duncan while you get your, to do lock horns with our old friend, George. Justin and Carrick are doing battle in the Sacco bracket, as well as myself and Mark. Over to, oh man, I am just getting housed in Super Army. I lost to Duncan by 20 and I just had no options to help fill that. That was not good. You housed Carrick or Carrick. I think you just kind of took the weekend off.
01:07:12
Speaker
It happens. Mark did beat Anton. Anton seems to be not as invincible in this one as he was, as he is in prem. And then, uh, George had a great weekend and also took down Justin, uh, who's, and who's on the cards this coming weekend. Um, Hey, you get George again. Look at that. You guys can make a side bet. Um, so we have Mark and Carrick. I get a piece of Justin again, and then we'll be Duncan and Anton and super rugby.
01:07:42
Speaker
Okay. Let's go to the pick them. And then we are eight, uh, rebels and force rebels. Yeah. Really? Is there a lot of thought applied there? Um, highlanders chiefs. Yeah. I'm going to give it to honors. I know that just put in like basically their performance of the year, but there's still, I'm going to get in chiefs are coming off of by highlanders coming off a high. So I'm going to, I'm going to go with my chiefs. Okay.
01:08:09
Speaker
Well, what can I say? Yeah. Reds and Brumbies. Mmm. Reds took the last one, I believe. So with them at all, I think I'm going to take them. I really like the Reds. So yeah, I think they're, they're my, they're my top team in, in super OVAU, but
01:08:27
Speaker
Yeah. Whether or not they are or not. I don't care. They're right. I think they're right there if they're not. They certainly are right there if they're not at the top. No doubt. Oh boy, Hurricane Crusaders. Sorry bro. Yeah, that's gonna be a tonking. I have a feeling I'm not, I'm just gonna look through my, I don't even, you know what, I'm not even gonna, I'm not even gonna care. I'm just gonna watch and
01:08:48
Speaker
pretend it's another team that's that they're playing. But yeah, when the Reds are top of the table, they're six. Oh, there you go. Yeah. So there you go. La Rochelle and sales champions cups in my final. They're in France. La Rochelle sale. I I'm gonna go with La Rochelle desire.
01:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, I don't know if sale quite have it. We saw them play a deep, a, a, a struggling in depower team, not depowered, but a team that just didn't have it together. And that's, and that was clear, you know, they're the guys that should stand up, stood up for the scarlets, but really the rest was kind of, again, Gloucester Gloucester put up a fight against LaRochelle. It's not like it was a, um, they ran away with it. The Gloucester took swings. So they played good defense. So, um,
01:09:41
Speaker
Rochelle can can get it. So yeah, I think they're going to still front up big time with this one, especially that back row. Exeter and Leinster. Leinster, they won their pro 14 the other week, and now they're feeling pretty fresh after getting the coast. Thanks to Talon. I would like to remind the listeners that Exeter have been leaky this year. You know, Leon,
01:10:10
Speaker
Like, as we said, you know, they punched him, but after, you know, they just, there was no, there wasn't much fight after that. Um, they certainly didn't play in the second half. They scored at the end, but what the fuck cares about that? Um, Leinster are, um, are a different sort. And I, you know, as we've seen with Exeter in the, in the parameters, there's, they can be had. So, and with no crowd, I think that, that plays a lot into it. That changes.
01:10:39
Speaker
A lot of things for levels in a way team. Yep. So I think Leinster, I think Leinster take it. I think there are other team. I'm going to back the boys in blue as well. Assuming they're not, they probably won't be wearing blue. They're probably wearing white or something like that. But you know what I mean? All right, Bordeaux and Asing.
Claremont vs. Toulouse Preview
01:10:56
Speaker
I would assume.
01:10:58
Speaker
Oh, you know, we're going to be wearing that yellow crap. So let's throw probably wear blue. Yeah. Right. It's like somebody put up like a bag of chips or something like that. Yeah. All right. Bordeaux and roughly 92 old friends meet again. Um,
01:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I have Rossing to get to the final, so I'm not going to back down from it now. Bordeaux didn't really impress me overall. I mean, they're good. They're not bad, but it's not like I walked away from that again, the Bristol match. I see all that as Bristol fucking it up more than Bordeaux winning it and Rossing are fucking hoose. So I'm going Rossing. Yep.
01:11:40
Speaker
Okay, I think this will be the match of the turn of the weekend here. Claremont and Toulouse, Atstad, Marcel, Michelin, these are two teams that played plenty of times in big matches at that. So this will be very interesting. I'm going with the best player in the world right now and that guy's on Toulouse.
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah. And the second best player in the world who was also on to lose, I think. Nine and 10 together. Yeah. That is just scary. So yes, I'm going to go with them. Yeah. Okay.
Conclusion and Listener Appreciation
01:12:15
Speaker
All right. There we go. Hey, look at that. We, uh, we're able to finish up at a decent time. Nice.
01:12:20
Speaker
Um, yeah. Right. And hooray for us for not yammering too much. Okay. So we'll be back next week. Obviously we're going to be diving back into prom next week, uh, going into next weekend. Um, but yeah, sit back, enjoy the champions cup semi-finals. These should be great matches women, six nations. Hopefully we can get something on here. Um, they did sign with Fox soccer plus, but I'm still going to have to stream it.
01:12:44
Speaker
See, yeah, there's going to... That's what alternative means. You need an actual cable package for that, which is kind of big. Who the fuck has that? Nobody. What the fuck is wrong with you? The word is nobody. I had it once upon a time, like way back when. I used to. Yeah, no doubt. I used to have a cable package, but fuck, it's 2021 already. Yeah, come on, guys. Get with the program. Yeah, maybe TRN could... The Ruby network can pick that up at some point. That'd be good.
01:13:13
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So on that, um, fancy Ruby podcast at gmail.com. We'll drop our starts, starts and sit sheets this, this coming weekend here. Um, on that guess if you need us, um, we, uh, we appreciate you guys hanging out with us and, uh, just dealing with a nice bullshit sometimes, but, uh, yeah. So other than that, we will talk to you guys next week. Have a good one. Cheers.