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Episode 14; Champions Cup Round 5
26 Plays7 years ago
Lots to talk about this episode including; continuing issues with the EPCR (3:42), the recent accomplishments of Joy Neville & Co. and the (not so good) reactions to them (6:58), an unfortunate incident at Ulster & the former Ireland player involved (8:32), and player movements around the Premiership, specifically the shifting landscape at Wasp.
Of course, we talk about the games; GLOvMUN (20:21), MONvNEW (24:37), LENvTLO (26:50), ULSvR92 (32:05), BATvWAS (37:18), SCAvLEC (39:22), TLNvEDN (42:19), EXEvCAS (48:11), LYOvSAR (53:25), GLAvCAR (1:02:33). We also make our Leather Ball Pick 'Em predictions and predict who finishes where in the top 8 of the competition. (1:05:18)
Finally, don't miss as Jarrod gives the kiss of death, and makes his best guess at the provisional England squad to be named Thursday. (1:14:30)
Twitter jdyke8man & admrablsnackbar
Email fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com and to join our Super Rugby Fantasy League
Music by Royalty Free Music provided by http://www.soundotcom.com
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fantasy Rugby Podcast
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It's the fantasy rugby games podcast. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. And thanks for joining us. It's Tuesday.
European Champions Cup Weekend Preview
00:00:15
Speaker
We're recording from just outside about Boston, Massachusetts. First weekend of two coming up for the European Champions Cup. God, if I can only spit out my words. But, you know, the the penultimate weekend, as they call it. And we're
00:00:33
Speaker
We're going to talk about that a little bit. There was a lot of news that flew around in the meantime, too, so we got to talk about that. Yeah, there's a lot of shit going around. Yeah, so we got to talk about that. We'll get into it real quick here. Don't forget to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify. Give us a rating. Make sure you email us. We'll give the email at the end of the show.
Fantasy Rugby Strategy Guide
00:00:51
Speaker
Draft rugby super rugby coming at you real soon fancy fancy rugby draft is gonna be our Our platform for the super rugby season. We do have a draft date. It's the 26th of this month, but that's tentative That we get at least six people six teams to join us. Otherwise you and I are gonna just join a randomly They're releasing the rankings next week. So that'll be interesting If you haven't played it before
00:01:17
Speaker
It's like me, so I did a little digging on it. So you start a fly half, three outside backs, meaning midfielders, sorry, wingers or full backs, midfielders, der centers, two midfielders, a half back being obviously your scrum half, two loose forwards, a lock, and then one front row, oh, grouping.
00:01:41
Speaker
Oh, right. Because front rows just don't play 80 minutes. That's such a better way to do it. So they just so they said, you know what, you get these six assholes and you better hope they don't suck. Fucking deal. Yeah. No, that's that's I like that idea. Yeah. It's really annoying because props aren't going to go 80. Well, right. Well, so you may have seen it and not realize what it was. But remember when Beth got all those cards the other week? Yeah. So somebody had like Beth's front row starting in.
00:02:08
Speaker
It was minus 27. I think it was our old, I think it was our friend in the UK that did it. And he's just like, God damn. I was like, Ooh, that is unfortunate. That's like your, that's like your defense in fancy football. Just getting absolutely torched for like 50 points and not do it. Not, not recording a sack, not recording an INT, not doing anything to help you.
00:02:31
Speaker
That's basically what that's equivalent to. That is awful.
Rugby and Beer: An Unofficial Pairing
00:02:35
Speaker
So yeah, we got that. Oh, let's drink some beer. No, Alchemist doesn't sponsor us, but we love their beer anyway, so thank you, Alchemist. Everyone loves their beer. Yeah. Just wish they were a little bit easier to get to. They certainly make it like an adventure to get to it and like, I've made it. It's kind of worth it right here. I've made it to the landing. Makes it all worthwhile. Yeah.
00:03:00
Speaker
I've made it to the Mecca. It is a cool place. Thank you, Alchemist. All right. For your great beer. Fantastic. So we'll get into a couple of things before we get into the games. There'll be games we breeze over and there'll be games that we really hit on because that's basically how this weekend was. Yeah. I think a lot of teams breezed past this week. Yes.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yes, looking forward to this weekend. There'll be obviously two gigantic games, and then another one that's still fairly big. And then after that, it's kind of a mixed match of and good. Right. See who's on form heading into the knockout stages. Yep. So there was a thing that came out last
00:03:44
Speaker
In the last round with the home in a ways and we didn't really get to it but they've I think somebody had had a had a little issue with it again the Flags nope, not that we got to that EPC are like the registration deadline for players I guess is Tuesday, right?
Rugby Controversies and Issues
00:04:04
Speaker
Yes Newcastle had a problem with their props and I don't know what the heck they're trying to pull with that like that That's that to me is
00:04:13
Speaker
Mind-boggling like give it till Thursday. Come on, man. If you're playing on Sunday, you should give it till Friday, right? You know, it's needlessly restrictive. Yeah, it's like it's only gonna screw people over Absolutely, like it did against therefore Newcastle. Yeah playing two loose heads in the front row, which is
00:04:30
Speaker
Yes, they're both props still maintain right, but see in there and now that I've had a chance to coach a couple years I understand the difference between a tight head and loose head where you want your strong strong scrummers on the tight head side sure They're cornegains to massive human beings. Yeah, and I personally and I don't know I've this we said last time I played my most of my career as a as a tight head, but I've played some loose as well and I
00:04:57
Speaker
I always felt it easier to go from loose to tight, but that's, again, that's just me. It's personal preference. I felt comfortable at either, but I also understand that that's not everybody. You might be one of those rare breeds. That is definitely true.
00:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, EPC are I gotta do a little better than that and then we had another unique issue and it wasn't this it wasn't in the Champions Cup It was in the Challenge Cup. Okay, and the only reason I saw it is because I followed Northampton on Twitter and just happened to be person through and I was looking at some of their photos I'm like, I don't know who they're playing and
00:05:34
Speaker
And I can't tell if that's them or their opponent so they had their dark green black Whatever that they were usually rock and then Claremont French team had their dark had the navy blues on So somebody in a room Sat there and said
00:05:50
Speaker
This won't be a problem. Go ahead. This person has to be colorblind. That should be a rule. Don't be colorblind if you're going to have this job. Even so, if there's anything that's even close, fix it. We ran into that in our season this past fall.
00:06:09
Speaker
Oh yeah. Frickin the Worcester. Yeah. Cause they have two different, the front and their back are two different styles. Yeah. It's hard to tell who's who and you're looking at them from the front. Oh, good Lord. Yeah. That was, thankfully we were able to sort it, but man, that was a pain, but yeah. Um, but yeah, that was, uh, that was like, come on, man. How hard is your job? You have to figure out, okay, this is fine. There's no clash here.
00:06:31
Speaker
Okay, there's a clash here. Somebody needs to change their kit. End of story. We already had this with Cardiff and Glasgow in, I think it was around two, around one, around two, back in the fall. Come on, man. This is an easy thing to figure out. Everybody has multiple sets of jerseys. If one team has to switch, they switch. They switch. Just move it on. End of story.
00:06:57
Speaker
There's one other thing I want to bring up, which is more of a cultural thing, which is the difference, and again, if you haven't noticed, we're American. So there's a slightly different culture around sport in America than there is in other places, and it's not just around sport, it's around a lot of things.
00:07:17
Speaker
But it's great to see someone like Joey Neville refereeing at the highest level in AR-ing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. And we saw it. It was interesting to see the contrast because we saw Neville AR-ing the Saris match. Yep. And then we saw Sarah Thomas. Yeah. The official. Yeah, good for her. Right. Great for her. Great for her. The first woman to officiate a playoff game in the NFL. Yep. Great job.
00:07:46
Speaker
The reactions are somewhat different, and I just want to chide American sport culture and culture in general. We suck. We do. Yeah. There's nothing wrong. I said it to you. There was the Facebook post that people were reacting to it on Facebook with their laughing. I'm like, are you kidding me? Why is it a laugh? Right.
00:08:06
Speaker
She can do the job if she couldn't she wouldn't be there respect her for what she does and that's I mean, that's pretty You're laughing because you can't do it. Yeah, you're laughing because you can't do it and you probably know you can't do it So because she can do it and you can't you you have to make her feel bad about it, right? So so young I don't I have no time for you people right so bad do for for American football fans Yeah, and and congratulations to those two ladies for sure. Yes, absolutely
Racism in Rugby: The Simon Zebo Incident
00:08:32
Speaker
Well, so we say that and then we have the one issue that pops up at Ulster. Simon Zebo. Oh, ugliness. In the comments that were made at him. I didn't hear exactly what the comments were. I don't either and I'm not sure I want to. I saw his reaction. Ulster have come out and said that they are investigating. Wow.
00:08:51
Speaker
racism in the stands and I uh Shame on you Ulster. Come on guys like this and it's but it's happened a little bit in the Premier League in England, too. So I've I've heard it. This isn't the first time I've heard it. Unfortunately, and I mean so here again you have
00:09:08
Speaker
A bad thing a bad mark on these these two sports But I can promise you that if we try to do that here in the united states There'd be a lot of people that wouldn't be allowed back at steams because there's some bad language We've seen that at fenway. Yeah, I don't think it was this past summer. I think it was the summer before before And those people were were brightly booted. Yeah, thank god and banned
00:09:33
Speaker
It's just there's no place for it. We're all this is a distraction. This is where we go The sports are where we go to escape our everyday lives It's it's can we just get past the race and the gender and all that stuff and just celebrate the fact that we're all here having fun Yeah, watching the same thing. Yeah, some of these guys need to back off the the piss as it is seriously Yeah, that's probably a little bit, you know
00:09:56
Speaker
as we drink beer. But it's interesting, the two contrasts between rugby and football, soccer. In England, you aren't allowed to bring your beer back to your seat and they close the beer stands during games. If the game is going on, you are not gonna get a beer. And I don't have a problem with
00:10:24
Speaker
Selling beer during Club matches. That's fine I did you know the the Premier League took the precautions I took because it used to be a really hand and it still is right It's not as bad, but it still can be a very big issue but they're talking about maybe doing the same thing for the big international matches because People make these a day obviously they I mean if you and I were to go to an England Ireland game probably we'd be on the piss for sure and
00:10:50
Speaker
Why wouldn't we be? Right. But the thing is, not everybody can keep their keep their shit together and, you know, watch the match and be a fan. A lot of these people turn into absolute jackasses. And so to kind of maybe just quell that a little bit, you know, you close the beer stands during the game, which obviously leads to gigantic lines at halftime. But you know what? It's kind of the it's kind of the beast that's been created. So if you could handle that shit responsibly, it wouldn't need to come to that. Exactly.
00:11:19
Speaker
Sorry, you act like children you get treated like children precisely. No, I so it's Zebo I'm sorry, buddy You deserve better and you know, you're going back to Ireland after Signing with Rossing and you know, maybe people don't like you for that But they shouldn't be saying those types of things that you and he played a pretty good game got himself the line We'll talk about it a little bit and the last thing that we're gonna talk about until we get to the games is
Player Transfers and Club Decisions
00:11:48
Speaker
The massive that the massive exodus we talked about it before we touched on it now. It's apparently is happening It's it's no longer something that we're looking forward to as far as something that could happen in the future. It's no longer something that has Kind of the trickles of it's just it's started. It's it started in earnest. It's on and
00:12:09
Speaker
So I know you're going to be crying tears for die young. Well, okay. So I will say that I will say this, that they probably have something up their sleeve to fix this. Well, so LaRue, I don't know what their answer is with him. You know, so anybody that's always a man. Yeah. So anyway, but he doesn't understand. So to confirmed exits and still one possible exit for was Nathan Hughes has officially been announced to be a Bristol bear next year.
00:12:36
Speaker
That's a gamble that we need to talk about just a little bit. Willie LaRue is going to lead the club, more than likely heading back to South Africa to play for one of the super teams. Doesn't know where yet. That's not been said. If he knows, if he knows, he hasn't said it. Nobody, nobody, nobody close to him knows. Wasps are hunting Malachi Fikitoa to replace the guy that hopefully is going to jump ship next to our boys, Ellie's daily disaster.
00:13:07
Speaker
I would love to have Elliot Daly on the Saracens.
00:13:12
Speaker
There's this thing called depth that I'd like to have, and when you're trying to trace double trophies every year, and that's a thing that very few teams get to do, I understand that, so I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of it while I can, because there'll be a point where we suck again. And we won't have trophies, we're gonna be near the bottom of most competitions or whatever. It goes in ways, we'll take it for now. Nathan Hughes starting at Bristol.
00:13:39
Speaker
He's probably on some pretty good coin there. Is it a gamble to make this move without necessarily knowing that you aren't going down?
00:13:53
Speaker
I don't think they're going down. I agree. I think this is kind of a double bonus for them because it gives the rest of the players certainly a reason to play hard the rest of the way out and make sure that they don't get relegated. Don't get relegated, guys. Hopefully it doesn't go in their head. Right. And if you've been listening, you know my
00:14:22
Speaker
My take is that i'm fairly certain new castle is going to go down This year a lot of people have that take so yeah, i'm not alone Unfortunately, that's that's how it is But uh, I feel bad for him a little bit, but the bristol has been playing well, too I've been enjoying watching them the last couple of weeks win or lose. They're they're fun to watch apparently they went into Russia in the challenge cup and dominated
00:14:47
Speaker
That you know so good for them, right? There's a lot to be fired up for them And road wins in Europe aren't easy even if they are in a B-list sure tier two country like Russia Which you know if we were involved in that we'd be in tier two as well. So I'm not poopooed on Russia I'm just saying it's it's tough to go on the road doesn't matter where you're going whether it's It's not like it's it's going over to France
00:15:13
Speaker
No, no, no, no, not by any means. So, yeah, I'm, Hugh's got the coin he was looking for, lost him, wanna give it to him. I wonder who's gonna leave for Bristol to make room for Hugh's. George Smith's only on the contract till the end of the year. He's already seemed like he's kind of getting faded out the team a little bit. Maybe he's just being arrested lately, but he, because he was on the bench two out of the last three matches, maybe all three, I can't remember. But yeah, so he's also,
00:15:42
Speaker
Up there in age happens it's gonna happen. He's very good when he comes on. He's it's not a it's not a mystery and it's not uh, it's not something that's um A lie to say that he's very good when he comes on for the minutes he plays But I don't think he's played 80 more than once this year Certainly not in the lead. Yeah, so I then hues can come in and just You plug him in at eight and you don't worry about it. Mm-hmm
00:16:09
Speaker
It's a quality move. They do have crane, they have lamb, but you can cycle those guys around if you need to. You don't say you're playing out of position to Nate Hughes because he's playing there. He's playing there. Just live with it, okay?
00:16:26
Speaker
You don't have a choice you do but it's not really wise let's go with that So yeah, I mean wasps are gonna have obviously have some leaks to some some holes to plug and Cooper Willie just left too Didn't he just sign for sales? Was that what that was?
00:16:42
Speaker
You know, I don't recall. It sounds familiar. Yeah. They just signed one of the they signed a wasp prop and I'm pretty sure it was Cooper. Well, I might be very wrong in getting that getting which one it is wrong. Either way, the major point is that wasps have a lot, a lot, a lot of work to do. Yeah. And we'll see what they can what they can pull in. I mean, they're they are losing a lot of talent, but I can only imagine how much coinage they have freed up to
00:17:09
Speaker
After that, well, that and there's some idiot that's trying to play in the NFL for them, too, that they don't have to pay anymore. Yeah. So they've lost a lot of talent. They've they're well, they're losing a lot of talent and they should have some some they'll have some kind of backup to replace it. But who beats me? That's that's the question. I mean, you tell it and that's it. So the question you just asked about the Bears and what do they have to, you know, they have to make sure that they don't get relegated. Yeah.
00:17:39
Speaker
If you're a top flight player and you're looking to sign, do you worry about the WASPs being relegated after next year? Is that going to factor into your thinking as far as do I sign with them or do I sign with a different team?
00:17:54
Speaker
Maybe, but no, only because they do have a bag load of quality with guys like Thomas Young, Launch Perry, Soap Walker will come good. Maybe he won't be this year, but Soap Walker will come good. They still have DeYoung, Bassett. There's a lot to be excited about there.
00:18:10
Speaker
If Fekito assigns there, that'll get you excited. Sure. So they have plenty to go. Nizem Kar is a very good player. He's a very versatile player. Brad Shields is still very good. It's not an unattractive spot to go. Da Young, as much of a whiner and a D-bag as he can be, he's still a decent coach, and people do respect him in the game. So again, he'll command a little bit too. And he was up for a possibility of taking the whales to our job when
00:18:39
Speaker
Warren Gatlin steps down and said, dear God, I can't remember the name, why? Warren Ball, duh. So yeah, we'll see how that goes. Matt Proctor signing for Northampton from the Hurricanes. So this will be his last season down in, down in Wellington. Makes me a little sad as a, as a hurricane supporter, but I do, again, I do like the Saints. Chris Boyd's the obvious connection there, former, former Hurricanes coach down there. So he's an obvious connection. I mean, I think,
00:19:08
Speaker
The league is good when teams, and you won't like this word, teams like Northampton and Leicester are good. When the English teams that are getting into Europe, this is when England can be good in Europe. England might only have one team going through the knockout round.
00:19:26
Speaker
Which is sad to see for English rugby because there's so many great teams so many competitive teams But they just don't like the blue bloods of Europe aren't Gloucester and Exeter know anything like that. They are the Lester's they are the Saracens They are the Northampton Saints guys teams like that have made finals. They have won finals, you know, I
00:19:46
Speaker
I mean, don't get me wrong. I want Lester to be good. I used to I used to like them back in the day when I would, you know, when the few times I could actually watch rugby. Yeah. Right. Back in those those days of illegal means. Right. Oh, this is even before then. This was back, you know, more than a decade ago. Sedanta. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That.
00:20:07
Speaker
I used to like watching luster now. I just but you to me it's more of a personal preference of the goonery Yeah, and that's that choice fuck them again this week. So we'll get to that too. Yeah. Yeah you watch that one Well before we get to luster, let's go. Let's let's get to a very entertaining but very unfortunate result for glosser Glosser I want to talk about it. Yeah hosting monster at home
00:20:29
Speaker
They they looked better in patches with Cipriani Cipriani returned back to the lineup. Yeah, that was great to see I'm thoroughly back to yep. Golly thoroughly back. He ended up getting over the line. Yes he did But you know for the most part it was it was Munster just smashing their defense played amazing and they were just rolling them and then Joey Kybury 26 points on his own and
00:20:51
Speaker
26 points on the phone He basically won my fantasy date like I think I started to know I started yes, I started to Gloucester guys. I think you didn't play something like that. I don't know I started one I started one you started one and he ended up not playing right I wasn't paying too much attention when I did it and still
00:21:10
Speaker
for the Daily... Yeah, I got... Oh, because you're Captain Carberry, I only... I did. I'm Captain Connor Murray, that's why. But yeah, so it was a scintillating performance from Joey Carberry and the likes with the kick-through and obviously he had his own try that he had over the line.
Match Highlights and Key Performances
00:21:27
Speaker
He was on. There's no question about it. And Connor Murray,
00:21:31
Speaker
The top three, I mean top three halfbacks in the world right now are probably include guys that are playing in Europe right now Connor Murray and five to Clark and then you throw in Aaron Smith more than likely
00:21:44
Speaker
I will not say a nice word about Faftee Clark. A lot of people don't want to. A lot of people don't want to. I won't disagree with you, but I'm not going to agree with you either. Fair enough. But something came up after the Munster game. Like, what have you done?
00:22:06
Speaker
Sexton, 33 years of age, Joey Carberry, he's like 23, 24. Well, Carberry was gonna leave Leinster unless you got rid of Sexton, basically, because he wanted more playing time, because he was there, but he wanted more playing time. You weren't gonna stop that unless you were gonna get rid of Sexton, which right now does not make any sense. I think he won an award recently for something. World Player of the Year, maybe. Some sort of award for playing rugby, I don't know. Yeah, no.
00:22:34
Speaker
He he made the right move. Leinster made the right move for their sake. Hey, Leinster didn't didn't look like they missed Sexton too much this weekend. But so they made the right move to both both parties made the right move. You know, is carbon going to be the the fly half after Sexton? Der, more than likely. But, you know, you can't you can't bank on five years down the road when you still have another three in one of the world's best players. You just can't do that. So
00:23:04
Speaker
Sorry, I get the point, but at the same time, it's kind of short-sighted.
00:23:08
Speaker
It is um, but yeah, I think it's one of I think they made the right decision Same ultimately everyone made the right decision. It's it's kind of a it sucks that that it has to come to that but That's that's life indeed sports there's you don't have that long, you know of a career anyway and and You never know what's gonna you know, if you get rid of sexton for carberry, which nobody a lot of people will be shouting to just kill you at that point exactly
00:23:37
Speaker
and then something, God forbid, happens to cardboard. But you can't keep them both. So that's all. Decisions that were made all around were probably accurate and the right ones. So months ago, top of their pool, and Gloucester are finally officially out. Took them that long. But they could have... Well, they need to focus on the premiership anyway, because they're flagging it. Yeah, they're starting to go downhill on that one too.
00:24:07
Speaker
but months to go top of their pool, they currently, as it stands, would be the fifth seed out of the quarter final, which means they'd actually be traveling. Which is the worst, it's the worst thing to have happen to you. Hey, we won our pool, you're still traveling, bitch. But hey, there's still one more round, plenty to shake out. So they go there, Gloucester go back to the drawing board and hope to finish the European campaign on a high.
00:24:37
Speaker
Montpellier and Newcastle. This score does not say nearly how, this was not bad. This was 12-3 until about the 60th minute.
00:24:50
Speaker
And then Paul Vellumso came on and end. That was the end. The Vellumso try was pretty much the floodgate. That's what it was. Newcastle didn't play nearly as bad as it looked. Gary Graham looked like he was playing with some pretty good intent.
00:25:11
Speaker
Toby flood definitely was putting himself out there on the line But again, they just don't they didn't Montpellier have so much quality even when they play like shit Sometimes they just look really good. You know, I was definitely making them look really good Obviously it woman got over twice every time every time element plays in your p-scores So note that for any way that's playing daily
00:25:33
Speaker
But yeah, so and obviously recently selected Paul Willems for the French, now French international, even though he's South African born. Yeah, that's not fair, though. You bring him on at the 60th minute and you're like, and you're smoked and it's like...
00:25:52
Speaker
That's what I have to deal with now. And again, having not watched the match, I there's some times where you can keep it close, keep it close, keep it close. And then your just will is broken. Yeah. And that's pretty much what happened there. That's pretty much what happened to them. Newcastle gave her all and. Yeah, they traveled. They traveled pretty pretty well. Travel traveled tough, but they they did OK. But obviously the score line says otherwise Kibera, he got one over there there near the end to kind of make it look
00:26:21
Speaker
less crappy, even though it still looks like they got whacked. So be it, Montpellier go to second in the pool, in pool five, and Newcastle are actually still not at the bottom.
00:26:36
Speaker
Because there's no team there that did way worse than them and we'll talk about even more than Yep But Montpellier's are Our second right now with a possibility to still qualify for the knockout cup knockout round the big one Let's start to lose. Yeah, that was a that was a heck. I mean it was a heck of a match your it was well test match quality as they say and
00:27:00
Speaker
I, you know, I got to say, yeah, yes, it was. It was good quality. I felt that I got a question to lose a little bit.
00:27:12
Speaker
One is that uh, they're one they they're they got six points in the first half. Yeah three of them came because the referee fucked up And not that it was exactly exactly his fault, but Yeah, he was just unlucky in the wrong spot compounding on compounding right eight eight man pick Ran right at him right prevented the the the defender from from making the tackle So he had to blow it up. That's it. It sucks. That's what happens uh that
00:27:42
Speaker
Ended with a or that that resulted in their a re-scrum, which they want a pen off which they want the pen. Yeah, and a kick for points So it kind of sucks there then That was amazing was was around right around half halfway point of the first half right around the 20-minute part 35 phases for Leinster. Yeah, they were just more than
00:28:06
Speaker
But I mean that that but the the problem there is it goes back to that. Are they just doing smash smash smash? Which a lot of that was there was it might have been wasn't as much creativity Which is why they didn't I mean if you end if you have 35 phases and you don't get over the line Then you weren't doing something wrong probably something going on there But in a way that was almost like body blows because you saw it killed die that that did like oh
00:28:31
Speaker
How much longer do we have? Oh, really? We just made 35 tackles right there in a however many minute period, four minute period, five minute period. That will just hurt you. Absolutely. And good on Toulouse for standing strong and earning the penalty to clear their lines.
00:28:52
Speaker
And then uh halftime there was that the penalty where we were talking I think at that point yeah, where I was like, oh do they go to go for corner go for corner and out there went for points went for points and And that was it. That was it. So
00:29:08
Speaker
Uh, I, I feel like teams should, you know, there's, there's times to be aggressive and times to, to just take the points. Some of these games, you got to just say, especially around halftime and, and it's still a pretty close game.
00:29:24
Speaker
Maybe try for the point you have you have a whole second half to make up if you if you if you don't quite get it I would trade seven for three and and and lose out on I'd rather lose out on seven than lose out on four right and they're I mean and you know, they're traveling they need they probably need to be a little aggressive because This is the defending European champion after all. It's not like they're a Mickey Mouse outfit here, right? You know, so
00:29:50
Speaker
So you want to put them under a little bit more pressure than that. Going for the kick just kind of says, all right, these guys, they want to chase the scoreboard a little bit, but they're not really chasing the win. Not quite. So that was really their last gasp. They didn't really come within striking distance after that.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, so it was you know, and burn played a fairly fairly good game was in control for the most part the whole way colby played on amazing Yeah, too bad. He didn't get anything until the end I know but he had so many little runs where it was like, oh, maybe he's gonna break and he didn't he always looks like he's gonna frickin go I just yeah um, so but
00:30:27
Speaker
Unbelievable effort on his part. Certainly the right spot for her to lose one of the few that was that there was in there But I mean Johnny Sexton eat your heart out the cross kick to Dave Carney. Yeah That was a thing of beauty. Yeah, there are people that can't throw that ball And he put that thing on a dime Dave Carney did a good job of staying in bounds He could have easily been shoved right into touch and he didn't But yeah, that was that was pretty
00:30:56
Speaker
Yes, it was. Obviously the Irish side took over after halftime, they really did, just starting to pour it on. Despite the fact they were missing so many guys, O'Brien, Sexton, Toner, Lowe, there was a lot of names not on that sheet, but they still had plenty of firepower to put it over the top.
00:31:19
Speaker
Which to me goes back to Toulouse. Why not go for it? You have them kind of in a tight spot. Put the young guys, the people who don't get the much experience, put them under pressure. If you don't do that, then they're going to feel comfortable and just continue to whoop your ass.
00:31:36
Speaker
Right. Yep. So Toulouse are now in second. They're actually holding on for dear life is the last spot through the last runner up. Leinster go top by three. So conceivably Toulouse could still win the group. We'll talk about it when we look at look ahead towards the games next week. But I just I think Leinster are all about qualified as long as they don't completely lay a neg against loss this weekend. Yeah, I agree.
00:32:06
Speaker
And then the other big one featuring an Irish team, we talked about it already in a bad way, but let's talk about it in a good way now. Um, Ulster Rossing. Woo. That was a great match. That was a fantastic match. And what I loved is, um, is the,
00:32:24
Speaker
what Rossing has with, what is it, Nakarawa, Nakarawa, and who's their outside center, who scored their first try. Yeah. So you've got these two guys who are pretty much not quite clones of each other, but they kind of look like it, right? Right. And you have, uh,
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. Certainly in their playing styles. Right. For sure. So Faketawa just powering over for that, their first try. Yeah. Just running right through them. And he's offload machine too. Yeah. But Nakarawa with his offloads. Yeah. As well. He was putting people through. And they were running through that same outside center right off the wing channel. And really causing all sorts of trouble for Ulster. And speaking of Ulster, the bounces that Stockdale got.
00:33:15
Speaker
Well both for and against oh, oh yeah the one that rolled out the side It's bouncing right to him. He's got that guy no problem no problem no Get back here
00:33:33
Speaker
You silly person you thought I was gonna settle down and so you could fall on top of me No, no, no bounce. I mean, oh, it went ways. We know the egg does weird things sometimes but that was something It was going in one direction all of a sudden just Just decided I'm going in touch. Yeah
00:33:53
Speaker
But that the the bounce he got on I mean the the effort can't be Understated on his on his second try just the chase the first one. He just friggin knocked He just knocks the guy over and says i'm gone and like I don't know what the heck the tackle I've heard on that was but he is a brick house playing a wing I understand that but still um, if you're falling off a tackle like that, you didn't do a good job right simple as that um but like
00:34:19
Speaker
I don't remember which three wrestling players were around the ball on the second one when it bounced. But, dude, there's three of you. Seal him off and gather the ball. It's really simple. Yeah. Communicate. They had the one wing going for the.
00:34:36
Speaker
Like trying to keep him out of the tri-zone. Yeah, they had the other one not quite going for the ball And then the third was just trailing. Yeah, and for some reason that that trailer Just decided to leave him alone. Yeah, it's like he cuts off to the right So he cut to the one place that they didn't have covered and the ball just happens right there And and the trailer just didn't pick him up. Nope. And that's not at all
00:35:01
Speaker
Hey, but still yeah, I mean it's a great try right fantastic try How does the different none of none of those three players come up with that ball though? The one from the other squad gets it's definitely like the three of them are gonna watch that on film on film this week and be like
00:35:17
Speaker
Oh, that's not good. Yeah, I'm gonna put my sunglasses on and try to get really small in the film I'm not here try to look like somebody else. I'm not here Gaffer he went out. He knocked the door that way Yeah But that was I mean there was a great match
00:35:40
Speaker
the Klemenschak try with all the offloads. Yeah. Absurd. Absurd. Yep. Freaking fantastic bomb movement by Rasing. This is why they're one of the more dangerous teams in this tournament, obviously. You know, you see what they can, they create something out of nothing, nothing so often.
00:35:55
Speaker
So they are They are a deadly force when it comes to Europe don't mess around with them God I hope we don't have to play them. Yeah, I mean there was a huge huge win for ulcer though. Yeah, and it was To make sure that they're still alive in that pool
00:36:11
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. And they, and they, they got the win. Rossman got two huge bonus points though. They got the losing by less than less than seven and they got the four tries, right? Which put them almost virtually through, you know, just about there. What are they on 22 21? Okay. So they got, I mean, they're,
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah, there's second in the in the quarterfinal standings at the moment that that game would have how different would that game have been had thin rustled and On his boots with him. Yeah, I know. Oh my goodness. He he's seen you've just forgot. Yeah, I don't I don't understand. It's a shame So I had him I'm on my daily team too. Damn it really shamed
00:36:51
Speaker
Yeah, so Ulster win 26-22. They are second in pool four, right behind Rassing with 18. Rassing have 21. Rassing are the second pool leaders up there. They're right behind our boys. And Ulster are currently sitting seventh. If Ulster can take care of business at Leicester, I would presume they'll go through. I don't see our scenario where they don't, so.
00:37:19
Speaker
We watched the end of this one and that was about all I watched. Yeah, the last like three minutes. Yeah the bath was game It was I mean it it was a controversial decision at the end to give Prusland the winning penalty Launchbury thought that his crown was dominant and should have got the pen But it shake beats me
00:37:43
Speaker
I, to me, I, again, I was, yeah, we, we just saw that little bit of it to me. I saw nothing wrong with it. I, so I was kind of surprised to hear later that it was, it was controversial. Yeah. But at the same time, I also get it. It's the last play of the game. Maybe just let them play.
00:38:00
Speaker
It looked like a penalty to me. I agree. I think White House was spot on on that. I didn't realize that Burns wasn't playing so when I saw Priestlin step up and take the tee I was like, where's Freddie? Where's Freddie? Somebody show me Freddie.
00:38:24
Speaker
I guess the I guess soap walk is yellow card was pretty Pretty not good. No. No, I haven't found a frickin highlight of it But maybe I'll go back and find it later, but it was um
00:38:39
Speaker
The commentators said, well deserved. End of discussion on that one. I think it was Lars Delalio that was commenting on it. So if he says it's a yellow card on his old team, it's probably a yellow card. I'm going to go off that. I'm going to believe him.
00:38:58
Speaker
Yeah. Rob Miller basically takes the place of Elliot Daly taking the long pens and nails one. So, Elliot Daly giving the weekend off. Our boy Zach Mercer got over. Yeah. Good for him. He's tearing up trees. He wants another white shirt. Yeah. We'll get to that. We'll have that conversation in a little bit.
00:39:21
Speaker
Matchy watch Scarlett's and Lester Ken Owens playing at eight which is as a usual as a usual usually as a hooker seeing him play at eight I was like because I was scrolling through the lineups because obviously I have Ken Owens in my season long team Obviously, I won't have him after this coming round, but I was looking at the front row I was like, oh shit Ken Owens isn't playing and then I went down the list continuously and said he is playing he's playing eight That's weird. Is this the right guy?
00:39:48
Speaker
And then I searched and I was like, Oh yeah, he's playing eight this week. That's weird. Did a hell of a job. Well, I can't talk about, I don't know about the scrumaging. I don't know about all this other stuff, but in the loose fucking terror running in front of that quite through people. And they were, he was like a fricking human pinball out there. A lot of fun to watch. Yeah. Well, he was, he was a controversial selection for the lines tour a couple of years ago, too, thinking that Warren Gatton was playing a little favoritism with his homeboys, but he actually did okay. He didn't do fantastic.
00:40:17
Speaker
Honestly, I don't know. Hartley would have done a lot better, which is what people were clamoring for was Hartley. Maybe Scott Sugar Fagerson, I think it was. But honestly, of those three, I'm not sure any one of them would have done a better job. So now that he's playing like this, maybe he's starting to justify it a little bit. I mean, he just trucked Eastman to get over the line. So that was that. Walt Eastman. Yeah.
00:40:42
Speaker
But people I was reading on Twitter like people were saying this guy would run through a brick wall for his club like he looked like it So he did for him. He absolutely looked like it. You gotta you gotta love players like that too. Sure you really do then I You know because I have to talk shit about Lester around 25 minutes in or so Williams with the late hit no arms late hit and I Don't understand why there wasn't a card at that point. Oh, really?
00:41:12
Speaker
Look, I mean you got the two fouls. It was bad. It was it was look pretty bad. Yeah as far as Not certainly not something that that should have been anything more than a guy just go sit down and yeah and chill your ass out You know what you did right? Nothing, you know, nothing malignant, but just not not good but then they kick the touch and Rob Evans gets the first of his two tries and
00:41:37
Speaker
So just just sir. I was like, okay, that's fine. And then later Evans got gets his yellow card anyway in about 63 minutes in so I mean Which Evans on this one guys like free Evans on the else we're good. Yeah, so justice was served For Lester again, which which kind of killed them and good for that
00:41:59
Speaker
Dunzo Dunzo. Yeah. Yeah, so they go they go bottom Skylets get the the wind they were seeking in Europe. They didn't have one yet. So They'll probably they'll play with for a little bit of pride this coming weekend going to that pretty stadium at wrestling in In France, so we'll see what they we'll see what they produce too long and Edinburgh. This was a great performance from Edinburgh and not just Edinburgh obviously the thing we have to talk about in this
00:42:29
Speaker
in this match. I can think of one thing that's definitely in there, but there's another one on there too. But obviously, the big Billy Motta. Offload. Offload. Absurd. So absurd. How does that land? How does that land? How does that land? That was so great. Oh my god. I was like, did he just? Yeah, that's in his hand. Oh wow, that's a try. I mean, good for the guy. I think it was Johnston.
00:42:59
Speaker
obviously you have to have a guy there to make that offload, but man, what an absurd offload. He had to reach behind him to get it because he was like, oh, I'm not getting this ball. I'm just running through the, oh wait, no, here it comes from.
00:43:13
Speaker
How did he get that to me? I'm gone. Great, great job holding onto a great throw. Yeah, just. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And you know, they're talking about him possibly leaving the club for some serious coin, but Cocker's isn't going to let somebody like him walk away for sure. So if he can get the ear of the chairman at Edinburgh, he's going to start pulling some pulling some funds together for sure.
00:43:35
Speaker
I would recommend it. Yeah, I would too. He's looked very good in every Edinburgh game. I haven't watched him all this competition by any means, but he's looked very good in every game that he's played. And I will say, I love seeing how these Fijian sevens players are starting to fit in.
00:43:51
Speaker
Are starting not only starting to fit in but where are they playing? They're playing in the forwards. These are fucking studs on the sevens pitch and One's a lock the others Nate. Yeah They know we just talked about so apparently he's not the off-loader that a lot of them are though He likes to know he really likes to carry the ball. I'm a prefer to go to deck but obviously
00:44:10
Speaker
Clearly has the ability to pull it off. Yes. Well, you have to if you're gonna play for that team for that team so if it's in and But that's the best part because we always see When people transition between from sevens to 15s now, what do they want to do? They just want to chuck the baller Yeah, good lord. Do they ever and so you got to be smart about it. So the fact that he's not a
00:44:33
Speaker
You know, he's more keen on, on running into contact. Yeah. In sevens is actually kind of helpful for, for fifteenths. Yeah. Very. That, that, so he's not just winging it around like it's a no thing. He's looking good. And then, um, the Darcy Graham try, I don't remember who it was, but boy, he just sat somebody right down. Just boom, bold and right. Like the guy went in for a tackle and Graham ran it all over and like ran right over him. Like he was nothing. Like he was just like,
00:45:03
Speaker
lower the shoulder and the dude was on the deck before you knew it. I was like, ow. That was so, I mean Darcy Graham, that was a great, great job by him just to nail that down. Whoo! So that was a very good performance for Edinburgh. This is now the third team that has beaten Toulon in their home patch. Since the inception of this competition, now they were obviously invincible there forever.
00:45:33
Speaker
Couldn't beat them at home, no chance. Last year, Saracens do it, or two years ago, whatever it was, I think it was two years ago. Saracens do it, and then this year, Newcastle do it, and Edinburgh.
00:45:46
Speaker
I mean, well one of the one of these teams is not like the other right? Yeah, right, but still like yeah, just any of that's just but that that's not good. You know What the fuck happened to too long? They're they're they're they're not doing it the right ways and we know that they're they're they're hiring As we call them mercenaries and it's not a knock on the players themselves But this is what too long has signed themselves up for in the in the fashion of oh, we want the players we want the stars well
00:46:14
Speaker
one of the big stars that they that they signed hasn't done a whole lot like Sevilla he joined Sevilla he scored his second try for them this match right it's January the bus scores tries like for fun most times yeah so the fact that he's only got two
00:46:31
Speaker
Well that tell yeah, if you can't if you can't get severe to score more than two tries Something's going on matches. That's not a that's not a him problem. That's a you problem Yeah, it's definitely that's definitely a team problem there. I mean and I talked about it. I don't care that much for trim duck the
00:46:47
Speaker
No. Setter in fly half. He's, he doesn't have the, like, he's not bad. He has the skills. Right. But again, just the mentality you need to bring to a competition like this, whether it's going to be hard hitting and you're going to need to really execute and you're going to have to make your sticks. He doesn't bring it. And, you know, in the last match against, or in the first match of the competition against Newcastle,
00:47:08
Speaker
probably most of the tens that too long I've ever had were to step back in the pocket and said give it to me I'm hitting this thing so we can walk away with a win yeah didn't do it didn't do it and had a long penalty that he could have taken great it was a long shot and it was off to the side but like obviously sir Johnny would have just stepped up and said
00:47:29
Speaker
Mine post sir and not only done that but slotted it probably too So they gotta find that's probably one of that area They need to address is make sure that they can find a 10. That's got that same same mentality They want to they want to have the ball when it counts
00:47:44
Speaker
Yeah, winners always do. Right. So Edinburgh are top of pool five, and they are in for a heck of a game this weekend at home at Murrayfield. Not quite qualified there, but they could have, they have a chance to qualify even if things don't quite go their way too. So we'll see how that goes. But it's good to see Edinburgh up there again, Richard Cockrell back in Europe and making sure people know it.
00:48:10
Speaker
And then Exeter, Cass, Exeter come up with a huge huge huge performance for themselves. Sure. I mean for England in general because really we you know as fans of an English team we want to see some other English teams in there. We already talked about the issue of who's not in there that usually can get it done or the clubs that are used to getting it done. But Exeter was a big one.
00:48:33
Speaker
Exeter plays like this and not only will they make the the knockout stage, but they will they'll do well Yeah, they'll they'll win on the road if they have to Which I assume they would yeah But Cass just couldn't stop Cordero Hill or Noah. Nope, let alone all three like
00:48:56
Speaker
Slade was having some fun for himself as well. So when you're just opening holes for the other teams. Just open the holes for their wings, their fullback and their center. You knew where the game was going to go fairly quickly. They basically let Noel score.
00:49:15
Speaker
And I was uh, I was waiting for for cordero to to put one over but almost he almost did there were a couple of almost there a couple of almost it was just it was beautiful play on their end and cast just Yeah, and exit are also on the field. Yeah, that's about it um the um
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah, the all the oflarity try that slate kicked through. Whoo. Yeah, that was beautiful. That was beautiful. It was in my opinion. They saw in my opinion Ugo got the the the third commentator on the match. Ugo got the man of the match wrong. Not saying Jack no played bad. Obviously played Henry season.
00:49:54
Speaker
Slade Slade should have got it. He played the whole game pretty much the whole game and not 55 minutes It's rare that you see a guy that plays 55 minutes get me the man. She just don't know He did all I mean, she's and they basically let him right it was like I could have ran through some of that You know, there's a as a wing good Lord and if you haven't ever seen a picture of me, I am NOT wing-shaped That's for sure
00:50:18
Speaker
One thing I wanted to bring up too is, so Kest was having trouble on defense. Equally, they're having trouble on offense and they finally get the ball and attack down inside the 22. They're driving, they're driving, and then just
00:50:41
Speaker
I know you know this about me. I don't like when people get cute. There's a time and a place. Let's put it that way. It definitely is. If you pick your spots, you're not being cute, you're being cheeky. But when you're being cute and what they did was they had gaps open right up the middle and decide, you know what? We're going to go for style, fucking style. Let's spin this wide. Let's kick it.
00:51:03
Speaker
it wide. Oh yeah that one too yeah. And then it just you charge down and it ends up that that that was the bonus point try for for Exeter. Yep. And well well earned for them but man that was just yeah yeah yeah. Caster still in it at that point. Yes. And so all they needed was a was a good solid try and instead they tried to to you know to backdoor it. Yep.
00:51:25
Speaker
Try and sneak in and grab this one. Yeah, and yeah, I don't know what they were doing They had if you have space up the middle fucking take the space up the middle Don't try to do something stupid out wide where you're gonna lose the ball and not only lose the ball, but it's put in your own trisome Yeah, whoops a daisy. That was yeah, just awful decision on that part
00:51:43
Speaker
Right. But it was a joy to watch Exeter play like that. Although I don't want to play like that again. Saracen's. But other than that, other than that, we can do that again. So the one the one blip for me for Exeter was Simmons for Guy's kicking boots.
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I I see why they went with Simmons because Simmons has the has the attacking a tent and obviously didn't need four tries to make this thing even Really worth their while cuz otherwise they're screwed this coming week, right? So I get it but man good thing it didn't come down to kicks, right? Cuz what if it comes down to point differentials, you know You need you need those those those points sure can come in handy. They can they can we'll talk about in a little bit But yeah and throw the stroller red card, yeah
00:52:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it wasn't the Most thuggish red card just wasn't smart. No, but it came down to he deserved it Yeah, absolutely. He he's he didn't complain either. He just said oh, okay Less than a certain person did about their yellow card a couple weeks ago
00:52:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So Exeter, when bonus point, big one for them, they set up a huge mashup with Munster at Tomin Park in Ireland for a big one for them. That's going to be fun. That'll be a fun one to watch. That's the atmosphere is going to be electric at Tomin Park. They bring it usually and with this on the line and this type of this type of that's a Friday night match, right? No. That'll be a Saturday match. OK.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, um, so that'll be a that'll be a fun one So it'll be a good one for everybody if you have nothing to do that that day at that time Find a way to watch this trick and match. It'll be worth it and then The champions of england finally look like they might they might be the champions of england again. Hopefully this one too, but Saracens man, where the hell's this been?
00:53:39
Speaker
I don't know but I'm happy to see it. There's a lot of good stuff that I wanted to see for a while coming out of the Saracens and I saw a lot of it. I didn't see all of it. There's definitely room for growth but I liked what I saw. A good match to have against a team like this for sure.
00:54:00
Speaker
I feel like the key now You can talk all you want and we can About at like Maro toji and Billy Funapola because fuck it's nice to have them back. Yeah
00:54:16
Speaker
But Jackson Ray and now sure everything I'm not sure who was wearing Jackson Ray's Jersey when he's been playing earlier this year Didn't look very good. It didn't look like Jackson Ray that was playing last year. So some imposter was in his Jersey earlier
00:54:32
Speaker
this past weekend. That was Jackson Red. That looked like the guy that we know and love. The players player, the coaches, the fans player of the year last year for the Saracens. Everybody loves him. He's associated with Saracens. I'm sure everybody who is not associated with Saracens, he's playing against him. Yeah, because he does a lot of good things against teams.
00:54:50
Speaker
But you could see, but you could also see it in his face when, when, when he broke the line. Yes. And he's just all a smile ear to ear as he's putting that over the trial line. That's, that's good to see his, you know, he needs, he needs a little bit of a confidence boost. I'm sure. So as much as it's, it's great to have Mauro back and he did get a soft yellow, very soft. Yeah. That was unfortunate.
00:55:12
Speaker
There were and there's there's other controversy associated with the match that we can get to the uh The the tip ruck the tip. Yeah, which I maybe a yellow maybe not who knows my my problem is that It's it's not so much what was done, but because there were bodies in the way. That's why he rolled that way it was it looked like it was normal gator roll, but then People were in the way and it just just happened. Yeah, he rolled over people and fell off
00:55:38
Speaker
Probably best to not call anything on that one anyway, so i'm glad there was nothing there But then it gets a little dicey, but then the response to toji's yellow. Yeah, freaking dope that steps on buckle skeleton Uh, that's the character. Yeah albertus buckle Isn't buckle the name of a character in american? I don't know. I think it is but still it's a
00:56:06
Speaker
Yeah, that doesn't belong. Go away. We don't want you. While they're both in the bin, Saracen score. Bad news for you, buddy. It is sad to see something that probably wasn't a yellow card put on the same level as something that might have been a red card.
00:56:25
Speaker
Yeah, exactly and standard effort mostly unfortunately, and i've seen people You know doing the normal whining now. It seems normal about farrell It you know, he's got he's been targeted a lot now and I get He's going to be the guy that everybody picks on their got their athletes that are very good That get picked on and he is going to be one of them from now on people are going to look for everything bad about owen farrell Yeah, that's just a fact
00:56:50
Speaker
And whether it's called or not is going to be completely it's going to be irrelevant because people are going to piss them on either way. Because that the the one I saw some somebody on Twitter. Shoulder charge. Yeah, but he basically caught him. The arm was down. It wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't the arm was down, but it wasn't tucked. It was only because he was like a double tackle. So he had his arm kind of kind of in it.
00:57:14
Speaker
Yes, it doesn't want that's a hit that you see You know four or five times in any given rugby match. Yeah, and nobody gives a shit it happens to own for Owen Farrell's involved in something like that and Suddenly the world's ending. Yeah, and and again, and this is me saying this and you know how hard I've been on Oh in the past couple of weeks, right? You know, I thought he deserved the yellow the couple weeks ago, but that yellow flushed a lot
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah, so now it's like he kind of started got to start with back at square one and so it's like he No, if he you know, I could understand giving him a penalty at some point for something like that But then you got to give a lot of other people penalties, too So let's not let's not make you know It's not like Owen Farrell's some sort of Vontay's perfect where he's out to injure people now and trying to fuck up a game and
00:58:02
Speaker
Yeah, he wants to make hard hits. He doesn't want to hurt someone. Right. He's a big difference. And he did actually legitimately like he had a high tackle on point. He realized it was high and just pulled away through his hands and said, I'm sorry, I fucked up. If he's the player that people want to make him out to be, he completes that tackle and gets yellowed. Probably tears somebody's head off. Right. So he's obviously trying to play in good spirit of the game.
00:58:28
Speaker
And people need to lay up off of them a little bit. Just a little bit. I'm not saying completely. It's never going to happen. Just a little bit. Just quell your BS for just a wee bit, will you? Yeah. He's not out there stomping and twisting like fucking buckled it. Right, exactly. Yeah.
00:58:49
Speaker
Leon tried for the first like half. It was not, they put a hell of an effort in. And there's something else I want to talk about that's not related to Leon specifically, but I'll get to it in a second. How ugly was that pitch? Just torn up. That game hadn't even started and it looked torn up. We'll talk about that. Last thing we'll have to talk about, two guys we have to talk about. Nick Tompkins, Mako.
00:59:15
Speaker
Tommo he so he obviously got set up by Mako's hands in the first half and Jackson and Jackson raised try was definitely responsible because everybody flooded to Mako both times it's just like three guys like
00:59:29
Speaker
McAvoy has the ball, we have to stop him. And there's somebody that comes free, he finds him, see ya. It's like, you guys have to remember, he can't break a 50, 40 meter run. You're gonna- He's still a prop. He's still a prop. You're gonna have time to catch up to him if you get shut off. Yeah. Just don't let it become a thing. And he's not gonna wanna be tackled from behind either, so he doesn't know how.
00:59:49
Speaker
Nope. So yeah, but and then Tom just to muscle himself over through what three guys? Yeah, off that off that line out. I love seeing I love seeing him out there. People talk about a certain fat fly have said, Oh, yeah, you guys don't need Elliott daily. Yes, I still want Elliott daily. I love this kid. I still want Elliott daily because Brad Barrett's gonna be gone soon. So yeah, if he's got if he's here beyond this year, that'll be the last year he's here for sure.
01:00:17
Speaker
Right. So get Tompkins to learn how to run the defense. Yeah, right. That'd be great. The pitches in general in France, bull. God awful. Bull. All of them. Like, what is going on? These clubs have so much effing money that they're throwing at the players. Throw some at your goddamn fields.
01:00:33
Speaker
Please. Yeah, please. That's another player. That should be another player. Because what happened, you know, if your player tears up a knee, because your field sucks, well, what good is it? I was watching a match, and the ball died on a patch of dirt that had been kicked up as it was kicked. That was the Steelers Dolphins game a couple years ago.
01:00:54
Speaker
No, but literally, it was like it was a torn up patch. I think it was Newcastle in the game. And like it was kicked down. The ball died. It bounced funny because it was on such a torn up patch. It's so awful to see. And then somebody got a penalty. I think it was Cowan Dickey got a penalty for Exeter. No, it wasn't him. Who was it? Oh, no, it was same match. It was Coop. Maybe maybe this is the incident. I'm thinking of Cooper fell down while he was trying to stop them all because the freaking pitch gave out underneath them.
01:01:23
Speaker
Yeah, like and it wasn't like he wasn't balanced it gave out so easily underneath them So and you can see it even in the scrums. You can see that the sod flying everywhere and just Yeah, so French friends rugby, please be better. Please be better like your your your one national teams today name is immaculate Maybe try and figure out how to repeat that over like everybody else's field police. Yeah, cuz those are shit
01:01:47
Speaker
And if you can't then put in field turf because it's it's a legitimate surface It requires a little I'm sure a lot less maintenance certainly your pitch gets keeps getting torn up So Saracens win 28 10 get the bonus point set up a pretty big one for themselves this weekend Although they are already qualified. They're the only team to qualify with a round to go Set up a big one this weekend. They are the top of pool three and
01:02:11
Speaker
And right now they are currently the number one in the quarterfinal seeds. So that'll be although right now as it stands, it's a little, it's not a pretty look to see who we're playing, but we'll talk about that in a second. It makes it a little prettier when it's at home though. Yeah, it always is a lot prettier when you're at home. Good Lord. Last match, Glasgow Cardiff didn't watch a ton of this match, but from what I understand, Thompson and Hogg were just causing trouble left and right.
01:02:41
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't get to watch this. Yeah. So the, but it's, um, uh, it, it, it was a good effort from Cardiff to give it a shot and make sure that Glasgow didn't just get the waltz over the, the, the line in the end. They, uh, they, they made it tough, but at the end, um, Glasgow, Glasgow, push one over, uh, pool three, a lot like pool one and pool two. It's just, and two, four, two great teams and couple, meh.
01:03:08
Speaker
Yeah, it just yeah, not I mean not you know more than others because shit, you know Cardiff has five points in the competition leon has zero Yeah, so you have two teams that combined have five points in the competition then Yeah Yeah, yeah, Tommy Seymour. What was uh, was apparently running all over the place looks like and Yeah, and there were our I think Allie price had a ton or Sam Johnson. That's who it was. Sam Johnson had a bunch of carries and
01:03:37
Speaker
Keble was up there in the carries department, even though he wasn't necessarily making a lot. Ryan Wilson had 15 carries. Good for him. Damn. Alright, so Glasgow have obviously come to this competition to play there. I don't think they got through the knockout stage last year, so they're obviously trying to bounce back and make sure that they can this year.
01:03:56
Speaker
Uh, setting themselves up pretty handily, uh, sitting as the, um, first of the runner up runner ups right now. I mean, with that, those point total, or if they're, they're 19 points, I mean, they'd be leading in pool two, maybe tied in pool five. So they're, you know, the class goes in good, good position. Yeah, they're, they're doing all right.
01:04:17
Speaker
So, as it stands, quarterfinals are Saracens 1, Rousing 2, Leinster 3, Edinburgh 4, Leinster 5. Those are the pool winners. Your best runners up after that are Glasgow, Ulster, and Toulouse. I'm not really excited about the prospect of Saracens playing Toulouse at home, but at least we'll be at home. It doesn't have to be pretty, just get over the line. Yeah, but again,
01:04:46
Speaker
It depends on which to lose side if they're playing that that that team that that traveled to Leinster Yeah, we'll see. I feel pretty confident. Let's put it that way. Yeah, certainly more than I mean if Ulster is on fire like that I Don't want them. So and then you know, there's other options. I mean Exeter again could could sneak in right? I really wouldn't want them
01:05:07
Speaker
No, not if they're on that kind of role. Because that means that they'd be on form. Yeah, for sure. On form like Exeter is not a side you want to play by any means whatsoever. Negative. All right, so let's go through, let's go through the Pick'em and then we'll kind of like project what we think will happen with these games as we go through the Pick'em, with the standings.
01:05:27
Speaker
So a big one Friday night and burn Montpelier and Burr at home, Montpelier traveling, Montpelier are not in good form in top 14. From what I understand and Burr have seen to kind of found their stride both in the league and in Europe. So Edinburgh is at home. So I'm going to pick them. I think I'm going to Scott's as well.
01:05:47
Speaker
By the way, we now have separation in the pick and pull. I'm winning. Yeah. Well, I took a couple of risks. I wanted to say, you know what? Either I'm winning or I'm losing that week. So yeah, I came out the short end of that. Yeah. It's all right. Big time. It happens. It does. You really only just took that one risk with Leinster. Yeah. After that, I think the thing that would have separated us would have been Scarlett's and Bath. I pick Bath. You pick Scarlett's.
01:06:17
Speaker
Just for the sake of it, we got to pick this Newcastle in Toulon. You think Newcastle can ride the ship? You think Toulon can finally get a friggin win away from home? Well, no, I don't think Newcastle can ride the ship, but I also don't think that Toulon can get a win from home. So it's a long way to go. It is. So I'm going
01:06:33
Speaker
Up to the tune there, as I said. I'm putting Tulan in. Okay. I think Newcastle have, have, have tucked tail in, uh, in the champions cup. Yeah. Unfortunately, I think you're right. And I think Tulan's going to want to come away with some pride that, that honestly, I don't, I don't know that Newcastle really care about it. I don't know that they have, they're really playing for pride here so much as getting their shit ready to not get relegated.
01:06:56
Speaker
Right. So with our result, with those results that would put Edinburgh 23 and Montpelier on 16, probably leaving Montpelier on the outside looking in. Actually, it would be because they're not even on the inside right now. So you're taking it too long also? Yes, I am. Okay. Yes, I am. All right. Pool three, Saracens Glasgow.
01:07:17
Speaker
I'm going with the home squad. Yeah. I hate to pick against the boys, especially after a decent performance like that. Just put it in. I think that's going to be. This is going to be a rock fight. It's going to be a rock fight. It's not going to be easy. And then, oops, I messed that up. Oh yeah, Cardiff on my own. You got it right. My brain's fried.
01:07:41
Speaker
I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to go Cardiff. Yeah, going home, homes aside. Maybe Leon get a point. You know, maybe. I mean, I'd hate for them to go just complete over complete goose egg. Yeah. That would be really, really shitty for them first year in this competition. Sure. So with that, that would give Saracen's 27 and would give them the one for sure. And then Glasgow would be stuck on 19.
01:08:06
Speaker
Rossing and scarlets at Rossing at home. Well, I could see I could see actually I could see Glasgow getting a bonus point They could take a couple themselves up. Yeah, you're probably right actually I can see that being either Them getting either the four tries or or keeping it close. I personally I think they're more likely to get the the losing bonus point, right?
01:08:24
Speaker
They did they almost did last time. I think they will this time They know they know what how valuable that point could be in the end of this right? So they'll don't they'll one way or another though. I think they will get a bonus point. Yeah, so pencil pencil them in for 20 This is all this is all gonna be kiss of death to watch sure Rassing and Scarlett's probably rassing at home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think they have a lot to play for they need to make sure that they're I mean they
01:08:53
Speaker
They stand pat if they let's say they lose no bonus point, which would be shocker. That would be a real shock That would still be you know, so they're still gonna they still need to put in a good shift, right? To improve their position or maintain their position. I should say yeah, I think they get 26 out of this so I think they get all five I
01:09:13
Speaker
I would be shocked if they didn't yeah, same. Okay, so we're agreement on that Luster and ulster. I don't think ulster get the bonus point, but I think they get the win at welford row. I think they just crush Yeah, I yeah, I think they come away with five So we'll call it 22 maybe 23
01:09:42
Speaker
Casting Gloucester. This is kind of the irrelevant game in pool to cast at home. Oh, this will be interesting actually for a game that doesn't mean a damn thing. Right? I feel like Gloucester can now they're obviously I don't think they're
01:10:00
Speaker
as talented in those positions, but I think they can attack cast the same way that Exeter did. Yep. So I think Gloucester come away with a win. And I realize I'm, you know, I'm jocking my, my side piece here, but at the same time, it's all, I wouldn't, except for the fact that they can attack cast the same exact way that Exeter just did. And, and that will be extremely helpful for them. All right. I'll give you a chance to catch up. I'll pick the Frenchman.
01:10:31
Speaker
cast. And then the big one. Alright, so there's two key elements to this one. Exeter need a bonus point win and they need to keep monster away from getting a bonus point themselves to make this thing
01:10:45
Speaker
To win the pool and then after that they're kind of left up to it's kind of left up to the gods of who's the best runner-up, right? They absolutely Yeah, exit or needs to win bad Monster does so they both do so I'm gonna go with the home team. I am too
01:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, the Munster at home they did they almost never lose no in general let alone in europe And and they're not gonna let Exeter do what cast let Exeter do they're gonna just shut that shit down Yeah, physical defense and uh, and they can they can play a little bit of attack too. So
01:11:21
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. I'm going to get I'm only going to give Munster four because I don't think they can get four tries against this team. This team is just definitely going to rock up and not get pushed around. Yeah. And then the Sunday games, um, Boston, Linster was host.
01:11:39
Speaker
The boys in blue and let's they're gonna be both depends on what they have to play for at that point I'm sure that they're gonna get the win. Let's put it that way. It's the question of how by how much I think they get I Think they get off five So we're going 25. Yeah, I think so too again wasps of or you know, they're they're out so who knows what kind of side they're gonna put out there and
01:12:03
Speaker
Yeah, they obviously they let daily rest this week. They might let them rest again. Yeah, I who knows what else happens, right? I would I mean, yeah, because they're they're in position to Try to get it squeeze up into in the premiership So they have bigger things to play for then a meaningless match. Yeah in the Champions Cup
01:12:21
Speaker
To lose and bath who gives a fuck? Well, it's a big one. I guess could still it's a big one only because Bath are probably gonna feel a little they probably should have beat this team in the fall And if not for our friends little blip. Yeah, they would have they would have and I'm still gonna go with the homes you home side. Okay
01:12:50
Speaker
I have, I, I don't have, again, I'm not sure what, what Beth's playing for. Whereas to lose is going to, they, they have a lot to play for. So, uh, big one here, bonus planner now.
01:13:04
Speaker
Yes, yeah, I think I think I think the well because they'll know what everybody else has done, right? They're gonna know we need
Rugby Standings and Predictions
01:13:10
Speaker
that fourth try. So they're gonna take some extra risks. They will and I think they'll they'll be successful with that. Okay, so that gives them 20. That would give them 22. So that would put Saracens as the one rousing as the two. The three would be let lens hair.
01:13:29
Speaker
Four would be Edinburgh. Five would still be Munster. And then we have... We have here, we have...
01:13:43
Speaker
Oh, and then we have Ulster. So are they the best runner up? Depending on how, depending on if they get the bonus point or not, they might be there. They'll be either the six or the seven. And if they don't get the bonus point, then I think to lose would be the, the best runner up out of that. And then it comes down to, um, Glasgow will probably have the eight, which means they'll travel back to Helions park in the spring here.
01:14:11
Speaker
Well, I hope I honestly don't know if that's going to be the accurate thing, but whatever. Right. If I knew we'd be making a lot of money off of this. Right. Oh, shit. Completely legally. Less than legal means are OK, too.
01:14:30
Speaker
Let's
England Rugby Squad Analysis
01:14:31
Speaker
talk about the england squad. Yeah, because I think that that's that's fun. That's intriguing. Yeah So I I made my predictions. Okay with And I picked like a 34 35 man provisional squad, which is usually what eddy does right shims it down to like what 31 or so sure so For
01:14:51
Speaker
Props, I have Mako from the series, Hepburn from Exeter, Cole from Lester, Sinclair from the Quinn's, Shonert from Wooster, and Moon from Exeter. And then Hookers, I have Jamie, Jamie George from Saracens, Luke Caron Dickey from Exeter, and then Jack Singleton from Wooster.
01:15:16
Speaker
All right, um, I actually have a lot of worries on this one. It's funny. Um, so he calls it his back five. So this is second rows and, and, and, uh, loose forwards. Right. Um, a Toge from the Saracens launch break from the was Mark Wilson from new castle, Tom Curry from sale. Um, Billy Buenavolo from series, uh, Courtney laws from Northampton, uh, Nathan Hughes from was
01:15:40
Speaker
Only for a while longer. Zach Mercer from Bath, Don Armin from Exeter, and probably the popular, trendy, but still surprise pick if he lands in this team, Alex Dombran from the twins. You could do worse. Yeah.
01:15:57
Speaker
Scrum half so have Wilson. What's up? Oh, you know, yeah Mark Wilson. Yeah. Yeah. He's being rested so he can play in this right now, right? Which is good good for England at least Scrum half I have Ben Young's from Lester Danny care from Quinn's and Ben Spencer
01:16:16
Speaker
Um, I think, I think you could probably trade Spencer up for Wigglesworth easily in this because Wigglesworth has the control and the, and the, and the box kick in the game. And that's, he has the ability to change a game in certain ways against certain teams. So I agree. I think that in that case, when, if you have youngs in care, one of them's probably going to start, you could have Spencer as your, he would be the backup. Yeah. So I think I feel like Spencer is a, is a much better weapon off the bench.
01:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, it usually is. So I think that, that if you're going to take one of the saris scrumhaves in that competition, I'd go, I'd go Spencer. Yeah. And a name that I would, I want to, I want to put out there, but it's not going to happen, but I'd like to just kind of see everybody have their eye on them. Jack Monder from Exeter scrumhaves been doing pretty well. He's he's eligible. So that we'll see. Or what about the kid? Which one? Randall.
01:17:11
Speaker
Uh, yeah, he's been playing out of his skin too. Yes. Let's get this kid some, you know, and, and see all this is like, does he pick a strong squad to win the six nation or does it, does he pick a squad to get experience to develop? And then maybe it'll be a little bit, a little bit of both, a little bit of both. So we'll see. Yeah. Maybe some of these names are dead on. Maybe some of these names are way off. Um, so going into your first receivers, I have Farrell, Ford, and Cipriani getting the call. I think that those were my three. Yeah.
01:17:40
Speaker
As you can see, they each bring a little something different. Feral obviously has a versatility to bump over to play Senna as well. So Feral from the Saracens, Ford from Lester, and Cipriani from Gloucester. Senna, I picked four quote unquote Senna, some immersion, one of them's not really, doesn't know what he is. He can play anywhere. Slade from Exeter, Teo from Worcester, Daley from Moss, and Tulani from Lester.
01:18:07
Speaker
And then our back three. Johnny May from Lester, no doubt. Yeah. Noel from Exeter, no doubt. No doubt. Mike Brown should be in this team. He should. From McLinn's. Ashton from Sale, definitely should be in this team. And then two names that I hope I see on the list, but I'm not sure will be on there. Nathan Earl.
01:18:28
Speaker
from Quinn's. He's been playing very well. He's been playing very well for them. So hopefully, if he picks on form, like he's freaking saying he's going to, hopefully he does. And then, oh boy, Alex Good. I think he has to get the call. I think he has to. If he doesn't get the call at this point, then he's not getting the call for World Cup. That's pretty much how it is. But I think he's got to give him a shot. Because again, you said he's playing, if he's picking on form,
01:18:56
Speaker
He's been on for like two years. You kind of have to give him a shot. There's a couple of names that aren't on your list. What are you, what are you thinking? You know, I'll be Exeter.
01:19:12
Speaker
Props, let me go back to prop. Yeah all the way back. Oh, I like williams harry williams. I like him a lot Yeah, and I like him. Oh, honestly. I like him a little bit more than hepern. He will see here's the thing He's gonna pick one of those guys. Yeah, so because he's not good before he could pick them both Yeah, because he had mac. Oh, I've just haven't been I haven't been impressed with hepern Yeah, when i've seen him play, but he has his favorites too. That's true However, coach does so yeah, he's gonna go back to that uh, but
01:19:41
Speaker
And and maybe it's also a different, you know, it's at a different level doing different things So maybe for for what Eddie wants to do at that, you know at the international level Hepburn might be the better prop But in the premiership for Exeter, I like yeah, Williams has been amazing. No, you're not gonna get a ton of argument out of me although Williams is a tight head, isn't he? I think they both plan the same side
01:20:05
Speaker
Okay. I thought Hepburn was the loose for some reason. I tried to pick three and three. If I screwed that up, then whoops, my bad. No worries. Any other omissions? Because obviously Underhill is not going to be eligible. Ted Hill is probably not going to get picked for this little shindig. Ted Hill won't get picked if Dom Rank gets picked. Let's put it that way.
01:20:32
Speaker
Probably not even for Mercer glaring omissions not so much except for our Big fantasy friend over there with Thacker, but I don't I think that's more of a fantasy thing than a yeah a form thing Yeah, if you if Thacker was gonna get picked he would have picked a long time. I agree so and it's and then the other other any uh, there's no Gloucester players
01:20:55
Speaker
There's oh sips sips. That's it. Yeah, it's it's hard to it's hard to pick um Knowing what I know about eddie and I threw in some ones that I wasn't sure about because I know what how eddie thinks Morgan was the only other one that would have considered on that list off top my head. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I know i'm going back to two of my favorites, but but Sharples and thoroughly have been right and ridiculous this year. He doesn't like sharpels
01:21:21
Speaker
Those are the problems with the two of them right and I feel like I think I'd like to see Sharples get a look but I think you're right I think he's gonna go with the guys he's comfortable with over especially at the wing he's gonna Entrust the guys there that that he likes rather than yeah
01:21:39
Speaker
No, I don't think Anthony Watson is going to be ready to go. Jonathan Joseph might be a name that gets thrown into this hat if he's ready to go. So we'll see. We'll have a little bit to talk about. We'll talk about this more next week because we won't have a pick them, obviously, because it will be prem cup and nobody gives a damn about the prem cup. And then we'll take a break after that. And then the following week we will do a we'll focus solely on Six Nations because that's the bye week for the premiership. We'll focus solely on Six
Concluding Thoughts and Listener Engagement
01:22:08
Speaker
Nations.
01:22:09
Speaker
We're going to use the rugby mag to play our Six Nations Fantasy this year. I've used ESPN in the past and really it's just annoying. Really? ESPN annoying? Gee, shocking. So we'll go with our friends at the rugby mag for this one just because it's simple and easy. And they treated us so well. Yeah, they've done well. Bailed me out of one.
01:22:34
Speaker
So, but I think that's all we got for you guys today. So find us on Twitter. Email the show, email the show, FancyRugbyPodcast at gmail.com. We are, we're looking forward to hearing from you guys. And make sure that you get in on the league for Super Rugby. And we'll see you guys next week. Enjoy the games this weekend everybody. Thanks for listening. Cheers mate.