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Season 5- Episode 4- Kick the Damn Ball (Premiership Round 2)
32 Plays3 years ago
It's another podcast from those American Rugby knuckleheads. On this episode, there's plenty jammed into about 70 minutes so hand on. We look at the two struggling clubs in the Premiership, Wasps and Worcester, with hopes that they can find a way through their troubles. Something more exciting, we have a look at the Rugby World Cup squads that have been announced and who has put together the squad to bring it home. Then we recap all the action from the weekend in the Prem and TRC, including the decision everyone is talking about from the Bledisloe Cup last Thursday. This and so much more, so have a cold one with us and enjoy!
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Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail 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 Banter
00:00:02
Speaker
It is... The Fantasy Europeans. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. Collusion! Collusion!
Challenges of Coaching University Rugby
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello everybody. It is the fancy rugby. Thanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's get into it. We got, we got lots to cover here. Um, obviously we got first things first is I'm going to crack a beer, but Ben's going to be like a couple of weeks, six weeks or whatever the hell you guys got going on with that. I'm coaching later tonight, so I can't drink.
00:00:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The, uh, the perils of coaching university rugby over here in the U S is you had some really crappy training times. Yeah. Nine, nine to 11 tonight. I'm super excited about it. I remember those days when I was in college and.
00:01:07
Speaker
That's the time we got law does like really like I'd like to be either one just sitting on my couch playing Xbox or two asleep by then. Yeah. And I guess in college I wouldn't be asleep, but no. Yeah, I would have less of an issue with it in college, really. But oh, I used to hate it when it was when Boston, when we used to have to train indoors up in Danvers. Remember when you busted your face open at like, yep, it was like 11 o'clock. Yeah, it was 1030 at night when I did that. Jeez.
00:01:34
Speaker
That was bad. It was bad. So, but yeah, it sucks, but it is what it is.
Supporting the Podcast and Contributors
00:01:41
Speaker
Download rate review, find, find us on your favorite podcast app, share all that good stuff. Yeah. We need, we need you all to buy our good friend, Georgia coffee and or beer, because he's busy. The fancy rugby geek is at work and working hard. Um, guys. Yeah. Guy's going to be very busy coming up here. Obviously, especially once we get into like, um,
00:02:05
Speaker
Champions Cup, which is a huge pain in the ass. It'll be after that'll be after the, um, that'll be after the international window. But then again, during the international window, we know he's going to make use of the, uh, the official game of the autumn internationals as well. So you'll also be those of you that participate in that we'll be digging into him there. So go, go buy him a coffee, please. Yep.
Critique of World Rugby on Trans Inclusion
00:02:27
Speaker
So as always there's no discrimination allowed for us here on this podcast and there shouldn't be in sports or in life. We had discussed this last week a little bit and we'll continue it because it's been brought up again. World Rugby continuing to have the stupid stance on trans players and
00:02:47
Speaker
At this point, they no longer want to provide the science that they've used to this quote unquote research that they're using at this point. All right, I want to know where you're getting this information because if it's just hearsay and you're not asking the players that affects the most in terms of their teammates,
00:03:09
Speaker
And they're in their opponents. What the what are you doing? What are you doing? This is one more. This is just one more problem. That's killing rugby right now. It's awful. It is. And then that's the problem with like it is just plain bigotry and that's that's why they don't present anything. They're just like, well, we like they don't ultimately what it is is they're they're scared of society changing and are going to use any excuse, whether it's like a real excuse or not. And
00:03:37
Speaker
The problem is that it's given weight, and it shouldn't be. For those of you out there, when people say, oh, well, the science says, OK, well, as Jared said, prove it. Where is that science?
00:03:52
Speaker
And it's just not there. It's just what they want to hear. It's just like one of those like it's the old Fox News. Oh, people are saying this was a thing back in, you know, for some of us who are old, that used to be a thing back in the early 2000s. That's how they would would get it. Like, oh, people are saying that, you know, like the Democrats kicked puppies. They must be. And so it's like the same kind of thing here. It's like, you know, oh, people are saying the science says there's no real science to back it up. It's not real.
00:04:18
Speaker
And ultimately, this is supposed to be an inclusive game. So, you know, everybody has a spot for it. And to say, you know, it's just amazing to me to hear. Oh, well, the science says, you know, I don't want like, you know, a trans woman who was born male.
00:04:38
Speaker
you know, running at my like, you know, whatever, like my little girl or something like that. And it's like, well, okay, so if they want to be played, go play men's rugby. It's like, so you want them, and there is, you know, their body does change with the transitioning. It does. So now what you're saying is they should go play on safe, like you're okay with them being unsafe.
00:05:02
Speaker
Right. But not you know, but not like women playing with women. So it's just not it's not real. It's just made up excuses. Don't don't let people push you around with excuses that aren't real.
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's it's it's a whole lot of bullshit that people are just trying to shift their so their view matches and that's that's where it's at.
Patreon Content and Supporter Acknowledgment
00:05:24
Speaker
You know, you're you're you're willing to say this about a transitioning person, but you're not willing to say, well, I don't want, you know, Marley Packer running over my my my my child. Well, yeah.
00:05:37
Speaker
Really? What's the difference? Right. The recent other than your viewpoint of the other person. That's right. Yeah, that's it. You know, so a lot of crap, a lot of crap. Stupid old man. Also, less less sour note, grab our Patreon.
00:06:00
Speaker
I've gotten, I've now published two pieces. Who knew? Who knew? I got it done. Sat here in another wee hours, but a lot later than I usually would say at my computer, trying to bang that second one out because things were a little helter-skelter this weekend, so couldn't really put a whole lot down. And there were some score changes too in FRD that I had to go back and reset. So I was like, that's annoying.
00:06:24
Speaker
And it was only one game, so it wasn't that bad. But so, but that that's out there. Obviously rankings and all that stuff are free. And also a welcome to our newest patron, Sophia. Thank you very much for doing that. We appreciate it so much. And I can't tell you how happy we are that we have people that are supporting us. And it really means the world to us to have people like that.
00:06:44
Speaker
And we will have statistical analysis up soon. My apologies. It's on me for the delay. But I have this thing called work. What's that? Yeah, they expect me to get things really annoying thing. And it's been crazy lately. So I've been working fairly late and then coaching. And so, yeah, that's my bad. Unfortunately, I'm not going to blame Ed for this. I spent too much time prepping the TRM.
00:07:11
Speaker
stuff and not enough on the FRD, which is because the confusing thing there is how they track position groups and whatnot. So it's a lot of extra work that I got to do. So my apologies. It'll be up soon. Yeah, we have numbers. We just need to put formulas in.
00:07:31
Speaker
Right. And I want to get that done by by the time we go to London. Yeah, definitely. Which is next week. Definitely. Definitely. Next week. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of while we're on that subject, we will. We will. Like we said, we're going to London. So I think our plan is going to be Friday night when we're there is to find a pub in where in around where we are. Well, you know where we are and to watch the the Falcons and Bears game. That's going to be the plan, at least.
00:08:00
Speaker
Those two teams should still be playing next week.
Financial Troubles of Worcester and Wasps
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah. Speaking of, we'll dive into some actual rugby in a second, but we can't ignore the really sad stuff that's going on around and the really disheartening stuff overall of Wooster and Woss. You want to figure out
00:08:27
Speaker
you want to hit the rewind button on both these clubs and figure out where they went wrong. Then for WASS, it's now they're, they're talking about going into administration, which we all know is a bad, is a bad thing. And that's obviously going to cause them to go into automatic relocation. If they can prove that they went into administration for
00:08:52
Speaker
another reason that was out of the control. WOS likely are going to be saying that they're going into administration and the primary cause of it was COVID. Now, this bond that they had that's causing this whole thing was before that, but
00:09:09
Speaker
I think they're the reasoning and I hate it, but if it gets them to survive and they fix it, I'd rather that then. Right. Then go into administration and have them relegated to that sucks. Right. And. Yeah, Worcester, I think we know that there's a clear there's two people, clearly, that are the problem. They're workers wasps. I don't. Yeah, I feel I feel horrible for wasps and obviously we're not.
00:09:38
Speaker
We're not wasps of supporters, but I feel like we're wasps appreciators. Like, we've always kind of wished them well. And I like the way they play. And really, the prem would not be the same without wasps. Right. I honestly can't say the same about Worcester, but that's not. We still don't want them to go down either. Right. I don't want them to go away. It's just like, if a club like wasps can get fucked up to this point,
00:10:07
Speaker
Troublesome it is so I hope I hope that they can pull themselves out of it and I hope Worcester can pull themselves out of it But that's I it seems like the Worcester owners are determined to just destroy the club Yeah, but that's all that's all I come up with at this point. I can't figure out what the fuck they're doing No, and why they're being like, well, we need to be put we still need to be part of it No, no, no, you do not. Nobody wants you a part of it, right? You're making it worse like you were the problem go away
00:10:32
Speaker
And that's the problem with these, again, rich white men going all like, I can do whatever I want. It's like, well, you know what? No, obviously you can, but there's consequences to it. You can do whatever you want, but you have to also deal with the consequences, motherfucker. Right. So I'm really hopeful that wasps can pull themselves out. And I think I feel more positive about them, like they're taking steps that are
00:10:55
Speaker
honest and in good faith and trying to do the work to save the club. Whereas I just don't feel the same from Worcester. And that's sad. Yeah, it is sad. And they were able to play their game.
00:11:07
Speaker
kind of haphazardly earlier today against Gloucester. So it's just the same. It's really disappointing and all around and Duckworth would be spinning in this grave. I have a feeling of all this stuff was going on right now. And it sounds like it's just
00:11:27
Speaker
they keep, not only do they want to continue to be part of the club, which nobody wants right now, it sounds like they're also a little money hungry. It's like, well, listen, this terrible investment is your fault. So to try and recoup it because you were the idiots.
00:11:45
Speaker
It makes no sense. And you have this, I don't know if it's an angel investor, but you have this investor that's ready to just inject the money into the club and save it. And these guys are just hell bent on making sure it all goes sour. You're only making a worse name for yourself, just stop. And that's the thing, like who?
00:12:07
Speaker
Who would ever want to work with them again? What would they own that people would be like, yeah, you know what? I want to go into business with these people. Nobody. Nobody's going to be like, like, yes. I mean, and the problem is being an owner of a sports club means you need to get people to work with you.
00:12:22
Speaker
And, and, or being in, you know, business in general. So it's like, okay, I'm sure they have other businesses. If I'm dealing with them in, you know, like to put it this way, I work in, in supply chain, um, for a major, um, health manufacturing company, like.
00:12:41
Speaker
If I knew that one of my suppliers was owned by one of these guys, I'd be like, I'm finding a new business because I can't trust these people. I need to make sure that I have a good long-term partner. And nope, I'm not working with them. So what are you doing? You're taking these, you're cutting off your nose just by your face, and it's not good for anybody. No. Not at all. Did you see that the Wooster account, Twitter account,
00:13:10
Speaker
They tweeted out at one point, they said, we're 65% of the way through the game, so we're out. We're done last week. I didn't see that one. Yeah, that's good. So that's not a good place to be. Then that's all on ownership. Nope, not at all. All right, let's move on.
00:13:34
Speaker
You know, semi-unpainfully.
New Zealand Women's Rugby Team Analysis
00:13:36
Speaker
Something more uplifting, the Rugby World Cup squads for New Zealand coming up should be... I cannot wait. So much fun. So, so great. Do we know if it's definitely on flow, by the way? You know, I don't know. I'm getting the sense it is, but... Look, I hope it is, because I don't know that anybody else is going to be doing it.
00:13:57
Speaker
maybe, but yeah, I don't think so because that would be on their list of things. They have, you know, they go through and see like champions copy, even though it's not up yet. Really. Damn it. Stop being right. Stop making sense.
00:14:13
Speaker
So we're going to go through a few squads here. Let's go to let's start with the house. Let's start with the host and make life a little easy. New Zealand, obviously, really looking forward to a home home world cup, but also they're they're defending. They're defending, you know. Yeah. Yeah. This is their this is so they're defending their their crown and they're on their home patch. So you got to put them at least in the favor to make the final. Mm hmm.
00:14:39
Speaker
Whether or not they go they can get it done in the finals probably a big question mark because
00:14:45
Speaker
They've just not had the same investment that other areas, specifically being England, have in this game. Wayne Smith has come on and done a lot for this team, I think. Those that know me personally know I love Wayne Smith. Dude's awesome, and I think he was one of the biggest pieces of the successful All-Black squads. That said, there's...
00:15:10
Speaker
some study study names for the Blackferns. And then there's some other ones that, you know, we're going to find out what they actually have. Our favorite, you know, two of our favorites, Ruby Tooey and Stacey Floor are both are both in. So yay. Reasons to cheer for these for these women as long as they're not playing the U.S. And even then a little bit. Yeah, right. Is this is this Porsche women's last run?
00:15:39
Speaker
I mean, you got to figure. I know that there's going to be a quick turnaround, I guess, technically, you know, three years, but the years. Still three years later, still. Yeah, she's been around for so long that. Right. I just I got to figure that that this is her last her last run. Right. That's kind of what I was thinking, too. Especially when you if, you know, assuming they win, she's going to win the World Cup, you know.
00:16:07
Speaker
in her home country, you kind of, you know, when you're when you're at towards the end of your career, that's one where you just like, yeah, I'm good. Thanks. Yeah. Bow out right there. I wouldn't blame her a bit. Yeah, she's 31. So 34 is awful, but yeah, it's it's possible, but she's, you know, at a
00:16:26
Speaker
you know, from where you need speed and, you know, and power, like, I don't know, maybe she changes her position and stays in. Maybe. Maybe. We do know that this is, uh, Cocksidge's last, last though she's done after this one. So if nothing else, I'm sure the girls will be raring to go to get her, get her over the line and get her one more.
00:16:46
Speaker
For the forward, the forwards are interesting because there's not necessarily a ton of experience compared to say, Cocksedge obviously, and you know, a Cocksedge who's 61, nobody has nearly that in the forwards. I think the most is McMenaman with 27. Yeah, so. Well, oh yeah, no, that's that she's Wickliffe as a back, so yeah. Yeah, nope, nope, nope.
00:17:09
Speaker
I like the way the Brenner sisters looked in games I've seen this year so far.
France Women's Rugby Team and World Cup Chances
00:17:16
Speaker
So that's going to be interesting to me. And really, for me, they need to sort out the line out. They need to find the thrower that can throw. Never mind anything else, because if you can't win your own lineup ball, you are totally boned. And yes, you can carry certain things over the line a little bit, but
00:17:34
Speaker
You can't win your own line up, I'll forget it. Especially in some of these better teams. It would be problematic, a little troublesome. Find the hooker that can throw and then go from there.
00:17:47
Speaker
And I don't know if we've talked about this before but is it make early to any relation to think so. Okay. I think so. I was looking at before and I was trying to remember what my result was I think I think I think it is yes, let's just say yes. Yes, I would say that how many of them are.
00:18:07
Speaker
related to that, but you never know. There could be a very common name depending on where they're from. Right now. So maybe, maybe not. Don't know. Let's see. Yeah, they don't have anything. I don't see anything listed. All right. Balls. Oh, well, no worries. She should stand on her own, though. That's not it. It's not it has nothing to do with, you know, anything else other than a nice connection trivia. Yeah. Yeah. Trivia question.
00:18:35
Speaker
Right. So we'll see. This is, you know, like I said, a fairly inexperienced pack compared to their back line. So that's going to be kind of their determining factor. They go as far as that that unit carries them. Yep. Let's go. Let's go to France, because they're an interesting one. We expect them to make the semifinal and then see what happens from there. And they've they've they've been second banana to England, but they might be able to beat
00:19:05
Speaker
They did beat the black friends, although this was, uh, was last fall and the black friends had not played any test rugby up to that point. So, and the French had already played at least six, seven matches to that point. So difference, big difference, especially after you're a long layoff with COVID that was so unhelpful in so many ways. So it's, and there's some, there's some names that I love and there's some names that are probably be
00:19:31
Speaker
going by the wayside once they're done, uh, India is India. India is pretty old now. She's she's yeah, she's born in 88. Okay. Yeah. She's 34. I think this is her last run. Yeah. Although maybe she tries to stick around for, um, to host it, but I, they're in England next time.
00:19:50
Speaker
Oh, I thought they were. Oh, they were. Were they just in France? I have that all backwards manner in France. That's it. Oh, I thought it was France and France. OK. No, no, it's England. And then, yeah, they they did that and that. And then they started awarding both to the same country. Yeah, I'm OK with it. I kind of like that. It's a good idea. There's some other fun names for me. I like
00:20:11
Speaker
I like Jojo. I thought she was great when she was, when she was in, if I'm remembering the right person here at the fullback that plays for France. And I love the way she plays. And she's very, she's very gutsy. She likes to get friends. There's Bullard because Jojo is a prop.
00:20:30
Speaker
Okay, that's Jackie. That's the one. Sorry. Yeah, okay. Crossing them out. My fault. Yeah. Same letter, man. Sorry, dyslexia. Yes, Jackie. Sorry. My fault. You're right. Damn it. You're all right. Just being right. Didn't we talk about that already? Hey, I'm not drinking, so I have a reason. I have a good excuse for being correct. Yeah, you do, actually. So yeah, I like the way she plays. She's very good.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah, it is this gonna so it's almost like the the women are starting to become The expectations are grown to the point where they're Almost the same as the men in terms of they get there they get to the semi-final or you know They get to the knockouts and they just don't quite get it done to the next level that they should so Will they get to the final?
00:21:19
Speaker
It depends on who they play in the semi. Yeah, you know, I've said it because, you know, we talk about this with the US and we'll get to them, too. But like. If you can't beat either England or New Zealand, and I don't know the pools, I haven't gone too in depth enough into that, but like unless England play New Zealand in a semi, you're probably going to lose your semi. Right. So.
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah. They don't have the exact point runs laid out. Right. It's, you know, you want to, you want to keep you. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's like, it's going to happen next year with France as well. It's going to be like, uh, can you avoid a certain team? And there's, I think there's one that's going to have a ton of them. And it's like, eh, there's one side of the bracket that's going to have some really good ones. And it'll probably be the same with this one as well.
00:22:16
Speaker
but you just don't want to, yeah, if you're, if you're a France and you can avoid England up till at least the semi-final, then you probably give yourself a fighting chance. Exactly. They have a puncher's chance. I think is a, this is how I'd put it. Like, you know, you throw a punch here, like they're, they're talented. So if they, they do a couple of things, right. They could, they could win it all.
00:22:37
Speaker
You know, and it might help if they only have to play one of England or New Zealand. If they have to play both, it's going to be tough. Yeah, that's tough. But to that point, if they play them both and they win, nobody can question them.
00:22:52
Speaker
Again, nobody can. It'll be always. OK, France are for real. You know, it's no longer going to be that question mark over the head. So we'll see. They don't play it on the paper. They play it on the field. So we'll see how. And they could win on the field. They're not they're not they're not terrible by any stretch. They're they're easily they're at their top three team in the world. So that means you can win. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Let's go to.
USA Women's Rugby Team Expectations
00:23:23
Speaker
Our girls, the Eagles, um, also another team that for, for our sakes, we are expecting that they make the semi-final and anything less is disappointment. Yes. I think that I don't think that's wrong. Um, maybe that wants to correct me on that. Please do.
00:23:41
Speaker
So let's not, not, not, not trying to correct you on that. Let's, let's have a look at this. We have, so we got a couple of locals for our, our sakes over here in Boston, uh, four, I think that count, right? One, two, three, yep. Four. Who am I? Uh, so, uh, Bizer. Yeah. Bizer, Kaylee, Jarrell, and I missed treasure. Okay. Um,
00:24:10
Speaker
And I do want to point out Erica Terrell because she was someone that you and I saw in person and we're like, she's fucking good. Yeah. And we're like, she should not be here. She should be somewhere else. So I was hoping that she'd end up overseas and it hasn't happened yet. Doesn't mean if she shows well here, she won't because she will.
00:24:30
Speaker
But it hasn't happened yet. I don't see how she's a prop at this level, though. But no, she won't be. I fully anticipate her playing in the second row. I always scratch my head when I see that in the lineup for them. I'm like, yeah, really? I mean, I got like six to strong. Yeah, I get it. Like that's what you that's nine times out of ten. That's what you really need. Right. In that area. But.
00:24:51
Speaker
Not here. No, no, no. And she has a lot of value in the loose, too, that if you're at prop, you take away from that value because it's just you're you're so tired from scrummaging and lifting and all that, that that they're running around. And I've said that before. It does limit you. So, yeah. Lock or even the six, I would see there. But so it's it's weird to see her at prop or listed as a prop.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, and I so I'm, I'm really interested in the scrum half battle as well. We know, we know, Carly waters is probably the incumbent in this whole thing. Really, it's down to Kaylee and Ortiz and, you know, from what I remember of Kaylee,
00:25:36
Speaker
I liked it a lot better than when I saw Ortiz not taking away from Ortiz and that she's not talented. But when I saw a Bridget, it was better. Yeah, there's a lot more positive like Ortiz, I thought, was too inconsistent. And for every throw, every service, we were like, oh, that's pretty good. There was a service you're like, no.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, nope, nope. And Kaylee, when the team has their butt up, Kaylee's the one you want there because she will keep it moving. Like, I think she's one of those who, or no, it was Ortiz, where it was like, it was weird. It was like, if it was just a nice slow ball, like she, you know, everything was set.
00:26:16
Speaker
she would just fuck it up. Like it's like almost if she has to think it doesn't work and then it works in the loose. Um, Kaylee is more, uh, she's, she's maybe not as strong when it's like, you know, extremely open play. Um, but she, her, her fundamentals are much better. So it's like, you can, you can learn how to, to, to well in the loose, but if you can't, if you can't give, you know, decent service on slow ball, um, and it shouldn't be an international scrum half. No, I totally agree.
00:26:45
Speaker
The one glaring non selection is Alicia Washington. She's a non-traveling reserve right now. And that is huge in a lot of ways. And I don't know if that's a message from Rob Kane or if that is a sign of the tide turning in, you know, the next chapter coming for the team. I don't know. Yeah, she's not young.
00:27:09
Speaker
No, she is. But I forget she had one more left of the tank. So yeah, but maybe maybe she does. We haven't seen her. I don't think we've seen her since she was not in this last squad that traveled. I know that. Yeah. So so maybe she's fallen, fallen off. I mean, I'm just not sure.
00:27:25
Speaker
And we will have the World Cup debut of, at least for the Eagles, of Lottie Clapp. All right. Yay. Yay. Into that. I see, I definitely see the two of them as Lottie Clapp and Dettavaux as the wings unquestionably in my brain, whether or not that's right. But that's where I'm at right now in terms of that.
00:27:48
Speaker
Fullback is, he seems pretty hell bent on picking left Kelter there. I don't, I just, I really love it. Put her at center next to Howard too, especially since we're kind of, we have contouring at 10, we have Howard at 12 and I don't know who the heck else is going to play at 13 at this point. So I don't, I don't think it's, um,
00:28:14
Speaker
I don't think it's Beiser. So, and she's the one that played last minute at that position. The other week, I think I'd rather see Tess Fury. Yeah. You know, that's just that, that's me. I mean, yeah, if I'm, if I'm in there, like, yeah, if I'm the coach, Tess Fury is at fullback and, and Keltor is at, at outside center. Cause you want to get her the ball. Like you want Keltor to have access to the ball in a good position to attack. And.
00:28:42
Speaker
she's going to get that a lot more at 13 than she is at 15. And we saw most recently when they played, and she moved from 15 to 13 because they brought fury in, and suddenly that attack just changed. It would get more open, more threatening, and you're going to have to, you know, like when you're
00:29:00
Speaker
you're up against a New Zealand, England, or France, you're going to need some attack and some continuity there. And she provides that at 13 that she doesn't at full back. So in this case, yeah. And she's a good defender. So I guess I get that's why Kane wants to put her at 15. But
00:29:24
Speaker
In this case, like you got to score points and having a good defense doesn't mean anything. If you can't score points, because you're going to be playing England, France, New Zealand. Yep. Like these teams that can score whether or not you have a good defense, they're going to score on you. So you're going to have to have to be able to keep up with them almost when the, keep that race at least tight up until whenever.
England Women's Rugby Team Overview
00:29:48
Speaker
All right. Uh, then finally, which the team is probably the, that's probably the favorites, uh, England, not, not a lot of shock in that there's now some still some players.
00:30:03
Speaker
that probably are racing to get back to this, but for now they're going to be left out. Uh, we have, we, uh, we still have a stacked stack team. Sarah Hunter could be the most captaining player by the time that it's all said and done, depending on how many pool games she plays. And obviously by the end of it in general, so that's pretty, uh, astounding and also exciting. Scare it's looking for another one.
00:30:29
Speaker
She didn't lift the last one though, did she? Somebody else did. Who was the captain of the 2014 team? It wasn't her. Was it Hunter? I can't remember. It doesn't matter. It's still freaking stacked. It's stacked. It's everywhere. At every position, they're stacked. It's not fair.
00:30:45
Speaker
They have good talent up front and then they have young up and coming enthusiasm to backfill, which is just ridiculous. It really is. This speaks more to the level that England have invested in their women's program than to certainly compared to other countries and even their main competitor, which is New Zealand, not even close at this point.
00:31:13
Speaker
friend of you and you and myself, Ollie and I were talking, we're like, talk about teams that are just have been out resourced. Like, you think England's out resourced a lot of teams for the men, the women forget it, it's just like so over the top. And I appreciate it from the from the RFU. The same time, the rest of the world needs to fucking pick up their shorts here and catch up.
00:31:36
Speaker
because the rest of the world is trying to catch these folks with our underdraws around our ankles. So it's not really helpful at the moment. So I hope that that comes good. So we'll see how it goes. There was one that caught my eye for selection. I'm trying to make sure I didn't make this up in my head. Was it?
00:32:05
Speaker
Kabeya from Loughborough, very young, young pick. I remember seeing her when they had her last time. It's pretty wild. So I like that pick for her. I'm just shocked that Abby Dow is playing. Yeah, I thought she was out for talk about a race for fitness, right? For much longer than this, so.
00:32:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. No, no joke. Okay. You know, that was a pretty, pretty horrendous one. If I remember correctly, it was not. Yeah. Didn't look good. It didn't sound good at all. Um, and the fact that she's back so quickly. Uh, thank you. I'm very excited about that. Yeah. I remember that one. I was like, Ooh, that is, that is less than awesome. It was a pretty,
00:32:56
Speaker
stomach turning thing going on with that. So yeah, and unquestionably the favorites without a doubt. Just, you know, you look at the players that this team's going with, you know, Sarah Byrne is probably the best prop forward, certainly in the women's game, if not bar none, but damn, she's up there. She is. So.
00:33:19
Speaker
And her and Shauna Brown and yeah, I love Shauna Brown. I saw her. I saw that she got picked. And of course we love her. Hannah Botterman too. She's just a cash. She's a card. Love the props that are, that are chosen for this. Yeah, it's going to be great. So buckle in kids. We start like, is there a reason that's Simi Pam? I mean, we talk about Sarah Byrne. Simi Pam is, is right up there, but I'm wondering if professional status is a, you know, being a doctor and all. Yeah. That's the only thing I can think of because.
00:33:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. You would think she would be on the list, but if she's decided that she needs to prioritize her personal career, and I wouldn't blame her a bit because she definitely wouldn't be one of the fully professional players quite yet, so she would have to really pick and choose.
00:34:11
Speaker
Maybe after this World Cup, we can start to see her get worked into the England team, especially while there's some home games or local games that she can participate in, as opposed to, you know, having to get on a plane, go halfway across the world. A lot different. A lot different. All right.
Controversial All Blacks vs Australia Match
00:34:31
Speaker
You spend about 10 minutes on this. So let's queue in on a couple of really important things from the Rugby Championship this past weekend. We'll obviously start with the Thursday fixture with all Blacks in Australia. Let us look up. So first off, let's go kind of chronologically in order here.
00:34:57
Speaker
The first thing that I think everybody will be talking about, and I don't know what the result is yet, will be the clear out from the ruck from Darcy Swain against Quintupia. That's it? That came out, yep. Jesus. I mean, he'll miss the rest of international rugby, I think. So here's the other thing though, and again, since I've been seeing some of this,
00:35:25
Speaker
he was added to the Australia A team that's touring Japan. And so, yeah. So I'm wondering if that's clear, you know, oh, we're gonna, that's how he's gonna clear out some of that.
00:35:39
Speaker
suspension is he'll travel, but error or so, but can't can't play because he's suspended. And that'll be that. That's the way to sneak him back in for the international internationals. He should not play until a few weeks into super rugby. Yeah. Bottom line, like minimum minimum that is, you know, I like I like Darcy Swain and this and the headbutt against Johnny. Although Johnny has a douchebag. Right. Really make me question.
00:36:07
Speaker
what type of game he's playing because at this point, you know, I see in super rugby, a lot of good stuff. And then he gets to international level and becomes a complete helmet. And it really isn't something that I like. So it's making me question whether or not I want to be a Darcy Swain fan right now, because that was dirty. And the headbutts just stupid. But still, like, you don't want to start throwing headbutts and dislocating knees because that's how you get yourself a bad reputation. Yeah.
00:36:33
Speaker
very quickly. And yeah, you don't put yourself out there like that at all. And it was just stupid, too. Everything about that was bad. And I don't think he intended to do it. But you got to be smarter about what you're doing. I don't think there was an intent to injure. But you're offside, first off. You're not back. You're not coming through the gate. You're coming in through the side.
00:36:58
Speaker
And it was because of all that that his own teammate kind of ran into his own teammate to go. And that's what knocked him down, at least from what I could see. And that's what drove him into Paita's knee. And it's like,
00:37:11
Speaker
Fuck dude, like no regard, like for any of the laws. And that, you know, you injure someone. I will say this about that whole sequence of play though. I was very disappointed in Clark because he had the line break and like, and I'm not, again, I'm not blaming Clark for what happened to Quintupia, but that should have been a try with nobody getting touched at all. So,
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of like I'm watching that because I'd already known when I was when I was watching the match that you know what happened. I didn't know when it happened in the game. But I knew that, you know, what had happened to Quinn and, you know, as Caleb Clark is running on the field, I'm like, that's got to be a try. You know, he might not score, but he's got to be ready to set up the next guy. And he wasn't. He was just all in it for himself.
00:38:05
Speaker
And then that happened afterwards. I was like, oh, fuck, like, that's even worse. Like, if you had just looked to pass, you know, it prevents the whole situation where guys are scrambling and, you know, having to stretch the rules in order to prevent a try. It's like, just score. So not again, that's not that's not to blame Caleb for what happened to Quinn. It's just
00:38:31
Speaker
Caleb Clark, it's just a dimension that Caleb Clark needs to do his game. Yes, he's an excellent runner, gotta be a better teammate. But then again, nothing to do with the injury, just to notice that like, dude, come on, be better. Yeah, and really, it was the injury and then the decision from Reynal read all day. Yeah. And that was poor. Yeah, it was poor. No shock there. That was poor. I don't think anybody would deny that.
00:38:58
Speaker
And then fast forward. So here's the thing.
00:39:02
Speaker
We'll get to we'll get to what happened with Bernard Foley and right now. But the lead up to that and I because I was I went back. I'm like, all right, where could this have been stopped? Because we can end this conversation if there's a there's something that Australia has done that shot themselves in the foot. And what it was was the pharmaceutical going off its feet like very, very blatantly at that. I was like, dude, I call that and I'm not a world referee.
00:39:29
Speaker
Yeah, that was really stupid. And so that's what pinned them in the corner. And that's I believe that's the penalty that Whitelock called to the corner and it led to everything else afterwards. So really, you want to you want to look back and talk about Raynall's decision making, duh, duh, duh. You can solve your own problem right there by not doing that, clearing your lines and or just eating the clock and done game over. But it didn't. But that's not what happened. But we still have to talk about it.
00:40:00
Speaker
And right now and I want to know your thoughts because I don't think we talked in depth about what happened So I'll let you go and then I'll plug in where I need to see fit. So this is on Foley. Yeah, I'm Foley right now. Yep Fucking kick it you fuck
00:40:16
Speaker
What the fuck? I was hoping you'd say that. Like, all these people who are like, oh, this wasn't fair. No, it was fucking fair. And I'll tell you what, I mean, obviously, we won't talk about it because it had nothing to do with the way the fucking match went. But what was it, opening minute of the Bears match? And Randall gets paid for the same fucking thing. The referee says, use it. He didn't use it. All right, fuck you. Scrum the other team. Right. That's how it goes.
00:40:45
Speaker
Like, it doesn't matter anything else. If the referee says, fucking kick, if he stops the fucking clock to come over and tell you, when I restart this, you are kicking the ball, you've clearly pissed him off. So fucking kick the ball. His own teammates were yelling at it. So no. You can see the back line in the background, like, dude, kick the damn thing. This is me saying that a French referee did this correctly.
00:41:14
Speaker
Because they did. Renald was right.
00:41:18
Speaker
Well, there's nothing more to say. No, no, no. You don't have to like it. Every warning possible. Yes. And that's the thing. Like, and the number one thing is, and I don't remember who said it, but it was very on point. Like they, I think it was maybe a squidge. They failed to play to the referee. And that is the most annoying thing about rugby that you have to do, but you still have to do it. And especially when it's been pretty blatantly laid out that you need to do this thing or you got to turn the ball over. Right.
00:41:44
Speaker
you know so there's that and honestly even still and you know that that's annoying as hell but it's only scrum it's not a penalty it's not yeah a penalty try they still had a chance to stop it they didn't but right you know you still had your chance you have to pick your shorts up and say all right let's buckle in and get one set piece done and we can be done anyway and they didn't honestly what was he waiting for why was he delaying I don't understand any of it
00:42:10
Speaker
Somebody was saying his, his, he was trying to get his forward's attention. Dude, make sure you find touch. Just put it out. Make sure you have one job. Kick it to touch you. That's it. Yeah. If you're really that worried about it, then maybe you shouldn't be kicking the ball. Right. But either way, that's your, that's, you know, they give the ball to someone else. Right. I don't get it. I don't either. Nope.
00:42:32
Speaker
And I don't get how people can, I don't understand any of the, oh, the referee was, no, no, no. If anyone could feel aggrieved, it's New Zealand. He gave them every opportunity. He shouldn't have stopped, honestly, I don't think he should have stopped the clock. I think he should have fucking awarded. We're here to play.
00:42:52
Speaker
Right. You're not here to dick around. So, yeah. And as the turnover as that turnover happened, he's even telling him like, yeah, you need to play this like, yeah, trying to get to get it out in front of it and fucking guys not doing it. So, yeah.
00:43:06
Speaker
got what he deserved. That's worth that. This is still a good Australia team. Don't get me wrong. That was a hell of a match on top of everything. It's just too bad this kind of tainted it because that was a match worthy of being shown in a lot of places. Yeah, and I don't see that as tainting it.
00:43:28
Speaker
be except for the reaction. Right. Maybe that's more. And it's right. Right. See, and this goes back to that fucking beat asshole Razzie for presenting a standard that it's OK to whine about raps for them doing their job. And that's not that's got to stop. Yeah, certainly not by the coaching staff. Right now. But you know, I did the fans, too. And I get it. You want it. You want I didn't want that to happen. OK, well, then blame your dipshit 10, who?
00:43:57
Speaker
made it happen. This is me telling you not to blame the French ref. There's one Australia personality that's really starting to get on my bad side. That's Drew Mitchell.
00:44:13
Speaker
There's been a few things that he's been on the wrong side of thus far. So I'm wondering if he just has some weird, warped reality in his brain. So I'm going to avoid anything he says for a little while. And maybe it goes back to being fairly neutral. But right now he's just been on the wrong side of a lot of things that I've been like, the fuck you talking about? So he's going on to the do not disturb list right now for me. I don't want to fuck with that guy. He's annoying the hell out of me.
Atmosphere at Argentina vs South Africa Match
00:44:40
Speaker
OK, and then briefly, we had we did have another match over in Argentina, and I have to say the atmosphere in the stadium for the Pumas was absolutely fantastic. That is not I can't say I've seen an atmosphere for them.
00:44:58
Speaker
white to this level. And it was really awesome to see. So kudos to everybody from Argentina for making that happen, because that's what they need. That's what a team like that needs. And there's discussion about, well, there's going to be another developing country or whatever, World Cup, or that might be another place to do it. And I'm inclined to agree. I really am. So that was fantastic by them, the match.
00:45:25
Speaker
Yeah. Um, between rocks dominated eventually. And they did, they got back into it a little bit. The Puma did, but they did. Yeah. There came a point. I think that was when that might've been with one of the cards as well. So that might've been probably a help. I would say I would guess at least. And so it's, um, but that that's good stuff. We need to see that stuff from, from the Argentinians. We want to see all that right. Make it a game, make it a game against some of the best in the world. So.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, really, really, really, really pleased with that. So hopefully this is the type of crowd, the type of atmosphere that they continue to develop as they get more home games. And I'm really excited about that.
00:46:03
Speaker
Yeah. South Africa are also in need of a 10 because there's, it sent Janji's home for a completely different reason. I saw that, um, Pollard's heard he's hanging out unless they're trying to get treatment. The lunch is down right now. I think, I think it sounds like they're going to have to go to more to stain or maybe front stain or something. Yeah. Yeah. And that's for the decider because we got one, one more big game coming up this weekend. It'll be very interesting to see how that goes. Uh, looking forward to it.
Premiership Rugby Highlights
00:46:33
Speaker
The other rugby that happened, the premier ship. We will not spend too much time on this, but we do need to get into it. Let's go Northampton in London Irish.
00:46:47
Speaker
Northampton just owned them. They really did. London Irish could knock it out of their own way in a lot of ways. I don't know what they were doing. I really don't. And I know the guy steering the ship is kind of a dick and this might be karma coming back to bite him, but it all started with the freaking
00:47:06
Speaker
helmetedness of freaking Tom Pearson. Like he is lucky. He did not get a red. Like, yeah. He determined, uh, he made contact on the body beforehand. I was like, lucky bull. Yeah. I mean, I, I thought yellow, like I thought it would be yellow to a harsh red and they were kind of like, you know, like.
00:47:25
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it was kind of on the line. I thought, you know, at first blush, I thought yellow. And then after watching a couple of times, I'm like, oh, it could be. And it really wasn't considered. I thought they went pretty nice on him. I think also because he's young, maybe they were they didn't want to.
00:47:42
Speaker
over punish it, but I don't know. Yeah, still not great. And it was a pretty ugly period for the exiles as well. It was yellow there, yellow for Arendelle for chucking the ball out on purpose and then the yellow on the goal line for Simmons. And really you thought that might be the end for the Saints and like they really just spit the bit and popped up opportunities. And granted they had a period of time in the second half where they
00:48:09
Speaker
had the advantage but still they just didn't do a whole lot with it until the slave home try. They didn't score anything on the yellow card period there. No. Aside from the obviously the kick from off the Pearson kick like Grayson, Grayson slotted it. Yes. But how do you go, how do you have three yellows and not score
00:48:31
Speaker
on that period is is a little beyond me. Yeah, that's that's a less than good sign. I will say home. Well, they were still up when it's like home score. I think just barely. Yeah, I don't know if they won in the bin still. OK, yeah, because I don't I don't think that Simmons had come back. He'd like obviously the play was still ongoing, so I don't think that he had come back on.
00:48:49
Speaker
Yeah, but in either way, like that does take a lot of energy out of your team to have 12 players on the field and having to defend. So I think in a way it paid off just the same because they got the Slade home tried and Mitchell tribes shortly after that. Right. And after that, you know, once that happened, it started to look like, you know, they were just going to sail home and eventually did. They didn't really.
00:49:10
Speaker
get too close, although that the will Joseph try that Arendelle assisted on. Yeah, that was awesome. So it's all a hustle contest to get his garbage time try for his fantasy owners. What else do you do? You don't do that.
00:49:27
Speaker
So each team needs a loss and is also on the board as well. So it'd be interesting to see how those two go forward. Those are two of the question mark teams. Obviously, Saints got into the top four last year and they're hoping to do better for the sake of the exiles. They obviously want to punch higher as well. I don't think the exiles are quite ready yet.
00:49:50
Speaker
No, they just don't see it. Yeah. Yeah. They don't look quite like it. Unfortunately, the prime fucking website doesn't want me to pull up the bath sale stuff. But at the same time, we kind of know the story of the match. It was it was kind of John Ross score to try in this match. Is there really anything at the barometer? Yeah, it's not coming up. That match report is not coming up for me either. So yeah. All right. At least I know it's not like it's it's not just you. It's a job. Way to go, guys.
00:50:20
Speaker
Problem number one, but we do know that there was a red card in this match and it's. It's too. It's teams can go two ways and I'm talking about both teams when you have an incident like this, especially a red, yellow, so I saw a few minutes. I saw the John Ross trying. I was like, alright, I don't need to watch this anymore, so it really it was. It's all and it's all it happens in any match when you see cards.
00:50:48
Speaker
does one team raise at a level, does one team sink? And the inverse happened. It was sale raised at a level and the bath and bath just sunk. And I was like, well, that's not really going to do your whole idea. No, really. There was a point where it was kind of close, but eventually sales just took over. Tom Curry scored a really good looking try. He actually looked like he remembered how to attack, which is nice. But is that is that because they're playing bath
00:51:17
Speaker
I don't know. Cam Redpath looked like the old, which is what we want. That's only helpful for them. And I'm kind of, there's two players on Bath I do want to talk about. And JJ, I can kind of see him getting faded out this year, honestly. And then the two wings, Koka and Muir, both look great. Muir looks like,
00:51:42
Speaker
somebody that you definitely want on your team because he is just finding work no matter what's going on in the match. He was chasing down kicks and tipping them back and gathering them and all that shit. And just making meters and stuff like that. And Koka's finishing, which is what he's supposed to be able to do. And he did. He finished twice.
00:52:01
Speaker
Credit to him to land bill looked like his old self, whatever the hell happened the previous week. I have no idea, but looked a little better at least. So there are some good things for bath in positive signs, but still a lot of work for a young fine ground to do. Yep. Anderson sale undefeated. So there, you know, that that's something right there for them to hang it on. And they still have a few players that they could afford to get back. So that's going to be, uh, that's actually a little scary. Not gonna lie.
00:52:29
Speaker
And then to the stoop this was this was probably the match of the week box office This is probably the match of the week and I'm not just saying that because the Saracens this was entertaining No, it's that these are the two This is the best matchup of the week. They're like
00:52:45
Speaker
maybe the only other one that you would think would be, I mean, you know, saints, um, exiles is another one that you're like, okay, you know what? I want to, I want to see that. Cause there's some, some, some pop there and, and wasps Bristol. Yes. But this is the two, you know, these two teams are top four. Nope. Absolutely. So this is it, you know, Bristol and wasps are kind of fighting for that, you know, second tier or so where kind of saints and Irish, maybe they have hopes of squeaking into the top four and the kind of Bristol do too. But.
00:53:14
Speaker
This is it. This would be if the Prim Rugby, as their COO said last week, wants a spectacle. Imagine this match in primetime, free to air for everyone in England. Yeah. You'd get a lot more rugby fans that way. Yeah. And all the dominance by the stars.
00:53:40
Speaker
Max Malins, Elliot Daley score, and you know, Malin scores too. Dom, even though he got pulled, Merle. Marchant, yeah, like Merle, yeah.
00:53:52
Speaker
so much spectacle and stars and storylines. Billy. Billy. Oh, yeah. Ben are all like, you know, all these guys, you know, Jared and I were texting at the end of the game, like, okay, so who's been on the match here? Like, yeah, because apart from the first 20 minutes, everybody in the Saracens really put a, put a hell of a shift in and it's not what we were expecting. We were definitely, that was the rust and it took them that long to bang it off. And then all of a sudden they, they figured it out. And you know, the,
00:54:23
Speaker
Here's the, here's the thing. And that was, and that was really, really, it was the, it was something that we talked about last week. Like will they run? And they started with the box kick bullshit and both you and I were like, what the actual fuck. Right. And Murley puts two tries in on him real quick. And it's like, yes, yes. And rightfully so. And he stole, he, he nicked, it was a Dom Brandy nicked one off freaking Vencell. I was like, Oh, you fucking idiot. Oh no, that was, that was Farrell.
00:54:52
Speaker
who tried to slap it back. No, no, that was all that was all that also happened. Yeah, there was two things. Yeah, Dom Brant was a pain in the ass in two ways. He did. So yeah, he nicked it off him. And I think he gave it that's when he fed to Merle for his second. And then there was the one that he got that he fed to Marcia for for that one as well. And
00:55:13
Speaker
You know, it was like, oh man, this is not what we need. And at least in the second one, where he fed it to Marchant, they were trying to attack. They were trying to be,
00:55:23
Speaker
enthusiastic about you know, hanging on to the ball and go and taking it from one end of the field the other or at least making your trade changing your territory in a different way other than a fucking box kick. So as they get better at that, those types of errors will go will come less. So I will live with that in the end, because they're trying to be ambitious and the fact that they didn't go away from it after that
00:55:47
Speaker
speaks to their confidence in what they can do. So for me as a Saracens fan, that excites me, you know, and there's two guys that are going to go get to hopefully watch these guys do it in person. Yes.
00:56:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm into it. I want to see them play like that. Like I want, you know, especially when I'm paying money to go see them live, I want to see that. And I we did see that promising was it a Telegraph article where they were talking about, yeah, we want to run more like we, you know, we have to adjust to the way the game is having your locker at least, you know, like, yeah. And we knew they had it, but they just almost like refused to use it unless it was like dire needs.
00:56:27
Speaker
And I think they just need to be more willing, I think more teams in general, you need to have both. And for me as a coach, like in my own team, like I know what we need to do against certain teams and in certain conditions where it's like, fuck, I hate this shit, but there's no way we're going to have a productive game if we try and chuck the ball around and it slips out of our hands 10 times, like, because it's windy, it's rainy, it's muddy, whatever.
00:56:52
Speaker
but have them both in your locker and lean towards the let's run and attack because as we've already seen rugby has a problem in terms of fandom and viewership and whatever let's put a product onto the TV onto the field that people can go go to games turn on the telly and say that is fucking awesome shit right there right
00:57:16
Speaker
And I'll tell you this much. We're not anti-kick. Don't get us wrong. There was some vintage Owen Farrah. And this is what fucks me up.
00:57:24
Speaker
There were some vintage Owen Farrell in that match when he that attempted 50 22 that with the green, I think was like stops it from from going out now at Stonex on the on the on the 4G. That's that's in touch. That's a 50 22. That ball is going to bounce so fast. It's by him. Like, no question. The grass will slow it up there. But that Owen Farrell back in the day used to that used to be his bread and butter. I'm going to put it there. And then but he would run the fullback back and forth.
00:57:54
Speaker
with those kind of kicks. And since the 50-22 came into play, it's like they've just been launching high balls. And it's like, I'm sick of fucking high balls. It's not good because you've seen it. Anything could happen. They could just catch it and just run for a try because somebody misses the ball or this bounce. There's so much
00:58:19
Speaker
crazy shit that could happen. You're not really, you know, you're kind of flipping a coin and who, but it's like a 20 sided coin and who knows what's going to come of it. This is, you know, a kick for, for to change field position, you know, even if it goes to, you know, bounces into touch changes the, you know, that puts the other team in a position where they have to do something like kick it away. You know, you, you, you kick that ball into touch inside the 22 and suddenly the other team is playing out and they're kicking it back to you. And now you have to start with a line out.
00:58:47
Speaker
likely in their territory and have good attacking field, you know, attacking stance and platform rather than this kicking a high ball and who the fuck knows what's going to happen. So I'm glad that that that's coming into it because that's real rugby action. And last thing that I can say about that is the so we know we know you and I are not fans of these nines. They don't put up a ton of really the one that did it the best.
00:59:12
Speaker
from a box kick for the series was Wigglesworth. And he put it up there for compete competition. We saw Lewington grab a couple of them and run them in for a try. That's what he was capable of. Neither of these guys had that capability, nor do they do it on a consistent basis where the ball goes up and we have a chance to compete for it. More often than I'd like, it goes
00:59:35
Speaker
too far and it's just easy catch for the other team, they spin it, or they look for another attack, or whatever, they look to kick it back. Neither of those things is awesome. And honestly, if they are willing to go and continue to do this stuff,
00:59:53
Speaker
I'm Ruben de Haas. Ruben de Haas. I'm telling you guys like he can play this game. He can play both games, but he can play, he can play that. He can play that attacking game and probably do it better than Vince sale at the very least. So, uh, yeah, so that just, that annoys me about McCall, but hopefully he eventually gets his head. I was asked about that one because the Haas is so young, but he still needs minutes to get better. And he just is refusing in minutes right now. It's annoying as hell knowing AF.
01:00:22
Speaker
All right. Let's go to offer it out. Tigers and Falcons. Well, yeah, this was over quick. Oh, yeah, it was always going to go in one direction and the mind in a Dolo scored. He scored four tries in this match. And they only allowed two of them. She had to actually have to. I thought he only had the one. Yeah, he only had one. Yeah, OK. I thought you two.
01:00:52
Speaker
I'm losing my mind. Clearly. Yeah, it was a man. And so I have to I want to harp on one guy. And there are people out there that for whatever reason that love that are Newcastle fans that love this guy. And I ain't seeing it Peter Lukak.
01:01:09
Speaker
No idea what he adds to this team. The fucking center for them. I know, I know. Yeah, exactly. He is a nobody. And they do have the two Meteos coming back soon, and that'll make him irrelevant. And I hope he's the one that just completely leaves the team, honestly. But you saw, like, there are passes that
01:01:30
Speaker
certain 12s you want to have in the locker. He doesn't have them. He tried them twice and they were both awful. One ended up in a knock on, one ended up in a forward pass.
01:01:40
Speaker
And he's just, I was like, nope, that's not your pass. And the fact that you don't have it means you probably shouldn't be playing 12, which means you probably shouldn't be in this team. And a slightly better pass to Radwan and he scores. He didn't even need to put it that flat. It could have been a little bit behind with him and Radwan probably would have still scored because he's out of Radwan and he had space. So I think he would have been fine. So yeah, just a guy that I wish Newcastle would stop playing and I hope
01:02:10
Speaker
helping the coach just says, yeah, you know, we probably don't need this anymore. So I'm just going to bag you and send you home. Right. And yeah, he and what cookie cookie, you're just not. Oh, God, he was bad. He's not not from quality. And that's no, no, no, no. That's you're not going to win without strong centers. No, that was that was he was quite poor as well. So really a problem. And they don't get to solve that problem until right. And another week plus. Why is Mateo Carreras on the bench?
01:02:40
Speaker
No idea.
Newcastle and Worcester Team Critiques
01:02:42
Speaker
No idea. Like you need players who can play. And and yet you're you're throwing that direct out there. And maybe, you know, I don't know how they're not considering throwing what cookie cookie in at 12 because because I think he might be more useful. He might be more useful there and put, you know, put an earl at 13 because he doesn't have the speed anymore and and and still need some help.
01:03:05
Speaker
You know, at wing he's kind of lost so I know he scored what last week but that was kind of like an open play. Yeah, we talked about that, whatever. This is, you know, credit us is is so much better and real in a threat and that that opens up the space for Radwin and, you know, maybe gets Alex Alex Tate a little bit of more, more open field.
01:03:25
Speaker
You have to threaten. You have to, you have to at least make teams worry about, about the outside and Earl's not, you know, for Earl's on that side. I'm like, yeah, okay. We'll catch up to you. Don't worry about it. You don't have to defend that side so much. Yeah. We can focus all our attention on Radwin side.
01:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, it makes you scratch your head a little bit. What are we doing here, guys? So new coaching staff. So hopefully this eventually, you know, shakes out and we're not looking at right, you know, too much more of this.
01:03:59
Speaker
Drab that think we are though. Yeah, I know just just another week Yeah, Dave Walter's got a got a bit of fixing to do with this one, so we'll see And then last one on what's up and here's the problem with the last one is just as we were talking about with Quinn saris and you want a spectacle on its own right not with
01:04:26
Speaker
what, four other matches going at the same time. You have Exeter going to Worcester as the one match everybody can watch on Sunday.
01:04:41
Speaker
First off, yuck with this matchup, it's gross. But second off, now you're in Worcester and the whole match, you're talking about how fucked up the ownership is and how bad it is in the fans. You know, they cheer at the 65th minute and they have to explain why the fans are cheering at that minute and what it all means. And it's like, this is not a good representation of the sport. This is not a way to sell the sport. Like game aside, the game was shit anyway, but like,
01:05:10
Speaker
that's not how you sell the sport it's bad for the it's bad for rugby right well whereas you could and there was another the other match i was getting into unfortunately was not that one it was the wasp and bears that would have been one to put on there you skipped over one sorry yeah no you were you were ready to jump off i'm ready i'm ready to fucking tear off that one um but this wasn't exactly this was scrappy as flatman described it like
01:05:35
Speaker
and it's not inaccurate. So, yeah, this is one that had the potential and it definitely was let down by all means. There was nothing pretty about any of this. There was some good play from a few guys, Atkinson and Willis on one side and Sheedy, Richard Lane is the name that we're going to have to learn to learn how to remember what he can do. So on and so forth.
01:06:05
Speaker
It's, but it had the potential at least to, you know, go boom. Yeah. And that's kind of what you want. You want. Yeah. And it's just, uh, wasps are, they're missing.
01:06:18
Speaker
So it's like they're they're just not clicking. And that's that's unfortunate, because when they do click, they're they're they're quite good. Yeah. And I still think they'll come good. I think they will. There's there's definitely potential there. I mean, like you look at who they've played, Gloucester and Bristol, both of whom are trying for top four and have haven't really believed that they could be a realistic expectation to get there. And, you know, yeah, they got they they they have lost a close double.
01:06:47
Speaker
They had a 21-0 lead on the roster. And now on this one, it was close at half, and then they just let it get away. They got to work on their finishing. Yeah, something's going on in the half there. Yeah. So we'll see how that goes.
01:06:58
Speaker
just the same Bristol, Bristol or 2-0 as well now. So they're, they're up. Bradbury's looking, he's coming good. Yeah, he's, he tries to develop. He tries to match it, it's not bad. And Townsheedy is clearly feeling the pressure. Right. And I don't think he particularly performed extremely well, but found the goods when it needed, when it needed it. So I'll give him that.
01:07:19
Speaker
We saw a whole lot of Tom Willis ass. Again, that's intentional, by the way, now. One time is... Yeah, the underdrawer's on, too. Yeah, the underdrawer's on, too. Shit. All right, then we'll go to Sunday. And yes, it was unfortunate that we're not talking about the match, we're talking about
01:07:41
Speaker
things going on with the club. And that was definitely second banana to, you know, unfortunately, the matches. That's just how it was. Yeah. And you know, Exeter did the job they needed to. There's no doubt about that. I was happy to see Worcester fight back and show that they can play. And we saw. Well, it's the same old Worcester, right? It's the same old. We'll get into the twenty two and then fuck it up with what else is new.
01:08:10
Speaker
Right. You know, they had like, I think what the stat was like, they had seven entries or something like that in the first half. And was it zero points? So yeah, in the first half. Yeah, it was it was seven points at the end of the first half. So yeah, not good. You can't have that many entries and not come good, and especially against a team like Exeter who because the holes were there. Exeter's defense is awful, by the way. I don't know if you'd notice, but it wasn't great holes everywhere. And so a team, you know,
Exeter's Defensive Weaknesses
01:08:40
Speaker
And this is not a second week in a row that Exeter are showing gaps to teams that they shouldn't have to. Like Lester last week, we're kind of undermanned and undergunned and still just ran through the Exeter defense like a Swiss cheese. And this is very on Exeter, right? They're solid defense and pound that rock winning championships. Not that that's how you win championships anymore.
01:09:08
Speaker
The defense isn't there, so. Right. And like. Yeah, we're still seeing way too much of Ian Whitten, even though he did come up early, but still, that's too much. It's still too much. Um, and capstick is just excellent. That's a fine. He's got it like that. I'm still nervous that when Sam Simmons comes back, that they're going to bench capstick and that you can't. Yeah, for her two guys that are playing, you know, shims is not playing poorly. I don't know. He's not. No. Yeah.
01:09:38
Speaker
He should bump into lock and play next to Johnny Gray. And that should be the end of that. There are two guys I do want to point out on Worcester that played huge roles. And you could see what good it did the way they tackled for the sake of Worcester's defense. And that was Andrew Kitchener and Pergosely Warner chopping bodies left, right, and center. And really, it did a whole lot of good to their defense because, one, Exeter were not able to get that game going with the game line and whatever.
01:10:06
Speaker
They're big bodies on Exeter for sure. And they want to just roll through the tackle and have you go get six extra meters. But if you chop them down behind the line as any team, but especially with these guys, their offense doesn't really go. They're forced and they don't have that creativity within them right now to just to chuck it back and forth a little bit and maybe find a gap.
Worcester's Defensive Strategy
01:10:31
Speaker
They just don't have the type of players, although they had one sitting on the bench, they didn't bring him on until late.
01:10:37
Speaker
Still, so this is, I think that's kind of the blueprint a little bit to watch those two guys and the way they defended this team and really great defending in any case, but especially against this team. That's, that's, that's a really good way to make sure that they don't get going in the ways that they like to play. Right.
01:10:55
Speaker
And then Ollie Lawrence was just, how good is he? Yeah. What's your boy through and through too. So you gotta, you gotta feel good for him. And Joe Batley who got loose as well. And he finished. He knew what he was doing. He's like, I'm not getting this fucking thing away, but I gotta find a friend. And he did.
01:11:15
Speaker
And he made the right read because the the fullback coming over was was coming outside so that yes the read is not to pass it out out wide because that's he's already got the momentum going that way the the read is to pass it behind him um back in and back in and then he did it read it right excellent play well done to joe yeah well done all right and gary simpson
Fantasy Corner and Closing Remarks
01:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's the garrison we want, you know, and that's what makes the Gromhaps good. Yeah. That's the guy with Simpson. I want playing for Saracens when it's true. Yeah, right. We'll trade you. You know, anybody not Ruben after that. Yeah.
01:11:55
Speaker
All right, well, that is that. That's the rugby-ish pod. We crammed a lot into a reasonable amount of time, at least. So we're going to jump over to Fantasy Corner and we'll look at all the happenings in that world. If you're not coming over there, we will catch you next week.
01:12:13
Speaker
We're going to be freaking 24 hours away from getting on a plane at that point. You'll be excited. Yep. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm going to be sitting here hunched over. So if you're going to catch us then, we'll see you then and enjoy the rugby this weekend. If not, we'll see you on the fancy corner. Either way, thank you very much for listening. We appreciate you all and have a good one.