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Season 5- Episode 2- Growing Rugby (Premiership Preview)
29 Plays3 years ago
It's those damn rugby guys from America. On this episode of TFRY we are having a look at the problems that reside in rugby, from inclusivity, finance and decision making. We look back at the weekend's action in the internationals including the Eagles against the Red Roses. Then we have ourselves a crack at the season to come in the Premiership (40:00min), who has what in store, who disapoints, who gets to HQ at the end. Tune in, crack em if you got em and enjoy the big one before the season on TFRY.
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Listener Feedback
00:00:02
Speaker
It is... The Fantasy Robbie Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody handled that. Collusion. Collusion. Hello, everybody. Welcome. It is the Fantasy Robbie Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke.
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm Ben Glauser. Let's get to it. Um, yeah. First things first. Um, crack them if you got them. Find us on your favorite podcast app, share rate review. Um, yeah, we've got some, we've had some shut, not shockingly, we've had some, uh, enjoyable feedback over the, um, the live draft pod, of course. Yeah.
00:00:57
Speaker
And all apologies because it is hard to tell you who's being picked live, but we did go back and list every pick in order. It was just maybe not at the moment. Maybe we had our reaction first and then
00:01:14
Speaker
made sure you keep up on who was getting picked. So that was there, but apologies for that not being clear and that's kind of just the way those episodes go. Cause we're just, it's just us drafting, right? Trying to figure it out and all that. Trying to figure it out. So maybe we could publish our drafts on the, on the internets. We could get screenshots and throw it up there on the Twitters.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah, on the Patreon. Just make it a cool one. Cool. So yeah, there's that.
Supporting Fantasy Rugby and Ethical Concerns in Sports
00:01:48
Speaker
Speak of the Devil, the guy that was drafting with us on Sunday, the fancy rugby geek. Make sure you buy him a coffee. Boy's already busy. He's been churning through URC, Superbrew, and of course, FRD, Prem, which is something we're all thankful to have back. We'll be thankful for the things we have, and we won't get too upset about the things we don't right now.
00:02:09
Speaker
And he refused to snipe me during the draft. So you say, well, you couldn't think for yourself anyway. You were stuck between E and I. You were really kind of just bound, like talk about having your hands tied. Right. And my mouth. I couldn't say shit. I hope I could pick up so-and-so next round and then have George be like, oh, yeah, that would be a shame if he was gone. Wouldn't it just be a shame?
00:02:38
Speaker
Right. Um, so yeah, grab him a coffee. Cause the man's going to be earning it all year long. I promise. Promise promise. Yeah. And not just cause he didn't bite me. Yeah. And then maybe he'll buy us a beer when we're over there on top of it, buy him a beer and buy us a beer. How's that? I think, I think a lot of beers will be bought for everyone else. I know. I don't think we only keep track anyway. Um, except for Ed, Ed will not pay for a beer.
00:03:04
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no paper. Not on my watch. No paying for beers, Ed. Um, so as we, as we've said last week, uh, we're just going to move to a general, no discrimination here on this podcast or in sports or in general. Um, huge problem. That's like a huge red flag, like sevens, URC sevens, potential tournament being played in guitar, like
00:03:28
Speaker
There's been issues talked about this country since FIFA awarded the World Cup to them way back. And there was obviously when Bladder was found out to be super, super corrupt shocker of the day.
00:03:40
Speaker
we, it was pretty much, you know, demanded and, you know, people just gave the middle finger to everyone saying, fuck you, we're doing it anyway. But it was, you know, very much demanded, like, clearly, they got this in the wrong, they shouldn't have it. And I still agree they shouldn't have it. I'm really pissed. And you can ask the entire footy world about how annoying this winter ball World Cup is because
00:04:03
Speaker
I can tell you I'm annoyed by it. And I'm sitting here as a full fan hoping that it doesn't completely fuck up the juice we got going right now. But that's like so minimal compared to like the problems that this country is going to present for traveling fans because of certain, you know, you know, because they're good. They're just going to hold you in jail for being who you are is pretty fucking awful.
00:04:28
Speaker
They just struck a deal to make sure that they could sell alcohol at the stadium. The whole thing is just ridiculous. You're giving something to a repressive country and there's too much of it around these days. It's time to stop rewarding them because that's the problem. That signifies that this is acceptable.
00:04:56
Speaker
this is all right, and it's not. It's just not. And for all the stuff that rugby is talking about, you know, for everyone and, you know, there's probably going to be several players.
00:05:11
Speaker
that either cannot or will not go, you know, cannot because they're openly gay and or will not because they're maybe closeted or just can't stomach the idea of doing that, you know, supporting guitar. So it's like you're making it not for everyone.
00:05:29
Speaker
And we can't say, oh, it's not for everyone if we don't include guitar. Well, no, they can come join everyone. They're perfectly welcome with everyone. It's their choice to not be with everyone. So don't reward them for that. Then they don't need to be with us. That's the best I can put it. Yeah, no. I think that's well put.
00:05:58
Speaker
You shouldn't have to have to miss a trip like that because you're fearing for your life. You're fearing for your freedom. It's awful. And that's not just for this country. It's for any country that puts those types of laws in place.
Patreon Content and Rugby's Financial Struggles
00:06:15
Speaker
Although that goes for this country as well. I mean, that's why we have this segment of our pod anyway. True. True, true, true. All right. Also,
00:06:27
Speaker
slightly slightly more upside. The Patreon for us is obviously going to be up and running fully in a couple of weeks here. Once we get data to actually share with you, we have to get the data first. But in the meantime, there is a there is a new piece up there and it's the first writings that I did. And of course, as you could probably guess, it's going to be a nice little ode and tip to the cap, tip of the cap to our friend, Edgar. Yeah. So we, you know,
00:06:55
Speaker
how dearly we will miss it, but at the same time, how appreciative we are of the man. And so it's for free. Go check it out. And if you want to comment, comment, just be nice, please. Yeah, it's so that's up there. And that'll just kind of be a sample of the writings that will be you.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, we're gonna put it behind the wall. And then but the next free thing that's going to go up will be rankings, which I'm going to try and finish tonight, get them posted to tonight so people can read them tomorrow morning before
00:07:28
Speaker
the first bit of teen news comes out, which will be tomorrow morning for us and tomorrow afternoon for everybody else, um, over in the UK and. You know, whatever other times stamp you're on and around the world. So first team sheets, I, you'll be able to see how that goes. Um, so there's that let's, um, so we talked to, we've already discussed a few troubles with rugby, but, um, let's get into like the,
00:07:55
Speaker
the whole situation with the reported and apparently also very inaccurate debts of all the teams. And you can imagine even if they're not fully in debt, we know that a lot of the clubs aren't necessarily in the black for a lot of the time. We know this. Right. And COVID a whole year with no fans like kills you. So yes, they're going to be in debt. It's not a,
00:08:26
Speaker
you know, they'll keep it afloat because it's a profitable business, right? It's not, the prem is not going to go away. It is, yes, that the clubs may be in debt a certain amount, whatever, but the prem will, you know, the prem will go on and, you know, they'll keep as many teams as they possibly can. Like, look at all the effort that's gone under Wooster. Right.
00:08:49
Speaker
they're trying to save it and they will. Like Prem is already like, no, no, this is happening. They'll play, they'll get paid. End of story. So those figure out a way to keep it going. It's just, yeah, it can be tight after COVID. Yeah, there's no question about that. And so to me, the, the answer is always a couple of things that you, a couple of ways to attack it. And, um,
00:09:14
Speaker
Obviously, it's going to have money's going to drive this bus and it's annoying as hell for all of us. We all know this. It's not something I love, but it's a fact. So for us, you know, for Ben and I here, when there's rugby around, pay for it, go to it, you know, get involved with it. Everybody over in the UK.
00:09:35
Speaker
go to matches, you know, and it doesn't have to be, you know, primarily match, go to the championship matches, man. Like pay for those tickets. Did you just get an email from Freejax? I did, they're there. They're making sure we're not dropping off. They're making sure we're not dropping off. I agree with them right back and like, no, we're just lazy. Yeah, we're just slow to it. We promise. Anyway, that's the point. Like, yeah, they matters. It matters to the point that they're sending us personal emails.
00:10:02
Speaker
saying, hey, and obviously not a form letter, just like, or maybe a form letter, but sending it just individually to each of us saying like, you haven't renewed and wanted to jump in. It's like, yeah, we got to, we'll give you money. We are. Right. You just haven't done it yet.
Fantasy Rugby's Role in Fan Engagement
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah. And that's, we have to support these matters, clubs and these teams financially. And like I said, go to the championship matches, go to a prim 15 matches and buy apparel because the apparel matches,
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah, the peril all goes to the club, even if you're just there for, you know, if you're at the stoop for a Quinn's women's match and you buy a Quinn shirt, it still goes to the club.
00:10:39
Speaker
You think I'm not buying a Quinn's shirt while we're there? I'm sure you're getting a sherry shirt too, by the way. Well, of course. No, I'm getting like all sorts of sherry shit, but I'm getting at least one Quinn's shirt too. Yeah. We got to get something. I will definitely peruse the store with you. No question. And that is the answer to that. So there's one.
00:10:59
Speaker
way to attack it so this is that's that's the one direction the other another direction is obviously you gotta get engagement you gotta get people that love the rugby to get engaged somehow
00:11:09
Speaker
For Ben and I, we know the answer is very much right in front of us what we do every every week during the season. It's fancy rugby. It is something that has the potential to just blow the, you know, look at F1. And I know the Netflix documentary did something for it as well. But certainly at the same time, like they have their fantasy game that they do and people just it's attached to their Twitter page as well. Like it's the first it's one of the first times on there. That's what they want people to do. Right. Get to it, you know, and
00:11:39
Speaker
Premier League, same thing. That is the most janky way to play Premier League footy and fancy Premier League footy. I used to play another way and it was way better, but the guys I played in the league just aren't into that one. But still, it's so fucking popular, just the same. Our friend and colleague, Ollie, the other week,
00:12:04
Speaker
He and I were discussing that. Fantasy Premier League, that app. Like I said, it's not the greatest game, but it is going to get you to talk about it. Could you imagine if the prem...
00:12:18
Speaker
bought TRM, you know, still talking about that, but like, seriously, it should be, it should have happened already, which is just kind of a shame. But again, that does go back to the money in rugby. But I was thinking about it, because, you know, it's also not only is it the opening week of the prem, it's also football, NFL opening week. And
00:12:37
Speaker
That means you're going to see at the scroll at the bottom of your, you know, while you're watching, whatever football game you're watching, they'll tell you what's going on in every other game and the fantasy points. Yes. And it's like imagine if rugby did like how like if you could have, you know, first off, you have to really start publicizing the stats, which you really need to do anyway, like, you know,
00:12:58
Speaker
Alex Goode has, you know, 150 meters made at half, like, holy shit, that's awesome. But like, you don't know
Access to Rugby and Media Critique
00:13:04
Speaker
that unless you actually get to watch the mat, you know, it's just something to add to the intrigue of the sport you're watching too.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, beyond, you know, just straight up, you know, whatever, whatever the given format of that network's choices, and you and I both play the old armored wink ball. And it's like, PPR has been everybody's choice, which is the one we play anyway. So that's great. But still,
00:13:30
Speaker
You get you get those you get that engagement off that like, oh, man. And then you go you go to school on your team. You're like, shit, I'm getting my ass kicked by that guy. You know, and all of a sudden you've got more eyes looking at the product. Right. And this being our, you know, well, second part of the season, I guess. Third, really.
00:13:52
Speaker
I was playing fantasy football back in the day when you scored by opening the newspaper the next day.
00:14:02
Speaker
And we would write, you'd be like, oh, Emeth Smith had 99 yards. Fucker couldn't get one more yard. Give me 10 points, some of the bitch. Like that kind of like, that we talked about it and you saw halftime shows, maybe you got a highlight. Like, yeah, I'm crotchety, but at the same time, this was the nineties. This isn't like the stone age. This is how you had scored. That's how far it's come in 20 years now. Everything's online. You can see it right on your screen. They'll tell you, here's what the fantasy points are.
00:14:30
Speaker
It adds content and it adds interaction, and that's going to drive money. It's a billion dollar a year business, something that we do for free. We don't pay for our NFL leagues, the way we do for Fantasy. Well, that's because we get the upgraded package, but that's besides the point.
00:14:53
Speaker
They make billions of dollars just by giving people a platform to do it. Fuck's sake. Get on it. Think about that. Again, going back to the money and rugby problems with debt. If you had a premon fantasy rugby league, premon, that all the proceeds went distributed equally to the clubs,
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah. You know, maybe, and the prem gets some of course, but like maybe, maybe 14 ways instead of 13, something like that. Something to that degree. Yeah. Like, yeah. You can start covering up some gaps. Yeah. I agree. And here's the, and here's the other side of it. The final side of it is to spread
00:15:37
Speaker
the awareness of the sport itself. Now, that said over here, that's about to get really, really tough because 90% of the leagues that we want to put our eyes on right now are behind the worst paywall in America right now with that slow sports. And not only is it the worst paywall in terms of money that you need to spend on it. So the upside to something like, um,
00:16:01
Speaker
Paramount Plus or Peacock over here or ESPN Plus is those could those matches could eventually land on the network television. They could land on free to watch TV at some point. That is not a possibility with flow sports. So the Champions Cup final this year is going to be behind a paywall. And that is not going to show it on NBC the way they have been. Right. Right. And that is a huge detriment to rugby in general. Yeah.
00:16:29
Speaker
You know, and I had my pissing and moaning about peacock for a lot of reason. This was definitely the devil that you don't know. And it's worse. Right. And I don't think they understand that. Say you're watching. What was it? New Zealand versus Argentina and the all blacks are right on the goal line. And suddenly with, you know, in the middle of play, like not like.
00:16:54
Speaker
You know, the balls at the back of the rock. Aaron Smith's ready to get it out. It goes to a commercial. And for like 30 seconds, you're stuck watching a commercial and then it goes right back to the play immediately back. There's no like, Hey, we'll be right back. There's, and sometimes, you know, it'll, it'll put the screw, the main
00:17:14
Speaker
I hate when it does the split screens almost equally annoying. Right. And it's close, but it's not quite there. Couldn't just have someone watch the fucking match and say add a line out. So, OK, they're setting up for Atlanta. All right. We're going to go to commercial. We'll be right back. I've pissed off flow, so we'll get into that in a second. But just have someone have a care. Instead, just be like at 48 minutes on the dot. Yeah, they don't care.
00:17:42
Speaker
So they've already said, yeah, ads will be running. They said our team is working to ensure the placement does not disrupt key coverage. Then they talk out the other side of their mouth and say, don't hesitate to reach out. The next time you see ABRA ads interrupt key coverage. It's like, so which one are you? And also it's not my fucking job. It's yours. So.
00:18:04
Speaker
Which one is it? And also, shut up. I hate you. I hate you so much right now. Here's the other thing that's been making, you know, because that tells me that nobody at the nobody at Flow is watching these. They just kind of just broadcast them. And again, like I said, a 48 minutes commercial. And it's like
00:18:27
Speaker
what are you doing? Because like, there should always be someone watching it to make sure that like, okay, or you know, helping with this kind of thing. At the very least, because it's customer service, it just means you don't care what you're showing you. Oh, it's crappy customer service at this point.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah. And it's the most expensive one. And that's just, yeah. Like, I would double my peacock payment if they took back, you know, Champions Cup and. And could get the other competitions that these guys are getting too. Right. As well, which are the URC and. Like, I pay, we pay as much for flow a month, almost. For in two months, we pay more for flow than we do for peacock. Yeah. For a year. Yep. It's pretty ridiculous.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like, they just, they have no customers. So what the fuck is that money going to?
00:19:18
Speaker
into rich people's pockets at this point is all I can assume, which is terrible. And that's the problem with kind of these low stakes shenanigans. And for the people that like negotiated this contract, like for Rugby Europe and for these competitions, I wanna know where you got your research and your information from or you just reached out to the one that paid you the most money because
00:19:45
Speaker
If the difference was very low, like if the difference was marginal and your choices were either Paramount Plus, Peacock or that.
00:19:55
Speaker
I really wish we'd gone with one of the other two, because these guys suck. End of story. Yeah. That's the problem, is I'd be getting rid of them, but I can't. Yeah. Oh, I totally agree. Now I really can't that they're doing Champions Cup and top 14. It's like, well, fuck. The problem is now the service is actually worth what you can see, which means that they need to start doing a better job. That's kind of what it is. You have those standards, then you've got to raise your own standards of what you're broadcasting.
00:20:25
Speaker
But it's, it's not, it sucks because, you know, I know, I know. So for example, I know a lot of the players that I coach on the high school team, I coach have peacock already because they're into the premier league probably or whatever.
USA Women's Rugby Team Analysis
00:20:42
Speaker
And their parents have it. So they can dive into the membership now all they want, but
00:20:49
Speaker
And that was the, that was the next thing was, oh yeah, they have champions cup. Hopefully flow does not have fucking six nations. I'm going to punch a frigging. Oh my God. Um, I hope they don't have that. But anyway, like I could turn them onto that and be like, yeah, go watch this game. Go watch these guys. I know you have it. So, and you know, get a watch party going with the kids. Go for it. You know, you don't need me there. It's great. These kids aren't going to go either way to pay for this app.
00:21:14
Speaker
plain and simple. So you just you've just closed off your the growth potential. You really did. And it that that is like the best example I can give. Right. And you can only watch like they're really strict about the worst password sharing. Yep. And it's like,
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, you can only watch one, like I've been kicked off because someone else started using my feed or whatever, because you know, you give out your password every so often. Someone else started watching feed. I'm like, no. So I went in and booted them out. I pay for this shit. No, I didn't. And then luckily they were like, oh, got you. Yeah, Ben's watching that. All right. I can't watch it now. As is tradition with password sharing. But like, so they're really good about that, which means
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's going to have to have an account which nobody's going to want to do. Right. It's too expensive. And this was the same problem we had with, you know, the Eagles being behind the paywall. Right. You know, nobody wanted to pay for that shit. And thus our national team doesn't get watched. You know, sucks. Yeah, sucks hard. So yeah, that's a huge problem. And speaking of our national team.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, you mean the good one. Yeah, I mean, yes, they're good. I mean, it's hard after a loss like that to be like, no, they're good, but they are good. They are good. I mean, that is the gold standard right there. Yeah, they've played the two gold standards.
00:22:47
Speaker
and come up short, which hey, that only tells you you're not winning the World Cup this year. That's no great shame. It just means you're not going to win because you're going to have to be one of England or New Zealand to win.
00:23:01
Speaker
So that's, they're not going to do it. So they're not going to win. And that's cool. That's fine. They're still going to show really well. And they should make a, they have every chance of making a semi. So yeah, I think they should, I think semi or bust is definitely the way to go with this team right now. Winning or getting to a semi is, is, is like as winning a world cup as it gets. Cause the other one's not going to happen. Yeah. And I mean, the,
00:23:27
Speaker
This was a better performance by the Eagles than last spring or last fall that they played them. I think it was last fall that they played them. And it was pretty bad when they played England. And I know it was at the very end of a pretty brutal tour at the same time, but it was ugly. I think the Red Roses put 80 on them.
00:23:48
Speaker
Something bad. And I don't know if I got a point, honestly. Yeah. My one thing with some of the decisions made, and I don't know if this is something that's come down from Rob Kane down to KZ and Dust the Backs, but like, if you're getting tonked by like 30 points, do not kick for posts. Yeah. Go for the fucking corner, please. Right. Like, not only do not, you know, don't kick for posts, don't kick for posts and miss it. Whoa.
00:24:17
Speaker
Yeah, there's that. Also, a lot of Keltar should be kicking off the tee and not Kintorna because Keltar's proven that she can do it time and time again. So riddle me this fucking Batman.
00:24:29
Speaker
Wasn't L.F. Kelter, was she the player of the year in the L.N.S. 15s, or like up for it? She was up for it, I think. I don't think she wanted it, but she was up there. At what position did she have such success? The center, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I think she was mostly 13. Yeah. So, why is she at 15? Well, and especially when we had a late drop too, like,
00:24:57
Speaker
That was your opportunity to slide her into, into, they just took her like completely away from the ball. And by the time they finally moved her in, it was too late for her to really make the impact there. No, it wasn't, it was no good. It was just bad, like unimpressive selection there. Cause it's like what you're saying you have.
00:25:15
Speaker
Like whoever you have at 13, put them back at full back and just like, um, or if you want to play full back, doesn't she? Yeah. She's lost too, I think. So yeah. Um, yeah, I think I'd rather see that in there too. Cause that's what happened. Test fury came in at full back and Keltor went to the, Oh, well then what the fuck? Right. He says, I guess I missed that part, but damn, um, I will say, um,
00:25:42
Speaker
I think Katana Howard's going to play 12, and I think that's her shirt to lose at this point. She's played brilliantly. She throws seeds around the place. For her as a 12, it's great. Yeah, no, that'd be a great center pairing. I'm into that. I'm totally into that. Nobody wants to run into that for the most part, I would
Upcoming Influential Rugby Books
00:26:00
Speaker
say. And nobody wants that running at them. It's the perfect mixture. Yeah, it's a nice little combo.
00:26:07
Speaker
Hopefully, Kane gets his head out of his ass by, you know, kickoff in October. Right. But maybe and maybe that was, you know, maybe it was planned because ultimately, you know, I, I, I have can't have it both ways, right? I give coaches all sorts of shit when they start the same old lineup against, you know, either, you know, when it doesn't really matter. And it's like, you can't afford to lose. And this is a match that that, yeah, the US could afford to lose because, you know, you're probably not winning. Right. And that's why I wasn't
00:26:36
Speaker
I was annoyed about Nicki James, but I wasn't going to like lose my mind about it. Same reasons like, all right, you're seeing what you have. I can appreciate that. I'm done with her. Just plain and simple. And I still, I'm still having the same problem with Hope Rogers where.
00:26:51
Speaker
that I've always had with her. She is so easily strippable. And I'm sorry, as a prop, first off, as a prop, you've played many matches with me. How many times have you ever seen me get that ball stripped from me? We don't recall any. That ball is fucking mine, right? First and foremost, that's, you know, I'm big. I used to be fast, but at the time I was not.
00:27:16
Speaker
I'm whatever the last thing I'm doing is making get letting the other team get that ball and she gets by like wings.
00:27:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of a cardinal sin. That's how you lose your fucking have some pride. Yeah, exactly. You're fucking out of the front row for that shit. And she's been doing it her old career. So that's going to stop. She doesn't have any excuse anymore. Yeah. Union card revoked. Like you're right there as a potential frontline member, one of the ones we want to send out there. But we can't have that. Like that's the one thing you cannot do is like
00:27:52
Speaker
There's several things you can do as a prop badly, but that's not one of them. You're the strongest, you're the king of the food chain, queen of the food chain. You don't get your lunch eaten by a fucking wing. Regular than you hire on the food chain. Right. If she's holding onto that ball, it means you're rolling over top of her in the tackle, and then she has to let go. That's the only way she gets real hands on that ball.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yep, it should happen at least. So suffice to say, better performance from the Eagles overall in terms of comparing this match to the last against the Roses, comparing the match against Scotland against this different story, obviously. But again, this is, and Zach recalled for more investment into the women's game. And I don't disagree with it. You have fully professional players across from them.
00:28:49
Speaker
And it shows. Yeah, it does. It does. So and I and I appreciate that are if you want to make the Allianz fully professional and they're working towards that and they've said so, too. So the intent is there, which I can appreciate. I'd like to see how fast we can get there. I know they have a target of X. I'd like to see if we can make it a tiny bit quicker myself, at least. That's just me. Call me Kookie.
00:29:19
Speaker
And then there was other rugby, too. Let's let's go back to some of the matters before we need to bring this up. Sorry, this is relevant because I want to while we're talking about women women's rugby. I remember Group B2. He said she had an announcement. What was it yesterday? She just announced just a few hours ago that she has written the book. Oh, I want that book. Yeah, I want that book.
00:29:45
Speaker
straight up by Ruby Tui, October of 2022. So it's coming out soon. Okay. I want that book. Wow. All right. That's really interesting. I want to, I want to read that. Definitely. Okay. Cool. I'm buying like five copies of that book. I also pre-ordered, I also pre-ordered, I can't remember which, hold on. I pre-ordered a book that's out in England, but it's not. No, I hear you.
00:30:15
Speaker
Not here yet. Yeah. That's sad. Scrum Queens. Right. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. OK. Yeah. That's released over over in England. We could buy it while we're there. Yeah. Maybe we could find a copy. Bring it to a bookstore.
Rugby Match Reviews: Player and Strategy Insights
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah. March 1st. Oh, geez. Yeah. Let's see if we can get it over there while we're over there. Yeah. OK. Great. Right. I love it. I love it. Books, books, books, things to buy people that need to read shit. Right. Words that need to be read. Yes, definitely. All right. I'm into it.
00:30:45
Speaker
Okay, let's take a quick look at TRC and then we'll go into our Premiership preview. I mean, really a whole lot of nothing to report for both matches in many ways. New Zealand responded to last week. So we'll start with that, with a big little bit of emphasis by just really burying the Puma as hard.
00:31:10
Speaker
I think the most impressive thing about the way New Zealand played, and this is the way they should be playing, was their accuracy in handling, especially in the wet.
00:31:24
Speaker
I don't think, I think they had like five handling errors or something like that. They listened to us. Two people, two people in particular, certainly heard the words that came out of our mouths. And that was Haveli, who was world class. Like, that's like, okay, you want to sell me on Haveli? That's gotta be, that's gotta be
00:31:49
Speaker
consistent there. Like that's, you know, that's not the ceiling. That's, that's the way it is. That's got to be the standard. And Sam Cain, Sam Cain on that Jordie Barrett try.
00:32:01
Speaker
Yeah, it was brilliant. It was a great line too. Twice. He was into, he, he made two great lines and had like, and, um, I think had two offloads. I mean, the one was obviously for the definitely the one, but I don't know if he had the second one, but it doesn't matter. Good line break. The first through the first and was looking for the offload. Certainly. I can't remember if he threw it, but yeah.
00:32:21
Speaker
No, that's like, you know, when we were talking about this, you know, you need a seven and Sam came needs to be to show up in the attack. There it is. Like, do that more consistently. Like, it doesn't have to be every time, you know, every possession. But you got to show that like at least once a half. Yeah. If you want to be a world class, like a really world class step, you know, more obviously, if you want to become like shit, one of the better ones. But like, you got to show up and put your mark on the attack once a half.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. And I and I love a team. So at the end, there was the brouhaha that I don't remember which I think it was one of the Puma centers that threw the ball at Artie. And instead of kicking the ball out and ending the match, Artie was like, I am shoving this up your ass. Yeah. And they said corner and they scored again. Right. I was like,
00:33:16
Speaker
Yep. I don't blame him for doing that. Cause if you're going to pull that clearly all blacks had their tail tails up and they were going to, they were dominating this match and they knew it too. And you know, they ended up finishing it off a beautiful set piece off the scrum. Um, but yeah, it was like, Ooh.
00:33:33
Speaker
This is maybe not the day to fuck around. No, no. And I like it definitely felt this weekend that both teams issued a response in their own particular idiom because like, yeah, New Zealand just went on a ramp. Like New Zealand went on a rampage on the scoreboard like.
00:33:51
Speaker
literally archer-style webpage of just like, no, fuck you, restored. And then there was the other team that had their response and they responded as they do by being just complete fucking assholes. And I see that half with respect and half not. There was some, like, that
00:34:17
Speaker
I got to say my pimpy that was that was poor. Oh, poor. I lost respect for Mac with that one. That was really bad.
00:34:27
Speaker
And I don't think he actually grabbed the third of Corvetti, but he aimed for it. And that's still just as bad. Right. There's no need. You're going to win this match. Shut up. Stop. Right. And then to start the bullshit that happens afterwards is yeah, totally unnecessary. Whatever happens afterwards, including the whole Alatoa. And that's the best thing. All start and rightly so. It all starts from a Pimpi. And I'm always, always annoyed.
00:34:53
Speaker
When players are shocked that they get binned for some bullshit like that, it's like, I really think you're fucking away, Scott Fray, what is wrong with you?
00:35:03
Speaker
the what was it the score wasn't enough the showing him up wasn't enough you had to actually go after him on the debt while he's still on the debt and it no like any like really like the showing him up if i'm the ref at that point i would know you're big because i obviously we all know everyone knows the history that's that's being done for a reason um and then just just go after him it's like well
00:35:27
Speaker
What the fuck, dude? What's your problem? It was an awful, awful move. And Etzabeth should have gotten a yellow card, too. That was just for being a fucking mope out there. I don't even know what else to say.
00:35:47
Speaker
didn't deliberately lose control. He was under control. He knew what he was doing. And all he was doing was trying to get Alito to hit him. And you know what? Alito, given what Etzabeth did, Alito was, I thought, well within his rights to punch him. I just also understand that he wants to live. So he didn't. He also doesn't want to get a right card and sent off for his next match, too. Right. And that should have been a card for Etzabeth. That was just a...
00:36:16
Speaker
What do you do? I know what you're doing. Don't get me wrong. So I know what you're doing. You're being an asshole. Get the fuck off my field. Again, not that it would have impacted the outcome. But that was kind of the overall way I felt like South Africa had handled themselves. They were dicks like that all game. Not like that, but on the line. And then they just decided to completely cross it.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunate. Yeah. And you know, I did notice a fair bit of poor refereeing calls in this match. You know who I'm not hearing talk about mistakes by the referee? Springbok Twitter. Yeah. They're oddly silent on the plentiful mistakes made by the official, both in their favor and against them.
00:37:04
Speaker
Like they were both. I can't recall any, but I remember thinking like, gee, I wonder if we'll hear about that call. No, of course not. Right. Exactly. So, yeah, just noticing that. Yeah. And so, and to the point like,
00:37:25
Speaker
You know, this is what, this is what somehow, some way, the Springboks just put people into this trance, this lull, you will do this strategy today. And Australia fell into it again. Which is weird, because they had it last week.
00:37:42
Speaker
But I think it was just that they got the shit kicked out of them. I mean, there was physicality was physicality was through the roof in this one. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like everybody's got a plan to get punched in the face. And I think they took so many hits that they're like, I'm not willing to take like, you know, they took so many hits just in tackle normally that they're not they were unwilling to take that kind of hit to dish the ball off to someone else. And
00:38:07
Speaker
It, it happens. It's not a, it's not a criticism because shit, we have all been there where it's like, you get this feeling like I would throw this past, but I would rather just protect myself because it's going to be bad enough. Even if I just protect my riptickler again. Yeah. Yep. Like again, it's about like, I don't want to get my rib tickled by it's about, it's not worth throwing this pass. Those hurt. But that's why that's why you lose.
Team Performance Praise and Previews
00:38:30
Speaker
Right. They'll make you, they'll make you make that choice.
00:38:34
Speaker
Yeah. Live or death. Um, I do. So, and I think one guy that deserves some note, note for the way he's played for the spring box, since he's kind of come into the team more consistently, um, is Vellum. So David, me and Bill, I'm sorry. I thought he, I think he's played great both as a fullback and as obviously he's 10 to 10 this week. Um,
00:38:55
Speaker
So he's much better than when he had his stint at Saris. Right. Oh, yeah, he's definitely he's he's improved massively. And so I give him a lot of credit. You kind of market at that point that he suddenly knows nothing to do with the Saris. Yeah, no, he played like two days for us. But he's been he's been excellent lately. It's been very good for them. And it's safe to say he's probably going to be part of the spring box squad next next year for France. So
00:39:22
Speaker
I think he's great. I think him at fullback is an excellent spot for him because he can be that second distributor. He's better than Willy LaRue. I don't care what anybody else says. He's better than Willy LaPoo. I don't know what, I don't know what they're seeing. I still can't see it. I just don't. I can't see it. I know that. I've heard people talk about it and I'm just like, what, I don't, whatever you're mentioning, you know, you're saying like he did five right things and this and that and then the five good things I'm doing.
00:39:49
Speaker
If you say so, I guess he's not seeing it. This guy, not seeing it, man. Every time I see him, it's not it's generally not going well. Right. All right. Let's go. Let's talk about premiership preview. And see and see how things go from here. Lots to talk about, obviously, with this whole with.
00:40:19
Speaker
We had the, the whole well lost play. Won't they will, will Worcester play. Won't they type of thing. Um, but let's just kind of run through our teams one at a time, all that good stuff. Um, and we'll just kind of, we'll just get through it from there. Um, so let's start with one of the teams that's going to play very early on, uh, bath and.
00:40:47
Speaker
what they've got, what they've added. New coach is in town now, Johan van Grann is taking over now. Some new faces, extruder has been added to the nine channel for them to back up, Ben Spencer.
00:41:07
Speaker
Actually, that's tough. Yeah, that's not it's not to back up. It's not it's not bad by any means whatsoever. It's not a huge. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. I think I think the except for a good solid better. Right. The notable certainly in the forwards would be the fact that there's no more to be felt out that that was a big one for quite a while. You can lose Mercer and fallow in consecutive seasons and still be OK. It's still good. It's still good.
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah. So, so they say, maybe they say, um, we'll see, we'll get the sense. We'll see more Cameron bed red path this year. Um, I think that'll be a nice boost. Do you think they have them at center? Yeah, I think so. I mean, they've got, they've got Bailey.
00:41:55
Speaker
Right. Everybody seems to really like, so. Yeah. And I see it as he's, he's come, he's come a few steps since he first stepped onto the field. So exactly. Yeah. What I'm saying is like, yeah, there's, there's the potential, which I, you know, I, I definitely see that, but I don't see what he's doing in training and shit like that. I'm just, you know, the things that I'm hearing, he's just been. Very good. Yeah. Outside of what we see in the prime. Right. Very good. On the TVs.
00:42:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, I like what I see of them. I think they, I think they have a lot to, to be, um, to be excited about with him. Obviously. Um, I think the one, I think one place that they can kind of lean on pretty hard is the front row. Um, yup.
00:42:43
Speaker
You know, it's, um, getting Dave Atwood is no, isn't no slouchery either. No, he's going to help. He's going to help for sure. Um, but yeah, you, you still have Will Stewart in there who's clearly a leader. Tom Dunn is clearly a leader for the likes of them. Um, Benno Abano, if he can stay healthy, he's going to be, you know, his normal self, which is only good things. I hope so. Love that guy.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, I really like him. Um, so good place for them to lean on. Um, it's another, it's in
00:43:15
Speaker
Bailey's had another year under his hat, too. That's the other thing. Don't forget that. He's had another year to develop. He's had another year to see how teams are going to play against him, potentially. Right. And see the speed at which Prem Rugby has played. That's such a big thing, because it's such a step up. And so that's why guys like him come on more towards the end of the year, because you get
00:43:41
Speaker
10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. And then suddenly it's like, okay, let's get you in there for longer. And then just so you can see the speed and get used to it. So you can make your reads and your decisions. You get used to how quickly you have to do that. If he can maintain this as the game slows down for him, just yikes.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be it'll be good. I'm excited to see what I see what they do here going forward. Yeah, and you know, there's there's talk about what's going on with the back three. And I think we can all safely say that the likes of the Glenville and your are in there.
00:44:21
Speaker
They no longer have Rockin and Gooney. Honestly, he started to become just a guy, so there's that. Yeah, that's not a big loss. No, I think they'll be okay, honestly. They added Niall Annette too, don't forget that. Annette was added, as we talked about the front rowers, they added him as well. Quinn Roo from
00:44:44
Speaker
Quinn roof from, uh, from Connick, I think he was playing with as well. Um, so he's in there. So that's that that's some, that the forward pack has gotten a little bit stronger. I'd say GJ van Belza is Bailis is back. Another, another one with another year under his belt. Yep. And he, and, uh, and we'll see him in the back row a lot more, especially without volatile. Um, so talks from, from saints. So that could be, yeah, there's, they have some good depth now. They have some good depth over there now. So good things to see nearly as much of.
00:45:12
Speaker
You're not going to see nearly as much of Decarpentier this year. Probably not. And if we do, we better be like leaps and bounds better. Yeah. I doubt that's happening at 32. What's that? I doubt that's happening at 32. No, probably not. But it's another year for a JOMO too. It is. That's another one. Yeah, because like a JOMO red path, like Bailey or JOMO red path,
00:45:37
Speaker
I'm buying that. And you still have Jonathan Joseph around, like, so just those three, you know, one comes off the bed, because you can play Red Path at 12 or 13, like, right, you could do so much with just those three.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah. And then, then they added Pierce Francis. Yep. Yep. Quality in the middle as well. Let's talk about their, what will be their opponents this coming Friday. Bristol. Bristol, again, not a great season last year and lots to be, lots was expected of them. Oh, where do you have, by the way, where do you have Beth?
00:46:14
Speaker
Um, just on the edge of missing champions cup, really. So like seven, eight, they're not so many eight, nine somewhere. Yeah. I had him at 11. Okay. So yeah, but that's just fuck. I think 11, you know, 12 and 13 are pretty much set. I feel like there's just so much talent everywhere else that it's like, I think that they're still in the process of putting it together.
00:46:44
Speaker
They probably are. But we'll see. We'll see what Van Grann brings. He's the X Factor in this whole thing. But yeah, it's true, too. Bristol coming in, obviously going to try and rate the ship after last year. Big additions with the likes of Ellis Genj, Magnus Bradbury, AJ McGinty. What?
00:47:05
Speaker
Ebitoye comes in from the cold. What? So we'll see how that goes. Yeah. And Thacker is going to be back full time now. He seems to be healthy. So that's like almost an overturned player because they've never they've never had any problem with their with any of their hookies either because we have burn, we have Kerr and we have him for for Bristol. So I see no slouch either. They have four. They've run four for deep there. Yeah. Those are all really good hookers. So right. They don't have an issue with that. I don't think.
00:47:35
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, bringing in a crafty veteran like AJ is going to only add to him. Yeah. And he's, you know, he's, he's got a lot of tricks in his, in his box. So. Right. And I don't, I don't know what that means for Callum, she'd, I don't know what it means for the, how they're going to balance this all out. Maybe she'd, he plays more at 15 is to spell Peter from time to time to like, um,
00:47:59
Speaker
But yeah, AJ is a better fly half to be perfectly blunt. And with this team, it's going to be just one of those like, you know, Shidi at his best will be as good as AJ beginning at his best. The problem is you never so rarely get Shidi his best anymore. So it's just like, you know, it's going to over the season that truth will out, I guess.
00:48:23
Speaker
Even if they haven't made if they haven't made their decision yet, I don't know if they do it like the U.S. Like, you know. Tomlin had announced today that or yesterday, whatever it was that he started. OK, well, then there's. And I mean, the fly half decision that right. And but I also wonder if Bristol are preparing for she to eventually go back to Wales as well, or which is guaranteed to happen. It's only a matter of time, right?
00:48:53
Speaker
So. Especially the way that it's written in terms of the selection rules for the Welsh. Yeah. And so they will request he come back and he kind of has to go. Right. And AJ, yeah. So that's like, fine, slot him in. And I think you're not going to see the problems that, you know, Bristol had so many just fits and starts. And to me, like,
00:49:20
Speaker
it felt like Sheedy wasn't managing the game as well as he used to. But it also, I mean, it felt like they were having other problems too, but like that was the one that was evident. So at the very least, McGinney is gonna come in and push him. And with this cast of characters out wide, fuck sake. I mean, Yoan Lloyd is, you know, wherever they have him playing, he gets shit done.
00:49:43
Speaker
Piers O'Connor had a meh year, but came on towards the end. Right, I think we'll see him more in the search again, so. Yeah, Roger Rogers back in like a month. And then you said Yvette Toye, you know, Pia Tau, Purdy kind of came on last year. They still have, you know, the ghost of Luke Morahan. And then, you know, like, there's just, you know, wave after wave of guys who,
00:50:09
Speaker
can put it out, you know, could put it to the metal. And then you still have the pack, like VUI back there is like, you know, VUI and Lua 2 are basically really slow centers at this point in the town and distributing centers too. So they're just going to like bowl people over and then offload to a semi or a chock pea and try time. Like they're too good not to, you know, to go through what they went through last year, especially with Genj. Genj won't allow it.
00:50:40
Speaker
No, he's going to demand. He's going to demand. Yeah. Oh, him and Sinclair to get, that's just, fuck's sake. Yeah. When, when they're not with England. Right.
00:50:54
Speaker
Yeah, as far as my number one, by the way, you think they're going to finish first? Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not I'm not sure the pieces quite fall into place for them to make the top four with other trying to trying to figure out who they displaced is the hard part for that. So that's that's the issue.
00:51:14
Speaker
So we'll get to that. I had, I did not have a problem with that myself. Um, so there's that, so there's that, um, champions cup for sure for them, but that's probably, that's probably the most they see for me. Um, uh, disappointing season. Talk about disappointing seasons for these guys. Um, another one for Exeter. Um, hopefully they're less racist. That'd be a nice start. Um, that's a very good start.
00:51:39
Speaker
We have the addition, they have some interesting additions as well. Scott Seo comes in from Australia, Roy O'Loughlin comes over from Ireland. Kata, who again, people are raving about, I don't see it, but okay, that's fine. You know, maybe he finds a way to thrive. I don't know. And then after that, it's, you know, they're gonna have to lean on, they have to find a way to not lean on a healthy Sam Simmons, or they have to keep Sam Simmons healthy, one way or the other. I don't know which one. Pick one.
00:52:09
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, no Johnny Gray. He's left as well. No, Johnny Hill left. Johnny Gray still around. Oh, you're right. Sorry. You're right. Sorry. One Johnny and not the other. Whatever. Yeah. And no Sam Simmons. I'm sorry. Sam. Fuck. Skinner. Skinner. Yep. He was, he was, he was, he was an underrated departure. I think people won't understand. And then obviously, um,
00:52:36
Speaker
For the backs, Tom O'Flaherty, he was probably one of their best, you know, more consistent back three guys. He's gone. He's right. He's he's moved up north. So I. With that thought of they have to lean on the way they play, they love to lean on Simmons the way they do. But like, who else do they like? I just unless they actually get their shit together and change their planning style. Yeah.
00:53:06
Speaker
and really, you know, focus on an attacking, you know, with the backs. That's gonna, you know, maybe you're gonna have to sit Ali Devoto and you're gonna have to sit a, fuck, who's that old asshole? Witten, there it is, I couldn't find him. Like, and actually play like a Tom Hendrickson. And, you know, let Henry Slade do something in attack besides just kick for touch, like,
00:53:33
Speaker
You know, get Fakundo Cordero out there. You know, guys like that. You know, I see what Kadeh can do. Maybe, you know, fuck if I know how he's going to fare in this league. You know, Woodburn, Josh Hodge, these guys are like runners and you need to get them, you know, you need to get them on the field. If you want to run with them, you can't put in Witten out there and then wonder, gee, we're not getting really any push with our centers.
00:53:57
Speaker
Yeah, you that's the selection you made you didn't want to get if you wanted to get like, you know attacking with your centers You're not gonna play Ian Whitten cuz he's like 90 Yeah, and picking an actual back row instead of picking, you know, like Dennis Kirsten and yours yours He's not a back rower. He's a lot
00:54:21
Speaker
Right. He's not even a very good lock. He's because he loses way too much in contact. Like, does he know he takes those hits? Yeah, but he takes them going backwards nine times out of 10. So yeah, every so often he like gets this in position right in the goal line and poaches a try. But it's like that's again. You have to set up your attack in order for him to be able to do that. Like he can't just do that on his own. And you have, you know, if you're running with the ball, he would never see it.
00:54:49
Speaker
So yeah, you got to get Chris Jones out there and yep and and put like We're an actual seven on the fucking field, right? Exactly. Like don't don't let Aaron Hinckley walk because fuck you really needed someone like that, right? Yeah, so they they've got
00:55:13
Speaker
They've got problems. Um, we'll see. I mean, Baxter's a stubborn old fuck. So I'm assuming that it's going to be same old, same old. Right. Uh, it'll come down to how healthy is Sam Simmons in the end. Yeah. And that's a candy dude. He usually does. And I've got them at seven because of that. Yeah. No, I don't see them making the top four again this year either. No, they don't unseat anybody for me. So that being, that being that, um,
00:55:42
Speaker
Next are the mighty, mighty quins. Well, you skipped one. I did? Yeah, you did. Who skipped? Gloucester.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yes, I did. Sorry. That's why I have two of us on this one. Now I know my ABCs. Um, sorry. Now I know my ABCs. Um, big news for gloss, but unfortunately it doesn't kick in until next year. So we're going to have to be patient on that one. Um, but still good things. Um, again, this is going to be another team. I just don't know.
00:56:25
Speaker
who they can push past to get in a better spot other than like six or seven. Right. Oh, well, actually, I have a very, very different opinion. But, you know, Jake Piledry is hopefully going to be 100 percent healthy. That's almost a new signing in a lot of ways. So it is. Hopefully that is something that stays as is. And right. We get we get to see that more often than not. I mean, I'm looking at an Ackerman Ludlow Piledry back line.
00:56:55
Speaker
And yeah, the back row and being very, that I like a lot. And then you still have Jordy Reed. You still have it, you know, the Jack Clements. Yeah. You'll have two weeks silly, but I think he's going to play more lock. I don't understand you. Like you don't bring two weeks. He's not, he's not a, he's not an eight, even, even I London Irish knew that by the end. Um, right. But like you have Alemano and Freddie Clark.
00:57:18
Speaker
Yep. And yeah, so it's like, I think he would fit in really well there. Like he, you know, split, split those guys up a little bit, even though they've been great. I think he would fill in there as a, as a, just a kind of a thutter, um, you know, like he's, he's your guy off the bench to come in just to, to add some physicality at the end of the game. Well, these guys, he'll, Alemano and Clark run them all over the pitch and then two weeks, so we've, you know, mops it up a little bit. Right.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yep, no doubt. So we'll see, we'll see how they go. Very interested to see what their progression looks like as they go and Thanksgiving tins. They played some pretty good stuff for the most part last year so I'll give them that. I have them at three. I don't know if they're gonna get that high. I think, you know, I know that's partly kind of wishing for them to be good but at the same time.
00:58:07
Speaker
that you know Hastings came on that I like those their scrumhaves the Chapman, Meehan and Varney that's gonna play really well. It's helpful. And then yeah I think another year of Chris Harris being awesome and Chris Harris. Thorley you know if they have their best you know back line out there with or back three with Louise Rees-Zamit, Thorley and Carellas
00:58:35
Speaker
That's just full of running and going to be tough to stop.
00:58:40
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be nice to see that run a bit, you know? Now we can go to Quincy. Yes. Losses of Tiz and Jones are the big ones that certainly come to mind. Which is shocking that, you know, we think of Hugh Jones as a big loss, given how he started the year. But he came on very, very well at the end. He really did.
00:59:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's really so it was it's
00:59:15
Speaker
And if they can keep the likes of Tyrone Green healthy and obviously they'll have to pick their spots with Marcus Smith. Thankfully they have a very, very capable set of hands to replace him when need be. Right. Two sets of hands too, which is great. Really? Yeah. Tommy Allen and Will Edwards first showed really well last year. Yes, agreed. The back three in general is looking very good.
00:59:41
Speaker
centers, they have a few of them to say the least. So obviously big Andre, but also Martian and Northmore are nice, you know, compliments in there as well. So I, I see this team, you know, continuing their same, their same type of path. So I think that's a good thing for them. Right. So we'll see. I have them at four, so we can get the
01:00:10
Speaker
Bristol hosting Harlequins and the semi match again. Let's replay that, please. Yeah, I mean, that was the same exact match. Then, yes, let's do it all over again, shall we? Let's do this dance. You're not going to get an argument out of me. So, yeah, yeah, they'll be one to watch and they'll definitely make top four for me. So that's there's no question about that.
Season Previews and Strategic Adjustments
01:00:36
Speaker
Let's go to the champions last year.
01:00:38
Speaker
Um, big, big shoes to, to build, excuse me, to fill in some ways with, um, Genj departing. That's not really, that's less than awesome when you have that going on. Really is. Um, especially when you, you lose. Okay. I'm going to say this, especially when you lose George Ford too.
01:01:01
Speaker
Right. Well, in a lot of ways, like you have a hundred Pollard, but right now he's not even available because he's hurt. And he wouldn't be available for another couple of weeks because he'd be coming back from South Africa duty. Exactly. And you have Freddie Burns. Okay. That's like, that's steady Eddie. He was your 10 in the championship that you won. So he can do it. They'll do it. Now get it done. No worries. You know, you could see.
01:01:29
Speaker
Old man goppers get thrown in there once in a while. No, I don't know how well that's going to work out. I don't know. I don't get it. Yeah. I guess they will have to do that every so often, but yeah, I'm guessing. That's going to be hard to watch. That's one of those like, I don't like, I'm going to watch through the, through your hand fingers. Cause it wasn't pretty at the end of last year, unless he, he found some, you know, unless he found some, some serious motivation. We'll see.
01:01:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think the key for them myself is a guy that's also not going to be able to join up with them quite yet. Julia Montoya.
01:02:14
Speaker
This guy, he's shown really well in the rugby championship as well. That dude's built to make people's lives miserable. So if- He captained a team that won against the All Blacks in New Zealand. In New Zealand. I mean, fuck. What more do you gotta say?
01:02:32
Speaker
Right. So like resume top of the resume right there. And he's also in for Argentina's sake. He's replacing a legend in. Yeah, that's creepy. Right now. Yeah, we had the same. I feel like I'm having deja vu here. Yeah, he's really and he owns it and he's an obvious leader of that team heart and soul. Right. So this team will go as far as he drives them. And that's right. That's to be determined.
01:03:05
Speaker
I think Borthwick, this is where we find out how good of a coach Borthwick is. That's it. That is the thing with the season and this team is here. Let's find out how good of a coach is Steve Borthwick. If he can sneak them into the top four, which I think they will, they'll be right on that very edge of four and have them perform well in the semifinal and possibly win that, then I think there's a lot of
01:03:31
Speaker
debate that will happen. Talked about who's going to replace Eddie already, possibly Andy Farrell. I think his name will come up as well if they have another semi-final finish at the very least. It'll tell me a lot. So, Genj, his fitness and the way he moved about the park covered up a lot of defects.
01:03:54
Speaker
for a lot of players. So it's going to be interesting to me because it's like, maybe when you know when you have again you can get away with, you know, having a Liebenberg, Raffella and Wiese because Liebenberg was okay last year he had he had a really good run down the stretch, but like, I just don't like that, you know, I don't really like
01:04:15
Speaker
You know, outside of Rafael and Visa, there's not, I don't really like their back, anyone outside of their front row and it's like in the forwards. I'm not, you know, I'm on plus about Ali Chasm. Harry Wells is decent, but it's just my personal like watching and I'm, you know, Leibenberg had some great matches last year, which was great. If he can keep that up, good. But, you know, you're kind of going in with, with a bunch of, you know, a good depth, but a bunch of like B plus guys. So it's going to be interesting to see how,
01:04:43
Speaker
how that works without, you know, a super A plus guy, engage, you know, making the curve look really good. Yeah. We'll find out, I guess. Let's go to the exiles. We'll ignore the 10 sharp for now.
01:05:06
Speaker
But for the most part, there's, there's some good things to like about what's going on over in Brentford. Um, you know, they've added some, some good pieces with the spaghetti and Zolotchi. Um, Lester was my number 18. They're eight. Okay. Yeah. All right. Be interesting to see how that goes.
01:05:22
Speaker
A guy that was kind of like a new signing last year and a couple of guys, Arendelle and Pearson, came on strong. They did. So it'll be very interesting to see what their next step looks like. We no longer have Nick Phipps. It's going to probably be a battle between Ben White and maybe Joe Powell. I think it's Ben White's job. I do too. I believe that as well. And Powell's not that good. Yeah. But Ben White is better than Joe Powell. Right.
01:05:50
Speaker
Morrissey is in there as well. So that's going to be. That would be really cool. So I'm interested to see how this goes. They've got just this. They're stacked in a lot of ways. They're kind of missing and others like Pearson helps in that. In that seven roll wraps that up, but like who's your who's your eight would it be? Rodgerson. So if like when you have one Martin Gonzalez back, I would be interested to see how one Martin Gonzalez does as a memory.
01:06:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's the play for me. Josh Basham's in there, but we'll see what that looks like. Yeah. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Basham is in there. That's right. There's your number eight. That's an improvement over to Isui. Yes. Yes, I agree. Front row solid, up and down. There it is, the lock position. That's their weakness, because they have Adam Coleman and Simmons.
01:06:49
Speaker
Ah, Simmons, yeah. Oh, no, Simmons has been better than I've been Coleman, except he keeps getting carded. And then you have App-B. Yeah, that's the problem. None of these three locks contribute more than they give up, really. They're kind of even players. So Simmons plays really well, except he gets carded. And Coleman plays okay, and doesn't really contribute that much positively. And App-B, when we saw the Saints, was more of like a...
01:07:18
Speaker
These are solid 80 minutes of, of, of being a lock out there, but not really, you know, where you high player tackles and win most of his rocks. That's that. And you know, usually when he takes ball into contact, he, he recycles it well. So there you go. Standard lock.
01:07:36
Speaker
All right. Let's go to the North. Oh, and they have them. I have Irish at six six. OK, so champions cut for them. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the North and see what's going on with the Falcons and new coach. So we'll see. And good things to build on again. But still, I don't think they've done a whole lot in terms of improvement in adding things.
01:08:05
Speaker
I, you know, they lost Wilhayden Wood, which is a big loss for me. I think the I think people say that Tien Schumann is going to be a better replacement are marbles. They must be they're gone. They've lost. They've lost the plot, I think. Moroni is a good addition. So I'll give them that. Like Tien Schumann came from Bath, right? Didn't do much there. Right. If he's going to be a difference maker, he would be one already.
01:08:30
Speaker
Right. So there's that. We have Sean Robinson, who we know did damage as a as a lock for quite quite quite a quite a noticeable part of that season. Mm hmm. Yeah. But then they they signed. I don't think it's really we can overrate the signing Matias Moroni. Yeah, I love Moroni.
01:08:53
Speaker
Because I'll say this for Newcastle, because we'll get to another team later. They're separate. One of Newcastle's biggest problems, I mean, look, they're back three. I mean, you know, Penny or Tate at fullback are fine. Both of them will actually score tries for fun pretty well, with Penny certainly. You got Radwin, you know, you got Matteo Carreras, you've got...
01:09:18
Speaker
Yeah, several guys out there that can play, but they had the centers were just really poor last year, you know what cookie cookie was not to the standard. No. And they really didn't have much else there at 13 like, you know, they put Stevenson there and he was wasn't wasn't terrible but I think I like him more at wing.
01:09:37
Speaker
So like to have the two Matias, Orlando and Moroni in the centers, like they went out and made sure that no okay that won't happen again. So, you know, that's that right there is going to be an improvement common actually will play decently. But again, when you don't have centers, it's hard to utilize your.
01:09:54
Speaker
your wings. It wasn't until Connor was like, fuck it. I'm going to just, you know, play it wide to the wide channel for forwards and then play it directly to the wing myself. Like, cause it's not otherwise it's never going to get there. And now he doesn't have to do that. So they can, they can still do that, but they can also, you know, run through the, through the centers. Right.
01:10:13
Speaker
So yeah, that should be interesting. Um, I don't know how they punch much higher than they bend though. That's the only problem. Right. I mean, I, I have them at 10. Yeah. But that's like, I think they're smart. They get northerly calamity more time than any of the other nights. Cause he looked real lively when he had the ball. He did. Remind me another real lively nine they had a few years ago. So.
01:10:40
Speaker
Hopefully that's what happens for their sake, but unlike my team that I had at 12, they actually went out and addressed the problem. Um, over to the gardens and we have new coach in charge. Now it's Phil Dawson's job. Um, Chris Boyd's left a lot of good things. So going on over the gardens, um,
01:11:05
Speaker
And they still have, you know, like, I, yeah, there's a lot going on over there that I still really like. They fulfilled their, they're still fulfilling their Australia quota. Yeah, it seems. Yeah, definitely. Um, you know, with adding, uh, Luke, I guess got young and, um,
01:11:27
Speaker
And yeah, Ram, although I don't know that Ram's going to really see how much it gets in there. Yeah. You know, they lost, they lost some guys that were like usual names for them, but they didn't lose anybody. That's going to make a huge impact per se. Maybe we'll see if that gets proven wrong.
01:11:45
Speaker
Right. But like, to me, you lost Appy Vrutuni Arowa. And you replaced him with Kailoto. He was great. Upgrade. Yeah, he's very good. And then you lose Tonks, but then you bring in Angus Guyum. Yes.
01:12:06
Speaker
So yeah, I don't see it. Where's the lie? Not only that, but you add Aaron Hinckley. Yeah. Who I thought played brilliantly down the stretch. So well down the stretch. Yep. And Alfie Petch from Exeter, like they just poach in the actual players from, from, from Exeter. Um,
01:12:27
Speaker
So yeah, they're getting playmakers and Ethan Waller. He's coming too. Yeah. Waller's coming back this way. They're getting playmakers and Ethan Waller.
01:12:42
Speaker
Northampton fans have every reason to have high expectations of this team. You still have Dingwall and Hutch in the middle there. Proctor's a reliable source in there as well. You got lots of speed everywhere too. You really do. Yeah, just slightly. And then you have Alex Mitchell who
01:13:05
Speaker
some would say was the best nine last year. Right. And you had a Calum Braley, who's no slouch. Still have Tom James. Like, so Alex Mitchell. That's from Scrouted. Right. Bristolian. Very, very, very Bristol-like. So, yes. That's from half two. According to FRD. Yeah, I didn't say I don't. OK, whatever. That's fine. So I don't see.
01:13:35
Speaker
I don't see how they go down. They're at least making the semi-final. Yeah, I see. I have them at fifth, and I think it's really a flip of the coin between them and Gloucester as to who is going to be in the floor. Again, the Holocaust ones are at fourth, so they could play Bristol. So that's why they would be either Gloucester or Saints in three for me.
01:13:57
Speaker
Um, yeah. And I'm looking forward to more Emmanuel Yogan, because I loved what I saw. Um, let's go to sale and what's going on at the AJ Bell, big departure, big
Challenges and Adaptations for Teams
01:14:14
Speaker
departure. And they, and they managed to replace it, but the bad news is he's coming in with an injury, an injury that you're not going to see him for the better part of the year. Yeah. You know,
01:14:23
Speaker
And now you didn't you didn't even there's no investment in depth at that position, which is sincerely problematic is now you're going with Robert Dupree as your 10. Right. And one of the one of their pups as a as a backup, you know, right. I hope one of the pups comes good because yeah, they're better. Yeah, they're better. But they also get to it.
01:14:49
Speaker
in a way, cause like, did you even play a single match last year? I think he did, but just not much sparingly. So it's like, it's almost an addition, like a new signing there. Um, so that'll help because you know, at least, at least there's a basher off the 10 that can hopefully take some pressure off of them, um, to get it out past 13. I think that's what you need. They have like, we saw last year, Aaron Reed, Tom Roebuck, um,
01:15:16
Speaker
You know, Luke James was looking good back there at fullback. He's in now this year too. Right. And you add a clarity to the mix. Like there's talent out there. You just got to get them the ball and Dupree was bad at that. He was good at it. So.
01:15:31
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, people will say, well, what about Ford's good at it? But yeah, people will say, well, what about nine? They have the nine shirt covered. Raffy Quirk's going to be just fine. He's got some guys that can give him a spell as well with a little clip. Joe Simpson's been added to that room. Gus Warr. They'll all be capable replacements, but he is the guy now. So there's that as well.
01:15:57
Speaker
Johnny Hill basically replaces Lou Diager and he's probably a slightly bigger asshole about it. Um, yeah. Uh, uh, what's his butt, uh, till we played six times last year. Okay. I believe at least he started six times. Let's put it that way. So my, my had a couple off the bench. Um,
01:16:18
Speaker
Yeah. So it's going to be interesting. I just, I don't know how this team again, another one. I don't know how they move forward, especially without, you know, uh, Robert Dupree has got it. The Robert Dupree that started the year last year was poop.
01:16:34
Speaker
The Robert DiPrio that finished the year for them last year was actually not bad. We saw good glimpses of him. So if that's the guy that shows up, sure, they'll be in the fight the whole way through. If they get the first version, they're bound. They're going to be chasing things from the word go. Yeah, it's going to be trouble. So their lack of real... It's not even depth. It's just the up front. They're missing pieces in the forwards. You know, obviously their hooker
01:17:04
Speaker
depth is fantastic. Love Acker, love you, and love Tommy Taylor. There's really only Bevan Rod to help them out. And we're looking at attack mostly here, because obviously they're all solid defenders. But Johnny Hill's nothing in attack. So you're still looking at John Luke Dupree and Dan Dupree as your main attacking those two and your hookers and maybe Bevan Rod. But the Curry twins are
01:17:34
Speaker
you know, dick hands and attack. They're not really helpful there. Jono Ross, as long as you're not getting a yellow card, is good at rocking. But there's no...
01:17:45
Speaker
oomph there, besides, you know, outside of the South Africans and the hookers and the one prop, right? You got to, you got to bring more than that. Yep. Especially, and that's going to hurt Robert Dupree because he's not going to have the, you know, as much as, yeah, he'll have to eat it to help shield him a little bit. That defense is still going to be coming strong at them, you know, most times. So we're going to be under pressure. Yeah. I think it'll be okay.
01:18:13
Speaker
Um, I have them at nine, just above Newcastle and just below Leicester. All right. Um, going down alphabetically here, obviously come to the Saracens, um, I was runner up and, um, good things, but also things that you need to ask, um,
01:18:37
Speaker
the, you know, people want to ask questions of like, who's going to replace Vincent clock and they have some capable replacements. It's going to be that three shirts up for grabs. Number one, which in some ways is good because it means it's the best person is going to win that shirt. Right. You know, and that's all that is good. I, you know, if Richie Oney is healthy, it's his. I think so too.
01:19:03
Speaker
Yeah. So hopefully he's recovered from that knee last year. That kind of sucked. Right. Once Ralph had a tail suddenly become, you know, switches sides and becomes a tight head, which would be awesome. I guess that as well would be good. And then we had, and then obviously there's also, they got better.
01:19:24
Speaker
because they no longer have to lean on Tim fucking Swinson. Right. Like, golly. Just there. Oh, that that that. You know, their lock common. I mean, you know, obviously, you know, Maro and Nick, if they're healthy, are your locks most likely. But like you can throw Theo up there. And now you have Hugh Tizard, who's just been
01:19:53
Speaker
use Beasley last year for their, for Quinn's. Right. Sizzling, um, and attack. Just, just another flanker out there, essentially. Like that's what they can throw out there. So the real question is, will Mark let them do that?
01:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, that comes down to coaching at this point, really. Yeah. The weapons are there. You know, you had you're going to have Lizosky for the foreseeable, you know, time that there are that, you know, he's there. He's not going to he's not in favor of that. He's not going anywhere. So. Right.
01:20:25
Speaker
And the back row is something that's got some quality on it. They for whatever reason, Ben Earl has become like ignored. So yeah, he's there and he's going to play his ass off. I'll be very curious. And this could add to it. And I don't know if it's going to come to anything good. I'll be very curious to see what Toby Knight does because he's you guys beat wet last year.
01:20:47
Speaker
And he didn't look great, but it's only one year. So, you know, it's only one game. I'll be very curious to see how he's come along this, this preseason here. Please, please, please for the love of God, play Ruben Dahas.
01:21:03
Speaker
You can't stand watching either of these other fucking schmucks. Screw this up for us. Like, get Ruben DeHaas in there more. He will only get better. He's still young enough to have some leaps and bounds within him. Just let him play. Let him play. A lot of Davies can go bye-bye, honestly. I'm okay with it. Yeah, I'm kind of done with him. Yeah, I'm over that. He costs us more games than he wants us, that's for sure.
01:21:28
Speaker
And, and, right. And beyond that, like, you know, you need that service to get it out and play, you know, yes, if you have shitty scrum hevery, that means that you're going to have to kick it more. Um, that's not like, when you look at the team that they could put out there, like. Do you want to be dangerous? That's one way to do it. And I, and I get that they like to do the.
01:21:52
Speaker
the pick up the scraps type of thing, but you have to know when it's not working and recognize that and change to something that's going to be like, all right, well, that's not working. Let's just keep on hand and attack the hell out of these guys. Yep. You know, so is that that works. They, they, these, they have so much talent all across this team and through the bench too, that you can just run all day at them. That's that. And they can't.
01:22:15
Speaker
you know, a club team can withstand that kind of pressure, you know, unless we're talking about, you know, some of the ones that the final four Champions Cup. That's it. Those are the only teams that can really
01:22:27
Speaker
handled what, what saris could do if they chose to play a certain way. And I so I don't understand why they don't play that more especially guess less that was just right. Yeah, you got to learn from that and be like okay you know what my style of playing it's basically 50 it's basically 5050 ball. Like, maybe we win maybe we don't. It's not.
01:22:51
Speaker
You're not taking it to the other team. You're not dictating the game. You're just kind of kicking it and hoping things, good things somehow happen. Yeah. Especially if Alex Jude is running again, like, you know, I'm kind of hoping he does. I was kind of selfish earlier, but like, yeah, when he runs, they, yeah, you kick to him and see what happens rather than kick to him. And he's just going to kick it right back. That's not what we want, Mark. That's not what we want.
01:23:18
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, I still think they'll finish top two. Yeah, I haven't met you. Yeah, so I'll do that. Let's move to the clubs that have been in the news for other reasons as well. Unfortunately, I will start wasp at the end of the alphabet. Very interesting. But row additions with john Ryan and Vincent cock. Will Hayden would is added to their fly half ranks gives them again. It's
01:23:47
Speaker
It's another shirt to win that 10 shirts open right now. I know who Michael wants it, but is he going to get it? Is he going to earn it? And if he doesn't, then you presume that the player that takes it, you know, is actually going to be a very good fly half at that point. Well, here's the thing. I don't, I don't understand. I really don't understand wasps this off season. You have a hell of a team.
01:24:12
Speaker
And this goes back to the conversation about what I said about Newcastle. You have a hell of a team, except for your centers. Their back three are excellent across the board. And yeah, they had to put fucking who guard out there because they had some depth issues. They had some injuries. But still, the players they were putting out there were quite good, including putting Umaga at 15, which he played excellent there.
01:24:43
Speaker
What they go out and sign you you're missing you're especially missing a 13. They went out and signed to tight head props and past his prime, you know, bowling ball, been broken dog or own doll, like,
01:25:00
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's a center, but that's not the center you need it. No, probably not. And maybe we see more Ryan Mills this year. And maybe that's kind of hearing. Yeah, Spink would be, you know, what what brilliant little flashes we saw of Sam Spink were great. So I hope we see more of that this year. And I'm not sure if it's if it's moral. So please help me out here, the ethics of it. But
01:25:27
Speaker
Like, if I'm looking at their team and I really want to put someone at 12, based on what I would want from a 12, it might be Odagu. Like, if I put Odagu, you know, because he's physical when he needs to be, but he can also be dodgy and he's good with ball, you know, he's good once he breaks the line of offloading and all sorts of stuff like that that you really need from a 12. I just, I don't want to break him.
01:25:53
Speaker
Yeah. So it's a little bit, it's a little bit, you know, you got to play, play with a little bit of fire there. So we'll see. I don't know.
01:26:07
Speaker
For their sake, I hope the centers form out quite well. I just don't know if they're going to, that's the problem. So we'll see what that looks like. Yeah, I have them at 10. I'm sorry, I had them at 12. It was like the Newcastle between them and Newcastle made the right decisions, I feel like in the offseason and Wasp speed. I think with a really well-performing Jacob Bumack and a healthy Alvy Barbary,
01:26:33
Speaker
you could see them punch, you know, start to sniff at the semi-final. They won't get there, but I think with that, they could be there. I just think there's too much other competition here. You can't have that many holes and compete.
01:26:48
Speaker
All right. And then the troubled Worcester warriors, but looking at them on paper, it doesn't look so bad. Honestly. Um, I don't know why Cameron nails. This is locked by, um, this knucklehead, but that's not, that's not the fact that you can switch Fergus Lee, wondering him, but, um, anyway. Yeah.
01:27:07
Speaker
Um, fight Eva comes over. Um, he's, he's, uh, Italian international Medrano comes over. That's a nice, that's a nice little addition for the front row, especially considering they lost Waller. That was, um, that was a painful one there. Um, Gareth, Gareth Simpson. We like, um, you know, it was just another year where Finn Smith takes a step forward. We hope so. We really hope. Um,
01:27:32
Speaker
You know, and I like a lot what's going on with their midfield as well honestly with Beck and Lawrence and Morris and Venter like it They actually have a hard time picking a bad midfield. I will say that for them. So, you know upside on that for sure So we'll see how that goes and Tom how and we'll get to this on the fantasy pod too But all Tom how does is score tries and he's not playing enough Like he's out there. He scores a try. It's just it's weird happening like
01:28:00
Speaker
Maybe I didn't realize he doesn't play that often, but still, maybe when the guy does, you know, you have trouble scoring tries, this guy scores a try when he plays, you just put him out there more.
01:28:09
Speaker
Yeah. Unless he was hurt. I don't know. Um, and yeah, Duhan know what he were and Perry Humphries actually, of all people had a pretty decent season last year too. So it's like shell decks, not bad either. So, and shellcock is around. Um, yeah. So we'll see if Steve Diamond opens them up actually. That's another one that comes down to coaching. Like what are they going to do? That's why I have them at 13. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, the feel good of it will be.
01:28:39
Speaker
They do, they do well. They finished mid table. Yeah. Not sure it's getting there. Maybe, maybe, maybe I just, again, this is a very stacked. Prem like being, there's no shit like Lester wanted last year. I haven't been eight just because they had, you know, they're, they have margins. Like, yeah, those, those eight matches or whatever until they get, um, Oh fuck, what's his name? Um,
01:29:08
Speaker
Fly half. I'm breaking. I've had too much beer. No, Lester. Oh, uh, Pollard or Brent? Pollard. Yeah, Pollard. Like, Burns is going to play, but, like, it's one of the, I think it's more one of those. I was, you know, he's good enough once. Like, but no, he's not going to be good at this. He once was. So, uh, yeah, Pollard will come back and, and, and adds shit to it.
Premiership Contenders and Season Expectations
01:29:31
Speaker
But I think it's going to be too much and losing, um,
01:29:36
Speaker
Genj like that, that's going to be, that definitely hurts. And they're coming off of a little bit. They're a little bit of a hangover. So yeah, I think, but their talent's going to keep them up competitive. It's just that the competition is fucking fierce this year. All right. Um, so who finishes top four, who wins? So yeah, I have again, Bristol, saris, Gloucester saints, um, and Harlow Queens, but I'm going with Gloucester. Okay.
01:30:06
Speaker
So, and then, um, I would go Sarri's and Bristol in the final. I think Bristol would have, will avenge themselves. Yeah. I mean, to see AJ McGinty play in the final, I'm not going to say no shit. We might have to get on a plane, dude. Yeah. All right. We're going. Um, yeah.
01:30:31
Speaker
I mean, this is with Lester kind of getting in some in many terms weaker and maybe not so much. That might not be the most accurate word to use with them just, you know, losing the pieces they lost. Yeah, say that right.
01:30:46
Speaker
It does come down to what Steve Worthwood's going to be doing, be able to do as a coach. And that's to be found out, obviously, you know, same thing with series. What does Mark McCall do? Does he, you know, adjust the style a little bit better when the time calls for it? Because you and I both know.
01:31:03
Speaker
He didn't do that well all the time last year, and now they've got something else to worry about, and that's Champions Cup as well. So they don't have that week where they can, you know, sit back. Although, granted, there was a point where they started to take it real serious, but that didn't happen for months. So, yeah, and the same thing with some other teams.
01:31:21
Speaker
Yeah. When we have other teams that are trying to rise from their bad years last year, and we have other teams that are trying to stay at the top. So, you know, are there probably, is it probably seven teams and six teams or is it probably like, you know, eight teams and five teams? Probably. And any one of those eight teams could end up in the top four? Probably. Like sale, Newcastle, Bath, Wasp, Worcester to me. My team's bottom five. I don't, and Wasp,
01:31:49
Speaker
could shoot up, they could actually outperform what I think and make the top eight too. You know, sale, Newcastle, Bath and Worcester are not, they're not ready to compete those, at least those four. Probably gets clear, like sale due to unfortunate circumstances, but that matters. It's just how it is.
01:32:12
Speaker
Yeah. And but everyone else, like as much as I said, you know, I have them where I'm like one through basically wasps aren't going top four. So that's not that's they're just not that good. Their their peak is not that high. Everyone else like Exeter, if they get their heads out of there, if you know, back to your takes his head out of his ass, London Irish, if they I don't know, I don't I don't know what goes wrong with I still can't figure out what goes wrong with them. But too much goes wrong with them. Yep.
01:32:42
Speaker
Saints. Yeah. All these teams could fucking destroy any other on any, on any week. So possibilities are endless. Yeah. It's madness. Anything could happen, but that's what we think it is. Well, that is, um, those are from preview. That's, that'll be our, our, that'll be it for this pod pod as well. Um, we're going to jump over to the fancy corner and dig into start sit as well as pick the draft order for champion XD two, which is part.
01:33:12
Speaker
uh, drafting tomorrow night, tomorrow afternoon, depending on where you're at. Um, but yeah, we're going to get over to that in a second. If you're not coming over the fancy corner, we appreciate you hanging out with us. Um, we'll be back next week for, to recap the big opening weekend in the prem. And then I will also be looking very much forward to watching our guys get on the field the following week. So, um,
01:33:35
Speaker
If you don't like that, sorry, maybe skip next week. But just the same, enjoy the opening weekend of the premiership. I hope everybody just sits back and is in awe of what goes on on the field because it should be fun either way. So everybody enjoy it and thank you very much for listening and we'll catch you guys next week. Have a good one.