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Episode 31: Premiership Regular Season Finale & Super Rugby Round 14
27 Plays6 years ago
A longer episode than we normally like, but with this being the last weekend of this much rugby on tap, it seemed like it was worth it to us. Plus we talk about some good stuff, including pay walls. It sounds boring, but I know we aren't the only ones that are frustrated by the quality given to us for the prices we are forced to pay to watch our beloved teams, especially here in the U.S. And of course we round out all of this week's action from the final weekend in the Premiership regular season and round 14 in Super Rugby.
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Email fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com with questions, feedback or just to say what's up.
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Transcript
Introduction and Location
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, how's it going everybody? It is the Fantasy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We are recording from just outside Boston, Massachusetts. And what a weekend we've just hit the scene.
Rugby Weekend Review
00:00:09
Speaker
And well, okay, maybe that's an overstatement because there were still some, there was some matches that meant exactly nothing. And you know, and then there was, and I have to be honest, some of the Super Rugby was not great either. So that was, uh, yeah, after the last weekend, I guess we were ready for a letdown.
00:00:25
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to kind of have that. You got the premiership teams that mostly had a buy. Yeah. What's going on. Yep. So they're coming back. You had a lot of teams starting some shags. Right. And so you're not going to get the best rugby when that happens. No. Although it led to some high scores.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, especially Especially a couple games for sure sale and yeah, that one was pretty hot. I was pretty up there.
Podcast Milestones and Future Plans
00:00:55
Speaker
I should be Except with the exception of uh, was it new castle bristle surprise surprise surprise every team scored over 20 Wow Um, I don't know what that says about new castle bristle That's all right, um, all right, let's crack let's crack some let's do that
00:01:17
Speaker
Make sure everybody make sure you check us out on Google Play, Spotify, iTunes, Raiders Review Us. I'll put the email in the show notes and I'll give it at the end of the show for those of you that like to hear it. I don't know why, but you know, whatever happens. And hit us up for some some beer suggestions. Yeah. We're always on the lookout for something we can drink while we're doing this. Absolutely.
00:01:44
Speaker
And we're not looking for water either. Right, no, like real beer. Yeah. There's something that, you know, one or two of them knock you kind of on your ass. Yeah, exactly. That's the type of stuff. We are large gentlemen. It takes more
George Smith's Retirement
00:01:57
Speaker
than the average. Yeah, I'm not out to sit here and guzzle down five, six, seven beers just to get maybe a buzz. No. No, that's not quite what I'm after here. But we did record number 30 last week.
00:02:10
Speaker
Whoo-hoo three zero actually 31 but officially officially number 30 The well the draft episode was it would be 31, but it was a special but yeah officially yeah Tf our why has 30 episodes out there and I don't know doesn't feel like 30 feels like we've been doing we haven't been doing it for that long not really Yeah, you're right. I mean it's it's like
00:02:34
Speaker
It is shocking to look back and be like wow we've been doing this since december Like yeah, it's a minimum. Yeah. Oh doing the pick them since december Yeah, we only did the pick them since december. We we've I mean I did that I did the episodes I Did the first few episodes in like october and then I think I picked you up in november. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, there
Challenges of Accessing Rugby in the US
00:02:56
Speaker
you go So off we go
00:02:58
Speaker
Um, yeah, so number 30, uh, you know, we will have a small break once super rugby ends and, but then we have the best thing possible. World Cup. World Cup. So, uh, but yeah, we'll, uh, we'll move on from there.
00:03:14
Speaker
something that I've been waiting for this guy to freaking call it quits forever, but I think everybody has. George Smith retiring after the Bristol match this weekend. Well done to him. Yeah, 20-ish years. I can't believe he's been playing for as long as he's had. He's younger than me. The dude's a beast. Fucking depressing. The dude's a beast. Yeah. Yeah, that guy's been so good for so long. It's hard to believe that.
00:03:43
Speaker
I mean, his brilliance has just stayed with him throughout his whole career. And obviously as he got more experienced, he got more intelligent with how he played.
00:03:57
Speaker
There comes a time where you kind of have to, because you don't have the same agility and same physical attributes that you once did, because well, age does that. And for me, it was the recovery. Yeah. Being able to play weekend and week out. Right. And it was showing up for, you know, you should.
00:04:13
Speaker
Even from back when I was 23 and fresh-legged, Tuesday practices weren't terribly fun because you're still a little bit sore from Saturday. But when it came to suddenly it was Thursday training, man, I'm still sore from Saturday. And then you wake up Saturday and you're like, man, I'm still sore from last match. It's like, yeah, you don't have that recovery. Your body kind of loses that ability to maintain
00:04:39
Speaker
Right, so he's obviously taking good care of himself over the years. But yeah, that's, you know, typically Captain George Smith has a fantastic career and he is going to be a legend that will live in Ozzy folklore forever. Rugby folklore, really, but definitely Ozzy folklore.
00:04:57
Speaker
So one thing that I got really annoyed with, and you did too actually this past weekend. So those are you that might be listening from not the United States or probably Canada too. We live behind paywalls for rugby over here, unfortunately. At one point, it wasn't so bad for ESPN, but then they decided to put that little plus next to it. So there goes that.
00:05:25
Speaker
So ESPN plus NBC sports gold and flow rugby pretty much encompass every better rugby. You can probably want to suck up Yes in this country. So it's in a way it's worth it because it's like you can I mean I can go back and watch every match from this past weekend right now if I wanted to
00:05:40
Speaker
Right, especially between plus and gold. So this past weekend, audio issues out the wazoo for NBC Gold, like no audio or that happened at least once or twice. Another time, the audio cut to somebody that must have been in the truck.
00:06:04
Speaker
Instead of the commentator and like directing the cameras. I'm like, that's that's that's not the person we're supposed to hear guys You know referees Mike's cut up cut in and out all the time on on gold which sucks and I know it's not and you know, and we know that We never get the halftime show fees or anything like that for gold, which is really really disappointing. Yes, I
00:06:27
Speaker
You know, and it's a lot more complicated than I wish it was, you know, oh well that's a different feed and you have to pay X amount more. Well bloody hell, they charge us freaking a shit ton anyway. How the hell can they not afford it? I just, I'm baffled to it sometimes.
00:06:44
Speaker
and Yes, I all those
Premiership Playoff Analysis
00:06:47
Speaker
issues I had uh, so I recently bought a new computer and The other other week it was having audio issues. I couldn't get the the speakers to work So it was just they weren't just working And it's a mac. I'm new to max. So My wife goes hey, why don't you just cycle power turn it off turn back on again? I'm like, it's not a
00:07:09
Speaker
PC They did it and it worked it was fine. Yeah, so I'm sitting there watching wasps versus Quinn's I think it was yeah, and that happened like in the middle of the five minutes in the audio just cut out Yeah, and I was like
00:07:24
Speaker
Fuck did my computer? I'm like am I gonna have to read and and I actually did I tried again turn it back on and it wasn't working again and I'm like fuck what the what the hell and and then it's my fast-forwarded about a minute or two into the action and Then we were good. Yeah, okay Yeah, that was the feet that was job and be so now I'm like fuck it was NBC Sports go the whole time Yeah, yes, it probably was Yeah, and then
00:07:54
Speaker
ESPN Plus presents less issues for me, but it's also absolute pain in the balls to find the matches sometimes.
00:08:03
Speaker
I've actually found, so now they've, so one of the big problems with super rugby on ESPN Plus was that you couldn't search for it. So if you search for a rugby match or you search for a rugby. Right. Now, if you go into ESPN Plus, and this is at least on the Roku app, you go into ESPN Plus, you can scroll down and there's a, it has a leagues list.
00:08:29
Speaker
And you can scroll through and find super super rugby Okay, so it's annoying but I but they they actually did they've addressed it at least. Yeah, they fixed it So yeah, but flow rugby Oh God in heaven. This is God in heaven. So so this is actually the explanation as to why I didn't watch so many of the Premiership and super rugby matches this week the club championships here
00:08:56
Speaker
Right, so so this is american club championships the uh, um The it was the the final the elite eight so saturday was uh was the quarterfinals. Um, i'm, sorry No, it was quarterfinals then semi-final right semi-finals Um of american rugby the finals are in a couple weeks. Um
00:09:18
Speaker
but flow rugby i mean we're paying first off we're paying double what what we what we pay for nbc sports gold and espn plus so i think it's 60 annually for the for for the espn plus and nbc sports gold and it's like 120 for flow rugby yeah um the the boss looked it up and she's like that sounds ridiculous i was like it is and the only reason that i'm paying that is because my boss wants me to be able to watch shit like this
00:09:47
Speaker
and and that's fine i get that you know we kind of have to support you have to pay in to make it worth it to for that for anybody to broadcast usa rugby the club yeah uh play but damn i don't know where they get these announcers because yeah they get these commentators who don't know the sport and like there'll be a penalty and there were a couple times there'd be a penalty in a quick tap and they'll be like oh referee halts play oh and it resumes and they don't tell they don't know what happened they couldn't tell
00:10:17
Speaker
Dude, let's go. A kick to touch would be, oh, she kicked it out of touch. And it's like, no, no, no. Into touch. Like, get the, I guess you got the touch idea, but you don't know what the fuck it means. So don't use it. At least go to out of bounds if you want to do, you know, use American lingo if you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Yeah, that's probably true. Save yourself the headache. Right. And, but at the same time, are there, is there really nobody who knows
00:10:44
Speaker
rugby enough to that can Legitimately commentate on it. There was a match even worse there was a the division one women's semi-final between Detroit and Raleigh and Raleigh is a good fucking team. They want they went to the finals last year Detroit's mediocre at best But there's not many d1 Cinderella story to get to the semi-final more or less pretty much and um
00:11:11
Speaker
Raleigh was blowing them out all across the board smashing and they didn't know they had the teams wrong not only The the the commentator was calling Raleigh Detroit and Detroit Raleigh, but they had it on the scoreboard on the on the screen
00:11:26
Speaker
as detroit win that's awful and that is just unforgivable at one point raleigh makes a sub and they bring in their number 20 and the commentator looks at it says well detroit doesn't have a number 20 so hey congratulations they got a little bit more depth and it's like no no no they have to the the scrutiny around these rosters is so intense because it's fucking club rugby so people are going to cheat right and
00:11:51
Speaker
fan ringers, wherever you can. Right. They're not going to let you roster a 20 if you don't have one. So that should have been a huge signal to him that, oh, we fucked this up. Yeah. The old light bulb should have gone off. Uh oh. And Raleigh has this purple viper that's on there. Right. I think it's purple, whatever. They have a viper that's on their uniform.
00:12:13
Speaker
Know what the fuck the teams you're calling. But this is what we pay for. This is what we get with American Rugby. And I will share your commentator outrage with a moment from a
Sale vs. Gloucester Recap
00:12:30
Speaker
few years ago and back when
00:12:33
Speaker
NBC Sports goal didn't quite understand what the hell they were doing or NBC Sports period didn't quite understand what they were doing with rugby, right and it was so they used to carry the USA sevens the Las Vegas sevens Yeah, and ma'am was that painful to listen to the two commentators that were on there the one guy that he's basically their everything commentator and he's kind of a reject and just man He sounds so terrible
00:12:54
Speaker
and then high tower that there was also him it's also him too and that's and he just you know put the icing on the cake yeah now and you know and people still use him like he's worth it he's
00:13:09
Speaker
He was USA7's captain in like the 80s, which shouldn't mean a darn thing. And it doesn't. It really doesn't. It absolutely doesn't. But so the match in Chicago, Ireland and New Zealand.
00:13:27
Speaker
Bloody great match. But man, I'm listening to this commentary. I had to just like turn it down. It was just so painful to listen to. Every time something happened for Ireland, he couldn't just say Ireland. He said, the Irish rugby football union. I'm like, oh, dude, dude, this is painful for me to listen to. Every time he was trying to refer to Ireland, that's what he called him. I'm like, no.
00:13:50
Speaker
a whole lot of no like come on dude what's the fucking point ah it's just so it's it's like all right you are demonstrating to everybody that's watching this match that even has a clue about rugby that you are an absolute imbecile
00:14:05
Speaker
Anybody at all, even if you don't know rugby, yeah, you're like, can you just say Ireland? I mean, that's probably true. Also probably true They always wanted they always put something in there like this is my like Idiom, right? No, dude, just pick a better fucking idiom
Premiership Team Performances
00:14:25
Speaker
you do something your own way, but do differently
00:14:28
Speaker
All right. Yeah. So, you know, depending on what you follow and what you want to follow, if you're so ESPN plus has pro 14, they have super rugby and they have some MLR. So that so if you're a US rugby fan, on top of being a fan of those two, those two leagues, then that's your that's your game. If you are a fan of England and Europe, you're going to want to go NBC Sports Gold, because that's what their rugby pass will get you. They're also carrying the woke up, although I think that's going to carry a different
00:14:58
Speaker
Package which sucks. Yeah, don't worry about it And then flow rugby the only thing that I can say for myself that it's worth it If you're a big club rugby band and you're a big fan of the women's game, that's your bag right there So the one thing I want to ask because you watched them is
00:15:17
Speaker
the fall internationals, the autumn internationals, were those like ITV feeds, whether they had somebody else trying to hook into the commentary there, whatever it was from. No, they're all, I mean. The international, were the international feeds, or the home feed, whatever it is, or is it more the us trying to screw it up? You know what, I couldn't quite tell, because again, they would, I think they were, I don't think they were, I mean, oh wait, I'm thinking about the American internationals. No, no, no, no, the American internationals we can throw away, because they screwed those up pretty hard.
00:15:47
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. I recall they were they were they weren't local. Okay, good. They were they were the national. Yeah. Listen, they they didn't they couldn't tell what the clock was in that USA match where they meet one of the island countries. I still
Super Rugby Match Highlights
00:16:00
Speaker
can't remember. But yeah, they were five minutes off. Yeah, that's bad. So yeah, Flo rugby. Please, please, please suck less. Plus for the for the club championships, they were showing. So this is another thing that they were doing that annoyed the fuck out of me is
00:16:14
Speaker
In the second half of matches they were starting over at zeros So that's not how you do it. You start at 40, right? Come on, man. And so that's a basic i'm watching a match That's an easy one. Wait, so we started watching one match. It was the division three Quarters which division three it was dog shit. Yeah, that'll happen right? Um, which was to be expected then there was a division two women's and and
00:16:37
Speaker
We wanted to watch the division two women's because uh, we have a good friend who plays for one of the teams and the other team was from uh, harrisburg pennsylvania, which is where jess and i met and so we have a we have a Both have a a connection to that club. So it's two clubs that we actually really wanted to see and and we're looking at the score like wait, there's 37 37 minutes in we're not even at the end of the first half like what the fuck and then it turned out No, that was towards the end of the game. That was that could you just
00:17:04
Speaker
or at least come on bloody hell at least have a second half thing something that needs to be in there no heads but you know we make fun of the french a lot on this uh pod yeah because everyone does um but i seriously think a lot of these problems are because usa rugby now has this connection to we're sucking in the french please no
00:17:26
Speaker
This this aura or whatever it is, please don't just knock it off Some some clubs are cooking up with some of the the professional teams start to hook up with other Organizations that are better than France. Thank God. Yes. Thank God. All right. All right. I'm your ship Yeah, you know permission had there were there were a lot of permutations we almost got it right almost got it, right?
00:17:51
Speaker
Last week yeah last week. We almost got it right Could we say we said I have it here hold on Yes, so he said Northampton Quinn's bath would get in and Bristol would be the seventh place and it's I believe it's Northampton Quinn's bath and sale
00:18:14
Speaker
Sales in the seventh. Ah Almost yeah, so close so close I also was banking on I'm not sure neither of us were expecting sale and Wasps to be so
00:18:31
Speaker
Right right. That's where we uh, that's where that's where we buggered that one up. Yep. Oops. Oh, well, um So the I watched I watched both matches that the only thing I didn't watch was new castle or bristol um so lester match I The only comment I had I mean lester play bath played out of their skin, which was awesome. Uh
00:18:57
Speaker
you know Abano, Stuke, Mercer, they were all very good. You know, Rory McConaughey, he looks like another future England player possibly. I mean, he's coming from the seven circuits, but still like he's, he's, he's been very good for them. This like, he's been very underrated. Like he kind of came onto the scene and then he scored a try in his first game. Yeah. So, you know, he was, he was something good.
00:19:22
Speaker
He's got a lot of competition at his position. He does. There's a lot of good wingers, even in his own club. Right. What is with, and we know one that I can refer to, but the other one, what is with England and having very talented and very mobile props that are also absolute fucking morons? I refer to one Ellis Gensch.
00:19:46
Speaker
I so I think you know how we talk about the other one I I do not understand the height behind Genge at all. I just I mean I can't either I'm with you on that one
00:20:01
Speaker
What what does he do that's so impressive? I don't see like I thinkler at least does some pretty cool shit in the loose and the loose right and Supposedly Genj does too, but I've yet to really see a lot of it. I can't say I've seen it much. No, I
00:20:18
Speaker
No, I'm I am without answer to that of the more of the productive props at Lester Which they're very few Dan Cole is way higher on my list and then Gens So yeah, no, no, no, no, I have no idea Yeah
00:20:36
Speaker
Eddie Jones likes him, but I also know that Eddie Jones likes Hepburn and Moon more than he likes Gens probably, so that's probably a good thing for England. But yeah, it was a good match. Bath got one right at the death. I think it was Veneroy
Challenges in Southern Hemisphere Rugby
00:20:51
Speaker
and that ended up coming up with the winner at the end. It was a very well played match for them, you know, but Lester let it go again and it was, they talked about it, it was,
00:21:04
Speaker
Their defense, it's their defense. One thing I have to say, Lester, whatever you do, I know you're probably wanting a new coach. Do not make Mike Ford your new coach. Do not. He is an absolute shitbag. He basically shoved somebody out at Bath to get the job there.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, he took him to a final, but then he probably lost said final to the Saracens actually. And he's just such an asshole. I think it was too long. People at too long hated him. Hated him. Lester, do yourself a favor. I don't care if it's your best player's dad. That doesn't make him a good coach. Knock it off, all right? And I know his other son's there too. He's not as good.
00:21:50
Speaker
Oh man, just don't do it, don't do it. There's a lot of talent out there for coaches. He ain't it, okay? And
Super Rugby Preview
00:21:58
Speaker
if you didn't know, Bathwin, 32-31.
00:22:02
Speaker
Wasp and Quinn's this was this was a frickin humdinger right all right down to the very end. Yes Quinn's couldn't keep it together, but you know, it was a it was a very very good match Lots of guys saying goodbye to this club Joe Simpson says goodbye to hit to his club with in style in style With with a pair to get over the line
00:22:26
Speaker
and really good like not just a pair but very joe simpson uh signature tribe yes so not even just like oh he scored no no he did what he does he did what he does best and that's a great way to to say goodbye yep absolutely he was very very good it was um it was great to see him and they sent they sent him in daily office especially in the absolute right way these are guys that joined the club when they were very young um came through the academy and you know have obviously
00:22:55
Speaker
They're gonna look funny when they're not in a in a was shirt as much as I'm gonna enjoy seeing one not in a was shirt but they are gonna look pretty funny along with guys like Nathan Hughes who's also leaving the club and Jake Cooper Woolies heading heading up to sell for to play for the Sharks, you know, it's gonna be really really weird but But they certainly set him off in style. You know, it was very very good stuff. I
00:23:19
Speaker
and wasps we you know, like they Had a rough go of it at least early and then yeah for them for For finishing strong. Let's let's put it that way. Yeah, they They kind of sorted their shit out. Mm-hmm. Well, I mean they started hot with Bassett early. Oh, yeah Yeah, that's right. I might be thinking someone else. Yeah, that's right
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, I just I I wasn't as impressed with them. No, that was what it was. It was it was during the uh, uh champions cup when they were just they had no Energy, no creativity. No, they had not much of anything really going. Yeah, they were good results. They just seemed out of ideas like right away in champions cup It's almost like the competition itself just made them go. I don't know what to do, right? You know
00:24:04
Speaker
Um, but then they they sorted it out At least for for they did whatever they had to do to to not shit the bed completely in champions cup, right? Help them out with the premiership a lot because then they their their creativity and their uh The use of space was much much better right the season went on
00:24:22
Speaker
Right. They'll be they'll be ruined the way they played a little bit this year because obviously they're not going to be in Champions Cup next year, but Quinn's at Quinn's had a good day. You know, Joe Marchant just bullied his way over for a try. I think he had at least two guys on a hold of him on the touch line and still said, no, I'm getting over. Sorry, guys. So I mean, credit to Joe Marchant, the guys are beast. People are there was conversation in the in the match from the commentary team.
00:24:52
Speaker
You know, maybe Eddie Jones has a peek at him. And if he needs something different, because he's obviously got two big ball carrying centers that he can use. He can use daily at center if he ever freaking gets his head screwed on straight. He can use, Henry Slade, I mean Slade, Slade's really hard to leave out of that team. He's been on fire lately and he was on fire this weekend too. But it does give him something else to maybe think about.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, I would but I mean, you know me and i've been saying it a lot. I I would much rather have dynamic centers than Than the big ball carrying guys. Yeah, if you want somebody who's a big ball carrier ask a fucking large eight man or uh Or a a lock to to run through that gap, you know, you know hit that uh that wall there fair enough um centers Yeah, I would I would I think martian would be an excellent addition
00:25:45
Speaker
doing an England shirt. And then, you know, just add that dynamic ability and playmaking in space. It's gotta be there more than... Right. They do have a few options between, you know, if they were to ever consider him, Joth and Joseph is also another option that they could throw in there. They do have options, you know. If they ever wanted to consider Lazowski again, they could do that. So, you know, there's a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But WOS take care of business 27, 25.
00:26:15
Speaker
spoil the Quinn's party by far, but also, you know, give themselves a shot at Chafee's Cup Rugby, not four, but still they at least rocked up and finally put a performance in.
00:26:26
Speaker
Right. I am kind of disappointed in the Quinn. Actually, I'm kind of disappointed. Well, it's hard to be disappointed in the Saints and we'll get to that. But the Quinn's, you know, it's one thing when you're going against them. It was there. Right. It was there. And you can't go out like that. They have some interesting bodies coming in to their club as well next year. So we'll see how that rolls out. I presume at some point next year they'll get Nathan Earl back on top of that. Yeah. So that'd be nice.
00:26:54
Speaker
the other game that meant something between in terms of playoff Northampton Saints and Exeter at Sandy Park and this start this started like a like like a house on fire this whole this whole this match did for sure but I I was shocked cuz
00:27:15
Speaker
Fucking Exeter was terrible out of the gate. They could not do anything. They weren't defending very well. They couldn't control the ball. No, which is very very un-Exeter-like. And yet they kept it tied and this is so we had a text message conversation a little bit during this because this was the game we were both watching live.
00:27:34
Speaker
And I was like Exeter could not be playing worse Like they're trying to it's almost like they're they're getting this shit out of their system in preparation for next week It's like look let's do everything wrong at first. That's why they had a team. That's why I consider this I considered this a team run basically for them
00:27:52
Speaker
And it's it's gonna be it's gonna be hard to imagine a different result than next week Yeah, we saw this week based on just based on how exit I liked again that Northampton probably gave him their best shot here and still didn't still came up short and they had to At the time they i'm sure they're thinking we have to win to make sure we're in. Yeah
00:28:12
Speaker
So it's not as though they they were like coasting or anything. Oh, hell no. They and that and that that that was quinz dame game was down to the wire it was down to a Was it a lang missed kick? Yeah, or yeah, it was a lang missed kick. It was just short It was old because they they made the comment and I thought it was kind of funny marcus smith inched a penalty forward earlier in the match by you know, just by being cheeky and
00:28:36
Speaker
Throwing the ball forward as he's placing it down and you know I kicked it forward by accident and then places it there ends up shaking the penalty Well, James Lang tries to take the penalty from where he's standing which wasn't an inaccurate spot But the referee marched him back about two two steps and there was yes those two steps that he was short by so I was like, well, that's what happens when you try and cheat but anyway, so I mean extra
00:29:04
Speaker
They look good. North captain did look good at one at one point. Oh, let's let's just get this straight right now. If Kobus Reinach is not in Japan playing with a green shirt, it's it's a shit. It's a crime is a crime. You know, Saints are down to 13 men.
00:29:23
Speaker
in their own end. It's for sure looking like Exeter's going over to make it a two-try game with the conversion to go. And he says, you know what? My team's down two men right now. There's no reason for me to not do anything other than try this. Gamble's on the pass and pays off in spades. He gets to go all the way the other way.
00:29:41
Speaker
thoughts it down under the black dot, bingo. We have a tie game going into halftime. I was like, what the? I mean, this is what Kobe's trying to external year though. This is what he's done. So. You know, Exeter was trying to be cheeky. They were going for an inside pass. And he was just like, okay, I'll trail and yeah.
00:30:04
Speaker
and hit that gap as soon as it's looking like it's going to be a pass. I'll cut off that pass and take it 90 meters for a walk in. Wow. I was like, I was watching. I'm thinking, ah, shit. Here we go. Yeah. I was just going to get over and then he ends up with it. I'm like, ah, he's gone. He's gone. There's no way he's got. I was, I was thinking, all right, there might be somebody that can catch him. Nope.
00:30:25
Speaker
There are there are enough intercept passes Like that that you you can see coming like a mile away. This just kind of was like He you could not I couldn't anticipate it and I was watching it, you know He was just like i'm gonna bite as soon as as soon as if he's like if this comes back my way I'm just gonna bite and go
00:30:43
Speaker
If I if I let up a try, oh, well, we're probably supposed to give up a try anyway. So heck with it So good on him. That's a that's a cajones Showing read right there for sure. And yeah, he made it pay off but uh not for not he he did come off injured Which was a little unfortunate, but it I was just looking up injury news It looks like he's gonna be okay to play this weekend. So at least They'll have him back
00:31:10
Speaker
I don't think Reese Marshall is going to be ready to go. He had a pretty nasty looking injury. So and then they're debating on Dylan Hartley right now. They don't want to gamble him. They do have David who is just coming off his own injury, who's there, you know, their fifth choice at this point. Fish was actually like their second or third choice.
00:31:34
Speaker
and then he got hurt, so Reece Marshall ended up stepping in. So, and Reece Marshall, we talked about him the other week, he's obviously done an amazing job. It's too bad that he's gonna end up missing this game. So, it looks like they will have a hooker. That's about all they can hope for, I suppose.
00:31:51
Speaker
Exeter get the job done Love me. Love me a big old prop try off Off a little shoulder ball. Yeah, he's he flew and he's like yay. I've never had this much space. I Loved it frickin. I was a dentist. It was Dennis. Yeah, that was great so exit or take care of business 40 21 and stay top of the pile and
00:32:14
Speaker
Let's do it all over again next week, shall we? Same time, same place. Same bad channel, same bad time. Worcester against Saracen Storm. Well, mostly. I watched it. It was a bloody good game. Chella Posh gets to try to say goodbye to the Saracens, although he looked like he took a pretty good whack to the knee at the top of it. Yeah, I think that looks, it looked like he paid for that one. Yeah, he looked well.
00:32:44
Speaker
Josh Adams gets what's eventually, you know, basically the thing that propels them to the win. And that's the record breaking try for Worcester Warriors. He is the most try for Worcester in the premiership. Hey, good for him. So, you know, on his final farewell, he says, thank you very much. I got I got to say this the Saracens team, this young Saracens team really did well. Manu Vunipola, you know, didn't look like he was out of place. Tom Whiteley.
00:33:14
Speaker
he could play next week if he wanted to honestly he looks very good he's literally come out of nowhere as far as where he is right in his development it's one of these like you kind of expect some growing pains and some oh I don't know sure what you're thinking there but no yeah he belongs
00:33:34
Speaker
Credit to Saracens, Kelly Brown, the Saracens Academy, obviously he's probably been basically just in Richard Wigglesworth's ear half the year. He's done very, very well for himself and he bossed this game around and Wooster ended up winning it on a scrum penalty. Was it a scrum penalty? Wasn't it? Whatever.
00:33:57
Speaker
Listen, Worcester was celebrating winning a game against a young Saracen's team that really rocked up hard and played well. Nick Tompkins played well in the first half and then almost got himself in a little bit of trouble in the second half, avoided a yellow card. They looked ahead in the TMO, what should have been a yellow card beats the hell out of me. I don't know. Maybe. Wasn't that bad of a hit. It was a bad time. It was mistimed on an aerial challenge.
00:34:24
Speaker
You know, he was To say he was lucky to stay on the field. I don't think it's entirely accurate. But oh well, uh, matt gallagher looked as good as good as we expected so I I liked what we did. I liked what this team did It's yeah, ben. Earl had a bit of a rough match. That's probably the that's probably the worst one i've seen him play in a lot of times at least in his start um
00:34:47
Speaker
So but it was it was a this was a performance I was proud of as a Saracen supporter to see a team like this They probably should have won this match that Scrum penalty was in red. Yeah, it was in red clock. So I I'm proud of the Saracen's team that was out there You know one or two one or two different players out there Saracen's walk away with this match probably so Enjoy your victory Worcester
00:35:12
Speaker
You won at the death against the team that's combined age is probably like 22. I'll give Worcester credit that they actually finished. First time ever. Right. And I'm sure some of that was due to the fact that they were playing some youngsters and experienced guys.
00:35:30
Speaker
They had I mean they've been there what's there have been their own worst enemy this year Yeah, like they'll get a great break and then in contact They'll just lose the ball or something stupid and it's like the other team Didn't do anything to earn it as much as you just shit the bed. So absolutely the fact that they didn't do that You know, all right. I'll give them a little golf club for that but
00:35:52
Speaker
I mean, the guy that won the game was the guy that's basically guided him the whole year, which was Duncan Weir. During him, one of the top five signings for a club this year, for sure. He has been great this year, so all credit to him. Absolutely. For Wooster's limited success. Basically, yeah. The reason that they're playing for Mr. Broadby next year is probably him.
00:36:14
Speaker
uh sale and cluster who what a dandy this was my god so many tries so many tries um they were kind of they had to shift their cluster had to shift their bench around matt banahan in his 200th premiership match puts in a stormer of a match gets uh it gets a nice ball and just
00:36:37
Speaker
The Sharks decided, oh here, here you go Matt Van Henn. You have a gap and run as free as you want. He said thanks, bye. And he took off. They were talking about him and giving him golf for a Supriani because he was making some pretty good looking passes out there. And being like, hey man, I can do your job too. He did look fantastic, I will say that.
00:36:57
Speaker
Maybe maybe 12 13 should be where he hangs out. Not so much 10 14. Yeah, I I think that I think that might be something that he could probably do to continue to elongate his career and Enlarge his midsection. Yeah He's a big boy. He's a who's yes. Yes Jake Jake plutter. He had two try assists in this game and he looks a lot faster. He's a lot faster. He looks and yeah, he looked somewhat untacklable
00:37:23
Speaker
He kind of is sometimes. He really is. He kind of just decided, you know what? I'm not going to let you tackle me. No, not today. Not today. It might take three of you. Once you get to the third, all right, now it's time to start thinking about recycling the ball. Getting rid of the ball. So Ben Velikot basically needs to buy him a couple of beers, because that's the reason that he has both tries, because he got the offloads from Jake Peledry in space. And Velikot has the speed to finish. But yeah, Peledry is basically the reason that he got two tries.
00:37:51
Speaker
And Velikot saying his goodbyes to the Veloster Faithful as he's actually on his way to the Rico. He's the person that Joe Simpson's swapping for. I will say that's good for Wasp because that's a great transfer for them because, not to say Joe Simpson's old, he's not. He's actually only 30 or 31. But Velikot's very young and very fast. Very fast. Velikot, if we're going to go into the fantasy section of this, he was actually, while Willie Hines was injured earlier in the year, Velikot was my
00:38:21
Speaker
Back up like second or third scrum half because he's getting significant time and I thought he was doing pretty well So I was like, all right, this is great Yeah, he did what he did well for the heins came back and it's like oh velocat He basically became irrelevant. Unfortunately that buried there Yeah, and even behind braley who ended up being the backup. So right who's also pretty pretty he's very good Yeah, so, you know the the Gloucester faithful are gonna have a few few a few good scrum halves to pick
00:38:48
Speaker
But in the end sale take care of business 46 41 Danny Salimona my goodness gracious What a fucking try that kid scored whoo
00:38:59
Speaker
fly by night airlines my god did you see that thing doing a freaking basically end up doing a somersault and got the thing down just on the corner while he's getting tackled I was like oh what an incredible try that was my goodness AJ McGinty had a great game he got over the line he's actually the one that fed Salma the tribe because AJ had just scored on a good scoot
00:39:22
Speaker
And I think AJ was out of gas. The sandbox started to approach him and he said, you know what? I'm going to get rid of this and let my very fast winger and very able winger finish this thing. And boy, did he finish that thing. He did. My goodness. And then Curry and Curry, attorneys at law, end up opening the scoring. I think it was Tom Curry that ends up getting over the line and scooting home. He basically like crashed into the frickin' post pattern. That looked like it hurt for a second.
00:39:52
Speaker
I was like, oh, is he okay? I see that and I think, oh, that looks like it hurt. But he popped up, he was fine. There was a joke that sales kits next year should be green and gold. They've heavily recruited from the South African region with the likes of
00:40:14
Speaker
The all the debris is now coming to to sail along with ruin both us now on his way to sell for it as well to reinforce the locks it in You know like a cheeky woolly on his way over it'll be Don't they'll be they'll be tough. They'll be I think who else I see they signed I think they signed Hammersley from Newcastle as well and Hammersley is a a
00:40:37
Speaker
Underrated very quality player on a Newcastle. He I think he's played almost every game for them. If not, maybe one short Very very quality player. He played fullback almost the whole year Very good player. I think they're gonna be
00:40:53
Speaker
very well off. Obviously you combine that with Alexis Salimona and Chris Ashton and AJ still around, you know, there's a lot to go around down there. Pfaff obviously still continues to rock up as their nine for the future while the World Cup's not going on and all that good stuff. So it'll be very interesting.
00:41:11
Speaker
All right, and then the last one, which I got none of, Newcastle and Bristol, and it looks like I probably should just be glad that I didn't. This was a match that happened. Yeah, that's basically what it comes down to. I do know that Joel Hodgson returned, which is awesome because he looked like he was out for a long time when he picked up his injury. Really, they had started to get going under Joel Hodgson as the fly half in the Champions Cup.
00:41:35
Speaker
And then he got hurt. And I was like, uh. And they talked about it. I don't remember who was talking about whether it was commentary or it was a podcast. I was listening to whatever it was. Last year, he was actually really a hard driver of the reason that they got to the semifinal in the premiership. And missing him this year was a big thing.
00:41:54
Speaker
Um, i'm glad he's back. He's he's committed to the club. Uh, george mcwigan just committed to the club for another two years. I think so Okay, that's a want want anybody that wanted him, but um, he says no, no, no i'm i'm a new castle guy until I until I die so At least for the next two years. He'll be back up after next i'm sure there will be I don't doubt it. Um, you know after after next year we might talk about ring ring fencing if If they keep bouncing. Yeah, we'll see we'll see what happens with that
00:42:23
Speaker
I mean, is there any reason? Super Rugby has a team on a buy every week, at least one. Why can't the premiership do it? They can add a team. I don't have an answer for you. I just have a feeling that the RFU doesn't want to do, or the premiership, whatever it is, doesn't want that to happen.
00:42:42
Speaker
Hey, I'm a little superstitious myself and you never know a lot of athletes are So yeah, but Bristol spoiled the Newcastle Party 1912 you know, not quite the smash that we thought Bristol would give to him, but They they were able to rock it up and that's that's how that's how their season ends I'm glad I'm glad pat lambs club was able to end on a high
00:43:08
Speaker
high if they had been able to get a bonus point when on top of some other results they might have been playing champions cup rugby, which was what they were shooting for. So good for them, you know, no, no, no, we're not surviving. We're going to go for champions. So good for them. They need a little help, but they didn't quite get it. They didn't really give it to themselves. But that's I mean, hey, finishing ninth, you know, newly promoted team, very clear of relegation, extremely clear. Yeah, they're very and tied with wasps for points.
00:43:37
Speaker
Yeah, damn good stuff for a new promoter team. Nothing to sneeze at there. No. Somebody said something about London Irish's new signings are better than Bristol's. I say yes and no. Yes, they're probably more talented. But the problem is, these London Irish signings are actually probably going to miss some time because they're going to be at the World Cup, so on and so forth. A little bit of gelling issues probably going to take place. I think
00:44:04
Speaker
Bristol did a good job of picking from teams that didn't want certain players see Harry Thacker Charles Pietal, obviously, they played Charles and Pietal a boatload of money, but he turned into a great signing just the same. How are Lester not kicking themselves about Thacker? And Slater. Right? And McGuigan. Right? Shall I keep going? You know, Young's
00:44:32
Speaker
He's the club captain, but boy is he a hammerhead.
00:44:37
Speaker
You can't I listen i'm glad jacob actually form formulating this thought because of how fucking stupid it is Like I get that youngs is your captain, but he's an ass and And he's not nearly as good as these other two guys. So what the fuck are you doing? deciding with the what what is You know, I look i'm the first one to to stress leadership and how important it is and you know good solid leadership, but
00:45:05
Speaker
Lester has a number of guys who can you know, they have fucking dan cole he can Yeah, he he totally should have been captain Sign your young, you know, keep your young players Make your good veterans your your leadership and not your fucking meat heads Hammerhead indeed. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. That's all right That's right So funny note same match
00:45:31
Speaker
Freddie needed an HIA. And, oh, Kirk Maxwell Keyes says, oh, we need an HIA. He's like, who's getting, I think they said like, oh, who for? Billy, oh, nope, sorry, that's Freddie. And they say, sorry, he didn't get me, so. I thought that, he was, I have to say,
00:45:53
Speaker
in that match, and I didn't know it before, but I will now that I remember it, the TMO earned his paycheck. They were going to him a lot. Some tries to turn down, some tries to confirm, some, I mean, if it was for, there was one or two that I wish he had just made his own decision, but really, for most of them, he needed it, which sucks. But you know, that's what it is.
00:46:21
Speaker
one hammerhead decision by, it was the Lester Wing, Aspen Robertson clearly bats the ball down, doesn't he? Was it knocked on the tackle? And I watched the replay, I'm like, nope. One second into the replay, nope. I was like, yeah, he knocked it down for sure. Just lucky that he had cover tackle over my penalty try.
00:46:42
Speaker
But yeah, digress. There's a lot of talent that Bristol found on the shelf of other clubs that they were willing to, Ian Madigan came over from France. They found some of these guys semi-locally in Europe. London Irish pulled a lot of guys from down south.
00:47:01
Speaker
So we'll see what happens. That's going to be a very interesting thing to happen. If that team gets relegated, it's going to be real interesting to see what kind of mass exodus happens. Yeah. Although I don't think I still. Oh, my prediction is Worcester. Yeah. That's what I was about to say. I still think it's going to be Worcester next year or two.
00:47:22
Speaker
But yeah, there's and obviously there's a lot of farewells a lot transfers Johnny are saying goodbye to Worcester. He's one of the longest serving. I think he's the longest serving player on the team right now Been with them through all the ups and downs literally all the ups and downs Being promoted and really good, but it sounds like he's saying goodbye the club Bentayos needs a new club. Mm-hmm
00:47:47
Speaker
Um, no, actually we have Brett Barrett. He's basically a carbon copy. We don't need that. Um, but yeah, there's some, there's some good guys. Um, I, I had a side note. I kind of have my own mini Brad Barrett in my, in my, in my, for my kids team. Good. It's kind of fun. Everyone needs a Brad Barrett. When I say my kids team, I see, I mean the kids that I'm coaching. I don't have any kids. It's just FYI. If you did, maybe you'd know about it. Maybe you wouldn't know. We'll see what happens.
00:48:15
Speaker
But yeah, so what else is there? Exeter's getting Will Whitty from Newcastle, I heard. That's not fair. That's not fair to have another solid forward like that, although they're losing Tom Laudet to Quinn's, but he's not being used a lot there. Unlike Bailanu from the Saracens. I have to say, people are talking about how much he's gonna be a replacement for Nathan Hughes, I'm like,
00:48:43
Speaker
I got a news flash for you. This guy couldn't get into the team when when Vinopola was away. And I don't know if he played at all this year now. I don't know. I also don't know if he was hurt. Right. But still like that should be kind of an indication that he didn't even get one run. I don't think you got one run this year. So if you're that excited about this guy, I'd call you just just a touch. I'm sure he's decent. But at the same time, like he's not the talent that you think you're getting. He's not going to replace Nathan Hughes like for like not even a little bit. Sorry, dude.
00:49:15
Speaker
All right, to the down under. This is a painful one for me to talk about because they played well for the first five minutes and they played like absolute crap for the remainder of the period. Jaguars rocked up and played. So there were a couple of refereeing decisions that I wasn't overly pleased with, but at the same time Jaguars played that line and they played it well.
00:49:38
Speaker
And and they continue to press on it and press on and press on it and then they got their tails up and Then when they when this team gets their tails up, they're just as good as anybody else. It's out there and they showed it. They really did You know creepy was being a pain in the butt as he usually is, you know, he's he's quite the pain in the ass out there He did very well to say that nobody else did well is wrong, but at the same time these guys frickin
00:50:04
Speaker
Man, I'm having a hard time to describe how, like, it's the Jaguars. It's hard to describe their style, per se, but they get it done, and they did. So, and at the same time, the Hurricanes were also very ill-disciplined in that costume. So, you know, it is what it is. You know, they had some good guys play. This is the problem with the Hurricanes. They don't know how to play nine times out of ten without bone-bearing.
00:50:27
Speaker
Yeah, he didn't play in this game and it it showed it really showed and you know Jordy Barrett's had the tea and I'm starting to think that maybe Jordy Barrett shouldn't have had the tea because he missed a couple of easy ones that would have at least given put them in the right close, you know and The the score is probably a little flattering because I think Barrett got one at the end as well. So yeah Yeah, not the Hurricanes best performances, especially backing up after a
00:50:53
Speaker
a decent defensive performance last week against the Blues. So a little disappointing going to the by they're gonna have to lick their wounds and reset and maybe reconsider what the hell just that just happened. Yeah. So Jaguars take it home 2820 and they are tied at the top of the South Africa Conference I think on on points and probably either up or down depending on point differential and all that good stuff. But good on them.
00:51:19
Speaker
Yeah, the hag water race they're tied at the top. Yeah, they're they're second because of point that she said point differential, okay There you go Second to the team that beat the rebels bulls That was not a good performance by the rebels. The the bulls just overpowered them literally overpowered them
00:51:39
Speaker
They just took they just decided that they were going to boss us came around rebels didn't start poorly But the bulls finished. Well, they really did hondre pollard looked class for sure so they uh, they did the standard south africa rugby style of
00:51:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna run you the fuck they kind of did they kind of did and the rebels didn't know what to do with it, you know Specman the specimens a tiny guy for For a wing to be playing especially in South Africa, but he actually plays a lot bigger than he is. I
00:52:11
Speaker
Um, they tried to pick on him a little bit, but it didn't work. And, um, yeah. And Sneman was causing problems as he, as Sneman does, you know, he's just, he, he, he's basically a gigantic loose forward. Yeah. He's in there. He runs the ball. Well, he can turn the ball over. He does, um, you know, he, he runs a line out and jumps very well. He's one, he's definitely one of the top five jumpers in the world for sure. Um, just bowls rocked up with this, with the same big time. And.
00:52:41
Speaker
I don't know the rebels The rebels looked lost they brought Matt to move on I thought a little late honestly I thought they should have what I thought they should have done because they were lacking this big time was creativity well, I showed the sugar done was left Cooper on as well and let the two of them play as fly half a fullback and let them have to two creators and I was like dude I
00:53:04
Speaker
Play them both. Play them both. You need points. You need like you need. And this was before it got worse. It got worse than it did. Then you see here. So rebels definitely need to go back to the drawing board. They're not completely out of it. Obviously, they're still right there. You know, they're they're breathing down the Brumby's neck. I think they have one more match against the Brumby's. So now they're both against the against the Brumby's. So that might be their saving grace where they can nip them and and get to the top of the pile in the Australian conference.
00:53:34
Speaker
Whoo, um eden park not a happy hunting ground for the chiefs this this week not at all You know, so it feels like the the chiefs always have something different that's just fucking up And in this this game the only The only thing that was working for them
00:53:56
Speaker
which and this is a bad thing to have this is the only the only good thing you're doing uh is scramble defense so like that's not good they're getting their lines broken but they're but they're making the tackle so like the right so that the boos were were gaining meters but not scoring tries but you can only hold them off for so long yeah and the the chiefs they got on the board first um the the first
00:54:21
Speaker
Oh, I'm not sure how many minutes were it was literally end to end. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was blues or cheese on the Chiefs end suddenly the Chiefs are back and forth. Suddenly the Chiefs are deep in the blues. It just kept going back and forth deep in it. Like I think the whole year and they're both very open, expansive stuff. So yeah, they were just going for it.
00:54:42
Speaker
And, uh, and the, the, the chiefs got their only try early and it was all based off of, uh, an untidy pass under pressure right on the goal line. So, and carpet gets over. Good job. But next, um, that, if that's it, then come on, you gotta, you gotta, you're probably in trouble.
00:55:00
Speaker
It just it just went downhill after that it right. It really was a track meet except for that scramble defense I was the only thing that that that kept this game respectable, right? I mean That's how both these teams really want to play as I've seen it, you know, even like their forwards you know, look at the forwards for the Blues like I
00:55:21
Speaker
uh tuipu lo tu and akira yawani and you know, even some of their some of their loose some of their um, some of their big boys like, um tuipu lafey, uh tuipu lafey, you know, he they want to just play play nice and open. Um, I think tuipu lafey played in this one but point being their props are they think they're freaking they think they're loose forwards and they play like it too. So it's um
00:55:47
Speaker
Yeah, they play open, they play loose, and it runs throughout the team. I don't know if, I don't know how excited Leon McDonald would be about that, though. I feel like he's somebody that's okay with the openness, but not okay with the sloppiness, because both teams were pretty sloppy in this, too, to be fair. Right, and that's the downside of this style of play, isn't it? If it's just off by a fraction of a second, everything just goes to shit.
00:56:14
Speaker
Case in point, Rico, you want to call for up the Mitchell carpet. Try, you know, and it's just, it was, uh, I mean, what he did was right. Cause he had his support there. He was going to get tackled and probably lose the ball. Cause it was a, you know, two on one, two on one rock situation. It was, it was going to go bad no matter what. Um, so.
00:56:33
Speaker
It was yeah flip the ball to my support player and hope he can do something with it And it just the pass wasn't exactly maybe be a little bit better with the flip Yeah It was pretty uh, it's pretty weak and crappix saw it and just said mine. Yeah, john tried on it So good for him on that but like you can't just rely on your opponent being sloppy on their own line You know in a shit situation for every every try you got to have to have some sort of agreed, right?
00:56:57
Speaker
uh structure and and uh and plan of attack rather than yeah let's just throw it here and see if that works so right um that you can have open play as long as you have discipline and and that's the one thing i haven't seen um from the chiefs this year for the most part yeah blues haven't had a lot of it no well that was that was their story last year when i was following them too right is they're just uh i'll throw this pass maybe definitely maybe go to hand maybe it won't hoping a prayer right
00:57:25
Speaker
I mean it's it's fun to watch again Amazingly fun to watch when it works But oh, yeah, well look at the way the Chiefs carved up the Bulls who are very structured team So when you can play loose and you play accurately and loose, uh, it it causes some problems Obviously, they had a guy named demeaning mckenzie on top of that but you know different still the point being the way they play just
00:57:49
Speaker
Irritated hell out of the blue uh, the balls and that's why they were able to put what 50 on them Yeah, and that's kind of the difference is when you It's the same idea of you know when you're in a structure you have to maintain discipline because you have your role And as the the ball moves your your job your assignment may change And you got to make sure you keep that assignment, you know You have to maintain the assignment that you need on that that one defensive phase but
00:58:14
Speaker
And when you throw the ball around like that, that can really fuck up a defensive organization and really mess up the assignments there. But when you're playing two teams that play kind of the same way, there's less of that. So it's like, oh, there's not much defense. Just tackle the guy in front of you. Okay, we'll do that. And so it's harder to make gains that way, especially if you're sloppy with the ball.
00:58:36
Speaker
Yep. Well, Chiefs rather sloppy with it, end up losing 23-8. Yeah, the score line is a little bit misleading. Blues got their last one at the death. But they, I mean, I would say. They dominated the game. Right. I'd say it's misleading in terms of it makes it look closer than it was. So yeah, Blues take care of business 23-8 over the Chiefs. Chiefs are in major danger of likely missing this year's playoff. Yes.
00:59:06
Speaker
Reds and war ties. Well, I said the Reds weren't a very good team, but man, I thought they were better than the war ties, but I was wrong. I was really wrong.
00:59:20
Speaker
Neither team was super, unlike the game before, except both led to more scores. Neither team was super accurate in this match, just they both, they both lacked in defense, they both, and it's like neither one of them wanted the ball sometimes.
00:59:39
Speaker
So, you know, Bryce Hagerty, he's gonna wear a gold shirt. Not new. Not news. You know, he and Bernard Foley were trying to outcompete each other basically. That was kind of fun to watch. But yeah, the Reds did play well in patches and so did the War Ties. That was the problem. That's the problem with both these teams. They do it in patches. They don't do it consistently.
01:00:03
Speaker
Honestly, if both play on their day, I think that the Reds would beat them. They both play well, you know, as we expect. But.
01:00:13
Speaker
Yeah, no the they they both play in patches If I was brad thorne, i'd be losing my freaking mind because I think he did I think you know The team he has is underperforming you know, they really do between karevi and hegarty and seph naivalu and some of the forwards that they have like uh playing uh, mostly like
01:00:35
Speaker
I'd be extremely frustrated if I had this team, if I was Brad Thorne and the results that they continue to turn out, which is inconsistent. This is two losses in a row now. I'd be extremely frustrated. And they had, if I'm not mistaken, they had a lead on this team at halftime and let it go. And that's just extremely frustrating. So I would. I'm nodding as loudly as I can. Yeah.
01:01:03
Speaker
It's bad, so reds fall to the war ties 40 to 32 and fall into deep trouble in terms of Australia Conference and whether or not they're gonna make the play off here. War ties are probably still in deep trouble too, so let's be real about that. Don't jump up or down too much there in New South Wales.
01:01:22
Speaker
Lines and Highlanders. Well, this is one of the underperforming teams in the South Africa Conference so far against a team that normally is a team you don't want to screw around with, even without certain players. Wysocki Naholo did pull out of this match very late. I think he got pulled out either the night before or in the warmup. He should have been on the bench for this team, which would have been
01:01:47
Speaker
Very nice to bring in, for sure. They don't chant his name to the tune of Seven Nations Army for no reason. I stole that from Morrow. And every other freakin' athlete that's out there.
01:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of Lions played very well. They almost... It was a little back and forth. This almost turned into what the Highlanders wanted, which was a little bit more open. It almost did. It almost did. And then they said, no, wait, we need to structure this a little bit more. Malcolm Marks was leading the way for sure. He's... Again, I love me some Malcolm Marks. The guy's a beast. You do say his name a lot.
01:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, the guy's kind of good. So, maybe the Highlanders can find some new uniforms that aren't highlighter colored, then maybe they'll help him out. Good God. I will say, when you have uniforms that are that color, it's hard to miss when you screw up. Oh, that's our extreme highlighter color in there? Okay, he's definitely doing something wrong.
01:02:50
Speaker
It's like an extreme version of Ashley Johnson's afro. Like, dude, we see what you did, because we can't not see you. Well, they said it in the Lester and Bath match, speaking of the guy, Ellis Genge. When you have that bleach look. Oh, yeah. And it's not really suiting you and doesn't fit you. When you screw up, they're going to know it's you. They're going to know it's you. Who did you see? I didn't catch a number, but it's that guy right there. Yeah, really, really easy stuff.
01:03:21
Speaker
And then, but back to this match, Quagga Smith, also kind of good. Definitely gonna be wearing a green jersey and on the plane to Japan if, you know, if Razi Erasmus isn't a complete moron. But speaking of South African coaches, digress here just for a second. Jake White talking about getting rid of team announcements.
01:03:43
Speaker
Jake White's a freaking crotchety old man. That's still that's definitely racist and He's an asshat Jake White shut your face. Nobody likes you. You're just a crotchety old man. That's trying to stay relevant Yeah, just just just be quiet be quiet and go in your hole and stay there. Okay. Okay cool
01:04:10
Speaker
But yeah lines take care of business in the last 10 minutes. They really tried to put they really pulled away It was about two I think it was a two-point difference between the two clubs and then Lions just finished it altitude does things So again, like I said Wasaki in a hole on the bench and not Another loose forward which is what they end up doing would have been nice But hopefully he returns next week and they can maybe pull the sort pull the next one off And then
01:04:39
Speaker
Bloody hell crusaders. Can you at least freaking lose a win and not land in the middle? God damn it. I mean, are they now the Alabama crusaders? I don't know. Because they love kissing their sister. Oh, my God. This is their second tie this year, I think. With another South African club. With another South African club, no less. Hell, yeah. This is their third draw in the season. Third? Who else did they draw with?
01:05:06
Speaker
I can't see their schedule it. Oh, come on. Hold on. Don't do this to me. While you while you figure that one out. I mean, we talk about guys that are good. Richie Moong is pretty good. It's OK. He had a miss kick that landed in David Havili's hands for a try.
01:05:26
Speaker
It was a shot to nothing, but like he got whacked and as he was getting hit, he tried to, he was trying to kick it across field, not to where it landed, which was like two feet away from him. But David Haveli was Johnny on the spot and able to grab it. So I mean, when you're that good, miss kicks end up in the right spot, just the same.
01:05:48
Speaker
It's not letting me go back far enough, but they drew with the. They drew with the sharks. Stormers and sharks. But the table indicates three draws. Okay, hold on, let me look. Let me see if I can free this one up. But this was, I mean, the shark, see the thing is, the stormers kind of started to have their, they started to have their set piece kind of take over. And that's what got them, because they'll end up kicking,
01:06:15
Speaker
four penalties? Yeah, four penalties. The Stormers do as opposed to the Crusaders who get three tries and just miss one conversion. So that that's a bit of an ouch for Rishi Mwanga, who should have won the team in the game if it in reality. They fucked up. Yeah. The was it the table is inaccurate on foxsports.com.au. Where it's not it's not what we say. What else you gonna expect?
01:06:45
Speaker
Exactly. So, uh, is it? Yeah, they have it. They have them at nine, nine, three, and one. Well, I see. You know what? Super Ruby says on the, uh, super Ruby say, has him as that too. So that's weird. Hmm. Oh, wait a minute. The canceled match.
01:07:04
Speaker
That's what it was. That's what it was. That's what it was. There we go. Okay. There we go. Problem solved. Because they did have that as a draw. That's what they put it down as a draw. All right. Okay. Done. Question answered. Okay. So that's technically, it's technically a draw, but it's not a draw. I'm going to count. Right. Okay. It counts on the table, but it's not one of them. Yeah. I'm not going to consider it a draw. Just cause some fucking asshole.
01:07:25
Speaker
Not getting into that. But yeah, so stormers were at least able to I have to say, though, for the stormers to come off a buy and only get a tie is a little sad. You know, it's not it's it's something that you probably need to.
01:07:42
Speaker
be a little be a little mad about if you're a stormers family. All right, listen, we had two weeks to prepare for this team. You got to watch last week where they played a decent game. And you know, they're there, you're at home, they've traveled, they're not in the comfort of their own home. And you frickin muster up a draw.
01:08:00
Speaker
Sharks mustered up a draw but they were away from home at least and that that's a that I consider a positive result. This I consider a negative result for the Stormers. Yeah. So Stormers and the Crusaders draw at nineteen nineteen Crusaders still stay hands down top of the pile. Right. Especially since the Hurricanes lost without any without any bonus points or anything like that. Yeah. So there's nobody really challenging them. Nope. They're going to be hosting the Super Rugby final if they get there. Right. Because that's that's how it works.
01:08:28
Speaker
Um so another note on uh super rugby stuff the mass exodus in South Africa. I mean it's a problem and I know it's and we we've talked about it before it's it's not just
01:08:44
Speaker
It's not just a rugby problem. This is a this is a world problem. And it's unfortunate that South Africa rugby is taking the hit because of stuff like this. You know, you've got a lot of their players obviously jumping ship and going to France and going to England and where the paychecks are obviously better. They're loose with their what they're willing to to allow for their national team. Right. Right. You know, Australia and New Zealand, if you don't play in Australia, New Zealand, you don't get to play for the exception of a few guys in Australia, you know.
01:09:14
Speaker
And I just, you know, South Africa doesn't have that. They say to their guys, go get paid. Right. Well, I think they understand that the economics in the country are really, really tough on these teams.
01:09:29
Speaker
You know despite the fact that there's some good crowds some weekends and some weekends There's not some great crowds, you know, and they do play in some fairly big stadiums, you know the sharks play in the shadow of one of the world cup stadiums from the soccer world cup in 2010 and You know, I can imagine what what that would look like if they tried to play in that stadium It would look you know, it looks it would look like the Sunwells when they play in Singapore, right? That's basically what it would be pretty sad. Yeah, so I'm glad they don't play in there They're smart. They're really smart enough to know that but
01:09:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's always a little depressing when I don't see as many people in the stands as I was hoping for especially with both Australia and and South Africa Australia has got a different problem that they're fighting. They have three or four full contact sports that they're fighting with right? So that's that makes it tough
01:10:13
Speaker
I mean when I it's um i'm psyched they have the rebels even in melbourne because when I um I remember I traveled there in 2006 it was in melbourne and it just wasn't a big it was very huge and on footy but not it's just like talking to the locals about sports they're like yeah we don't really do rugby here it's like it's just non-existent so like i'm glad that the rebels are around and i'm hoping that that will improve
01:10:43
Speaker
Roy P the participation down there, but right. Yeah, there's there's just not you know, they're australia is very um Put this way if it's segregated as far as okay, this area does this does this footy this area does league this area does union Yeah, and and they're big on on league for god knows what the fuck reason god. That's only two There's only two there's only two freaking countries that are good league England and Australia after that nobody gives a shit, right?
01:11:11
Speaker
When when the US is one of the top five countries in a sport that's not they're like one of their big sports Probably need to reconsider how good that sport is Essentially American football mixed with rugby. Yeah, I that and that's why I couldn't get on it You know, I watched it when I was younger because I was like, alright, this is kind of rugby and then Yes those days talk about paywalls
01:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, but I'd wake up in the morning as I'm getting ready and throw on Citant. I'm like, oh, maybe there's a match on. It's a league match. You just kind of stomach it. Right. But they didn't. So to bitch a bit, again, going back to the paywall thing, when you would turn that on or when you'd go to check it out, it would just say rugby. Oh, boo. It wouldn't say teams. It wouldn't say anything. So it was literally a point. That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. Every morning before work, I'd be like, all right, what am I getting? Fuck, it's league. All right. All right, fine. Just deal with it. I found myself making it to work on time, though.
01:12:08
Speaker
Yeah, I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it. Yeah, my lady friend at the time was definitely a little baffled as to why I was so flippin' obsessed, and thankfully the boss knows, at least. It's one thing she accepts about me, so that's why she's the boss. Yes, you may be my boss. Yeah, right. All right, let's do some pick'em. Big weekend.
01:12:38
Speaker
We're first. Let's just both write down who we're picking in this match without saying it. And say the same time, one, two, three. I'm not going with my side piece. That would be wrong. Yeah, I'm taking Saracens after the boys get a nice rest and Alex gets no longer hungover.
01:13:07
Speaker
What a bad day. What a bad day. Well done. What a hero. Absolute hero. Yes. Yes. So if we win Can-Am, I mean, we're just going to go out and. Yeah. Well, poorly in so many ways. Oh my God. I can only imagine.
01:13:26
Speaker
Exeter and Saints, I mean round two probably the same result. I can't imagine that changes that much. There's such a disparity in Just team play overall, I mean
01:13:42
Speaker
Yeah, I don't when Ryan when Ryan Eck left that match it was bad news for them and I don't think he'll be at full full go so He'll be in the match. No doubt, but I just don't think he's gonna quite have the The bump sir. We're both in agreement that it's chief Saris in the final. Yeah
01:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry guys Sorry guys Let's go let's go down under we're getting down to squeaky bum time here, too It's round 15. There's 18 rounds. So we are closing in on that on that final final table here We'll see what we'll see what happens here opening the weekend with the Chiefs and the Reds. Oh, this is a
01:14:21
Speaker
That's that's this is tough to pick this is not it's not a fun one to pick to me It depends on which red which reds team shows absolutely. I agree. It has nothing to do with the Chiefs, you know, and so I'm gonna pick them anyway. I'm gonna pick the Chiefs. Yeah
01:14:38
Speaker
I think I'm going to back him as well. That was not a good performance from the Chiefs. Reds performed a little better than the Chiefs did this weekend, even though they came out with a loss. I think the Chiefs are going to get a big old rocket up their butt this coming weekend. Yeah, this is it. Do or die time, guys. Let's go. If you're going to start showing it, it's time to start showing it now.
01:15:00
Speaker
Brumbies and Bulls, again, not the easiest pick, especially considering what the Bulls just did. And considering the Brumbies aren't the most amazing team ever, this'll be interesting. This'll be very interesting. Yeah, but then the Brumbies are coming off a buy. Yep, also that. So the Bulls also aren't traveling as, I mean, they're staying in country. Yep.
01:15:28
Speaker
Oh, this is tough. But I'm gonna deal with the Bulls. Okay. Yeah, I am too. I will.
01:15:37
Speaker
Yeah, I like again, I think they're the best team in the South Africa conference. They're not always showing it. This is the that was the first one that they picked up outside South Africa in a while. But still, I, I like there's something I like about this Bulls team a little bit more than I have about basically any other South Africa team for a while. So I'll roll with that.
01:16:01
Speaker
And some wolves and rebels, some wolves coming off the by rebels licking some serious wounds here after that performance last week against the Bulls. They're going to
Rebels vs. Sunwolves Prediction
01:16:12
Speaker
Asia, I don't know if this is being played in Tokyo or if it's being played in Singapore, but yeah. Yeah, so off the by and then
01:16:26
Speaker
rebels off that snotting to the i think the the rebels really i think they they rock up and yeah i think this is not going to be close yeah um rebels in a tight one rebels in a tight one i think this is the one we talked about the somos are kind of up and down i think this is one of their ups but i don't think they win so there you go um
01:16:52
Speaker
This, this has the potential to be either a classic or an absolute shit show. Oh, I think it's gonna be a ladder. Yeah. I think the crusaders just fucking romp. Yeah,
Crusaders Expected Dominance
01:17:06
Speaker
I am having a hard time disagreeing with you.
01:17:09
Speaker
I you know, they're teams like the crusaders come back from I mean they treat Ties like losses. So this is there That's why they're that good, right? And and so they're not gonna just You know, they're gonna take this week. They're gonna get a rocket up their ass, too Because I mean, yeah, robert's gonna freaking send him to the moon right now Are you kidding me? Not not for you know, but it matters for the standings, but just their quality of play, you know that
01:17:35
Speaker
That's unacceptable in that organization. Oh, I agree. So um, and then we as we talked about the the blues You know, they they they had they were vulnerable. The chiefs just didn't take advantage of those vulnerabilities Nope, uh, i'm pretty sure the crusaders will yeah, they're they're they're a clinical and very um, very cut throat side when when they're on fire, which they usually are I think this is going to be one of those where you watch them and you're just like
01:18:02
Speaker
How the fuck did they score 49 points? I don't remember that many. It just happened. It just happened. It just happened. You were asleep, it's okay. Well, no, I mean, I watched the whole match, and yeah, they were scoring, but it just didn't feel like they were really like. They know how to rack them up. That dominant, it just kind of happened. Guys like Havelian, Syveris, and Bridge just scored a flash. Right.
01:18:28
Speaker
And it's probably gonna be close at half. It's gonna be one of these matches where it'll be close at halftime. It might be like a one-try match. And then second half, it'll just be over. That's just
Waratahs and Jaguares Unpredictability
01:18:38
Speaker
painful. That's my prediction. Fair enough. Um, waratahs and haguares. Oh, this is another tough one, too.
01:18:49
Speaker
Well, which Wartos team shows up? This is Jekyll and Hyde. Which Jekyll or his team shows up? To be fair, they've shown some real guts, some real character the last, basically since like that first few weeks of the season got over, they said, all right, we're over ourselves. We're done being a bunch of little, you know, candy asses. We're gonna get going here. We're gonna get up to the top of this table right now.
01:19:15
Speaker
and they pretty much have. So, I give all the credit in the world to the high quality coaching staff because they've found whatever it was to get this team going. So, I'm taking the Argentinians. And I'm going to follow you with that. No, I'm not. I'm going to go with the Taz.
01:19:34
Speaker
only because we haven't, we're probably gonna go, if we don't disagree on this one, we're probably just gonna agree the rest of the way out anyway. All right, Stormers and Highlanders. Hmm, now let's see. Is this the Stormers team that tied the Crusaders, or is this the Stormers team that got waxed on almost all of their Astra-Agent Tour matches when they were on the travels, with the exceptional one?
01:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, but they're at home now. Right? So that that would change things. Highlanders, where were they last week? They're in South Africa. Okay, so they're, they're, they're against the lines. Right. So they're both teams. The Yeah, the, the travel shouldn't be an issue. It should just be straight up talent versus talent. And
01:20:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I gotta go with the Highlanders on that level. Right. As much as it pains me to pick against Sia Khaleesi, I'm taking the Highlanders as well. He did score a very nice try last week. Good read, good line. Sia Khaleesi is one of those loose forward that knows how to read lines on the back, and he's still built like a loose forward, so it's really hard to stop him. So everybody's favorite South African captain.
01:21:00
Speaker
Um scored a sort of very nice one, uh, but yeah i'm picking against him unfortunately as much as I need him to do well this week for me um and then sharks and lions Again, which team's gonna bloody show up for both of these themes, right?
01:21:19
Speaker
For both these teams I know both teams have the ability to freaking stand up and and just Show that show the world that they're the best south africa team But neither one of them is on a consistent basis Yeah, I will say this This is why it's why i'm probably gonna pick him Kerwin Bosch has been on fire lately and he has definitely been the the driving factor behind the sharks
01:21:44
Speaker
Good performances. They haven't won every one of them, but they've put in some damn good performances with him wearing the 10 shirt as much as that pains me because also Robert Dupree has my fly half, but Maybe not after this week. I'm gonna go with the Sharks. I'm gonna go with the the home squad here Yeah, just when all when all else is is unclear. Yeah, go with the team. That's that gets to sleep in their own bed. I
01:22:07
Speaker
right and plus i'm not i really you know how i don't quite like the lines very much yeah well there's a few few players there's a few players in the lions team i like there's a few players in the lions team i could do without right i think we know we i think we we share one of them yeah for sure as we could do without um but and yeah i think the the sharks um i'm not sure if this would put an end to the lions
01:22:31
Speaker
Bid bid for the postseason but put it in jeopardy. That's for sure. Yeah, it would definitely put it in uh, Let's see put them in oh shit mode because they're only one they're one point different Yeah, uh shark. They're both currently in the quarterfinal right now. Okay, um, but that'll but that could change if Sharks win. Yeah one one of them wins one of them loses and then other people gain points and then after that it's four weeks left, right and we'll see it I don't think it ends it but it certainly puts them in hot water. Yeah
01:23:00
Speaker
So sharks, sharks. It is. Sharks.
Fantasy Rugby and Listener Engagement
01:23:04
Speaker
All right. All right. A's is that. I know the freaking the South Africans. So did you go? Who'd you go with? I went with the sharks as well. Yeah. So we agreed on sale, the sale, sell, see, sell for sharks. So we agree on everything. Except.
01:23:29
Speaker
Except what, oh. Oh, okay. You put that, you said toss. Right. No, I said that you agreed with me on that one. I need to change that. Yeah. Good luck. All right. So it is down to some fun, fun times, both in, you know, fantasy and in a regular competition, but we're going to still keep rolling through this thing.
01:23:55
Speaker
Ben, I have much more free time than we used to. Well, for now. Yeah, until seven seasons kicks in. But that won't be for a little bit. Nope. Everybody make sure you check us out on Google Play, iTunes, Spotify, Raid us. We're not going to get a new logo until next season, but that's OK. So when we unveil it, I hope everybody's as excited as we are because we have some ideas that will be very fun. I think it will make everybody laugh. Very sexy.
01:24:24
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so send an email fantasy rugby podcast at gmail.com We'd love to you know, if you have a fancy question, especially we'd love to Answer it on the air and and help them because i'm sure you aren't the only one that has this question Just most people just don't want to ask it because they're probably a little embarrassed by it that happens, you know Yeah, I mean who wants to ask an american about yeah, we're idiots. What are you gonna do, right? kind of
01:24:49
Speaker
Insult right these stupid Yankees have no idea what they're doing So yeah, we'll be back next week and everybody enjoy the rugby quarter semi-finals Good luck to if your team's playing unless it's cluster. Sorry Kidding but yeah enjoy the rugby. It's gonna be a good weekend. Have a good one guys. Cheers later