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Season 3- Episode 31- It's Your Pod of the Season (Premiership Round 22 & Super Rugby TT Round 5)
40 Plays4 years ago
Last super long one, we swear! On this episode, we dive into many of the international squads that were released over the last couple weeks including the U.S. Eagles Camp that is being put together for next year's World Cup in New Zealand and Dave Rennie's Wallabies squad as they prepare for Les Bleus next month. We have our pick of team and players of the year in both competitions, and I'm sure there will be disagreements from afar. There were some easy choices and some, well not so much. We dive into what in the hell happened in Championship Final First leg and wrap all the other action from around the leagues, including our mighty Free Jacks staying unbeaten at home. Crack a couple and have laugh with us!
Don't forget, we are putting together a 2nd Tier of Champi-Yanks League! You've heard us babble about it and if it sounds like fun to you, please hit us up via email or twitter.
Also, ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Community Banter
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby. Thanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauzer. Welcome in. Uh, despite not many matches going on this weekend, we got a shit ton to talk about. Uh, we'll get, we'll get to it. Well, it's the, it's the end of, of the full suite of games. So yeah, we do have a little bit to talk about. Right. Yeah. It's more to do with that. Yeah. More to do with that. Less, less so to do with like the fancy thing or anything like that. But yeah, so in, in the spirit of things, let's keep cracking. Hell yeah.
00:00:42
Speaker
Find us in your favorite spot where you get your podcasts, download rate review. Let us know why you found us. And if you want to share it with a friend because you think that our stupidity is their brand of stupidity, please do so.
Fantasy Rugby Tips and League Dynamics
00:00:58
Speaker
Okay. What you got?
00:01:00
Speaker
Oh, you got one of those. Yes, to be fair. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Once I run out of these zero gravity, that's my next stop. It's quite good. Pretty good. I wouldn't die for a second.
00:01:14
Speaker
So make sure you let you grab yourself, uh, grab George, a coffee, our friend, the fancy, fancy, Ruby geek. Uh, those of you that are winding into your final TRM weeks are going to probably want a little bit help. Cause it's a matter of it's little things that are going to make the difference. Cause there's going to be a lot of things in common with people picking the team, their teams this weekend in TRM and George will have some good tips for you. I can promise you that.
00:01:38
Speaker
And I'm pretty happy to see that, uh, I'm sorry, not, not, um, yeah, didn't, didn't I, I think I beat George for so that I didn't, I lost, I, I avoided the Sacco. Oh yeah. I do have to say, I don't know what our four foot would be, but we'll call it what's up next year. Yeah. As I think that's a pretty fair, um,
00:01:57
Speaker
thing for the, uh, for the championks league, right? That's a, that's a pretty good, you know, if geek as great as he is, is, is, is relegated to a SACO, um, good competition, really. Yeah. I think it's to be silent with the competition. Yeah. Nothing that George is great. Yeah. That's great. And I didn't win that sack.
00:02:15
Speaker
Yeah.
Supporting Rugby Causes and Anti-Racism Stance
00:02:19
Speaker
And of course, grab your TR upgrades, support the restart rugby, because that's huge. You know, I'm really becoming a bigger fan, bigger and bigger fan of loose heads. Lewington is an ambassador to loose loose heads. Awesome. So I was like, oh, that's a handsome looking fellow. Oh, I know that. So, yes, support, restart rugby and all that they do for the players and support the players.
00:02:44
Speaker
Black Lives Matter, as always here, there is no room for racism. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's another, another day, another incident for Sammy Pam, unfortunately, just dealing with assholes. So what else is new, unfortunately, for her? And yeah, it's just, yeah, it's just complete crock of shit. And it's, you know, the worst of it is it's like, it's a, it's a double, double, they double down. Cause it's not only racism, it's misogyny. And it's like, fuck you, dude. Go fuck yourself. Very fuck you. And,
00:03:14
Speaker
And you know, the booing of the English team. I mean, can we can we also put into perspective the incident on the pitch? And how much these players are putting out there when they when they go. You know, to play for their especially for their countries. Oh, you mean Christian Erickson for Denmark? Yes, that's what I'm referring to. Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
Like scary stuff, man. You know, we talk about it every day, but it's like you mention it and even then you don't really believe it. But it's like, yeah, you could die on the field. Just just going out there. You never know what could happen. You're you're you're risking everything. And I think that in context with people booing because.
00:04:03
Speaker
players are standing against racism. It's like, they're not, you know, they're not just entertainment, they're people living their lives and they're treated like this. And then, you know, you treat them like that before they go on a field where they're risking themselves, like, and entertaining you. Bullshit. Right. Yeah. Then, you know, even look at like,
00:04:22
Speaker
Anthony Watson, who doesn't agree with necessarily with the black lives matter movement itself, but understands the sentiments behind it and still chooses to take the knee because yes, he is against racism. And as I simple, I think it's a pretty straightforward concept. And if you're not against racism, then pretty much you're forward at this point. And that's really, that's really all like, that's just pretty much what it comes down to. And I'm not necessarily a huge person. Black and white, there's always gray, but that's really not one that I'm. Yeah, there's certain things where it's, yeah, it's, it is literally black and white.
00:04:52
Speaker
Yep, correct. I agree.
Rugby League and Team Dynamics
00:04:56
Speaker
We are opening up our second tier of Champions League. If you haven't heard, we got five or six names to put up. We still need a couple of you to fill them in. So get at us and we'll make sure that you get yourself a spot. Lots of fun with this one. Like just the banter is absolutely brilliant. It is the one thing that will make you laugh, especially in those dark days where it's cold.
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah. I'm realizing. And I hate this. Yeah. We're, we're, our, our, our champion's league won't be the same after, you know, we have two weeks left with this. It feels like it's been, you know, long time. Right. Crazy. We've been going at this since November. Good group of guys. Yeah. It'll be, yeah. It's going to be weird when, when it, when it shakes up a little bit. Yeah. But we'll, we'll have a, another year to, to shit talk to each other and then we'll cycle it around.
00:05:45
Speaker
So away we go. Um, new cycle player movement, the fly half Exodus at Lester is a head scratcher. So many guys. So Diaz, Bernie, Zach County, and McPhillips all leaving. We talked about Zach County last week and it really is just like.
00:06:01
Speaker
What are you planning to do right now? Do you have somebody in the Academy that we don't know about that you want to promote? Or do you have somebody coming in that again, you don't, you're just keeping under your hat? Like something there needs to budge. Yeah. Like how many, how many games is George Ford going to miss? And then who do you have? Who else? Yeah, right now the answer is nobody. Honestly, like I can't think of who steps in. Yeah. They'll have to, they'll, obviously they'll, they'll have to pull someone in, but it's, I don't know who they're getting, who's, who's available at this point.
00:06:30
Speaker
Right. Like I know, I know Brett Heron's leaving, uh, Quinn's, but we saw Will Edwards fill into that tension a couple of weeks ago and didn't do it so bad. And obviously Marcus Smith is their golden boy number one, but you gotta have, you gotta be ready for him to miss time for whatever reason it may be. Yeah. So if nothing, if we're nothing else, other than the fact that he needs a fricking rest, you know, so yeah, you gotta have an answer. It doesn't matter who it is, especially if you want to compete, right? Like that's, you know, yeah.
00:07:00
Speaker
I don't know. You can't fall away in those autumn and six nation periods. And Lester can't afford that. They're not good enough to take a shit for...
00:07:13
Speaker
Five weeks, at least five. Yeah, at least over over a quarter of a season. Let's put it that way. You can't afford to have nothing in your in your arsenal there. Right. Too many teams and the forwards aren't going to be able to win you every game in. Right. And the other, you know, 15, 16 games, you're not good enough to win enough there to to coast. So, yeah, no coast, no coasting in this league. It's rare. It's very rare.
00:07:38
Speaker
Um, so a guy that you and I don't necessarily have a huge amount of admiration for, cause he was kind of a dope, but, um, you know, I don't, I'd never wish poorly upon somebody to the point where I want them to get cancer. It was purely rivalry. And the fact that, you know, our, he beat the crap out of our guys and was kind of a Dick about it. Um, but yeah. Um,
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah, Luz, Luz Stanfield, we're with you, bud. Yeah. So it's in your corner. I'm fighting. Yeah. Good to see him fighting. Yeah. Things that you don't realize happen when you're in the middle of a COVID pandemic is shit like this, you know? Right. I know people that had kids and I'm just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. When the fuck did you have a kid?
00:08:20
Speaker
So yeah, this is something I wasn't aware of. And obviously this is something you probably kept under his hat for quite a while. Um, I would too, if I were him, so I don't blame him, but yeah, I, I do, I do wish Stanfield well. And I, and I hope he, uh, I hope he's able to beat this thing cause ain't cause cancer sucks for everybody. It doesn't matter who you are. So fuck cancer. Yep. That's the big number. That's the big number one right there. Fuck cancer. Um,
00:08:43
Speaker
Ernie Kelleher was called into the training squad, emphasis on the training part for the Lions, probably coming up for next weekend with Japan.
International Rugby Squad Discussions
00:08:51
Speaker
They're looking to make sure that they can feel that. Right. So I mean, so it does tell you what's on Gatlin's brain should somebody from the current Lions hook or arsenal. Right. Get hurt. So that's
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah. And he was one of my picks for hooker. So I'm not sad about that. I think he's very dynamic and, uh, lens served them well to develop him. So that's, that's a thumbs up for me. I'm not going to complain. Right. I like it though. Uh, so yeah, no, no, no, no quarrels with that whatsoever. Yeah. I don't think any of the,
00:09:29
Speaker
Who else? I don't know who else would. I don't know who else you would call in. It's not a by default situation. I don't want to give him that disrespect, but it is. Who else? Who else he got? Right? Like he is definitely the next choice without a doubt. Yeah. Yeah. I don't necessarily love any of Scotland's options, although they've also been banged up in the last couple of weeks as well. So not helpful there either. So yeah, with all that said,
00:09:55
Speaker
It's not by default, but yeah, I don't know who else you would pick anyway, but definitely deserve just the same. So yeah, if something goes awry, he's definitely on the plane, no question. Geez, squad drop much this week. What did we get? Six? We got a few here. Five.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah. And probably there's probably a couple that I missed that we're not talking about because they're not like playing anything huge. Um, wallaby squad has been dropped for the France series. France did drop their squad, but I'm also waiting on to see how the finals shake out. Cause I know they're going to be missing some guys for a top 14. I thought they said they weren't going to take anybody from those teams, but I could be wrong anyway. Um,
00:10:39
Speaker
Michael Hooper returns to captain the Wallabies from his stint in Japan. Love to see it. Yep. They need him back in Australia rugby, right? You know, like right now. Yeah, I'm sure the Waratahs wishes they had him. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. No question. And it's a good, it's a good mix in this squad with some guys that, a bunch of guys that are uncapped, but then you got about four or five guys that have 50 plus, if not, you have two guys that have a hundred.
00:11:06
Speaker
right? Slipper and, um, and, and Hooper. And I think you got one more guy with like 90 odd as well. Um, where did I see it? I know I saw somebody with hot with a high number. Uh, yeah. CEO's got 60 odd. Maybe that's a little, maybe CEO's the one I saw. Yeah. Slippers got 60 odd. That's pretty good too.
00:11:24
Speaker
So, it's a good mix. It's a solid mix. You can see Renny has ideas on what he wants his nucleus to be because some of these guys are returners from last year. So, it's good. I like it. Got lots to do. And Matt Phillip returns from PAL to make himself available for this as well.
00:11:47
Speaker
It's a fair school. Yeah. And Swain was the name. I was really hoping we'd get the phone call and I'm glad he did. I thought he played really well for the, for the rebels. So, or not for the rebels, excuse me, for the Brumbies. I know that I swear. Yeah. And then Michael Wells, that was another name that we, that was huge. It was John. We were banging on there. Right. That's a big one. Like to see it. Love to see him there. I'm not a like at that point. That's a love. Absolutely. Um,
00:12:13
Speaker
And there's one guy, wait, let me make sure if he was, uh, yeah, your head uncapped. I I'm, I'm glad to see your head on the team. I was like, I don't think he's been capped, but I do. Could he could have been at one or two. He made the, he might've made the squad at one point last year, but then get in. Yeah, he didn't get in. So, um, good to see him. I he's one of those guys who just shows up at when you need him to write, he can disappear at other times, but all of a sudden you're like, Oh, there's, there's a mirror head score to try out of like,
00:12:40
Speaker
I don't know. Awesome play. We needed, we needed something there and he gave it to us. So I like to see that kind of, uh, uh, Juju at the higher level. Yep. Totally. Good term of pay enough. The, um, the team that the all blacks are going to face this, uh, summer before they see the wallabies is Fiji and they're going to, and they've announced their squad, uh, Saracens or Ernie Moai is in there. Uh, Matt, Matt of AC, definitely the best playing Matt of AC this year without a doubt.
00:13:10
Speaker
Can you imagine a second row of Nakarawa and Tuosui? That sounds mean. That does sound extremely mean. That sounds pretty mean. And a back line with Ndolo and Marie-Marie Val. I know that Lester can do it. They just didn't do it very often. I guess they did it this past week.
00:13:29
Speaker
Like, damn, these hands are just large. Right. And yeah, Lavani Bhatia is, I think he's the captain for this one. Yeah, that's really mean. You know, pair him in there, Mansa Matahele, who has come into form for the Crusaders in the last couple of weeks. So, yep, the two half packs, Lamani and Sarobi, both are really looking to move that ball quick.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yep. It's going to be, it should be fun. It'll be awesome to see them test themselves against the all blacks. Yep. And you know, that's, that's only good for the game. So I'm going to enjoy watching that assuming we can find someplace to carry the damn thing. Right. Jeez. In our billion networks. I would imagine somewhere in there we can get one. Just give me one.
00:14:15
Speaker
Canada announced their squad cause they're based, they're going over and doing something somewhere where they're playing, um, Wales and England, Wales and England. So, uh, our boy Josh Larson makes the squad, which is the most important part. That's all that matters. Uh, it's, um,
00:14:32
Speaker
I actually watched Fraser Hearst on Saturday watching that Utah game. Didn't look too bad. Um, I do notice in the names that are missing from their squad is the biggest one because there's nobody playing in Europe. Save one guy that he's playing in like non-league French rugby or something like that. So less than ideal. Everybody else is playing in MLR, you know, no Ardern.
00:14:56
Speaker
Um, yeah, Olmstead, that was, yes. It was one of the name I knew that I wanted to mention Olmstead. That's the one. Yeah. So that's, and Booga boom. That's the other one.
00:15:05
Speaker
Yeah, and DTH has retired. He has left the chat room. So it'll be a good test for these boys. A lot of guys that are playing MLR and probably haven't quite seen this test level yet. I think they're going to be in for a hell of an awakening for some of these guys because they just haven't ventured outside this MLR bubble yet. So it's not unlike the US boys. The US boys are going to have the same experience as well.
00:15:33
Speaker
be very interested to see what they put forward. Very interested. Speaking of U.S., the women have named their team for a camp coming up to start preparing themselves for the World Cup last year. It's a very good squad. I'm excited for it. All four women that have been taking up residence in Devon have been named to the squad, like Kate Zachary, obviously.
00:15:59
Speaker
And that's the name that certainly blows to me. Although I did like the way Contorno played for her foot was working quite well when she was over there. So you got to go kick her in that at least. So that makes things way easier on you when it comes to putting points on the board.
00:16:17
Speaker
Um, we got to see a few of these ladies play on Sunday as well. We did quite a few of them. Um, and some of them were very impressive. Uh, I'd like to give a shout out to Erica Jarrell, who's a prop somehow, somehow, somehow that is the tallest prop I've ever seen in my life. She's like, she's got to be six, three, six, four. Yeah. Well, I don't know. It's hard to tell cause some of a lot of those
00:16:41
Speaker
women were kind of short. So it's hard. She's got at least six to Yeah, she's she's extremely tall. And, and not like, she's I mean, she's thick, she's a forward, but she's not like the typical prop shape, I guess, as you can say, yeah, that is a typical certainly. But
00:17:02
Speaker
you know, a stretched out prop, I guess, put a prop in the rack and you end up with her. But she was doing also, she was kicking. She was like, she was doing everything. She was doing everything. She was running all over the pitch. She was just, um, she was fantastic. Yeah. Right. She, she stood out for more than just her height. Like some play, you know, some players, they stand out and you're like, Oh, look at them. And then you look at them and you're like, no, this was, you look at her and you're like, yup. No, absolutely. She can play. It'll be, I'm excited to see her at the next level.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think she's I think she's going to bring something definitely a different something extra to the team that you don't see necessarily. And if nothing else, she's going to learn a lot. I mean, and the cool thing about this is it's so it's a DTE. It's a daily training environment. So it's really they're taking them and putting them in a professional environment, which
00:17:52
Speaker
Fucking excellent. That's that's we need that. We don't have the obviously we don't have women's professional rugby here yet. No Yet, but it does seem like they're they're working towards it, which is good. Yeah, I'm you won't hear me complain I'll buy tickets to those matches as much as I buy them to the free jacks are probably
00:18:09
Speaker
That was, I would have paid for, for, for that match just on Saturday or Sunday. I'm glad we got that one for free. I felt a little bit like we robbed him. That was good. It was really good stuff. So yes, go on ladies, go, go get them. Uh, we're, we, uh, we are definitely going to be cheering from afar over here. All right. Um, do, do, do. Yeah. They're really five from this, that list that we're, I think we saw play on Sunday. So that's pretty cool.
00:18:33
Speaker
And then the last thing that we haven't talked about yet is the Mayori have announced their team. Unfortunately, Josh, you want to get picked for the Mayori, which means he's not going to the All Blacks. But quite honestly, he didn't quite have himself the season he needed to to get there. Yeah, I don't know where he's going to where how he fits into the All Blacks just just yet. So good time. Yeah.
00:18:57
Speaker
Give it time and at least one Barrett retiring. Yeah, I know. Jeez. It's going to be a bit. Asterisk and captain's aside, the understooker. A pro try scoring machine that he is. Although he's a New Zealand hooker, of course, it's a try scoring machine. He knows where the trial line is if he's from New Zealand, right? Right. Yeah. The entirety of the outside backs that are listed here are chiefs. Although trash can play 10.
00:19:25
Speaker
Right. All the outside fives, aside from Billy Proctor, our chief. Truth. Truth, truth, truth. I'm a little disappointed to see a Terry Black there, but, you know, that's, that's how it is.
00:19:39
Speaker
As in out of the all blacks or? Yeah, not the all blacks, because apparently, apparently, Bowdoin Barrett has returned because he's going to be water boy tomorrow or Saturday, whatever it is. Yeah, these will be lost. Yeah, black is going to. And that's then that's why, like, as I said, black and you want to are in this to get them some experience because it's going to be more good and Bowdoin is 10. Well, you don't really need any others at that point. Yep. At the moment anyway. But this is also keeps keeps them active in case, you know, one of them gets hurt.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You want to, you want to make sure that they're primed. Right. Ready to roll into that. Yeah. So lots of squats getting thrown around here, kids. Hold on tight. Okay. Um, let's do, let's do our seasonal stuff for each comp.
Premiership and Super Rugby Team Analysis
00:20:28
Speaker
Um, we want to start with the prime of the super. Um,
00:20:34
Speaker
I'm gonna start, let's start with the prem. I have it, I have prem first. Okay, you have it listed, so that works. All right, so let's do team of the year. So your loose head is...
00:20:45
Speaker
uh, Ellis Kench. Same. Absolutely fantastic here for that boy, right? Become a huge, I am a huge fan of Ellis Kench at this point. So I can only hope that, um, he just makes, he will wear that white Jersey a lot more. And we see him, you know, probably start a little bit more often. Um, and certainly relieve the,
00:21:05
Speaker
the other big number one, the place ringing on Macco. So yeah, very, very interested to see that one. But yes, huge here for the boy and his kids done a ton of growing up and I really believe in his future. So yeah, he's just been fantastic. I can't speak more highly of him. I know, like, I know I, I, I had some things to say about his behavior last week, but that's still that that's a very,
00:21:27
Speaker
That's a rare occurrence now. It's a rare occurrence now, right. Exactly. It's just one of those. Yeah, I'll bury that. It's done. Yeah, he's being kicking ass. And you'll hear more from him later in my awards. No doubt. No doubt. Your hooker is? George McWiggin. Oh, yeah. I see. And I thought about him, but I went with Sam out of AC.
00:21:53
Speaker
I like that too. Um, but I wanted to, to especially, um, single out McWigs cause he did that, you know, as well as he did on that team. Yeah. So it's more of a, and they had some, they had some struggling days. That's for sure. Um, you know, McGuigan was one of their guys that they counted on all season and didn't fall off and yeah, just kept it going. Even through the end of the season, he fucking kicked ass this past weekend. So. Yeah.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah, I wouldn't say a meta basically. He walked into that North Haven team and ripped that two shirt away from everybody else that was buying for it. He did. And he played his ass off. Like we said, definitely the best playing meta basically without a doubt. Right. But he didn't. He owns that two shirt in North Haven now, I believe. So good for him. Your tight head is?
00:22:42
Speaker
also dating back to next, last week, I guess a little bit, but Jonofoa. Same. I have him as well. That the old man still does it just, and it's just always amazing to me. And, you know, he's, he's hanging them up. But man, just to be able to do what he does at his age, he keeps Kyle Sinclair off the field.
00:22:59
Speaker
It's like, how do you, what? How do you do that at that age? And like, yeah, I mean, he's the kind of guy who will come in injured and win a scrum for you to close out a match when you're literally one RCH away from getting a penalty try, yellow card, all that. So yeah. Nope, don't do that. So yes, I have him as well. Pick one lock.
00:23:28
Speaker
David ribbons. I have him in there as well. Mm hmm. Just a fucking part from the red card. A fantastic season. Yeah, shitty way, shitty way to end it. But absolutely. Yeah, a lot of the good things. Excellent player this year. It really took steps forward. I think he got his first try this year and then scored like three or four more. He's like, oh, wait, I know how to do that. I can do this. All right. I'll do that. Yeah, I got this covered. That's no worse.
00:23:56
Speaker
Um, really, and really was one of the guys who helped pick them up when the stars were away and, and, um, and all that. So they were pushing for a semi-final place all the way up until what, two, three weeks ago. Right. So yeah. And he was good on him. Yep. I agree. Your other lock is Chris Vue.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah, great pick. Great pick. Just beast. Same kind of thing. Just impact player whenever, you know, one of those guys when you need a body there, he's the one who's there at any and whether he's a five or a six or whatever. I mean, when he's a six, he's just up jumped five. But damn, I mean, brings it in every way can can move the ball can thunder over you can make it make his tackles all that good stuff. Good guy.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, I am biased on this one. I went with Greg Peterson. Fair. I'm not going to argue. The only thing with Peterson is he kind of fell off the last like five weeks. Right. But even still like he played him so much. How much did he play? He missed one match. Right. Like I don't think I think he only didn't play in one match and played 80 a lot. He did. Including this past weekend. He did.
00:25:02
Speaker
and he's a line out. He was there. Lineout general just running, you know, between him. I'm sure he and McWiggan have telepathy between the two of them at this point, you know? So yeah, the guy and he's just, he's done so much growing up as, as a part of this new castle Falcons team since.
00:25:17
Speaker
Uh, since he, even since he was at Glasgow, I believe it was where he was before. Um, but yeah, like so much. And no longer the hammerhead that we used to be like, what the fuck you doing? He is now a guy I would 100% trust with, you know, whatever job you need him to do on the field. Doesn't matter what the game is.
00:25:35
Speaker
Right. Shows the difference in the professionalism versus amateurism. That's, you know, he's he's been asked to be a professional and man has he stepped up and learned from that. And yeah, no longer the hammerhead that we're like, oh, penalty on Peterson again. Yeah, that was definitely words that were uttered quite often. We're watching the U.S. Oh, jeez. Oh, Peterson, you moron. Right. No, no more. No more of that. He is. He's beyond that. So that's good for him. I had to give him props.
00:26:04
Speaker
Who's your six? This one might surprise you, but it's also the fact that there's not much to speak of when I'm thinking about actual sixes. So I went with Matt Rogerson. Oh, I like it. Second most tackles in the prem. That's work right right there. Yeah, that right. I think that's that's all I you know, and plus is play outside of that. Another dependable guy. Not not as not lacks the star quality that like a ribbons in a movie showed.
00:26:31
Speaker
Um, but you know, six is a lunch pail position. So, um, that's, that's the guy I'm going with it. There's another six that we, we talk about occasionally and I'd fucking don't like him neither do you. So, you know, I'm going to give it to a guy I actually like.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah. I went with, um, I had my pick of the literal pick of the twins on this one. I went with John. Fair. I think it's more as a lock, but yeah. And that's, and that, and that being said, that's why I probably, that's why I slid into six. That's an appropriate position for him. Boy, this guy can carry the ball. Good Lord.
00:27:07
Speaker
Scary. Yeah. My back row was filled with ball carries, by the way. So that's him. Who's your seven? My seven didn't finish the year, which is unfortunate. It didn't. I kind of overlooked him at first and put someone else there, but that person didn't end up playing a game of seven at all anywhere. So I pulled that person out and I'm like, you know what? The best seven this year for really the best team.
00:27:35
Speaker
Because there were like other guys like Ludlum and Ludlow, the Luds, that played very well, but they didn't carry their team the way Will Evans carried his team.
00:27:43
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's just, man, I wish he had finished the year. Keniam's done a pretty good job in his stead. He's done an excellent, like, but that in a way hurts Evan's case, but at the same time. I'm not going to argue with him. No, he played outstanding. Yeah, so my seven isn't an actual seven and never played a second of it, but I couldn't leave him off the team. It's Alistar Brent. Okay, fair. I had Mercer at seven.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah. I had some, I had some big ball carriers in my back row. Yeah. I don't think we need to talk about eight. No, same guy. Same sevens. Nine. Denny care.
00:28:20
Speaker
Ah, yes. OK, I knew one of us was going to pick him, and I did not pick him. I went with Andy Aaron. And that's that. Yes, I just didn't want that many bears. I didn't want to overbear this team. Yeah, I don't. I don't have. I think that's my last one on this team yesterday. I have two more. Yeah. So I also I also tried to represent as many teams as I could. Right. And yeah. And Danny care to me was by far and away the best. Oh, I mean, I loved it.
00:28:49
Speaker
So that was my reasoning in the year. And, you know, it was yearn and Randall yearn and Randall Randall got hurt and yearn said, fine, I'm here and I will not let you down. And he didn't. Right. That was good for him. And I liked that now. And now instead of two half nines,
00:29:03
Speaker
Bristol have to fucking awesome. Right. Uh, do we need to talk about 10 Marcus Smith? Yeah, don't need to golden boot next. Um, okay. So one of, one of my wings, um, I, I've seen other places where we had, they had the same wings, they were flipped, but either way, uh, my, my 11 is time of clarity.
00:29:23
Speaker
Okay. That's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. I mean, I really liked his play. I thought he stepped up a lot this year for that team when they, when they need to, and they need to find ways to score points sometimes. And it wasn't always pretty right. And he was there dependable wing like the other 100% always be, you know, something.
00:29:40
Speaker
somebody else, whether it was for Cundell or Cuthbert or Woodburn or Noel for the hot minute. Right. He hurt himself again and then came back and then hurt himself again. And then take care of yourself. But a flat, a flat was, was there and dependable the whole season. And they really, Exeter needed that. Otherwise they wouldn't be, you know, even where they are right now.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah. I went with a guy that came in somewhat near the mid season, but man, did he play his balls off? Will Muir. That's an excellent pick. Oh man. He, he came in, you know, from sevens and just took to it like a duck to water. Just knew exactly what to do.
00:30:17
Speaker
And he'd say, yeah, Beth needed that spark that he provided as well. You know, big body out there on the wing, still able to finish and finish and finish well at that. Yeah. Skills have translated well for Wilmer. And that was a great season. He'll be named. He'll be named by me later. There you go. We'll get there. Okay. Yeah. Let's go. Let's go to center. Okay. 12. Piers O'Connor.
00:30:44
Speaker
Yep. And I have a bunch of bears and I was like, nope, can't do it. And I had him and I was like, nope, that's too many. Who else? I mean, again, I'm sure you'll have someone else. That's good. But so I bumped, I bumped my 13 into my 12 because I won. I put somebody else to 13. My 12 right now is Curtis Rona.
00:31:01
Speaker
Okay. That's a, he's a, he's a fine 12. He was, and that was my Irish pick. I was like, I was trying to keep an exiles pick. Yeah. And I, and I really wanted to pick him at 13, but I couldn't, unfortunately. Um, either way. Um, yeah, that's, that's a, that's a fine pick right there. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I rate Piers and Rona that very, very highly. Yeah. And highly 13, 13, uh, Joe Marchant.
00:31:25
Speaker
I love it and I like it. Yeah, that's a great pick. He had so much for like, man, remember when he went to New Zealand and people were just like, why the fuck is he doing that? That's why he's doing that. That's why he's doing that, man. This guy has come back so much better. And the only people that have been from it are Quinn's in England. Like, yeah, he's just played incredibly. I picked a guy, a guy that did not finish the season either. And I felt like he kind of got jogged a little bit, but just the same. It's Odago.
00:31:51
Speaker
Fair. That's a good, that's a great, but he, and he also improved greatly as the season went on. Um, he had a little bit of trouble in contact his first batch or two. Um, but then like, as in getting shrugged off when he's like the second man in the tackle, um, looking good. Um, yeah, you know, he, he, and then he came into, to being the guy, if he was one-on-one, he was going to fucking lay the thunder. So.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah, quite good from Paulo. Excellent defensive growth from him. For the other wing, the other wing, same team as your dog would, but I'm going with Josh Bassett. Oh man, what a good year from that boy.
00:32:30
Speaker
How many tries did he score? Hold on. I have the stats. Oh, he's got a few at least. Yeah. He was, um, yeah, he was, he was a third in the league. Well, tied for third with Dom and Byron McWiggin. Um, but yeah, Josh, he had nine. So he's third behind Danny and Sam Simmons. Yeah. I went with the lion cub Lewis resamit.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, I felt like his exploits outside of the prem outstripped his his his premiership performance, which is why I I went in another another direction. But you can't go wrong with the resentment. Yeah, you know, I thought he was I thought it was great. I thought, you know, when needed, he did quite well for for Gloucester, especially when you're not necessarily in the prime, but like Champions Cup, I thought he did pretty well for them. So yeah, I thought I thought he deserved the nod at the very least.
00:33:21
Speaker
I mean, he's a guy that they were like, look, if, if we have to force him the ball, we will force him the ball. And then they'd force him the ball and he'd score. So yeah, sure. Yes, he would. Who is your last line of defense? Chuck P. Yeah. Can't go wrong with that. I just, he led, um, he didn't even play that much.
00:33:44
Speaker
Well, relatively. I think he led the prem in... Is it meters gained, I think? Where is it? I can't find the stat at the moment. He knew how to find the meters, that's for sure. Right. No, he wasn't. He was fourth behind the Flaherty, Parton, Hassel Collins, and then it was him.
00:34:07
Speaker
Um, it's still pretty high for a guy that's still pretty high. Like, like you played 16 games, something like that. Right. And he was, he was in the top 10 or so. Yeah. He's definitely easily in the top 10 in clean breaks. Um, yeah. What are you going to do? Yeah. Uh, well, I, in, in an effort to try and include as many teams as possible, I went with Jamie shell cock.
00:34:30
Speaker
I like that. Who I thought played, he got put in a couple of really tough pinches with, um, when Worcester were down to zero tens or Finn Smith. And he, he performed brilliantly. And then when they put him back at fullback, he shined when he was back there. So I was like, wow, this guy's actually really good. Where the fuck has he been? He scored tries for Worcester. Who didn't know how to score tries. Yeah.
00:34:59
Speaker
So, um, via people who score tries for Worcester are doing themselves very well. So, absolutely. I agree. Yeah. So I was like, I got to put this, I was very impressed, especially with the way he finished the year. Um, but yeah, even filling that 10 shirt when that is not his natural position at all. Right. And, and yeah, he, he, he showed his talent all year and doing a service job. So yeah, Jimmy shell Cox, my, my fully. Okay. Um, who gets the, the big nods here, um, start with forward.
00:35:30
Speaker
Um, forward, I mean, our, our player of the year is obvious, but, um, I didn't want, I didn't like doubling up, um, especially because my player of the year is, is because of his rugby playing. This person has just as a forward, um, dominated games, doing forward things.
00:35:47
Speaker
and the most forward of positions prop. And so I get Alice Ganges, my forward of the year. Yes, that is a really good pick. It's a really good pick at that. Yeah, I went with Sam. It was. Yeah, I mean, he's getting another one. He'll be there. Back.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah. Golden boy. Gotta be him. Gotta be him. Like when, when, when the coins are eliminated or when they win it, whatever it is, man, if he's not in the England camp, there's something really wrong. There's something really wrong. And I know that I've already spoken my disdain for Eddie. And honestly, I hope that
00:36:29
Speaker
If he starts actually fucking smartening up and picking guys that need to be picked, then okay, I'll be back in this corner, but fucking hell, until that happens, I'm not a native fan at all. So, yeah, Marcus Smith, Black of the Year, without a doubt. Young Player of the Year.
00:36:44
Speaker
So I went with true rookies. Like if you played in the prem before, and then same thing in the, in Super Rugby. If you played in a match before this year, I just counted you. I wanted a true rookie. So I went with Will Muir.
00:37:00
Speaker
I like him. And an honorable mention to Jack Kenningham, too. Yeah, Kenningham played his balls off. He did. But, but, well, Muir, for all the reasons you had him in your year... What more is there to say? He just... Yeah. Brilliant performance from Muir out of nowhere. Great stuff. I went with somebody that I think you and I both very much like, and that is Raffi Kork.
00:37:21
Speaker
I was, yes, he was on my list until I realized he played like the, he got, you know, garbage time, garbage times with, with the midweek fixtures. Yeah. Yeah. Like significant game time was not something that he had seen much of. So I was like, you know, that's fine. Um, that's, I'm just saying my, I was anal about my criteria. Fair enough. That's fine.
00:37:42
Speaker
Uh, play of the year, Sam Simmons, record setting tries and yeah. And just tackles and doing things for fun. Playing rugby out there. Yeah. Uh, DOR Pat Lamb. Gotta be, gotta be even though they were third last year and they've obviously gone to first this year, but just between the two years, really just like the way he's built this team into such a.
00:38:07
Speaker
I talk glowingly when I'm talking out of high school practice for the kids about how much I love watching Bristol and Pat Lam's style is the reason. So yeah, that's fun. Yep. And he, that's, yeah, that's why they're there. So, um, it really is their style. And you think of also like next year, they're going to lose, um, Ben and, uh, and mail-ins and Ben and max. So it's.
00:38:32
Speaker
And you're like, you know what, though, you look at the squad and you're like, that's fine. That's a fine squad. No big deal. They're like for their back row. They still have Fitzharding. Right. Who looked good. Yep. He looks great. You know, and Dan Thomas is still there to fill in when Louis is still there. Yep. Yep. This point is playing the locker there. That's a lot down to lamb there, too. No, no doubt. Let's go to the southern hemisphere here. All right. So this time I'll put the I'll pose the question to you this time. Your loose head.
00:39:02
Speaker
I went with Gus Bell. I really, I wanted a wartime. Really, there was a lot of places I could have picked a wartime, but...
00:39:09
Speaker
I couldn't think of a lot of loose heads that I really wanted to pick other than him, because he's still a youngster. Like, Bevin Rod was on my list for Prem, by the way, like, for loose heads. So, you know, in the same vein where, yes, he was not a newbie to this, but still performed well after already being known as a thing, in a really crappy team like that. So, yeah, tough sledding at the loose head position here and there.
00:39:36
Speaker
But yeah, I like a spell and as my lone warts on the team, I'll take it. Alan Alatoa will be my loose head of the of the year just. Yeah, brings it. Yeah, I mean, I mean, he's got he's got a captain. Or is it? Yeah, whatever it is. Are you thinking out? Here's the thing, which I'll tell you, you think you think the Brumby's guy, you think of the upstairs guy?
00:40:03
Speaker
Oh, Brumby's. Okay. Yeah, he's tight-headed, but whatever, props are props are props are props. I did these loose heads, the easier one. So yeah, slide over, dude. Next. Oh yeah, your hooker.
00:40:18
Speaker
Folletti Kaituu from the Western Force. Ooh, okay. I thought, you know, he played really well this year in a force team that surprised a lot of people, you know, and has more or less unseated Feinga as an Australian hooker. And, you know, he's not in the camp for the summer. So and part of that is down and not all of it, but part of it is down to Kaituuuu stepping up and playing very well for the force. So I went with him.
00:40:46
Speaker
Okay. I went with the Crusader, of course, Cody Taylor. Cody Taylor. I love Cody Taylor. And that pains me to say he's a Dane Coles guy, but I really do. I really do. You know, so much grew on me with Cody Taylor, especially being able to watch some of that special stuff. Like I was like, dude, I like you so much right now. Why?
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah. We might have the same. Yeah, we might have the same. We better have the same tight head. Tupo. Tupo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Red's tight head was just an absolute monster as he has been for quite a bit now. But yeah, he was just the same monster as before. Right. Your first luck.
00:41:26
Speaker
I spoke of him before and I was speaking to him for a while, Darcy Swain from the Brumbies. I thought he played brilliantly and has deserved his call up to the Australia team, especially when you consider this is a team that's had the Arnold brothers rotate through it and just be like, peace, we're out. And there's a bit of a lot of names that have come through this team and he's just like,
00:41:45
Speaker
Cool. I'm here. I got it. He is the, he is the, the leader in that lock group for the Brumbies. And, you know, we know how much the Brumbies like their line out. So yeah, that's a bit, that's a big one. So, so, so my, my Aussie lock is Fergus Lee Warner.
00:42:01
Speaker
Okay, yeah, he played everywhere. I don't know if there's a position in the back five he didn't play. Yeah, and he was he was the top, top carrying player, most tackles and nine, I'm sorry, most and carries ninth and tackles. Yeah, fly contact in that. Yeah. In that kind of in this competition, that means something. So yeah,
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Just, you know, making impressions all over the pitch, as you said. So I'm throwing them at lock and I think the wallabies are too. So yeah, they might be. So there you go. Uh, my, well, I have, I have a dueling while I'll be locks.
00:42:41
Speaker
for my other one, um, Luke on solid kyloto for the reds, uh, just great ball carrying good offloading ability. And you know, he's a loose forward playing five and, or four, whatever the hell it is. And just brings more dynamism to a reds team that played pretty damn well this year, you know, barring James O'Connor getting hurt. I'm wondering what else would happen this year for them in trans Tasman, but Hey, say lovey, but yeah, he's my, he's my other lock.
00:43:07
Speaker
For the record, Fergus Lee Warner is not on the team. I saw him somewhere and I can't remember where I saw him being listed. Anyway, my other five is Sam Whitelock. Because it's Sam Whitelock. I tried to stay away from Crusaders, but you can only stay away from so many. Yes, this is true.
00:43:28
Speaker
There'll be, there'll be three more, unfortunately, but that's, uh, I've got, yeah, I've got, I've got, I've got three more. Probably the same three. Yeah. Close to it at least. Right. Uh, you're six. Luke Jacobson from the chiefs. Okay. More at an, at an eight. Um, but yeah, somewhere on the side, somewhere around the back row of the scrum, I thought he filled in really well for a back row that was struggling for a little bit. And they, um,
00:43:57
Speaker
And obviously they end up propelling themselves into the Atturo final. And I thought he was a big reason for his early work in the year and then just continue to turn out with the exception of one hammerhead performance. But other than that, yeah, he made life very difficult on other teams. So I thought he deserved somewhere in the back row here. My six was Rob Villatini.
00:44:18
Speaker
I love Rob. You know, I was looking at it. I was like, shit, I already got to my sixes that I can, but I wanted to throw this guy in there. And look, I appreciate him and Wells like, yeah, Valentini and Wells, another one, two pair of guys that I would have been like, yep, that works too. Right. Okay. So who's your seven?
00:44:37
Speaker
One, Artie Sevilla. I mean, of course. I mean, I know we got hurt, but man, that performance he put in against the Crusaders was worth it alone. That dude was a hero in that game. They should have won that game too. And had he not got hurt, I believe 100%, they would not have been able to stop him. So yeah, that man's a monster. I love him. So yeah, Artie Sevilla.
00:44:58
Speaker
Okay. And I have named Dalton Papa Lee another guy with injury, but, um, yeah, somebody that is very highly touted to take Sam Kane's shirt for the summer. So, and it might be, it might be Savannah.
00:45:13
Speaker
Right. Exactly. So that's where we are. Year eight. I think we're going to go with the same eight. Kazuki Himino. Oh, we didn't. OK. All right. But but I huge like, man, it was so great to see him perform well in this league outside of Japanese top league, which we know has some stars, but isn't that strong. It's like Amalar. It's not that strong. So for him to come down to the Highlanders and to perform so well for a guy he knows very well, Tony Brown, who's obviously not going to be around anymore, but still
00:45:42
Speaker
for him to perform so well for Tony Brown and after Tony Brown put faith in him to say come be my come be a big back rower for us and they love him down there as well at uh a four side bar so that's the yeah that is a huge thing for me and just a soft spot in my heart for for him and also I picked him
00:45:59
Speaker
Fair enough. I cannot argue with that at all in any way. I went in a different direction on the other side of the pond because just the shift he put in and the lift that he gave his team was, you know, Harry Wilson was just fantastic all year. Here we go. Yep. There you go. Boy was a beast. I don't disagree. You're scrummy. Aaron Smith.
00:46:26
Speaker
And that dude, that dude just lifts that team that hounders team and obviously they're playing in the finals coming weekend. Uh, just, he lifts that team so much when he plays and the, the, the seeds he just throws out there that turned into tries. I'm like, Oh man. And you know, he's not even at his best anymore.
00:46:46
Speaker
No, he's not even there yet. Like, yeah, like he's not there anymore, but he's still damn good Scrum half. He's one of the best minds in the world. Yeah. And, you know, on top of that, you think about like he had to come back from, you know, kind of a hammerhead incident many, many moons ago, if you forgot about that. And he's turned himself into a fantastic human being, let alone a fantastic rugby player. So, yeah, got to give Aaron Smith a nod for many reasons. And I stayed with my Aussie and Reds combination and went Tate McDermott.
00:47:17
Speaker
He should be, he should be Australia's nine this summer. He should 100% be Australia's nine this summer. If he's not, there's a problem. You're, you're 10. I'm sorry. You're Mwunga? Yeah. I heard you're Mwunga without a doubt. Yeah. I don't know. Questionably. All right. Moving on. Cause we'll talk more about him later. I am certain. Your, your, your first wing.
00:47:43
Speaker
No, no, no rec, no recce. Is that how we say this guy's name? That's how I spelled it. Yeah, turn a recce. Absolutely. Fucking hell, but like he started the season out pretty well with fricking performance against the Chiefs and really didn't look back as long as he was on the field.
00:48:01
Speaker
Right. Except to see guys running after him. Pretty much. Oh man. Yeah. And you know, and he scored have been like, he didn't just score in the wing. He went up the middle. He did it all over the place. So yeah, I hope he gets picked for the all-by. So some of that, that dude's played amazing. All right. You're inside center. Man, that just rocks up first team every week in and out bar this past week, Matt Tamua.
00:48:24
Speaker
Fascinating. Okay. I, okay. I can't argue with that one. Um, I don't think you'll argue against mine. Uh, no, no, I wish, I wish he was coming back. Yeah. She was coming back. He did give a little bit of a fuck you performance on his way out. Oh, a hundred percent. That was totally a fuck you. New Zealand performance for the last three or four weeks. Yeah. He's never coming back.
00:48:49
Speaker
Wow. Harsh. Yeah. Like, I mean, I don't blame them. Like they offer them a pay cut. Right. Like, come on, man. What the fuck you doing, New Zealand? Like, New Zealand doesn't screw up too often. That's a big screw up. Right. You're outside. A guy that had to kind of change his position there. Let's start firing a nuku.
00:49:08
Speaker
okay yeah that's an excellent uh excellent 13 pick um just because yeah he can he can do you can play it fucking anywhere yeah at this point and play at a very high level uh i went with antonlin or brown well yeah may i'll be because uh yeah i feel it is yeah and you just
00:49:28
Speaker
cleans up some people's mistakes very well. Yeah, when they put a certain hammerhead 12 inside of me, he really makes them look, he looks really good. Right. He helps that out. So, uh, if he can make him look good. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Your, your other wing. Uh, Bryce Heem.
00:49:49
Speaker
I thought I played, I thought he's come in really and played really well. Like in a pinch, um, where they were like, Oh, we don't have another wing. Yes, you do. Right. Yeah. I, I, my, my last two will be with the crusaders. So my 14 is several Reese dirt. That's not a bad pick. You want to try scored. All right. We'll give it to seven. Yeah. Got three of them this past weekend.
00:50:11
Speaker
Yeah. And a clutch performance. And when they needed they needed points and he delivered for them, you know, the rest of the team kind of didn't quite help out. But, you know, right. We'll get we'll get to somebody else who also pitched him with that one. Who's your 15? Well, Jordan. Yeah, there you go. So for the same reason, another guy that should be in the all black squad.
00:50:32
Speaker
I can't remember if he had a brace or if one of them was called back. One was called back. Okay. Um, but yeah, fucking, and even when he wasn't scoring tries, he was breaking the defense's next, like not even ankles, not even backs. Just, you know, yeah. Yeah. Uh, DOR. Uh, oh, okay. Uh, DOR.
00:50:53
Speaker
bone with a little bit of a Homer pick here by Clayton Macmillan. Yeah. That's not, there's not a bad pick by any means whatsoever. That was a, that was a job he had to do. Yeah. You step in for Gats and you go nine and four and you lose to the crusaders and the super, you know, like that's what you do when you go to the super rugby final against the crusaders, you lose to the crusaders. No, no shame in that. Um, you know, so yeah. And, and with the, with a hat tip and honorable bench into Leon McDonald,
00:51:20
Speaker
Yeah, I thought he's done really well. Same thing. Both of them just really lifted their team. Just the Clayton was doing it in a substitute position, which is harder. Yeah, it's much harder sometimes. I went with Brad Thorne. Fair.
00:51:36
Speaker
for the Reds, just finally getting himself, getting his team over that hump and getting some silverware into that locker for the Reds and doing it in a fantastic way with so many amazing players that just entertain the crap out of us in Subaru VAU. So, yeah, loved it, loved it, loved it. And so, and that's a long way from being the dickhole that we thought Brad Thorne was. So, good for him.
00:51:59
Speaker
You're forward of the year. Harry. Harry Wilson. Okay. Yeah. He didn't make my team, but I had to freaking throw him in there because man, that dude just changes games. He did. That dude changes games. Shocking on my end that I went with another prop.
00:52:18
Speaker
Uh, but, but I, I don't, I, and I agree with Harry Wilson having a great year. I, I, but I also don't think you can argue with 10 yellow two bow as, as the year. No, I mean, he played, he played 80 in that final, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, 85 or 86 whatever the red block was in. Yeah.
00:52:36
Speaker
Yeah. Um, that's, and he almost scored the winning try. Uh, he certainly set up the winning try. Yeah. Um, helped a big time. Right. Fuck. Yeah. Just w every, every week is a shift and he does it. Um, unlike others, he does it at three. Um, yeah, it's a tough spot to do it too. That's a real tough spot. You know, you see some of these ones going around playing 80 and you're like, yeah, barely.
00:53:04
Speaker
Can't confirm Your back of the year longer Fair I went with Will Jordan, I mean she's not not selling, you know, right cuz cuz cuz who's your player of the year?
00:53:19
Speaker
Mwunga. Yeah, there you go. That's why. Because I didn't want, you know, I separated the player in. Fair enough. And position wise, because it's, yeah. That's fine. Mwunga was a rugby player this year. Yeah, he just makes, he makes everything so pretty. He does. It just, it makes me happy just to watch you Mwunga.
00:53:41
Speaker
really does somebody plays the hurricanes but even then I can't be mad right you can't be mad because you're like well it's he's doing beautiful things yeah I'm like you know those moments where you're like I don't want to be I don't want to be happy about that but god damn it that was really beautiful you know it's kind of like you know it's to be fair to your team it's like yeah they
00:54:01
Speaker
No longer just do that to them. Okay, fair. You know, he does it to everyone. Right. He definitely does it to everyone. You're a young player of the year. So let's see your Ayasi from the Hurricanes. Like it. Absolutely. Just blazing speed and making defenses really, really regret the fact that they forgot about him because they wanted to pay too much attention to Jordy.
00:54:21
Speaker
Right. And he was on my short list, but mystic as he did play last year for me, I went with a true rookie. But Ryasi, yeah, he was absolutely he was he was on there until I realized that he he had played. He did play a little bit last year. Yes. And I went I honestly or surprisingly, same team. I went with the Hurricanes. Can you guess who that might have been? Ruben Love. No, although he was close. Braden Yossi.
00:54:51
Speaker
Oh man, that dude is going to be so great when he gets more than 20 minutes of playing time. Holy shit. Give him an opportunity and he will take it.
00:55:02
Speaker
That is, that is a sneaky FRD pick next year. I bet. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. That dude's going to be amazing. I'm, I'm really looking forward to see that dude do some damage. You know, somebody's got the, they're in the back corner or just old war horses right now. And they've been there for a while. Let the boy loose thought, thought you might appreciate that one. Yeah. That's a good one. I like that one. Yeah. He's going to be great. Okay. Um, we don't need to talk about this too much championship final first leg.
Match Reviews and Highlights
00:55:29
Speaker
we see at this point I think Ealing's just pissed at PRL we're sending the Saracens down instead of like Worcester right now or it would have been less or last year you know I think they're just pissed at them like you sent us these guys you didn't send us anybody else come on uh yeah that's they
00:55:50
Speaker
It's a different class of rugby, 60 burger on them. Yeah. Um, and they, they just were playing, they were toying with them. They were not even trying to play this Saracens. I mean, we're trying to play fair, terribly disciplined attacking rugby. No, they were just chucking it about sometimes. Yeah. Yes. They, they were, they, they kicked.
00:56:11
Speaker
to compete to start, which is what they do. But once they started like kind of getting through the gears and just turning it over, they're like, yeah, we can do whatever. Why don't we just pass the ball out and then we'll chip it ahead and then we'll gather it up the field. Yeah. And you know, there's, there is some good stuff in,
00:56:29
Speaker
this alien team, none of what showed its face at all. I liked whoever their 12 was, he had some balls, but really, anybody else. Their three got just. Oh, white, yeah, poor kid. You know it's a bad scrum when it's Makko. Makko is not a strong Scromager. Everybody knows this. It's not a mystery that Makko is not a strong Scromager. When you're getting hosed by him,
00:56:57
Speaker
There's a problem. Yes, you're I'm sorry. And also that park, that is not a premier ship park. I'm sorry. Not really. No, no way. No, there's nobody that's going to pay money to go visit that park. Can we move that park that the rebels used up to there, to Ealing? Because that might have been better. Is just gorgeous. The hills nice. Yeah. You got to love a field with a hill for rugby.
00:57:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's very nice. I realize it's somewhat amateurish, but fuck, sell tickets, well, lawn tickets, fuck it. Yeah, lawn tickets can totally be sold, easy. Yeah, and you could fit a whole mess of people up on that so that they really couldn't fit in there.
00:57:42
Speaker
And then that, um, I think that I feel like that was smaller than the union points. It might be, it might be, you know, I look at it on both sides and the union point, like, you know, where, where the free jacks play, like stands on, on, on, you know, one length of the field on the back one, one end zone, plus the, plus the, the nicer seats plus the beer 10. So yeah, I feel like it's, it definitely, I think union point rivals that easily.
00:58:11
Speaker
That's sad. It is, it is, it is, it is. Look, it's an incredibly quality facility as far as the field and the playing conditions and all that. It's just the stands that are at the moment lackluster and hopefully will be built up as the team gets more popular. I agree. Anyway, all that to say, yeah, Ealing aren't ready yet.
00:58:34
Speaker
Nope. And I don't know that they're going to have a couple of years to think about once. Right. Once things go the way they go. But, yeah. So assuming that the Saracens don't completely botch the next match at the Stonex, I'd say. How how would that happen? I don't know. I honestly don't. I honestly don't like you get three red cards. Basically is what I come down to. And even then, I'm not sure that they could watch 60 points. They find a way to to nut up and play defense. And you kick the ball down the field and then you play defense. Absolutely. You play defense. Yeah. Like they didn't like.
00:59:04
Speaker
They didn't even get a point. No, they didn't really come that close either. I mean, it was a little squeaky. There was that like it was I think right at the 60 minute mark when they were showing that like Saracens had 38 had played 38 phases inside the opposition 22 and he only had played nine. Yeah.
00:59:27
Speaker
Not a good version, right? That's for sure. Right. And I think that at that point, Saris had like 39 points. So they're still averaging more like over a point of phase and giving up the donut. So, yeah, look out, Prem. Saris are back. They are on the way back. Yeah, it's not official yet, but they're back. Yeah, heads up. OK, let's go down to the Southern Hemisphere.
00:59:54
Speaker
Brookings, Queensland, Reds, just, you know, no James O'Connor, just really lots of problems. And like you said, a big fuck you performance. And Ruben Love heard you and Ruben Love played very well. Yeah. I have no, I like Ruben Love. I've been impressed outside of that one, but yeah, I do like, I like when the players hear me. Yeah.
01:00:19
Speaker
That dude definitely did well and played really, and he played his ass off. Because it probably means the coaches agree with me and fucking jam rockets up their asses. So that's what I'm going with. There you go. I'm having a little bit of a radar love with the coaches. Yeah, that was good. Yeah. Jason Holland was very pleased by the end of that one. Too bad they couldn't figure it out last week. Otherwise we'd be in a final, but hey, see you later.
01:00:42
Speaker
That's how it goes. And I'm okay with a league where you get punished for taking the week off. I'm okay with that. Excellent. That's what ensures the highest quality. If it's winter, go home. I agree. Absolutely. That's why we love March Madness, right? Over here. Absolutely. Got to show up every day. Yep.
01:01:04
Speaker
Uh, and then jaunt over to Canberra, Brumby's hounders, take care of business and do everything that they were supposed to do to make sure they put pressure on everybody else. Yep. You got Aaron Smith showing up. Didn't he have one called back to, he had a brace. He did. He did. He should have had a hat trick.
01:01:21
Speaker
Oh, he's man. The guy's good. Like the guy's still good. He's he's still got it. You can't unseat him yet. Sorry. Sorry, kids. You're not that nine Jersey still belongs to Aaron Smith. And his name's like currently sewn in there. Big time. So that was that was that was a great performance from the hounders. And they did exactly what they knew they needed to. On the other side of the coin, rebels and the Crusaders.
01:01:45
Speaker
I mean, yes, Crusaders got the win, but, man. Rebels rocked up. Rebels rocked up, and Crusaders let themselves down a little bit. They did. Then they were scoring tries with relative ease, the Crusaders, at times. It was like one of these, like, the Rebels were holding them, holding them, holding them, and, yeah, like, okay, Crusaders finally get in. Or, you know, get a nice long break or something like that and get in. But it's like, in the face of that, the Rebels didn't back down, and they kept scoring tries. And that's the thing. You know, that's how you stay with the Crusaders. You don't stop them.
01:02:15
Speaker
Try to score with them. Yeah, run with them run with them guys It's heavy sled and I get it But um, and I thought the rebels did an incredibly admirable job even with you know Yeah, they they got doubled up but it's that you're expecting that you know, like it's one of those You probably could have they you know, the crusaders could have hung a 50-point margin of victory on you because they were that fired up. Um But they played the enough defense and and certainly attacked well enough
01:02:42
Speaker
Um, which is saying a lot. It's not like a minimization to say that, say it that way. It's just, that's the reality. Um, rebels really rocked up and, and, uh, and kept pace. Yep.
Player Performances and Fantasy Impact
01:02:54
Speaker
Agree. And that caused every bit of anguish for the crusaders because shortly after that, they found out they were out as the blues were able to rock up and take care of the force. Um, I kinda, I talked a little bit smack about Mark Tully a couple of weeks ago. Oops.
01:03:12
Speaker
He looks fine. He looks fine. He's good. He had a couple down weeks. I will give you that. I can vouch for that first. He was hurt for a little bit. My fantasy rugby team. Yeah, I missed him a lot. But even when he was playing, he wasn't always... He wasn't always giving me the points that I would expect from him, from where I drafted him. So, no, he turned it on at the end. Big time. So, and like, you know, fantasy wise and reality wise,
01:03:41
Speaker
of the player that we're used to seeing. A hundred percent. And then, you know, and the fourth showed some some some nuts as as we've known them to this year as well. So good on them. Yep.
01:03:52
Speaker
Um, cut to dig it over. So that helped that line that current Johnny ran is the line. I've been fucking waiting for him to run all bloody year. Like that is his line. He needs, he should have been running out way more often than we might be talking about a force team that played in the file for AU right now. So yeah, too bad. As I told the guys after our, we, we had a defeat to a solid.
01:04:15
Speaker
team this week. The margins are so small. So the force playing as well as they did, you know, and rocking up and they would like, just a, yeah, just a little bit away from being a top team.
01:04:29
Speaker
which is different, but that's what we saw from them last year, right? They were an excellent team that just could play 70 minutes. Yeah, they just kept falling short. Now they're playing 80 minutes, but they got to up it a little bit more and that'll be, I have no doubts that'll be there. They're going to be a force to be reckoned with. I see what you're doing there. And then Sean Wainui against the Wartos. Nobody else, did anybody else score a try in this game?
01:04:58
Speaker
Uh, hold on. Oh, uh, Florence did. That's it. Oh yes. He's in the reserve. Okay. Yeah. And how many weeks do you think that last Y new try that was just muscled over one people in the party championships? Oh man. Cause he was, he was a guy you picked up. Yeah. Off the waivers. 100%. He was, yeah, he was an ad.
01:05:22
Speaker
And yep, somebody won because of him. Somebody didn't get the sack. There were a lot of people that won because of Sean Winery this week. I would bet a thousand bucks on that for sure. A lot of people got the sack because of him. I will tell you that. And because he was on the other team. Were you one of them? You know what I might have been? Yes. Probably.
01:05:44
Speaker
That's all right, that's all right. Okay, up to the Northern Hemisphere, we had two matches canceled, unfortunately, which sucks. But really, in the end, one of them was meaningless and one of them- Right, there was one match. There was one match that really mattered this week. Yeah, and that was the Exeter and Sail match and what a dandy it was just the same.
01:06:08
Speaker
Um, there's, yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot of things. It's so, it's so wild. How many things resulted from this match? Because both teams were like, we got to rock up because they know how valuable us a home semi-final is. Yep. The last, do you know who the last team was that wanted a home semi-final? You mean lost? No, or one, one away away at semi-final season. Wasn't Sarri's like 15 years ago. It was like, it was like eight years ago against the saints.
01:06:37
Speaker
Might as well be 50 years ago. Yeah, it's not something that's that you can expect. Yeah. And before that, the last time that somebody had done that, it was like eight years. So yeah, it's not often that the away team wins a semi-final. So yeah, it was pretty wild. Although if you're going to, if one's going to do it, I'm, I'm looking at sale, but, but for the injuries that they, they had, um, yeah, especially with.
01:07:04
Speaker
with AJ, that's, I mean, that's it, right? Like, that's not. Who are they gonna call at 10? Who are they gonna call at 10? It's gonna be, it's gonna be, it's gonna be Rob, RDP. It's gotta be, right? Who else you got?
01:07:18
Speaker
That's it. The problem is, you know, and I kind of laughed about it and I'll laugh about it again as I see it again, that Byron McGuigan scored nine tries this year. I mean, why do you think Byron McGuigan scored nine tries this year? Because of the one that he scored off AJ this week. Because of AJ, right? That's exactly it.
01:07:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's not that good. He's not good. Yard is not a great and yard scored seven. I mean, right. And a lot of those were, again, off of an AJ, you know, pass or chip through. Right. This it's Rob Dupree as good a player as he is, is not a distributor. He's not a playmaker like that. No. And that's a problem when your backs you're outside of your 10 are
01:08:10
Speaker
They are hard ball carriers. You know, that's what they want to be. And fucking hard hands and hammerheads like they're not. There was some dildo hands out there. Yeah, like. I'm kind of wondering how much I think they're going to end up leaning extremely heavily on on to you this week. Yeah, just because that's what we see what damage you can do. Right. And then all right. Well, then and then maybe get Rob Dupree off of him like, you know, the next phase, like run him through to to try to, you know,
01:08:40
Speaker
cut off the defense and then get whatever meters he can go forward and then spin it and hope we have, you know, having a nice, um, easy cushion for Rob Dupree. It might set him up for, uh, you know, four decent back play, but if, if there's pressure on, on Dupree and now, yeah. Yep. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not good. Um,
01:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, and on the other side of the ball, the guys in Devon have some problems too. A little bit. They're going to be missing two of their big guys from the back row, second row, whatever. I would predict because Kirsten's out. We can pretty much determine that. He did not look happy coming off that. Yours and Skinner have both been banned for four weeks. Baxter was bitching about that. I was like,
01:09:25
Speaker
Dude, shut up. You're just mad because you're missing two, you're bigger. Listen, I love Sam Skinner. We all know I have a super duper disdain for one caveman, Dave Ewers. Ugh, ugh, Dave Ewers smash, meh. I fucking hate Dave Ewers. I hope he doesn't play anymore. His yellow was worse than Skinner's red. That's why you got banned. Right. That's exactly why I got banned. And they both. Skinner got a red. Right. You were so kind of red. Right. They both deserve to get banned. That's how it happens. Yeah.
01:09:54
Speaker
Pretty basic. And they both pleaded not guilty. It's like, what are you pleading not guilty to? What the hell was Dave Huber's pleading not guilty to? He's lucky he didn't get sent off. Right.
01:10:05
Speaker
whatever, you know, you're better off pleading guilty in that, in that say, just exactly. You just, you throw yourself on the mercy and you get, you take your three. Yeah. So it's going to miss two games. Right. What we assume will be two games next, next, next year. And the final two this year, depending on how the results shake out. But so yeah, but it's, they don't know about accurate. He may, he may end up playing.
01:10:29
Speaker
We'll see man. I doubt it. That didn't look if he starts, it'll be like, it'll be like 40 minutes and it'll be done. Yeah, exactly. It'll be like, what can we get out of him before he before he falls apart? And Neil got hurt, too. That didn't. Yeah, he's he's out, too. I think he's what, seven minutes. Yeah. But I mean, you're going to start both curries, right?
01:10:48
Speaker
Geez, I would. And you just kind of hope that they both play. So yeah, Neil, I get it. And it sucks that he got hurt. I'm not trying to minimize that. I'm just saying, for sale, you're going to start your curries. And so the nailed injury doesn't really affect the lineup or the play on the field. I don't think nearly as much as Acker and AJ. I hope they don't put Ross on the bench. Put Doug Dale there, please.
01:11:16
Speaker
Yeah. Or put Vis on the bench and start James Phillips in Beaumont or something like that. Or RDP. No, because you're going to go, I'm sorry, John Luke Dupree at one lock and probably Beaumont at the other.
01:11:33
Speaker
That'd be fine. And then you have DDP at eight and the curries. And then suddenly I'm not so concerned about that lineup. In terms of the forwards. Yeah. Right. But then the sales been winning with that. So yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about this, but. It's going to be wild. Exeter clearly had the advantage. Let's put it that way. Yeah. It's going to be very interesting. Yeah.
01:11:54
Speaker
In other matches, Bath took care of Northampton in what was a pretty entertaining game there. As much as the referee tried to make it not entertaining, it was still entertaining. It was still entertaining. I think Hutch is back. Yeah. The way he skinned, I think that was Kolkata Senga. Like the way he skinned him, that is the Hutch of all that we loved and miss.
01:12:17
Speaker
And scoring while in the air on the right over top of them. Yeah, that's the hutch we want. Yeah, that's that's what and Grayson showed well. You know, Grayson is, you know.
01:12:28
Speaker
They can play without bigger, like that's, you know, you don't need, you know, you don't need a huge name. I mean, Grayson's not, um, you know, he's not, no slouch. Um, but damn, is he a capable backup? He's in an easy starter in any game. Um, if you don't have Dan bigger, but yeah, super talented, um,
01:12:51
Speaker
Saints team. And of course, BAF, I mean, they scored two tries that were called back that shouldn't have been. Yeah, I didn't agree with the line out one that got called back. I was like, Nope, give the kid his try. Cause that's not that defensive player.
01:13:06
Speaker
He chose to tackle him. He chose to tackle him. He had to know he wasn't part of the mall. Like there's no reason to try and tackle him. Right. There was no, like, yeah, he's got, that's not the ball. He's just moving forward. There's no reason to hit him. And he, and like, and not only that, but then he hit him from the outside and then curled himself back inside. And it's, and that's why, that's why, um, shit, who was that? Um, it was, uh, it was the young kid, Doudy.
01:13:34
Speaker
Oh, was it Dowdy? I thought it was, um, that was on the edge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dowdy. Oh, no, I met the, um, the, the, the, the shepherding. It was, um, you talk about the Bayless Bayless. Yes. Yeah. Like he meant to hit Bayless Bayless wasn't shielding him. Yeah. He grabbed them a little bit, but even the referee said, yeah, that was, that's nothing. It's the other stuff. That's like fucking moron. That was the choice. And I thought, I feel like when, when the, um, if you come in and punch a ball out,
01:14:02
Speaker
Um, that's, that shouldn't be a knock on. Cause you're, you're the one who's, who's punching it out. The, the player has no control. It's like a rip. It's like a rip forward. Um, a lot of referees will play it that way too. So, and yeah, so I, I didn't like that. I thought that was a good try that should have been allowed to stand. Yep. But Beth, Beth do well for their fans at the rec.
01:14:22
Speaker
I feel like there has to be a nice, good middle between the England refs, like, oh fuck, who was it in this match? I can't even remember. Tempo. Yeah. And like a New Zealand ref who will let things like that go and be like, yeah, fuck it. We need a happy medium, kids.
01:14:44
Speaker
yeah we need something in between that and perfect and but also the you know i do like the prem's uh emphasis on high tackles and things like that that that new zealand don't do so like if we can keep that aspect but get to the let the fucking play just go be a good start let's go there let's let's get that and fucking yes yep
01:15:05
Speaker
Yeah, but hey, I mean, Beth did well by their fans at the rec. I think I think they were supposed to host the game last week, too, which is unfortunate. The way, you know, things that happened. So they let us try at the end, too. Yeah, that was fun. Fucking man, where the hell does speak from those? She's going to be like, hey, you got to do that every day now. Well, especially with personally, it's like, OK, well, that's your spot. That's your thing to do now.
01:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, right. What he was doing. That's you. That's you, dude. So good stuff for about to end on. Yeah.
01:15:36
Speaker
And they get themselves into one of those champions, a couple of places as well. Woss and Lester both do as well with their performances from this past weekend. A lot of goodbye tries for this match. Lavannini got one for God's sake. Bolin's, Bailanu got one. Yeah, pretty wild. The Jacob Momaga try. That was a thing of beauty. My goodness. He's okay, right?
01:16:03
Speaker
Plus I saw, um, I don't know what happened and maybe it, maybe it was the, you know, the getting a little bit of fucked up in the head when you went away to the England camp. But, um,
01:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, he came back in and in the last couple of weeks and it's just been a terror day. He's been he's looking like the old, which is great. That's good for wasps. Good for England. Good for rugby. Yeah, good for me. And then a guy that you and I both very much like, but importantly, showed out quite well on this one, getting I think it was the assist on Montoya's try. So that was great stuff for the for for Lester as well. Yeah, I like him a lot.
01:16:42
Speaker
And I thought their center pairing actually showed up pretty well here with Dan Kelly and Matt Scott. So credit to the two of them as well. Yeah, they've been really holding down that center combo. Quite good. Quite good. Who was it that shipped back into the middle on the Umaga tribe? Was that? I don't know. It was either Watson or Fekito. I don't remember which one it was. I don't remember. But yeah, it was pretty handy, just the same. Yeah.
01:17:07
Speaker
So yeah, Watson, unless they're both get what they want out of that match as well. And then Quinn's Newcastle, Quinn's get what they want out of that this match, which was basically a tune up. It was Watson, by the way, because just looking at it real quick, he had a try assistant and thank you to it didn't. So OK, so there's your answer. But yeah, Quinn's and Quinn's get what they want out of their match back of the stoop, the last one for the year. Pretty much a tune up, although Newcastle did try and hang around for a little while. They did. They played hard.
01:17:38
Speaker
They're like that and. Yeah, they that's what's one of my notes. They push hard, showed well, but just outclassed by a team that that's playing for something greater than than just a bottom of the Champions Cup. Yeah, the twins are showing that they're ready to go.
01:17:56
Speaker
Fucking firing. So I, I mean, I don't think there's any mystery as entertaining as I believe Exeter and sale will be because of just the clash that it is. I think the most entertaining match of the weekend stuff. Oh, absolutely Bristol. Oh, no doubt. That Exeter sale match is just going to be a defensive. Yeah. It's going to be an arm wrestle as it were. I wish we had fucking, I wish Quinn's were going to Exeter.
01:18:23
Speaker
Because if Quinn's Quinn's would smoosh exit or right now, um, I don't think they're going to, well, we'll talk about it later, but I don't have a positive feelings going for them going into action. Um, no. Yeah, poor guys. Right. They would have a shot and certainly obviously against sale this weekend too would have been a, um, a good, good matchup for them. I just obviously wasn't, wasn't going to happen, but, um, I think that would have made for a better, uh, semi-finals weekend.
01:18:52
Speaker
Yep. Because I don't want, I don't want either quins or Bristol to leave and I want both of Exeter and sale to leave. You and you and everybody else.
01:19:01
Speaker
Yeah. So there we are. All right. Whip around real quick. And while we're around, first of all, free Jack's got it done against the seawalls. Wasn't pretty. Scott Green was playing. Let's spin the wheel of which person's getting a penalty in the scrap. God. And the AR is not. Oh, no, he's laying in touch, but that's not touch.
01:19:24
Speaker
It's like, you know, here's the thing, and I've discovered it. MLR has definitely not empowered these ARs that are assigned to these matches to make calls and buzz in when they see something. You know, Punch is Thrown, by the way, they're nine. I don't remember his friggin
Free Jack's Match Review and Upcoming Games
01:19:40
Speaker
name. Definitely came from the Phil Mack School of Douchebaggery. Yeah.
01:19:44
Speaker
I'm a small person and I know you can't actually eliminate me anymore because that's how rugby doesn't work anymore. See, FAFTA clerk. So, yeah, he's just being a twat for the sake of being a twat. So I was like, yep, come here, you and I are going to have a conversation. Like, but just the same, like, yeah, I mean, and obviously, you know, we thought that, well, so...
01:20:07
Speaker
The boss was watching and there's no replay on CBS sports, but she said that on the, was it the fight for the Wilson try or whatever it was with the Barlow, the second Barlow try, um, called back. Yeah. Yeah. So basically it sounds like Scott green went over to the referee, the, to the, are trying to convince her to tell him that he was offsides.
01:20:30
Speaker
which is really frustrating. So Scott Green, you are not going to do this the final this year. Thank fucking God. That's bullshit. So that's horrible. No, that's horrible. So but the free Jack stay undefeated at home. Fuck yeah. Yeah. We get to the heart of Jack's and we got to shake hands with mags too. Yeah, we did. Well, this is definitely a person of the people. I will say yes. He was super happy to see us. He wasn't like it was because we were just walking down the ramp.
01:20:59
Speaker
I think going over to see our Boston guys and and you're right right behind me. And all of a sudden as you hear, you say, oh, hey, Alex, I'm like, wait, what? And well, there's mags right there. And he's like, oh, and, you know, just immediately hand up looking to hand up talking. Yeah. Yeah. So he's definitely a guy amongst the people which I enjoy. And yeah. So like, I hope you guys enjoy yourselves today. Like, you know, all the all the stuff you're supposed to say. Right. Right. You know, no hesitation right there. Oh, zero. He knows what he's doing. Yeah. Smart guy.
01:21:29
Speaker
And the whip around Nilla BTC, boo. Austin beat Toronto, which was kind of a shocker because Toronto's played pretty well, but I guess they've kind of fallen off. Utah and San Diego, I watched this match. I will say I'm a little disappointed with the Utah staff. San Diego guy got knocked out and JP Doyle stopped the match as soon as he realized he was knocked out and the guys were bitching about it from Utah. And he's like, you're not going to, you're not going to complain about this because he's got a hand injury. I have to stop the match. Like,
01:21:57
Speaker
Sorry, guys. I don't care how much space you thought you had. Right. This dude's fucking KO'd at best. Yeah. Like, yeah, we got to get this guy taken care of. So sorry, guys. That's just how it works. We got to take care of somebody's health before you try. That's real rugby right there. That's professional rugby. Yeah. Deal with it. Stop it when a guy's hurt. Yeah. Might have been Sean. Especially that. Well, then, yeah.
01:22:20
Speaker
New York beat Atlanta. That was a huge match right there. So, we'll see how that shakes out going forward for the freejacks. They basically need to win out to take one of those spots from one of those two. And LA just trounced Houston. Houston is terrible. They are so bad. That was their first try in like three matches. No shit. I see this. It came near the end. I was watching this match just because I had nothing else to do. I was like, all right. This is right beyond whatever. Fuck it. Can we talk prop tries though?
01:22:49
Speaker
Oh, the guy from Austin. Holy shit. Yeah, I don't think we can. This is one of that. Yeah, a little bit of an intercept and just two days into his strides looking like a mini lock loping down the field. Like sometimes we're like, yeah, like a Bayless and then large to Bayless.
01:23:12
Speaker
Yeah, quite. Yeah, it's one of those two where the backs from the other team do track him down. They could have had him probably 10 meters from the tri-line, except they didn't know what to do with him. Yeah, he's so old. It's like, okay, we've caught up to this fucking mountain. How do I attack it? What do I do? How do I get it down? And finally, it was all right. Well, bite ankles. And at that point, he just didn't slide in. But yeah, it was funny to see the bags be like, oh, what now?
01:23:41
Speaker
What do we do with this? We do with this guy. Yeah. Oh yeah. No kidding. Um, all right. Let's stock a little strategy. We're, we're coming up against some, some sort of time limit here, but just the same. Let's talk a little bit of strategy and picking our TRM team this week. So I've done something kind of fun and I've made like a true value metric as I call it, taking the price that they're listed that as the time that I saw them dividing it by their, uh, points per 80.
01:24:12
Speaker
And now that's not a end all be all metric by any means whatsoever. Cause it's just guys like Glenn Young end up on the right end of this one along with like
01:24:26
Speaker
Cameron Nield, who aren't necessarily going to get you wins in this thing. So the average was like 11.7. The most common numbers are like 10 to 11. And I put it to a decimal. Highest was 30, the lowest was four. Raffy Quirk was a four.
01:24:48
Speaker
fair. Yeah, basically, it's just like evaluating, you know, are you getting the points for the money you're paying? But sometimes it's worth it. Like, I don't Well, I think this week,
01:24:59
Speaker
Sam Simmons is a 10.8, which, again, is right somewhere near the middle. And for what he does for you, that's fine. Right. I just I think that this week you don't worry about costs so much because it's not as there's and hopefully you've got enough built up. I have a lot of my top guys at every position rolling two or three deep just because you tell what else do you need. And then especially once you get so you need to have 28 players on your team. Yes. Right.
01:25:28
Speaker
You can only get points from twenty three. There's five players that you just can scrap. And at that point, you get you find that, you know, one team that you need to fill in and you get their lowest value player possible. Right. And you start and then you do that, you know, for where you need to fill in. You should be able to start and also like just, you know, the team of the week pretty much if you get, you know, you hope. Right. But yeah, you're going to get
01:25:56
Speaker
Yeah. The, the, the points are on offer from, from everywhere. So I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you four props to start too. Yep. Rod a FOA Sinclair low. So where's my rod a FOA Sinclair low. Okay. Um, I think low is a, um, I have Wilco low at number one overall.
01:26:19
Speaker
That's that. He's going against the best team against props, though. That's the problem. He is. Well, yeah. And like a foe and Sinclair are are going against slouches either. So that's really the middle of the pack. But I think at this point, the points against I'm not so worried about these guys when they get points, they'll still get points. And especially from a prop position, we'll go low. We'll get, you know, 20 to 25 points and Marler will probably get like 15. So it kind of it adds up.
01:26:48
Speaker
in a way. Um, so yeah, Wilco low is my, my top followed by a FOA or sinkler, whichever gets the start. Um, and then Bevin rod is my third. Yeah. I definitely would take Bevin rod probably in that situation. Honestly. I mean, I think, I think I'm starting right now on my team. I have, yeah, rod and low as, as my starters with, uh, I don't know what's Harrison right now on the bench. Right. Which, which teams hooker are you taking? Are you going to take Langdon?
01:27:17
Speaker
Are you going to go with one of the Bristol guys? Well, I have Cowan Dickey. OK. Also produces right. But I also have Langdon as my backup because I do wonder about about Cowan Dickey's knee.
01:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, I have him now. So I also, I did a thing where like, as soon as you could drop players, I think it was even like Saturday night. Once the game started, I think the games were, yeah, it was Saturday night. I dropped everybody who wasn't playing anymore and I picked up a bunch of guys. So Luke Cowindicky, you know, I figured their investments, right? And he's gone up 2K and I know that's not much, but in the end, you know, maybe by Friday, people will have picked him up.
01:27:57
Speaker
And then if I don't want them anymore, well, I've made 5K. Yeah, probably. And if I did that all down my team, I mean, right now, I'm up to an extra 11K, just from that. And it's been a couple days, but it's going to get higher as people start picking up the guy. People start actually fiddling with their lineups. So yeah, that's kind of where I went. For the locks, are you starting a true lock-it lock?
01:28:24
Speaker
I mean, I'm jumping to Priya and I'm assuming Chris Vuey will be starting. Yes. And I would also think Levis would be an option too, potentially. And Johnny Hill, because the thing about it is the loose forwards, you get a point for every eight meters, but locks are every two.
01:28:46
Speaker
Okay. So if you, if, if, if, if you're looking at meters carried and carriers like levies hill, Vui and Dupree, those are the guys who are going to get you the, you know, the same meters, whether they're playing lock or flank. And that's four times the points from, from, from meters made. So, so, yeah. So, so JLDP in a back row might be something that interests you then.
01:29:11
Speaker
Or even like, what if, what if Sean Lonsdale starts this weekend, which is a complete possibility with Exodus problems. It is. I'm still like, yeah, but it's still going to be Johnny Hill at the other lock. So I'm going to Johnny Hill. Okay. Fair enough. I'm just saying, I'm just throwing shit out there. Right. But I mean, but Lonsdale is, Lonsdale is flanker eligible though. True. Um, but I mean, you're still looking at a week with,
01:29:34
Speaker
You know, um, Sam Simmons. So you already had, that's one flank position that's gone. Yeah. Um, Alex Dombran has to be on your team. Um, that's another position that's gone. And then you have like your Ben Earls, Dan Dupree, um,
01:29:48
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think you'd go down that far. I mean, hell, I even have CapStick on my team in KC because I think if he plays, he'll rack up points. That's more of a direction I would go if I'm looking at Exeter, especially because CapStick is super fucking cheap and helps you free up. Now you have another 100K player you can pick up somewhere else and add points or add value somewhere else. Yep. A Bristol Scrum half or Danny Care? Danny Care.
01:30:18
Speaker
I mean, didn't we see what Danny care did against Bristol already? Yeah, he's had his days. Yeah, because days I think I think he didn't you strip Ben Earl and score a try like that one motion. Yeah, I trust because you also got to figure the Randall and urine are going only going 40. You know, I don't think either one put it this way. I don't think either are getting 60 minutes, which is a big bonus for for TRM.
01:30:44
Speaker
Yep. Um, and the same goes for Jack Monder and Stu Townsend. They're not going, they're not going 60 or Monder micro 60. I don't know. Um, yeah. Stu Townsend produces more in the time he's on there. Yeah. Right. So that's the other thing. That's why it's like, yeah, go either one, but I don't, I wouldn't put either of them or FAF to clerk on my team. Nope. It's basically, I'm going to have, uh, Danny care. And actually you only need one scrum half because you can put a fly half at the, at the other bench spot. Yeah. Let's see what that other bench spot is.
01:31:14
Speaker
It's a nine out of 10. Yeah. Right. So at that point, yeah, I'm not like, you know, Smith Simmons and Shidi and put two of them on the bench. Right. You really want to. So you really only I would would would struggle to not just have Danny care on my team. Yep. Yeah, so yeah, fly half Smith Simmons Shidi.
01:31:39
Speaker
Yeah. And then do pretty four. Yeah. Don't, don't do not, do not pick. Yep. Not, not great. Not great at all. Um, so do you, I, I, what are you looking at for centers? Really? Like, are you looking at back threes that you can shove into the center? Are you trying to pick two sons? I mean, I, I, I like Marchant anyway, um, to score. So he's my number one overall at, at the center wing fullback area. Um, Pia tao is number two and then red radros three.
01:32:10
Speaker
Um, and then it's that, that point that I'm looking at some back, you know, back, back for you guys. I mean, obviously pH has in there too, but then, um, a clarity and hog are my next. Yeah. I don't know that I, and I have mounted to a laggy in my top 10 and Ollie DeVoto. Okay. And so I like to vote. Oh, I like to vote. Oh.
01:32:29
Speaker
I do like to vote. I think he's got a good matchup and yeah, he's not, he's not as expensive as slate. The thing is though, he gets his points. I think he's like the number one. If you look at the centers or something like that, or even, and if he plays all the positions, something crazy. Um,
01:32:47
Speaker
The thing about him is he just scores like 18, like 12 to 18 every match, and he plays every match. So like that just shoots his score way up. Every so often he goes over 20, but I would go Slade over Devoto. I'd pay the extra money and pay for the anti-vaxxer. Fucking psychopath. Yeah. But yeah, Twilagi's on my list because I think they use him to pound and he'll get yards.
01:33:17
Speaker
Well, so does. So Florida is probably your top Exeter back this for kind of make the list if he's starting. Um, Simmons, I'd have I have I'm gonna have Joe Simmons, I'm going Smith at 10 and Simmons at 15. There you go. And Simmons might get the K. Because I think he might be busy.
01:33:42
Speaker
He's probably going to be busy. Yeah. He's probably going to be a lot busier than Marcus. Exactly. Like I think Marcus will score outside of that. Um, and yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's a fun time kids. Yeah. Hang on to your hats. Hang on to your hats. Um, okay. Real quick. Rip around. Uh,
01:34:03
Speaker
As I mentioned earlier, George took home our Super Rugby FRD, he beat Justin in a pretty good final, 137 to 120.
01:34:14
Speaker
And the, um, the, the stucco and that wasn't, wasn't half bad either. I will say I put up a good fight. 1 88 to 1 50. Yeah. It was not, that was, that was a hell of a sack of mashup right there. Yeah. For a sack. Oh, that's pretty good. Yeah. Talia banks. Oh, several weeks. Yeah. That'll do it.
01:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah makes sense to me. Oh Harry Wilson. Yeah, sexy. Yeah, I was happy with that. I got to pick him up pretty good. Yeah, pretty good stuff. Yeah. Oh, geez. Frickin Carrick had Jordy Barrett. That's why that explains that. Yeah, I've played very well. He had a good lineup there. Yeah, it's a pretty good stuff.
01:34:59
Speaker
Some dickhole won the other one. Damn it. That was a hell of a match. Listen, I was at halftime. I was down in both. I was like, son of a bitch. I'm getting talked in both, aren't I? And yours turned out real easy because of Sam Skinner. The other one, I did not think I had a shot at. I was like, nope, no shot in the dark. Right.
01:35:21
Speaker
And Marley played like, like he started Keaton Marley, which I have no idea why, because he actually was starting, but I guess he was a pinch. But yeah, so I don't know what to tell you, man. It happened.
01:35:34
Speaker
Wigglesworth at one, our US league as well. And then our other, our podcast league in Subaru, he was run by one by Leano who has put his hand up for the D2 Champions League next year. So good introduction to you there, Sir Dutois as well. Another miserable week in TRM 380.
01:35:56
Speaker
I, yeah. So Jared had to sit there on Friday while I was after work, let's say, and looking and completely roster baiting to my TRM team. Yeah, that was a good one. I didn't even think of, I was like, why the fuck didn't I grab him? Well, yeah, some asshole put a rad one in my ear and I was like, you know what, he's been scoring and he's going up against a team that
01:36:21
Speaker
should let him score. So, and they did. And he's also super talented on top of all that. So yeah, I think Ocker burned a lot of people though.
01:36:29
Speaker
Hello. I had Maguigan on the bench, so that kind of evens out in a way, because at least I had like a real score at one point. Yeah, he's going quite well. Yeah, like even like 23 off the bench, like I'll take it, you know, if my options are... Geez, that's a good score to just throw into your regular hooker spot anyway, so... Right. So if I had a 23 from the starter and an 8 from the reserve, I'd be happy with that. So there, there it is, except the reverse. Except the inverse. Right. I've made a terrible mistake. I should have started Maguigan.
01:36:58
Speaker
They go both ways. Yes, Ted, that's the joke. But yeah, my prop decision was easy. So he's been he has been dynamite down the stretch. So yes, that's part of the he's been the huge reason for my rise through the ranks. I mean, jeez.
01:37:18
Speaker
I mean, I just made some, I, you know, again, roster rating here, made just some fantastic decisions down the stretch with, uh, and, and, but that's the, Hey, I got lucky. Um, you know, Jean-Luc Dupree, uh, Ellis Genge, um, yeah, GLDP has been a beast. You know, Brad, when this week, uh, McGinty scored well, um, even in, he was on my bench. Um, Umaga was on my bench. Like the guys. Yeah. I just had guys scoring points for me. So I'll take it. Yeah. Yeah. Picked the pitch, right. Got lucky.
01:37:49
Speaker
Pick them. I've got three game lead on you, buddy. Fucking A. I don't like this. There's only three games left. Four. Four games left. Four. So you might have to pick a couple opposite me, buddy. Okay. This might be the one chance for you to legitimately pick opposite and have a shot. Blues Highlanders.
01:38:11
Speaker
You go first, fucker. I'm going to take the on team. I'll take the blows. Fuck. All right. Well, then I'm going to Highlanders because I have to. I think there's one. There's definitely one match that we're going to agree on. Yeah. On the other side. So, yeah. Uh, Bristol Quinn's Bristol. Yeah. And then Exeter sale. I have to take sale. Yeah. It's not that I think they're going to win, but I have to. Yeah. I, I,
01:38:39
Speaker
I believe there is a shot that sale have, like if they can double what they did last week, there's absolutely a chance that they take this match, but I'm just not sure what they do without AJ. I'm really not. Yeah. I'm struggling with that. But again, these are defensive teams and this is going to be a heavily defensive game. And really the forwards, the exit are going to be down some key forwards.
01:39:09
Speaker
Like, they saw it on for a while. Yeah. Right. I don't know if vermeulants healthy either. Exactly. So, you know, I think it's going to be capstick out there. It could be lonsdale out there. Armin probably. Armin will be out there. So if not starting, he'll be on the bench.
01:39:28
Speaker
If that's not, you know, that's not the, uh, the exit or team that you're used to seeing so much. Yeah. If you're missing, if they're missing the max number of guys, which is Kirsten Vermeul and viewers and Skinner, you're probably going to have Lonsdale on there. Uh, I don't know if gray's healthy still. So yeah, I'm not sure up in the air as well. Um, so yeah, you'll probably have Lonsdale in the second row and you'll probably have capstick and arm and flanking Simmons. Wow.
01:39:51
Speaker
And then who's your who's your reserves at that point? I have no idea. So that's and that's big because, you know, Acker might not play, but Langdon is a serviceable player. He absolutely is. That's not that big a drop off. No, no disrespect to Acker there. But Langdon has been has picked it up just fine. He did well when Acker was hurt. Right. And then
01:40:15
Speaker
Again, we talked about the nailed injury and, and, um, and AJ really hurts that, that, but again, yeah, he gets their backs moving. Um, I think they can still win this game without that. Yeah. We'll see again. They can, they, they still played the hell of it. You know, those hammerheads out there who can't do shit and attack still can defend like motherfuckers. So, um, and they're, you know, that's, that's the strength of the sale team is defense. I think it's shocking. Um,
01:40:41
Speaker
So, oh yeah. So big weekend, um, big weekend overall in sports too. There's lots going on here. Yeah. Euro's going on. Um, the US opens this weekend. So yeah, I'm, I'm with the cicadas. Yeah. Yep. I want to be, uh, yeah, I'm, I've got one thing to take care of Saturday morning and then I'm going to be enjoying my sports for the weekend after that. That'll be it. So yeah. Um,
01:41:07
Speaker
Well, that'll do it for us and the long windedness that we do quite well sometimes, but, but, uh, we, uh, we do appreciate you guys hanging out with us and just following along all year. And it's been a grind, but we're almost there kids. We are. We're almost there kids. Yeah. Thank you much. We'll probably do a bit of time off and then we'll do like a lines test special at some point as well. That'd be fun. That way we're not, we're not totally missing out on that. Maybe we can do like a live watch or something, something like that.
01:41:38
Speaker
We'll see how live it is. Yeah. 24 hours. Yeah. Nope. Never again. Never again. Oh, thank you. But we do appreciate you guys for hanging out with us and, you know, just, you know, interacting with us and being cool about it. And, you know, no free jacks match this weekend. So we can't see any of you that want to hang out. But I see the rest though. Yeah. All right. Next week, back to back at it. Nola comes to town.
01:42:04
Speaker
Um, so, uh, we will be back next week as usual. Um, be a shorter product. I promise. But, uh, until then, uh, get at Ben and I, um, we'll try and do something on set on Friday for our rankings at least. Yeah. That'll be a good idea. Yeah. So until then, uh, thanks for hanging out with us. Uh, tweet a Ben or I fancy roadie podcast at Gina.com. Do what you gotta do. We'll catch you guys next week. Have a good one later.