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Season 6- Episode 12- Horrible Weekend...Except the Opposite (Champions Cup Round 1)
75 Plays2 years ago
Another fun filled episode from TFRY! On this episode we are taking a big old jaunt around Europe (and South Africa). Follow along as we go from Scotstoun, to Stade Marcel Deflandre, Welford Road, La Défense and everywhere in between. Plus, a special wager that only one of us is excited to win. Kick back with something delicious to drink and join us, won't you?
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course, we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Updates
00:00:26
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It is the fancy rugby eggs. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's do this thing. Um, beverages and all. Yeah, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. Find us on your favorite podcast app, share, download, rate, review all that good shit. I got something that you're going to want a taste of at some point.
00:00:53
Speaker
Oh, yes. Yep. That's a heady topper. My client brought me some. She has a place up in Vermont. Anytime she sees it out, she's like, oh, look, it's time for Jared. I'm like, that is a keeper of a client right there.
Heady Topper Beer Experience
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah. I used to when we used to go up for the Can-Am tournament, I had a teammate who would drive instead of driving through New York.
00:01:19
Speaker
he would drive up through Vermont and take the ferry over because it was like a little bit longer, but he would actually have like, he'd have like a palette, like a level of a palette of a heady topper. And it's like, okay. That's why, yes, I understand why you do that, but damn. Yeah. If you're not from America slash New England, it's a
00:01:41
Speaker
brewery called Alchemist, and there's probably a little bit of overhyped vote from it because it's so scarce. That's why it's talked about so much. They don't distribute widely. No. At all. It's not that it's really amazing. It's that it's hard to get. Yeah.
Appreciating George's Hard Work
00:01:59
Speaker
Still tastes wonderful, by the way. Don't get me wrong. You have to go to great lengths to get. You have to really want it. Yeah. You're going to have to work for that sucker for sure.
00:02:11
Speaker
Make sure that you buy our good friend, George, the fancy or a coffee. Wow. Brain fart. Sorry, George. Coffee or beer. If you're on top of your league after this week's Champions Cup, you probably have him to thank. So make sure that you are helping the man out. Right. I'm not on top of the league, but I'm still going to thank him a lot because he helped.
00:02:37
Speaker
Would not be where I was without it. It was me, I'm in the basement. Kidding, kidding, kidding, kidding. I did that to myself. I'm not in the basement by that much. And really, I'm the only person behind is him, so. That's true.
00:02:56
Speaker
We'll cover that more later on. But anyway, yeah, buy the man a coffee or a beer, however you see it. He's working hard on this one. Yeah, see fit to view it. Jared and I split our duties as we look through each team. George does it by himself, so. Yes, does it all. How long is lonesome? In while wrangling three kids.
Supporting Women's Sports and Sponsorships
00:03:17
Speaker
Got to help him. There is no discrimination here on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life.
00:03:25
Speaker
A little good news and bad news. More good news than anything, but it was more of a about freaking time thing with Guinness finally becoming the title sponsor of the women's Six Nations as well as the men's. And yeah, it is this wave of
00:03:44
Speaker
corporations, not necessarily seeing the light, but they're buying into it because there is a lot of growth and a lot of hype around it. Rightfully. So, um, just in women's sports in general. Um, so whatever got them there, they got there, but I just, well, I do want to, it's getting to profitability. I think that's really where it's coming down. Not only that, but we've seen that the, um, the women's game draws a crowd.
00:04:10
Speaker
They're shattering records in England. They're doing all sorts. They had records in New Zealand too. The only thing that was stopping them from being profitable before was that nobody was investing in it. And now they're showing that, oh, okay, wait, this is actually popular and it's great rugby. Women's Ignations will be very good.
00:04:33
Speaker
No doubt. It's a nice change up too because the teams that aren't competitive in Six Nations men sometimes are very competitive in the women Six Nations so it's a nice change up.
00:04:47
Speaker
For me as an American, I'm just sitting there wondering, what the fuck are the US Eagles doing? That's a different story for a different day. They're regressing, which is ridiculous. But different story, different day. To me, it's good news. I know it's not wholly good news, but let's take it where we can get it and that it's being recognized by sponsorship as equal. And to me, I like the idea
00:05:13
Speaker
that it's like, well, the one club, two teams that, that some, some clubs have, right? It's there's the men's club or the men's team, the women's team, but say it's one club and we were with each other and that's, that's becoming more pervasive. And I'd like that to continue even took to the national level. I think it should be like that. We're all like, we're all same team. We just play in two different competitions. Yep. And it's good that the,
Fantasy League and Patreon Promotion
00:05:37
Speaker
uh, and this is, uh, another,
00:05:40
Speaker
step towards that in my opinion. So I'm happy with it for that reason too. Yeah. Some donut runs his high school team like that. Yeah, but you know, some donuts. No idea who that is though. No idea. Anyway, but yeah, good on the gals. They deserve wholeheartedly every bit of support that they're going to get from this comp. So great for them. I can't wait to watch
Rugby Game Highlights: Quinn's vs Exeter
00:06:08
Speaker
it and play the fantasy game.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And we will have a leak for those that are interested.
00:06:15
Speaker
Okay. Um, Oh yeah, by the way, don't forget our Patrion. Yes. I'll buy us a coffee. Yeah. Bye. Bye us a little bit. Um, I will have boom bust tomorrow. Promise, promise, promise. I miss rankings. I wholly underestimated how long rankings were going to take me to set up. And I felt stupid like right up to deadline. I'm like, I was really dumb in this one. So my apologies for all that, but I will get boom bust up this week for sure. Um,
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, and then we'll see what we can do after week two of the clock. Maybe we can do some points per pound or something. Something really simple just to give some metrics out there. We'll see. Oh, I will fuck with it. Okay. Yeah. Go right ahead with that. I will fuck with it. I will let you deal with the Franken sheet. That's your baby. Yeah, I'll do that for the prank. Anyway, so yeah. Give us the support if you can. We much appreciate it.
00:07:10
Speaker
With that, um, on the topic of the sick of the women's and such, um, we're going to go to PWR game of the week, Quinn's an Exeter, but unfortunately it wasn't much of a game. Like I had
Rugby and Beer Nostalgia
00:07:22
Speaker
on two, there were two screens going for me at once. I don't know what window this was during, but it didn't matter. Cause I mean, I looked over and every time I looked over team and white are going, the going up field. I'm like, geez, I'm like, I,
00:07:39
Speaker
You know, this is weird to see the twins having fallen so far because they're such a wonderful team that year that they want it. And now it's like, where did everything go? They've lost a few players here and there. They're getting there. Some of their core was a little bit and kind of is a little bit on the old side. But also they've played a tough schedule so far. I'm not sure that this is representative of who they are just yet. Because let me see, because
00:08:09
Speaker
Who have they played? They played Exeter, Saracen's, Sail, and they beat Trail Finders, who are not doing too bad either. That's, you know, they won an away match. They won't, um. Yeah, with them, the Saracen's losing the Exeter. Losing Sail is hard to eat though. I would say that. And like, Sail is not a particularly good team.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, and it's a little tough that they're getting blown out by, you know, by their, you know, they're losing by 30 points to two of the top teams. And that's, yes, they're, I guess what I'm saying is, they're not as good as they used to be without their they haven't fallen yet.
00:08:53
Speaker
I would say they're on their way. They're on their way though. They're looking at it. So they do have to turn it around. I love Shauna Brown, but her number eight is really hard to, for me, the stomach right now. Yeah. That's just, that's tough sledding right there for them. It is. She's good in the loose and all that, but like. I mean, compare that to Rachel Johnson, who is definitely a number eight and definitely one of the better players in the league. So it's like. That, that shows a, yeah, that shows a little bit lack of depth or,
00:09:23
Speaker
or what have you at, at, at Harlequin's where they don't head, but anybody at final whistle. Yeah. That's the other thing. That's another good idea. How long did she get two games,
Transition to Rugby Analysis
00:09:35
Speaker
three games? I thought it was like five. Ooh.
00:09:39
Speaker
Yep, I mean, that was a really dumb move, so that tracks. Yes, right. That does track. You do stupid things, you win stupid prizes, right? Yeah, Emily Robinson receives five week ban. Yep, five weeks. Woof, woof. Yeah, so note to self at home. Don't do that. Yeah.
00:10:02
Speaker
I'm not going to say I've never headbutted anybody in a scrub. I'm not. Well, that happens. That happens to props. I freaking put my head on head before, but you don't do it in open play right in brother ever. Well, it's not even open play. The whistle, those after the final whistle. Oh, that's true. Even that. Even that. There's nothing, there's not even a ball to watch. It's just, and you're right in front of the ref.
00:10:25
Speaker
You made a very poor decision, ma'am. You made a very poor decision. Anyway, and yeah, that's also gonna reverberate here. That's gonna cause problems for this match too. True, true. Okay, so let's head over to round one of Champions Cup. Yeah, finally in. I don't know. I know we build this competition up and all, but like,
00:10:49
Speaker
Is this really that entertaining? I mean really that entertaining. I mean really. Quite a list of games that were very good and games that were very good as well.
00:11:03
Speaker
I may or may not have called my doctor because it was longer than four hours. But no, it was it was no, this is this is class start literally start to finish both days. There was very little time where there
Champions Cup Discussions
00:11:17
Speaker
wasn't at least one match and usually two that were extremely captivating and and must watch. Yes, this is this. This was. Yeah, I like the way this is being done ultimately. Yeah, I got to say.
00:11:30
Speaker
So let's go, let's go to the Scottson, Glasgow and Saints. Just the Saints came out of the blocks pretty hot. I think that's fair to say. They thrive in this competition. Apart from the Alex Mitchell intercept throw, but that's it. Yeah, that wasn't good. But they thrive in this competition. They really end up, well, when they're, when they are a good team, they, they perform very well here and they're a good team right now, I think. And it's one of those,
00:11:59
Speaker
I think one of the things we learned about the premiership is that it's actually a good competition, apparently. I mean, we'll get through it. But like, the Saints, I don't think Glasgow played poorly. I don't think that they were were were poor by any means. And I think that the Saints just smoked them. Yep. Yeah, it was
00:12:22
Speaker
And, you know, we're talking about a team that's sitting near the top of the URC. And yeah, yeah, it's. And it looked good. They didn't look bad. It wasn't, you know. A couple of fumbles was really the thing that came in in the end there. It was. And and the fact that Tommy Freeman is ridiculous. Yeah. So we're going to talk about the position back, front, sideways, up and down.
00:12:52
Speaker
Is 13 his best position? I don't think so, but I think for this team it is. Okay. Cause I like, I mean, they, they obviously like Hendy. They want him playing and I see why, right? They like slate home and they want him playing and I see why. And they like fur bank and they want him playing and I see why. And Dingwall has been, um, been, well, you know, in the past has been fantastic, but then besides that, who do you have at center?
00:13:22
Speaker
I mean, I would imagine they're waiting for Hutch to get healthy, being the one thing. But if that's your center, if that's your rotation, and then maybe sometimes Freeman will play wing or he'll sit a game out for, again, to be rotated here and there, you've got a thing there. And I think that's, to me, it's not so much that they're putting him in spaces. And I think that if he plays wing and gets the opportunities that he's getting there at 13 by inserting himself places,
00:13:50
Speaker
Um, I think this could be good for him in the future. I think this will help him. Yeah. I don't know what his status is, but don't forget.
Exeter vs Toulon Match Analysis
00:13:58
Speaker
They still have burger owned all waiting. Oh geez. That's right. He's not healthy at the moment, but no, but he was a tariff or wasps in the press. He was, he was good while they, while he was in the league. So, um, Tom Pearson on the bench for this too. Like, uh, also, you know, and Angus got young, was it a total prick?
00:14:17
Speaker
It's full trickery, but I guess Scott Young. Dickheadery. Yeah, I mean, good squad. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do. And both these teams, I think we're going to see both these in the knockout stages, obviously. Good squad, just the same server. I think in terms of their pool, they're in good shape. Right. They'll be fine. Ooh, hello. And then we can kind of breeze over this, unfortunately. Yeah.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah, I expected a little bit more out of contact in a home game, but Bordeaux was just way too much for this team. And yeah, I mean... And when Hanson went down... Oh, geez. Yeah, that was the end. That kind of was the end. They didn't have much outside of him. He did provide us the pleasure of viewing his backside before he went out though. Yeah, thank you, Mac. There was a whole lot of Mac Hanson hanging out when he went down. I was like,
00:15:12
Speaker
That's Mac Hanson's ass. Yeah. Once he went down, that was, I mean, Smith is a squad player, Byron Ralston. I don't particularly care for either way. Um, and then they, they left the freaking guy I was talking about last week on the bit at home, like in the stands. So yeah, I don't know. I think they were.
00:15:34
Speaker
They either patching it a little bit or... Yeah, Porch as a fullback is probably their best option, which is why they brought him on, so I agree with it. But I just think they lacked serious dynamics outside of Bundy once he went down. Key and Prendergast is a complete handful, but after those two, who else you got? And yeah, I don't know.
00:16:01
Speaker
I think, I don't think it's going to be a struggle for them, unfortunately, since they needed to get something like this. Did he ever drop a try early? I think so. And yeah, I just never got, don't find him, I guess. No, no. And this, and this is a solid Bordeaux team. Don't, don't get me wrong. Like, you know, you see Pete, Sam one, listen.
00:16:23
Speaker
Felitea is on, on this team. Bluku is obviously a French international with Jelly Bear. Uh, Damien Penno knows where the trial line in and is very good at finding it. And yeah, the, and then the just, yep. And then, uh, Guido Petty and Tamifuna came off the bench. Like Tamifuna looks great when he comes off the bench, mind you, like he is always looking like he's going to be a complete nuisance. And, you know, after that spell with fucking Ross and going so sideways, I'm so glad that he actually
00:16:52
Speaker
plays so well when he's, you know, when he's in these matches. So, uh, good on him. But yeah, that was a whole lot, whole lot of Bordeaux and not a whole lot of, a whole lot of Connick fortunately. Um,
Rugby Matches Dissection
00:17:09
Speaker
too long exit of the next day. I, you know, it's two things and
00:17:20
Speaker
You know, whatever they, they kept at it. So you got to give them the credit that is deserved there.
00:17:27
Speaker
but really like Tuon lit the foot off the gas. I don't have a question about that. I think Ben White sure stayed in the game. Tuon said, okay, we can slow this game down because that'll stop Exeter from scoring. And Exeter are like, oh boy, we're slowing it down. This is great. This is what we do. The fact that Ben White was there and Dave ribbons, and even to a certain extent, Cornell Dupree,
00:17:56
Speaker
You guys should know. You guys should know what that Exeter will like. No, just keep it going. Obviously, too long didn't score enough points. They only had 18 and a half, and they finished with 18. Yeah, right. And they just didn't show much interest in scoring more tries. They just kind of figured out what will keep happening. And no, it won't. You have to keep playing the way you're playing.
00:18:22
Speaker
It's not like you play this tactically and okay, we slow it down. It's no play this way and just keep scoring and eventually exit or will fold. 18 is not enough for exit or to fold. No. A little hard luck. You got to get over 20. There was a little hard luck on too long like between
00:18:37
Speaker
Busby's decision making, which was borderline atrocious and you know, Sarah on getting injured shortly after coming on. I was like, Oh, no, that didn't help. You know, you're not getting hurt is very painful. And I honestly thought they could have kept Ben White on anyway for longer. But once that happened, I was like, Oh, boy, they're really in trouble now. Yeah, you know, because they for the first half,
00:19:03
Speaker
Exeter's only offense was the fact that Singleton threw one right into frickin' Skinner's lap. That was it. That was it. They were showing nothing. No. Not a moosh. Not at all. And then in the end, they got the other two pushover tries, and you win. Yeah. There's a very Exeter win. Very. Oh, very. I just kind of blame too long for not
00:19:26
Speaker
Um, not working for the dagger. I thought they, they did like, as you said, they took their foot off the gas and, um, you just can't do that against exit or not. Yeah, no, it's not going to work out for you. No. And so this was not a case of, you know, as I said before with the saints, it was, this was too long, spitting the bit more than it was exit or winning.
00:19:47
Speaker
I don't think this is a good showing for the prem, but Toulon obviously did themselves the top 14 zero favors on this one. They kind of looked.
00:19:56
Speaker
Disinterested and lazy towards the end. Yeah, definitely. I agree. But we had a nice palate cleanser over at the wreck. Oh, my. That looked very good. I mean, going in down six points in half, you thought, hmm, this team is still very bubbling. It's just right there at the surface, waiting, waiting, waiting. Bang, it's going to erupt, and it did. It totally did. Big time.
00:20:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I have to say that is the coconut thing. I've been waiting to see he showed himself the last couple rounds of the pram, but really like that's what they need. And really, that's a winger that England need as well, you know, right? He's got to be he's got to be in contention at this point. I think, well, not not so much mere. I don't think he's he's he's prem good. Yeah, solid squad player, but doesn't probably is never going to be an international.
00:20:49
Speaker
So as long time listeners of the pod may know, Jared and I do a
00:20:55
Speaker
wager from from on occasion and because we are very much like these two we kind of do this like the dukes the duke brothers from trading places everything's for a dollar to me ollie lawrence has to this and we'll get to the other one later but ollie lawrence is is a barring injury you're you're at one of your centers on in six nations right and i
00:21:23
Speaker
I don't want to be right about this because I completely 100% agree with you in terms of what should happen and what will happen or just. That's why they just for a dollar. That's why it's not for it's not really for anything. And the other one, Jared, one of Jared's is is slaty. Right? Because people are gonna see this, you know,
00:21:47
Speaker
this wonderful performance, he didn't do anything special for Exeter against Toulon. And they're going to credit him, you know, apart from what he did off the tee, one of which was, you know, you should be able to hit it shit faced. You know, I don't think it's anything special. But again, people have got these
00:22:08
Speaker
have got a hard on for certain players and certain players have got the spell over the entirety of the rugby world and I don't see it ever. I don't think it's the rugby world. I think it's England rugby. I think it's the RFU. I think it's certain people in the RFU that see things a certain way and I don't know what the hell they see. But anyway, all that to say, Ollie Lawrence is fucking amazing. Yeah, he's bloody fantastic. He needs to be in consideration. Yeah, one of the best centers in this competition, certainly, which is saying a lot.
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he's dynamic. He, he does it all. You know, he's, he's not a speed demon by any means, but yeah, he'll finish, you know, but at the same time he knows how to move the ball. He knows how to run you over offload to Koka. I mean, dirty. I mean, just silly, silly stuff. I'll take it. Yeah. So it was a, it was a wonderful performance from bath in front of their, their home crowd. And, uh, I, I, I am glad to see them kind of shaking off the demons and
00:23:06
Speaker
yesterday year and obviously the guy wearing number 10 is extremely helpful. But even, you know, I look at this pack.
00:23:15
Speaker
That's a good path. And I love it. I really do. Stu coming back is huge. Yes. It was kind of quiet, at least over here. It was like just a, oh, by the way, Stu's back, okay. No, he's so good. Yes. It's huge for that team. He's a very good second row. He's a very good second row. And I got to say, Obano Don Stewart looked like a class. And this was against, it gets off, right? This isn't against like... No, it is, yeah. No, tools not bad.
00:23:43
Speaker
terrible players. It's us, you know, a World Cup winner and LaToule's Irish International, so they're not nobodies. Right. You know? And I thought that the Bath Scrum was quite good. But yeah, there's lots of like in that pack. Yep. So anybody that hasn't seen Pano Apano's documentary, you need to go see it. But also you can understand why he did it because
00:24:10
Speaker
That's the type of person he is. And you can see his, we'll call it media savvy. It's probably not the exact term when he's doing his interview after the match. I was like, yeah. All right. So, and he's into talk. He wants to talk. He's into being a character. So I love, I love his interview after the match as well. So love the guy. I love everything. Love it. Yeah. Ulster on the flip side.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. First half, great. And second half, meh. Bala meh. They're starting day viewers in this match. To me, that's the statement of the 10. Because again, talk about their internationals, Kitsaf, O'Toole, Henderson. Stockdale, I thought was McCluskey, Ballocoon. I saw them a couple of times.
00:25:11
Speaker
But yeah, he was probably their most dope was, was, I feel, I mean, he scored to one try too. And I thought he was maybe their best player. Right. Yeah. I think their best backline player, not the nine was probably Hume, maybe, maybe Stocktail about Coomba. I thought he was very effective in what he was doing. So.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yeah, they need to, they're going to have to step it up in another gear. They got a tough assignment at home this coming weekend. That they do. No doubt.
Saracens vs Bulls Recap
00:25:46
Speaker
I mean, do we need to spend a ton of time on the other one? No. Like 527. Cardiffs.
00:25:55
Speaker
What you need to know if you're not particularly in tune with what's going on with Champions Cup is, so Carter Frogby actually didn't finish top eight in URC, but because they need someone from the shield winners, as they call them, and there's a Welsh shield division bracket, whatever you wish to call it. Um, and they were the best. That's why they get in and, um, the sharks from Durban don't. So.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah, and they actually finished a couple places below the Sharks, not just one or one. I think they finished like two or three. So they're here. Unfortunately, this is one of those teams that is here to fill out the numbers currently. We've seen them perform well in Champions Cup in past. And even recently, a couple of years ago, they gave Quinnza quite a run for the money back at Carter Farms Park.
00:26:46
Speaker
But I just, you know, you look at the class of two lose and you look at Cardiff and yes, they have some quality international players, but what else outside of that? Yeah.
00:27:00
Speaker
Well, they have Thomas Williams, who, well, I don't think he's that good anyway. He's not that good. Mason Grady has played, I think, he has a couple of caps. Yeah, and you played at the World Cup this year. Hello, hello, Adams. He wants nothing to do with the Seesbury to jump ship, though. Yeah. You know, you have Reese Carre in the pack, and that's it. That's all right. Domuchowski coming off the bench.
00:27:28
Speaker
And right. And then you look across the way, you got Bayh Mavaka, Arnold Flamel. Mayafu might as well be international. He's good enough, you know. Chilosh. Some guy. I guess at nine. I don't know.
00:27:43
Speaker
Nobody I've ever heard of. The Hunt. Hell knows how you pronounce that. I've never seen him before. Blair Kinghorn? Royal penis. The Royal Cock. Who had himself a day too. Yes, he did. There's a little bit over there and the score reflects that.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, it did. It did. It did. Um, he's already loving life over and tend to lose their King horn. So yeah, not, not much to be said. Sorry, Cardiff, you're probably, this is probably going to be the right for you this year. Maybe not, but the odds are saying otherwise. So the less that said about the next match, the better. So maybe we should just move on from that one. And it was something that you and I both said the whole time in terms of.
00:28:36
Speaker
the fellas that were wearing white aimless kicking and it just seemed to
00:28:43
Speaker
Just, I mean, it was kicking that landed in the wrong hands. And I mean, the wrong hands. I mean, specifically Moody and Arnzel, like, all people that you don't want to have that ball. Those two are at the top of the list. Right. And even if it didn't get to them, it was going to Willie LaRue who could catch it and then just pass it to them. That was all he did. He took it and gave it to somebody who could run with it. And it worked really well.
00:29:09
Speaker
Also, you look at where they were kicking, and the Saracens were kicking to one side of the field, and then the bulls were just moving it off of that. I think one of those tries just came because they passed it across the field, and there was just nobody there.
00:29:28
Speaker
Literally, nobody was there for Saris. There might have been two guys, but there's like five bulls running down this side of the pitch. It's like, what the fuck are you going to do? Because you just kicked it down to one side. All your guys went to that side because as you do, how we defend it, but then they just ran around you.
00:29:45
Speaker
AIM was kicking to bad spots, and even the comms were talking about it. They're like, they're just giving away the ball. Do they understand? Like, do the guys, like, do the Saracens really understand? Like, do they just not want to play with it? Like, why are they doing this? I don't understand. I don't know. The game plan for the first 65 minutes or so was pretty dog shit, to say the least. Right.
00:30:05
Speaker
And it was, hey, OK, guys, maybe we should try to score some points here. And holy shit. What do you what do you say? What do you know? I think the I don't think the referees did the many favors. I think that they were a little over carded there for like that that good card. And I realized that he was already on there. They were already on his bad side. But that was a dive and a half.
00:30:31
Speaker
Absolutely too many times where guys get carded for something like that though I don't understand where holding your ground becomes a card or a penalty like alright sorry I'm bigger than stronger than you get the fuck over it but yeah and like they're also once you stop running forward and you said you're holding your ground.
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's just one of those things like I have a right to the space I currently occupy. Yes, you run over me. That is your fucking issue, right? You know, not my fault. So, you know, if you want to if if someone steps off and you clearly have left the space you were occupying, then all right. Yeah, penalty totally. And I said, and, you know, we saw it across, you know, well applied and other matches, but this one was not one of them.
00:31:16
Speaker
And then was it the Itoji? Who was it who came over the top? Itoji, yeah. It was Itoji. A little cynical. It was incredibly cynical. There was no release. And that's one of those where the defender sometimes would come and then wait a beat and then attack the ruck. I thought Itoji was within his right to at least come over the top. And then Hanekam, I thought, just fell backward. I thought he kind of was, you know,
00:31:46
Speaker
like a toji has to has to hit that rock because there's a defender present who's creating a threat so like you can't present like there's that whole you know how um when it when it's like looks at a guy's like looks like a guy's diving in a knee because the the other the defender backs out and you'll hear the ref say no no no you backed out to me that should have been applied here was that anacomb
00:32:10
Speaker
got himself in a really stupid spot and Itoje had to then ruck over and Hanukkum backed out without standing up or really proving to himself that he was not a threat. I don't think that, yeah, no, I thought that was a terrible call.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, but they were already on his bad side once that happened. Yeah, exactly. And he'd already made decisions about it. So yeah, that's what's going to happen. And then, of course, it happened tomorrow after he came back in where he got hit off the ball and nothing. So it's like, you know,
00:32:43
Speaker
Not that, let me get, Sarri's played like shit. They didn't deserve to win. No. Ref was ass. I guess that's where I'm going. Both can be accurate. Yeah. Both can be accurate. Both can be applied here, but. But then there was a lot of significant assery in a lot of these matches. Like, you know, we'll get to in a few minutes, like the Bear's Leon match.
00:33:03
Speaker
Wolf. Craig Evans is duck shit. He was terrible. We'll get to him in a second. Yeah, so. Bulls play well. I mean, shit. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? So, yeah, give me credit. Like Moody, the Rensa, you guys did what you had to do, Creole. Moody is a unit. Oh, my God. That guy's a nightmare. And Hennecoma, as you mentioned before going in, he was a problem everywhere. I mean, he was. Yeah, he's a good player. You're going to see him in a green jersey. Not too long, I bet. Yeah.
00:33:33
Speaker
I mean, he made like, like Marco Van Staden. I didn't see much of him only because Honeckham was like, like, yeah. Yeah. Just chill over there. I got this. Don't you worry. Don't you worry old man? I got this. That's what he's saying. That's what he said. And credit to, um, Mako for, for really taking it to low a couple of times in this scrum. That's, you don't, you don't fuck around with Wilco low. Um, and it's been a while since Mako has been an equality in the scrum.
00:34:03
Speaker
Consistently, so he actually had a good day. His brother did not Know like there's got to be a better answer. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think She's got I think he's got another year besides this one on his contract. I'm happy to let him walk, right?
00:34:19
Speaker
You know, I think, well, cause it's also, it's probably a decent bit of coin too. So whatever's against the salary cap for that. That's the problem. Yeah. And then, yeah, I mean, we have some, we have some wonderful back rows up and down that aren't him. And we're, I would like to also get Knight some more playing time. Cause I think he's got the quality to be very, very good. Agreed. But he's not going to do it if he doesn't get playing time and
00:34:45
Speaker
You know, unfortunately we've seen, yeah, we've seen that go, go the wrong way for us many times where players weren't getting the playing time and they, they left it and right now fit on them. They were, they were right to do so. We'll talk about one in a minute too. Yeah. Um, it seemed there's Leon mesh. All right. Uh, and then we have a buster and Bayonne. Oh my God. Like I did not have this on my bingo board. Number one, not so much.
00:35:15
Speaker
but Monster, what happened? They were in control of this thing. Just cruising along like, yeah, here we go. We got it all under control and they got stuck in some mud or something. A little bit of quicksand, yeah. I guess the hell, yeah. And sometimes
Bristol vs Lyon Thrilling Recap
00:35:33
Speaker
it does happen.
00:35:35
Speaker
It doesn't, it's not, and I'm not going to take away anything from Bayonne necessarily, but it does happen sometimes where one thing goes wrong and another thing goes wrong. And you just feel like you cannot pull yourself out of it. And that's what this felt like in a lot of ways for Munster. And I'm guessing some of the coaching staff will agree to at least some point on that one.
00:35:57
Speaker
Because that's like, when are you guys going to pull your head out of your ass? It never happens. Yeah. It's like, all you have to do is pull it just a little bit and everything will work out fine. No.
00:36:05
Speaker
Nope. Won't do it. Nope. Nope. Didn't do it. Yeah. Like why would you want me to do that thing? I will not. Yeah. Yeah. It's really annoying. If I was, I'd be really annoyed if I was a monster fan, if I was part of the coaching staff, whatever it was. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that's the, that feels that way. Uh, yeah. Cause this isn't like, I mean, it's a okay Bayon team.
00:36:33
Speaker
Some quality, no doubt. But it's not like a world beater. This should not. Yeah, this should not have happened. Just looking from from one side to the other. Yeah, it should not have happened. No, no, no, no. So I yeah, I'm sure they're they're all looking in the mirror this this week and going, Hmm, what the hell happened? So I'm sure they'll I got and they got a I got quite the test. I got to go to Sandy Park this week.
00:37:02
Speaker
which as poor as extra have been in their recent run, they've- Well, you better be able to score more than 17 points. That's the thing. You get seven more points than that. You get 24 points. You're probably all right against Exeter, but I don't know that they have that in them. Let's see it. Yeah, they're going to need to show it and need some offense, bottom line, regardless of the conditions.
00:37:30
Speaker
Let's go to the gate. Thing of offense, a little bit, a little bit of attack in a smash. Does anybody want points? Anybody want points? You get a point, you get a point, you get a point, you get a point. It's Oprah. Look under your seats, everybody. You're all getting points. Exactly. Points all around. Exactly. Oh, man. Yeah, that was, yeah. Everybody got points, no shit. Yeah. It just, it started, it never, and it never stopped. It really didn't.
00:37:59
Speaker
semi playing against his old friends, having a good old time over there. And just, yeah, it was semi got caught under that, uh, under Harry Randall for the way after that try. And it's like, Hey, Hey, how you doing? I mean, how you doing buddy? Hey, you want to celebrate with us? No, I guess not. Okay. I'm sorry. That was, that was a shitty try. That's what it was. Yeah. You're right. Oh no. Wait, she didn't score.
00:38:20
Speaker
It was, it was Randall. It was Randall. It was Randall. There's only two people that look like freaking elves on that team. That's GD and Randall. Nobody else. There'll be also quite like an elf. Sounds like one. Yeah. And, um, Fitz Harding though, had himself a little bit of a day. Yeah. Good to see the, they need him to perform going forward as well. Cause he's, you know, he's, he's very,
00:38:53
Speaker
His trajectory was very good when he first burst on. And then again, we talk about it all the time, you know, Lee kind of figures you out. So you plateau and he needs to get to that point where he figures it out again and finds a way to get an edge. And for his sake, I hope it happens. And for Bristol's sake too. Yeah. Cause that's the, that is one of the best ways forward is to ride his back. No doubt. And I think, um, if it was made for this specific competition.
00:39:23
Speaker
Cause all he was, you know, juking guys out of their cleats. He was, you know, running just straight past him. Cause they, they just didn't know where to, where to, um, target him. Right. Um, really opened it up for, for the rest of them, for like Richard Lane and Maxie and all that. Um, and even, um, Ben hard was, was running off of, of Gabe. So, um, good, good on, um, Bristol for, for using him in a way that's really maximizing him for the, especially in this competition.
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And they, I'm still shocked that that Leon got themselves back into this match. It was, what was it? It was 33. At one point it was like, what was it? Let me see this second. Let me tell you a second. It was like 33 10 at one point.
00:40:14
Speaker
I see. Yeah, it was. Let me look. And it was like. 3310 after the sheeting misconversion on the Auguray try. Yeah. Oh, and that was a good try, too. And it's like, all right, like this game's over. Like, how does this, you know, I watched first put it this way, too. I watched this game yesterday this weekend. I, you know, couldn't get to all of them. So it was watching. It's impossible. Whatnot. Yeah.
00:40:39
Speaker
And holy shit. I was like, no. So I kind of knew that it ended closely. I didn't know the exact details, but I was like, you got to be fucking kidding me. This is a close match. Like there's still a run on them. Um, where's Revovos? Um, yellow card, yellow kind of opened it up. That's where it started. Yeah. I mean, they got the, they got the Abrams try. Oh my God. That guy, that guy's a nightmare. Talk about nightmares before. Yeah. That dude's a problem. So God's beat anybody else has to play them.
00:41:07
Speaker
which is, I think, series. Yes, last. But they're at home at least, so. They're at home at least. Yeah, so that dude's a nightmare. Yewani was it? All their back line. Yewani, Red Radra, Parisian, and Dumartier. Dumartier looked great. Terror.
Leinster vs La Rochelle Analysis
00:41:27
Speaker
He really looked great.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah, it was, this was a classic, as they say. Absolute classic, and then at the end, all money, all money. I'm watching this, I'm watching, I'm looking at it, I'm like, oh man, Bristol need a penalty, and they, and Craig Evans wasn't amazing, but I was watching it, I'm like, yep, I knew Leon, we're gonna do something stupid, and they did. And sure enough, they gave away that penalty, and I was like,
00:41:58
Speaker
I don't like Kirk, Kirk Evans, but he got that one right. Yes. He actually, he actually did get it right. And first of all the way from there and down the, down the pitch, like they went 80 meters on him. Yep.
00:42:09
Speaker
So then they were on the doorstep and I'm yelling, get in the pocket. Right. Well, and I'm wondering, like, is it going to be Williams or is it going to be Sheedy sitting in the pocket? Because I think either one of them could do it. And, yep, Sheedy says no. I mean, he had, you got to give him credit. He had two guys right in his mug and he was able to hit it still without, you know, he's just like, I got this, no problem.
00:42:32
Speaker
yep let's go home and have beers yeah i mean that was like a that i was like a droppy after a sevens try in a social i was not like that was like not to do it but yeah fuck it let's do it down here let's go yeah he did a good job like you said there were other guys in his face but he think i thought he did a really good job positioning himself so that he just had a clear view
00:42:53
Speaker
of the sticks. I think they were putting pressure on him, but I don't think they were really pressuring the kick. I think he- I mean, the two of them, those two guys were bearing down on him. I think a lot of people, there are a lot of people that would have shot themselves in that position. Of course, of course. I'm just saying that you do the preparation and you say, okay, I'm going to put myself so that they can put their hands up. All that doesn't matter. I have a line that's right between them and I'll just hit that line.
00:43:21
Speaker
Yeah. Stay calm and noted it and everybody in Bristol goes unhappy. He's been on the shitting himself. Oh, 100%. Stage lately. Yes, he has. Yes, he has. I agree. This is a step forward for him. Yeah. I'm sure Pat Lamb was elated. A little bit. I think he was okay with this one. Yeah, he was good with this. He was good with this.
00:43:47
Speaker
Good Sunday. Um, another one we don't need to cover in, in extent, yeah, start from say since, uh, you know, more or less a B team to.
00:43:55
Speaker
Selfered part is a self-explanation and ends up with, you know, what, what happens when you send a B team to self-explanation? If anything, I think in this one, I was disappointed by sale should have just pumped them more than this. I agree to me. I thought this was, I thought sale performed poorly. Um, yeah, it's like, like for what they could, could do that they, I mean,
00:44:18
Speaker
All things become irrelevant when Johnny Hill scores a try. Right. This game is one of those rules. Like, game's relevant. Johnny Hill scored. We're done. We can all go home. We're good. We know how to turn. 60 second minute. Everybody can go home. Bye, bye. Get back to your Sunday. Do whatever you gotta do. Good to see a flarity. Johnny Hill scored. This game is over. Good to see a flarity. Get on the board, though. Yes. Yeah, he needs some of that.
00:44:42
Speaker
Needs a little bit of that. Oh, and then we also, oh, so we, so back to our, the, the wager, um, involves Manu to a Lagi too. Um, so on Jared's side, it's Manu and Sladey.
00:44:59
Speaker
And my, my last guys keep in mind, I don't want this to be the center pairing, but no, no, no, it's really, it's, it's, it's, it's based on what we think. It's not what we think should happen. It's what we think forthwicks going to do. Yep. Cause whatever spell has slate and two, we have over the community at large, but specifically RFU, I am not seeing it. And maybe that makes me a complete muppet, but you know what?
00:45:27
Speaker
I'm here talking, so fuck you. And that's how it is. I don't see it. There's nothing special about what he does. He did a really good job of running right into defenders and getting hit backwards.
00:45:42
Speaker
Oh, he eats defenders. Great. Cool. Like, you know what, know what else you need to be able to do. You need to be able to get around him too. Like, otherwise they know what you're doing. Like you saw what those guys, you saw somebody start defenders. They they're like, no, I like a couple of them were ready to stand him right the fuck up. And they did. Right. They weren't really, they weren't really threatened by him in the end. So, you know, and yeah, a couple of them got pants, but these are also fucking second stringers. So I don't give a shit. Right. What you say in terms of that, honestly.
00:46:12
Speaker
quite honestly, don't care. And Mike Adamson's also dog shit. He was terrible too.
00:46:17
Speaker
Why are we having all the dog shit referees, Busby, Evans? Well, there's 12 matches, so. I know, but still, like, you can't, you've got a tum, ugh. Yeah, I don't know. Ugh, ugh. We're going to be in a lot of trouble if, like, the best thing we can offer, Pearson, Carly. Yeah, that's true. Who was, oh, Pierce did the next one, right? Didn't he do? No, Carly did the next one. Carly, actually, you know what? I thought he did an okay job in this one. He, listen, that was a shit house match and he had to manage it, so, like,
00:46:46
Speaker
I mean, look. That's what you need in those types of matches. Didn't he tell James Ryan? He's like, I'm not talking to you.
00:46:59
Speaker
I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm going to talk to your co-captains. You might be co-captains, but I won't listen to you. I'm listening to this. I'm dealing with them. I've had that happen some game, and believe it or not, it wasn't me that the guy didn't want to talk to. It was me he wanted to talk to. He said, I'm just going to talk to you now. That guy's being a prick. I was like, OK.
00:47:18
Speaker
This
Leicester vs Stormers and Player Impacts
00:47:19
Speaker
is how, if you know me, that to tell you exactly how much that person was being a prick. Yeah. That's pretty bad. This is a new one, but I understand completely. Yeah. So anyway, so the team that scored the most tries won. Right. That's really hitting down too. Which was Leinster. And I, Laura Scheldt did not do what they needed to do to take this.
00:47:46
Speaker
game by the haunches and hump it into submission as a wise man once said. Fucking rip torn patches. It just was not, you know, they were, they were, they were fine settling and okay. And, and this is, look, this was a very well played low scoring match. Um, damn, like I,
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, I just.
00:48:19
Speaker
The most actually, you know what, you know, what really impressed me in this match of anything was first off, it was nice to see Josh. Hey, Josh Vanderfleer. Have you I haven't seen Josh Vanderfleer in a while. I've seen a guy wearing that brightly colored scrum cap. I've seen him around. But I haven't seen Josh Vanderfleer in some time. It's very nice to see him back there on the pitch. I liked I like seeing him and I want to see more. We should see more. And then the second thing is is Kieran Frawley.
00:48:49
Speaker
Yes. Donkey leg. That was like, okay, horseleg. He's gonna hit this, isn't he? That was the thing. He doesn't have to. It was just get the distance and you're fine. That's game. But he's like, no, you know what? On top of that, I'm gonna hit it.
00:49:11
Speaker
I'm just going to hit it because I can and that's how the game's going to end. I was like, oh, those are some clangers on you, my good friend. I was like, those are some balls, big guy. Good job. It was a good job. I enjoyed that.
00:49:26
Speaker
It was a good match between two very tough teams that were just pounding the crap out of each other for the most of them. Yeah. And, you know, Leinster usually loses these things. And that's what they were talking about a couple of times. And so credit to them for just finally saying, you know what? No way. We're not losing it because that's how it went down. We will lose it in a lot of other ways, but we're not letting that be the reason that we got out physical. They didn't. Right. They didn't. L.L. Tole played the whole fucking game so good on him.
00:49:57
Speaker
Um, that's not a fucking, that's not a fun game to play the whole game for at tight head as a tight head. No way. No way. That's one of those ones like 60 minutes comes and you are praying for a sub sometimes. Right.
00:50:11
Speaker
I'm dead. I'm tired. I'm cold. Like something has got to go here and nope. I mean, he, of course he wouldn't, you'd have to drag him off the field probably anyway, but it's still, still great to him just sticking in there and say, no way, man, I'm good. I'm happy here. Um, I will say there was one person I was particularly peeved by on lower shell and it was,
00:50:36
Speaker
Their number seven, Bautia. I thought he had a couple of really, really dumb ones. When he was clearly tackled and just stood up.
00:50:45
Speaker
Yep, that was that one. He got triline fever twice, that one, and then the held up. And then he also made a really dumb move by hitting someone off the ball. I was like, dude, you are... I get it, he touched it. But here comes a point where you gotta know, all right, hands off. Pull out of it, man. Even if you bump him a little bit, okay, you can live with it. But if you're gonna melt him, melt him. Don't frickin' just half-ass it, man. Yeah, no, don't half-ass it. If you're gonna absolutely blitz someone, fuckin' do it.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, no. I thought you had a really tough game. So I think you had one or two beneficial contributions. After that, I was like, if there's an opposite of the man of the match, he probably goes on the list somewhere because he was just, you know, what you love about him was what was bad about him in this game as well. And that's, that's sad to say, but it's a fact sadly. Um, Oh, I know the dog shit referee to ultra Nini. Uh,
00:51:48
Speaker
good on Stormer's B team for fronting up. They said it in the commentary, Lester, you didn't deserve all five points. Yeah, it was. Hmm. I mean, there were players who had good matches and it was, you know, they did what they needed to do to win, which they weren't really asked to do too much. No. In the end. I mean, but look, did you, if you're listening to the comms on this match,
00:52:12
Speaker
debut, debut, debut, debut, debut. I'm like, Jesus, man. And for them to push, you know, this legendary club of Lester Tigers at Welford Road to the level that they should, they were up at halftime.
00:52:29
Speaker
great on them. I thought they pulled DeWet way too early. He was playing out of his skin. I would have let him ride a lot longer. He was playing very, very well. I would not have bothered with that. I would have got rid of Intabenny faster because their biggest problem area was the line out, I think. Not the cuts that did great when he came in, but that's who I would have, what I would have done was get rid of him.
00:52:51
Speaker
a little faster and let the backup get some reps in. And we had some guys that are familiar with Wellford Road, that were doing a lot of damage too, between Blanche's, Klaskowski, and Loader. They were causing problems, all three of them. They were. They really were.
00:53:11
Speaker
I mean, to be fair, Freddie Stewart was also causing problems, but not for so days. Poor fella. I've never seen Freddie Stewart played that badly, to be honest. Honestly, and look, we both like Freddie Stewart. We think
Future Stars and Player Developments
00:53:28
Speaker
he's going to be fantastic.
00:53:31
Speaker
In the end, it kind of was comical, especially because they won. So it was hilarious that it's like, oh, Freddy, his hands are ass today. It's just an amusement. And I'm sure it's not that fun for Lester Tiger's supporters. So sorry, Duncan. I'm not, nothing personal. But it's just funny. As a hell, it's funny when you have a guy who's really good just
00:53:55
Speaker
they're human. It's nice to see that they're human. I don't know. Yeah, he was definitely human on that day. I'm not sure that Soleimoni Kata is human because he just... He's tearing up trees. He was always be wearing 12 or 13 for this team, honestly. Yeah. Should always be wearing 12 or 13 for this team, especially the way the other ones have started.
00:54:15
Speaker
So poorly, like Matt Scott came off, not awesome. Dan Kelly wasn't passive by any means whatsoever. Guy Porter's been pretty bad and he's been banged up. So yeah, I think your best bet is to have Salomon and Kata and just ride it, honestly. Because he opens up, like without him, then that's one of, I think that's one of the reasons why Bassett and Hassel Collins haven't been playing well because
00:54:38
Speaker
If I'm defending Lester, I'm like, okay, their centers aren't shit, so we can man up against them and then just pay attention to those wingers. They had great days because fuck, you don't pay attention to Kata. He's going to just run, obviously, right around you, through you, over you, and into the- Whatever he feels like for the day, yep. Then he's jotting it down.
00:54:59
Speaker
Agreed. I mean, so yeah. Excellent too. Good for me. That's kind of a given. Oh, as is Jasper Lisa, who? Minus the one where he left behind. Yeah, well. Yeah. Oh, man. How good was DeWet though with that freaking
00:55:21
Speaker
The one that Youngs had no idea where the fuck it was. Well done, Ben Youngs, by the way. And he's sliding on it. He has the wherewithal to slide onto his back and pop it up. I was like, oh, that is fantastic. Well done, sir. Well done. Really, really well done. Golf clap to you. Golf clap to you. Well done.
00:55:43
Speaker
But wait, there is more. There was? Was it? Was it like? It's a lot of false. Haven't we gone through all the good matches? Oh, no, we haven't. This was not a good match. No, we haven't. I just put this match to my veins. I want this all day. I'm fine. I know. Yes, please. Please. More. The Marcus Smith Show. How good was he? Yep. And we're not ones to gush about Marcus. Wait, yes, we are.
00:56:26
Speaker
You know, contrasting this with like the, um, the Freddie Stewart where he doesn't want, he doesn't want anyone to see that tape. Like just for though, don't pay attention, please. That was just whatever. This is like Marcus Smith saying, Hey, you know, you know, that six nations competition we've heard so much about. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm the 10 for that. Yep. Yep. I think it's hard to say otherwise at this point, just based on form and.
00:56:34
Speaker
Yes, we are. We absolutely are. I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will,
00:56:53
Speaker
Yeah. The one thing I just want, I wish, and I know there'll be always the Star Wars that don't get over it in which case I'm not talking to them, but I just need people to get beyond the whole
00:57:07
Speaker
We want to play England rugby bullshit. You want to play a rugby that puts points on the boards and puts W's in the column? No? Did I miss that part? Isn't that not one of the important things? It's not like you get extra points for playing your way. In fact, in a lot of time cases, you don't. You lose points because you're missing out on points. I agree.
00:57:29
Speaker
But fuck, he was good. And then I got to say, so then to complete our, our, the wager, and again, this is all barring injury. Um, Will Joseph has to play some part in this six nation. I mean, to me, if I'm looking at based on this weekend, um, first off, there was no England wings on the team. Somehow. I don't know. I didn't really see many that were terribly impressive. Um, but.
00:57:53
Speaker
To me, the 10, 12, 13 is Smith, Lawrence, and Joseph, and I am sleeping very well. If you don't, if I'm bored though, that's who I'm putting out there, and I'm not losing a minute sleep over those three. I don't see it. I don't see anyone even up to that level elsewhere. That's England qualified. Two Marcus's credit.
00:58:18
Speaker
We know he is this attacker. He's got wonderful attacking instincts. And you leave a gap. Marcus will find it, whether it's with his feet or with the pass. He'll find it. What he has added in recent times, and I would say before the season, but definitely showed it this season.
00:58:39
Speaker
in the, in the wins that he's gotten against Lester against sale is the tactical kicking, which has been something that people are very critical about. Yup. But you know, you talk about two teams that love to just bash and he was able to get them, you know, looking, turn around doing one eighties and three sixties trying to find the ball because he was kicking them behind so well. Yes. So if that's your, if that's your sticking point between,
00:59:06
Speaker
Yeah. And we won't get into the comparison too much here, but that's your sticking point between Smith and Ford. All right. Ford has the experience. Smith has got the instincts and really for me, if I need a guy that, you know, is going to just put points on the board, attack and make sure that we come away with, you know, teams are going to have to outscore us, but you have, you have Seinfeld's defense too. So.
00:59:31
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You can put 24 on the board. Well, and then you are probably set if you're if the defense is as good as that you say it is. Speaking of defense, Mirka Smith made some excellent tackles on the on the on the wings. He was smashing guys into touch. What was it, Imoph, that he that he dragged to save a try? I believe so. That should have been a tie. And then who else did he smash? Oh, Arendelle. Arendelle, he put him in a touch, too. Yep. Bonaled him in. Not so much. By the way,
01:00:01
Speaker
what you call it, sorry to interrupt. Ultimatums don't work well on people, by the way, just FYI. Arendelle has just proven that very, very true. Right, exactly. Yeah, I'm going to sign for two more years here because I'll play. Money money! That's the thing, you won't play for England, okay? Like right now, that's not so much of a
01:00:26
Speaker
And it's like, oh, I won't have that honor, you say? OK. Nobody cares. Don't worry about it, guys. And then people worry about it. Yeah, he was smashing people. Yeah, he really was. And so it's like when you can do all those things, he's really developing into like an all around rugby player. And that's even scarier now. And that's why you play him when he's young till he gets there.
01:00:52
Speaker
Now you have him for like, he could be your fly half for the next 10 years. Easily. You don't set it and forget it. Don't even have to worry about it. And, you know, honestly with before as we didn't talk about it so much, but Finn Smith to me is it's, it's the Smith machine at, um, at 10 Finn and Marcus. And, um, yeah, no matter what you're thinking of in terms of, in terms of that, like you need to,
01:01:23
Speaker
look at him and look at Finn Smith and get him some time. Like you really do. Yeah. Because there's going to be time. I think it's hard to say otherwise. Especially this is the time to do it in this World Cup cycle. Because he's what, 20 right now? 21 maybe? Something like that. He's in his low 20s either way, so. Either way. And Marcus is like 23, 24.
01:01:49
Speaker
Mm hmm. Like, these are guys you want around for a while. And yeah, you're gonna you have to sacrifice with that. But you still have George Ford. And you still have, you know, Farrell obviously will be around. He's not he's not dead yet. He's just taking a step back. But like, you've got you know, you've got some mentors there that can help these guys through it. Right. And you know, this tell me a better team.
01:02:20
Speaker
to prove your medal against equal but not better than New Zealand in New Zealand. Right. Because I believe England are slated to do that this summer. Oh, that'll be fun. Let's see it. Right. So you want to prove who's got the best.
01:02:44
Speaker
And maybe, maybe he falters, but you know what? Let's find out. Let's find out. That's the number one thing at this point. You want to find out who your fly off is going to be next six nations, not the six nations, but next six nations going into the lion's tour and all that shit. Like you want, like next six nations is important only because you, it's going to really prove who's going on the lions tour that following year. So yes, you're going to probably play your best team the following year, less so. And then the next year going into the world cup. So.
01:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, you want to prove it? That's one way to do it right there. Perform against New Zealand. Yes, they're going to be missing some guys because guys aren't sabbatical. Have you noticed that that's still a factory down there? Yeah. It's still going to get a decent squad that they'll play with. Bowden Barrett's still there. Yeah. And he signed for at least the next few years with the Blues.
01:03:33
Speaker
You're going to at least get him. I know Richie's gone, but it doesn't mean that you don't drop off a ton between Richie and Barrett. So, and who knows what new fresh face comes through with super rugby this year as well. So yeah. Okay. Twist my arm. All that shit. Go on Marcus. Do your thing.
01:03:57
Speaker
I mean, it was honestly just to the point where like, a lot of the other guys were kind of like, channel cutting himself, I thought was was a fucking terror out there. Will Evans was was amazing. Dom Brant. This we need to see more of this from him. Esther Hazen had himself a pretty damn good, good game. And even like in that back three,
01:04:19
Speaker
kind of didn't get much of a chance to threaten and feel like so much. But it's like still there was it was really like this was soft flashes between like all three of them. I remember seeing flashes from certainly, certainly, you know, there's just like he was shining over all of them, like combined. Even I really the one I the player I feel really bad about in all of this is like Eric, who was fan equally amazing.
01:04:48
Speaker
Fantastic. The kid needs, hey Fabian, Fabian, Fabian, Fabian, hello? Like give him a call, man. Cause that's somebody that needs to be in and around your squad. I don't know if he's, I represent French eligible. I assume he is cause he's been playing for, for wrestling for so long at this point, but goddamn.
01:05:08
Speaker
Give him a call, man, especially the same thing. You're going to know DuPont this year. He's going to be easy. He's off to play sevens. I can't wait for that. Like, yeah. Figure out what else you have. Because if we're honest, is Maxine Luku a great answer? That's not Anton DuPont.
01:05:26
Speaker
He's okay. He's not bad. He's too serviceable. Let's find something that's next level though. That's the thing. And this, this, again, this is the time to do it. So for his sake, I hope that Gauthier's got his heads on or has the right people in his ear saying like, Hey, this guy over at La Defense yesterday, man, he's good. We, we need to put him down on our shortlist for nines to call up when Anton's away. Like that's, that's how it should be honestly.
01:05:56
Speaker
and for and for no i think that's i hope that's how it is hey look at us we didn't go that far over well done nicely done not too bad not too bad at all
01:06:15
Speaker
Can't wait for round two. Yeah. Bring it on for round two. So we are going to head over to, um, fantasy corner time over here. Um, if you're not coming over there, we appreciate you for hanging out with us. Um, enjoy round two champions cup. And thank you for listening to us about, we'll have a good one later. Cheers.