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Season 4- Episode 12- Thankful and Grateful (Autumn Internationals Week 3)
32 Plays4 years ago
It's those American rugby fools that you all know, but perhaps don't necessarily love. We had a heck of a weekend and there's plenty to chew on wit this episode of TFRY. On this edition, we have a glance at the Babas squads, AfroLycia in the house! We also have a look at the center combinations in the Premiership and how they stack up at this current time to one another. Naturally, we have a look at the international matchups from this past weekend, which included some absolute gems. Finally though, we take turns to give thanks and show our gratitude for what we have, especially in the rugby universe. Kick back and have one with us friends!
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Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Thanksgiving Eve and Football Festivities
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Welcome in. It is Thanksgiving Eve over here in the United States. So we're about to eat a shitload of food tomorrow. Yep. And I will feel no shame. Nope. You can't shame me into feeling bad. Sorry. I love I love my food, man. Right. We don't need to reason to, but.
00:00:27
Speaker
No, that's that's always true. I don't need a reason to eat more food. But if you're if you insist, yeah, excuse is welcome. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a bunch of food and watch a bunch of football. Yeah, it's a holiday over here. So we don't do shit. But since I'm not gonna do shit, we definitely need to drink. Oh, hell yeah.
Engagement Reminder: Rate and Review Us
00:00:53
Speaker
Obviously, you want to find us on your favorite podcast apps, download rate review, send feedback, as we always welcome it. And all that good stuff. Caught unawares on the beer for some somehow. I don't know how. It's like we've never done this before or something. Yeah, right. No beers. No beers ever.
00:01:14
Speaker
by our friend George the fantasy where we eat a coffee. We have got TRM swinging back into form. And if you were participating in the Autumn Nations fantasy, you probably got some very helpful tips for the last few weeks as well. So even if it's just for that, he's worth it. I promise. He's probably earned just corn on that one for sure. Grab your TRM upgrades. As I said, TRM is back in full swing coming up this week.
00:01:38
Speaker
You're going to want those things for the simple reason of knowing who's out, especially after this week with all the internationals and the beat up this of everybody and also the buys that helps you. Yeah, it'll be huge this weekend because there will be some who played in the internationals who will still play this weekend. And then there will be some who won't. So yeah, there'll be some that need a day off. Can I get a week off possibly?
00:02:02
Speaker
Certainly we feel that don't want to blame them. Right. Basically anybody that plays on that probably. Yeah. Even more so than that, like even some of the guys who didn't play so much, you might be like, Oh, they, you know, you know, they, they, they might, you know, be ready to jump right back into action action. But I mean, we all know that Eddie's camps are a bitch. Yeah. Be back sounds like they're pretty hard too.
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah. So they, you know, they were working hard, even if they weren't playing, you know, likely minutes, likely. Yep. Yep.
Black Lives Matter and Justice Discussions
00:02:36
Speaker
Um, as always black lives matter on this podcast and everywhere. There is no room for racism. Um, a mixed bag with some outcomes in the country. Yeah. One was to go. Yeah. Um,
00:02:52
Speaker
I mean, yeah, the, the Wisconsin one was just a fucking sham. Yeah. I don't get it. I don't get how you can have a gun. You're not supposed to have travel across state lines, shoot some people. And then because after you've shot people, one person raises gun to you, you get to claim self-defense. I don't, I don't get it. I don't know where we are.
00:03:18
Speaker
No, I'm with you on that one. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. Apparently, he could still face federal charges, which would only do be justified. I hope so. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, it just opened the the precedent that was set is poor. And that's the thing that is the ultimate thing. And yes, those people deserve justice. But
00:03:39
Speaker
oppressing that it's not set as you got, you could have a lot of vigilantes out there doing things that they need to be doing. It's if this is bad for, for protests everywhere. It does. It's a speech might not be so freedom. Oh, right. And yeah, that's kind of that. That's pretty scary. So hopefully, hopefully the feds bring charges and and set that right. So don't know, don't really be too smart.
00:04:04
Speaker
But then we saw some justice today. And to me, it's incredible that the justice that we saw in the Ahmed Aubrey case, like this is Georgia. This is like Georgia, Georgia. I did not bank on this. And they got convicted almost across the board. Everyone got 10 hours of deliberation, which is if you're keeping score, that's not a lot of time. No, especially for there were like
00:04:33
Speaker
20 or so charges total spread out among the three people, maybe more. So you got to figure that's a little bit of talking about, you know, each one out because they worked. There were a couple of ones. I think there were like three or four. The father, the son, was found not guilty of the worst
00:04:55
Speaker
murder charge, but then got convicted on the other like five or six. Yeah. And he's like 70. So he's going to go. Right. So good for that. And then the even the guy who they kind of brought on, I don't think he fired a shot, still was convicted of like three of the seven that he faced. Right. Something like something along those lines. So and then the the biggest asshole of the bunch, the son, the son, what a fucker, got convicted of all of them. The fucker.
00:05:24
Speaker
So amazing to see in Georgia. And I'd like to see that the people talking about how this isn't justice, justice would be reaching a point where this doesn't happen. No, I do agree with that. No, I do agree with that.
00:05:38
Speaker
And the reason that we do the Black Lives Matter segment on the show is because we do need to reiterate as often as possible that black men like Ahmed Aubrey had to have to go out every day into the world fearing for their lives because it could end. And it could be these fucking hicks in Georgia who
00:06:00
Speaker
just think, hey, let's shoot them for no other reason. And for years, decades, centuries, it's just been legal to do it. This whole whatever bullshit story they came up with for the judge and jury, yeah, sure, that makes sense.
00:06:21
Speaker
It doesn't, so hopefully that's a marker in a good way. It sets down that marker for the bigots and, you know, rural Georgian white folk and others who, you know, think it's okay just to shoot someone for the color of their skin that, no, it's not. No, man. No, no, no, no, that's it. It's the first step towards a true just society. So hopefully that's... We're getting there, hopefully. Yeah, hopefully it's a momentum.
00:06:51
Speaker
You don't come out on our side here. Yeah, please. Come on over, Uncle Mo. We miss you.
Thanking Patrons: Benefits of Joining
00:06:58
Speaker
As always, we like to thank our patrons. And if you have not gotten your Patreon account for the Tea for Eyes, you should because we'll talk about it later in the fancy corner. But one patron's managed to do himself quite a bit of justice with the TRM. His TRM scores are late. So, yeah, grab that. Yeah.
00:07:20
Speaker
You might have to worry about restricting membership at some point. If they start beating me, now we're going to have some problems. Nah. If they're beating you, I'm not doing that. No. No, it's good. No, it's great. And it's obviously helpful for the smart investor to
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, get a little bit of that extra information that you don't get just, you know, you'd have to do a lot more work on your own to get a lot of this stuff because it's not readily available. Yeah, agreed. All right, let's talk about some fun stuff.
Barbarians Teams: Retired Players and Diversity
00:08:00
Speaker
The Babas have been named for this coming weekend for both teams.
00:08:03
Speaker
It is such a great tradition to continue and, um, some really fun names are getting thrown around on both teams. Right. From all over the world too, which is great to have. I mean, that's obviously the point of the barbarians, but you know, all these, these players to play with players that they probably never would. Um, otherwise, yeah, totally. Yeah. And we're going to see, this'll be the last game for Rob Carney.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yes, it will. And that's right that I saw that that he tweeted that out and that's that's so cool. Yeah, to end your career and with the.
00:08:41
Speaker
with a fun match and a fun experience, like the variants. Absolutely. Excellent. Yeah. No, I totally agree. So it'll be fun. Um, yeah. Like just to see some of these names combined, lots of Japanese names, which, uh, which I'm really excited about, you know, I hope we see more of those names get mixed into the, to this team. That'll be, that'll be so much fun. You know, they deserve it totally. And then, um, for the women, well, we got a couple of, uh,
00:09:09
Speaker
good old USAers that are in there as well. I hope Roger is out there. Afrolicia. Afrolicia. I'm always going to be happy for her. I've shared the field and administrative duties with her at enough times, but it's nice to see her doing so well. And our girl, Simi Pam.
00:09:31
Speaker
Yes. Love that. Rocky Clark, Cope Rogers, and Simi Pam on one team as an American.
Women's Barbarians: Representation and Excitement
00:09:40
Speaker
I'm really happy to see that. Those are two fucking legends that Hope Rogers gets to learn from.
00:09:49
Speaker
you know, just to hang around with for a little bit. Yeah. And one that's just an absolute banger and one that is a fucking speedster and hope is like leaning towards that banger side as a prop. But if she leaned herself out, she could she could be a CME Pam. So maybe maybe this this helps with that with that department, too, because really her only competition to get to the US is American props, which
00:10:17
Speaker
Not that great, not going to be that great. So she gets to play with, with, with two legends right there. Yeah. Can't confirm on that one. Um, we have a, uh, we have a Spaniard in the team, uh, Rico, Isabella, Rico Vasquez. That's, that's going to be, that's, that's awesome. I mean, again, we're talking about the Japanese on the men on the women, you know, to see something like that is really cool. Uh, you know, a country that's not necessarily known for the rugby, but the, the women are certainly starting to put their flag down. So that's really cool.
00:10:47
Speaker
and Mo hunts in this one. That's awesome too. Yeah, she is a, she is, she's a, she's a riot. I like her. I do like her a lot. So that's, that's really cool. So yeah, great to see, see these teams still going and just a whole lot of fun involved. And there's nothing, the Baba's are a thing that everybody loves.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yep. And it's good to get more Americans. And there's a Canadian in there, too. A couple Canadians, I should say. So good to see some Eastern Hemisphere representation. Or Western Hemisphere, whatever. I get them right one of the time, one of these days. Yeah, Western Hemisphere.
00:11:32
Speaker
Western Western as well. Exactly. Don't die. All right. So it's so we've done a lot of position rankings, whether it's global, you're in the permission, specifically, from one European right here, I think once upon a year.
00:11:48
Speaker
Centers were something we never explored too heavily, but I think it's a conversation worth having because there are a lot of good pairs of centers out there, especially if you consider teams top options 9 times out of 10. There's a lot of poop out there too. There's a little bit there.
00:12:11
Speaker
So I'll just kind of read what I have down and we can decide. For Bath, JJ, and then either Ojomo or Redpath, they're one of those three. So we can make that decision. Yeah, I'd say their whole top four makes them pretty solid. I think take that into account. I don't see any top-end players there yet. I mean, we know Redpath, yeah. Could be there, yeah.
00:12:33
Speaker
That's one of those, like, they're better than the bad teams, but they're not top end. None of them really individually are top flight at the moment. So it's like, yeah, good, but not setting the world on fire. And then for Bristol, it's Piers and Rads more than likely.
00:12:51
Speaker
Right. Let's lay you in in the mix. Yeah. Because he's playing there. Yeah. Exeter devoted once laid. I don't think there's a question about that really at this point. And Hendrix into the backup. That's that's that's probably it there. Yep. Gloucester Atkinson and Harris. I'd say it's probably your your answer that one with 12 trees floating around if he's still healthy. Absolutely. Yep. Quinn's it's the big Andre and Marchant.
00:13:16
Speaker
Northmore floating around. I mean, I'm adding that to for, you know, I'm at, obviously I'm adding on here cause of the, I want to take a little bit more than that. Cause you know, if that's the future backup is Northmore coming in. All right. And then for Lester, it's Dan Kelly and Matt Scott. And then you throw in as you're, you've been thrown in Maroney, you know? Yeah. Maroney. Oh, that's true. Maroney there. Yeah.
00:13:39
Speaker
You know, so there's that as well, uh, for the exiles, it's probably, it's probably run it and have team at this point. Yeah. That's what I would go with. Yeah. Um, not a whole lot else to add on. It's been showing all right there too, but he's got a long way to go. Yeah. He's got a long way to go. Uh, Newcastle, Lukak and Ben Stevens is probably the answer. Um, at this point in terms of at least that's the one that gets probably played, played the most.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. And sometimes they'll do the wokoki koki with Stevenson on the wing to throw it in there. So, yeah, there's there's there's options there. Yeah. Northampton right now, I have Proctor and Danes, but you still have Pierce Francis. You still have Hodge. Right. There's a lot to be had at that point. That's a deep that's a deep center. Yeah. That's one of those where you got to respect the depth there, because if they decide to throw, you know, even the two backups there in there, it's still pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
00:14:31
Speaker
The sale really, the only thing I come up with is like two Ian Sam James. That's probably it. Yeah. Well, it's really two E. And then who knows who else? Yeah. Saracen's, it's probably laws and Tom. Oh, I don't think there's too much of a question there.
00:14:46
Speaker
I mean, maybe daily. He might play 13. Yeah. We'll see where the hell they stick them. We'll see tomorrow morning what they decide to do with them, I think. Right. No show. Because he's fit. So I'm guessing he's playing. Although they might not put the line up until Friday. Oh, true. That's true. Yeah, no fair this week. That's true. They'll definitely play them in centers. I would guess this week. Yeah. If he's available.
00:15:13
Speaker
I mean, none of these guys are healthy. Odago and Fakitoa, Gopper, some combination of that. A guy we haven't seen any daylight of is Ryan Mills for Woss, which would be, holy shit, haven't seen him forever. So there's that, too. And if I remember, Spink actually looked pretty good before he got hurt. He broke, too. Yeah. Woss just no one in the middle there. Yeah. And then.
00:15:38
Speaker
Wooster with Venter and Lawrence, which is, again, probably a little bit of an underrated combo, but man, that's pretty good, too. And honestly, again, I'm going to add Ollie Morris into the mix there, and I'm very pleased with that. That's a solid option right there.
00:15:57
Speaker
probably a little bit better than that. I'd rate them a little higher than Beth. I mean, we'll get to it, but like, yeah, certainly not. You could do worse, which, which is weird because it's Worcester and you pretty much can't do worse. No, you can't. So to start with the bottom, we have to put sale at the bottom. Yes. Oh yeah. There's nobody there with, with not a whole lot to offer at the moment.
00:16:17
Speaker
And then after that, it actually kind of gets hard. It really does. Because there's like the top team, the team, you know, the Saints and the Harlequins to me are the top two. I think Quinn's goes one with. Yeah. The way Esther Hazen's is playing and Joe Martian just between the two of them. Yep. And then the possibility of throwing a Northmore into that combination when you need to is just. Yep.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty good. So I think they have to go top and then I think you're right. I think Northampton is right there. I would pose the next two would probably be, I would say the next three off the top of my head just because of form and what I've seen would be something of the Saracens Worcester and Lester combination.
Premiership Rugby Center Pairings Analysis
00:17:03
Speaker
I do like the Kelly Scott combination. They're wildly underrated and they've become almost an impossible thing to run through.
00:17:11
Speaker
For right now, yeah, they're they're they're up there. Yeah, I mean, I'm not I'm not really thrilled with with any of those. I mean, I first off, I'm thinking Bristol on on name recognition, except they're, you know, peers isn't playing well and Sammy is out. No, yeah, that's my problem for a long time.
00:17:30
Speaker
Ideally, they're they're like number three, but now an ideal day. Yeah, right. I think the Irish deserve consideration with those teams, too, that you put in probably. So you probably put them ahead of Bristol only because they're healthy right now. Yeah, exactly. They're actually playing. Yeah, you know, I think the best of that bunch is still, you know, and that's this might be my bias is Lazowski and Tom, especially Lazowski, the way he's been playing like the guys been lights out.
00:17:59
Speaker
I agree. And again, you have the.
00:18:03
Speaker
He used to have daily around like roaming around there, too. It's that's, you know, Tomo in the in the international world is not going to be, you know, your your first choice of a defensive center. But he's actually pretty good in the prem. So, I mean, you know, when we're talking about, you know, premiership, not international. Oh, hell, yeah. Like he said, he's absolutely, you know, top class for for the prem centers. So, yeah.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to like I'm trying to like, you know, throw some cold water on this, but at the same time for for the Prem, they're actually really good. So yeah, no, I do agree with that. So then do we put. Who comes after that? We got Irish, we have we have Gloucester, we have Leicester, we have Worcester, we have Exeter. I like Irish ahead of Leicester. OK. I because Leicester, they're they're good.
00:19:00
Speaker
Um, but it's like, when they want to throw a ball at them, you know, really run someone up the middle, they'll bring in the Dolo, which I mean, of course you're going to do that. Um, yeah, but it's not like they can keep Ndolo out on the wing because that, and they're not really making up the speed either. So yeah, I'm not, they're solid. They're very, very good. It's just, I think that they're more like role players.
00:19:26
Speaker
And I'd like from a top for just for a top flight team, you know, for, you know, if you're talking about a top flight center parent, they're what Lester need, but it's not like they're they're the, you know, any kind of crown jewel or anything.
00:19:37
Speaker
No, but they're they're they're definitely a solid son of a parent, pairing the every team would would put their hand up and say, we'll take them if you had if you had the option to. Because I think the Irish, those guys can take over, you know, Rona can take over a game and just be like, yeah, this is mine. And Hepatoma has shown flashes of that, too. Yeah. Whereas, you know, Matt Scott and Kelly, like they can they can do really well, but they're not it's not you're not going to be like, wow, that was the Dan Kelly. You know, the Matt Scott, it was like, yeah, they're good.
00:20:08
Speaker
Very good. Yeah. Atkinson and Harris or Venter and Lawrence. I take Venter and Lawrence personally. I like Atkinson, but
00:20:22
Speaker
No, I do think on the wrong side of 30. I think if you look at Lawrence and Harris, they're probably almost a dead draw, even though they're very different players. Yeah. If you're rating them, they're probably the closest. So then it comes down to how much you like Atkinson or Venter. So yeah, I do agree. Yeah, I like Venter a lot. And I'm not a huge fan of Atkinson. Yeah, that's where, you're right. Good analysis. Yeah, that's probably where that one goes. So do we slip the Bristol pair in there afterwards?
00:20:51
Speaker
That's what I think that's where the change over happens. Yeah. Where you go from like, okay, this is the good, this is the, these are the quality ones too. There's room for growth. Yep. And I've got, I've got new castle just above, above sale as there as the next pair. Cause they at least have two operational centers that know what to do sometimes. Right. Um, so then it's down to exit or bath loss. What does that order look like?
00:21:18
Speaker
between them, but somewhere near the bottom there. And not to say that they're bottom. Well, I'd still have sales at the bottom. I'd still have. No, I understand that. No, no, no. Sales still last. No question. And then you can also write about them. Okay. Gotcha there. And then so that I like, you know, so we had, we have bath and wasps, wasps and Exeter, Exeter. I'm not a huge fan of the Exeter centers. Even in a slate, I'm not even a, I, I,
00:21:43
Speaker
a great fan of his at the prem level. He does this job, he does it well. To me, he's not, I don't know. Like I said, I'm trying to qualify it without being like, no, he sucks, because he obviously does not. He's very good, but he's not great, but that's why they're down there. I'm trying to justify them being at the bottom of that, but I really can't. It's hard to, right? It's hard to, because he does make up for a lot.
00:22:12
Speaker
I think based on health, we have to put WOS just above Newcastle, unfortunately. I agree. I think there will be. Because we haven't seen these guys play together for a long time, so... No. I don't know that we've seen... We've seen only a couple matches, anyway, of Fectatella and Odago together, so... Right. They were very good. But there's only still a couple matches, so... Yeah, they're at the bottom. So is it Bath Exeter or Exeter Bath?
00:22:41
Speaker
I guess I'll go exit. I'll respect Exeter here. I'll give them a little bit of the respect and say they're better. Cause I think Slade is better than anyone that bath have. Yeah. And Devoto was like right around the same. So, and then is a good X factor that Clark and Ojomo have had, have been.
00:23:03
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. So there we go. Queens, Northampton, Saracens, London, Irish, Leicester, Worcester, Gloucester, Bristol, Exeter, Bath, Wasch, Newcastle sale. Now that's obviously all very fluid and all dependent on your lens and all that shit. But yeah,
00:23:20
Speaker
That's a right now. That's I'd say I'd say the very top and the very bottom are the correct parts. Everything else in the middle is probably very much interpretation. Yeah, I go top two and bottom one are absolutely like, you know, agree there. OK, you know, well, I can't imagine why. Yeah, other than that, no. Yeah, no, no. OK. Scotland and Japan start with our final week of the other nations.
00:23:48
Speaker
You know, you feel for Japan because they talked about it like they don't play much, you know, and it took them until probably this game to really start to feel like they they started to play well, you know, and that sucks. Because of course, they're still now because of course, Scotland is two steps ahead of them because they've played, you know, plenty of tests, although they didn't play a whole lot this summer. So much because they had COVID issues. But in general, like since
00:24:18
Speaker
since the world cup, you know, compare the number of matches that Scotland's played compared to the number of matches that Japan's played. Right. It's pretty lopsided. So and this was also Japan getting their their really their top line players back for this one, too, that they hadn't been playing.
00:24:38
Speaker
Like him didn't him and I'll start this one. I'm looking for the lineup again. Yes, he did. I will double check where he was number eight. Yeah, he was eight. And Leach played this one. And that's a big you can't really understate the value that Michael Leach has to a team.
00:24:58
Speaker
just really a glue type player and that's enough sometimes to really change their fortunes and change how they played it together.
00:25:09
Speaker
I was kind of disappointed that Scotland only beat him by nine, given all those things that you mentioned. But at the same time, Japan really brought this match, as you said. Yes, yes. In ways that they really didn't, the last couple. No, and it was really unfortunate. To give you the level of what kind of maverick Finn Russell is, he was ready to go for the corner when kicking right in front of the post was going to put his team up nine.
00:25:36
Speaker
I was like, geez, he really just wants to go for it and say, screw everybody else. I mean, you know, I'm not going to criticize him for that. You know, I'm the absolute drive the dagger in state keeps them, you know, make them work all the way back up the field if they have to like give you to give them nothing. Yeah, but
00:25:58
Speaker
That's, you know, that's just me and Finn. Yeah. So yeah, I was just like, he is trying, he is begging Stewart Hogg. No, I want to go for the corner. And he just regretfully puts the T down and knocks it through. I was like, wow, you really are. That, that, that, I mean, he speaks to his personality, obviously, and the way he wants to play, which is benefit to Scotland nine times out of 10. So it is, you know,
00:26:24
Speaker
Although in the end, that that is the correct decision because it wasn't to be fair to be fair. It was only a six point lead, which means Japan could still win if, if, you know, some ridiculousness happens. If Roman entomac decides to jump on the field real quick and run one out. Right. Fuck. You never know. So we made a terrible decision. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Then Stuart, Stuart right now he's on, on the field for two seconds and he freaking gets one. It's over. Yep. The hell man.
00:26:54
Speaker
I don't know, man. I don't know what's up with that. But yeah, this is a good step up from step in for the Japanese. But unfortunately, just it didn't work out the way they wanted it to. And a lot of people would probably agree with that. Unfortunately, you know, the there's a lot there to like.
00:27:14
Speaker
for this team, but they need to play more often. That is just a simple fact that they need to. That's how it is. Even look at the U.S. We have we have the American Rugby Championship, which is a B-level tournament. No question. But at the same time, like we have that. And that's and that's definitely helped us in a lot of ways. And obviously we haven't shown it quite as well as we should have, although the countries that we play against have certainly showed it at this point, more so Chile and Uruguay being the two two ones that come to mind.
00:27:43
Speaker
Uh, Chile, I mean, we're not going to talk about the match in any detail, because I don't think either of us could see it, but Chile beat Russia. Right. Uh, I woke up qualifier more often than not in Russia. So it's like, yeah, this is, um, you know, the, the.
00:27:59
Speaker
Western Hemisphere rugby is actually, you know, it's, it's, it's not a joke really either at this point. Although it just is in the US and Canada, apparently. But yes, like to that point. Yeah.
00:28:15
Speaker
It's common and that helps, you know, that's partially, you know, tournaments like that or why, you know, there's other tournaments down South too, or why Chile are growing because they get to play against, you know, the Puma's second side and stuff, maybe not in the last couple of years or so, but... Right, but in general, like we have that tournament in place to play. So, yeah, it's really like for us to have something like that to play and Japan to have nothing seems a little bit off.
00:28:45
Speaker
I think we both can agree on that.
England vs South Africa: Strategic Flaws and Highlights
00:28:49
Speaker
All right, over to Dandy of a match at Twickenham, England and South Africa. I mean, so much good quality going both ways and I was watching it and I was actually watching it with a couple of the kids I coached and they're like, wow, England started to run away with this. I'm like, yeah, watch what happens next.
00:29:12
Speaker
If you are not disciplined against the South African team, especially while Pollard's on the field, you will pay. And it doesn't seem like a lot, but the way they do it is exactly the way they were going for it. It almost worked again, you know, anything.
00:29:26
Speaker
It did annoy me that, like, at half, obviously, when Eddie got to get his his chance to talk to the team, they came out in the first 20 minutes, second half England, that is, and just kind of sat on the closed up. Yep. And it's like that just plays right into South Africa's hands.
00:29:45
Speaker
and obviously that we saw that on the scoreboard reflected until suddenly England had to attack again and then they just dominated again. It was like the first 40 minutes England were cruising and then after half it just felt like they kind of stalled and then they let South Africa come back in the game and
00:30:07
Speaker
And ultimately had to scramble to win at the end and could, but it's like, maybe just keep making South Africa uncomfortable. You know, don't, don't let them just calm the game down. Cause that's when they, you know, rocket asleep and then my pimpy goes over because that's what happens. Right. You know.
00:30:26
Speaker
And there's two players that neither you or I really love on England and they continue to play. And this game needs to be like the case in point about how poor they are, especially against a team like this. This is the defending world champions. Do you not want to beat them eventually? Yes, you do. Yeah. You know, and some of their mistakes nearly cost them in the end. And they got really lucky that didn't. Ben Young's and Johnny May just both had horrid games. Unfortunately, because of Tui's injury, they couldn't pull May off. Right.
00:30:54
Speaker
But they could at least get Young's off and be like, yeah, you suck. I'm putting a 20 year old kid on. Yeah, he was he was of low quality. And, you know, I've heard the only argument in his favor to play him is that he's a veteran and he doesn't make mistakes. Well, guess what? You mean a lot of mistakes on Saturday? A buttload of mistakes to the point where like I'm like yelling at him. Well, because I think the
00:31:25
Speaker
England did like a quick line out and swung it out to, and somehow he, you know, may got it and they had people outside of him, whatever. And it's like, just Johnny, give it up because you're better than you give it up. They're better than you. And he didn't, he took it in like nothing happened from it. And it's like, even, you know, just realize that you're not having your best game that day and get it to the players who are, cause it's, it was like Freddy Stewart and Max Maylands are out there and it's like,
00:31:49
Speaker
If you inform in that day, I want either of those other two touching the ball, not Johnny May. And he didn't know enough to... I think he went, no, I need to be Johnny May again. It's like, dude, that Johnny May was gone three years ago. Like, that doesn't... He's never coming back.
00:32:07
Speaker
Nobody wants that here. Yeah, so I'm really hoping that this is one of the last we see him. I hope this opens Eddie's eyes a little bit that, oh, maybe some young players can actually do some things and trust them because
00:32:21
Speaker
Shit. Yeah, it was, you know, Freddie Stewart scores, quirky scores, Smith, you know, perfect off the tee with the big clangers, even though it was fairly easy kick, but still that. Yeah, but the kicks he was hitting off on the he didn't miss a kick in the match and he had some tough ones. He did. He did. The two we try one was right in the corner.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's a pain in the ass to hit. And case in point, though, Matt, my Pimpy scores in the corner and they can't convert it because Elton Yachtsis is garbage. So right, you know, you know, there's that too. So that's the difference in the match. Yeah, it is. It's a one point match. So each of those kicks.
00:33:00
Speaker
matters in a match like that. Totally. 100%. Yeah. And to your point, you said, why, why the hell didn't Fran Steen take and you take the first one? I was like, you're actually asking a good question because I don't know. Yeah. That's one for Nina about to answer on that one. And then we had a couple. So we had a couple of instances that not many agreed on.
00:33:21
Speaker
The first one being the Charlie Ewell's no card. And I was on penalty only with that. And I think the result is fine because they ended up getting a penalty for something else anyway. I said it before, I want to penalize actions, not outcomes. And yeah, that's about caught one in the beak.
00:33:40
Speaker
But you know, you'll see his knees are already sinking. He's trying to get low. Right. I mean, if there's any, if there's any, he was cutting Etsibeth in half. If Etsibeth moved forward and instead of moving forward, he just flopped over. Right. And like kind of intentionally dropping, you know, to try to push through and it's like,
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's he was he was ready to catch him. Yeah, the outcome was that's Beth got, you know, like you said, a little facial, but it was never the intent. And it was always a safe. He was always in a safe tackle spot. It wasn't like what we saw in the Australia Wales match, which we'll get to. Yeah. But that would that where there was like there was, you know, yeah, there was intent to tackle properly at some, you know,
00:34:25
Speaker
I am fully on board with if there's no attempt to be safe, yes. Fucking, you get the worst bit of it. Yeah, and we'll get to that as well later on. But when you're really trying to make it an honest attempt, that was clear and I thought that was pretty clear in this one. Yeah, I agree with that. And unfortunately, too, on the next one, and I'm sure he'll feel
00:34:51
Speaker
I think you'll look back on and understand why, but, you know, Khaleesi's yellow card was the right result. And honestly, Joe Marcia probably saved it from getting a red because he almost landed red on his dome. Right. And in the end of it, you're not going to get it. Just get your hands out. Be like, I'm not touching them. I'm not trying to touch them. Duck, if you have to. Something, you know.
00:35:12
Speaker
But in the end, he just he grabs them. And that that's only seen as a tackle in the air, unfortunately. And that's just where we're at with this with this with that with that area and that rule. So don't know what to tell you after that. So yellow card was probably the right because it wasn't intentful or anything like that. So I think also one other thing is I've been around a lot of
00:35:36
Speaker
rugby, I don't can you remember a time when they had forwards learning how to how to take a high ball? No, if I if I'm taking a ball off a kickoff, I'm probably not getting up there like Freddie Stewart can. Right. Right. And either way, you know, now we're actually getting to the point where, you know, you can lift in the net line out or in that the kick off. So it's like, yeah, OK, you just treat it like a lineup. All right. No big deal.
00:36:05
Speaker
But if you're not used to that, don't put yourself in that position. I get what he was trying to do, but because of how he did it, and he wasn't really trained to do it, and he really made a bad job of it. He put himself in position to take a yellow. And yeah, he deserved it because he tackled in the air. And he didn't really have a shot at the ball the way he was angled. And yeah, it was, you know,
00:36:31
Speaker
I think it was, it was an attempt to look like he was making an attempt at the ball and then he ended up tackling the guy in the air. Yep. Yellow. So that's, that's, you know, cost of doing business is one of her friends would say. Yeah, absolutely. And the rappy quirk try my kids, my kids were watching that match and I had stepped out of the room just for a second and all I hear is a huge, Oh,
00:36:53
Speaker
I was like, okay. That's got to be the raffy quirk try. So that's what that looked like the people that hadn't seen it before. That's kind of how it sounded in my house too. What a line. Like in looking back, we're just looking back on it today and
00:37:18
Speaker
It was just the perfect play, the perfect lines run against that defensive set. That was to give the crazy man some credit. That was Eddie Jones cooking that up based on what he saw with South Africa and what he had with his own team.
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, that allowed that they executed it perfectly and South Africa executed it per their South Africa executed their defense to perfection for what England we're trying to do.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yup. Yup. Yeah. And then one final note. And unfortunately this is something that we have to bitch about so much fucking flow. I can't do that. Dude. It's on the replay too. That's the shitty part. It's on the replay too. So I was watching it with the kids and they were in there and I was like, Oh, this is on the replay too. I'm sitting there hoping I can,
00:38:13
Speaker
And almost nothing happened. There was a Pollard penalty and Dombran came on. That was about the most. And Pollard came off. Those are probably the biggest events that happened. And I could follow that on Twitter. But still, like, fucking fuck, fuck, fuck. Come on, man. This is, you can't charge money and have something like that happen.
00:38:31
Speaker
So not when not when you're, you know, showing, I mean, I'm guessing they had something to do if they wanted to show a commercial or something, because that's what they've been doing. I know that's during during gameplay, like, you know, if they're shown a replay, they'll they'll put that in a little corner and show it. It's awful. Yeah. So I'm going to get this away from that probably. Yeah, so I'm going to get the fucking thing away from these guys because they're fucking screwing it up big time.
00:38:58
Speaker
Fuck them. Okay. Um, let's go over to the principality and Wales in Australia. Uh, another dandy as we were hoping for a couple of teams that have been, yeah, another, a couple of teams that had been riddled with injuries, obviously. Um, but yeah, came down, came down to squeaky bum time.
00:39:19
Speaker
It did. And again, a kick by of course, as as everyone called it, Reese Priestland winning, winning the match. Yeah, I had that in my crystal ball. That's for sure. Not a chance. Well, what we did, you know, people did have was Curly Beale with some sort of dagger maneuver late, which he did. Yeah. Wasn't enough, but he did it between. Well, between, you know,
00:39:46
Speaker
the break that he had and then nailing that penalty. I was just like, yeah, damn. Okay. Right. Oh man. Well, he, he, he only comes out for Wales matches. I guess so. Squidge, Squidge called it before the match too. He said, Oh, we're about 80 minutes from currently Beal killing us with a try at the end. And, um, it wasn't that exactly, but he did kick that 78 minute penalty to, to take the lead. Right. Um,
00:40:16
Speaker
Of course, this game marred by the... Okay, I shouldn't say marred. Marred by, well, kind of scrappy play and cards and deserved cards, not the fact that the cards... You know, I've seen too much complaining that, oh, cards ruin the game. No, they don't. Obviously, look at this. We had a red for Australia and they still almost won.
00:40:40
Speaker
And Valentini, always a straight red. Oh, it was so stupid. I was like, why are you that high, you dumb ass? Right. It was a horrible form, horrible tackle. And yeah, that's the cost of doing business too. You do something stupid like that. Yeah, you run the risk of getting sent off. Yeah. And you know,
00:41:01
Speaker
It's not to say that Mike Adamson is good. He's awful. Like, right. I'd rather have the Georgian guy than him, honestly, because Georgia guys got an excuse. He doesn't referee high-end matches constantly at this point. And he's got a lot of room to grow. Adamson has a lot of room to grow. He ain't growing. That's the problem. He's quite bad. Yeah. I'd rather have Holly Davidson out there really. Same. She's the best referee in Scotland. Right. So, yeah.
00:41:27
Speaker
Um, I realized she was busy, but still quite, but yeah, still bad, like very bad. Um, the, the Tompkins.
00:41:38
Speaker
knockdown trial. Here's the thing. Somebody out there is from Australia because Australia is a really good at bitching. Oh, yeah. Is is saying that that's illegal. I'm like, no, it's not. It's not declared a knock on. It's not illegal. It's fine. Right. You are allowed to knock. And like we saw there. Yes, there are plenty of Australians that were like Australians are going the direction of South Africa on this one. Not a great.
00:42:06
Speaker
Don't do that. Don't be the South Africans. Don't be the Seahawks fans. Just. Oh, God. Oh, lost. Was the referee good? No, he wasn't. Was he fair? Yes, he was. So it was about is about dead even. So right. Although, yes, the the yellow card on. Fuck, who was it? Thomas. Yeah, Thomas.
00:42:33
Speaker
probably could have been a red. It's just like his interpretation of it was he was attempting to wrap, which no, that was a swinging arm. It was a swinging arm and there was no need for him to be doing what he was doing because the player was on the deck. It was very much like a, not as, not anywhere near as bad as the Lavannini.
00:42:53
Speaker
um oh jesus no but like either way he had no no reason yeah i'll tell i was doing nothing with that with that play he didn't need to be touched right like nah you just wanted this to smack somebody which at this point you okay look you're you're within your rights to try to smack somebody when you think they're vulnerable stay away from the head yep definitely definitely definitely but i i don't think that that changed the outcome i don't think that that really
00:43:18
Speaker
I don't think it made a difference. No, there's a lot. Australia was they were burnt out from from all the work they had to do with a man down. It's not like they were, you know, and they came back as well as they did. I don't know that a man would have made that much of a difference for for another 10 minutes, because that's really all it was. It was, you know, he's still got the yellow that he was just allowed to come on for the last like eight or so. Yeah, and I got to give props to
00:43:47
Speaker
A couple of guys that, you know, have kind of put their hand up for Wales while these guys, while they've been suffering through the injuries. Ellis Junkins and Tyne Basham both looked the part. They did. I mean, Jenkins did before, has had a horrific time with injury. Tyne Basham's more new to the scene. But the two of them in this whole series, and Basham's the one that comes to mind because he's looked really good for every game since he's...
00:44:14
Speaker
Got in the nod. Um, yeah, the two of them like look great. So I would definitely anticipate seeing them come, uh, come February, March here. That's what Wales needed is more Lucy's. Yeah. Right. Well, I mean, apart from foul tell, I don't have it out now at eight. So true. Might be the one place that they can probably find a new spot there.
00:44:41
Speaker
Oh, man, I love watching this French team play so much. And this just put the icing on the fucking cake. I was like, Oh, this is so much fun. And I don't care who it's against, whether it was against frickin Romania or the all blacks. It was just so much fun to watch. Like, goddamn, that was just a joy. And I was like, this, this is fun. And
00:45:00
Speaker
You can see so many problems that have developed in the New Zealand camp from the last year. And it's really unfortunate to see. They'll fix it. I can promise you that they've got plenty of plenty of ways to fix it. But holy shit. Got problems aplenty just the same. Well, they need this was France. Not only did they do a good job of
00:45:23
Speaker
of attacking rugby and just being fucking relentless and keeping New Zealand totally up their own butts. They did a really good job shutting down the danger men from the Kiwis. And that's really, to me, the difference between
00:45:39
Speaker
what the Kiwis used to be and what they are. Like we talk about guys like, you know, Amaro Itojie, who can just decide this is my ball and you can't have it. Sam Whitelock used to be like that. Brody Ritalik used to be like that. And they're not quite like that anymore. The Flankers. Sam Kane confused me when he was made captain. Not that he's not a great player, but and I guess he's a fantastic leader.
00:46:07
Speaker
He was pretty invisible. Yep, absolutely. And it's not good when you have invisible flankers for New Zealand, because that's, you know, they're only invisible to the referee. Generally, that's the way they try and make them. So the fact that they're invisible to the spectator is not that's not a good thing. And I'd say the same for the centers, although, you know, you want to have that fucking beauty of a try. Yeah, but two pies. No, this was not his game. This is not his game.
00:46:36
Speaker
And it doesn't shock me, but... I know, because you're a big George Quintebayo fan over here. Right. But at the same time, like, he's not a player that New Zealand should have out there against France. He's, you know, he's the guy they put out there against, like, you know, Italy. Or, you know, or some other, you know, kind of... I was rather surprised that who really didn't get that nod, at least.
00:47:00
Speaker
Kavili himself is not, I'm not that impressed by him in this series. I would prefer him over to Paya. No, no question there. But you know, none of them, you know, there's not like a Sonny Bill who's who's really eaten up players and then distributing. Right. And there's not just a game crasher that they're, you know, gatecrasher that they've had to that they still have available, but kind of, you know,
00:47:24
Speaker
let walk for some reason. Yeah. That was silly to them. Yeah. Very silly to them. Like there's just plenty of, there's plenty of set of game breaking centers in New Zealand too. And they just really, you know, they had to bring a wing in to do it. So yeah, not great. Not great at all. Um, really, really sad that they had, um, number 20 there on the, on the bench. I was like, Oh, really? Why did we need to go to that? Like you don't, you don't, and you don't really need the wing either. Like they have so many groups.
00:47:54
Speaker
game breaking players. These aren't guys they really need. Nope. But on the other side, so much good things from this automations
France Triumphs Over New Zealand
00:48:04
Speaker
for France. And I realized that this was the most challenging game they played. So they only had to really get themselves up for this one. But
00:48:12
Speaker
There's a lot to love about this. Jamene, the Senate pairing that they just blooded, which is absolutely going to be, oh, man, I'm going to be so excited to watch that. Intimac plays at 10. There's no question about that. The Jelly Bear, Intimac, which is this terrifying thing because it's not like Jelly Bear is terrible. Right. And then Player of the Year, Anton DuPont, I don't think there's a question at this point.
00:48:39
Speaker
He's got to be. He's so good. I don't know. He's so fucking good. Yeah. He didn't belong there. No. Hoops. Haven't seen enough of it. Yes. He played really well. It's like a herd. Yeah. Played brilliantly in every match he's played and brilliantly in the TRC when he beat when they beat South Africa couldn't beat couldn't beat the All Blacks, though. Right. And I love Maro, but.
00:49:01
Speaker
Nope. It's got it. What's he done this year? Like he didn't play club. So yeah, no, no, he's not done well this year. So it's gotta be. Yeah, it's gotta be. Um, and what? Yeah. What a, what a performance he had that I mean, enough has been said about the into Mac run and the, and switch pass. Um, all I can say is if you're a coach
00:49:27
Speaker
get that clip and when, you know, talk about like this is this switch move that you like, you know, or the, you know, kind of a loop move that you want your players to be able to pass and that little, the pop pass that that's all that is, is a little pop pass.
00:49:41
Speaker
that he makes in that. He just leaves the ball there for his player to support to run onto it, like textbook stuff. And so many players can't do it. And it's super easy. It's not hard, but they just, nobody really understands it. It's like, they're looking at it. That's what it is. That's all it is right there. You just leave, you know, put it up in the air and keep running. That's it. Not a problem. Not a problem at all. And, you know, they did all this. They did this, this match in particular, without Charlie.
00:50:12
Speaker
Like, no, no, no, no, he's hurt right now. So, the rest of the world, be very afraid of this French team. You know, they said, you know, Gareth Edwards has obviously had a huge impact on this team because they can now play defense and
00:50:27
Speaker
here's the thing, like broken play is something that New Zealand love. So do France, right? They did it better. They did it better. So yeah, this is a lot of fun to watch. I can't wait to watch what this final thing comes in fruition when 2023 rolls around.
00:50:46
Speaker
Mm hmm. If there's another Northern Hemisphere team that's going to win the World Cup, I really think it's going to be France. I don't think it's going to be anybody else, but it could be England. I think they have to want they have to, like, you know, decide to do it. Yeah, they do not not to play England rugby, but they have decided to play World Cup winning rugby. Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see. But that was just France. France can just do it. Yes, they can. And then to Sunday, Ireland and Argentina.
00:51:12
Speaker
In the end, not a ton to say about this. The, I mean, the RG started off hot with the, was it the creditest try that was right away. Yeah. And then long, long, long after that.
00:51:25
Speaker
completely fell off. And, you know, Ireland were keeping them in it. It wasn't the other way around. Argentina weren't hanging on for dear life or doing a ton right. Ireland were doing a ton wrong. Right. It took them, yeah, it took them about 20 minutes still. Yeah, it took 10 minutes to break the seal. The vendor flew the first try. But after the Porter try, it was kind of in hand. So right. Because, yeah, they had that kind of put it away. And then
00:51:52
Speaker
Yeah, the Irish Institute didn't really threaten after that so much. Yeah, a lot of last-minute changes for Ireland, too. Ian Henderson dropped right before kickoff. Yeah, I found it. Yeah, same with shit.
00:52:08
Speaker
Was it Conan? Which one? I can't remember. Conan dropped? Yeah, Conan dropped late as well. Yeah. And so I had to scramble to add Van Der Fleer in the fantasy instead of him. And that worked out very well for me. Yeah, I mean, that worked out okay. That didn't work out to you poorly. Yeah. But at the same time, yeah, it was like right before the match. Like, oh, yeah, this is happening. Fuck! Wait, wait, wait, wait. And then Peter Romani, as much as
00:52:37
Speaker
He can be a dick too. It's good to see someone giving Lavainini a little bit of the talking to that he deserves. Yeah, no joke. Because I don't think he gets that. He obviously doesn't get that enough. Because he keeps doing it. Right. And then we head to the point where Carly had to be like, all right, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, let's talk. You've said it. You're right. But I'm going to look at it. I'm always going to look at it. But he really should have been it. He was staring right at it.
00:53:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, he knew it was coming. I said it happened. I was like, I didn't see who did it. You know, I was like, that's Lavannini. And it's a red. I'm like, yeah. And then when he rolled over and I could see the five or whatever he was wearing, it was like, yeah, that's Lavannini. Yeah, fuck it. He's the old cliche death taxes and a red card for Lavannini. Get the fuck out of there. God, man. Yeah.
00:53:28
Speaker
There has to be something better for Argentina to call on, too. That's the bad thing. Like, there's no way that he's playing that well in his club. And he's doing that much for this country that he's worth the risk of a red card every, like, three matches. Like, no way. He's an alamano. He's hurt. That's the only problem, really, honestly. I would definitely be on board with that. I think he's hurt. But, man. Okay. I was just wondering, because I think he just re-signed with Gloucester, too. He did. He did. So, it's like... He's hurt. Yeah, he's hurt. And, like, and you...
00:53:56
Speaker
that that's it right there like that. So Argentina, you got to work on getting some second rowers up there, like, right, maybe shift my terror into the middle there, like, you know, something like that. Get Lavarini away. That's what you gotta do. Number one, get him away. Listen, France saw the writing with Vamahina. They got him the fuck out, like, get rid of Lavarini, plain simple, you know. So that's how that goes.
00:54:22
Speaker
And all this you have. So you have Uruguay playing Italy, you have Chile playing Russia. You have Canada getting in on the act and playing a little bit. Where the fuck was the U.S.? Well, I think they played there. They played the one game early. So you played their three, I guess. I don't know. They played one. They played one. And they had a second one scheduled. They played New Zealand. They played
00:54:51
Speaker
and they were supposed to play Ireland, and then they had the World Cup qualifiers, and that's it. But the World Cup qualifiers aren't it to me, you know? Because those other countries I just mentioned, they also played those. Yeah. And they didn't get this heard from it. So this is poor in the US. I'm kind of glad that they didn't play again. I've seen too much of these MLR guys that aren't it.
00:55:13
Speaker
Right, but in this international window, we can pick up the phone and call Ruben de Haas and AJ McGinty, and we can call, you know, all the guys. That's true. We should have been able to call beforehand. Yeah. So, and there are some, there's still some good things with the MLR guys. Like, I like Dyer and Cruz there that are out wide. I like some of the stuff that there is in there. But you're right, there are some that just don't belong. You know, in all MLR team, I can't do it anymore. I can't. No, no, no, no. I don't want to see that ever again. Please God, never again.
00:55:42
Speaker
Well, not until the MLR is actually producing quality players from the US. Once that happens, then, okay, we can talk about it. But even then, I'd still want the guys who are playing in your overseas.
00:56:01
Speaker
So yeah, that's that was that in the end, it's poor on the US to not be participating at all in these internationals there. I'm trying to not bag on the US for a stretch, because there's enough of that coming in a minute. There's going to be enough of that. Yeah. So in fairness, unfortunately, I saw the two final scores of these games and I was just like, you're not sure I want to watch France, New Zealand. I'll watch later on this week, but
00:56:27
Speaker
We'll talk about that. So, and also, um, I was a little disappointed with the starting lineup for, for the Kiwis. They did not start that, um, shit. What was the hooker's name? That threw really well last week. And I was like, uh, she threw better than anybody else that's been throwing for you. So I don't know why you played her. Yeah, I can't recall either. I'll look it up right now. Hold on.
00:56:50
Speaker
Go, go, go. But you did cash this match, or at least one of us did. I think I at least cut the first half, and it was clear which way it was going, which is why I kind of...
00:57:03
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I don't think I think I watched the second half, but it's probably a blur at that point. It was kind of this. Yeah, it was kind of the same. There's a lot of rugby that I watch. Pons to be in a man to be. That's the backup. That's the backup's name. But it was France just doing more French things and the Kiwis again, not. Yeah.
00:57:24
Speaker
It's just that it wasn't there for them. This is a bad, not their on-form tour. So not too much depth to go into either. Nothing really stood out other than.
00:57:38
Speaker
the French women can play. And it's great to see a packed stadium for, for women's rugby. That's the sellout crowd. Um, that to me, that's really, this was the standout, unfortunately, from the match. They were, they were done in cast this time. I think so. Um, it was like, I think over 12,000 in the stadium, um, and, and full. So what that real good stuff. And, and if you saw the pictures from post-match, uh,
00:58:07
Speaker
tons of fans, young fans, boys and girls at the stadium looking for autographs from the players for like an hour after the match. So look at France being the women's rugby leaders essentially, as far as support. I think they do a good job in England too.
00:58:32
Speaker
But the fan support is ridiculous in France and that's excellent to see. That is amazing. And the product on the field is absolutely top flight. I'm very much looking forward to it in France. Seems it, but that's great to hear. And the French Union decided to kind of bebop around with both teams a little bit too around the country, which is great, gives everybody a chance to catch a game. So that's all you can ask for, really, to give everybody else a little bit of access.
00:59:01
Speaker
So, love it. Love it. Love it. And the team is good. So, it's something for the fans to get to easily support. Yeah. And we'll see what this QE team looks like. They'll be better. They have to be better. There's no way that they're going to step in and defend the title like this. No way. Yeah. I think the New Zealand as a whole needs to have a little bit of a huddle.
00:59:27
Speaker
and be like, all right, time to, you know, this is the very midpoint, right? Well, I guess not so much for the women because they're coming up next year. So they got to get ready. The men, at least, there's kind of an excuse. They're in the exact midpoint between World Cups. And this is the time, if you're going to be low, this is the time to be at your lowest. For New Zealand now, it's time to really start turning it on because
00:59:54
Speaker
go home and sit in a room and start hashing some shit out, maybe get a bottle if you have to. And then to Six Ways, the home of Afro Alicia for her club, at least, Alicia Washington. That's about the most positive thing I can come out of it right now, from what I understand. There were some good play in times, but it's just you can tell the organ is like,
US Women's Rugby Challenges
01:00:21
Speaker
The organization for England and the communication and the teamwork is there that just isn't present with the US. The individual athletics are, unfortunately, I think I favorite England too. I think they were a little bit faster and a little bit fitter than the US women, which helps, but it's not 89 to nothing.
01:00:46
Speaker
difference there. It's, you know, it's maybe a 20 point difference potentially. Um, it's just that the U S they're just not, the line out still fucking sucks. They lost seven. Um,
01:01:01
Speaker
how do you lose seven line outs? How the fuck do you lose seven line outs? Are they like, it's to me, it's, it's, you know, matter of money. It's a matter of right there. It's easy. It generally is just a matter of practice too. But like, they look like they've never done it before. It's not even like, it's a matter of practice. It's a matter of practice, but you got to know what you're practicing. I don't know what the looking at that line out. I don't know what the fuck they're trying to do. Like,
01:01:27
Speaker
They're not lifting. The throws are poor. The timing is off. Everything that's bad that's going wrong is all going wrong at the same time. It's not like, oh, it's this one thing here, this one thing there. They were throwing not straight in a line out where nobody jumped. And it's like, how?
01:01:49
Speaker
Not good. How do you get nobody off the ground? How do you how do you not throw until someone's like their you know their lift their lifting early and having to wait for the ball and that gives the defense time to compete and like.
01:02:02
Speaker
Yeah, before the throw is even up. So it's it's really poor. I will offer my services to the US women's I can do it if you need but if somebody's because nobody else is doing it. That's why I feel it's my patriotic duty to offer my assistance. Like is whoever's doing it now ain't doing it ain't doing it. No, I agree. If the World Cup wasn't next year, because it's obviously this would be the most difficult decision you could possibly make in that type of pinch. Would you keep Rob Kane?
01:02:35
Speaker
I mean, I don't want to take this one. They played some good squads this time around, but it's not it's not getting good. The world. OK, that's that's the problem. I'm thinking because the World Cup's next year.
01:02:51
Speaker
Hmm, he would have to convince me to keep him, I think, or there have to be if there's really no one else, but it's not, it's not good. They've got good, they've got decent talent. Yep. And it's not good. Yeah, we've seen that they looked amazing that they know the offload try that they scored last week, where they can put it together, the players on the field can put it together. But
01:03:21
Speaker
like doing the things that they need to do, the little things, it's not there. And it's so, it's simple shit. I, I, I'm struggling, you know, why would an international team, especially one that's that is, you know, it's not, and it's not well supported. Don't get me wrong. But even one that's as supported as, as the, the U S women that can't hit a line out. That's it's coaching. It's not the players get, don't get me wrong. I'm not bagging on the players. It's the coaching. So yeah, I am not pleased with Kane. I would not, I hope he's, if unless they do something,
01:03:51
Speaker
Well at the World Cup and it's like, okay, we have to keep him then he's got to be gone. Yeah, I agree I agree and this and also at the same time this comes down to what we talked about last week with you know France and England and now New Zealand having pretty decent leaks to call upon For the players to play in and to also seek out talent. I think this is a problem that could be addressed via that rabbit as well
01:04:16
Speaker
Right. All right.
Gratitude and Positive Reflections
01:04:18
Speaker
Um, so before we leave you all, uh, we, it's Thanksgiving here in United States. Now, despite what it represents in a lot of ways, I don't see it for that. And I choose to ignore that part because I know that's not good. What I choose to do is to use it as time to see friends, see family that I love, you know, my mom's in town. Um, you're going to see your folks this weekend. So that's what I choose to do to do with it. As I said,
01:04:46
Speaker
Anybody that tries to tell me the story of Thanksgiving, I don't want to hear about it at all. Get the fuck out of here. I'm not interested. It's not what it is, not what it used to be or whatever. No, that's not. And that's not what I choose to use it. And I also choose to find it as a moment to give thanks and to be grateful. So for me, you know,
01:05:08
Speaker
As far as this goes, one, I'm grateful that we have the audience that we do and the support base that we do. Four years ago, never in my wildest dreams would I thought that
01:05:22
Speaker
we were taught to somebody to the level of like Sam Roberts, you know? And it's because of people like, you know, that we have in our, you know, the guys in the Champions League, yes, simply George, and then and then obviously Duncan who supports us through Patreon. But yeah, and you know, I'm
01:05:39
Speaker
very thankful that we have people that are supportive and that, you know, we managed to avoid most of the cesspool that is Twitter. But part at least and get a lot of the good stuff and you know, we have some really awesome supporters out there. The ones that are coming off the top of my head are the guys like Alex and Terry.
01:05:57
Speaker
Malcolm, those are awesome, awesome folks out there that we have support of. And obviously I'm very thankful that one, I have a loving wife that lets me do this bullshit for a couple of hours at a whack every week. And also lets me sit there and pound away at the data. And obviously I have a fun guy that agreed to do this with me for whatever stupid fucking reason. I don't have no idea what the hell was wrong with your brain.
01:06:22
Speaker
So yeah, I appreciate the guy that sits across the mic from me every weekend. And I love him dearly as a friend. And yeah, so that's what I'm, that's what I give thanks for. That's what I'm grateful for. And that's, that's, that might give me thanks for this Thanksgiving.
01:06:38
Speaker
Oh, that's that's excellent. And obviously, you know, it goes without saying that, you know, I share those sentiments that, you know, have a loving wife, we just bought a house, it's been that fucking never thought we'd be doing that. So it's, you know, that's, it's a great house. It's one of those
01:06:59
Speaker
situations where we didn't buy something just because we could afford it or just because, you know, it's like, okay, we need to own. It was, you know, this is like, we have felt very comfortable and at ease in this home. So it's very much, it's very much a home already, which is rare when you first move into a place. So yeah, that's just, there's a lot to be, a lot of positive things. Obviously thankful for, for you for helping me in a lot of ways, especially,
01:07:25
Speaker
Not just from doing stuff like this, but rugby is a cruel world, especially as a coach. And there's been several times now where I kind of got the raw end of the stick from a couple teams. And Jared's been there to help not only help cheer me up and keep me going, but
01:07:46
Speaker
You know, I got to I got to go see the my old club when the the regional championship the other week. And it was something that I really didn't think I would want to do and want to cheer them on. But I did. And I'm really happy that they won. So a lot of that is thanks to Jared for for keeping me in it and be like, no, these are you guys. They just fucked up. OK, cool. I can deal with that. I mean, we think a lot of people knew that in that end.
01:08:11
Speaker
And they were super supportive. They were super happy to see me. So that felt really good that it wasn't what it felt like.
Revived Spirit After Rugby Weekend
01:08:20
Speaker
And then, yeah, just the positive, I'm super thankful for this past weekend of rugby because I was definitely getting to a point where it's like, I'm done with internationals because it's just, it's too much bullshit. But this weekend really flipped that around. It's like one thing can do it. It was like the last little window, right before the window closed, really restored my faith in international rugby again. So I'm super thankful for that.
Marcus Smith: Acknowledgement and Thanks
01:08:46
Speaker
because you have to be unthankful for Marcus Smith. God damn, aren't we all? Oh, shit.
Premiership Return and Thanksgiving Farewell
01:08:53
Speaker
All right. So those of you that are hanging around for the fancy corner later on, it's coming. We're back. So we're going to go get get that done in a minute here. But if you're not joining us, enjoy the opening, the return of the premiership this weekend. We got a couple of those that are going back into Europe.
01:09:12
Speaker
So those that are hanging around, awesome. See you then. If you're not back till next week, we appreciate you stopping by and take care of yourself and have yourself a great weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody here in America. Happy Thanksgiving. Later.