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Season 2- Episode 5- Rugby World Cup Week 3
29 Plays6 years ago
It's the latest rendition of your favorite American Rugby shenanigans from your favorite pair of knuckleheads. This week we talk about some not so great games that were put on display in Japan this week. We also discuss some performances from teams we didn't necessarily expect, including the good old U.S of A. Last but not least, we provide a little bit of advice to help you finish out the pool play rounds of your Rugby World Cup Fantasy Rugby teams from our friends over at The Rugby Mag, including start or sit advice for the final pool games.
Ask us questions or reach via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar or e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via those methods are rating/reviewing the pod on iTunes.
Lastly, Premiership Rugby returns soon! We will have both The Rugby Magazine and Fantasy Rugby Draft leagues for you to partake in. Hit us up if you want in on the action!
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Transcript
Game Week 5 Rugby Matches Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, how's it going? It is the fancy rugby game. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's get into it, man. We've got a lot to do. We've got a lot to cover tonight. We've got a lot to cover because obviously those of you that may or may not be aware, the game week five is pretty loaded. It's got seven or eight matches in it or something. I think they've split them so that they all have about eight matches. Yeah, but for whatever reason, this batch we're about to go through, I think we did six matches apiece.
00:00:35
Speaker
So it's good. Yeah, cuz they're squeezing a whole bunch in the last like 12 or you know, 10 12 days of the tournament, right? Right.
Jared's Personal Rugby Experiences
00:00:43
Speaker
Can I can I just can I get my whiners moment for two seconds? Oh, how about it fucking a my neck is sore
00:00:52
Speaker
Well, we made you play B side on Saturdays. Yeah, did you stretch your neck? No, I didn't do it properly apparently Good God. Yeah, that's all right. It was it was good fun But you know when you have a when you have a fat ass that you have to hold up in the scrum Otherwise the whole thing's going down. It's not fun. No, it's not a loose head. Yeah, the tight head should not have been a
00:01:14
Speaker
No, he was being extra lazy. Yeah, that's basically all it was. It was just come down to, I don't think it was anything you intend to do. I'm pretty sure he was just being really lazy. Yeah. I mean, well, there's a reason he was playing B side. Yeah. Also true. Yeah. Yeah. I did just because we need bodies. We need bodies. Yeah. We need bodies. And there was only like three front rowers left and two of them had taken the boots out. Well, I guess that's me. Oh well. So yeah. Let's crack these
Podcast Platform Promotions and Features
00:01:40
Speaker
suckers first. Don't have to ask me twice. I'd have one.
00:01:47
Speaker
Man, you can do it. You can do it. Yeah, I know. My weak, my weak childish hands over here. Grip strength, son. Careful how you phrase that. Praising. And as always, make sure that you find us on Google Play, iTunes, Spotify,
00:02:10
Speaker
Download us, share us, rate us. Yeah, rates are great. Email us, obviously you tweet Ben and I, that's always a good thing to get out there for everybody. And then, yeah, and also, so I don't know if you've checked out this, the feature on our update, on our upgrade.
00:02:30
Speaker
with I was just looking at it like you can I mean I'm obviously you have like recommended you can get you can fetch the recommendation and how highly recommended they are before you sign them but you have to do it within a certain amount of time but still it's like all right you know you you decide maybe in two days I want to try and pick up you know Finn Russell for the last Scotland game
00:02:52
Speaker
And you know so you can as long as you can plan ahead you can pick it up, and it'll say yeah This is a good idea or maybe maybe rethink that thought yeah, so that's pretty that's pretty cool And then they have predict like projected score line which I always like that so yeah So yeah if you're a fan of stuff things like that that can just give you a little bit of extra oomph in your in your team although I don't I'm really screwing up because you need some oomph I need some oomph
00:03:17
Speaker
But anyway, still I've made I've those are not down to the upgrade mistakes. That's down to the mistakes that Jared makes when he has and has a required amount of coffee. So I like that. So we have two different styles of managing our teams. I do mine late at night. And Jared does his early morning. Yep. I think so far it looks like the late night should be the should be the way to go because I am clearly not awake enough to make proper decisions.
00:03:43
Speaker
Right. It's usually like, as I've said in the past, after rugby practice, so I come back and my, my brain's still going. So I'm like, Oh, might as well do some use. Yeah. Maybe that's what I need to start doing because it's not working out during the morning. Promise. Oh, good God.
Upcoming Live Podcast Events
00:03:59
Speaker
Um, so yeah, also, um, everybody remember, so we're going to have one of two big events going on this weekend for, for the pod, either we're going to do a live pod, which will be pretty awesome. And we'll be on YouTube live and I'll tweet out the channel and all that. Well, I mean, we're definitely doing that one way or another, right? Well, we're going to, we're going to do something funny either way. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
but um and then the other thing we'll do is uh we may end up doing is um recording our frd draft live as we did last time which was very popular a lot of people wanted to know what kind of screw-ups we were making and this time what not to do in the frd draft and and this time i think that you know we've had a a full season of premiership with with the rugby magazine under our belts where we can kind of select based on you know there's the um
00:04:45
Speaker
The salary cap now it's going to be a different strategy, but we we have a good idea of where the players are going to line up We don't think we really had that uh With with uh, the super rugby competition we kind of knew oh, we know these names and we know they're good, but fuck if I know Which players are great players that just don't show up on the fantasy stat line. Yeah, no kidding
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, there's definitely as there isn't any any fancy support. Yeah, and we'll explore some different concepts when we get to that in the next pod. But yeah, so make sure Oh, yeah. Tweet at me or Ben and if you want to get into the FRD League, we have five spots right now.
00:05:27
Speaker
we're drafting this weekend either way, so keep that in mind, because next weekend starts the comp, so we gotta get rolling. We gotta have this sorted out. It's gotta be done by then. So yeah, check that out, and then if you want to get in on the TRM action, the rugby mag action, obviously we have our own league there too, and everybody's welcome to enjoy the more, the merrier. We had a 14 in the World Cup, so I'd anticipate something like that. And we won some good competition, so obviously if there's some people we can learn from too,
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah absolutely, I poked through a few teams in our current league right now and I'm like, I think I could have done that and I probably should have. So yeah, show us what's up as it is. Quick news before we go through, Typhoon potentially threatening Ireland's match, but I did have a quick read up on
Rugby Matches Affected by Weather and Celebrations
00:06:17
Speaker
uh Something that andy farrell was given from world rugby. Basically. He said yeah There's a couple of contingencies and in place to make sure this match does get played and it doesn't get called a draw Which would be pretty terrible way to have to eat your last game last pool game Uh, I don't think they would
00:06:35
Speaker
And thinking about it, I think that the Japanese wouldn't just lay down and let the Scots beat them. I think they'd rock up and probably beat the Scots. So I think Ireland would have been okay. You'd rather put it in your own hands. Right. That sounds like I don't see the competition changing too much based on any of that, or at least that pool, the results of that pool. I don't see.
00:06:56
Speaker
No, I think the results of the pool will be as we expect since Japan beat Ireland. Yeah. Japan winning in Ireland joined through as the second place. In more local news, US women's sevens took on the US sevens crown in Glendale. Yes. Well done. Emphatic victories in pretty much every match. Right. So that's good for them. And I didn't get to watch much of it. So I'm not sure what the other teams brought if they all went full noise. Either way.
00:07:25
Speaker
extremely rude of them to win their home tournament. But at the same time, the men have done the same sometimes. I love it. It's rude when other people do it. When we do it, that's just the right thing to do. That's the right thing to do. We're not gracious house apparently. That's okay. I don't hold it again. And the horse you rode it on. Yeah, there you go. Exactly.
00:07:49
Speaker
All right. So let's go to the games. Game week three. Uh, yeah.
US Rugby Team's Performance Insights
00:07:56
Speaker
So we started this whole shebang and game way back in game week three, way back on what last Wednesday when the France took on the U S and, um, do you want, do we want to just get to the point where things I felt went wrong? And I think you and I are on the same page on it. Beautiful first 60 minutes. Yes.
00:08:15
Speaker
Excellent. I thought this as I said last time I think Gary go put a rocket up He'd always asked and he and they came out firing and they came out with some intent stayed with it stayed with it and then there was the penalty that made it nine mm-hmm and Good god. I'm pretty sure the neighbors might have called the cops on me because I was screaming and
00:08:37
Speaker
to the corner right we had nothing to we have nothing to lose right you've nothing to lose and i bet we could have shoved him over i would have bet though like we went from night and day in terms of mauling both on offense and on defense from the england match to this match agreed i think we could have had him
00:08:54
Speaker
and france gave us every opportunity they they they wanted to piss this game away until the the very end they were doing a good job of it let's just take it yeah finally finally they just woke up and you know gail fique and gail fique was a big part of that obviously he has been pretty good this yeah well i mean it helps when you play the position you're supposed to play yeah it does that usually that usually helps well just just just a starting point good starting point yeah
00:09:20
Speaker
Uh, yeah, so he, he did that. He, he scored and I was like, Oh, that, that, that might be it. But, uh, I will say Camille Lopez was class in this game. Yes. I mean, he is class, but he is, he, he's picked up some nasty injuries in his, in his recent years. So he is, I think, I think he's back. I think he's good, which is terrifying because to have him and, and to mock both be able to fire is should, should terrify some teams. Yeah. For sure. Uh, yeah.
00:09:47
Speaker
And what was the last note that I had? Oh yeah, um. I, my note is is how much more discipline the U.S. played. And it extended and and we talked about the the he who shall not be named who got the red card last time.
00:10:04
Speaker
But I I'm wondering if his ass wholeness trickled down to other players because I tell you I'm used to one of Soveta or Peterson getting carded. Yeah as long with that he should not be named and They played amazingly both when they had their opportunities. They were they're very very clinical nothing, you know earth-shattering, but that's not who they are That is definitely not who we are
00:10:31
Speaker
But but they were definitely net
Key Performances in Rugby Matches
00:10:34
Speaker
positives which is for for civetta and peterson is is something new i thought civetta played his balls off he did so i was impressed with it with him um i was not impressed with uh sean davies
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, we had this discussion, uh, off, off air, off recording. Um, yeah, I think Ruben DeHaas needs to get more game time faster. He came on and just made such an impact with two huge kicks. His kick. Yeah. But Davey's kicks were so inaccurate. They were ridiculous. And he can't tackle.
00:11:03
Speaker
He can't do anything in contact because he's like he's tiny so I know we're tiny I know we're gonna get to it, but I just want to preview the the the difference between Davies and Cheslyn Colby Now there's an athleticism difference there, but the sizes are comparable very and one of them has no fear and no compunction about going into contact and and taking the hit to someone else and but then Davies was just
00:11:31
Speaker
tentative like he had guys and Grant large guys but they're static and all he has to do is come in and just throw a hit right at their hips and they're gonna go down because that's what happens that's physics and he's going in tentatively and they're just like oh wait if I just kind of throw you off of me you're just gonna fall over like yeah just a quick like swooping motion of the arm and they're gone and he's uh they're gone he's out of there and what's the point like oops
00:11:55
Speaker
Let's let's get some scrum like I mean, we don't really have we're not blessed in the way of I think he I think but the houses think is gonna be something special. Yeah, I do too. You place the cheetahs, right? I remember, right? Yeah, I recall plays plays for one of the pro 14 South African teams. I'm 99% sure that That's good for us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we we do have a strong we do have a strong professional presence in this team.
00:12:24
Speaker
But he's also 20, so it's kind of hard to trust him at the moment. Yeah, but you know what? I will lean on youth when we're looking for something, you know? Right. So yeah, US rock up a little bit better. The score line doesn't show at 33 to 9. But I thought it was a much, much better performance. Gary Gold seemed very happy afterwards. I think the boys should be very proud of the way they push France, despite the score line getting away from them at the end. So I was very pleased as well.
00:12:51
Speaker
Um, just a couple of quick glances at the fantasy. Um, obviously Lopez had a day. Fikyu had a day. I think you might've been one of the top centers of the week. Um, Saron came on and had 30. He had immediate impact. McGinty again is a decent performer. If you have him, you can continue to rock him probably. Uh, Lamborn had 22. Brakely had 22. Tafeta had 24 for you. There you go. Um, so yeah, just a little note on that. And.
00:13:19
Speaker
Let's move on to New Zealand and Canada. And unfortunately, there was not a lot to really take away from this. Sonny Bill Williams is still a fucking magician with them all. Yeah, that too. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. It was...
00:13:36
Speaker
It was unfortunate that, you know, like we said, the Canadians are on a down and this was the wrong team to be playing when you're on a down for sure. They didn't concede triple digits, you know, past teams would have definitely conceded triple digits. So we'll give them that, but really that's about all I can give them, unfortunately.
00:13:53
Speaker
Uh, you know, the, the, the, the all blacks lineup is littered with good score lines. Pick your favorite all black. You probably did well. Um, I had captain Bowden 48, so ended up with 90 something on with that one. So that wasn't terrible. That was probably my best move that week. Didn't make too many good moves, but that was one of them. Um, I am so, uh, new England free Jack Josh Lawson is in the team. Um, that's awesome. Mm.
00:14:18
Speaker
He's playing, he started second row, I think the first game, but then in this one he came on. I did see a side note, so non, not quite a rugby note, but this is why I fucking love the sport. Both of the, I think everybody saw the video of Peterson, and I don't remember who it was, it might have been Serrano. You know, just having a chat. Peterson has a little one with him. Just exactly what rugby's about. These two guys probably don't speak a lot of the same language, but they still get it.
00:14:46
Speaker
you know stuff like that and then the all blacks inviting the canadians both steve hansen and karen reid went to our drone and said hey come to the locker room let's have a beer and let's have a couple let's have some chats that's awesome and so this is what it's about this is i mean class move from the all blacks but this is what rugby is about this is why i fucking love this god damn sport because
00:15:05
Speaker
there's a ton of respect that revolves around it and This is also why I get really mad when people disrespect the shit out of this game because it's like alright if you're not respectful this like you're just pissing on so much right now, so Good on the all blacks for being a class act as they usually are and you know Canada you rocked up, but sorry just no cigar this time 63 and nothing for the for the Kiwis And Canada gets blanked
00:15:29
Speaker
I think I need to apologize to Fiji. Oh, do you ever. As I said, these weren't a bunch of angry flying Fijians and they played like it. They did. I thought that Georgia would be able to control the set pieces and to be fair, they did.
00:15:46
Speaker
but big old hairy butt there just wasn't enough of them those set pieces for to really change the game no they they the phageans made sure that yeah they were pretty good about that one
00:16:02
Speaker
Semiraj Rajra just tearing this team to pieces. Good God. Yeah. He's still running somewhere. I mean, yeah, he definitely is. Yeah, he definitely is. They had a day, especially the back line, they were just picking their gaps and going through them. You know, these Georgians can rock up and tackle you hard, but it's a lot harder to tackle you when you just go through arms instead of shoulders. Yeah. And that's what the Fijians were looking for. Right. And Fijians found space and they
00:16:30
Speaker
kept the ball alive in ways that confuse the Georgian defense. And that's what they do. And I'm kind of surprised that their discipline on the defensive line wasn't there. And they kind of just got sucked in. They followed their player instead of the ball. And all of a sudden, there's gaps.
00:16:51
Speaker
Funny thing happens about that. Yeah, so the Fijians just really, really just rocked up. I think, like I said, they were angry. They performed well against Australia. They did not perform well against Uruguay, obviously. And they'd had a little bit of time to stew on that.
00:17:12
Speaker
This was their angry match. So this effectively gets them into the next World Cup, assuming that there's not any other surprise results around the pool. But I think this pretty much gets a minute. Yeah, I don't see. Well, you never know. Yeah. Let's put it that way. Yeah, it's slum pickings. Right. So 45-10 to the Flying Fijians over Georgia. And they are on track to at least qualify for 2023 in France.
00:17:44
Speaker
The Irish and the Russians.
Dominating Rugby Match Performances
00:17:46
Speaker
This was a whole lot of nothing. We didn't really miss much in these games. Jordan Murphy came off hurt. That was one of the more significant things in this one. Standard came on and did what he does. Connor Murray had to take the sub spot on the bench because
00:18:10
Speaker
third strings come half for Ireland. I'm already spacing, but that's okay. That's all right. Um, he can't, he had, he had to pull out. So, but really, I mean, nobody expected anything less than this match. You know, the Irish were going to roll and sure, sure enough they did. Nothing, nothing surprising here. So if we're not going to money where I'm on, he was running some good lines, you know, he looked to be in a mood. Well, this is the kind of game where he'll, he'll do well because.
00:18:38
Speaker
There's not gonna you know when there's not much in front of you or in front of him He's gonna have a good time, but he's not right, you know against the the top tier teams He's really more of a support player, but but in a game like this. Oh, yeah He's gonna go nuts if he feels like it. Yep. Yeah, one thing I wanted to note that I've noticed is that the tournaments going on and
00:18:59
Speaker
usually your 11 is your attacking wing and your 14 is your kind of more defensive like still obviously good way you know you want your speed at both both sides I've noticed that the the the 14s have been really that's where the the fantasy points are over the 11s so even though you want to you might want to start that that attacking wing
00:19:22
Speaker
Um, they're really the, the points are around tackles and whatnot. So. Seems to be for some teams. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I've no, I've been, I've been kind of falling into that trap. Like I did in this game where I guess I had, uh, um, Earls as my, my, was he my start of the week? I believe. I think so. And, um, he got out, outscored significantly by, by Conway. Yeah.
00:19:44
Speaker
so and i've noticed that a couple times like um uh pimpi playing 11 and colby playing 14 and colby's the one who's putting up monster numbers and the pimpi's kind of there nothing really special not quite yeah so i just find it interesting that a lot and a lot of the tries have been coming from those 14s rather than from the 11s
00:20:02
Speaker
just something to yeah it's an interesting trend to chew on yeah for sure um russian russians didn't do themselves any favor by uh giving themselves a couple of yellow cards that'll that'll just sink you if you're trying to rock up against a tier one nation as a tier two nation so yeah no no no no to those at home don't don't don't do that just don't do that uh so island rank blank the russians 35 zero and they are with these you know typhoon pending they'll probably lock up second place in this pool
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:35
Speaker
And a map set was really disappointing. South Africa and Italy, I thought this would be so much better. Me too. It was just really disappointing to have this, you know, they had, we had a red card, which was, oh boy, that's just a complete brain fart. You can't, you can't do that. No. They had two injured, two injured heads. Injuries on top of that, you know, it was. Going to uncontested scrums. Oh man. Like the players are looking at each other like, are you fucking kidding me? They're like, I don't want to be in this situation. Why? God damn it.
00:21:04
Speaker
Nothing nothing will piss you off more than having to go to uncontested scrums. No, no, this is not this is not high school This is not youth level. This is now this is the fucking world Cup between two tier one nations that you're getting Yeah Yeah, but a bit of a scare Colby came off with a bit of an injury after getting I mean he's stretch Armstrong But not quite didn't quite have to stretch in him to that one. No, and that didn't look terrible. I
00:21:30
Speaker
I've seen look great though. It didn't look great. No, but hopefully he's he's fit to continue He's not in the squad this week. I would not expect that. No, no, I wouldn't either No, they're pretty much locked up to right. So he'll rest up and he'll be around for the quarters, right? Ideally, yeah, absolutely
00:21:48
Speaker
Because, like I said, he didn't roll over it. It just kind of twisted as he was going down. It certainly didn't feel good. And even when he was kind of hobbling off, it wasn't in distress. It was more like, this sucks. Yeah. It's like, really? I did this. Can we go back in time five seconds and not do that? Yeah, exactly. Because that would be preferable. Oh, man. It's the worst.
00:22:11
Speaker
So, the South African, the spring box just absolutely hammered the Azuri 49-3, just not a score line you expected, but when you start involving red cards and front row injuries, it's just going to end poorly in so many ways.
00:22:28
Speaker
And here's where I wanted to point out to what the value that Colby has even you know with his size That that snaming try at the end. Yeah, it was all that was all Colby Colby 100% him like just says you know what fuck it I'm making I'm hitting this guy into touch. I don't remember who the Italian player was but just
00:22:50
Speaker
force them to either eat it and take the line out to South Africa deep inside Italy territory or try to make a play with it. The guy tried to make a play with it, threw it back into the field of play first name and just to be like, thank you. I'll just fall over the line. Not even fall over that. I'll just reach from 10 meters out and put it down. The dude could reach from across the field. He's so enormous and his limbs are just so long and lanky. That's just not fair.
00:23:18
Speaker
But so, I mean, for Colby, for his size, the willingness and the ability to do it. It's one thing to have willingness. Again, Davies, I think is willing to do it at times, but I don't think he's able. Whereas someone Colby, who's again, not no bigger than him, might even be smaller. But he's more talented by far. Right. It's just throwing his body in there and saying, you know what? I know how to make this hit. I'm comfortable making this hit and I'm going to drive this guy into touch and make him make some stupid play. Right. Yep.
00:23:47
Speaker
and again another match that just didn't live up to it and you know there's a lot of there's a lot said that uh England Argentina there's a lot said about what was said by the RG's pre-match and make that what you will that's that is what it is creepy probably probably poked the sleeping giant i don't think this is a sleeping giant but still you don't poke the bear just the same
00:24:11
Speaker
Angry bear. Yeah, very this one. Yeah. Well, yeah, just, you know, kind of go through in your brain. This team didn't qualify for their own World Cup, their home World Cup to the to the knockout round. Might they be just a tiny bit angry this time around? I would guess so. So maybe just don't do that. But hey, what do I know? Yeah. So yeah, this was, again, another match.
00:24:36
Speaker
But then they are Argentina. This game was over. Not. Hold on. Let me let me go get the full timeline in here so I can give you an exact time as to when this game was over. This game was over. Where was that penalty kick?
00:24:52
Speaker
Oh, yeah, the penalty of the corner. Six minutes in. Yeah. Six minutes in. Argentina have put pressure, constant pressure on England. Mm hmm. And to the point where they got there, they were already warned and they're on the five meter line. Right. And they say, oh, all right, let's just kick the kick the points, get some points. And it's like, no, get a fucking player off the field. Because because now if.
00:25:15
Speaker
If they had continued on, if they went for the line out and they, they, they decided to really put the, put the fucking screws to England. A decent driving, driving mall. Let's be real about this too. So, you know, it's not like that's a slouch.
00:25:26
Speaker
And maybe now, at that point, you're not in the position where you're getting carded a couple minutes later. Right. And red carded to boot. Yeah. Which was, that was it. That was just it. It was tough to see for a Lavonini, you know. And people are just like, oh, I don't have sympathy for him. But I'm like, I kind of have sympathy for a tall guy against a short guy. It's just not as, it's tough for him.
00:25:45
Speaker
I do, but I think needs to know so and it'll come into play a little bit later when we talk about the second New Zealand match, but the swinging arm Yeah, a lot of these and I saw it a couple times with guys who get Who get yellow you get carded and and they're like, oh, what's he to do? It's like well, you know what he can do He can just throw his shoulder in and not swing his arm in like that. That's where you get into trouble That's just bad tackling to begin with right? Um
00:26:10
Speaker
so you know that could have just been a that could have just been a yellow but he decided to swing his arm and and that to me that that's where the force comes in and it's just no good um just just make your tackles and then keep them you know reasonably low and you'll get the mitigations i mean you saw that in the the new zealand match where the guys are like yes
00:26:33
Speaker
You know, you the guy ducked into it. So yeah, okay that there's your mitigation if you don't swing your arm Maybe you gets mitigated down to just a penalty like there's there's little things where you're not putting force bringing force into play and And that'll keep you on the field. Yeah, absolutely. I did feel a little bit for laminated He clearly knew he'd done done screwed up and he knew he put his team into a top position and you could see it on his face He's like I that's my woke up. I'm done. Yeah
00:27:00
Speaker
and he knew it and it is because they've banned him for three weeks so he's gonna miss this week and if he goes back if and when he goes to his club luster he's gonna miss a couple weeks there too okay so it's really really unfortunate but um
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's, it's the right call. It sucks. It does. It sucks, but it is the right decision. Um, leaving Nicholas Sanchez out of the team completely. I don't know if he's done gone pissed. Ledesma off or what, but my goodness to leave him out of the team. Oh boy. I can't, I, I got a question. I don't think.
00:27:42
Speaker
He wasn't playing otherworldly I'll give him that but you don't leave him out of the team entirely, right? Yeah, okay. So what if he rocks up for this? He's like, oh, okay. We're playing England. This is really for our This is their this is this is it. This is their quarterfinals because if they if they win, hey Maybe things happen. Yeah, but but you can't lose this game. So so put your put your best 23 out there and
00:28:05
Speaker
Even if he's not on the starters, you know, you have him ready to go. Yeah, it's you know, so start you he's clearly got something for Urdu polata So what but Urdu polata lays a stinker you really gonna do you really not want another ten? That's of the class of Nicolas Sanchez. Yeah on your bench to maybe Try and ignite some right bring some sort of spark, you know or or
00:28:31
Speaker
the two distributor thing, which I don't hate. I'm often a fan of it, depending on who the distributors are, but you know, I'm usually a fan of it. And it's like, uh, Nope. I don't know. So yeah, it was a bit frustrating, but it was what it was. And England definitely rocked up. They, they were prepared for this. They were not messing about by any means whatsoever. So good on them.
00:28:57
Speaker
And due to circumstances beyond my control, I ended up having to start my sit of the week, who was Matera. I was right to put him in as my sit of the week because he only got me eight points. But a couple other people that I was expecting to play didn't.
00:29:13
Speaker
Well, that's kind of the strategy we can get into a little bit here. But yeah, good days for, uh, Ford may young, uh, Farrell, not bad daily had a fantastic day. Good to see Mac over in a polo back on the field. That was nice. That was very nice. Uh, Kubelli ends up putting in an okay day in Montoya and is actually, actually puts a, puts a decent day on the board as well.
00:29:34
Speaker
39 to 10 England, England have qualified for the knockout round. Somewhat getting rid of the ghost of 2015. We'll see how much further they go and see if they can banish them further. But that's a, that's a, that's a good start. That's definitely a good start. So get on the boys.
00:29:53
Speaker
All right. Game week four. So this happened overnight. And I put those that don't listen all the way to the end of the podcast, including the theme song. Shame on you. You should listen to me because I had a note in there. And it was about the England game. It was in the middle of the night. It was actually in between the other two matches, but it was still part of the other game week. So like I said, if you had an inkling about an England player and you wanted to play them, play them. Don't even blink on it next time.
00:30:22
Speaker
So the match that happened before the England match, but still was a part of the next game week, Australia and Uruguay. And there really wasn't a whole lot going on there. Not much of a game. No, it was. I mean, I give credit to the Uruguayans have already won their World Cup. Yeah, they won a game. Which was huge. Yeah, there really wasn't a whole lot more to say about it.
00:30:47
Speaker
But it was, it was good to see the best, the best thing I saw in this, in this was the starting lineup with, um, Tamua playing 12, which I can appreciate at the very least because, um, the rest of like, I, like we talked about the, the tens for Australia have been. Yeah. They've, they've, they've struggled. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I think that helped take a little bit of pressure off. So.
00:31:23
Speaker
It's escaping me what it was and probably because it didn't have any significant impact But I think ben skein's making a bad name for himself Because he keeps buzzing down for silly things and I don't I don't remember the exact thing it was but I do remember thinking to myself What the fuck does ben skein want now right and on top of the fact it's not too right now. That's refereeing the match Yeah, that did not help so I think I don't think there were some silly things handed out in this there was there was another match where and I can't remember which one it was the same thing when they
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, and perhaps it did. So it was...
00:31:51
Speaker
It was one of the more recent ones where they were saying Ben Skeen has called in something like he spotted something that he wants to If it wasn't the whales Australia match, that's the only other one. No, I didn't I didn't actually watch that Yeah, the Caribbean. Yeah, I'm just I'm not sure which one it was. That's right
00:32:10
Speaker
But yeah, so they've been New Zealand, Namibia. I think he might have been the TMO for that as well. Oh Jesus. Yeah Yeah, Australia rock up 45 10 and pretty much put themselves in the seat to get themselves number two in their pool Your way again, they've put their show on as best they can but it's always so much you're gonna be able to do man
00:32:30
Speaker
You know, current Johnny was was playing all he could because he's not played much in this in this World Cup. He looked as good as he usually does. He definitely belongs in the team in your best. He belongs in your best. Let's try it. Let's put it that way. If you're playing a quarter file, he should be in the starting lineup. And as we all know, though, currently Beal in International 15 makes that tackle on the Streaker.
00:33:00
Speaker
Maybe just don't put your face into the butt or anything. Come on, cheek to cheek. You know how to do it. That's when you're allowed to avoid that. No, that was fine. That was a light, humorous moment. Again, in other sports, that might be like a thing. But for rugby, it's just like, all right, just freak around the field. All right, I'm off. Moving on. Moving on. Very funny. There's your dong. Yeah, who cares?
00:33:25
Speaker
Now you've embarrassed yourself. Thank you. Good job You thought you were doing yourself a favor and now you're just embarrassed. We're all embarrassed for you. Yeah, right So yeah, let's try it rocks up and it takes control of the second place Japan Samoa they had to scrap this one out just a bit. Mmm I'll give I'll give Samoa credit. They they really put it to them there was all those law fighting this in the summer watching they changed their ten from PC to
00:33:51
Speaker
So it was it was pretty good half who was taking the kicks and so they were able to convert some of those and
00:34:02
Speaker
You tomorrow continues to be underwhelming for me. I have to say I don't disagree, you know and Uh, what's this? What's this? Lameki was in a mood though. I will say that yes He wanted that ball and he wanted to run through people. He was not about to run around people. He wanted to run through people I was like, oh boy, this guy's he's just ready to rock. Isn't he ready to rock?
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So good. I mean, great, great for him. He's, he put himself certainly in a position to make sure that he's in the quarter file team when this team takes on whoever, whoever ends up being, but good on that. Good on him. Matsushima performs as usual.
00:34:38
Speaker
Nothing new there. Nothing new there. Yeah, him or no, as usual. He's performing pretty well. He looked really good. I'm not shocked that the guys that we talked about at the beginning are the ones we're talking about now. No, not a little bit. There's a reason that that existed. I'm shocked they put up a good fancy number, at least 26. I was surprised by that. And Hori off the bench with 21. That's how good he is, though. We know what he can do.
00:35:06
Speaker
So that's again for the rest of this competition for as long as he's there, right? Um, if if hori is on the uh on the roster He should be either starting if he's if he's starting he should probably be one of your starters Um, if he's on the bench probably one of your reserves because he'll still get your points, right? Absolutely. Yeah, so he's he's done Well, uh, japan get their bonus point which they desperately desperately wanted because they know that
00:35:29
Speaker
Well, the reasons they missed out on the last World Cup quarterfinal is because they didn't get enough bonus points in the standings. Obviously, they provided the shock of the tournament, which was great. For now, up to now. Oh, no, no, the second shock of the tournament, because I'd say... Uruguay being Fiji was huge. Was the shock of the tournament. Yeah, that was huge. Some people understood that Japan were going to beat Ireland.
00:35:52
Speaker
No, but even going back to that match, Rory Best was even just like, no, it's not a shock if you've watched this team at all. You know, these guys are not, these guys aren't surprising anybody anymore. They're a really good team. So, you know, I mean, classy Best, surprise, surprise, Rory Best being this classy guy. Yeah, he's the man. So Japan 38, Samoa 19, Japan are in the driver's seat for a pool lay as they have been basically since Ireland went down to them.
00:36:21
Speaker
Oh, there was not a lot. There was some weird things in this match, but other than that. The first 30 minutes were amazing. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Absolutely. Amazing. I was impressed by maybe his ability to... It's 10-9. To just show their balls and be like, here we are. Let's try it. We're going to throw our nuts on the table. Absolutely. And then suddenly New Zealand gets their first yellow and is like,
00:36:42
Speaker
All right, let's bring up the hammer. They got mad when that happened. I was like, uh-oh, this might be bad. It sounds good, but it actually might be bad. I'm just going to say that right now. I mean, they put up, what's that? So it was, again, 10 to 9 with, what was it, over 30 minutes in. So in the last 45 to 50 minutes,
00:37:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm. They scored 61 points. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is that's what New Zealand does. That is what they do. That's what I was kind of expecting that like, you know, 10, 15 minutes later, but I was expecting it to be it was still only 17 10 at half. Right. But at that point you were like, you know, this game's kind of over. Yeah. Unfortunately, the second that New Zealand we were able to put one over and then maybe it couldn't. Right. And back back to both yellow. So I know there's been
00:37:35
Speaker
quote-unquote controversy around the refereeing at these games. And I disagree with that on some level. I also wonder how much of that is the effect of the announcers, some of whom are not terribly intelligent about what they're saying. Yeah, I think we found that out. Right. Again, both of New Zealand's yellow cards were absolute yellow cards all day long. Yeah, they were yellow. Swinging arm, making direct contact above the shoulder, in the head, neck area.
00:38:04
Speaker
Easy and they're the only mitigating factor was again the player falling down was Was in the Midian player falling down into the tackle? And yeah, those those are cards and there are the official the announcer saying oh, it's really tough to make that tack No, it's not. It's really not
00:38:19
Speaker
Just don't swing your arm. Yeah, maybe don't do that. Yeah, so that that's where that came into play I think the announcers are are skewing the perception of the officials. Yeah, maybe when it comes to that And now it doesn't help that that that world rugby came out and said they weren't happy with the level of officiating, right? That doesn't mean you have to question every decision because a lot of the decisions have been accurate It's just yeah If you want to question the the consistency and that one ref will say one thing and then the next ref will do something different Welcome to fucking rugby
00:38:48
Speaker
No kidding. Like what else is fucking new? There's a reason that these teams scout the officials too. Like because each each ref has their own idiosyncrasies and their own they see their game the way they want to see they communicate how they want to communicate. So it's yeah it's going to be inconsistent especially when you have four french referees at this game. Yeah I mean that's what rugby's fault basically is that that's what that comes down to. Good job what was wrong with these people?
00:39:13
Speaker
Uh good matches obviously all over the place for this was a great match This was an outstanding match and and it was one of those like you kind of feel bad for the the novibians obviously because they they were heartbroken because I think I think they thought that they might have had something the first That those first 30 minutes and and it's hard. It's hard to look up at the scoreboard and see that that afterwards because You know if you've played rugby, you've probably been there yourself and yeah one time or another and yeah, why?
00:39:43
Speaker
Right. You're like, this team should be trouncing us, but we're right there. Oh, no, that's why. They weren't really ready for, they weren't really woken up yet. And then they woke up. Yep. I mean, it's just like the last game, all blacks line up litter with litter with good score, some bad ones too. Napalala minus seven.
00:40:03
Speaker
Brody Vitalik started this game, but people were concerned with him getting pulled early. I think it was a tactical decision. It was absolutely a tactical decision. When they decided they had the game in hand, they were like, all right, you're done. You're done. He didn't look confused as to when and why he was coming off. They probably told him, you're getting about 30 minutes and then. Yeah.
00:40:19
Speaker
He's not had much game time in recent days. But I'm glad to see him back. He's big and ugly, but we love him anyway. DJ Paranara played 10. That was kind of weird. I thought he was on the wing. I think he played 10. Maybe he played 10. Maybe he was on the wing. Well, he was certainly on the wing for his try. He scored a nice looking tiptoe and athletic play. You're not going to see a prettier try than that. Yeah, very good stuff. TJ being TJ as he is.
00:40:47
Speaker
I mean the well if you wasn't playing for the obliques you'd be starting there was so much involved there there was the good hugh line break and then um they had uh Some other guys got involved and then the the the obvious weber to perinara combination That was not nice a little behind the back from weber to perinara. That was so mean and then the tiptoe and the
00:41:09
Speaker
Just dotting it down as he's falling into touch. Very, very much like I played from TJ Brown. Yeah. Very good. Leonard Brown, obviously. I some-moked everything. Yeah. Guy's good. He is insanely good. I get the feeling that when it comes to the knockout stages, he will figure prominently. Yeah. You're, we didn't get it out there, but your start of the week did pretty well. Sevilla 35. Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all. I call that.
00:41:39
Speaker
35 is a good win that's yeah for that like I was disappointed because I I mean I had all three of Sevilla Leonard Brown and George Bridge in my lineup
00:41:49
Speaker
And I honestly didn't know who to captain. Throw a dart, see what happens. Essentially. Really, it was between Leonard Brown and Sevilla, because those are the guys who are going to get their opportunities. And I picked wrong. I don't know wrong. 35 is hard to call wrong. No, I did. But yeah, I'm still kind of kicking myself that I went with him over Leonard Brown. But at the same time, it's hard to be mad. Yeah, I wasn't wrong. I just wasn't as right as I could have been.
00:42:17
Speaker
And speaking of being wrong though, my pick and it didn't get out there, but I'll totally cop to it. Damien Panno. Oof. Two. Yeah. Two. You two. He keeps bad companies. Yeah. Oh man. But this was a, this was a fucking good game. Um, makes me a little scared for what Tonga is going to bring to the US match, unless they just blew the load here.
00:42:41
Speaker
But, man,
Rugby Match Previews and Player Highlights
00:42:42
Speaker
France and Tonga gave him all they could handle. I think the French are getting a little wake up here between getting pushed to the limit by the U.S. Grant, the scoreline didn't show it. And right here, really, I mean, I know that, again, the scoreline was a little tidier here, and the last try kind of made it a little bit, a little bit closer than it was. But, man, it was still good. It was still good.
00:43:06
Speaker
Um, Hingano just, somebody was not paying attention to where that ball was bouncing and Medard just had a cruel bounce, but it was a fantastic try. That's, I think it was the second one for, um, for the Tongans. It was very, very good. They got a little bit lucky with, um, not getting cards. I think they got warned a couple of times, but no cards came out. So they get a bit lucky, but you know what, rather be looking good sometimes. So, uh,
00:43:35
Speaker
I am impressed with the Tongans. They really, really took it to him. I think their heart and their soul is a guy that you and I both know well. And that's Tony Takalua. He seemed to be really kicking this team on and everybody just kind of took the reins from him. And he did very well and was definitely pushing this team on. He got himself over the line as well. It was a really good game. Kamino Shat was trying to run through everything. Yes, he was. Ollie Vaughn, same thing. Raka is a
00:44:03
Speaker
Holy shit, that dude's a house. Yeah, he was uh, he another guy motivated to play Yeah, well in he you know these team these guys the the French are French have qualified now for the for the knockout stage more or less And these guys are trying to get into that quarterfinal team right now between and there's a lot this I will say this they're making it a hard choice at this they are because I mean if your choice right now is between Raka or a huge a
00:44:32
Speaker
uh rockers look better rockers look better and in huger you know he can be an ass just a bit i think is the technical term yeah yeah i i don't see i i'd go rocka yep i've you know especially based on that performance he's impressed the question really now to me is and we've talked about it for for since six nations essentially um intimac
00:44:58
Speaker
Yeah. Is, is, is it going to be him or, or, uh, or Camille, uh, as your, as your 10 for the quarter. My, as the 10, I'd say Camille Lopez right now got into my head, but I guess we'll see what happens when the crunch happens this weekend, uh, the crunch in Japan in the far east.
00:45:16
Speaker
Which we, okay, so we did the math. This is the kind of information that the fantasy rugby yanks give you that you might not get anywhere else. This is actually not the furthest away that England have played France because they played each other in 2011 in New Zealand. The French pulled one off. Right, which is actually crazy enough. I looked at the numbers. It's double the distance.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy. It's like wait a minute. You're not that far away, but yeah, it's it's north hemisphere versus south hemisphere Yeah, so that's you know that we looked into it. I know I know all of you were out there wondering Is this the the furthest away from the english channel that England have played france and no it is not by a long shot Yeah, quite a quite a distance, right?
00:46:00
Speaker
but it's still pretty far. In the northern hemisphere, it's about as far as you can get away. Yeah, that's pretty much it right there. So if, I'm just looking at, just going back to Intimac, if I had my way, I'd find a spot for him, whether it was at 12 or 15. Really, I want my 15 to be Thomas Ramos. I thought he, I think he's too good to leave off the field. I made ours the veteran, they're not gonna, he's just that seasoned guy that knows what to do back there nine times out of 10.
00:46:29
Speaker
the one time that we already saw in this in this Tongan match and it was just a really cruel bounce of the ball but it's yeah so but Ramos has to be in your 23. He has to at least be in your 23. I think Intimac has to be in your 23. If not, you're 15 and that's what that comes down to. I like the thought of a Bakatawa and Fiku setter pairing.
00:46:50
Speaker
Though, as much as I want Intimac to be in that center pairing, I do like that. That's a lot of dynamic just ability with the exception of the distribution, but all you got to do is move it one shot wide, then you're okay. But yeah, so the French do have something cooking, I will say that. They do. For sure. All right.
00:47:12
Speaker
That catches us up to where we are currently. Now, by the time this gets released... I'll try and get it out tonight. I promise. Well, by the time you're listening out there in Pod World, it's likely that South Africa and Canada have already played.
00:47:28
Speaker
And or kicked off at the very least at the very least And South Africa have probably put up a try or two Start sorry Canucks. Yeah, sorry not. Sorry Let's go through We what's up? No, I was gonna go right into the yeah, let's go week through. Let's go week three Top scores at each position. Yeah
00:47:50
Speaker
So I have him listed as a center. Even though I think you played wing this weekend. Semi-road ride ride with 73 from PT. Elliot Daly has the top fullback with 36. There's not a lot of true fullbacks that I have registered in here. Bowden Barrett has the top fly half, even though he did play fullback. 48. Peter Romani, 47. Which is funny, because Jordy played fly half and got 63. Right. But that would be game week four. Oh, game week three. Sorry. That's OK. Yeah, dude.
00:48:19
Speaker
Blame Ed. Ed's your fault. Peter Armani with 47 at the flanker for Ireland. Then Bunambi from South Africa with 33 leading the hookers. A guy that you probably wouldn't have thought of because he's usually not this type of beast, but the eight man that leads the way is Karen Reed.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah, he had a day. He did have a day. A pair of Australian props lead the way for that position, 29, 23, for Alan Alatoa and Scott Seo. For their work against Wales? Yeah. Oh, in game week three, they played Wales.
00:48:57
Speaker
Oh, was that? Oh, that was. Wow. That was way back then. Jesus. Merritt. Let's go, Jack. Yeah, this is Ed's fault. I swear to God. Brad Weber with 52 for leading the Scrum Haps. No surprise there. Scott Barrett, 56, again, had another big match. So when we said that that 44 from week one was a one-off. I don't know, man. We were just joking. And a pair of South African wingers lead the way for that one, Colby and Mepimbe, 48 and 38 apiece.
00:49:26
Speaker
Now we can go to the match ups this week. This literal week, not this game week. It's end of game week four into all of game week five. This time, thank God, at least we can cover it all in one shot. Leaving ourselves out to dry here.
00:49:42
Speaker
So again, at this point, if you're starting anyone from Canada, good luck. Right. Maybe our drawn in vendor my way. If you own them. If you own them. If you own them. Maybe. But that's it. Don't go fetching them. Yeah, don't go picking them up. No, don't be silly. Not on this. For South Africa, looking at the lineups, Maastert and Snehman, you probably own them.
00:50:06
Speaker
The the key is do you pick the you know? Which one do you pick and then? You know that the one you pick is the one who's going to be coming out the other one Right so that's your luck Sorry about that, but those those two are definitely they'll get you the points when they're in no matter what so so don't don't sweat it and
00:50:26
Speaker
Um, stain and, and, uh, Delende, Delende. Um, those are guys who, yeah. Um, the, I I'd be looking in their direction too. Um, Rhynak likely to split with, with, uh, Yankees. So neither are really great options at your nine. Um, I I'm guessing they'll probably go 40 40 with those two. Yeah, probably not wrong about that.
00:50:47
Speaker
And Malcolm Marks, Eben Etsibeth, and Willie LaRue are on the bench. If you have them, you might want to just throw them in your reserves because they'll come in and, you know, we all, we've seen the hookers come in and get like 20 to 30 points off Mark's reserves. Last time you came in. Right. Oh, that's better. Against Canada, he could do well. Look, I would, I'm going to say, look for him to get, uh, Marks probably gets over on a, on a mall try at least once. What he did the last time. Right. So, so that, that's where I'm looking for, for South Africa, Canada.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yep, pretty good stuff and so and you know Ben and I are trying to do it based on one People that are owning these guys at least and two are they scoring and then the points against graphic that we put out as well So Argentina US US has two games in this little batch that we're gonna do here, but we'll go through these ones first so Sanchez so
00:51:40
Speaker
Four surestarts for Argentina against the U.S. Sanchez, Tucle, Tetra Chaparro, yes. Petty start with caution because the U.S. have actually done okay in second rows. So just start with caution. He is a beast, he's a monster, and we saw that in the France game.
00:51:58
Speaker
You can start him if you want. I have him as a sit. But you know, if he's in your team and you need him, I'm going to be starting him. That's OK. That then that's not you. You could do worse. Yeah. But yes, if you could help it. Right. Everybody else start your own start your own risk and or like the some obvious ones. But I just missed them. It's OK. The U.S. There's only three. There's four players that are owned that I'm that I'll bring up Joti. Actually, the Argentinians don't do well against hookers now. So they go their defensive line outs. Not great.
00:52:25
Speaker
Nope. Blaine Scully. Go ahead. If you've been playing AJ this whole time, keep going. Keep going. It's not going to take up that nasty of a turn. So keep going. A lot of people have TT. Sit them. Interesting. Yeah, no. Sit them for this game. Definitely. The RG's do well against props. So no. So they have that.
00:52:44
Speaker
So asking for a friend, how do you feel about Matera in this matchup? I don't think the U.S. have a say either way on this one. Yeah, they don't do bad, but they don't do great. There's 17 points again, so they're near the bottom, so if you have to play them.
00:53:05
Speaker
All right. Well, I have to plan if you have to play them. I was just looking for guys that were fairly highly owned for this for Argentina. Yeah. So on to get back to my notes, Scotland versus Russia. Well, fuck again, the lineups are out for this.
00:53:25
Speaker
It's not the tastiest matchup, even for Scotland and Scotland is really they're playing their shags. Yes. Like it is. I mean, good luck picking somebody out of this one. Right. And that's hard to say because, you know, again, love you, Duncan Taylor, for what you do on the premiership and what you've done for Saris, but.
00:53:45
Speaker
Not really a starting 13 at the international level. No, not at this level. So not at the World Cup, right? So just I you know, I'm looking over the starters for Scotland I'm like none of these guys first off. You probably don't own any of them Seymour maybe Seymour maybe And either the either the flakers and that's it that's all right come up with
00:54:06
Speaker
And even then, I don't think you're going with Barclay or Brown over the other options that are available around the world. So you're looking at their bench, they got Stuart McAnally, WP Nell, and James Ritchie. Those are names you might have on your roster. Consider having them on your reserves if you've got them. McAnally will be in my reserves.
00:54:28
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. And but I'm not expecting anything from them. No, I mean, you might get some points again in reserves, but. Right. No, don't don't go anywhere. And then Russia, again, I said to start him last week, but he didn't. I don't think. Morozov. Yeah, it's Morozov. He's the only one who started worthy. That's it. Fair enough. Yeah, I don't. I I definitely agree with that. Wales and Fiji. So Wales have gone full noise.
00:54:57
Speaker
Yes, they have. They are not messing around. They're making sure they get this thing done. They're locking this shit down. Yeah, so I don't have a lot of sits for you, but I do have a few starts for whales. These are definitive starts. These are guys you absolutely 100% should start that are owned in TRM. Gareth Davies, he's likely to have a decent day north. Josh Navidi, the
00:55:18
Speaker
The Jeans don't do well against flankers for whatever reason. I don't know. I don't know why. And then Josh Adams, again, North and Adams, the two, the two wide men, um, Liam Williams isn't scoring great. So don't worry about that. He's starting for me. So that's again, out of, out of need, out of need. Um, so yeah, those are your guys. Everybody else start with caution. Um, there's no outright sits though. So then the, again, asking for a friend, um, well, what do you, what do you think of the, the, the likes of Alan wind Jones and Dan bigger?
00:55:46
Speaker
So if biggers or 10 rock them, I would definitely rock them. They are, where did my fly half numbers go?
00:55:57
Speaker
the Fijians actually are top three in terms of points against in terms of they are the three of the they're in the three toughest teams. Yeah, they are for fly halves. They only give up about 16 points on average. Granted, one of those teams was Uruguay. One of those teams was Georgia, although the Uruguayan 10 did pretty well. So right, you can throw that one out. But the Georgian 10 obviously didn't do very good. And the other 10 was Lilia Fana.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah. Throw that away. So you never know. The crowd position hasn't been great, but they have stopped what they've faced. So let's put it that way. And in terms of Alan Wynn, middle of the road. So feel free to start it if he's your guy. Yay.
00:56:39
Speaker
And then the Fijians, I've only got, I got bad news. I only got sits. I don't have a lot of starts. Okay. I don't have a lot of starts. Um, Rod, Rodra, Tui Silva, and Mata. Sit him. Sit him. Sitting Rod, Rodra. Yeah. Sit him in. The really rotten thing is I have to start Mata. Oh, yeah, I have to. Did I end up, I think I finally cut him. I have to start him.
00:57:01
Speaker
I think I was finally able to get rid of him because he, uh, yeah, he hasn't been doing shit this. Nope. This tournament helps. So, but I have him and I have to start him. So yeah, there's that. And now we choose a transition to the final game. We give pool play in TRM. So keep your heads on, um, as Ben and I have talked about.
00:57:18
Speaker
start moving yourself towards the quarter finalist you can get although you can you don't you you won't be able to fill your team with quarter finalist because you you know you get 35 and there's gonna be less than that that qualified but you will though well yeah but you but so I look this up because I I've been talking about it and I realized that
00:57:36
Speaker
Maybe, again, we thanked Ed profusely for his game week alignment. But the one thing that we really do need to thank him for is the fact that going into the quarterfinals, you have unlimited changes.
00:57:54
Speaker
So I am finally, this is now, and when I picked up Rajadra out of need, because again, the way my team was set up, Ireland are off. Italy are off this game week. Yeah, it's a rough game week. It's a tough game week. England are off this week. So and Japan are kind of doing what they do. Yeah. Yeah. And that kind of fucks over a lot of my lineup.
00:58:21
Speaker
I had to add, finally I got up to 35. I finally hit 35. Wow, I'm impressed it took you this long. It did. I'll give you that. And it was Roger Roger that I had to pick up to play at center. I'm impressed that it took you this long. That says something. That's pretty good. And so I'm looking forward to the fact that we're going to be able to do unlimited subs after the next game week. Full change. I'll finally be able to, yeah.
00:58:40
Speaker
Next week will be interesting again because there's gonna be a lot of teams that are not gonna go full noise No, and so it's gonna be tough to sort out Who's gonna be doing right? Who's gonna be playing and whatnot? So I'm a little bit nervous about my game my next game week But once we pass that
00:58:56
Speaker
We'll get through this and then you get a little bit hold hands and we'll get through it together exactly So starting it off with Georgia, Australia, Georgia now, Australia They're probably they'll probably actually need this They they won't not need it. That's for sure. Yeah, so At this point though, we're into if you got them plan if if if you have an Australian in for this match, um
00:59:27
Speaker
I'm not going to go through the names because, again, we don't know the lineups. But Georgia at this point, I don't know how much they have to play for. I don't know how much they're going to rock up for it. They might be already packing their bags, getting ready to head home. Yeah, you could see their shags. Right. And they could just be like, hey, get some time, have some fun. Australia, though.
00:59:48
Speaker
Uh, if you again, you know, if hooper is likely to be playing yeah, the highly owned guys are hooper keppu biel Pocock those are all guys over 20 the next tier down at 10 plus are karevi co and guinea And then right on the line is adam. Ashley cooper. Yeah, so I mean um, you know i'd be looking me I don't know if halet petty's gonna be playing in this match
01:00:13
Speaker
Um, but that he's another one I'd throw in there. Again, if you got him, like this, this is going to be the week where, because as I said, you're going to have, you're going to struggle to, you might struggle to fill your roster just based on the changes you need to make and, and who the teams are putting out there. So if you have an Australian that, that has been doing well for you, play them. It's not something to, it wouldn't take him out. Um, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Nick white, but I'm going to, uh, he might, he may end up as my starter. Right.
01:00:42
Speaker
One thing that I accidentally skipped over in my brain that I wanted to mention Jordan Pattaya played in that Uruguay game And I have to say he played one they said on the commentary on the broadcast too He played one frickin super rugby game and then he got hurt
01:00:58
Speaker
And in the one super rugby game, I think everybody in Australia had a boner watching him play because he looked amazing. So I'm glad he's healthy. I'm glad he's playing. He looked pretty good. The dude looks like fucking an Australian version of John Lolo move. He's just a house and he runs fast. So good on. I'm glad he's back there. Just wanted to say that because I thought he looked really good in the game, the one game I got to see him playing.
01:01:24
Speaker
All right, beside moving on. New Zealand and Italy, Italy are probably gonna try and go full noise, but doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna do them any good. And New Zealand are probably just going to be in the bet, taking a back seat. Here are the highly owned here the highly owned guys that I have advice for and that's it.
01:01:41
Speaker
After that, it's kind of like, all right, if you want to really go after your favorite Kiwi, go for it. But here are the guys I would definitely start if they play. Rico Ioani, Ben Smith, Sonny Blah-Williams, several Reese. Those are the really soft spots for Italy. They had a lot of soft spots against Australia, against South Africa, obviously.
01:02:01
Speaker
So, you know, again, if you have a favorite all black that you really want to play and he's in your roster, go ahead. Go nuts. The one that the one guy that they've actually done well against is the eight man. And Karen Reed, we know doesn't necessarily score a bunch on top of that. So if he's their eight man, go ahead and have a fine for old captain.
01:02:18
Speaker
If Sevilla is their 8-man though, I wouldn't worry about it. That's a different story. Yeah, it's a different running style by far. The only guy for Azuri I would play is if he's probably your 10 or he's been a guy that you've been playing is Tomato. Tomato Allen. Tomato. Tomato, Tomato, Tomasso. If this is the game that Geraldine decides to finally come back,
01:02:45
Speaker
Don't bother with them. Yeah, Negri, Lovati, Ferrari Toss them. Nope. Those are those are definitive sets I would I really if you can help it don't play any Italians against them But that's about play that play the guys that you know can at least score somewhat like poetry and stain But those are the only guys I would even consider are not named Tommaso Allen. There you go Le crunch Western version or Eastern version far Eastern version
01:03:12
Speaker
So here at the Fantasy Rugby Yanks, we talked about this before we started potting. Our general consensus is that England are likely to go less than full noise. France are likely to go with their best lineup. So for England, La Zora Toge are probably going to start, one of the two.
01:03:36
Speaker
If you got one of them, whoever the starter is, play them. Faz should be playing, play them. Sinclair or Mako are probably going to be starting and those are going to be your big points getters at prop. I'm guessing at this point they're going to throw Mako out there because, I mean, they could throw both. They could end up starting both Mako and Sinclair because one's a tight-headed, one's a loose.
01:03:57
Speaker
And do something so that's the other thing is you have to worry about is whether or not they're gonna play the full match, right? And Johnny May or coconos siga are gonna are gonna be your starters were one of your starters at the wing If you got either of them, yeah, go for it, right?
01:04:13
Speaker
For France Poirot at prop who's actually done a very good job for my team the rainbow lace Jefferson Yeah Ficue obviously although England aren't allowing many points to centers. No, so That comes with a caveat if you got him Yeah, give him a shot cuz they haven't really let's put it this way if two E's in the centers don't play your centers Don't play your French centers if two E's starting that's for England. That's probably the mitigating factor right there. I
01:04:41
Speaker
And it is. And we also got to realize the fact that England have played Argentina who don't have the best centers, Tonga who don't have the best centers. Oh, yeah, it's true. And then us. And then us. And we played like poop. So we can say that England don't give up points to centers, but really who the fuck have they played at center? They're only second to Samoa.
01:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, and then DuPont will probably gonna be your your scrum half. He's been your nine rock him. Yeah, and then Here's an interesting thing into macro Lopez. One of them will be starting obviously. Yeah, and England are not doing well against fly halves.
01:05:17
Speaker
Right, even AJ McGinty scored all right in that really poopy game against them. They are fourth. The only teams who have given up more points to fly halves in the competition are Namibia, USA, and Canada. I don't know what that says, but wow. I think what it says is George Ford has played a lot of fly half for England. That's true. That's definitely true. Ooh, yeah, that's gross.
01:05:40
Speaker
So, so yeah, if you, if you have, uh, into macro Lopez and, and their, their start, whoever, whichever one of them is starting in this match, feel free to set them and forget them. For sure. Oh my God. Didn't even, didn't even consider that my goodness. That's that's funny. This is the kind of insight you get the fantasy rugby. Yeah, man. You don't quite get this everywhere. That's great.
01:06:01
Speaker
All right, so barring a typhoon Ireland Samoa It sounds like that they're gonna be able to pull the game off either way even if they have to really look I mean, it is really gonna affect the way Ireland play. I guess not Anyway, I would expect Ireland to go Somewhat near full noise because they're gonna need this to make sure that they qualify got it Yeah, they're squeaky bum need a bonus point in order to be double sure that they qualify and to just put the boots to Scotland and say
01:06:26
Speaker
fuck you, go home. So here's where Samoa have issues and here's the guys that are owned highly. Rory Best, go ahead. If it's Sean Cronin as well, that's fine. You could do worse. James Ryan, definitely. Ian Henderson, definitely. Here's the issues that
01:06:44
Speaker
Samoa have caused and that's a little bit in the back row. So see cj standard is kind of a question mark He's too good of a player to get left off the board completely So if you have to play and play him and then the centers ring rose and Aki Toss him. Yeah. Well again, and if you have to play either one of them play ring rose don't like Aki No, and again, I think that comes down to the tackling that I think that's where we're gonna see the difference is that the reason that these teams like the team like Tonga doesn't give up fantasy points to flankers and centers are because
01:07:13
Speaker
They don't take many tackles. They're going to throw the ball around a little bit more, throw some offloads. So rather than take a tackle, they'll just pass the ball.
Fantasy Rugby Player Picks and Strategy
01:07:21
Speaker
Right. Well, and here's the good news for if you're like me and you own Chris Vue, guess where the Irish can be had.
01:07:28
Speaker
second rows so that's the one that's the one place that can be had uh two cpc if he plays sit him if whoever the ten is just sit him that's not gonna be good yeah um none i williams is also another highly yes samoan no bueno they uh they do all right against the back three especially full backs so that those will be the guys that you're looking at there
01:07:49
Speaker
onto the matchup that everyone has been waiting for in this tournament. Or in this pool. Namibia, Canada. There's no fantasy value here. There's not a lot of fantasy value there. If you're starting either of them, congratulations, you're from Namibia or Canada, or have a loved one who is playing on the team. Right, basically. No. Don't bother. Unless you have, again, unless you have still an empty space, if you're unlike me and still are not at 35 yet,
01:08:19
Speaker
You might want to think of feel free to get cute right might go with DTH you might go with the can you okay? Yeah, there you go. That's a good. That's a good shot would be a good shout and then and obviously Our John our John which are the two Canadians that everybody knows yeah They could have a play in the to they play in two top leagues in the world. So what are you gonna do?
01:08:40
Speaker
So Tonga US, again, not a lot of the fantasy value here. This will be a big one for those two teams, just like the previous one. But in terms of your fantasy value, there's not a lot going on. Halafinua is the only Tongan owned that I would start right now, or at least he's somewhat owned. Mafia and Lousy, actually the US do okay against second rows. They've done a pretty good job of containing
01:09:03
Speaker
Two decent second rows and they're about to play a third one, we'll see how that goes. I'll update those rankings as Game Week 4 concludes. But on the other side, for the US, I said JOTI before, I'll say JOTI again. Go ahead and roll them out there, the Tongans don't do great against Hookers.
01:09:23
Speaker
And if you've been sitting on him for the whole bloody tournament, this is your time. This is his time, TT Lamisatelli. And by the way, he's a fantastic person. Yeah, of course he is. I messaged him on Instagram and he was very, very quick to respond to me and say, thanks man, that's awesome or whatever it was. So yeah, thank you, TT, we like you. Oh yeah, you're up.
01:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, Wales versus Uruguay. This will be a tough one to pick up. Again, we're a long way out. This will be on the Sunday, the 13th of October. So almost a week. We have no idea who's going to be playing in this game. Right. Again, once the lineups come out, if you have any of the Wales players, play them. Yeah. The one thing I would say is don't play your props.
01:10:12
Speaker
Um, I would actually, you know, and I was, I was thinking about my notes were that don't, don't play any front rows. Cause it's likely that whales are going to go a little bit soft and split guys. Um, but you never know. They might, they might start with Ken Owens and, and, but at the same time, whoever the backup is going to be coming on at halftime. So you're, you're, or shortly, you're not going to get a full 60. You're not going to get that bonus point. You're not going to get this, but Uruguay are terrible against hookers.
01:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, they bought, excuse me, they bought on three, they give up over 40 points to hookers on average. Now granted, that's two hookers usually, but still, you know, you average that out to about 20 odd points a game, you could do worse. So that's my one real recommendation that to look at is, again, because they give up those points to the hookers, if you got one, play them, even if you haven't, you're in your reserves, you're going to get some decent points out of it.
01:11:06
Speaker
All right. And to close out the tournament, the first match, they're going to play the final match. Yep. Japan and Scotland. And this will be far more interesting than the last final pool match from 2015, which turned into an absolute shit show between England and Uruguay, where England just basically played angry. Yeah. Japan and Scotland. This will be, you know, the Japanese don't strike me as a team that's going to dial it down at all. They're going to just continue to rock out the guys that they have.
01:11:34
Speaker
So as it has been all tournament, Himano, Horie, the two props, Inagaki and Kujiwon, if you have them, play them. They are somewhat owned, so yeah, go ahead. Matsushima.
01:11:49
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Lameki, if you have him too, same thing. He's done well as well. I'm going to continue to say a big nope to you, Tamora. He's not done well. Nope. And a person that we very much love, but this is business, Mike Leach. Set. Yeah, set him.
01:12:08
Speaker
And then the Scots, you know, the likelihood is they are going to go full noise because they'll have whatever outside shot that they have at qualifying by winning this game. The obvious name, Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell, Stuart McAnally, play them. Yeah. You know, the Fikers actually don't do well against Japan. So if you have Ryan Wilson and John Barkley, pine them, pine them. And then.
01:12:33
Speaker
So our, our, our starts of the week, both already played. Mine was Pinot. He did Poopy. Uh, Artie Sevilla for Ben. He did pretty neat. You know, if you captain him, you wound up with 70 points, which is a pretty good Holland, but our sits of the week, neither one of them have played. Oh, cause you picked, I think we picked him from the same game. Same team, even. Yeah. It was, um, shit. Oh, it was art. No. Who do we pick?
01:12:57
Speaker
Fuck if I can remember. Well, my pick was my pick was, um, Josh Tuiya Silva from Fiji. Welsh do very well against wings. They're not, they're, they're not going to be, I doubt that they're going to be any nice, a much nicer. I will say that a lot of the back three for Fiji do have issues now and again with returning the kicks. They want to run it. They don't want to boot it out and that can often turn it to turnovers and penalties. So just that, that's just my thought on that one as well.
01:13:25
Speaker
and reminded me about whom I sit of the week was again. The big guy, Nakarawa. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the likes of Alan Jones and, uh, I think is it ball or beard or Corey Hill? He'll, he'll, he'll send home either way. Alan wins all you need to know in that equation. It's ball. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Right. And Nakarawa has just been, you know,
01:13:47
Speaker
him and Mata have been a little disappointing. Yeah, I will. I won't disagree with that one because I've owned them both. Yeah. And I know it feels. And Nakara will be on my bench, but that's again only out of need. Yeah, I have to play. That's why Matera is playing. Yeah, I have to play them both. Now you know why I have Matera, Jones and Petty on my, you know, I mean, Jimeno and Sevilla. Yeah. Yeah, I play them too. Jesus. But once you get out of them, I kind of struggled.
Predictions and Gratitude to Listeners
01:14:13
Speaker
Okay, let's run through the picking for these games real quick and then we will sign off for this thing. No brainer here, probably. The box against Canada. I'm gonna go ahead and put the box in already. As much as I'd love an upset here, I don't think it's gonna happen. Argentina are gonna probably take down the Eagles. Scotland and Russia. Sorry Russia, you guys get sent home with zero points. Take the Scots.
01:14:41
Speaker
but they still did better than we expected. So, yeah, they played some better games. And I thought for sure. And I was, I was definitely very down on them. So, uh, no doubt. Is there any chance that, that, that whale that Fiji, um, no, because talk about set piece superiority, right? The Welsh definitely have it. They do. And then to the next game week, uh, even if Australia dial it down as touch, I don't see them losing to Georgia. No.
01:15:11
Speaker
Kiwis will smash the Azuri. Much to the same way they've done the last two. So I don't see that changing. Le Crunch does a half noise England team beat a full noise French team or do the French pip them and take the group.
01:15:31
Speaker
Oh, I think that England are going to rock up and win it. I think they're on a mission. Yes, they are. Even though the backups aren't going. And I don't think they're going to go half. They might go quarter noise. They might have six or seven of the guys of the normal reserves or backups coming in. But then you're going to have the rest are going to be starters. And I believe the bench will all be starters. So I think the feeling of England are going to end with their best team.
01:16:01
Speaker
Right. Okay. And then England. So England, France. I own Samoa. I don't see how I, I, I, they're not going to lose twice. They won't lose twice. They'll, they're not going to be dumb enough. Even if they went out, they'll, they'll take it. The intriguing one.
01:16:22
Speaker
Again, I feel like the Canadians are on such a down. I'm going to take the Namibians. I am too. I hate to do it to our neighbors, but man. I love Canada. As long as they're not playing the US, I love Canada. But I'm just disappointed in them. And I think Namibia have been, they want a win. So I think they want to win more than Canada does. Agreed. Agreed. I think Canada kind of, they haven't shown much heart, not nearly as much heart as Namibia have shown. That's why I'm going with them. No argument on me.
01:16:51
Speaker
Finally, I get to back the boys. Go Eagles. USA. USA over Tonga. Finally, I get to back them and not feel like a complete fucking jump. Wales, you're great. Yeah, Wales. Wales, the Dragons. And then I will take the brave blossoms to knock down the Scots and knock them out of the World Cup and to win the group as well. So at least make sure they win the group.
01:17:18
Speaker
We're in agreement, so that means we were going to tie for this. For this. Well, for now. It's a long season to pick them. We got a lot more to go. So yeah, thank you everybody for downloading and subscribing. And we've had an uptick this season so long. I'm happy about it. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for just listening to a couple of chumps talk about rugby and pretend rugby.
01:17:44
Speaker
Make sure that you check us out on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play. Look at your fantasy mag, your rugby mag upgrades. I talk well. Look at your fantasy upgrades for the rugby mag. They will do you good, I promise. As long as we're not a complete helmet like me, you'll be okay.
01:18:04
Speaker
Oh yeah, this weekend we'll be doing a live pod one way or the other. What the topic or content is will be determined, but it should be a good one either way. And if you want to see us make a complete fool of ourselves, then make sure you look out for Ben and I on Twitter. And if you don't know what that is, just look at the show notes. We're there, I promise. Other than that, thanks a lot. I'll work on this whole talking thing in a second here.
01:18:30
Speaker
new things going on over here. That's all folks. Have a good one everybody. Cheers.