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Season 4- Episode 29- France’s Slam (6 Nations Round 5 & Super Rugby Pacific Round 5)
26 Plays4 years ago
It's another bit from those American rugby dopes. On this episode, of course we celebrate what everyone is talking about, the win in Aust...no? Oh, right, the win in Paris as the French claim their first Grand Slam in over a decade. We also can not forget about that final play in Cardiff and what it meant for the Azzuri going forward, and of course the performance Ireland put forth in Dublin to put the pressure on France to do the job. We did have rugby elsewhere to look at too, with Super Rugby having a bit of a table turner happening, there was still some good rugby to watch including the rescheduled game in New Zealand. Yes, we get a look at what happened in MLR, including our Free Jacks pulling off the big one in some stupid state. Grab a drink, maybe two, kick those feet up and enjoy!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotions
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We are here. We are alive. At least I'm barely alive. But hey, we're all here just the same. We'll get through it. We'll get through it. We don't survive. We'll get through it. Yeah, no interesting weekend for the rugby. Kind of. So yeah, we'll have plenty to digest even though we only had eight matches, which is like really unusual for this type of timing here. But yeah, we'll still go like an hour and a half anyway. Yeah, no kidding. Shut the fuck up. Let's drink a beer.
00:00:39
Speaker
Download great review. Share us on your favorite podcast app. Feedback always welcome as usual.
00:00:49
Speaker
And please let us know how you found this as well.
Fantasy Rugby Geek and TRM Upgrades
00:00:51
Speaker
Indeed. And while Jared's getting his beer set by our friend George, fantasy rugby geek, a coffee, he has been extremely busy. I still owe him one. But make sure you're doing it. Do as I say, not as I do. He's earned it. He's probably taken a little bit of a rest now after.
00:01:13
Speaker
Free comps. Finally, Six Nations is over. You can return to just a few. Yeah. Go have a nap, George. Yeah. Shit. Yeah. And then grab your TRM upgrade. TRM upgrades this week because we're back into the prem and TRM and we want to know who's in, who's out. Unfortunately, we won't see the Quinn's guys returning yet, but because they're on by. But I think we'll all be happy with the other players that are going to be returning, which will get into it a little bit. Right.
Social and Political Commentary
00:01:42
Speaker
But yeah, grab that and obviously it also supports Restart Rugby, which is a huge thing, even though we could do better, but it's surely better than nothing. No question about it. Right. As always, Black Lives Matter on this podcast, there is no room for racism in sport or in life. Seems to be a few people have a...
00:02:02
Speaker
Sticking their craw about a judge being confirmed, not like it's never been done before, rammed down the throats of the Senate or likewise. It's silly. I mean, they're like, can we just get through anything without Republicans turning stuff into a racist and or sexist or both circus?
00:02:22
Speaker
I mean, from, you know, the last couple of, of, of confirmations have just you know whether they're Republican judges or Republican appointed judges or Democratic appointed judges. It's just been ridiculous and this is no different.
00:02:38
Speaker
all this scary talk about, you know, the scare tactics about, you know, critical race theory and how everything that, you know, recognizing the black experience in the United States of America and the world in general, is supposed, we're not supposed to talk about it. And it's not, cause we're supposed to, look, we're the two whitest people you'll ever meet. We are paler than pale. And so has Ben.
00:03:05
Speaker
And you know how much guilt I feel when I hear about our history of slavery? None, because I don't support it. I never supported it. I wasn't alive to support it. And it's not me. I'm not the one who did it. I don't have to take responsibility for it, although I think we should pay reparations. But that's my personal thing. But why do they take it to this whole like, oh, your people are going to
00:03:35
Speaker
you know, think something about black, you know, I don't know, white people, like people are going to hate white people. It's like, no, people hate white people because we do shit like this, not because of slavery at this point. Like, yes, that's bad. And I'm not trying to minimize it. Yes. Like you're the ones who making us look bad today. You're those people today. We need to get rid of like, like
00:03:57
Speaker
This is what we're trying to move on from. We can't fix the past, but y'all are stuck in it. That's the problem. You're still stuck there. We're trying to get beyond it. There's a difference. And the people that are trying to get beyond it are the ones that want to at least educate those in the past.
00:04:14
Speaker
Here's where we fucked up. Let's not do it again, shall we? That's the basics of it. That is the brass tacks of it. Like if you can't put it any basic than that, really. Right. And put it this way, too, which is like making yourself talk about making it a joke. Yesterday, Ted Cruz held up a book that had nothing to do with Katonji Brown. Jackson, it's like nothing to do with her or anything.
00:04:41
Speaker
Um, called the end of policing, obviously not completely unopened still squared probably just just came from Amazon.
00:04:50
Speaker
as a scare tactic, and overnight it became a bestseller. And of course, a pick up zombie socialist like me who is okay with comfortable with the concept of defund the police as a compliment. He sees that I'm like, good, more people need to see what our police actually do. Newbie, new book to read. Yeah. Everybody go read this book now. Right.
00:05:15
Speaker
So thank you, Ted Cruz, for being a racist douchebag and helping out the other side. Yeah. Fucking idiot. It's like the people like we talked about with the books the other week, like, all right, you got to ban a book. Cool. I'm gonna go read it. Obviously, this has something to say. Yeah, obviously, this is something you don't want me to see. So let's go see what it says.
Fantasy Rugby and Player Updates
00:05:34
Speaker
Hooray. Fucking hell.
00:05:39
Speaker
In better light. Grab our Patreon because we obviously have our super rugby. We're getting that nailed. That is almost completely buttoned up thanks to the man across the screen here for me. That and then obviously we have our prem sheet that usually makes it up on a weekly basis. Right. Those will both be up tomorrow morning. Yeehaw. So afternoon. Sorry guys. But it'll be there before you need to make decisions. So it's okay.
00:06:06
Speaker
But we so grab that. And yeah, and if you if you like what we do here, we at the very least you'd be supporting us. So we appreciate that just exactly. In other news.
00:06:18
Speaker
We found out, uh, AJ is going to, AJ McGutty is going to miss five weeks. Thankfully we won't miss the World Cup qualifiers. Like God, not anything too, too bad. Just, just a little ligament strain. So thankful. And you know, it's like we talked about, it's not always about him walking off the field because that doesn't mean shit. Um, but yeah, thank God he's he'll be all right.
00:06:38
Speaker
Other side of the coin, especially, you know, helpful for sale will be two-week coming back. Yep. It'll be available this weekend. Four-timing for England. Both he and potentially Faz. Right. Faz is back this weekend too. That news has been, I can't tell if it's an open secret or officially news, but Faz is back. Right. Yeah. And we saw, we'll talk about it a little later, but we saw the return of one TJ Parinara to
00:07:07
Speaker
I'm not mad about that. No, I don't think he would be. No. So happy to see him back.
Italy's Rugby Upset and Youth Performance
00:07:14
Speaker
I'm sure he's going to be happy to be back in the yellow uniform there. All right. Yeah, let's dive in to the closing round of Six Nations and
00:07:29
Speaker
We started hot. We started red hot in Cardiff. What a tone setter for the weekend. Woo. Oh my. The day, I guess, really, because it was all one day. Yeah. They just.
00:07:45
Speaker
They wailsed whales. They just disrupted everything. You know, everything Wales was trying to do, they disrupted Italy. And it's just great, like, and Jared and I are texting during the match and saying, like, Italy, we were like, Italy are in it, but they can't win this without scoring a try. It's just, it's not going to happen. Right.
00:08:06
Speaker
And so we were just like, this time went on. We're like, oh, well, this is the time on. It's not going to happen. You can do it. Same as everybody. But that's exactly what it took. It took one try. And if I can get ahead of ourselves here, because I think at this point we should just jumble them all up anyway. Can we talk about the juxtaposition? This involves three teams here. The juxtaposition between Italy, Scotland and England.
00:08:36
Speaker
where Italy starts Capozzo. You know, he's new, he did pretty well with last match, you know, with a cameo appearance. They gave him the starting role and the fullback spot. And he had a stormer of a matching before that end of the game magic. Yeah, oh yeah, he had a great match before that, no doubt. He was tearing it up. But if we want to juxtapose that try, the Patavani try, and the pass from Capozzo, the run and the pass from Capozzo with,
00:09:06
Speaker
Stuart Hogg. And his, oh, I'm going to keep it. Not only that, but his ego after the match of being all like, I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that anymore for a while. It's like, dude, you kind of fucking shut the bed.
00:09:24
Speaker
And then combine that with England being just unwilling to take those kind of chances on younger players. And it's like you get the problem is you see the the Stuart Hoggs who get the ego about them. And how many tries did like walk in tries that he just cock up this? He's had a few. He's had a few. Yeah. And I shouldn't say this tournament. It's been it's been a thing for him lately. Yep. I don't know what's going on with that. And it's like you're he's still a great player, so you can't take that away from him.
00:09:52
Speaker
it doesn't take away from him being great, but it's one of those like how much is that of that his ego being like, I'm just cock of the walk. I'm the big swinging dick and like just fucking up because he's not, you know, he's more ego than substance sometimes in some ways. So anyways, but either way, the capital.
00:10:12
Speaker
What a, what a finish though. It was a match. It was, it was. And DC falling fall. Like, how do you like this? I've been fascinated with this since the Ray Bork spending the last six minutes of on the ice for the abs. Yeah. I remember that. I remember that quite vividly because I was like, that's my team. You're in that position. And like, obviously you don't trust anybody else to do it because Ray Bork, but I mean, everything is on you.
00:10:40
Speaker
like moving is like, I mean, I've been always wanted to play well under pressure. I know not everybody is. And I haven't really played under all that kind of pressure. And I'd still be like, turn turns knees to jelly and to
Ireland's Rugby Success and Style
00:10:54
Speaker
have that kind of poise and fuck like, you know, the late game, you know, big time players make big time plays and big time games and stuff. And that's a cliche, but it's that's what it is.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's just make that simple path. Like if you actually look at like the the most impressive thing that kept food so did was, well, first the line break, and then that will serve to be, I don't know who it was on the wing at that point. And once there was home free, it was just like simple pitching cash, like, give, give it in your your home, like do it because there's no you couldn't, he was never going to get back, he knew he had to get back inside. And right, he was never going to get there on his own. But thank God powder Ronnie did good did
00:11:35
Speaker
good wingery and got himself in a position to take that into the midfield. So it was an easy knockover for Garbisi at the end there. Yeah. But yeah, the Garbisi like, how much of like pressure was Garbisi under though?
00:11:50
Speaker
I mean, how many? Oh, just don't shake. Just don't shake that fucking thing, please. For all our sakes, don't shank it. Oh, God. Your teammates are celebrating already. Like, it's a done deal, but you still have to do it. Still going to knock it through. And he's obviously trying to time it well, too. So, the clock was dead. Right. It was really tough. So, of course, he fell down afterwards. Oh, yeah. He was just dead. He was dead. And it's just all the emotion coming out for the Missouri.
00:12:23
Speaker
And I want to plug something because I know we don't normally, um, we're not big fans of rugby pass, but it is a rugby pass production. So I'll give them that credit. Um, we see it all the time now on MLR and it's on the rugby network. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah. And the rugby network, when, when the MLR games, they've run commercials for the, um, something about facing Goliath. I think it's the Italy versus New Zealand, New Zealand. And, um,
00:12:49
Speaker
Michele Lamaro. Michele Lamaro is just like imploring like, let's just go one at a time like this and that. And I'm just like, I want to run through a brick wall for this guy. I want to run through it. Especially after that, it's just, yeah, seeing that all, you know, in the evening on Saturday, it was like, oh, I'm so pumped for this. Yeah. It was, you know, so it was really awesome.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, just so much and so much good things came for this tournament freely besides the win too. We saw, you know, Luca Bizi is no longer required by the Missouri team when everybody's healthy. Like, you know, we know that Casey can do the job.
Critiques of England and France's Rugby Strategies
00:13:30
Speaker
This kid, Nicotera, can do it well.
00:13:32
Speaker
He's not required right now for Italy. So that is really good news. Not to bash Luca Bezier, but he was never going to be the guy that got it done. So that's really good news for them. Marco Fusare continues to somehow be on winning Italy teams. He was on the last one, I guess.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, good for him. That is a terrific back three for them, especially. And they still could have some things tweaked and they still have some other players that can get in there.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah. Well, yeah, but now it's building depth and then building experience with it. And there's still some gaps in depth. You know, that's a really good thing. So if I'm if I'm the Azuri, you've got to be excited. There's a there's a very bright future going on there. A ton of positions that are just set for a while and they're all young like Brax showed extremely well. I can't remember how old garbage he is. Not very 22, maybe. Right. Varnie and Brelie is not terribly old either.
00:14:35
Speaker
I mean, he's mid to high 30s at this point, but yeah. I thought it was like mid to late 20s. No. Yeah. I think he's like 20. Sorry. But he'll be, he's good for a backup for, for a good little bit. And then the, yeah, that pack is coming together.
00:14:53
Speaker
And you still have her Sione coming back. So, um, and Piledry assuming he can probably get healthy. Oh, Piledry, that team with fucking Jake Piledry. Shut up. 20, uh, garbage is 21. Fuck. Yeah. I mean, they're there. Yeah. I, there's, there's actually a lot more to like about the future of that. I mean, even though we know there's a ton of depth in England, just,
00:15:18
Speaker
not being used, whereas Italy is like, yeah, they're building on, you know, they're looking at 2027 as a year. That could be very good for them. Yep. They'll be shooting shooting high at that point. Before we get too carried away, we do have to address the the one Alan win, Mr.
00:15:38
Speaker
you know, bionic man, bad, bad luck being on those big landmark ones, apparently for whales. Horrible. Yeah. Horrible. No. And even even into his Lions stuff, too, like when he played the most the most Lions caps ever, they lost this first test as a Lions captain. He
00:16:03
Speaker
He was injured. It's just not. Yeah, it's just. Yeah, I don't I don't love. And I know they were trying things in this in this game, so so, you know, you kind of throw the book out a little bit with that, but like Dewey Lakes, not an international hooker, I'm sorry. No, no, I thought he played OK. He played OK, but he wasn't like he is not ready.
00:16:30
Speaker
That was probably his best performance of the Six Nations. That was the best performance I've seen him put in yet, but that still isn't quite sure. I'm not saying it was up to standard, but I'm going to give him credit for advancement anyway. Yeah, I said Davis at six needs to stop. No.
00:16:48
Speaker
You have some really good flankers.
Six Nations Reflections and MVP Nominations
00:16:52
Speaker
Stop pulling a fucking lock there. Knock it off, man. It goes for you too, Eddie, but we'll get to that later. Yeah, we'll get there later. But in the end, I think we'd be really silly to skip over the class.
00:17:07
Speaker
of Josh Adams just to say, you know what? Yeah, we, we, we borrowed this. This metal does not belong to me. This belongs to somebody wearing blue. And he gave it to obviously the guy y'all wanted to give it to him. So like, yep, he totally, and he, yeah, you can't, you can't do it better than that.
00:17:27
Speaker
And I will say, again, I'm back to the tactics, too. The one time Wales looked great was when they were going wing to wing. It was like one sequence that led to one of their tries. Or was it their only try? They had two or three, I think. Let me get to this.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, they had the three because they scored. Yeah, I guess it was the Watkin try. It was the first one. And it was just like side to side actually using the wings because they you know, I will. You know, I'm sticking with my hot take that whales have potentially the best. They're in the they're in the top class of.
00:18:11
Speaker
Um, of wings, yeah. Uh, anywhere in the world. There's those two, Louis re Samet and Josh Adams. I will put them up against anybody and, and as, as equal or better. Um, they ain't so bad. They're not so bad. And you got to use them. So yeah, I agree with that. They're only good if you use them. Yep. Agreed. Agreed. Um,
00:18:35
Speaker
Let's jump over to Dublin and Ireland and Scotland and really just left a lot to be desired from the Scottish point of view, unfortunately. There was the whole incident, which we can spend a whole podcast about talking about that, but- Also goes to the ego type stuff. A little bit, yep. I don't disagree with that. But yeah, just, ugh.
00:19:06
Speaker
Ugh, Scotland. What the fuck were you doing? I don't know. I think they waited too long to bring Finn on. I know he was it was disciplinary, but do you want to win? Because Blair Kinghorn was
00:19:21
Speaker
It was not that special at all. There were a couple of nice passes, but really overall, not the great game for him by any means. No, that ball shot behind the line way too many times from his hands. Not awesome.
00:19:39
Speaker
Yeah, it was. You can't do that against Ireland because they're in pricks and they'll score for fun just to fuck with you. Yep. I'd be fine with the penalty kick, but you fucked up so much. We'll score a try. No problem. Yeah. Okay. Fine. Yeah. And there's like, we talk about, talk about depth and you know, it's, here's the thing with, and I'll get, we might get a lot of,
00:20:06
Speaker
Somebody's got to knock down my door for this one. We know that when France are good, it's usually Toulouse that's driving the bus for them. Now, when Ireland are pretty good, I think most people would argue, or at least have somewhat of a nod of the head to say that when Leinster's good, they're good. And not to say that it's just Leinster. We know that there's plenty from all four provinces. Oh, right. At this point, yeah.
00:20:31
Speaker
Dan Sheehan is the backup hooker at Leinster, and he was superb in this match. Fantastic, fantastic. And really, I'm not trying to knock on Herring or any of the other guys, but damn, he was excellent for a guy that has what, four caps to his name? Something like that, like, yikes. I mean, terrifying what might be going on at that factory over there in Leinster.
00:21:01
Speaker
So, but to
Super Rugby Developments
00:21:02
Speaker
that point, obviously, you know, again, good, good lengths for teams, producing good players means Ireland's probably going to be pretty good. So as much as you might not like that as an Ireland fan, or one of the other provinces, if you're Irish, you're going to be happy that they're winning. So end of story on that one, I suppose. So yeah, Dan, Dan Sheehan, absolutely superb in this match.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, you got played as a match dude, didn't he? Okay. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Rightfully so. In my opinion, he was a problem for all 62 minutes he was on the field. So I would give that to him. Sexton's played back to form, which is really head scratching. I was like, is this the right guy? Are we sure about this? Yeah. And, you know, he'll still need to be
00:21:47
Speaker
you know manage game to game totally especially you know once we get to the World Cup type stuff but I mean there's no no doubt that he can you know it's one of those like what was that Toby Keith song I ain't as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was anything like yeah old man will get it done like
00:22:08
Speaker
when he needs to. Just don't ask him to do it for an extended period of time. Yeah, don't ask him to play five, you know, 80 minutes in a row, not going to go well.
00:22:21
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, good performances all around from everyone here. You know, Gibson, Gibson Park makes that team fucking tick. And I love it. I love the way he plays just that bit of up tempo. It's it only produces good things for what's going on on the field. I'll have a bit to say about him later. But yeah, and so this was just, you know,
00:22:46
Speaker
Let's put it this way. I think if this was the game that the Ireland used to play and they won, we'd be just hammering them into the ground like how fucking awful it was. They were lethal when it came, when it came down to it. And that is a switch from what we used to be hammering them into them for. So, yeah, no, they're aggressive. They're, they're going for it. Yeah. I'd say, uh, I'd say Andy Farrell's got something good going on over there.
00:23:12
Speaker
I'd say so too. Yes. So good for him and the Irish. So the good news is also the Irish haven't peaked a year early. No, no, they're still getting their shit together. There's still some stuff to go and they're very good still. So Irish fans, you might actually be have a chance to be excited. Yeah, I think so. Oh, man, who knew? All right, let's go to the last one. Shay Perry. Yeah.
00:23:45
Speaker
I've talked to a couple of English friends over here and none of them, they were all really resigned when they gave away a penalty or something that went against them because they were just so very much aware that they probably were not winning this game.
00:24:06
Speaker
And we're just so like, okay, that's that. I would not have known you to do that ever. So it speaks a lot in that case. I have experience in these matters, I will say. As someone who cheered for a team coach by one, Andrew Reed, there comes a time where
00:24:34
Speaker
you realize that it doesn't matter what players there are. And he's still gonna fucking misuse them. He's not gonna fix any of his own mistakes. Despite all the talk about potentially about, you know, yeah, we have to take a look at this and this and this and then never fucking changes. And you're just like, okay, it's just not gonna happen, but they're good enough that it's like they could happen, but it's not gonna happen. So,
00:24:59
Speaker
Um, of course I'm chief's fans are feeling that way now because, uh, although they did get their ring cause my homes is, it was, was able to overcome that. But it's like now that Tyra kills go on, um, they don't have much of an attack outside of my home. So it's like you look at the England and you're like, okay, well, first off, who was their leading meterages person? And now.
00:25:26
Speaker
I like what they did with him. I'm not, I'm not knocking it, but it's like, he's your thing. They don't have any runners.
00:25:35
Speaker
They need to utilize. Like why Sam Simmons wasn't doing that role to begin with when he probably should be. Right. No. Or change them up because here's the thing. Who wants to tackle Alice Genge in that space? Nobody. Nobody means. You saw what he did. He was damaging all over. And Sam Simmons is more of the elusive. Like, yeah, okay, we want to do this and get into space and like use them different ways. But instead, there's just, okay, well, we want someone here to do one thing and that's it. And it's like, well then,
00:26:05
Speaker
And it's your prop. And Genj can do it. So I'm not knocking it. I thought it was a great idea, but it's not like a genius thing that's going to win you the match. It's just a fun wrinkle to put in there to fuck with the other team. But when Genj and you have Genj, you have Sam Simmons, but you don't really use him right. And really, your attacking threat was Joe Marchand in the backs.
00:26:30
Speaker
Yes. That's it. That's the best one. And I will say Freddie Stewart had a fantastic match, best I've seen of him. But his value was in that go get that high ball. Like there was any attacking high ball. That was pretty interesting. Instead of the cool twist on it, instead of a bomb diffuser, he was the bomb. Right. And I get the bomb.
00:26:51
Speaker
And that was a great use of him. But it's like, wouldn't it have been great if he could go do that and then pop to a winger who knew what the fuck to do with it? Or a fullback who knew what the fuck to do with it? Furbank was awful. Furbank was awful. He was so he was not good. Not good. Unfortunately, he's had two trips to Paris. Neither have been super. So I don't. Yeah, I didn't quite understand that. And Noel is well, before he got hurt, he was a hole anyway. So.
00:27:19
Speaker
That's what you expect from Jack Noll, either nothing or he gets hurt. That's what you get from him these days. So it's like, what do you expect?
00:27:27
Speaker
Like what do you seriously expect from England? And that's not going to, none of this is going to, and I get that they're not going to fire Eddie. I told it, but I totally agree with the, you know, fire Eddie. And it's like, who are you going to get? It doesn't fucking matter. Get somebody who just like will throw shit at the wall. You have to, you have to, you'll have to just be resigned to the fact that you won't do well in 23 and you're going to be looking towards 27. The, the time to fire Eddie and get a result in 23 is gone. We talked about that last year. This thing went sideways and they decided to keep them anyway.
00:27:58
Speaker
It's gone. Sorry. Yeah. Like that is the end. When he said I was going to, I'm going to change this. I'm going to do this. You forgot who you were dealing with, who was the most stubborn arrogant son of a bitch that there might be in coaching. Bar a couple of the ones that we know that we know well. But yeah, like shit. And I hear it from there's a lot of and this is the problem with these old school announcers and fucking with people's heads because they don't really they don't know what the game is today.
00:28:27
Speaker
So people who are saying, like, oh, you know, you got to, you know, got to go for posts every time. It's a test match. You got to get the points. I hate that. And it's like rugby is one. And we said it earlier with Italy. Rugby is won by tries. You don't win by kicking over points because guess what the other team is doing? They're going to score tries.
00:28:47
Speaker
That's, that's winning rugby. Look at France. Look at how many fucking, they just pour over tries and they'll kick for corner just to be like, yeah, we'll take the, we'll keep the ball in your end. What's the worst that happens? We get a, you know, a penalty and then you kick, you know, touch more playing kind of at midfield again. We'll sort something, you know, we'll sort it out there, but like play in the other team's end, put tries in like they just don't spend enough time in the other team's end. They don't try to score tries. You're not going to win that way. Not at this level. It's about scoring tries that the whole,
00:29:17
Speaker
taking three to build the scoreboard, that's obsolete. That's like the run the ball to set up the pass in football. It's obsolete. It's not the way it's done anymore. Or even going to earn the right to go wide. That's not how it's done anymore. It's the attack where the space is.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah, no. And they were talking about the stats of England try scored. Like if you eliminated the Italy game, I think they had two or three. Is that what it was for? Yeah. OK, does that include from this weekend? Or is that five now? No, because I was just looking at the table and England had eight tries on the on the tournament and they had four against Italy. OK, so not great. No, not great at all. But of course, we have to just
00:30:06
Speaker
look at the other side of the field and
00:30:10
Speaker
long, long wait for Le Blue and the absolute, the absolute party that Paris turned into. This is in New France. And to your point though, it took them like about two years to get to here, I'd say, of implement, you know, it took them a little bit. They started saying, you know what, instead of just throwing the ball around, we're going to actually implement the one three three one and implement some structure to it and learn, you know,
00:30:39
Speaker
some discipline on attack. Yeah, still have some fun with it. But yeah, they have a lot of fun. There's no structure doesn't mean you can't have fun. It just means you throwing a pass knowing that someone's there because that's their job to be there. Instead of I'm throwing a pass because hopefully somebody's there. See how that works. Yeah.
00:30:59
Speaker
And it's poorly and a lot of people yelling at stuff. Right. So they avoided they didn't have a that's the French game this tournament because of that. Right. You know, they were they were, you know, in tune, communicating with each other, working together. You know, didn't fall apart. That's a that's a monster team all around. That's scary. Like, OK, so we hear about this.
00:31:22
Speaker
you know, all these teams that plot along and play with three flankers on the, or three locks on the field, France is like, fuck it. We're playing with four flankers. Yeah. Wokey's in those second row. There's a, there's another, as an extra back rower basically. And you know, it's, and they, they doubled England's try total on the tournament that way and let up five fewer tries. Yeah. Sean Edwards. That's a Sean Edwards effect. Oh yeah. That too. We know that, but it's like, it's still like,
00:31:52
Speaker
you can coach and then players got to play and they have done it, you know. Did you see the clip of the after show, the post-match show with Edwards coming over to the desk and all the, you know, he's greeting everybody and totally leaves Clive hanging. Yeah, Clive's a fucking helmet. That's why. Totally leaves him hanging and Clive's like,
00:32:15
Speaker
Sean. I leave him hanging too. He's been a complete don't head. Jesus. Absolutely. He's been a complete dunderhead. Pass. Yeah. So, gee, who could we have gotten to replace Eddie?
00:32:28
Speaker
And, you know, we've talked about it before now that two of the best right now that are on there right now, Edwards and Farrell, neither one of them want to work with Eddie because he is a nightmare to work with, apparently. Yes. So I mean, we look at we look at the coaches that have come through the England system and then and then left because it's not there. They're like, nope, can't handle that guy. Yeah, nope. There's how many times has he replaced a coach within a year?
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's probably it's one way or the other and it's not good for the French in, you know, in individually.
00:33:03
Speaker
Obviously, DuPont, we know how brilliant he is. Gregory Aldrich, not a shocker either. And that midfield is dynamite between Fikou and Dante. That is awesome now. That was the real problem they were trying to figure out. And that's why they tried Intimac at 12 and Jelly Bear at 10. And they were trying to figure out, but Dante has stepped up and said, I am here to save the day. I will be at 12. Fikou can stay at 13, and we are going to freaking smash. And they did.
00:33:31
Speaker
Right. And then you have Pinot and Villara on the way. So much fun. Right. So much fun. One through 15 and then beyond is just a joy to watch on that team. And there's still no Jelly Bear on this team. He's hurt. There's still no Ollie Wong on this team. Yeah, that is the fucked up thing. He's us. Because, you know, as good as Aldrit is,
00:33:58
Speaker
He's not captain because he's the best loose forward in France. He's captain because he's fucked the best leader. Right. To me, Olivier is a better talent. Right. And that's and that's no again, no disrespect whatsoever to Aldri. It's just that Olivier is fucking ridiculous. I mean, who the hell you remove from this back row with Croce and Jelanche, they're both brilliant. Right. Croce with the go-go gadget arm on the track. I was like, yeah, there it is.
00:34:26
Speaker
Go get your arm. Boom. Try. It's like, ah, snuck it through there. Such a great forward try when you don't know where the arm becomes. It's just all of a sudden. Yeah. It's like, ah, I see the line. I can get it. You got it. Shit.
00:34:42
Speaker
It was absolutely, yep. So brilliant on France. One of my kids, his dad's from France. So he was just telling, he was talking to my ear off on Monday after the game. I was like, yep, I'm sure you were quite the site at your house on Saturday. Don't doubt it for a second. All right, so let's kind of go through a few superlatives on this one, then we'll go to super rugby. Breakout player of the tournament.
00:35:12
Speaker
I mean, duh. Well, there's a couple, right? Because. There's names we can mention all without. Right. Capo, it goes without saying, right? The two for me for Ireland.
00:35:28
Speaker
that need to be discussed. Jameson Gibson Park, for as good as Murray is, Gibson Park is like, see this nine jersey? Mine. Mine. And then in the forwards, the flankers have been a little shaky. I mean, you have Peter Romani, who's fantastic. But outside of him, it's been like, OK, nope, somebody step up and grab jerseys on this.
00:35:57
Speaker
Josh Van Der Fleer, that seven jersey is his. Flying Dutchman. For a long time now. You know, for as long as he plays like that anyway. Yeah, rather good. Yeah, I like him a lot. I really do. So those are my, well, two or three really big ones. Yeah, I think for the Irish
00:36:19
Speaker
Mac Hanson, like, wow, like just slotting in like it's nothing. And like he's been doing it his whole life at International. He did that, you know, just absolutely, absolutely brilliant. And and Dante, you know, you know, he he was not here last year. No, he wasn't. And like we said, like I just said, that was a problem place for them in the centers. They knew FICU had to stay there because FICU had been a great, you know, defensive general at the very least.
00:36:48
Speaker
But they're like, who the fuck we put next to him? He has answered that question without a doubt. So yeah, I think those are the two guys that come to mind with me, obviously throwing in and she kind of walks on on top of that as well. Really good stuff for all three of them, honestly. England, I mean, if you want to go down the machine though, because like England, I mean, Freddie Stewart has got to be there because- Oh, yeah, totally. I agree.
00:37:13
Speaker
pretty airlines as they're calling them. Yeah, no, 15 shirt is pretty stewards for as long as I feel like 14. Like he's he's somewhere there in the back. I liked I liked how they used him. And I you know, I think that if they had mail-ins at 15, it would have been a lot different.
00:37:32
Speaker
i need to make better decisions yeah i'm gonna say if you wanted if you want to go on to go around with it yeah right because then they can switch around didn't match to so who gives a shit truth.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah, I would. But either way, Freddie Stewart showed a lot. So good. And we've seen a lot of Lester guys get called up and you're just like, what the fuck does this person do? Not him. No, not him. And we got to say Harry Randall for his first. Yeah. First couple first couple of starts and six nations and did quite well was really well was not.
00:38:07
Speaker
really made my head scratch like why he got sad but that's a different story for a different day that we can't we can't continue it because we'll be here forever.
00:38:19
Speaker
Yes, had a good tournament, had a good tournament, hadn't, you know, was a name had been as many camps, probably stepped his game up a little bit this year, especially Sutherland wasn't going to be a part of it. So that was obvious. So he needed to they really needed to lose head to step up and let's say he probably did it. So he did it on him. And the full, you know, very dark, I guess. Yeah, dark, quite good.
00:38:43
Speaker
Very, very good gives them a lot, a lot, a lot of hope at that, at that loose forward position for right. Another reason not to worry about age and experience, just throw them out there and like, you know, let him, let him play against these great teams and he showed he belongs. So that's his, you know, Mish and Darge at six at seven for the next couple of years will be a joy to watch, even if the rest of Scotland can kind of suck sometimes. Thanks. I mean,
00:39:11
Speaker
goes without saying England were a disappointment but for me for all the hype and after their first after their first match and with the victory of the Calcagli Cup Scotland was extremely disappointing for me throughout the tournament even a little bit in the Italy game like it has to be said like that that would you know they started with so much hope and
00:39:36
Speaker
Man, I was looking forward to seeing what they could do going forward. And man, they just completely crapped it. They're better than this. Like, that's the thing. Like, you look at Wales being disappointing. It's for the same kind of reason. Like, you're better than this. You can be so much better than this with everything you have in place right now. England's a different story because a lot of the selections are shit. Scotland and Wales actually do pretty well at selection.
00:40:06
Speaker
And they just poop. Yeah, no doubt. Like good players that just together just are pooping. Haven't done it yet. No, it's a head scratcher. Right. Other than our disappointments and breakouts, any other surprises that we've come through? I don't have a surprise, but the
00:40:32
Speaker
the Georgian referee that had to cut a lot of the brunt of the Italy and Ireland situation. Yeah, you know, that wasn't his fault. So not his fault. What are you gonna what are you gonna do to criticize him? I don't think there's anything to say otherwise. So the fact that we have another, you know, referee from another nation, which is nice.
00:40:51
Speaker
Yeah. And you know what? That's a really nice thing. If he can get him his game up because you don't have a conflict with any of these countries, you can play. You can plug and plug him wherever you need to. So much better him than Adam said that any Oh, good Lord. Good Lord. No kidding. Good Lord. No, no, no, no. I guess my surprise is that I didn't. I don't recall. And this might just be because I've had a
00:41:22
Speaker
good portion of a beer and, and, and it's been a couple of weeks over the course of a couple of weeks, but I don't recall any real major problems with the officiating real serious problems. Like what the fuck was this guy thinking? Like, yeah, no, there were, there were some, yeah, there were, there weren't calls, there were calls that I was like, okay, didn't, didn't agree with or didn't quite see it that way. But otherwise,
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, there was no real controversy to say the least. I mean, according to some fan bases, they would say otherwise, I'm sure. But you know, really, as a majority neutral here, like, there was no call that I said, what the actual fuck was that? You know, I was
00:42:01
Speaker
And that's saying a lot out of some of these referees to say the least. I mean, there were some that you're like, oh, that's not a call. Like, yeah, totally. But it doesn't impact the game because he just does it. He does it to both teams in the end. He's just an idiot. Like, you just hope the teams do is they learn. OK, we can do this or we can't do that and then react to it and we'll get it. We'll get this call if we do this. They'll get the call if they do it. So we'll. OK, that's the way this game is going to go. That was fine. God damn it. Yeah. Why?
00:42:31
Speaker
So, player of the tournament, the obvious name is out there, and that's Anton DuPont. Right. And he's not my player of the tournament. No, that's good. I try, well, I don't always. There's sometimes when you just, that's too obvious and too easy a choice. In this case, I think it's mostly because France
00:42:53
Speaker
won the grand slam. And so it's going to be someone from France. And that's just the way that makes sense. That's fine. Yeah. But that's fine for how that goes. For me, the player of the tournament was Jameson Gibson Park. From Ireland. Yeah. From Ireland. Yeah. As you said, you said it yourself for that exact reason. He made that attack home. He made it like for all that Connor Murray's done. And he's an excellent fucking scrum half.
00:43:21
Speaker
Ireland have never been this much of an attacking machine and a flowing attacking machine, not just a fucking grinder that they have been. A very pretty machine. It held 24 tries in five matches. That's not something you'd expect from Ireland. For an average, yeah.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, and you know, he's because he is that problem around the rock Murray is not and right, you know that Murray has a lot of good things about him. Yeah, I think he's one of the best box kickers in the world unquestionably. So when you that's your game plan, and you need to have that type of game plan sometimes because matches ain't always going to be that pretty.
00:44:08
Speaker
He is your guy and the service is usually pinpoint as well. So nothing wrong with that. But when you have a guy that has a problem around the ruck, he's a problem with quick taps. He's a problem, you know, he's going to go for a run. And if you're going to watch him, it just crunches that defense a little bit and it opens things up out wide for either just off him or beyond. And it really helps a lot out of attacks. So, yeah, I really like him a lot.
00:44:34
Speaker
I think the guy that performed probably the most solidly and the most consistently bar like maybe 20 minutes of his playing time was Gregory Aldrich. And he was, he is, we know why he's a huge fan of him. And really, I think, as far as people at his position, which is considered one of the most critical positions, certainly in the forwards, let alone on the pitch. I don't know if there was another player that played more consistently than him.
00:45:02
Speaker
And, you know, I think Faletel played very well considering all things considerable for him. Still had a kind of a poopy match against Italy, you know.
00:45:13
Speaker
the England eight had to get swapped out for many reasons. So you can't really say that about them. It was Conan, it was Doris, who knew who it was for Ireland. So you can't necessarily say it about them. So besides, so yeah, other than that, it was like frigging Fagerson for Scotland, who's probably not internationally at this point. No, he's awful. Okay, he's awful at this level. Yeah, different standard. Different standard. Yeah, no, he was not.
00:45:38
Speaker
up to snuff. Right. So yeah, as far as that goes, you know, not not just the availability, but his ability in general at that position was excellent. And he, he is, he is a nightmare. Don't doubt it for a second. Nobody likes playing against him. Being an eight is a lot more complex than it used to be. Totally.
00:46:01
Speaker
And that goes with that hold, you know, the game evolving, because the eight is still that, you know, you're still expected to, you know, you're going to have to knock some heads or, you know, that's the saying, the cliche, whatever, metaphorically, you don't want to get over. So you don't want to actually do it. Right. You're going to have to be physical. You're going to have to be able to play in space. You're going to have to be able to make tackles. You have to be handy with the ball. Like you have to be like that five tool athlete.
00:46:29
Speaker
You have to be able to do it all. Yeah. And there's a few who can. And then he does it at that. You're right. He was the best of certainly of all the eights. In this in this competition, that's saying a lot. Yeah, because there are some good ones, but you said inconsistent. Be where everybody liberal are on top.
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's almost like I feel bad for Ireland as good as they were. It's like, yes, agreed. They're not quite getting not quite getting the plaudits they should because France have been so damn good. Right. But yes, don't don't take anything away from Ireland. They were absolutely excellent. They put and I've told my kids like,
00:47:12
Speaker
Listen, if you want to watch an excellent match from this year, go watch France and Ireland from Six Nations this year. That was superb. So, yeah, don't take anything away from Ireland. They played a fantastic tournament. They have a lot. They have a lot to be happy about as well. Those might be the top two teams in the world right now. Yeah, it's going to be a little argument for it, I'm sure. There's arguments and I'm not. Yeah, but they might be. They're certainly in that top tier. Yeah, they're in one of those classes up there for sure.
00:47:42
Speaker
All right, let's jump across the hemispheres here. Let's go to Friday. Obviously, if you didn't listen to our fans corner pod, it's kind of whoop, whoop, switch and I'd chop and change and good Lord. Yeah. Sorry, Kiwis. We got late breaking news at right. It was like right after the pod. Son of a bitch.
00:48:10
Speaker
I didn't know that was going to happen. Right. They changed all the games. But so, yeah, we had what, four, four? Yeah, four games. But Australia, Australia was untouched, which is good. So at least we got all those off without a hitch. Rumbies, Queensland and the Reds. This is not what I expected out of the Reds. I honestly expected this to be a little bit more of a talk game because the Reds have been so injury prone lately and they've had some struggles in other places as well. But
00:48:40
Speaker
ate my words on that one. They hung tough. They were right the whole way. The defense is just that good. It's going to keep them in games like this. They just can't attack worth of shit. That is something I'm sure Brett Thorne is taking pride on, making sure the defense is a tough thing to beat. That's why they won Australia last year is because
00:49:06
Speaker
They could do both. They could attack well, and they were just a beast in defense. They're still the beast, but they're not much in attack. No. And that's what, like, if they could attack just a little bit, they had this match walking away. Yeah. Because the Brumbies weren't doing anything themselves. Even with the defense, the Reds were presenting them. I was like, how do the, I can't believe the Brumbies like played this poorly and still won.
00:49:34
Speaker
Right. Yeah. That was my takeaway. It was, it was, it was tough old game for them. Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, the defense scrapped it. It was a scrappy fucking match. It was, it was very, very tight. Josh Nasser for the reds.
00:49:51
Speaker
I think we're, cause we're talking, we were talking about, you know, Australia and twos and you know, the problems they have again, another guy that could be a beacon of light for them. Um, cause we talked about, I'm not a huge full out finger half. And, uh, I think he's got issues elsewhere. He does the score tries.
00:50:07
Speaker
Yeah, but all he does is just like, just the mall like, yeah, no, I don't know. Yeah, it's a it's an old thing from what buddy Ryan's at about Chris Carter. All he does is catch touchdowns. And it's like, he doesn't do anything else good. So it's like, that's why it's hard to take him off. So I, you know, I hope that there's somebody that can unseat him and do a lot more and hopefully,
00:50:32
Speaker
Something like NASA is doing it because he's making everybody forget about Alex Mopin real quick here, the way he's playing. So, yeah, good on him and really good stuff from that guy. Tom Banks and Tom Wright are both just absolutely on fire. Yeah. Really, really on fire. What was it? Simone had a good match. Iqitel, I think, was okay. And Muirhead was there. But, yeah, Banks and Wright, yeah, that's the difference. They have these guys who bail them out.
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah, they do. And I mean, a couple of a couple of all of these on the outside really, really helps, obviously. And on the others. Yeah, Pattaya is still kind of finding his feet with the 15 jersey as well. So it just makes it a little bit tougher sometimes. And it's yeah, that's not a position to easily attach to by any means whatsoever. But he's doing okay at it. But I hope that I hope for their sake. They can get away from him soon. I know he's back there again this week, isn't he?
00:51:27
Speaker
Um, I think so. I don't have it open. So I have the last week's open. Um, but yeah, so not, not so bad, but at the same time, meh. Yeah. Yeah. It's back there.
00:51:40
Speaker
Let's go over to the Drua and the force. Oh, so very close to getting win number two for G and Drua again. I was so mad for a match that like, I don't have any, I mean, I'm a neutral obviously, but of course I'm going to root for the Drua because they're the underdogs. Right.
00:52:00
Speaker
I was so mad they lost. I was like, this isn't fair. Damn, they just win. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, good. And I like the force. So nothing, nothing against them. I really, I really do. You know, I'm rooting for them too. So it's not, that wasn't that sad, but at the same time, it's like, I really want the two new teams to have success and the fans were great. Look, they were so excited to be there. So I mean, they, yeah, they're, and Franklin Miney is going to add a little bit to this team.
00:52:30
Speaker
Oh, I noticed. I noticed he banged his shoulder pretty good. But yeah, yeah, he'll be hopefully he's all right. He's starting. Is he back in? Yep. Yeah, okay. It wasn't bad. Like, so I figured they took him off as a precaution, not so much as like he was really, really in trouble.
00:52:44
Speaker
When you saw him on the bench and he had an ice pack but no sling or anything like that, it's like, okay, no, he just took a hit. Yeah, he took a pretty bad knock that happened. Probably pretty bruised. No doubt. But with time, here's the thing. We were saying things like this about the force a couple of years ago. Yeah. And then they started to figure it out. And so with time, the Jura will figure this out. They will figure out how to win these really tight games and get themselves out of the line. They've come close two weeks in a row.
00:53:13
Speaker
And they have the benefit of having played 80 minutes because the thing that with the force before was that they only were playing 70 minute matches and then had to move up a level and then play 80 and they would just fall apart in the last 10 minutes of each half. Less than awesome. Right. Not optimal. It took them a while to get into fitness. No doubt.
00:53:34
Speaker
And also come together to play at that level. Fiji just has to worry about, okay, getting their discipline down. And they're looking more and more disciplined. They're looking more and more like a real team. No doubt. And they have some they have some fucking talent. Oh, man, he's good. I can watch them all day.
00:53:54
Speaker
Yep. Um, and like Mira Mira. Yep. Mira Mira is great. Rattave coming off the bench is really something that speaks a lot for them as well. Um, Teti Tela is getting rid of breaking Kurt real fast. Like he is, he's going to be there 10, I think for a little while longer. So yeah. Um, that's good. That's only good things for them. And as we've talked about before with this team in general, this is only going to do good things for Fiji rugby as a whole. So we can only, you know, I want them, I'm hoping.
00:54:24
Speaker
that we, and I know the plan is to eventually get them more games in Suba where they can, you know, be home and just do their thing there. Make some money too and get the fans engaged. Yep, totally. So I'm really looking forward to the days where they, unfortunately, they only have one match this year, but I know the plans to get them more and more and I'm looking forward to that and it's going to be really, really awesome. So I really hope that on the other side for the force,
00:54:50
Speaker
Bailey Kunzel, the hero. Nobody had that on their bingo board. And he drilled it too. Didn't even question it. I was like, nope. Absolutely on point. I was like, Dan, that's straight as an arrow. Nevermind. So next.
00:55:06
Speaker
but it's and good that we talked like we said this was what they were missing a few years ago and now they know how to get it done in these tight spots when they need you know they need to just eke out a penalty they need to just eke out some field position something and they have the players to now do it you know you look at
00:55:24
Speaker
Santee Medrano coming off the bench. Like that is awesome to have that coming off the bench. It's like, okay, that's not terrible. Could be worse. Um, I will say Kahui was fucking awful in this game. He's that's, that's now their hole for me. And I don't know if Godwin's much better, but I don't think Kahui's going to be there 13 for much longer. Cause yeah, he's, he's old. He's old. That's just the end. He's old. Sorry.
00:55:50
Speaker
Sorry, Richard. That's just the way. And then let's jump, let's jump to your chiefs against the Pacifica in their rescheduled match from round two. Yeah. Yep. Lots. Lots of tries. Lots of tries. It was, it was clinical and, and
00:56:13
Speaker
She just had the ball. They just kept the ball and pounding away. And that's what happens. You know, there weren't there weren't any. I don't think there are many easy tries, but they did. They just did the work to score. Yep. I agree. I just say how hysterical it is that there's a person named Hamilton Burr Burr. But isn't that. Hold on. Let me make sure I have this right. I'll fuck it up. Tanya, don't screw it up.
00:56:41
Speaker
Yes. Because Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton. Okay. I hadn't even thought of that. So that was the first thing I thought. I was like, did I, I was, you know, a little, um, under the influence a little bit while I was watching this. And so I was like, Hamilton Burr, fucking kidding me. Like, I know they, whoever named him has no idea about, no, not a clue, which is what makes it hysterical. But anyway,
00:57:09
Speaker
But he was also a very good player. So, OK, back to my no more six, no more locks at six. OK, you can play six. Yeah, I mean, but he's he's a very.
00:57:24
Speaker
he's like a he's like a morrow in a lot of ways where he has the mobility and he has the the skill set to be effective as a flanker as well you know as well as play locking because he has the height obviously and it is good when you have that special type of talent that can
00:57:40
Speaker
get you on get you you know some height in your line outs and and take away you know any problems that you might have there but it's not it's not something that you want to do very often like we talked about the guy before except Davis just no not a sex hey you know who throws a good offload
00:57:57
Speaker
Yes, he does. Man, he's on fire. He's been so good this season. And it's not something that either one of us would have thought beforehand. But man, he's been excellent. Really, really hard to say otherwise. Right. And he's shown so much growth because it was a lot of
00:58:17
Speaker
just smash, smash, smash. And he's gotten into the wait, you know, like, what am I going to smash somebody who's small and one instead of running to double tackles? Yeah, and then off. Yeah, just excellent work. Also, yeah, on the other side, though.
00:58:39
Speaker
I saw it when it happened and it really pissed. I thought I thought he was doing the right thing, too. So it's hard for me to criticize him. But then when I saw the replay, it was evident when it's something from from behind how bad he fucked it up.
00:58:51
Speaker
Caleb Trasket 15 is not going to work. No, probably not. That, because that try by Fomai, Fomai, yeah. Where Caleb tackled down on, I think it was Al Mua, and just came way down. When you came off of your dude to come tackle a guy who A, wasn't getting the ball and B was already marked and just let the guy run. Yeah, just not.
00:59:18
Speaker
I was like, oh, you got to be, especially as a 15, when you're supposed to be the guy who's smart enough to play angles and understand how that, you know, the back three all need to work together. And you don't want to be assholed yourself by one of your wingers, like you're assholing them now. No, no.
00:59:36
Speaker
Nope. Yeah, you can't leave your, you know, the guy who's not the fullback out to dry because that should be you and you'd hate if somebody did that to you. Totally. I don't disagree with that. Yeah. This is really, you know, just unfortunate the way it's unfolded for the Pacifica because they're, they're a couple of games behind everybody. So they just haven't had the chance to one, be consistent and two to bang off the rust as it were, you know, they, they keep
01:00:02
Speaker
kind of false starts here and there. And then as the season gets better, I'm sure they're going to, we'll see way better continuity. We'll see way better play from them. And, you know, I'm not going to hold a lot against them and I'm not going to put a lot on this one, but just, no, it'll get better. I don't know. Speaking of banging off the rust, Lea Leofano and saying, banging off the rust a little bit, I thought they were okay. But that was just like, I was like, Oh man, Lea Leofano is bleeding. Well, at least he's got a scrum cap. So he won't be out for long. And then you see Slade and you're like, Hey Slade's, uh,
01:00:32
Speaker
about that he's got he's got lately I found his blood all over oh no no no that's his that's his whoopsie yeah it was that and a card I think at the same time oh yeah I think so because they were like three something there was like three different things happening at that one time yeah
01:00:49
Speaker
Nope. See dupes also Bryn Gatlin. I'm fine with you at 10. Yeah. I would actually be fine with Bryn at 10 and Josh at 15 when he, when he's ready. There you go. That's mine. I'm good with that. It could be a thing. Um, and the last one of the weekend, toss and rebels a bit better from the boys from Melbourne, a wee bit, not, not, not to the level they want to be. I don't doubt that, but, um, yeah.
01:01:18
Speaker
I think they've been read the right act a couple times by foot. So they're there now, you know, by who's been a revelation, like, yeah, really good for like, that's a find right there for them. So and I know he came off a little bit, a little bit gingerly, but
01:01:33
Speaker
Hopefully, it'll be all right going forward. Really, but yeah, that's a that's a good find for them. On the other side, this is a this is the toss that the toss of like people in New South Wales been waiting for this is, this is why nobody wanted to really panic too much last year. This is why we saw Will Harrison play a bunch we saw as a freeze a play it play a bunch. This is what they wanted. And now they have depth, which is
01:01:57
Speaker
all you can this really the most important thing when it comes to surviving a competition for the long haul and they're still not fully complete yet.
01:02:05
Speaker
This is still players missing. No doubt. You know, you have Cooper, you have Jake Gordon's, but he'll be back soon. But yeah, just those two, just those two. Nevermind the rest. Nevermind the rest. Charlie Gamble has played the last two matches or three matches. He's played extremely well this week, but he's been really good. I can't remember. No, I think he's starting this week. Let me double check.
01:02:34
Speaker
But yeah, no, I agree. He's starting because he's on my team. So I can see him. I can check right now. He started. Yeah, he's at six this week. Which I think him at six and Hooper at seven. Right now it's Tizano, who's also very good, obviously. He is. If he gets to four. Yeah, right. Good stuff. Will Harrison is looking really good since his return. Like, wow. Excellent.
01:03:01
Speaker
I was like, Oh, boy, everybody's gonna be in trouble if he comes back to form and I'll start to click. And, you know, that looks like they start blood a new new 10. I was like, Why the hell are you blooding a new 10 play Will Harrison at 10. And you can put new some and walk into the wassey and yep, you can keep keep that back three back three and not screw around with it.
01:03:24
Speaker
But yeah, this is, this is a really good looking water toss team. I know they have a couple of losses on, on their, on their bill, but they're still very good. No doubt about that. They're not the pushovers they were last year by any means whatsoever. Nope. So I think everybody needs to just make sure they're towards the top of the table for a reason. Yeah. Yeah. Pay attention, kids. Cause they are going to be, they're not going to be a team to go sleep on by any means. Right.
01:03:49
Speaker
um the whip around of the emilars um let's go we'll talk we'll start with what happened in austin i did not have faith in this whatsoever but holy shit we pulled it off wow and we talked about it like
01:04:07
Speaker
Austin completely pooped the bed, which also stands to, you know, my claim of they've played every fucking match at home except two. One of them was in Atlanta and they lost. One of them was up in Seattle. Seattle is overrated. Yeah, like here you are. This is they are a good team, but they completely shot the bed here, no doubt. And because the the free Jax didn't send their best. No.
01:04:30
Speaker
Like this was not there. No Janssen at all. We had no line out. No, it was awful. It was awful. And it was like, that's problematic when the other team, if they really wanted to, you'd just be like, well, let's just play for line out. Like kick the ball up the field. Oh, you could. You could have easily. Just kick the ball up the field, kick it to the touch. Okay. Then they'll throw a bad line out. There'll be our ball. We'll just do it again. And then now you're in there 22.
01:04:54
Speaker
They didn't do it though. They still tried to play. And the one thing though, they'll give the free jacks is that they might not have been their first team by any stretch. They stepped up. They all played tremendous defense on this team. They all played super well with each other. No doubt.
01:05:13
Speaker
What was his name? LaRue. Wow. What an awful. Oh my God. Milan. I was like, that is a disgusting offload. That was brilliant. I loved it. I was like, do that more often, please. Yeah. The midfield was immense. No doubt. Like the two of them, Vanderbank and him. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome stuff.
01:05:35
Speaker
And I think that they were given the green light to just be like, look, you're here. You're not here to play conservative. See what you can do. Go show me what you got.
01:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, LaRue Milan. Hey, welcome to the Freejacks. Please stay for a while. Yeah, hang out, man. Yeah. And then they have the Reeves kid who's not who didn't play in this match. But like, you know, that's a great set of midfielders right there between the three and Dougie Fife. Show me how Dougie. Yeah, he's he's quite, quite excellent on his own. And even so, it's like one of those. OK, we don't have Waka starting anyway.
01:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, Dougie's there. Okay, they still got a shot potentially. They move the ball around, he's a threat to score, break the line, all that.
01:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this is this I like this team every every week. There's something more to like about him. Even even douchebag played. I mean, he came off and had to come back on and he was gas when he came back on. I was like, you are so smoked right now. I could see it. But he did it. But, you know, also the funny thing is, speaking of someone who has played past their fitness level in the past, like it
01:06:49
Speaker
It focuses you. You just do your job. Like, if you see him a lot in the early matches, just the match, just being a douche and wasting energy and just being a dumbass, like, just get in line and don't worry about it. And he still just fucks around. But then he gets too tired and he can't do all that, you know, the niggly bullshit anymore. And now he just has to be a rugby player. And he's actually not bad at that.
01:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, when he starts being a fucking helmet. Right. That's the thing. We got to get him to stop being a helmet. And that's not the easiest thing. Yeah, exactly. When he wants to be a muppet. For the sake of Austin, for the sake of Austin, though, like I was so happy to see the back of Marco Keith when he came off. I was like, why the fuck are they kicking that guy off? He's been telling us to take Bryce off. Bryce has not been good. Like, Bryce was not good that day. And I thought he was a pain in the ass. I was like, the fuck are you taking him off for? I was like, I'm not arguing about it, but shit.
01:07:40
Speaker
No argument whatsoever. Yeah, I feel like I felt like maybe that was predetermined, like they're pre-planned. That's what they were going to do. You got to get a hard way from it when he's been tearing you up. Right. Kind of like when we were like, OK, now you can go ahead and take him off. Yeah.
Player Performance and Match Analysis
01:08:00
Speaker
But it's also like, yeah, take Kyle off on Waka. Like that would be. And they think they did at the same time. Yeah. OK, cool. Take him off and bring Waka onto. Thank you. Yeah.
01:08:14
Speaker
Hey, you're taking him off. Bye bye. Thank you. No questions. Yeah. Yeah. And like they were talking about, oh, here comes Will McGee. I was like, well, McGee's not that good. So I was like, I'm not scared. I'm fine with that. And yeah. And then I was I didn't I did not like the Marcel Rocky for Dominic Aquina switch because Rocky love you, Marcel. You were a fantastic eagle, but a great representative of US rugby.
01:08:33
Speaker
Yeah, you can bring on the other prop. Thank you much.
01:08:44
Speaker
Marcel Braqui does not have MLR speed right now. That stings a lot. And it was a big switch when Akini came in. Every time Braqui came in, got the ball, I'm like, okay. Tackle him right there. This face is over on to the next one. Yeah, no kidding. No joke. He just doesn't have the athleticism to really make a threat. Not against the free jacks anyway.
01:09:09
Speaker
No, yeah, that defense is pretty vaunted right now. Yeah. Other other scores. Utah just got edged out by Toronto at home policy case back now though, look out. Los Angeles won the battle of SoCal over the Legion 2613. The Legion might be not as good as I thought they were, but oh well. Jackals lost again, shocker of the day, they lost Seattle at home. People were picking New Orleans to beat New York and I don't know what people were smoking because
01:09:38
Speaker
Well, New York hasn't, wasn't a great team against us. There's still a pretty damn good team. New Orleans is pretty bad. I know. And I know people are pumping them up. They're not good. They're not good. They're not as bad as DC, but they're bad. Let's get that straight. Those, I feel like those are, you know, maybe the jackals, maybe I'm being unfair there. Um, but also the jackals are new, so they don't have, you know, they have an excuse, but DC and NOLA are, are to me, the two worst teams in the league.
01:10:07
Speaker
Yeah, they're down there. There's nothing there. I mean, Jackals are 0-7, so yeah, they're down there too, but. New team, whatever. Stop over rating, Nola, certainly. They're one of the, you know, they're one of the three worst teams because Utah, especially with Lacy K back, are going to be dangerous. They're going to be better, no doubt.
Conference Standings and Playoff Predictions
01:10:25
Speaker
So it's like those three are at the, it's like big step down from
01:10:30
Speaker
What is it? I mean, the Eastern conference right now is 11 has clearly divided itself between free Jackson, New York and ATL and everybody else. And then the West is a little tighter. Not by the arrows are bad, but yeah, it's still eight point difference. That's huge. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. And the West is a wee tighter with Sabercat is only six points behind Legion.
01:10:52
Speaker
Um, they also have a game in hand, so that helps as well. Los Angeles is not as bad as their record says. I'm sure they're going to get better, especially now that Joe T's in town. Right. So look out for that. The West is going to get a little tighter.
01:11:06
Speaker
I don't know if the East is going to get tighter. I think, I think though the tight front has a shot. They do. I don't know if they'll, they'll get back home soon and that'll help. No doubt. I think I am. I am recognizing New York's good season, but I'm not believing it. So, so yeah, I think they're doing all right now, but I don't know if that's, they can, they can hold that up. I don't know that they're that good. So I could see the arrows kind of,
01:11:36
Speaker
challenging them. And then it's, yeah, it's a question like, either way, either way, I think it's going to be your BHL and the free jacks go into the, the knockout stages, but that's just, well, we have, I think we have three this year. Um, we have the top, we'll get a pie and then the two, three, we'll get, um, qualify there.
01:11:59
Speaker
Okay, well then there you go. So there you go. Not too bad. Arrows will challenge New York for that. Yeah, there
Conclusion and Future Discussions
01:12:05
Speaker
you go. Problem solved. Problem solved. All right. Cool. All right. Yep. So like we said, like we promised, we'd probably still babble a little bit, but Six Nations final and Lebleu and all the things that we wanted to talk about, we couldn't help ourselves. So
01:12:19
Speaker
Yeah. Um, yeah. So fancy corner. We'll get, we're getting back into prem over there. So if you want, if you're heading over to that, we'll see you over there in a little bit. Um, otherwise, um, enjoy the return to the premiership. Hopefully we have a full slate of super rugby games. Knock on wood. Uh, we will, uh, we really appreciate y'all for hanging out with us, but we will catch you all next week. Have a good one later.