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Episode 32: Premiership Semi-Final & Super Rugby Round 15
31 Plays6 years ago
It's your favorite American rugby hammerheads back to entertain you. On this episode we talk a bit about David Pocock's retirement and whether he might be a year too late. We also discuss a bit about the ban Leicester's Geordan Murphy received and what the heck is going on at Welford Road. Of course we also talk about both Semi-Finals and why we believe that any team is capable of doing what Saracens & Exeter are doing in the league, despite how "boring" some teams (and their fans) seem to think it may be. Finally we wrap all the action from Round 15 of Super Rugby, it's about that time of the year!
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Email fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com with questions, feedback or just to say what's up.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Availability
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, how's it going, everybody? It is the Fancy Rugby Games. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Den Glauser. It is Tuesday again, and it is a very wet Tuesday here in Boston, unfortunately. Somebody decide and tell Mother Nature to just make up her damn mind. It was nice this weekend, and now it's cold. It's May. Right. It was summer for like two days, and now it's back to spring. I don't know.
00:00:33
Speaker
Yeah, so sorry making it up. Let's have a beer. Yeah, and of course, we're recording just outside Boston, Massachusetts Everybody make sure you check us out on Google Play Spotify iTunes Email the show we did get an email actually so well we'll give you guys the the lowdown on that and we have I'd say one question from the Twitter verse that we can help out with as well
00:00:58
Speaker
Well, we do like helping people. And it's nice that people are contacting us and not being abusive. I still don't know what's wrong. Step one, don't be abused. All right, we accomplished step one. Yeah, something's weird about that. We're on Twitter and not getting abused. I don't know if we're doing something right or wrong. I don't know. According to some people, it's wrong, but whatever. Those people might not be trusted.
Rugby Player Retirements and Injuries
00:01:25
Speaker
So I mean to nobody's surprise It it appears David Pocock will hang up his super rugby boots at the very least He's played his last super rugby game He's not gonna play the rest of the season and I would suspect he says he's going to play in Japan after the World Cup I believe when I see it. Yeah, he's had a
00:01:47
Speaker
He's a broken man, he's a very broken man. It might be time to just walk away now while you still can. There's a point because you know it was, I don't remember who I was listening to, Horwell was on the other rugby pod.
00:02:05
Speaker
He's like it better to walk away a year early than a year late. Yeah, I said, yeah, that's probably true You can still walk a year early a year late. You might be in trouble So I I feel that and I think David Pocock needs to he's on time. Let's put it that way right called that other world cup unfortunate news Sean O'Brien's gonna miss the World Cup with a after Getting a nasty injury in the pro 14 final that that is extremely unfortunate. Yeah, and that
00:02:35
Speaker
That's going to be hard for Ireland to to overcome. Except they have a ton of loose forward so they can probably throw in there. He is a great he is a great loose forward. I'm not going to knock him, obviously. I think it is a big blow. The fact that they don't have Dan Levy on top of not having him, I think, is the big one. Dan Levy is a flipping great forward. He's a big old strong farm boy is what he is.
00:03:01
Speaker
And he'd be the obvious replacement, but he's hurt too. So, but I mean, for me in the back row, the guy that they can't lose is Omani. Right. That would be the guy to not lose. And thankfully, he finished his Munster season still in one
Club Challenges and Team Performances
00:03:17
Speaker
piece, so.
00:03:17
Speaker
Although he's he's more of a he's he's great on defense Not so much a dynamic player with ball in hand. No and and not gonna bring that presence to the attack The way, you know sean o'brien. Yeah, he does. He's not like a he's not a ball winner, but he's a leader, right? He is a leader he's extremely valuable and his play against new zealand right last summer is is fall last fall. Yeah is exactly why
00:03:45
Speaker
He's he's invaluable You got to have both halves of that. No, I agree. I agree It's you can't but I think you could you can make up a little bit of what Sean Ryan has Somewhere else to find another Peter Imani might be a different story true So that's that was my thought on that especially for the way their team operates that she's very much a defensive. Yeah, I
00:04:08
Speaker
Break our break down our wall. You win if you don't guess what we're winning. So what they yeah, so oh man He gives them what they need In that respect Brian gave them a little bit of juice on the attack. So yeah, yeah He's a tough ball. You need both. So hopefully for Ireland's sake He's a fetcher too for sure not unlike our friend David Pocock. Yeah Definitely a fetch or definitely somebody you need on your team and on your sheet
00:04:37
Speaker
Other news late breaking late break late breaking news that that Lester a bunch of freakin morons Jordan Murphy has been banned for the first three weeks of Meaningful matches, which I assume means not preseason. I just assumed that meant he was gonna be able to coach the whole season Yeah
00:04:57
Speaker
I don't know. Geez, the way their season finished,
Match Highlights: Saracens vs Gloucester and Exeter vs Northampton
00:05:00
Speaker
it was pretty meaningless. I'm not sure they're going to have any meaningful games next year. The last three weeks were pretty meaningless. Yeah. Well, maybe it's that the first three weeks, the first three regular season games are technically meaningful because everybody's got a shot early in the season. Always. So I guess that makes sense.
00:05:19
Speaker
Well, to be fair, this club used to see the Premiership as the B competition, and see Europe as the one they were trying to line everybody up for. But those days have gone by. That's the past, man. Yeah, those days have very much gone by at this point.
00:05:39
Speaker
with their recruitment issues although apparently they're they it sounds like they're trying to do some good recruiting but I still think that they need to search within the league search within obviously their own academy in order to fill back fill some of the ranks I think pulling in other talent from around the world is needed every team's doing it including the Saracens yeah but I don't if you're gonna lean heavily on just that that's gonna be a big problem and you see wasps
00:06:07
Speaker
which I've had a huge issue with around the world talent that doesn't always gel quite the way you expect it to. All these teams that are pulling in otherworldly talent from literally other worlds, I can see that they're going to have some continuity issues like sale.
00:06:26
Speaker
They're gonna have some serious issues. Look at Montpelier. They had a load of South Africans in their team. I think frickin' one match, they had like 10 in the starting lineup. I was like, something about this isn't right and it didn't work. So, yeah, no. I think they need to take a hard look at, I think these teams need to take a hard look at how much recruitment they really wanna do from around the world. I know some guys are chasing coin and that's fine, but still.
00:06:56
Speaker
But to relate it to, for our American listeners, it's a lot like you see some of the great NFL franchises and how they work with free agency. And it's that you use that to supplement your team. Not so much to build your team around a bunch of free agents. So it's the same way with overseas players in rugby.
00:07:22
Speaker
They're good to have that you can get amazing talent in depth, but you can't you can't make them that like the lifeblood of your team. No, hell no. Especially not with the academy systems and all this like these guys have put in blood sweat and tears over these and suddenly they lose their job to some schmo from comes in from overseas and fucks it up because he doesn't really care about the system.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, case in point, when Northampton went down a few years ago, they had a hard split between the UK guys and the guys from beyond Europe. And it was like, it was really, it was really evident and it divided the locker room and guess what they got relegated. So yeah, be a little weary when you do that. So that's just my my thoughts. Premier ships, semi finals, really,
00:08:11
Speaker
These were similar matches in terms of how they went. In terms of the lower seat started well, didn't start poorly, kept it interesting for a while and made us watch, but then just eventually faded. Couldn't hold on. Yeah, just a little too much to overwhelm.
00:08:33
Speaker
I mean, so starting with the Saracens match, when Nick Tompkins comes off the bench for your captain and scores a hat trick anyway. Right. Whoops. Tompkins comes on and we're all kind of like, I don't know, like this, or not Tompkins comes on, but Barrack goes off. That's the bigger part. It's less Tompkins coming on, but it's more Barrack going off. And you're like, oh shit, what's going to happen here? And that was right around the same time Slater went off.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, uh for that was just a bunch of a bunch of injuries right around the same time that uh Obviously for for Saracens, it didn't affect them nearly as much. No as as it did Gloucester. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, that was they both came off at 27 minutes basically. Yeah
00:09:24
Speaker
That's that's really unfortunate. I and I and I like me some it's later too. So right. I saw him go off and I'm like, oh, that's really unfortunate because again, I like the guy and I think he's a well respected player in the league as well. So for good reason. Yeah, absolutely. So I felt a little bad for Slater. But yeah, back to what I mean. Don't let just don't let Maro Atoge get loose and that's that's a good start usually.
00:09:53
Speaker
He is he's becoming He's finally evolving into that i'm going to take this for a run type player which you'd seen flashes of it and he's an incredibly selfless player and Generally, I think he doesn't back him. He didn't
00:10:11
Speaker
Until recently back himself enough and say you know what I can beat this one defender and then I'm going for a run Now suddenly, I think it was a couple weeks ago something I can't remember what it was, but I even mentioned it here But some team pissed him off and he was like, oh, okay Well now I'm just gonna run the run at you and see what happens suddenly he broke the line and kept going
00:10:31
Speaker
Probably what I think lost maybe um, I thought for some reason I think it was a champions cup match Well, that would have been the semifinal against munster. It might have been that um Where he he started instead of throwing a pass that he normally throws throwing a dummy and then then hit the gap. Yeah And and that was evident in this match. He Yeah, he was ready to run. Yeah, he had his running shoes on. Yes, he did
00:10:57
Speaker
He's, I mean, I think youth sometimes does that to people and he's still fairly young. So, you know, again, when you're that young, you have some confidence issues sometimes. So it's to be understood.
00:11:18
Speaker
Right. You don't want to be like, Oh, I'm again, it's the, the, the selfish versus selfless. You know, you have guys like the Vuna polos. Um, and the other back rows that, that saris have like Ray and roadie and, and, and those guys you're like, yeah, I'll give, look, I want to see them run. I'll support them to no, no, no. I belong right up alongside them. And as far as carries.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah, he could totally take some carries and be effective with it, right? He just needs to believe it. Yeah, and I think he's I think he's starting to believe right same. I think so, too So since take care of business 44 to 14. Do I remember that score correctly or am I looking at it correctly? Yes, I am 19 19. Damn. Sorry. Sorry. I lost her. Give you one less try Speaking I've lost her size though Ruon Dre are continuing the theme of props that do well against against the Saracens
00:12:09
Speaker
expert dummy what a dummy you threw and how you buy that as a, I don't remember, was it goody? It must have been goody. It might have been. He's still drunk from killing himself. But yeah, that was, it was well done. You kind of don't expect a prop to throw a dummy like that, so. Indeed. Good job to him.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, right. But I mean, yeah, they they started hot. Ben Morgan over in the corner. Yeah, that was a that was a worrying start. I was like, Oh, we're gonna do this now. And it was fascinating to me because that's the one weakness that the Saracens had in that that type of defense. They really shut down the and as we've been noting,
00:12:57
Speaker
Well, I've been noting anyway, Gloucester kind of has one play that they love to run, which is that blockers line. They do it all the time. Did something out the back. And going out the back. And Sarri said, we're stopping that. We're going to make you go to a second idea. But you're something else here, guys. And that's what they did. They ran something that looked just like they were going to run on double blockers. And instead of throwing that second pass, they pitted inside ball. And I don't remember who it was who came through there.
00:13:26
Speaker
because Morgan finished it but it wasn't him. It might have been Atkinson maybe. It may have been and but that line he went right underneath all the Sarri's defenders who had come up to to guard against that out the back pass and boom now he's behind the defense and it's on and that's a hard pass to make because it's so easy to throw that forward.
00:13:46
Speaker
Oh, very, very, very. If you don't time it well and the other guy's impatient on top of it, it ends poorly for a lot of reasons. And that was very well done and a good line. And yeah, put it right in the corner. Yep, yeah. Big Ben Morgan. Yeah, you're not going to stop him. Let's stop him from five meters out. It doesn't usually work, especially if he's got a high steam.
00:14:07
Speaker
very very good match from from hit I mean he did what he could there's only so much you can do and your team just feels like it's overwhelmed because then Saracen's
Super Rugby Wrap-Up
00:14:17
Speaker
pegged back almost immediately with Shawn Maitland in the corner from Owen Farrell it's just you know
00:14:25
Speaker
I mean the guys that they needed to step up stepped up with Barrett's absent both centers stepped up huge not only tomkins, but lasowski did too he was making a lot of plays and and creating a lot of havoc for for Gloucester, so both centers played very well and Considering that their captain is their center. It was great to see them step up and say yeah, we got your cap. No, no big deal Well, we'll carry this home
00:14:49
Speaker
But yeah, big games for the big names that you expect in the Saracen shirt. You know, Jinx didn't have his
00:14:58
Speaker
best lineup throwing day. He was having probably the worst day. He was hurt shoulder shoulder was bugging him. It's probably a stinger or something like that. So it took him two or three throws to get into it. Yeah. And even that didn't hit them all. No, they brought thankfully this got a little got a little out of hand early so they could bring Joe great on and get some ice on him. I would suspect he'll be available Barrett's probably the race for fitness. We'll see what happens. We'll see.
00:15:22
Speaker
Hamstrings a little bit dicey they are so you don't want to Re aggravate you don't want to lose a guy like five minutes into a match no source You might as well just keep them out and have a sub ready to go McCall's gonna have some decisions to make probably yep this weekend
00:15:37
Speaker
Indeed indeed Saracen's 44 Gloucester 19 Saracen's go to twicken them for the second year in a row This is I mean people people hate them, but you know Gloucester said Gloucester fans were like we're saying boring boring series I was like boring boring series just 40 points on you guys
00:15:58
Speaker
I don't care if we're boring. We just triggered and smoked you guys. I'm not sure how that was boring exactly. And the whole can we play you every week thing comes back to bite them pretty hard. Sorry guys.
00:16:11
Speaker
Uh, and then the other one Exeter, Northampton, uh It was it was somewhat tight for a little while. What was did it got to 12 14 or Something like that after Northampton got their penalty try. Yeah, and then But then yeah, it was 14 7 and okay Yeah, and then there was another try. There was another yeah, so then they scored a two a la scored right off one of the flower news had a yellow so
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they had a they had two tries in two minutes um, north ampton did To to kind of bring him back into the end of the match For a little bit for a little bit But then that was the last points they scored that was the end Uh, exited just kind of exited exited the hell out of them and suffocated the life out of the game played some amazing defense But it just never looked like north ampton knew what the fuck they were doing. Honestly, um
00:17:06
Speaker
You know, they were down to back to no Reese Marshall in this game. Unfortunately, that was a that was a kicker. And then Fish had to come off fairly early. David came on probably a lot earlier than they wanted to. I'm not sure they were ready to bring him on. But, you know, they did make it interesting. But in the end, Joe Simmons had himself a great game.
00:17:26
Speaker
He had a very, very good game. He was the re- not to throw anybody under the bus. I'd say he's the reason they lost the final last year, because he didn't play very well. And we took advantage of that. They turned it on eventually, but certainly Steenson coming on helped them, helped them get going again. But I'd say he's the reason that we won it last year, because Simmons had a very, very poor start.
00:17:51
Speaker
I'm not sure that's going to be the case this time around. I wouldn't bank on it. I'm not. I'm definitely not. No, no, no. Very good performance from Exeter. They look as class as they ever do. And it's setting up a hell of a final. It's the final everybody thought it would be. I know it's boring as shit because it was the same final as last year. It's the exact same final.
00:18:14
Speaker
Saracen's being the two and Exeter being the one but I mean I wouldn't expect the same exact things to happen Obviously, it's why you play the damn game, right? But it's it and I understand people's like, oh, this is so boring. It's like
00:18:29
Speaker
Well, you know if it's so damn boring have your teams get the rock the fuck up and freakin beat one of these teams Well, they're not doing anything like neither Saracen's nor exit or do anything that no other team can do They they play very sound discipline rugby But they're also very aggressive in how they do it. No so you can be aggressive you can be Can be creative while maintaining discipline
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's the thing a lot a lot of creativity comes from ill discipline or People don't know how to do one without the other and I was like, yeah You don't just check the ball around but you know, you also don't just go one pass and eat it. That doesn't work well You gotta have you gotta find a happy medium because like yeah the the New Zealand style some of those teams like I mean look at how the Chiefs play
00:19:23
Speaker
Very loose very loose with the ball. Um, not terribly disciplined on defense and sometimes it works out great Right, but sometimes but when it doesn't it looks really bad and that's when we talk about you know, I I did also notice that that Uh, we didn't talk about bedsips that much for the last
00:19:43
Speaker
At least third of the season if not half. Maybe he hasn't been amazing No, he hasn't been amazing, but he also hasn't been looking like he's just chucking the ball No, that was and that's really bad right his players or his supporting Teammates, they either figured out how to work together or he figured out how to work with them or probably a little bit of both Probably a little bit of both and that so they kind of knew what to expect It's a lot of oh, I didn't know he was gonna throw that pass
00:20:08
Speaker
good good well you're not supposed to yeah um but be ready for it yes yeah never a dummy always an option right so uh you know the things that that Exeter do and Saracens do might not be sexy all the time no but sometimes they are there's a lot of there's a little bit of champagne thrown in there let's be real about that Maitland try yeah that was beautiful there was there was nowhere for Farrell to go
00:20:37
Speaker
And he's just like, you know what? I'll chip it ahead because see what happens Yeah, mainland's got a head of steam. There's nobody there. So it's not like he had to kind bounce, right? That's all that's all it came down to was if this bounces just right or if okay if this doesn't bounce wrong Yeah, there's plenty. There's like 50 ways this could go, right? Maybe like five that could go wrong So play the odds just go this through put this through and and it ended up a try so yeah
00:21:03
Speaker
That's not You know that that's still disciplined because again, you're making this smart decision. What's the worst thing that happens? It goes into touch on their on their on the opponent five, right? Like oh boo fucking who? Yeah, so they have to buff it out and send it back to good or or sanjay or whatever, right, you know
00:21:19
Speaker
I'll take those odds. Yeah, same. I'm good, I'm good. Sips gave a hell of an effort on the William Williams try though. Almost bumped him out, but Williams got down in enough time, but I'll give Sips that he's not known for the defense. No, I thought he did a good job in defense though. Yeah. Certainly wasn't the liability. No, he wasn't the liability.
00:21:39
Speaker
One thing I will say about the Exeter match is it was good to see and he came back the last couple matches as well Sam Simmons Yes back on the field and he got over the line. Yes, he did on top of that His brother converted, you know, if people Had this conversation at the beginning of the season who's on the plane. He's on the plane right now it's more about him getting fit and can he be fit and can he contribute because You know, he can't even wrestle the starting spot back away from Kovacic
00:22:09
Speaker
Or at least or one of the other he's still coming back to he's still not quite to form. Yeah Right to me it's not fun. No, it's zero percent fun than that. No, so it affects everything Yeah, no kidding. So you got a cutting especially something that he does well, which is cutting right, you know Especially for a big guy like his size
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, so so he's gonna it's gonna take him a little while but it's assuming he's back to form in a few months Yeah, he's got to be on the plane. I would assume he's on the plane has to be yeah, so I'm glad to see you back Sam Simmons. I wish you had held off a little bit longer, but I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna be pissed that you returned from a knee injury because I was pretty bad
00:22:52
Speaker
Um Back to the down under only two matches in the premiere ship this weekend kind of weird Um to the down under for sure. Uh, your boys Rocked up and put a w up against the reds as we as we thought they might uh reds did not show anything particularly good to tell you the god's honest truth, but uh The uh, what the hell's the guy? What's what's the guy's name? So a cooler or something like that?
00:23:21
Speaker
So like, uh, Lotto, so, so Hula, I can't, I can't pronounce these leaves. He's, um, he's very good. Um, somewhat new to the team. Oh, so Hula, the Chiefs. The Reds. No, the Chiefs. He was, he, he seemed to be, uh, he seemed to be the one taking charge of the ball there. He was very good. Uh,
00:23:40
Speaker
Not somebody that I know particularly a lot about, but in the absence of some of the other guys that have been out, including Sam Kane, who is back. Nice to see him. It is good to see him. Especially after a neck injury. That's never fun. That's never fun. So it was good to have him back on the field for everybody, but obviously no birdie metallic. That's been a big problem.
00:24:06
Speaker
There's too many too many injuries and that was you know, it is it's unfair to to not You know make the uh, they're at least not recognized that you know, no ritalik No, no damien mac. Yeah, no mckenzie. That's a problem. No, san cain
00:24:22
Speaker
Yeah, those things. Yeah, they matter. They do. They absolutely do. A little bit. You know, Tyler Arjun, who's a very dynamic forward in his own right, has been fortunate in the second row because of no birdie metallic. And it's been it's had the knock on effect on this team that they need to, you know, they need to find a way to fill that fill that second second row roll. And it's it's unfortunate that it's had to be somebody as good as Tyler Arjun. But it's been a
00:24:51
Speaker
It's been a tough old campaign for the Chiefs, but they did get over the line. It was so cool to get over the line on a bit of a loose play, counter attack that went right for them and very wrong for the Reds. Reds have been a little bit out of sorts without Hamish Stewart. I won't say that that's the reason that they're playing not so well, but that's definitely been, again, a knock-on effect. They had to bring in McGath or something like that, McGarth.
00:25:19
Speaker
But it's some some young kid for that's playing fullback for them and it's not been easy so But Reds Reds did what Reds did well to try and at least rock up here But there's only so much you can do they kept getting nicked with crawling forward Poe penalties on truck potential tries, which is
00:25:39
Speaker
Is the dumbest thing you can do like you're clearly held you know, you're held stop trying to crawl towards the trial line And freaking present the ball because all you're doing is giving away a penalty and letting the Chiefs relieve pressure Yeah, it's just a little bit of uh, you know trial and fever. Yeah, I'm so fucking close I can just and except you except you're not yeah and guys will propel them propel them they were definitely propelling themselves forward from their knees and it was clear so
00:26:05
Speaker
Well, it used to be OK. At least it used to be allowed a little bit more than it is now. I think they're tightening up on that. They definitely are. Well, I mean, momentum is one thing, but that's just... No, that doesn't count as momentum, guys. Sorry to tell you. It used to be that you got your one move. And it used to be that if you wanted your one move to try to propel yourself forward a little bit, OK. But now they're like, no, you get your one move to place it. And that's it. Yeah, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. You have to place the ball.
00:26:35
Speaker
Damn, I have to do that now. Yeah, that sucks. I was gonna place it on that side of the tri-line But but but but but But yeah, so Chiefs do take care of business kind of put the Reds aren't quite put to the sword but man they again they're way down to the point where you can't lose too many games in your conference if you even want a shot at the playoff so
00:27:02
Speaker
Uh down go down go the reds up go the chiefs and we'll see what happens in the last three weeks here. We're in it Brumbies and bulls this definitely didn't go the way I expected it to Uh, but bulls played a huge egg. No hondre pollard and it was noticeable So that did not help whatsoever That didn't do them any favorites whatsoever. Uh, it was just I I
00:27:29
Speaker
whoever to wonder like really is this Bulls team that bad without Andre Pollard, but it just seemed it. It really couldn't put my finger on anything else. They didn't play that they have a decent back row with the likes of Vermeulen and Leibenberg. Snehman's basically a back rower on his own. It's it's but the the Rumbies did play well that I'm not gonna take that away from current Johnny was ripping them up
00:27:59
Speaker
part. Did he get a hat trick? Yeah, he got a hat trick. So, you know, and he runs the he runs good hard lines on the inside. And I mean, he finds the gap and good luck stopping him if he's going full steam ahead. So he's, he's somebody maybe you want to match up here when you're better defenders against and make sure he doesn't get loose. You know, and I understand sometimes, you know, a cheeky offload that he wraps around on is one thing, but
00:28:25
Speaker
He I think I'm there's at least one that I remember he ran a really hard. I think it was a really hard under his line and Yeah, just cut through him. I was like You're funny if you think you're gonna stop that So it was he had himself a stormer Certainly putting himself on a plane to Australia. I don't see why not. You know, he and karevi very well could be there their one to center partnership grant those are two very similar players, but I
00:28:52
Speaker
Uh, I have a hard time finding a place. Oh, I guess maybe you could see like Hodge or Haggity on the outside. That would probably be the only thing I could think of. Yeah. But you know, those two, those two definitely need to be on the plane, even if they're just interchangeable guys. Yes. You know, they're just, they're too good. So yeah, Brumby's Take Care of Business 2210 over the Bulls and Bulls are in trouble because the leaders in the South Africa Conference did win this week. So, and the second leaders in the South Africa Conference won this week as well.
00:29:22
Speaker
More, yeah, so they got overtaken. Yep. So, yeah, Bulls need to, Bulls need to rock up and strap up for three weeks here. Rebels and Sun Wolves. Oof. My God. There wasn't, there was a small earthquake in this game. There was a small earthquake in this game. I shit you not. Oh, really? Yes. I shit you not. I was like, does the field moving? They said it. I was like, yep, it's moving. And they were just so nonchalant about it. Like, nothing new. I was like,
00:29:50
Speaker
Wow, these things happen. OK, that's why I don't want to live in Japan. Yeah, that and it's so freaking hot. I was watching these guys and they're like trying to retreat to the shade on the sideline. I'm like, yeah, that's way too warm. I'll pass. And I know we were just bitching about the cold.
00:30:06
Speaker
There's another level that I don't want to get to though. It's the other side of the spectrum. Yeah, they were way on the other side of the spectrum No, thank you. I'll pass. You know, I put more clothes on. Yeah, it's true. You can't take any off No, once you're a certain point once you're down to your skibbies, you're done. That's it. That's all you got there ain't no more
00:30:24
Speaker
But in other news, there was a game, Marika Kerbetti turned turned on his his happy life and just tore these guys apart, was running, just seemed to be running through him at will. Well, Ginnia did have to come off this game because I'm not sure Mafi ran him over, but it wasn't that it was. I think it was one of the Sun Wolves players that was that was trying to chase down Mafi to support just happened to catch Ginnia while he was laying on the floor with his knee shin area. I was like, ow.
00:30:54
Speaker
Um, I there was no intent like you'd see the guys definitely just he's got eyes for mafia only there's no way it's an intent But mafia felt bad because he thought it was him and mafia used to play for these guys So he's just like dude my bad. Are you okay? He's like, uh-huh. Uh-huh You're done. You're done. Yeah, I mean they were already just smashing these guys at that point. So they're just like yeah, let's Let's get him on we need him later this year. Yes, you do
00:31:19
Speaker
So Rebels take care of business 52 to seven, bring the bonus point home, which was a huge thing for them because they need to obviously keep pace with the Brumbies, certainly until they get one more matchup with them. I think that's gonna basically decide the Australian conference. Well, it will, yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much what it'll come down to.
00:31:37
Speaker
There's that much difference between them now and the Taz. So the Brumbies and Rebels are both at, you know, Brumbies 34 points, Rebels 33, the Taz are at 26. Now the Taz could get themselves back into it. But we can't really. I struggle to see them finding a way. Don't think it's gonna happen, it could happen. But it's good, basically, it's between the Brumbies and the Rebels. Right, agreed. Crusaders and Blues.
00:32:06
Speaker
You know, looking at this score, you don't know it, but I thought the Blues had this. I thought the Blues had this.
00:32:14
Speaker
So at halftime, I was thinking to myself, this is one of those typical matches where, and you see it from the Crusaders a lot, and teams like them, where it's close at half, but you're like, it's not gonna be this close. Like, they're just gonna, the Crusaders are either biding their time, or they're probing the blue's defense, and now they've found it, and they're gonna put like 50 up in the second half. That's what I thought was gonna happen. Didn't happen that way.
00:32:45
Speaker
No, Blue's defense rocked up. They played some, and they were- The Crusaders scored six points after halftime. They were good, and they were camped in their own end for a long damn time too. At some point the stat was like, Crusader's five minutes and 23 seconds and opponent's 22.
00:33:04
Speaker
blues 23 seconds. I was like damn that doesn't seem right. Especially for as close as the score was. Although the odd part of that was that the most time of any of the match play in any zone was in the Crusaders and the Crusaders defensive end of the field just outside the 22. So it was between the Crusaders 22 and and midfield was where the most action had happened. I mean
00:33:31
Speaker
Really the majority of it though was in the Blues end of the field. Yeah, they were kind of camping there. There was that much time played in that spot. I didn't really remember, because all I remembered was the Crusaders deep in the Blues end. Yeah, just kind of hanging out. Yeah. I thought he isn't going to get a lost start. I thought Scott Scrofton had a really, really shit match for the Blues. There's a second road not named Tui Pelotu. He seemed to just be getting it wrong, left and right.
00:33:57
Speaker
That's probably the reason that he doesn't kill a lot of starts, honestly. I remember just shaking my head very often and being like, oh, it's
USA Rugby Sevens Achievement and Upcoming Matches
00:34:06
Speaker
Scrafton again. So maybe he needs to go back into the recycle pile. But, but, but. That Moonga try, though, that was called back looked amazing. It looked like a fantastic try. And then they showed like the first clip of the replay is him like 10 meters in front of the kick. I was like, nah, that ain't gonna work.
00:34:26
Speaker
That's not gonna work the burn Hall try was very nice though. A little chip chase. Yeah, Ryan Karate dished. It was very good It was it was I mean, yeah, Ryan Karate is kind of good, too But yeah, I I mean I would I say I'd feel proud if I was a Blues fan, but I
00:34:44
Speaker
At the same time, they blew some opportunities. Whenever they would get inside the Crusaders 22, I'm thinking, all right, you gotta go for corner or you gotta get something here. You have to get points. Not Harry Plummer's best kicking day, not Otari Black's best kicking day. So it really hurt him, it really did.
00:35:03
Speaker
If they had a slightly better, honestly, if they had a slightly better 10, I think they win this. Because I don't think Plumber or Black's been great. And they have some good pieces, and we know the pieces that they have. I don't think any of them stood out too heavily. Rico, you want to do the try eventually. But yeah, I know. I thought that somebody driving that bus a little bit better, in a little bit better of a direction, might have helped them out.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. So, so Crusaders stay on top. 1911, I'm, I think it's confirmed at this point that unless they really shit the bed in the next three weeks, there, the road to the super rugby championship is going to go through Canterbury. End of story. Yeah. I don't think there's any other way. No, it's going to be now not happening.
00:35:57
Speaker
Taws and check waters. Yep, where Taws aren't very good. They had a very nice looking try, I will say that. Dude runs hard lines. Dude runs some really hard lines and I like the way he goes about it. There was a point though that really just baffled me and I think it was,
00:36:17
Speaker
There was before that it was before the the uh, the jaguars got a got out of reach And it was still within the last 10 minutes and the war ties had just run their best back play It was funny the commentary just called it like run your best back play and see if you can get out They basically had to go the distance and they did a damn good job of getting getting a break And i'm thinking i'm watching bernard fully run and i'm thinking give it give it give it
00:36:41
Speaker
held on to it, tackled, and they eventually turned it over. I was like, fuck all, what's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a straight fly half, come on man, you gotta give that. I think he's faster than Quaid Cooper, so that's probably the one up on him, but man, you gotta give that. I think it was Rona actually on the corner, and I'm like, dude, you gotta give that.
00:37:00
Speaker
Give it. Give it. I understand. I understand. Dude, you have nothing to lose. Don't freaking eat that ball. You know, you have a corner. You've gotten the corner. And I know the Jaguars are usually pretty good about defense and playing and playing very well on the loose. But you've gotten the corner. You've gotten the line. Now it's broken. Let's go. Give it to your finisher. Oh, yeah, definitely. And support it. That's it. Like you're, you know, do your job. And if your job is not finisher, if you have a finisher and he's in support of you, why don't you give him the ball?
00:37:29
Speaker
Yeah. Phipps had a try called back correctly. The guy that had offloaded the ball to either him or the person that gave it to him was ruled in touch. And I think the referee had the I think the AR had been knocked around or something like that by a couple of players and just couldn't quite see it. And the referee had his vision blocked. But yeah.
00:37:50
Speaker
The miracle of TMO comes into play and we get the call right because he was definitely in touch. I was like, that's touch. And when Phipps got over, I'm like, okay, we might have something here, but I wonder about that sideline incident there. Yeah, sure enough, he was in touch. I was like, it's about that. Sorry, I put that out in the universe. Yeah.
00:38:10
Speaker
So, Jaguars continue to play very well. Miyati plays very well for a young, and he's not that old, but they have a lot, a lot of experience in that pack between guys like Creevy and Leguizamon and Kramer. And there was some comment made by, I think it was Australian media, about how this team shouldn't be in the comp. And I was like shut up.
00:38:40
Speaker
Listen, you've already gotten rid of the Sun Wolves incorrectly, assholes. Keep this team if you know what's good for you. If you want your league to succeed, keep this team. I'm sorry that they're bending over some of the shittier teams in the universe. You know whose problem that is?
00:38:55
Speaker
the shit of your teams. Get better. Right. Get good. Sucks to suck. I get it. But, and yeah, and the ties, I mean, they're not, they're not the worst, but I mean, there's a big gap between them and the best. So instead of whining that some other team's better than you, get better.
00:39:15
Speaker
Right. And I've noticed that the the war toss answer to Hannah getting is to pop him into the second row because he just hasn't played well as a back rower. You know, he should play he's a big boy. He's a big strong guy. He just doesn't play it play like it. So you know, and I know how to listen. I'm the most useless big strong guy you ever seen in your life. Guess what they stuck me second row. You know, I know that. And that's but that's what they do with big strong guys. They're just kind of dirt
00:39:43
Speaker
You'll never be high quality international, but you can be a good club professional guy. So that's probably where Nick Hannigan's gonna make his life until he figures out how to be a big strong ball carrier like he should be.
00:39:59
Speaker
Stormers and Highlanders, this was good, and the first name on our score sheet here that should be noticed is, and they were talking about him on the broadcast, Yanchis, he was a problem. And he came out of nowhere this year. He was a young, young scrum half. Nobody really knew a whole lot about him, but the Stormers obviously knew everything about him, because they were just like, we're gonna lean on you this year. And he's been very, very good for them.
00:40:28
Speaker
Um, if there weren't a ton of south african scrum halves out there already i'd say he might be on the plane to japan But he's at least a part of the i'd say there's a green shirt in his future. Just not this year Yeah, so but I I like the way the kid plays he plays with a lot of fire He plays with a lot of um, he definitely he definitely gets this team going when they need to get going Uh, so I I like this the guy for for a scrum half especially, uh, he played very well this game obviously any relation to the uh other yanchis
00:40:55
Speaker
Thank God, no, I don't think so. I think that's a fairly common name down there, so. No, if he is, it's like a cousin or something like that. It's not a brother. I mean, it's not exactly a common name over here, so. No, but yeah, so he's.
00:41:11
Speaker
He played very well. He played very well. Uh, that's a Beth was supposed to play in this game and actually dropped out. He got a touch of the flu and that was bad news. So that they dropped out. Um, I have to say, and there are people that just rave about him and I don't get it. Marty, Marty banks for the Islanders, they rave about him and I don't get it. I simply don't.
00:41:36
Speaker
He's they lacked create like joshuani didn't recover yet. Yeah, he had a get some sort of bruise or contusion or whatever it was he just didn't recover in time and They lacked creativity like Aaron Smith was the spark plug because he is that's what he is that's what he does and the hollow did very well in his first game back for a while, but I I don't know what the deal is with Marty Banks. I really don't this is
00:42:00
Speaker
This is everything you don't want in a fly half, and that's lacking creativity and lacking go forward. And they didn't have it. I didn't see it. Josh Whani, I would totally be like, okay, this team's got a shot even with, because they have him, they have a shot. And the second they didn't have him, it seemed like things went all to hell, especially with Bryn Gatlin down, that didn't help. That doesn't help things.
00:42:22
Speaker
You know, so I for all you marty banks believers somebody explain to me What the fuck it is you love about him because I don't see it. I don't i'm sorry I'm not saying he's a bad guy i'm saying I don't see what you like about him as a first first receiver first five, whatever the fuck it is Um, yeah, there's a but that I think that also It seems to happen in rugby it happens in every sport where there's people are just like oh this person's like the best then you go when you watch them and you're like
00:42:50
Speaker
Yeah. Is he? Yes. You sure about that? Because personally, I mean, you know, I I I fully can, you know, I'll admit FAFTA clerk does some good things. But when everybody calls him like, oh, he's just a great scrum half. And I'm like, oh, here's that great. He's he's OK. He's he's a pain in the ass. He's yeah. He's he's he's a dick to the other team. And that's what you want in a scrum half. You want somebody who's a little bit of an ass. I got a little bit of an ass on him. Yeah. But that's definitely him.
00:43:18
Speaker
I don't see, I don't think he helps his team as much as he annoys the other team. So I think that might be a very valid assessment on that one. Give me that one right there. I think there's just some players who have that hype to them that it's not really based on anything.
00:43:33
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, I just I feel I I want to sit there and tell you that, you know, he's yes, he's an underrated player. He's not. I don't think he is. I think he's exactly where he belongs. Surprise, surprise. He at least he has another scores, another try on another beautiful line. Again, guy that knows how to run lines like a back, but he's built like a loose forward. Yeah. Look out, kids. Have fun. Yeah, so Stormers won 34 to 22.
00:44:02
Speaker
Also that. Sharks and lions. Kerwin Bosch is kinda good. He's okay. He's definitely got that 10-shirt for himself. He looked like his countryman there, Cobus Reinach, with his intercept. With the intercept, yes. Well, he had shanked a kick earlier. Oh, yeah, he did. No, that was...
00:44:28
Speaker
No, it was later. Well, he shanked one earlier too. He missed, maybe it wasn't a sitter, but he shanked one earlier. He just missed touch on a penalty. Oh yeah, I remember that too, yeah. Right at the dead ball line. Yeah, well he got lucky because dumb, dumb whoever tried to field it actually field it, hit it and it went out the back or something like that or whatever. So it ended up being a scrum to the sharks. I was like, oh, that's luck. What luck?
00:44:57
Speaker
Oopsie, maybe don't maybe just let the ball go where it's going to go. Mm hmm. So but yeah, Kerwin, boss, kind of good. Sharks looking like maybe they're trying to they're starting to figure it out. You know, I if I was a Sharks fan, I'd feel pretty good about putting the line, the defending conference champs to the sword. Yeah. So it's it's all to play for in South Africa. And I'd say it's pretty much the sharks sharks conference to lose at this point.
00:45:25
Speaker
one odd thing about this this match um before the season when we we saw the the new jerseys the marvel related jerseys yeah i was all about that lions that the black panther was one that i was uh i'm sorry the sharks sharks the black panther that i was all about i was like that looks really cool i want one right i still haven't bought one yet but watching that game
00:45:47
Speaker
The fucking and I did not like the lion spider-man with the way it looked. I thought it was a little bit Crowded on the front. Yeah, definitely. That's a great spider-man outfit that they've got Now actually watching it in a match in the the guys who have the the scrum caps and they have Oh, yeah, that's true. Really looks like a full spider. That's true. That's true I think it's marv nori that rocks the red scrum cap big second order for the lions
00:46:09
Speaker
So it was, you know, not only, you know, the Sharks won the game, but I thought the Lions were best dressed. The best dressed. Well, I mean, Kerwin Blasch's intercept try also continued to show, at least, or prove to me that Yanji isn't South Africa's starting 10. Or shouldn't be. He shouldn't be. Can you come off the bench? Sure, but he shouldn't be the starting 10.
00:46:36
Speaker
Not if they wanna win the World Cup. Simple as that. Do you wanna win the World Cup? Yes, okay, well then don't have him be your starting ten because he's gonna, he's a defensive liability and he doesn't, yes, he's good in attack. He can distribute and he will take it to the line every now and again but he just doesn't, you can't have that gap in defense if you're gonna win a World Cup.
00:47:01
Speaker
And most tens that are worth a damn that are on a World Cup team can pommel you just as well as like a loose forward. So I would I would I am for for awesome players in this match who are not named Kerwin Bosch. There were two that that easily stood out for me. And for anybody, I'm sure who watched this match, but my poo and he's he's a problem. He wants another gold shirt. Right. Every time either of them got around the ball. Yeah.
00:47:30
Speaker
And my pippies try. He's aggressive. He is extra aggressive. I will say that that dude is just he is he plays like his hair's on fire the vertical on his intercept. Oh, yeah. He just gets up there and plucks it out of this guy. And then I wish I could jump that high. Right. He jumps high catches it lands flat footed and then just outraces everyone. Yeah, it's it's amazing to see acceleration like that where you you have it and then you are like
00:47:58
Speaker
when you come down and you're flat-footed you're stuck there you're kind of almost like you've almost just like made roots you've made roots it's like oh shit and for a guy like us we stand there and go duck or at least lower your fucking shoulder because you're about to get hosed right and even if you get the chance to take off you're looking behind you because someone's coming
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, someone's coming to absolutely melt you. He'd even look he's just like, yeah, I'm gone. Yeah, I'm just stretching my legs out going for a jog and yeah, and he's He's he's not super compact, but he's not like super lanky either And he's thick. Yeah, he's a he's a thick man. So but
00:48:39
Speaker
Sharks do the job in front of the home crowd and they take care of business 27 to 17 and they vault themselves to the top of the South Africa Conference and they are definitely in the driver's seat for a home playoff and obviously to also win the South Africa Conference and get into the playoff. Oh, good lord. Okay.
00:49:04
Speaker
Can we give a shout out real quick to because I know we've kind of gone through the the the professional rugby 15s quick shout out to USA rugby for their sevens program for
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah, qualifying for the World Cup and for the Olympics. Yeah, I'm sorry. I met the Olympics. Yeah. And not only that, but meddling in seven of nine tournaments. Yeah. This season. Amazing. That's amazing. Those boys have done quite well for guys that were considered underdogs at one point. Yeah. Yeah. Not anymore. No. Targets on the back, guys. Yeah, definitely. It excites me that something in the USA rugby is ticking.
00:49:50
Speaker
Well, maybe that's where it grows. Maybe it starts in sevens and they'll expand from there. They still want to turn to Kenya.
00:50:00
Speaker
All right, let's run through picking real quick, and we'll get the hell out of here. All right. Well, one more in the premiere ship. Exeter and Saracens. And this is going to be a scorcher. For many marbles. Yeah. So for me, as a Saracens fan, I'm happy we got here. We already have a trophy. And this is all gravy from here. But I still want to bloody win the damn game.
00:50:25
Speaker
So I am gonna back the boys I am nervous because this is the exact same thing we played last year The only other game where we didn't put up the shags against them aka the game we played at Sandy Park earlier in the year we lost and it wasn't a convincing loss, but it certainly wasn't a loss that I was okay with and
00:50:47
Speaker
So I am worried But obviously this is a Saracen scene. It's very much on a high but so is Exeter So it's gonna be a great game either way
00:50:56
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely is. It's going to be one certainly worth watching. The Saracens are playing such amazing rugby right now. As you said, the Saints, although we can talk about the Saints, we can talk about Gloucester.
00:51:20
Speaker
They put up an effort both teams put up an effort at the beginning it kind of just fell flat Towards the middle of the game and then just went south later. I I just I love the way the Saracens are playing again. They're mixing that Really mixing in that creativity with that That discipline to me a little bit better than Exeter does Right who kind of they do some some interesting things of the ball. They do some fun stuff I
00:51:49
Speaker
I'm not big on for some reason i'm not really terribly big on many centers in the premiership and uh devoto and slade are They're they're they're solid. They're very good, but they're not world beaters Um, I don't think they're um, they're gonna put too much those neither of those two Slade more than certainly more than devoto are gonna put Not too much stress on the sarahson's defense other than physicality right so
00:52:18
Speaker
I I think it's gonna be close. It's not gonna be a walk certainly not no either way, but I think Saracens Are the ones who are gonna come away with this?
00:52:29
Speaker
And another one, another winter medal goes to North London. And Alex Goode does not take his kid off for another six weeks. All right. And then let's go down under it's squeaky bum time down here. We got three weeks to go and super ugly competition. And it's, there's a lot of do or die time going around here. Blues and bulls, bulls coming off a really not pretty game.
00:52:56
Speaker
in Australia. So I'm wondering what their psyche's going to be like. But the Bulls need this a lot more than the Blues do.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah, well in order to keep pace, that's for sure. Right. Okay, so of the two teams, the Bulls have a shot at the top of the table. Right. Blues not so much. So just by virtue of the, you know, again, we don't know the squads aren't named yet. No. So just by virtue of desperation at this point in the season, I'm going to go with the Bulls. Fair enough. You know,
00:53:39
Speaker
I would take the blues if they had better playoffs. Because after last week they showed some cajones. But I'm gonna go with the Bulls. Andre Pollard's probably gonna be back and that'll be enough for me to say. Yep, that's it. Rebels and Mortas.
00:53:58
Speaker
Neither team's played amazingly, although the Rebels just got a nice confidence boost by absolutely rinsing the Sunwalls. Waratahs just got picked by the Jaguars and didn't play particularly well and had a lot of blunders where they didn't need the blunders at key moments. I think the short version of this is that the Rebels are good and the Waratahs are not. Yep. So I'm going to go with the Rebels. Yeah, and they're in Melbourne. Right. So that doesn't help for the Waratahs. So yeah, I'm with you on the Rebels, too.
00:54:27
Speaker
Sun wolves and Brumbies in Japan or in Asia at least yeah Depends on I think this the patch match depends entirely on how much you don't have how much confidence you have on the Brumbies and how much you don't have in the Sun wolves, right?
00:54:47
Speaker
Right and that's the problem. I don't have I don't have a hell of a lot of confidence in the Brumby's neither do I I Don't have any confidence in the Sun Wolves. Yeah, but the Sun Wolves are at home so that it's a lot of Layers to this. Mm-hmm, but I don't think you're gonna you're not gonna lose money by betting against the Sun Wolves too often So I'm gonna go with the Brumby's. Okay. I Think the Sun Wolves are due
00:55:17
Speaker
And I don't know if the Heat will get to the Brumbies like it did the Rebels. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. The Summals have had a couple stinkers in a row. Tony Brown left the team to go prep for the World Cup for Japan, so he's left his assistants in charge, so I think they're just trying to get the bearings now. But I'm gonna go with it. They're usually good for a performance now and again, and I think it's that time where it's, again, Chiefs and Crusaders.
00:55:46
Speaker
Your boys at home against potentially the best team into rugby. I Don't know what to tell you about that, dude. I think I'm going back to my earlier Short version analysis, which is the Crusaders are good and the Chiefs are not Yeah Yeah Crusaders it is I even if I'm long it doesn't play their their backup guys not bad either so Thank you. Yeah, they'll be okay. Yeah, I
00:56:16
Speaker
Reds and chocolatas One team's hot one team's not I'm gonna go with the team that's hot And that would be the jacks. Yeah, I am going to agree with that
00:56:31
Speaker
Yep. Oh, come on. Sharks and hurricanes. These these hurricanes are just so flippin unpredictable. They're rested. They've trapped they I think they traveled early. So they'll be okay. They typically don't do phenomenal in South Africa. But I am going to back my guys and go with the hurricanes. Because we need this to kind of just solidify ourselves into that quarterfinal. Yeah, and I'm going to go with the sharks.
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah, they also need it. So this should actually be a fairly good game. And the Lions and the Stormers. The Lions all but eliminated themselves by losing the other week. Right. This is the shit match up this week. It is. Where there's no good team. You can't say the Lions are good and the Stormers are not, or the Stormers are good and the Lions are not. No, they're both bottom of the table. Well, at least for South Africa. Of the conference, yeah.
00:57:29
Speaker
I'm going to flip the coin and have it land on the home squad. Okay. I will back the captain of the spring box, Sia Khaleesi, and paint the stormers. Grand, they're away from home, and I'm probably going to regret that, but I don't care. I think your lead is safe, so.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah with I mean with three weeks to go and super rugby plus playoff. Yeah, we'll see But yeah alright, so Everybody make sure you check us out on Google Play Spotify iTunes leave us a review We like reviews even if you think that we're absolutely garbage. That's okay. We want we want to know what you guys think Email the show fantasy rugby podcast at gmail.com
00:58:16
Speaker
Um, we like emails again, even if you just want to berate us, it's okay. We'll have our fun with it. Just the same. Um, listen, whether the show says one star or five stars on, it doesn't give a shit to us. So we're not doing this for that. I promise. Um, we just want to know what you guys think. That's all. All right. But other than that,
00:58:33
Speaker
Enjoy the Premiership final. If you're not watching the Premiership final, what the hell is wrong with you? Even if you hate English rugby, watch the damn thing. It'll be a good match. It'll be worth it. Other than that, we will catch you guys next week.