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Season 5- Episode 8- It’s Not About Size (Rugby World Cup Round 2 & Premiership Round 6)
28 Plays3 years ago
Another of the latest and greatest from the babbling dopes from America. It's Round 2 down in New Zealand and the pools are taking shape. We talk about the action from Match Day 2 in Rugby World Cup 2021 including how the U.S. stayed alive, how the Black Ferns were just simply having fun and which team is a great advert for rugby. Of course, we also have a look at the action in England for Round 6 of the Prem. Did anyone order an extra helping of squeaky bum time? All 3 matches on Saturday down to the wire! If only the league office could get it's shit together. Have something cold ready to drink, kick back and enjoy!
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
It
Introduction and Podcast Growth
00:00:02
Speaker
is... The Fantasy Europeans. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. Collusion! Collusion!
00:00:27
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It is the Fancy Rugby Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's get to it. Um, plenty of action to talk about over the weekend. Busted open, baby. Um, yeah, that would go. That's the one in there.
Impact of COVID on Podcast Frequency
00:00:45
Speaker
Share us on your favorite podcast app to all your friends download rate review. Um,
00:00:55
Speaker
We're getting I was looking at the numbers the other day. We are sneaking up on another another big episode Really? Yeah, they could be 200 this season Also feels like we've done oh I guess cuz now we split them up but we split them up I mean if you look at the actual number on oh, it's higher Yeah, I think it's definitely gonna be higher right that doesn't count though. No, it doesn't count, right? This is what like eight so I
00:01:23
Speaker
Yeah. We've hit one and a half century at least. Good for us. We didn't even get patches on our jerseys for it. We should have. We should have. Well, that freaking
00:01:40
Speaker
The COVID season was the one that just made it like so many so fast. That's true. 50. It was like 51. Right. Episodes that season because we had literally nothing else to do anyways. No. What the fuck else are we going to do?
00:01:57
Speaker
Yes. I'm going to sit here and babble and do a microphone for an hour and a half at a time. Duh. Right. Of course. What else am I supposed to do at work? Fuck that. I don't want that. Plus, as two white males were legally obligated in the U.S. to have a podcast. I know. Right. It's the law. It seems it so much. Oh,
Supporting the Fantasy Rugby Community
00:02:19
Speaker
man.
00:02:21
Speaker
We're terrible. We're terrible. Speaking of which, did we talk about buying geek a beer yet? Or have we been mired in our own? No, we've been wondering about our own shit. Okay, cool. Buy our friend fantasy rugby a beer, or a cup of coffee, whatever you want it to be.
00:02:38
Speaker
The, uh, great, he's doing a lot of great work as always. I know Jared usually does this segment, but I, I want to chime in cause I like George and I want to say nice things about him too. Fair enough. Yeah. Especially if you're assuming you're playing in the FRD prem this weekend, which is going to be a little bit hectic. Yeah. In terms of good luck figuring out your teams. Like you imagine being in like a 10 team league.
00:03:03
Speaker
Uh, no, that's why we can't, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of such things to talk about next week. We'll talk about, uh,
00:03:15
Speaker
We'll talk about the wasps and where we'd like to see players go for fancy purposes, certainly. We will also talk about the own mishappenings on our soil over here with Gil Criss, former teams, Twat. I
Surprises and Reflections on MLR
00:03:31
Speaker
did not realize at the time that they were eliminated from MLR. I thought that was, I didn't realize he
00:03:37
Speaker
I thought it was just for the playoffs. Yeah. Same. I didn't realize it was for the, for the, but anyway, yeah, we'll get into that. Well, shocking. But we'll talk about it next week. I was yesterday years old when I, like, when I learned that. Same. I was just figuring that out too. Wasn't as publicized as you would think. Yeah.
00:03:54
Speaker
And then we'll get it. And then we'll also tuck into a automation series, which all the squads should be announced by next week. I know we're missing some right now. So by that time, we will be able to dive into that and dissect everybody's chances going forward in the automation series, which we are at that point, we'll be two international series away from the World Cup. So yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
As always on this podcast, there is no discrimination here, nor should there be in life or in sports. More
Misconduct and Policing Issues
00:04:27
Speaker
developments out of Los Angeles. Was it two weeks ago we talked about? Or was that last week that we talked about? I think it was last week. Somebody was talking about how the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is just an armed gang. I can't recall who that would have been. And it's like one of those...
00:04:46
Speaker
I know it sounds like tinfoil hattery and all that because it's like, no, what the fuck? No, they actually we just had video of them like outside of their jurisdiction, rolling up and beating and they held a gun to the dude's head multiple times and on our man just because they they felt like it. Which I'm sure there are some.
00:05:07
Speaker
chicanery around, you know, they don't just do that. So, like, yeah, because gangs don't really get, you know, they say that. So I'm not not that I'm blaming the dude. That fucking sucks. But they thought they and they might not have really meant for it to be him, but they still fucking did it. Like, what are you doing? And this is what, you know, you still did it. Right. Same. You know, we've been talking about the Los Angeles County.
00:05:31
Speaker
Um, or Los Angeles city council last week and um, yeah, this is their their sheriff's department. It's just No, you got to fix that shit like how can we have police if this is what police are like Yeah, you wonder why people are upset at the police and then shit like that goes down. It's like good, right? Like this shit is why like if yeah, you got it. We got to fix it
00:05:55
Speaker
And, you know, there's, there's no reason that you would want that to, I can't imagine you would think that that would be policing, um, in your opinion. So like, just, you know, what do you vote for? Really is where I come down to it. Like, you know, are you, yeah, you got it. This isn't going to be solved any other way than the ballot box. So. Absolutely. I hope like the best way we solve it. That's, and we want to solve it peacefully. That's why we use the ballot box, right? That's democracy. Yeah. Is, you know,
00:06:24
Speaker
civilized violence in a way, but the best way we got. So let's try to keep it that way. Like, yes, please. All right.
00:06:37
Speaker
So,
Content Updates and Future Improvements
00:06:38
Speaker
and also on a more upbeat note, grab our Patreon and support us if you can, because we appreciate just the same. And we, I apologize that Boombus just went up today. The weekend was the weekend and it got away from me. So, but I got it up today. I made it. I was like, I have to get this up before the podcast.
00:06:59
Speaker
So I got it up today. It's there next week. We'll be much easier because we're only gonna have four fucking games to do it for, which is annoying, but it'll make my life just a tiny bit easier, but just the same. So yeah, apologies to our patrons and I'll do better. Promise promise promise. Well, we still got time ahead of the, uh, I guess it kind of sucks for, for waivers and stuff. Yeah. I try and get done before waivers. That's a good thing.
00:07:26
Speaker
But yes, grab our Patreon. What's the update on the sheet? I know we talked about it. You and I talked about it yesterday. I had it already. So we're going to have something.
00:07:38
Speaker
I'm going to try to have something ahead of the start of the matches this week. That is at least the attacking points for players. Um, that's my goal. I got just absolutely shit on at work today. I had everything going great. Then it was like, Hey, by the way, we need you to work on this for like the constant eight hours. And I'm like, Oh, I don't have a time to break. And it was just like, no, I got it. And it's going to continue tomorrow. So I'm going to do my best to get it up for early Friday afternoon. Yeah, that'll be good. Cool.
00:08:09
Speaker
All right, so let's go down to New Zealand and dive in. First
Rugby Match Recaps: Australia vs Scotland
00:08:15
Speaker
up for the weekend was Australia and Scotland. The breeze at the Northland Events Center was very heavy going one way, and it was very apparent in the first match. I think it died as the day went on, but it made this match very, literally the table was tilted.
00:08:34
Speaker
It was all going to, I think it was everybody's right as we were looking on the camera. It's like, yeah, it was, so it, it looked all like Scotland where we're going to finally get one, get one over and not to be sadly. Yeah. It just, it felt.
00:08:55
Speaker
Oh, I mean, yeah, she's got to figure out all the points were scored in one end because there's 12. Nothing could happen in 14. Nothing at full 1412. Sorry. Oh, Scotland. It just got away from them. Yeah, it just got away. And Australia credit, you know, obviously full credit to Australia, although, you know, getting that kind of carded
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, two reds. Two. One was a double yellow, straight red. Oh, OK. That's right. And yeah, and it was the was it the hooker? It was Marsters. It was Marsters and Tala Kai, both of them.
00:09:35
Speaker
Australia ran out of of hookers. And at that point that, you know, again, you know, I'm a I'm a prop. So I'm not naturally going to root for uncontested scrums or or advocate for them. However, when you're in a World Cup position. And you get a chance to take. Pick a team down to 12. Pick a team down. Yeah, exactly. Like you do it.
00:10:04
Speaker
And I thought that was a tactical mistake not to because you get that even extra extra person and it's like, yes, this is, you know, this is what you want.
00:10:17
Speaker
Um, yeah, I don't, did they, did they ever have a scrum effort? Even I can't even recall. So it's just like, what do you, you gotta, yeah. Yeah. They got telekite on for one, for the one scrum, I think. And that was the end. So it was not awesome. Obviously there was.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah, it was a poor decision. This was a nice glimpse into what Scotland could be assuming they can eventually get some sort of support from their union because they did some great stuff. That back three I was really excited about, although I think Raleigh, is it Chloe Raleigh that's done?
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, she broke her arm. Yeah, that'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. But I like all three of them back there. And that's sad. But at the same time, I love the back row. I really do. Malcolm Conkle and McLaughlin. And then even like, wassled tends to be acting very much like a back row as well and Skeleton too. So, you know, they're a little undersized in that case, but they're more dynamic and attack.
00:11:27
Speaker
by all means.
US Eagles' Performance and Coaching Critique
00:11:28
Speaker
So that's a good matchup. Yeah, this is a, this is actually, you know, a good matchup between two pretty fairly even teams like me. And I would say I would also actually kind of give the natural athleticism to Australia. So I kind of.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah. I thought Scotland played a really good team, team rugby. Yes. And in the end, I think Australia's, I think it was just the talent that that wore down. Yeah. I mean, shiny Williams, but it was, was one of my favorites for Australia, but also Kramer and, and Torita looked fantastic in this match. And obviously, uh, Karpani got the player of the match as well. So hooray props, getting player of the match. Yeah. Love that. So it is it.
00:12:11
Speaker
It's a good sign that we're having competitive matches at this whole tournament, which is great. Exactly. There's not, there's not a big blowout by any means for the most part. Although there, well, there isn't here and there, but the average, you know, lead is, is good. It's not a, it's not a huge lopsided thing. It's fairly good for the most part. So I, I give credit to all the players that are just putting it fronting up and just bringing, bringing the noise for every game that they've been playing so far. Right.
00:12:41
Speaker
And then our Eagles got away with one, really, in a lot of ways. Absolutely got away with one. You know, this was 30 minutes of good rugby in my mind. Right. And it came because of 50 minutes of bad rugby that was just super physical. And, you know, Japan just wore down, I think, at the end, and they don't I think at some point that, you know,
00:13:11
Speaker
You kind of get tired of trying to tackle. Kelter and Kate Zachary and Rachel Johnson. It's like they just kept running at you.
00:13:28
Speaker
After a while, it's just it gets old. And then, you know, you kind of take a hope that they go to kind of just show yourself like you're going to make the tackles. And I hope they throw it somewhere else so you don't have to. And then that leads into broken tackles. And yeah, all sorts of bad things. Yes. Right. And that's I feel like what happened. And it's just kind of like, I don't want to win that way. No, I don't love winning. Because eventually you're going to run. And not only eventually, we've already done it. You run in the teams that don't give a fuck.
00:13:59
Speaker
And they're like, yeah, we'll make that tackle. Okay. And they'll make it again. Right. And we'll make it again. Cause we understand if we just keep making our tackles, you're going to fuck up and then we'll get the ball back. And so you can't, you can't play that way and play, you know, you can beat the shit teams, especially if you have that athletic advantage too. But I mean, you know, you're not going to, you're not going to beat, you're not going to touch England or the Kiwis this way.
00:14:26
Speaker
Not at all. It's bad rugby, too. It's not great. It's really just that physicality. That's not the way the game is played anymore, really. No, it's one of my favorite variations of the game, that's for sure. Yeah. That I can tell you. I will say the one really good thing that the US has going for it
00:14:48
Speaker
in my, at least from what I, what I can see is the, the back road depth is enormous because we had, we have Kate Zachary, which everybody knows about at this point. That's not, that's not a new, that's not a new flash by any means.
00:15:04
Speaker
Then we have Rachel Johnson, who is without a doubt one of my favorite players on this team. We have Catherine Johnson. We have Mattias, who didn't dress with us game at all. We have Karens, who scored the try. That was a great bit of decision making by Cantona. I haven't loved most of her play. That was beautiful, beautiful decision making on her part. And then we have Paris Redding, who also did not dress with this match. So we have five viable back row options. And I dare say,
00:15:34
Speaker
the second rows that we had in this game would not be the ones that I would want, um, next week. So we still, we could possibly stick one of them in there. Um, I hope that that was just giving her a rest. I think so. Cause I think that's what that was. And then on the, on the bad side and it took way too long to get her out of there, but, um, how can I tell? I was just happy.
00:16:03
Speaker
Bad game. And I mean, it was brutal. I was like, oh, by the time you hit 40 minutes, if she's still making mistakes, you got to go. Sorry. Like, right. She didn't give her the half to sort it out. I thought she stuck with her. They stuck with her the whole time. She's well, at least not this. Yeah, no, no. Yeah. The World Cup side. Anyway, they don't have her coming out. Yeah. Oh, I actually pulled can turn at the end. That's right. Yeah. So that's one that I would just rather.
00:16:34
Speaker
I'd rather see Howard and Kelter next week in the centers. We might find out what they're at, because I'm betting that TNews is coming real quick here. Right. It should be. Could be any second now. Yeah. It's I still want Rob Kane's job. Yeah. Yeah. Because they like you can't tell me. You can't tell me that you can't teach like decent rugby.
00:17:00
Speaker
I get that you're bringing in a lot of players who are the best for their teams in some ways, but that's not even true anymore. The ones who are playing over in the Allianz and elsewhere, they're getting good rugby and they have to learn to be good teammates.
00:17:22
Speaker
There's so many just one ups or like, you know, run one pass off, you know, or two passes off the breakdown and that's like it. They're not really, um, they're not running great support lines and not running great like blockers lines so much. It, you know, it happens every so often and it's like, there's not, there's no flare to it. And you kind of need that. You need to be able to do that. Cause that's how you beat defenses by, you know, the illusions and, and, and playing with the ball a little bit.
00:17:51
Speaker
Um, you know, like, yeah, the chip in the chip and score that was, that's good shit. Right. Like good vision. And it was a good, it was a good initial carry that broke that started the whole thing too. And that's, yeah, that's where it comes from. And yeah, there's more to be had. And I just think we're, we're failing to hit our potential by, by a long shot, which is the frustrating thing as I watch the thing.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's like the, these athletes are better than the rugby they play. And that's, it shouldn't be that way. You need to be able to at least play to your athleticism. Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Um, one, and one final note on the did finally, finally give a lot of culture, the T and I hope that's something that cause can't turn. I went for like over or one for eight or something like that. It was, I was like, yeah, this is, she hit one penalty in this match. Yeah. I think it was right in front.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yes. So after that, it was like, yeah, you, you should not have the tea. You, sorry, you should not have the tea. I'm like, I hate to say it, but yeah, you're, you're disappointing me right now. So hopefully that stays that way. And they let, because Kelter nailed everything she had.
00:19:05
Speaker
I was like, okay, let's do that, because then at least when we get chances with T's, we can not leave. The biggest thing for the US right now that I'm the most annoyed about is we got nothing out of the Italy game. We got nothing. We left probably eight points on the table on there, and that could have potentially been something to get us towards a bonus point. And now that we don't have it, we've put ourselves in a really crap position of trying to beat
00:19:34
Speaker
probably the best team in our pool, which is Canada and they've been playing great. We'll talk about them in a minute. It's just, so lots of, lots of problems and you know, expectations are, feels like they're about to be very not matched. I'm going to be really pissed about.
00:19:53
Speaker
All right. Let's go to the final one at the event center, uh, England and France like crunch.
Excitement for England vs France Match
00:20:01
Speaker
Yeah. I was so excited for this match and.
00:20:07
Speaker
Uh, like I watched the U S match because I didn't want to get spoiled from that for, or, you know, like I have to watch that first so they don't get spoiled the other way. And so I think I slogged through that just so I could watch the England, France. And I got to say, I found it pretty fucking boring. Like that's credit to both teams. The defense was outstanding. Yes. But, uh, I was expecting so much.
00:20:32
Speaker
more from like of an athletic display. And it wasn't so much that as much as it was grinded out. So I was expecting one thing and got another, which maybe that's my fault, but I did not like watching this match.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, five, six, and seven for France had 20 plus tackles. Wow. Yeah. And they were, yes. Fall, this was, she was- They didn't do, they wore themselves out in the one bit of brilliance that they came up with that turned into points. Was that Grise, was that, she's the one that got that one on the line? Hermes. Oh yeah, sorry. Hermes. Oh yeah, Grise was the one that picked it up though. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
I knew I had her in my brain for a reason. And too many bad injuries. Sansu's going out. Sansu off, yeah. That was horrible. Yeah, that's her career. Menage, too, left early. Not good, not the way we want to see menage.
00:21:37
Speaker
You know, yeah, just not, not good injuries. No, I mean, nothing to be done about any of them. Unfortunately, it's just really sad to see. It is. It is. It's not what, it's not what you want when you're trying to have a show, your showpiece, but injuries are a part of the game. Right.
00:21:56
Speaker
There's nothing I feel, I feel horrible for sounds to you. So that's, that's, that's, yeah, the worst, like it, well, I shouldn't say the worst way to end a career, but it's cause it's not, but it's pretty unfortunate way. Yeah. It's unfortunate. Cause you want to be able to walk off your last pitch. Like that's, yeah, agreed. I really agreed.
00:22:16
Speaker
So, but this was, and this was a result of, in a way of England and France knowing each other as well as they do. So that was, that was part of it. I, the one thing I have to say for Francis Craig, and we can dig into England in a minute here is, um, not maybe to the discredit, I thought Caroline Druan was terrible with ball in hand. I was not, I was not a fan of what she was doing. So.
00:22:42
Speaker
I don't like the words that are coming out of your mouth, but I can't disagree with that. Yeah, that's the thing. I want her, like, I expected better. And that's why, like, honestly, if she had played like 5% better, this is France's match.
00:22:56
Speaker
really likely likely you know it didn't it it would have just taken a little bit extra from someone one of their very talented many players i thought bernie had played really well by the way 12 she was a she was a missile going everywhere but for her it was just so disappointing because
00:23:13
Speaker
We've seen the brilliance that she that she possesses, and it was just really, really like painful for me to be like, Mm hmm. Why are you fucking this up? Because I know this is not you. Like, what's going on? So I think it was that day or what? I think it may have been, you know, as you're saying, these teams know each other. They they know, Joanna, inside and out, I'm sure. Like.
00:23:38
Speaker
And you kind of say the same thing, like I was just thinking like, you know who I thought had a band match was Sarah Byrne. Because like, I didn't, I didn't see her at all, which is odd, which is not her normal thing. No. But and, and like, there were, you know, a couple players like that, like, I thought Sarah Hunter was was, yeah. And I think that that has more to do, you know, all these players when they like, they get kind of caught up in the mix of
00:24:05
Speaker
like Helena Rowland too. I think I noticed her like, it was like something happened late and I was like, oh yeah, she's playing today. She is playing, okay. Yeah, same, feel that. Yeah, so I think it is because the teams know each other. So that's what I'm saying, you know, I was bored by it. I was like, I want to see Helena Rowland run all over the place. I want to see, you know, Sarah Hunter smile. I want to see Sarah Byrne breaking the line with a huge big prop smile on her face. Like I fucking love that shit and didn't get to see any of it. So I'm,
00:24:34
Speaker
Bitter was pretty. It was pretty. Yeah, it's a lot of pretty tame, at least. Yeah. I mean, great, you know, great struggle. Great. You know, there was drama, no doubt. But more of a slow burning. Yeah, definitely a slow burn. Yeah. Hopefully we see more mower entertainment for the coming for the coming matches this weekend here.
00:25:06
Speaker
And
Italy vs Canada Match Analysis
00:25:06
Speaker
then the next day and the next day and the next day, like I said, you know, up in Auckland, it was Italy and Italy and Canada, Italy started off hot.
00:25:18
Speaker
and finished hot. Everywhere in the middle was Canada, everywhere in the middle was Canada. First minute, last minute, yeah. And that's literally, that was literally the story of the match. And yes, the Italians had patches where they played well, besides those moments, but- Oh, I did see some of this. Really? Sorry, I'm remembering. That's all right. Hey, listen, I'm glad you're coming out of it.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yeah, and again, you can see it's not dissimilar from the match we were just talking about where you can see that the tackle counts for Italy are very high, you know, the top five, 10 players.
00:25:53
Speaker
in this game are from Italy and a couple of them are subs. Like that's, that tells you how much ball they had. And so the one that I can see on the, on my, the first page right here is Sophie de Goody from Canada. And she's the first one that tells you a lot. And she's just, she's busy. So that doesn't surprise me in any way, shape or form. Right. Yeah. I mean, 12 tackles, but actually two missed is, is the shocking thing. Yeah. Maybe it is the shocking. 12 tackles. Yeah. I could see that. No, no, no.
00:26:24
Speaker
You know, no problem, especially cause she had a 14. Oh, is that passes birth? First carries. I don't have it. Doesn't have a care. She has 66 meters. So yeah, that makes sense. 12 tackles, 66 meters. That's Sophie to go to that. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty good. That's pretty good right there. That's a day. It is. It is a day. And it's, it would, this is just a,
00:26:51
Speaker
This is everything I wanted the US to be when we played Little League 2. Two weeks ago. So in a way, I'm very jealous, obviously, of what happened with the Canadians. But this is also why they've been so good for so long, just the way they play and they've ingrained it into their team from almost the word go many, many years ago.
00:27:18
Speaker
This is what I wish more teams in North America would do. Hint, hint, wink, wink, USA. That's a lot. That is a freaking bag of worms that we can open another time. Right. Because I mean, we could go one through twenty three and talk and go head to head. And first off, there'd be some fucking crackers of matchups there. But second off, like
00:27:46
Speaker
it's not that different and over the over the full you know like the you know the athleticism and the the the potential ability of all the people that that are that make up you know on each each squad not just the 23 but like there's such a difference in style and and you know ball use and just rugby intelligence yes
00:28:14
Speaker
And that's always going to make a difference. And that's, I think, why we want Kane's job. And we're super jealous of Canada because they get to, you know, they know the game enough to use their athleticism well. Yes. And it's like, to me, the difference is that in this match, anyway, was that Italy, they had the flair, they have the intent, they just don't quite have the horses.
00:28:43
Speaker
Not yet. Not yet. But there's a lot of potential there. There's a couple of good ones in there just the same. Right. That's not to say they're all... It was amazing. The thing is, yeah, but I'd say there's a 10 point difference between those two teams in talent. That's fair. Right. Yeah. And I think that's... That's accurate. So I think that the game ended up the way it should.
00:29:07
Speaker
I would like to see the US play like Italy played against Canada because I think the outcome would be slightly different. I think the outcome will be something that we can favor at least. In my brain, we need to come up with two bonus points against Canada somehow. We need to lose by less than seven and we need to get all four. I'm not sure we're going to get either of those, which is terrifying for a lot of reasons. With the talent that we possess, that is very disappointing and should piss a lot of people off.
00:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, really should. So just, uh, yeah, frustration out the, out the ying yang, but what else is new? We're American rugby fans. What else is new here? Oh, anyway, moving on. So Canada are at the top and we'll likely win the group and good for them.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All they need is one point off us and they can build one of the groups. Hey, if the US somehow pulls that off. Where we get five and they get nine, I will be
00:30:12
Speaker
Number one, I'll be the first person dead in the street. But number two, I'll be shocked. I'll be shocked. I'll issue a formal apology to Rob. Same. Same. Same. Agreed. Are we going to agree on that? We can agree on that. Let's go. Let's go to the second game of the day, Wales and New Zealand.
00:30:33
Speaker
This
New Zealand vs Wales Match Review
00:30:33
Speaker
wasn't as lopsided as it was to start. But man, the passes started sticking for the Kiwis and that was all she wrote. I was like, oh, no, this is now they're just fucking around and it's sticking to, which is exactly where the worst feeling on the other side of it, too. You're like, I hate this shit because you're like, they're just trying shit. And it's like, it's not all working.
00:30:56
Speaker
They're not even going through the structure. They're just trying stuff to try it and it's coming off and we're just getting fucked. That is the worst. The most frustrating thing. Couldn't you just drop one of these again? Pretty pleased with sugar on top. Could you please drop one of these things? That's the whole point when you try big and you miss it and you say, oh, it's a cost of doing business.
00:31:21
Speaker
doing business should have a cost, right? Eventually. But it didn't. That was the terrifying thing. You just did their business. And even with cards. Didn't really matter. No, it didn't. Didn't really matter. And this is, unfortunately, in a lot of ways,
00:31:40
Speaker
this kind of represents the problem with the Welsh Rugby Union in general because they have, we know that the Welsh women have a fantastic first, you know, 15, 17 players that are at the top end of their roster that they can produce most weeks. But then when you start to have to dig, and they had to dig because they have some injuries, butchers being the big one obviously,
00:32:06
Speaker
That is where it starts to really wear its ugly head and that is on that's on the Welsh Union That's not on anybody else. That is on the Union. So that is the really shitty part and You feel for these players because they are obviously putting every one of them putting their heart and soul into this obviously but to just Not be supported as well as they should be for a lot of reasons at a World Cup
00:32:30
Speaker
When you're on your way to a world cup even like you know, so over the last what two years I think we've been really hammering on this hard obviously it's been longer than that but last two years we've really hammered on it and tried to bring it to the four and it's Yeah, it's just really frustrating to see this because
00:32:47
Speaker
We know we have some really talented players like jazz choice and Megan Webb, who's actually looked really good. I know she's only just, I think she, she, she's the one that just can't kind of came through the system a little bit, but she thinks anyway. Yeah. Cause she sounds, I'm still like getting familiar with her name. So I think so.
00:33:05
Speaker
they had to shove Sue on the lee crap to four. Like that's, that's less than a less than ideal situation for them when she's usually obviously a back row. So, you know, you, you have to put one of your better back rowers into the second row. You're missing one of your better back rowers cause of injury. It, it gets thinned out and it's really, really unfortunate to see. And it's unfortunate cause her play did suffer because of it. Like she was not nearly the player that where you Sue on the lee crap. I mean, like when you go,
00:33:33
Speaker
I guess, I don't know how else to say, you play up a level. Like, so she's going from back row to lock. It takes a lot out of you, just like it takes a lot of money if you go to lock to prop and so forth, which I guess there is no so forth after that, huh? No. But like- Can't confirm. When you move up, it just, your play in the loose gets worse because you have, there's so much more work you're doing at each
00:34:00
Speaker
closer row to the front. And yeah, you can't like, it sucks that you have to put someone like out there. Cause that's not what her value is. Yeah. And there, there are few specimens in the universe that can go from, you know, back row to second row and still have the same impact on a game. Right. She is fantastic. She is not one of those people though. No. You know, that's not taking anything away from her that there, there are special players that can do that. And we know we've seen them.
00:34:27
Speaker
Unfortunately, she's not one of them. She'll always do it. Right. It just hurt her performance. So credit to them for just sticking it out and just keep going and not stopping. They did get one at the end with Harry's. Yeah. But it's just really hard to sit there and say that this is a fair fight for a lot of reasons, you know? Right. I mean, how many countries? It was close, it was what, 27 and a half. Yes, it was. So it was in line.
00:34:57
Speaker
It was not be a total slobber knocker. But at the end, New Zealand, like kind of how we talked about with the US, where there was physicality with New Zealand, it was just, you know, from, you know, just fucking playing ball. Yeah, the running.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah. And eventually that you're going to get tired. Like you can either run over them until they get tired of it or you can run around them until they get tired of chasing you. And yeah, they will no matter what team you have against you, eventually they'll get tired of chasing you. So like there seems that can hit all day and none of them can run all day.
00:35:31
Speaker
So yeah, when the Kiwis are playing like that, it's just, it's on. Agreed. And more to hammer, sorry, Wales, to hammer on the resource difference. Like you look at New Zealand and
00:35:44
Speaker
We knew they were in trouble for a lot of reasons after their most recent test last year. And Wayne Smith puts up his hand and says, I'm here. I'm going to come coach at a retirement. Like he was, like they were saying on the broadcast, he was on a beach somewhere, not giving in. And he's like, I can help this team. So I would like to offer my services or whatever the hell the situation was in any way.
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah. So when Wayne Smith's able to, you're able to pick up the phone and call Wayne Smith up and say, Hey, can you come help coach this team? Like, yes, or Graham Henry had a huge, huge amount to do with all blacks back to back, back to back winners. Wayne Smith is just as much a part of that, which is. Yeah. So when he calls, you're like, yeah, okay. This is, this is good. And then the, clearly they, the resources that they have, Sylvia Brunt is 18 years old.
00:36:39
Speaker
KT was talking about her on the broadcast and was talking about how great she already is because he's coached her. And she's 18 years old. And I was like, I'm terrified of everybody else because this woman is fantastic. And he's fucking 18.
00:36:58
Speaker
Oh God, this is going to hurt for a long time, isn't it? So, and that is the difference in the resources that they're able to pull for, you know, they have this, these pipelines, these ways, these pathways in New Zealand, and this is not, and they don't have the resources. And that is, that is the very, that is a lot of complicated ways to say New Zealand are just currently more committed to the women's game than Wales. Holy shit. Yeah.
00:37:28
Speaker
Pretty fucking terrifying, isn't it? That's not fair. Oh, it's not. No, it's not. And then you then you bounce that with the experience on the on the other end of it where they have, you know, Portia Woodman, who's who might win play at the tournament if she keeps this up. You know, Ruby Tooey, Ruby Tooey, Dement, Cockfidge, like, yikes. The Bremner sisters like, whoo.
00:37:50
Speaker
Whoo. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. So it'll be. And that could be. I would like to see a Brunt and Fluller mat, you know, Brunt inside Fluller 13. Like that would be that I would pay money for that. Mm hmm. Damn, that's not fair. Stacey wasn't named this week either for the no. Oh, she wasn't. No, she wasn't. Unless I missed her case. I want to know. She didn't she come off the first. I thought she came off with a hammy. OK. Maybe maybe that's why.
00:38:17
Speaker
Yeah. Lame. Mm hmm. Sucks. Boo. More hopefully we see her again. Yeah. Well, I mean, like later in the tournament. OK, hopefully, you know, round knockouts. Yeah, knockouts. There's no reason to risk her right now anyway. So right. You might as well just go for it. And then we go back to match number two or excuse me, match number three on the day was extremely entertaining and the Fijiana were
Celebrating Fiji's Women's Rugby Achievements
00:38:48
Speaker
were a great advertisement for watching this game. I don't care who you are and who you're trying to sell this game to. Show them the Fijiana team from this game and you will help someone, I guarantee it. Because this was fantastic to watch. And I want to just kind of hit on something because you and I were talking about how much we don't like Nicky James from the US.
00:39:17
Speaker
I don't care about your size. See, Satari Russellia. Big old lady. She gets about the panic pretty fucking well. That's all I care about. Do your damn job. I could give a goddamn what your body looks like. If you can do your job, I don't care.
00:39:37
Speaker
I don't want, like I wanna just make sure that it's clear. It's not a body shaming thing. It's like, no, it is not. It is, are you fit or are you? That is just a thing, okay? It has nothing to do with what you look like in your shape, okay? This woman was still, she played 80 minutes as a tight head. Fuck. She played 80 minutes as a tight head. That itself should make your eyes pop and go, holy shit. Yeah. And yeah, she was a huge, she had a huge hand in the final score.
00:40:07
Speaker
made the crash that broke the line and just sent the South African defense, you know, scrambling everywhere. And that's what led to their last score. And that was after Libby Johnson and Ben Rensberg nailed a freaking penalty to give them the lead.
00:40:22
Speaker
Like this was an absolutely awesome match to watch. And I was like, wow, this is, I did not know what to, I had no spoiler on this one. I had nothing. So I was, I sat in and I'm like, this should be interesting. Cause it's obviously two very different styles of play. You know, we know how the South Africans like to play in general and we know how the Fijians like to play in general. So very different styles of play, both effective and both, and both very entertaining in their own ways, which was great.
00:40:50
Speaker
And it's just, yeah, it was awesome. And I do want to give full credit to Libby Janssen and Rensberg. She struggled against France really badly to the point where they yanked her early for Jourdan and who in this commission came the most capital South African of all time for the women, which is great.
00:41:10
Speaker
But yeah, so she responded well in the end, which is something that you really hope, like you don't want it to get into your hair head when you make a move like that, and it didn't.
00:41:21
Speaker
Now I give her a little bit of credit. She made a kick in squeaky bum time. What more can you ask? Yeah, no. And she looks so much better just in general, just playing, like just more relaxed and playing the game and not... Well, it means, I mean, you had to, she had to make it in the match until then. And so obviously she played all right. And then to be in that so deep that you can hit that.
00:41:42
Speaker
Yeah, yes. Yeah. So I give it loads of credit. And, you know, this is a spirit South African team, despite the fact that their results haven't gone that way. But it's still very good. And I give, I give them full credit. And then I just only hope that they continue to source or give them some resources because that'd be great. Then Fiji first ever World Cup win.
00:42:06
Speaker
for them. Shocking. Hell yeah. So good for them. Good. Yeah. Good for them. That's a good, that's a positive sign for the game as well. Gimme gimme. Love it. And I would not want to play Fiji as the US either. No, no, I'm, I, I, I, I would shudder to think what we would do against this team. It would not be good. It wouldn't know it would end poorly. It would end poorly. So I got to say, yeah, US at six overall, still.
00:42:32
Speaker
Is that what I thought? Yeah, and I thought that they they should have been higher. I thought I would have. I'm actually kind of shocked that they lost to Italy even in the first round. I thought that that should have been.
00:42:42
Speaker
Although if they played better, they would have, if they played, yeah, they played like 10 minutes ago to be in that, right? That's that's that might be being generous, you know? So it needs to be better. It needs to be better. Better, better, better. Let's go to more boring stuff. Let's
Sale vs London Irish Analysis
00:43:03
Speaker
go to the problem. Up to AJ Bell sale in London Irish and
00:43:11
Speaker
Sale were mean. Good. And yes, they were they were their old mean selves. What an Irishman poo. Like they were poo. Absolute crap. Apart from Benard and Hassel Collins, the rest of the team, I could just because I stayed at home honestly would have been more productive with them to a point. It was just yeah, it was pretty crap for them, I have to say. They were talking about the so.
00:43:40
Speaker
I saw more out of cutting himself than I saw out of him, honestly. Yes, I agree. Cutting himself, I thought, equated himself very well. He's someone I want to see more of. A little bit more of. 19 years old. Yeesh. Yeesh. Big fucking baby. And he really...
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah. He was, I think he made a couple of mistakes, but he was everywhere. Yes. So it's like, it's one of those, and he's 19. So yeah, he's going to make a couple of mistakes here or there. I think he gave away a silly pen, but at the same time, I don't know that it was that silly. I think it was just, you know, nothing that a veteran wouldn't do. I can't remember exactly what it was, but you know, just, he happened to be the guy doing it this time. Um,
00:44:22
Speaker
But other than that, I thought he played very well. He was a very positive impact on the game. So. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And Ben White had his moments. Wasn't didn't really. Do too much. You didn't do as much as he could have either. Yeah. Agreed. I thought I thought particularly and they started to pick on him. It makes my opinion.
00:44:47
Speaker
James Stokes is not Henry Arendelle, and it was very obvious to the point where they pulled him for another youngster early on, 57 minutes in. They were picking on him for a while. They were. He was making it easy on him in a lot of ways. Yeah. It was very obvious. They knew who they wanted to go for. They were like, all right, you my bitch. Right. It's like the end of the water plate. I was my bitch. Yes. That's it. That is exactly it.
00:45:17
Speaker
The, uh, back three for sale are actually pretty good, especially carbon and Robach. Like the point where we're kind of forgetting that Tom O'Flaherty is the other wing. But then again, did I think I saw a flat already? Like that was, I think I saw him late and was like, Oh yeah, he's playing in this match. That's right. I remember that guy. But yeah. Um, wow. Which was pretty impressive. It's like, Oh yeah. I haven't even seen him because those other two were just.
00:45:44
Speaker
Fucking crushing it. They've been good. Yeah, Roebuck and Carpenter have been great. Carpenter's got, what, two and three at this point and just has played three outstanding games really for himself. So I give him loads of credit there. And it's, yeah. And, you know, we got Bevin Rod to bet. We're not going to see any more Luke James.
00:46:04
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know at this point. I mean, I assume he's heard if he's not in the team at this point, whether he'd be on the bench or not. Yeah, but that's true. Yeah, he's versatile. He's a good all purpose back. He'd be your fourth outside back.
00:46:17
Speaker
Yeah, he'd be that extra back on the bench early. I'd like to think that he'd get on there and say, Tom Curtis, maybe, I don't know. I think so. But there is that, just the same. Yeah, this is a sale team that's, you know, talked defensively and then now they're finding ways to put tries over the board, which is not a good thing for anybody else in the league. Can I speak to everybody else?
00:46:40
Speaker
right there. Sanderson's doing a good job. Yeah, I think he's got to figure it out real, real, real well. He's making Rob Dupree look like a real actual Ted. Like people were legitimately talking about
00:46:56
Speaker
bringing him as a calling, getting called up for the box for the automations. Cause I mean, they have, they're so desperate at 10 right now between the desperation, but also there was form. You can't argue with it at the moment. He wasn't perfect. I don't think he's testing clearly. I should say it's clearly not test level, but
00:47:16
Speaker
He's been, the results have been there. So what can you say? Yeah. Well, I mean, to not give him a shot might be, so it might be in some way still like, yeah. So it's a lot to play for an operating attack. So yeah. So I guess, well, I guess you might as well give it a shot. Right. Yeah. But he did not get named, but no, he didn't, but they were talking about him as an option. Yeah. Could still be there. It's not like he's going to have to go far. Right.
00:47:41
Speaker
Uh,
Gloucester vs Bristol and Player Highlights
00:47:42
Speaker
let's go to Kings home. Gloucester and Bristol. Better attack from the bears, but still can't defend for the life. I mean, it's whatsoever. I mean, yes, they had some moments where they defended well, but yeah, they did, but, but for the most part, no, but the best part now. Valra Papa Ruskin is a thing. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He's in the England team, isn't he?
00:48:05
Speaker
Do you see that? Yes, he is. I think he is. Okay. Good for him. You're correct. He needs international rugby at some point here. He does. He's been good enough. Yeah, totally. Yeah, he's gonna go somewhere. He's gonna get on there somewhere. So might as well call him to your team.
00:48:21
Speaker
And Gloucester kind of, they've had a lot of rest. So they're just kind of just starting to let everything off. Like, let us play. Damn it. We want to play. Right. These guys are just kind of sitting around for a good chunk of the start of the year. And now they should get a good run of games going forward. But here's so here's my thing, though, with at least with Bristol. Do you notice how that game changed when Andy Urine came in?
00:48:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Turned on Ted. Like, that tells me like, what the fuck is that? That was the only difference. It seemed to be the only difference. I mean, Whitely, it was Whitely that bad. Like, he was a ghost. I can tell you that much. Yeah. What he honked that one kick that turned out into a try. And then.
00:49:10
Speaker
He helped another like he just did so much bad shit. I think that like that lamb would have probably had to be restrained from grabbing him from the field himself. Yeah, glosser.
00:49:23
Speaker
had a hard time dealing with urine. Then we had 100 meters off the bench. Right. And he came very close to scoring about three tries. He had one and two were just loud. He had one and probably should have had two, but the least. I can't believe they got his foot out on the first one. Right. He was so damn close. And then probably should have had to try his sister later and just didn't give the ball.
00:49:46
Speaker
Yeah, there were a couple of instances of that that I kind of want to clip and then send to the guys of the team and be like, Hey, you see how they fuck up? Like we, but don't do that. Don't do this. We have been doing this. This is what it looks like when you do this. Stop doing this. Stop doing this. And this, yeah, that year in the first, the one where he had the offload to, I don't know if it was, I can't remember who it was. It was Dan Thomas. Yeah. And, and just kind of resam it, punch it out.
00:50:12
Speaker
Oh, then there was that too. Yeah, no, I was talking about the one where it was just a break on the wing and urine had like Thomas with him and then just never gave it. Yeah, that was I mean.
00:50:26
Speaker
for what Rhysammit hasn't done. Oh, he's not done shit attack. But he's learning how to frickin, you know, be busy in other ways, which is good. That means he's developing as a player. Yes, it's annoying that he doesn't attack, doesn't have a whole lot to do with the attack right now. But
00:50:46
Speaker
He's getting better. That puzzled me. Why is, why is resamit in the 14 and may is in the 11. I saw way too much of may carrying the ball and I didn't see much of it, but I saw way too much of it without a balance of resamit. Cause there was a, there was a break that that may made or that I'm sorry, the team set may up for a break. They took everybody else out so he could just run straight up the field.
00:51:11
Speaker
And he got like maybe 10 meters before he just got tackled. And it's like, if that was re-zamit, he is gone. Gah-hon. 100%. So why do you have May? Why are you doing that with May? Like, come on, Skivs. Like, yeah, as much as I, you know, these are kind of my side pieces. I don't really have a stake in this, but I didn't really like the way that Gloucester
00:51:36
Speaker
You know, Gloucester were lucky to get away with a win here. They probably were in a lot of ways.
00:51:42
Speaker
but you just don't, you know, in the end, you never just want, you'd never want to put yourself in a position where you can leave it in the hands of somebody, not you. And that is, that is what happened. And that's how it ended up. Yeah. And good for resamit for, for sticking with, as you said, you know, kind of do it, playing a role. As BOD pointed out, he can make the wrong read, but he's got so much speed to recovery. Exactly. Exactly.
00:52:07
Speaker
and that's scary because then he's still only 21 remember that folks exactly 21 so he's gonna learn and then when he he fucking learns it's gonna be bad yeah so give him another year so when he's not making missteps when he learns to the point where he makes zero missteps godspeed everybody else good luck everybody else he's didn't he almost have an intercept try to like earn my fucking that up
00:52:33
Speaker
Well, don't you remember? I know it was Valor Pavariskin with the almost 50 22 off the fucking. Just bangs it down. Just bangs it down there. Great kick. Oh, good. I mean, like, because it was perfectly weighted. I mean, it didn't go too far. And if it had gone into touch, it would have gone into touch at a reasonable spot for a 50 22. Like, just it just didn't bounce the exactly the right way. But hey, it's a rugby ball.
00:53:01
Speaker
There's a rugby ball. I never know where she goes. Right. But good for him. For the whole play was excellent. Just great, propery. Loose header-y. Yeah. Okay, yes, fine. Loose header-y, which is barely propery. Loose header-y. Prop light. Yeah.
00:53:22
Speaker
Let's go to the gardens, Northampton, Newcastle. Newcastle made a game. They did. I did not order squeaky bomb time. No, I don't think anybody at the gardens did either, but we got it. We got it, kids. It was a...
00:53:42
Speaker
It was a typical Saints attack, but unfortunately it was also a typical Saints defense these days, which is something we've been speaking about a lot with, especially with this team.
Northampton vs Newcastle Game Recap
00:53:52
Speaker
This was the Saints attack we know and love. We had lots of points being scored. Grayson looked the part, which is what they're going to need, because Bigger's going to be around for a bit. Right, and he's feeling the pressure from Finn coming up behind him now. Yeah, I agree. Slade home with a duo and truck, Matt of AC Collins.
00:54:12
Speaker
a lot of the great guys scoring for the sake of the saints. But again, right now, I'm not sure they could stop a nosebleed if they wanted to. No. This is the Tom Penny that I know and love. Where the fuck is he? I mean, maybe it does take playing against Northampton. But goddamn, where are you? I mean, these, yeah. I mean, Mateo Cornelis, I mean. I have hence nicknamed him Mighty Mouse.
00:54:41
Speaker
Ah, perfect. I mean, that run was ridiculous, too. Yes. But like, you know, Penny should be, you know, scoring two tries on the on the regs. And, you know, Mateusz, when he does that, he's not going to stop him. Yeah, he's he's kind of the right guy for for Newcastle, really. I mean, because it is like the pennies, one of those guys who's on the line, like he should be doing that like every so often. Carreras and Blamire are guys who are going to score tries now.
00:55:11
Speaker
And what cookie cookie cookie cookie. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where was that? Like, I had to like, I did, I think I was, I know I did watch the replay of this. I was like, I had to rewind because I was like, wait, who was that that they said was running that long? Oh, okay.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's my head. Yes, please do more of that because that was excellent. And maybe that's a Northampton thing, too. But I mean, maybe, you know, like it's it's just awesome for Newcastle that they worked their way back into this game. Yeah. And they scored three straight tries like it was they and they made it tight at the end. So credit like they needed this.
00:55:57
Speaker
Yes. They, they needed some sort of, and, you know, they got the wind the other week, but they still needed something to just kind of kick-strapped them and not feel like they're just going to get shit-housed every time they play. Right. Especially on the road. That's the difference. This is on the road. Yeah. That's that thing. Yeah.
00:56:15
Speaker
But getting the win at home is OK. And then, you know, now it's not is a win against Bristol. How much is that worth? We're about to find out, I suppose. Right. It's not looking as, you know, if we were to do power rankings, which I find kind of silly, we probably wouldn't be ranking that win very highly right now. Right. No, that wouldn't make that wouldn't earn you that much because Bristol, especially on the road. No, this is this is that was more of a like.
00:56:47
Speaker
I don't know. They deserve five points for that. The Newcastle do for this. So it's like, OK, flip it. That's fair. You know, I think this is a more more impressive loss than that was a win. True. That's true. Yeah, Bristol did not really show up for that one up in the team. And Newcastle rocked up for this. Like we said, there was their guys, their try score score and tries. And, you know, great to see Sam out of AC score. It's been felt like it's been a while. It's been way too long. This year, right? Yes, it was. So.
00:57:17
Speaker
Yeah. And I don't remember when last, I don't know. I know he was hot towards the end of last season, but I thought he fell off towards the very end. So I feel like it's been a spell since we've seen a scene of Sam Medivacy try. Yeah. Smiles. Good to see. Yeah. Smiles. Good to see. Over
Saracens vs Bath Match Commentary
00:57:34
Speaker
to.
00:57:36
Speaker
our home away from home the stone X hmm series 37 path 31 I didn't order squeaky bum timing no I know was somebody ordered extra hey hey you never ordered extra can you take yours cuz I don't want it man yeah waiter I didn't order this like to send this back it's just not my tables shit dude
00:57:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was a little dicey. Wesley White made it interesting. Right at the end, and we'll get into other things that aren't the end, but really good stuff from the Young Substitute, Theo Dan. Mm-hmm. Got that big tackle right at the end, and I think that was Earl, and ended up having Earl Pofer, but man, he caught, he caught
00:58:22
Speaker
That guy down very quickly. I don't remember which player it was, but he went down right in his shoes. I was like, okay, hello, sir. Thanks for coming. Good credit to him because it's not been a fun time for Theo Dan.
00:58:40
Speaker
as his start of the series career. He's gotten sparing parts and hasn't looked amazing when he's been in. So it is unfortunate, but correct him there. That was a big one to pick that up and make sure nobody went anywhere.
00:58:55
Speaker
Hey, there's no match stats. That's great. Oh, way to go. Prom. Thanks again. Oh, there's okay. There's team match stats. No player match stats. Oh, how good. Yeah. The helmets fix this shit. Prime. Come on, man. This is easy. Right. But either way, um,
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah. Gooty scoring, mail-in scoring, daily scoring, fucking Lewington scoring. Lewington scoring. You don't see that very often. Although Lewington got set up by Theo. Right. That's true. Oh. And Theo was quiet for most of the day until pretty much- Until that. Until that. It's like, okay, look, if you're going to do that, fine. You can be quiet. That's like, because that's just, you expect that like every five or six minutes.
00:59:40
Speaker
at this point from the end and it took him like 70 uh no i'm sorry 50 um but yeah it was like
00:59:49
Speaker
I feel like what happened in this match is the opposite of what happened in the Kiwi mesh, the Black Ferns, where it's like, Sari's got a little fuck around-y, and they almost got a bit find-out-y. Like, it didn't go to hand, it wasn't really happening, but they were still trying to fuck it. They were like, yeah, we got this match, so what? And then in the end they had to really tighten up, and luckily they were able to switch on.
01:00:16
Speaker
That's really that's like, just, just play D okay. We're just going to play defense. Okay. We're good. We can deal. That's when that's the core of your team. That's great. I like that they can do that at least, you know, they can knuckle down and turn it out after, after, you know, literally they can literally flip that switch, which is hard to do. That is a, that is a trick. So I'm going to take that away from, from this match. Um,
01:00:46
Speaker
you know what a lot of people wish mr jones took away from this match was ollie lawrence how could you not i don't think i don't think you picked him i don't think he did either but how could you not yeah he's
01:01:01
Speaker
That was an amazing message. And for two different clubs, he's been great. He's been consistent the whole year so far. And he's had a lot of shit to deal with that a lot of people could not deal with, you know, that aren't him. So it's it speaks a lot to his character. It speaks a lot to who he is and his processes as a player. So I see no downside in calling Lawrence. And unless you're going to just kick leather off the ball, in which case, leave him at home.
01:01:28
Speaker
And to me, he's showing a step up, too, at Bath, where I feel like he's making more confident plays. Some of the shit he pulled to get his line breaks and this defensive steal, I can't remember. I remember something like kicking around in his feet and shit, grabbing the ball, going for a fucking run, which really annoyed me.
01:01:52
Speaker
Um, why do you guys do anything? Right? Oh, one of the guy kicked it through the, through the rock too. Then that wasn't called. That was, that was, that annoyed me. Um, that was one of his line breaks. And it was just like cheeky shit that he feels confident to do. Cause he has a better, I think he has a better team around him is making him better. And it's like, what is playing for England? But the ultimate, like I'm playing with some of the best in the world. I, I'm, I can do to my game, but showing you that and you don't pick it like the fuck.
01:02:22
Speaker
Yeah. Like we said, he's better be in the mix for the World Cup, but I feel like it's going to be hard if you're not in this. If you're not in this, you need to be in the Six Nations team. Right. That's pretty much how it goes, I think. So I think maybe it's a challenge. How do you like to play mind games, right? Yeah. You're supposed to play mind games with the other team, not your guys. Yeah.
01:02:53
Speaker
Anyway, the Saracens did figure it out, even though they started to let it slip away, but they figured it out, and they kept it going, and they still got all five points, so I'm not mad. Zero percent mad.
01:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, no, I was at the end. I mean, obviously I wanted series to win, but I'm certainly happy for Beth that they played that way because this could have been just a blowout. They could just blown their doors right off. And Beth was like, no, we're going to play and we're going to we're going to put our heads down and start swinging. Agree. All right. To the stoop on Sunday. So one thing I really
01:03:38
Speaker
Like Ben and I both are big Brian O'Driscoll fans for many reasons, but him as a commentator coming in, working for BT in the premiership. The good thing about him is, is he, is it helps him be objective and he can, because he does, he has no dog in this race. He was a, he was a Lenser guy the entirety of his career. You know, yes, he might have friends on any, some of these teams. Sure.
01:04:05
Speaker
But in the end, he can be, it allows him to be very objective. Healy, lol. Right. And knowledge. Yes, it's knowledgeable and, and objective and fair. Yeah. So
Harlequins' Strategic Challenges
01:04:19
Speaker
with that, warning out that Harlequin's have a problem and it's the days they can't put 35, 40 points on the board. They can't win games and that's not good.
01:04:33
Speaker
they gotta find ways to win the ugly way. And I don't mean that I want them to play ugly rugby. It is just one of those things where you have to, we talk about the dark days of the prem when, you know, the weather shit, some of the internationals away, so on and so forth. We're approaching that. You gotta find ways to win an ugly and that is Lester's game plan to a T most of the time. And they did it. And I think this is so, I feel like this is less of,
01:05:00
Speaker
a grinded outer and more of, uh, Lester to me exposed the Quinn's attack completely because. And it kind of made sense when they when they showed the replay of, um. Was it visa or was it? Um. Fuck rafael just it must have been rafael because he was every fucking where he was.
01:05:29
Speaker
just lighting up Marcus Smith. And like Marcus Smith gets it, he has to throw the short pass.
01:05:36
Speaker
And so what they're doing is they're sacrificing a potential line break, but then they realize that that's the only option. Like Smith doesn't have time or he has to protect himself. So he can't throw the long pass because he's going to get fucking lit up anyway. So he protects himself. And then that just stifles the attack. And like they just, and then I noticed that I watched from then on, I watched how they would defend Marcus Smith. And that's exactly what they did. They just attacked the shit out of him. And that meant that he couldn't,
01:06:06
Speaker
it was hard to get it wide. And so the Quins didn't have a counterpunch to that at all. In some ways, that's his.
01:06:16
Speaker
In some ways, that's going to be his development, too. Right. This is going to be another phase of his development. Exactly. If you're an England fan, you'd rather him figure it out here right now in the league against Leicester, then figure this out. South Africa. You know, against South Africa in a World Cup final, which is less than ideal. I'm not saying that's going to be the World Cup final, but example. Right.
01:06:39
Speaker
you know, in the Six Nations or this later this next month, anything like that, you'd rather them figure it out now and more Ireland. Fuck. You know, if that's, you know, Van Der Fleer coming at him, he doesn't have like, you know, compared to Raphael, Van Der Fleer is going to get there a little earlier. So yeah, he's going to melt him. Yeah, he's going to absolutely melt him. Right. And there's no doubt about that quiz hotshot. What do you do? Yeah. So the and I believe I believe Marcus Smith to be a very,
01:07:09
Speaker
astute and very bright player and knows that he's going to have to go back and look at this part of his game and say, all right, how can I expose this? And maybe he needs to ask the Quinn's coaching staff for a little help or whatever it is. So
01:07:25
Speaker
I think this is a good thing overall for his game. Was this a good game by him? Hell no. This was not a good game by him at all. This is a brilliant game by Lester in many, many ways. Like we talked about Rafael, he was everywhere. Julian Montoya makes a huge difference to this team. Absolutely. And we talked about Jastrow when he's not being a complete fucking boob.
01:07:49
Speaker
he is a goddamn good player and he's somebody I would never want to play against. And I would definitely take on my team, provided he stays away from being a helmet and getting cards. Because if he does, then yes, he could be one of the best number eights in the league, if not the best. That he'd be up there, no doubt. So when he's playing like this,
01:08:10
Speaker
That is hard to, hard to play against, no doubt. So, and then he's got help along the way with all, with some pretty good players around him with the likes of Rafal, with the likes of Leibnoy, with the likes of Montoja. Like that helps, you know, that is, that is a huge, and then let the, it just makes life easier in general for your team. You know, when you have those guys like that, that are just ponying up and saying, I got this, you can put it on our shoulders and we'll take it. Right. Carry this thing over the line.
01:08:39
Speaker
Speaking of which, putting my own putting on my shoulders and I'll take it. Fucking Tyrone Green on Nemanita Dolo. Hilarious. Did a fly just land on me? Oh, I'm just going to go this way now. Oh, God. Oh, man, that's not fair.
01:09:08
Speaker
it was not I was like oh no that's hell but it was it was it was too fucking funny yeah um um yeah and then I prefer to remember this game for for for that for Tyrone Green than the other thing not the injury yeah that looked bad
01:09:23
Speaker
Looks unlucky for sure. I wasn't sure. They said it was nasty looking. His knee did not look like it was supposed to go that way. I was like, I don't want to go back and watch. They said, we're not going to show the replay. It was not pretty.
01:09:46
Speaker
It's not nice looking. That's not good because he's been huge for them. Any news. And he's been excellent. He's so much fun to watch. Mm hmm. So we'll miss him. Yeah, no, nothing. No news apart from he's injured. Yeah. Thank you. Captain obvious. Other than that, no, nothing. Nothing. Nothing's been published. So we'll see. Yeah, I thought they really took out Marcus Smith and Esther Hazen from the game. I mean, Northmore had his try, which was cool.
01:10:15
Speaker
and Murley was able to shoot up meters in the loose. Right. It feels like you're never going to get, you know, especially with like Danny care and Marcus, but you can only, you can only choose one and they chose to take out Marcus Smith and care had himself a pretty good day. Um, yes. And that kind of helped with the rest of it. Like I'm sure that's, you know, Kate and Murley still going to go off when at least one of them can go off. So.
01:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's helpful. And, and care has that ability to almost give the service, like it to 10, like it's off of 10. Like he can get the width on it. He can get the depth on it. And it's pretty, it's pretty stupid how, how good his service can be at times. So, right. Which is, I think they leaned on that because Marcus Smith was getting his ass beat. So it's like, all right, we got to just keep it away from you. Then you got to be the dummy runner. Like, yeah, you're going to be the decoy big guys. Yeah. Sorry. And obviously they can still get it to Marley. So yeah.
01:11:10
Speaker
didn't appreciate the Harry Potter at 13. No, I didn't get that. He was the other one where he made that break. And that's another one, you know, one of the things that clips I wanted to show, potentially, he makes that break. And again, just like urine can can easily dish, I think he had the right and the left option. And it was a clear two three on two. And all he had to do is pass left.
01:11:35
Speaker
I think if I remember correctly and, um, but he clearly had one option. He can't remember what's inside or outside, but one option that was on one option that was off. And he just chose to run it into a tackle. And it's like, you decided wrong, man. Yeah. Come on. Like finish it. Finish him. So, bro. Makes.
01:12:03
Speaker
Makes things weird from here because we have teams all we have so many teams on by and as Ben and I were just discussing before we hit the record.
League Schedule and Financial Concerns
01:12:12
Speaker
Was are technically still in the league, which might be why they haven't reject the schedule yet. I hope with their official exit, they will reject the schedule and we cannot have this nonsense of four games a weekend and we can add that fifth game and just put one team on by each weekend. And I know that it's going to take some acrobats. I get it.
01:12:33
Speaker
You have how many people that are on staff, right? You've got like everybody sitting in a room and you sort it out. Okay. Or, you know what you do? Lots of coffee. Or you say, you know what? We're shutting this down for a week while we rejig the schedule. Cause you have the, you have the, you have the liberty to do it. Right. Say look, we, these, these, you know, or find it during the international window, you could prop that up a little bit. When's the first champions cup weekend? Not until December.
01:13:01
Speaker
Ugh, that's too late. They got to get going. Yeah. Yeah. They got to get sorted out now. And right. It's got to be like face. Cause you can't have that many, you can have three teams on by every week. Nope.
01:13:15
Speaker
That's just what the fuck. Yeah. And like we were talking about with the lesser problems and they're going to have no home game until the end of next month, which is pretty awful. And right. Yeah. Just losing out on so much. And maybe, maybe you do something where like, instead of playing each team twice, you play, you know, each team twice, and then there's a select, you know, one or two. So everybody gets like, you know, you get the same amount of home, like everybody figures out their home game so that everybody gets the same amount. Cause like,
01:13:42
Speaker
There's teams that are saying that because the losing, you know, two home matches and, uh, and, uh, one home prem cup match, they're looking to lose as a club, a million dollars or pounds off of what they thought. Yeah. Fix it. Yeah. We got to, it's gotta be sorted out. You can't, we can't have clubs losing that much. Like that's a huge loss. Yeah. And that's something they can do about, but.
01:14:04
Speaker
We know they're good at sitting on their hands. So yeah, unfortunately I'm, I'm prepared for the worst and that they won't do it. They just won't do anything because that's easy. That's the easiest thing to do. Nothing. Yeah. Do nothing and let, let everybody else suffer. Cause you're fucking inept. That annoys me. Yeah. That annoys me anyway. Um, yeah, that's that.
01:14:27
Speaker
Lots to talk about, lots to talk about. We will be back next week for those of you that are not coming over to the fantasy corner. We'll be obviously talking about World Cup quarterfinals, what the end of the pool stage looked like down in New Zealand.
01:14:42
Speaker
the few games we can talk about in the prem. And then, like we said earlier, we'll have chat about automations, what's going on with Go Chris team, so on, so forth, all that good stuff. If you're heading over to the fantasy corner, we're going to head over there in a second here. We'll see you there. But until then, thank you very much for hanging out with us, listening to us and bearing with us. And we appreciate you all for all the support. We'll catch you all soon. Have a good one. Later.