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Season 2- Episode 33- Holy Penalties Batman (Super Rugby Aotearoa Week 2)
35 Plays5 years ago
It's the latest stylings of your favorite American rugby dopes. Yes there was rugby this week, but boy do the teams need to start adjusting to the officials. This week we talk about player movement including the latest exodus from Australia and where they are all headed. We touch on a certain former American Football punter that decided he'd challenge the rugby universe, perhaps the wrong decision. Of course we cover week 2 of Super Rugby for the Kiwi's and discuss what might be going wrong in Hamilton and Wellington. Kick back and tune in for all this and more!
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. 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
Super Rugby and Penalties
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the fans here. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's get into it. Super rugby continues to roll on. It's still good stuff, but man, holy penalties. Holy penalties.
00:00:22
Speaker
We do and nobody learned yeah, this was not a good representation of the sport this way we went from from the Fantastic to whatever that was so yeah, whatever whatever that whatever that little pile back there was yeah That was less than satisfactory. We'll
Beer and Food Chat
00:00:39
Speaker
get to that later. Yeah, we will I'm drinking beer so oh yes Just cuz I'm out of the freejacks IPA doesn't mean doesn't mean you neglect your
00:00:52
Speaker
Yeah. What you rocking today? Um, night shift. Oh, yeah. Again, again. So make sense. I'm going with the Jack's Abbey house logger. That's good too. That's also good. Yeah. Jack's Abbey is not far from here.
00:01:09
Speaker
No, it is not. Yeah, their food is really good. Their food is really good. They have a chicken that they bring out. They put the whole thing in the skillet and bring it out to you, like a whole chicken that you put to your part. I'm like, yeah, that looks like fun. Like in one of those astronaut chickens you get at the grocery store? Something like that, yeah. So yeah, it's good food over there, though, just
Rugby Podcasts Spotlight
00:01:36
Speaker
the same.
00:01:36
Speaker
Alright, so yeah, as always we'll say thank you to our friends at the Rugby Mag and of course our buddy at the Fantasy Rugby Geek. Again, two sets of, you know, names that really like to hang out with us. And of course, our friend, have you listened to our friend Sam's new podcast? He's here for World Rugby Magazine.
00:01:59
Speaker
No. I've been, I've been bad about my podcasting. Yeah. That one's, that one's interesting. I listened to the first episode. They talked to, you talked to Tom Curry and they talked about, cause they talk about a match, um, that this person, either coach or played in. And they talk about, um, they talk about the court filing against Australia with him. Hmm.
00:02:20
Speaker
So I was like, this is actually quite fascinating. So yeah, if you need, if you're in need of a podcast and you like those types of things, go, uh, go check that out. He's, um, he's got some good stuff going on with that. Um, but yeah, so there's that. And then, uh, we'll say it, we say it once we'll say it again.
Black Lives Matter in Sports
00:02:38
Speaker
We are all about black lives matter. Um, if you watched the premier league last week, they seem to have gotten it right in terms of their support. They are,
00:02:46
Speaker
They have the name the names the name black the words black lives matter on the back instead of their names That's right. They have a patch on there obviously and they've been taking a knee before kickoff every moment they are they're in this together there's no question about that and That's what it's gonna take to make a difference here. So so I noticed something interesting about that mm-hmm to because they're still They're still idiots
00:03:11
Speaker
on that side of the pond who complain about it and it being disrespectful. And I find it funny because... What is it disrespecting over there even? Right. Because over here, the whole, the kneeling was during the national anthem. And so our idiots... We're the only country that does that, by the way. Right. Which is something else... That's another thing to dive into. We won't get into that. Yeah.
00:03:36
Speaker
So they're like, oh, it's disrespectful to the flag and the song, even though it's disrespectful to neither, and not the point. At least they have that fig leaf, that little tiny fig leaf. Not that they need anything bigger, but the little fig leaf to say, yes, we're opposed to the
Kneeling Protests: US vs UK
00:03:53
Speaker
disrespect to our flag and our song, and fine.
00:04:00
Speaker
over there, they're like, it's disrespectful to what? The game's not on. I'm failing to see what, like they're not, they're not, they don't even start the time. They don't even start the time, they start the time afterwards. What are you talking about? They're disrespecting nothing. They're honoring the, the, the, not, and you can't even say they're honoring sacrifices. They're not, they're, they're honoring the, um,
00:04:25
Speaker
those that are putting oppression, the people who lived their lives and in some cases died, many cases died under
00:04:33
Speaker
you know, oppressive attitudes towards them for the color of their skin. That's absolutely fine to kneel. And there's nothing disrespectful at all. No, to say, yeah, no, I totally agree. There's a problem there. And I don't know what the hell people are seeing. You know, if you need something very interesting to
00:04:56
Speaker
Listen to Emmanuel Ocho that's been doing the uncomfortable conversations. He's been really uncomfortable conversations with a black man. Yeah. Oh yeah. He did. He had McConaughey and the Gaines family, the last couple. God, I don't even know what the show is that they're on. They're on HGTV, but they also have a
00:05:20
Speaker
Home brand or whatever it is. So yeah, that's the last two and it's very good stuff to listen to and it's only 12 minutes. So if you need something to listen to, just start to understand what's going on with this. That'll help right there. You wanna be a good ally, that's a good place to start right there.
00:05:38
Speaker
There's a lot of resources, but that's just one that i'm yeah They're making it they're making it accessible to you. There's no longer an excuse It's not like oh, you don't you don't even have to go out of your way to To understand better than you do now. Nope. You actually have to go out of your way to not understand Which makes you kind of probably probably an asshole Yeah, just just be clear probably Mm-hmm. So there's so yeah, there's
Chris Robshaw to Major League Rugby
00:06:01
Speaker
that um
00:06:02
Speaker
Let's talk a little player movement. We had a few bodies changing shape here. And Chris Robshaw, we originally thought might be coming to MLR and we were right, but we thought he was gonna go to New York. And in fact, he's going way over to the West Coast to San Diego. That's gonna be a change of culture right there for him. His bleach tips will fit right in though. That's also true. He's gonna look like a native. But yeah, it's good for them, good for him. Again, more,
00:06:32
Speaker
more viability and a little bit more respectability for the league itself. Yeah, I mean, former England captain. Yeah, not bad. Usually isn't bad. You know, we all know that.
00:06:44
Speaker
Rob Shaw is not my favorite person, but I know that he will elevate the league a little bit. And it's perfect for him because he's really not... He's not... Unfortunate to say. He's not really an impact player in the Premiership anymore. He's decent. He's not a liability, but he's not... Yeah, he has those intangibles. That's probably the best part of him.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, but his game's gonna translate well to an MLR. It's gonna make him look better, but it's also gonna make the league better, too. Excellent. Yeah, while we're on Legion, I had a thought. Rob Hoadley just left. There is a team that you and I both like that maybe has a player or two that used to play in San Diego.
00:07:35
Speaker
And maybe they want to pick up the phone and call him because they were on their way to a final. Yeah. And they already went to one last year. Just saying, if he's interested, I mean, you can't tell me that he wouldn't want to work with tag at the minimum again. Right. So I, I,
00:07:54
Speaker
I wonder what would happen if we did that. Just an idea. I'm just going to throw that out there. If only we knew somebody who knew somebody. A couple of talks to the grapevine. I'm not out to start shit too much, but just throw that idea out there. We both played with people and yeah.
00:08:19
Speaker
We got ideas. Uh-huh. So yeah, there's that. Rob Shaw moving to Legion.
Will Skelton's Move and Australia's Struggles
00:08:25
Speaker
Will Skelton's going to head over to La Rochelle from Liz Harrison's to know what he's surprised. Right. Yeah, so that doesn't shock anybody, I don't think. It's one of the worst kept secrets in the league at this point. The only thing that's shocking to me is that he's staying in the northern hemisphere.
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah. I'm surprised yet again that Australia simply cannot draw Will Skelton home. Well, I should say I'm not surprised. I'm just disappointed. There you go. Maybe that's the word.
00:08:59
Speaker
If they had their heads anywhere but up their asses, he would have been there for the World Cup and he'd be there for the Super Rugby Australia Day competition. There's a little problem with that one.
00:09:14
Speaker
right now too. Long, long, long list. Um, speaking of Australians, uh, currently Beal heading back north. He is not going to play super rugby odds and he's going to head back north to play, um, to play for Rossing. Just ditching it outright and just, I mean, obviously he doesn't feel like it's worth his time, which does tell me a little bit about his character, but at the same time, I do understand. Um, he's been through a lot.
00:09:42
Speaker
But if there's one player and I have talked a decent amount of shit about him, but not in any way disrespectful, just that he's being used wrong in some ways.
00:09:58
Speaker
So I have nothing but respect for Curly Beale and what he's, I mean, he's had to manage through the Izzy Folau stuff. That alone is like, okay, God bless you. You had to manage through that and all the other stuff that Australia has been going through there. There are curial ups and downs and all arounds. It's just, I don't, but of course he's going to play in France, which,
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. Just as much of a dumpster fire. Yeah, it can be sometimes. I mean, he's going to wrestling who are, you know, they're Jones and for a champions cup. So we'll see how that, we'll see how that gets solved. He could definitely help with that. So yeah. Um, I don't have it on the docket, but while, but while I think of it, um, there's a, there's, there was talk of a, we've been talking about the world, but we counter a couple of weeks now. Um, it seems like it's that there's been a lack of representation. Um,
00:10:56
Speaker
for the players in these talks. I guess it's just been everybody in charge, but not a lot of player involvement with it, which sounds to me like they're still missing the mark. They had this problem 15 years ago. They'll have this problem clearly. Yeah. I think they're trying to do right by the players, but that kind of,
00:11:23
Speaker
goes against the idea of the player involvement. Like if the players aren't involved, how much are you really caring for their needs? That's the whole point is the seat at the table is either people who are at the table or who you respect and who will, they'll get theirs. And the people who aren't at the table just won't. Yeah, I mean, I guess it sounds like,
00:11:45
Speaker
From what I know and listening to things and thinking back, Haskell was a big guy that wanted to be involved with these decisions. And we know James Haskell does not know how to shut the hell up when required. So he made noise and it's good. I mean, at the very least, it was good that he made the noise he did because if he didn't, I'm not sure there would be any player representation ever.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. In some of these talks. So, you know, yeah. He's not the guy to be doing the representing, but he's the guy to speak up. What the hell, man? He's the guy who'll speak up. And that's the important thing. I think that's pretty much everywhere in life right now. It's important to speak up. So you need somebody to do it. And Haskell
00:12:35
Speaker
won't not do it. So unless somebody else steps in, it's going to be him. And that's just how it was. Now, obviously he has never rolled anymore, but you know. And that's ultimately the point. Like if you choose to stay silent and not speak up, it's going to be the Haskell's and you know, whether you, however you feel about them, I know there's, there's a couple of people out there who might not
00:12:58
Speaker
you know, be sending him Christmas cards. But at the same time, likely not. Like, those are kind of the same people who had chances to speak up and chose not to. So just like, you know, you had to have a Sam Burgess come up and come out and say, look, the Fords are assholes. Yeah. And everybody's like, yeah, we know, but we never really said it before. Nobody ever really spoke those words, at least on the platform he has. Right. He means, you know, there were there were the middles like you and I that are just like, yeah, they're dicks.
00:13:25
Speaker
Maybe this is unconfirmed knowledge, but I think it's pretty obvious at the same time sure enough. Yeah, it was it was a their dicks And so it takes a Haskell to also say hey, you know what you guys really need to do more about player welfare I'm also seeing a lot more about the island side. So we already we had a Eddie go out and throw his shade at that that New Zealand for for using
00:13:52
Speaker
The islands is they're recruited. It's their Academy systems but I'm seeing more things about like The England Fiji match a proposed England Fiji match that I'm talking about the disparity in pay about how the the UK players are really England players would be pulling down like 25 25 pounds a week for a map for the match and if the Fijian would make maybe a hundred pounds
Player Pay Inequality
00:14:22
Speaker
And then that's before travel expenses and other shit like that. So they're like, yeah, so then essentially the Fijians are paying to play this match. And the England players are raking in thousands of cash. And it's like, there's got to be that right there. There's your inequality. You want to see inequality? There it is. So that's something that needs to be addressed. And, and I,
00:14:46
Speaker
I mean, you know, if somebody had a brain and maybe half a heart, you could give, you can't tell me that frigging England need that gate. They can keep like the Australia gate and the New Zealand gate. Maybe they could give the Fijians that gate that day. Be like, all right, these guys entertain us so much throughout the year and just throughout history at this point of rugby. Just so many great entertaining players.
00:15:13
Speaker
And to just to not, just to, you know, reward them for the work they do. And God, they're so selfless. And you wonder why, but you wonder why they jumped ship for England, France, New Zealand. Cause yeah, they don't get help. And that that's world rugby's fault. That is world rugby's fault for sure. And yes, the English, the Kiwis, the Australians, whoever else, they're all complicit in this, but bottom line, that is world rugby's fault. Yeah.
00:15:41
Speaker
And we are to an extent because we have a couple of guys that are from the islands like big old Manoa. He was not American born. He was raised in San Francisco to American parents, but yeah, he was not American born. So yeah.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's a big problem that needs to be addressed. It's one of those many issues that needs to be solved, which needs to have player representation. And I think it needs to have player representation from all corners too. I don't think you can just send a Premiership player. I don't think you can just send a top 14 player or a super rugby player. You need to send them from all corners and all tiers.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, period and otherwise otherwise some way is definitely I mean Unfortunately, it's never gonna be equal but shit this summer did I get that's gonna get pooped on if you don't do it that way and I think it might even be time for the Lions to step up and and do a tour I think I think
00:16:37
Speaker
I think if they wanted to do, I think, here's the thing, they could continue their same tours, but I think, and this was an idea that was floated for the upcoming one, and I think would have been a great idea, was having Namibia be
Player Representation in Rugby
00:16:49
Speaker
one of the warmup matches for the Lions. And I think that would have been great. Host them in one of the South African venues. Perfect.
00:16:56
Speaker
But, you know, you can't, the South African fans would totally cheer on the Nivibians. They would absolutely get behind that. And it would be a great atmosphere for these guys, those players in particular, to play against high-end guys. Again, so yeah, you should do that. And, you know, when you go to Australia and New Zealand, yeah, you should definitely call up one of the island countries or maybe do the Pacific Warriors again and play against them and do something like that. Shit, go to Suva.
00:17:27
Speaker
People seem to be okay with playing super rugby matches there. Why not play a frickin' match like this there? It'll do wonders for that area. It'll do wonders for that area, especially the sport in general, but just, you know, overall goodness, yeah. Just economics, big time. So, yeah, there's a lot of things that people could, there's a lot of ways people could step up, should they desire to. It's just a matter you have to have the right people talking to the right people.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, so that's what that is. Oh, yeah. Speaking of people talking, talking.
Marquette King's Rugby Claims
00:18:01
Speaker
Marquette King, those of you that are new to this man's planet, he's the NFL punter now. Former NFL punter. That's true. When did he retire two years ago?
00:18:11
Speaker
He also didn't quite retire. He just didn't get signed. I do want to tell the full story here and show Marquette's side. He does like to talk. This whole thing was not completely serious. There's a little bit of tongue in cheek about him.
00:18:33
Speaker
he basically got run out of the NFL because he He wanted to be himself and just talk and he wasn't detrimental and he he danced after he punted like he made a really good kick or something and and Everybody's like always making it about himself like there's a lot of in the NFL in the NFL and football about people making it about themselves when they shouldn't and how that gets determined whether you should or shouldn't and
00:18:59
Speaker
Let's not. Yes, not worth it. Yeah. And anyway, so he's a guy who has his own little flair. He's kind of a James Haskell. There you go.
00:19:18
Speaker
It's a little bit easier when you're white to get away with it. No disrespect to James Haskell. Marquette King is a black man who had basically his career suffered and a fantastic athlete is a punter. Everybody's like, oh, he's just a punter. No, the guy could run. He could tackle.
00:19:36
Speaker
I'm not sure you could tackle.
Rugby vs NFL Athletes
00:19:37
Speaker
He's a punter. He could play. He's a big dude, though. He's like... Yeah, but technique in NFL and technique... The fact that he's a punter and the fact that the technique in the NFL are two different things compared to rugby makes me think that he would have a problem tackling. Oh, yeah. I'm talking about just for the NFL standards, not for rugby, so... Fair enough. Fair enough. For the NFL standards, he could play if he wanted to or if they would let him, but instead, he had to work his way as a punter. So, there. Scene set.
00:20:06
Speaker
I'll let you take us home. Yeah, so he yeah, he decided to maybe a little this might have been under the influence of a beer muscle juice And said I if I played rugby I would dominate I was just like
00:20:26
Speaker
And pretty much everybody said no. And that's funny because like when you're- The people that said that he would, I was like, you have either never watched rugby or you are like this guy's best friend. I don't know which one, but yeah, definitely one of those two. Even the football people, most football people were like, dude, you're a punter.
00:20:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I have a news flash for you, Marquette King. You don't get to just make one kick and walk off the field. You have to play for an extended period of time. Even if you're a sub, you're probably playing for at least 20 minutes. So, and you don't get a break every five seconds. Right. So, I got news for you.
00:21:02
Speaker
That's basically the repeat of his replies there, like all of that. Like, wait, you kick the ball, you don't get to step off the field. You got to actually have to be warned now. You have to run. You actually might have to catch the ball. So yeah, but it was interesting to see because usually you'd have
00:21:23
Speaker
The debate has raged for years. I even heard it for the first couple of times when I was in college and participated in it, but now it's no question to me.
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah, just for all the things you said. It's like, no, you certainly wouldn't dominate. And I don't think he meant it exactly like that. After a couple years of training and understanding what he's supposed to do, he probably could be a pretty serviceable player. He would be a serviceable player. Dominate. But can you pass the ball? Can you catch the ball? Yeah, those are all unknowns right now.
00:21:57
Speaker
You know, he can, yes, he can, he can do some of the physical things like the, the running, the kicking, the, and he can catch a little bit, but that's not, you know, and he can, can hit a little bit, but not a little bit, but you have to wrap and not shoulder charge and not high tackle and all that crap. So, right.
00:22:17
Speaker
So just interesting, I thought rugby was well represented in that and represented itself well throughout the weekend. You did have the stones to put up a poll about which sport has a better overall athlete and a rugby one in the landslide between the rugby and football.
00:22:33
Speaker
I was like, yep, I mean, especially if you look at like your 12s and your back rows, like your midfielders and your back rowers especially, but really, I think there's the way the game is going. You could speak to that for most of the positions on the field. I don't think there's too many non-athletes at a level that we're watching like Super Rugby that he'd be trying to shoot for, that there aren't really good athletes on the field. So put it this way, just today, Pietro Stuplisie.
00:23:03
Speaker
That was hilarious. I saw that. A tweet saying, if I played in the NFL, I would dominate. And everybody's like, you know what? He probably would. I mean, depending on what he wanted to do, if he wants to be a lineman or if he wants to be like a fullback or a defender or whatever he wants to do. I'd have, yeah, put him, put him on the D line. Oh yeah. There you go. Oh yeah. Good luck. Good luck blocking that. He's so low to the ground. Like he's a bowling ball. Yeah. Like a house on top of it. So yeah. Right.
00:23:29
Speaker
Pat, just go get the quarterback. That's such an easy job compared to what he's used to having to do as a prop. Are you kidding me?
00:23:39
Speaker
Like, so it's like, yeah, go get the, okay, I can do that. Like, that's, that's so easy. And so if paper specialized, like you take away all the other stuff he could do and just have him do one thing, like that's, that's what football is these days. And it's like, yeah, that's so specialized. Yeah. Right. And it didn't even used to be that way back in the day. Right. Like it's gotten worse in the last, you know, 20, 30 years. I know this, they, they, they, they hold roster spots for like one role on one certain down and like,
00:24:09
Speaker
I mean, that's another level of like, one, like, yes, that specialization is great and you can have a guy make a career out of it. But like, I don't see that. Like, yeah, that just tells me that the brain power is going down kind of. It's lazy coaching. That's, that's really the problem. Coaches want to make it think that they're making like,
00:24:29
Speaker
To me, that's the difference in sports, too, as far as coaching goes. NFL coaches, they have like, this is my system. And you do this within my system. And that's it. And it's like.
00:24:40
Speaker
You know, I saw a comment about somebody like a new offensive coordinator coming into some team. I think it might've been the Eagles and having them like, oh, he's going to add some wrinkles. And it's like, no, he's not adding wrinkles. He's just coaching them a little bit differently. And it's the same stuff. And it just means that your old offensive coordinator was limiting the playbook. And the new offensive coordinator is opening something up that, that
00:25:04
Speaker
he just wasn't doing. Yeah. And he'll limit the playbooks in some ways too. Right. And that's why there's only one good coach in the NFL because he's the one guy who says, you know what, I'm not going to do everything perfectly, but I'm going to do everything.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah, and and it's like, okay, so you know, you don't he doesn't run the you know Yeah, he doesn't have a system that he runs like he like Especially I mean because he's been he's obviously coached many good defenses at this point What is the Patriots system? The Patriots system is whatever works for that day. That's what it is And that's what they're very good at
00:25:40
Speaker
And it's not as though like, I think that's what people don't understand is that it's not that they install a defense for that game and say, look, we've been doing all this one way. Now we're going to do it something different. It's no, it's okay. Here's what we do as a defense and here's how we're going to do it this week and how we're going to do it next week. And the formations, alignments, all that stuff. Yeah. They practice them from the start and they expect you to, to, to be able to,
00:26:05
Speaker
I mean, seriously, depending on how you line up, like a 3-4 looks exactly like a 4-3. Just a matter of how you line it. I don't know what they usually run as far as the defense, but they either run, I think they run a 3-4, but look at what they did against the Rams in Super Bowl the other year. They put two more guys up front. They literally had a five-man front that
00:26:28
Speaker
the Rams had never seen before. And I was just like, why is this mind boggling to you? Have you never tried to go against this defense? If you have talked early in the backfield, I'm definitely doing something like that anyway. Were you not prepared for this? Good Lord. And that's actually even a better situation. What's the tangible difference between a 3-4 and a 5-2?
00:26:50
Speaker
It's the two guys on the edge, like basically instead of your front three, instead of, you know, having like one big nose tackle and two larger defensive ends, you have three defensive tackles and then two defensive ends on the outside. And it's like, that's, it's no different and everybody should be able to line up in any position anyway. Yeah. And they told you, and they, and they figured it out right. Like once they, once they put that in and they were, and they say, yeah,
00:27:13
Speaker
That's definitely the difference. It's so specialized with the exception of one person that does it very good. There's a reason he has a lot of championship rings. He's not too bad. So yeah, that's definitely the difference in that. To be able to do everything is,
00:27:29
Speaker
is something that you have to be able to do in rugby. You can't just have this one specific role. Yes, you can make the argument, well, what about halfbacks or hookers? Yes and no, but the modern day hooker can't just be a thrower and roll around the pitch for 80 minutes because he's going to get pulled at halftime if he's doing that crap. So yeah, it's definitely come to more of a you need to be very well rounded. It doesn't matter your position. I mean, look at,
00:27:57
Speaker
the age of the kids that I coach. I need 15 kids that can play. I don't care about that. I need them that can play. I will figure out where to put you afterwards. Okay? Okay. There was another, oh, so here's a good question for you.
Cloning Rugby Players for All Positions
00:28:11
Speaker
Cause I don't know that you saw this tweet over the weekend too. The question was asked, and I don't remember who asked it. If you could have one player duplicated 15 times, so he would play one through 15. Oh, wow.
00:28:27
Speaker
Who would you choose from, from, from, from world rugby? And, and that would be the caveat was no Jonah Loma because it's not fair. Yeah, that's definitely not fair. You're right. Oh my goodness. Who, who could we do? I already, I mean, I had my answer, but, uh, yeah, I haven't had, I haven't had a chance to think about this. Right. You haven't had a chance to think about it. Uh, wow. I don't, and I don't have a ready. As soon as I thought of my guy, I was like, no, he's my answer. I don't, I don't need to continue thinking. So I could have missed somebody, but, um,
00:28:57
Speaker
You know, I love Earlba, but he's just not quite big enough to play prop. But everything else, you'd be fine. That's the only thing, that's the only person I can come up with that's so dynamic and so physical and also so skillful. But I'm sure there's way more than that. I went with Michael Hooper.
00:29:15
Speaker
That's a good one. That's definitely a good one. Cause the guy just doesn't stop. Like he's got a motor. That's true. He, he, he'd suck in the scrums. That would be a problem.
00:29:29
Speaker
But his line-out would be decent enough. Decent enough. He can jump, he can lift a little bit. Say he's a strong enough guy to lift. Yeah, definitely. And then just in the loose, you're not breaking any tackles at all. No, he's gonna put you down. Yeah, maybe that's the way to go. Make sure you got somebody that can tackle.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah. And that's the end. And he can run. So it's like, that's kind of where I went. I said, can he tackle? Yes. And he's active all game. And he's handy with the ball. Not overly special, but at the same time, I'd take him. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So there we are. Yeah, that's a good answer. I like that answer. Yeah, I think the key with that is, do you have 15 guys that can tackle?
00:30:18
Speaker
And that's, that's the key. So there you go. Yeah, I like that idea. Yeah, go with it. And I mean, obviously a flanker is an easy answer. Durr. Um, yeah, that was, I was like, okay, flankers, like I just went for my, my current favorite fliker in, in world rugby. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. I like it.
00:30:35
Speaker
Alright, let's go let's go to actual action that happened this past weekend.
Blues vs Chiefs Analysis
00:30:40
Speaker
Yes, I wouldn't make the reaction this weekend because yeah, there was there were games Blues Chiefs and Blues that were the first up they I mean
00:30:50
Speaker
Damn, Bowden Barrett's made a difference. Although he wasn't super noticeable this game, I will say that. No, but he won the Battle of the Fifteens. He definitely did. Yeah, Damien Mack had a bad game. He did. He did not have a good game, so... Yeah. And then, to me, the Blues won the Battle of the Fifteens, and the Battle of the Eightes. No question, hands down. Yeah, man. Um, Hoskinson Tutu. Is he the next All Blacks 8?
00:31:18
Speaker
I mean, like if he's going to be with, with them instead of, I don't know where he's, he's. He's from Fiji, I think. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if, uh, if he would, uh, right. I would, I would prefer he stay with, you know, with, with his, his home Island, but, um, same. Otherwise, yes. Filling that. Yes. He's got it. I mean, to say that they don't have options is a lie too. So it's like,
00:31:44
Speaker
You know, they're pretty good. They might put already at eight as well. No that which is definitely an option, but we'll get already in a little bit Yeah, that's also a possibility as well but that was a heck of a back row that the Blues put together there with probably him and Kiryuani I was like Kiryuani at six sounds terrifying It's a large human and he was He was he's definitely earned his starting spot. Yeah, they had some injuries that you know
00:32:14
Speaker
Led to him coming up the head led to him getting start. But yeah, he was very good and Shit, it's really hard to me. Are you against your carrier? Why are you playing somewhere in that back row? He needs to right? You know, you can't keep him up You can't keep him out like if you try and keep him out what the hell are you doing? You're not doing your team a service by trying to keep him out So yeah other another question I had for you. Mm-hmm and this will carry over into the second match as well, but
00:32:42
Speaker
When when did super rugby pull in a premiership team? I know the the not the the droppies the well the droppies first off Yes, everyone's got a case of the droppies. Everyone's got a case of the droppies, but at the same time the penalty kicks
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah, I know. It's a lot of politics. Why are we just kicking panel? Like, this isn't New Zealand rugby. No. It's flat out not what I expect. When I see super rugby, I don't see teams saying, oh, let's just take the three. No big deal. Like, no, you guys, this is the go for the try league. They are. And I think this comes back to, and even they didn't do it. There's only probably one team that's got their line up really clicking, and that's the blues. Everybody else is kind of, poof.
00:33:27
Speaker
So I think people are starting to figure it out and being like, we need to go for points because our lineup's garbage. Yeah, because I don't think the Chiefs look especially good. I will say this, the Blues look like they're paying the ass to have a lineup against right now as well. So that's probably not necessarily doing the Chiefs a whole lot of justice. But the Blues do look like they're causing a lot of trouble for teams in the lineup.
00:33:50
Speaker
But I guess to me, it wasn't so much the first two penalty kicks, but the last two. At some point, again, the other team has scored tries. You can't bring penalty kicks only to a try fight. Nope. And so at some point, you're down. Let me make sure I have the timing right. But yeah, it was like,
00:34:19
Speaker
Seven six so yeah, so it was nine ten at nine to ten at halftime but you know the You know once you have six points if you're the Chiefs at some point now you just got to say look well we're gonna go for the For the try and even if you're you're some of them were close to the goal line just call a scrum You know if you're you're at around the 22 and you don't trust your lineup you're as you know if you make a line break on a scrum from at or around the 22 and
00:34:49
Speaker
You're, you're probably scoring a try. You're probably over. Yeah. Or at least now you're, you're down and you're like on the five meter line and you're, you're getting your picking goes and things like that. Um, but you get into your goal line attack, like that sets it up. Don't, you know, and it uses time and all that. Um, just really disappointing to, to see kind of the, um,
Chiefs' Struggles in Super Rugby
00:35:11
Speaker
the lack of go for it and really try to change the game and control the game. Yep. Yeah. Um, so I'm again to this with the next match too, but, um, what's,
00:35:23
Speaker
What and we know it's gone well with the with the blues the Lions fantastic Patrick to equal to is playing incredibly Bowden Barrett's making a huge difference. Sam knock is no longer the garbage It has not been playing like his like he used to at least not last year. Yeah, pretty pretty well You Rico you want he at 13 has been I mean, I think for them Oh, they did they took the Christie went on. Sorry. I was gonna say I didn't think they even put on uh, they did put you on yeah, yeah, I
00:35:50
Speaker
Marta Lea has been a revelation. How strong is he? For a wing, that boy is strong. I mean, he didn't have to be super strong to score his try, but he was in jeopardy of getting knocked out at other points and just said, no, I am not getting knocked out. So he is obviously a very strong man to be playing out there on the wing.
00:36:14
Speaker
What is going on with the Chiefs? I think that's the question to be asked because it's not like they lack quality. We know that's not the case. No, there was, again, a little bit of a turtle action in how they approach the game and going for points rather than really trying to go for the jugular and control the game.
00:36:39
Speaker
You know, Alamalo hasn't been, uh, hadn't been play until late in the match. Um, and not that what I knew in Stevenson can't, can't hold it down themselves, but, uh, he's, I think he's still their best wing. Um, and, and so that I'm looking at that two big positions here, especially this past match, um,
00:37:03
Speaker
Soakula, he's had a rough go of it the last two matches. Last match was terrible, obviously. Not acquitting himself well. I mean, no Sam Kane in the last couple matches. Is that the answer or is that just like part of the answer? The thing is Soakula was pretty damn good in the earlier Super Rugby matches. I thought, you know, he was kind of a rising star. Like, there's nothing that says he couldn't have put in the shift
00:37:34
Speaker
that that huskin situtu put in he just isn't doing it so like he can do all of those things or has done all those things at times but you know situtu put it all together in one match looking excellent and and he'll continue to do well because he he has been
00:37:52
Speaker
but it's so cool, it's kind of shown flashes of it, but it's just not becoming consistent enough. And he does have a tendency to make boneheaded decisions. And it's unfortunate because he wears the scrum cap, so it's very easy to pick him up. He makes the same kind of like, what do I do face? And it's like the scrum cap makes it look that much worse. And it's like, dude, we all saw what you did. We saw, you know what you did. I don't want to see that face.
00:38:20
Speaker
And then, honestly, Quinn Tupiah was a massive liability this match. And, yeah, it's not fair because he's going up against Rico Ioannoni and Rico didn't, to be fair, Rico didn't really do anything. Too impressive, I should say. And I say that for him. It's a big standard right there to me. Right. I agree. But Tupiah, like,
00:38:48
Speaker
So maybe he helped shut him down a little bit, but at what cost? And the penalties, he made a couple stupid, real stupid penalties. I think he even blocked for Cruden at one point when Cruden was going to take a kick.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's I mean, I was looking at two pie. I was like, I wonder if he's part of the problem I mean, he's only played six super rugby matches. So There is a little bit to yeah For now he's he's a huge liability. Yeah, I'm not sure where Nankaville is either. I assume he's banged up as well That would have been that would be a good answer That at the very least and the other thing is I will say and it's not that he's been bad But he's just not the same electric that way it used to Brad Weber
00:39:34
Speaker
just not the same electric play that we are used to him seeing. He's not getting loose. He's not getting into those. And that's partly because they haven't found a ton of line breaks. Yeah. So that's partly the problem. But he's also not. He would also create plays as much as support.
00:39:54
Speaker
I'd call him pedestrian. It's not like he's doing great. It's not like he's doing terrible. He's just, he's doing a very average job and that they need more than that in this competition.
00:40:08
Speaker
And not that they need much more than that. It's just he's not providing a spark. And it doesn't seem like many people are providing a spark to that attack right now. Nope, so yeah. Chiefs get doubled up, 12-24, over the Blues. Blues get their first win in a long time.
00:40:28
Speaker
at, uh, at Hamilton. So it was a 2001 or something like that. Something to the, if I remember right. Yeah. Um, so we'll see, we'll see how this goes. Um, chief Scott, I mean, yes, there's not a ton of games, but there is a little bit of time to write the ship.
Hurricanes vs Crusaders Recap
00:40:43
Speaker
So, um, you know, not too late yet, but definitely got to turn around now.
00:40:46
Speaker
yeah and then speaking of not great performances 25 39 hurricanes and crusaders penalties so many penalties and it both ways yeah a couple of many bonehead ones by the by the hurricanes I will say
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah, you can bitch about penalties left and right. There was one that I was very unimpressed with and that would be the Sam Whitelock dive. And that was, oh, I mean, the fact that Burn and Pickle bought that, I was almost like,
00:41:20
Speaker
I did not know we were going back to NBA soccer rules here. And that changed things in some way. And I'm not to say this is the turning point, but the Discord trial that led them to that, that obviously gave them the eventual lead or gave them the win. Van Wyck definitely gave away the game in the end with his boneheaded play, going to touch buddy. Don't just chuck that around near your own goal line.
00:41:48
Speaker
You know, and so that those two things being the big gaudy obvious things that were that went wrong, but really in the end, you know Jackson Basham did all he could but Jackson Garden Basham did all he could but yeah I thought he played a good game. Yeah, you did have a good game. You have a good game. I'm just a lot of kicks though again Yeah, the same but the same and that's even so it's one thing when you're
00:42:14
Speaker
And it is two different games. It's when it's Chiefs Blues. But when you're going up against the Crusaders, you need points because you know at some point they're going to find something and put it together.
00:42:32
Speaker
Although they'd already scored, what, they scored, Crusader scored two tries in the first half. So, and it's like, you know, five penalty kicks. I mean, I realized he kept him within touching distance, but there was a point they need to go for the jugular and they couldn't. And that was the problem. The problem is definitely their lineup right now. And if that's not the obvious glaring,
00:42:56
Speaker
I don't know what is because holy crap. They just couldn't they got a little bit better with it And they even managed to muddy up some of the Crusaders loud, but man, you know, this is well enough wasn't working all that well either so it was like I I don't I don't understand it that the line out should be of all of the You know set pieces and and and just little elements of the game the line out Is the most straightforward? Yeah, like it
00:43:24
Speaker
You throw, you lift, you catch, you move on, you play rugby. I don't understand why it's becoming such a problem for some of these teams. You can see the Hurricanes, the jumpers and lifters weren't doing it with a lot of conviction, which was part of the problem for sure. I'm not saying that Amua and Coles were on point with their throws, but what I'm saying is that these guys definitely need to
00:43:50
Speaker
get up there and make sure that they're going up for a reason and not being like, I think I'm going up. If you think you're going up, fricking go up, don't mess around. I will say the one bright spot for the hurricanes, Ben Lamb, that man is a monster. You saw it in the try, obviously, or was that not, that was not an old man, but he's also obviously a beast too. Yeah, he's also obviously a beast too. Tossed around more longer there.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah, and set up on move. Yeah, he definitely noped on Mwango. He's just like, oh, that's that's cute. Let's yeah, let's just get you away Two more guys collapse on him and he's able to just set up on mode for an easy try So that was that was pretty I will see you have to admit that but yeah Ben Lam's just like There was a point where he was just putting his head down and saying screw this. I'm bigger than most of you here I'm gonna see what I can do just by
00:44:47
Speaker
pinning my ears back and let's see if you can get me to the ground. Um, and it worked to a certain extent. Sometimes, uh, just as a, as a team, it felt like the hurricanes were trying to play a little bit too much hot potato. Um, especially, you know, neither on touch line, neither on goal line, just throwing the ball around and obviously they paid for it with them, but given the given away, uh, the more on the try. So that was not, not the best stuff we've seen from them. Again, Jordy Barrett being,
00:45:17
Speaker
you know, absent is a glaring thing. They were gonna maybe let them roll out there, but with the buy this week, from what I understand, they were like, you know, we can give them two weeks if we don't play them this week. So they'll be ready to go when they come back. And I believe they play the Chiefs next after that. I can't remember. Hold on. I can tell you in a second. They will play the Chiefs in Hamilton after their buy. So in two weeks. So yeah, it'll be,
00:45:45
Speaker
be very interesting to see what happens. That's, that's a for sure thing. Um, yeah. And as far as what's wrong with this hurricanes team, um, their defense is a little bit suspect. I will say that their attack is just fair. Their line note is obviously the biggest glaring issue.
Hurricanes' Defensive Issues
00:46:02
Speaker
They, if you can't win your own line out, you are just going to really put yourself into a tough place as a team, especially in this competition where people make you pay for mistakes left and right. Um, so I, yeah, definitely them. Um,
00:46:15
Speaker
You know, and I'm not, we haven't talked to anything at all about the procedures. They've obviously, they ever said some good, like George Bridge's line for his try was awesome. That was, I mean, you picked on a prop. He knew what he was doing. He wasn't stupid. He was just like, Oh, there's a prop. All I gotta do is step him and he's never going to have a chance. I mean, the, the seven Reese try right off the start. I mean, that, that line out to the lion brain, I mean, they were just all,
00:46:41
Speaker
They just got behind the Kane's defense and just played with it till somebody had nobody in front of them. Yep. Toss it around. Yeah. Like they're in the backyard. Yeah, that was, that was a very skillful try for sure. There was no question about it. And I think it was, was it Brinhall that put the kick through on one of them as well? Yeah, Brinhall. Yep. That was on the, um, Anark, the Braden Intertra. Yeah, that was, I mean, Anark, what a,
00:47:06
Speaker
What a beast he is too. Like that 12-13 combination might be one of the best in the league. You know, that's just so, between me and Goodhue, that is so lethal. I like Goodhue a lot at 12 there. You know how I feel about him overall. Like, yeah, I think that's a much better spot for him. Although, and I thought he did well as a distributor from there too. So I think that,
00:47:30
Speaker
suits him well so far. That might suit him well. I mean, it certainly, I think certainly suits him better than having him at 13, even though he's pretty decent at 13. He's not, it's not terrible 13, but he means, but yeah, NR is just definitely, he's come on and just been such a huge, huge piece to this team as a youngster. So it's, it's good on him and good on like the back row, like Colin Grace, that kid, that kid is just as if New Zealand doesn't have enough back rowers as kids come on nowhere. I was like, damn dude, you are, yeah.
00:48:00
Speaker
I don't know where the hell he came from, but was it him that had missed a tackle?
00:48:06
Speaker
I can't remember if it was before it was a break. Uncertain. Yeah. I don't remember. It was one of the, it was one of the corsairs back where I was. Yeah. I don't want to, yeah. I don't want it to say for sure. Cause I don't know. I can't remember. It was one of the corsairs back where I was. I like hadn't missed the tackle and it thought it was him. Um, anyway, if you didn't guess that by now, um, yeah. So I mean, I'm, again, I'm not trying to take it away from corsairs. They played, they played very well. Um, you know, Sam white lock coming back was obviously a big, big help to them.
00:48:36
Speaker
I was definitely an unexpected boost that they were like, Oh, that's a surprise. Didn't know you were gonna be here. So it's, it's good. It's
00:48:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's a little bit of both where Chris Harris did play very well, but the Harajans definitely have a ton of problems to sort out. Artisseria didn't look terrible. He didn't look great. He wasn't his normal impact. So he was, you know, shrugging guys off for tonight. That's what he does. He just didn't quite make the impact that you're used to seeing him out of it. Maybe it's not his best position. We'll find out, I suppose. I did like Vaya Fafita being in at five. That was very nice. That was nice to see that we had a little more dynamic
00:49:12
Speaker
ability in the second row. Blackwell, I thought, played pretty well. Carries were fairly good. He was always head down, nose forward. Not a great distributing lock, but you're not expected to be. He did his job, so hard to say otherwise. So yeah. The Crusaders get off to their winning start, and thankfully, the Hurricanes get a bye. Whew. They get a chance to. And that's actually, this comes at a really good time for them. For them, yeah.
00:49:39
Speaker
Definitely. Right. Chiefs could really use a buy, but... Yeah, they'll get one for a week. I think that comes for a couple of weeks there, buddy. Yeah. Fortunately for you. Yeah, they're the last team to get a buy, it looks like. And then we go back around again. All right. Yeah, so that's how it's gonna go. All right. So, Hurricanes on the buy this week. Ben and I are still sitting on a donut and neither one of us picked correctly last week either. So, still dead even here.
00:50:09
Speaker
All right, Blues and Highlanders, Highlanders, that might've been the worst thing for the Highlanders, having that win and then going on a buy. I'm not sure. Might not be a great thing, especially with the Blues team playing as well as they have, especially that forward pack, yeesh. So we shall see. Blues, they're home at Eden Park. Highlanders on the travels. What do we do? I'm going Blues.
00:50:38
Speaker
I was going to too. And I was like, I was thinking, I was actually thinking the Blues were playing the herd Crusaders this week and thinking actually pick the Blues and that, but unfortunately not. All right. Crusaders get their first song game in Christchurch. Hosting the Chiefs who are definitely a little bit lost. Hopefully they get Sam Kane back this week. Maybe a couple other bodies can trickle back into the squad and do them a favor there.
00:51:05
Speaker
I mean, they have a chance. It's not like it's out of the question. I mean, never not would be interested in look or crude. Yeah, she just didn't look Unbeatable they definitely had had openings there. So I thought the hurricanes were gonna win that match at certain points for sure
00:51:23
Speaker
especially after only, you know, hitting kicks and then being like, Ooh, if we can start putting tries instead, we actually have something here. But they obviously only got that one. Yeah, for me, it was a little too late. Their first try. Yeah, had to come earlier. Of course, same thing for the Chiefs. So it's really a question of, so this comes down to the question of can the Chiefs score a try?
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah, preferably Preferably two or three because the crusaders while they they kind of go to sleep at times It seems at least scoreboard wise. They just pack on the points Mm-hmm. Like like there's no scoring bunches. Yeah, so score 17 points in three minutes and you're looking at like what the fuck just happened like yeah, they'd hit a penalty kick and then scored on a restart and then scored on the restart like what do you want?
00:52:09
Speaker
It's like a family guy episode where Quagmire gets caught in the tussle and he gets thrown out, but he's like, I just get laid. Yeah. It's like, what the fuck just happened to me? Yeah, exactly. Exactly what happens. Yeah. So I got to go with the Crusaders, unfortunately, on this one. Yeah. I was already writing Crusaders for myself, too. Yeah.
00:52:34
Speaker
All right. Well, I guess we're not getting separation this week But maybe we'll get off get we get off the shneide at the very least we know week four something like something's something's got to give something's got to give because The chances are i'm not taking the chase and you're not taking the hurricanes. So we'll get separation there at the very least. There we go. Um, yeah And hopefully somebody's gonna owe me a dollar We'll shut up
00:53:01
Speaker
Dammit. You are going to be the one that owes me a dollar. Yes. Yeah. So we'll see how it goes. But yeah, keep your eyes peeled. Those of you in the USA, set your DVRs for ESPN2. They have been carrying it the whole time, which is awesome. So just set those DVRs so you don't have to wake your ass up at three o'clock in the morning. Or if you're like I used to be and stay up until one o'clock in the morning, you can watch the lake.
00:53:28
Speaker
that Saturday night game, but other than that. Or if you have ESPN+, you just watch it whenever you want. Also that. Also that too. Those are helpful. But either way, hopefully they do get to Australia because I will watch it at least to start. If I eventually realize this is garbage, I will not watch it. I will say this with regard to Super Rugby Australia. I watched
00:53:57
Speaker
both of the matches this past weekend with an eye towards that 50-22 rule and the other way around. And the more I see it, it's not going to be as easy, I think, as it seems. So I'm starting to lean towards, you won't notice too much of a difference.
00:54:17
Speaker
It may happen like once or twice in a match. Of course, I could be wrong. They might be just because they're not trying to go for it. Um, yeah, it might not be as big a thing. Uh, so I, I'm interested. I want to, I want to at least see it. And, and, and again, it's an exit. This is kind of mostly exhibition stuff. So let's just, this is a good place to test it. Let's, let's check it out. Give it a, give it a roll. Give the old world here. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and next week, um, I believe we'll have, uh, we'll have company.
00:54:47
Speaker
Well, company. So, uh, yeah, if you have, so if you haven't, um, you ever been hanging out with us too long, then definitely tune in next week. Cause it'll be a good one. Um, until then, until then, um, we will talk to you guys in the background. So until then we will talk to you guys next week. Thanks a lot for coming along. Have a good one.