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Season 2- Episode 36- More Steak, Less Sizzle (Super Rugby Aotearoa Round 5 & Super Rugby AU Round 2)
31 Plays5 years ago
We are back for all your entertainment needs, I mean at least to the level you can expect from us to this point. You're favorite American rugby boneheads are here discuss much of the latest goings on in the sport. We talk about the player movement we are seeing, especially from one Premiership club and the not so much movement from another. We also discuss the latest bit of buzz that the MLR has tried to create with their latest franchise announcement. Finally we have a look at what the Premiership restart could bring and of course we go over all the action in both Super Rugby competitions, including the Grump Old Prop's displeasure with the folks standing in the middle. Tune in for all this, our usual banter and I'm sure some other stuff that'll make you roll your eyes.
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
Commentary and Team Performance
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back to this fancy rugby game. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We're in, let's go. Hey, we're in the thick of it now, buddy.
00:00:16
Speaker
Who knew? Yeah, teams should be in mid-season form. Should be. We should be in mid-season form. Yeah, that is definitely not going to be the case, but that's all right. We can still somehow get around it, you know? Yeah. It was a little hot and cold for me, honestly, with the rugby, but that's all right. Yeah. Still rugby, so I don't care. Right. There's some good rugby, some not so good. No.
00:00:43
Speaker
Agreed.
Referee Influence in Rugby Matches
00:00:44
Speaker
Agreed. Agreed. Some, some, some fuckery by the referees. I gotta say I really, there were two matches that I think the, uh, the referee influenced the outcome and I'm not, you know, influenced didn't create the outcome, but definitely influenced. Yeah. Fair enough. All right. Um, let's, I'm popping my beer on about you. Yes. Let's do that. Wait.
Importance of Podcast Reviews
00:01:13
Speaker
Everybody check us out where you can find your favorite podcast apps. Review us, rate us. So the fun thing about reviewing and rating for you guys, so even if you give us a crappy review, it'll actually still put us in front of more eyes, believe it or not. So if you think somebody else is going to enjoy it, then I definitely recommend that you review and rate us.
00:01:32
Speaker
at the very least rate us, because that'll get us in front of more eyes. Fun things happen like that. Silly algorithms and all that crap that are out there. All these social needs. You can just pay off the algorithm. Yeah, you can pay it off. It's true, you can actually. I was kind of being facetious, but... You can totally pay it off. You can buy followers, dude. There's nothing more than payoff written on that. Paying off your algorithm. Simple as that.
Anticipation for Rugby Season and The Rugby Magazine
00:02:03
Speaker
So as always, we want to thank the rugby magazine. They are gearing up for some really cool stuff this coming once the restart comes back. So make sure that you're on their site and checking all the changeovers. I have so many Bristol players on my old team. I just noticed because I had been Earl and obviously he's going to be playing for Bristol this year. So they're going to be so much fun to watch. Yeah, they are. That's good. That's yeah. I can't, I mean, I can't wait for that alone. You know,
00:02:27
Speaker
All right.
00:02:33
Speaker
the teams that are already fun to watch are going to be, I mean, Saracens, we'll get to that later. Sorry. I'm getting ahead of our, we're getting close to that. Um, obviously we want to thank our good friend, Georgie. We know if you haven't listened to Georgia's podcast with us a couple of weeks ago,
00:02:48
Speaker
go ahead, hit the rewind button and listen to us have ourselves a couple of stupid laughs because it was just in good fun, right? But yeah, buy him a, buy him a coffee by that man. Yes. You know, definitely deserves it. Um, I think if it is buying him a beer, but I guess, you know, it might be a beer. You just don't probably can't say, buy him a beer. So buy him a coffee and we'll just, you can pretend otherwise. How's that? Um, uh,
Support for Black Lives Matter in Sports
00:03:15
Speaker
As always, very supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. You see it in the Premier League as they've started to restart. Every game, their players are taking their knee. Is there anything? I know we're still a month away. Is there anything with the premiership in that? I do not know. Is it a little too far removed at this point? I would say that there's some guys that are going to drive that for sure. We know Mahatoje is going to probably drive that a little bit. Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
And gens who uh, wasn't he again? So they swapped him out for uh, They swapped him out for ludlum btsport. Yeah, come on guys get your fucking act together Let's go. This is not hard. Like they don't look that close. Come on Good lord. Like that's why it's just that's why it's even like it's not even it's not even funny at this point. It's just like
00:04:08
Speaker
It's not even, yeah, you're just being completely lazy and clearly you don't care. And that's not, it's kind of, yeah, kind of proving the point of Black Lives Matter. Like you obviously don't care. You're driving this home guys, way to go, in the wrong way, in the very wrong way. So yeah, but we will continue to support it. And that'll be for basically ever until we start seeing some real change in this universe.
00:04:37
Speaker
All right. Um, let's go to play a little bit of player movement.
Manu Tuilagi's Move to Sale Sharks
00:04:40
Speaker
The big one matter to Langie is a shark officially. Well, Steve said that, uh, the diamond said that they are, uh, they're not, they're not in the market, but they could if they had the money because they had the money. Yeah. Well, they, they did. Right.
00:04:55
Speaker
They went out and got him, it's pretty well known now, the contract issues that popped up at Leicester. And it's cost them dearly here with a real big weapon that they're gonna sorely miss. They're already out Johnny May on top of that, he's gone back to Gloucester. So it's gonna be,
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah. When we talked about it, they could be, this could be a big access in, in wake of, or in preparation for what could be a relegation next. Right. Well, I mean, who's left?
00:05:27
Speaker
Uh, again, just against committed himself. I know that, um, we know Bateman's out. Yeah. I mean, they, they cut a lot of guys, you know, they have, I mean, do they have a center at this point? Um, a center that I would want? No, no. It's like, do they have any sense? Like, yeah, I guess technically they have two centers. I mean, Nodolo is probably going to end up playing center. Yeah. He's got, he might be going to outside. I wouldn't be shocked at that by any means, although,
00:05:52
Speaker
I don't know how used to playing there he is, so we'll see what that does. I have no idea, honestly.
Leicester's Challenges and Player Loss
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, they don't have much of a
00:06:02
Speaker
of an anything right now. Um, so, okay. They're already ready for relegation. I'm not sure that this team as it, as it's constructed, you know, they have to play, especially the way they're, they're going to have to play with the midweek matches. Uh, yeah, they're going to get tested. That's for sure. I mean, yeah, they're certainly in this situation with this restart.
00:06:26
Speaker
They're going to be lucky, and we'll get into that in just a little bit. Certainly with the restart, they're going to be pretty lucky to survive because there's already a relegated team decided just by the ruling from the salary cap issues.
00:06:41
Speaker
So they are kind of lucky about that. Um, we'll see if there's a master plan or if this just goes completely blow up in their face style. Well, who knows? Sale. I mean, can we talk a little, let's, let's, let's talk about the positive, the team that won in this. Um, for sure. You know, our, you know, Ron Jansven, Rensberg has been God awful for sale. Let's, that's not men's words here. He had like two good hatches.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, so you automatically just take him out and plug into a lagi Yeah, I mean I like you keep one of the James is it at center? Yeah, I like there I like it. I like that, you know, I like him Doesn't matter which one honestly or or fuck you have AJ and and do Priya you could do that you put you put
00:07:28
Speaker
Robbie at 12 and to eat 13 fuck you could you very well like that there's just a lot to a lot of body good stuff to like there maybe not so much once you get outside of that, but I Mean they do have a little bit here and there so it's not it's not my guess not knowing my wing and I'm kind of underrated him, but he's been kind of Okay. Yeah recently. He was just a stud at times last season, but mm-hmm
00:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, maybe this opens things up for him. Yeah, that's why they got to Champions Cup for this current season, although they bowed out of that fairly quickly. So and then a couple not so movement related, Saracen's getting a commitment from three big front rowers of theirs, Wollstonecroft, Jamie George, and McAvoy, all committing their future to the club. For all, and this is, I think,
00:08:28
Speaker
Even if you're a neutral, and obviously I'm tilted to one side because I'm a long-standing Saracen supporter, even if you're a neutral, you have to admire that a lot of these players are standing by the club. And for those that said, oh, it's not about the club, it's about the money.
00:08:46
Speaker
I think there's a lot getting proven wrong. Yes, they have to, they've had to shunt a few, a few bodies. No shit. They're going down to the championship. They can't hold them all. Right. You know, so yes, no kidding. That happens to every, I don't know a team that doesn't happen to you when you're on the way down, you know, and, you know, this whole restart thing, it's kind of has thrown that.
00:09:06
Speaker
Equation into
MLR Expansion to Hawaii: Challenges and Skepticism
00:09:07
Speaker
out of whack but you know, yeah, you think about Newcastle and pretty much every single one of their Not even international level but like a lot of the horrible guys Yeah, a lot of the notable guys just left and for the year and then that's fine that that's that's expected that's expected But so it's just that it's notable that the notable Saracens players are saying yeah, I'm fine. I'm sticking by my club and
00:09:33
Speaker
I'm good with that. Yeah. I mean, um, Jamie Jordan, national level players. Yeah. I mean, Jamie, Jamie George is where we're, we're, we're really, you know, they were very ringing there. You know, this is my home. I wouldn't go anywhere else. And it's like, you know, that, that, that does say a lot that really does. So, um, so all the people that want to smash the shit out of this air since for what they did, they have to at least give them a little bit of credit, uh,
00:09:57
Speaker
that they've been able to hang on to these guys without a whole lot of swaying, really. Yeah, they've lost a few guys. Again, they've lost a few guys. They sent some guys out on loan. New Castle sent one guy out on loan last year. That was Mark Wilson. That's only because Mark Wilson is a New Castle guy through and through. He believes New Castle.
00:10:17
Speaker
Other than that, and he needed to stay in the premier ship in order really to be eligible for England, he ended up getting hurt, so it didn't end up making a difference. But, you know, so yeah, it speaks volumes to me. So that's just my thought.
00:10:32
Speaker
I don't know if everybody will agree with it, but I think unusual all these can kind of see the idea here just a little bit, just a little bit. So yeah. This is a frustrating, but also maybe something big. I don't.
00:10:48
Speaker
I'm not really sure what it's going to be. I'm on the negative side of this only because it's never worked for anybody. And that's a MLR getting out team
Concerns Over MLR's Rapid Expansion
00:10:59
Speaker
in Hawaii in no professional sport has there been a team in Hawaii and had it succeed. That's going to have a, I mean, it's the logistics alone.
00:11:10
Speaker
I struggle with I think first off I think it's gonna work out okay as far as players. They're gonna be fine Stocked with players. Yeah, I'm sure that's not part of I'm sure that's not right That's not the problem is okay. So how are you gonna get you know? when they have to do an East Coast swing, I Mean, that's how they're gonna have to do it. It'll be it would be a It'll be a three game roadie easily. I
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, probably all of them. They'll probably do all their, certainly their East coast away matches all at once. There you go. Boston, New York, DC, and then Atlanta.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you'd ever put them on the road for a month straight, but really logistically that may be how it has to be. And if you want to say, oh, well, that's not fair. Well, what the fuck are you doing a freaking team in Hawaii for? You put yourself in the corner. Yeah. And so I had a discussion, a friendly discussion on, on Twitter with, with some people about this and I'm just, to me, it's too much expansion.
00:12:21
Speaker
Two quickly. Same. Yeah. The last couple of years they've added at least two teams. So it's been they added DC and New York and then they added No, we they added New York and
00:12:35
Speaker
Who are the other ones? It wasn't because we went, we came with DC. Hold on. I mean, I'll look it up, but I know the answer to this. And the fact that it's escaping me is really irritating the crap out of me. But any, yeah. Toronto. So rugby. Toronto. That's it.
00:12:51
Speaker
Rooney and Toronto were added in 2019. Then in 2020, it was New England, Old Glory, DC and Atlanta. And then next year, so, and then before that, let's, let's, you know, talk about where we were. In 2018, there were only eight teams. Now then they, they had expanded to 10 in 2019, 13.
00:13:16
Speaker
And then now they're going up to 16. So they're doubling the amount of teams in the league with it in three years. Yeah. It's going to be, you need to establish yourselves and they have two teams now that, you know, I mean, I guess really what kind of silly name is the Hawaii team going to call themselves just to out.
00:13:34
Speaker
I'm taking bets on where it lands on that board, one, two, or three, because the way that we've been going has been bad. But yeah, that stuff aside, and apparently there's some grand plan because this team's being set up by some former All Blacks. All Blacks are obviously one of the most successful organizations in rugby in the world.
00:13:57
Speaker
Nobody can doubt that. And if you do, you've been smoking a little bit too much of the rock. Anyway, back to my point, if their plan is also to have a Super Rugby team as well at some point, and I don't know how you're like, talk about logistics, crazy logistics. You're going to support two teams from the island of Hawaii.
00:14:18
Speaker
Or are they just going to do one team from the island of Hawaii? Their plan is two. Their plan is two full teams. And I don't know how you pull that off personally. So that's not a big deal. I'm not sure that the economy of Hawaii can support that. Yeah. I don't know. Let alone the logistics of, you know, just all that stuff. I mean, ultimately, unless there's, you know, the only way this works is if, um,
00:14:47
Speaker
somebody's been listening to me or I'm just in tune with whoever somebody else. Yeah. Um, and that there, there's some knowledge that that rugby is going to get a push on American television. Cause that's the only way this is going to getting American TV money is the only way this is going to work. Yeah. It's the only way it's going to even come close. I agree. And you know, there's rumors all while they're going to get, you know, they're going to pay both the fees for the teams coming and the, and their team leaving. I'm like,
00:15:17
Speaker
That's not financially stable in any way, shape, or form. Do you understand that? You will fold in a year if that's what you plan on doing. Holy shit. These teams have a hard time.
00:15:27
Speaker
You know foot in the bill for travel in the continental us. Yeah, like there's a reason that even the biggest League in the world and i'm talking about sports in general the nfl has never had a team in hawaii Despite a lot of people always saying now as a team for hawaii now They've never done it because they know financially. It's just not going to make any sense whatsoever that team is always going to be under the cost to even inch a profit forward so it's just
00:15:58
Speaker
you know it's yes cool for the island of hawaii it's cool that there's a bunch of all blacks that are backing it and they seem to have a grandmaster plan well i've seen the best we've all seen the best plans laid go very awry so i just i don't have a lot of confidence in it that's that's really what it comes down to i just don't think it's a good idea and i really don't want it to
00:16:18
Speaker
have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the league where the league suffers heavily and that could happen. It very well could. Um, I'm not really a fan of that honestly, as a team, as a guy that's just, I haven't yet to see a fucking live match at our home field. Damn it. Let's not bankrupt the league before this shit happens. Pretty please. You know, so it's, um, small favor. Just could you help us out? Please. You know, so yeah. Um,
00:16:49
Speaker
I don't think it's gonna make a whole lot of sense. God, I don't know who the hell's running the frigging show at the MLR headquarters, but.
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeesh you need to find somebody else to answer you because you feel like that there's yes men that are talking to these guys at this point and not a whole lot of Contradiction getting thrown back at them and it's hard to trust because we're you know, we're we're Americans and Every we've never had a positive interaction with a rugby organization. I Mean see pro rugby, right?
00:17:22
Speaker
So we're kind of, yeah, we've experienced it at the professional level, even at the amateur level, like USA Rugby as an organization, like we're used to, and look at, you know, Glendale, I mean, they're losing their team.
00:17:38
Speaker
The club is going down in flames. I don't know what the hell... Yeah, well, I think something's going on with the owner. Yeah, we discussed that. Yeah, all that. And yeah, Marty Bird, guy who owns it and is the mayor. And then
00:17:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's just and then USA Rugby is partnering with them like wait USA Rugby just folded but you can partner with Glendale like what there's something there's just too much going on and I've reached an age now where I'm like if I'm looking at something and it doesn't look right and smell right to me it's
00:18:10
Speaker
It's probably not right. It's probably not right. Like I'm not, you know, I'm experienced enough and I'm knowledgeable enough about the world to be like, yeah, my instincts are telling me something's wrong here. Something's wrong here. This is not, it could work out. I'm not saying it's not going to work out, but it's, it's fucked. It's such a stupid plan. So, okay, fine. I seriously wish them the best of luck because I hope it works, but it's only because it's better for, for everything, but it's just,
00:18:36
Speaker
It's it's hard to yeah, I mean it's hard to be optimistic. Yeah, and it's just it's MLR and we know my what my position on the draft was MLR really trying to create.
00:18:50
Speaker
buzz, but not having a whole lot of meat to back it up or really have anything, an actual product. They're just looking to create buzz. And if that's all we're trying to do, I mean, talk about all sizzle, no steak. Yeah, I'm not really into that. Any buzz that the MLR created by opening it, by putting a team in Hawaii was instantly relegated to the back page by Dan Snyder alone saying, you know what, we're getting rid of the, the,
00:19:19
Speaker
The Washington name, yeah. Yeah. That's gone. Now everybody's talking about that. Nothing the MLR did matters. It doesn't make any news anywhere.
00:19:28
Speaker
Yeah. If all we're in the business of is creating buzz, there's a lot of ways to do it. And some of them that are far less cheap than this. Yeah. And other, you know, those established leagues can do, you know, they can fricking change their underwear and it makes it just news. Yeah. Yeah. Underwear supplier being cheap.
00:19:49
Speaker
It doesn't, yes, right? Oh, is it Nike? It's gonna be Nike or Reebok. And it's like, yeah. And also, I'm not gonna be any buzz that any lower tier organization or league has, it's gone. Oh, something interesting is happening. Yeah, forget your buzz. Make sure that what you've got is a product that's gonna last, because the buzz ain't worth the freaking shit right now, not in this country. No way, man.
Premiership Rugby Restart Excitement
00:20:17
Speaker
All right, let's go to, so they announced the Premiership restart days. Yay, we have rugby in the look forward to. So close. I mean more rugby. I mean, let's be real. We've had rugby and it's been great, but.
00:20:29
Speaker
You know, we are looking forward to England getting back because we also have some fancy rugby that we can talk about with this, which will be great. We'll get a little bit more in-depth into that when the month terms in a couple of weeks here. But until then, we can just, you know, we can look at the picture list. It starts Friday night in the 14th of August.
00:20:50
Speaker
quins and sharks and off we run. We'll see how this goes. Midweek pictures, not that immediate week, but the following week, probably just to let guys get the rust banged off and kind of get used to it. But then, man, pedal down and gear up. Don't use that handbrake because off we go after that. It's a lot like the soccer has been for the Premier League. There's only a few days
00:21:16
Speaker
in the last like few weeks, like one day a week where there's nothing. And then there's, there's still plenty. So it's like, whoa, just hang on tight and prepare for this ride. So it's interesting what I'm wondering what teams are going to do well. So like you think a side that's traditionally been just a powerhouse and say, Exeter.
00:21:38
Speaker
But they rely entirely, you know, they got away from it this past year. Who knows what they're going to look like now, though. But they rely so heavily on their forwards and that pick and go, that, you know, just smash mouth kind of running. You start playing that every four days.
00:22:01
Speaker
It's gonna wear down on you. It's gonna you know, and then they lost a couple like their bangers like Kovacik's gone. Mm-hmm is Armin still around I can't remember he left yeah, he's still there but although I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to
00:22:15
Speaker
jettison out after the season right so at least he's a body so they can throw him you know he'll be he'll play once a week yeah and yeah all your youngsters if you thought you were going to get time you might get some time so hang on right so it'd just be interesting to see the styles versus you know something like even like a gloster and obviously uh the bristol um they're they're just gonna have so many weapons to use uh running in space maybe this favors them
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see, you know, tired bodies create space. So we shall see, it'll be very interesting. You know, I would back...
00:22:53
Speaker
I would pin that the Saracens are never gonna lay down, but I would say their selection is gonna tell what games they care about and what games they don't because they do have Champions Cup in September that they still wanna win. Yes, they're going down to the championship. They still wanna leave with a middle finger. We got you all anyway. So yeah, they're gonna totally put that, hey, we want silverware too. Let's just be real about this, okay? So it's gonna be an interesting,
00:23:21
Speaker
running here from all the way down to around 18.
00:23:27
Speaker
I don't know, yeah, it's gonna be a pretty wild one. And then the final is listed as October, and I'm not sure how confirmed that is. So I wanna hold my breath on that one, just a wee bit. But other than that, yeah, it'll be fun. I assume the final will be probably the week before those champions cup quarterfinal matches take place. Well, they're saying right now that's,
00:23:54
Speaker
October 24th. Yeah. I don't, that doesn't make a ton of sense, honestly. Cause you got, you gotta, you gotta play all the champions cup games likely in a row in September and then you're going to come back and play the semi-final and the final. Yeah, that's true. Or play the semi-finals and then play the final after all that. You know, if you, if you get a team like, you know, saints are still in it and I don't think they're going to necessarily light the world on fire, but, or if you get a team like Exeter who also had it,
00:24:22
Speaker
You know, that's that they could get to the semifinal of the Champions Cup and you know, whoever's playing them, maybe sale. Um, they could have a month to prepare for that one team. And these guys are trying to bang through Europe. So it'll be, I'm not sure that's necessarily the best way to go about it. Let's try and keep everybody on the same level playing field, finish one comp, then do the next one. And then you give them a break because guess what?
00:24:49
Speaker
It looks like we might, you know, the rumors are and there's no actual confirm, you know, the rumors or the thought is to, you know, get it started maybe the week before the holidays hit in December. And so that way you can capitalize on the Christmas period potentially with, you know, not only television watching, but also with, you know, depending on whether or not how many fans are allowed back.
00:25:12
Speaker
We'll see how that plays out, but even if it's not this year going forward, I don't think it's a terrible idea to capitalize on that because it's a festive time. Everybody wants to have a good time. Hey, let's go to the rugby game. My family's in town and I get it, so I encourage that idea at the very least. If we're gonna have this global alignment where it starts somewhere around the 1st of January, I'm okay with that. If that's the idea, then I'll back it. It doesn't
Super Rugby AU Round Two Recap
00:25:41
Speaker
bother me.
00:25:41
Speaker
so yeah let's go to let's leave you know potential rugby and let's go to actual rugby super rugby AU round two we saw the return of the Western force battle off the scores here real quick rebels
00:25:58
Speaker
Reds drew 1818 and then the Taws beat the force 23 to 14. Let's go to the North Shores of Sydney and the Reds and the Rebels.
00:26:14
Speaker
There was a, there was a name that I didn't get to mention last time because I didn't, and I didn't think he had a good game. It just couldn't have been that terrible again. Cause it didn't stick out in my brain for that long. Um, but, um, but almost silly. That's the one. Yes. The young prop for them. Um, I thought he was making way too many mistakes, but I would say he actually made up. I actually would make, they say he made up for it a little bit in this game. He looked a lot better. He was lucky. Um, that he laid a hit on Hagerty.
00:26:46
Speaker
That should have been a yellow, at least a yellow. Absolutely no arms in it. No arms, yeah, I thought that's what you were talking about. He tucked his, like, that's what I don't understand, like he tucks his shoulder, his hand is pointed away from integrity. You can't put your hand away from someone if you're trying to wrap them. You're not at that point. Because your elbow doesn't bend that way.
00:27:11
Speaker
No, and so like he hits with his shoulder and then after he shits that's when he rotates his shoulder and brings his hand up and it's like No, no, no, you like Hagerty's all the way are you know already? On the ground by the time he even tried to change his arm angle No
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah. So it's, he's got a lot of learning. Fuck that run. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was a great run. He set up some, that was a huge run. I was like, that looks like it's going to do some damage. Yes, it is. Yeah. I'm like, all right. You know what? It's worth having you. We're still on the field. If you're going to do that, you should be off right now, but okay.
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah, it was a I mean then especially with the soft soft yellows on the reds two of them were just Incredibly soft and they they ended up winning both yellow card periods. Yeah periods which is funny, but Especially, you know if that that family silly Hit is not a yellow and there should have been
00:28:15
Speaker
a yellow to the Rebels later. There was a, there was a player, a Rebels player offside playing the ball. Right. Yeah. It's like, look, if you're going to call, if you're going to throw yellows on holding a guy down as he's trying to roll away in contact and the other one, I can't remember what the other yellow was for.
00:28:36
Speaker
It was on the Hamish Stewart. Yes, it was. I don't remember what it was. But it was still like soft yellows. I think it was repeat. Yeah. So it's like two soft yellows. You got to even that up if the opportunity presents itself. And I don't think this influenced the outcome. It's just poor refereeing. Neither of these teams deserve to win this match.
00:29:05
Speaker
Not long, there you go. Result match then. Yeah, I mean slow first half, slow first half. Neither team got, neither team could get ahold of that wet pill. But yeah, it was a wee bit greasy over there. So we'll see. I was like, Oh, fun to have extra time.
00:29:22
Speaker
yeah we have that was fun it just didn't they didn't score so i didn't feel like i didn't feel like either team really went for it no they didn't really dive into it they were playing to not to lose not really the win yeah not not good enough and so they both teams accomplished what they came for they didn't lose
Reds vs Rebels Match Analysis
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah. You have to freaking do. I mean, the, the diagonal try was just deja vu from last week, basically. Good cutout pass from James O'Connor and just one step inside. I think they need to start learning what this guy's going to go for when he gets that ball in that wing. Cause he's done it twice now. He scored for both of them, but
00:29:59
Speaker
So I think the next team that plays them needs to kind of keep their head on the soil and be like, okay, he's probably not going to actually do that. He's going to wait for me to run by him. So I'm just going to smash him as is. Um, so it was a, I mean, it was a great bit of footwork. Um, and we got to talk about Billy Meeks because we're going to, we have to acknowledge something really positive from this and that, that, that interception from O'Connor. Yeah. I don't know what O'Connor was thinking. He was looking around. I think he, I think I was like, it makes read it very well. I think O'Connor telegraphed it a little too much.
00:30:28
Speaker
And obviously by the time he released it, he's like, ah, shit. I think that was one of those. I've made the decision to throw the Paul. I'm going to throw it. I'm throwing it. Oh, there's a guy right there. I'm going to throw it anyway. And yeah, you hope it works. It happens so fast. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the game, the game tire was pretty good.
00:30:46
Speaker
from it started with O'Connor. I think it was, was it, uh, Paisani or, uh, Mafi finished. Yeah. Who was the middle guy? I was number 22. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um, that's right. Cause I think Paisani came up. Um, but yeah, it was a great, it was a great team, team try in the end, you know, good, good little bit. Um, and rebels have kicked themselves that they didn't cover that kick very well. Uh, but I mean, O'Connor did a great job of finding the space. He found them as they call it the door.
00:31:16
Speaker
The doors you found he found the one he was looking for and was able to get through it and a good follow-up from far away So Tia and and mafia to get him over the line Get this game to at least extra time so you can hang on to a couple points for yourself at the very least But it was yeah, it was just not it was not a super spectacular game by any means line-ups were pretty garbage on both sides and
00:31:41
Speaker
So those, I mean, it's how it's been in the first couple of weeks. So it wasn't the first couple of weeks of Ontario. So that doesn't super shock me. We have to talk about this guy and is Cora Betty overrated? Yes. Okay. Absolutely. All right. It's something that's been put out there a lot and I was just like, all right, well, I guess we can talk about that.
00:32:07
Speaker
Oh, I have no, I know he's he should be tearing this up if he was if he was the player he was touted as. I mean, even in, you know, this year in Super Rugby, he wasn't really producing that much. I don't see him. He's an excellent defender. So I can see why he just he is international, hard, international capable. He's one of those guys. He deserves a shot just because of his athleticism and his ability to play defense or his willingness to play defense.
00:32:37
Speaker
but he just isn't giving much of a spark an attack. So it's like, it's one of those, you know, he might be a decent 14 just to shut down, you know, like a George bridge or something like that, if he can. But, you know, he's not going to add anything to the attack, really. It doesn't seem, you know,
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah. We talked about how he was kind of van, he vanished from the first game and this game, they were trying to pump him up a little bit. I'm like, I don't see what you see. And they tried to pump him up for what was, what eventually became the Hodges try. Um, yeah, decent pass, but you know, one pass does not make your game. Yeah. So.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not overly impressed with him. I get, yeah, like you said, the defensive part of his game, it's tough to find a really good wing that has potential on offense, but also can make sure that he makes guys go to the ground when he wants them to. Right. I mean, he definitely should not be 11. Even at this level, he should not be the 11, he should be the 14.
00:33:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'd, I'd, uh, I take Andrew Kellaway as a, as an 11 all day. If, if they switched him, he's pretty good or, or you didn't know where the trial line, he's kind of tried up since, but right. Yeah, they, yes, I agree. I'm done beating up on that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I do want to beat up on one more guy. I'm Harry Hooper. I thought the little brew ha ha could have been very, very avoided, uh, that happened in the middle of the match. And,
00:34:07
Speaker
he decided that he was gonna get himself involved between, I think it was, it was either Wells or Hardwick and maybe like Wright or Scott Young, whatever it was. Like, listen, yeah, did he come in from the side? Maybe, did the referee see it? No.
00:34:21
Speaker
they both were about to walk away and just let it be. And he came in, decided he was going to put his nose where it didn't belong. And that started the whole fucking thing. So, and I'm actually surprised. Very, I was very surprised that TMO didn't buzz down and just be like, listen, this guy was actually the one to start. They started, they later that, um,
00:34:38
Speaker
uh, solid guy lotto and I was like, that is not, that was not his fault. That was Harry Hubert that started that shit. So don't get it. Don't, don't be mistaken folks. It was definitely Harry Hubert that kept that frigging little spark plug going. So, uh, just like, I just liked the two former teammates and I can't remember who it was at the moment. Yeah. They're coming together and just, they're both smiling at each other. I was like, Oh, they they've played together. They're not going to do anything to each other. Get the fuck out of here.
00:35:03
Speaker
Literally just holding each other like each other is like collars and like smiling at each other Like yeah, we're not gonna do anything here. Let's keep moving I think like that one of the scrum halves came over was like trying to separate them before realizing Oh these guys they're this is not a fight. This is them mocking what's going on? Yeah, they're good. Yeah, I don't remember who was either. I thought it was pretty funny So yeah
00:35:28
Speaker
We have ourselves the first draw, despite the fact that the rules were put in place that we were trying to avoid this very situation, but when neither team goes for it, it's gonna happen. So, Seilavi, that's how that one ended.
Western Force's Super Rugby AU Performance
00:35:40
Speaker
Let's go to the other one, which, of course, a lot of people were very excited for with the return of the Western Force.
00:35:47
Speaker
to a super rugby competition of any sort whatsoever. And I'd say they put forth a good showing. They did. It was definitely, you know, and I would hate to see this happen. This happens a lot with the first, with the newbies is they put in a good first shift. Don't come out on the right side of the result. And then they kind of just mirror and just, you know, fall away. And I would really hate to see the force do that. I hope they come back with the same gusto.
00:36:14
Speaker
This week because they did this this past week because that was really good stuff There's a lot to take away from that. I mean
00:36:23
Speaker
neither team's attack. If you, if you take away the, the, the entire concept of attacking rugby and just focused on, on defense and, and making some good decisions. I think, you know, the force definitely acquitted themselves well there, especially considering it was their first match in a while and, you know, and at a higher level, like this, there's a lot to going in that's going into this for the force. You know, I realized,
00:36:49
Speaker
about 20 minutes in that I don't, I, I, that was when it finally clicked to me that I don't think the Taz had even entered the force 22. No, the force did a really good job of hanging on to that ball. And that was one of my notes. Like that was a big reason they had such a great half. They needed two more minutes of good rugby to put together a great half and they couldn't quite do it, which shows they're somewhat inexperienced and also, you know, that maybe a little bit their level as well.
00:37:15
Speaker
You could see, yeah, the level's not there just yet. The nine was...
00:37:22
Speaker
Prior. Who was that? Uh, prior, not, not at the level they needed him. Um, he threw a couple of, where did the force become French nine. Uh, but yeah, he, they, it was just not, um, he was inaccurate with his, with his passes. Uh, there was a, I think one time where he threw it like just between Lance and whoever the second receiver was. And it's like, I think you wanted to hit Lance there. Why don't you just give him the ball next time? Instead of trying to throw a skip pass from behind the rock, like,
00:37:52
Speaker
not, you know, and couple times where he threw behind the player that so I had to stop and collect it and then run the play. It just throws off the whole timing. And then, and so I'm sure nerves, uh, say the least might have affected that. Um, and, but to just, to, to the fact that they had that, and I'm not just blaming him, that's just an example there. Every, you know, most players at most positions had similar issues with, with doing their job.
00:38:22
Speaker
But yeah, but I mean, they worked well together. That's that to me, that's the important thing is they weren't all fantastic, but they were all what they were together. Yeah. I loved it. And I don't like the way that the official totally fucked up a lot.
00:38:39
Speaker
in the second half. Yeah. Gus. Yeah. Gus did not acquit himself here. No. Uh, first off the, you know, we're, if we're going to have these 50, 22 rules, fucking officiate them, right? And that, so, so bringing it back across the 50 and then
00:38:55
Speaker
you know and then right afterwards the line out by the toss wasn't straight and he let it go well led to a try and really if you want to look at that look a little bit deeper into that cake michael hooper was outside on that kick chase he was definitely in front and i was very shocked that one that the ar did not grab it
00:39:14
Speaker
And two, the TMO didn't go, hey, like, you know, the chaser is way offsides. He was definitely offsides. Right. And that's why at that point, like, you know, you kind of have a, you should be getting information from your AR and your TMO, even if, even if they're like, it's, you know, we just, we weren't sure about that. We might want to check it.
00:39:37
Speaker
or, you know, something. Yeah. That's usually the standard, right? There's got to be something. And I think they talked about it, but at least the 50 22 and the referee's like, no, I'm calling that as good. Okay, fine. Call it as good. But then that, you got to make sure that the word has are perfect. Now they're inside the other teams, 22, you have given them, you've granted them.
00:39:56
Speaker
This visit inside of 22 They're the ones you got to be looking at as far as they have to be they should be perfect And it's you know, that first throw was in quiz was off. Well, then that's your makeup call. It's right there You say you know what you guys had your opportunity. I gave you a free entry you fucked it up Let's we'll turn it. We'll give them a chance to get to turn them all over right? Yeah, and that and that was what sunk I'm really in the yeah, and that led directly to the try and there you go That's match. So that that to me
00:40:25
Speaker
Just a confluence of being friendly to the Waratahs with some key decisions by the referee. I think that changed the nature of the match and helped decide the outcome, unfortunately. That's unfortunate because
00:40:46
Speaker
I mean, the force could have scored after halftime. They didn't, they didn't. Um, so that's a little bit on them, but at the same time, they did not hold onto the ball at all. Yeah, no, they did. That was, that was what got them their points was just hanging onto the fricking ball. Cause you and I both know number one, this, this team, I guess.
00:41:07
Speaker
It's so much easier to be on offense than it is to be on defense. Defense is a billion percent effort with a little bit of luck and attitude mixed in. When you're working that hard for most of the second half, when you're on your tail end of where your endurance is,
00:41:26
Speaker
And you're you're a punching above your weight class. Yep, and they were fair that well Yeah, and and they still almost pulled it out. Mm-hmm. So I mean that I was You got to give him an A for effort certainly her percent So and and the ties are not a joke team. No, this is not an easy team that they that they are you know that they kept it close to this is a one of the better teams in Australia, so Yeah, I mean talent riddled across that back line. Yeah
00:41:55
Speaker
Although, you know, we talked about an 11 in the last match. Can we talk about Nwakutenawasi? Yeah, he's been kind of quiet. Kind of hasn't shown up yet. Yeah, still on the beach. Yeah. He's young, so he's got to get his mind right again to get back in season, but I'm disappointed. This is a match where talent alone should have
00:42:18
Speaker
you know, netted him a few good carries. Right? Yeah. I mean, he had, what am I looking at? Yeah. 42 meters on seven carries, six meters a carry. That's not for an attacking wing. That's not great. Yeah. I mean, you look at James Ram, 83 meters on eight carries. A little better. A little better. Yeah. Three clean breaks, six defenders.
00:42:40
Speaker
Well, he was playing it. Oh, no, he was playing it when he was out there. Yeah. So it's just a little like, you know, Ram is not bad, but the Washington loss, he has to get free in this match. Yeah. Again, this is one of the, it's not, it's one of those, if you want to be that, that guy, if you want to live up to that hype,
00:43:02
Speaker
These matches you got to clean up. This is where you got to rake and then in the matches where you're you're against, you know The reds and the rebels those are the ones that you got to be solid, you know this but this is this is the kepa match that that you gotta just be on a different level and yeah, uh He was on a different level just not the right way. Not the right one. Not the right one. Um, yeah I will I I have to give a guy that I don't that i've shared on quite a bit. Um net hand again i'll give him the one the one little thing I can say
00:43:33
Speaker
It was a great little pass out to make sure that Bell fell over for the try that got them going in the first half. He's probably playing the right position for him.
00:43:44
Speaker
I will say that because they tried him at six. He's a huge body. He just doesn't have the right attitude to be a six where you need to be able to really stick your nose in there, make hits, and be a loose forward. He just doesn't quite have that skill set. So four and five are probably his home for a long time, I think.
00:44:06
Speaker
and and gust bell coming back he got the shit kicked out of him last weekend getting to the point where he got a yellow for his uh Being dominated in the scrum. He comes back gets a try. See that that's the kind of thing that nahuatl he needed um, you know show up and and and put something on the score sheet after you know, you got disappeared last week, um, so good good for bell to
00:44:29
Speaker
To power through and yeah, yeah here in log bottom who's not a nobody what he means been around for a while So that's pretty good stuff right there All right. Let's go. Let's go across the sea to a terro Big one blues and crusaders this was the first half was everything we wanted to be because the blues came out and they showed some punch and
Blues vs Crusaders: Resilience vs Talent
00:44:55
Speaker
Their defense was great. Again, another team that needed probably a few additional minutes in the first half to put together a solid half and get themselves in my position. They needed to be a team that's just seemingly unbeatable. And I mean, hey, it was a great little try to get them over, but it was, yeah, it ended up being for not.
00:45:23
Speaker
To me, it was the same kind of thing we were just talking about with talent versus playing together. And the Blues were just, they were winning their one-on-one battles. I mean, Satutu looking like he's doing a polo, Billy V up there, bowling over people. Unfortunately, it was held up, but that was...
00:45:45
Speaker
So darn close. So darn close. And, you know, Talia looking amazing. Oh, Terry Black with that, the pass to him. You know, just all of these, you know, Papa Lee with the, you know, great turnovers. You know, Clark and Ioani are making marks in the first half and you come away from it.
00:46:11
Speaker
only ahead by one point. That was the point where I was like, yeah, Crusaders are winning this. Yeah, I was like, oh shit. You can't be this much better than them in one form, but going into only one point ahead, it's not going to last.
00:46:26
Speaker
Um, and then, but it's funny that it took, it really took enter charging down that conversion. Yeah. It seemed, that seemed to be the thing that sparked it. And then all of a sudden it was like, fuck you guys like that. Again, it takes no talent to charge that down. All it takes is Oh, Terry black. Why is he taking a step back there? Yeah, I don't know.
00:46:48
Speaker
You just chip it through. You know, that's the, that's why you don't see that. That's why you see guys just lining up and then taking the kick. You only need one step. It's a chip shop. It was an easy. Yeah, it was a, it was a gimme. Um, and all that does is give the other team momentum. So it's like a one bad decision by one player who's it's almost, it was a, uh, uh, inexperienced based decision, even though black should be more experienced than that. Um,
00:47:14
Speaker
But that, that's all the, you know, then the more longer restart to himself, just plays back to back. You know, even though that kind of kept, they cleared it and they were fine.
00:47:25
Speaker
But still it kept the momentum going for the Crusaders, you know, and then they did end up scoring shortly after that anyway. So yeah, really, really, you know, this is definitely, um, something for the blues to be proud of, especially blue supporters who have been waiting for a decent team to finally come around, especially since, you know, the days where they were waiting.
00:47:46
Speaker
winning titles, but thankfully, but this match, I think the referee did end up affecting the outcome because once, you know, once the crusaders had that try, it felt like he was letting them do whatever they wanted and the blues had to be perfect. There were, there was just some, uh, there was a penalty on the blues for some, for not rolling away when
00:48:08
Speaker
Basically, he was trapped in there and was not preventing the ball from being played. Everything was fine, but he just wasn't moving away And the referee pinged him for even though he couldn't he was kind of trapped in there and it's like well You can't have it both ways either He tries to to move out of the way and gets penalized for getting in the way of the nine Or he stays there and lets you play it and you're gonna give him a penalty for not rolling away like you gotta right if it's not it's not an effect to play let it go and
00:48:31
Speaker
Um, and then the in from the side penalty on barrett I I don't think that was Accurate because the guy he took out was standing on the wrong side of the of the rock So he didn't come in from he didn't come in from the side. He came in from the front of the rock um, just at an angle which is From what it looks like that's fine. They're not talking about if you come in
00:48:51
Speaker
You can be angled as you hit that gate. It's just that when they're entering the ruck from beyond the gate, that's the problem. That one, this was kind of a weak, just weak calls. Another one on Talaya for taking out a chaser that I don't think was right. I didn't even see where he took them out. So I was like, do we have video of this? Because I missed it. Right. So again, I understand that they're making
00:49:20
Speaker
certain points of emphasis, but I can tell you this, the Crusaders were not perfect like that. They, they, you know, you can't look at one team with one eye and another with the other with the other. Um, I think that affected the outcome because it really, it killed the Blues in several, you know, several times. You know, they may have, may have been doing something good, especially that Barrett penalty. I was like, they're, they're kicking ass and this guy is not in the right place. Barrett takes him out as he should.
00:49:47
Speaker
And you're just going to penalize them for it unnecessarily. The penalty impacted the game more than the foul did, which is not what you want. Unfortunately, yeah.
00:50:00
Speaker
No, Sam knock in this game. Very interesting. That was interesting. Um, not that Chrissy did bad by any means. I certainly wouldn't have had Ruru on the bench if it was up to me. Right. I was pleasantly surprised. Yeah. Um, he, he, he looked like he belonged. So maybe, maybe a lot of time hanging out with TJ Paranal. We'll do that for you. Um,
00:50:25
Speaker
Yeah, it was, I mean, they still showed some gusto, the Yoani to eventual, the other Yoani try. Akira quick tap and Rico finding his line to get over. That was, I mean, excellent, excellent bit of work from the both of them.
00:50:43
Speaker
So they shows them fight but just didn't didn't have the gas. Leon McDonald and is definitely kicking himself via can also probably go back and look and say we got these guys. So maybe when this goes back to Auckland at the end of the tournament here, maybe we see the Crusaders finally get turned upside down. We'll see. Hope so. We shall see.
00:51:10
Speaker
And then, I mean, we got you reaching along the credit for cutting out with the bridge run that turned into the drum and try. I mean, guys class, not new, not new. And then, you know, even when Will Jordan doesn't start, he knows what the trial line is. The guy knows what the trial line is. He's
00:51:31
Speaker
He gets another one. Great line. I mean, great line too. Let's be real. He's not, he's not getting these by accident. He's running the right lines. He's making the right decisions. So that's, that's the difference between some of the, just happens to be in the tries, you know, and it happens. There are guys that just find their way over the line and fall over, which is great. And you need to give them credit for that. But he is, he is making his tries in some of these cases and he's also doing the work required to get him in the right place. So,
00:51:59
Speaker
It just speaks volumes. This kid's going to be an all black and he has to be. And I mean, I'm, and it's not fair. The second team, all blacks kids, the, you know, the guys who we're seeing who should be all blacks, you know, like so to to
00:52:14
Speaker
Probably not gonna be one unfortunately. I mean, I don't know who he Can back up Sevilla easily we could back up. Yeah, but I mean he's not like yeah, I don't get picked Yeah here and there but there's so many like all these eights that they have now are just unbelievable and I think he I think you know already being the the see the elder statesman
00:52:39
Speaker
We'll give him a nod, but I mean, if Foster doesn't pick so two-two, people are gonna freakin' go bangin' down the door at his house, you kidding me? Let's be real about this. Yeah, it's just that the hat should be, he's an international starting level eight man, and I... He will be. Yeah. He will be. He will be. Where? We don't know.
00:53:02
Speaker
I want to see it now. Yeah. Well, we go. We at least wait till we see some, maybe some TRC action if they ever organize even just a trans Tasman, um, variation of that for the bless up cops so they can get that played at the very least, which would be great. So we'll see how that goes. So yeah, the, uh, the crusaders just keep on being the crusaders. Who knew? 26 15. Um, let's go to Wellington.
Hurricanes vs Highlanders: Disallowed Tries
00:53:29
Speaker
And the Hurricanes have somewhat read the ship at the very least with another win. Not the prettiest of either wins, either time. But started off the game in an interesting fashion with two disloved tries. Yeah, I would have much rather preferred two imperfect tries than a zero-zero match at that point.
00:53:51
Speaker
Although, at the same time, Ash Dixon stuck his bum out. He definitely stepped into him. And, you know, that's set the standard for the next one. So, so, so. Yeah, at least it's consistent. So it's just, you know, points on the board look better than.
00:54:07
Speaker
Sometimes it does And especially if it didn't since it didn't affect anything later, but whatever it could still be fun to watch the tries Yeah, though. They were very fun to watch Self-own who was it from the The Highlanders who took a man out off the ball
00:54:34
Speaker
who then held him into the rock in the tackle. And then Piranha started through the gap that the guy, the original defender should have been in. Yeah. It was like, you don't take it. Don't take the tackle. Don't take the guy without the ball out.
00:54:48
Speaker
Cause he just wrapped him up. He's like, all right, you're going to take me out. I'm just going to hold you down and not let you go. And TJ realized what was going on. And he, uh, he was able to scoot. Yeah. Um, and then Fletcher Smith and for Jackson garden bash up, I thought he, um, Jackson garden master is probably still a level above him, but I don't think Fletcher Smith took anything away from this team whatsoever. So I will give him.
00:55:11
Speaker
lots of credit on that one. Also no dang coals, but this is a, this is a little bit of a talking point. I want to talk about, um, I'm a great game. I mean, the guy, the guy was definitely causing problems for, uh, this highlanders teams left and right. The fall of Ricky Riccatelli is a mighty one at this point.
00:55:33
Speaker
Cuz the year after, Hurricanes women titles probably three years ago now, I think. Yeah, about that. Anyway, yeah, four years ago, whatever it was. Anyway, after they won the title, the following year, Dan Coles gets hurt. He's hurt for a long time. And Riccatelli steps up and does an amazing job for this team, replacing, as we talked about, a high end hooker.
00:56:02
Speaker
Right. And it was like 90% of Kohl's. Yeah. And, you know, he did a really good job.
00:56:11
Speaker
I believe this might've been 17 now that I think about it. But anyway, not the point, because I think he ended up potentially playing on the All Blacks team that was playing the Lions. Definitely wasn't getting any playing time, but just getting invited to the camp in either case. So he was on the cusp of being an All Black.
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah, you know in either case whatever Situation whether it was lions or another tour doesn't matter the point being he was on the cusp of being an all-black and now he He's having a hard time making the bench for his for his club team. So that's
00:56:47
Speaker
You know, it's a really unfortunate fall for him You know, I don't know if this was him peeking and then just like, you know He pit it out or the league freak it out What is up with him or he said other things going on in his life that we don't know about but man this has just been such a mighty fall for this guy who did such a great job for deputizing dank holes for so long and now, you know, I
00:57:10
Speaker
I mean, let's, let's face it. Amu has got the job to back him up. I mean, Ricatelli is only 25. So it's possible that like he showed up when he was, you know, 22, 21, 22, and just, yeah, lit it up early, but then it kind of caught up with him. Like maybe, you know, it was one of these, like, he was getting a little bit more, maybe more lucky than good. And then maybe,
00:57:33
Speaker
Um, maybe just wasn't finding the same gaps because they weren't, you know, maybe it took a little bit for, you know, defenses to be like, Oh yeah, this isn't Dane Coles. I'm, I'm not going to pay attention to him. Okay. No, I have to pay a little bit of attention to him and then that just shuts him down. Yeah. So yeah, it's been, it's been quite a ride for the, for, yeah, we'll see what happened. Um, unfortunately the Islanders lost the, the, the competition's leading tackler in this game. Uh, Dylan Hunt, uh, he had to leave. He was pretty.
00:58:00
Speaker
pretty not good. He was looking pretty, he was struggling big time. So it was, I was like, Ooh, that, that doesn't look good. That doesn't look good at all. So I was like, yeah, I think he's done. But yeah, it's, it was a, you know, that's unfortunate thing when you lead, lose the competition's leading tackler. It's really hard to come back from that.
00:58:20
Speaker
Yeah, not easy there. No, so it was definitely a big blow for them.
Highlanders' Defensive Struggles
00:58:26
Speaker
And they just, I don't know, they just never really looked like they were getting it going. Yeah, Aaron Smith got himself over the line for a try after.
00:58:35
Speaker
just doing the simple numbers game and saying, okay, there's two of you over here and there's one of you over here. I'm going with, there's only one and I have to just wait for him to get drawn in and I'm in. But yeah, that's. And one other point is that I was, it took me most of, you know, into like almost midway to the second half to realize once again, around, you know, the 60th minute, I start, I realize again that Scott Gregory is in this match and nobody has tried to do anything to him.
00:59:05
Speaker
And then until Peronara finally challenges him with a kick and, you know, he, he can't feel it and it dribbles and goes out in the 10.
00:59:17
Speaker
Why aren't you doing that more often? Like, why are you waiting until, like, 70th minute to challenge the guy who probably shouldn't be on the field, the guy you know shouldn't be on the field? Shouldn't be on the field. Yeah. This is true. But then you also look at it and the Highlanders had made, at around that time, 188 tackles. And you're like, okay, well, that makes sense then. A lot of defense played at that point. You're literally just, yeah, running them down. You're not really, you're not trying to play too much finesse.
00:59:46
Speaker
No, they definitely didn't. It was not a fun wind to deal with either there either. I mean, aptly named hurricanes, obviously. This is why they're named hurricanes because the wind never blows the same direction twice there, it seems. There was a great, I mean, this will end up being a Van Vech try.
01:00:06
Speaker
the line from Geordie Barrett. So here's the fun thing. Geordie Barrett is a very tall individual. So when he's hiding, when he's like in a pod of forwards, you think that's going to be just like some big back rower or second rower. And then all of a sudden he hits the line and you realize it's fucking Geordie Barrett. You're like, shit. And just a little plot from Scrafton was just enough to get him free. And then he was able to find Bambic out on the corner. I was just like,
01:00:33
Speaker
Whoops. He stepped into a hole that like nobody was defending because Nobody was attacking it until all of a sudden he run, you know kind of wraps around the book to the ball carrier and it's like oh It's jordy barrett running this line and there's no nuts Yeah, and then what a pass though that path to do that and then just like
01:00:57
Speaker
He was almost going full tilt when he let that thing go too. It floated like you'd expect it in Venvix. Like, yeah, I'll just catch it and beat my defender anyway. Yeah, he was able to beat him. So yeah, Venvix knows where the tri-line is. I think he figured that much out as well. So I mean, really,
01:01:14
Speaker
This is a bit of a scrappy one. It's gonna be a tough one for the Hurricanes coming to town with the blues are coming to town next week So we shall see how that one goes But yeah big good one for the Hurricanes. They seem to have kind of read the ship while Mape looks like he's having fun again He's just nope and people left and right shutting him off saying you sir are not tackling me No, you are not either. And okay now go down just cuz my teammates need me That's what that's what he does well So
01:01:44
Speaker
Well, you, uh, you closed the gap that we created the week before. Just a wee bit on this by one by one. Nice. I went on a limb and pick the blues. Fuck you blues. I might never do that again. What did you learn? I love that episode. Um, uh,
01:02:07
Speaker
So let's start with that hero Islanders and Chiefs your boys how you feeling about this one going down the fourth sidebar You know
01:02:20
Speaker
I'm going to go with the chiefs. Yeah. The highlanders have issues. The chiefs have issues, but I'm hoping that maybe they took the bi-week and the chiefs is obviously in sort of their shit out. Hopefully they have some guys back from injury and can sit some of the players who have been
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure we'll see ALB and Alemalo amongst others. That alone is just going to open them up so much because you see, you know, it's a different match when they bring Alemalo in off the bench. If he can start and play, you know, especially with ALB, I'm not sure what to do with Tupiah if they keep him in or they... Hopefully the others are enough. Right.
01:03:09
Speaker
And then yeah, I'm just hoping for, you know, just some good open field rugby that back in, I think win this match. Yeah. All right. Yeah, we'll find out. I am also going to take the Chiefs. I am, I've not, unfortunately for the hounders, I've not been impressed at all with what they've done the last, you know, the last two weeks, really. I would say the last four, they only beat the Chiefs in round one because
01:03:36
Speaker
Too early of a damn drop call. Yeah. Right. Cause fucking Brin Gatlin decided to fuck his father in the world. Listen, listen, that's against the law in a lot of places. Okay. Right. I mean, I realize New Zealand's a pretty open-minded place, but come on now. I don't think it's the, I don't think it's, uh, yeah, I don't think that's a good idea there either.
01:03:57
Speaker
All right, so two, oh, this is an awkward shit.
Super Rugby Aotearoa Predictions
01:04:03
Speaker
I open my mouth and insert foot. No, no, this is a Wellington. I'm an idiot. Blues and hurricanes. Blues and hurricanes. Blues traveling to the hurricanes. I had to wait the first time. I need to trust my instincts sometimes. In picking with my brain and not my heart. I love that we've won last two.
01:04:26
Speaker
I don't think we're going to beat this Blues team. We're not that much better than we were when we first played them. So I'm in week one. So I am going to pick the Blues. I think I'm going to pick the Blues too. They had some guys that didn't quite make the impact they needed them to. But that was against the Crusaders. Tough ask on that one. Tough ask.
01:04:49
Speaker
I think the opportunities are gonna be there for the sututus, for the Clark's delays. And it's not anything about the hurricanes not being able to handle it. It's just the barrage of that over 80 minutes. Yeah, I mean, I know this team at this point.
01:05:10
Speaker
who's capable of doing what. If they're gonna win, Artie Sevilla has to have one of the best games he's played in a long time. Dane Coles is gonna have to have that Geordie, TJ Paranal, Lamape is gonna have to tear holes through people. Ben May is gonna have to run over a few guys to get himself over the line. There's gonna have to be a lot of things that go right and I just don't.
01:05:29
Speaker
I think they're quite there. So yeah, I think I'll take the blues. Not that I won't be excited about being wrong on this case. Let me just tell you that much right now, but I'm just trying to pick a little bit with my brain here. That's all. All right, let's go back across C, SuperRuby AU. Reds in force. I mean, we saw what the force could do, but I think this reds team is better. We saw that this reds team is better than the war ties.
01:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, and we saw and that we saw it that really that score line might have been a little bit flattering to the war toss in that first match Against the reds. So I'm gonna go the Reds. Yeah, I mean We saw what the force can do but we also saw what they can't do And I think that what they can't do 80 minutes, right? And that's just just by virtue of that alone that they can they won't be able to hold up and this is gonna be a struggle for them. Mm-hmm the talent is
01:06:27
Speaker
He's almost there. Uh, but for the reds, I think they do. Right. Uh, I just think the reds have, have more of it throughout more of their team. So, and then again, over 80 minutes, it's just going to wear down the forest. If it even comes to that, I think the reds are going to, the, the ties, I mean, okay, put it this way. Both the reds and the ties are obviously mercurial. Um,
01:06:52
Speaker
So I think that the ties kind of let down a little bit I feel like last week when they were playing the force Took them a little lightly, but the Reds don't have a reason to And they have a point of the force at this point as well to to watch right So it's they're a little bit more of a known entity and they so I feel like the Reds are Know what they're gonna have to do to win and and we'll make that happen. Yep
01:07:15
Speaker
at the very least. I think this could get ugly. I think this is the one of this weekend that's going to be the very slanted scoreboard. Yeah, as much as I think you're right, I'd really hate to see that. Yeah.
01:07:29
Speaker
Oh, that would be very disappointing, especially for our guy Marcel playing 13 for the force there. Um, or toss and Brumby's. Oh man. I, I don't, you know, again, we saw, we saw the war toss. They dipped.
01:07:49
Speaker
And then the week before they were all right. And I know the Brumbies aren't overly impressive, but I gotta back that kid, Lalescio, my goodness. He's so good. And they're probably gonna have Tom Banks back. So yeah, I'm totally talking to myself into picking the Brumbies here. I'm already all in on the Brumbies on this one, I think.
01:08:17
Speaker
to me has the has less of a potential obviously than the reds force of getting out of hand but this one could also potentially get out of hand um you know totally depends on which water test team shows up right really does if they show up and then they you know it can't just be it cannot just be hooper
01:08:37
Speaker
running around trying to make things happen. Even though he does that. That's what he does, but he's been doing that for a long time. And at this point in his career,
01:08:50
Speaker
You either have him going around cleaning up messes and doing awesome things, or you have him doing everything, which means he doesn't do anything, all that. All the awesome things, yeah. Spectacularly. You're right, and he's not running to break lines. He's running to clean up a rock, because somebody somewhere isn't doing their job and isn't in the right place, and he's the one cleaning it up. And it's like, you don't want him doing that, because you want him in position to play with the ball. So if they can...
01:09:17
Speaker
make Hooper get their attack in such a way that Hooper can be an asset with ball in hand. Taz will keep it close. And he doesn't need to make every tackle. Right. We know he can. Right. Let's make sure he doesn't need to. And then you got a shot.
01:09:36
Speaker
Well, uh, we won't have any separation this week, but that's the right that app. That's, that's how it goes when you only got four games, four games. Um, we'll see what happens when we get fun. The premiership comes back. Right. That'll help. Right. Right. Right. Open things up. Yeah. Especially week one. Yeah. Especially week one. We'll see what your guess is. Literally. Oh shit. All right. Well,
01:09:59
Speaker
We've had another one folks. We, uh, we appreciate you coming along. Um, fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. Yes, we will be talking fancy. And once the permission comes back, know that we just didn't call away anything together for draft rugby. It was so, and so we're, we're living vicariously through our friend, the fancy rugby geek, George. Um, so that's about all we can do right now. Uh, but yes, we will have that stuff back. Um,
01:10:25
Speaker
I know they should bet an eye on Twitter if you want to tweet at us and we welcome a chatter. Other than that, we will talk to you guys next week after. We'll see what kind of around this turns into is definitely going to shape the super a competition at the very least and start to kind of separate the meek from the mighty. So we'll talk to you guys next week and have a good one. Later.