Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 9; Premiership Round 9
32 Plays7 years ago
Saracens go top! We're both excited about that. Jarrod makes another stat blunder, oops. Ben's dislike of Leicester is further validated by Eastmond's red. Are refs defaulting penalties to the "dominant" scrum? We talk a bit of MLR, Europe and...Brexit??? Follow us on twitter so you can challenge us to the daily fantasy games for Champions Cup. Don't forget we're on iTunes & coming to Google Play soon!
Twitter jdyke8man & admrablsnackbar
Email questions at fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com
Music by Royalty Free Music provided by http://www.soundotcom.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Fantasy Rugby H Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, what's up, guys? It's the Fantasy Rugby H podcast. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. And we're here to talk about pretend rugby and try and entertain you guys for the next hour or so. So thanks for coming on.
Podcast Availability and Feedback
00:00:15
Speaker
Just want to remind everybody that we are on iTunes now. So look us up there. Leave a review. We want to hear from you. We want feedback. We want to know what you guys like, what you guys don't like.
00:00:26
Speaker
even if you just think we're absolutely horrendous, it's okay. Just let us know, it's okay. And then Google Play will be coming very shortly, so you'll find us there very soon. Keep an eye out there. What's going on, bud?
Rugby Engagement Beyond International Matches
00:00:38
Speaker
Rugby. It was nice to have a little bit of a break from the internationals, as much as we love the internationals. You can get a little bit of rugby overdosing some weekends. We found a way to overdose on some rugby this weekend anyway, but actually participation rather than just sitting on the couch, scratching our butts, drinking some beers. We drank beers out in public. You can only scratch your butt. Well, trying to keep it family. OK.
00:01:08
Speaker
Whatever. Hey, listen, there's an E slapped on this sucker for a reason. It's okay.
New Major League Rugby Team in New England
00:01:14
Speaker
But yeah, so for those that don't know, there's a new major league rugby team in the league that's here in the States and the New England area is going to get one next year. And they played their first exhibition match in New England. They played one in the spring or earlier in the fall, whatever it was. Right. But yeah, they played one earlier this year, but that was up in
00:01:36
Speaker
Canada, so they played their first local one and it was um, it was entertaining. It was a cracker. It was a hell of a match. It was a heck of a match. Granted the New York team's missing a couple guys I think. Assuming Foden's still playing on coming over here. I'm sure he would have made a bit of a difference at least. Well, they're also prepping for a start much sooner than the free jacks. That's true. So the free jacks still have a whole year to get their shit sorted out. Yes, that's true. Yeah, but
00:02:05
Speaker
But it's nice to see some familiar faces on both sides. Yes, that kid leader like or I don't even know if it's the case probably a 29 year old man, but that guy leader he was fun to watch man. Definitely. I don't know. I don't understand how San Diego let him go.
00:02:19
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe they had another option. We'll find out this spring. We will. But we were talking to somebody that watched him last year in person and said he was doing the exact same things there. He was doing on the pitch down in Weymouth.
00:02:37
Speaker
Right. And we see that everywhere though, at all levels, you'll, you'll have a coach that or an organization that really doesn't appreciate what they got. Yeah. And lets it go. Thank you. So, um, here's another, here's another thing I wanted to hit on and let me just, before I get into it, this is going to require some extra, extra juice here.
Impact of Brexit on Rugby
00:03:03
Speaker
So I read a, I read a piece, not, uh, I think it was Saturday or maybe even Sunday, but Saturday for sure. Um, about the implications for Brexit in this league. That's fascinating. And it's, it's complicated as hell. Right. But it's how many international players they got there. Right. So the.
00:03:25
Speaker
it's gonna be a little it's gonna be a little dicey in terms of finances because and and also player player of selection right now you can have two foreign players and right and because of certain deals and packs and whatnot
00:03:49
Speaker
There's only a handful of nations that actually qualify as foreign, quote unquote. I'm putting that in serious quotation marks. We're one of them. They're all part of the empire. So. Yes. You know, Australia is not. Australia isn't. Right. That's that's foreign. They're considered foreign. So you would think that that would be the case, but they're Australians. Yeah. They're prison column prisoners. I want them back.
00:04:14
Speaker
Um, uh, the Kiwis are another one. Okay. So, and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, probably Japanese too. Um, what few, what few that come out of that. Right. And then there, but basically everybody else is kind of not considered quote unquote foreign. So you, you can have more than two of them in your lineup. But the point is to get more English beast players through the teams, which makes sense. I mean, it's the English league.
00:04:41
Speaker
You want to grow those players and you want to develop your players for your national team You don't want to just sit there and let them care for those other dinosaurs who remember NFL Europe They had a cap on on Americans. Oh, it's kind of you know, it's kind of the opposite of that, right? so interesting well, you know, I did see a read an article today that Basically the EU is kind of saying
00:05:07
Speaker
You know, Britton, you can go ahead and reverse this if you'd like. So we'll have to keep an eye on that and see if they decide, you know what? Well, let's, uh, let's stay. Let's, let's rethink this. Let's, let's hope Brex Brexit or whatever you want to call it. Yeah. We'll, we'll X out out of Brexit.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, renege on the Brexit. I mean, there's I've talked to people from the UK that are on either side of the fence. And I talked to people that aren't from the UK that are either either side of the fence. So I I'm not as well educated as I should be on this, despite the fact that I love sports that are based out of this kind of this area. But you know, oops, I and personally, not to get too political, but I think that we
00:05:48
Speaker
in this world we need to be more together than apart. So I'm hoping that ultimately they do decide to rescind it just because we need more international cooperation rather than working against each other or going it alone. That never really helped anybody. But that's just my take on it. Yeah, no argument out of me for that one. All right, enough of that. But yeah, so the implications obviously for our sake would be certain players wouldn't be
00:06:15
Speaker
Coming through wouldn't be in this game or certain players would be very limited in this game, right? So you would have to consider that for your lineup. So so stay for the rugby. Yeah, please Just for us for us for us for our entertainment purposes Okay, so let's go into the dream team for this week we had
Highlighting Top Rugby Players and Performances
00:06:35
Speaker
Will Spencer is the top scorer and we'll talk about that when we get to the Luster game because that's a peculiar top scorer for the week, but we'll run through it real quick. Ben Harris, the prop from WOS, one of the few highlights of that team this week with 26. Harry Thacker does it again with 59 with a brace. Vincent Koch returns with 25 for the series, a tight end prop for the series.
00:07:01
Speaker
Will Spencer from Leicester with 63. Mauro Itoje returns to the Saracens with 45. Tamana Harrison. I read a fun stat about him. We'll talk about that. 51 for the big guy. Losing effort for the Saints, but still. Big big big effort out of the big guy. Ben Curry with 47, the flanker from Seo. Jean-Luc Depriya, the back rower for Seo.
00:07:25
Speaker
The other back row for sale with 43. I played eight man for them this past weekend on loan. Cobus Reinak, the scrum half for the Saints with 54 with the Baratries. Yep. The Laws, Alex Lozowski with 36 for Saris in a big match for him. Nathan Earl, finally, finally Nathan Earl. Where the heck you been, man? 41 from the big guy with a brace also. Ollie Thoroughly, another brace. 53 with a handful of run meters to go with it. Manu Chulangi.
00:07:54
Speaker
The one center for Lester. One of the lone bright spots for Lester this past weekend. And Mike Brown puts in a shift, gets 40 out of it. Luke Morehan gets 34 for Bristol. So yeah, that rounds out that. Well done. Yeah, pretty good. I liked it.
00:08:18
Speaker
Just something I did once before and I just want to really go through it real quick. Top try score is in the premier ship right now. You're probably thinking on the right team, but you're probably just not thinking. I'm probably not thinking. Well, that's fair enough. Charlie Sharples.
00:08:41
Speaker
Sharple. Oh, yeah, he's been having a he's got nine. Right. I was looking through this. I thought you were going off of this. Nope. Dream team. Nope. I've been on that. Yeah. Sharples has been he's been a lot of fun to watch, too, and that him with Thorley together, that that's going to be a combination that's going to be fun for us to watch and be a freaking nightmare for for everyone else in the premiership. Great. Alex Lewington has seven.
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, I was, you know, I was, I was thinking him because he's just, it sounds like every time he gets on the pitch, he's, he's putting one over. I think he's played seven matches. Yeah. Seven tries. So that's not a bad day. I could be a little off on that one, but he's got a pretty good strike weight. Great. And either way in either case.
00:09:24
Speaker
There's one forward on this list and he's been immense in the last two weeks and he's shot up the tri scoring list Harry Yeah, yeah, absolutely Harry Thacker He's got six and then a guy that hasn't played in a while was supposed to play this past weekend But pulled out late
00:09:40
Speaker
Phrasing. Somewhat inadvisable at times. Yes. Liam Williams was six. He hasn't seen the field for Saracens. He still has six. Well, he had two hat tricks. I think he played three games. He got two hat tricks. Pretty, I mean, if he's going to do that every time. It kind of shows you play wing for Saris and you're probably going to score at least one. Yeah. Reasons why Alex Lewington decided, I'm signing here and not going down into the championship.
00:10:10
Speaker
I mean, he could be scoring 14 tries, but he'd be scoring 14 tries in the championship. Who the heck wants to do that? I'm certainly not a guy of his quality. I don't say that. Some guys, that's fine. Guys like him, not so much.
00:10:24
Speaker
But if you're a wing and you want to score some points, you could pick up a worse team to sign up in. Come to Allianz. We'll take care of you. Yeah. So just wanted to run through that. That was something I hadn't done in a little while. Through curveballing. Yeah, you know. You've got to keep me on my toes. Better than your heels. That's true. OK.
00:10:47
Speaker
Let's get to the games.
Quinn's Win Over Exeter: Strategy and Analysis
00:10:49
Speaker
Friday night. They played games. Yeah. Friday night. Special. Big one. Very pleased with the outcome. Yeah. Quinn's Exeter. Yeah. We were definitely pleased. I mean, we're not necessarily Quinn's fans, but that was probably the one time that we're Quinn's fans. We're just like, yes, actually do us some good.
00:11:06
Speaker
Right. And that was an impressive win. You got to wonder if Exeter is kind of kicking themselves that they didn't start even one of their internationals. Right. Or even even Cowan Dickey who wasn't in the internationals. Like maybe you kind of keep him playing. I don't know. Yeah. Unless there's an injury. I haven't read anything about an injury for him. And if it's happened and I haven't I have not heard it. Yeah. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened. But
00:11:34
Speaker
I mean, i'm just not as in tune as I probably could be or should be with it I just don't know where to find the yeah, they'll play fine. So it's not as though it's uh, yeah, it's a total wash there But at the same time, you know, you don't put your best players out there On any given week and get bit in the ass. Yeah. Well, I read it I read a tweet and I think it was or maybe I listened to it in the broadcast Maybe it was I think it was a tweet actually
00:11:58
Speaker
you know, whatever. In either case, you wonder if Quinn's were a little
00:12:05
Speaker
You know disrespected by the lion that the chiefs put in yeah saying we can so what you Are you you don't need henry sleigh to beat us? Yeah, you don't need um, you know jack knoll to beat us What the heck man? So, you know, you don't need two at least two of your england props Yeah, I mean you could I think I think rob axer could have at least spared two of those guys whether it would be
00:12:31
Speaker
Moon Hepburn Harry Williams or even Tom Francis who played for whales one of those guys I imagine could have played and Hepburn didn't didn't get much time if I recall the last couple weeks anyway, so it's not as though he's He needs a rest. No, he probably he was probably chomping at the bit probably fresh. So Where was he right? Yeah, I'm sure he was chomping at the bit and pretty disappointed
00:12:53
Speaker
One thing I would do want to say is it was a, uh, you know, first off, I don't know how Mac Kavecic got up off the pitch last week, let alone played again this week. If I was going to give anybody a rest, it would have been Kavecic. I would have tried to find a, find a way to give him, him a little bit of a break, certainly more than the props. Although I realize that's.
00:13:10
Speaker
We're comparing apples and oranges here. Yeah, probably a little bit back rows or front rows. But if you're going to arrest somebody, it might be the guy who got the absolute shit kicked out of him last week. Yeah. He got thumped pretty hard a couple times at that. All right. We'll go through the big scores and the big players, and then we'll talk more about the game.
00:13:32
Speaker
Big names, Joe Marler, 15, Danny Care, 49. First start since being on England duty. Chris Robshaw still hurt, did not play. Sinkler, woo-ee. Big old Uno on that one. Big disappointment. He put all his effort into last week's. Apparently. I mean, and maybe that'll be all you see from the rest of the year. Who knows? Yeah, you never know.
00:13:53
Speaker
Mike Brown with 40, James Horwell again did not play, Alex Donbrandt with a Stormer 38, James Chisholm with 30, Dave Ward with 30, James Lang with 27, Lang Lang Lang, Nathan Arlick we talked about before, 41 had a couple of nice setups for him, Joe Marchand 30. The most consistent
00:14:15
Speaker
Quinn's performer certainly fantasy-wise I think but like even just naked eye looking at watching him He's he and probably Dom brand Yeah, probably the last three four weeks probably the most consistent guys that have been playing for Quinn's definitely and and that's I mean that can be a good thing or a bad thing, but you have a
00:14:35
Speaker
You have one of your flankers or your loose forwards just running through everybody and then your center is running right behind them. You can have a quality rugby club if your flanker is in your center. You got at least one of them producing consistently every week.
00:14:54
Speaker
At least you know fantasy points Tries, you know that they've both been putting them up. So it's uh, you know credit to harlequins Yeah, absolutely especially for that for a two point forgotten out a two-point win against a top tier team like like the Chiefs Yeah, absolutely
00:15:11
Speaker
Not that the Quinn's aren't top tier, but, you know, no, but I mean, we know, we talked about it last week. We know who the head and shoulders of teams about in this league are, are Exeter and Saracens. Right. And everybody else is playing for semi is playing for the, uh, to get into the semi-final and to get into Europe. That's a prayer. Yeah. Yeah. Open a prayer at the championship. Like, yeah. Championship match. And I mean, you never know. You put in a one-off performance, right? And all of a sudden you're in the final, you hang around the final. Hey, maybe you knock one over and you win it.
00:15:39
Speaker
Who knows, if you have a gold kicker that's pretty good, it's possible. Let's look at the Exeter numbers.
00:15:47
Speaker
A couple of big names obviously didn't play. Noel, Slade, both giving rest after England duty. Armin with 17. Cordell did not play. That one was a mystery to me. I mean, I know he's probably tired because he's played a lot of rugby. But if you're not going to play any of the other guys, probably should have played him. And not that I'm knocking O'Flaherty, who was the guy that basically came in for him. Yeah, still better. Cow and Dickey didn't play, as we talked about. Yendo with 53.
00:16:15
Speaker
You know, so not terrible. Making the most of the opportunity. Yeah. And I mean, Tawani is not awful. Who's the backup? But Cowan Dickey, again, he he races the handle for the for the for that starting shirt. Tawani is clearly going to be on the bench every time that one of these guys is healthy. Right. Or that one of these guys is in the is in the team. And if they're both healthy, then he's going to he's he's going to be in the stands. Right. Yeah. Dave Ewers with 30 to 32. Kavecic with 28. Witten with 28.
00:16:45
Speaker
Uh, Wynton got a kind of a lucky 28, but he put it away when he needed to. Yes, he did. Um, so yeah, just overall, um, a couple of notes from me. The Chiefs really lacked direction in their attack, in my opinion.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, they seem kind of lost. Again, they kind of went back to that one or two, again, we've talked about it before, the one or two passes off the breakdown, take it into contact, recycle it, see what you can do from there. And that just simply wasn't enough.
00:17:18
Speaker
I'd like to see a little bit more again, you know, I love the champagne rugby, the creativity, the doesn't attacking gaps, not just I'm going to run into a double tackle and see if I can move you guys back off the ball and are off the line. And then my my rucking support will push you back over and then, you know, and then maybe we get a meter or two that way and then we'll try to do that to death.
00:17:42
Speaker
It's you know, that that's nice old school Uh, no disrespect to it. It's a it's a legitimate strategy. I just I don't it's not fun to watch it didn't it's not fun to play it wasn't required in this in this game either No, we had a good weekend good weather except sunday. Yeah Yeah, there's that it was bad, but uh, I I'd like you know and with that team with the with that level of talent that the chiefs have I would I expect more from them might hold them to a higher standard than than what they showed
00:18:11
Speaker
Well, they've been a forwards heavy team for a long time. And you can be a forwards heavy team without have it being bash, bash, bash. Yes. So and they've got they've they've gotten more sophisticated as they've gotten better. Obviously, they won a championship a couple of years ago by getting more sophisticated. Exactly. And that's what got on there. Exactly. So to me, I expect a higher level of play from the Chiefs, even if they're without a bunch of their internationals. I still expect a little bit of a better showing
00:18:40
Speaker
you know really uh showing their talent and showing their their skill with the ball at hand and then what they showed i mean hell they scored four tries they still got the bonus they got two bonus points at a loss so obviously they were doing something right but um i i feel like it could they i'd like to see better from them i guess my bottom line i don't i don't disagree give
00:19:01
Speaker
So this this is not gonna be a shock to those that know who's coaching the Quinn's but their defense definitely Was a part of that lack of direction for the Chiefs. They put pressure on them They did they were up in their face and there were some thumps. Yes in there too for sure St. Singler he had screwed up and he know he's knew he screwed up. So he made up for it by just giving off frickin shot I don't remember who it was too, but I was like, oh that hurt. Yeah, and But so give them that
00:19:31
Speaker
And then the one thing that makes Exeter so freaking hard to beat ended up being their back end. What ended up being their heel in this match was they went for the corner a lot on the pens and they screwed up a lot of them.
00:19:46
Speaker
I don't know if they screw up that many usually, but man, it felt like they were screwing up a lot of them. They had, they had the ball in the doorstep quite a bit and just gave it away for whatever reason. Yeah. Yeah. That was unfortunate. Um, yeah, we talked about, um, Kyle, Kyle Singler wasn't, uh,
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah, wasn't his usual wasn't his self from when he played across the street I will not have the the effusive praise I had for him last week this week. Can't imagine why I'm putting that putting that back in the in the pocket The cichlor pray keep it keep it back. Maybe another day. He'll um, he'll be able He'll be able to pull it out. But uh, definitely was not his day. So um, yep clins win 28 26 chiefs get two bonus points out of it, but uh
00:20:29
Speaker
Rob Baxter probably left wondering, now this is very early, but if it comes down to it and they're the two, they're the two, Saracens are the one, they're obviously gonna get the tougher draw of the two. Now, whether that's a good thing or it doesn't really matter, I can't tell right now because we're only nine games in. But it could be a situation where you have a team like Gloucester
00:20:57
Speaker
That's that's what I was thinking. I was thinking if I if we could see if it ended up with the Seasoning today and we had a Gloucester Exeter semi. Ooh That's uh, I might have to walk around hunchback all week. Yeah, trying to hide my rugby boner. Yeah Yeah, man, it's not that big though. Oh, you know, I still want to hide it Fair enough you weren't over there man. So get weird looks at work
00:21:26
Speaker
Oh, it's the pleats. Let's see. Gwen's win. This one might be one that, like I said, this might be one that brought Baxter Roo's. We'll find out. It's a long way to go. Roo it. Yeah. So next up.
00:21:43
Speaker
Bristol Lester. I loved watching this match. Yeah. For some reason. Well, I mean. Well, there was there was first I didn't like the obviously. You can't not talk about it, but the the Eastman card. Yeah. I mean, just I mean, if you could take a textbook shot of what rugby, what world rugby is trying to take out of the game
00:22:10
Speaker
It was that just, I mean, he's got his his arm all taped up like he's fucking Gronk. And with that frickin huge brace he's got on it, I wouldn't want to be that much he breaks all the time he just throws her, you know, right, right, right at what's the names head at um, who do you take out?
00:22:30
Speaker
I don't remember who took out those the 10. Oh, so it's not again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you're right. Threw it right at his head. And it's like, there was no and they were even you could hear the referee talking to his TMO as it was happening, saying,
00:22:44
Speaker
Ok, so did he hit directly? You know, head, neck, area? Yes. Was it with force? Yes. Did he ever try to bring that arm down? No. No, it was just direct. No attempt to go low. Just swung right at his head.
00:23:01
Speaker
And and just ugly ugly ugly, but but you know again as we talked last week Lester to me or a bunch of thugs so it's one of these you know, it's kind of what you expect there they're out to be a little bit of bullies out there and that's fine and all but Maybe maybe uh, maybe skip a cycle next time guys. Yeah, right. Well, I uh, I had Eastman in my team Yeah, he had minus four. That's a shame. Oops. Oops Daisy
00:23:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, we talked about we talked about last week, these are two of the biggest conceding teams in terms of fancy points and overall points as well. So I figure, you know what, anybody in this game will do. Yeah, that's why I threw him in there. Gotcha. Playing next to Manu, I figure, hey, maybe Manu breaks one and he just says, hey, come on.
00:23:45
Speaker
Papa, Papa, Papa falls over the tri zone and I'm a happy person, but as opposed to I, uh, I, I, I thanked, thanked Bateman for his efforts last week and, and picked up Thacker and, uh, that worked out pretty well for me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same. Yeah. We both captain them, right? Right. Yeah. So.
00:24:03
Speaker
Not an awful return for Harry Thacker. Let's go through the points while we're talking about him right now. Bristol, big names first. Piatal with 25. Piatal continues to just churn out decent performances. So he's big money in this. Obviously, he's big money in real life too. What, million pounds a year, they said.
00:24:22
Speaker
Uh, John Fola turns into yeah, oh just a little bit just a little bit John Fola turns in an unfortunate performance after putting together a nice string of performances And certainly fantasy wise he had 20 plus in about three or four straight weeks So or three out of four weeks and the card was unfortunate I mean he already had the referee's attention from the scrum penalties and then he goes ahead and pulls something stupid But but then again, yeah, he's a kiwi so he's not sure what it means to be on the referee's bad side
00:24:50
Speaker
probably true so it's like richie taught him well so there's there's penalties and then you get carded i did i had no idea yeah i know refereeing the kiwis accurately for the first time ever it's a uncomfortable feeling for jonafola yeah so he uh
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah, he was sent he was sent to timeout for a little bit and then obviously cost him in his fantasy game Because it's not just the time. It's not just the points that come off the board, right? It's the time on the field Yeah to make those points and earn those so especially for a prop where every meter is a point and so if you come off at the 60th minute
00:25:23
Speaker
With that with minus the 10 you don't get the credit for 60 minutes because you're not in for 10. Nope So it's that's you know, the card especially from yeah, especially the front row can be can be death for your your fantasy lineup. Absolutely Yeah, so a four with three factor with 59. We talked about it. Harry Randall with 42 Steve lua to it with 38
00:25:44
Speaker
Luke Moreham with 34. I thought he had a great match. Ian Madigan with 35 and Alapati Leila just barely, barely gets me enough points where my transfer for him is worth it because he got 26 and I had to eat another 20. Right. And the other my other option would have been Henry Trinder, who was on the bench for Gloucester. But, you know, what's that what's that going to balance out to be?
00:26:10
Speaker
So we're talking 23 points to 26 points. So, but really for to get a very good winger, like Alapati Leo, who's going to certainly tear it up, tear it up when he gets the ball in space. I think I'm OK with giving up Tom Lade for him. Yeah. So that's who I gave up for him. And I had and I had I gave up. Oh, I ditched Sam Harrison for Scrum half because I Western didn't start who guard. Right. So I was desperate for Scrum half. And that's where I went.
00:26:39
Speaker
And we'll get to my other subs later. I had to eat 40 points this week. But like I said, Thacker made up for it. But Kat did not. And like I said, we'll get to that.
00:26:50
Speaker
It seems the Bristol halfbacks in general, whether you're talking the scrum halves or the fly-offs, seem to be almost plug and play options at this point between Madigan and Sheedy and Uran and Randall. Uran and Randall both, I mean, if you combine the two of them, they've put together three straight weeks with decent, with good points and Sheedy and Madigan, same thing.
00:27:13
Speaker
And as much as I was saying that I like to see creativity and excitement, doing some little champagne rugby, I feel like Bristol just does a very good job of simplistic rugby. So when you have that, you've got your halfbacks gaining points because you get that past completions and completion percentage up. That's going to work out well fantasy-wise.
00:27:37
Speaker
So their halfbacks doesn't surprise me that they're solid. They're not out of this world. 35 from Madigan's not bad. I'd take that and be fine with it. Clearly that counts as kicking points too, but that's okay. If you're playing Madigan, you're probably playing him because you need a kicker anyway.
00:27:58
Speaker
Um, but like harry ran. I mean harry randall's try was a nice little it was quick. He's like, you know what i'm just going Yeah, I love that and bye and the back off the sub did it too Um didn't run. Yeah, yeah, no it didn't but he gave it a good he gave it a good go Yeah, it was him and it was basically him and the referee running down the field together watch
00:28:18
Speaker
But yeah, but Randall's try was that was just a lot of fun. Yeah, I love seeing that you know You hate being on the other end of it. So and we all have been yeah and more him finally got one He probably had two or three one of which he could probably have a I think one of two He probably could have had a case for being obstructed on it on a grubber Through and he or a chip through and he couldn't quite get there finally finally just skinned one and skinned a guy about everyone by him It's a thank you. Yeah
00:28:46
Speaker
Johnny, Johnny May is left in the dust a little bit by Luke Morehead. But yeah, so let's talk about Lester's. Yeah, Lester. You know, and we'll talk about like, what's going on with the names here. So Cole with eight, George Ford with 10, Ben Young's with 14, Johnny May with 12, Matt O'Toole with 38. Obviously, good performance there. Tom Young's did not play, Talissa Viano did not, did not play.
00:29:12
Speaker
Ellis Genj, the baby rhino with one. Spencer with 63, like we talked about. And Jonah Holmes with 28. This must be a misprint. Yeah, well, so there's the thing. And whether it's perceived value, thanks to this website, or perceived value for the player, for the actual players themselves and what they're what you're being paid for, you have Cole, George Ford, Ben Youngs, Johnny May, Madame Chudalangi, Tom Youngs, Talissa Vaino, and Ellis Genj.
00:29:42
Speaker
like those names are all names in the premiere ship that a lot of people are jumping off the would jump out of their seats to put on their team. Yeah. And I'm sorry, the the product that's on the field for Lester right now, isn't a good one. No, I mean, there's a reason their coach got fired after one match.
00:30:00
Speaker
But I thought that was unfortunate for him, but it sounded like he was on his way out anyway. Yeah, it sounded like a I love the situation. Yeah But let's not let's not talk about that but let's talk about But Lester it sounds like it sounds like Jordan Jordan Murphy Murphy's a Probably gonna not be able to hold on to this
00:30:29
Speaker
Coaching job will you stay with the club probably because Lester take care do take care of their own and he's a Lester guy for sure But yeah, he's he's probably gonna be in a bit of trouble with that one They have a lot of work to do as a club just as just as an organization whether or not it's a rugby organization or any organization they are just a little bit of a dumpster fire. Mm-hmm, and it's kind of you know, it's
00:30:53
Speaker
It's a little sad to see a once proud team be where they are right now. I think we both agree that they'll bounce back. We're not closing the door. No, absolutely not. But they just have a lot of work to do to fix a lot of things. And obviously, there's
00:31:10
Speaker
Something's going wrong there that they need to fix, whether it's personnel, whether it's just organization. I couldn't tell you. I'm not close enough to them. They're a couple hundred miles away. Yes. But it is kind of a shame to see where they are this year, but at the same time, I'll chuck a little bit at it right now because I'm really a big fan of them. Yeah.
00:31:34
Speaker
Well, and people that know me fairly well, at least in terms of this guy, will say, Oh, you just you just hate him. Well, George Ford has to figure out how to win these types of games for as big a club as Lester as the guy that wants that England 10 shirt. Yeah.
00:31:52
Speaker
He like he wants it. Guess what? It's not his right now He has to earn it right and how he earns it is winning games like this. He did not perform well Yes, he is a fantastic player front football. I could be a fantastic player with football Okay, a lot of people are he is one of the special ones when it comes to that. I understand that I'm not denying that but a world-class
00:32:14
Speaker
international 10 that plays on a team that has World Cup winning aspirations has to win something like this, right? Where your team's down, you're playing a team that's only been elevated to promote to the premiership recently, and they're probably not great. I know you're playing away from home that that can't matter if you want to have this role and you want to have be recognized as one of the best you can't matter, right?
00:32:36
Speaker
This is one of those Bristol really, I mean, you look at just the names alone coming out that are on the Leicester side. I mean, not that Bristol don't have players of their own, but that's a match that on paper Leicester, the score should be reversed.
00:32:55
Speaker
ideal in a normal, sane world. It would go the other way. But so to have it go the way it did, yeah, Ford's got to kind of have a little bit of a hard look in the mirror. Yeah, I think so too. And you know, a couple of other guys too. I'm not, you know, it's not, it's not terribly fair to say no, but he's the 10. That's why he gets the most. Exactly. That's why he gets the bullseye. Exactly. You know, and, you know, he knows what he's, he knows what he's getting into. But, you know, that that's,
00:33:23
Speaker
You're kind of open in the door, cracked for Cipriani with a performance like that. Yeah, that's a perfect lead in. Let's go right to him. Gloucester and Worcester, very entertaining game. Even for Worcester who didn't, the points don't say a lot about what they did in this match.
00:33:38
Speaker
They were a couple of errors away from making this match real interesting. So to be fair, I think they can probably rue this one a little bit themselves. And if I didn't mention it already, Bristol win 41-10. Leicester left in the bottom half of the table, actually under Bristol, I think. Yeah, they flipped.
Gloucester vs. Worcester: Game Analysis
00:34:03
Speaker
They flipped, OK.
00:34:04
Speaker
So yeah Gloucester 36 Worcester 16 again, the scorelines not necessarily flattering To Worcester. I thought they played a pretty darn good game had a couple of errors On attack that cost them and a couple of errors that cost them on defense. This is why they're these two teams are definitely still a
00:34:27
Speaker
pretty far apart, Gloucester and Worcester, looking at relegation battle, Gloucester having top four ambitions. And Jared, you know, I'm not, I wasn't terribly high on Gloucester to start this year, or even, you know, a couple of weeks ago. Right. But they're every, every week, I watch them. And I think, you know what, this is a,
00:34:50
Speaker
There's a lot of talent that maybe not not the biggest names In some places, I mean, you know, all he thoroughly kind of coming out of nowhere And and Sharples, you know, I'm not sure how much of an international look he's got but he's not every time I see him play he He impresses me. He does something where I'm like, oh, that's damn fine wing. Yeah, he's he's I mean England have a ton of
00:35:15
Speaker
right in the locker when it comes to wings. I mean, so you have guys like him and giants like cock and the singer hanging around too. So, so it's like you kind of that they, that's actually probably very good for them for the club because it's like, okay, well we got some really talented wings that are, that aren't really in contention for a spot on the national team. So we just, we get to play with them all the time. Yeah.
00:35:35
Speaker
So they're going to they're going to have a good time in those international breaks. And it also just helps keep that continuity going. Yeah, we talked about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do have a note on thoroughly, but we'll get to that in a second. We'll go through the scores real quick. Cipriani with 24. That's mediocre sips. That's not big. Yeah. Not great sips. Not bad sips. Just sips. Just sips. Steady sips.
00:36:00
Speaker
Maybe that's the best version that they can possibly ask for some days. Pretty much. Jason Woodward with 34. Ben Morgan with 28. He had a couple of nice. He just. I like him looking at him. He is a little bit old school, so I know he's not sexy, but the dude is kind of sexy. I mean, you know, but you know, the guy just continues to turn it out. Yeah. Thorley, 53. Willie Hines with 39. Ed Slater with 37.
00:36:29
Speaker
Shoppels with 30 Savage with 30 Clark with 36 Hanson with 30. So Hanson Slater and Savage with all having big days tells you that their lineup was Somewhat clicking along at the very least right and we'll talk about another second row that played for Gloucester to that In this game too, but not yet. Yeah. All right. Well, I you know, I'm pretty happy with with Heinz I I had to and so he made up for
00:36:59
Speaker
uh for a little bit of lost time for me so yeah you know between him and um him and uh who was it Thacker uh right my my lineup was significantly helped by my transfers so i'll take that 40 points and and pick up a 39 and uh what was it 118 whatever it was yeah that thoroughly gave me with the captaincy i think that was i think that was the difference between you and i really was how our transfers worked out mine
00:37:28
Speaker
meh yours pretty darn good except for cat and again we'll get to that yeah we'll talk about that later that was not well we'll try and spend as little time on that match as possible honestly let's um so yeah but so my notes like i said luster had a shot they looked really
00:37:44
Speaker
Really like they had something, but they couldn't do anything with the possession they had early. Thoroughly actually had a rough start. He had two misjudged kicks, one that he knocked, one that he put into touch. I believe it was what it was or whatever it was, something to that degree. Then he ran into touch twice, which was a sin. But then you can tell he realized what he was doing wrong and the touchline all of a sudden turns into poison. He starts cutting those lines inside and finds space.
00:38:13
Speaker
He was the problem was he was turned 90 degrees the wrong way. Yeah, so he's used to running a tri-line straight Ollie, right so all of a sudden he's They get they get him sorted out. They give him a compass and suddenly he's running over the tri-line a couple times Yeah, and those are some good plays. They were fun I mean one of them he just had a straight line on that inside ball off the lineup, but that's just a
00:38:35
Speaker
I love that kind of stuff. Yeah, just okay and and you notice they had the the pod to the to the outside of the I think it was flying out I think it was no it was Williams right because they yes, they they basically ran two tents, right? They skip they I think they skipped sips Yeah, and and went to Williams Williams had two hard chargers on his outside and and just drew the eyes of the defense Yeah, little pop inside to thoroughly and nobody's paying attention to him. Nope. He he did it was it was actually a
00:39:03
Speaker
Semi dicey pass but he obviously knew where it was going right like that's one of those it was into the space and thoroughly all of a sudden appeared and I'm like Where did he come from and that's a hard pass to throw because your body's turn You know, that's so easy to try that to knock it all on a chicken wing or something But he ended up whatever it was it worked. It was fine. Not too flat, but fortunately Yeah, but it worked and he I thought he played really well Williams did
00:39:30
Speaker
You know with all this There is no room for banners in this band hand with all these guys playing like he would normally be a center But trinder can play both wing and center just like him So he I think he and trinder are gonna take turns rotating in and out of this team not necessarily
00:39:48
Speaker
Bench line bench are starting. It's kind of up that's kind of up in the air But with thoroughly and Sharples playing the way they are they're gonna play a lot more games than I know you're gonna ride the hot hand Yeah, you know, no, no, no disrespect to the guys on the bench It's just these guys are putting up points and put it in the try zone and you know, not fancy points I'm all they're doing that too, but they're they're they're giving the club tangible results They're finding where they're finding the whitewash and putting it over it. Right? Did you see that? Did you see the Hanson try?
00:40:15
Speaker
the hooker at the front. It looked like it was going to be a maul and flipped it out. Nice little creativity there. I like that. I like that. Yeah. That was Morgan, right? I think that was Morgan that flipped it to him, yeah. Right. And all of a sudden, the scrum half in the channel says. I'll take my hooker. Thank you. He poops himself a little bit. And instead of having to make a tackle, all of a sudden, there's an offload. And now it's your hooker against the wing. And the wing is like, I don't really want much of that. Yeah.
00:40:43
Speaker
Although I think that that might have been josh adams who's a fairly sizable wing. Yeah, but um, yeah bright like uh heenie is not somebody that still is not going to be one that I am going to bank on making a tackle if it was hugard who
00:40:56
Speaker
It's one of those crazy scrum half that's kind of weird in his head. I mean, a lot of them are, but, you know, he's definitely one that's a little weird in his head. I think he would have stuck his nose in there and probably made the stick, but, uh, no, no who guard is just enough of the hesitation there to, to get the offload off and put it over the, over the line. Yep. So the notables for Worcester, uh, as I said, who guard did not play, I think he was, this was just rest before Europe, um, for whatever reason.
00:41:22
Speaker
I mean if I was Worcester, the challenge cup wouldn't mean a darn thing to me. I'd be concentrating on the premiership, waiting to make sure I stayed in it. You can give him a rest next week. I don't quite understand. Anton Bresler actually played a really good match. I saw him in a lot of areas that he probably didn't belong in in terms of Gloucester's productivity, so he did well. He thumped somebody. I don't remember who it was.
00:41:45
Speaker
I think it was 12 trees, put him, stopped him cold. I was like, ooh, that looked like it hurt. So yeah, Breslow had probably the best match. Mills, 24, solid. Adams, 23, good. Not terrible, but not great. Duncan Weir, 23, basically based on all his kicks. Bryce Team, 20, and Venter with 20.
00:42:08
Speaker
The last note I really need to think about waster before we move on is they had one in front, five meters in front. And they go for the pen instead of taking a scrum. I mean, I wouldn't take a line out from the middle of the field, but I'd take a scrum. But you take a scrum and this is not a game you're gonna, when you're on the road,
00:42:37
Speaker
And you're playing a team like luster that have the ability to score points to just take a pen Almost seems like a white flag right? It's kind of like yeah, we're gonna play this game, but we're not really gonna we're not going for it and and sometimes you need to trust the players that they're gonna execute and Yeah, like you said, you know, you have you're on the road against a team like luster. You might want to just Spread the field and that's the way you do it. You call for the scrum. You get
00:43:06
Speaker
eight guys in one point and you say, you know what, my athletic guys are going to either, either one, you're going to try to walk it over a little bit, maybe get your eight on a, on a, on a, on a, you know, or you have the option of, of running in, into a lot of space with your back line. I would, I would choose that nine times out of 10, no matter what the situation is.
00:43:26
Speaker
Well, I shouldn't say no matter what the situation is. It's games on the line, yeah. Games on the line, you got to put it over. You take the three. You down three, but yeah. And final bit. Oh, one thing I do want to mention, Eastman is banned for four weeks. No great loss. Yeah, I mean, so that'll hurt them for Europe, and then two weeks back on the premiership as well. So that's a big ban.
00:43:53
Speaker
and then the Pennell yellow card. I think you said you had stepped away or whatever at that point. Charlie Sharples has some ups for a little guy. He jumped for that ball, and Pennell did not make a good decision by taking him out. No. And to be fair, both of them got up, shook hands, and said no harm. Right. I think that was one of those. It wasn't intentional so much.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yeah, it was so that which is really only the only thing that kept it from a red because that's that was Clearly over the line there. Yeah, just yeah, you can't just take the guy out who's up in the air But I don't think he saw him. I think he was he it was on I thought he to me He looked like he was going for the ball, but he still took out the man And yeah, he just didn't I don't think he was actually realizing what he was doing until it was far too late So it was already basically done. Yeah, it's like oh boy. I wouldn't screwed up Yeah, sharpens landed on his side. So it saved him from a red
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, and saves him from a hard injury. That could have been, that could have been. Yeah, Charlie could have been in deep trouble if that had been worse. Yeah. So Penno will be banned for two weeks, but lost or maintained top three. That's a little harsh, but. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's just a standard. I don't think it's anything different. I think that's why. But yeah.
00:45:09
Speaker
Gloucester maintain their top three, Worcester are certainly thinking about going down, they're not in last, they're not even actually second to last yet, so good for them, but things gotta keep an eye on. All right, Saints Newcastle, pretty darn good game. Saints definitely will hate themselves after this one.
00:45:30
Speaker
Newcastle, good on them. This looks like Newcastle that played against Toulon and Melpellier, not the Newcastle that played a couple weeks ago when they were at the stoop against the Quins.
Saints vs. Newcastle: Tactical Execution
00:45:44
Speaker
Right. I mean, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I mean, it was a 16-14 win. I mean, it was on the road. Yeah, it's up the garden. This is not a... Road wins in this league aren't like something that you can sit there and say,
00:45:57
Speaker
By no means. It doesn't matter who it is. Oh, I fully agree.
00:46:05
Speaker
Yeah, you know what but but you're playing a saint's team that that's and we'll get to it in a second But they have some of their you know that they still Um, or you know don't have some of their their players that you'd like to see play right can't wait for I can't wait for Haskell to return. Yeah, but uh, I'm sure they're still a little bit short-handed and um, and law is coming back off I mean he had a day but still yeah, uh, he's still coming back off of off of his uh, significant international play right, um
00:46:32
Speaker
They're in a position where they can be taken. I'm being a little harsh on Newcastle here, so I'll back off on that. At the same time, I'm not judging Newcastle by the standard of who their opponent is. I'm judging them by the standard that they set last year, or the last couple of years, and then what they did in the Champions Cup.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah, you're still waiting for them to have you know to for them to stick their hands up and say you know What we're no we're not going down. Yeah, we're staying up right and this will this will go towards that But I'd like to you know It shouldn't I would like to see more than a two-point win Yeah in a game like that and not just the two-point win, but the 16 points. Yeah, I mean, let's let's a couple more I know that I'm more than one try. Yeah be good. I
00:47:25
Speaker
So yeah, well, I'll just run through the scores real quick. And then I got a couple of notes for myself. As I said, as Ben said, you know, same person, right? Haskell did not play, laws, 33, 100% did not play, Tamana Harrison with 51. Talk about that in a second. Cobus Reinak, we all know I'm not the biggest Cobus Reinak fan, but man, he's shutting me right the hell up.
00:47:49
Speaker
You think he listens? Maybe. He could be one of the 10 out there. Yeah, right. Jamie Gibson with 43. He had a nice day. He had a nice little try assist on one of Ryan X tries off a bump there. Hartley with 29. Ribbons with 27. Bigger with 27. With Gibson, ribbons, and laws, that makes sense that Hartley would have at least a decent score because those three of them are gigantic humans. So that's definitely a big lineup thing. Tamana Harrison.
00:48:19
Speaker
I saw a stat it was I think it was off to 54 tackles.
00:48:26
Speaker
Yeah. Like it was I think it's the most or second most in a long time if it's not the most like it was I was I read that I'm like holy crap now granted there's like the pick and go that Newcastle did at the end but still even if there's like eight of those in there right it means he had like 46 before that or something like that exactly or whatever it was I gotta look at that stat because it was a dumb stat I was like you gotta be kidding me
00:48:50
Speaker
Yeah, I can recall again, not nearly the same. We're not talking the same level, um, calling match. I had in the finals of a tournament one, one year. And, um, I don't need to recall it because they decided to pick and go at me like five straight times. I don't know how I kept making the tackles and my scrum have started, you know, Oh, we can do this all day. And I'm sitting there thinking, no, no, we really can't.
00:49:11
Speaker
I'm kind of kind of blown out after five straight tackles to make ten times that many and on a match at that level is And still be walking at the end of the match. Yeah I gave him 20 extra hit 33
00:49:27
Speaker
But still that's a lot of Tesla putting it putting people down on the deck. Yeah and putting his body online So again, even if he had so well, maybe we'll take that out Yeah, he had 33 tackles that man is a monster he's certainly putting his hand up saying Eddie you screwed up when you pulled me off at halftime of my of my debut and
00:49:48
Speaker
And that's what you want to see. That's the kind of response you want to see from players. Yeah, for sure. Some of the bubble guys that we talked about earlier, like the Ford, is he going to be picked? Yeah, I mean, he's going to be picked because then he loves them. Right. There's definitely room to knock them off. Right. But there's also somebody like Ford is saying, you know what? Maybe you could play Faz with a 10 and a 12. A 10 and a 12 or a 12. Yeah, one of the two there. Right. Absolutely.
00:50:15
Speaker
Or both if you really want to punish the other team. Yeah. Yeah, you're playing a big team you're probably you probably want them Um, but yeah, uh, nikki ghanova with for new castle and nikki ghanova with 26 John hardy with 27 michael wilson with 27, uh, davidson with 24 kyle cooper with 22 toby flood with 22
00:50:34
Speaker
Toby Flood and I was not a big fan of his at the beginning of the season. He's played much better since Hodgson got hurt and Newcastle are better for it because they've won two out of the three games in this little window of league play before we move on to Europe. The only question is going to keep it up. Yep. And well, I mean, we're going to find out because they got they got to go up to Edinburgh. We'll talk about that at the end here. But yeah, so Tomana Harrison's a beef.
00:51:03
Speaker
Obese, Floods played a lot better. Newcastle have to go to Nicky Giana a bit more. I saw the few runs that he got, he did damage. So he needs to get the ball a little bit more. I don't know why they're not, I don't know why they're not designing set plays to get him the ball in field. He'll still tear you apart.
00:51:23
Speaker
and let's not forget uh wilson coming back helps too a little bit he was such a monster for england and i'm so glad he did well with his chance because he was definitely one of the best players loose forwards in this in this league going into these internationals and people are saying well he was only picked because such and such hurt such and such as hurt i'm not entirely sure that he i wasn't entirely sure that that was the case he certainly has proven everybody out there
00:51:49
Speaker
Wrong by saying nah, I belong in this team. Yeah, I'm I belong in England's best back row. I belong there So good for him right somewhere on there. Yeah, definitely Yeah, i'd say probably if in England's I don't remember who said it but um that I or that I saw that I read or heard it whatever it was um England's best back row probably has billy Underhill and him. Yeah, I that's that's where I would go with yep
00:52:14
Speaker
a true seven, an eight man ball carrier that is nobody wants to tackle and a six. That's a that's just going to put you in the ground every time you get the ball. Yes. Can't can't hit that. So, yeah, it was a saint ill-disciplined definitely cost them. They had seven penalties in the first 30 minutes to Newcastle's none. None.
00:52:35
Speaker
That's that and with all the possession they had early. Yeah, that kills right kills right there I know run that got over the line eventually He got over the line a second time with an assist from Tamana Harrison after he busted a busted a half gap But yeah, just no excuse really
00:52:51
Speaker
really really no excuse you gotta you gotta capitalize this is new castle got to the top four last year you can't just sleep on them i i know they haven't done anything this year but they also beat tulon and montpelier so you can't just dismiss them no absolutely not and um you know i think uh i think the saint's kind of they'd
00:53:12
Speaker
Um, you know, there's just a lack of discipline, although they did make, you know, they made 215 tackles as a team, but then that's kind of goes back to my other point is, you know, you make, you're making 200 tackles in a match and you only gave up 16 points. That's, that's not, you know, not a bad shift. No, it's, you have to get the score more than that, but it's hard to score more. It's hard to score more than 14 when you're making 215 tackles. Yeah.
00:53:36
Speaker
Yeah, damn damn bigger and giving up 16 pennies His yellow car at the end. I don't think that was the the back breaker for them I think I think um, I think new castle was gonna get over the line either way you cut it No, but that was uh, that was a little too much pressure too late in the game. Yep That was that was going to be as long as new castle didn't didn't turn it over or knock it on or do something Just generally stupid with the ball and they didn't um, that was that was always going to be new castle putting it over Yep at some point agreed All right
00:54:05
Speaker
Our boys, the Saracens, and the Wasps. And they made me very, very, very happy to just squash Dye Young's hopes and dreams, at least for a weekend.
Saracens vs. Wasps: Game Review
00:54:15
Speaker
Thank you so much, Saracens. I love you guys. And if you can't tell, the Saracens won. 29-6, the score line's probably a little flattering of the way this match actually went. First half was 9-3.
00:54:27
Speaker
Yeah, a little bit of a little bit of a snoozer. And daily, or maybe he was 96. I think he had both his penalties. Yeah, it was 96. But yeah, he had two penalties from over 50. Boom. That'll get it done. Yeah, then just watching him line up. You know, when you get that penalty and you're like, all right, you know, it's not the worst penalty to take because, oh, wait, he's going to... Elliot Daley's over on the other side.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah. And it wasn't nine three. He kicked a second in the second half. Okay. Um, but still. Yeah, that, that, that's one of those where you start to question yourself. Well, you, you, you can start to question yourself saying, okay, we'll wait. Where can we take a penalty? Cause yeah, I know it's almost like we can't take anything outside our own 22. No, cause or attacking 22. Cause it's like, yeah, you're, you're boned. He's going to, he's going to drill that fucker.
00:55:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you definitely did. That was impressive. Yeah. Phrasing. We'll run through the scores real quick, then we'll talk about it. Farrell did not play fine. He's got they got they got two tough games against Cardiff coming up. Yeah. Toge with forty five. Good for him. Billy and Mako are both still hurt. Goodie with twenty three playing ten. Very good. Yeah. Jamie George, man of the match. Twenty four. Lozowski took the tee, scored thirty six.
00:55:47
Speaker
I have a thought about that. Wigglesworth with a 36, Shawn Maitland with a 25, and Vincent Kock with his return at 25. So I'm interested in the thought of
00:56:03
Speaker
because we know Ben Spencer's scores points when he gets it, when he gets his chance. Now, the question is, because they give the points on this for, that includes kicks, if somebody's kicked for points. So like, Elliot Daly's points in this match includes his two long kicks, okay? So, on days when Farrell is healthy and has the tea,
00:56:32
Speaker
What does Spencer score? And that's the, that's kind of the, that's the, that's kind of the question I was asking myself, um, earlier today, I was like, I hadn't really had that thought until I was like, Oh, wait a minute. That actually might make a huge difference. So week three failed in play. He had 33 and the last two weeks fell, uh, before this week failed in play, Spencer started, he had 27 and 41 and then
00:57:02
Speaker
The week he, I think the last week he started where Farrell started, he had 19. Yeah, I believe he started that game. He had 19, Farrell had 32. So needless to say, it's not that Ben Spencer is not a good option. You just want to make sure that you're using him as your kicker when you get when you get them. Right. And
00:57:27
Speaker
That's a good knowledge right there. That's some good stuff because, you know, I'm a Spencer fan. I like Wiggy. Oh, me too. I like Wiggy. I like them both. Well, Spencer's the scrim out for the future for this team, no question. And given Wiggly's age, I would love to see, just from a personal perspective, I'd love to see Spencer get the 60 minutes and Wigglesworth finish it out more often than the other way around.
00:57:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think you'll see that more, but still when it comes down to like a semi-final, especially a European semi-final, which I hope we're playing in at some point this year. I'm going to have to put Wiggy in and you know, and I had another thought and I was kind of cussing and moaning about it this weekend.
00:58:12
Speaker
you know, Die Young doesn't like when we have Wigglesworth in there because he kicks so much. But really, when you have a guy that you have a weapon of a guy that does a box kick, he puts it in a high competitive position, we have wings that can chase it down, right? Why are you going to go away from your one of your best weapons? Yes, it's not the opposing coaches favorite tactic.
00:58:32
Speaker
Who's going to give a shit? If it gets production, who cares? You don't just throw away your weapon because it's not pretty. And you know, that's one of my favorite things to do is if the opposing coach hates something that we're good at doing. Oh, I love it. Yeah. Hey.
00:58:49
Speaker
Dude, fuck you. We're going to do this because it works. Right. And and that's that's some of my favorite parts of rugby, too. It's like, oh, you're really going to pull that shit again. We're going to do it again. And it's going to work again and again and again. Yeah. So because if you have it, I mean, I don't understand why. And it's not limited to rugby, but a lot of coaches and a lot of sports will just cut off potential weapons because they're like, you know, I just don't like that. So I won't do it.
00:59:14
Speaker
And it's like, but this is effective. It works. Right. And give your players the option to do it. And just because you personally don't like it doesn't mean it's not a valid tactic and not a good way to play some winning whatever sport you're playing, in this case, rugby. There's no reason not to do it. Just because you have a personal preference against it doesn't mean you should go away from it. So yeah, I fully agree. Yeah, that was one of his complaints.
00:59:39
Speaker
All right, what for the was Willy LaRue with 12 Only a second or third game for only a second or third game for was really so If you put the money in for him and the likes of another guy we'll talk about with the bath game You are hating yourself. You're eating a lot of money right now for nothing. I
00:59:59
Speaker
Almost nothing. Elliot Daly was 16. Nathan Hughes returns with 25. So we kind of thought he might huff and puff himself out, but he did pretty darn well. Lima Sopuaga with 10. Joe Launchbury didn't play. Still nursing his injury. Brad Shields plays, I think, only his second or third premiership game this year. He gets 18. Neeson Carr with 28. Very nice. Karen Myall with 29. And Ben Harris with 26.
01:00:28
Speaker
So here's the thing in my head. Two notes and then we'll move on from this game unless you have something else. JP Doyle seemed to almost default to the dominant Scrum.
01:00:43
Speaker
In terms of his penalty awards now to me, maybe that's just the directive that they've got But to me it also in a way is lazy refereeing. Oh, it's yeah, I I would agree with that a little bit You know because there's certain there were a couple of times where there was a clear uh, like uh tt had a couple good scrums where he He beat his man, but yeah brooks. He got a fucking battle in that right scrum
01:01:06
Speaker
And, uh, and there were a couple of times where I think maybe Bruxy got the better of him. Yeah, absolutely. But he still called the, but he got the better. Maybe Bruxy got the better of TT, but the penalty was still awarded in the Saracen's favor because the, just the way it looked to the referee. Yeah.
01:01:21
Speaker
That's, and I'm always, you know, and unfortunately the people that know the dark arts of the front row don't often become referees because, well, let's be real, they're big dudes, they don't like running around, they don't, oh yeah, good lord. Have you met Joe Mahler? Have you met Dan Cole? Two guys that just cussed referees out left and right.
01:01:42
Speaker
I have a history of that too. Right. If I've yelled at my fair share, I'm to no way surprised probably. But yeah, and JP Doyle is a very good ref. And if there's one area that a lot of refs lack, it's that area probably, I'd argue. Yeah.
01:02:00
Speaker
Well, it was funny that you mentioned it because my wife popped in at one point while I was watching and just it was a scrum and Jamie George's head pops up. Yeah. And the penalty was awarded in Saracen's favor. And she's like, wait, doesn't that be a penalty the other way? And I'm like, I'm not complaining. Yeah, I'm not complaining either. I don't know what exactly he's seeing. Yeah. But yeah, you mentioned Hughes and if I realize this is an incredibly lopsided score, but, you know, we were still, as you said, we were.
01:02:30
Speaker
Talking with each other throughout that match stand, you know, I really hope Hughes like pops himself out like he's got to be done now He's got to be done and then he would come and just have a punishing run, you know Breaking a couple tackles gaining a lot of positive meters. So I came away from this match Very impressed with with with Hughes and his resilience Yeah, that was a very well played match on his part and so credit to him came off Twitter apparently Maybe might have been the smartest thing he's done. Yes
01:03:00
Speaker
Stoop. Yeah, so Saracens win 29-6. My last note.
01:03:06
Speaker
Nicky Yacique with a hustle try. I loved it. Beautiful. And he baited the crap out of them too. He said, go ahead, throw it, throw it, throw it. And then he attacked it. Attacked it, and he grabbed a hold of it, and he did the job that he needed to do. He only had five meters or so to go. Nicky Yacique, I'm glad to see him. Another guy that's trying to put the screws to Eddie saying, you shouldn't have dropped me when you dropped me. I've got plenty in the tank.
01:03:30
Speaker
And he's he's he's been a lot of fun to watch this season. Yeah. So I agree. And the best part of that try was it came if you were watching the broadcast, it came out of nowhere. Oh, yeah. Because you see, I don't recall who it was who threw the pass. It was Daley. Yeah. Daley gets it and he throws a pass and they cut to a different camera angle. And all you see is his equally just putting it down to the line. It's like, wait, because so again, we're watching this in the US. So we're watching off of an odd feed. And well, we're actually no, we're watching off a good feed for once.
01:03:58
Speaker
Yeah, we're used to a little bit of a slideshow rugby when you're maybe watching through some Some some illegal means and there's a lot of times where you're legal There'll be a lot of times in that where you'll see a play that happens just like that But you've actually missed about 30 seconds of play. So I was like, oh what the hell happened the feed cut out and the scoring that's great and then I realized no, that's just what happened right there and so that that
01:04:26
Speaker
I'm I'm kind of enjoying the fact that we don't have to do that anymore at the same time as That was a that was a hell of a try. Yeah, so good for Nikki is equally Saracen's keep their momentum going in through your into Europe Makes us makes us happy here. So good on them. We'll we'll be looking forward to next week That bath and sale had a bye week Basically basically
Bath vs. Sale: Missed Opportunities and Surprises
01:04:54
Speaker
Dear God, they might as well have. Honestly, they might as well have. Hammer down rain, ugly rain, ugly game. Bath killed themselves in the red zone. And I mean, couple of decent highlights that went in there. There was a Salomono almost try that he ended up knocking on because he hit the ground and it came loose as he was sliding over.
01:05:20
Speaker
Yeah, and he didn't really maintain control very well, so they called it a knock-on But yeah, just we'll touch on this game as quick as possible because it wasn't and it wasn't pretty right My one note in this game. Honestly is a guy that didn't hasn't played for a while. It's Toby foul top
01:05:36
Speaker
He's actually one of the most expensive players in this format. And he's played one split four games out of nine. Yeah. And to be fair,
01:05:55
Speaker
And actually, he played five. Did he play five? Either way, that's still the test. But he has four good games. Maybe that's where I was going. He has four good games, but they're all weeks one through four. So if you've been waiting on Toby Fallotown, you've been sitting on 441 units. Might be time to trade them in. Maybe time to ditch that. Note about trading your players in. You get back what their current price is. Yes. It's not what you got them at.
01:06:25
Speaker
You know, sometimes it pays to sell high and, you know, bought and ditch out when you know a guy's about to bottom out. Like, I think it was Will Cliff, who was the scrum half for sale before the clerk came back. He probably ballooned right up because he was playing great. Right. Even though he wasn't, the team wasn't just so doing that well, but I knew as soon as the clerk came back, he was going to bottom out. So if you had him, sorry, you're too late. Um, yeah, so felt out, didn't play.
01:06:50
Speaker
Rockin' the Gooney with 13. Jimmy Roberts didn't play. I think he's banged up. Yeah, you mentioned it. I did screw up. I still have Will Cliff on my screen. See, even we're not perfect. Well, we're definitely not perfect. I bought him at 235. He's down to 195. Shame on me.
01:07:09
Speaker
Well, I had to make a bunch of transfers. So 40. Well, that wasn't it wasn't worth another 20. No, but still that's maybe that's one to keep an eye on. Um, Francois low with 14 Freddie Burns with eight got pulled got pulled early and I didn't understand why he looked like he was
01:07:24
Speaker
He, I'm glad he returned. We thought we both thought he was not coming back after last week, but he got pulled early. Charlie yields with 24. Cockney single with 22 after, after. Dotting down for a, uh, for the game tire. Um, for sale, James O'Connor was 16. Chris Ashton makes his debut.
01:07:42
Speaker
He gets 17, five to Clark gets 14, that's a sign. Ben Curry gets 47, big day for him. He was turning the ball over. That was the one thing he was doing, was turning the ball over. And then John O'Rosso 35, he also had a good day making some tackles. Thank you, John. Yeah, so yeah, I don't know if Burns' injury was bothering him or what, but yeah. That's possible. He's definitely a guy I would have left on if I had the choice because
01:08:06
Speaker
Granite the guy that that came on did hit the conversion that tied it but Oh, I mean, but but burns is just having a run he's having a I don't think it's unfair to say he's had a rough year Yeah, no, and it's I don't think it's anything on him. I think it's just the way things have broke for for bath a little bit rotten luck he's played
01:08:29
Speaker
He's played every game. Some games he started, some games he's come off the bench, but he started every game, certainly in the major competitions at this point at least. So good on him. One thing I forgot to mention, and I really wanted to put it on there and crap me if I can't remember the kid's name. In the Newcastle game, Conan comes on,
01:08:56
Speaker
almost immediately as the sub happens, Newcastle have a penalty around halfway. And he just, it's right in the middle and no doubt just points at the sticks as I want this and I'm gonna hit it and he nailed it. So talk about the old church bell size cojones on this kid. He said, I got this guys, no problem and nailed it. And it was, if you can nail penalties on halfway, you become a more dangerous team obviously. But just a little side note there to detract.
01:09:22
Speaker
All right, so that is Nathan Cat, really. Oh, yeah, that's right. We got to talk about this. He was my he was one of my my my transfer pickups and he was the one pooper this week for me. Unfortunately, everyone else did the outstanding. Like I said, Vacker was awesome. Thor was awesome. Cat's been been quietly having himself a pretty decent season. Otherwise, you know, I picked him up because he was going to look like a pretty valuable contributor. Yeah.
01:09:51
Speaker
Um, and no. Whoops. Not, not this week anyway. No, that's, uh, you know, to be, to be fair, sale are the best team against props.
01:10:03
Speaker
Right, so it may not have been the best option. I know it may not have been the best idea, but if you budget limits so much. I was thinking long
Challenges in Managing Rugby Team and Strategy Selection
01:10:10
Speaker
term. Yeah, also that too. More than just this week, because my. No, I'm with John. My front row is a little light, especially, you know, I got. And you got to have front row options every week, because God knows they change very often. And that was my biggest problem was ahead. So my bench was looking like Ben Franks, Mako, Will John.
01:10:29
Speaker
Alec Hepburn, guys who basically, you know, Maka's not playing. Frank's sitting on the bench. Hepburn's not playing. So I really was limited in what I could and couldn't do. And so Kat stepped in. I mean, he's fairly expensive. He's $2.15.
01:10:44
Speaker
But that's not bad. That's not bad. That's not bad at all. But for Minus 11 minus 11 that sucks. Yeah, but you know everything's expensive at minus 11. Let's be real about this Yeah, I don't know if you know, we don't get the we don't get the stats in terms of how these people accumulate the points because
01:11:05
Speaker
Well, there's this thing called a paywall, and we're not going through the paywall in season one. Maybe they'll be nice and throw us a bone, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. And let's not forget to mention Sam Underhill. Yeah. Negative three points. Yeah. You had a rough day too. That's not something you want out of your open side flanker. You want better production than that. All right. So you're up. Let's just talk about it real quick. Sure.
01:11:32
Speaker
This is a ton of games. The last time I did the two Europe segments, I couldn't even watch them all. And we both know watching six is kind of a task. So what we'll do is, outside of the Saracens game, we're going to split it.
01:11:47
Speaker
Now, since you beat me this week. As usual? Yeah, listen, I got you a couple weeks ago. Don't give that. Don't take that tone with me. Since you beat me, I'll give it the option. You can pick which game you want first or
01:12:07
Speaker
Because if you pick Which game you want first you have to watch an extra one or you can pick second But you have to watch less because we both know we're watching the Saracens match So that's not that one doesn't count and you already know because I mentioned earlier which match I want to watch Which one was that sitting right there? Oh the yeah extra Gloucester man. Yes, sir So so what's your choice? Do you want to pick second you want to pick first and you gotta watch an extra one?
01:12:30
Speaker
You know what, uh, because I want to expand my, my rugby viewing world, uh, I'm going to go with the pick second. Cause I can, I'll probably end up watching Exeter glossed around you. Okay. Fair enough. All right. So. Well, for me, I want, Hmm. Which one do I want?
01:12:52
Speaker
See, you know what I had and I said I said I'd do this the last time and I'll do and I'll do it now I'll walk I'll pick Edinburgh Newcastle because I haven't watched anything of Edinburgh Son of a bitch. I was that was gonna be my second choice. But yeah that because I think that could be a fun match Yeah, but yeah, I'll give you that one and then I'm fine. I get my choice. Anyway, I'm taking exit or Gloucester. Yeah All right
01:13:21
Speaker
Gotta watch the champions. Leenster. Watch Leenster. That's good. All right. So and then I'm going to go with, you know what? I want to see the French beat the shit out of each other. I'm going to go with too long. Oh, man. Try wheel. No.
01:13:50
Speaker
Um, let's see. I'm going to go. Wow. Now we're starting to get down to poo. Um, I want to watch all, you know what? I don't want to watch that. I want to watch, um, layout and cluster and, uh, Glasgow. Cause that's our, that's our pool. Okay. I think I know who the, uh, the, the, the fat kid being picked late in your last and gym class is going to be first one. I'm going to say it yet until it happens. Right. Um, I, I, I got to get some, some Ireland in here, so I'm going to go, uh,
01:14:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna go monster versus cast. Yeah, there you go. Should be entertaining. Cast where? I haven't kept track of the French league of the top 14. I think they're still going pretty well. They won last year. Oh, fuck. I don't like the way this is lining up. I'm getting the fat kid.
01:14:41
Speaker
I want to see Rossing. So Rossing and Lester. Sweet. You picked a fat kid. No, well you see you don't like Lester but I want to see what Rossing does because again Rossing is a very interesting team. They don't always
01:14:56
Speaker
come in with the most greatest performances, you know, but they get into the quarter file, they sneak through the quarter file, they put in a hell of a performance in the semi-final, then they're in the final and it's like, oh man, they actually have a shot at this thing. All right, well then, I guess that works out for me because I'm taking ulcer versus scarlets. Okay. Wait, actually there's, yeah, there's still one left. Yep.
01:15:19
Speaker
Yeah, because I pick first. Oh, gotcha. I see how this is going. Because that was that was the situation. You're either picking second or you're or you're picking first, but you get an extra game. Gotcha. So that was how that was working. All right. Well, you threw at me today. Yeah, this will not be forgotten. Yeah. Great. Your teeth are done. Your choice. All right. So that is that is that. We have Europe next week, baby.
01:15:44
Speaker
We are, we're getting into it. We, we won't have nearly as much points analysis and all that good stuff, but you know, it's still rugby. It's still worthy of looking at, but we can spin it to the fancy perspective. No, no problem. It's, it's less, there's less ways to score.
01:16:02
Speaker
this format so that's the that's the big difference with this one but yeah so we'll we'll enjoy that until next week thank you very much for listening yeah thanks a lot guys you can you can please email us we want we want your feedback we want to know if you like you dislike what you want you what you want to see what you what you want to see changed
01:16:22
Speaker
tell us how sexy we sound. Yeah, you know, I don't know what you want to hear it all the time. Yeah, so email us at fancy, fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. Find us both on Twitter.
Contact and Social Media Engagement
01:16:38
Speaker
We're not gonna give the handles. They'll be in the show notes. You guys can find us there.
01:16:42
Speaker
But yeah, so look us up on iTunes, subscribe, review, all that good stuff, download. Thank you very much everybody. Have a good one. We'll talk to you next week. Cheers.