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Season 2- Episode 46- Sarries Versus the World (Super Rugby AU Final & Champions Cup Quarterfinals)
30 Plays5 years ago
It is those American Rugby knuckleheads that are supporters of the club everyone loves to hate. Sorry, had to squeeze that in there. In this episode we get into a couple deeper issues, having nothing or very little to do with on the pitch play, superstardom, and being a good player while also being a knob of a person. Of course we talk about the fantastic final we were treated to in Super Rugby AU, along with THAT look. We make the rounds in Europe including touching on the Bears in the Challenge Cup. And it's an abbreviated start/sit for the Premiership games coming your way before our next recording. Kick back with a beverage and have a laugh with us.
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. Be on the look out for an invite to our cross-format competition for fantasy rugby competition featuring the likes of us and our good friend The Fantasy Rugby geek. If you don't get an invite, we can get you in on the lower tier so you can get promoted for the following season.
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Transcript
Introduction and Rugby Game Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It is a fancy rugby game. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Lazzard. Tiki Tiki Tonga, boys and girls. That's what I'm talking about right there. Yes. I think I woke up in my mom's neighborhood after that match. You. That was a... Fuck. That was a hell of a match. That was a lot of fun.
Saracens' Defense and Rugby Team Dynamics
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah. And I think a lot of people, as much as they didn't want to or are eating a shit ton of crow about that. Now, look.
00:00:37
Speaker
It's different. You know, it's, it's, it's one thing we both picked against Sarri's thinking just trying to pick my brain out with my heart. That's all right. But like still the, you know, it was always the, you know, when you have a defensive structure and system and I hate using systems cause it's all just rugby. But when you have a defensive mindset, the way they do and communication and work and teamwork, Oh fuck, what are we doing?
00:01:03
Speaker
Beers first, but yes ears first. Yeah Keep going You have that you can beat any team right and you still need the yes You still need the attacking splash and they still have that fuck. They still have good. They still have daily both of them showed They're attacking intent, too So all it takes is just especially against a team like lancer that are not
Critique on Opponent Team's Creativity
00:01:30
Speaker
They're not set up to roll a team, you know, a good defense like this.
00:01:36
Speaker
No, you can even see it. They didn't really do much creatively with the ball. The one time they did, I saw, I saw one time where they ran out like a, basically like a flying V wedge and they had a, and cause everything else was like either, you know, pass the ball out, pass the ball out wide. This one was a first receiver caught it and then popped it back inside. And that's where, and the line combinations that they ran created a mismatch underneath on an overload underneath. And that's where the, what they used.
00:02:04
Speaker
but like that was the one really creative thing they did was an inside pass. Yeah. Like when, if that's, if that's your, your rabbit out of the hat trick, uh, yeah, they were, they, whatever the game plan was, it was not.
00:02:18
Speaker
Right. Was not the best one against this, against this Harrison's team. Um, anyway, kind of the way they play. And we saw that from across the Ireland codes anyway. Oh yeah, we'll get to it. Oh, that's right. We got to talk. We'll talk about it in a little bit. Um, so I just want to talk about that because that was, I know I'm very, I'm very into it too. My second favorite match of the weekend.
00:02:37
Speaker
yes obviously make sure that you check out all your favorite places what you find your podcast Apple podcast Google Play Spotify the like download rate give us a rating give us a review we want we want to hear from you guys we don't care if it's a shitty one wish one here for you guys that's all
Listener Engagement and Podcast Metrics
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, we've got we've got a good we've got a good average things to you guys going to I'm I'm slightly impressed that somehow two dopes like us have Average of like 25 30 downloads a week
00:03:08
Speaker
I mean, that doesn't sound like much, but I mean, it's just two fucking American guys talking about rugby. I don't know what the fuck's wrong with you guys. This is for fun. But hey, we're glad you're here. It's our fun. We're glad you're along for the ride. Yeah, that's all we care about. Have a beer with us on time. Check in with us. Give us a review. Rate us. Email us. That's just on Twitter. There's a beer subscription service out there that I might have to go dive into that I heard about.
00:03:37
Speaker
Seems fairly appropriate for what we're doing here. Obviously, this week, you're going to want to make sure that you're keeping your eye on your TRM and make sure that you get your upgrades. Come on, guys. I mean, it's worth it. It's worth it because you can probably ride out until next year at this point, I think. At this point, yeah. Yeah, might as well grab on.
00:03:58
Speaker
But yeah, like obviously this week will be interesting along with the following weeks because we're gonna have It's a double game week, but it's not like the last games are next Wednesday and then everybody plays Sunday So you have time off between the
Fantasy Rugby League Strategies
00:04:10
Speaker
two of them. So it's not a big deal But yes, so still good idea to keep be able to see those red dots and those green dots and those gray Super helpful. Yep, and I see the lineups
00:04:23
Speaker
It's huge. Yeah, just to know that you're not bouncing back and forth between the two things over there.
00:04:30
Speaker
And then obviously you want to check out our friend George. George is always good, good, a fancy rugby geek. He's got some good stuff. Especially if you're playing, um, if you're going to be struggling, like a lot of people probably are this week to field a team in champions cup FRD. I've definitely figured out that, um, when we do our, uh, our champions league next year for champions cup, it's gotta be an 18 league because 10 team league at this, at this stage is almost impossible. Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
And I was in the SACO bracket, and I was able to field team, but that's only because I tried. There were some people that just completely spaced on it. I was like, ooh. We can't talk about FRG without noting that he had a recent addition. Oh, yeah, wait, did he? Wait, did it happen? I believe it happened. Yeah, all right. Congratulations, George. Glad to hear it, bud. All right, awesome.
00:05:25
Speaker
Glad to hear that, that's awesome.
Support for Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism
00:05:28
Speaker
And then obviously we want to always acknowledge and always support the Black Lives Matter movement. Plain and simple, racism is wrong. And if you're just passing it by, then you're in a privileged position. So you gotta remember that. You have to be active against it, otherwise it will fester. And if it's not clear in this country of all places,
00:05:52
Speaker
Cause you know, it festered for the longest time. And then all it took was one candle to fucking light the whole thing. And I can't, this guy is sitting in the Oval Office right now. Um, so, and then, uh, and that freaking terrible, terrible looking fire was, was raised because of it. So, um, yeah, you have to be actively against it in order to suppress it. So, right. It's, it's, we're, we're past the time where you can just walk past and say, Oh, that's just Jimmy B and Jimmy. No, Jimmy's an asshole. Tell him to his, like, you don't have to tell it to him, to his face like that, but,
00:06:20
Speaker
You need to have a conversation with Jimmy. You need to have a conversation. You need to have a conversation with that guy. Even if you don't change his mind right then and there, you need to put the seed out in his brain and say, that's not cool, man. Right. That's not cool. Okay.
Rugby Culture vs. Other Sports
00:06:35
Speaker
Um, yeah, I named this little segment head knobs and groom sticks. Um, yeah, just mostly talking about, you know, the difference between, uh, some of the sports that are out there and, and, and the sport we love as rugby, um,
00:06:50
Speaker
And maybe it'll, maybe this will change over time as it gets more professional. I don't know. I can't predict the future. But you know, it is rare, as you said, Ben, to me the other day to find some guy that's a knob, but he's a great player. There's very few of those in rugby. There's a lot of those in other sports. Right. I don't even remember the NFL player we were talking about specifically because there's just too many of them.
00:07:16
Speaker
Kelsey, maybe? Yeah, Travis Kelsey. Okay. He's a total knob. Not so much of a... He's not... He's not a dick. He's just an idiot. Yeah. And I was like, man, it's one... Actually, this is my wife of me at the point. She's like, he's a jerk, but you know what? He's a damn good football player. And I'm like, that's pretty much how you say it.
00:07:39
Speaker
You have to know that he's a jerk, but you can't not recognize that he's got talent and can do some amazing things on the sports field. Correct. And yes, there's a few in rugby, but you don't go around each league and go like, oh, him, no, him, no. I think we took us a weekend to come up with three. And my first one was faff, and that's mostly as a joke. But at the same time, you just want to
00:08:06
Speaker
Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out. Smack them out.
00:08:22
Speaker
That might be true. That might be true. But like, you know, it kind of crept back into this conversation with the match, you know, the Saracens match with Rosie.
00:08:39
Speaker
he just, he's a, he's a hardo. He's not even like a, he tries to get in people's heads, but he also, he crosses the line too many times. And so like, I think I texted you today. It's like one third of the time I'm to like, get roads off the off the
Debate on Rugby Superstars
00:08:53
Speaker
pitch. One third of the time I'm like,
00:08:55
Speaker
road stop. Yeah, you're being a pest, but just come on, man, tone it down. And then once at a time you're like, this guy is fucking awesome. Yeah. He's at his, he's at any, he can do it all in one, in one, in one half. Yeah. As you did in the second half, I think it was. Yeah, possibly.
00:09:13
Speaker
Yeah. And for all the, well, we'll get, yeah. But in Faz, Owen Farrell, you know, there's people who... Yeah. He's only controversial because of his tackling technique. Yeah. You know, he's not a dick. Right. You know, he's just, he's controversial because of his tackle technique. And, you know, he's paying his due right now because he's sitting for a really important game and then another really important game.
00:09:33
Speaker
And then another really important game. Yeah, hopefully. So it'll be, maybe not, we'll see. Maybe not. Yes, it might be up by then. Anywho, but yeah, it is, you know, and we'll get into this, I guess. There was an article written talking about like there's no
00:09:52
Speaker
There's no global superstar in rugby that could capture the world like a LeBron, a Messi, a Tiger. Brady kind of was that for a while for football. I don't know who it is now. I don't know if there really is anybody, honestly. Yeah, if it's anybody, but I don't even know if it's him right now.
00:10:17
Speaker
And then Good Bad Rugby was talking about, you know, what about Khaleesi? I was like, I would fucking, I would totally back that dude to frickin' be a world superstar, like. Yeah, awesome. You know, he's the first ever black South African captain. He wins the fucking World Cup. He's apparently one of the nicest guys on earth. And he's a fucking hard worker. And he's a really goddamn good player.
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, no, just you know, he's got it all so if he wanted that's the other thing, you know You have to want to be that and it's it's rare in a rugby player to find that right like you look at those at the players you were talking about that that You know, they all were
00:11:00
Speaker
whoring themselves out as quickly as they could. You know, um, Tom Brady, even as late in his career is really, he's even ramping up thinking about his next level. Um, you know, guys like Peyton Manning, you become that faced by being in all the commercials. Like you go, you know, a commercial break in the NFL and all you'd see is Peyton Manning and like five different commercials. Okay. Well, yeah, of course you're going to associate him with, with football because y'all only see him.
Media's Role in Rugby Public Image
00:11:26
Speaker
and rugby players aren't like that. They aren't like, yes, look at me. Just only look at me. Like they don't have that kind of, they don't have that kind of an ego. So while I would, it would be good for there to be a face of.
00:11:38
Speaker
of rugby and I would totally vote for C. Colece. I'd run through a fricking brick wall. Yeah, I would too. Same. He was in the new Adidas commercial. I know that he wasn't a new Adidas commercial. Nobody's going to know who he is because they don't put names or under like that. And I know Farrell was in a Nike commercial last year as well. So there are, there are faces out there that could be it, but they're just, you know, it's the media handbook and nobody wants to get sold out. And here's the other thing. Um,
00:12:07
Speaker
You know, Hartley was sold out, not sold out, but you know, the media printed shit that he didn't really say. They just took it out of context, which is what the media does. They do. And, you know, instead of Eddie going to, Eddie went to Hartley and said, what the fuck you doing? And, you know,
00:12:23
Speaker
Eddie, I'm sure, listened to the whole thing. What he needs, what really he needs to do is back his player
Promoting Rugby's Popularity
00:12:29
Speaker
and say, no, no, no. You guys took that out of context. That's your fucking fault. Not Dylan's, yours. You need to stop doing that bullshit. Otherwise, no, he's not going to give you any more. You need to stop doing that. If you want to, if you want more from these rugby players, you can't print shit like that.
00:12:46
Speaker
you know, you can't print shit like about Dylan Hartley and his concussions. That's not that's not going to work. Yeah. So you got like the media is the media is going to be the media, but but Eddie's got to come out and back his player instead of going into, you know, calling him into the headmaster's office and yeah, gas dyesing the shit out of him. That doesn't help.
00:13:03
Speaker
So it doesn't matter at that point what is said afterwards everybody knows what what was being done and what was being said in there and You know, even if you come out and say I back, you know, I back my player 100% It's it's it's too late that that is already gone Yeah, so it's it's there's a lot that can be done to build this type of thing up to build the popularity of the sport up you know you want you know, you don't measure it by
00:13:27
Speaker
social media followers, but you know, kind of can in the sense of, you know, who's got the most in, in rugby right now. It's, it's a couple of guys that are, that are not active on social media, I think. And they're both either retired or at the end of the career, Carter and McCall and either one of which do anything on social media whatsoever. You know, Haskell is very active on it, but he doesn't even have that many. So, you know,
00:13:51
Speaker
And these are all guys that are now gone. So you need somebody that's currently playing. So I'm an ambassador. You need them. They really should have someone on, on, on, you know, continental type thing. Like there's gotta be someone in, in Europe. There's gotta be someone in, in, in Asia. And I would assume that would be somebody from Japan. Um, cause they're fucking awesome. And then, you know, Australia and South Africa, all that's like, there's, there's places to have them. And really that's how you grow the game. You got to get attention and to get attention. You got to have,
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah, as much as we're happy that rugby doesn't have that many head knobs, as long as it's not on the field and it's done well, like even look at Antonio Brown, when before all, yeah. Before he went crazy.
00:14:42
Speaker
when he was broadcasting from the Steelers locker room after a playoff win. And like the whole world was like clutching their pearls and fainting on their, their, their couches and going, Oh, I can't believe he did that. He showed and it's like, no, that's what it should be. Make it accessible. Like that, there should be a little bit of that. Nothing was, you know, it didn't give up any strategy, anything like that. It was just, Hey, we want a game guys. Like, yeah, good. That's not, that's not going anywhere.
00:15:10
Speaker
that should be accessible to fans and really helps you interact with the team. Like, you know, on that note, still one of my favorite post-match videos ever was the post-Champions Cup. Tiki Tiki Tonga from the Saracens last year. I would, I will go back and watch that video so many times because I just had, I enjoy it so much. But yeah, you want shit like that, you know, you want shit like that, that you feel accessible to the team.
00:15:34
Speaker
And so that's why he was actually like fans started to gravitate towards him and he became a thing based on stuff like that. Cause he got attention and then helped that he was fucking ridiculously talented.
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah, no shit. But, you know, people gravitate to accessibility. Yeah, absolutely. So we need more, like, Jamal Ford Robinson. I genuinely like the guy and I only know that because I follow him on Twitter and I saw his posts and they're kind of cool. He's a thoughtful individual. Yeah, I would like to hear more from him. Danny Cipriani, I'd like to hear more from him. Like, some of these guys I want to hear more from.
00:16:14
Speaker
that's that's his video was definitely one of my favorite videos I've ever watched of a rugby player ever right I mean we were we were just talking before this because I was bringing up Ashton Hewitt got a whole bunch of knobs on his feed because he knelt after he scored a try and try to make it you know he made it a thing and
00:16:30
Speaker
Um, yeah, we'll get there soon. Yeah. And it's like, and I was like, Oh, like, uh, fuck. I don't know. I don't follow dragons. I don't know Ashton Hewitt. I only know Ashton Hewitt because I've seen his tweets. And then I've decided, Hey, that's someone I want to root for. I want to be a fan. So it's like, that helps. It helps. Even if you're not like, cause I'm not a,
00:16:49
Speaker
I'm not a pro 14 guy. No way. But I'm going to, I'm going to cheer for Ashton Hewitt and his team because I, I know I like him because he's a good person. And same thing with, uh, yeah, Jamal, like he said, Jamal Ford Robinson, I want to root for, I want to, I want him to do well. I know he's not like a superstar, but he's a nice guy and I wish him well because I know, I feel like I know him better.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah. So we got to find somebody like that out there. All right. This one, this one I direction. I didn't think it was going to go, but that works. Um, uh, briefly, um, some of the ABCs are saying that the rumors are untrue about
Player Transfers and Family Commitments
00:17:23
Speaker
them backing out. Molongo was the first one. I think, I think Parana are still wrestling with the idea, but might be okay. Did you see what Ting Cole said? No. He's like, I got three kids at home. I'm on the first plane out.
00:17:44
Speaker
If nothing else, you're honest and we appreciate it. That's what we appreciate. That's great. Yeah. They've been in lockdown this whole time. He didn't even play the last. He didn't play the north-south game. He didn't play in the last hurricanes game. So yeah, he's probably just like, get me the hell out of here.
00:18:04
Speaker
I'm out. Later. That was great. That was great. Small bit of player movement. Luther Burrell switching back codes, going back to Newcastle. Going up to Newcastle, I should say. Hey, good all around. Yeah. I'm sure you got more. Come back to the good rugby in the good place. Yeah. For a good team. And I hopefully would take a team. Well, considering that Sesino moved,
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, that was one of their centers. So obviously they've lost other players as well since they went down last year. But yeah, so they need some bodies and he's not a bad one to have. He's at least a veteran and he'll.
00:18:45
Speaker
You know, we'll try and ram a hole through the wall. It's about it. Yeah. You know, put them at 12 and just leave them there. Stay there. Nope. Stay there, Luther. Nope. I'm going to go around you. Okay. I kind of want to see him and Josh Medivacy meet up. That would be fun. A couple of units right there. Good board. A couple of big boys. All right. Um, let's go to super rugby, AU final.
Super Rugby AU Final Review
00:19:10
Speaker
This was not bad. Not bad at all. This was excellent.
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah. Really good game. Excellent representation of Australian rugby. Absolutely. I mean, geez, really, it's hard to say either team didn't deserve this. Right. They both played so well. And it's just, it's just when they played well, you know, Brumby's played very well to start the match and then the Reds just couldn't catch up. Correct. That game was, you know, a hundred minutes.
00:19:42
Speaker
They probably would have been a red's win. Right. Correct. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. It was good to see a little SEO back. Yes. Really good to see that. And he played well. Yeah. So he's I'd say he's a shoe in for that Wallaby's jersey as he's been as he's been appointed to. So that's that's really good for him. Did you see and I think you was staring at Hamish Stewart. That was the worst.
00:20:11
Speaker
yet scariest headmaster stare I've ever seen in my life from Gus Gardner. I think it was Hamish Stewart. You must've said something after a penalty. Gus Gardner was like, I'm sorry, or excuse me, or pardon me, whatever it was. And I was just like, somebody's in trouble.
00:20:29
Speaker
I've not seen anybody stare a hole through a player quite like that in a long time. That was pretty good. Are you sure he wasn't looking at Angus Blythe? Maybe, I don't know. I was distracted by Angus Blythe's hair. Yeah, I mean, how can you not be? I was like, oh, that's that somebody's got a whole lot of shit for that one.
00:20:53
Speaker
Oh, man, I've not seen that for a long time. That was so great. Oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah, we do need more referees being stronger like that. Stare a little hole through them. Yeah. They'll back down. Come on, man. They have to. Yeah, they definitely don't. They definitely should be firm and all that stuff. And, you know, I'm definitely for the referees that are just like, all right, enough back chat. You're going back 10. Get the fuck out of here. I totally agree with that one.
00:21:18
Speaker
It was unfortunate to see Pattaya come off again. God, this guy can't catch a break. No, he can't. Even at Wing, it's one thing if it was just the centers.
00:21:30
Speaker
Yeah. Even when you try and put them out there in a, in a semi protected spot, you can't fucking, you can't catch anything. That's a, that's, that's problematic though. That's not a good, that's not a good look. Um, but a good long-term prognosis. These like you, and I realized he's a, he's still young and he has a little bit to grow, but we need, we need a little bit more
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah availability if you can't you can't be It's like every it's a shame because it happens to players. It's just not you know, some players just aren't Aren't cut out to be able to handle it and everything about Pattaya tells me he should be able to but he keeps getting these little You know nicks and knocks not
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You got to be more durable. Yeah. So focus of his in the future. Cause it's got to turn it around starting soon. Yeah. Uh, diagnosed card, correct decision. The yellow, the yellow for the tip. Yeah. Yeah. I was fine with it. It was, it was,
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah, I was cool. Yeah. No, no issue. Nothing. Nothing stood out. I was like, why would they do that now? That's fine. Yeah. Card was probably yellow was probably the right amount. Didn't land on his noggin. Yeah. I remember. So I was like, okay, that's fine. Yeah. It was, it was not a pretty, it wasn't that it wasn't ugly, but it wasn't pretty. It's like, yeah, that to me, when you straddle the line there, then yellow is, is, is reasonable as even as a precaution. Yeah. I agree. Um,
00:23:05
Speaker
Certainly in a championship match. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's not trying to, let's try not to ruin it. Unless it's blatant, you know, cause it can't, it can ruin it for sure. Um, you know, and it's, we, we want, we were rooting for him, you and I were, and he, he equated himself. Well, he, they didn't lose this match because of James O'Connor. I can tell you that much right now. Um, he put, he played out of his skin as usual and
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I can't say that, I mean, L'Olessio played well. I can't say that either outplayed each other. I thought that was a hell of a 10 battle right there. Yeah, that was good. That was a good back and forth between the two 10s and on the field there. So future and present are in good hands when it comes to the 10 mid slash midfield four. I'll show you in rugby.
00:23:47
Speaker
I think they'll be just fine. But, Brumby's take home a championship, 28-23 over the Reds. Can we at least talk about the Lice try, though? How awesome that was? Oh, it was great. That was pretty cool, because you went to a McDermott scooting through, and then, I don't know who Shin it went off of, but everything was good. It was all clear, all clear. I was just like, I think that's a try. I don't think that's a knock on. Yeah, I was like, I don't see any knock. I see Lice, but everybody's onside.
00:24:11
Speaker
It really, it came down to whether Tate McDermott placed that ball back and he clearly did. Yeah, he definitely went backwards. So, hey, good on him. And then of course, Gary Wilson fights the whitewash. Of course he does. He's been, he's been outstanding for this Red's team. It's, it's a shame he didn't get to get the send off that he probably deserved, but on the other side of it, you know, you look at a guy like Lachie McCaffrey who's played, played so many, so many tastes in a Brumby shirt and hasn't seen a ton of success in terms of, you know, winning.
00:24:41
Speaker
um, knockout matches and finally gets, gets one over the line at least. Uh, so loads of credit to him. And I respect the crap out of him too. Speaking of people who never scored tries, Falafel Inga scored a try. Finally. Where's he been? We were waiting. Well, we're waiting. Does he ever not score tries? Like it's rare. Isn't it like a 12 game streak now? Or did he, did he,
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's something, I think you screwed it up in one of the weeks, but it's still very rare that he doesn't score a try. He just, you know, and even if it's at that back of that mall to know how to guide it and be very patient with it, you can see in some of the youngsters that are playing in the prem lately, they just don't have it. And even some of their veterans are still finding ways to fuck it up. Right. A lot of times, I would say,
00:25:34
Speaker
almost all the time when a line out mall gets the
00:25:44
Speaker
whatever, held up, turned into a scrum, what have you. Um, that's, that generally happens cause your, your hooker fucked it up. You know, it usually gets back to him or whoever's at the back fucks it up. It's almost a hundred percent of the time their fault because they could have done something different to, to prevent it. Um, so to not do that and just score tries, it's not, it's not difficult, but a lot of people can't do it.
00:26:09
Speaker
No, agreed. Yeah, it's tough. And you know, and the Reds obviously suffered the Lucan Salicai Lotto injury that was less than helpful as well. You know, he came off, you know, shortly after halftime and tried to finish the job. But you know, he just, he wasn't right. Yeah, he wasn't right. So he needed to, he needed to be pulled.
00:26:26
Speaker
Correct decision, but um loads of credit to tupo for going the distance again. He's something that australia and rugby could definitely use as A prop that's willing to go beyond the 70 minutes, which most get pulled by at least yeah And who's we almost seeing this was that was that not this match?
00:26:42
Speaker
Um, not this match. I don't believe it was not right color, right color kit. Wrong. Right color kit. Wrong team. All right. Um, let's, let's come to Europe. Um, obviously we had challenge and champions cup this
Bristol Bears' Dominating Performance
00:26:59
Speaker
weekend. Um, the one challenge, I mean, the one challenge cup match really worth talking about was Bristol bears and their absolute demolition of dragons. Good Lord.
00:27:10
Speaker
ruthless and bloody and mean, but so pretty, so pretty. Especially the last 10 minutes when the game was over, but they were just... They were still running in for fun. Yeah, but they were running for fun. I mean, they were from about 20 minutes in throughout the rest of the match. Just about, yeah. Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
Ben Earl's ridiculous. Rod Roger, the combination of them should be illegal. It's like. Yeah, absolutely. It's really scary to see the two of them. The offload.
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, this is this team. Oh, yeah, this team was just willing to offload anywhere just about for a good majority of the match. It's like, these guys are crazy. Good Lord. But yeah, I mean, you know, dragons came out fairly hot, but you could tell
00:28:08
Speaker
I don't think they were saying Pro 14 hasn't played in many matches of late. So now, I mean, they just had the final last week. So, I mean, so there's probably one, there might've been one or two that they've, that dragons have played. Yeah. Maybe. So yeah, they were probably rusty. Yeah. The least.
00:28:26
Speaker
Um, and it didn't, it didn't show at first, like you said. So that's, I'm like, maybe not the rust so much as the legs. They just didn't, they weren't, they weren't playing at the same level as Bristol, even from the start, even when they were, were leading.
00:28:39
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. It was meh. It was a whole lot of meh after a while. Yeah. And then so it was like, you kind of saw it coming. You knew what was going to happen. You didn't know that. I mean, Bristol, really what was fucking them at first was they couldn't hold onto the ball. Like they were trying things. They were trying things and it wasn't working. Things weren't clicking. Somebody stepping into a receiver position that they shouldn't have been, which
00:29:05
Speaker
You know, instead of a long breakaway try, it was a knock, little things like that. And then the pasta started to go to hand and that's when it was over. Yeah, he's. Yeah, once once they figured it out, I mean, the we talked about the guy that scored it, but the try itself was a glorious one from dragons that was the first try from here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fucking inch perfect. Burned them.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yeah. And he still had work to do too. So, you know, don't, don't dismiss that by any means whatsoever. Um, and then, and dragons tried to try to stay in it after halftime, but that was, that was all she wrote. Really. Um, good to see, good to see Harry Randall back. We were really, really worried about.
00:29:50
Speaker
whether or not he was going to be done for the year after he looks okay. He's fine. He's fine. He's okay. He's wearing a really peculiar looking leg sleeve, but it works. So it's okay. It's okay. I was, I was just glad to see the guy out there. Um, and then, uh, we talked about, we talked about this via text, but, um, uh, Saracen's 15 dragon 17.
00:30:18
Speaker
I think he gave his up to Dan Thomas. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Not bad. Not bad for Maloney's. Pretty good stuff. All right. So Bristol, Bristol, move on. There's certainly everybody's favorite, um,
00:30:44
Speaker
If not like their actual like preferred team, but like everybody thinks they're going to probably win this, this competition. It's likely, um, outside of none of the other teams, the talent literally ready to handle that. Yeah. Too long has the talent, but they didn't look very good. So we'll see. They play a Bristol play Bordeaux next, which is the semi's old team. Um, they have a couple of good looking players that have been, uh, acquired,
00:31:08
Speaker
One of them named Ben Lamb. So we'll see how it goes. That should be fun. Yeah, it should be an interesting one coming up this weekend. All right, let's go to Champion's Cup, because, you know, the other match I might want to talk about was Cast and Lester, but Cast are dumb and don't know how to keep their players healthy, apparently. Yeah. Or their players are dumb. I don't know which one, but either one, not good. Yes. Not good all around. No, not good. Not good at all. All right, let's go to it. To Dublin, to the Viva.
00:31:36
Speaker
Oh yes, what a fucking match this was from the boys in black. Alex good playing at 10. We weren't sure that was going to be the case. We thought it would be Manu, but, uh, good. He did not disappoint. No, that's, that's, I think the best I've seen him play a 10 in a long time.
00:31:52
Speaker
Same, you know, and he, you know, obviously he got the scoot try and I was like, yes, go, go, go, go, you old fuck. I was like, no, don't pass it. It's already, it's gone. It's gone. Just go. And he was going to make the right decision and give it to Maitland, but they had him covered. So he's like, fine, I'm taking it myself. I'm done.
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah, it just can't, you know, it really came down to which team could adjust to, you know, goes there looking terrible referee, you know this. It came down to which team could get in his mind first as the as the aggressors and as the as the favorites. And from there on out, it was just gonna be difficult for the team.
00:32:27
Speaker
Right. And we saw what happened in the scrum's cock was a destroying that. Oh, man. How good was he? How good was he? He played. I've never seen him play that that well before. That was amazing. Like just everywhere. And like getting penalties in the loose too, not just in the, in the scrum, just unbelievable performance.
00:32:47
Speaker
And he went 80. I mean, yeah. Clary came on at the 80th minute. He snuck on for a debut. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, for, for, for a tight head to go 80, um, on unbelievable. So I, I, you know, and they, and here's, and here's another guy I definitely got to point out and he played out of his brain.
00:33:11
Speaker
And we talked about the experience that they had at Munster, at Tillman Park earlier this year, a group of these guys. And one of them stood out then, and he stood out, and this came to me, and Alex Lewington was a big part of the Saracens when, in his kick chasing, he's clearly got the understanding of what the Saracens want to do. And now he's very good at it as well. So, because he had the talent, he's always had the talent. He was the other talent when he was at Irish. He's clearly got the talent now. Now he knows what to do though, and he's definitely gotten a lot better.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, and there was definitely, absolutely one of us who was hypercritical of him not that long ago. That means the guy that's not me. But no, that's the cool thing is he's actually stepped up to be that. He was more of the flashy runner when he came to Saris and now he has, that's just a total
00:34:08
Speaker
growth as a player that you're seeing from him where he does the things that they need him to do, which was what I criticized him for not doing really. And he had a lot of smart guys that were helping him along too. Obviously, you know, you have the likes of Shawn Maitland to play on the wing, you know, good. He's back there kind of helping him out. And, you know, this is a guy that's going to be done sometime in the next few games here. Rich Wiggles, where I was just playing
00:34:32
Speaker
He played this Lancer team like a fiddle with his foot. He did. He really, really... And he played the wind too. I thought, so that's a factor that I don't think that was really appreciated. How well, how much better the Sarries played with, you know, played with the wind in both halves. Like they went into the wind or they were going with the wind the first half and used it to their advantage very well. And then in the second half, they made it seem like there really wasn't that,
00:35:00
Speaker
It wasn't that bad. I mean, they had a couple of kicks that were very bad, but their kick chase is so good that they can negate it sometimes. And it's not to take a ton away from one.
00:35:11
Speaker
They were champions for a reason. They made it interesting. That's for damn sure. You know, the llama try was a well set up try. Duncan Taylor got caught a little bit napping. Um, cause they had, and they finally figured out how to, that maybe they shouldn't be trying to take this mall in every time because the Saracens kept propelling it. Um, they finally figured that out and the Saracens kind of weren't ready for it. So, um, with that, and llama's fucking speed is incredible. He's not gonna, you know, don't give him half a gap. He's going to take it. And he did. So.
00:35:41
Speaker
I mean, good on them for making it a fight, getting into it. They found penalties. They found ways to just stick around. But they just, this Lenser team could not figure out their model execution. That's for damn sure. And you know, the likes of the guys that were causing the trouble were Maro, Toge, and Michael Rhodes, really. Yeah. It was just, it was just...
00:36:02
Speaker
demolition time for the two of them at mall time. So it was a great job by the two of them. The now bald Maru Itoji. Yeah. What the hell? That was so weird. I was like, whoa. Tell me you kept some of it for the Juju, man. It looked like actually, if you looked at the picture, it looked like there were some locks behind it. Okay, good. Keep a little bit of the magic, man. Don't get rid of it yet. Right. I think it was a little bit of the angle that he used. Thankfully.
00:36:29
Speaker
It's still funny. Yeah. That was, um, that was a great performance from the boys in black. Um, this team's not going away and they've shown that now. No. And then, you know,
00:36:39
Speaker
Again, that didn't, it's not the, it's not, look at the talent, look at the players that they had on that squad. And yes, you still have Maro Toji. Yes. So the Vuna Polo brothers and good, but good's out of position. Daily's out of position. And then other than that, like you're not, it's not like it's a team of, of, um, of burners here. It's not like they're, they're scorching you. They're just gonna, they're playing,
00:37:05
Speaker
You know, like good team defense. Right. And take what they give you. I mean, you know, I'm the first to hate, um, penalty kicks, but Sarri has kicked the first one. I mean, they, they had a 12 point, I think their first 12, they, uh, penalties, but that's what you do against this team.
00:37:25
Speaker
Two more off dailies horn god that friggin what drives yeah Either way, that's that's the point is that like you can't wedge for him You can Like you can in a game like this especially especially against a Leinster team that's not
00:37:46
Speaker
They're not going to play three or four tries on you. Yeah. They weren't super overpowering. They have been in this competition. So that's why everybody was obviously touting them. Um, and so we thought they were going to win too, but they, they did not.
00:37:59
Speaker
They didn't show up. I really hate to say it, but they didn't. And I think Leo Cullen was pretty accurate and he's just like, yeah, this was not a game we came to play, I don't think. And I don't remember the exact words he used, but he wasn't super, he wasn't hypercritical of his team, but he also wasn't super complimentary either. So I think he knew what happened and Saracen took advantage because the rest is well banged off for these guys. Yeah. I mean, yeah, what was it? There was just that one sequence. Daley kicked the,
00:38:29
Speaker
uh the long-ass penalty and then right after that what sexton didn't make it 10 and there's a scrum scrum penalty daily puts another six of the three over so he put six points without the saris having to do anything but scrum once right i mean that's that's that's a big mistake right in this in this kind of in this kind of match that's a big mistake this is a quarterfinal of europe you know you you can't make those mistakes and when you you know this is why obviously the sarrison signed daily
00:38:56
Speaker
you know, this is obviously a bonus to how good he is, but you know, that mule leg of his certainly did him favors, a lot of favors. It's yeah, so it was a great performance by the boys in black. Once there didn't quite have enough in the tank to get over the line and obviously that final penalty put the nail in the coffin.
00:39:16
Speaker
and also maybe break something, almost break something in my mother's house. Anyway, so, Leinster17, Saracens25, Saracens, keep on going with the important, with the meaningful games. Hooray!
00:39:31
Speaker
Yeah. Same day. It's going to be a while, but until we see them again. So we're hoping for a lot of them. Well, a few, a few more. A couple more, please. A couple more, please. So let's go over to Stadt-Marcelle-Michelin with the all French clash.
Claremont vs. Racing 92 Overview
00:39:45
Speaker
Claremont-Alverne and Rossing92. And
00:39:49
Speaker
Claremont did not equip themselves quite glowingly in this one. Not so much, no. You know, the match was kind of spoiled by the Roman plot coughing into the goddamn referees the whole fucking time. How does that happen? How do you let that happen? How do you get him off, dude? Yeah. You got to get him off. Remove him. You have other referees, replace him. That was not a great look.
00:40:18
Speaker
Yeah, this was obviously, I think this was a wrestling team that was far more prepared for this match than the Claremont team was. This was a very French match. I mean, obviously you have two French teams, you're a French referee, it's only gonna go that way. And this was not a good representation for French rugby.
00:40:41
Speaker
So that's, you know, that is what it is. But what does that tell us about next week then? I don't know because we have to, it's going to be, Saracen's going to France. I don't think it'll be a French referee. I think they'll do their best to get somebody that's not French or English. Nigel? Which might be Nigel. Oh really? I thought he'd retire. Or is that just international?
00:41:06
Speaker
I don't know. I guess. I thought he, uh, I thought he retired. Uh, in that case, nevermind. I might be wrong. Anyway, um, I'll show that I'm sure they'll find somebody. Yeah. They'll, um, maybe Clancy or something like that might be the next, next one down. Um, but either way that'll be, um, yeah, they'll, they'll need to find somebody else. That's not getting his partner. Give him a COVID test. Yeah. You know, make sure he's not, make sure he's not incubating.
00:41:33
Speaker
and then be on with it. But yeah, so to the match, I mean, number one, I was excited to see, sorry, he's out now, but Matsushima at fullback for Claremont, I was just like, yay, I like somebody I actually give a shit about in this game. Right. Simon Zebo, but, you know. Well, yeah. Other than that.
00:41:53
Speaker
yeah it's just this was not this this wasn't for the score line that there is this was a pretty ugly game it was a lot of cards oh a lot of cards that's right he was handing out cards like cough drops yes he definitely was have one have one for yourself there Roman yeah yeah I mean this is not something that was gonna
00:42:15
Speaker
How many tries were scored? There were a few number of tries, but just, yeah, it didn't look pretty, just the same, you know? Yeah. Six tries scored in all. Yeah. But really what? Look at the penalties that were racked up by Rassing because they just kept the scoreboard ticking over because Claremont couldn't keep their discipline. You know, Ira Bryan had what? Six? Yeah. And then Masha-No had two. Eight penalty kicks.
00:42:43
Speaker
They, like, Claremont outscored them on the tribes chart and they lost. And they lost by a good chunk because they couldn't stay disciplined. That's bad. That's really bad. That was the time I checked. Lopez boot was not working well, clearly. I might have given the team to par, T to par after a little while because if he's not, I mean, you got to see it at some point and say,
00:43:06
Speaker
All right. They're clearly trying to get out in front of us with, with kicks and we aren't landing ours. So we got to find a way to keep the scoreboard ticking as well. So you make a change. You have to, you know, you have to recognize that and you have to see it. But Hey, what the fuck do I know? Well, in any, in any way,
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah. So I don't know what to expect from, from next weekend, from, I don't, this is, this is this match tells me nothing. This match tells me nothing. I don't know what the hell wrestling is going to bring. We've done this. We've done this dance once before. We did a long time ago. It was almost here. We're working on a year ago now. Um, it was like,
00:43:43
Speaker
like last November or end of last October, whatever it was that we did this, but Saracen's going to, uh, it was 19th. It was January 19th. The last time Saris played Rossing. Yeah, but no, I'm talking about that a lot of phones because the last time we were at Allianz. Oh shit. That's right.
00:44:01
Speaker
So that was a little bit before that, but still, so it was also a very different team that got sent to that was November 17th. That's what occurs. So we're, we're, we're, we're, we're 10 months on from it now. Yeah. Again, it'll be a very different team that goes there this, this week. So we'll see. It'll be interesting to see the tactics too. Cause we saw saris, I thought they put out a very defensive
00:44:24
Speaker
a line squad. Um, and when Nat made this week, you could easily see them putting Manu at 10 daily at 13 goodie back to 15 and then putting some burners on the wing and just saying, you know what, let's just fucking run. Yeah. Um, we'll see what the try. Yeah. It'll just be interesting. Yeah. That, that tactic will, I mean, the lineups will tell us a lot.
00:44:46
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'll tell you just about everything you need to know about it. The next day, again, not a great match. Two more not great matches. Toulouse and Ulster. You know, Ulster again, look a little...
00:44:59
Speaker
Another pro 14 in the grand scheme of things in Europe this weekend did not look great.
European Rugby Performances and Predictions
00:45:06
Speaker
No. Between dragons, Edinburgh, Ulster and Leinster. Leinster probably looked the best, I think is fair to say. And they didn't necessarily look great. Right. Ulster just... Yeah, they look like garbage, to be perfectly honest. I hate saying it because they should be so much better than that. And I like the team too, you know? Yeah.
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah, they lost Billy Burns early. And that was not helpful. It was not helpful at all. Not at all. And that, I think really that, yeah, that hurt him a lot. I mean, I took the one out of sales for sure. Yeah. And plus when you look on the other side and Cheslyn Colby is just dancing around you. He is so good. He is so good. Oh, it's not fair. It's not fair.
00:45:53
Speaker
And I'm thinking, I'm like, man, it would be awesome if he was to Sarri someday. And I'm like, but going back to our point before, he's not the kind of winger that Sarri's would want. No. So it's just like, yeah, okay, then fine. He wants to express himself and be the player he is, which is fine. He should play for a team like that. Yes, absolutely. To that point, yes, he should play for a team like Toulouse. That's going to open it up and see what happens.
00:46:21
Speaker
And that, oh my gosh, that, who threw that? That pass out to him, that was of, yeah, DuPont. Holy fuck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean. We know why he plays Knuckles, France. Yeah, he's not bad. He's not bad at all.
00:46:46
Speaker
That's one of those that kept popping up on my Twitter feed and every time I'm just like, what? So yeah, he's so he was ridiculous. Let me just throw this past five other guys out to my guy who's who's got the edge on the wing and I'll watch him just dance around for the day. Just dances for everything.
00:47:01
Speaker
Oh, so yeah, this is a supremely talented to lose team. It's gonna be interesting coming up this weekend. But yeah, this is a lot. There's a lot to like about this team. And, you know, I'm a big Jerome Kano fan myself as well. So, you know, cool to see him where he is right now back in a semi final. Get to a final to Cory is gigantic. They were talking because they almost had to stretch him off. I was like, Good luck.
00:47:28
Speaker
You are not stretching that big fucker off. You're going to need 10 dudes to get to roll him on the side. Like get out of here. You're not structuring him off. I think somebody said, get the crane. I was like, yup, that's pretty much what I was going to take. That's a large human right there. No, no way you're switching that dude off. No. Oh man. Huge motherfucker right there.
00:47:53
Speaker
Okay, and I was glad that Cooney got a piece of the action at least. He got himself over the line. He's had a great campaign for Ulster. It's just sad it's ended in two really dull losses for them, unfortunately. Yeah, he deserved a wee bit better than that, but that's where we're at now. So Ulster are gonna be licking their wounds and tools move on 36 to 8. And to the other match at Sandy Park. It started interesting.
00:48:22
Speaker
It was fun for a little bit. Fun for about 60 minutes and then fucking Exeter spoiled the party. Yeah. Really the Saints wanted to spoil their party. Let's be real. Yeah. The Saints were not, they were punching above their weight class the whole time. You have an eight playing prop who did a fucking awesome job. He did a great job. Yeah. I mean, I can't play this ass off.
00:48:47
Speaker
So we'll say his name, Emmanuel, I can't really say it, Yogan. Yeah, something like that. I'm sorry, dude. But you deserve to be recognized because 72 minutes of hard-ass play against fucking exit. I've reached a really good scrum, too. Don't dismiss that at all. That's a very good scrum. And he held his own as much as he could. And he knew he had to because Friggin Seville just joined.
00:49:16
Speaker
because of their prop, you know, their prop situation. So, he knew he was gonna have to go out there for a while and he still held his own and did well. He won a couple penalties like good on him, good on him. You know, if it put this kid on the field for the Saints somewhere in the future, you're gonna be fine. He'll be great. I have no doubt in my mind. You know, you step up like that in a match like this, you're gonna be okay. No doubt.
00:49:39
Speaker
But yeah, exit are just bullying them after a while. They really did. Can we talk for a minute? Cause we have these, this guy does not get talked about enough. And I, he's an international, he's an England international. So that says something. Um, Henry Slade. Yeah. I mean, you know, you talk about like a Rod Rodger, you talk about like a Nick Tompkins type. Um, just some of the, the attacking thirteens that you see around the, um,
00:50:07
Speaker
from the premiership and European rugby in general. But Slade, I don't think gets enough credit for the work that he does that's similar to those other great players. And he just showed his quality here a lot too. A lot of opening up space for other people around the edge. Yep.
00:50:26
Speaker
And I mean, that's the reason that he's an international. To me, he's in the best England team that they can put out there from the players that they've selected of late. He's their 13 with 2E at 12. Yes, I agree. And it's unfortunate that he doesn't get enough time because they do that 2-10 thing and bump 2E out to 13. And it kind of just
00:50:51
Speaker
You know, he, he, he presents more, a more dynamic solution to a 13 and not to say that two, he's not dynamic in any way, shape or form, but, um, just with, you know, fail doesn't run from 12. He, he distributes and he kicks, you know, he doesn't, that's not what he does. And when you're, you know, you play in England, we're getting into England every, sorry. Um, but when you, when you play in England and you're,
00:51:20
Speaker
You're playing in English weather. Rain, shitty wind, shitty weather. Attacking rugby doesn't really calm that good. So when you have a guy that loves to play on the front foot as attacking rugby, cool, I hope you play on a loss on shiny games. Otherwise, he is going to fucking shit himself every time he's stuck behind the line with the rain in his face. So, yeah, that's just my take. Yeah, it kind of, yeah, that is a factor.
00:51:46
Speaker
But I, yeah, this game was pretty, was played in some pretty conditions. And I thought, uh, this was, yeah. Well, Joe Simmons played, Joe Simmons has played so well for this team and he deserves a look as well. Cause the guy's just excellent, you know, goal kicking, distributed distribution and, you know, and he takes off when he, when he knows he can. So he picks his spots. He's a great distributor, especially to his brother. And yeah. Why wouldn't you give it to Sam Simmons? Um,
00:52:16
Speaker
And I, you know, I, I'd rather have him than Ford, but apparently Ford has pictures of everybody in England rugby. So yeah, he must install or, or dad does. Well, yeah. Like his dad does. Yeah. That's what I'd say. There's no reason. There's absolutely no reason for, for Ford to be a part of that, that lineup. When you look at all these talented players that are available, I'd rather have Simmons and him even with, if you wanted to do Faz at 12 fine, but.
00:52:42
Speaker
He offers better solutions and has a game plan in his head of what to do when playing A has gone wrong. Yeah, at least that's how I see it, personally. It was a hell of an effort from the Saints. Unfortunately, it was not to be extra Justine rolled in. Obviously, I think we do have to mention the player of the match, the star of the match, whatever the hell they called it, Jacques Vermeulen. Big ugly South African wins another star of the match.
00:53:10
Speaker
I mean, another guy that doesn't get talked about quite enough. I know the commentators were definitely singing his praises all the way up to the point where he got named as one of the match. But yeah, don't die. He's still pretty fucking good. Yeah, it's just hard cuz he's not a springbok.
00:53:34
Speaker
No. And I don't know that he's England eligible. I don't know what his, his background is now. Yeah. So I don't know what his eligibility is. I don't know about that. So it's just like, what are you going to do with him? Like this is, this is from the shark. So right. So this is it right for him. This is like kind of the highest level he's going to play. So it's, it's, it's easy to overlook him and not discuss him because there's no sizzle to go with that steak. Um,
00:53:58
Speaker
But yeah, damn, if he's not, I mean, but that just goes for a lot of Exeter, which is why it's so frustrating the way they play. Because they could be a wide open, fuck it, let's have some fun team. They show it. And instead they choose to be the team that tries to grind it over. But you can see, even Johnny Grey, Johnny Hill, those guys can run.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah. We saw Johnny Hill go for a fucking gallop. Yep. A few times. Yeah. And so it's like, it's just frustrating the style that they choose to play when they don't have to. And I really do love that. Like, I'm not a huge fan of Witten, as you know, but the rest of that back line, I'm in.
00:54:40
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yes a hundred percent in and so that to me that means witten. Yeah, i'm good if you're a 12 fine Yes, there don't move Right going around you And they well they when they sub into voto that then that's a little better right it's a step up at least marginal improvement So, um, but yeah, it's that's that's they're they're sneaky good and as a loose
00:55:06
Speaker
You know in the loose and Yeah, there's more to that. Yeah Yeah, I think though I think if they do that then they're gonna definitely become the impossible European machine that they want people to get so and I think that's why they've gone to that this season a Little more I can maintain it. Yeah, we'll see So we've got
00:55:32
Speaker
We have a couple of star sets that we got to do this week because by the time Ben and I do this thing again, we will have two matches that are already played. Yay. Two matches in the prom. Yeah. That makes life easy for Ben and I, trust me. I promise you. So if you're pissed about that, we're not, I promise you. It's funny. So I have like important work shit to do on Fridays. It's like our, our wrap up, um,
00:56:00
Speaker
You know, there's a lot of stuff for for the you know many pms to to do And I still have to wait till 7 a.m Like I still have the 7 a.m Lineup call and then I have to get to complete my start sets. So this is like As much as we love doing this i'm still every friday. I'm like god damn it. We don't even get paid for this And I say that with love to say hey, please, you know
00:56:26
Speaker
If that alone shows you the dedication that we have to this, if you give us some love back, we would appreciate it. Yeah. Hey man, I'm usually scrambling between clients to start figuring out, start shit set. Anyway, whatever it is. Anyway, you have your match and I have mine. I do.
00:56:52
Speaker
So I'll start with the match tomorrow. By the time you are hearing this, it'll already have happened and you'll know that I'm wrong. For Bath versus Gloucester. On Bath's end, Gloucester are semi-decent against props.
00:57:10
Speaker
But uh, i'm still gonna give so i'm gonna start one sit the other so bet obano gets to start Will stewart gets a sick because he's been kind of not getting the points and obano's been doing really fucking well since the restart Um tom don is a start glossed or decent against locks, but fuck you cannot sit uh, stuking ewels right now. They're they're
00:57:30
Speaker
Just more on points like no other. Sam Underhill, also give him a start. Touloupe Falatow is super expensive in TRM. I would not recommend him being on your team. But if he is on your team, start him because Gloucester are terrible against 8s. And the same goes for the 9 and a 10. So Spencer in Priestland, yes. Rory McConaughey, you have to start now because he just doesn't stop scoring. As I said, well, Stewart's a sit. Josh Metavacy is a sit.
00:57:56
Speaker
do well out of the 12 hole, uh, certainly not as well as he does at 10, um, as a point score. Uh, Jonathan Joseph also a sit and Rucka do good and Ian Watson, um, sits. That's going points. No, they're not. No, they're not. On the Gloucester end. Um,
00:58:14
Speaker
that Beth do give up some points to props, but, uh, yeah, I don't have any props to have mentioned. So right. Um, Frazier Balmain has actually been scoring points regularly recently, and I think he's fairly cheap. So he's worth a look at a start. If you have him on your team, uh, Jack Singleton, um, we'll do well in the loose as well. And the line outs and whatnot. Uh, Jake Poledry is definitely start. So I did not, I'm the Matt Garvey and Mattias, LA mono. Um,
00:58:45
Speaker
might score points, but nobody owns them. So, right.
00:58:52
Speaker
Yeah. Jake pleasure in automatic start. Um, as our Willie Heinz, Hey, we have Willie Heinz lighting. Yeah. And so I was just thinking, I was just like, is that, is that the right guy? I was like, I was waiting for how long I took to cut him. And finally I did. And now he's back here. We are months later and he's jokes on you, but play him Chris Harris and Ali Thoroli, um, sit Louis Ludlow and ruin Ackerman. Um,
00:59:19
Speaker
bath actually do fairly well against, um, against forwards and eight. So, um, it's only because poetry is fucking awesome that he's a star because it's better than all that. Um, Lloyd Evans, a 10 hit the sit button. Um, and as for the same thing for Johnny May, cause he's still, he's struggling to fit in at the moment. Yeah. I mean, I mean, this is, this is not his, this is not his format.
00:59:44
Speaker
No, he'll do much better once the next season starts. So he's keeping your mind for next year. For now, just send him back. Even if he'll score points, it's not worth it at the moment because it's a lot of money right there. And 12 trees in Bandahan also keep him on the pine.
01:00:04
Speaker
Banana hands. I'm always going to call them that now. I called them that one by accident. I'm just going to call them that now. Oh shit. All right. Um, so, uh, Queensland lost next Monday. That'll be something that Ben and I will probably have already just watched by the time we record next. Um,
01:00:22
Speaker
Watts have actually turned into a pretty shit outfit to go against because they're now second in TIRM in points against. Senators back three are the biggest ones to open your eyes to along with Scurman's back rows and backs in general. Hookers and second rows, they're kind of leaky against. That's the only spot that they've found some sort of gap. Luckily for you, this is probably one of those two on the Quinn's team. For the Quinn's, Scott Baldwin's a yes, not gray.
01:00:49
Speaker
No, just no. Maybe Ellia, Ellia, but not Grey. No way.
01:00:55
Speaker
Stephen Luis and Max Simmons are both okay if they're playing. We obviously don't know what the lines are at this point. Chisholm, Don Brandt are yays. Marcus Smith is a doy. Joe Martians, yes. Brownie, okay, I guess, if you have to. If you have him, I guess you play him at that point. But just don't expect much more than 20 odd or so. He's not gonna score you more than that though.
01:01:21
Speaker
For the sits on them on the coincide marlors a lot Marlar gray our nose cover body is definitely a node. Why the fuck do you own him? Rob Shaw care as a no, you know, I don't think any of the scrum house will do well here cares then not done well at all since he's come back on TRM so he hasn't he just hasn't found that interceptor that the inside line so And that's where it gets all his points usually
01:01:46
Speaker
Langs a no, Ashton Ash's a no, and Aaron Morris would be a no. No Ashton. Yeah, I think I think all he does is score tries. I know, but yeah, it amounts to like 17 points, though, unfortunately. Yeah, unfortunately, those. Yeah, I think Nathan Earl's hurt. Oops. Sorry, Earlsy.
01:02:07
Speaker
On the other side, Quinn's are quite middling. They are decent against second rows, and they've gotten better against props, and Scramhastle, all of that might be the competition that they've gone against. Fly-offs, they're quite leaky against. In the last four rounds, the only guy that hasn't done well was the guy that played against them last time, which is Serpiani. That includes Atkins from London Irish, who got 30.
01:02:28
Speaker
And so feel very comfortable starting your fly half, which is likely Jacob who I got in this one. McIntyre is good.
01:02:37
Speaker
go ahead. If you got either one of them, Roland's, I know I said second rows are, they're tough against them. Roland's is not one of those guys that you need to worry about. Right. Cause they'll get points in the loose. So he moves around like a flanker. He'll get his points. Most giant like I've ever seen in my life. Um, young Willis Willis. Yes, that's both of them. Uh, yeah, Barbara, if you happen to have them, go for it. Um,
01:03:00
Speaker
Dan Robson, yes. Velikot, if he's playing and you have him, yeah. He's actually done pretty well when he started, so go for it. Umaga is a yay. I'll give Mills the nod because he plays 12 sometimes. Garpeth is okay as well if you need to. This is a kicker if you want points. Yeah, that's the thing. You need to make him your kicker if you really want him to do well for you, so. But yes, in that situation, absolutely, I'm okay with it. Marcus Watson, Bassett Kiberige are all thumbs up.
01:03:30
Speaker
On the other side of the bench, Brooks may launch bringing Gaskell that our nose. Shields is playing out of his brain, but it's still not showing up on the fantasy board. So he's a no. Fekitoa hasn't shown up on the fantasy board and neither has Mateo Manazzi. So have up on the two of them.
01:03:51
Speaker
All right, let's go to some pick them. Let's talk a little bit about the Champions Cup coming up here. And then, ooh, excuse me, and then we'll go and then we'll pick the Premiership games as well. So, La Defense, oh man. This is going to be a task because we know this is just like one of the oddest and weirdest arena.
01:04:13
Speaker
Uh france are starting to allow fans in about 5 000 at a whack Which is not a lot but inside of arena like that. It can sound like a lot. So we'll see how that goes. Um Yeah, and you know the the turf is carpet basically. Yeah You know, so these saris are used to it. They are they're used to their own g uh, their their um g3 whatever the hell they call it over there, um, their turf so it's um
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really interesting situation what's gonna unfold here. Obviously no Owen Farrell for this one. I don't know, it's a real toss up here because the way the Saracens just played in the spirit they demonstrated, if they bring that, I think wrestling are gonna have a lot to deal with. But the talent level of wrestling is just so absurd, one to 15, it really is. So it's like,
01:05:09
Speaker
How do you how do you pick against this team? With the talent level that they have like, you know been rustling 10 for God's sake just you know They talk about he doesn't even know what he's doing sometimes He pulls these little tricks out of his hat like So it's really hard to keep up with him But obviously his team is all acclimated to him and then you know guys like em off who you know email scored a really good-looking try this week just by you know making sure these on the right guys hip and
01:05:35
Speaker
And you know, he knows where everything is and you know, we talked as I said back a tower He's just a he's just a menace as he usually is he's not very good I will say this if the Saracens keep possession he hates playing defense He hates playing defense. You can see it. You just it's not that he doesn't want exactly just like I want the ball You know, it's more it's nothing. He's afraid of the contact. He's very into the contact. Yeah
01:05:57
Speaker
He just, he wants the ball. He doesn't want the board. Yeah.
Saracens' Tactics and Player Analysis
01:06:01
Speaker
I don't want that. I want the thing, that thing they have. I want that. So if they can start wrestling of the ball and you know, make life, I don't think they can go with the same tactics of picking on, there's not a lot of wings to pick on in this match. No. So, you know, Zebo's going to be just fine and Beal might be back. I don't know what his red card situation is. I'm guessing no, if you got a straight red.
01:06:26
Speaker
So, um, yeah, we'll see how that goes. Um, but, uh, I can, the, the last time the Saracens went to this team, it wasn't pretty. No, but it was a different situation. It was a different situation. It was a different team, but you know, and we, and we've had a yet again, another altered team. We'll see what happens with the road siding.
01:06:51
Speaker
I don't know what's going to happen with that. I assume Clark would take his place if he doesn't come through the other side without getting a suspension. Right. Or Jax. They bump Metoji out to six.
01:07:08
Speaker
could be. Yeah. And then bring it, and then bring it. Yeah. I think I'm, I still think that the sires are going to go with more of an attacking side and make this a little bit like, cause even if with an attacking side, they're still a very defensive minded team. Um, yes, yes. Well with Brad Barrett on the field, the defense is usually not going to lack. Right. So I, I,
01:07:29
Speaker
I, you know, this is, yes, it's a talented roster team. It's an extremely talented, uh, Sarri's team with guys that even with the players who are gone, um, these are still a lot of players who, who weren't there the first time they played. Um, and yeah, even a lot of like daily wasn't available. I don't think that was still during, that was still during the world cup. No, but they had just come back and he was, I think he was rested for this one.
01:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. I remember them going with a very deep powered team. It was, it was extremely menu. I believe it was still playing 10. I think Whiteley was playing nine. So. And, and it could, you know, and Manu could still be playing 10 based on what's happened. But at the same time, it's a different Manu also. That was a, yeah, just, just don't kill yourself. Don't get, don't get dead. This will be, this will be a Manu go, go win us this game. Cause you can't. Yeah. And it'll be different purpose. So I,
01:08:29
Speaker
it's hard to pick against them. I mean, they fucked, they just went it like, you know, but three days ago, people would have been saying, Lenster is winning this and it's not even going to be pretty. And, and Saris went in and out Lensted Lenster. So they, they can beat any of these teams. There's no, there's no way to rule them out. Correct. And I'm just going off of form because both Rossing and Claremont looked poop.
01:08:52
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, the scoreboard's not indicative of how good wrestling was. It was just how bad Claremont was. Yeah, but yeah, exactly. So it's like, I'm not, I'm, I, I don't have any reason to pick against Saris. So I'm going with my head and my heart. Yeah. All right. Yeah. This arena just makes me scratch my head and wonder how the fuck do you beat this team? You know, so I'm going to, I, I'm going to go against the guys with my,
01:09:22
Speaker
with my head, but of course, I will be sporting my black jersey. While wearing the jersey, you're going to say this? Yes. I'll still be wearing my black jersey and waking every one of my neighbors up when this match happens. All right. Let's
Exeter vs. Toulouse Game Preview
01:09:38
Speaker
go to Sandy Park. This is tasty. This is interesting. Exeter begins to lose.
01:09:44
Speaker
And we have obviously a range of possibilities here. We could have an all English final, we could have an all French final, and we could have any variation of French versus English. But the match itself will just be extremely interesting between the two clubs. Both have very significant
01:10:03
Speaker
Um, uh styles very very noticeable styles and both have a lot of talent A lot of talent on this on either side. I mean you match up one through 15 and you can't say that there's you know a whole lot of lean either way So it's really tough to say that So it's gonna be really interesting how this goes. I mean for as much as we talk about if we did talk about kolbe
01:10:30
Speaker
Going up against Exeter. Damn. I'm looking forward to that. Him against a supremely defensive minded team. He's found her way around that once or twice in his career. Right. So if he gets loose, that's a game changer, just at the drop of a hat. And I don't know that Exeter can match that. The Exeter build.
01:10:58
Speaker
And, and whereas yeah, to lose could just score from anywhere with some of these guys, even huge. Um, but yeah, so I, this is a tough one to pick. Although I'm, I think I'm going to end up going with a team that they'll play better defense and play better, like fundamentals. Um, just like the last one, I don't, I think that, yeah, I'm trying not to die here. Um, um,
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, I see a lot like the last one. I don't think Saris are going to be, you know, match them talent for talent. I don't know that Exeter.
01:11:36
Speaker
Like
Premiership Matches and League Standings
01:11:37
Speaker
from a burner perspective, certainly doesn't really match up with Toulouse, but damn, when you put, you add that extra structures, defense, and knowing when to pick your spots, and that's going to be, I think that's going to be the difference. Just the discipline and the teamwork. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, I love the talent level of Toulouse. They're going to, they're going across the English channel. They haven't done that for a little bit.
01:12:05
Speaker
Ugo mall is kind of a helmet as well. So he's a wee bit of a cowboy and kind of lucky he's got the team he's got So I'm gonna go with I am gonna go with the Chiefs as well. Yeah, so I don't want make no mistake. I am rooting against Exeter As always whereas almost always but I
01:12:29
Speaker
i do as much as i don't like them i have a lot of respect for this but i have to have respect for you for me to just not like you as much as i don't like yeah that's true that is true.
01:12:40
Speaker
All right. Um, and then bath Gloucester coming to the prem tomorrow, tomorrow's match. Yeah, I think so too. It's Gloucester's not looked good since the restart. They bet a couple of good games, but man, if they, if they make the same amount of mistakes they made last time out against Quinn's there's, they are not winning this match and bath have been very consistent.
01:13:01
Speaker
and roll them right along. That just waltz through fucking sale. That was a great match. Ben Spencer was in this lineup last time I checked.
01:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, forget it. He destroyed fricking sale almost single-handedly. Yeah. I'll give it to him. And then next Monday's match, a week from today, Quinn's and Woss. I got to pick the Woss, I think. Yeah. And they have every reason to pick a strong squad because they'll play slightly less than a week later.
01:13:37
Speaker
So they can play their strong team here and they can play next Sunday as well. So, um, yeah, they'll be, and they still have something like they still need the distance. They need it. Harlequins really don't. I mean, let me see who are the saints playing. I mean, who the saints play this technical, they play sale. Fuck. So, okay. You look at that saints and look at what the saints are there. So,
01:14:04
Speaker
Saints and Gloucester, I'm just looking at the table now, Saints and Gloucester have 41, Quinn's have 45.
01:14:11
Speaker
So quins can, they could lose and it wouldn't affect them too much. Cause I, yeah, that's are likely to win cause they have a lot more to play for than Gloucester do. And saints are going to lose cause that's all they seem to do lately. Yeah. Chris Boyd's going to be in a tailspin at this point. Right. I don't know that there's any coming out of that, especially not against a team like sale who themselves have to win because, Hey, look who's right behind. Like actually not.
01:14:37
Speaker
Basically, right behind them is Bristol. They both have the same amount of points. Yeah. Yeah, 59. Yeah, so these are teams that are playing for their top four lives here against teams that are on the outside of the top four and, you know, some are hanging on to potential top eight, which is going to be good enough for Europe, unless Leicester wins the Challenge Cup, which I don't think they're going to. But
Impact of COVID-19 on Rugby Season
01:15:05
Speaker
yeah, so we'll see.
01:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that is absolutely on point there, sir. So, all right, this wasn't so bad this time around. All right. Thank you for scheduling. Yeah, so then we are back to Prem Talk next week. It'll be a blitz to the end as far as the final weekends go, and then we'll talk about, in the following weeks, obviously, we're talking about semi-finals and finals and
01:15:33
Speaker
And then we'll start dancing our way into things like Autumn Internationals, which will be very interesting. I cannot wait. Yeah. Start getting into the fun stuff here. Right. And then just after that, we'll probably take a little break because I think we're going to be looking at a new Prem season come near Christmas, I think. Okay, cool. So yeah, a little bit of a hiatus and then back at it.
01:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, so I think the Autumn Internationals will end our season too, for fuck's sake. It's like, this is the song that never ends. Good Lord. Season has gone on significantly. Yeah, I mean, you sent me that tweet about the World Cup kicked off, what, yesterday? Yesterday. Last year? Good God. That feels like
01:16:21
Speaker
eons ago right now. I know. Oh, God. Fuck you, COVID. Seriously. There's just so much that's. Oh, fuck's sake. I remember when things were good. Yeah. I remember when, like, this wasn't a fucking weird time, but, you know. Right. Remember when Japan beat Ireland? That was awesome.
01:16:46
Speaker
That was fucking awesome. I feel like I should be telling that on a rock with a long white beard. With a bunch of kids around right now. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Japan beating Ireland. Yeah. And Scotland. And Scotland in one World Cup. That happened in Japan. Alright, time to put you in a home.
01:17:10
Speaker
That was last year. What? Yeah. Shut up, dude. Fuck. God damn it.
Podcast Conclusion and Future Plans
01:17:20
Speaker
All right. We'll get there eventually, I promise. Other than that, yeah. Follow Ben and I on Twitter. Fancy working podcast at gmail.com. We're going to try and get George back sometime soon here. Yay. One of our FRD drafts. We'll definitely try to get him. He's got time.
01:17:36
Speaker
Yeah, he's got loads of time now. Yeah. He's chasing too many around now. But other than that, we'll catch you guys next week. Later.