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Season 5- Episode 39- Saracens Six (Premiership Final & Super Rugby Round 14)
29 Plays2 years ago
It's another of the latest and greatest from those American fellas that like rugby. On this episode, if you are not a Saracens fan skip the first 30 minutes or so because are talking loads of Sarries after their triumph at Twickenham on Saturday. We also have our Prem XV of the season, probably not many shockers with our picks, likely some left out, but can't pick em all. Then it's off to Super Rugby and the penultimate round including a great send off for the one and only Nuggy. It's another 50 and up for the Free Jacks at Fort Quincy as New England clinches number 1 in East and we look forward to what's left for the boys. All this, the banter and Tiki Tonga, so enjoy friends!
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Don't forget, TFRY is coming up on Episode 200! Get your questions in for us and our much better halves.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotion
00:00:02
Speaker
It is. The fantasy European. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glaser. I don't like it where anybody came about. Delusion. Delusion.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby. Thanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. Let's go. Plenty to talk about just the same without the matches. Um, crack this first. Oh shit. Yeah. Where is it? I haven't had a beard in weeks. Let's find us on your favorite podcast app. Download great review. Share as always feedback. Welcome. All that good stuff.
Support and Community Engagement
00:00:59
Speaker
And also don't forget to buy our good friend, George, the fancy Ruby geek, a coffee or beer, however you wish to do it, especially to those of you that are in a final this coming weekend.
00:01:10
Speaker
Because if you got there and or you did not get the sack, oh, then it's likely due to that man. But also, if you are in a sack, oh, he's the guy you want this week helping you. Yeah. Go find that advice. So find him and then pay the man and then pay him for it. Pay that money. Yeah, exactly.
Pride Night Controversies
00:01:33
Speaker
As always, there is no discrimination here on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life.
00:01:38
Speaker
Uh, we're just ending pride month and it's been, uh, disappointing to see a lot of, uh, players that are abstaining from pride nights and so on and so forth. We've talked about it a few times and I am it's.
00:01:57
Speaker
There's this good and bad about this one. Clayton Kershaw, who's a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers was it was a bad headline. So I want to clear it up. So basically, he's not mad that it's a pride night. He's mad about a certain group being included. And so
00:02:18
Speaker
there's still a point where it's like, all right, shut up, you're an idiot. But at the same time, it's like, okay, don't, let's not make him out to be the total villain here because actually, he actually doesn't care about Pride Night. You know, he's okay with it. He's also super religious and Christian. So, you know, take that for what you will. Yeah, that's right. But he, it was a really shitty headline that got put with his name on it. So as much as we want to shit on people, I do want to try and like clear things up when,
00:02:47
Speaker
Things like this happened because yeah, he's actually not like dogging the idea. He just doesn't like a particular group, which is, you know, not as bad as it says as a headline can make it seem by any means. Right. It's, but it's still like that whole controversy is pretty made up too. So it's kind of one of those, all right, you know, whatever I'm more interested in. There was another picture and I, I, I lost the tweet about it. Um,
00:03:12
Speaker
But it was like talking about how we're baseball players, like we should support the team. Like we shouldn't have an agenda. Like this is like his personal statement and all that. And it's like, we shouldn't have an agenda. We shouldn't do this and that. And then he's like, as like in first Corinthians, we, it's like this whole like, shouldn't have an agenda. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a sec. Whoa. Like you can't say there can't be an agenda and then start like,
00:03:36
Speaker
quoting homophobic Bible verses and shit. It doesn't work that way. So I'm fine, yeah. I mean, baseball is at least handling it better than hockey. Ultimately, a lot of these things are just kind of, as I saw some people say, this one post about it was like,
00:04:00
Speaker
You know, they say that they're there for equal rights and if they want to be thing until some conservative has a problem with something and, and, and cries about it, like, you know, the whole blood light, the whole blood light thing and target and all that stuff. And it's like, yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
You're just, so what does it mean? They're like, what is, what does it mean? Like the Pride Night isn't really for the, to celebrate diverse, it's to celebrate themselves. Like, look at how good we don't care. Like, we're happy about it. And it's like, it's not, it's not about looking at you. Like, you know, they're making it like, they're, and this kind of whole thing just doesn't help. So. No. I agree. It's a good thing. It should be a good thing. It should be normal, but like, fuck people have problem with it. Really? Like why?
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, doesn't make sense. And yeah, because I'll tell you what, it's, you know, every time I read about a, you know, a pedophile lately, it's like a cop or someone involved in a church or something like that. It's never a drag queen. It's not, you know, like these scary liberal gay people. That's not how it works. It's not those people. It's people in authority. It's usually that's why it's working. So, yeah.
00:05:18
Speaker
I said we're ending. We're starting Pride Month, my fault. I totally got that backwards. Words don't mean anything. It has been a long day, too. Oops. But yes, we are starting Pride Month. Most of you that are listening to this are probably going to be already there. Right. And then, of course, don't forget it's better than
200th Episode Q&A Announcement
00:05:43
Speaker
me. Yeah, hopefully it's better than me.
00:05:47
Speaker
Don't forget about our 200th episode. We are going to be doing a special this coming month with Q&A and maybe involve certain other people in our lives. So get the questions in. We would love to have many open discussions based around your questions.
00:06:05
Speaker
Get them in as fast as you can. As deeply personal and irresponsible of us to answer as possible, please. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's make it fun. We don't care.
Rugby Celebrations and Match Highlights
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
How great is that video? Which one? The Tiki Tonga. I didn't see it. Oh, you haven't seen it? I haven't seen it. Oh, my God. What's wrong with you? I was looking for it and I didn't see it. They even asked, like, who's ready for Tiki Tonga? And I was like, I am. Dude, like, McCall's got his shirt off, and KB's got his shirt up. Oh, shit. Hold on. Hold on. It's 100%. It's on their Twitter. Yeah. Oh, man.
00:07:45
Speaker
But anyway, this is, if you are not a Saracens fan, this is the part where you turn everything off. Like right now. Yeah. Yeah. Warning. Fair warning. Fair warning. If you hate them, if you despise them, if you hate when we talk about them, just fast forward to super. Right. This is where this is what's going to happen. Or at least fast forward to the prime 15, which we'll get into in a little bit. But God damn, was that fun? Like, yeah, it's.
00:08:17
Speaker
It's so good to see everything finally fall into place again, like the shit that happened before we got relegated and all that stuff. It's not a coincidence.
00:08:31
Speaker
Anybody that's got shit to say at this point, like piss off. Like if you're more angry at us than you are at people at clubs like London Irish and Worcester, or even like a racist club like Exeter, you have a problem deep inside you that I don't want to deal with. So go on, move, move on, please. Um, well, let's, let's also mention here. Let's not, not overlook the fact that the stories are missing pieces.
00:08:55
Speaker
Like, this wasn't even the salaries at full noise. Not that it was sale at full noise. No, they were missing guys too, no doubt. They're missing guys too, but, you know, no vuna polas at all. Neither, yeah. Mackle dropped last minute off the bench. Right. And Daley, you know, in a spot role, but he's still coming back from injury. Like, these are lions. No Theo. No Theo. No Christie, who was playing his balls off, yeah. Right. Jackson Ray started.
00:09:25
Speaker
You know, Tony Knight was on the bench and didn't get used. Right. Right. Well, he's not. Well, he wasn't 100 percent. So, you know, Dan continued his phenomenal, you know, albeit amazing role. He was great. And like he's he's becoming Wollstone Cross and he's younger than he's like fucking faster than him for sure, too. Yeah, he is like. But that's one of those things where
00:09:51
Speaker
You know, they I mean, obviously, when Jinx is going to miss a lot of the season anyway, naturally, just because he's away with with England. But he had some injuries this year, too. So they had to make sure they had they were ready. And Theo Dan, you know, there were flashes and he annoyed me at first until I realized that, oh, no, no, he's not. I thought he was like just a depth guy that they had not. Oh, no, he's a pop that really weren't ready to.
00:10:17
Speaker
They weren't ready to put him, like he's just not ready yet. I mean, he's ready now to learn throughout the season. Yeah, this was like made mistakes and got him out of the way and he learned from him. He put him in. Damn, we would have been screwed. Right. He put. And that's the thing is how he's had the luxury of being able to do that, of bringing people along and not letting them make mistakes, Eddie.
00:10:39
Speaker
where they don't just say, oh, you fucked up once you're gone forever. It's no, look, I make, make your mistakes. Get up and out of the, you get them out of the way and learn from it. You close those up. All these guys have talent. You just close up the mistakes and.
00:10:54
Speaker
And they were smart with him kind of middle of the year too, where they took him out of the hooker role and they put him in as that back row sub role, which suited him well, because obviously open play, he's great. We saw that this weekend. His struggles were at lineup time. And so they're like, all right, listen, you are clearly a good rugby player, but we need to sort out your throws. And they sorted him out and he was great. And I thought,
00:11:20
Speaker
that I thought he earned his stripes right in front of us. Mm hmm. It was absolutely pretty remarkable, really. Yeah. Way to have it like like having your best game of your career thus far in a championship match. Yeah, in a final. Right. For a major hardware on a team that prides itself on winning that hardware. So you have to be that guy like, you know, and he didn't actually didn't have to be that guy. He gave about
00:11:49
Speaker
you know, 75% more than he needed to give to them on the day. Like, he could have just been a guy. He'd just make, do your job, be solid. But he was a standout. He was a standout. He really was that, that, that break that almost, it was the one that almost led to the daily try. I think so. Right. Yeah. There was, there was one where with daily was like a step in. Yeah. And to touch, I think that was, I think he was the one involved in that as well. It was him. He crushed it. Yeah. And that was great. And I,
00:12:16
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't be happier for players like him play. Okay, and go ahead. Who's the best 10 in England? Who's your daddy? Owen Farrell. And here's the thing like you look at him.
00:12:33
Speaker
And you look at Aaron Smith and the two guys that people kind of had question marks over going into their seasons and Farrell didn't have a great year with England, but that's, you know, we can chalk that up to the turmoil from Eddie. Right. Just playing with guys who aren't ready yet. No. And talk about like the Theo Dan. Yeah. And, but really if you look at them and how they played for their clubs, Aaron Smith has had a stormer for the high leaders. He's been ridiculous. Obviously Owen Farrell has just brought out the class.
00:13:03
Speaker
the series both in this competition and in Champions Cup and it's just oh it is another level and he obviously he heard that he he can say I didn't hear the critics I call bullshit he heard the critics and he answered them he is that is to me
00:13:20
Speaker
that to me is number one a captain, number one. Like that is, so he's kept the armband in my opinion, anybody that says otherwise is losing their mind just a bit. If you want, here's the thing, if you want a shot at doing anything at this World Cup and you're lucky you're on the correct side of the bracket because the other side is ugly and brutal and gonna be probably gonna produce the winner of the World Cup, but also like, they will go through quite,
00:13:49
Speaker
Quite a spell of top matches. It's going to be a fucking gauntlet is what it is. Yes, absolutely. It is. You're going through hell rugby wise. But anyway, which is awesome. Yeah, it's going to be great to watch. But anyway, if you want a shot, he is your guy. He needs to be on the field and he is your captain. That is the bottom line. That's it. If you can't live with that, then you probably shouldn't be supporting England rugby. Right. And to me, he's he's your 10.
00:14:15
Speaker
Because you need, you need them more, more of the runners and I like he's your 10 and Marcus Smith can come on and maybe that's what they do. They bump them out to 12 or something like that. When, you know, if you're going to have a banger or another runner, even at 12.
00:14:29
Speaker
Or if you put, you know, Ollie Lawrence at 12 and have like a runner at 13 too. Fuck's sake. I want to see that. I do want to see Faz with Lawrence at 12. Yes. And then someone like even a daily at 13. I want to see that. Mm hmm. Yep. You know, no, no, none of the slave business. Give me someone who can who can attack. Because that's I mean, as we're seeing like, it was evident that that are that the Saris 12 and 13 were not
00:14:59
Speaker
They weren't getting much. And then maybe that's just, you know, I mean, that's what they're going to to a laggy and do Pria. They're not going to get much. Those are some hard fucking defenders. Yes. But they were being put into spots where, yes, even though they were taking the tackle, they were ready. They were just setting the edge for the next phase. So it was like they did the current work. And Faz put them in the right spot. Like they didn't they didn't burn, you know, burn anyone down. But fuck, that's what the wings are for.
00:15:28
Speaker
Right. And it's a good strategy against sale because sale sale are leaky. You have to get, but you have to get the timing right on your, your, your three phase, you know, launch at them. And you know, you get that second phase just right. And man, it doesn't matter. Like their defense just can't respond. They're, they're excellent as they are. But if you give them enough time, if everything is a step off or, um, a bit too slow, it's not, you're going to have to like chip it or something like that. And.
00:15:58
Speaker
Farrell managed that so fucking well all match. The other thing that pissed me off, so I was yelling at them. I think you can attest. There was like a 20 minute window and they were definitely making some bad decisions, no doubt. Right. And like they're kicking for posts in a game where it's like second half and it's a try scoring affair. This is not a, it's not a posts time yet. We're not there yet. Um, no.
00:16:23
Speaker
We need like, we need, we need to, to, to, to also just keep them in down in their territory. Cause I think that's what happened. They, um, Saturday's kicked three and then immediately sailor back down in their end and score to try. And it's like the fuck good to that. Did that do your three points? Like, you know, you're behind and then it just got, it kind of snowballed a little bit there on them. Um, the ship, I think I saw some players say, this isn't a match. You, you can only win once.
00:16:49
Speaker
Like you have to win this two or three times to win this game. It was because like sale made that clear. Right. And sale won it once. I would say that that stretch there, sale won it for that like 20 minutes. And then Saris were like, no, no, OK, no, we're we're winning this. And then they won it like three or four times somehow. Like it just kept going right. And, you know, Theo Dan was in the middle of it. So it was daily and actually Vanzel.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Another guy. I mean, he's ridiculous. He's so good. He is. And he, and even if you were to put everything even this Ivan Vencel last year in that final, the Saracens are back to back champions.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah. And unfortunately that Ivan Vinsel did not exist yet because he didn't have this type of season he did last year. Like just how it was. And I don't know if he or Davies was our best option, but it was a fifth. It was a coin flip. So it didn't matter this year. Right. Without a doubt. Yeah. Without a doubt. It's Vinsel. No question in my mind. And I'm really glad McCall sorted that out quickly. I'm really glad that he sorted that out quickly. I think it didn't take long for him to realize like, I mean, it's, I, you know,
00:18:08
Speaker
It took him a while in my eyes, I think a little too long, but at the same time, I think he was making sure that Davies really wasn't gonna progress. Because this was the same Davies we saw last year. There was no progression, there was nothing better. He was too slow with the ball, not really snipey, not really fat. He wasn't really contributing much besides like, okay, get the, you know,
00:18:36
Speaker
Go in, give him, take the ruck, battle the ball out. Okay. Wait, next ruck, take the ball out, pass it off. And it's like, he was really good at the passing, but that was it. And his kicks aren't that great. And they kick too much. And he kicks too much anyway. And they're not that good. Yeah, no, they're usually pretty poor kicks. It was, it was not, but I think, you know, McCall is, as any coaches, he's going to back his decision. He wanted Davies to be this. He wanted it to happen and just wasn't happening. And.
00:19:01
Speaker
and Van Zell like was happening. And he could, I think for a couple of weeks, he just couldn't deny it anymore. No, he had to just come to terms with, yeah, okay, I think I need to do this and just live with it, you know? And that's Terry's benefit. Yeah, I was sincerely disappointed in George Ford on the other side.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of disappeared for a good large chunk of the game. Right. For a guy who, you know, there's still that, Hey, I'm still here for England.
00:19:41
Speaker
This was not a put your hand up moment for him. He did stand up in the semi-finals, so it was really strange. Well, I think he noted that even on Twitter before the weeks leading up to the match, saying, look, I'm going to change that this year or something like that, because somebody was tweeting about how he is always excellent in semi-finals and then disappears in finals. And this is not a new thing for him.
00:20:08
Speaker
Unfortunately, so, I mean, excellent play.
Player Performances and Recognition
00:20:12
Speaker
Bev and Rod, I'm very happy you didn't start. Thank God. Carpenter was quality. Carpenter was good. I got to say, you know, if we're looking, so if we look at the matchups that Ben Earl has had in the last couple of weeks, you know, against Pearson,
00:20:36
Speaker
What was it? Was it Ludlum, I guess? Mm-hmm. And Curry, now. He classed them all. He's come out on top of everything out of all of those. And for all the people that are saying it's not him. And had the better match within the match. Yeah. Yeah. No. He's playing well in those matches. Yeah, absolutely. And it shouldn't be a question that he is a starter in that England back row if you want a shot, because he's just
00:21:03
Speaker
He's your best seven. He's so dynamic. And that's the thing. You need dynamic people on the field. And I don't know what back rower, let alone a guy that can play seven out and out, is more dynamic than him. In every aspect of the game.
00:21:23
Speaker
Like, cause like- He's so bloody fast for his position too. And people are just like, well, that's not fair. It's like, well, then why the fuck's he not on the field? Like- And use it. You can't coach it. Like that's the point. Like if you have a seven who can outstrip any other seven, last time check, that's a good thing. You know, you want to break the line against their, their team. Okay. You don't like, what forward is dragging Ben Earl down from behind? No forward, it's going to be a back and he's going to be running some of them over.
00:21:50
Speaker
Right. So this is like, you're not going to say that about Curry, who's who's fast, no doubt, but he's not running away from people fast. Exactly. You know, and the same thing, you know, Pearson. Yeah. I mean, Pearson is going to be good. Don't get me wrong. He had he had a good and he had a good first 20 of the match. But again, late in the match, you know, Ben Earl still has gas because he doesn't stop. So he's got an engine.
00:22:18
Speaker
Right. Yeah. He does not. He's not quite as physical. He's not. He makes tackles, though. He will fucking bring the thunder. He's a little dangerous in them. He's much better at the as a poacher, though. Yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
But he's everywhere. He does every, like, it doesn't matter an attack or, or defense. He's involved in making, making. I mean, every time the arm went up for a turnover for Pierce, I was like, I could guess who that is. I don't even need to, I don't even need to know the number. I know who it is. It's Earl, or just a straight up turnover. Yeah, exactly. First place. Yeah. I had a real man. I was like, yeah, of course it is. Um,
00:22:58
Speaker
So, I mean, guys that I thought stood up as well. The leaving contingent definitely stood up. Duncan Taylor, Maylon, right? All three of them stood up really well, especially Maylon's and even Taylor to an extent. The charge down, the charge down. Yeah, where's that version of Duncan Taylor, Ben? Holy shit. This unrestrained version of him, I'm just letting it all hang out.
00:23:23
Speaker
Duncan we keep you if you had done that the whole fucking time. Right that's what that's what you know that's what separates decent players from really really good players is we'll let it all out there. Yeah and then a player that's really grown on me a lot is Maui.
00:23:41
Speaker
And just, he's been so great and obviously, yeah, he is, he's a, he's a beta version of Mako and he's really getting, getting to that 12 tackle six carries. That's yeah. Not bad. And really not, not a foot wrong for the most part. Right. I think he had a couple of scrum penalties, but that was, yeah, that scrum was not, yeah, that was not well-refereed. No, that was a lottery. So I'll give him a pass on that one. Right.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah. And then Malins, like, I don't want to have to replace him, but damn, I'm glad. I'm glad we had him when we did. Right. Cause I did that. The guy was brilliant on the day. He was, he was setting the tone early and, and
00:24:30
Speaker
And they're kind of putting a marker down saying, I'm going to will this team. I'm going to do stuff. If I have to do it, I will. Like, you know, try coming through the middle. Like he was making good decisions, carving, carving up the sale defense. Yeah. Force the ball to try. Right. And.
00:24:49
Speaker
like making good decisions with the ball too like he would create a gap and give a little offload and make like an extra five meters and that get the defense having to move back that much more and then defend again like it's little things like that that you need against a team like sail because again i'm not trying to discount what they're doing it like if the fact is that sari's put in an amazing performance to beat that team
00:25:11
Speaker
Yes, yeah, that's definitely the fact and so that speaks highly of how of sales ability and what they what they did and what they could do. No doubt. The last player that I think needs to be pointed out because the whole the contingent but
00:25:28
Speaker
The sequel at lineup time, especially in defense, was awesome. Just was a complete dick when it came to that. I think he had two or three steals. Yeah, guy was great. Mauro obviously had himself his usual shift.
Saracens and Sale Team Analysis
00:25:42
Speaker
And the unsung hero of the group is Tiz.
00:25:47
Speaker
Again, he's not lighting up anything by any means whatsoever. But I can't think of a moment where Tiz put a foot wrong either. Right. He is. And there you need a few of those guys. It's his first year in the Saris system. So, I mean, he and he's gotten better throughout the year. He's been much more of that dynamic.
00:26:10
Speaker
keep all alive type player when he has to do it. And obviously smart about wanting to take it down. Like, so he'll keep growing and that's going to be an excellent addition. I'm, I'm, I'm excited for more of him. Yeah, same, same, same. Lots to be, lots to be happy about going forward. And, you know, I'm, I was genuinely scared when, when Toma Flaherty came in though. Yeah, I was too. I was like, Oh fuck, not this guy.
00:26:37
Speaker
He's been here before. He's done this before. He knows. Right. That was not what I wanted to see. And I'm really glad that Sarri's kind of kept him in check. For the most part, yeah. Didn't do too much. Yeah. It's an interesting trajectory for both these clubs because of, you know, Sanderson's obviously had a slow build to this team and he's
00:27:01
Speaker
He's nearly there. Most people would say he is there. Yes, he lost the final, but shit. I think most people will say he's there. He doesn't have to pick John anymore. That's an upside. He's going to continue to mold the team in a more dynamic direction because that's what they need. They're extremely tough and they're physical, but they lack
00:27:23
Speaker
dynamism. Unfortunately, you look at that, Manu is not what he used to be. Let's put it out there. He's not stopped trying to make Manu of like six or seven years ago at this point. He's not. He's not 2019.
00:27:39
Speaker
It's just not happening. He's a little too injured. That's why I'm saying Lawrence for 12 because he is what Manu used to be in today's game. It's a little different. It's not the same as when Manu was that. It's a different game.
00:27:56
Speaker
That's the guy you want there. And, you know, he wasn't that impactful, unfortunately, I'm sorry to say. I mean, he was physical. He did a good thing when he when he was doing stuff, it was good. But the things he did didn't really make a difference in.
00:28:14
Speaker
It didn't really change. It was just like instead of a normal tackle, it was, oh, that's a big hit. But it's like, OK, that's a harder hit than usual that leads to the same outcome. Like he wasn't. Yeah, he wasn't changing outcomes. And Dupree was was good defensively, but that was kind of it. He kind of just had to soak a lot up. Right. I think he had a couple of good runs, but not. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other the other one with, you know, looking back at series,
00:28:44
Speaker
Really, overall, I'm happy with the progress and who wouldn't be. We got into the semifinal of the challenge cup last year. We got to the final last year. We lost. Yes, we lost. We lost at the death of that. And then this year, obviously, we got into the quarterfinals of Champions Cup, which is a whole different ball game in terms of that competition. So to me, that's awesome. And then, obviously, we lost to the eventual champion. It's not, you know,
00:29:13
Speaker
Also that, and that was at their place too. It wasn't where Exeter played. That was at the Flandre. Like that was not fun. Yeah. Zero percent fun on that one. Can't wait for, can't wait to do that one again. Boys will be ready for that this time. And then obviously they have the title. So in terms of what the expectations are for series, I'd say we're getting close to back to where we were.
00:29:42
Speaker
I mean, this should not be taken for granted. Don't get me wrong. No, don't do, don't do what, what Leinster did. Hey, at least Leinster won. Oh, wait. Nope. Nope. Nope. You play for every title you can, every, every trophy you can.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah. Cause you never know. You never know. Look at what happened to us. The standard is the standard again. Right. Right. Look, look what happened to us and nobody really expected that until obviously the article started to come out.
00:30:15
Speaker
If you had told us that six months beforehand, nobody would have said that was happening. And you'd have been like, holy shit, this team's awesome. And they're going to win titles for years. You can't expect that. So yes, enjoy every title you get. Get your hands on it. If we can have bloody fun with it. Right. We had our fun. Patriots fans about that. Yeah. Right now. Getting the shit kicked out of them now. Right. And they're kind of circling the drain because their coach still thinks it's, you know, 1999 doesn't quite get where they are now. Yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
And yeah, so that's the only thing is you got to stay relevant. You can't just, and I thought, again, I'm going to give a ton of credit here to McCall because he's setting the standard and he's also making adjustments that he needed to make. And I've been, obviously I've been critical of him because he hadn't made those adjustments. And in the end, like I said, last week,
00:31:14
Speaker
Sarri's win if they play the way they're, like the open, you know, attacking type of rugby that they're capable of playing. They're playing like a, right. And they've done, but they've, they've, that was the same thing last year. You know, and I think that McCall obviously learned from that, that no, this isn't a test match. This is a who's better than rugby. Who's better at playing rugby match. And when your team is better at playing rugby, you need to win. But in the going into a defensive shell,
00:31:42
Speaker
It's not how you do it. No, it is not. Not at all. No win that match. No, not at all. So good on him for adjusting. I'm excited for the future. Yep. That is six.
00:31:56
Speaker
for series, I think in the professional era only Lester have more and I think Lester have nine, maybe 10, but nine for sure. Yeah, I'm excited to be back there and yeah, expectations are now high, you know. We want to talk to every year, we want to be in a file every year and that's just, that's where we want them and that's the best way we can ask for it. And they have like, this isn't,
00:32:24
Speaker
this isn't everything, you know, they're losing guys, but, you know, like Toby Knight is still learning and growing. You know, they're getting they're getting a Willis. We're getting Tom partner. Right. Tom Parton's coming in. And, you know, there's the centers, the what? Hallet and Holly. Hardly. Yep. Hardly. Thank you. Yep. That one. Yeah, that's gonna be great. Oh, but
00:32:51
Speaker
Sub Hartley for Duncan Taylor and that is awesome in my booklet. Yes, he's young and he's raw, but holy shit. Did you see how the kid fucking played the few times that we gave him a chance to? Kid played lights out. And so that's it, like they can play at this, they can play, you know, for Saris at this level and that's fuck. You know, again, you're just adding years to this and, you know, how old is Manu?
00:33:21
Speaker
24, 25. Fuck's sake. That's not fair. Because when he's, you know, when he's like 28, 29 and then, you know, you're, you know, if he's still around, he might leave before then, but either way, he could be the heir apparent to Faz. Like who knows? I don't know how much longer Faz is going to play. Like he'll still be available. Like they've got guys coming through that that can do the job and you'd love to see it. And I'm excited for,
00:33:49
Speaker
23. 23. I overshot it. I am excited for sale too, because like I said, Sanderson, he knows how to win. He knows this stuff. I think he knows what odds were against him too.
00:34:11
Speaker
Because he knows exactly how McCall's gonna think about it, how he's gonna approach. And it's just like, okay, well, I hope my guys can stop it and hope we can win. Like, I hope we can overcome. Like, that's the best bet. Because he made them better than some of their parts. Which the previous coach was not doing. And there's still a lot to like on that team. They're not losing their time. No. And he's gonna bring that dynamism. Like, I'm saying that there's gonna be
00:34:41
Speaker
It's going to be good. There's a bright future. It's just not, you know, it's not like a one and done situation. I don't think this is him really pointing himself on that team. Yeah. Yeah. And a hard out for sure. Yeah. Because they're still had that hard edge to them. They're going to be a tough out because that's, you still have to, it makes you tougher. It makes it tougher to beat, especially at home. Oh yeah. Absolutely.
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah, like he's got things, they have things they need. They have elements of a great rugby club. He'll get them better. And he already has, like, again, better than the last guy. Yeah. Yes, yes. Thank you, Sarah. Because really, also, what was it different about this team? Again, through most of the year, the sale team from when Diamond was there.
00:35:38
Speaker
What player pool was different? The back three and four is the most I can think of. Well, weren't those guys already there and they just, he just didn't, not, not carbon, not all of them, probably not Robach of flats and not come in. Reed is the only one I can think of. Oh, yeah. Okay. So the back three is definitely different in, and whether or not they were available to be picked from remains relevant. I would say no. Um, and then.
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah. Your, your nines are probably a little bit different. Yeah. FAF, but that's just, you know, FAF to, to Corky and even war. That's like, oh, war FAF to war is like such a step down and yet they're, they're producing better. So go figure it's again, um, it, the players can be as good as you want, but it takes, you know,
00:36:33
Speaker
It takes a coach with his head, not up his ass. So again, I'm just more, um, you know, we don't like Steve Diamond too much, although we like, I like him as a person now and it fucking sucks, but, um, I just wanted to let him for a little bit. All right. I'm done doing that. That's petty and cruel and I should be better than that. So yes.
00:36:56
Speaker
I'll wrap up the season. Thank you, Saris. One more happy memory to go into the memory bank and a shot of whiskey to go with it. Yeah, that was, that made, that made the free Jax game that much more fun. We'll get to that later. We'll get there eventually. Let's take a trip over to super rugby. You know, wait, no, we're not doing that yet. We're going to do the frame of the season. Sorry. Yes, we do. Sorry. I am way ahead of myself.
00:37:19
Speaker
Uh, we have business to take care of that. Ben's been scratching that it's for just a little bit. I've had, I've had this list for a little bit now, which is good. Cause I would have fucked it up. Let's jump into it. Let's jump into it. Loose head. Val. Yeah. I had him in my head too.
Premier League Standouts
00:37:36
Speaker
Um, Maui was another one I considered, but I also, I actually went with, um, Danille Frisketti from London Irish.
00:37:45
Speaker
That's fair. You had a good season. There was some ungodly number of rugby games in a row and weeks in a row that he played, like up until I think London Irish got their bye. Like, so many fucking games. Or maybe the Prime just had a bye in general. But it was, yeah, it was a lot of games in a row that he had and it was, as a prop, as a lose head prop, it's hard work. Yeah, but you're barely scrummaging.
00:38:15
Speaker
It says you. Listen, if we're going into a title, a tight head versus loose head, I'm just going to crush your balls and we'll call it a day. Yeah. Well, that's pretty much all loose heads could ever really try to do to me. Anyway. Yeah, there's hookers. Let's go on to the more fun position of hookers. Yeah. Only one guy in my head. I played on Monday, too. Harry Thacker. I went with Matosia.
00:38:47
Speaker
I mean, for as tough a season as the Tigers had Thacker was extremely dynamic. And I love watching him. There's never a day. I don't like watching Harry Thacker. Let me just say that right now. Right. Yeah, I thought he and I thought he gave so much to the Bears like he kept them in or winning so many of the matches that where he played that like, if you make a bad team,
00:39:10
Speaker
acceptable to, or mediocre to acceptable, despite, you know, from the hooker position, like that's, that's a feat. Um, true Montoja is, is, is an excellent, you know, he's an excellent hooker. As rough as a year as Lester started out with, he was still a standout for them. Yes. I know he was away with Argentina for a little bit, but still like you saw the difference when he was in the team and when he wasn't almost every time.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah. I have other, I have tigers and other spots. Um, uh, I do. I have one other tiger on my team. So I have, I have two and, and, um, number three is, is the first one and don't like the guy all the time. I've, I've, I've had a love, hate relationship with him as a, as a player, but I mean, Dan Cole for that Lester team, like.
00:39:58
Speaker
But that's the times that Montoya was away. And, you know, without Sinclair, I'm sorry, without Ganj. Sorry, wrong bear. Like there's that that front row, really, they didn't have the pop that it. It used to, but it still had the scrumity like they were still a fucking powerhouse in there and a lot of that was coal.
00:40:23
Speaker
working with and bringing along young guys and leading by example when he wasn't being a fucking meathead. He did a lot of things right. And, you know, yeah, he did some things wrong, but he did a lot of things right. I thought that he was exactly what they needed him to be for this year. You swallowed your pride on that one, eh? Yeah. But, you know, hats off to him. Yeah. I was a homer on this one.
00:40:54
Speaker
I went with Richie. Yeah, Richie. Yeah. The player he's become. Is just. Lights out from where he was, and he had to know that when it when Italy saw him moving to Saracens, they were like, oh, my God, we're about to get ourselves an absolutely unbelievable tight head because Saracens are going to turn him into a beast, and he has been a beast. He's had many games where he's just owned life on the other side and.
00:41:21
Speaker
There's nothing anybody did on the other could do right about it. The final this past weekend wasn't his best. But I thought he got hard. I thought he was hard done by I thought he got penalized for dominating Simon McIntyre. Like the ref got it right. The first one. Absolutely. He he whooped him good. But then after that, he it was the same thing that was happening. And he kept he changed. He changed the decision to
00:41:49
Speaker
against Richie and it was like, come on, they're not holding, they're going down. Like they're breaking the bind. Like, Hmm. He wasn't giving it. So, but on the, but the entire season, he was just, he was forced to be reckoned with. There was a lot of people that wanted to hang out with Richie in the scrum, that's for sure. And yeah. And I made that choice when he was having this couple of games late season that, um, we're regrettable to put that way, but it's a long season. He, and he showed up, he showed up in the, in the, um,
00:42:19
Speaker
and the knockout stages, which, again, make players do that. All right. Uh, JLDP and, and ribbons ribbons. Uh, see, I picked a different saying, and this is where my, my other tiger is. Okay. I put, I went with Alex Coles and then I went with all each other.
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah, they were. I know Chasm was banged up at the end of the year, but man, as you and I were talking about, I am so glad that we did not have to play against him because the guy caught fire and was absolutely awesome. I don't want to play him. He would have been on my list, but he wasn't for...
00:43:06
Speaker
Two reasons. One, his biggest impact was in the international stage. And because, and that's because too, when he came back, um, he played amazingly for like three matches and then got hurt. Basically for the rest of the season, which sucked. So he just, he didn't play like, he didn't play at that level high enough or for long enough, but next year he's like shortlist already. He's like, I got, I got a penciled in for 2024. Something like that. Right. Back row.
00:43:38
Speaker
It's hard for me because there's no natural six. There's very few natural sixes who are really quality. I didn't pick a natural six. That was problem solved for me. What was that? I didn't pick a natural six. That was problem solved for me. Oh, I did. I picked Ted Hill. Oh, okay. All right. I'm not going to snub that. That's a good pick.
00:44:01
Speaker
because of what he, it's not just his play on the field that that impacts. Um, and you know, everything he's, he's been going through, it's easy for players to pack it in, but he, he gave bath heart throughout the year and you could see it on the, on the pitch. And, um, yeah, I like his, his impact was, was more than just his play on the pitch. So that's why he's my six. Yeah. I went with truck.
00:44:31
Speaker
Put him at six. Oh, wow. OK. That's fair. I would put him at six. Yeah. Yeah. I know about that. Why load definitely was a wide load and was not fun to play against this year. Right. You could see that you could see the difference in the Saints back row and it wasn't him at number eight to like you always could. Like, yes, Ludlam is a great player and always gives us all. But shit, when it wasn't him, it was a different story for the Saints and their attack was just not the same. But I also feel like Ludlam this year.
00:45:00
Speaker
And actually over recent years, like when he it was his play for England that really sparked him. He wasn't that great throughout, you know, in the first half of the season. It wasn't all that great. And then suddenly. He's like, oh, no, this is rugby again. OK, no, I get it. I'm going to just smash people and be a fucking awesome in space and just do all the other things. So, yeah, I like good player. Only like half a year.
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Um, who's your open? Oh, Penn Earl. Yeah. Ben. Ben Earl's my eight. Fair. Who's your seventh? Who was it? Pearson. Pearson. Oh, yeah. Fair.
00:45:47
Speaker
No question about that. Breakout season for the kid. Yes, we knew about him last year, but man just stood up, put his hand up, and really led from the front for that one and Irish team for the whole year. The only reason that they even sniffed the playoffs is because of him. And the fucked up thing is this isn't a team that is not starved of back row talent. I mean, some of it's in selection. But they've got these fucking loose forwards, including Pearson, who are just
00:46:17
Speaker
scorchers between him, Gonzo, Chandler Cunningham South, who's still young. He'll be probably young player of the year next year, assuming they're a club. There's like, yeah, there's good stuff going on there. And he was class. He was key to it. Like, he stood out. That's where I'm getting to. I mean, I was kind of slowly coming around to the point that he stood out in a crowded field as being like, and people are talking about him being the England seven. And it's like,
00:46:47
Speaker
Now, the other guy is going to be hit the seven. Yeah, but but if you're going to tell me put or if you want to do it that way, if you want to put Pearson at your way, Pearson at seven or eight, I don't think you can. I don't think anybody could complain about that. Yeah. I think my eight is not from England. No. And he's a guy who also had had a
00:47:13
Speaker
an emotional year, because of, you know, he came to the team he plays for and was just dominant but also fucking boneheaded and literally a walking red card.
00:47:26
Speaker
And Borthwick turned him around, really, and has made him into just a terror. Yeah. And not someone you're worried about getting carded. So he's like not even a double-edged sword for Lester anymore. He's just a fucking sledgehammer. And Jasper Veese was... Jasper, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Should be South Africa's number eight. Should be. I mean...
00:47:51
Speaker
Romeo is not the same player he used to be. He needs to be Jasper. And you can go back. We can, we could listen to the pods where we talked about him being like, I fucking, can you just cut that shit out? Cause I want to like it, I can't. Absolutely. And he really has done a great job of cutting that out. And so I got to, got to acknowledge that. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And then we've already gushed about better. All if you need to just go rewind, even if it pisses you off. And I want to do some more.
00:48:22
Speaker
Ivan Vence though. Same. Because there's not, without him, Sarries aren't champions. No. Lots of names to mention too, like Alex Mitchell, great. Ben Spencer had an unbelievable season for like, for his, you know, he definitely had like a comeback season, I would say, in a lot of ways. And I would even say Gus Warr, because Sail, you know, Sail had a good, like he was not,
00:48:47
Speaker
He's not Rafi Quirk. He's not the guy who's going to take it off and run, but the game wouldn't, wasn't too fast for him. And he put the ball where it needed to be like underrated player who deserves a little recognition in the, in the honorable mention category for sale. Aren't there if they, he's cause you know, we, the quirky was, was, uh, was hurt. Um, so he, he really piloted them the same as, as, uh, well, my 10th of the year, we'll get to him. Yeah.
00:49:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But Vince Al was just unbelievable. Yeah. No, because he led the charge in a lot of ways, too. He rated it. He raises the game to another level. Yeah. And brought the team along with him sometimes. Yep. Absolutely. And that's Sarri's we're talking about. That's impressive. Yep, it is. No matter how you feel about them, it's still impressive. It is. 10. Bobby Dukes. Bobby Dukes.
00:49:45
Speaker
Because sale aren't there. No. No. Without him. They needed him so desperately to be as good as he was. Because, obviously, Agee, like I said a thousand times, Agee left, Ford got hurt. They were looking in the mirror like, oh fuck, what do we do? And... Right. Last year's version of Robert Dapria steps in, they're in like eight.
00:50:06
Speaker
Yeah, this Bobby dupes steps in the man we will call Bobby dupes his alter his alter ego steps in and boom final like holy shit. Like this. It wasn't, you know, George Ford played 10 in that final, but, but Bobby dupes got him there.
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah. And we played like what, four club games? Something. For them, like started four club games, maybe five, something like that before the semi-final, like, yeah, it was debris. It was like, okay, get him ready. Cause he's obviously better, but it's like, I don't know. I don't know if you can't, cause you have to start for it. You have to, there's no, there's no choice, but, but
00:50:51
Speaker
But if there was a world where it was possible to just start the, who the fuck you thought would give, we knew the game, I'd be a bit more scared with, with Sarri's playing against Robert Dupree at 10 based on how he played this year. He was 13. He didn't provide much of a threat. It's like, okay, he's great. He's great for, for having him on the field, but you have to have him on the field. Yeah. That's the other thing like you, but like, he doesn't do anything.
00:51:17
Speaker
Right. Yeah. He's like, okay, I'm not worried about him breaking for a try at all. No. No, really hard to sit there and say he's a threat. Right. You want to go centers? Yeah. I don't think I've mentioned the name Molly Lawrence enough, so. Yeah, he's in my center bearing too.
00:51:41
Speaker
Yeah. Basically the same reason as Ted Hill, but more because he's was excellent in the season. Like, yeah. Who was better than this guy weekend and week out and carrying a team that wasn't all that good for the most part, although at the end of the start to click. So given that, um, but really we can week out even for, even when he was playing for Worcester, like, yeah, all the Lawrence was head and shoulders above most people on the field.
00:52:07
Speaker
Right. So good for for bad teams. And now he's going to be good for a good team. And I can't wait to see this next year. He deserves it. Mm hmm. He's putting he's putting his hard yards. Who's the other center? Joe Marchant. Good one who was was like so there's there's a story about the old Detroit linebacker, Chris Bealman, who when he was at Ohio State and his freshman year, he spent the whole first half of a game
00:52:37
Speaker
basically saying like, play me, play me, play me to the coach. And finally the halftime, the coach gets pissed off. It's like, I go in and play. And he never came out till he left. Cause he would, yeah, he's like, nope. Okay. He was right. Play him. He's good. That was Joe Marchant to Eddie Jones for the longest fucking time. And Bortho heard him. And I think it's just a little bit too late now. It is. With Marchant leading, but like this, even this season was like a, yeah, you're really going to go to that World Cup without me.
00:53:05
Speaker
Like, I'm eligible. You really gonna do that? And I don't think, like, again, to me, this is the, that's your center pairing for the World Cup. I would like to see that. Right. Because Marchant was, like, he can play wing too. He's a burner. He's physical. He's dynamic. He does so many things back there that are out there that he's one of those guys who wanna, I want him playing for my teammates. Like, I want him on my team.
00:53:35
Speaker
Please give me him. There's not much you can't ask him to do. No, I, I went with dings. Also a good choice. I think dings has had a great year and yeah. And yes, he was that whole defense was Swiss cheese, but really as, as an attacker, especially it's hard to say that Frazier didn't want a bad day. I don't, yeah. And I don't think that that, I think that was entirely coaching. Like you'll look at that and it's not that the players are, are shying away from contact. It's that they're not being coached to defend.
00:54:05
Speaker
the modern attack. No. And so they're like, it's the structure that's killing them. Um, so it's not the teams are just running over them when running through them. That's not, you know, it's not that kind. So yeah, no, it's not the player's fault to me. That's the coaches. He had a great year. So he did. He did. He did. Um, but they still made, they still made the, the, the, um, not kind of, yep. So then you go to the semi-final and then, um, yeah, back three. Uh, Carlos. Yep.
00:54:34
Speaker
uh merle week and nick david oh i like it i went with joe carpenter yeah and that's a fair one yeah because carpenter really like people forget carpenter stepped in four games in three games in something like that it wasn't for luke james who was having a good year don't don't doubt that he wasn't bad and he was having a good year and joe carpenter said oh please pick me and don't ever drop me because you will regret it
00:55:05
Speaker
Again, kind of the Chris Bealman thing. Like, yeah, no, okay. Nope. This guy, he's it. He became damn near impossible to drop.
00:55:13
Speaker
Right. Because James can do good things, but he can't do what car printer was doing. No, I don't believe so. He can't. So I know a thing against him. And he's still young. He can learn. Maybe he bumps out to wing. Like making fullback, you know, sparingly. Or they switch, you know, switch off or whatever. What have you. Either way, to me, it was Nick David because, I mean,
00:55:39
Speaker
you lose green. I know. Jeez. And the impact that had and the steadiness that came when he's like, no, no, no, I got this. I can, I can do what he did. And that's not to say he did, you know, that's not, that's rude, but he was excellent. He was not, um, yeah, it was a step down, but not a big step down certainly made an impact and, and, um,
00:56:07
Speaker
gave the, the Quinn's what they needed at fullback in a lot of ways. And he, the guy who again had a rough year. Well, you know, his, well, I guess he left before the club folded, but still, um, there's gotta be some stress about that in some ways. Cause wow, you left that you're, you know, he kind of dodged a bullet, but don't agree. Also we've made the most of a situation we've seen guys take forever to take, to come along and David's like, no, I'm good. Got this. He did well. They're really well.
00:56:39
Speaker
And who coaches the 15?
Coaching Impact and Match Recaps
00:56:43
Speaker
Mark McCall. Yeah, then I went with this Projekt Sanderson.
00:56:48
Speaker
It's not far off. I mean, I think, yeah, it's just because McCall out coached him. Right, right. Absolutely. And but and there's two people that I had in my mind and that it was it was Anderson Sanderson and also Wiggles because those two situations were so different last year. You know,
00:57:11
Speaker
Obviously Wiggles had to take a hedges, right? The ship mid season and that yes, thankfully he got hundred Paula. That was, there's no coincidence about that by any means whatsoever. But still, he had to get that team together and get them into a semi-final because crashing out of the semi-final the year after winning is never an acceptable thing.
00:57:31
Speaker
And they put together a good game up at sale. They did not win, probably could have, should have, but damn. So I considered Wigglesworth. Sanderson obviously sale come a long way, you know, this.
00:57:46
Speaker
And like you said, the pieces aren't all that different. Yes, there are some that are clearly different, but the pieces from his predecessor to now aren't super, super different. He's gotten the most out of some players that, uh, I don't know if we got the most out of those players beforehand. So it's a credit. I wouldn't say no, the way he's coached him.
00:58:09
Speaker
Right. Love him. Love, love the guy pissed that he's not with us anymore, but he's, he's in a spot he deserves. No doubt. Okay. Let's, we got some shit to run through real quick. Okay. Jog through this thing as we go here. Uh, super rugby Islanders reds. Good send off for Nagi.
00:58:36
Speaker
Yeah. Didn't look that good for a little while. It didn't. It didn't. And I don't think I watched the end of this match to be perfectly blunt. If you missed the fakatao try, you did not. Right. And so I'm pretty sure I for some reason I turned it off and then never got back to it. Oh, yeah. It was quite the experience. I'll have to go. I'll have to go back in. Yeah. I just haven't gotten to it. Yeah. It was a good recognition by him.
00:59:02
Speaker
You know, there weren't too many bad performances on the other side for the Reds. So this was just a good front up match for the Highlanders in a lot of ways. Which they needed. I think that, yeah, I was like this, I think when I turned it off, I was like, this is a, I think it was, this is a match the Highlanders losing the end because they can't hold it out. Nope, they figured it out.
00:59:25
Speaker
Hush my puppies. I honestly think that's why I stopped watching it. Tom, why'd it hit a fan to give the res the lead? And that was a big pan and that was one of those pens that you want somebody that age to hit because it means that, you know, they can survive in clutch situations and here we are. Yeah. Here we are. There's a lot like, you know, there's a lot to like about some of this,
00:59:51
Speaker
Reds lineup. There's lots to not like, though, like Greeley and Campbell again. Nobody's. Yeah. But. That right, McRite Wilson.
01:00:03
Speaker
Um, yes, yes. And yes. Um, Tame McDermott said he had to come off, but I thought he was having a good match. Right. Right. Separate his shoulder. I believe. Oh, that's right. Yeah. That's right. He scored. He fucked it up on that try. That was, that was a shame. He was straight. I came off 10 minutes. He was having a good man. Upfield came in and scored a try. Like it was, that was a wonderful try too, by the way. Like it was a beautiful try.
01:00:32
Speaker
The whole thing start to finish was- Yep, glorious. Right. And that is kind of what made me, I guess, feel like the Reds kind of had this in hand because it's like, all right, you got this going. Like, you're going, you're- But again, the Reds are kind of snake bit too. Yeah, it seems.
01:00:52
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, good for, um, Aaron Smith, uh, played a hell of a match. Freddie burns also, um, your match finally settling in down there. Yeah. And that's round 14. Yeah. Okay. Freddie finally woke up. Right. But what is it there, Derek, if they win, they're in, right? Oh yeah. They control their own destiny. Yes.
01:01:17
Speaker
So, hold on, who do they, who do the play? Well, sorry. Yeah, they're in trouble. That's going to be tough. Yeah. You're going to rely on the Chiefs to hold off the force and the Drua. They might. Oh, the Reds got, the Reds play in the Drua. So, no, no, I'm sorry. I was looking the other way. Because, yeah, I don't know. I think the Chiefs are, you know, we'll talk about that next class. No spoilers.
01:01:47
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I think the highly needed one where I'm getting down to, I think you better, you better take care of some business there video. Would you, uh, would you send out a search party for the Western force team? Because I found Sam spank, but I can't find the rest of them. Um, no, I don't know. I really, um, I need an APB on,
01:02:19
Speaker
Here's the other problem is I'm seeing way too much of Chase Diatia for what he's providing to them. I get it. He's decent.
01:02:30
Speaker
he like put Mattielli in that position rather than Tia Tia, like where he's getting the ball and so much better things will happen because you know, Mattielli is not getting the ball enough in good spots. Chase Tia Tia is getting the ball in spots where there's opportunities and just not doing a great job with it. This is why I wasn't really that upset when he left Chiefs. And they also have a problem because like, you know. Yeah, I just who else like Wells is
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. Wells went back home. That was a nice little thing they did for him. Yeah, that was, that was nice. But really like he's not, this is not a good enough team for the, the Rebels aren't a good enough team where Locky Anderson scores and I turned the game off. Yeah. But that's what happened. Right. Like I went back and watched. He was my start of the week. That's it. Yeah. I don't think I even watched this one. I think I saw the score. I was like, okay. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Moving on. Um,
01:03:30
Speaker
Oh, Chris and Laelia Fano. What a great ending that would have been if he had been able to hit that fucking kick. But I mean, it was still a great ending. It was still a great match. Like great ending. Still a very fun match. Yeah. But oh, man, that would have been a great one for him to nail right at the end. Would have been a good story for the guy, but it'll be fun to watch him in different colors this fall here. Yeah. And even so,
01:04:00
Speaker
I want to make some bad, like to just again, poor coaching kind of decisions. Like, um, yeah, I'll be holding off, uh, kind of not going in. Was it the, was it Joe sessie? Um, try where he basically just kind of, or was it sat? No, it was Sal. Um, um, bold his way over. Yeah. He was like, I'm just going to run at this line. I think it was. And, and, um,
01:04:23
Speaker
Yeah, like who is it? I was just standing on the, on the, on the try line, just standing right there. It's like, dude, you can't just let him go inside you and like, that's a try right there. Like if you're going to stand on that line, you got to defend that line. Thinking of, I think it was one of the mossy tries. Okay. Okay. It doesn't matter. Your point's still valid. It doesn't matter who scored the damn thing.
01:04:49
Speaker
Right. Um, it was just kind of a poor, and I don't think that was his fault. I think again, they were, they were just poorly connected and I think it's more structural and they're, it's learning. They're still learning. Drew, Drew are like, I think this is a fair outcome where Drew are still ahead of Moana and as, as I, as a club, um, top to bottom. And so this is the result I expected. So, I mean, amazing for Moana to have been that position. William Avili.
01:05:14
Speaker
Hello. Two tries. Nice to see you. Welcome. You promptly disappeared after that second try, but like, okay, good. You showed something for 30 minutes. Okay. Let's now.
01:05:31
Speaker
Do it for 50 more. And it wasn't just about the double. He was actually like, he always contributes a lot, but it's nice to see him actually be productive. He's kind of in that trace to you, Tia. Like, I see too much of him doing meh. It's good to see a lot of him doing yay. Yay. More, please. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. John Afola.
01:06:15
Speaker
One hand shift. The guy didn't do more than flick his wrist like I didn't even see John F. OK. All right. Oh, my God. Yeah. Great to see him. And, you know, obviously he's the Crusaders are desperate for props right now. Like, yes, they are. Yeah. So it's the one place that I have concern for them going forward. Like, as soon as they come up against that team, they're going to be in deep shit.
01:06:27
Speaker
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
01:06:36
Speaker
Yeah. Well, they also have some, some issues around their back three. Yeah. I like some of that, but shape. Yaki's not going to be part of that equation. I hope so. Uh, you know, well, Jordan, yeah, I like that a lot.
01:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, I do too, but he's like kind of a go out there assuming he's good to go. Right. Like I think I'd rather have McLeod at 13, but then I think they're still missing a dynamic 14. Right. So you can, you can put like NR at 13 and he's serviceable. And then, yeah, that's true. But McLeod isn't like, now you have to kind of, we have a serviceable center and an serviceable wing rather than a really good center. I'd rate McLeod as, as.
01:07:21
Speaker
pretty high, I'd rather have it at 13. And then you need the speedster at 14, but you're probably right. I bet the farm did not do that. Probably not, because it's, again, a little bit of, yeah, we'll take a mad guy, because we have fighting Enuku just scoring it well. And that 15 who... Yeah, kind of poor. And, you know, I don't always love and agree with comms, but I think it was Marshall that said the tots were pretty shit right up until they scored their last try, like,
01:07:48
Speaker
I think it was the, um, the land time to try. Like they were pretty crap in that second half up until that point. And then they decided to roll their sleeves up and get shit done for five, six days. And they look what happens. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty bad. I'd be pretty annoyed if I was a high language man. I don't know.
01:08:08
Speaker
The rest of you, but our toes. Yeah. Sorry. More toes. Excuse me. Yeah. It's okay. I might be annoyed if I was a highlanders fan too. Different story for a different day. So, yeah, I mean, fuck again. There was a point where I was like, okay, this one's over next. Moving on. Right. Oh, oh, fucking Mark. I, Oh yeah. What are you going to do? Like,
01:08:38
Speaker
You know, I'm really disappointed in the way this worked out because it was just stupid shit that gave him tries. It really was. Yes, he's an unbelievable player and God damn it, he should be playing if not like he should be on the all box squad. No question. Probably should start for them. But fuck, we handed him at least two of those. And fucking hell, like.
01:09:03
Speaker
Because the other thing is you can't just hand. Yeah, you can't give him anything like he will take it enough on his own. And if you just give him a little bit like an inch, he's gone. And they they did too many. Yeah, they. Yeah, he found himself too many favorable spots. Sad to see severely the way he did that.
01:09:20
Speaker
Yeah, great. No. So I think we'll see a lot of raspy, you know, how all the raspy came off too. I think Jesus. Yeah, he did. So listen, awesome. Brett Cameron came back. That's good. Thank God. They need him so badly. I'm really disappointed in this team thus far since the start of the year. Like we had that first like eight weeks or so where we were sitting pretty and we have just tailed off big time. Yeah. And it's really annoying. And
01:09:46
Speaker
We let a couple of games get away with us. Get away from us. I'm pretty peeved about this. This could have been one of them. Like, couldn't even get a bonus point out of this. That's one of the more annoying things for me. Right. Because they gave up that last try and it was, really, you're going to give up that try. Like, just like, fucking hell. You can't give up. You can't do that. And I, you know, for as well as he played, I hope he, I really hope he's in the All Blacks squad. Billy Proctor is playing unbelievable rugby for the Hurricanes and
01:10:15
Speaker
I don't think he'll get it started, unfortunately, for the All Blacks, but fuck, he at least needs to be in consideration because he does. Fellows playing his ass off this season. Really disappointed in Jordy Barrett, like, sitters. Like, we left, like, what, eight points out there in kicks?
01:10:35
Speaker
Something like... Yeah. God damn it, dude. Like, some of them are very hittable. It's like, ugh, come on, man. What are we doing? Right. Like, let's go. Like, that's not Jordy Bear. And that really annoys me that it was... No. And also, at the same time, know when it's not your day. Right? Know when it's... Like, that's your profession. You're the best. You're really among the best in the world at kicking.
01:10:59
Speaker
And if it's not your day, tell your team, go for corner and do what you got to do. Like, you know, make different decisions. Like that's, that's how you make adjustments. And, and I don't think he, uh, yeah. Yeah. They needed points too. I think, yeah, the penalty kick was a little, I mean, it was early, but still, um,
01:11:24
Speaker
Yeah. Give me six of those points and we get a bonus point at least. Right. Right. Fucking hell. It's annoying. It's so annoying. And your guys mostly cruised. Yeah, it was a pretty, um, we affair. Like they, they, they were just kind of toying around and yeah, the, the Brumby scored a couple late, if I'm not mistaken.
01:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, he scored one ahead with the clock red. And then... Tool got one right around the 70th minute or something like that. 69th, yeah, okay. So, yeah, right. So, and at that point, though, you know, what was it? It was 31-7. Like, the Chiefs had just been like, yeah, fine. Whatever. I mean, there were some points. Was it Jacobson that scored down the far sideline there early in the first half? Like...
01:12:11
Speaker
That's criminal. Yeah. That's criminal. Yeah. If I'm fucking Larkham, I am losing my hair over that. That is awful. Laurie Fisher is going to have someone's lunch. I can bet you that. Oh, man, that is awful. I would be so annoyed if I was on that coaching team. Like, there was three of them and only one of them was marked. Like, what the actual fuck are we doing on defense here? Right. I don't know if long again just went the wrong way and then nobody picked it up. But, God damn, that was bad.
01:12:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think everybody just bit on Weber. No, Weber was out by, no, he wasn't, he wasn't out yet. He was not yet. No, but everybody bit on Weber and that'll happen. And Jake, cause also Jacobson is like a minimal threat. He's one of those guys who you're like, you're not going to mark him in this specialty. Like, you know, if you're looking at that, you know, this first phase, this scrum,
01:13:05
Speaker
You know, am I going to look for Jacobson or I'm going to look for Weber or Mackenzie or Nankaville or Vanessa Turin or any of those fuckers out there? Like, if I'm going through my list of threats, Jacobson is probably seven, maybe eight. But even still, like, yeah, come on. To not even have anybody on him is poor. You can score against air. Anyone can score against air. Like, come on, man. What are we doing?
01:13:32
Speaker
And then I would be livid and he was Tua that just fell off the, fell off Josh Iwani and Iwani was able to scoot over like, yes, great. That's what happens when you make a big hit, but you don't fucking finish it. Like that is why big hits can't be that highly rated. If all you do is fucking fall off, Iwani shoot him away. Like he was a mosquito and said, oh, look at this wonderful gap I now have and just slid over. I was like, oh,
01:13:59
Speaker
That's so bad. Like, yeah, two, two huge defensive errors, one individual, one team. And that is enough for just the Rumbi's coaching staff to start throwing shit at the glass in front of them. Like, what the fuck? Like, the scary thing is that Yawani can get better. Like, he didn't have a great game. And part of that is that, yeah, Damien McKenzie wants to play 10 as well as 15.
01:14:23
Speaker
But like they did a lot, like some of the same problem. Like you see them do think with two certain things that happen when you don't have a good fly half, like the reversing field too much, like they pass out to the left and it's not the scrum has fault. It's the fly house at this point. Cause like the fly have out there on the left thing. Oh, no, no, go right. And passing it back to the right. Um, or back the other way. Like it was too much. Um, and maybe it's not just Giovanni cause Mackenzie, it was Mackenzie was doing it too. Um,
01:14:52
Speaker
And it's just like, somebody's got to just be like, okay, no, like the 10 has to be the 10. So it's, um, it's not so much that I'm annoyed by Yawani. It's that he and Mackenzie need to, like Mackenzie needs to play his position. And, and when he's 15, like what it should mean is that Yawani, Yawani pilots the ship. Like he's the one who's telling where to go. You're the one that is the secondary. If he wants something, you give it to him. Like, that's, that's how it works. You know, he'll get it to you when you need to get, you know, when you need it. Agreed.
01:15:24
Speaker
But like, again, they were just kind of playing. Yeah. So. And then we're going to jump, we're going to switch back to hemispheres. The road to the Eastern Conference goes through Quincy. Hmm. That was a satisfactory match. Yeah. Yeah.
Freejacks Strategy and Fan Experience
01:15:45
Speaker
I mean, it was just, I have to say cat roaches, everything that you, you, you want in a referee.
01:15:54
Speaker
Yeah. Very, very good. Very, very communicative and pretty accurate with her calls. So got to give that to her. I agree. She was definitely the best we've seen. Yeah. Yeah. She's the best in the country. Maybe it says otherwise it's smoking way too much dope or not smoking enough. I don't know. Maybe a little bit of both. Yeah. But yeah.
01:16:22
Speaker
free jacks are good to roll. Um, best part about this is now we can just, we can rotate guys out that need to get healthy. Um, I gotta try to go play buy shop issue. Um, so he's, he's, but McLean played great. So I thought the kid was looked really, really good. He ran in those lovely scrum half support lines, which leads to tries and go on. So go give him credit. It'll be,
01:16:51
Speaker
It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to this the next, last few weeks. We got Atlanta, Seattle, and Houston. Anyway. Atlanta, Seattle, and then home against Houston. Yep. That's right. Okay. So. And I love it that we get a free trip to Seattle where we don't have to play our best team. They're still going to have to, to, to hold up because
01:17:19
Speaker
They have to fight for points, free jacks really don't. And so we'll see what they got. Cause they're going to have to show us, it's like, they're going to have to show us cards. We will put some cards on the table and we don't have to put anything on the table. We can play it fairly neutral and then just play. Yeah. I'm sure they want to give and get some sort of look to this because they don't want to just go in with no, with nothing. Of course not. But yeah, you're going to, because you're also wanting,
01:17:46
Speaker
you know, some of your key players to see it. So it's gonna be like one of those mixed squads where like, yeah, Traz is on the bench. Waka starts because he still needs time. You know, Olin's probably on the bed, like things like that, you know, you start holding because yes, they maybe start reset 10 or something like that. Yeah. Or even Waka at 10.
01:18:08
Speaker
It's interesting because it's, it's going to be really weird in my, it's really weird in my brain, how everything's worked out because with the Western conference, because clearly the East is just meh. I don't think anybody would, I could that otherwise. Um, our two losses are to Western conference teams. They're both away. Right. Listen, awesome. Our two wins against Western corporate teams are against the two worst Dallas and Chicago. So, and then we're not going to really.
01:18:34
Speaker
put forth our outstanding, most outstanding, full noise, 15 against either Seattle or Houston who are our two final Western Conference opponents. So we're going to potentially go into this whole thing, this playoff, rested, rested, but also like to me, it's a big question. What can we do against this Western Conference? Because I don't know.
01:18:57
Speaker
You know, that's the end of the ego team. It's really fucking good. Right, but neutral sight I think will help. It will. It will. That's the... And again, Waka, I think, will add something. Like, I think that'll be, like, getting him time with Patras and JP, and especially at the 15, I think. It adds so much, and you still have... Like, there's not... It's not that the free jacks are bad. It's that they also played him at some unfortunate times, and...
01:19:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's not the same free Jack's team now. So I'm excited for that. No. And I'm not too upset. That's more my point. Like we will not see really the current free Jack's team against any of these Western conference teams. Right. Right. Do you want to know some trivia though? What? So who has the most points scored as a team in the, in the, in MLR? Definitely us. Right.
01:19:47
Speaker
Prejekt, 440, Seattle, 437, Legion, 428. Who has the lowest points against? Oh, us, because we put up a couple of donuts. Yeah, 209. The next closest is San Diego with 235, and then Seattle with 254. I mean, we've- And then tries, tries four were three up. We have the next, like, for tries against,
01:20:15
Speaker
We're at 27, the next best teams are again, San Diego and Seattle with 34 and 35, 34, 35 that's, that's seven and eight tries difference. Yeah. And we've looked, I mean, we've put up some stinker of a match too. Yeah. Right. New York match was a poor one. The Dallas match was pretty bad.
01:20:36
Speaker
We've had some stinkers too, but our defense has certainly helped us get through the really shitty months and gotten us to this lovely warm weather where we can just chuck the ball around a little bit and play. Right. It doesn't help anything, any of these stats that like the rest of the East is.
01:20:53
Speaker
The technical term is butt. Yeah. They are ass. They are ass. They are ass. There's no question. Like total ass. And it's kind of disappointing because like, I think, yeah, that is the problem. It's like, look, we heard from a recent signing asking like, are we this good or are these teams that bad? And it's like. A little bit of both, but. A bit of both, but no, this seems really good. Like the New Orleans team last week was, whoa.
01:21:22
Speaker
God awful. Yeah. I think that was right. Like that was basically their B team. Like it was bad. Yeah. Right. Like a club team, essentially like from the air, like that. Not good. Not good at all. And then this week was just not. Nope. All right. I mean, fun to watch though. A lot of fun to watch. Yep. Makes for a good day out. Yeah. Like Toronto.
01:21:48
Speaker
I know they threw everything they had at it. Like they, they really were not, you know, they were formidable. They put up points, but I mean, that's impressive that the fact that they scored what 20 fuck that that's saying something that's more than the average team scores against them, certainly at home. Um, and they didn't, they didn't stop. They got, they got, you know, they, they fought. They were not fucking her. They were not, you know, for lack of effort by any stretch. No.
01:22:15
Speaker
Not at all. All right. That's what makes it more fun when they struggle. Always see the host drain from them. All right. So that's that. Although also the crowd is excellent at Veterans Memorial. It's such a great fight, Quincy. It's like we can no longer chirp individual players anymore. They can't hear us. No, they can't. It's true.
01:22:45
Speaker
And, and I love it because of that, which means you can yell louder, but it's still only means we yell louder. They can't hear it. You know, you're not, you're not sure they can hear you. Although I have a pretty good shouting voice. I've say sometimes. Yeah, I'm sure sometimes they can, but damn, it's good. It's, it's nice to see that kind of level. Um, you know, we're approaching some prem teams up there. Cool. All right. So.
01:23:15
Speaker
We are going to do one more fantasy pod. Well, we'll do two more. We'll do one next week to wrap it up. But, um, yeah, this is going to be pretty straightforward, just coming up. So if you're heading over there, we'll see you over there and would be probably short sweetened to the point. If you're, if you're not joining us over there, we do appreciate you for hanging out with us and listening to us babble. Um.
01:23:36
Speaker
Sorry, not sorry that we talked about the Saracen so much, but, uh, we will obviously appreciate your support and we will talk to you all next week. Everybody enjoy the final round of the regular season of super rugby and have a good one. Later. Cheers.