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Season 5- Episode 6- Achievement Unlocked (Adventure Recap & Premiership Round 4)
29 Plays3 years ago
On this episode, quite simply, we recap our trip over to the UK. To it in one word, wow, simply wow. We can not say enough, how thankful we are for all that were involved in our trip across the pond. From the players and folks at the Saracens, Wolfpack Fulham, the Harlequins, folks at the Cabbage Patch and from the Quins Supporters Association. Last but not least, George, we'll return the favor, we promise. Oh yeah, we talk about rugby at some point too. Enjoy everyone!
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Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
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 & Hosts' Banter
00:00:02
Speaker
It is. The Fantasy Robias. 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 Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. Collusion. Collusion.
Welcome to Fantasy Rugby Inc.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Fancy Rugby Inc. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. This will be a very informal slash formal slash I have no idea what the hell is going on podcast because I am.
Travel Tales & London Adventures
00:00:38
Speaker
I think my body still or maybe my soul is still in London and my body's here. I don't know. Whatever it is, something happened between the two and I am just not here right now. It was a weird flight. I love my dignity in London for sure, but you know. Yeah.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, we all kind of did. Although, although I went in with one goal. And as you said to George, we met up to piss yourself, not to piss myself. And and that's not because, you know, whatever it is, because we're going to be out drinking and and who knows what. And you're on public transit for quite a while. And, you know, once you break that seal, it's it's tough to maintain. But no, I thought we both did an admirable job.
00:01:23
Speaker
tying a knot in it. Yeah. Nope. Keep it keep it bottled, although we both had a couple of squeaky ones once. Yeah. Well, yeah. Thank you. But either way, it's more. But I can tell you this much. It was the Boston public transport. We both wanted bone. Oh, exactly. We don't have much more to made it. So that's the upside. Right. So the tube and the bus, the efficiency of the tube and the bus over. Right. Just excellent, excellent work to all those people. Yes.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, so this this episode is going to be kind of serving as our recap on the rugby weekend but also we're going to go through the chronology of our of our trip to London and
00:02:03
Speaker
all the shenanigans that occurred. And yeah, I think the emphasis on shenanigans will go to Saturday, but there were shenanigans on other days too. So there was shenanigans of significant evil shenanigans. They were not evil actually. They were fine. But yes, Friday we land.
Settling In & Culinary Experiences
00:02:23
Speaker
Um, made our way to our, our Airbnb. And that was pretty easy. And we went and got some basic groceries for us. So we didn't die and we're fed, fed humans. Right. Um, breakfast stuff. Right. Yeah. And then we found out we went to Nando's.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, I see why that's popular. Yeah, it was good. I was pleased with my selection of food, but I made a mistake on the beer because I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but fixed that on the second beverage.
00:02:55
Speaker
Because on the second beverage, I don't even know what the hell the first one was. I thought my head. It tasted like Bud Light. That's all I know. I was like, this tastes like Bud Light. Yeah. It was not good. It was like knowledge. Like shit beer that you drink in a warm in a frat house of a shitty frat house basement kind of thing. Yeah. No, I was like, yeah. All right. This tastes like college next. And I changed. And that got better. And then we went back to the Airbnb and we
00:03:25
Speaker
What would you say about Flashbacks?
00:03:30
Speaker
So was it to the, I told you I'm not here today. The 24 hour pod. The 24 hour pod. Absolutely. It felt like kind of that, like we were up for a long time. Like neither of us really slept on the flight over. Like maybe an hour, maybe two. Right.
Jet Lag & Pub Experiences
00:03:48
Speaker
And so then that was from, it left at like, well, it was supposed to leave at 10 p.m. It left a little bit later than that. Almost 11. So that's, you know, whenever we woke up on Thursday till
00:03:59
Speaker
you know, Friday night, we barely slept Friday night, London time and then. But there's rugby to watch. So so we got to go. We got to go watch it. Right. We got to go watch it. We can't just like, first off, we couldn't watch it at the house because they didn't have a TV subscription. So, you know, just the Internet like all well and good, but that's what's going to do us the service we need. Exactly.
00:04:23
Speaker
So, of course, we were like, well, we got to there's there's bucket list stuff at play here. And the first one is to go to the original Wolfpack lager bar. Right. And we're like, yeah, but let's go there and they'll show rugby. It was great. We get there and they're not showing rugby. They give us, you know, the beer was excellent. I will. It was good. We'll definitely drink more of that.
00:04:52
Speaker
But yeah, they kind of turned the music on. It kind of was like more of a bar than a rugby pub, apparently. Which was sad. Which was kind of sad.
00:05:04
Speaker
So we leave there, we go down to the Fulham, Fulham Wolfpack. And they were much more accommodating. They like, they didn't, at first, because they were super busy. Like that was kind of the problem. You know, it's Friday night, they're packed, they got some- It wasn't already on. They had it been already on, it wouldn't have been a problem, but just thought to put it on yet. Right. We asked them to put it on and they like, yeah, sure, we will. And then they didn't for like five to 10 minutes. So we ask again,
00:05:30
Speaker
And they're like, oh, yeah. And one of the security guards is over. It's like, wait, there's rugby. Yeah. Why isn't there rugby? With the bartender who didn't do it the first and they're like, OK, we'll find it. And if he asks us, like, do you know what channel it's on? Are you kidding me? Do you hear my voice? Right.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'll hear my voice. Does it sound like I know what channel it's on? I know the network name, but I don't know what channel it's on. So but Jared's like, it's no, it's BT. Like we kind of, you know, we hear it enough at this point. We hear it enough. We know the name. So, yeah, it was. So, yeah, they put it on and got to watch the last 20 or so.
00:06:07
Speaker
And yeah, I had a good time out there, but yeah, it was very much reminiscent of our, of our 24 hour watch-a-thon. Cause yeah, no kidding. Kind of out on our feet at the end. Yeah. Oh, dude. I slept like a rock that night. Yeah. I think I slept from like 11 to nine. Right. Something like that. It was pretty solid sleep. So yeah. And you know,
00:06:31
Speaker
When I had messaged Wolfpack, like, yeah, we always show the rugby. So with that little incident going down, they were very accommodating and said, yeah, we'll buy beers on us next time you come in. So obviously we made that commitment. That's down the road. Obviously we'll talk about that. We'll get to that.
Meeting Fantasy Rugby Geek
00:06:46
Speaker
We'll get to that part.
00:06:49
Speaker
But in general, it sounds like we didn't miss much, honestly, from the match. Like, we turned it on, and Newcastle had their two yellow cards at that point. And the best thing, we probably saw the best thing to watch all night, which was the final Carreras try. Yes, which was, honestly. It's really anything. Anything else really, you know, not really that big a deal. Right. I mean, yeah, like the Richard Lane try that we saw wasn't, like,
00:07:17
Speaker
It was a good try. Like it was solid. That was because they had an overload. Right. The Carreras was just a...
00:07:24
Speaker
I'm just going to run through you and then, like, yeah, totally stepped. Was it Lane, I think, at the end there? Yeah, I think so. And then totally set him up, too. Like, he could have stayed on the sideline. He's like, no, I'm going to give him a little space so I can go either direction when I decide I'm going to make my move and see if this guy can figure out which way I'm going on his own. And he couldn't. No. So he needs to play more. That's another news thing. I think somebody was saying that recently. Yeah, great time.
00:07:52
Speaker
He needs to. Yeah, he should be the other way right now, right? I don't care. We go in the back. So that brings us to Saturday.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah. And and the weakness that was right. And and tooth. Well, it's too amazing, three amazing like five, five, seven, eight. Say hello. You're only on that many. Jeez. So first we get to meet the the absolute legend that is fantasy rugby geek. George. Yeah. First time in person. We've talked a whole lot and he's been on the pod, obviously.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, really, we've been communicating with him for four or five years now. Right. It's been a long time. It's been a long time coming.
00:08:35
Speaker
The whole trip, we told everybody on this trip, like, yes, we planned on doing this after the World Cup in Japan. We were like, all right, we're going to make this happen sometime between now and the beginning of next season, which would have been the beginning of the 2020 season. But this fucking thing called COVID hit, and that completely put the kibosh on that. Yeah. We probably could have pulled it off at some point last year, but
00:09:00
Speaker
I just don't think we were prepared in a lot of ways. So this year was like, all right, we will make this happen now. And this ended up being a really good weekend to
Navigating London
00:09:10
Speaker
make it happen. So a little bit of fate involved here. Just a little. Yeah. And George was... We'll get to the end of it. But yeah.
00:09:24
Speaker
As far as a chaperone goes, he makes a hell of a good one. Right. He was excellent. Got us exactly where we needed to be. And and kept us where we needed to be, too. Yeah. Like, nope, we're going this way. OK, yeah. Follow you and just stay right here. Just stand right here and then wait. And then now we'll go over and talk to some players. Yeah, we'll get to that. Yeah. So we hang out. We meet at the by camera with the name of the public. Hold on. I know this one.
00:09:53
Speaker
I know this one. I remember I was thinking about yesterday was when Catherine was asking me about defectors. Come on. Yeah. What is it? Defectors. Well, that's it. Yeah, that was it. So we met there for Ben. I had one had already had one and George got there a little bit after and we had a few more. We had another one and we decided to get on our way and
00:10:22
Speaker
go up to the Stonex, and, you know, the trip up there wasn't that bad. Everybody likes to bitch about it. I think probably the trip from the station to the Stonex is the bigger pain in the ass. Yeah. That being definitely the bigger pain in the butt, I could totally agree with that. We decided to hoof it, and we still got there at around the same time as the people taking the bus. Taking the shuttle, because the shuttle was going to be packed, really. Yeah, exactly. That looks uncomfortable, and it was a nice day out. So let's walk. Yeah, let's see some nature, and plus, you know,
00:10:51
Speaker
as much as we you know we were busy the previous day like we still didn't get to use our legs that much so it was good to like stretch your legs after after a long flight no we were
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you get to be pretty decisive with that move from full and from from the original will pack to full and will pack. Right. But that was about the most we had to really like bust it. Right. And that was that nothing. And that was mostly us sitting on trains, though, and busters. So no, not, you know, not that much exertion. Just try to get a good 20 minute walk in, you know, and see, you know, go to like Middle Earth. It felt like, yeah, definitely. That's too much for the floor of the ringswalk. Yeah.
00:11:33
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. But then you just come around the corner and then there it is. And it was, you know, an ultimate. Right. And it was gorgeous. It looks amazing with the double set of stands. Yeah. It looks like a proper, a proper sports arena. Yeah. Proper ground now. Yeah. Which is great. The only good deal is good for that club. That's for sure. Right. And more people come into the match.
00:11:56
Speaker
So it was still, it was like, I feel like Sunday's match was more packed, but this was a good show. It was still pretty jammed. Yeah. I can look at the attendance number in one second here. So I can tell you what it was, but it was great. Overall, great experience. And then of course,
00:12:16
Speaker
we go find our beers, you and I went to the shop and got some proper attire for the situation. I finally have a kit and we both got some. You have an actual kit now and not some knock out bullshit that you, which I appreciate the knock out bullshit because I have one too, but you needed a proper jersey. Right. And then we both got some pretty nice hoodies. So fair due to the, I honestly like,
00:12:43
Speaker
We'll come to it, but I thought the Saris store, the kit that they had was a much better selection anyway than we saw at Quinn's. I was like, I really wanted to buy something at Quinn's, but there was nothing I could justify.
00:12:56
Speaker
I didn't really get too much. I was happy to testify what I had. Yeah, I had to force it. So I was like, I'm not going to force it. Have that problem often? No problem forcing it at Saris. It was, nope, I want this. I want that. Good. Done. Easy. The only problem they had was that they didn't have adult-sized caps. Caps. Yeah. Well, caps. Well, I'm sure we get one. That's all right. Yeah, no worries there. Those are easier than getting the kit. Yeah, kits are pain in the ass.
00:13:23
Speaker
And I was happy that I was near some people who were saying that, yeah, make it like a size or two big, like, because they don't there's no play to the to the replica jersey. So it's a good point. Yeah, mine is pretty spot. Yeah, that's one few years ago. And I could definitely vouch for that. But then we did that and we went over to the other stand and
00:13:48
Speaker
We put another face to another name. Exactly. Actually got to, you know, shake some hands with another fantasy rugby legend, Duncan. If you've played pretty much any comp. Tiger feet. Right. Tiger feet. Yeah. You know him. You know that, you know, his affinity for the Leicester Tigers. So it was really not twisting his arm too much to get him to come to this match. No. Yeah. Who the hell would not want to come to this match anyway?
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was nice to meet him and his people. Yep, it was great. And we didn't spend too much time before the game with them, but because the game is actually not that far away from kicking off by the time we got all sorted and we got beers and everything. And George was an excellent chaperone and let us go
Rugby Game Excitement
00:14:38
Speaker
do our shopping and brought us beverages afterwards. Oh, those look like beers. Thank you. Right. And Mark, thank you for the beers.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yes, Marge, Alex, thanks for sending over your donations. We greatly appreciate it, and it makes us feel special. Because George may have purchased them, but they were bought by you guys. Yeah, they were bought by them, folks. No question. Obviously, we got over to the stands, and the game, although there was one particular human that was sitting not far from us that Ben and I both thought about, can we go over there and legally punch this guy without getting arrested and kicked out of this game?
00:15:16
Speaker
Nope. OK, cool. We won't do it yet. But yeah, I'm looking. Jones was right there. Yeah, not Eddie Steven. Right. Right. I actually don't know which game he was at.
00:15:27
Speaker
Me neither. I didn't see him in the replays of the games I watched. We saw him on Friday, but that was... Yes, maybe that was the game he was supposed to be at. Yeah, maybe that was it. Who knows? But anyway, the match started pretty... Not quite that fast, but didn't take long for the series to get over the line. No, it did not. It felt like we were still kind of settling into it and suddenly, boop, try. Like, oh, yes.
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was a very sudden from from from that whole yeah and it was because it was from our own end too. Yes. So it was like the laws trying. Yeah, it just kind of happened.
00:16:07
Speaker
What was it? Yeah. Cause, uh, was it Lewington broke the line, fed it to, uh, Van Zell and Van Zell inside the laws running the second nine line there. Um, it was useful, the most useful thing. Van Zell's done for a while. Certainly. And I was happy because I picked him up for fantasy. So that, oh yeah, that's true. I was like, wow, we actually did something. That's good enough. That's more than I expected. Yeah. Yeah. And, and Lester.
00:16:33
Speaker
just their selection of their options with going penalty, penalty at the beginning there. I was happy to walk away with six points from two, 22 entries and just push them back a little bit. And they fought back for a bit with that first try from Cronin, but they didn't get over again until what?
00:16:53
Speaker
till 15 minutes, till the second half. Till the total, yeah, the second half with Stewart, so. Right. And then, but Ben Earl responded with a try of his own two minutes later, so it's not like, you know, it's like, okay, you scored, but then, oh, sorry, score, and suddenly it's like, oh. Had one earlier disallowed, and I wasn't told the end of that, but. Yeah. That's, that's Carly being sticky as he is, and that's, and he was sticky with a lot of things all matched up, so. He was, he was. That wasn't the only thing he was thinking about.
00:17:21
Speaker
So he was sticky everywhere. Yeah, exactly. And then you just got to play to that. And I thought Saris did that fairly well. It's like, okay, well, don't put yourself into situations where he's going to blow his whistle and then you'll be fine. Right. And then all match long.
00:17:39
Speaker
We've got a new folk hero up at the Stone X and his name is Theo McFarlane. What didn't he do? He was, yeah, he was stupendous and I'm going to double check my work from beforehand, but I'm pretty sure he's been capped by Samoa. I think you're right. I thought you went on a tour or something like that last year. I believe so as well.
00:18:06
Speaker
But either way, his handling skills in the air and like he can do so many things. And then, you know, that's that's obviously been a trigger for me is like the more you can do the more things you can do around the park, the more valuable you are. And holy fuck, does he like he doesn't miss when he takes on the high ball, he doesn't miss, you know, or on kickoffs or anything like that. And then that line out shift that he does.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah. Like, yeah. And that's not like the stuff you teach at home. Like you don't teach to do that, but because he's just got those alternative skills that come from other sports, which I totally encourage, he's, you know, he can do it. He can do it. And he does it clean and wouldn't do that on a wet day, but dry sunny day. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And just the hand, the grip strength, the, um,
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, just unbelievable. And it's not wearing a glove. He's not like these NFL receivers who make these ridiculous looking catches, but that's because the glove, like there's ridiculous level of tack on those gloves. It's hard to not like the gloves make the catch for them a lot of times. And no, he's just doing it bare handed with a with a bigger ball.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yes, he has been capped by Samoa. He played the two non-capped against Mayari, but then he got one in the qualifiers against Tonga. So he is capped. So he is theirs until at least 24, 2024. And if he keeps playing for them, which I imagine they'll keep picking him. Yeah. Oh, I think so. I think they did have a reason. They don't have a reason not to.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah, and overall, this is the rugby we wanted to see from the series for a long time in so many ways. So the fact that they just decided they've started to show out even in the last couple of matches, but then today, Saturday, still stuck on that day, obviously.
00:20:08
Speaker
in such a fashion where it was very decisive. And I know there were still some pieces from Lester that are missing, but still, it makes me excited just the same. If Sarri's played that way, and it was very open, very attacking, not nearly as much high ball and go and chase, like everything was for territory. You're playing to either break the defense or gain territory. There's no one who can beat them.
00:20:36
Speaker
Right. Unless somebody else is playing that game better than they are playing that game. And that's it. There's no other way, you know, a lot of these teams in the prem can't touch that. I mean, Leicester can. It's just that it wasn't their day. Right. No, they can't. And this is, like we said, this is the frustrating thing about the whole, you know,
Rugby Player Highlights
00:21:00
Speaker
all of last year with the kicking and stuff. It was like, oh, like, can we not do this stuff, please? Yeah. Like if you play that way, teams can beat you, as we saw, like good teams, but teams can still beat you. So how about we do things that like, you know, like this where, you know, Van Zell was scoring tries. Van Zell was looking like a proper scrum half.
00:21:21
Speaker
Let's just be real. Like you've put him in an attacking mindset and he came really good. And daily, like that made daily, like how, what it's like. Daily's been unleashed a little bit. Yep. He now it seems like he was assigning for this year more than like last year. He was just missing the whole year, even when he played, but they weren't playing to his strengths. And now it's like, Oh, do this. And this is what, this is what he does really well. This is why you signed him. He is a good attacker.
00:21:51
Speaker
Yeah, he was a good attacker. So in the end, this was a fun game to be at for the sake of us. And we got to say really to Lester's side, how good was Freddie Stewart? Yeah, no kidding. All just ridiculous. He is all world at this point. He is really, really good. A back three player that most people would kill to have and just absurd. And a team that didn't have too many attacking threats, unfortunately to say.
00:22:19
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of other guys weren't up for it, unfortunately. At least, I will say the two new-ish guys that haven't played a whole ton for them, Koka and Watson, they just weren't quite up for it. This might not have been the game to bring them in. Yeah. And, you know, I can understand the idea for
00:22:38
Speaker
Fourthly, naming a very strong bench and maybe the average to slightly above average lineup. And if you hold on tight for 60 minutes and you're able to keep pace, then you bring on that strong bench.
00:22:53
Speaker
it can pay off in wonders, but it just, this is the risk. You let them out to a good lead and then you really gotta start playing catch up and that's hard. Yeah. And especially when they kept, they brought on Pollard and left Freddie Burns and Jimmy Goperthel and it's like, now you've got three guys who like, Pollard is the best attacking option out of those three.
00:23:19
Speaker
And that's not good. He doesn't necessarily run that well. Right. And you can't, you know, against a team like Saturday's, he's already put what, three, three over or so at that point. Cause I was at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Cause yep. Laws are old. Oh, and then they'd already put up four in the first half. So you'd need more. And they got the Freddie Stewart tribe, but then that was really, that was the last they really threatened even.
00:23:44
Speaker
Right. And when they got the Spready Sewer try, I thought about last week, like, oh, boy, here we go. Yeah, no, exactly. Here we go again. There was there was a little bit of a. But here we go, boys, this could be ugly. But the I think it was the daily try that came about 10 minutes later, just kind of said, all right, never mind. I'm not worried anymore. We're OK. No longer worried. Yeah. And then Theo got over and then Maitland
00:24:10
Speaker
Okay, you got it down. Yeah, that was not pretty. That was right in front of us. I couldn't tell what the hell happened. I thought he didn't. It happened, obviously, quite quickly. And he was turned away. He was on our side, but he kind of was turned away from us.
00:24:30
Speaker
And so I couldn't really see what that he had dropped the ball. All I could have thought he was, he kept running and was at the last second was like, Oh no, I got to touch it down. No, he dropped. So then, and then final whistle game, we went over to.
00:24:47
Speaker
We wandered ourself over to the Lester crew and had a longer chat with them, which was fun. Yeah, it was. And just having a good laugh. A lot of Tigers fans at that match too. They were. They were well represented, no doubt. A couple of them were behind us, left early.
00:25:07
Speaker
a little disappointed. I was kind of disappointed with that because they were being all loud and boisterous and then they leave early. It's like, oh, if you're going to, if you're going to, you know, start talking shit, then, you know, stick it out. Like you're there. You're obviously you're in it. Don't leave early. But yeah, not that we were going to trash talk him, but that.
00:25:26
Speaker
You know, don't leave early like that late, like 20 minutes early. I turned around and like, after the daily try and there was like ghost town behind the row behind us after all the chances. Yeah, it went this weird. We went over and hang out with the.
00:25:42
Speaker
with the Lester folks. And that was great. And, you know, I was glad we were able to just chat for a little bit more with Duncan and crew. And that was, that was really enjoyable. And now we were talking, my wife and I were talking about last night, cause we watched the, the Rexxum series and one of the episode was on hooliganism. And, you know, thank the fucking Lord. That doesn't happen in rugby because we wouldn't have been able to talk with Duncan because he's in the Wayfair. Right. And they would have said, Nope, you got to stay over here. You can't go over there. We were like, fuck.
00:26:11
Speaker
you know, and even the police outside of the stadium probably would have stopped us from talking. So moving like, fuck. And that is just so sad, which makes me, which makes me grateful for watching, for being a rugby fan, to be able to go to a rugby match in that fashion.
00:26:24
Speaker
So, yeah, that was great. I was really happy with that. And it was great that the pubs stayed open. Not like here in America where they're like, no, you bunch of drunk assholes that can't handle your shit. You don't get to drink anymore. Go somewhere else and drink. Well, it's also, you know, like they don't want you drinking and driving because everybody just drives to the game. Whereas here, it's like it's so easy to take public transit. I love the public transit there. It's so. Yeah, that was nice. Please get it. Yeah.
00:26:53
Speaker
Get your shit together, America. Seriously. It was much more pleasant even just to walk around, too, because you're not there's not so many cars like it's easy to cross streets and and just get to where you need to go. Don't feel like you're going to hit. Yeah. So, yeah, and that didn't feel like there was much. There was like one traffic jam that we ran into on the on a bus. And that was because there was an emergency. There was an ambulance crew. So right. Oh, that'll happen. That'll happen.
00:27:20
Speaker
But yeah, so we could stay out and hang out. And George is like, no, no, no, we're going to go down to the field now. Right. No, we will. And we walked out the field thinking we're just going to kind of hang out there and chill and even in like a picnic area, which we eventually got to. But we went on the field, which was amazing. I don't know if that's something to do every every time after every match, but that.
00:27:40
Speaker
That is incredible, just the same. And there's kids that are out there just chucking the ball around. And so we joined in with our own ball that George had brought. And yeah, just chucking it around both scored tries. It was fun. Jumped over that line. Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
And then, you know, players start coming out. So this is what neither of us expected. No. Is that like we get down to the field and there's, you know, Juan Figueroa, which is the scrum coach. And that's awesome enough. Jared's like at that point, he's like, oh, this is the best day ever. Because it was cool. You know, he's playing with his kids, so we didn't bother him. But it's like they're just there, you know, but he's playing with the other kids, too. He's like, you know, sorting some out there. You know, there's some conflicts, you know, as it is with
00:28:28
Speaker
you know, nine, 10 year old kids, they do. And he's like, hey, stop that. Like, we're here just to have fun. They're like, OK. Right. And yeah, so and then. OK, so that's awesome to see Figolo and Figs and and and whatnot. And then and then what happens? Oh, we just got. Well,
00:28:55
Speaker
Richie only comes walks by Richie only comes out and it was good. It was good to see him back out there. Right. So we tell him and we're like, hey, it's great to see, you know, as he's walking, but we're, you know, we're so we're again, Americans. And so we're used to being like,
00:29:09
Speaker
Just, you know, our athletes, half the time just want to let you know and especially us growing up anyway, athletes are a little bit different these days but back in the day they were extremely aloof and like get the fuck away from me kid.
Meeting Rugby Legends
00:29:21
Speaker
And we're like grown adults so they don't really have one at time for us I'm sure we're like Richie you know, great job.
00:29:28
Speaker
It was good to see you back out there. He's like, oh, thank you. It just feels so good to be back. And it sucked to be on the shelf. And we're like, yeah, we totally understand. And he was super appreciative in talking to us. And we're like, oh, that's cool.
00:29:42
Speaker
And then here comes Ben fucking Earl. The Premiership player of the season from last year. Right. We're like, hey, how's it going? And George is like, hey, can we get a picture? And Ben's like, oh, fuck, yeah, let's get a picture. And we're like, what? That's great. Yeah. And he was so and they all of them, all the players, I have to say for from both days were just very accommodating and very patient and very willing to do all this. And they they they get it. And they're just
00:30:11
Speaker
they're very selfless with their time. And that takes a lot. So I had a little appreciation. So we get the picture with Earl, which was great. That was the only person to put their hands around Ben Earl that day, I swear. Well, yeah, I thought we were going to go on both. Like, yeah, we just, I think the moment got to us and we were just like, oh, I'm just kidding. Before he fucks off.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, totally. I think he's going to actually be like, like, yeah, no, I don't know. I know what I thought, but let's just get the picture quick before he leaves. All right. I know the hell out of him too much. And then we get pictures with like a... Well, then I was kind of figuring out where some of you guys are going. They must have been going up to one of the clubs to have a sip with some of the other guys, some of the other players from both teams. That would be my guess. And down walks the legend that is.
00:31:04
Speaker
Richard Wigglesworth. And I don't give a shit if he's wearing a tiger's ear. No, like outfit. Did not care. We're like, yeah, come here. I've been following you for a long goddamn time. Get dressed over here. And he was like, I feel safe between two props. No worries on that one. He was on his tiptoes in the picture. Yeah, it was great. So and then and, you know,
00:31:28
Speaker
Who else did we get? We got Alex Good who had a lot who had who had a few words with us, which was really, really nice. And yeah, the bums that we weren't Patriots fans because we were we told him we became a kid from Boston. No, no, we are not. We are not. Yeah. No, Alex, no kicking involved. Right. But the same great stuff. Yeah. And then we got a picture with Tizard after there were afterwards, too. He came. He was over chat. Right. That was when we were up at the pub after we were done being on the field.
00:31:58
Speaker
Yes. And then we met the legend himself. Ali Hargreaves. Yep. And he was really cool. And he's like, yeah, you know, because we
00:32:12
Speaker
I think we told him how we went to, all we got out was, yeah, we went to Wolfpack yesterday and he's like, oh, you know what? I heard about that. Like I heard people saying that they went to the Wolfpack bar and they weren't showing the match. And we were like, that was us. He's like, that's fucked up. He's like, I'm going to have a word. And he's like, you guys, you know, you coming back and we're like, yeah, tomorrow we're going to be back.
00:32:36
Speaker
to the wins match. Yeah. Right. And he's like, actually, he's like, there'll be pipes waiting for you. And they're, yeah, they weren't getting, they weren't getting, um, but he was great. And you know, another picture and really, really, really accommodating. Yeah. And then at that point we, you know, the bar were shutting up. So we were like, okay, that's our single time. Or at least to another bar. Right.
00:33:00
Speaker
You know, I have an appreciation for Ali Hargreaves to another level now because he is that deep into his business and knows what's going on to the point where he could put that down and remember that from the night before and go, oh, damn. And maybe that just stuck out because the rugby wasn't on. And that was something that they had maybe instructed them for a long time to do.
00:33:24
Speaker
But either way, the fact that he was just that in tune with it, just the same really makes me appreciate who he is as a business owner, let alone a person. So I have a great appreciation for him now. You had messaged with their Instagram socials and it wasn't him. It was somebody else. Social media manager. But obviously the word got up and he took it seriously. So that was cool.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Sorry to the bartenders who are probably going to get yelled at. But yeah, sorry for you. Not very sorry. Well, I'm not very sorry for the OG ones. They're definitely going to get yelled at. Exactly. Yeah, they're going to get reamed. And that was weird because we went over. They said yes. And then like write it to 240. Write it in half. That's 745.
00:34:09
Speaker
I think of it as 245 because that's when we see the match here. Right then is when they turn the volume up to the music that they're playing and we're like, I'm guessing they're not showing the game. Yes, they don't want to do this. OK, next. Yeah. And they're getting they're getting pretty pretty packed and they were all kind of talking up. And so I was like, all right, yeah, they're not, you know, they're not they're here for like, you know, social bar night, not not so much watching rugby bar night. Yeah. So so here's the thing, though.
00:34:39
Speaker
Like it's not just that it's Wolfpack because we were like, OK, let's before we decided to go to the one in Fulham. We were like, well, maybe there's another bar around here showing the match and there aren't any. And it's like, OK, what was that douchebag saying about like we got to make the game more appealing and more, you know, more of a spectacle like Friday Night Rugby under the lights like there's your spectacle. Why isn't it in like half the pubs around like, you know, and I understand that most
00:35:09
Speaker
bars in London at least aren't going to be quite the same level as like most bars in the US where they're going to have sports on all the time. But if you are a bar and you have like 10 TVs and not one of them showing in the Friday night match. That's me. It's not just the bar doing wrong, but rugby itself. Yes. No, I think it's more on the prem itself to get that out and be like, yeah, so if you have like multiple TVs, can you stick one of them with the rugby on, please?
00:35:38
Speaker
And then people, then maybe somebody says, oh, hey, I see the matches on over there. Can I get it on over here too? Yeah, exactly. That's what I usually do when I see something I want to watch on a bar. I'm like, oh, okay. So you clearly get this game. Can I get it on over here? Unless, you know, somebody specifically requested this TV as X in which case I'll find another one to look at, which usually is. Yeah. But yeah, that's, that's the normal thing bars do. And yet at least over here. So anyway, um,
00:36:06
Speaker
Back off, we went back to the, what was it called? Defectors Weld. Yeah, Defectors Weld. And we tied one on. Yeah. Then it went fuzzy. No, it was.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. They had good music. We spun a yarn for quite a while talking about a lot of other things that weren't rugby, like, and including the one moment where the three of us sat there and spin doctors. Yeah. Pretty sure a few people were looking at us funny, like, hey, mind your business. Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
You're the weird one for not singing Spin Doctors. You know this song. You're old enough.
00:36:54
Speaker
It was, yeah, that was fun. That was extremely enjoyable. The, you know, the shot of whiskey towards the end of the night was not probably the best idea we've had, but- You bought it. Not the word. I was instructed to buy it and I'm not gonna argue. I was outvoted. So, okay, following orders. So you bought it. Yeah, so it was great.
00:37:18
Speaker
in the end and we can't thank George and I for coming out and hanging out with us and just showing us around and showing how things are.
Reflecting on the Trip
00:37:28
Speaker
Great host. Abby, if you're listening to this, thank you for letting us borrow him for the day. Yes, thank you so much. Yeah, we appreciate that. Just the same.
00:37:39
Speaker
And then there were other games that day, too, I guess. I guess there were. I don't I don't know anything about that. And yeah, I did stick around. And do we want to jump into those now or do we want to do that in the recap later? We can we can get to that in a minute. Yeah. And then but then Sunday, less rowdy, but still good day and relatively still.
00:38:01
Speaker
What's up? The match was rollicking anyway. Yeah. Um, super ready. But yeah, like, you know, we're like, all right, we can, we can kind of.
00:38:11
Speaker
play it cool today. We can, you know, we played it. No, we didn't. But we just we went slower. It was much more of a start later. That's the answer. We started later. And it was yeah, totally worth the trip. It was making our way to the stoop and then. Good, fascinating stadium in and of itself, too. So I'd never been there. I've been always looking at but never to the stoop.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, it was like that our seats were fantastic. It kind of sucked in the second half, but that was only because all the play was down the other side of the field. So going the other way. You're right here, dammit. Although not when the Saints decide to fucking pull their thumb out of their ass. Right. Sorry to see a few of those towards the end. And then, yeah, we got we got a picture of all the players like everybody that was out.
00:39:01
Speaker
sustained period of play to end that match like 10 straight minutes of play. And that's probably not inaccurate because it was like four minutes over its extra time or something.
00:39:15
Speaker
Yeah, just players on both teams, just sucking wind and laying down gas. Right. But like, it was cool before the match, the players come out and there's kids, you know, in the stands and cheering them on. And we got like, we got like super close to Dan Bigger and George Furbank for like a real reason. They walked. We were trying to walk from one side of the stadium to the other. But of course, yeah.
00:39:38
Speaker
If you're on one side, you have to walk by the tunnel, and they were coming off the pitch from warmups. And, of course, the security guards are like, hold up. They're just like, fair enough. And then afterwards, when all the guys kind of cleared out, and they're like, one guy's like, OK, you guys can cross again. So we started crossing. And then some other dude comes over and he's like, you can't just stand here, people. Blah, blah, blah. Dude, they told us to stop. We didn't help it. Yeah. But we just kind of ignored it and muttered to ourselves.
00:40:07
Speaker
But yeah, had some had some nice meat pies and and more more more beer and. Yeah, and the players coming out for warm ups are like super cool with the.
00:40:19
Speaker
with the fans, like, especially the younger guys. You're the one, the older gentleman that was looking for a lot of signatures and they were happy to oblige him too. So that was nice. He was trying to collect everybody yesterday. Like a pretty Pokemon. Got to catch him off. And the match was good.
00:40:39
Speaker
Last I saw what I remember. That was. Yeah. I mean, like Musk scores three minutes in. Yeah. Do not have that on my bingo board. No. OK, so they have a front door try. Who knew? Right. And then who knew when Yanwu had moves like the Opelook and Marchand was great as well. He was. He is a problem, Marchand. Yeah.
00:41:02
Speaker
like just problematic all around as far as a terror. Yeah. Even though, you know, except when he, he ran himself like completely out of that, the play. Cause he, he was, it was a line. Oh, it was a ball that was kicked into touch and he kind of grabbed it and kept running. And then the line I was happening and he was like 30 meters off. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're back. You're done. The ball actually hit out. Sorry.
00:41:29
Speaker
Uh, next. Yeah. Don't, don't do that. I appreciate the wine to finish it because you're right. Yeah. I think you might get a try out of it upon review, but decisions were made. Go back, go back.
00:41:43
Speaker
And then, uh, yeah, Northmore scars like 20, uh, yeah. That was awesome to watch. Cause it was like, you saw him coming through the gap. Like we were, we were like right in line where if we were looking directly up the field, the gap is right in front of us. And you just look up and see Northmore running, like basically smiling right at us as he's running through this gap.
00:42:07
Speaker
And he's happy with himself. Why wouldn't you be? Who doesn't like to see just a river of ocean between, well, okay, no, just an ocean between you and the tri-zone. Yeah. Nice little lane. And yeah, no defenders. You had one defender to beat. With the support he had, the defender just didn't know what to do.
00:42:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was for bank at the end there or maybe streaming doesn't matter. Honestly. Yeah, I think it was Freeman, but I don't think it mattered because it was like he was going to try there like he didn't get to him till like almost the line. So that's now if I remember correctly.
00:42:46
Speaker
He was always scoring that. Once he broke the line, it was too close. Yeah, exactly. He sat him. Once he got him to sit, that was the end. I was like, yep, that's the end. Beat in cement at that point. And then, so what was it at half? It was... It was like 21... 21.10. Yep, that's the one. Because Lovellum went over and Bigger hit a penalty. So there's the difference, too.
00:43:07
Speaker
better execution by the twins by far. Yeah. And the first score by both teams, you look at it, you know, bigger kicks of penalty. And I think he kicked, I think he missed a couple too, at least one. Or maybe it was a conversion. Yeah. But like, he's kicking for points and every time,
00:43:30
Speaker
Quinn's got a penalty even, even deep in, um, in St. Sam, they're like, no, they didn't kick a single penalty. They went for, they went for the line. Right. And, uh, and that's why, Hey, that's why I must've scored, you know, it was three minutes in because it said, you know, as soon as we got that penalty off the opening kickoff, cause wasn't it, um, was it March hand who went and got it? Um, so that, that, no, that wasn't it. Um, they got a,
00:43:55
Speaker
They got a scrum penalty. That was against the head. Okay. That's right. It was off the corner from that. I mean, that kind of set the tone too. I was like, Well, we know who's not fucking around here. Yeah. Because we both go like, I guess we're going to go for points. And no corner. And even the one that was dead in the middle of the post, I was like, Yeah, you're not going for points. Okay. Yeah. That says a lot right there. It did. And even late in the match, they weren't going for... Well, and with good reason because they had...
00:44:25
Speaker
Yeah, they had their reasons and you could see them because they were still troubles. The Saints still had some juice to give. Right. Which literally led down to that final squeaky bug time at the end. It did. It got squeaky, so. It did. That last, that per bank try, that line was beautiful. Yes. And it was right in front of us. I was like, that was happening too. Yup, saw that line. Yup, yup. Like, yeah, you're in a good line there.
00:44:51
Speaker
I saw that myself, and I could not have hit it if I wanted to, but... No, no, no, no. It was there, and he saw it. It was a good read. Yeah, it was a great match, and obviously, this is another case of a team leaving themselves way too much to do at the end and digging themselves way too big of a hole. Yeah. And I appreciate... I love that it seems like most leads aren't safe right now. In terms of entertainment value,
Impressive Rugby Performances
00:45:20
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. Also, that's great. My only complaint was that the Murley try was at the opposite end. Oh man. Oh, now I'm looking at it. I'm like, did his foot hit touch? And obviously we can't see the wrong. Yeah. That was my only thought because otherwise, yeah, it's going to count. And upon review, no, did not. It was beautiful try in the end. And that was, I keep them off a turnover. Didn't you?
00:45:47
Speaker
I can't recall how it came up in turnover. Probably. I mean, probably because it was he had he had just ridiculous amount of space. Yeah, he did. Yes, yes, yes. So it's. Yeah, could in terms of that and then afterwards. We go to.
00:46:08
Speaker
Cabbage Patch. Like, you can't go to the Cabbage Patch if you're the rugby guy. And let's preface this by, when we went to this game, we were wearing our free jacks kit. We were. Because we wanted to be neutral. We didn't want to, you know, we're not supporting, we just wanted a good match, which we absolutely got. The youngsters in front of us were asking a lot of questions of,
00:46:29
Speaker
what kind of people we were. I can't say I blame them for that, especially if you really knew us. But then the one kid's like trying to explain to me that Marcus Smith plays regular and how good he is was like, listen, I know I'm an American. I'm not that stupid. I know who Marcus Smith is. The older gentleman next to me was having a good giggle at that. Okay, you guys are complete boobs. Got it. No, we are not.
00:46:53
Speaker
Right. No, we're like, kid, we were fawning on Marcus Smith before you got here and he was sitting right there, you know, warming up right there. Trust me. Trust me, kiddo. Yeah. Appreciate that. You hear our voices. But then we did get the war morons. The guy who was walking by it towards his seat, like on the on the walkway in front of the section was. Oh, yeah. He recognized the kid. This kid was like getting such a kick out of it. And then we ran into Mitch Wilson at the at halftime because he was wearing his free jazz kit.
00:47:23
Speaker
Mitch Barlow. Sorry. Other one. Other one. One more. Other winger. Yeah. The other winger. The wheelbarrow. And Harry. Yeah. It was Harry Barlow. Fuck. Yes. Way to go. We're both struggling today, Jared. Yeah. I noticed. I noticed. I knew I was. I didn't know how bad you were. No, I do. I didn't realize I was struggling that bad, but here we are. Yeah. Harry Barlow. And he was cool. I just went up to him and said nice hoodie because he was one of the three Jacks hoodie. And he was like, hey, nice kid.
00:47:54
Speaker
Because he was talking to somebody, he didn't want to bother him too much. Yeah, he would be respectful at some point and just say, all right, I like you, but I'm not going to bother you too much. Right. So then we go to the cabbage patch. Yes. And like, I feel totally awkward here because at this point, because it's like, okay.
00:48:13
Speaker
Are we allowed in like this? This is solid ground or we're just going to stand like a couple of fucking sore thumbs. Who are these guys? Not neither, you know, not in their quince kit. No, definitely not. Clearly, you know, drinking beer, American Lee. And yeah. But no, we were like, as soon as we got out to the patio, people were like, I said, MLR kid, holy shit, that's awesome. Come over here. Let's have a beer with us.
00:48:38
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. What hospitality we, because we thought Georgia's hospitality was like, you know, OK, cool. We got somebody to help, you know, to help us out. And that was that was awesome, especially somebody we know. And this was like total strangers like, yeah, come hang out with us. We're talking to you. They talked her ear off for like a good hour or so. There was one you that talked about Chad with us for a bit. Yeah. And then we go inside.
00:49:06
Speaker
And this whole, like these Quinn's supporters association people are like, get over here, man. All our people. That was great. The Quinn's supporters association was...
00:49:16
Speaker
Very, very like they recognize the kit right away. Number one, they realize where it was and they were like, yes, you guys look like people that we should talk to. I was like, okay, you guys are weird, but you must, if you think that you must be weird, but we like you anyway. Right. But yeah, shout out to everybody over there. I'm trying to think of the names. Will Scott. Was it Alex? Yep. That was the other one to say I know the names, but yeah, it was, there were a couple of those I know I'm spacing on and I apologize if I'm missing them.
00:49:43
Speaker
But yeah, big time shout out to them because they were very accommodating. They were nice that they got us some pints. And we shot the ship with them for quite a while. That was a good hour to 90 minutes there. Right. And we were just I think we covered every end of the sun on that one. We really did. And the
00:50:04
Speaker
the best part was the support like everybody is there is like we want you we want mlr to do well and so we're excited to see like they're like excited to see us in the mlr kit because like not only are we supporting of you know of of the quins obviously because we went to the the match um
00:50:22
Speaker
but that we are trying to grow American game too. And especially because both of us coach and that we're like, we're not helmets.
Rugby's Growth in America
00:50:29
Speaker
They sorted that one out pretty quickly. Do my damn best at least. Right, we try. Try not to beat. And they're like, okay, good. Like it's up to you people to grow this game. So we're trying, dammit. Right, we're trying. We're doing our best. Yeah, really that's what I took the most away from both conversations in terms of what was in common is,
00:50:49
Speaker
People really want the MLR in America in general to succeed at Rugby Inn. What that looks like, it doesn't have to be NFL. That's the thing. I think people are kind of losing track of that. Like, it doesn't have to be the NFL. It could be the MLS. Right. And it'll be, and that'll do a lot of good for Rugby in general. You know, do I want to stop there? Hell no. But it can be that.
00:51:12
Speaker
And that's going to do so much good for rugby. And then from there upwards, it'll just be even better. Right. And it's it was it was also interesting in the context of the
00:51:23
Speaker
with the Tuataga Violoa injury. Oh, yes. On Thursday, because everybody was still talking about that. And I mean, I guess they probably still are, but it's still scandalous. It's scandalous over there. They're like, how can you let that guy do it? Like, to a man, they were all like, how was he allowed to play? Totally. And we're like, if I can find him, let's football. And so, you know, this football is not going to last that much longer in the US if that's going to be like that. And
00:51:49
Speaker
Rugby is like the only other sport that kind of mimics the play of football and the physicality. And it's a lot safer, you know, because they're talking about we have our own CTE thing and like you don't have it anywhere near football. Like, no, we're talking guys who are like 35 getting like ALS type symptoms.
00:52:11
Speaker
you know, in their forties and shit. Like, yeah, we're we are seeing if, you know, a few of them from rugby, but they're like, it's rare. It's not like football. You're like, you know, hearing like three or four guys every, you know, every week there for a little bit. Definitely. And I'm sure it's still happening. We just don't, you know, it's not. We don't hear as much. Whatever. Yeah. Because now it's like old news. It's like, Oh, what a shock. Which is awful, this thing. Right. But that is how it is. That is the way it's being treated, which is terrible.
00:52:39
Speaker
And that's why we don't hear about it so much, you know, with you and far between in terms of special cases and such. Exactly. So, yeah.
00:52:52
Speaker
It's a safer sport, so there's a lot we can build towards something with it, because eventually high school kids are going to not want to do football because of the way it's coached, essentially, and the way it's played. Giving something more, giving something different. So that's maybe something we can work on. In there. Yeah, right there. And if football is going to hang itself, then we need to be there to
00:53:18
Speaker
Yeah, agreed to be, you know, Frank with Dennis. Walking in with the what was it the $100 bill? The Magnum? Yeah. Oh, man. So yeah, there's
00:53:38
Speaker
There was so much that I took out of this trip in general. And, you know, obviously we went back and got our, we got our pints from Wolfpack and they were very cool, but we just said, well, if Ali said he sent you, then he sent you. Yeah. And they were like, yeah, no, they, no, no question about it. They were like, yeah, here you go. Ali's telling you that, to say that he sent you, you sent, he sent you. So yeah, pints are on us and we watched whatever the hell was left of the,
00:54:05
Speaker
then all the time, whatever the one o'clock is, six o'clock, yeah, six o'clock over there. I was like, I'm confused. It was hilarious because like right around the end of the games, Jared, like the first round of games, Jared's like, wait, this is, there's more than one game coming. He's like, are we just at the end of the early game? If we are. Yeah. My mind was blown because I haven't watched that much NFL to be frank, but so that was like, oh yeah, that is the early game. Holy shit.
00:54:32
Speaker
So, yeah, how any of you watch, like, apart from a replay, the freaking, uh, the prime time games over here, I haven't, no way, because it's out like what? 1am something. Yeah. Rock off. Right. That's like super rugby for us. Um, yeah, that's, that's something I watch the next morning. I'm not watching that shit. Right. Yeah. I watched the next day and I will live with it. It'll be fine.
00:54:57
Speaker
Yeah, and just in the whole grand scheme of things, it was a great trip and just thank you to everyone at Saracens, at Quinn's, Quinn's supporters association and obviously George and Duncan for meeting us and Alex and Mark for sending along a little bit of case so we could have a few points on them and that was just
00:55:22
Speaker
Overall, and, you know, people at Wolfpack, a poem were great. So, yeah, just thank you to everyone that made our trip. It lived up to the hype in my brain. It's rare that something like that happens where the hype completely lived up to your brain. It lived up to it and exceeded it. Yeah, I didn't expect to. Like, half the shit that happened, not just from the rugby watching, like the first off, like every part of it went like you could not have gone better, like from the
00:55:51
Speaker
you know, the Airbnb turned out to be not like too creepy at all. In fact, a pretty nice place to stay because I was worried because it was pretty cheap. So I was kind of still worried when we were going there, like how how shitty was it going to be? But it was quite nice. So that worked. You know, George, what a hell of a time that was, which was that was easily that was easy to expect. That was like, you know, what the fuck? It's not going to go wrong.
00:56:18
Speaker
the Saris match, you know, he's always nervous, like, how are they going to play? Are they going to, you know, go into a shell as they do? Or are they going to really open it up? And which team are we going to get? And then Lester, what did they get? Like, this could be going any way possible. The match went amazing, meeting the players, like everything just built on itself. And then, you know, the Quinn's game and the reception for the free Jax here, like,
00:56:40
Speaker
Wow. We're just kind of like pitching ourselves at the end of that, like, okay. And then, yeah, it was enough that on Monday, when it was time to the day to fly home, we were just kind of like, we'll go to the airport early. Like, we're done. We're not pressing our luck here. Nothing much more to do. My expectations have been met. I don't need to screw with it anymore. Yeah. So, and then a nice trip, a fairly nice trip home.
00:57:07
Speaker
Yeah, just wow. Fucking whirlwind. But yeah, everything like, you know, it's funny because like the goal number one was don't pee ourselves. And like, first off, that was a good goal, considering some of the shit we put ourselves through. But everything else was like.
00:57:28
Speaker
So we couldn't have set goals that would not have been that like, unless they were like shameful goals that what the fuck are you even thinking? Like, you know, winning the lottery or something like that over there, that's not going to happen. So yeah, that's, that's, could not have asked for better.
00:57:46
Speaker
No, certainly the, the most, most enjoyable and relaxing, you know, four day vacation or so I've ever had like, right. Hard to beat that. Yeah. And they were like, Oh yeah. The guys were like, wait, you're leaving tomorrow. Like you just, you literally just flew in for the match. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Definitely. That's all we have. So we wanted to do, and we got so much more out of it than we expected. So.
00:58:13
Speaker
could not have envisioned better. So at the end, and a massive thank you to everyone, especially George, but just all those guys, as Jared said. Yeah, now we're kind of babbling because we're at the end here. But there was other rugby. There was. And so I watched the other two matches, Bath, London Irish, and Exeter Sale. I guess I'll talk about Exeter Sale because that
00:58:39
Speaker
You can tell the difference in levels of play. It's that noticeable. Like Bristol, they didn't bring the team up to Newcastle. From what we can tell, they weren't scoring points. Falcons, they played a hell of a match.
00:58:56
Speaker
Bath, London, Irish, hell of a 47-38. And yeah, it was 35-5 at half. So it was never really in doubt. But Bath, this is like, Bath haven't been scoring at all. So it's one thing, you know, 35-5, they've played matches where it was 35-5 at half. And then second half was like 35-5 again. And so to me, it's a huge step up for them to go and,
00:59:22
Speaker
and start scoring in the first box and really kind of show up at least. And so that I'm excited for them. I think there's there's good stuff coming. Matt Gallagher played extremely well. Yeah, he's he's he's somebody that people haven't quite heard of over here, over here, over in England, but in the prime. But it's neat to start taking note of, especially without Womier.
00:59:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, who's now out and it's good to see Rory McConaughey come back and I just hope you know who went off.
00:59:56
Speaker
McNally went off with an injury fairly early, and so did Van Vels, who went off at six minutes in, and then McNally went on 23. They both had arm injuries, so hopefully they're on second. I was doing scores early. I was wondering why his score was two. Yeah. That's the answer. Right. And then I think Simmons came off later, but he had an injury as well. So not a good... And then Rapoportini or Iowa had a card. So not a good day for Locks, although Van Vels was playing six, but still not a good day for... Large human. Right. For large, rugby players there.
01:00:25
Speaker
Um, but a good day for the, for the backs, Ben loader and, and hustle Collins, uh, with Patrick's Patrick's each. Yeah. Um, and, and that scored twice. So he wasn't kidding. That's a better debut than right beforehand, you know, call it even. Um, so yeah, but really good rugby played by both clubs. Um, excellent to see.
01:00:54
Speaker
Then again, on the other hand, we had a sale exit, and that was just like, it was, where was the halftime score?
01:01:05
Speaker
10-10 and that really reflected like I'm a big proponent as you all may know of the your score reflects the level of play and 10-10 and a half yeah that's kind of about the level of play these teams had a lot of just one-up hitting goes and
01:01:25
Speaker
It wasn't until, uh, wasn't the accurate try. There was a, there was like one try in space. Um, Oh yeah. It was a Sam monitors try where, um, they literally did a forward crash, forward crash back play. And it was a creative back plate. Don't get me wrong, but like they didn't do anything to get the defense out of position until that back play where they ran a couple of good dummy lines and, um,
01:01:49
Speaker
and got the ball to the corner and herbal to the end, and then kind of worked her way back in, obviously, with Maunder scoring on the inside line. But that was like there really, there wasn't much creativity aside from that. Like, you know, Luke, how and Dickey got over, because, you know, obviously a shove over, a try. Ben Curry, the same. Van Der Merwe was the same. Joe Carpenter scored a pretty sweet try, but that was because Exeter kind of had to open it up and left themselves vulnerable. Like, neither of these teams were playing great defense.
01:02:20
Speaker
But neither team were really attacking with any with much intent. I guess that's where I'm going with it. And that as we saw, you know, everyone else is attacking with intent and playing decent defense. So it's like decent defense alone is not going to win you like too many matches. Rob Baxter, like sale, definitely played a little bit of a more expansive game. But we saw Stuart Hogg drop another short try, which is
01:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, that guy, you can't call it need to see it because he's shown it so much in the past, but at the same time, he's kind of in a
01:03:01
Speaker
You're going to have to justify the respect, the level of of of ownership you're given, I guess, at this point, because he's not playing to that anymore. No. You know, we've seen many drop tries in the in recent years, and he's got to make that a thing in the past. Otherwise, because that's his thing, you know, he's worse tries like he plays OK defensively, but he's such a threatened attack that that's what everybody loves to see with Stuart Hogg. And, you know, you didn't do that by dropping tries. So.
01:03:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's generally not how you get there. Right. Got to see a little better form from him. Scott, especially from the World Cup coming up, like, dude, you got to start cranking it up, not staying where you are. Yeah, totally. Don't want us to do that. Because like, you know, sale one and they're, what's the table look like?
Rugby League Analysis
01:03:52
Speaker
They're, you know, their second. Their second, I think.
01:03:55
Speaker
But like, that wasn't, I feel like that's just kind of a fluke of the, I don't know what, because I don't think they're better than Northampton, but this will be- They beat Bath, who are not very good. They beat Northampton, who are probably better than their record shows, and that'll probably get hung out, spit out the wash. And previously beaten Exeter team, but we also think that that might be a little bit of a false,
01:04:20
Speaker
You know, fools going over there with Exeter as well. Right. I'm not I don't think they'll stay there because they haven't really played too much in the way of I mean, they beat Quinn's, but the twins were like severely depowered and and in a way so and they took a forward pass to do it. So I think in the wash, you know, I'm not I'm not too threatened by either sale or Exeter. You know, Bristol, I'm still I'm still more worried about Bristol and Quinn's, obviously. And now at this point, London Irish.
01:04:48
Speaker
so yeah playing well and glosser are playing well even male they they they had their one loss was to saris when saris just like
01:04:56
Speaker
Nick them at the death. Right. And that's how at Saris, like, what are you going to do? Like, right. Yeah, that's always a loss on your schedule. So and they still got two points out of that match, too. So it's not nothing. Yeah. So they're they're they're doing fine. There's a lot of teams that do. And I think they've only played two games so far that are beneficially ruled on. So they'll probably get more points from Worcester. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about Worcester tomorrow. But
01:05:25
Speaker
Yeah. So I like, I like the table right now. I like, yeah, I'm good with it. And I think it's going to like, especially because of those teams that are struggling are going to struggle to get back into like, at least toward, you know, ahead of this therapy, eight point lead over Gloucester right now, whether I know what you're saying, like, and same thing with, with saints, saints will come good. Obviously they'll, they'll get the bounce. They'll start getting bounces, but saris, if they play this way, it's going to be tough for them to really push this, uh,
01:05:54
Speaker
Yeah. And the best thing about a good team is a good team that can switch the style depending on when he calls for it. Yes. 90 to 75% of the time, somewhere in that range, you want them to play the stuff that we saw this past Saturday. But we know there will be a time and place where they have to just win the ugly. Right. And that'll happen.
01:06:17
Speaker
like we talked about the dark days of the premiership in like February when it's ugly and the internationals are away and all that stuff so that you may see that type of performance at some point. At some point. And that is something you just kind of have to live with because one it's part of rugby and two if you want to win it's going to be something that's necessary only a little bit.
01:06:41
Speaker
But I feel like in those grinded out times is when you can play, you can just rely on fundamentals, right? That's that's when you kind of obviously your talent is away. So you have to work on something has to be good. So at that point, it's, you know, yet can you drive one over? And yeah, sure. Exeter and sale can can drive over tries.
01:06:59
Speaker
But it's like, I feel like Saracens can too. We saw them do it. It's not like they can't. It's just that they don't rely on that. It's one of those when the need arises. And we saw that with Quinn's as well. When the need arose, Musk had two tries off of line out drives. So like, that's something you can easily switch on and off.
01:07:27
Speaker
It's that open attacking rugby. You don't just switch on. You have to actually endeavor to do it.
01:07:34
Speaker
So the teams that don't, you know, I don't I think they're going to fade towards the end, you know, towards the season goes on. Like, yeah, they may. Yeah. I mean, it's like as shitty as a half as Bath had in the first half when they went down 35 five. I mean, Irish were just carving them up. They were just because they were they were throwing that ball around. You know, they're much more than Exeter Selden. I don't know that Exeter Selden would have put up 35 and that half like that kind of thing. You're going to get to a team where you have to put up points and
01:08:02
Speaker
some clubs that just, I don't see them capable of doing it. And it's really those two at the moment. Right. Right, right.
Wrap-up & Gratitude
01:08:11
Speaker
All right, cool. So we wanted to do this today and give ourselves a chance to catch our breath and do our homework for tomorrow. Yeah, we'll be back tomorrow. We'll do the fancy stuff tomorrow. Yeah, if you're gonna hang out over there, we'll see you over there. Right. If you just came for the for the London recap, there you are. But
01:08:33
Speaker
Yeah, if you're coming along for the fantasy stuff tomorrow, we'll see you there. Yep. fantasy rugby podcast at gm.com for any questions that you might want answered. Other than that, and thanks again to our wonderful host city of London. Yes, you were all excellent. Yeah, yeah, we appreciate it. We'll be back. Yes. Don't you go back. But until then, we'll catch you guys next week. We're not coming over the phase quarter. Have a good one. Later.