Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 4- Episode 4- Stuck In Second Gear (Premiership Round 2)
25 Plays4 years ago
It is those knuckleheads from America that love to yap about the ruggers. On this episode we get right into what in the hell is going on down in Devon in terms of the club sponsors, branding, is this a ticking time bomb for Tony Rowe? We discuss the All Blacks and Springboks match from the TRC, did the ABs almost get caught in the Boks game? Oh yeah, more rugby from the Premiership, so much fun! Well, maybe not for those teams that have yet to get off the mark or out of the blocks really. We discuss the weekend's action and much, much more, have one with us and enjoy!
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for our Patreon subscriptions! Aiming for this week, gods help us. In the meantime, 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.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Updates
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back. It is the fans. My name is Jared. I'm Ben Glaser. Let's roll, baby. We are now rolling into the commercial, and I am blowing it. Yeah, a couple weeks in, you kind of, every team has played at least once, the lather up.
00:00:22
Speaker
Some teams have yet to really play, even though they've said on the cheese. Yeah, I know you ain't kidding, man. It's a couple of teams are just in fault, like false starts, like big time. Major. Yep. Well, in the meantime, let's drink because what else is there better to do?
00:00:41
Speaker
Obviously, obviously you want to find us on your favorite podcast apps, download rate review. We love to hear from you. We love to hear your thoughts. Um, patron is coming. We promise it is two weeks, two weeks and right.
Balancing Life and Sports
00:00:55
Speaker
But at this point, only one game for the was kind of kind of put the five and Saracens and all that. It's not really helpful until you have like at least some stuff. And I'm still sorting out the, uh, the last final kinks.
00:01:08
Speaker
It's taken a bit, but kinks, kinks, kinks. And then, of course, you know, considering that, you know, buying a house and all that, it's like, yeah, I'm kind of busy spare time stuff. So I'll get to it. That's all right. It's getting there. I'm I'm excited to come come over and see what firms mine.
00:01:28
Speaker
Although maybe Jess isn't. Fair enough. We have a shed. Dog house. Take Kylie's house.
Podcast Merchandise and League Format
00:01:44
Speaker
And if you didn't notice, we are getting some merch out there. We're working on it. We're finally turning through it.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah. So look out and then Antoine can finally get his shirt that he's out because he won Champions League last year. But yeah, we'll see if he gets that this year.
00:02:06
Speaker
Make sure that you get our friend, George, a coffee, because he's going to be worth it 100%, especially this year, because especially with the new format that we're playing with them, the FRW, I'm still kind of sorting myself out with that. It's different. It's very much like you get credit if you do great things.
00:02:26
Speaker
And that's it. It's very much a tri scoring league and hookers are extremely valuable. Cause I think they do line outs one, which kind of throws the value of locks and, and hookers, I think way off off kilter. Yeah, a little bit. I think so as well. Um, yeah. And then fricking, uh,
00:02:51
Speaker
What you call it? Yeah, it's like a rewind to the old ESPN Six Nations game. That's what it feels like. That's really what it feels like. That's pretty much the only thing I can equate it to. Yeah, but it's interesting. We'll get used to it. But it's definitely different scoring. Oh, big time.
Stance Against Racism
00:03:08
Speaker
Big time, sir. Big time.
00:03:11
Speaker
Make sure that you get your TRM upgrades as well, because that is a supporter of Restart Rugby. And as we've mentioned about a thousand times, the buys, man, you gotta be on top of that. It's nice if you have that upgrade, because there's a little yellow dot next to the people that have a buy. And it's like, ooh, those are the guys, one, you can get rid of if you so choose to, or two, guys that I would at least remove from my lineup.
00:03:36
Speaker
Makes life easier. It's forgivable to have them on your bench because you just don't have anything else at this point in the season. But yeah, no, get them out of your starting lineup. Get out.
00:03:49
Speaker
And then, as always, Black Lives Matter on this podcast, there is no room for racism. And we'll get to the broader issue
Racist Email Incident
00:03:57
Speaker
in a second. But there was unfortunate happenings this week, this weekend, here locally in Massachusetts, the State School University of Massachusetts, had an email go out to a lot of black groups, inclusive groups, black leaders, people of color, and just
00:04:18
Speaker
the insanity of it was the only thing I could think of. My wife said, that is insane. I said, yeah, you're right. This guy has not helped you in the head, right? Someone who has problems, but, but still like, that's not first, but we, you know, we, and we don't want to stigmatize that, but it's still not cool. There's no excuse for, for that kind of language and that kind of actions. It's, it's so, yeah, it's, it's,
00:04:44
Speaker
It's not helpful. I see nothing okay with that. Not good. Not good at all. I see nothing okay with that. And you know, we laugh at it, but it's like, what else can you do? And you just, you just like slap your head at some point. Do you stop taking shit like that seriously? Like it's just someone who's looking for attention and getting it because they cause a big deal. Like it's, but it's such a cheap way to do it. And so like, cause I can't imagine that that's like in this day and age, you're still,
00:05:13
Speaker
honestly thinking this shit. Like it's just, it's not, yeah, it's not believable. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Ethics in Sports Sponsorship
00:05:37
Speaker
Nope
00:05:37
Speaker
There seems to be a problem with a particular premiership team and their branding and their representation. Self-dealing. And like, you know, and I know there are people that will never forgive the Saracens. There are still people that haven't forgiven Dean Richards for Bloodgate many years ago at this point. But at what point do you sit there and say, is that that bad compared to this? Like, yes, it's cheating and I get it. But like, at the same time, like,
00:06:06
Speaker
Nigel Nigel Ray is at least was a he was trying to do some good in the world, you know, first players in did so, you know, in that gray area and got a little reckless. And that's why we landed where we landed. But like, I'm sorry. Fuck you, Tony, bro. Yeah, like his spot like sponsoring myself and and all this like, oh, we don't need to change because all of none of our sponsors have a problem with it. Well, you're you're the sponsor. Like, yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker
And it's a shady front. Like, it's not even like a real company. It's all super. It's been spun up, apparently, just to be the cover of the right. You know, and I don't remember who said it, but it was like, no, no press release, nothing on Twitter, nothing, you know, nothing at the stadium, as promised.
00:06:53
Speaker
just walked out with it on. And it's a company that's been spun up in probably the last month, you know, like, uh, like, yeah, they're a little dicey. It's incredibly shady. There's something that's not, yeah. It's like one of those things where if it, if it smells wrong and this smells terrible, this isn't even like something, I think something fishy might be going on here. It's like Tony Rowe is flashing it out there like, Hey, I'm being an asshole and completely shady.
00:07:24
Speaker
And all this is a problem. Just just so he can keep his racist. I'm sorry bigoted. Yeah.
00:07:34
Speaker
the whole deal with the chief and the branding and the representation, all that shit, all that. That's he's going to these lengths for that. Like, that's all it is. That's all it is. Just like I was saying before, like the fact that he's going to these lengths means that he would he would rather go to these lengths than then change. Not bigoted. Yeah. And even and, you know, even groups have even said, like, listen, keep the chief's name, but don't
00:08:02
Speaker
have it as the representation that it is. Don't have the symbolism you have. Yeah, do something else with it. Right.
00:08:08
Speaker
you know, and that's fine. That I would be okay with. Right. I think, I think Tony, Tony rose day is coming. You know, he's technically he's chairman of the, of, of expert. He doesn't necessarily own it. He does, but he doesn't, he doesn't necessarily. So I wonder if there's, there are other people on, on, on, you know, other chair people on that. So I wonder if there comes a point where there's like some sort of vote of no confidence or something like that, where they,
00:08:34
Speaker
say, I'm sick of your bullshit, you're out. You know, I don't know if that's possible. And maybe it's not, but there. He's the dance snider of the Premiership. Well, congratulations, you're that much of an asshole. Right. And even he saw the writing on the wall, which is bad.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, he knows he knows exactly what he's doing and still would rather do it. Like I said, that's that's his priority is to be bigoted than than to be a good person or do the right thing or anything like that. Yeah. Making more enemies than friends at this point, I think. Yeah, for sure.
Match Analysis: South Africa vs New Zealand
00:09:09
Speaker
All right. Let's go to something else that's probably.
00:09:13
Speaker
less depressing. South Africa and New Zealand, although it depends on who you are on this one. I snoozed through this pretty. I mean, it wasn't pretty now. No, it was not. But the world Jordan tribe is pretty nice. That was gorgeous. And I'm sure Cody Taylor hooking up Cody just like.
00:09:34
Speaker
not even like running. I can't even say that he ran through the defense. He just ran through the gaps that they opened up for him. Then the next thing you know, it's him and Will Jordan versus I think Billy LaRue and well, he's true. Yeah, absolutely. See you later. I think that tells the tale. Yeah. And you know, you look at the guys that they stacked
00:09:58
Speaker
back three with every intention to make sure that South Africa's game was not going to be the thing that beat them. Now, granted, they did get a try off it with Nkosi. They did. Well, they're George. He was awful. I mean, I'll flat out say it. It wasn't just that. He botched a lot of things. He had a bad game. Yeah, he had a bad game. And that's
00:10:21
Speaker
It happens, right? Everybody does. Everybody has that game. So it's not a blame thing. It's just a statement of fact. He could have played a lot better. But like you said, that's why it's important that he play well because he was one of the three that they were counting on to not do what he did. Absolutely. And there was
00:10:41
Speaker
And, you know, in, in that sense, you know, going back to it, like, you know, Jordy Barrett obviously is a very tall man and also a great bond diffuser. He proved that. Well, Jordan is an excellent back free player in terms of those things. He's done it a thousand times over and bridges are pretty tall too. And I would assume that they thought he'd be able to handle it, but obviously that was a mistake. I mean, it did actually come down to like the, to give him the, the.
00:11:05
Speaker
The one benefit of the doubt that it was right in this like ray of light that wasn't there. So it like, I think it just hit the right angle for him to miss it, but still judge it and just trust yourself that you'll catch it. He kind of didn't, he didn't trust himself. No, I don't think he did at all. I agree with that.
00:11:25
Speaker
And on the other side, you know, the, the, I saw the South Africa line up and I was kind of excited cause they had Quagga Smith in there. Who's a, who's a true fetcher. I'm thinking, okay, they might actually be able to get some ball back and play with it. Really didn't do a whole lot of that. No, that's to be said, New Zealand were, they might not have been.
00:11:45
Speaker
as expansive and they might not have been as loose as they could have been, but they supported themselves when they took it in. They were there. So that kind of diffused a little bit of South Africa's defense in a way. They kind of just ran them down and said, okay, we know you're not going to really run on us.
00:12:04
Speaker
just try to hold the ball make you defend then. Right and you know it was it was their their usual game you know 38 kicks in play for South Africa as opposed to 18 for New Zealand and you know just the kicking majority was the wrong thing to begin with number one right but it in the end just you know it
00:12:27
Speaker
the game plan itself, like, which is what they're trying to, at least, and we've said it before, we said it again, New Zealand didn't try to beat South Africa at their own game. That was the best part. That's the best thing you can do. Don't try and beat them at their own game. They do it better than everybody else. Like, they have the web electrophy for that reason.
00:12:47
Speaker
Right. Because everybody lost it and tried to beat South Africa and South Africa. Right. Yeah. And I thought I thought New Zealand did kind of play into it a little bit, a little bit too much. But at the same time, they, you know, they show that they could score a try pretty early. So if they really needed to turn it on, they could. They all they had to do is just keep within, you know, within touching distance of of South Africa. And then they took the the penalty at the end. Right. Yeah.
00:13:16
Speaker
Nothing sad about it in New Zealand. These arm wrestles are very close. These two teams really keep it close. So number 100 was not for the weak of heart by any means whatsoever. New Zealand did out carry them in terms of both carries and meters carried. So at least they appeared to try to not be the South Africa. Exactly. No, I thought they did. It's just that they didn't
00:13:41
Speaker
Yeah, they didn't try to to disrupt the defense as much. They didn't really try to disorient them. They just kind of ran at them. There wasn't much, you know, it wasn't the New Zealand flair kind of game that they'll have, you know, the French flair, New Zealand, same kind of. Right. But, you know, yeah, they just kind of they ran a pretty straightforward attack at him and it won. So it wasn't
00:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, they still, not the creativity that I would have wanted, not what Australia did. Australia ran all over South Africa and New Zealand kind of didn't take advantage of those opportunities.
00:14:19
Speaker
Yes. Well, with the quintupiah, got to say quintupiah better all black than the chief. Apparently I saw him on the bench. I was like, Oh no, what are we going to do? But he comes in and he doesn't try to, cause he, with the chiefs, he tries to do too much and ends up fucking up with the ball or trying to, you know, no, he, he takes what's there when he's with the all blacks and that, um, Hey, want him to match. So good on, good on. Stay with himself. Yep.
00:14:44
Speaker
And sometimes that's what's necessary. It is. It's always great, but it is necessary sometimes. Um, yeah. So with the all blacks clinching the rugby championship, maybe there'll be a little bit more free flowing next, next week when, when they play again, we shall see, I suppose South Africa having lost three in a row. That is, and that is just like, wow. You know, and that speaks more to, I think that's very much speaks to.
00:15:09
Speaker
you rewind to a month ago, Gatlin's tactics were awful. This just is more evidence of it, that's all it is. I think certainly Australia saw it and figured that one out, so learn from the mistakes. No tanks, we're not doing that. To the European qualifier for the World Cup next year,
00:15:35
Speaker
Italy are going to the World Cup. They are going to New Zealand. They they clinched this past weekend. Scotland stay alive. They're going to go into a qualification tournament and Ireland and Spain are out now. Spain.
00:15:48
Speaker
as much as we wanted them to do this, understandable. That's extremely disappointing in many levels, and we're not shocked because of the things we've seen in the last few months have come out, but still, it's...
00:16:05
Speaker
If I'm an Irish player in general, men's or women's, I'm mad. Yeah. That's not an acceptable result. And it's 100% due to a lack of commitment from IRFU.
00:16:26
Speaker
You have the talent. We've been talking about women's rugby since we started this, and Ireland's game has advanced, both men's and women's, but in the women's game, so much more as far as their style of play. It was very like 1990s, just three years ago. And here they are working on at least developing the talent at some levels, but the national program just can't get their shit together.
00:16:54
Speaker
And the fact that the women that go out there are as talented and as good as players that they are is a testament to them and them alone. Nothing from the union. And it's disgusting.
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah, they really need to take a hard look at themselves. Yeah. I mean, you look at Babay and Parsons, like she is without a doubt, one of the best makers in the world when she gets her hands on the ball and to not be able to one support her in this whole thing, but also, you know, we're not sure that the coach has utilized her well.
00:17:31
Speaker
It's sad. It's very sad. It's disappointing on way too many levels to encapsulate in one podcast. I don't think it's a mystery for 10 of you to listen to us. Seriously, go find there's some accounts of Irish rugby supporters and Irish women.
00:17:50
Speaker
rugby supporters. They've laid it out better than we could. Don't listen to us. We're, you know, I mean, listen to us, but don't take their word for it. There's other people that can do it better. Let's put it that way in this case. We'll direct you towards them.
Lester Tigers Review
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, because it's, it's all, it's, it's
00:18:07
Speaker
There's too much for us to go into. It's bad. Yeah. It's a laundry lesson, man. Well, Wales, Wales feels it. Okay. Let's get into the games. We've got about trying to get through this in about 30, 35 minutes. Gloucester, Leicester. A little bit better from Gloucester. Gloucester. Wow. Just...
00:18:32
Speaker
They, this is going to be, if they're strong and they, and you know, they don't lose Young's or Ford, we'll see what that looks like. I know Eddie Jones still pretty good. And they have, they have some players behind them, but burns. Yeah. Right. But even still, they don't lose them.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, there's this is not this is not the Tigers team of the last couple of years. And they're going to get Markov on Stodden, who was ridiculous. Yeah. No, he's not hurt. He's played. He played. Right. But I think he banged himself up in that. Oh, did he? Damn. He was incredible to watch. Yeah. Honestly, I'd hold him out, too, because the match means nothing. Right.
00:19:12
Speaker
But yeah, Lester are looking quite dangerous. And Ellis Kench is just a monster. He's not your average prop. He looks, he's svelte, he can move. He's still angry. He can ask Ollie Thorley about that.
00:19:35
Speaker
felt the brunt of the rhino that was yeah oh yeah i know what you like to do bud and i like i know you like to to lay the wood and
00:19:51
Speaker
wrong guy. Make a business decision. Yeah, cut his ankles or something next time. Don't Yeah, no, no, no, no. Right. Don't try to don't try to run through him because you're not gonna win that battle. No, definitely not. Definitely not. Definitely not.
00:20:08
Speaker
Oh, we can't miss this. Viencon Roddy got our favorite free deck. Yes. Our favorite in the movie. And I guess we should say it's such another Jacques Burdick is retired. Exactly. Yeah, that's that's that's able. We'll go with that. Yes. But anyway, yeah, I was so glad to see him on. I'm sad. He only got eight minutes. But hell yeah. That was that's that's great. You know, you're your premiership player. Nobody can take you take that away from you.
00:20:32
Speaker
So fantastic for him. There was some good stuff done by Gloucester as well. Let's not get it wrong. There's a guy that has not done well since dad got dismissed on Gloucester, but he's getting better this year, I think, and that's Rowan Ackerman. Yeah, he's showing. And I thought his try was
00:20:55
Speaker
Hey, that's a good flanker try right there. Yes, it does. Would it be in there in a spot on the wing, you know, in the, in your, in your position where you're supposed to be and gave himself a great line to the, to the tri-zone. So yeah. Speaking of lines to the tri-zone. Mr. Potter. Yeah. He's, um,
00:21:19
Speaker
He's doing it this year, huh? Isn't that, is that a second or is that a second? Yeah. He's got one last week too. Yeah. Yep. Pretty sure got one last week. So look out. Maybe he's coming alive. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's a little, it's.
00:21:35
Speaker
I think the rest of the league needs to really be. I hope I'm sure they're standing up at me and they really need to just sit there and go. Oh, shit. This is this is not this is Lester. This is like Lester Lester. Yeah. Oh, this is a problem. It is. It is problematic. Yeah. They still have they still have a couple of holes right now, but they're they're going to get filled. Mm hmm. No question with guys coming back from. You know, who do they have from duty and injury? Yeah.
00:22:03
Speaker
injury and lions and internationals. Jasper is still away too. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's another, that's another one. Yeah. And Liebenberg has been playing very well. So it's like, you're going to give him a, you know, maybe remove Honro to six potentially. And with Jasper at eight, I mean, shit, that's a, yeah, that's, that's a frightening prospect right there.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, their back row talent will be quite plethora. And they got a Nick Dolly who is now. Yeah, came out of nowhere.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, that is a trend right there. Yeah. That's what we call that. That's three for him. Yeah. Mm hmm. Nice. Well, hey, it's he's played really well. And he sounds like after his interview, he was enjoying the show of it. So good. He should. Yeah. Right. That's good for him. Good for him. Let's go over to talk about games. You didn't really want to watch this. It's like the wreck that the Newcastle. I mean,
00:23:04
Speaker
10 minutes in and we've done scrumaging for about seven of them. It's like, come on, guys. And Flats was on comms and he's like, so he's so like, listen, I love this shit, but I am not into this right now. Come on, man. So if the prop is telling you that there's a problem with the scrum, there's a problem with the scrum.
00:23:28
Speaker
Just like anything else, if we want to watch Scrummaging, we want to watch good Scrummaging. And it wasn't even good Scrummaging. It was mostly resets. It wasn't even fucked. Yeah, it was bad. It was super annoying. So let's talk about the wings for Newcastle. Stevens and Radwan. Well, they're both, obviously, now try scoring machines, although Radwan is a little bit more proven. But Stevens, if he learns to tackle, he could be something.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah, he's fairly young. Yeah, he is. He's 19. He's 19. Yeah, he'll get better. He's got time. He's got time. No, I'm not. I'm absolutely not. Fuck, he's 19. That's not fair. He's good. No doubt about that. Guy can scoot. Guy can play a little bit in space. But at 19, yeah, you're not the best defender. No.
00:24:20
Speaker
That'll be problematic. No, but he's showing. And then Radbrand just skinned everybody. You know, unfortunately, outside of that one moment, Ojomo had a really good game too. So it's like that one time we just kind of watched him go by. You know, it's not going to show up well on the highlight reel, but
00:24:44
Speaker
Other than that, yeah, Jumbo looks really good. I'm impressed. He was guy. He was Bath's most dangerous player with ball in hand. Yeah. And by a long business, except for maybe Bayless did well to score. Well, he scored the try. So, yeah. Yeah, he's right. The two try scorers. Yeah, of course. Yeah. But no, no, no. A lot to sort out. They have quite a bit to sort out because
00:25:14
Speaker
No wonder. Underhills out for potential. The other week. Yeah, that was not cool. The other week when we were looking at the the young guns and Ruben de Haas was on it. There's a name on it that I seriously question. And then I got to ask you about it. Rocco de Guni. Was he on it? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was on it. No, I think it was the other one. I think it was Koka. Oh, maybe it was Koka as I say. Yeah.
00:25:42
Speaker
Okay. Phew. For some reason, I thought it was Rocket Aguni. No, Rocket 34. This guy? Oh, no. Okay. Then, yeah, no, it was. Okay. Fair. Fair enough. But either way, Rocket Aguni, what is he doing out there? I'm not sure he knows, honestly, at this point. Okay. Didn't he drop a potential try? I think so. He was just... Yuck.
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah, but he's never, I don't know. And I never see him play well. So it's like, and we'll mirror. I don't, I'm, I'm disappointed by we'll mirror. He got, he's had a bad start. Yeah. Um, they really need a score back desperately help, help balance them out there. Red path would probably help too. Yeah, that would help too. Um,
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, when your defense definitely needs sorting out with George Mooligan's finding a gap big enough to run in from 20 meters. Like, yeah, that was.
00:26:37
Speaker
Not good. Not good at all. So, yeah, there's a lot for Beth to sort themselves out. Yes, they do. Yes, they do.
Worcester Warriors' Strategy
00:26:46
Speaker
Hey, let's go to the stoop and history as Sarah Cox becomes the first female to take charge of a premiership game. Hooray. More progress. We love progress over here. They're not the first. And not only that and not to not only to to say it this way, though, she was the best referee on the weekend in the prem.
00:27:08
Speaker
That's right. One thing we missed from the from the the bath match was a missed 50 22 like obvious 50 22. Oh, that's right. Castle that was missed. And it's yeah, so that's right. The whole crew fucking missed it. Yeah. So that's on everybody. That's just not on the person with the whistle. Right.
00:27:25
Speaker
Um, so yeah, anyway, this match, I thought, I thought Coxie was, was fantastic. Um, but it's not, you know, it's to credit to her that she, she performed that well. Cause I'm sure she was fucking nervous as shit, but she handled it so well. No doubt. No doubt whatsoever. But yeah, handled with flying colors, zero complaints out of this guy whatsoever. And me. Yeah, obviously enjoyed. And it was a fantastic match on top of that. It was a great match. This is not your daddy's Worcester team. No, this is a Worcester that will score some tries on you.
00:27:54
Speaker
They've looked good through two games already, even though there's a loss here, but just the one, the ability to both score.
00:28:02
Speaker
in the fat, you know, score more often, but they had the grit and the determination to fight back, get themselves some bonus points in this match and, you know, get the job done. So they're not going back to six ways empty handed. You don't you want to come away from away matches with as many points as possible. And sometimes that means scrounging out a couple of bonus points. And that's what good teams do. Right. And they did. They got they got two out of it. So
00:28:29
Speaker
Scary. As you said, that's what good teams do. And Worcester right now are doing things that good teams do. I don't know how to explain it. It's like, it literally is like a switch has flipped for them where once they were kind of clueless once they got inside the 22, essentially now they're like a normal team. Yeah. They found ways to get it done.
00:28:54
Speaker
Right. They're actually like scoring when they get inside the 22 and not, you know, they're still turning the ball over every so often as, as teams normally do, but.
00:29:03
Speaker
They're, they're also doing the things that good teams do. And that's, that's what good teams do. They always, they fuck it up. I mean, Harlequin's fucked it up every so often inside the 22, but you take that and then you score. So that then Worcester are doing that. Yeah. And I mean, this, and this was a, this was a, actually on paper, you look at a very good matchup, uh, in the middle, in the centers between enter and Lawrence and Esther Hayes and, and Marsha. And like, you got a couple of different, you know,
00:29:32
Speaker
Lawrence is more the big bowling ball as opposed to on the other side, Esther Hazen is the bowling ball. But man, like two very good center pairings, getting the jobs done in the ways that they can. And that's just so beautiful to watch. I love it. I really do. I like
00:29:52
Speaker
You know, and yes, Quinn's win this match and man, they look like they're going to be hard to beat again. We shot her the day. But yeah, and we're talking up with her here because this was an awful team a year ago and two years ago, even it was not a good team. So to see this is only good for the league. It really is. Right. And because it's not like.
00:30:13
Speaker
It's intangible, except for the fact that you can see that they fuck it up a lot once they get inside the 22. That's the only thing you could say. They always find creative ways to fuck it up, but now they're not. And they're making good decisions. It's not that they're, the execution, it's all decision-making. They would just make the wrong decision and then execute poorly on it. This was like, they're making good decisions and they're executing okay. That's winning rugby.
00:30:42
Speaker
Ultimately. Yeah. Make those 50-50 decisions a little bit better. Right. That's what it comes down to. Let's go to the CBS. We got it wrong last week. Shocker of the day. I knew we were making it. Obviously, I'm making this famous wrong, but whatever. Fuck you. It's Rico. Ride it. Ride it for a while. Anyway, Trouble in Paradise.
00:31:09
Speaker
Maxwell Heath is the only try score for Bristol two matches. They were not good. No, they were again. Like speaking of, you know, we're talking about Worcester, Bristol or we're very Worcester, like everything like that on the shoot. Who was it?
00:31:31
Speaker
Dan, Dan Thomas and Nathan Hughes have a breakaway and Darren Thomas inexplicably, you know, for the second week in a row, making a boneheaded. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. You just way not good dummies and carries it in a touch, essentially. And it's like all you had to do was give it. That's fucking Nathan Hughes. You think the fullback wants to take on Nathan Hughes? No. I guarantee you Crossdale want nothing to do with that. Right. So you throw that you throw the pass.
00:31:59
Speaker
And then you trail and you score the try. Because, you know, the other side wing is going to track down Nathan Hughes. That's it. You just throw the pass. There's no thought to it. You throw the pass. And he didn't. Just little stuff like that. Oh, the Crossdales second try. I have to take this one. Because WASPs are attacking with four on six defenders.
00:32:27
Speaker
The Bears have three interior defenders, and they had Yone Lloyd on the outside. And they had two guys coming behind the defense. And yet everybody, all four of those frontline defenders, crashed down. None of them say, oh, I have inside support. I can stay wide, let alone Lloyd, who has two guys inside of him ready to bracket Crossdale, and yet just gives Crossdale the outside.
00:32:55
Speaker
The stupid decisions by bears open that up. And of course, Robson, I mean, Robson was unfair this matter. That was a peach of a ball. Right. That was the back thing. All of that. I mean, I'm not trying to take away from what wasps did because because they all executed outstanding. And it's like what that's the kind of microcosm of the game. The wasps executed perfection and the bears just fucked it up one to six right there.
00:33:24
Speaker
That, that, that right there is too badly. Um, so I bet Pat Lam is, um, Oh, he's fuming. He's fuming. He's not, he's not a yeller, but he's not a yeller, but God damn, like he is, he is letting the boys have it. You know, again, not, not yelling verbally, but really just like laying it out to them. Like guys, this is not good enough. And if you guys want to be anywhere close to where you were last year, it's gotta be better.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, they got to clean it up. Yeah, I agree. There's no argument for Brad Shields to be made here. Like he got both yellow cars. Yeah. And he deserved them both, unfortunately. I was like, oh, that's not good. And it's your second and you're off. It's generally advisable to
00:34:11
Speaker
play within the laws once you're on a yellow. I think that's the highest insight I can give there.
Bristol Bears' Critique
00:34:26
Speaker
What the hell is it? What the hell is his name? Duas Hooker, Frost scoring on debut. Good for him. Good for him. That's great. And it sounds like he's done a lot of hard work in the championship and in getting to this point, which is fantastic. It also speaks probably to how they see Agrae more going forward, which is a flanker and not a hooker. I wanted to mention that he looks like a seven. I mean, I saw him like the first time I saw him running and I'm like,
00:34:52
Speaker
Wait, I don't recognize that seven. Cause he's always looked like a two out there. No, he's definitely less chunky. Um, there's, he's a, he's a seven. Um, that, that much is evident. So yeah, I guess, um, they've obviously brought in Frost for a reason and, and, and made it true. Uh, TRM belly. He's not, he's not winning line outs. Um, and he's got to deal with flanker meterage and that's not, no.
00:35:21
Speaker
It's not friendly. Well, Tom Willis made use of that flanker meter pretty well. He was, well, I mean... Seven defenders beaten, though. Yeah, that helps. You know, a clean break, a couple passes. Yeah, no, he did a great job. We'll get to the fantasy aspect of that later, but Willis was excellent.
00:35:50
Speaker
Yep. And he was carrying an injury at the end too, but he tough it out. So, cause I don't think they had any subs left on the bench. Speaking of carrying an injury Thacker did not like, I hope that that's okay. I hope that that was just a one-time thing. And he just, he took an odd tackle and I think he got.
00:36:08
Speaker
It was like, uh, he made the tackle, but then he get, there was a leech and he just got overpowered. And I think it, you know, he tried to run through it and it wasn't, it wasn't happening. Um, I hope that's not long-term. I hope it's just like a tweak because it's a lot better this league when he's in it.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, we don't, we all hope so. I, yeah, this is more, this is way better of a team and a league when he's, when he's healthy. Yeah. Um, he's scoring, which is awesome. Cause gotta love the hips. It's too, it's too in like a bunch for him. He's had a very few. Right. Um, don't get used to it, but it's just, so it's nice to see when it happens. Uh, I need, I need somebody to take the lead on this because we need to send out a search party and it's for one,
00:36:50
Speaker
piers o'connor i haven't seen i i don't know where this man's been or he's gone but we saw him a lot last year and i have no idea what ellie is right now i mean his his name appears on the sheet but that's the only that's it that's the only time i see him except for when bad things are happening which is yeah yeah it's true she's noticeable that's not the time to be noticed
00:37:14
Speaker
Shit. So, yeah, bears are after a wee bit of a false start here. So hopefully they get it going. Sort it out. Big one this Friday. But they they got to sort it out, start sorting it out soon, because it's not whatever's going wrong isn't. Yeah, no, no, it's not a there's no there's no real one solution except to pull your fucking heads out of your ass. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Let's go over to the aforementioned
00:37:43
Speaker
Sandy Park, when I say aforementioned, we mentioned like wavy in the podcast.
Exeter vs Northampton Overview
00:37:49
Speaker
Anyway, yeah, a little bit of the same from Exeter with, you know, a closer result.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah, just no, no Sam Simmons is once again, killing them. They look kind of lost, they can do their thing. I mean, Northampton kept Exeter in it more than Exeter stayed in it. Like, they, they, they gave away stupid penalties in areas where Exeter thrive. Yep. Right. You do that in, you know, around midfield, you give away penalties around midfield. Okay, what are eggs are gonna do? They're gonna put it in the corner and try to
00:38:25
Speaker
just pick and go on you and they'll do that very successfully. So just stop taking stupid penalties around midfield and you'll be a lot better. Hand them a 14 nothing lead basically. And they fought like hell to get back and actually had lead at halftime too. So a great, great response from them for sure. But yeah, they got like, and I'm sure
00:38:53
Speaker
Boyd was telling him like, guys, we cannot spot the same 14 points. No, even even when even, you know, you never want to spot exit or 14 points because you never know. They're too good of a defensive team. Never. Even even with Northampton's firepower that they were successfully able to to deploy. Yeah. Yeah. That like you can't rely on that against a team like Exeter. So no, I'd prefer to not. Right. So good on them for responding and
00:39:24
Speaker
And then just choking them out at the end. Yeah, they did. They really just suffocate them at the end. And, um, we talked about him last week and we'll talk about, I got to talk about, about him again this week. George Furbank just, yeah, I think he's going to be a lot better this year, which is great. He's got his confidence back. He's Bojo back. So that's only a good thing for no Tempton and potentially England. We'll see potentially. Yeah. And he's in the, he's in the camp. So.
00:39:48
Speaker
So we'll see. On the other side of it, yep. Exeter got, again, another team that's got a lot to sort out. They got to find where they're going to thrive in the most. You know, you can't have... Yeah. And I like him a lot. I really do. But like, I don't think that's a mystery to anybody that's listened to us for longer than five seconds. But
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, man. Not great. Not great at all. So yeah, if he's the one that's like taking it for you, you get problems. Yeah. And he's it. And that's not, not good at all. Yeah. And you got problems there. And then over to the Sunday game, let an Irish have a habit of making this whole second half, come back, draw a thing, go out, go.
Impact of AJ McGinty's Injury on Sale
00:40:34
Speaker
Well, this game, let's, let's be honest and realistic about the situation. This game hinge on AG McGinty's health.
00:40:43
Speaker
I think so too. And you know, I'm not saying that because listen, if this was any other fly half and he didn't play with us, it wouldn't matter. The difference between AJ and Wilkinson was clear. Yeah. And even not only that, but that the score line, the scoreboard tells the story, right? Cause let me see how many, I didn't, I didn't do the, so AJ came off 38 minutes after that part and try.
00:41:13
Speaker
Um, Sean, I've got a yellow card partner, two tries, Rona, sort of try that. So right there, all, um, and I don't think sale scored again. No, they had, they had 31 points, 38 minutes into the match when AJ was playing and then they didn't score again. Um, and Irish just kept scoring. And so there, I mean, that's pretty definitive one half with them, one half without them.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah, they're going to have to answer a lot of questions up there at the A.J. Bellows if he's not available and he wouldn't be available this weekend anyway, because hopefully I assume he'd be playing for the U.S., playing against Uruguay. Right. Yeah, not great. No, and they'll get better when they have, you know, some of their staff is back. Obviously, they can't get worse, that's for sure. No, it won't.
00:42:08
Speaker
but yeah, it's not, it's not good right now. Although they're nines, they're non FAF nines are fantastic. Clearly not that FAF isn't is, is, you know, he's okay. Um, but shit, uh, Cliff, uh, Cliff expressed himself fairly well. Yeah. And I, you know, it was like, I was like, we sure that's not raffy quirk. Like, we sure we got subbed because man, that's not something I've seen Will Cliff do a whole lot of for a while. So no.
00:42:36
Speaker
good on him for, you know, stepping up and doing, doing the job with a guy that needed, that was going to be there. So on the other side of it, Tom Parton for England, please. Please. His absolutely lightning. How do they have like, there's such a glut of talent in the back three and that's why picking
00:42:57
Speaker
Johnny May fucking offends me. Oh, that's true. I agree. I do agree with that. I do agree with that. I mean, yeah, if it's not one, it's another, it's another, it's another. Yeah. Parton is absolutely one of those who should be up there. He's good. Yeah.
00:43:14
Speaker
So, and you know, a little bit on England, like Eddie has two years for pretty much from today or from the beginning of the month to get it right. And he should be doing everything he can to find the combinations that work the best. And I think we can all agree there are certain combinations that don't work anymore and May is one of them, you know, and there's a lot of others and you can go listen, we could fill a podcast with that plus plus. But point being like,
00:43:41
Speaker
Yes, you don't want to be stuck in a crappy pool. So you got to kind of sort that out. But now you got to start to figure out all right, time to test some of these guys in, you know, a test environment. And figure out what that what they got because you have they have so much like, okay, like really outside of New Zealand. Is there another
00:44:09
Speaker
national team that has the just huge range of options at so many different positions that Eddie Jones has. I'm not thinking of too many. Because like there's some teams where it's like, yeah, they have got a lot of talent, but it's like that's their top 30 can play and then everyone else.
00:44:27
Speaker
When they start to dig into number 40 on the list, it gets a little ugly. But shit, England, there's so many guys that are talented that they don't even look at. It's obscene. And for the fact that they can't win. That's the diff, the cutoff, is that you have all this talent that's possible, but you pick certain guys because you like the guys, even though this other talent might play better, actually.
00:44:56
Speaker
But, you know, it's about what I want them to do, not about playing better. Fucking hell, man. You ain't kidding. I don't know. Speaking of which, Ben White. I think we're seeing why at one point he was in England camp.
00:45:11
Speaker
And he's still only 21, I think, so he might, if he keeps this up, he's 23, sorry, but still. That's still someone who should get attention if he keeps this up. I agree. I agree. I agree wholeheartedly.
00:45:29
Speaker
So we got, um, we got ourselves in store for quite a season here. This is going to be a lot of fun. I think we said this last week, this was confirmed. Yeah. It's time. It's it's a party this year.
00:45:43
Speaker
Yeah. There, there's no holding back right now. It's a party at the top and you need better. Hope you get invited. Cause if you start missing out, foster bath, Exeter. Yeah. Guys like get out of gear. Let's go. Yeah. Bristol. Bristol. Yeah. That one. Um, yeah. Right now you're, you're top four. I mean, two games played with only a couple of teams, only playing one Quinn saints, Worcester sale, uh, Lester and was actually ground out the top six. So.
00:46:13
Speaker
Yeah. And I, and I, I'd anticipate the lessors, the lessors not going anywhere from that area at all. Right. So sorry, I've only played the one. So they'll be, they'll be fine. They'll be there. Correct. So they'll be hanging around there. I'm sure. So hope everybody's ready to hang on tight. Cause it's going to be a fun one.
00:46:35
Speaker
So yeah, we're going to get like a shirt reservation form up there for everybody that wants to order the shirt. And then we'll get you, we don't have a price yet because we need to know how many shorts are already first. That'll be a part of our, I believe it'll be a part of our Patreon page. If not, we'll find another way to do it.
00:46:53
Speaker
Yeah. But anyway, so keep your eyes peeled for that. We'll send that out soon. Thank you to everybody that had their say in that as well. I thought all four colors were pretty cool. So really interesting. The color I like didn't win, but whatever. That's okay. Come on, we're going to be better either way. This will still be all right, just the same. Yeah.
00:47:15
Speaker
So, yeah. Catch us for your fantasy advice in the next pod. Other than that, we appreciate you guys for hanging out with us, and we'll catch you then. Have a good one. Later. Cheers.