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Season 3- Episode 28- The Eagles Are Hatching (Champions Cup Final & Super Rugby TT Round 2)
33 Plays4 years ago
It is those American rugby dopes that like to talk about rugby and pretend rugby. On this episode, it's one that means a lot to us because it's the first USA Eagles squad that has been picked since the 2019 Rugby World Cup. We go over the names that we are excited about, maybe a bit of back story as to why we are excited about them and plus we pick the guy we think should get the arm band for this summer's tour. We also talk about a couple of matches that had no significance what soever at Twickenham. We wrap all the action from Super Rugby and do our usual Start or Sit thing. Kick back, have a laugh and enjoy!
Don't forget, we are putting together a 2nd Tier of Champi-Yanks League! You've heard us babble about it and if it sounds like fun to you, please hit us up via email or twitter.
Also, ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar. Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Welcome and Weekend Recap
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby. My name is Jared. I'm Ben Glauber. Let's bring it in. There was significant matches, but not many, you know, just so made easy for easy life for us. Quality over quantity. Yeah. I'm all about that sometimes. Yeah. It was nice and relaxed. I didn't have to feel like I was cramming in rugby all weekend.
Fantasy Rugby Insights
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah. We got to go golfing. Yeah. Let's say you recovered.
00:00:35
Speaker
My legs were angry at me. Yeah, they didn't know what I had done. What are you doing over here? We've never walked. No, we're usually just carting it, but that wasn't... Listen, if I could do walking like that every time, I'd be into it, but... Definitely. So, yeah, nobody on...
00:00:53
Speaker
They let us ride the kart for our first nine. They also asked us to start in the back nine. No big deal, whatever. You could play in the same holes either way. And I like the back nine better anyway, so I was happy to do that.
00:01:06
Speaker
And then the front nine, they're like, okay, well, you can walk it. And there was just nobody on the course at that point. Cause it was like twilight of showers. Yeah. Like we finished at dusk. Yeah. Probably putting it generously tapping in almost the near dark. But they were like, Oh, there's two guys out there. What the fuck? They're not going to do too much damage. They're walking. Yeah. Whatever. I mean, you're going to get lost if anything. Right.
00:01:35
Speaker
No worries. We know where we are. Yeah. Do this. You do this in the dark. We sorted it out. No big deal. Uh, as we did then let's drink the final beer of the golf outing. Yeah. And then obviously find us on your favorite spots for your podcast. Download rate review. Let us know how you found us. Um, yeah, it's been, it's been a lot of fun. Um,
00:02:02
Speaker
It's just really fun to see people that are, you know, we talked about, we'll talk about it in a minute, but just like people that are enjoying our leagues, which is great to see as well. Yes, we want you to enjoy the pod, but the leagues are the big thing. We want you to enjoy those. Right. Like we're enjoying the hell out of it and making no bones about it, but it's nice to know that.
00:02:21
Speaker
You know, the feeling is mutual in that. So every, you know, everyone in the league so far has chimed in and, uh, the support's been fantastic. You guys have, and it's you guys who have made it great. We're, we're just two knuckleheads from America trying to sort this shit out ourselves. So, um, we don't know what the fuck we're doing. Let's be right.
00:02:38
Speaker
So so I feel like we're representing ourselves well so far. I have I have points. You're getting close. I say I've got I've got points on deck here, it looks like. Yeah, exactly. So it's all right. I'll take right. Don't get goosehiked. Yeah, exactly. No, right. Yes. By your by our buddy, the fancy coffee, because obviously everybody's into semifinals and a couple of leagues now. So
00:03:05
Speaker
I've got three in the prem alone. I don't have any in the super unfortunately. But yeah, many of you out there are in multiple semi-finals in multiple leagues, super rugby and prem. So you're going to want this man to help, trust me. Obviously, the running for TRM is going to help. Speaking of, grab your TRM upgrades, support the restart rugby as well, and make sure that you don't go
00:03:31
Speaker
missing out on somebody starting and just find that little green dot. Especially as we get into the later rounds. And when we get into, yeah, there's going to be a rotation. And then once we get into the playoffs,
00:03:46
Speaker
the knockout stages, you're going to want their analysis. Right. That you get the better that you get a higher grade of analysis when you're when you get these upgrades. So that'll that'll help get you, you know, get you right through the these the critical final weeks where the player pool slims down. Yeah, 100%.
Social Issues in Rugby
00:04:04
Speaker
And then, yeah, as always, Black Lives Matter on this on this podcast and should to you as well.
00:04:10
Speaker
Unfortunately, we had a another incident of somebody having bigger balls on social media than they actually do and sending racial abuse towards Sammy Pam, which just fucking no fucking reason for that shit, man. Yeah. Come on. That's that's pure. I mean, I.
00:04:29
Speaker
If you've heard us at all, I feel like we rave about Semipam once per show on average. And we don't do that for many people. She's a fucking awesome player. She's a prop who can fucking toast. Grease lightning. Yeah. And she's also a doctor. She's already better than all of you. It's like, how could you? No, that's all pure jealousy.
Rugby Camp and Sponsorships
00:04:59
Speaker
Right now. Fuck that. Fuck, you know, put that shit in. Yeah. And she won for the year for Bristol.
00:05:06
Speaker
Fantastic. I, you know, no, no shocks, but no shock. I know. See when Lily crap is on that team as well. But yeah, definitely her. No question. No question as well. So yeah. Stop being ineligible. Yes. What the fuck? Okay. So who's there? Who's there? Eddie Jones for the win? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm pretty sure she is though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was, she was born in England, but her parents are Nigerian. I'm pretty sure.
00:05:35
Speaker
I could be wrong about that. Somebody please correct me if I fucked that up. Obviously, if you haven't heard, we have a second tier of Champions League open up. We have six people that have put their hands up. Thank you to Terry, Bob, Cobus, and Lianu that have accepted their invites. I'm super happy to have Terry on board. Same. Yep. Ledge.
00:05:56
Speaker
Yeah. Absolutely. And Bob too. Yep. Right. Happy to everybody. Don't disrespect to the others. Nope. Yeah. Not at all. We're happy to have him in. So everybody next year in our current tier, you and I are in. Put your big boy pants on because we're going to need them. Yeah, we are. Go and get real. Yes, it is. Slightly quiet.
00:06:17
Speaker
market for the player movement. I mean, we saw Sloane move from series to, I think, Agen. Yeah. But that's a crowded midfield anyway. It's not really a shock. Yeah, that's a good move for him. It's not, there's no space.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah, I feel for him. But yeah, speaking of France, though, that one you just sent me that's awesome. Yeah, it's gonna be sponsored by Grindr next year. Yeah, that's awesome. Love to see it. That is awesome. Yep. Yep. Love is love, man. Doesn't matter how you get it. Right? Yeah, I love it. Yeah, that's a that's a great move. I'm in.
00:06:52
Speaker
I'm sort of a fan of yours now. At least assuming you can get to pro D you can get to top 14 and assume I can fucking watch it next year, which would be, yeah, that'd be nice. Yeah. Rugby network. Get on it, please. No, this flow shit. We've got to keep that for another few weeks, a few weeks. Yeah. A few weeks. Um,
00:07:13
Speaker
assuming that the U.S. internationals aren't speaking of. Gary Gold has named his team or at least the camp to get in there. It's a good, good list for a camp. I mean, for an American side. But yeah, a lot of, I'm excited to see what these guys can do.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah. Piffletti goes in representing the series. There's always one of them. Will Hooley too. TT, although, you know, he's not, not, not currently. Yeah. He was, he was a series product in our hearts, but that way. Yeah. Um, your, your old friend, Cam Dolan is the most with, has the most caps on the team with 51. Well, okay. We, we didn't play against him, but we, uh,
00:08:05
Speaker
We've been on the, I think we've been on the panel to play against him. Um, at least one of us, I don't think it was you. Yeah. Um, but I never got to, but damn, that was a while ago. Yep. Yep. Yep. Um, there's some, there's some good, um, there's some good names I'm seeing on here that are young.
US Rugby National Team Selection
00:08:25
Speaker
Harry Barlow, number one, got to point that guy out. Yes, the wheelbarrow. Very excited. I'm so happy for Harry. He came into form so recently. It was really awesome to see because, let's be real, coming into the game against LA was a tough ask for him after, I think it was Walker that came out. Walker had, yeah, he got hurt early. And that was just such a tough ask from him. Since
00:08:50
Speaker
that game, he picked up an injury, but then he's come in since and just done so well since Mitch Wilson's been out. And, you know, he's, you know, he's pushing. He's making people realize that they can't just cover Doogie five. And that's right. Well, it helps when you have Fife doing that shit because that because it not only not only does it help for him to see what Fife does
Super Rugby Highlights
00:09:10
Speaker
and the lines he runs to end to get better that way, but it also helps him to understand how to run off of that, which is what you need at this level. Right. Because because Fife is good at
00:09:20
Speaker
And probably it would be great if he could be an American international. I don't think that's possible. But no. But unfortunately, that aside, if he's going to be playing with guys who have, well, they're not quite even as good as Fife in many cases. But some of them have his talent and his ability. And so it's good. He needs to learn how to play on their level. And that's really what I think has helped him elevate his game.
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, there's about 14 guys that are uncapped, including that guy right there that we just mentioned. Connor Monahan is another one. Austin Austin's player, young kid, he's about 2223. Looks really good for him. Like he makes he we talked about how good that back line was for Austin. He makes them. He's definitely one of the better parts of that as well. He's playing right next to Bryce Campbell as well. It doesn't hurt. Same thing, right? Yeah. So learn how to be a pro you learn how to
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, had to run lines off of guys. That's so big, especially as a wing. Yeah, three LA players on this one, Ryan James. Luke Carty's a big one. Now, think about this guy. This guy is learning under Matt Gitto at LA. Like, that is a... You can't just gift wrap something better than that, honestly, you know, for an... As an international... As a young international potential, like,
00:10:45
Speaker
You'll learn it from one of the best ever, man. Yeah. Damn. And he's played well. So this is not like just they're not just doing it because he's on the best best team in league. He's played very well. Like, don't don't he's earned it. Put that on there. Certainly. Yeah. So I like that. There's only one other out and out number eight listed besides Campbell. And that's Hyting from Seawolves. I know he's good. I haven't seen enough of him to to think that he's that good. But I guess we'll find out if he is.
00:11:15
Speaker
Right now. Um, yeah, no shock. All the guys that are playing a broader in here, including our boy, Greg Peterson and AJ McGinty. Um, yeah. To fed a, uh, I said, I said it, I said he'd be in it. So I'm watching. Yep. Then I'm very pleased to see that myself. So yeah. Yeah. He's worked. He's working his ass off for a Legion team. That's just struggling along with, uh, Ryan Mattias, who I think is awesome. Who is, who's, who's the captain of this team?
00:11:48
Speaker
You know, it might be, it might be Peterson. I'd be okay with that. I'd be okay with that. Cause he's going to be around for a while long. Well, well, little while longer words. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you know, and I have the same thought. He's a forward. Right. And he's a lock forward, which means, you know, he can really, he can, he's at that link between the, you know, the big uglies and the tiny uglies. Um,
00:12:16
Speaker
Yeah, I like him the best and he's got that, he's got that, he's fucking 80 minutes. Like he's leading the prem in minutes, at least going into the last week. I don't know if- I think he is now because O'Connor had the time off. That's right. So fuck, he's your guy. Like he's gonna be on the field all the time. He's not coming off. Right. So he's the American answer to Allen Wynn at the moment.
00:12:44
Speaker
I don't know if we can reach that high, but I'll take it. Well, it's the American version. Yeah. So it's not, no, it's not going to be nearly as quality, but it's the best we can get. Yeah, absolutely. What's the other name I saw on here? Tungawaya from NOLA. He was definitely one of those guys that was a problem.
00:13:06
Speaker
And I would, you know, I would, I would dare say for Anana Schultz from Oh glory could probably play eight, maybe, maybe to take that Jersey from one of those other guys there. Right. Um, I saw who's your tough Eddie at eight. Um,
00:13:25
Speaker
Yeah, I was looking for scrumhaps here. Nick Boyer, he's okay. Basket has been a big part of the way Utah has been playing, so I'm down with that. Ryan Reese from rugby ATL, he's another one that's been really good for a decent team. And the guy that's playing alongside him at nine, switching in and out is this guy, House,
00:13:47
Speaker
South African, but just seems to be, you know, the American version of Kobe's ryanak or the MLR version of Cobra. There's the word. There you go. That's the word I was looking for. So it's interesting. I don't know. Yeah. Oh, I mean, he's he's the starting nine. Right. There's no question. I mean, I just wanted to make sure we acknowledge that so that the people listening aren't worried that we don't have somebody who's halfway competent because he's that. So he definitely is. I don't see.
00:14:18
Speaker
Tamala on here. And that was the one name I was wondering if he'd make it or not. He did not. He did not. I think, I think he's a little unfit, honestly. And that's a problem. I'll be clearly Gary Gold thought so too. Yep. So it's, I like the group I see.
00:14:33
Speaker
I hope what comes out of it in terms of the guys that end up going over to the UK and Ireland, put in a good shift. I'm sure the, I'm sure the experienced guys won't let them not put in a shift. It's just a matter of, can we, can we start pushing some teams to, to cause problems? I guess we'll find out. Right. And who, who were they going to trust to, to be able to do that? That's what I'm looking forward to see. Yep. Be very, be very, very interesting. Let's go over to super rugby.
00:15:03
Speaker
uh, Kane's Rebels. I like, I remember the other week we were talking and you said something about, um, Billy Proctor being better than Matt Proctor. And I was like, what? I, I, you know, I, I don't see any evidence of that in this week's match. No, he was fucking amazing. He just, he was,
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah. The man among boys out there. Yeah. He's, he's rather good. And he knows the right guys to give it to too. The, um, the counterrock try. I was so excited about the one where I think Billy ended up picking it up. La Mape and Savannah all got involved as well. Thanks to they ended up finishing it. I was just like, yep, I like that stuff. That'll do.
00:15:50
Speaker
I was excited about that one. I got to ask if you noticed what I noticed about how the canes ran their offense. Who was the one back who you never saw with the ball?
00:16:04
Speaker
Oh, ledger. Yeah. Yeah. No, keep it away from him. Keep the fuck away from him. So yeah, I was looking at the stats here and 14 meters, 14 meters on seven carries. He had the lowest bite of every, of every back. He only had 12 passes.
00:16:24
Speaker
Nanailo Mape had 18. Billy Proctor had nine, but Jordy had 11. Orbit, you're 10. You didn't like touch the ball 19 times the whole, like actually had the ball in his hand, like 19 times the whole match. Yep. Fascinating. They know, they know better. Yeah. They know better. That was, I mean, he did, he did do well when he had it, but like they, they put him in positions where he really had tried to fuck it up. Like here's how you don't screw this up. Okay. Okay.
00:16:52
Speaker
They did the equivalent of putting him in right field in little league. Right. We stand out there and hope the ball doesn't come near you. The odds of a lefty standing up and pulling it are low. Right. And we'll move you if we have to. We'll switch fields. You go to left field that case.
00:17:09
Speaker
Go, go, go. You know, and there were points where I thought the Rebels played played well in patches, but really just like, yeah, Hurricanes outwilled him. You know, Wells got over the line and I think he's been definitely their best. I think he's been their best lose forward without a doubt. No doubt. He's been so good.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, so got his due but really the rebels are just in the coaching changes not helping at all. None of this is ideal for the rebels. They're gonna limp through the line unfortunately here for the rest of this one and then with their wounds and reset for the coming season next year. It's not gonna be pretty. Nope, unfortunately it won't be. Force Highlanders. There's a guy on the Highlanders.
00:17:58
Speaker
No, no, no. Mariki.
European Rugby Finals
00:18:04
Speaker
Mm. Something like that. Yeah. Anyway, he's pretty good. He's very good. He's pretty good. John and her. Oh, my God. That dude is lightning. I was like, what is that? Where did you come from?
00:18:19
Speaker
I was like, Okay, well, this guy's pretty good. Yeah, I like when I see here. He's ridiculous. And we found ourselves I found myself, I think, you know, we, we talk about some of the players for sale in the northern hemisphere.
00:18:35
Speaker
And especially like the whole, if Marlin Yard is going to try, you know, this was a walkover match. I think I figured out who my Southern Hemisphere answer is to Marlin Yard. And it's Scott Gregory. Yeah. You're not wrong about that at all. At all. He scored two. Okay. Well, yeah. All right. I think we know the result. We know. Thank you. Ah, shit. We did see some park and bum.
00:19:04
Speaker
Pie Pie Parkinson's shorts are getting a little loose.
00:19:07
Speaker
And as happens, you gotta love, you'd love to see it. I fucking love bum. It's like the lightheartedness of it in the middle of a match that just tickles me. Oh, hey, there's your bum. Yeah. Because we've all had our pants tugged at. It's something that can happen. But it seems like that's unique to rugby, right? You don't see, maybe once in a blue moon, you'll see a football player's bum.
00:19:36
Speaker
Um, never a soccer football player's bum, but nope. Like, unless he's mooning you. Yeah. Right. That might happen. But, uh,
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, and then the football, it's rare because they have so many layers on anyway. Baseball, like even the famous Steve Lyons thing where he slid into first base and pulled his pants down. He was still wearing all sorts of shit underneath. It was just really funny. He would pull his pants down in front of a fell stadium. Yeah, but rugby bum. It's great.
00:20:10
Speaker
I do hope that Jake McIntyre is all right. He took a pretty nasty knee to his head. That was not cool. That is not a good thing. No. Oh man. And I was like, Oh, please tell me this isn't foul play. Nope. Just really unfortunate rugby incident. That sucks. Yeah. Hopefully he's all right. And he's a, he's able to get back out there sometime soon.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah, one guy for the force. I do want to point out Tamani. I like the way he plays. I wonder, I don't know if he's eligible for Australia or not, but if he is, then if I were Dave Rennie, I'd be keeping an eye on him. There's a couple of guys I'd be keeping an eye on for.
00:20:47
Speaker
that probably haven't got significant playing time as wallabies that are in this the super rugby AU team. So we'll talk about another one in a little bit here. But yeah, Highlanders are just attacking, man. So that was good for them. This is I'm sure this is like one of those things where it feels good to just look the chains off a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Let that hair hang out, man. Speaking of letting the chains off. Blues war toss. Yeah. Yeah. Blues are cruising, man.
00:21:19
Speaker
They lost their way a little bit there towards the end of Aotearoa, but found it. Bryce Heem. I love this guy. He's still alive. That's great. I love this guy. I've loved this guy since he was at Worcester.
00:21:35
Speaker
And like, just, yeah, absolutely amazing. He's one of those Worcester guys who can actually fucking play is just get them, get them off of Worcester. Yeah, right. Because with him at Worcester, I was like, I don't see like, there's a lot of like, even fucking Josh Adams at Worcester. It's like, yeah. But all of a sudden you put them out of a team that's not Worcester and he's leading the Six Nations and tries. And then you see Bryce Heem here down in New Zealand.
00:22:04
Speaker
put him on a real team that knows how to find a tri-line and boom, three. And he's just, as an individual, he's great. So that was a hell of a job from him. Yeah, we talked about guys that lead from the front, even though they're not, their teams aren't great. Jake Gordon's definitely doing that.
00:22:22
Speaker
All day long. I just, I feel bad cause he's just getting thrown into a really shitty team right now. Just really unfortunate situation for the guy. He'll, he'll, he'll be wearing a yellow Jersey this summer. I don't, I don't doubt that for a second. No, not even for a second. Not for a second. Uh, chief's Brumbies.
00:22:39
Speaker
You felt a little nervous for a minute or two. For too long. That was the problem. Because you don't have the Chiefs do. And we've seen that. They kind of putter about, especially they did it with the force where they just kind of let them stay in it. So even at halftime, it was like a 12-point lead. I think it was 17-5 or 19-5, something like that.
00:23:03
Speaker
I still just, I didn't feel comfortable. And even into the second half, I was still not, not comfortable. And I look up and it's the 20 point lead. And I'm like, why the fuck am I uncomfortable?
00:23:16
Speaker
Well, okay. No, I can calm down. This is fine, especially around that yellow card. That was, that was, that was enough for me. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, he's the other guy I was going to mention Darcy Swain played brilliantly for the Brumbies this, this season. Unfortunately he picked up the yellow cards in this game, but you know, for a team that used to have both Arnold brothers, he's done a pretty good job of filling in those shoes. So I want to give the guy credit where it's due. And I thought he's, I think he's been really good this season. Just really unfortunate. He picked up the, uh,
00:23:46
Speaker
That, that color carded there. Um, I picked the wrong set of the week last week. I think ALB. Hey, I was, I picked Houston and we didn't talk about him. Um, he did. He did pretty well too. Yeah. He did. Okay. He was reasonable or much better than, but ALB. Yeah. Just well.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yep, he's an all black again. OK, that's the I'll be we would know missing right there agreed. I haven't seen him. I haven't seen him take over a game like that in a long, long time for the Chiefs. So.
00:24:22
Speaker
Not that he hasn't been good, but that was just him saying, fuck you, I'm going to do stuff. Absolutely. And then, of course, he's got Mankerville with him, or DMACC. So it's just not fair. That's overwhelming. And not getting two yellows for red is also pleasing. Yeah. Well, and he performed pretty well on top of that as well. So helps when you stay on the field, man. Right. When you're not a knucklehead, look what you can do.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, it helps when you stay on the field. And Liam fucking mess him. Yeah. Old man still got it. Go get him. You show him.
00:25:01
Speaker
old man still got, um, there's two guys on the subs on the substitute side for Brumby's. I do want to talk about Isaac fines and cleansal stuff. That's a tough situation to step into when you get taught like that. And like some, some players don't take advantage of the opportunity. They just kind of go through the motions and they took it by the scruff of the neck. They decide, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna play and see if I can get myself a shirt next week.
00:25:25
Speaker
So finds has been so good every time he's played. I don't understand. I get Lonergan's not half bad himself, but finds is the way he's I don't know how you take how you keep him off the field. Yeah, the team goes better when he when when he's on the field, certainly over long. And I understand it quite being the being the guy there right now. But yeah, he definitely needs to get a little bit more playing time. And Kuntil is a guy that I was like,
00:25:52
Speaker
You know, past Attila kind of passed him. And I think he's taken offense to it. And now he's like, nope, I'm getting, I'm getting this backup shirt back. Cause the Alessio's the guy. Let's just be real about that. Sure. But Kunzel needs, you know, he, he got the shirt last year and this year it wasn't handed to the, to him. And I'm not sure he reacted the way he wished he had, but now he's, he's kind of stepping up a little bit better for it. The chiefs really beat the shit out of the Alessio though.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, he was getting his ass kicked all over the field. I remember how we were talking about him a few years ago being slight and how that was going to hurt him at the, you know, potentially getting to the international level. I think this is the match where you see, and he's even, he's bulked up a little bit too, but
00:26:37
Speaker
Damn. I mean, he, he took some fucking shots. Yes, he did. And then you look at the other on the cross from him. So it's not like you have to be large. Look at Damien McKenzie, you know, five foot four or so. You just have to understand how to protect yourself and protect yourself. Yeah. Yep. You really do. So he'll learn. He's going to pay for it. I tell you that much. Right. That's, that's welcome to the big leagues. I mean, again, we've seen how there's just a step up between.
00:27:05
Speaker
Australia and New Zealand that we can't be doubted at this point. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but it's true. So this is Lola Sia, welcome to the big time. This is what happens when you play with large gentlemen who are angry and smart. Generally, yeah. And the battle of champions goes to the Crusaders in a big way. Richie Molonga, fucking hell.
00:27:34
Speaker
That guy, best tan in the world right now, really. I don't know how you say it. Easily, easily. I don't know how you say otherwise. Shit. There's no, there's no question about that, especially after a match like this. Um, where he, he just ran it all around him.
00:27:54
Speaker
in an unfair manner. But really, yeah, I do want to credit the Reds. I'm having a lot of sympathy for the losing sides this week. But more that they earned it, and in the Reds case, they were getting tonked early.
00:28:13
Speaker
And the Crusaders were just cruel about it. It was very professional and cold-hearted. They were just like, we're going to play rugby. And if you can't keep up with us, that was the mindset that Crusaders brought to this game. And the Reds were stunned. They were looking for a title fight. And the Crusaders were just like, no, we're just going to run. We don't need to feel you out. We're just going to run and see if you can keep up with us.
00:28:40
Speaker
And the Reds, to their credit, turned it on. They said, OK, we'll give it a shot. I mean, you let in nine tries. There's only so much you can do, but scoring for your own in response, especially, you know, after you're already getting your ass kicked. Well done to them. Yeah. And the guy I mentioned last week that has performed so well since he's come onto the scene, Harry Wilson, again, just
00:29:04
Speaker
turning in another shift for those guys. And yeah, there's not many weeks where Harry Wilson is not somebody that's turning in a shift. So loads of credit to him and some of the other boys from the Reds, but just, yeah, not good enough unless that's how she goes sometimes.
Local Matches and Team Travels
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah, it is tough, tough, tough being on that side of it. But I would take positives away from it if I'm the Reds anyway, because again, with that whole keeping their heads up and and fight and actually punching back and saying, no, we can run with you just
00:29:32
Speaker
Let us know that's what we're doing. Yeah, no kidding. Let's go over to Twickenham. We'll start with Friday night. Lester and Montpellier for the Challenge Cup title. And it's going to be an old French sweep here.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately, I have friends on both sides of this, so I tried to remain as neutral as possible, even though I have
00:30:11
Speaker
You know, obviously I have preferences, no bias. So yeah, I was, I was kind of hoping at the end, especially that maybe Lester could pull it out just cause you'd like to see a comeback. It would have been a better story. Um, cause comebacks are always better stories, but, um, good for Montpellier and fuck. Yeah. How do you, you bring on Pollard and Reinach? Just yeah. All right. Go get them. Hell of a hell of a doing to close it out.
00:30:42
Speaker
Right. Um, and close it out. They did. So yeah, no kidding. That was, yeah. I even Pollard coming on for that fucking 55 meter kick. Yeah. Um, muscle just didn't quite get, get into the, yeah, into the sticks just to set that marker to be like, okay, you want to take a, you want to, you want to think about taking a penalty, um, outside of our 10 meter line, go for it. See what happens.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead and commit another penalty. See what the result is here. Right. Especially that late in the match, Dan. The Rates try. Pure effort on Vincent Rates' part. And he was like climbing and I'm like, bullshit, he didn't get that down. Yeah, I know. Same.
00:31:29
Speaker
No, no, no, I got my arm right in there. God damn, I know it. I was like, okay. Wow. He did it. It was interesting to me that they, I mean, I was in a meeting. Sorry. I was in a meeting while it was happening. So I had it on the screen.
00:31:48
Speaker
but muted and whatnot, because I was actually being attentive in the meeting, just kind of looking over every so often. And so I did see them going back on the replay, like, you know, looking at the TMO. So I was like, that's no way that's a try. And then I see on the scoreboard, no, it is. So I had to wait till halftime to see the replays again and be like, oh, shit, no, that's a try. Yeah. OK. All right. Hey, they got on the board. Yeah. Interesting that.
00:32:15
Speaker
Montpellier, Phillips-Santandre and company went with laws and not Pollard to start this game. I'm sure South Africa has been on the phone with them and be like, please don't break our guy. We need our 10.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, especially, yeah, especially they know who's playing against Jasper and they know he's playing against, you know, a couple of of Safa's that big, big, heavy. This was a Safa-filled match on both sides. It was. It was. And the Safa scored the big one. Houston, the other one. The other who's.
00:32:47
Speaker
The other one, it was, and that was a fantastic try as well. Like don't, yeah, go back and watch that one. That was worth the replay. No doubt. So the Montpellier are able to make it an all French European title this year. Yep. Pretty wild. Yeah. And, you know, not to take any credit away from the guys that scored on, on Lester, but really in a lot of ways, Montpellier just wrestled this away from them. Pretty ridiculously at that.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah. And, and of course we give all credit to TT Lamos Atelier. Um, even, you know, we, we, we didn't talk, talk about him. He wasn't the one who was making the plays so much, but he was there, but he was there. Yeah. Love it. Yep. Love you, TT. Yeah. Okay. Good to see an American grabbing some hardware. Hell yeah. Always. Always, always, always.
00:33:38
Speaker
A couple of those a couple of those guys on the on the other side, the losers metal side, they were not thrilled to go grab those things. They were just like, fuck, never are. Never. Fuck them all. Don't want that metal. No, that's what I'm supposed to win the draw for sure. Right. You don't you never want a medal from a game you lost. That's that's. It hurts. Yeah, it hurts. Right. Yeah. No doubt. Oh, man. Yeah, that's that's a painful one right there.
00:34:07
Speaker
over to Saturday, in, you know, definitely a battle of styles. You know, La Rochelle wanted to be the bullies and Toulouse wanted to be free, as it were. And this is, it was entertaining, to say the least. And La Rochelle won that, to be fair, till till later. But even with the red card,
00:34:33
Speaker
It's that they they really hung tight. So really, again, as I was saying, credit, giving credit to the losers, all the credit to LaRochelle, they played a champ. They had a championship effort without a red card. I think they win that match because, you know, even then they kept it close. What was it?
00:34:54
Speaker
It was 12, 12, nine and half, right? So yeah, we're, we're tied. Right. So fuck even, you know, 20 minutes on a red card and they were still the whole, they were still holding the lead. Um, that that's as good as you can play it. Really? You can't do anything more than that. And then yeah, you kind of, it kind of fell apart on you, but then you still had the shot at the end. So, you know, it was, there was still some squeaky bum time ish this after that, uh, you know, after the curve Arlo try. So.
00:35:24
Speaker
Yes. That was super squeaky button time. Um, yeah, it was just a, it's entertaining as hell mesh. So all the credit to love Rochelle for doing it with, with four with 14 on the field. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:35
Speaker
I mean, Portia was sitting on the sideline with that one and I was like, I think he knows he's in trouble. Like besides the fact that he got already got a yellow, I think he knew he was in deep shit. Yeah, that was not good. I was like, Oh, yeah, not great at all. No, it was, it was kind of cool to see Victor Vito and Jerome Cano both walk off the field at the same time. Cano is,
00:35:57
Speaker
What hasn't Jerome Kano won at this point? He's got at least one, if not two, French league titles. He's got two World Cups to his name, and now he's got a Champions Cup winners medal. I don't know what the hell the guy hasn't won at this point, honestly. I'd say that the only thing he hasn't won would be our hearts, but that's not true.
00:36:18
Speaker
I love that guy. I thought I thought the dude is absolutely. Yeah, no, he's just a warrior thing. Give all the things to, you know, yeah, do the warrior. Love him. Another another American picks up a winner's medal for Champions Cup. David, a new.
00:36:33
Speaker
Hell yeah. Take that. I loved show to Corey at the end carrying around the corner flag. Like it was like a, like it was, uh, it was sort of something. I was like, yeah, that a boy. And as a big boy to be carrying, he's like, yeah, this is not, that is basically like what his flag would probably look like. He's so fucking
00:36:56
Speaker
big, big dude, big motherfucker. I love it. Yep. So to lose at a best star for star.
00:37:05
Speaker
to their name and it's well deserved. Roman Intimac wins the same competition his dad did. Did you see the picture? Did you see all the flashback stuff? There was the one with Roman on his father's shoulders holding the cup. That's cool.
00:37:28
Speaker
He put his father on his shoulders with the cup and they recreated it. Oh, that's great. After that match. I didn't see that. Oh, damn it. I got to go find that. Got to go find that. That was nice. That's cool. I like that one. A lot of good shit. A lot of yeah. A lot of onions being chopped up. Absolutely. And then I mean, if there's any doubt who the best player in the world is this year, I it's done. It's the arguments over it's Antoine DuPont. It's without a doubt Antoine DuPont like.
00:37:57
Speaker
Yeah, you can argue him and Richie right now, but that's it. I don't know who else you can, I don't know what else you're going to do. No, there's, there's nowhere else to go. Nope. Head and shoulders above everyone else. Yeah. A hundred percent. So congratulations to the Toulouseans. Um, I did hear a report that anybody and either team makes that makes the top 14 final, like their players are not going to travel to Australia. Okay.
00:38:20
Speaker
Uh, I mean, this is the summer to just throw some guys in there and this is the time to do it. So, um, yeah. So I, I suspect we'll see a lot of Louis Carbonell, um, Bessie, you know, guys like that, that will, that will probably see for, uh, Australia and France coming up this summer. Right.
00:38:44
Speaker
OK. Well, if you didn't know, Ben and I were golfing, so we didn't actually get to watch the freejacks match. And there's no replay available. Fucking NBC Sports or CBS Sports. Excuse me. I got to see the only thing that mattered. So the that fucking rolling mall. Oh, yeah. The gigantic rolling mall that they put over. That was the try of the week.
00:39:10
Speaker
So the funny thing is I always, and I, cause I was nervous about it at first cause I was like, wait, how far? Cause I saw the malls from like at midfield and I had just talked to like, to, to some of my forwards and I'm like, nobody malls at 40 meters anymore. Um, but that was, that was such a fuck up. Like that was, that was not anything that, that, um, I mean, there was a genius little role. There was just a one move and then there was nobody like the defense just opened up for him. Yeah. Once you're on there, man, you gotta, you gotta engage.
00:39:40
Speaker
Right.
00:39:40
Speaker
And, uh, and, and then, um, shit, who was it? The eight just peeled and just ran. He got into the team of the week. Right. Uh, now it was a hell of a run. Like it was good decision to, to roll in space. And then as soon as you, they met resistance, he just sped off of it and there was nobody there. So, um, yeah, that's right. We'll do, we'll do this again in, in less than a month and, or, or at about a month, lower than a month, actually. And we'll see what the result is then. How's that? And we get to go see it with the full crowd this weekend.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah. Looking forward to that. Other other action. NOLA 29, Utah 24. Fucking somebody beat NOLA, please. Please. God, they annoy me. That field is fucking gross. Yeah. Fucking hell. Sort yourselves out. Put your finger out of your ass. Please. DCB Houston 2113. I don't think Houston's that good. They started well and now they've just gone back to poop.
00:40:33
Speaker
Atlanta tonked Seattle 25 seconds. Seattle is back down like Seattle had a kind of pop their head up a little bit like, hey, we might still be champions. Nope. Squashed right back down. Think again. And that's at home that got beat like that too. Atlanta going from that's the longest
00:40:54
Speaker
road trip you'll have in mlr probably likely so uh maybe maybe san diego to toronto when we're allowed back in canada right but that's it so that was one of the longer trips and lmao it count so good for them yeah good for them they're there's quality this is this they're the league you know outside of lia which is l.a those dicks um other than them like it's it's pretty uh it's pretty open like i feel like anybody can beat anybody so right um
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah, good shit. Yeah. And as Ben said, we will be there this weekend at Union Point to watch the free Jack's take on the arrows. If you're out there in podcast land and you have not said, Hey to us, we're in one or two.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah, come say hi. Come say hi. We'll be there. We're apparently very easy to pick out according to some of our club mates. Yeah, they would be like, oh, there's Ben and Dougie. There's those two fucking idiots. Oh, well, that's all right. I'm all right with being identifiable. We spotted, yeah, identifiable through masks. We're pretty good. Yeah, that's pretty significant at that point, I suppose. I need my sunglasses on and I would have been completely incognito, I guess, but nope, not that day.
00:42:05
Speaker
All right. We have that starts with the thing that we like to do. Oh, that's right. We do. Yeah. Thank you. Force games. You got that? That's me. I got that. Anyway. Yeah. Hurricanes versus the force.
00:42:22
Speaker
without the lineups out i'm kind of surprised i thought we've had them by now i would thought we would have had that one at least yeah um the front row for the canes should be extremely good to go in this match the force or leaky um curie fee also and then just the entire back line uh we talked about um el cunyado um
00:42:42
Speaker
not getting the ball much, he still scored like nine points. For like, for not touching the ball, he'll still get you a couple of points here and there. Especially I think he came on and kicked. He kicked to one of the last ones because Jordy got all of the out. Yeah. For the force, Cabeli, hey, with a try this past week, he's been showing a lot more comfort with this team. Miyadi, if he's playing, yes, he's been excellent when he gets the chance. Although a fella, because he might just have a crack,
00:43:11
Speaker
Yeah. And then same thing with Tim Ansteady and Kane Koteca. You kind of throw them out there and pray. They could throw up, you know, they're still going to score like five to six points because they're decent enough, but they could go off for like 20. Yeah, you're hoping for that. Right. Hope for that if you if you want.
00:43:28
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, toss crusaders. This is pretty much David versus Koliath, but of course David did slay Goliath. So we'll see if that whole, that tail holds true here, but let's find some options for the war for this week. Anyway, um, toss front roses has been viable the last few weeks. I think, um, they could be still this week.
00:43:46
Speaker
it's still your super rubby semi-final. So maybe keep that just if you're, if you're desperate. Okay. Um, well, if you've got, if you've made it this far with them as your front row, you probably might be okay. Yeah. You got some other good shit going on. I think it's true. That's true. Um, Jack Maddox, absolutely the only back I trust this week besides Jake Gordon evening and evening against the crusaders. That's that's gotta, it's gotta be him. Um,
00:44:10
Speaker
Ben Donaldson, look, look out here. Crusader just shut down James O'Connor. I mean, 10 points isn't shut down, but man, for O'Connor, that's really pedestrian. So heads up if you're a Ben Donaldson owner, and he's playing this week, just kind of look out there. On the other side of the field, Ethan Blacketer, he's
00:44:29
Speaker
Yeah, he set me right. He's just shut me right the hell up. I poo pooed on him earlier this season. And now he's totally a thumbs up. The dude's playing. I have a skin. So give him a shot. Name. I want you guys to keep in mind, Fergus Burke. We might see Richie get a rotation here. Hasn't had too many off weeks since the last by a week. So he might be a little beat up. Who knows? Maybe he's just feeling really good. I don't know. Anyway, that would probably be the next guy up. He's probably an okay start if you need a like for like replacement, but just be cautious.
00:44:58
Speaker
Um, Braden Inor, he's, is he still working himself back to full fitness from this knee? He's not scored well since he's come back. So just like nine ish points in your midfield could be worse, but it's Braden in our, you're kind of hoping for more. You are. But at this point, you know, if you're, if you can get a solid nine to 10 points from your midfielder, you're giddy up. I'll take it. Yeah, I suppose so. So, um, over, okay. Off to the blues versus Brumbies. Oh,
00:45:28
Speaker
OK, Tom Robinson and Huskins to have just been lighting it up. So they expect that to continue. Oh, Terry Black and the rest of that back line on the Blues. Yes, just go. Yeah, they're they're going to want to continue their their scoring march and the Brumby's could be so a pretty good opponent to be doing that against, as we've seen.
00:45:54
Speaker
So on the other side, uh, Valentini is again with the lid. Excellent to have on your fantasy team. Love that. Linus, uh, Lola CEO, if he's healthy, um, so could score, but he could also get the shit kicked out of him again. Yeah. Um, so Monakata and then the Tom's writing banks. Uh, these are guys you're going to want to have in your lineup. If you have the option and.
00:46:15
Speaker
and hope they can pull something out as they can. The same thing. They could get you five, but they could also just go off. Yeah. Yeah. I like icky town too. He's not bad. He's done pretty well. Yeah. But the loser really good against centers. Oh, that's not mistaken. That's too bad. Well, nevermind. Then forget the frigging words I just said. That's that's I remember seeing that and thinking that I didn't write it down. So I can't confirm it. But that's all right. I'm pretty sure that's the case.
00:46:41
Speaker
Reds versus Chiefs should make for an entertaining one. Just the same Reds defense was pretty good until it got torched by the Crusaders. We'll see if it writes the ship here, who knows. For the Reds though, Liam Wright, Reds captain has been in good form since he came back and got a couple of starts in a row.
00:47:01
Speaker
So he's a go. Sir Uru, another loose forward that when he gets heavy mints, he actually scores really well. So he's a go. On the other side of the coin, Bryce Hagerty, love the player, not loving the production right now. Just not there for him and certainly not consistently.
00:47:16
Speaker
unfortunate for the chefs or the chiefs, whichever one you want to call it. Um, Alex, thank you. Well, I've talked him up so much and he's performing. He's, he's doing me justice. Thank God. Um, consistent minutes and a lot of guys eyes are going towards ALB. So he's picking up the slack when that happens. So good for him. Uh, Luke Jacobson. Okay.
00:47:35
Speaker
He's back. He's not a knucklehead anymore. Wouldn't be shy about sticking him into, you know, have a, for the semi-finals as a loose forward. Journal low on the other side, looking a little, well, less than great. I don't know if this is going to be the week. Right. Right. And the six stations as well. Exactly. I was like, Ooh, is this his brother? Like Robert Knopf on him? What the fuck? Right.
00:47:57
Speaker
Um, uh, so anyway, not, I'm not sure this is the week you want to be getting cute with him. So I would, uh, just fucking tonk them. So you never know. I know. I do like the reds defense. Usually not last week was standing, but you know, but I haven't said I have a renewed, well, we'll talk about it later. Um, highlanders rebels, uh,
00:48:24
Speaker
For the highlanders, I have Frizzell, Mitch Hunt, and the guy we talked about before, Norecki. The Norecki dude. If you haven't heard of him. But that's really about it. I don't know how much I would trust the highlanders at the other positions. They're scoring well, but they're not scoring well fantasy-wise. It's really been...
00:48:44
Speaker
And I'm not going to fucking tell you to pick up Scott Gregory. You can never hear that come out of me anymore. I actually liked him better at wing than at 12. So I'm still confused by all this. Same. Someone can help me sort that out. I'd appreciate it. On the other side, though, Michael Wells. Yes, please. And same with Timu and Corvetti. Those guys should light you up. But this is a match that I...
00:49:14
Speaker
wouldn't lean on heavily if I want to win my semifinal matchup this weekend. Right. Yeah. You're looking at, you want to get off to a good start with that week one semifinal here. Don't want to do that of the weeks. Um,
00:49:28
Speaker
For start of the week for me, guys absolutely been cruising in his current form. He had a dip in the middle of the season, which I think also coincided with an injury. Now he's back, seems fully fit, ready to fire and chase a place in the summer's all black squad potentially. So my start of the week for around 15 at Super Rugby FRD is Highlanders High Flyer, Jonah Nurecki. There you go. You mentioned him once or twice recently. Yeah. I'm glad I said to start him then.
00:49:58
Speaker
For my start of the week, at my set of the week, they're coming from the same match. This guy, he might be leaving the area, but he's certainly not, he's leaving it all in the field too. And he's playing a team that's really shitty against his position. So that's none a la mape. The fours are terrible versus a midfielder. So he has something to say about that. Yes, he will. I would imagine this as much.
00:50:26
Speaker
Um, so the week I mentioned this guy earlier, he hasn't played too poorly, even in some talking for us to, you know, late, but his opposition this week really makes me nervous for those leaning on in their finals this week. So my civil week for around 15th, super early FRD is war toss. Young number 10, Ben Donaldson. Ouch. Harsh. I'm not disagreeing. It's just.
00:50:48
Speaker
Damn. It's, it's tough opposition really is what I can sound to. Um, I can't, yeah, no, no question. Um, my set of the week, this guy was really excited about coming into the season, like super excited about him. Like I think drafted him way too high, excited about him. Um, and, and he has been poop. Um, and it's just not going to work out, uh, this week again. Um, and I, I just.
00:51:16
Speaker
I'm puzzled at Rob Carney. So for now, I've said him. You already have if you own him. I know firsthand if you haven't even cut him, but he's yeah, no, just leave him alone. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah, not wrong. He's she's just kind of not been the same guy. Just getting his bearings. I guess I don't know what to tell you.
00:51:37
Speaker
All right. If you have to rely on Rob Carney, I think this probably is your last round. Yeah, maybe. That's probably true. Up to the rim. Sail Bristol Friday night. We got two Friday night matches this week. Yay. Nice. Sail versus Bristol. Bristol are number one in points against in both formats. What can we possibly dig up for sale?
00:51:56
Speaker
Uh, well, you're in semi-finals now, so we're going to start talking some real things here. AJ, our man. Yep. He's a go. Despite that, the numbers against him, he scored well last time against Bristol. So he'll get his kicks and he'll get it. He'll get his, go ahead. Um, JLDP, um, especially if he's in the back row as a lock and FRD, he's a full send. Absolutely go for it. And then I said, I said it before, I said it a million times.
00:52:21
Speaker
the wrong half back to trust with your semi-final final hopes is factor clerk. Like don't bloody fucking play them. Okay. Just don't, it's a shiny object. That's not going to pay off for shit. Don't do it. Okay. Telling you. All right. On the other side, sale are top two and three in each. Um, but this is Bristol who usually score well, including the last match at Ashton gate. They get sale. Um, they did have some guys that scored well, some not so much, but
00:52:48
Speaker
It is sale, um, when a few Bristol players still soaking good, like I said, um, bubbles, Brian Byrne, I'm assuming that they aren't going to use Jake Kerr in this match. So I'd start him. Um, unless they have to, but yeah, I'd play him. I'm wondering, I'm wondering, cause the last time the, the, um, cause the, the Bristol Bristol went with a very light lineup when they went against, uh, Exeter. So I will, and because they're obviously a, uh, a rival in the top four. Mm-hmm.
00:53:16
Speaker
I wonder if they do the same with sale. We'll see. Just to see what they got as that, you know, the decoy. Anyway, sorry. I wonder if they want, I also wonder if they want to lock down top four or top spot right now either. True. So that would be my next thought. Piers McConner, he had some time off after being their workers for most of the season. I'd expect to see him and you're going to play him.
00:53:36
Speaker
I hope so. Yep. Yeah. And no prop name that's not named Kyle's English should be in your TRM lineup for Bristol. Stay the fuck away. I'm pretty sure if I was hurt. So he even he's out the window right now. So nope.
00:53:50
Speaker
Onto Gloucester versus the London Irish exiles. For Gloucester, there's a lot of options here, just because of the matchup is kind of tasty for some of their players. It's like Singleton and Rapavaruskin, obviously the front row Irish are not strong against the front row. Ed Slater, I'm pulling for Ben Morgan, so I'm naming him now. Either Barton or Evans, whoever's a 10, should do well.
00:54:21
Speaker
Maybe LRZ and, but definitely Carreras if he's playing, it's, it's LRC if he's playing. Yeah, that way. But, so that's just a question mark to me if you will. Carreras definitely if he's playing on the other side for the Irish, the front row, Gloucester themselves are not also not great against front rows.
00:54:43
Speaker
Cowan, Tui Tui, Ollie hustle columns, Rona, Loader, Parton. Parton has a fullback. He should do well as four fullbacks, but again, they're kind of lighter. So if you have a wing that's fullback eligible, go over Parton. Yeah, but if you don't have any other option, Parton shouldn't be too bad. No, won't kill you weak at least. Yeah. Love Ben Loader the way he's been playing too. Me too. Quins versus Bath.
00:55:12
Speaker
Bath the third from bottom and dead last and points against for each format. So hang on to your hats, kids. This is gonna be fun for the Quinn's. Tyrone Green seems to have earned a shirt every weekend lately, so I'd start him in both definitely. Nathan Earl, if he's healthy, another solid Quinn's outside back to chuck into your lineup, I'd absolutely play him.
00:55:32
Speaker
He seems to score every time he's in there. On the other side of the coin, Tom Laude might be tempting to play in FRD. Not that consistent, and Bath aren't that terrible against Loops Forward, so that's probably a cutesy option that you want to avoid. Alright, 4 on the other side of the coin. Quinn's are middle of the pack in both. So should be some spots to find on the other side here.
00:55:57
Speaker
Why did I say luster? I don't know why I wrote luster. Wow. I was definitely missing a few, few brain cells that day. Um, the priest, you've likely leaned on him all year. Don't stop now. No, don't.
00:56:11
Speaker
talented landfill. If he's in, he's performed well, about 90% of the time. So he'll make it worth a go for you. Bath front row. I don't know if this is the front row you want to start your start in your semi file, considering they're pretty checkered performances in the past. And yeah, and they don't have their guys anymore. So like those guys that got it done for them aren't there suspended. Yeah.
00:56:33
Speaker
like Obana, like Stewart's the only one left. Yeah. And they're, they're, they're really, I saw, um, they're really banking on, um, the new guy due to all getting healthy because he came off that last match. Yeah. Not great. Not good at all. So I would go ahead and avoid those guys if you can help it. Now I have the stairs, Worcester versus Lester. Um,
00:57:00
Speaker
Worcester, you're looking there around their lineup and have some guys who can play, but it's like where they get their points. Leicester are incredibly strong. So Leicester are really strong against loose forwards in both formats. So hold off on Lewis, Hill, and Kovacic. I just wouldn't expect much from them. If you have other options, go there.
00:57:17
Speaker
especially because you can find front rows pretty much everywhere. Hougard, if you have to in FRD, but if he's good for maybe your bench in TRM, he won't score nearly as well as he usually does. Searle should score well so that for your FRD team would be an option. Consider Venner and Lawrence, but I think there's better options elsewhere.
00:57:39
Speaker
On the other side, for Lester, they don't score all that well. Or they're inconsistent. There's a lot of guys on there that I just would not trust. But the ones I would at this point, and one of them is going to hurt to say, so I'm going to say it really quick. But Jasper Veese, yes, trust him. George Ford. No, Dolo and Maria Marievallo are just mean out there. So those two guys should, yes, roll them in either format.
00:58:05
Speaker
Yeah, love how you went right past that one. That was good. Northampton and Wasse. Wasse have stiffened up, phrasing. As far as the fantasy defense goes, fourth overall in both formats now. So for the Saints, Sam Matavasi, in case of hooker need, break glass.
00:58:26
Speaker
been their best hooker all year playing, um, Dave ribbons, probably Northampton's top three, if not four player this season. Um, his score usually matches that. So he's a go, um, Matt Proctor. I love him. We talked about Billy already and how he's doing, how well he's doing tearing it up for the canes, but he's just not been great fans this year. So, uh, like I said, I do love him, but nope, that's a, that's a no go for me on that one. I'm their dog. Um, Northampton are fourth from bottom and FRD, but third in TRM. What?
00:58:56
Speaker
What the fuck? I don't understand that one. There's always one weird enigma, and that's it right there. That's it right there. Odago, he's had a couple of stinkers, but a few really good performances. Don't worry about the stinkers, fam. Yeah, yeah, you take them. That happens to every player. Yep. Fakito have been really good since getting partnered up with the guy I just mentioned. He's worth a roll in both formats as well this week. Didn't somebody ask that right before they did it? I can't remember who that was.
00:59:22
Speaker
There's something about that. Anyway, sorry, sorry to interrupt again. Some jackass. And some motherfucker. Dammit, don't make me go into quotes. Washington are very good against front rows in both formats, so just be a little weary.
00:59:45
Speaker
But I think front row, as far as FRD goes, you're probably playing them. But it's just on the other side of the coin for the TRM guys, maybe reconsider. That'd be my advice. Duh. I'm just a humble motherfucker with them. Anyway, over to Muddy Park for Exeter versus Newcastle. Quite.
01:00:07
Speaker
Can you can you hear me hear that the excitement I have for this match. Now it's how fascinating it's going to be. So, exit are probably going to talk them, but it's not going to be terrible I hope it's fun to watch. Let's go that way, but not looking forward to this one.
01:00:24
Speaker
The second rows for Exeter, especially if there's a Skinner out there. Kirsten showed up well actually both are second row showed up really well, but that helped because you know vermulin and yours are just kind of okay, they do what they do.
01:00:39
Speaker
So start the second rows, um, both and the Simmons is obviously they're, they're going to crush it. Um, Sam will probably have another two or three tries cause that's the fuck what he does now. Um, and you can talk about that, that tribe record much. Did we, did we? No, not really. I don't think, I don't think really anybody's made much of a deal of it. No, not at all. Probably in deference to Eddie Jones.
01:01:03
Speaker
And then outside of the Simmonses, Sladey and the back three. I'm not sure who the back three are going to be, but go with them. Newcastle are soft against wingers and fullbacks and the outside backs in FRD. So go for it. On the other side for Newcastle,
01:01:22
Speaker
McWiggin in TRM possibly, because Exeter are actually kind of shitty against front rows, or at least against hookers. So yeah, don't hold off on that. Pre-sharian play, as it were. Yeah. Maybe Rodwon also on the wing. Hold off on Conin, maybe an FRD, if you're really fucked. I might have to play him. Stevenson, although he's at midfield, probably not going to score well. And Penny has just been...
01:01:52
Speaker
Lately and Exeter are not the team. They're not the slump busters. No, no, no way. Some of us are here now. That's a 10 right there, man. That's hard to slump on that. Yeah. All right. Start of the week.
01:02:07
Speaker
This guy's had some big shoes to fill this season, and I believe he has done so very, very admirably. His form for fantasy has certainly been hot as well lately, so pair those things with his opposition, and you'll understand why I'm picking them. My style of the week around 20 of the prem is Quinn's leader and captain, Stefan the Vis. Okay, there you go. Good call. I like it.
01:02:27
Speaker
We were in the same match for our starts of the week. Okay. And I, you didn't, I was listening attentively and I don't think I heard you mentioned his name. So I'm glad that I get to talk about him because he has just been fucking lightning lately.
01:02:45
Speaker
No, either as a center or wing. It doesn't matter where the fuck you put him. He's tearing up defenses and he's going up against Bath and that's always a good matchup. So my start of the week this week is Harlequin's center or wing Joe Marchant. Yeah, I like him. I like it. I like him for sure.
01:03:04
Speaker
Cause I couldn't do, I couldn't do Marcus Smith again. Nope. And I think I've done that a few times. I think Dom Brandt was, uh, was recent too. So I think, I think my chance, my, my haven't done, my, my Quinn's burner that I haven't used in a while. Yeah, it's a good one.
01:03:19
Speaker
Uh, so the week, uh, I mentioned this guy before another player that I really do admire and like, but his form of late has been slipping and it's been noticeable. His club's forum is not doing him any favors at all as well. So, so that little boot in there. So my city of the week for around 20 from is North Hampton's QE midfielder, Matt Proctor.
01:03:39
Speaker
Ouch. Yeah. Yeah. Much along those same lines, I'm going with it's a matchup and a form nightmare. I just said his name recently. I'll say it again, because do not start him, sit him in any format if you're relying on him in a semi. God bless. Hope he squeezes one off because he can. But no, Tom Penny just
01:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, look elsewhere if you can at all, please do at least for the love of me. Yes, yes. All right, pick them no change in the pick them status. I'm still up one. Yeah, so but more matches coming. So here we go. This will be this will be interesting running. Okay, hurricanes force gains. I'm taking the case. Yes, yes. Oh, toss crusaders crusaders.
01:04:38
Speaker
blues, Brumby's blues. Yeah. The blues. They seem to just have found red hot form and they're playing the Brumby. Yeah. And then the Brumby's have been in New Zealand for a little bit here. I'm sure they're fucking true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They'll probably just spend like go home. Let's go home. Yeah. I can't say I blame them. Nope. Reds and chiefs. She's traveling a lot.
01:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, though. Uh, but yeah, no, it's going to be cheese. It's, it's to Brisbane. Thankfully it's not too, too far. Yeah. Um, highlanders and rebels. Gotta be the highlanders. Gotta be, gotta be the highlanders. Okay. Up to the front. This might get more interesting. Um, sale in Bristol. I know it's there away, but I'm still bracket backing the bears. I'm going to back the bears. Back the bears bear back. Um, Gloucester and Irish Gloucester.
01:05:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. At home with the crowds. Oh, that's right. People are going to have fans back now. They're going to be rocking. Yeah, that shed's going to be rocking. Because it's also a match they can win. So the crowd's going to try to push them into it. I agree. I agree.
01:05:49
Speaker
okay uh quins and bath uh uh quins excuse me yeah now you said that you took your you took your hand off the piece i did not uh what's term luster luster luster yeah although there is a little bit of a hangover but it's you're playing
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah, they're playing the perfect team for that in Western, unfortunately.
Rugby Results and Surprises
01:06:11
Speaker
Yeah. That's just how it is. If they're playing anybody else, I might give them the nod, but Ryan. Right. Western just aren't good. Northampton and Was. If not good. I'm going to go with Was. Yeah.
01:06:22
Speaker
Saints have been- It will be fun to watch Franklin's gardens bump again. It will, it will. I think they won't like the result, but it'll be nice to see. Again, everywhere it's going to be, except for this next match. It'll be nice to see fans everywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Exeter, Newcastle. Yeah. Exeter. Exeter. Yeah, no shock there. All right. So we're probably going to stay as- We're staying the same. I don't think we had a
01:06:50
Speaker
Dude, I think we agreed on them all. We'll do a quick champions Yanksly wrap around because we have to talk about our champion of the Champions Cup FRD Duncan. Nice, well done. In an ugly one. 7.1 to minus 18.5.
01:07:08
Speaker
I mean, okay. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I lost the semi-final to George by less than a point. If I'm, if I'm not mistaken. Let me look. So semi-final week two, it was 24.4 and 6.9. You had 24.4. Right. And then I needed like 26 points or something. 28, um, or 20.
01:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, he needed 28.5. Okay, so it was like five points. So you're around five points or so, yeah. Son of a bitch. Didn't lose it by much. Didn't lose it by much. And, yeah, and he gets negative points in the final. God damn it. Yeah. And I had Intimatic and all, like, yeah, I had points.
01:07:55
Speaker
Yeah, you had points ready to roll and they just couldn't put them. At least I mean, but at least I get points for the, for the, uh, for the comp coming in. Yep. Whatever. You're in there. Yeah. So, uh, George had
01:08:09
Speaker
Uh, Bautia, obviously. I mean, that, that should be obvious at this point. Richie Arnold who came off early as
Super Rugby and Premiership Updates
01:08:16
Speaker
well. Um, yeah, played nine minutes had minus one at that point. And then, um, Arthur Rettier, um, who had minus 0.4 when he played, if he on Lieberberg was his only hope and.
01:08:26
Speaker
And, and made our did nothing. That was like a huge disappointment. I was starting to 31 minutes of nothing. So the four seed takes it. Yeah. So I was excited. I looked at myself and like, Oh, I'm the two seed. That's great. That means I'll get third overall and get those points. And then I saw, nope, Anton was one. So yeah, son of a bitch. Yep. Couldn't even, couldn't even deal with that. Yeah. Uh, we have our match-ups for the semi-final for super rugby determined, uh, top end bracket is Justin and Mark.
01:08:56
Speaker
And also George takes on Anton. Sako's obviously going to be the other guys. Karak and I will go at it and Duncan and Ben will go at it. Coming for you, Tiger boy. So there should be points on the table for that one. So that's the good news. Yeah. In the prem,
01:09:17
Speaker
Another long, long season one for here. Again, Mark marks in this one. I've got I've drawn him Anton again is in this one. He's got Carrick, George and Duncan. Hey, George Duncan going out again. Here we go. In the in the Sacco and you've got yourself hands full of Justin. So son of a bitch.
01:09:38
Speaker
Not a good place. Although not bad. We're not we you know, our separation wasn't that much. No, it'll be interesting. And then of course, as if anybody else needs a reminder, Ben's claiming currently sit on top of the Prem TRM. Very happy. Anton Duncan, myself, George, Mark, Justin, Carrick holding up the bottom.
01:09:59
Speaker
I'd like to thank Anton personally for counting Jasper Vis and his five points. Not as best. Yeah, I can't remember if we had talked about that last week, so I wanted to make sure. I think we made that pretty clear. Oh, okay. Sorry. I was pretty drunk last week.
Fantasy Leagues and Participation
01:10:20
Speaker
That's true. That is true. You're a little sloppy. You was a little sloppy.
01:10:25
Speaker
Ah, OK. So fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com. We still need two more people for D2 of Champions League. So if you're interested or you know somebody that's interested, hit us up. Got to reach out to my boy Malcolm. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's not the one. Malcolm, get your butt in here now. Yeah. Yeah. Tweet at Ben or I. We will we'll do start sit on Friday so we can do that thing.
01:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. Good luck to everybody in their semi-finals this week for both leagues. Much luck. Yeah. May your waiver wires go well. Yeah. And other than that, we will catch you guys next week. Thanks a lot for hanging out with us for this and all year as usual. We'll catch you guys then. Have a good one. Later.