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Season 6- Episode 11- Out of the Hole! (Premiership Round 8)
62 Plays1 year ago
We are back and out of our hole! OK, one of us is out their hole, the other is just back. On this episode of TFRY we are talking about the opening weekend of Champion Cup, who comes out of each pools and how it's anyone's game (mostly) this year. Then we have a jaunt around the Prem with some very lopsided results and a super impressive defense on display at the StoneX, but not the one you think. All this, a bit of bashing on the media and much more, come on in join us, won't you?
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
Send us your thoughts for the show and questions for upcoming shows via e-mail fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com. Of course, we welcome feedback via e-mail, twitter or by rating/reviewing the pod on Apple Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction to Fantasy Rugby Yanks
00:00:05
Speaker
It is. The Fantasy Robey Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I wanted to say it's stupid and let's move on, but then you kept going. I'm Ben Glauser. I don't like any way anybody gambled that. Collusion. Hey, everybody. How's it going? It is the Fantasy Robey Yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser.
00:00:34
Speaker
We're back. Um, came out of my hole. Well, it was a nice place to be. It's weird when you do it differently. Your problem. Your problem. Uh, shit. I got enough. The fun, the fun part about being away is we got lots of shit to talk about. So let's crack them. Enough. Oh yeah. Smoke them if you got them. That too.
00:01:03
Speaker
this on your favorite podcast app, share, download, review.
Support for Fantasy Rugby Geek
00:01:08
Speaker
All that good stuff. We. By our good friend, the fantasy rugby geek, a coffee dude is busy. We know we've just kind of started our work just this well, I did anyway, just this week, starting to dive into Champions Cup. But he works a lot harder at this than
00:01:32
Speaker
Certainly than I do, I think. So yeah, buy him a coffee. He's doing, he's doing work for this and he'll give you very, very good advice because of it. Yes, you will. Yeah. And especially when we'll talk about, we'll talk about the game itself in the fantasy corner, but yeah, with just so many selections and you know, they, I will say they, they did a good job of pricing players. So you really had to think, I will say that it's not easy.
00:02:01
Speaker
So yeah, I do a job with that. There's no discrimination here on this podcast. There should be sports or in life.
Ben's View on Anti-Zionism Resolution
00:02:13
Speaker
Where are we going here today, Ben? I mean, all over the place, all over the place. I just I don't I want to just touch briefly on it. We can move on. But there was a bill voted on today or like a resolution in the house that
00:02:29
Speaker
equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. And as a Jewish person, I find that pretty offensive because I've been more vocal about it if you follow me on the social media. So I apologize if that's not the stuff you want to see on there. But I'm just out of the
00:02:50
Speaker
not pro-Israel on this. And I gave my reasons earlier. So right. And mostly because I've seen it firsthand. So and so I don't like it. And. Yeah, it kind of offends me that that that our our nation's legislative body considers me an anti-Semite and anti-Jew, because I don't like Israel. That's kind of bullshit. Yeah, I think it should be pretty easy to declare that you're
00:03:21
Speaker
pro-Jew, but anti-Israel, and that's not our concept to get around. Judaism is great. It's awesome. Yeah, there's drawbacks to it. There's weirdness, whatever. That's life. That's religion. Right. Yeah, exactly. That's the problem. That's where it all fits in when it becomes an organized religion, and that's where the problem lies. But the state of Israel, to me, has nothing to do with Judaism whatsoever.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. I don't think you're the only person that thinks that either. So quite all right.
Patreon and Champions Cup Overview
00:03:59
Speaker
Uh, make sure that you grab our Patreon. I will get start the boom, bust up, not start to boom, bust up this week. Um, yeah, I mean, as I was just talking with Ben beforehand, I got a lot of stuff. I'm going to sit down and just bang out while, um, hanging out tomorrow waiting for the electricians to come screw our place up. So we'll, uh, I'll get it. I'll get that up tomorrow.
00:04:23
Speaker
Okay. Big week this week for us. I was looking at the calendar when I went on break, when I was going on my plan to the little vacation there and I was like, oh, we're going to be talking champions. We get back. So hang on to your seats. It snuck up on me, to be honest. You and everybody else, I think a little bit. Yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
Um, I was just settled finally settling into premises and then it's like, Oh yeah, there's this, holy shit. It's just, especially cause after the world cup, you kind of just want some normalcy for a bit and it's like, okay, let's just watch some good clean cup club rugby. And it's like, Oh yeah. Another treat this year. Yeah. And obviously it's been a reject format with four pools. Um, still only four pool games, but they're, they've at least added a little variety is the spice of life. Um, a little variety into it.
00:05:14
Speaker
Everybody plays four, four games. Excuse me, four games and 14 to four different teams as well. So right. Should bring some interesting things. Yeah, that the. They're just playing two teams in four games. I wasn't a fan of that by any means. However, that's not a mystery either. Right. I want to see that each of these teams play. It does kind of. So I will say
00:05:42
Speaker
Saracens kind of have a like and good I don't I'm not it's not a complex not what it is what it is The the challenge they're one of the few teams that actually have to travel to South Africa Mm-hmm, but I also say that they handled it. Well, they're already there. They've been there for like 24 hours like they're yeah, they've been there for a bit and they will see they sent We'll talk about the team this past weekend, but they sent part of the team there already. Oh Wow so like
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, there's preparations that need to be made for stuff like that. That make it a little bit more difficult. But I like kind of like that now, like that, that adds to the challenge. It's like a degree of difficulty, you know, you can't just, you know, is that any more difficult than some of these other matches that we're going to see, we're only going to see them once. You know, just shoot, let's do this, Todd. I love our show. Like, I mean, I, I
00:06:37
Speaker
I mean, even Sharks, Stade Francais will be, that'll be an interesting match only because they'll be similar. And then Rossing, Quinn's, love it. But you know, Quinn's have to go on the road. They have to play at Rossing. I don't think that's any more of a challenge than Saracen's face this week down in South Africa. So really this, yes, they're moving in the right direction is where I'm going with it.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yep. So while there are only four pool games, you do have six teams in your pool. So you may end up losing out to a team that you didn't even play. Right. But I mean, to be fair, to be fair, there are usually at least two from each country. Yeah. Or there are two teams from the same country, at least, at least if not
00:07:26
Speaker
repeated twice. So like in our pool, we have Bristol and we shouldn't be playing Bristol. And then France have both Lyon and Bordeaux in there. So on and so forth. So yeah, they won't play each other. We won't play Bristol, but there'll be a lot of common opponents just the same. Exactly. Yeah, you're right. What's the easiest way to avoid having that or being in that situation?
00:07:54
Speaker
You just win your games. Yep.
00:07:57
Speaker
Absolutely. Oh, yeah. There's no there's no crying. I mean, watch me in whatever couple of months be crying when Saracen's miss out. Well, they had to go to South Africa. No, no, I won't. This would be I like I like the way it's cold hearted. I kind of like that. There might be competition when you're when you're this is and it's Champions Cup. Yeah. Win your games or shut the fuck up. Right. It's not. I mean, it's pretty much straightforward in terms of that. So we'll have we will have 16.
00:08:26
Speaker
qualifying, so I think it's top four per pool. Oh, that's still, yeah, then that's true. If we're talking about the first... Yeah, so my math's good there. I'm trying to think. That seems right. There's four pools by four.
Champions Cup Pool Analysis
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah, and they even have the lines on the... Yep, that's it. Top four. Perfect. Thank you. Okay, fine. Then yeah, you should... Give me a break. Yeah.
00:08:55
Speaker
Like if, if like, yeah, like Bristol finish above Saracens, then yeah, good for them. We should go home. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Plain and simple. Um, so pool, pool one, is it a race between like Bristol conduct and Leon, or are we talking about somebody else here?
00:09:17
Speaker
Haven't the Bulls been struggling a bit, or am I thinking of the Stormers? No, they're gonna... This is not gonna be fun. They're gonna be... So here's the thing, and our boy Cobus was alluding to it earlier. Jake White didn't name a lot of strong teams last year in this competition. Okay. So yeah, kind of sent some of the sheep to die and get slaughtered.
00:09:40
Speaker
But you learn. I don't know if he'll do it again this year, because if he does, then that's really too bad because the teams that he could name and having looked at some of the players that are on this Bulls team that they've been able to snaffle away from some of the European clubs, it looks pretty good.
00:10:00
Speaker
Plus some of the young talent that's coming up coming out of there as well So but I'm not really I'm honestly I'm not concerned with the draw It's really make it or don't because at some point in this you're gonna be playing someone difficult And sometimes it's gonna be it doesn't matter you could finish top right and some like
00:10:22
Speaker
Let's say Toulouse slip and finish like somehow they could finish fourth in that group. There's some good rugby teams in that group. They could finish fourth. They could finish like 16 overall. Saris could finish first, but suddenly you still got to play Toulouse first. I know it's a knockout game, which I'm not really awesome of.
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, they know how to do that thing. So that shit can happen. So it's not like about really, I don't think it's so much about positioning yourself as it is about just making top four. Right. Yeah. So which of the which of those the three that I mentioned don't make it Bristol, contact Leon. One of those has got a I don't see any way. I don't see any way Bristol is is up for this. They have too many fucking problems there. Right. They have more problems than the champions and especially the I don't know what their
00:11:14
Speaker
specific schedule is. Oh, you can look it up. I can look it up. You can go, you can go to a fixture and look it up by club. Leon Bordeaux is going to play both French teams, you know, bulls and, uh, they get the bulls at home. That's the upside for them. Right. That's still a top. That's going to be rough. Yep. I mean, if they make it hats off to them, but I, you know, they have bigger fish to fry in the prem.
00:11:41
Speaker
I would not waste players. If you get someone hurt against Leon. Yeah, you're going to hate yourself later. No doubt. Yeah. And then I do think it's a pretty tight race between
00:11:57
Speaker
probably lay on and connect maybe Bordeaux and connect. I don't know. I'm pretty confident that bulls and series both get through. Um, and that's kind of a toss up between those three. That's kind of what I'd say. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, pull two to lose. No doubt. Um, I think Ulster have been pretty good. Yes.
00:12:20
Speaker
And then, Cardiff are not making it, sorry Cardiff. Yeah. Spoiler alert. Then it's, yeah, it's an interesting race between Bath, Rossing, and Quinn's. And Rossing are not the same team they were, but maybe that's for the better. Yeah, this group to me is interesting, because I think you're right. Yes, we can kind of write off Cardiff, unfortunately. Sorry, guys, again. Sadly.
00:12:48
Speaker
Um, although we, they wouldn't surprise me if they could finish fourth, but that would involve, like, I could see any of these other five teams missing, missing it easily, easily missing it. Like not like just, wow, they just got outclass every like time they step on the, they just hate it. Not that they were like bad, but I mean,
00:13:11
Speaker
They still have to factor in the fact that English rugby sucks in this competition. Sometimes, yep. So. Quite often at least. Yeah. But then we have two of the best fly halves in the prem, two of the three really class fly halves in the prem.
00:13:34
Speaker
like superclass. So they, and you know, Finn, you know, this, this competition hasn't seen Finn on an English team. So that's why Bath to me are intriguing. Yeah, they're intriguing. Oh, no, they have. Well, yeah, not in an English jersey. But it's seen it, but it's not in an English jersey. I think I think he knows what
00:13:54
Speaker
He knows what this competition is about. He's going to help this team. And that have been in this competition before. But unfortunately, they usually end up just laying an egg because they just find ways to screw up their first game or two and then they're gone from there. Didn't Freddie Burns drop a try in this competition? Oh my god, many years ago. Yeah.
00:14:11
Speaker
Like a winner against to lose and i think it was i apologize for that i apologize for any burns for remember. It's just memorable and how shocking it was. It's nothing against you at all great fucking player love you we were just. You could pick our jaws up off the floor.
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, because it was, he was in the Traheria and Medard just sniped it away from him and was able to knock it on, basically. Either way, I think they're a threat. All of these teams are threats at the very least. That's a good group. Yep. All right. Talk about good groups.
00:14:55
Speaker
And I mean this, and I'm not just saying it because it's them. I think Exeter are fucked in this group, honestly. Oh, totally. Because Glasgow have come out storming in the URC. Munster are Munster. They know what this competition is all about. Don't sleep on Bayonne. They have got some really, really talented and really experienced players. Lopez has been running the ship over there. I would be very, very careful of sleeping on them.
00:15:20
Speaker
So keep your heads on them. Too long or too long. They love this competition when they're in it. So I would keep your eye on that. And Saints are better than Chiefs. You know, what their schedule looks like might... I wouldn't be surprised if both English teams are out, honestly. It wouldn't be either. The thing that gets me is that Saints...
00:15:45
Speaker
attack, I feel like is where it's still where it used to be. And the defense is, as we'll talk about later, miles. It's not even bad. It's like night and day. Yeah. They got a tough draw. They got- Yeah. They have to go to Limerick. They're going to have to go. They'll host Bayon, which might be an upside for them, and Toulon. So maybe they can get those both. And going two orders, they're going to have to get something on Friday.
00:16:14
Speaker
to qualify. They're going to have to get something, you know, even if it's a point or two. Don't see them getting all four, but they're going to need something from that game this weekend here. What's extra? Oh, extra goes to too long. That's fun. Months for our team that can travel. So Glasgow might be there when and then I would that game
00:16:40
Speaker
at Bayonth to end the pool play might be a nightmare. So. You mean they play, you know, at Monster, at Thurman Park? No, they're at Sandy.
00:16:54
Speaker
Well, I'm sorry, you went and moved on to Exeter. I was looking at things. Yeah, I did move up. Sorry. Damn it. Too fast for me. I heard you, but my... Your brain didn't go with it. No. There you are. That was the best of us. Yes. So I think their schedule has definitely come down in a really rough spot for them as well. So yeah, we'll see how that one plays out. I'm curious. But like I said, I would be shocked if both English teams miss out on that one.
00:17:24
Speaker
And then pool four. Stud don't impress me when they're in this competition, unfortunately, and legendary club, but they just don't impress you when they're in this stormers got into, you know, in the thick of it last year. So I bet you they're up for it. It's going to come down to sale and Lester and then and again, maybe both of them, although I think Lester will give this thing a good, good old fucking go. So maybe I'm not.
00:17:55
Speaker
I'm not even after this past weekend, I'm not very impressed with Lester yet. That was a pretty defeated opponent, in my opinion, anyway, before they even stepped off the bus in a sense and are pretty overwhelming, overwhelmed opponent, certainly. Yeah. Other than that, they have been a mediocre. I don't think they're ready for this this tournament.
00:18:22
Speaker
And sale, I think, as we have seen, they're a good squad, no doubt. But if their opponent isn't playing clumsy rugby, if they're playing quality rugby with capitalizing on every advantage they gain from it,
00:18:44
Speaker
sale can't keep up with them. Right. And Webster. Yeah, good luck. La Rochelle. It's not a pretty sight for them. No. And let me see. I didn't see their...
00:18:59
Speaker
their particular schedule. Without looking at the schedule, I think it's Lower Shell, Stormer's, Leinster, that get out of that without a doubt, and then it's a fight for the last spot from one of the, from the other three. I think Stodd don't get in, and I think it comes down to one of the two English teams getting in. Okay, so sale, host, Stodd. You should be good, man. They're going through Leinster. They should be able to win that. At Leinster, at Stormer's. I mean, that's a homecoming for a bunch of them. Some of them, but yeah, still it's travel.
00:19:25
Speaker
And then then come come back to host La Rochelle. Mm hmm. They won't win that one. No, unless La Rochelle have everything wrapped up, which I don't think they will. Right. So. And then, yeah, so Lancer and Stormers always is going to be a rough, rough one for that. So they could. They could. But they would. That could do it. It could. But they need they need help. Yep. Otherwise. Yes, they do. Yes, they do.
00:19:53
Speaker
So yeah, that's to me that both English clubs, I don't make it and then everyone else does. Right. Yeah. It's going to be, it's going to be interesting to say the least. Um, so we have, do we have a three-peat or is someone finally going to seat the, the fellows from La Rochelle?
00:20:22
Speaker
So I don't think, I don't think this is Leinster's year or Lester. Yeah. Leinster's year. Yeah. Yeah. Or yeah. I don't think so either. They're the, obviously they have some plenty of quality in their squad, but they've kind of, they've been sputtering. They went to the, I was, I just peeped the conduct game for a little bit. They sputtered a little bit when they went there. So, um, they certainly cannot do anything of the like, and they don't have Sexton.
00:20:50
Speaker
You know, sexual is kind of the driving force in this team in this competition, for sure. And without him, it's all right, who's grabbing this game by the scruff of the neck for them? And I'm not sure who it is. I mean, they have plenty of guys that don't. They do. Don't get me wrong. It's just that is they still need the straw that stirs the drink, right? Mm-hmm.
00:21:16
Speaker
We'll talk about it later. Burn is not looking amazing by any means. No. Yeah. Then that'll happen. It's just when you have a mainstay in there. Yeah. It's different once they leave. It's not the same as when you're subbing for a week or so. Or a couple months. Or even a couple months.
00:21:41
Speaker
There's still the error and there's still the attitude, the mystique, everything's still there. Once they're gone and they're gone, it changes the energy. I don't know how else to describe it. It's not the same. It's not the same team. No. And so, yeah, you need to settle into that and they're going to be lost for a little bit because of it. Hey, that's life.
00:22:06
Speaker
So yeah, I'd say apart from your usual but they're still gonna be good like they could still make this like there's no reason they won't make semi-finals I don't think Like I I mean, I don't think they I'm not saying they are going to I'm saying that if they do I won't be surprised. I just Yeah, there's a stop agree that's probably their stopping point though, right I'd say that's their ceiling and
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah. And other than our show, like this thing is wide open, honestly, especially with players that have moved in, you know, chopping and changing all over the place. You know, this sucker is wide open. It really is. Um, to lose will not have DuPont wants to sink kicks in a high year. They'll have them this weekend and next, but I think once the new year comes, he's gone. Cause he's going to play sevens. Wow. Oh, that's right. Yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker
So there's that to consider. Not to say that tools don't have enough quality otherwise, but that's something to consider. Look at too long. I mean, they just have such class up and down that line up. I mean, that's just come new. I'm looking through some of the players. I'm like, wait, Fai Nganuku? Oh, ribbons. That's where he is. Oh, there's bigger, although he's hurt.
00:23:26
Speaker
but the, his back in the back up has been pretty good. He figures back to Osprey's. I think that's all, that's an old name. Really? Yeah. Less aside, he was, he was, okay. I thought it's, I'd seen him injured as injured. And that's why, uh, well, I think he's injured, but I thought he was moving away from there to go back to, to go back home. Maybe, maybe they, that's like a, I don't know. I'll have to look into that. They've, they've, they've fumbled a few of these. I will say that the rosters aren't a hundred percent on, on point. Um,
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah, that was the last that was the last of any Dan bigger news. I saw was it was about like three weeks ago. Yeah, he was hurt. Okay. Yeah, that might be it for Yeah, they have naya clavu with fijian captain, you know, yeah, like a tossy. Yep, like him Duncan play hours. So there's any pre so still there. So Yeah, ribeyes there
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like, I'm excited to see him in this competition with them. Yep. There's a lot of of of quality there. So, yeah, I could see them making making some noise to the air. Ben White's the scrum half more often than not. Yeah. Hey, if you know the pod, you know how much I like Ben White. Yep. Yep. So plenty there. So, yeah, there's there's a lot.
00:24:50
Speaker
there really is. So this will be a fun competition for the year. Obviously, Ben and I are sitting here hoping for the fellows in black and red from North London are going to at least get to North London, which is where the files in North London. It's at Tottamont Hospital Stadium. Right in the backyard. They've played there before. A couple of times. Somebody wants to, you know,
00:25:13
Speaker
Send me a private jet to get over there. That'd be awesome. But other than that, another year. I'll stow away in the luggage. I'm good with that too. Right. Yeah. Stick me underneath. I'm okay with that. All good. All right.
Premier 15s Game Reviews
00:25:31
Speaker
All right. So we got PWR game of the week, which was shown on tiara and kind of sloppily, but
00:25:39
Speaker
growing pains and all. They did eventually fix it, so they unfucked it. Good start. But in the meantime, while they were unfucking it, it was all Loughborough and not a lot of Tigers. A lot of looking left. Yeah, a lot of staying on the left side of the screen. They were showing the high end of the stadium
00:26:03
Speaker
view so it was like the walleye vision you can see basically both try to try areas for the most part some of it was cut off um but yeah he was definitely um heavily favoring loughborough throughout the first half and um to you know that you couldn't not be well worked because you just had so much possession um but do well work tries to um
00:26:31
Speaker
to just carve them up and by halftime you kind of knew where this one was going. Yeah. I know Lester battled back and that's good. We need teams to respond to that kind of smack in the mouth. That's what makes it professional. So it's growing. It's good for the game.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, I will give props to a few of the Lester girls that responded well. Brody, Meg Jones, obviously. Test Fury was awesome. And then the other American Sinelli, she was very, very good as well. And Amy Ralph, the replacement Scrum half, who, yes, she scored, but she also just seemed to
00:27:13
Speaker
pick the game up and want to want to go, go, go a little bit more. So that helped. I will. So I'll give I'll give them credit. But yeah, I mean, too much too little too late. And I know that's stupid to say in the second half, but like they got the second one, they got the first one kind of slow and steady. And that was not fast enough for them to really get it in the attempts and the weather didn't help either. No, but you got to learn. I mean, they're they're a new club.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah, they're new to this whole thing. Yeah, it takes the institutional DNA to win these things, and they're learning how to do it. Even if they're lost, they're learning tools on how to do it as a team. That's excellent to me. Singapore and LA had 15 carries in the second half. Wow. Yeah.
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah, she came on at halftime. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, she was busy. Busy lady. But they didn't. I mean, yeah. Harry, every three minutes. Right. That's like every time we have possession, you get one phase all to yourself. No matter what. Pretty much. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's good. I mean, that's, you know.
00:28:34
Speaker
Team Truster. And Catherine Cheddar got on as well for Loughborough. So yeah. Yeah. Go on girls. Rachel Malcolm was player of the match, deservedly so. She was head and shoulders above everyone in the one area that seemed to matter the most, which was defense. She was not so busy in the carries, but more busy in the smacking people in the mouth. And she did a good job with that. So well done to her.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah. So hopefully I hope for Loughborough sake, this is not just like a token limb for them to it. You know, they've not performed super well against areas. So I hope.
00:29:14
Speaker
that this is something that kicks them on a little bit. Yeah. But, you know, and I know things are good, so it's hard to get a degree of difficulty here. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Let's go to, um, Friday night at the scoop. I mean, it says, I was saying earlier, uh, Quinn's took this game to a level that sale,
00:29:44
Speaker
cannot yet attain.
00:29:57
Speaker
The one thing, we know that we're not huge fans of George Ford, especially at an international level, but it seems like when plan A has gone out the window for George Ford, he doesn't go to plan B. He has a plan B, which is the really shitty thing. He has a plan B. It seems like he's just inept to go to it, just refuses and or doesn't know how to switch his brain over to go from the left side to the right and go,
00:30:22
Speaker
Oh, wait, we can't do this anymore. So we got to do the other thing. Right. And I will. So the one thing that.
00:30:30
Speaker
Most teams don't, haven't done against sale with few exception is, um, putting kicks behind because they got a fricking wall coming at you with their defense. You gotta put them, you gotta make them stop and turn every once in a while. Otherwise they're just going to be downhill the whole fucking time and they're going to let you up. And that's, it's happened to most of the opponents, their opponents this year. So the Queens did the one thing that you needed to do against them and that was make them turn and run the other way.
00:30:55
Speaker
So, you know, give them credit as well. And then that opened up the deeper kick. And holy crap, did Marcus just do wonders? And, you know, was it Marcus and Tyrone and was it Danny finished that one? Yeah. Oh. Yeah, Danny Caro on that one. That's, again, putting to me this weekend was a lot of putting hands up for things.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, Danny cares putting put his hand up. Definitely. Marcus Smith. Obviously, obviously this game, he was he was lights out. Unbelievable. And it like, that's the thing, though, like, this is one of those matches where it's like, okay, you know, wasn't and Bortho's there. Paying paying close attention, I hope. And right. And Marcus is just lighting the world on fire. And George Ford was a fucking ghost. Yep. I also tried to say otherwise. Will Joseph absolutely
00:31:56
Speaker
Like I said, he reminds me of our champ, put him at 13, please. This is why it worked. This is why. Yep. Worked quite well. Mm hmm. Let me look at the numbers here. Yeah, Ford almost like just didn't have possession to which didn't help him. But it actually wasn't that bad. It just seemed like they wanted to implement one game plan only. Mm hmm. Yeah, he had 18 passes.
00:32:28
Speaker
Compare that to, let's see what Marcus had. Put it this way. We were talking about- Marcus had 21. We were talking about, what was her name? Who had 15 carries? Senelli, yeah. Senelli had 15 carries. Yep. In a half. In a half. 15 carries. Ford had 18 passes in a game. Yep. Passes as a 10. That's like right there. There's your problem. Right.
00:32:57
Speaker
I think the type, I think the way that they happen to need to be, needs to be observed because Marcus only had three more, but he was looking into space. He was looking to, he was also looking to take the ball in and create as well. You know, chips in behind stuff like that. We talked about already. Um, and Marcus lets in its second receiver, a fair bit too. Um, they'd like to give the ball straight to Andre, which makes a lot of sense.
00:33:24
Speaker
Quite often, yeah. Quite often it does. So I think I know attack is not Sanderson's strong point. So he needs to appoint his attack coach and say, all right, listen, we need even it shouldn't be anything more than like a call to down to the down to the water carriers and say, all right, let's you know, this is now going to be what we do. You know, it shouldn't take that for a player that is
00:33:53
Speaker
of George Ford's ability, but it does. So here's my question, though. Do they only practice one style? Is there attack? This is what we're trying to do every time. I don't think so, because- We're just trying to execute it at the best chance. Dupree has shown the ability to do both as a 10. In insane games. Yeah. You know?
00:34:19
Speaker
So I'm wondering what's going on, you know, what kind of brain fart is going on in George Ford's head where it's like, I can't possibly do the other variations. Like, yes, you can. You have the ability within you. Like, that's one of the, that's probably one of the more annoying things about him. Like, I know he's talented, but God damn it, what the fuck were you doing? And this is, he's had too many, what the fuck were you doing games for me? That's the problem. Yeah, that is kind of my problem with him is that that's it. It's if, if it doesn't, you know,
00:34:48
Speaker
Uh, everybody got a plan until they get punched in the face. Absolutely. And if he gets punched in the face, he, he shrivels. Yeah. It's like, he, it's like, he forgets how to play rugby again. It's like, no, listen, if you would, if I remember off on the other game plan and worked, you've been fine. But for whatever reason, you're just, your brain doesn't want to switch over. He goes to the coach and the water boy, like, like just completely cowed and scared of the opposite. Like, come on, dude.
00:35:18
Speaker
do what you got to do. Be the 10. Everyone says you are. So let's jump over to the gate on Saturday. Two coaches who had really hot seats and one of them is like,
00:35:41
Speaker
burning up like this is you know we're gonna your buttons gonna be burned very soon it is like they they they already put out the the letter um uh Ludlow put out a uh a statement to like an open line like they're they're saying the things and it's like I think I saw Skivington today was saying like we need to get back to to our fundamentals what we you know what makes us tick
00:36:09
Speaker
And you know what my comment to that is? You know how many times they finished above fifth place in the last 10 years? Slightly more than once. Once. Once. That was the year they made the play off. The finished third, yeah. At one point. Other than that, it's fifth or worse for like 12 years or so.
00:36:33
Speaker
And it's not like then there, that was the same thing as a blip. And then another couple of years, it's like, no, it's just didn't I get back to what makes you, because what makes you tick doesn't win. Like, no, you got to have something else to make. You got to find something new to make you tick. It's not get back to finds out the new because you got the horses to do it. Well, so.
00:36:55
Speaker
you not being necessarily the biggest Premier League football fan. Have you ever heard of the dreaded vote of confidence? Yeah, they have it in a lot of sports, but I'm not sure aware of it in those terms, as it relates to. It's a thing in Premier League football where the chairman will give the manager his vote of confidence. And that's like the not saying you're on the hot seat, hot seat thing.
00:37:23
Speaker
So this is basically what this- He has to give you a vote of confidence. Yeah, before he exact you, so. Yeah, that's the thing. It's the same thing. It's like, oh, you know, I have full faith that they'll get it right. And you got to do that as an owner. Yeah, absolutely. But I didn't see it as a vote of confidence, or a statement of confidence. I saw it as a statement of, we're going to get this right.
00:37:47
Speaker
It means we're going to sack him. From the Gloucester owners. I can't be too much longer because this is not, this what they put out there was like, fair play to Bristol. They poured it on, but they made it easy for them too, but still Bristol did the work. So credit to them. Sometimes you just need a get right game.
00:38:15
Speaker
Right. Sometimes you do. Sometimes this helps. Sometimes there's a little bit of a practice game where you can work on your moves and find your pace and whatnot. And they did it really well. Gloucester just, they have a players, the some players show, I mean,
00:38:38
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, a phrase about me and I love him. I love Jamal Ford Robinson and to my dying day pledges allegiance to him. But this is stuff like this is why he's like he's a club guy.
00:38:53
Speaker
I don't know, he's not life, life or here, but like he does love the clubs. He loves doing what he does. And he returns that love because he's like, yeah, I will love you because you feed me. You let me drive these cool cars and play video games all day. Like, fuck yeah, I love you. It's great. But he also goes out and he scores two tries in a game like this.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yeah, I mean what like the some players are playing playing their hearts out the other guy who scored two tries Louis something or other He's pretty guy yeah, he but at the same time don't you want to keep him I? He's I mean and he's well still be asked to come back eventually, but like They probably be wise to
00:39:41
Speaker
I have to let him. Yeah. Or just to never not ask him to sign. Yeah. Which would be the wise thing to do. But yeah, like he's why would he stay? It's like it's just it's such butt rugby there right now. And even even though he's scoring tries, it's like they're so they're very Woosterie.
00:40:06
Speaker
Little bit, yeah. Because they're doing some things that are good and then someone, and it's not always the same person, but it's the same group of people, let's put it that way, just butt it up. Just bottles it completely at the end there. Right. There's the players who can do it and there's the players who are just either going through the motions or are not bonding in or just not good themselves, not really ready for this level or never really were.
00:40:35
Speaker
It's problematic form. And that to me is a lot on the coach. Like they, they're, their situational awareness is, is really bad. Their discipline is horrible. One pound is too many. Wait. Yeah. Let me see. No. Oh, that's just 14 you. Why to the E to the W and that isn't the worst way possible. Yeah. That's not good.
00:41:06
Speaker
Right. That's like every, oh, it's almost something, you know, what, five and a half minutes or so. That's that's just, that's not, no. Yeah. Um, and I would normally be the first person to knock down the door and say, put Santi curious back at fullback, but really he, and you know, he's had, he's a tough year to begin with. So let's skip beyond that. Um,
00:41:36
Speaker
He is he's a good 10 for Argentina when he's on. And if you're truly a good coach or you're truly a good attack coach, at least he's an international 10. You should be able to pull it out of him and get him to play a good brand or rugby at 10. And I've yet to see him do well in the 10 jersey wearing cherry and white. I agree.
00:42:01
Speaker
And that's concerning that is, which means tells me they're kind of bottling him. That's another one of those. Again, are they one of these? We do this and we do it well, and not to say it because Gloucester can open it up, but. They're still constrained in how they do it. There's not a lot of. Making it up as we go along. Although when they end up doing that, they do well, like that's almost when they do better, but they don't, they don't like Harlequin's almost.
00:42:29
Speaker
seek that. And Saracens can get like that too, where they're like, you know what, we don't really need a structure. The structure is here, but we're just going to passively find someone open. And then we'll work within the structure on that. And that's what the top teams do. And Gloucester just to me doesn't do that. They don't just say, fuck it. Let's really just go nuts and attack this team. Show them what we got at any point.
00:42:52
Speaker
It's all very restrained and it's very, it's, it leads to slow ball. Cause the defense know, like it's, you know, the defense knows where to cover. Now you're, you're running into double tackles. Like they just know, okay, they'll, you know, off of the, like if they're running this pattern of play, this is how they're going to attack. So this is where we're going to, you know, we'll throw it, you know, a three and four here, then, you know, two and three, the next phase.
00:43:16
Speaker
Then we look for the turnover there, or we either slow it up and then we reset, or they reset, or maybe they kick it away. If they know those things, then they can just practice it. That's easy to shut down. That's easily defeatable now. What are you going to do next? Yep. Plus doesn't really have that. No. No, they're missing it for sure.
00:43:37
Speaker
Yeah. So skips on the hot seat. Um, lamb gets to cool his off for a wee bit. And maybe when they, when they come back to, um, lead time, we'll see what they do. Yeah. We'll see what they do. Champions Cup did like how they, how they want to play it.
00:43:55
Speaker
I, I, you know, we have our, we have, as you said earlier, probably see them kind of packing it in a little bit, but at the same time, maybe they want to try you to use that as a get right and see what they're made of it. You know, again, get you like, it's like getting that international experience almost get, go against a real team and then come back and play.
00:44:11
Speaker
You know, um, like Gloucester or Newcastle, but you know, even a bath. Yeah. You know, they'll play better teams than bath. So I've had them see what you got. Speaking intimidated by him. Let's go over to the, let's go to the rec. Um, weekend of blowouts. Yeah. Um, not quite a stroll, but it was like, I don't want to say it was quite, it,
00:44:39
Speaker
The, I think they'll have time to score, score flyers, exit a touch and then bath proved that later on.
Bath's Champions Cup Potential
00:44:49
Speaker
I think that's the best way to put it in terms of how that played out. This is like we said before, like you said before, this is a fucking good bath team. That's going to give, I think they're going to give it a good old go in champions cup here.
00:45:05
Speaker
Um, they got sorted out 12 and 13. Oh, John shouldn't be in there. Should be, um, should be Lawrence. I think he's just been, I think they gave him a little bit of a rest for this one. This was good batch to rest him, I think against an Exeter. Cause he's, he'll try to be physical and he would be successful in that.
00:45:26
Speaker
But you don't want to put him in and against Exeter. They do like their physicality. You don't want them running into some of these fucking knuckleheads that Baxter puts out there. Yeah, I don't want to run into Ethan Roots. No, we saw what Ethan was about. Was it this game or was it the last week that he was just such a-
00:45:45
Speaker
He was being just a little shit the whole game, yeah. I think so. That's probably why they didn't do so well last game. And for me, I think the question mark is for Bath going forward in these next two weeks is how good is Matt Gallagher?
00:46:03
Speaker
That's a question mark. If he is world class, then he is going to help this team thrive, and Tom DeGlanville is probably in that same question mark, and even maybe a little bit well Muir as well, because he hasn't quite performed at this level. Muir's had a good batch though.
00:46:20
Speaker
Yeah, you did. As well. Yeah, no question. I love that back three. The funny thing is to me, I thought Gallagher had the weakest, but again, I'm watching on a small screen, so we may have different interpretation of what we saw. I can't see his little feet. Right? It's a lot easier to see Alfie.
00:46:43
Speaker
Oh, that's easy to see. He takes up the screen. Like, Oh, I know who that is. Big fella. Oh yeah. I know who's running there. Yeah. Wake up. Yeah. That's a, that's also a warning shot to the, to people in top four and, um, that's our 14 and champions cup. And, uh, the rest of the league, like Alfie might be enjoying his rugby again. So that's bad news for everyone.
00:47:06
Speaker
If he's starting to enjoy his rugby, look the fuck out, man. It ain't gonna be fun. It's all I know. Although he's eaten into Tom Dunn's tries. That's annoying. Yeah. I hate when the back rowers take those away. Stupid back rowers go away. Nobody invited you here. Seriously. It's not like your head's funny. Oh wait, Alfie's head's kind of funny shaped. It is funny shaped. It's quite funny shaped.
00:47:35
Speaker
Yes, it's going to be a good team. I don't know what to make of you. You looked OK for a week or two. And then you've gone back to Exeter again. And maybe it's the time of year where you're putting it away because it's the winter. But you can't. It's still rugby. You still got to play it. You're playing these conditions for the majority of your season. You can't just put it away. Right.
00:47:59
Speaker
So yeah. And they, and they got a fricking charity try at the end from painter. So great for my fancy team. Terrible for the look. Yeah. It was just a, okay. You know, they, yeah, they had some garbage time. Yep. Cool. Yeah. Let's see. Barbara had, he had 10 defenders beaten this weekend. Ow.
00:48:20
Speaker
He had 10 carries, so he beat a defender every time. Damn. That's nuts. Yeah. Boy was busy. Also, oh, yes. Speaking of other people putting their hands up, Ben, motherfucking Spencer. Also putting his hand up. Leader. Leader. Big time. Again, fucked over by Eddie, but now showing the quality and now there's a new guy, there's a new sheriff in town, so maybe
00:48:49
Speaker
You know, I've heard talk. I've heard people say that he should be the England nine. And you know what? If it may be, there's only there's really only one other person I would mention in that competition at this point. And we'll talk about it in the next match.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And there's, and there's, there'll be plenty of chances to be had, obviously. Um, but Ben's got to be on the score. Like he's just, he's got to be on the radar without a doubt. If he's not, then I don't know what you're smoking guys over there, but share, please. Cause it's clearly good stuff. I'll try it. Um, so yeah, let's,
Owen Farrell and Media Criticism
00:49:32
Speaker
Let's jump over to the Stone Axe, but before we get to the match, I think we'd be stupid to skip over, especially since he's our guy. Ferrell stepping back and doing it for reasons I think most reasonable people will commend. Emphasis on reasonable.
00:49:56
Speaker
The Muppets are going to be like, well, what a weakling. I'm not going to use the other words that they use, but you know what I mean. Because that's who they are, right? And that's the problem. Those are the ones that are the problem, too. Yeah, I agree. We've said it for so long that we got to get the
00:50:16
Speaker
that this bullshit tree and the, the knobbery and the, the lads, lads, lads are not, maybe not that much that, but cause that's kind of fun. But as long as that's the toxic masculinity, but the toxic people. Yeah. Yeah. Like this is not, no, no, it's not, that's not what we do.
00:50:36
Speaker
Right. Like this should be something like he entertains you. You can't tell me that you're not entertained watching Owen Farrell. You may love him. You may hate him. Whatever. It's just if you these people, they're fucking like pro wrestling fans. That's what they that's how they treat it. And they're just like, oh, no, but he's the heel. So this is what we do. And it's like, no, jackass. That's not how you behave. That's not how we do. This isn't this isn't a k-fob. This isn't a fucking role he's playing. You're just being a douchebag to a guy.
00:51:05
Speaker
Cause you feel like you're entitled to it. Yeah. A lot of people and forever the England captain will be someone that gets a ton of stick from media and whatnot. But I think,
00:51:20
Speaker
I think it should be less mainstream media and more, let the social media do that because that's going to be enough and that stuff that you can almost deflect, but it's hard to deflect it when the mainstream media is, is the ones that started and that's, well, the more the point that we're getting at here. And that's what Mark McCall was saying, that it was, you know, really down to that, those mainstream media people who are, a lot of them are, you know, the older ones, especially are that, that type of people.
00:51:51
Speaker
Who are just like they like being assholes about things and It's like happy like they're the ones who are like Marcus Smith It's like yes He's like because they think it's their job to just shit on whoever I guess is the England 10 and whoever looks good in that sometimes Sometimes there are people that just feel like that's their job and it's like it's not your job like talk about what they do and
00:52:15
Speaker
Yeah, they're, they're too invested in, in creating narratives and stuff. And, and that boils over. And we saw that same thing with Tom Foley. We didn't, we didn't mention that either. He was fucking TMO getting death threats. Yeah. And he's like, fuck that. I'm not doing that anymore. What the fuck? Like that, and it does, it's because, you know, we can see that in all forms of things.
00:52:40
Speaker
Yeah, this this toxicity of I can just talk shit about this person constantly and send whatever say whatever, you know, threaten them because of a game, right? It's, you know, and people like you and I are here to analyze and be critical. Mm hmm.
00:53:01
Speaker
Nothing wrong with that, and we're gonna call it what it is. But you don't app people. You don't send messages. And you certainly don't send messages that involve death threats to, and I have a, Ben knows this person, I have a friend whose husband plays a major pro sport, and he had a bad day. And people threatened his children.
00:53:27
Speaker
I love those kids, so I felt really, really awful when I heard that from her, and that's just wrong. That's just plain wrong, and they're hiding behind all this stuff. They think it's nothing because they can't be seen, they can't be caught. On the other end of it,
00:53:48
Speaker
it makes literally the physical reactions of something like that are your blood pressure's gonna go up, your freaking heart rate's gonna increase, and all those things happening over and over and over again strain the body. Literally, we're talking about literal issues that are gonna happen with your body because people can't fucking control themselves. It's not okay. It really isn't. So in other words,
00:54:14
Speaker
If you do that to an athlete of a sport that you like, certainly on the team you follow, all you're doing is making them performers. Yeah, you're making it harder on them. They can take a little criticism, you know, had a bad game. Yep. And most of them will tell you, yep, I had a really bad game. You had a player when you're saying something good. If you're saying something bad about it, just say it. Even if you can,
00:54:39
Speaker
Like if, if I, you know, was talking about, I might just say like England, number 10 is having just a shit day today. Although I know I just generally don't do, I certainly try not to do stuff like that. Yeah. And, you know, being critical is one thing, but when you start adding people and sending them messages, that's, that's dog shit, man. That's completely unacceptable. That is an easy line to draw and not do. It really is. So let's, let's not do that. And let's let players be players and yes,
00:55:10
Speaker
do as we do, analyze it, be critical, go with the highs and the lows, but let's not take it to another level that doesn't need to be yet. Handshake, let's move on.
Match Analysis: Northampton vs Saracens
00:55:21
Speaker
All right, to the Stonex. I find myself
00:55:29
Speaker
equal parts annoyed with what happened with the fellas wearing black and the guy wearing blue, but also impressed with the fellas wearing white. So I think all those things can exist in one bottle, but they do in mine at least. So that's where that's at. Yeah. I mean, the boys in black didn't show up until Parton got him over, essentially.
00:55:57
Speaker
Seed that managed through for that though. That was he is he he's not bad. Like here's the problem. I don't He wasn't terrible. He didn't the problem is he didn't Just let it all hang out the way he needs to he doesn't he don't think he trusts himself just yet I guess no, I don't think he does either so you're gonna have to live with that but You know, that's what
00:56:22
Speaker
That's what like a lot of the this is still other than that pretty veterans, you know, that's what goodies there for Right. That's why he's there to settle things down or to speed them up Just be like, you know, just give me that ball. I'll take care of the rest. You just give me that ball Yeah, right. That should be easy Because it was good that put in that kick for Lewington, right Luscious luscious Good God Yeah, and
00:56:52
Speaker
It was a little bit, you know, their discipline was poor. Yes. Extremely. Extremely. And, you know, a few, a few knobbery calls from Ridley withstanding it. They were still bad. Right. They didn't do themselves any favors. It's one of those, like, I'm really angry that he made that call. But also we've been showing him nothing but ass. So eventually he's going to tell us we stink.
00:57:14
Speaker
It's a whole lot of butt, right? Yeah, that's that's that's a lot of ass. No. Wow. That's a lot of ass. And, you know, for the other. But then again, on the other side, I mentioned the England nine jersey and. Any mention of of of that specific line of apparel. Without Alex Mitchell is is incorrect. Mm hmm.
00:57:46
Speaker
Like you see, when he came on that, that was awesome. I was like, Oh, that's game. That's it. We're done. Yeah. I saw him come on. I was like, fuck, I forgot. Yeah. And then he put it away to get a little bit of a tendency and I was like, yeah, that's not really what I wanted to see. Damn it.
00:58:04
Speaker
No, especially not when the Sarries are bringing on Alla Davies. What? Where's Garth Simpson? Where the fuck is he? And why is David? Oh, it sucks. He's not good. Don't add him. Like, seriously, but I let Davies to the curb. Call in Charlie Brack into the squad and let's be done with him, please. I've seen enough. And it's not like he's not. He's not a bad scrum half. He's not a good one either. But he's not. Yeah, he's not. He doesn't meet the standard.
00:58:34
Speaker
Nope. High standards here. Every position has it. If he was a tall guy who was a mediocre at catching line outs, he would not be playing lock for series either or six. It's not going to happen. Look at the standard that you have to be at for most of these positions. The position you just mentioned lock.
00:59:01
Speaker
If you're below a sequel, Theo, Mauro, or Tiz, you ain't making, you weren't playing in this team and they're all, they all have their own unique special skillset. Mauro, especially, obviously Theo as well. And you know, it's the, it's the same type of thing. You can't just be one person. You gotta be able to do multiple things and play the game multiple ways. Yes. The series way is be able to kick, kick, chase and play that defense. But when it's time to open it up,
00:59:29
Speaker
Move the goddamn ball. Yeah, he's he's so slow and up to that. Right. He's slow. And and I I don't know what his average speed is. So I'm not talking about the because some of those stats they skew. And because some of that is, you know, how long do they wait at a breakdown before they they pun away a high, you know, a box or something. It's like.
00:59:53
Speaker
whatever and then there's sometimes when yeah you want to keep it slow and then there's sometimes when you want to go fast and are you fast enough it's really it should be relative to what it needs to be like are you are you delivering the ball on time for your attack and Davis doesn't do it nope it's it's way too slow when it needs to be fast
01:00:14
Speaker
Um, he's looking up at that where at the plate, like he's, he doesn't, when I try to, to, to follow him, at least when I see it, he doesn't look up as he's running to the ball. He runs, he's looking at the break that the tackle being made and looking for the ball first. And he's not, he doesn't really look up until he's comfortable with his target of the ball. At least that's what I'm seeing.
01:00:34
Speaker
I'm not tracking him specifically, but when I've looked for it, I haven't seen him having, going to a rock with a plan. Right. Yeah. And that's a wall else. You got to be there and be ready to deal that thing, especially if you're trying to play some sort of high tempo stuff, which, you know, on that patch, the series can. So just, yeah, too bad, too bad. But you know, on the other side, we talked about it.
01:01:03
Speaker
If this in this game last year, not literally, but if this was last year's change, let's put it that way. Um, they're going to have to basically turn it into a track meet to win this game. And even with the team that this Harrison's name, but because of the improvements they've made, they can now win games in multiple fashions, which is going to make it that much better for them going forward.
01:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm I'm, you know, to me, we talked the last two years, we talked about the Swiss cheese defense. Right. Saracens. It's not there anymore. Saracens. Saints. Excuse me. Yeah. It's not there. They're locking it down. Mm hmm. No doubt about it. It's not like it wasn't for lack of opportunities or attempts from Saracens. It was that they got they got wolf packed to be perfectly blunt. Yeah. All the way around. Saints. Saints did their their game to them, which
01:01:59
Speaker
Um, a confuses, frightens and arouses me all in one. That's a, it's got a mixed bag of emotions. You got there chief. It's too many for one man. We can do one at a time. And, and so I'm still kind of recovering, but it's no, it's great to see. And, and I, you know, I, when it comes right down to it, I pretty much love every prime team with, with,
01:02:28
Speaker
you know, some part of my heart, except for Exeter. So it's like, no, I'm happy for the saints. I want to see them good. And they are. I hope Colsey's okay.
01:02:41
Speaker
Yeah. Oh man. I saw it initially. I was like, that's not good. No. Yeah. And I was like, no. Then they, thankfully they were smart and like, we're not going to show you that replay. I was like, no, you're not. I didn't see what happened at all. You got caught with his like in a rock and got folded back at the same time. So I thought, okay. Yeah. It's ugly. It's ugly. Like I knew I saw some flash of person where like it doesn't look right, but it didn't,
01:03:08
Speaker
No, yeah. I didn't register it. You went backwards. It was not good. Not good. Yeah. Things went the way they should not. Oh, that's not good. Not good at all. So yeah. Hope the big fellas okay. Speedy recovery to Alex Coles. And I'll say Pearson showed up very well, which, you know, says a lot for him. It does. Cause this is, again, this was a match where last year he shriveled. He did.
01:03:32
Speaker
And they needed him to really step up for that game too. And they did. No. And Ben Earl, um, bent him over. Shut him up. Yep. Uh, and I felt like, you know, Christie, and that's not to say Christie had a bag. Christie played pretty damn well.
01:03:48
Speaker
He's not on fire. Gonzo was a little, no. He was a little, yeah, he was not the guy I need. We need him to be nice for sure. But, but, um, Pearson was like, no, Pearson was the seventh of this match, which is just saying a lot. So good for him for not, not backing down. No, no, I think he probably realized it too. Right. Yeah. No one was not fair. Courtney laws. I, I, that guy.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, you know, this fucking guy. Yeah, let's go to, uh, the last blood road and the
Match Analysis: Newcastle vs Leicester
01:04:30
Speaker
last blood. Yeah. Um,
01:04:34
Speaker
It's hard to analyze this one only for the fact that Newcastle were particularly bad and Leicester weren't terrible. So it's in the weather was shit, which was not helpful at all. I think Tommy fells a little bit of fool's gold on that one. I mean, I think you ran a total of like 10 meters. He's not a runner. He's a finisher. You know, that's fine. Just the hell being the right place at the right time. That's that's all that matters.
01:05:03
Speaker
But he was also, he was a terror on defense too. That was honestly, I know Visa had a great game. That's criminal that Rafael didn't get the man of the match. Like guy has a hat trick. And yeah, like you said, I know he was finishing it, but he was in the right place at the right time a lot. And yeah, I thought that was kind of silly.
01:05:27
Speaker
Um, who was that goody made that call. Yeah. That's a goody call. Yeah. It's a very goody call. Um, that feels like we're pushing 20 meters. We're pushing jasparisa, which they should push them, but come on, don't be ridiculous. Yeah. 20 years, one break, six carries. Yeah. Not, not amazing stats, but Hey, whatever. Yeah.
01:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, it was just a slog of a match the whole day. And Lester are built for things like that. So that's why they were able to just, you know, just take Newcastle around a little bit, honestly, if we're honest. The problem that Newcastle have, and I'm not sure they recognize it, is that they're just, they have plotters in the forwards.
01:06:20
Speaker
and a lot of small, light guys in the backs. And the issue with that is that the plotters, like when you have, who's, fuck, of, you know, Jamie Blomire, Hawkins, DeChaves, Rubiolo, Cross, Chick, who of those do you, maybe Blomire, I'd want in the tracks as a one, but I don't want any of the others.
01:06:49
Speaker
No. And the problem is, and even Vermeijer, he's not that great in the loose. So it's like you don't have guys who are great in the loose. They can't keep up with the backs. So the backs can't rock. So the Speedy, you know, Rafael, he's not Ben Earl, but he was made to look like Ben Earl. Because none of the other forwards, none of the forwards on the Falcons could keep up with him. Nope.
01:07:18
Speaker
And that's your problem. And then so that even if they lack the experience, they lack the, the necessary skills to keep up with it. So your, your whole team, like that coach was saying this, that the whole framework off, they went the wrong direction. And yeah, yes, you have to have your team play a team team way. And if you want the fast, like the quick guys running around all over the place, you need forwards who can move too. And Newcastle do not have any of that pepper was okay.
01:07:49
Speaker
He's a good player, but he's not like, you know, he's not, I don't see, I don't know. He would have to do a lot to make- He could be that dynamic guy. Yeah. Could be, could be. But he's got work to get there. But none of these other guys, I don't know if Rubiola will be. He might, he strikes me as a decent six. Yeah, probably a six, but not more. Right. And they don't really have any, Kalimchik, I,
01:08:14
Speaker
I respect what you're about. You're a six at best. And they need someone like a Jasper Visa. It doesn't even need to be as good. But yeah, there's just not the guys they need. And the problem, the other problem is that, well, they're getting the shit kicked out of them at the rock time. And that's because even though they're bigger and stronger, Lester, they're first. And just knocking the shit out of them before they could really get set. Yep.
01:08:43
Speaker
Understatement. So it's like you have to you have to mix the speed like they can't just be strong. It's not like you're not even as talented as Exeter and you can't play that game. Nope, they aren't. That's yeah, so that's it's Newcastle is always going to be a project. That's the thing until
01:09:03
Speaker
they find either, you know, hang on to their talent, number one. And, you know, I mean, they're young talent. That's what I'm after. And number two, they can find a way to get a little bit of an injection in cash. They're never going to be one of those things that pushes the salary cap. They never will be. No, but they need to find a way to just get a little injection cash so they can have some really good
01:09:28
Speaker
superstars and they have one with Mighty Mouse, but he's hurt, but he's only one guy and he's leaving. Right. But they have other talent. Like, I mean, the Stevens has been pretty damn good. Yeah, he's been pretty good. But they're just spending, to me, in the wrong places. The two Argentinian centers shouldn't be there. If you dropped them, you still have some decent centers, certainly on this squad. I'm not saying drop them, but if you never signed them in the first place, if you'd spent that money on
01:09:56
Speaker
a mobile forward or two. Just that, just two mobile forwards. You'd be light years ahead of where you are. And that's the problem. They've invested in the wrong spots with the wrong people. And again, it's not that there's anything wrong with the Mattias's. They're good. No. But they're in the wrong place for them and for the team. Yeah, that's probably a good point.
01:10:28
Speaker
Okay. And Lester are not, they didn't poop themselves. So they fell over the line a bunch. So. Yeah. Yeah. They managed to do better than Exeter did. Exeter had a good speed bump time and get saved by a fucking shitty call. Like it's just how it is. Yeah.
01:10:46
Speaker
So I mean, unless there should be good, like maybe this is a get right game for them. Better be good. Yeah, you're right. You know, like this isn't like a Bristol situation, right? This is a team that's that knows they're good. They just are right now in the pooper and they'll get out of it. Yeah, we'll take them out of it. I don't doubt that. I don't doubt for a second. Because that's again, you're you're learning a new coach, you're learning like you're learning how this works and it's a different energy and it's a different thing to it, but they'll get themselves sorted out.
01:11:15
Speaker
Yep. Okay. It might not be this year. It might take a year, but they're still good enough to do this. All right. They are. They are. So lots of stuff to talk about over on the fantasy corner. We are, we are back. Is there a fantasy game for champions cup? Oh yeah. Oh, okay. Cool.
01:11:40
Speaker
Just a tiny one, just a tiny one. I was not aware. So nice to see, we'll get to that over there if you're not gonna hang out over on Fantasy Corner. We do really appreciate you hanging out with us. And yeah, it's good to be back. I'm glad that I don't have to have the stress go out my ears much more.
01:12:05
Speaker
But yeah, we're heading over there. We appreciate you all for hanging out and listening to us babble for a little bit. See you on the fancy corner or enjoy the first round of Champions Cup. Have a good one all. Later. Cheers.
01:12:26
Speaker
If you'd like to ask a question or leave us general feedback, email us at fantasyrugbypodcast at gmail.com. You fart, you die, by the way. Yeah, exactly. The ticky tackiness kind of absolutely pisses me off. Be sure you check out our Patreon at patreon.com slash the fantasyrugbyings. Yeah.