Season 5- Episode 17- Festivus of the XV of the Year (Premiership Round 13)

Transcript

Speaker: It is The Fantasy Europeans. 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 handled that. Collusion. Collusion.

Speaker: Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is the fancy rugby yanks. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. We're back to it. Um, I was, uh, I was down for the count. Need to need to recover. Unfortunately. Yeah, it happens. Um, so sucks to have it be around this time of year though. Yeah. Well, and that was the, that was the point. Like I didn't want to get my mom sick or anything like that. So of course not. I didn't, I didn't have COVID or anything, but just still nobody wants to be sick around now. So no sucks.

Speaker: Yeah. So let's do that. It means we get to put a whole bunch of stuff into it because yeah, we get the one. Yeah. And the one bear with us, but it'll be entertaining and buckles up. Yeah. Oh, open them up. I'm unbuckling. Yeah. Dropped in trial as I do.

Speaker: I'm just on your favorite podcast up, share, download, review. As always give our good friend, George, the fancy, very geek, um, a bit of support by buying him a coffee or a beer. Indeed. We know he's on this until six nations this time, but still be charitable around the holidays. Right. Exactly. He's been so kind throughout the year. Yeah. You're in bonus for the man. Right.

Speaker: As always, there's no discrimination on this podcast nor should there be in life or in sports. Um, one thing you and I talked about sports, especially not sports fucking. Yeah, no, but one thing you and I talked about the other week, um, was, um, obviously there's a new movie coming out called avatar, which was a good one the first time around, but it might not get the same reaction this time because the director came out.

Speaker: and said something really fucking stupid, like not only stupid, just like asshole. Like, right. Come on. And the story is like, I don't get it. How like, how is this still like the first one? Like it's I get the visual. The visuals are cool, but the story is so fucking derivative. Like, yes, we have all seen Pocahontas. We've we know the story like.

Speaker: It's the same fucking story, but it's always like, oh, this, you know, the white man has to be the savior of the, like, you know, from the white man. It's like, how about, how about we just be, we don't be dicks, you know, especially when there's more than enough to go around. So.

Speaker: But yeah, so there's that the story kind of I don't get it I remember watching it and being like why the hell did what was so special? It was like a same thing with like knives out. I'm like what the hell is so special about this the first one or the new one I Haven't seen the new one because the new one's better. I was better. Okay. Yeah first one I was like this one's fucking stupid. Yeah, no It sucked no the new it's better

Speaker: But back to it was James Cameron that one said that, you know, maybe the indigenous peoples of the well, previously, you know, America prior to the United States would have fought harder for their land if they had known the suicide rate of of their descendants. And it's like, nope, that's not a man in it. Like, how about we try again? You know, it's like these people should have fought harder against us. Like, fuck you.

Speaker: Yeah, no, no, that is not compute, bro. You don't get to say that. We've we committed atrocities against them like they should have fought harder. Fuck you. Yeah, kind of bullshit. Yeah, just kind of. Right. And one thing I do want to touch on, because we're you know, we missed last week, this is what we were going to talk about last week. This week, obviously, we got to talk about Benetton.

Speaker: in the, yeah, the rotten banana in the room. That's, I just want to say that, you know, because we will move on to rugby stuff, but I'm glad they're doing a full investigation and getting prosecutors involved. It seems like, although I'm not sure how the law works over there, what exactly they're doing, but it does seem like whether it's legal or just within the union, I don't know. But

Speaker: they're getting people involved. It's not just going to be a, this person's punished. She says an apology and that's it. Like they're going to do, they're looking into, cause there's obviously systemic stuff. So a full investigation is absolutely the way to go. As long as they don't sweep things under the road, like let's hope they do it right. But it's the right, it's the right choice.

Speaker: Yeah, agreed. I feel like it's easier to sweep it under the rug if you had just said, oh, he apologized or, you know, if we find him or suspended it and both. And yeah, always easier to do that. But it's nice that they're not doing it in such a manner there. Right. It should never have happened. It should never have been like a. Something that would should be within the cult, like it shouldn't have been even thought to be acceptable. You know, in fact, the players laugh that this isn't good. No, no good man.

Speaker: Okay. And then don't forget that we have a Patreon for you all to subscribe to and lakes have been up. Boombust is up finally. Um, yeah, another Topsy Turvy. I'm still playing catch up over here. Yeah, me too. I haven't gotten the sheet updated for this week. I will. I'm sure that'll be out soon. Yeah. Out in time.

Speaker: But we did get, that was, that last one was almost fully updated with, with no real blips, right? The only, the only glitches are minutes. And who really gives a shit about that? I'll fix it. That's tough. That's tough, man. Yeah. I don't know where the hell was going wrong with that at all. I'll find it though. Yeah. It's in there. Yeah. It's a bug. Squash that bug.

Speaker: All right. So without further ado, even though the technical date was last week, we're going to do it anyway because we missed it. It's time for the festival. It can happen whenever it's, you know, for the soul. So I will let you, for those that aren't aware of what Festivus is, explain as you do so well. Festivus was invented by Seinfeld, the show, and it's a

Speaker: one of the character's curmudgeonly father's winter solstice holiday of preference, I guess is the way to put it. He has just a metallic, or it was an aluminum pole, no tinsel because he finds it distracting, so no decorations. And instead of a presence and whatnot, air grievances,

Speaker: you just lay it out there and you have a feat of strength. The Festivus can't be over until the feat of strength is completed. He has George Russell in one of the main characters. That's the feat of strength. But for us, how we do it is we obviously we are agreements is for the rugby world.

Speaker: And we do a feat of strength is by saying something nice about someone, something, something that you don't generally like. And that is what we will do. Right.

Speaker: For example, I guess I'll give my first grievance I got to air. I think it's no, we don't hide the fact that we are Saracen supporters. I, you know, newer to the pram and supporting Saracen's and Jared, likely more impatient because of it. But as Jared knows, Mark McCall has been kind of a pain in my butt recently.

Speaker: Um, he's the, the coach of Saracens or DOR. Um, I think he's doing a mediocre job with the talent. He's not getting nearly as much out of the talent as he should. And I feel like it's, it's almost like an Eddie Jones situation, except that McCall knows better because he's shown in the past that he can open it up and play. And then he went all last year of very conservative, like he's coaching it, like he's a test coach.

Speaker: And it's not a test match. It's a fucking pre -match. Just fucking play rugby. You guys are good. They'll win on town alone. They are winning on town alone because you're not letting them do much else. You're not letting them really attack and expose the defense. And when they do that, they're super effective. And I also don't like the team that he names. Jared can tell you how many times I've been texting him, like, these wings fucking suck. Everyone who's not named Max Nalins or Daly when he plays there,

Speaker: every other one just fucking slow. They're they're they're they're fucking dick handed. They're not good. They're not threats. And it's like that's all you know, all the other stuff. You're missing this one thing. And thank God for Ivan Van Zell. He's he's saved McCall's bacon seriously, because their scrum half position last year was was. Yeah. And step forward big time and he stepped up and cleaned that shirt. So but without him that that's it. That's all they got.

Speaker: So I'm just kind of annoyed by the way his stewardship, and they're still, I mean, fuck, they're top of the table. So what am I complaining about? But it's like, they could be better. They could still be better, which is terrifying. You could be Lenster and you're, you're choosing to be more like Lester than Lenster. And right now I don't want to be Lester, even though they won the prem last year, I want to be Lenster who's possibly the best club team in the world. And you have that ceiling and he's not, he's not pushing him to it. And that annoys me.

Speaker: Yeah. And we, you and I witnessed firsthand what happens when they decide to open it up, you know, again, against, against Lester and that, that is.

Speaker: That is fun stuff to be a part of. It really is. And it's better for the players, but yeah. Right. But it's better for the players. Like they're having more fun when you constrain them, you know, like that's, what are you doing? You're like, Oh, you have all this talent. Well, you're not going to use it. Right. Yeah. Not really advised. Not really advised. Okay. So.

Speaker: I will begin my airing of grievances with an organization that is near and dear, maybe not so much, but definitely top of our minds almost always, and that is United States Rugby. The mismanagement isn't just like this World Cup cycle. I think people need to understand that. And maybe we didn't get into that last time when we were kind of

Speaker: undressing the the United States as much as we as we could it is just it goes so much deeper it goes all the way back to do you remember the rugby channel once upon a yesteryear and that was like a thing that cost them so much money and it was supposed to make the money right and that was a decision made by USA rugby and it's been decisions as such like as such that have continued to just

Speaker: you know, handcuff us and then we go, then we go out of our way to pay way too much money to a Gary gold, which I had no issue with Gary gold, but like we paid too much money to a guy that wasn't going to coach that many test matches because we're too stupid to figure out how to schedule test matches. So it's, you know, it's a number of things. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a number of things. It's the over -reliance on, um, expats,

Speaker: which in your tier two, you have to rely on that to a point. Yeah. And that's that I understand. But so we just don't bother to build on. Yeah, we just don't bother to build our base. You know, we're an inverse pyramid right now. It's not good. You know, it's it's a lot of it's or no, we are a pyramid. Excuse me. We're we're very we're very top heavy. We have no base or no. That's exactly right. I have race. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: This is what happens when I don't have enough beer. You're tired, you're too sober. I'm too sober. But yeah, it's an inverse pyramid. Way too much at the top, where our funnel is very small and it's no good. It's not producing players from a young age and I think there are some, now that the MLR has been well established for what, five, six years now.

Speaker: It's going to help and we see you and I can see kind of. Right. Because I hope it gives me opportunity. Like it gets more opportunity to someone like Cam Davidovits, who would not have gotten a sniff anywhere else, but is showing that, fuck, this guy can play.

Speaker: And like, yeah, he'll, he'll get there, but it's like the, oh, how many, how many can divin it? And that's not even fair. Cause because mystic has been like, you know, one of those, um, you know, trying to be like a top flight thing, like they're trying to be the elite, um, what have you and being that like, Oh, we're a pathway to something.

Speaker: But it's like, it's not, they're the guys that they import aren't doing it. It's like this, this random guy who decided to do the work himself and kicks that ass. Like, yeah, that's, we need more like, there's, you know,

Speaker: there's so many players out there who never will never get an opportunity. And it's not that like they don't deserve one. It's just that nobody's looking for them because they don't fit the mold. Like USA has that mold. Like, oh, you have to be this or this or this. And yeah. And you have to go to this camp and you have to do this, you know, to prove yourself with this. So. Right. And there's the, and there's, you know, there's Corbusier who's not.

Speaker: who's doing kind of a thing that we need to do because we do have athletes here.

Speaker: try and convert some of our athletes that just aren't gonna quite make it into the bigger professional sports that could still make it in rugby. But you just gotta teach them. That's the thing, it's coaching. It's coaching. It really is. And coaching is obviously something, as much as player personnel and staff lacks, coaching lacks here too. There's no question about it.

Speaker: Coaching lacks, refereeing lacks, it's pretty bad. You know, you get three problems and none of which they're really addressing. So like, you know, I'm sorry, I'm a complete dunderhead when I know the laws better than most referees that step foot on the pitch for the kids.

Speaker: Yeah, it's like, well, this is gonna be fun. And they don't watch it so they don't know like they don't really looking at exactly so they just have their own interpretation and it's usually not correct. Yeah, I usually and you know, I usually go out of my way afterwards to ask them like how much rugby do you watch? Yeah, in general, and it's usually just MLR, which is not a good standard to watch.

Speaker: Right. Like I had a, I had a ref recently twice with BU this year, name of Ben. So obviously he's a good guy. He was, he was in the air kind of, but he had a long pretty well. So, but he was like,

Speaker: He was new to refereeing, but he watches rugby. I talked to him afterwards. He was super excited to get back and watch a replay of a pre -match. And I was like, excellent. I'm like, you're getting it right. He's more like you. Do I agree with every decision he made? No, but it was one of those I still liked him. It was like, no, OK, he didn't like that one. But he'll give me one that I do like later, and that'll be fine. And he did. He balanced it well. And he's new. We need that.

Speaker: We don't need those old heads who to, you know, learned in the eighties and still don't know. She still don't know anything. Yeah. There was a young one we have had as well. And I was, I asked him, I was just like, so are they going to like push you into the playoffs or anything? He's like, no, I'm done. I was just like, Oh man. You're, you're better. He was better than that. Yeah.

Speaker: I know the names that got put into the high school playoffs and none of which I was excited about. Yeah. So I was like, uh, so yeah, lots of problems, all of which sit at the base, at the base of it with, you know, lack of talent at the, at the, at the lower levels, lack of, um, coaching and lack of, you know, referee proficiency. Yeah.

Speaker: All right. My, my second grievance and final is, is a general thing. Obviously where we're, well, I have a coaching bug too, but we're, we're on that theme. Um, test coaches who are up their own asses and put themselves in their ego above the team. And I, for example, one who's recently fired.

Speaker: There's a few of them out there. And well, two of them are recently fired. They're like, OK, first off, you coach 10 to 15 matches a year. Right. That's it. Yeah. And some, you know, what are you doing breaking your players? And why are you having this this ruling training? I get they need to be in shape and whatnot. But like it's rugby game in shape by having them play rugby.

Speaker: and just running, not this like, you know, VCL type bullshit, like flying them out somewhere else where they're and they're not, you know, we'll fucking touch a rugby ball, but they'll just do fitness for, you know, three or three days. And it's like, that's your camp. Like. You need to get them in shape, well, not in shape, but like in form to play the international game, and they just don't do that. And then they don't like they pick the players that they like rather than, you know, who are good for the team.

Speaker: Or, you know, because it's like, well, they don't play the style I like. Well, then fucking change your style. Right. Like, if you need to have like this kind of guy and you don't have that kind of guy, so you just pick a guy you like and say, oh, he can do it, they can't do it. Like you're putting yourself above like nobody. Coaches love to say this and we see this in the NFL, too, like Belichick. Belichick has has has regressed considerably since he put himself above the team.

Speaker: And you started doing things that made, you know, you know, he wants to be right. So I'm going to do this. And and no, the team is the team like you have to live in the world you have and with the players you have work with them to do the best. Don't just fuck with them. Like and like I said earlier, they have all this, you know, they have XYZ talent. Use it. Don't just use X and especially they don't use players who are not really that good at X, you know.

Speaker: You gotta, right. I don't quite, it does make it seem so much harder than it really is. I mean, come on. Like, who'd you really, how much, you know, work do you really have to do? Honestly, to beat like a Fiji type, like that, you don't have to do much preparation because they just fucking chuck it around. So you just, you know, there's, yeah, there's a couple of teams you need to get them, you know, you need to get them in position to, to beat when, you know, one, you know, one game for it all. You know, if you're a high level test coach, so work on those.

Speaker: You know, work on what you need to do. And yeah, the whole Eddy, oh, we were right there. It's like, you haven't done shit. It's been two years since you've like really shown an attack. No, nobody's believing it. You have to actually do it in a game. You can't just be like, oh, you know, all these coaches that I've ever grown up with have always said you can't just flip a switch. And to an extent, that's true.

Speaker: And, you know, it's not, you know, depending on what they're talking about, but in this case, you can't just go from, you know, we're shelling, we're shelling, we're shelling, you know, we're just playing defense. We're just kind of going into a shell to, okay, now we're just gonna, we're gonna open it up. Now we're gonna open our attack up. It doesn't work that way. You're gonna be off kilter. You're gonna be thinking that your timing's off. You don't, nobody knows how to really play with each other. No, it doesn't work that way. You gotta like open it up and let the players play. It's about them anyway. Oh, we should be.

Speaker: Always should be. Yep. Yeah. The coaches who want to win, who claim to want to win it and they basically want to win it for themselves. It's like, no, you don't win. Those coaches rarely win. And when they do, it's because they have, they get lucky and have the right players. It has nothing to do with their skill. Yeah. I know. We've seen many coaches that just rode the coattails of really good players. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Speaker: So my second and final will be about the, and it sounds like it's been walked back, thankfully, but these stupid trial laws that the permission was proposing, or whoever it was, was proposing, and they were just so ridiculous. And I was just like, let's not, number one, let's not change laws while we don't have to, okay? We haven't talked about the stuff that's come out from World Rugby.

Speaker: They're not really changing laws. They're just enforcing them basically is what it comes down to and that's fine. Yeah, you know enforce those keep going um I like that law about the uh, the you have to you have to try to keep your feet in a rock And apparently they just don't like that. Yes that to me says the crocodile role is illegal Right because you're not trying to keep your feet i'm good with that. That's that's a great now i'm into that rule, but like enforce it

Speaker: Yeah, enforce things, you know, yeah, I didn't realize that was in the rules. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely in there has been for a while, but yeah, but I didn't realize so silly to put in more laws like that. Number two about that thing.

Speaker: If you're looking for better entertainment, number one, the league is very entertaining. If you haven't noticed, it was, it's very unpredictable. And Ben and I are going to get into that in a little bit. Um, it's very unpredictable. So that in itself is great. And we're talking about squeaky bum time left, right and center.

Speaker: very watchable in a lot of ways. But also, if you're looking for more fans, more engagement, one, get your fucking website fixed, because we can't read match reports on certain matches, and that's a weekly thing. That's stupid. That is a basic. And two, as we've said,

Speaker: It takes nothing to get a rugby game up and running. It really does. It really doesn't take much. It's a basic straightforward thing. Right. By the rugby mag. It's all right. The infrastructure is there and it's perfect. It's so amazing as a site. Yeah. Like how you have all this money to pay guys like Eddie Jones.

Speaker: use a little bit of it. Well, I know that's the prem and RFU, but still the RFU should be funding that too, which should come from the, you know, yeah. All right. Sorry. If a, if a, if the automation series can have a fantasy game, so can the prem. So if the, if both six nations can have a fantasy game, so can the prem. It's not going to be hard. And that's super rudimentary too. Yeah.

Speaker: Even if it is something as basic as those ones, do it. Your engagement will go through the roof. Speaking from something that's comparable, Premier League, fancy Premier League is very rudimentary. It is based on goals, assists, and clean sheets, and there's a couple of weird bonuses thrown in there. It is so fucking popular.

Speaker: Can't even tell you that. And I know the league's much more popular than the Premiership, but still, you keep engagement with that stuff. They have their own Twitter handle for just fancy Premier League. The engagement is very easy and right there, but just they're ignoring it and they're trying to go a thousand different ways away from it except this way. It's like, just accept it and let's stop being dumb, you know?

Speaker: Everybody talks about fancy NFL and I barely watch the league and I play it, you know, like it is something that will never be matched by premier ship, but to ignore it and just, you know, completely sweep it under the rug is stupid because there's so, there's so much to be gained from it. The engagement on the table and money.

Speaker: It's just from ads alone. Yeah. It would be worth it. You would make that money back in ads alone. Yeah. Run an ad on the side of the site. Right. We've got to pay attention to it. It'll still bring him on. Exactly. Yeah. It's real easy. Okay. Time to lift some weights, buddy. All right. Okay. Here we go. Um,

Speaker: There's been a recent trend of teams changing their styles and becoming more successful for it. In some cases like Ireland, it's relaxing the structure because they're way overconstrained the players as I was saying, they're not getting to use their full talents and now they're

Speaker: They opened it up a little bit and that's been helpful. And then on the other side, there's like a France who have gone the other way. Instead of like, loosey goosey, just chuck it around. There's more structure to it and holy shit are the results there. And there'd be kind of match those kind of, you know, two teams who poop very similarly now.

Speaker: I got to say, I really like what South Africa have done with their structure. And I think it's going to make them, it makes them so much more dangerous because they're now, yeah, they still have the, the, the brutal physicality and they, they have it on defense and they do have it obviously, uh, you know, it's about just has it whenever he's around the, you know, some sort of context situation, he's going to be bringing pain. Um,

Speaker: whether or not it's legal or clean, but that's not the point. It's just, you know, it's going to happen, so you got to be ready for it. But the structure is there and it's really opening them up and it's really making a lot of the players more valuable and it's really showing up as a good thing. It's something that they needed to do.

Speaker: You know, it's weird how they, you know, they won one of maybe the really fat. I don't know. I think New Zealand would have housed them that year. So it's just kind of like they kind of won because Eddie let them. Eddie played the way that you need to play for Eddie played that game the way South Africa needed an opponent to play to win that style. And now they play more than that. And so they're they're going to put more pressure on the other team, not just defensively. And that's

Speaker: That's good to see it's good for the game. Only good for their game. Right. And I'm also annoyed that people who said they couldn't do it because they don't have the resources. I'm like, no, that doesn't make any sense. So yeah, it's not about resources. It's just about coaching style and doing what's best for the team. Yeah, I'd say they have.

Speaker: In a lot of ways, it's that they have plenty of resources. Right. Right. The player pool is not lacking. Exactly. Like I'm not as an U .S. rugby person. I'm really not. You know, U .S. rugby is not comparable to say the U .S. Army in terms of resources. Definitely not. Definitely not. OK, so something nice. So I am I'm definitely a big proponent of

Speaker: referees from a certain country that aren't always my favorite. And I usually am like, Oh no. When I see one in a champions cup game or in a test match, I'm like, God damn it. They're here. Here goes the neighborhood. But I have to say the last like year and a half, I have no issue with natural right now.

Speaker: I have very few grievances against the guy for, you know, as much as like we, we've had like garces and girls there and plot, like all, all of which I couldn't stand to watch free a test match, especially.

Speaker: you know, right. I'll start a really good job. And he's he's he understands what I think he also now understands the teams he's refereeing and not necessarily just, you know, goes. Isn't he the one that that joined a didn't join a coaching staff to me? Was that was that on him? No, that's what a lot of the referees do in France when they're done. So like, OK, on that. OK. Ruiz, who's terrible, has done that as well. Yeah.

Speaker: But yeah, like he's, I wasn't sure if he was getting more the play, like really understanding what he's reffing. Yeah. No, he's, he, he does, he does understand what he's, what he's doing now. And you know, we, we talk about enforce the laws that are there. Bernard Foley time wasting. Sorry to Australia fans, but like if you warned him several times and he keeps, and I, and I have to say he communicates better than most French referees out there for sure. Like he is, he is very straightforward and tells him how it is.

Speaker: like nope this is what i want most french referees just shut the fuck up and they're just and they leave you guessing around the um around the breakdown and you're just like what do i do and he's been very he's been much better about it so i give him i give him loads of credit for that and yeah in referring the laws as they're there you know the game he had the other week with Exeter and Bulls you know those are two teams he would never referee otherwise and i

Speaker: you know the score line might have made it easier but really I don't think he had and he had no real mistakes of note and that's how he's been mostly here too so I give him I give him a lot of credit and that's that's me saying that about um french referees which I'm usually just like pulling my hair out when I see them yeah as a as who's got the whistle in a match I'm like oh no not him not him anymore at least let's put it that way

Speaker: Oh, okay. That was nice. And it's all out there now. And I'm spent. Oh, wait, except for now we get the more. We have more. Oh, wait, there's more. Well, wait, there is more. So we're gonna go through our five moments of the year. Mm hmm.

Speaker: because we are on the 28th, obviously. So now we're going to, this is now year end stuff that we would be doing this week. So best of missiles last week. Right. Um, all right. I'll leave this off since you lit off the other one. Sure. Thanks. So we'll start with number five. Number five for me, despite all the issues that are going on with, um, United States rugby, one of my favorite moments this year, we are awarded the World Cup.

Speaker: That's nice for 31 and 33. So that to me is, is still a step forward, despite the fact that team itself has taken a step back. That is a step forward for the country in general. It's definitely one of those two steps forward, maybe one and a half steps back at this point. But right. Yes, I like it. This means that we're not, we were definitely have at least one difference because that's not in mind. There we go.

Speaker: So my, are we doing, we're switching off. My, my top, my fifth best moment of the year is the, uh, Freddie Burns penalty to win the prem. Yeah. Yeah. And again, Saracen's fans saying that that's the, that was, wasn't even penalty. It was a droppy. Oh, it was a droppy. Fuck. That's right. It was a droppy. Fuck that makes it even better. I, I, sorry, sorry, Frederick. Um, yeah, the droppy to win.

Speaker: even better. Yeah, I that's what it Yeah, just ballsy moment. And then obviously, we love the guy. So who's one of the Jared. That's one of those motherfucker. He did it. Well, can't be mad. Yeah, I can't be mad.

Speaker: Well, it's really hard to call as I was earlier. Right. That's that's what we were mad at. Not the right mother, not who did it and how it happened. Yeah. Good. Good on you, man. Like big balls getting it done. We've seen you be a clutch before. So, yeah. Yeah. Good on him. Number four for me was

Speaker: This was a particularly fun year to be a free Jax fan, even though things didn't go well in the playoffs, but best record in MLR. We're the first team to win what 13 games. I think it was. So, um,

Speaker: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. I felt fortunate to be a season ticket holder and to be at 90 % of those matches. And that was a whole lot. It was just a fun season in general. The end left a bitter taste, but really overall, the season was so much fun, especially all the home games. We only had the one loss at home, and that was at the end winning.

Speaker: And we had that at the end, which was kind of the shit kickers we're in at that point. So not really going to worry about that one. But yeah, so hopefully more of the same this year. Right. Right. My number four is this is split between two moments in one game because of what they meant.

Speaker: First is, um, the Josh Fender Fleer, try three minutes in. And the second is the Rob Herring mall. Peel, try it, you know, 64 minutes or so, um, versus New Zealand to win the series. Yep. That's a good one. Like Ireland winning and like, I went, these go up in order of importance. Um, so that, that, you know, to win a test match series against New Zealand and New Zealand. Fuck yeah. Yep.

Speaker: That is my number three moment of the year is Island Island in New Zealand. So yeah, it was it was obviously is a monumental thing. You know, New Zealand don't lose New Zealand very often, let alone walk into Yeah, let alone lose the series. So it was

Speaker: pretty notable that they that they lost the series for and, you know, obviously, people had to stand up and take note of Ireland. And at the same time, people realized maybe New Zealand isn't what they used to be, which I think at this point, we can mostly agree that they aren't. Right. If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Speaker: Yeah, if it bleeds. So it's and it speaks well to what Ireland are building. It speaks well to what Andy Farrell is doing. It's very it's a good, you know, a good Ireland team is good for World Rugby. So let's see what that means going forward. And I do still believe a good all blacks team means it's good for World Rugby as well. So we'll see if they rebound.

Speaker: And then we just get ourselves a powder cake in France in 2023. So, yes, that is my number three moment here. So then my number three is is my U .S. involvement moment. Not in a good way. Not positive. Rodrigo Fernandez, Tri versus USA to the World Cup entry like what a fucking run. Yeah.

Speaker: I mean, oh, that's one of the again, you can't I can't be mad at him. No. Every U .S. player that missed. Every U .S. player that missed. It should never have been that close anyway. And so good on him for being like, oh, fuck you. We're not just going to keep it close. We're going to win. Like, yeah, good. And it didn't win it, but it made a huge difference in that score line because obviously it made it easier for them to come here to Infinity Park to upset us and

Speaker: Really, if you take that one out, that makes it so much easier for the US to qualify. Yeah. So I give him, yeah, loads of credit to the guy and he just decided I'm doing this on my own damn self. He knew he was, he knew he was covered in wet. He's like, yeah, I'm covered in mud. I'm wet. There's no way they're gonna attack me if I do this right. Sure enough. Sure enough. Yeah. Number two.

Speaker: The rugby yanks make it to London. Oh, that was great. And what a weekend it was and took me a good week to recover from it. Yeah, I did. I am not mad about it at all. No. Europoint zero regret and what we did, I can confirm like,

Speaker: You know, the only regret I had was I maybe should have got the hoodie that Ben got instead of the one I got. I just want to rectify that. I have that one now too, so not a problem. Really, that's it. I had a little FOMO about that. That wasn't the most. Other than that, it was such a great weekend. It was. It was fantastic.

Speaker: still pinch myself about it. Every part of it was, except for Friday night, trying to find a rugby at a bar. That was the only - We get to explore London a little bit. We did. We did. It just really was, yeah, that was the fucking perfect trip. It's rare that you have a perfect trip. This was everything we wanted and could ever expect and more. So,

Speaker: Yeah, we were also half cocked trying to find that part pretty much the entire time. So yeah, we have talked trying to find that, find our way around on Friday night. So that wasn't helpful in any way. My number two, so I didn't, yeah, I didn't, I, I kept this very, you know, world rugby picture. I had to put that in there. Yeah.

Speaker: Um, my, my number two is Emily scarlet's tribe versus Canada and the semis of the world cup where it's like, no, I'm back. Yeah. Um, or, you know, not that I'm a scarlet. Sorry. I'm thinking, um, what was it? Uh, Dow, Abbey Dow. Yeah. Dows. No, I knew, I knew where you were going. I knew where you were going. Yeah. I was distracted. I was taking these notes earlier. I was like, I know I have these, like, I just threw, I branched them out.

Speaker: So sorry, Abby, down down. My apologies. Yes. Now I knew where you were going, though. Yeah. The one that. Yeah. What a way to, you know, break in your leg in the in the Six Nations just to come back like, you know, Tia owing it and crushing it like really well done. Yeah, really. That was just a spectacular try in itself, along the fact where it was and the magnitude of it at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing stuff. Mm hmm.

Speaker: Do we have the same number one? Probably. Rugby World Cup final, Eden Park. A final for the ages. For the ages. This one will live on forever. I will tell my nieces and my nephews about this final for a long fucking time. And I wasn't even there. I can only imagine what the hell people that were there are gonna talk about.

Speaker: because that was an epic, epic final. And I don't use epic very often. So that should tell you a lot. Yeah. That was one of the best rugby matches I've ever seen. On top of it all. Right. The only match that compared to that for me was probably Ireland, New Zealand in terms of, excuse me, Ireland, France.

Speaker: in the sixth nation this past year in terms of quality and two teams going at it and the competitiveness of it, that was the closest one I could think of. But yes, this one was definitely top of the cake for sure. And I did pick an exact moment, I had to, because of the way it was. It wasn't just like, the line out win at the death. Yeah.

Speaker: You don't do that. That's a fucking championship way to win a game. So you deserve a trophy for that. But that's what you have to do to win them too. It's like a double -edged kind of thing. They think, oh, that's the best weapon that England have. And New Zealand spoiled it. And it's so hard to do.

Speaker: Yeah. And go on them because it was selling out. They're saying, well, this is if we don't get this, they're going to win anyway. So you might as well go get it because we're not we're not defeating that mall ballsy. And obviously Ruby Tui not even waiting for the final whistle to start celebrating. She knew right away that it was over.

Speaker: Classic. Love it. If I had to pick the moment. Yeah. If I had to pick a moment besides that one, it would probably be Stacy's try. That's that. Dement looked like she was going to kick the touch and she said, fuck it. Quick tap moved, moved it wide and Stacy broke it offloaded it. Got it back. Scored. I was like, OK, that that that's special. That is special right there. So remember, boys and girls, when you get the ball in space, you're you're not you're more dangerous the more times you touch the ball.

Speaker: Like you touch it once. Okay, great. I'll float it and then look for support. And that's when you score. Like, yeah, it's not going to think to mark you again. Right. They get lost. Yep. It gets lost in the shuffle for sure. All right. Well, glad we got there. At least one was the same.

Speaker: That's good, though. We had we had a lot of good moments. It's good that we could remember them all. So that's that's excellent. Yeah, we got there. Got that. I had like so hard to decide between everything, you know, in my head. I'm like, all right, how can we get that? No, those are my first five. These were literally the five that came out immediately. And I'm like, wait, then I then I thought more because obviously just. Yeah, true. Tell I just spat them down on on paper. And then I was like, OK, what's better than that? I'm like, oh, fuck, I got nothing. Yeah, nothing, man.

Speaker: So nothing I like. Yeah, I like that you you went outside. I was just thinking World Rugby. So I'm glad that you put in, you know, our rugby adventures to, you know, here at home and abroad. Yeah, you know, a few little times. Mm hmm. Very good times. All right. So now we're going to go into the 15th of the year. Mm hmm. 15 of the year, and we'll name our coach of the year as well. OK.

Speaker: Um, I did a player of the year as well, but yeah, I have one highlighted as well. Okay. All right. So loose head. We might have said, yeah, Genji. Yeah. So we think we have the same loose head. Yeah. Just

Speaker: And the fact that he's gone from Luster and the fact that Luster are where they are. And that was without, that was before Steve Northwick left. Right. Kras says a lot. It does. He like, they lost a lot. I, you know, no doubt. But the biggest hole is, is Genge. He was there, like, he was the, their best attacking threat, really. They don't really have much. I mean, other than Visa, who's still there, but like, they don't have anybody who's stepping up to be that replacement in the pack.

Speaker: Right. I need to find ways to fill it. I don't know if they can money ball the shit out of it. Like some, some teams have tried, but yeah, it's not, but it's not gone well either way. No. Book. Cocaine. Cocaine. Yeah. It's funny. You and I flipped that.

Speaker: Cause I picked to Tosi because you and I had, we had the two of them in our, in our 15th of the year for the 15th tournament. So I went with to Tosi, um, wanted to give her some love. Cause yes, as you pointed out before, um, better in the loose by far. And that, that to me just spoke well to me. So you, you.

Speaker: I had, I wanted to put the finalist that I put into it in the 15, but really overall, I really enjoyed Tootosie as a player throughout the year. So give her a thumbs up. And I just really love cocaine. I bet the fuck you do. Which is funny because I don't touch drugs. So no, yeah, but it just makes me laugh. Tighthead.

Speaker: There's really only one that you are allowed to pick this year. So I picked Franz Malerbe. It was good. There's, it's really hard to say otherwise. I went with Furlong only because of the Nazeemah victory, but that's, yeah. And, and, you know, it's hard to say no to Ty Furlong, but I don't disagree with yours either. So by any means whatsoever, he's, he's, he's a tough nut to crack. No doubt. Yeah. So yeah, I don't disagree with that in any way, shape or form.

Speaker: Into the engine room. This was a down year for locks. I got to say it was tough. Yeah. There was some, there was some, some messed up going on. Yeah. Um,

Speaker: So both of mine come from the women's game because no kidding. OK, those are the ones that I, you know, I thought played the best. And that's my arus, who was on my. Yeah, I wrote 15 and the others, Abby Ward, who is just a fucking terror. They're both in my I believe they were both in my 15th of the tournament. So yeah, I didn't have Abby in my 15th tournament, but she gets I thought she played well in six nations as well. Six nations as well. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when we bring everything in.

Speaker: Yep, that's why that goes there same with same with cooking Yeah, so I went with a guy that's a difference maker notably at least When he comes in and that's that's Beth Like yes, you can tell the difference of a team both right, you know when like point point out the Italy game especially in Italy are on the up and you know, South Africa are

Speaker: wallowing because they had the obviously ship bag got suspended so on and so forth and he came in and just all of a sudden things just changed like no more there was there was no more you know ambition from italy there was still ambition but yeah he stifled it but you just felt the air change in that match and he he does it so often

Speaker: He's how he didn't make the second row of the of the year. I don't know. I really don't. He's so good that you just can't.

Speaker: ignore it, like, even the shit like, so he gets very faff, except he's like the anti he's like, too fast, essentially. He's just so physically, who is he shaking? Genj or Sinclair? Sinclair, just fucking shaking him like a ragdoll. And it's like, but he's not really like attacking him. He's just fucking with him a little bit. And so what are you gonna do? Like,

Speaker: That's what he does. Yeah. And he like you it's so fucking annoying to play against someone like that. But God damn, if he isn't good to like, he can play in the loose to for a guy that size. Fuck. Yeah. No, that's a good. That's a good shout. I like I begrudgingly really like it's I do too. I do too. I've even since he's, you know, back when he way, but he was at Worcester once upon a year, was he not? So even then. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So I liked him a long time.

Speaker: So my other in my other lock is also from Ireland type burn. Um, but it's not just, I appreciate what he does all the way from club level to international level as well. Like he's been, he's always one of the standout players, not just because of the, not just because of the color of his scrum cap. That's a very notable obviously, but he, he really is like.

Speaker: Everybody talks about James Ryan for Ireland. And really, I don't think that's the guy that think it's burn. Yeah. You know, James Ryan isn't bad by any. No, he's still one. That's not what I meant to say. But yeah, no, I still would put I would still if I have to pick a lock from Ireland under my head, I take type burn. And yeah, and that is how it is. You know, I just think he's slightly better than the loose and still does all the other things you're supposed to do as a type five forward. So I give him a load of credit.

Speaker: To my mind, he was on my, obviously he's one of my considerations. He's one of my favorite locks. I thought he had a fairly, for Tygburn, I thought he had a substandard year.

Speaker: Maybe that's it. You know, I mean, he's still a fantastic player, but it's not this was not the tie burn of last year or two years ago. So not that he was bad by any means. It's just I think it's that because the guy who's my number seven takes up a lot of air that, you know, takes takes up a lot of oxygen in the attack. So it's just that he's he's featured less. So it's not exactly his fault. Right.

Speaker: We'll start with six. Go ahead. We have the same seven. Six. We better. I thought it was a bad year for sixes too. Well, I cheated and slid someone to six. I did that for the World Cup. I'm not going to do that for this one. It's really Khaleesi.

Speaker: Yeah. You'll never get an argument out of saying, see, at least I thought he played well this year too. I thought he, and I think he's been really good. He was, I thought he was excellent in the champions cup when I was watching him there too. So it's like, he's, he's doing it at all levels. So. Yeah. And he's, and he was good at this autumn, especially I think as well. Yeah. Especially after, um, dumb, dumb gut gut and gut, uh, the suspension as well. Yeah.

Speaker: I could not put my guy, Artie Savaya in there for a team of the year. Think about how down New Zealand was this year. Artie Savaya did not have a bad game. No. And I'm pretty sure you didn't have a bad game in the Hurricanes shirt either. So in a team that was meh, you always noted Artie Savaya and his effort and what he was doing. And the guy's a monster on top of it.

Speaker: Show of hands of people that want to defend Artie Zavaya right now. Nobody. The list is on no one. Plus, he's a good poacher. He's a good leader. Yeah. And that's where I am with, again, back to my, you know, Festivus grievances with the people who are up their own asses. Why would you want...

Speaker: anybody other than R .D. Sevilla. Like, why has he not been just like, this is our eight or whatever? This is in the team every time. Yeah. And the team every like, what what don't you like that he does? You know, he can do so much more than fucking anybody else you got. Yeah. What the fuck? Always. Yeah.

Speaker: So, yeah, no, he's yes, like that's that's another one of those guys who like he should just be he's penned in not even pencil. Yeah, but it's long for him to get a stitch him in there. Yeah, I mean, he's into that lineup. Right. He's had shots before and played well. And then he just gets kind of dropped. It's like, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, I never get him using no hurricanes. They have to manage the midst, according to one.

Speaker: New Zealand rugby says, but like other than that, yeah, there's no reason to not name him really isn't Seven different Fender Flair that's Fender Flair. It's got to be it's got to be incredible against New Zealand incredible in the Six Nations Incredible for Leinster and incredible once again in the fall like just yeah, yeah

Speaker: You know, and we talked about winning matches in different ways for Ireland and they're able to do it. And it's because of him that they're able to win the matches, very sexy and pretty, and also just muddy and ugly as well. So, you know, he does it all. He really does. Yeah. It feels like nine times out of 10, you see the referee blowing on a whistle for holding on. And it's a guy with a red scrum cat getting up with the ball. Yeah.

Speaker: really is. So yeah. And yeah. And, and rightly got, got player of the year as well by world rugby. I don't think anybody could really argue it. No, I think I, I did not argue with them in my player of the year selection. And it's Dutch by the way, he's not. God damn.

Speaker: I understand the whole, like, thing going on in people's heads, but he's not chill the fuck out with the South African stuff. It's just fucking funnier this way, but goddamn, chill, dude. I find out, dude. Oh, man. I was like, what the fuck? Come on. Come on. Oh, man. All right. Who do you got to eat? A lady after our own heart, Sophie de Goody.

Speaker: Ah, Sophie the goodie as well. Yes. All right. Cool. Yeah. I mean, all that she does for that team and she's going to be there. Fuck. I'm so annoyed that I'm a you out here for 10 more years. We were like, Oh God, we're stuck with her for a long fucking time. And she's going to terrorize the United States for a long bloody time. Does she get, she doesn't have an overseas contract, doesn't she?

Speaker: How does she not have a overseas contract right now? I don't know. It's not right. That's criminal to me. It kind of is.

Speaker: Because God damn, she yes, she should be playing. We've got a culture and they should be bonding and hanging out. And she was at a series. She's 23. She's 23, 23. God damn it. Yeah. We've seen her for a long time. Yeah. She's going to be hanging out. She's going to get one of those road rugby player of the year's awards. I can feel right. Yeah. She was at series for a hot minute, but man.

Speaker: And she'll be able to play lock when she, when she can't play anymore too, which is kind of scary because she's big. Yeah. She is rather large, rather large. So she can, she can extend her career. She can play as long as she wants to really, she stays healthy. Yeah. I think we, I think most people would agree with that one. Oh, nine. JGP.

Speaker: Yeah, someone down here for nines, but James and Gibson park kind of the same reasons you were talking about with burn, except that in this case, I feel like for James and Gibson park, he's replacing a legend and somehow improving on that. And there's no disrespect to Connor Murray, but James and Gibson park is making that team hum.

Speaker: It's a different style. It's not that it is. It is. And obviously, Connor Murray is still valuable. He's shown that that every level still. It's just that for what Ireland want to do now, Gibson Park is better at it than than Murray is right now. You know, that's just a fact. Yeah. And that's why he's obviously leapfrogged him as well. So right. But, you know, to be the nine, you know, do all that pressure that he you know, and that he's just you know, that's a lot of fucking pressure to be like, OK, you're going to go play

Speaker: against New Zealand and New Zealand, you know, with Conor Murray on the team, but like you're starting, that's, yeah, at much higher pressure as an athlete than that. And dude, there was a long time when we, we tiered Conor Murray as one of the top halfbacks in the world. And he's not that bad. He's still not like he's terrible now. It's not like he's like, Oh, you're shit. He's still fucking good. It's just agreed.

Speaker: He's better now as a 20 minute replacement Gibson park and fucking park it for 60. No pun intended. I went with Sansu and partner. Yeah. Because I mean, she would have been head and shoulders the best nine at the World Cup if she hadn't got her, like no question about it in my mind.

Speaker: but still had a great year. You know, yes, Port on had to take her place, but still like, you know, it's so give it to her and just, you know, the wee bit that you have to for our partner. But yeah, Sansa. Yeah. Yep. Not a good shout to. And then sadly, we won't see her. No, it was a sad ending to the career. That was the other thing. Yeah, that's got to get you got to give her her due because she's she was under consideration for me too. Yeah. All right. Number 10. Dement. Yep.

Speaker: from New Zealand. Just, you know, didn't, wasn't good off the tee, we knew that. But really, other than that, that's everything you want from your 10 that she did. Indeed. In this, especially in that World Cup run. Yeah, a bar of the kicking, which I can excuse because she played so bloody well otherwise. Exactly. When you're still, when you're making up for the points that you're missing out on, that's okay. Yeah.

Speaker: Like kidding. Yeah. It's okay. You can miss it. A couple of conversions and DK's is you give us like 20 points a match just by being wizard re with the ball. Yeah, she did. She did well. And she took, she took their coaching advice that she got in the, in the style that she got from her coaches and used it well. Yeah. It's really nice. All right. Um, you want to go into the back three, you want to go into the midfield. Let's go midfield first. All right.

Speaker: My number 12, I feel like he's the best 12 in the world right now. Although it's getting better in general, but still, there's not many people that can do all the things that Andre Esterhasing can do. I had him on my short list and I didn't pick him, but he was close. Yeah, I think he's better than Damien Dale and they right now. Right.

Speaker: That'll come good with time. Just give it time. It'll come good. I agree. But holy fuck, is he good? Yeah, he really is. It's hard to argue with him. I mean, especially when you look at that performance that he put in down in South Africa for Quinn's, like, yeah, just kind of willing his team to get there. Right. They're never out of it if he's around. No. I mean, that's why Quinn's have been so good because they have no...

Speaker: No shortage of guys like that, you know, between Dom Brent himself, you know, Esther Hayes and Smith care, Murley March, like you can just go down the list of these guys will, if they get the opportunity, they'll keep you in matches at the very least. Esther Hayes and being in the middle of it has a little bit of a harder job, but he does it really well. He does his part makes it so much easier for the rest of them.

Speaker: Yeah. You know, you worry about Esther Hayes and then it's like, Oh, shit. I got all these other guys to worry about too. An attack in defense. Like he will both just pull you over and, and, and trip your, your defensive continuity to shreds. Um, while at the same time, like you might have a plan, a play in mind that he's just going to lay out, you know, put pressure, let out your guy and make him, you know, force bad plays.

Speaker: Um, yep. Yeah. It's, it's hard to be that complete in that kind of position and that physical and play every minute and all that shit. Yep. So you talked about a guy that's played the place to all that does a lot. And I mean, a lot, he does seemingly everything for his team. He, you know, he's not capped yet, but he would be, he may well be very soon. Um, but my 12 is, um, Ben, uh, Janssen, Ben redsberg.

Speaker: He's seemingly out of nothing in so many ways from for last year and just has grown in one his role.

Speaker: for the exiles, but to what he does for them in general and how he just is able to be productive and help his team. And it's just, it's absurd at so many levels. He's the inverse of a busy wing. Like he comes off of his 12 channel and will be on the wing and just be like, Oh, I'm going to score this like a winger. What the fuck dude? Did that a couple of times. Yep.

Speaker: Who the fuck do you think you are? Right. Apparently he's been out. I mean, yeah, that'll say that in a bad way. Right. But it's like, well, what makes you think you're allowed to do that, dude? Absolutely. And he's just, yeah, I smell more for him in the future. I do.

Speaker: I do, I do, I do. And, you know, and what was it? What's been a meh exiles team? He's been he's certainly been a bright spot. He really has. He's he does that for them, too. He does that the same kind of role that, as I said, that Esther Hazen has, except he does. He doesn't do all that well, but he does more a little bit. You know, he does different things. Yeah. But has that same kind of. Yeah, I'm the guy you want on the line with bone hand or on defense. Yeah.

Speaker: Thirteen. Good shit. Outside. Emily Scarat. This is why I had Emily Scarat because I was I was I had her on the brain while I was doing that. And then, yeah, that's why I took her into the baby gap. Agreed. Just guess. Yeah, it's. It's hard to put into words what Emily Scarat means for not only her team, but for England rugby in general. Right. It really is. And she she continued to show that in the World Cup, especially

Speaker: If you've heard the legendary story of her having to wring out her sock twice in that Australia quarterfinal or whatever it was. I don't know what the exact round was, but yeah, just ridiculous. And she's. I think it was against Canada because that was, that was, they still threw the ball around anyway. Like, no, that was against Australia. Was it? Okay. That was the really rainy, rainy, rainy game. Oh yeah. Okay.

Speaker: um got it yeah gross but yeah because there's u .s play candidate in that that's right we're trying to find the right word for her in terms of who she is overall for that team for just women's rugby in general but also for england rugby specifically just talus woman doesn't quite do it but it's close and then if somebody can give me a better word please help me out because she deserves

Speaker: I mean, she deserves her own adjective, really. It's like something akin to Saint. Getting there. Sister. Yeah, she's performed several miracles. Yeah, like no. I agree. Everything you said. Yeah, she's been great. All right, let's go to the back three. The exciting, the really exciting part.

Speaker: Let's start with the wings. I thought it was somewhat of a down year for wings. There are a couple that performed well at club levels and some that were decent in internationals. So again, I had to, but again, none of the men stood out to me.

Speaker: as far as I have two guys, but that's all right. Right. So and I also wanted to pay my respects to the women as much as the men on this one. And these two won a World Cup being awesome. Well, this one of the two. So my 11 is Portia Woodman. Okay, yeah, I had her in consideration, no doubt. Yeah, I mean,

Speaker: I mean, she was in my 15 at the tournament. So, yeah, yeah. I obviously recognize that she's, she is who she is and she's the legend that she is. But it's, oh yeah, it's just, man, there's no button there. It's just really hard to, another woman, it's really hard to describe what she does for New Zealand rugby. And we're going to talk about another one in a bit. I bet that's the same. And,

Speaker: Not only is she someone that can propel New Zealand rugby forward in general, like especially the women's game and the way she's played, the way she's carried herself as well. Just so good. So bloody good. And well, here's our chance to talk about the other one because my 11 was none other than Ruby two. Yeah. And she's my 14. Yeah. So yeah. Um, so.

Speaker: We talk about characters, and we talked about Marlar being a character, and despite the fact that what he did with his past yesterday, we won't get into that. But it is a game that needs characters in order to grow and to become popular, because people don't just want to watch a bunch of movies. I can honestly say that if

Speaker: If I was ever in a position where I was a player in that was in any sort of limelight, I would not be the character that rugby needs. I know I'm not. I'm not that type. You know, on the field, I can be a dick and you could probably see me ready to punch someone's lights out. But other than that, like in interviews, I'd be the most boring motherfucker out there without a doubt. Right.

Speaker: And then you have Ruby Toohey who just takes it to a whole new level as the person she is. And her book is very interesting. If you haven't read it, pick it up. It's very interesting.

Speaker: But, yeah, and it's like the sing along after the after the win. Like, who does that? Like in that, like that was her being overcome with the she gets the moment to she like it's more than just the game. It's more like especially the most players should play that kind of physical game. It's tiring and mentally tiring, not just physically. So to have the just the awareness of the moment and

Speaker: and the ability to work in a connection to fans, like, yes, like how many, um, how many young girls will go, will, will take up rugby now because of what she did there, just because of that.

Speaker: Like, fuck the rest of the World Cup. Like, just because of that one thing, that will draw people in. And it's like, because it is. It brings them in. It brings everybody together. You know, there's nothing of the separation. We did like, you know, not like fucking Salt Bay. No, John. Grabbing the grabbing the world cup out of players hands. What the fuck was that? No, this was a this was inclusive, not like making it about herself. So really well done. Well,

Speaker: Um, yeah, so yeah, my 14 was, um, the young player of the year, the breakout player of the year for the men. It was actually what's up. Yeah, absolutely. And really I'm putting him in here for the one moment against Wales where he just, or the one game against Wales, I should say, cause he really just had a game. Right. I mean, what was that? It was Adams gave him the, uh,

Speaker: Um, the metal afterwards. Yes. It's like, dude, this is yours. This isn't mine. I haven't got a clue, but this is yours here. Take it. I agree. Yeah. It's hard to argue with it. And he's just, he's been, he's been a nice little injection for them, obviously. And it's.

Speaker: he will be a part of this Azuri Renaissance that comes around here in probably the next two, three years. I don't think it won't peak yet. It won't peak in 23.

Speaker: but it'll peak soon and he will be, if I'm Italian rugby, I'm putting his face on every poster I can, I'm putting it everywhere. Whatever you can do to get him a shoe deal, that needs to go in there too. Yeah, needs to be in there.

Speaker: I'm watching, sorry, I got Kansas first Arkansas, I've got a bowl game on. Some receiver just got legally, like just the type of tackle you want to see more of in football, wrecked as a part of pass. And he's literally like, oh, he's laying on the field, like shoulder right to the midsection. And he's, you know, nothing but fucking snap bubbles there. He's trying to get his breath back.

Speaker: You know, you don't like to see guys get injured, but, you know, good pain like that. Yeah. Sorry. Had to put that in there, especially because it was legal. You don't see many hits like that in football. So much appreciated. Fifteen. I went with Santi Carreras. Love it. Mostly.

Speaker: for what it took in him. But he also was a huge part of obviously what he did down in New Zealand for their first one down there as well. So between the two of them, and then he's obviously had a solid go with Gloucester. So between those things, he's notable. So he's not a 10 in my team, but he can play 15. And thus he is my 15. So my 15 is someone who should get recognized a lot more than he does.

Speaker: Um, because he's been a part of, um, an Ireland team that's been massively turned around and there's been a lot of attention paid to his wingers, um, as being deadly, but Hugo Keenan is a fucking goose back there. Um, and doesn't, I don't think he gets nearly enough credit because like he does, he does more than steward. He does more than a lot of the other 15s that are out there. Um,

Speaker: And he's always deadly. He's always, he's, he's the one, you know, like, yeah, low and, and Mack Hansen, and then all those guys are getting, um, getting good runs. But just like I said earlier, when we were talking about, um, what flu lures try Keenan does a lot of the, the interconnects that maybe, you know, either gets, you know, one or two touches, but like, where, you know, he's, he's part of the sandwich, right? He's like, you know, the one or the two, as far as who's getting the touches. So, um,

Speaker: He's been there too. So he gets, you know, he should get his, and I don't think he gets the love he deserves. So I'm giving him some. He's quite good. He's quite good. I like him. I like him a lot. So if I had to pick a Super Sub, it'd be Freddie Burns. To your previous mention with him for that hit. Yeah. Yeah. Guy deserves it.

Speaker: Anywho, uh, my sub would be Arendelle cause just comes off the bench and scores, right? Yeah. Uh, player of the year, a better player. Um, I went with Tui. I love that too. Good. I'm glad we did two different. Yeah. Both had great years. Unquestionably. Nobody could really deny it really. Uh, your coach.

Speaker: Wayne Smith. Same. We all know what a huge fan of Wayne Smith I am. You could see it the way he just unlocked the players and the manner in which he wanted them to play and demand benefit from it highly, I believe, flu or benefit from it highly, harani benefit from it highly. Just the likes of those.

Speaker: That's what coach, like, and he doesn't get, he doesn't, you won't get, I mean, you will get a lot of credit for it, but it's like, when you, it's one of those, like, when you do a great job, no one notices what you've done. And like, I feel like, as you said, like he'd spent a lot of time figuring out, okay, who are my best players? Hey, what's that? You know, who do I have that's good? Because I want to play my best players. Shocking for a coach. And the second question was, okay, how do I get them to play well?

Speaker: together and get the most out of each player, each individual player. What can we do to get the most out of each individual player? And they did that. Like, that's exactly what they did. And shock, they won. Like, holy, like, you know, knock me out with a fucking feather. You take a really fucking talented team and you play to their skills. Wow. Look at what might happen. Yeah, it's kind of silly.

Speaker: Yeah, but you know, it's one of those like, just take someone with enough balls to do it. Yeah. Or lack of like, I don't give a shit what anybody else is going to say, you know, right? Whatever. There's too much. Yeah. Okay. Spy on my practices. What do I care? Like black firms were not anybody's favorite other than the fact that they were hosting because they had a good run up until the tournament started.

Speaker: really hadn't. Yeah, so right. But that was part of the process. That was actually part they were trying different things. They were trying different combinations. It's one thing when you when you have a shitty run up to a World Cup, because you're using the same fucking players and doing the same stupid things over and over again. You're not just going to first start switching around and be like, Okay, well, now I'm going to play the good players and play the right way.

Speaker: But when you're trying to do the right things and just changing things around a little bit, tweaking here and there, and then it's not coming off, you get a little bit more of a buffer. Yeah, agreed. All right, let's rattle through what we can for the prem. We won't spend too much time on it. Friday night, we'll start with Friday night.

Speaker: over at the G -Tech, Irish and Sarries, as we alluded to before, Sarries going back into their old shell, as it were, and paying for it dearly. Yeah, it was like a trap game. You're playing the worst human league, whatever, just like in play, and we'll win, or just do the little things and get out with a win. Like, they were playing not to lose, and shocker of all shockers, they lost. They lost, I mean, it was good to see a sequel back, it really was.

Speaker: Um, but let's, so let's, we'll turn our attention to the red cards and then we'll, and then we'll get on with it because like, I think most people can understand what happened to this game. It's not hard.

Speaker: Let's talk about Coleman real quick because this is a guy that's seen red three times against series. And I think he's seen at least read at least three times. And that's within the last year. That should be a huge, huge bell ring to everyone. Like it needs to be a huge red flag.

Speaker: What the fuck is going on here? This is on the coaches. This is on him. Everybody in this situation needs to work harder to get him to not do this, because that wasn't even close to not being a red card. And I think the one red card that he had that got rescinded was actually the one that he knocked himself out on. Yeah. So with that said, you know, then that might have just been more of a sympathy thing than, you know, reality.

Speaker: Point being is you've seen red three times. That's not a mistake. That's now a problem that you should have addressed if you haven't yet, which he clearly has not. So it's, yeah, and this is the type of shit that's been trying to get the fuck out of the game. Like he was always high. I don't care how short or how tall Willy is. Like, you know, and you also talk about a guy that's got concussion issues on top of it. So it's like, fuck.

Speaker: You know, yeah, sorry. There was no mitigation. Always high, always in a bad spot. You're off. Game over. Yeah. Yeah. Just really, really, really dumb. Right. Like dumb to a dumb level. Can you understand?

Speaker: Yeah, so hopefully there's a long suspension in there for him. Yeah, I haven't seen anything on it yet. Yeah. Yeah, it's just one of them. And for that alone, Sarri should have been like, OK, let's run on them. And what did they do? It felt like Irish had more players on the field. Sometimes it did. It felt like Sarri's had the red card. Right. And how is that? To me, that's on the coach. Not so much the players. What is he doing? What is he having them do?

Speaker: that they're like playing passive with up a man. And it's like, no, you just fucking attack, run on them. And whenever they did run on them, it worked well. They just didn't do it. They literally just put it away. They didn't do it enough, yeah.

Speaker: It's like, no, no, no, let's box kick. Fuck box kicking. Just go win the game. Just win it. It's right there. Like your box kicking, you're trying to, oh, let's, you know, let's play. No, no. The time for box kicking is over on a red card. Fucking run on them, especially with a lock. You know, you open up that position and like, you know, you're going to bring in somebody else. That means they're probably down a back or loose forward, which means that's one tackle, one less tackler in the loose. They're going to bring in a lock to replace him because they have to for scrums.

Speaker: So you've opened up the loose, fucking use it. Yep. Didn't want to. Yeah, that's on. No, not good. So on one hand for London Irish, I have to give him shit because you had well, Joseph, who was carrying something clearly coming into this match, he was heavily strapped. And you go with a six to split still. Like, you know, you're probably going to have to pull this guy off early. The chances are very high. So you still go with a six to split.

Speaker: On the other side of that, they were smart. And once Coleman got sent off, they brought on Rob Simmons for Fosso, who was just a penalty machine. He was the best player on series. Yes, he was. It was bad. And if I'm a London Irish fan, and if there's any out there, please let me know your opinion on this. Fosso needs to go away. Not been good since he started playing.

Speaker: You have - I've seen him do a couple things, but - You have Tom Pearson, you have Mark Tinkens, you have one minute Tinkens Alice, you have Rogerson, you have Basham, you have cutting himself who ends up getting the clincher. Like - Yeah, how is - All these guys over, that are not playing over him. And this is what he does. That was a microcosm. That 15 minutes in which he gave away all those penalties, that is exactly who he's been for this club 90, 80 % of the time. Something like that. Not good.

Speaker: Not good. That's pretty much who he's going to be the majority. So I would be a little pissed if I was them. And then the Earl Red card was was he trying to get his arm around it? I don't know. Doesn't it doesn't matter. I thought it was it was like I thought if he hadn't dipped, he would have gotten his arm up, but whatever. It's yeah, it's a red. It's a red. I'm fine with it because ultimately I want that type of contact out of the game.

Speaker: And it's, it's hard, but at the same time, he like, you know, the guy was being like, he did have the upper, like Earl had the option to pull out. But.

Speaker: He didn't. So, like, I'd rather him pull because the tackle was being made. It was done. He didn't have to go in and hit. So I'd rather take out that that unnecessary hit to save incursions and save people's brains. So, yeah, no, I'm fine with that. I thought what I didn't like was that wasn't there another one later in the game that was like exactly similar to it? And the it was just a yellow yellow. Yeah, it was a little. Yeah. Like, no, you got any you need the consistency there. That's that's the one thing that I don't like. You know, when you set a standard, you got to abide by that standard and that that should have been

Speaker: You know, I'm absolutely fine with Benro being red. The other one should have been too. Yeah. Let's go up to let's go up to Newcastle real quick. 14 points for sale, and that's kind of like where the gas came off for them. Yeah, really. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like it's a tough like that's why I'm not I'm not that impressed by sale. This is a game where if you are like if you're number two in the standings,

Speaker: Um, you should be able to go into the tune and win. And they, you know, it's hard to do. I'm not saying, not saying it's easy, but you like, that's a, that's a must win. That's an easy win.

Speaker: And they walked away with that. So they're in that pretender category for me. And this is why. They're not that good. They should have walked away with this. I'm disappointed in Alex for this one too. Alex is getting a little bit of the McCall in him as well. I feel like he should really just open it up a little bit more. Would not advise, Alex. Would not advise. Bath and Exeter.

Speaker: Kind of the same situation except the Exeter were able to hang on. Yeah, exactly. They won because it was at Sandy Park. So I will say this. If Exeter have been at one place, start of the season,

Speaker: Where they've gone in terms of variability is very small. Bath were very low. I think we can all admit that. And they've gone up, and certainly they've gotten a nice boost from the Worcester guys, Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence. But they've still gone up. Right. They're not ready yet to win it standing. No. Maybe if this was five or six weeks from now, they probably could have done it. If it's next year, yeah, I bet they do, especially with what's next year, with all the exit. Russell, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, also that exit are losing a lot of players as well. You can't even say like the exit. I don't know what you. Yeah, we got it. There's no an awkward way to keep that up. Yeah. But yeah, it's not. Exeter should have won this game by more than that if they were with the team that they purport to be.

Speaker: Yeah, I would say, I would say if this was week one, then this would be a shit show, and Exeter would have rowered them because Bath were poor for the most part to start the year. And Exeter, but Exeter probably not changed in terms of how good they are. They're about the same.

Speaker: Yeah. We'll see. We'll see what happens this weekend. The main threat still Dave, you were falling over, plopping himself over the trial from two meters out. Like, okay, good. You can do that every so often. It's like, dude, he's doing nothing. He's doing nothing cool. He's falling over the line from two feet away. Big deal. I can do that. Yeah. And then let's go to Wilford road, tigers and Gloucester. This was pretty bad from Gloucester and skivs even said so.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, it doesn't help when, you know, you have, first off, you have Johnny May out there who, except for his what? He fell over at the end. Get a walk. Congratulations. Yeah. Garbage time. Good job. Like, you're not, he didn't really contribute anything. And then. No. Reece Sama gets hurt.

Speaker: Yep, and Santi had to come off too. Santi had to come off and say, well, that's it. That's it. Right there. Those two, because you need those two. Like, it's not easy to play at Wilfer Road. Lester is going to help you. Right. Well, it's not going to be there for you. It's just it's not. Yeah, you're going to have to. And they don't have the pack really to to run around Lester's defense, which is what you really need to do. So.

Speaker: Unless your centers are on form now. Yeah, Porter and Kelly. Have fun. Yeah, Porter kind of struggled to start the game, but then he woke up. Right. Yeah. And he woke up big time. Yes, he did. It's like, oh, right. For him. OK, let's do it. Yeah, I have to say, Dan Cole, you're kind of a moron. What am I supposed to do on the no try on? I was like, you're well beyond the rock, dude. Let him go. Let him go. Don't be stupid.

Speaker: Right. And also, you don't need to do that. Van Portfley's got the got the scoots to do that. Like you don't need to do that. You can do that on his own. Does not need your illegal help. Like, right. Come on, man. Like you had to. He absolutely knew what he was doing. And yeah, come on. Like he was off the rock. He wasn't involved in the rock. And you just grab a leg. Like, you know. Yeah, you know, someone you know, you're through the rock. Let him go stand up and go do your job. Right. Don't do that.

Speaker: But anyway, lesser perform well under Wiki and. Hey, maybe this is, this is, this is a little bit better and maybe they start to turn over a little bit here. Yeah. Now they got Wigglesworth as a coach. Maybe things are looking up. Yeah. So they, they did a great fucking job. Um, this is still his team right now. No doubt. And now it's just a temporary thing. Yeah. But so that's, I mean, sometimes you start with a win.

Speaker: Yeah. And sometimes you get that, that new coach vibe and galvanizes you a little bit. Right. Especially when it's a guy, you know, and you're played with and you kind of get what he's, what he, you know, he knows you that's the instant, you know, they trust him. So I would assume the ones who trusted him from the start still trust, you know, trust him even more. And yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: And then let's go over to the stoop from yesterday. It was there for the Quinns to win, but give Bristol credit. They've been kind of creeping towards this as

Speaker: You know, the season's gone on. They're getting slowly getting better. They got a result before we went into Champions Cup break. And now they've gotten another big result away from home at the stoop. Didn't score a thing in the second half, but still held firm. So. But that's the thing. Like this is this is why I picked Bristol to finish first at the outset of the year, because this is what they're capable of.

Speaker: It's not. Yeah, Marcus Smith didn't play, but to must have been on a fucking cracker of a master. Yeah, he's still good. So don't take that away. They played very well. And Bristol really, as you said, they shut them down, like, you know, to hold that team to 12 points at home. No easy feat. And it wasn't a mistake.

Speaker: They did a really, that was an excellent job by the Bristol defense. Um, especially the, the, what they, um, they prevented two tries, took away two tries with the, uh, well, inventory a dragon. Um,

Speaker: who's its foot in the touch, cares foot in the touch. And then the fucking tackle from AJ, the tap tackle from AJ and Whiteley got there just to get him to lose it just to get the ball out from Esther Hazen. You don't just do that either. Like that's that. Oh, that's that's something in your DNA as if not only as a person and a player, but also as a team, like just, you know, quit type of stuff. And especially when you're right there, you just got to know that don't quit on it because by all rights essays and should have scored.

Speaker: Oh, yeah, that's it. That is a try. That's a try. And they took it away. Like, that's, that's, yeah, excellent, excellent defensive work, because it's yeah, it's already on the board. Yeah, I would have said it's I was like, Oh, that's it. That's the end. Yeah.

Speaker: And excellent, just excellent work. So, but yeah, that's, that's the kind of, of, of, you know, just like we were talking about, you know, Gloucester aren't quite ready to walk into welfare road when Bath aren't quite ready to walk into Exeter and when sale aren't ready to walk into.

Speaker: Um, the tune and when Sarri's can't sleepwalk against the Irish, like Bristol went into the stoop and, and won that game. So good on them. Like that, you know, it's tough. That's character. That's character right there. It is. That's, that's what we haven't seen from, from Pat Lam's squad in a little bit. So that's looking up for them. And it's, that's there for them too. The, the, the table is not, it's all over the place right now. So good luck figuring that out by the end.

Speaker: Yeah, they are because Bristol are to have 21 points. They are. They're seven points. They're in 10th and there are seven points from top four. Yep. So it's, you know, game fucking on. Hanging onto your seats, kids. Yeah. All right. Year in review for us here at T4i.

Speaker: So we've we had a 40 % increase in downloads, actually. It's pretty damn good. Wow. Compared to the 21, 21, 3 .5, 3 .5 thousand downloads. Wow. Yeah. Nice. Thank you out there. Yeah. 3 ,500 downloads. Most of them, obviously, are registered to our good friends over in the UK. Thank you very much. And the second most being to our friends here in the US.

Speaker: So we appreciate you all most, most downloaded by far was the six nations draft special. So we have to thank our good friend, George, for jumping in on that and hanging out with us there. Cause I'm sure his push helped us with that one.

Speaker: Um, and then the, uh, that's the one that I talked least, right? Yeah. Cause you, you were stuck between me and George. We need to do that more often. Uh, that was the most downloaded you say. Okay. Yeah. Oh no. You know what? That was the prem, which was also, that was the prime job. So yeah. So in all.

Speaker: And we have, we're creeping up on 9 ,000 downloads here. It was pretty awesome. But in all, and then we started our Patreon this year. And we very, very much appreciate our patrons for their support and their, you know, their interaction and their engagement. And it really means the world to us. So we appreciate that.

Speaker: But in all, this has been a wonderful year for Ben and myself. And it is only because you didn't even mention the London trip, although we did earlier. But yeah, holy shit. But yeah, that factor that into it doesn't get better. Yeah. So.

Speaker: Yeah, it's only as good as you all make it. So when we have a great year, the only people that we have to thank is you guys. Seriously, thank you for listening. We talked about it several times before. People ask, what is this podcast about? Well, I want to talk rugby with someone and Ben does too. So we just hit record and go for it.

Speaker: And obviously we lose our way sometimes. There's no doubt about that. But at least it's organic. We don't, you know, we're not like try. Yeah, we're not. I like that we don't have still don't have hot takes just to have hot takes. If we have hot takes, it's because we honestly feel that way. We're not trying to stir up any controversy or shit. It's just this is this is how I see it. Right. And, you know, I do. I hope that the.

Speaker: kind of true neutral approach is helpful for people out there, you know, not always true neutral, but, you know, we don't get the ins and outs of the politics of the prem and shit like that. We just, or, you know, or world rugby. It's just, this is what we see. This is what we, you know, are taken from it. Certainly the benefit of being where we are over here in the US. Right.

Speaker: Yeah, we, we really appreciate you all. Um, special thanks to obviously George and special thanks to the, to Carrick and special thanks to our, our patrons and special tanks. Thanks to, uh, both divisions of the champions league and what they do in their, and all their engagement and how much, um, that really seeing that those two leagues, um, spin up and do well and.

Speaker: You know, we're, we're top on FRD for 18 leagues in the prep for both of those two leagues are plus the keeper's league. Like that's pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. So I'm, I'm thoroughly enjoying that. So we appreciate you all.

Speaker: So we're, we're going to hop over to the fancy corner in a little bit here. If you're coming over there, we'll see you there. If not, um, once again, we really, really appreciate you. Appreciate you all. Um, enjoy your new year. Please be safe. Don't do nothing too stupid. Have a, have a wee bit of fun. Um, make sure we get to download us next year too.

Speaker: Yeah, don't forget that part too. Well, no, I'm saying like, don't do it. Yeah, no, we need your body so you can hit down. Stay alive. But yeah, if you're not joining us on the fantasy corner, we appreciate you and we hope you have a safe new year, a happy new year and we will see you all in 2023. Have a good one folks. Later.