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Season 5- Episode 21- You’re Not Doing Anything That Helps (Champions Cup Round 4)
31 Plays3 years ago
It's another batch of fun from those American rugby fools. On this episode we unfortunately had our pick of the lot for our discrimination piece, I'll let you guess which one we picked out to talk about. Of course, we then dive in to the final round of pool play in the Champions Cup, going from Welford Road, to the Stoop, the Aviva and up to the shadows of Murray Field. Did things go the way they should have? Is the competition still flawed with 16 teams making the knockouts and how does last years qualifiers stack up to this years. All this and every little thing in between. Grab a drink, kick back and come along for the ride with us.
Check out the TFRY Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheFantasyRugbyYanks
Ask us questions via Twitter: Jarrod- jdyke8man & Ben- admrablsnackbar, and #AskTFRY.
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Transcript
Introduction and Banter
00:00:02
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 gambled that. Collusion! Collusion!
Episode Overview and Health Update
00:00:27
Speaker
Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is the fantasy rugby yanks podcast. My name is Jared Dyke. I'm Ben Glauser. What's happening folks? Um, we're recording early, but also because we're recording early, I'm a little under the weather, which I wasn't planning on being, but you know, damn it, Jared. This was tomorrow. I actually might feel, I might feel better, but so, which means I'm also abstaining from drink.
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm not. That's like the second time in like a month. It's usually me that's abstaining from drinking. Yeah. What the hell is going on with this? What did you do to me? I didn't do shit that I know of. I don't believe that. I did remotely buy you whiskey for your birthday or not for your birthday shit for your celebration with your retirement party. That's what it was.
Podcast Promotion
00:01:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker
Anyway, it was some, some sort of party, but yeah, bye. Bye. We don't know. You don't want to buy, but you do want to download great review on your favorite podcast app. Share us like all that good stuff. Be back. Always welcome.
00:01:37
Speaker
We buy Georgia beer. That's where I was getting to exactly where you're going. So I skipped a step. My brain is a little squishy tonight. That's all right. Everybody laugh at it anyway.
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, obviously.
Six Nations and Social Issues Discussion
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah. So like I said, George, he's coming back soon. Six Nations, all that jabber. There's a lot to talk about with that label. We're going to get into it later. There is no discrimination here on this podcast, nor should there be in sports or in life. We got a lot to pick from. There's way too much. Unfortunately. If I can go through what I've seen, we have probably seen it all too.
00:02:24
Speaker
39 mass shootings in this country and today is the 24th day of the year. So more than one a day. Great fucking job, USA. Including mass shootings at Chinese New Year events, which is awful.
00:02:43
Speaker
And it's members of the community, too. So that's fucking nuts as to why that or what's happening and why. We've seen police killing a what, 31 year old English teacher who had stopped to ask for help after an accident. And we saw police murder. They're building a cop city in Atlanta. They're tearing down a forest.
00:03:08
Speaker
a nice little forest to build a cop city, which is they will train police how to operate in urban environments and under violent conditions. So they're basically, you know, it's a terrible, they're basically, you know, teaching fascism. This is, this is the kind of place where like, you know, even like the Israeli special forces come over here and this is, so that's how they learn to deal with the Palestinian, like it's awful. And they killed a protestor there, a peaceful protestor there.
Welsh Rugby Union Controversy
00:03:38
Speaker
And that's just the kind of. So all that said, let's get into the Welsh Rugby Union bullshit, which was there was a union stuff, too, as well. So that's like I said, it's the tip of the iceberg, really. Right. But there's a lot of good old bullying going on in the Welsh Rugby Union, where there was threats of sexual assault and rape and horrible things so far.
00:04:05
Speaker
Supposedly as a joke or something, but no. That's not a joke, man. And like basically everybody, even Gats is like, well, I wasn't here when that happened. It's like, that's not an excuse. No. So I think that's going to become problematic because they already have problems with the women's game as it is. They're, they're, they're way late in professionalizing and all that. So this is not a good look and it's not going to end well for them. Um,
00:04:34
Speaker
No, and I mean, Gatt said pretty much just like, not my problem type of stuff. Yeah. You know, and. That's horrible. Well, the, the well-shrung union put out a complete bullshit statement that is just a step short of victim blaming. It's like. Right. How can you be this dumb? Right.
00:05:00
Speaker
like I could and see this is the problem with the um beard moors and the goods and the um the austin helis the guys who are the good old boys rugby guys who are like yeah it's just a you know it's just a boys game blah blah blah blah and it's like no it's game for everyone
Toxic Masculinity in Rugby
00:05:23
Speaker
can't do this shit, but they feel empowered. Like it's that little, you know, the fucking, you know, phoney, fake masculinity, it's toxic masculinity. And you create that culture where it allows those things to thrive. And that's, we got to get rid of that. That's why we do this segment is because
00:05:46
Speaker
to not talk about it and to just let it go is what creates the space for the bad people. So we may be, you might find this boring. I get it. It might not be your favorite segment on the show, but it's important and more shows I think should do stuff like this because of that to say this is not acceptable. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I know they've already pissed off squidge, so that's going to be that that'll get. Yeah, that's not that's not smart.
00:06:16
Speaker
No, no, you're making the wrong people upset people with who actually can, you know, produce better and more content than you that will be much more engaged on and, and like, yeah, it's not going to go well
Podcast Monetization and Analytics
00:06:30
Speaker
for you. No, I would keep that to a dollar. How are you guys?
00:06:35
Speaker
Speaking of content, grab our Patreon. Make sure that we keep us honest because we did get the analytics stuff, right? Yep. It's there. I haven't been Boombust yet, but like I said, I've been a little bit lost. Yeah, it's early. It's also for
Champions Cup Preview
00:06:50
Speaker
Champions Cup last week. Right. I will make it as relevant to the teams that are left and the players that are left as I can, unless there's a glaring like, okay, I need to note this person, even if they're not going to play anymore.
00:07:05
Speaker
Just the same. I will try and keep that very relevant to people that are hanging around for a couple more, at least another round, if not another round after that. I don't know those people. Don't have many of them on your team. We're not enough. Well, I don't know that I made the next round, so I haven't checked. Well, well, everybody's going to make the next round. It's just, it's do you have a team?
00:07:34
Speaker
Oh, that's, yes, that's. Yeah. Questions more. Do you have a team to, you know, put on, put into line up people? Yeah. You need players to put into a lineup. That's a good call. Okay. Let's go to four champions, cop, follow around a pool play. We'll start Friday night and we'll start at wellford road, like
00:08:02
Speaker
You couldn't start the final round of pool play a whole lot better than that. No, I, I, I thought that was going to be the kickoff of just an excellent weekend of rugby. Just the way that I did not. I mean, I don't think anybody really expected that welfare road is such a, you don't just walk it. One does not simply walk into welfare road and, and Osprey's have not been a convincing team this year. So. Yeah. Like, how does this happen? Right. Um,
00:08:31
Speaker
It played so fucking well. That's how it happened. Um, yeah, did what they had to do. Made, made the comeback at Jack Morgan. Try all of them, all the tries. Giles was, was, you kind of knew it was coming. He'd been everywhere. Um, and he made it happen. So I was initially worried for, um, for the Osprey's one kayak up until it had to come off. Yeah.
00:09:00
Speaker
kind of worried me a little bit, especially since William's taking was not awesome. No, it wasn't not a good week from it, from the T for a lot of people know, um, whether obviously having some factor into it, but not right. Overwhelmingly, you know, yeah, contributing to it. Uh, but
00:09:26
Speaker
So, I mean, and the Tigers did everything but win. They did all they could. Pollard was very good. Simmons, again, although the talk is that he'll be the half back this coming week. Sure. Because Van Portley and Youngs are both going to be out of the team. So I'll make a brief appearance at Scrumby for a little bit and then
00:09:54
Speaker
Back to Wayne. What a revelation he's been. He's been amazing. Yeah. But today, in today, like today or in this case Friday, Jack Van Portfleet scores that try. Ben Youngs does not. No. That is just facts.
00:10:21
Speaker
you slow down when you get older and we're bleeding that old. So, anyway, so let's get to the tries and the no tries because there's a lot to talk about with that. Yeah. That's awesome. Yes. So number one, number one, I don't like training. I'm not a fan of his at all. Not really. Not so much. So say what you will about
00:10:52
Speaker
the eventual try. You can argue they should have had two already. I agree. Because number one, that was such bad positioning by him to get in the way of that pass. He's going over. Right. The Williams I was charging over. Right. Yeah. I think he's, I think he's in no matter what. If that guy, if a attorney doesn't get in the way of care, I think it was Karen Williams. I was on his way over with that. All right. You just throw that on. And then you have,
00:11:21
Speaker
What could have been a potential high tackle yellow card penalty try on Dan Kelly, you know, that was there too. And I don't understand how that was not like, cause that, that prevented the try. It was an illegal tackle that prevented a try.
Leicester Tigers and Refereeing Issues
00:11:40
Speaker
Got me, dude. So we're now at, you know, 50 50 and Lester's got away with two of them. Yeah. Do you got to figure if a third one's coming? It's going to be, it's going to be counted anyway. Right.
00:11:52
Speaker
And they almost didn't. They were looking for reasons to not award it. And it's like, dude, he's over. He put it down. Just award it. Right. And again, it comes down to poor positioning from training. Like, right? What are you doing? Like, you need to get yourself in there and look for that ball to get down.
00:12:10
Speaker
And also he's standing in, if I remember correctly, he's using the trite, the in-goal area, right? Yeah, I believe so. That's not like when you're shoving over, it's evident from behind. All of the Ospreys who were in the area play, they all celebrate, they all saw it.
00:12:34
Speaker
And trainees like, oh, I don't know. Like, hey, you're in the wrong spot. That's not where you need to be. And and the TMO was fucking no, almost no help. And it's like just because there wasn't there another one somewhere in there, too, that should have been that it was it was Lester's and they couldn't see it.
00:12:55
Speaker
Okay. I thought there was another one for Osprey's in that whole buildup too, but whatever. There might've been as well. Yeah, I don't remember that one, but no, I do remember one, but it was, I think they ended up finding it held up and that actually was okay. So I thought it was over. Anyway, but like the other thing is, you know, and this is my interpretation of the laws and whatnot, like
00:13:19
Speaker
Assume if you know, make the assumption if he shoved it over and he's not, you know, the ball's underneath him. Make the assumption that it's a try unless there is a clear, you know, and I think there was in one case, I think you're right. Maybe there was like, nope, there's definitely a hand under the ball. It's like, OK, well, then that's easy. Then you're like, OK, well, now, you know, we didn't see it on first look, but. Don't start with a disallowed try just because you didn't see it get grounded in a situation where nine times out of 10, it's a try.
00:13:47
Speaker
Like just award the try. Yeah. And world rugby has said, come to the TMO with your own decision first and not a try. Not a try. Yes or no, because that's, and you don't have to, but really the like, we really prefer you to come to us with your own decision and looking for us to either confirm it or reverse it. And in that case, it should have been, you know, I, I, I'm going with a try score because of player positioning.
00:14:18
Speaker
yada, yada. And the good referees you hear, I'm like, you know, I have the ball on the line or I have the wall grounded in goal.
00:14:27
Speaker
show me something that doesn't say otherwise. And that's usually what it ends up being. And the good ones dig in there a little bit too. They look for it and they're like, is it down? Yes, no. Yeah. Right. And he just kind of waited. He like stood back and was like, I'll see what, you know, I won't, he's already like, I don't know what happened. And it's like, you know,
00:14:50
Speaker
Sometimes there has been times where I've scored tries and just held the ball there until the referee awarded it. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not moving. I'm not getting up. Like, and unfortunately, you know, they don't, they shouldn't have to do that though. Right. It should just be, the referee should have his head out of his ass and be like, okay, that's a try. Like, come on. It shouldn't be difficult. No, no, no, no.
00:15:17
Speaker
All right, so there's that other Friday night game. Leon and Bulls not a lot to talk about, unfortunately. No, Bulls didn't travel well at all. No, no, certainly not. The other Marshall took over the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. But yeah, Houston was was just awful.
00:15:39
Speaker
Um, no, he was awful off the tee. He was couldn't throw past play. Like, yeah, I don't know. If this wasn't supposed to be the shags, I assume not. If car and, and, and Ben Stodden are supposed to be in there, but yeah, no, I, and, you know, and, and Kurt Lee's in there and yeah, this is not a good performance. If that's not supposed to be the shags. Right.
00:16:05
Speaker
Very, very pure, very pure. Rare that even because the one thing I've been surprised about with the South African teams is how well they traveled. So all of them, I mean, we'll get to that in the next game too, but like them traveling up to Europe is not nearly as impactful to their play as
00:16:27
Speaker
The like, especially the prem teams that aren't used to and the French teams that aren't used to the travel. Um, yeah. Bulls just did not handle it at all. Leon looked completely that, that looked like a very different team than what we saw the last two weeks against Saris too. So maybe, maybe they were just hoping that that was, that would be enough. They're, they're matches against the Bulls and weren't. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
00:16:56
Speaker
Okay, let's go for the gardens on Saturday. Seems her butt. Well, we have, we counted them last week, two reds and two leadership teams with the reds so far as we're counting here. Not awesome. I looked up from the other game to see this and I was like, oh no, Dingwall, what did you just do? What did you just do? You dummy.
00:17:26
Speaker
So I imagine he'll be banned for a little bit, and that means he's going to miss whatever he might have played part in for Six Nations. Yeah. Yeah, not awesome. Yeah, that was bad. Yeah, nope, nope, nope. And, you know, this was not a overly convincing win by La Rochelle.
Match Analyses and Player Highlights
00:17:50
Speaker
Took him until probably the 60th minute to really just take control and
00:17:54
Speaker
and put the gas down, but they still. I don't know if the Saints ever really had it, honestly. Not so much. I mean, they just weren't, they weren't scoring. Right? Like their reserve, their reserves from half is that was the was their try score like that's Tom James. That's not good, especially given the
00:18:20
Speaker
the firepower on that team and those starters too. It was all just, it was poor play from start to finish from Saints. They kind of had a better defense. I will give them credit for that, but their attack was such shit that it's like, okay, well, you can only give La Rochelle so many opportunities.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, again, I will credit Northampton's defense, but... Yeah, a little bit better, but in the end, not good enough. Nope. Not good enough, and I think they admit that as well. And I looked up to see the Dingwall card because I was watching Quims and Sharks.
00:19:07
Speaker
Which was an excellent match. Yes, it was. It was hard to watch both. It was unfortunate. There were some times when there were just two fucking stinkers on at the same time. This was like the opposite. It's not. Yeah. It's like, could you just put one of these on at another time? What was the other? We'll get to it eventually. But I think it was Exeter and then Exeter and Cast, and then it was Claremont and Stormers. I was like, oh. Yeah. Could we have traded one of these for one of the earlier ones? And I would have watched.
00:19:37
Speaker
One of the earlier ones more intently and kept the other one off to the side. Yeah. But but anyway, in any case, I mean, we started hot five minutes. We had two tries, right? And we had three. Like it was just this was just a good old fashioned slugfest. Almost basically start to finish.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, a lot of this. This is this. I like this Quinn's versus sharks business. It's it's it's a good matchup. It was even good, like when when the Quinn's were down in in South Africa, they just looked sluggish. They were looking like they were just from the travel exam, but they were they had they had the intent. Now it's like this is kind of the reverse. And like I said, sharks.
00:20:30
Speaker
They travel just fine. Just yeah, like I said, it started hot. Quinn's did a good job to respond to the try that the first phase tribe was really good though. Right. No doubt about it. It's still getting settled in. Oh, hey, I try. It's just so, so good. Isn't he? You got to.
00:20:52
Speaker
You got to nail him down as you're starting nine for South Africa right now. And he mostly is. He's healthy with the exception of the odd match off. Yeah. I, yeah, he's there. He's their future and he should be there for a little while. I would, I would wager, but I would, I would also argue that, um, sharks had one bugaboo and it was their ball security, like ball in hand. They were getting, got, they were either getting it slapped out or ripped out or whatever, but
00:21:22
Speaker
Oof. It was like, uh, do you guys want the ball? Yeah, not too helpful. And that's, that's, I think to me, again, that that's about travel. Um,
00:21:36
Speaker
That's the little things like that that are going to go wrong. Although they still played smart. I mean, that's about just fucking pants Danny care there. Yeah, I'm sorry. Like, I don't I don't understand. And this is not a dig at Danny care. It's just that he's the you know, he he's the guy in this situation in this in this particular situation, because this is a big thing among scrumhaves that
00:22:03
Speaker
You know, everybody else in the field has a lot that pisses off a scrum half. I get it. There's one thing that scrum halves do that piss off everyone else. And that's they just leave the ball.
00:22:13
Speaker
like something they think is happening. They're like, oh, give me get away from the ball. What are you doing? No, get the ball away from there. Something is happening there. Get the ball away from it and care. Like, as soon as you saw it's about, he like took three steps back and put his hands up. And it's like, no, no, no. Pass the ball. Pass the ball the fuck out. If he's offside, he's offside. You get the advantage. If he's not offside, he's going to run for a try. Yeah.
00:22:41
Speaker
What are you doing? No need. No need. Yeah, these like, and yeah, I'm happy because if it's one more thing that the screws up, had a pillar rocks. Excellent. Yeah, please, please, please. I was I was laughing my I mean, I wanted twins to win. Well, I'm a weird saris fan like that, whatever deal with it.
00:23:03
Speaker
I, I wanted them. And so I was, but I, all I could do is laugh. Cause it's like, that was just the fucking stupidest all around. That was dumb. Yeah. So much wine. So yeah, totally agree. To the Quinn's benefit though. Uh,
00:23:21
Speaker
I do want to point out two guys that played spectacularly. They're in the England team and they're probably better than the guys that they're replacing. And that's Dom Brant, who has Stormer, got himself over the line, and Cade Murley, who does everything that the previous wingers did.
00:23:38
Speaker
and it's faster and better right like he's a tough he's a tough kid to be playing on the wing does not go down easy when when he doesn't need to and no he's strong he's like he's and he's fast he's fast and he finishes tries like why is it him was it him that i compared to thorley
00:23:57
Speaker
I compared some. Oh, no. It was Aaron. It was Aaron Reed. We'll get to that. I'll read. Yeah, we'll get into that. That's another guy. But yeah, Marley. Absolutely. 10 times out of 10 want him rather than Noel or or May. Either of them. He does everything they do. But better and faster like younger kids. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. Just how it is. And here's the thing. I didn't see sharks trying to take advantage of him. No, they were going the other way.
00:24:24
Speaker
Right. And I saw a lot of teams just absolutely take advantage of me and Noel. So it's like.
00:24:33
Speaker
Even at the, even at this level, they, they, they pick on me and Noel and that's, you know, this is kind of a big step up from champions cup to international.
England Squad Updates
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah. Before we move away from this window, I do want to point out the unfortunate event of, um, Courtney laws has been replaced on the team because he came off and that was a bit sad to see, but he's been replaced by his teammate.
00:24:59
Speaker
Dave ribbons. I mean, yeah, I like it. There's one of the informed locks in the pram. So right. He's I'd rather have him than Hill any day. Oh, Jesus. And he did not never. And yes, I hope I hope. Ortho gets that. And I hope because I know that there were only so many changes you could make to this, the squad. Yeah, before you start really fucking things up.
00:25:24
Speaker
And I feel like Hill was one of the sacrifices he's made. All right, I'll keep him around. This is what I hope. I got to keep some people... So I got rid of the real... If one of them has to play, I'll take Hill over Noel or May. I'd rather replace both of them and some of the other guys. And if Hill makes the cut but is just a camp body, then cool. That's fine with me too.
00:25:51
Speaker
Um, but yeah, ribbons, excellent player. Um, really it is disappointing to see. I love Courtney laws always have, um, I don't know. Is he done? I don't know. And the fact that he, that Borthwick has replaced laws with ribbons might hint at, um, forthwick's thoughts and we're not going to get into the six nations teams this week, obviously, but might hint at forthwick's thoughts on how he was going to use laws, which.
00:26:19
Speaker
might've been as a lock, which is something that we've encouraged for a little while now. Not that I think he's, he does a terrible job at blindside by any means, but I think he's just a little bit more useful in the middle. And then you can get a true blindside in there. Right. Like, you know, like Alex, or, or, I mean, obviously Tom, Tom Curry. Yeah. Or Ben Curry can now that he's in maybe Ben Curry. Yep. That's true. Sorry. Yeah.
00:26:46
Speaker
Anyway, I'll move on to the next window. You have a two band, you have a band six, band seven, a band, a band, a band, a band, a band. Hey, I'm for it. You would be weirdo.
00:26:59
Speaker
note on Ben's, my dog's original name was Benji and I said, fuck no, I'm not keeping that name. I threatened to call the, I threatened to call Taz Jr. and I've not stuck to that, so. Yeah, he wouldn't, I mean, you're a warm body and he's kind of a hoe, so he'd go right to you anyway. Right. It didn't matter. Anyway, moving on to the next one, Bordeaux and Gloucester,
Bordeaux vs Gloucester Match
00:27:25
Speaker
Disappointing if I'm like a Bordeaux fan because it they they did okay for a little while jelly bear definitely brought something That they didn't have before. Yeah, and it just like kind of tumbled off after 55 57 minutes or so. It just like started to just the wheels came off a little bit jelly bears card didn't help Yeah, I mean the two cards jabi and bonaface Oh at once Not helpful, but also I don't think
00:27:53
Speaker
Gluster didn't score during that period though, but there's a lot of tires you out still. Yeah, still tiring as fuck. And then Jolly Bear getting the card on top of that. That's going to hurt. So.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. They'd bring on another guy or place them either. So I didn't help this guy that, that apparently came up. I must've come up through the, the Gloucester Academy. I don't remember him on, on their team, you know, last year. I think they just called him up mid season, short MacWigan with a brace. This, this kid, this young hot shots going, please. Thank you. I think he'd kiss you for calling him. Yes. I would accept it. Yeah. I.
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah. It's great to see him on a team that knows how to use hookers too. I'm not that Newcastle didn't, but they use them well. Yeah. They use them well. And he's showing well. And Hey, it looks like he's going to be starting for England at this point. Right. More to get into that later, but with his ex teammate backing up now. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:58
Speaker
I got a guy that you and I have been kind of banging the drum for, and we haven't seen him yet this year with all their 10 problems, even though he didn't play 10 outright this weekend, George Barton. Yeah. And off the tee, very good. That alone right now for the all the problems they have might keep him in the team. Well, yeah, that I mean, Santi Terrace is having a hard time hitting the boat at this point, you know.
00:29:27
Speaker
And, and I guess Barton showed really well and I like the Billy 12 trees at 10 idea to because Billy's not as fast as he used to be so. And, you know, I thought that I'd can simply played really well at 12 so I thought that that they really, you know that Gloucester backline aside from number 14, I thought they all handle the business really well you know Georgie.
00:29:48
Speaker
the angry Georgian. He played well. Really impressive performance from a lot of Tui Tui got over and played well himself. Everyone really showed up and did a job. Both props going 80, fuck.
00:30:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's a lot. That's work. That's a lot of work. And they did a hell of a job to do the deed on the road. Like that was, Gloucester needed this kind of performance all around because they're kind of not doing as well as they should be doing in the prem.
00:30:34
Speaker
They're in the fourth, but they're also 500. That's how bad the prem is this year. The top four, the three, four, and five teams are all at 500. They're all six and six. So it's like this team needs something, some sort of juice. And I thought this was a good win, especially on the road. Like that's hard. It's not easy.
00:31:00
Speaker
I thought the crowd was more into it than Bordeaux, though, than the players. They seemed kind of... It didn't seem like they were fighting as hard as they should have, especially at home. Right. Where were they last week? Were they in... Gloucester was at home to Leinster. Yeah, but where were... Bordeaux traveled.
00:31:24
Speaker
Were they in South Africa? They were in South Africa. There we go. Well, that explains it. Yeah. And there was some changes to them, but not as many as you might like with a great travel like that. The other match gets to move on. Yeah. Like we said, that was probably a playing game and we weren't wrong. Right. Let's go on to Leinster and Rasing.
Leinster vs Racing Match
00:31:50
Speaker
It was interesting for a little while.
00:31:53
Speaker
A little bit. How long? Wait, hold on. I need to see the pull up the... I want to know exactly how long it was interesting for. It's not coming up with the timeline. Well, I got the timeline. So 47 was Wade's try. Okay. So that came lead, didn't it? Because they were... I don't know. Yeah. It was only 75 at that point. So I gave them the lead.
00:32:22
Speaker
That's huge. That was huge. Oh, and that was also right. I think that was right at the end of, nope, actually you'd already come back. I'll say that was the end of the Larmus try. Um, and then he, but then he responded right back and Ben Fleer 10 minutes later. Yeah. Even with some of the missed firings from this team, it's really scary how, how good they ended up looking by the end. I mean,
00:32:51
Speaker
How good was Gary Ringrose in this match? Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely. I should be a starter for Ireland. I said at one point, no, after that offload, I was like, no, send him to bed without supper. And then he scores at a try. And it's like, no, you're grounded for a month, dude. You are.
00:33:18
Speaker
naughty boy oh yes way too naughty speaking of naughty the fen wrestle reminding the world like yeah i'm still at rossing even though he's obviously moving on but like and he's still pretty good like you see how he treats something out of nothing so often for this team and that's why you just don't ever
00:33:43
Speaker
Completely count them out until it's really all over. But so he wouldn't have tweeting about him too. They're like, oh, yeah, they're all about him. They're all about that. Yeah. Yeah. He was excellent. That's this fucking Leinster team. Just, uh, even after the Vanderfleer try, I was like, we've seen Finn create a little bit. He wasn't. He's actually been really good. Goal kicking. And this was like not a day for it to disappear for them.
00:34:13
Speaker
Because it had for Ross Byrne as well. So that would be something to take advantage of in this whole thing. And unfortunately, like we said, some sort of hex hoodoo around the freaking T this weekend was just happening. And it bit both of them as well. But here we are once top seed and Rossing out.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, and we'll talk about like, who's made it and who hasn't and all the numbers, but yeah, this is the window that I was like, do we have another match that we can put on? Stormers in Claremont. I was never convinced Claremont had a shot. No, it just didn't look like it. You know, it was it was off and Stormers weren't even that good. I wasn't that impressed by them.
00:35:03
Speaker
No, it took him a while to push it over too. Right. It was three, six and a half. Yeah. We're there, but, but it didn't. Right. And you had to, that's not how Claremont wins games. Like these ugly three, six stuff. Like, no, they were gonna have to open it up. And the bad part was when they opened it up, things went sideways. Right. Like really sideways.
00:35:31
Speaker
I mean, Herschel Yankees, who at one point we were saying about him, what we're saying about, um, Hendricks. Uh, so, and I was like, it took me a little bit. I was like, wait, like I know that nine. I, I, I, I recognize the face, but I couldn't name him. I'm like, holy shit. That's Herschel Yankees. And I was like, and then he played pretty well. I was like, okay. Like that good. Nice to see him back. Um, yeah, I think most people would, um,
00:35:58
Speaker
put the spark for summers on number 20 evidence came on. He did. He did. Yes. He was fantastic. Yeah. He came on and immediately changed the game. And right. That is that's one of those guys. And he's been out for a bit. So he was obviously raring to go and yeah, something at it. But he went. Yeah. Did he ever that he's so now we know what he's got and he's got one of those.
00:36:29
Speaker
He might have one of those X-factors that makes him not only a club level at international level, that it is going to change the game the second he steps on the pitch. You don't know that for sure yet because he hasn't gotten a ton of time with the spring box, but everybody's been banging on the drum for this guy. I mean, he reminds me of his potential, let's say, of a Duane Vermeulen.
00:36:56
Speaker
It's like, okay, he's on his way out. Well, here we go coming in. Motherfucker, they just keep replacing him. But yeah, if he can become that, I'd have to say I hope for it because the game needs as much talent as possible. But that's what he looked like to me.
00:37:16
Speaker
dominant physically, but intelligently too. And winning battles with his mind is not just his roots, which yeah, if you know anything about me, that's what I like about rugby.
Exeter and Ulster Match Discussions
00:37:31
Speaker
Like that's the, at least those are the players I like. Obviously not the Johnny Hill, Dave Ewers types, who don't win much of anything.
00:37:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Speaking of because we're about to get all these dipshits anyway. Did you see who they signed? And I know we haven't done any of this. No, somebody that'll fit right in the next there. Mike Williams. Oh, that's right. They did. Yes. Yes. Yes. I did see that. He's coming over with a media for a little bit. Oh, God. That's perfect. I bet. We went back and they asked that. That's like, here you go. Yeah. Please take him off our hands. This guy's a knucklehead. But in reference to the game,
00:38:11
Speaker
Very cocket, Casper shit. Do we need to go beyond that for announced? Not so much. I mean, exit weren't that good. They weren't like
00:38:25
Speaker
They were overwhelmingly convincing. They turned it on in the last 20 minutes or so. Well, yeah, Jack Knowles were to try it. What the fuck? You know, of course, you know, garbage time. He's going to walk in and try a big deal. Right. Exactly. And then Shunzi's got over, too. It's like that. No, they just didn't want to be there anymore. There was, though, the one red card from this round that was not a prim player as well. So yeah.
00:38:51
Speaker
Big deal. Yeah, that's one. One. One. Three now. And then. Yeah, exactly. And of course, that was also. Oh, wow. Yeah, they had all those yellows and all that. Like, yeah, you're going to tell me that. It looks like, oh, the penalty try other than the penalty try. Exeter didn't score during that period with all the reds and the yellows, like there was what good seven minutes there where they had with their gun to twelve.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah. They, uh, but as we discussed when you're down to 12, it often just means you're going to end up being tired for the rest of the match. And of course that's what happens. Right. When they die at the very end. Yeah. Two tries in the last five minutes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Whatever their, their, their gas, they don't want to be there anymore. They are thinking about what, uh, what they're having for dinner and what club they're going to at that point. Like they are.
00:39:47
Speaker
If Exeter were playing like anything other than poop, they'd have had like 20 points in that period rather than the seven from the penalty try. From a penalty try. Like that. Right. Yeah. No. Unimpressive. Right. Unfortunately, it's hard. It's amazing to say that about a 40 to three victory, but it was not that impressive. Yeah. It wasn't that good until, yeah, please. Please. This was a team that barely wanted to be there. Right. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
00:40:18
Speaker
The other one going on later on that day, though. That was fun. Ulster in sale. Maybe not for sale fans, and maybe not for Ulster fans to agree. But damn, that was fun. It was. It was one of those where like, yeah, just watch this and enjoy, especially because watching Ulster beat sale
00:40:45
Speaker
with sales tactics is that that's always enjoyable. Yeah. And it was just choked him out. Yeah. First half was obviously unexpiring. Anyway, you cut it. Yes, Rob Little cut over. But like, we, we didn't see anything special. And I don't blame Nick dope, necessarily. But you got to believe that things changed just a little bit when John Cooney came on.
00:41:14
Speaker
Mm hmm. You really do. Yeah, I don't think dope was all that. He's got he's got some ability and I believe I believe he's right. But this is going to be their future but not not this weekend. No, no, no, no, there was. Yeah, so I have
00:41:41
Speaker
Once again, we have issues with the French referees. I thought Bruce was shit. And I think he killed the game. This game could have been a little bit better if we had a slightly better referee, honestly. I agree with that. I thought he was pretty trash. Although he knew one of the guys on the field needed to be carded, and he just figured out that it might as well be John Ross. So I'll give him that. One of you needs to be carded. Oh, wait. I know who you are. Card. I think it should have been Johnny Hill.
00:42:11
Speaker
Oh, God, how he got away with all the penalties. The whole, I was like, Artem, like Artem. And he was freaking yapping away. I was like, dude, you're just, you should just be sent off. Like not sent off obviously permanently, but yeah, you should be sent to the bin. Right. Go sit for 10 minutes and consider your, your actions. And if you come back again and do that, then you, then you will sit. Like that's how it should go. Yes, absolutely.
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah. The the this this match just was almost willed over the line by. The crowd at the Kingspan. Yeah, I thought see, see, I thought sale had enough jam in them to overcome that. And they they didn't write this is still like as bad as elsewhere for quite a bit, especially in this comp.
00:43:07
Speaker
It's still a quality side. You look at some of the names on this Ulster team and two among Alan O'Connor, Timoni Vermeulen, Stockdale McCluskey and Hume are a great combo right there, Little and Lowry.
00:43:23
Speaker
The bench had some had some muscle on it, too, with O'Toole, Herring, and O'Sullivan. And, you know, Jordy, Jordy Murphy came on, I was like, oh, my God, I forgot about Jordy Murphy. Holy shit. Like, yeah, yeah. And Treadwell is obviously an international player. Like there was so much there's so much quality in this team. So you have to know that at some point something's going to click in their brain, whether whatever it takes. And that's obviously not something for me to figure out.
00:43:52
Speaker
And they'll start playing like the quality team they have there. And with the home advantage that they had, it was enough.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah, and to that effect, you know, you look at that side is pretty fucking loaded and you look at the other side. I did mention Aaron Reed earlier. I thought he was fantastic, really showing to me like an international player, unlike the man with the number one above his who I thought was mostly absent to two. I don't know. I don't I don't see it anymore for two. I just don't. And
00:44:33
Speaker
There was a there was a point where based on reputation as well. Right. There was a point where he took the ball into contact. It was like, I think probably around the twenty two of his own twenty two. And it was one of those like I texted you immediately afterwards. I was like, if he was his younger self, he was like six, seven years ago. He's still running for a try. And because he got taken down by two arm tackles, which, you know, mortals, yes, can be tackled by two arm tackles. It happens sometimes. But it's happening too much to two. And
00:45:03
Speaker
He's not billed as immortal. He's not, that's not his, but he's, you know, he's Thor. He's the one who's just going to keep going right through. He's the juggernaut. Prime time, prime time. So he does not get brought down by that stuff. Right. He's not that anymore. No, I think they do need to look at other options like play Lawrence.
Champions Cup Format Critique
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah. And he's probably on the team, which is great. I think, which also tells me that, that daily was going to be a 13.
00:45:30
Speaker
He was potentially going to be a 13, and I think they also might see the ability of Slade to slide around a little bit, too, so maybe that's why they're going to bring in somebody that's more of an out-and-out center and use him as kind of that Swiss army knife. Daily is a Swiss army knife. Like, you can play pretty much any position, not named 10 or 9, but that's it, you know, in the back line. So, yeah, I'm happy for that. I think All-Star deserved to win this, and it does speak
00:46:01
Speaker
to kind of how trash this format is though. Like also we're pretty crap. Most of this pool play up until this match up until the second half of this match, probably even you could say, and they're going to get into the knockout. So still has me going, go back to the old fucking format. You helmets, but that's just me. I guess I'm an old man in that sense.
00:46:25
Speaker
I, I, yeah, but I mean, sale is still one and three. So it's, I feel like, I don't know if the formatting doesn't change as much as just having so many teams in it. It shouldn't be like, I think that if you're talking about the old format where it's six for pregnant. Yeah.
00:46:43
Speaker
where there's not 24 because the 24 teams is the problem of anything. If anything is the problem, that's it's not just a format, you know, but just, yeah, that amount of teams is not good. That's why it's like neither, you know, sale might not. I don't know. Should they be? Oh, no, they they made the the top four last year, didn't they? No, no, they didn't. No, it was.
00:47:09
Speaker
It was Northampton, Quinn's, Sari's, Lester. Lester. Yeah. Okay. So it's like, I don't even know that they should be in this. I think they were top six though. They might've been. I don't know. It was just not. Yeah. In the old, in the old format, the top six would have been like, uh, it was kind of dicey. It's like, uh, doing need.
00:47:35
Speaker
You know, that six team was kind of, yeah. And then we decided, let's go add seven and eight. Like, what? Yeah. There's no point. Cause like those teams are not, they're not anywhere close to being quality enough to, to move on. Yeah. It's, it's like, you look at the, it's, there's one in three team that's moving on and into the, into the, into the, the, um,
00:48:00
Speaker
What was it? The round of 16. Like, come on. What you have losing teams making knockouts. Allster. So they are going to face Leinster. Yeah. That spot was basically who's going to get killed by Leinster. Right. And I know they'll put up a bigger fight than Sal probably just because they're rivals, but damn. But yeah, I mean, and then Gloucester is like, it's not what are we really doing here?
00:48:29
Speaker
It was day of execution until after the six nations. Have fun. What the fuck are we doing? Yeah, it's not. No, there's, I don't, I don't particularly find that to be a fault of the format as much as the selections. And I don't know, maybe that is format. It's part of the format. Yeah.
Montpellier vs London Irish
00:48:47
Speaker
In any case, let's go Sunday. Yeah. Which is in my paints on this. Uh, let's start in France, Montpellier in London Irish.
00:48:57
Speaker
This thing got a lot better as it went on. Yeah, it got better. I have to say, maybe it was the kickoff time and I don't know enough about French rugby to completely criticize about it, but
00:49:12
Speaker
the atmosphere to stay him sucked. Yeah, like it was GGL stadium was not exactly someplace I'm about to go book a ticket to Europe and go walk, go watch and match. Right. You know, that doesn't make you want to do it. That's for sure. No, it did not seem like they were having fun. I mean, it didn't help that their team wasn't scoring, but
00:49:33
Speaker
At the same time, they weren't doing anything to help the team. You know, the French, we, as we saw throughout this, you know, they will be playing the Trump, the Trumpets and trying to get their teams into it and the fans into it. And the fans just weren't responding at all. No. And that was very, very low response time on that. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. But it's,
00:50:02
Speaker
I'm, I'm, I'm, I will say for London Irish, I'm happy to see more and more of Rory Jennings, no matter what position he's playing. I would be playing 10 and shitbag would be out. But it at least gives me hope that they're eventually going to kick this motherfucker out of here and he can go play in some shithouse league where he deserves, he belongs, you know?
00:50:29
Speaker
If he comes to MLR, I'm begging him. Oh, absolutely. Not during play. No, no. Afterwards. Maybe. I'll call him out if he comes over here. Right. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. He will not. He wouldn't get a moment's rest. It would be bad. Yeah. You know what I do to Cam Dolan?
00:50:50
Speaker
Right, I will double down on that. Oh, and we double down on that. Yeah, and I I don't think we'd be alone there. So no, either way, that's that's the level he should be playing at anyway. He's not that good. Yeah, you got the you know, the Argentinians did well for him. Well, well, last little bomb. Yeah, they're. Since he's becoming a bigger and bigger impact,
00:51:19
Speaker
Guy for them. More like the London Argentinian. Yeah, right. But we saw, obviously, Creepy come back and make an impact and Gonzalez is just, he's bloody good.
00:51:39
Speaker
And I thought, finally we saw Cunningham South and I thought he played really well. He did. He really did. You know, things didn't really go super sideways for them until he came off. Right. And I thought he wasn't perfect, but it's like you can't, I'm not expecting perfection. I'm looking for, for him doing some little things, right? Which he did really well. And then he had a big, as you said, big impact on the game when he left. They kind of got fucked afterwards. So I think he's a guy they almost have to,
00:52:09
Speaker
start leaning on, like that's the thing. You make some little changes and now suddenly I'd be a lot of an Irish fan. Like, yeah, but Rory Jennings in it at 10. He's done a good job there. Um, and then that way you can still have been hard on and all those fucking runners in the backs. I can't believe Rona walked out on this team. Well, okay. I can, but yeah.
00:52:37
Speaker
He went back to League to make some serious money, I guess. I guess. But. Yeah, this would be a fun team, except for for that and. Puck and Montpellier willing themselves back in was as a team was. Was excellent, well. The guy really doing the job. Was was another sub. Mm hmm. Right now, right? Yeah.
00:53:04
Speaker
I was like, Oh yeah, this is why we liked him. Cause he does these things and they're awesome. I remember just being like, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah. This looks familiar. Yeah. And then that, and then that, Oh, okay. Yep. There we go. Yeah. That's why, that's why we liked him. And he and Mercer have like seemed to work really well together. So from their days in the pram against each other, but.
00:53:31
Speaker
The old friendly days. That's one of those guys, each of them are one of those guys where when you play against them, you're like, I really want to play with you someday. Right. So I'm sure that they both had that thought. Yeah. I thought here and there for it. Yeah. And it's happening in Montpelier. There you go.
00:53:53
Speaker
only for a big time. I know how stupid. OK, so can we also talk about the stupidity at the end of the match with the Irish not knowing what they needed and the players like the who was it who kicked it out? Was it Englefield? I think, yeah, Englefield kicked it out. Yeah. Everybody's like, dude, you didn't want to do that. He's like, what? Like, how can you not? That's yeah.
00:54:20
Speaker
Again, that's a coaching problem. They got to know you know, that's got to be down pumped down to the field Like they need to know it's you know, that should have been a whole thing at
00:54:30
Speaker
you know, the practice the whole week saying, this is what we need to do to move on. And they didn't even, it's like, that didn't get hammered in at all. And people will say, well, it's only the challenge cup. There's still money to be made for these teams here too. Like, and we're talking about, you know, teams that have been living a little bit lean and whatnot. So an extra bit of money given to you by, you know, ABCR,
00:54:59
Speaker
Whether it's Challenge Cup or not, it doesn't matter. You still want to play. You don't want to be on your butt at home. And at minimum, you're looking at a chance for some young guys to play in this knockout for the Challenge Cup coming up here. At minimum, you're looking at that, if not more. And that's why it is a big deal. And it may not be the biggest deal of the weekend, but it is a big deal to a point.
00:55:27
Speaker
Let's go to Toulouse. And yeah.
Munster vs Toulouse
00:55:37
Speaker
You know, I, I feel, if I'm a monster, I'm really disappointed because they, they freaking had this thing. They did. And then, you know, they, they gave up the Malia trial. Yes. But they really buckled down afterwards, but.
00:55:56
Speaker
But, but you got a deadly goal kicker on the other side and their discipline just wasn't good enough. And that is, that is the difference. Charminet hits him from anywhere in the half, usually just about. He had, he was one of the few that didn't have too many tea problems. Right. And this, so this is me talking, right? If you've listened to me before, you'll know that this is going to be shocking and maybe may upset some of you out there. And I apologize for that.
00:56:25
Speaker
I loved every minute of that kicking display. And I was like, just keep, yeah, keep kicking it. Cause like, it's one thing, one of the things that I hate about it is that you're giving the other team the opportunity to get another three right back. But monsters really weren't really threatening that hard. So it was like, yeah, just take the three. You'll work down in another five to 10 minutes, you'll get another three and then just keep doing it.
00:56:51
Speaker
It was amazing how well that worked. And that's, you know, monster didn't respond well. And so if you're not going to respond well, then yeah, keep doing that. Just keep the scoreboard ticking and you'll win.
00:57:03
Speaker
Bleak them out. Just too many inaccuracies really in the end for months early. Way too many. They had chances and I thought their wings daily and Nash did a great job of keeping them in it and they had burn and Coombs obviously was Coombs because we know how good he is. They had guys keep them in it and they just couldn't do it and then
00:57:32
Speaker
This might be a little bit of a, it's not a hot take, but it's probably a little bit of blasphemy. To bring on Connor Murray when you need something just, you almost just need a carbon copy, not a carbon copy, but a similar player to Craig Casey because he was just tired, but you still needed a little more zip to go out there and get this game.
00:57:57
Speaker
Connor Murray's service is almost impeccable, but the speed of the game isn't necessarily that fast when he's at nine. No, it's accurate, but slow. And it gives the team a chance to get into place.
00:58:14
Speaker
And yeah, Toulouse did, one thing they did was they defended well. And that was the thing, they could just wait for a mistake in their own end. And then they, you know, play, start playing the other end, get a penalty and pick points. Like, right.
00:58:29
Speaker
Yeah. And Haley, Haley Levy was unhelpful. No, it was very unhelpful. And while effects did make an impact here and there. Right. It's not the same. And, you know, bumping Freesh to wing. Yeah. Again, is not the same. It's, you know, Mike Haley has been a huge part of this, this monster team, especially during this competition. So when they lost him, it was bad news. And yeah. And like you said, fricking.
00:58:57
Speaker
the kicking and the kicking and the kicking from Toulouse, like DuPont, Intimac, and Jaminé, and name another back out there. And they were all just making life hard on, on Monster. Wasn't that ridiculous? Doing this game too. Yep. Yeah. Toulouse just, we're hammering away with that kick. Yeah. It was,
00:59:26
Speaker
That's the thing like people talk about like there's there's
00:59:31
Speaker
There's not enough analysis. It seems like smart analysis of the whole, well, the teams that kick the most and blah, blah, blah, win. And it's like, okay, but it's not just about kicking the most. Cause you can't just kick to kick and win. It doesn't work that way. Yeah. Came for kicking sake never goes well. Right. It's the teams that kick like to lose did where, yeah, again, the 50, 22 is the just putting monster and just shit position as much as they can. Just not just a kick. Right.
01:00:00
Speaker
Right. So well done. That's, that's what champions do. Right. And they've done, they've been there, done that for in recent times too. I know Mr. Have stars on their shirt too, but they haven't been there for a bit. Nope. Um, good to see. Yeah. Always good to see him. Yeah. I look forward to watching him play for Italy.
Saracens vs Edinburgh Controversy
01:00:22
Speaker
Yeah. Up to damn health and Edinburgh.
01:00:31
Speaker
And there's lots of bad about this match, certainly from my perspective. And really, if you're Edinburgh, even, you have to feel like you should have got a lot more.
01:00:51
Speaker
You've got the Saracens and like it or not, there's still something about the Saracens that are on the edge. Yeah. That are just like up in that upper echelon. You've got these guys on the edge. Nothing is going well for them. You can totally completely just dismantle their champions cup season by just going for the jugular and going for it.
01:01:14
Speaker
Whether or not they did, their inaccuracies are still the number one thing that bit them on the hardest. You know, you look at that first half where they just planted themselves in the Saracens end. They got one dry. Yeah. Dave Cherry, that's it. That was it. And there was the one penalty. So they're walking to the half, 10-6.
01:01:33
Speaker
You can't think that great things are going to happen when you do something like that. You walk out of it. What's up? And they had the wind first. Yes, as well. That was more than a four-point wind. So that was that. Yeah, so they had like 70-odd percent possession. They had very little. They had almost all the territory as well. They did have a period of 15 on 13 play in that first half as well. Also that, yes.
01:02:00
Speaker
That speaks to some support jobs by the Saracens boys. Really? Yeah. Oh, so. Yeah. Also, Jamie George had a fact that he came back in. Yeah, it's a little sketchy. OK, there's this whole if and doubt, leave them out. And there was sincere doubt about Jamie George because he got knocked the fuck out. He was I thought he was out too, which was why I was like, huh, that doesn't seem right. It doesn't didn't seem right. And now he's out of six nations with.
01:02:29
Speaker
the congestion. What the fuck? Well, when did he get that? Did he get it yesterday? I don't think so. Doubtful. Very doubtful. So the only one of the time when it could have happened. So. Right. Yeah. Unbelievable. It just terrible. Of all the I thought, you know, you're well aware of the job I thought that Mark McCall and crew did this week. It was fucking horrible. Yeah, it was bad. This was the worst part. And it's by far. Right. And it's
01:02:59
Speaker
And it goes back to our old friend, all the Davies to a part, um, where we were like, Oh yeah, we're going to have him as our backup nine. Like we've got who guard in the wings. We have, uh, Gareth Simpson, supposedly somewhere floating around. Maybe he's gone. I don't know. Or he might not be eligible. Yeah. Uh, yeah.
01:03:19
Speaker
All those players excite me more to bring on as a substitute nine than Ella Davies by far. And we needed, again, and as I said, kind of with Munster, we needed somebody similar that can keep doing the same job that Van Zell was doing. I don't believe Ella Davies can do that. Davies is not fit to be a Saracens nine.
01:03:42
Speaker
And I say that because it's like, so I take a little bit of the Mike Tomlin attitude towards it. The standard is the standard, right? Like you, we, you don't settle for a JAG with basically JAG talent, right? And, and.
01:03:59
Speaker
That's I think that's Davies to a tease. He's he doesn't he doesn't have like a the biggest heart. It doesn't seem it's not like he's, you know, out there busting his ass for it. He's just he's going through the motions and he's not that good. And that frustrates him. No, it's frustrating to kick the kick. This is so this is the opposite of what I felt with to lose the kicking from Saris for points rather than like your bread and butter is the line out mall try. And yet they just.
01:04:33
Speaker
This is why, again, I feel like McCall, this had to have come from him. Because I can't imagine Ben Earl is the one making that decision to say, no, no, no, we're just going to kick for points. That's got to come from up higher. That's all we're going to do for 60 fucking minutes. And they hadn't even really tried for a try.
01:04:57
Speaker
All the other things aside, I don't really, you know, they got lucky. I felt like both of those yellows for, you know, the George and Riccioni yellows could have been reds very easily. So you're already probably because they absorbed them was right. Yes, I agree. They weren't going forward. They were they were so tackled, but they they're both standing. Yeah. And, you know, there are some reps who've been like, why are they reckless to stand up, which it kind of is.
01:05:25
Speaker
So it depends on the view that could be a yellow to a red and it easily could have been a red, both of them, especially the second one. Once he happens once. Okay. But like the fact that the second one was, it was also not a red. No, you're just lucky. Just you're playing with house money. And then Vunupola does his little baby antics too. Again. And like everything about the attitude that series brought to this match was, was wrong. And to me, that starts with the coach. Yeah.
01:05:54
Speaker
and then bringing, yeah, then the Georgia. So I'm not wearing a Saracen shirt tonight because I'm just that mad. I had it, I got it out. I'm like, no, fuck this. I'm not wearing my old club shirt. Yeah. So they were talking about, when they were talking about before they picked the player of the match, you know, Billy Motta and Schumann both having 20 plus carries, the only other person that had more than,
01:06:23
Speaker
that had more than 10 was Luke Crosby. And that is great because you know who your runners are. And that's kind of simplifying things. I've seen things where the All Blacks talked about it for a while. Like we're only going to have X guys carried for what ended up being basically the second half of the international year for them. And it simplifies things, which is great, but also you're wearing these guys down. And by the time Schumann was making his 17th, 18th carry,
01:06:51
Speaker
He's going two feet and dying. Yes, he appears to be making some sort of impact. That's the danger of that idea. It's also easy to set the defensive line on that. He's going to make two meters after contact. When you see him, you can make the tackle from the inside. He'll go down and the defense can set on that really easily. It's like, okay, you're doing work, but what are you accomplishing?
01:07:15
Speaker
again and the saris i thought did all right with that you know that like the wolfpack defense is what it is that's that was that was too standard it was everything else yeah um mata was ridiculous though yeah he is good i'm not i'm not denying that he's very good um
01:07:33
Speaker
And I'm not going to dive too hard into the referee. He is crap, but I don't want to dive too hard into him. I have two issues and one's a generality, referring fucking scrums. Like you can't have the same exact action three different times and have it go three different ways. Like that makes zero sense. Like it can't be the team with the ball gets it. That is not how it works. If you're not, if you're so, you know,
01:07:59
Speaker
unsure of yourself when it comes to refereeing a scrum, you should not be refereeing at a high level in any way, shape or form. Right. You should be on the sideline learning, like, right? No, just no, no, no, no. So that's just a generality. But in particular, care just or what, I honestly don't care how you pronounce the name.
01:08:19
Speaker
He really did Maro dirty with that card. Maro was on sides. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I'm sorry. When the fuck is there such thing as offsides with a Frenchman? Like, what the fuck? Yeah. And they even said, like, look, he gets back, but then he slaps at the ball and he slapped the arm, like nothing. You got the arm. You got the arm. He didn't hit the ball. Like, if you're going to give him a penalty for offside, I get it. But like, it wasn't exactly a scoring opportunity.
01:08:46
Speaker
the defense was set like yeah it was oh that was really that was a harsh card that was a really tough card but at the same time again you know i'm not going to complain too hard about that because in any case we were we were not good enough we're not good enough and that's the that's the bottom line but here's and here's here's one reason why i'm blame morrow for it
01:09:07
Speaker
you already done, and Sarries do this to referees. It's not the referees at some point. The Sarries also just don't respond well to certain things. And they don't respond well. They just fall apart. Like we saw, you know, Billy, as I said, his antics about it too, they got to march back. It's like just
01:09:28
Speaker
At some point, somebody's got to step in and say, cut the shit. Stop being cute. Like, it's got to be a point where you tell everyone in, you know, in some sort of huddle, like, Hey, listen, let's play clean for like 10, 20 minutes, right on sides with our referee. And we can start to get some of these borderline calls to slant our way. Right. And they just, you know, that's up to the leadership of the team and obviously all the way up to the coaching staff.
01:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's the thing because it's like Itoji shouldn't have done that enough. Like that should have been no stop do don't do that shit. We don't we haven't earned the right to do that shit. The referee is going to ping us for that shit. He should have known better. But like they were pressing so hard. And it's like, what are you pressing hard to do? Because you're not having even tried to score a try yet. So like,
01:10:15
Speaker
Um, so yeah, how can you be that frustrated? Cause you're doing, obviously you're doing, well, I can understand why you're frustrated because I'm frustrated with you too. But like new, the things that you need like to do with the ball. How about that? Like what don't be, don't be stupid defensively because you're frustrated with your lack of attacking that you change your attacking, like fix it. Right. Right.
01:10:38
Speaker
So that's just, that's how it just kind of followed. So I just not coaches did not have them prepared to play this, this match. No.
01:10:47
Speaker
But you could say the same thing about Edinburgh, as we said about the Irish, Mike Blair saying that, oh, I thought that should have been a red is kind of offsides for me. I'm not into that. And like in the interview, it's like, okay, take that to somewhere else too. Like, no, this is not the place for it. But we can say that here. Yeah. Yeah. In the middle of the TV interview, like, yeah, pay attention to your own team. Um,
01:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, but they have to know they have to know. And I feel like I feel like a lot of players on Edinburgh knew except here goes. Hmm. And then they were like, no. Oh, is this one? No, it was. OK, sorry. I thought it was the other match. There was this one. Yeah. I think Jennings did it too. Or OK. Whatever was ankle pill did too.
01:11:34
Speaker
uh, that my actually been a knock on in the end, um, over in France. Oh, it was. Yeah. Sorry. Anyway, this was it though. This was, this was definitely one of those in any case. And PeerGhost was like, what did I do? And it's just like, why didn't you see some players that were just annoyed? He's like, why did you kick it off? He's like,
01:11:56
Speaker
What did I do wrong? Yeah. I wanted to end the game because there's more than the game at stake. Fuck those. Yes. And it was the Earl try that kept him at the kept him with a home advantage. Yeah. I mean, that's why he's on the team. Right. So to come up with the goods, even when everybody else is playing like poop. It's like, why didn't you try that earlier in the night? I know. I know that credit to
01:12:24
Speaker
Kurtemao, he's grown so much. He has. And especially with the tape, he looks so much like Mako. Yeah, a little bit like Mako. A little bit like Mako. You can mistake him if you look quickly, yeah. And when he's at his best, it's hard to tell the difference. But he's absolute best, and he's got to be there more consistent. Top-topped, yeah. Because every so often, he does something, and you're like, Mako would never do that. You're not Mako. You're an imposter.
01:12:59
Speaker
Yeah, but I thought he was, he was pretty, he was mostly good in this one.
Upcoming Rugby Series Announcement
01:13:06
Speaker
So we have, as a result, we have series hosts, Osprey's, LaRochelle, our hosting cluster, Linster hosting Ulster, Lester hosts, Edinburgh.
01:13:21
Speaker
Toulouse are going to host the balls and good luck balls. I guess they're going to host my play. That'll be interesting. Sharks, well, they get to play at home to Munster and Stormers get to bring Quinn's back to South Africa again. I'm actually excited for for Saris to play Osprey's because I feel like
01:13:44
Speaker
That's going to be a battle. It is. And to come through that, like there's there's some of these other teams that that will be too, but I think there's there's something to. To have to fight through the next round, there's going to be a lot of cream puff matchups here. It's likely, yes. Not a lot, I should say, but there's enough and I'm kind of glad saris don't have that.
01:14:06
Speaker
Yeah. So, but in that, I'd rather be Leinster cause they're just fucking wagons. Yeah. I know. Right. And they're just freaking swinging it all over the place right now. Yeah. I mean, they're going to win, right? Are you real? We're all in agreement here at this point. Yeah. So you have one, two, three, four.
URC vs French Teams Debate
01:14:21
Speaker
So almost all the French teams made it last year. You have five French teams that miss out this year. Wow.
01:14:29
Speaker
Yeah. Didn't all the, uh, all the Safa teams make it through? All the Safa teams made it through. Yeah. Three, uh, the prem teams that did not make it through. So everybody from URC is through. That's ridiculous. Yeah. Good on the URC. You know, they, they are making their case for best league. I know right now. Yeah. Certainly. If we're going to put at least one team in the final. Yeah. So.
01:14:59
Speaker
Here we go. That'll be, what weekend is that? That is the weekend. Okay. So that is March 31st, March 31st and second. All right. Full weekend. So more likely, um, champions cup games will be the first and the second challenge. Cup will be the Friday before carry over into the following weekend on old times over there. So that is the rugby pod for today.
Next Week's Preview and Farewell
01:15:29
Speaker
next week we will talk, um, we'll talk Jones, we'll talk, um, six nations teams, six nations previews, all that crap, obviously whatever that we'll get into the coming around to the prem and, uh, yeah. Well, and then we'll obviously start talking about other things. Um, if you're coming over to the fancy corner, we got
01:15:52
Speaker
Got a little bit more to talk about over there too, unfortunately. Sadness. Yeah, very sad. So if you're heading over there, we'll see you then. If not, enjoy the return to the leagues this weekend. We'll talk to you all next week. We appreciate you all for hanging out. Have a good one, folks. Later.