S2 Ep 17 - Gloucester Gloom Grows Whilst Saints Style Shows

A sold-out Kingston Park, a year-long drought snapped, and a recruitment plan that actually makes sense—Newcastle’s resurgence sets the tone for a week where club identity matters more than hype. We unpack how the Red Bull-backed project is prioritising prime-age talent, robust coaching, and behind-the-scenes investment that turns travel, data and welfare into wins. It’s not about Galácticos; it’s about a system that survived a storm and put Gloucester to the sword.

From there, we turn the lens on contrasts across the league. Bristol showed they can grind as well as glide, absorbing Sale’s pressure and punching through with carriers and clean rucks. Northampton dazzled with cohesion and pace, a testament to years of aligned coaching and academy standards, while Harlequins looked lost without a clear plan. Bath muscled ahead then let Exeter back in—discipline and caution both helping and hurting—before the Chiefs reminded everyone why they’re the fittest, most stubborn side in England. Saracens, usually inevitable, feel oddly short on control and spark, with serious questions at scrum-half that recruitment alone won’t solve.

We also dig into the sternum-height tackle trial on the horizon. In theory it’s simple, but real collisions aren’t tidy: different body shapes, split-second decisions and a likely uptick in TMO interventions will test players and refs alike. Expect teething problems, but also a sincere push to make head safety non-negotiable. Finally, we lay down Champions Cup predictions, from heavyweight showdowns to potential ambushes, and spotlight who’s built to thrive in winter rugby.

If you enjoy smart analysis with a bit of edge—clear takeaways on recruitment, tactics, player development and form lines—hit follow, share with a rugby friend, and tell us: which club’s model would you copy right now?

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Transcript

New Year Banter And Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Rux Mools and Oval Balls. That's right, it's the fans' favourite rugby podcast back in 2026 with some rugby podcast nonsense, but it may be a new year, but it's still the same old podcast hosts. It's me, Dave, joined as ever by Rory Rory. Say hello to the listener. Hello, listener. Thank you. Thank you for keeping the feeds. Hello, hello. How are you? How's how's 2026 treating you? Well, we'll probably get into some of that quite quite early on in the podcast, I would uh I would think. But uh, you know, it's it's a new year, new opportunities, uh reasons to uh love this sport for uh all the ups and downs that it brings. Yeah, why do I feel there's a little bit of sarcasm there somewhere, Rory? Well I'm sure we'll dig into that a little bit. We'll dig into it at some point. How are you, David? I'm I'm okay, I'm doing very well. Got a little bit of a cold, but you know, it's that time of year. Uh I'm feeling utterly optimistic about the sport that we like to talk about myself personally, so I can't wait to keep talking about it for for forever and always. But obviously, how how was your Christmas and New Year's? Because obviously we did the old pre-release of our special and things like that. So we haven't had a chance to talk for a couple of weeks. No, no, this is uh this is the first time. Well happy New Year, of course. Oh yeah, yeah. Lovely, um, fairly relaxed, some uh some you know, eat, drink and be merry kind of attitude to a lot of it. Uh a bit of a trip up to York for New Year, which is very nice, very festive. Uh no, all very good. So they get progressively less um wild the older I older I get, I'm finding about yourself. That's a that's a trend you'll learn to love. Yeah, very similar. Eat, drink, be merry. Um my dog started having his own bum problems, you know. It was my turn last year. He rang in the new year of his own, so that's good fun. Yeah, bum problems duh. No, dog. I said dog. Um so yeah, that that that was fun for uh the for everyone involved. But yeah. Good times had by all. Nothing, as you say, you get a bit older, it feels a bit less wilder, but I appreciate the earlier nights and the longer lay-ins, so I ain't complaining. However, less about us. We've got a podcast to do, Rory. And we'll start off with doing a couple of bits of news, nothing major, nothing too jaw-dropping, just a couple of things that I've picked out that we could talk about. We'll dig in to round nine of the Prem. Uh, I know we could go back a bit and talk about round eight, which we haven't had a chance to talk about. But, you know, in the world of in the world of rugby podcasts, that's basically a decade ago. We'll do some predictions for the Champions Cup that is running around next week. Uh I think that'll be us for this podcast. So hopefully, listeners, you're buckled in for another trailblazing podcast from Rux Balls Overballs. Should we get into it, Rory? Let's dive straight in. Let's dive straight in. So, news-wise, I think the main thing that I've seen picked up this week is we're starting to see the ramping up of the great big Newcastle Red Bulls transfer machine. I think that I think we've seen four confirmed now incomings for next season, and uh it'll be Razzi Towima, Josh Hodge, Hoskins Satutu actually, actually, actually confirmed now, and Franco Molina. Are we starting to see a pattern emerging with the types of players they are recruiting? And are we convinced this recruitment plan is the right one? Yeah, I mean I think if you could if you add into that uh Benice Cruz and Tom Christie as a as a whole recruitment group, um I know there was some, you know, you know, you could obviously add a few more into there, but I I would say those two are the the previous sort of more headline sign-ins um that they've had. I think you're seeing a profile of player start to emerge, which is young ish but coming into their prime, yeah, sort of in that sort of mid-20s, um, coming into their prime with uh probably international potential in most cases. Obviously, Benitez Cruz has now broken in fully to the Argentina team. Um but they're not going out and sign in Zia Khaleesi, Antoine DuPont, you know. They're not throwing mad money at massive Galacticos at this point. So I think it's I think it's an interesting profile of player that they've gone for so far. Um I think there's uh an intelligent approach to those sign-ins. Um the one of the key things, Tuima, Hodge, Tatutu, all um EPS or English qualified, so they all sit within that restriction that we have. That restriction. So there's still some some wiggle room for them in terms of where they continue to recruit. Um interesting developments around the the coaching aspect. So I think Dan McFarland is the name that's being heavily tasked at the moment. Yeah, yeah. Come in probably in place of Alan Dickens. I don't know if that's been confirmed. Alan Dickens is fully a caretaker role or well, I don't I know he's definitely he's definitely caretaker at the moment. Um whether he's kept on beyond that, I don't know. He's quite highly thought of. Uh he's got a good track record, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's kept on in some some shape or form. And look, there's been definite improvements as we'll as we'll um we'll get into. Um but I think it's I think it's interesting to start to see what's the kind of front of house changes that Red Bulls are starting to make in that the kind of the headline grab it. So it's interesting. There was an interview with um Rob Baxter, uh I read recently talking about it, and and his because you know, obviously Josh Hodge and Russ Tuwima obviously left Exeter to go go to Newcastle. I know Josh Hodge was formerly off Newcastle before he headed southwest. Yeah. It's interesting him talking about it, and I think he was asked something on the lines of, you know, what what do you see as the this kind of financial might having an impact on the on the Newcastle in the league? And his perspective was on what it's going to do behind the scenes. And the thing that he picked up on, which I think is interesting for a team that's as geographically far away from Newcastle, is investing in things like travel. How do you get make sure the team is as prepared as you possibly possibly can be to play a game? Because obviously Newcastle will probably have to well certainly have to do the most travelling of any of any team in the newer league by a distance. Um extra at least have the comfort blanket of only able to go up to Bristol, Gloucester and Bath for a few of their away games. And I think that's an interesting perspective, and that's probably where the picture will start to emerge over the next year to 18 months, is whether the the behind-the-scenes stuff, your your um you know, player welfare, your data analysis, the the kind of things that prepare a team for success, I think that's where that there's going to be a real interest in influx for Newcastle. But from a front of house perspective, all really good signs. I think Molina's a really good sign in a very, very solid international class lock. Russ Tawima bags of potential. Um obviously full another pecking order a little bit at Chiefs, but physically um bags of potential, and if they can get him right, you know, having that kind of tight head lock, you know, in a you know, smaller version, but not a not small version of Will Skelton, you know, that kind of mould of player. Yeah, we can see we see how effective that kind of player is. Um Josh Hodge, I really like. I think he's got all the skills, got a bit of the X Factor, a bit of X Factor about him. Um and then Hoskins to 2-2 is just an exciting signing all round. You know, the all the noise about him in New Zealand over the last few years has been immense. So, yeah, great signings from their point of view. I'm sure there'll be a few more to come in. Yeah, I think you're right. But yeah, I mean, I think we're just we're just starting to see those wheels turning. How long do you reckon it lasts until people start getting frustrated with the Red Bull machine? Because, you know, us Brits, we love an underdog until they start being really successful. Sure. Um, well, uh it's a hard one to to answer. I s I suppose you could say when they start winning trophies, but I think the first few trophies will be everyone will be quite pleased for them. Maybe if they start having a period of sustained success, we'll all start getting quite bitter about it. They're a hard team not to like Newcastle. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that perennial underdog status feeds into that. But you know, one of the my favourite prem teams that I've watched was that Newcastle side from that made the top four some years ago that had Gonover and the other winger, the Samoan lad with the with fast old feet. I know who you mean. I know who you mean. The name escapes me. Listeners at home will be screaming at their phones because they remember that Remember's name. Um but you know, they've produced some very likable teams. They were very successful in the late 90s when they initially um pumped money into the the kind of professional setup. No, and I think the sport is going to benefit massively from a big powerhouse in the north like that. So I d I don't see there being a prospect of much bitterness in the short term. Long term, you know, if we're if we're 20 years down the line and they've won, you know, 18 league titles, we might be getting a bit annoyed. Hey, if we're 20 years down the line and we're still doing this podcast, Rory, I'll be happy. Um not even Red Bull could sour my uh sour my cynical view, I'm sure, if we're still going in 20 years' time. Uh okay, Red Bulls. I think we've covered that quite well. The other bit I want to touch about, and I know this is close to your heart, Rory. Um Welsh Rugby. Yes. Um the psychodrama. The the the just the continued soap dramatics that is going on in Welsh Rugby. Uh there's been a call for a potential which I think is an emergency general meeting. Yeah, it is. It's all a bit of a mess, and all at the same time, this exodus of players seems to be continuing with the latest. I think Aaron Wayne Wright's been linked to be going to Leicester Tigers. Uh and anything that you can give to our Welsh listeners that may give them a little bit of hope? Look, the reality is if they go through a vote of no confidence, which will be driven, I believe, by the community game in a similar kind of format to what happened with the RFU earlier this year. I have similar opinions on it to that process with the RFU. And you know, my thoughts on the RFU council are well documented and specific. Um the the pro game in any country cannot be held to ransom by the community game, it just can't. Um so if uh if Welsh rugby wants to survive the crisis they're in and come out with a national team that reach the heights they've they have reached in the past, this can't go ahead. Um I I still haven't probably fully formed my opinions on what they need to do pro club wise. Um you know, there's the nuclear option of they tank the the the pro clubs and go for an Argentinian style setup, just have a semi-pro league, right? Yeah, and then they'll all their top players go and play wherever else. Yeah. That's that would be the nuclear option. Yeah. Um, but it served Argentina very well. It has. I'm not sure it will serve the uh the principality as a business model very well. No, I probably wouldn't. Um it's I mean it's a mess, isn't it? I mean, I'd love I'd love to give some hope hope to the Welsh lessons. You know, anyone who listened to last week's I was I was at pains to try and uh not stick the boot in. Um did you did you see that um Prem Rugby Welsh 15 that they flashed up on the telly on one of the games? I think if you were to put all the Welsh players in the Prem against the Welsh national team, the Prem Welsh team is probably the better one on paper now. Uh you see a lot of it, a lot of it is crossover between the two, but uh Yeah, I mean to be fair a lot of them play for Gloucester, so they might not be a great form. I I think a few of them are hoping that form doesn't continue to next year. Um surely Gloucester's form can't hinder Jack Morgan. Surely let's let's not put it past us. I can't wait to get into our first game. Okay, basically there is no glimmer of hope for Welsh rugby. Uh I can I'm I'm I'm grappling for one, but I'm I'm afraid I don't have one for you. So we ended 2025 with Welsh Rugby WRU being on our fallers list and just being generally in a bad place. And we've started 2026. Maybe there was room at the bottom. Yeah, there was room below the depths they'd already sunk. Yeah. Okay, well let's not kick them even more when they're down, let's move on. Uh the other thing I wanted to it was announced the middle of December last year, last month, but I completely missed it. And I wanted to get your thoughts for it because it's it's always an interesting one, these trials that they're doing. And it's the the tackle height trial they're doing at this year's World Rugby Under 20s in Georgia, and they've stated uh the boundary is going to be any tackle above the sternum is outlawed. Yeah, yeah. So I'm actually subject to this law at the moment. How are you do you think this is the way forward, or do you think it's just further greying of an already grey area? No, I mean, from my point, is it's been a little difficult to navigate at times, but I'm uh much less mobile and flexible than uh professional road players, so I'm I'm probably not the benchmark for whether a player can always reach below the sternum. Um older heads will tell you that you know they always tackled around the around the waist and around the legs in them olden days in the amateur era. Um, you know, I in terms of this law, you know, it's the old saying, you know, you you can't run without your nipples. So, you know, it's uh the old saying, yeah, yeah. The old saying. So I suppose I suppose as a as a line on the body, an arbitrary line in the body as to where you can tackle is it it's as good as any. I I just don't, you know, if I'm honest, my gut feel is you're gonna end up with a lot of TMO intervention. Oh, good. Where they put the ruler up against the the player to see how far up the body they've tackled. So is it was that above the sternum? So where's where's this where's his sternum start? I I I think that's the thing I'm not looking forward to. And you get there's there's some interesting body shapes in rugby. Like is Jamie George's sternum in the same place as Harry Randall's sternum? Look, if if they look technically speaking, Jamie George and Harry Randall were the same species, um, but they couldn't look much more different. No. No, they couldn't. Um it's an interesting one. We'll see how it fits. I don't think it works. I think I I think it I could see them pushing it through. Oh I don't think it works. I think I think it's coming. I don't I don't think there's no two ways about it. Um they'll they all find some way to say this has been a success, I'm sure of it. Uh but for for those who are vertically blessed, this is just writing on the wall, really. Um it just gets it gets harder and harder to get lower and lower. And uh whether you have to take up yoga or give up rugby. Uh you are start framing the boots now, then Rory. Um but okay. We'll see how that one fares. Obviously, that's World Under Twenties, which will be taking place in the summer. Uh so we've got a little while yet to see how that plays out in that competition. Uh, and obviously, those of you who are playing in the grassroots at the moment, you all know all about it all too well. Uh but obviously it's always interesting when it's played out at a world competition format. But we're gonna dig into the Prem. We're gonna dig in to round nine, and we're gonna start off No, we don't want to. We are starting off to talk about it, David. We're starting off up at Kingston Park, the Newcastle Red Bulls searching for their first victory in over a year. Oh, and they found it up against Gloucester. So normally, normally, Lister, I have a long list of bullet points and things that I want to talk about. All I've done for this game is a la I've just written a little note to myself. Let Rory have a rant. So, Rory, I'll give you a little bit of time just to get it off your chest, because I imagine there's a fair few things you want to say. Okay, yeah. I'm trying to vocalize it. It's it's it's more of a feeling, it's more of a sensation than it is uh a diatribe. Um but I'm gonna try and vocalise this as best I can for the listener. Um we're fucked. We're fucked. Um and I try not to use the uh the hard swears too much on the podcast. Sorry to describe this. Um we're we're in a tough spot already. We were in it, we were going in a tough spot when I saw the original lineup, and some lad called Will Crane was playing at Hooker who is on loan from Hartbury, apparently. Um that's the best the best we could do at short notice turned up on Monday. Um, you know, 50% success rate of the line. That's you know, I mean, to be fair, that that's pretty much average. Yeah, that's pretty much average for our season anyway. So but you know, God love it, uh you know, and I I I'm not gonna stick the boot in on Will Crane. No, you know, because I don't know, I don't even know who the lad on the bench was. I know I have don't I don't have a first name, I don't have a backstory, I don't know who he is. Knowles. George Knowles, that's all I've got as well. I mean I don't know. Yeah, um turn up on a Monday, you know, it it was always gonna be tough for him, and our line out is functioning badly this season already. So I'm not gonna stick the boot on it because he was on a hide into nothing in this game, and you know, he's he's a championship player, and you know, he was maybe the best option we could find to get a championship player in for that week, but you know, Will Crane was a championship player, yeah. Um, and that showed in this game. Points it was farcical. Um Thomas Williams pulling out on the day of the game with a dead leg. So we're playing Mikey Austin, who we picked up from Heartbreed over the summer to be our choice player. Again, I don't know who our sub um scraff is, I think he's from the under 18s, Reese Price or something. Yeah, another one I haven't got a great deal on. Yeah, I think. I thought we I've got more to give you, but on those two, I really haven't. No, no, no. Gloucester fans don't know who he was. I've never heard of him. I don't know, you know. You know, we've got Will Knight at 30, who's a really good prospect, and I really like what Will Knight's gonna be. I think he's I think he's 19 though, 18-19. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, let's put that in perspective. Uh got Jack Cotgrieve on one wing, who has shown real promise at times, but again, he's 19, I think. Yeah. 18-19. Um Dion Gwynne at 6, who again looks a really good prospect. I like the look of a lot of what he's about, but he's I don't think he's 21 yet. Yeah, so I think so. These are all the players that in other teams you would expect that they'll be getting their teeth into probably some champ, that one rugby on some dual registrations normally. And these are the starters for Gloucester at the moment in the prem. So that's that's the injury crisis, right? Which we know Gloucester have, and it's and it's a real problem at the moment. And I don't know what no one seems to have an answer for it or a solution to it, and there's nothing you can do about it at the moment. We've just we've just got a problem. Ben Loder's out until basically the end of the season. Yeah, you know, Will Joseph and Max Lewellin may be back around the Six Nations time, we don't know. Seb Blake, who knows, Jack Inhard, who knows. I mean, Jack Singleton obviously basically had a heart attack at the start of the season. I mean, it's it's just phenomenally bad luck on the injury front. And obviously we wish them all well. We wish them all well. Look, and you know, and God knows we need them back. But all that aside, you know, I could put I can, you know, you can forgive all that because those those things can't be helped, right? And all that aside. What what can be helped is catching the bloody ball and throwing a half decent pass. It is ludicrous at times how bad our skills look. When you think back to last season and how good Oscar's looked at times. Night and day. It's it's night and the moon. Two totally different things. Or it's night and moon code hand in hand. Come on. You can do better than that. You can do better than that. It's night and sand. I don't know. It's so far apart from where we were last season. It's it's some of it is so inexplicable. Some of it is very explicable. And I'll explicate this very simply. Ross Byrne is shite. I'm gonna have to put a warning on this week's podcast, aren't I, for explicit language? Yes, I'm afraid so. Man doesn't move. I mean, there's pivot tens. I don't mind a pivot ten. George Ford is a brilliant pivot ten. Yeah. Ross Byrne stands on a point and just spins around. It doesn't, there's no dynamism in the way he plays the game. Yeah, and ironically, he's the same in defence as well. Oh, useless in defence. His tackle, I've seen some of the stats you've been putting around. Yeah. His tackle success is embarrassingly bad. We look a thousand times better once we had George Barton and Charlie Atkinson on the pitch. Ross Byrne was still there, but once you had those two on the pitch running the game plan, we looked so much more dynamic. I can't understand. The only reason we're persisting with Ross Byrne is because obviously we're paying him a fortune.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

And fair play, Ross Byrne's agent, you've sold us an absolute pup. Because it how we thought this was going to work. I mean, and I fell for it. You know, I saw you know 20-odd cap Ireland International playing for Leinster coming in at 10. I thought, brilliant, that's that's a good bit of business. Completely fell for it. Hookline and Sinker, he has been atrocious. But very few players came out of this game with any credibility. Oli Thorley, who I love to death, and he's one of he's one of the most committed and exciting players I've seen in a Gloucester shirt since Sinbad.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

That red card, you could and you could see it a mile off as well. You could just see it as he was running up to him. Like I I was on this my chair going, yeah. Because he just knew what was coming, and I mean, God, he split his own nose halfway across his own face. I mean, it's just it's so dumb. It's so dumb. Seb Atkinson, I think partly because he's trying to shoulder too much of this team at the moment, but he is he is drowning under the pressure of this game. Yeah. Um Val Valrapa Ruskin is struggling at scrum time, which he never should be. I mean, not no disrespect to Palfermaine, who's uh a good scrummager. Valrapava Ruskin should not be struggling at scrum time in that game. No. Um Arthur Clark, some good moments. The yellow card was daft. Then you just bought into that, you know. Obviously, they both had a crack at each other, and you know, if we're going to be charged, Hodgson started it through the first dig. Uh but Arthur Clark bit completely when he didn't have to, and you could have ended up with a really useful advantage then. Um so few players come out with any credit in the bank. I mean, I've got I've afraid to say Will Knight did not have a good game, Cockgriff did not have a good game, Thorley really poor, you know, halfbacks. I mean, Reese Price actually looked okay for the ten minutes he was on. Mikey Austin not not up to it, Ross Bernard dreadful. Yeah. The only players who come out of this with any credit, I think Affair for Sogbon at the moments when he's getting involved is still looks good. He's still got it, yeah. Um I think Jack Clement is still playing very well. He re-signed today, which is the first bit of good news we've had in weeks. Yeah, god god knows what they did to convince him to do that. They they threw their kitchen sink at that contract, tell you. Um he could he's he's coming out this whole season with with real credit. And the player who's come out this the only player who's really come out this season with absolute credit is Charlie Atkinson. Agreed, who once again looks like the only player in the Gloucester um in a Gloucester shirt with any real quality, and quietly making a name for himself, I think, in although he's in the 15 shirt, I th I would probably start him at 10. I was going to ask you, Rory, when when should and I imagine the answer is nine rounds ago, should Atkinson be in the 10th shirt ahead of Byrd? Because I just don't see why they're not doing it. Yes, yeah, now absolutely now. The the only thing I can think of as to why they're not doing it is they just can't bear to risk another injury. Um, or they just can't bear to uh admit they've made a mistake with Ross Byrne. Or he's got something in his contract where he gets paid double if he's not selected in the team. Maybe we've done something really dumb. Um if we had a 10-15 combo, and I wouldn't mind which way it was, of George Barton and Charlie Atkinson, we'd look a hundred times better than we do at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Um Ross Byrne is dragging his team downwards at the moment with the way he's playing. Charlie, Charlie Atkinson is quietly actually having a very, very good season. Um, and one of very few Gloucester players who can really hold their hold their heads high at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah.

Tackle-Height Trial: Risks And Reality

Round Nine Preview And Stakes

Newcastle’s Breakthrough Win Over Gloucester

Gloucester’s Injury Crisis And Selection Woes

SPEAKER_00 25:00

I'm I really don't know where Gloucester would be had they not had Charlie Atkinson to the third season. Difficult to say. Um you know, and for all the caveats of the problems we've got at the moment, and you know, the problems are are absolutely real. Some of the some of the non-negotiables about the way they were playing, we just don't look up for it at times. Um, and in this game in particular, for the first hour at least, we just did not look up for it. Um basically until until Mikey Austin scored after a really really nice break from Cam John, by the way, really showing a bit of toe for the size of the man. Um, but up until that point, with I mean, next to no moments of quality. I mean, I know Thorley scored in the first half, but in some ways that was almost in spite of the way we were playing. And then I'll leave it there. Because at the moment, as a Gloucester fan, I'm I'm But are you skivs in or skives out? The problem with skives out is and then what? Yeah. It's all well and good saying skives out, but my question is just and then what. My my gut feel is what we actually need to do is more akin to what Exeter have done, which is reorganise, actually invest in the backroom staff because we know we've got a real skeleton backroom staff because we're we're running, you know, we're we look like a team that's being run on a real budget at the moment. We look budget, we're gonna have to spend some money and bring in some people and bet people in the background do the jobs that they're they've been hired to do rather than do three jobs. Well at the moment we just look we look like there's no clarity, and that I can only think that comes from the fact that too many people in the background are having to wear too many hats. Spread too thin. I think we're spread too thin, you know. I think we need to bring in some people in the background so that we can actually let people focus on their primary task. Yeah. Um, you know, and if don't be wrong, if suddenly uh a head coach and a DOR become available that vastly upgrade where we're at with Skimton at the moment, fine. I'm not I'm I'm not you know, let's let's be real, the club has not exactly progressed under Skivington. You know, last year last year looks more of an aberration than a new trend. Because we we've ultimately we've been down this end of the table the whole time it's been there. Yeah, yeah. So if they find uh find a better option, great. But just go and go just just go and skivs out. It it doesn't criminals no, there's a there's a fundamental problem here. Um hopefully Gloucester can turn around. Well, yeah, hopefully for my sanity. But on the other hand, we should be very good, good work, podcasting roaring. Let's talk Red Bulls. Yes, um, and I mean there's there's a lot of players that we really like in the Red Bull scene that really showed up. I think George McGwig really showed up in this game. He was excellent. Um I thought the whole back row, uh particularly Christie. He's really finding his feet, I think. Yeah, they they all really showed up in this game. Um, you know, particularly the fact that Maffey didn't manage more than 20 minutes um from uh from a knock. Well I do I do quite like that uh leather barrow. I thought well I I you know I brought Leather Barrow into my um uh into my fantasy this week because of basically our first performance gets Bath. I thought you know he looks he look I think he looks a really really good solid hardworking hard-nosed Newcastle back rower. Um so I thought the whole back rower section, but but but I thought particularly Christie was very good. Benice Cruz just brings that extra bit of quality that that they need, you know. Having a having a quality nine, you know, the the difference between the two teams at nine was really, really stark. Benice Cruz was excellent. Um but the player I think I really want to give a shout is Brett Conan, who has stuck it out in Newcastle. And you know, not never gonna be the world's most um flashy or fancy ten, you know, his that's not the club player he is, but he directed this team so well in this game, you know, absolutely tactically perfect the whole way through. I thought Brett Conan got real rewards in this game for everything that he's put into Newcastle over the last few years. Um, and that's he's a guy who really really deserves moments like this. Um, because he's never gonna be a bullball player, but he is just absolutely essential for clubs like this to keep ticking over. He is he he's the sort of player that I will feel a little bit gutted for when they inevitably go and sign a international level 10. Yeah, when when Jelly Bear comes in, you know, Brett Connor's gonna struggle to get the team. That's fair enough. But it's fair enough, but you do you can't help but feel for him because he's been nothing but loyal. He's stuck by them through thick and thin. And I think there's gonna be a few players that are kind of there's gonna be some tricky decisions needing to be made and how cutthroat Red Bull may need to be. Um, they're gonna have to be ruthless, but I suspect this will be an evolution rather than a revolution. I don't I wouldn't wouldn't expect to see 23 new players come in over the next six months. No, I'll I think they'll see another half dozen or so, but I think they'd be pretty open about that. They're not planning on doing it that way anyway. They'll probably if if a 10 becomes available that they think is of real quality, they'll go for it. But I think they can they'll be quite happy with Conan, quite comfortable with Conan at the moment. I think Conan with a bit of a platform is worth giving him a season, sure. Look, I I I think it's it's worth having, you know, particularly having a 10 who kicks his goals, kicks to the kicks to the touchline, you know, moves you around tactically as well as that. You know, you could if you want to be really reductive, you could put it in like a George Ford-like kind of mode, you know. It's but as a as a Prem level player, he's you know, for a team that's you know, they're probably not gonna win the league next season. They're gonna be looking at trying to get into top six, maybe top four. Yeah, perfect 10 for that kind of model. I think getting into the champions cup is gonna be their aim for next season because then they then they can then they can say we're in the top top table, let's bring the top players in. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so no, I thought Brett Conan was uh was excellent this game. I also thought Obotyimbo looked really good. And you know, he's a player who's a bit of a circuitous route, you know, not necessarily um a player who's gonna reach the absolute top, top tier of uh of um rugby, it's just you know it doesn't happen for everyone. But he had one of those games where he was really, really influential, really physical, you know, involved a lot. So no, Newcastle absolutely deserved their flowers and it's been coming. Um I think Quinn's will be quite glad that they don't have to play them till May when conditions may be a little bit more in Quinn's favour. But I suspect there'll be a couple of teams that wouldn't fancy the trip to the northeast at the moment um if they're if Newcastle start playing more in this fashion because they looked good, admittedly, against a terrible team, but they looked they they you know they looked like a team that knew what they were doing, they looked really motivated, they looked um really uh together, you know, they look like a good group of blokes. Yeah. So yeah. It does feel like the start, it's it does feel like we're at the very starting point of something there, don't we? Yeah. And the fact that they've sold out Kingston Park pretty much every single game, they're doing feel good factors on its way back to Newcastle. Um I think that's that's undoubtable. Uh you know, and you know, they scored two more tries and uh a scrum off sniped. You know, these are these are important building blocks to a successful team. Absolutely, absolutely. So I've yeah, let's not dwell too much on the fortunes of both these teams because it's not a goes in different directions. Yeah, let's not dwell on it. Let's not dwell on it. Let's move on, Rory. Let's move on to the other game that was on Friday night, Bristol versus Sale. Uh now for me this one was always going to be the interesting one because I think everyone remembers the absolute um textbook mauling of uh Bristol last season, where they went to Ashton Gate, nailed them, and just gave them bloody nose and really showed them that we're not we're not messing around with you with this silly style of rugby you play. Yeah. Uh however, I've I thought this was this was an interesting one. I feel like this was evidence of the evolution of Bristol Bears. As well as perhaps exposing a little bit of the problems Sale have had so far this season. Well, I would say Sale definitely tried to do the same job on them. Yeah, they wanted to be fair in the first half, worked uh they more or less did that, you know. I think Bristol were would have been very relieved to have gone in seven all at half time. Yes. Um, because although Bristol had, you know, I'm sure you'll have seen more of the stats, they'll have had vastly more possession and territory. They actually didn't look particularly threatening until right at the end of that first half. Until they scored, yeah, they didn't really look like scoring, if you know what I mean. Um yeah, they there was a lot of panic I've I felt from Bristol because it didn't it wasn't working, and the the the sale sharks really harassed them. Yeah, the press was really, really, really Tom Jordan. The commentator said Tom Jordan would look like a rabbit in headlights at times. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, he Tom Jordan's a really good player. Um, and you know, I thought by the end of that game was really, really influential, but in that first half, he looked like a player who had no answer for what was coming down his throat. Um, and you know, he's probably a player who actually wouldn't have been subject to that kind of pressure in a lot of the games that he's played at at the top level. You know, Glasgow are rarely harassed to that extent, you know, Bristol are rarely harassed to that extent. You know, this is this was a really strong physical performance from Sale in that first half. Yeah. Um, but yeah, as you say, I think the difference with this Bristol team and last year's is they're still a bit mad, they still throw it around, they still, you know, absolutely um go for it when it's when it's there's even a glimmer of a chance that it's on, which even at the end of that game when they should have been booting it and chasing it, they were still doing it for it. Yeah, yeah. Um but they have got the other gear, you know, they they still have that um madness, but they've got that gear of going up the guts when it's needed to. Bit of toughness, I felt like yeah, they've got that side of their game now as well, which is quite good to see. I think when you've got in your pack Lis Genge, Rubiolo, Fitz Harding, Bill Matter, you should have grit in your uh in your DNA. Um and it showed in this game because actually, you know, if you compare the two packs, you'd be hard pressed to say that Bristol would come out on top of the two, you know, with all the quality that's in there, the sale pack just screams physical, hard, abrasive, choke the life out of you, which you know they they definitely did, yeah, definitely did for the first um yeah, certainly for the first half. Um, but yeah, Bristol just look at it. I think maybe maybe something around how they navigated that crisis period and how they dug in and and came through it with good results. They look very um sure of themselves, and they look like a team that believes in what they've what they've been doing and what they are trying to do. Um, they're definitely reaping the benefits of sticking by Patlam when they've had bad times. Um because it hasn't, you know, it's it's not been all trending upwards with the whole time that Pat Lam's been there. You know, and there's definitely been times when they've not got the balance right, yeah. You know, they've definitely they've definitely been wrong in the way they've played. So you know, the game last season is a good example of it, right? But you can't accuse them of not having a clarity of thought in the way they play. They they look like a team that really, really gets what they're trying to do. And you know, if you can score tries like the one Owen did in the first half and like the one Rafuva did in the second half, whilst also being ruthless enough to exploit a player on one leg like they did for Moroni's try. Yeah, tie all that together, you've got a really potent outfit. Um, I think having Reese Samet fullback is working really well for them, having that danger man there, you know, and looking quite a shorter fullback as well. So with Reese Sammitt, obviously I thought he was going to go really well. I captured him for my fantasy rugby team, and then he goes and gets injured after 22 minutes and doesn't really do much, but I still think it is definitely an experiment to continue with. Yeah, absolutely. I think the problem at the moment, Reese he he's he's quite seems quite fragile, Reese Samet. And I don't mean that in the sense of he's actually fragile and he's quite injury prone. There's a little bit of being he's a bit precious and a bit fragile at the moment, you know, maybe the bit of a post-NFL coming back to the reality of life in the Prem. Um yeah, it's not it's not the first time, is it this has happened. I've been I've noticed it a lot this season how often after he takes contact the physios come on, and it's pretty frequent, you know. The percentage of contacts to physio attendance is you know, it's not it's not a stat that's um that's kept, I would imagine. But if you watch him in the game, you know, he gets attended to a lot. Um yeah, and you know, this is no slight, I'm not suggesting that Rhys Sammitt isn't an incredibly tough man and a tough player, but there's a little bit of fragility there somewhere that that's that would be my only slight concern if I was a Bristol fan. Um, but in terms of when I think of that Bristol team going at full flight, and then you you say to me, Yeah, and they've got Reese Samut running at fullback, you can just hit the line at any point at full tilt. I'd go scary, isn't it? Yeah, that seems like it would work. That definitely seems like it would work. Well you can see why they've thrown a multi-year contract at him, and you know, now he has to stick around for rugby 360 to come about in 2028. They've obviously decided to let's keep him a little while longer. Uh yeah, just think you know, they're still without Ibertoy. I know, yeah, I know, scary. McGinty is is still out. You know, it there's there's some good players to come back into that back line and yeah. That back line came scary. Yeah, yeah. So it's a yeah. Um Rich Lane, I think, is out. He's been yeah, he's been he came in and he's cut out again. Um it's an interesting one, Bristol, because uh obviously at the start of the season we kind of kind of wrote them off because of the size of their squad. And with the injuries they got, we thought well, I definitely thought they were on for a hiding for nothing. Uh I've and I'm happy to admit I've been wrong. And they've really ridden this injury wave a bit better than some other teams have. Um I think on sale, I d I don't think there was a great deal to write home about from a sale perspective. I think the main thing for me was there seemed to be only one man from an attacking perspective who seemed to be offering something a bit different, and that was Rafi Quirk. Yeah, but when he's playing as a winger, he's well, I mean, to to be fair to him, he had to move to wing off. In one minute because poor Alex Wills got Bill mattered. No, but this is the week before he lit up when it's the same thing they've had to do a couple of times because they've been bringing back Joe Carpenter. So Joe Carpenter only played 40 minutes last week. Gus War comes on, Rafi Quirk moves to the wig, and he looks electric. Yeah, yeah. He's absolutely electric in open space. Um I would say don't discount his abilities to do that from nine. Um I suspect at the moment he's suffering a little bit from the sail packs not really getting the upper hand in as many games as they should, given their abilities. Um but yeah, you give him the space and freedom to from the back three. He he is absolutely electric, and he he was causing all kinds of trouble in this game. Um until unfortunately he got injured, which again is is a recurring problem for him. Um just not a serious one. Hoping it was just a bang rather than anything too serious. Yeah, that was a big deal saying this was the first time he'd played three three starts in a row since like 2021. Yeah, hopefully it's just a dead leg rather than a it didn't look comfortable wherever it was. No, but he did at least walk off. Um but yeah, like he I I I like the look of him in the back three because I like the idea of him being able to cover back three and what that could potentially mean for his international opportunities in the future because I still I still live in that kind of vain hope that we'll get Rafi Kirk to the level that we all think he can get to, and then we'll see something really, really special internationally. Yeah, it was interesting. The commentators were kind of dancing around that topic saying, well, if England ever wanted to do a 7-1 bench split, is there a better one out there than Rafi Kirk at the moment? I mean, there's certain I don't think there's another scrum half in England could do it off the top of my head. I couldn't think of another one that you could do it comfortably. Yeah. Um so no, really. I mean I I yeah, because he's he's stocky and he's strong, and he I actually, you know, with the power he's got, my gut feel is his vertical leap, if he was chasing a high ball, would be actually pretty good. You know, maybe it's not gonna be Tommy Freeman or Tom Roebuck, but you know, probably good enough to cause you know a lot of wingers problems. He was doing a pretty good job with this game against Heward and Revuvu, who I think both are minimum six footers. So I would think Revuvo's got to be close to six three, I would have thought. Yeah, but yeah, but he's Ruvu's Revu Vu is an amazing player, but in the air, nothing. Yeah, no, no, that's fair enough. Um, but you know, regardless, you know, absolutely competing there. Um so yeah, I I I'm hopeful it's not too bad an injury this on this one and he's playing either this week or next week. But um there's definite glimpses over the last few games that Rafi Quirk is getting back to something like what we know he can do. And yeah, that the threat he poses in Broken Field, it's it's not unique amongst English nines, you know, who's up against one today, uh one in this game that you know is obviously very good at it and Harry Randall, but you combine that with his pace and his power and his defensive abilities. Yeah, yeah. He's you know, he's he's still probably, if he hits his ceiling, the best all round nine in England. Or he can slot players in a tackle, can't he? You know, that which is you know, if you look at someone like Alex Mitchell, that was an obvious deficiency in autumn.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Yeah, yeah.

The Ross Byrne Problem And Atkinson’s Spark

Newcastle’s Standouts: Christie, Cubelli, Connon

Bristol Vs Sale: Pressure, Poise, And Evolution

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Um you know, it's obviously a deficiency for for Harry Randall, it's not his strong point. He's quicker than Van Poorfleet. Yeah, he can probably kick as more or less as well as any of them, barring maybe Ben Spencer. Yeah. You know, yeah. I take your point. I take your point. It's just a case, it's it's that longevity, it's that the injury record. Just needs to prove that he's past it. So I I'm with you. I hope that he is back this week or the week after. It's just a little dead leg. Uh, but you do worry when someone has such a track record. Absolutely. Sometimes it does just take one little thing and you're back to square one again. Uh, but yeah, I didn't I didn't think that's too much like sale. Yeah, they'll be going back with a bonus point. Um, but their season's really kind of it's petering out, isn't it? Yeah, it's been a disappointing return for sales yeah. I mean, maybe they'll make try and make a late charge for the playoffs again, but I I I don't actually see them turning the corner the same way they have done in previous years. I don't look I couldn't really put my finger on what that would be, other than they think they've missed the boat on attacking style of rugby that seems to have worked really well for teams like Northampton, like Bristol, you know, Exeter look better better in attack this year, Bath, you know, when they're in full flow, really good in attack. Even Saracens, you know, who are just ahead of them at the moment, look better in attack. Um, at the moment, they still seem too set in their ways in terms of the way they play, and they maybe they just need to evolve a little bit more. Yeah, I yeah, I think you're probably right. I do think they play a bit too much out of possession deliberately. Um yeah, look, you know, you sign that you know they can keep signing South Africans and they'll keep going down that down that road. But um, no, I I just think they look like a team that needs to evolve a little bit. Um, and you know, you can't tell me they don't have the players to do it because you know you've got a couple of Curries, you've got Jabulu, you've got Bevan Rods, you know, you've got Ben Bamba. You know, these are all players that are very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and we know and we know how good some of their bats are. Yeah, and they have the backing financially to do it if they wanted to go up again. Absolutely. So it will be interesting where they go next season, but I do think this season's maybe not a complete write-off, but it doesn't feel like I'm not getting that feeling that uh oh sailor on the charge just yet. And we are well, we're we're 50% of the way through, so they they're gonna have to go some great guns if they're gonna change that around. But Bristol keeps surprising me and they keep getting wins. So interesting to see how they fare rest of the season. But yeah, they won this one 1917. Okay, let's move on. Bath versus Exeter. This was an interesting one. Bath coming off of well, let's just say an embarrassment at the hands of the Northampton Saints rotational side. Uh Exeter in an absolute rich vein of form. Yeah, a real tasty prospect. Now, did I think 20 minutes in this was going to turn into a tasty prospect of a game? No, I did not. No, no, uh no. Twenty minutes in, I thought Bath have had a rocket up. Yes. Um they were so intense in defence and at the breakdown, they wouldn't give extra a minute's pace. Obviously, extra not helped by Riddle getting red card in the first couple of minutes, which doesn't help. Lots of panto noises in the crowd, but ultimately the correct call because it was it was a nasty one for for Arundel. But from there, I mean Bath just took real control. I mean, some great backs play for uh Beno's pick and go try, for Barbary's pick and go try, you know, real flair attacking play on show from the Bath Galacticos. Um yeah, but no, to be fair, the Carreras try was was lovely. The first actually probably was the first bit of rugby in the game, if we're being frank. But um, you know, break they I think it was DeLawrence broke first from the 22, then Louis Hennessy breaks, Carreras goes into the corner, you know, lovely bit of rugby, you know. And when Bath play like that, they are absolutely at their best when they actually go for it. Yeah, it just doesn't happen that often. It doesn't happen enough for the quality of player, for my liking. I I think it it's difficult, you can't literally the champions, you know, they are and they're right up there again. Obviously, this is not quite top at the moment, but they're right up there this season. You know, it'd be daft to sit here and criticize Bath for the way they're playing because it's it's obviously working. But if I were to criticise them, and I'm willing to try my best, um, I still think they're overly cautious with the way they play the game. They're too um, they're they're they're still playing the margins. Let's face it, they're boring. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean that's the that's the reality. They're they are boring at the moment. Um, it works, it's very effective, but it's boring. It's a bit like Saracens in their heyday. Like it's just attritional, they'll wait for you to get to discipline, they'll get a penalty, they'll kick you the corner, they m they know they're more, will score them a try, repeat. It works, it's effective, it's boring. Uh but that's not necessarily what happened after this 20-minute window because Extra really worked their way back into this game, and I thought for a moment Bath are in for another Rollickin. Yeah, I mean, so it'd be hard to point point to what changed other than just a bit of a swing of momentum. So the the first try, so Dweber scores the mall in the corner, which just comes from bad discipline from Bath, so just giving X to field position, and then Woodburn scores about five minutes later. So again, bad discipline from Bath, kick to the corner, mall that doesn't quite go over. Pick and go, pick and go, pick and go. And then I think it's Harvey Skinner throws a lovely ball over the top to Woodburn to go in the corner. Oh, yeah, it was a lovely pass. And really, really nice pass. Um, and I would say at that point, so I think so that was 26-14 at half time, and after the first 20 minutes or so, this was looking like a 40-50 pointer, but the momentum just swung back a bit to extra. But it didn't actually play out that way in the second half. The Chiefs really had to cling on for the first 20 minutes of that second half. Um, you know, I think Bath had at least one try chalked off. It was Ben Spencer's try chalked off. Um, a couple held up, but you know, that first sort of particularly the first 10 minutes, but maybe the first 20 or so, Bath were all over Exeter again in that second half, and then momentum just swings back again, and Exeter just plung in there, they defended like lions. I mean, fair play, they were absolutely brilliant, and they just get themselves film position and and fizzleow absolutely explodes to. I think it's Ted Hilly explodes through, actually, which is a hard thing to do for the best of times. Um, but you know, a bit of classic extra back play again, just pick and go, pick and go, pick and go, pick and go, pick and go up until the point they get over. Um, but you know, again, effective. Um, and then uh Manny Faye Weboso scores uh scores in the corner off another really nice pass, which I think again was Skinner, left-handed right over the top, put him in the corner to make it 26 all. And I I didn't I've got to be honest, at that point I was like, What on earth is going on here? Because I couldn't really give you pinpoint you a specific thing that swung the momentum, other than in the first half, it was probably Bath discipline. Maybe it's maybe it's just Bath's discipline, you know. Maybe that is the the only thing it is. They just seem to go through mad periods where they just give up field position. Yeah. I think what we see with Exeter is that they are just the masters of sticking in games at the moment. They are dogged, aren't they? Yeah, they don't go away, they do not drop off, they do not fade. Um, you you get an 80-minute performance from them, it seems, every single week. They yeah, I think I think that's they look really fit, don't they? They do. They look a really, really fit outfit. Um, and they've struck the balance between having as big a pack as possible and playing when they need to. They're not quite the team they were when they won the title, where they are literally just a pick and go, keep the ball, just just keep the ball and keep going as long as possible. Um, but they just cling in there. But on the on the um subject of picking and go and just keeping the ball, uh, there was something quite nice about the Arthur Green try where they just decided to pick and go for about 35 metres out. Yeah, was it 41 phases or something like that? Yeah, it was something it was it was certainly around 40, it was definitely over 35, it was around that 40 mark. Um, I think the forwards just decided that they'd had enough of the backs trying and were going to do it themselves. And by God they did. They they got it done. Uh, and I I think it would be sparing some Bathly blushes. Um they'd given up that it would have been serious question marks to lose two. Yeah, not panic stations, no, but there would questions would be there'd be an inquest into what was going on at Bath. Um but I'm still not 100% convinced, personally. Finn Russell still had another relatively subdued game. Yeah, yeah, he doesn't look right for me. I they I think the best they've looked recently is when they had Carreras at 10. Um, if I'm being completely frank. Um again, they just look constrained. I think it's similar to Sale. They look like a team that's constrained, they you know, they look like Sale but with more overall quality. Yeah, they feel constrained as a team. Um well I think what we what we saw last week is if you can respond to their power game or better it, they all of a sudden look ordinary. Yeah. And they can be run at, you know, they you know they they're capable of very very um oppressive defense and they're capable of smashing the breakdown. But if you can win that physical collision and you can win the breakdown, they can be run at. Um, I I would say it's if I was Johan van Gran, I'd be concerned. Not that they're gonna go into free fall or they're not gonna, you know, they're not gonna win all as many games as you'd expect. They're still gonna win the vast majority of the games for the rest of the season in the league. But if you have ambitions of retaining the title and challenging in Europe, that team at the moment to me looks like they haven't got what it takes to win, certainly, in Europe. It'll be interesting how they fare in the next two rounds of the Champions Cup. Because I I don't whether they get found out, I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. I think I think Van Gran will be on them. I think we saw a little bit the first 20 minutes, they've they obviously had a little bit of a rollicking in the week. I don't think they would have had a lovely week this week. I think that rollocking may have continued. So no, it's something needs to change there, and I think you know, I I I would say that Van Gran's probably got to take the shuffles off a little bit, but that's that's my that would be that would be my assessment of it. But a lot of bar fans are pointing at the fact that they've lost Lee Blackett to the Egland setup, and that's understandable, you know. I can see why that would be a that'd be a problem. And there's been um there was some chat from uh the Quinn's CEO this week complaining about the Welsh rugby union taking Danny Wilson, and you know, basically complaints about unions poaching coaches right before the start of the season. And that's you know, that's fair enough, particularly the Quinn's case when it happened literally on the day of the start of the season. Um I understand that, but you know, there's too much quality in that side for that to be, you know, you've literally got a 10 who's widely regarded as the best attacking 10 in the world, certainly amongst the best. So not sure how much it washes with me. Yeah, you'd think that'd still be able to pull something entertaining together, wouldn't you? But they still won the game 33-26. Uh what I would say is uh Poke Gamfi, someone's put him on the fitness programme since uh last year's under 20s. He looks like a player who's ready to make the step up. You did. I didn't see there wasn't much of him ball in hand, which I was interested to see because he's uh he could be a very, very big ball carrier for them. But you can see his presence in the fence uh and like his his role in the ball, which we all know Barth love them all, uh very, very influential. So it'd be interesting to see how much more game time he gets this season. Um something about these young Italians coming through that uh really quite exciting. Uh well let me not stop you from getting onto that that kind of subject any longer. But uh next game, please. Marth uh got out of jail in this one. So uh yeah, the late Arthur Green try ensuring they win 33-26. A real get out of jail free at that point, having given up a four-try lead initially. Yeah, um, and look, David is positively fizzing uh in his chair. Um so I'm just gonna take a back seat for a few minutes and just let him uh opine about Northampton Saints. No, let's let's be realistic here, Rory. First ten minutes, Harlequins, 7-0 up. They were looking good. Northampton was struggling to put things together. No, you're right, Quinn's won the first ten minutes. Quinn's won the first ten minutes. Brilliant try for Cassius Cleves, if I remember right. It was a lovely try. Lovely try, and I thought, ooh, here we go. Thankfully, thankfully, my pure just trust in the process that Northampton know what they are doing. They were luring Harlequins into a false sense of security. It was all deliberate. They were making them think that they had a chance at this game, but they didn't because they were blown out of the water by I'm gonna say it, Rory, the most exciting team in Prem Rugby at the moment. Hard to argue against, I'd like to think. Uh yeah, I mean, well, yeah, it I think it, you know, look, excitement comes in many forms. In many ways, it's quite exciting to see how bad your team's gonna be every week when they uh when they play, but that's just life as a Gloucester fan. Um, but yes, no, in terms of pure entertainment value, I have to say I watched this game, and you know, let's let's be frank, Quins are also in free four at the moment, and they were yeah, they were rubbish in this game, and I've spoken to a few Quins fans since who and I've seen quite a bit of the discourse. Have you seen the club statement that came out? I've seen the open letter, yes, yes, yeah. Hot on the hills of Gloucester's open letter. Um, but uh yeah, chat GPT, give me a letter that doesn't commit or change anything but sounds like we're doing something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's uh let's you know we're gonna take strong action and really think about this and put a plan in place and yeah, trust the process. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Quinn's are really poor in this, but yeah, no, I I can't argue with Saints being the most entertaining team of the league in the boat because my goodness. Yeah, that that back line is something else. I I know that so Austin Healy was going on about this bizarre notion that it's the to lose of the preb. Like I'm not I'm not that delusional one-eyed worry. I'm not gonna start sitting here and saying that Northampton States all of a sudden are now to lose. But the way that you that back line unit works, the way it is, and we saw it because it had to be interchangeable with Fraser Dingwall's injury going off. Uh it's almost a bit to lose like in that it's the next cab off the rank, you step in as the system doesn't change, they all sing off the same hymn sheet, they all know what they need to do, the structure doesn't change, and it works. And I love it. And we're seeing the best of some really exciting young players playing some really exciting rugby. Um they are reaping the rewards. The the fortunes of these two sides, I think the the Saints and Quinn's as a parallel are a really interesting compare and contrast, right? Quinn's obviously builders the great entertainers, and the 2021 title winning side was phenomenal to watch, right? So exciting. As clubs, these are two case studies in what happens when one club has absolute clarity of thought and planning and has thought in the long term, how do we develop this into a consistent, successful side? Start going all the way back to uh Chris Boyd, wasn't it? It was the Kiwi going back to him coming in and that Northampton side, which was let's be frank, you know, it was quite an average side actually, in terms of the results he actually got out of the team. But the work that was put in, putting in the skills and the structures that build skill sets in the younger players, um set. Up younger players to come through and fit into a first team system and um show real quality. Starting from there all the way through to from there into Dows and Vesti and you know that coaching group and everything they've done, and you can see really, really clearly the DNA of the Saints ethos goes way deeper than just how the first team play. Yeah because you because players don't step in that comfortably into that team without it being really ingrained in them at all levels. This is how we play, and this is the this is the skill level that's expected, and this is what we want from you. The clarity of thought in Northampton, and you know, you know, me, I am uh no great lover of Northampton Saints by any stretch of the imagination, as I am for most uh teams in this league. But you can't help but admire the way that Northampton are being run as a club. You know, they're doing very well, um, they're getting very close to breaking even financially probably well this season. So from a business perspective, they're running really well, but from a player perspective and the um the they have in terms of how they are looking to develop a squad and a first team and build success. Absolutely phenomenal. You compare that to the chaos in South West London at the moment and this Quinn's side, which the the coaching is disastrous, the coaching situation is disastrous. Um not there's not to dig out any one coach or any individuals, but there was an interview uh with the um Elmbury, one of the senior managers at at Quinn's um that I read earlier today. You know, they've had over the last 10 years uh four head coaches, and their league winning side had no head coach. Um their recruitment and retention, there's lots of different moving parts of this, and it's not to blame any one individual or even uh the way that they're set up, you know, losing someone like Nathan Jabulu and losing Andre Estherhazen are two completely different situations that uh happen for completely different reasons, but they build into a sense that this is a club that is struggling to remain attractive to all of its best players, either the stars or the players coming through. The recruitment outside of that looks piecemeal at best, which I think is pretty a kind way of putting it. If I if I look at that start inside, I'm trying to think who who would be a successful signing Quinn's have had since Andre Este hasn't left. That's a difficult question to answer, isn't it? Isgro, maybe Iskro, maybe, but that I would say in to a certain extent the the jury's a bit out on that one. It's not he's he's been good, he's not you know, he's not blown the lid off the place, has he?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

No.

Rafi Quirk’s Impact And England Potential

Are Sale Stuck In Their Ways?

Bath Vs Exeter: Red Card, Momentum Swings

Bath’s Control, Chiefs’ Dogged Comeback

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

Um you know, I mean Cunningham South, I guess, is a sign-in, but you know, you sign sign a youth player from the a defunct Irish. Um couldn't off the top of my head think of another particularly successful Queen sign-in in the last few years since they won a title, no, which is pretty damning. Um the playing style looks confused at best. You know, everything boils down to let's just hope Marcus can pull something out of the bag here. That's the that seems to be the whole ethos of it at the moment. Yeah. Um the the contrast between these two clubs is uh if you were doing a case study or case, you know, a pair of case studies to line up against how do you build a successful club, you know. Let's say you're Red Bull, right? Looking at Premier Rugby and thinking, okay, how do we build a successful club from where we are? You'd look at these two case studies and go, okay, this is how you don't do it, and this is how you do do it. Because at the moment, um Quinn's are at best treading water be going backwards, and Saints, I mean, at the moment, the way they're playing, the quality of the squad they've got at the moment, the players that you know if the other players aren't weren't even playing in this game, yeah. Genuinely the sky's the limit for this for this Saints squad at the moment. Yeah, I've I think again at the start of the season we talked about like questioned whether the depth was there. Yeah, I think the last few weeks, I think we're starting to see that the depth is there. And I think what what's been going on behind closed doors is the quality, the skill level of those hepth players, those ones that are kind of squad fillers normally, they've obviously been working on them because some some of the skill levels in those players has gone up tremendously this season. So the likes of Ed Prouse for see, for instance, last week against Bath phenomenal. Like and these are players that in the past I would be like, oh probably they'll get a run out of the Prem Rugby Cup, not gonna get excited about seeing them play. I've now got confidence that whoever they pick in those in those 23 that they're they're gonna bring something to that team. And it's really good. I think the other thing I wanted to touch on, quite rightly, lots of people are getting excited about Tommy Freeman in the 13 shirt. He had another fantastic performance, ball in hand, really, really good in the 13 shirt. I can see Borthwick going down the route of trying to get him on the pitch, making room for Fayu Aboso, Roebuck, Arundel, all the other wiggers, we got Calori, who knows? But Freeman at 13 opens that door up. A word of caution I will air. There was a couple of times in this game, and this may get fixed quite quickly quickly, where I think Tommy Freeman forgot that he wasn't defending on the wing, and there was a couple of times he got caught out where he was almost trying to show the attacker the the line, normally as a winger, you would give him the line and then defend it because you've got that as an extra. He'd done that a couple times in the 13 slots, and that that led to a line break for Isgra or who whomever. Yeah. So I think just a word of caution that I think defensively it may take him a little bit longer, and Quinn's may not have been the best team to expose that. I saw it a few times, and thankfully, we have got a very, very good kind of fence when we when people break against Northampton. Our defence to kind of regather and get back into position is really, really good normally. Yeah, you've got a good scramble. It's a real good scramble, a real good scramble. Yeah, I think if if if Freeman's got ambitions to play 13 for England, you know, he has to look at the job at let's say Henry Slade has done for the last few years in 13, leading that defensive line. That's what you've got to do. So, yeah, definitely work on from there. But in hand. I'm just looking at how long we've been recording for, Rory, and I'm very conscious of how long we need to try and keep this podcast to, but I could wax lyrical about George Hendy, Eduardo Todaru, Callum Chick, Sam Graham when he came on. Uh just absolute monster hits. Uh Fischetti, he looks like he's arrived in his Saint shirt. Yeah. Uh I could probably wax lyrical about everyone. Alex Cole's getting a hat trick, James Rabb, but you know. The one I would highlight, I think, is George Hendy for me. Um who fall back is putting his hand up, I would say. And you know, we've we've we've been George Hendy fans since, you know, day dot, but yeah, yeah, absolutely. For me, he looks like I think if Hendy, if Hendy comes out of the matchup against Bordeaux this weekend with credit in the bank, showing that he's able to go toe-to-toe with Pedo, Biel Bureau, whoever they picked squad, he's got to be in the squad. He's got to be in the squad. Um yeah, like I could I could I could wax every card. And then the crazy thing is, don't even mention Alex Mitchell. He got four try assists in this game. Four. It doesn't happen. But you expect that now. You expect that from Alex Mitchell. Expect it. Like it's it's insane. Finn Smith finally finding his kicking boots as well. Hopefully, start to see him climb up the kicking action charts because he's been way floundering. Floundering uh this season, unfortunately. Uh, to think that he's still like fifth or four four fourth fifth in the points charts and he's missed 40% of his kicks. Imagine how high he may have been. Um, but yeah, I th I I could wax a rook about this Saints team for a lot longer than I have done. Uh Quinn's Don Brandt. I'm sure they're glad Don Brandt's on his way back, but um, I don't think Don Brandt saves Quinn's. And very interesting, awkward moment in commentary in this game where Austin Healy was propagating to forsaking their coach. It felt very it felt very uncomfortable, not a fan. We spoke about it uh the other week with Mark, how commentators feel like that they're they're getting too involved and saying things like that about refs. Uh, I don't think commentators should be uh calling for people's jobs, uh especially when you are you know so richly linked with one of their rivals. Yeah, what what I would say for people who call call people's jobs in in this in this sport, you know, this isn't like football. No one's on. If you get sacked, you're on where you could always just retire money. You know, this is you know, people people losing their jobs in this sport, it's it's genuinely uh uh affects them, affects them, affects their family. You know, they might have to move, they might have to move their kids, you know, yeah. The kids might have to move school, you know, all that kind of stuff. It's you know, calling for people to get sacked is shouldn't be uh something to be taken lightly. No, and a commentator really shouldn't be doing that, uh in my opinion. So it should do better, but I'm not surprised it's come from who it is, who it was. But we'll move on. We'll move on. Uh next game Leicester Tigers versus Saracens. Um interesting matchup, two of the more kind of uh storied teams of the last 10-15 years or so, yeah. Um going toe-to-toe. Tigers seemingly on the up, Sarres seemingly on the stall, kind of stalling a little bit, I'd say. And I think that played out in this game. I think that played out, yeah. So to throw it out, I mean it's so Tigers won this 36-28, and you could be forgiven on the face of it for thinking, oh, this that was quite a tight game. It actually wasn't. Tigers were by far the better side in this game, and I would say for the first um 50 minutes at least, certainly the first half, yeah, they absolutely battered Saracens, absolutely battered them. Um, there's a lot of players he's I thought Adam Radwin had a really good game, loved his finish for his trunk, which is a bit massive gym. Very typical that I take about my fantasy team after a few weeks of not doing too much, and then he goes and gets a couple of tries and some monster meters. Such is the such is the uh perils of uh fantasy rugby. Um I chose Arundel over Fayo Aboso, that was a bad choice. We all make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but uh yeah, we um so Adam Radwine was phenomenal. This game I thought Freddie Stewart had another really good game uh on top of what has proved to be a really, really good season all round. Um Joe Hayes, I thought was great in this game. Um, both sides of the ball scored a nice try, finishing off a really nice try. Off they got breaks uh from uh who scored it. Chesham got a nice break and then Will Wand off the back of that. But for me, this this performance was driven by one man, that's Billy Sell, who once again was brilliant. And you know, the hype is real. Billy Sell's brilliant. Yeah, yeah. Like I the more I watch him, the more I'm impressed by him. Uh yeah, and I do like that, you know, yeah, he got a bloody nose in this game. Yeah, he got into a couple of scuffles, like he he's there for the physical side of things as well. He's scrappy, he's a scrappy player, I like it. Uh and it's it takes a lot for me to say that about a Lester Tigers player. Um, but you got credit where credit's due, and he's got one hell of a he's got one hell of a boot on him. Like his kicking accuracy is insane. Like he's he's missed like two kicks all season. Yeah, uh he's he's just been he's been an absolute sensation for them this season, yeah, in the face of you know, competition. You know, Orlando Bailey has been shifted to 12, and he was if not the marquee center, you know, he was the he's the up-and-coming 10 that they signed to to understudy James O'Connor. James O'Connor, I presume, is injured, he's nowhere near the squad at the moment. Yeah, um, he Billy Sell has been superb all season for Tigers. And if Tigers are going to make a run at the title, which you know they're there or thereabouts at the moment, he he's the one who's gonna steer him there because he was fabulous once again. Yeah, yeah. He he does seem to be behind everything that's good. Like he he makes he's got a really good eye for a gap and he makes some really good breaks, he's got some good distribution, he usually makes the right decisions at the right time. It's all the all the grubber for Madman's try. Oh, yeah. The grubber kick is the break and grubber before Elliot Daly absolutely slots him off the ball, which I loved by the way. Yeah, I love those those hits. Um, it's an absolute stonewall yellow card, but I still love it. Lovely drop of the shoulder, right at the sternum. Sternum, it's legal. Absolutely, but you know, a little break that break and grubber kick was just perfect for for our. I I thought it was great, and he yeah, you're you're right, he absolutely um pulled the string. So I mean he was another grabber for um Steward's try as well, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice little deaf, little deaf, deaf kick as well. He's just got great skills, yeah. Yeah, like fair play. And I think he's a left footer as well. I think he is, yeah, which is just always lovely. Always lovely. Uh also I want to give a little shout out because I think last couple of weeks has kind of been emerging, and I Leicester seems to be quite good at this in recent times of just pulling a player out of their academy, and it turns out they're pretty good. Sam Williams, their flanker. He seems like an interesting prospect. He's not one I know a lot about. No, I don't I've not seen him before, but he looks very effective. He looks like a very Leicester player. He's there for the dirty stuff, he's there for the nitty-gritty. Yeah. Uh, and he gets stuck in. He makes the he's he's one of those sevens that will tackle everything that's moved. He's obviously going to be a bit of a jackal threat, bit of a penalty magnet, but what seven isn't these days? I I'll be honest, you know, I actually I for a lot of the game I thought it was Tommy Rafael. Well, that's a compliment more more than anything else. But yeah, it was Sam Williams. Uh so early, early little shout-out for him, whether he could carry on getting game time for less to be interested. He could be an outside name involved in breakthrough player for the prem season, maybe if he keeps getting game time. We'll see. Yeah. Um on Saracens, though, it does something still doesn't feel right. It's it isn't right there, is it? Um, Tom Willis kept very quiet in the game, which is credit to Tiger's defence, yeah, really. But he was kept very, very quiet in this one. Um yeah, I can the only thing, the only obvious thing to me, and maybe it's because um of the intercept try that I'm being clouded by this. Van Ziel to me is a weak link in that team. I know he's well in a classic Saracens mould, he's that kind of nine you want, but I I can't help but think they'd look heaps better if they just picked Bracken. I I've been quite critical of Van Ziel for a couple of years now. I I think he's he's got a good box kicker, that's about it. Yeah, it's no surprise that they've gone and tried to capture the player of the season last year, the best scrum half in 2024, 2025 in the top in old Tom Os. It's no surprise that's who they've targeted because I think I think they recognise that. I was surprised when I saw an interview, I can't remember who it was, but they were talking about how they're really excited about their scrum half options for next season because it seems to suggest that Van Zeal's gonna still be there. Yeah, that's what it sounded like. I I I hope their th chart, if we're going to use like an Americanism, would be Tomos, Charlie Bracken, and then Van Zale as the Justin Caser. I would have thought so. Because Charlie Bracken's the one to back for the future for sure, 100%. Like his his distribution when he when he came on, his distribution, his pass is lightning fast. It's got that zip to it that some players just have, and he's got it. So he's the horse. You know, when he scored the try, you know, after the his his out and out speed is right up there. Yeah, so whether Van Zale is just a bit pedestrian for this kind of game that Saracen's is trying to implement, and it just doesn't work. Yeah, I just thought he wasn't very good. And um I I'd have to succumb to your asset previous assessment, Fergus Burke flat has to deceive at 10. It's just you know, it's just quite average. It's not bad. It's not bad, but every now and then he'll have a good game, and he he can be exciting ball in hand. You can see why he was good in super rugby, quick on his feet, he's got decent skills, you know, you know, he has got a bit of toe. But when it comes down to a game, when you're playing up against Leicester Tigers at you know, Mattielli Woods, Welford Road, um, and you're being smothered and you're being harried and harassed, and you've got you know the likes of Kraken and Chesham and Henderson and Blameyer, you know, just kind of bearing down on you. He's not that guy. He's not that guy. Um, so yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they fare the rest of the season. They are I think they're languishing down. Is it sixth or seventh that are in the table now? Like Yeah, they're they are they are quickly dropping. Um, but yes, they've you know nine halfway through the season and they've lost more games than they've won. You know, how often do you say that about the Saracen sides? Um you know, and they're they're sixth, but if we're being honest at the moment, it's they're a bit cut adrift. It's it's they're four points behind Tigers who are in fifth. Um, but it's you know, Saints on 38, Bath on 36, Chiefs on 34, Bristol 33, Tigers 31. That top five looks like it's gonna beat the top five, and that's the that is the that's the fight. I think Saracens are best of the rest. I think Sale are best of the rest of the rest. Quinn's Gloucester and Newcastle fighting out for who's the worst. It does feel that way, doesn't it? It does feel like it's it's the league kind of split in half quite literally. Um but we're halfway through the season, all things can change. Obviously, we've got a Six Nations, we've got the Champions Cup, everything can change. So much to play for. So much to play for everything can change still, but it does feel like certainly certainly those top five, they're the ones to be watching. It's just a case of whether a Saracens or sale can really turn things around because I think that's what will be needed. Uh, and it's whether it's Saracens have scored the third most points. They've they've scored nearly as three less points than Bath. You know, Saints are out on their own 3-4-7, Bath has scored 3-1-3, Saracens scored 3-1-0, and their defensive record's not bad. They're conceded, you know, they're about for about where they are, fifth fifth most points in the league. They're conceded less points than Saints. Yeah, their points difference is pretty good. It's 76, it's the fourth best. This is why they've got more bonus points than anyone. I think this is why it feels like a more recent check because I think they started the season really strong. It seems like a recent development where they've kind of lost their way a little bit. It's just whether they could re find it. Um they're capable of having a charge at it, but it's almost as if it's from the point where Tom Willis was announced to be leaving for Bordeaux. That almost feels like that's when it happened. That does feel significant now, doesn't it? Because he's still been amazing, but he's not been as amazing as we've been expecting. Like he's he's had a couple of games now where he's been shackled a little bit. Yeah, and do they look generally just a bit deflated? I know they've been missing Marrow in this kind of chunk of fixtures. Maybe. Yeah, Tabby George has been out a fair bit as well, hasn't it? So maybe they've been missing their leaders more than we've we'll give credit to. But it's interesting. Again, it's just yeah, let's see how the season fares. But yeah, that's been round nine, halfway point to the season. Um, or to play for still. Uh for most teams. Um, maybe not those bottom three that you played before. There's a wooden spoon to play for down there. There's a wooden spoon to play for, and I have a feeling it may not end up in Newcastle this year. Who knows? Uh before we start. Say adieu and we bid our list the farewell. Obviously, this weekend coming, Champions Cup. We always love a Champions Cup weekend. We do. We'll do some quick fire predictions, Rory. I will run through them. You give me your on the spot predictions, and we'll just see how we do. Friday night, cast at home to Bath. Bath, I think, will go full bore, and I think they'll win this, but it'll be tighter than you'd expect. Between five and ten. Yeah, I agree. Cast hard place to go. They generally go all. Great place to go and watch rugby, actually. If you ever get a chance to go watch rugby in cast to go and do it. Yeah, but at Bath, I think they have a point to prove, and I think you're right. The other Friday night game. Edinburgh against Gloucester. Hard to back the Gloucester boys at the moment. Hard to back Gloucester. I mean, Edinburgh aren't in amazing form. We have beaten them their gaff in the last year or so, but I can't back us at this point the way we're playing. So I'm gonna say Edinburgh by ten. Oh, for ten. Okay, yeah, ten. Saturday. 1 pm kickoff. Bulls against Bristol Bears. Bulls aren't in amazing form, I can tell. I don't think they're quite as good as people thought they would be. They might be throwing the towel in in this competition because they've lost both their games already. Yeah, they may not fancy it. Bristol, I think, will fancy it. I think it'll be a really open game. I could see Bristol winning this by 15 to 20, but it being quite an open game. I think you're right if Bristol go full bore in their team section. I'm gonna I'm gonna resume I hope they do, but we've obviously Sweden in the first two rounds, uh, sides not necessarily travelling at their strongest, and it's kind of well I think Bristol put themselves in a good position because they obviously won away at Scarlet's didn't they? And who do they play at home? Uh was it no uh Poe. Poe, and they won that one, right? Yeah. So they're two from two. Yeah. So it makes sense for them to go football. Yeah, yeah. No, I I I hope they do. I hope they do. Um but I'm gonna reserve my judgment entirely until I see that that team selection because I think if they don't, I think Bulls may mystique this because that they may be sniffing fourth place and still going to the knockouts in that group. True. Uh Claremont versus Glasgow at the Stad Marcel Michelin. The bankers are to lose. Claremont may not fancy it now, although it is at home. They do like to win at home. They do. But I'm gonna back Glasgow to to get a result here. I think they put they're gonna pull it off here. So I'm gonna say Glasgow to win by five-ish. I would agree. I I think this is where we see the teams that are gonna take the competition seriously, and I think Glasgow will be backing themselves. Yeah, so so I would agree with Leinster versus versus La Rochelle. Interesting matchup, two big dogs. Yeah, absolutely. But I think La Rochelle are still not quite back to where they were, so I'd say Leinster probably win this one by 15 points. Yeah, 10-15 is what I was thinking. Uh Sale Sharks versus South African Sharks. Well, this is a really a battle of who's more South African. Um Durban Sharks have been pretty poor, I think. My only counts. So I'm gonna back Sail to win this one by 10. Yeah, I reckon the Sharks are gonna win. Yeah, back I'm backing the sharks again. I'm back in the sharks. Back in the sharks. Uh Scarlet's against Poe. Uh, two teams who've lost both their games so far. Yeah, I don't think either team's gonna be really this. I think Scarlet's will go for this just to get some get some momentum under their belt and win some games. So I I don't think I think Poe will send anything much to shout about. So I'm gonna guess Scarlet's to win this one. Uh this this is not game of the week. Not game of the week, but I'm backing Scarlets because I did watch them play Bordeaux in round two, and they weren't bad. They were pretty good because Bordeaux were amazing. So I think Scarlets will have a win in them. Leicester against Bayonne again. Tigers will win this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Tigers will win this one comfortably, but I'd say by 15-20. Yeah, I think that that's that's how it should go. Sunday fixtures. Uh Harlequins look away now because you're being visited by very informed Stormers. Yeah, very informed Stormers who I would guess will fancy actually going for this one. They'll want to have a tilt at this competition. So I'm afraid to say on this occasion, I think the Stormers are going to win this one. And uh, this would be the end of I know Quinza said they're all out for Europe now, but there's been all out for Europe and there's actually doing something about it. And I think at this point, nothing about it. So they're they're they're all out for the challenge cup. Um yeah, yeah. So I think Stormers will win this one, I'm afraid, by ten. Yeah, I'm I'm keeping Feinberg and Gobazulu with my fantasy team, put it that way. Uh Toulon versus Munster. Toulon will win this one relatively comfortably. I mean, if Monster are anything like when we played them, Toulon could win this one by 20 points easily. Yeah, they weren't impressive, were they? They made beating Gloucester look really hard, which as we know, not very hard. Game of the round, I don't care what you say. Bordeaux versus Northampton Saints, champs versus runner-ups, the two form the two form teams in their respective countries. This is very hard to predict. Head says Bordeaux will win this one in Bordeaux, but there's something. There's something there's something saying that maybe Saints pull something off here. Um it's gonna be a cracker, right? But I'm gonna say sneak in by I hope you're right. Uh yeah. I I've just got a funny feeling. I've I've got that feeling like I had when we went to Leinster and we beat Leinster. I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be an amazing game. I think this is gonna be a good one. This is a question as to whether you you have that feeling just in every game and you've just got right on the Leicester one, or whether it's actually you're prophetic. That's a very fair challenge. Um one thing I think it's gonna be an absolute advert for the game. So if you are if you are sat in front of a television looking for something to do at quarter past three on Sunday, turn on. Well, you're not gonna have Premier Sports because no one does, but if you find a way to watch it because it's gonna be a spectacle. Uh and then the round is again quite actually quite a good game at the Stonex. Saracens against Toulouse. Yeah, this will be an interesting one. Uh Saracens will be all out for this. They will they will want to win this one, uh you know, they'll have all the big guns back. I would expect to see Farrell playing 10.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

Um, but ultimately I think Toulouse's quality will shine in this one, and they will win this one by 5 to 10. Yeah. I could be a real one. Again, and a lot of the there's a potential for all these games because I think the weather this weekend is potentially atrocious, yeah, which could absolutely be a leveler. Um, so it could change how things go. So if our predictions are wrong, that is why, and it's got nothing to do with our ability to call games. Um but yeah, that's Champions Cup. We'll we'll reconvene next week, Rory, and we'll see how we've done and we'll talk through some of these games, I'm sure. Uh but for this week, Rory, the podcast is coming to a close. Any final thoughts for the listener? Maybe an optimistic thought to start the year off. Optimistic, optimistic. It's all doom and gloom in Gloucester, it's all gone wrong. We've been Rux Bulls and O Bulls. Hope you've enjoyed listening. Don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, email, text, whatever it is you want to do. Uh we'll be back again next week for some more rugby podcast nonsense. And for now, ta ra.

unknown 1:27:24

Ta.