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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Pod pod pod pod. Rugby pod. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Rugby Pod, where the Champions Cup semi-finalists are locked in. Bordeaux's top 14 and Champions Cup double is still alive. And Leinster, of course, they've got their home semi-final again at the Aviva.
That's right, Andrew. Leinster will have to do it with some bruised bodies after the sale match. Oh, my Joe McCarthy, you've got a pineapple on your head with blood sprouting out everywhere. The mullet almost came clean off hard as nails, but we'll get into all of it. As well as Bath's comeback against the mighty Northampton. Some unbelievable tries in that match as well.
Chapter 2: What happened in Bath's comeback against Northampton?
But the Bath bomb squad delivered yet again. Fair play to Jan van Graam and the boys in blue and black and white. And it's all happening down in Bath.
And for everyone overlooking three times Champions Cup winners too long, Zach Mercer, Olivon, Big Sinks, and the boys went up to Glasgow, went up to your neck of the woods, Jim, just across from you, snapped a 12-match unbeaten run at Scotstoun and progressed to the next round of the Champions Cup.
Yeah, we're going to be going through it all, unpicking it and dissecting it with Jim's dirty open cloth. We've got biting bands, legends coming home, and lions roaring again. So without further ado, settle back, enjoy, and make sure you're subscribed on Spotify.
Hello, everyone. We're in Hong Kong on Friday for a live show with GHA Discovery, and the show is sold out. So a big thank you to everyone who has signed up.
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Chapter 3: How did Leinster secure their victory over Sale?
So yes, I'm jaded, jaded, James, but I've got a long flight ahead of me today to catch up on sleep to Hong Kong. So I shall recover and we will go again in Hong Kong.
Well, things don't get easier for us. We were chatting, Biggs, weren't we, before we went live, that you've left us to the Hong Kong Wolves. And they are great Wolves out there, but Biggs was meant to come in. He's like, lads, I ain't doing it. I have not got the liver.
Why not, Biggs? Well, I did think, I thought after the Six Nations, I was kind of like, oh, I spent a lot of time away from home and things. And I thought I'd do the London one just a bit easier than the Hong Kong one. But... Mason says he's not allowed. That's what it is. I wish that was the case, Rob.
I am actually going up to your part of the world, Jim, flying to Edinburgh tonight, playing St. Andrews on the golf course tomorrow.
Chapter 4: What led to Glasgow's defeat against Toulon?
So I'm looking forward to that, actually.
So hopefully the weather... Yeah, you're not selling it to me. People think St. Andrews, they think golf, they think the Masters, Rory McIlroy. I need to get into it.
Do I need to get into my golf? No, James, no. You need patience, and you ain't got much patience, have you?
Do I mention your name in Edinburgh Airport, Jim? Does that get me any fast track or anything like that?
Actually, you could do. There's a back door. There's a secret door that if you mention my name, they'll tell you to get to the back of the queue. I should say some of the golf trips that I've been on, by the time I get halfway around, which is hole nine for those of you who don't play golf, right? Just educating people here.
As I canny see pal, because normally I have a drink on every hole and I'm like, well, I can't play at the best of times. And then by the time I get to the ninth hole, I've had nine drinks. I canny see pal. That's a warmup.
So just no point anyway.
That's a warmup. For me. Yeah. It's not for me, lads. It's not for me.
Goody, we talked about your night in Dublin, but your night in Bath wouldn't have been far behind that. What an evening that was, wasn't it?
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Chapter 5: What were the key moments in the Bordeaux vs. Toulouse match?
He's going to make these mistakes, but at 52 minutes, 26, or 38, 26, Saints are up. Penalty was about 35 out in front of the sticks. That's probably a moment where you get yourselves over two scores ahead and you just take a little bit of sting on the game. Instead, he taps and goes, which is the Saints' way, which is fine, but they opted to take two three-pointers in the second half as well.
And it probably just swung the momentum because Bath then turned it over from the counter-rack. They kicked upfield and then they had the pressure from there, didn't they? So... So it's probably, but you only make those mistakes by playing, don't you? He's a young lad who hasn't played in that bigger stage before and he's going to learn, but he's been brilliant. So I agree with you, Goody.
I thought it was as good a game as I've seen for a long, long time.
I thought Northampton looked better with McParland. I thought they looked quicker. They looked slicker. They got into the spaces where they looked amazing at the line, the balls out the back, getting to width. I actually thought they looked better with McParland. I know Mitchell's been injured.
They probably wanted to get him back, but they went early with the call to, obviously not early, early-ish to make the call, maybe after the tapping go that you've just mentioned there, Biggs. But that's as... Good a quarterfinal, obviously, since I can remember, like you've said. I also think the better team lost.
I think Bath have been battling the last couple of weeks and they've been lucky to get through in their bench. Obviously against Saracens, the bench pulled them through. But I thought Northampton were the dominant team. And we'll get into some of the calls that went the way of Bath towards the end of the game. I know Bracey's taking a little bit of heat.
But one, from an aesthetics point of view, I thought Northampton played better rugby. Dry ball. The big lads like JJ van der Mesch, instead of just carrying, the ball's out the back. And just that joined-up ability that they've got. And... You know, we were talking about Thomas Dutoy last week coming on and dominating the Saracen scrub and ultimately getting man of the match.
I thought Jürgen did a job on him. Yeah, he did. This week. Yeah, and probably didn't get the rub of the green.
I just think there's a couple of big moments, isn't there? Detoy wins that penalty right at the death, which gives them the field position to tap it. The McFarlane moment, I agree with you, Jim. I thought McFarlane was brilliant on the night. If his name was Alex Mitchell, you wouldn't have thought there was anybody missing. You know what I mean? He was brilliant on the night.
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Chapter 6: What controversies arose from the recent biting bans in rugby?
Big moments, and you guys would both know it, playing in so many of these games. They're one-on-moments. Rarely do you win them across the whole course of the game. Big moments, the scrum from Detoy at the end, the tap and go, maybe change the course or the momentum of the game. And that's something that McParland will learn, and that's why Detoy is as good as he is.
Biggs, I was going to ask you a question on Bath today. the changes that they made from the game last week against Saracens. Did you think that affects the connections going into a game? Like you look at how well connected Northampton are and you look at the changes that Bath had in the centre specifically. Will Muir comes in for Thock and a singer. De Glanville comes in for Carreras.
Yeah, quite possibly. I agree with you, Jim. I think Bath have been battling a little bit over the last few weeks. And Bath are a little bit more of a traditional team. They kind of wear you down and work you phase after phase and get the results off the back of that, whereas Saints can just hit you straight away, can't they? They're obviously well-coached, well-prepared.
But I actually thought Carreras coming on, and I thought Finn Russell had some brilliant moments in the game on Friday night, but I actually thought Carreras coming on gave Bath more... I thought they looked a bit more fluid with Carreras because he was able to get out the back of that second pod and be that extra player and bring Oli Lawrence.
Oli Lawrence had loads of touches, didn't he, in the second half. I actually thought they were a little bit sticky in that first half, whereas Carreras came on, added that momentum. So yeah, there's a possibility that's the case. But when you've got a squad that good, Jim, I don't think... it's probably a little bit of a stretch to expect them not to be as slick as they should be.
Well, this is the thing. So I messaged Max DiGiomo in the week and we started to hear snippets of the team coming out. And I'm like, why are you rotating for a quarterfinal against... the best or the second best team in England, if that's the way you look at it, right?
I understand rotation sometimes, but Van Graam's done this thing where he's rotating all year round, but then in big knockout games, you just expect your gun 15 to be picked, right? Which I don't think anyone can argue that you put... Max DiGiomo at 12 as your best 12 ahead of Cam Redpath. Cam Redpath's a great player, but he's not played masses recently.
And it was a bit of a risk to bring him in. And he played reasonably well, obviously got bounced off for a tackle, made a couple of errors, but did some good things as well. But you're always going to expect when you're...
making these changes and coming into a game on a Friday night and yes it was a six-day turnaround so maybe that was why he lent into a bit of rotation but you're not going to have the connections as slick as a Saints team who when you got Hutchinson and Dingwall playing together in the centres you got Finn Smith back at 10 you know these guys are used to the fluidity of how they attacked and weirdly I went up to watch them train on Wednesday Saints and
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Chapter 7: How are injuries impacting team selections for the Lions?
So that's another skill and another, we said it a few weeks ago, didn't we? I still state, that I still think the best coached team and the best prepared team in Europe is Northampton Saints. Because you look at some of the players like Wright, Hooker, Lockett, Prowse. Nobody really knows them, but they come on and they look...
brilliant players they look like they've got great hands they look like they're physical and their whole game that first 30 minutes Goody as you said it just went north south didn't it and I know they scored lots of lovely tries and moved the ball into the wide channels but they were attacking inside shoulders you look how many wide passes did they throw on the weekend hardly any not many
And every pass with them is short. It's attacking the inside shoulder. It's who can score next. It's the next hole, the next hole, the next hole. And yes, have Bordeaux got a better team than Northampton? Yes. Have Toulouse got a better team than Northampton? Yes. But I still state that they're the best coach team. And you saw that in the first 30 minutes, albeit saying...
yes, they should be disappointed they've lost that game. But if you concede 82 points in two weeks of knockout rugby, you'd have to count yourself relatively lucky to get through two weeks, wouldn't you, as well? So that would be a concern. They're averaging, I think, over 30 points a game conceding this season. So as good as their attack is, all you need is one moment to...
to not go right for you or one day not to quite get everything flying and you're in a bit of trouble. But that would be the concern from Saints, but in attack, as good as anyone I've seen.
Yeah, Lee Radford, his turkey teeth nearly came out with the tries and the points that have been conceded. He's like, that fucking hell! But yeah, I mean, it's also a consequence of how they play as well, isn't it? And it's not a flippant, you score four, we'll score five. They do make errors because they put themselves under pressure by playing in that manner.
It's like you said, the one try for me, I think it was Lockett that scored in the corner, but Fischetti just leaves the ball up like a blind shoulder ball. I ain't ever seen props, certainly not the ones that me and you played with, Jim, that could do that. So the skill level from one to eight is up there and has to be to play in a manner that Saints do.
But we should make it all about Bath because, you know, they bring Barbary off the bench, who was immense. I mean, I love that character. He's a simple guy, isn't he? But you give him the ball and he's running over and running through people. His post-contact meters were massive and Jim used to spin with his mum. So, you know, that's another layer to it, eh, James?
Yeah, yeah, and I texted you mid-game, didn't I? How are you texting me back when you're commentating?
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Chapter 8: What are the latest updates on player transfers and recruitment?
So he's obviously on a good number. But what I mean is like, he's going to be on a very good packet, isn't he? So are these not the games that he'd have been signed for as well? You know what I mean?
Yeah, well, that's why I was challenging. That's why when I saw Bath at the weekend, you saw how connected Northampton were and how unconnected Bath were, especially in that first half and the first half against Saracens as well. But you actually think having got through that game, what a position they're in now, right? There's going to be changes that are going to make for the Prem.
And we've not seen it. Saracens... I can't think of another team over the last 10 years where a coach has got that many players to choose from and is trying to fix it all together for different games and different competitions. And that's the challenge he's going to have, right, when it comes to the latter stages of it.
He's going to have to nail down a team because I don't think you can go into... the semi-final of the Champions Cup with a team that you've not picked before or three weeks before or a team that's played together six weeks before. So I think we'll start to see who his best team is.
Yeah, I agree. I think he'll know what it is and he'll pick it for that semi-final without a shadow of a doubt. And then, you know, who's got the biggest cojones? Can they go to Bordeaux and do a job?
But on that Goody and Biggs, in answer to your question, I reckon Thomas Dutoy starts against Bordeaux, right? See, I don't reckon he does.
To be fair, they were nearly blown away by Saints on Friday night. But you think if they allow that much dominance to Bordeaux, you're in even more trouble probably, aren't you? With the form they're in, you know, playing in Bordeaux.
Yeah, they were 21 points down twice in that game. They ain't coming back from that against Bordeaux if it goes that way.
With the line-out struggling as well, that would be a concern as well. I mean, Bath have got fabulous players. They clearly, you know, they've got themselves through. They've got big players who know how to win and produce big moments in matches. And they're obviously a great, great team. But I think to go down and win...
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