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Leinster caught in a Storm as provinces make impressive start
In this episode of the Ortee Rugby Podcast, hosts Burner Jackman and Johnny Holland analyze the surprising performance of Leinster in their season opener against the Stormers, highlighting key areas o...
Leinster caught in a Storm as provinces make impressive start
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Hello and welcome along to the Ortee Rugby Podcast. It is the first of October. The season is
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up and running and we have plenty to talk about. Burner Jackman is alongside me in the
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studio. Burner, how's it going? Good, yeah. Glad to be back up and running the Ortee
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round one was actually pretty impressive. The teams were far more advanced and prepared
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than I think in previous seasons and we saw a lot of really good attacking rugby and a lot
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of bonus points. All the teams are one of the bonus points so a good start from attacking
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point of view. Yeah and we have plenty to talk about, particularly around Lensert, Johnny
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Holland is also with us. Johnny afternoon or good morning. We're very, very good. We'll
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get straight into it. So the four provinces, Lensert, Neil stormers 35, Scarlet's 21,
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months to 34, Ulster 41, Dragons 21, Conorch 26, Benetan 15. They were the four URC games.
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We'll also touch on the the women's rugby world cup final as well and we might bring up a
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little bit on a or 360 rugby 360 because there there've been some developments in that in the
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last 24 hours or so but Burner let's jump right in. If you're talking about the four results
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over the weekend, there kind of is only one place to go. Lensert, Neil, for the first time
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since 2007 or 2008, I think they lost the last day against monster in September of that
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year. Talk about a splash of cold water in the face to start the season. Yeah and I just
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mentioned the other teams who hit the straps quite air, you know, quite in round one which
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is unusual but Lensert looked like a team who hadn't done enough in preseason, hadn't
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done enough rugby conditioning. I know they played one game against Cardiff which ironically
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are coincidentally they also looked quite off the pace and that's a weddedive staggered
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their season to peak a little bit later whether they're using these two weeks since Africa
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as a kind of an additional preseason which teams can do. Put there was something was a little
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bit off and I think you could see from Neil Cullen and Rob McBride and Luke McGrath's reaction
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afterwards. They were surprised by how far off the pace they were and you know they mentioned
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physicality across the board but realistically it was more than that every part of the game
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they were at Dominades and this is against the stormers team who when this is that game
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really unsure about where their game was at they had a very poor Curry Cup campaign. A lot
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of the play they blotered a lot of young players in the Curry Cup but realistically the only
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game that that team to play Lensert played together was against Poland and they finally won
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that one but they certainly were unsure of their prepped play and I think they'll be so
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shocked because last year like Dearskrum last year they're lying out more and it wasn't
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really a weapon you know it was more their transition attack there was the area that they
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found most strengthening gains in so for Lensert to be dominated that extent up there and it is
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a young front five bar slamanny but there was a lot of quality in there as well and just
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you're talking about you know it it was and you're saying it's a young front five but it's an
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international hooker it's an international loose head prop in Jack Boyle and and Gus McCarthy
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it shouldn't be in that one. No no one's like when I saw the Lensert team on paper I thought
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that's one of the stronger teams they've had incident after the recent years and I definitely
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expected it to be at a close game so what unfolded was was a bit of a shock and unfortunately for them
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there's no easy fix this weekend because they got to go to the bulls who on paper and over the
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last couple of years have a stronger four pack and the stormers. Johnny stats can often be
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misleading if you're looking at them from this weekend just in particular around the setpiece
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Lensert's line-out officially secured nine out of twelve throws and the scrum returned seven out
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that doesn't really tell the full story because on so many of those line-outs you edge balls being
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knocked back on Lensert side either by Lensert or the stormers who were getting hands on them you
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Lensert players having to dive down on it you're losing five yards you're losing collisions
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you're going backwards and then on the scrum I think was was it upwards of seven penalties in the
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in the scrum across the the 80 minutes as well those two elements of the game just got completely
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decimated. Yeah I think in my own notes I'd Lensert at eight penalties conceded in the scrum which is
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obviously a lot of dominance for the stormers and then when you look at like Lino's satsofony because
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when you look at Lino's one you might have a high percentage but when you look at delivery it's a
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whole lot more you know and that's that kind of you get away with so I think there's three areas
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in a game like you know setpiece Lino and kick battle and you get away with any one of those being
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weak if you have the other two but Lensert didn't have any of the three and I think that's
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something I rolled about is that they just had no platform they didn't win any area you know they
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didn't win the scrum Lino or kick battle and then they also lost the physicality exchange but that's
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not really a surprise when you think about those auditory areas that they just lost so it all kind of
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leads into the physicality of it as well which it seems like they would have been up against it
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regardless like when you look at something like a goal line drapo to James Cullhand and he got
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absolutely upended you know that's not coming from scrum our Lino that's just a team on the off
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beating you physically so I think when you don't have dominance in at least one if not two of
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those three areas you're going to be up against it and your your multi-phase attack is going to have
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to be off the charts I think to win a game like that which it wasn't because the Starmer just
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seemed to be physically dominant around the pitch then as a result of all those areas too but
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yeah very very disappointing like I think when you look at the pack itself I did kind of think
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about it I didn't have worries like Burnett had thought it was a decent team but then when you look
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as you know Mangan and Deany together Cullhand at Ace and then you're kind of thinking you know have
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they had those combinations together before is it a little bit less experience but they've all got
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plenty in a tank like they wouldn't expect to lose a game like that either so I think it's massively
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disappointing it's one of those headscratchers you're going away from it going nothing when Royce
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and what really can we do when we go back to the drawing board and try and go again against the
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bulls you know the bulls are going to be able to get them like they won't have enjoyed the end
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of their season last year so it's not going to get any easier flencer and it was like it probably
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was that the early stages of the second half were just completely unravels they were they were
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dominated for the first 40 minutes but if you're Leo Cullhand and you were going in six and a
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little down at halftime having been on the back foot for those entire first 40 minutes Starmer's
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have missed a couple of shots at goal which you're a math he probably shouldn't have been taking
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they were very speculative efforts they had a try disallowed as well I think most coaches in that
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situation are going right we might have got away with one here in the opening 40 minutes now we
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can kind of pick up but within five minutes of the second half they've given up three points they've
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considered a try-off that San Prandt or Gas clearance that got clipped and Cibilas and Atler
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broke into the 22 from there it was just it was just all over and they kind of willed it they
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willed it and I think they'd be ready to point it with their ability to react to what was happening
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on the field so that example the Johnny gave of Cullhand getting smashed under and the
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goal line dropouts like most teams they had a pre planned you know two or three phase attack
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and they rather than actually compromise on that and just play a lower risk option they tried to
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play the same play which was a long pass into traffic and the ball went to ground so you basically
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you you make another error rather than understanding Cullhand has been smashed
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or on the back foot here maybe we just need to play a phase to find our shape again and actually not
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go follow true the whole way with what was being pre planned and likewise at half time because
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in fairness to Stormers like the Stormers brought on some young players as well like Ulvary the
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Lucid is obviously very talented but he was only 19 and that dominance lasted all the way to the end
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so I would say from a scrum point of view were they able to get the right message in
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as things unfolded that potentially could have turned the tide likewise line-out
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you know it never really felt that they got the grips with that Stormers line out D and everything
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Lensford did look frantic and I know it's very difficult mid game but that's that's
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effectively what often decides at close match it just wasn't a close match but it certainly could have
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kept Lensford more competitive so I think there'll be this point with that the key the the new
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combinations point to Johnny makes is it is for sure these those three players wouldn't have played a
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lot of URC together but we've always lowered Lensford further ability to be able to put together scratch
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teams and look like they've been together for a long time but that's less relevant for this first
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game of preseason because let's let's remember you know the British and Irish line players haven't
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have never been going to play this game you know they're never going to play round one around two
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so effectively you would imagine this group having gotten lots of reps together at training because
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effectively they have been a first choice group so again that's an area that they'll be disappointed
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at how undercooked they looked and how out of sync they were there's still really go players you
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know like Jack Boyle of course McCarrity and Robert Salman here are all excellent players but unfortunately
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on Saturday they just didn't play individually collectively to the level that they can.
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Can I get both you to to top some a little bit about the the kicking game because that was you
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mentioned to Johnny and it was the the one aside from the Scrum and Liner that was really obvious
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throughout the course of the 80 minutes just how often any time the stormers were sending a ball
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up into the air it seemed like they were either winning it in the air through Laila and Zasser
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Cibella Sonata or if they weren't winning it they were standing back a yard or so and a
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lense to player was catching it and he was getting absolutely milled as soon as his his feet hit the
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floor if you're a lense during that situation if if you're a little bit unsure about okay like I'm
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sure it's not something that can be fixed in a week that all of a sudden our players are going to
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be able to jump higher and win balls in the air like that but Johnny like what sort of protection
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can you offer around that referee isn't going to pick up on that's going to be a little bit subtle
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you know on the board between legal and legal that you you might just about get away but how can
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you actually fix that in a in a short period of time it's actually quite hard when I think like
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you're talking with individual skill here and sometimes you get opposition wingers that can just
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claim the air I think and then your own wingers and fall back you're hoping that they'll win a
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couple of battles as well like so you know it is it is an individual battle that you'd like to win
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obviously with the the large changes you're you're going to find it very difficult to to give them
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any more protection like see people kind of crossing over paths very very early in the in the
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kickchase now and maybe getting away with it slightly but you're not getting away with a whole lot
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and you are risking if you if you get caught in one of those you're going to be risking penalties
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and access for for the rest of the game but there's something in my own head around lense
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losing the scarletist last year and I think scarlet's won the ball in the air six times and that's
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six possessions that you don't have if if if lense are a gap they're on they're on solid ball in the air
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and I think that went a long way to scarlet speeding them although it was a bit more of a
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disjointed team I think going to scarletist that time but it was another example of lense
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losing the air and then it's a huge aspect that it's hard to claim back like I would be very
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open like the the alpha in the last year against clandarif I thought we'd win more battles in the
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air and while there's many other factors in the game clandarif won the air and I think it's just
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one one more factor that it went towards and winning the game you know what I mean so it's a really
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important part of the game in general but it does sometimes just come down to individual battles but
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as you said lense didn't win the ball in the air it was scrappy when there was scraps
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stormers won them but also Jimmy O'Brien caught one ball in the air and he was battered and
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pennied with the office fee to give away a penalty and all of a sudden like you're scratching your
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head looking around and we can't win the ball when we win the ball we can't win the ball you know so
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stormers had their they had a bit of a I wouldn't say it was a blunt game plan but they did the
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blunt things well like strong lane of kick chase scraps they did all things very well I thought
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the stormers were poor enough in multi-phase and in transition I thought they knocked down a lot of
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ball they weren't exactly you know when you're looking at it from a lense perspective I think you're
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saying we got destroyed by an average team they didn't get you know they didn't lose out
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narrative to a very good team they got absolutely destroyed by a team that were probably above average
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just above average yeah I just think on that the game is shifted and and when world rugby brought in this
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um clamp down on the escort I understand why because what was happening was teammate has a
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broken into 15 they box kick to team B team B have a really good protection of that catcher he
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catches it on under a very little pressure basically a shield he catches it but it's a very
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difficult ball to play off so they might play one phase and then box kick it back right so that
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wasn't pleasant on the eye so they took away that they wanted these area collisions and reward
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athleticism and took the risk around people falling on on on their back from from the highs
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but what's happened now is is effectively the advantage is with the team who kicks right so
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if you put up a kick in the air obviously the the chaser is invariably going up one hand
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okay and it's just looking to create some kind of a tap back so a player jumping and
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as he catches over his head which is saw a little bit our Ireland trying to develop that we
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didn't see any examples of that on on Friday night from our Saturday from a lens point Friday from
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a lens point of view so if you're going to catch it in your chest and and you're at the ball has
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been kicked on to you and the opposition are coming with one hand they are going to win more of those
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and where lense were lense a really drop fell short was on the scraps of having enough bodies in
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that area where that ball comes down so kind of like the ideal scenario is you have near the
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compass you have someone north you someone say it's someone east west and then you got to be hungry
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and have desire to win that 50-50 now when you look at someone who's area collisions the stormers
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absolutely dominated that it wasn't like they were catching about clean but they're winning all
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the scraps and the last game the light scene that where that has been as evident to dominance that
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was Argentine against the British Irish Lions where they just won all the scraps and speaking to
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Philippe Cuniponi and Alan Kingsley who works with him they make they train scraps every day
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you know it's it's part of their DNA they know what important it is and also you know
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Johnny said the stormers weren't very good in phase attack which I totally agree with but I was
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talking to the friend of mine the tax coaches their attack and because of the way this game has
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the game has gone in terms of those contestables he said yeah we're spending less time doing phase
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attack we're spending more time doing kick chase and scraps and the attack you get you can potentially
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put in place after that type of possession which is kind of more chaotic and I was talking to my
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friend Augusta during our last week and he was saying that they really noticed against cluster and
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preseason how much focused cluster of putting that and he was speaking to the cluster head coach and
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he said look we've had to let a lot of kind of x-factor players go to summer and so our
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adaptation is to be better at the kind of things that don't take any talent if you don't make sense
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so I just think I think the game is shifting that way and so if you're not if if you don't it's
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like Johnny said completely that's that's a third type of possession that's very important and if
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you aren't able to win those scraps and an interest kick in game like they were when I said there's
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an advantage there for the team chasing the kick if you think about a lot of lancers kicks were
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cross field kicks are kicks long yeah so they weren't getting that opportunity for Tommy O'Brien and
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and Jimmy O'Brien et cetera to go chase them but I also think the attitude and the fitness wasn't
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there or whatever the worker it wasn't there for the ones that were kicked on to them to get back
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and actually win those 50-50s yeah and it'll be interesting to see as well because like I know we
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spoke about maybe inexperienced personnel in the pack but you'd probably expect Tommy O'Brien is
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going to be starting a lot of games on the right wing for lancers this season even even full
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strength teams with Hugo Keenan injured and Jamie Osborne now out for a few weeks as well with a
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hamstring issue Jimmy O'Brien's probably going to be starting a lot of games and fall back as well
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and okay Jordan Larmor might be in and out so but like that back three is going to be on the pitch
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quite a bit and they're going to be dealing with that a good bit over the course of the season
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bulls away for lancers this weekend I might move on to the other three provinces and there's a bit
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on the kicking and I'll come back to a little bit later on around one of them as well I'll throw
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the floor out to you actually Scarlet's 21 monster 34 Ulster 42 Dragons 21 Connock 26 Bennett on
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15 you can nearly bracket all three of these games together as good good opening weekend results
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for the three provinces bonus point wins few little things to earn out and work on ahead of the
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ahead of the second week which of those three games do you want to jump in first which of those
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those three were you most impressed with Bernard? I was very impressed with with monsters well when
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we talk about them a second Ulster I kind of expected them to win but they were very happy we're
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getting the five points for me it was Connocked and not so much the actual it was it was the pressure
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they were probably under because of how much they've talked talking says about right which is great
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you know I great because for so long there's been kind of inferiority complex there so they did
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talk themselves up around how good the environment is and obviously off field investments be massive
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but the Lancaster effect and I just think you know they needed to win not that they would have
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been okay if they didn't win but it just reinforces everything that they've done over preseason
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but I think it's the it's the context of how they performed let's be honest to Bennett on
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our dangerous side and they can hurt you with very little possession and they're looking they
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need change of coach as well they're looking to be a little bit more consistent particularly away from
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home and you know Connock's attack in my opinion has been quite good for the last four or five years or
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six years but there was a little bit more direction to it I thought a little more power in some of
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their carries a Joshi only obviously pulled the strings really well what he was on the field but it
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was defensively I thought they were far more interesting defending and then they have been system wise
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they look more composed and they also just didn't really ever look like they panicked and weren't
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given Bennett on gifts as such I know they consider just after half time but I never felt that
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that try was going to lead to to hammering more points directly which in the past has been the case
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so I think five points feel good factor another home game there are the ones who probably benefit
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the most this weekend yeah I think one of the lines you used there that was probably the most
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interesting was they they looked more interested in defending than they have been previously in
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Johnny I think that was something that's sure Lancaster has been hammering home over the course of
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the last couple of weeks when when he's been doing media that as good as they were attacking wise
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they were leaking just some dreadful tries over the course of the last season as well and I know
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Bernan you would have spoken a lot over the last year so that like at times you really really you
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want you have to want to defend you have to really really want us and I think one of the things
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you were Lancaster mentioned after the game Johnny will put this to you is that I don't know is this
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an official statistic or something but he said they probably made as many try saving tackles against
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Benatana Saturday evening then they probably did over the course of the entirety of last season
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and it's those last date efforts those those final scrambles they're the ones ultimately that can
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probably save you ten or twelve match points over the course of the season they can turn two or three
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wins and losses or losses and wins yeah I didn't hear that comment but I think you know hearing
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it there and it would sound like he's very much mentioning like you don't want your defensive system to
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be relying on on scramble but like when you scramble well your mindset is right and you're not
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willing to give up anything so maybe it's just a bit of a nod to the environment that they're
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that they're creating and where they're putting their emphasis as well because like rewarding someone
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for getting back and making that extra effort for you is the same as you know making an extra effort
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getting to an awful and scoring a trophy like it's the same onto points you know what I mean so I
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think rewarding both sides of the ball and Connick have been a very attacking team like and not that
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they didn't want to defend but and as well also not to like insult any defensive coaches but like
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half a defense is your mindset you know it is really around the fact that when you hit someone you
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want to hit him harder or when you're when you're getting off the lane you want to finish that and
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finish on top and and you want to make double shots and put them back and finish your tackles like
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there's a lot of a lot of want in in your defense and your contact skills as well and Benet
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and Aaron so like Berksley like they are so that especially on 4G you can you know that you can
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leak points against them like they're a very good so very good attacking threats and when you look at
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even someone like Ben and cello in the middle of the field like he's an animal you know and obviously
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he had he had moments to get them true contact and that offload around the corner to to line a
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few bits and pieces like they do have it in them but the fact that Connick I think won the physical
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exchanges they didn't even if you look at how they selected their their back five you know they
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they're allowing the adoption to to secure and disrupt possession and the rest of them are just
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bruises like you know so maybe they are putting a bit of weight in in the fact that they're going to
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have to they're going to have to bring a bit more power and they're going to have to win some
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physical exchanges because like they play on a 4G very often you know the 4G pitches are they're
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made for attacking rugby momentum is easy go forward is easier you know so having to make sure that
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you do more to stop the opposition when you play on that 4G is going to be crucial for their winning
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and and Lancaster is astute like I think he knows that you know the the ledger is too sweet so it's
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like he and others you can score points which you can stop teams from scoring points as well and
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win games so it's an impressive start to be fair they were they were very much in control I think
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Joshua and his injury is unfortunate because he was on top of the ground wasn't he he was
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causing trouble so that's disrupting far than both they they were very good I think Johnny think
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you mentioned there that we've all we all saw Connors and attacking side that was really interesting
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last week John John Mildoon said probably over the last year we've been spending 70% of our time
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on attack 30% of our time on defense and if you're just got fired you was the previous defense coach
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hey that's harsh when you're the one who is having to stand over conceding points every weekend
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but that often happens and it often happens to inexperienced coaches um who can't
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fight for time like you it would never happen to Sean Edwards trust me as I saw it in Wales even
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more in Gatland it wouldn't happen to Jacques Ninobar um but what what the beauty of Connors and so
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unusual is with obviously with Lancaster effect is I actually don't know any other head coach in the
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URC who is as hands on and responses for both yeah attacking the fans yeah he's taking both so
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I just gave an example of a young coach maybe not being able to get enough time and that's
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that's a that's a call from John Mildoon I'm not I'm not sure if it's theoretically if it's 100%
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correct but it gives you an idea of the shifts right but like these Wednesday on Monday morning
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and every Monday morning short Lancaster would have to get up and whether it's an hour review or
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or 30 minute review half of that will be on defense right so if you're going to have to stand over
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it and and I responsible for it human logic would tell you that you're going to give us um due
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to time right and there's interest in you know short as quick to talk about the tricev
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and tackles I was in the press room in Scarlet's and Lake McMillan was being interviewed and
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everybody wanted to ask about Brian leason okay all the journalists Brian leason because he's
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he's a shining new toy and I'm very impressed and we'll talk yeah we'll take a second but he
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couldn't stop talking about Jackadon who yeah you know yeah so again it's just like you will get
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what you prioritize and if Clayton McMillan and the short Lancaster are are searching for players who
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will scramble and make lastage efforts verably that that will rise in their team and it's supposed
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of you're if you're in your coach Johnny those those scrambling efforts those signs of you know
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absolute last ditch efforts on the opening day of the season as well like it's as if season is
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on the line at this stage but those signs are kind of I imagine they're the foundations that you
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can kind of build the team on yeah it's very encouraging when you get that quite naturally round one
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as you say it's um you know it can be a bit more comfortable at home and everything else but
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if you have that kind of fight it's very hard to teach that you know you can go through tactics and
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decision-making all you want but if you don't have that fight and and fellas I think it also is very
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encouraging as a coach because you know you've got boy and when you've boy and everything feels good
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when you lose you can you can come together and and chat it through when you've got trust I think
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it shows a lot of those kind of you know boy in trust you know team spirit all those kind of things
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that it's very hard to look for them if you've lost the game and you don't have any of those you
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really are worried but if you lose a game and you show a lot of fight and a few things go against
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you at least you know you can fight again next week like so it's very hard to teach that so I
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think it's quite pleasing from a culture's perspective when you get that because you know as as I
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say I think the players trust you want to want to impress you and that's it's probably have to
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battle for a Lancaster building as environment as well you know and final point on character and
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like just bend your scope because there are person always there's still a lot of players to come
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back into that group you've got three lines Bondeiaki Mack Hanson and and Finley Bielham but
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you also Jack Andrew in there he's still has to come back played at Ireland in the summer you
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Sam Gilbert the new signing to come in Dennis Buckley Matthew divine to throw something in at
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scrum half as well Keen Prennergast only played after bench at the weekend like that match day
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squad that they put out at the weekends that can be improved further as well over the next few weeks
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yeah and then the lead those players because of injuries and and maybe loss of form but that's
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pleasing I was more focused on are more heartened by Sean Nocton playing at fullback I mean
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most of the rugby I've seen a player as a 10 at half he's got a massive kicking game
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sure had spoken a lot about him and I thought you know he getting that try and his all-around
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performance will certainly give him confidence and then Fickner Barrett after Barrett after bench
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he's a big boy he's a big boy he looked really explosive from Ben Monot and Kurnimeo
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was a backroll converted to pride I don't know how he's back with that so I just put
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he he looked really explosive and again it's another local kid coming kind of born and bred
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coming through their academy along with likes to divine and and Gavin and forward etc and then
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Sam Elos the opposite he's a guy who obviously played his school trophy in Dublin and has had a
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huge potential my thoughts Saturday was his coming of age game really you know he just showed all
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the athleticism and power does we've all been waiting for so again with with Finley and with
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Angel he's it's nice to have another tight at prop who's who's shown lots of potential yeah so that's
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Connack 26 15 winners against Benito and the playing scarlets on Saturday afternoon let's move
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on to monster 34 21 winners against the scarlets away from home and Johnny I'd say overall probably
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a more comfortable win than the scoreline suggested yeah well I think you know the scoreline going
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to 20 nil wasn't it away from home scarlet or decent so you'd like you know I know Welch rugby has
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been up and down but scarlet has been pretty good so the fact that they control the game early on
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I think they'll be very happy with that and there's obviously you know some some areas of
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pitch to be very happy bring Lisa you know he's been kind of I know he's a young but he's still
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been knocking on the door for you know 80 months and people very excited about him for a long time
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like him out of school I went straight into Gary on in 1a and he's a big pony you know so it's
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he's an exciting player especially when the game has gotten you know I was looking at Ulster's team
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and you go back to that in a second but you know when you're you need powerful players around
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certain areas of the pitch especially when you get into the 22 meter attack and think that
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that junior power for players and Brian Lee since certainly one of them but Dan Kelly and
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thank you well in the middle of the pitch look to look to be well-geld and that's that's another one
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for them I think there there might be you know a bit of an injury list hitting monster out of a
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sudden this week which is which is unfortunate for them and JJ Anders out as well like his niece
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so possibly it had to go off a half time so they'll go through the the usual worries I think
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this time of the year in a couple of too many injuries but they certainly hit the ground run and
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and we're very glad that our performance you know away from home on on leason let's kind of
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dive into him a little bit more because I think last season was the season we all expect him to
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kick on but he just had a couple of frustrating injuries that kind of stunted things along the way
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and I suppose by the time you're into the the back half of that season monster were desperate for wins
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and the scope wasn't probably really there to to give him the opportunities but
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looks so powerful but a very different kind of power to to look what a Gavin Coombs would bring
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yeah he seems to you know it was a more dynamic power there's more speed to it almost in the kind of
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I'd say the Henry Pollock bracket without Henry Pollock's kicking and all maybe some of the
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the fancier stuff but like that break was out of this world after back of the scrum thrown
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people off the left right in center it was a real all action performance from so impressive and
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look at all if you can't play professional football anymore unless you're good athletes right but
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um there's certain qualities that make it different so you can have mass like wheel skeleton you know
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and that mass can have an effect in terms of winning collisions but they're so rare you know there's
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not many but uh unio from a laryshel there's not many people who are just 15 kilos heavier um and then
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the differentiators are are people like Pollock you say who has a standing pace and footballing ability
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or Gleason who just moves so well and you know the the standard moment was that break from
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the scrum in zone 22 but in general I thought every time he carried he was asking a lot of questions
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of of scarlet defenders so um he just looks like a roll's Royce in terms of is it athleticism and
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I know he's been highly touted for a long time he's still very young um but the qualities he have
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like are qualities that are needed at champions club level to win a game at international level so
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I think his ceiling is is incredibly incredibly high um just a bit of a look now he'll get some
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things like cooms come on and had a good impact as well like this can be there's lots of
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competition there hardness obviously got to come back as well um in that pack roll um but I
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really like monsters uh everything about them you know um uh they would overearly um uh
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thanks to Conor Murray they had to spend four days and whales because of his comments in the book
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about zebra I'm not sure it was four days but they certainly went over and had a team running
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in uh in in Swansea they were cursing Conor Murray so yeah and he went home so I I shared a
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flight back home on Sunday but um they it's a new era for monster new coach but also legends
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of the game like no longer there um legends amongst the rubio mani um uh Murray obviously archers
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eleven it's eleven hundred monster appearances eleven hundred and twenty something between
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Peter O'Malley Conor Murray Stephen Archer Dave Kilcoin Rory Scannol eleven hundred
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monster appearances and three hundred three hundred or just hundred three hundred two hundred
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ninety seven international appearances between the five of them it's a heck of a amount of
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rugby experience gone out the door boss to see similar cray case stepping up captaining Arlen
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in the summer captain monster at the weekend you do get a sense that there's a core that team now
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Alex Kandelin and another one who's really kind of from a leadership point of view looks
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those stepped up over the last year there's a core of that team now who this is becoming their
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team and they have to take it on and just just um hats off to Niles Scannol for two brothers to
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play 200 games for for province uh let alone a problem like monster is is phenomenal um but yeah
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it's it's now it's the next generation their chance to to put their stamp on on it and uh yeah
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they looked just really they looked they looked at unbelievable good condition or close up
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like uh i know the the pre-season has been a bit old school swimming boxing uh hill running etc but
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i was chatting to moscow daughter on sunday and not in the airport now i said i i feared you
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gonna be undercooked because all i was hearing about was this non-ruby conditioning and he said
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no no he said we we did an off-roke b and what we did was was bang on you know and that's that's great
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because kind of pre-season has been all about rugby sessions and and no fitness and so no
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non-ruby fitness so it's just two different approaches but more importantly both teams looked ready
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to play on um on on on Saturday and uh i i i i thought monster i agree with johnny i thought the
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dankelly um dankeville partnership which i always think dankelly's more of a 12 but they look
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really let's say on this actually because that was a really interesting element yeah they look
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like they jell instant yeah i think dankeville uh i'm not knocking on dankelly here but i think
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dankeville's an easy player to play with because he's just so selfless and if that makes sense now
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dankelly obviously complimented that very well but i think dankeville has been a brilliant sign
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he's a team player um so consistent and a bit of a tall he's been for them and he's hard and
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and he doesn't care if he's playing a home or away um so he's he's been a great recruit
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just yeah the scrum was good i thought uh all the eager looked looked good and just yeah
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tack our abrams like he's monster sometimes overplay getting the ball to with but when you have him
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on on the edge um he invariably beats the first man and gets you go forward so um i also i also
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thought monster attack was probably the most sophisticated of the of the of the four problems
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this weekend and you know that's something they've been working on their skill sets over the last
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couple of years and it was good to see them not go away from that even though his new head coach
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johnny on the on the attack it did look like there was there was a lot of clarity in their plenty of
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zip they'd moved the ball very very quickly you must have been pleased to see all that come together
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yeah i think the the trolley from mike heli where jack crowley threw it kind of have
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ortapped attacker abrams back into crowley back out to mike heli i just thought that was a it was
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a really good trolley when you can when you can put something up like that in league games especially
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like if you can if you can score like that you're going to be very dangerous and you win many games
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you know so i think if they can keep that part like when you're talking with those personnel though
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like you know dankelly with with nankival attacker abrams as a gate like when
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attacker abrams sang no i thought this guy's a game breaker like you know he's gonna as burnard says
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he'll he'll beat attack it and once you beat attack it you get your hands free he rim behind and
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that's that's when the game opens up when it's so hard sometimes with the defenses at the moment
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to get go forward get him behind the someone like him who can barely there glove on um
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he's someone that'll really open up the game for you but you know create gays inside him and jack
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you know there the group burnard that i think you know you can talk about the leadership and
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driving standards and being completely obsessed with their craft you know when you get that group
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together it's unbelievable but they do have um a lot of consistency in what they've been doing
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in attack for the last couple of years as well obviously with my friend against leading it but
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i'm told massey lauder is doing a lot more as well no in terms of taking our responsibility for
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their attack and uh but he's been in behind the scenes the guy i've seen their training and
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and massey will will go right into the detail of what they do and they're under setups and their skills
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and you know it's really detailed you know so when it does click like that it's not really
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surprising when you've heard what's going on and i'm sure they're all doing that in behind the scenes
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you know just because you see one doesn't mean the rest of them aren't doing it but it's impressive
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the level of detail that they go to um when you get a half an edge or you get a half a shoulder
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somewhere it's uh it's not that surprising when you see what goes in behind it but i think the
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the score of the middle and angle marauding and then a flick offload with complete accuracy that
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was absolutely class but dang kelly to have the kind of wear with all just that stop step and get
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in under the sticks like it's it's really high quality stuff i watched the game from from behind
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the post because it was lashed around but uh and seeing monster from behind and the the detail
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around those lines are running the shapes uh it was like it was far more sophisticated and anything
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scarlet through it them like and i don't disagree with you i need to ever i actually don't think every
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team put as much time into or taught into it you know like lense's attack example isn't
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anywhere near as developed in in terms of um the detail around it and the shapes are the
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are the phase attack they've other ways to win the games like just that's always skin a cat ball
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um monsters definitely is very intricate and when you get the likes of tucker abour ames um
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you know a kavan national when he goes back and daily etc into space you know they have some
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firepower and then if you can just get that athleticism into four pack up and you know um they
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like they still have to step to replace prove that they have more depth behind the likes of our
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structure etc um but certainly just the squad they put out to weekend was um was was very strong
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and it was only 30 and a half time but you felt the scarlet had to work so hard to just stay in the
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game that was going to take a monumental effort from to to win it and then obviously when Crowley
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you know unlocked the defense you know straight half half time uh 20 year old it was game already
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yeah it was a a fine win to start the season speaking of fine wins Ulster
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soft the dragons that was 42 21 at afe de estate in in belfas it's it's for him on burnards
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coaches kind of big plans they've a game plan laid out they've their exit strategy set up from the
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from the restart uh i'm sure he could look back and laugh at it now because they
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comfortably won the game in the end but what do you think was gone through richi murphy's head
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but eight seconds into the game when watches are in rain win right running under the post
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what could you be in nervous you're nervous your first game and uh the pressure is on me
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for the dragons at home because last year didn't win the game um and then to see that and it's not
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even a defensive error like you can't you don't play a witty balloon to the Ulster defense coach that
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is just one of these things that can happen um but i think in hindsight once you go over the
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shock of that i think the fact that they managed to to actually start to implement their way of playing
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and and started to to bleed the dragons and eventually obviously uh scored scored a choice they
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needed um i actually thought they look quite slick i thought you could see mark sextons influenced
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air um witty they looked a bit better defensively for sure um they can see the tree tries total take
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away that one um you know so it wasn't perfect but certainly witty witty balloon and richi murphy
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and mark sexton will feel that that's a performance they could build on when when you looked at an
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old surside i taught on paper to click a good side of a custis on the bench of enenderson fit
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of stock day of fit so again i don't know how deep that squad is uh i sorry i i would have my
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worries but how deep it is in terms of talent and experience but certainly first block of of
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urc and then they have challenge cup i'd say richi probably can try and mind some of his front
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line players a little bit during the challenge cup and hopefully get more games out of them um
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danies needed to end the past uh johnny i might talk about the wingers with you jake up stock
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tail and zakward it feels like if if they can get this right with with the pair them out in the
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wing it has the potential to be a real like point of difference combination i would wonder though
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i know we we were speaking about kicking early ryan and kick strategy would you be a bit more
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inclined to throw up a few more contestable kicks when you've got players the size of that the size
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of stock tail and the sizes zakward and the athleticism they have to create maybe a few more broken
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field opportunities or would you be more inclined to try get the ball to get the ball to wait out
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to them as quick as possible yeah i suppose you have to you have a game plan where you stick to your
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principles but then when you've got bodies like that maybe they become somewhere principles too like
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you know so i know i had a i clipped something there a while ago because also on the ball back in
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the air move the ball through their far apart very quickly got a couple of passes voider and jake
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up stock tail made a class lane break maybe threw the ball into touch i think was just he just couldn't
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find the past maybe i'm caught i'm caught on that james human out on he tried to catch he tried to
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trap that with his foot i think he actually could have caught that in his hands i think you would have
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been reaching but i think you should have had his waiting and maybe you couldn't keep up i'm not sure
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is that an insults but i was i said stock tail had broken away but i think zakward was was class
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as well you know he he's really powerful you know and that's something that when mike levery you know
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smaller body but with the footwork that he has can can draw another defender and get that off
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load away to the like his finish in the corner and was was unbelievable in traffic you know so if
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you can get mike levery delivering to the other guy than the edges that they'd be very dangerous
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but i think as a burner said you can see a small difference in their attack that they'd look to
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kind of move the ball a bit more in the contact area an offload here and there move the point
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the contact mingo again i thought that was very interesting because i do wonder about as you said
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burnard like their their squad depth maybe they know they're going to have to be a bit more clever
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and also you know i was talking with their back for even it's not like they they don't lack power
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when you look at them individually you know you talk with is it chuku Henderson's a big big
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glad is it true and an experience is it chuku is very very powerful and an athletic
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harry share it in davamakan they're all you know they've got a lot of power individually but when you
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look at them like with the size of order packs they're not a huge pack eater so they do have to be very
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cleverhood at the game and that's why you know i was impressed with their 22 meter attack and
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how effective and efficient it was because they were together they were in numbers they were
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they were latching there were nice tight carries moving the ball a small bit and that's the part
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of i was probably most impressed with it yes they had you know a bit of backline flare if you want
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to call it that and they move the ball a bit but when they got in there they were effective and
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and that's something you can really work with no to burners point you lose a couple of bodies
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in all of a sudden you don't win the exchanges and the tight carries and the 22 and all that but
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you know that's just the nature of Irish and provincial rugby at the moment they think all the
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contracts got caught but ulcer certainly looked like they've they've been affected a bit more
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you get a you get a gossips under that pitch as well and you got another point a difference so
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they certainly have something i think it was really good you know it was unfortunate the first
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try eight seconds was was cat but stuck there in behind it i think he that's the part that
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would worry me most because you know you get an awkward lift it was a very good kick they probably
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should have had time to get under it but stuck there's in behind kind of nearly not started the game
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yet and it's hit off his legs like you know what i mean so that's a part of his game where i
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thought he's i think last year he came back to form and we were all talking about him and that
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lone break shows what he can do we're just tidying up the small bits and pieces where where you don't
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get like you don't get time to recover against better so it's as opposed to dragons you know what i
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mean so lots of good things in their game and a lot of good bodies on their pitch but they do have to
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work on the smaller details for it all to come together i would say yeah just under dragons the
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dragons should be a lot better this year than they were last year so that form may end up being
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stronger as the season goes on and we we may see a different dragon theme they've recruited quite well
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bringing back like some wind Jones bringing set Dave he's bringing Thomas Jung across from from
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card of blues and obviously and the worst time to play them is early when they have maybe belief
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and he had a preseason so the pressure was on on on Ulster to win and obviously getting five points
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as ideal but maybe conceding those those two other tries is understandable because the dragons
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are going to be a better side to share just I'm not sorry sorry just the the one from the kickoff
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you know he scratched that off it's not probably not going to happen again you might work in it for
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10 minutes some day in training and it probably just doesn't happen again but the other one was a
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a very well-made a kick from Angus O'Brien and you know defensive coaches will say things like
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if they want to throw it over the top and and they beat us on an edge with scrambling recover rf
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they're just following the kick that happens to land on the right area of the pitch that really was
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one of them like you know i think it's uh it's not one that you go away i think in jesus we got
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open there it's a very good kick and a very nice angle that he kicked it out and they picked it up
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you know they scored one try then with a bit of momentum in the 22 nothing that i think would worry
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ulster going forward in terms of defense that they can build on you know slide slide tangent to
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to your point there jani as a coach like do you have to kind of remove yourself sometimes and
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remind yourself that not every try has to be analyzed to to the end to agree and you've to figure
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out what system broke down here sometimes someone scored a brilliant try against you and you just
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have to pack that and accept us yeah i think so absolutely like you get your forwards coach i think
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is Dave McHan was in the air and is part of our own and i think you know if you're doing your
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position specific kind of skill sessions you might go all right we'll do a small bit here in your
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footwork and plant and get up in the air and all the rest of it you have a quick chat with jake of
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stockdale telling him to be in the game for the first 10 seconds and after that i think you just
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move on you know i don't think you can do a whole lot i think you do have to be seen to have
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something that will always will do 10 minutes here push if you're if you're doing too much on it
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i think that's part of the session that's already happening you know you get your you get your
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pods moving and jumping in order than that you have to you do scratch it off i think if i was a coach
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every try scored against my team would be an absolute world beater now i'll have to move on
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well have to move on there's not you can't defend that you just you can't defend that and last
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point i want to make an oaster you mentioned some of the johnny mentioned some of the the forwards
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that stood up at the weekend comic is the chuku e and henderson look really really sharp was
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involved in a couple of mall turnovers i do you want to mention tamo tolo i thought he was fantastic
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yeah i had a cracking scrum battle going throughout the game with well while he was on the pitch with
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it with win jones a couple of after is every now and again seem to be a bit of an age to his game
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one of big jackal penalty at one stage as well distribution wise was getting on the ball and pulling
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some nice passes out and had a couple of nice carries in there as well was contributing in a lot
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of different areas of the pitch and i think he's a player who has kind of hasn't kicked on in the
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last maybe two years or so and maybe it's because the Irish coaches have kind of dabbled
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trying to get him over to lose head every now and again but also seem intent and keeping and
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keeping a mass at tighthead it has the potential to be a big season for a player like him
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he started it really really well on Friday night yeah he is a player that's lots of people have
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seen a huge potential in for a long time i'm a roundeefiral brought him in as well as
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development players like kind of before old story even given him any game time and because he has
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a huge amount of power and athleticism and just we have to understand that sometimes
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those front-roars develop a little bit later but the time you put into him over the last three or
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four years will will pay off and i think this could be the year where he comes he comes of age
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obviously they have an you know a gustus a big sign of but angus bell comes after November
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and that'll give him you know a loose head that he can inspire with a training but also you know
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maybe gives him a bit more stability on the other side of the screen and that experience
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and now some Jimmy Duffy's doing a good job with her forepack and again he's someone to work
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to reach you before but has traveled to improve his craft so or two or two certainly
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I would be surprised if he's not very much pushing towards you know the Irish team as well
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even after benches as an impact player obviously it's going to be difficult for a long
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and beeline but age profile wise he he's one of those ones coming hard from behind
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yeah and i just think with age profile as i tied it for our in at the moment like it's nothing
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against hug for a long and filly beeline but they are hitting that mid-turti's bracket and
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you know sooner or later someone needs to be putting pressure on them so that one's going to be
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interesting to see let's move on to the rugby world cup final England 33 13 winners against Canada
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England they finally got over the line after their pain of 2017 and 2022
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we were like this time last week when we were talking on the podcast we were talking of Canada
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we thought they'd give them a really really good rattle in fairness to England had their best
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performance at the tournament when they needed the most yeah by by a mile they were incredibly
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impressive incredibly dominant and and made Canada look bang average which they aren't like
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time all that pressure they're under they were they were also the occasion and it was nearly flawless
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uh in terms of dominance particularly that's that piece um they just put a squeeze on Canada
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and really starved them of any of this high possession that Canada can turn into something positive
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so yeah look Canada were a fairytale story but realistically over the last seven or eight years
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you'd have to say this English squad deserved to be world champions and they have invested the most
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in the game and you know there was a lot of war cup in terms of crowds and and atmosphere and
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and quality rugby and and the fair England didn't play their best I didn't think throughout
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most of the competition was certainly in the final they were they were clearly the best team
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and I think that it says a lot about the team in fairness jani that they had tripped over
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at the final hurdle a couple of times previously they had swept everyone aside for the years before
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that they got to the world cup and had been yet to put in that 80 minute performance throughout
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it does say a lot to the mentality of the players that when it actually got down to us they were
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able to put in their best performance of the of the of the competition and get the job done
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it's probably more impressive than I'd say just beating a Canada team that never showed up
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yeah it's a whole more cup and and a lot of pressure that comes with it like we spoke about
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early on and tournaments like that you know France and the main game with a home or a cup as
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it'll maybe not an overreacting favourites but at a very good chance and they and they fell
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short so there's a lot of pressure that comes with that um I actually met Dennis Foggey up in
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up in Lanzone at the begin and he was he was enjoying the hair again yeah as you died the hair again
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hey I didn't see the hair being dull he didn't know I was wondering how he'd been given any kind
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of a form from the team or something like that would there any bets on the go he's standing
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up from self no I didn't believe it he had a Guinness in hand which means he's back to his best but
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now he's um of Chattanoom and the game was on the background and he's just said like you know the
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the power that they have and I think it's interesting from inside when you know you are you do back
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yourself to be um any team on your day and you can put a game plan together and all the rest of
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what you do feel like that English so he's you know they're fully pro team aren't they and
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the structures and systems as as Bernardo said and what they've put into the game they are leading
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the the women's game like in everything everything came together for them to end work up at home but
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you know they they are a very powerful site they're very structured in the hood they play at times
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but they just they've no weaknesses across the pitch and then you know a little bit of ex-factor like
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Ellie Kildon with a bit of a hitchkick and and true to the fence and it can be quite easy for them
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at times like you know but they did still have to put it together they were obviously favorites and
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Canada have seen you know the the warm up game with Canada against Ireland and they showed what they
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can do against different opposition you know they they really can't open up they play a really
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am attacking game and their handling is slick and you know they've got some good players themselves
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but England are a dominant force in the women's game and I think you know no one can argue with
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them deserving to win it but also you know that's probably the prediction that most people would have
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had before the before the tournament yeah they're the the the the dominant force but Bernardo did
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do you think the gap is ever so slightly getting smaller ever so slightly yeah yeah um
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because uh I might I might even reef I might even rephrase it is there is there a more competitive
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bunch just below England yes there's probably a let yeah a large a larger a larger group we're
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trying to catch up I would say um it'll obviously take up one yeah like I don't speak at the
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already wall during the during the women's workup here um she's unbelievably optimistic that
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by the time the next workup comes around in Ireland will be right up there and that's what that's
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what we need I but I think I think obviously just still you're you're hearing some of the stuff
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coming out of Scotland and Wales there's still a lot of work to do just to give everyone the
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support they need to just crack on and be able to go into a rugby transition a rugby season believe
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that they have everything in need to to drive it on England have had that for a long time and
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look at how dominant they are now yeah it's going to be uh it's going to be one to watch
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the previous six nations next year with Ireland playing a game at the at the Viva Stadium before
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we finish up I want to talk as well just something that's kind of come up cramped up in the last day or
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so more developments in kind of news around what this or 360 rugby 360 competition is going to
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is going to look like um plenty of reports in Australia over the last day or so most of the new
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seems to be coming from the Southern hemisphere at the moment that up to 10 rugby a NRL rugby league
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players are defecting and going to go join this competition but we've kind of got details in the
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last year so what it actually will look like when it's going to happen so the inaugural season
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apparently will launch on October 2nd of next year there be six male teams and four female teams
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in 2027 which is the world cup year the 12 event competition will run from April to September
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and it includes semi finals and finals uh in 2028 it'll go up to 16 events running from April to
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September franchise locations expected to be London Miami Tokyo Dubai Boston K town Lisbon and
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Madrid um players will be granted full release to play international rugby there'll be a player
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draft held in July where players will be assigned their teams um what I find interesting about all
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of this burn they're they're laying it all out but the biggest news we seem to be getting is
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of rugby league players going out of rugby union players going yeah I think the reason this is
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back in the presses that um yesterday or day before they triggered the pre-contracts it's still not
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legally valid so if you've got a contract if you're Antoine de Ponte and you've had a pre-contract
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of 1.5 million this season um I think there's still it's pending world rugby approval um but for me
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this is this is the Ruby version of fire festival um like I do I don't see it happening if it does
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happen right um I would say they'll come out to play in a stadium in Miami and there be 10-10
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people there yeah you know if if if ever like Madrid the same Lisbon the same I don't think
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you see the barbers and the barbers have an unbelievable tradition um but the majority of people
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go to see barbers being because they're English fans and it went to novelty of of the barbers would
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you go to see the barbers against the penguins you know you know what you know what you want to mean
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and that's the penguins are an invitation sorry sorry and I paid for whatever but it's like I
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don't see how you would build a business model and this did two interesting things for me he was
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effectively it looks like it found 70 money so our sorry um oil money so the teams we
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registered the United Arab Emirates that for the last year to be trying to sell these franchises to
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billionaires yeah okay and the the the scary thing was the interesting was they hadn't ever been able to
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say we sold this franchise to um to this NFL owner or whatever right so now it looks like the
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company's gonna be raised based in the United Arab Emirates I still don't think world will be
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well sign off on it I think this is a dead duck but the fairness to them they're they're
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they're continuing to push ahead it's easy to get players to sign pre-contracts if you troll a huge
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amount of money on them when there's no risk there's no risk you know the contract isn't more
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to anything bar the the hassle and the the legal fees together wrapped up um the other thing that
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they've interesting said is the players will own their IP so basically players loan their intellectual
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property and and they will use that as a big setting point and that basic this this whole
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road be competition will would increase their exposure around the world and lead to endorsement
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deals and all that stuff so players will get will fall for that I think and be interested in that's
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um you know the last the last thing is players can choose their own country residents won't be
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asked to reside in their franchise location again players would like that idea of being able to pick
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wherever Miami or Boston or Dubai um so the players will sign for it if it put up my fear would be
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as two things world will be one sign off and and if they do um that would any year or two it'll
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just blow up you know because I don't see the figures being there in terms of fine engagement
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or following and Johnny to to put it to you the one question that I've had throughout all of
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this that is yet to be answered is boss why is or 360 a good thing what will it do what will it do
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for rugby aside from and I've no I've no issue with players earning large amounts of money but the
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the only the only thing they're selling this with is the players are going to earn so much money
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there seems to be nothing in this for the person who actually like there's no thought can say not
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thought put into anyone who actually wants to watch it who's got like they've brought up they've
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used the example of the IPL the Indian Premier League in cricket so often and how this is this
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franchise league and you know it's like a traveling circus kind of a thing but they're ignoring the
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fact that the Indian Premier League is in India which is a population of a billion or so people
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and cricket is a religion in the country cricket isn't a isn't a religion in in Miami or Boston
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or Tokyo or Dubai yeah I fully agree and I think the money isn't sustainable money like they're
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getting money from people to pay for it to get up and run and to get players in and you're not
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talking as the learner said like so let's stadiums not yet anyway like you're not you're not
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talking about self-sustainable practices in terms of finances to keep these people in the game and
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then you look at the international bodies like the like I think Australia of commotion said they
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won't be picking anyone to play as with our 360 so like all of a sudden pre-gandracts are certainly
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dwindling and and if the rugby bodies don't back it then you know you're going to get retiring
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professionals or people that you know you get a country like South Africa maybe they'll
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offload someone that's earning big money you keep them happy for one to two years and after they
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come back to a work-up squad maybe you get things like that where countries would play quite cleverly
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but at the end of the day I don't know I like the fact that rugby is trying to do something to
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develop and make it more sustainable over the long term or make it more you know like everyone
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everyone knows the rugby clubs do money and I don't know how like in Ireland we know they are a
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few birds of bronze but I don't know how it really works in in other countries and I'll
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obviously French clubs are privately owned and and they'll have their own financial ways of doing
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things but rugby doesn't really earn money at the moment then I like the fact that they might be
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doing something to try and change that but it doesn't seem like it's realistic one like burner
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that says I don't think it's realistic for them to to sustain the level of cash that is needed to
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after ground it I don't think they can keep it going that way so I'm not sure they're going to get
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the model right it seems with playing the squad at the moment doesn't it? So I'm really interested
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in this like a passion rugby I have no issue if I'd love to see players getting a million year
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but everyone I ask about why is this a good thing they say out of disruptor right it's going to
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disrupt the game whenever right which and players are now going to get what they deserve but the reality
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is it's not like as Johnny pointed out but if the market if the market can't sustain it is
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what they deserve it's nonsense because the unions in general there's no individuals benefiting
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from so if if English rugby has a great year and they have a massive revenue that money will go
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back into the game and players were benefit from that like it's not like the blazers taking money
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out of my United like and the players deserve more of that money I just think I just think this will
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this this will do more harm than good because it actually will affect the domestic games in each
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country because it'll inflate wages and other yeah well if Kylindars or or or
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Jack Crowley go on R3 16 the games they pay for in further franchise will be games they missed for
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for monster or lense you know that's the that's the issue so I'm going to want to go into
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Tom and Park if four monsters best players aren't there you know so that's the knock on effect
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so there isn't effect to this and it will miss you and you're not going to fly to Miami
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of course you won't you won't because people follow teams that they haven't they can identify
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with and this is this would take maybe 10 years to build something you don't mean so yeah I don't
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see you get off the ground to be on the spot they're they're driving on yeah they're driving on
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rice who knows we might be rebranding as the RTE or 360 podcast this time next year and before we
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finish up reminder games this weekend Ed and Brick and Solister is Friday evening five past eight
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and then on Saturday the other three provinces in action Connuctosa Scarlet's 145
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bulls against lense for five 30 and monster card of seven 45. Johnny before we let you go
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El started back at the weekend talk about a top star for yourselves Lanza and away and
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and Tarenia was home this weekend it sounded like it was a bit of a scrap up in Lanza my
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thought I was getting away with this for a second no it was we the top starts they
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they can murder the blacks we were probably wouldn't say shell jacked but we got cut and
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and it was a wind favoring them I wasn't really sure the back bitch and the eve can be tough as
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well as in around the stadium and you're not sure which way it's actually going at times but it
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was probably favoring them and that gave us a bit of a a chance it was a brutal day up in Dublin wasn't
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it wasn't so bad in the end it looked like it was going to be horrendous but around the time in
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the game it actually cleared up and obviously being on a 4g it affected a small bit less but we
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got a trages before half time which gave us a bit of belief that we could chase it down and
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and had a couple of opportunities to be able to do that but we just didn't get there like you know
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so it is disappointing but I think it's something we learned from and then as you said it doesn't
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get any easier with your own club and and King Carol has come into town so it's it'll be interesting
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this weekend not out I was telling you Bernhard I started out my new season at the weekend as well
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as Sunday trip to your old stomping grand down in Carlo in fairness it was it was great to see
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it was a thirds team out of Carlo and from what I can gather it's like kind of an under 20
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and unofficially an under 23s team they obviously don't have you know there's no actual age limit
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on it's the need to chuck in a couple of over age players but for a provincial town like that to get
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a thirds team out playing in a in a lense league game on a weekend very very good seat
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yes brilliant and the beat us as well yeah obviously no it's a nice it's a nice way of keeping
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your under 20s potential together for a year or two more like that's the key for for all clubs is
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just participation and how can you make it attractive for people and being able to play with
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their friends is a key part to that so yeah it's great to hear I hope they give you a good
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shoe and a good welcome to to Carlo they did I can I can just about lift my right shoulder up there
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I'm not sure I'll be out training this evening and the more of these under 23s teams that crop up
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it's bad news for me at the age of 35 stomping around there it was it was it was a good new it was
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a nice good grasp patient rather than an artificial surface which was great fellas thanks a million
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for joining us we'll check in with you again very very soon enjoy the matches at the weekend
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and we'll be back to this time next week on the podcast speak to you then