S3 EP29 - Murrayfield Mauling

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1:00Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein, cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Enjoy, hello, and welcome to the Rosbeef Rugby podcast, your one-stop shop for all things French Rugby. Top 14 pro-day national champions and challenge cups, Le Blur, the French national team in the six nations. Of course, the brilliant town cities, bars, restaurants, and everything else in between that makes the French Rugby experience. The thing we know and love, Rob, we got there. Delay start. Three times intros, one times laptop nearly out of the window. How are you? Yeah, I'm right. You'd think this is as you pointed out last week, this is a slightly special episode.

2:05You think after 100 weeks of doing this, you'd think that we might have cracked it, but no. Still work and progress very much. Very much so. Yes, 100s, 100 weeks. I think. 100 episode weeks. It's a bit of like. It's a bit of a. Yeah, it's kind of the 100th episode because it's England France coming up and it fits quite nicely, but also there's a bit of massaging of numbers in there, which I know is very much your forte. So it's something I'm sure you can cover if any of the auditors come in in the Spotify comments. But how are you? How is... Well, I saw you for at least a second half of the Scotland France game the other day. I'd say very happy, but also slightly shell-shopped, perhaps, of what you'd seen. However, how have you been in your time reflecting on that since? Yeah, I think I've been all right. I've been all right. Monday, today was a very, very Monday day. I had a, and not necessarily boozy one.

3:07Both days, actually. I feel like it was a weirdly heavy weekend, accidentally. How are you? You were out and about a sore. I saw that you were doing. Doing all sorts of work. To work on Sunday. Yeah, some lugging of sort of what I'd describe as novelty oversized terracotta pot that we managed to procure, which was, yeah, an interesting afternoon, but we got some stuff in the garden. Yeah, it was, I guess, an opportunity for some slightly more wholesome stuff after just drinking pines and watching rugby on the Saturday, which was more fun. You must be said. Yeah. I mean, we've got to talk about the weekend in general, and we really, it was just a wild weekend of rugby. It was brilliant. I loved it. I loved the Friday night game, sort of imperfect, but a lot of fun. The Wales Island matchup, the Scotland France was quite something, and then England just

4:10fell apart. It was almost kind of covered all bases from utterly sublime to completely ridiculous. I really enjoyed everything I saw, but what were you all kind of, maybe before we talk about the France game, what were your highlights? Well, I guess having, sorry, I'm just about to hit Confirm bid on a Scotland shirt. I've been outbid. Okay. Okay. It closes in 44 seconds. It's a white and yellow away shirt from 2005 with a famous grouse on it. There's quite a few of them knocking around on eBay. Yes, that's how I spent my Monday morning at work. I hope no one from works listening. I feel like going over 50, though, is a bit much. Anyway, there we go, live updates from eBay there. You know what, we've got to talk about it. We saw in the Poe vs. Bordeaux game, we saw the best try at a proper ever school, only for five days later, for it to be a clips.

5:14I genuinely thought I'd never see a better proctorie than Remy Senekas, and it took me about 24 hours to come round to it, maybe slightly less than that, but grudgingly recognised that Remy Senekas is better. It's phenomenal. It's a bit. What I did enjoy, though, there were a lot of people getting stuck, like, replying in the comments or replying to our various different tweets with some worldy proctories, it has to be said. Yes, absolutely. Crackers, though, I didn't know existed, and there was an article about it in the Telegraph as well. There were some even better ones in that, so fair play to be scary for stealing the crown of best proctorie ever from Remy Senekas. The streets won't forget Remy Senekas' try, because it was glorious. It still remains glorious. It was beautiful. I'll give you that. That was my favourite thing in the weekend, I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. That moment when you realise that no one's going to stop in, like, there's no way Balakines

6:17is going to get back to him, is stunning, stunning work. The other thing that I hope it's not too raw for you, Richard, but you know what the big takeaway is from my for me for weekend is that to lose really, really need another world-class centre, and just thankfully for them, they've got Tommaso Menacello on his way. What a player he is, and who's not going to play, perhaps he, I don't know. Yeah, I have no idea. I have absolutely no idea. Do you reckon they can maybe... That, I mean, like, you know how we talked about how it was the international full-backs, what done it for Sarasans, and then to lose with the Jaminé affair, maybe it might be the same. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Sarasans team had some pretty tasty centres didn't they at one point, and then it was, yeah, I don't know, it's just... Yeah, it's remarkable, isn't it? I wonder if they can maybe get, you know, Roman Ensomack, maybe isn't the player he was,

7:19a bit injured. Could they... Moonga, Finn Russell, Jalibair, maybe, you know, just to make sure... Maybe Carl Gorge's going to have to shift to ten. Yeah, perhaps, perhaps. Or Tony D is going to become a fly-half, maybe, I don't know. Not really, it's just extraordinary, yeah, he's some player, isn't he? There's an amazing comment by... I can't add the paraphrase yet, but it was Nacho Brex, basically, came out with this outrageous statement that was like, God reached out and touched him and said, like, you are the man or something, something along those lines to basically try and explain the, you know, the only reason he could be as good as he is, which is, yeah, it was very, very cool. Yeah, the game, though, that obviously was sandwiched in there was, I think, undoubtedly, probably the most, well, entertaining, impressive, whatever you want to call it, an amazing, amazing Scottish performance, 50-40, which doesn't quite give the two-reflection, I think,

8:20of how dominant I actually watched this earlier during my lunch break on times 1.5 speed, which is... Oh, wow. Which is... How was that possible? Well, good for sort of as a refresher, not very good if you actually want to watch something, quite difficult to track both Louis BLBRA and Darcy Graham in times 1.5 speed. It sort of disappears off the screen momentarily, but yeah, I mean, what a performance from Scotland first up in your years as a Scotland framer, Rob, the one off the best, the best, where does it rank? The one that really sticks with me is the draw at Twickenham, because it was just an outrageous game and just watching a side fall apart, disintegrate in front of your eyes in the face of Scotland was, yeah, that is a brilliant one. I'm trying to think, there can't be many better ones, I don't think, certainly, I mean,

9:24we're a little bit desensitised to it now, but some of the... I think the Scotland, it would have been 2018, when we kind of first started this kind of who do over England in the Calcutta Cup with kind of Barclay and Watson to the fore and England looking completely tired and done. I think some of those, some of those Calcutta Cup games have been thrilling from Scotland. And, you know, all of the different times of all the Russell passes and Hugh Jones breaks and all that stuff. There have been brilliant ones in the past, but I think... I think it's probably the best performance, isn't it, like... I have re-watched it and I've got a controversial opinion here, Richard. Well, France didn't play badly at all. Yeah, I'm, you know what, I'm actually, as I say, I was watching it slightly in hyper-speeds, but yeah, the one thing I would... It's moments, isn't it, which I think is probably... She's really obvious to say in hindsight, but because of the score and of how, just how incredibly clinical Scotland were,

10:27I think my memory of it was that it was just a wash with... Like, they just dominated every facet. Which, also, they did, and they defended superbly, but it wasn't, like, it wasn't a French calamity by any stretch. Right. Obviously, the key thing is they didn't have much ball, and there was a period... Maybe between, like, 50 and 60 minutes where there was some really, like, sloppy... Well, I think twice for sealing off and twice for taking the man beyond the rock. Yeah. One of which is so soft. In quite good positions, and Scotland was just so ruthless with the possession they got from that. But yeah, I'm with you. I didn't quite see maybe the holes and the problems and this sort of systemic meltdown that I think was almost pictured afterwards. And that doesn't take anything away from Scotland. If anything, I think it talks to how brilliant they were. I think it is, like, back to your original question.

11:29It, I think Scotland just had the game of the lifetime almost. Like, it was from another planet, some of their rugby, the pace of... Because that's the, like, watching it live, you know, and you're in the pub and you're kind of in the atmosphere and it's like, oh, well, you know, mofarnas just falling off tackles and barassy shooting up out the line and all this stuff. It's kind of like, I've said it before when people go out, defense optional. I don't know what else they could have done, because Scotland were just playing some unbelievable attacking rugby. I think maybe, maybe not falling for any of the, like, the, like, looking at, like, whatever CEO need to be a lot to do with his eyes, that, that people think he'd need to kind of mark him when he's always going to pop it out the back. I don't know what's going on there, but other than that, and I'm sure he's doing all sorts, but I think there is, like, stuff in his eyes, but yeah, I don't even, like, the defensive misreads, as it were, they are, they're pretty marginal, like, they are, like, a matter of timing.

12:35Like, the Tom Jordan tribe, there's a, like, barassy just slightly starts to go out for the ball out of the back, and at the latest possible minute, they give the ball to Jordan, and it's, like, it's pretty flat that pass to go under the sticks. It's verging on forward, and yeah, it's just the, the, the timing of it all, and the pace, and also, like, the thing you notice is, Tom Jordan's put the ball down, and, like, the front row are standing up. If that's how quick it is, everything was just so fast, yeah, they've scored before the, the scrum is kind of dismantled. It's, it's, yeah, that's got to play with such frightening pace. Yeah, and they're just, I think, as well, like, individuals are, like, absolutely nailing, and you could see it in a couple of the finishes, and, you know, like, it doesn't sound or look like much, obviously, like, the, like, the Ben White try, like, the speed, like, Merva Farners literally facing the wrong way, trying to get back in the line, which I do, yeah, I do think he had a couple of moments that, that, you know, weren't as fine as maybe just down to a bit of game sharpness. And against that Scottish team, it didn't work out.

13:39Like, the Darcy Graham finish off, like, a loose ball, like, it's just so clinical, the stain finish in the corner, like, the line is, usually someone gets a bit more on him and he stumbles, or whatever, like, it's just so that the execution from Scotland was, was so perfect. And then, you know, there were points that we saw, regardless of the last 15 minutes, when, obviously, kind of, France came alive when the game was, you know, dead, wasn't it? Like, if we're being honest, there were, there were patches, weren't there? Whether it be detrising the first half, there was a little period, where it looked like they started to stretch Scotland a little bit, and may have through and flammable were getting over the game line quite nicely, but they, I think that was the bit where they kind of killed themselves. But yeah, it was, it was, I think, fundamentally, you kind of have to take it out often, say, Scotland were absolutely immense to a man. It was, it was amazing to watch. The other thing, like, watching it back, and it's kind of like, you're looking for, for the errors or looking for,

14:42oh, well, France weren't doing this or they weren't doing that. And I, I can't really find that much. Like, they, they, they can't slow the ball. They're not trying, they don't try and slow the ball down really. And they, they, they didn't really have anyone trying to slow the ball down. Um, whether that would have helped at all, I have no idea, because some of the pace that, like, the speed of ball that Scotland got and the way they were able to go on the front foot. Yeah. And like, I think that, that's the one thing. And I know that we've kind of had chats about, about the back row, and whether it's doing the right role or whether it's got the balance right, that would be the one thing. It's like, could they have just tried to slow some ball down? The other thing I think that they could have done, because I thought he was amazing in the last 20 minutes, was bring me off, who on earlier, I thought what me off, who was absolutely for no one in the law. He was bang it. Like, I think they might have given away like a penalty or two, but he was banging people in attack. He was getting over the gain line.

15:43He was offloading. He was absolutely everywhere. It was clearing out rucks. He had a brilliant, genuinely brilliant 20 minutes. And if, and if had it been level at the hour mark, which we thought it might be, he probably would have won man of the match, because he, like, he was the one that sparked a lot of the tries. And I just think, yeah, I think that kind of sums it up, is that like France just didn't have any ball. France didn't have any ball, but what ball they did have, they actually did really, really well, like they played well. Like, Jalabé had loads of nice touches. Ramos is really going to attack. The Elbirae did loads of things so well in attack. And they just had a, yeah, it was between 40 and 60 was where the game just completely went away from them. And, you had to wild, like, well, two errors from Depond, which is one of which happens. The second one where he's beyond his own line, and he lobs it, like quarterbacks it forward is bizarre. But I think a lot of the players played really well.

16:45It was just, yeah, I don't know. I kind of, yeah, the two, I think that the Pond thing's interesting. I actually think that the first one he also gets caught in possession a bit, because initially, you see it, you're like, that is a very, very odd pass. Like, there's not a lot on the floor. And then you obviously see that, that white gets him, and that's what kind of stunts it. The second one, I think, obviously, when you watch it's wild, then he scramble, because he throws it off totally the wrong hand. Like, it's never going to go backwards. But also, if it does go backwards, it's Louis B. Elbirae at 100 meters. Like, he's probably scoring a try. And there's 25 points down. So I'm not, yeah, I'm not too concerned. I actually thought, I mean, they're big mistakes, right? But I actually thought other than that, he was, he was pretty good. He had a quite a game there. Yeah. But I think the two things, I think even like Moffana, like Moffana has been, from what I can tell, he's the one that's born quite a lot of the brunt of the criticism. He did loads of good things really well, even like in defense and an attack.

17:47He did loads of really nice stuff in attack. Like, the try that Jegu scores, he's heavily involved in that. He's heavily involved in the breakout try that, I think, that Dupont scores that's, with Atisogbae down the right, that kind of interplay. But he's the one that helps the breakout. I just think, yeah, I think with the, I can't, I can't remember the final stats, but it was, they had kind of 29% of the ball in the first half. And with that 29% of the ball, they did quite a lot with it. Yeah, the two things also to sort of round off and not, again, none of this is to take away anything from Scotland, I think. But the one area that we spoke about a bit before, and there's been a little bit of Nikili's ear is the sort of contestables and the high ball. And it's not that they're not sort of getting up for them, but I think what we've seen so far in the tournament is they're even where they've maybe not claimed possession cleanly, they've been, you know, whether it's luck, judgment, bit of both, they've been first to it. And they basically, whether it was in the air

18:47or on the ground afterwards, they basically lost pretty much every contestable and struggled to regain any possession from that. And you know, a lot of that's down for likes. Obviously Carl's name being absolutely sublime at that. The second is a bit more of a bit more of a kind of luck. And there are, I think I could probably count four, at least maybe five instances, where I'd say the bounce of the ball up to this point in the tournament. And Martin Johnson mentioned it afterwards. You know, the perfect example against Italy is the one where Liner wins the contestable and it bounces straight to the pond who puts in that lovely kick. You know, on this occasion, I think, for twice within the first 10 minutes, you've got a ball drops to Louis BLBRA goes to Fly Hackett and you're like, if he kicks that 30 meters, it's a try. I know the try came from it at the end, but the little thread through for Atta Solt Bay on that nice flat line from Jalabair takes a real wicked bounce almost over his head.

19:49There was a chip and chase from Jalabair that went out so to leave a wrong way. And I think there was one from a... And if it's like, he's inside his own 22, isn't he there? And it bounces over him, but nine times out of 10 that goes straight to him and he's in behind him at Jalabair. So he's rapid and he's probably going to have one of Atta Solt Bay or BLBRA up in support with him and it probably, they've probably just scored one of the tries at the tournament. Yeah, and it's just, it's more like a proper freak bounce over his head. It goes backwards, yeah. It's just like one of those things where, equally, there's no reason at all why the Louis BLBRA one should drop to his feet or we've seen him so many times and that one on one, another day he drops it onto his foot a second quicker, gets outside Russell whereas in this, he stands his ground and it's no try and it's, again, it's testament to Scotland that they were the sort of scraps if you want to call it that, that they had, but it's just, just interesting in a game of, you know,

20:52what looked like quite a, quite a big delta and rightly so that there were those little moments in there too, but it was, it was a lot of fun to watch. Yeah, well to the, the Darsie Graham try, the first one is actually bounced on the flight this quite quickly from Deppelter and it's, you mentioned the delta there, the diff, the difference between the two sides of the gap. France have won the tournament with that in the last 15 minutes of that game, discuss. Yeah, I mean, I don't think, no, I can't really, I think, yeah, I think they have, I can't see, I genuinely can't see a world in which they don't get a bonus point win against England at the Stad de France like it's just not happening. I can potentially see a world in which Scotland win a way at Dublin if they, if they perform in the way they, they have done. But yeah, I mean, they have, I still think it's a little bit, it almost, it's the points difference as well. It's the points difference. The points difference is a, so what is the points difference now?

21:53It's loads, but they've gone from, they went from 47, 14 on 65 minutes to 50 points to 40. So they've scored 26 points in 15 minutes, which is a lot, but that's a big swing when you, because it's double affect, because it's going to be against Scotland. Maybe, yeah, I mean, the points difference. And it's like 70, 79, 21. Yeah, and that's, that's basically that swing there. Yeah. That's basically that. Like if it finishes 47, 14, they're probably level on points difference. If not, Scotland might even be in a head and obviously, oh, and with the bonus point. Like, yeah, I felt what they've won the tournament there in the last two minutes. I felt even with them down 47, 14, the bonus point felt inevitable. Like, there's too much, like too much quality. And when all you've got to do is, I say, well, you've got to do that, sounds a bit unfair, but like, what you've got to do is score two tries in 15 minutes with some of the best attacking players in the world. And frankly, at that point, it doesn't matter if you can see any more points.

22:54Yeah, it felt it was always going to happen, but they did it and did it in some style to finish off. The, the, the point try is like, it is an absolute world, isn't it? Yeah. That would the after-sock bit down the right. Yeah, I think the Jagu won. I'd completely forgot on it. That is so good from so many players. Into players, beautiful as that. Yeah, it was, it was just, it was just wicked to watch the whole thing. Should we anything else? Should we take a little look ahead to the... Well, Jagu, let's, let's go there. He actually had a pretty good game. Like, well, they all did, but he was, I don't, I don't know how Jelonch was in contention for Man of the Match. I thought that was bizarre. Yeah, he went off as well, didn't he, on 15th? Yeah. The HIO. I would have gone, I would have said, of the three back rowers. Again, I think Jagu was the, the best one, but what an idiot. Yeah, I, I don't think, yeah. I haven't seen the, the sped up motion,

23:55but I would say everything I have seen is, is pretty cut and dry, whether, whether, yeah, not in a position to necessarily infer intent, but is at, at best, ridiculously clumsy and persistent, and I would assume a fairly decent ban for, was it Ashman making contact with you and Ashman's eyes and face? Yeah, I haven't got a huge amount of sympathy. It looked utterly avoidable. I think he has pleaded guilty that there's some chat that he, the maximum suspension is 208 weeks. That is, that's four years. Yeah, I mean, I can see, I can see all that is, what, what did Ed's birth get? It was like 16, 16 miles, isn't it? Yeah, but it's, like, he goes for the bull and then, and then when he realized, like the initial, the initial action is for the bull and then he stumbles across Ashman's face and just goes, oh, fuck it, I'm here now. I might as well have a little scrape. It's just so huge.

24:55Yeah, yeah, and is, like, miles away from the bull in the air. Yeah, it's, yeah. He's obviously done some, some other stupid things in his career. Well, the arguably the worst, the more stupid one is getting down for coke, but yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it's stupid, but I don't know, he, cliche, but you don't want to see it because it is just about the worst thing you can do, right? It is great for someone's eyes. So I assume he will not be playing for some time. Which, yeah. So moving ahead to next week, that is, he has been, for me, across the tournament, their best back row. So, but there will be a change. I think it will just be nutchy coming in. Yep. Is what, what people are saying, I think, the other big headline news is, Nicholas Deppeltaire is not in the 42-man squad and it's apparently seasoned done because he needs an operation on his shoulder.

25:57Which is massive, both for France and in particular, Bordeaux, with the Champions Cup in particular, aspirations. That's a real shame because I, I just think he's been fantastic. Yeah. Other squad updates in the 42-man squad, some curious ones like Luke who coming in for Ligarek. I don't quite know what happened there. The replacement for Deppeltaire is technically Axel Desperers, which is a nice like for Ligarek. Big, big ball-carrying defensive leader at 13. This is a child at 10. That is amazing. And no pool boot on. He's kind of gone. So, Oredo is back after injury and there's talk that he could come in and then Ziger came in for rematch. So, it's kind of a bit of rotation at the bottom end of the squad. What the other thing that caught my eye was Fabian Brobery is in there.

26:57So, there was rumours about him, he dislocated his finger and was wasn't going to play in the rest of the tournament. I wonder if they've retained him because with Deppeltaire going, they kind of think they maybe do need Brobery. And I would bring him back in. Yeah, I think I would. I don't quite know how to do it, though, because I actually, I don't massively want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and being off Marthana because Marthana has been fantastic and actually played relatively well. It was just some real bad connection in defence. Yeah. With Deppeltaire, which is strange, but also with him and Brassie were all over the place as a duo. Yeah, I don't know which way I'd go. I think if Brobery's fit, I'd also, there is Galtier I saw twice, isn't he? He's dropped a player who has carried the can a little bit for a poor performance, like Peno against England that Twickenham last year. He got dropped, didn't he? Literally, four again and then came back in sort of rotated with Atsobbe.

27:58I could, I, yeah, I really like him. Shall I bang for Frana, didn't he? Last time. Shallabbe also did, yeah. Although I guess he'd come in, hadn't he to replace Enter Mac when he got, when he got banned against Wales. So I could see that happening. I could also see them just sticking with Marthana, Brassie, particularly if there's a little bit of, a little bit of not sure about Brobery in this dislocated finger, whatever it is. Yeah, tough, tough ask on, like, someone quite young to play with a dodgy hand. I did see, I did see, I did see a little reel on Instagram today that was, the caption was FB and Goethe on watching the Scotland game. And it was like, basically two blokes, two old blokes pretending to be these, and there was no dress up or anything, but they just opened up a bottle of beer and clinked bottles and it was like, you'll see next Saturday against the, against the on-glet. It was like, fantastic.

29:00Which I quite liked. Yeah, I think they've got to try and find a combination, I mean, they've got all this talent. I wonder if they do traverse the Pope-boys because it worked defensively. Like, it worked really well defensively. I know they didn't play. Well, they played against Managello. They didn't play against Brex and Managello, but they still played Managello who there's torn everyone else up. So, and they largely kept him quiet apart from the old bit here and there. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. What would you do with the back row and the pack? Well, one thing I, the other thing I was really looking out for was like, oh, Guyard and Oliveran, like, it didn't work. And I thought they both played pretty well. I thought Guyard was quite good. They're a little bit, a little bit, maybe didn't just quite have the impact and the carry they've had in the past. Did you get the chance? I think no one had the ball. No one for fronting. Yeah, but in the first half, I think they, yeah, they were, they were a little bit off, but they weren't, but also we're talking, like, from the incredible standards that were set to that point.

30:02I think, I don't know if I'd go back to Meafu, the games he plays in amongst that lot has looked the most influential than therefore in a game for the championship. I think you have to start in. I think Oliveran maybe keep, keep Oliveran in for a little bit more mobility with not that new chiasm, but obviously Jegu is the most certainly of that three that have started has been, yeah, he's like the most agile, isn't he? He gets to get the covers the most ground and therefore maybe you start him with Flamon on the bench and yeah, Flamon and Guyard, I'd probably go that. I'd also, I was surprised to see if he'd been in the wider squad, which I'll be honest, I hadn't realised he got called up last week. The guy I'd bring in on the bench in the back row would be, would have been Buddha, like he was, he was first choice not that long ago and it had to be probably the most impressive of France's back row. He was great in last six nations, was, was pretty good when he played in the autumn.

31:03So yeah, I'm a little bit surprised that he's not there. I definitely bring in Meafu because you're back to the Italy issue of being against a clearly superior scrum and again, just being really, really good to this six nations. So I think they need to show up the tie-head side because Aldorian, not so old Dorian, but Aldorian was, conceded a couple of penalties. I think there's a few marginal ones that perhaps went against him. And him and Sherman, there's some pretty grubby affair, wasn't it? There was some, there was some angles from both that you could see Gros and either Ray or Fagus and doing some normal scrummaging on the other side. Gros got done for like walking around and I was like, I'm pretty sure that's true and just going straight, or anyway. Jean-Baptiste Gros made 21 tackles in 51 minutes, which for Lucer prop is phenomenal. Not bad for someone but good looking either. Yeah, I definitely bring in Meafu. I would, I'd can France or Cross, I think,

32:03I think he's been really ineffectual. Who'd you bring in? I would go Nucci and Olivon in the back row with, and then I'd move Jolange to six. Olivon comes your eight, Nucci replaces Jeggy. Like, it's not gonna happen. He's gonna stick with Jolange across and then it'll probably be one of Olivon or Nucci and for Jeggy, but yeah, there we go. I don't think it's work. I don't think whatever they're doing is not working. They need, I mean, there's also a real good opportunity for them to pick apart England's line out, which has been bad. So if they do go flamm on Meafu and then Olivon in the back row as well, then you've got like three legit, well, you've got flamm on and Olivon in the back to essentially tear them apart at line out time. And I would go, and I would go for, I would be tempted to go for the post-enters, but I think it will probably be Meafu and Berassin. Yeah, okay. Well, looking forward to it. They will be wearing, of course, La Crunch, Jersey, not that I'll be watching, given my nightmare in the week if having my order cancelled, which is one thing.

33:06But of course, the outpouring of support and social media was fantastic. It was great to hear loads of people saying, mine arrived today, and it was also particularly good to hear loads of people. And now some of the experts in e-commerce supply chain logistics, oh, you should have ordered when they came out, like cheers, pal. I did. I did. I did. I did see you. Go on, yeah. No, no, no, I was just going to say that, that rugby inside line bloke is complete melt. Like, thanks, thanks for the advice. There's going to be more available in July. Don't know what for. That's quite a long way, isn't it? High of summer, getting that heavy, heavy weight cotton jersey on my, might save my pennies. All right. Can I literally buy one now? I mean, I don't really know. That's why I thought, mate. Don't get sucked in. Yeah. Don't get sucked in. Spend it on a new Scotland shirt if you've missed out or a new old Scotland shirt if you've missed out

34:08on that one on eBay. Yeah, maybe, maybe. It's more the fact that I don't fit into the one that I've worn for years. I no longer fit into the one that I had when I was 12. Time has finally caught up with the 2003 famous Grouse shirt. Yeah, sad, sad day. Right, okay, let's, we'll park it there. We'll look forward to the crunch on Saturday night and maybe come back a quick wrap up of everything else that's been going on and then say farewell. All right, back in the set. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first, nearly three years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home. And not relying on other countries keeps us safe. But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads, America cures.

35:10Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at americacures.com. Pay for it by Farmer. Okay, Rob, we haven't touched on national too much for a couple of weeks. I think did we discuss Newalt last week, which is- It's not, no. It's slightly sad news. So obviously the week before, or a couple of weeks before, it was confirmed at TARB, as the fate that the fell calcoran here, blond yak, not so long ago, went bankrupt and then seemingly certainly to certainly to myself a little bit out of the blue in New York, to have an amazing first season back in national. Or in national, I think, for the first time in the third year, have filed for bankruptcy as well. Almost like a fortnight or within a fortnight. There are questions I think as well over born on breast potentially, which is a real shame because it's a fantastic league.

36:11It's a huge sell and indictment of the quality and depth of French rugby that there are three professional tears. But that is now, that's what four clubs in the space of four seasons and two in a year that have gone in the space of three seasons. Yeah, it's not long ago. So yeah, real shame is New York, one for everyone involved at New York, but also they added so much from a rugby perspective. We're sitting eighth in the league, above Bourguin, above Ruan, or alongside Ruan, and some really established teams have played in pro-day there very recently. So yeah, sad, not real shame. But they're still playing fixtures. So they're not. I know that was cancelled. Ironically, they played against a game against Tab. So we don't. It's due to, in theory, it looks like they're due to play way at Shombri on March 20th. They haven't fully filed for bankruptcy in the same way that Tab legitimately filed for bankruptcy. One understanding, though, is that it is imminent.

37:14Affent effectively done. Yeah, which is a real shame. It's pretty, it's because we'll do some more digging on it and I do want to investigate this properly. But the long and short of it is you've got teams that are trying to compete with Proditor and be ready for Proditor, which is fully televised. To all in terms of purposes, it's got a TV deal that's combined with the top 14. There's all that sort of exposure with the TV audiences and the TV exposure you get, more sponsorship opportunities et cetera, et cetera. And we also know we're all very well versed in the international players in Proditor. You've got teams trying to compete with that and get ready for that level with basically none of the revenue because the sponsorship opportunities are less. And there's no TV deal or it's nowhere near what they've got in. It's kind of like the difference with Prem and the champ is the kind of difference in TV deal.

38:16Just completely not always non-existent. And you've got national travel, which in a country, the size of France and national is the full length and breadth of France, basically. Because you don't have to rule on, is a decent trip. Prem, rule on, leal. And then you've also got niece, you've got tar basically in basely Spain, yeah. It is the full length and breadth of the country trying to sustain that with very little revenue is tough. And like a good example on the sponsorship, Blondak are the third, were the third biggest club in Toulouse, where unsurprisingly, all of the sponsorship is going to Toulouse and then Columbia do well to sweep up anything else. So it's no wonder there's not local businesses like flooding into. And that was quite specific to Blondak and their geography. But yeah, that's the long and short of it. We will try and I'm going to do some more digging and I'm going to come up with some solutions that definitely won't be feasible or solve anything.

39:18Yeah, there we go. Look forward to it. In the league itself, it feels like it's a little bit of a case of waiting for the barrage now. The top six are, I think, the gap between sixth and seventh is 17 points between Sean-Marie and Ruon, I think it is. So yeah, lots to play for eventually, but looking a little bit of a split league for now. And I have no idea what will happen to relegation, particularly if another team goes. I guess we'll keep an eye out for that. Yeah, because that's the thing stand. Mark and Barra are a tenor drift with a game in hand. I think they've still got to play. There was that game that was canceled, isn't there? I, which was against TARB. So that's gone now. But yeah, I don't know. Especially if ball gone breast. I think ball gone breast are like voluntary going to relegate themselves or something. That was a chance. Yeah, it was a, yeah. We'll find out. We'll call back next week. Yeah. Robin, in the meantime, you are wearing, I've forgotten you had that bit of kit, the Brave Hoodie. Well, this was actually in support of Gregor.

40:20I've got my cash shirt underneath. I've got a breathe on top. I'm supporting Gregor. And you're trying to buy a famous grass shirt on the side. Yeah, cover, cover. And I've got my poha on to support the return of Broberian Guards on if and when it comes. And our argument. Yeah, last weekend, last weekend, last week, last Thursday, the FIUK game was Columbia Breathe. And Breathe One away from me. Hey, out of faith, me. I think between this thing is, you'd have to back, I think, you'd have to, between us, we've had quite a good run, but that means nothing for me. Individually, we'd probably both had a shocker at some point. But yeah, I was eight from eight last week, quite a bit. First of all, I've done that for a while. Massive win for Breathe as well, who had Arjen, obviously still do have Arjen breathing down their neck, but hadn't won away since their first away game of the season, at DAX back in September. And I've gone to Columbia, and one pretty comfortably.

41:20I don't know if you caught much of it, but they looked, yeah, they looked excellent. Incredibly, the bits I saw, and I wasn't totally wedded to the whole game, I must admit, there were, it was very much Breathe are gonna turn up and be massive and heavy and aggressive and try and run them over. And that's exactly what they did from the bits I saw. No more so than, and I wanna make sure I'm gonna absolutely but share his name, as I always do. No more so than Asa Ali Tuivlaka, who, when he first got, well, when I first sort of kept the ball in the second half, I was like, that prop is really quick down the wing. And I don't know if you've seen in Bump Valentin Delpe, who has a play to him. Oh my God, it's like a car crash. A fair play to Delpe, like he gets straight back up and he does stop him, but he was, he was on one, and not even an electrical fire underneath the main stand,

42:23which took the players off the pitch for about 20 minutes, could, yeah, could, could prevent a brief win. So very impressive. Two things on that. First of all, real mouthful on the left wingers, because you had Asa Ali Tuivlaka on one wing, but you had Angelo Tuivlaka on the other left wing on the colonial side, so that's, that's tough. But the irony of the fire service being called in at Breathe. No, but in a Breathe game, when the week before, I think it was the matchball was delivered via hovercraft from the local fire service in Breathe. So, yeah, Premonition from the Breathe. Maybe they should have been here. They should have taken the hovercraft down to Columbia. Send the mask on in with a fire extinguisher, straight off his hovercraft. Yeah, that was very cool. And interestingly, like, we've said it a little bit,

43:24and it's certainly not to try and downplay any of Columbia's achievements this year, but that's now three wins, sorry, three losses at home, previously lost to Van, a little while back, lost to Provence at home, Breathe, should have lost to Winner, where it not for a late Winner meltdown. There's a little bit of a, I don't know if it's question mark, but perhaps against some of those bigger teams, bigger budget, yeah, can they live with it? They've been fantastic. But yeah, we'll see, because I think, you know, it looks, that to me felt like, if Breathe, the way Breathe had been this year, if they didn't win that game, even though they were mathematically in it, Barrage was looking a bit tricky. But, yeah, I don't know, I feel like they are. There was something, what's the word I'm looking for, Rob? Something slightly kind of fatalistic about it. Yeah, a bit ominous about the way, the way they've done that to such a good side, having been so poor away from home all season. Yeah, good news if you're a brief ham.

44:25But Columbia asked it in second, because Provence, as I called, lost away at Beer is, they've kind of, like, returned to their away day blues. They don't like the Southwest, they've lost to Dax and Bearits in back to back away games. And, yeah, so, and neither with the bonus point, so, not a great result for Provence, which is quite short, they did send a pretty weak, so there's a pretty ropey looking side. They did send, whereas to Dax, it sent quite a good looking side. They've lost, I think, three in a row, haven't they, Provence? Yeah, and they now, well, next game, it's in a few weeks, but the next game is against Columbia, which might be, might be instructive in terms of what else happens. Van, a way of balance, again, in the home, in the road, a home record busted. Van announced 17 points clear of second, which is, they must have qualified, right? Right, but they have, they have qualified points,

45:28they have qualified, no, they are 32, ahead of Arjen in seventh, with a possible 35 to play for. Well, if my maths is right, so if Arjen, and every team, like between Van and Arjen, somehow one seven bonus point wins in a row and Van didn't pick up a single point, Van could in theory, not made about right. Can you imagine the inquest into that? That would be, that would be, high commission sort of. That would be superb. That would be nice. Yeah, very impressive. The other thing that stands out, and we said it the week before, actually the bottom of the table, in the past has been a little bit of a damp squib, or maybe one or two, on the front end of it. Well, I had a bit of orange in the top 14, isn't it? It certainly is. You've got 16s, 10 points separating them, all of which in theory could, at the very least, be dragged into an access match. Yeah, and potentially, potentially more than that,

46:29which is, yeah, not great for them, but as a, as a voyeur, viewer, neutral on the side, it's, yeah, it's a lot of fun. Naveir are 11th, so they are 10 points ahead of 16, and five ahead of DAX. In theory, they've got five, they're five point cushion, but they haven't won a game for nine games. They've got one draw and eight defeats in their last. No, so one draw and seven defeats in their last eight games. And that draw was at home to Mondemarsan, who previously had not done anything away from home, and haven't done anything away from home since Remarkable. That is a, they did bin off some coaches this week, didn't they? Yes, I did see that. I can't remember exactly who went, I don't know if the head coach went, but no, I don't think it was. I think it was a couple of the guys underneath him, who, yeah, whether they've been exit or they've been, no, the chairman or the president came out and said, if I don't act now, then, then win, sort of thing, basically. Well, I'd dare a career at Breathe, who got moved into like the ticket office

47:31or whatever it was to see out his contract. Yeah, all very nicely set up. We've got a couple of weeks' length. Yeah, yeah, well deserved. Look forward to seeing. There's always some good times to be on Instagram, some like niche holiday venues for the players before the last block, but yeah, very, very well deserved. Rob and the awesome pro-data, or should we wrap up with a couple of Petty Fours? Start your day with Quaker Protein Instant Oatmeal. The Instant Oatmeal, ready to help you tackle whatever your day brings, like wrinkling your toddler into their car seat. That was fun. Coaching your six-graders soccer team. Double girls! And carrying all the groceries in one trip. Try Quaker Protein Instant Oatmeal, Grinola, and bars.

48:31Great taste and a good source of protein. Quaker, bring out the good. The first thing I saw actually, which was really lovely related to the France Scott and Game, was, I don't know his last name, he's only like three, but young Maxima, Met is hero Louis BLBRA getting off the coach at Murray Fields, full regalia, obviously the Canterbury Red Scrum Cap. Yeah, very, very nice moment, very heartwarming before they got absolutely belted in Edinburgh. I've got a Louis BLBRA Petty Fours here. Oh yeah. I don't, I'll be honest, I don't quite fully understand it, but it's something I've seen on TikTok. It's the Louis BLBRA Dream Track with Mopsiman, who I believe is probably a DJ in France. And I think this Dream Track is you basically just throw all of your ideas at Mopsiman, and he puts together a track.

49:32Now, BLBRA's Dream Track featured all sorts. It had like the Ale Ubebe, it had like the Shalala La La La. It also had also a key feature of it that he wanted in there was what I think is quite like a slightly infamous press conference from his time at Ubebe of Christoph Urios talking about mergers on a barbecue. And they're saying like this track that this DJ has put together has got, it's quite good. It like puts together like all this random stuff that has come out of Louis BLBRA. And randomly into weaves the like this Christoph Urios like speaking over the top of it, talking about mergers. Wow, I'm exactly what I'm doing when this finishes in five minutes time. That is incredible. Yeah, I'm here for that. I can send you the link to the TikTok. Mopsiman, Quentin Mopsiman,

50:33he's Swiss apparently. Oh, is he? Well, I guess he speaks French only if he's Swiss. You'd think so. Very good. Yeah, get that up on the socials, Rob. That's exactly the sort of, that's exactly the sort of thing we want to be, want to see more of. The only two other bits I've got are one club and this I was really struggling on pronunciation. Shatannu or Yussele, I've no idea where it is, but on rugby amateur. I don't know if you remember, there was a fantastic clip last year of a team playing cards in the back of the bus. Yeah. This one, this, this is not quite as good. They've got the tackle pads out as they're sort of tabled to gamble around, but it's not quite as good as the ripped off changing room door that whichever team it was we're using last season. So yeah, a little bit of work to do. And then the only other thing which is quite interesting and looks like it's going to be ruffling multiple feathers and be actually quite important in some local elections

51:35are proposed plans from. Is it Bernard LeMette, the Toulon president who is this week or last week on Vailedson, very grandiose looking plans for a new stadium somewhere in Toulon, which looks quite cool, but is also, I think they need to find 200 million euros and no one's decided where that's going to come from yet. And it's expected to be a big, big thing in the municipal elections, which I think takes place. Which the thing that Boogilal is running for, isn't it? Boogilal, there's another guy as well. There's a former player who I think might have some pretty fruity views. I can't remember his name. Yeah, I think he's a populist, shall we say. But yeah, we'll look that up. But yeah, Toulon, the my old or the potential new my old will be front and center of those elections. I can like it any good sort of collector, Chrissy.

52:38Yeah, we'll see. The only other thing I'm winding it back to the start and also looking ahead to next week. I saw on Twitter, it was a rugby chorus one, I think, had had an interview with Ian Holloway, so the former Blackpool, I thought it were areas now. He's still in management, the football manager, talking about how a team that he used to be at, which I assume was Wick and Wonderer's, shared a training ground with wasps and talking about the lunatic that was Sean Edwards. He used to butter rolls with his fingers. Presumably now he's been in France, he's just does it, it's more butter, so it's with a hand. It's like a full fist of butter onto a bread roll. It is. But yeah, nice little head and look crunch. Maybe everyone should butter their rolls with their fingers this week in honor of Sean Edwards. I'm sure he's a very angry man this week. Imagine that's, imagine some rolls of, have had it this week.

53:38I've taken a bit of a pounding. Ian, I'll always swindered apparently now. Yes, I didn't, there we go. Right, Six Nations Final round, super sad today, the crunch is finally here, Rob, you can follow us. Where? Subscribe on YouTube, but we are at Rosby's rugby on Instagram, TikTok, X, Blue Sky. We should say that we're going to do, we're going to do our Paris recommendations. We've completely neglected to say that. We are going to do some, some recommendations for Paris, which will be some nice photos. And if you want more, then slide into the DMs because we have loads. So if you want something specific, we will, we will do our best to answer. But yeah, and give them some favorite places on Instagram. Given been fortunate enough to give Paris futiles in the last couple of years, I'd say like, they're actually quite good. It's not just us trying to shoe haul in like an Irish pub and dress it up, which I've definitely done in the past. To be like, oh, the atmosphere is great

54:39and the Kilkenny Red is possible. No, there's some genuinely good restaurants. So yeah, take, keep an eye out. Email us for us with rugby at gmail.com. Otherwise, enjoy it. The rugby, Rob, I will see you speak to you in the week. I'm sure, I've been rich, that's been brought. We've been at the Rosbef rugby podcast or of what? Of what? Let me have it, let me have it, I'll be home, I'll be home. See nothing else, see nothing else, I'll be home. I'll be home, I'll be home, I'll be home. Two teams, one cup. The prime time stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tiger's Jupiter links. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2 and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app.

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