Ep 181 - Bears stoop to conquer as Quins are humbled in a Friday night frenzy

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Pat Lamb and you're listening to Bears Beyond
the Gate.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You're listening to Bears Beyond the Gate, a Bristol
Bears podcast made by fans forfans.
With three season cardholdersat Ashton Gate, we love the club
, the game and all things Bears.
This week we review yet anotherbarnstorming away win at the
Twickenham Stoop, after asecond-half flourish of mesmeric
, running and offloading rugby.
Despite the fact that we havescored over 100 points in the

(00:29):
last two games there, punditsstill insist on referring back
to the Bristol and Bullsemi-finals.
These guys get paid money.
We also look forward to playingLeinster and La Rochelle in a
Champions Cup six-day turnaround, which seems a pretty daunting
prospect, but then this is wherewe want to be, so we shouldn't
be too upset.
We also discussed the fortunesof the Bears women who made it a

(00:50):
double Blackbird weekend andthen finish off with a couple of
AOBs I'm Pete and I'm joined byLee and Miles back at our
spiritual home, the Bristol BeerFactory taproom, for a cheeky
beer and a bit of Sunday nightrugby banter.
Well, boys, it's a.
We haven't been here for awhile.
Lewis isn't here, but he didemail us in the week to say that

(01:12):
he'd left clear instructions tothe staff that we were that the
red carpet.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Celebrities were in town, the tap was remaining open
.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I turned up at 645 and there was a man, a butler,
on the door.
He welcomed me in and he putthe red carpet out and I didn't
even have to ask.
The nitro stout was alreadypoured for me on the bar and in
fact we should have a littleshout out to Nick.
He usually works over at thejunction, he told me, but he was
very good, looked after us andyeah, so we're back here and

(01:44):
it's not raining, which is handyand they finished clearing up
in the kitchen.
So we've got no excuses, boys.
But before we get into the gamebecause it was fantastic to get
back to the premiership,although, bizarrely, one game in
the premiership and then we'reoff again I mean you know,
fixture, let's not talk aboutfixtures.
The general rugby pods can dothat.
You know, fixture, let's not.

(02:05):
Let's not talk about fixtures,the general rugby pods can do
that.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
But anyway, miles, you, you, uh, you did um text on
the friday night saying you dolove a friday night win don't
you just just yeah, itabsolutely just sets up the
whole weekend and in fact I'm abit tired this evening because I
had to drive me and me and theduchess, and he could drive all
the way to cambridge for awedding last night.
A bit of a late one Did you getthe?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
helicopter then no, no, absolutely not.
It's a bit too windy, itcouldn't take off.
Oh yeah, it couldn't take off.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
But today though, anyway, I had a great night, and
you know I love a Friday night.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And anyway at the wedding.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
You know you met someone, didn't you, mark?
It's a small, it very small.
I met a mate of my, of my uh,wife's cousins who used to live
with them south wales, and wendyintroduced him.
He said have a chat with him.
He said oh, what do you do?
I'm the groundsman at theprincipality stadium.
I said you what?
I said you're gonna be cuttingthe grass for the big day out.

(02:57):
He said I certainly am miles.
So, uh, good lad you know, lovedrugby proper welshman obviously
not their current form.
At the moment, I was chattingabout our podcast and we've
talked to all the players, etcetera, and chatting about Harry
Randall whose brother, lo andbehold, dated his daughter for
two years.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
It really is a small world.
It really is a small rugbyworld.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
So there we are, it's amazing who you meet at a
wedding on the other side of thecountry, I hope that you
mention to him that obviouslyit's a Bristol Bears home game.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
And that the grass needs to be cut in accordance to
the way we play.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I did say that Nice and short running game.
And if it's a bit wet.
I did ask if he could influencemaybe the roof coming on as
well.
But it's May I think we'll beall right.
Anyway, great night.
A bit tired today, but good tobe back at Bristol Beer Factory.
What about?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
you, lee?
How are you?
Yeah, good, been working theweekend.
There is actually one thingI've got to say, though.
Yeah, I too am struggling forFriday night, because do you
know what?
It was one of those games.
I know we're going to get ontoit in a minute, but my heart
didn't sky if I would have taken, if I had a slightly old blood
pressure monitor on my arm.
God knows what reading I wouldhave got back from it, because

(04:09):
it was just one of those games,wouldn't it?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I, I, I know and I, I know it sounds terrible because
we were outstanding, yeah, butI only really felt comfortable
after 73 minutes yeah, when wenailed a penalty to go, I think
we, I think we went 24 points upwith seven minutes to go and I
was looking and thinking nah,yeah, we've won now.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Which is crazy, which is just absurd, isn't it?
It is Like a performance likethat, and yet we still panic.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
I mean the comms said , the Quinns players were
blowing after 10 minutes.
I mean us three.
We were blowing after twominutes, weren't we I?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
mean exactly, it's a good point.
I mean there were fans aroundthe country, you know, like
gasping for breath, and it's notjust the players, but yeah, and
yeah, it was, it was funny,well, anyway.
Well, you've been up too, buddy.
Yeah, sorry, one thing I shouldsay we are missing someone on
the table at the moment.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
What which I should say to?
The listeners is a prettydisgusting tote bag.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
It's a half and half tote bag.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Bristol City and man City, because I wasn't thinking,
and it was when man City playedBristol City.
Was it last year or the yearbefore, when it was that big?

Speaker 3 (05:22):
semi final.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
I think they put all of those bags on every seat, and
then I think my daughter gotgiven one as a present from one
of her friends who went to thegame.
I don't know why, she's noteven a football fan.
Anyway, it's just like everySunday.
I'm just about to leave thehouse to come here.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
I need a little bag to put this that and the other
and I just didn't think, and Ijust put it straight in there.
My concern is what is it doingnear the front of your bags?
Well, it was just.
I put we've got it shouldn't beeasy to pick up.
It should be in the bin.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm sure a lot of people appreciate this that
we've got like an understairscupboard.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
That is a shambles of organisation it's got all the
shopping bags and it was dark, Ijust put my hand in there and
picked out what I saw but thepoint I was trying to make now
you've confessed, that's goodenough.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
I'm sure the listeners will forgive you, but
what's inside the tote bag iswhat I was talking about, pete.
What have we got in there thatneeds to come out onto the table
?
Oh, of course I forgot, hang oneverybody.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
it is the return of the.
Oh, of course, Because I mean Iforgot, Hang on everybody.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
It is the return of the, not the space cowboy.
Cliché bell Great spot.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
I made a big effort to bring the cliché bell and
then almost forgot.
So well done, Lee.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Half and half back.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
So just for any new listeners out there because I
know that we obviously get likehundreds of new listeners every
week we've been sent a clichebell, so if one of us lets
ourselves, down alludes to finemargins and realize that we
haven't taken the learnings,then we have to keep pressing

(07:01):
the bell, although it's notreally supposed to be.
It's supposed to be a deterrent.
It's supposed to be there, likeon the table, to try and make
us widen our vocabulary.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Absolutely so good spot.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's there now, but anyway
that's a medicine hand that isnow.
We've got all the importantstuff sorted.
Let's get onto matters.
Yeah so, boys, we've, you knowwe've had a break from the
premiership.
We had a great start.
We actually thought we couldhave been, you know we could
have been unbeaten, to be fair,in that first little block of
you know we should really havebeaten.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Sarri's and Gloucester said he wasn't happy,
was he?

Speaker 2 (07:35):
but we weren't.
You know, you take what you'vegot.
And then we had this kind oflittle break of the couple of
Prem Rugby Cup games, and therewas one weekend where there was
no rugby at all.
There was some women's games.
We went to a cup, one to one,didn't we Miles?
So it was.
It was quite nice to get backback to the Premiership, albeit
this like one game, and thenwe're into Europe.

(07:57):
So it was a 48-24 six trydemolition of Quinns.
We've been there before, infact, all three of us have been
there before, at the end of lastseason, and it was just, I mean
, it was just a fantastic gameof rugby.
And I think, before we talkabout some of the detail, I
think you know we put a fewthings out on our Twitter feed

(08:18):
during the game and it was quitenice that we got a few replies
from fans of Quinns fans andeven a couple of a Leicester fan
and a Saris fan, all basicallysaying boys, that was fantastic.
The rugby that Bristol wereplaying was great to see and it
cemented, I think, what we saida couple of pods ago is that I

(08:41):
think now one of the greatthings about the way we're
playing rugby is that we nowbecome everybody's second
favourite club again, because Ithink a lot of rugby fans
appreciate what we're trying todo now as a club, but we're not
just willy nilly throwing itaround.
It's got a plan and it's takena while.
We've got to admit it's takentwo and a half seasons, hasn't

(09:02):
it?

Speaker 1 (09:03):
so we still get beaten with the, with the.
The money bag stick, though,don't we?
Which?

Speaker 3 (09:08):
yeah someone came on because we we're below the cap,
so I don't think they can pullthat anymore.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Somebody did put that on and I almost replied,
actually because not only are webelow the cap.
But when you look at who wasplaying on on Friday Joe Owen
Academy, james Dunn Academy,jack Bates Academy- Harry
Thacker, we haven't got amillion pound marquee player
anymore.
Harry Thacker been here sevenyears, snapped up for the
championship because, no,leicester didn't want him.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jake Warmore.
Jake Warmore come from thechampionship.
We could go on and on.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Jan Thomas homegrown, although came from Gloucester,
but you know, not a big name.
Okay, yeah, we've got Grondonaand we've got a Bill Matter, but
we've got Yancey van Rensburg.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Nobody wanted him.
No, that's right.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
And Ravuvo.
Okay, but I'm sure Ravuvo isnot on a massive contract
because he's not a big name.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
He's not a big Fijian name.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
And then Rich Lane from Bedford.
So let's put that to bed.
Let's put it to bed.
Rival teams, now rivalsupporters.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
You can chew on mine, but actually, you know what
we've done and I think maybethere is a madness, a strategy
in this that we've kept underthe, under the, the cap, so that
we know we've got some moneywhen we need it.
And we've now signed Tom Jordanfor next year and we've signed
the Argentinean Rubiola by theway it looks like an absolute

(10:28):
beast, and then we've obviouslygot a bit of money.
If we need, we need someemergency signing, so let's put
that to bed we've got more pumasthan the new forest we are
we've gone from.
We're kind of travelling aroundthe world.
We're very much Pacific Islandwe are.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
And now, we're the tiny.
We stopped on the way SouthAfrica and then we've nipped
over to Argentina, so we'redoing all the Southern
Hemisphere pretty well at themoment.
Yeah, we've got more.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Malbec, now haven't we, which is lovely, right on
the street, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Anyway, boys, I think we need to talk about this game
.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
We're putting it off, aren't we?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I'm putting it off because I'm trying to savour the
feeling.
But we'll start with you, miles.
Just give us your generalthoughts on that game on Friday,
your general kind of summary ofhow it unfolded.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Well, I think, quite quickly, after about, about what
?
Four minutes of a don branttribe, but people haven't seen
it.
I suspected it would unfold inan awful hideous way that only
quins could sort of put.
You know, put the knife inagainst bristol.
However, you know, delightedthat we turned it around after
30 minutes and then pretty muchjust dominated the game right up

(11:44):
to 80 minutes.
I mean a phenomenal, phenomenalperformance by bristol.
All caught, oh, yeah, I thinkwhen you, when you repeat a word
that is quite hyperbolic youwouldn't do insects, absolutely
yeah I mean it was an all-courtgame from start to finish, from
side to side um, we'll chat abit about statistics later on

(12:07):
One of the best games of rugby,I think, and exciting I've ever
seen Bristol play, and I think alot of other fans from other
clubs would probably say thesame thing.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
It's just amazing.
What about you, lee?
I thought it was absolutelybreathtaking, and I'm not one to
go overboard with stuff, but Ithought that that for me now I
know I did put it out pre-pod toyou boys that for me was a

(12:40):
complete 80-minute performance,taking aside a couple of, you
know, individual errors yeah Ithought that was the 80 minute
performance we've been lookingfor I I was absolutely on the
edge of my seat for 80 minutes,and what an advert for
premiership rugby.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Well, two things.
First, I 100% agree themarketing men at prem rugby must
have been wetting themselves ohyeah particularly when you
think what happened.
Barf exeter was a little boringload of rubbish yesterday.
Sale lester was box kickingrubbish, although fair play to
sale for winning this afternoondid us a favor by beating tigers
, but it was almost like rugbyfrom a different planet.

(13:19):
I was saying at home.
It's almost like we were quinsand brist, were playing with
different rules.
Yeah, and what I what I reallyliked about it was that there
has been some talk that this newkind of allowing the chase kick
chaser to not be impeded rule,yeah, would lead to more box
kicking and fair.
I mean, quins did do it a bit,but we didn't bother, we just
thought we don't need that.

(13:39):
Yeah, we barely, we didn't usethat.
We, we, we, we.
We did what.
You know what the game wasdesigned to do, which is to to
use the ball, was to hunt forspace, was to pass a move, but
also do all the really goodbasics.
So that's the first thing.
Um, and yeah, it was.
It was literally breathtakingbecause I mean, I think a lot of

(14:02):
fans on there watching it atthe gate but at the at the stew,
but also on their sofas.
We're out of breath, probablyneed a bit of oxygen just to
wash it so yeah, I mean, I mean,but I'm going back to your 80
minute performance thing, it's.
It's a debatable point.
I think there'll be listenersout there saying hang on a
minute, lee.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
So I feel like I ought to play devil's advocate,
and and I think you're right.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
The way we play rugby there's always going to be a
few mistakes.
My issue is that I think 20,whatever we were 21-18 at half
time wasn't reflective of ourdomination and showed that we
gifted well, we gifted theintercept try to.
I mean that was a 14-pointswing because we gifted that to
Murley when we were about toscore.
Then we had the Northmorestripping run from his own half

(14:49):
and we knocked on, probably inthe red zone, at least two or
three times so I could debatethat.
I just never felt completelycomfortable the whole time.
Now, maybe that's because we'renot used like a saris fan is
kind of used to winning all thetime and winning back-to-back
titles.

(15:09):
You kind of have a deep faiththat you're going to win a game.
But there were still moments inthat game I just wasn't sure.
Um so, which makes me think isthat?
what is that the definition?

Speaker 1 (15:19):
and I do take all those points in hand, my my kind
of theory on this, my opinionon this, is more like we've gone
to Quinns away.
It's a tough place to go, yeah,yeah.
And if we hadn't have madethose individual errors which we
can't as a performance, youhave to allow some individual

(15:43):
errors I don't think you'll getan 80-minute performance that
doesn't involve some errors tosome degree, and it should do,
because it's a competitiveleague and actually, like we
talk about Falcons last year andthat 80 points, that's not
really a proper game of rugby isit?

Speaker 2 (15:59):
No, it's not, and actually you're right because
there was ebbing and flowing onFriday, and I think you're right
because there was ebbing andflowing in it on Friday.
And I think you're right.
I think within the context.
You want ebb and flow becausewe want a competition.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
It was the skill you saw from Merle spotting that
intercept.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
It was a phenomenal, you know, oh don't use that
again.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
It was a great run through the spot, you know.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
that is why the bell was on the table.
Now we're self-regulating, yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
And you're right, merle was great.
He spotted that and run it.
You know you could argue it wasa bit of a lengthy pass out
from Marmion and even fromNorthmore.
I thought he'd had a great game.
I mean it looked a bit easy onFriday night.
Watch it about today.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
He today.
He did a good strip and thenalthough it did look like rovovo
, by the way gave him the ball.
We were like he like offeredthe ball up, but I mean split
second didn't quite get his bodyposition you know, in that
performance you're right.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
We want to see competition.
I thought don brandt was waswas great, and northmore and
murley.
We want really good tightgames't we?
But we want to come out on thegood side of it.
But you're right.
Until you know, as Bristol fanswe've been there this season we
felt as if we couldn't sit onour laurels until the 76th

(17:14):
minute, and that's why we're abit uneasy until the game has
been won.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
I mean.
So what I thought we'd do andthis is something we don't
normally do we've gone away fromthis kind of forensic analysis
of a minute by minute.
Yeah, but actually I think it'sworth running through our tries
.
Let's not worry about Quinn's.
Quinn's were well beaten in theend.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
And they knew they were well beaten and I think the
hands up and their fansadmitted their well-being.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
And a great set of supporters as well.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
But they were well-beaten because they were
demolished by a game plan thatis coming together very, very
quickly so let's go.
Our first try was well, weentered the 22.
The first 10 minutes that wewere saying was crazy.
People are on their knees inthe first 10.

(18:07):
And we just would refuse togive up possession, and I mean,
we were going from phase tophase, marmion was getting the
ball away and, by the way, Ithink that's one of the best
games Marmion's had, absolutely,he was getting the ball
backwards and forwards.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
We were stretching them and I know it was part of
the game plan and, and you know,we were obviously ready for it,
quinns weren't really ready forit.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, I mean, they tried to blitz, didn't they?
But they couldn't do it.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
No option they couldn't they even get close
enough and when you think yeahthey, you know they.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Anyway that was so, that was it.
But of course you know we gaveaway the first try early on was
a bit sad, bit of a shame,missed tackle somewhere, don
Brant in.
But you know we finally score,which was um was the classic
where again, from the 22, amarmion long pass misses out as
you go straight to harding andthis is where we are different
to other teams is that hardingcan act.

(18:57):
He's a, he's a number eight andhe does all the hard yards and
he does all the carries and hedoes all the tackling.
But he can also operate as afirst receiver who's not just
going to put his head down andburrow, and he's so mobile he
pops it to Lane.
He pops it to Ogre who's on thewing.
Ogre breaks 50 yards andrealises he's got no support and
he slows down him, but that'sthe thinking that's such clever

(19:21):
thinking yes, ogre holds theball.
Someone comes in and then we geta rut.
We secure it and then it goes.
They've they've had to come allthe way over, and then we
suddenly whip it out wide.
It goes through the hands andthen we've got Rich Lane coming
fast.
It was the fact.
The ball is in front of therunners, rich Lane hits the
space and all he's got to dodraw.

(19:41):
The man pops it to Revovo, whoslips over.
And that was and that was.
I mean, that was a sensationaltry.
It really was.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
I mean we should say, like our grade N, I mean, like
you've just said, then Pete thethought process to actually to
keep that ball there, to standup, to look for support and then
to give it at the right time Imean he made that look easier,
that and then to give it at theright time.
I mean he made that look easy.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
That is so difficult to do.
It was crazy.
And then, very soon after that,we then had the second try,
which was Gab's scored his trythat I'm sure he really wanted
to score.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
You know the place that made him the place where he
was an academy boy and he got abit of pelters from Marla and
the fans for celebrating toomuch Well for the Conte Pony
celebration, for the Conte Ponystyle celebration, without the
clapping.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
But I think he deserved it because it was such
a great try.
And I mean, do you remember it,boys?
I mean, it was the one where wehad a ruck close to their
touchline and this is what theysaid on comms.
And I noticed at the time thatGabs was the one that spotted it
.
He spotted a two on one and hetold Marmion and then.
Marmion actually did the rightthing, which to throw a dummy,

(20:49):
yeah, and then Gabs switches hisline inside and you look at
that, you think rugby so easy,you know?
Yeah, and he runs in from, youknow whatever half way,
something like that little fistpump.
That was.
That was A little fist pumpthat was such a good try.
And then Marm, he gotabsolutely.
He got literally marmalised.
Yeah, he did by somebody.

(21:11):
That's the one when you knowwhen you're a fullback and you
know you're done, you knowwhat's happening.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
You think I might as well get something out of this,
and I will absolutely smash thebloke.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
who draws me?

Speaker 1 (21:23):
But it's funny though , because we talk about Gab's
celebration.
I don't know if you boys saw ityesterday when City marmalised
Tony Cox's Plymouth or a guy.
The Janners City did the samething, mometi.
He was up on the advertisingaudience and did the same thing,

(21:46):
so maybe that's someone thatthey've talked about in the week
.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, maybe, so anyway, we're like having on top
having conceded a try afterthree minutes, we're suddenly 14
five up after 18 and after 20minutes there'd been 120 meters
gained.
And you know we're continuingto to threaten their line, and
that's when the murley intercepthappens and then the north wall
.
One happens and we're thinkingoh, come on, boys, you know I

(22:13):
did.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
I mean I did without being too critical.
I did think that marmion's passwas too long at that particular
moment in time.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
And if he was here he'd probably say mate, you try
and make a split-second decisionlike that and he'd been doing
long passes and he'd beenfruitful up to that point.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
He would have had the confidence to do it.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
But in a way, I'm almost glad it happened, because
it meant that we had toprobably solve our way back in
happen because it meant that wehad to problem solve our way
back in and of course, we didn'tpanic and this is something
we've talked about and this iswhat pat has talked about before
is that you don't panic?
Yeah, you just know you'redoing the right thing.
You make sure you're in theright places.
You don't assist them.
Trust the system and this, thissystem, is now starting to be

(22:52):
fairly clear.
And actually our third try thatwas just before halftime was
actually was this thing thatwe've talked about a little bit
before, where Marmion went blindagain, and then it goes out to
Joe Owen on the wing and JoeOwen like gallops down that wing
like a thoroughbred.
I thought champion chaser, yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Absolutely, it was champion, chaser, and then again
perfectly time pass.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Pops it back into Gabs.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Pops it into to Gabs who pops it into to Marmion.
But to me that's the system.
Is that when?
Because Gabs has got this freereign, because it's undefensible
, it's fluid, but it's notrandom?
Yeah, because we've seen thiswith Steve Luatua against Saints
.
Oh, out on the wing, yeah, yeahyeah, someone goes out on the
wing, and those boys areparticularly chosen because we

(23:39):
know they can hold the ball upor they can cut inside.
And Joe Owen has got the speed,steve Luetour has got the nous
and, of course, this has made methink all the way through this
game.
This is how it works with Gabs.
He's almost unplayable becausehe's popping up everywhere.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
We said this week's game.
It's no accident that Joe Owenends up on that wing.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
No.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's there for a reason.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
It's all been pre-planned.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know what it reminded me of, actually?
And he's not forgotten, buthe's an ex-Bear.
Do you remember old Ed Holmes?
Yeah, when he was on the wingand he scored one and he went
and I reckon if he was on thewing and he took, he scored one
and he went and I reckon he'd beif he was listening to this.
He'd be like what?

Speaker 3 (24:19):
about that one.
I scored boys.
It's not all about Joe.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Owen, it's not all about the youngins.
I did it and and again.
That is part of our game planis to to have multifaceted
players who can do other things,but it doesn't like take job is
and, like you say, from anopposition standpoint, how do
you defend against that?

Speaker 1 (24:40):
it's undefendable, it's probably.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
It's probably, I don't I mean I don't know how
much announced, but when whoeverwas up against, I think it was
that israel.
Israel, it was the argentiniansuddenly sees this big forward.
He probably ain't got a clue,yeah, that owen's got that in
him and he's and he probably gotcaught cold yeah um, because
he's just come back from the theautumn internationals yeah and
he's, and he's thinking he's upagainst every toy.

(25:02):
He's probably been told youknow he'll have his hands.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
You know, be careful it'll be one-handed stuff
because you, you like, you know,you've played football, yeah,
you've played rugby, you knowwhat your opposition number is
and you, you know his weeks, uh,weaknesses and strengths.
So you're playing to that manand all of a sudden, Joe Owen
pops up.
Wait a minute.
A six foot eight for a Stokeand he can run a bit as well,

(25:25):
this boy ain't got dreadlocks.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
So anyway, we were deservedly in the lead 21-18,.
Not probably as comfortable,obviously, as we would have
hoped.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
I mean it could have been a lot more and they could
have had a lot less, but thestats were pretty good on our
side we'd not conceded onepenalty in that first half.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
I'm really glad you mentioned that penalty came or
lack of.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
It's really important to us progressing it's almost
like the reason we didn't giveaway any penalties in that first
half is because we didn'treally do the classic one off
runner little pod of forwards,because eventually you keep give
away any penalties in thatfirst half, because we didn't
really do the classic one-offrunner little pod of forwards,
because eventually you keepdoing that phase off and
eventually somebody getsjackaled or somebody seals off
or somebody gets on the wrongside.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
We were just, we were , we were cleaning the rucks
when we needed to be and we weremoving the ball around and I
hope that because miles has got,he's got, he's got his notebook
in front of us here, right, Ihope because Miles has got some
good stats hang on, boys hang on.
I'm going to do mine in aminute.
Miles has got some good statsthere.
I'm hoping that Miles mighthave some actual in game, like

(26:32):
how long the ball was in gamethe play must have been insane,
it must have been.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
I mean, I think the problem is my watch couldn't
measure it.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
It was that, it was that long.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
It was that long, yeah, wow whoever in Gavs
mentioned it at the end andyou're thinking like it didn't
ever feel, like that ball wasever out.
Couple of linebacks, but hatsoff to Luke Pearce.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
He was great on the night he kept it flowing and I
think he was one of the bestrefs and also hats off to him
for keeping up with play.
I mean, if anyone should havegot man of the match, it was him
do you know what referees doget a lot of stick.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
But I'm glad you mentioned that, miles, because
Luke Pearce was absolutelyexpanding.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
I thought he was great.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
The game flowed brilliantly even with the.
We'll get onto the Tyrone Greentry in a bit.
Yeah, yeah, but even with thathe wasn't quite sure, was he no?
So he's like well let's waitand let's have a good look.
No, it was really good.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
No, I was going to say go for it, hang on, go on.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Beautiful, isn't it?
So, anyway, half-time stats nopenalties conceded, 422 meters,
71 carries, 14 line breaks andwe're only winning by three like
that's the.
That's my thing about the fullperformance but actually in a
way I kind of now coming back towhat you're saying, is that

(27:48):
when you're like that you've, ifyou then go on and win, you
know you've got, you've got aproblem solver.
You've got to change it.
Um, so, as I put down here I'vewritten this down in my notes
multiple pants creamed.
I don't know, I just say so,school boy that I really
apologize, but it was, I mean,some of those tries.
It was like, anyway, second half.

(28:10):
So we come out and I don't knowabout you boys a little bit
apprehensive.
I was like, oh you know, I'mconfident, but I just hope we
don't overplay it and just panictoo much, try too hard.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
But was anyone worried like it started that
second half only the firstcouple of phases might?

Speaker 2 (28:29):
go first minute or two.
It was we love we.
I think that there was a coupleof turnovers.
Possession went backwards andforwards and I was thinking do
you know what I?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
thought sorry, no, go for it I.
I was thinking right.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Do you know what I thought?
Sorry, go for it.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
I was thinking, because we'd been so good in
that first half and gifted thema couple of tries, I was
thinking, at half-time, quinnsgo in and they have a good old
chat in the dress room and theygo we are so lucky to be still
in this game and I thought theymight have the proverbial boot

(29:01):
up your backside and I thoughtthey'd come out in the second
half and whereas we'd played sowell and they hadn't played so
well, I thought there might be abacklash.
That's what I was concerned Idon't know.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
I reckon they just, you know, going into that first
half, I just sort of confidentthey just run out of gas at any
point in that second half andultimately, well, it almost
happened after 10 minutes,didn't it?
But yeah, only four points up.
It could have gone either way.
But you're right, the Quinnsweren't doing anything that
wrong, were they?
We were just outplaying them andoutrunning them all over the

(29:37):
field.
And you're right.
And they could have said, ifyou tighten up a little bit,
they'd got two pretty luckytries, hadn't they?
And it could have gone eitherway, but yeah it wasn't.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
So I mean.
But then quite quickly we werea little on it, we were a little
bit, I think.
Then we were calmed down alittle bit.
There was a kick through kickchase.
I can't remember who did it,but anyway, we then piled on and
Simon Kerrard gave away.
Oh silly boys A five-year-oldcould have given that as a

(30:10):
penalty.
I mean, the guy basically gotaround Marmion coming from like
behind him Big teddy bears.
I mean the only thing I wouldsay is that I would have just,
if I'd been him, I would havejust, I would have just said to
the refs fine, I'm off.
I mean it was so of course weget a penalty.
And then you're thinking, oh,you know, what are we going to
do here?
Should we take the three?
But?
And we thought we'd seen somestuff in the first half, but

(30:32):
that tap and go penalty thatBill Matter scored from, that I
don't.
I mean, that's the first time Iseriously innovative.
Yeah, and just to remindeveryone, it was Marmion Thacker
did a decoy run.
Marmion pops it to Adge, whopops it to Harding, who then
does a round the back to Mata,and then it's in.

(30:53):
And again, it's like rugby's soeasy.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Why don't other teams do that?
Do you know what that tryhappened so quick?

Speaker 3 (30:59):
I actually didn't know where the ball was I know
for a split second I was likewait what's happened?

Speaker 1 (31:04):
and it was that.
It was that clinical, it wasbrilliant it felt that easy.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
You're right.
You'd actually expect thesecond or third phase forward to
just smash somewhere on theline and somehow all the other
teams potentially would havedone, but no, just a brilliant,
but do you know what that comesfrom?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
That comes from forwards with great hands, great
confidence, because I mean itlooked easy, but that that had
multiple times to go wrong, thatI mean, yeah, the timing was
perfection and I think that'sclearly, clearly stuff that's
been worked on.
And I know that Sean Marsdenhas been promoted to um attack
coach uh back, uh, and attackcoach and also skills coach, but

(31:43):
that the skills work they mustbe doing him and Dave Ellis, I
think, is the other guy behindthe scenes is really now coming
to fruition.
I mean, some of this that wasjust that was everything about
working on people's skills andwe should say, like it's about
time, yeah he's been, he's been

Speaker 3 (32:01):
there.
He's been there forever atBristol, and it's a back time.
He's been there.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
He's been there forever at Bristol and it's a
back time.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
He's actually getting the pull hits now well, he gets
to sit next to Pat now and he'sgot a little earphone in.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
It looks good and I've noticed he's well deserved.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I've noticed he's started to wear his glasses.
He looks quite intellectual hedoes so you know, he's rising.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
He looks good.
Next thing, he'll be allowed tobe interviewed on TNT.
Yeah, or by us, by us.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Anyway.
So, yeah, what we're saying isthis is you're right, this is
we're doffing our caps to thecoaching.
Of course we are.
We are, and actually this hasprobably been well planned since
pre-season and stuff like thatand fitness and that's the other
thing is the s and c side of it.
We are, I would have thought,and I don't think it's a million
miles away to say, to say thatour fitness plan must be all

(32:52):
about this game plan, all aboutknowing that we're going to be
doing this sort of running andtherefore, I imagine you know
they're, they're planning theirthe training accordingly, for
for 50 yard runs and stamina.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
It has to be, doesn't it?
You don't have that game planand, and you know, and, and not
have the fitness to go with it,because we, I mean, we'd be
muddled.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
So just from there it's like you know we we've got
that then very quickly.
We then have another one wherebill matter offloads in the
middle.
So he goes into contact, butthis time he offloads it out the
back chicken wing to Jake, toYatt, to Bernard.
He then drills that kind offlat one out wide to flat pass

(33:33):
out wide to Jack Bates.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
But what I?

Speaker 2 (33:35):
love about that.
Again, it's the classic passwhere it's just in front of the
of the winger who's going atabsolute, and I think even Jack
Bates does a little hop andcatches it and then just
accelerates on.
Before you know it, he's 20yards up and he pops inside to
Bernard who's doing what everysupport player should do is stay
on the inside, follow his pass.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
I mean, that was the best old one too, ever it was
Because it was like absolutelylike absolutely, it was an
absolute classic.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
And then we should say sorry, no, no, you go.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
We should say Yancey was doing that all night.
All night he was doing it.
It was the one two.
Everywhere he was, he wasstarting moves, he was getting
the ball back, he was offloading, he was phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
So then I'm thinking, I mean, then I'm thinking sorry
, phenomenal, yeah, yeah it andthen I'm thinking it can't
really get any better.
The we've seen some amazingtries and then it gets better.
I actually think the last trywe score the sixth try was the
santi grandona try yeah.

(34:41):
What has got to be tried.
I cannot see how there's goingto be a better try.
It won't be beaten and it'sjust because it had every
element of what rugby's aboutFast ruck ball, quick delivery
To AJ McGinty we haven't evenmentioned yet, who is
unbelievable who does thatdouble pump dummy that just

(35:05):
destroys the Well, he almost didit twice in that same blitz,
didn't he?

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Well, he did Well.
This is what I'm saying.
I mean, it was like a quadruplepump to go in that shot.
I think it was.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Northmore, to be fair , was just completely
flat-footed.
Mata hits the gap.
He then smashes somebody, sohe's not looking for the offload
.
He knows that he's not lookingfor the offload.
He knows that he's all aboutquick ball.
Again, we get it, goes out toAJ again, who just does the
subtle list of dummies and thenjust then just passes to.
Bernard, who then does aone-hander to it's Joe Owen

(35:34):
again yeah, it is.
Joe Owen does what every kid istold.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
Two forwards, waiting out on the wing, aren't they
Straighten and draw your man andI?

Speaker 2 (35:42):
reckon.
I don't know who it was whodefended it, but I'd love to
think it was that Istro againwho's thinking?
Oh my god, here we go again andhe's like, and then he pops it
to Santi, who does what?
He finishes it like a winger.
He goes low and he slides inand he just he lay there on his
he loved it.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
He absolutely loved it.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
He reminded me of Gazza with the dentist chair.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Because he knew that he had just finished one of the
best team tries you'll ever see.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
I mean, I guess Quinns couldn't believe that two
forwards are finishing off thatmove.
Like, what are we going to doto get around?
How can you play against?

Speaker 2 (36:20):
this team Deep in the second half, and we're talking
about players that have beenplaying the whole time.
So Mata had been playing thewhole time.
It wasn't a sub who'd done that, it wasn't Owen.
He wasn't a sub.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
It wasn't Grondona these boys had been running and
you think that was still only 55.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
And that was almost it was almost too early because
I thought I mean it always feltlike that If I'd been Luke
Pearce, I was like boys juststop the game, get on the mic to
the whole stage and say, shouldwe finish it now?

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Do you know what?
And the quints go.
Yeah, we could go.
If it would have been a boxingmatch, the referee would have
stepped in long before theQuinns boys were throwing, I
mean, the towel was coming in.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
I thought we were old but yeah, it was 45-17, I think
.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
At that point I actually Don Brandt as well was
that did.
He got injured by that pointbecause he was Marla had already
gone.
By then Marla had gone and weshould say as well, like Marla,
are we going to mention?
We'll do a couple of.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
I just want to finish off so I was going to say that
that try.
I'm sure that will be clippedout by junior coaches all around
the country and they'll justsay this is how you play rugby
right.
And then, of course, that wasannoying though, because after
that that was when we were 28-0up, and then I can't remember
who was doing the comms.
It wasn't Nick Mullins, but itwas like, ooh, just out of

(37:41):
interest oh, it was Healy andBen Kay.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
No, no, no, it wasn't them.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Alistair Eakin yeah it wasn't them, they were it was
.
Alistair Eakin.
It was like when you're a comms, you've got to think of
something.
And he was like ooh, 28 points,bristol, anyone.
I was like, are you insane?

Speaker 1 (37:57):
have a planet what sort of that was poor.
I like it, but that was fiveminutes in, so there's what?
15 minutes left of the game andeven though what's the point of
it?
It was cheap.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
It was very cheap, it was budget.
In fact, it was villagecommentating, it was farm foods.
Hey, come on, you can't do somefarm foods.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
What's there in a farm foods?
There isn't there.
Come on, you can't what's lowerthan a pond food.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
There isn't.
There isn't.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Well, let's have answers on a postcard.
How much cheaper it was.
What's lower than a nadir?

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Because Quicksilver doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
What's lower than a nadir In the commentating world?
That was lower than a nadir.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
It was a cheap shot Anyway funny enough after.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
After that, we then give away two tries and I'm
starting to think oh my god, ohmy god but then eventually we
got a penalty and we calmed downand we, we, as we said, 73
minutes, we were 24 up and I waslike, yeah, yeah, you can take
your lazy punditry, yeah, andyou can stick it somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
So that was it, boys.
That's exactly what it was,lazy.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, final score 40, 48, 24.
Yeah, so we milked them.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
And I think the Queens players would have held
their hands up and said boys,that was, that was a.
You taught us a lesson there.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
That's the second time you've done about three
months yeah, and we could alsosay obviously quinn's missing
some of their internationals.
Yeah, I know we had genjirandall out as well, but I think
that even if those players wereplaying their internationals, I
think the way we played, wewould have still won that game.
We would have won that game,you know, at a cancer um, I was

(39:37):
just thinking very quickly.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I've got a few, I've written a few little extras.
I don't know if there's anylittle sort of short sharp
points, anything else.
We would say We've mentionedquite a lot of stuff in that.
Any players we haven'tmentioned, Well we haven't.
Are we going to do the ratings?
I mean we mentioned you know.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
so Joe Irwin's first premiership start and you know
he's been a great performance.
I'd say luck and nine out of 10.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
And you know, yeah, we've got to give him room for
improvement.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Room for improvement.
For me he was man of the match.
Yeah, he was.
Yeah, I think so I mean.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Healy gave Gabs man of the match, and I don't
understand why, because I thinkHealy's doing us a favour by
getting it out there.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
That getting it out there, yeah, that he needs to be
in england in the englandconversation.
So I think healy did that as a,as a.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
As a wider context I I can fully concur with him
which is really unusual foraustin healy to actually give us
any type of praise.
You got well?
He replied yes, was it you that?
Because we you put that on ontwitter yeah, someone had said
it, you'd replied and said itand then healy replied to us,
didn't he?

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yeah, he said I've never said that that's BS, I've
never said anybody that's BS.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
I've never said any team is going to get relegated.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
I think it was Steve Hamilton, one of our listeners,
I think it was, and he said, Iremember when Healy first game
of the season.
So he said oh no, I, I that'scomplete bs never done, never
said that.
But I don't know whether he didsay that or not.
Um, but what I will say isthere was a time where he just

(41:11):
he just constantly gave us shitand it's nice now that he's
praising us.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
I actually I I gonna take the middle ground on this.
I actually think austin healyis a good pundit.
I like what he does, he spots alot of stuff and I actually
think he just likes good rugbyas well.
And I think he likes teams thattry and play rugby and that's
why he's loving us at the moment, Anything else.
Any other points, Miles?

Speaker 3 (41:36):
you want to mention at all.
I mean I'd Adge, who hadobviously a great game but got
100% kicks.
Yeah, and you know some trickyones on the sideline.
So he used to turn the hats offto Adge.
He was you know.
Do you know what that is?

Speaker 2 (41:49):
That tells me what a pro he is, because he knew that
game.
When he didn't kick well, thatprobably lost us the game.
He didn't rest on his laurels.
I reckon he went back.
I reckon he went back, I reckonhe reflected and he has been
almost perfect since that gameand that just shows you never,
ever stop learning no, becauseJared Evans didn't have a great
kicking game, did he on theother side, and he'll probably
reflect and do better next time.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, I just think Adj, and just what a what a guy
like.
He's not even massive is he,but he defends hard and so he's
just brilliant, he's exactly theplayer we needed.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Yeah, can I just say I wanted to give a big shout out
to, to someone who's probablygone under the radar a little
bit um friday night, but jamesdunn.
Yeah, I just thought you knowwhat he was.
He wasn't spectacular, hewasn't doing anything out of the
ordinary, but what he did dowas all the basics, and without

(42:46):
those foundation basics youdon't get a win like that.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
And I'll add to that Max Lee, jake Walton because we
needed people to keep our ruckspeed up.
And to me those three boys hada job and this whole thing about
players doing things Joe Owenknew he had another job.
He had a job to be whole thingabout players doing things.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
Joe Owen knew he had another job.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
He had a job to be on the wing and, being there the
back row, just do what backrowers do.
But I think Dunny Woolmore andMax Laheith not only do they
have their set piece job to doand that you know, you've got to
rely those three.
I've got a lot to do with ourscrum being solid but, they also
.
Our clear outs were so cleanand all that sort of stuff.
So I actually went solid, notin a cliche way, in a technical

(43:27):
way.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
That's the reason I didn't ring the bell.
You went for the bell pulledback.
So I think we need to mentionthat.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
And then Charitama came on, jan Thomas who came on.
There was a seamless benchtransition.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, absolutely it was, which is brilliant, and we
should say, I mean, we weregutted that, joe Batley, you
know, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've,
we've, we've, we've, we've,we've, we've we've, we Alludes
to.
And we shouldn't, and you knowlo and behold, they stepped up.

(44:04):
Yeah, and we should mentionBill Matter, yeah, because I
mean he's come in for his firstgame of the season and I mean to
be honest, I don't think he'sever run so much and at so much
pace in his life.
Now he knows what we're allabout, and I was kind of
expecting him to be a little bitof a Nathan Hughes.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Yeah, I said that to the Duchess.
But then you know, I said he'sNathan Hughes, but he's got a
bit of pace as well.
He's got pace and he's gotdefinitely got a bit more about
him.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
And that's no discredit to Nathan Hughes.
No.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
We have questioned.
We did question a little bitWas he a good signing?
We got Bradbury's gone.
Now I can see why it was a goodsigning, Just from that.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
60 minutes His first game.
He could only get better.
Yeah, I mean, that's not asmall game.
Up against Quinns away.
It was a level up, wasn't it?
He stepped up and he yeah, Ithink we also need to mention
Ravovo yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Mainly for the fact that we can show that we've
learned our lesson from Slick,but also he defensively, you
know he played a great game andhe scored his try.
I mean again, I don't thinkanybody in the Prem any 13 in
the Prem is going to be thatcomfortable seeing him up
against them as well.
And the more he plays, the morehe gets used to the pace of
English rugby and the more thathe realises that he's you know,
he's got a job to do brilliant.

(45:19):
So I was pleased with him aswell.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
And one more I think we've all got to offer our cap
to Jack Bates because I justthought he's not a young lad
anymore we can say that he'sbeen around the system long
enough but I thought that whathe was really good at doing was
keeping that ball out wide andalso just bringing other players
into play, and I just thoughtyou know he wouldn't be there,

(45:45):
he wouldn't be our first choiceplayer, but I thought he did a
fantastic job.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
One more thing which the Dutch has picked up.
That is the quickest and thezippiest I've seen Kieran
Marmion play this season, so I'mgoing to doff my hat to him.
He stepped up.
You know a little intercept,but other than that I thought it
was a brilliant game.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
I think that's his game of the season.
Actually I think that's.
I'll add my little two pennethis that there was a clear
strategy that we talked a littlebit before about the long pass.
You know it's not always goingto AJ.
There's these variations.
We've got so many variationsand one of them is a long pass
out to a forward who wasbasically acting like a fly off
it's not a forward who's goingto put his head down and go in.

(46:28):
It's a long pass to a harding,to a thacker who is then going
to do a no look, or he's goingto draw and pop.
And that's confusing to defenseas well, because you see a
forward in front of you.
You're kind of expecting headdown contact.
But and I think he played thatbrilliantly and I also think
we've mentioned it again is theGabs.
The roving thing is nowstarting to see how he is almost

(46:50):
unplayable because we haveother players that could go into
his position.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
We've not even mentioned Yancy, because no?

Speaker 3 (46:58):
because, he just does what he does.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
But, pete, you did make a good point pre-pod about
Harry.
Yeah, fax, didn't you, becauseyou know Ogre is has been
immense, hasn't he, since hestepped in.
But there was a difference whenFaka came on.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Ogre's a.
He is still a young pretenderand they did a little package
before, didn't they?
When Sarah Elgin was talking toour ground?
And you see it, and it was allabout his journey and he's.
You know it's brilliant andhe's and I'm, it's really
interesting.
I mean it's quite aninteresting little.
I learned a bit a few thingsthat.
But actually when thanks cameon I thought thanks has been
doing this for seven years, like, and he hasn't had the

(47:37):
recognition that he deserves andand I'm sure he's really
supportive of supportive theywork together because they're so
similar.
But it is a bit of a.
It's a bit ironic, isn't it,that he isn't Thacker's, not the
pretender, thacker's, the realthing and Ogre's still got to
learn.
Ogre misses the odd tackle.
Thacker never misses tackles.

(47:58):
You know it's Thacker's, yeah,so anyway, I think that's a good
point to finish off, so theonly thing we should mention is
although it's Thakur's, yeah, soanyway, I think that's a good
point to finish off.
Yeah, fair enough.
The only thing we shouldmention is although it's not a
Harlequins podcast is obviouslythe Joe Marla thing.
I did actually think theyover-egged it a little bit at
the beginning.
It was all about him and Iwonder whether that was a little
bit too much, that it kind oftook the focus away a little bit

(48:18):
him coming out with his kids atthe beginning and then I
thought he was a bit of ageneral Marler-esque on the
pitch, bit of an idiot likes, abit of a chat.
He stamped on Harding, but Imust admit he did an interview.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
He put his forearm to .

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Harding didn't make a big thing, but I don't know if
people saw the post-matchinterview after I thought he
redeemed himself.
He was quite honest about whyhe was giving up.
He made a bit.
He was taking the mickey out ofchris ashton about selling out
and saying come on, say what youreally think.
Look at you now with your newteeth and your and your nice
little trousers and your andyour spray tan.

(48:54):
Say it for real.
And I quite like that about himbecause you know, chris ashton
has always been like was a gobbyplayer and a bit of a rebel,
and now he's kind of become thesort of slightly sterilised.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
I think they have to do that.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Oh yeah, he's got to earn a living you can't like
you're on Phil Persaud.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can't present withbronchial teeth and hair out of
place, can you we?

Speaker 2 (49:19):
know that Callum Sheedy wasn't that keen on Joe
Marler, but what I did quitelike about that interview was
that he was quite humble and hesaid I was rugby rugby's been so
good to me when I haven't beengood to rugby and I was thinking
that's interesting.
And then he then didn't allude.
He developed that argument bysaying that pre-Covid he'd

(49:42):
always been horrible with fans.
He didn't understand why fanswanted to, you know, take his
photo, and and it was only incovid, when there were no fans
there.
He added like a revelation thatno fans, no game and I think
that was actually that.
The fact he said that live on tvis something a lot of young
rugby players have got wouldlook at as well and learn from.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
I would say I mean, that's the.
That's the type of thing youcome out with, I guess, only
with experience and looking backin, you know, in hindsight,
yeah, I still think he's anabsolute tit he is.
Personally yeah, completebellend.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Yeah, and there's something we were saying about
this.
We think that something elsehas gone on, haven't we that?

Speaker 3 (50:23):
oh yeah, you know they did say why are you
retiring now?

Speaker 2 (50:25):
and he made a joke about he'd actually retired last
week.
But because finn baxter neededmandatory rest.
They'd asked him to like playand he said after 10 minutes I
knew that I'd gone.
I mean, that's what he said.
Actually he knew I'd goneemotionally, physically.
I I knew after 10 minutes onthat game I I was gone.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
But but there's more to it.
There's definitely someone elseand we may.
Who knows, who knows Anywayit's not a Harlequin's pod
anyway.
So anyway, great victory.
Nine victories away in a row,now, isn't it?
Yes, and every game, am I right, every game.
Now we have won.
We've won with a four in thispoint win this season, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
So, miles, you've got some stats.
Hit us with the real stats,because these listeners love the
stats we were just yeah, a bitof a stuff.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
We were just saying about being out of breath.
So metres between the two teamsBristol that match were 884,
queen's 990 594, which totals1478.
The closest game this weekend,metres made 594, which totals
1,478.
The closest game this weekend,metres made was 923.

(51:30):
Not even there.
And the lowest was oh, look atit the sail match 346 metres
between the two teams.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
I tell you what the ball went in a bit.
It's disgraceful.
It's like a different game.
It is.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Well, there we go.
I mean, we talk about the allcourt running game, but and I do
wonder whether those metresthey fudged the stats and those
metres were quins runningbackwards just to make it look
good, really, because that isoutrageous.
I mean it would be interestingwe look at the end of the season
if that is the highest metresbetween two teams of any game.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Maybe get my stats ahead on, but those stats I
remember when we had Pierre Taoand he was doing his thing.
But that's better, isn't it?
Yeah, surely that was a teamperformance stat of metres.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Everybody contributed to those.
That's a team performance statof metres.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
I mean everyone.
Everybody contributed to those,Everyone.
That's a good point.
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Love it, love it I mean it would have been more if
Old Grey hadn't slowed down andgone backwards for that first
try.
Metres forward and backwards,Did they come off?
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Minus metres.
But the possession was exactlydown the line 50-50.
But look at the result.
You know, at the end of the dayyou look at that you think,
well, they just smashed queensat home, didn't they?

Speaker 2 (52:46):
I just remember something boys I feel like
because we're it's a bigcelebratory pod.
We did get three, we did getfour.
Acrostics come in I didn't askfor them.
But you know, now people justlove it and I think we need to
recognize those four.
So first one, really quicklydan masters.
Um, we Masters, we know himquite well.
We see him down here.
He's got a very jaunty cap hatthat he wears.

(53:06):
Here he goes.
Dan Masters, you ready for this?

Speaker 3 (53:09):
boys, it goes.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Marmions, dummy and rib tickler.
Are we daring to believe?
Ravuvo proving his worth?
Luke Pearce, let the game flow.
Epic debut for Big Bill.
Run it, run Big Bill, run it,run it run it, marla, I love the
fact when they they get themfocused on little issues big
friend of the pod, john Phipps.

(53:32):
He did now this.
I'm going to give you a clue.
This is one, two, three.
This is four words fourseparate words, so here we go
first one is a word of I'll giveyou a bit more of a clue word
of three, like three letters,then a two letter word, then a
three letter word, then a fourletter word.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Sorry, we just don't know okay here we go.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Sublime team display, innovative rugby, easy on the
eye, x-rated stuff from gapsokay, I've go with the first one
.
Owen, outstanding Fijian magicfrom Mata and Ravovo.
Yeah, the away run continues.
Harlequins ran ragged energylevels off the charts.
Still with you.

(54:17):
Bears top of the league for noweverything to look forward to.
Still great players to comeback in.
Thanks for reading.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Six of the best.
Six of the best.
Oh, no, that's genius, that isclass.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
That really is class, absolutely class.
And then two more.
Probably you know one of ourbest students, hammy Hambly.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
Straight after the whistle.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Agreed.
Get ready for this one.
This is a good one.
This is a good one.
It's one word, it's very apt.
Here we go.
Marmy and outstanding Away formstill on fire.
Triumphant win over Quinns.
Aj consistent with the boot.
Debut try for Big Bill.
100 caps for Super Steve, whichwe didn't mention.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
Resilience is key.
It is Matador, matador, matador.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Our Argentinian little link.
It's kind of well Spanish, kindof yeah, matador's in Argentina
.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
So brilliant.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
That's good, isn't it ?

Speaker 2 (55:15):
That is just.
And the thing is, what isannoying is that I put a tweet
out straight after the gamewhere I put things like all that
sort of stuff.
Yeah, yeah, aj Brilliant, youknow matter, but I hadn't done
it as an acrostic and I neverthink about doing it as an
acrostic when I do it.
And someone came on and saidthat's the worst acrostic I've
ever read and I'm like, yeah,you're right but it's not my job
.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
I didn't think about it.
Do you know what I have duringthe game?
Yeah, I know, it's all it'sprocessing.
I'm not keen on that, I'm notkeen on that.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
I'm too busy trying to concentrate on the game and I
get these notifications up.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
I'm sweating.
It's now no stop.
It's drawing in the fans, it'sgenerating debate.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
You're not even looking at notifications when
you're trying to watch a game.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
Exactly it's skill.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
It's actually quite a skillful thing to do.
Very skillful he's a teacher,isn't he Multitasking?

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Anyway, right Last, one Big friend of the pod, roddy
Roddy.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Jenkins yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
How's he doing.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
I'm sure he's doing fine because he's good enough to
send in an acrostic.
So here we go.
You ready for this?
Boys?
It's short and sharp, Brilliant, exciting a way, win, riveting,
superb ball skills.
Bears, it's brilliant, Roddy,it's not quite as good as the
others, but it's a good startand I like it.
Next time I'm going to set himsome homework.
I'm going to say next time,Roddy, what I want you to do is

(56:33):
Take the learnings, Take thelearnings.
I'll tell you what, Roddy, I'mgoing to give you a work on.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Next time.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Work on next time I want you to try and link it to
the actual game and that is thatis.
That's high level, yeah, andthat's your challenge, roddy.
Yeah, link it.
So, lenster, yeah, I'd like tosee one where you link it to the
game a lenster acrostic, please.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Yes.
Well, actually, if it's lenster.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
It's got to be limericks, surely?

Speaker 3 (56:56):
oh yeah, so we should put that out here now.
Yeah, we don't want to crosssticks.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Next week limericks it's limericks, limericks only
yeah limericks only yeah right,boys, we've got crack on.
Next game is lenster.
Um, we're not going to talkabout lenster because we might
just put a little hit out.
There might be something elsecoming this week that will help
us preview lenster.
We'll just leave it at that,absolutely.
I you know it's a big game.

(57:20):
It's where we want to be.
I'm sure we'll put out the bestteam we possibly can.
But let's, let's just leave itat that.
Couple of other things we needto go through before we finish.
Women's game women have beenplaying.
Obviously they've been playingwell.
We had Prem Cup games as well,but lost to Harlequins, which we
went to see.
The big miles see Miles was abit disappointing.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Got quite easily, it's all in the past, all in the
past, but on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
On Saturday, it was Saturday, wasn't?

Speaker 3 (57:46):
it yeah, yeah, yeah, gritty 1914.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Win away at last year's champions we lost to
Hartbury bloody, brilliant winand two tries very early tries
actually went 12 and up quitequick Courtney, kate and Holly
Aitchison.
Back from Monaco I noticedshe'd been down there and this
is the world she was on.
So she went from Monaco toFrenchay.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
Anyway, I went out one Frenchay and it was a way
she got even worse, she wentfrom Monaco to Gloucester.
Well, she didn't get stuckwaiting for a taxi at the end of
it, did she?

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yeah, can you imagine that she's?

Speaker 3 (58:21):
on the red carpet of.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Monaco, and then she's waiting at the exit for a
taxi for an hour in the middleof nowhere, the Gloucestershire
country anyway.
Obviously Holly did thatwaiting for an hour for a beer
but then they then came backinto it, as you'd expect,
because they're a good side andwe were losing 14-12 in the
second half, but won the gamewith Phoebe Murray I think it

(58:43):
was a little chip over andPhoebe Murray following it up,
and then Amber Reid theevergreen Amber Reid was on.
She nailed the conversion.
So we win 19-14.
That's a great win, and it alsocoincided with Big Dave Ward and
Tom Luke, who is his assistantcoach, both signing new deals.
That's great, you're showingconsistency, but boys, time to

(59:06):
bring over the bacon, isn't itWell?

Speaker 1 (59:07):
you boys did text, didn't you?

Speaker 2 (59:09):
We did yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
On our.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
WhatsApp group in the week and saying like great to
get Dave extending the contract.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
But I did put time to deliver, and given the fact we
saw him losing arm wrestles tovirtually the whole of his team
in the beer factory, he's got abit worse, it's time to bring
back the Gloucester old spot,exactly.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Yeah, you're right with the, with the resources
he's got HPC the link with theclub.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
I mean he would say he did get us to the final and
almost won it.
Yes.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
And that's good enough yeah, absolutely that's
good.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
But we want the match .

Speaker 3 (59:45):
We want some, yeah, and actually on that note.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Next game is next week at Ashton Gate, three
o'clock.
Gates.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
Exeter Chiefs who are winning the league, weren't
they In the women's game?

Speaker 2 (59:54):
In the women's game we're needing, you're right.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
So that is three o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Saturday down at the gate, which is great, apart from
one negative is that there'llbe some extra fans there.
Oh, okay, because I went to thelast year's home game at
Shaftesbury Park.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
And there was a group of extra fans that, oh my God,
they had the drums, they had theheaddresses, they were the full
cultural appropriation, boysand girls, and and actually they
were all right.
Afterwards there's a bit ofbanter, but the one thing that
really wound me up was thatevery time anyone did a knock on
, they got the drama and theystarted singing.
She's knocked it on, La la, la,la la.
And I just thought that's not,that's not, that's not funny.
Just thought that's not, that'snot, that's not funny, and it's

(01:00:44):
not even.
It's just so.
I'm hoping.
I mean they're you know they,they love their team.
They're fair play to them.
They're passionate fans, butlet's hope there's not too much
drumming that's why I alwaystake my um, my drum piercing
equipment.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Yeah, just for those.
Can you remember that?

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
yeah, that couple of years ago, am I?
Allowed to tell this story gotell it, tell it I think you
should, we had this absoluteMuppet.
Sat right in front of us.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Sat right in front of us and it was boom, boom, boom.
I did tell him politely acouple of times, didn't I?
Please don't do this.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Just don't keep banging that drum.
But I don't think he understood.
Give me an headache.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
I says give me a migraine.
He was from the depths of Devon, he must have been, he was.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
East Devon boy, I mean even.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Paddy didn't know him .

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
You know what?
I can still visualise thatbloke you know there are times
where I wonder what he's doingnow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
He hasn't got a drum.
Now has he?
He's got a workable drum.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
He's certainly.
Well, he might have a new drumor he's stitched it together,
but yeah, his old one is no more.
Got it?

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
yes, anyway, we're distracted.
So that's next Saturday threeo'clock kick-off down at the
gate.
The whole of the Dolman standis open.
I've got a ticket.
Good lad, got two tickets ifanyone else wants to join me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
But yeah, nice one well, that leaves us last a
couple of very, very quick ones,obviously, a couple of Prem Cup
games.
We, we know we're in secondplace.
Now I think we're behind bar.
Yeah, there's another load ofgames coming in february.
It'd be nice if we do get intothe at least the playoffs and,
and who knows, we might get somesilverware.
But we went.

(01:02:13):
I went to the bedford game,which I quite enjoyed it.
It was just kind of casual, youknow, no pressure.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
And then me and mars went to the amtel rather
wetptill, rather wet, horriblewet afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
It was last week two o'clock stick kickoff and then
they showed the England-Fijigame, no England-Japan game, and
I was supposed to go home.
And then in the end I ended upstaying and big shout out to
Richard Beaker, two listenerswho bought us pints.
But anyway, the trouble was Igot home.
Having that I was going to becoming straight back after the
Prem Cup game.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
I rocked up at home about four hours later, having
had about five fights in.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Guinnesses did.
The sat down in the my armchairpromptly fell asleep, started
snoring in front of I'm acelebrity and then I got the
proverbial.
I got the proverbial how manypints have you had?

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
and I was like, oh you know a couple and then I
actually had to admit I'd hadfive and uh, and then, of course
, and then you're dogged intothis.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
I did that annoying thing where you fall asleep at
like I don't know 7, 38.
You have about an hour's kip onthis, and then I couldn't get
to sleep later, and then I'mlying at bread two o'clock in
the morning.
I've got to get up in a minutefor work.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
You were lying in bread, in bread.
I was lying in bed soaking upthe know if that happened
soaking up the alcohol.
That was wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
I was just like yeah, it was a shocker.
It was a shocker bread and peatpudding anyway, and I blamed.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
I blamed Beaker for that, because he was the one who
kept saying do you want a pot?

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
I was like no, I've got to go.
Oh no boys, no, no, love thepod love the Slating.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
The guy that bought you the drinks Slated myself.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
And you're Teach.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
You're meant to be the spiritual leader.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
I have to be off duty sometimes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
There's a problem with those Sunday afternoon
games.
We're going to be in troublenext Sunday, aren't we Late kick
off against Leinster?

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
If we get in with some Irish boys, it could be
chaos.
Miles, I don't trust you.
I think we need to make surethere's no empty um trolleys as
the trolleys anywhere in thevicinity of ashton gate, because
I don't want to be pushing youback in a trolley.
That's very true on that notethat's a niche reference for
those.
Those listeners have been withus a long time but miles.

(01:04:20):
For those that are new to thepod.
There is a story about Miles.
After the European ChallengeCup win when it was, we watched
it all on telly down at Tony'shouse.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Miles got absolutely blathered and he got and he
trusted me to take him home.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Lee took him over in an Asda trolley.
It was a pram.
I know it was a pram.
What am I talking about?
It was a pram.
But that's even more weirdbecause what that?
Like we've had this thing.
What the hell was a pram doinglike outside your house?
In fact there's some kidssomewhere never had their pram
it's like I'll tell you what,though, that?
Kid's thanking you because Ihad to learn to walk really
quickly if you do believe infate, that pram was literally

(01:05:00):
waiting at, it was like Miles in, you go son

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
and the fact that he fitted in it so well.
It was honestly it wasbeautiful for me because you
know, obviously you've got twogirls and they grow up, it's
like being a dad again to somestrange old man.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
Anyway, I can visualise when this goes out,
there are people listening tothis.
So could you just finish now.
So I think on that note it'sbeen great fun.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
I hope everyone's enjoyed sharing the joy with us.
From Friday night, we lookforward to bumping into people
at the Leinster game, eventhough it's a horrendously
stupid kick-off time on.
Sunday.
But everyone have a good week,stay safe.
Look out maybe for somethingelse to come out this week.
Stupid kickoff time on Sunday,I know, but everyone have a good
week, stay safe, look out maybefor something else to come out
this week.
Yeah, I say that withtrepidation, but you never know.

(01:05:49):
And every boy one, two, three.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
Come on, you bears.