Ep 211 - European campaign underway as Bears squeeze past a dogged Scarlets

In this episode we review the game against Scarlets. It looked like we were cruising at 12-0 up with more points to come but the home side had other ideas and put in a proper shift to take us to the wire.

We discuss the reasons why this might have happened as well as hear the thoughts of some listeners. 

Equally as importantly the game marked the first BBTG road trip of the season so we also review activities that took place off the pitch and as well as on it. Suffice to say we tried to squeeze as much out of Llanelli as we could and had a thoroughly good time despite the weather, the lack of any discernable taxi infrastructure and a poor decision to go to the Red Cow.

We briefly look forward to the next game against Section Paloise or 'Pau' as they are also known (although we also hope to get more insight next week with a special 'edu-pod' on Wednesday) and finish off by making a spirited defence of the claim by some loyal listeners that we have sold our souls to the devil for the price of a bobble hat.

All this and more with Pete, Lee and Miles live from the Bristol Beer Factory Taproom.

Let us know what you think!

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
No, it's not in a video Riddle Guy.
Doing come against Scarlet,doing just with you go Scarlet's
never been Bristol Bears aredoing round here, Bears Beyond
the Gate.

SPEAKER_02 (00:14):
You're listening to Bears Beyond the Gate, a Bristol
Bears podcast made by fans forfans, with three friends who
love the club, the game, and allthings bears.
This week we will review thefirst round of the Champions Cup
away at Scarlet to a based inClenethley for those with poor
geographical knowledge.
It was a close run affair withthe Bears scraping a 17-16 win.
We chat about the game and alsoour matchday experience.

(00:36):
Next up is section Paloirs, Backat the Gate.
We know very little about themapart from the fact that
actually most people call themPoe.
But we have a crack at providingyou with a handy explainer that
we found on Twitter.
Finally, we address a couple ofother bits of business,
including a suggestion that wemay have sold our souls to the
devil for a couple of bubblehats.

(00:58):
I'm Pete and I'm joined by Leeand Miles for a cheeky beer and
a bit of rugby banter.
Well, boys, it's it I've gottasay it's been a bit of a
struggle to get here tonightbecause we only got back from
West Wales at one o'clock.
Yeah.
And we were all a little bittired, weren't we, Miles?

SPEAKER_03 (01:15):
Well, I've had a little kip in your car on the
way home, mate.
I'm still feeling a little bittired, and I hate to say I'm not
even not even here with a dog.
Having a nice, nice sugarylemonade this evening.

SPEAKER_02 (01:27):
Well, that's the reason why I did, you know,
we're here at the Bristol BeerFactory tap room for a uh a
cheeky beer and a bit of rugbybanter, but that's not strictly
true, is it?
We'll try and do the banter, butbut Miles, we can't say it's a
very good thing.

SPEAKER_05 (01:39):
It's the last name, hasn't he?
A cheeky lemonade.
But I should say that we're onuh on a lovely Vienna flight,
I'm on, and uh and you're onlaser juice, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
Laser juice.
Laser juice to me is is like isa kind of refresher.

SPEAKER_05 (01:51):
Well it yeah, I mean it is uh it's it's a livener
again.

SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
Yeah, and I I'm it's it's slipping down well enough.
Slipping down well enough.
After yesterday, well enough.
Well, we'll come on to a littlebit of the reasons why Miles is
feeling really tired, but uhbefore we do that, let's focus
on the game.
And and what I'll do veryquickly, lads, is I'll just read
through the key points of thegame and then we can chat about
it afterwards.
So um, three minutes in, wescore our first try.

(02:15):
Big Bill Matter on the crashball um after an attacking line
out and a big carry from fromYancey, and we're 7-0 up because
it was under the sticks.
30 minutes, they then score, acouple of phases, and then a
cross kick.
Uh, I think it was Tom Rogers,and but then after quite a long
time with the TMO involvement,it then got scrubbed off for a

(02:35):
forward pass in the build-up,and then 19 minutes, Big Bill
scores again, and we didn'treally see it live, but having
seen it afterwards, there was amate there was a filthy offload
from uh Calavetti back of thehand offload.
So we're we're we're 12-nil upafter 19 minutes, 24 minutes
they get on the scoreboard,Costello kicks a penalty, so

(02:56):
it's 12-3, 27 minutes.
Big Bill gets sent to the sentto the bin.
So he's had a pretty uh uh he'shad a busy first half.
Yeah, um 33 minutes, then theyscore with Bill in the bin.
Gareth Davis burrows over, soit's 12-10, and then 38 minutes
they get another try disallowedfor a forward pass, sort of in

(03:18):
the build-up, and again it takesa long time for that to be
sorted.
So at half time it's 12-10.
Um could have been very, verydifferent.
Uh, 47 minutes.
Um, we then score a try fromprobably what I would say was
one of our best moves of thegame, only for that to be
scrubbed off after quite alength.
Well, actually, that one wasn'tquite quick.

(03:38):
I think they'd be told to speedit up a bit half time.
So poor old um Tom Jordan sortof the final pass from Tom was a
bit forward, and I think it was.
Um then after that 50 minutes,Costello scores another one, so
another pen, so they go 13-12ahead, and then then we start
getting the uh the subs come on.
So Thax comes on for Ogre after51.

(03:59):
Um, and then two minutes later,another Costello pen, and
they're leading 16-12, sothey've been taking the points
going to the sticks.
Um, 53 minutes we then send onanother um we send on Woolley,
Lovejoy, Cha Chawitama, um, andJoe Owen.
Uh come on for Genji, MaxLahith, and Big Bill.

(04:20):
Um, and then 55 minutes we thenscore a legitimate try with uh
Lewis Reese Zamit, but assomeone said, it wasn't the sort
of try he's gonna have on hishighlights reel because he
basically was given the ballabout a metre from the line,
caught sort of tripped over, andthen managed to sort of place
the ball down.
Still five points, but it'sstill five points.
So then it's 17-16 to us, andthen essentially it stays like

(04:44):
that for the rest of the game.
And Aidan Boschoff comes on on69 minutes for for Joe Worsley,
who apparently had quite a biggash.

SPEAKER_03 (04:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (04:51):
So I hope he's alright.
Did you say Joe Worsley?
Joe Worsley, yeah.
Not big Lemonhead.
Not Lemonhead, no, he'ssomewhere else.
I just don't want us onMellonhead.
Lemonhead, they're the band.
No, Joe Worsley, famously thewasp player, is known as
Mellonhead.
And he coaches in France,doesn't he?
Anyway, that's uh that's a bitof a uh diversion, and then 73

(05:12):
minutes.
Um Sam Wollstenholm and BenjaminGrondona come on for Marmion and
Santi Grondona, and then wenearly score at the end, but
essentially the game finishes umin a bit of a stalemate, and we
win by one point 17-16.
So Lee from what you canremember, uh what was your

(05:32):
general sort of overview of thegame from your point of view?

SPEAKER_05 (05:35):
Well, I I'm glad that you summarised it because
uh my overview of the game wasit was pretty awful, really.
It was um it was not it's notone for you know to to look back
on uh you know with uh fondmemories in terms of the actual
what had happened out on thepitch, was it?

SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
No.
Not one for the purest.

SPEAKER_05 (05:58):
Not one for the purest, that's it, perfectly,
perfectly said.

SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
What why do you think that is then?
What was the what was theoverriding reason or so many
reasons?

SPEAKER_05 (06:06):
I I I just didn't think we got going.
But having said that, it thepositive side of that was that
we ground it out and and it wasa gritty performance, and a
couple of years back we didn'thave that in us.
So you know what I mean?
You can still take positives,even though it was a it was a
pretty rough game.
I don't really know why it wasthat rough because we started

(06:27):
well, as you already said.
Um I think Big Bill Matter wasactually 100 to 1 as well to
score the first two tries.

SPEAKER_02 (06:33):
Score 100 to one for a break.

SPEAKER_05 (06:35):
Yeah.
Um and I don't really know whatwhat happened, but I think that
we got dragged into their gameas and it maybe wasn't the best,
you know, the easiest um pitchto you know to throw the you
know, you our usual passinggame.
But I think we just kind of welowered our standards and it it

(06:56):
suited them much better than itit did us, and it kind of just
went that way.
We didn't seem to get anybreaks, did we, where we could
like pull away?

SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
Yeah, so I mean Miles Lee makes a good point.
I mean, after at 12-0, I didthink I thought, you know, we
this is gonna be a stroll in theliterally a stroll in the park,
yeah.
Parky Scarlet.
But you're right, it it it it itkind of it's then stuttered a
lot.
And the what was your thoughtson the second what I would call

(07:27):
the second quarter of the game,which a lot of other people say
as well, but Miles, you wouldn'tcall it that.
So but that second bit of thesecond half, what what what do
you think?

SPEAKER_03 (07:35):
Um I mean I can't figure out obviously, you know,
but Bill Matter got a yellowcard on 28 minutes, and that
sort of took the wind out of oursails a little bit, but I can't
um I can't quite put my fingeron why from that second try at
17 minutes, um part of thedisallowed one, it it just
seemed very stagnant.
I mean I've watched it again onS4C this afternoon, and

(07:56):
actually, their halfbacks ofDavies and Costello played
really flipping well and andcontrolled that game, so big pat
on the back for them.
Um, and I don't know if I feltlike the whole squad that played
yesterday for Bristol.
I mean, the effort was there,but something didn't click, it
wasn't firing on all cylinders.

(08:17):
There was quite a lot of aimlesskicking, um, which is not our
it's not our style, is it?
But maybe you're right, thepitch did look a bit heavy and
maybe didn't suit our fastrunning game.
Um, and they probably thoughtwe'd play that sort of way, and
we just didn't.
I mean, God forbid, those twodisallowed tries, which are
lovely tries, weren't they?
That sort of Crossfield kick andanother one.

(08:37):
Um, if they've not been chalkedoff, we could have been staring
down the barrel barrel of quitean embarrassing loss.

SPEAKER_05 (08:44):
I mean, we should say those delays didn't help as
well, because they I mean we wegot it to to at one stage.
These the uh delays were takingso long that I could actually go
out of the ground, not notliterally out of the side of the
ground, grow onto the concourse,get a pint, come back and drink
it before they'd actually madethe decision.
Yeah, so how long they were.

SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
It was like ten phases.
Yeah.
Uh kick to the st kick kick thesticks, and and and then you
know the the TMO had chalked itoff.

SPEAKER_02 (09:13):
It was uh it was I think that was one of the big
debates of the first halfbecause basically three tries,
two for them and one for us gotand I think I mean we couldn't
really see it live, although oneof them I think I think was
possible to see where we were,but actually when you look at
the the replays, it was soyou're surprised the the ref
didn't call or the lino didn'tcall at least one or two of

(09:35):
those immediately because therewas particularly I think the one
for their second try, it was akind of little pop pass that was
literally at 45 degrees, and Iyeah the ref was there, and I I
I I it's it's difficult becauseit's not easy ref in a game, and
you know the ref is kind of hasgot to think of lots of things,
and he's thinking about peoplecoming in and releasing the
tackle, and and but but thesurely that I think I someone

(09:57):
out there will know that doesthe TMO have to wait until
there's a break in play, or canhe I'm sure I've seen TMOs say
knock on to the straight away,and then and then the ref is
kind of having a quick chatwhile it's going and then stops
the game.
But I I there'll be a couple ofnauses out there that can tell
like those.

SPEAKER_05 (10:14):
I I just thought, I mean, this it's the champions
cup, right?
It's European elite rugby.
Yeah, and I just thought thatwas shockingly bad referee, and
and and you know, TMOofficiating was awful, I
thought, yesterday.
Some of those decisions, likeyou say, they were so a couple
of those forward passes, theywere so forward you could see
them at eye level.
And then it the referee doesn'tneed to referee a match like

(10:37):
that, it's just make a decision.

SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
Yeah, I mean I suppose the the argument is it
they were correct decisions.
So, in a way, it was good thatthe decision was made, but our
point and your point is verygood is that the the the impact
of that on the game was to kindof stop it and you know it was
stop start, and they it itprobably did have a factor in
stopping the momentum of thegame flow.

SPEAKER_05 (10:56):
We don't want to go down the football route, do we?
Like nowadays, like if a if yourteam scores, you you don't
really like you don't know, likeyou're cheering, but you you
don't actually know if it'sgonna be trouble.

SPEAKER_02 (11:05):
You know what?
I remember I won't I think whattheir crossfield, their first
try that was a few phases, andthen there was a crossfield kick
to Rogers who scored.
Like I I and then when theystarted looking at it, and it
was a it wasn't it was they hadto look at it quite a lot.
And I said to a Scarlet's fan,you know what, I've already
accepted you scored that becauseyou did have the ascendancy, you
were on top.

(11:26):
It's it seems a bit unfair foryou that it was very unlucky,
and actually it was so long thatI I'd already accepted that, and
actually, maybe that would be agood thing for Bristol to have
uh conceded then because itcould have up the kicked him up
the backside.
So, in some ways, it it uh it itthere is a rule out there or a
law out there, isn't there, forfor how much time, but we don't
know.
But I think there's a reallygood point you make that that

(11:47):
that did definitely did sort ofmuck up the uh the first half a
little bit.
Um I mean, talking of kicking,Miles, because you brought it
up, we have it does appear likewe ha we talked about this last
pod, you know, our gamemanagement has got better, and
Sam Worsley has been part ofthat because he has got a good
boot on him, and Kira Mami andparticularly the Saints game

(12:09):
last week.
We felt as though there was somereally good strategic kicking.
But I don't know, it it I it'salmost like we got to a point
where when it worked, we startedto do a little bit too much of
it, yeah, and and not quitegetting the balance right.
I don't know what what do youthink?

SPEAKER_03 (12:24):
It is it is a bit hard.
I mean, you're right, we haveseen a bit more of it, and I and
I can't figure out why.
There is a time and a place forit, um but it's just
historically not Le Bear's way,is it?

SPEAKER_02 (12:34):
So I think I think Pat has said that he wanted us
to play more than theopposition's 22, and that is the
quickest way of getting there,but it is you've got to get it
right.

SPEAKER_03 (12:42):
Well, yeah, but then if you land in the 22,
inevitably if it's you know,there is a risk then then the
opposition call the mark, andthat's why historically you you
pump it just outside the 22,don't you?
And put the pressure on.
Um, I I don't know why.
I mean, there were I mean thereare loads of people.
Jimmy Williams did a lot ofkicking yesterday as well,
didn't he?

(13:03):
As l as well as Worsley.
Um yeah, it was alright, butit's just not I wouldn't say it
was in the in the correct areayesterday.
I I I can't figure out why itwasn't it wasn't successful, or
the pressure from Scarlet's.
I mean, we we've got Pat them onthe back, haven't we?
They they nearly won thatyesterday.
They played out of their skins,some of their players were
phenomenal.

(13:23):
Um, and maybe just you're right,the ding-dong of the Anglo-Welsh
um match, they stepped up theirgame a little bit.
Um, why not?
Champions Cup, you've only gotone chance, and and they they
they went for it.

SPEAKER_05 (13:36):
I think as well, I mean we should say to to you
know, to listeners who didn't goyesterday, weather was awful.
Oh, yeah, it was shockingly bad,wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (13:43):
I mean the book caught out and is it but the
pitch was wet.

SPEAKER_05 (13:47):
It was really wet, yeah.
And then it was it was quitewindy as well.
And I think like some of thoseit it that type of um place and
atmosphere, you you've got toget those kicks absolutely spot
on.
Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 (13:58):
And I think that's the thing about kicking, if it
works, it you know it isobvious.
I mean, we did try a few 50-22s,I think it didn't quite come
off, and on another day, youknow, if that had come off, we
would have been cockahoo.
Of course, I just think it'sit's like anything, it's um it's
the execution, and and some daysyou slightly get it.
I I get it, I get why we'redoing it, and I don't think
we've turned into an aimlessbox-kicking team at all, but we

(14:21):
are trying to be a bit morestrategic.
But again, it's like anything,you sort of play the conditions
a bit.
Of course.
Yeah, I mean, I I actually thinkwhat you said, Miles, is also
true, is that I think Scarlett'slike they got shocked into it a
little bit because you know, Ithink after that first Bill
Matter try, when he basicallykind of sighed through three or
four of their tackles, I thinkthey that was a very, very early

(14:42):
wake-up call and a classic caseof us scoring too early,
actually.
And I genuinely think thatgalvanised them.
And I thought personally, Ithought their defence was was
pretty good.
They they didn't appear to giveus much space, they were coming
out the line quick.
You know, I I know Tom Jordandidn't really get much change,
Lewis Reese Samut didn't getmuch change out of the space he

(15:02):
was given, and I mean even hewas kind of trying to kick it a
bit.
So I I think we have to givequite a lot of credit to to
Scarlets.
They they knew, you know, theyknow the way the Bears play, and
so their obvious game plan is totry and you know, try and
disrupt us, try and sort of putus under pressure with with you
know high balls, and and I Iwould say it worked quite well.

SPEAKER_05 (15:22):
I would say as well, I think that we've got I mean it
was it was one of those dayswhere they inevitably up their
game.
And you could see they theyplayed and they battled hard,
didn't they?

SPEAKER_03 (15:33):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (15:33):
And I think we were just quite a little bit off it.
And in all fairness, I'm gonnahold my hands up.
When I saw the team sheets, I Ithought that we were gonna win
by at least 14 points, I said toyou guys before.
So I hold my hands up.
I I didn't expect Scarlet toplay quite as well as they did.

SPEAKER_02 (15:49):
And I do wonder whether subconsciously there was
a little bit of complacency inin our team.
Maybe uh but combined with thefact that I mean an eight
o'clock kickoff on a Saturday isquite a long time for an away
team to kind of mentallyprepare.
And of course, all thoseScarlet's boys would have been
comfortable, would have comefrom home, whereas we would have
come up the night before on acoach, whatever.

(16:10):
And I think this was one ofthose cases where it was
difficult, it was it it wasdifficult having an away game,
and I think actually thattherefore to flip that, like you
said, I think credit to the boysfor actually grinding it out in
the end, realising pretty muchhalfway through the second half
that it was going to be agrinder, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (16:28):
Yeah, but a grinder miles to outgrind Scarlets in
the rain backyard is it's prettygood.
Exactly.
Also, we should say about times,and I know this is going off
track a little bit.
We've got a pretty awful uhstart time next week as well,
haven't we?
Against Book of the World.

SPEAKER_02 (16:44):
We'll come on to that, we'll come on to that.
Yeah, I mean the Europe thechampion but again, this is it's
all known up front, so you haveto manage these things properly,
yeah, but it's just not easy todo.
Um I don't know.
I the only other thing Ithought, I don't know whether
you whether you felt maybe oneor two players are starting to
get a little bit tired.
Like, as in not saying they'renot trying, but they they have
been playing a lot of minutes,and that might have been a

(17:05):
factor as well.

SPEAKER_03 (17:06):
I mean, yeah, maybe.
I mean, there's a lot of playerswho put in a pool full shift of
80 again at the weekend.
Big Petro, Santi almost.
Well, quite um, and these boyshave been doing it week in, week
out, uh uh along with some ofthe internationals, the Orbitam
International.
So, yeah, but we needed thatfirst win under our belt, and I
get that.
Um, and maybe we'll come on totalk about resting a few players

(17:28):
for the sort of home match nextweekend.
But yeah, there must be sometired bodies out there.

SPEAKER_05 (17:32):
Can we afford to rest though?

SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Like, I mean we'll talk about that when we talk
about who we think might playfor against Poe.
Um but yeah, I mean we have itgoes back to what we've talked
about right from the beginningof the season.
We've got a small squad withineven without people injured,
we've got a lot of games comingup over the Christmas period and
into January.
And as I said, Pat's uh I thinkI said a few weeks ago, Pat's

(17:58):
selection algorithm is gonna beuh going into overdrive.
Um but actually yeah, um soyeah, I mean, so I think I think
there's not much or much more wecan say.
I think set piece was alright.
I think we lost one gen therewas one scrum pen against Genji,
and then I remember I thinkGenji had a word with ref and
come and look at my side andthen he won, and then then it

(18:20):
was fine after that.
That was a good bit of refmanagement.

SPEAKER_05 (18:24):
There was a bit of needlework there from Kenji.

SPEAKER_03 (18:27):
I mean it it late in the second half.
There was a couple of line outswhich didn't work when Slack
came on, but alternatively thatuh that happened with um
happened with uh skulls as well,yeah.
Not throwing straight.

SPEAKER_02 (18:39):
I mean again, maybe conditions.
I mean, having said that, I meanBats, I seem to remember him
stealing a couple of line outs,and and I remember when he did
it the first half, kind ofsaying what a what an absolute
quality operator Batley is.
Like he is the the the the fullon perfect second row, isn't he?

SPEAKER_05 (18:56):
I hope you heard us shouting out his name as well
when he was on the wing becausehe was right next to us.
Come on, bats!

SPEAKER_02 (19:01):
Yeah, we yeah, that was uh yeah, that's true.
But yeah, I mean it was it wasit was good enough.
I just think I just thinkScarlet's just defended for
their lives and they had a bitof pride and they disrupted us,
and even the best teams whenthey get disrupted find it
difficult to to get back intoit, especially when other things
are difficult like the weatherand the pitch and and it's easy
to panic a little bit, and youknow we s we kept on trying, and

(19:23):
yeah, I think I ironicallythey'll be quite I think Pat
will be uh secretly quitepleased about that game that
just kind of just pet remindseverybody that there's no
there's no freebies in rugby.
There's no free lunches unlessyou're South African national
team, obviously.

SPEAKER_05 (19:38):
But apart from that, I think ultimately we won the
game, didn't we?
And that's that's everything wewent there to do, and we and we
come away with the so whileokay, boys.

SPEAKER_02 (19:46):
Well, so whilst the game might have been a bit
stodgy and backwards andforwards, the match day
experience, however, wasabsolute rasmataz, wasn't it?
What there was some stodgeinvolved.
Should we set the context forlisteners that haven't quite
clocked it?
So we We decided to have a roadtrip first Bears Beyond the Gate
road trip of the season.
Miles had got very organized atthe beginning of the season, had

(20:06):
booked separate rooms for thetravel lodge for us.
Thank goodness.
Um, got the tickets.
We we got tickets for the thestanding area in the north
stand, right down by the pitch.
So it was the full-on match dayexperience.
Get there early, go to the pubwhere loads of fans are, chat to
fans, get to the ground, getright close to the pitch, stick
the flag up using bits ofplastic bag that had been ripped

(20:28):
up because I forgot the cableties, have a load of banter with
other fans, shout loads ofstuff, do a lot of bristling,
and then after the game have afew more pints, go back to rugby
pub, and then end up somewhereelse until two in the morning.
Anyway, that was about it.
Anyway, start us off a quietnight, huh?

SPEAKER_05 (20:46):
Well, the the this the start, I mean, obviously it
it was it was West Wells.
We expected the rain, didn't we?
But thankfully the rain wascoming back towards us.
So when we actually got toScarlet's it had dry, which was
a bonus.

SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
Um but yeah, we I mean uh first big challenge when
we we got into the travel lodge,then we thought, right, let's
go.

SPEAKER_05 (21:05):
First thing I'm gonna say is Miles, well done
for not booking the Premier Inn,because initially that's where
we were gonna stay, but then wesaw there was a massive uh uh
electricity pylon right outside,which was buzzing.

SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
I was in all night.
I mean, from the fact thePremier Inn would have been more
practical for both the groundand the pub, but it's my
long-term health that I'd beworried about being next to that
pylon.

SPEAKER_05 (21:27):
So, yeah, so we got there and then we've got what
10-minute change around, wasn'tit?

SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
We had a quick turnaround, we said 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_05 (21:32):
10 minutes and we're out, we're out, and let's get
Uber to the ground.

SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
But then we had a look at Google Maps.
I thought, ooh, 25 minutes walk.
Yeah, we didn't fancy it, and itdidn't fancy it.
It just started raining again.
This is the pub, by the way,wasn't it?
So we thought, ah, you know,this is a modern advanced
democracy.
I'll get my Uber app out.
Like a load of cars came up,ordered one, and then it kept
saying, it kept like saying, Oh,we we're still looking, and then

(21:57):
another 10 minutes, another 10minutes, and then in the end, we
we then decided to ring a coupleof local taxi firms.

SPEAKER_05 (22:03):
Which I think was just like literally someone
putting their mobile phone andpush down and doing it whenever
they fancied.

SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
So, what we we did what we should have done
straight away was then go andfind a bloke and ask him and get
a bus.
We found a local guy that wasgoing to the game and he said,
Yeah, get on the number 11, getto Morrison's, you can walk to
the pub.
And we did that, and it tookabout more than that.

SPEAKER_05 (22:21):
He was a he was a season ticket over there.
Lovely chat.
And we should mention for thosethat those people that may think
we've saw our saw, two of uscould have saw our saw right now
because he had two free passes.

SPEAKER_02 (22:33):
He did he did, he had two space.
He was a hospitality and he wasa he got free drinks for the
whole game and hospitality, andhe said, lads, I've got he goes,
I've got two lanyards.
And me and Lee, you know, wewere so nice because we thought
Miles wouldn't cope on his own,would he?

SPEAKER_03 (22:49):
I know.
Well, we yeah, but we did say tohim Pete was the other side of
the bus, he went, he's notactually with us, so we'll be
happy to take hospital.
I mean, Ben's done rock, paper,scissors, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (22:58):
Well, I would have been quite happy if you two had
gone off to hospitality.
I'd be quite happy.

SPEAKER_05 (23:02):
We stuck together.
To be honest, and I'm glad wedid stick together because
actually when we got to thehalfway house, pub was rammed.
Oh, it's absolutely rammed,brilliant atmosphere.
Straight away got on really wellwith the Scarlet's fans.
I I've got to say, I thoughtthey they were to a to a person,
man and woman, they were reallygood value.

SPEAKER_02 (23:19):
Man, woman, and one or two weren't sure, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (23:23):
And uh I thought they were brilliant value.
But my I'm gonna let Miles havethis one because me and Miles,
well, and you, Pete, but we didshare a uh a a goat, wasn't it?
A scarlet's goat.
And that was Miles, do you wantto take it away?

SPEAKER_03 (23:37):
Quality or lack of quality, any beer or ale in in
Clenatley.
I mean, I d I don't know what'sgone on, but there's some as Lee
said, there's some greatbreweries there, but none were
to be seen serving any decentbeer in the halfway or even at
um Parky Scarlet's.

SPEAKER_05 (23:53):
There's nothing Welsh, was there?
We wanted we wanted to try Welshbeer.

SPEAKER_03 (23:56):
It's a bit of a goat on a you know on a road trip,
isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (23:58):
You know, we had to I mean the problem is it it it
raises a bit of a wider issue,is that whilst the fans we met
and were great and we had agreat time, it was pretty
disappointing.
They said 7,000 and I don'tthink there were 7,000 there
because neither of the the twostands behind the uh sticks had

(24:20):
any seats, and then the oneopposite us definitely had spare
seats and we did.
And if you're thinking it's a14,000 stadium, that by
definition suggests that both ofthe the two stands that were
open should should have beenpretty full.
And I I think they I think theydid what what all of clubs do is
they just count the seasonticket or then don't bother
counting it and and that is andI think that kind of reflects

(24:43):
the rest of the whole of the ofthe setup.
It's not quite it's they've gotto do it on the cheap, really,
or that they've got to do it onthe basics because they haven't
got enough fans there.
So it would be lovely to have areal ale bar, but maybe they've
just worked out that it's justnot worth it.
They're not gonna make it, soit's just basic, sort of the
basic beers, and it but you'reright, it's it's not what we

(25:06):
hope for.

SPEAKER_05 (25:06):
Well me and Miles were saying actually it it it
just shows how lucky we are atBS3.
I mean we've sat in thisbrilliant venue here now, uh in
the in the tap room, andfantastic beers they brew on
site, so we we are blessed, andalso but fans just to come into
it, come in here for you know,way fans.
You know, you can just walk downNorth Street and you've got so

(25:29):
many good places you can have adrink, and you know, I I just
thought I was I personally wasreally disappointed because I
thought all I wanted to try waslike you know, some nice
Kidwelly brewery beer, and youknow, I just thought it would
have been that would have beenperfect, but you know, that
aside that was that was the onlythe only gripe really, wasn't

(25:50):
it?

SPEAKER_02 (25:50):
But then after the game and we we walked back to
the halfway in and we we had aright old laugh round there.
It was a great sort of rugbypub, wasn't it?
Saw a load of Bristol fans, uhload of like locals that were
oblivious to the floor.

SPEAKER_03 (26:01):
Pished out some handkerchiefs, even to people
who didn't want to get it.

SPEAKER_02 (26:04):
Gave out loads of hankies, yeah, even to people
that uh didn't have a clue whatwe were doing.
And then um well, when it allkind of finished at twelve, we
then realised, of course, thatwe'd got the bus there earlier,
and of course, there's no busesat that time.
So we you know we did have quitea long walk back to the travel
lodge via a a personal stationto get some snacks.

(26:26):
I bought about five packets ofcrisp and ate them all the
weekend.

SPEAKER_05 (26:28):
I went and bought these pepperoni snacks, and uh
and they were so hot that theygave me art burns I didn't sleep
to start with.
Oh dear.

SPEAKER_02 (26:34):
But as we were getting back to our travel lodge
and I was sort of ready for bed,who should pipe up but Miles?
And you were looking at theFacebook page.

SPEAKER_03 (26:44):
Well, I think I'd seen something earlier in the
day saying some other pub isgiving away uh a free free drink
to either Bears or Scarlets fanswho wear their tops to the pub.
So I think it's called the RedCow.
The red cow.
So we thought, wow, well, Ithought, let's give it a go.
It's open till 3 a.m.
What the heck?
Wandered in.
We were clearly the oldestperson in there by about 50

(27:04):
years or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 (27:06):
And the only people wearing rugby shirts as well.

SPEAKER_03 (27:08):
We got a free shot, didn't we?
Uh had a bit of a boogie, onemore beer, and then ripping a it
was it was probably uh pub toomany.
One pub too many.

SPEAKER_05 (27:17):
Hence the reason Miles is on level eight now.

SPEAKER_03 (27:20):
Yeah, so don't listen to me next time, boys.
If you feel a bit tired and it'sand it's after midnight, just so
let's go.

SPEAKER_02 (27:27):
Having said that, we did say that we felt a duty to
squeeze as much out of Clinthlyas we could.
We were there one night only asrepresentatives of the fan base.

SPEAKER_05 (27:36):
I should say as well, I'd given ourselves
credit.
We you know, we actually youknow, we'd been walking for what
20 odd minutes, hadn't we?
Yeah, yeah, and we were allknackered, but actually we we
came back to we had a good bitof it.

SPEAKER_02 (27:48):
I mean we we gave it we gave it a lot of effort.
We ground out a ground out agood wind, didn't we?
There was no raspbertas, we werenobody was talking to us.
We were like dancing, nobodyshowed up to the water.
We kept going, didn't we?
We had to tell you.

SPEAKER_03 (28:02):
I mean, there were no yeah, I think I agree, and
you know, uh there were no noprams, no, no people being
pushed on in Prams, were there?
So I don't know.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (28:12):
I could have thought that if we were in this place
with our like Bristol stuff on,there would have been people
saying, Oh, Bristol fans, youalright, boy?
Like lit all right, how are youdoing?
Nice to meet you.
They literally had no interestwhatsoever.
And this is my thing aboutClenethly, and no, no disrespect
to Clenethy, but broadlyspeaking, I don't think they
care about the the rest of theworld.
It's like one of those thingsyou kind of it was.

SPEAKER_05 (28:32):
Maybe it will be I really did get that impression.

SPEAKER_02 (28:34):
But anyway, that was maybe you know it's it is.

SPEAKER_03 (28:37):
We had a great fun night out, good road trip.
Um maybe we might go back tothat.

SPEAKER_02 (28:41):
I just remembered, boys.
Yeah, um, we did get a bit oflistener uh interaction, and
actually we did speak to a veryknowledgeable Scarlet's fan.
Yeah, of course.
Um who actually, as people willnow have known because they'll
have heard the the intro to thispod, provided us with a Welsh
introduction, you're listeningto Bears Beyond the Gate.
Um, this is uh Ridian, reallynice guy we met, actually works

(29:02):
in England, but born and bred inin um Clenefley.
And uh we we we we asked him fora bit of a soundbite after the
game, um, what his impression ofthe game was as a Scarlets fan.
So uh I think we should listento it now.

SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Probably in many ways exceeded our expectation
because we expected uh Bristolto come and play a bit.
So we were in the game for a lotlonger than we thought we would
be.
Bristol probably didn't play theway they would week in, week
out.
That probably played into ourhands a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 (29:34):
Do you think that the Scarlet's up that game a bit
because it was an English teamthat's come to Clinefly?

SPEAKER_00 (29:40):
Er possibly.
I don't think I I don't think wesaw from Bristol what you see
week in, week out.
And I think that's the I don'tthink that was the big
difference.
They didn't fire in the way thatthey normally do, and they play
multi-phase rugby normally andstring together phases and
produce some unbelievable tries.
Luckily for us, that didn'thappen.

(30:00):
And it it turned into a classiccup arm wrestle, and that suited
us, and and it was diff they Ithink they found it difficult to
get out of that place once theygot into it.

SPEAKER_01 (30:12):
I mean, obviously it's disappointing for you to uh
to lose.
I mean, what's your thoughts onthe rest of the Champions Cup
campaign?

SPEAKER_00 (30:20):
Yeah, it's a that's a really good question.
We did we you know there's lotsof lots of lots of intent from
Classy, but not much until wellfunnily enough, we we got two
tries to slowed.
How that would have shaped thegame, I don't know.
But beyond that, if you tookthose two truck two dissload

(30:41):
tries out of the equation, wedidn't offer that much.
So it's difficult to tell,really.
We're in a bit of a tricky placeat the minute, and it it might
be that that is our ceiling atthe minute.
But you know, good win againstGlasgow last week.
We held Bristol to a one point,lost.

(31:01):
Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
So a bit of a final question, a bit of a random one,
but do you think in the futureit would be better for Welsh
rugby to play English teams allthe time?
In other words, join thepremiership.

SPEAKER_00 (31:15):
Short answer is yes.
Yeah, that absolutely.
Because if you look at theEnglish crowds week in, week
out, if you look at the qualityof the premiership, if you look
at how that translates into theway England play at the minute.
The obvious answer is that wouldbe a real positive for us.
So look, I'm not gonna representthe views of every everybody in

(31:36):
Wales, obviously, but as asnapshot, that would seem like a
very logical thing for us.

SPEAKER_02 (31:42):
Okay, boys.
Well, there you go, that wasRydian.
Um, yeah, very, very articulate,uh, you know, very um very
astute.
So uh pretty we should havereally played that right at the
beginning of the pod, shouldn'twe?
Yeah, uh and then we could havesaved ourselves some time.
So yeah, good good stuff.
We really enjoyed meeting himand his dad as well, Lee.
You you struck up a friendshipwith him, didn't you?

SPEAKER_05 (32:01):
Yeah, uh like really well-spoken people.
Uh I mean well spoken as it is.
With a Welsh accent, yeah, yeah.
But really knowledgeable and youknow, really kind of nice
downsworth people.
I thought a great to be honest,we didn't meet a bad Scarlets
fan, did we?
That was probably all brilliantvalue.
Really friendly.

SPEAKER_02 (32:19):
Yeah, I mean uh I met some bloke and the young lad
in the toilets, you know, uhlegitimately in the toilets, big
big Scarlets lad.
He must have been 20 early 20s,and he was like, Yeah, yeah,
I've been to Bristol, look you,Bristol.
Yeah, I met two girls there,yeah, yeah, yeah.
They've got kids now.
I was like, he's a lot down tothe big city, and that's what

(32:40):
happens, isn't it?
He was very proud of himself.
Uh anyway, uh right.
On that note, we also did get afew short, sharp summaries in
from listeners, and I will do alittle bit of a shout-out list
in a minute because the peoplewe met.
Oh, absolutely, there was quitea lot.
So uh let's get screwed.
So JP Holden, we is now kind ofon a regular basis sending in
rhyming sort of limerick typethings, and we have no idea who

(33:03):
JP Holden is.
I'm sure at some point, do weeven know gender, age,
demographic?
We don't know anything.

SPEAKER_05 (33:09):
No, no, it'll be nice if we can come in say a
load to it.

SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
Although I quite like the idea of the mystery of
not knowing, yeah.
And maybe right at the end ofthe season, like we then find
out.
But anyway, JP Holden, here wego.
Without asking, sent thisthrough this afternoon.
At the Parky Scarlets for a miniday out, bad vibes of Green
Galway soon started to sprout.
Whilst most kicking was aimless,a sneaked win was priceless,

(33:34):
much better halfway in than allthe way out.
Wow, that's dope.
That's the sort of thing thatcould do with a bit more
contextal analysis.
It's uh some good stuff inthere, referring to the Connett
disaster of uh two years ago.
So yeah, very, very clever.
Thank you, JP.
We actually saw their team cageas well, didn't we?
We did.

SPEAKER_03 (33:53):
Oh yeah, strange, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (33:54):
Tell us that bizarre.
Well, we were we're at the endof the portway, weren't we?
Just driving out of Bristolabout two o'clock.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then um I'm gonna get slatedfor pronouncing this again now,
I know, but um and then and thein the connact the connect
connaut, as you said, Pete.
Yeah, um and the yeah, and thethe team coach has gone past us

(34:17):
and we're thinking, well,where's it going?
And like the only thing we cameto the conclusion of is uh is
Joycey's taking them around tohis place, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
But we thought it Joycey might even have been
driving it as well, but it andthen we found out they're
supposed to be playing theOspreys today.
Yeah, Bridge End.
And then someone told us it wasat Bridgeend, but Bridge End, I
I I I genuinely think, and thismay be Connact has said, you
know what, we've got to go andplay in Bridgeend, because I
imagine they were playing in areally small stadium.
Yeah, yeah.
Like boys will we'll put you upin the McCure Holland Park in

(34:48):
Bristol the night before, so youcan have it, and then we'll
drive you to Bridge End the nextmorning.
I I genuinely think thereprobably wasn't a hotel in
Bridge End that they could stayat, and that's the only or as
you say, Joycey said, gonna giveyou a little trip round the
mead.
I got a barbecue on the biggest.

SPEAKER_05 (35:03):
So anyway, if uh didn't do them any good anyway,
did it?
Because they lost,unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 (35:07):
Every now and again, Joycey might listen to this.
If Joycey's listening, orsomebody who knows Joycey's
listening, could you find outwhy that coach was driving into
Bristol at two o'clock on aSaturday?
Um, anyway, Richard Spurlock,he's been in touch again, he
likes to get in touch, which isgreat.
Um, his short, sharp summary wasstarted strong, then let them
in, although they were betterthan expected.

(35:28):
Referee was awful, right resultin the end.
Mentioned for JW Jordan, SamWorsley, LRZ, Kieran, and always
BJVR, and Pedro Fitz, maybeeasier to say team.
Um and then uh Tango Romeo hasuh been back to the city.

SPEAKER_05 (35:43):
He comes hello to us, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02 (35:44):
Didn't he was there?
We probably tried to, but wewere surrounded by people like
Gannett's trying to it's like agiving those hankies.
It was like you know, when theyhave those like aid convoys that
go in and then people arerunning to get the aid.
I was like that.
I felt like I was just givinghankies out left, right, and
side.

SPEAKER_05 (35:58):
I d I didn't tell you that I handed one hanky out
and a guy um guy used it andthen gave me a poke.
Gave it back.
Not many cheeks.

SPEAKER_02 (36:05):
Anyway, um Tango Romeo said positive start, but
thought we got dragged into adogfight.
It wasn't very pretty, but adecent result to get the
campaign going.
But and I'll say this quietly,our shirts are truly horrendous.
Right.

SPEAKER_05 (36:18):
Are we allowed to mention this name?
Do it, yeah, it's good.
Because actually, you'll have toto to say the names because I
couldn't remember the the couplewe were chatting to in the
halfway house.

SPEAKER_02 (36:26):
Kevin Liz.
Kevin Liz.

SPEAKER_05 (36:28):
So Kev Kev had the the shirt on, yeah, and actually
I did say to him, looking at ityou know up close, it looked a
lot better on than it did in theshop, I thought.

SPEAKER_02 (36:39):
Right.
Tanga, I mean I think TangerRomeo is a man of a certain age
and sort of outlook, and I Idon't and I think it's fair
comment.
I I don't think certain peoplewould want to wear shirts.

SPEAKER_05 (36:53):
Well no, I mean it it's it's you know, it's not a
shirt that we we no, we're notgonna wear it.

SPEAKER_02 (36:57):
Well, I quite liked it.
What?
But I haven't got a 70 quid atthe moment to buy, so I don't
think I will.
But I mean I might go on to eBaylater in the season when we get
knocked out of the round of 32to see if there's any features.

SPEAKER_03 (37:12):
Yeah, Christmas is coming.

SPEAKER_02 (37:14):
Um anyway, talking to shout-outs, we did meet a lot
of people and we had some reallynice chats with people.
So in no particular well, it isactually in total order that we
saw them.
Um Dave Owens bumped into, andthat was when I was at the bar,
and he kind of said, Oh, are youPete?
And then he said he got a hanky.
I was like, Yeah, let's get it.
So that started off.
So Dave, lovely to meet you.
Then we Liz and uh Kev and LizGregory, who um we we chatted

(37:37):
to, then Mike Neville andNatalie in the queue, me from
the queue, John Wood and his sonLiam, uh as as predicted, and of
course, um we also afterwardssaw Spencer Mizzen and his son
Freddie.
Oh, that was great with SilverThorns, big big Steve and Big
John.
And then also me and um well, weafter the game, we also met Mr.

(37:59):
and Mrs.
Fitz Harding, didn't we?
We did, because uh we we sawFitzy and we thought, oh, let's
get Fitzy to hold the flag likeDunny did.
Well ask him, yeah, ask himnicely, yeah.
And uh anyway, we was chattingto a lovely nice couple, and and
actually in my mind I wasthinking I uh he he obviously
knows them quite well.
It took me a while because I hadhad quite a few pints to process

(38:19):
that and think that might be hisparents, but anyway, he finished
off and he kind of gave us asmile because I think he kind of
knows who we are.
Anyway, I said, Oh, as I wasabout to say something, the the
the dad turned around and said,Oh, you're the boys from the
pod, aren't you?
I'm Fitz's dad, and this isFitz's mum, and we listen every
week.
So Fitzy had no choice afterthat to hold the floor.

(38:40):
He was like, Boy, son, hold theflag for the nice man over
there.

SPEAKER_05 (38:44):
I love it.
Oh, they were lovely, weren'tthey?

SPEAKER_02 (38:46):
They were really nice.
It was actually genuinely, itwas really nice.
We had a nice little chat, andand it kind of reminds us that
um, yeah, we have all sorts oflisteners, we have to be
remember that the graphics.

SPEAKER_05 (38:57):
It was genuinely so lovely that um you know we got
to meet so many supporters anduh and listeners, and it was a
really fab day.

SPEAKER_02 (39:06):
And also, Matt Matt Morgan, I should so I saw him.
Matt Morgan in the in thesupport.

SPEAKER_03 (39:09):
I even dished out a I even dished out a business
card, lads.
I'm not entirely sure he wantedit.
No.
This chap in there and he had afew too many beers.

SPEAKER_02 (39:18):
Anyway, is that the bouncer at the red cow?
Is that how we got in?
I thought we got in early, well.

SPEAKER_03 (39:23):
There you go, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 (39:24):
Well no, I think we're done.
Is there anything else we wantto say for our Scarlet's trip?
I think I mean well.

SPEAKER_03 (39:30):
It didn't quite end last night, did it?
No, I mean we I think we we wewent on a road trip.
We went on a road trip.

SPEAKER_05 (39:36):
I know what Miles is on about now.

SPEAKER_03 (39:38):
You know, obviously the problem is that uh you know
the boys had to send send thehotel staff to wake me up this
morning.
Oh and then and then I got atext saying, you know, there's a
40 minute queue for thebreakfast downstairs.
So I thought well we we decidedwe'd hit the road, didn't we?

SPEAKER_02 (39:54):
So yeah, so we hit the road and then we we we
stopped at McDonald's and we sawand it started to laugh.
Down and there was a kind ofMcDonald's on a roundabout, and
I said, Boys, let's just go inthere, have quick breakfast.
Then I realised I couldn't getin because there was a bus lane,
and I was a bit so I went in aparallel road and parked the car
sort of by a bank, and there wasa there was like a grass bank

(40:16):
that led down to the McDonald's.
We were so hungry, we didn'teven clock the fact that there
was a path that went down, wejust went straight over the
fence, straight down the grassbank.
What did you say, Miles, justbefore we did it?

SPEAKER_03 (40:30):
Be careful, looks a bit slippery.
Turn round two seconds later.
Louis on his arms.

SPEAKER_02 (40:36):
Louis has got legs.
Louis's got his like littledainty white trainers on, leg to
Kimber.
Get up, he's got mud all theway.
So we then, but then even worse,we miss the fact that where the
front door is of the McDonald's,and we then we skirt round and
then we had to climb over thefences because we're basically
in.
We tried to squeeze through thefence.

(40:57):
But we were basically in thedrive-through bit, we went all
the way round, went all the wayright to where we'd actually
come, and we hadn't even noticedthe entrance, and then we had to
go inside.
And I had to ask a lady if shehad any paper towel that we
could wipe his wipe his.

SPEAKER_05 (41:09):
Oh, I was I was absolutely covered, wasn't I?

SPEAKER_02 (41:14):
And then then he had to get changed in the rain
because he wasn't allowed backin the car like that.

SPEAKER_05 (41:18):
Well, lucky enough, I had I still had my you know
spare kit that landed by becauseI was going to wear white white
water game.

SPEAKER_03 (41:24):
But I mean that was definitely a sign to get it, get
the heck out of Lenethley,wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (41:27):
It was it was a sign, it was it was it was
Clineshley saying, Boys, you'vehad a good time, but we don't
want you here anymore.
Yeah, exactly.
Off you go, don't come back.

SPEAKER_05 (41:34):
Certainly.

SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
Anyway, I think we're done.
So that said, another game tocome.
Um and this is something youmentioned earlier, is that we've
got the visit of Section Palois,commonly known as Po, which is a
uh little French club.
Uh it's their first time in theChampions League, so they're
coming to Ashton Gate.
And of course, you think, whoa,fantastic! Get a French team to

(41:57):
Ashton Gate.
What a great time, have a bigjamboree.
Oh, 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon.
Thoughts Lee.

SPEAKER_05 (42:05):
I I know this is nothing to do with the club, so
we first that we first shouldsay, like, yeah, that's it's
obviously TV schedule it.
I know the club probably aren'tvery happy about it themselves,
but it's pretty poor, isn't it?
And the thing is, these Europeangames, we really love the
interaction with the with theyou know the the opposition
fans, and we've had some greattimes, haven't we?

(42:27):
You know, um uh against youknow, it's like Stard France.
We we we met Ram Remy andeverything, and and uh it's it's
just I just feel sorry, I tr Ifeel bad for them because it
would be just so nice if we hada A, we had bums on seats, of
course, opposition fans, theythey bring the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_02 (42:46):
Any level is 5 30 on a Sunday a good time for it.

SPEAKER_03 (42:50):
I think even for sort of English clubs, I think
it's a I mean it was an odd.
I mean, you know, it was thesame time last week back in the
Prem, and that was strangelyquiet, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (43:01):
Um I don't think I'm s assuming it won't be a
particularly big crowd,unfortunately, on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 (43:09):
I think I think that's sad for the club, really.
But like you said, it's uhtotally out of their hands, and
and it's not easy, I think,getting to the Pyrenees Club
anyway.
You've got to go by two seasonand then another drive up into
the Pyrenees.
So it I'd be quite sad.
I mean, they may bring no fansat all, really.

SPEAKER_02 (43:26):
Having said all that, um, you know, I also with
Poe, I I imagine not many peopleknow much about Poe, including
us.
No, and so despite the fact it's5 30, I tell you Tubby, didn't
I?
I thought that um yeah, I Iactually we got in touch with uh
there is a podcast called RoastBeast Rugby, and a couple of

(43:48):
English guys who clear to wellwho who seem to English they're
English guys, but they seem toknow a lot about French clubs,
and actually we got in touch, wewere gonna try and talk to them
before the pod tonight, um, butcouldn't quite make it work.
But actually, we thought becauseit was interesting, and Poe
apparently is a is a kind ofinteresting story, and it turns
out there are a couple ofEnglish players and players that

(44:08):
people know play there thatactually we we've arranged to
have a chat with them onTuesday, a bit of a deeper one,
as and we're gonna call it as abit of a kind of mini education
pod.
And uh for for those kind ofdiscerning listeners who are
interested in learningsomething.

SPEAKER_05 (44:24):
The rugby nauseas about Poe.

SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
But one of the things the guys had done, they'd
actually had put out a littleexplainer on Twitter about all
of the French clubs for Englishfans, which I thought was
amazing.
That's great.
The only and I don't want togive away too much that perhaps
they talk about on Tuesday, butbut just you know, by way of um
incentivising people to listenagain on Wednesday, hopefully,
yeah, it's it's saying that youknow Poe are flying high in the

(44:49):
in the Super 14 at the moment,um, and you know it's a really
big thing for that.
It's a very small place in thePyrenees, and it and their rugby
success is a massive thing forthem, but there is a caveat that
they may not necessarilyprioritize the Champions Cup,
which you know means that maybewe've got a chance of uh of

(45:10):
winning next thing because we dowant to win.
I mean I think if we can get twowins from two, we've got as good
a chance to get into some sortof knockout because we haven't
we haven't had it, have we?
So yeah, I thought we'd um Ithought rather than sort of go
through this explainer, and theyare available, but but I just
sort of tease people that we'regonna be chatting to the guys on
Tuesday and we're gonna put a apod out um on uh but on that

(45:34):
note the one thing that we canspeculate on quickly is is what
sort of team do you think wemight put out next week?
So Miles, come to you first.
Any thoughts on team selection?

SPEAKER_03 (45:45):
Uh I I I didn't appear to be any injuries today
yesterday from what from what Ithink.

SPEAKER_05 (45:50):
Summit.
Uh but he played on, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03 (45:52):
And Worsley had that facial.
Oh well, yeah.
I mean, if they just stitchedthat up and put a lot of
Vaseline on his head, um I thinkit could be alright.

SPEAKER_02 (45:59):
You're right about re-summit.
He did pop up his face.
He did quite early on looked abit uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_05 (46:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (46:06):
And I don't know whether that might yeah, he he
he played, carried on, didn'the?

SPEAKER_05 (46:11):
But I mean it could have been a niggle.
You know, I I I guess if therewas any danger, he wouldn't have
carried on.
No.

SPEAKER_03 (46:17):
I mean, what your thoughts you were chatting
earlier, what your thoughtsabout um giving Sam Worsley a
rest with his head injury, uhhead injury, and maybe moving
Tom Jordan to 10 and El Azaldeor someone back to 15.
Um, you know, it's apossibility.
Well what do you think, Mike?

SPEAKER_05 (46:35):
Well, I think it was great shape that you that you
said, Pete, because I I justthought I mean Tom Jordan, I
know he played brilliant atfullback, you know, uh whatever
game it was, I can't remembernow, but he is our 10.
Yeah, well we he is a 10, Ishould say, and I just think
Worrisley's just not um I meanwe've got to remember he's a

(46:56):
young lad, we've got to lookafter him.

SPEAKER_02 (46:58):
Yeah, I think more than anything, we we've got a
lot of fixtures coming up, yeah,yeah.
And actually uh we we will needhim.
And actually, is there a timewhere you put cut a wool on him
a little bit?

SPEAKER_05 (47:08):
Well, I guess sorry, when we when we see the team
selection from Bo, then thenmaybe it would be a game where
an opportunity to rest him.

SPEAKER_02 (47:17):
And also I think Tom Jordan would probably be the
first to admit he hasn't reallyhad a cut he hasn't really got
stuck into the season yet.
He's had a real difficult onewhere he you know he played one,
then he got carded, then he gotbanned, then he went to the
Autumn Internationals, and thenhe comes back against Scarlets
and he's playing at fullback ona heavy pitch, and you know, he
then he does the forward pass,and he probably feels like he

(47:37):
wants to be in the thick of theaction.
And to me, possibly putting himat ten against Poe would be a
way of doing that.
It also rests Worsley, or atleast Worsley on the bench to
have a bit of express, but thenit does beg of the ask the
question who would go fullbackbecause Elisalde, I was seeing
some stuff on the forum, is likeit almost suggesting he's gone a

(47:59):
bit out of favour because he maywell be going to France next
year.
Oh, okay.
Um but he's not injured, no, butmaybe needs must.

SPEAKER_05 (48:07):
Well, what about I mean, this is a name we've not
spoken about for a while, but II know he's uh from what I've
heard, he's quite close to areturn.
Rich Lane.
Yeah.
I mean, it would be a bigthrow-in to start him.
But if he's not far away, maybebench.

SPEAKER_02 (48:20):
Yeah, but I mean, or Carrington, because Carrington
was on the bench.
Yeah, he didn't come on, did he,Saturday?
But he's he could start, hestarted fullback against Chiefs,
didn't he?
So Tigers.
I just think maybe Jordan atJordan at ten would be a shout.
I I also wonder whether that wemight I wonder whether one of

(48:41):
Santi Grandona might get a restor give at least bench for his
brother, because his brothercame on at the end and he's he
has played a lot of minutes.
Pedro maybe Joe as a start, andyou bring Ruby Pedro on.
Yeah.
Um but I think you know, I thinkone thing we do need to do is
make sure we're we're solid inthe set piece.
So I think we'll have a you knowa strong front row.

(49:03):
I mean, I think you bet Genjiprobably would start maybe and
then Bat row, you know.
I don't know really.
We've got obviously Fitz, Ithink Fitz just goes on forever.
It does.
Bill.

SPEAKER_05 (49:15):
Lua 2 is not far away, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 (49:16):
Lua 2 is not far away.
I'm not sure they'd risk him a530 against the French side, but
maybe the big game for big gamefor a big boy, uh big lad, as in
a big kind of influence, bigunit, big unit in uh in the
maybe the the uh Harlequinsgame.

SPEAKER_03 (49:33):
And also, I mean we might point out that Pete you're
not even gonna be in thecountry.
No, I mean let alone the bad badkick off time.

SPEAKER_02 (49:40):
So yeah, we're gonna be we're gonna struggle for a
couple of we well we won't beable to do a pod next Sunday
because it's a Sunday game andI'm actually away, so we're
probably looking at doing a podafter the um we may do a pod
after the Harlequin.
So we're back to the weekend andthen maybe do one in the new
year to sort of wrap upChristmas, so it's gonna be a

(50:02):
little bit bitter.
We haven't quite planned thatout yet, and I may well be
zooming in from wherever I am tohelp the lads out, literally
zooming in.
Literally zoom in.
Private jet.
So yeah, I think uh I think so.
Um two more things on any otherbusiness lads.
Um I I mentioned it in theintro, but they're ones we were

(50:23):
kind of quite proudly talkingabout our bobble hats that Tom
Tainton gave us last week andread out the letter, which I
thought was very clear.
We had a bit of pelters fromsome of our regulars telling us
that we'd sold out to the bobblehats, and you know, like there
was a little bit ofpassive-aggressive boys.
You you know, you're notrepresenting us.
So I don't know what do youthink about that, Lee?

SPEAKER_05 (50:45):
I think the the listeners know full well that
they can rip us as much as theylike.
We will never sell our soul,we'll always uh say it as we see
it and be uh as uh balanced asever.
Um but that bobble that did fitlovely.

SPEAKER_03 (51:02):
I mean, we'll call it out, and I I say we're just
you know, should a thread orsome stitching come loose, we'll
call it out, won't we?
We'll be straight up there anddon't worry, don't worry,
listeners.

SPEAKER_02 (51:12):
And I also think that maybe they forgot that when
I read the letter out, TomTainton clearly said that he
thanked us for holding the clubto account.

SPEAKER_05 (51:21):
And actually, on that note, I am gonna hold the
club to account.

SPEAKER_03 (51:25):
Do it.
Alright, go.

SPEAKER_05 (51:26):
You know, we were good we had this road trip, so I
thought what I'll do is I'll popdown to the club shop and I was
gonna buy a hoodie or orsomething similar.
And I have to admit, um I'm nota huge fan of the O'Neill's
stuff anyway, I'll be honest.
But I I can understand why weused them because the quick
turnaround.

SPEAKER_03 (51:44):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (51:45):
Um but I just I tried this hoodie on and it was
just it was quite it felt quiteheavy and and thick, and I just
thought, you know what, wealways like to wear the G-lace,
don't we?
Yeah.
And I just thought, nah, itdoesn't didn't feel right.
So I I've got to call that oneout.
But but that's a personal thingto me.

SPEAKER_02 (52:03):
And other other garments are available for other
people, and it is a fact thatthere are plenty of bubble hats
in stock.
There was loots and caps backin.
And you know, but and I we putit on your Christmas list, you
know.
So I think I think uh we'll putthat to bed now.
That has been put to bed, thesellout, Sully Solter Devil.
That's been put to bed.

(52:24):
Um and then the last thing Iwanted to mention was we did
have a nice chat earlier on uhwith two of the lads from the
new Bears Supporters AdvisoryCommittee, and we we they'd
asked us if they could come onand chat about that, and we have
had a chat with them, but I wefelt that maybe what we'll do is

(52:44):
put that into this mini pod onWednesday along with the roast
beef rugby boys.
So it's as I said, a kind ofeducation, an edu pod.
So there was one thing that theymentioned that we were gonna
mention was something that a lotof listeners said about the
women's fixtures.
Um there's a clash now, quite alot of a big clash between so
for people with dual seasontickets, it's it's a bit of a

(53:06):
problem.

SPEAKER_05 (53:07):
There's not enough time, is there?

SPEAKER_02 (53:08):
We won't talk about that now, but it has been noted
and is and it's gonna be, andand then they talked a little
bit more about it.
So if you're interested to findout a bit more about the Bears
Advisory Committee, look out fora midweek pod and there and
you'll hear the guys talk aboutit.

SPEAKER_05 (53:24):
Just one other thing, and this is really
important.
Uh, it's a personal apology froma good friend of the pod, John
Wood, to all the people that aretravelling on the supporters
coach, and we're 20 minutesdelayed waiting for him in
travelling to uh Camarbonshire.
And uh John would like to say hewas absolutely more mortified

(53:48):
that uh that he was late andactually very, very usually very
punctual.
He is um, and he's a brilliantlad, so he did he did want me to
say he's like the naughty childwho arrived late late, did he?
Apologies for force.

SPEAKER_02 (54:02):
I bet like he then did he have to walk all the way
up the aisle because the owedhis street was right up.
Oh, we had to sit, you know,would have to sit next to the
driver at the front, maybe.
Uh yeah, well, fair play toJohn.
He held his hands up and he wasa but apparently um he's not
welcome back on the bus.
Anyway, boys, uh it's been agood weekend.

(54:23):
I I feel quite tired now.
Yeah, um you look very tired,Miles.
Lee, you look just like youalways do, to be honest.
So um, everyone, have a goodweek.
Look out for our midweek pod.
Uh stay safe.
And one, two, three.