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On the Edge Rugby Special - Provinces Review in the URC · On The Edge Sports Podcast

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to another episode of On the Edge Sports Podcast.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: This time we're talking rugby.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to give a little review of what's been happening in the URC so far with the four Irish provinces.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm joined by Mark Kennedy.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Not if you know him from Kendi and Rainbow Podcast, but Mark is also a big sports fan and a big rugby fan.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, Mark, uh tell us, give us a gist.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start off with Connuct.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: What's been happening with them so far in this championship?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, so the URC started a couple of weeks ago.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's an interesting start for Irish provinces at the moment, uh especially for Connucts, because there's a lot of buzz.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of buzz to start the season when it came to Connucts.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh new stadium done up down in the sports grounds in Gold.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Dexcom Stadium.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Dexcom Stadium, no you're supposed to call it, but Greyhound track.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Greyhound track is right.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's funny actually how much you mix them up.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like Ida Ida was called it the showgrounds.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's just because Sliger O'Reillers are the shortgrounds.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we stopped between the two of them.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um but there was a good buzz, obviously, with this.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um the start of the season has probably squashed out a touch, just a little bit.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: They had a great win over Benetton, but um that was a real tight game.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I remember actually seeing a bit of that myself.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't pretend to watch all these the provinces all the time.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just intrigued to keep an eye on what's going on and what's coming up for the you know the international.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: But like with the the win the losses they had, Stormers and Glasgow, were they you know would they be in favourites of those teams?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: The Stormers um I mean they would have had a good chance against Stormers because of the fact that it was at home, didn't go to South Africa, but like the Stormers are incredibly strong, and you could see the same thing happening in the Stormers game and the Glasgow game that they just lost the other day, which is that when it comes to the forward play, like just the power of these teams is outrageous.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like Glasgow scored, was it three or four mall tries?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Four mall tries.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was just looking at the four mall tries.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, four mall tries is chronic to watch.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that should never be happening again.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, and it looks terrible.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like you'd want to see some expansive rugby.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of a URC, especially when it comes to winter rugby, like those mall tries are everything like, so you'd be worried that how it didn't even fall apart, it just was never there.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Mall defense wasn't there from the start.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is it just a case of you know much bigger forwards on these teams?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of things.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the simple answer or the simple description?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: But so does that mean that Conor Trump could be able to flick a switch and just change their forwards to be bigger than that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's very hard.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Mall defence is probably the hardest aspect of rugby, uh, I would say, even just from looking in.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: But um, like technically, you can probably do some stuff to get a better mall to sell defence to get yourself set.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: When when a ball is picked up there and there's you you can't move first, the defence can't move first, so the mall is set by the offense, which means they decide the structure of it, like you know.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: So the go forward ball is always with them.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: But if you have big boys, it's kind of hard to stop it.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and you could see Conor didn't have it in them at all.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Four mall tries to be conceding, and you could see that Glasgow knew that's what's going to happen.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now the thing is penalty counts when they start rising, all of a sudden line-ups and malls are far more prominent.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: You the way to stop mall defences, stop giving away penalties where lads can kick it into the corner, you know.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, so it starts a few plays back, so it starts way back.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you can get your discipline right, it goes an awful long way to stopping the ball being kicked into the corner.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's a lot of talk about Ireland nowadays, and especially when they're going to meet South Africa again in November, and like South Africa absolutely like savaged Ireland last year, you know.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um the score line didn't show it, like, but they just scrum penalty after scrum penalty, and they they Razzie set them out to embarrass Ireland.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Just I don't care about score here.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's really deflating for the defence and like we actually can't stop and embarrassing.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same thing with this model.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: The weight stop is actually try and keep your penalty count down so that those set pieces the set piece in the rugby now is so so important.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like well for certain teams, they're structured all around them tactically.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: South African rugby is, and I mean, you know It's the famous bomb squad situation.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I'm a bit of a sceptic, not sceptic, but I I I'm quite defeatist of it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean South Africa are probably bar some of those early naughtys um New Zealand teams, uh like the best rugby team of all time, this current Razzie, the two World Cups in a row.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's based on a lot of set P stuff.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now they have insane stuff out in the wing as well, like and and great backs, but a lot of it is just set P stuff.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And when I watched it and I'm like I wish the Scrum wasn't so powerful.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't mean their scrum.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I wish the scrum didn't have such an effect on every rugby game.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: You'd like to see something a bit more expansive go.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same with the Premier League now, but you'd like to see something a bit more expansive happening.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: But it's happening now.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's because Gaelic has changed the the tact with this, but maybe is there is there rule changes you would think maybe it would solve it?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but how how do you change the rule changes?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, you don't really like it.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they could come up with some stuff at the scrum.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to see them all not as powerful.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: No, we have to be careful because uh under the Joe Schmidt area, uh, which was great then, and still know like Ireland are very good at five metre malls, like, and that's how they got a lot of tries, like, so you have to be careful too.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: It is a part of the game.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always you you don't want to just cut out a part of the game because you don't like I don't like the way it looks, you know.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um but for Connuct, let's go back to Connuc.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's been it's been pretty positive too.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Kieran Frawley, obviously, is he transferred from Leinster and like great great step for him and for Connuckt.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like and so far it's kind of working.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: To be honest, like he scored twice, I think, against Benetton.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Did he get another one against uh Glasgow?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like the only pr the problem there is it's you know when it comes to Winter Rugby, the out half position is quite tough, like again.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: But he seemed we've seen him for Ireland do it, so it's not he's not coming in here on a whim.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is a guy who I genuinely think you have Sam Prendergast at Leinster, uh other than that, Jack Crowley who knows when he's gonna be fit again, you know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you have Sam Prendergas at Leinster, we don't know if Jack Crowley's gonna be fit coming into November.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: There is nothing to say that Karen Frawley can't be the starting Ireland Ireland number 10.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And for Conocts yeah, huge coup for Conock to get.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like they don't normally get players like that, and I'm not a guru in this now, but I'm kind of going just as an armchair kind of fan from afar.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that was a big one for them to get.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and obviously, uh Stuart Lancaster, you know, maybe it's the draw of him as well as everything, but everything just seems to be moving in the right way.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know the results aren't perfect yet.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, but a few little key things like the manager that the star player like that coming over, yeah, yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and the thing is, look, Leinster produce all these players, they always have.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and the fact of the matter is, Leinster are probably going to have four out halves at any one time, and there's not room for them all, like, and they've just had a new young guy come through called Casper Gabriel, which is hugely interesting.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he he came to Ireland, his father sent him to boarding school in Ireland, he's actually Austrian.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's not a rugby stronghold.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, he's not, and he is no Irish link like.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so his father was involved in like Austrian rugby.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, obviously, there's no mad club game in Austria, I think.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: So he was like, I'm gonna send you to boarding school in Ireland, and then obviously he's been living here for five years or more, so now he's Irish.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so and what age guy is this guy?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think Casper is like 20 or something.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, okay.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so real prospect for the floor.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: There's a bit of flair in him, you know.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like the problem with we'll get on to Ireland eventually.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um but the problem is Ireland is we the it this is the thing.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Ireland had run Nogar for ten years, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: One of the best out halves in the world, and then the Johnny Sexton for another ten years, one of the best out halves in the world.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: And bar a little period in the middle there where maybe Paddy Jackson might have been in or uh Ian Madigan was kind of put, it was those were the two.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now that Johnny's retired, nobody has taken the jersey.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: And people would say Jack Crowley took the jersey, but like not really, like, especially if he's so injury prone.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: He hasn't got a consistent run.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, he's been sensational at times.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And Sam Sam Prendergast has been sensational at times, but not.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so let's talk about Sam Prendergast just for a second because I know we're gonna get on to Leinster as well.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: And like Leinster are in a weird position right now where um like they lost their first two games and then like kind of hammered Cardiff, I guess.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like Sam Prendergast was phenomenal in the Cardiff game.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's very easy to get to Sam Prendergast and know what's wrong with him, and it's his tackling, right?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it's talked about all the time.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And is it hard to talk about a young land that's tackling?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, no, because he's playing for Leinster in Ireland, and the best way to describe it, and it's easy for me to describe it here because I know what it's like.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when I was playing rugby as a kid, I know what it's like to be afraid to tackle and to pretend that you did, and that's what I see when I see him tackling.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh my god, I'm gonna get run over.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: What I'll do is I'll pretend they're oh went, oh I missed him.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh feck.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: I can see that in Sam's game.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can see the fear when someone's still quite young in fairness as well.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's about 22.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: I remember watching Tim playing 20s rugby for Ireland years ago and going, This is the guy who's gonna take Johnny Sexton's jersey.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: He was phenomenal.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: He I still think the jury's out on whether he's gonna make the next step.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: He needs to work.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: The defense is chronic bad.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now I mean embarrassingly bad at stages, like you know, like there's clips that you're like, oh my god, this can't be an international liver rubble player.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, he is bulked up this year, he looked bigger.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: He definitely's that area, obviously.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: He's not very quick, I would say, is one of the things.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: But he's kind of that tall, kind of kind of lanky style.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's a bit awkward when he's running.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's some unbelievable skill.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I'm not an Anrack at rugby.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mostly watch internationals and dip in out of the club.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I brought you in to get a go because what's what can we expect now when the internationals comes back?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you're kind of saying it's some self Frawley at the moment, or yeah.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, so the problem with Jack Crowley is he's had this recurrent injury for about two years that they couldn't um he's out till early 2027, I see.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and now there's apparently lately they've been saying, Oh no, it's looking slightly better.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: They found the problem.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: They could not find this problem in his leg, and they were trying to link it back to other things.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so much so that people were people were saying at one stage, this is a mental injury that he has.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's not.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's the last thing you want to have as player.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: I know, which is crazy because they were saying that once you know he gets out to warm up for a game, his head gets nervous and he goes, Oh, that's twinging again.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that sounds crazy, but that's what people were saying.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: So they're like, We can't find it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but apparently now they have isolated us and they know what it is, which is great for him because you know, it in truth, I think if all of them are flying, I still think Jack Crowley plays 10 for Ireland, like you know, and again, from my limited amount of watching, yeah, he's he's been sensational in some games altogether like.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: But now at the moment it's Frawley's for the take, and if he can get in there and play well in the night, I think it's Sam's it's Sam's jersey because Andy Farrell loves Sam Prendergast.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I you know I think Frawley can get I I would love to see Frawley in 10 for Ireland.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: He's done it, he's beaten South Africa himself, he's two drop goals a couple of years ago to beat South Africa.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: He knows he's been in that 10 jersey before, you know.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he's obviously moved to Conaco, and I think I'm I can get into that.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: He needs 10 years, he needs games, yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: He has Harry Byrne and Sam Prendergast at Leinster as well.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: And what was happening is this happened to Ian Madigan years ago, by the way.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: The worst thing you can be in rugby is versatile, right?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: The worst thing you can be.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: No one knows where to put you because they go, Don't worry about Kieran Fraud.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: We'll put Sam at 10 because Kieran will play 13 or he'll play 15, or and you bring him along on the bench then because well he can cover all the positions if someone gets injured.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: That happened to Ian Madigan in an Ireland jersey, and Madigan was crying out years ago, please let me play a 10.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Ian, in fairness now, you can cover out half, you know, you can cover out half, you can cover second century, you can cover you're going to have the 23 jersey on your back all the time, and he could never get one position.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: He's competing against multiple players then in multiple positions, and and then you're kind of going, Well, we're ne he's never going to be a starworth in any of those positions, he's going to be the guy that covers all of them.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And for all, he has to be careful of that as well, because he plays a lot of fullback as well, quite well.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: He went to Munster, he went to Connect to say, I'm a 10 and I'm playing at 10 now.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: And he Jashuani then ended up playing fullback last week, and for Connect, he's going to be the versatile guy that can play in a couple of different positions now.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: So be warned, any players out there don't know what to do.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: If you're trying to be yeah, if anyone says to you, any chance you might play a second, no one won't.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's what you say.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: I will not.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a man that's played in though.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, I don't even play one position.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's the end of it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, don't be asking me.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Munster then again.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like uh Peter Manning has been quite scathing in the media about stuff going on.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, is that necessarily just the season or no?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that he wrote it in his legacy and he needed a bit of controversy, maybe.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not that he needed a bit of controversy.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think what he said was all true and he felt it like Well he definitely seems to call it as it is, like, and he I believes his own words.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: He is Mr.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Munster.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: He had that crossover there where he came in at the end of like Sepolo Connell and Dunico Callahan, who were the Munster guys.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: So he's the one player that has this crossover of the old era and the new era, and a lot has changed since he's been there.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: I would have said coming into this season of the four provinces, Munster were in the worst position and really on the verge of full collapse, you know?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they've had a win on a draw, so they're the best out of the provinces so far.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're they actually are.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's so hard to it's so hard to tell this early on.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: I would still be worried now that I would have said comics were above Munster now.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Fucking that might be dodgy, they might not be anymore.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's but Munster rugby is you don't know what is going to happen.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's such a weird position that Munster are in.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: You do not know what kind of Munster we're going to see this year.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Peter Omandy could be at the end of the year going, I told you so, lads, there's a lot that needs to be done.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: He's saying it's behind the scenes a lot of the stuff that needs to be done.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: But the problem is they're not bringing in they're not bringing in the players that they want to have from abroad.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you need to bring in players from abroad in Irish rugby.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Leinster have this conveyor belt of players that come, and then they also get three or four from abroad.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: You got Orgy Snyman that they got, they got Slomani at one stage to be like a backup prop.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Geordie Bard came in last year, like you know, and then Munster are kind of going, so that's the entire Irish squad there in Leinster, and also three or four of these big names, and they can't get them across.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: They had Orgy Snyman, who was the first man at Munster.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um he was at Munster first before he went to Leinster, like, but I think he kind of got there and went, This place is a bit of a mess at the moment, like you know, well there's obviously a reason he's left of his Mun place in the coming.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I mean the one thing that I think Munster have over at all the other provinces is that old school um kind of siege mentality that stands to them.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like Munster people are very proud people, like and it's always had that tough grist to even go back to the oldest beaten all blacks and that's it's ingrained in Peter Manny or Paula Connelly's guys.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, Peter Manny made a great point that like when I was talking about there about the recruitment like and getting these big names in, and you have to do it through the IRFU by the way.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to recruit players, the IRFU will check if you have sufficient cover in that position through the Irish system.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why a lot of people give out about Leinster is that like they're supposed to check.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, look, you know, if you want to bring in an outside centre, no no, Leinster Academy has three outside centres.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: You you've got to Is that just in theory what happens?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh in reality, it does it's not I think it's quite it is pretty strict if it to a certain extent, like, but you know, Munster would be crying out there going, We don't have four tight head props.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, let you know, like we need a tighthead prop from abroad.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, can you get someone to come in?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, maybe the draw isn't there that people don't want to go to Munster like the U.S.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I I've just seen uh like a new 20-year-old out half Charlie O'Shea.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: If you witness this one, I haven't seen him now in action, but I I actually haven't really seen him in action either, but there's a lot of good word going on.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: He had a good game against the Bulls.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was reading again just from her notes here.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and again, Jack Crowley obviously out, so maybe they need someone to start trying to get out.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the problem is, and it's nothing against them.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: J.J.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hanrihan has is oh I'm gonna be so insulting here now.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like people are going to be like, what's this fellow on about?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: J.J.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Hanrihan is a kind of a journeyman out half.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he's been between a couple of the Irish provinces and then across England and back again, and he's probably at the end of his career.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can't have J.J.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hanrihan as your 10 now that Jack Crowley is out the only one playing.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: So Charlie O'Shea looks quite exciting like, and you would hope that he would, for the most part, he would play at out half until Jack comes back.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know much about Charlie, like he's he's obviously just a young kid who came through.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: This seems to happen a lot, isn't it?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have to be careful looking at them though.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: We have to be careful looking at like Charlie O'Shea and Sam Prendergast as well, because this all has to be taken with a pinch of salt because like I said, we had Raj and then Johnny Sexton for 20 years.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's in there's other rugby um there's other rugby countries with far bigger population, especially a far bigger rugby playing population, that don't get two out halves like that in a generation.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they kept Ireland going at the top of the room.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: We had them back to back, like yeah.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like people say Johnny is probably the best out half of all, like I mean, Raj was right there with them as well.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, it's cra it's a mad 20 years to have them.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was crazy.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: So don't be expecting the same thing.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's cra it's crazy that we had that, you know.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and then lastly, going on to Ulster, we'll have a dip into uh what's coming up with Ireland as well.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: But so Ulster, they've had two draws and one loss.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: They drew at Glasgow, they drew at Munster, and like they were losing by 21 points in that at half time, yeah, and they came back and drew.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, like Munster Where are they at the moment?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Munster fired that one away.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to know where Ulster are as well.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it of all the provinces is probably the least I know of any of them.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I mean, a draw against Glasgow early on in the season, especially in Glasgow, would show you that they probably do have a bit of depth in their squad that's well able to keep up with these.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: They're quite powerful.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you like Stuart McCluskey would probably be their main guy, like he's a big powerful guy who who plays 12 for Ireland all the time.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like um, Henderson's Stockdale all of a sudden again.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: What is Stockdale now?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, is he he must be 104?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: No, you see, Jacobs Jacob came in when he was uh was it like 2018?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Was it 2018 Six Nations that he blew up and scored like nine thries in the whole tournament and then dropped off?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, injury didn't help and stuff, but he had a real resurgence last year and he started flying again this year, and he looks incredibly powerful, like he looks like a real powerful winger, so like they have good backs, good dynamic backs, like you know.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: So um they'd be in uh also are kind of a dark horse where no one really knows where they're gonna be sitting this year, you know.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Europe will tell you a lot when it starts next week as well, like as to where they stand against some of these English teams.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like the it the English Premiership is actually at a funny um stage now where they had last weekend in their opening weekend the most amount of tries ever scored in any opening weekend and the second highest scoring game of all time.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm giving out about Maul rugby here and scrum rugby, and they have a problem where it's gone the other way in England.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: There is tries being scored all over the place from it, and defence is like non-existent.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is that random this happened this season?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't watch the the premiership like rugby, but like it's a weird situation for them to be where they are, and then over here in the URC, I'm kind of going, I'd love to see a bit more dynamic rugby being played, you know.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: So somewhere in the middle is probably where most teams should be playing.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: But for Ulster, it's hard to know where Ulster are going to be.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say I I think in about eight weeks you'll know you'll know more of that.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: It is only a few games in again.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So again, look, I mean, as I said, I don't watch it avidly.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm intrigued, I enjoy my rugby with most of the internationals.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it is interesting to start hearing the stories emerging and the new talent emerging or the company.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Lempster is an interesting one, by the way.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry not to cut across.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Caleb Doris is out for them as well.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was just yeah, but well, the thing about rugby is you're always going to have people out.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's why you need scrad depth.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's never and also the IRFU decide how much minutes these their internationals play.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: So you notice I would never have known.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so in the first game, uh Sean Jansen couldn't play for Connocked, and I think Karen Fraudie couldn't play for Connock because they had played minutes in the summer internationals.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it goes back that far.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: And even though Jansen only played like 20 minutes in his Ireland debut or whatever, the no no, the protocol is he cannot play the opening weekend.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: So they the IRFU manage everybody's minutes who are international.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's done really well.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was gonna say it's not overprotected.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Rugby is incredibly abrasive.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: The only problem is with that opening weekend, there needs to be a bit of common sense that come here, your man played 20 minutes there back in June, like or July.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he can play, he can play this weekend.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: I know he was in Ireland camp, but come on, lads, let him play for Connick, especially for a team like Connect, who would need the likes of Jansen there a lot.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like you know.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: The season could be turning on those whenever.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: But Leinster's an interesting one because Leo Cullen is leaving as head coach at the end of the season.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what they call that theory.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Is it called like lame duck or whatever?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Where he it's a weird one.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Are they going to play for Leo Cullen?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: And that the idea, I think that Jack Neenaber, if I don't know how that's how pronounced his name, he'll probably go back to South Africa at the end of the season.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Leinster's defensive structure has been the topic of conversation.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: They play this incredibly fast, up to the line, squeeze in the middle of the pitch defensive in their backs.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: If you get through it, it's wide open territory, then, right?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: So Leinster's defence hasn't been great, and also their forward or their um attack in play is not the Leinster Revolt really expansive, dynamic attack.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: So people are kind of waiting for Cullen and Nean Aber to step aside, and it looks like Felipe Cantapomi is going to be there.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: He's the Argentina head coach right now.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a weird year.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Do they buy into everything that Leo is going to be telling them, going, well, you're gone next year, and none of us want to play this defensive or attacking?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, the whole style.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: So can we chart changing it now in ahead of Felipe coming in?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Or so they don't know what way Leinster are going to be this year.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think they're going to be as powerful as the they got hammered out the door in the European final last year against Bordeaux.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Will they be if they had to play Bordeaux again, we'll say the same game, I think it could be the same results.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right, okay.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's not going forward.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: But the worrying thing is that all of this leads towards November internationals for Ireland, which is in this new whatever the hell they call it, this like nations championship.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Nations Championship.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's just another name for something.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is funny because it is what it is.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: The great thing is, you know, when you watch soccer and you hear that there's an international break and you go, ah, for God's sake, right?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they so they brought in the Nations League, and no one still has any fecal interest in it.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: The thing about rugby was the international breaks were brilliant, and even though they were just test matches, we didn't care.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think we needed this nations championship.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: But is this just not the November international is reaching?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: It still is, yeah.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: But the what happens is the the Southern Hemisphere played the Northern Hemisphere over and over again, and then it comes to like their own yearly World Cup thing where they'll end up playing.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: So like Ireland will have to play a couple of games.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're playing Argentina, so they're playing Argentina, Fiji, South Africa.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the 6th of November, 14th of the 21st.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: So three weeks in a row.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Depending on who comes out of the Southern Hemisphere games, then as well, they'll they'll end up playing another semi-final final.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's how it goes.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's in the middle of the year.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: I prefer the idea of just the internationals, like you know, or like the summer tours.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: We went on a summer tour to South Africa, we went on a summer tour to New Zealand, all that, you know, played them in two or three tests.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: I way prefer that, you know.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: But this I don't think people are gonna buy into this nation's championship thing.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the first year of it, so this is the first year of it, yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: I just prefer the whole autumn international, November internationals.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I suppose that the South Africa one is the last one, so that's the one everyone's gonna be waiting to see.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: But that that's the one that everyone has seen.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, Argentina will be well capable of beating Ireland.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm gonna say.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: They're always that kind of funny team that go, Mm, they've they've clipped Ireland enough times, but then another time they can just kind of they'd be well capable of beating Ireland.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um Argentina, they all they always play at kind of at Expansive brand of rugby and you don't know which way it's going to go.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: They'd be like Japan in that way, but far better, you know.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um the Fiji game will be a second string Ireland team game.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well that's a chance for these guys.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we've been mentioning earlier on in the club scene.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a chance to play a proper international game.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a good chance that Sam Prendergast starts against Argentina and and Frawley starts against Fiji if they're both fit.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then whoever's best gets the South Africa game.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the other thing is you might have the likes of a Charlie O'Shea then on the bench for one of those games, or probably for the Fiji game who'll come on and make his debut as well, which would be unbelievable.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think Sean Jansen will probably play the Fiji game.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to know where Bundy's going to be in that pecking order now, you know.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Bundy played 13 for Cannock last week.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: People won't understand this, but that's it's only one position out from its outside centre instead of inside centre.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Bundy doesn't really have the legs the legs for the outside wing.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's only one more space outside.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: He was quite good at 13.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny, he's kind of rolling back the ears a little bit.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like um he still has it in him.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: South and Jacob's socks.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's good away.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: But like Bundy's been iconic now for over 10 years.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, he's got some commitment like it.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he could have, I'm sure he could have moved multiple times if he wanted to.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, he he probably could have, but like he's he's kind of a golem man now.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's kind of weird.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's the way he is.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the South Africa game in November, I think, is going to tell a lot.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't be mad looking forward to it now if I was an Irish fan.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's the truth.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, look, uh, as I said, we we we we have our on the edge podcast, we've done GA, we have our Premier League show.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of said, Let's dip into uh the rugby side of things.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, I know a man that knows an awful lot more about rugby than me.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely your sunshine fan of the internationals, but I am interested, like, and I'm not sure.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and sorry, there's one more thing as well.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, those November internationals are leading into the Rugby World Cup in 2027.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Ireland are at a real crossroads there because they're still holding on to a lot of those the players that would have played in the World Cup four years ago, or even longer again.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: You'd like to type Furlong, who's still expected to start at prop.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: You've got you know, Bundy might still be there.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's he Andy Farrell seems to have gone, there's not a huge amount coming through.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think he'll hold a lot of those as well?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's holding a lot of them out.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I think he's I I think he's going, I need to get a cup more year.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: I need to get one more World Cup out of a lot of these guys who are going to be well up in their 30s by the time this World Cup comes around.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a bit more worrying for Irish rugby that he doesn't see a lot of them there's not a the conveyor belt coming through the school system again.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: You've got some great ones like Charlie Shea or or um Caspar Gabriel, these guys coming through that are quite exciting.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's props, it's second rows, it's it's flankers.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: There was one stage there ten years ago when Ireland had an outrageous amount of flankers, and it didn't matter who was injured, there were three more guys to come in in the back row.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to see that happening again.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think hopefully this URC will start to give these lads a bit more game time and hopefully they they rise to the level we need them at.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, yeah.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the Bank Holday October Bank Holiday weekend uh connoir at home to Zebra, uh Ulster away to the Bulls, uh Leinster, oh Leinster Munster on a Saturday Bank Holiday Saturday, that'd be a dinger up in the uh well, the newly refurbished RDS.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Probably called something else now.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's great for Leinster, by the way, because the Aviva is is dire like when it's not full, like any big screen.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: The RDS has a great atmosphere, a savage atmosphere.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and a fabulous stadium as well.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, unbelievable, yeah, yeah.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: The uh like Connick should be beating Zebra that they're at home.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: You asked me last week when Connick bet Benetton, or are they kind of expected to beat Benetton?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, yeah, they are like and if we have to have that, we have to have that mindset with they have to be beating Zebra and Benetton and all these teams, you know.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: So uh they'd be expected to beat Zebra in in October.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, look, uh that wraps up our first uh on the edge rugby special.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sorry for wrecking everybody's head there, but but this is the thing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you are watching, like none of us played international or provincial, provincial rugby.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: I could have, if it won for the music, I could have gone international.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: We love chatting about sport.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to be honest, like as I said, I don't follow it intently, but I'm always intrigued.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love all sports, but but I wanted to learn a bit more, and I've definitely learned a few new names and I want to see some of these players you're talking about.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I will probably now watch more URC to see some of those players up and coming as well to see how they go.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, look, Mark, thanks for joining us.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Look, we we might come in next week.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: We might give it a couple more weeks, see how things have been going.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd say come back in a few weeks.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe come back leading into those November international.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have a lot better picture of who's rising up at the top and who's knocking on the door.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Fair pleasure, Brendan.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for watching.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh check out all our other social media links.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you are following us, comment, like, subscribe.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know the deal.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next time.