Auto insurance can all seem the same until it comes time to use it, so don't get stuck paying more for less coverage. Switch to U.S.A. auto insurance and you could start saving money in no time. Get a quote today. Restrictions apply. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices. Plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week, and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points, so you can get big flavors and big savings, king supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. At Sierra, discover great deals on top brand workout gear, like high quality bikes, which might lead to another discovery. Getting back in the saddle isn't always comfortable. Good news is, Sierra has massage guns. Ahhh, and shave wipes too. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. You are listening to Saucebangs and Side Steps. Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Saucebangs and Side Steps podcast, joining me big M as always, Mr Who Griffin. How are we, my friend? Merry Christmas. Hello, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, depending on what people are listening to this. I think producer Lee has said that he's too busy spending time with his family this evening, so he's had to delay the pudding of this up for a good 24 hours, while Sierra recovers from his spending time with his family. He's banging, raging, spending time with his family. And so we'll be coming to you perhaps in the new year. It might be 2025 when you listen to this. If so, how did we go down against the dragons? That is a good one. I mean, he's only doing post production. I mean, how much time does that really mean? Come on. Yeah, there's not much editing on a right first time perfect, 100% of the time, 60% of the time podcast, isn't there? I know, and I think our numbers are slightly better than I think we might be close to the 65, Mel. Yeah, I mean, it is quite thankful we've had a big gap between the last game, which, what was one sec? Let me just repeat. Black line, I think was the last game. Yeah, Black line was the last game, wasn't it? That's the one. Yeah. So we've had quite a big gap, you know, between Dargue and it. So we've had a nice break on a Christmas. So, yeah, thanks. Thank you. Did you get any scarlet seams Christmas presents? No, no, I didn't. But just because if there is ever anything scarlet themed, and I am, you know, I can justify spending the money on it, I will get it straight away. Yeah, that is the problem. I get in trouble for that all the time that I got whenever it comes near to whether it's Christmas or birthdays or whatever it is. It's always, I can't think of anything to buy you because everything that you want, you just buy it for yourself. Exactly. Now, this is a thing with me and the missus. I come in trying to think of gifts as like, oh my god, I'm just scratching my head constantly. I'm easy, you know, give me a pair of boxes and some socks and I'll be happy all year long. But, you know, women are not quite busy. Have you got any posh boxes? What are posh boxes? Because I got when we got the when pirate got the deal with landscapes, obviously with rap because there was about 50 people at the time, everyone got just to erase it. I got a proper like gift set with stuff in it. And one of the things that I got was, am I got one now? No. One of the things that I got in my gift set was a really, really posh pair of boxes and this is by a long way, the nicest boxes that I've got. And most of my boxes are from M&S, so that tells you how posh they are. That tells you how posh you are with in general, Jesus Christ. No, I got I got I've got quite a lot of clothes from M&S, but that's because my dad works in M&S. So he gets, so he can obviously see when there's deals on and he gets money off. So I've got the world's cheapest M&S clothes. But they're all very nice, obviously. Yeah. My missus used to work in M&S used to get all the kids school uniform from me. Absolutely stunning the stuff they play. But yeah, what what constitutes a pair of posh boxes? I mean, I think the poshest pair I might own is from a brand called On That Ass. And I had them for a couple of months. I decided to chuck the socks on with it. I didn't get on with the socks. I like a proper thick cotton sock. So that went down the window and they tried to cancel the socks. It was just such a plover. They probably the nicest boxes I know. So they're extremely fine cotton, triple laid in some places, I think. In some places. Yeah, just we're not sponsored by my escape anymore. So don't buy him. Ma did find that funny. He's just having a cough. I'm not well, but you can't make me laugh like I have a cough. Okay, so we do need to talk about the actual last game that we were involved in. I'm not going to say play because I don't like that word right now. You didn't get to watch your lives or give us your experience of that day, not getting to watch the game live. I think that's better than talking about the game. Yeah, so I obviously we were doing lots of plans about covering the game and stuff. And I was going to do all the usual social media, etc. And first time this year, I haven't been able to watch this college game life because it being that time of year had family engagements. The girlfriend's parents came down and we had a a day out socializing, interacting with other human beings as I'm told that I should do more of. And we went out for dinner. So I thought, I'm not going to sit at dinner checking it on my phone. I thought, well, that's because I've done that in the past. And it's not fun. So I thought, I'm going to turn my phone off and I never turned my phone off. I never turned my phone off. So I literally messaged my mum and dad saying my phone is going to be off for two hours if there's an emergency message to the girlfriend. So I did that and went out for dinner. And then, but obviously, it was nothing else that I could think about. So I've come home and I've said to the Mrs. I'm going to go upstairs in the spare room for a little bit. And because I just needed some time to check the score, react to it. So I've loaded, switched my phone back on, loaded up BBC Sport, checked the score. And I've seen that the scarlets have lost away to the Ostrace 23.22. And I've thought by one point, that's, that's very tough to take. And I didn't know anything else about the game at that point. And I've gone on flash score to see the sequence of the scoreers. And I've gone on, then, clicked on the game and I've seen that they scored in overtime to win it. And I'm like, that's a tough one to take. And then I've seen that we were 1980 up at half time. And this is getting worse now. And I was gutted. I'm not going to lie or hide the fact that I was utterly gutted. Another loss by one point. I third lost this season by one point away from home. I couldn't believe it. And I couldn't, I had a brief glance at socials. I did notice on socials that no scarlets fans were like raging. No one was going after the team or calling for anybody to be sacked or anything like that. Um, you know, and obviously I saw some, some typical reactions about one or two, so we say decisions that happen in the game and things. But I've left it for a couple of days. I've had a look at the stats the next day and then I've built up to, to watch the game back. So I think we played on the Saturday, I think on the Monday, I thought to myself, I'll just watch the first half because we won the first half. I think I'd seen the try by this point. And I've watched the first half and I've messaged you whilst I was watching it. And I've, I've got to half time. And that's all I watched on the Monday was the first half and I've gone. How have we lost this? How, how do we go on and lose this game? We like, we were miles better than them. And it's possibly the best half of rugby that we've played all season. And then I've left it and then the next day I've watched most of the second half. And even on 60 minutes, I was still still thinking, we're going to win this. Even though I knew that we lost, I, we're winning this game. This is, we're clearly the better side. And we've not. And I'm left thinking, Mark, how, what I've watched with my eyes measures up to three tries to one defeat. I don't understand how that's happened. And it's extremely disappointing, you know, we can get into the bones of what we shouldn't have done in a moment. But I can't, I can't understand how we haven't won that game. Yeah, I'm in the same board as you know, it's, it's a few games this season that we've, we've been in this exact same position, you know, you know, the card you've lost. I'll say the same for the Glasgow game as well. Yeah, I really don't understand how we, we've lost this game. We were, like you said, so much better than every single facet of play. And just took message in year one on, on a Monday when you were watching there. And I was like, I know, I felt all these things like you were clipping up little spots of it. Basically Eddie James tormenting Owen Watkins, which was absolutely hilarious to watch back. You know, Sammy's performance, this, this was probably the best game we've seen from, from, from Costello for a good season, season and half. So, you know, that was brilliant. Oh, I'm thinking Joel Roberts, another two matches down the line catches that ball on the wing and we're, we're in free. But, you know, how you hindsight is what it is. So it's I'm stuck it in to think of more really to critique in this game. It was, I want to say probably use of the benches, anything, I could really go after in this one. But, you know, even then we were that dominant for that large part of the game. It should have been put to bed. Yeah, it absolutely should have been put to bed. I mean, hindsight is 2020. You can say that we should have gone to touch, you know, if, if one of those kicks to goal, which was a three, if one of those options to take the three, was a kick to the corner and we drive over, which our driving mall has been very effective this year, we get over and we get over quick. We think we scored a driving mall. I mean, Joshua Cloud scored five tries in four games or something from, from that type of distance. So if one of those ops for the three, it actually ends up with a five. We've won the game and there you go. So, that's one thing. Like you said, the use of the bench, as always, are actually not coming on until the very end was, Dwayne's got that wrong. Score the spade of spade. That was a mistake. And then, you know, the, the score to concede the three tries in the manner that we did. I always say that the score, the, the try count doesn't lie. Three to one. To concede those three tries in the way that we did a disappointing, you know, let's be honest, our sprays aren't scoring. If you make them go more than three phases, they, they haven't done all season. Then phase attack is, isn't how they score. They score quick. And to give them the opportunities to get into the position to have an, an attack from that close to our line, Lord, have a platform that goes to our line is disappointing and to allow them to execute it three times as disappointing. We should have been able to stop it. You know, and if we want to be a team that is in the top half of the table in the URC, that's the level of opposition that we need to be able to beat, honestly. You know, we're not here to critique the opposition, but even the commentators. And to be fair, you know, some people learn about the commentators. I think I like Richie Reese as a commentator. The way he calls plays in, you know, in real time, he was saying, well, the Ospreys have done this, which means they're going to have this problem at the next rock. And then they would, you know, there's a, there's a video that I've done on the rap channel and analyzing the Ospreys attack. And it was the things that I put in there about having all your followers being used in one way, which means that on the next phase of the attack, no one's in the right position to execute the next thing. And Sean Holly, we obviously know is steeped in Osprey, he was losing his minds on calms going, what are they doing? There was one where they called a mark. I think their first attack of the game are more on the halfway. They've thrown the whole back line into the mall on halfway and got nothing from it. You know, let's be honest, you know, if the if the scarlets were pulling moves like like that, we'd go absolutely mental. We on this part, we'd call it out and say, it's not good enough. So the point that I'm making is if we want to be that team, which we're trying to convince ourselves that we are, we've got to be beaten that level of opposition. And the fact that we didn't, you know, watching the game back kind of made me feel better in that I was like, well, we were clearly the better team. But it doesn't matter if you don't trouble the scoreboard. And we kept, we tried to keep the scoreboard ticking over. And like we say, you and Lloyd's missed a couple of kicks, people are overstating how easy the kicks were. One of them wasn't easy at all. But it, another game, another game lost by a point that we should have won. And it's a trend now. And, you know, you're looking at the league table with somehow now down in 12th. Obviously, people have played different numbers of games with with three wins. We, if our discipline was 10% better, and our kicks to touch were 10% better, we'd be on six wins. And that's not an exaggeration. We've lost three games by one point. So it's, it's frustrating. And I'm annoyed. But at the same time, I'm not panicking because we did play the better rugby. Yeah. I mean, I do agree with you a lot of points. And one thing that I was worried about before the game, which I'm very much worried about for this upcoming one is that us getting dragged down to the level. I think they did do that in, you know, especially in the last 20th of the second half. I mean, if you've watched us every single game up to this one, how many times have we taken the three, especially in the first half? We would always go for the corner and go for the feeling. Yes, I understand, you know, keeping our scoreboard ticking over. Right, I do agree with you. I do think if, you know, we stuck with our guns as we had been all season, we probably were at the bonus point, wrapped up by our time, if we kept going for the corner instead of the sticks. You know, that that is the level of superiority we were enjoying over them. But I do understand why we went for the three at the same time. I mean, there's, there is no team in this league that I fear at home. They generally isn't any team container of the park, and I honestly believe that we can't do them over. And there's literally a hand full of teams that I'm afraid of going away to. I'm not afraid to go in the Glasgow anymore. I would have been afraid of Glasgow before that game. And I know people say also rotated, so will we. And, you know, you play was in front, you know, like, honestly, unless we're coming up against, you know, fully loaded, lenster, balls, Glasgow away, and genuinely not scared of anyone. And that's just the reality of how good we are playing this season, and how much, you know, improvement, one, a few of our sightings have made. And secondly, the buy-in from the players into the style of play, because this is massively different from what we see in last season. You know, they literally, they went to the back to the drawing board, essentially, you know, at the back end of last season, they've come up with this, they've presented it to the boys in pre-season, and they have all bought in, which has been absolutely amazing. And it's amazing for us to see, you know, the style of play, you know, even even other teams like Bordeaux and Toulouse, a copy of this, you know what I mean? That's how good it is. So yeah, it's, it's getting over that line. And obviously, that that is the main thing, when wins are one matter, you know, I'm happy to be, you know, having some great performances, but when we literally lose it to what essentially is one of the worst teams in the league. And I'm not saying it's just to be disrespectful to those, you know, over the bridge, you know, you are literally bottom four of this league, you know, dad, that is pathetic. And I include us last season in our bracket, we were pathetic last season. So to even be within a score of these teams is, you know, we shouldn't be looking at ourselves. Yeah, onwards and upwards. Yeah, that's a quick answer to the stats. Because I think, you know, the stats aren't massively exciting for this game. But like, if we start with the set piece, obviously that went well, as it has done all season, just needs to make sure they don't share the wrong thing. Share the screen. There we go. What do you want to see? It's wrong. What are you afraid of, my friend? No, it's nothing. It would just be the, the WhatsApp some things. It's only ever talked to you really anyway. So you've seen it all anyway. No, I'm privileged. No. So set plays. Scrummed. Wow. Yeah, I'm a bit flexed by this as well as the Osprey's stats as they had 67, well, two-thirds scrum completion on four scrums. Yeah, they had six. No, that's the total scrums, I'm pretty sure. I'm sure that, come on to get 67% from that. It surely you'll have to be the bad six scrums. All right. Okay. Well, the point is we've taken, I think we took two scrums off them. So that, that math does actually math. We took two scrums off them. We took two line outs off them as well. I think Matthias got one penalty out of both there or two, and I think Hepburn got one out of, I can't remember, he was the replacement tired for them, re-tenory or something. Another game where we've not dominated possession, we know that's not our game style. We're happy to, I think they called it our own calms. They went, watch this now, scarless, we'll go two phases and kick, and that's what we did. And that's fine. That's a way of playing. But when we had the ball, we did a lot with it. If you look at our per touches metric compared to them, we had a lot more. Yeah, 209 tackles again, north of 200 tackles again. Yeah, so there's nothing in the stats that makes me go apart from this one, the possession map. We let them just let them have so much possession in our half, and this is something that we've got to improve. Yeah, but like you said, ospreys are not doing anything after three phases. So in our red zone, obviously different, but we do seem very comfortable letting teams play around us. So that is something we need to look at. I do think we could probably do more with possession. We have got some amazing strike runners and pretty sure that, you know, three, four phases, we can develop, you know, get a full back line, get a move ready and try something rather than just give possession. We left two tries out there as well. I mean, like you said, Joe Roberts won, you should have caught it. And the one, the Yo and Lloyd one that was chalks off 10 minutes and whatever, I didn't see a forward pass. Not sure what the TMO is seeing there. It's just that Eddie James is pass the ball forward. He clearly has not. But anyway, less of that. That's not too referee top. So about the try that we did score. So this has got an all of the all of the Twitter rugby analysts excited this scarlet's try lovely set play move from the line out just inside their half. So it starts off with a pass from Josh McLeod and they were going. Amazing pass, by the way. They were going mad about this pass. So the Osprey's got two defenders on the tail of the line out here. I think that's Sam Perry and Gareth Thomas. Josh McLeod fizzes this, but look at this passman to Costello there. It was a bit high for Costello's short. We'll blame that on Costello being short. And you got Lao C in midfield. Now the commentators were saying, Lao C is in midfield. That must mean because they're going to use them. And we have used Lao C as a as a crash ball 12 at times. The season that is attacked, we've used. I love that we've done this in overtime as well, by the way. We could have caught it and kicked it out. So this is kind of what we were saying about back in ourselves. Like we backed ourselves here, but not at other points of the game. This is annoying. So if I wrote it on Costello then fizzes it back. Look at where Cowdoor is. He's sat there waiting for it. As he does. It's his favourite thing to do, isn't it? Yeah, hang about somewhere, Cowdoor. There you go, there he is. So he sat there waiting for it. He's through and then look, he's got Elisme. How is his inside? And look at the pace on that. He doesn't even hit top gear there. So that was nice to see. I think everyone else in Wales is starting to wake up to Elisme, who is Welsh, by the way. We've checked. Yeah, like we've said before, apparently Cannon Valley is where his looks lie. So it is good and I know you've said this to me as well, that you think some Welsh left us might get a little bit trigger-happy and see. Ooh, he's playing well. Let's get him in. It's because he's so tall. Honestly, his height is such a point of difference for him. And the fact is there's no other wings in Wales at all, and being tall helps. I mean, it does, but as a winger, probably not as much as, let's say, a second row. I don't want him involved with Wales, I really don't. Well, he had 84 metres, which was top. He had five defenders beaten, which was top. He had two off-loads as well, which no one else was more. Not a very off-loading game. From his nine carries as well, 84 metres and nine carries pretty darn good. And then the other player who had a great game, who you really mentioned is Sam Costello. Now, I'm not going to read out Sam Costello's stats because they're definitely wrong. He definitely made more than 15 metres in this game. But, like you said, at times, majestic reforms from Sam, not befitting of someone on the losing team. No, not at all. But there we go. It is what it is. I'll be honest. The way things are going within Welsh rugby, we might not even have a local derby at Christmas time, you know, before long. So, you know, that is what it is. Let's enjoy a world we can shall we say. Okay, we had, we did have a team also play this past week end, which is our female team in every game. Past two weekends. Yes, I'm talking about the park now. But not yet. I'll say, yeah, we weren't you for last week, will we? We would off-celebrating, you know, Hanukkah or whatever it is, you celebrate. Yeah, so, Brith and Thunder have kicked off their Celtic Challenge campaign. Oh, that was so nice, CCC. Not the greatest of starts, both games against Guaglia, Lightning, Guaglia, who, let's be honest, when you're looking at the squads of these two teams, they should be winning these games. And they did, they, you know, they were comfortable down at Stridmana, which, by the way, terrible, terrible choice, moving them from cap. Why are they ruled from cap? I have no idea. Much better being in an actual rugby ground, not a school team ground where, you know, the cameras, I didn't enjoy watching that game. Just look at the camera. The biggest difference for me, I mean, obviously, you know, it has a functional pitch. And I'm sure the changing rooms and everything are all very nice. It's not, oh, yeah. It's the Dragon's trainer pitch. It's awesome standard. Yeah, it's that from a viewership point of view, the level difference between Parker Scarlett, Sander Schidmanak, was night and day from watching it on TV. And if they were still playing in cap, that disparity wouldn't exist. So that's the point on that. Yeah, yeah. We'll ignore that first game, 42-22. Bonus point away from home, job done. Yes, yes, that is what it is. But this game this past weekend at the park, which was free to enter, free for everyone. Sorry, we couldn't promote it anymore. But if you had any daughters, you know, you could have taken them for free. You could have taken yourself for free. You don't need any daughters. Take your son, take your boys to watch some good standard rugby from the women's division. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know where to go with this one. I mean, quite frankly, the game should have been dead and buried by half time again. We're saying that, you know, held up over 37 times over the line. It was hard going, you know, watching this game. Obviously, if we watch the Scarlett, we watch the UFC, top 40, you know, Champions Cup challenge, couple of other rugby. So we used to see in a certain standard. And obviously the women's game is just not at that level yet. It will get there in time. I think the Power 15 or whatever, it is called across the board. Did you watch the Harlequins versus... So have you seen anything in the Harlequins versus Leicester? No, I haven't seen... There were some skills... I haven't seen that game. There's a few Welsh skills played extremely well in that game. None. Yeah. Less says an Alcal. What? You see this? What? What do you mean? She's playing. Yeah. She's a Brit. What's she doing over there? They're paying her money, Mart. Oh, for Christ's sake. I'm really upset now. I'm really, really upset. I thought she was out for the season. Yeah, I was carrying that on... Jazz Joyce. Skye. I know Joyce is over there. I know Joyce is over there. You can't expect Joyce to not have a pay-in contract. Best back in the world by far. Come on. Yeah. No, I don't get a chance to watch the... Isn't it all on what's it called? J&T. Oh, I would say BT. She was over there. Yeah, I don't have that crap. I didn't have that crap when it was champions. Cup on it. I'd rather fight them for each stream somewhere. So cheap by hand. But yeah. Bryson really dominated up front this first. The first half especially. They had all the possession. They were held up so many times. Oh, hold ups. Now we just... We're at Skyler's... Bryson Men, as I've started calling this, the Skyler's as a showman. The... As I will say that we kind of tongue in cheek. We started referring to Bryson's under as Skyler's women. The Skyler's have started announcing the Bryson team sheet via their social accounts. They've obviously played in the park. I'm putting out videos of Dwayne Peele going and meeting the girls. And they got the girls doing interviews about how when they had season tickets at the Skyler's. So, kind of the thing that started as a joke is now official in all but name. It's on the funder, our Skyler's women. I can't remember what I was going to say. Oh yeah, so we talked about Skyler's men about how we've held up a lot of teams. And it's good defense, right? That wasn't really the case for Bryson. They should be disappointed not to score those. There was some poor carrying technique that Costas tries there. Also, a bit of white line, even from the forwards. Because I thought the backs, when the backs got the ball, particularly the centres looked very sharp. Looked very sharp. Oh, I've got a name now. Is it Hing on the wing? And a Hing. Yeah, sheet with class. Obviously, Meg Webb was class as well. Oh, yeah, I'm standing. Bitly Dua. So we should have come on. If you're going to be the Skyler's women, you need to pass the backs the ball a bit more. Yeah, I mean, obviously we didn't see as much of the backs in the first half with all that forward domination. But the second half, you know, especially when the backs came on, you know, Fiona Lewis, Hannah Marshall, Hannah Black. Oh my God, these girls were outstanding. They literally tore apart Gualia when they were able to do it. It was just a shame they couldn't finish off moves. I mean, Fiona Lewis, I think, said she's been injured for like 17 months. I know this was her first game, so obviously her first game for Britain as well. No, she played for Bristol week before, I think. Yeah, first game for Britain, let's say. First game for Britain, then. And she was outstanding when she came on. I mean, oh my God, you know, watching this girl play, it was something different. And someone, oh, yeah, it must have been Hannah Marshall. She looked outstanding, you know, in the forward. You know, she didn't start last week, you know, our first choice. I think she's our first, so it's hard to really tell right now. Chloe Grant, she got stretched it off, you know, speedy recoveries to her. But Evie Gayle came on in our first game and started this one. Oh, outstanding. I mean, there are certain players you just look at and you think, yeah, you know, Natalia John is another one. They just do their job so well and it's so impressive. So it is a really good call of girls in this squad, women, or whatever you want to say, yeah. I've checked with the women's party. Your article and the girls, if they're your team. So like we call the scholars, the boys, the boys done well. Well, I'd say the girls, like, you wouldn't call the black firms, the New Zealand girls, you wouldn't say that. But for your own team, you're allowed to call them the girls. I checked with women and they said that was fine. I can deal with that. I mean, one thing I had issue with now, I didn't see much of this. You know, watching the women's under 20s, you know, the summination series or whatever they were called is Jess Rogers on a break. She was carrying a lot of bright, which I think obviously, contributed to some of those hold-up tries. So it just made me think that they might be, you know, a nigga or something going on in there. So that was quite uncharacteristic for there. But honestly, there's a really good squad there. And even though it's supposedly, you know, slightly lesser than what Guaglia is, you know, I don't see no reason why we can't give this, you know, Caltech challenge a good run, you know, with these eight more fixtures to be had. It's a long hour. Some good teams, I think we will build. I mean, the step from game one to game two is massive. Yeah, I think we haven't had a pre-season either. I mean, all the girls would have come in different teams, you know, they are game against Guaglia. And it goes for both sides, obviously. But that was the first game of rugby they had together, which is maddening in itself. So, you know, that's something we can build on next season. But yeah, you know, a 10 game league, you know, six wins. You know, where the level is. It's a tough old league though, Mark. It's a tough old league. I don't want to keep us in there. You know what I mean? I know, I'll be obviously I'll be back in them no matter what. Edinburgh look a good team. Obviously, all fans are good. So you're probably looking at clovers in Glasgow now. We will get better. I think exponentially as the season gets goes on. You're probably looking at Glasgow is probably the one that will be disappointing. If we don't win that, Edinburgh are very good. I think we've got Edinburgh next. Yeah, Edinburgh. On the 4th in Edinburgh, that is going to be, you know, one hell of a clash to behold. But no, you know, it is a really level phase field. It is not a great deal between the teams. You know, well, founds when it last year. You know, Edinburgh wouldn't suck. You know, obviously, there was only Glasgow that finished without the win. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen again. But, you know, I do think I wouldn't be surprised, at least, to see, you know, that someone win this league with seven wins. I would not be surprised by that at all. I could see someone take, I could see everyone take, and at least three L's. Hmm, yeah. So anyway, looking forward to the next round of the Celtic Challenge. Okay. Kind of meant to be the community bit, but it's been Christmas. I've also got a bit 100%. So I kind of haven't done the fixtures for this upcoming round. Everything does kick off on January, Saturday the 4th. I am very apologetic. I will get, I will give myself a smack on the back or whatever. Get it all back up and sorted. But what we can talk about is the SRC double headers. Now, we had kind of re-at home to Quinn's in the first round. And then obviously Quinn's host in the reverse. It's 35-5 drawers win in our first game. No upper church ban. So it was pretty much a demolition job. There was really nothing to be said for Quinn's in that game. You know, Ed Scrag picked up a try in that one. So, you know, well done to him. But the return game at the Incomarlin Park. Now, that was quite different. That was, that could have gone either way. And I am really happy to say that it could have gone either way. Mainly because of how many scarlets got pumped into this commander Quinn's side. So it's land every in the year 23. They had Jack Davis start in. They had Harry Thomas with a first game mark. Great to see him again. Gabe Hawley and Ed Scrag, those three on the bench. So four in total. Now, who come up and Quinn's in the start in 15. And Joly Bada, Gabriel McDonald, Charlie Titkem, Sam O'Connor, Isaac Young, Ben Williams, and Karu went to a plot with Keanu Evans and Rod Lewis on the bench. So, you know, in terms of development, you know, seven starting two on the bench. I am incredibly happy with that from a scarlet's point of view. Obviously, you know, a couple of them, you know, Sam O'Connor and Charlie Titkem, we won't see them. We can week out. This was literally because of how the games fell. And they were, and we weren't playing, you know, in and around this time. So, because they are usually a third option 10, third often loose head. So, they will be traveling reserve. And they will be again come New Year's Day. So, they will, they don't get an opportunity to play much rugby, which is a shame because they're both young and extremely talented. I really like the luck of Sam O'Connor. I really want to see him play more minutes. But onto the game itself. It was a ding dong of a match back and forth, you know. Quinn's will be, you know, really, really happy with the performance. You know, they stood up to the champions. They stood up to a top four team. And, you know, they came within the score. You know, 27, 22 were finished to the drawers. So, they'll know that they could have got the job done. You know, Gabriel McDonald picked up a try. Charlie Titkem got seven points, two conversions in the panel day. You know, they were opportunities in this game from. And I think coming off a last season, where I think you only picked up six wins in the league, you know, in a 13 team league or whatever it was. You know, they'll be happy with the way they are progressing so far, which is great. The drawers, on the other hand, they grind it up wins. Then again, up to second, third year very much. Apart from that new port game, I don't think they have got out of third year with anybody. And, you know, that is amazing to say, considering they still are in that top four mix. So, I'd like to see drawers, you know, use this little bit. So, they go this weekend coming now, and then they got a little bit of time off before the cup competition starts. I'd like to see them really, you know, have a lot to see where their issues are, how they can get running at the higher gear. Because, quite frankly, if this is what drawers are doing, they'd really battle in teams down. And again, all the line in second, third year, they're going to be something else once they hit top four. I know maybe there is a plan. Maybe this is the progression. Maybe they're going to start using this cup run, and then the last few rounds of the league before the playoffs. Maybe that is the plan. But I'd like to see a bit more from drawers. Quins on the other hand, and, you know, I'm really happy with them, and how they go in. A few more Ws would be nice, but, you know, there it is. So, on to this week now, and Fantavery have gone new port at home. So that is a big one. And we know they've performed against Newport once, so I'm expecting it again. And the other game, Kamar and Quins, are traveling to Pontepool, which is a quarter past five kickoff on the Saturday. And I believe we'll be live on S.P.E.T.R.F. S.P.E.T.R.F.C. So, that'll be, you know, that'll be nice to watch. A bit of Saturday, but we first weekend of the year. Hopefully, there'll be a decent crowd down there, you know, you know, Pontepool, and Ebbouville, you know, they've had their double-ed as he last week's day. I think they've pulled around seven, eight thousand over the two feet. Obviously, the same people. So we're talking about three to three and a half thousand people over the two fixtures, which is, you know, absolutely brilliant. 103,000, as is the law on World Drug Read Twitter. Oh, yeah, especially over the Christmas- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, RGC for their game against Progen, got over 2,000, I've been, uh, stadium, CSM, which was, you know, that's outstanding in itself. You know, they don't have any other competition besides football. If they could somehow get a hold of that. And, you know, even if it was only half of that, even if they get a thousand coming regularly, that would be massive for RGC, you know, those things are absolutely brilliant to see. I love it. So I think we've got 5,000, was it, the story finish? Yeah, it's a little bit different than I went for me because there wasn't the Scarlet's Osprey's game on the same day. I mean, brilliant to get together now, you know, almost had capacity. I think it's only 6,000 now. Yeah, it's not accurate. Compared to what it was back in the day where they had all the terraces. And I think they could have, could have cost the 20 and they had one point. But yeah, when you when you don't have the, you know, the competing regional picture on the same day, it is, it is hard to take. Yeah, I mean, I know obviously there's like, it's not that easy, but you'd like to think that you could be a bit more creative with some of these SRC fixtures. Yeah, well, that plays and things. Yeah, I mean, people, people go on about, you know, club rugby being the light blood of air. Well, let's try and take hold of that. Let's try and move them away from the community game then. If these clubs are really who everyone is supporting and who everyone loves, then let's have them play when all these people who love them are not playing or coaching or anything themselves. Let's see what happens. You know, this core past five fixture for Pontipoul against Karne Quins. You know, more fixtures are going to be finished about four, 10 past four, you know, on the Saturday. So that's probably a little bit too soon. You know, if you could get a good two and a half to three hours, I think three might be a little bit too much actually between these games. And if people do love their clubs as much, then, you know, I think they'd see that like back in the day when, you know, when I was just just a kid playing, if I was by youth game in the morning. So if I could go watch the seniors, you know, I was bouncing. I was banging anytime we played at home. And the other three occasions we played on Sardis, you know, was absolutely brilliant. You literally get off the pitch, 12 o'clock showers, whatever you need to do. And boom, you were already there. You were already awake in about ten minutes. Nothing like you again to play a game and then watch a game straight after. I do like that feeling. So yeah, that is something we can, we should be looking at. You know, I'd say the same for the regional game, if we could get everyone who actually plays or supports a leg strike, be it not clash in any capacity. Also, there's no evidence to suggest these people will go to these games. But if you don't try it, you'll never get that evidence as such as you should say. So yeah, that's my two pence on that subject. So that brings us to, I want to say this weekend, but obviously it's not this weekend. That brings us to this Wednesday. And yeah, it's confusing. We got caught out with the team announcement today, didn't we? Like, oh my god, there's a Scarlet's team being announced. What's happening? It's Monday. Oh, that's because we're playing on Wednesday. Like even then, I expected the team tomorrow. I was like, I didn't, didn't even have it in my diary. Even though they like, but no, this is the one and only time in the year. We will ever record a part and actually know the squad going into the game. So I think we've had a lesson. Oh my god, no, I can't just call away. It's from Jack. I mean, look at this. Is this a lesson from what you did? No, no mind. Well, well, well, well, well, well. Your precious Scarlet's have lost a game of rugby by two driving malls to nil. Is it time that, oh, sorry, is it true that you only opted for the three so many times, because you didn't want a forward touching the ball? Yours, Jack from lucky. Charming is ever, man. Charming is ever. Jack, it's Christmas. So I'm just going to say go do one, you know. Yeah, I don't want to, I don't want to revisit that game. Jack, bugger off, please. I mean, if you've got so much to talk about, so much to say, send it to the eerie. We really don't care. You know, we care about us. We don't care about you. You care about us. This is the thing we focus on Scarlet's things and how Scarlet's doing. So well, our notifications on Twitter have been busy last week. We've had a lovely quiet season up until now. And our notifications suddenly started popping off from Saturday through to Sunday. Yeah, I did not decide to be fair. That was quite my end. So yeah, we like to focus on ourselves as always. Well, let's focus on ourselves, dragons on Wednesday, New Year's Day. Shall we bring the team up? Shall we put the team on the screen? Ah, put the team on the screen. I like the idea of that. Yeah, it's the same that that can't be a regular bit. Because we normally record miles away from the team's maps. We've got a beautiful fourth of you. We did the fourth key comment. So we've got number one, Alec Hepburn. We're managed to move it. It's in at number two. Henry Thomas retains his usual spots of starting tight head, best tight head in Wales at number three. Triple H, as we call him. Alex Craig is in at number four. Sam Laussi, number five. Max Douglas, Maximus himself, is in at number six. Oh, sorry, I forgot to call mine as thick and ethly water. We must do that. So we've gone for one of our preferred tactics of three locks in the starting 15. On the starting pack, which we did against the Bulls. And I think we did it against Black Lion as well. No, we didn't do it against Black Lion. Yeah, sure. Yes, Bulls and Zebra. No, okay. Captain Josh is at number seven. Then we've got 10 plonteries at number eight, which I think is his best position at the moment. Then you've got Gareth Davis, Cowadaw is at number nine. Sammy's at 10. Then you've got Blair Murray's back from injury at 11. Jonny, you've cut his Joe Roberts in the centers. Ellis, me, keeps you spot on the wing. And Tom Rogers is at full back. Let's pause there then. So I feel like full back is the problem position for the Scots in the moment. Not because we don't have players who can play full back, because as we've discussed in the past, all of our wingers can play full back, literally all of them. But no one's nailing it down. You know, we had Jo and Lloyd starting there last week. We've had Blair Murray play there internationally. Jo and Nicholas has been playing there. He's now out of the team, out of the 23 entirely. I feel like Duane just needs to pick someone and stick with them. I know it's difficult with injuries. But yeah, I mean, for me, you know, I wanted Tom to be given the 15th Jedi. He had it for the first game of the season out in Benetton. And this is now the first time he's getting again. And I was bounced between Jo and Lloyd and Jo and Nicholas. And, you know, seeking out could Ellis me as Ben is like, Jo and Nicholas is a scar to win through. He's pawn to bear him by. He's absolutely brilliant to have in this squad. But quite frankly, I think if Ellis me had shown a little bit more in one of those first two games, we would have seen Tom Rogers at 15 for a lot more this season. But yeah, Tom is the one we need to run there. I think he out of the three that are there. So you've got Blair, Marie, Ellis me, Tom Rogers, who all three can't play fall back. I think it might end up being Ellis me, you know, in the long run, just because of the new escort laws. You know, having that extra bit of height behind them, you know, to take on these high balls when you've got someone actually steaming at you, you know, might be beneficial. But yeah, Tom is definitely the one for me. He doesn't have the top end pace that Ellis me or Blair, Marie do. So, you know, there is a sensible, you know, choice for there. You know, put your slowest wing at fallback sort of thing. And he's not slow. Anyway, he's just not as fast as the other guys. That's what I'm saying for you. I'm not calling Tom Rogers slow. No way near to it. But I like Tom at 15. I think he gives him more options. I think he is a good kicking option. But having that, it's that ability to scan, which is something that is obviously massive in Sanjay's game, which is obviously spent a lot of time here, you know, being from us. I'm hoping that that's something that Tom has learned during, you know, his few years involved with Sanjay. So, given how good Tom has been in attack this season, I am excited to see him getting a run in the shoot. So, yeah, I'm happy with that. I'm done with the Sam Costello, Yo and Loy, 10, 15. I am done with it. Now, we've spoken about Yo and Loy's best position being 15. I mean, the way he's played this season, I think he's focusing a lot more on playing a 10 and then it is showing. I do think he is developing into a better 10 than 15. So let's keep him there. So, yeah, what's your two pens on it about? Yeah, Hepburn and Matthias being rotated is interesting, but I don't think necessarily a bad thing. We talked about having the balance on there. I think so having kind of splitting up what we might think is our best scrumaging props. We're being Kemsey and Henry having one on the bench isn't too bad. If I just go through the bench, we've got Sean Evans, Kemsey Matthias, like I said, Archer Holtz is on the bench, the world famous of A for Theta is wearing number 19, whether he actually ends up in the row, we don't know. But Dwayne has obviously listened to the bond and go, "Oh, yeah, Tane and Veyer don't work together." I keep needing the boys from the saucepan and the size steps pod to remind me of that. So we split them up and then Jarrod Taylor wears number 20. So it's a hefty pack. It's about as hefty a pack as we could pick. Archie Hughes, aka the Falcon in number 21, you're unloaded number 22 and he will come on. He will not be an unused sub. And then Eddie James Ditto wearing number 23. I'm not. There's nothing about the team that I dislike. Obviously, we've talked about Johnny Williams being the better impact sensor. We won't go over that again. But there's nothing really to pick a part about that selection to be honest. Our problem all season has not been the selection of the 15. It's been the use of the bench. Yeah, I mean, in terms of the bench, I love Sean Evans. I really do, but at this point, I would much rather see us try out eyes of young. He's back, he's 50s, an aggressive hooker. And it's not anything to do with physical. So Sean Evans is taller than both eyes of young and Harry Thomas, who are the young hookers coming through. It's just a case of those boys who've been doing it the entire life. And it's tough anywhere in that front row. It's incredibly tough to learn, especially if you're coming off. It's actually been an open side like Sean was. So never easy. I mean, Sean is perfect for the squad. He seems to be a galvanizing character and he looks apart as well. I like to go on and I talk to them. He does look sharp. He's a natural eyeliner, which is what I'm jealous of. But yeah, we spoke about you using the bench more, having predicted in there that that is scary. And again, like you said, we talked about Johnny being the better impact. And we're not talking stick Johnny on the bench all season. We're saying big games, big games where we really could do with someone's big and scary like Johnny. Who could come off and really make a few people's, you know, lunches, go up a couple inches. No, that's what we want him for. So this would have been one of those. And this is a must win game right now, especially after the disaster. Yeah, season's a line of bit, isn't it? Because if we lose this, then that means that we're three from nine. That doesn't sound very good. Whereas if we're four from nine in a draw, it sounds a lot better. And if we win, we'll go back into the top half, that's able. And I think we finished sixth. I think with a bonus one, do you think that's possible? So, you know, that would be nice, you know, a nice little gift, you know. Yeah, there's been a lot of weird results this weekend. A lot of supposedly bad teams in the last couple of rounds of beaten, better teams. Not so much in Ireland, but in South Africa and Scotland. Yeah, I didn't bring a beaten glass. Oh, I couldn't wrap my head run down. Literally, I think it must have been quarter to five. So, you know, game, game about differential. And I was just clicking through them to see the scores. I think Jesus Christ did one. I couldn't get over that one. But yeah, I mean, talking about this game. I mean, same, as I said, for the Osprey, the only way I see us losing is if we get dragged on to the level. And dragons are remarkably adept of doing that to work. So, I was trying to put together some clips, which will be out tomorrow. This was Zori out on the TikTok and YouTube as a short. I was looking through clips of old games. And I tell you what, we've had some stinking results against the dragons in recent years. Whether it be Judgment Day or at Rodney Parade, we can't buy a win at Rodney Parade. It's ridiculous. And like, for some of the players that obviously, you know, it's a bit of a new team for us now. I mean, in the past, like when we were in our pump, when we had like a full Welsh 15, we still got turned over by the dragons. The our ability to not rock up in this game, historically, is mind-blowing. Yeah, and looking at the dragons 23 for this game, if I look at the 15 specifically, I mean, we just absolutely mangle them, position by position. I said, I said, do I think, you know, the only positions where we don't have the superior players, I think the meteor tip, the meteor hip, is better than out of cap in all tier three against one. And then I'd say plum tree and 50, and Wayne writer about the same. So, you know, we've got 13 players better than them in the 15. I can't see us losing this game. We shouldn't lose it. Yeah, I got to agree. It's never really been about that in this game, has it? It's always been about us finding a way to lose, you know, obviously Sammy missed his penalty last year at their place. We just, they just rock up, you know, it's a bit like how they beat the Ospreys at their place as well. They managed to beat us, you know, they, I think they, someone offered them, you lose to Cardiff every year, but you beat the Ospreys in the scars. And I think they took that choice, to be honest. So yeah, nervous, you know, this, I'm doing a series analyzing every, every Welsh region's attack. I've done the scarlets, I've done the Ospreys. Cardiff is working progress. Dragons have an attack. But the dragons are going to be last. And it's going to be tricky because the dragons are very difficult to analyze, because it's never clear if they're doing the same thing one game to the next. And they, especially last season, they have the ball so little, I think they carry the ball least of anyone in the league. They did last season anyway, and they're the least territory and things. It's very difficult to analyze what they're going to do. What is good about them? They have an underrated pack. I think their pack is very underrated. And Angus O'Brien is doing very well from the fly half. And they've got exciting young talent in the backs as well. The likes of Hugh Anderson, their centers, I know they're very excited about as well. So that's about as much as analysis as you can do on them because they, they, they complain in fits and starts, but they, they always just seem to have a, a period in a game where they go massively off the boil. And then it's very difficult to draw many conclusions about them. Yeah. I mean, for me, you're looking at that team. They, they put Hugh Anderson on the, the left wing. So you, when you've got a young kid like that, you know, and you know, we, we've got no issue with where that was. Like, obviously, play Murray. He plays on the left wing because he's probably, you know, he's, he's the best, best defensive winger, even though he's a shorter. So we, we saw that in the aptitude yard in, in, in the Cardiff game. At home, we, you know, he went down, he chat, he, well, ran back what 3000 meters to make our tackle. Yeah. No, I'm sorry, but they've got a real dire who is, you know, he's a Welsh international winger. You know, 20 cap plus. I, I'm sure he's in and around those numbers. And you know, left wing is like, like we discussed before that. That's where everyone attacks on the right. So it's the left wing of the student or defendant. They put in the young kid there. I know he plays a lot of fallback, but you put in your young kid in that position. I'd be put, I'd be sticking him on the right, like, and, you know, shifting real dire over. So I, I do think with how we attack, with how we play, we, we could find a bit of joy down there, you know, especially when we're lumping Max that glass and plum tree on our sideline. And then in the second half, when Fuffita comes on, I think we could get a hell of a little joy, you know, down that side. Just because of it is an experience at this level. Like, you know, I think you'll, you'll go a long way. You know, we, you play the SRC level quite a bit, you know, really, really good player. No, no, not knocking him or nothing like that, but he is a kid. And you know, that, that's what we're going to have. Like, like, Ellis Knee is a kid. And for that reason, he's played a bit on the, on the left wing. So now play Murray's back. Our best defensive wing is back. So you can bugger off and you can go have a bit of a, bit of a lie down on our side. So it's just something that when you're looking at these squads and you're looking how they made up, who's playing way, especially if you're looking at wingers. It tells me they don't trust real dire defensively. So I'd like us to attack left as well. But I, I do think that could be somewhere where, especially Max Douglas and Fifida get some joy. Should we put them in those positions? And we have done that plenty of times this season. We have got that ball outright in the tram lines to a, to a, to a back row. So that's going to be something to watch out for. Yeah. Yeah, like I said, it's probably the, probably the most difficult team. So it's a analyze and have a, you know, a stats based conversation or something because they've like, they've changed their coach halfway through as well. It's just, it's not that. It's just difficult to know what it is that they're going to, going to turn up and do. And like I said, it kind of doesn't matter because form goes out of the window in Welsh Darvies. There's always something weird that happens. The, the, the team that's coming in on the best form tends to lose. And things. So don't really, really don't know what's going to happen in this game. Don't know what to watch out for. Don't know what area we're going to target. Don't know what area they're going to target. It's a bit of an unknown. I think we just got to focus on ourselves. I think what will be really exciting to see is us with a bit more ball in hand or a hell of a lot of kicking. Because like you said, they don't get a lot of possession. We don't like to play with possession. So that's going to be an interesting one. That could work against us. I mean, our worst performance of the season was Cardiff. And that was kind of at home. And that's the game that we had the most ball in. So sometimes if you're a team that wants to play without the ball, and you find yourself having the ball a lot, then you find yourself getting unstuck, and that's exactly what happened in the home game against Cardiff. I reckon we just chock a lot of guardio wins in an arc case and try and pretend this off transition if we recollect it. Yeah. So I honest to God, we should be pumping the dragons the way we are playing, the way the opposition we've come up against, the better opposition that we've beaten it, or we've kind of extremely close to it. We should be put in. This should be a bonus point when walking the park. No, not meaning to disrespect the dragons, but you last. It's as simple as that. If anything less than a bonus point when it isn't good enough in this scenario, and I'm not afraid to say that out loud, no, I'd like to think we'll take this by a comfortable 15 points because we're at home. But realistically, I'd say Scarlet's by 10. I've really no idea. I always back the Scarlet. So I'll say this Scarlet's by two, but... She says that. This is Welsh Derby's. Something weird always happens. Something always weird happens in Scarlet's versus Dragon's Games. So there's no Moriarty to throw kicks and fizzes now or ever there's one out. No, no. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of cards in this game one way or another thing. We do see a lot. Anyway, do we have any of the prisoners to conduct this movement, my friend? Yeah, just very quickly. Because I couldn't find any good clips from a Scarlet's point of view for Scarlet's memories against the dragons. I've only got this one. Which I'll show you now. End off. Who are we going to see? Who's it going to be? Is it going to be a man in yellow? It's going to be a man in a rhubarb and custard kit. Oh yes, can't go wrong with rhubarb and custard. There he is. There he goes. Boom, boom, boom. My way. I was there for this. I was in the stadium for this. Yeah. Yeah. So you saw the angry Mastiff, Christ. I saw the world-class blocking line run by the referee. I know. Can't we? He's gone. We won't see it again, but how good was Ken, Jesus Christ. Oh, so he's all right, George, can I see for a second then? I've told you to stop. Yeah. People forget, they called him Cannonball Ken for a reason. And this is that reason. What world-class? How many games did he start for the light British and Irish lines? 700, I think. I'm like, I don't think we ever start that many. Not a bad player. Not a bad player at all. Anyway, I think that wraps it up for us nicely. Scarlett, smash the dragons. And then we have a nice little chat next Monday. Hope you guys enjoy your New Year's. Thank you for listening. As always, like, share, subscribe, do your thing. And we will see you all again, or hear you all again next week. Bye guys. [Music] That world's sauce bounds and side set. Please break the review and share on socials if you can, and join us again next week for more of the same. And until then, enjoy Europe. [Music] This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [Music]
Huw and Mart reflect on the loss in the West Wales derby, check in with the Thunder and look ahead to a vital game against the dragons.
#Welshrugby #Welshrugbypodcast #ScrumV #Scarlets
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
