13:56

I've

14:00

put on social media now for people to see otherwise

14:02

it's just like a private joke So

14:04

how about yeah? Twitter profile.

14:07

Yeah, Richard Reese's birthday yesterday absolutely

14:10

hammered him from a video

14:12

I had about five

14:14

years ago

14:16

It's 40 he's the worst swigger You'll

14:20

ever ever meet

14:22

That whole day he just he looked

14:24

at the night lighted in that video He's

14:26

trying to drink with the big boys, and he just can't

14:28

we're better off just giving him half pints to

14:31

our pints Yeah, just gets

14:34

like he'll like He'll like vodka,

14:36

but he just can't drink the volume Yeah

14:40

Happy birthday Richie It's

14:42

like all of us drinking with Jason Leonard you

14:45

just when you go to the bar just to get him

14:47

two pints It's not bravado. He's not showing off. He's

14:49

just thirstier than you are yep You

14:51

go all day on that

14:53

never seen him pissed mate, but then I have

14:56

once How was it lot

14:58

Lohman? We got a we're

15:01

playing golf in variety Golf

15:03

day over there, and we end

15:05

up getting like one of the Mercedes little

15:08

Vito vans back to where we were staying at pub

15:10

up the road And

15:12

he mistimed his exit

15:15

from the van So

15:19

he just his legs went and he ended

15:22

up on the floor

15:24

And he couldn't get up.

15:26

He was like a crab

15:29

Let's roll him on his front and he pushed

15:31

himself up Never

15:34

seen anything like like That's

15:37

the only time I've ever seen him a

15:39

little bit tipsy and that could have been he just

15:41

got a bit of vertigo Yeah, not

15:44

sure but yeah

15:46

But we played England against

15:48

France a England a in a place called Blagnac

15:51

to lose on a Friday night reasonably

15:53

rough affair and After

15:56

game everyone got on it and

15:59

among

15:59

other people, Lewis Moody was told he was

16:01

never going to play for England again, went on to win the World

16:04

Cup, Ben Kay as well, but

16:06

I think it was Mark Cornwall, the Gloucester Second

16:08

Road, great bloke, Pasty his nickname

16:10

is, great bloke, pasty, great bloke, love

16:13

him and I think

16:15

it was him,

16:17

we parked right up against the kerb outside

16:19

wherever it was, this function wherever and

16:21

Pasty got to the top step of our

16:23

team bus, went to step

16:26

down and he tipped from the top

16:28

step

16:29

and he didn't hit his head on the way

16:31

through because he tried to catch up with his legs

16:34

and like, he was almost like he was running, imagine

16:38

you're in a pool doing

16:40

aquajogging facing and you're like leaning forwards

16:42

at 45 degrees, that's what his legs started doing,

16:45

so he propelled himself like a javelin

16:47

out of the bus door, he just went from

16:49

my memory, he'll

16:52

hear this and he'll text me to correct me I think

16:54

if I'm wrong, but he went face first

16:56

into a chicken wire fence, having fallen

16:58

from the top step of a bus. Dangerous.

17:03

It was, yeah it really was, but you don't think

17:05

about that at the time do you? No, it's one of those, is

17:08

he alright? Yeah, great, we can laugh about it. Yeah,

17:10

he's really big, can you get him out of the way?

17:14

That was the night I went, I stayed on, I had to

17:16

sleep on there, I went back to my bed and

17:19

I think it was Scrivs, he was just asleep in

17:22

my bed and I basically

17:24

was like Scrivs were in my bed and he was a senior player,

17:26

Scrivs, and he was basically like, I know we don't

17:28

swear on this pod, he's like fuck off, I

17:30

was like yep, okay, so I just went and slept on the floor

17:32

in the bathroom, I woke up the next day, whoever

17:34

woke me up I can't remember, I wasn't that smashed,

17:36

I was just like well this is my room and whatever, so

17:39

I went and slept on the bathroom floor,

17:41

it's an odd decision, and I just slept

17:43

on my back, on the floor, on the tiled floor

17:46

with the lights on in my suit and

17:48

one of the ladders was like why didn't you use the spare pillows,

17:51

why didn't you use any towels, why aren't you lying

17:53

in the bath, I just lay flat on a white tiled

17:55

floor with the lights on. Bath wouldn't work mate, it's

17:57

too awkward position, you'd better off be flat.

19:59

Honestly, it was it was on a par with

20:02

well, it wasn't as bad as when I stayed at Pouli's

20:05

house and fuel 40th Yeah,

20:09

but that was bad. That was bad. Yeah, but Like

20:12

I was having to do everything. Luckily he had some talc

20:14

reese because he's old school when it comes to drying So

20:17

we put a little talc on the on the

20:19

floor and I cleaned it up I did I did as good

20:22

job as I could and I left a massive tip for

20:24

the um Um

20:28

The people that clean your room what they called? Cleaners

20:31

cleaners. Yeah Yeah, cheers

20:34

Um, but yeah talc do you do

20:37

you strike me as a person that would use talc to get those

20:39

little crevices? can't default

20:43

Can't dry properly Like dry on

20:45

a bulldog. Yeah. Anyway, sorry about that. No,

20:47

I don't use talc

20:49

disgusting story Don't use talc.

20:51

Yeah, that was disgusting. Um a

20:53

lot of people have been Approaching

20:55

me at various events recently saying how much they

20:57

liked it when we talked about poo on our podcast.

21:00

Mm

21:01

We shouldn't do it again by

21:03

the way, but Just so,

21:05

you know, we we worried or I thought

21:08

maybe that's been appropriate that podcast. I know like

21:10

compared to Some of the other

21:12

you know pods out there. We're quite

21:14

restrained. Um in

21:16

terms of the language and the sort of

21:19

We we you know, we we don't go

21:22

too

21:23

Gross on this pod. We're not too fe and

21:25

blindy, you know We're trying to be too ladish

21:27

on this pod because it's not really us but

21:29

um, will it's you but? um

21:33

That was that seemed to go down well tom Yeah, well

21:36

we're going to villamora soon for carlith robbie

21:38

foundation trip 17 teams. So oh

21:40

someone's gonna shit himself and this massively Absolutely. 100

21:44

something is happening over there.

21:46

I tell you what you can't do on this pod like this what you

21:48

can't do is Like

21:51

I'm gonna use on bubs by the way. Yeah, definitely.

21:53

Well, it's just a food intake plus alcohol, isn't it? But

21:56

I you can't start naming people that have

21:58

had accidents without their permission because that's not

21:59

cool and it's happened on other pods and I know the lads

22:02

really haven't liked it that have been targeted

22:05

but I'm gonna I'm gonna ask permission of

22:07

someone this week to tell a story about them on

22:09

a trip. On a tour we went on

22:12

and I'll ask I

22:14

won't tell the story quite yet but what I'll say is

22:16

he denied it and denied it and then when we left

22:18

we all walked past to

22:21

the car park

22:23

sort of and the footpath ran directly

22:25

underneath four or five floors below where

22:28

his bedroom had been in the hotel

22:31

and someone said hang on a minute what's that draped

22:33

over that bush and it was just

22:35

a couple of hours after we'd got in mind because we're

22:38

legends and we were leaving

22:41

and there was a pair of shitty chinos that had been flung

22:43

out of a window and

22:48

you held him up and what I would say to you is

22:50

I can't say what position he was but there are

22:52

some positions where when you hold up someone's

22:54

chinos they could only fit one

22:56

body type. Second row. Like well

22:59

so let I'll try and I'll

23:01

try and I'll try and get

23:03

a name for you okay but

23:05

he's a prominent figure so I've

23:07

got to make sure he's okay with it. One of the

23:09

worst things I remember seeing

23:11

you've got me into it now when

23:14

we're training with Wales

23:16

training at the barn which is at the

23:18

Vailig Morgan hotel not the

23:20

Vailig Morgan the Vail Hotel and

23:24

we were in the gym and then someone came out and said

23:26

boys you've got to have a look in cubicle 2.

23:29

It

23:30

is unreal so we all go out

23:32

and we all have a look back forth and no

23:35

joke to this day it's the biggest

23:37

poo I've ever seen

23:39

in the toilet

23:40

and someone was really

23:43

proud of it as well because there was no toilet

23:45

paper which means they would have wiped

23:47

and flushed it down another toilet

23:50

just so that people could see it. I

23:53

just it was wider than

23:55

a coke can. No that's

23:58

probably a bit of an exaggeration. I would say

24:01

100% now it was the

24:03

size of a can of Stella

24:07

and it was just

24:09

lying there slightly killed and

24:12

no toilet paper just proud. No

24:16

one knows this day

24:18

who did it. A lot of people were saying

24:20

maybe it's Robin McBride, I don't think

24:22

it was but

24:26

it had to be someone

24:28

either front row

24:29

or second row. Just

24:33

in comparison really. It

24:37

was like South Park

24:40

and when Bono does the world record for

24:42

the biggest poo. It was gigantic. I

24:46

used to live with Martin Wood, Woody. I met

24:49

him last week, I might have mentioned on the pod that I was going

24:51

to meet him. I

24:53

had PTSD from him. Post

24:56

turd stress disorder. So Woody

24:59

I lived with him and he had a few gags,

25:01

same old gags

25:03

but he used them every day but because he used them

25:05

every day they were funny. So whenever the police went

25:08

past and he would do

25:10

the same gag and we were sitting in this hotel in

25:12

Leeds the other day having a drink and the police two police

25:14

officers walked in and he just grabs

25:16

hold of me like he's got me in the headlock and he goes, oh I got him

25:18

here, here he is, I got him, got him here

25:21

and it's his favourite gag. If

25:23

you ever see anyone who isn't tall you'll

25:25

say how far away are they? Same old stuff.

25:28

What's the weather like up there? Yeah you go past a lorry

25:31

with hay on it. Hey, hey,

25:33

hey! It's just every time. There's

25:38

a million of these things but he used to

25:41

come out the toilet and he'd

25:44

walk into the

25:46

room, he'd look back, point back

25:49

at the toilet and he would say now that wants

25:51

its back snapping. Every time. Once

25:53

it's back snapping. As

25:57

if it's going to need breaking up to get rid of it.

25:59

time, every day sometimes twice a

26:02

day I find

26:04

myself doing it in hotel rooms on my own. A

26:07

lap once was back snapping. When he was walking

26:09

along and he was wearing a pair of jeans or

26:11

trousers or whatever,

26:14

he would fart and then he'd stop and then kick

26:16

his leg out like he was trying to kick it out of the bottom

26:18

of his jeans.

26:20

Get out of there, go on get out of there. He

26:23

was patting his jeans down. Oh bloody

26:25

hell. Very good.

26:29

I played golf this

26:29

morning, FYI. Didn't win. My club

26:31

has been sabotaged and I don't know by

26:36

who. My three would. Well hang on a minute,

26:39

you were playing Silly Buggers with clubs at Tinsley's Golf

26:41

Day. Do you think it's a bit of fun? Well I text

26:44

him a photo of it and with loads of laughing

26:46

faces, he

26:48

swears it wasn't him. But then

26:52

that's exactly what

26:52

Austin would say.

26:55

Yeah.

26:56

He said, promise didn't

26:59

touch your clubs. Someone's done something

27:01

to my three word because it's

27:04

cracked on the face

27:06

of the club. And I hit it three times

27:09

and the noise it made was like a hollow

27:11

hammer

27:12

because obviously it's knackered. So I

27:16

don't know who. My other culprit

27:19

could be Nikki Robinson because I played

27:21

with him at Tinsley's Golf Day and we

27:23

just kept setting off his trolley the whole time.

27:26

And you did hammering

27:28

but you hammering a bit on this pod every now and again. So maybe

27:31

he's got sick of getting the

27:33

text saying you've been hammering it again. Maybe,

27:36

someone's done anyway but it's alright.

27:38

I needed a new one anyway. Excuse

27:41

to buy a new one, isn't it? Exactly. This morning I

27:44

was like, do you know Apple

27:47

AirPods, I was just the one for Apple AirPods, they're

27:52

250 quid. They're

27:53

so expensive but I think they are

27:55

so convenient because they've got their wireless and

27:57

their little. Noise production.

28:00

And it's literally like you don't need any headphones

28:02

yours work. No, they are quite unreliable No, you

28:05

have to charge them you charge them between uses.

28:08

Yeah, but a different plug and it's

28:10

just like stop It's not you

28:12

don't need an excuse. They're very good.

28:14

I

28:15

Will say what about in the gym? Very

28:18

good So I've got beats

28:20

those power beats pro that go over your

28:22

ears and they and they're defying

28:25

But they're a bit fiddly they're fine,

28:27

but also speak to bubs. They have the same

28:30

They can't they are the gym music overpowers

28:32

my headphones. Nope noise reduction, right?

28:35

Get me in your ears 250 quid

28:38

make how big's a hole in your ear these days?

28:41

No, my ear hole is fine It's just so fun like

28:43

you know, some some headphones have got yeah,

28:45

exactly, you know some Headphones

28:49

of

28:50

the wireless ones have got a little plastic

28:52

hooky loop bit that hooks into the yeah I

28:54

haven't got that cuz I've got I've got a cauliflower. So I haven't

28:57

got It can't hook in any

28:59

which needs to poke in and stay in there on its own. No

29:01

get the mate

29:04

You're at the game

29:06

congratulations, you got a good gig there

29:09

What people say

29:11

where's shanks where's shanks And

29:13

I said I'll text him now to say where I come and find you

29:16

and then doc

29:16

doc was like I'm gonna do it Text him now

29:19

Where are you mate? Yeah Yeah.

29:22

All right, you've got gig I didn't

29:24

Yeah, but I'm a heineken cup winner so

29:29

All right, technically I'm not but one of the challenge couple

29:31

that's even better. They some people say it's even harder. It

29:34

is Yeah, it's harder

29:36

to win that because you haven't got as good a team that's what I always think

29:42

You're not as good it's harder to win

29:45

Third the thing is this right as

29:48

I said on the TV Tom the thing

29:50

is this you can't You

29:53

Paul Grayson I've sure

29:55

I've said this on the pub before but Paul

29:57

Grayson

29:59

taught me one of the most important lessons,

30:01

genuinely, I've ever learnt in commentary

30:04

and TV and punditry and stuff, is

30:07

that not everything you see in a game has

30:10

to be the greatest or the worst thing you've ever seen. It

30:12

can be good, bad, indifferent somewhere in the middle. It

30:15

just otherwise, because you leave yourself nowhere to go.

30:17

And then when you eventually

30:19

see something sensational

30:21

or horrific,

30:23

it loses its impact when you say it, right? And

30:26

he's dead right. And obviously

30:29

he's always right. Pretty much always right. But

30:33

that game was, I mean, the atmosphere

30:35

was great and all that. I've been at better atmospheres, that would

30:37

be top in the top few. But

30:39

actually, because it was almost all

30:41

Leinster fans, because it's a home game, whatever

30:43

anyone calls it,

30:45

it's not quite as good as when there's half

30:48

of each. But

30:49

the atmosphere was amazing, especially that first

30:52

quarter of an hour from

30:55

Leinster, which we'll talk about in a second, was sensational

30:58

defensively as well as offensively.

31:00

They were smashing La Rochelle in the carry and

31:02

it was amazing. The atmosphere was electric then

31:04

and we couldn't believe it. And I actually thought this is going to be 40

31:07

nearly. It was going to be a rubbish final. But

31:09

what I will say is that I've watched all the finals

31:11

because 99% of them, or 75% of them on TV, I've watched

31:14

them.

31:17

That is the best,

31:19

that's the best Heineken Cup Final I've

31:22

seen comfortably. I mean, comfortably.

31:26

It was just unbelievable.

31:29

I don't know how they did it. And as Roger said

31:31

afterwards, don't know how they found a way, but they found a way.

31:34

They found a way. It was just unbelievable. Because Leinster

31:36

had hardly any time in La

31:39

Rochelle's half, let alone 22 in

31:41

that second half. They just...

31:43

It couldn't get out either. The breakdown

31:45

was a bit of a free-fall at the start.

31:48

And I do think that it evened itself out

31:50

towards the end because initially...

31:53

Now,

31:54

we're totally unbiased. We're neutrals

31:56

in this. Yeah.

31:58

Didn't bother me who

31:59

was... who won the game whatsoever.

32:01

You want the two best teams in the final

32:04

and then see what happens. But

32:08

I thought Leinster again away with so much

32:10

in that first half coming in from the side,

32:14

just

32:16

hands in the ruck,

32:17

not supporting their own weight. I think they were quite lucky

32:19

on quite a few occasions. Leinster,

32:22

I thought their

32:23

yellow card was quite harsh as well

32:26

to Kovalo. But

32:30

talk about starting the game off

32:32

the best way you can. It's

32:35

probably the worst thing that could have happened to Leinster really

32:37

when you look back at it because

32:40

they were just too good. The line-out analysis,

32:43

you have to take your hat off to some of the coaches

32:46

who've come up with a plan. Maybe it was coach, maybe it

32:48

was players, I don't know, but they

32:51

certainly did their homework and worked out

32:53

about their back pod, not having anyone

32:55

in the middle. It just opened

32:57

up, it was perfect. And

32:59

then even things like pulling

33:02

the ball back to James Lowe, kicking

33:04

the 50-22 was just absolutely

33:09

perfect, really done their due

33:11

diligence in how they were going

33:13

to attack.

33:16

But the two tries for La Rochelle

33:18

before half-time was so important.

33:21

I think if Leinster nailed them in

33:23

the first half, I don't think La Rochelle are

33:25

coming back from that. But because

33:27

they managed to get two tries, it gives them a

33:29

lifeline, gives them a little bit of hope. And

33:32

then it's just about game management. But

33:34

I mean, both teams were

33:37

so physical, like properly, properly

33:39

physical. Like some of the collisions were

33:42

massive defenses, some huge

33:44

hits. It was just,

33:47

it was brilliant to watch. And it was fascinating all the way through

33:49

because there's so many different subplots of

33:51

the game. And

33:55

I didn't think La Rochelle were going

33:57

to do it. I just thought Leinster would hold

33:59

on. especially then when

34:02

Dante gets yellow carded

34:04

so it becomes 14 on 14. Al-al- Tolo

34:07

gets red carded which I think is the right decision

34:09

you can't tuck like that and hit the rock and then

34:11

Narashell have one man advantage and Dante

34:13

goes off and it's man for man

34:16

but do you think looking

34:19

back at the game is easy but do

34:22

you think Ross Burns should have gone for goal

34:25

was it in his distance 40 No

34:28

what

34:29

it seemed to be because I heard it in comms

34:31

because I was on pitch side

34:34

but then had the comms in my ear you know and it said the

34:36

wind has actually really picked up and it makes it

34:38

a really difficult kick and I looked to my

34:40

right where the BT Sport guys were and

34:42

I was basically laughed about the wind and all

34:44

the lads nodded and were like the

34:47

backs basically nodded and were like yeah you can't

34:49

you can't you can't kick it from there it's the

34:51

angle the wind is too hot too strong and you

34:53

obviously can't read out the telly and I can't even read it when I'm

34:55

there because I'm just not

34:58

doesn't ever occur to me to think

34:59

about the wind because I never did when I was playing so

35:04

you can't see on TV that's why you know I

35:06

mentioned yeah exactly yeah I think the wind had really

35:08

picked up and it was a very very

35:10

unlikely kick to get I think is the thing but

35:13

yes it was almost like but then you asked why can't

35:16

lengths to get out of there

35:17

half and that's because there's the physical

35:20

pressure was immense and I thought I actually thought

35:23

there was I've just seen on on social

35:25

media and on on

35:27

on my phone that

35:29

apparently Johnny Sexton was

35:32

having a rant about the

35:34

referee and I must say

35:36

like it's too easy to pile into refs

35:39

but I there were quite there was a good handful

35:41

of occasions during the game that

35:43

I was sort of I was

35:45

really I didn't agree with decisions I think

35:47

some stuff was missed and what kind of bad scrums

35:50

but yes yes but I really thought

35:52

it went both ways actually and what

35:55

I would say is that

35:57

I'm not I'm still unsure how somebody

36:00

from the Leinster team wasn't yellow carded

36:02

in that period of giving penalties away.

36:05

Right down on their line. Yeah. I thought that

36:07

was a, you know, I'm not

36:09

saying anyone bottled it, I'm saying, but if that is just

36:11

a Saturday afternoon league match,

36:14

someone I reckon has got a yellow there is what it

36:16

felt like to me. So, Al Atoa,

36:18

the decision was absolutely correct. But,

36:22

you know, had Leinster pip them at the end, you

36:25

could understand La Rochelle going, what? I don't think it was...

36:27

Sorry, sorry, flats. I mean,

36:30

Callehir got yellow carded, then Donti got yellow

36:33

carded, Al Atoa was after that. But

36:35

that was my point about Donti. You need, you

36:38

know, when he got 15 men versus 14, that

36:40

was such an important moment.

36:43

It was. But the big... There

36:45

was a couple of times where I thought that actually, when

36:49

you think about what La Rochelle are trying to do, yeah, they've got

36:51

amazing ball players. Soteni's fantastic.

36:53

Donti and Raymond Ruhl and the Brie

36:55

Stu Land, they've got brilliant ballers there. But actually,

36:59

they are a bit like South Africa in that first

37:01

and foremost, they are a power team and that's how they

37:03

get on the front foot. So that's how

37:05

they

37:05

dismantle defenses and get

37:08

them going backwards. So, and

37:10

actually, when you think about what they're trying to do, the fact that

37:13

they weren't always rewarded

37:16

properly in the scrum, in my opinion, and then the

37:19

Leinster were repeatedly allowed to infringe at their

37:21

mall, it's like this is the core

37:23

of the La Rochelle game and they're not

37:25

being rewarded for their dominance. So actually,

37:28

it felt a bit like

37:30

both sides could

37:32

argue about things. I don't think it was, from

37:35

one of the world's top refs, I don't think it was a great

37:37

performance, but actually, when it

37:40

came to the big calls, I

37:43

didn't disagree with the Donti thing, didn't

37:45

disagree with the Al Atoa thing. And also, these

37:47

people are human beings and it's incredibly difficult

37:49

slash impossible to get it right. But

37:54

you're actually, it's almost

37:56

like, I don't

37:58

know. removing

38:01

La Rochelle's major strength or not rewarding

38:03

them for being dominant in a certain area where they need

38:05

to be dominant to win, it kind of felt like this

38:07

is, if they don't win this, this period

38:10

of whatever it is, 10 or so 15 minutes in

38:12

this Lezner 22 is going to be analysed

38:15

a hundred times by people and there's going to be questions

38:17

why was no one yellow carded? They

38:20

were eventually. Yeah, sooner,

38:22

sooner. Yeah, but no, I agree. I mean,

38:24

Lezner didn't put a foot wrong really in that first half until...

38:27

Oh my god, they were good. Gibson Park, put the ball

38:29

out in the fall.

38:29

There was a couple of... was

38:35

it first half or second half that sort of kick

38:37

in didn't quite function

38:40

that well. James Lowe sliced

38:42

the couple and they were

38:45

called back a little bit but mistakes started to happen but

38:48

I mean, defence has made both

38:51

sides. It was, it's

38:54

very difficult to call between the two teams because they

38:56

were that good, like it could have gone either way. Yeah.

38:58

But you have to say La Rochelle had more possession.

39:02

Lezner had to make nearly double

39:04

the amount of tackles, La Rochelle had to make,

39:06

there was more missed tackles from Lezner.

39:09

La Rochelle had more possession but

39:12

mate, like you're watching people

39:14

like Boteer

39:17

coming around the corner, he's just getting hammered

39:20

back. Hammered mate. Hammered. Dan

39:22

Sheehan, I mean, how good is

39:24

Dan Sheehan? Yeah. Oh my days. Yeah.

39:27

Good. He was a best player on the field when he was out there,

39:29

he was unbelievable. But it was just,

39:31

it was... What a player. There wasn't much room

39:33

out there and you know La Rochelle had to somehow

39:36

slow the game down, to

39:39

be more direct because that is their strength.

39:41

You're exactly right and they play like

39:44

South Africa, they don't have the movement, they

39:46

don't have

39:48

the, they don't break teams down like Lezner

39:50

do. They break them down differently, mostly with power

39:52

and then they've got a couple of amazing

39:55

players in that backline. Soteni's

39:57

fantastic. Soteni mate, that break. so

40:00

important. He just slips over at the end,

40:03

just stumbles otherwise he's under the post.

40:06

Do you know what I noticed that, so that

40:08

the first period

40:10

La Rochelle are getting torn apart

40:13

by the Leinster attack and they're getting smashed by

40:15

the Leinster defence and then you fast

40:17

forward to the period where La Rochelle are so

40:19

dominant in the second half but

40:21

they're not getting rewarded, they're getting stopped, turn

40:23

over, turn over, penalty, penalty,

40:26

can't get over and it's just not going their way.

40:28

They've had a million phases or 100 phases

40:30

near the Leinster line

40:32

and they're just not going their way and normally

40:34

you'd think Leinster would take heart from that but

40:37

you look at the La Rochelle team and all the big guys, you've

40:39

got Skelton smiling, you've got Atonio

40:42

saying boys were good, everything's good, we're

40:44

all fine, you've got Roman Suzzi in

40:47

the second row, he'd get up

40:49

and winking at the boys after they'd conceded

40:51

to turn over, they'd just not head down, they

40:53

were so calm, so relaxed

40:55

and it's like that is quite unusual,

40:58

like that you know, biggest stage

41:01

and Boogerit as well, I mean just talking

41:04

about Sheehan was exceptional, if

41:06

he was the best player on the field I think a

41:08

good chance you could say that his

41:11

opposite number, La Rochelle

41:13

hooker was,

41:14

he wasn't as good as Sheehan on the day but god he was good.

41:16

What about Nagatai when he came on and he

41:20

had a huge run, got them five meters out, you

41:22

think here it is,

41:24

somehow they found a way. Yep they did exactly

41:27

that, they found a way. How do these massive men, like

41:29

how does, I know Atonio didn't play the whole game

41:31

and Coulombe didn't play the whole game, really

41:34

well but Skelton is so active

41:36

and damaging and dangerous, his skill level

41:38

is so high, like when he hits rucks

41:41

mate, Jesus, you're wondering

41:43

about, he's hitting him legally but

41:46

he's so much bigger than everyone else on the field,

41:51

I mean yeah, I thought he was just wonderful

41:53

and the fact that they got smacked in the

41:55

first 20 minutes and just

41:57

stayed calm and somehow.

42:00

one. I mean it was it was a

42:02

demonstration, it was an absolute demonstration of what

42:04

belief looks like. Yeah, real,

42:06

real belief. I hope we find out what happened half

42:09

time in the tunnel. Johnny Sexton was involved,

42:11

one of the coaches, Sean O'Brien and

42:14

Rona Gara. So

42:15

something's going on there. European Robbie

42:18

are going to investigate. It was to do with speaking

42:20

to the referee, I believe,

42:23

Jakob Piper at half time. So

42:25

we'll find out. But some of the scenes then after you're

42:27

seeing in

42:29

La Rochelle and the Port are

42:31

amazing. You know, all the crowd come

42:33

out, you've seen the celebrations yesterday on

42:36

the bus. I

42:38

remember when

42:40

the game finished, I walked up to my wife who

42:43

was garden, I think I said,

42:44

not the UK at all. Babe, I

42:47

love you first. Oh, secondly,

42:49

that

42:50

was one of the best games I've watched. It was

42:52

so good.

42:53

And Chanel was it? She

42:57

said, who won? I said, you

42:59

don't really care, do you? She went, no. You don't know. You

43:01

don't know. Get

43:04

back to you bamboo. I get a text

43:07

saying, wow, amazing game in brackets, according

43:10

to my dad. Every

43:14

day, every weekend when I get back from a game, it was a

43:16

good game. Yeah. Oh, great. You

43:19

had no idea. It's nice that I don't want to come home and talk

43:21

about rugby. That's for sure. Well, this weekend

43:23

is the Premiership final Saracen's

43:26

sale on the UFC final grand

43:28

final stormers Munster. Who are you going to, who are you going to pick

43:30

for Premiership?

43:32

I'm picking Stormers for yours and I'm picking

43:35

Saris for ours. But last

43:38

year, by the way, I said,

43:39

Lenster definitely going to win. This

43:41

year, I said, I think Lenster will win. And last year

43:44

I said, Saris will definitely win. And all three of

43:46

those are wrong.

43:47

So, you know, you

43:49

know, people don't

43:51

often don't believe us when we say we don't mind who wins whoever's

43:54

playing, I just don't mind who wins really. But

43:57

for the for the media types, it's a better store

43:59

for us. Like it's a

43:59

story of Sailshark's win because it's

44:02

new. I want months

44:04

of the win. Storm has won last year.

44:06

I know I'm not saying I want anyone to win I'm just

44:08

who I think will win. But it's,

44:12

but Sarri's just, Owen Farrell

44:15

last week was excepts Yonell.

44:17

Yep.

44:18

And he was, he

44:20

was so good. So good. Just

44:23

so good. So I don't, I don't know.

44:26

Hard to see Sarri's losing, but Sailor

44:28

and Mega, Mega Team when they get it going, they've just lost

44:30

Ben Curry. They've lost Andrew Pria.

44:32

They've lost Cobus V. So as we said last week, they

44:35

got some. So Sarri's got

44:37

a few McFarlands out, Christie's

44:39

out. They got guys missing, but a

44:42

just nah. Yeah. It's going to be

44:44

a goodie, Tommy. It is going to be. Are you working out? You

44:46

there? I am, yeah, with ITV and then the next

44:48

day I'm doing, I'm actually

44:50

covering Barbarians

44:53

against a World 15. Ah, who's up with

44:55

that is well, actually Channel 5 are

44:58

showing it. What do I get a call? But

45:00

it's my mate, Taco is producing it and he's done

45:02

a lot. He does

45:04

a lot of stuff for, I've known him for a long time and he sort

45:07

of got in contact and said, you're

45:09

up there anyway. It's going to be fun. Do

45:11

you want to stay over and do this game with Rupert Cox and

45:13

Alex Payne's doing it? And actually, I thought, yes,

45:16

I will do that. What's Taco like

45:18

on the piss? Oh God, mate.

45:20

So

45:23

you start singing this raining tacos. Yeah,

45:25

you don't get anywhere near him. He's a lovely man. So

45:28

that that'll be nice. Israel Foulau's playing.

45:33

Now I read, I wouldn't mind someone educating

45:35

me on this. I

45:38

mean, quite Cooper's playing too and there's some brilliant

45:40

names playing. So I'm up for that. Someone

45:44

really is Ralph allows the thing, the thing

45:46

he did, the thing he said and posted and all

45:49

that. I don't agree with that in the workplace.

45:52

No, but I, but I did see

45:55

some interesting stuff on social media and

45:58

I am ignorant here. saying,

46:00

you know,

46:02

this is me saying don't cancel me. But basically

46:05

the things I read at the time were

46:08

actually hang on a minute because

46:11

what he thinks is, I mean, categorically

46:14

unacceptable to us, yes, don't

46:16

agree with any of it, correct. But,

46:20

you know, what happened where he's from is that

46:22

we in inverted commas arrived and,

46:25

you know, took over, we colonized the place and we

46:27

installed our beliefs from,

46:30

you know, we sort of indoctrinated, installed our

46:32

beliefs of, you know, a few generations ago when

46:34

we arrived, took the place over

46:37

and basically educated them in the way we think

46:39

and then left them. And actually,

46:42

sort of the beliefs they hold

46:44

were in part or even largely

46:47

given to them and almost forced upon them by

46:49

us and then we leave them and,

46:51

okay, perhaps in some of these,

46:54

perhaps, you know,

46:57

perhaps in some corners of the world,

46:59

the thinking on these things hasn't evolved as rapidly

47:02

as ours has. So actually it's

47:04

like, well, he shouldn't have said that, but actually why

47:07

was he taught that by his parents and why do his parents

47:09

believe that and why were his parents taught that? And maybe

47:12

they're just, that's just how they think and that is apart

47:14

from anything else. It's offensive to some,

47:17

but it's sad. It's just sad that people

47:19

think like that because hell definitely doesn't await

47:21

for homosexuals, you know, that's

47:24

obviously out of balls, but in

47:26

brackets don't think hell exists. But

47:29

I don't know, it's an interesting one. So I'm just wondering

47:31

whether I should talk about that during the commentary. There

47:34

will be another thought of the week

47:36

this time next week.

47:39

Yeah. That's a bit

47:41

deep for me that make. So I know it is

47:43

for you. But could someone send me some articles on

47:45

it so I could educate myself. That'd be great. Perfect.

47:48

Perfect. And then if anyone knows you can

47:50

get to a mass history debate

47:53

on air, I'm not going to get into a mass

47:55

debate on air. I'll tell you that if

47:57

someone could send me some nice black shirts, that'd

47:59

be great. Thanks boy. Thinking

48:06

about it before you even start, get ahead of the game.

48:10

Tuck in the elastic, cup your trousers. Obviously.

48:14

Alright, there we are. Let's

48:17

go.

48:18

See you later. Alright, bye.