00:00:10
S1: Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Mark My Words podcast. World Cup edition. Mark Piggy Riddell in the chair got Jay Moss and Guto here to join me to review all the weekend's action boys. How are we going?
00:00:22
S2: Good. Can't complain. Yeah. How are you going? You look. You look a little wounded. No, I'm all right. I was more wounded last week off the back of that flu, but, uh, went out to the Everest. Uh, actually, our our fearless leader, Levy, got us a table.
00:00:37
S1: So how was.
00:00:37
S2: It? Very good. A couple of winners. Good day. Good feet. Yeah, yeah. Good night. Yeah. Good night. Yeah, very good night. Actually, the Doncaster Hotel. It's one of the great spots after a race day meet.
00:00:48
S1: So what about yesterday as well? Do you want.
00:00:51
S2: To feel.
00:00:51
S1: The listeners in on as.
00:00:52
S2: Well? Yesterday it was a, uh, the kids soccer club presentation and there's about 2000 kids that play for the club. So they do a big day of it and they get rides for the kids. And basically the parents just set up the stalls and.
00:01:06
S1: And what do you do?
00:01:06
S2: Do your best. Look after yourself.
00:01:09
S1: Just get on the drink.
00:01:10
S2: I taped myself into bed about 7:00 last night. Beautiful 12 hours. Perfect.
00:01:14
S1: Beautiful. Gutho quiet weekend. Yeah.
00:01:16
S3: Nothing exciting for me. Took the kids out for dinner on Saturday, and that's it. Nice. Yeah.
00:01:20
S1: All right, boys, let's get into it. Over 88, 84,000 fans turned out across the weekend. Uh, I suppose the first thing we probably get into is injuries. Yeah. Kalyn ponga uh, a lot of talk at the moment that he's, he's already had his surgery, but he could be possibly back for, for the finals.
00:01:39
S2: Yeah, it is huge news. And obviously, um, yeah. You feel for Kalyn. He's, he's wanted to represent the Kiwis for a while now and mate wasn't he on fire like to do what he did.
00:01:49
S1: Especially.
00:01:50
S2: When, when we were told that his, his arm had been broken for a while and he still set up two tries and scored and um, yeah, it's an interesting one because Blake Brailey had a broken arm, and that was a couple of weeks before finals and he ended up playing. Yeah. So, um, you know the players these days, we've seen them come back way ahead of schedule. And I'd imagine that he'd be trying to get back because, you know, we saw that game. Um and you know I think they are the two best sides.
00:02:17
S3: I think I think they'll give him a lot of confidence to having that thought in the back of their head. If they get there, he can come straight back in. And as James just said, how good he was on the weekend. And I think, yeah, 2 or 3 weeks, you could probably push it. Get back. Don't worry about contact. Just strap it up and get out there.
00:02:32
S2: That's it boys. Just just don't let me make a tackle. Just.
00:02:35
S1: Well, the other thing is that they've got some good replacements. Exactly. In the meantime. And they've already played Australia. So they play obviously play Fiji and they play the Cook Islands and he's 50/50.
00:02:45
S3: You put him out there because with the extended bench now you've got someone sitting there and that's right. Sometimes you don't use that fourth man anyway. So yeah put put someone out there and if it doesn't work it doesn't work. Yeah.
00:02:54
S1: I'd be surprised if he doesn't, especially, you know, I think most of us think that they'll definitely feature in the semi-final, but more than likely they'll they'll probably go through to the final if it's that game and they can get him back for that game, that one game, even knowing full well that he's got an extended period before he needs to get himself right.
00:03:11
S2: Yeah, and the Aussies had to deal with theirs as well. With Mitchell Moses going well.
00:03:15
S1: That's the next.
00:03:16
S2: One. Um yeah, it was a bit of a weird injury, but I mean it's a luxury when you've got someone like Tom Dearden on the bench.
00:03:22
S1: Yeah. Well they're saying they've also called in Ethan Strange into the squad. Um and you're right. You got Sammy Walker and you've got.
00:03:29
S3: Their stacked.
00:03:30
S1: Tommy Dearden.
00:03:31
S2: It would be a lot different if they were over in England. They wouldn't have that luxury to be able to call on.
00:03:37
S3: Someone straight in. Yeah.
00:03:38
S2: Um so yeah, it is, it is good. But Tommy did and he stood up and, and delivered as well. So, um, yeah, I thought that was going to be a really, really close game. And, and I was right. Like it was an absolute belter. Yeah. And great game. New Zealand three minutes to go. Looked like they were going to win it. And yeah, Jack Bostock, I reckon that's probably the best debut I have ever seen from an Australian player.
00:04:00
S1: He was outstanding. Outstanding.
00:04:03
S2: Every time that ball goes up, he's just like a dog with a bone.
00:04:06
S1: Yeah.
00:04:07
S3: You think he's coming down with it? That's what we said it the other day. Whenever it went up, you're just confident he was going to get it. And I think they felt the same because Munster kept putting it there. Yeah. Kept saying get up there and get it. And he made the right play.
00:04:17
S1: Well I think he said in a in an interview after the game that Munster had spoken to him during the week and he said I'm just going to kick there all night. And he just felt obliged that when Munster's telling you I'm going to kick to you all night, I've got to go up and do something. Otherwise you know, I'm letting him down.
00:04:32
S2: He set up, set up the try for Reece Walsh as well.
00:04:34
S3: Yeah.
00:04:34
S1: Well that was from his back of the field carry to like it was great. Out of the back of the field flicked past. But let's move on. Let's go to Samoa Friday night footy. They take they took on France.
00:04:45
S2: Uh can you, um tell me who scored for France. What's his name?
00:04:48
S1: No, I'm not going to go there.
00:04:51
S2: Come on, give it a crack.
00:04:53
S1: No, No, I've got zero idea. Bish bash bish. Anyway. Mate, they they were they were outstanding, weren't they? The Samoa like. I think we all expected him to win. We all knew that they would win. But to.
00:05:09
S2: Put plenty of flair.
00:05:09
S1: Put the score that they did on on.
00:05:12
S3: The clock there. The whole game.
00:05:13
S1: The whole game. The whole game. Well, I know one stage there they were 22 nil up after 22 minutes, you know. So but we saw that. What do we think. What are we thinking of Samoa after that one.
00:05:23
S3: I think it's a hard yeah I think it's a hard one. I think they were expected to win by a margin. They did it. But um look nothing against France but they're just the quality of players and and how good they played and who's in their team at the moment I think um yeah I think that's the score they need to put on. They did it. So they, they ticked the box there. But obviously harder, harder games coming up and, and bigger games coming up. And I think they've just got to grow on that. And and probably flush that one pretty quickly and get the cobwebs out. But I think harder games coming. They've got to really step up again?
00:05:53
S2: Yeah, that's probably the thing. You wanted to see some of those players that didn't play finals football get a.
00:05:59
S1: Bit.
00:05:59
S2: Get a run, a bit of game time and a bit of a run there to to make sure that when those bigger games come, they they are playing bigger minutes. But far long ago got four tries. He was outstanding off the bench. Yeah. Um yeah it's it's pretty handy side like their their back three as well. Yeah. Um Jermaine McEwan um Manu Layla and.
00:06:21
S1: Who's playing through the middle.
00:06:22
S2: And was playing through.
00:06:23
S1: The middle. 13. Yeah.
00:06:24
S2: Like they've, they've got a decent forward pack as well. And if they play like that well yeah I think the, the, the real test for them is obviously going to be Tonga.
00:06:32
S1: And we've mentioned in the preview last week no Payne Haas no Terrell May for Samoa. But they did a job. They put the massive score in. And that's going to be really important because we spoke last week about uh the pools, how they all work. Yeah. We're going to get to England and Tonga shortly. But you know England now sitting there and they've got to do the same thing. Yeah. Have to down, down the track. Um so they've got to put the score on because for and against could possibly come into it for who gets probably the second spot. Yeah. We don't know. We don't know what will happen with Tonga and Samoa when they take on each other. But the fact that Samoa started that way, they put the massive score on they've set themselves up to to go into the, uh, further into the competition. And it gets a little bit harder this week when they take on Papua New Guinea as well. You think?
00:07:23
S2: Yeah, yeah, it's over there as well. And, um, we, you know, for anyone that's played there, it's a, it's a tough place to go. It's, it's well.
00:07:31
S1: You've played there, have you played over.
00:07:32
S3: There. Haven't played over.
00:07:33
S2: There. Stinking hot.
00:07:34
S1: Me either.
00:07:34
S2: Humid. Like it's it's not enjoyable conditions this.
00:07:39
S3: Time of year last week.
00:07:41
S1: We gotta get to the Papua New Guinea. But people last week mates of mine thought Lebanon would have been a champion.
00:07:47
S3: I backed him.
00:07:47
S1: Did you? I.
00:07:48
S3: I said to I reckon Lebanon are a chance. But they just took him out of the game.
00:07:51
S2: That was the thing. Like if you looked at Lebanon's side, their outside backs were their strengths. But if you look at the cornwalls, their strength was their experience in the forward pack. And over there in those conditions, like I spoke about, they they've they've played a lot of footy and they knew what to do and they ended up running well.
00:08:09
S1: Let's go to let's go to Papua New Guinea. They are 42 points to 18 over Lebanon, 1812 at half time. Um so the game still in the balance. But in the end the the Papua New Guinean team at home as we just mentioned, they blew him away.
00:08:24
S2: They did. And the the five eight for Papua New Guinea side.
00:08:28
S1: We mentioned him last week.
00:08:30
S2: We did look alike.
00:08:31
S1: We I mentioned him last week Guiro or I apologies on the pronunciation, but, um, I'm pretty sure he signed a Guiro Voro. Yeah, he signed a development contract for Papua New Guinea chiefs for 2020.
00:08:44
S2: He was their best player.
00:08:45
S3: Easily. Yeah, easily.
00:08:46
S2: He had some big moments a couple of line breaks. And yeah I I thought he was outstanding. And, you know, you sprinkle that in with someone like Reese Martin who's, who's had a lot of, um, you know, experience, not not just in the NRL, but in the Super League as well. Um, and Jack Bell and those types of players that experience certainly helped them on the weekend.
00:09:06
S1: Well you have a look at it. They take on Samoa as we just mentioned when we when we reviewed that Samoan game. Do you give them a chance against Samoa.
00:09:14
S3: Oh I they'll be more competitive than France. But I don't think, I think what we saw from Samoa is going to be pretty hard to go after.
00:09:22
S2: And you have a look at the balance.
00:09:23
S3: Yeah of course.
00:09:24
S1: Yeah I know.
00:09:25
S2: Yeah. On on paper Samoa should win and win comfortably. But like I said it's.
00:09:30
S3: It's not.
00:09:31
S2: An.
00:09:31
S3: Easy.
00:09:31
S2: Place to go and.
00:09:32
S1: Play. Are we expecting a better crowd because there were some empty seats.
00:09:35
S3: Yeah. I thought the weekend's game. Yeah. I thought it was going to be bigger there a little bit disappointed.
00:09:39
S2: Well that's the thing. The PNG people love their footy and they love coming to see superstars. So yeah, that's.
00:09:44
S3: What you think they.
00:09:45
S2: Might have.
00:09:46
S3: Stacked.
00:09:46
S2: Yeah I think they saw you know they probably didn't know every Lebanon player, but they know every Samoan.
00:09:51
S3: They'll be there. Yeah.
00:09:52
S1: Um, any other standouts for Papua New Guinea? I know we've already mentioned the the six and and Rhys Martin he had a he had a night out with the boot. But I suppose for them they they did what they needed to do against the side that they were predicted to beat.
00:10:06
S3: Yeah. That's all that matters early.
00:10:08
S1: Uh so off the back of that one, um, Lebanon, they'll take on Tonga, they take on Tonga at Commbank Stadium. I'm hearing already that there's over 20,000 tickets sold for that. We saw what Tonga did, uh, in Perth on Saturday night. So you think that's going to go close to a sell out? You'd like to encourage the Lebanese side of things to get out there.
00:10:29
S2: I'd imagine they'll be there. They'll be there with their drums. But those, uh, those red flags, they, uh, they have a habit of, of filling the stadium over.
00:10:38
S3: Mhm.
00:10:38
S1: Well, let's go, let's go to the next game. And I think this is probably the biggest talking point of the weekend. Uh, everyone sort of expected this game to be the be the one that we're all waiting to see. Tonga 30, England 12. Tonga led ten nil over England at half time and then came home with a couple of late tries, their important tries as well to to beat England. How did we see this one?
00:11:04
S3: Yeah, I think the way England started I thought it was going to be real close. They were going after it. They'll kick and long and chase them really hard. And I think as the game went on Tonga just slowly, slowly took over. And um we saw with those late two tries off kicks um Qatar. We spoke about Katoa last week, how important he was going to be and uh, he just saw brimstone out out of position just by a metre. And that's all the difference was in those, those late tries. And um, I think the way they handled the game and went after it was I thought it was great from Tonga, the way they handled it, the way they went about their business, they played to their, um, their big players out wide and made, made a dent. And then on the back of that they kicked off it and scored. And um yeah, I had high hopes for England early. They, they started really well the first ten.
00:11:45
S1: Minutes I didn't think England played that bad.
00:11:47
S3: Neither did I. And then just by the end it just sort of blew out. But I thought England, the way they started, I thought they started really well. They went after the game and it just sort of it just got to them in the end. But I thought it was a great game of footy.
00:11:58
S1: Tonga, I think all of us sort of. And we spoke about the preview uh the forward pack katoa. But I thought they were I thought Lehigh at fullback did a great job. Try savers.
00:12:09
S3: Yeah.
00:12:10
S1: I love you know what I loved I loved and forgive me uh the England winger that was marking Dallin Watene-zelezniak. He went and put pressure on Dallin smashed him. Yeah smashed him. And then he returned it.
00:12:22
S3: Straight after and got the error. Yeah.
00:12:25
S1: Uh, so, um, mate, I, um, I thought it was a really impressive performance from Tonga.
00:12:30
S2: Yeah. And look, they're probably giving themselves the best chance possible now they have to, to play finals and for England they've, they've got to win every game and they've got to win every game by a lot. So um yeah. Have a look at their their try scorers, their Utica Manu and Olakau'atu getting himself a double. But someone like Kohler as well, like yeah, he's an electric player. And um these blokes, they've played origin now they, they know what it's like and they've been able to take that across to, to Tonga as well. And you know I can't wait for the game against Samoa in in.
00:13:04
S1: Well I think everyone's waiting for that one aren't they really. Because you know you have a look at it. Tonga. As we mentioned they play Lebanon this week. You assume that they get over the top of Lebanon. Uh, England. They take on France. You assume that England will put a a score that. And that's what they need to do. England, at the end of the day, they've got to put the score on on France and then sit back and watch what unfolds the week after. But uh, all in all, um, Tonga, as James just mentioned, Tonga have set themselves up very nicely um for this competition. The game yesterday it was held up in Newcastle where Fiji took on the Cook Islands. 40 points to 12. I think people probably had expectations that Fiji were going to do exactly what they did.
00:13:50
S3: Yep.
00:13:51
S2: Yeah. Well, similar to Lebanon, the Cook Islands have a sprinkling of of NRL um experience. And um for Fiji they've, they've got a pretty decent side. But the Fijians love to throw the ball around and yeah. Um yeah they, they play an exciting brand of football with plenty of points. Obviously concede 12 points is nice for them as well. But yeah I thought this would probably be the scoreline. Half time score of 28 nil.
00:14:17
S1: Well they blew them away.
00:14:18
S3: They they'll play in that footy. You just said. Just throwing the ball around and things were clicking. And I think SAF went up for a kick and yeah. What about just jumped straight over the fullback and and put it down the bomb when all those things when when that's when that's happening you know that you probably end up winning when a when a front rower is jumping over a fullback.
00:14:36
S1: Well he did that. And Tane Milne he went from dummy half and they went to the video ref. But it ended up being given a try, but, um, they blew him away. 28 nil and then to the Cook Islands credit. What it ended up being would have been 12 all. I think.
00:14:49
S3: 12. Second half.
00:14:50
S1: So look they showed plenty of fight but uh Fiji who take on Australia next Sunday. Uh, and they're talking. They're already 30,000 tickets sold for that one. Um, and I know I'm going off topic a little bit here, but, uh, hasn't the support so far and the crowds for the World Cup for me, I think it surprised me because I didn't think we'd have as good a crowd, especially in Sydney. I know it was Australia, New Zealand the other night, but um, some of the crowds that we're getting at these games I think is phenomenal.
00:15:22
S3: Well, it's great for the game. Like we spoke about how good it was for the New Zealand Australia game on on Thursday night last week, how good the game was, how big the crowd was. I think now off the back of that weekend, it's just going to get bigger and we've got some big games coming up. As you said, Tonga, Samoa, England's got to stay in the fight. All those crowds that would normally 5050. Those games, I reckon they're all going to get there and and get behind it and and try and push this because there's only a month of footy left. So I think everyone's going to get behind it and really get into the spirit of it.
00:15:50
S1: Yeah. Well Australia, Fiji, everyone expects Australia to win but you're still going to get 30,000 plus. Could be more. I don't know. That's just yeah.
00:15:56
S3: I think tickets on a Sunday.
00:15:58
S2: Sunday I think they'll they love albeit Brisbane.
00:16:00
S1: They love their footy up there. But like even uh Commbank Stadium Friday night for the Lebanon Tonga game to get over 20,000. Yeah. That's pre-sold. Yeah. So you would expect over 25,000.
00:16:14
S2: If it's.
00:16:14
S1: Decent.
00:16:15
S2: Weather and a decent crowd.
00:16:16
S1: Um so yeah Fiji 40, Cook Islands 12. Cover that one nicely boys. Uh, the Cook Islands, they'll go over to New Zealand in Christchurch Sunday. Good luck. Yep.
00:16:28
S2: And you'd expect that'll be a sell out as well. Uh, we saw a game in Christchurch for the first time. And that crowd was unbelievable. So they'll want to see, uh, they want to see them win and win comfortably over there.
00:16:41
S1: All right, let's go. I know we love this part. We love this part of the podcast. Listener questions boys. Listener questions. So Big Harry's got the first one is this Harry Breen do you think? Is this young bloke. Anyway, we'll go. If you could steal one player from another nation to put into your country. I've already got mine.
00:17:05
S2: Yeah, so do I.
00:17:06
S1: Your country. Starting 13. Who are you taking?
00:17:09
S2: James white.
00:17:10
S1: Okay. All right. Yeah, I like that one too. Yeah, yeah. Expand on that one. What do you.
00:17:15
S2: Well, I just, I just love I think he's the best front runner in the comp and he's grown into it the last two. He's played.
00:17:22
S1: On the.
00:17:22
S2: Bench and he's on the bench. And he's on the bench for the Kiwis. He'll take him. If you don't start him we'll sign up. But um yeah I just love the his progression over the last couple of years and what he did in that grand final as well. I thought he was he was a shade off winning the the Clive as well. So I'd happily take the photo in my side.
00:17:41
S1: Yeah. Actually, I'm going to change mine. I'm going to go with Naufahu. Yeah, well it's a good shout though. Well, considering I'm considering the fact that um. And respectfully, I don't want to say question marks, but we look at our medals and when you look at who what I'm taking him every day of the week. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I was the first one that came to my head was Ponga. Yeah. From New Zealand obviously to have playing for Australia obviously we got Tedesco and Reece Walsh. So I don't have a lot of sense. I don't have any. Oh keep us. Keep it tight. Yeah. He's gotta have one. One. He doesn't.
00:18:12
S2: He. He's gotta.
00:18:12
S1: Have one. Come on. I don't know maybe like a yes like nice. Just a big attacking back back rower. So are you saying the Australian back rowers aren't good enough. You may let me pick a team. Let me pick.
00:18:27
S2: Liam.
00:18:27
S1: Martin. Oh, he's still playing. No, you don't want to be. I don't want to stir the fire and bullets. I'll take him off the bench. Yeah. On the extended bench. Extended bench. It could be. We won't. We don't use him. We just in case. Just in case. Break glass in emergency in case of emergency. All right, let's go to Frankie. Frankie's gone. Do you think international rugby league rules and refereeing styles favour fast paced attacking teams or disciplined defensive sides? Now, I've got to say, in general, watching all the games over the weekend, I didn't really have an issue with any of the refereeing.
00:19:03
S2: I didn't notice any. Yeah, no I didn't. I didn't really notice it slanted to to either particular aspect of the game. But I really enjoyed the refereeing and and we haven't spoken about it. So yeah, they've done a great job.
00:19:16
S1: Yeah. I think they're staying out of it. Like even yesterday's games they just they sort of just flowed. There was no no stoppages and that that weren't needed. I thought it's been great. Yeah. I'm just trying to think of any sort of uh, controversial decisions, but I can't really think of too many.
00:19:31
S2: They did a win.
00:19:32
S1: Well, that's what we want in the World Cup. If you're not talking about the issues About the referees. The referees we know um. I've got obviously got a real tough job. But in terms of in terms of fast paced attacking teams or disciplined defensive sides, do you think there's any sort of favouring of the way. Obviously, if we're if we're not seeing or noticing the referees, then yeah, you would think that they're not going overboard with six agains penalties and whatnot. So that would then favour potentially those teams that want to play fast. Yeah. Well I don't think it has though. No that's as we just said. I think it's just certain teams at the moment. Rugby league and how the games where the game's at at that speed and physicality as well.
00:20:15
S2: If you're a disciplined defensive side you're not giving away six agains are you?
00:20:18
S1: No.
00:20:19
S2: Well we saw and then it is going to be fast flowing anyway.
00:20:22
S1: Yeah we saw on Thursday with Harry Grant like he didn't get any. He didn't get any runs didn't get anything. So it doesn't but it was still a fast game. So it doesn't sort of wasn't beneficial. Great. Great question Frank. Well done mate. Keep them coming. Let's go to Donny. Uh, Donny, he says, how are teams coping with the physicality and intensity? Step up from regular club football to the international stage, and how big a step up is that? Well, you two.
00:20:47
S2: Boys, I think you're seeing.
00:20:48
S1: Talk about that.
00:20:49
S2: In terms of physicality and stepping up. Uh, some of these nations like it's not it's not a step up, you know, like the, the Samoan game against the French. That didn't take a whole lot out of you.
00:21:00
S1: Yeah. Well, the only two games really Australia, New Zealand, England and Tonga. Yeah. They're the two games.
00:21:05
S2: So and look there is a step up. There's definitely a step up. Um you know I still think origin's probably the toughest football that you can play because that's that basically is just you're on for the whole 80. Whereas you know, in, in these types of, uh, international matches, you might have the first 20 minutes being really, really hard and the really big step up. But then if you can get away, sometimes it can deteriorate the quality of play.
00:21:31
S1: So okay, what about in terms of managing your squad through the tournament because obviously World Cup, you know, do we play players? When do we not. Well you saw that.
00:21:42
S2: You saw that with Teddy.
00:21:42
S1: And we're going to see that. We're going to see that in the next few weeks because you would assume New Zealand as well. Uh, if you know Tonga and Samoa, probably not because they've got to play each other that third game. But do they this week go, hey, let's let's rest a couple. Tonga play Lebanon. Samoa are taking on Papua New Guinea.
00:22:02
S2: So it's a fine line because you don't really want to mess with your team cohesion too much. But some of these players haven't played finals football. Yeah.
00:22:12
S1: So some of them have played a lot of football too. I think Tonga is probably the team in that other side because Samoa will have to fight for everything now. Yeah, but Tonga they've set themselves up with that win against England. They might go. Let's give a few people a rest here and then bring them back for that Samoa game. But um. Yeah I don't know. I think it's a hard one because because it is only a month of footy. A lot of players didn't play all the way up to the grand final. You need. You need to play you. I feel better when I'm playing, not having weeks off here and there, so personally I'd. I'd want to be playing and it's for your country. Yeah. You never know when your last time or you might only get one or none. So I'll be playing. Yeah. Well I think we'll see a few changes probably. And we'll address that later in the week for Australia and potentially for New Zealand as well. But probably Tonga and Samoa. They they keep keep rolling. Yeah. Rolling it on. All right. Wow. That's it. We done. One is giving us the thumbs up. All right guys. Well you know what. Thanks for joining us. You know what to do. Like subscribe. Get to the continuous call team. Follow us there. You'll see us again. We're here today. We will be back. You come back Thursday. You're back Thursday. Gutho not brushed us. So we'll rotate that chair. Can't wait. See you guys. Bye bye.
S1: Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Mark My Words podcast. World Cup edition. Mark Piggy Riddell in the chair got Jay Moss and Guto here to join me to review all the weekend's action boys. How are we going?
00:00:22
S2: Good. Can't complain. Yeah. How are you going? You look. You look a little wounded. No, I'm all right. I was more wounded last week off the back of that flu, but, uh, went out to the Everest. Uh, actually, our our fearless leader, Levy, got us a table.
00:00:37
S1: So how was.
00:00:37
S2: It? Very good. A couple of winners. Good day. Good feet. Yeah, yeah. Good night. Yeah. Good night. Yeah, very good night. Actually, the Doncaster Hotel. It's one of the great spots after a race day meet.
00:00:48
S1: So what about yesterday as well? Do you want.
00:00:51
S2: To feel.
00:00:51
S1: The listeners in on as.
00:00:52
S2: Well? Yesterday it was a, uh, the kids soccer club presentation and there's about 2000 kids that play for the club. So they do a big day of it and they get rides for the kids. And basically the parents just set up the stalls and.
00:01:06
S1: And what do you do?
00:01:06
S2: Do your best. Look after yourself.
00:01:09
S1: Just get on the drink.
00:01:10
S2: I taped myself into bed about 7:00 last night. Beautiful 12 hours. Perfect.
00:01:14
S1: Beautiful. Gutho quiet weekend. Yeah.
00:01:16
S3: Nothing exciting for me. Took the kids out for dinner on Saturday, and that's it. Nice. Yeah.
00:01:20
S1: All right, boys, let's get into it. Over 88, 84,000 fans turned out across the weekend. Uh, I suppose the first thing we probably get into is injuries. Yeah. Kalyn ponga uh, a lot of talk at the moment that he's, he's already had his surgery, but he could be possibly back for, for the finals.
00:01:39
S2: Yeah, it is huge news. And obviously, um, yeah. You feel for Kalyn. He's, he's wanted to represent the Kiwis for a while now and mate wasn't he on fire like to do what he did.
00:01:49
S1: Especially.
00:01:50
S2: When, when we were told that his, his arm had been broken for a while and he still set up two tries and scored and um, yeah, it's an interesting one because Blake Brailey had a broken arm, and that was a couple of weeks before finals and he ended up playing. Yeah. So, um, you know the players these days, we've seen them come back way ahead of schedule. And I'd imagine that he'd be trying to get back because, you know, we saw that game. Um and you know I think they are the two best sides.
00:02:17
S3: I think I think they'll give him a lot of confidence to having that thought in the back of their head. If they get there, he can come straight back in. And as James just said, how good he was on the weekend. And I think, yeah, 2 or 3 weeks, you could probably push it. Get back. Don't worry about contact. Just strap it up and get out there.
00:02:32
S2: That's it boys. Just just don't let me make a tackle. Just.
00:02:35
S1: Well, the other thing is that they've got some good replacements. Exactly. In the meantime. And they've already played Australia. So they play obviously play Fiji and they play the Cook Islands and he's 50/50.
00:02:45
S3: You put him out there because with the extended bench now you've got someone sitting there and that's right. Sometimes you don't use that fourth man anyway. So yeah put put someone out there and if it doesn't work it doesn't work. Yeah.
00:02:54
S1: I'd be surprised if he doesn't, especially, you know, I think most of us think that they'll definitely feature in the semi-final, but more than likely they'll they'll probably go through to the final if it's that game and they can get him back for that game, that one game, even knowing full well that he's got an extended period before he needs to get himself right.
00:03:11
S2: Yeah, and the Aussies had to deal with theirs as well. With Mitchell Moses going well.
00:03:15
S1: That's the next.
00:03:16
S2: One. Um yeah, it was a bit of a weird injury, but I mean it's a luxury when you've got someone like Tom Dearden on the bench.
00:03:22
S1: Yeah. Well they're saying they've also called in Ethan Strange into the squad. Um and you're right. You got Sammy Walker and you've got.
00:03:29
S3: Their stacked.
00:03:30
S1: Tommy Dearden.
00:03:31
S2: It would be a lot different if they were over in England. They wouldn't have that luxury to be able to call on.
00:03:37
S3: Someone straight in. Yeah.
00:03:38
S2: Um so yeah, it is, it is good. But Tommy did and he stood up and, and delivered as well. So, um, yeah, I thought that was going to be a really, really close game. And, and I was right. Like it was an absolute belter. Yeah. And great game. New Zealand three minutes to go. Looked like they were going to win it. And yeah, Jack Bostock, I reckon that's probably the best debut I have ever seen from an Australian player.
00:04:00
S1: He was outstanding. Outstanding.
00:04:03
S2: Every time that ball goes up, he's just like a dog with a bone.
00:04:06
S1: Yeah.
00:04:07
S3: You think he's coming down with it? That's what we said it the other day. Whenever it went up, you're just confident he was going to get it. And I think they felt the same because Munster kept putting it there. Yeah. Kept saying get up there and get it. And he made the right play.
00:04:17
S1: Well I think he said in a in an interview after the game that Munster had spoken to him during the week and he said I'm just going to kick there all night. And he just felt obliged that when Munster's telling you I'm going to kick to you all night, I've got to go up and do something. Otherwise you know, I'm letting him down.
00:04:32
S2: He set up, set up the try for Reece Walsh as well.
00:04:34
S3: Yeah.
00:04:34
S1: Well that was from his back of the field carry to like it was great. Out of the back of the field flicked past. But let's move on. Let's go to Samoa Friday night footy. They take they took on France.
00:04:45
S2: Uh can you, um tell me who scored for France. What's his name?
00:04:48
S1: No, I'm not going to go there.
00:04:51
S2: Come on, give it a crack.
00:04:53
S1: No, No, I've got zero idea. Bish bash bish. Anyway. Mate, they they were they were outstanding, weren't they? The Samoa like. I think we all expected him to win. We all knew that they would win. But to.
00:05:09
S2: Put plenty of flair.
00:05:09
S1: Put the score that they did on on.
00:05:12
S3: The clock there. The whole game.
00:05:13
S1: The whole game. The whole game. Well, I know one stage there they were 22 nil up after 22 minutes, you know. So but we saw that. What do we think. What are we thinking of Samoa after that one.
00:05:23
S3: I think it's a hard yeah I think it's a hard one. I think they were expected to win by a margin. They did it. But um look nothing against France but they're just the quality of players and and how good they played and who's in their team at the moment I think um yeah I think that's the score they need to put on. They did it. So they, they ticked the box there. But obviously harder, harder games coming up and, and bigger games coming up. And I think they've just got to grow on that. And and probably flush that one pretty quickly and get the cobwebs out. But I think harder games coming. They've got to really step up again?
00:05:53
S2: Yeah, that's probably the thing. You wanted to see some of those players that didn't play finals football get a.
00:05:59
S1: Bit.
00:05:59
S2: Get a run, a bit of game time and a bit of a run there to to make sure that when those bigger games come, they they are playing bigger minutes. But far long ago got four tries. He was outstanding off the bench. Yeah. Um yeah it's it's pretty handy side like their their back three as well. Yeah. Um Jermaine McEwan um Manu Layla and.
00:06:21
S1: Who's playing through the middle.
00:06:22
S2: And was playing through.
00:06:23
S1: The middle. 13. Yeah.
00:06:24
S2: Like they've, they've got a decent forward pack as well. And if they play like that well yeah I think the, the, the real test for them is obviously going to be Tonga.
00:06:32
S1: And we've mentioned in the preview last week no Payne Haas no Terrell May for Samoa. But they did a job. They put the massive score in. And that's going to be really important because we spoke last week about uh the pools, how they all work. Yeah. We're going to get to England and Tonga shortly. But you know England now sitting there and they've got to do the same thing. Yeah. Have to down, down the track. Um so they've got to put the score on because for and against could possibly come into it for who gets probably the second spot. Yeah. We don't know. We don't know what will happen with Tonga and Samoa when they take on each other. But the fact that Samoa started that way, they put the massive score on they've set themselves up to to go into the, uh, further into the competition. And it gets a little bit harder this week when they take on Papua New Guinea as well. You think?
00:07:23
S2: Yeah, yeah, it's over there as well. And, um, we, you know, for anyone that's played there, it's a, it's a tough place to go. It's, it's well.
00:07:31
S1: You've played there, have you played over.
00:07:32
S3: There. Haven't played over.
00:07:33
S2: There. Stinking hot.
00:07:34
S1: Me either.
00:07:34
S2: Humid. Like it's it's not enjoyable conditions this.
00:07:39
S3: Time of year last week.
00:07:41
S1: We gotta get to the Papua New Guinea. But people last week mates of mine thought Lebanon would have been a champion.
00:07:47
S3: I backed him.
00:07:47
S1: Did you? I.
00:07:48
S3: I said to I reckon Lebanon are a chance. But they just took him out of the game.
00:07:51
S2: That was the thing. Like if you looked at Lebanon's side, their outside backs were their strengths. But if you look at the cornwalls, their strength was their experience in the forward pack. And over there in those conditions, like I spoke about, they they've they've played a lot of footy and they knew what to do and they ended up running well.
00:08:09
S1: Let's go to let's go to Papua New Guinea. They are 42 points to 18 over Lebanon, 1812 at half time. Um so the game still in the balance. But in the end the the Papua New Guinean team at home as we just mentioned, they blew him away.
00:08:24
S2: They did. And the the five eight for Papua New Guinea side.
00:08:28
S1: We mentioned him last week.
00:08:30
S2: We did look alike.
00:08:31
S1: We I mentioned him last week Guiro or I apologies on the pronunciation, but, um, I'm pretty sure he signed a Guiro Voro. Yeah, he signed a development contract for Papua New Guinea chiefs for 2020.
00:08:44
S2: He was their best player.
00:08:45
S3: Easily. Yeah, easily.
00:08:46
S2: He had some big moments a couple of line breaks. And yeah I I thought he was outstanding. And, you know, you sprinkle that in with someone like Reese Martin who's, who's had a lot of, um, you know, experience, not not just in the NRL, but in the Super League as well. Um, and Jack Bell and those types of players that experience certainly helped them on the weekend.
00:09:06
S1: Well you have a look at it. They take on Samoa as we just mentioned when we when we reviewed that Samoan game. Do you give them a chance against Samoa.
00:09:14
S3: Oh I they'll be more competitive than France. But I don't think, I think what we saw from Samoa is going to be pretty hard to go after.
00:09:22
S2: And you have a look at the balance.
00:09:23
S3: Yeah of course.
00:09:24
S1: Yeah I know.
00:09:25
S2: Yeah. On on paper Samoa should win and win comfortably. But like I said it's.
00:09:30
S3: It's not.
00:09:31
S2: An.
00:09:31
S3: Easy.
00:09:31
S2: Place to go and.
00:09:32
S1: Play. Are we expecting a better crowd because there were some empty seats.
00:09:35
S3: Yeah. I thought the weekend's game. Yeah. I thought it was going to be bigger there a little bit disappointed.
00:09:39
S2: Well that's the thing. The PNG people love their footy and they love coming to see superstars. So yeah, that's.
00:09:44
S3: What you think they.
00:09:45
S2: Might have.
00:09:46
S3: Stacked.
00:09:46
S2: Yeah I think they saw you know they probably didn't know every Lebanon player, but they know every Samoan.
00:09:51
S3: They'll be there. Yeah.
00:09:52
S1: Um, any other standouts for Papua New Guinea? I know we've already mentioned the the six and and Rhys Martin he had a he had a night out with the boot. But I suppose for them they they did what they needed to do against the side that they were predicted to beat.
00:10:06
S3: Yeah. That's all that matters early.
00:10:08
S1: Uh so off the back of that one, um, Lebanon, they'll take on Tonga, they take on Tonga at Commbank Stadium. I'm hearing already that there's over 20,000 tickets sold for that. We saw what Tonga did, uh, in Perth on Saturday night. So you think that's going to go close to a sell out? You'd like to encourage the Lebanese side of things to get out there.
00:10:29
S2: I'd imagine they'll be there. They'll be there with their drums. But those, uh, those red flags, they, uh, they have a habit of, of filling the stadium over.
00:10:38
S3: Mhm.
00:10:38
S1: Well, let's go, let's go to the next game. And I think this is probably the biggest talking point of the weekend. Uh, everyone sort of expected this game to be the be the one that we're all waiting to see. Tonga 30, England 12. Tonga led ten nil over England at half time and then came home with a couple of late tries, their important tries as well to to beat England. How did we see this one?
00:11:04
S3: Yeah, I think the way England started I thought it was going to be real close. They were going after it. They'll kick and long and chase them really hard. And I think as the game went on Tonga just slowly, slowly took over. And um we saw with those late two tries off kicks um Qatar. We spoke about Katoa last week, how important he was going to be and uh, he just saw brimstone out out of position just by a metre. And that's all the difference was in those, those late tries. And um, I think the way they handled the game and went after it was I thought it was great from Tonga, the way they handled it, the way they went about their business, they played to their, um, their big players out wide and made, made a dent. And then on the back of that they kicked off it and scored. And um yeah, I had high hopes for England early. They, they started really well the first ten.
00:11:45
S1: Minutes I didn't think England played that bad.
00:11:47
S3: Neither did I. And then just by the end it just sort of blew out. But I thought England, the way they started, I thought they started really well. They went after the game and it just sort of it just got to them in the end. But I thought it was a great game of footy.
00:11:58
S1: Tonga, I think all of us sort of. And we spoke about the preview uh the forward pack katoa. But I thought they were I thought Lehigh at fullback did a great job. Try savers.
00:12:09
S3: Yeah.
00:12:10
S1: I love you know what I loved I loved and forgive me uh the England winger that was marking Dallin Watene-zelezniak. He went and put pressure on Dallin smashed him. Yeah smashed him. And then he returned it.
00:12:22
S3: Straight after and got the error. Yeah.
00:12:25
S1: Uh, so, um, mate, I, um, I thought it was a really impressive performance from Tonga.
00:12:30
S2: Yeah. And look, they're probably giving themselves the best chance possible now they have to, to play finals and for England they've, they've got to win every game and they've got to win every game by a lot. So um yeah. Have a look at their their try scorers, their Utica Manu and Olakau'atu getting himself a double. But someone like Kohler as well, like yeah, he's an electric player. And um these blokes, they've played origin now they, they know what it's like and they've been able to take that across to, to Tonga as well. And you know I can't wait for the game against Samoa in in.
00:13:04
S1: Well I think everyone's waiting for that one aren't they really. Because you know you have a look at it. Tonga. As we mentioned they play Lebanon this week. You assume that they get over the top of Lebanon. Uh, England. They take on France. You assume that England will put a a score that. And that's what they need to do. England, at the end of the day, they've got to put the score on on France and then sit back and watch what unfolds the week after. But uh, all in all, um, Tonga, as James just mentioned, Tonga have set themselves up very nicely um for this competition. The game yesterday it was held up in Newcastle where Fiji took on the Cook Islands. 40 points to 12. I think people probably had expectations that Fiji were going to do exactly what they did.
00:13:50
S3: Yep.
00:13:51
S2: Yeah. Well, similar to Lebanon, the Cook Islands have a sprinkling of of NRL um experience. And um for Fiji they've, they've got a pretty decent side. But the Fijians love to throw the ball around and yeah. Um yeah they, they play an exciting brand of football with plenty of points. Obviously concede 12 points is nice for them as well. But yeah I thought this would probably be the scoreline. Half time score of 28 nil.
00:14:17
S1: Well they blew them away.
00:14:18
S3: They they'll play in that footy. You just said. Just throwing the ball around and things were clicking. And I think SAF went up for a kick and yeah. What about just jumped straight over the fullback and and put it down the bomb when all those things when when that's when that's happening you know that you probably end up winning when a when a front rower is jumping over a fullback.
00:14:36
S1: Well he did that. And Tane Milne he went from dummy half and they went to the video ref. But it ended up being given a try, but, um, they blew him away. 28 nil and then to the Cook Islands credit. What it ended up being would have been 12 all. I think.
00:14:49
S3: 12. Second half.
00:14:50
S1: So look they showed plenty of fight but uh Fiji who take on Australia next Sunday. Uh, and they're talking. They're already 30,000 tickets sold for that one. Um, and I know I'm going off topic a little bit here, but, uh, hasn't the support so far and the crowds for the World Cup for me, I think it surprised me because I didn't think we'd have as good a crowd, especially in Sydney. I know it was Australia, New Zealand the other night, but um, some of the crowds that we're getting at these games I think is phenomenal.
00:15:22
S3: Well, it's great for the game. Like we spoke about how good it was for the New Zealand Australia game on on Thursday night last week, how good the game was, how big the crowd was. I think now off the back of that weekend, it's just going to get bigger and we've got some big games coming up. As you said, Tonga, Samoa, England's got to stay in the fight. All those crowds that would normally 5050. Those games, I reckon they're all going to get there and and get behind it and and try and push this because there's only a month of footy left. So I think everyone's going to get behind it and really get into the spirit of it.
00:15:50
S1: Yeah. Well Australia, Fiji, everyone expects Australia to win but you're still going to get 30,000 plus. Could be more. I don't know. That's just yeah.
00:15:56
S3: I think tickets on a Sunday.
00:15:58
S2: Sunday I think they'll they love albeit Brisbane.
00:16:00
S1: They love their footy up there. But like even uh Commbank Stadium Friday night for the Lebanon Tonga game to get over 20,000. Yeah. That's pre-sold. Yeah. So you would expect over 25,000.
00:16:14
S2: If it's.
00:16:14
S1: Decent.
00:16:15
S2: Weather and a decent crowd.
00:16:16
S1: Um so yeah Fiji 40, Cook Islands 12. Cover that one nicely boys. Uh, the Cook Islands, they'll go over to New Zealand in Christchurch Sunday. Good luck. Yep.
00:16:28
S2: And you'd expect that'll be a sell out as well. Uh, we saw a game in Christchurch for the first time. And that crowd was unbelievable. So they'll want to see, uh, they want to see them win and win comfortably over there.
00:16:41
S1: All right, let's go. I know we love this part. We love this part of the podcast. Listener questions boys. Listener questions. So Big Harry's got the first one is this Harry Breen do you think? Is this young bloke. Anyway, we'll go. If you could steal one player from another nation to put into your country. I've already got mine.
00:17:05
S2: Yeah, so do I.
00:17:06
S1: Your country. Starting 13. Who are you taking?
00:17:09
S2: James white.
00:17:10
S1: Okay. All right. Yeah, I like that one too. Yeah, yeah. Expand on that one. What do you.
00:17:15
S2: Well, I just, I just love I think he's the best front runner in the comp and he's grown into it the last two. He's played.
00:17:22
S1: On the.
00:17:22
S2: Bench and he's on the bench. And he's on the bench for the Kiwis. He'll take him. If you don't start him we'll sign up. But um yeah I just love the his progression over the last couple of years and what he did in that grand final as well. I thought he was he was a shade off winning the the Clive as well. So I'd happily take the photo in my side.
00:17:41
S1: Yeah. Actually, I'm going to change mine. I'm going to go with Naufahu. Yeah, well it's a good shout though. Well, considering I'm considering the fact that um. And respectfully, I don't want to say question marks, but we look at our medals and when you look at who what I'm taking him every day of the week. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I was the first one that came to my head was Ponga. Yeah. From New Zealand obviously to have playing for Australia obviously we got Tedesco and Reece Walsh. So I don't have a lot of sense. I don't have any. Oh keep us. Keep it tight. Yeah. He's gotta have one. One. He doesn't.
00:18:12
S2: He. He's gotta.
00:18:12
S1: Have one. Come on. I don't know maybe like a yes like nice. Just a big attacking back back rower. So are you saying the Australian back rowers aren't good enough. You may let me pick a team. Let me pick.
00:18:27
S2: Liam.
00:18:27
S1: Martin. Oh, he's still playing. No, you don't want to be. I don't want to stir the fire and bullets. I'll take him off the bench. Yeah. On the extended bench. Extended bench. It could be. We won't. We don't use him. We just in case. Just in case. Break glass in emergency in case of emergency. All right, let's go to Frankie. Frankie's gone. Do you think international rugby league rules and refereeing styles favour fast paced attacking teams or disciplined defensive sides? Now, I've got to say, in general, watching all the games over the weekend, I didn't really have an issue with any of the refereeing.
00:19:03
S2: I didn't notice any. Yeah, no I didn't. I didn't really notice it slanted to to either particular aspect of the game. But I really enjoyed the refereeing and and we haven't spoken about it. So yeah, they've done a great job.
00:19:16
S1: Yeah. I think they're staying out of it. Like even yesterday's games they just they sort of just flowed. There was no no stoppages and that that weren't needed. I thought it's been great. Yeah. I'm just trying to think of any sort of uh, controversial decisions, but I can't really think of too many.
00:19:31
S2: They did a win.
00:19:32
S1: Well, that's what we want in the World Cup. If you're not talking about the issues About the referees. The referees we know um. I've got obviously got a real tough job. But in terms of in terms of fast paced attacking teams or disciplined defensive sides, do you think there's any sort of favouring of the way. Obviously, if we're if we're not seeing or noticing the referees, then yeah, you would think that they're not going overboard with six agains penalties and whatnot. So that would then favour potentially those teams that want to play fast. Yeah. Well I don't think it has though. No that's as we just said. I think it's just certain teams at the moment. Rugby league and how the games where the game's at at that speed and physicality as well.
00:20:15
S2: If you're a disciplined defensive side you're not giving away six agains are you?
00:20:18
S1: No.
00:20:19
S2: Well we saw and then it is going to be fast flowing anyway.
00:20:22
S1: Yeah we saw on Thursday with Harry Grant like he didn't get any. He didn't get any runs didn't get anything. So it doesn't but it was still a fast game. So it doesn't sort of wasn't beneficial. Great. Great question Frank. Well done mate. Keep them coming. Let's go to Donny. Uh, Donny, he says, how are teams coping with the physicality and intensity? Step up from regular club football to the international stage, and how big a step up is that? Well, you two.
00:20:47
S2: Boys, I think you're seeing.
00:20:48
S1: Talk about that.
00:20:49
S2: In terms of physicality and stepping up. Uh, some of these nations like it's not it's not a step up, you know, like the, the Samoan game against the French. That didn't take a whole lot out of you.
00:21:00
S1: Yeah. Well, the only two games really Australia, New Zealand, England and Tonga. Yeah. They're the two games.
00:21:05
S2: So and look there is a step up. There's definitely a step up. Um you know I still think origin's probably the toughest football that you can play because that's that basically is just you're on for the whole 80. Whereas you know, in, in these types of, uh, international matches, you might have the first 20 minutes being really, really hard and the really big step up. But then if you can get away, sometimes it can deteriorate the quality of play.
00:21:31
S1: So okay, what about in terms of managing your squad through the tournament because obviously World Cup, you know, do we play players? When do we not. Well you saw that.
00:21:42
S2: You saw that with Teddy.
00:21:42
S1: And we're going to see that. We're going to see that in the next few weeks because you would assume New Zealand as well. Uh, if you know Tonga and Samoa, probably not because they've got to play each other that third game. But do they this week go, hey, let's let's rest a couple. Tonga play Lebanon. Samoa are taking on Papua New Guinea.
00:22:02
S2: So it's a fine line because you don't really want to mess with your team cohesion too much. But some of these players haven't played finals football. Yeah.
00:22:12
S1: So some of them have played a lot of football too. I think Tonga is probably the team in that other side because Samoa will have to fight for everything now. Yeah, but Tonga they've set themselves up with that win against England. They might go. Let's give a few people a rest here and then bring them back for that Samoa game. But um. Yeah I don't know. I think it's a hard one because because it is only a month of footy. A lot of players didn't play all the way up to the grand final. You need. You need to play you. I feel better when I'm playing, not having weeks off here and there, so personally I'd. I'd want to be playing and it's for your country. Yeah. You never know when your last time or you might only get one or none. So I'll be playing. Yeah. Well I think we'll see a few changes probably. And we'll address that later in the week for Australia and potentially for New Zealand as well. But probably Tonga and Samoa. They they keep keep rolling. Yeah. Rolling it on. All right. Wow. That's it. We done. One is giving us the thumbs up. All right guys. Well you know what. Thanks for joining us. You know what to do. Like subscribe. Get to the continuous call team. Follow us there. You'll see us again. We're here today. We will be back. You come back Thursday. You're back Thursday. Gutho not brushed us. So we'll rotate that chair. Can't wait. See you guys. Bye bye.
