Carré On Our Wayward Son

The Cardiff Central Podcast discusses the recent rugby game against Leinster. Despite a 13-point loss, the hosts feel that Cardiff performed better than expected. They praise the kicking game and highlight standout performances from Alan Lawrence and Max Clarke. They also discuss missed opportunities and suggest exploring alternative goal-kicking options. Overall, they believe Cardiff showed promise against a strong Leinster team. Welcome to the Cardiff Central Podcast. We are leaving a bit of a disaster. We should probably talk about the game of games as well. I wanted to get as many questions in with Griff as I could possibly do, so apologies for the shorter intro than normal. But yeah, Leinster, you said before we started, without those first 10 minutes it could have been a very different story. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one thing is I'm very proud that was only one point out of my prediction, because I predicted a 12-point loss and it was 13. So, you know, few loss to me there, so we performed as expected, but also better. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, we didn't really get anything out of it. It was quite interesting to listen to one of the connoisseurs, the Master of None podcast. So they spent most of the lap after the game they played us, mulling about how bad Connacht were. After watching this game, they turned around and went, actually, no, maybe it was just Cardiff being really good at frustrating us. And so, you know, because they were impressed with how well we were standing up to Leinster after those two very, you know, two very soft tries, one charge down. You know, and otherwise, I mean, I'll get on to my one wrangle in a bit. But, you know, what was a very good kick in performance from Tinas to be out of hand, you know, one soft charge down, one thing. You know, those two tries, you know, that's 12 points. And, you know, all of a sudden you're looking at, was it 7-3, 12-0 sort of thing. And it's, you know, one thing I was proud of is when we were 12-0 down, we did kick a post. You know, some people have disagreed personally. You know, I thought, actually, just getting the scoreboard ticking is probably the way to go with Leinster. They don't concede many tries. They're getting points when you can, and I think it's always good. Fortunately, we didn't make the most of it, you know, missing that second penalty. But, you know, probably some of these carries were, you know, it's classic for me, you know, five metres or so out, you know, you're not going to stop a lump like that. And actually, you know, some of the carrying, you know, the injection of pace for some of those carries were excellent. I thought Alan Lawrence was very good in that. He came on to Carnie as well. Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I'd forgotten how good Alan Lawrence was. I remember watching it and thinking, that's the best I've seen of Alan Lawrence this season, it felt like. I don't think he's been in that much, to be honest. No, it's so difficult for him. Stop, start, after joining midway through the season, having to jump, you know, literally across a couple of channels to come to Cardiff to do it. And it's, but he, I was really impressed with him in that game. I thought he was superb. Another one who I wasn't expecting the performance from was Max Clarke as well at 13. I thought he had a very solid show. You know, I mean, he, you know, when we're used to the likes of Helaholo and Ray Lillo, you know, you weren't, you know, you weren't going to get the razzles as you'd expect. But I thought he was incredibly, you know, really good defensive display, linked well. You know, I think he did what was asked of him against a very, as I said, a very strong Leinster defence, even if it is a, you know, the cliche is there's no second team at Leinster. There's just more of them. It's a difficult game always against Leinster to adjust because you say, oh, it's Leinster and just put it down and just say it's a loss. I'm a little bit tempted. There were moments of key, key moments of momentum swings, I thought. There was the Helaholo offload. That's probably one, you know, and I don't mean to, you know, it's a really brilliant break and really great bust. And then, then he gives the ball away, trying something and then it doesn't come off. It's probably a better way to phrase it, but he gives the ball away. He was trying to continue a positive play. And then I'm sure that show would always be full of praise, a positive play, but just perhaps it just wasn't as guided as well as it could have been. And then the Reece Carey knock on was another one, which I thought on the back of some really great busts by himself and various other players. So they were the opportunities. I thought the kicking game was superb. It was really well thought out. Won the aerial battle a lot in that first half, but getting to the edge, getting the ball to Owen Lane, the kicks ahead. I don't think I've ever seen as many chip and chases not work out in a game. Normally, normally from three or four, one of them is going to, you know, fox the defender. The defender is going to have a bit of a howler, is going to drop the ball off of one. It seemed to be one is praise to Leinster because they managed to defend them really well, but nothing seemed to be bouncing the right way. And that was something that Jockey said afterwards, wasn't it? That kind of just didn't get that bit of luck that they perhaps would need against Leinster. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I said, I mean, it's definitely the right tactic with, you know, Shatner, Unarabo coming in. You know, it's going to be that aggressive blitz. That's the way to get over it. You know, it is, you know, it is cross-field kicks. Those chips are on top of my foot for the most part did well. It's just the cat pitch, once again, being a cruel mistress. Either everything bounces into your hands or nothing bounces into your hands when you play on that. Yeah, I said one other player I thought I thought I'll see with Beetham going off early. Another head injury knock. I don't want to necessarily say it was an official, but it was one of those weird ones where we've had a few of these this season where a player's gone off for a HOA and we've not seen why. Maybe it's a mouth guard, maybe it's anything else. I'm sure there was nothing foul-played, but it just seemed very out of the blue. Yeah, yeah. It was like I saw him in a tackle. I thought it was a blood replacement initially, but he then stood off, which is unusual for a blood replacement to say the least. I watch his game on S4C, so I have to try and guess what the comms are saying most of the time. I was going to come up with a line there about trying to guess what they were saying as well, but no, that would be completely harsh on the two commentators involved, one of which was Gwyn Jordan. As you mentioned earlier about the kicking to the corner, he was actually critical of going for the post. He said the opposite to yourself, I believe. I'm not saying which one knows more, whether it's the ex-captain of Wales or Harley, but you can make your own judgement. He felt that kicking to the corner was a better option and going for tries. I see the logic for both. It's a very hard defence to break down, so getting yourself into that gap, I feel you're less likely to overplay, which is where I think a lot of teams do struggle against Leinster. Do you think Cardiff need an alternative goal-kicking option? I remember the days when I was growing up, probably the most famous example for Wales is Stephen Jones. I'm not kicking very well, I'll give it to you, Gav. The way Gav follows on with his kick against England. That was a distance as well, to be fair. But then we also had it with Priestland had issues and they gave it a half-penny and then half-penny became our man at goal-kicking. When we had the Gerrard Anscombe kick from 15. It doesn't seem to be that same thing at the moment, where if one guy's having a bad day, they pass it to someone else. Do you think Cardiff need to explore other kicking options? We spoke to Chris there about Jacobs, for instance, being a previous pen. He's a goal-kicker, I haven't watched him in warm-ups. Ben Thomas has obviously done the job before. I've seen him in warm-ups, knocking him over from like 60 as well, which I know warm-ups and games situations are different. Thomas, I know we're not going to have him much after this season, but he's proven to be a competent goal-kicker. And it's just been nice to take some pressure off to be, I mean, I think to me that is his one big weakness. I know there's this, you know, because I think he's for the most part has gotten rid of that funny five, funny 10 minutes where he just goes off the bottom. I know he had that charge on the first half, but I feel that's more good from Leinster than necessarily him doing something there. Yeah, I just think just taking that pressure off of him. You know, if he isn't feeling it, he's got the ips. Because, you know, we miss seven points off the tee. And then that puts us into losing bonus point territory. And then we're not rushing to try and get points and stuff. And then we're not overplaying and opening ourselves up to turnovers. You know, I mean, because that's one thing with this new defensive Leinster. They used to not be a particularly, you know, they used to just fan, they used to drop and fan. Now they actually compete quite aggressively and we did get them turned over quite the loss. Which, again, I think might have led him to Palo Haro's moment where he went to be the speculative offload as opposed to, you know, trying to go into contact and hoping someone's going to be there to support. There's all these little things. I mean, the one good thing is it's nice to see that their playing style worked and they were able to stay toe to toe against big teams of leagues, you know. You know, we managed, as in the Dragons, you know, the only thing we've beaten is last year's finalists and the first inaugural UFC champions, Stormers, and who we've never lost to yet. I'm just going to leave that one out there. But yeah, I mean, on the face of it, yes, Leinster, the unstoppable force. I think we stood up well. I mean, I think losing to Marnie early. The point I was trying to make with the beating going off was I thought Ben Thomas, although we both agree he's definitely more of an inside centre, than a fullback, I thought he had a very good game at fullback. Very much so. Yeah, I think, you know, obviously, I mean, Lawrence came on early for Tamani. I think that was a huge loss, being one of our main primary carriers. But as soon as Carey went off after about 50 minutes, you know, we just couldn't really make any dents, any easy dents into the Leinster line. So that's one thing that I think we might have to develop. I mean, I think if we had Teddy Williams, then that negates it, which is, again, go back to the frustrations, you know, Griff shared about, you know, maybe Evan Lloyd not necessarily coming back, but actually maybe a Teddy Williams would have been quite useful as well, given, you know, we had... Although saying that, I thought Shane Neal's shoes and Turnbull did all right in the second row. Yeah, obviously Turnbull, we have to mention it. I want to do a special section for Turnbull's 200. Well, maybe come back to it then. But yeah, I thought it didn't, I must admit, I looked at that second row combination, I thought, I don't fancy that working as a second row combination. But I don't think it didn't work. I thought they both worked really hard. Shane Neal's shoes did exactly what Shane Neal's shoes does every single time it turns out on the rugby pitch, which is to work his blinking arse off. I don't, you know, you never question his work rate at all. He's brilliant at that. And Turnbull, likewise, I thought Turnbull was really good as well. So, yeah, it's... There were lots of things conspiring against Cardiff, I felt, in that first half, especially with the injuries and things. But in terms of the players that slotted in afterwards, they were brilliant. Ben, brilliant. Alan Owens, brilliant. So, yeah. I thought Dan Turnbull looked really good as well off the bench when he came into the second row. He's a lot bigger than I... Because he sort of... It was almost as if he blinked and he missed it when he... against Connex, because he ended up getting an injury quite early. I didn't realise how massive he is in comparison to, like, Shane Neal's shoes. It's like, oh, right, so he's a... Oh, he's that kind of back five forward. He's the big bloke who can... He's a big second row who can do the back row, right. Cool. Yeah. But then again, I thought Orlando went reasonably well. I don't think there were any real hiccups. Like, not major. That made me think, oh, God, why? The scrum went really well as well. I thought we had at least parity. You know, they got a little bit dominant towards the end. But, I mean, again, we mentioned Rhys Barrett coming on. Yeah, you know, he's a much younger prop, so, you know, you've got to forgive him a couple of these. And he's against Alan Alatoa as well. That's the other thing to mention. Let's forget he's... Yeah, no, Samoan captain to Alan Alatoa sort of thing. Yeah, it's... Yeah, so, I mean, you know, who does them to hold them up so well? You know, I thought the three tries were all right. One thought I think was a bit... I feel like we should bring on to it, because there was a lot of talk during and after the game about Rhys Carray, who was mentioned as, you know, leaving at the end of the season, so he's going to be out of the World's Equation anyway. Yeah. One thing I do think is we did sort of see the best and worst of Carray in, you know, the posts, you know. And I think you could see he gets targeted. He got targeted quite a bit at Blenstone. They got a lot of joy taking him on the inside. I don't know if that's a system error, where really he needs to be a bit closer to the ruck. But he was, you know, with his spacing, he was struggling to catch that man on the inside. But, I mean, in terms of Carrey in the scrimmage, you know, I thought he was fantastic. As I said, there was one drop pass, but I think that was more... That was a bit of a crap pass, personally. Yeah, I spoke on the part led here by Cymru, the Welsh part, about what was being said about Carrey, and I think what Gwyn Jones, I think, has been quite vocal on, is he's clearly... There's aspects of Carrey's game which is brilliant, and the ball carrying and the highlight clips, the two tries, and I was clipping them up for socials, and, you know, people are immediately responding, saying, this is why Reece Carrey should be in the Wales set-up. One of the best ball carriers, if not the best ball carrier in Wales. He could be incredible. And he is, when he's got his ball in his hands, he is such a destructive runner. And what a player he is. But it still feels like there's a little bit more that people want to get out of him. And, yeah, there's the other side of the game, which he did get targeted a lot. And then people, you know, question the Gatland question, which is a fitness question. And, as you mentioned, is that system error? Is that necessarily fitness issues? Because these were happening maybe earlier on in the game as well. Or was it just a simple thing of, he switched off, even? It's difficult to say, really, without knowing more. It's sad to see him go back for salaries, obviously. It's not ideal. I can completely understand why. I think it was, I've got to be honest, after that message over last summer, I'm not surprised at all. I don't know about you, Harley, but that seemed to be a nail in the coffin, despite, in fairness to Reece, at the start of the season, he turned out in front of the press. And I was really impressed with how he answered questions in that interview about focusing on Cardiff for the rest of the season. He was going to be, and he has. He's put in a hell of a shift for Cardiff this season, and nothing could question his work for Cardiff. But, yeah, it is sad to see him go back for salaries. But, look, I really do wish him all the best. Yeah, I understand. He's going to make, even if he's second to a choice of salaries, he's probably going to make more than one. Reportedly, yeah. The reasons are supposedly offering a starting loose-head prop. So, you can't blame him. And actually, looking at some of the players who are leaving due to these salaries, it looks like he might be, they're looking at him as sort of a replacement for Mako Vinopoulos, certainly in terms of the way they play the game, because Mako has never been the strongest scrummager, but what he does give you is a fantastic ball-carrying and actually decent hands, which he's carried off as. He's also incredibly good over the ball, which not a lot of people pick on. I did pick on one issue with his defence, but actually, when it comes to messing up rucks, he's pretty good. He does sometimes give away the penalty, playing the no, or just trying his edge, but I think that's just because he's a seven at heart at times. Yeah. Well, my main one was the ball penalties that Reece Carey would give away by trying to play the dark arts when you're six foot, whatever he is, and however many kgs, is not always an easy, and red-headed probably doesn't help things, standing out, doesn't always help. I don't know who's grown up watching Martin Williams. It's what's gone on there. I love Nuggets a bit, but my God, is he the master of cheating. The only reason I say he's better than Ritchie McCaw about it is everyone talks about Ritchie McCaw cheating. No one talks about Martin Williams. The best one I remember, the one that I remember from Martin Williams was the trip to Fair for Wales. I still remember that trip. It was so blatant. So blatant. Anyway, yeah, we could keep talking about, I think, all his abrasions, but we should probably quickly talk about Wales' selection ahead of France. Sorry, did you want one more? Just quickly, I just want to say congratulations for Josh Turnbull. Oh, sorry, yeah. I didn't actually come back for that one. Campaign's fantastic. 200 appearances, if I believe. But also, I feel like he's had over as many scouts beforehand as well. Yeah. Club legend of both the independent sides, as someone called us a while back. Yeah, we just look better when he's on the field. No matter whether he's playing four to eight. I mean, at one point, I think it was a question I gave you for the rat Christmas quiz, which players played in the most jerseys in a particular season? And it was Josh Turnbull because he played four to eight, 19, 20. And I think he also had a game in 21 in one season because there's a cheeky six-two split in there as well. And we've always talked about when he comes off the bench, that extra leadership he brings. It's just such a great thing. And I do hope, even if I'm not going to retire the man, but if he is looking towards winding down his playing career, I do hope he's given a position. You know, Griff Rees was talking about how he wants more people around the academy to train. Josh, to me, is the sort of person you want to help run your leadership. He's actually quite a clever line technician. I mean, I know Rory Thornton's probably our main guy, but he knows a few tricks as well, particularly being a shorter man and how to make sure he's up in the air that little bit quicker. Very good ball defence. As I said, he does a job at seven because he's so aggressive over the ball. Yeah. Yeah, you made me regret that we didn't ask that question to Griff Rees if they offered Turnbull a contract as a coach now. Maybe that's something we'll ask next time. Yeah, for those that didn't watch it on SFC, or aren't well-speaking, there was an interview post-match with Turnbull. He did, I think, I can't remember the exact quote, but there was words to the effect of, you know, if this is my last home game, it's been a pleasure and an emotional privilege. You know, he had his OT coach giving him his shirt before the game, and he's clearly emotional with it, and clearly speaking so highly of the Cardiff set-up and how much of a privilege it's been for him to play for Cardiff over so many years. And, you know, on behalf of myself and Harley, what a stalwart he's been, and what a player he's been. You know, stalwart often gets given to these players, and it sometimes sounds almost derogatory to say, oh, he's been a stalwart of the club, but he's one hell of a player. You know, he's played for Wales in almost three periods of his career, if you think about that, and in three different ways, and he's been brilliant in all aspects as well. I wouldn't think it says, you know, more to his value around the environment and stuff. Maybe it's not saying he's... I'd like to think he's proud of it, but, you know, he has three Six Nations winners' medals without playing a minute, which, you know, just shows how much, you know, he was valued by Gatland to have around the team, you know, just for training and leadership sport, I mean, let's be fair. It's the second row and back. He was playing in the years where second row and back row were very difficult to get into. So you certainly fell soft on it. Yes, shall we move on to Wales' election, which I'm glad the team came out, so this came out before we recorded, because given how badly we predicted the Cardiff team, I don't know how bad it would have gone for us today. So I suppose headlines from a Bloom Blacks perspective are Cam Winnett starts, Cam Winnett, Thomas, Aserati starts, and then Alex Mann has dropped to the bench to allow, along with Mackenzie Martin, to allow for Will Williams to come in and Dave Jenkins to six. And then we've got Mason Grady in the 23 jersey, who has been a very naughty boy, and that's all I'm going to say on that one. Sorry, I was already laughing because I already know what's coming, because, oh, this is so good. Obviously, people are talking about the headline incentives, but, Polly, how do you feel about Dave Jenkins at six? For fuck's sake. It's OK to have a good player on the bench. Like, Will Williams off the bench. I'll go with my thoughts on the tactics, because actually I think it does come into the centre partnership as well. I think this is a team to stop France. This is not a team to play against France. So you've gone for extra bulk in the pack by having Dave Jenkins move up to six, and then Will Williams coming in. So you've got that extra bulk, but you don't lose Dave Jenkins, the captain, and his ability to secure a ball over Rooks. I do think you do lose a lot of mobility, because Alex Van Schrode, he can take down the Miafous and the Flemonds. He did not take a backward step against Toulouse, who are a lot of these teams play for. And it does frustrate me a bit Maybe they're looking at saying, actually, maybe Alex Mann and Mackenzie Martin coming on towards the last 20 minutes of the game might add a bit more impact than necessarily maybe having a role than perhaps the Rolands have had. Maybe seeing him as a lot more, he's a wind-up toy, a bit more energy. I'm not a fan of it. I do think what you gain, potentially gain in the line-out option, which I think they've just not used Alex Mann more than, I think, him not necessarily being a true option. Particularly with their preference to go for Wainwright, as that's a bit bankable. Maybe that means Rolands might be coming out a bit more into the line and using him as a first-phase carrier. I'm not so sure. Centres-wise, he's picked the two most defensively solid centres. They talk about rotating Tompkins and North, but Joe Roberts and Owen Watkins are the two best defensive centres at 12 and 13, judging the region, easily. I'm not saying the other two are bad. I'm saying Owen Watkins is renowned for his defence and Joe Roberts is absolutely fantastic in that channel. For me, that's what it seems like. And I think they feel like they can get away with not having the physicality of George North because it's likely going to be a Mo Farah C2 centre-peering, so not having Donte in that midfield. I think I've seen something like that. It might be someone else, actually, at 12. But the fact is, it's not Donte who is. Who is massive and is incredibly aggressive on the ball, so actually, having a slightly lighter centre-peering you can get away with. Personally, not what I'd have done. But, you know, I think, you know, they do cite the six-day turnaround before Italy, and I think, you know, Italy is going to be the game we are very much targeting, so I think they're probably thinking, if we're going to try, you know, if we're going to get Joe Roberts in, this is the game to do it. I think when they tried it in the autumn, Nick Tompkins and Joe Roberts didn't click very well, so I think they're hoping with Owen Watkins a little bit bigger, so maybe he can take on a bit more of the Bosh role, even though that's really not his problem, so that's his game over. But, I mean, you know, I'd say Owen Watkins' centre-peering experience international. Yeah, I was at the VLT, and it was an interesting one when the team came out, I'll be honest. Not many people saw that one come in. My feelings on North is he's been underused, and when he's carried the ball he's been superb, so I don't quite get it, but then again, you know, yourself and I hardly have been full of praise of Joe Roberts all season. We're big fans of his, think he's got a huge future, and that was what was sort of backed up by Foreshaw in the press conference, and he was saying he thinks he's got a huge future, again, you know, the typical lines, look into the next four years, look into the next World Cup cycle, and all that jazz, and wanted to see those players, I'm not saying those aren't genuine feelings, but just these are things we've heard before. There is an element of, there is less to play for than Six Nations, but as pointed out by various people, and I was speaking to a few people today, and generally when you go into Six Nations, two wins is the minimum, and anything below that is quite often considered a failure, so is the pressure on, and especially if Wales don't win this weekend, which, against France, it's going to be difficult against Italy in a week's time, you know, Foreshaw was at pains to say that he wasn't surrendering, as one journalist put it, with the team selection, but I think it is going to be a difficult task against France, you know, you've got, you mentioned the additional bulk with Will Rowland, but I think that's why Ryan Elias has been picked as well, because of the additional bulk in the scrum, so, and you know, I know a lot of casual fans perhaps, and other fans, will be saying, well, okay, if the scrum goes well, but the line-up doesn't go as well, because Dee has been brilliant in his line-up throw-in, and Elias has struggled a bit more, then, you know, he was a roundabout, but, look, it's always going to be a difficult one against France, you're always going to have a strong side, I still think this Wales side can win, despite France, and you know, there's all this talk of it being a, I think, Derry Lake was talking earlier this week about France being a wounded animal, and all this sort of stuff, and they are, but, as he put it, sometimes they fight back, and I expect that from France, how do you see the game going, and who do you fancy winning, because Wales haven't been in France since, I think, the 2019 World Cup? No, I think I did point out in the wrap, when we asked, because Lee was a bit pessimistic, or trying to encourage the pessimism, if you look at the games, if you actually think about the games, we haven't really been blown out of the water by France, really, I don't think there's any game where I thought, well, that's it. Usually what's happened is you've had a fairly tight game, and then it will be, and to my point, we'll do something mad, and, you know, it'll just be that sheer, zen-ness, that, because, you know, whether it's an intercept, whether it's just a solo effort try, or a huge try, save, and tackle, that's the key thing about midfield, and, you know, France look a much poorer team, their attack in general hasn't looked very great, their kick and strike, you know, they've gone from the team that kicks the most to the team that kicks the least. Thank you Squid Rugby for giving me that start on the latest video. You know, this is a French team that seems to have a World Cup funk, and, you know, also a few key players. You know, there's a couple coming back, so I think Flamon's due to start, and, you know, we're going to get, I believe, a Davies, who is an absolute unit, don't get me wrong. Sorry, I still can't get my head around what can be released. Yeah, that's the thing, that's, to me, it's a huge statement of, you know, they feel like something's not going right, you know, it looks like it's going to be quite a different back line for France, so hopefully we can get away from there. I'm actually quite confident we can get away, I don't think we're going to walk them by any means, but, I feel a lot more confident about this game than I did at the start of the tournament. Yeah, well, yeah, they're not as good as everyone expected for one, but, okay, it's obvious that they found the hit of losing to Pog huge, but a company with that flam on being injured and start all dweeping in and out, you have it now, Dante, who, I must be honest, Dante hasn't been to his best this tournament, but even so, they're a better side with him, as you mentioned. I, it's still a brilliant French side, I, I think, going into this week, I fancied Wales getting the win, and I'm going to stick to it, I fancied Wales going to be close though, it's going to be five points or less, and it's going to be a nail-biter the whole time, they'll probably have a line out five metres out from the Wales line with about seven minutes remaining, and that'll be the moment that decides the game, or less minutes remaining, it might be Osprey's scenario out in Edinburgh, but I, I just, I just do fancy Wales for getting over the line, I, there were a couple of other changes in the game, I, I just think he's, I, I'm surprised myself in saying that, but I think, I, I just feel, I think he knows what he wants to do in, in a game, in, in, in this, in this side a bit more at the moment, I think Sam Costello isn't quite sure which sort of game he's trying to play, and he's trying to play a bit of both sorts of styles of game, and getting caught in a bit, a bit of stuff, it's a, it's a good Wales side, and it'll be a big bash against France on Sunday. Yeah, see, I, I will disagree on the Costello point, I think, you know, Gatsby's decided that he's going to show him that you're the man, so you, you go and meet him, you know, a bit like Sheridan's doing with Tina, you know, it's just, I think since he's, you know, he's really struggled to get game time and stay in 3-3 before the World Cup, since the World Cup rather, I just don't think he's quite gotten up to where he is, or where he should be normally, and that hurts me to say because I'm usually his biggest defender, because I'll say, you know, you've got to look at the stuff he's doing that isn't flashy. Yeah, I, I think for me, if you're bringing up the thing that he's been sort of bringing up on the left, I do feel like the way Wales play Grady's maybe not necessarily as good as a supporting winger, you know, like, if you'll get, if he's the one who's getting the ball, he will do damage and cause him, I don't think he's necessarily that one who comes up, goes for work. Interesting, the bench to me probably has slightly more of an impact feel to it than, it does feel like there's a lot of youthful exuberance that can come on. Gareth Davies, I think, is going to have a point to prove that Elliot Dey proves just how much impact he brings in off the bench as well. You know, I think he is trapped in that early Ken Owens role of just being, you know, the one-man bomb squad. So, yeah, so to me, I think, I think Wales play about six, I think. I think it's going to be tough, but I think, yeah, I think if we've got, if we get our kicking game sorted, so I think that kick chase is going to be better. But I think, yeah, there's a lot of things, France haven't been as disciplined as they have been, so I think if we are getting opportunities in their half for kicker, easy kicker balls, just keep taking over. Yeah, because, you know, France, frankly, they were bloody lucky to get away with that. And then they were supposedly going to have a reaction for that performance against Italy and that kind of thing. Which, to be fair, does set it up for a huge performance against Wales. I'm potentially jinxing myself there, but I'm just not seeing it. I don't know what it is. Maybe they need a Brad Morthy to just come in and sort of give them a chance. But for Ireland, it was, you know, Ireland have never been a World Cup team. They've always been about the Six Nations winning four, they'd rather win four Six Nations than one World Cup. You know, very much more here and now. Whereas I think for France, being a home World Cup and, you know, it was all building to this and, I think it's hit them a lot more than I think even they fully realised even now after three games. Yeah. It's tough for them and we'll see how they react. Probably just before we head to closing, mention the other games that are going on this weekend as well, the end of 20s obviously, which is on Thursday night. So tomorrow night as we record, we'll be there. Annoyingly at the North Terrace, but I'm not going to open that right up again. I'm working on the game, so there we go. That's that. But yeah, I don't want to say that. That means Wales is going to lose because I do have a terrible track record, but hopefully I'll turn that around. But all the best to Delarue especially. No Harry Wilde this week, but all the best to Delarue and the rest of the team. Again, France, a fantastic task as it always is against fantastic age-groups. Congrats to Merthyr as well I should say, for getting to the final of the Welsh Cup. A good win against Swansea last weekend. And then this weekend, Cardiff travel to Newport on Saturday to 30 kick-off same time for Merthyr at Aberavon and Pontypridd at Swansea. Yeah, big game for Cardiff that one and they've got to do it without Ray Nilo then. I don't know if I'm delirious or not, that's actually a good joke. Newport obviously flying and yeah, I suppose one thing we haven't talked about is the situation at Ponty and all that sort of jazz, but all the best to Christy Comedies have taken over. Obviously obviously the coaching staff leaving especially someone who I grew up watching and I've got a lot of time for both as a player and as a human being to be honest. All the best to the comedies and the rest of the coaching staff there and for Ponty for the remainder of the season. Yeah, that's it because it was cut back so I'm guessing no changes in the membership table. Yeah, not much to be honest. Really it's the case that it looks now pretty inevitable that, well, if it wasn't already, that Stan Dunfrey would be in that top four. Newport, look, are flying. They were so clinical and they have really separated themselves from the rest. Cardiff, RSC, obviously, fourth currently. As Griff mentioned, hopefully they can have a strong end to the season and get in that playoff spot. They'll have a lot of competition. There's still a group of five or six teams and yeah, I still back Cardiff to make it and make it as the fourth side in that playoff picture, the alliteration playoff picture. It's nice to get that in. Shall we just quickly, unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to watch the game, but obviously Gwalior Lightning were away from the opening parade. It's finished at Park of Scarlets. Unfortunately, it was almost the reverse scoreline. But, you know, a drop goal from Seanhead Harries to end her rugby career. Thank you very much for all the joy you've given me in a Wales jersey. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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