Tuilagi punching Ashton was like the epsiode of The Simpsons where Homer almost becomes heavyweight champion of the world by taking punches until his opponent tires themselves out.

Imagine the scene: Nigel Owens blows his whistle and declares "time off" but this time, the crowd begins to buzz with excitement. 28 players circle around Eben Etzebeth and Ellis Genge getting ready to throw down. The pundits called it "The Baby Rhino versus the Enforcer" and bets were placed immediately. Also some rugby was played that day.

No mention of Calum Clark purposely breaking Rob Hawkins' arm... That's got to be the single worst thing I've seen on a rugby pitch. Grub of a player through and through

Nice to see Ben, please bring him on more, as his perspective is very interesting!

Agree on gouging as by far worst but also think head butting is pretty bad, surprised Hask and Ben didn't seem so bothered about it.

After watching your podcasts for the past 2 weeks and enjoying them, your guests have said that they want to grow this fabulous game of Rugby on a global scale. With that said the NFL have had the best weekend ever as far as matches are concerned, amazing memories and amazing results and lot's of underdogs winning. Do you think that the six nations will have a weekend like the NFL during this seasons campaign even though there could be 5 different winners ? Love the pod and great to see Benjamin again 👏

In terms of comparing Rugby to Cricket, we have to remember that Cricket has made it in India. Cricket is the national sport of the second largest country in the world in terms of population and one of the fastest growing enconomies and really Rugby has nothing like that kind of support driving the game forward. Also, I do believe Rugby should be striving to be a global game cos if it's something we believe in and are passionate about then why shouldn't it be? Seeing the likes of Japan, Uruguay and Chile develop in the 15s game in the last few years plus the talent of some of the less traditional rugby nations on the Rugby Sevens World Series is really encouraging and I'd like to see more incentive to grow the game outside of the sport's typical powerhouses. That's why I'd definitely be in favour of some form of Promotion/Relegation into the Six Nations. Rugby doesn't need to be an exclusive club, it's a sport that could and should be for everyone.

Fantastic podcast as usual, I would have to agree with the lads with regards to the severity of the crime of the game. Interesting comment from Alex at the end about perceived villains of the game, now being held in extremely high regard as analysts and pundits within the game. Possibly one of the biggest villains of his era, Wade Dooley is regarded as one of the most accurate citing commissioners in the game. Probably testament to the edict " The old poacher, makes the best gamekeeper. "

Easy explanation for a lot of the disparity between Cricket and Rugby's social media numbers...the leviathan that is the Indian fanbase in cricket. They carry so many of the numbers that give cricket an inflated sense of significance in this country. (Coming from a massive fan of Cricket in all its forms). Just underscores why rugby needs to crack the States and other enormous markets.

I would like to congratulate Hask for finally getting the bleep censor. Well done, sir, well done.

Ferris wouldn't have been bitten if he wasn't fishooking Hartley at the time!

Totally with Ben on Bloodgate - outright institutional cheating has no place in any sport. What makes it different from on field “cheating”? I’d suggest that it’s the inability of the referee to accurately monitor or sanction it.

When comparing followers between rugby and cricket accounts there is only one word needed to explain the disparity...India!

Great episode lad

Just re-watched the Dupuy eye gouge on Ferris and for once Ben Kayser is way off the mark. Dupuy went for Ferris's eyes twice, deliberately both times. Absolutely indefensible and if anything he got off lightly with a year's ban

From my admittedly narrow perspective (I'm a Kiwi) Haskell to me, has an extremely heathy ego.

Allow striking/ fighting and give the players a 2 minute sin bin for those involved. Like in I’ve Hockey

Rugby’s worst crime? Not giving Alex Payne a modelling contract.

42:35 hahah, Haskell being real.

Cricket has the indian market which is 1billion people.

I think the big difference between Rugby and Cricket is the countries that play it. The biggest population of a top tier country is France, England, Italy and Argentina between 45-68 million people. Cricket's biggest fan is India which has 1.4 billion people and Pakistan at 221 million people. Plus it's as close to a religion as any other sport over there. Which helps the Stokes and cricket popularity situation a lot. No country that plays rugby (at the top level) has a population of more than 70 million.

Peter clohessy stamping on the french players head would be up there aswell

Keyser level headed as ever. Hask is right about little Timmy - time to wake these kids up and they understand actions and consequences. Needed Tinds view also though. Lastly what was the potato video thing Hask talked about?

Interesting. I did try to follow T14 but I just couldn’t make an emotional connection to it. Same w Super, URC, JTL & MLR. So for me personally, I just couldn’t get invested- & ultimately- interest just withered away w comps outside of the prem.

1:03:00 It's Neil Best who gouged him.

Rucking/shoeing in rucks would solve a lot of the safety issues, would stop people not rolling away, which would then stop people illegally entering the ruck.

Had forgotten how often Ferris was targeted back in the day! Why? Just so good the only way to stop him was to hurt him, or was he such a king of shithousery and his own dark arts that people reacted to him?

Broad Street Bullies best doc about sport , ice hockey just mad .

As an old git I can’t imagine why anyone with a public persona ( well known/celebrity/sports person etc) would indulge in social media. TOXIC! Most annoying thing about modern rugby is players (mostly scrum halves) standing at every breakdown with their arms outstretched screaming various claims at the ref for a penalty.

Always find it bizarre that Hask is not bothered about the salary cap cheats!? Surely when your career goals are to win matches, caps and trophies and you find out that you have been competing on an unfair playing field you’d be a bit pissed off. He keeps saying that it doesn’t make any difference but surely it would have made a difference if Saracens couldn’t have the like of Burger, Brits, Maitland, Bosch, Big Jim etc. Maybe he is not bothered because everyone was at it in some way?

The Cricket vs Rugby question is very simple and that is down to how the game is almost a religion in India and Pakistan, if you took the Sub Continent followers out of the equation on social media then players like Ben Stokes wouldn’t even have 1/4 of the followers he does now.

I got two weeks and a romantic dinner for very dark arts at a breakdown near the try line.

For the first time I actually agree with Hask.

No problem paying players a decent wage. But being able to field an entire top class XV from the bench does make a difference, regardless of what Hask says. They literally bought titles by throwing money at players.

And in regards to player presence on social media, I don't think it fits with the traditional values of the game and that's why our big stars don't have the same cultural impact. I believe Haskell has mentioned it at some point but Rugby has a serious case of Tall poppy syndrome whereby no one wants to be seen to be showing off and drawing lots of attention to themselves and players who have done so in the past have been shot down for it. Just look at Gavin Henson and Danny Cipriani. In Rugby, it's a lot more about the collective rather than the individual for better or worse.

Rugby/Cricket comparison is the closest until you throw India and Pakistan into the mix. The IPL whether you love or loath it has made it even more commercialised and marketable. Hence the Stokes followers on social media you stated.

1:08:58 hilarious

10 - what happened to Buck Shelford

Rugby is NZs #1 sport. If you want to wear the Black Jersy you play in the NZ comp. If you want to chase the money, thanks for the good times see you later. France have started down that path after years of buying in foreign players and look at the u-turn in their fortunes. UK premiership clubs full of foreigners playing at the end of their career so they are a novelty but contribute little and the local fans don't own them. There is something to it I think.

It would be ace if when you talk about rugby moments you showed the clip on the screen for the KZfaq viewers. Always though this. Obvs wouldn’t work for your Spotify listeners but who cares about them anyway ?

you cannot compare cricket and rugby. In cricket the players play all over the world in different teams and competitions all year round. its the biggest sport in India which has a massive population. there are multiple versions of the sport played by the same players. These different format of the games vary in size and duration. Test cricket is dying but the faster big action limited over version of the game is thriving and brings in the big money. Another big factor is cricket isnt a full contact sport. Injuries are usually more severe and recovery time longer in rugby because of this.

Can't believe I'm about to say this but well said, Hask, on everyone taking offence and Timmy's mediocrity counselling. And sure enough Alex jumps in to keep it PC and acceptable.

Next time the cheating poms come out to NZ you guys should absolutely come on tour too and do shows. You'd be massively welcome.

Wonder if Haskell would think differently if he had played for Exeter when Saracen’s kept beating them in finals (show us your medals(

Cricket gets a big audience globally, so international cricketers who also play in the IPL get an audience of a Billion people on the Asian subcontinent...

Keyser and haskell are worlds apart. Keyser is pure class, level headed and smart. Haskell views show him to be a bit of a hypocrite.

You can't benchmark rugby and cricket in numbers; cricket numbers are carried by the cricket obsession of the Indian public. England players play in global T20 tournaments that are largely catered to the Indian audience and generate engagement. If you could take UK only snapshot, I'm not sure there would be a significant difference. If anything it highlights more the lack of globalization that cricket has driven.

24:40 Haskell is 100% correct imo. You say athletes should be role models, well how about they're role models in reminding you that if you mess with someone in life there are consequences ?

Julian Dupuy, kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i6tpjchjtteVhYU.html.... 🙄

Just a note guys nearly 3 minutes in and absolutely no idea what subject within rugby you are talking about.