Hello, this is the Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and the Sunday Times.

It's Alfie here. I'm back. I missed a couple of episodes last week, but Alex and Will were holding the fort. There's no Will this week. He's on his way back from Bordeaux. He was there covering the Northampton game. But we're back in studio on a Monday. Alex is to my right hand side. All right, Alex? All right, we were holding the fort and you were holding the baby.

I was, and not getting much sleep. I've been telling you all my tails of lack of sleep, which I won't share on the pod because I know that I'm not alone and everyone goes through it. But preparation for these pods is very different to me these days than what they used to be. Well, it's good to have you back. I appreciate it. Alex, good weekend of rugby.

You were at the Saris game

on Sunday?

Yeah, it was good.

There was a couple of standout games this weekend. Actually, the Saracens-Taloo's game was one of them. I feared a bit for Saracens going in, having seen them at Leicester, seen how soft they were, how much they just weren't up for it against Leicester. well, they were up for it against Toulouse and it was a special evening. Yeah, I suppose it was a weekend in some ways, which sums up the Champions Cup, in that there were some absolute mad games. The Bulls Bristol is what I'm thinking of there, which we'll come on to. There were some brilliant games as well. You mentioned the Saris won, the Lensler, La Rochelle, and then some that are a bit more forgettable and the issues in this competition raise their head once again, which we probably will speak about on this episode. Also, alongside Alex and I is Elgin Alderman, alright, Elgin? Hello, yes, I was also at Saracen's Saluz. We were both of us there, so we enjoyed it in different capacities and slightly shorter journey here than Will's from bordeaux so able to make it back

this morning and you were also covering cast bath as well on the weekend to kick things off on the

friday yes i dressed at my spare bedroom as if it was the stad armandi pretending it was cast fortunately

i have actually been there when i was eight years old so i was just remembering what it was like

seeing greggotansend playing there when back in 2000 i I think. 2001 it might be maybe when they were playing Newport. So I had a sense for it at least. Alex, I think it says a lot about Elgin, the man we see in front of us now, that as an eight-year-old, he was doing European away games as a Newport season ticket holder. Yeah, and particularly away games in France. Exactly. That is Elgin distilled, I'd say. Yeah, exactly. So Champions Cup, we'll get into that, the permutations, who's qualified, who hasn't, what is going to look like this coming weekend. And then we're going to do some any other business as well. There's a few different stories circulating over the last week or so. Premier Sports are going to be broadcasting some of the six nations. So in part, it going behind a paywall, everything going on with the WRIU, which you may well have seen that the turmoil in the Welsh game. And then also some of Newcastle Red Bull's recruitment is getting very, very interesting ahead of next season. So a bit of a mixed pod for you. Should we start, though, with Saris, given that that you were both at that game, the final game of the weekend. Alex, you've already teed it up for us there, but I mean, Saracen's biggest win of the season by some distance, isn't it? Yeah, and I mean, massive in so many ways, really, they needed it for their campaign, but they almost needed it for their European prospects, but they needed it for their season

because Mark McCall, certainly in our company, never raises his voice.

But his words at Wellford Road last week were cutting towards his team.

I mean, he questioned their commitment, their attitude.

Now, Saracen's, for over a decade, have never been a team where attitude would be a problem.

And a lot of that are the tones set by guys like Owen Farrell.

And so I was fascinated to see how they would rebound.

And you would expect, a little bit like Harlequin, you'd expect some kind of a rebound.

But it was emphatic.

And it was Saracens of old. I was watching it with my son was next to me and about 20, 25 minutes in, I said to him, I think Saracens need to fire a shot here. They've not been down to Toulouse end. They're soaking up a lot of pressure, the seven-neal down. And then what unfolded in the next 20 minutes was just some brilliant Saracons rugby.

And then the second half, it was an arm wrestle.

They wouldn't let to lose back in it enough.

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