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

I'm Alfie Reynolds, busy show coming up in the company of charlie morgan and will keller her morning lads you're right all good thank you we've come dressed quite differently today charlie and i haven't we yeah i've just i've just noticed that you've taken a layer off to reveal that have you been thinking about the fact that the pod's now filmed so maybe yeah and. And I've forgotten. And I've forgotten that it's been...

He's got an oasis stash. This is good. So I had it this morning. I never used to have to worry about this. I was thinking, I was like, did I wear this top last week on the pod? And are people going to notice? And I was like, who cats? They are now. Getting the comments. through.

Get in the comments.

Is this,

no,

but you could be like humble with it,

like Kate Middleton,

where it's like,

oh,

look at her re-wearing stuff like a legend. Getting the comments. Get in the comments. Is this, no, but you could be like humble with it, like Kate Middleton, where it's like,

oh, look at her re-wearing stuff like a legend.

Well, you think I'll get applaudits for that. Yeah, I think you would. Yeah, yeah, recycling your wardrobe. Yeah, well, welcome along, everyone, as I say. What's a start for you? a reminder for you as well that you can now watch the pod on YouTube. The Timesport YouTube channel is where the show gets put up as well as listening wherever you get your

pods. reminder for you as well that you can now watch the pod on YouTube the Timesport YouTube channel is where the show gets put up as well as listening wherever you get your pods from. Charlie, you were at Tottenham. I was at Tottenham. Yeah. I was. Yeah. Dizzy Rascal absolutely bossed it as Will predicted and it was a lot of fun. It's quite kind of quite erastroon but got touchy at the end which is exactly what we want from those two teams and had a dramatic finish too.

So I was in Cardiff, and I think there's a point to be made. By the way, so on the pod before I maybe get into the games, we'll look back on the prem. We're going to be getting into the Jeff Parling instance. That has arguably been the story of the weekend. We're going to have a chat with Will Collier as well, Times columnist and also playing his rugby out in Cass.

They play Northampton this coming weekend. We're going to have a chat with Will Collier as well, Times columnist and also playing his rugby out in Cass. They play Northampton this coming weekend in the last 16 of the Champions Cup. But there was a point, I think, this weekend just gone, gents, of the three big showpiece games, back-to-back, you know, Gloucester-Villa Park, Bristol-Quins in Cardiff, Saracens Northampton at Tottenham, big crowds, big showpiece, great events, and then all the teams that put them on went and lost. It was a full set of away wins across the board, wasn't it? Which is not unique to this weekend, but it's rare. And it's a funny one, isn't it? And I think we probably get to this point each season and say a similar point, but rugby fans don't really know what they want, do they? Because there'll be plenty of people across social media being like, God, why do we just not play at home and have it done properly and get our own fans easier on trains and all that stuff? And others go, like, why aren't we trying to grow the sport more and everything else? And we'll come on to the Jeff Parling thing, as you said, which was all part of it,

which neatly encapsulated rugby struggles in one like 30 second clip, didn't it?

But I find that the take on the side of like, let's just keep things at home.

I think, come on, don't just take this weekend as one example of it not working.

And also, when we've been to Bristol before and spoken to them about this sort of thing,

they haven't said directly that the result doesn't matter, but they do have a bigger picture thing in mind here.

Of course they wanted to win. Of course they would have been gutted, particularly because of where that leaves them in terms of chasing the top four. But there is a bigger thing here. And despite the result, despite the game, actually was a pretty poor game. In all honesty, the entertainment, the way they packaged it up, everything they do around it was great. Yeah. And I think if more clubs took the bigger picture view than the week-to-week view,

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