Welcome back to the Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from the Times and the Sunday Times busy weekend of November action to review. We are back in studio on a Monday. Alfie Reynolds here alongside me, fresh from a trip to Paris on Saturday. Elgin Alderman. Elgin, how you doing? I'm very well. Thank you, Alfie. How you doing? I'm very well, thank you. Jealous still that you were at the France Springboks game, but we'll get on to all of that and I'll try and park my feelings.

And in person, what a luxury this is, Stuart Barnes.

Barnsie, good to see you. Well, I've taken the risk with a GWR. There's a 20 minute delay, but I'm told that's not too bad. So I'm very happy to be in the big smoke. Thanks, Alfie. I feel like 20 minute delay on the trains is basically on time, isn't it?

No, no, no, that's a plus. That's really good.

Yeah, exactly. You're doing well.

Now, there was something? No, I don't know. That's a plus. That's really good. Yeah, exactly. You're doing well. Now, there was

something as well, Barnsey, that last week on the show, and I know you've seen this because we put it on social media, that I said, if and when Ben Earl gets picked at 12 for England from the start, it would be your Nigel Farage moment when he stood up in European Parliament and said, you all laughed at me, you're not laughing now. And I know you didn't like that comparison. So I'm glad you're still here. I thought we might have lost you before you'd even hopped on a train. I don't like any comparison with Nigel Farage in any way, shape or form. In terms of what you were saying, fair enough. But please don't link the two names. Yeah, no, I thought that may be your response. So I appreciate the fact that you are still here because I thought there could be a chance to get a message from Bard's saying, no, not coming anymore. Never petty, never personally. Yeah, quite right. So look, coming up on the pod, we're going to be chatting to Mark Palmer, our man, north of the border, to look back on that game between Scotland

and the All Blacks. What a missed opportunity that was for Gregor Townsend's men. We'll preview all

the upcoming fixtures, touch once again upon England's game at Twickenham. So loads to get through.

And also a reminder that if you haven't listened to it already in your feed will be mine and

Will Kelleher's dispatch on Saturday night following England's victory over Fiji.

So once again, in an international period, loads of content coming your way on the ruck.

Let's start in Paris though.

The biggest game of the weekend, the biggest game of November.

Elgin, it got the big billing.

Did it live up to your hopes and expectations, France against the springbox?

Certainly the start of the fixture, what LaMarsayas sounded like, the jeering for every South African

name announced beforehand in the match. France had clearly turned up thinking very much about

what had happened two years earlier in that World Cup quarterfinal. And certainly at half time,

when they were leading 14, 13, when South Africa were down to 14 men, it had everything looking like we were going to be talking about, had a red card cost the Springbok's victory, would it have marred a victory, would have seen some brilliant French backplay. And then it was just a second half Springbok masterclass that Stuart and I were talking about it before we came on there, how it wasn't quite a full-on epic fixture because of how brilliantly the Springboks took hold of the game in that last 20 minutes.

To win by 15 points when the previous four games between the sides had been decided by four points or fewer.

The way that France was so

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