Elite Rugby Banter

The Rugby Championship has finally kicked off, and the gang are here to chat all about it (badly). Adam returns after driving 400 km from the east, Matt from crossing a country in the East, Ben pulls in after a braai (and the wine was not energy wine) while Alex multitasks to keep it all afloat. Matt Pearce's commentary notes (including the standard Adam rant), the Springboks' good performance, the Wallabies' awful one, New Zealand v Argentina and a look ahead to next week all make the cut in this week's low energy episode. Oh, and some Currie Cup (main takeaway: Phil and Ant were wrong). The boys hope to be back with more next week (energy we mean).

Also Phil, there are no bad edits this time!

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Alex, Ben and Phil get together to discuss how brave you have to be to mug the Tongan Thor, whether New Zealand's central contracting has imploded on itself, and preview the Rugby Championship. Alex also wonders why he's hosting, refusing to do it again and the gang address the week's latest news, including Barrett movements across the New Zealand Super Rugby landscape.

Also, how nice is it that the Aussie front row have dinner together?

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Delaying his needed at a squash game, Alex leads Ant and Phil on a journey of discovery as the Capetoanian trio preview this year's Currie Cup, how teams will line-up, the stench of youth to pervade the competition and the eventual winner. In classic ERB style, Alex hoped for 45 minutes...

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It's a full house at ERB HQ, as Ben (whose feeling a bit fluey), Alex (whose attention is demanded by Taniela Two-Poo), Matt (whose going to sleep after 12am) and Adam (who never listens to a full pod) chat about the Super Rugby final, Steve Hansen's comments surrounding Sevu Reece, the ABs squad, give their End of Season Awards straight from the hip, and listen to Ben as he drops another Big Idea. Adam gets blamed, immense issues of law are discussed, Matt speaks about props, Alex goes on a well-considered diatribe and Ben liked the Lions' Spiderman jersey this season.

Just another day in the ERB Universe.

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Alex and Ben are joined by a debutante, Phil, and the trio pinball haplessly through news about Israel Folau (again), Western Province Rugby Union going bankrupt (still) and the new Chiefs head coach (it's Gatland). Ben has a Big Idea, Phil brags about having tickets to the Rugby World Cup in Japan, and we discuss the four most attractive props in Super Rugby and Owen Franks.

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Adam is back to steer the ship, as he, Croaky Voice Matt and Alex (with a subtle entrance from Ben) discuss the news of the week and the Super Rugby quarterfinals before engaging on players to look out for in Fantasy Rugby 2020 - with Alex perking up whenever a New Zealand team is mentioned - before ending off on a range of subjects, including another terrible team name by Adam, plagiarism and weird happenings in New York (thanks Matt for that).

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Thank you listeners for your patience. Long weekends in South Africa wreck havoc, even though Ben and Matt don't get to experience them...

Matt takes the wheel once more with Adam on a bender reportedly near the Hex River Valley. He is joined by Alex and Ben, with the Three Musketeers discussing the latest round of Super Rugby games, the Crusdarers' fudged branding decision, Elite Rugby Banter's own branding future (?!), happenings down in the Shark Tank and how the Stormers and Lions pawned it, and hard.

In terms of our future name, more will emerge over the coming week! Adam is in for a surprise, because he doesn't listen.

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It's the Matt, Ben and Ant Show, with Alex and Adam in the wind, and apparently on Instagram.

Events, unsurprising, proceed smoothly in that Matt-having-a-beer-and-being-"chilled"-on-the-stoep way, as the boys chat about SARU's new contracting model, the Junior World Cup, the pure savagery of the Crusaders' back three, and the permutations of Super Rugby qualification. It's arithmetic, so Ant gets a wee bit excited. Pure bants all day...so, a typical week in the ERB universe!

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It's a trio of bleary eyed gentlemen this week, as they discuss matters of extreme importance in the rugby universe. Ben being booked off (and who made queries about appearing towards the end), Alex, Matt and Adam chat about the week's Super Rugby, including the excellent Chiefs v Crusaders match, the Elton Jantjies snafu at the Lions, and other bits in between. It's our shortest episode in a while.

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The Super Rugby season is approaching crunch time, and lo and behold, the best South African team is from Argentina. Matt and Adam kick things off before Alex and Ben enter fashionably exactly when they meant to, as the gang chat about office politics and emails, Super Rugby, Amanaki Mafi's return, how the Stormers have been transformed plus the usual rambles. Also, for the first time ever, Alex compliments Adam for something he notes about rugby.

You know where to find us!

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