The Power Pod (00:00.366)
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The Power Pod (00:14.36)
Welcome to episode 10 of the Power Pod. So imagine, if you will, not playing a game last round and still remaining top of the table. That is how good life in Devon is for the Exeter Chiefs. A week that saw the double defending champions get back to winning ways and storm Dara making sure we have to wait a little longer before we see that M5 derby clash between Bristol and Exeter. We're going to get all the action from around

Every team that won scored 30 plus points and no team from any of the losing sides scored more than one try. We've got news of the PWR boot deal where we'll speak to Ellie Kildane as well as our one question from Hope Rogers. That is the delectable Philippa Tuttit, I am the deplorable Nick Heath and this is the Powerpond.

The Power Pod (01:10.847)
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Hello, Philippa, how are you? Hello. Yeah, very good, thank you. How was your weekend? You were a busy boy. I was. I was running around doing a bit of Champions Cup action for my new friends at Premier Sport. yeah, that was nice. I mean, I say nice, it was stormy and wet and cold. Laurence DeLaglia was with us in Northampton on Saturday and said he thinks it's the coldest he's ever been in commentary. Which for a fairly hard nut like him, I thought was quite a statement.

So yeah, it was really nice to be doing the broadcast on Premier Sports. think a few diehard rugby fans were like, where's the Champions Cup? Where can I get it? And I think to quit Google and you can probably find out. And there's a deal where you can get the whole season there for 70 pounds. I know lots of people are complaining that it's another channel, but I think that's pretty good value. And they've got the URC at the top 14 and they're launching a rugby channel. So there's my little bit of promo for Premier Sports.

But yeah, it was lovely to be working with them. You've worked with Premier on the URC, haven't you? Yeah, absolutely. That's sort of my go-to in and around the women's premiership. I'm very lucky to work with them for the URC. And I was just saying, actually, Callum, before we came online, we were chatting about rugby coming up, and this is going to be the first boxing day that I haven't done the sort of URC derby we normally have. But I might just be going as a fan, which would be quite nice. It would be nice to just have Christmas Day and not...

having a sneaky peek at your phone and making sure you know everybody's name, you know, to actually completely switch off and then just go to the box of Nafe fixture, which is always a really good vibe. are probably some people, probably some people who go to family Christmases and go, I need a list of everybody's names so I can remember everybody is. It's a slightly different thing, it's just the family level. Very true. Very true. How was your birthday? my birthday. So as I said,

The Power Pod (03:07.18)
Well, first birthday in a long time that I've been home, right? So we had quite a few plans organised. And Nick, at the grand old age of hava vava vava, I managed to give myself food poisoning. I know. I know. What did you undercook? what did you? I recooked rice. every... This is the thing that everyone always says is a nightmare and is never a nightmare.

And no, it's a nightmare or it can be a nightmare. I mean, I did everything wrong. Basically. don't know how long it been in the fridge and I reheated it probably for the fourth time. So yeah, it kind of put a bit of a taint on the celebrations, but I still had a good Saturday. Went out for a meal with my friends. That was really lovely. But Sunday was spent mostly in bed. However, I am going out this weekend with the girls. you know, round two will hopefully be a, will be a better celebration. Excellent.

We hope you will make up for that. Yes, I went to the filthy adult panto that I enjoy going to every year yes. Which was absolutely brilliant. And actually, some lovely clean jokes in it. There was a moment where the day sort of came out with a rock hard cake in a tin and was just like, I'm a useless cook. This is what I call my Jesus cake. You think you've got it nailed and it takes three days to rise. I thought that was very good. I thought that was lovely.

If anybody would like that, you can take that away, courtesy of Jack of the Beans talk at the Charing Cross Theatre. Right, should we get into it? Right, let's do it. Okay, so the round nine review. On Saturday, we saw Leicester Tigers taking on Saracens. It was Tigers five, Saracens 38. A match that saw Saris race to a 19-0 lead after just 12 minutes.

It was a bit of a up the jumper kind of stuff from Kelsey Clifford before Lottie Sharp and Gabby Senth both crossed over. The Tigers cause was not really helped when Talia Brody got a reg card in the 19th minute. It finished with Sarri scoring six tries to Tigers one. The home side only score came from Leia Bartlett in the 57th minute after a superb work rate charged down from Julia Omakule. Yeah.

The Power Pod (05:27.064)
dominant display by Saracens, I think it's fair to say. You might have also seen one Leanne Infante replacing Elivir Vass in the 63rd minute. mean, shortest retirement ever. think even Joe Marla might, you know, surrender to that one. Coming back to the club on a short term deal because of injury to Toru Sellers. So welcome back, Leanne.

who I'm sure has got a little wry smile on her face about it as well. Shout for Fancy Bermudez, obviously still one of the greatest names in the PWR, created two tries on debut, one for Kelsey Clifford, another for Captain Lottie Sharp in that first half. Yeah, like you say, dominant performance. know, Saris are up there now with Bristol, aren't they, as the top try scorers. They've got 41 tries in total. There's never doubt about their attacking ability. You know, what separates them from Exeter is the defence.

You know, the fact that Exeter have conceded less points has kept them up there. And with Saris, obviously with those two losses, but they're averaging five tries a game. That's really impressive. Yeah, it is. That's going to keep them up in champion style quality. All right, the next game of the weekend, Saturday, three o'clock, Trail Finders 31, sale Sharks five. We spoke last week of Trail Finders being no doubt keen for that home tie after three losses in a row. And so it proved Sharks

Did pay it at 14.5 after 36 minutes and we're probably pretty pleased to be in it, but that was all they would score. Abbie Burton powering to a hat trick of tries among those five scored. Trail Finders attacking well, despite having less ball as well. Only 47 % possession. And look, we got a snapshot of the potency at the back when Chloe Rollie fed Abbie Dow. They are not an easy duo to defend. No, certainly not. But you know what?

This is going to sound crazy to say, because like you say, they didn't have that much possession and they did score five tries and you look at the score at the end, 31-5, you think, yeah, dominant formers. But that first half for me, especially, I was actually quite frustrated with Trail Finders. was like, they were putting so much pressure on. They were camped in the sales 22 and you just, and credit to SAIL, like, you know, they stayed in it and obviously they managed to just about keep defense sort of sure enough to stop them from scoring. But.

The Power Pod (07:40.086)
it wasn't like say, we're putting in huge hits and really pushing them back. Like it was very much trail finders ball to score with. And they weren't as clinical as I thought that they could have been. Now, obviously coming into that awesome losses, there was maybe a bit of pressure on them and you know, wins a win, the end result looks great. But yeah, I think the review from a coaching perspective will very much focus on that first half and when they missed opportunities. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well,

It will, it will, we'll perhaps we will touch on that and where they're at when we come to, to looking ahead to this weekend. Okay. Next game up was, Bristol against Chiefs. How much were we looking forward to this? Bean postponed Storm Dara. Boo. I mean, obviously the right call. Some of the, some of the stuff on the news was insane. Like, you know, objects getting thrown around the

the roads and stuff. yeah, right call, just a bit of a shame. Although we did see, didn't we, Elona Mar turned out on Sunday in Bristol and got safe to say a little bit of attention. Yeah, she did. And I thought it was a great, great interview by our friend Claire Thomas as well, who was presenting for premiere. was just perfect actually that someone like Claire, who fully knows Elona Mar, was there.

on site to offer that first interview. So yeah, I thought that was super. Speaking of Storm Dourer, by the way, Jamie Roberts was working with us up in Northampton. so he was messaging that morning on Saturday to let us know how his progress was going, leaving Cardiff. He was like, right, the bridge is shut. I've got to find my way. I'll get there. But hey, at least it's not my Porsche out the front. And he took a video of three doors down from where he lives, where a tree had come down straight down the front of a Porsche.

straight through the bonnet and the windscreen and onto the roof. dear. yes, Storm Darrah wreaked havoc. Apparently the owners in Dubai. Welcome. gosh. So there we are. Stay safe, everybody. OK, the game on Sunday was 3 o'clock, Loughborough Lightning 7, Gloucester Hartbury 31. This is another one.

The Power Pod (09:47.8)
that Loughborough are gonna have to lock away. They're getting a few too many of these, a fourth defeat in five. And it was a forwards dominated game from Gloucester Harpry to begin with, Neve Jones, Maud Muir crossing over in the first half, Mo Hunt scoring from about eight inches out. And Loughborough had just really struggled to get a foothold in the game. Leah Green try was very much an 80th minute consolation really. And I think for Sean Lynn and for Gloucester Harpry,

They will be mighty pleased to have finally started to see the sort of performance, perhaps a championship style performance from their side in a match that could easily have been a banana skin. got all five points. Yeah. They definitely look back to more of their ways, didn't they? Just sheer dominance. mean, literally from the first whistle, they did a lovely short kickoff that Pip Hendy got underneath and you just thought, here we go. You know, when they get that first touch to get that roll on and know, Natasha Hunt, Mo Hunt.

We talk about her all the time. Like she is just such an asset for them. And it's the way that she mixes up her play at the base. You never know what she's going to do. She's the most unpredictable nine. Sometimes she's just straight off the deck. She's just shipping, shipping, shipping. Next thing all of a sudden she's picking up and she's darting. And it just keeps the defense. You can always see that they're always checking her. know, they have a, with your defensive line, the first sort of three people have got the right to look in and look at that nine, look at the forward.

everyone else should be looking up and out. You almost say, like, that's your area, I'm over here. But you can see all the players are looking in at her because they just don't know what she's gonna do. And that element of hesitation in the defense, that is worth just so much. That's gold. If you can make a defense hesitant, if one player can make a defense hesitant, that is what then allows everything else for Gloucester-Harpry to happen because she then throws out the ball to these huge carriers.

that are running against a hesitant defense. yeah, much, much more like the Gloucester Harbury of old. Yeah. And an early green in at 10 where they've had, they've had Milly Hyatt earlier in the season. I think that is a better combination for how Mohan wants to play. I hear Claky George is not far away. Perhaps we'll come onto that shortly. In our previews, which we can move on to now because round 10.

The Power Pod (12:10.21)
Kicks off this weekend, three games on Saturday, including the televised match in Northampton and one on Sunday. Saturday then at 12 o'clock at Valis Way, it's Ealing Trailfinders welcoming Tabletoppers Exeter Chiefs. And that one is going to be live streamed on the Trailfinders YouTube page. Gloucester Harpree Saracens, whoo That is tasty. Meeting at King's Own for what's brewing to be a mammoth clash. That game Saturday, two o'clock.

Sint Stadium at Franklin's Garden sees Loughborough Lightning hosting Harlequins at 3.05. That one is the live TNT sports game. And then the PWR action continues on Sunday with sales sharks traveling to the southwest to play the Bears at Shaftesbury Park. It's Leicester Tigers that have the bye weekend. So take us into the first preview, PT. Okay. So on Saturday, 12 o'clock, we have got Trail Finders currently sitting in sixth against

Top dogs, Exeter Chiefs. So Trail Finders, look, another huge battle. Scoring five tries at home is certainly not bad prep for the visit of the unbeatens. But look, Barney Madison's team, they dominated sale last week, but we know they need to be at their very best if they're gonna have a chance at taking a top for scalp. Scalps do not come any bigger than Suzy Applebee's. Table topping Chiefs.

For Trail Finders, a creaky scrum will lead shoring up, similar with their line out. And as I've mentioned, they've got to take their chances, be more clinical because Chiefs do not give you many. No, I think the sternest home test of the season so far, know, and warming up well, scoring those five tries.

if, anyone was warm last weekend, Abby Dow, Grace White, both topping the meters for around nine. Julia Shell made it, made it three in that top 10. she and Abby Dow top the line break stats as well. I mean, they're to need that firepower if they can get the ball to them. in any of the few opportunities they're going to get against Exeter, but you know, you touched it there. If, they're camped around that 22 and they're not pushing forward and making it tell, then it's going to cost them.

The Power Pod (14:19.03)
And hey, look, it wasn't a bye week for Exeter, but they did miss a game last weekend. Is that going to tip into our stats around bye weeks? Not technically a bye week. it doesn't really matter. but yeah. And I want to give a nod to Abby Burton. know you mentioned her before with that hat trick tries. I thought they used her really well, you know, not just getting her crashing up short near the ruck. They were putting her in midfield using a Leica center and it was really impactful. So I've no doubt Susie Appleby has.

clock that, log that, analyze that, and she's gonna make sure her defense is there to combat that. But really good to see her being used, because it mixes up their play. We talk so much about Trail Finders with their fluidity of hands and their running off the cuff rugby, but if they can really get some of that sort of hard ball carrying through midfield, that's gonna help to break down defenses. Yeah, and an honorable mention for the top of the pops, top of the charts. Emma Taylor is second on points for the season with 70.

Emma Singh is currently leading the pack with 76. All right, let's move on then to the two o'clock game. We mentioned Gloucester-Harpry just a couple of moments ago. They are in fourth against Saracens in second. This one is going to be at King's Home, arguably the clash of the week. And similar to perhaps that last game at Trail Finders, Gloucester-Harpry will be pleased to have had the performance they did ahead of Sarie's coming to town. Not quite been firing, but as we said, looking much more like the old selves.

You mentioned Mohun, know, topping the numbers for passes last round just tells you how hard she was working at nine. Alex Matthews and Emma Singh with the most defenders beaten in the round. But here's the one for me. Gainline carries top 10 from round nine. One Maud Muir, two Zoe Alcroft, three Sarah Beckett. And I love having Sarah Beckett back. Another podcast had Sarah guesting on.

Nice to hear she's finally got two shoulders she can bring to a rugby game. And if Gloucester-Harpley win with a bonus point and can deny Saree's one of two available, then Gloucester will take their place in the table. This is massive. As for Saracens, May Campbell is still up there in second for gain line carries across the season. She's top for turnovers once. So whopping 15. Cleena Maloney is next in the chart with 10. So May Campbell smashing it.

The Power Pod (16:38.068)
And Brian E. Field is the top line out thrower too. So that suggests a little more detail, I thought, as to that balance as to why May Campbell is having a great season. Ballack Sosterbury is still keen to make sure he rolls Brian E. Field out in that lineup as well. How he balances the two hookers there because she's clearly a weapon and yeah, that's certainly going to be tested at Kingsheim. Yeah. this game. I'm so looking forward to this game. Both teams coming into this now with some really good form.

This could be a really tight encounter. think for Saris, you know, we've mentioned before about how much they get from their set piece, how much they get from their defense. If they can put in some early big shots, you know, stop some of those runners, which is going to be hard, get a dominant scrum. They've got the platform then that's when you'll see the best of them. For Gloucester Hartbury, it's all about continuing that momentum from last week. Mo Hunt doing what Mo Hunt does.

getting those ball carriers in for it. I also thought that they dealt with the kicking battle very well. No, Loughborough tried to kick at Gloucester harbour a couple of times and they were just, they just soaked it up and just booted it back from space really easy. And I also thought when Loughborough, they didn't have much attacking phase, but when they did Gloucester harbour, just swarmed them. Absolutely swarmed them. It really looked like they had that, you know, when a team's had that chat about loving defending, like you want to defend and it really looked like they'd up.

it. They had that bit more urgency. would just be encompassing players and just shutting down all their options, which again, you know, with Saris and the strength of runners that they've got, Sydney Gregson, how good was she last week? They've got to try and, they're going to have to swarm them and shut them down. We mentioned Claky George earlier. I think she's very, very close coming back. I'm going to keep a close eye on the selection for this week as to, as to whether she might be back. I think it is, or I think

I think the 9-10 balance there has been affecting Gloucester Harpley perhaps a little more than they've been letting on. And I think it was helped with Ellie Green in the 10th shirt more than Millie Hyatt last week. I think it's just the balance. It's where Mo Hunt wants to put the ball, where they want to play from. I think she might be missing her Welsh mate. it will be, we'll wait and see as to whether Claky George is going to come back into this one.

The Power Pod (18:51.402)
and it's not down to be streamed, which is another one of these, is gonna be a bit of a shame. So if you're going to Gloucester Harbury and want to put your phone up a stick and send us a link to where we can watch you streaming from, then we'll take it. We'll take Yeah, we'll take it to be fair. And tip of the hat to Ealing Trailfinders, who have now started streaming some games. And there may be, I think we're waiting on news as to whether there might be a few more of those coming over the course of the season. So we will keep you posted.

on that. All right then, next game on Saturday, Philippa. Next game, 3.05pm is going to be Loughborough Lightning, who currently seventh, taking on Harlequins, who are up there in third. So do we all remember the nail-biter at the stoop where these two played and there was only three points in it? Loughborough boss Nathan Smith afterwards, he said he couldn't comprehend how they'd lost it. It was the game with that.

Ellie Kilder and run. I mean, you could say that Ellie Kilder and run a couple of times, but it was, it was a particularly good one in that game. But get this, Loughborough Lightning's Isla Kerffy was up there with the defenders beaten stats for this week, which is not bad considering she's a replacement prop who only played half the game. Also for Lightning, Sadia Carbea, how good to see her back. She topped the tackle count with 26.

alongside fellow back rower Kendall Warby with 22. Yeah, they are loving having Saidiya Kabea back. Absolutely smashing people and yeah, smashing them a lot with 26 tackles. And look, there's not a lot you can do with 37 % possession and 34 % territory, which is what Lightning had last week. So they need some ball, they need to be able to play.

but I also think if you're looking for a point of difference going into this weekend, Quins carry for an average of 163 meters per game. They're actually the top in that stat. Lightning are down in fifth in this one with 130 meters. So there's no shying away from Al-Khal, Jade Conkel, Nicole Wythe, and friends and knowing what Quins are gonna bring to you. I think...

The Power Pod (21:10.648)
probably the game plan for Loughborough Lightning this week, for their own benefit has to be to get some ball and for their own benefit has to be to deny twins getting any ball. Yeah, but also, you know, we've commented, haven't we, about Harlequin's defense and how they're putting in tackle after tackle after tackle. They've had some huge numbers and they look so comfortable. for Loughborough Lightning, it's difficult because not only have they got to get that ball, keep that ball, they've got to be patient.

They're not going to break Harlequins down after three or four phases. Their defense is too good. They are going to have to play edge to edge, mix up the picture. They've got to look at a kicking battle. Yes, Ellie Kildern's there, but move her around. Put her into the position that she doesn't want to be in. You can't shy away from it just because she's there. But I also think a really important part of their review from last week's game for Loughborough Lightning is going to be their tactics. And at times,

you could see when they were getting that penalty, they were all coming in together, like five or six of them. They were chatting for, would say just a little bit longer than they should be about what they should do, whether they should go for that quick tap, whether they should go for that line out. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for a leadership group and that's great that they're getting people's interpretation. But sometimes when the pressure is on and it really was in that game, you want a player to go, no, this is what we are doing. There's clarity, you know? And I just felt that the pressure did show.

handling errors, you know, there was some kicks out on the full, they just looked like they got a bit flustered. So I think it's going to be going into this game, whatever it is, the game plan, even if it's the most basic thing in the world, just make sure there's clarity across the board. So when they do come under pressure, which they will, they know when they've got that ball in attack, they know exactly what they're going to try and do with it. Yeah. And, and you know, Harlequins, they are just stringing more and more victories together. their confidence levels.

after having, you know, managed to squeak to a three point win the last time these two met. Well, their confidence levels are even higher and arguably Loughborough Lightning is more brittle. So that's another factor, isn't it? Which I think will have Loughborough Lightning going, come on, we need to start finding this form. We need to be better than the sum of our parts or at least exhibiting that as a very minimum.

The Power Pod (23:28.366)
And yeah, is Loughborough Lightning who I think are having the sort of season where they're just not showing themselves in the way that Harlequins have had not too long ago. We also had news this week of the Canterbury Boots deal. And while we're talking Harlequins, can hear from Ellie Kildane in a moment. if you missed this, Premiership Women's Rugby announcing a new partnership with Canterbury. They're also the kit partner to the British and Irish Lions.

to ensure every player in the league gets three pairs of high-performance Canterbury rugby boots. So all of the players across the league are being offered three pairs of boots. They're going to be given them over the course of the season, and that's going to be more than 450 players across nine clubs, tailor-made boot fitting sessions, and offered the best Canterbury designs. So this is good, right, Philippa? And there will be players, there have been players over the course of the Women's League that have said, look, I...

Has anyone want to do me a boot steal? Can I get some boots please? What was it like in your career? Were you having boots thrown at you? No, no. And I do remember on many occasions walking into the Welsh Centre of Excellence at the Vale and seeing just boot boxes piled to the ceiling and then being told, they're for the men. Keep walking, keep walking. So no, I was very lucky. There was a shop called the Rugby Shop.

which was in Cardiff, sadly, it's not there anymore is independently owned and they were lovely and they sponsored me and they helped a couple of female players completely off their, their own back. wasn't a brand thing. It was, and they didn't want anything from it. They just felt that the women weren't as supported as well as they could. So I was lucky to get some boots from them, but yeah, it's night and day in comparison. This is just brilliant. mean, even if you heard about this at international level, you'd be like, wow, that's great. But to know that this is happening at club level.

That's just brilliant. And it's testament to the quality of the league that brands like this want players to be seen playing amazing rugby in their boots. Yes. And look, some of the senior players that have got their own boot steels, they're not going to have to wear Canterbury boots. They can wear their other boots, but you know, everyone is going to be entitled to this. And I think, I think it's going to be the most important thing for the sorts of players that might not speak up about how important it is.

The Power Pod (25:46.19)
So those players that are working, spending all their money, traveling to training, know, burning the candle at both ends to be able to be a top rugby player that also can't afford a 100, 120 pound pair of boots or two or three pairs of them over the course of the season and might still be playing in their 60 quid pair of boots that are slightly falling apart, but they don't really want to say anything. All these kinds of things. think, I think it's a, it's a good leveler in terms of people's backgrounds and where they're from to be able to give everybody this opportunity. So I think it's really good on that front.

Look, I have heard that where the boot distributions come around at a couple of clubs, they've been like, well, hold on a minute. There's size threes and size eights here. We're a of female players. Can we not have the right sizes and can we not have a few more of the flash designs? I think that's just a teething distribution problem. think ultimately if they've turned up with the gold and the fluorescent ones and they've got

you know, a dozen sizes, or rather a dozen pairs in size five and a dozen pairs another and they've gone quickly. Well, that's supply and demand. I'm sure Canterbury are going to do their best to get them around. so yeah, I think it's a really good move and congrats to the PWR on getting this over the line. And yeah, we had a great chat with Canterbury ambassador Ellie Kildarn as a result of this deal this week. We had a talk about her relationship with her boots, a bit about how we balance those parts of the women's game where we want to celebrate all that's good.

while still making noise about, you know, where things need to be better. And that will be available as a chat on its own, as a little bit of power up bit of extra audio. I think that's what we can call them. But I thought we would talk rugby, obviously, with this big game at the weekend. And I first of all found out what Ellie Kildane is making of third place Harlequins being in that position and what's clicking so well this season. This season, I've got full trust in everybody that

I can do my job without worrying about other people's and that's been one of the biggest differences that I've seen within the Quinn's team that defensively we're very sound and even in attack we've signed some new people, Alex Callander being one of them, that she does her job not just as good as she can for her but for everyone around her. You tell her to do something, she does it and we've got trust within the group and

The Power Pod (28:03.042)
I look forward to training, I look forward to playing because I feel like each week we're building on the previous week and I think it's really important to mention the impact that Ross Chisholm's had on the team. I've had conversations with a few of the players and they've said that they've got ultimate trust in him. He says something in the week, it happens in the weekend. We talk about a certain move that he thinks is going to work, we do it and we break the line and to have that connection with your coach as well and have full trust, not even...

in your teammates, but in your coach and the staff around you, is taking us to new places. And I think, you know, I've been in this team where I've said, we're going to win it, we're going to win it. But I think we're in a really good place this season to do that. And I think we've gone from being the underdogs in the past few games to now being the team that everyone wants to beat. Yeah, yeah, it's certainly coming together. I mean, you're heading to Loughborough next weekend. Obviously, Red Roses team-mates Sadie Cabello has come back, Emily Scarrett in that line-up as well.

I mean, what do you make of Loughborough's season? If anything, it speaks to me as it looks a little bit like the sort of seasons Queens have had in the last year or two. Yeah, for sure. I individually, how I analyse teams when I go into play against them, I look at individual players first. I think we're in a very fortunate position that we know a lot of the players internationally. We've got not just Red Roses, parts of the team, but you've got Kelter, you've got Chrissie on the wing, so you've got internationals.

all playing on the pitch and I go through each player and I say what they're at and how can I get under the skin? How can we make one of their work-ons an advantage to us? And individually, Loughborough have got incredible players with immense skill and experience and a team isn't...

as good as an individual. You can have loads of brilliant individuals but like as you've seen even with Queens in the previous seasons, it's okay having loads of individuals but if it's not quite cooking on the pitch, if it's not quite cooking all together, that's when you can get under the skin and that's something that I'll be doing this week looking at the previous game that we played against them because it wasn't perfect and also the games that they've played in the run-up to this weekend and the games that we've played and how can we...

The Power Pod (30:19.854)
get around them because they have got some brilliant players. We've just got to find what are their faults in hand and how do we create that into opportunity. Well, thank you to Ellie Kildane. Lovely to get the chance to hear from her and we hope everybody is enjoying the boots that are being supplied. All right, shall we move on to then the last game of the weekend? It is Sunday, two o'clock, Bristol Bears against Salesharks at Shaftesbury Park.

Now, having had an unexpected rest last week due to storm Dara, Bristol Bears will have to a short au revoir to Elona Marr until the new year. The media storm will no doubt settle down. She hasn't managed to see her team play in person just yet. And Bristol now head back to Shaftesbury Park. They have a game in hand since last week's postponement and sales shocks. I've done a bit of number crunching here. So their biggest defeats have both been at home.

this season against Saracens and Bristol. So broadly speaking, they have performed better on the road, losing by an average of 22 points when they're away compared to 28 points when they're at home. Any thoughts on why that might be? I've sort of got half an idea that maybe it's that you sort of, maybe in some cases you steal yourself so much for knowing that the away challenges are harder, that actually maybe you're more on it. I don't know.

Hmm. Yeah. they've got a really good social sec and they just love the bus trips. Yeah. Because they are clocking up the hours, man. You know, their travel is insane. Yeah. I really don't know on that one. sales sharks. Frustrating. You know what? There was a brilliant moment actually during their game against Trail Finders where it epitomized why I have so much respect for coaches because it's the hardest job in the world. The commitment, the time, but sometimes your team

can just do magic and then it never happens again. And that one try that they did score was just like, you're just like, well, just do that again. Just do that again. You know, they kicked off the ball, they put loads of pressure on it. There was some crossing, they get the penalty, they kick for the line out. It's a clean line out, one or two carries score. Great. Please just do that again.

The Power Pod (32:32.396)
You know, that's where the patience of someone like Rachel Taylor is just obviously breaking it down and highlighting what they did well and hoping they'll learn from it and repeat it again. yeah, frustrating times. To give them credit, their discipline has been good. Trail Finders gave away 19 penalties. And when we consider how dominant they were in that game, whereas Salo only gave away nine. I thought Robin Wilkins again, when she came off, made a big impact. Yes, you know, she had the win behind her, but she put in a massive exiting kick.

pretty much first touch of the ball, which relieves some pressure. yeah, just still challenging times for, for sale. And I think Bristol off that by week and the disappointment of not being able to play in a very hyped up game last week, they are going to be all at it this weekend. Yeah.

OK, so the table after round nine. Well, it's just showing Exeter and Bristol now with that that one less game, having played seven rather than eight. So we were hoping for this perfect looking table after round nine. And the postponement has done us. But yeah, they're top 33. Saracens on 31 in second, Quinn's on 30 points in third, Gloucester, Hartbury 28 and Bristol Bears in 25. As we say, they're the other team with that game in hand. Then Trailfinder 17, Loughborough Lightning 12.

Tigers six and sell sharks at the bottom without a point, unfortunately, for Rachel Taylor's side. Okay, the power line. Well, we put a bit of a shout out ahead of our episode and well, we've had three people get in touch. So we did hear from Rob on the power line as well, who it's to say has sounded better. He did leave us a voice note. It was the sort of voice note where it feels like you could have caught the cold just from listening to it.

So I hope you managed to fight off the Germans, Rob. He was sad, basically, the Chiefs against Bears was postponed, but he was observing that we did discuss wanting more live streams and Trail Finders duly provided their first. His highlight, besides the cameraman repeatedly wiping off the lens, wiping the rain off, was Chloe Rowley putting Abby Dow away for the score, wondering if that could be a future Lions combo in a couple of years. Thank you, Rob. Honey and lemon.

The Power Pod (34:40.522)
over there. But yeah, that was a nice observation, a little bit of Scottish English combining. Yeah, that's a really good point as well. We've also had a voice note left on the power line. This is Alice from Ealing. Hi, it's Alice from Ealing and I'm loving listening to the Powerpod and all the behind the scenes rugby chat. On Saturday, I was the bullgirl at the Ealing Child Winder's versus Sales Arts match and was lucky enough to witness Abbie Burton's three spectacular tries.

I am proud of Ealing for battling on despite the unrelenting weather. I can confirm it was absolutely freezing. Which brings me on to my question. How bad does the weather have to be for a match to be postponed? Thank you. Bye. Alice wanted to find out what gets games called off. Well, it tends to be, it's a safety thing really, isn't it? And I think that tends to be safety to players, but it generally I've...

tend to find it tends to be actually when it's more safety for fans. So are the winds getting up and there's a risk of trees or hoardings being blown into people. I think there was there were there were some games called off in the last couple of years where it was so icy and so bad around stadia that they said it actually you know we haven't been able to grit it was a bit unexpected it's going to be unsafe for people so so the games not going ahead so I think where they can they will get games on and and look the PWR

is a more concertinaed season. They've only got a couple of weekends off where they're going to be able to reschedule games. And I know that there's a disputes committee currently working out where they're going to put that rescheduled Bristol Bears exit a chiefs game or will it end up just being a game that gets decreed on points? We hope not. We would really love that game to be played. So there was no news that we had from that, by the way, coming into our recording. So we will keep you posted on that. But yeah, it tends to be about

the safety aspect and where possible they will get these games played because there aren't that many free weekends in the season. So thank you very much Alice from Ealing, lovely to hear from you. We also had another message, this one came via text to the Powerline 0788 07...

The Power Pod (36:51.782)
6-2-1-9 says, Powerpods people. Tigers fan here, Leicester team has had a bye week in round 10, but I'm really looking forward to the next home game that will be in round 12 against Sail Sharks in January. That's a potential first home win this season for Tigers. Well, given how Tigers played away to Sail Sharks, yes, I think you're right in thinking that. This game will be a doubleheader and this fixture is a great example of how not to do the scheduled games. Kickoff at 5.50 will not attract a new crowd after the men's game.

Doubleheader with women's game first. Yes, please. It works much better. Fingers crossed next season. We won't see a schedule like this. Just to add great work guys. All the best. Mikolai. Well, thank you for the message. I am in a hundred percent agreement here because I just can't see the value in people hanging around at 10 to six on a Sunday night and that air being sucked out of the room feeling when all the men's fans go and they leave a couple of hundred people watching women's game.

the women's game first. I mean, I know the reason these things are done is because of logistics, because of one competition leading and another following, but it doesn't help the women's game really, does it? mean, they'd be a more up for an argument maybe for if it was a Saturday night fixture, but certainly not on a Sunday. People are not going to hang around for that. So yeah, that is frustrating. Yeah.

get the kids home, give them their tea. no, there's another game. Anyway, yes, I'm in agreement with you, Mikolai. I know there will be very valid reasons for it and someone might wrap me on the knuckles and say, well, how else would you do it? But in principle, yeah, I don't think that's the best time. All right, one question time. Yeah, so we heard last week from Mo Hunt who posed the following question to Hope Rogers. I would like to ask Hope Rogers from Exeter Chiefs. Obviously,

Big news this week, a potential new teammate coming in for the Eagles 15 side. But if Alona Mar was your ex-to-chiefs teammate, what position do you see her play in? Thank you. So what did the Chiefs USA Eagle have to say? Hi, Power Pod. Hope Rogers here. Thank you, Mohant, for my one question. If I were to see Low play somewhere in 15s...

The Power Pod (39:05.93)
I actually would like to see her at Locke. I think who doesn't love a dynamic Locke running around in the pitch? think she has the strength and the build for it, but she also is dynamic. So it would be fun to kind of see her there. Now for my one question, I would like to ask Bimba at Quinn's from one prop to another, what is your favorite part or item at a Christmas dinner?

A suitably festive theme arising out of this one. So Laura Delgado at Harlequins, we're coming for you. And who knows if this will be a British Christmas dinner response or a Spanish one. Yeah, I don't know. Tapas at Christmas. I mean, I'm not against it. No, well, I think we've extolled the virtues and our love for tapas on the Powerpond before.

So I had some for my birthday last week. Did I mention that? Yes. So, yeah, I don't know. We'll find out. Looking forward to that. And they're loving Laura Delgado at Queen's as well. All right. Any other business then? And we do have news that the Alona Marr effect is continuing to take hold. Not only are the numbers ticking up across the socials in bear country, but a record breaking crowd is confirmed set to be watching that West Country Derby, Gloucester, Harbury, coming to town to Ashton Gate in the PWR.

on January the 5th, 12.30 kickoff in the new year. Or I think it might be 12.45 actually. But yeah, what a game that's gonna be. Interestingly, I think they were giving it the big spuds or it's gonna be Alena Maher's first game. Then I heard in the interview that she did with our friend Sarah Roach, was like, well, look, come for the game anyway, I'll be there. I'm not saying I'll be playing there. So yeah, I think it's gonna be interesting as to whether they do play.

She's only there till the middle of March. They are going to want to roll her out. if you know, provided she's picked up her luggage from carousel number two at Bristol airport, they're going to be very keen to get her out. fairly sure, but obviously they want to make sure that she's going to be ready. but history will be made in bear country. think over 4,000 sold already. Amazing. And what a way to kick off the new year in the world cup year as well. Like the excitement is just going to start from that moment on, isn't brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

The Power Pod (41:22.591)
Yeah, of course it is Bristol's Ashland Gate where they're hosting the two World Cup semi-finals, which I think is a great choice of location. So yes, I would love Ilona Marr to be playing that game. I am scheduled to be on commentary for that one. So yes, please, please can we make that happen. Ilona, have a little run out for me. OK, well, I think we are almost out of time. Philippa, it is time for your power play. All right. OK, so my one this time.

It's going to Gloucester-Harpry and Gloucester-Harpry, one of those teams that when they perform well, when every single player plays to best of their ability, they're world-class. They're absolutely world-class. And so many times you get asked, you know, what is Sean Lynn doing? What is their game plan? What is their defensive structure? People want to know the big, the big things. What are the big things that they're doing? But actually you find when you've got these teams that are performing so well week in, week out, it's the subtle things. It's the small things.

That's what makes them world-class. And there was a moment where it was the lead up for Mo Hunt's try. I think it was around the 55th minute, something like that, in the second half. Quick tap. So straight away, Mo Hunt is on it. She's getting tempo into the game. And she passes it off to Zoe Allcroft. Now Zoe Allcroft is three, four meters from the try line, looking up at a defense that's kind of been caught off guard because Mo Hunt has taken it so quickly. So you can see they're not in an organized shape.

Now I'd say in her head, she's thinking, I've got 80 % chance of scoring here. And for any other player, they'd be like, right, I'm going, I'm charging. But in her mind, she thinks, I've got 80%, but you know what, if we play one more phase, I bet we'll have a hundred percent chance. And it's that subtlety of play. And she still didn't carry it up because she had Tatiana heard on her outside and she knows Tatiana is going to get over the game line, but who would you prefer to have ceiling that ball to make sure it's quick?

Zoe Allcroft or Tatiana Hood, you're to want Zoe Allcroft over that ball. She offloads it selflessly over the ball, quick ruck, one phase, Mohun scores in the corner. And I just thought, clip that up because that isn't huge. That's not going to make try of the week, but it's moments like that that just separate Gloucester Harbury for me with the players awareness, their understanding, but their selfless acts and how everyone knows their roles. Everyone works together and when they pull it all together,

The Power Pod (43:45.666)
They're unbeatable. So Gloucester-Hartbury power play to you. Very good. I love it. I love it. Yeah, it's, it is sometimes it's the detail of just of how you're doing the close quarters stuff and making the right decisions. Isn't it? I actually, it reminds me of Henry Pollock who was playing for Northampton at the weekend, who is a live wire 19 year old watched him play at England under 20s level and he's full of beans.

fully backs himself, full of energy, the sort of player that you'd almost be in danger of a coach going, okay, we need to cut him down to size. No, no, let him play because he's like an overexcited Dulux dog. And he's just, he's brilliant and scored one hell of a try that he almost had no right to score at the weekend. But anyway, look, here's me tiptoeing into the men's game again. yeah, all right, Philippa, well, it's been another fab episode. What are you up to next?

So next for me, well, round two birthday weekend. This one, I'm not cooking for myself all weekend. I'm not going anywhere near that fridge, but yeah, I'm going out with the girls. So Saturday night for me is birthday round two, hopefully a more successful one. Cocktail or two? Cocktail one or two. I do love an espresso martini. I've tried to do them at home. Very tricky. Good excuse to go out and have one in a cocktail bar. What about you? What are you up to?

for a good espresso martini. I am on duty again with the Champions Cup, so up to Manchester on Friday night for Seychelles Sharks game against Racing, which will be, yeah, that will be a tasty little one. And then on Sunday evening, I'm on the rattle of down to Exeter as they are hosting the Champions to lose. Now, will Antoine Dupont, Roman Antimac be in town? Did they do enough last weekend?

to mean that they don't have to take that Sunday night travel, probably, but it would be nice to call a game with those superstars on the field. So yeah, that's how I do my weekend. I do also have my aunt who's my godmother, it's her 80th on Saturday. The theme is silver and sparkle. So I'm going to that. And you know that aunt you have that you just absolutely adore who's just always there, always got you the good presents when you were a child.

The Power Pod (45:59.49)
That's my Auntie Shirley. She's an absolute legend. silver and sparkle. Nick, what are you going to wear? I can't imagine you've got anything sparkly. I've got some very good sequin stuff that I wore at Glastonbury. It's a little bit silvery, but that's going to be my go-to. Lovely. I may have been Googling clip-on glitter ball earrings, but I can't find any. So if anyone finds any online, it'll be delivered by Friday.

then please let me know because Amazon was not doing the business for me. Right, I think we can probably let people go about their merry way. But Philippa, thank you so much for being here once more. We look forward to getting back together next week, which will be our last one before Christmas. And then we'll have another one just approaching the new year, won't we? Just ahead of that round in January. yes, that's how our little schedule is looking over the next couple of weeks anyway. So yeah.

All right, the Power Pod is a level production produced by Caleb Matomba. We will see you next week. Goodbye. Have a great weekend. She didn't do her. Bye. Bye.