The Lions beat the Brumbies but are there more questions than answers?

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1:12Welcome back to The Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and The Sunday Times. I'm Alfie Reynolds, Will Kelleher and Alex Lowe with me once again. And this is becoming pretty routine, an empty stadium late into the night in Australia off the back of another Lions performance. Alex, Will, what do we make of that?

1:29Alfie Reynolds: This is actually our earliest record. It's only 25 past 11. Yeah, it was... We're usually doing this the next day, basically. Midnight, wasn't it, on Saturday? So we're making progress. Good work. Well, warmer in here. It was pretty cold out in the elements in Canberra with like 500-odd metres above sea level. So it was, what, five degrees here. So I think I was in five layers for the game with a possible sixth that I didn't need. Alex, weather update, you were okay?

1:54Alex Lowe: I was fine, yeah. The meat pie at halftime helped. Yeah, yeah, the essentials. What do we make of that then, lads? Another win for the Lions, but another game where I feel like I'm leaving here with more questions than answers about where this Lions team is, in particular in the context of them preparing for the first test, because it's 10 days away now. They've got one more tour game. And I kind of left here just thinking, it feels like a lot of the same issues that we've had since the Argentina game. Yeah, I've found it underwhelming. This has all the makings of a Lions test team. Not nailed down, as Andy Farrell keeps reminding us, because there is time for change.

2:32Alex Lowe: And he'll definitely be considering some of that this evening because I felt coming here like the Lions should be 30-point winners. I know the Brumbies are the best of the Australian Super Rugby teams, but they were missing nine Wallabies, Will.

2:47Alfie Reynolds: Yeah, including a lot of their best forwards. Yeah, and maybe five or six of them are Wallaby starting.

2:53Alex Lowe: So they were well below strength. And so I thought this strong Lions team would come here and pull away. And as you say, Alfie, there's a lot of the same issues. There's a lot of familiar good stuff. I thought they constructed some beautiful tries. And they've shown their ability to strike first phase wonderfully. And Finn Russell, I thought, had another superb game. Gary Ringrose outside centre, I thought, had a lovely game. Played really well. Ty Furlong, I think, proved that he is the tight head for the Test series. But the breakdown is a mess again, and it's just stifling everything they're trying to do.

3:31Alex Lowe: You know, Tom Curry put another kind of unglamorous, huge work shift with Oli Chessom at six, who individually, I thought, played well. But collectively, the Lions cannot deal with teams who are coming at them hard at the breakdown. And the Waratahs did it. The Brombees have done it. And Joe Schmidt was here at the stadium watching. and you absolutely know that top of his list right now with Fraser McRae and Wilson and probably Iketao and everyone else there. Valentini. Valentini if he's fit. They are going to come hard at the Lions. Now the one thing that Farrell did say right at the end of his press conference was that the Lions are holding back as much as the Wallabies held back in their game against Fiji.

4:15Alex Lowe: So we know this isn't exactly how they want to play but I found it underwhelming because I thought this team was geared up to come here against a weakened Brumbies team and make a statement. I think there's a lot of good there, but it was underwhelming for me because there was a lot that still isn't working properly.

4:33Alfie Reynolds: And look, the Lions matches that I've covered before were the Test Series in 2017, so it's difficult for me personally to compare these matches to those because the Test Series is always going to be out-of-this-world kind of atmosphere levels and everything else because of what it means and the jeopardy and the drama and the sort of everything else that comes with it. But I've really found the whole experience in Australia that are massively underwhelming, is the same word, I think, of just really low-key atmospheres, really quiet crowds, plenty of loud music trying to get people going, which actually we have the sort of same match day presentation here.

5:12Alfie Reynolds: And we're like, look, we're really, really lucky to be here. and so we're not complaining about it. But I just think it's been interesting to see that the crowd is finding it difficult to get into the game. And whether that's because the quality of the rugby on the field is not great or there's nothing really to cheer or they're just quite sedate and they're just there to be entertained and they're not there to drive the atmosphere. This is not the Sea of Red. This is not the Lions atmosphere that we get told about endlessly. And look, they're probably coming.

5:39Alex Lowe: It will lift off because tens of thousands have already booked. it will lift off. I really hope so. As an occasion, as an event. But the rugby needs to lift as well. It feels like it could be a low quality test. As we stand here right now having watched I guess a straight jacketed Wallabies team at the weekend and we're seeing the Lions and of course they don't tell us exactly what it is that they're working on or what they're trying to do but none of it feels yet to be that Wellington test or the Auckland test or even maybe the first test four years ago you know some of those epic games it doesn't feel like right now this Lions team and that Wallabies team are are ready to deliver what like a high quality test now it might end up being that they're not they're not too far apart in how they're matched and therefore it's dramatic therefore it becomes dramatic but it will be an occasion it will be an event by the time we get there I just feel that the where rugby sits in the landscape in Australia doesn't help you know tonight for whatever reason and Rugby Australia blame Rugby League Rugby League but this was way down the pecking order in Australia tonight because we've had the state of origin decide a three-hour drive down the road in Sydney which

6:50Alfie Reynolds: which has caused a massive upset as well because Queensland have beaten New South Wales we were

6:55Alex Lowe: we were in a bar uh in Canberra to sample the atmosphere and there were rugby fans in the bar but on the screens it was all rugby league and you know where rugby union sits it needs this series to enrapture sports fans in australia because i don't think they're currently really that gripped by this which i think if it's going to do it will be as you say once we get to the test weeks and there's more lions fans and i feel like australia culturally are a bit more put it in front of them when when the test match is there and it's a big event they'll get more behind it so i think we We'll get there.

7:26In terms of the Lions then, we've said they're underwhelming. Alex, you wanted that statement performance which they haven't given us.

7:34Alex Lowe: Across the board. Across the board. Yeah, I mean, we'll get them to the scrum and that absolutely blitzed them again. That's been an absolute weapon. They just need to basically have a scrum the whole thing. They need to just be doing South Africa cool when they can. Just knock it on loads. Yeah, exactly. We'll have a scrum, please. There's a fair few knock-ons. That's one of the issues at the moment. But I'm trying to figure it out in my mind. What's going on with the Lions? Is it that they are deliberately holding stuff back, as Andy Farrell has said? Why are we still seeing this kind of clunky drop balls in attack?

8:01A couple of really nice first phase moves. The Gary Ringrose try was excellent. But I can't quite work the lines out at the moment. Because early on in the tour, I was thinking, well, there's enough there. There's building blocks. They're going to get to this point and they'll get there. Whereas now it's kind of long enough down the line that I'm thinking, are they?

8:18Alfie Reynolds: Yeah, so there's lots here. I think and I think no one's actually said this but we're on the same similar schedule to the Lions without playing international rugby games and training and everything else but I think they're tired like everyone we've been speaking to talks about the relentlessness of this schedule and it is a lot like we've been moving every three days for the space of two weeks and we're going to another city tomorrow morning nine o 'clock in the morning like the Lions are not sure on the same flight but we're on a similar journey down to Adelaide and they're not really training there the thing that it's challenging for the players is that probably all of them as professional athletes have got this like insanely detailed preparation plan their prehab and all that stuff and then their rehab and they just that's all gone blasted out the window and loads of them have never had to do anything like this before because they're all new lines is that different i think they look leggy and i think they look tired is it because of it no it's not it's just that none of them have had to do it because there's so few previous lines it's a very new squad isn't it and the coaches

9:17Alex Lowe: have been saying really since last weekend how much they're looking forward to a test week because they have they're back in their routine of a normal build-up and normal training and days off yeah more time there's on the way with the midweek game just before the first test which i think is is exactly the right thing to do now we think they're giving most of these players a 10-day build-up to that first test which which would play to your theory that that they're they are jaded because they've been moving a lot and they don't have that much prep time on the field there's a lot of walkthroughs there's a lot of meetings there's not much actual training because you can't you know that's not an excuse that is a lion's tour that's what you sign up for um that is part of the challenge of it that's what that's what makes it such a daunting thing it's why lion's tours are not set up to succeed it's why it makes it such an incredible challenge adventure and they're right in the in the kind of grip of that right now and i think you're probably right Will I think there are bits that just think of the things that Andy Farrell takes out of each of these games he doesn't talk about Finn Russell's range of passing which I thought again tonight was magnificent and kicking as well he doesn't talk about the lines that Ringrose runs he talks about what Tom Curry does off the ball kick chase effort, work and I think that's deliberate because he can't have them dropping off and kind of feeling like they're leggy I think that's a deliberate narrative from him that he picked out Mac Hansen in that game in Perth, when we saw some wonderful skills, Henry Pollock's skills, it was Mac Hansen's work off the ball running back that he picked out.

10:57Alex Lowe: I think that's a strategy, just a narrative that he's building to get into the players' heads that they cannot use travel and all that as an excuse.

11:05Alfie Reynolds: And I think if you then spoil on our theory that they're a bit tired and jaded and mentally tired as well as physically tired what are the things that are going to be more difficult they're probably that clear out at that breakdown just being that half second quick enough to get there before the other guy or that little timing of the run lots of the passes today there were lots of really nice ones but the ones that didn't stick were sort of slightly behind someone or slightly in front of someone or like Tom Curry put a couple of nice passes away but then dropped the ball quite a lot too and look I have a theory with him and It depends how the Lions want to play.

11:37Alfie Reynolds: But I was saying this to you after the game, Alex, is they've got loads of options at seven, right? And Tom is clearly a favourite of everyone who coaches him because he just absolutely breaks himself. And he was hobbling out the ground here, probably having had another mega game where he's black and blue at the end. But if they're going to play these nice, little, neat Irish-style diamonds in attack, his hands have never been that good compared to someone like Josh van der Vlieer, who's playing in that system with Leinster and Ireland all the time. and then Pollock's a different player and then Earl's a different player too but Earl feeds into the backs doesn't he?

12:09Alfie Reynolds: So it's interesting that because it's like do they have to slightly adapt how they're going to do that style of thing or who's in those diamonds because Curry's less good at that. It's not saying he's bad at it and he's just less good at it than van der Vler is.

12:21Alex Lowe: I left the team announcement press conference the other day where we spoke to Andy Farrar, you spoke to Tom Curry Will and had a little chat with Andy on the way out just about Tom Curry and I left with the impression that Tom Curry will be in the test team. It's about whether he plays six or seven. And having seen what happened tonight on the back of what happened in the World Tars game, I thought they would be more likely to go Curry at seven, Chessham at six. But I just wonder, with the way that the breakdown is going, whether they will end up picking what they've picked right from the outset, which was Jack Morgan and Tom Curry or potentially Josh van der Vlera.

13:01Alex Lowe: and Tom Curry, but basically have two guys to try and...

13:05Alfie Reynolds: That might be bad news for McCarthy then, because he's less of a line-out guy than Chesson would be. So if you've got a sort of big, heavy lock, there's less of a line-out, you've got so few options there to actually put someone up in the air. Hi, I'm Katie Prescott from the Times Tech Podcast. AI is already changing business and medicine, but could it also change the way we look after our own health? In a special episode in Paid Partnership with Vitality, we look at how AI, wearables and everyday health data could help shift healthcare from treating illness to preventing it. Listen to the Times Tech podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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14:53Do you not think they'll still go power, though, and go for the heavier locks with a Chessham at six?

14:58Alex Lowe: Listen, they could do, but it's the balance. So they need carriers because they need... One of the things that they did change up, they were more direct tonight. I think Cone is a decent carrier. I think Chessham is such a good carrier.

15:10Alfie Reynolds: Aki was running dead straight.

15:12Alex Lowe: Aki, yeah, another one who limped out of the stadium tonight. So it's trying to find that balance. but I think right now the breakdown is killing them yeah and Australia will come at them there because that's what Australian teams do and particularly Fraser McRae he's world class at it so how do they find that balance between the need to be able to drive them forward but also the need to try and secure some breakdown ball and that's the conundrum that they'll be spending the next four or five days working on in the background they also got this game on Saturday how do you balance it and you know and and how important is is having multiple line out options and because if you've got conan and itoji and say curry and mccarthy is that is that enough that might be enough mccarthy's not an obvious jumper but that's the balance they're trying to strike and it's a tricky one because i think if they cleaned up the breakdown and that wasn't such a threat to that to really the way they want to play it would definitely be mccarthy in the second row and Chester's at six.

16:13Alex Lowe: After tonight I think they're having to think more deeply about that balance.

16:16Alfie Reynolds: I've wanted to do some positive things but we'd better cover off the quick news about Blair Kinghorn. Yeah so he went off in the first half replaced by Marcus Smith and one of those ones where the reaction didn't look great Andy Farrell keeping his cards close to his chest in the post-match press conference but it will be kind of scans and then we'll see. Yeah well they've got as we've said earlier that an early flight to Adelaide so it's all a bit quick but they said He was singing in the physio room today, and it's always hard to tell whether he's fine or not because he's always in good spirits, they were saying.

16:46Alfie Reynolds: But we saw him walk out of the stadium without any strapping or knee braces or anything like that. But I guess so you've got that on the positive side. And on the other side, every time one of these guys has gone injured, the night of it, Farrell's been pretty positive, and then they've gone home the next day. so again let's cross fingers and hope that Blair Kinghorn that isn't his Lions experience playing about what seven minutes not banged up today and then another 20 banged up and then a bit the other day leaves them in a real bind though if it is bad news because Hugo Keenan is like the only full back they could pick Andy was returning to form and fitness and Andy Fowler I think even said didn't he after the Waratahs that he looked rusty and you know he's had a stomach bug and hasn't Marcus Smith came on here, but we're still not sure if you would want him starting the tests at full-back.

17:35I think we're more sure after today that we don't want him starting.

17:38Alfie Reynolds: Every time he goes into the backfields, the team that are playing against him just go, where's Marcus? We'll kick to him. And he put in a lovely kick for Gary Ringrode, so there's good with the bad always. But I think they need to have someone who can catch a ball in the air. And interestingly, Tommy Freeman's usually brilliant at that. And he went up for loads today and didn't get near quite a lot of them. Aerial game's been an issue. Yeah. It's been a real issue. And you'd damn expect the Aussies to kick high when they've got a civil league. They didn't do it at all, as we said the other day with Fiji.

18:05Alfie Reynolds: But let's see. But yeah, positives. Scrum keeps growing every week. Furlong's had his best game for ages. And that's brilliant, isn't it? Furlong is a hero. He's a six-test lion. It would be ridiculous if a tighter prop went nine tests in a row, wouldn't it? What a man Ty Furlong is.

18:25Alex Lowe: He's long been a favourite of mine. I just love the way he plays. I love his attitude. And it was good to see him play well tonight. I mean, you've got to bear in mind that the Brombees pack was shorn of some key players. But he can only do what he can do.

18:39Alfie Reynolds: But when we were saying before, there are guys that need a good get. He definitely had that.

18:44Alex Lowe: Yeah, Sheehan was big. Yeah. That little carry on the wing. Yeah, class.

18:48Alfie Reynolds: Don't argue. Bang.

18:50Alex Lowe: The scrum has been growing and now looks in a really formidable place. As we said earlier, to the point where it's a weapon. And the Wallabies will know it's a weapon. coming their way. The restarts weren't amazing. Lighting Act was okay. That's improved. But yeah, I think Tyg, because Tyg's experience as well is, you know, what is experience? It's sort of hard to pin down why it's so important. But it's being able to keep your head in that environment. We've talked about how this, right now they're in the middle of this challenge that a lot of these players aren't used to. You know, the players who went on the last Lions tour didn't have any travel.

19:26Alex Lowe: They had no fans. So the step up to the tests wasn't, you know, intensity-wise, but they'd played a lot of the players already. It was just different. So that kind of step into the cauldron of a test series is new to everyone apart from Taig, Itoji, and now Farrell because Elliot Daly's gone. So having him around and having him be at the coalface, understanding what it takes to win and to perform at that level is so important. And as good as I think Will Stewart is and as well as Finley Beelam has toured, it's a huge boost for the Lions to have the comfort blanket of Tigre Furlong going to be their tight end in the test.

20:07Alfie Reynolds: My three quick other positives are the 9 and 10 are great. Like, Gibson Park service is awesome, isn't it? Despite the fact that Breakdown's not great. He's digging for a lot, but his zip off the floor is great. And he kicked well, largely as well. And then Finn Russell just, like, drips quality, doesn't he? You can just see he's so comfortable in his game. He's had a great season. He's putting people into space with that lovely thing that he does where he almost looks someone in the eye in front of him and then just goes, dink, and passes it to the left or something. He's so, so nice for that Cheston one.

20:36Alfie Reynolds: And then he kicked a lovely ball into the far corner to just pin the Brumbies down. They're so far and away, the 9 and 10. And I don't know what they do on Saturday, but don't play either of them. Just don't risk it because you can't lose either of them. I mean, Mitchell's a good player, but Gibson Park and Russell, they're worlds apart and they're awesome, 9 and 10. Johnny Sexton said yesterday as well when we spoke to him that Russell had been the best defender in the back line as well. Yeah, he's not shy, is he? He does put himself about. And then very lastly, I think Gary Ringrose, and look, everyone has their favourites and we get accused hilariously of recency bias on this podcast, which is like, oh, isn't the whole line's about who played well the last time you saw them?

21:16Alfie Reynolds: Anyway, Gary Ringrose, I think, is the 13. He's the best defensive 13 and he's proved today that he's very good in attack. And like Hugh Jones is probably generally a better attacker. But Ringrose today picked some lovely lines. He's had a good tour. He's done really well. He was good against the Western Force as well. On that note, because all the chat before this game was, is this the squad or the starting team for the first test? I want to run through it name by name and you can say yes or no. Off the back of tonight, whether we still think that's the case. You're only allowed to say yes or no because we need to go home and start writing.

21:49No, if it's a no, you can expand. If it's a yes, we move on. Ellis Genge. Yes. Yes Dan Sheehan Definitely Tyg Furlong Definitely I'm still not as convinced by that But we'll go with it Mara Toje Obviously yes McCarthy Yes I think so Tom Curry

22:04Alfie Reynolds: I think yes by default at the moment

22:07Alex Lowe: Sorry can I just clarify the rules of this game Go on Are we predicting what Andy Farrell will pick Yeah if you think they will be the Yes then So for Tom Curry Chesson Yes I would So we've got all yeses so far I'm not I'm less convinced after today that Chesson will be in six just because of the breakdown issue. But he's definitely in the 23. And I'd have him in. I thought he was good today. It's just whether he's second row or not. Jack Cohn in number eight. Yeah, by default really. Pretty much got the pack. Gibson, Park and Russell we've just said. Yes and yes. Aki.

22:40Alfie Reynolds: Yeah, I mean he played his role properly today. Ran dead straight.

22:45Alex Lowe: And the reason for that is, I've said it on here before, I think Tupolotti was a better player all round. But he hasn't been giving the Lions what the Lions need, which is that punch across the gain line, sort of metres after contact, driving them forward, which Aki has started doing more as the tour's gone on. So on that basis, the balance, you know, if... Sorry, this is supposed to be a quick far answer. If you're looking at the options outside of Finn Russell and he's got the power of Aki, all that connection which he's already built with Ring Rose, which I think is great, then I think Aki...

23:19Two of Pilots on my bench. Okay, so Aki is a yes as well Ring Rose we've said is a yes Back three more question marks here Maybe, James Lowe?

23:29Alfie Reynolds: I think again yes by default And I think Freeman is your next one you were going to say So I'll jump ahead And I think he probably steps slight Like half a step backwards from where he was But he's still probably favoured He's given so much credit And he's had a great season

23:46Alex Lowe: I think James Lowe's got a bit to do See we haven't seen his So who would you play instead then? Well, nobody. That's what I... Yeah. I don't think we've seen the best of him. Like, his finishing was weird today. I'd like to see him knit with the... Why is he far too upright? Trying to go in. Blew the first one. Even the knee slide try was a strange way to finish it.

24:06Alfie Reynolds: I can't believe you didn't score that. It was very odd.

24:08Alex Lowe: We don't... You know, we haven't... Now, maybe this is part of the test plan, but the way that Ireland play, you know, we see a long kicking game, which is so beneficial. And coming off the wing and knitting the attack a bit more.

24:18Alfie Reynolds: Yeah.

24:19Alex Lowe: I think there's a lot of James Lowe we haven't seen

24:21Alfie Reynolds: and I think if and his link with Gibson Park is awesome usually as well we didn't see any of that

24:26Alex Lowe: and therefore I'm basing it on maybe there's something there that the Lions are ready to unlock yeah a little trick play because I'm not having Duan and Matt Hanson you know I love the sort of scrappy-do nature of how he plays a bit sort of Jack Knoll-like but I think the best wingers are Freeman and James Lowe and then that leaves Kinghorn which I guess is the big question mark over whether he's fit or not if he's fit, yes Yeah, King on his foot.

24:49Alfie Reynolds: So we've been asked to do our 23 for the 100th time, and I've put Keenan, but that was 50 on the fact that he picked up a knocker today and 50 because I'm just a bit like, maybe you just want as much Irish as you can for that first test. Who deserved to be in the team? Just for cohesion and knitting stuff together.

25:09Alex Lowe: Your two or two call for the bench is interesting. Yeah. Because who else do you have on the bench?

25:13Alfie Reynolds: I've got Mitchell and Finn Smith and him. So essentially not Owen Farrell.

25:18Alex Lowe: Yeah, yeah. Because if you have 2-0 or 2, you need a 10.

25:21Alfie Reynolds: Yeah, because I originally was looking at a 6-2, but then I was a bit like, I'm going to be left to here without a 10 unless I pick Mitchell and Owen Farrell. And I think first test is a bit soon for him, so I've gone for a 5-3, essentially. You can read it in the paper. It's probably up already. Just finally, lads, because I know you have to dash off. It's interesting to me that I feel like we're stood here quite uncertain about where the Lions are ahead of the test series. but when we've gone through that team it's been pretty much it's still the same yes I think just play better just play better what does that tell us about the Lions

25:53Alex Lowe: well I think it it tells you how hard it is to build a Lions test team in two months I mean it's always when the Wallabies weren't very good and everyone's like oh the Lions are going to just come over here and walk it 3-0 you forget that the Lions reach the first test every tour and there are unknowns about how they're going to go you know Finn Russell and and Gibson Park have played together twice now. Curry and Chesson played together in the back row for the first time today. Ever. Which amazes me.

26:22Alfie Reynolds: No wonder the breakdown was a bit average.

26:24Alex Lowe: You know, so there are combinations that are new, and that's why it's not.

26:28Alfie Reynolds: You have to give them rope, don't you?

26:30Alex Lowe: Absolutely, but I don't see anyone coming into this 15, other than tactical reasons in the back five of the scrum, where they're going to spend time now working out the best balance. Whoever they pick there will be worthy of selection, I think because the depth is so incredible in the back five that if you went for Tygburn, Joe McCarthy in the second row or Ollie Chessom, you couldn't complain. Whoever they pick in the back row of the leading contenders to start, and we're talking Van der Fleer, Morgan, Curry, Conan, Chessom, Earl. Again, I don't think there's a weakness there. And so for me, that's about balance.

27:06Alex Lowe: So there might be different names ultimately because it's about how they formulate this balance between power and breakdown and all that. But I don't think there's anyone really who's going to come into that 15. It's just about spending 10 days now trying to build something. 10 days that they haven't had since they left Portugal really going into that first game because they didn't have half the squad. On a Lions tour, 10 days will filter them like a long time.

27:32Alfie Reynolds: Quick little tour postcard from Canberra. Go on. I think my take is that it's a little bit like a triumvirate of Canary Wharf, Milton Keynes and a retirement village. And is that rude? I've found it interesting. It's been different. There's a lot of ambassadors and there's a lot of politicians and there's a lot of embassies. The Chinese embassy looks quite funky. It feels like a town where they've decided to spread the content over quite a large area. Like they could have made it smaller.

28:02Alex Lowe: It doesn't feel like a place with half a million people living in it.

28:05Alfie Reynolds: And there's weird roundabouts and stuff.

28:07Alex Lowe: But I didn't go today, but you've reported back that it's got the best paddle court.

28:11Alfie Reynolds: Oh, what a paddle court it is, yeah. Brand new, two months old. I've bought myself a paddle t-shirt because it was so nice. And me and Chris Foy from the Daily Mail absolutely wiped the floor with Rory O 'Connor and Dan Schofield.

28:25Alex Lowe: That's three from three for you. Yeah, actually I'm beaten since I've started.

28:29Alfie Reynolds: We've won a game together, haven't we? So we love a bit of paddle on these trips. Do you know what Canberra reminds me of? This is kind of probably a niche reference. You know, the Hunger Games, the capital. Capital and the Hunger Games. My popular culture references aren't good enough for that, I'm afraid. It needed to be an obscure indie band for Alex. It needed to be a musical for you to get it.

28:50Alex Lowe: Alfie's culture references are all TV series that I've never watched. You had Pierre Schumann asking you for a selfie. I did, yeah. Because you look like the lead actor in... Well, I haven't watched it either. and the Netflix series You, so the lead actor in that, before one interview. He's got curlier hair. We were looking it up the other day. Yeah, I don't see it personally, but he seems to think I do. Resemblance of some sort. So there we go.

29:15Alfie Reynolds: So Adelaide next, where nice river, black swans, awesome cricket ground, where the game's going to be. And speaking of which, you guys have a flight to get there in about nine hours' time. So we will love you and leave you. We'll let you guys get back to your hotel and do all your writing and then get on your flight to Adelaide. And we will be next with you in Adelaide on, where are we now, Saturday? For the Owens game. For the next match. So that's the next time you're going to hear from us. Thank you very much for listening. Hope you're enjoying all our dispatches from Australia and that the ramblings aren't getting too weird just yet.

29:45We've still got a long way to go, so there's time for that.

29:47Alfie Reynolds: Alex is at the front of the plane. But by the way, there hopefully won't be any restowing issues down to Adelaide. That was too much. That's so rude. It was too much. To be confirmed. Thanks very much for listening. This has been The Ruck. Follow and subscribe from wherever you get your pod from. We'll be back with you on Saturday.

30:32You get your podcasts.

31:02Papers offer exclusive Alaskan Hawaii.