The mic is hot and the game is on. You're listening to News for the Nation podcast by Aces Nation, where we talk about nutrition, sports performance, the journey of a student athlete, and more. I'm Claire. I'm Zach. Time to level up. Welcome back sports fans. Today we are continuing to talk about the documentary Six Nations, Full Contact. Okay, so this is our part three. We'll go through
episodes five and six. today um jumping right into it uh episode five mostly about france um honestly i can only remember small overlaps that they might have had especially when they played england that they brought in um some overlap with i think his name is ging something like that elliot or ellis something like that yeah the big guy for for england um Yeah, that that's the the one but let me not jump ahead too much so coming off of France's loss to Ireland where
Their their main offensive player said that they played scared. I remember saying that in one of our earlier episodes Coming off of that really what they did in this episode was they gave you DuPont, which is the Offensive player. He's he's there, you know marquee guy on offense. They gave us I believe, I don't know how do you say his first name. It looks to me like Gale, G -A -E -L. I believe there are umlauts above the A. Anyways, last name I think is Kiko. Anyways,
so they gave us a defensive captain, right? Number 13 for France. And really just kind of highlighted his involvement, why he got into rugby. I mean, Essentially, they're doing the same thing that they did for other players in the previous four episodes is giving a player that's like marquee for them, telling us, you know, like kind of showing us that person behind the scenes, how they prepare, letting them talk about Six Nations, what it means to them. I mean, we got we got
everything we thought we would get right. We got on field what it's like to be in his mind. During Six Nations tournament what rugby meant to him his past and like how he came into rugby and like Involving his family side of it as well So they really they gave us the full gambit of
trying to understand this guy for me. It felt like the episode was kind of I Was kind of strung out at the beginning I think and then I think they gave me a lot of his personal information at the end uh to me because they gave me all this family stuff like later on in the episode but i thought it was really um i thought it was cool that they showed us offense defense side of the french team um and then uh really to me i think as you get into this five game tournament
here I think they really started talking about pressure more or at least I sense that they were talking about the pressure that guys feel that these men feel during the tournament. And to me, I'm noting more that they started or Gail started to mention what it's like to sacrifice for. He said like to play for the French team
is sacrifice, right? Like you go away from Your family or your you know, you're just completely into French rugby at that point and there's nothing else and In both of the episodes There was a heavy emphasis or at least inclusion of sports psychologists Mm -hmm in both these episodes which I thought was interesting and I thought it was kind of cool the way that I saw it on the French side was they just set up all these different tables and they had all these different
sports psychologists and these guys would go up and just have a session with them right there in the facilities, which I thought was great that they were promoting that type of mental health and helping these guys kind of. work through the pressures, work through, you know, self doubt if there is any or whatever issues that they may be having, you know, like the difficulty of being away from loved ones, family and friends,
stuff like that. So I thought that was a really nice piece that they carried on to into the next episode. Yeah, gosh, I mean, given my thoughts about it, what did you see? No, yeah, that definitely stuck out to me. It's interesting. I feel like that's a theme that has popped up a little bit. I think we've talked about it with the more mental side of things has been showcased a little bit. So I think it's interesting to kind of see how
each team maybe approaches it. I think previously there have been other athletes on other teams that have talked about it, but maybe it wasn't shown. So it was very interesting to kind of see that The team was prioritizing it and just kind of brought all these professionals in and
the athletes had access to them. I'm and hopefully that'll kind of continue to be a theme as we get closer to the championship games and potentially I'm assuming like maybe injuries are at play or coming back from injury or People have to step in. I don't know things like that. But yeah, it's very Nice to see that highlighted and not just the practicing aspect or the game aspect.
We're having a little bit of a glimpse into more of a holistic approach or a holistic look at what these guys are doing to get prepared to play at that level. Yeah, I remember you talked about the injury part. I think I remember this Gale guy having to get his knee taped for something in the second game of this fifth episode. Yeah, obviously a tough thing and a lot of different issues are coming about but good to see that
they're all taking this holistic approach. One thing that stuck out to me during their showing of the sports psychologist at these different tables is what they were having these meetings in the same room On the backside of the room was their Strength equipment was there their racks were on the backside now I couldn't tell what what company it was or anything in the back there but it was just interesting to see it was like I think there was like some type of barricade
and Then it was these tables which I don't remember if the tables were set up on on the turf or not they just set up on some different type of floor, but I think I'm trying to remember back what we said in the other episodes whether or not We thought that they were going to show more stuff like like the training aspect. I think I may have said they might start showing it because it might come into play a little bit more, but
not necessarily. So I mean. After they beat Scotland, so France was, I believe, the number two team in the nation and Scotland was number one coming
into the game. and then france won and then the next week they played england they were talking about how tough it was going to be and uh they were showing they were showing that ginge guy training and how he was tackling and whatnot um but the whole defensive side of this uh episode uh another little tidbit they threw in there was the like almost like we would consider in american football the defensive coordinator uh they brought in a guy who had Been with Wales
for a while. I think they won three three championships when he was there with the Welsh team They brought this guy in and He had to learn French and he said that he'd learned French a lot from or he learned some of it from listening to tapes tapes like how to learn French. Yeah. One thing I noticed when he was talking to them, I noticed that his conversations were short pieces, like pretty
short sentences, very direct. I noticed that a lot of the terms that they showed when he was coaching, like talking in front of the team or
whatnot. They weren't words that could be They weren't a French word that translates to an English word They were just like how a French person would say this English word a lot of the times so it was just interesting that they brought him onto the show for for his defensive expertise but also to show that like Hey, this coach was learning French and whatnot and he was doing
a pretty good job. I would say they showed some of their training drills again and they they were showing, you know, back and forth, different teams training drill. So pretty, pretty good episode all around, I think, to kind of give us a little more perspective into the French squad. Yeah, that's interesting about the coach. I will say I think we've talked about this before, too, but I think they're the one team that at least the coaching staff with the head coach
does not speak. I don't know if Hebrew just doesn't want to or it's easier to speak French. Maybe all the athletes are French, but they do not speak English. Whereas the Italian team, you kind of see things going back and forth. I think their head coach is not Italian, so he doesn't speak Italian. Aces Nation is a team of former college athletes and coaches on a mission to improve the sports culture experience and change
today's expectations. We do this by helping every player maximize their athletic potential with professional programs to improve strength, speed, nutrition, and mental toughness, and by using sports to create a direct pathway to college with a guaranteed college scholarship program for all student athletes. Visit acesnation .org to learn more and schedule a demo. Let's go! I think that's a good point because a lot of these other coaches, like the Welsh team, they
all speak English. I mean, I haven't heard anybody speak Welsh on that team. But obviously the England coach speaking English, you know, and so Irish and Scottish coaches are all speaking their version of English. But yeah, it's interesting how you've got a coach for a nation that isn't from that nation, you know, I mean, this happens in soccer
too. right when they bring these coaches on that aren't even from that country or maybe originally um and here they are coaching for a nation to be proud of their you know their their team per se so uh i think that's pretty good segue into you know episode six because they focused a lot on on the coach for italy um who is australian i believe um And then his special consultant coach which I don't even know what the guy is like his friend or something They've been coaching
together for a while or whatnot. I think I think they're both Australian They look to be around the same age too. So I'm sure they've spent a lot of time together. Yeah, so Interesting part
about this episode. I think was that they were Really two main people in focus and then they had a third Then they had interesting stuff happen, you know with a different one, but so Focus being head coach for Italy and then Varney they're Probably marquee player like I don't know They keep saying a number nine like if you're wearing number nine, like that's supposed to mean something special I guess You're a certain position or you're like a certain standing within the team
As far as like being a captain or one of the best players or something. But anyways Just kind of taking it back and forth between that and a lot of this episode focused on the fact that they're winless so far and That they don't want to get the wooden spoon Yep. So what were your impressions of this episode? Yeah, I I mean I feel like you could really kind of see like the Italian team like struggling after things starting relatively well. It seems like things kind of
not fell apart. But I think that collectively as a team, they just didn't seem to be like on the same page at practice. And it was interesting to see their their coach to like him and his buddy, like you mentioned, because It seems like they're kind of coaching attitude was a little bit more like old school, very kind of like tough and blunt. And I don't, I don't know if the, I feel like the app, some athletes responded to it well, but others, maybe it just like, it
seems like there's a disconnect somewhere. Yeah, agreed. And what's really, what's really a strange dynamic, I think for this team in general, not just the coach being from a different country is We've got the one big guy on the team who speaks really good English. I don't know that he's They showed him in in an earlier episode like I don't know he's from there originally or whatever. He's friends in Bobway Crazy yeah, that dude speaks really great English, right?
doesn't Don't even know if he speaks Italian. I've never heard him speak Italian not that I can recall But anyways, and then you've got number nine Varney who he's from Wales He was born in Wales, but his I guess his grandparents are Italian and so he's able to play for the for the national team Which is also interesting. So it seems like there's just there's a lot going on There's so many different dynamics within that program that I don't know that that's an issue or that's like
a communication factor. But yeah, you're right. It's just like as we see them play, what's being shown on the show is that they are having these falling apart moments where it's just like they talk about how important things are, you know, and you're having your meetings, you're having your practices. Maybe your practices are a little choppy and not so great. And then those those moments in the game where it's just like, there's pressure and you're, you know, an error is happening,
either forced or unforced. Right. So this was another episode that they talked about pressure, like internally. And for like the entire Six Nations, but yeah, starting to build a little bit more. Oh, definitely, definitely. Because they don't want to they don't want to be bottom of the league, you know, at the end of this.
Because I think that's more commonly what's been Where they've been as a nation is at the bottom right the entire time I think for the most part so yeah I'm sorry I was just gonna say I wonder if the kind of Composition of the team of like everybody kind of being from everywhere and not everybody but just kind of having people from a lot of different places Contributes to Not necessarily that they're at the bottom but just like this lack of Cohesiveness because I'm sure
there's a lot of differences in in my culture or if they played for other national teams like how people do things and then you have to kind of come to this other team and Figure it out
or maybe there's language barriers. I also wonder if because With the Olympics coming up, you know how how much I think specific people and I think country get like very much into it because they're representing their country they're representing the place that they either live or they were born in or that they can really like Emotionally connect to so I wonder if maybe that contributes to it Someone in the sense of like some of these guys if they're not playing for the country that
they're from or that they love that it's There's kind of like that disconnect from the teammates that are doing that Yeah, that's a good point too. It's just We don't know that ins and outs, you know like no how people are feeling and whatnot, but it's definitely something that Should be considered I guess with as you mentioned all these different pieces coming together here to
wear the azure blue Mm -hmm. Hmm Just a thought yeah for sure I think another interesting piece here when they were going into the game against Wales, which would have been the last part of this episode, they showed how Varney and a Welsh player, I think his last name is Rhys Zomet, how they went to college together and they played together and now they're playing against each
other. And one of the things I thought was just so interesting is that During the week in preparation leading up to that game, Varney was in Wales to play pool with this guy during the week, you know? So I wonder if that was more for the show. I think it was, but I'm also like I'm just trying to figure out how the travel was made there and how did you get around practice, you know, and whatnot. So question. That's interesting, you know, that they were in that place playing pool.
Also, did you if you looked at the the the pool like set that they had, right? It was just red, yellow and the eight ball. That was it. That's it. No other numbers, no light greens or whatever. All the other stuff that, you know, you typically see it was just red, yellow and then the eight ball. Interesting. So it wasn't even real. Think
it was real. I think it was probably just That place that pub that they were at they probably just did that Yeah, but that was very very interesting part as well that maybe I'm not gonna say I'm not saying they took that guy away from the game took it out of the game I just think that it's another interesting piece to the dynamic that
we've been talking about. It's like right you know, the back and forth of, you know, and going to have them, you know, are going to have these meetings with these people or just hang out with people from other teams that you you've known, you know, all your life or at least for a big chunk of it. More about this episode, I thought that this was an episode that in that Wales game got into more of the technical aspects of the
game. I think they started to talk a little bit more about maybe some rules that were happening. They threw in a term like ruck. I don't even know what that meant, but I think what they said was like it was a tackle from the side, not from
head on. So I started to get in that Wells game in particular was more technical terms and different aspects of like the actual game were being kind of brought to light because It was calls that Italy thought should have been made in their favor or should have been, you know, brought to light that weren't by the referees. And if you watch the episode, you'll see that the coaching staff is definitely not in agreement with the
calls that are being made on the field. So, yeah, that's one thing I think I liked about that game in particular, but they really started to bring the coach for Wales into the conversation a little bit more. Because, you know, he was popping up and he made a comment about the other coach don't going down to talk to the officials like right at halftime. Like he didn't like that type of thing. So it is interesting, you're getting these personalities that are coming out a little bit
more. You know, maybe in Australia, they're they're just really blunt and you know, old school, as you said, you know, I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't be surprised if they were I wouldn't either neither Most most people most countries outside of the United States are very much that way All right, so just all the listeners are aware here I didn't watch This season when it actually happened like in real life. Okay, so we're watching the actual documentary here And so I don't necessarily outright
know who wins this. I have no idea. But I have a feeling about who wins it because because I have watched the most recent season, the twenty four season of the Six Nations tournament. Yeah, it's happening. Claire, do you have a thought of who wins this Six Nations that we're watching in this documentary? I don't think it's Italy. No, I don't think it is either. I would say potentially either Ireland or I want to say Ireland or France.
Okay. I think that the French win Like I said, I never watched this season this 23 season But I have seen the 24 season My feeling is that the French will win, okay Find out next time we will we will have to find out Cool What are you looking forward to in the last part besides
the French or the Irish winning there? I think just seeing it all come together um I think it's all kind of every episode or pairing of episodes have kind of done a really good job of like setting up the teams and kind of their journey through the season specific highlighting specific athletes so I'm looking forward to kind of seeing it all come together and see those last couple of games and those last remaining teams and I Don't know.
It's just like I mentioned earlier with the Olympics like I think all of these like obviously this already happened but like these big sporting events or you know, like the final or like the championship is just very Exciting and it elicits something in you that you just get excited about so I'm just excited to kind of see it all come together and see who can handle the pressure
and who can't. Yeah, I agree. I'm looking forward to more of this continuation of these storylines that they've built up already and kind of seeing where they come to a spearhead you know, whether a coach gets fired or, you know, another player, you know, gets benched that we thought wasn't going to get benched because I've seen that a couple of times. And maybe some some other storylines like in episode five and six, they both had a common theme where two of the players on opposing
teams at some point have played together. We didn't mention this earlier, but the French defensive captain. he played with the Scottish marquee offensive player, Finn, his name is. They played together in some league or something at some point. So they are also familiar with each other. So I think those things, like it's only six teams, guys are gonna, people are gonna know each other, right? And the countries aren't that far apart. So I think that's interesting to kind of see.
All these things develop and like you said, I want to see the final picture together, you know So yeah, it would be a interesting Last couple
episodes. I'm curious as to if it goes Episode seven we get like the final or like Whether we get one game whether we get like a couple of games from a couple of teams and then the next episode it's like the really important games so like last episode maybe it's like the really important game that determines the winner and then maybe the last half of that episode is like aftermath after the season you know and like celebrations from one team and then all the changes
that are going to ensue from other teams I don't know that's kind of what I think is gonna happen is like episode seven will go straight rugby and then eight will get the champion of the league and then like like recap of everything that's happening moving forward for the other ones but you feel any differently um not necessarily i would i would imagine that the last one is going to focus primarily on like the last like big couple of big matchups And then I don't know
if maybe like the last half will focus on the aftermath. I would say maybe like the last like 10 minutes they might focus on that. Yeah, well, we'll see, you know, only time will tell. And you know, in the final part of this series, so I'm excited to watch them and share my thoughts here with you and kind of see how it all unfolds. So, yeah, awesome. Thanks, everybody, for listening. We will catch you on the next one. See ya.