Ben Earl on England, Premiership Semi-Finals & Champions Cup Final

Alex, Tins and Jonny May are joined for a Bank Holiday episode by the Saracens and England flanker Ben Earl.
The foursome talk golf, snooker, recovery, Lions ambitions, England under Eddie Jones, personal development, Zak Crawley, and how being around the alphas at Sarries helped Ben grow as a player and a person.
They also dig into a fascinating Champions Cup Final, with Tins and Jonny getting into the weeds on where the game was won and lost; reflect on Gloucester's defeat to Sale in the Challenge Cup Final; and look ahead to a fascinating pair of Playoff Semi-Finals this weekend between Northampton and Saracens on Friday night, and Bath and Sale on Saturday afternoon.
Season 4 is sponsored by Continental Tyres.
0:01 - Show Starts
2:14 - Investec Champions Cup Final
5:34 - Players abroad
11:13 - Leinster - An issue?
12:55 - How do the English team compete?
14:00 - Challenge Cup Final
17:58 - Tottenham Stadium
22:30 - Jonny & Ben
25:10 - Ben on life under Eddie
29:00 - Early pressure
35:10 - Ben’s last 18 months
40:25 - Celebrations
50:11 - Journey with England
58:44 - England vs New Zealand
1:06:22 - Premiership Play-offs Preview
1:08:10 - Ben on Courtney Lawes
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[@the_wildbadger]

Hilarious that Jonny May had what looked like a studio recording artist mic and he still sounded like he was calling in on a 1990s Nokia phone 😂

[@DerekChaplin-mu1gc]

Jonny May a true gentleman. Watched him really go out of his way to shake the hands of the Sharks players after the final whistle!! For me very special!!

[@jonathanharris7512]

Great podcast but I've got to argue with Jonny May's comments about the the Challenge Cup Final. If Gloucester had gone for the posts, when the Sharks gave away 5 penalties at the start of the game, they would have applied scoreboard pressure early on, and forced the Sharks to chase the game. I was astounded to watch Gloucester kick for touch on each of those decisions. Game management is key!

[@ac2244]

The way the team were treated by the press during the World Cup was shameful. Honestly more accountability needs to be taken by these journalists.

[@kenmason9354]

Love this episode, Johnny should full time member of the team. Grate chatting ,done to earth program 👏👏👏👏👏

[@Oakeybloke]

Snooker lessons for something to do in winter is interesting, an alternative might be to learn a musical instrument. When I got bored of winter golf I took up the piano, and have fallen in love with it. Plus it's a different kind of stimulus and improves rhythm...which I think has fed back into my golf game 🙂

[@superbowljoel01]

South African sides do have a salary cap. It's £1 million less than the premiership teams

[@ryanberelowitz7464]

SA teams are a significantly worse financial position to the English clubs... thats why SA players go to play there😅. If SA teams were so rich they'd be signing overseas players. Atm, there is 1 regularly playing foreigner in SA (Loader)

[@matthewbazeley2984]

true but they are allowed 4 marquee players in addition to the cap. English teams are allowed one. With the amount of top class, world cup winners in the Sharks squad I imagine they must have a higher wage bill than all the English clubs. Except Saracens who laugh in the face of any salary cap :)

[@JackN13_]

​@@matthewbazeley2984 do you understand exchange rates?

[@matthewbazeley2984]

@@JackN13_ maybe I don't. Eben Elizabeth was reported to be on 880k euros in France , about 18m rand. Do you think he has taken a massive pay cut just because it's cheaper to live in South Africa?

[@ryanberelowitz7464]

Yes, he absolutely would have had to take a massive pay cut in real terms to move back home. Some of the players get the there salaries added tl by third parties. But playing in SA is definitely not as lucrative as play abroad. ​@matthewbazeley2984

[@Ben_2761]

All time favorite player

[@scottybot2003]

Has Haskell completly dropped out from this podcast? Been a few eps and ive not seen much of him and some hes not there at all.

[@whtwht]

Must be Ibizia season

[@TomboBrewster]

One can hope 🤞

[@patricksymington9277]

GBR has been awful this year, where is Tinz and Hask?!😊

[@davidmoon8464]

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!

[@oj4249]

South African teams wealthy?! We literally have our best players playing in the Prem, Japan, Top 14 and overseas URC teams lmao. Why would the Bulls not sign RG Snyman? The Stormers not sign Jean Kleyn? The Lions don’t even have current Springboks. The Sharks are the only SA team that can have the funds. 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️. We have literally been feed the Prem and other comps our star players due to the difference in currency and “wealth”.

[@RomainFebvre-i3e]

true in the past but if you listen to the rugby pod actually, they were saying there wasn't any money but a few teams are starting to get massive investments and players are saying the salaries (possibly its only for the capped springboks) are now comparable to France

[@Oakeybloke]

May worded it a bit strange, I thought he was saying that the sharks players were worth more money - better players, without saying better players 😄

[@diarmuidnash7092]

Ireland have only four professionals teams so one team liable to have good number of internationals. Ireland punching about their weight at present .

[@the_wildbadger]

They are punching well below their weight. The entire structure is tuned to produce the best national team possible. Despite this they couldn’t make it past the WC quarters again and Leinster have blown a number of European titles recently. They can’t weigh much at all if you think the Irish are punching above their weight.

[@alanoneill3167]

​@@the_wildbadger Ha a laughable take. Are you, by any chance, from the southern hemisphere?

[@notenoughstones3873]

Johnny May, decent player on his day, but unfortunately is hopelessly wrong about the finances regarding SA clubs. SA clubs player budgets are lower than Welsh teams nevermind anywhere near English clubs. Yes the purchasing power parity of the Rand vs Pound does come into account but nonetheless you cannot put SA clubs in the same conversation as French clubs and Leinster etc. SA Clubs have been very prudent with their cash, flying economy for many URC flights etc in order to be able to bring back a few high profile players. And to be fair Sharks should really have been in the Champions Cup given they finished 8th last year and their squad so they were a bit "overqualified" for the Challenge cup.

[@matthewbazeley2984]

do you think the sharks have a lower wage bill than Gloucester?

[@JackN13_]

​@@matthewbazeley2984 extremely lower

[@matthewbazeley2984]

@@JackN13_ how can they afford so many world cup winning forwards?

[@notenoughstones3873]

@@matthewbazeley2984 SA Rugby contribute to a player’s wage outside the cap when it involves a player of national interest, similar to what the RFU do with hybrid contracts. However the Sharks wage bill is significantly lower than English sides. The Salary cap for SA clubs is ~£3.7m compared to £5m for English clubs

[@matthewbazeley2984]

@@notenoughstones3873 I agree the salary cap is lower but S.A. teams can have 4 marquee players outside of the cap. English clubs are allowed one. If the SA union is topping up wages then it's certain the total spend on the sharks squad is much more than Gloucester, who don't have any players in the England. Squad. It's probably still lower than the richest European clubs though. Rugby careers are short and I doubt the sharks world cup winning front row would play for a lot less money than they could earn in other leagues .

[@willhopley]

Is Jonny on a walkie talkie?

[@duncangravy6060]

bumped his lip so cant talk proper

[@MaxEvans-h2r]

I said exactly the same thing after the Scotland game we tried to play well but the execution wasn’t the best and then we went and beat Ireland

[@WellnessWithWarren]

Jonny needs to get his facts correct before making baseless claims like that, regarding financial clout. South African URC teams currently work on a salary cap equating to Pounds 3.5 million, as opposed to Premiership teams working with 5 million, and with credits and exclusions, able to spend as much as 6.4 mill! The Sharks just happen to have more internationals, all WC winners, who know how to win finals.

[@kellyrobbins8255]

Not just that. It's a different market and pool. Eben wasn't keen to go to the UK. Money didn't keep him with Sharks. It's family and friends but also inherent rugby traditon and culture. These Boks have signed extensions or chosen to return to SA - Kitsie, Malherbe, Deon F, Evan Roos, SFM, Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok, Warrick Gelant, Sanele Nohamba, Marcell Coetzee (can't even get into Boks side), Elrigh Louw, KLA, Moodie, Willie Le Roux, Marco van Staden, Hendrikse x2, Tshituka x3, Lleyds (one is back), Akker (Duhan's broher), Steenekamp, Goosen, Mapimpi, Mchunu, Am, Esterhuizen, Bongi, Ox, Koch, Williams, JC Pretorius, MvdB....making your cap higher doesn't give you access just like that. Same as lowering ours doesn't do it. You're not wrong about knowing how to win, but it's part of that tradition and culture. Most money goes into developing and nurturing players. It's fine ifour system doesn't work foranother but judging Sharks on basis of money undermines HUGE effort at grassroots level in SA rugby. Our junior structures are not easily replicated. P.S: Stormers won URC when they had absolutely no money - they were in administration. That should put his idea in its box. They couldn't even afford strapping.

[@iamnutty8471]

the better game 23 or 24 both very good but the comeback in ireland had to top toulouse victory extra time or not!

[@gmd654]

Ben Earl - Signet ring. Sums him up.

[@whtwht]

🤣🤣

[@ac2244]

He’d fold your ass up in two seconds you soft melt 😂

[@MegaGreatpretender]

Signet ring? he could wear a T cosy and I wouldn’t say a bad thing about him, brilliant to watch and that’s from an Irish lad !

[@TomboBrewster]

It's not a joke. The joke is the people running rugby and the clubs here who've made a piss poor effort to expand the game in this country. It's not the other countries' fault that they are able to pay more due to their better setup. His gripe should be with the RFU and Prem rugby

[@tonymcgold1861]

like like i enjoyed that like

[@stephencoombes5415]

Great Pod as usual but the framing with all the clutter is really awful and distracts from what is being said

[@john-williamodwyer1544]

Good Christian guy

[@hughphillips5129]

Johnny either looses his voice or has a crap mic that has the same effect, too funny 😂

[@davidconlan99]

Jonny sounds like he recorded this on a baked potato

[@gmd654]

Why does Earl do that pathetic cheering after every scrum or lineout. What a shame they didnt win against Saints

[@patrickchilds2987]

I'm guessing it is his way to stay focused. Lots of players do something similar, what's the problem?

[@goldentidbit9611]

13:30 Does Johnny have his new microphone on the TOWIE setting?

[@RichardFalconer-yi3lr]

Love the podcast will somebody please ask Johnny to stop saying like every other word he isn’t a teenager and he would be a lot more interesting to listen to if he just cut out the “likes “ Ben Earl, best England player for the last 18 months Good luck on Friday night

[@nickcharnley19]

just means you love your family, I really enjoyed this, for some reason, reminds me of the joys of being in a changing room. with blokes who you sort of know, but you actually know their strengths and weaknesses and where you fit in to help. In our increasingly strange days, to break out, do your bits on the field, hopefully to a succesful conclusion. tired, bloody and broken, hit the bar, pat your oppo on the back. god I miss it.