Brace yourselves for maudlin renditions of Kumbaya all day Saturday.
International rugby on the telly this weekend
Saturday 17th August
- New Zealand v Australia 08:35 Sky Sports Action
- Wales v England 14:15 Sky Sports Action & Channel 4
- South Africa v Argentina 16:05 Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Arena
- France v Scotland 20:00 Premier Sports 1
Ovally Balls 
Following on from the last blog –
I saw some of Japan-Fiji the other week, ‘Pro. The BBs looked nice. Any hopes for them doing over the Scots or the Irish?
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@TomP
It would be justice if they scalped the Scots, after getting to play them 3 days after beating the Boks last time round. That is definitely the game they are targeting.
Ireland will stop them getting the ball and grind out a win.
I really like the way they play. Turn over the ball, load up one side, zip it to the winger, score.
Fukuoka is absolutely electric on the wing. His in-out finish to beat two Tongan defenders down the touchline was absolute class.
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@Chekh, Geech will always look like Pob to me thanks to that rascal Claw.
Still, he does look like an extra staring at the mothership arriving in a backstreet improv group’s representation of Close Encounters, having failed to grasp his inner motivation for playing the part.
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Scotland could BP all four group games.
We could also lose all four group games, though I’d be surprised if Russia BPed us.
Twickenham this year is the perfect example of where we are at.
Japan is actually the ideal game for Scotland, as long as we can deal with the temperature and humidity we will be looking to play an ever faster game than Japan do. These matches are what they are, Japan being hosts are being given long rests between games, but their players are just as susceptible to injuries as Scotland’s are. As long as we get a good run from the injury dogs we should be far stronger than we were four years ago.
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*sends injury dogs from Wales to Scotland*
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“We could also lose all four group games”
No way are Scotland losing to Russia.
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That was a real pisser for Anscombe MrIks, it must be heart-breaking getting so close.
I remember when Doddie got blindsided with a stamp whilst playing for the Lions, his stoicism when told his tour was over was quite something but you could see how much that hurt, far more than the injury itself.
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TomP I’d say no way are we losing to Japan, Russia or Samoa and that we have a very good chance of doing Ireland over, but Scotland have lost to the USA and Fiji in recent times and playing away from Murrayfield has proven to be a bit of an obstacle for us
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I’m inclined to be optimistic about our chances.
Then I remember I’m a Scottish rugby fan…..
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I’m similar BB, I have two identities, the Scotland fan thinks we’ll win the world cup, the rugby fan in me think we should get out of the group but that it’s not going to be a walk in the park to do so, and even then we are most likely to meet New Zealand who we have never beaten, of course.
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“we are most likely to meet New Zealand”
You fancy winning your group? Big talk, but I like it. Never a better time to play the crisis-ridden Sad Blacks.
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Well, there’s always a first time!!!!
Prolly not his year though.
As usual, there’s a lot hanging on that bloody huge word ‘if’, but…
IF our forwards can gain at least parity against bigger packs,
IF our first choice backrow ‘wins’ the breakdown
IF Ali Price continues his good form of the last few months
IF we get a few ‘Good Finn’ games
IF our centres stay fit
IF Hoggy doesn’t get injured by Irish players this time
then we might (MIGHT) have a good chance of going a fair way into the tournament.
Not that I’m hedging my bets or anything.
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TomP, I’ll take winning the pool, but I predict New Zealand will get their shit together by September and win Pool B
I’ve just switched on Griquas v WP, I’ve missed a try
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The 11 for Griquas is a lad from Pretoria called Eduan Keyter. Super player at schools level and went to WP after school but never quite made it. Pleased to see him get some rugby in Kimberley.
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BB, Finn moving to France has made a new player of him, he is so much more consistent, and Hastings is probably where Finn was a couple of years ago, but with a bit more pace, not that dancing boy lacks in that department, just that Hastings is very quick off the mark.
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TomP’s lad in for a score, nicely worked overlap
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He was at Affies, same school as your man Pierre Schoemann and the Retallick-muncher Snyman, and in the same year as our old landlord’s boys. They liked him but said he was very very not clever.
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Schoeman has become a huge asset to Edinburgh, he is very popular with fans and players, always upbeat, always encouraging everyone.
He has a thing for getting someone to photograph him holding his wife in the air at various locations across Scotland and then he posts the pics on instagram, which is a bit odd, but hey, as long as they’re happy.
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Worked out ok for the Bulls as well as Lizo Gqoboka was brilliant this year. Trevor Nyakane is playing some top rugby at the moment as well. The Boks look very good in the front 5.
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if i were a betting man, I would back Sa to win this thing in Japan. Is anyone aware of the current odds on the teams?
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Here are all Saturday’s matches
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Slade, in the UK it goes
NZ around 6/4
England around 9/2
South Africa around 9/2
Ireland around 7/1
Wales around 9/1
Australia around 11/1
33/1 bar
https://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup/rugby-world-cup-2019/winner
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“if i were a betting man, I would back Sa to win this thing in Japan. Is anyone aware of the current odds on the teams?”
As far as I can see, NZ are stil favourites, with England and South Africa relatively close to each other, then Ireland, Wales, Oz, France, Argentina, Scotland, Japan etc
https://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup/rugby-world-cup-2019/winner
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And more or less the same in NZ:
https://www.tab.co.nz/sports/competition/2003/world-cup/outrights
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Glasgow Forum Stats man on a couple of interesting head to heads in tomorrow’s France v Scotland match
https://scrummagazine.com/key-match-ups-france-vs-scotland/
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Interesting that he sees Ali Price as a sort of ‘hybrid’ between Wee Greig and Horne The Younger. I’m not sure when it started, but he has really come back into form during the past season. Maybe he’s seen Wee George coming through and realised he had to step things up, or maybe he’s lost just a touch of pace and has compensated for that by being a bit more ‘streetwise’.
Or maybe that’s all just mince!
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carpentry update:
I just agreed to have a hip replaced at the beginning of October. Received the surgeon’s letter of confirmation today………..he says I can have the knee of the same leg replaced not less than 3 weeks later.
He’s keener than me……………………………………
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Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology….
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Slade, I’ve heard hips are pretty much a doddle now, knees can be a little rougher to recover from. All the best to ye.
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I’ll defer on the Ab’s chances until tomorrow
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Slade, good luck with the hip op and the knee too if you decide to go ahead and get it done too
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During the summer hiatus we missed the unfortunate passing of one of our very best.
RIP Joe Longthorne
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Bit damp this morning, in UnZud.
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First half 10 minutes shorter thanks to that Haka.
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My old man had a hip replacement last year, went really well and a pretty quick recovery.
He’s also had both knees replaced. That’s a bit slower for recovery
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Savea is so strong in the tackle. Must be an absolute pain to play against.
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Savea’s running the ball very well at the mo. Rainy, greasy ball, though, and neither side accurate enough so far.
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Hey refit, what stream are you using?
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@Iks – this one: https://cricfree.live/update/skysportsmainevent.php
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Or TomP or anyone else hearing my cry.
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White’s sniping again, keeping the ABs unsure.
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Cheers Refit!
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Two misses from Lealiifano, both relatively easy.
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thanks for the best wishes, guys.
this link works also:
https://www.vipleague.bz/new-zealand-vs-australia-streaming-link-1
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Good pressure by the ABs causes a loose pass to Hodge. Mo’unga picks up the ball on half way and runs in to score.
10-0
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And now Bridge just glides through a gap in the Aus line, after a poor return kick. A Smith is on hand to receive the ball and score the second try.
17-0
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Aaron Smith making himself even more likeable, with an Ash-Splash as he scores.
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Fuck off that’s a yellow. Penalty yes.
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Sladey, trust that’s good news about the hip.
In good rugby news for you Exeter have signed Jannes Kirsten from the Bulls. A very handy player. Plus he used to go to the pub closest to Loftus after games for beerz with the supporters.
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What a scrum by the ABs, a man + 30kg down.
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