Will Scotland benefit from playing at home? Will Ireland be able to achieve what the world’s number one team were unable to do playing at Twickenham? Answers on a postcard. Or below the line.
International rugby on the telly this weekend
Saturday 24th August
- Scotland v France 13:10 Premier Sports 2
- England v Ireland 14:15 (kick-off 15:00) Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Main Event
Ovally Balls 
That welsh team certainly has a whiff of the second string about it
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Scotland to be announced at 13:30. Feel the anticipation.
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Hot takes:
Holmes, Patchell and Brown only making the bench means that it’s highly likely that they aren’t going to make the cut.
Unless we’re only taking 3 locks + Shingler as makeshift, then Cubby is not going to make the cut.
Amos, Lane , Steff Evans are all fighting for one spot.
Unless he is very, very bad on Saturday, Jarrod is going to make the cut.
Carre might leapfrog Wyn Jones if he has a big debut.
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Scotland announce a bit early
Scotland team to play Georgia in the Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi
(kick-off 5pm BST, 8pm local time) – live on Premier Sports
15. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 13 caps
14. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 5 caps
13. Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints) – 2 caps
12. Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
11. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 41 caps
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 44 caps
9. Greig Laidlaw VICE CAPTAIN (Clermont Auvergne) 72 caps
1. Allan Dell (London Irish) – 23 caps
2. Stuart McInally CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 28 caps
3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 30 caps
4. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 19 caps
5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 35 caps
6. John Barclay VICE CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 73 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 26 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
Substitutes:
16. Grant Stewart (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
17. Jamie Bhatti (Edinburgh) – 14 caps
18. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps
19. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 2 caps
20. Josh Strauss (Blue Bulls) – 23 caps
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 25 caps
22. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
23. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
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Very close to full strength, that team. Toonie going full chat in Tbilisi
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Some interesting calls there. Bradbury hasn’t featured at all yet, assume he’s out of the running now. Strauss surely in last chance territory, would have liked to see more of ritchie. Barclay bri g given a load of game time.
That’s a very interesting looking midfield
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Irish team named by Just Joe. I’m only listing one of the 23:
23. Dave Kearney.
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Worrying for Scotland and Ireland as Jamie Joseph promises:
“The team has set a goal of making the top eight for the first time in the history of Japanese rugby,
“The staff and players will give 150 percent — whether that’s enough only time will tell.”
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Is Blindside Flanker around? I’ve just realised he might have gone to school with Sara Pascoe.
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Chimpie, neither Bradbury nor Gray have featured yet, the former has a rib knock, the latter a hamstring strain.
If they are likely to be fit for the tournament I expect them both to be named in the squad next week.
Thomson not being in the 23 adds a bit of intrigue, his recent history of concussion isn’t great and with him going off with a head knock on Saturday I’m a little concerned about his place in the side. I thought he played well against France.
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You’ve got to fancy any team that’s giving it the full one five.
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Only 150%?
I’d expect at least 200%. The full double
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@yosoy –
23. Dave Kearney.
Yeah, it’s puzzling. Now McFadden is out of the picture/unavailable – Dave seems to fill same role …100% effort in every game but not really putting the fear of god into opposing defences (at this level anyway).
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Back row is incredibly tough to pick for us. Lots of specialists, lots of guys that can cover across the row. Barclay and Watson nailed on, probably Wilson too. Beyond that, anyone’s guess.
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Chimpster,
Always dangerous for a side when its coach gets on a percentage trip. SL was obsessed by “the extra 10%” before the last World Cup.
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Good on Liam Squire:
“For me mental health is a lot more important than playing rugby.”
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Hmm, seems to have been a thread-killer, TomP.
On a completely different subject, it’s been very noticeable that actual Scots are far less enamoured of Ruth Davidson than even the allegedly left-leaning media, eg the Guardian.
Obviously, I’m just trying to distract myself from the expected horrorshow Wales v Ireland match this weekend.
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Apologies for my tardiness.
I don’t think that if the goal is Brexit it is excusable to abuse the democratic system to achieve it. Johnson might be getting things done, but the damage and the consequences of the way he is doing it are profoundly wrong.
To me it looks like they are using Trump’s example, and it suddenly seems alright to shit on everything that glued it all together, as long as you achieve the outcome you want.
Sadly we voters are so dumb, numb, ill-educated and distracted that they can piss on everything, and all we can do is whinge on the internet for a few minutes, and then move on having ‘done our bit’.
It’s simple to say but the way we vote places trust in the politicians to make sensible decisions so we don’t have to worry about it. That for me is the biggest betrayal – what is going on has fuck all to do with representing the people of the country, their prospects and livelihoods.
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Re Davidson, in my experience she’s not popular among people who are heavily Labour, Lib Dem, SNP etc (obviously). Among floating/less tribal voters who are instinctively pro-union (there are quite a few of these), she’s quite well-liked as a person, even though folk may disagree with her politics.
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@thaum, I didn’t mean to be glib about the consequences for you or anyone else. I just want to see Johnson, Mogg et al strap a concrete yolk on their necks, and watch them drown.
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@Chek – thanks, the BTL comments on the Graun from the Scots are overwhelmingly anti-Ruth! But it seems very likely that she will lose her seat in the next election, so perhaps a pre-emptive move?
@Iks – agree with your 20:34. That is why I’ve made a donation to my local Labour CP, and will be out distributing leaflets for them. In this constituency, they’re the only ones who can beat the Tories (and our MP’s a good ‘un). Labour have the advantage over the Tories in one way: that their membership is huge. So if they have the money to get information around, they have an army of volunteers to help it get about. No-one expected Labour to win here in 2017, but it happened anyway.
There’s a part of me that thinks that people deserve a no-deal Brexit for their apathy and voting history, but really I don’t want that, even for the people who voted for it. It’s just too cruel. I have the advantage of being able to get an Irish passport (have the form, haven’t got around to filling it out yet!), and having transferable skills as well as a couple of European languages.
But the whole thing would be a major hassle I’d rather avoid. Possibly I’d end up happier, but I’m averse to paperwork.
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Going all Thomas Paine for a moment, I’ve nothing against Davison per se, and it galls me to attack a gay person as dog knows they face more than enough crap in their lives, but as Paine says, spare the man, kill the king.
As head of the Tory party in Scotland I loathe everything Davidson was made to represent, I don’t think she is awful but her party’s policies are, so on that level, goodbye and good riddance, but at least she had the guts to say that part of the reason for her resignation was Brexit, something that was being denied by party HQ last night, the fuckers.
It would take a hell of a lot for this life-long Labour supporter to support Labour in Scotland again, after they connived with the Tories to oppose the Scottish government, not legitimate opposition, by the way, underhanded political manoeuvring.
We are better off shot of Westminster, I hope this ridiculous clown in No 10 brings that day forward by his actions.
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In case anyone is interested, Wee Ginger Dug is a blogger on Scottish politics, pro independence in nature
https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2019/08/29/put-that-in-a-graph/?fbclid=IwAR2Q6RTw5Xn7WZJwk0LzQYmebWoD2X7O_HPF9I0AjKMnDctARNRHhsHh6Yc
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Thaum – sorry I was so negative earlier. Politics has been such a shit show recently I feel a bit crushed by it all. It’s a great thing you are doing to try to avoid Brexit – I’m just not convinced it’s what corbyn wants long term.
And I agree that it’s going to be shit for a lot of people who voted for it.
Maybe we could all join killer in Finland.
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This could be the most magnificent political obituary I’ve ever read:
https://stephendaisley.com/2019/08/29/a-tory-of-gut-and-grit/
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@TomP – I couldn’t find the necessary perspective to decide whether your father playing for Partick Thistle and being brought up in Selkirk makes you lower or average middle class. Perhaps BB can help.
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I preferred her predecessor anyway.
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I guess playing for the Jags might fulfill the “unsatisfying” bit, but I’ve never been to Selkirk and don’t know much about later Fife. I’d ask Suavo about that bit, but I think he’s only useful for early Fife.
Thought the rest of the article was fine obviously.
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In other news there is uproar in Upminster. The council recently removed 30 minute free parking from the town centre and shops are suffering a decline in business as a result. The spotty faced youth that is the council leader faced a barrage of questions at the library last night and he ended up walking out the back door. They then found his car parked in a disabled spot, adding to the general disquiet. Upminster hasn’t seen such scenes since Waitrose ran low on ciabatta in 2009.
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A recommendation to take your minds off ghastly politics. Last week there was a Prom as a tribute to Nina Simone. I listened to it live on Radio 3 and this evening it is being shown on BBC 4 TV at 22.30. It is fabulous. You can still listen to it on BBC Sounds. The interval discussion is worth hearing too.
And a word to Thaum -for goodness sake, get on with applying for an Irish passport and many thanks for getting this place up and running.
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I’ve been looking forward to that, Frankfurterin, thanks.
The Nicola Benedetti prom with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, doin a bit of the ol’ Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto was fantastic, I’ve had a quick look and I think the video has elapsed on the iPlayer but the audio will still be available via BBC Sounds.
Mozart’s Requiem was also good – BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann, (it sez here)
Yesterday I watched rising superstar Sheku Kanneh-Mason playing the Elgar cello malarkey, he is quite something. I watched a film about him and his siblings last year, they are ridiculous in terms of talent (and hard work)
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OT – that’s nothing compared to the furore created on the Biddenden Community Facebook page when someone asked people not to park on the double yellows outside the Cost Cutter which makes it hard to see oncoming traffic when turning right on one side of the triangle in the centre of the village.
He should use the other road round the triangle apparently. And many many people seemed to think that he’s a synt for suggesting that they only care about themselves.
Most local Internet pile on I’ve ever seen.
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@craigs
and if you like a bit of celebrity spotting, one of the shopkeepers you can see at the centre of the protest is the fishmonger whose daughter got through to the semi final of Britain’s Got Talent a few years back.
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Not sure I’d be any use on any matters relating to the Kingdom of Fife, given I left at age 10, but happy to give baseless opinion dressed as fact.
I’ll be interested to see how the ABs go in Japan, given the changes Hansen has rung. I’m quite sure they have a bunch of moves/tactics up their sleeves and the new guys will have the other major contenders reviewing video footage to see just what they may ne up against. I’m not ruling out the Black Threepeat.
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Ah fuck, the old name-change again. I’m gonna have to stop posting at this rate.
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Hey Suavo, what your thoughts on Laumape being left out ?
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@Ticht – understand, and that is why Corbyn refused to stand alongside Cameron during the referendum campaign.
@Frankfurterin – I know, I know, I am a huge procrastinator.
I did have the pleasure of seeing Nina Simone live, not too long before she died. Her voice was a bit shot, but she could still play up a storm on the piano!
ElS – edited your post to change the name.
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@Ticht – thanks too for WeeGingerDug; liked it!
Now I’d better see about getting a new post up.
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