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 
This news about Deutsche Bank having some of Trumps tax returns, it’s just going to fizzle out into nothing, just like everything else they have, or thought they had, on him isn’t it?
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Hope not. Would love to see that smug bastard squirm. Only worry is – if he goes down in flames, how much of the world will he take with him?
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It took years for the US authorities to get client information out of credit suisse. I doubt Deutsche Bank will be any different in their approach.
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Ah, there you all are.
Have chekhed in to twitter now and then to see if Sag had crawled out of the wreckage OK. I hope so.
Meanwhile, rubbish ABs team just announced. Too old, too broken, too out of form. Will be embarrassing for WR when they win it all again.
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HI BoomKing, glad you found us.
Here is the ABs squad:
Backs: Ben Smith, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, George Bridge, Sevu Reece, Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown, Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, TJ Perenara, Brad Weber.
Forwards: Kieran Read (captain), Ardie Savea, Sam Cane, Matt Todd, Luke Jacobson, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu, Joe Moody, Nepo Laulala, Ofa Tuungafasi, Angus Ta’avao, Atu Moli, Codie Taylor, Dane Coles, Liam Coltman.
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Aussie are training in New Caledonia before their final warm-up game v Samoa. Bad news for them is Jordan Petaia’s got a dodgy hamstring. He should be fit for the World Cup.
In the best of all possible news Nick Phipps is there training with the squad. There’s still hope.
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Was watching anything on TV last night to distract from yelling child. There was a programme about people training to be RAF pilots, and some of them were training on the £100m new F35 thingy. I had to laugh when on more than one occasion the pilot jumps in, and can’t get the thing started. Took ages to sort out including a reboot. This strikes me as a slight disadvantage in a warplane.
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AB squad looks weak.
We’ll spank them in the quarters.
*ahem*
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Wow!
No Owen Franks, Liam Squire, Vaea Fifita or Laumape.
England will win this tournament I reckon.
EJ to break the ‘smug git’ world record, currently held by Arron Banks, 24/6/16
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I fancy the Boks for the biggest of cups. Australia good value as an each way bet.
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No punters backing Scotland, then?
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I’ve been burnt too many times by thoughts of Scotland success.
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We’ll blaze our way to the final after spanking the ABs in the quarters, ticht. Not confident we’ll win the final though.
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‘pro,
Retallick supposedly out until the quarter-finals.
I reckon Laumape’ll get there at some point. Crotty (especially) and Williams are prone to injury.
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TBH I’m just hoping we’ll make it out of the pool.
Then a quarter vs either the boks or the ABs.
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Big bad brodie leaves a big hole.
‘sabit arrogant to include him and assume they’ll make it to the quarters
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Conor O’Shea’s already admitted that Italy’re looking at the South Africa game for the 3rd win that might sneak them into the quarters so I’d say New Zealand are through. Bit like Scotland did in 2007 when you sent out the seconds to play NZ so your firsts’d be ready for Italy.
There’s a brilliiant bit on one of their rugby talk shows the other week when John Kirwan and Jeff Wilson go ballistic about Wales taking over the Number One ranking. Ali Williams was the voice of reason.
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I’m just hoping that the whole shebang is rigged and that the World number 1 get gifted the tournament through some highly dubious reffing.
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Faf de Klerk’ll become the 3rd first-choice scrum half for South Africa in tournaments. Joost vdW was first-choice in ’95, ’99 and ’03. Fourie du P in ’07, ’11 and ’15. Both went to high school in Pretoria. Both won the Big Cup in their first tournament. Faf went to high school in Pretoria. This is his first Big Cup.
Nailed-on.
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yos, when’s Ellis back? I know he’s not going but he seems to have been forgotten a bit in the rush to another Slam and the World Number 1 ranking.
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@tomp
November at the earliest. More realistically it’ll be December or January. Real shame for him as he’s in our top 2 flankers.
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Sure is a shame. Him and Taulupe’d make us look proper menacing.
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“Conor O’Shea’s already admitted that Italy’re looking at the South Africa game for the 3rd win that might sneak them into the quarters so I’d say New Zealand are through. Bit like Scotland did in 2007 when you sent out the seconds to play NZ so your firsts’d be ready for Italy.”
“Faf de Klerk’ll become the 3rd first-choice scrum half for South Africa in tournaments. Joost vdW was first-choice in ’95, ’99 and ’03. Fourie du P in ’07, ’11 and ’15. Both went to high school in Pretoria. Both won the Big Cup in their first tournament. Faf went to high school in Pretoria. This is his first Big Cup. ”
…and who won in 2007?
Portents, portents
I can’t even remember this year’s 6N (bar Calcutta Cup), let alone a tournament from 12 years ago.
Likewise I can recall going to the USA v Samoa game in Brighton at the last RWC, and I remember commiserating with some Boks fans who were sitting behind us, but I honestly cannot remember the SA v Japan game, except for the very end, which I’ve watched a few times on youtube
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Italy have about as much chance of beating South Africa as I have of getting a late call up to the Wales squad.
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@Yosoy
Happened three years ago though, whereas Italy have only ever been walloped by NZ.
They obviously have to target that game.
Italy looked really clinical putting 80 points on Russia. Curious how they get on in the next warm ups.
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I read somewhere that Russia had cancelled a recent or upcoming fixture against Georgia due to the likelihood of them getting hammered, and to do so against a political opponent wouldn’t be good for morale.
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@pro
This isn’t the Comedy Boks. They’re a seriously good team.
There’s a good ‘styles make fights’ argument to be made for them targeting the Boks above the ABs, but it’s a fight they can’t win.
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Soz, Dad.
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I miss the comedy Boks
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Still missing the comedy boks
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I’m with chimpie, never assume a quarter final place.
Also, I miss the comedy boks too.
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Pfft. England are going to win bigly
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BIGLY
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Wales are NAILED ON!!!
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The blog is in shock at this.
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It’s a mass, silent ‘pfffft’
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Silent but violent pfft
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One for you, ticht:
https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/08/28/perception-and-reality-the-wallabies-and-all-blacks-scrum-from-perth-to-eden-park/
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Good article TomP. I’ve thought for a long while that referees look at a scrum and decide who is to blame for a collapse more on the reputation of the players involved, although that is becoming rarer, it still happens.
There is also a lot of inconsistency and you see some teams getting told to “use it” at the back of a collapsed scrum, whilst others win a penalty – I find it annoying.
I’m not entirely convinced by Kingston talking about looseheads binding on their opposite prop’s arm – unless they are double jointed it’s bloody difficult to do.
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Tomp – it’s a good article that. It still annoys me that a biased ex coach can influence the ref like that.
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Aye, but everyone’s at it. Even current coaches:
independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/they-scrummage-illegally-eddie-jones-stirs-the-pot-ahead-of-showdown-with-wales-34529232.html
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Hbh is still alive and is on holiday
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Pichot’s a genuine idiot:
Pichot y el Ránking de World Rugby: “Está mal hecho. No tiene ningún orden, es todo matemático y te diría que es casi una cuestión de marketing. Quedó demostrado cuando Gales no le ganó nunca a Nueva Zelanda en la historia y ahora aparece primera. ¡Es ridículo! Lo voy a cambiar”
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Pichot needs to stop wearing daps with a blazer. It’s very bad for him in so many ways.
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A translation:
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“Lo voy a cambiar”
I assume this means “Well done Wales” or similar?
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Marketing is of course all mathematics which is why the Cat is so good at it.
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Evening all. I know this blog isn’t overtly political, but we are all Guardian readers, to be sure, so probably fairly united in our horrified reaction to today’s events.
May I suggest making a donation to your local Constituency Labour Party, or – if you live in a safe Tory seat – to the party in another constituency most likely to defeat a Tory? (As long as the other party isn’t the Brexit Party, BNP or UKIP, obvs.)
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Thaum, Caroline Lucas is my MP and I’m happy to support her, outside of the Brighton bubble things are not so good, it’s a sea of blue with only the odd constituency respite, many of the majorities are weighed rather than counted.
I’ve put off commenting on today as I’m beyond angry at this, but it was always going to go with way with that lying coward as PM.
Who’d a thought that “regaining parliamentary sovereignty” actually meant handing power to 50 odd grey men in the ERG who want to privatise the NHS, cut taxes back to the absolute bare minimum (but still leach off the state when it suits them) and cut all employee rights?
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@Ticht – just had a look and I’m surprised by how close some of the other East Sussex ones (Lewes, one of the Worthing ones) are.
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