Week One has provided some excellent rugby, dodgy refereeing and unfortunate injuries.
I think we can all unite around Uruguay as WC champions.
Other competitions are also starting up, so cancel all engagements and be prepared to spend your entire weekend and parts of the midweek glued to the screen. Hopefully not literally.
For those of you who lack rugby preparation skills, let me remind you to order in adequate supplies of booze, fags and possibly food.
Exciting rugby on the telly this week
Friday 27th September
| Cheetahs 48 – 14 Glasgow | 18:05 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Ulster 38 – 14 Ospreys | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Leicester 27 – 7 Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 28th September
| Argentina 28 – 12 Tonga | 05:45 | ITV |
| Japan 19 – 12 Ireland | 08:15 | ITV |
| South Africa 57 – 3 Namibia | 10:45 | ITV |
| Northampton 32 – 36 Wasps | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Munster 39 – 3 Drags | 15:00 | Freesports / TG4 |
| Southern Kings 27 – 31 Cardiff Blues | 15:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Scarlets 18 – 10 Connacht | 17:15 | PS2 / S4C / TG4 |
| Treviso 27 – 32 Leinster | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Edinburgh 50 – 15 Zebre | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 29th September
| Georgia 33 – 7 Uruguay | 06:15 | ITV |
| Australia 25 – 29 Wales | 08:45 | ITV / S4C |
Monday 30th September
| Scotland 34 – 0 Samoa | 11:15 | ITV |
Wednesday 2nd October
| France 33 – 9 USA | 08:45 | ITV4 |
| New Zealand 63 – 0 Canada | 11:15 | ITV4 |
Thursday 3rd October
| Georgia 10 – 45 Fiji | 06:15 | ITV4 |
| Ireland 35 – 0 Russia | 11:15 | ITV |
Ovally Balls 
Earworm for youse:
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Words Thaum.
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Here are the original lyrics to the song, sadly overruled by Van’s record company:
Well, it’s a marvellous month for a World Cup
With the roosts up above in your eyes
A fantabulous month to play rugby
‘Neath the cover of [September/] October skies
And all the props on the pitch are falling
To the sound of the whistles that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your tacklers that play soft and low
And all the month’s magic seems to prosper and bosh
And all the hard players seem to shine for their dosh
Can I just have one more World Cup with you, my love
Can I just play some more freestyle running rugby with you, my love
Well, I want to play rugby tonight
I can’t wait ’til the morning has come
And I know now the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come the ref will be waiting
To make sure that my arms were wrapped
There and then all my dreams will come true, ya bas
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just fall to the floor [cheating bastard]
And I know how much you want to add to Cup lore
Can I just have one more World Cup with you, my love
Can I just mash your scrum to pieces, my love
Well, it’s a marvellous month for a World Cup…
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Thank you, Thaumaturge.
May I ask where you get the details from? If yo don’t have a ready source, I can send you the details of the site I used to use (it puts them all in one place – it cost me a whole £3 a yea and I’m happy to keep up the subscription if that helps?)
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@Thaum
Great work on the lyrics – almost Brookter-esque, if I may say so!
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Cheers, Brookter! I get it off https://www.wheresthematch.com/live-rugby-union-on-tv/
Which someone (perhaps you) tipped me off to. It only goes about 6 days into the future, but I think you can get further planning for a small subscription. And it’s not hard to update as needed.
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Just watched the USA game on the catch up. Pretty impressive by England. The USA half backs were very poor. Not sure if either England scrum half is quite up to it.
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BB – now that is undeserved high praise, but thank you!
I wasted a large portion of my youth redoing lyrics.
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ticht and iks and others,
This is good about Grete Thunberg (from a blog I recommend):
https://debuk.wordpress.com/2019/09/25/in-praise-of-strident-women/
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TomP – excellent blog, thanks.
My own mother advised me in my yoof that I’d catch more flies with honey than vinegar … but she’s a person who will say anything to get her own way, however underhandedly. Me, I’d rather state my opinion clearly and unambiguously, and if you don’t like it, well … too bad: we disagree.
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Programme about vaccine conspiracies. So much wrongness.
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Argh, don’t get me started on the anti-vaxxers.
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Good article, TomP.
Strident is what the Great Highland Bagpipe is, it’s an instrument which is rather well known for the attribute. There are some terrific female pipers, they are strident when playing, just as the male pipers are.
Any other labelling can fuck the fuck off.
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Wow new blog up and it starts with a bang! Good work Thauma and fellow posters.
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Thaum, I’m a big Van The Man fan
I was trawling through youtube the other week and this video came up for Philosopher’s Stone. I really like it.
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Ticht – that is a lovely vid. My initial thought was that it might be the Mournes, but then I quickly realised that the traffic was on the wrong side of the road, so I thought probably somewhere in N America. Road signs are in mph, so probably the US.
They did a fantastic job of keeping the speed constant for a flowing video.
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Off to bed now (look-at-the-time!) but I’m betting – not literally – on Uruguay to beat Georgia.
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Good article Tomp.
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Ticht – liked that video, but this one has better scenery! From 45:30 onwards, it was basically my world for 10 years, but I’ve done that whole journey and innumerable bits of it countless times, and when the weather’s good, it’s a fantastic run.
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And now for something slightly different. What the world REALLY needs now is a Japanese/Indian metal mix….
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Ooh, Japanese themed rock ?
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This aged well…
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Good call, Craigs.
Last Chisel then:-
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Relieved I can now support secondary teams without silver line issue, and confirm that WE, Los Teros , will be the emerging team of the tournament. Post if you have the balls, Argentinians.
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Since we’re doing cringeworthy Japan-inspired songs:
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Well, whether you’re starting your day, settling in for the evening or in the middle, there is always time for Melt-Banana
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Thaum – those lyrics should be an ATL on their own!
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Ticht, I saw a Guns ‘n Roses tribute band in Beijing a couple of years ago. They weren’t too bad actually, except that the lead singer and lead guitarist had got their wigs the wrong way round – Axl on guitar and Slash on vocals!
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Ha!
Deebee, I saw a Led Zep tribute who were pretty good as far as these things go, the only thing was the guitarist looked like he had taken a floor mop, cut a fringe on it, dyed it black and stuck it on his head.
The singer was a dead ringer for Plant, though.
A couple of years ago Brighton was plastered with flyers for a Foo-Fighters tribute band playing in a large-ish club. They came on stage and immediately left to be replaced by the actual Foo-Fighters.
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They came on stage and immediately left to be replaced by the actual Foo-Fighters.
That’s pretty awesome! Unless you had ambitions as the tribute act..
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Has anyone posted the Aussie and Welsh teams for Sunday yet? Apologies if this is a rehash. Your Welsh Heroes, unchanged and unbowed from the Georgia match:
15-Liam Williams, 14-George North, 13-Jonathan Davies, 12-Hadleigh Parkes, 11-Josh Adams, 10-Dan Biggar, 9-Gareth Davies, 8-Josh Navidi, 7-Justin Tipuric, 6- Aaron Wainwright, 5-Alun Wyn Jones, 4-Jake Ball, 3-Tomas Francis, 2-Ken Owens, 1-Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16-Elliot Dee, 17-Nicky Smith, 18-Dillon Lewis, 19-Aaron Shingler, 20-Ross Moriarty, 21-Tomos Williams, 22-Rhys Patchell, 23-Owen Watkin.
The other team:
15-Dane Haylett-Petty, 14-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13-James O’Connor, 12-Samu Kerevi, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Bernard Foley, 9-Will Genia, 8-Isi Naisarani, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-David Pocock, 5-Rory Arnold, 4-Izack Rodda, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tolu Latu, 1-Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16-Jordan Uelese, 17-James Slipper, 18-Sekope Kepu, 19-Adam Coleman, 20-Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 21-Nic White, 22-Matt Toomua, 23-Kurtley Beale
Australia panic, with wholesale changes from the side that got such a rude awakening against Fiji, dropping the halfbacks and fullback (Nic White, Christian Leali’ifano and Kurtley Beale), whilst the banned thug Hodge is replaced by Two-Dads, making his 120th appearance for Australia over the last two generations. I’m assuming his positional play is exemplary, because he doesn’t have too much gas if Wales create space out wide.
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@TomP
“The USA half backs were very poor”
Hard to look good as a halfback when your pack is being marmalised.
Even so, Davies tackled well, won 2x penalties at the breakdown and his box kicks were adequate.
McGinty struggled to get his backs going but it’s nigh on impossible to do anything against the blitz defence if your pack is going backwards.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/27/piers-francis-cited-for-high-hit-in-englands-world-cup-win-over-usa
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Wales by 8
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This is quite sweet, Japan & Alphaville lovers:
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AB looks like she could be Clint Eastwood’s daughter in that clip.
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Cheika going for a team to dominate Wales.
Wales play fair and remove our long range goalkicker from the squad too.
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The editing on this is a bit of a shambles, but there’s some classic Aussie cheating / time-wasting at around the 1m.15 secs mark from a collapsing-to-order lock forward.
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@Ilks
Patchell is the biggest kicker in the squad. I think he’s lost a little bit of range, but I’ve seen him knock them over from further distances than Halfpenny, although this was a few years ago now.
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Pro, McGinty looked as if he were playing in a daze from the beginning. One wide kick was about the only decent thing he did.
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Iks, after that game the Aussies invited Raymond Williams over to coach them how to coach. They then got some results v touring teams by smacking the shite out of them before the masterful Ella came of age and they started playing lively football.
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“smacking the shite out of them”
I recall a couple of “bruising” encounters vs Wales late 70s….
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Smacking the shite out of people after they’d passed the ball if that footage (enjoyable as it was) is anything to go by.
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And against England a couple of years earlier, trisk.
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All Blacks hardman Joe Moody claimed on Friday that “99.9 percent” of head-high tackles were accidental, as the Rugby World Cup produced its first red card amid heavy scrutiny of head shots.
Hits to the head were not deliberate and “not really in the forefront of your brain”, said the tough-as-teak Moody, a former New Zealand wrestling champion.
“I don’t think anybody’s ever, out on the field, trying to put in high shots or anything like that. I’d say 99.9 percent of the time it’s accidental – just slip-ups,” he said.
How would he know? Spent the entire Test against the Boks with his elbow on the floor and head not far behind.
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Poor old Patch probably sees 4 goal posts when he’s lining up a kick.
And if you keep on with I.L.K.S I’m gonna start calling you Loloy, young fellow my lad!
They call me Mister I.K.S.
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I remember all the glee surrounding whatsisface from Samoa (The Chiropractor) until his horizontal late hits just weren’t funny anymore.
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@TomP
“And against England a couple of years earlier”
Don’t recall that…somehow Ireland managed a series win out there in 79 w/o issue (or that I can recall)
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@Pro
I thought the starting 9, Davies, had a good 1st half before tiring. The replacement 9 wasnt good at all.
MacGinty was a big disappointment for a guy who has proper top flight experience and should be a leader in the team. You are right when you say it is tough to get an attack going behind a beaten pack,but that is when your kicking game needs to be good to relieve the pressure on the forwards.
Macginty’s kicking from hand was absymal and just kept handing the initiative back to England
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Brian Lima, Iks
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