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 
Oops! Finger trouble, I promise.
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Dutch commentators love Scotland cos of Tim Visser.
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Scotland ringing the changes and putting Samoa through the wringer. Or would be if they could get a bit of continuity. Scrum penalty and Scotland opt to scrum again! Aaargh! Floated the wide pass into Row F!
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No real damage as the Samoan clearing kick gets them to 12m out. Scotland maul. Wee Greig struts and points. Another penalty. No idea what for because I was typing on my phone. Another lineout and doubtless another maul. Yip. Scotland claim the try! Looks good, but if you’ve paid for a TMO, get your money’s worth!
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Samoan 11 was hilariously off side and in at the side there
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Jacques, 39, on the Outsurance ad looks like ginger Finn. Fidow to the bin! Penalty try and Scotland one away from the BP!
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C’mon. One more try at least
Not exactly been a classi c this
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Samoa knock on again. Nel has had enough and thanks the Lord for his intervention and a farewell trundle to the sideline.
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Wee Greig feeding the scrum suspiciously straight on the replay there.
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This is like rubbing sandpaper into ones eyeballs.
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Hogg chips in behind when keeping it in hand would’ve been better. Never mind, Samoa overthrow the lineout, as they’ve done successfully all day, but lose it. Scotland bash the line and knock on next to the post. Berghan, I think.
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The sandpaper moves excruciatingly further South as Samoa fuck up yet another attack with butter fingers. Fagerson what dropped it. Fatties all look the same.
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Chrissakes. Diabolical
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Dropped it a metre from the line for Scotland, I should add. Scotland go through a few phases before getting pinged at the ruck. Samoa with the lineout near Scotland’s 10m. Move it across the park for a 3m gain then lose it in contact. Again.
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GETONWITHIT
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Gauzerre is a nightmare
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“Dropped it a metre from the line for Scotland,”
The ball was kicked out of his hands
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Samoan loosehead folded like a cheap thing that folds easily. No pen and Scotland spread it off the next feed. Feeding seems to be a Fagerson thing too by the looks of him. Samoan pen sees them go short side from the lineout maul and make good yards through 10 phases and then get another penalty.
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Pen try and red
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Think that could be Samoan 11 off – no arms tackle, penalty try.
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How the fuck is deliberately sliding into a player with your knees not a red card?
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Having quite the game, that Samoan 11
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Samoans being very silly here. Should not be talking to the ref like that.
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Nice to secure the 5 points
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? Overcooked the kick to touch? Fuck knows. Can’t type and watch. You cannot be serious! No Number dives for the line after some comical attacking by Scotland sees them slipping their way into space. Ball bobbles out of his hands just before the line!
Ref calling them back for a no arms tackle by Fidow, who gets a second yellow and thus red! Fidow had lost his bite anyway.
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Maitland did very well there
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No-arms anything actually. Wasn’t any attempt at the tackle so penaltyctrycand bonus point! Samoa have tried playing Fijian style rugby. They just don’t have the physicality or skills.
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I’m not convinced the second penalty try was merited. Definitely foul play, but I don’t think that’s what dislodged the ball.
I realise this will be an unpopular opinion.
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This is so dire.
I suppose Japan are the real winners of this fixture.
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Dab – I’m on board (I haven’t seen any of the game mind). These evil Scots are going to destroy the dreams of our brave blossoms so deserve nothing.
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My thumb is too big for this keypad. Samoa with a final chance from a lineout deep in Scotland’s 22. Rumbling it slowly forward. Then get turned on the deck for a penalty to Scotland! Game over! Not a great match, but Scotland got the 5 points they needed!
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A bonus point win. Still all to play for. Congrats Scotland.
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Dab, if there is foul play you take the offending player out of the equation, would Maitland have scored the try with no defenders within 20 metres of him?
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There was a tackle a few seconds before Maitland’s penalty try that could well be reviewed too.
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Not exactly a game that will be remembered in the future is probably the nicest way to describe that.
Regardless, well done Scotland on the BP – going to be very important I think.
Samoa woeful – it’s sad to see a nation with such history in this state (let’s be honest without two Poite howlers they probably would have lost to Russia too).
On that note, are french refs the worst in the game ?
Poite, Gauzerre and Garces all seem to make crazy decisions, over use the TMO and have little regard for player safety
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Ticht – is that the actual rule? I’m just wondering, I haven’t actually seen this particular incident.
So if an entire defensive backline strayed offside the ref views the incident as if none of them existed, he could award teams penalty tries from inside their own half!
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“Dab, if there is foul play you take the offending player out of the equation, would Maitland have scored the try with no defenders within 20 metres of him?”
To be fair, given Treacle’s well known lack of speed, with anything under at least 50m of space from the next player I’d question if he’d get caught or not…
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I think it is different, in that circumstance no one could say a try would in all probability score, defenders could turn and catch them, but yes that is the law, unless it has been changed recently
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FFB – I was going to do that gag. Thanks for saving me the effort.
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Interesting. If it was reffed to the letter there’d be a whole load more penalty tries.
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Well, it was a BP win but a pretty ghastly spectacle
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Not sure what the Law says, but the act of foul play in this instance didn’t prevent the try – it was the turf that caused it to get stuck and bobble out of Treacle-toes’ gentle grasp. Red was deserved as a second offence and I also think there’s a tackle in the build up that may well get a citing commissioners doe-eyed attention this evening.
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In the conditions, a good win for Scotland. Take the BP victory and move on.
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OK- I suppose it’s time to update the shit or good list:
NZ: Good
SA: Good
Italy: Good
Japan: Good
Wales: Good
England: Meh
Argentina: Meh
Scotland: Shit
Tonga: Shit
France: Shit
Argentina: Shit
Georgia: Shit
Namibia: Shit
Russia: Shit
Fiji: Shit
Australia: Shit
Ireland: Shit
Georgia: Shit
Samoa: Shit
USA: Shit
Uruguay: Impossible to rate
Expect to see some demotions (Italy), and some promotions. Still think the AB’s have this in the bag.
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I don’t think so Dov, it’s difficult to say that a try would definitely be scored in many situations, it’s all about who is in the vicinity when the offence occurs
If Johnny May is tackled illegally with 60 m of open field ahead of him there is a high probability of a try if you take the offending player out of the situation, less so for, say Joe Marler
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Also, bloody Northampton against Wasps was on inna pub on the weekend, so, clearly, I had to watch it. It was actually, unlike the last Northampton atrocity I watched, fun.
Dov- is Grayson son of Former England FH Grayson?
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But because there was foul play you review the incident as if that player didn’t exist, so Maitland can just walk in dot it down under no pressure.
I think that is was Ticht is saying.
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Unless Maitland fumbled that ball prior to Fidow sliding into him, or clearly for reasons other than Fidow’s illegal intervention, it has to be YC and PT.
If someone slides from several metres before the tryline there is very little a defender can do (legally).
You cant wrap your arms around him cos of the ground, so I guess the only legal thing you can do is dive into him with your hands outstretched to try and push him out?
Could you dive on top of him and sort of get your arms around him in some way and hope to arrest his slide?
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Cat
NZ: Good
SA: Good
Italy: Good
Japan: Good
Wales: NAILED ON RWC WINNERS 2019 #FACTBOMB!!!!
England: Meh
Argentina: Meh
Scotland: Shit
Tonga: Shit
France: Shit
Argentina: Shit
Georgia: Shit
Namibia: Shit
Russia: Shit
Fiji: Shit
Australia: Shit
Ireland: Shit
Georgia: Shit
Samoa: Shit
USA: Shit
Uruguay: Impossible to rate
FIFY
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But Ticht, I’ve literally never seen a penalty try given 60m out. But you’d see loads if illegal tackles resulted in assuming the tackler never existed. the attacker wouldn’t have even had to try and avoid the non existent person and just ran through the massive gap with a clear run to the line.
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