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 
‘sabit rucksy-dropsy this
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That Russian 11 is a big slice.
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*channels mvml*
slaps dov. Grabs him by the collar and throws him into a nice leather chair in a personal library. Gives him some exceptional whisky. Slaps it out his hand before he can drink. Slaps him again
COME ON MAN. THERE IS NO FEAR. YOU ARE ENGLISH. THERE IS NO FEAR FOR YOU. FEAR IS FOR THEM. NOW SORT YOURSELF OUT MAN!!!
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Ahem
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The Russian seven should be playing in a big league.
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“The Russian seven should be playing in a big league.”
Heks been one of the highlights in the Russian side, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get a good gig somewhere
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He’s good isn’t he.
As a connisewer of 7s
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Proper ones at that
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Ah, there’s my answer to the scrum half cover, it was going to be Carberry
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Ireland getting incorrectly pinged for offside?
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Boring try
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Not saying he’s lying, just that there might be differences in nuance between what he is saying and what WR said.
Ireland have had the rub of the green from the officials for a good long while. They are one of the least penalized teams around, despite being just as cynical and streetwise as any other top team.
Referees sometimes make errors and it is not endearing for Schmidt to be suggesting that the massive underdogs only beat the number one ranked team in the world due to refereeing errors.
Because Japan won they probably didn’t protest the penalties they conceded to the bigwigs.
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POM needs a big game. Solid start.
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Russia are going to get the Motherland of all beatings, here
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“Russia are going to get the Motherland of all beatings, here”
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We are not underofficiated, nor are we cynical. We try and be disciplined. And Schmidt was irked by poor officiating- which you moan about all the time and, in fact, is one of the biggest complaints of this site generally. You are then reading other things into what he said.
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Fuckit, hit the post button too soon
I was going to say the only question here is, can Ireland make the scoreboard keep pace with the clock?
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Imagine the weariness of CJ’s tweed kimono.
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Sweatiness
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“Two or three more meaty thrusts and you suspect they will be over the line.”
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I think it would chafe quite a bit
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Scoring rate way behind that of the ballsacks yesterday.
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Joke pen there. Tally em up, Joe.
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Worst support line ever there from Luke McGrath.
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Irish meaty thrusting in vain on this occasion.
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Jordi Murphy wrecked, fuck.
If he is properly wrecked we can bring their seven back for Ulster.
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Russians just about holding in there but all this defending is going to take it’s toll
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Russian 9 got away with one there
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@Ticht – another one for the big list.
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Plucky Russia being Plucked.
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Too many dumb errors to call this any good, on our part, but we have a chance to get the bp before half time and then we can get Ringrose off, at least.
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Earls with one of the worst kicks of the tournament.
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Six outta ten for both teams, I guess.
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Russia are incredibly slow. I’d say one-paced, but that might suggest they have pace in the first place.
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Argentina team to face England E Boffelli; M Moroni, M Orlando, J de la Fuente, S Carreras; B Urdapilleta, T Cubelli; N Tetaz Chaparro, J Montoya, J Figallo, GP Pagadizabal, T Lavanini, P Matera (capt), M Kremer, JO Desio.
Replacements: A Creevy, M Vivas, S Medrano, M Alemanno, T Lezana, F Ezcurra, L Mensa, B Delguy
Entertaining flair merchant Creevy wowing the mesmerised crowds from the pine.
Sanchez dropped completely. Resting him for tougher tests, I imagine, is their thinking.
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That maul looked like it was in a stand mixer.
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Ireland keeping Sexton wrapped up for bigger tests now. Sensible. They are simply nowhere near the same team without him.
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Dov – looks weak.
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Russia striving manfully to make a game out of this. Good effort.
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Striving a bit manfully, there.
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Are french refs allergic to red cards or something?
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Anyone found a ‘too’ anywhere?
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Is this Artemyev I keep reading about the ex Saints man Vasily?
Unlikely probably thinking about it, that was years ago, I guess he’d be getting on.
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We are down to four outta ten.
Dova – it’s the same guy.
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Three outta ten.
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He was quite good I thought. Got to be a bit old now though.
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Larry, you’re rating system is too complicated for round here.
Are they good, meh, or shit?
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Shit.
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What is a bit annoying about this is how much better Ireland were than us last week
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Outrageous number of handling errors.
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