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 
Woof! What a scrum.
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Great test to watch, contrast in styles. Ireland discipline has been poor.
The skill level of this Japan side is impressive.
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Hmm. It would be fantastic if Japan got out of the group, but not at *our* expense.
*Looks around shiftily*
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Excellent game so far.
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Cmon Japan get another scrum penalty.
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Loving this. Can we have a crunch RWC pool match every Saturday morning?
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Thaum – nah this Japan team will beat Scotland.
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Cian Healey doing a good weeble impersonation there.
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Craigs – this Japan side may well beat us.
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That’s criminal from Hori, keep the ball!
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Splendid first half. Really enjoyable.
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All that work through the phases to reach the 22, Ireland on the back foot, Japan coming in waves….
and the hooker grubbers it into touch
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What a sad day it was when I accidentally flushed my favourite weeble down the toilet.
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I know exactly how that bloke from Stoke feels.
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Well well. Pretty happy to lead with next to no ball against a side making really few errors.
Japan have been excellent and we seem to be doing the equivalent of Liverpool’s sitting on a lead (hint: it’s not their natural game)
Don’t like it when we switch to this passive defence.
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“I know exactly how that bloke from Stoke feels”
Did he lose his weeble too?
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OT – an Ireland’s Call with alternative lyrics and a really nice harmony!
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Warbs fan do maffs.
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BOD looks perturbed.
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*can
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“They wouldn’t let it go” is my favourite line from that article.
@TomP – was your Matt Le Tissier story also from the Stoke Sentinel?
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Imagine if Courtney was your dad.
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Enjoying this.
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The evidence would suggest that I got through about half a bottle of brandy last night. Ouch.
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@Thaum – I got through a whole one last Saturday night. Only wanted a snifter, but when I pulled the cork out of what was a new bottle and the bottom of the bottle fell out I had to clear the whole lot up.
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CMW – very tidy of you.
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You were praising Bloodborne, Thauma. Clues were everywhere.
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Japan’s hooker does not like wearing shorts.
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Japan not creating enough line breaks in relation to the amount of possession.
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Iks – :-)
I’m getting seriously worried about this match now.
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That little vertical line on the back of the ireland shirts keeps making me think some of the players have that Baggio rat tail thing going on.
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Irish reserve prop is an absolute monster. Even bigger than Furlong.
Not a game for normal humans nowadays
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Ireland are spooked. Might be because they’ve encountered something they’ve never met before – a player older than Rory Best playing for the opposition.
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@Thaum – sadly I didn’t get to drink a drop. Was a good hour mopping it up and the smell was not good.
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CMW – oh. I thought ‘the bottom fell out’ was a euphemism.
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Few times the Japan FB’s hands have let him down. Murray will exploit that
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We’re only still in this due to Japanese mistakes.
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Olé
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Ok, who sounded the set-piece going to pieces klaxon??
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This is exhausting.
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There are going to be some tired boys out there. Still half an hour to go.
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Most of our penalties have been freebies. Very poor.
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@Thaum – it was the cause of a few naughty words in front of the children who were still up watching Strictly.
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Should Japan win this, it’ll be even greater than the win v South Africa 4 years ago. That was an ambush.
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Hadn’t realised Ruddock was in the squad. Top player.
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Japan must be at around 70 percent possession.
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Piperboy – well called, 68%, apparently.
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Absolutely fecking this up at the moment. Missing leadership.
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OMG
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Get in Japan. That’s been coming.
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