Preamble
A pleasing sell-out crowd and a Big (Chief) Red Cloud-sponsored Nige reffing augured well for a festive atmosphere and a good local derby contest. Even the weather was fair at the start, favouring the Blues in the first half before turning Newport Docks evil in the second, when the unfortunate Dragons had to play into the bitter wind and driving rain.
The Encounter
After a start almost as bright as the Dragons’ peeled-satsuma away kit, things looked promising. Decent lineout ball and early indications of a strong mauling game, Ashton Hewitt vigorous with and without the ball, Moriarty making a couple of inroads and Taine Basham a whirlwind of energy. After 20 minutes I realized I hadn’t used the fast-forward button, which is normally a technological godsend when watching a recording of a Drags match.
There was even a half-break from The Most Handsome Man in Rugby™, finally getting some injury-free game time for the Dragons.
Perhaps inevitably, the tide slowly turned in the Blues direction. Cardiff’s ‘interesting’ but effective breakdown tactics and the Drags poor clear-out work / sluggish passing combined to slow us down. The Blues defensive line speed and some seasonal goodwill from Nige’s patrolling of the offside line saw us under pressure and getting pushed backwards.
Our attempts to cross the gain line emphasized the poor quality of the Drags front five as ball-carriers, and our 9’s sluggish service meant they often made a standing stand rather running on to the ball at speed.
In contrast to Cardiff, the Drags deployed a more passive gain line defence, spreading across the field like a tangerine daisy chain. Unfortunately, this suited Jarrod Evans’ excellent heads-up with time-to-spare game management. A lovely dummy sent Welsh Legend Wainwright into the wrong player as Evans glided through a gap to send winger Lewis-Hughes in for the opening try.
Cardiff were taking command, and some very poor box kicking from Rhodri Williams who seemed to misjudge the conditions and playing surface (we are not in Rodney anymore, Rhodri), meant the bright start petered out. But lo, against the run of play the Drags executed a good driving maul from a lineout, and that man Basham bustled over for the touchdown. 10-5 at the, ahem, oranges.
Cardiff started the better at the outset of the second half, unsurprisingly with all the elements in their favour. But some dolly-drop passing on the Drags 22 saw an intercept from Basham, who sprinted towards the Cardiff line chin-on-chest, like a ram looking for a gate. Evans caught up and made the tackle, but Basham kept the ball alive, and after a couple of surge-and-fumbles Screech scorched over at lightspeed..
That was as good as it got from a Drags perspective. The Blues forwards further dominated the collisions and started to push our boys backwards in the tackle. The Drags bench didn’t really make an impact, and after a poor clearing kick from Williams Josh Adams went on a typically surging run. Lane was unable to gather the resulting cross-kick, but Nige yellow-carded Hewitt for I think loitering in his own 22, and a tired Drags team started to leak penalties. The Blues eased to a 16-12 victory.
Pastries and Crumbs
Although the set-piece forward battle was well contested it underlined how both teams have underpowered packs, with neither side really getting the upper hand. The Blues defence was quicker and better organised, and the Drags suffered throughout from slow ball and a lack of forward power. Basham is a fierce competitor and earned his Player of the Match status, and he seems a good leader by example.
Cardiff’s ancient warriors Gill, Andrews and Turnbull seemed to be enjoying themselves, but their Welsh Legends had quiet games, as did our lads Dee, Wainwright and Hill. Amos and Adams seem good acquisitions for the Blues, and Tovey’s last quarter kicking game (the best one of the 3 fly-halves on show) complimented Jarrod’s earlier passing and running work to close out the game.On a positive note, I always thought the Dragons has a squad good enough to compete rather than capitulate as was the case under Blarney Jackman’s peculiar tenure, and so it seems to be. We need more front five oomph which would hopefully speed the half-backs up, but otherwise matches are now bearable to watch. Marvellous.
As reported by OvallyBalls operative MisterIks.
On the telly this week
Friday 27th December
| Ulster 35 – 3 Connacht | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Bristol 21 – 26 Wasps | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 28th December
| Treviso 36 – 25 Zebre | 13:00 | Freesports |
| Northampton 33 – 26 Gloucester | 14:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Edinburgh 29 – 19 Glasgow | 15:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Harlequins 30 – 30 Leicester | 16:30 | Channel 5 / Premier Sports 2 |
| Munster 6 – 13 Leinster | 18:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 29th December
| Exeter 14 – 7 Saracens | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Good work, Iksy. The Drags attack seemed slow motion at times. TB, though, is a good one.
In other news, as a tribute to our fine Ospreys correspondent, I watched The Thin Man this morning, Even more brilliant than I remembered it. William Powell and Myrna Loy just great together. And Spippy, who played Asta the dog, went on to starring roles in another two of my favourite films – Bringing Up Baby and The Awful Truth.
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Skippy rather than Spippy.
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Words Thaum.
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At least England have saved the follow on in Centurion.
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They’re Iksy’s words, Craigs!
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Your Mighty Mighty Men of the People, Folk Heroes one and all
Kinghorn, Graham, Bennett, Taylor, van der Merwe, Hickey, Groom
Mata, Watson, Ritchie, Gilchrist, Toolis, Nel, McInally, Schoeman
Scott! (YES!), van der Walt, Pyrgos, Bradbury, Carmichael, Berghan, Bhatti, Willemse
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Soap Dodgers
Jackson, van der Merwe, Jones, Johnson, Tagive, Hastings, Price
Wilson, Harley, Gibbins, Cummings, Gray, Fagerson, Brown, Kebble.
Matawalu, Grigg, Horne, Gordon, Ashe, Nicol, Seiuli, Turner
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Cheers for the atl, MrIks, I didn’t seen any rugby yesterday. I’m looking forward to tonight’s festivities as well as the triumph of good over evil tomorrow
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So a Glasgow win then?
:-)
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Thank you, MrIks for the pleasant early morning read.
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@Slade (In case you didn’t read back.)
I asked on the previous page how long you were going to be in Ontario?
I’d be happy to meet you for a pint.
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@TomP
Czech Republic over Russia in their opening round of the World Juniors 4-3.
Will you be going to watch a match?
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I didn’t even know it was on, LaoaB.
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And it appears to be in Ostrava and Trinec so a long way from me. I’ll keep an eye on the results after yesterday’s fabulous win. That’s a tough group – Canada, the US, Russia and the CR plus the Germans, who aren’t terrible.
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I didn’t even know it was on, LaoaB.
It’s hard to forget about it over here, as you can imagine. Every Christmas season you’re reminded that it starts on Boxing Day.
Over and over again.
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Top Dragzing, Iksy. I thought Basham was quality yesterday and the best of all the back rowers on show. I quite fancy him to break through quicker than any other young flanker/8 in Wales. He’s a proper punch above your weight player.
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Talking of Dragz legend backrowers, Faletau makes his comeback and starts for Bath v Sale tomorrow.
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LADOAB
Sadly, only here ’til the weekend – family party and all that.
I’d love to meet up another time on a more relaxed visit
Hope that suits!
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“your”
Exeter team to face Saracens:
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Olly Woodburn
10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Nic White
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Harry Williams, 4 Dave Dennis (capt),, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 8 Sam Simmonds
16 Elvis Taione, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Don Armand, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Sam Hill
Strong, apart from Slade and Kvesic – not sure about Pieretto yet
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Please that Taulupe stays fit for a bit. Despite my abiding dislike of Bath, it’s great to see him back.
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@Slade
Ah, well. Next time perhaps.
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Train journey from east to west Wales today and I’m currently on a double decker bus – ‘borrowed’ from Bristol Bus – hurtling/swaying down the M4 to Bridgend. 90 minutes to travel 18 miles is normal, yeah?
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Drive has just taken a wrong turning, down to an industrial estate instead of the station.
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Drive now actively looking for roadsigns with the rail symbol on them.
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Given up and my brother is going to drive from Carmarthen to pick me up.
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Slade, I thought Armand had done enough last weekend to earn a starting spot, but it’s a tough back row to break into.
Good luck with the rest of the journey, Yos.
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Yos
90 minutes to travel 18 miles is normal, yeah?
It is for West Wales. I’m sure I’ve been in that industrial estate behind Bridgend – it’s like the Hotel California of public transport in Wales – you can get in but you fear that you’ll never leave.
If you’re in Carmarthen with time to kill, I’ll stand you a pint in the Boar’s Head.
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Nice words Iksy.
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A Turktastic day yesterday, despite the weather, despite the “derbyness” ,and despite our new coach leaving at the end of the season. I almost felt sorry for the Oh’s but then I remembered being at the Liberty with my O’s “friend” when we got absolutely hammered and the sorryness soon passed.
Scarlets still not good away from home so I fear for our game in Cardiff next week.
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Slade, has Woodburn been injured? Out of form? I don’t recall seeing his name on the team sheets as of late?
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Oops. Sorry for calling Lewis-Hughes a winger not a flanker. Hard to tell the difference since the Gats era.
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Trump has tweeted that he is unimpressed that Trudeau has edited out his cameo in Home Alone 2.
(The CBC originally made the edit in 2014 to fit the film into the broadcast schedule.)
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That errant umlauted ä at the end of “The Most Handsome Man in Rugby” should have been a Trade Mark ‘TM’, thereby fascinatingly word-playing on Tyler Morgan’s good looks and initials.
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The match reports for the Scarlets vs the wOes sound dreadful from the latter’s perspective.
Whatever the proposed merger with the Scarlets was all about seems to have left the Region adrift and rudderless, and you can’t blame the players for reflecting that on the field.
Glad to see Angus going well in Llanelli mainly because it is yet another feather in NostradamIks’s cap, which is starting to look like Sitting Bull’s war bonnet.
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TomP, by coincidence we watched The Awful Truth last night and Skippy was indeed wonderful. First time I’ve seen it and it was great fun.
I love screwball comedies but the the quick-fire dialogue is challenging for MrsIks as a non-native English speaker. Our download last night wasn’t great quality so the English subtitles lagged behind the words, but she did ok with Skippy’s help. By the last reel she was really tuned in and enjoying it.
We watched Toni Erdmann on Christmas Day in German with English subtitles which was really good, but where I laughed MrsIks squirmed , so I was looking for a cheer-upper last night.
If you know of anywhere where movies like the Thin Man are available with good quality sound and English subtitles I’d be very glad to learn of it, without paying an arm and a leg for a blue ray box set or somesuch.
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Sorry about that, Iks, must have been one of those copy-and-paste issues. Fixed now!
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The Scarlets/Ospreys game is on reshown on S4C tonight Iks, and then on catch-up via clic.
Of course the O’s will be better when their injuries return. O Brian looked great last night with front foot ball but I’m expecting the Blues pack to be well up for it.
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Ta Thauma. The Drags could’ve used your speed at the breakdown yesterday.
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Iksy, Toni Erdmann’s awfully good. Very funny but with a big(gish) idea behind it as well.
There’s a service here in the CR called ulzoto (but reverse the 3rd and 4th letter) that sometimes has subtitled things on it. Hit and miss, though, could be Czech titles or English.
My missus is away picking up the boy from his grandmother’s on Sunday so I’ve lined up My Man Godfrey to get a bit more William Powell in my life.
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Cheers BRB, I’ll see if I can record that to watch in the morning during domestic duties.
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My Man Godfrey is on youtube I think, my buggerage is finding decent quality versions with appropriate English subtitles. Life is short so maybe I have to turn to the dark side…
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I see that everyone’s favourite Newport County clones are playing Manchester City (on Prime!) tonight. Hopefully a win for Iks’ faves.
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When I lived here for the first time, I went for a crash course in Czecho(slovak) cinema thanks to the very very cheap DVDs that were then on sale everywhere. Only a couple of times it went wrong. The first was a copy of a film called Citizen Havel, which was a documentary about Vaclav H. I’d seen it at the Roxy in Brixton in 2008(?) subtitled. The copy I bought had subtitles done by a Czech who was using a dictionary and failing to keep up before giving up. The second was a portmonteau film called Perličky na dně (Pearls of the Deep). I saw that in London in the late 90s. No subtitles on the DVD unfortunately but it’s still a good watch.
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Ulster score quickly but probably a forward pass in the build-up.
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That pass looked forward in real time, and so it was, shame because it was a nice move from Ulster
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Test
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I thought that was the perfect jackal, but the was a paw on the floor that shouldn’t have been there
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Baloucoune Is going to be some player
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Marcell Coetzee is The Powerhouse from Potchefstroom according to Mark Robson.
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Tam, I’m trying to filter Robson out, he havers some complete shite
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