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 
Oh fuck, it’s ten Leinster lads – albeit that’s including Tom O’Toole who is technically Leinster but has a decent amount of Ulster (and is more Brisbane than anything).
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Can’t wait for Ross Byrne to be our outhalf, though. He’s looking very decent atm.
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It’s a noble tradition, Lazza. My own great-grandfather was a Dublin schoolboy and ended up playing for Ulster. With a twist as his family were from Co. Cork.
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“Can’t wait for Ross Byrne to be our outhalf, though. He’s looking very decent atm.”
He been my “up and coming” player over the festive season
Him and Duhan van der Merwe,
vdM will make a huge difference to Scotland next year, we haven’t had a basher wing like him for a long time, if ever
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Roland Reid, ticht, Roland Reid.
Although he wasn’t a specialist winger.
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Duhan is one hell of an athlete. A monster
Could do with a bit of skillz work. Good to have him at embra though
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*directs a pfft at tomp*
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Can anyone beat those pesky dubs?
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Tam, the Lamont Bros were good at the pacey bosch, but they were injured and/or playing outside a midfield incapable of getting the feckin ball to them – I think with Finn, and some combo of Johnson, Scott, Jones, Hutchinson etc to release Wee Darcy Graham and Muckle Duhan van der Merwe, alongside Hoggy, we might see a new level of Scottish Supporter Confidence going into the 2021 6N
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Going all parochial furra mo, my impressions from the 1872 cup games
– brutal, hard fought stuff
– thought the weedge d and counter rucking was impressive
– hastings was pretty good over the 2
– Jones on form and looks our (Scotland’s) best13 option
– current embra back 3 >> Glasgow’s, I’d have their half backs though
– we’re still a bit predictable, especially on phase play. Couple of lovely tries though off a lineout steal and a turnover
– we marmalised the Glasgow pack less than I thought we would
– Jackson’s hair is horrifying
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Jackson to style prison.
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“a new level of Scottish Supporter Confidence going into the 2021 6N”
So I should up my usual investment on a Scottish Grand Slam from 50 to 100 quid?
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“Jones on form and looks our (Scotland’s) best13 option”
I thought you Scots were all about Hutchinson nowadays.
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Harris did well for Gloucester today.
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The choices you have there.
I’m going to make it 150.
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“thought the weedge d and counter rucking was impressive”
Chimpster, I’ve been tearing my hair out week after week over our poor protection of the ball around the breakdown and the scrum Groom – our SA scrum half – gets charged down a lot and we get driven off our own ball far too easily
The guys with the laptops must see this, Shirley?
A major plus today was Schoey putting in a motm performance after Fagerson got the same last week, they could be a decent unit for Scotland in a few years, Kebble too, just to keep up the SA quotient.
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Maitland, who’s been in good form recently, and Taylor both starting for Saracens tomorrow just to get the Scottishers even more excited.
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I’d love to see Taylor back to the player he was, I hae ma doots, as the saying goes.
None other than Jamie George said Taylor was the best player he’s ever played with
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It would appear the Russians were a little miffed at losing to Czech Republic to start the juniors tournament – they thrashed Canada 6-0 today.
Early exit for Canada, I’m thinking.
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Glasgow was to win today, I predicted this in the SuperBru.
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The Germans beat the Czechs, LaDoaB. Everyone in the group’s on a win and a loss.
The other group’s not so hot – Sweden, Finland and at a push Switzerland. Two more wins and you get an easyish quarter final.
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Still, at least you kept them tryless. Good defensive effort.
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Anyway, short answer that doesn’t go into Welsh grammar thesis:
Welsh has mutations: the initial letter(s) of a noun can change depending on what precedes it (there are three types of mutations and no I don’t know the rules as I learned to speak Welsh from my Dad), e.g. cath = cat and can change to either, y gath = the cat, fy nghath = my cat, ei chath = her cat.
The scoreboard was showing 2 tries v 3. Try = cais, so two tries is dwy gais and three tries becomes tri chais. 2g v 3ch (this is further complicated by the numbers 2, 3 and 4 having genders and no I can’t explain it).
And 2g still won. Fucking Ponty.
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Still, at least you kept them try less.
Not something said very often about Canadian rugby teams.
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Outstanding post, Yos
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Another Welsh leg end returns!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-50836184
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Ah, sorry Iks. The writing is smaller, and there’s no pictures. How am I supposed to cope with that?
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Words Iks.
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I thought of Yosoy yesterday, cos when we were driving out of Cardiff, I spotted a pub called Legends.
Also saw this road sign:
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Hmmmm.
Welsh Daleks, Ivor The Engine, a Sinking Ship, a (non-existent) World Cup and some peas, all this way? >>>>>
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Ha! I’ve never been in there and I’m not sure I should. How could it live up to its name?
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Sad news but he was a terrific writer and an interesting thinker:
https://canongate.co.uk/news/alasdair-gray-author-and-artist-has-died-aged-85/
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Yos – it had Brains: how bad could it be?
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That’s a real shame about Alasdair Gray, he was a good man, as well as being extraordinarily talented.
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BT Sport! build up Sarries entrance to the field as being possibly noisy and problematic. Sarries go on to the pitch – barely any noise/booing at all.
Anyway – looking forward to Hoggy vs Taylor & Maitland.
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‘Mon Exeter!
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Woo hoo! Early Exeter score.
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First try Exeter!
“Maitland was running in treacle” says co-commentator. Someone’s been following AoD/OB!
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Racists picking up on Fraudsters mistakes. White for the corner.
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Ha! Whoever the woman is on comments for Sarrie / Racists must lurk here: “Maitland running in treacle”.
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Bah! Beaten to the breakdown. Good spot BB.
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She’s England’s scrum half apparently. Probably should in the team ahead of Youngs.
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She’s already claimed Barritt is the best in the world at something. And that both sides are doing “this kicking thing”. She’s much much better than Healey and Monye.
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@Tomp – “Best in the world at straightening the line”. Mainly ’cause he’s a block of concrete, with the turning circle of a small city.
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Ooh, a yellow for Harry Williams, for in at the side on a maul attacking his line. This after a penalty for Nowell shoulder-charging Faz (2nd shoulder charge by Exeter). Think Barnes is starting to lose patience.
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I’m not sure if she’s commentated before for BT Sports before but she fits in very well with their house Hyperbolic Bullshit style.
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Nowell makes amends for the shoulder charge, by turning the ball over after the 2nd maul collapses.
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Jacques Vermeulen is my 5th favourite rugby player called Vermeulen.
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Farrell endearing himself to a ref again.
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Hehehe, Barnes has reversed a penalty against Exeter for Farrell’s ‘assistance’ with the refereeing.
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