With Six Nations on the horizon, OvallyBalls operatives have been sharpening their pencils (and their rapier-like wits).
Enzo’s Ireland squad
I’ll make tough choices and keep it to a lean-ish 36/37. However, I will do honourable mentions. The players will be in order from best to rest, where applicable. I’ll explain otherwise.
LHP: Healy, Kilcoyne, McGrath – JMcG has found a bit of form although the first two are miles ahead. Nods to Buckley and Eric O’Sullivan.
HK: Kelleher, Herring, Scannell – fuck it, chuck the kid in, he looks fantastic. Failing that it has to be Herring over Scannell.
THP: Furlong, Porter, O’Toole – first two miles ahead, pick themselves. O’Toole is not the third best THP in Ireland, John Ryan and Marty Moore are both better and, if it comes to starting a big game, they should leapfrog TO’T. But he has huge potential and should be in the group.
SR: Ryan, Henderson, Beirne, Kleyn – first two a good bit ahead. Beirne’s form has dipped a bit. Big Dev and Dillane and Roux are all fine but none have form that’s compelling enough to get rid of Kleyn, who has been good and put in one awesome performance against Sarries, which is hard to ignore. Still shouldn’t necessarily play, however.
BR: van der Flier, Doris, Stander, Ruddock, Connors, Deegan, O’Donoghue – no POM, he’s been shit for a year, everyone talks about his leadership so it’s time to have a word with himself and find some form. No room for sentiment. He’s not even next man in, Sean Reidy is the unluckiest guy to not make Enzo’s definitive group. First three would be my starters. Doris has to play.
SH: Cooney, Murray, Blade – self explanatory.
OH: Sexton, Ross Byrne, Burns – JS is still our best ten by miles, until Harry Byrne takes the shirt off him. Carbery would be ahead of Burns (definitely) and Byrne (probably? maybe? maybe not, actually) if fit. I’m as surprised as anyone to be pencilling in Billy Burns and, if Carty wasn’t playing like shit and Hanrahan was a bit more fit, I’d probably not have him.
CT: Ringrose, McCloskey, Henshaw, Aki – Chris Farrell and Luke Marshall are the unluckiest, maybe Tom Farrell too (injuries took away any chance he had). Ringrose is our best centre and my issue with him is that someone needs to tell him the expectation is that he’ll be the best in the world, or thereabouts, for the next few years so time to start playing like it. Given his form since the WC, maybe that conversation took place. McCloskey has been awesome for Ulster and, given we lack a massive carrier in the pick, I think should take the shirt. Henshaw however has been playing well. Aki is Aki, nearly always fit (an underrated quality) and solid.
B3: Stockdale, Larmour, Conway, Lowe, Addison – no Earls is the big news but he’s 32 and even if he wasn’t I’d not have him ahead of these guys. They all play wing and at least four play full back but, IMO, it’s Larmour at 15 with Addison behind him, while Stockdale and Conway are on the wings, although Lowe has to get some time there too.
Chimpie’s Scotland squad
LH: Dell? Bhatti? Sutherland? Our options here are un-good, none of whom are really first picks anywhere. would include Reid but he’s languishing in super-6 land. Need Kebble to qualify pronto.
Hooker: Brown, McInally, Turner. In that order currently although Rambo & Brown are pretty much interchangeable.
TH: Z-Fags, Nel, Bergs. zander has been on good form of late. Wullie can still scrum but otherwise looks a little off the pace.
Lock: Gray (smaller), Cummins, Gilchrist & Toolis. Skinner may be back up to speed soon in which case I’d have him in, no real idea what larger Gray is up to. if on form I’d include him.
Back row: Bradbury, Ritchie, Watson, M-Fags, Thomson. I’m sure Toonie will add Wilson. I’d have Crosbie in there too.
SH: Price, Horne, errr….. Pyrgos? Not much else in the cupboard really. SHC is odd-jobbing in France. Shiel looks good but hasn’t had may pro starts. Glasgow appear to have unearthed a fetus of potentially great talent but bit early to tell.
FH: Finn, Hastings. Behind that the cupboard is somewhat bare. I’d give Weir a chance, but others seem to think Horne is a 10. Yes he can do a brief job there but he’s not an international 10.
Centre. Jones, Scott, Hutchinson, Taylor, Johnson, Bennett, Harris all in the mix, could be a contentious area. They’re all regular starters, difficult to know who to leave out. would personally cut to Jones, Scott, Hutch & Taylor but who knows. Horne will probably make it.
Back 3: Hogg, Graham, Maitland, Kinghorn, McGuigan
Yosoy’s Wales squad
LH: Wyn Jones, Carré, Evans – Smith sucks so doesn’t make the cut, Carré can’t get a game, Evans is miles off last year’s form and Wyn Jones is serviceable. Overall rating: weak
Hooker: Ken, Dee, Elias – fine. Overall rating: tidy
TH: Dillz, Brown, WillGriff John – Guess work here as WG John is getting talked up and I only remember him as a powder puff scrummager that was Scott Andrews-lite. Dillz has played once since the RWC, Fatty Francis is too fat to play (injured, truthfully) and Brown is an awful technician in the tight. Overall rating: piss weak
Locks: President Jones, Beard, Ball, BAILLCH (British and Irish Lions Legend Cory Hill) – fine, same bunch as last year. Overall rating: half-tidy
Back row: Taulupe, Wainwright, Tipuric, Navidi, Shingler, Moriarty, Griffiths – Pivac is picking Shingler whether Iksy likes it or not. The starters should be Taulupe, Wainwright + 1. If they’re going to pick an 8th ‘rower, then pick Basham who’s a proper hard twonk. Griffiths makes Warburton look durable but Pivac was talking him up so…. overall rating: better than 10 Superbowls. Better than 19 Superbowls if Ellis comes back okay next season
SH: Tomos, Davies, G & whoever. Don’t care. Pick Tomos and sit back. overall rating: tidy
The Tenz: Everyone loves Dan Biggar, Jarrod, Sam Davies – not great. Can’t really play Turkball with Biggar, can’t trust Jarrod. overall rating: worrying
Centrez: Parkesy and whoever else is standing. Probably Scott Williams, Watkin will make some of the 6N. Too early for Benny T. Tyler Morgan looks done, wouldn’t surprise me to see Adams play 13 v Italy. overall rating: let’s not talk about it
Wingz: Adams, North, Lane Train, McTurkle, Amos Exprezz – overall rating: choo choo
FB: Halfpenny, Liam might be fit? – overall rating: good to tidy
MisterIks begs to differ in some respects.
Further reading
Chimpie’s synopsis of the Pro-Woo standings
Yosoy on Alun Wyn Jones and the woeful state of the Ospreys
Tichtheid on the Scottish looseheid predicament
On the telly this week
Friday 10th January
| Bath 19 – 25 Harlequins | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
| La Rochelle 30 – 23 Sale | 19:45 | BT Sport 3 |
Saturday 11th January
| Bordeaux 32 – 17 Edinburgh | 12:45 | epcrugby.com |
| Ospreys 15 – 22 Saracens | 13:00 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| Clermont 29 – 13 Ulster | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Calvisano 19 – 47 Pau | 13:30 | epcrugby.com |
| Castres 42 – 14 Dragons | 14:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Agen 24 – 52 Wasps | 14:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Stade Français-24 – 29 Zebre | 14:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Worcester 66 – 10 Enisei-STM | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Bristol 52 – 3 Brive | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Glasgow 31 – 31 Exeter | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Connacht 7 – 21 Toulouse | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
| Bayonne 27 – 10 London Irish | 16:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Gloucester 29 – 6 Montpellier | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Scarlets 15 – 27 Toulon | 20:00 | S4C / BT Sport 2 |
Sunday 12th January
| Northampton 33 – 20 Treviso | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Leinster 42 – 14 Lyon | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Racing 92 39 – 22 Munster | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Leicester 30 – 20 Cardiff | 15:15 | epcrugby.com |
Ovally Balls 
@Beadle
Have some Marmite on hot, buttered crumpet – to celebrate!
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Happy birthday Beadley!
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Happy birthday to you indeed, Beadle. What you gonna do when Johnny comes back on loan next season after Tiggers are relegated ?
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Tiggers seem to have bottomed out and are unlikely relegation fodder, Timmo. They beat a team of Legends at the weekend, something the Grags failed to do.
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Legend status of all that have previously been called ‘legends’ is currently undergoing review. I have the power to revoke.
I need to be more discerning and bold the actual legends in team sheets from now on.
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Happy Birthday, Beadle.
I can’t say that I usually turn to Hadley Freeman for comedy, but her column today made me laugh. I was drawn to it by the title which really did make me lol, I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina is not to be sniffed at, not when it seems to bring in so much cash.
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/13/why-is-gwyneth-paltrow-selling-a-candle-that-smells-like-her-vagina-goop
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Happy Birthday, beadle.
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yos, John Dobson seems to be dropping the hints about the Doc going to Cape Town. Like for like for de Allende.
I was wondering about a really nice player called Dan du Plessis who’s there. Injured yet again.
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Reviewing the status of Legends is a lonely place Yosoy, I’m here if you need me.
Meanwhile Ryan at the Drags has gone all shock and horror that he has no money, and no players! Well blow me down Deano! Did you all doze off at the interview?!
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Who could the mystery man be?
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Happy Birthday Beadle!
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Just watched my recording of the Glasgow game from the weekend, and was able to enjoy it a lot more! Sort of. Seeing the Gibbons incident on the TV, as opposed to looking at it on an angle on the big screen, it did look more like a red. It was certainly one of our best performances for a long time – Jones looks sharp and back in form, Bryce was good at FB, Seymour looked happy to be back where he belonged, on the wing. We just need to take that on for the rest of the season now.
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Happy Birthday Beadle!
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BB, I watched it yesterday. Gibbins was lucky to only get a yellow, but he clocked another bloke by mistake, not the one he was aiming for.
It looked like the Exeter looshead had caught Adam Hasting on the hooter with a closed/clenched fist, and he was the one Gibbins was after, but he got their flanker on the heid as collateral damage.
It was just one of those days for Glasgow, on another occasion both of those balls would have sat up for Jones to take in his stride and there was no catching him if he had.
It was a cracking game, Hoggy’s long range effort at the end would have been a corker, but the result was probably about right.
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Happy Beadle Day, you young fella you.
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https://www.thebeaverton.com/2020/01/unskilled-foreigners-seek-move-to-canada/
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“My dream is to represent Wales at an international level, and I just want to keep working hard to achieve this goal, along with helping Gloucester reach our ambitions for success.”
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/51093322
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belated happy beadleday to beadle
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@ladoab
He can play rugby for England and represent Wales at international Scrabble or chess tournaments. Win-win, etc etc.
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the kid seems quite handy but there seems to be a danger of a significant over-jizz.
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You take that back about the Welsh captain.
Seriously, I agree. I think they’ll name him in the squad today and he’ll probably play v Italy but he won’t get picked ahead of North or Adams for the big boy games. And rightly so. He’s not as good as either.
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Wales squad today, eh?
Scotland tomorrow (I’ve got a baaad feeling about this 6N)
France & Italy’s are out.
When are Ireland and England?
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Wales squad officially announced on Weds, but traditionally leaked to Yos in advance.
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Having a new coach and a rebuild after the RWC makes things a little more interesting, even if the player depth remains restrictive. New beginnings and all that, and expectations in Wales seem restrained so far.
There’s a real sense of anticipation about France now, it will be extremely disappointing if they fall flat again.
England still in search of the missing piece of the jigsaw from outside rather than inside. Is Mystic Meg available, alive or dead? Set a high benchmark against the Blackness, can they do it again?
Ireland a mixture of continuity and a new start. RWC atonement high on the agenda, so looking dangerous.
Feeling a bit in the dark about where Scotland and Italy are. I’m going to have to google who Italy’s coach is!
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‘Feeling a bit in the dark about where Scotland’
Pfft. There’s an expert (or maybe ‘expert’) analysis ATL. Add on disastrous WC, same coach and some general doom and gloom and you’ll have all your answers.
Once squad is announced I’ll hand over some more inane ramblings for an ATL.
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Italy likely to be much the same as previous years. Imagine we’ll be contesting the ol’ wooden spoon with them.
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Only the one name leaked so far: Shingler, A
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Nah. They have a team so green that they could be spring foliage. If they’re still mince in 2022/23, then we can bag them.
Talking of mince, I predict that Italy will be the usual pile of honk and no amount of ‘Italy are improving’ will make me think that they haven’t been any good since Dominguez stopped playing.
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I’m not sure the predictions and pffting of a splenetic llama contains all the answers, but fair play you have covered some ground up there.
I get you are all gloom-and-doom, but is the wind in the Trossachs blowing as coldly for everyone?
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Shingler is perfectly serviceable for a 6N outing here and there. I just haven’t seen anything other than the wilting reed when he plays against the BIG BOYS in the BIG MATCHES.
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I’m the all-seeing llama and I’ll pfft if I want to.
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there’s notta lotta optimism floating around north of the border for this 6N after the pish we served up all last year.
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I’ll save an further warblings on this subject for my stunning in-depth ATL.
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,blockquote>When are Ireland and England?
Ireland tomorrow (Wed) apparently….
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Just a swing by to update you guys. I now have 7 job related irons in the fire so to speak. Just need to follow up today. I might also have something really temporary which should steady the Craigsship for a bit.
I read some rumor that Eddie wants to put Ben Curry in at scrum half. Drastic reduction in my hope for this years 6 nations if that happens. It is probably bs but if it does happen then epic fail from that man. Man points reduced to zero. What a tosser.
Also…
Last night we got a call at 2am from my wife’s friend who had gone into labor. Her boyfriend was too pissed to take her to the hospital so I did. She’s a week overdue and asked him not to drink for 3 days until her scheduled c section. He didn’t manage it. I offered to stay with her but understandably she didn’t want me there. So she gave birth on her own this morning.
Epic fail from that man. Man points reduced to zero. What a tosser. I am amazing however. As you all knew.
Lucky I don’t have anything to do today.
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So Italy have Franco Smith supported by forwards coach Giampiero De Carli, defence coach Marius Goosen and fitness coaches Pete Atkinson and Giovanni Sanguin(!).
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Worked for Nick Mallett and Mauro Bergamasco.
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Glad things are perking up on the job front, Craigs.
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Belated Happy Birthday Beads!!!
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Cheers Iksy.
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Dear dawg, looks like we are entering Dan Evans and Owen Williams season again.
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Bon Chance, Craigs.
Chimpie, I’d hope we do Italy over, even away from home, then we have two home games against France and England, those depend on our pack. I’m hoping Sutherland goes well again this weekend, he is our best available scrummager on the loosehead side.
I have far more fear than hope over the opening weekend in Dublin, Leinster’s depth and momentum will spill out all over the Irish side this year, they are my pretournament favourites for the win, but probably not the GS.
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Ireland look dangerous
Wales need some space and time
Scotland look good for their special brand of aggressive chaos with lots of butterfingers
France – dream on
Italy – no idea but continued steady improvement
England – no idea
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‘Last night we got a call at 2am from my wife’s friend who had gone into labor. Her boyfriend was too pissed to take her to the hospital so I did. She’s a week overdue and asked him not to drink for 3 days until her scheduled c section. He didn’t manage it.’
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What a tosspot.
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Yes. I fully expect Pivac to drink the Kool Aid and go Turk-heavy as well as give a chance to maverick talentz in a 50 man squad.
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There’s really something wrong if England don’t mop up this year, but maybe not with a SLAM. Their two nearest rivals in recent years have new coaching teams, France have a middle school team, Scotland are Scotland and it’s still the Five Nations, not Six.
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Chimpie
Hooray! Thank you.
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yeah I’d put england as fairly heavy faves, WC finalists, unlikely to be many retirements to consistent squad maybe bolstered by some new hot yoof.
Ireland next off the rank. New coaching team but imagine the squad will be fairly Leinster heavy with the best of the rest. Potentially very strong squad.
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Heinous overdogging going on here.
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