2020 dawns with the Springboks as World Champions, Rugby Championship Champions and Ranked Number One in the World! Why do I mention this you ask? Does it have any bearing on the likely fortunes of the teams? No. Not at all. But I’m gonna keep my bragging rights as long as I can, until, as Mick Jones growled, I go straight to hell, boy.
The Bulls:
After a surprisingly promising season last year when the Bulls played some decent rugby, they’ve been hammered with 18 players leaving. This includes their entire second-row stock of RG Snyman, Lood de Jager, Jason Jenkins and Hendré Stassen, Duane Vermeulen, another 4 backrowers, Handre Pollard, Jessie Kriel and the promising Duncan Matthews in the backs. Recruits? Juandre Kruger and Morne Steyn. Cough. They are, however, the only side in SA with a coach who has previous experience at this level.
Lots of grunt up front with Boks Trevor Nyakane and promising Lizo Gqoboka anchoring, but the rest of the pack has an almost journeyman quality to it. Behind them, two fringe Boks in Embrose Papier and Ivan van Zyl will be providing the service to one of past it Morne Steyn or hugely promising Manie Libbok (please not Marnitz Boshoff) with plenty of enterprise outside of that in 7z Boks Dylan Sage (centre, injured), Stedman Gans and Rosko Specman, as well as possible future Bok Burger Odendaal and the stalled Warrick Gelant.
Expect lots of huff and puff, the odd bit of absolute magic from Specman, and a string of defeats – starting with two away derbies in SA to the much-fancied Sharks and Stormers. They have two byes to follow (including the Blues), then two more home matches followed by a month in Australasia. It’s a bridge too far.
Clash Song for the season: ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ – they’ve been lousy at shopping and given away some bargains, struggling to deal with an increasingly commercialised world and rampant consumerism (thanks Wiki).
Position in SA Conference: Fighting for fourth with the Lions.
Overall: Trying to stay above the Sunwolves, Lions and assorted Aussie sides (and Blues).
The Lions:
Three times the bridesmaid, never the bride – and now in freefall as a combination of virtually the entire pack from the halcyon days of 2016 to 2018 having left or retired through injury leaving the Lions shattered. Particularly galling is the loss of Malcolm Marx, the only remaining world class forward, but Whiteley being perma-crocked and Kwagga Smith off to Japan has left both a skill and leadership void. Add in the departure of some fine backs in Faf de Klerk, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ruan Combrink, Lionel Mapoe, Madosh Tambwe, Howard Mnisi and Aphiwe Dyanti (still protesting his innocence over a drug bust) and the Lions are a shell of their former selves. A total loss of 17 players is scary.
In come old hands Jannie du Plessis and Willem Alberts to give a bit of nous and grunt to the pack, along with perma-crocked Jaco Kriel (out until April!), promising Bulls discards Roelof Smit and Duncan Matthews (as well as mercurial Jamba Ulengo) and Stormers reject Dan Kriel.
Not promising and it showed in their battering in Buenos Aires in Round 1. A Bok halfback pairing that isn’t much cop behind a pack coming second and a callow back division, the Lions do have some promising youngsters in the engine room – Carlu Sadie and Sti Sithole in particular, whilst if fit and firing, the like of Hacjivah Dayimani, Marnus Schoeman, Roelof Smit, and Alberts could cause defences some problems on the ground and in close quarters from the loose trio berths.
This is definitely a rebuilding season and the Reds will fancy a win this weekend at Ellis Park. The Stormers visit next, whereafter the Lions head down south for four weeks – the only saving grace being a relatively kind fixture list. A couple of heroic smash and grab wins won’t mask the Herculean task facing the heroes of southern hemisphere rugby as they struggle through the rubble of past glories.
Clash Song for the season: Ghetto Defendant – (misrepresenting the meaning, but that’s tough shit): The ghetto prince of gutter poets; Was bounced out of the room; By the bodyguards of greed; For disturbing the tomb.
Position in SA Conference: Fighting for fourth with the Bulls.
Overall: Trying to stay above the Sunwolves, Bulls and assorted Aussie sides (and Blues).
The Sharks:
Like the Bulls and Lions, they’ve lost a lot of players in the last few months – the Du Preez trio, Beast, Coenie Oosthuizen, Armand van der Merwe, Ruan Botha, Jacques Vermeulen and a few others. But they’ve got a couple of very good players in, too: Ox Nche and Henco Venter from the Cheetahs, and James Venter and Madosh Tambwe from the Lions. They (like all the SA sides bar the Bulls) have a newbie coach at this level, but have a good matchday 23 to call on, with a good front row and a back division that won’t stand back for many, with Curwin Bosch, Lukanyo Am, Makezoli Mapimpi, Sbu Nkosi, Madosh Tambwe, Andre Esterhuizen, Aphelele Fassi, Louis Schreuder and new sensational 9 Sanele Nohamba giving them options all over the park. But they may be a bit callow in the 2nd row and loose trio, given all the defections and over the course of the season and will be sorely tested up front, as well as when the benches are emptied.
Following a routine (and typically SA-boshtastic) win over the Bulls in Round 1, the Sharks head on tour early this – and they’re one SA side that seems to genuinely tour well (okish, more accurately). They open against the Highlanders, who will be a bit rusty after a bye in Round 1, and don’t have the worst itinerary, with matches against the Canes, Rebels and Reds to follow. Not too bad. The tour could decide their fate, so it’s imperative to get a couple of wins at least out of it. Do that, and they could really gel as a unit, but have the Crusaders as their last regular season match and it could be down to that to make it to play-offs.
The Sharks will score some scintillating tries this year and hopefully Bosch really shines at 10 now that The Family have all buggered off. But there’s a lingering feeling that up front they’ll be found wanting.
Clash Song for the season: Rock the Casbah – Coach Everitt is raw at this level, but he can sure call on some jet fighters in the back division to rock the casbah. Kings Park will rock to some stunning tries.
Position in SA Conference: Probably 3rd, but possibly 2nd in a dogfight with the Stormers and Jaguares.
Overall: Playoffs are not beyond them – expect an away QF for the ‘Banana Boys’.
The Stormers:
For the first time in this scribe’s (cough) history, he believes the Stormers are the real deal to go deep into the play-offs. They have a core of World Cup winning Boks to call on, including skipper Siya Kolisi, World Player of the year Pieter Steph du Toit, Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe in the front row, magical 9 Herschel Jantjies and 10 Damian Willemse. The Magnificent Seven form the core of a side that has Boks Wilco Louw and Scarra Ntubeni also bolstering the front row, with a glittering array of junior and age group Boks throughout the side, including the looming presence of Cobus Wiese (his breakout season?) and new sensation Jaco Coetzee (being billed as the next Schalk Burger). Plenty more promising stars up front too. Major losses include Eben Etzebeth and Damian De Allende.
The back division will rely on the services of Jantjies and Willemse to get them going and with the likes of Seabelo Senatla, Seargal Petersen, Leolin Zas, Dillyn Leyds and Jamie Roberts (um, yes, that one), they have plenty of gas and experience in the back division – even if it is a little callow once the bench is emptied (and injuries take their toll).
A thumping first round win, nilling the Canes at Newlands sets them up for the old North-South derby against the Bulls, followed by a trip to Jo’burg which shouldn’t hold too many fears for this side. The Jaguares and Blues at home is followed by a bye and the Sharks away – a very nice start to the season. The travel leg is a potential bastard with the Chiefs, Crusaders and Brumbies lying in wait on consecutive weekends towards the end of the regular season, but the Stormers should, by then, be relatively comfortable in the SA standings.
Clash Song for the season: The Magnificent Seven – when last did a SA coach have half a Bok World Cup winning side to call on? Knuckle merchants and your bankers too; Must get up and learn those rules; Hong Kong dollar, Indian cents; English pounds and Eskimo pence won’t stop this gnarly mob in the SA conference.
Position in SA Conference: Duking it out with the Jaguares for 1st.
Overall: Top the SA conference and it’s all the way to the Final, finish 2nd and probably an away semi loss.
The Jaguares:
To be honest, your humble narrator knows less about this mob than any of the other sides, if that’s possible given the evidence above. Suffice it to say, they’re pretty close to a full-strength Pumas side, bar a couple of blokes sunning themselves in balmy Leicester (or wherever).
Dished out a 2nd half hiding to the Lions in Round 1, but that means little given the quality of the opposition. A kind start though, with the dismantled Canes up next followed by the Reds (both at home), before they start the first journey: Stormers, Bulls and Sharks away. April will test their mettle, with away matches to the Brumbies, (Blues) and Crusaders, which will show if they’re as good as last years’ beaten finalists.
Clash Song for the season: Sandanista! – so an album, not a song. Obviously picked it ‘cause they’re Latin American and it’s close to Nicaragua right? Bugger off! It, like the 36 tracks on Sandanista!, is a homage to the massive travel schedule that the blokes from Buenos Aires face every year.
Position in SA Conference: Duking it out with the Stormers for 1st. Overall: Finalists again? Possibly – but more likely a last four loss. Just because.
Predictions courtesy of Deebee7
Further Reading
Deebee7 on why France v England was a good match
Utnapistm’s predictions for the weekend
On the telly this week
Friday 7th February
| Highlanders 20 – 42 Sharks | 06:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Brumbies 39 – 26 Rebels | 08:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| Ireland U20 36 – 22 Wales U20 | 19:15 | BBC Two Wales / BBC Sport website / Red button / RTÉ Two |
| Scotland U20 17 – 21 England U20 | 19:15 | SRU website |
| Sale 28 – 7 Saracens | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| France U20 31 – 19 Italy U20 | 20:00 | YouTube |
Saturday 8th February
| Chiefs 25 – 15 Crusaders | 06:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Waratahs 12 – 32 Blues | 08:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| Lions 27 – 20 Reds | 13:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Ireland 24 – 14 Wales | 14:15 | ITV / S4C |
| Stormers 13 – 0 Blues | 15:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| Scotland 6 – 13 England | 16:45 | BBC One / BBC sport website |
| France 45 – 10 Italy (women) | 20:00 | BBC Red Button / YouTube |
| Los Jaguares 23 – 26 Hurricanes | 23:00 | Sky Sports Action |
Sunday 9th February
| Scotland 0 – 53 England (women) | 12:10 | Sky Sports Action / BBC Alba |
| Ireland 31 – 12 Wales (women) | 13:00 | BBC Sport website / S4C / RTÉ Two |
| France 35 – 22 Italy | 15:00 | BBC One / BBC Sport website |
Ovally Balls 
If you have grammar schools, you don’t have comprehensives.
I take your point. Which brings us on to Ticht’s post…
We had the one school but we had streaming, and it was a shit system.
One thing that always stuck in my head was that I was in a class room reading Shakespeare once and I looked out the window and saw my best friend helping the Janny paint the lines on the rugby and hockey pitches.
Ticht, did you envy him out in the sunshine (well, maybe: let’s say fresh air, and doing something practical), and do you think he envied you reading Shakespeare? All of us should do a bit of both, imo, and find out what we like, and be able to pursue that. It’s entirely possible to like both Shakespeare and physical work outside.
There was a very good article by Fintan O’Toole, I think it was, the other day about UK education specialising too early … let me see if I can find the link.
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Though of course it’s quite easy to see that setting can become de facto streaming for a lot of kids though there are lots of reasons that might become the case, not all of them that much to do with the schools.
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“And for old time’s sake, and because it’s close to my missus’s heart, it’s the Indian High Commission rather Embassy in London.”
Fair play, and I beg yer missus’s pardon
I do recognise that name now you mention it – my bad.
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About 15 years ago I had a long argument with a guy I knew pretty well who was the father of two school friends of mine. He was from Falmouth and had grown up in a single-parent family got into grammar school and ended up as a head teacher. I was giving it the it’s not fair, it perpetuates the class system etc lines that I still believe in. He said it worked for him and he was forever grateful and he had made other examples. We finished our pints and he, having known me since I was 6 or 7, bought me another one and we talked about the rugby match we’d just seen and I as always quizzed him about his old days of playing for Cornwall and Bristol and Coventry.
When we gave the farewells later, we both agreed that we’d never agree but the conversation had been all right.
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Thuam, it was apparent to me even at 15 year old that he had been abandoned by the system and they were just finding ways to fill those kids’ hours at school, it was shite.
In previous years there had been a mechanics course, as well as woodwork and metal work, for the gentlemen, secretarial studies and cooking for the ladies (a whole other subject at my school as someone threatened to go to court unless she was allowed to study technical drawing and other “boy’s” subjects)
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Not Fintan O’Toole at all, but someone called Sean Danaher: http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/a-fond-farewell-to-the-uk-from-an-eu27-citizen-part-ii-education-industry-and-media
Very interesting and thoughtful article.
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I haven’t read the article yet, Thaum, but I think the Scottish system of doing five Highers was better than choosing three A Levels in England – you don’t have to specialise at age 16
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Confronted with the education in an English city with the plethora of private schools, religious schools, partially selective schools etc I do sometimes wish I lived in a small town in Wales where the only question you really had to ask yourself was which language you spoke at home.
Then again it’s of course the case that the schools in Aberystwyth were not all that representative of small town schools given that hardly anywhere else that size has a university (and a few other things).
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That started even earlier for me than 14 or 15. First when we were 9 and there was the likely to give 11 plus a good go class and the unlikely class. And then at 11 when there were the 5 boys and 10 girls who passed the 11 plus from my primary school. A few of the 10 boys and 5 girls who didn’t get in I’ve never seen again.
Then in grammar school when we were 4th year/Year 10 there was setting for Maths. A friend of mine thought he was thick – he isn’t and knows he isn’t now – cos he wasn’t in the top Maths sets. I was. We did Maths O-level 6 months earlier and something called AO Maths. I did OK I was encouraged to do Maths A-level, which I didn’t want to do but did. He didn’t do AO Maths or A-level Maths. It hasn’t held him back.
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Well now. Education. A subject I’m likely to get too passionate about.
A bit late for that though. The kids hugged the computer and sky did not deliver. How was the under 20s game?
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The other thing that I worked out pretty early was how many kids got into the grammar school – let’s say 25%. OK, where am I in my class exams at the end of the first year? Pretty high out of a class of 30 and good marks in these certain subjects. OK what percentage of people go to university? This percentage. And I’ve got family who’ve been through all that and whose work shows they care quite a lot about education so they’ll give me a kick up the arse if it’s going horribly wrong. Cool. I’ll coast along doing the bare minimum for as long as possible.
I did become a much better student later.
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Ticht – don’t get me started! As you say, just as ‘working-class’ or ‘not academically-inclined’ boys were pigeonholed into manual work, women were not allowed to pursue any profession other than nursing / teaching / secretary – and that’s if they were judged to be capable.
The university I went to is what is called a ‘liberal arts’ one in the US, and that means that everyone has to take a variety of subjects: humanities ‘majors’ have to take some maths and science courses, and the scientific types have to take some literature, history, and so on.
One of my English profs was absolutely brilliant at communicating the magnificence of Shakespeare to non-humanities types. Sadly, many of his colleagues in the liberal arts looked down on him for this skill. I think it was far more valuable than their esoteric attachment to obscure points that might make a career-promoting masturbatory publication.
I had wanted to go into academia until I found out that the academic environment is just as toxic as any business environment, but with people who are mostly cleverer at twisting the knife….
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Got to go to ‘Star Assembly’ this aft as the Eldest was star of the week. This was for being mystifyingly good at fractions despite being shit at times tables. Not sure they were going to announce it like that, but they asked her why she thought she’d got it and so she told the room (without swearing obviously).
Nothing as exciting as the demise of democracy this time round, but I got to see Bella Bear from Brownies and Beaver Bear from Beavers in the any other business section. You always do.
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TomP – likewise, I found school pretty easy, for the most part (maths excluded, for complicated reasons involving moving to France). So minimum effort was rewarded amply.
It wasn’t until uni when a (different) prof kicked me up the arse that I actually tried to do my best.
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CMW – I’m not sure me heart could withstand the heady excitement of seeing Bella and Beaver Bear. ;-)
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Bella Bear wears a sort of a ballet skirt. The Eldest gets jealous of anyone getting to take her home if they haven’t been going to Brownies for at least a year as that’s how long she had to wait. She needs to get over it. And perhaps learn her times tables though I think what’s happened is that it’s finally clicked with her how they work which is why she can do the fractions. The issue was probably that she was never going to be arsed to just learn them by rote and they haven’t noticed yet that she’s suddenly improved at them.
The only thing of note about Beaver Bear is that all the different Beaver groups (Lodges if you will) have the same bear which suggests there isn’t a lot of choice in the beaver cuddly toy market round here.
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They get a ‘tea-party’ with the head before the assembly. But today she’d run out of juice and biscuits. Thankfully disaster was averted when it turned out another teacher has her own private stash of jammy dodgers and chocolate digestives.
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In France things are much simpler. Either you go to a public school (meaning, at it should, thats it’s run by the state) or you go to a private school ( which means you’ll pay for it).
Until you are 10 yo, doesn’t make any difference, as both are good.
In other good news, Italy U20s lost to France but after a brilliant fight. Beware the young Azzuri!
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“Then again it’s of course the case that the schools in Aberystwyth were not all that representative of small town schools given that hardly anywhere else that size has a university (and a few other things).”
Apropos of nowt,
My daughter played rugby in Aberystwyth a couple of weeks ago. Is there a college there? She plays for Bristol Uni thirds, she has been playing a good four months now.
For some reason they keep wanting to play her in the front row, she is five foot eight and has the build of an 800m runner, it’s the equivalent of Blair Kinghorn playing prop.
Anyway, she said the Aberystwyth peeps were great, very hospitable after the game, loads of selfies and shared beers.
Other teams have been pretty horrible from the sounds of things.
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Dov, the English backs looked very good, our pack duffed yours up
I know how unlikely all that sounds, but it’s true.
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It certainly is true, esecially in scrums and mauls. Scotland did struggle to make much headway in possession though, English defence was strong.
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I left school at 16 and joined the military. I’d have continued to be either beaten up by, or forced to join the local drug gangs otherwise.
Got a trade (electrician) and took advantage of MOD funding to do a diploma at night school before getting out ASAP and using that to go to university to do an engineering degree.
My parents were the best you could ever ask for.
To me, it’s no wonder, now I’m a dad, who still hasn’t a clue, that parents would do their best to get their kids into schools in better off areas (coz that’s what it boils down to, schools are generally at an advantage when their kids have parents with time and money).
Its fuck all to do with the building or the culture etc, or even the innate ability of the pupils. The better teachers go there coz it pays more and is easier, so it’s a positive feedback loop.
Streaming and selection is a toxic practice while outcomes remain so firmly aligned with financial inequality in my opinion. It might make sense if everyone started with a comparable chance (I’m not idealistic enough to think its possible it could be entirely equal, but we’re miles away).
Last whinge while I’m here. The whole system utterly neglects and wastes the potential of ‘non typical ‘ learners who have no chance. Labelled as struggling, segregated for more intense forms of the same teaching that wasn’t working, set aside and then forced to be tested the same as everyone else.
What a way to destroy a young person. Only the very toughest get through that.
I worry terribly for my son who has ASD (hate the D but it’s the official description)
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I feel her pain over the times tables, CMW.
The thing about moving to a forrin country, is that they speak a different language. And apparently the best way to catch out a spy is to get them to count, as people always count in their native language. And the French-French have this crazy system of quatre-vingt-douze (four-twenties and twelve) and so on, which the Swiss would sensibly render as nonante-deux, ie ninety-two.
So I fell behind on my times tables, not to mention that those damned frogs only went up to the ten times table, and when I moved back to Ireland, the bastards had gone up to twelve.
I learnt to hate maths, and when we moved to the US, got chucked into an algebra class that I wasn’t prepared for. As it turned out, the next year I had a very good teacher who taught me the beauty of algebra (it’s like a puzzle, innit), but I had an absolutely awful geometry teacher. I fucking hated geometry, and didn’t worry when I nearly failed the course, as I’d obviously never use it.
Then I ended up working with CAD software….
One day at work, I simply ‘got’ it, and started seeing the world in terms of fixed and relative axes, and it was a beautiful thing. Why had this teacher not explained the loveliness of it all, instead of concentrating on ugly and boring proofs?
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@Ticht – Aberystwyth University is the only reason for me being Welsh at all. Had a narrow brush with being a Kiwi as my dad came second for a job in Dunedin just before he got the one in Aber a few years before I was born. It’s hard to say how big a place Aberystwyth is because you always have to check to what extent they’re taking the students into account.
I’m glad your daughter had a good time there – it’s a long old trip from virtually anywhere.
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Loving all these long, late Friday night posts.
My turn waking with the baby tonight (nightmare and a privilege) so, night all.
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Ticht
Ha! Is she particularly, erm, competitive? More power to her!
Maybe she just wants to take after her da.
Dova – your story illustrates why the educational system is failing, and has been for many, many years. Those who weren’t lucky enough to have parents as good as yours are fucked.
In IT, we have a fair few people on the autistic spectrum, and they are solid gold: pure attention to detail, and fucked off with illogical management bollocks. In fact, I suspect most of us are at least mildly on the spectrum. Seriously, a couple of the absolute best experts I’ve worked with have been diagnosed with Asperger’s.
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And Sarries are free to play in Europe. Obviously it was too complicated to rearrange the 4 QFs.
Oh, the irony if they made it all the way…
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Thanks to all for the conversation. Still disappointed that nobody wanted to engage with the antiquated railway technology angle, but can’t have everything.
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I prefer the ironing to watching European Cup finals anyway.
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Sarries are free to play in Europe
Bah.
Look at the time! I should be off, Might be slightly pissed.
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Thaum, she is the youngest, she had been punching above her weight from day one :-)
I loved maths, but instead of doing engineering I should have done pure maths because I love the patterns. I once wrote out all the times tables up to the 50 times table just to look at the patterns, they are all so obvious if you do that, and they all follow similar patterns to the sum of the nine times table all adding up to nine
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Ticht – Even when I hated the times tables, I did like the nine times table. Because you could easily work it out.
Now I must go to bed!
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Glasgow fans will be disappointed, Flair.
It’s a tricky point, they would not have been so successful in Europe if they had followed domestic laws, but they would be competing against other sides who out-spend even their own budget now.
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Just an example and a really basic one, we all know about the nine times table but what about the six?
6×1= 6
6×2=12
6×3=18
All the products in this times table add up to 6, 3, 9 in that order
Even when you get to
6×10=60
6×11=66
6×12=72
add the numbers of the products together and you get 6, 3, 9
These patterns happen in all the times tables
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Fascinating stuff on education systems! TomP, just a correction – it’s ‘Model C’ schools that are state schools in SA that charge fees. They’re basically all ex-whites only schools, many of which have fantastic sporting facilities and good education. Township and rural schools largely remain a disgrace 25 years after the ANC took over.
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Chiefs back row of Boshier, Cane and Karpic sounds like a teenage gang more than grizzled rugby players.
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Sevu Reece has two in 15 minutes. Crusaders well on top at the Chiefs. One from a cross field kick, one from a long floated pass that looked ‘flat’. 12-3 to the Infidels.
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Chiefs bosh away the line and turn it over. Saders almost go the length with a couple of clever kicks into space. Chiefs 5m lineout is a mess, not for the 1st time and they carry it over the line for a Saders attacking scrum. Turnover and relieving kick and then penalty Chiefs in midfield for obstruction. All a bit messy so far.
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Couple of penalties, some mindless shirt-grabbing and snarling and then the Chiefs play some rugby, taking it off the top of the lineout, couple of skip passes and over in the corner. Simple, effective. Conversion missed. 8-12 as the cultural appropriators claw back against the Infidels.
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From 12-8 down the Chiefs have completely turned things around – 22-15 up with 12 to go. Missed a penalty to touch though. Get another penalty for the Saders holding on. D-Mac having a pot at goal. Misses.
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Penalty Saders. Kick to touch outside Chiefs 22. Slow ball. Messy ball. Back to the 10m line. Turnover! Gats looks satisfied. Cracks a grin. I read that as gin. I may have a problem.
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This might be the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages.
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Crusaders pinned in their 22, but manage to hack it ahead. Penalty for holding the player back I think. 5m Lineout. Maul repelled and turnover! Chiefs have murdered the Saders on the floor this half. Now both sides pile in for the panto grab and grin crap. Started by a Saders hit after the whistle. Looks worse in slo-mo than real time.
Penalty Chiefs. About right, but with 3 minutes left it was dumb by the Saders 16. Lineout steal! But still on their 22.
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Chiefs win another turnover penalty and Cruden has a shot from in front. Potted! 25-15 into the final minute! What a win! Penalty Saders from the kickoff – finally win something on the ground. Takes it in a rush from 40 out but straight in front and pushes it wide! Not even a losing BP for the Crusaders.
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Quite scrappy at times, but a very tough Kiwi derby that!
India 96/5 chasing 274 after Ross Taylor and the debutant tailender put on 90-odd.
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Been pissing it down here since last nightn so I’m gonna spend the day in the kitchen and do a Portuguese dinner later with prawns nacional, peri-peri chicken, maizemeal chips (Mozambican influence I think) and salads, followed by pasteis de nada (custard tarts), coffee and brandy. Day sorted!
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Good morning all. I have succumbed to The RESIGNATION.
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As Chimpie’s not here yet…..
Pffft.
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It’s going to be grim dab
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We are getting a red card at some point, I can feel it.
There’ll be some big controversy and we’ll be confirmed as evil and losers.
Inverdale will start talking about Brexit.
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