With two rounds down in the Six Nations, the shocking truth is that OvallyBalls underdoggers have been proven right – or perhaps have so disheartened their national sides that the players lost the will to play.
Here is the state of the nations:
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Pts Diff | Bonus | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Les Bleus du mal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 39 | 20 | 1 | 9 |
| Smiling Green Machine | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 26 | 17 | 1 | 9 |
| Leeks | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 24 | 32 | 1 | 5 |
| Saracens | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Kiltie-wearers | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 32 | -14 | 2 | 2 |
| Pasta-scoffers | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 77 | -55 | 0 | 0 |
From this, we can observe several things. One is that the rankings should be based secondarily on the fewest points conceded, as it indicates a better defence. Any fool can score tries against a weaker defence. In the case of England, we can see that their attack and defence are equally great / rubbish [delete as appropriate]. And Scotland are the only side to have achieved two bonus points, although perhaps for the wrong reasons.
However, it’s still wide open for at least four teams. The remaining fixtures are as follows:
| 22/02 | Italy v Scotland | 14:15 |
| Wales v France | 16:45 | |
| 23/02 | England v Ireland | 15:00 |
| 07/03 | Ireland v Italy | 14:15 |
| England v Wales | 16:45 | |
| 08/03 | Scotland v France | 15:00 |
| 14/03 | Wales v Scotland | 14:15 |
| Italy v England | 16:45 | |
| France v Ireland | 20:00 |
The Super Saturday fixtures are, of course, being played in Heidelberg, so all true rugby fans should get their arses there.
My prediction is a narrow win for each of the home sides next weekend, which will bolster the excitement of the following rounds, except for Scottish fans, who will be gurning into their whiskey and cursing SuperSergio, homer refs and the professional era in general.
Meanwhile, this weekend we have Pro14 / English Premiership matches, if Dennis doesn’t menace all of them; Dragons v Treviso has already been cancelled.
Further Reading
TomPirracas has a better idea of how the Italy v Scotland match will go.
Chimpie is looking forward to this weekend’s ProWoo.
On the telly this week
Friday 14th February
| Blues 8 – 25 Crusaders | 06:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Rebels 24 – 10 Waratahs | 08:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| Glasgow 56 – 24 Zebre | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Munster 68 – 3 Kings | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Gloucester 15 – 26 Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 15th February
| Sunwolves 17 – 43 Chiefs | 03:45 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Hurricanes 38 – 22 Sharks | 06:05 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Brumbies 22 – 23 Highlanders | 08:15 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Lions 30 – 33 Stormers | 13:05 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Leinster 35 – 12 Cheetahs | 14:30 | Free Sports |
| Leicester 18 – 9 Wasps | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Scarlets 9 – 14 Edinburgh | 15:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Ospreys 26 – 24 Ulster | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
| Connacht 29 – 0 Cardiff | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Los Jaguares 43 – 27 Reds | 23:00 | Sky Sports Action |
Sunday 16th February
| Northampton v Bristol | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Deebee, Chippa United are based in PE. But their story is a bit more complicated than that.
I don’t think South African football is a topic for this notablog. #Sundowns4Ever
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I’ve researched this before as the Sky Sports mobile deal is super cheap, but apparently there is no way around it. Casting/mirroring and any other signals to send it to a big screen are blocked.
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Even via a cable, yos?
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My offspring watch stuff on their phones all the time, I guess I’d get used to it, a tenner for five months is pretty good value
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South African lower league football teams have fabulous names:
Middleburg Mighty Saints; Rustenburg (not on the coast) Sea Eagles; Naughty Boys; Kakamas Juventus; Newcastle Sicilians and Kokstad Liverpool
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@ticht
Apparently not. Their lockdown technologies are pretty tight.
There aren’t any cheap legal options for sports really. Getting rugbypass or DAZN + a VPN works out cheaper but is only quasi-legal at best. Various IPTV subscriptions are dirt cheap and have reasonable quality/reliability for the price, but obviously high on the dodgy list.
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There are also a surprising number of lower league South African teams with ‘Tigers’ in the name. Eleven Fast Tigers, Mahlangu Tigers, Bloemfontein Young Tigers, Small Tigers, and Ally’s Tigers. There are some Lads, but sadly no Ladz. The scarily named Hungry Lions.
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This is a good site if anybody wants to find out more about obscure teams in lots of different sports.
https://globalsportsarchive.com/
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A couple of Killers as well.
Kateshi Coffee Bullets from Zambia is good.
Chicken Inn from ZImbabwe are named after a sponsor. A friend of mine’s family started a bus company in Zimbabwe called Shu-Shine and they had Shu-Shine FC that used to play top league football there.
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Cheers Yos.
I have BT and Prem subscriptions so getting another is pushing it, I had Sky sports last year for a couple of quid per months as an incentive from Virgin, but the best they could offer me this year was half price.
I might just go with the phone thing, it’s a decent offer.
70+ mph winds, 98% chance of very heavy rain, but at least it’s 11 degrees in Llanelli
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Iks, question for you: are the trains from Frankfurt to Heidelberg regular and cheap, or should we plan to book ahead?
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It’s looking a wee bit damp in Dublin.
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Takes Leinster 20 mins to score. They’re looking damaged today.
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@TomP – there was briefly a side called Dangerous Darkies here and Swaziland has a side called Eleven Men in Flight. Sundowns hey? Man City meets Sarries.
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Big duhan does his thing
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This wind is ridiculous
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“I’m with MrsIks on peace and quiet; love it when all I can hear is birdsong and clocks ticking. ”
Our wall clock plays the song of 12 different birds, one for each hour.
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Willemse is a good player but his darts are pish
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Jaco vdW misses a 100m long touchline for the second time
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Think scarlets have had about 75% territory and possession
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Fantastic by duhan and Scott
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We’ll have the wind in the second half. I’m almost feeling optimistic
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Chimpie optimistic.
Embra dooooommmmeeeddddd!
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A Mams thing, Deebee.
Arcadia Shepherds were closer. Well, Tuks the absolute closest but seemed strange to follow them. My man Dinald was a Sundowns man so got the stories from him
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https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?ld=40154&protocol=https:&seqnr=3&ident=jw.031917154.1581781665&rt=1&rememberSortType=minDeparture&REQ0HafasScrollDir=1
Thauma, ugly link but it shows the times / costs for a speculative Friday pm arrival / Sunday pm departure for 2 people return.
Total price for both of you is about 100 Euros. It’s a Friday so they anticipate full trains so booking in advance probably makes sense, but I would pay a bit more for a ‘Flexi’ ticket so you are not stuck with catching specific trains.
The shorter journey times means one change in Mannheim. This is dead easy and the trains to HD run every 10 to 20 mins.
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Lavanini gets a yellow card. No-one is surprised.
That’s his 2nd since joining Tigers. Who could have predicted?
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I have no idea if the prices stay the same if pay as you go, but they won’t be cheaper and it’ll save you time and fuss to book in advance.
I think with the Flexi ticket you can get a partial refund if you cancel the trip.
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That was quite comedic from evans
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See where optimism gets me? Last time I try that
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Doing a good job of bungling this now
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Pity I can’t watch the Scarlets. Leinster here, dreadful weather and one-sided match.
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Aaargh hickey ya choob.
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Feel like we got away with one there.
Big win
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talk about squeaky bum time.
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Good win for Embra!
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Cheers, Iks, I’ve booked the flexi-tickets.
The mister’s mum has a bird clock like yours.
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“Did the Ospreys take the right option there at the right time?”
Dear me.
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Lovely try by Balocoune with assistance from McCloskey.
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It’s a lovely clock but it was a great disappointment when we set it up and then sat back to enjoy Cat Iks and Cat Minx’s reaction. Took them about 10 seconds between pricking up their ears and then ignoring it for evermore.
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Heh, neither of my dogs ever paid the blindest bit of attention to anything on the telly, such as other dogs, cats, etc.
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Bloody Ospreys respond with one of their own.
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Nasty Ospreys keep charging down Ulster’s kicks in the O’s 22.
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Been out with the family. Educational sciencey gadgety place. Good fun. Missed the first quarter. Tune in to her GIT Shane saying Ospreys are looking like a grown-up rugby team today. Could they not have waited a week? FS!
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Hmph. Invisible try awarded to Ospreys.
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What the hell? These are not the Ospreys we’ve recently grown to love.
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Just on a read back so apologies if this has been answered already Ticht, I use a usb c to hdmi cable to connect my phone to the tv to watch amazon prime or bt sport, not sure if it would work for sky though. That’s for my Samsung phone, Mrs numbers tried to do something similar with her iPhone and it didn’t work though
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The Os have been trying to bottom out since CMW’s offspring sent his mother-in-law tumbling down the stairs 2 seasons ago.
Have a heart that life is finally stirring down there.
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That last sentence sounds like a plea I’d rather not confess to.
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Surprising improvement up to the point when my stream died. Was using it because S4C was not working at all so think that might be it. Things will obviously fall apart anyway.
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They’re playing Leinster next week. This could have waited. We’d all get behind the Os beating the unbeatable evil.
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