As usual, the Celts took the up-front hit: Ireland v Wales was cancelled postponed, followed by Treviso v Ulster and Zebre v Ospreys. Then came the news that Mako Vunipola was self-isolating from the England camp, although apparently it’s okay to infect the Saracens camp. (They’re relegated anyway: who cares?) Today’s shocking news is that Italy v England is also sacrificed to Covid-19.
But fear not, rugby fans! There is one person on our side, one person who knows that it’s all a big hoax. A person whose intimate involvement with Scottish golf courses has led to a love of rugby, inspired by Gavin Hastings.
“I think the 3.4% [death rate] is really a false number.
“Now, this is just my hunch, based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild – they’ll get better very rapidly, they don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor.
“You never hear about those people, so you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population, in terms of this corona flu, and/or virus. So you just can’t do that. So there is no reason for Six Nations matches to be deep-sixed. DBWR are just a bunch of wimps.”
This is of course very comforting, as everyone knows that Donald Trump’s hunches are enormously more accurate than the wild speculations of the World Health Organisation. While it’s true that a vast number of Americans won’t even call a doctor because they can’t afford to, deathly ill or not, the POTUS’s clarion call to laugh and snap our fingers at what the so-called experts are openly referring to as a pandemic will save our Six Nations and Pro-Woo.
The President is being undermined by snivelling lefties who are rejoicing at the thought of millions of people dying, economic Armageddon being unleashed, and – more importantly – rugby matches being cancelled, just to criticise The Donald. As the Guardian (itself a very dubious source) reports:
Peter Hegseth, a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekends, admonished Democrats’ criticism, saying: “They’re rooting for the coronavirus to spread. They’re rooting for it to grow. They’re rooting for the problem to get worse.”
“They’re probably jumping for joy,” Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt said about the Democrats’ reaction to Six Nations matches being cancelled.
OvallyBalls can also reveal that Donald Trump is behind Vunipola’s decision to train with the Saracens:
“If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better, and then when you do have a death, like you’ve had in the state of Washington, like you had one in California, I believe you had one in New York.”
While it turns out that no-one has yet died from coronavirus in New York (it’s only Trump’s home state, so why should he know?), the President’s message is clear: Get to work, you slackers, and you will be healed. Front up to the scrummage. Un-cancel the rugby matches. Work makes you free of coronavirus. Unless you’re dead.
Televisual rugby feasts not cancelled as yet:
Friday 6th March
| Sunwolves 14 – 47 Brumbies | 03:45 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Crusaders 24 – 20 Reds | 06:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Waratahs 14 – 51 Chiefs | 08:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| Dragons 25 – 37 Treviso (really?) | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| England 22 – 23 Wales U20s | 19:45 | BT Sport Action |
| Worcester 10 – 16 Saints | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 7th March
| Hurricanes 15 – 24 Blues | 06:0t | Sky Sports Action |
| Rebels 37 – 17 Lions | 08:15 | Sky Sports Action |
| England 66 – 7 Wales (women) | 12:05 | S4C / Sky Sports Action |
| Sharks v Los Jaguares | 13:05 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Bulls v Highlanders | 15:15 | Sky Sports Arena |
| England v Wales | 16:45 | ITV / S4C |
| Scotland v France (women) | 19:45 | BBC Alba / website/ button |
Sunday 8th March
| Bristol v Harlequins | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Scotland v France | 15:00 | BBC One / website / button |
Ovally Balls 
I’m with Yos on this, as per my rants last night.
LikeLike
When is the deadline for the investigation to be announced?
LikeLike
Synchronised swimmers have a high risk of concussions due to kicking each other in the head.
Makes rugby seem like a walk in the park, doesn’t it?
@Craigs – Aphiwe Dyanti’s case is dragging on. He tested positive in early July after testing negative two weeks previously and denies ever taking prohibited substances. Either he’s right and somehow he ended up taking something he shouldn’t have entirely innocently, or he thought that he’d been tested recently, so it was a good time to take the juice. I have no idea. He’s determined to go the whole hog on this, so I’m inclined to give him some space.
With reference to the TomP article from the Beeb, I would simply say that the Bok squad (including the borader squad) is tested on a regular basis and in Japan between 6 and 8 players were tested every week, meaning everyone got tested at some stage. All negative. Moreover, about a third of the squad play in Europe week in and out, so I’m assuming they get tested over there on a regular basis? In fact, since the World Cup that number probably sits at more than 50% playing club rugby in Europe and Japan, with no reports I’m aware of that anyone’s been doping. {Just found out that Ashely Johnson tested positive playing for Wasps and blamed it on his wife’s diet pills – bit like Shane Warne’s mum and the diet pills}.
So, either we’ve got the world’s most sophisticated doping programme – way ahead of the Russians, Chinese and Americans, as well as professional cycling and possibly elements of British athletics, or the allegations are greatly overstated. There’s definitely doping at lower levels and in schools rugby (although many are now regularly testing their players), but once it gets to pro level, players are tested throughout season, from Super Rugby, through the 4N and finally Currie Cup, which all told is a 9 to 10 month season.
https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/waiting-game-for-dyantyi/
LikeLiked by 1 person
there were loads of hands up in peoples grills in the lead up to the punch. From what I’ve seen it looks accidental but if it only needs contact in the eye area (previously interpreted as your face) he could be in for a break.
LikeLike
We could all be in for a break soon enough what with a pandemic and a global financial crash in progress.
LikeLike
Deebs – sounds like he’ll be OK. Bit shocked to hear that it happens at the schools level tbh.
LikeLike
Make of this what you will. Seems fairly innocuous to me at first glance
LikeLike
Here’s an article about Boks who’ve failed doping tests – five since 1997. On the SA Institute for Drug Free Sport you can actually search for dope failures by name, sport or substance. I’ve linked the rugby ones and they’re not exactly household names!
https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/five-boks-who-failed-dope-tests/
http://www.drugfreesport.org.za/cases/?name=&sport=Rugby&drug=0&submitted=submitted
LikeLiked by 1 person
@OT – I’d say his aim (and he’s looking directly at the French prop) is far and away more accurate than anything Scotland threw into a lineout on Saturday. No excusing the punch, but it does look to me like there was something in it.
LikeLike
He’ll be in for a ban. Whatever you think I’ve seen people banned for much much less.
LikeLike
Craigs, schools rugby in SA is hyper competitive – some have compared it to high school sports in the USA. Kids are getting scouted for pro sides at this level (hello Edinburgh!) and there is intense pressure to play for the ‘right’ schools to get the exposure to top coaches and sides.
Schools rugby is shown live on Supersport (like Sky) every weekend, the rugby festivals (which my school started even though we were shit at rugby) regularly attract bigger crowds than Super Rugby and even some of the derbies will attract crowds in excess of 10K people (probably more if they could fit more in).
Schools poach coaches from the pro unions and vice versa, so for me it probably, unfortunately, isn’t that surprising that drugs are more widely used. I’d also argue that the fact that players are getting caught is a good thing and shows that the system is working.
LikeLike
didn’t see much of the game – stuck in traffic from airport – tv highlights of the “incident” (and only saw it once) looked as though Scottish player who was punched “seemed” to land his hand on face of a French player – which seemed to trigger the Haouoas punch. As nothing was mentioned in news report, I assumed it was just how it seemed rather than what happened.
LikeLike
Just seen OT’s clip….. I was referring the all-in scuffle, but there doesn’t seem to be much in that before the punch.
Slowed down these things always look worse – but it does look like hand-to-eye area, even if the aim was just to fend off
LikeLike
Trisk, my interpretation of the Haining incident is that he was most likely going for a push, but you simply cannot push someone in the face, and the fact that he does make contact around the eye area means, for me, it’s a gouging offence and should be treated as such.
LikeLike
Probably a lower level gouging offence but Haining served a short ban already this season, two weeks for sticking the heid on an opponent, so he could be in for a longer rest
LikeLike
Imagine haining will be having a rest on the basis of that, even though it didn’t look an intentional eye poke
LikeLike
The reaction of the other French players to Haining’s ‘push’ suggests they saw enough to at least make a fuss about it. Agreed that slo-mo’s tend to exaggerate the effect, but you’re dumb to shove someone in the face these days. Fend him off? Push him in the chest. Think he’s getting a couple of weeks for it.
LikeLike
France Ireland postponed
LikeLike
‘France Ireland postponed’
Call it a draw.
LikeLike
Fuck* Rugby…………..read this and weep:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/russia-network-britons-enemies-vladimir-putin-report
* apologies
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marler and lawes cited
LikeLike
What did lawes do?
LikeLike
Iks
I have no idea!
Looks like we’ll have more time for sightseeing than previously planned!
LikeLike
‘Lock Lawes, 31, was cited for a dangerous tackle during his side’s 33-10 victory.
The pair will appear before a disciplinary hearing in Dublin on Thursday.’
Amazing this interweb thingy
LikeLike
Hauled to Dublin. What a trauma.
LikeLike
Scotland Wales to go ahead apparently
LikeLike
Scotland riding the wave……………
LikeLike
Deebee, I really enjoyed SA schools rugby and still watch it and follow it now.
The Paarl Boys v Gimmies game is fantastic, the week-long festival, hockey, rugby, debating, chess matches, Old Boys rugby match, and then 20+ games on Friday/Saturday, topped off with 20,000 (or so they claim) watching at the town stadium.
There have always been very strong schools but the process might be accelerated next year with this schools championship that’s being put together – Monnas, Paul Roos, Grey Bloem, the Paarl schools and Garsfontein (not quite the prestige Pretoria rugby school) plus some others.
Finally, have you followed that shocking story from Durban between Durban High and Glenwood, a poaching row that turned into an overage player row?
LikeLike
When the ref going through the red card process Ollivon kept repeating to look further back into incident.
LikeLike
I called out Lawes on here during the game. Just recklessness of the consequences of going for the big hit when a player is already tackled and heading to the floor. AWJ was under treatment for a minute or two thereafter, which might make a difference as to whether a player is cited or not in hindsight.
LikeLike
Respect to the give and take on the Marler incident on here btw. Some pitchfork but no mobbing.
LikeLike
Offer of a mini-tour of the Old Town rufty-tufty bars that allow smoking is still on for late Friday pm, if you and the Mister are around by then.
LikeLike
Forgot the @Thauma for that last post.
LikeLike
Here’s Martha Davis from the Motels. Always loved this song to bits from those grand times. I could even bear the sax solo.
LikeLike
Pretty sure the producer of the vid has dubbed the album recording onto a live version.
LikeLike
Lonely steal that. Like ploughing a furrow on an empty allotment at midnight before the frost sets in.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Iksy
Interesting about the ref.
I have no idea what the ref says to teams before an international game but I felt that there was a problem within the game that added to the stress on the French front Row / Scrum.
I found it difficult at times to understand what the ref was saying to the front rows (Ref mike very clear on FrencghTV) thanks to his very thick NZ accent and phraseology. He made no attempt to speak French.
I think that, as a result the less experienced started to feel hard done by and eventually the bubble popped.
Just a thought………………………………..
LikeLike
Don’t worry, fans of France (rugby). The team may have lost but the nation got back its self-respect at the weekend:
LikeLiked by 1 person
Slade, same here because I was watching the German broadcast so the ref-mic is quite audible. I thought the ref was pretty clear about explaining things without complexity or slurring.
LikeLike
It was more the other way around when Ollivon was trying to persuade him to look further back it looked like he was getting short shrift from the ref.
I think it is a serious point about fairness, because refs need a tick more patience to understand what the captain of a non English speaking team is trying to say.
LikeLike
Iks – that’ll be great, ta! I don’t normally stay up past 10, though, so it shouldn’t be a marathon sesh. :-)
LikeLike
Had not seen the Haining incident, which to me seems a fairly long ban will ensue, but I clearly remember Ollivon trying to convince the ref to look earlier. He adamantly refused and I thought it wasn’t fair. The ref probably thought ( rightly) that they had wasted enough time as it was.
Haouas was a clear RC, but in the light of the provocation, I think Haining would’ve coped a RC as well. Them the breaks….
Doesn’t change the fact that Scotland were the better team and deserved the win but as MrIks said, the refs might want to be a bit more patient with non English speaking captains.
LikeLiked by 4 people
@FBC ah you’re right about the term pearl-clutching – My bad, I shall avoid that one in future.
Regarding my take on AWJ, I was not trying to deflect away from the fact that Marler was out of order. I am in agreement that he has to have a lengthy ban. Neither was I attempting to draw an equivalence between his act and those of AWJ on other occasions. I was just expressing my view that AWJ was hypocritical in acting like he has never tried to wind up an opponent at the press conference (a point Will Carling also made on twitter, out of interest.)
Here’s the sequence as I see it:
– AWJ (in my eyes) makes a habit of trying to provoke opponents in a way I find distasteful.
– Marler attempts to provoke AWJ in a manner that was a lot worse than distasteful. It was bang out of order.
– AWJ acts in a press conference like he has never attempted to provoke an opponent.
My understanding of this community is that we come together to pick over and discuss all aspects of games and the game in general. AWJ is the captain of Wales and a prominent Lion. What he says and does matters, and therefore I didn’t think it off-limits to express my opinion on what he said. I don’t think it’s impossible to think both that Marler’s act was extraordinarily poor and that AWJ displayed some hypocrisy in his press conference.
LikeLiked by 6 people
“I have no idea what the ref says to teams before an international game but I felt that there was a problem within the game that added to the stress on the French front Row / Scrum.
I found it difficult at times to understand what the ref was saying to the front rows (Ref mike very clear on FrencghTV) thanks to his very thick NZ accent and phraseology. He made no attempt to speak French.
I think that, as a result the less experienced started to feel hard done by and eventually the bubble popped.”
Slade, I watched most of the first half again. I’ll admit my bias, of course I am looking from a Scottish perspective, but even, so the spider cam showed the Frech tighthead having a torrid time against Sutherland, I genuinly feel that he was lucky to not be penalised as much as the Italian tighhead was a couple of weeks ago.
Maybe, just maybe that added to his sense of frustration.
If the ref was more focussed on the actual scrum instead of waiting around, having a bit of a chat before setting it, I think Haouas would have either been sent to the bin or subbed for giving away too many penalties.
Having said that, all refs in the Six Nations should absolutely learn the appropriate terms in French and Italian, it’s not at all difficult.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Was it wrong that I laughed at the term pearl clutching and thought “that was what got Marler into trouble in the first place”?
I don’t really know what to think on the incident. I laughed heartily at Alfie’s joke, he was the only one around that table who could have made it.
If the incident had happened in any other workplace it’s a sackable offence, if it happened in the pub then it’s a case for the police if the victim decides it is.
The game is very different from my day, I was never grabbed by the bollocks, but I was bitten and punched and kicked. I think the only thing that would have sent me over the top, total red mist, would have been an attempt at a gouge, which thankfully never happened.
This will probably end Marler’s international career at the very least, and he can’t really have any complaints, it was as idiotic as the punch on Sunday
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dab. You’ve explained your position there, no judgement from me.
I’d still forward the argument that maybe he wasn’t acting like he’s never tried to wind someone up himself. We cant know for sure but theres a chance that being victim to an entirely different incident of ‘winding up’ (not the right phrase for JM’s actions in my view) might have been genuinely upsetting.
Or unnerving. Or embarrassing. Whatever.
Like yos, I’ll die on a hill over this one. There is no equivalent that isn’t the exact same that be used to invoke hypocrisy or whatabouterry.
Could be AWJ was making too big a deal and acting all hurt, I suppose.
Many a bad person got away with bad things by creating that impression about their victim.
LikeLike
Ticht. Putting the individual aside for a moment, do you not think the excuses and ‘laughing it off’ element is part of a wider issue?
Alfie made a joke. Which in itself was funny and we have some admiration for his bravery but I’m not , personally having that as okay either.
He said it never happened to him. Like AWJ I suspect, but can’t know, he’d have dealt with ot okay, but this still plays into the thought that if you think they can take it and laugh, we can all have a laugh or perhaps excuse or mitigate it. Or somehow say they’ve previously done something different that removes their right to complain.
LikeLike
Great kick to win a semi-final and a nice routine before the kick:
LikeLike
Dova, I do have some problems with my own reaction, yeah.
What Alfie said was very funny and diffused the immediate situation in the studio, I think that is his character, going on what I’ve seen of him on tv, he is a funny guy
It’s not that long ago that he, a Welsh Rugby Union captain, got beaten up in Cardiff by some homophobic fuckwits, he has the right to deal with his situation in any way he likes as far as I’m concerned.
LikeLike
It’s a weird one this, as it looks like I’m only going after a bloke who assaulted another bloke.
Reason being that it seems like an opportunity where it might resonate with blokes.
I don’t believe anyone here would think some ‘low level’ sexual touching of a female by a man would be something to laugh about.
My question isn’t how is this different. It might be or not depending on things we cant know about the people involved (and not just, maybe they are gay, that’s irrelevant)
I just would like, politely , for people to consider whether lots of people shrugging this off or implying the damage is fake without knowing is a good thing.
LikeLike