Pro-14 semi-final playoffs: can anyone stop the Blue Meanies? Can our heroes defeat plucky underdugs Edinburgh?
Then there’s North Island v South Island where, as Iks says, How does one pick ‘my’ team in that N – S clash? Darkness or more Darkness? Sauron vs King Ghidorah? Who are the underdogs?
And some English Premiership matches with some rather gruelling-looking midweek fixtures as well as the weekend ones.
And …
Happy 60th to TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA!
On the telly
Friday 4th September
| Worcester v Bristol | 18:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Leinster v Munster | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Northampton v Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 5th September
| North Island v South Island | 05:00 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Rebels v Western Force | 06:00 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Reds v Brumbies | 10:15 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Saracens v Wasps | 12:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Harlequins v Bath | 14:00 | Channel 5 / BT Sport 1 |
| Leicester v Sale | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Gloucester v London Irish | 16:30 | BT Sport 1 |
| Edinburgh v Ulster | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
Tuesday 8th September
| Bristol v Northampton | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Wednesday 9th September
| Exeter v Gloucester | 17:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wasps v Leicester | 17:30 | BT Sport 1 |
| Sale v Saracens | 18:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| London Irish v Harlequins | 19:45 | BT Sport Extra |
| Bath v Worcester | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
There’s a liberal dose of ring salt
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I’m sure Leinster will grind Ulster into the turf if that’s any consolation.
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So now it’s:
Scotland, France, Italy & Fiji
England, Ireland, Wales & Georgia
Apparently
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Probably just as well that Wales have got Georgia rather than Fiji for the traditional loads of changes no AWJ game. Should mean we just bore everyone to tears rather than actually lose though you never know.
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It’s an interesting proposition. I could see Scotland doing anything from winning 3 games to cocking them all up.
RE the last 6N game vs Wales I had a smidgeon of confidence before going to Cardiff. Have much less now at turning them over.
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@CMW isn’t this new exciting PivacWales?
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@Chimpie – If you say so.
It is a bit of a concern that we’re not getting to play Scotland.
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We are, CMW. In the 6 Nations catch-up games. Hallowe’en.
NZ saying they might try a 3-test series with SA over Christmas. That’ll be the best thing Coronavirus has wrought.
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Only saw the highlights of Ulster’s win v Edinburgh. Enjoyed Marcell Coetzee’s impression of Mata to set up the score for little Lyttle.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg’s in isoation so NH Coronavirus making a brave bid to derail a Boks-Blacks test series for my top Coronavirus moment.
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” In the 6 Nations catch-up games. Hallowe’en.”
That’s all right then.
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I am so ashamed of my country as demonstrated by its elected government……………………….
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I see Alan Minter has died.
I watched a lot of his fights, I can still remember when he lost his world title to Marvin Hagler, but not for the hundreds of drunk Minter fans who pelted the ring after the defeat of their guy, but for the way Hagler battered him, it could be only time I’ve seen a world champion have nothing left, not even a will to go on, and that was after three rounds.
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TomP, it looks like the 4N will be played in Australia in November/December, largely in NSW. However, it’s dependent on SA and Argentina being able to play rugby before then. We’re on tenterhooks down here, with an announcement expected next week, which many think will ease restrictions further, allowing contact sport and international travel, so let’s see.
We’ll be having a Currie Cup of sorts as warm up, although obviously quite a bit of our squad is in Europe or Japan, so I’m not sure of the logistics of that or what state of match readiness they’ll be in? When does the next Pro 14 season start? How long to go in the EPL and then how long before they start again? And T14? J-League? All still a bit confusing, to say the least.
For the Kiwis, I’m assuming they’ll keep sharp through Mitre Cup action, but what about Australia and the Pumas?
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Ticht, that was a glorious era of boxing, with Hagler, Hearns, Duran, Leonard, Carlos Monzon just before they hit their peaks, and a couple of others who probably would have been champions in any other era, but for that fabulous foursome. Loved watching boxing then, but it’s all gone a bit meh these days.
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Yeah, saw the SARugbymag pieces about it this morning. I’d say it’s all still up in the air.
World Rugby need to put it (have already?) in a window so your overseas players can make it. I saw Diamond said the Sale players would be free to go to training camps and to play. But de Jager’s fucked again. Plus, no Snyman so suddenly the 2nd row looks a little light.
Pro14/12 is supposed to start in early October. The English league in November. The Euro Cup in December. Top 14’s already underway.. J-league usually starts in December
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Monzon was earlier than that, no?
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The heavyweight division had just started to slide into a dull patch (still way better than most of this century though!) by the early 80s when I started watching boxing, with Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton et al all a bit long in the tooth. Larry Holmes was some machine, but the Spinks brothers were probably two of the luckiest heavyweight champions, with most of the top guys well past their prime.
We had a coupe of apartheid-era great white hopes in Gerrie Coetzee (a genuinely excellent boxer, but with a suspect chin and tin-man’s heart) and Kallie Knoetse (less skill, but a brawlers relish for the fight) and some pantomime plonkers like Mike Schutte, Jimmy Abbott and others who were bar brawlers turned pro. Made for good viewing, if not much of a boxing experience!
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Thanks TomP – yeah 3 of our World Cup locks are currently injured.
Monzon’s career was just tailing off when Hagler et al were coming to the fore. If you Google it, you can find a couple of ‘what if’ bouts between Monzon and Hagler. Just reading up on Coetzee, he would have been a tiny heavyweight today at 1.89m and around 115kg.
I may have been a bit unfair on Michael Spinks who was an unbelievable light heavyweight, maybe one of the best, but he didn’t have a great pool of fighters to benchmark himself against in the top division. Not his fault, I suppose!
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Benitez, whose name I vaguely recall, was just outside that top tier of middleweights. He beat Duran but lost to Hearns and Leonard. The Duran and Hearns fights were light-middleweight. The Robinson was at welterweight.
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South African boxing history is fascinating. I’m more into the Dingaan Thobela,, Thulani Malinga, Brian Mitchell period.
“Mshaye Big John Tate” as the saying goes.
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Next year this advert will be 30 years old. We used to take the piss out of it quite regularly at school
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The glamour of working in a high street bank with the music off of Miami Vice.
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This one makes me want to chew my arm off
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That’s a very interesting ad. It was found footage of authentic Northern life that they put a soundtrack and voiceover on.
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Mrs Tichtheid and Middle Tichtlet were you n Sweden 18 months ago, they read that hardly anywhere took cash, but they got some Krona anyway. They returned with every penny of it.
The cash machines in the ad there made me think of this, I can see everywhere going cashless now.
It would have a huge impact on the underground economy – hash dealers with contactless card machines?
I can’t really see it.
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Fucking ipad typing is responsible for that “you n” there,
in Sweden, not you n Sweden
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@ticht
The government will find it much harder to confiscate cash from people in cash form rather than electronically (bit like they did in Cyprus and has been proposed as a way of balancing the covid books in the UK)
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Ticht, won’t the deals be done just using an EFT? Someone I know here – not me! – orders from his dealer this way. He said it was boom time for dealers when lockdown started as there was a huge rush to get some stuff in.
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TomP – this article is something you’ll like. I’d forgotten just how galvanising boxing was at that time in SA. It really did provide us with a sense of belonging and pride across the nation at a very uncertain, dangerous time in our history.
https://www.newframe.com/south-africas-golden-age-of-boxing/
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I don’t know whatEFT is, electronic financial transfer, perhaps?
My guess would be that it’s a lot easier to track “unaccountable” money for which there is a digital record rather than cash which has to be laundered
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TomP, I can confirm that EFT is used to pay for illicit goods here in SA. I bought booze and cigarettes this way when both were banned under our daft restrictions. I’d imagine though that if you’re a dealer and get bust, it does offer a nice paper trail for the police to work with. Maybe everyone will go Bitcoin for a puff of doobie?
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I have had about three quid cash on me since March, I used two of it for parking before I realised I didn’t need it and could pay via my phone.
I’ve had the remaining quid in my wallet for about six weeks, I use it for the shopping trolley
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Deebee, I read that when it came out. That’s where I remembered the names from.
I like that site. The piece about the SA draughts/checkers champ is terrific.
Have you read The Dancing Shoes book by Gavin Evans? A bit of a sprawl but some very good stuff in there.
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Ticht, I haven’t use a cash machine this year but like having cash on me. Fortunately, I have couple of jobs that, um, optimise my taxable income so I can get along that way..
For some psychological reason, I don’t like paying very small amounts – under 100 crowns here, in the UK it’d be under a fiver – by card.
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Tom, I was the same but since lockdown it’s become the norm, I buy a single loaf of bread from the baker’s using my card
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Cashless society is how the lizard people will exert their control
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Wake up sheeple!
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I used to look after the ‘cash process’ at Barclays. Probably one of the more interesting things I did as I saw the cash processing in the branch (and heard about how a cashier had been conned into handing over £4k in her first week, also witnessed someone trying to withdraw money using their sister’s card) and visited the cash processing centre in King’s Cross. That felt like a spie film because you wouldn’t know it was there unless you knew where the (almost) secret entrance was. I saw £1bn in physical cash, in one place.
My reaction to the second ad was to tut over the lack of helmet. In 5 years people will probably say the same about face masks.
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Deebs leading the way for blog criminality!
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Banking ads are, on the whole, vomitous and make me want to hurt the people involved.
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‘I saw £1bn in physical cash, in one place.’
coins, notes or a mix? Imagine the security was quite serious.
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Face masks are also a lizardly plot. Along with 5G.
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Remember how I said the 04/01 was my probable moving in date?
How young and naive I was then…
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Chimpie – mainly notes. Some coins. It was a joint venture between the high street banks so the piles of cash were kept in separate cages in one big room. It included retail and corporate cash separately too.
Security was very tight but I’m a company man so they let me straight in.
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@craigs
I’ve heard it’s just like filling a photocopier EXCEPT THE PAPER’S MORE EXPENSIVE!!
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Interesting that the first ad seemed to encourage relationships in the workplace.
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It was 1991, the Dark Ages.
This was 1982:
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OT – yeah but the scams are fun. And the little old ladies who squirrel all their change away to give to their grandkids savings account.
I also covered account opening and sat in whilst someone translated for their grandmother opening her account. She was from gujurat and couldn’t remember her birthday or exact age so guesstimate based on what she told them. Which was that she was about 12 when she married ‘some years’ after Partition.
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