None of you will be able to contain your excitement at the prospect of the Leinster v Ulster Pro-Woo final on Saturday. The good news for Ulster is that Iain Henderson is fit and starting, and Johnny Sexton is starting on the pine. The bad news for Ulster is that John Cooney has been relegated to the bench in favour of one Alby Mathewson, who has apparently played for some non-European side called the All-Blacks. Oh, and the fact that they are playing Leinster.
On the telly
Saturday 12th September
| Reds v Rebels | 10:15 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Leinster v Ulster | 18:30 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 13th September
| Wasps v Bristol | 12:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Leicester v Northampton | 14:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| London Irish v Worcester | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Sale v Bath | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Saracens v Exeter | 16:30 | BT Sport 1 |
Monday 14th September
| Gloucester v Harlequins | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Just in case anyone should feel left out by missing it, Iks posted this on the last one.
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?????????
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Bloody hell, just noticed I’m second (!) on the Pro Woo ‘Bru! Won’t be able to catch Lara though. Seem to have sneaked up there without me noticing. I used to get “You have done really well this weekend” or “You have done really shit this weekend” emails, but don’t seem to get them now. Did notice that Nostradamiks’ touch has deserted him though.
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Nice rescuing, Tim. Her Omnipotence decapitated my blog death row steal Manövers, ruthlessly.
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I’ve backed Ulster on the ‘bru, Thauma. Don’t be hasty with your wrath.
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Iks, I was going to memory-hole your end-of-thread efforts, and the unfortunate zombie-like reappearance of the last one here, but you mollified me with your 17:59.
Unless, of course, that’s the kiss of death.
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I’m not surprised – Ulster looked way better last week when Albie came on.
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Cooney had definitely been having a couple of off days. But I think we need to keep him in Ireland, and starting.
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“your” Exeter Team to face Saracens:
CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE SARACENS
15 Phil Dollman, 14 Josh Hodge, 13 Corey Baldwin, 12 Tom Wyatt, 11 Facundo Cordero
10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Joe Snow
1 Billy Keast, 2 Jack Innard, 3 Alfie Petch, 4 Will Witty, 5 Tom Price, 6 Sean Lonsdale, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Don Armand (capt)
16 Jordon Poole, 17 James Kenny, 18 Matt Johnson, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Aaron Hinkley, 21 Will Yarnell, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 Luke Mehson
Crikey!…………………..it’s the Youth team plus pre-retirement guests!
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He’s not going anywhere, is he?
He’s a decent player but not that good. And a few times when I’ve seen him you can get to him. Ulster’s outside halves aren’t quite good enough to take the pressure off him. The back row is but modern rugby’s a bit beyond that.
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Slade – what’s the latest on Hoggy’s injury? Baxter didn’t seem to think it was too bad.
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TomP – based on the last few months pre-lockdown, I think Cooney is our best 9. Murray was definitely off-form; perhaps just tired.
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One of The The replacement props looks interesting, Slade.
Baldwin’s a neat player. Hope he does a good job.
Saracens (with number of appearances before in (brackets))
15 Will Hooley (2) 14 Rotimi Segun (32) 13 Dom Morris (23) 12 Harry Sloan (2) 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo (14)
10 Manu Vunipola (25) 9 Tom Whiteley (47)
1 Sam Crean (11) 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (11) 3 Alec Clarey (4) 4 Joel Kpoku (34) 5 Callum Hunter-Hill (20) 6 Calum Clark (53) 7 Sean Reffell (24) 8 Janco Venter (2)
16 Tom Woolstencroft (39) 17 Robin Hislop (1) 18 Josh Ibuanokpe (15) 19 Cameron Boon (2) 20 Andy Christie (12) 21 Alex Day (5) 22 Juan Pablo Socino (5) 23 Josh Hallett (0)
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thaum, Cooney’s all right. You’ve got it as well that he was looking good pre-Covid.
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Callum Hunter-Hill has made 20 appearances for Sarries already?
That notches up quickly.
No one is talking about what went on with him that led to the move from Edinburgh before this season began, but he is a good player, just the sort you’d think Cockers would want in his side, but something happened, I think
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Had arranged to go to a rugby game tomorrow but it got called off today because of something Covid related. A pisser. Football might go the same way here as number of cases have shot up recently.
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TomP – we have two good Irish-qualified scrum-halves in Ireland, and I want both of them to be starting.
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Plus, how come we had to get rid of Pienaar, and now it’s okay to have an AB?!!
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Bringing through local talent
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Mr Cotter (and Olive and Mabel) back again. Loved the line about NASA….
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Just as Pienaar robbed Paul Marshall of a career as an all-time Irish great, Cooney will suffer the same fate at the hands of whoeveritis.
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Just finished watching the second episode of American Soul on BBC4. It covered the late 60s and early 70s. Some stone cold classics on there, like this….
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And this…
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And, possibly the best of the lot (?), this….
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I’ve still to catch up on the Soul programmes, BB
btw, the Proms tonight was ace, the Kanneh-Masons, or two of ’em, doing their thing.
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I’ve been enjoying them Ticht, but I wonder how much more of the Aretha, Marvin, Otis, Diana, Sam, Stevie story there is to tell.
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Reds beat the Rebels to set up a Final against the Brumbies. Both sides suffered a number of injuries in what was a hard, and hard fought match. 25-13 doesn’t really tell the story, with the Rebels actually dominating territory for long periods but not able to get over the line. Should be a good match next week!
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Some absolute all time classic music you guys have posted/talked about there. Magical.
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Toots RIP
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Have an Uncertain Smile, TomP. A day too late.
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Picking up on Slade’s ire, I am in the process of sorting out my German pension for next year (early retirement, you lot).
The pension authorities have queried whether existing agreements will stand after Jan 2021, and if I can find anything specific out from the UK pension folks. Of course I can’t, because the depends on negotiations around the Withdrawal Agreement.
And then along comes Johnson and his big fat stupid oar.
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Jeebus, Iks – that’s bad. Fingers crossed for you.
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Met a friend this afternoon for a beer and catch-up and our lads played a bit of rugby and ad a bit of a run.
He’s been playing a fair bit of disc golf with another mate recently and told me they’d just been on a tour of South Bohemia, where they visited disc golf courses in 3 towns in 2 days. I asked if he was any kid and he said not really but a mate of theirs. who I don’t know, is a natural.
“It’s really irritating. He got a hole-in-one the first time he played. But he can turn his hand to anything – he’s a Czech pool international and won a million dollars in a poker competition.”
Not quite what springs to mind when I think of an all-round sportsman but still.
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Mr IKs, if it’s a civil service pension they will pay it to any bank account you choose in the world, well almost, there are only a couple of countries not listed.
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Right, I’m going to park the bitter disappointment of last week and enjoy the final.
I’d like to think Ulster have a chance, especially with Hendo back.
I’ll be supporting the Nordies.
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I’d like to think so too, but I don’t…. ;-)
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When is kick off?
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19:35 here, Deebee, so in about forty minutes
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Thanks Ticht. Was worried they weren’t gonna show it here.
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Lets see if this work, a bit of Finn from last night
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mind you, that first one took a heck of a lot of finishing
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Here we go, shortly! Predict Leinster will score in the first minute.
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But, no! It’s Ulster scoring at 3:49!!!!!
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Brilliant try
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Please, Robson, you don’t have to fill every single second with your voice
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UL-fucking-STER!
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Bah, the Blue Meanies score, and I bet they won’t miss the conversion like Billy Burns did.
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Leinster getting into the groove. Unlike Madonna, it’s a bit brutal.
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That intensity of attack is really top end stuff from Leinster
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