That’s what I get for venturing a rugby opinion on a rugby Notablog: roped into writing about some rugby stuff rather than wittering nonsense. Well, it may still be nonsense, but there we go. Teams haven’t been announced as of this writing, but without further ado some ‘ predictions’:
Leinster vs Saracens
What I said previously: “I can see Sarries giving the Blue Evil a run for their money at the weekend, possibly even sneaking it”.
I’ll stand by this. It’s suitably vague for me to claim a win whichever way it goes. And whichever way it goes, evil wins. Salary cap busters and relegation fodder Sarries, with their strong squad – albeit minus a finally-sanctioned Faz – vs the giant-squad-sized Pro-14 champs-for-life Blue Meanies. Who would bet against Leinster at home? However home advantage may not count for much in a crowdless stadium, and impending relegation doesn’t seem to have dented the Londoners’ squad or resolve significantly so far.
Ones to watch
Leinster: Sexton was relegated to the bench for last week’s ProWoo final in favour of Byrne which seemed to do Leinster no harm whatsoever.
Saracens: Fez is serving his ban but watch him anyway. Very carefully.
ASM Clermont Auvergne vs. Racing 92
What I said previously: “No idea about Racing vs Clermont”.
Still no clue really: not been following the Top 14 at all of late. Finn plays for Racing, though, and he keeps doing funky stuff which hits YouTube highlights when not taking a strop with Scotland management. They’re probably pretty good overall, as *taps in search quickly* they are top of the T14 at the moment! Okay, only two games into the season, but still top – and won both of them.
ASM are third, having won one less game, but are at home (got beaten by Bayonne last time out, however), and they don’t lose at home that often. And they play in yellow. Are crowds allowed in for this one? I don’t even know that.
Ones to watch
Racing 92: Finn! Watch him dance; see him spin!
ASM: err *hastily types in search* Oooh, Damian Penaud! He’s pretty handy.
Toulouse vs. Ulster
What I said previously: “Step too far for Ulster, vs Toulouse”.
Facing Toulouse at their home ground is a hell of a challenge, and while Ulster have made big strides in recent years under Dan McFarland, this may be one a bit too large. Still, should be able to make a fight of it, coming from behind to squeak past Wmbra in the ProWoo QF (boo!) before being pipped by Leinster in the final.
Toulouse are one of the big names in Europe with actual cup wins and stuff, and a squad stuffed with talent, both home-grown (current France half-backs) and foreign (including Cheslin Kolbe). There have been no cup wins since 2010 and I’m sure they’ll be wanting their name on the cup once again.
Ones to watch
Ulster: Marcell Coetzee. Not flashy but very solid.
Toulouse: Romain Ntamack. The silky hair and dreamy eyes.
Exeter Chiefs vs. Northampton Saints
What I said previously: “Exeter will biff Northampton”.
Probably true. The cultural appropriators have been winning a lot even when putting out B teams (yes, I know they got done by Sarries last weekend), whereas Northampton’s form has gone off a cliff a bit. Exeter are a well-known quantity now, but teams still don’t know how to stop them when they get into the oppo 22. They combine a beastly pack with some incisive backs and are a contender for the whole log this year, one suspects. Northampton were riding high in 2019 and early 2020 but their freewheeling style seems to have hit a bumpy patch, and they lost to basement-dwellers Tiggers last outing. Can only see one winner here.
Ones to watch
Exeter: There’s no I in team.
Northampton: The ref needs to heed Big Dan Biggar’s advice.
As predicted by Chimpie
On the telly
Friday 18th September
| Bristol v Dragons | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 19th September
| Reds v Brumbies | 09:45 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Bordeaux v Edinburgh | 12:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Leinster v Saracens | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Clermont v Racing 92 | 17:45 | BT Sport 3 |
| Toulon v Scarlets | 20:15 | S4C / BT Sport 3 |
Sunday 20th September
| Toulouse v Ulster | 12:30 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 3 |
| Leicester v Castres | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Exeter v Northampton | 17:30 | BT Sport 3 |
Monday 21st September
| Sale v Harlequins | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
CMW – I’ve seen Take That live. Robbie was there and everything.
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@Craigs – I’ll only watch it if Gav’s in it too. Both Gavs if you need two team captains .
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You, Gav and Gav could perform a Take That song at the end. Perhaps alongside a lucky winner.
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I’ve seen Fake That.
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Ticht – I’m assuming that was a tribute act. Mrs Craig’s dragged me for her birthday to the real deal in Wembley. It was one of the worst crowds I’ve ever been in.
Fuck That were supported by the Pet Shop Boys which was a vague trip down memory lane.
The best bit was the camera panning the audience and a fan got her bewbs out. Which wasn’t as exciting as it sounds.
Otherwise it was really shit. Worse than the Stereophonics in Cardiff. At least they were just boring.
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Gav? Thought he was going to League.
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Craigs, yeah Fake That were a tribute act – at a bar/restaurant on Menorca.
Really crap food, Estrella lager in pints and Fake That for entertainment. We had a laugh about it all and our daughters enjoyed the holiday.
The bay about 30 mins walk from where we were staying was gorgeous, crystal clear water which you could walk in up to oh, 50-75m from the shore and it was about my shoulder depth. The water was warm in the morning so we’d get there about 8ish and swim for a couple of hours before anyone got out of their beds – we had the place to ourselves.
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Don’t have a Take That story, unfortunately.
Over to you, OT.
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Got Kylie story tho. Was on a Quantas flight to Sydney an this little pixie girl came out or first class. Sat next to me for a bit, and then the cabin crew offered me loads of goodies and free booze to move so she could have the row to herself. Girl said she had just left Barcelona and was heading home. She also said the Guardian, which I was reading, was a good paper.
Turns out……….
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@sbt
Mark Owen is an Oldham Roman Catholic so we know many of the same people. I once answered the phone to a Northern Irish girl who had got hold of the Oldham phone book and was going through it line by line to try and find out where he had moved to (he used to live on Copsterhill Road).
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South African rugby kicks off again on Saturday with a double-header at Loftus.
This is the Bulls squad to play the Sharks:
Bulls squad – Clinton Swart, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Jacques van Rooyen, Kurt-lee Arendse, Corniel Els, Morne Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Jade Stighling, Stravino Jacobs, Duane Vermeulen (c), Arno Botha, Chris Smith, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, David Kriel, Muller Uys, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Schalk Erasmus, Jan-Hendrick Wessels, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Juandre Kruger, Nizaam Carr, Tim Agaba, Embrose Papier, Cornal Hendricks, Gio Aplon.
Three scrum halves, two of whom I don’t much like, and a few returning players I do – Arno Botha and Jason Jenkins, Gio and young J-H Wessles. Plus, the very good Muller Uys and David Kriel, a young back three player.
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And your Deebee’s Lions team to play the Stormers:
Lions – 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies (c), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Dylan Smith.
Subs: 16 Sti Sithole, 17 Jan-Henning Campher, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 Reinhard Nothnagel, 21 MJ Pelser, 22 Francke Horn, 23 Len Massyn, 24 Dillon Smit, 25 Gianni Lombard, 26 Stean Pienaar, 27 Daniel Kriel, 28 Manuel Rass, 29 Jamba Ulengo, 30 EW Viljoen.
Too many Lions.
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But the bench has got a good deal of young talent – Lombard and Rass I’ve mentioned on here before. Francke Horn is a top player. And Number 21 Pelser is a good lad. He played centre at school but has been converted to the flank.
Having said that, Stormers by 53.
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SBT has met Aisley Myrow!
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@Iks – As I understand it he was kicked out of his seat on a plane to make way for a pixie that turned out to be Mark Owen, a Roman Catholic from Oldham who knows many of the same people as OT and was in Take That. I might have read it wrong though.
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Ticht will be along shortly with evidence that Aisley Myrow is really a very good singer when she’s not just cashing in on her popstardom.
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You never read it wrong, CMW.
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As far as the Brood are concerned the current songs of choice are:
1. Hot and Cold by Katy Perry
2. Single Ladies by Beyonce
The first of these contains some highly dubious and inappropriate lyrics some of which have had to be stamped on, but is nevertheless pretty funny when sung by a three year old. There is a little dance she does when the reaches the word bipolar that would have the rest of it drowned out by deafening Beadle-klaxons. As far as I can tell she doesn’t seem to have been put up to the dance either by her sisters or by anything in the video.
Single Ladies has had some truly bizarre renditions from the Little One. On occasion she will just sidle up to people and say, very calmly and apropos of nothing, that if they like it they should put a ring on it. She’s been putting small boys up to saying the same thing at Nursery School. Her best version involves belting out “Like it, ring on it!” three times then shouting “Ladies!” and headbanging for a couple of minutes. It’s very punk.
The older ones sing the songs, but just don’t have the same chutzpah.
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@Iks – I don’t know, I have been accused of getting the wrong end of the stick recently.
During our isolation last week while we were waiting for the Little One to get a Covid test the girls went a bit mad with chalks in the back garden. I didn’t realise until I went out to clear up later and found that among other things The Eldest had written “I’m just wondering, wondering, wondering, when will my life begin?” on the garden gate. She had been in a foul mood having been sent home from school and then arguing about the need to do the work set for her on Google Classroom. Rising to the new parenting challenge as you would expect I decided that I didn’t know where to start and said nothing about it for the next couple of days. We then found ourselves watching the film Tangled – the Disney cartoon retelling of Rapunzel. Turns out the “When will my Life Begin?” thing is a song out of that. This was news to me so I finally told her I’d been worrying about her existential angst because of the graffiti. “Don’t be silly Daddy, it’s just my favourite song out of Tangled”.
Anyway she was out of her funk to some extent so I took the piss out of her for a bit. Accused her of turning into a character out of a book – Clarice Bean’s brother Karl – who just sits in his room wearing T-Shirts saying “Bored Beyond Belief” and suchlike. She got a bit fed up and told me she knew I was just taking the mickey out of her, she wasn’t suffering from existential angst whatever that was and in any case I knew it was just a song out of Tangled. “OK” I said “So why have you also written “I am Resilient” on the wall of the house?”
“That’s just a song by Katy Perry”.
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On this day….
“The Charlatans were arrested by 24-armed police after a flight to New York.”
Just wonder where they would put all those arms…
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Only one album tonight. It was 30 years ago today….
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AC/DC do pop! Sort of…
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And of course, the best known track from that album….
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BB, don’t know why, but Money Talks strikes me as the closest Brian song to Bon Scott. Maybe its that Angus’ guitar sounds a little lighter, more rock’n’roll/ bluesy feel in the solos. Dunno.
CMW, have you played the girls any AC/DC ?
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@SBT – I don’t play them enough music, must do something about that. Then again if Alvin and the Chipmunks don’t sing it you’ll be struggling to get through to them. All part of the death of our culture, so it goes.
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CMW – I know Tangled, perhaps too well. Got your daughter’s reference immediately.
We drove to northern Spain in 2016 and had a few films downloaded onto a tablet. It was that and Angry Birds on repeat the whole time.
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@Craigs – I have to admit it’s a pretty appropriate one for the situation. To be honest I think she has been struggling with things – she knew what she was writing even if calling it a ‘cry for help’ would be going much too far. Having to isolate only a week after finally getting back to school was a bit much for her to take and there was a good bit of discussion with her of that along with the mickey-taking and silliness. For the most part though by way of trying to look after everyone’s sanity my approach is something along the lines of ‘where would we be without the latter?’
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CMW – I remember at the end of last term my youngest went to nursery and my middle child went back to school for 2 weeks. My eldest suddenly found herself on her own doing remote lessons. It was pretty grim tbh.
Kids get through it though and I’m sure your daughter will be fine once everyone gets it (Tuesday at this rate).
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Deid.
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Good guys:
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Alex Goode, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Dom Morris
Bad guys:
Racing 92: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Olivier Klemenczak, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Teddy Iribaren (c), 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Fabien Sanconnie, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Georges Henri Colombe, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Hassane Kolingar, 18 Ali Oz, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Antoine Gibert, 23 Francois Trinh-Duc
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Good guys by a score.
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I think you may have the wrong good guys, Craigs.
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I was considering editing that post….
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Sbt – pretty sure the team sheet is accurate.
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Deserved tourney winners/heroes which maidens will sing songs about in future ages:
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Alex Goode, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Dom Morris
Meat for the grinder:
Racing 92: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Olivier Klemenczak, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Teddy Iribaren (c), 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Fabien Sanconnie, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Georges Henri Colombe, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Hassane Kolingar, 18 Ali Oz, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Antoine Gibert, 23 Francois Trinh-Duc
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New post soon.
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