
I considered writing a proper Six Nations preview for this weekend’s match, but as it’s Ireland v Italy, decided not to bother. This means that I have probably jinxed Ireland. Italy by 5.
You can have the teams for the internationals, though.
Scotland v Georgia

Scotland: 15. Blair Kinghorn, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Chris Harris, 12. James Lang, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Adam Hastings, 9. Ali Price, 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. Fraser Brown (capt), 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Ben Toolis, 5. Scott Cummings, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Hamish Watson, 8. Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: 16. Stuart McInally, 17. Oli Kebble, 18. Simon Berghan, 19. Rob Harley, 20. Nick Haining, 21. Cornell du Preez, 22. George Horne, 23. Finn Russell.
Georgia: 15. Soso Matiashvili, 14. Akaki Tabutsadze, 13. Deme Tapladze, 12. Merab Sharikadze (capt), 11. Sandro Todua, 10. Tedo Abzhandadze, 9. Vasil Lobzhanidze, 1. Mikheil Nariashvili, 2. Jaba Bregvadze, 3. Lexo Kaulashvili, 4. Nodar Cheishvili, 5. Grigol Kerdikoshvili, 6. Otar Giorgadze, 7. Beka Saghinadze, 8. Beka Gorgadze.
Replacements: 16. Shalva Mamukashvili, 17. Guram Gogichashvili, 18. Giorgi Melikidze, 19. Giorgi Javakhia, 20. Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21. Gela APrasidze, 22. Giorgi Kveseladze, 23. Tamaz Mchedlidze.
That’s a very Giorgi-heavy bench.
Ireland v Italy

Ireland: 15. Jacob Stockdale, 14. Andrew Conway, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Hugo Keenan, 10. Jonathan Sexton (C), 9. Conor Murray; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Andrew Porter, 4. Tadhg Beirne, 5. James Ryan, 6. Caelan Doris, 7. Will Connors, 8. CJ Stander
Replacements: 16. Dave Heffernan, 17. Ed Byrne, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Ultan Dillane, 20. Peter O’Mahony, 21. Jamison Gibson-Park, 22. Ross Byrne, 23. Robbie Henshaw
Italy: 15. Jayden Hayward, 14. Edoardo Padovani, 13. Luca Morisi, 12. Carlo Canna, 11. Mattia Bellini, 10. Paolo Garbisi, 9. Marcello Violi; 1. Danilo Fischetti, 2. Luca Bigi (C), 3. Giosuè Zilocchi, 4. Marco Lazzaroni, 5. Niccolò Cannone, 6. Sebastian Negri, 7. Braam Steyn, 8. Jake Polledri
Replacements: 16. Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17. Simone Ferrari, 18. Pietro Ceccarelli, 19. David Sisi, 20. Johan Meyer, 21. Maxime Mbanda, 22. Callum Braley, 23. Federico Mori
France v Wales

France: Anthony Bouthier; Teddy Thomas, Vrimi Vakatawa, Gael Fickou, Vincent Rattez; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas; Bernard Le Roux, Damien Willemse; François Cros, Charles Ollivon (capt), Gregory Aldritt.
Reps: Camille Chat, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Demba Bamba, Romain Taofifenua, Dylan Cretin, Baptiste Serin, Arthur Vincent, Thomas Ramos.
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; George North, Jonathan Davies, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams; Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb; Rhys Carre, Ryan Elias, Samson Lee, Cory Hill, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.
Reps: Sam Parry, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, James Davies, Gareth Davies, Rhys Patchell, Louis Rees-Zammit.
On the telly
Friday 23rd October
| Pumas v Stormers | 17:55 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Scotland v Georgia | 19:30 | ITV4 |
| Leinster v Zebre | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Treviso v Scarlets | 20:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
Saturday 24th October
| Lions v Cheetahs | 15:25 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Ireland v Italy | 15:30 | ITV / STV |
| Ospreys v Glasgow | 17:30 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Bulls v Sharks | 17:55 | Sky Sport Arena |
| Exeter v Wasps | 18:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Ireland v Italy (women) | 18:30 | iPlayer |
| France v Wales | 20:00 | S4C / ITV4 |
Sunday 25th October
| Scotland v France (women) | 14:20 | BBC Sport website / BBC Alba |
| Ulster v Dragons | 15:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Edinburgh v Connacht | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
Monday 26th October
| Munster v Cardiff | 20:15 | Premier Sports 1 |

But the inevitable happens. Well done l’Écosse.
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Another maul try! Once we get the speed up there’s no stopping us!
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Finn’s on. Time to tighten the game up…..
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Caledonia river flow so wide
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Close for Darcy there. Not seen much of Big Duhan tonight. His time will come though.
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Yet another maul try! We’ve turned into South Africa. At least Hastings gets a conversion this time.
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I did think Fraser Brown might be disappointed to be taken off with a very obvious chance of a hat-trick on.
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Big Duhan in for the try! Told you he would do it…..
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Great look of slight panic in Toolis’ face as he made the break and looked for support.
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Forward pass to put him away, but nice run. Not convinced it was a deliberate knock on, not that it matters.
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Complete rout!
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That was nice. Maul, switch to Horne then quick pass to Darcy and he’s in the corner.
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“We’ve turned into South Africa”
Once they hear about the cultural similarities and lack of a large black population you’ll have loads of them moving up there. Might even manage to get a few to turn out for your team. Deebee says you’re welcome to them if you do.
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Scotland are even catching kick-offs now.
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Hamish MotM.
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Watson gets Mish of The Match.
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Stop the clock! 50 points could be on if so.
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Nice skillz from Kinghorn to get in for his try!
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There have been some nice touches from Russell since he came on.
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Still time for a restart.
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But that’s it. Well done, Scotland.
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So often we’ve struggled in games like this. Wales, Ireland, England would all have had thumping wins playing this Georgia team, so good to get a comfortable win.
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This is how they do most of their recruiting in RSA:
http://www.scd.za.net/rscds-pretoria
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BB, I can only assume I’ll have to break out the tammcpirracas handle again.
Have been enjoying this picture from (before) the Scotland v Soviet Union game in the 1982 World Cup:
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*gasp* Hamish sounds English!
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He’s from Manchester.
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But he’s one of the lads who always had a Saltire hanging on his wall.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/04/hamish-watson-saltire-bedroom-scottish-england-six-nations
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/ive-always-slept-under-saltire-says-scotland-recruit-huw-jones-1474719
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Cheshire rather than Manchester it seems.
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CMW, some of that Georgian polyphonic singing is amazing. especially the women’s choirs
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@Ticht – I liked the bits and pieces I listened to earlier – what a glorious thing to be able to do!
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I may have posted the beautiful sound of the Bulgarian Wummin before
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Yet another maul try! We’ve turned into South Africa.
Boks haven’t scored a maul try in over a year. Last couple I can recall were were scored by scorching wingers. Will see if I can dig up a clip somewhere.
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@CMW – pffft! It’s the good lads that move to Scotland, for noble reasons. Evil ones go to Aus and New Zealand.
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I can proudly say I bought the Ivo Watts/4AD vinyl re-release of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares in 1986. Where does the time go…
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The Women’s Six Nations also restarts today, with Ireland v Italy on at 1830 UK time.
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You’ve only scored 3 tries in the last year. Scotland scored 8 last night!
That makes Scotland better than you and the rightful World Champions.
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A large number of Tory MPs have written to Sir Keir Starmer to complain that since Angela Rayner called one of their number “Scum” in the House of Commons they and their families have been subjected to abuse and threats.
I would like to distance myself from those calling the worthless toe-rags, riff-raff, child-starvers, grifters and vermin that make up the cohort of Conservative MPs “scum”. That kind of language is hurtful to the the worthless toe-rags, riff-raff, child-starvers, grifters and vermin that make up the cohort of Conservative MPs.
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I’ve loved this try since the moment I saw it:
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The Week in Tory: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1319664567979593729.html
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That’s a pretty depressing read, Thaum
It’s the shamelessness that is fairly recent, they really don’t give a flying one.
The school meals one is a PR disaster that will be remembered, as will the treatment of Manchester, and all for what is relatively not a lot of money.
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I suppose they’re relying on voters’ short memories, and unfortunately they may be right in that.
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Lions-Cheetahs match called off because of Covid. Chris Robshaw nowhere in sight. Ashton’s bloody fault. Now I’ll have to settle for Ireland v Italy.
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Rumour has it that PM Johnson has taken out a super injunction to prevent the press reporting on his latest and current affair – allegedly
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Rough on the Cheetahs that, missing out on a guaranteed 5 points.
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Slade, that Russian violinist?
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Nah, our coach said that despite 10 players being out the lads were confident. Reckon we were nailed on for a massive win.
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It’s especially important to have two anthems when there’s no crowd.
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They were just showing us the teams then when they went to the ads.
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