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 |
Ovally Balls 
@Ticht – it is from Wales and it’s not really working.
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Faletau work at the back of a scrum is just brilliant.
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That rain that was battering Twickenham earlier has just made its way down here, it’s monsoon stuff
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LRZ has caught a ball in international.
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What a brilliant try from France. Dupont’s been brilliant tonight.
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Oh what, that was brilliant from Dupont
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Nail in coffin.
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Magic from Dupont.
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Shite kick causes mayhem.
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Well done, Teddy Thomas.
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Coffin knocks back! This could be fun!
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Ooo Teddy !
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Oh, Teddy. Now my favourite player in the NH.
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What did Teddy do to get de-selected for Racing then? The commentator has mentioned it a couple of times without saying why
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Sakes, AWJ went in that ruck like Michael Phelps
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That is the first time for years that I’ve seen a player penalised for not letting an opponent get to his feet off the dck.
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dck
Deck or Duck, you decide
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He was injured for a bit, Ticht. And I think the coaches like Dupichot.
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There seemed to be a fair bit of talk earlier about Ireland getting 5 points from their last game to win the championship. I’m not so sure, seeing as they are playing France in Paris next week.
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“That is the first time for years that I’ve seen a player penalised for not letting an opponent get to his feet off the dck.”
There was one in the Heineken Cup final I think.
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Some lovely skills at times from France, but I still think there were signs that they’ll be vulnerable when they come up against a team that know what they’re doing. Pretty half-arsed performance from our lot.
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Teddy sure can attack but he defends a bit like a ballerina.
Bleak days ahead for Wales. France only had one training session in 7 months, shipped dozens of penalties, won very few turnovers and yet scored 5 tries. Promising.
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I wouldn’t rule out Ireland getting the 5 points in a close game. If France concede penalties like they did tonight then they’ll get plenty of attacking opportunities.
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Bit alarmed by the absence of decision making by Pivac and the Welsh leadership. The team just seemed to drift through the match, and leaving Biggar out there when he obviously wasn’t right was just odd. Unless the Patch is even more off the pace, which seemed to be the case when he came on.
It just looked slack to me, and that comes from the top. Got a bad feeling that Gats and Edwards but the backbone into this team and the new set-up already looks weak and adrift in comparison.
But anyway, some lovely tries from a lukewarm France who were still miles better than Wales.
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put not but…
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@Iks – I know Patchell put in a couple of weird and crap kicks, but Wales did look more dangerous trying to move the ball when he was on. Think he would have been better suited to the slightly chaotic nature of the game and Biggar should have gone off regardless. Otherwise I think we agree – Wales look a soft touch now, it’s like watching the Scarlets at the end of Pivac’s time there only for the most part without even the good bits.
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Beaten up again up front by France. Plus their counter-attacking was pretty good and they’ve got a much better kicking game than for a while.
Selfishly, it was pleasing to get international rugby back again no matter what the result. I hope that the next few weeks go without too many hitches.
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@BB
Can’t see us getting a win AND the bonus point. Suspect we’ll either dog out a narrow victory or lose in a blaze of glory.
Record in Paris and vs France generally has been crazily good since …what is it … 2012? 6 wins and 2 draws in 9…. so we are well overdue a good beating…
Winning all the home games and giving the next gen a run out …. is probably as good as we can expect…..
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Whats the new Danish drama? Need a bit of Scandi .
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SBT – it’s called … wait for it! … DNA.
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Something the mister spotted on t’internet this morning:
YOU CAN ONLY HAVE SIX PEOPLE ROUND FOR XMAS, BUT YOU CAN HAVE 30 PEOPLE TO A FUNERAL.
On the 25th of December, I will be holding a funeral for my pet turkey, who will have sadly died.
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Be careful not to eat all the evidence of your dearly departed!
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Ireland vs France, in the Women’s Six Nations, will be shown on the Youtube channel, at 2pm:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXd0Ot4fecq2TSQfnqzSTow
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Thaum – I normally have until Boxing Day before the urge to murder my family kicks in.
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I’ll recommend Occupied….. Norwegian political thriller. New green PM turns off taps on fossil fuels…. EU gets Russians to reopen oil/gas supplies.
Very good – shades of grey….no one is a hero and no one a complete villian all the time….
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Pretty decent of France to cede home advantage. Irish players – bulk of whom are amateurs – would have had to self-isolate on return from France for 2 weeks.
If I read between the lines – I’m guessing IRFU said they would have to concede if the venue wasn’t switched. I’m guessing the FFR probably decided they needed a game more (they’d be odds on to win anyway) – but a decent gesture in any circumstances
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Ireland seem to be playing in dark blue, but the score is at least surprisingly close.
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Oops. That’s me assuming that the women’s matches are the same as the men’s (as they normally are).
*hides face in shame*
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Ulster 7-0 up against Drags.
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14-3 now!
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Number three!
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Number four!
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Number five!
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HT: 35-3
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Yellow for Faddes.
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Drags finally get a try.
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Number six!
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Jamie Roberts in for a try as the clock goes red.
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FT: 40-17
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Just hope Wolves win to cheer Iks up after that.
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