The Nations Cup. My goodness, savour that. The Nations Cup. Mmm. The very name is redolent of a crackling log fire on an autumn afternoon. But wait, there’s more! Amazon Prime. That tingling feeling? That’s the realisation that a major re-structuring of European rugby broadcasting is upon us. Who says 2020’s been a miserable year?
Amazon Prime – not sure how much tax they pay – have put together a crack team of broadcasters and ex-player pundits who have only ever appeared on the BBC or ITV or Channel 4 or Channel 5 or BTSport or Sky before. As industry insider Phelam Hill put it, “[Amazon] will want to do something that is wholly different, not a vanilla broadcast”. More pertinently, they’ll be getting some good advertising bucks in the run-up to Christmas, and they’ll synergistically allow customers to make an impulse purchase of a replica England shirt (size XXXL) with “George 2“ on the back when the Saracens hooker (size XXXL) flops over the line after a drive from a five-metre line-out. Win-win for Bezos’s boys and girls.
To the games, then.
Ireland v Wales (an empty Aviva stadium)
It’s only been a few months since Ireland sent Wales packing with a comfortable win in front of 50,000 fans. It seems likely that Friday night’s game will see a similar result. Yet there are crumbs of comfort for Wales. Jacob Stockdale has gone from free-scoring winger to defensively awkward full-back this Autumn and this could be something Wales will look to exploit with an effective kicking game.
First task: find an effective kicking game.
Second, increasingly tetchy short-distance kicker Jonny Sexton has been underwhelming since the great re-start, and his replacement is Ulster’s own (import from Gloucester) Mr Billy Burns. Can two men lose a game on their own?
Nah. Ireland should have too much for Wales, and if their line-out functions, expect a couple of tries from short drives followed by a series of pick-and-goes. Plus, they have Leinster’s Jimmy Lowe on debut and he’ll pick up at least one score. Wales’ll get a consolation or two.
Italy v Scotland (an empty Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence)
It’s only a few months since these two met in a match that has been ruled an instrument of torture by a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling. Scotland had the boy Adam Hastings standing in at 10 that day, as stand-out stand-off Finn Russell had been stood down after standing a couple too many beers. Finn returned, but both he and Hastings got crocked against Wales, so the call came for the Worcester Wizard, Wee Duncan Weir, to step up in the key position.
And … Wee Duncy has grown his hair! People often ask me, “What’s NOT vanilla broadcasting?“ and I always say, “Talking about Duncan Weir’s hair and making rather unfunny jokes about it“. Trust me, there’ll be no vanilla broadcasting on Amazon Prime.
Italy are not good. They have some okay players: Polledri is a fine runner/smasher and the young outside half Paolo Garbisi has something about him, but they’re not going to be doing much against what’s turning into a pretty effective Scottish side.
England v Georgia (an empty Twickenham stadium)
There’re certain things that one’s duty bound to mention when you talk about Georgia:
- props;
- scrummaging;
- the ancient game of Lelos;
- their nickname, the Lelos, which comes from the ancient game of Lelos;
- scrummaging;
- Gorgadze;
- scrummaging;
- some platitude from some coach of some other team about how good their scrummaging is;
- props;
- and, scrummaging.
What you won’t hear much about are their backs. Which means I’m rather lost, though I like the young half-backs. Sadly, after a very so-so performance v Scotland, full-back Soso Matiashvili misses out.
Anyway, Georgia have got a great record in the 6 Nations B competition: two losses in ten years, and this is the shop window for them, scrummaging etc.
England will crush them.
France v Fiji (an empty Stade de la Rabine, Vannes)
This is the one to get the old mouth watering. Is it a coincidence that the two sides that play with the most flair both have a name that also begins with F? It is, really, but coincidences are vanilla. Expect fireworks (also begins with F) and some frantic, frenzied play from both sides.
But what those two sides look like is not exactly what you’d hope for. Semi Radrada has tested positive for the Rona so misses out, and Peceli Yato dropped out of the Fiji squad earlier. On top of that, a good number of the squad tested positive for the Rona a couple of weeks ago and a scheduled warm-up game v Portugal got canned as a result.
Still, they’ve got the marvellous Tuisova on the wing, and he’s turning out alongside eight other players who earn a baguette in France.
The hosts, meanwhile, look set to name a fairly strong side, surprising to me as there’s a reported agreement between the FFR and the clubs limiting how many games players can appear in this autumn. You’ve got to trust Foxy Fabien Galthie, a coach who, it seems, has worked out a plan for the great under-achievers of the 2010s. What will double definitely happen: The commentators will spend a lot of time talking about how great Antoine Dupoint is.
As foretold by TomPirracas
Onna telly this week
Friday 13th November
| Griquas v Sharks | 16:55 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Ireland v Wales | 19:00 | Channel 4 / S4C |
Saturday 14th November
| New Zealand v Argentina | 06:10 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Italy v Scotland | 12:45 | Amazon Prime |
| France v England (women) | 13:15 | BBC Two |
| Lions v Pumas | 14:25 | Sky Sports Arena |
| England v Georgia | 15:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Stormers v Cheetahs | 16:55 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Connacht v Scarlets | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 15th November
| Munster v Ospreys | 14:45 | S4C / FreeSports |
| Glasgow v Dragons | 18:30 | Premier Sports 2 |
Monday 16th November
| Zebre v Ulster | 18:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Edinburgh | 20:15 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Cardiff v Treviso | 20:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
The Magic Money Tree says, “BOMBS!”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/18/boris-johnson-agrees-16bn-rise-in-defence-spending
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Chek’ll be happy.
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Thaum – I apologise for my earlier comment. Looks like Eddie didn’t take the bait. Slade at 12 but otherwise solid. Sanguine.
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Farrell still at 10. Too many 13s around, not enough 12s. I guess he also counts as a seconds 5/8th. Got his work cut out with Faz inside him falling off tackles, and Farrell and Aki running at him.
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Looks weak. Ireland by 59.5
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SBT, Aki and Farrell are getting tackled by Itoje and one of the flankers. Well, Aki is. Doubt Farrell’ll even see the ball much.
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The outpouring of grief continues. Someone has kindly uploaded to Youtube the episode of This is Your Life with Cannon & Ball. It mentions that Tommy Cannon grew up on Dunkerley St. Interestingly that street has a junction with Greenwood St which is where Mystic Meg grew up.
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Cool. a space force and ships with lasers. Who wouldn’t want a ship with lasers?
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Wouldn’t make sense if it was a pirate ship.
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The Vatican said it was seeking explanations from Instagram after Pope Francis’s official account liked a photo of a scantily dressed Brazilian model.
He’s a dirty dog that pope. On the bright side, at least it wasn’t a child so that’s progress.
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‘Wouldn’t make sense if it was a pirate ship.’
This is Brexit britain dontchaknow. Back to the swashbuckling days of elizabethan privateers going around acquiring cargoes and territories, updated to the 2020s with lasers.
We’ll go and laser those pesky french fishermen or something.
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‘your’ Exeter team toface Quins:
15 Facundo Cordero,, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Ollie Devoto,11 Olly Woodburn
10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Jack Maunder
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Jack Yeandle (capt), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Will Witty, 5 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 8 Sam Simmonds
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Tom Price, 20 Richard Capstick, 21 Stu Townsend
22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Tom Hendrickson
Gray, Skinner, Hogg, Sam H-C, Francis, Slade and Hill on International duty (scurrilously – Francis no great loss now the young lads like Street are coming through.
Vermeulen an Nowell under the knife.
2nd row looks sub-optimal
change/reversion of captain don’t know what’s behind that -giving Joe a break I guess.
Quins by lots……………………………….
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L Williams (Scarlets); J McNicholl (Scarlets), N Tompkins (Dragons), J Williams (Scarlets), L Rees-Zammit (Gloucester); C Sheedy (Bristol), K Hardy (Scarlets); W Jones (Scarlets), E Dee (Dragons), S Lee (Scarlets), J Ball (Scarlets), S Davies (Cardiff Blues), J Botham (Cardiff Blues), J Tipuric (Ospreys, capt), A Wainwright (Dragons).
Replacements: S Parry (Ospreys), N Smith (Ospreys), L Brown (Dragons), C Hill (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), R Webb (Ospreys), I Lloyd (Bristol), J Holmes (Dragons).
Interesting selection.
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Wot, no Francis???
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Poor Francis – from “no great loss” for Exeter, to not even appearing for Pivac’s Wales against Georgia….
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https://lospumas.com.ar/noticias/
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WALLABIES (1-15): Scott Sio, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Taniela Tupou, Rob Simmons, Matt Philip, Ned Hanigan, Michael Hooper (c), Harry Wilson, Nic White, Reece Hodge, Marika Koroibete, Hunter Paisami, Jordan Petaia, Tom Wright, Tom Banks
RESERVES: Folau Fainga’a, Angus Bell, Allan Alaalatoa, Rob Valetini, Liam Wright, Jake Gordon, Noah Lolesio, Filipo Daugunu
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The Scottish government has published draft regulations that make it illegal to enter or leave the country without a reasonable excuse
Scotland = North Korea.
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In Scotland ministers have already started to consider enforcing hate crime legislation in private homes.
Oh wait, that was old news.
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As part of the People’s Republic of Scotland’s benevolent new mandate all citizens will be issued with free customised Amazon Alexa’s and Fitbit trackers.
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Fur FREEEEEEEEEDDOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
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Might be having too much fun with this.
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Got to take reasonable precautions to stop those brexitlanders coming up here.
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‘fun’
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‘reasonable excuse’ is certainly open to interpretation
is a cross border trip to discipline craigs a reasonable excuse? I think so.
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Chimpie – if you wish to travel across the border you will have to complete this 60 page form in triplicate and submit the application to the Bureau for approval.
Should we approve your family will be held in a covid secure location until you return. Please watch the educational video on the greatness of Scotland which has now appeared in your inbox.
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Chimpie – Mrs Craig’s has been doing a squash coaching course via zoom this morning and I managed to set the fire alarm off frying bacon when she was 10 minutes in. My life might now be measured in hours rather than years so I’d hold off on the application.
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Good skillz.
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You’ll be sweating like rudy
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Toonie’s pick of the players he’s played against
https://www.scottishrugby.org/fanzone/gregor-townsend-fantasy-xv
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hmmm – no Jamie Noon
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Chimpie – pigmata
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Slade, obviously it’s his pick, so that’s that, but I’m surprised there’s no French representation in the front row
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Sunday 22 November (kick-off 3.15pm) – live on Amazon Prime Video
15. Stuart Hogg CAPTAIN (Exeter Chiefs) – 78 caps
14. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 24 caps
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester) – 21 caps
12. Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) – 3 caps
10. Duncan Weir (Worcester Warriors) – 29 caps
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps
1. Oli Kebble (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
2. Fraser Brown VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 52 caps
3. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 27 caps
4. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
5. Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) – 59 caps
6. Jamie Ritchie VICE CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 21 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 35 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 7 caps
Substitutes:
16. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
17. Jamie Bhatti (Edinburgh) – 15 caps
18. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps
19. Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) – 8 caps
20. Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – 7 caps
21. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Exeter Chiefs) – 13 caps
22. Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 26 caps
23. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 48 caps
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some interesting calls in there. No back up 10.
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Scotland -Fiji off
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France:
1: Cros
2: Chat
3: Bamba
4: LeRoux
5: Taofifenua
6: Cretin
7: Ollivon
8: Aldritt
9: Dupont
10: Jalibert
11: Rattez
12: Fickou
13: Vakatawa
14: Thomas
15: Ramos
Marchand, Baille, Houas, willemse, Woki, Couilloud, Carbonel, Vincent
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Looks weak, Scotland by -20
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I reckon:
Wales > Georgia by 20
England > Ireland by 10
France > Scotland by 8 (much as I’d like it the other way)
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What rugby’s on this evening? Mrs Deebee away for the weekend so I’m pigging out on sport.
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My favourite was when Nicola Sturgeon claimed Scotland had nearly eradicated Covid 19 but they got reinfected by the dastardly English.
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I like that Townsend team, ticht, and Pieter de V is sort of French in the front row.
His reasoning behind the forward picks is sound – Was he massive? Did he run over me?
The Cullen game against Scotland in 1996 is on youtube. Just wonderful running.
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Thaum, you’ve got mail.
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Deebs:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/scores-fixtures
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Was passing thru Bevereley a couple of years back, and the proliferation of Peoples Republic of Yorkshire T-shirts was impressive. Probably get safe haven there on the March south.
“Pie, chips, and scraps, and a can of Tetleys for ten thousand heavily armed Glaswegians and a couple of Edinburgh students please.”
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These ladz make some valid points:
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Thanks Slade! Challenge now is to try and stay sober enough to get to watch the rugby given it’ll be 10pm here and I am on a mission from the wine dogs after a difficult week.
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What is an “inexhaustible laser “?
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,asking for a friend
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@slade
I think it means a lightsaber
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