Your week-end programme, unfortunately mostly brought to you by internet providers and subscription television.
Italy/ Fiji : Saturday 1pm. Cancelled
England/Ireland: Saturday at 3pm
Wales / Georgia: Saturday at 5.15 pm
Scotland/France: Sunday at 4pm
But before that, right after breakfast, you’ll watch the most important game of the week-end, and it has nothing to do with the season.
No, it’s not Ireland at Twickenham, nor France at Murrayfield.
It’s much earlier in the day, and it’s Argentina vs Australia.
Can the Argentineans replicate last Saturday’s fantastic game when they stunned the All Blacks and won 25-15? Can they keep the same intensity and dismantle Australia as well? In the absence of South Africa, could they nick the Tri nations for the first time?
Most neutrals would hope so, but I’m not neutral. I desperately want a win for the South Americans.
Let’s see:
Mario Ledesma has stuck with the same players. Australia have beefed up their pack and recalled a couple of old horses. I doubt it will be enough. When Australia dispatched the ABs B team with not much to spare, Argentina crushed their A team. It suggests a gap in power and organization that Australia should not be able to fill, even in front of their fans. Both teams have great attacking power (often underestimated in Argentina’s case), but Australia’s pack might be on the back foot for long periods, particularly if Nic White is as slow as usual: he’ll be eaten alive by the ferocious Argentina back row.
Open the Malbec, it’s about time.
Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chapparo
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Emiliano Boffelli, 23 Santiago Cordero
Australia: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Tom Wright, 13 Jordan Petaia, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Reece Hodge, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Matt Philip, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Valetini, 20 Liam Wright, 21 Jake Gordon, 22 Noah Lolesio, 23 Filipo Daugunu
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Kick-off: 19:45 local (08:45 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Nic Berry (Australia)
England v Ireland
A bit after lunch, we’ll sit down on the couch (not too comfortably; we don’t want to fall asleep), and we’ll go to England. It’s basically Group A’s final as neither Wales nor Georgia threaten to top the group after their poor results last week.
England did not particularly set the world on fire vs Italy or Georgia, but they’re solid, experienced and well-rehearsed. They stubbornly follow their game plan to the point that they seem bewildered when it does not work. But it’s mightily efficient against most teams. Will it be enough vs Ireland? A better question would be: can Ireland win in Twickenham without Henderson, Furlong, Carbery, Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw, Sexton? Irish coaches, like most, are conservative and have not really blooded new players.
For all the deserved praise and success that Ireland enjoy at club level, numbers simply dictate that they don’t have enough players to step in when the starters are injured. Not only will Ireland start with three inexperienced players in key positions (FB, FH, SH), but also with predictable centres and a pack that won’t impress England. And then the bench should make a big difference. There was an interesting analysis of the coming game by Irish legend, Shane Byrne, in Planet Rugby; he knows his stuff better than I do, but unlike him, I can’t see anything but a win for England.
Whose round is it now?
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonathan Joseph, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Joe Launchbury, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Dan Robson, 22 George Ford, 23 Max Malins
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 CJ Stander, 5 James Ryan (c), 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Will Connors, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Jacob Stockdale
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (FFR), Alex Ruiz (FFR)
TMO: Nigel Owens (WRU)
Wales v Georgia
Now, wake up please, if only for going to the bathroom. In a few minutes, Wales will take on Georgia.
It may look like a dead rubber to many, but it certainly is not. Both teams desperately need to stop the rot. Georgia’s lame defeats to Scotland and England highlight the gap between tier one and tier two nations: the Georgians will want to prove that they belong to a higher level, but it’s going to be hard. Several of their players play in France, but mostly in the bottom half of the Top 14 or in the ProD2. Expect a lot of naivety in defense and a serious lack of skills in attack.
Wales? According to Boris during PMQs, Wales want to avoid going from the Capitol to the Tarpeian rock, but how? Between Scylla and Charybdis, go with the proven and tested, or with the unknown? Oh Boris, shut up, please! Pivac’s rung the changes: no fewer than thirteen new players, some of them quite exciting. As a game it may not be a classic – such is the difference between the two teams – but at least it should bring back some smiles in Wales.
Time for the kebab.
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Louis Rees-Zammit, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 James Botham, 5 Seb Davies, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James Davies, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Jonah Holmes
Georgia: 15 Lasha Khmaladze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Otar Giorgadze, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 4 Grigor Kerdikoshvili, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Giorgi Chkoidze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Lexo Kaulashvili, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Demur Tapladze, 23 Tamaz Mchedlidze
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 17:15 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace, Frank Murphy
Television match official: Joy Neville
Scotland v France
Sunday in Scotland. Coronavember. In the old days pubs would’ve been closed. Just like now.
Thank dog for the rugby.
This is going to be an intriguing game, and since Fiji’s games were cancelled, it is in fact the final of the group B. Whoever wins gets to go to Twickenham. Unless, of course, Ireland have prevailed the day before, and Wales wake up from their torpor next week (as it is vs England, they may very well). So strike that, it’s just another game.
Shaun Galthié has named a strong team and with the exception of Ntamack, Bouthier and Cros, it’s the team that dispatched Ireland and Wales rather easily. Shaun Servat and Shaun Ibanez will be happy with their pack, as is Shaun Ghezal with his work at the line out. Shaun Shaun Edwards is not so happy with his pupils as they keep leaking tries, but the other Shauns don’t mind, as they score more tries than their opponents. Speaking of which, Scotland seem a bit weakened with the absence of Finn and his deputy Hastings. But they’ve got a great pack, an outstanding back row (Richie would be the first on my list), and in Hogg the best counter-attacker in Europe (bar Cheslin Kolbe, of course).
I wish I could elaborate but teams have not been announced, so I’ll just predict a wonderful game with plenty of tries.
Shaun Shaun may sulk. I don’t mind.
Oops, here is France. As predicted a couple of days ago.
France : 15. Ramos; 14. Thomas, 13. Vakatawa, 12. Fickou, 11. Rattez ; 10. Jalibert, 9. Dupo,t ; 7.Ollivon (cap.), 8. Alldritt, 6. Cretin ; 5. Taofifenua, 4. Le Roux ; 3. Bamba, 2. Chat, 1. Gros.Bench : 16. Marchand, 17. Baille, 18. Haouas, 19. Willemse, 20. Woki, 21. Couilloud, 22. Carbonel 23. Vincent.
As prognosticated by Flair99
Onna telly this week
Friday 20th November
| Harlequins v Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Sale v Northampton | 20:00 | BT Sport Extra |
Saturday 21st November
| Argentina v Australia | 08:45 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Bulls v Pumas | 11:55 | Sky Sports Arena |
| England v France (women) | 12:00 | BBC Two |
| Bath v Newcastle | 12:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Cheetahs v Griquas | 14:25 | Sky Sports Arena |
| England v Ireland | 15:00 | Channel 4 / Amazon Prime |
| Leicester v Gloucester | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Worcester v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wales v Georgia | 17:15 | S4C / Amazon Prime |
Sunday 22nd November
| Wasps v Bristol | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Zebre v Connacht | 14:30 | FreeSports |
| Scotland v France | 15:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Ospreys v Treviso | 15:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Cardiff | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Ulster v Scarlets | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
Monday 23rd November
| Dragons v Edinburgh | 18:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Glasgow v Munster | 20:15 | Premier Sports 2 |
Ovally Balls 
The mister has just expressed his utmost disgust at Pink Floyd being labelled as ‘Prog Rock’.
I am snickering, obviously.
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What does he think they are then?
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He is flabbergasted by the question.
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Good stuff, Flair.
Argentina winning would be huge
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Vindication for the bastards knocking us out of the World Cup.
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Sam Simmonds showed a bit of toe there
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Nice, Flair.
I’m not so sure Argentina’ll do it. Last week’s game was a big focus for them, I’d be pleased if they could, mind.
With Ireland it’s even more inexperienced than just 9, 10, 15. Kelleher at 2 and Doris at 8 are both very green at international level. They all play for Leinster but still.
Plus, Ryan, brilliant though he is, is awful young at captain.
Go on, the boys.
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TomP – agree: it would be amazing if Argentina won again, but two weeks in a row? They’re probably all still pished.
The optimistic side of me wonders if the youth and inexperience on the Ireland side might make for something that England find hard to predict. But I’m probably dreaming.
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Thanks Flair, good job well done.
Excellent weekends rugby.
Floyd -AOR ? Soft rock ? Naaaah. Prog, innit.
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BB – they’re Pink Floyd. Above and beyond mere classification.
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SBT, see above.
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I’ve never really thought of Floyd as a prog band
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Dark Side of The Moon is on Classic Albums on Sky Arts. The programme info describes them as ‘Prog Rock titans’. So that’s that sorted then.
Their sound ‘progressed’ and changed from the first album with Sid, through to Meddle then Dark Side, then a double-concept album. Not Prog?
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Me, I think they were Prog-genitors, but the mister disagrees.
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I pointed out that unusual time signatures, weird chord progressions, etc were characteristic of Prog. He didn’t buy it.
(There’s a Floyd documentary on, which is what sparked this.)
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BB, our music teacher at school reckoned that Prog was like a lot of Classical music in that the music developed within the piece itself, whether on one track or over an album.
So AC DC or Motorhead were never going to get the T shirt.
I guess by that definition Floyd qualify, but they just never really sounded “Prog” to me, not like peak Genesis for example
I really like peak Genesis, and I listened to Floyd up to Wall enough that I never really want to hear them again, a bit like how I feel about Dylan tbh.
I’m not coming at this from a position of not liking Prog or Floyd, just that I never thought of them in that way
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Actually, the last couple of albums (with Gilmour at the helm) were probably more ‘straightforward’ rock than prog. And the Endless River won’t be mentioned at all…
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See Exeter have ‘Exetered’ their way to a BP win against Quins. Not seen all of it, when I turned over to begin with it seemed as though there were 10 solid minutes of box kicks from both sides.
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I’m not an instinctive Prog-hater; there’s a lot of it I like, just not the most self-indulgent sort.
Think the Floyd were so successful that it’s just been accepted as mainstream ‘rock’, with no analysis of their musical processes. But I’m not sure how anyone could listen to the earlier (Barrett) albums, and not think it’s a big proggy.
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Have to say I’m not a huge fan of the early stuff. Perhaps because the first Floyd I really heard was Wish You Were Here – which is still one of my favourite all-time albums.
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“But I’m not sure how anyone could listen to the earlier (Barrett) albums, and not think it’s a big proggy”
I think when you’re between 14 and 18, which is when I listened to that stuff, you (I) weren’t really aware of the pigeon holes, tbh
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Fairy nuff, Ticht!
The pigeonholes aren’t really helpful. Music’s either good, or it isn’t (country).
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Just finished work. Only 15 hours today. Back at it at around 7 in the morning. NN!
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Quite agree Thaum, its either good country or it isn’t.
This is good:-
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More good country from the same guy 30 years later.
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Hahaha
I just absentmindedly locked my picks in the Superbru thingy without paying attention to the fact that Italy vs Fiji had been cancelled. Others were smarter and cheekier. At least 6 of you chose 28/0 as the final score!
Enjoy the week end!
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I was one of them, Flair
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Steve Earle is bringing out an album of his late son’s songs, Justin Townes Earle, named after Townes van Zandt, died in August.
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Ticht
you commented on Sam Simmonds speed; he used to be a centre and is said to be the fastest sprinter in the club.
He put on an extraordinary display last night – within the Exeter system which includes two ball-carrying wing forwards, so not EJ’s style – the lad is on a mission and Baxter has two jewels in the Simmonds brothers.
Quins were a handful in the first half but Exeter’s remorseless pressure and self-belief led to lots of penalties.
Also, Hepburn had an interesting game: he is not the greatest scrummager imho but he was fantastic in the loose, attack and defense.
Overall, a great start to the season.
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Watched the Sale match last night. Was quite entertaining from memory.
And a lovely ATL, Flair!
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Well, up at stupid o’clock here to watch the Poomas, better be worth it.
Exeter were a bit scary last night. They didn’t play well, Quins played well, and Exeter still eased to a large victory.
I do like Billy V, but he is not the explosive player he was, and he has never struck me as a really good traditional 8, with the skills and vision, that a player like Ben Morgan has. Simmonds has it in spades. Looks to have bulked up a bit in the last year too. I do wonder what he has done to upset Eddie.
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Slade, Alec Hepburn seems to have an unbelievable motor on him, he bounces up off the floor and gets back at it like a rubber ball, energiser bunny type guy. Would make an interesting front row partner to Harry Thacker. Just need a tighthead a well, and you would have a front row of 3 sevens.
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Go Poomas.
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Oooh. Homer ref.
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Was dragged into full consciousness with urgent cries of Argentina are winning, only to see the monumental fuckup by Folau at the bell preventing the Wallabies winning the 2018 match. Looking forward to the game with Malbec to hand
Chiefs last night were just over powering in the last quarter although I was pleased with the resistance by Quins in the first 50 mins. It will be quite some team that prevent Chiefs from hoovering up the silverware.
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Words flair
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Here’s squidge. All you need to do to beat the Kiwis is smile menacingly during the haka like Faz and Matera did. That’s what I learned anyway.
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Aus go for the lineout from a penalty in the 22. Just like the Kiwis did. And lose it, like the Kiwis. Another penalty though.
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Another kick at posts eschewed, another scrambling Pumas turnover.
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Wobblies camping in the Pumas last 3rd thus far, but still 3-3 after 20. Game looking very similar to last week with the Aussies looking dangerous ball in hand, but key passes not going to hand. Pumas scrambling well so far.
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Scrum penalty to Aus and another lineout in the 22. Pumas win it and clear! Another skew through from the Aussies and despite not being in it at all so far, the Pumas are still level. Wonder if they’ll last the full 80 though at this rate?
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Phil Kearns talking shit as usual.
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Finally Hooper pinged for ruck infringement. This time the Wallabies steal it and launch another attack. 75% possession for Wobblies thus far. Their pack is bossing things but the backs stuffing it up. Who’d have thought?
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Ref has redeemed himself. Poomas absorbing pressure well. Should be 6-3 to Poomas now.
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Penalty Pumas! They’ll take the shot. Sanchez slots it and Argentina lead 6-3 with 8 to go to HT!
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Penalty Aus. Could’ve gone the other way to be honest. Hodge for the posts. Looks like he hooked it, but drifts back in! 6-6 four minutes before half time.
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Handbags. Sanchez taking a pop at Toupou! Aus penalty for that reaction by Sanchez.
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Aus score but surely forward! Yip. Another penalty though. On HT. Will they go for the lineout drive again? Yes. Battering away! Another penalty and tempers fraying in the Puma camp. Toupou slaps another player on the floor. Hooper whining away at the ref. Hodge slots it and 9-6 the Wobblies lead at the break. To be honestcrhey should be much further ahead.
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Aus were a bit fortunate with that series of penalties at the end of the half
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Good game, Aussies nudge ahead, a bit of spice, nothing quite coming together yet but its promising from both sides. Surprised how well Hodge is doing at 10.
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