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 
Better hair than Joe Marler. Especially the bald lads.
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Lovely, lovely, Sheeds.
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Why aren’t Wales playing in their red jerseys?
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Cos they’re playing in a different colour, Deebee.
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Thanks TomP, how silly of me to miss that.
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Tompkins, get away from the ruck.
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Ladies and Gemtlemen, LRZ is in da house.
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Zammos first try, nice pass from Sheedy.
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Finally! Good hands. Probably saved Georgia a yellow card. Lovely conversion too!
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Luke Pearce is being unfair to the Georgians on advantage.
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Second half’s been dull. Georgia not doing much, Wales not caring much. But Rhys Webb has just done what only Antoine Dupont has ever done before and followed up a break and scored.
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Squeaky’s doing the gibberish commentary, but I’ve just understood something: Beam me up, Scotty.
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18-0. There we are. Georgia aren’t much cop.
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You would’ve expected Italy to score some points at least. But perhaps Georgia will improve with experience of playing better sides.
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I said yesterday or Thursday that England appeared to have our number…. and indeed that’s how it went… fatally predictable.
Indeed the one occasion we did something different – we scored. (Also Earls’ chance – put it wide and stretched the defence). England’s defence was good but we never really put them in any doubt – they could blitz all day. Byrne seemed to pass every time – so basically England ignored him and nailed the next receiver behind the gain line…
And then the line out went to pieces again…..it’s been poor in last 3 games. We’re coughing up good positions…. I wish I could diagnose whether it’s the throw, or the lifting – but occasionally it seems to be the decision making …. we went long far too often when a throw to 4 would have at least allowed us to build pressure…..
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Aye, Trisk. I had no expectations of the match, although I didn’t think beforehand that there was a chance we’d get nilled. All hail the Ulstermen.
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Eddie Jones was save today by two pieces of Jonny brilliance. Other than that it would have been an incredibly uninspiring 7-6 victory for Ireland. I suppose I should be excited by another England victory in which they looked in total control, but I still don’t think that kind of methodology is going to work forever. Also wonder if Amazon will want to fork out their millions for that kind of turgid affair.
Actually slightly more miserable about Wales. WTF ? For parts of the second half, Georgia actually looked slightly more inventive. Thought Wayne was the king of free flowing razzle dazzle ? Rain, I suppose.
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Overall, I was disappointed by the tactical approach. I didn’t think we’d win.
But I hoped we’d try a different approach to trying to “blow the doors off” – England kind of showed us what to do for their first try but we persisted with multiple attempts at a ‘pick and go’ – frequently losing ground. It didn’t really work vs Wales last week – why on earth we thought it would work today I can’t fathom.
I’m not sure how we migrate away from our current approach….or how willing we are to.
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@sbt
My slow typing means our posts crossed.
England looked like they were happy to treat the game as an extended defensive drill – with May’s 2nd try as a happy bonus.
Not sure what the long term benefit was – they already knew they were able to manage Ireland physically.
For Ireland, we need to fix the lineout immediately. Our opponents can give away penalties galore if we blow our lineouts…..
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The players coming through for Wales under Pivac are pedestrian journeymen. There’s been some fuss over Shane Lewis-Hughes and his high tackle rate, but I’d have a high tackle rate if I just stood on half way a-trembling, given how little possession Wales have had in the games they’ve played with him in the team.
There is only stodge and doh! in the backs put on display this Autumn. Today Liam just phoned in his performance – again. Players like Holmes, Spent Webb™, McNicholl, Williams at 12, Cubby Boi, the aforementioned Lewis-Hughes, Botham and that Lloyd bloke subbing 9 today have nothing about them that even hints at international quality.
And then after much ado about getting Adam Beard up to speed as a second rower he is replaced by Seb Placid Davies. I can only assume it is a weight in the scrum thing.
Apart from that we will be as right as rain once the Drags players are available post quarantine.
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That’s pretty much all of us thoroughly depressed, then.
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According to Iks we should listen to some smooooooooooth jazz Floyd to cheer us up? Perhaps The Final Cut or The Wall? Both uplifting albums…..
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Anyway, we’ve not played this weekend yet, so not depressed so far.
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Anyone pining for the ‘old’ Floyd should check out Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets – they only play the stuff up to Meddle (but not Echoes). Lead guitarist is one Gary Kemp and I think there’s a Blockhead in there too.
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This is the Floyd doing a wee club gig….
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This has been a shitty week and I’ve had too much wine and there’s some nice jazzy sax on this for Iks….
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30 seconds of that is enough to confirm it as 100% Prog. Sorry Mr. Thaum, but it is. Could be Marillion or the Enid starting up. Who may or may not be prog.
Sorry you had a shitty week, BB, hope it gets better tomorrow morning.
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Oh well, well worn, but worth a play every now and then.
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Tries to cheer BB up.
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Ye dogs, Three Boats! Not heard that in years! If I recall correctly it was about the favoured meeting place of young ladies and gentlemen for an evening’s relaxation…
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I wasn’t depressed by yesterday. It’s hard to get excited by a cobbled together tournament and the lack of crowds makes it harder to guage the intensity than normal.
Tbh I miss the old Autumn Internationals but I’ll take ‘doing a job’ against Ireland. I don’t think that we ever intended to go past 3rd gear. No disrespect meant BTW.
Wales – I really don’t know what Pivac is going for in this team tbh.
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No offence taken – if only we had forced England to go up a gear, it would have shown some progression on our side. Instead of which we played exactly the way England wanted….
….like one of the “conditioned” games we use in training where the teams have to play in a certain manner to reinforce a particular type of play or drill….
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An awful lot of England’s defensive strategy seems to depend on 2 or 3 players jeopardising their bodies in later life e.g. Underhill and Curry – they really do subject themselves to a serious battering.
I hope they and those like them get the very best medical/physio support and guidance
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Hoping Scotland-France later has a bit more fizz to it than the matches yesterday. Feel a little bratty saying that given the circumstances, but would like a cracker of a match to finish the weekend.
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Such a brat.
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Slade – I get the feeling that modern rugby does that to a player tbh
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Yup, hope Scotland France is a fizzer. Nice to watch as a neutral. Like both sides, and don’t actually mind which one wins. I am still torn between watching England suffocate the life out of Ireland and winning, or them playing razzle dazzle rugby and losing, but I guess take the former. Would have been a bit grim without Jonny tho. It would have been easier to watch with a full crowd and something at stake, a six Nations game or World Cup semi.
I can’t understand why the clock isn’t stopped for a scrum, and then restarted when the ball goes in. Can anyone give me a reasoned explanation ?
Also, how can we get rid of stupid crocodiles for box kicking 9s? Binding on two players ?
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SBT, I’ll take the boring win every time, but then I’m a brat. In the Bulls-Pumas match here yesterday if they stopped the clock at scrum resets, we’d probably just be starting the 2nd half. Was dreadful, especially because a number of free kicks were given for early engagement etc, and both teams would opt for another scrum.
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Crocodiles as you pleasantly call them are easy to outlaw. As soon as the ball goes back beyond the feet of the first standing man closer to the ruck, it should be considered out. No more time for box kicks, no more illicit protection.
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Am all for running rugby, great passing and skills but I must say I enjoyed England relentless defensive effort. I just wish they were better at identifying the counter attacking opportunities they create with their numerous turn overs. But then they’d be unplayable, and who wants that?
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Me :)
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Other things I dislike- Since when was it OK to handle the ball in the ruck ?Willis just now, while bound in, just picked the ball up with one hand and placed it between his feet for the scrum half. Happens a lot.
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Sbt – May didn’t win single handed. Without the immense effort from the forwards he wouldn’t have scored either try.
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Rod Stewart > Jacques Brel by 5
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Watching Ospreys v Bennetton. 7-7. Not wonderful but nice to see the St Helens ground again.
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Watching the match with Mrs Craig’s from our bed.
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4 minutes in….
So let’s talk about England.
Why not just wait until after this game and spend time on yesterday’s games? It’s not like they have any other programmes following this. And of course they’ve ignored Wales. Which might be just as well….
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Ticht, as Jacques Brel was Belgian I full agree with you.
Nevertheless, I think that Brassens> Rod S. by 5.
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Also every neutral will support France, as a defeated France would have to play Ireland again and who wants to see another Calcutta Cup next week? Turning the 6N into the Bledisloe Cup?
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