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 
‘French police have fined a man who left his home with a written lockdown declaration stating he was out to “smash a guy’s face in”.’
Flair, time for a confession?
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*Checks the Wily Llama’s Oz – Arg prediction*
A blank space. Which means a draw, obviously.
*ahem*
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Dab – I don’t get the gloom tbh. What would have been a decent score? I think that we probably could have added another try but we were holding them at arms length whilst lazily kicking them inna nuts without getting out of third gear. There was nothing riding on this and no incentive to do more than we did.
Plus, on the flip side, Ireland aren’t a shit team. Running up a large score against them is tough.
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@DAB
well, Ireland have had problems with the ‘Gatland/Edwards model’ in the past – not everytime but often enough
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(cont’d)
…that it’s a plausible game plan vs Ireland.
Unfortunately, we weren’t really set up to play with width – Byrne sat too deep and Aki / Farrell don’t offer that 2nd 5/8th option that we might have got from Ringrose or Henshaw. For sure, the very few times we tried something other than “let’s rush ’em” – we set England a different problem.
In some ways, that’s encouraging but equally it’s not encouraging that having seen Earls go close – we didn’t think to try it more (obviously not every play – but you need to mix it up).
The result would have been the same but at least you’re less open to criticism if you don’t opt for the “if all you have is a hammer – everything is a nail” approach.
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Chimp, that’s funny. But it’s not me. Haven’t left home yet, cooking a rabbit.
Ha! autocorrect wanted me to write rabbin, good I proof read it, I’d be in a Corbyn deep hole.
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RIP, the master coach:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/55038356
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No – the immediate good outcome from Schmidt was that we played at a consistently high level most of the time – a lot of the time that was good enough to win 3 6N and do a GS. Rarely terribly exciting but now we also very rarely veer from the ‘sublime to the ridiculous’ between 2 matches
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Great things come in 12s.
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Trisk, also beat the All Blacks twice.
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@Craigsman Wasn’t meant to be gloomy (though I did find it a bit dour watching live), more an objective observation about Jones’s approach. If England get on a big winning streak and overcome their propensity to lose the crucial game, you won’t hear many complaints from me! I guess if I do have some gloom over Saturday’s performance it’s because England’s failure to go through the gears in the second half suggests that they risk running out of steam against good attacking teams (as they almost did against Wales earlier this year). Perhaps I’m still judging England by the teams I grew up watching in the early ’90s, and again in the early ’00s, who would turn the screw on the scoreboard in the last quarter. It’s doubtless unreasonable to expect that to happen against well drilled and superfit sides in the professional era.
I do think England may well soon come a cropper against a team that’s prepared to seek to go wide. That could be Wales next weekend – they will be going for broke and Pivac’s approach might be just what is needed against England’s system.
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Dab
I think/hope it may be that the coaches like EJ are using these autumn “meaningless” matches to fully test a style of play appropriate to each game and get the good habits embedded one at a time in time for the next 6Ns and beyond.
It’s a hope, anyway!
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Dab – I’ll just echo Sladeys comment. Also, I’m not scared of Wales. I might be eating shit after the game but I’m fairly sure we will stuff em up their holes.
England prevent the pass going wide by rushing up. It would take someone other than Dan Biggar to pass wide with an England shirt in their line of sight.
No offence to anyone in particular but I think that Wales’ pain will continue for a bit longer.
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If so – really disappointing we did our bit to help. though I suppose if it reinforces the “futility” of our approach and need for some variation – there might be some ultimate good :)
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I can see both Chimpie and Trisk putting up their hands for writing next weekend’s ATL preview.
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*blogkill*
It’s okay, you can put your heads above the parapet.
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YET another defeat for Glasgow. To Munster this time.
This is going to be a looooooooooong season. Even when our internationals come back I can’t see us improving much.
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@BB – The top two positions in Conference A are already settled and Munster pretty much have top spot sewn up in Conference B. I guess there’s a developing shit-off to get second in B and in all probability go to Leinster to get humped. It’s going to be a boring season from this point until the playoffs (and probably including them though there’s always a chance for whoever makes it etc etc) and I don’t anticipate watching much of it.
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… also beat the All Blacks twice.
Pfft. No es gran cosa.
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Confident this weekend BK? I can’t see the Pumas getting within 15 points of the ABs this time around, they’ll be physically and mentally stuffed after the last two weeks. Although they finished rather well against the Wobblies.
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@Deebee – Craigs might be eating shit after the game, but I’m with you, ABs by plenty.
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@Craigs I really hope you’re right, but overt confidence expressed by England fans on the notablog almost invariably precedes a dispiriting reversal. I’m still not recovered from the Cat’s confidence ahead of the 2011 qf against France!
I don’t buy that these games are meaningless. If we lose the school gates on Monday will be hell!!
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That’s the spirit Dab.
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Good to see someone try to retain interest. Been a bit concerned about the English as they already seem to be bored with winning.
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And they’re not alone of course. ABs finally so bored with winning that they’ve started losing. Boks bored by winning the World Cup to the extent they can’t be bothered to play. Everyone (bar Slade) can see Exeter are boring and even Leinster fans must want someone else to win the Pro14-2 or at least maybe take a bonus point off them. All very disturbing. Poomas beating the ABs the only bright spot in a bleak landscape and that will surely be rubbed out miserably this weekend.
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Out of that the Pro-Doodah has definitely got the biggest problem as to go with the Leinster issue we’ve got Ulster and Munster managing to make winning boring without even ever winning anything. Terrible league, I blame the Welsh and I’m right.
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At least the Italians are shit again. I didn’t watch the end of the game but how the hell did Benneton contrive to lose a 12-point lead to 14-man Ospreys on Sunday?
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BK, no puedo estar de acuerdo.
Only this Sunday one commentator said New Zealand are one of the top three sides in the world, alongside England and France.
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Ah, wait a minute. It was that twat Dawson. I take it back.
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I’d love to experience this boredom with winning thing
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‘At least the Italians are shit again’
As are the scottish teams. Watching the ProWoo is depressing
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Why does craigs want to eat shit? All a bit concerning.
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It’s to give us something interesting to speculate on now that rugby’s got boring. Will Craigs eat the shit before, during or after the game?
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Embra just got bored with winning more quickly than most.
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It’s a bit disappointing, they were supposed to add themselves to the list of teams that have won the Pro-Whatsit more recently than Munster or Ulster despite being miles worse than them for years on end.
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“New Zealand are one of the top three sides in the world, alongside England and France.”
Well South Africa do have form for insisting they’re the best despite not getting to play anyone, but I think it’s a bit soon to drop them out of the top three this time round.
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I don’t want to eat shit but it might happen.
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Apparently my birth was stressful and I took a dump before exit (not uncommon during a stressful birth) and my Dad loves reminding me that I was brought into this world with a mouth full of shit so it won’t be the first time
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My birth was stressful largely because a) I was 9lb 13oz, b) I have prop forward’s shoulders and a massive head and c) my mum is 5ft 1.
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Dab – it’ll be 70mins of maul tries, prop tries and scrum penalties and then 10 mins of Harum scarum from the Welsh and another win for Eddie. Don’t worry.
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OT – take a dump?
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@craigs
No thanks.
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CMW……………………………………watch it!
ps did you watch Exeter semi-second team against Quins last Friday.
There really was lots of excitement in that game………………………….go on, give it a try!
pps nice to witness Sam Simmonds overtake Thomas Waldrom and salute him accordingly!
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OT – do it.
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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spent a total of £47,528 on takeaways from Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen earlier this year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
Just nine orders costing £43,348 were placed at the fashionable “Filipino-inspired” eatery during April – and another £4,179-worth of orders placed in March, according to spending data requested by the Daily Mail and the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
Waitrose is cheaper.
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@Slade – I didn’t, but I have complete confidence that it was a more entertaining game than any of the ones I have seen recently.
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To put that into context the main courses are between 10 and 12 quid. So that’s a shit load of Ginataang Hipon.
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Jessie Kriel’s great grandfather played for the British and Irish Lions back in the day on the 1930 tour to New Zealand. Also played against the Boks in 1932 for England. Jessie Kriel – Scotland’s loss.
https://www.news24.com/sport/rugby/britishandirishlions2021/bok-centre-reveals-his-great-grandfather-was-a-british-lion-20201124
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We need to get CJ and Chek back on board to debate the rights and wrongs of compulsory vaccination.
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So that’s a shit load of Ginataang Hipon.
Are you going to eat it?
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