2020 was a fabulous year. If you’re a highly contagious virus. For the rest of us, it meant lockdowns, Brexit, and – most importantly – severe disruption to the rugby schedule.
The Six Nations finished on Hallowe’en, and we had an odd Autumn Nations Cup, in which one nation never played. Leagues were all over the place. Mostly, fans are still not allowed to attend matches, even when those matches have not been cancelled.
On the up side, the Saracens got relegated.
And there is the sheer beauty of this to end the year (thank you, Beeb):
Meanwhile, the OvallyBalls mascot is on the scent of newsworthy items.
She has been paying attention to recent news items, including this article, which contains the following snippet:
This requires not only forwards tracing (identifying who you might have given the infection to) but also backwards tracing (where you got it from).
Obviously, tracing both backwards and forwards is her forté, but it has caused her to wonder if, in rugby, we should refer to the forwards and the backwardses. Or be like the French, and call them the in-fronts and the behinds. She likes behinds.
But enough of that shite….
A new year has just emerged, squalling and puking in the manner of these things, and we have been finally shat completely out of the EU, but we do have the hope of vaccines (along with the knowledge that the Tories will inevitably fuck up the distribution).
And now Chimpie has a fully erect Melbury (no, me neither) that he is preserving and oiling. So that’s good news for him, even if the rest of us may wonder what the purpose of this ‘Melbury’ is.
I raise a glass to all the contributors and lurkers of OvallyBalls, with best wishes for 2021 for yourselves and those you care about*.
Happy new year!
*Except where that involves teams playing Ulster or Ireland.
Onna telly this week
Friday 1st January
| Bristol v Newcastle | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Scarlets v Dragons | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Cardiff v Ospreys | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 2nd January
| Pumas v Lions | 12:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Treviso v Zebre | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Wasps v Exeter | 14:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sharks v Griquas | 14:30 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Edinburgh v Glasgow | 15:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Gloucester v Sale | 16:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Cheetahs v Western Province | 17:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Ulster v Munster | 17:15 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Connacht | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 3rd January
| Leicester v Bath | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Six saffas in the Sale pack. Have to say that annoys me intensely .
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Boo. Jaco spoils the fun.
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Bradbury scores with his nuts
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Brandon Thomson used to play with his socks down. Metaphorically, he still does.
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SBT,
https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/from-the-mag-south-african-takeover/
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Glad they wipe properly. Implies that some don’t
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A win for embra. Just
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Well that was “interesting”
I’ll take the win but we were on top and didn’t take away much from the game at all
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SBT
…plus 2 and a Yank in the backs
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Chimpie, Based on no evidence whatsoever, I think he’s talking about O’Bieber.
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“With Trump a no-show, Mar-a-Lago guests left to party maskless with Rudy Giuliani and Vanilla Ice”
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Thought Ulster had made a serious mistake not taking the points, but there is a TRY!
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Another TRY!
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5 points for Ulster will do Munster no harm…
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Ah, just tuned in to see ht called after walking the dog.
Ulster still going well then.
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Top story this one:
https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/01/02/was-hector-forsayth-the-best-fullback-never-to-play-for-the-wallabies/
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Must admit that Billy Burns is growing on me.
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Is the boy Doak on yet? His dad was a good player.
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Not that I’ve noticed.
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Quite the dust-up in the Glaws/Sale match. Yarde ended up in the stands somehow.
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He’s a scrum half. 18, was a ballboy at the same fixture 11 years ago to the day.
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Sorry. Mascot 11 years ago.
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Cooney definitely still on.
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Not good, Refit,my man.
Looks like another 2nd half fade by Glos………………………….pity
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Some good rugby being played here!
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……… I see Glos are now bottom, but from what I have seen they are better than that
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Disgraceful behaviour by the Sale water carrier who lent over the barrier and grabbed the ball to prevent 36 from taking a quick throw in. Billy pushes him, which starts a melee. Dixon penalises Glaws and sinbins 36, so Sale get away with blatant cheating.
Dixon and Sale are both way down my list of likes at the moment.
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There was also a very dodgy hit on Harris by a Sale player in that game which I think should have been looked at. Any use of the arms was minimal to say the least, and Harris was taken off by the doctors a few minutes later for an HIA.
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Munster have a habit of scoring when they’ve a man in the bin, and it looks like this will be no exception.
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Doak on now.
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So far the second half has been scoreless, but it’s been fast & furious.
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Stockdale limping off.
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And Munster score in the 82nd minute, and get a LBP.
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TRY Connacht! The whole match so far has been played in Leinster’s half, and mostly in their 22. GWAN!
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Connacht go over again! Leinster look shell-shocked.
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Oh. Unfortunately Leinster have scored.
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Sexton’s off for an HIA. McGrath misses the conversion. (Carty missed a penalty and one conversion.)
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Sexton’s failed his HIA.
Claw is well, but expects that Connacht will manage to cock this up. :-)
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Connacht in for their 3rd!!!
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HT 5-25
Love it
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Crazy stuff at the RDS… can Connacht keep up this level of frantic effort..? Got to say I really like Blade – old school 9 playing at 100mph…
Leinster surely need to make changes….look very uncertain in the backs…
Only caught last few mins of Ulster vs Munster – overall not a bad result – we could afford a loss to non-conference opponents… lots of newbies got time and Kilcoyne came back… probably should have been a penalty try instead of Sweetnam scoring.
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I expect Leinster will come storming back in the second half, but they did look flabbergasted and outfought. Warmed the cockles.
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As I said … McGrath goes over.
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Bugger … and another one.
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Conversion missed. 17 – 28 with 20 mins to go. Gulp.
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Grr … Leinster in for their fourth.
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Oh, but wait … TMO checking for crossing!
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Chalked off!
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YEEEEESSSS! Connacht score an intercept try!!!!
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Clock goes red as Leinster may or may not have scored a try. Going to TMO.
Please, please let them not have a BP from this.
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