Everything will be all right tonight. Everything will be all right tonight. Or so I keep telling myself, as Ulster prepare to turn and face the strain of Leinster at the RDS. Let’s hope that Ulster can put Big Brother under pressure. It’s simple, really: all we have to do is win. But hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing: we are the dead.
While Ulster have lost Stockdale to injury, one South Effrican is back for us.
But one of Them has apparently recovered from yet another head injury.
Give me steel, give me steel, give me pulsars unreal
In other news – newsman wept (with joy) as he told me – a familiar face is returning to Cardiff.
Someone’s back in town the chips are down
I just cut and blackout
I’m under Mulvihill’s influence and my honour’s at stake
Today is David Bowie’s birthday, in case anyone was wondering.
Onna telly this week
Friday 8th January
| Glasgow v Edinburgh | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Ulster | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Bath v Wasps | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sale v Worcester | 20:00 | BT Sport Extra |
Saturday 9th January
| Zebre v Treviso | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Newcastle v Gloucester | 14:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Griquas v Cheetahs | 14:30 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Exeter v Bristol | 16:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Western Province v Sharks | 17:00 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Dragons v Ospreys | 17:15 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Cardiff v Scarlets | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Connacht v Munster | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 10th January
| Harlequins v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 16th January
| Glasgow v Edinburgh | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Yes, it was drawn with about 10 mins to go, I think – then the O’s struck.
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That is a lovely score by Cardiff.
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Their first one wasn’t too shabby either.
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18-10 to the Blues.
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And could be a card to Liam Williams.
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Red!
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Actually feel sorry for the bloke – he looks gutted, and it clearly wasn’t intentional.
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And it’s a red. Not smart play.
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There wasn’t a need to do it, thaum. Just dumb.
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Right, that was a red card for Williams, no argument, but last week Chris Harris got torpedoed with a shoulder straight to the head, the officials decided it wasn’t a red, the culprit got a three week suspension handed down.
That was a very dangerous incident, this one was clumsy, not much more
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Only seen it once just before the ads at the end of the half there – did he get his head in the wrong place?
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OK, seen the replay now, I guess he doesn’t need to be trying to clear that player out at all.
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CMW, yeah, tbf I don’t think there was any way he was going to win that collision or get under the Cardiff player, he’d have been better off holding back, certainly now he’s been canned
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That was in reply to you first post btw
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Was the Cardiff player OK?
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TomP – yep, dumb, but not malicious.
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CMW – think so; looked like Williams hurt himself more.
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Old-fashioned try there.
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He’s a powerful chap that Kalamafoni.
Scarlets 20-18 up now. Playing it pretty well.
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14 men all for 10 mins now for a stupid off-the-ball, no-arms tackle.
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Blues self-destructing.
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Blues unself-destructing.
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Evans’ ear looks like it’s been half ripped off.
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Tomos Williams spotting Halfpenny’s not-scrum-half-iness there.
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Scarlets self-destructing!
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Magnificent Blues self-destructing followed by Stef Evans’ unco-ordinated hack at the ball that misses.
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Was a good try, the variety of depth in the passing then a nice cross-kick and the oportunist finish.
Now Steff Evans completely buggers up a chance to take advantage of another self-destructive effort from Cardiff (who were complete rubbish for ten minutes before the try). Think that was Scarlets’ big chance.
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Steff Evans should never try to kick the ball. When he was playing for Wales, he’d screw up at least one kick a game.
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Steff Evans consistently finds ways not to score in that sort of situation. If he’d gathered it instead of hacking at it he’d have shown he’s not quick enough to score from there and ended up throwing a forward pass or something.
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I thnk Zip World is probably some Zipline thing but I wish it were a shop in St Clears that sells zips.
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I’m warming to Exeter now I’ve noticed they have Super Eggs emblazoned on the backs of their shirts.
Bristol – like the ‘orrible Bath – have Thatcher’s on the back of theirs. Yuk.
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Quite the collection of penalties that Scarlets coughed up after they took the lead, never mind.
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Zebre beat Bennetton today so it’s now Ireland-Ireland-Wales-Wales-Italy-Scotland in one pool and Ireland-Ireland-Wales-Wales-Scotland-Italy in the other.
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I still think of the Saffers as propping both pools up.
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I’ve always preferred the term ‘death-slide’ to ‘zip-line’. Think it would be more appropriate for Welsh Regional rugby shirts too.
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Super Eggs turn out to be the invention of an interesting chap called Piet Hein. Surprisingly he’s not the Premiership’s latest Saffer signing.
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Don’t like to think what Thatcher’s Super Eggs are, but no surprise that Bath would have them on their shirts.
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I did it a couple of times in South Africa. It was reasonably enjoyable, much better than the paintballing I got sneaked into by a colleague who wanted to read her book rather than play the game with her students. My main aim was to avoid was to avoid getting hit, which I did quite successfully until a very nice young woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo shot me in the foot from point-blank range because she’d left the safety off her gun.
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Have to say I’m not quite sure what it is TomP did a couple of times in South Africa.
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Tom, luckily the Thatchers Bath have on their shirt is one of the best ciders money can buy.
A mate sent me a case of their Katy cider once to return a favour.
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Super Eggs made me laugh, because in Spanish they say ‘huevos’ (eggs) instead of ‘balls’. And not the sporty kind of balls.
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ziplining, CMW.
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Liambility could be in trouble, he can hardly go looking for a reduction in any ban in the light of this
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Can’t blame him for that and its a bit harsh to be using that as evidence in a hearing, heat of the moment/ intrusive social media etc etc.
Anyone got a clip of the incident ?
and did he really say ” Lets start playing touch rugby is it ? ” ? . Well, I have to say thats delightfully colloquial , and he should have his ban reduced for services to the preservation of regional accents and identities. In the interests of equality, can’t have poshly spoken blazers penalising Welsh scaffolders for something language related. Wonder if he is still a member of UCATT ? Praps they could chip in for a lawyer.
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Anyone who watched Exeter\Bristol yesterday – hope you enjoyed as much as I did the game from the young Aussie, Hodge, at 15 for Exeter.
Looks like he has a big future, to me.
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Walsh, Slade. He looked ok.
Your lad Joe Simmonds got bumped a lot by the Bristol outside backs.
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Bulls got mauled by the Pumas, 17-0 after a quarter of an hour.
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Bulls get a try back through Joe van Zyl but the Pumas had scored 2 in the meantime. 31-7 after 30 mins.
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Stupid me – always seem to get their names back to front!
Walsh = good
Hodge = poor so far
Exeter always miss Ewers and one of Vermeulen or Kirsten.
All 3 were missing which makes it harder on Sam (the sprinter) Simmonds and his brother Joe at 10.
Skinner isn’t as dynamic (his weight seems to vary wildly – when slim he is very good – but he isn’t at the moment) and Don Armand ageing but still very reliable within his limits.
Jonny Gray looked weary and all other 2nd/3rd row seniors are crocked or not of the same quality
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Didn’t Jonny G only come on in the second half? Bit worried if he looks knacked after only playing part of a game. Also missing Hoggy of course. Plus the pitch looked pretty awful.
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