One week to go. One week to go, and nothing’s been cancelled yet. Is that wise? Possibly not, but we can all agree that Six Nations is more important than life or death itself – unless personally affected.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of matches to keep us entertained until then.
Thanks for the helpful reply at the tail end of the previous blog. Makes me even more curious about the gap between AZ’s supply chain and EU expectations, with the latter having not so much egg as an omelette on its face with the way it looks at the moment.
Politicians from all countries have no idea about manufacturing anything, never mind biopharma, so it’s no surprise they focused on price rather than availability, which is the difference between the EU and UK. If you heard Angela Rayner prattling on this week, for example, she was actually criticising the UK government saying they could decide to produce more vaccine if they wanted to.
What is surprising is that someone advising the UK government obviously does understand these things and means they have made good decisions in this case.
As a Quins supporter you know that they can put in a performance like that but they do so rarely and not consistently. They were awesome today and Wasps just were not allowed to play in the way they can all match.
Lynagh junior seems a very good prospect. There was a lot of fluff from the commentators about the need for Quins to step up following Gustard’s possibly player driven exit but so little was made of the impact on the pack and centres of the return of Lewies and Eisterhuisen – two excellent saffers which all teams seem to be calling upon to pull themselves out of the mire
There was one interesting snippet that over the last 2.5 years there had apparently been 150 departures and arrivals from all sources into the Quins squad. They did not bother to tell anyway how many other teams had had so as to see if extreme or not, just left hanging there as a bad sign. Any ideas as to how many have gone into the Bristol and Exeter squads recently ? it never seemed unusual for there to be 30 arrivals and 30 leavers at the end of the season so it may not be that excessive but would make the development of any team culture rather difficult
mr codfish
prop max van dyk the only new saffer at exeter this season. vermeulen and kirsten joined before last season and have been big successes. both injured at the moment.
young fly-half jack walsh (born florida usa)joined from australia this season – looks very good.
what we do have is a ‘plague of scots’………………………………
Now this is a trick my great granny would have pulled to get more free brandy and whisky
#OnThisDay 1977: That’s Life met Annie, a willing participant in a blind taste test, where the aim was to tell the difference between whisky and brandy. pic.twitter.com/p6ZyGkHYla
Tomp – forgot that
Armand has been there for ages as has Ewers- both England qualified. both born in Zimbabwe. Ewers came to UK as a 9 yr old; Armand played for Stormers until 2014.
Hepburn born in Australia but also England qualified – was in wasps academy in 2009.
Hendrikson born in NZ came to England aged 5.
Rus Tuima played for England U18s – born Fiji now aged 20
Elvis Taione born Tonga – played for Waratahs in 2011 – moved to Jersey Reds in 2014.
Vast majority of the rest come from west of Bristol.
players such as Waldrom and Dennis now departed.
Well, indeed – this is beginning to look like a recurring problem. Last 3 games, we’ve opened well (Connacht, Leinster, Treviso) , and in various ways failed to push on and ended up with a loss and two scrambled wins. (Granted the previous 2 – Ulster and Clermont didn’t follow the pattern – there it was the opposite ..start badly and finish strongly).
Granted the opposition are not uninvolved here – so maybe it’s sleepy opposition that are granting a big lead before getting themselves together ….
Now there’s obviously all sorts of wider factors here – Leinster was a good performance but individual errors meant Munster never opened a serious gap; Connacht picked their game up; and Treviso – after 12 easy points we never picked our game up…
One shining light in the Scarlets v Leinster debacle. I see TMHMIR™ produced a classic outside-centre break to set up a try. It’s all there, ball in two hands, head up to spot fatties out of position, pace for the gap, drawing the fullback and a perfectly timed pass. At about 1.40 in *sigh*.
Most of them young lads in the very good under 20s team are Munstermen, Slade.
Turner and Baird were in the 2019 World Championship squad and Hawkinshaw should’ve been but got injured before. Harry Byrne was in the 6 Nations Grand Slammers in 2019, can’t remember why he didn’t play in the World Champs. Also not in the Leinster squad for this game was Scott Penny, who’s a top player. That back row they put out v Scarlets is horribly strong.
Heard an interesting view from a British businessman today who has been very involved with firms in the Midlands. He believes that many larger mid-sized firms in the UK have actually forgotten how to export properly because for years their market was the EU which was “akin to sending a parcel to Ipswich” and as such they’re having to relearn export procedures and processes. At great cost and frustration.
The kicker was that he reckons it’ll kill any (immediate) Scottish ambitions around independence because over 80% of Scotland’s trade is with the rest of the UK. Thoughts?
Ovally Balls 
OH, and they get over the line, but it’s not grounded!
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TRY at last!
Treviso have been lovely to watch today.
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Conversion missed; 16-15, 7 minutes to go.
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Treviso in Munster’s 22, less than 30 seconds to go, and Munster win a turnover.
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How predictable. Munster win it with a drop goal in extra time. Poor Treviso, who were the moral victors.
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Sparta 0 Bohemians 1
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Chimpie may have a use after all:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/31/in-the-search-for-covid-protection-cormac-the-extremely-charismatic-llama-may-hold-a-key
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Test
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Couldn’t we use Leinster or Saracens players?
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Hello Dova!
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Bah. I still have to enter all my details before posting. Doing something wrong I need to fix.
Anyway.
Eh up all.
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It takes me back to WordPress every time and the name email and everything needs entering again…
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Is there not a ‘remember me’ box to be ticked?
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Switched off the match in disgust.
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Fun fact: The Irish provinces are the only sides with positive points differences in the Pro14.
By fun, I mean depressing.
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TomP – actually, that’s undepressed me slightly. Merci.
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I just tuned in to the Scarlets Leinster game, I thought the Dubs would win but not by that sort of score.
This season has been strange, and for what ever reason it has really favoured the Irish sides
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‘Chimpie may have a use after all:’
I have many uses
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The greatest name in football had a red-letter day:
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You’re a talented lad, Cormac.
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@OT
Thanks for the helpful reply at the tail end of the previous blog. Makes me even more curious about the gap between AZ’s supply chain and EU expectations, with the latter having not so much egg as an omelette on its face with the way it looks at the moment.
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@iksy
Politicians from all countries have no idea about manufacturing anything, never mind biopharma, so it’s no surprise they focused on price rather than availability, which is the difference between the EU and UK. If you heard Angela Rayner prattling on this week, for example, she was actually criticising the UK government saying they could decide to produce more vaccine if they wanted to.
What is surprising is that someone advising the UK government obviously does understand these things and means they have made good decisions in this case.
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WTF? Just turned on Wasps v Quins and it’s 0-17 after 20 mins.
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Same, thought it would be a Wasps walk in the park. Missed all the fun.
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Sounds like Marcus Smith has been channelling his Inner Finn.
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Wasps finally get points on the board as the clock goes red for HT: 3 -20.
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Wasps managed to get a couple of tries, then fell apart again. 17-49 at FT.
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Still my beating heart.
As a Quins supporter you know that they can put in a performance like that but they do so rarely and not consistently. They were awesome today and Wasps just were not allowed to play in the way they can all match.
Lynagh junior seems a very good prospect. There was a lot of fluff from the commentators about the need for Quins to step up following Gustard’s possibly player driven exit but so little was made of the impact on the pack and centres of the return of Lewies and Eisterhuisen – two excellent saffers which all teams seem to be calling upon to pull themselves out of the mire
There was one interesting snippet that over the last 2.5 years there had apparently been 150 departures and arrivals from all sources into the Quins squad. They did not bother to tell anyway how many other teams had had so as to see if extreme or not, just left hanging there as a bad sign. Any ideas as to how many have gone into the Bristol and Exeter squads recently ? it never seemed unusual for there to be 30 arrivals and 30 leavers at the end of the season so it may not be that excessive but would make the development of any team culture rather difficult
LikeLiked by 2 people
mr codfish
prop max van dyk the only new saffer at exeter this season. vermeulen and kirsten joined before last season and have been big successes. both injured at the moment.
young fly-half jack walsh (born florida usa)joined from australia this season – looks very good.
what we do have is a ‘plague of scots’………………………………
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And you are all the better for it.
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errrmm……………………….ok
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Now this is a trick my great granny would have pulled to get more free brandy and whisky
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Oh dog I remember that.
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Slade, van Dyk even came via Quins – he played once for them.
Armand’s a Saffer sort of. http://ikeytigers.com/don-armand-a-man-for-all-seasons/
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Tomp – forgot that
Armand has been there for ages as has Ewers- both England qualified. both born in Zimbabwe. Ewers came to UK as a 9 yr old; Armand played for Stormers until 2014.
Hepburn born in Australia but also England qualified – was in wasps academy in 2009.
Hendrikson born in NZ came to England aged 5.
Rus Tuima played for England U18s – born Fiji now aged 20
Elvis Taione born Tonga – played for Waratahs in 2011 – moved to Jersey Reds in 2014.
Vast majority of the rest come from west of Bristol.
players such as Waldrom and Dennis now departed.
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Well, indeed – this is beginning to look like a recurring problem. Last 3 games, we’ve opened well (Connacht, Leinster, Treviso) , and in various ways failed to push on and ended up with a loss and two scrambled wins. (Granted the previous 2 – Ulster and Clermont didn’t follow the pattern – there it was the opposite ..start badly and finish strongly).
Granted the opposition are not uninvolved here – so maybe it’s sleepy opposition that are granting a big lead before getting themselves together ….
Now there’s obviously all sorts of wider factors here – Leinster was a good performance but individual errors meant Munster never opened a serious gap; Connacht picked their game up; and Treviso – after 12 easy points we never picked our game up…
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One shining light in the Scarlets v Leinster debacle. I see TMHMIR™ produced a classic outside-centre break to set up a try. It’s all there, ball in two hands, head up to spot fatties out of position, pace for the gap, drawing the fullback and a perfectly timed pass. At about 1.40 in *sigh*.
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i guess a lot of those young irish lads are graduates of the recent very good national u20s?
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Most of them young lads in the very good under 20s team are Munstermen, Slade.
Turner and Baird were in the 2019 World Championship squad and Hawkinshaw should’ve been but got injured before. Harry Byrne was in the 6 Nations Grand Slammers in 2019, can’t remember why he didn’t play in the World Champs. Also not in the Leinster squad for this game was Scott Penny, who’s a top player. That back row they put out v Scarlets is horribly strong.
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thanks – i always enjoy a strong irish national side
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OT, just spent 40 minutes sliding backwards, sideways and throwing donuts in a big empty carpark in honour of the panda.
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‘i always enjoy a strong irish national side’
Pffft
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It’s almost as bad as having a strong england side around
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‘ELON MUSK SAYS HE HAS ‘TOTALLY HAPPY’ MONKEY WITH BRAIN CHIP SO IT CAN PLAY VIDEO GAMES USING ITS MIND’
It’ll while away those long hours on the way to Mars I suppose
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Didn’t mean to shout
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Yes. Yes you did Cormac.
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Hmmm.
Got my eyes on you, deebee
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Watch out Deebs. If Chimpie’s got his eye on you, you might end up deid like me.
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Heard an interesting view from a British businessman today who has been very involved with firms in the Midlands. He believes that many larger mid-sized firms in the UK have actually forgotten how to export properly because for years their market was the EU which was “akin to sending a parcel to Ipswich” and as such they’re having to relearn export procedures and processes. At great cost and frustration.
The kicker was that he reckons it’ll kill any (immediate) Scottish ambitions around independence because over 80% of Scotland’s trade is with the rest of the UK. Thoughts?
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