I was vaguely interested in rugby as a child; we used to play it in the playground, although we didn’t have a rugby ball (any kind of ball would do), none of us knew the rules, and it resembled a particularly vicious bout of British Bulldogs more than the game we know and love today.
Then, in my twenties, I found myself in Detroit working with a load of Brits and French, and there was a local Irish pub, Dick O’Dow’s, that put on all the Five Nations matches. Of course they started at an unreasonable time in the morning, and of course this did not deter us from assembling to watch them, and downing the Guinness in camaradic rivalry.
It starts like that: you think you’re just getting together with some colleagues for a little fun, then you start watching other Test matches, maybe a few European Cup matches, and before you know it, you’re obsessively watching obscure dead rubbers in the Pro-infinity and desperately starting a rugby blog because the one you’ve become addicted to has suddenly disappeared.
As a footnote, during the last World Cup but one, we went to a pub in Cardiff after one of the matches (possibly that horrible one where Ireland were knocked out by Argentina), and there was a bloke there who we overheard mentioning Detroit.
“Oh,” I said, “I used to live in Detroit. I went to watch all the matches at Dick O’Dow’s.”
Turned out the bloke was the one who’d brought the television rights to Detroit, so responsible for my addiction. Small world.
Right, on to the matches!
Italy v France
Teams
Italy: Jacopo Trulla, Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Juan Ignacio Brex, Montanna Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney, Cherif Traorè, Luca Bigi (c), Marco Riccioni, Marco Lazzaroni, David Sisi, Sebastian Negri, Johan Meyer, Michele Lamaro
Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Danilo Fischetti, Giosué Zilocchi, Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Maxime Mbandà, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna
France: Brice Dulin, Teddy Thomas, Arthur Vincent, Gaël Fickou, Gabin Villière, Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont, Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, Bernard Le Roux, Paul Willemse, Dylan Cretin, Charles Ollivon (c), Grégory Alldritt
Replacements: Pierre Bourgarit, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Dorian Aldegheri, Romain Taofifenua, Anthony Jelonch, Baptiste Serin, Louis Carbonel, Damian Penaud
Blog ‘wisdom’
Anything but finishing first will be considered a failure in France. I doubt there’ll be a Grand Slam, given that France will travel to both England and Ireland, albeit in empty stadia. (Flair99)
France by 13 over Italy – the Italians will have their customary strong start to the 6N before injury and lack of depth give those following bonus point chances. (Deebee7)
That’s about all anyone had to say about this match.
England v Scotland
Teams
England: 15. Elliot Daly, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Lawrence, 11. Jonny May, 10. Owen Farrell (C), 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Mark Wilson, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Beno Obano, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Courtney Lawes, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Dan Robson, 22. George Ford, 23. Max Malins.
Scotland: 15. Stuart Hogg (C), 14. Sean Maitland, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ali Price, 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Scott Cummings, 5. Jonny Gray, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Hamish Watson, 8. Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: 16. David Cherry, 17. Oli Kebble, 18. WP Nel, 19. Richie Gray, 20. Gary Graham, 21. Scott Steele, 22. Jaco van der Walt, 23. Huw Jones.
BLOG ‘WISDOM’
There was a bit more interest in this match.
Full-strength Scotland at Twikkers confident of catching England cold, anticipating many England players off the pace.
As it turns out, Scotland, as usual, force the game and surrender numerous knock-ons in promising attacking positions.
Ford, Farrell, Slade, Daly kick, kick and kick. May secures two kick-chase TDs (Hogg missing his tackles) and Farrell doesn’t miss a kick – conversion or penalty. Slade intercepts a long, telegraphed Russell flat pass for England’s 3rd try. LC-D barrels over late in the game for the fourth.
Final score 40 – 10 as Ritchie gets the consolation and Genge gives up 3 points and a yellow card for lamping Watson.Dream on……………………………………………………. (SladeIs42)
My dark horse, as often, are Scotland, specially as they start with England. With a bit of wind in their sails, they could go pretty far. But then, that’s what we say every year. (Flair, ibid)
Dayboo for young Redpath, and probably Cherry off the bench
Hope Turner can keep the heid & his darts are a worry. Not convinced yet by Fagerson junior at 8 but hope he steps up a bit. Bigger Gray back is good, he’s been looking back in form.
England by 20. (Chimpie)
” Daly = Hogg in many ways.”
Good lord, Slade. What pills have you been taking ?
Was going to announce Ford to bench before the team came out, Eddie just couldn’t play Ford ahead of Faz after Squidge report. Could this be the day a total Owen meltdown costs England the game? Dunno about chipping in behind Farrell, I think running thru him is a better option, with a nifty little offload down low.
So, the scene is set for George to come on with 20 mins to go, and England 20 points behind, will he secure the comeback win ? Has Owen been practicing spiral bombs ??? Nope, cos Eddie rarely brings on subs until its too late for them to change the game.
Scotland by 10. (SunbeamTim)
England by 12 over Scotland – Scots passion, fury and flingaboutery will keep them close until the 65 minute mark when George Ford comes on to change gears and get the spluttering engine purring. (Deebee7, ibid)
Wales v Ireland
Teams
Wales: 15. Leigh Halfpenny, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. George North, 12. Johnny Williams, 11. Hallam Amos, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens, 3. Tomas Francis, 4. Adam Beard, 5. Alun Wyn Jones (capt), 6. Dan Lydiate, 7. Justin Tipuric, 8. Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: 16. Elliot Dee, 17. Rhodri Jones, 18. Leon Brown, 19. Will Rowlands, 20. Josh Navidi, 21. Gareth Davies, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Nick Tompkins.
Ireland: 15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Keith Earls, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. James Lowe, 10. Jonathan Sexton (capt), 9. Conor Murray, 1. Cian Healy, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Andrew Porter, 4. Tadhg Beirne, 5. James Ryan, 6. Peter O’Mahony, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. CJ Stander.
Replacements: 16. Ronan Kelleher, 17. Dave Kilcoyne, 18. Tadhg Furlong, 19. Iain Henderson, 20. Will Connors, 21. Jamison Gibson Park, 22. Billy Burns, 23. Jordan Larmour.
BLOG ‘WISDOM’
The Irish have been shy on this one. Not surprised, because I honestly don’t have any idea either.
Wales by 2 over Ireland – early season burglary by Wales over a fancied Irish side. (Deebee7, ibid) (boo, hiss)
I had the grizzles with Pivac’s Autumn teams, but this feels a tick better. Amos back (as NostradamIks predicted) is alright, not too bothered one way or the other. I much prefer Beard to Seb Davies, especially for his Aardman features.
I’m glad those run-outs for Botham and the Other-backrower-who’s-name-I-can’t-remember-but-it-was-hyphenated, are over for now. Don’t know much about the next big thing at centre called Williams since the last big thing at centre called Owen Williams, who turned out to be overrated and over-hyped – except by me of course. I hope to see what the fuss is about on Sunday.
Lydiate coming back is an odd one. I should be horrified, but I’m not, for some reason. I’m more curious to see how it goes than anything.
Positives are mainly a good pair of 9s, the usual suspects in Faletau and Tips, and two Drags to liven things up off the bench.
What I’m expecting is a stodgy attacking display, an improved set-piece, a mix of iffy and whiffy defending, and a right-good rogering at the breakdown.
Ireland’s to lose. (MisterIks)
I think we’d take them in a packed-out stadium. In a empty echoing cavern it’s theirs all day long. (TomPirracas)
My flabber is gasted by the absence of Wainwright. I simply overlooked it. Says to me that Pivac’s pendulum has swung from adventure to stolid, and Lydiate is there to stop the opposition, rather than start a bit of Welsh rugby.
Pivac out! (Iks again)
Some more general thoughts on the tournament:
Both England and Ireland seem rather stale at the moment, with little threat in attack but they can defend. It will be tight.
Wales look mediocre, Italy pffft…
England will probably bully every team but France, so should finish 1st or 2nd.
Wooden spoon beckons for Italy while Ireland and Wales should fight within the soft belly of the tournament. (Flair99, ibid)
Wales’ matches will in all probability be tedious affairs with depressing results. Or depressing affairs with tedious results. With it being the last hurrah for the Six Nations on proper telly and the unlikely occurrence of Test cricket on Channel 4 I expect to spend February watching an inordinate amount of sport from which I will glean no satisfaction whatsoever.
They’ll probably score the odd nice try either before hopelessly capitulating or more likely after the game is done as a contest. (ClydeMillarWynant)
Don’t think we’ve got a hope in hell, really. Haven’t played a Test since lifting the Webb Ellis trophy, half of our players are being denuded of their skills and enthusiasm by playing in England, we’ve got a long injury list and our domestic competitions have been pretty poor fare. (Deebee7, who frankly seems to be confused about which tournament we’re on about.)
Let the games begin! We all have the HOPEFEAR.
Onna telly this week
Friday 5th February
| Dragons v Connact | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Bristol v Sale | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 6th February
| Wasps v Northampton | 13:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Italy v France | 14:15 | ITV |
| Bath v Harlequins | 14:15 | BT Sport Extra |
| Leicester v Worcester | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| London Irish v Gloucester | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| England v Scotland | 16:45 | ITV |
Sunday 7th February
| Newcastle v Exeter | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Wales v Ireland | 15:00 | BBC1 / S4C |
Ovally Balls 
I missed the game building a snow man and
destroying my kids in a snow ball fightbonding with my kids in the snow.LikeLike
Both sides better than England. Neither side as good as Scotland.
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I think we could bring Scotland down to our level next week.
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Well….that was annoying, frustrating, irritating and strangely encouraging….
Basically, O’Mahony’s red was reckless…. and game was pretty much lost there … however, there was lots to like Beirne, Vd Flier, Henshaw, Keenan, Ringrose were all good.
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Scotland’s strategy of completely dominating games while hardly scoring any points has been working really well for them so I expect them to stick with it. They haven’t bargained with LRZ nipping in for a try against the run of play to nick it though.
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At least Freddie’s not the only one in the family, with a ‘low-light’ reel now.
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Craigs, thats bad. Rules say if you try for 3 months and have a drink before the end date, you have to start again and do six months.
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Finn Russell’s got form for attacking Welsh lads,. I’m seeing him Karate kicking Adam Beard.
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Trisk, Ireland looked pretty sharp, considering they only had 14 men. Pack is sorted, need to fit Lamour in there somewhere, and probably find a new 10, but on that form, they may well get a top three finish.
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To happier days for Ireland.
Am a big fan of these olden days films on the RTE website:
https://www.rte.ie/archives/category/sports/2019/0312/1035939-rugby-wales-0-ireland-5/
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@sbt
There was a lot to like – if we ignore the red and the 2 blown pens…. the lineout was much improved especially as we lost Ryan and O’Mahony – ironic the first Welsh try came off a blown lineout
Larmour might be best suited to being an impact sub – he had a poor enough game vs Munster – peppered him with high kicks and he didn’t do well – he is dangerous running kicks back – but I’d expect England to drop bombs on him all day….
10? Not sure if we persist with Burns/Byrne while we wait for Carbery or try Carty again. Aside from the penalty kicked dead, Burns also kicked out on the full earlier when Ireland had Wales under pressure and a fairly rotten pass in the last phases lost us 10-15m before we got the pen. It wasn’t a great contribution generally.
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It just wasn’t Burns’ night.
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Cumin in late here, but no thyme for all this japery
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Well done Wales.
POM an eejit and fully deserved red, amazed barnes didn’t look at it immediately
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General discussion on Irish rugby Twitter is asking why Williams tackle on Ringrose wasn’t reviewed…
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That was a poor tackle but thought it was chest hitting first. Might be wrong.
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Ealing beat Sarries again yesterday:
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Sbt – the pattern will then repeat itself and I’ll be on a dry millennium in no time.
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A good evening all… Just caught up on t’blog. It seems I’m not the only one putting in a visit after some time away. I hope you are all well.
That was a rather good result yesterday. Although I’ve never known a game to go so slowly as it did that second half. My wife practically wore a hole in the carpet.
I’m somewhat disappointed that the herb punnage has not incorporated that most dangerous of casserole additives, the humble bay leaf…
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Morning, Slider!
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it’s bayleaf that England need, right now
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They just need to stop peppering the field with kicks
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Chimp, you’ve posted under a ‘different name’ (ahem) — do you want it changing?
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My wife practically wore a hole in the carpet
I’m sure she looked grand wearing a hole. Only saw bits and pieces of yesterday’s match, so won’t rub salt into Irish wounds, but I hear POM tried to nutmeg someone?
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Oh Baws, yes please brookter!
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Nice to see you back along with some other old (or should I say familiar) faces
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wot a choob.
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My favourite self-outing on here was when CJ quite deliberatly posted his gmail address
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@Chimpie, there you go.
I’ve done it subtly so I don’t think anyone will notice….
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that’s some subtle work there.
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You’re welcome! Subtlety *is* what we ex-plods are known for, after all.
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Not much comment on the France game, but I thought it was nice to see France getting back to being the Basil of rugby.
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I think they enjoyed their caper in Rome.
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The way Italy folded it was like watching oregano.
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Well played Scotland, big big win, and well deserved. France looking good, and as NostradamIks said, it was Ireland’s to lose. I was frustrated and we won, so I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for our Irish contingent to watch that match slip through their fingers like that.
Scotland and England are both fortunate with the fixtures next weekend. Scotland have a great chance to build momentum against a predictable and injury-hit Welsh side, while England have an easy ride to get back on the rails. Ireland and France are not so lucky, but it should be a good old 6N nailbiter with loads at stake for both sides.
Enjoyed the readback, especially the spicy blend of regulars and returners adding to the usual 6N mix of soy and saffron.
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Scotland have it in them to make their game with Wales a nailbiter.
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Last week I tried to draw parallels between (on form versions) Hogg and Daly.
I owe Hogg that Saturday was the best I have seen from him: played within himself and was very, very accurate.
Well done.
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Ha. it always goes well when Scotland are favourites furra game. Wales by 15
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‘Last week I tried to draw parallels between (on form versions) Hogg and Daly.’
We did notice. And wondered if you’d been smoking some ‘erbs.
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france vs ireland should be a good game next weekend
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Ah but Scotland are overwhelming favourites, this time. Scotland by 28.
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Scotland are overwhelming favourites to have 90% possession and territory. Scotland by 1.
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I’m confident that Scotland will be so confused by the opposition passing the ball past 10 that they’ll give up a hatful of tries. Wales innovative kicking game of smashing the ball straight to Hogg every time’ll see the Tartan Elliot Daly break the world try-scoring record.
Scotland by 13.
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*Misery-guts Update*
“france vs ireland should be a good game next weekend”
The other two games should definitely be worse.
*Misery-guts Update ends*
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Monday Prediction for this weekend’s matches:
England, chastised and sobered by the realisation that they couldn’t simply kick ‘n bosh their way past feisty Scotland pick the biggest side in rugby history so they can KICK ‘N BOSH their way over, through and not around Italy, who, having realised that their first-up tackling was well below par and know what’s coming their way, pick 15 Saffas to BOSH BACK against England. Problem is, they’re playing for Italy because they can’t make it into better sides. England by 47 despite themselves.
Scotland, fresh from the Trashing of Twickers™ are primed, ready, purring and full of confidence for the visit of an abject Welsh side that had to rely on red mist and a brain fart to see off Ireland. The mercenary English Army and Tartan Boks who were apparently the only reason Edward’s Army tripped at Twickers have a solid tight five, fury in the loose forwards, flying outside backs and the Best 10 in the World™ ready to unleash hell on the journeymen from the Valleys. Thing is, it’s not their Game of the Season™ and with all their raison d’etre exhausted last week, Wales will give them the fright of their lives! But not enough to actually win it. Scotland by a couple in a low-scoring affair.
Ireland, stunned by stupidity and seething with intent, await the thoroughbreds of France, fresh from their opening training run against Italy. Expect a titanic struggle up front with neither pack giving an inch (easy on the Karl button, Iks). Ireland should be without Sexton which gives France a HUGE advantage behind the pie-munchers, and with the greyhounds and whippets willing to give it a lash, it could be a long afternoon at the Palindrome. But if the Irish are one thing, it’s bloody minded, determined and fucking difficult to boss around on their home patch (thank dog no World Cups hosted there yet). Too close to call!
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Pfft
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I can see this being another 2018 in terms of 6 nations results for England. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given that we seem to have our troughs mid rwc cycle.
We probably missed Mako and Underhill a bit too much but our tactics and kicking were way off too. Hopefully a wake up call.
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OT – that was so that he could send me The Coddling of the American Mind.
I still haven’t received it but every day I check the post with the same unbridled enthusiasm.
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Deebs, I’m tempted to just post that as this weekend’s ATL.
Thanks for the emergency modding, Brookter!
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For a long time I thought that Sexton playing gave France a big advantage. A FH has to run from time to time, not just walk 10 meters behind the gain line. But now that I’ve seen his sub, I’m not so sure.
Murray had a good game, better than for some time. Yet I can’t understand why Cooney does not get the nod ahead of him.
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