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 have a friend who voted leave. She said she saw a programme where the presenter was trying to find good arguments to stay (not good arguments to leave though) and couldn’t. And that was it, mind made up.
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OT, One of the many things I’ve learned from AoD/OB over the years is that no true Northerner would write “brewing up”. They’d write “brewing oop”. That was the Cat ventriloquising Chris Ashton. He really captured the voice.
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@Brookter – Stokes didn’t get man of the match, it was some champagne moment type thing from a sponsor for a catch he took in the slips. Root got man of the match as you would expect.
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Among other things I’ve learned:
The Only Person You Should Compare Yourself to is the Person You Used to Be.
and
You Are Only Confined to the Walls You Built Yourself.
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Tomp has been reading Douglas Murray I think
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So when Howling Julio’s mother knocked down the wall out the front doing her hopeless three point turn and I had to learn some basic bricklaying what actually happened is I lost my freedom?
I suppose I did get a cake from her to make up for it.
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Murray’s more “You are only confined by these walls we built to keep you out”.
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“North Berwick is lovely. FAR nicer than Dunbar….”
You turn your back for just a second..
Welcome back Slider. I hope you’re enjoying North Berwick, it really is a lovely place, I just can’t say so because, well, y’know.
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The middle class brexiters i know aren’t exactly shy about it. Getting them to shut up about the evil EU and talk about something else is more the issue.
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Jeez craigs. And you have the cheek to diss my cookery?
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Latest Saffa/Scot news is that Brandon Thomson has left Glasgow to go to Cheetahs after a torrid time. He looked pretty good for a while but his confidence was shot to the point that he was lucky if he hit the ball at all when he was kicking for goal.
He probably passed Boan Venter at the airport, the big lad is in Edinburgh self-isolating before joining us to spar with the other looseheads.
He looks a good prospect, he’s 23 and can hold his own in the tight.
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Brexiter friend has now got a bee in his bonnet about sturgeon and indy stuff. Hearing him witter on is like a perfect advert for independence.
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@CMW,
Ah thanks — I only caught a minute before I rewound to watch the actual cricket (though for some reason All4’s ‘Restart’ button only took me back to 165-4…). I thought it was a bit odd….
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Lovely readback reminiscing about notablogs and notabloggers gone by. As a former stropper myself (who lurked post-strop) I was very touched at the welcome when I returned. Work means I have had very little time to keep up over the past couple of years, but it’s always nice to drop in around internationals time. Was sorry to see Yos stropped over bollockgate (if that refers to Marler’s antics). I remember he took exception to something I posted at the time… Hope that wasn’t the reason.
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Chimpie – it wasn’t an endorsement. Although, I bet you have cheese on bix don’t you?
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No
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Nah, he only toasts his Weetabix on one side….
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@Brookter – Anderson got some other gong as well. I guess in a country the size of India room has to be made for more than one Cornhill Insurance.
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I see a lot of the old names on the Superbru prediction thing, so people are still around.
I tried to track Sag down via musician mates of mine in and around Glasgow, just to see if he was okay, but to no avail.
No one had heard anything bad, at least, and bad news does travel fast.
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I’m pro-union in the same way I was anti-brexit:
Being part of the bigger institution gives you advantages and disadvantages. But, for the most part, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and efforts should be made to ameliorate those disadvantages.
None of those disadvantages will be addressed (as I see it) by some supposed reclaiming of ‘power’ from the big bad EU or big bad Westminster.
But the hardest part is finding a way to make that case that doesn’t make you, if English, sound like you are patting the heads of the natives or, if Scottish, whatever the equivalent of ‘coconut’ is.
Brexit wasn’t won on the economic case particularly, and trying to paint a project fear to what happens to currency, trade deficits, pensions, and whatever else to a load of people living in slum conditions in some horribly deprived bit of Glasgow or Dundee who can’t see how their lives could be any worse than they currently are by all these supposedly bad things happening isn’t going to wash, any more than people who perceived they got sweet fa out of the status quo of EU membership, even if not convinced by the bollocks spouted by the leave side.
And also, pointing out that had indyref 1 gone as the SNP wanted that Scotland would have left the EU as well as the UK and making the argument for indyref2 redundant won’t wash either, because no one on either side can say for certain how the hypothetical scexit negotiations would have gone.
I want to stay in the UK but unless the unionists come up with better positions and answers than they currently have then I fear Scotland will go independent next time.
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Oh I don’t know, Slider, it looks like Alex Salmond is doing his best to derail the project.
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CMW,
Did Anderson mention how he’d drawn inspiration for his amazing longevity from other no longer young bowlers still performing at the highest level in Real Cricket ™?
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Ticht, I’m trying hard to work out what the hell the whole sturgeon / salmond thing is about. I’m also struggling to give a toss, in spite of my general antipathy towards the SNP.
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As far as I can gather Salmond’s argument is that when he went to visit Sturgeon at her house, he met her in her capacity as First Minister, and in that case minutes of the meeting should have been taken. He is saying she lied to the Scottish Parliament in saying they did not meet in that capacity and in the fact she claims not to have upheld the duty of the FM to record the meeting properly.
Sturgeon says they met with her in her capacity as leader of the SNP, so it was a party matter and it didn’t need recording in the way Salmond insists it did.
Sturgeon’s husband is Peter Murrell, he is CEO of the party, and Salmond is accusing him of influencing the police to go after him in the sexual assault cases.
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Slider/Ticht – the last referendum was 5 years ago. To my mind it’s still too soon for another (keep asking the question until you get the right answer). Just wondered what you thought about that.
Also, the SNP might make a good case for independence but me (and to a number of people south of the border, including some Scots), they don’t seem to be making a good case for themselves. Not that there is a great choice.
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Craigs – I agree, but it was 7 years ago, nearly, but the pressure will be there, and it will remain so whilst the Tories are in power – they are the independence movement’s best recruiting sergeant. And sadly I can’t see Labour getting in in 2024, but three years is a very long time in politics, and one wonders if the SNP would actually want the prospect of a Labour-SNP Westminster coalition.
If I were an SNP strategist, I would perhaps be thinking of keeping my powder dry. If there is an argument to be made that some of the issues with Brexit are only temporary and can be ironed out in the next 24 months or so, then they can make the case that getting indy sorted won’t be that challenging technically. And if Brexit is a total shit show, they can focus on that and the case to be made for independence and accession to the EU…
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Craigs, a lot of things have changed since 2014, however I think the biggest driver towards a Yes vote this time around is the callous disregard for any kind of probity, the lack of morality or honour in those at Westminster.
Yes the current government is always transitory, but the way Scotland and Scots have seen themselves for along time now is more like a Northern European Social Democracy, rather than whatever it is that the 1922 committee foresee for the UK now.
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“Sturgeon’s husband is Peter Murrell, he is CEO of the party, and…” should perhaps have considered stepping down from this role when his wife became leader of the party?
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@Brookter – Anderson sets a terrible example to ageing league cricketers who he inspires to carry on trying to prove themselves rather than allowing themselves to fall into the open arms of Real Cricket.
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Quiz:
Your boiler has decided to ignore the thermometer and keeps pumping out the heat until it reaches 27º and rising and won’t listen to any reason except the brute force option of turning the bugger off. It’s not that the boiler isn’t working; it’s that it can’t be persuaded to have a few hours off. You ring British Gas Home Care, whom you pay £00dles at month to sort this thing out without any unpleasant necessity to know how this sort of thing works.
When is the nearest appointment you will be given?
1. Tomorrow
2. Thursday
3. I suppose they’re a bit pushed at the moment, so next Tuesday would be fine
4. Obviously the very first available appointment for the whole of sodding Cheshire and North Wales couldn’t be on March 2nd because that would be silly.
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@CMW,
Hence causing unnecessary recruiting problems for the Unsung Heroes (and High Performing Bowlers) who run Real Cricket?
Tricky — from my experience of batsman at Real Cricket level, the last thing they want is to be facing League bowlers who are still young enough to terrify, and on Real Cricket pitches.
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@brookter
I think your thermostat has bust.
Happy to help.
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I think Iks’ agents might have been at work. Expect a potato and some instructions to arrive from Germany in the post some time before March 2nd.
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Ticht – it’s difficult to argue positively for the government as it is now but that would be it. Gone forever into the wilds. I suppose that’s my only argument. Other than my own feelings.
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The Tories are under no obligation to offer a referendum and since their main strategy at the moment is getting their base wound up then having the “Bolshie Scots demanding the Break-Up of Britain” is pretty handy.
Which helps the SNP maintain its stranglehold on Scottish politics.
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@OT,
That had crossed my mind, but I shall be sure to pass the information on to the grandson of the current engineer when he turns up for the appointment.
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@Brookter – This is definitely true when it comes to proper high level league cricketers, we don’t want them in our game. Middling ones? Not really them either for the most part though if the opposition always have one or two then it might be worth a ring round before that fixture. But there are leagues and there are leagues. So many round here that towards the bottom end the standard is often lower than Real Cricket or at least would be were it not for the generosity of spirit shown on a Sunday. I’ve certainly played with and against far better players on a Sunday than I was ever good enough to get to play with on a Saturday. The flip side is that obviously most of the worst players I’ve played with have been on Sundays, but by no means all of them!
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@CMW – the Sunday games were often the most fun. We were in a mid-level league (the one below the one which provided Lancs with a lot of decent players, and better, such as Paul Allott), and the Sunday games could be against their teams with plenty of far too talented for us players, or against those for whom it was all a laugh. I played every match I could, including mid-week fixtures and it was great.
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You can’t actually be too good to play on a Sunday, you can only be too thick to know what is appropriate and when.
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“Which helps the SNP maintain its stranglehold on Scottish politics”
Well, the ineptitude of Labour in Scotland helps too.
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Labour’s decline and fall, and subsequent utter uselessness in Scotland is something to behold.
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Chimpie strikes again
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In Scotland?
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Couldn’t even beat Boris.
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I tried to understand the whole Salmond -Sturgeon thing but got bored after about 5 minutes. A lot of it seems somewhat procedural. Whatevs. Salmond is still a knob. No idea whether anything will come of it.
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Outrageous slur
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There is a part of me that would actually welcome independence, in that some of these grievance-mongers would actually have to stand by their actions, rather than claiming every success as their own and every failure as a consequence of a decision made 380 miles to the south.
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You would perhaps think that, just 8 months after the Indyref where 55% of people voted to stay within the UK, the 2015 general election would signal the death knell for the SNP. The result? 56 seats won, with 50% of the vote, Labour and the LibDems trashed. Maybe, just maybe, that might tell you about the mindset of the Scottish voters? 2017 was down to 35 seats with 36.9% of the vote, then 2019 back up to 48 seats and 45% of the vote.
I realise I’m in the minority in that I voted Yes the last time and will do so next time. And if you want a major reason why a lot of Scots are scunnered, just take a wee scroll through this lot…
https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet
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BB, that doesn’t surprise me at all.
If anything, English Labour under Ed Miliband was the begging of the real fracturing of Labour into two parties that started under Blair, the socially conservative part that looked to actually protect the fruits of the workers’ efforts, and the other bit full of ‘internationalist’ latte-sipping Islingtonians. It’s an error to assume that many of the former group pay any significant attention to socialist ideals, they’d just like their jobs protecting, thanks, using the tools of their unionisation. Hence the conflicting messages and lack of authenticity that was the Controls on Immigration mugs and the Ed Stone.
I would imagine many Scots looks aghast at what was on offer from Labour in 2015, and, assuming the 2014 indy vote yes voters all voted SNP, it didn’t take much in terms of Labour voters switching to SNP to get the increase.
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