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 
@OT – sorry about that, you must have been the one telling us how Scotland conquered Twickenham.
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I know what his main contribution was, but Francis was actually leading the tackle count quite a way into that game!
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@cmw
Correct, that was me. I do like Squidge’s tennis imagery to show how Scotland pinned England back.
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……………late to the party, as usual but, re PR
….a change to that system (which I support over FPTP) will likely throw up some apparent anomalies, e.g. 89 UKIP MPs but
a) exposure will demonstrate whether they are competent or not – with correction at the next election
b) they will have replaced mainly (?) Con MPs – which might make for a livelier and more challenging parliament, especially with more greens about.
I think it would be a lot closer to fair democracy that the current fix.
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‘your’ England XV:
England: Daly; Watson, Slade, Farrell (capt), May; Ford, Youngs; M Vunipola, Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Lawes, Curry, B Vunipola.
Replacements: George, Genge, Stuart, Ewels, Earl, Willis, Robson, Malins.
te-he……………..
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Morning…
Politics: there are too many versions of PR for it to be a straight ‘good or bad’ question. Some versions are awful — even though I voted for AV at the referendum, there are enough obvious flaws in it for it to have lost without the disgraceful shenanigans Cameron got up to. But I do think that the current system encourages non-participation — ‘what’s the point of voting Labour in Esher etc’. The current boundaries are obviously out of kilter as well, even if they give Labour an inbuilt advantage in one sense. In another way they just mean Labour piles up ‘superfluous’ votes. Bigger multiple member constituencies (perhaps on split Party v Personal lines) would reduce some of these problems, and create others.
I just think there’s a ‘moral’ (overplaying it) case for PR (depending on the system) in that it explicitly recognises that all parties are coalitions of interests. Now we no longer big monolithic blocks (‘organised labour’), FPTP doesn’t recognise that diversity of interests and the coalitions are too wide: you can vote Labour to get a Labour MP (better than the alternative) knowing that any Labour government will carry out policies you think are harmful, and obviously the same applies to Conservative voters. With PR you can at least vote explicitly for a more accurate reflection of your beliefs and interests, and see how that is reflected in government and opposition.
The only valid argument for FPTP used to be that it provided stronger more competent government than coalitions: I think the last few years have comprehensively demolished that comforting fantasy.
How we get to the stage when there’s a majority in Parliament who see PR as being in their own interests is another depressing question. For me the Blair government did more good overall for the whole country (despite the obvious foreign policy disaster) than any in my lifetime, but failing to push electoral reform when they had the majority and the popularity to push it through was a big mistake.
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George gets the blame for Sarrie players being sloppy – hopefully the others on notice.
Farrell remains a road-block and he and Youngs can kick it away.
Wilson dropped completely.
0-40 or better and nothing is learned
close game and EJ’s over cautiousness leads to another missed opportunity.
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…………….and Lawrence dropped completely as well – presumably for not receiving enough passes – wtf???
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This is the rugby league law, isn’t it? Seems like a pro-defence move, but quicker than yet another scrum. Exeter won’t like it…
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In RL if you are held up over the line you just play the ball from 5m or 10m back (rule depends where in the world you are playing unless it’s been harmonised recently). Drop out is for the defensive team dotting down behind the goal line or kicking/throwing it out of play from behind the goal line, and it has to be from under the posts.
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PS but if you catch the ball on the full from a kick behind the line you get to tap the ball on the 20m line and run out.
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Does this mean that if the kicking-off team knock on / obstruct / otherwise offend when the ball is caught, the receivers only get a free kick on halfway rather than a scrum or penalty? That can’t be right, surely, especially for penalty offences — is it just a badly worded summary?
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Thanks, OT — I knew I’d seen them kicking out from under the posts, but didn’t know the details. Looks like the union version would be less helpful to the attackers.
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@brookter
yes in RL it’s a reward for good attacking play as you get the ball back and have another set of 6 tackles.
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Slade,
That’s odd — no hint of injury to Lawrence, I suppose. Perhaps there are training ground shortcomings we don’t know about, but it must be galling for the player to be dropped like that.
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OT – perhaps the law should be that that attacker has to set up one of the flying wedges from 5 or 10m. They fell out of fashion for years, but they seem to be back again.
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OT – all I’m getting from that video from Squidge is witchcraft. I refuse to accept anything else.
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what’s the point of voting Labour in Esher etc
My ears!!!
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those interested might like to look back and watch last w/end’s Exeter vs. Newcastle game – lots of running rugby from both sides in unpleasant weather.
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Brookter, I read it as soon as the ball is played, the “kick-off” is over and general play has started.
I’d like the players in front of the kicker called way more, it’s usually fairly inconsequential but annoys the hell out of me.
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On Squidges video I quite like his point about England not being able to wrestle back control when they don’t have it. We need a lot more dog imo.
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Tomp, that would make more sense, certainly.
The in front of the kicker thing is another of those minor but irritating infringements: the referees let them pass because they hold up play if they’re pulled up, but if they enforced them more often, people would be less likely to try. It’s only a couple of seconds advantage to the attackers, but they’re hot on offside at any other type of kick chase.
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Good to see Jack Willis onna bench.
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The Italy game is a great chance for England to find out whether Ben Youngs could make it as an international scrum half.
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Playing battleship with a 4 year old is yielding interesting results.
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Lost again, eh?
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15. Stuart Hogg CAPTAIN (Exeter Chiefs) – 81 caps
14. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 15 caps
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester) – 24 caps
12. James Lang (Harlequins) – 5 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) – 6 caps
10. Finn Russell VICE CAPTAIN (Racing 92) – 52 caps
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
1. Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh) – 12 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps
4. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps
5. Jonny Gray VICE CAPTAIN (Exeter Chiefs) – 62 caps
6. Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – 9 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh – 37 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
Substitutes:
16. David Cherry (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
17. Oli Kebble (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
18. WP Nel (Edinburgh) – 41 caps
19. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 66 caps
20. Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) – 3 caps
21. Scott Steele (Harlequins) – 2 caps
22. Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
23. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps
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Ritchie, redpath and maitland carrying injuries. Poop.
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BB – I could have carpet bombed the whole board all at once and would have missed everything.
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@craigs
It makes a nice story but it doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things. What he really showed was that England win by dominating territory (not possession) and Scotland’s kicking game took that away.
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Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Louis Rees-Zammit, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies, Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones, Leon Brown, Will Rowlands, James Botham, Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy, Willis Halaholo.
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….for which Hogg’s kicking had to be perfect………….and it was
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OT – but England didn’t seem to have an answer. Like they didn’t have against the saffas in that minor tourney a while back. We need to be able to manage with things like that.
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quite a lot of anger btl on BBCsport regarding Jones’ attitude towards selection – particularly re 6:2 split on the bench.
I m old enough to remember being a regular at Old Trafford in the 60s/70s when record average crowds were maintained by entertaining soccer win/lose 3:2. Great days (ok – memory a but rosy).
EJ seems to be averse to risk and is trying to develop a new tactic that teams have sussed already.
Give gifted players a chance – the fans will appreciate it.
At the moment fans are seemingly starting to walk away – even in these lock-down times.
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I think that Wales will surprise Scotland at the weekend. Sure, Scotland will try to bring their intensity but the Welsh players are all died-in-the-wool rugbymen and have the resilience to succeed. It will need Biggar on his game for 80 mins., ‘though.
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“It has been unfortunate for Scotland that those Lions tours have fallen in years when they play England and France away in the Six Nations”
Novel explanation from Rees as to why there have been so few Scottish Lions from 2005 onwards.
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Navidi injured ?
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@craigs
Back in Martin Johnson’s day they would have spent 20mins or so playing up your jumper to keep the ball off the opposition and force them into mistakes. England’s forwards now are good enough not do that we’ll. Problem is someone needs to tell Faz to change tack during a match but that appears hard.
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OT
it’s that ‘nous’ that I think Wales have and England lack
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Scotland badly need to follow up with a win – otherwise all the optimism will swiftly die again. Wales won’t be easy to beat but the fact that Pivac has reverted to what is in essence Gatland’s team probably shows a lack of confidence.. the old dog for the hard road etc etc but one would have thought there’s limited road left in a lot of them….
In some senses, Ireland get a free pass this weekend – France are favourites. They showed – to an extent – what was possible in coming back from 6-0 to lead 13-6… need more of that and forget winning/losing. Expectation is Beirne to 6 – and Henderson in with Ryan (assuming Ryan gets the ok). Beirne pretty much topped all stats last week – most carries, rucks hit, tackles etc – I suppose that’s not surprising as he literally was playing as “5 1/2”
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@Slade – It’s possible that it could be the game when Wales finally play well. In all probability though any Wales win is only going to come about through Scottish failings at the moment.
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Slightly linked to this weekend. We had an information session this morning on some of the resources that Historic Environment Scotland have. One of the sites is called Canmore, which is basically a digital database of images (photos, maps). Had a bit of fun looking at some favourite places, one of which is below. You can also zoom in on the images without losing any of the resolution, which is new to the site.
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1437755
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‘Novel explanation from Rees as to why there have been so few Scottish Lions from 2005 onwards.’
occam’s razor suggests a couple of other possible reasons
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I’m not massively confident for the weekend.
Wales are looking better overall than they did last year. Some good units there, the back row for instance with the evergreen Faletau and Tips along with Next Big Thing, and the back three has a nice blend of experience and nujizz. AWJ will be AWJ.
Our 3 injuries are big losses. Ritchie’s absence will reduce the back row cwality appreciably, Lang is a defensively solid enough unit but no Redpath on the go forward. Maitland is a classy player be it running, under the high ball and defensively, especially positioning.
Home advantage counts for nowt currently. Wales will be out for revenge after last year.
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Wales by 10
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I’d say Scotland are definite favourites. Gonna have loads of Lions too.
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@Chimpie – He seems not to have noticed that France were the weakest of the other four main teams for most of the period in question. Also that the 05 tour was off the back of a Wales slam, 09 followed an Irish one with a Welsh one the previous year and in 2013 Wales had won the tournament after another slam in 2012. I think some Scottish players probably did miss out because of the debacle at Twickenham in 2017, but they needed to do a bit better there really!
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We were horribly guff for the noughties and much of the tweenies (is this a thing?). Playing in a losing side isn’t going to do anyone any favours for selection (not going to snark at this moment in time)
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‘I think some Scottish players probably did miss out because of the debacle at Twickenham in 2017, but they needed to do a bit better there really!’
*shudders*
that was a bad, bad day.
Still, much of the talk from that year’s selection seemed to focus around having no-one from the Scottish set up on the selection panel. so it’s all basically tribal
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Drags vs Embra, Weedge vs. Bennetton off ‘cos cold
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