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 
We need to do something about the sarries players. Either loan them in the prem or choose others.
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Eddie pretty gracious in defeat to be fair.
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Hello Beadle!
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Actually should clarify that by calling England shite I don’t mean that the scots got lucky as a result of that. The pressure and intensity they were under was what unhinged their performance. Funny that Eng could have even won with the last play but despite that they were crushed. it points to that old adage that a big defence will keep you in any game. I guess this would suggest that they aren’t Wooden Spoon contenders despite Thaum’s tongue-in-cheek prediction as they can play that way and still come away with maybe two victories in the 6N.
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CMW – my impression was that Eddie had been on the phone to a PR person.
“What the fuck should I say?”
“Tell them you take complete responsibility.”
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Waves back to blog.
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Let’s hear some credit for Gregor Townsend and his coaching team.Completely out thought Eddie and England with a game plan that was nigh on perfect.Eddie Jones with half a dozen eggs on his face.
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It’s nice to see some old faces around here today.
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Sexton’s recent issue is basically not finishing games – there’s an impression he’s subbed off early time after time with one niggle or another. Byrne looks good with Leinster but seems to just shovel the ball on when playing for Ireland and the general impression is that we’d be better served by getting the brother more experience….
Burns hasn’t played much but has done well …
Still Henshaw / Ringrose looks like a ball playing centre partnership than full fat bosh.
Loss of Doris is a blow and I wonder is it too soon for Lowe to be a starter ?
But when all said and done we should expect to win …. but we’ve been known to implode without warning….
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The BBC gave MOTM to Finn?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
As Ticht said, he was nowhere near his best today, and that was borne out by the fact that we didn’t really miss him much when he was off the pitch, Hoggy and Cam filling in at 10.
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Hi Trisk. It’s a long time since we’ve managed to line Henshaw and Ringrose up. That’s the good news…
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BB, Hogg was the official Player of the Match, no?
Trisk, too soon for Lowe? He’s an old pro. I know some Irish fans reckon he’s a little lazy in defence. Hopefully, we can put him under more pressure than we did when he made his debut.
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Also….
I just wonder, if we had scored with one of those two penalties, would we have perhaps relaxed a bit thinking we had it won, which might have let England back into it?
Probably (hopefully) not.
Time for wine…..
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TomP – yes, this was from the BBC MBM. Maybe they were still thinking it was 2019….
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Trisk – Sexton is crocked. He needs a long, possibly permanent, rest for his own health. He’s actually been playing really well in recent matches, until he gets bashed and goes off.
I think rugby needs to take a serious look at targeting of half-backs.
Murray’s just never come back from the initial lockdown.
McCloskey is a good boshy centre. Gatland would be playing him.
Let’s see about Lowe; I think the lad will do well.
I really have no sense of where either Ireland or Wales are at the moment. We shall see tomorrow.
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West and wester.
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Excellent display by Scotland but England were very flat- one wonders about Saracens contingent and the lack of any serious game time
France must be favourites for the 6N now – no signs that this group will unexpectedly implode
Italy were generally good in attack but need work on first up tackles.
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“It’s nice to see some old faces around here today.”
Don’t be rude, they’re all consistently under 80.
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(As an aside – lack of recent posts is due to new job – taking up serious amounts of time …. loads of zoom-type meetings so no time for reading/writing long screeds on rugby)
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Italy’s alignment outside 10/the first pod was pretty shit so when they went adventure they weren’t good and there were loads of poor passes as a result. Most of the good stuff was through Varney, in close.
I feel France could’ve put 60 or 70 on them without too much difficulty.
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Has Billy V’s time passed? I know he hasn’t played much recently, but I’ve thought this for a couple of years. It used to be that he could power his way through most things, now he just seems to get stopped dead on the gainline. Fagerson doesn’t have the bulk, but he was far better today (and it’s FAGerson Clive, not FERguson).
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Fagerson jr is still a bit 50/50 for me BB.
He has butterfingers, but carries well.
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Yes,BB, for me it has. He has never really developed into the all round player , and he has lost the pace and power he had when younger. Wilson maybe a better option at the moment, assuming Sam Simmonds has blotted his copybook in some major way.
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The size thing is interesting. Hamish plays lie a wrecking ball, way more impact than Billy V. England consistently having their big guys receiving the ball standing still too, puzzling.
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Hamish gets more amazing with every match.
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Spoke to my dad earlier and he told me that a friend of his had passed away. They both served on the committee of Dorset & Wiltshire Rugby for many years. I had a few grand conversations with Arthur in the last couple of decades.
https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/19002919.tributes-paid-wiltshire-rugby-stalwart-arthur-bowden/
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Still moderately stunned. Was expecting a collapse at pretty much every moment but really should have put some more points on the board. And as for that DG attempt with 30 seconds to go? WTF?
The pack really turned up today. Would have given motm to gray or the mish meself.
Turner had a good day, even managed his darts well. Best game I’ve seen m-fags have for Scotland.
Definitely not one of finn’s best days, missed kicks and brain farts. Redpath looks the biz
For once we executed a game plan well, and made England look ordinary
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TomP – sorry for your, and your dad’s, loss.
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Time to watch Montalbano and dream of being able to travel to Sicily again.
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I’m not numb enough….
More wine? Don’t mind if I do.
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Tragically, my first conversation with him was in 1990. I had been doing a French A-Level and knew that of the 4 parts of the exam my two weakest were speaking and the literature paper, The good news was that we could take the texts into the exam so I asked the two stars of the class if I could nick their essays and write them in my copies of Maupassant and Flaubert and that all worked out fine. Not sure if I answered the questions in the exam but I answered some questions.
The oral exam, though, I found a way out. The examiner’d be some old duffer so I bought a copy of Le Monde from the WH Smith in town and had a little speech and thought I’d bluff my way through the rest.
In I went and the blessed Arthur asked me what my chosen subject was and his eyes lit up when I said I wanted to talk about French rugby. And my heart sank when I realised he knew something about the subject. Only later did I realise he knew a lot about the subject. But he was kind to me in the exam and the next time I saw him, 10 or so years later, he remembered me and said he’d enjoyed the chat.
Good fella he was.
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Chimpie – I was impressed with the way Scotland and Finn managed to pin England pack so well with the kicking game.
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The World’s Best Fly Half should start next week. Keep Faz and itoje starting. The rest of the sarries players go to the bench or fuck off and bring back Sam Simmons.
Eddie to talk to the clubs about the sarries players actually being allowed to play on loan in France or wherever.
Craig’s to kick em inna nuts if they say no.
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Thaum – you mean the strangely quiet Sicily with no-one ever seen in the streets?
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5
19
57
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Tell you what I did appreciate about that game today: there was precious little, if any, of the nasty needling each other and trying to wind each other up. Or howling indignantly at the ref. From either side. They just played a good, hard, old fashioned game of rugby. Well. One side did, anyway!
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Dab – I think having no crowd helped us (and hindered England?). Reckon there would have been plenty of needle if the ‘Swing Low’ crowd had been in.
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@BB – the loss of crowds definitely reduces home advantage. But yeah, today the players just got on with it, which was good to see.
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Damn, that should be 7, 19, 57. Not the numbers of glasses of wine I’ve had tonight. My ages when we’ve won at Twickenham.
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104
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@Craigs – that’s what it would have been were it not for Scotland ‘raising their game for England’.
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Cans of beer? Wow, that’s really drowning your sorrows, Craigs. You were quite sanguine about this game as I remember?
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Though I thought at first BB was ‘going downstairs’ after hitting a lot of 5s and 1s and that the answer was just 83.
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I used to go for 19s as a matter of course. Didn’t make me especially popular with shouters or chalkers.
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Without wanting to take anything away from a superb Scottish performance 🎭, please remember that I’m backing England on SuperBru this 6N. Credit where credit’s due folks.
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gloom
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Morning everyone, congrats to Scotland and all Scottish supporters on here. That was a nail biting but really enjoyable proper game of rugby.
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BB – I was sanguine about the team selection but I get the feeling that the sarries players not playing for a long time is a massive problem.
Also, I thought Scotland were immense so there’s no shame in losing. Just disappointment.
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We can still win this on points difference.
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