What a first round that was: grit, determination, superb skills and complete brainfarts. Think the competition is wide open, and unsure where to make your Superbru picks? Don’t worry, our OvallyBalls experts on crack are here to progrocknIksate what will happen this weekend.
Deebee7 was quick off the mark with his predictions:
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!
Chimpie is more or less in agreement:
Scotland > Wales by 4
This goes against my deep-seated pessimism but got to back form at some point. General cohesion will keep Wales pinned back but usual inability to get points on the board will keep the boyos in it. Wales have some quality players in there and they’ll get over the line a couple of times.
England > Italy by 30
Hope Italy put up more of fight than last week. They’ve got a few bright sparks – like the look of Garbisi – but this is a very young and inexperienced team, too early for them to start pulling out results. England will grind and kick Italy down and run up a respectable score with the Best Fly-Half in the World playing. Eddie will then drop Ford for the next game.
Ireland > France by 2
Yes, I’m going out on a limb here for Ireland without human missile POM to put a shock one over on France. Would it be that much of a shock though? France ran up 35 points against Ireland last time out but there was only an 8 point difference at full time. Ireland at home hurting after last week’s effort vs. Wales, I’m going with a home victory here.
ClydeMillarWynant is ever the misfit:
Wales > Scotland by 1
Entire game takes place in Wales half giving Scotland an impressive 6-0 lead only for LRZ to go the length of the field at the death. Biggar converts from the touchline and bounces around on his space-hoppers to general disgust.
France > Ireland by 6
Ireland are just the sort of miserable bastards to spoil everything by grinding down France and stopping the beautiful game at source. But there’s been positive beaver news today.
England > Italy by 40
Italy are crap.
BorderBoy couldn’t resist bringing Prog into it:
Nazareth > Budgie (by 10)
Genesis > PFM (by 25)
U2 < Lazuli (by 12)
SladeIs#42 is sucking up to the mister:
Wales> Scotland by 4 – winners have enough ‘dog’ to resist Scots missing last week’s adrenalin rush
Ireland > France by 3 – game of the week-end – Ireland a team full of grit and experience
England > Italy by 25 – in reality, score could be anything dependant on tactics adopted: an inaccurate kicking game could make it closer, as could a good performance by Italy up to the 60 minute mark causing confusion in England’s headless ranks. If Italy collapse England could get 70. Whatever, it’s unlikely to be a credit to the Competition. As stated above, Ford will be back to the bench afterwards and George restored.
Craigsman is getting all political on our arses:
Sturgeon > Drakeford by 5LePen Macron > Adams by 10
Bojo > Berlusconi by 15
I was just going to include far right politicians / arseholes. I managed a few arseholes but couldn’t be bothered to Welsh political arseholery.
Sunbeamtim goes for the philosophical approach:
Looks like Big Faz realises that France are going to hammer Ireland whichever way, so has thrown in a 9 and 10 as sacrificial lambs to protect young payers. End of JGP and BB’s International careers ?
Very enthusiastic about all the talk of how disgraceful Italy are, and how they should be thrown out of the comp, and how its a non game for a proper side. I see Italy as being fitter and more coherent than they have ever been, and one step off defensively is all it takes to be hammered by a Tier one side. Setting someone up for a big fall somewhere this season.
Scotland and Wales both hammered by injuries, too close to call, game of the weekend.
Flair99‘s been watching my nightmares:
England by 29
Scotland by 7
France by 11.
Don’t harrumph me, I was wrong twice last week.
Not sure the omission of Sexton and Murray is a good thing for France but it is certainly a good thing for them. Enough of these concussed players blaming the doctors. I hope they recover soon.
Onna telly this week
Friday 12th February
| Gloucester v Bristol | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Sale v Bath | 20:00 | BT Sport Extra |
Saturday 13th February
| England v Italy | 14:15 | ITV |
| Harlequins v Leicester | 16:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Exeter v London Irish | 16:15 | BT Sport Extra |
| Scotland v Wales | 16:45 | BBC1 / S4C |
Sunday 14th February
| Worcester v Wasps | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Ireland v France | 15:00 | ITV |
Ovally Balls 
Great try. So much energy left in the tank after 65 minutes. Amazing.
LikeLike
Oh dear me that try looks more and phenomenal as the years pass by.
LikeLike
Even spotted Adam Jones managing to arrive on time at the breakdown after Warbs is tackled. Marvellous.
LikeLike
There was a great interview with Jason Robinson on Rugby tonite last weekend. Well worth a watch. Interestingly, they asked him at the end what he thought about the current England team, and he took a deep breath, thought about it for a bit, and said ” There are times as player that you underperform, and you get a game that is your last chance to step up after a few bad games. You either step up or get dropped. There are several current England players at that point this weekend.” or something fairly similar.
Wales by 15
LikeLike
I make it 5, Jamie George, Billy V, Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly.
I like the look of the Wales backline, shame about 1/2P, but the thought of a back three of Williams, Adams and Zammo being gifted an endless supply of aimless and poor kicks is quite a tasty morsel.
LikeLike
Nice try by Cuthbert. Last pass was forward, but nice anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t Mako in as well, SBT?
Crusaders leading 14-5 after 27 minutes against the Highlanders. Todd Blackadder’s boy in the bin for the Saders for repeated team infringements in the red zone.
LikeLike
Lovely try from the Highlanders, creating the overlap from a scrum feed and sending the winger in untouched. Conor Garden-Bachop scoring. 14-10 Crusaders, but they’ve been slowly reeled in since going 14-0 up early on.
LikeLike
That’s oranges.
LikeLike
I missed a penalty (the kicker didn’t) shortly after half time. 1 point game!
LikeLike
Sevu Reece powers down the right touchline and just gets the ball down before his foot grazes the touchline. 19-13 Crusaders.
LikeLike
Dreadful rugby all round: the Saders wing totally ducked out of taking a high ball, the Highlanders gathered recycled a couple of times and then went for the miracle crossfield kick which sailed into the seats. No need for that, they had the Crusaders scrambling.
LikeLike
Highlanders with a 5m lineout, but going backwards at the maul. Eventually get momentum and go through a couple of phases. Grubber through, but who has grounded the ball? Horrible waste if they haven’t scored here. Had the numbers to go wide. Again. No matter, knock on earlier.
LikeLike
Crusaders on another team warning as the Highlanders go to touch. Another crap maul (or great defence) and Saders get the scrum.
LikeLiked by 1 person
26-13; I missed a 7 pointer to the Crusaders whilst pretending to work. Saders camped on the Highlanders line now too, with a couple of minutes to go. Highlanders bust out down the left touchline and we may end the match with a penalty try for taking out the replacement 9 with the worst hairdo in history. Yellow card for Scott Barrett, Academy Award for the 9 for doing a Ronaldo at the slightest impact, kick to touch by the Landers looking for the losing BP.
LikeLike
And for the umpteenth time from the 5m lineout the Highlanders get shoved back at the subsequent maul; for the 3rd time they actually get some good movement off a couple of phases and then kick the ball dead with absolute control of the situation. They lose by 13, but could have won the match with more patience.
LikeLike
Whoever said ‘Syria’ in our US first Biden bombing sweepstake wins. Luckily they only bombed the bad guys.
LikeLike
And to the real rugby of the weekend:
Beef and Guinness stew over Carbonara by 23: Let’s face it, when you’ve got Tesco in your corner advocating carbonara with cheddar, you’re doomed. Fecked. When you’ve got a side of journeymen and a couple of slivers of hope against the brutality of Ireland’s finest, you’re not so much in a pickle as being softened up as part of the stew.
Lancashire Hotpot over Cawl Cymreig by 2: Could go either way, but without the crowd behind them and assuming England can buck the trend by becoming the first team to keep 15 on the park against Wales this year, I fancy them to have a bit too much for Wales. Also, Lancashire Hotpot is easy to say, Cawl Cymreig sounds like you’re choking on a large piece of fatty lamb.
Coq au Vin over neeps and tatties by 12 (eventually): Coq au Vin: just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Chicken in red wine not so much. France are like a great coq au vin, slowly simmering away, a delicate balance of flavours both subtle and strong, complementary and cohesive: a masterful creation. Er, neeps and tatties are hearty fare, but may just have been the actual reason for Hadrian building the wall. Wonder if Trump is related? Grand if it’s cold or you’re pissed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Whoever said ‘Syria’ in our US first Biden bombing sweepstake wins. Luckily they only bombed the bad guys.
It was a mistake. Biden was actually consulting his best and brightest about the reform of US foreign policy and the strike-first doctrine, and asked the gathered greatness “Siri, er, shall we bomb first?”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Neeps and tatties without the haggis? What sort of monster are you?
LikeLike
How to watch the football in 2021:
https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/domaci/3274504-kricime-z-plnych-plic-i-v-dobe-covidu-fotograf-vondrous-ziskal-mezinarodni-cenu-za
LikeLike
Damn, I forgot the Heilanders were playing this morning.
I miss El Suavo.
LikeLike
BB is of course correct, you can’t have neeps and tatties without the haggis.
How can you have haggis without neeps and tatties?
[/pink floyd reference for BB]
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which one is you TomP? (Assuming that the team in green are Bohemians?).
LikeLike
Quite right Ticht. Although we have been occasionally daringly Chimpie-like in having sweet potato and white turnip with our haggis. We’ve even had (shock!) vegetarian haggis on a few occasions. Nice but not quite the same.
LikeLike
btw, a Blues Birthdays throwback – the Pink comes from Pink Anderson a Piedmont bluesman, another, Floyd Council, supplied the surname.
Syd knew his stuff.
LikeLiked by 2 people
McSween’s do a decent veggie option, BB.
I always put carrots in with the neeps and mash them up together.
LikeLike
I think it might be McSween’s that we’ve had – if they sell them in Sainsburys.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve ha don of these for years, just the thing for watching sport, though I’m not sure it would get me above the east stand at Murrayfield
https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-2-section-4-way-aluminium-combination-ladder-with-platform-2-65m/4486X?tc=ET1&ds_kid=92700052138708433&ds_rl=1243324&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp9zf-5aH7wIVDbDtCh0BSwyMEAQYAyABEgJ9IPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
LikeLike
I left out the haggis to avoid a total culinary nightmare. Only had it a couple of times and don’t really like it. At all. My dad did, but then he liked offal of any description. A veggie version sounds even worse, a bit like the cucumber ‘Beef Wellington’ that Gordon Ramsey had a go at recently. Bottom line is that it’s not a patch on coq au vin. Might do that this weekend, actually.
LikeLike
Ironic that Floyd weren’t really a blues band! Although they did have one of the few songs with a trombone…
LikeLike
Cawl really doesn’t sound like that but a twp sais is gonna twp saes
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mmmm, McSweens….
LikeLike
their veggie version is nae bad
Just remembered I’ve got some sliced up McSweens in the freezer. That’ll be lunch sorted. Inna bun.
LikeLike
Morning!
‘your’ Exeter team to face Sale tonight:
15 Josh Hodge, 14 Facundo Cordero, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Tom O’Flaherty
10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Jack Maunder
1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Jack Yeandle (capt), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Sean Lonsdale, 5 Sam Skinner, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 8 Sam Simmonds
16 Jack Innard, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Don Armand, 20 Richard Capstick, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Tom Hendrickson
Looks weak in the backs and prime bait for Sale/SA thuggery.
Ewers (usually so reliable) owes the team a great performance after last week.
Great to see Vermeulen playing again.
Sale should win, but who knows……………………………..
LikeLike
@SBT – I think you really need to blame dastardly Steve Walsh for making sure England stayed onside from the kickoff from which it was scored. Was a ten-pointer all in all and rightly so.
LikeLike
One of the last times I was in Ringland it was in a cop car. Fortunately, it was because I was on duty as a social worker and had a few welfare checks to do with a PC. It felt like being on a tv show, and I’m ashamed to say that, when someone called me ‘officer’, I didn’t correct them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
BB, Not there I’m afraid. Haven’t been since August 2019. Saw plenty of FK Meteor-Praha VIII, a 4th Division team. And even got along to watch Union Zizkov (Level 9 or 10) once before crowds got banned again. Not that there was much of a crowd there. Lovely location, mind. And a real throwback stand:
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thaum – you have more mail.
LikeLike
My mum taught at Hartridge before I was born. I aimed for higher things so taught the kids at Lliswerry about Hanes. There was a Newport player called Chris Brown on the staff there who was a good lad. He (with my limited assistance) coached a couple of sides but it was more of a soccer school. We took a load of kids up to Bassaleg (Nursery of international players) for a game. Bassaleg were coached by Paul John at the time. Our lads got a stuffing but accepted it in good heart and the ref Steve Walshed us to a marvellous consolation try.
LikeLike
16 Jack Innard
He’s offal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Huw Jones is off to Bayonne next season, then.
LikeLike
@BB,
The Floyd were not a blues band?
How dare you! You just stay in the kitchen, because Seamus (that’s the Dog) is outside and you’ve just made him sit down and cry….
LikeLiked by 5 people
According to the comments on that Youtube video, that isn’t actually Seamus, because he wasn’t available in Pompei. Nobs is the understudy.
Also, the HASK is on Jeremy Vine as we speak. As I always watch that program with noise-reduction headphones in self defence, I can tell what he’s saying, but I think it’s something to do with reopening gyms ASAP.
LikeLike
Ah Your Honour, if I may…
The statement was that Pink Floyd weren’t REALLY a blues band, although they named themselves after two blues musicians. Unlike, say, Zed Leppelin and the Strolling Bones, blues was not a major part of their music. Also, the evidence you provided was proof that they shouldn’t be considered a blues band, being one of the worst songs they recorded (and this is someone who has The Endless River). Dug notwithstanding…
I rest my case….
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m sorry, BB, but any one who thinks that Seamus is a bad song is automatically put on the list to have their Prog Rock Aficionado Licence reviewed, where The Committee Will Have Questions. Sorry, but that’s the law.
Also, I haven’t listened to The Endless River for years. I shall do so now, but I don’t remember it stirring many emotions at the time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shall I bring Biscuits*?
*Toby-Friendly ones.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Oh dear. That’s just sad. Will Smith is to rap what Barry Manilow is to Death Metal. Will Smith makes Vanilla Ice look authentic.
LikeLike
Good start to RWC 2023 – France v the Blacks.
LikeLike