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 
Superb match! Commiserations to the Scots. If only Hoggy hadn’t slipped.
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A fully fit Hogg is a fine player
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LRZ is quite a talent
Really shot ourselves in the face there.
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What a game. Bloody hell.
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Boom! Great win. Scotland are a good team. We’re getting there.
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Well, that was a great 6N match. Well done to both teams, congrats Wales, commiserations Scotland.
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I don’t think we deserved anything from it Thaum, Wales hung in there and took their chances when they presented themselves.
Ah well situation normal.
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Absolutely outstanding end to the game. Gutted for Scotland.
Moving relentlessly towards a deifying frame of mind for LRZ. Now expecting him in a Lions shirt later in the year.
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Brilliant game.
Who’d’ve thought Wales would be leading the 6N after 2 games? Magnifique.
I’d rather have home and away games of the 6N than European cups!
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Irnbru stuff up my Superbru.
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Who is going to get sent off for England so Wales can win the next one ? Watkin not great all game, but wins it with a tap tackle.
Zammo is the man. Hoggy, almost as good as Daly, must have been close.
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Our discipline from last week disappeared, our lineout didn’t function as well. Need Ritchie back, Graham (G) can head back to Newcastle after that. Still, at least that should knock all the Scots Lions talk on the head.
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LRZ looks like the real deal. Incredible in attack, but also the defensive composure with that long kick near the end.
@Ticht this Scotland side are the best in at least 20 years. Don’t be downhearted – had it not been for the red card I think they would have won.
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Jiffy agrees. Just picture LRZ tearing it up on those dry pitches in SA
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Well, it just had a depressing inevitability about it, Dab.
Someone on twitter has posted Liambility smacking James Lang in the face with a forearm. That wasn’t looked at, whilst Fagerson’s was, these are the breaks.
Another day and van der Merwe would have found Hoggy with the last pass to win the game at the death there.
It just wasn’t our day today, every time we looked like pulling away we conceded penalties, lost a turnover or had a blocker running in front of an easy try
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If LRZ hadn’t been on the pitch, Scotland would have walked it.
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They just showed the Liam elbow on the Beeb, tight. Looks like a yellow to me.
Felt like Scotland dealt well with the red card response. Frustrating thing I thought was those repeated penalties given away esp at the end of the first half.
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That disallowed try was strange because Cummings(?) tipped the ball back to Graham(?). It was either a move that went wrong or a mistake that almost worked out. Not sure which but Cummings blew it.
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Anyways, great game. France Ireland has a lot to live up to.
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Hardy and Sheedy did well enough when they came on. And Willis H’s movement on the second LRZ try was very good. Some depth in the squad and we should be able to squeak 3 wins in the tournament. Would be good if George N and Josh N could come back in sharpish.
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The Beeb seemed to imply that LRZ went for Cummings to tackle, but he was supporting G Graham. Doesn’t that mean he tackled the player without the ball? Have to say the pictures they showed were inconclusive to me and the ref didn’t seem to think anyone untoward had happened.
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Cummings touched it, no? If so, he’s fair game.
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Also interesting that Wales seemed to be a lot better after Dancin’ Dan went off. Is his day done? I’m really not sure what he gives to an attacking Wales.
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Honestly couldn’t see TomP. If he did, then fine. Whatever, it was more good defence from LRZ. You better wrap that boy in cotton wool before the England game. If he has to go back to Glos, I think he should develop a ‘minor muscle tweak’ that would keep him out of their next game, but be fit for England.
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Thing is, Gloucester need him and Harris.
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I thought Sheedy and the FH sub (name?) were better and faster than those they replaced. Good finds.
I don’t think the RC was so influential, Wales were already on top, partly due to many petty infringements by Scotland. But my, what a finish ! Drama, skills, exhausted players giving it all, truly great.
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Also if Cummings doesn’t touch it he’s running a block stopping a clean tackle by LRZ. It was good work by Watkin over the line as well.
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Sheedy’s the outside half, flair. And Hardy the half back. Not really finds as both played youth rugby for Wales. Sheedy also played for an Ireland Under 19 side – like a lot of decent players from Cardiff he’s got Irish heritage. And he was in an England XV squad for a game v the Barbarians but didn’t get off the bench. Hardy left Wales for a bit to play for Jersey in the English second division. He’s probably 2nd choice at Scarlets and 3rd choice for Wales.
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I haven’t seen any replay of the Cummings/Graham incident, but it looked at the time like we botched it, the timing of the runs were off, or the pass, I can’t honestly remember now.
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“I don’t think the RC was so influential,”
I think it absolutely was, it meant we were stretched and trying to cover out wide with a man short, which is where Wales scored.
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Do you think it was the right call to take Darcy Graham off, ticht?
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Well, we scored after a period of scrum pressure and Wales coughing up penalties there, it was only a one point game as a result of that.
The ref called “use it” too early a couple of times, imo, when we were cynically looking to even the numbers via a scrum yellow
It’s a tough decision, if we’d won it would have been the right one, as it is you’d say we should have kept Graham on and played with 7 forwards
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Tomp, I’m a bit afraid that tomorrow, like Wales today, Ireland will discover that their “subs” are actually better than the aging regulars.
Ticht, obviously the RC was important but I thought Wales were already getting the upper hand by then.
Could’ve gone either way, yes, had Hogg not slipped or VDM’s pass stuck. A draw would’ve been fair, I thought.
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I think international rugby is so tight that something like a red card has a huge impact on a game.
I’m in no way arguing against the fact it was a clear red, it was, but I’m not sure I agree that Wales were dominating proceedings up to that point.
I’ll need to watch it again and see some possession and territory stats
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Flair – which ageing regulars? We have *cringe* Burns and Gibson-Parke as half-backs. Whatever you think of Sexton and Murray, they are in a different class.
POM obviously isn’t playing.
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flair, I still think Murray’s got something but Sexton’s way off the pace. Gibson Park I don’t rate much but Casey’s very promising. The absence of Cooney is a surprise. He’s much better GP. Even the other Leinster scrum half would be a better choice.
Burns? A no from me. And Byrne the older isn’t all that either. I think Ireland can win but they need
It can help sometimes coming off the bench in a game like that. You’ve been able to study what’s happening around the breakdown and outside. Biggar’s missed touch from the penalty was such a shocker that I think Pivac must’ve decided then and there. Tomos Williams is our number 1 half back but injured himself v Ireland, unfortunately.
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Second paragraph continues … a really strong performance at forward.
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ticht, you had the ball a lot in our 22 and didn’t come away with as much as you should have. We had 4 good chances – but I missed the 20 minutes from 10-3 to our first try – and finished them all. Smash(ed in the face) and grab.
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TomP – I would have agreed with you on FH a couple of months ago, but Sexton’s actually been playing really well until he inevitably gets injured. It’s probably best for him that he doesn’t play much more, but I don’t see a good replacement yet. Some promising youngsters coming up, but not with the experience yet.
Obviously you speak gospel wisdom on the SH front.
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On a slightly different note…
Why are non-English players going back to their English clubs?* Doesn’t that mean that they are going from their international ‘bubble’ to their club ‘bubble’ and then back to their international ‘bubble’? I get that these players will be tested frequently, but why take the chance, especially with all these variants about. Just seems daft, this year of all years.
*There may be some English players going back too for all I know.
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thaum, Cooney’s in the wider squad as injury cover for Murray now so there’s that. Am coming around more to the idea that Sexton hates him and that’s why he hasn’t got much of a look in.
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“LRZ looks like the real deal.”
Oh Yeah, the boy can play.
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He’s a local hero (Official Soundtrack).
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BB – yep, agreed!
TomP – Someone mentioned that theory – it might have been you – and it is indeed the only thing that makes sense.
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Bit stunned by all that. Have to say I feel a bit sorry for Scotland. Great match and in some ways Wales deserved their win for the second half, but I felt Scotland were a better side beforehand and I still feel they are afterwards. It’s a big opportunity missed for them though the Championship is still there to play for. Thought the red card was pretty unfortunate really though once it was flagged up I understand why that was the decision. Can’t really argue that it didn’t make the difference in a 1 point game even though Wales had come back into it before then.
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CMW, top two inches, TCUP etc
We are still absolutely dreadful at that side of the game
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Can’t really argue with that either.
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I do think Wales scored some decent tries so were better on that front than I thought they could be. First half was pretty calamitous though and I had all but given up again after the bit at the start of the second half when Biggar missed touch and the resulting kick was knocked on. Dog knows what to expect next time out, probably more mistake-ridden nonsense with the odd good bit, but you never know. And it might be good enough I suppose.
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Anyway, drowning my sorrows with some wine and watching Flash Gordon, ‘cos we all need some trash sometimes….
“Flash! Saviour of the universe!”
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Ugh. Depressed.
Well done Wales but we sure helped them with our implosion.
Gary Graham was a penalty machine and all round liability today which is a shame given his recent form. Blade just has no luck. Usual inability to turn points into pressure then z-fags does his human missile thing ffs. Thought it was Graham that borked that try opportunity by getting in Cummings way as he ran his line. Then back down the pitch and Wales score.
A few good efforts on our side but just lost the plot collectively as the Wales pack upped the aggro.
LRZ is some prospect
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