Only two games this weekend, with Ireland treating Italy like a Welsh prop’s face and England facing their sort of nemesis in Cardiff. France and Scotland have had their game postponed as a result of an outbreak of lurgies in the French camp which was due to Galthié being a messiah very naughty boy. Craigsman, of course, would never do this.
Italy vs Ireland – Rome
Gonna be a spanking. I was going to leave it there but to be honest I should explain why. Ireland will be hurting after a disappointing run against Wales and France and will be keen to get back on track by putting a lot of points on Italy (who last won against them in 2013). Ireland also have an almost full strength squad too. They are just missing Cooney who, for some reason isn’t included. No one apart from Big Faz knows why this is and it really needs to be a talking point on the notablog. Has anyone mentioned that? Someone should mention that.
Italy will score one or two tries but are always a few years behind the curve and they don’t have the players. I can see them holding out for the first quarter before the floodgates open and we can all talk about whether they should make way for Georgia.
13 – 45 to Ireland
Wales vs England – Cardiff
I’m not sure about this one. Have Wales been spawny this year or have they been tenacious when behind and fought back valiantly to win? I think it’s both. You have to be good enough to capitalise on your luck and some of the tries have been great. They have fielded a team with a mix of old and new heads and seem to be finally getting to grips with Pivac’s style of play. If they can get it right and build an early score, then it will be tough night for the Saes.
England seem to be wobbling a bit. With Eddie emphasizing defence and several players out of form they haven’t set the world on fire recently. That said, they should be tough to beat and I’m hoping that they will have a bit more confidence about them this week. Expect a lot of kicking and muscle which hopefully will see them home in a tight game. Some might complain about this, but not me.
30 – 22 to Wales or 20 – 15 to England
France vs Scotland – Paris(ish)
So this has been postponed. What a bunch of les muppets, eh (who I hope will fully recover)? I can’t even ask ‘which France will turn up’ just to sound like a knob. Ah well, let’s pretend that it’s going ahead and look into my crystal ball…
I reckon France at a canter. They are looking very good at the moment and will likely stuff the Scots up their holes. There will be some nice stuff from the visitors but ultimately France are becoming more and more evil every year. It started with some strange glasses, then came a blunt talking defence coach and a change of culture a few thought would be unpalatable and then selection of form players and a sensible game plan going forwards. Who’d have thunk it? Witchcraft, I tell you.
I could be wrong. No good ever comes from a postponed game. None at all.
35 – 15 to France
As foretold by Britney Spears
Onna telly this week
Friday 26th February
| Treviso v Connacht | 17:30 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Sale v Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Cardiff v Munster | 20:00 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
| Ulster v Ospreys | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 27th February
| Edinburgh v Scarlets | 12:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Bristol v Leicester | 13:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Italy v Ireland | 14:15 | ITV |
| Newcastle v Harlequins | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wasps v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Gloucester v Worcester | 15:15 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wales v England | 16:45 | BBC1 / S4C |
| Zebre v Dragons | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 28th February
| Northampton v Bath | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Leinster v Glasgow | 17:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
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Loved that Jamslam bit!
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Gregor Townsend reported to be in line for the attack coach position on the Lions “tour”. If Scotland beat Ireland, not even Gatz could leave Russell out of the squad.
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Damn, I liked my own post. How do I undo it?
So a bloody french ref allows Farrell to take a quick penalty, while the offending team is being berated like school boys, Ashton scores in the corner… and… and .. no one complains?
Life’s so unfair.
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Not sure about the dead wood, England are not carrying any dinosaurs in a relatively young team. I wonder if some combination of factors are holding them back from being mentally and physically on top of the game.
Giving away penalties is an obvious one, so not adapting quickly enough to the referee’s approach to contested areas would be one thing. It might be an old chestnut, but maybe the home nations find it easier to self-motivate when playing England than the other way around – it might make a difference when there is no crowd, no atmosphere.
Match rustiness also might be difficult to shake off, especially for the Sarries boys. Having an easy win against Italy might not have been a good way to get up to international rugby speed after losing to Scotland, on top of the notion that Wales were not that good AND were lucky winners twice in a row. A touch of complacency going into the game, maybe?
The penalty count might be the most telling factor though. England had fair warning how Gauzier was reffing in the first quarter, and righted the ship even after suffering two contentious and potentially demoralising tries. And then started to give pens away again including at least 2 daft ones from the replacement players.
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Arf, nice clip Flair. Giving yourself a thumbs-up for that is perfectly fine by me.
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Flair – just click on the Like button again to get rid of it.
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Meanwhile on Drags player watch I followed Dee’s efforts quite closely when watching the game back. It was very pleasing as he was a livewire and a pest, got his lineouts right and the one scrum didn’t collapse.
He also had two little wind-up moments with Genge. The second one involved stopping Genge from immediately rolling away from a ruck by partially lying on him, then holding onto his foot, and then yanking at his jersey enough for Genge to give Dee’s arms a clout when he finally dragged himself away. At the next breakdown Genge went in hard and from the side, giving a crucial penalty away. Small things, but the kind of discipline issues that must really annoy Eddie.
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Final thought on this topic I promise. I reckon Johnny Hill might get a right-good scapegoating and be dropped from the England 23 altogether. He was a hair’s breadth away from a side-entry in the build-up to Watson’s try, and Eddie is not shy of firing a player into the sun after a faltering team performance.
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Trouble with ditching Hill, who is a step down from Lawes and Launhbury, is the next guys, Ewels and Ribbans, aren’t all that.
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Daly needs at least a change of position
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I’m glad Ben Youngs had a good game after all the stick he’s got recently (four or five years or so). Really hope that performance allows him to keep the England (and Lions?) 9 jersey for the next three or four years.
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Dead wood? Both Vunipolas, Daly, Young, Slade to begin with, plus most of the bench was mediocre.
A good rest for Farrell, Maro and the Sarries boys or to the contrary more game time but how? I thought Eddie’s coaching sessions were the hardest in the world?
But anyway bring in the likes of Simmons, Malins, the form players in the Prems etc . And change captain.
But please, do all this after next week.
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Ribbans hasn’t put a foot wrong in this 6 Nations
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I think that’s a good point, flair. The 6 Saracens players have had 1 non-inyernational in 4 months between them.
They still have a problem at halfback. Robson isn’t steady enough, Youngs gets too much game time.
Jones named quite a small squad for this tournament and am not sure if he can sling players out/call players in unless there’re injuries.
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OT, if in doubt, call up a Saffer 2nd row. It works for France.
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He’ll probably get a few caps as an England middle order batsman.
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Tomp, leave our Saffers alone.
Leroux is a perfectly valid French surname. As for Willemse… hmmm…. well … lets see… must come from French Flandres.
Joking aside, both are French citizens, and so is Vaka. None of this great-grand father malarkey.
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I don’t mind exporting rugby talent to France, I just wish they’d take the correct ones – when we gave them Pieter de Villiers, it was supposed to be the coach, not the prop forward. I think they may have bartered with us and sent crazy pills to the coaching version.
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Deebee, in exchange we had to use Brian Liebenberg (under bloody Laporte). Not sure we got a good deal.
Pieter de Villiers used to own a bar together with Sylvain Marconnet, about 50 yards from the Parc des Princes, aptly called Les Princes. Wonderful atmosphere before and after games there. Both Piéter and Sylvain were frequently behind the bar. The place still exists but lost most of its charm.
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https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/fr/pack_ville_saint_denis
RWC 2023 tickets for sale starting on March 15.
You can either follow your favourite team or buy a city package.
For instance, 632€ best seats for the SdF package:
Oz vs Océanie 1?
SA vs Ireland
Ireland vs Scotland.
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That looks like a great package
KarlFlair:Oz getting knocked over by Fiji, followed by the Boks starting the defence of their title against the Angry Irish and then the Battle of the Bloodyminded when they face off against their cousins without a bridge link.
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Flair, I was in Paris in 2007 just before the Final (alas only for dinner with my sister, en route back to South Africa from Spain) and the atmosphere was fantastic, even for the few hours I was able to spend there. The Moroccan guy selling fake Bok jerseys got into the spirit of it when I pointed out the flag was upside down and the Springbok facing the wrong way! Said (apparently) that he’s glued the stuff on in the mirror.
Brian Liebenberg! Forgot about that one! Who was the carthorse who commanded the XV jersey for France for a while as well?
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Spedding, Scott Spedding.
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Everybody obviously waiting in the queue for tickets.
Flair, I think harsh on Slade, but agree with everyone else you mention. It beggars belief that Faz is still captain, tbh. There is obviously something very wrong with the culture and team spirit. TomP Daly doesn’t need a change of position, he is a defensive liability, and with over 50 caps under his belt, he is not going to learn now. and Iks, Joseph wasn’t playing, it was Watson with a JJ wig on.
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Bloomin’ ‘arsh; you’re right. Slade is one of the few class players.
I refer to my earlier post quoting from the BBC rugby correspondent:
Basically, EJ has not changed his 1st XV since the end of the World Cup (allowing for injuries) when he said that XV was finished as a group.
Either he’s not trying or there are no other players worthy of selection and a run as replacements for some of the older group.
Basically, EJ invests too much time and effort in those he knows and trusts and does not give new blood a serious run. One shot wonders like the 19yo last weekend and stupid selections like the #15 from Saints (now playing ~10 for the club – and quite well) do not indicate any sort of serious forward planning.
I’ve lost interest in EJ’s efforts and bullshit and hope he goes soon – then I can look forward to a roller-coaster with new, form players in the team in the key positions of 2, 8, 9, 10, 15 for starters.
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Well, I like Slade a lot and Farrell is undroppable as he’s a fantastic goal kicker and also a great defender. But don’t they cancel one another?
You can have Farrell if Tuilagi is by his side, but otherwise…?
If England had another reliable kicker ( and I know very few are in his category) , then it’d be a good time to drop him altogether.
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For those of you who’d like to secure tickets for the RWC, you have to register first with a thing called Famille 2023 on the RWC tickets site. You then jump the queue (so French!) together with 250 000 other people and you’ll be offered the tickets of your choice on the 15th. Expect the site to crash early in the morning.
Most Tier 1 teams will play their round robin games in different cities, so expect to travel.
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young 10s Smith and Simmonds are top of the kicking ratings in the Premiership and, pleasingly, young successful 10s: one more of a risk taker (Smith) the other more sure (Simmonds) and both good defenders.
England still have development time left if they drop Ford and Farrell now.
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Jones oot!
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Expect TomP to fact me on this, but I think Ford has a better kicking average than Faz at the moment.
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Assuming that the next WC goes ahead in 2023 as planned, how many Tests are left to blood new players? 15? 20 max? I think Jones has shot himself in the foot a bit, assuming opinion is right that this side has too many passengers.
A number of assumptions there, I give you that.
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Where would a consultant be without assumptions?
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Lunchless, probably
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Flair – it doesn’t appear to let you specify yet which matches you are interested in?
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Chimpie, as every good consultant knows, assumption is the mother of consumption (not the awful disease type). The more assuming, the better the consuming.
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Was speaking to welsh colleague yesterday. He’s finding the 6n Hilarious so far. So pleased for him.
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Well, Deebee the primary assumption is that the client has some money and will actually pay. Anything beyond that is a bonus.
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Where would a consultant be without assumptions?
To completely let the cat out the bag, you have to start with canapés and presumptions, that you can build towards starters and mains over assumptions, then dessert and conclusions, which should always be vague enough to encourage another round of presumption and assumption to reach conclusions. Shit, we’re almost as vague and unethical as economists!
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Thaum, I think you’re right.
I guess you’ll have to tell them when buying.
Most expensive packages are F, then NZ, SA and Eng.
No game in the Parc des Princes this time. Shame.
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There’s a problem with the packages since one of us wants to see the Irish matches & the other the Welsh. The first pool matches are arranged perfectly in subsequent days in Bordeaux, but after that it gets a lot trickier.
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Thaum, most cities are linked with fast trains. If you book in advance, that won’t be expensive. From Bordeaux, you can easily get to Toulouse, Nantes or Paris under 3 hours. Going across the country ( west/east) would take longer, I reckon but not by much.
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Cheers, Flair, that’s good to know, but doesn’t help when the matches are on the same day in different cities! Unless they’re at very different times….
Some thinking to do.
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Thaum, follow the Irish. With Cooney at the helm, they’ll finally reach that elusive SH.
The mister will join us from there.
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Arf that’s right SBT. I added JJ as a centre to fill that almighty gap between the English ladz having a fag under the posts and the left corner flag. Poor Faz can’t be in three places at once – dealing with the ref, nudging Ford aside to take over the huddle AND covering the centre position demanded by the 12 on his shirt.
Makes the case for a captain to be playing in positions 1 to 9.
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Knocking France out in the quarters? We can all get behind that.
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SH of course should read as SF.
Damn you, Tomp.
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Just been to another Handforth Council meeting. Lasted 3+ hours, and another to be held because of the dodgy voting.
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India lose their fifth wicket on 121 – exactly the same as England! So it’s the battle of the lower orders to see who takes a first innings’ lead. India have the dangerous and free-scoring Pant at the crease, along with the obdurate Ashwin, with Sundar to come who can also bat a bit. Crucial for England to open an end now, especially if it were Pant.
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Interesting look at the state of Glasgow’s squad for next season. Quite good to have some sort of confirmation of who is in and who’s out because there seems to have been loads of signings and re-signings over the last couple of months.
https://ontopofthemoon.com/2021/03/04/glasgow-warriors-depth-chart-looking-ahead-to-2021-22-2/
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