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 
bit like a no-try against the team by the ref
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TRY Ulster! Looking slightly more Ulsterish in the second half.
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So it’s 14-7 at Ravenhill, and 11-13 at the newly-reopened Arms Park.
Ticht will be pleased to hear that spectators are out on their balconies and at the gates.
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BT commentators keep talking up the Exeter 15, Josh Hodge. I know he’s still pretty young, but I haven’t seen anything in any of the games to make me think he’s something special.
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agreed
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Langdon in with a nice score, Ashman isn’t getting any game time, Brookter, can you arrange for him to get back up to Edinburgh permanently, plz?
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Innards is putting in a gutsy performance so far
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Yellow card for Ospreys & penalty try for Ulster. The world is righting itself.
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Right yerself on!
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I <3 Baloucoune.
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CMW – wrong!
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… But the correct word is a critical rugby skill.
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Catch yersel on
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Munster score.
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Ticht has it!
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No mystery here as to what the correct word is, mother-in-law says it all the time. Mrs CMW has a feeling most of them are going to be just as Scottish as Norn Irish and at least one of them looks like a general British one, but we’ll see when the answers are revealed.
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really proud of the Exeter players ………………
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Cardiff 11 – 20 Munster at FT. Some grumpiness evident in the room.
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Let Mrs CMW post her answers. She’s probably right.
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Ref seemed quite keen to make sure the Cardiff game went that way in the last ten minutes or so. Neither side looked very good.
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Lyttle for the BPT! Superb.
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Oh, wait, potential forward pass.
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Bugger. It is forward.
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I feel like it’s a bit of a cheat for me to answer them.
I usually meet my mate who fixes our boiler with a “wharrabiteye?”
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She’s gone to bed. I’m just disappointed head’s a marley isn’t there.
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I thought Dickson was going to win that at the end, but sadly Exeter let him down with that final knock on. Very frustrating to watch.
But still, a win’s a win and I’m duly grateful — Exeter are a much better team than us in truth and I like watching them. A phenomenal defensive effort from them…
Faff was much better than he’s been for a while and we made fewer silly errors, but it’s never a calm experience watching them.
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And fuckuperry leads to us missing the BP. 21-7.
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Ticht – the point is to entertain, not win. Go ahead and post.
Wharrabiteye is more like ’bout ye’ ’round my hometown.
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Generous DCI, as ever.
But a great experience for the younger Exeter players e.g. Innard, Street, Hodge and others.
I don’t know why but I get irritated/angry when I watch Sale – they have some really good players but an attitude that is offensive to me no matter who they are playing.
I think its just Ross that winds me up! I love watching de Jaeger ply his craft and Faff when he is playing up tempo.
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I’ll get onto it Ticht. Don’t have the links I used to have now former AoD contributor Dimes has moved on, but we’ll see…
Baxter usually talks a lot of sense, but it’s a bit off moaning about that last decision, given how they benefitted from refereeing aberrations for the other 85 minutes. Sale should have been 10 points ahead at least.
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@Slade,
I think the league is lucky this year — two of the most likeable teams at the top (and yes, I mean Exeter and Bris), and I’ll be happy to see either of them win.
Sale aren’t good enough or consistent enough to make the final four, never mind win the thing.
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two of the most likeable teams at the top (and yes, I mean Exeter and Bris)
Agree with that.
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DCI – I don’t think Dickson does anyone any favours really – I felt badly for Exeter regarding earlier decisions
Anyway – fair result. It would have been extraordinary if Exeter had pinched it.
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Oh to follow a league with likeable teams anywhere near the top…
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It is a recent development in the Premiership as well, Clyde, or so I’m led to believe…
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I’ll post the cwiz answers tomorrow.
I had a look/think at the options for posting ATL cwizzes with multiple-choice answers, and it seems to me that I could certainly post the questions with a multiple-choice format, but the answers could only be shown as what was the most popular, rather than right. Sag must have done some wizardry on that.
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Woof. A top and topical rugby ATL from Craigs, followed by a Brookter classic BTL. For a small blog, we lead a rich life sometimes.
Take a bow, Thauma.
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Oh to follow a league with likeable teams anywhere near the top…
Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout … Ulster are near the top.
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Thing is, Slade, I was thoroughly expecting Exeter to win at the last. It’s fun to watch them do it week after week, but not tonight, for some reason….
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@Thaum,
Sag used a plug-in for the quizzes. I can’t remember what it was called, and I no longer have access to the old site so I can’t check. He did an awful lot with the CSS behind the scenes, but as far as I know the quizzes were mostly pure plugin.
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Thaum, phonetic spelling are difficult, and now I’ve reconsidered it should really be wharrabowchee? But that still does convey the inflection/emphasis and where it is needed.
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oh dear, I’ll have to hope the reader will get where the typos are
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MrIks, give it a day and I’ll berate the ref in the Edinburgh game for the full set
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You’re very kind, MrIks. I hope you enjoy the game tomorrow afternoon….
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@Brookter – Iks can say what he likes, you’re still not getting the star-of-the-week mini eggs.
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@Thaum – I’d marginally prefer Ulster to be at the top. Not sure I could thole it for very long if they were though.
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A wise decision, Clyde. Very wise.
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“thole”
That’s not very Yorkshire, is it?
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@Ticht – I thought it a disappointing omission from the cwis.
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I think I’m already losing my ability to speak Yorkshire since my job went. Hardly knew anyone from Yorkshire in my first ten years here prior to working there and if anything my speech patterns became quite a bit more Welsh due to the Valleys/Swansea housemates I had for a big chunk of that time.
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