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 
What’s the plan CMW, are you sticking around there or maybe moving?
We’ve decided to stay here for a bit, the circumstances are such that the offspring are now going to be in or around London, if all goes well, so we’d be better staying here than moving to Scotland.
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These are beautiful photographs of Edinburgh and Edinburgh people https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/feb/23/vintage-photographs-edinburgh-in-pictures-robert-blomfield-photography
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The kids are very settled and Mrs CMW has got on to a PGCE course starting in September so definitely staying put for a while. Moving north probably wouldn’t achieve much unless we were closer to Campbeltown than is realistic though there are some other issues up there that will mean one or other of us having to spend more time up that way at some point. I really don’t know what to do with myself workwise, but I guess I’ll fall into something in the not too distant future.
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The PGSE is exciting news, pass on my best wishes to Mrs CMW, that is fab.
“though there are some other issues up there that will mean one or other of us having to spend more time up that way at some point.”
Aye, that is something that will need to be addressed for us too, big choices coming up at some point, but we are burying our heads in the sand a wee bit.
Bon chance with the work thing.
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Been trawling tinternets for a good warm up program. Hmmm. Found Sin Bin. Made it thru to 2.40, and that was about 2 minutes too long. Hope tomorrows game is a little less wince inducing. Gonna wonder off and see what Flats and Shanks have been up to.
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Blues whipped the Canes earlier and the Brumbies are trotting on the Tahs at the moment. 12-3 with a penalty in midfield to boot.
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Try Brumbies! They maul it over from the 5m lineout courtesy of their
burly tightheader, flyhalf. Who has the decency to have a good laugh about it. 19-3 Brumbies.LikeLike
Tahs get a ‘linespeed was slightly off’ penalty and go to the corner. They do it properly, with their burly bearded TH Johnson-Holmes flopping over.
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19-10 after 30 minutes. So nice to see rugby with fans back in the grounds in New Zealand and Aus.
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Penalty Brumbies just before the hooter. They kick to the corner again. Maul. Advantage. Penalty. Lineout. Maul. Better set and the Tahs defence parts like the Red Sea for Moses! Hooker McInnery with the try. Conversion is good and it’s 26-10 at energy drinks.
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To think I have to watch Aussie rugby because of England’s abject batting in India. Should be settling in for an afternoon of cricket before the rugby.
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I’m watching SA vs B&I Lions 2nd test 1997
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Nick Phipps jinks his way through the Tahs defence showing his class/how crap the Tahs are!
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The Paul Simon song that CMW was calling for yesterday would be “You Can Call Me Anal”.
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@TomP – “You Can Call Me Anal”
We do.
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Popped out for a few minutes and the Brumbies are past the 50 mark. Phipps is definitely shit. 54-10.
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OT – the series the Boks forgot you need to kick goals. Scored 9 tries to the Lions 3 (i think) and still lost. And ended Carell du Plessis’s reign effectively. He was getting the Boks to play some really creative rugby, which obviously didn’t sit well with a lot of conservative blazers and fans. Helluva series though!
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61-10 post hooter. Tahs still bashing away with neither purpose nor craft.
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Sums it up: a couple of penalties, maul then fling the ball down the line with the final Tahs pass forward, high and into touch. They’re out of touch.
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CMW,
I hope you find something suitable soon! Best wishes.
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Just been looking at the two sides in that series and there are some fabulous players on both sides. That was a great Bok generation, so the Lions win will have been even more special. Ironic that being World Champs at the time and having some of the best post isolation players we’ve had, we lost a series against the All Blacks in SA for the first time and to the Lions the following year. And to a fine Aussie side in 99 at the WC.
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@deebee
It was the Lions’ ex RLers what won it. McGeechan spotted that northern hemisphere RU backs were a bit wimpy so brought in Tait, Bentley, Bateman and Gibbs and suddenly the three quarters could tackle.
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Boks would have won if they’d had Neil Jenkins.
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Ticht & Brookter – thanks.
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QUIZ ANSWERS
1/ I’m not as green as I’m cabbage-lookin’.
I’m not as stupid as I look.
2/ D’ye think I’ve just come down the Lagan in a bubble?
Do you think I was born yesterday? (The Lagan is the river that flows through Belfast.)
3/ Catch yerself on!
Wise up!
4/ Fox ache Jimmy, close the windy; me balls are Baltic.
Please close the window, my dear man; I am rather cold. (Jimmy can be used as a generic name, usually in a hostile way. For example, ‘See you, Jimmy’ means ‘I’ve a good mind to punch you in the face.’)
5/ I’ll be gettin’ blootered the marra, so I’ll be hangin’ like a bat onna Sundee, so I will.
I shall be celebrating tomorrow, so I expect to feel rather unwell on Sunday.
6/ I’m just after wettin’ the tae; how’s about one yerself?
I have just made a pot of tea; would you like a cup?
7/ You’re a buck eejit.
You are a very silly person.
8/ I’ve been runnin’ around like a blue-arsed fly.
I have been rather busy.
9/ It was dead easy, so it was: it was wee buns.
It was very easy: a piece of cake.
10/ The oul computer was banjaxed, so I got a new one, and now I’m suckin’ diesel on the internet.
My former computer was irretrievably broken, so I got a new one, and now I am suddenly having great success on the internet.
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Don’t really like to point this out, but OT has done Guscott a disservice there as I don’t think Bateman made the team.
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@cmw
Don’t spoil the narrative with facts
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Ok I’m predicting a boring, dour, very tight England victory today. I’m still feeling strangely indifferent about the game. Maybe that will dissipate when the teams run out and I’ll start baying for blood like normal.
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He played in the 3rd Test, maybe as a sub.
The Lions would have stuffed them if Howley hadn’t got injured at Loftus.
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1. The same as here
2. Our version was/is “Do you think I came up the Clyde in a banana boat?” (Although to be honest I’m not sure how many banana boats ever did come up the Clyde, and that term isn’t used often now, partly because there’s hardly any boats coming up the Clyde at all).
3. Similar
4. Similar – Jimmy used in the same style in Glasgow too.
5. Not sure about that one
6. Nor that one – tend just to say tea.
7. Eejit’s well known
8. So’s blue-arsed fly
9. Not sure about that one – piece o’ pish tended to be the equivalent
10. Not heard that one.
Thaum – there was something similar I saw on Facebook ages ago which had Norn Iron sayings – a lot of them very very similar or the same to stuff mum and dad said all the time. So Norn Iron = Scottish rural Southern Uplands
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The second one of these is arguably the best try Wales have scored against England in all the time I’ve been watching. Nobody’s favourite because of what followed, but it’s still great.
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Bateman might have scored in the first place if he’d stepped back inside rather than passing to Proctor, but it worked out nicely enough.
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What did follow ?
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BB – aye (!), there’s a lot of crossover between Norn Iron and Scotland, for some reason that escapes me….
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@SBT – Nothing much, the rest of the game just wasn’t as good.
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@OT – That’s not even the best try in that match.
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“there’s a lot of crossover between Norn Iron and Scotland, for some reason that escapes me….”
It’s pretty hard to get your head around, especially when you consider that there isn’t even a bridge.
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Nobody watching Embra v Scarlets? Just caught a few minutes, with Scarlets making most of the yards at the moment.
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My very proud Irish Catholic Antrim born Great Grandad was utterly devastated when his children investigated the origin of their surname and found it was Scottish and not Irish as he’d always thought. Especially as they were all living in Cowdenbeath at the time.
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On cue, Embra get a penalty in midfield but go for the corner.
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Has the ref just stitched up Embra good and proper here?
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Deebee, Scarlets were worth the win, they were far more inventive, we are utter utter rubbish, and it’s all down to the coaching, the lines Scarlets were running were all off the training paddock.
I know which team I’d rather watch every week.
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Bloody French refs!
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The lines are a little confusing in Italy
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Nice to see Ireland experimenting with starting Sexton against the Italians.
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Strange decision by TMO. That looked like a try to me. Fortunarely Ireland score almost immediately afterwards.
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Irish player went flying into that ruck.
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Apologies for the unnecessary slur, Flair. ;-)
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No worries, Thaum. I didnt know it was Poite the TMO. Could understand Raynal not wanting to stop the game but the replay is rather damning for Poite.
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