The top two sides in each Pro14 conference face off this weekend: Ulster at home (yay!) to the Blue Meanies (boo!), and Munster hosting Connacht tonight.
In the Premiership, Bath v Exeter looks like the most exciting match.
Onna telly this week
Friday 5th March
Munster v Connacht
19:35
Premier Sports 1
Leicester v London Irish
19:45
BT Sport 1
Sale v Newcastle
20:00
BT Sport Extra
Saturday 6th March
Zebre v Glasgow
14:00
Premier Sports 2
Bath v Exeter
15:00
BT Sport 2
Wasps v Gloucester
15:00
BT Sport Extra
Worcester v Bristol
17:15
BT Sport Extra
Ulster v Leinster
19:35
Premier Sports 1
Ospreys v Dragons
19:35
S4C / Premier Sports 1
Sunday 7th March
Harlequins v Northampton
15:00
BT Sport 1
Edinburgh v Treviso
15:15
Premier Sports 1
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465 thoughts on “A Brief Interlude for Pro-woo and Premiership”
Ticht – Cowan always seems to be right in amongst the breakdown any time I’ve seen him. I’d thought his Scotland career had gone, but he did appear during the autumn games.
Sale Newcastle was fun āĀ three really good tries from Sale (one outstanding), but Newcastle fought on hard to the end. Not at all the dour game you’d expect. Finished Sale 31-16 Newcastle.
Munster lineout was atrocious tonight. Superb performance from Thornbury.
I was wanting (Ben) Healy to do better tonight but I’d guess he knew he was to be hooked at 50-60 for Carbery.
Excellent solo try from Haley…. probably a “Try of the Season” contender (though personally I prefer the ones where the winger dots down in oceans of space after 20-odd passes….)
Connacht are a bit of a mystery – ran Munster close and if they’d won you couldn’t complain…. but they’ve coughed up wins against lesser teams and played way below the level we saw tonight…. I guess they need to work on playing as if every opposition were Munster or Leinster or Ulster.
@Thaum – My children think I’m great because I give them chocolate biscuits for elevenses during the home schooling which they didn’t get from their mother in the first lockdown and obviously don’t get at school. They may revise their opinion in a week or two as things move on.
In terms of the Pro12/14 I feel it’s important for the rest of us to be as meanie as possible to as many of the Irish as we can.
As I said, Leicester out of sight at 33-18 – so it finishes 33-32. Leicester down to 13 after two yellows, Austin calling for LI to kick a penalty to get a losing bonus point. They go for touch, score a try and get 2 points.
Next Friday 12th March sees the release of a brand new charity single 'Doddie's Dream' written by @BlazinBruce in honour of Doddie Weir and @MNDoddie5.
Blazin' Fiddles are joined by a host of fantastic musicians from across Scotland & beyond – we can't wait to get it out there! pic.twitter.com/IrmxhJFNzJ
Glasgow 10-3 up in Italy. 30 minutes gone. Think they shoulda had another try by McClean, if he’d reached out for the line. Goes over this time! But foot in touch…
from BBC website:
England and Wasps flanker Jack Willis “could be out for up to a year” after having surgery on a medial collateral ligament injury in his left knee.
He was treated for 10 minutes before being carried off on a stretcher.
“I’ve torn my MCL off the bone at the bottom, torn a bit off the top as well, so I am going to need that fully repaired,” Willis said on Instagram.
Torn both meniscus, the medial meniscus from the root one side. Pretty gutted.”
Willis has previously recovered from a knee ligament injury which forced him to withdraw from England’s squad for their tour of South Africa in 2018.
I wonder how the Italian chap who inflicted this injury illegally feels now?
I hope Willis is insured.
Looking at today’s fixtures on the BBC website:
Richmond, Saracens, Cornish Pirates, Coventry, Bedford……………………….famous old clubs in the English Championship. Today’s top fixture: Pirates entertain Saracens…………….
Zebre strike back just before the break! With loads of shitty handling, I think is the technical term, for most of the half they string together the phases and clatter over. 10-10.
Glasgow with a man in the bin for a tip tackle in the build up and then Zebre rip them up from the restart! Two tries in two minutes and Zebre lead 17-10 at the break! Sensational last five from Zebre!
Ovally Balls 
Thanks, Thaum!
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I worked on this post for hours. That’s how you get such finely-honed prose.
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LI score against Tiggers inside 40 seconds! Started with Cowan stealing the ball.
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Cowan was in the backline as a link as well, BB, quite the start,
Thanks for keeping us afloat Thaum
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Connacht are 7-0 up at Thomond Park!
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Now Irish down to 14 after a high tackle.
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No no no, that is not a card at all
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Ticht – Cowan always seems to be right in amongst the breakdown any time I’ve seen him. I’d thought his Scotland career had gone, but he did appear during the autumn games.
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@ticht
Should have carded the Leicester player for shoving his mate into the tackler’s shoulder
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First 5 minutes were good. Been scrappy since.
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Munster took longer to respond that I thought. It’s 7 – 10 with about 3 mins to go until HT.
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Nice try from Tiggers.
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Dunno if any of you have been following Chris Grey’s excellent Brexit blog, but he’s got a book coming out: https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/brexit-unfolded
Brexit Unfolded. How no one got what they wanted (and why they were never going to)
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Munster score a sneaky try. By ‘sneaky’, I mean, Connacht were left flat-footed.
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Almost a very nice try for Irish, but chalked off for a deliberate obstruction. Matt Scott’s had a good game tonight.
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Connacht play some beautiful rugby, and Munster get a yellow.
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Love the Thomond Park sin-bin. It’s a big yellow bouncy-castle-type seat with MR BINMAN printed on the side.
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TRY Connacht!
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17 all.
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Munster got a penalty while I wasn’t looking.
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Dodgy tackle on Carty that is studiously Not Being Looked At.
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Irish down to 14 – clear red card, shoulder to the head.
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Munster turning the screws in the final seconds – and they’ve done it. 20-17.
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Leicester get their 3rd try – out of sight now. 33-18.
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@Thaum – Munster need to be doing better than that against the likes of Connacht if they’re going to turn over the Blue Meanies in the final.
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CMW – *cough* I think you mean Ulster in the final.
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@Thaum – No, that was the bit I did mean.
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Then evidently you are also a Meanie.
I’m sure your children will agree.
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Sale Newcastle was fun āĀ three really good tries from Sale (one outstanding), but Newcastle fought on hard to the end. Not at all the dour game you’d expect. Finished Sale 31-16 Newcastle.
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Munster lineout was atrocious tonight. Superb performance from Thornbury.
I was wanting (Ben) Healy to do better tonight but I’d guess he knew he was to be hooked at 50-60 for Carbery.
Excellent solo try from Haley…. probably a “Try of the Season” contender (though personally I prefer the ones where the winger dots down in oceans of space after 20-odd passes….)
Connacht are a bit of a mystery – ran Munster close and if they’d won you couldn’t complain…. but they’ve coughed up wins against lesser teams and played way below the level we saw tonight…. I guess they need to work on playing as if every opposition were Munster or Leinster or Ulster.
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@Thaum – My children think I’m great because I give them chocolate biscuits for elevenses during the home schooling which they didn’t get from their mother in the first lockdown and obviously don’t get at school. They may revise their opinion in a week or two as things move on.
In terms of the Pro12/14 I feel it’s important for the rest of us to be as meanie as possible to as many of the Irish as we can.
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“I guess they need to work on playing as if every opposition were Munster or Leinster or Ulster.”
This is not a good strategy. The Dragons have been trying it for years on end and the O’s gave it a go last season.
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CMW – you are Bill Cosby (before the reports of the unfortunate incidents) and I claim my fiver:
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As I said, Leicester out of sight at 33-18 – so it finishes 33-32. Leicester down to 13 after two yellows, Austin calling for LI to kick a penalty to get a losing bonus point. They go for touch, score a try and get 2 points.
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Just discovered free coverage of SuperRugbyAU on World Rugby website! Yay!
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Happy Birthday to Ghana, Shaquille O’Neal and me.
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HB TomP!
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Happy Birthday TomP! Hope you have a good one.
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Happy Birthday TomP.
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Happy Birthday TomP
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Have a pint of Murphys on me, TomP.
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VÅ”echno nejlepÅ”Ć k narozeninĆ”m TomP :)
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Tomp
Joyeux Anniversaire et surtout, Bonne Sante
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Glasgow 10-3 up in Italy. 30 minutes gone. Think they shoulda had another try by McClean, if he’d reached out for the line. Goes over this time! But foot in touch…
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from BBC website:
England and Wasps flanker Jack Willis “could be out for up to a year” after having surgery on a medial collateral ligament injury in his left knee.
He was treated for 10 minutes before being carried off on a stretcher.
“I’ve torn my MCL off the bone at the bottom, torn a bit off the top as well, so I am going to need that fully repaired,” Willis said on Instagram.
Torn both meniscus, the medial meniscus from the root one side. Pretty gutted.”
Willis has previously recovered from a knee ligament injury which forced him to withdraw from England’s squad for their tour of South Africa in 2018.
I wonder how the Italian chap who inflicted this injury illegally feels now?
I hope Willis is insured.
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Looking at today’s fixtures on the BBC website:
Richmond, Saracens, Cornish Pirates, Coventry, Bedford……………………….famous old clubs in the English Championship. Today’s top fixture: Pirates entertain Saracens…………….
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From the Grauniad:
“Fox News host Tucker Carlson calls QAnon followers “gentle patriots”.
What. A. Fuckwit.
Whose money is he prostituting himself for now??
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Zebre strike back just before the break! With loads of shitty handling, I think is the technical term, for most of the half they string together the phases and clatter over. 10-10.
Glasgow with a man in the bin for a tip tackle in the build up and then Zebre rip them up from the restart! Two tries in two minutes and Zebre lead 17-10 at the break! Sensational last five from Zebre!
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Slade I think the clue was in ‘Fox News’. Odious swivel eyed trench dwellers.
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