Preamble
Following the lead of the esteemed French rugby philosopher and Chef de Cuisine Flair99, I will try to keep this short, at least by my standards.
In keeping with the odd times we live in, the 6N Super Saturday ingredients are not all there for a grand finale, and we’ll have to pop France vs Scotland back in the popty-ping microwave at some point to truly finish the feast.
Scotland vs Italy
Move over France, because it is time to ask the question ‘which Scotland will turn up?’ Having got off to the best possible start to the tournament, the Scots have coughed and spluttered their way through the following games and were unfortunate to find their progress further stymied when the French overdid the ‘Liberté’ bit and burst out of their corona-bubble to do some coughing and spluttering of their own.
With Finn finally HIA-d after playing in a slightly detached dream-state for most of the tournament, we are going to be treated to Hoggy at 10. Could go well, but it might not as he has enough on his shoulders captaining a pretty unfamiliar lineup while playing out of position. Then as I ignorantly ponder on, are the two new second rows going to ease themselves into the set piece, especially in a line-out which had a torrid time against Ireland?
Hark! The voices of doubt grow louder. An exciting backline, but are the omens pointing towards chaos and a replay of that infamous match against Italy when Scotland opted to only pass to Italians for the first quarter of the match?
This Italian team must have one good rather than just brave performance in them. Brex and Mori at centre are likely to do better at defending and crossing the gainline. Garbisi is a dangerous playmaker at 10, and Stephen Varney just might orchestrate things as well as his uncle Manto did. Throw in a decent backrow led by the all-action Negri and what are we left with?
Italy by a score.
Ireland vs England
England played well against France last week, but it is worth remembering that France entered the game looking like they expected to give England a thrashing – similar in fact to how England started their RWC Final – and went a bit run-it-from-anywhere bananas especially after scoring such an early try. England maintained their structure, but also looked sharp when attacking through Slade and Watson particularly.
Ireland are entering the match in good form, playing to their strengths of playing controlled, driving rugby, going through the phases, loads of bosh up the middle and at the breakdown, and Murray re-joining Sexton for some box-kicking and pill-roosting to bring joy to the purists, and to remind Malins that he is not playing away to Worcester any more. Ireland will miss Ryan though, and I fear that Beirne’s influence will diminish at lock, and the lineout will suffer accordingly.
I see a close game, but the England camp sniffs off to me. Even after good performance and what should have been a cathartic win, it still sounds like it’s all a bit of an ordeal for Eddie and his boys. Choosing a solution which involves having your captain – who sounds like an over-tired 7-year-old at bedtime – stop talking to the referee altogether might well backfire. I’m not sure how this will work if Ireland’s phase play starts drawing a string of penalties out of England at the breakdown, and Faz’s frustration builds up in front of his dad.
Ireland by about 9, and a shoulder-to-the-head tackle by Farrell on Henderson, followed by the patented Faz-flop n’ roll on the grass. Yes, the game might depend on the rat-poisoned mindset of the English players, and a French referee.
France vs Wales
Is the Jam-Slam on? Possibly, he said with authority.
Wales have annoyed and frustrated France over many games in recent years, up to and including the last RWC, when Vahaamahina elbowed his way to the front of the early retirement queue. But lately the pendulum has swung back in France’s favour – a relatively easy win last 6N, and a thrashing dished out last October. Ominously, France have sensed they can score tries at will against Wales if they quickly move the ball into the outside channels, and the marvellous try they scored direct from a lineout against England last week doesn’t bode well for the Welsh defence.
An injury-free Gaël Fickou has been a delight to watch, seeming to almost effortlessly create time and space for himself and others. Both sets of forwards have a settled look about them, but unlike the rest of Wales I do have concerns about Navidi’s defending against a team adept at offloading and running into space rather than contact. Botham offers much the same off the pine, so I think the omission of Wainwright could prove to be a selection mistake.
On the other hand, I expect JD2 to have his best game of the series so far (a low bar) and hopefully his Foxy wiles will compensate for the injury problems he still seems to carry in his legs. I even dreamt he scored the winning try last night, in identical fashion to the one Hendo flopped on for Ireland in Scotland’s in-goal area last week.
France by 13, I just feel they will score more tries. Our best chance is an over-confident France being put on the back foot by a Welsh team determined to win, and one that keeps the scoreboard ticking over much to French annoyance.
As dreamt by MisterIks
Super Saturday Zoom Piss-up
We can’t let a Super Saturday go by without having a blog piss-up. This year’s will be via Zoom. Let us know BTL if you’d like to join, and I will email you at the address you sign in with to give you the details, or if that address doesn’t work, email Craigs at craigsman@outlook.com.
Expect the details on Saturday morning.
Onna telly this week
Friday 19th March
| Munster v Treviso | 18:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Newcastle v Wasps | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Ulster v Zebre | 20:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Leinster v Ospreys | 20:15 | Premier Sports 2 |
Saturday 20th March
| Harlequins v Gloucester | 14:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Bath v Worcester | 14:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Scotland v Italy | 14:15 | BBC1 |
| Exeter v Leicester | 14:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Ireland v England | 16:45 | ITV |
| France v Wales | 20:00 | BBC1 |
Sunday 21st March
| Sale v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Northampton v Bristol | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Dragons v Glasgow | 15:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Monday 22nd March
| Scarlets v Connacht | 20:00 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
| Cardiff v Edinburgh | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
That childhood move to England has really scarred TomP.
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Sometimes it’s better to kick it out or just run it into touch.
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Normally you would just want the try itself, but credit where credit’s due and all that, it was an inspired move to include the missed penalty in that clip.
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@CMW
England really were a shambles in those days. To think dwarf tossing still hadn’t happened at this stage.
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@TomP – I’d forgotten a lot of that 2011 game – god that’s a bad miss by Flood – you get the ones that fade and die but that’s never on target (and to couple two threads together – ‘poor lad’ Don Fox actually won MotM in 68)
I’ve said this to our U14s – reset the defence.
In our training games I’d take great pleasure in whistling for a penalty* when some lazy so-and-so would kick the ball away then stand admiring his handiwork (or is that footwork) instead of running upfield and putting his team mates onside
* or tell the defending team they can’t tackle the attackers until someone puts them onside….
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Anyway weren’t Scottish forwards famous for dribbling or something way back when?
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Feet, Scotland, feet!
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I’ve got Danie Craven’s Springbok Story here and he talks about a game v the South of Scotland on the 1951/52 tour:
Scottish footballers invented the dribbling game so I wonder whether there was a connection from the very beginning.
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There’re many bits I like in the book but I’m always struck that after they beat Scotland by a then World Record 44-0 they played in Aberdeen and then crossed to Ireland to play Ulster. Craven says one of their most pressing engagements in Belfast was to go to the cinema to watch the highlights of the Scotland game.
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Scotland fans, don’t watch this:
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OK I won’t
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The book begins in the best possible way:
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Apperently M-Fags out of tomorrow with an injury. Haining to start. Recall for Ryan Wilson on the bench.
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France by 12
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Perfectly reasonable to harbour a hatred of a place that’s home to over 2 million people because of 4 photos on a wall.
Nah, it’s what Pretoria – and I use Pretoria deliberately – represented in those days.
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I’ve been reading that Wuss were happy to release Cornell du Preez, who would have been the next one in to the squad, but PRL vetoed it.
Five players, that’s your lot.
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Wilson has been on decent form this season, though as the commentators said on Sunday, he’s held together with tape.
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As I keep saying, PRL are evil.
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“France by 12”
Not wild about those two numbers in case they end up the wrong way round. Can we say 11.
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Of course all the matches between the proper teams have been one score games except the England ones. All Scotland have to do is keep that going…
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I’d rather say Scotland by 11 if that would make you happier CMW. Be grand if you could make that happen.
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Except Craigs
Who needs nothing from the likes of you.
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Re the flag stuff, it’s common to fly the national flag onna pole in your garden in Sweden. No one thinks anything of it.
And have a photo of of the king in the toilet. Again, no one thinks anything of it.
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As well as having a picture of the Pope in the hallway my Granny had a dish below the photo filled with holy water so you could bless yourself as you came in or left.
It was always empty, but the thought was there.
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“And have a photo of of the king in the toilet. ”
Well he did die there I suppose.
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I was at that 2011 match!
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Can any discussion on kicking forwards be complete without Matt Dunning’s famous drop goal that effectively knocked his own side of of tournament? With the Tahs having a penalty advantage late in the game and needing to score a try, Dunning casually drop kicks the ball – and scores, cancelling out the advantage!
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It’s such a shame he doesn’t score with the first run here:
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“Scottish footballers invented the dribbling game”
I always thought on the contrary – they developed the passing game
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You’re right I think, trisk.
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Yup, developed the passing game 150 years ago – and have now forgotten how to do it.
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Scottish passing game dribbles blog into touch.
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We’re playing Austria in a World Cup qualifier and at the moment it doesn’t look like we’re doing any passing, shooting or dribbling.
England (sorry, MIGHTY England) on the other hand (at home playing in blue when their usual kit is white) and leading San Marino (playing in white when their usual kit is blue) 3-0. That’ll teach these Europeans!
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I have just realised you’re all on about association football.
None of that on this blog – this is a fuckin’ family blog!
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And Norn Iron are losing to Italy…..
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In other news, after the clarification that the FLEG rule doesn’t apply to Northern Ireland, the DUP are predictably outraged.
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BB – I am not an expert, but don’t most teams lose to Italy at footie?
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See, when I read “Scottish footballers invented the dribbling game”, I thought it meant rugby footballers, and was thinking of, most recently, LRZ, and maybe Stockdale.
Then I always thought on the contrary – they developed the passing game and Yup, developed the passing game 150 years ago – and have now forgotten how to do it reinforced that impression.
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Italy’ve had a bit of a dip over the last few years, but they’re rebuilding again. I also don’t think they’ve lost a WC qualifier at home – ever (according to Sky, so must be true), therefore a big task for Norn Iron.
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Ahh, the pride when we actually qualified:
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I didn’t actually know we’d qualified, but was at one of the Belfast aeroports when the matches were on, so lots of people flying out with similar logos.
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I’m pretty sure that footie is the most popular sport – at least in terms of what’s played (rather than watched) – on both sides of the border. What could Ireland achieve if they united in that, following rugby’s example?
Getting knocked out in the QFs, presumably.
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I finished reading Paul Rouse’s Sport and Ireland at the weekend. Lots about soccer in it:
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Best story is probably this one:
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I’d agree – if you think of all the casual players of 5-a-side it’s probably got the most participants.
Gaelic football suffers from having no equivalent to 5-a-side soccer or tag / touch rugby for casual participants…. it’s either full on 15-a-side or nothing. It’s got a lot of serious players but there’s very little space for you if you don’t want to train several times a week…..
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Had the IRFU been based in Belfast like the IFA – its possible there would have been a 26-county breakaway too in 1922…. we might be having the same conversation about competing rugby ruling bodies….
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Both lots of footballers have managed to achieve the feat of getting knocked out in the quarter-finals on their own so why join together?
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Just read tonight’s John Crace article – this time about Charles Walker’s ‘milk’ speech in the Commons. I THINK there was a point in the middle of all this, but I’m not sure what it was. Trouble is, I don’t think he knew either.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/25/tory-milkman-delivers-speech-surreal-even-by-commons-standards
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I’d guess individual sports are most popular to play. GAA is the most attended by far.
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