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 
Genge avoids citing so I’ll go back to my original assessment and say that it was totally fine. Just a head rub with an elbow. Nothing more.
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Well, Sexton had just pulled off Itojes scrum cap and was pulling Genge to the ground . Should be allowed to administer punch to face and knee in the bollocks for that kind of behaviour.
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@sbt
And after that Sexton went whining to the ref trying to get him carded. Complete shithouse.
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Point nobody appears to have made. Ford and Farrell both went off and it did not appear to weaken England at all.
I think.
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OT – glad I wasn’t the only one who thought he sounded like my 4 year old on a bouncy castle with the bigger kids.
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Quite like this guy
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For me, I agree with that video in that Eddie should focus on bringing through young talent to the USA tour. Assuming that Faz and Itoje get picked for the Lions I’d like to see Joe Simmons as captain for the tour.
Drop Billy, Ford, Daly and Youngs. Maybe even give someone like Slade a break and blood some new players. Also, bring back Sam Simmons and try to get Marler involved as a wise old head (lolz). Also, Ben Spencer needs a game
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Ben Youngs finally able to play with some freedom when the dead hand of the Rugby League influence leaves the scene. England should rebuild around the Leicester maestro.
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It sounds to me like FD’s prediction coming true. What he said is that wherever EJ goes he creates a team that is successful playing in a particular system that works for a bit, but then when the opposition gets wise to it they can’t react or improvise outside of that system. The RWC final suggested to me that EJ spend n years buidling a team that could beat NZ in that tournament and that’s it.
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Weellllll, I was tempted to suggest that Robson looked as good a 10 as either Ford or Faz in this championship, excepting the France game, but Billy Twelvetrees probably would have done just as nicely. Would love to see Marcus Smith and Sam Simmonds picked for the Lions.
The whole England team is lacking in old fashioned rugby smarts, altho SInckler is coming along nicely, and Wilson, as a stop gap, does a good all round job, but the dumb mistakes and errors from guys with 50 caps is inexcuseable. Compare Billy V to Talupe Faletau, and you have a prime example. Faletau just gets better and better, lost a little of his biff but is always in the right place at the right time defensively, is great at the breakdown, has a nose for a gap and a pass, whereas Billy has lost his biff and has nothing else to offer. He should be in his prime, but it isn’t just fitness, it looks to be a continuing development issue.
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” is always in the right place at the right time defensively”
Almost always. Could probably have done with it being someone else who got the ‘team’ card on Saturday, it’s not as if there wasn’t plenty of choice. Never mind.
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Thanks for your thoughts everyone.
Meeting with ‘expert’ (loss adjuster) went really well. Once he saw we had all the original invoices for the damaged installations he said: get quotes for replacing everything and also for installing temporary set-ups in the meantime. So about 40,000 Euros covered.
Great !
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@Slade – Hope it all works out OK.
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@TomP – Mchunu had a great game as an impact sub. In the thick of it from the moment he came on. Scored two tries, the other being a close range effort and made some good yards and tackles. I like what I’m seeing.
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Slade it sounds positive! Good luck!
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Things I Didn’t Know But Found Out Through The Repair Shop, No. 197866724
The base of a sitar is made of pumpkin!
Shows they do have a use after all! Couldnae dae that wi’ a turnip….
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Am trying to imagine Ticht’s face when someone walked into the shop and said “my sitar’s got a broken pumpkin”.
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Slade – sounds good. Just remember who pays the loss adjuster and really clear about everything. You probably know that already.
Glad things are going well at this point.
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*be really clear
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I have every faith in Slade’s ability not to get ripped off.
The ruthlessness he showed in his house buying advice shows he knows how to look after himself :-)
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Had a chimney fire once, managed to put it out by throwing a load of salt into the base of it. Lucky. It was quite scary, like having a jet engine in the middle of your house. Well done the pompiers, Slade , hope you get a chance to buy them a beer.
For those of you who are bereft now that the Six Nations is (almost) over https://www.americasrugbynews.com/news/
https://www.majorleague.rugby/news/
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flair, just to go back to the Galthie interview. The quote in Midi-Olympique is also a bowdlerisation. The exchange is here from 11 mins 30 seconds. The British journalists are going off the official (fairly free) translation:
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Just saw a review of Ireland/England…. turns out the lineout pen was due to Tadhg Beirne pulling Curry and Sinkler(?) together and in front of the English catcher…
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For those of you who can read Fench, this is a pretty funny (and accurate) sum up of the game between France and Wales. This boy (Ovale Masqué) is quite talented. A lot will be lost in translation but try.
https://actu.fr/sports/rugby/xv-de-france/6-nations-sinsemilia-bars-pmu-fourchette-a-la-francaise-ovale-masque-decape-france-galles_40420283.html
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Tomp,
Apologies. I had only read the Midol article, not seen the video you unearthed. Galthié ‘s remark is closer to the British translation than what I read. He made it as a half hearted joke, but still he shouldn’t have.
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Apparently Scotland limited to 5 England based players, hence the absence of treacle toes. Boo
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Galthie out!
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When I switched on at half time to find Scarlets down 12-33 I wasn’t really expecting them to win.
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Pretty spectacular stuff from Scarlets, Johnny Williams and Tom Rogers especially. I take it that’s them into the Big Cup and Cardiff in some sort of playoff?
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Another mass shooting in the US. Apparently the 7th in 7 days, after a sharp drop due to Covid restrictions. Over 1,000 arrests in Miami Beach for breaking the curfew/restrictions. Place is sadly spiralling out of control.
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Deebs – Biden has only been in charge for a few months. Bring back Trump and everything will be fine.
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Hate to say it – but I almost expected this – Connacht have thrown away a few games this season… and credit to Llanelli/Scarlets – as I said a week or two back, Connacht really raise their game to play the other Irish teams – seem to be much more erratic against other teams
BTW if Cardiff have dropped “Blues” how soon before the same happens out west?
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trisk, Llanelli were known as the Scarlets for a long time before regionalisation – and I think a case could be made for them as a regional team ante the regions – so am not sure if it’s likely.
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ah, right….. thanks for the history ……
my old geog teacher was a David Griffiths from Llanelli – he went as far as showing us a film of the 71 Lions tour one lesson – the geomorphology could wait …. this was important!
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That’s the reason I dropped geography at 14. Plus, too much drawing in class. Now reading a fair bit of urban geography as that’s much more my kind of thing than oxbow lakes or types of clouds or whatever.
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Damn, Frank Worthington goes, just a few days after Peter Lorimer. Both of those guys played in the last Leeds game I saw, which was also the game that stopped me going to watch soccer on a regular basis. 0-0 draw at Brighton , April 1985.
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Ah…well – I’m a physical geographer through and through though mainly after I got to uni…. all those field trips and associated nights down the pub ….
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I enjoyed geography at school, even though my teacher was an ex-army guy (as a lot of them seemed to be in the early 70s), so occasionally we would get a period long lecture about his time in the forces in India. Thankfully the periods then were only about 40 minutes long.
Geography’s also a bugger to shelve in the Dewey system – books in the 300s (Social Sciences), 500s (Sciences) and 900s (History and Geography, but that’s mainly countries, atlases and so on).
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My geography teacher was teaching migration once and asked us why people migrated. We named a few push and pull factors and he shook his head wisely.
“Why does a dog lick it’s bollocks?”
Silence
“Because it can”
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When you fuck up being a royal:
Prince Harry has been given a job by a $1bn (£730m) Silicon Valley startup which provides professional coaching, mental health advice and “immersive learning” as its chief impact officer.
The Duke of Sussex said he hoped to be able to “create impact in people’s lives” by working with BetterUp to provide “proactive coaching” for personal development, increased awareness and “an all-round better life”.
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Dallaglio’s gone Lions-picking and he’s reined himself in:
Dallaglio’s Lions XV – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
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Only the 7 Englishmen?
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Too many Scots. Not enough Tiggers.
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Mako Vunipola????
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Lionz will be in South Africa after all.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/mar/23/british-irish-lions-tour-to-go-ahead-as-scheduled-in-south-africa-rugby-union
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‘Too many Scots. Not enough Tiggers.’
I was just thinking that. A couple of youngs brothers and a Best Flyhalf In The World & all would be better
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As it was in my day….. my eldest has sessions of 1 hour…. not sure how they keep attention for that long – hour zoom/webex/meet is hard enough
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The periods are 50 minutes now (but about 40 by the time pupils move between classes, sit down, get settled, latecomers disturb everybody, packing up at the end and leaving)*, but the seniors often have double periods. Sometimes they manage it sensibly by having the interval or lunch in between, sometimes they don’t.
*In The Before Time, that is.
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I was quite surprised to see that Tom Youngs was first choice hooker in 2013 for first 2 tests – completely forgotten that
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Mako, good grief. Don’t think he has ever been much of a technical scrummager, but made up for a lot with his mobility, soft hands etc, all of which sees to have gone out the window. Now he is just a big lump who can get turned inside out by a decent tighthead.
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