Round Three Redux? Round Five-and-three-quarters? In any case, Welsh fans will be biting their nails, or any other available substance, and wondering if France can win with a bonus point and 21 points to deprive them of the title.
Scotland will no doubt have plenty to say about this, as a win with a six-point points advantage will put them second on the table (giving them their best finish in the Six Nations), supposing France don’t score a LBP.
Sadly, both teams can finish above Ireland. Maybe we should just cancel this match.
And maybe we should support France to wind up the OH.
Onna telly this week
Friday 26th March
| Gloucester v Exeter | 17:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| France v Scotland | 20:00 | BBC1 |
Saturday 27th March
| Glasgow v Treviso | 13:45 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Bristol v Harlequins | 14:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| London Irish v Bath | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Worcester v Northampton | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wasps v Sale | 16:30 | BT Sport1 |
| Leinster v Munster | 17:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 28th March
| Dragons v Edinburgh | 14:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Leicester v Newcastle | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Suspect this next game will be a bit closer.
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Nice try Bristol!
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Scrappy game. More than 10 penalties already against each team.
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Trailing all game, Bordeaux now lead 15/14 at HT.
Nice try by Bristol. Apart from that, the game’s a bit like a sparkless champagne. Promising but ultimately disappointing.
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John Afoa has lovely hands.
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That’s nice to know.
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I’m with Flair. Still waiting for the game to break into life.
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and now stream gone. Harumph.
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Might be something to do with equally matched defences, or the tight refereeing.
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Now got John Barclay I think on a loop, talking about Racing.
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Bristol finally playing some rugby now that Bordeaux got a YC and yet scored a try. Might be too late.
It’s the TMO show. Takes ages for nothing. Something wrong with such a use of the TMOs.
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Sobering week-end for English clubs.
Bordeaux win 36/17.
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Bristol getting no change out of Bordeaux’ defence
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Interesting Flair……………………..Baxter said it was only the 3rd time this season that his 1st team squad had played together. What’s it been like for the French clubs?
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Thanks for updates , Flair. The bits I saw , Bristol looked very disjoined and their lineout was crap.
On another note, have decided that the Guardian is being taken over by California liberals, seems to be regularly full of people whose faces say smiley but eyes actually say meaner than a rattler.
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Slade, most French clubs had their season disrupted by the covid. There are still six or seven (?) games to play in the Top14 before the play offs. It means there were lots of delayed games but nothing as bad as Bristol. The English team fitness seemed questionnable.
That said, Bordeaux got spanked at home by La Rochelle last week. Either saving energy for today or themselves not very sharp?
Either way, they won’t beat Racing next week, even at home.
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English teams still have 9 to play before playoffs………………
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…….sorry, 7!
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*Two* English teams in the quarter finals…
Scarlets 14 v 57 Sale.
It was quite a good performance, all things considered.
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Yes, unfortunately.
More sobering for the Pro14. Only one side has won a game so far (plus Leinster got a freebie).
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“Sobering week-end for English clubs.”
Pffft.
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That said we knew the Welsh teams were shit and that Scarlets would get overpowered. The radio commentators said they just got beaten up from start to finish. Very poor scoreline though. Doesn’t say too much about Sale’s chances in the next round though you’d imagine they’ll at least be competitive with a strong pack. I guess the English clubs they know they’ll be back with some sort of chance, beyond Leinster the Pro14 lot are out of contention for the foreseeable.
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Clyde,
Sale played well, and they bullied Scarlets into making far too many errors — though it was also just one of those days when everything goes right for one team and wrong for the other.
Still, Sale have been threatening to play this well for a while, but they’ve always made silly mistakes, or got five players yellow carded or something equally daft. They forgot to do that today. In contrast, Scarlets just looked off colour all game. They won’t play that badly again for a while, I imagine, or Sale that well.
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Ah, Brookter!
It’s ‘cos Jonno wasn’t playing………………
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Probably, though he’s been brilliant for the club for a few years. What do you reckon to an Exeter v Sale final?
I think Sale have got a chance if we get another two byes….
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Scarlets will probably look that bad again if they have to play a good team putting their best side out and taking it seriously. They were 20-odd points down at half time against Connacht last week in what was notionally* a very big match for Scarlets. OK they won in the end, but it meant nothing to Connacht and they’re not particularly good anyway. Bringing the internationals back in to a poor side that’s completely dependent on them to be competitive against anyone good doesn’t seem to work. It’s all any of the Welsh regions have to offer and it’s no use. Scarlets are still just about our best side which when you see that result in a last 16 game against a team who probably aren’t serious contenders for the cup and you’re not especially surprised by it is pretty depressing.
Listened to the Sale game the other week when they copped all those cards and still won. I guess they have a tough pack and a great scrum half and will have a reasonable shot at the Premiership this time round with Exeter maybe being a bit out of sorts and no Sarries. Ordinarily I would hope they could do it, but the loads of South Africans thing doesn’t do it for me so I’ll be hoping one of the others edges them out, preferably Bristol or Northampton out of the ones that look to have a chance of making the playoffs though I expect it will be Exeter.
*Is there any great value in Big Cup qualification if you’re miles from being a contender?
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I’m not totally confident about this, because I never remember games after they’re over, but I don’t think Faff was playing in the YellowCardFest. It was the new SH, Quirk, who’s about 13 years old and looking like a very good prospect.
The number of SAs in the side is not ideal from the local hero angle, of course. I don’t think we’ll win the league, and I will be quite happy just to make the playoffs and to see Bristol of Exeter win — they’ve both been brilliant for English club rugby over the last few years. Still, Iit is nice to see a Sale side again who may be genuine contenders rather than making up the numbers.
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Ulster doing the business against Harlequins Under 23s. 29-7 at nectarines.
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It’s a bit sad to see the Welsh/Scottish clubs not doing better in the big cup. Both Wales (deservedly champs) and Scotland did well in the 6N.
5 French clubs in the QF is too many, it does not make the QF (traditionally the best games) as entertaining as they should be.
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@Brookter – It sounded like Wasps kind of threw that game away though radio isn’t really ideal for rugby and Sale must have defended very well. You’re right Faf wasn’t playing though he was today of course and is going to have a role to play if they’re going to challenge for honours.
It’s got to be good for the English league for more teams to be competitive (the ‘competitive league’ stuff we always hear might even cease to be guff again at some point, perhaps it has now) and I’m sure it’s nice for Sale supporters for their team to be part of that, but I’ll keep shuffling my ‘favourites’ on my various whims and as an inveterate supporter of underdogs success doesn’t help anyone get my support!
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Going back to this afternoon game, both Ritchie Mc Colle and Super Glue (Hamish) were outstanding in a losing team. What a wonderful pair of players! They’d be the first two on my Lions list.
Well… after AWJ, of course.
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I could get behind Bristol for a year or two of them winning things though as they are certainly anything but boring and have been hopeless for years on end until very recently. Still prefer Glaws mind.
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“It’s a bit sad to see the Welsh/Scottish clubs not doing better in the big cup”
It’s a bit sad to see them not doing better in the small cup. The Welsh teams have all converged at more or less the same level. My previous estimation was that that was round about where Cardiff have been for quite a while, but that’s looking overly optimistic.
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Munster and Ulster are a lot better, but are not contenders for the Big Cup either which shows how far away it all is.
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CMW, I vividly remember the epic days of Cardiff, Pontypridd or Swansea fighting with the likes of Brive or Toulouse (already), with some of those fights carrying on in the local bars afterwards…. happy days.
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@Flair – I guess some of the French sides from those days have not been at the top table for a while either.
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On the plus side Ospreys won’t stay at the same level for any length of time. For better or worse.
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Pakistan opening batsman Fakhar Zaman hit 193 in a one-day international today and lost!
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CMW out of the top of my head, Biarritz, Perpignan, Bourgoin, to name just three that went down to ProD2.
Add Colomiers, Agen, Narbonne, Grenoble, Béziers, dozens of them.
Most little towns have lost the ability to compete with bigger cities with less rugby tradition like Lyon or Montpellier.
Plus, and that’s good news, rugby is expanding in northern France where it was non existent. Rouen (Normandy) and Vannes (Brittany) being good examples.
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@CMW, it was an astonishing second half of the second half. Wasps didn’t do themselves any favours, but compared to Sale’s repeated decision to whittle down their own numbers every few minutes, they were positively kind to themselves. Still not sure how we won.
I only support Sale because they’re close enough to have been to watch regularly, rather than out of deep conviction they are the only team that matters. I would have loved there to be a N Wales team based in Wrexham (I saw Scarlets play Glasgow a couple of times, though it must be 15 years ago or more now) —I’d have supported them happily.
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This season’s a little bit different, though. Strange to think that the last time there was a regular European Cup the Scottish sides were in the quarter finals.
flair, I read a fine book last month – French Rugby: A Cultural History. Really good on the South-Westerness and Small-Townness of French rugby in the 1910s to 1980s (more or less). The book was published in the early 2000s but is pushing towards the changes ahead. There’re still Brive and Castres keeping up the small town thing.
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@Brookter – I sometimes think I should favour Sale out of the English teams as the North of England is a bit devoid of top division teams. It’s still too far for me to really consider going to though I could be tempted as a one-off at some point. I guess Newcastle would be the most accessible for me, but despite them being underdogs I’ve never really liked them.
I don’t know how I’d feel about a North Wales team. I don’t share the full on anti-Gog prejudices of most Welsh rugby fans though of course I’m from somewhere in the middle and am Anglo-Welsh anyway. But I probably still wouldn’t be that desperate to support them. I guess they’d slot in as fourth preference ahead of Cardiff and that would put me back in line with most of the South Wales lot.
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Who were the French team that Ulster beat in the final?
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Brookter, when Project Reset was on the go a couple of years back there was a rumour they’d set up a team in North Wales to replace the Ospreys. Probably would’ve been based in Colwyn Bay, where they play the Under 20 internationals.
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Colomiers, which is either in or next door to Toulouse
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CMW, Mike Brown’s going to be playing for Newcastle next year so there’s no excuse not to support them.
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Tomp,
I remember that — Colwyn Bay would have been fine, too. It’s only 40mins down the coast. I’ve been meaning to go to one of the U20 games, but havenkt yet.
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“I’m dreaming of a white Easter”
This is just round the corner from my mum and dad’s house. Nice to see some things never change
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Tomp, who’s the writer of this book about French rugby you mentionned?
The best teams from the 60s on have all but disappeared in the lower divisions: Dax, Mont de Marsan, Lourdes, Montauban, Béziers (6 or 7 times consecutively champions in the 70s).
To rugby small towns like Castres and Brive, you may add Agen, La Rochelle and Bayonne, they barely reach 50 000 inhabitants.
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flair, a British historian called Philip Dine. At one point he calls Lourdes “a religious Blackpool”.
La Voulte as well, the club of the Camberabero brothers. Narbonne another I suppose.
There’s a really good part on the two town sides of Carmaux. And Quillan, whose backer was a milliner.
Also, I enjoyed his discussions of writers like Blondin and Gaston Bonheur. Blondin was a kind of rugby groupie, always looking for a player to give him shirts.
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