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 
Ross Byrne played really well.
Well done to Leinster. Hard luck to Exeter. Still a top side but one of the toppers topped them today.
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Looks like a 5th star on L’s jersey soon.
Very enjoyable game.
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Exeter on much better form than they’ve been recently, as far as I’ve seen.
Now come on Ulster!
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Cooney’s looking very chipper.
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Wonder if today’s game might calm the ‘Simons for the Lions’ talk. Both of them pretty much outplayed by their opposites.
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Simmons! FFS! Sure I put 2 m’s in. Not sure there are any Simons in contention for the Lions.
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Simon Easterby’s a bit long in the tooth now, right enough.
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Saints see a man sent to the bin for a (late) shoulder charge on Burns, and now Ulster have a penalty try – so they’ll be playing 13 men shortly. 7-7 as it stands.
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Saints score a nice try. Then 5 minutes later they concede a penalty try and have 2 men in the bin.
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What kind of crap is this? Ulster do get a try, but concede a penalty. And now Saints have scored.
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Somehow Saints lead after having had 3 men in the bin (yet were only 4 points down before they scored).
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Saints get another! Lovely breakout try!
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And another! Great try, the bastards.
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Just wondering if Ulster got a bit too caught up in taking the lineouts when they had all those penalties. Maybe could have tried for a pick-and-go. They did get the try in the end, but Saints almost managed to work through all the yellow cards.
Saints will be relieved that they go in at half-time in front though.
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BB – yep. It’s astonishing that Saints are ahead.
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Benneton winning in Montpellier.
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TomP – !!!
Ulster now one point behind.
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Saints score. This Ollie Sleightholme is a pain in the arse.
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Lovely offload and Saints in again! Not sure why Dancin’ Dan isn’t taking the conversions, but Saints lead by 6. Been a good game since everybody’s been on the pitch.
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Conversion missed, so it’s 27-21.
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COOONNNNEEEEYYYYY!!!!!!
To save Thaum doing it..
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Cooney scores!
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And converts! Ulster 1 point ahead.
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JAAAACCCOOOOOBBB!
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Ha, Trimble rubbing in the point that the backs made a huge contribution to that try.
Which seems to be under review.
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No, it’s good, and Cooney converts. 27-35; 6.5 mins to go.
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This has all gone quite bonkers.
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Brilliant from Ulster in the last 10/15 minutes. Was close for most of that half, but then they just took control. Would certainly rather Ulster won this than Leinster won the Champions Cup.
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Well, both Exeter and Saints played a lot better than recent form would suggest, and those were two excellent matches. I’m very glad for that win, which I didn’t think would happen. Ulster took control in the last 20 mins.
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In other rugby news….
Toonie to be Lions attack coach, apparently.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56704069?fbclid=IwAR1gV0AonJMkdRLbccoy-gO2EjuUl449I3ZRHFpQIWbIzqLabEAaHC8rWnI
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“They” are saying the Rainbow Cup is off, the UK government has told the SA franchises to not proceed with their visa applications
The knock on effect is a big loss of tv revenue for all concerned.
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They should be able to play the 1st 3 rounds if nothing else but it’d be a shame for all the teams if it can’t go ahead. One can only hope this thing is over soon enough.
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The South African sites reporting it put the blame on the “English” government and that it was the base in Bristol that would be the problem.
Happier news from SA is that they’re going to be starting schools rugby again in a week and a half and one of the first games will be at the Monnas (alma mater of Paul Williamse and Jaco vdWalt) in a festival to celebrate the schools centenary. Monnas play hard rugby with tough forwards and pace in the backs, pretty good to watch. Many of the big rugby schools are going to be playing and the hosts’ll meet Glenwood from Durban, who are usually a very strong side.
However, the big game is Grey College v Paarl Gim. These are two of the absolute heavyweights. Grey play tremendous rugby and the quality of player they’ve produced is top drawer – the du Plessis brothers, Fat Frans Steyn etc They were unbeaten in 2018 and 2019 (and 2020, unsurprisingly).
Paarl Gimmies are consistently good and their ex-players include Jacques Vermeulen, Handre Pollard,Jean de Villiers and so on.
Should be a terrific game.
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Other Covid news: The Irish government has added France to its hotel quarantine list and there’s no elite sports get-out. Could be a problem for the Heineken semi-finals.
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Very slow game between Bordeaux and R92. Like one of the worse of the T14.
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Nae Finn, Nae Fun.
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Is ” one for the purist” a valid synonym of dreadful?
Paint and dry come to mind.
This certainly does not look like a QF game of the big cup. Rarely seen such slow ball at the rucks.
9/9 at HT.
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BB, both teams missing half a dozen major players. That’s not an excuse.
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That is the correct usage of the term, Flair, but it’s never really made any sense to me, a purist would surely want to see a free-flowing game?
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This is a wholly different team to the one that battered Edinburgh last week, and not just in personnel
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I don’t mind a tight forward dominated game as long as it is not ridden with errors like this one.
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The TMO show goes on in Bordeaux. Took about 50 viewings for the refs to make their minds.
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Extra time in Bordeaux after an almost farcical try?
No!
Late penalty for Jalibert….
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The least worst team wins!
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55 m penalty successful. Bx in SF.
Dreadful game but great suspense at the end.
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Ridiculous game all in all, fitting end to it
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Mediocrity doesn’t begin to describe it.
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Except Jalibert who had a decent game, it’s amazing how such talented players can be so poor.
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Well that’s a game and a half (or 3 halves, or 6 quarters) without a try. This game is SLIGHTLY better, but that’s not saying much.
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Even a lower score in Clermont (6/6 at HT under rain) but a much better game than in Bordeaux. Yet three halves between French clubs and not a single try yet.
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