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 
Or even hibbard
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Chimpie displeasing
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My displeasure is increasing rapidly
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I know we’ve got 27 players out for one reason or another but this is abject so far
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Chimpie – the 45 points thing wasn’t supposed to be a half-time target.
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“Hubbard is 37”
It’s not surprising really, his mum’s not a young lady.
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Ffs Hodgson that was dumb
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Sad to say it took me a minute to get that.
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Slightly less displeasing
Been better with 14
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Back to 15, drags score
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Jebus, fire them all into the sun
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Haven’t leaked any points for literally minutes
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Oh my dog so dumb with the line beckoning
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Poor Jon Welsh. Back after something like 3 years out with an injury, comes back today, gets wound up by something the idiot Genge says before the kickoff, then has to go off with a shoulder/arm injury after 10 minutes because a Leicester player clears him out after coming in from the side.
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2 tries in 2 minutes. Only 7 in it now.
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Then give away the dumbest of penalties
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We’ve done Glasgow a favour at least
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I’d rather you’d done it with a win though.
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A game of two halves
Dragons should have put it to bed in the first half at least we made it close
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A win is a bit much to hope for the state we’re in
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OT,
WRT the foie gras and the chlorinated chicken, I just went for the quick joke. I know the ban isn’t enforced yet, and the chlorinated chicken only a distant and unprobable possibility.
But I agree with Trisk, if you want to get a trade deal on your own with the US, you’ll have to give them stuff you’d rather not. The EU, which carries far more clout than the UK, has had to swallow some bitter pills.
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@flair
We seem to have gone a bit quiet on the UK-US trade deal. I’m not surprised because around September last year someone described to me what the demands from the US were. They were so outlandish there is no way on earth a UK government could even begin to agree to them. So I think they’ve gone back to the drawing board.
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Not even THIS UK government?
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@bb
Apparently the US demands had 3 elements: agriculture/food, healthcare, and recognition of standards. Apparently they wanted US-derived standards (in any sector) to be recognised in law in a way that even British standards aren’t recognised. It’s so naive it’s almost cute.
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Were these Trumpian demands or is Biden looking for this too?
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@bb
That deal was as dead as a dodo before Trump had been voted out. I doubt Biden (or the people really in charge) give a monkeys about a trade deal right now.
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@SBT, I have no idea about your flag question, but hopefully wiser folk will pass by.
Good effort from the Drags, but were clinging on at the end. A draw would have been a fair result. Nice to see some progress though – maybe the boggy boginess of Rodney Parade was holding back our fleet-footed running game all that time!
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“maybe the boggy boginess of Rodney Parade was holding back our fleet-footed running game all that time!”
Not convinced. Quite a while back I watched a Dragons game with a friend and Faletau ran 50 or 60 yards only to find nobody on his shoulder. “Toby Faletau is quicker than half the backs on the field”, he said, “Unfortunately they’re all playing for the Dragons too,”
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I have fond memories of a Luxembourg football match with Germany that I watched on the telly in Germany with my exchange partner and his older brother. My exchange partner had no interest in sport and laughed possibly more than I’ve ever seen anyone else do watching sport during the course of this game. He started up when Luxembourg got their first and was in absolute pieces when they got the second. They could quite easily have got an equaliser and pretty much all the great German players of that era were playing. His brother was less impressed, “Du bist kein Patriot!” is the phrase I remember best from just before he hit him.
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Anyway I’m delighted that the Drags won the final of the Pro 14 even if they were a bit lucky to be playing Edinburgh rather than Leinster. Them’s the breaks I guess.
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I get the impression that nobody thinks it’s worthwhile for Edinburgh to play Treviso to complete the season, no suggestion on the BBC that they’re going to at least.
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I think both Benetton and Edinburgh would rather draw a veil over this season and neber mention it again. We’ve had the likes of Jamie Ritchie and Hamish McFuckface for one league game each this year.
Yesterday we looked so much better when van der Walt hobbled off for an early bath and Kinghorn played very flat, especially when young Charlie Shiel replaced “evergreen” Pyrgos.
This has been a really bad season for Edinburgh, going from play offs to second bottom is not what we were looking for and it’s not just down to squad depth, yeah we had twenty seven players missing yesterday, but when Kinghorn and Shiel ripped up the stodgy game plan we looked like a different team.
That was a very callow tight five we fielded and they got mullered by their Welsh counterparts.
I expect the stodge to be back next week at Racing as Cockerill took van der Walt off as a precautionary measure.
It’s almost as if he refuses to admit his mistake.
Youngstar Matt Currie looked good when he came on in the centre, as did Connor Boyle in the backrow, speaking of which, Kunavula looked very angry for most of the game, someone from the Dragons got under his skin and he was an absolute beast in the carrying stakes, Mata-esque. It was quite funny when Wainwright(?) tried to lift him at a ruck and Kunavula just turned him upside down and gently lowered him to the turf.
Some small lights at the end of the tunnel for Embra in the form of the young players, then, but we have to ditch the 1980s pace of the game, and that is down to Cockerill.
Sorry for the one-eyed post, I haven’t seen much of the Dragons this season, but I did see them last week and this, they played some good stuff and were more than worth their lead the in the first half, I thought they had a decent shot at their 41 point target or whatever it was.
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The German team have some lush hair in that clip, CMW.
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The grags are better than they have been for a long time. Both personnel and coaching.
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@ticht
When Kunavula picked up Wainwright he did get penalised though. Just when we were pressing the line.
We gave away a lot of unbelievably stupid penalties.
Agree young Currie looks promising
The game plan though. What exactly is the game plan? Move as slowly as possible, box kick and send the ball side to side without fixing the defence?
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Anyhoo, Chimpie’s team of the 6N:
Wyn Jones (what is it with his face that attracts so many shoulders, seriously?)
Marchand (very effective player)
Furlong (the sidestepper)
AWJ (don’t really need to say anything)
Itoje (a hell of a player even though possibly not used in the best way)
Watson (the lad’s a nugget)
Beirne (absolute pain, and I mean that in a complimentary way)
Faletau (not showy but very good still)
Dupont (kept very quiet last week but can still do stuff none others can)
Sexy (he’s still got it to be fair to the old chap, top points scorer too)
DVDM (top try scorer, so there)
Fickou (class whether at centre or wing)
Henshaw (pick of the rest of the centres)
LRZ (let’s try not to over-jizz but the kid’s good)
Hogg (the best full back in the comp)
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“When Kunavula picked up Wainwright he did get penalised though. ”
He did, though I’m not convinced it was a legitimate penalty as he lowered him to the ground safely. It’s not one I would argue about too much.
To be honest I stopped caring about the league a long time ago, Edinburgh are bloody dire to watch. Cockerill brought a lot of grit and work ethic to the team, but his plan needs 100% concentration and perfect execution of first nullifying the opposition, taking no risks and playing only in the opposition 22.
Then battering at the line until you high BMI it over for a score.
There’s only so much of it I can watch, and I only do so because they are my team, I would far rather watch the type of rugby Dragons played in the first half and we played in the second.
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If that’s a Lionz side you need a scrum half and a centre, Chimpie.
I don’t think there are any outstanding candidates for 9, to be honest. Ringrose and Henshaw worked well together in the midfield.
Redpath as a bolter for his one game?
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it was a penalty because of legs above horizontally but he put him down very gently.
surprised we’ve not seen more of Kunavula TBH but we’ve too many back rows. Sending a couple over to Glasgow had to happen really, they’re getting a pair of good players & imagine they’ll thrive.
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“I don’t think there are any outstanding candidates for 9,”
by that I meant there is a lot of distance between Dupont and the rest
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I’m happy to accept that re the penalty, Chimpie, fair dos
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Redpath looked very good in his one game but doubt that’s enough for the lionz.
That was my TOTT rather than a stab at lions. There are definite areas of strength (e.g. second & back rows) and relative weakness (scrum half). Will be interesting to see who gets picked. I’ve got my outrage stoked already.
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Is Redpath still injured? Seems odd that we haven’t seen him since the first game, but i don’t remember him being injured during the game, or anything being said at the time.
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It was a nerve in his neck, seemingly, BB.
I think McInally has a similar injury
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You need someone solid and stable at 9 for a Lions tour. Someone able to take their time and not get rushed or flustered by the Boks. Someone like BEN YOUNGS!
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Actually thought Youngs had an OK 6N. Shirley there are better options at 9 for England though.
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Pretty good choice Chimp.
I wouldn’t have Itoje in my 6N team, though. Best 2nd row in the NH usually, but not this time. Any Irish will do there.
And I’d have Jalibert ahead of Sexton. He was a big loss for France before Scotland (he wouldn’t ve missed all the points a rusty Ntamack missed).
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If the Lions get the Murray who played vs England – he’s probably a shoo-in. If it’s the type of performance of last Sat – then it might be as well to look elsewhere. It’s not a position of any great strength – can’t recall any 6N nightmares at #9, but no real stand-outs either. Youngs was ok, I’d prefer Tomos Williams over Davies. Maybe a bolter … Cooney?
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@Chimpie – off the top of my head, Randall, Uren, Spencer, Maunder. All decent 9s who should at least be given a look.
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Gibson-Park.
(Waits for the Thaumplosion).
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