Three years ago, we were in Bilbao for the Challenge Cup final. What a difference a pandemic makes. Also, the sun was shining, at least in Spain.
Regarding the Little Cup, Flair99 says: “To find Montpellier there is quite stunning, they’re fighting to avoid relegation, and they’re certainly not pleasant to watch. How about Leicester?”
Same, Flair, same.
La Rochelle v Toulouse will undoubtedly be a more interesting match. I’m calling it for La Rochelle, because I would like them to win.
Onna telly this week
Friday 21st May
| Leicester v Montpellier | 20:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 22nd May
| Sharks v Stormers | 12:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Lions v Bulls | 14:30 | Premier Sports 2 |
| La Rochelle v Toulouse | 16:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Sunday 23rd May
| Nada |
Ovally Balls 
Interweb seems fine down here? Maybe someone poured petrol on yours?
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The one that appears to be fixed now!
G was down along with (apparently) amazon & a whole load of other stuff
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Gonna pour petrol on Deebee’s lunch at this rate
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One hopes CJ wasn’t using his own gear: https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/irish-news/leon-jordaan-rugby-star-cj-23312626
Trivia: Haley played in South Africa for Border Under 19s in 2013, alongside Ospreys Legend Ollie Cracknell.
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https://giphy.com/gifs/portlandia-season-2-episode-l4EoUUnGWS5VZlTbO
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Damn
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Tomp – looks good but they need to stop calling it bbq.
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Fire cooking pedantry kills blog.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/08/massive-internet-outage-hits-websites-including-amazon-govuk-and-guardian-fastly
If you read between the lines it seems that Polly Toynbee was using the Graun servers to mine Bitcoin. Or something.
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Mrs CMW made a notable purchase while I was away with the kids. We’d all noticed it, but it’s taken until today for her to speak about it:
“After fourteen years I finally came to terms with the idea that an umbrella could be useful in climates other than the one I grew up in.”
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@cmw
I had lived in London for 2 years before it got cold enough for me to wear a coat. I even forgot to bring one with me when I went back home at Christmas (it snowed, naturally) and had to borrow my mate’s one that had sleeves that barely got past my elbows.
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This is encouraging:
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Duane Vermeulen in for surgery.
Refs for the tests announced:
Test 1: Nic Berry (from Eastenders)
Test 2: Mathieu Reynal
Test 3: Brendon Pickerell
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Apparently it’s Ben O’Keeffe for Test 2. Pickerill’s going to be the TMO for all 3 tests.
https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/referees-for-lions-series-revealed-126301
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Oops. I didn’t look carefully at the tweet I cribbed the info from.
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Half the adult population of the UK watched online pornography during the pandemic, according to a projection by Ofcom which lays bare the activities of the 26 million individuals who view adult material.
I wonder which half that was.
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Sad day for Killer
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I wonder which half that was
How many devices you operating off, Craigs – may be significantly less than half depending on your answer.
And a lovely Karl! to Ofcom for laying it bare.
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Deebs – 26m apparently. For someone who hasn’t done anything recently, I’ve been incredibly busy.
And now, to sleep.
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You’ve exhausted the notablog!
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Making my debut at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
When I say making my debut, I mean getting vaccinated but I’ll take it.
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@tomp
I once went to a manufacturing exhibition at the Ricoh Arena, so similar.
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Big congratulations to Benetton on qualifying for the Rainbow Cup final.
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Reminds me of the London Offender Learning and Skills Service meeting I went to at Wembley Stadium. Christ, it was boring.
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Those two are in the wrong order.
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Pleased for Benetton.
Undefeated in the competition & been playing some good stuff. a bit surprising considering their form in the regular [1] season.
I’d like to see them do over whichever saffa team ends up top of their log.
[1] ‘regular’
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Mako has better hands and kicking game. Furlong has arguably more bosh but only slightly but should rule the scrums. Line outs would be a disaster for both. I’m going with Mako.
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Regular
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Ha!
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/57415003
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Double-Ha!
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/57412025
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@craigs – Furlong has better sidestep / footwork, and I’m to be convinced that Mako has a better kicking game….
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There was a Saracens game in which Mako put a beauty down the line. Can’t find a clip of it but definitely happened.
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Finished Bedlam earlier. Strongly recommend.
Have now just started Places in the Darkness, which is another sci-fi-ey one. So far not having the same instant lurve for it.
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What’s the weather like in Birmingham today? Hopefully some decent cricket to look forward to!
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Duane Vermeulen out for ‘between five and sixteen weeks’ according to reports here. That could be a terrible blow for the Boks and possibly also his career. So, on the whose side is more depleted ledger, we’ve got Vermeulen, RG Snyman, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth and Damian de Allende so far. Five World Cup winners. You’ve got half a cut of second-grade steak.
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Trisk – as tomp mentioned there is a clip of him kicking most of the field almost into the corner.
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Also….
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Years ago, when I still had dreams of becoming a brewer, I mentioned that I hated brewdog. Mainly due to the guys in charge. Anyway…
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@craigs – fairly annoying when refs let that go at rucks (leaning on the bodies to keep yourself up) – that said I’d bet Furlong (and plenty of others) have gotten away with that 9 times out of 10
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I’d no real opinion on BrewDog previously – but I can recognise that “world” – paying lip service to the “employee health/wellbeing” mantra and then pushing people very hard behind the scenes.
Wouldn’t change my purchasing patterns as I don’t particularly go out of my way to find or avoid their beers – we’ve a fairly decent set of “craft”/independent brewers here now (none of which have the reach or size of BD).
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Trisk – there’s a very specific personality cult behind them and a lot of aggressive bullshit marketing. They also seem to have ‘borrowed’ ideas or tones from other breweries.
Plus there was the whole ‘share issue’ where you paid £90 for 2 shares which didn’t give you voting rights or company ownership but did get you some annual beer. Not even a pyramid scheme.
Their beers are fine, the head honchos are synts.
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What’s the weather like in Birmingham today?
Overcast but warm.
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Three intriguing games in France this week-end.
Friday at 2045: Racing vs Stade Francais
The winner gets to the semi, the loser goes on vacation (about time). So Paris vs Paris, about 5kms separate their two stadia. Subplot, Fickou who played 90% of the season for Stade now plays for Racing. Probable winner: Racing.
Saturday 1745.
Biarritz, ProD2 finalist, host Bayonne, who finished 13th in theT14 . About 5kms between the two towns. Winner stays- or climbs- to the T14, loser goes down or remains in ProD2. The biggest game in the Basque country since Asterix. Winner? Who knows, probably Bayonne.
Saturday 2045: Bordeaux vs Clermont. The other QF.
Probable winner, Bordeaux.
LaR and Toulouse lie in wait.
And so does Galthié who’ll fly to Australia without his skipper (Ollivon sidelined for about 6 months) and all the players involved in the T14 final (they may play only in the third test).
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ENGLAND TRAINING SQUAD
Forwards (19)
Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)
Callum Chick (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)
Trevor Davison (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 21 caps)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 28 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Paul Hill (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors, 1 cap)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 8 caps)
Lewis Ludlow (Gloucester Rugby, uncapped)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
Chunya Munga (London Irish, uncapped)
Beno Obano (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
Miles Reid (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Sean Robinson (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)
Jack Singleton (Gloucester Rugby, 3 caps)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 22 caps)
Harry Wells (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Tom Willis (Wasps, uncapped)
Backs (15)
Josh Bassett (Wasps, uncapped)
Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 9 caps)
Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Dan Kelly (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors, 6 caps)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
Max Ojomoh (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Tom Parton (London Irish, uncapped)
Adam Radwan (Newcastle Falcons, uncapped)
Dan Robson (Wasps, 12 caps)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Jacob Umaga (Wasps, uncapped)
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Hrmm, annoyingly those French games aren’t listed for Premier Sports, which took over the rights for T14 games recently.
I’ll have to see if I can find a link somewhere, thought the whack-a-mole pop ups are a right pain in the neck
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@Craigs, Dingwall was expected, though I’d rather see him in a Scotland shirt. There was talk of Bevan Rodd making the training squad, despite being born in Scotland, he is interesting by his omission.
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Bloody hell, Ben Spencer 😮
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Max Ojomoh, he has to be Son of Steve if he’s Bath, shirely?
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He is.
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