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 
Am I the only one who cuts sandwiches into 2? Anything smaller is for kids.
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Always diagonally
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Also, cutting into 4 is OK at parties and other events where a spread of food is needed. Like an office do at 3pm on a Friday.
But pizza is preferable.
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Matawalu furra exit door, he’s leaving Glasgow.
He was something special
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‘The shirt is also integrated with Augmented Reality technology that fans can scan with their smartphones to bring the shirt to life and gain access to exclusive content, including a 3D James Ward-Prowse in their living room.’
It’s what everyone wants
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Is it me just getting aged and grumpy but that’s some of the most pointless crud imaginable.
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@craigs
If I do this I cut it diagonally but not from corner to corner. Just to annoy people.
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OT – who gets annoyed? People watching you eat or people you serve from your roadside van?
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@craigs
Accounts mainly
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*Accountants
Ahem
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Well I’d be annoyed if you came along and started cutting up my sandwich and I’m not an accountant. Or do you just target accountants with your guerrilla style sandwich attacks?
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OT – accountants aren’t people.
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@chimpie
I target any of the creativity-stifling professions.
– accountants
– solicitors
– dinner ladies
Etc etc
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Find it hard to believe that any of Chimpie’s kids would complain about his TOAST! Thought they’d be used to it by now, shirley?
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https://worldrugby.matchday.email/lt.php?s=c3fe97e1258e41848c72c4c6ed7fd916&i=946A1218A52A39869
Link to World Rugby poll on law trials ( quite a lot of questions about “Game On” – which was an initiative at J2 level here in Munster to get a framework for getting games played even if one team were a few short of 15)
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CMW
My car radio discovered a new channel for me yesterday – the superbly named “Absolute Country”.
I think you’ve mis-spelt that.
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Anyone who writes that bollocks about DNA should be forced to spell deoxyribonucleic acid out loud 50 times in a row, and explain how it works, including naming the four nucleotides, and spelling those too.
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John.
Paul.
George.
Ringo.
There you go. Named and spelled….
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Which proves that George was the best Beatle, as G is the only correct nucleotide. The others are A, C and T.
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“I think you’ve mis-spelt that.”
Is that not the joke I was making? Must have missed something…
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Avs, Chimpie and TomP are nucleotides? Always knew there was something….
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CMW – that did occur to me after posting, but it was proper and right to, er, spell it out.
BB – Now we’ve got George, Avs, Chimpie and TomP, we only need to work out their possible combinations.
I’ll leave you to it.
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Nah. Had a quick look at what nucleotides are. Understood about one word in 10.
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This is quite fun
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jeebus, that was not what I intended to post at all, although it is quite fun, too
This is what was meant
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Morning all, another tightly contested Trans-Tasman, Super Something match unfolding. 53 minutes in and the Canes have been held to just 24 points so far with a bonus point for four tries. The Force have two more points than the Canes have tries.
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Jordie Barrett penalised for an illegal clearout. He did make contact to the head with his forearm on the bloke looking to jackal, but not much in it. Force clear and another penalty sees them with a lineout on the Canes 22.
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Tomato and mozzarella muffin I just had was surprisingly unshit. Which is the exact opposite of the Force’s unsurprisingly shit attack: a couple of phases almost on the Canes line come to nought, so it’s flung into midfield for Rayasi to gather and gallop the length of the pitch for the Canes 5th try. 31-6
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65 gone, not much to report. A bit of midfield ping-pong and false starts flinging the ball about. Force force a scrum penalty and kick tovthe corner. Can they muscle over for a try? The tension is palpable! I can’t spake!
Wave after wave of attack going backwards! Cunning, cunning plan! Oh. Then a forward pass. Chaps, you need to understand that the objective is the other way round: pass backwards but run forwards.
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They keep possession for offsides at the ruck and have the lineout on the Canes 22. Mauling it up, then go wide. Knock on but another offside. Lineout on the 5m line. Rumble it up and over! Jeremy Thrush with the tache to match gets it down! Or does he? TMO time. No try. Obstruction. Canes clear.
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Too easy! From the lineout Jordie joins the line, drinks it over the onrushing defence for Savea to gather and offload to Laumape to canter in untouched. 38-6
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Dinks, even. 🍸are later.
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5 minutes to go and the question on everybody’s lips has to be – can Bangladesh sweep Sri Lanks 3-0 in the ODI series currently underway?
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Canes concede another scrum penalty. The only area the Force have had the upper hand. They cock it up after a couple of passes and so do the Canes. Scrappy 80th minute fare as the hooter sounds. A final turnover and the Canes move it through the hands superbly to create a metre of space for Jordie to gallop down the tramlines and round it off. 43-6 with the kick to come. Misses, but the Canes will take that. 7 tries versus 6 points.
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Only saw the match from around 45 minutes in, so the Force may well have been outstanding in the first half*, but the gulf in basic skills – not class and razzle dazzle – between the two sides was embarrassing. I can’t recall a single Force attack going down the entire line without someone dropping it or passing it behind the player or just taking the wrong option. The Canes, on the other hand, were able to find runners and support almost at will, the Hail Mary passes stuck – but maybe they’re not HMs at all, as they seem to know or anticipate that someone will be in support.
Given that England thumped the Kiwis at the World Cup and that our sides struggle in Australia, I think the Lions are odds-on for a 3-0 thumping of the Boks in a few weeks. That’s what I took from this match.**
* Doubt it, they were already way behind when I joined.
** Not really. We’re gonna triumph, gloriously and stylishly, then win the 4N and be up to 17 wins inna row by the time we sweep into the end of year tour.
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Oh dear, Slade, it’s time to choose another nom de plume, the current one is broken
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Some news for BB, I know he follows the footie.
I do online fiddle lessons with Bruce MacGregor, Bruce used to be captain of Highland Rugby Club, and played with Doddie Weir in the Scottish Students team.
Anyway, his laddie Roddy, who plays for ICT, has just been selected for the Scotland U21s squad. I’m so chuffed for Bruce as he comes across as a really nice bloke.
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‘your’ Exeter side to face Newcastle on Sunday: (apologies for caps).:
15 FACUNDO CORDERO, 14 ALEX CUTHBERT, 13 HENRY SLADE, 12 OLLIE DEVOTO, 11 TOM O’FLAHERTY
10 JOE SIMMONDS (CAPT), 9 JACK MAUNDER
1 ALEC HEPBURN,, 2 LUKE COWAN-DICKIE, 3 HARRY WILLIAMS, 4 JANNES KIRSTEN, 5 SAM SKINNER, 6 DAVE EWERS, 7 JACQUES VERMEULEN, 8 SAM SIMMONDS
16 JACK YEANDLE,,17 BEN MOON, 18 TOMAS FRANCIS,19 JONNY HILL, 20 SEAN LONSDALE
21 STU TOWNSEND, 22 HARVEY SKINNER, 23 STUART HOGG
Everyone present apart from Nowell. Hill and Hogg get a test for recovering from a new Lions tattoo.
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what??
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Slade, anti-vaxxer, or anti-Science is my preferred term.
It’s made worse by the fact he is Type 1 diabetic and Diabetes UK strongly urge people who have the condition to receive Covid vaccinations.
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Look, he is #42 – the answer to everything. All will be revealed to you, a mere highland mortal, when you are deemed ready.*
* news to me – got a link?
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Think it was an interview in the torygraph. Planet rugby have details
“I am not going to have a vaccine. I don’t agree with it at all. I don’t think you can trust it, can you?,” he told the Telegraph.
“I don’t think it [vaccination against Covid] has been going long. There is no way of knowing what could happen with it in the future. I am perfectly fit and healthy. I don’t fancy it at all.”
Slade added: “There is no way of knowing what it could do.
“I have had vaccines in the past and have fallen pretty unwell with them afterwards. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the diabetes or not. I am going to stay away from this one.”
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I’ve had my first instalment of the bill gates microchip installation and am officially a member of the sheeple flock. Side effects: mild.
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Think I’ll try a spot of the T14 this weekend as embra arent’ playing [1]
[1] yes, ‘playing’
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thanks llama-face.
hard to agree with him but he has his justification – probably doesn’t want to jeopardise his playing to the season’s end.
no jab might = no emergency lions call-up. perhaps he knows he’s not on the short list?
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@Chimpie
Sale vs Bristol tonight should be a bruising encounter if you like that sort of thing. Plus, you can see Manu get crocked again (or play a blinder)!
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Don’t have BT spurtz or sky so won’t be partaking in premiership stuff.
Will however probably look at nowTV for the lionz
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Apparently something like 30M people in the US of A are Qanon ‘believers’. This is staggering.
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that’s a lot of cranial cement
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He’s not an anti-vaxer. The efficacy of these vaccines is not in doubt, but we still don’t really know what their safety and won’t until they are properly assessed like every other medicine on the market. Remember a few weeks ago my father in law had an ischemic stroke after having the AZ? Well it turns out he’s not alone: https://www.itv.com/news/2021-05-25/covid-doctors-urged-to-be-vigilant-after-three-astrazeneca-jab-patients-suffer-stroke
They didn’t know this in January which is why it has not been granted full authorisation – it has only got temporary emergency approval.
So if someone expresses concerns about the safety of the vaccines they do have a leg to stand on.
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