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 
That was nice
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As a side note, another player embra let go (darge, very young 7) looks the biz having moved to Glasgow.
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FFS
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Wow! Glasgow wake up in the last few minutes of the 1st half and score a pearler on the buzzer to go into HT 13-15 up!
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Premier Sports seem to be also showing the Top14 matches now.
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Chimpie, Darge is terrific, but he’s no better than Muncaster or Boyle, let alone Ritchie, Watson, Bradbury, Crosbie, Haining, Kunavula or Mata.
It was absolutely the right move for him, and for Ally Miller too.
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They’re all good. I’d like to see them with a better game plan….
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Aye the coaching staff need to change or the coaching staff needs to be changed
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Another nice score
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Wtf, that was not a knock on
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Another Glasgow score chalked ofc to a challenge. It was correct.
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Doesn’t matter, Glasgow score anyway
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I thought he’d regathered, Chimpie, no matter, the try came off the next play
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Hibbs has had a haircut. Boo
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Hastings has too many teeth
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Glasgow owning this now.
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Or not quite….
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Drags more success with challenge
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Chimpie,
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Good on him. Didn’t recognise him at all
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Moriarty has gotten away with a heck of a lot of shoulder hits tonight
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I’d buy his beer in buckets for his work.
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Highlanders 14-12 up at the break against the Rebels. They had an early 14-0 lead but the Rebels have bossed it since then in many respects. Can the Aussies get a 2nd win this weekend against Kiwi teams?
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Rebels lose a man to the bin early doors and the Highlanders pile on 21 points for a 35-15 lead. Highlanders then go down to 14 and the Rebels strike almost immediately. 35-22 with the conversion! Can they claw their way back?
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Answer is no. 5 to go and they’re still 13 behind. And then Koroibete gets another! Conversion is wide though so 35-27 into the last 3 minutes. And the Highlanders score pretty much from the restart to lead 42-27.
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Highlanders with a last chance after the hooter. Go for the lineout. Has Aaron Smith burrowed his way over? No, looks like a messy knock on to me. And that’s that.
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I’d buy his beer in buckets for his work.
Bateman’s, not Moriarty’s.
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Not sure many here watched the European Cup final last night.
Rudiger body checks De Bruyne. Fairly certain it’s a red card in rugby. . Direct impact of shoulder to face. No mitigation. (Yellow was given – to be fair to the ref he was good otherwise and probably didn’t have an option to go to red.)
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Anyone see Biggar’s stiff-arm tackle on Umaga yesterday? Completely ignored by the TMO and nasty…..
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……..Umaga laughed at him…….
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Stuart Hogg – peroxide blonde ——ugly sight!
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Newcastle getting a bit of a kicking this afternoon. 74-3 with a minute to play.
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I hope Deano had the presence of mind to use Big Ron’s line, “we played our part in a twelve try thriller”
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Hard to judge the meaning of that scoreline. Major plus, I think was Exeter’s handling and speed of movement.
Hogg and Hill both looked very sharp and Henry was smooth as silk.
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Those Slade’s comments are appalling and irresponsible. But then, I guess he’ll feel safe when everybody else will have been vaccinated, taking the – infinitesimal- risks for him.
In more important news, if you now get T14 in the UK, try to see yesterday’s game between Toulouse and ASM. That was excellent. There was a peach of a try, wrongly disallowed for a non existent knock-on, that itself would’ve been worth the admission. No influence on the final result. Good to see some crowds back in the stadiums, albeit in much smaller numbers. Well… until everyone is vaccinated, that is.
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In the important sporting news of the day, Norn Ireland are 1-0 up against Malta.
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@Flair
have you got a link?
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@Flair- if you are interested:
The statement from Henry Slade from Exeter Chiefs web site.
“Following an article in today’s Telegraph newspaper, I would like to make the following statement.
The comments attributed to me in regards to the Covid-19 vaccination form a very small part of an exclusive interview I had with the newspaper, which was set up to talk about living with Type-1 diabetes.
Not only as a professional sportsman, but also a person who has to closely monitor my health levels every day, I am acutely aware of the importance of vaccines and the role it plays in helping save lives.
From my own personal experience, I have encountered issues in the past with the use of vaccines and I am continually wary around this area. That said, I have no hidden agenda against the current, nationwide roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
When the time comes for me to make an informed decision on whether or not I take up the option of having the vaccination, I will of course consider the thoughts of my family and friends, the latest Government advice, as well as all others around me.
In no way whatsoever am I offering advice to the general public as to the pros and cons of the vaccination programme, everyone has a right to their own opinion on this matter, but given my past experiences, I wish to make the correct decision for myself.”
https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/statement-from-henry-slade
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(Our)Slade – as a type-I diabetic, getting Covid is far more likely to seriously fuck him up than the jab. It may be that some vaccines are better indicated than others, but medical professionals are best placed to give that advice.
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Basically, if Henry Slade has previously had bad reactions to vaccines, and medical professionals who know his history think that his risk is actually greater having the vaccine than not having it (which I am very sceptical about), he should quietly take their advice and STFU about it publicly instead of contributing to vaccine hesitancy.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it’s quite literally a life-or-death situation.
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Thaum, I saw this in a tweet today
‘Cyril Ramaphosa in speech to ANC meeting today: “It is truly absurd, almost obscene, that western governments must now incentivise some of their reluctant citizens to be vaccinated, whilst those of us in the developing world are literally dying for vaccines.”’
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It’s quite possible that sports people will need a vaccination passport to play in other countries, I’d need to see details but it’s something that, on the face of it, I would support.
Same for general travel, there will be exemptions of course, then isolations can be used, but we need to get the track and trace working really well.
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I watched the game today Flair, there were some cracking skills on display.
Ntamack scored a very good one.
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Ticht, what Cyril didn’t say is that his government has completely botched the procurement of vaccines from day one, assuming they would be able to strong-arm the phama industry by playing the ‘Madiba Magic’ card when the time was right.* We’re still doing ‘clinical trials’ on the efficacy or not of various vaccines, which is little more than a pathetic fig leaf for the ineptitude of his government. Most developed country in Africa, most advanced pharma and medical system in Africa and we’ve vaccinated about 2% of the population thus far. 1st dose only.
What the Covid pandemic has done is to lay bare just how effectively the Zuma years stripped bare public service delivery in South Africa (to be fair to him if I must, and holding my nose whilst I do it, it was underway before him and has continued since he was booted out) and left our healthcare system (public), education, safety, public transport, energy and water and sanitation in ruins. Total number of corrupt ‘comrades’ in jail for this? 0. It’s easy for Ramaphosa to use the international limelight afforded him by his meeting with Macron to play the victim and plead for assistance, but the bottom line is that South Africa is wealthy enough to have paid for and rolled out a vaccine programme with ease had it not been for the corruption and maladministration of his government.
* This is an incredibly generous interpretation, when the evidence points towards massive corruption and jockeying for highway robbery payouts by ANC party insiders to act as 3rd parties in the procurement and distribution of vaccines here.
Monday rant over.
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For now.
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Fingers are a-twitchin’ on my keyboard.
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As long as that’s the only place they’re a-twitchin’
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Mullets and skinny jeans are banned in North Korea apparently.
It’s not all bad in NK
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Speaking of those connected profiteering in Covid times, ex-Scotland Schools rugby player Peter Phillips got his mitts on some juicy PPE procurement lolly.
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Deebee, I don’t doubt what you say is true, you’ve more than convinced me of the ineptitude and corruption inflicted on the people of South Africa due to their “leaders”, and from what I can see other African countries are managing vaccination programmes far better – “even” Zimbabwe in fact.
However, that doesn’t detract from the image, from the perspective of the developing world, of the decadent luxury of vaccine hesitancy and suspicion in rich countries – the US is apparently putting up million dollar lotteries to incentivise vaccination programmes.
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