Since there’s nothing else worth watching this weekend (Ulster’s season having finished), Flair99 has some top tips on Top14 matches:
Three intriguing games in France this week-end.
Friday at 20:45: Racing vs Stade Français
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 17:45: Biarritz vs Bayonne
Biarritz, ProD2 finalist, host Bayonne, who finished 13th in the T14. 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 20:45: 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).
And Deebee7‘s take on the SA squad picked to play the Lions:
Actually in terms of Bok selection, I think Lizo Gqoboka should be in ahead of Coenie Oosthuizen who’s scrummaging technique has always been suspect. As one scribe here put it, he’s been off the Bok radar for so long he may need a visa to get into the camp. Of the newcomers in the Bok set up, I love Joseph Dweba’s all-action style of play, I believe Jasper Wiese has been in excellent form for Tiggers, Wandisile Simelane is a classy operator in an otherwise journeyman Lions outfit, Aphelele Fassi is fast and exciting, whilst Rosko Specman is electric with ball in hand and has great 7s experience. The ones I’m not sure about are Yaw Penxe from the Sharks who has oodles of pace, but little else (so did Mapimpi to be fair before Rassie got his positional play and defence up to scratch) and I have no idea about Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg from Montpellier as a lock.
The squad has been picked with not just the two Georgia and 3 BIL Tests in mind, but also the SA ‘A’ side that will face the Lions, so I think some of the selections are expressly with that in mind – have the players in the Bok bosom, up until the SA ‘A’ match, so that they’re part of the structures and plans should any of them be called upon because of injury in the main squad. My pick for that SA ‘A’ side would be something like this, with F Steyn covering 10, 12 and 15, and Damian Willemse covering 10 and 15 as well. Think I’ve gone 5-3 split which is probably not what Rassie and Nienaber will do, but hey ho. So you could probably drop one of F Steyn or Willemse from the backs and put Rynard Elstadt in as an auxiliary loose forward.
The Lions should deal with that combination fairly easily given that it’s a scratch side, but there are some exciting players who’ll be looking to make a mark for the future and potentially the last two Tests and the 4N after that.
Props:
Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks, 12 caps, 0 pts)
Vincent Koch (Saracens, 21 caps, 0 pts)
Ox Nché (Cell C Sharks, 1 cap, 0 pts)
Coenie Oosthuizen (Sale Sharks, 30 caps, 20 pts)
Hookers:
Joseph Dweba (Bordeaux-Bègles, uncapped)
Scarra Ntubeni (DHL Stormers, 1 cap, 0 pts)
Locks:
Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (Montpellier, uncapped)
Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers, 3 caps, 0 pts)
Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale Sharks, 13 caps, 10 pts) – I believe he’s played largely at lock this season?
Loose forwards:
Dan du Preez (Sale Sharks, 4 caps, 0 pts)
Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo, 6 caps, 0 pts)
Marco van Staden (Bulls, 3 caps, 0 pts)
Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Scrumhalves:
Sanele Nohamba (Cell C Sharks, uncapped)
Cobus Reinach (Montpellier, 14 caps, 30 pts) (difficult choice between him and H Jantjies as to who is 3rd choice behind Faf at the moment)
Flyhalf:
Morne Steyn (Bulls, 66 caps, 736 pts)
Midfielders:
Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles, 46 caps, 60 pts) (Kriel to move to 12 or F Steyn to start there?)
Wandisile Simelane (Emirates Lions, uncapped)
Frans Steyn (Toyota Cheetahs, 67 caps, 141 pts)
Outside Backs:
Aphelele Fassi (Cell C Sharks, uncapped)
Sbu Nkosi (Cell C Sharks, 11 caps, 40 pts)
Rosko Specman (Toyota Cheetahs, uncapped)
Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers, 6 caps, 5 pts)
Onna telly this week
Friday 11th June
| Brumbies v Highlanders | 10:45 | Rugbypass |
| Zebre v Munster | 18:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Racing 92 v Stade Français | 19:45 | FreeSports / Premier Sports 2 |
| Leinster v Dragons | 20:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 12th June
| Rebels v Crusaders | 05:35 | Rugbypass |
| Bues v Western Force | 08:05 | Rugbypass |
| Waratahs v Chiefs | 10:45 | Rugbypass |
| Bath v Northampton | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Bristol v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Exeter v Sale | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Harlequins v Newcastle | 15:00 | BT Sport Extra |
| Wasps v Leicester | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Stormers v Lions | 15:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Sharks v Bulls | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Bordeaux v Clermont | 19:45 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 13th June
| Scarlets v Edinburgh | 13:00 | Premier Sports 1 | ||
| Ealing Trailfinders v Saracens | 16:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Lions team to face Lions
Hogg to captain:
Hogg; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Farrell, Adams; Russell, Price; W Jones, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Lawes, H Watson, Faletau.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Vunipola, Fagerson, Henderson, Simmonds, Davies, Aki, Daly
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Looks weak.
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Craigs, they gave up denazification after a few years.
“Any Nazis in a position of authority.”
“No. No card-carrying Nazis, no.”
“Good. Job done.”
“There’re a few who were …”
“Job done.”
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See also, France.
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Bundee Aki covering 10 from the bench,
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@tomp
Judging by my local Facebook page during the pandemic, if a British Hitler were to suddenly rise to power, he wouldn’t have any trouble getting enough people to help naming and shaming those not doing as they were told.
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Tomp – I guess my minor point was that all 3 countries now have stable governments and, whilst it did take until the 1980s in Germany’s case, the US et al have experience of rebuilding nations.
Iraq pretty much collapsed 5 years ago and the Taliban are about to get Afghanistan back which is extremely depressing.
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OT – Shirley that just means that the CCP is 100 years old and going from strength to strength.
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My missus’s grandmother is 91 now and was brought up bilingual in part of the Czech Republic that was incorporated into the Nazi Reich (Sudetenland). Her mother and father were both bilingual – the mother a “Czech”, the father a “German”. The father had done his national service in the Czechoslovak Army in the 1930s and was conscripted into the Wehrmacht in World War 2. He died somewhere in Ukraine during the war, which meant that his widow and daughters weren’t deported to a country just over the border that they’d never lived in after the end of the war as many of the rest of his family were.
The grandmother was a member of the Hitlerjugend and her children and two of her grandchildren were members of the Communist pionyrs.
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“whilst it did take until the 1980s in Germany’s case”
Did it?
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Also, Italy’s famously stable 1970s. Admittedly, the Yanks did fix the 1948 election.
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@tomp
Cmw – Die Wende was in 1989. Fine reunification was in 1990 but it started in the 80s.
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@Craigs – In terms of stable government and economic recovery that was decades before though. And on both counts they were doing well relative to some of their neighbours very quickly. Reunification is surely another matter entirely that depended on a lot else. In any case it wasn’t total reunification anyway as there are fair old chunks of pre-war Germany left in other countries where one would imagine they will stay for good.
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I blame Deebs for this.
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Tomp – that story puts a lot of things into perspective really.
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It’s not as if there weren’t huge debates in West Germany about the legacy of the Hitler years, especially in 1968 and throughout the 1970s, even before we get to Nolte and the Historikerstreit in the late 1980s.
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what’s Nick Nolte got to do with it?
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Bundee Aki covering 10 from the bench
Versatile.
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I blame Deebs for this.
Rather blame Utna’s beloved DB. You’ll need a new scapegoat in a few weeks now that RoG has retired.
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what’s Nick Nolte got to do with it?
Beat me to it! Have you ever seen his movies? An artistic genocide if ever there was one.
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Does this work
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No. Can’t do italics and bold at the same time.
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“what’s Nick Nolte got to do with it?”
His acting was too ernst.
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Eoin Morgan doesn’t get Sunday cricket. If you’re much the better side then you need to bat first if everyone’s going to get to do something.
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@cmw
Our U8s, U9s and U10s ALWAYS bowl first if they can (although it is usually terriers rules so they all bat anyway). They’re always better bowlers than the opposition so they enjoy a bit of psychological demolition early on. Then batting becomes a bit of a doddle – very professional mindset all round.
Nearly came unstuck last night vs Billericay who played with marvelous straight bats, but our lads managed to sneak it at the end.
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So what about Japan?
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Scotland Under 20s shared a 46-point thriller with Italy. Italy got 43 of the points and the Baby Jocks 3.
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“Our U8s, U9s and U10s ALWAYS bowl first if they can”
Serious, hard-nosed, win at all costs cricket compared to what I play. And indeed compared to what Eoin is playing at the moment too.
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Though I suppose England have left Woakes out and Sri Lanka have reached 200.
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No one gives a shot about poor post ww2 Japan.
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Morgan would stick them in too and bowl them out for twelve.
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Embra exodus continues….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/57684303
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Boooo! Booo!
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Gone to test himself in a league with relegation
Oh.
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Wales Under 20s getting a beating v France, 26-7 at the start of the 2nd period.
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Wales win the second half, 12-10. Nolann le Garrec, a good Breton, is another fine scrum half in this tournament and he grabbed the player of the match award.
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The Welsh interviewer does the post-match interviewer in English first, the French. Nolann handles it fine. Good job all round.
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Final game of the day is tight on the board – England 7, Ireland 0 – and tight on the field, both sides defending well. England look strong at forward and are very successfully slowing Irish ball down. Clement from Gloucester is playing a fine game.
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Craigs, For your Japan question – I know next to nothing about it but I am reading David Edgerton’s Rise and Fall of the British Nation at the moment and he notes in passing that after World War I Britain and Imperial Japan were the only countries with a hereditary second chamber of parliament and the new Japanese constitution of 1947 (American imposed) did away with theirs for an elected chamber, which I think is a positive.
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England: Steward; Cokanasiga, Slade, Lawrence, Malins; Smith, Randall; Genge, Langdon, Heyes, McNally, Ewels, Ludlow (capt), Underhill, Chick.
Replacements: Blamire, Obano, Davison, Hill, B Curry, Ludlam, Robson, Umaga.
No Dombrandt or Marchant
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2021/22 Heineen Cup Pool Draw Tiers:
Tier 1: Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs, Leinster Rugby, Munster Rugby, Stade Toulousain, Stade Rochelais
Tier 2: Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks, Ulster Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Racing 92, Union Bordeaux-Bègles
Tier 3: Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers, Scarlets, Ospreys, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Stade Français Paris
Tier 4: Bath Rugby, Wasps, Cardiff Rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault Rugby
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Cheers tomp.
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More Welsh teams than I would have guessed in that there Heineken Cup. Not that it’ll do them any good.
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Currie Cup on at the moment, with the Boks up at 7pm, the Euros on from 6pm, so switch to that whilst waiting for the rugby, ignore the tennis, maybe wind down with some golf. Almost like things are back to normal!
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The Fake Lions to play the Real Lionz tomorrow. Some decent lads in there – Manny Rass at 13 is one of my favourite players, the back row is young and promising, Hendrikse at 10 is just 20 – and a lot of players who’ve been around the block. They’ve even got a Scotland Under 20 player in there. Also, Straeuli is son of.
Real Lionz by 50.
Sigma Lions: 15 EW Viljoen; 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rabz Maxwane; 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Dillon Smit; 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Sbusiso Sangweni; 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman; 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Ruhan Straeuli, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Dan Kriel.
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If you want to sing along with the Georgian national anthem, here are the lyrics:
ჩემი ხატია სამშობლო,
სახატე მთელი ქვეყანა,
განათებული მთა-ბარი,
წილნაყარია ღმერთთანა.
თავისუფლება დღეს ჩვენი
მომავალს უმღერს დიდებას,
ცისკრის ვარსკვლავი ამოდის
ამოდის და ორ ზღვას შუა ბრწყინდება,
და დიდება თავისუფლებას,
თავისუფლებას დიდება!
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New post … well, list of fixtures … coming up soon.
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Post is here
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