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 
I imagine there are studies that include how immigrants (first, second etc generation) take on the various national identities available in this country. My guess would be that the trend would be away from British and towards English/Scottish/Welsh etc. But I don’t know.
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@cmw
I wonder how many generations it took the Irish immigrants who came over during the industrial revolution to be considered, or consider themselves, English.
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@OT – I’m guessing possibly not as many as we might think? Plenty of Irish and I guess English would also have become Welsh during that period.
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I imagine a broad range – from very quickly to not even now – dependent on successful achievement of personal goals and group/sub-group culture.
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what? – become Welsh//
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??
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Miners
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https://www.news24.com/sport/rugby/springboks/on-this-day-in-pictures-springboks-beat-all-blacks-to-win-1995-rugby-world-cup-20210624
Can’t believe it isn’t a global holiday.
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My family is all basically English back through the generations. Dad born here of English parents and grew up between the UK and SA, mum was English and moved here to marry dad. I grew up as a true blue Saffer, with an appreciation of British culture thanks to my folks, but no affinity for the UK. Until I started visiting and appreciating everything it has to offer, which is immense. I haven’t been over in about five years and I miss it like hell. Do I consider myself ‘British’ in any meaningful way? No, not really. But I love so much of the history, culture, sights and sounds of the UK that it echoes from a past that my DNA is intertwined with. No idea where I’m going with this!
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* Other than another glass of wine.
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Miners and navvies and and sailors and doctors and businesspeople and women and men.
They weren’t always welcome. I think there were 15 or 20 anti-Irish riots in 19th Century Wales.
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Japan XXIII:
Japan – 15 Ryohei Yamanaka, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Siosaia Fifita, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 James Moore, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Koo Ji-won, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Subs: 16 Kosuke Horikoshi, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Jack Cornelsen, 20 Kazuki Himeno, 21 Tevita Tatafu, 22 Naoto Saito, 23 Rikiya Matsuda
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A little reminder. Tomorrow at 8:45 p.m, the return leg of the Hcup final in Paris. In the Stade de France in front of several thousand spectators – only 15000, I think.
LaR vs Toulouse for T14 glory. It’d be a first title for LaR and a umpteenth one for Toulouse, so I hope (and expect) the boys in yellow from the Atlantic coast will prevail.
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My family is all basically English back through the generations.
Torn between responding ‘commiserations’ and ‘I always knew you were a wrong ‘un’.
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I’m sure with your heritage you must have a fine English first name, Deebee.
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@cmw
I think you’re right. My great granny was born in the 1890s and was probably first or second generation born in England. She didn’t appear to think she was Irish, although she did marry my great Grandad who seemed to live half the year in England and half in Ireland as a kid.
He also fought with the Liverpool Irish in WW1 and was captured at the Somme in August 1916. He wasn’t a fan of the Easter Rising, apparently. Thought they were traitors.
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Redpath and Townsend reunited at half back for Scotland. Murray and Christian for the Under 20s.
Last time Basil and Gregor played together Scotland got a hammering by France.
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My kids have got England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland all covered just by going back as far as grandparents. Especially if you include my stepfather who is proper Welsh as opposed to me with my two Norfolk parents. He also brings in Irish tramps and poachers going a generation or two further back. Not that they need any more Irish what with the Norngibbons on Mrs CMW’s mother’s side. From a couple of generations earlier the proper grandparents can even supply people from made up places like Sunderland and France.
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Apparently my paternal grandfather came from a long line of Scottish sheep-rustlers (although not in recent memory). Which may explain how they ended up in Norn Iron.
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Operation Blame It All On Matt Hancock has entered phase 2. Phase 1 was last week when they leaked that he had withheld vaccine data
https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/20/matt-hancock-sat-on-data-that-could-have-avoided-prolonging-lockdown-14800376/
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It wasn’t – generally – well received in Dublin until the executions started. After George V’s visit in 1911 – which was well received, Dubliners were derisively called Jackeens (from all the Union Jacks) for a long time after… (you wouldn’t hear it now ).
As 2nd city (maybe) of the empire (fight over that w/ Glasgow, Calcutta etc) , Dublin certainly reaped benefits of being part of the empire (maybe in same way it’s reaped benefits from the EU) , so starting a war in the middle of a different war wasn’t popular all round.
There’s a whole industry around the Easter Rising… Was it the right thing? Was it the right thing done at the wrong time? Was it the right thing done in the the wrong way? Was it the wrong thing?
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Ha. It doesn’t stop there OT
‘Health secretary Matt Hancock has been accused of having an affair with a close friend and lobbyist who is a taxpayer-funded adviser for his department, a report has claimed.’
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Everyone hates matt
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there’s also the small matter of 600 million lateral flow test kits unaccounted for………………………….maybe Dido knows?
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It’s hard to have too much sympathy for Matt even now the execution has started. I do hate him less than the people who are going to do away with him though, him being an ever so slightly superior Grayling/Williamson etc rather than one of the truly evil.
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I’m sure there’s another member of the cabinet whose girlfriend get a cash bonanza from state funds a few years back.
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it’s all so blatant and transparent. Blame Hancock (not that he doesn’t deserve a whole load of blame) to deflect from the rest of them. Gove has been suspiciously quiet for one.
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@chimpie
Don’t forget Cummings is Gove’s man. You’ll notice a lot of his rantings put Gove at the heart of the solution.
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Well quite
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“it’s all so blatant and transparent”
This is what makes it weird. It was obvious all along and for the hard of understanding Cummings has also spelled out that this was Johnson’s intention. And whatever anyone thinks of Cummings’ honesty this bit is so clearly true nobody in their right mind would question it. So the media should be up in arms on the country’s behalf calling out Johnson for having left Matt in a position of dangerous responsibility while knowing he was hopeless just so he could have a scapegoat.
But it seems that maybe people don’t care.
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Then again Theresa May was completely let off for Windrush which was entirely her responsibility so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.
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Trisk, am about 800 metres from St Stephens Green, which has a little guided tour of Easter Rising sites in the park, and probably the same distance from Mount Street Bridge, with a memorial plaque. The RDS was where de Valera and others were interned for processing after the Rising. Then, there’s The Rahilly’s old house, demolished last year, by Herbert Park, where the memorial to the 3rd Battalion is.
As a foundational myth, it’s sort of romantic. It’s also been used and abused over the years.
I want to find out a lot more about the Carson and Curragh threats of revolt before 1914. That’s a big what if.
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‘A longtime friend of Matt Hancock would have gone through a “very rigorous” process before being given a job at the health department, Grant Shapps has said, after photographs emerged of Hancock kissing the woman.’
Karl would have a field day with this.
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Shapps’ life to date having been all about rigorous process…
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Shapps is better at press conferences than Matt to be fair. And that’s a very funny choice of words.
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‘Shapps’ life to date having been all about rigorous process…’
Rigorous process of graft perhaps
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England 7-5 up v Scotland in the Under 20s after 10 minutes.
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12-5 now. Scotland coughing up too much cheap ball & letting England run
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14-5
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19-5. Deago Bailey from a pretty basic move. Scottish kiddies need to tighten up.
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19-5. Bit too easy for England. Scotland need to win some of their own line outs
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BJ considers the Hancock ‘matter closed’
Well he can’t exactly punish anyone else for infidelity can he? I mean who cares about the incompetence
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Scotland with a positive covid case & 8 more isolating. More players called up for sunday’s game vs. England A
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I’d missed that England have Alex Groves from St Johns in Johannesburg in their side.
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Exeter side to face ‘Quins:
Hogg still bench-warming!
15 Jack Nowell, 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 Jonny Gray, 5 Jonny Hill
6 Jannes Kirsten,7 Richard Capstick, 8 Sam Simmonds
16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Don Armand, 21 Stu Townsend
22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Stuart Hogg
Strong bench, despite Hogg’s presence!
No idea who will win!!
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The Scottish hooker Jamie Drummond is tiny in height but square. He’s having a field day at the breakdown winning loads of penalties.
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He’s like a beach ball. Just about keeping us in this
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