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 
C’mon Toulouse
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That Kolbe isn’t very good
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-I know I’m going to rugby hell for that comment
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burn, baby!
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Kolbe hits a 50m drop goal
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Kolbe drop goal from the half way line. Outrageous!
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Ludicrous
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This has been my assumption since vaccines started getting delivered…..every autumn you’ll get your jab….
At the moment in Ireland, we’ve around 300 cases a day… but 34 in hospital 13 in ICU. Number of deaths is 0 most days – its the young and fit who are catching it and they’re the cohort least affected.
Stats are unclear since the hack on the HSE but we’ve most of the country over 35 with 1 jab and most of the 70+ with 2. My wife got her 2nd Pfizer today – after less than 3 weeks. I’m waiting on my 2nd AZ.
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Poor lineouts and mistakes are hurting LaR.
Toulouse playing top drawer percentage rugby
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Ireland Under 20s playing very well. Neal Doak’s lad Nathan is a very fine half back. 17-0.
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There was almost no flu last year because of lockdowns and social distancing – no or very little transmission
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And the good news is the mutation in flu probably won’t be too great this year (2021/22) so any vaccine will probably be effective against it. The recommendation for the vaccine’s usually made in February so fairly early.
600 people died of flu this past year in the States compared to 20 ,000 to 30,000 a year in recent years. Covid, of course, has been far more deadly.
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The rain has started, I hope this doesn’t have too great an influence
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Wet ball – dah!
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Beadle klaxon on the comms there
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Ramos is quite handy at 10
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Chimpie, I think he been very effective but it would have been a different Toulouse with Ntamack in place
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That is a hell of a kick from Ramos
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Sleeper Agent McDonough gives away a pen and gets a YC ad Wales come back into the game vs Ireland
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That’s that, late try for LaR but it’s little more than a consolation.
Toulouse have been the better side tonight.
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Absolutely…. based on this small sample …Casey and Doak to be fighting it out for Ireland #9 shirt fairly soon.
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Is there an Ovally Balls Approved Bru for the Lionz games?
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“Sleeper Agent McDonough gives away a pen and gets a YC ”
He was just coming into his force and might have won fame in the end but for that.
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Would have been nice to have been able to call him a drunken vainglorious lout, but that one’s busy coaching the Lions and it’s important to be accurate.
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Sorry to quote myself…but I do regard Caolan Blade as a good 9 of the old school – playing at high tempo, running if the defence is asleep and in general being like a wasp at a picnic….
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“Sorry to quote myself…”
You’re no Yeats it’s true.
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Not night, but death.
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The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call
Iks! Iks! Come and look at the moorhens!
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I could go on like this for ages. And if you think it’s boring now, wait until I get on to Louis MacNeice.
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One of my first contributions to AoD was a reworking of ‘The Stare’s Nest By My Window’ about Tcod. That one worked quite well. I started on ‘An Irish Rugby Fan Foresees His Death (by tedious recurring argument with Expro)’, but never finished it. Can’t really see why looking back as it hardly needed changing:
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
Also started something called ‘Jamie Robartes and the Dancer’ about Welsh centre play, the latter being Gav, but only the title was any good and I didn’t know the original well enough or expect anyone else to for it to be any fun.
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All part of a poetry Six Nations ATL that never got finished. Some of the ideas were good, but the execution wasn’t there. Could have another go, might finish it by February if I start now…
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Two bros going up to Twikkers
Fast Sam and Cool Jo’s who they are
Eddie J will look in
To check who will win
But he still won’t pick either Simmonds ‘cos he’s a stubborn bastard – as we were warned!
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Looking at that photo of Hancock & his aide (and also taking into consideration the previous creepy video), I think: Hands. Face. Mace.
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@Slade – It was better than that, but I didn’t hand it in so got 0.
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Needless to say, I didn’t get around to writing a new ATL.
Maybe the match will inspire me.
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Forgot the Lionz was on Cooncil Telly.
Downside is Matt Dawson advertising something to do with lasers. Thankfully the volume was down.
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AWJ buggered.
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Bugger, AWJ off already. Looks like a wrist problem.
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Looks bad for AWJ
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Not a bad afternoon so far, been and got my 1st covid jab and back in time for the Lionz.
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… and of course the English commentator says, Courtney Lawes on, and now we have English representation on the field. FFS.
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YES! Not yer typical winger’s try.
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Noice finish
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Bundee Aki made it, mind you….
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Good finish from Adams, that wasn’t a walk in by any means
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Sneaky by DvdM.
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Cheeky
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Another try by
Liam Williams* Duhan van der Merwe.*This commentator is hopeless.
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Thaum – the commentator (Nick Heath) is half Irish….
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Is he? Well, he’s still rubbish. Doesn’t know the players.
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