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 
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I don’t feel a bit sorry for his wife. She knew she was marrying a Tory.
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She may even be one herself.
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Shh, don’t tell Claw.
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Watching live Floyd. Long opening sequence to (I think!) Run Like Hell. Me to mister: I don’t know how you can think this isn’t proggy. Him: Prog wasn’t invented in them days.
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Turns out not to be Floyd, but Roger Waters pretending to be the Floyd.
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Ooh! Controversial! Roger considers himself to BE Floyd.
When was Prog invented, just out of interest?
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Yeah, Roger’s ego exceeds all planets. He’s a genius, but unlikeable.
I would hazard a guess that Prog was invented by the Floyd.
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… and of course, Syd was a big part of that.
Dave Gilmour seems very likeable, and I’m fairly sure that he & Rick Wright had a lot to do with Floyd.
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Beard and Navidi to replace Jones and Tipuric
Murray – an captaen
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The main thing I’m getting out of this concert, which has now moved on to Waters’ solo material, is that the Floyd was valuable for saying Nah, mate, that’s shite. Let’s do it this way.
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Trisk – hmm, not sure I’d pick Murray as captain. Hendo yes.
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What has Jonny Gray got to do to be picked? Better than Beard and better than Hill.
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Not In The Court of The Crimson King by King Crimson? Or SF Sorrow by The Pretty Things? Or even Sgt Pepper’s by that unknown group, The Beatles?
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*whimpers and begs for mercy on Prog origins*
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So what would a Miley Cyrus, Elton John and Yo-Yo Ma version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” sound like?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
The answer is pretty damn good – singing lower really suits her voice.
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Dog only knows what the video is actually about though….
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I think she’s a really good singer, BB,
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Miley is a fabulous singer. Really loves music in all its complex glory too.
Absolutely gutted for AWJ and Tips, so close to the tour. Really is a cruel fate. No Johnny Gray? Gobsmacked.
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Ooh, Miley. Really offends the Christian right, which makes me like her even more. Also looks like she really enjoys her music, in whatever form. Her range of covers is quite astounding.
Well, what a game of rugby yesterday between Exeter and Quins. Well played both sides , stunning end of season finale. If it had gone on another ten minutes, probably another ten tries, as so many players were out on their feet. Can’t actually remember another premiership game that was so 100 miles an hour non-stop, no let up. Not Super rugby style touch, either, a lot of it was quite brutal.great defences make great 10s work harder to unpick the lock, and I thought both Simmonds and Smith showed real class. Would have given Smith the MoM, but Marler really is a fantatsic prop. Exactly what you want, technically really good, really mobile and solid defensively, and just the right side of absolutely annoying bastard. ( some of you may disagree on that ). 80 minutes out of a prop is pretty impressive too these days.
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Took my boy to Prague yesterday. Early start, late finish as I turned around and got back on a plane to Dublin.
Just watched the Lionz game now. Bad luck with the injuries and Taulupe didn’t look great when he came on to play out of position. The starting back line could very easily be six-sevenths of the starting back line in the first test and I think they went pretty well. The 2nd half subs made it a bit of a mess for the Lionz. Thought Japan did ok after so long without a test.
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Today’s Scotland A-England A game cancelled cos of the Covid and the France-Australia first test to be played in Brisbane rather than Sydney.
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I’ve been bravely/foolishly reading match reports and BtLs of the Quins/Exeter game yesterday.
Hell of a jizz-fest for Smith at 10, and not a mention of Jo Simmonds, but:
Simmonds converted 5 of 5 tries and 1 from 1 penalty.
Smith converted 4 from 5 tries (Marchant missed the 6th) and no penalties.
Smith got a yellow card for getting completely over-excited in defense.
All in a pretty even match.
Unfortunately O’Flaherty and Townsend are not great defenders and Quins back-line ran lots of lovely lines.
I think Quins scrum was the clincher with two great props.
What is critical for Simmonds and Smith is how well they play outside of their own club systems. I still think Simmonds shades it at this stage – but we need to find out.
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🎵Adam Beard, Adam Beard isn’t from the Glen
Adam Beard, Adam Beard is one of Gat’s Men
Better than Gray, looks a bit weird
Adam Beard, Adam Beard, Adam Beard🎵
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Gray minor played his second game for some time in yesterday’s final – so getting back to good form. He is still a tackle machine, so a good sub for AWJ. I have no idea of Beard’s qualities/specialities, but overlooking Gray seems a bit odd.
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Miley Cyrus?
You’ve all gone a bit wrong.
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Great match and result yesterday. Is it me or has the prem got better in terms of skill levels this season? Might be a reflection of sarries absence but there is some high quality attack creeping to league.
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result of no relegation so higher risk-taking?
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Sharks wing Sbu Nkosi, Sarries prop Vincent Koch and Stormers scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies have tested positive for Covid. The Bok management have said it won’t impact on the Test against Georgia, but SA is now going back into hard lockdown. Maybe not total, but major restrictions on the cards. I’m desperate to see the Lions tour here, but is it really the right thing to do?
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Graun coverage of the Netherlands-Czech match has the Czechs with 59% possession in the first 24 minutes. The live feed has it with the Netherlands shading it 51-49. That’s quite a difference. Who to believe? Not Matt Hancock obviously.
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Czechs really scrambling in defence so far, but also starting to get a bit of space going forward. Been some neat passing and touches by both sides, but nothing to trouble the respective keepers thus far.
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TomP’s mob miss a great chance and then nearly cough one up to Expro’s mob. Unless he’s moved to Turkey and probably supporting Greece very loudly.
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Not TomP obviously, no father of a Springbok qualified 10 would behave like that.
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Hmm. Getting a bit spicy! Dutch down to 10 for a deliberate handball. A couple of fouls and the Dutch are getting ratty with the ref. And upping the pace a bit too.
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After looking like they’d be battered in the first 20, the Czechs are a goal up! With 17 minutes to go. Looking good for a last 8 place!
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2 up now!
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Czech it out! 2-0 and 2 minutes to go!
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That was quite a good game. Good save by the Czech keeper on the one-on-one was a big moment.
True fact: The Czech coach is Jaroslav Silhavy. Silhavy means Squint-eyed
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Slade – I don’t think that explains all of it tbh.
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@Craigs
…….more younger, uninhibited players coming through various academies whilst older ‘journeymen’ are getting pensioned off earlier thanks financial paucity due to Covid?
…..a lot of the current young crop are also graduates of successful U20s squads
…….physiques seem increasingly specialised and/or athletic and skills levels are higher?
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………………better pitches and facilities?
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Nah, more Scots.
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One for Craigs and Thaum
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Another big fan of Miley here.
Gutted for AWJ. Shirley if another prop gets injured note the slot is Marler’s??
Murray as captain?? Huh. But then we were all nonplussed when he got picked on his first Lions tour and he really shone. Not someone whom I would pick for captain, but what do I know? Hope he goes well. Bet he does. If the tour actually goes ahead.
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Miley Cyrus? – good grief………….
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Slade, I thought Marcus Smith was outstanding even by his own standards on Saturday, according to Rugby Pass “Marcus Smith had scored 278 points coming into the final, a tally that has only once been topped since 2007 – Jimmy Gopperth’s 292 for Wasps in 2017. His high stakes yellow didn’t cost Harlequins as he might have feared and the young maestro clearly thrived in this evening’s chaos.”
The last ten minutes in particular, the time when you want your best players to really step up in a cup final, he took control of the match and opened up the Exeter defence with some great running and passing.
I’ve long been a fan and I just can’t see why Eddie Jones seems to ignore him, I’d have taken him on the Lions tour.
Speaking of which, Beard and Navidi, eh?
To be perfectly frank they are both very good players, but there were better options. The lack of our favourite – a proper seven – was very evident on Saturday when Tips went off, the game slowed up significantly.
If they wanted a utility backrow who can play across the three positions then they should have selected Navidi in the first place. If they wanted a replacement for Tips, someone who is a menace at the breakdown, links seamlessly with the backs and brings real pace into the game, then van der Flier or Jamie Ritchie should have gotten the call.
I’ve read that Beard is very strong in maul defence, to be honest I’m not that put out that Johnny Gray didn’t get the call, but on another forum he is getting a lot of hype from South African fans who can’t believe that he has been overlooked twice now.
I fear that Gatland is stubborn, if he thinks the Lions are going to out-muscle the Boks he is mistaken, they will have to keep them on the run and turn them with long raking kicks into space – see Scotland at Twickenham this year.
I think Biggar put his hand up for the test jersey, Sinkler was very energised when he came on but he is duking it out with Fagerson for the bench spot.
Owens looked secure with his throwing as far as I remember.
Murray looked a bit ponderous to me, but he has more or less been handed the test shirt now.
The back three is really quite strong, it will be interesting to see who makes the cut, but I don’t think you lose or gain much with any combination, it will be about the blend.
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With the positive tests in the Boks squad, there is apparently a contingency to only play the tests.
This should never have gone ahead, Australia offered to host the tour, it would have made more sense to tour there this time around and then South Africa in four years time.
Aus have got France of course, but if they offered to host the Lions presumably they had thought of how to do both
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Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said this morning, and I’m summarising, “No one cares that the health secretary broke social distancing guidelines that were supposed to apply to everyone, the PM is popular and that is what counts”
Buckland is MP for South Swindon.
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Buckland’s real first name is Dave, obvs.
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