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 
Coventry City (my second team) legend.
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Jimmy Hill that is. Also made footballers richer sooner than would have happened without him which was a good thing before it got out of hand.
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What a goal!
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Get in. Wonderful stuff.
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These are the best two matches I’ve seen on the same day since the 1990 FA Cup semi-finals (sorry OT).
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Great skill by Coman to get the ball down and the shot off but he hits the bar.
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It still makes me laugh that Latics had 2 in midfield who outplayed the 5 that Man U fielded.
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CMW, the ending of the maximum wage was a historical inevitability. In contrast, I present everything Jimmy Hill said on TV coverage when I was a youngster. Case closed. Dons black cap.
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“the ending of the maximum wage was a historical inevitability”
I thought I made that clear in the way I put it. What was not a historical inevitability was Coventry City getting to the top division and spending 35 years there or whatever it was.
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We need someone independent who wouldn’t have watched much Jimmy Hill on telly when they were a nipper. I suggest someone Scottish.
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I might be prepared to kick Craigs where it hurts for free if Switzerland can win this one.
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Mmmbap hasn’t had the best of games, will almost certainly bag the winner in the last minute.
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I fear Rodriguez will want to take one again. (If he’s still on).
Feeling old now that my favourite French footballer’s son is playing.
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My goodness that’s a wonderful pass from Pogba.
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This 4th lad for Switzerland doesn’t look confident.
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Superb save. Au revoir, France.
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Craigs bags are take a slapping thanks to Mbappe.
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Cmw – come and get me.
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Too pleased with my mighty piece of jinxing on Mbappe to kick Craigs.
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I actually quite like penalty shoot outs in football. At least a goal is guaranteed.
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Watch out, lads and lasses:
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There’s plenty of it, but the referees aren’t taking much notice of it.
Seems to me that the advantage rule has snuffed out a lot of the more egregious play acting. You see a bloke looking like he’s been poleaxed one minute, ref waves for advantage and he’s up again and haring forwards in support – a great result for that law being introduced.
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Ah, yes – Lillian Thuram – only ever scored 2 goals for France – luckily for France they were the equaliser and then winner in their 2-1 win over Croatia in the 1998 WC semi-final. Impeccable timing, eh?
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I like his explanation here:
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The refs do seem to be allowing a greater amount of contact as well (albeit that can swing the other way – Belgium / Portugal had a lot of bad fouls that went unpunished). It seems to have contributed to a number of watchable games (that said I’m not asking for Chelsea / Leeds 1970 either)
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“The refs do seem to be allowing a greater amount of contact as well”
Up to a point. You still can’t really get away with playing like you’re the target man for Cardiff City even if you are the target man for Cardiff City.
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This lot again:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/28/winner-of-brewdogs-solid-gold-beer-can-finds-prize-is-made-mostly-of-brass
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Brassy Brewdogs Bollocks! They’ll lick anything.
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“This lot again…”
Says so much in a few words….
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Any chance of this chap actually going to prison?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/29/former-south-african-president-jacob-zuma-sentenced-prison
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If I could be arsed working our the surface area of a 330ml can I could work out how much the Brewdog prize was actual worth, in terms of aits weight in gold anyway.
The Gruan should have done the work, poor journalism
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I could get a job at the Graun with typing like that
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Surface area of a 330ml can is ~ 0.03m^2
Depth of gold plating is at least 0.5 microns or 0.0000005 m
therefore volume of gold plating is 0.00000015m^3
Density of gold is 19,320 kg/m³ so therefore the mass of gold is ~ 0.0003kg.
Value of gold is about 1780 £/kg. Value of gold in can is around 0.5p.
I have not checked the above. It may be egregiously wrong.
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CMW – very little chance I’m afraid. Zuma has spent close to 20 years fighting a slew of allegations against him, including those from before he was President dating back to our famously corrupt Arms Deal in the late 1990s. He has no room left to appeal and continue his ‘Stalingrad Defence’ as its been called here, but he still wields significant (if fading) political power in the ANC in general and in his heartland of KwaZulu-Natal in particular, which is a very powerful region. I believe that the ANC will try to fudge the issue and come to a political compromise. I desperately hope that my political analysis is as shocking as my sporting predictions and he goes straight to jail. It would be a seismic moment in our political development.
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Quoted the price in dollars thinking it was pounds. Means the value is about 0.3p.
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OT/Deebs – pretty much sums those synts up.
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Brewdog or Zuma?
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Ok I admit it. I love this shit
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Deebs – close call
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OT, they scrimped on the gold plating, it is quoted as 3 microns in the article, so assuming your sums are correct the value is actually 3/5 of 0.3p.
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Was willing to offer qualified support to England for tonight’s game but have just learned that the England brass band are going to be in attendance and playing.
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Sponsored by Brewdog, TomP?
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Unqualified support now ?
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Two-man ODI at Chester-le-Street: Chris Woakes with 4/11 keeping England in it and Kusal Perera with 73* out of a total so far of 152 keeping Sri Lanka in it. Oh. Just jinxed Perera there. Caught in the deep.
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Yes, for one of the mannscha… , er, teams.
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@ticht
If it’s only 3 microns then it’s not even technically gold plated, the tight gets
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3>0.5
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It could be worth as much as 1.8p
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The company can’t guarantee its value on the open market though.
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I wish I could read sometimes.
CMW wins the TomP facting award of June 2021.
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