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’d guess also that “URC” title gets away from Pro-N (where is ‘n’ is a positive integer > 0) – so teams can come and go without a big red flag everytime someone drops out
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Not seen anything on the TV rights – what have you heard, Trisk?
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trisk, I find Spain wonderfully relaxing to watch. It’s soothing, like whale music or something.
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I see the Scottish sides have lucked out with 4 games each against Benetton and Zebre.
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That’s possible rainbow cup winners [1] Benetton
[1] likely winners if one listens to recent chat on here.
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That’s my source….FWIW
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Starts Sep – runs to June. Avoids 6N
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And in case no-one else has mentioned it … SA teams will qualify for the Heino
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Cool. On the beeb. Hopefully proper coverage not back to the old BBC Alba days.
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The Shaun Edwards brand has changed over the years
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Some shocking saffa underdogging been going on.
Trying to inveigle our way into NH anonymity through HUMILITY instead of bashing down the barn door. Makes me feel dirty, to be honest.
And to be honester, possibly honestest, I have no idea where SA rugby stands at the moment. Been 18 months since we played a Test and over a year since we played any rugby against opposition from another country. We’re fecked.
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Deebs – good to get you guys involved. If only to watch the aussie sides play the kiwis over and over.
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In which the good guys win
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And they get to do it all over again!!!
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Under 20s 6 Nations starts on Saturday. Ireland v Scotland, Wales v Italy and France v whoever the 6th Nation is. Everything’s on the iplayer in the UK or FranceTv or youtube for the rest of us.
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What was wrong with BBC Alba?
TG4 do the PRO-14 here – and by and large it’s pretty good and I barely register the fact that the commentary is in Irish. I hope the FTA component allows them to keep games – and it’s not all sucked up by RTE.
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I’m wondering if the SA sides will get more money playing in the URC than Super Rugby. I’d imagine that and the Heinie could be very lucrative, especially if sides go far. Might be just what we need to stem the flood of players overseas, at least a little bit.
Still feel for the way the Cheetahs have been repeatedly shafted. Feel for the Kings players too, not the useless corrupt union though.
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It was more that they didn’t even show all the Edinburgh & Glasgow games let alone any elsewhere in the league.
Coverage was mince. Commentary was mostly amusing. Hogg furra lineee!!!!
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Big, big game coming up!
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Trisk, it’s a long story, the very quick version is that rugby is not only a minority sport in Scotland, the BBC powers that be in Scotland actively hate it, calling it a posh public school boys game, despite the fact that outside Glasgow and Edinburgh that is very far from the truth.
There was an insider on the Gruan btl who outlined what goes on, and basically they do all they can to undermine rugby – this might sound like applied victimhood, but I believe the guy because of what I’ve seen.
The Magners/pro 12 games in Scotland were covered by BBC Wales outside broadcast vans and crew, their vans were at the several grounds Glasgow and Edinburgh used, Alba just picked it up for a small fee at the time.
I heard that the Irish broadcasters paid for the actual games to be sent into the ether, again Alba bought some cheap rights. BBC Scotland refused to put any resources into it.
Hence not all of our home games were available to watch live, just the ones against Welsh sides and some Irish teams.
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Good man, Marland Yarde:
https://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/marland-yarde-crowned-the-gallagher-community-player-of-the-season
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Tomp – Joe Marler doesn’t like him so that’s decision made for me.
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Marler vs Sinckler should be an interesting match-up at the weekend!
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Well – who saw France vs Germany? One of the main talking points was Pavard getting knocked out and continuing after a couple of mins – looked like he was “out” after the collision with Gosens and had what my mother would have said was “a helpless fall” bouncing his head off the ground. No HIA, no automatic substitution.
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Really intrigued by what seems to be a sub-heading “Combatuve” at the bottom of that Shaun Edwards clipping.
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As a rule I like my one-eyed parochialism in as many languages as possible. However, I always found the bits on the Alba coverage that were in English to be a bit more than I could take as it would involve a current player as summariser so would be either totally one-sided or completely bland – it was something that could never work. Quite happy with the mahoo-mahaa bits and the opportunity to stumble across shinty and porridge making programmes that would otherwise pass me by.
I hope we’re getting the BBC Northern Ireland lot back, they won’t have changed.
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“SA teams will qualify for the Heino”
Not once they’ve been stuffed by the Dragons and the Ospreys they won’t.
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I saw a fair bit of France v Germany and very boring it was too. If they don’t get knocked out in the first round then I hope the Germans win the thing in truly tedious fashion.
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Although as above it doesn’t really affect my enjoyment of it I do think there is an absurdity in the rugby being on Alba in Scottish Gaelic as my understanding is that almost nobody who follows the game speaks the language. This obviously doesn’t apply in Wales where there are loads of Welsh-speakers who like rugby. Would be interested to know where Ireland fits in on this front, I find it very hard to make any sense of anything I’ve read about the Irish language and numbers of speakers etc and have no idea how even what I have read would crossover with who tends to follow rugby over there.
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Stats on the Irish language are – as you say – hard to make sense of. Technically, we’ve more Irish speakers in Dublin than anywhere (or “annywhere” in Dublin-speak) – but that’s probably an effect of government, government depts, and universities etc.
It’s taught in school up to 18 (you can get a dispensation not to do it ) – but tends to be taught (a bit like the way I learned French or Latin in school) – heavy on written and set books – not so much in day-to-day usage. Equally, it’s difficult – unless you head to the Gaeltachts to find somewhere to speak it on a regular basis … you can’t really walk into the bank or supermarket and kick off in Irish
I’d reckon most of the country has a low-level of understanding and probably can follow a rugby/soccer/football/hurling commentary in Irish (esp if they know the game being played).
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@Trisk – Is there a significant constituency that would actually prefer their rugby commentary in Irish to English though? I’m guessing probably not. I don’t think it’s a terrible thing that that’s how they get it regardless.
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And if not does the same apply to football (soccer) and even GAA?
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No, probably not.
Irish language is more embedded in the GAA ‘formally’. I was assistant secretary to a local GAA club for a while and made sure to open and sign off emails to the county, provincial and national GAA authorities in Irish (name, position, club). No-one would do that in rugby – except maybe Rugbaí Chorcha Dhuibhne.
If they wanted to be picky over a request – not addressing it “as Gaeilge” was an easy way to throw it back to you (as a colleague warned me) .
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Cmw – they can play in the challenge Cup thing.
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“A perfect example of that is in this third season of Harley [when] we had a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman,” Halpern told Variety. “And DC was like, ‘You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.’ They’re like, ‘Heroes don’t do that.’ So, we said, ‘Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?’ They were like, ‘No, it’s that we sell consumer toys for heroes. It’s hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone.’”
I’m sure Batman does do this. It’s less controversial than the Batfleck killing people though.
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‘I do think there is an absurdity in the rugby being on Alba in Scottish Gaelic as my understanding is that almost nobody who follows the game speaks the language’
Quite
There are plenty of gaelic speakers who do follow the game but there’s a vastly bigger quantity of those that don’t have the gaelic who follow it. As Ticht mentioned, BBC Scotland hate rugby. For some reason.
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No real opinion on Batman doing oral. Except I hope he takes off his bat-hat, those pointy bits could cause some damage.
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Chimpie – he keeps it on. Trust me on this one.
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Oh,dear…………..
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/57494652
no Ewers, Skinner, Vermeulen or Gray?
Hmmm…………..
Sale by lots…..
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For those interested (?)- here are the independent panel’s checklist for each player:
https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/double-blow-for-the-chiefs
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I agree with Baxter, there is inconsistency – Skinner should have been red as well.
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Apparently GB News has had a few messages read out, one from Mike Hunt and another from Mike Oxlong.
Farage read out a birthday greeting to Hugh Janus the other week, too.
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I wonder what Batman and Catwoman would dress up as in order to add a bit of spice?
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Word I heard is they dress up as Craigs and Chimpie.
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I don’t like where this appears to be heading.
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@ticht
Well, I sniggered at the names – not sure how anyone would fall for Mike Hunt – that goes back to ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’ in my memory (and probably before). Oxlong – that was a new one on me and I’d thought I knew most of these – (Pete Moss, his close friend Pete Marsh etc) from Private Eye’s Pseudo Names.
Garrison Keillor used to sign off his radio show with a credit for the writers – Sarah Bellum, Paige Turner, Warren Peace, Amanda Reckenwith,
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Chimpie – have to Karl that.
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Ticht, Cricinfo posted a comment by a bloke named Joe Masepus in the last England Test. You have to be a Saffer to understand it! TomP can probably translate it less offensively than I.
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