You wait bloody ages for an ATL, and then two turn up at once….
No prizes for guessing which is the work of Craigsman, and which of Deebee7.
The Glorious Series Continues
Pre/Ramble
So it’s a bit weird that, with a Lionz series in south Africa being poised with one game each, rugby fans seems quite deflated about the last match in this series. No fans, empty stadiums, accusations of biting, of slowing down the game, of racism, of influencing the referee have all played a part. But really it’s the fact that the rugby hasn’t set the world alight that’s the problem (Springbok tries aside) in this Craigsman’s opinion. Both sides seem to be playing low risk stuff seeing who breaks first. Kick, kick, kick. The Kiwis would lap this up. Form-wise, apart from the last half of the second game (and a bit in the first half of the first game) the Lions forwards have been able to get the dominance needed to win but they have been blunt in attack. Here’s hoping that rugby* wins and we get a game on Saturday. Let’s have a look at the teams innit.
LionzTM
So this makes me wonder what the feck Gats is playing at with his selection for the third test. I am but a simple accountant, unused to the complexities of rugby coaching, but I’m trying to work out some of the choices made at 9 and 10 and 21 and 22. Starting with a live wire scrum half and a … solid fly half and then ending with a … solid scrum half and a live wire fly half seems to be negating the strengths of each player. Either start with the live wire options and when the Springbok defence proves too miserly to score tries against or a nice healthy lead has been built, end with the … wise old heads who like to kick and do the game management stuff. Or, do the opposite to chase the game. What do I know? Everything else in the team seems reasonable. Courtney Lawes has done well to ignore the instructions from Dan Biggar and the rest of the pack looks solid. I would probably have Tadhg MK II in the finishers but hey ho. The back 3 look like they could negate a dastardly kicking game and we have two lumps in the centre to negate the Boks and the “amazing” Elliot Daly to come in against the tired legs at the end. So, I’m sanguine there.
Springboks
The Springboks look rubbish and will get hammered whatever happens look like a settled unit right now with the only changes have come from injury and OH MY GOD IT’S MORNE FECKING STEYNE!!!!!!!!!! Maybe it’s just more trolling from Rassie and we’ll see a last minute ‘injury’ and a proper player like Wynand Olivier will replace him. Just ignorant speculation on my part. Other than that, I can’t see anything to pick at. It’s a formidable side and Lionz supporters everywhere will have breathed a sigh of relief that Duane Vermeulen hasn’t yet come back from injury. I think they will rinse and repeat what worked in the second game. And why not? I hope that their fantastic wingers see some more ball in this game though. If only for them to be bundled into touch at the last second.
Prediction
Whoever gets the forward grunt and manages the ref will win. I really hope it doesn’t come down to the ref or some bs unseen citing or time wasting or whatever. Hopefully the ref will keep the game flowing and we’ll have a classic* on our hands. So who do I think will win?
Erm… hopefully Gats will put me in my place and Finn will catch a perfect box kick to sling an amazing pass to Sam Simmonds for his record breaking hat trick and the Lions win by a point or more.
Or… the Springboks grind the plucky tourists into the dirt and they will win by 18 points. Morne Steyne kicking the final penalty from the Springboks 22.
Or… the test never bloody ends.
Ok, ok Lions 24** – 21 Springboks. There, come at me you bastards.
Final ‘thoughts’
The real question on everyone’s lips is ‘what will this mean for England’? I’ll be btl to give my thoughts on this shortly.
* Which means the Lions win. Anything else is one for the purists.
** Have I mentioned that Siya Kolisi has a special place in my heart? I’ll have another poster to put on my bedroom wall after this series so all is not lost if the Lionz lose.
My Way, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb Squad
Gats and Rassie loom into view through the smoke-filled karaoke bar, each picking up a mike and ignoring the other, before launching into their tuneless non mea culpa est:
And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain
My friends, we’ll kick it clear, we’ll force the pace of which we’re certain
We’ve kicked a ball out full, we’ve launched the oval skyway
But more, much more than this, we did it our way
Attacks, we’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention
We kicked what we had to kick, and soar it through without invention
I planned each scrumming force, each sideways step and passes astray
But more, much more than this, the blame is his way
The lights dim, the mikes clatter emptily to the floor, clunking soullessly as they slink to the exits, grim, with regret etched on their faces. But enough of my whisky and chocolate addled dreams last night.
The third Test. The series is alive, if not exactly kicking, if you ask many followers. The changes have been wrung, the die is cast and now we’re 80 minutes (or up to 120 depending on how things pan out) from anointing the victors with bragging rights for the next 12 years. Enough has been written about the quality (or absence thereof) of the first two Tests and the series in general, much of it accurate, much of it bilge, so let’s focus on the match to come, shall we?
Six changes in the Lions camp and 3 (one positional) in the Boks. The Lions have been roaring all week about speeding up the game, gaining tempo, running the Boks ragged and raiding the trophy cabinet in the process. In come Price at 9 to speed up delivery from the base – but to Biggar at 10 who hasn’t set the world light in ether teste thus far. Outside him, Bundee Aki, a poor man’s Damian de Allende, comes in to allow Henshaw to move to 13 in an attempt to create more space in midfield, whilst at the back, the Welsh duo of Williams for Hogg and Adams for Watson on the right wing aims to get more incisiveness in attack. On the bench, Connor Murray and Finn Russell are paired, a conservative slower 9 with a heads-up 10, seems strange, to say the least and suggests that Gatland remains conservative and not trusting of an all-out assault on the Bok defence.
Up front the Welsh duo of Jones and Owens are slotted into a front row that struggled last week, despite the Lions leading at oranges, the second and back row is unchanged, slightly surprising given the backseat they took and enormous energy expended seven days ago. AWJ, warrior that he is, must be feeling the effects, whilst Lawes was fairly anonymous last week.
The bench looks strong, but not overly stellar and there must be some concerns in the Lions camp that six new players who’ve spend much of the last month carrying tackle bags will be disruptive – if it is early one, the Lions will be playing catch up.
The Boks have two enforced injury changes, with talismanic 9 Faf de Klerk and indispensable blindside PS du Toit both out. These are huge blows, however much Bok fans will try to sugar-coat things. De Klerk is without peer at the box kicking game and all-round nuisance value, whilst du Toit is an 80 minute machine across the park. It’s resulted in considerable rejigging in the Bok side, with Lood de Jager back in the second row to partner Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert moving to blindside in du Toit’s place. Big moves. De Jager back is great news, adding considerably to the scrumming department and lineout, as well as carrying in heavy traffic, but is more limited out wide. Mostert has played flank, but with limited success. That said, du Toit only played 20 minutes last week, half of them knackered, and the Boks coped just fine without him. The rest of the pack is as is for the starters, and that’s good news.
The bench forwards are the same front row, which is formidable and duffed their opponents last week, whilst Mostert will slot back into the second row later on, with Kwagga – far better on the flank replacing du Toit than playing at 8 as in the first Test – and Marco van Staden coming on later to pinch ball, slow things down and add some vim to the forwards.
The backs have Cobus Reinach at 9, a different player to Faf, without the pinpoint kick accuracy, but absolutely electric around the fringes and in open play. If he brings his ‘A’ game (assuming he’s given licence) he presents an entirely different headache for the Lions – and possibly his own side. The rest of the backs are the same as the first two Tests and pick themselves. Perhaps Reinach can offer some space for Kolbe and Mapimpi to snipe down the blindside every now and then? However, an inaccurate display by Reinach could set the tone for the Lions to dictate the pace and shape of the match. It’s a critical piece of the jigsaw.
Key areas to watch, then, are:
- Whether the Lions can maintain parity up front for the full 80 (or near enough) to dictate what happens behind the scrum;
- Will six new players be too disruptive to the Lions, despite much of it revolving around national combinations – some of the guys are pretty rusty;
- How Gats introduces his bench – do Murray and Russell join the fray together, and if so, what’s the point?
- Will the Boks be able put down a marker from the get-go and dominate the Lions up front to dictate the pace (and crucially the scoreboard) to negate the threats out wide;
- Will Faf’s absence prove too disruptive to a Bok plan that has been well honed for a couple of years now and will allow the Lions to move the ball wide to their very good back three;
- Will the Boks surprise and give it a bit of width themselves earlier in the piece; they’re certainly more than capable of scoring tries whilst maintaining a mean defence;
- Will the refereeing quartet come out unscathed? In many respects, I think the last point is maybe the most important.
Prediction? I’ve gone Boks by 2 on Superbru, which portends, unfortunately, a Lions win based on the last two matches…
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Damian Willemse
British & Irish Lions
15 Liam Williams (Wales), 14 Josh Adams (Wales), 13 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), 12 Bundee Aki (Ireland), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), 10 Dan Biggar (Wales), 9 Ali Price (Scotland), 8 Jack Conan (Ireland), 7 Tom Curry (England), 6 Courtney Lawes (England), 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain, Wales), 4 Maro Itoje (England), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 2 Ken Owens (Wales), 1 Wyn Jones (Wales) Substitutes: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 17 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England), 18 Kyle Sinckler (England), 19 Adam Beard (Wales), 20 Sam Simmonds (England), 21 Conor Murray (Ireland), 22 Finn Russell (Scotland), 23 Elliot Daly (England)
Ovally Balls 
Thaum, I kind of like Victoria Coren since I read a piece she wrote about an online feud she had with Michael Winner.
Winner, despite being a friend of her dad’s, was being a misogynist old fart towards her and Coren jnr was having none of it, she wrote about clenching her tiny fists when he brought her dad into it.
However the best line came from one of her supporters who wrote, “You seem to be arguing with what happens when someone sits on their keyboard”
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BB, ah right, I thought it was the new biopic that is coming out about Aretha
However, I’d queue in the rain to watch Aretha “singing gospel at a church over a couple of nights in the early 70s.”
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One of the trail blazers in gospel, if there is such a thing
stay with it, it’s worth it
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Have I previously mentioned that I have met Aretha? Some friends played with her son, Teddy Richards, and she turned up to some gigs. Can’t say we had a heart-to-heart; she’s one of those Don’t You Know Who I Am people, sadly.
Also has a reputation for not paying contractors who do work for her, on the same basis.
But boy, can she sing.
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@Thaum – Maybe so and I can’t think of anyone I know who likes the show and doesn’t like cricket*, but I don’t watch cricket for the umpires or scorers any more than I would watch Only Connect for VCM.
*People that I know don’t make up a very good representative sample of the population on this front.
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Thaum, there are very few of our music/art/literature/acting etc “heroes” who live up to our hopes of being really great people, I expect.
I have met one, though. Dick Gaughan, truly great singer of trad Scottish and Irish songs, ex secretary of the Communist Party in Scotland and all-round good guy.
Gaughan said once that his life is spent driving from one gig to another, all one man stuff, he drives, his agent books gig but he books the hotel from afar. He gets to the gig, sometimes late due to traffic and he is tired having not slept in his own bed for months, he gets to the venue and finds the sound guy is more interested in, well anything, rather than focussing on getting good sound for the punters who have paid their dosh to come and see the show.
Then you get people talking during an acoustic concert, in usually small halls.
At the break you get people hectoring you for songs that you haven’t performed for twenty years, or asking why you do so much political stuff !!
Anyway, he was saying that at some point you are gruff, not forthcoming or perhaps a but rude as a result of everything and that is what gets taken away and is now the theme is that Gaughan is up himself.
I always found him to be good company, for a Hibs supporter.
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@TomP
Did I ever mention I used to hang around with Clint Boon? In fact on his debut album there were pictures of 2 people I’d made cry.
@cmw
Littleborough is one of those places people move to so they can pretend they don’t live in Rochdale cos they’re too posh.
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Well they are practically living at the resort of Hollingworth Lake of course. Despite the book not getting a mention football did come up in conversation, mainly because the captain worked for Manchester City and bored us senseless with the details. Couldn’t help noticing that they mainly seemed to be Oldham Athletic fans…
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That said we were playing in Littleborough rather than against Littleborough (who I suspect might be rather good). I’m pretty sure there is a proper ground there somewhere that the first team play on, but this wasn’t it. Still a nice spot as long as you enjoy being almost underneath the M62 and being eaten alive by clouds of midges.
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Friends of my mum and dad made a few bob in the bog paper trade and bought a house across the road from Hollingworth Lake. When they built some houses nearer to the lake they literally moved across the road so they could say they lived next to it.
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I was surprised how popular it seems to be. We had to drive along a single-track road along the side of it to get to the ground. It was swarming with people, mostly holiday-makers/day-trippers, but also a ‘Save the Green Belt’ protest that seemed slightly bizarre if you’d just come over the moors on the M62, but I guess might make more sense if you’d approached from another direction.
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Could a house built on the back of bog paper success be called a shit house?
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“there are very few of our music/art/literature/acting etc “heroes” who live up to our hopes of being really great people, I expect ”
I think we could add “sporting” to this list without too much controversy.
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@Ticht – It would have to be a paper shit house. I think it was cut when the editors got hold of the original “Four Little Pigs” manuscript.
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True, CMW, though that Marcus Itoje seems like a decent sort
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I might have a rethink anyway as at this point in my life my sporting heroes that I hope to emulate are some very nice men I know who are still playing cricket in their 70s.
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They are the ones, CMW.
A friend of mine went during this last year, he was late 70s and we went to folk gigs together.
He was a birdwatcher and wildlife enthusiast. He ran the tea hut for Worthing FC as well as being on the committee. He love viaducts and trying new food.
He was the kindest and most generous man I knew.
That is the sort of man I look up to.
Good socialist too.
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I think we could add “sporting” to this list without too much controversy.
Most rugby players I’ve met have been really nice and not averse to having a beer with guys in a bar. I was in the army with a bunch of Boks and Western Province players in the mid-80s and most were nice guys. A couple of others who were less than pleasant, shall we say, include James Small, who used to wear his Transvaal rugby jersey around uni so everyone knew who he was and James Dalton, who was usually spoiling for a fight.
The legendary Graeme Pollock was a twat of proportions, whilst Richard Snell who played cricket for SA in the early readmission days was a very quiet, unassuming and nice guy. Maybe the nicest sports star I’ve ever met though was Don Clarke, who lived in SA and had a tree felling business. He was an absolute gent who never got grumpy with the drunk punters at the races (I served the table that was at every Saturday) who used to bug all afternoon. Absolute class.
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OT, you’ll have noticed that Repeater Books recently re-published the cult 90s novel “Junglist”. The editor of the series it was in got name-checked in a Guardian article about it. Well, in about 1999 a mate of mine made that editor’s then girlfriend cry in the Fitzroy Tavern when he went on at excruciating length about how the endowment mortgage she’d got for her new flat was the wrong decision.
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Deebee, new Lions outside half Eddie Fouche once said, “Thank you, Sir” to me when I congratulated him on his play in a schools match. Your team may be rubbish but at least one of them has good manners.
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Somehow, that doesn’t come as a surprise.
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@tomp
I bet she cried again a couple of years later when he was proved to be right.
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I recall when endowments were all the rage (80s) – they fell into disrepute IIRC when insurance policy returns started dropping.
I also recall when a school friend bought a ground floor apartment in East Dulwich for the (then) outrageous sum of £23K n 1983-ish (using an endowment). Last I heard he was still living there – worth about half a million now….
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First thing that jumps to mind is that your folks were friends with Francis Lee?
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I had a pair of Francis Lee football boots at primary school, they had his signature on the side, not his actual signature, it was printed.
The boots were cheap plastic, I wanted Adidas Santiagos but they were too expensive.
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@trisk
Not quite but Franny was a business associate (both rival and collaborator I think – they used to help each other out if either one was had manufacturing capacity issues despite running different companies). And they were both members at Lancashire CCC. The toilet paper company used to sponsor the Bolton Cricket League until they stopped doing it and were replaced by Warburtons.
The wife in this partnership is my Mum’s best friend from childhood and went to school with her, and the husband went to school with my Dad. Very common in Catholic circles.
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OT, was that where the term ‘shite loaf came from for Warbs?
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@Ticht – in my very young days the boots to have were the Stylo Matchmakers with the side lacing (as endorsed by George Best)
Which also brings to mind Tufspin where the studs pivoted – supposedly to allow you to turn faster but in reality quickest route to A&E with a broken ankle…..
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/white-tufspin-football-boots-probably-482113608
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@iksy
I see what you did there. Unfortunately I don’t think the Bolton League’s influence stretches that far.
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Trisk, I remember the Stylo Matchmakers.
We’ve talked about Adidas Flanker rugby boots on here before, they served me well through many pairs, until I had to buy boots in France and Le Coq Sportif was the brand of choice.
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I had a pair of Mizuno something or other for years – last of the high ankle boots. I’ve a rather boring pair of Kooga now – just black. By trial and error buying boots for offspring – I’ve discovered that the studs on some fancy Adidas pairs are specific and when you lose one – they won’t take a standard stud. Cue arguments with offspring who prefer the fancy brand to a more boring but more easily maintained boot….
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It’s been a long time coming…
Edinburgh Rugby team to face Newcastle Falcons at the ERS
Scottish Building Society Pre-Season Series (Saturday 11 September, kick-off 3pm)
15. Henry Immelman
14. Jack Blain
13. Mark Bennett
12. Cammy Hutchison
11. Damien Hoyand
10. Jaco van der Walt
9. Ben Vellacott
1. Boan Venter
2. David Cherry CAPTAIN
3. Luan de Bruin
4. Marshall Sykes
5. Jamie Hodgson
6. Magnus Bradbury
7. Luke Crosbie
8. Nick Haining
Substitutes: Pierre Schoeman, Harry Lloyd, Adam McBurney, Patrick Harrison, Lee-Roy Atalifo, Angus Williams, Pierce Phillips, Daniel Suddon, Ben Muncaster, Connor Boyle, Charlie Shiel, Henry Pyrgos, Charlie Savala, Ramiro Moyano, Jordan Venter, James Johnstone, Patrick Anderson
Unavailable due to injury: Matt Currie, Chris Dean, Ben Evans, Darcy Graham, Jake Henry, James Lang, Viliame Mata, Harri Morris, WP Nel, Harry Paterson, Nathan Sweeney, Ben Toolis, George Taylor, Glen Young
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two things
1. fifteen on the injury list before we even start ffs!
2, Edinburgh Rugby Stadium, the new ground – it’s an unfortunate acronym.
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30 top gangster films ranked
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/09/the-30-best-mobster-movies-ranked
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Interesting list – subject to personal taste, age etc. More interesting to me are the jewels on the margin:
Get Carter, Ronin etc
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…………On the Waterfront…………..
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Get Carter struck me as more like a Western the last time I watched it.
Like the list and Anne Bilson’s always good value even in the punctuated form.
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I remember getting an email from Waterstone’s or someone saying “To celebrate the cinema release of Gomorrah we’re offering a long weekend in Naples if you can answer this simple question”.
Nice prize as it’s a fascinating city but the people setting the competition hadn’t read the book or seen the film.
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Bugsy Malone
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Was reading the Sopranos article in the G the other day, and it reminded me of a real-life alleged mafioso I knew. His wife had a horse (no jokes, please!) in the same stables as mine. One day, they told us all, You will be seeing a lot of stuff about us in the news – none of it is true.
We were a bit sceptical about that as they were known to be involved in an industry that has always been mob-run in Detroit, but they were a nice couple to know, very kind and generous. I am not sure whether or not he was convicted, and a quick search hasn’t left me any the wiser.
My ex’s family were also erm mob-related. His grandparents ran speakeasies during Prohibition, and father started another one of those businesses known to be mob-run. The grandfather was murdered, but the grandmother – who was a proper character, a wonderful woman – survived to old age, and had plenty of stories to tell about the Purple Gang. And when you’d speak to any other old codgers from that era and mention the grandmother, it was always, Oh, Mary, yes I *remember* Mary! Dancing on the tables, and so on….
They had lost swathes of their families in the Holocaust. But danced on tables and diced with the law.
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Morning all! Cold, wet and chilly in Joburg today. We’ve borrowed that from Manchester so the cricket can kick off in all its glory for what will hopefully be a tense and exciting final Test.
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Boks and Wobblies for Saturday below. I’m actually very nervous about this match, which has all the hallmarks of a massive banana skin for us. The Boks have a woeful record in Australia since readmission in ’92 and I think we’ve only got something like 3 wins on Aussie soil in that time (so maybe not an actual banana skin then?). Most people here have written them off already after their (very traditional) mauling at the hands of the All Blacks, which is never a measure of how they’ll perform against us. They’re under enormous pressure to get a win and desperate for a change in fortune.
The Boks seem to be in a very good space after the bruising series against the Lions and two fairly routine wins against Argentina, followed by a couple of weeks breathing space. It should be ours for the taking, but there’s this little niggle in my mind that won’t go away. Hooper will be a menace at the breakdown (again) and if Australia are less awful ball in hand than they were against the ABs (whose coach seemed happy to employ a boring Bok blitz and plenty of tactical kicking) they could cause a lot of problems with their preferred broken style of play.
Quade Cooper (‘Silk’ as I think Larry coined him) is back at 10 for the first time in four years, which could either be a masterstroke or a calamity: that’s the nature of the bloke, who will doubtless be hidden at the back for defensive plays again. I just hope that the Boks are mentally switched on and suffocate the Wallabies in midfield, bully them up front and give our back three more than kick chase crumbs to operate off.
Australia
15 Tom Banks, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Lachlan Swinton, 5 Matt Philip, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Angus Bell
Substitutes: 16 Feleti Kaitu’u, 17 James Slipper, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Rob Leota, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Nic White, 22 Reece Hodge, 23 Jordan Petaia
Springboks
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Jasper Wiese, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse
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At least one of White or Cooper had to be in the team at half-back as their kicking game was beyond poor last week. The Aussie scrum wasn’t great v the ABs and the line-out is dodgy. SA’s game to lose.
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5th test cancelled.
Tell you what, setting off a worldwide pandemic as a way of curtailing a test series whilst in the lead is one hell of a conspiracy theory.
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I like Selvey, but he does look to have gone a bit over the top there. That said if the reason given (i.e. that the players (who have all tested negative) are worried about further cases) is correct and seen as a proper reason to cancel then there’s a reasonable argument that the fourth test should have been scrapped halfway through.
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Frankly I’m in agreement with Selvey. The bastards! How could they possibly cancel the most exciting climax to a series since JR got shot!
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SA’s game to lose.
Absolutely agreed – but it’s the kind of game that we do tend to lose. It’s why we’ve struggled to sit at the same table as the ABs for so much of the last 20 years. When Aus have had crap sides (and they’ve had plenty) we’ve still struggled to beat them with Bok sides that supposedly only had to pitch up to win. Although this is a view filtered through Bok-skin lined glasses.
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I wouldn’t worry so much. They’re shit. You’re good.
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So we’ve gone from “India forfeited” by the ECB, to “match cancelled – give it to the match referee to decide on a result” to “BCCI say let’s reschedule the match” in the space of an hour. Some less than delicate wrestling going on in the background, methinks.
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