The new English Premiership season kicks off tonight with Bristol v Saracens. No doubt I speak for all of humanity when I say that I hope that home advantage bears up.
We also have some forrin matches, far away, between minor sides, and some Women’s World Cup matches.
Onna telly this week
Friday 17th September
Bristol v Saracens
19:45
BT Sport 1
Saturday 18th September
Australia v South Africa
08:05
Sky Sports Arena
Argentina v New Zealand
11:05
Sky Sports Arena
Castres v Bordeaux
14:00
Premier Sports 2
Leicester v Exeter
15:00
BT Sport 1
Montpellier v Toulouse
16:00
Premier Sports 2
Clermont v La Rochelle
20:05
Premier Sports 1
Sunday 19th September
Italy v Ireland (women’s WC)
14:00
Facebook / YouTube
Newcastle v Harlequins
15:00
BT Sport 1
Spain v Scotland (women’s WC)
17:00
BBC iPlayer/ Alba
Toulon v Stade Français
20:05
Premier Sports 2
LikeLoading...
184 thoughts on “The Return of the League of *cough* Gentlemen”
Australia have greatly improved since their games vs France whereas the Boks have stalled. Poor technic, poor vision, no pace. It was enough vs the Lions, who were basically miniBoks (and the Boks had Kolbe) but vs a more enterprising team such as Oz or the ABs the mediocrity shows.
Great defence by Oz, they always seemed to have more players available. Good kicking game, fewer errors and a couple of gems ( how about that pass by Tupou?).
And now is the time to watch the ABs B team vs Argentina.
Psychic Slade.
Just watched Glaws Saints, and it was horrible, both sides looked rusty. However, Karl Dixon really annoys me as a ref, he is over fussy on some minor points and totally ignores some obvious major infractions. He then tries to brow beat his assistants. Saints deserved a win, as they played the better rugby, Furbank looking particularly sharp, but I thought in the real world Glaws were badly done by over numerous referreeing decisions.
In the absence of numerous ‘stars’ Exeter’s problem yesterday was failure to turn position and majority possession into points. This appeared to be because the mainly 3rd string forwards either lacked the confidence, ability or strength to convert this into points in the face of a much better organised Tigers defence – usually resulting in possession being spilt/coughed up.
Eyes wide open there is no way I could see a full-strength Exeter losing to a full strength Tigers, so Baxter can be relaxed about that and give some green players a prolonged run to see how they develop – there are 2 or 3 jewels there.
But key player absence will be prolonged so, realistically, a top-4 place looks to be the target, with a strong second half of season run in.
Tiger’s vastly improved defence will give them a lot of confidence.
The batting stance
Where is the umpire standing?
Terrible ball
No ball (not signalled by the umpire)
Terrible shot
Both batsmen at fault for terrible runout
Good throw, but bowler not at the stumps
The umpire seems to be doing the scoring which doesn’t look a good idea on other evidence
The throw of the bat at about 90 degrees to where he seems to be trying to throw it
He hardly flinches!
They’re still friends
BT Sport commentators appear surprised that an international fly half playing for Quins that isn’t Marcus Smith can make a line break leading to a try.
A couple of celeb deaths today. Jimmy Greaves – affable enough, top player from what I’ve heard. And John Challis, or Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, who “recently became an honorary citizen of Serbia, where the BBC sitcom remains hugely popular.”
Jimmy Greaves – top scorer of all time in England’s top league (which may surprise a lot of Premier League viewers) with 357 goals. Alan Shearer, top Premier League scorer ‘only’ has 283 goals.
@BB – I think (may be wrong) that quite a few more goals were scored in general in Jimmy Greaves’ day than when Shearer was playing. Both have outlandish numbers though.
The average was over 3 a game when Greaves was playing but down to 2.6 (give or take) when Shearer started. Greaves also get goals in his few games in Italy, plus better record as an England striker.
Most importantly, can you imagine Alan Shearer sitting on the sofa next to Ann Diamond and Batman (and a fella with a moustache) giving us his views on the state of TV?
To get close to either of them someone would have to play almost their entire career in the top division (as those two did) and be first choice for a club that scores a lot of goals. There are teams now (more so than in Shearer’s day I think) that score similar numbers to the teams Jimmy Greaves played for, but the idea that anyone could be Manchester City’s top striker for 15 years or whatever seems a bit far fetched. I don’t see much likelihood of there being seven or eight teams scoring 80-90 goals a season that someone could play for so it’s probably impossible though perhaps Kane could have got somewhere close to Shearer if he’d got his move to Man City.
Shearer did play more games than Greaves so that’s in Jimmy’s favour and obviously one of them is a more entertaining character than the other.
I also think the likes of Alan Shearer and Jermaine Jenas are unlikely to give us their considered views on predicting the future state of non-linear chaotic systems. Although I don’t quite agree with his logic that if weather presenters didn’t appear on Blankety Blank they would have spotted the 1987 storm earlier
@OT – Yes, if that were true then Michael Fish would have suffered a similar disaster when he took time out to be handing out atlases to the likes of me at the national schools geography quiz finals or whatever it was. I believe it passed without controversy.
I’d agree that it’s almost impossible for an English player to do it now because the money’s so vast that clubs can bring in (almost) whoever they want and the young kids often get sent out on loan until they’re 21, 22 (as Kane was). Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have shown you can do it in a league with lots of cash and 2 superclubs and a strong contender. Lewandowski (and Haaland now) in a league with 1 super club and 1 strong club.
All of those lads are the very best, mind. So maybe there will be one one day.
I checked Brian Clough’s record and it’s amazing – but almost all in Division 2. He was finished by the time he was 27, however.
I think it’s Jude Bellingham’s dad who scored 500, 600 goals in non-league football. He was a copper so never went higher.
Matt Hancock made his triumphant return recently. I have no idea what he was doing with his back foot, either.
Former health secretary @MattHancock didn't last long at the crease today as part of the House of Lords & Commons cricket club who played a charity match up at @PSLCC today – more on @itvcalendar at 6pm pic.twitter.com/0cV8iQvOLW
A new iteration of Rolling Stone Best Songs of all Time. Some absolute classics in it, some that I’ve never heard and others that I wouldn’t bother with (just can’t get my head around rap and hip hop for the most part), but all in all, pretty decent take on it.
decades ago I had a subscription to Rolling Stone in ’86-’74 period (ultra cool, ya know) – it used to have a lot of good/interesting articles – what’s it like now?
Top player right enough – old enough to have caught the end (67-71) of his career. Any youtube search will throw up loads of grainy footage of his brilliance. Tap ins, long shots, dribbles, headers ….
decades ago I had a subscription to Rolling Stone in ’86-’74 period (ultra cool, ya know) – it used to have a lot of good/interesting articles – what’s it like now?
So cool you count the years backwards? Or was the sub from 1886 to 1974? I’ve no idea what it’s like now. Just found the article and link.
Ticht, there were lots of songs I thought were too high in relation to others, but if someone gave me that box set of 500 tunes, I’d be pretty happy on the whole.
@Slade , that’s six years of the greatest music in my humble one.
Agree that that’s six years of some of the greatest music ever recorded, and I wasn’t even born for part of it.
I had a RS subscription for a while, probably in the mid-80s (period of absolutely dire music with a few notable exceptions). The music reviews were a bit on the luvvie side, but the interviews were usually very good, and also the political articles.
Think I cancelled my subscription when they decided that Madonna was cool or edgy or some shit like that.
Never really understood the hype around Madonna to be honest. She had a few catchy tunes in the 80s and 90s and that’s about it, but to read the commentary around her, she’s a revolutionary genius who has singlehandedly transformed music and popular culture. To me, she sells sex. That’s it. She sells it consistently and well, but that’s still all it is. I remember getting excoriated on the Graun years ago for saying this (although it was even milder than this) because consensus was that she was the second coming (stop sniggering at the back, Karl!).
Ovally Balls 
Australia have greatly improved since their games vs France whereas the Boks have stalled. Poor technic, poor vision, no pace. It was enough vs the Lions, who were basically miniBoks (and the Boks had Kolbe) but vs a more enterprising team such as Oz or the ABs the mediocrity shows.
Great defence by Oz, they always seemed to have more players available. Good kicking game, fewer errors and a couple of gems ( how about that pass by Tupou?).
And now is the time to watch the ABs B team vs Argentina.
LikeLike
I see soon-to-be Embra legend Emiliano Boffelli is starting against the All Blacks this morning.
I hope he doesn’t find it too much of a step up when he turns out in the navy and burnt orange.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was a good game. Although Argentina’s defence was commited, there wasn’t much they could do to prevent the ABs to score almost at will. Scary.
LikeLike
Ticht
Looks, on paper, as though your man Boffelli did ok: scored all Arg.points – 1 try, 1 conversionand 2 penalties
LikeLiked by 1 person
kick off soon – and i have a bad feeling about this………….
LikeLike
Psychic Slade.
Just watched Glaws Saints, and it was horrible, both sides looked rusty. However, Karl Dixon really annoys me as a ref, he is over fussy on some minor points and totally ignores some obvious major infractions. He then tries to brow beat his assistants. Saints deserved a win, as they played the better rugby, Furbank looking particularly sharp, but I thought in the real world Glaws were badly done by over numerous referreeing decisions.
LikeLike
people turned off by new season?
LikeLike
In the absence of numerous ‘stars’ Exeter’s problem yesterday was failure to turn position and majority possession into points. This appeared to be because the mainly 3rd string forwards either lacked the confidence, ability or strength to convert this into points in the face of a much better organised Tigers defence – usually resulting in possession being spilt/coughed up.
Eyes wide open there is no way I could see a full-strength Exeter losing to a full strength Tigers, so Baxter can be relaxed about that and give some green players a prolonged run to see how they develop – there are 2 or 3 jewels there.
But key player absence will be prolonged so, realistically, a top-4 place looks to be the target, with a strong second half of season run in.
Tiger’s vastly improved defence will give them a lot of confidence.
LikeLike
I’ve only seen 2/5 of the games so far – BT doing its usual thing of making a song & dance, but not televising everything.
LikeLike
@cmw
I saw this and thought you’d appreciate it
LikeLiked by 3 people
@OT – The headline nails it really. Where to start?
LikeLike
The batting stance
Where is the umpire standing?
Terrible ball
No ball (not signalled by the umpire)
Terrible shot
Both batsmen at fault for terrible runout
Good throw, but bowler not at the stumps
The umpire seems to be doing the scoring which doesn’t look a good idea on other evidence
The throw of the bat at about 90 degrees to where he seems to be trying to throw it
He hardly flinches!
They’re still friends
Any more?
LikeLike
BT Sport commentators appear surprised that an international fly half playing for Quins that isn’t Marcus Smith can make a line break leading to a try.
LikeLike
I like watching Newcastle – low on stars, high on team effort
LikeLike
Square leg umpire with a pint in his hand ?
LikeLike
A couple of celeb deaths today. Jimmy Greaves – affable enough, top player from what I’ve heard. And John Challis, or Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, who “recently became an honorary citizen of Serbia, where the BBC sitcom remains hugely popular.”
LikeLike
BB, Is that the Italian lad playing for Quins?
LikeLike
Tomasso Allen, now wants to be known as Tommy apparently, played really well and got MOTM.
Marcus who?
LikeLike
Jimmy Greaves – top scorer of all time in England’s top league (which may surprise a lot of Premier League viewers) with 357 goals. Alan Shearer, top Premier League scorer ‘only’ has 283 goals.
Also, that’s both Saint and Greavsie gone now.
LikeLike
@BB – I think (may be wrong) that quite a few more goals were scored in general in Jimmy Greaves’ day than when Shearer was playing. Both have outlandish numbers though.
LikeLike
The average was over 3 a game when Greaves was playing but down to 2.6 (give or take) when Shearer started. Greaves also get goals in his few games in Italy, plus better record as an England striker.
Most importantly, can you imagine Alan Shearer sitting on the sofa next to Ann Diamond and Batman (and a fella with a moustache) giving us his views on the state of TV?
LikeLike
To get close to either of them someone would have to play almost their entire career in the top division (as those two did) and be first choice for a club that scores a lot of goals. There are teams now (more so than in Shearer’s day I think) that score similar numbers to the teams Jimmy Greaves played for, but the idea that anyone could be Manchester City’s top striker for 15 years or whatever seems a bit far fetched. I don’t see much likelihood of there being seven or eight teams scoring 80-90 goals a season that someone could play for so it’s probably impossible though perhaps Kane could have got somewhere close to Shearer if he’d got his move to Man City.
Shearer did play more games than Greaves so that’s in Jimmy’s favour and obviously one of them is a more entertaining character than the other.
LikeLike
I also think the likes of Alan Shearer and Jermaine Jenas are unlikely to give us their considered views on predicting the future state of non-linear chaotic systems. Although I don’t quite agree with his logic that if weather presenters didn’t appear on Blankety Blank they would have spotted the 1987 storm earlier
LikeLike
@OT – Yes, if that were true then Michael Fish would have suffered a similar disaster when he took time out to be handing out atlases to the likes of me at the national schools geography quiz finals or whatever it was. I believe it passed without controversy.
LikeLike
I’d agree that it’s almost impossible for an English player to do it now because the money’s so vast that clubs can bring in (almost) whoever they want and the young kids often get sent out on loan until they’re 21, 22 (as Kane was). Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have shown you can do it in a league with lots of cash and 2 superclubs and a strong contender. Lewandowski (and Haaland now) in a league with 1 super club and 1 strong club.
All of those lads are the very best, mind. So maybe there will be one one day.
I checked Brian Clough’s record and it’s amazing – but almost all in Division 2. He was finished by the time he was 27, however.
I think it’s Jude Bellingham’s dad who scored 500, 600 goals in non-league football. He was a copper so never went higher.
Then there’s Pepi Bican of Slavia: https://english.radio.cz/josef-pepi-bican-8046129
LikeLike
@cmw
Matt Hancock made his triumphant return recently. I have no idea what he was doing with his back foot, either.
LikeLike
A new iteration of Rolling Stone Best Songs of all Time. Some absolute classics in it, some that I’ve never heard and others that I wouldn’t bother with (just can’t get my head around rap and hip hop for the most part), but all in all, pretty decent take on it.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/kanye-west-stronger-1224837/
LikeLike
decades ago I had a subscription to Rolling Stone in ’86-’74 period (ultra cool, ya know) – it used to have a lot of good/interesting articles – what’s it like now?
LikeLike
Top player right enough – old enough to have caught the end (67-71) of his career. Any youtube search will throw up loads of grainy footage of his brilliance. Tap ins, long shots, dribbles, headers ….
LikeLike
LikeLike
Ticht – can’t say he’s not living up to his name.
LikeLike
Jeff Cranton-esque. 22 seconds in here:
LikeLike
Penalty only was the decision in 1977. Cranton went on to score the winning try in the final.
LikeLike
decades ago I had a subscription to Rolling Stone in ’86-’74 period (ultra cool, ya know) – it used to have a lot of good/interesting articles – what’s it like now?
So cool you count the years backwards? Or was the sub from 1886 to 1974? I’ve no idea what it’s like now. Just found the article and link.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Deebs, they had Miles Davis’ So What at 492 and Bon Jovi around 50 places higher.
LikeLike
ok – you got me………………………………..but you know I meant 1968
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ticht, there were lots of songs I thought were too high in relation to others, but if someone gave me that box set of 500 tunes, I’d be pretty happy on the whole.
@Slade , that’s six years of the greatest music in my humble one.
LikeLike
Agree that that’s six years of some of the greatest music ever recorded, and I wasn’t even born for part of it.
I had a RS subscription for a while, probably in the mid-80s (period of absolutely dire music with a few notable exceptions). The music reviews were a bit on the luvvie side, but the interviews were usually very good, and also the political articles.
LikeLike
Think I cancelled my subscription when they decided that Madonna was cool or edgy or some shit like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Ticht – Hard to see what So What is doing there at all.
LikeLike
CMW, that’s true but if it’s there it should be a lot higher than 492nd.
I’ve just been reading an online discussion of the Keto diet, this guy said he’d lost 8 pounds in the first week, “but I’m pissing like a racehorse”
To which someone posted, “What, on all fours in a field, being ridden by a tiny man dressed in satin?”
LikeLiked by 4 people
Think I cancelled my subscription when they decided that Madonna was cool or edgy or some shit like that.
Never really understood the hype around Madonna to be honest. She had a few catchy tunes in the 80s and 90s and that’s about it, but to read the commentary around her, she’s a revolutionary genius who has singlehandedly transformed music and popular culture. To me, she sells sex. That’s it. She sells it consistently and well, but that’s still all it is. I remember getting excoriated on the Graun years ago for saying this (although it was even milder than this) because consensus was that she was the second coming (stop sniggering at the back, Karl!).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Deebs
agreed: sex for the boys; sexuality and freedom for the girls, plus some very catchy tunes
LikeLike
Sorry, but promoting yourself as a ‘boy toy’ and a ‘material girl’ is not my idea of feminism.
LikeLiked by 1 person
…..perhaps something to discuss with teenage girls of the time, rather than me?
LikeLike
Wasn’t aimed at you, Slade, just a general statement!
LikeLike
I like this version.
LikeLike
England centres debate anyone ?
LikeLike
Material Girl’s ironic, no?
Sex and transgression are pretty good ways to sell your music.
Anyway, Ray of Light’s still great. As are loads of her songs. Duff actress, mind.
LikeLike
@sbt
The moral outrage at the dropping of Little Georgie Ford has stunned us all into silence.
LikeLike