The following four fixtures will be shown on the World Rugby site, and they will be available to watch afterwards, so even the most fevered rugby fans will not be found wanting for action.
Saturday, 20th November
Brazil v Kenya: (3rd/4th place play-off Stellenbosch Challenge, Men’s) Markotter Field, Stellenbosch – 10:00 GMT)
Zimbabwe v Namibia: (Final Stellenbosch Challenge, Men’s) Markotter Field, Stellenbosch – 12:00 GMT)
Russia v Chile: (Men’s) Yug Sports Stadium, Sochi – 12:00 GMT
Georgia v Fiji: (Men’s) Estadio El Deleite, Aranjuez – 14:30 GMT
Now on to the main attractions.
Italy vs Uruguay
Uruguay have qualified for RWC ’23 as Americas 1; however, they fell to Romania last week. Italy did better than most commentators thought they would against the might of the All Blacks but a loss against Argentina will mean they will be looking to make amends. Italy are currently ranked 14 against Uruguay’s 17. The visitors will not be overawed, but I expect the home team to win.
Scotland vs Japan
Scotland were overpowered last week by a very good Springbok side. It would have been understandable if many of those players were stood down, but Toonie has gone for a strong selection as he welcomes Scott Cummings back into the second row. There is rotation on the loosehead side with Schoeman and Bhatti swapping the starting jersey, and there will be new caps: the large shape of Scarlets’ Javan Sebastian, and Dylan Richardson from the Sharks (not the Sale ones) débuting in the back row.
Japan haven’t had the best results, losing heavily in Dublin and beating Portugal by 13, suggesting that this is not the Japan of the last RWC.
Scotland to win.
England v South Africa
South Africa will be after a full house from their three fixtures in November. They have selected a strong side: you know what’s coming, it’s dealing with it that is the problem.
Rodd, Blamire (Blay-mire), Sinckler, Dolly, Marler and Stuart will be under the microscope: it’s a well-known fact of life that you don’t out-Bok the Boks, so unless England can run South Africa around and keep away from set pieces, one would think this is only going to go one way, which is counter-intuitive when talking about England.
Elsewhere, Marcus Smith will be looking to sprinkle a bit of fairy dust on the Battle of the Orcs going on in front of him; he can turn his own Orc outside him in the formidable shape of Manu Tuilagi.
On the other hand, De Allende and Am are a very good midfield partnership; this is a tough game to call because Twickenham is a difficult place to go to play rugby.
I’m going to go for a very tight away win here, less than 7. Unless England’s pack end up as roadkill, like Scotland’s, then it will be a bigger margin: the Boks will be well up for this.
Wales vs Australia
Wales have had a mixed series. Putting out a B team against New Zealanders is never a good idea, but their hand was forced due to the international window agreements. They were five points short of South Africa and overcame the all-singing and -dancing (and big-hitting) Fijians.
Australia have had also had a mixed run of results. After downing the World Champions as a highlight of their year, they beat Argentina twice but lost to Scotland and were thumped by England.
Tupo being back will help their scrum, but they will be without skipper and talisman Michael Hooper, which kind of cancels out AWJ missing from the Welsh boilerhouse.
Wales at home is never a team to bet against, even with a relatively unfamiliar midfield.
Another tough call, but I’m going for a home win here.
France vs New Zealand
New Zealand don’t often lose two in a row. They did last year, but it’s only happened five times since 2000 in around 250 tests (I was surprised at how many they’d played, but then they do tend to play almost all the games possible at the world cup as well as the RC and tours).
Fabien Galthié has chosen partnerships for this match: Dupont and Ntamack at half-back, and Danty joining his erstwhile colleague Fickou in the midfield, which means Jalibert drops to the bench.
Elsewhere there are changes with Mauvaka coming in to the front row with Willemse joining Woki in the locking positions
Is this rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?
I don’t think the current iteration of the All Blacks present as insurmountable a problem as before, but they are still the All Blacks.
The ABs side hasn’t been announced yet, so just for fun I’ll call this a draw.
Ireland v Argentina
Ireland were HUGE last week: a top-end performance full of fire, commitment, cool heads in the heat of the battle, and extraordinary focus. That is what it takes to beat the top teams, and Ireland had it all.
Can they back it up this week?
At the time of writing the teams have not been published, but everything points to a home win. For me, they have been the most impressive team over the series so far, and the only problem they may face is injuries, which will only serve to open the door for more Leinster players to make the step up to international level, the gits.
A comfortable home win.
Thanks to Tichtheid2 for the preview.
Onna telly this week
Friday 19th November
| London Irish v Saracens | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 20th November
| Italy v Uruguay | 13:00 | Prime |
| Scotland v Japan | 13:00 | Prime |
| Ireland v Japan (women) | 15:00 | RTÉ2 |
| England v South Africa | 15:15 | Prime |
| Wales v Australia | 17:30 | Prime |
| France v New Zealand | 20:00 | Prime |
Sunday 21st November
| Ireland v Argentina | 14:15 | Channel 4 / RTÉ2 | ||
| England v USA (women) | 14:45 | BBC2 / iPlayer | ||
| Wales v Canada (women) | 17:00 | BBC2 Wales |
Ovally Balls 
I’m doing exactly fuck all this morning as I have a raging hangover, induced by emergency whisky last night.
It’s all down to the root canal surgery on Wednesday afternoon.
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pork and fennel sausage rolls
I would kill for one of those right now, you posho bastard! And a good croissant. You can keep the muesli, socks and sandals.
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Have my office door closed and switching between the Sevens, India-Kiwi Test and SA-Netherlands ODI, whilst I do some stats with little enthusiasm. Dutch ODI side has more Saffers than Dutch in it.
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@ticht
That’s very interesting, and it’s good that someone like your missus is doing it as she has been the recruiter. Too often the careers advice comes from other academics who think everyone is like them.
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Ticht – as well as what OT says, tooling also refers to all the clamps and so forth used on an assembly line. The most expensive part of making a car (apart from warranty, for quite a few makers!) is re-tooling for a new vehicle.
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That all sucks, Deebee. I’m sure my flippancy about lunching has really helped.
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‘It’s all down to the root canal surgery on Wednesday afternoon.’
*shudders*
That’s given me a horrible flashback.
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Exeter to ditch the cultural appropriation. Finally.
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Chimpie, as I sit here with a soggy sandwich at my desk, I blame you not. It brings back warm fuzzy memories of British train stations and times of travel. Of course, I would usually have a few pints to wash the food down with, but can’t do that here, what with pesky staff and stuff hanging around.
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Caught a bit of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL game last weekend and there was a very familiar sounding chant taking place. Wonder if they might have to change their name like Washington did.
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Cleveland Guardians changed from Cleveland Indians in 2020. Now their old Chief Wahoo logo was downright offensive….
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Spain just beat Carlin Isles’s USA in the 7s. Final score 12-7, but should have been 19-7 but for a refereeing blunder penalising Spain for playing on from a non-tackle. Really great result for Spain! Used a bit of a Bok rush defence which seemed to put the USA off.
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Good news about Exeter’s branding – Grauniad estimates that re-branding will cost £700,000.
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‘Your’ Exeter side to face Bath:
Hogg, Nowell, Slade, Whitten, O’Flaherty
Skinner, Maunder
Hepburn, Yeandle, Iosefa-Scott, Skinner, Lonsdale, Ewers, Kirsten, Simmonds.
Innard, Moon, Williams, Armand, Capstick, Maunder (minor), Simmonds, Hendrickson.
Good to see some internationals back and also one or two injury returnees.
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Deebs
Interesting to me that a rush defence might put USA players off as it is a fundamental tactic in Am. Football, Lacrosse, Basketball and others. Sounds like they weren’t physically or technically up to overcoming it.
Well done Spain
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Chimpie – they are ditching the native American imagery. Said nothing about dropping cultural appropriation.
They’ll find someone else.
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@slade
Do you think they’ll abandon “Chiefs” entirely or just the logo/imagery?
I’d be inclined to think that although it’s the imagery that’s at the root of the problem – leaving the name (albeit intrinsically “Chief” doesn’t have to imply any connection to Native Americans – don’t know if Waikato get an y stick) – the two are interlinked.
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The Chief of Devon & Cornwall police is a chap called Shaun Sawyer so they could replace the Native American logo with a picture of a bobby’s helmet.
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From the G’s covid live blog:
For once, I agree a Tory minister. It sucks for the teams and their families, but we have to try to keep this variant out. It’s probably futile, though, unless all incoming flights are quarantined.
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Hefty pack, with a first chance to see Norn Gibbon McBurney in action. Courtney is with Watsonians (ty google), 22 year old Kiwi, Scottish-qualified.
I’m excited to see Currie back for us, Boffelli had a tough time on Sunday, I hope he gets back on the horse tomorrow with a belter of a game
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Boffelli has played against New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, France, Italy and Ireland in recent months, but can he do it at Rodney Parade on a wintery Saturday evening?
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@ticht – presume 20 Muncaster is the same who played in U20 6N. Impressive vs Ireland (notwithstanding the final scoreline… red card at 7-14 was a killer)
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Trisk, yeah the same lad, he’s a good ball carrier.
That Glasgow backrow could run out for Scotland at some point in the nearish future, what with the change of eligibility rules, Dempsey has been showing up well for the Weedgies
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OT – personally I think they should go with an animal. Exeter Eels has a nice ring to it.
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Muncaster sounds really posh English – he went to Rugby, donchaknow – but was born in North Berwick.
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Craigs, in their defence they said that there was a tradition in inter-war Devon for the first teams of clubs to be called the Chiefs and that is true – I’ve seen examples of Barnstaple first team, for instance, called that in old newspapers so there’s no need to change the name. Binning the embarrassing marketing stuff they’ve used can’t come soon enough.
trisk, the NZ Chiefs never used North American imagery in their marketing so, as far as I know, never got called on it. They did make a push to have closer connections with Maori culture and communities a few years back when Rennie was the coach. I think they were much more sympathetic and genuine in their approach than Exeter have been over the last few years.
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Good news for Ulster – Leinster to line out w/o Doris, Conan, vd Flier…
Bad news for Ulster – BR is Ruddock , Leavy, Penny with Deegan and Connors on bench.
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Beadles Glaws to play Wasps.
15. Kyle Moyle
14. Ollie Thorley *
13. Billy Twelvetrees
12. Mark Atkinson
11. Jonny May *
10. Adam Hastings
9. Ben Meehan
1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. Jack Singleton
3. Kirill Gotovtsev
4. Matias Alemanno
5. Andrew Davidson
6. Freddie Clarke *
7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *
8. Jack Clement *
16. Santiago Socino
17. Jamal Ford-Robinson
18. Fraser Balmain
19. Freddie Thomas *
20. Jordy Reid
21. Charlie Chapman *
22. Giorgi Kveseladze
23. Lloyd Evans *
*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy
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Just to counter the hysteria in the press today about the Nu variant and all the disaster that awaits, here is a very interesting thread by a vaccine developer who does her best to keep to the facts and is worth listening to. Basically, it’s not worth panicking about:
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Tomp – I didn’t know that was the origin of the name and ‘chief’ isn’t unique to native Americans but ‘Exeter Eels’ tickled me.
Does anyone know if they are going to ban fans wearing the head dress?
For a club that is so likable in many other ways it’s a shame that they’ve got bogged down in this tbh.
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OT – are you a furry?
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@craigs
I used to quite like Basil Brush as a kid but that’s about it.
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I was a Bodger and Badger fan.
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OT – seems like a lot of people want the pandemic to go on forever.
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OT, according to something I read earlier, they could knock up a new vaccine in an afternoon once they’ve got the genetic sequence of new variants, it’s getting it out and into arms that will take the time
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Ticht – on the subject of getting the vaccine into people’s arms I actually went on a journey into the weird world of anti vaxxers recently (bare with me).
So I was at a bbq in September with some friends and a person who works for my (dickhead) next door neighbours doing… homeopathic treatments. She works in their chiropractic ‘clinic’ and mentioned that she no longer has vaccines. Apparently her husband, who teaches high level golf at the local course, has never had a single vaccine. Therefore, she doesn’t either.
They were perfectly nice and I was polite and friendly (or smugly amused, delete as appropriate) and after they left we chatted about this to our friends about this and they pointed me to a post from my neighbour saying that potentially getting a vaccine passport was almost, sort of, not really saying this but kind of like Jews having to wear a Star of David in Nazi Germany. But not really cos he’s definitely not anti semitic but followed by a picture of a Star of David.
And other than a few rightly outraged people pointing out the anti semitism there were many people I know in the village talking about applying ‘critical thinking’ to the situation and its probably better just to be fit and have a healthy diet (I agree that this helps your immune system). I couldn’t quite believe how popular this view seemed to be. Probably helps that my neighbour has set himself up as a kind of village health guru*.
I was quire blown away by the ignorance of these otherwise well educated people. They trust the PCR test but not the vaccine. And because they are ‘experts’ (and they probably are when it comes to nutrition) many people believe them.
Imo there needs to be clearer messaging about how we know the vaccines are safe. I’m not sure exactly how and I’m not in favour of making them mandatory. Maybe adverts but then ‘critical thinkers’ might assume that this is propaganda. Dunno, maybe making sure that anyone working in any kind gym, health or nutrition clinic is on board or, as part of their licence they agree not to spread this bullshit.
Or just fuck it, advertise that you don’t get the vaccine and you end up in hospital with covid, here is the bill. But then, ‘think of the Jews in Nazi Germany’.
*As an aside, Mrs Craigs bumped into his son during school hours and he said that they had kept him out because of the ‘evil’ flu jab being administered that day. He seemed genuinely scared (he’s 7).
Also, they actually had covid in August but still had builders over doing stuff in their front room and garden and my son went and played there. They didn’t think to tell me though. I found out through someone else. Plus he took his kids swimming when just the mum was ill. Fuck em, my sweet revenge is still in progress.
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Apologies for the rant.
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A woman believed to be the last surviving person born in the 19th century has died at the reported age of 124.
Francisca Susano, affectionately known as Lola Iska, died on Monday night at her home in the city of Kabankalan, the Philippines.
Local government officials say she was the oldest person in the the world, surpassing the previous record holder by two years.
It is thought Guinness World Records were examining documents as recently as September, but she died before they could independently verify her age.
Local records claim Francisca Susano was born on September 11, 1897, one year before Spain relinquished its reign over the Philippines and sold it to the USA.
What an innings!!!
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Craigs – I wouldn’t describe your neighbour’s post as anti-Semitic, just incredibly stupid and offensive.
It’s quite possibly illegal to have workmen / neighbour’s children in the house when you know you’ve got Covid.
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Craigs, the German Health Minister made a rather stark statement on tv news the other night, he said that by the end of this winter he expected Germany to have only the vaccinated, the recovered and the dead.
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@Trisk
I have no inside track on Exeter’s plans regarding the branding future and it will be weeks yet until the smoke clears.
Personally, I believe they will ditch the imagery but losing the ‘chiefs’ bit may be a step too far because of long standing local terminology. I have heard ‘chief’ used when addressing someone, all over England (positively and negatively) and wonder at it’s origins – who was chief of the old english/anglian/saxon tribes??
The nature of the club would indicate a good outcome, eventually..
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@craigs
Can’t happen. The FDA have declared they will not release all their safety and efficacy data on the Pfizer vaccine until 2076.
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Look at the picture at the start of this article, imagine playing rugby there.
What a beautiful site for a pitch. I’d probably get poleaxed, Lawes-like, whilst admiring the scenery
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/26/rugby-teams-and-golfers-race-to-find-flights-home-from-south-africa-covid-19
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Thaum – can’t it be offensive because it is anti semitic? It was clearly trivialising the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany.
As to the legality of what they did, the normal rules don’t seem to apply to them. Apart from my revenge.
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Ticht – stark but accurate I’d say.
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OT – I know you are probably joking but is there a block on information?
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it will be weeks yet until the smoke clears.
Oh dear. And the drums?
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I’ve mainly had to go to Glasgow to get called ‘Chief’.
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