Turn off the phones, lock the kids in the soundproof basement, prepare your food and drink and turn on the telly, ‘cos it’s time for the European cups again.
Prognostication is not my forté, but I’ll give it a bash for the Big Cup matches.
Northampton v Racing 92
I was surprised to discover that Racing 92 are only in 8th position in the Top 14, whereas the Saints are sitting pretty in third place in the English Premiership. However, Racing know how to bring their best game to an important match, so I’m going for les Parisiens by 7.
Cardiff v Toulouse
Can’t see anything other than a Toulousain trouncing of the hosts by about 15 points.
Leinster v Bath
With Bath languishing at the bottom of the Premiership, this can only go one way. Blue Meanies by 40.
Bordeaux v Leicester
The two top teams in their respective leagues, again to my surprise. I’ll raise a glass of Haut-Médoc to the home side by 3.
Clermont Auvergne v Ulster
Having attended this fixture in a previous competition, ordinarily I’d say a safe win for the home side. However, TomPirracas’ sleuthing informs us that Clermont is a Covid-ravaged camp, so that and downright foolish optimism leads me to predict Ulster by a point.
Exeter v Montpellier
Another tough one to predict, so home advantage to provide a narrow win.
Ospreys v Sale
Ospreys must be exhausted after last week, but Sale are not doing very well this year. Ospreys by 7.
Connacht v Stade Français
Connacht are on good form, and have been unlucky to narrowly lose a couple of their matches so far. I have no similar insights on SF, but they are towards the bottom of the table. Connacht by 4.
La Rochelle v Glasgow
Two fifth-place sides competing. Hmm. Chez nous by 3.
Wasps v Munster
Given Munster’s very depleted squad, Wasps by 15. At least.
Onna telly this week
Friday 10th December
| Northampton v Racing 92 | 20:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Lyon v Gloucester | 20:00 | BT Sport 3 |
Saturday 11th December
| Cardiff v Toulouse | 13:00 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| Leinster v Bath | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Bordeaux v Leicester | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
| Clermont v Ulster | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| USAP v Dragons | 17:30 | S4C |
| Exeter v Montpellier | 20:00 | BT Sport 2 |
Sunday 12th December
| Ospreys v Sale | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 | ||
| Connacht v Stade Français | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 | ||
| La Rochelle v Glasgow | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 | ||
| Wasps v Munster | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
Ovally Balls 
Yeah, I missed the start of it, and he’s not wrong, they are like for like, I just thought for a second he meant Glasgow could replace like for like rather than Scotland.
I think Crosbie is ahead of Darge still, and Watson is, well, he’s The Mish, and Ritchie is really a 7, as is Fagerson jnr.
LikeLike
Thought the whole Glasgow back row outplayed their Exeter counterparts.
LikeLike
I thought the whole Glasgow team outplayed their Exeter counterparts.
It was one of those nights, horrendous for the away side, easy money for the home team.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see ‘Lord’ Frost has floated off – like the turd he is ……
LikeLiked by 1 person
Connacht in the lead!
LikeLike
Evil Tigers pounce over the line.
LikeLike
*scowls* and then again
LikeLike
Porch furra line!
LikeLike
And Carty goes over just before HT!
LikeLike
And converts it, so 12-17.
LikeLike
Come back from shopping to find Connacht with a yellow card and Tiggers scoring. 19-20.
LikeLike
Oh dear. I shouldn’t have come back. Tiggers score again.
LikeLike
Carty drops a goal after the clock turns red for a lbp. 29-23
LikeLike
Hi all – good morning.
I had the ‘misfortune’ to be at the Munster-Castres game. Luckily,the tickets were free (courtesy of my elevated status in Munster branch) and seats were good. Probably, one of the few matches I’ve ever been at at Thomond where the crowd started to leave before the final whistle and stampeded for the doors at the whistle. Normally, a good number will hang on to applaud the team after the whistle.
By reputation, I knew Castres wouldn’t come to play any “rugby” – so I wasn’t terribly disappointed. Second son – who came with me – was a bit disappointed (but his U14 team had won earlier in the day, so even he was reasonably content).
Downside is that it’s a 90 minute drive back to Killarney from Limerick – add in 20 mins trying to get out of the car park after the match. So for an 8pm kick-off we got home at midnight. We’d left home at 5pm – makes for a long day.
On the match itself, DDA needs to pass – it’s walk in for Kleyn and I reckon a big old lock scoring out wide would have made the stadium rock. At the time I was doubtful – just the way you could see the ball in relation to DDA’s body made me think he’d lost control.
We seemed a bit disjointed at half-back, Healy seemed to change his mind at last second a few times – TRK reckons that was coming from 9 – started to run then thought better of it and passed or started to go open then went back blind
LikeLiked by 1 person
Grass roots update – we played 2 games on Sat at U14. Our two team were in the semi finals of the plate. (top 4 in the league play in the cup and bottom 4 in the plate)
Our senior team were denied a place in the cup by a strange 0-0 draw between our two rivals (3 teams competing for 3rd and 4th). Now, we could have put all that to bed by winning our last game in the league – so to that extent we left ourselves open.
Older team – won comfortably 31-7 in the end. But the younger team were beaten 38-19 (but really unlucky with 2 lineout routines – on the first the lock just couldn’t keep hold of the ball as he crashed over and in the second we put our 8 at scrum half and threw to the front with 8 taking it on the run – ref reckoned it hadn’t gone 5… I thought he was right at the time – but a photo a parent took shows it’s really, really, close.
So, a final to be played in new year and we all get a break.
Up to no – we’ve gone participation first – and kept the 2 age cohorts together. We’re considering for 2nd half of the season (if it ever takes place), that we pick our strongest XV and have a development XV. No tasking the better U13s out – seriously weakens that group and the weaker U14s coming down wouldn’t strengthen them enough. On the other hand – the U13 team are very reliant on 4-5 players and taking them away, might …might force the others to start step up. Same for weaker U14s – they can hide a bit behind the stronger players – this might force them to step up too.
The fear is the weak team get hammered and players drop off or that U14s “demoted” get in a snot too.
LikeLiked by 6 people
No tasking = Now, taking
Might make more sense….
LikeLike
Afternoon kids. Double rums in a dodgy bar before lunch isn’t necessarily a good idea. Unless you’re at the beach and everyone is doing it. May not make it to dinner though.
LikeLike
Sam Skinner – a bit of background on the lad:
https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/skinner-confirms-he-will-depart-chiefs
LikeLike
BBC finding ordinary members of the Chilean electorate for their election reports:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHDoTyFXsAEFL6M?format=jpg
LikeLike
Jonny H confirmed as going to Sale. So how are they getting under this new salary cap? Maybe have to clear out a number of their South Africans?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/59731026
LikeLike
Sharks (Durban) are after the du Preez brothers.
LikeLike
I’m assuming the one that’s coming to Glasgow isn’t related?
LikeLike
I don’t know who Exeter’s 2nd and 3rd row players will be next season – they look to be very short without Hill and Skinner.
I have no facts on what’s behind these departures, apart from thinking it’s about the new, lower salary cap.
Perhaps the backs are over-paid / out of balance compared with the forwards – thus a managerial cock-up?
Mid-table at best from now on!
LikeLike
Jonny G plus one.
Although there are murmurings that he’s looking to come back to Glasgow after his contract finishes at the end of this season. Not sure how much of that is ‘newspaper’ talk.
LikeLike
Probably very distantly related but, no, not cousins or nothing like that.
LikeLike
Double Captain Morgan Spiced and Coke is starting to taste more and more like rum and raisin ice cream. Just without the raisins. Spent the morning 4×4-ing through the Transkei before heading to a dodgy place called the Bush Pig for calamari and chips. And rum. A bit pickled, but Mrs Deebee was doing the 4×4-ing, so no harm done. Weather settin in, so signal may conk out before I do. Cheers all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Slightly more exciting than sitting in my melbury imbibing water
LikeLike
Could be worse, though
LikeLike
Covid claims the Munster-Leinster game on Stephen’s Day. Always a game to look forward to.
Ultan Dillane leaving Connacht – rumoured destination is La Rochelle. Might well feel he’s dropping down the order in Ireland. Ryan and Henderson are #1 pairing then Beirne and probably Baird now… and both of them give the option of playing 6 if required
LikeLike
I’m feeling very deflated about Covid at the moment, it was looking like if we could just get through this winter we might be seeing it becoming endemic and dropping in severity.
The new restrictions in Wales and Scotland will follow in England and Norn Irn, almost certainly.
I know it’s only rugby and it doesn’t matter, but the upcoming games without crowds is so disappointing, absolutely necessary, but disappointing.
LikeLike
Glasgow vs Edinburgh next Monday is still on but with no spectators. I have tickets but I’ll need to wait to see about whether I get the money back. Glasgow are advertising tickets for games in January and February but I’ll wait to see what the situation is going to be. The 6N might even be with empty stadia this year again too.
LikeLike
The later the idiots leave further restrictions, the longer and worse it’s going to be.
LikeLike
@ticht
I don’t watch or read the news anymore because they’re all doom and gloom. Take a look at the raw data yourself and make your own mind up. Test positivity has hardly grown and it’s about where it was in the middle of summer. Suggests the recent growth is largely from the explosion of testing. Which for a seasonal respiratory illness bodes well: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing?areaType=nation&areaName=England
Plus it looks like this wave peaked on 15th December. I’ll use this tweet as he’s formatted the chart to make it readable:
LikeLike
It’s a complete bitch. We’ve not had proper crowds for nearly two years. I’ve no idea what that’s doing to grassroots interest in rugby, sport more generically or live performances as a whole, but I don’t think it can be good.
On the other hand, being alive and healthy and hopefully contributing to a safer future through these sacrifices will be worth it. I really hope so.
PS – does Santa need lateral flow tests for every country he goes to? Could be a bureaucratic nightmare.
LikeLike
OT – the country seems to have run out of tests in the past week – lateral flow, at least. And not being in any way qualified to interpret the raw data, I’m relying on people like the CMO and CSO who seem rather worried.
LikeLike
@thauma
We’re still doing 1.4-1.5m tests a day. We’ve not run out of tests.
Take a look at hospital data – fewer people I’m hospital than beginning of November, falling numbers of people on mechanical ventilators since early November. All the news from South Africa is good at the moment.
LikeLike
@Thaum – it wasn’t the tests that ran out, it was the despatch slots, to get them to people. That’s why you could still get them from chemists and such.
LikeLike
Anyway the politicians have been leaking that the boffins have been pushing for more restrictions but the politicians have bravely resisted it. This suggests to me Whitty and Vallance are about to be hung out to dry and blamed for all the mess.
Don’t know if you saw Graham Medley’s Twitter interaction with Fraser Nelson about how they used modelling. Well that looked to me like a pre-emptive strike to put the blame back on the politicians before they tried smearing him.
LikeLike
Can’t get any tests round here, pharmacy or no, there aren’t any. Sister been running around all day trying to get some, cos nephew getting married on the 30th and everyone seems to be going down with it. He tested positive last week, primary school teacher. She works for the local GP surgery as a physio, and they can’t get her any at the moment, or anyone else.
LikeLike
SBT – same here.
LikeLike
Not often that I can claim that Glasgow schools have done something good, but staff and pupils have had access to lateral flow tests since August. I suspect that might be the case across Scotland.
LikeLike
You can get them here, just ordered some myself
https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
LikeLike
OT
LikeLike
@thauma
My fault. Must have got the last box :-)
LikeLike
Gove writing to Ulster to tell them how to behave:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-59749709
LikeLike
OT – actually I did manage to find some at a chemist a couple of days ago; they’d just had a delivery in. But there is a definite shortage.
LikeLike
Slade – bloody hell, it’s a strange day when I find myself in agreement with Gove.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Blog shocked at Thaum agreeing with Party Mike shock.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLike
Oooh, that should be fun, OT!
LikeLiked by 2 people