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 
OT – from the perspective of the virus getting past the vaccine though?
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“from the perspective of the virus getting past the vaccine though?”
Better chance with the paste. More spacious.
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I expect we’ll be back to normal end of January
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“I expect we’ll be back to normal end of January”
I think I’ll keep taking the piss either way just to be on the safe side.
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@cmw
It’s for the best.
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interesting twatter thread that, replication in the lung tissue isn’t as prevalent in ex-vitro studies but the immune response isn’t clear yet and data is still emerging on that. She ends with:
‘The only thing I am sure of is that omicron will spread so quickly through the population, making it likely impossible to contain even with the most stringent measures & giving us very little time over the next few weeks. So get your vaccines & boosters!’
half my eldest’s school class has now got covid in the space of a week, unclear if it’s Omicron or not. gonna be difficult to contain.
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Chimpie – my kids school got it bad but they didn’t. Must their amazing genes.
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And with that, I fuck up my post.
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if a rugby team can have DNA I don’t see why a school can’t
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youngest chimplet (only unvaccinated in the family) got the rona about 6 weeks back. Fortunately pretty mild version. None of the rest of us got it.
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In other news the last thing that needed to be done in my house (kitchen splashback) happened this morning. I also received my last insurance payment (to cover the refurbishment VAT – only paid after it is incurred so you have to effectively lend them thousands). It’ll be 3 years since the fire in a couple of days.
3 years! Feels weird. We have some nice wine to celebrate this weekend but it’s finally done.
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Wow…. really 3 years. Time flies from my perspective – maybe it’s seemed longer from yours
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Trisk – at some point it became background noise that I was constantly dealing with. The pandemic didn’t help obviously.
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Congatulations on your new kitchen splashback! Finally, you can say your house is a home.
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Nice one craigs. got there in the end, now you can devote your energies to revenge on your woo-peddling neighbour.
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I expect Mrs Craigs will be wanting to celebrate with “a full (ahem, ahem) audit” tonight, nudge nudge
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“Oooh I do hope the assets match the liabilities”
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“Come here and I’ll amortize your goodwill”
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“tell me everything you know about double entry bookkeeping”
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“tell me everything you know about double entry bookkeeping”
I think equity needs to be in there somewhere along with the assets and liabilities.
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“shares”
“Ownership”
“Profit & loss”
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It’s below the line that matters – and don’t forget asset depreciation over time…………………..
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Oooh!
Ellis Genge going back to Bristol at end of season
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Never has accountancy been so sexy. Cheers everyone!
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I find it rather disappointing that people can’t discuss double entry bookkeeping without making lewd comments.
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Two columns: ‘In’ and ‘Out’
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Slade – only two? That’s a quickie spreadsheet, all right.
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Karls aside
This was a terrific moment from Peter Horne. I always liked him as a player, he was a very good inside centre who made a couple of mistakes when asked to play fly half at international level due to resources, or lack of them.
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You guys should see how creative I can be with a financial instrument
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Thanks for all the mRNA/ Moderna info guys, but just how toxic in what ways ??? Interesting to learn about the Great Reset too, probly the Chinese government more than the Lizard people tho. Possibly, maybe.
Alos, if they are all indemniried , indemnified by whom ? Who do we start a class action lawsuit against when it all goes tits up? Boris ?
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This one:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGokHYEXsAQQEj6?format=jpg
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SBT, The Great Reset has a link to Prince Charles. If I were a member of the Lizard Elite (and I might well be and this is a ruse to trick you into thinking I’m not), I wouldn’t give my grands projets names like “New World Order” or “The Great Reset”.
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Tbh – I agree with this. As much as I admire people who stay at one club, you have to look after yourself in any job. And any time anyone asks me for career advice (those poor fuckwits) I give them a version of what Genge is saying here:
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I like Ellis Genge. He’s dead right here.
We were having a chat at work the other day about our annual reviews and, of course, there is that bit about “company values”. Someone said they like that bit and what it says about the company. I burst out laughing and said “if it suited them they’d sack you tomorrow”. They looked at bit disappointed to realise that.
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Quite. All I have to do is think about previous redundancy rounds I’ve been through & people who’ve been binned for no fault of their own to get over any feelings about company loyalty and values.
I like a fair chunk of the people I work with but don’t have any illusions about being a ‘family’ or other such trite silliness. Major down turn in work and we’ll be for the chop without a moments hesitation.
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Remember getting the ‘what about your company loyalty’ line as I left my first full time job for a better paid one. Even in my early 20s I found that line quite funny.
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Genge was a pro player at Bristol when he started his career, of course.
For most people, joining a union is probably the best way of doing it.
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England assume a bluff when Adelaide groundsman says it will be a turning wicket, and drop the spinner. Oh dear, that went well then.
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When I passed my accountancy exams I got a payrisecand was happy for about a month then I got called into the partners office and they told me that they expected my work to be a level above what I was (I.e. Audit manager vs Audit Senior) and tbh I was struggling to do that because a) I was at the newly qualified level (managers are typically 5yrs post qualified) and b) I had a strict going home at night and during the weekend policy. So on that basis they fired me.
Turns out a few of us got that treatment over the next 6 months. They kept their favourites but they didn’t have enough work for everyone when they qualified so got rid of them. It was a good lesson in that management will be nice at work but actually don’t give a fuck about you really.
A few years later I joined a project at a bank which turned into a full time role. 10 months into the job they announced redundancies across the bank and I was one of them. Another good lesson. I was just a resource and not a key one at that.
Rugby is no different.
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First sentence in the above is a banger
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Like Ellis too, hope he is around for England for a long time. Surprised he hasn’t gone back to Bristol earlier. Obviously been loyal to Leicester to stay so long, I am sure Pat Lam would have had him back a couple of years ago.
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Nothing truer than this. If I ever catch myself calling my employer(s) “we”, I usually re-phrase….
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“Rugby is no different.”
The list of things that are essentially the same as accountancy grows ever longer.
School reports
Sex
Seafaring
Rugby
Pretty much everything really.
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I’ve been painting skirting boards and doorframes the last few days. Admittedly I’m on the verge of losing my mind, but I’m pretty sure there’s some common ground with accountancy.
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My wife tends to enforcing for me.
I recall many moons ago, a colleague was off sick and someone found a ‘Get Well’ card that said on the outside something like
– “Sorry to hear you’re sick – please remember…”
and on the inner
– ” … You can be replaced!”
I laughed but I’ve rarely heard a truer thing.
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Cmw – certainly the loss of mind part.
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