Pack your suitcases and prepare for Round Two of the European Cup.
Cardiff v Harlequins
Home advantage and Ellis Jenkins won’t do enough for Cardiff against in-form Quins. Quins by 10.
Castres v Munster
No-one will ever know the result of this match as anyone who attempts to watch it will die the most horrible of deaths from boredom, judging by the reverse fixture.
Wasps v Toulouse
Ooh. Toulouse by at least 35.
Ospreys v Racing 92
Surprisingly, Racing 92 are languishing even further down the Top 14 table than Ospreys are in the URC. I still think they’ll win, though – by about 12.
Connacht v Leicester
This could be the surprise of the weekend, possibly depending on the weather. Connacht by 3.
La Rochelle v Bath
Bath to take a Bath. La Rochelle by 20.
Exeter v Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow have been looking the business in their last couple of matches, and Exeter are not what they were last year. Weegies by 6.
Bristol v Stade Français
Neither side setting the world on fire this season, so home players by 4.
Leinster v Montpellier
Despite being toppled off the top of the URC, Leinster remain a team to be very scared of, and are at home. Blue Meanies by 17.
Bordeaux v Scarlets
Ooh là là, les Médocs par approximately neufty.
Northampton v Ulster
Will the return of Baloucoune and Hume mean an Ulster away win? Probably not, but I’m going for Ulster by 7 anyway. (This is why I never win the leagues.)
Clermont v Sale
Oh dear, Yellow Army by 30.
Onna telly this week
Friday 14th January
| Castres v Munster | 20:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Cardiff v Harlequins | 20:00 | S4C / BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 15th January
| Wasps v Toulouse | 13:00 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| Treviso v Dragons | 15:15 | S4C |
| Ospreys v Racing 92 | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
| Connacht v Leicester | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| La Rochelle v Bath | 17:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Exeter v Glasgow | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Bristol v Stade Français | 20:00 | BT Sport 2 |
Sunday 16th January
| Leinster v Montpellier | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 | ||
| Bordeaux v Scarlets | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 | ||
| Northampton v Ulster | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 | ||
| Clermont v Sale | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
Ovally Balls 
SBT, Eddie Jones doesn’t like the fact his hand has been forced on Smith, or at least that’s how it appears out here.
It could be quite a game if Finn lines up against Marcus, I’d love to see them both firing on all cylinders behind packs going hammer and tongs at each other – mouthwatering stuff
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Junior Bulumakau who was in the Scotland 7s squad and with Glasgow for a short while has tweeted that he has been given 28 days to leave the UK.
He’s about half way through his 22 years in the army and it has been flagged as an admin error, but it shows what is waiting for him in a decade or so’s time.
He’s been in the UK since he was 8 years old and went to school in Glasgow, then he joined the armed services, willing to fight and risk his life for a country that will deport him as soon as he is not fighting for it anymore.
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Just finished watching the squeaky Quins came. Poor team performance by Quins, “the Giant” Esterhausen was definitely missed as we lost a lot of defensive discipline. Cardiff looked dangerous when attacking but seemed to be asleep for the last 5 minutes allowing Quins to scrape through
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Quins are becoming orrible buggers in a good way. They’ve always done the fancy stuff but a last act penalty always seemed beyond them.
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Refit, London Irish produced a promo for their Christmas games that was a rip-off of the shit card scene from the shit movie Love, Actually. It didn’t make sense on its own terms anyway but what was worse was Paddy Jackson was the “star” who was being sweet talked by whoever was holding the cards. A shower of bastards.
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TomP – how completely fucking nauseating.
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Just spotted Terry Pratchett in the stands at the Ricoh. Or maybe not.
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That looks like a yellow for Wasps.
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Nope, just a pen, but Toulouse in the corner.
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But the Toulousain scrum-half drops the ball on the way to the line!
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Page-Relo, apparently.
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Page-Reload?
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And Wasps score (it seems) after some very good prolonged attack.
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Yep, a score, and converted. 7 all.
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Wasps again! They are well up for this.
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Uh-oh, Wasps get red-carded while I was distracted. Commentators don’t think it’s the right call, but I didn’t see it.
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That is a red card all day long
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Yeah, I’ve seen it now.
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Wonder what former Wasps player Laurence Dallaglio would have said if it had been the other way around.
And Austin Healy is just Austin Healy. He can be brilliantly incisive and incredibly stupid in the same sentence.
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Dallaglio never thinks any English red card is deserved.
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Toulouse just aren’t the same side when Dupont isn’t playing
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Dayglo looking for red now
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I think that is a red too, but Dayglo is so fucking biased he should not be commentating
I’m almost glad this is just a yellow because of Dayglo
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Gopperth is one of the few kickers who actually seems to run in his run-up to kick. Most kickers just seem to take a few steps.
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Decisions: do I walk the dog now, or watch the end of this & miss the beginning of Connacht’s match?
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@Ticht – Dayglo’s just a bad commentator. The bias is just….what’s the opposite to a ‘bonus’?
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My favourite commentary team by a mile is Cotter & Warbs.
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“what’s the opposite to a ‘bonus’?”
in this case, nausea-inducing
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Ospreys have been in the same kit shop as Quins it would seem
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Horse back to the stable for 10
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Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong about Wasps/Toulouse, but so far my Connacht prediction is pretty good. 14-10 as the second half starts.
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Connacht beating on the try line, and Tiggers get a yellow.
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And Marmion scores!
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And the BP try!
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Try for Tiggers, unfortunately.
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Cheeky high-tackle on Murimurvalu, as he scores in the corner. I do wish they’d bring back the penalty restart for things like that.
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Suddenly I like the goal-line drop-out rule.
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Tigers maul over for a BP try.
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Burns only just makes the conversion that my granny could’ve kicked in high heels. (This Burns is even worse than ours.)
28 – 24 with less than 7 mins to go.
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That is a travesty.
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So Burns (of course) misses the conversion and Tigers win by a point. However, just before the try, the ref awarded a pen to Leicester that should have gone to Connacht.
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Bugger, Embra lose in the last minute to a converted try, 21-20
Creepy was sent off midway through the second half for head butting Jamie Ritchie whilst he was on the ground
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Creepy, ffs auto correct
Creevy
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Wee bit of mist, down in LAR.
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@Ticht – wondered if we were talking about Ldn Irish again.
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Creepy scored the winning conversion right enough, Thaum
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Exeter look on it tonight. This could be a long 80 minutes for us. Giving away too many penalties, Danny Wilson Said.
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I guess Slade won’t be attending the Montpellier match later this month?
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Yes! That’s better.
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