Could anything be more exciting than last week’s matches?
Read on to find out.
Wales vs Scotland
Scotland, all day, easy peasy, we lost to the eventual winners innit.
Ahem. Ok, victory for Scotland for the first time in Cardiff for a while (but they did win in Llanelli) against a team who has had their number for a while now. Wales have too many injuries and lost 90% of their caps in Alun Wyn-Jones. They also don’t have Josh Navidi, Taulupe Faletau or Justin Tipuric so I can’t see them win the battle up front. Scotland on the other hand have only lost Jamie Ritchie (big loss, mind) and will feel confident after their recent win against … err … can’t remember. In fact, looking at the line-ups, it’s only n° 6 where Wales have a significantly better player.
Wales won by a single point last year and have regressed since. Their defence has become pretty bollocks after Shaun left and they lack the experience at international level (this does not mean they are like England. Repeat, they are NOT like England). Further, they didn’t really set the world alight in the autumn (win against Australia aside). Whereas Scotland have won 6 of their last (arbitrary point in time warning) 7 matches and will be confident going in.
30 – 20 to Scotland.
France vs Ireland
Some people might point out that Ireland don’t have Cateyes and therefore are not going to be as competitive as they could be against France. I, on the other hand, think that this is more than counterbalanced by the number of Ulster players in the team which shows strategic and forward thinking on Faz’s part.
This is probably the game of the weekend. Both sides are in great form having won their opening games and recently beaten the All Blacks (but who hasn’t nowadays? Scotland and Wales actually, but we’ve already discussed that) in convincing style. Ireland play a brand of ‘Pro-pleasing precision rugby and now have a pack which won’t get munched by the opposition whereas France have actually made a team worth the sum of its parts. Both teams are very strong in defence whereas France are a bit better in open play and will score some tries against the run of play. I think Ireland will win the breakdown so these are evenly-matched foes.
I think the key battle will be the set piece with these two teams. If either one can get an edge in the scrum and/or lineout then I expect them to win; probably Ireland. It won’t be by much but it will be down to the old heads such O’Mahoney at the end to see Ireland through.
28 – 22 to Ireland
Italy vs England
England v Italy is always a tough one to preview. Either it induces 50 Shades of meh as England eventually beat them or there’s a surprise around the ruck laws or there is a comedy rage moment where Brian Moore reveals how many toys his ma bought him for his birthday. Recently, England rarely seem to come out of these encounters with glowing match day reports. Either they won well, but didn’t lay down a marker, or they won and it was a poor performance. Or it wasn’t rugby maate.
Apparently Eddie is going with the same team as last week. I think it’s good to have a settled team to build confidence but I’d prefer it if we had some more bosh and experience. Courtney buggering his beautiful noggin is a big loss for us and after last weekend England need Faz’s direction. So I’m thinking that next Monday we’ll have a column from Matt Dawson saying how he would have done something different in hindsight. That’s because he is well clever and if you look at his articles, he doesn’t write many paragraphs, just widely spaced single sentences listing the random thoughts he is having at that moment.
Eddie normally talks about how England will ‘smash’ Italy, but he’s been quiet on that front so far. Which is actually quite nice. I’m expecting a disjointed first half, and then a comfortable gap to open up in the last 20 minutes. I am hoping that we show a bit more attacking shape than last week, and that Marcus Smith finds his feet (watch Squidge’s video about the Calcutta Cup for what I mean by that).
I think Italy will score a couple of nice tries but also shoot themselves in the foot more often than not. They have a young and exciting fly half and Benetton won that cup thing which I think was good, but not sure how seriously the other teams were taking it. Like that development cup in the Prem.
25 – 17 to England.
UPDATE!!!!
Randall starts!!!! And Marchant is in the centre and we have proper wingers and, and, and FFS Eddie, why can’t you do this when we play Scotland?!!!
Hand-wringing by Craigsman
Onna telly this week
Friday 11th February
| Leinster v Edinburgh | 18:00 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Italy U20 v England U20 | 19:00 | BBC iPlayer |
| Leicester v Northampton | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Wales U20 v Scotland U20 | 20:00 | BBC iPlayer / S4C |
| Toulouse v Stade Français | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Glasgow v Munster | 20:15 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 12th February
| Lions v Stormers | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Wales v Scotland | 14:15 | BBC1 / S4C |
| Bulls v Sharks | 15:05 | Premier Sports 2 |
| France v Ireland | 16:45 | ITV |
Sunday 13th February
| Saracens v Harlequins | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 | ||
| Italy v England | 15:00 | ITV |
Ovally Balls 
What am I talking about? That super League game is today.
So much for nostalgia
LikeLike
Apologies CMW, I was being a Sore Loser Grumpy McGrumpFace last night.
The bottom line is that 99.9% of rugby games are won by the side that deserves to do so, there are few that are decided by a rugby ball bounce, but not too many.
I didn’t congratulate Wales on their win, well done them, they stuck in and came from behind (karl) to win, they did really well.
Violin, eh? I hope your daughter sticks in and enjoys it, I wish I had started as a nipper, I’ve been sawing away at the fiddle for 19 months and I can just about play in tune now, most of the time anyway, it’s ‘kin difficult.
Good luck to everyone’s’ teams today, I’ll be on better behaviour no matter the results
LikeLiked by 3 people
@Ticht – Judging by the results so far I don’t think either of our U20s teams will be favourites in their remaining fixtures. Despite Wales’ good showing in the last half hour last night I can see Scotland being as or more competitive in the other games as Wales and I hope one or other can grab a(nother) win even though I don’t expect it.
The Eldest has started the violin a bit later than most kids that are playing so I hope that doesn’t put her off. I’m pleased she’s got started though and am also trying to encourage the Middle One with a keyboard at the moment though not sure it’ll go anywhere. Might show The Eldest this later on – something someone put BTL on The Guardian under a crossword I did the other day which I thought was fun:
LikeLiked by 1 person
And as for this afternoon, well anything better than last week would be a start!
LikeLike
Brookter, the ref name is Aurelie Grouzeleau, according to the twitter feed referenced by Refit.
Btw, that “doctor” should get a serious warning after his behaviour with the ref. Not sure he’d have done the same with a male ref.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brookter, about the young raggazzi:
“Outmuscled them, stifled them. England scrum went backwards on roller skates all night “.
These are the words of an Australian friend who watched the game live in Tuscany. Should know his stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Flair,
Thanks for the ref’s name: I expect we’ll see more of her officiating in internationals. She’s an ex-France international (I could look her up on Wiki when you gave me the name…) with 5 caps who retired with an injury. I didn’t see the Doctor incident live (was watching Leicester v Northampton by then), but the Twitter telling of it is damning. If it’s how it’s been reported, he needs to be sanctioned.
The Italian pack was very powerful – there was one maul which put England back about 30 metres, and they were very quick to the breakdown and very disruptive when they got there all night. It was impressive to watch. Felt sorry for their wing though: there was a cross kick à la Russell to him, the English hooker didn’t interfere and so he was able to stand there and receive the ball, which he dropped – he’ll remember that for a long time, poor lad.
LikeLike
Great stuff, CMW, I have an album of her’s somewhere on the shelves.
LikeLike
Was about to tell you about the wiki link that I discovered just like you. I’ve seen her officiating, she’s very good. Didnt know anything about her background. Incidentally, she’s still an amateur. She makes her living by raising pigeons ( 7000 of them!) close to LaRochelle. Her husband is also a ref, with ProD2. Wonder if they discussed the LCD incident last week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Flair, is the Australian friend in Tuscany known for sharing pizza dough recipes on rugby blogs?
LikeLike
Watching the League match. Are they really not taking off the player who has just been knocked out??
LikeLike
Ticht , yes, I think he was.
Not being a great fan of pizza myself, not even in Naples, ( I know, sheer heresy), I never tried to make it.
LikeLike
well done that lady ref: – what a bell-end the English doctor was/is: he should be sanctioned and receive retraining
LikeLike
really looking forward to this weekend’s games
LikeLike
As an appetizer, a high scoring and quite entertaining game in Paris: Racing 20/ Pau 17 after 30 minutes. 5 tries already.
LikeLike
What did the doctor do???
LikeLike
We can win the game today.
I think we will win the game today.
But I won’t be surprised if we lose.
There, that’s all the bases covered.
LikeLike
What a stadium for rugby that is
Mon Scotland
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hogg a bit lucky to get away with that
LikeLike
Oh finn.
LikeLike
Oops! Dear oh dear, Finn.
LikeLike
Lively start to the game here!
LikeLike
Did Darcy get that in? Brilliant if so!
LikeLike
Yes! Good game this. I’d quite like both sides to win.
LikeLike
Lovely finish for the try.
LikeLike
Gotta love wee darcy
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wales getting killed at the breakdown!
LikeLike
Should have been a yellow there. Scotland lucky.
LikeLike
Bugger. Fagerson off and Wales try.
LikeLike
Try for the Tiny-Faced Chaos Machine.
LikeLike
Too nervy from us – need to calm down a bit in possession.
LikeLike
I’ve got a bad feeling about this
LikeLike
I’m completely calm.
LikeLike
Lots of little things are going wrong for Scotland and they mount up over the course of the game
LikeLike
The jell was that finn?
LikeLike
Jell?
LikeLike
Some really poor decision making on our part
LikeLike
Poor decisions and a poor display from Finn
LikeLike
The new prop looks like a 1970s Hungarian weightlifter
LikeLike
Still calm.
LikeLike
Missed the first half, which, on the basis of the 2nd half, was probably unwise. See we’ve brought the Scots down to our level.
LikeLike
Just to cap off finn’s day…
LikeLike
So much dumb play
LikeLike
Calmness personified.
LikeLike
Shocker of a decision
LikeLike
Well done Wales but no way we should have lost that. Monumentally pissed off with that performance.
LikeLike
Incredible game.
LikeLike
We completely failed to adapt to how the breakdown was being reffed.
Well done Wales, they on the other hand bossed the breakdown
LikeLike
Was Elias man of the match? Well deserved if he was.
LikeLike
@Ticht first quarter Wales were all over the place but they grew into the game. The Finn moment decided the game.
LikeLike