Getting to the business end now, so things are hotting up or cooling down, depending on your perspective. Three teams still in it, and away fixtures for the two favourites, so could be a good round of games. Could be.
As the times demand a number of contradictory but yet plausible expert views, the blog’s favourite possibly evil nine-year-old is on board this week to provide the comfort of a second equally valid set of predictions. She also gives her assessment of each team’s most important player. And that would be the one who scores all the points. Won’t win if you don’t score points.
Wales v France
While Friday night Six Nations games shouldn’t be condoned, it does provide a good opportunity for the TV-watching audience to enjoy a match without ruining dinner/missing dinner/having to make alternative arrangements to get children to ballet classes. Some might think Wales will have gained confidence from their showing in the second half at Twickenham, but only being able to score tries when playing desperate catch-up has been a bit of a thing at times under Wayne Pivac, and the first-half wet fart, along with the Dublin débâcle, don’t give much cause for hope. On the flip side, Wales have been dogged as anything in recent home games against the Boks and the Scots, so could just about conceivably grind something out. On the selection front, Pivac has gone full Gats, chucking in Navidi when he’s probably not fully fit, presumably on the basis that it worked with Faletau the other week. Wales also field three out of four players who suffered head injuries at Twickenham. Whilst I’m sure they have all passed the various tests, it does make you wonder if Wales deserve anything this time out at all.
France were absolutely ruthless when it came to taking their chances at Murrayfield, and anything like that will surely mean a big win for them. Dupont has been passed fit, Penaud misses out due to Covid with Villiere returning, and otherwise they’re as you were bar one further bench change. Hopefully Geraint Pillock’s cousin Dylan Cretin will make it on to the field at some point. If we do see them in full flow with the glorious short passing and brute force of the forwards and some sparkling back play, then there will be nothing to begrudge. So can Wales drag them down? France have had off spells in some of their recent games and come roaring back, but could they be due a real off day? Clutching at straws maybe, but anyway:
CMW’s prediction: Can’t be going for three away wins and don’t know which one of the two big games to go for as the upset.
Wales 26-23 France
Middle One’s prediction: Dan Biggar doesn’t always make good decisions – shouldn’t have gone for that drop goal when they could have scored a try against Scotland. He’s always shouting at people so might not be a very nice man. Don’t know who kicks the goals for France, but it’s probably some really super person who never misses.
Wales 21-28 France
Italy v Scotland
The phrase ‘nothing to see here’ could perhaps be used for a lot of Italy’s Six Nations games, but their last outing may well have trumped all previous efforts on that front. Will being on the wrong end of an unfair and pretty arcane part of an unfair and pretty arcane rule that is only necessary because rugby is full of cheating bastards inspire them to great heights? Or will their challenge fade to nothing at the first sign of Scotland being anywhere near on their game? I know which I expect. The Scots will be missing Duhan van der Merwe after a slightly unfortunate sending off playing for Worcester, but with plenty of other exciting runners and their pack likely to dominate this should be a comfortable win.
CMW’s prediction: Italy 13 Scotland 37
Middle One’s prediction: Finn Russell needs to take things more seriously if Scotland are going to win anything, he’s always smiling and laughing even when he’s done something bad. I don’t smile when I’m playing netball and he shouldn’t either. Who kicks goals for Italy? Who knows and who cares?
Italy 17 Scotland 43
England v Ireland
England took advantage of some sloppy Welsh forward play to get their lead last time out with soft penalties and an even softer try, and then didn’t do a lot after that. That said, they had looked good in parts up to the point of not scoring tries during the first fifty minutes or so, and at Murrayfield they also had a lot of the game without capitalising on it. Is there something fundamentally wrong or is it just all waiting to click and if so could this be the day? Considered opinion on Ovally Balls has been that playing two proper flankers wouldn’t go amiss. I had been hoping to see Lewis Ludlow, previously unknown to me though reading around the subject I see that this was probably because he was known as Dinham for a very long time. Sadly Eddie has cast him aside, leaving Curry as the only flanker left in the squad. He’s an injury doubt so we may yet see two number eights and a second row starting in the back row. I had heard that George Ford would be missing out with the apparently not very good George Furbank as the outside half cover on the bench, but see that that was just some training squad shenanigans and Ford is back in, though it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see Smith play the whole game anyway.
Passing over the Italian hooker-based non-event, Ireland’s last game was the defeat in Paris. I felt they might have got a proper hiding if it hadn’t been for Hansen’s skilful but freakish try. However, the comeback in the second half was impressive to the point that they could have gone on to win, so it’s hard to know what to make of that performance. It’s good to see significant Ulster presence in the wider squad; I’m sure they’ll all be there on match day. [Ed: harrumph!] There’s a lot more pace in Ireland’s passing this season, some of the play between the forwards is great to watch, and they look a really good team when they get going. England, though, always have a chance to win at home no matter whom they’re playing.
CMW’s prediction: Can’t be going for three away wins etc.
England 26-19 Ireland
Middle One’s prediction: Marcus Smith is the annoying-looking one who’s always really pleased with himself and has weird hair. Don’t like him though he does score a lot of points sometimes. A boy in my class wants to be Johnny Sexton and seems to support him even though he should be supporting England. Like Johnny Sexton, he plays rugby when he isn’t injured though he broke his collar-bone scoring a try the first time they were allowed to tackle each other properly, so can only play on his own at the moment.
England 27-35 Ireland
Bowwow Woofwoof Grrrr as David Bowie would say.
Plausible Expert Views by ClydeMillarWynant and The Middle One.
Onna telly this week
Friday 11th March
| Sharks v Scarlets | 17:10 | TG4 / BBC2 Wales / Premier Sports 1 |
| Italy v Scotland (U20s) | 19:00 | BBC iPlayer / website |
| Wales v France | 20:00 | BBC1 / S4C |
Saturday 12th March
| Bulls v Munster | 14:05 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Italy v Scotland | 14:15 | ITV |
| England v Ireland | 17:15 | ITV |
| England v Ireland (U20s) | 19:15 | BBC iPlayer / website |
| Ulster v Leinster | 19:35 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Montpellier v Toulon | 20:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 13th March
| Lions v Cardiff | 14:00 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 | ||
| Northampton v Wasps | 15:00 | ITV / BT Sport 1 | ||
| Stormers v Zebre | 16:05 | FreeSports | ||
| Clermont v Bordeaux | 20:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
Ovally Balls 
No more EJ and no re-run of CW either
ithankyou
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@Slade – I’d take a rerun of 2003. Maybe not the heartaches of 1997-2002 that built it though!
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EJ and CW are our most successful coaches ever aren’t they?
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I would say Geoff Cooke was more successful than EJ to date. A back-to-back grand slam takes some doing, after years of being in the doldrums. Plus he matched a world cup final with EJ.
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Dab – was his win rate as good? Also, I can just replace ‘ever’ with ‘in the pro era’ and my point still stands.
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“was his win rate as good?”
Jack Rowell’s your man for that apparently.
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Think they were always first or second under him. And got Lomu’d in his only WC in the semi-final.
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Dick Best had a pretty good record and a boastful name.
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Brought the right biscuits.
https://twitter.com/Sonjamclaughlan/status/1504111475513868293?s=20&t=lSBqd2Au7rxCykUhnR1lRw
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You wonder why a professional rugby player needs to go on a tackle-technique course.
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I was never sure which out of Geoff Cooke, Dick Best and Roger Uttley was in charge of England at any given time.
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Bb – I imagine it has lot of PowerPoints, maybe an essay needs to be submitted.
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Maybe it’s Owen Farrell who’s teaching the course?
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Bizarre notion. Anyway if he attends the course then I think they should let him play in the France game and everyone will be happy.
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BB – actually he set the punishment.
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Cmw – tbh I think Charlie Ewels is pretty average and hopefully Launchbury isn’t too fucked still.
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I thought Launchbury come on against Ireland? Did he get injured again?
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@Craigs – So do I, that’s why I think he should be made to play (by ‘everyone’ I might not have actually meant everyone).
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J.P. Doyle has been appointed as a high performance referee coach/mentor by the SRU.
He’s been teaching in a school in Perthshire after a stint in the US.
This is a very good appointment by the SRU
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This takes me back to singing hymns in the hall of Sacred Heart RC Primary School on Derker in the 1980s
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Try this one instead
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Bb – yeah but I wonder about Eddie’s/England’s processes on returning from injury. Manu stands out for example.
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Ticht – I like that. You wonder why Healey and Furlong couldn’t sort it out though.
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Anyone watching The Ladt Kingdom on Netflix? One good thing about it is the level of historical accuracy which includes little details like making the Scots the baddies.
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@craigs
I refer the honourable gentleman to the historical events over the other side of the Irish Sea occasionally referred to as “The Troubles”.
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OT – you can have two sets of Baddies. Or just generically refer to them as ‘Celts’ like in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.
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@craigs
Irish republicans are well aware of this possibility
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Just tested positive for covid. Why the fuck did I have 3 fucking injections? Was it for Bill Gates and Tony Blairs pizza party?
GIMME IVERMECTIN!!!!
All errant behaviour can now be blamed on the microchip.
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Well that’s torn it
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15. Melvyn Jaminet 14. Damian Penaud 13. Gaël Fickou 12. Jonathan Danty 11. Gabin Villière 10. Romain Ntamack 9. Antoine Dupont (captain)
1. Cyrill Baille 2. Julien Marchand 3. Uini Atonio 4. Cameron Woki 5. Paul Willemse 6. François Cros 7. Anthony Jelonch 8. Grégory Alldritt
Replacements:
16. Peato Mauvaka 17. Jean-Baptiste Gros 18. Mohamed Haouas 19. Romain Taofifénua 20. Thibaud Flament 21. Dylan Cretin 22. Maxime Lucu 23. Thomas Ramos
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@Ticht – Good test for Kinghorn I reckon…
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Wales by not all that many – we have the attacking game to keep Italy in it longer than most.
Ireland by really rather a lot.
England by one – not going to stop backing Eddie’s boys until they win.
I’ll get TMO’s predictions this evening for those who want better ones.
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Ireland: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Lowe; Sexton, Gibson-Park; Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Beirne, Henderson, Doris, Van der Flier, Conan.
Replacements: Henshaw, Carbery, Murray, Kilcoyne, Herring, Bealham, Treadwell, O’Mahony.
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Eek.
Where to start.
Not convinced at all by Steyn’s defence on the wing, Just as well Ireland don’t have any threats there.
We have no actual goal kicker. Blairhorn’s place kicking is mince & out of hand not much better. Hogg’s isn’t top quality either. Kingblair’s got a lot of talent but he still has at least a couple of brain melts / passes to the moon every game.
We’ve been giving away far too many dumb penalties. So why not throw Brown in to really up the count?
Apart from that, great. Ireland by 20 and I dare any Irish person to underdog that.
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Well, Finn has been mince all tournament except the first game, kind of like he is not interested anymore.
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Good atmosphere at the Ulster Schools Cup final:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/rugby-union/60668291
Ben McFarlane, the Methody 15, looks a good player.
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Yes Eddie!!!
England: Furbank; Steward, Marchant, Slade, Nowell; Smith, Youngs; Genge, George, Stuart, Itoje, Isiekwe, Lawes, Underhill, Simmonds.
Replacements:, Marler, Dolly, Sinckler, Chessum, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Daly
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Tbh Furbank is a head scratcher as we have some great wingers in the squad. And I’d have Randall starting. This feels like a not so subtle tactical twist from Eddie.
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……….good grief
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But in the team you posted Furbank isn’t on the wing?
I’ve heard he’s no good at ten if that helps.
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Can I assume there’s only one proper flanker in the 23 and he’s just back from injury?
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“good grief”
I’m not sure if Slade is reacting to the England team, the cricketers getting over 500 a few minutes ago or the allegation that Furbank is a head scratcher.
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……………Furbank and Steward, who is not quick to the wing vs Penaud or Villiere………………..hmmm.
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Slade – our finishers are good though!
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Some names and combinations to conjure with in that England XXIII.
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This is both tragic and hilarious
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Thaum. Should be something in your inbox.
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Jeez, who’d a thunk it. need a wing ? Let me see, Lynagh, Hassell-Collins, etc etc, in form, like greased lightning, and Eddie Picks Steward, who may be as quick as Lawes on a good day. Nowell isn’t exactly a pace merchant either, but does a different job, but really, it would be nice to have one bloke with winged heels in the back three. With Daly on the bench too, so even if the young full back has a good game on the wing, Daly will doubtless come on with fifteen to go and perform his usual revolving door tackling performance. Altho, to be fair to him, he didn’t fall off the tackle for one of Irelands tries last week because he stayed wide , marking the guy who wasn’t there, and arrived far to late for another one, so…….
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Which particular bit were you yes Eddieing about, Craigs ?
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