And now, the end is near….
That sounds good. I should put it in a song.
That can wait, though. The real reason you’re reading this gibberish is to find out what the results are going to be on Saturday.
First up, Wales against Italy. Wales have scored 5 tries to Italy’s 4. That makes you think it might be close! Until you realise that Wales have conceded 7 to Italy’s 24. Which is a bit of a problem for Italy. (Nae shit, Sherlock). Italy played better against Scotland than they had in the other games, so is this the time they can back it up with another good performance? Probably not.
Wales have struggled a bit this year. Thumped by Ireland, scraped past Scotland, somehow losing to England despite scoring all the tries and never really looking like they would beat France. So, can Italy pull off a huge shock and get past Wales in Wales?
Let’s ask Predict-A-Bear!
Answer: Nah. Might be closer than expected, but probably Wales by 15.
Next up is Ireland against Scotland. (Sob). This was going to be The Year! The year to end (Way too many to count) Years Of Hurt! A brilliant start! And then everything turned Scottish. A disappointing – to say the least – defeat in Wales, thumped by France, then showing what we can do against Italy, before deciding that things were far too easy and that we should turn Scottish again.
Never mind, it’s only Ireland. The team that has been reinvigorated under Farrell The Elder. The team that beat the All Blacks. The team that thumped Wales, gave France their closest game so far and who managed to be disappointed in only scoring 57 points against 15, 14, 13, 12 man Italy. They have scored 20 tries to our 10, conceded 3 to our 11, Sexton’s on his Neverending Farewell Tour and have the might of Ulster (cheering them on from the sidelines).
So. Any hope for Scotland? Well … Ireland’s scrum looked strangely out of sorts against England. They also seemed a bit too rushed at times. And Finn bloody owes us one! So of course, Toonie sticks him on the bench. But probably none.
But let’s find out from Predict-A-Bear!
Answer: Nah. Much as I would love to be wrong, Ireland will win this fairly comfortably, by about 15 (at least). Can’t see us even getting any sort of bonus point. (Sobs again.)
Finally, the main event! France against England! France at home and going for a Grand Slam against a (fairly) average England team. (I mean, come on, WE beat them!) Eddie’s playing mind games again, although the only people he seems to confuse with these are his players. They have looked fairly toothless in attack (7 tries scored – and they’ve played Italy!), wonder boy Smith hasn’t quite lived up to the hype (but he will), the midfield has a Manu-sized hole (but then it frequently does) and Jack Nowell will probably end up hooking in the front row. And please (don’t) let Joe Marler take more throw ins. On the good side, Maro’s been a right annoying bastard on the pitch.
But France! They have everything: they can play tight; they can be expansive as (cliché alert) only France can. They have the best player in the world, and a few others who would probably be in a world XV, strength in depth and Shaun Edwards as defence coach. They haven’t perhaps scored quite as many tries as their play would suggest and had to tough it out against Wales.
So who will win?
Predict-A-Bear to the rescue!
Answer: A France win and Grand Slam!
Predict-A-Bear whispered sweet nothings into BorderBoy‘s ear.
Onna telly this week
Friday 18th March
| Bulls v Scarlets | 17:10 | BBC2 Wales / Premier Sports 2 |
| Glasgow v Edinburgh | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Newcastle v Leicester | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 19th March
| Lions v Munster | 12:00 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 2 |
| Wales v Italy | 14:15 | BBC1 / iPlayer |
| Sharks v Zebre | 16:30 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Ireland v Scotland | 16:45 | ITV |
| France v England | 20:00 | ITV |
Sunday 20th March
| Stormers v Cardiff | 12:00 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 | ||
| Wales v Italy (U20s) | 14:00 | BBC1 Wales / iPlayer / Website | ||
| Ireland v Scotland (U20s) | 17:00 | BBC1 iPlayer / Website | ||
| France v England (U20s) | 20:00 | BBC1 iPlayer / Website |
Ovally Balls 
Cheers BB.
The Middle One has a rival in Predict-a-bear.
There is talk of piss-ups causing friction in the Scottish team, six players have been given a talking to, including Hogg and Finn.
A guy in his first senior season at fly half, he has played, oh it must be double figures of games at ten now, up against the consummate professional in Aul Raisin-face.
No third jumper and dodgy darts at the line out
Shite breakdown work and overall flakiness v one of the most accurate teams in the game.
In Dublin.
What could possibly go wrong?
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There is hope though, Predict-a-Bear can only seemingly pick whoever is on his left paw.
That’s no way to run a sports forecasting business, it will go wrong sometime.
Tomorrow between five and seven will do nicely
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There is talk of piss-ups causing friction in the Scottish team
Was someone not invited?
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Lovely stuff BB! PaB has the same thinking as me, so we’re bound to see Italy win in Cardiff, Scotland shock Ireland and England put in their one consumate performance of the season as per contractual obligations.
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Predict-A-Bear has requested that next time we do it the NFL way, with the home team by his right paw.
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Hmm. Estate agents, Greggs, Twitter and TikTok. Just a few of the things I seem to be able to live without.
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Don’t think that would help me much as I’ve never darkened the doors.
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BB
♫ These are a few of my not-favourite things ♫
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Meanwhile, Bulls are hammering Scarlets.
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PredictorBear looking pretty spot on to my mind. Would be happy for him ( I hope I am not making a faux pas there with sexist assumptions) to be wrong on all counts.
Well, Finn does look like he has been playing with a stinking hangover for the last three games. Can we guess at the other sanctioned players ? I reckon Zander Fagerson likes a pint.
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“Predict-a-Bear can only seemingly pick whoever is on his left paw.”
This is where The Middle One has the edge. I like Predict-a-Bear though.
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It’ll be nice to be able take the wind out of The Middle One’s sails when a one-armed bear equals her performance. Well it would be if I hadn’t been foolish enough to put my own predictions in last week as well as hers.
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The Middle One may well be a rugby-predicting goddess. Let us consider her assessment of Finn Russell and his banishment to the bench this week.
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He ain’t one armed/pawed. Not his fault the away teams are rubbish/on a bender.
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At Scotstoun watching Glasgow trying not to lose to Edinburgh. Mind you, Embra very kindly gave us the ball fir one of our tries.
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Grrrrrr.
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Good win, with a fantastic try in the second half (kept waiting for the replay). Why the feck we kicked the ball away on our last attack is beyond me. Bonus point could make all the difference at the end of the season. First half, Scotstoun was pretty quiet, second half it got a bit more like it.
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BB, the whole game turned on that try.
Embra were building pressure and it was paying off, Glasgow looke more and more under the cosh, the ball broke out of an attacking ruck for us and Glasgow ran down an undefended wing to score.
It was all one way after that, what had been a close game deservedly went to the home side.
For me two serious talents were on show, Connor Boyle for Edinburgh (hon mention for Ben Muncaster) and Murphy Walker, the young Glasgow prop (nephew of Sean Lineen btw)
These three young guys have big futures ahead of them – Walker put in a very good showing on the loosehead side against a good Edinburgh scrum, when the changes were rung he switched over to face hard-bitten Boan Venter and sent him into reverse gear pretty sharpish
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Wales by 17. Or more.
Ireland by 8. Or more.
France by 12. Or less.
Not happy with Finn being dropped. He’s been far from his best but he’s one of those rare players who could unsettle the well oiled Irish machine.
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I think it’s all set up for Finn to come on late to win the game and overshadow the celebrations of Sexton’s last game against Scotland in Dublin.
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Seems it was Tuipolotu who kicked the ball away at the end. Think he must have still been feelings the effects of his night out.
Ticht – what was your opinion of the ref? Obviously we couldn’t hear her, but there seemed to be a couple of times where she was a bit uncertain. Again, it’s difficult because we only see the arm going up and we don’t know why. There was one point where I’m sure she had her arm out for a knock on to us, but then Edinburgh got the ball. Also, she was the smallest person on the pitch so we couldn’t see her a lot of the time.
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BB, I think she is the best current Scottish ref – obviously as an Embra supporter I questioned a few calls in real time, but I think she is very good and consistent – that one thing that all fans want.
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“Not happy with Finn being dropped. He’s been far from his best but he’s one of those rare players who could unsettle the well oiled Irish machine.”
Flair, being well oiled is what got Finn into trouble. :-)
Kinghorn offers something very different but in some ways the same, the same in that it’s all about his attacking game, he is no midfield general who will direct where the game is played with bullseye kicking, but neither is Finn.
Kinghorn has an eye for a gap before anyone else sees it and the ridiculous pace to get through it, he’s the quickest player in the Scotland squad.
He is very good at getting hands beyond the tackle and passing to a supporting runner.
He has a brilliant hard flat Sexton-type pass, also a good long floated ball off both hands to get outside a defence.
The downside is that everything came far too easily to him as a kid. He could drift through games and be thinking about something else entirely, but give him the ball and he’d beat fifteen players to score.
Focus has been a problem for him at fullback and wing, but his club and international coaches think he is the real deal at ten.
I honestly think he could be very special, whisper it, perhaps better than Finn
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Result just in from yesterday, the big match of the weekend
Skerries 37-17 Dunbar
It is the 70th iteration of this annual fixture
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Sniff, no one remembers predictaCraigs.
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A couple of SA pundits think the Lions could beat the Munster ‘B’ side they face today based on a win against a (with apologies) crap Cardiff side last week. Not sure why when Munster have more Boks in their side than the Lions. And Munster only have one.
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Sniff, no one remembers predictaCraigs.
****Goes through extensive memory bank.*****
You’re quite right Craigs, nobody remembers.
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Ticht, I didn’t see enough of Kinghorn to have an opinion, so am glad to hear he could be great.
Just read why Finn was dropped. Not smart from him nor the few others who went out as well. Finn was not very good with Racing before the 6N but the entire team was stuttering, so I thought it might be a chicken and egg problem. I hope he proves me wrong but he seems a bit unfit and not always focused. He probably needs a very strong coach and is Townsend such a man?
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Thought Craigs predicted he’d soon be going to Provence, but the rest of his predictions? no, can’t remember.
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Jamie Roberts on for the last 10 minutes for the Tahs against the Rebels.
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Another pretty underwhelming match on the Aussie side of Super Rugby. They’re trying to all play high tempo, offloading rugby but too many players seem to lack the basic skills to get it consistently right.
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Lions camped in the Munster half early on. Into the 2nd minute now and no change.
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Munster with the first shot at goal after 3 minutes. Lions have lost two lineouts already. Short!
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John Ryan powers over for Munster’s first try after a couple of minutes of sustained pressure. 0-7 after 9 minutes. Munster bossing the collisions so far. And probably all afternoon.
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Munster batter over again. Excellent carrying by the big boys and it’s 0-14 at roughly a point a minute.
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Couple of penalties to the Lions, trying to maul but Munster sacking them illegally. Then a turnover as the Lions are comically, amateurishly too upright on the drive. Scrum penalty goes against the Lions who appeared to be on top. I don’t understand scrums.
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Great turnover from the Lions, but boy are they clinging on at the moment.
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Lions finally put a couple of good passes together and Edwill van der Merwe powers over down the left wing. 7-14 after 32 minutes.
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Quan Horn unleashes a siege gun boot from the restart and the Lions have a lineout on the Munster 22. Munster turn it over but get pinged for obstruction on the 22 in front of the posts. 10-14 with 5 to the break.
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Munster score a clinical try on the hooter! 10-21 at HT.
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Here we go!
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Some idiot in these boards – honestly there should be quality control on posting – suggested that the Lions were useless and would get hammered by Munster. 23-21 to Lions at full time. Munster pointless in the 2nd half. Very chuffed!
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Hmmm. Probably the closest we’ve been at this stage of a game so far.
The Middle One has promised to laugh at me if we lose.
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Terry Hall’s birthday today, so in honour of him, the Lions and Italy thus far, with backing from Bananarama:
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Great try by Wales after being dominated for 25 minutes.
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Nice finish. We’ve deserved a proper laughing at up till then though.
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“after being dominated for 25 minutes”
Don’t know about that, we’ve done most of the attacking. Very badly, but we have been doing it.
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Ludicrous penalty almost worth a yellow just for how obvious it was puts Italy back in front 9-7.
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Immediately followed by cynical hands in ruck leniently punished . Italy back into the lead. 9/7
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