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 
Wow – Sexton missed a sitter! The wind may have been a factor, but it was nearly in front of the posts, from not far away.
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40 – 0 after Moyano gets his try at the second attempt
Any other side’s fans would think they were home and dry.
Not us
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oooh, lovely take by Keenan
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Ticht – I think you’re probably safe at this point. :-)
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JGP looks like getting a red here.
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Red
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oh get tae fuck man
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Fuck’s sake. Nose is broken, and it’s a yellow.
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what a fucking shambles is our game is in.
that is a very poor decision
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‘It’s not a high level of danger.’
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Lowe completes his hat-trick or not?
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Well, I’m not sure if the nose is actually broken, but it’s bleeding profusely.
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SLMC – not a hat-trick. Yet.
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Oops. Sorry didn’t realise I was so behind real time there.
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TRY Connacht!
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Ooh, I thought the wind had taken that conversion, but it’s a good ‘un! 2 points in it.
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Thaum, I was sure he’d missed it too
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Oh, Sexton is down.
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And he’s up. Might have been a bit of a dive.
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Ohhhh, absolutely brilliant play from Connacht, but caught up just short of the line.
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Brive getting absolutely humped by Sarries. 5-48 with 72 mins played and now a red card for Axl Muller (sp?), for throwing his shoulder into the Sarries’ 9’s head.
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Oh, but a high tackle, so may be a penalty try….
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That’s two seat belt tackles isn’t it?
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Oh. ‘No foul play.’ Uh-huh.
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Ticht – two seatbelts, one which certainly slips up to make contact with the heid.
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He gives that instability but not the one before
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Certainly big team reffing going on
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Is that BOD on the co-coms?
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Yup. With Ben Kay. Dunno who the main commentator is.
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Is it BOD? I thought it was the regular bloke who sounds just like him, but isn’t.
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Okay Embra get the seventh try, 47 – 0 with ten minutes to go.
I think I can relax now
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Leinster get the rub of the green, but Ross Byrne misses touch from 6m out. Poetic justice.
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Seeing Aki on the floor getting treatment, I was thinking, Get up Bundee! You can be injured for Ireland but not for Connacht.
The opposite of my usual thoughts for non-Ulster Irish players.
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Pau get one back
47 – 5 on 76 mins
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Ramiro Moyano bookends the second half with his second try
54 – 5 at full time
Moyano and Boffelli have been two tremendous signings for Edinburgh – I never thought I’d say we don’t miss Duhan van der Walt, but we don’t.
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Bad luck Connacht, Leinster got a few decisions in their favour.
I think it will be tough for the Wesht in Dublin next week, as it is for everyone.
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Connacht were fucking robbed there.
It’s been a long time since I moaned about refs, but in the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen several referee decisions change the result of matches. Who was that twat, anyway?
On the other hand, I suppose Leinster are more likely to get a decent result in the competition as Connacht tend not to travel well. But that’s no excuse for poor decisions.
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Karl Dickson. He rarely inspires confidence – did Scotland-France in the 6 Nations, the one where France through Woki up 3 minutes before the ball was thrown into the line out.
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Ah, yes. Cheers, TomP.
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That was certainly much closer than I had been expecting. As a neutral it was quite entertaining. Blue meanies probably deserved the result but Connacht fought all the way.
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Tomorrows important fixture on the I player.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bxrq7j
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Some grand rugby later today- really enjoyed the ‘feel’ of the game in Galway last night – great atmosphere and less glitzy than most!
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Exeter team to host Munster:
Hogg, Woodburn, Slade, Whitten, O’Flaherty
Simmonds, S. Maunder
Hepburn, Yeandle, Williams
Gray, Skinner
Ewers, Vermeulen, Simmonds
Innard, Moon, Schickerling, Kirsten, Capstick, J. Maunder, Skinner, Hodge
Best available – still no LC-D, Hill, Devoto, Nowell but I understand that Munster are short as well
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It’s a shame they’ve scheduled Stade Fra v Racing at the same time as Exeter v Munster.
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I’ve just seen that we don’t miss Duhan van der Walt, which is a good thing as there is no such player.
dufus
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Says something that you can’t remember his name, Ticht. Over rated and over hyped. Don’t know much about Moyano, but Boffelli is class.
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Toulouse/Ulster and Biarritz/Toulon on French terrestial………………………………
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Entertaining that Faf manages a high tackle.
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After a pretty dull first half Bordeaux v La Roche has really kicked into gear in the second period, two good tries so far, one apiece brings the score to 8 -21
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Sale/Bristol is not a good game. Not even one for the ‘purists’.
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