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 
Our Stuart got the ball & just shoved all tacklers aside on his way to the line.
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Oh! Stormers got a pen when I wasn’t looking, so it’s 23-20.
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Ulster get a kickable penalty to even the score, but decide to go to the corner, and bollix it up.
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TRY Reid!
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Or maybe not … may have been dropped.
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This ref is shit. The ball gets knocked out of the Ulster player’s hands by a Stormer, but he then grounds it. Got called as an Ulster knock-on. Almost changed his mind, but he’s too thick.
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You can ground the ball with any part of your torso
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Well, robbed by the ref.
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Ulster robbed
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Ticht – exactly. And I think he had his hand on it first anyway.
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Oh well, we had other opportunities we missed. I don’t often get that angry at a ref decision, though (that and the non-card).
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Gianluca Gnecchi – gave Glasgow a try that wasn’t against the Lions when his arse was on the ground and he couldn’t have seen it.
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Is it the same ref, TomP? I didn’t catch his name.
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Good lord, this match is like water polorugby.
I’m off to walk the dog.
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thaum, here’s the daddy of those games, the actual waterpolo test in 1975:
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Bristol 3 tries to 1 up over Saracens. Billy V should be in the bin, for a deliberate knock on, but the ref decided it didn’t even require a second look.
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Edinburgh 7-0 up, Curwin Bosch missed a gimme – his second of the game. Tough to kick but still.
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All square at half time, 20-20
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Thomas du Toit barrels over. 5-7. Edinburgh giving up a lot of penalties, have already had one lad in the bin for repeated offences.
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TomP – you are right, that was even worse!
Just got back in time to see the Embra splashscore.
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Boffelli splashes over – 14-5 to the Scots.
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Should the Sharks score from this try and go on to win the game, there’ll be a small explosion in Sussex when ticht watches on tape.
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score from this scrum …. they didn’t.
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Lovely from Kinghorn!
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**sigh**
nobody likes my taste in music…………………………..
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Gorgeous Bristol try!
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Sorry, Slade, I only listen to music when I can give it 100% of my attention, and that moment has not arrived yet!
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ffs disallowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Bristol wuz robbed. Should have been 2 yellows for Sarries (Billy & Faz) and a flat pass at the end was called forward, that would have given Bristol the win.
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Thaum – it’s really good with headphones – the band and sound quality are excellent
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Well done, Embra!!!
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……………utterly crap decision
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“Well done, Embra!!!”
Cheers Thaum, they’ve goona need more than a paltry 8 SpringBoks to beat the Mighty Edinburgh.
More seriously, that is one of the great league results for us since the game went pro.
Very much needed too.
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Am watching a schools game from South Africa. The Paarl Gim inside centre handed off a lock from Monnas and the commentator said that “he gave him a half-price bus ticket”. I like that a lot.
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Glasgow were purring, but a regulation BP win has turned into a one point deficit with five minutes to go
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It’s 29-28 in Cardiff with 2 mins to go, and Cardiff have just won a very kickable penalty. Both teams have try BPs.
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Penalty is converted, Cardiff win a scrum at the restart, and it’s over! Happy mister.
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Thaum, Mister’s team played really well to get themselves back into the match and overhaul Glasgow, a well-deserved win.
Connacht going well with 14 v 15 after a dreadful tackle saw their centre see red after about three minutes, but they go in at half time with a slight lead.
Connacht always do better against Leinster than we do, yet we battered the Wesht a couple of weeks ago.
Rugby, eh?
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Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted
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Flood gates now, the tiredness in the Connacht side is palpable
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1st world problem.
Toulouse’s bench for tomorrow’s game:
Baille
Marchand
Cros
Dupont
Ntamack.
In other (dreadful) news, B.Barrett got knocked out yet another time. One commotion too many. Canal+ hinted he may not play anymore. How sad if it were true.
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That’s horrible rugby news on Barrett, Flair.
Leinster just kept turning the screw in Galway, you have to admire them, they are a great side.
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Apart from O’Loughlin, that was a really young back division at the end. Hawkshaw’s the 4th or 5th in line at outside half and played well when he came on. He’s off to Connacht next season.
Frawley’s a Skerries man, ticht.
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“Frawley’s a Skerries man, ticht.”
So he is.
I’ll be looking for him then, Gwan Ciarán Frawley
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Refit, you missed the obvious in at the side and collapsing maul by Daly, Tackling Thacker at the back of the maul as he looked to be about to rumble over the line no trouble, and there was also a penalty to Bristol near the Sarries line, where the ref was playing advantage, Randal was about to pick up the ball and pass it, and Billy V just walked round offside and stood in his way. Ridley didn’t but an eyelid, just said no advantage and called the penalty. That was one of the most one sided reffing performances I have ever seen, it was disgraceful.
Farrell should be fired into the sun by the RFU too, obvious shoulder charge again, and then arguing with the ref about it afterwards. They should tell Jones they don’t want someone like that representing England.
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I just caught up with our game from yesterday. We need a good young tighthead. WP Nel is seventy eight and De Bruin is okay but Atalifo struggled against Nche.
Someone elsewhere said that both 10s were the players of the match for Edinburgh, Bosch had a bit of a nightmare of a game.
Our backrow was very good, Ben Muncaster is still only 20 years old but looks good at this level
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@SBT – didn’t you hear Dayglo? “We don’t want to give the England captain a yellow card on his first game back.”
(I actually shouted at the TV, at that)
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I did hear that, but figured it was laced with a liberal dose of heavy sarcasm, tbh.
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I’m enjoying watching Luke Pierce marching teams back 10.
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I think the yellow was a little harsh on Nandolo. If he hadn’t been tackled, he could have easily caught the ball, after knocking it up in the air.
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