‘Tis a cruel, cruel championship that makes you play the same very, very good side two weeks in a row.
Ulster somehow managed to pull off an away win against Toulouse, but nearly threw it away at the end.
What was so scary about the champions?
- Their seven-foot (or nearly) line-out stealer
- Their incredible counter-rucking
- Their loosey-goosey attack
- Their more than solid defence
- The World Player of the Year™
We face them this weekend at Ravenhill, but they are going to be revved up, I reckon. The score was 20-26, and that’s not a comfy cushion (‘No! Not the comfy cushion!’)
Read on for the other fixtures.
Onna telly this week
Friday 15th April
| Leinster v Connacht | 17:e0 | BT Sport 1 |
| Bristol v Sale | 20:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 16th April
| Chiefs v Moana Pasifika | 05:35 | Sky Sports Main Event |
| Highlanders v Hurricanes | 08:05 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Western Force v Waratahs | 12:30 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| La Rochelle v Bordeaux | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Munster v Exeter | 15:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Leicester v Clermont | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Scarlets v Dragons | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Ulster v Toulouse | 20:00 | BT Sport 2 |
Sunday 17th April
| Saracens v Cardiff | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 | ||
| Racing 92 v Stade Français | 15:30 | BT Sport 2 |
Ovally Balls 
Deebee, very much a shadow Leinster side earlier. Some good young players in there, mind. Johnny McKee, the starting hooker, plays at my son’s club and we’ve watched him a few times this year. He’s an Ulster boy. I thought they did quite well against a decent Stormers side. That Cape Town pitch is rubbish.
Ospreys beat the Scarlets to put themselves in with a chance of getting the 8th Heineken Cup place. Glasgow-Edinburgh is a play-off game for a Heineken Cup, even though both will finish in the top 8. The Ospreys might end up with a better record than one and the same record as the other Scottish team but still finish below them because they just don’t collect enough bonus points. Today they got their 3rd of the season, whereas the Bulls have 13. The Bulls are one win but 14 points on the table ahead of the Ospreys. They meet in the last round of the regular season.
George North played his first match in over a year and seems to have come out of it well. In news that made me feel old, George turned 30 earlier this month.
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TomP, yip – can’t see anyone beating them in the knockouts to be honest. They’re a helluva side at full strength. Looks like no Welsh or Italian sides in the QFs if I’ve got it right?
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I think that’s correct Deebee, though Scarlets get a big cup spit next year by ding of being top of the Welsh log, whilst Glasgow and Embra play off for their spot
I think if, and it’s a huge if, Embra win the wee cup, both teams might play in the big cup next year, even if Embra top the parochial log
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ticht, Ospreys can still get past the Scarlets.
The way I’m reading the rules for the Heineken qualification is they want 8 from each league in it so if Edinburgh were to win the Challenge Cup but finish below Glasgow in the URC (or the Glaswegians win the Challenge Cup but finish below Edinburgh in the URC) then both Scottish sides get into the Heineken Cup and the lowest ranking other “qualifier” – 6th or 7th in the overall standing – from the the league goes into the 2022-23 Challenge Cup. Theoretically, that could be Munster, who are in 2nd at present.
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Anyone else watching the snooker? O’Sullivan is destroying Trump (yes, really) in the final. Apparently Trump, who is a youngster, made a comment earlier in the competition about it seeming like a senior tour (O’S is in his late forties, I think).
Possibly another case of experience clobbering youth who ask for it.
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Reminds me of this:
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ticht, checked the Top14 standings from last year and Montpellier in 10th qualified ahead of Toulon (8th) because the former when the Challenge Cup.
In theory, a side could win the URC title but not qualify for the Heineken Cup – if I understand it correctly – as it’s based on regular season standings. That’s a bit silly but fortunately it’s also unlikely.
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“In theory, a side could win the URC title but not qualify for the Heineken Cup”
A route to lack of success in Europe that wasn’t available to the Ospreys back in their heyday, otherwise we’d have seen it then. Perhaps they can get their act together sometime down the line and give it a go. Game with Scarlets was highly entertaining even if there’s always the caveat at the moment that neither side are really much good.
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Meanwhile we have the situation that in theory a side other than Leinster could win the URC. The league could do with someone turning theory into practice, but can’t really see it happening.
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Was half-supporting the Scarlets against the O’s as a win for them would have retained the possibility of a fig leaf of respectability for Welsh representation in the Big Cup and it’s not as if either team has any realistic aspirations of making any impact in it. And of course in theory the Scarlets could also have gone on to win the URC. Second half turned into a rout, but it did rather hinge on a yellow card incident and I imagine proper Scarlets supporters might have been disappointed that the O’s weren’t penalised when they won the ball before kicking ahead in the lead up to the card. Plenty of good attacking play and poor defending from both sides throughout the game, O’s were powerful finishers from close to the line, mainly through Dewi Lake. Rhys Webb still drives me nuts even when the team do well and he does some good things along with the other stuff.
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@ Thaum – “Apparently Trump, who is a youngster, made a comment earlier in the competition about it seeming like a senior tour (O’S is in his late forties, I think).”
Trump is 32 himself apparently.
O’Sullivan it turns out would (will) be the oldest ever winner. I bet Ray Reardon looked older in 1978 though.
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CMW – is he 32? My, my. Well, the old man is trouncing him so far.
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Tam, there is also the possibility that Edinburgh win the Challenge Cup (this is obviously hypothetical) and in doing so qualify for the big cup. In the mean time we may well have lost to Glasgow and remain in 8th place and away to Leinster in the QF, a place few come away from with a win.
If this happens, someone will have to get kicked out of the big cup because there are only 8 places allocated and one Welsh side has to be in there. So as things stand, it would be either Glasgow, Bulls or Ulster who would lose out, depending on the results in the final round.
This is a very unlikely scenario, but it’s an unsatisfactory situation.
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“it would be either Glasgow, Bulls or Ulster”
All good choices: Glasgow for the local rivalry, Bulls as a way of completing their introduction to European rugby or Ulster because they’d take it so well.
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:-D
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Having had another look at the table I don’t think it could be Ulster due to the large points difference advantage they have over Glasgow, so they will definitely finish above the Wedge
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Booooo. I was hoping either Scarlets or Ospreys would be able to claim some of the credit with Edinburgh for knocking them out with our Welshness. Telling them they had us to thank when it ultimately meant they finally got to win something would also have been nice.
Still happy with the other options, the Bulls don’t seem like the sort to hold a grudge.
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Disco, the Glasgow stats guy has just told me that if my scenario works out both Embra and Glasgow qualify for big cup pay days as one goes through as wee cup winners and the other as pool winner, so the is still a chance for Ulster to get punted
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You’ve forgotten that in that scenario Glasgow would qualify as they’d’ve won the Scottish/Italian Shield. If the Bulls beat Ospreys, Stormers pick up at least a bonus point against Scarlets, Sharks and Ulster draw and Munster come away with nothing from Leinster, then Munster finish 6th and are in the Little Cup.
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Ahem
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Well, I did say it last night in my post at 2034 so good to see that Disco agreed with me.
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2054
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“so there is still a chance for Ulster to get punted”
I feel that this is the main thing.
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You are all horrible people.
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hmm…………………Tomp. got Tomp’d by Tomp……………………….
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There’s a big schools tournament in South Africa this weekend. It’s well worth checking out the last match of the tournament between Grey Bloem and Paarl Gim. From what I’ve seen this season they’re the class teams, though neither have a perfect record as Grey drew a week ago with Oakdale (CJ Stander’s old school) and Paarl lost slightly controversially to Affies in Pretoria.
Both are stacked with talent. Paarl’s 9,10, 12 and 13 are all really decent players and their pack is fierce. Grey are not quite as free-flowing as they were in 2018 and 2019 but have an excellent scrum half and winger and their forwards are superb. Also they have big centre and future Scotland international Alec McIntyre back at 12 after he missed the start of the year.
Should be on from 5.30ish here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SuperSportSchools/videos
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Some other top games on before are Affies-Glenwood, Paul Roos v unbeaten Garsfontein from Pretoria and Paarl Boys v a disappointing Monument.
Affies beat Paul Roos and Paarl Gim but lost by a point to Garsfontein. Paul Roos had a slow start to the year but have got a monster of a player called Jurenzo Julius, a Namibian, who knocks lads over like skittles. Paarl Boys are real fighters.
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“women’s business”
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There is suspicion in our household that Ronnie O’Sullivan was requested not to win during the afternoon session in order to protect the night-time slot.
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The Grey-Paarl Gim was a cracker. Paul Roos-Garsfontein tremendous fun. Affies crushed Glenwood, very impressive. Watch them in that order.
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From a Nigerian newsletter that I get, weirdly, on Tech issues in Africa. Seems she was a lovely lady:
Did you know Margaret Thatcher? Born on October 13, 1925, she was the only British Prime Minister in the twentieth century to win three consecutive terms.
Significantly, she accelerated the evolution of the British economy from statism to liberalism and became the most renowned British political leader since Winston Churchill, both in terms of personality and achievement.
On this day in 1979, Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative Party was elected British Prime Minister, becoming the first woman in Europe to hold that position; she later became the longest continuously serving British premier since 1827.
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Tiptoes out before the sleepy lambs in the UK wake up to this horror of an interpretation of Thatcherism.
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“Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister just as North Sea Oil production rose to peak rate. This led to a rise in the value of the pound that made British manufacturing uncompetitive but also meant the government could afford to keep the redundant workers unemployed. She was also PM at a time when a coming legal challenge to monopolistic practices in the City if London meant her government had to deregulate the financial sector. This led to many UK financial institutions being bought out by American banks and asset managers to exploit the City’s unique position in managing offshore tax haven financial management.
Peculiarly she is given credit for things like this that were a) of dubious benefit and b) out of her control.”
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@deebee
JJ Smuts showed his class on Saturday afternoon out in the suburbs. Was a class above everyone else, as you would expect:
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Not sure if it was Thatcher or Smuts who killed the blog.
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@Deebee – Your Nigerian political dictionary must have some sort of entry under Smuts, perhaps it will shed some light.
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The dad of a friend of ours died the other day. He was a Czech long-term resident of Vienna who’d been a refugee in the UK during World War II. Only met him once and we talked about cricket and rugby. Good tribute to him here:
https://www.thebaron.info/comment/johnny-krcmar-mentor-and-friend
And this is a terrific interview:
https://english.radio.cz/former-ctk-journalist-recalls-fateful-day-warsaw-pact-invasion-8153053
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A short poem for Star Wars Day
Her name was Yoda
A Showgirl she was.
Brian Bilston
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More importantly, today is Mrs BB’s birthday. Which she is celebrating by taking part in the first of 3 day long zoom training courses. On venue management. Which isn’t part of her remit.
Oh, the joy!
Makes me glad I am merely a humble librarian.
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Happy birthday, Mrs BB!
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She says thanks!
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Good news for the Sharks as Lukhanyo Am’ll be back for the game v Ulster in a couple of weeks.
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I hate Real Madrid but an amazing comeback by them.
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“I hate Real Madrid but an amazing comeback by them.”
I haven’t watched a game of football for ages now, it has changed a bit since I last saw it, the tempo is higher and the skill levels are higher, even from a few years ago.
It looked like it was going to be a regulation win, but the two City misses inside a minute near the end were an ominous sign, and so it proved to be, two quick goals and then the penalty winner in extra time.
There is probably more of a draw to the final being between Liverpool and Real Madrid, but City will be kicking themselves
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I hate Real Madrid but an amazing comeback by them.
Obviously you’ll be supporting Liverpool in the Final! Must admit I went to bed at half time last night, thinking that neither side looked like scoring (and because I was falling asleep in front of the telly) only to see the result when I got into the office today. Lovely stuff! The ‘finals are cagey affairs’ may be true, but I don’t see Klopp looking for a penalty shootout in Paris and both sides have enough firepower to prise open the meanest of defences. Could be a good one!
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It started as a rumour the other day but it’s now on the BBC that Wales are looking at pulling the plug on one of the four regions.
This means more fucking about with the URC, possible developments could be Jaguars (unlikely imo), Cheetahs would pretty much be ready to go, or Scotland biting the bullet and field and third side, though that would be a gargantuan task to get a combative side up and running so quickly, even a side that got spanked would be difficult as we have to buy in players for the two sides we have at the moment
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The various options mooted are to drop the Dragons or merge Scarlets/Ospreys – Cardiff seem safe. Now it might be like when the IRFU mooted dropping Connacht and the upswell of opposition made them reverse. If enough people are opposed – then it might cause second thoughts. As WRU own/operate the Dragons they are surely favourites to go.
@ticht – Cheetahs would be the obvious option, though it breaks the nice 4-4-4 and 2+2 for the various “shields”
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