Rejoice, northern hemisphere rugby fans! For there is actually some rugby on the telly tonight, in the form of a pre-season ‘friendly’ between Ulster and Exeter. Scarlets v Bristol and Leinster v Harlequins are also tonight, but on some dodgy channels I’ve never heard of. On Saturday and Sunday, there are Rugby Championship and Top14 matches.
Ulster are putting out a slew of new/little-known faces, including five new signings. Jake Flannery (10) and Michael McDonald (9) start at half-back, with the other three newbies – Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Frank Bradshaw-Ryan and Sean Reffell – in the pack.
There’s a massive replacement list that will have to be whittled down before kick-off, but Jacob Stockdale is expected to make an appearance.
Ulster: Shea O’Brien; Aaron Sexton, Angus Curtis, Ian Madigan, Rob Lyttle; Jake Flannery, Michael McDonald; Callum Reid, Declan Moore, Jeff Toomaga-Allen; Frank Bradshaw-Ryan, Sam Carter; Harry Sheridan, Sean Reffell, Jordi Murphy (capt).
Replacements from: Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart, John Andrew, Marty Moore, Gareth Milasinovich, Alan O’Connor, Cormac Izuchukwu, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, Greg Jones, Nathan Doak, Conor McKee, Billy Burns, Jacob Stockdale, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy, Stewart Moore, Rory Telfer.
I can’t find any info on the Exeter side, but let’s hope it’s equally experimental. Perhaps Slade can enlighten us.
Onna telly this week
Friday 2nd September
| Ulster v Exeter | 19:00 | BBC2 NI / iPlayer |
| Scarlets v Bristol | 19:00 | recast |
| Leinster v Harlequins | 19:30 | 247.tv |
Saturday 3rd September
| New Zealand v Argentina | 08:05 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Australia v South Africa | 10:35 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Racing 92 v Castres | 14:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| England v USA (women) | 15:00 | ITV4 |
| Stade Français v Clermont | 16:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| La Rochelle v Montpellier | 20:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
Sunday 4th September
| Bordeaux v Toulouse | 20:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
Ovally Balls 
Take the three from well out to get back to within four points. Aus resorting to the Boks-kick to clear their lines and win a scrum in the process.
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Another YC for Oz, Gordon collapsing a great maul.
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Koroibete makes a wrong decision and runs away from support. Jordan tackles him and ABs get a pen. From the lineout, they motor a maul up field, but Aus collapse it. ABs go wide, but it’s snuffed out.
Gordon gets a yellow for the collapse. ABs to the corner.
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An aimless hoof downfield by the Kiwis is greeted with an equally aimless run back from VdM, who concedes the penalty. ABs with another one in the danger zone and the Aussies are going back to 14. Jake Gordon collapsing the maul. Pretty soft that.
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And excellent try by Mounga.
13/24.
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Aus engage early and, with pen advantage, ABs go infield. Mo’unga steps, straightens and powers through an attempted tackle over the line.
13-24 53mins
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And another by Jordan after an excellent little dink by Barrett over the Oz defence.
BP for the ABs. 13/31.
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Lovely try by Jordan. On halfway, BB puts a chip over the Aus line. Jordan gathers, does a couple of little jinks, then accelerates away from the remaining defence.
13-31 56mins
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Easy as you like for Mo’unga. Suddenly, the Aussies have a mountain to climb. Plenty of time, but they’re staring down the barrel, and now Nic White on for an injury enforced substitution. Kicks it away in a promising position. Why would you do that? You’re a man and 11 points down, under the cosh and looking for a bit of continuity?
ABs score again, game over, it’s the bonus point too and could get very ugly from here. 13-31.
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Huh. At a ruck, Lomax lifts Fainga’a’s leg and drops him on his back. Only a pen though.
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Try Oz with a dubious pass between Foley and Kellaway.
20/31
This isn’t over yet
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Kellaway manages to get the ball down this time. After a great defensive tackle on Clarke gets a pen, Aus kick into the ABs 22. They dummy a maul and move the ball in-field. Foley makes a half-break and Kellway is on his shoulder to take the pass and score.
20-31 62mins.
Mo’unga puts the restart out on the full.
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Dane Coles on. Handbags surely not far behind? Mo’unga makes a hash of the restart. Can Aus capitalise from a scrum on halfway?
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And another for Kellaway. Poor defending by NZ, Clarke lost in the middle.
2731!
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Kellaway gets his second. ABs stop an Aus maul on the near side. Foley throws a lovely pass out wide, Kellaway makes the defence hesitate and dives over to score.
27-31 68mins
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And another Aussie try! Looks like Kellaway has done himself a mischief in the process. Of course, my dodgy feed has collapsed too, so I may never know. 27-31 as the kick sails over! Penalty New Zealand in the middle of the park and Big Sam points at the posts. If successful, it’ll take them seven clear in the last 10 minutes. 27-34 it is!
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Sag would hate it. Papier mâché defence by NZ. Try OZ in the corner. Foley trasforms. 34/34
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Nice try by Samu. He gets the ball on the wing, breaks a tackle from Jordan and passes inside to Koroibete. The winger is tackled, but passes back out to Samu, who scores in the corner.
34-34 73mins
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GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great hands from Australia after it looked like they were too lateral in attack and it’s a two-point game with the kick to come! Pete Samu was tremendous there, thoroughly deserved his try. Foley with the extras and it’s all tied up!
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From 13/31 to 34/34. Something’s rotten in the NZ kingdom.
Penalty Oz on the half line. White takes it. And succeeds. 4 minutes to go, Oz lead 37/34
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White with a 50m pen. Aus take the lead for the first time 37-34.
ABs get a pen from the restart and Mo’unga puts it in the corner. The maul goes down and Aus turn it over with a penalty.
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Penalty NZ. They choose to kick into touch and maul. Penalty Oz!
Then Foley s prnalised for taking too much time. Scrum 5!
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ABs get awarded a scrum, for Foley wasting time on the pen restart.
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Nic White with a shot from halfway for the lead with 3 minutes left. Easy as you like! He could’ve nailed that from 10 metres back! 37-34, but Aus concede a penalty just outside the 22. Dumb! Should’ve just hoofed it downfield again. 5m lineout and this could be heartbreaking – but they’ve stood firm and won the penalty! Take your time! Clear your lines! Oh you twat! Not that much time!
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Try NZ !
I cant spake!
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Foley, Foley, Foley….
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ABs drive to the line a few times, after the scrum, then Mo’unga goes wide. Jordan is stopped, but he gets the ball to J Barrett, who dives under Koroibete to score in the corner.
Final score 37-39
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I caught the last ten minutes of each half.
The second one had just about everything in it, including controversy.
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Poor FD.
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Told you Raynal was good but finecky.
The art of making friends in Oz.
Noone would’ve blamed him if he hadn’t penalised Foley for wasting time. Harsh on Oz but I agree with him. There’s already too much of this.
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Last chance saloon, but ABs have the advantage. Pouring all over the Aus line and then out wide and they’ve won it on the hooter! Aus will be gutted, but only themselves to blame after wasting too much time. Ni White being a dick by the looks of it too. Who woulda thought that?
The big question is whether Australia can actually find 23 players for next week, they’ve put it all on the line tonight and already have a bit of an injury crisis.
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I agree to a point Falir, my only problem with Rayanal’s decision is that it’s highly unlikely that he would have penalised Foley at any other point in the game, even with ten minutes to go.
Other than that, he was within his rights to make the call.
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I had no sound on my dodgy feed – did Reynard tell Foley to get on with it before calling for the free kick?
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Some Australians who have their own kids don’t know what it is like for Oz to win a Bled.
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Ticht, he may not have penalised Foley if there had been ten minutes left precisely because the time wasting wouldn’t’ve been as crucial. Am all for it, just like I’m all for shortening the time taken for PK or conversions to 30 seconds. It’s not in the spirit of the game.
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Deebee, Raynal told him twice. Even an Oz forward close to him was urging him to go ahead quickly.
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But TBH, I’d be furious if a ref did it to my favourite team.
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“It’s not in the spirit of the game.”
To be fair, neither is having different standards for the exact same scenario at various points in the game (bar Red Zone penalties, the players all know about this though, and that is a major difference).
If time wasting had been penalised throughout the game, then fine (I didn’t see the whole game), and it’s something I’d very much agree with, there is far too much time taken in setting lineouts and scrums.
I’d much rather teams were penalised with a free kick throughout the game.
@Deebee, Rayanal did tell Foley to play it – as I say I have no real problem with the decision, it’s the fact it wouldn’t have happened at other times and therefore players don’t expect it, that’s where I see a problem.
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How much time does a kicker usually have to take the kick?
Just took a quick look – the penalty was awarded at about 78:24 and the scrum awarded about 79:04.
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I think I remember seeing Nigel Owens going by his own watch rather than the match clock at the end of a game when there had been time counted when the ball was dead.
I may be mistaken in that.
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Oh dear. I think Raynal has messed up massively
https://www.world.rugby/the-game/laws/law/8
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@OT – Think that’s just to do with kicks at goal. In this situation I think he’s supposed to play it straight away once time goes back on. Watching that clip it looks a bit harsh as he was in the act of kicking it when the ref blew his whistle. He did muck about before that though.
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Whether you should be allowed to waste time by opting for a kick at goal, but aren’t allowed to if you take other options another matter.
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TBH having three yellows in one match is the real fuck up here.
Still funny though.
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Ok, it’s not funny. I don’t find this funny and neither should you.
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If Australia won against England in a similar fashion they wouldn’t laugh or rub it in our faces.
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Is 40 seconds really time wasting?
I do think we need FD’s objective take on this though.
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OT – yeah we definitely need FD here right now. I imagine he might be lurking though.
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OT, it was a kick from hand, not a shot at posts, although I don’t know if there is a distinction in the rules. Certainly though, once the penalty has been awarded and the defending team has retreated 10m, the kicker should have ten seconds max to play the ball. You don’t need 30 or 40 seconds to kick out of hand, never mind a whole minute.
Law 20 covers penalties and free kicks, stipulating that “A penalty or free kick must be taken without delay” the sanction for non-compliance being a scrum. I suppose you need to decide what ‘without delay’ is, but I’d argue that if a ref feels you’re delaying kicking unnecessarily, then they’ve the right to blow you up, especially if they’ve already told you to get going.
I remember a certain Mr Norling penalising the Boks in ’81 for not retreating fast enough from a scrum free kick in the 4th minute of injury time in New Zealand that cost us a drawn series.
https://www.world.rugby/the-game/laws/law/20
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I expect the ref will get so much shit thrown his way for it that it won’t change anything in future as everyone will know that no referee is going to call it again.
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