This week has seen the shocking death of a national icon, and our heartfelt condolences go out to family, friends, former sparring partners, and the general public who will miss one of those who best understood the subtle nuances of international debate, and who intoned those nuances in the most mellifluous of voices.
Eddie Butler – we raise a glass to ye. You entertained us and, most importantly, you told us what was going on with the minimum of bias.
For anyone who’d like a trip down memory lane with FakeEddie, feast on this.
But Eddie would not want us to forget about the rugby that’s on this weekend. (It’s always convenient to assign our own wishes to the departed, but I suspect this is actually true.)
Deebee7 is really excited about the URC kicking off, although he’s picked some strange teams to obsess about. Me, I’m looking forward to Cardiff v Munster (although I bet the mister isn’t) and Ulster v Connacht (often our Nemesis – hopefully not this time).
Meanwhile, most of the English Premiership matches aren’t on normal channels again, although you can watch Evil Quins v Evil Sarries if you subscribe to BT Sport, or Bankrupts v Exeter on Sunday.
There is also some Rugby Championship and Top14 action.
Onna telly this week
Friday 16th September
| Treviso 33 – 11 Glasgow | 17:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 17th September
| Zebre v Leinster | 13:00 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Harlequins v Saracens | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Cardiff v Munster | 15;05 | BBC2 Wales / RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Lions v Bulls | 15:05 | FreeSports |
| Scarlets v Ospreys | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Ulster v Connacht | 19:35 | BBC2 NI / TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Edinburgh v Dragons | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 2 |
| Argentina v South Africa | 20:10 | Sky Sports Main Event |
Sunday 18th September
| Worcester v Exeter | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Toulon v Clermont | 20:05 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Climate of terroirré
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Trisk, my understanding is that it was a wee bit more cynical than that, slowing the games down because of the heat and altitude. Perhaps there is merit in relooking the issue of a player going down needing to be treated off the pitch whilst play carries on? Other than the pandora’s box of front rowers mysteriously going down at every scrum leading to uncontested ones for the side getting humped. And probably a million other things.
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Apparently The Little One was supposed to get washed rather than wasted before Strictly or Mrs CMW wasn’t going to let them watch it. I have pointed out to them that this is all wrong and that getting wasted before watching it would be a prerequisite and a wash afterwards a necessity, but I fear that only The Eldest understood.
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@Deebee
I saw (most of) the games vs Griquas and the Pumas – but didn’t get to see the last game at all.
Overall, it seemed – lads dropping like flies aside – a success, especially from Munster viewpoint Crowley at 10, Salanoa at TH, Ahern (or Ah-rrrrn* as SA comms had him) , Hodnett in backrow, and both Daly and Nash in the back 3 all played better in what seems a better team.
Results-wise, looks like we could do with them back asap.
* I thought it was faintly amusing – if completely understandable – that the local comms had way less trouble with Izuchukwu’s surname than with Cathal Forde (it’s Cuh-hul)
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I might be able to write something combining The Women’s World Cup and The Middle One’s dodgy TV preferences, but probably not until the World Cup is finished.
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And aside from players missing 3 or 4 URC games – a lot of opposition was founded on the implication that the tour was designed to get Ciaran Frawley – who played 10 vs Maori Al Blacks in the summer but who rarely starts at 10 for Leinster some more game time at 10 (bottom line Leo and/or Stu don’t rate him as a 10).
Then Frawley got injured – so Crowley (of Munster) as promoted to first choice 10 and Flannery – of Ulster and formerly of Munster – was backup. So, Munster are playing like drains – neither Healy nor Carbery are going well, and our 3rd choice 10 and the one we let go are getting good reviews in SA…..
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Deebee – cheers!
CMW – that sounds excellent, thanks.
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Pleasure Thamua – read it first before you get too excited!
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I’d be too excited to be able to read it now if it was available. Hopefully there will be a bit of time to calm down.
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There will … I plan to publish on Thursday. You can start counting down now.
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Three
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Thaum – do you still want my shit commuting atl?
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Craigs – yes, please! We can publish it next week.
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Always wondered what the shit was doing ATL.
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Commuting makes sense really. On the way to its job BTL.
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Wasps go into admin. Methinks summat needs to change in English rugby…
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Do you think rugby has overestimated it’s reach and popularity? I’d imagine if salary caps hadn’t been in place (cough), the arms race may have seen a couple more clubs facing the abyss. Although France seems to be okay, from a very superficial outside viewpoint.
Seems to be a more widespread problem too, with Chicken Little (Australia) waiting for the sky to fall on his head and tilting furiously at the windmills of Super Rugby revenue now the Saffers have left. Doesn’t help that his steed is the Eeyore of New Zealand rugby, forlornly looking around for sides to paste other than their Trans-Tasman cousins.
Here is the land of (spilt) milk and (adulterated) honey, we’ve got three wealthy-ish unions, one scrapping for relevance (but playing very well, I might add), a fifth that’s largely been thrown to the wolves (Cheetahs) and a sixth that outpaced the lemmings to the cliff of corruption and dived off gracelessly without getting even a one from the Russian judge (EP Kings). Then you have a ragtag grouping of second tier that now includes the Cheetahs, Pumas and Griquas playing the second tier sides of the ‘Big 4’ in the Currie Cup and an even ragger-tag (rag-tagger?) bunch in the Currie Cup 2nd tier. But I think we’re still better off than Australia.
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@deebee
Possibly. RL was a much better sport when the players were part-time and had more of a connection with the towns they were playing in. Then they tried to make it a global sport (which it isn’t really) and it’s probably less popular in the UK than when it was on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon in the 1980s and early 90s.
RU has also gone hell for leather into the global dominance game and it’s not without its casualties .
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It’s a shame about Wasps. Of course, I would say that, being from Coventry.
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Guys looking for a new job.
https://www.wasps.co.uk/teams/wasps-rugby-men/
https://warriors.co.uk/teams/
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Very sad. My dad moved to Wasps from his junior club somewhere around the late 1940s/early 1950’s. Never played a first team game as he blew his knee out within a couple of months, but he was very proud of his time there . Recovered enough to play another dozen years at the lower level, but never got his speed back.
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Eddie Butler’s funeral today
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Wonder how the Championship clubs and fans feel about being the official naughty step for English rugby.
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@Craigs
I think they can see a future of more money etc into the second division, less financial distortion overall and possibly even 2up/down – perhaps they can dream a bit of a more egalitarian future and less protectionism. As it is, it’s probably good for gate receipts to have Wasps and Worcs in the division.
Mind you, better minds than mine would like to see a 1o team Premiership, perhaps with 12 in the 2nd Div so two teams need to go down from Div 2 unless they stick at 14.
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I think it should read Great Britain rather than England but the point still stands. Interesting article.
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Deebee – you’ve got some rather urgent (in the not-life-threatening sense) mail.
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All right, since Deebee is clearly boozing it up somewhere on expenses, I will publish and be damned. There is a link that doesn’t work, which I hope to correct in due course.
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New post is here.
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