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 
In snooker news, Welsh momentary Hitler lookalike (honestly, it was just one weird camera angle) Ryan Day has very unexpectedly and quite comprehensively beaten Norn Irish hero Mark Allen to the British Open title.
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New elegibility rules Thaum.
Taken from the official World Rugby website, the new criteria for switching countries are as follows,
The player must stand-down from international rugby for three years.
The player must either be born in the country to which they wish to transfer or have a parent or grandparent born in that country
Not sure what Cooney’s links to Scotland are. Glasgow have Jack Dempsey in the back row, who could play for Scotland as he hasn’t played for Australia since 2019 and has a Scottish grandparent.
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Thaum, it was just a bit of fun from me, but apparently it has been in the Irish press. Cooney must have a Granny from Partick of something.
As BB says, Dempsey is qualified for us now, I’m not entirely comfortable with the prospect of him playing for us because the law was changed to allow, in practice, former ABs and Wallabies play for the Pacific Island teams in order to get them up to competitive standards at world cups.
Dempsey says he will make an announcement in the coming days, fuck it, the laws are all over the place anyways, and if he improves the Scotland squad then I’ll not harbour any grudges.
Rugby is a mess with this at the moment and I don’t really hold anything against any of the players who swap sides.
Cooney won’t come into the Scotland camp, I’ll wager against it for two reasons – 1. why would he? He’s 32, he’s Irish, he doesn’t need to put himself into any shop window.
2. Scotland are pretty strong at scrum half anyway, he won’t want to be third or fourth choice with his second country of choice.
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Ahh, I vaguely remember the rule change being discussed, but didn’t realise it had actually happened.
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“wut? Surely he can’t play for Scotland after he’s played for Ireland?”
I think you’ll find that now he’s Scottish the term you’re looking for is “Whit?”.
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Apparently, ‘they’ are saying that Finn is going to leave Racing next season for ‘a new challenge’. His partner is expecting their first child, so Glasgow fans are excited that he might be ‘coming home’. Can’t see him taking that much of a pay cut to be honest.
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It’s an interesting turn of phrase, his partner is expecting their first child. Is he not expecting it? Is he dreading it?
If I were he, I would obviously be wanting to raise the sprog (at a distance) in Glasgow, so it didn’t end up with some horrible accent. Oh wait, he’s in France, so that would be all right, and the sprog would have the advantage of being bilingual.
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Thaum – he could always move to Wasps to ensure an excellent accent for his sprog.
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to ensure an excellent accent for his sprog
What Covin-try?
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I think he’d be well placed to conquer Solihull.
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Refit – be staggered if it wasn’t us tbh.
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Worcester have gone. It’s a real shame.
Duhan has signed a long-term deal with Edinburgh, giving us a back three pool of Darcy Graham, Emiliano Boffelli, Duhan van der Merwe, Wes Goosen, Damian Hoyland, Henry Immelman and Jack Blain
Even I think that’s ridiculous, but so be it.
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In case Goosen is unfamiliar
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btw, there is a rumour that Rory Sutherland might be off to Ulster.
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Do you think any of them might leave now that Big Duhan is back?
(Not Darcy, obviously).
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BB, it all depends on the length of their contracts. Goosen has only just joined and hasn’t played yet. I would wager that Boffelli will not be short of offers after when his time is up for renegotiation, he’s been brilliant for Edinburgh and instrumental in very good showings for Argentina last year and this.
I’d want Edinburgh to break the bank to keep him, if we can win stuff we will earn the money to pay these guys. Boff seems to have really taken to the team and the city.
Hoyland won’t go anywhere, Blain is very young and still has his whole career ahead of him, he’ll be in Edinburgh for a while.
The pool will break up eventually, they always do, but, for example, it’s not unusual to have that sort of talent concentrated at the one club – Hogg, Seymour, Maitland, DTH van der Merwe, Nico Matawalu, for example.
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…also Duhan is an out and out winger, Immelman is a fullback/centre. Hoyland, Graham and Boff can play across the back three, as can Goosen, but he also covers 13.
There is room for all of them if we have the cash to keep them
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For me Murray McCallum is the interesting one, he’s been very good at Wuss, Edinburgh and Scotland both need a quality tighthead.
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Any news on where Sutherland is going?
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See above, BB.
McCallum is apparently going back to Glasgow, which is the wrong move imo. He’s got Fagerson, Walker and Berghan to get ahead of, and MacBeth is there also.
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btw, it might be early days, but has anyone’s pie grown yet?
Mine has shrunk, if truth be told.
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Rory Sutherland might be off to Ulster
Sutherland is TH? Ulster props are ok – Warwick although something of a veteran was very good last season – there was some clamour for him to go to NZ (instead of Healy or Loughman) . O’Toole is a promising TH – went to NZ and was pretty effective against Maori and got a cameo in 1st test
Eric O’Sullivan was in Ireland training camps in Schmidt days – seems to have slipped back since.
My knowledge other than that is sketchy
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Trisk, Sutherland is a loosehead
Deebs, is this a good Lions side?
Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Franke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (c), 4 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 3 Ruan Dreyer (4 tests 2016/17), 2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Emmanuel Tshituka, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Zander du Plessis.
Edinburgh
15, Immelman, 14. Graham. 13. Currie, 12. Lang, 11. Boffelli, 10. Kinghorn, 9. Pyrgos
8. Mata, 7. Watson, 6. Crosbie, 5. Gilchrist, 4. Skinner, 3. DeBruin, 2 McInally, 1. Venter
16. Cherry, 17, Schoeman, 18. Nel, 19. Sykes, 20. Muncaster, 21. Sheil, 22. Savala, 23. Dean.
We are quite strong, probably two or three short of full strength, maybe four or five over the 23.
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In fact
Unavailable: Mark Bennett, Conor Boyle, Wes Goosen, Nick Haining, Jamie Ritchie, Ben Vellacott.
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typo – Sam Skinner is not playing in the number 4 jersey, that will be Glen Young.
oops!
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I wonder how this is. OT?
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@Ticht – ah, then makes some sense with Warwick a vet, and EOS not really hitting expectations
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@craigs
“Thin-sliced bread”?
I feel for these people, I really do.
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OT – I found out earlier this year that Haywards had stopped making piccalilli. I was, and am still, gutted about this.
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@craigs
Branston still do it, I checked.
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– make your own – it’s dead easy
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I’d never considered how Proggy this is before:
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Also, Freddie appears to have been a Quins fan.
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Bernard Jackman has tweeted that Rory Sutherland has indeed signed for Ulster, or rather that he “understands” that is the case
I wish our ex-players and coaches wouldn’t go to a rival, but at least he’s got a gig.
That is a very good signing for Ulster, test Lion and all that.
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I think Ulster should sign Bernard Jackman instead. But then I might not have their best interests at heart.
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Dan Biggar leaving Saints at end to season – destination unknown.
He has been very popular there and will be missed.
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Anyway -proper rugby.
Your Exeter team to face Bristol tonight:
Hogg (needs to improve haircut and play)
Nowell, Slade, O’Loughlin, Woodburn
Simmonds, Maunder
Hepburn, Yeandle, Williams
Kirsten, Gray
Vermeulen, Tschiunza, Capstick
LC-D, Iosepha-Scott, Schickerling, Erwers, Maunder, Skinner, Kata
Hepher still rotating players and one or two injuries stacking up.
These are usually great fixtures and hard to predict.
Both teams need to win.
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“Dan Biggar leaving Saints at end to season – destination unknown.”
Wonder how long he intends to go on for.
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I’ve hardly watched them, but I always get the impression that Biggar puts in a proper shift at Northampton and has done OK there. They seem to remain stubbornly stuck as a top half team that has no real prospect of winning the thing though.
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I’ve watched them a fair bit, CMW.
Biggar has been consistently good to excellent for them.
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Now hearing that the Sutherland-to-Ulster deal is for this season only, as Steven Kitshoff is arriving after the world cup next season.
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Bristol to face Chiefs
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Women’s world cup kicking off this weekend. If you’re interested in watching, in the UK, matches are live (at stupid o’clock in the morning) on ITV channels. Then highlights of the YouTube channel and full match replays on ITV catch-up.
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2021?
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The tournament was meant to be last year, but delayed due to COVID.
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@Ticht – “Biggar has been consistently good to excellent for them.”
I’m not surprised by that. Can’t help thinking he’ll be disappointed how it’s gone though as I’m sure he would have wanted to win something with them. That said I’m sure it will have suited him better than bumbling along with the Ospreys in the state they’ve been in the last few seasons.
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@refit
So I just got massively confused just then. So both the men’s and women’s Rugby League World Cup start soon – the men next weekend and the women 1st November. It kind of kicks off tonight with a warm up between England v Fiji at 7.30. So when I saw your message saying England v Fiji at 4.30am I was a bit bewildered. Then I realised it’s a different tournament completely
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