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 
Bright start by Bristol. Early try and 7-3 up.
Ooh, Genge is lucky there. That should be a red for catching J.Gray in the face at a ruck. It was a bicep, rather than a shoulder, but he should really be gone permanently.
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Weird seeing Jonny wearing a headguard. Think Hoggy should wear one to hide that haircut.
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7-17 to Exeter at half time. Randall knocking on just cms from the line before the whistle.
Exeter’s defence has been excellent. Constant pressure on Bristol and pushing them behind the gainline on multiple occasions.
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Cracking half – Bristol capable of lots of points but fumbling under pressure,
Exeter working very hard and worth the lead.
Bristol’s front row gaming the scrums very well – Sinkler’s demeanor I find really annoying……….
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Turning into a bit of a spanking. 14-45 with 10 mins to play.
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Exeter battering Bristol now. Deserved win for them.
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Jonny the player of the match. Nice to see him coming back into form. Maybe its the scrum cap.
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Oof. 7 tries to 2. Final score 14-50.
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I don’t think Bristol were necessarily terrible – they seemed to play better than last week, against Newcastle – but Exeter seemed to be on another level. More controlled, more organised and more creative.
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yippee!
Exeter are a very fit side (a Baxter priority) and it reaps its own reward.
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Ticht, that Lions side is useless. Embra will put 50 on them. When they playing?
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Oh. Oops! 🦁 🦁 🦁
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England steamrolled over Fiji this morning. 19-84 the final score. Aus looked good in the first half, but two yellow cards and better fitness from NZ turned the tables – 17-41.
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Refit, France also outclassed the Boks 40-5. Our women’s rugby side has a long way to go to being competitive.
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In the other world cup warm up match England battered Fiji 50-0. Lots of plaudits for the 6ft 7 winger Dom Young, currently playing in the NRL for Newcastle Knights. He was described by the commentator Eddie Hemmings as “not English in the strictest sense of the word” because he also qualifies to play for Jamaica. Rather weirdly he sounds very much like he comes from Huddersfield, where it turns out he was born. If he carries on like this I can imagine some interest from RU in a cross code switch. Here is some stuff if his from down under
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We should have out 50 on them Deebee, we coninually shot ourselves in the foot.
Lions played very smart, for 60 minutes they disrupted the game and didn’t let Edinburgh get into a groove. When we did get going we looked like world beaters but managed to fuck it up one way or another
The Lions pounced (ahem) on their few chances and kept themselves in the hunt (ahem) they did this with good physicality at the breakdown, they were much more in the match for the last third.
Embra were pressing for the bonus point try and the win, but again we fucked it up, dropped the ball, Lions hacked through and got the penalty after the long chase.
They converted to put themselves in the lead and saw out the last couple of minutes with pick and goes from the kick off.
They were due their wild celebrations at the end, the out thought and out fought a team who had all the flair but no brains.
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I don’t know if anyone is familiar with Ephemerid, who used to post on the Guardian, but she had some horrible news yesterday
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Oh hell, Refit, that is terrible. Ephemerid is another of the really good ones.
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It’s not often I say this, but ‘mon Leinster.
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So, Sharks have scored two tries since my last post.
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3-10 at HT at Parc y Scarlets. Cardiff benefitting from awayer ref.
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Leinster 35 – 27 Sharks on 61 minutes
Really good game which isn’t done yet
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Leinster turning the screw now, 42 – 27
69 minutes
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Sexton puss level has been set to pissed-off for most of the second half.
He scores a lovely dink-through try
49-27
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Sharks score another individually brilliant try
49- 34.
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van Rensburg sees red for a high tackle, Leinster score another
54 – 34 to the Dubs
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Cardiff win 10-16, with Scarlets getting a man red-carded in the 77th minute.
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richt, mo-in tae fuck Glasgow
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Good lord, he’s lapsed into incomprehensible Scots.
It’s Ulster up next!
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TRY Marshall in the second minute!
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Cracking start from the O’s. Weak side out too.
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TRY Andrew! (7th minute.)
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They haven’t even had to do anything, the 5m lineouts have both been absolute gifts. To be fair the most important thing about this game is that any interest in it is over before Strictly finishes and I have to put The Little One to bed, but more than seven minutes would have been nice. Would have expected half an hour.
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Uh-oh, Marty Moore going off for an HIA.
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CMW – well, Morgan has just scored one for your side. You never know!
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O’s have a chance to get back in it.
Finally got the penalty after the third obvious offence in that passage of play.
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Vermeulen’s got over the line, but I don’t think he’s got it down.
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Oh, it was Timoney, not Vermeulen. But not grounded.
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Looks like no try. Very unlucky though. Ulster make so few mistakes in possession, more tries will come.
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TRY … some Ulster player! Wrestled over under the posts.
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Is this the first scrum?
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Not sure about kicking that pen. We’re on to concede about 60 points here so need 7 or 8 tries of our own really.
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Missed a bit, then … Marshall again!
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I missed a try, cos Ulster have the BP one now.
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If you missed it then Ulster blew a try of the same kind as all the other ones and then scored one.
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You didn’t miss a try – 2 at the start, the one where you didn’t identify the player and that one just then.
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Oh yeah, you’re right. I struck off the un-awarded one twice in my heid.
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Madigan is down and doesn’t look like he’s moving, but play carries on….
Oh, they’ve finally stopped it.
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Okay, he is awake.
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He might actually be okay to continue. Fell over a ruck.
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