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 
I’ve got an uncle managed to conquer Balsall Common so it can still be done.
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No sympathy for Wales I see. Well, I won’t forget to put roses on your graves:
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Best song about Wales ever
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Bravo Thaum.
and CMW posted a classic from my favourite Stones album to boot.
Well, that and Beggars Banquet
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My parents are pretty Tory tbh.
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Looks like Worcester have another do or die deadline, this time for Monday.
Wasps are going into administration, meaning automatic relegation.
Glaws, Newcastle and Ldn Irish are also struggling. (‘ Irish’s owner said he would sell for a quid)
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It would be so sad if Paddy Jackson were thrown on the street.
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“Wasps are going into administration, meaning automatic relegation.”
Can anyone afford to be promoted?
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@Thaum – Paddy Jackson will never be punished now, someone will pay him to play rugby regardless and if he gets his comeuppance through sheer dumb luck in some other way then that is all it will be, just as if he gets another 70 years of happiness. That’s the way the world goes round etc.
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I’m only putting up all time classics today. My brother’s been playing this one with my girls singing along for a good couple of years now and thanks to John Prine I can now always answer questions along the lines of “Daddy, why does he beat his old lady with a rubber hose?” with the song title.
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Thinking of buying a Volvo with the insurance money from the near-death experience. If it brings out my inner Swede to the extent that I drive it back up the A1 and conquer Richmond then I’ll be sure to let you know.
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Which is more or less where the old car died (though not me as it turned out). I’d be happy to bet that it’s not the Richmond that Craigs’ lot conquered, but the Tory thing is the same either way or we wouldn’t have had the entertainment of Rishi Sunak’s jokes.
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CMW – In Whitley Strieber’s The Hunger (the one the film is loosely based on), our heroine the vampire drives a Volvo because she’s safety-obsessed, what with only being able to die by accident.
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A Volvo would probably put win you some admiring glances in Richmond-upon-Thames to be fair.
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A newer one than any I’ll be buying might.
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Chapeau Thaum pour la sympathie pour le diable Gallois.
For some reason, the like button does not work on my phone.
Hope ThomP is fine.
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My first car was a Volvo. It was a fine thing. More powerful and far larger than I needed and it tore my bosses Ford Escort to shreds in the pub car park one night as left my shift.
I owned up to it too. Stupid bastard. Left that job shortly after.
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Tomp will be back hopefully. What about Chimpie? Has he finally succumbed to his own cooking yet? Or is he still trying to get some beer?
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Behold!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_440/460
What. A. Car.
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Obviously, when I say ‘it’ tore my boss’s car to shreds I mean that I reversed into both doors on the drivers side. No damage to the Volvo. A pure Viking of a car.
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@Craigs – That’s definitely a Volvo that looks like a Volvo.
I would have needed a literal as opposed to metaphorical tank to come off best in ‘the incident’. Still might go with the Volvo though.
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CMW – tanks always get a frown from people if I’m honest. Volvo’s are good. Which reminds me of this gem:
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When we used to hitchhike up to Glencoe and beyond for climbing purposes, we used to have a Volvo count, ie how many times did you get picked up by a Volvo driver.
The answer was always, “not many”
We’d toss a coin and see who got to stand first in the road, when you got picked up you always asked if they’d mind picking up your mate who was at least twenty metres down the road, if not you gave them a cheery wave as you passed by.
You seldom see hitch hikers now, if ever. I think the last time I picked up a hitcher was when I lived in France.
Anyway, I think the Volvo-driving demographic has changed a fair bit since then
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A former girlfriend of mine had a Volvo 340 – tank is putting it nicely… slow to accelerate, slow to stop when you braked, and the steering was so heavy it had the same effect as throwing weights around at the gym……..
Talking of bygone Swedish cars – I had a series of Saabs – 900 (absolutely loved it – tilt forward bonnet, flat loading bed – I could walk around inside the back with the seats folded down) then a new series 900 and then – when the children arrived – a Saab 95 estate.
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This is cool
150 years of Edinburgh Rugby
https://www.edinburghrugby.org/about-us/150-years-of-edinburgh-rugby/
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Very nice Ticht! And that breakthrough win can’t be too far off!
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Thought notabloggers would like the opening lines of Zoe Williams’ article today:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/22/uk-broken-12-years-starmer-tory-government-labour
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Are we all stunned into silence by the madness of the Tories?
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Eek, Darge injured.
Still scoreless.
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Or the Sharks win. Didn’t see much of it, but looked pretty helter-skelter the longer it went on.
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Didn’t watch that, Deebs, but have just looked at the score, and they seem to have just squeaked it.
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Josh Adams score for Cardiff!
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Yeah, Sharks were 28-3 up after 25 or 30 minutes and had to cling on in the end.
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Glasgow return the favour. 7 all.
Cardiff have a man in the bin.
Ooh, Glasgow have just scored again!
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… And again, somewhat dubiously.
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Glasgow get a man sent to the bin. Commentators think it’s lucky to be yellow (I wasn’t watching).
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Cardiff slot a penalty. 21-10,
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Glasgow with the BP try, even with their 10(?) in the bin.
Looking like a rout.
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Glasgow have been a lot better this week
Wee Dod Horne looks more like his old self, and that’s down to the pack actually turning up
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Yes, Glasgow are looking a lot scarier than they have for a couple of years.
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Dacey scores for Cardiff shortly after HT. Game maybe still on.
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Maybe not … Glasgow score again.
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Oh, that is a ridiculous decision (Cardiff yellow): the Glasgow player had ducked down into the tackle.
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Thaum, it’s all about head contact.
I think the Glasgow 10 was lucky to escape a red earlier, but that was a definite yellow for Cardiff
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This is not a numpty Cardiff side, Glasgow have done pretty well considering recent form
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Don’t agree, Ticht – from what I saw, it was the Glasgow player who made contact with the Cardiff player, by ducking down.
I have now lost interest in this unmatched match, mind you.
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I’ve rarely seen such an example of a homer ref. Embarrassing that he appears to be NIish.
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It was a clear an arm to the head as you’ll see, the authorities are trying to get players to tackle lower, the tackler didn’t lower his height.
There wasn’t any controversy, not even from Shanklin.
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Well, I wasn’t particularly paying attention, but from the replay I saw, the tackler was in position, and the Glasgow player suddenly ducked down in to the Cardiff player’s arm. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do about that.
Could be I got it wrong, of course.
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