Ireland v South Africa
With Bundee Aki in detention for being a bad boy and Robbie Henshaw pulling a hamstring in training, Stuart McCloskey is at last getting a start in a big game. Fellow Ulsterman Flying Robert Baloucoune also starts on the wing, with Rob Herring and Kieran Treadwell on the bench. Springboks better be careful! Ireland by 5 (McCloskey try).
Italy v Samoa
Hard to predict as I’ve no idea what Samoa’s form is like, but they may benefit from some poached players returning. Draw.
Scotland v Fiji
Fiji are never a side to be discounted, but a strong Scotland will do the business, even without Finn’s flair. Scotland by 15.
Wales v New Zealand
With half the first-choice starters injured (and Halfpenny currently an injury doubt too), this can only go one way. NZ by 38. (It would have been 48, but talisman AWJ is on the bench.)
France v Australia
France have rediscovered Gallic flair and are currently a truly frightening side to face. They are also hosting the World Cup next year, and will want to put on a good display. Wobblies are wobbly. France by 15.
England v Argentina
Eddie Jones has named a tired side, albeit with Marcus Smith at fly-half and a new bloke. As astutely pointed out by the notablog denizens, Billy Vunipola is unlikely to last more than 20 minutes. Argentina by 2.
Onna telly this week
Friday 4th November
| Northampton v Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 5th November
| England v Canada (women) | 03:30 | ITV |
| France v New Zealand (women) | 06:30 | ITV |
| Scotland v Fiji | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Sale v Gloucester | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Italy v Samoa | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Wales v New Zealand | 15:15 | Amazon Prime |
| Ireland v South Africa | 17:30 | Amazon Prime |
| France v Australia | 20:00 | Amazon Prime |
Sunday 6th November
| Pau v Bordeaux | 14:10 | Viaplay (formerly Premier Sports) |
| England v Argentina | 14:15 | Amazon Prime |
Ovally Balls 
England decide they want to join in with this rugby lark. Helps if you have a scrum half that can run.
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Youngs hooked, van Poortvleit on and he scores with his 3rd(?) touch. Spots a gap by a ruck and pins his ears back.
23-24 56mins
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TMO ought to be looking at the second tackle as he scored then. Swinging arm to the head.
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Dab, you know Jonker only butts in with useless stuff.
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I’d have given the pen against Jack there tbh
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England back in the lead, pen for the Arg 1 playing the 9.
26-24 60 mins
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LCD tackle off the ball and Boffelli kicks the points. Arg back in the lead.
26-27 63mins
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Ludicrous from LCD there ffs
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Lead swings again, Arg playing the 9 again and offside.
29-27 67mins
Slade on for Manu
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Sinckler doesn’t roll from a tackle, concedes a penalty and Boffelli kicks the points.
29-30 70mins
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Every time England score they give the initiative back to Argentina! Brainless.
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Coles breaks the line, into the Arg 22. For a moment Eng have some momentum, but then it all slows down and he’s then penalised for crossing in front of Nowell.
*sigh*
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My dodgy feed just packed up. Didn’t think Argentina would still be in the game at this stage to be honest. They’ve played some good, smart stuff!
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Good defence by England, against the Arg maul, turning it over into a scrum.
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It’s a free-kick from the scrum and England run it. They get to half way before knocking it on. Arg gather the ball, ruck a couple of times, then boot it out for the win.
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Wow! Did not see that coming! Argentina have had a couple of fantastic results this year! Need to back it up though.
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Well done Argentina! Couple of bits of attacking class and a damn good kicker was enough to win. And Lavanini didn’t even get a yellow!
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@Deebee – they’re certainly helped by having a kicker on top form, Boffelli is the top points scorer this year.
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@BB – Lavanini didn’t even have any properly brainless moments, just normal things that any player would have conceded.
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England the architects of their own downfall, but Argentina definitely more purposeful in possession. Can’t see past three defeats this autumn on this showing. And Japan could give us a scare as well.
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Intelligent rugby beats dullards.
Youngs/Farrell/Smith axis looked clumsy.
Farrell stays for his kicking; Smith as sub
Youngs should be put out to pasture
Tuilagi to 12
A skill player at 13 (guess who)
The forwards are a separate issue – but today’s 8 looked constipated
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Maybe Scotland losing the series in Argentina wasn’t such a bad thing after all, considering what they’ve done since then.
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Intelligent rugby beats dullards.
Gonna be ‘interesting’ when the Boks and England clash.
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Interesting’s just been re-defined………………….
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One of today’s fun facts:- that was Farrell’s 98th game for England.
I wonder how many more?
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Think Farrell will be the linchpin of England’s 2031 World Cup side, so around 200 England caps by the time he takes over from his old man in Ireland.
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Saw that one coming, for once, as I watched some excellent games by Argentina in their SH competition. England must’ve been quite rusty though.
Was the game any good?
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@Flair I enjoyed the second half. Wonderful try by Argentina.
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Deebee, when Owen takes over from his dad, Sexton will still be playing.
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Deebee
Wow! Did not see that coming!
Didn’t read the ATL then? :-p
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Thaum – useless twats.
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Thanks Dab, will try to find it, at least the 2nd half.
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@Flair – Sexton and AWJ will be the core of the Lions side. Again.
@Thauma – I read. I scoffed. I laughed maniacally. Pass the sauce for the humble pie, please.
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Best try I saw this weekend has to be the one Oz scored vs France. Also Penaud’s. And the second try by Ireland was excellent as well.
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Now that I think about it, the last try by SA, with big Eben’s offload wasn’t bad either.
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Craigs – I didn’t see the match. Had to go to That London to meet a friend.
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Flair, the game was pretty poor, England look bereft of ideas, and have little attention to detail. Genge and Sinkler were excellent, LCD OK, second rows only OK, Maro pointless at 6, leaves us short a flanker. Billy V did some huffing and puffing and made a fair bit of ground, but does very little clever stuff. Youngs slow and predicable, 10-12 is a waste of time, not room for both Smith and Farrell, it leaves us short a centre. Wings OK, CJ pleasing Nowell will have better days, big Joe didnt put a foot wrong, and was one of the more competent , and Steward pretty OK too.
Argentina got were hanging on at scrumtime, but generally their 4-8 outclassed the home side, and Montoya probably shaded LCD. Hill and Coles are no Lavanini and Alemano, and their backs looked by far the more clinical in attack, when they did.
Ben Curry hardly got a mention.
Well deserved win, I thought, could have been more. Carreras S and Boffelli both all class. Hugely disappointed they didn’t take the last kick at goal, as I had em by 4 in the Superbru.
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@SBT
I really don’t think Sinckler was excellent (nor any of the other forwards).
Your comment triggers the thought that a major problem for England, despite all the appalling high 5s etc, is that they do not appear to be in pursuit of a team greater than the sum of its parts, more that individuals do their thing as individuals. Thus, repeated brain farts resulting in stupid penalties and no on-pitch leadership / team ethic.
This is all due to Jones:
– players out of position
– orcs not skill
– blame everything else except self
– etc.
To the sun with him.
The only players who can hold their heads high after that game are Steward, Cokanasiga, van Portfleit, Nowell (just about). Not necessarily excellent but did their best at what they had to do.
All the rest go to the naughty step.
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Finn in innit.
Hastings ooot oonit.
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………really ANNOYED!
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Really annoyed by Finn in ?
Thought Genge played well, Slade. Sinkler did have a penalty brainfart, but carried well, and did really good work in the set piece, which is what he is there for.
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I haven’t watched it. Not sure I will tbh. Not sure it is the end of the world either. Look who the Argies have knocked off (Karl) this year.
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Not the end of the world, Craigs, old chum. It is just another sad example of a disjointed and unimaginative performance by an England team that has been rebuilding under the same coach for several years, and manages to show not only zero progress, but actually a seemingly consistent regression. Much as I dislike Owen Farrell as a player, I would actually rather see him as a lone 10 than this experiment with Smith, which obviously isn’t working. Courtney Lawes has turned into a fine number 6 over the years, but Itoje does not look in the same mold, and Youngs and the Vunipola boys should have been put out to grass after the last world cup.
Boffellis try was a thing of beauty, it showed up everything that England are lacking currently.
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Afternoon all – just checking in after a rugby-packed weekend. Was up near Dublin for the Ireland/SA game but self and #1 son also went to the Ireland A vs NZ A game at RDS on the Friday night.
Ireland A were disappointing and no-one gained much from it. Looked like what they were – a scratch team. At one point we were treated to the U14 style spectacle of Casey trying to secure a ruck singlehandedly while the big lads stood off waiting for a pass they could crash on to.
NZ had the advantage of Damian McKenzie at #10. Ireland played Frawley at #10 – as mentioned before this is an experiment that seems to defy rationality. Leo and Stu don’t fancy Frawley at #10 and make no secret of it (he started a couple of URC games – but they bring on Ross Byrne at 50 – replacing Frawley or shifting him out to 12)
Major loser seems to have been Munster’s Gavin Coombes as Penny and Deegan were added squad for Fiji, but Coombes is let go home for the Munster/SA game this Thursday. Coombes didn’t play well – Ireland set up (As and main team) has locks and props as carriers with BR in wider channels. Munster play Coombes as a primary carrier off 9. Either he learns to play that game or he’ll be outside Ireland contention despite his importance to Munster or the game plan changes. Didn’t help that McCarthy (THL) went off early, so the 2nd rows were pretty lightweight, and we tried to play far too much off first phase.
On to Saturday – we toughed it out. Next time we meet, I’m guessing SA will have a better 9-10 pairing (or Willemse will have grown into the role). I felt a bit sorry for Willemse – hideous penalty miss and then a bad kick out in the full. It was obvious he was trying too hard…. Le Roux made a big difference
On our side, Sexton was quiet enough – Gibson Park made a significant difference when he came on. I thought McCloskey was great while he lasted – Baloucoune didn’t get much to do. 10/10 to van der Flier to have the smarts (and speed/flexibility) to detach from the maul and get the ball down.
We probably got the rub of the green in some of the scrums and some thought the pass from Bealham to Porter in the build up to the Hansen try was suspect – but ref was fairly close. Sometimes you get them….
Anyway, all water under the bridge now – and we look forward to the Munster / SA “Select” game on Thursday at Pairc ui Chaoimh in Cork – 40k to attend.
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40k to attend? Not sure I’d pay that.
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Not the end of the world, Deebs, old chum. It is just another sad example of a disjointed and unimaginative performance by
an Englanda Bok team that has been rebuilding under the same coach for several years, and manages to show not only zero progress, but actually a seemingly consistent regression.Should be a cracker at Twickers in a couple of weeks.
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we look forward to the Munster / SA “Select” game on Thursday at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork – 40k to attend
@deebee – luckily not 40k in euro…. the tix were priced to sell out. Basically, this is a dry run (well, we can hope) for a Heino QF or SF in this or later years.
Thomond will hold 26k – and last season we had to decamp to Aviva in Dublin for the Toulouse game (Ed Sheeran was playing in Thomond) – but we’d have probably sold out Thomond twice for the Toulouse match, so the plan is see how PuC works out.
Cork GAA are desperate for cash – completed the stadium in 2019 and went straight into covid – so they’ve a €100M hole in their accounts – big hurling matches would mean full houses but they had none in 2020 or 21, and this last season they weren’t up to much – so didn’t progress far in their championship. Their (gaelic) footballers haven’t been up to much either for a good few years and in any case a match vs Kerry – which would get 40k in Killarney wouldn’t get 20k in Cork. Kerry fans won’t bother to travel for a match which is a done deal (and the bloody parking) – whereas the Cork crowd will use any excuse for a weekend in Killarney.
So, everyone is on board – Munster sell 40k tickets proving they can sell out a large venue, Cork GAA get rent plus some %ge of the beer and food sales and the promise we might do it twice or three times a season – Heino knockouts, URC playoffs, a touring team, and maybe switch Musnter vs Leinster – which is always Stephen’s day (Boxing Day to the rest of ye) between Cork and Limerick.
Apparently, over 50 companies who had never done any corporate business with Munster at Thomond were in contact about boxes, advertising etc once the game vs SA was announced. CEO is a rugby guy but he’s big on sports sponsorship (worked with Leicester City in the past), so his role is to shift revenue from match day receipts (tix, beer, burgers etc) towards steadier streams – already it’s gone from 70% to 50%.
(Pawrk ee Keevf is close enough if you want to show your command of the Irish language)
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CEO is a rugby guy
Tut! CEO is NOTa rugby guy….
sad example of a disjointed and unimaginative performance by a Bok team
Get a better 9/10 and it would look a whole deal better – or keep playing Le Roux (or find an equivalent…easier said than done). Willemse is a good player but test vs World No1 team (yeah, amazing, isn’t it) isn’t the place to learn how to play 10. Nothing wrong with the pack, or wings. Midfield probably needs a creative 13 alongside de Allende – otherwise it’s strong defensively but not that creative.
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SBT – when I said I was largely happy with the selection I would have had a specialist no 6 (Courtney can cover this) and a different scrum half. I think Squidge is right in that they are trying to bed in a complicated new attacking system but I wonder if the players can do it. Re Faz and Smith playing together, I’m not sure they’ve actually played together that much?
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Thanks Trisk – fantastic insights there! A couple of questions – whose music was Ed Sheeran playing at Thomond? And if you wanted a massive hurling match, surely just get him in to play his own self-absorbed, soporific slop?
More seriously though, Covid induced or not, it’s a great lesson for other nations to see practical co-operation amongst sort-of competing codes to get the best result for everyone. And those Kerry fans sound like the prawn sandwich brigade at Old Trafford, snotty bastards!*
Practicing my pronunciation as we speak!
* How many toes have I trodden on?
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