Being short of time as I’m travelling tomorrow, I have shamelessly stolen Deebee7‘s prognostications.
But first, I’m sure we can all rejoice that Stuart McCloskey has kept his starting place on the Ireland team with Aki relegated to the bench.
Your results for the weekend:
Tonga v Uruguay: Tonga by 14 – Tonga are enjoying playing against Spanish speaking sides, and will dish the pain once again!
Italy v South Africa: South Africa by 4 – Boks have had two narrow losses and will look to get their tour on the board, with four straight losses for the two sides so far. Bench to haul them over the line.
Wales v Georgia: Wales by 19 – good win for Wales last week and they’ll look to build on that (and cement their place in the 6N at Georgia’s expense).
Romania v Samoa: Samoa by 6 – just because I don’t have a clue, but Samoa seem to better at the moment.
Scotland v Argentina: Argentina by 3 – Did Scotland blow a gasket against the Kiwis last week? Argentina have some good scalps this year and will look to take a Scottish one on their own turf.
England v New Zealand: New Zealand by 9 – don’t think it’ll be a shellacking, but the Kiwis are cruising this November tour after a dodgy start against Japan.
Ireland v Australia: Ireland by 8 Aussies are one from three, but all their matches have been single point affairs so far. Ireland will put a bit of distance on the scoreboard, but not that much.
France v Japan: France by 24 Japan won’t be as bad as they were against England, but they also don’t have the ability to step up and close the gap that much either. France for win 13 on the trot and getting within touching distance of some serious records.
Onna telly this week
Friday 18th November
| Sale v Harlequins | 19:30 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 19th November
| Italy v South Africa | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Wales v Georgia | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Scotland v Argentina | 15:15 | Amazon Prime |
| England v New Zealand | 17:30 | Amazon Prime |
| Ireland v Australia | 20:00 | Amazon Prime |
Sunday 20th November
| France v Japan | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
Ovally Balls 
Beirne was not far off being a flanker who happened to play second row when he was making his name at Scarlets, certainly turned enough ball over to see it that way.
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Trying to think of players from further back. Benazzi definitely though might have played 8 more than 6 when he wasn’t in the second row, not sure. Mark Andrews probably the same. Nimble Phil moved around between rows for Wales. Later on was Chabal a lock playing back row or the other way round? I think maybe the latter.
Not a huge number of candidates jumping out at me from internationals even though it feels like it’s something quite common and ‘always’ has been.
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It would be nice if Wales were better than they are.
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Lawes may be part of the problem. He has done it so successfully that Eddie seems to assume that you can just throw any old lock into the mix and they will go well. Mostert looks good there too, not sure about Barrett. However, you have to consider who else is in the back row . A misfiring Curry and a Billy V who is solid but not pacy leaves us with a slow backrow to arrive at the breakdown. England have been behind the game here for a few years, I think of Curry as a 6.5 more than an Underhill type 7. Always helps to have a jackalling hooker in the mix as well, and a lot of teams seem to have a centre who is a pretty decent breakdown guy too. England don’t. We have been getting slow ball for a while and Youngs usually cops the blame, but Scotland seem particularly good at targeting England here, but most decent sides seem to have worked England out, and get quick ball against us while slowing ours down. Aaron Smith seems to be able to arrive at a ruck and pick up up a lovely egg sitting on top of a clean nest, whipping it out whereever he feels is appropriate, Any poor England 9 seems to have to spend several minutes digging away to find it buried in the mud and tangle of legs.
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@SBT – You’re absolutely spot on. The problem is that EJ has been regularly playing people out of position for years, partly due to this misguided notion of ‘total rugby’, partly due to favouritism, and partly due to thinking that e.g. an outstanding 14 is better at 15 than a very good 15, all the while completely neglecting attention to the jobs that need doing on the pitch. The lack of rucking centres or jackling front 5 players is an absolute case-in-point.
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Ben Earl is one of the best players in the Premiership but. he’s not getting a game for England, it would seemingly take a huge shift in mindset for Eddie (“Eddiot” elsewhere) to pick him.
The idea of playing a lock at flanker isn’t a new one, and Scotland do it too with Sam Skinner, but going back a bit we did it the other way, playing the likes of Ian Paxton and Derek White in the second row in order to get as quick a pack as possible
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Our Terry
Here’s one from / for your scrapbook:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/29/trevor-beales-hebden-bridge-lost-musical-son
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I feel it is pointless debating EJ’s dos and don’ts now. The situation is beyond farce.
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@slade
Hebden Bridge is one of those places that never ceases to amaze me. The way it’s turned into a kind of Pennine Brighton for no apparent reason is fascinating. The article reckons Todmorden has gone the same way but I don’t believe that.
Anyway I listened to a couple of Trevor Beales songs and it’s quite good. Nice spot
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I think Conor O’Shea’s been at the hallucinogens, looking at the ideas he’s proposed
https://www.rugbydump.com/news/sin-bin-power-play-proposed-by-rfu-along-with-other-huge-reforms-to-the-domestic-game/
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Refit – that’s absolute bullshit.
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The thing that strikes me is that the RFU basically gave Eddie a free run up to this RWC. So the things he doesn’t care about really (AIs, Calcutta Cup even the 6ns) are just experiments for a high risk strategy to get Eddie his win.
I buy Squidge’s theory and analysis on what they are trying to do. But it’s not a given that we’ll win and a shite 4 years for the fans who have to put up with the crap results.
It has also changed the culture of the team. Players pass off losses as ‘part of the journey’. Compare that to 2016 where every game was a must win.
Eddie is a very capable coach* but he needs to be reigned in. Interim results matter, fans paying a shit ton of cash to go to Twickers matter. And that needs managing by the RFU.
* Bizarre selections aside.
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Also, that substitution thing. Does that mean if you take off a prop they get to sub on another prop? Does it work like that for other positions? Scrum half? Hooker? Etc.
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Last time I went to Hebden Bridge I was bowled off my pads first ball and then when I bowled my first ball went for six into a chicken run, the squawking setting off a nearby donkey for full sound effects.
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On the lesbian potters side of the balance sheet the first time I went was to a poetry reading/book launch, self-publishing struggling but talented writers and all that jazz.
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I’ve never been to Hebden Bridge, but I’ve been to Goole.
Goole may not have the numbers in terms of lesbian potters, but…. actually no, I can’t really think of how it would beat HB.
Logistics! Yeah, I think Goole is big on logistics, being so close to Hull and all.
I played rugby with a guy from Selby, I don’t know that there is much left there, post pit closures etc.
The Trades Club at Hebden Bridge is pretty well known as a music venue.
That’s my penny’s worth
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I first learned of Hebden Bridge’s renaissance in a caretaker’s office in Oldham in the early 90s. One of my friends who is heavily into antiques* and so would go up there occasionally told me wide-eyedly that Hebden Bridge was “full of lesbians”.
*it was his mate who has been on Antiques Roadshow twice. The last time they told him the ring (that he probably made himself) was a fake.
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MacCooney for SCotland?
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I once got hit on the head playing a forward defensive on the second (or probably third) pitch at Selby. And then broke a finger when another ball jumped and jammed my hand against the bat. Retired hurt, came back on again and got bowled by a half-tracker that shot along the ground. Their arsehole wicketkeeper said it was my batting not the pitch.
Never been to Goole (not sure why it’s come up in relation to Hebden Bridge). Have played Saturday cricket at a tiny ground in Burn, against horrible people in Drax and strange people in Burton Salmon.
Real Cricket was supposed to take place at Fishlake a couple of times, but strangely enough it was always too wet.
Pretty much all these places were somewhat mystifyingly part of West Yorkshire until the 70s despite all being in the southeast of Yorkshire when you look at a map. Hebden Bridge is in West Yorkshire and very much in the west of Yorkshire. Takes us longer to get there than it does to that place we go to near Rochdale, might as well be Lancashire.
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Slade – well, I wouldn’t blame him at all. He’s not been given the chance he very much deserves for Ireland.
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Oh hell.
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Selby, in North Yorkshire despite the best efforts of history and geography, seems vaguely OK when you pass through it, but I believe this is largely misleading. I’ve only been there in recent years to go to a sports centre that has a fun climbing wall for kids’ parties which is quite good and also possibly unrepresentative. We have a friend who was a GP there till recently and from what I can gather there is a lot of poverty for a small place and a lot of people are in very poor health as a result. I knocked around with a couple of lads from there when I was at university, knew them from a summer job, can’t remember if it was stuffing lavender pot pourri and scented drawer liners into plastic boxes or the university laundry with Joyce, Lynne and the Daily Express Crusader Crossword (Oooh Lynne, look at the stains on these sheets! Ooh Joyce, you’re making me blush etc). Anyway I remember one of them telling me Selby was the sort of place where people would cross the road to bump shoulders with you as an excuse to start a fight.
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CMW – I couldn’t help but picture Mark Selby doing all these things as I was reading your comment.
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@Thaum – he would be quite high on my list of Selbys. Definitely ahead of Selby itself and that third (or fourth) team wicket keeper, but behind Simon and Rob from Selby and de Selby from Flann O’Brien.
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I miss Yosoy’s ‘Top Fives’. Top five Italians was easily the best as it featured a Pembrokeshire ice cream seller that my mother knew and who I once met in one of the coast path carparks.
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So we could have a 32 year old scrum half? No thanks. Think we’re OK for number 9s. Price, Horne, White, Dobie – there may be others.
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“Never been to Goole (not sure why it’s come up in relation to Hebden Bridge).”
Yorkshire, albeit east and west ridings and all that
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“Anyway I remember one of them telling me Selby was the sort of place where people would cross the road to bump shoulders with you as an excuse to start a fight.”
My mate Trev travelled a couple hundred miles north to do that.
He was a bit of scrapper right enough
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BB, it is a bit risky on Cooney’s part, if he declares for Scotland he’ll be out on his ear at Ulster – they got rid of Pienaar sharpish and he was the absolute dog’s at Ravenhill.
I don’t know the contract situation, but Edinburgh have three scrum halves with Charlie Shiel starting to make a real mark .
I like Cooney and in fact I think he’d fit Edinburgh’s style. He is quoted as saying the move would make his Scottish dad really proud.
I don’t know, this seems against the spirit of the new laws, same with Dempsey, I would rather have Bradbury playing than him.
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My mate from Scunthorpe used to refer to ‘The Goole wastes’, I think as a desolate part of the country not to be visited.
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You can get a good pizza in Goole, my wife’s brother’s youngest daughter’s best mate’s mum is Italian and has a place there
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Rather by coincidence another of the caretakers from that Oldham office has cousins in Goole. He tells me that they pronounce school as “skoyal”.
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The plot thickens regarding Cooney.
Apparently, he and Sexton don’t see eye to eye and that is the reason he hasn’t been selected for Ireland for over three years.
You’d think everyone would be professional enough to get over a personal disagreement, but hey ho.
and of course this might be social media bollocks, but Cooney can’t seem to buy an Irish cap, no matter how well he plays for Ulster.
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Ticht – I’ve heard that rumour before, and it’s the only thing that makes sense.
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OT, yeah my sister-in-law and nephews and nieces all have a heavy duty accent.
I really like it.
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Thaum, it would be quite something if a chain of events led to Cooney lining up against Sexton in the pool stage at the world cup next year.
Who would you be rooting for?
:-)
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Embra team to face Munster tomorrow night
Schoey, Harrison, de Bruin, Hodgson, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Crosbie, Mata
Vellacott, Kinghorn, vd Merwe, Dean, Bennett, Graham, Goosen
Cruse, Venter, Nel, Sykes, Haining, Shiel, vd Walt, Lang
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Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo; Joey Carbery, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Jack Crowley, Patrick Campbell.
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Cooney’s view of Sexton might be measured by the aggregate of match fees he thinks Sexton has cost him?
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Ticht – happy to support Scotland in matches that aren’t against Ireland!
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Thaum, there are a few articles going around about Cooney, and apart from the comments that the law is an ass on this, and I’m drawn that way myself, this was meant to help PI nations compete at the RWC, there are a lot of comments on Cooney’s playing ability.
There are a good few saying that he is second only to Dupont, heady stuff, but he did make Ravenhill forget about Pienaar very quickly, and I really rate him.
“I’ll make the decision on my own terms and whatever I feel is right for me,” Cooney tells the programme, which airs at 10pm on BBC2 NI and BBC iPlayer tomorrow.
“Half of my family live in Scotland and my Dad’s a proud Scotsman.”
Cooney’s 11th and last Ireland cap came as a replacement against England in the ’20 Six Nations.
“I have to make sure everything is right with me with Ulster in terms of the contract and stuff like that,” he adds, having signed a new deal last December.
“I have seen people commenting – I can see other people’s perception of it but they’re generally people who have no connection or affiliation to another country.
“I can see both sides of the conversation but I won’t be listening outside. Either way I know my Dad would be immensely proud if I did play [for Scotland].”
https://www.the42.ie/john-cooney-switch-to-scotland-5934223-Nov2022/#comments
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Despite my Scottish granny I’ve always hesitated declaring my allegiance north of the border in case it prejudiced my chances with the England team. Now it’s clear you can play for 2 top nations I now declare myself available for selection by Scotland.
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I suppose some people might find it weird that Cooney and Dempsey have closer links to the Scottish team as they each have a Scottish parent than some of the current team do…..
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Donald Trump had a Scottish parent. It’s hard to believe, because the man has absolutely no concept of having the piss taken out of him.
But as his bid for Republican candidate doesn’t seem to be going well, he may be available for selection.
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I would like to call Donald Trump ‘pal’ shortly before nutting him. And I don’t have any Scottish heritage.
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Well, this messed up my brain those morning
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That is quite freaky. Same kind of effect that lightning fast hands through the Bok backline has on English rugby fans who assume the ball must have gone forward.
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According to the Daily Mail*, Warren Gatland is being lined up by England to replace EJ. Other contenders include Steve Borthwick, Ronan O’Gara, Scott Robertson and Heynecke Meyer.**
*I read an edited version in another paper, didn’t actually read the DM.
** May have added in that last name to create panic on the streets of London.
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Where are the ecstatic Scots?
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Well, okay, I realise that ‘ecstatic Scot’ is a bit of an oxymoron.
And also, Munster have scored at last.
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