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 
So, 3-5 at HT. Conditions are windy and wet.
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Now a red for Sarries! Ref’s original decision was no foul play as Sarries player was on his knees going into the tackle, but TMO saw that Earl hadn’t wrapped his arm in the tackle.
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Ulster maul over t’ line! Wasn’t sure we still could.
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I have not been paying proper attention. But it seems that Lowry’s gone off and failed an HIA, and we’ve just had McCloskey (!!!) playing 9 at a scrum. Cooney still on the pitch, so assuming Doak’s gone off.
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No, Doak is still there! Not sure what that was about.
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LI vs Saracens: Friends Reunited it is not!
Billy V should also have been sanctioned for folding up Jackson – folded in arm and led with the shoulder, at speed.
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An experiment that didn’t particularly work, I’d guess, but Ulster still in an attacking position in Coonnacht’s 22.
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Slade – ah, I’d let Billy V off with that one. Unusually for me.
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TRY Ulster! Usual hooker thing.
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Ref unable to spot forward passes.
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Blade scores for Connacht, thanks to ref blindness mentioned above.
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My sister doesn’t have BT Sport :(
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Had a chance to maul over the line again, but Connacht defence repelled. Am sure they did something dirty. ;-)
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My sister doesn’t have BT Sport :(
That seems like a pretty random comment, but filling in the blanks, I’d guess that you are currently staying with your sister.
But surely you have brought a device with your own access?
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Not missing a huge amount Refit. A bit of a scrappy game. Sarries coming back into it with a typical Maitland poacher’s try. 19-17 to LI.
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And in the most important game of the night, BB’s Glasgow lead Ticht’s Embra 13-7.
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I think BT Sport allows something like 5 logins from any device, anywhere?
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I think I can cast from my phone to the TV, but my brain stopped working after a 3 hour drive in the dark and rain.
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Ulster had a penalty and bizarrely chose to go for the posts rather than the BP try, Now they’re defending their own line and Connacht have breached that defence. Which could give Connacht a LBP.
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Refit – oh, nasty. We carry a laptop and HDMI cable around with us, just in case.
Oh, the Connacht try has been chalked off.
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Refit – you could log in on her telly or PC or whatever?
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Glasgow win!
And Sarries now playing against 12 – two yellows for Irish, one red each.
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Thank god for Ben Kay(?). He’s one of the few co-comms on BT that is *for* players getting penalised for smacking people inna head.
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FFS. Connacht have scored in extra time and if they make the conversion it will be a draw. Thought we’d managed to wrap this up.
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Thaum – BT app won’t let me cast to the TV – something about it not being secure (not sure if that was my phone or the app). I have my laptop, but no way to connect it. Watching it on my phone at the moment.
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Carty misses it, somewhat surprisingly!
We were shit. I mean, I expected us to lose, but we did that hope-getting-up thing for a wee while, then blew it.
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To be clear, we actually won, but it didn’t feel like it.
Refit – old-fashioned tech, such as a cable, is always good. :-)
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According to the commentators, that was our first win in the Sportsground since 2015, so maybe not so bad!
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Afternoon all! A very Merry Christmas to one and all! Hope you have a great holiday, don’t get horrified by the behaviour of THAT uncle (or alternatively aren’t THAT uncle) and feast festively!
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And the same to you, Deebs!
No uncles involved here; just the three of us.
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Merry Christmas to the Ovally Ballers
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Unless you don’t celebrate, of course, and then Best Wishes to you
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Have a good day everybody.
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Best wishes to all Ovallies!
Here’s to a more peaceful and loving 2023 – but I’m not holding my breath!
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It’s nearly sherry o’clock! Merry xmas everyone!
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Fuck me.
Watching a Tina Turner thing. We Don’t Need Another Hero comes on, and the blurb on the bottom tells us that the children’s choir doing the backing voices features one … Lawrence Dallaglio.
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Thauma, I thought it was quite well known? Or am I thinking of someone else?
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Everyone else has gone to bed and I’ve ‘stumbled’ onto the Sisters of Mercy. Quite magnificent. And the back up singers! Shit a brick! Who was it who told me about a doccie called 20 Feet from Stardom? These women surely a step or two closer
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Deebee – well, I had no idea! Probably the high point of his life.
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Belatedly, Joyeux Noël 🎅 to all of you, and a better health to Slade.
As the days get longer, I consider xmas to be the end of winter rather than its beginning (I know, I know, tell that to the North Americans) so am in great spirits. Many good books under the tree and some decent wine help too. And the 6N soon. What more?
Enjoy!
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Full-throated derby going on at Thomond Park tonight
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Ticht – good match, wrong result! The East Wales derby was more pleasing.
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Bristol scraped a wing against Quins, with a tap-tackle in the 78th minute saving the game.
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Bristol did well! Well ahead for most of the match.
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Belated Merry Xmas everyone. Hope you enjoyed the festivities!!!
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John Bird RIP
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I think the world would profit from a little bit less of Andrew Tate
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But then again Slade, we are witnessing the most amazing meltdown and series of dunks on him.
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