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 
Slade, so happy you’re up and about! Keep on walking.
On Owen Jones, I’ve always felt that he buys into the hype around him for too much. As a young firebrand fresh to the Graun, people loved him, his energy and his fearlessness. I think he’s a bit lost now and tries too hard.
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Nick Evans is to be England’s attack coach for the 6N.
He will re-join Quins after the tournament.
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It’s going to be interesting to see who is / is not rated by the new England coaching set-up.
Has Borthwick inherited a fixed squad or can he pull in / drop whoever he likes?
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I think Jones is right to try and hold Starmer’s feet to the fire. The man has already broken every pledge he made to get elected leader and now all he’s promising is more austerity and private businesses taking up more state contracts.
He can’t even bring himself to express support for the nurses, rail workers and Post Office workers, fighting for better pay in one of the largest cost of living crises, in living memory.
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Munster under tremendous pressure from he Lions scrum
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Munster 5-3 up in slightly tricky conditions! Lions monstering the scrums and make it to within a couple of metres off the break. They get the penalty 5m out and opt for the scrum. Fumble it, but get another penalty and another scrum. It’s so cold my feed has frozen.
Lions with another penalty 5m out. When does the warning/card come?
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Munster defence is good enough. Penalty and clear. Lions hoist it back down to the 22. They spill it, Munster make yards and eventually have a penalty 30m-odd out. Go for the corner. Lineout good, but Lions defending well. Eventually Munster break the line and squirrel it over!
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Conversion is good! 12-3. In these conditions, you simply have to score when given the opportunity. Think this could get messy for the Lions. Not sure they can play these conditions.
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You’d have to think this wind is worth at least a dozen points, if Lions don’t get a good lead going into the break it’s going to be a long second half for them
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I like Jack O’Donoghue, he gets through a lot of work
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Lions lose the attacking lineout and Munster clear. Lions come again. Knock on again and Munster boot it downfield. Lions return it and Munster start building the phases. Distinct difference in handling quality.
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Ticht, most of these guys have never played in conditions like this, so not expecting anything other than a comfortable home win.
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Other than the scrums, the Lions looked pretty clueless for most of that. Lineout was messy, handling poor, whether short or spreading it and tactical kicking off the mark. Munsshould stroll this in the second 40.
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Bulls 17-14 up against the Dragons at HT, but apparently let the Drags back into it in the last 10 or 15 minutes. Lots of moaning/gloating on SA sites depending on whether you’re in Pretoria or not!
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The Lions tighthead has had a good Christmas
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Fuck it! Lions with an overlap in the 22 and spill the ball! They’ve started with purpose, but execution again letting them down. Munster surge forward showing how to keep the ball in these conditions. Eventually crash over, but ref rules it was held up.
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Christmas prop seems to have flopped onto a turnover! He’s got apples…
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Well that was coming. Munster camping in the Lions den and after a few phases Patterson scampers through a gap to score under the posts. 19-3 with plenty of pain to come.
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More Munster monstering, but the Lionscturn it over and get into the 22! Not their own! And then cough up a penalty.
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Bulls now 24-14 up. Getting a wee bit testy by the looks of it.
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Is the Munster scrum generally this crap? They’re getting stuffed. Not that it matters when the Lions can’t string one pass together. FFS!
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Bismarck steams over from the maul to put the Bulls 29-14 ahead.
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You have to wonder why the Lions don’t keep going at the Munster scrum to get a player binned
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Ruan Smith into the Lions front row. That takes about 25kg out of the pack! Still get the penalty though. No idea what the score is having flicked over to the Bulls for a bit.
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Great try! Albeit crap defence. Lions go for the cheeky crossfield kick and only succeed in giving it to Shane Daly I think who jinks and swerved through half a dozen sets of flailing arms to score!
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Bulls win in Newport, Lions falling apart in Cork. All over. Easy in the end for Munster. 33-3
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How does Farrell not get blown for a shoulder to the head there? Absolutely fuck all attempt at a legitimate tackle.
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16-all between Glos and Saracens into the last minute. Sarries on the attack. Glos holding them back… but a drop after the hooter and Sarries take it 19-16! Farrell, with what looks like tender ribs, still knocks it over! Surely he’s nailed on for the England 10 jersey? Or 12?
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Unbelievable. Farrell pisses and moans all match at the ref, as a result Dixon goes easy on Sarries, and Farrell drops a shoulder into the chin of the Glaws sub. TMO refers it, Dickson ignores it. Clear red all day all season for anyone else. Farrell still on the pitch and squeezes a drop goal in the red to win it. Dick.
Lets see what the citing comissioner says, for a guy with a history of cheap high shots I bet he walks away scot free, and starts at 10 for the first game of the six Nations. I ‘ve got a tenner that says that the first time a ref will actually have the balls to red card him will be at a crucial stage of a knockout game at the world cup, probably 5 mins into the final against France.
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SBT, wholly concur on everything above except the England-France Final!
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At the time I pondered what the sanction would have been if it was Butch James, instead of Farrell.
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Still mad about it. Morning review, shoulder to chin with absolutely no attempt to wrap or tackle. Also funny how every time he nails someone, he instantly manages to hobble about in serious pain but recovers instantly. Glaws had him rattled all game. Of the two captains on the pitch last night, there is only one I would have playing for England. Ludlow was immense. At one point, he made three tackles in the space of about three seconds.
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Dickson’s not had the best couple of weeks.
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Refit @17.35 yesterday: yep. The Cat has it right.
Now here’s where Ulster lose to Treviso.
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Not yet! TRY O’Sullivan. But there’s some checking.
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Looked like there might be some blocking, but it was chiefly by the ref and the try is awarded.
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Treviso even things up.
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And they score again! Quite nicely.
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17-10 at HT with a penalty each.
Treviso playing some nice running rugby here and there, and could quite possibly have got the BP try in the first half due to Ulster fuck-ups.
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TRY Herring! (At last.)
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Cooney misses!
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Well, Treviso have a penalty and now another try. Told you we’d lose.
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TRY Lowry! Is it too late? Probably.
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28-22 with Cooney’s conversion. There is hope.
But Refell’s gone off injured and I’m not sure what replacements we have left.
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Warwick (a prop) on for the back-rower.
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Penalty try for Ulster as they’re maul’s brought down! Yellow card to come. That actually puts us in the lead.
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But now Treviso have a kickable penalty.
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It goes in off the posts! Treviso now 2 points ahead and 2 mins to go.
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Mateo Carreras is currently taking Tigers to pieces all on his own. Scores his hat-trick try on 38 mins (could have had 4, but for an unlucky bounce). 28-5
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Ulster nearly get there, but it gets knocked on just short of the line. Seconds left on the clock, so there’ll be a scrum.
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