The French are coming, you say? Jesus, Mary Joseph and the wee donkey.
Ireland vs France tomorrow is – in the view of many people – the match to decide the destination of the 6 Nations championship and put the winners on course for a Grand Slam. These are not so common in Irish rugby history to be sniffed at, so while other nations experiment with an eye on the autumn’s RWC, Ireland keep with the tried-and-tested and changes are very much enforced. Sheehan’s hard autumn and winter has finally caught up with him, so Herring gets a chance with the returning Kelleher looking over his shoulder. Bealham continues in place of Furlong.
Ireland had a nice tune up last week – as they say in GAA circles “to blow out the dirty petrol” in preparation for sucking diesel. The game vs Wales was won to all intents and purposes after 30 mins. Wales fought back after half time but Ireland – if not completely at ease – rode out the storm and closed the game out with a BP try. In many ways, reminiscent of Ireland’s trip to Paris in 2022: in command at half-time, France rode out Ireland’s 2nd half comeback and won comfortably enough.
France had a nasty scare last week and any complacency is probably now long dispelled – so we can assume no chance for Ireland to catch France cold. It could also be said that given the big changes in the Welsh panel that maybe the win last week wasn’t as impressive – did Gatland really decide to let this one go and give AWJ and Tipuric a farewell at home before making changes for the remainder of the tournament? Who knows? Maybe we overthink these things.
The big doubt about Ireland, expressed in many places, is that their “kryptonite” is a big pack. Leinster have come unstuck repeatedly against big packs (La Rochelle x 2 and Bulls) and the signing of Jason Jenkins was intended to give them a heavier presence. Ireland won out vs South Africa in the autumn, but they lucked out with SA’s choice of experimental halfbacks and no reliable kicker. So the jury remains out. Beirne and Ryan are not a traditional type of second-row pairing, and in many ways Beirne is something of a hybrid. Many would put him at 6, and have Henderson, who is more of a traditional second row – to bring heavyweight ballast. Of course, back row is where Ireland are pretty well stocked, so the question then becomes how to fit in a player with Beirne’s gifts into the team and not disturb a settled and effective backrow.
On the other games, Scotland followed last year’s win over England with a fairly dreadful performance against a Wales team that had been soundly defeated by Ireland – and here we are again. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, does it? Scottish fans will hope not and that they can build on the promise of last week. Huw Jones looks to back to the form of 2017/2018. Wales will be looking to start a bit quicker and maybe still be competitive at half-time. The regions had shown an upswing in the matches in the weeks running up to the 6N, notably the Ospreys in the Heino.
England vs Italy – England have tended to make hard work of this in recent years but they were forewarned by the Italy / France game. One would expect a backlash from last week’s defeat from England.
From the crystal ball of Mystic Triskaidekaphobia
Onna telly this week
Friday 10th February
| England v Italy (U20s) | 19:00 | BBC iPlayer |
| Scotland v Wales (U20s) | 19:15 | BBC iPlayer / S4C |
| London Irish v Northampton | 19:45 | BT Sport 3 |
| Ireland v France (U20s) | 20:00 | BBC iPlayer / RTÉ2 |
Saturday 11th February
| Ireland v France | 14:15 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 |
| Scotland v Wales | 16:45 | BBC1 / S4C |
Sunday 12th February
| Exeter v Sale | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| England v Italy | 15:00 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 |
Ovally Balls 
Number of games Danny Care has played for Quins.
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“Nobody’s going to win all the time. On the highway of life you can’t always be in the fast lane.” – Haruki Murakami
Wonder what the Cat (or his alter ego?) would make of that statement. Is this what we’ll be pondering when Ireland exit stage left in the QF later this year?
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Deebs – yes.
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Cat’s probably too busy shouting at imaginary trans people, I’m afraid.
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This is funny. Sort of.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/17/i-want-to-destroy-whatever-i-want-bings-ai-chatbot-unsettles-us-reporter
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Cue for a lively cheer me up song, that.
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Probly enough to send Cat into a spiral of The Fear.
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Cat is still gonna Cat:
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And in case you missed it:
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Thanks for those, Craigs! It had just occurred to me to go and look….
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Oh hell, we’ve got our catch-up match in SA next week without our internationals.
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HELP! Glasgae are cheatin’, mum: they’ve got a MacBeth!
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and here is the weather…tonight in Glasgow it will be pishing doon, as per
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Lovely here today: 16° and sunny, and nae wind to speak of!
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Well, not now, obvs: that was earlier. Still unseasonably warm and dry though.
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Scott Cummings right back into it after months out, three carries in the first minute
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Ticht. That’s because I’m not going. The last couple of games I was at Scotstoun for were dry. Mainly.
Anyway, ‘mon Ra Weedge!
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‘Mon Ulsteeeeeerrrrr!
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Did he ground that?
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Yes, he did! 5-5 as it’s not kicker-friendly weather.
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Someone made a comment at the weekend, about how bad the entire commentary team on ITV was (and it was). Ben Kay is doing co-comms for BT at the moment and it’s like a completely different person is talking.
It’s like ITV sucks the critical thinking and intelligence out of people.
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Could it be that he doesn’t have to continually say how wonderful England players are all the time?
That’s usually Lol’s job.
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Ugo’s still utter bobbins mind. BT can’t fix him
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BB – it’s not just that though. When he’s on BT, Kay actually brings analysis – explains why players are doing a thing, explaining tactics etc. All that just seems to vanish on ITV.
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Refit, I think the broadcasters want bias now, to play to their audience
It suck dug’s baws, as Sag might say
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The 6N broadcasters, I mean.
BT will have more of a rugby audience, but it still doesn’t negate all of the bias – Flatman is way over rated imo, he used to be good now he shouts for his favourites
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Doak with a pen in the 42nd minute: 5 – 8 at HT.
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Good kick from Doak there.
By the looks of the flags Ulster will have the rain in their faces in the second half
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If anyone wants in….
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Craigs – christ. No.
Flats can be quite funny. Stevie Ferris has improved a lot as a commentator; someone has clearly had a word about being one-eyed, plus time.
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Thaum, the bit that annoys me most about Flatman is that he’s held up as a scrum guru when the events that unfold before his eyes at a scrum bear no relation to what he says about them.
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I’ll take a Tichtheid’s word for it. :-D
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One of the players appeared to have a poo bag tucked into his sock.
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Toonie appears to be quaffing a Guinness in the stands.
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Ferris (I think it was) suggested that Toonie’s attending the match in order to evaluate Cooney’s fitness for Scotland. Cooney has just come on for Doak.
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To me the interesting thing about Cooney playing for Scotland is that his kicking frees Blair Kinghorn to just play
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Thaum, he’s more likely to looking at Scott Cummings who has been out for months, having been first choice in the Scotland second row
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Lurve the way the Glasgow players have a pink heart on their anuses.
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Ticht – yes, it was a bit of a joke.
The pink heart says LOVE next to it.
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Where else would they put it?
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Another ref would have given Glasgow a yellow for the number of penalties long before now.
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Another ref wouldn’t have given the number of penalties against Glasgow
:-)
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WHY OH WHY don’t we seem to be able to maul over the line any more? Goes for Ireland too.
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Glasgow’s kicking game has been really poor tonight, non-existent to poor
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Ticht – well, that other ref woulda been blind.
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This one certainly seems to be blind to Ulster’s “linespeed”
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FUCK! Glasgow have scored.
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That was Glasgow’s centre that took the lineout
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Ticht, speaking of linespeed, I’m sure France must be offside half the time. Particularly that Dupont.
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Thank fuck the conversion was missed. 10-8.
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