With a Welsh strike narrowly averted, minds can concentrate
In golf, the 3rd round is known as the Moving Day (or some such), when those in contention put down a marker, thunder up the leader board and peer imperiously down at the chasing pack before the Sunday finale. This Could Be That Weekend in the Glorious Six Nations! Northern Hemisphere rugby is in rude health at the moment, with Ireland France at the top of the global pile, Scotland playing their best rugby in years, Italy threatening to make the 6N a real thing and England and Wales rebuilding (apparently). It is a fabulous feast fit for a Fürst (yeah, stretching it, I know)!
Guinness Pie over Ossobuco alla Milanese by 18.
FD always blathered on about a return to the mean in rugby. Well, Ireland have made six changes to their side, but remain mean, rather than returning to it. Perhaps a little light in the front row, although that didn’t stop them from bashing France with barely a glimmer of a smile (unless they were laughing uncontrollably, just to tick all the Expro boxes, sans the jumps). Casting an eye over the side, there’s no real weaknesses at all and you’d expect that a settled squad with sprinklings of stardust and oozing all-round quality will have too much for an Italy side exposed by England last week. Italy have the capacity to play wonderful flowing rugby, but if they’re dragged into a dogfight, their bark is a whimper and their bite wouldn’t dent overcooked pasta.
Yorkshire Pudding over Leek Soup by 4.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood gave us the searing inshite that when two sides go to war, one of them will shoot and score. This match may well disprove that as stodge splashes into gloop. An England that managed to bully Italy off the park won’t have it all their own way against a Wales side looking to poke the blazers in the eye. Wales’ travails may soon be mirrored across the Afon Gwy with the looming threat of mass exodus (and not in a wonderful Bob Marley style) as cash-strapped English sides lose their stars. It won’t impact this weekend, although Tipuric and Faletau may do that in an effort to strangle any English ambition in the backs. Wales have 2 caps in the midfield (where’s Manu when you need him? Oh.) which could spell danger and have brought back a heap of blokes we all thought were out to pasture. No new coach bounce for them, or even a dead cat bounce. Just the sorrowful sound of soup splattering the sidewalk.
Coq au Vin over Neeps and Tatties by 8.
A rich and satisfying French dish to prevail over a Scottish offering still missing a bit of Haggis to round it all off. France were out-muscled and out-thought in Dublin a fortnight ago, but aren’t the first and won’t be the last to suffer that fate at the Palindrome against a mighty Irish side. It should be the match of the round, with both sides capable of scoring end to end tries; both with strike runners and support play that makes them dangerous from anywhere on the field. Scotland know that a Famous Win in Paris will put them tantalisingly close to a first Championship this century and even the possibility of the holy grail of a Grand Slam, albeit with Ireland still to come. Crunch time for them – can they keep their heads whilst all around them are losing theirs, or will the guillotine cut them down to size? France too know that a loss puts them out of realistic contention of retaining their crown and keeping the momentum towards the World Cup later this year: time for a splash of champagne, a slug of cognac and some (legal) magic potion to see off the pesky Picts.
The Gospel according to St. Deebee7
Onna telly this week
Friday 24th February
| Italy v Ireland (U20s) | 19:00 | BBC iPlayer / RTÉ2 |
| Wales v England (U20s) | 19:15 | BBC iPlayer / S4C |
| Bath v Bristol | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
| France v Scotland (U20s) | 20:00 | BBC iPlayer |
Saturday 25th February
| Sharks v Ulster | 12:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Lions v Glasgow | 14:10 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Italy v Ireland | 14:15 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 |
| Wales v England | 16:45 | BBC1 / S4C |
Sunday 26th February
| Exeter v Sale | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| France v Scotland | 15:00 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 |
Ovally Balls 
Italian intercept try!
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EXcuse me whilst I run into an opponent who is standing stock still and then milk a potential dangerous injury to y throat.
Not a good look
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Good half for the spectator – Italians please tackle in the 2nd half……………….
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Ulsterman Tom O’Toole has improved the Irish scrum.
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He’s also made a good turnover.
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He tackled his head then! How is that not a yellow??
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Because he’s an Ulsterman, and the ref would have to answer to Thaum!
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Aki knock that forward before scoring?
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You could tell by Aki’s face that something wasn’t kosher.
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Glasgow have scored 4 tries against the Lions!
Shame they’ve scored 5.
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Phew!
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That’s the killer try. Good patience and a wee bit of skill at the end.
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Hansen MotM? Are you shitting me?
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Don’t know who made that decision. Obviously not the ITV team, must have been the Italian broadcasters. I would probably have had Doris as MOTM/POTM.
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Yeah, the mister said Doris. You’ll have guessed who I’d’ve picked.
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Well, Italy gave us a proper fright there. They are great to watch.
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The Azzurri are getting better / smarter. Garbisi is more of an attacker than Allan -but needs a bit more experience / playing time, I think.
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Kate and William pretending to give a shit about Wales.
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Ha, I saw that, OT. At least they bothered to learn the words.
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Welsh tactic: just pull their pants down.
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Never mind the forward pass, eh?
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Every player being “the best in the world at x” for Danny Care it starting to get just a wee bit annoying.
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Oof, I felt that tackle on 1/2P.
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The one on AWJ was nasty too. Think he’s injured.
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I didn’t expect Italy v Ireland to be the much more exciting match today.
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Oh, that was horrible. Easy picking for LRZ.
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LRZ!!!! One bit of quality (following yet another mistake from someone).
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The Empire strikes back….
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Jiffy’s starting to get shrill, over the kicks to Stewart. It’s very entertaining.
Chaos machine on, in the centre, for Wales.
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Refit – shrill, but not wrong.
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If we lose it’s on Farrell. If he doesn’t kick his points what’s the point in him?
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Yannick Nyanga who comments for French TV just conclure that watching Wales vs England is like watching a bottom half T14 game. Can’t say I disagree.
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This is poor fare, the earlier game was much higher quality.
Italy are not far off.
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Nyanga was a terrific player
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This is awful.
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If this had been the first rugby match I’d ever watched, I’d probably never have watched another.
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I think Tompkins was unlucky there.
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I love the innovative England tactic, of giving it to a player coming at pace. Dunno why we never thought of it before.
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Farrell is not to blame for the poor quality of the match, but he has been pretty dire today, and not much better in the other games
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Well, a win’s a win. Best thing I can say is that England didn’t look panicked at all.
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Never looked like losing but made very hard work of winning.
Faz really off colour apart from his work at the breakdown (!); Slade quiet, Lawrence good.
Steward impeccable under the high ball (why keep kicking it to him?) and Malins and Watson o.k.
Forwards looking better as a collective.
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Jonathan Davies used the word “momentum” far too much today.
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Thought the ref in Cardiff had an excellent game, thinking about it. Probably the best rugby person on the pitch.
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It’s rare that Reynal gets a compliment
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A shit off. Loser being the most shit. Wales fits that description today but opinions/results may vary in the future.
I felt that we should have won convincingly but the team playing had other ideas.
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Stewart >>> Capuuuooowotzzooo and I don’t care about ‘opinions’.
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*Steward
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Only saw highlights this morning, but Italy-Ireland definitely a better match to watch. Saw the Lions demolish Glasgow through the bottom of a tequila bottle. Fuck, that stuff is horrible. Unlike the mighty Lions who were imperious, from recollection. Woulda thumped a full strength Leinster on that showing. Probably Ireland and France too.
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Would love us to win, but just can’t see it. Any sort of bonus point would be good though. Think it will be better match than the latter game yesterday. In fact I would be shocked if it wasn’t.
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