Onna telly forra next two weeks
Friday 21st April
| Cheetahs v Sharks | 13:30 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Pumas v Western Province | 15:30 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Stormers v Treviso | 17:30 | Viaplay Xtra / TG4 |
| Ulster v Edinburgh | 19:35 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Newcastle v Northampton | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 22nd April
| Lions v Zebre | 13:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Ireland v England (women) | 14:15 | BBC2 / RTÉ2 |
| Dragons v Scarlets | 15:00 | BBC1 Wales / Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Harlequins v Bath | 15:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Bulls v Leinster | 15:05 | Viaplay Sports 1 / TG4 |
| Scotland v Italy (women) | 16:45 | BBC iPlayer |
| Ospreys v Cardiff | 17:15 | BBC iPlayer / S4C / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Sharks v Munster | 17:15 | TG4 / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Gloucester v Sale | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Glasgow v Connacht | 19:35 | TG4 / Viaplay Sports 1 |
Sunday 23rd April
| Saracens v London Irish | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| France v Wales (women) | 15:15 | BBC1 Wales / iPlayer |
Saturday 29th April
| England v France (women) | 13:00 | BBC2 |
| Leinster v Toulouse | 15:00 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 / BT Sport 3 |
| Italy v Wales (women) | 15:30 | iPlayer / S4C |
| Scarlets v Glasgow | 17:30 | S4C / BT Sport 3 |
| Scotland v Ireland (women) | 19:30 | iPlayer |
Sunday 30th April
| Toulon v Treviso | 12:30 | BT Sport 1 |
| La Rochelle v Exeter | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Thanks Thaum, have a nice relaxing tech free holiday.
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Cheers, SBT!
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😂
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Happy holidays Thauma! Shame about Ulster’s result though.
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Navidi retiring because of a neck injury, shame, really liked his approach to rugby.
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Surprised he is 32, thought younger.
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Bummer
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Deebee – I happen to know that the match hasn’t taken place yet!
That is sad news about Navidi.
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Rebels are 24-12 up against the once-mighty Crusaders! Still 30 odd minutes to go though.
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24-26 with 15 to go and the Rebels have a man in the bin.
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27-33 with five to go. No idea what happened.
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Let’s find out
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Edinburgh hammering 🔨 Ulster, 5-7 afew minutes from the break. It looks all over for poor old Thauma’s mob. North Wales is probably the best place to hide out this weekend.
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Refit, so close until the 2nd half!
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Ulster are probably worth their lead at half time due to their “cute hoor” shenanigans at the scrum – if you get away with it then why wouldn’t you?
You have to smile at Ferris though.
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Newcastle scored a brilliant try through Radwan. I thought, how are they at the bottom of the league?
Northampton score 4 without reply before halftime. I thought, that’s why.
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Kinghorn throws a howler of a pass and Cooney runs in the intercept.
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I really should shut up: 18-7 to Ulster and on their way to 2nd spot and home knockout matches.
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Even Ferris says Ulster got away with a five metre forward pass.
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Sour grapes alert, the ref started out really well, consistent for the most part at least, for the last twenty minutes the decisions have all gone one way.
It’s very frustrating to watch.
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Doak just took out Boffelli and then the Ulster hooker kicked Duhan
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Jamie Richie carries the ball, he is hit in the tackle and the ball goes in the air, he pats it back to another Ed player who scores, the try is chalked off.
I mean what the actual fuck?
It’s just blatant now.
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Oof, Newcastle lost 5-66.
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What a lovely match that must have been at Ravenhill! The referee clearly did a sterling job.
It is just stunningly beautiful here, and there’s absolutely no sound apart from birdsong and sheep. Although the mister swears he heard an axe murderer in the woods last night.
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Point a minute in a pointless match in Pretoria between the Lions and Zebre. 19-15 to the ‘home’ side after 33 minutes. Scrapping entertaining or vice-versa. 19-20 as Gesi gets in the corner. Looked like a forward pass a couple of phases prior, but not given. Could be the angle of my computer screen.
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What were you doing wandering around in the woods last night?
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Worst crossfield kick I’ve ever seen – scuffed along the floor – Zebre defender misses it and Lions with the softest try of the season!
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Great continuity from the Lions after the hooter for a score under the posts! TMO is desperate to find something wrong, but it’s good! Zebre going to 14 for a blatant shoulder charge too. Only yellow. 31-22 at the break!
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Sir Les Patterson RIP
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Thaum, I know I’m the rugby supporter who cries wolf, but the game was tight last night, in terms of how it played out at least and I didn’t say anything here that Steven Ferris of all people hadn’t said in commentary, all bar one thing and in fact I made a mistake, it was Mark Bennett who was taken out with a torpedo shoulder, not Emiliano Boffelli. Bennett took no further part in the game.
Ferris did say that a pass that led to a sustained attacked from Ulster was a good 5m forward, he did say that the try which was chalked off in which Richie was involved should have stood for Edinburgh.
At that point we were still in the game and there was plenty of time left. Prior to that the hooker Stewart took a big swipe at Duhan van der Merwe’s legs as he attempted to touch the ball down over the line, Stewart made contact with vdM. vdM dropped the ball, but again Ferris was wondering why the actions of the Ulster hooker weren’t looked at.
I’m going to go on a flight of fancy and say that if the game had been played in Edinburgh, it could have easily ended up a penalty try and a card – we get homer refereeing too, we got it last week against Ospreys.
Having said that, a team has to play well enough to take the officials out of the equation, and having started very strongly we did our usual in taking the foot off the gas and making silly errors at crucial points in the game – getting turned over a few metres from the line a couple of times and Blair Kinghorn throwing the most incredible intercept pass to Cooney for him to score, incredible in that you wouldn’t expect a school third fifteen fly half to give that pass, we only really have ourselves to blame.
Good teams win when not playing particularly well and bar one lovely move where Ulster opened up the Edinburgh defence, that was Ulster last night.
Good luck for the remainder of the season.
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RIP Edna and Les.
I remember something that really made me laugh on the old blog, it might even have been during the Grauniad days.
There was an Ozzie guy having a barney with Cat and Cat linked to pic of Sir Les Paterson on the toilet.
It doesn’t sound at all funny written like that, but it was at the time.
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That is hilarious, Refit.
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It’s the moment of confusion, then realisation on Dermot’s face that does it (his co-presenter’s scream also helps).
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Yeah, her screaming is very funny.
I also liked, “We’re all in showbusiness” and Dermot’s reply :-D
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Wow. Bulls thumping Leinster! Have Leinster sent their schoolboy team over?
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Deebee – I’m not Dominic Raab!
Ticht – I was being sarcastic about the ref.
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As things stand, I think Connacht have to win in Glasgow this evening to make the Big Cup next season.
Cardiff will top the Welsh shield
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I switched over to watch the denouement of Sharks v Munster and the Turnips have levelled the match, Murray scoring from all of about three inches – he just picked it up and popped it over the line
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Great comeback from Munster, they probably should have won it in the end, it was so close.
22 all
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So Munster will go to Glasgow for the 1/4 final
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Play offs
Leinster v Sharks
Ulster v either Connacht or Bulls
Stormer v either Connacht or Bulls
Glasgow v Munster
that’s where we are, if I’ve got it right
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Blimey Glasgow started quickly, Huw Jones goes over after about a minute
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The Wesht strike back immediately with a scrum penalty try
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Glasgow with a 2 point lead after 50 minutes. Just tuned in.
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Would bloody Connacht JUST GO AWAY!!!
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Phew. By the sounds of it, we were luckty to have 15 players left on the pitch by the end. Not through ill discipline, through injuries. We had scrum halves playing on the wing, back rowers playing in midfield. Just hope we get some of those injured back for our next game, which is the Wee Cup semi final at Scarlets.
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BB, Connacht never gave up, they were well int he fight right to the very end. If the result had gone the other way there would be few complaints. It was a very close match.
Some on the Wedge forum are saying that Glasgow got very lucky with the last play that finished the game, that Cummings should have been carded and a penalty awarded. I thought that, live, it looked like he’d come through the middle of the maul near the Glasgow line.
I’d have to see it again
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Apparently, we’ve won the Scottish-Italian Shield!
Yup, me too.
(For the Scottish or Italian side that finishes highest in the URC). Who’dathunk that after Benetton beat us on the first day of the season. Franco Smith’s worked wonders.
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BB, each country has a shield, we share ours with Italy because we only have the two sides each.
The shield matters because the top of each goes into the Heineken Cup, no matter where they finish in the league, so for example, Cardiff will be in the big cup next year despite finishing tenth in the league
There are other criteria, such as the Wee Cup, if someone wins that then I think they get into the Heineken Cup, provided they hadn’t already qualified, if for example Scarlets win it, they displace Sharks, who finished 8th on the log.
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