First a nod to the retirees. *Nods*
Tonight we have the Little Cup Final, Glasgow v Toulon. The French side are half-way down their league table while Glaes are fourth in the URC, and have home advantage … but I think it will be a close-fought affair all the same. The Home of the Big Yin by 4.
Then tomorrow there’s the Big Cup Gladitorialism of Leinster v La Rochelle. Ronan O’Gara will be rubbing his hands at the prospect, especially after his club side beat the Blue Meanies last weekend in the URC semi-final. But Leinster have made 12 changes to the B-team they put out last week – mostly to concentrate on this Cup, one assumes. BUT Sexton is still injured, which could be a big factor; one of they Byrne brothers is in instead.
It’s a tough one to call too, but I think home advantage will tell again. The Home of Leopold Bloom by 5.
Onna telly this weekend
Friday 19th May
| Glasgow v Toulon | 20:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 20th May
| Leinster v La Rochelle | 16:45 | ITV1 / STV / BT Sport 2 |
Ovally Balls 
Something I forgot to mention in my rant about the state of the UK was the money laundering, no one really knows how much money is being washed through London, but some estimates are in the region of half a trillion pounds, some think it’s much more.
It would be naive in the extreme to think this sort of wealth doesn’t buy influence.
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Ticht, a quick Google shows that the two largest money laundering countries are the USA and UK.
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Anyone want to know what 125 year old army rations taste like?
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Anyone still happy to use Facebook, or indeed WhatsApp or Instagram?
Unfortunately for me, a huge amount of business is done via WhatsApp in Africa, so I have limited choice at that level, but also obviously use it a lot socially. I go onto Facebook (under duress) about every three months and don’t use Instagram at all.*
* I meant to post this yesterday, but got sidetracked. By Facebook and Instagram. Evil bastards. Like Irish 10’s.
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Refit, the ratpacks we used to get in the army here may well have been from that vintage! The biscuits could aid you in hand to hand combat and the condensed milk had the density of a black hole. That said, my initial training base in Cape Town had a fabulous mess, with the chefs going for refresher courses at the Cape Sun, a 5-star hotel, every six months or so. Grub was excellent. When I got sent to
CoventryPretoria and Defence HQ, the food was abysmal; I think the bloke in charge of the mess was on the take and buying expired food and pocketing the difference. We made up for it by buying pizzas laden with garlic and anchovies and eating them in my office with the windows closed and finishing off with cheap cigars, so that the smell would waft into my colonel’s office and piss him off.Not exactly Victoria Cross level reminisces, I give you that.
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Somehow, eating that ration didn’t hurt Steve (who made the video). Apparently he did get floored by some Ukrainian ones from this century – there was a full year after that one.
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100 days to the start of the World Cup! Coincidentally, I’m wearing a jersey that I bought in Paris during the 2007 edition. Good omen for the Boks! Can’t wait for it all to get going!
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Deebs, I’m looking forward to the Rugby Championship this year as it will give us some idea of where the big three sit, plus I don’t think Argentina can be discounted.
From the draw for RWC England will most likely play Wales in the quarters with Australia coming up against Argentina. After that the second side of the draw gets harder as they meet winners from pools A and B, probably two of France, New Zealand, Ireland or South Africa.
I think anyone who writes off Eddie Jones leading Australia is asking to lose their stake. England have a huge job to get themselves from where they were in the 6N to contesting the final.
Of course I’d like to think Scotland have a chance of making the knockouts, one of the consequences of the URC is that the Boks perhaps don’t carry the same mystique as our players have become familiar with theirs.
I like the Boks’ squad, they have a good balance of the piano players and piano shifters, perhaps they are a little light in the world class 10 stakes – who will start for the Boks, Pollard? Libbok?
They should field Steyn against Ireland, Steyn & Sexton would have a combined age nearing 80 I’d guess.
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Deebs, I’m looking forward to the Rugby Championship this year as it will give us some idea of where the big three sit, plus I don’t think Australia can be discounted.
FIFY.
I think our squad is setting up nicely, with some really decent outside backs to complement the big boys up front. Having Lukanyo Am back at 13 will be great too; he leads the defensive line and is a great distributor as well. My guess on 10 is that Pollard will start – it’ll be Faf and Pollard at 9 & 10, barring injuries, which hasn’t been the most attacking set up in the past. Libbok will probably start the ‘B’ games, with Damian Willemse pencilled in as the alternative 10 should Pollard break down during a match. Willemse covers 10, 12 and 15 and wing at a push, so will be in the 23 somewhere.
Big questions also as to who the 3rd hooker will be (Dweba has the inside lane at the moment, but he’s inconsistent not always 100% there), with Marx and Mbonambi the incumbents; second row will be interesting to see who gets the nod behind Etzebeth and de Jager, with RG Snyman now fit and playing great rugby, Mostert the kind of bloke who keeps going for 80 minutes, Marvin Orie back in contention as well and a couple of others to consider. Would Mostert be selected more as a blindside flank, though? If so, is there still room in the squad for PS du Toit? It’s almost certain that Siya will recover in time to lead the side and that both Duane Vermeulen and Jasper Wiese will go as number 8s, leaving only two slots for other loose forwards – with Kwagga Smith, du Toit, Mostert, Deon Fourie, the du Preez twins and a few others to battle it out for those slots.
Much to ponder!
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Deebee, I know he’s another for the Dad’s Army XV, but Fourie has been in excellent form this season, imo. He’s not the hulking backrower we’ve some to expect from the Boks though, but I guess neither is Smith.
Dayimani has blown hot and cold, at his best he’s special but he’s gone missing in some games. Roos has fallen away from being the rising star a year ago
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Ticht, agreed wholeheartedly – Roos in particular needs to sort out the top two inches and stop trying to be a tough guy. He’s in very similar territory to where Wiese was a couple of seasons ago. Since then, Wiese has focused much more on his discipline and his form has improved significantly with it.
It’ll be interesting from a rugby philosophy perspective how the Boks go about their team selection in the back row. Kolisi will start (fitness assumed), along with Vermeulen (or Wiese), leaving one other spot. Do we go with a Fourie or Smith to contest the breakdowns and provide a link forward from the outset, or with a PS du Toit or a du Preez or Mostert to add more physicality to the back row? Not sure that with the likes of Marx, Kolisi, Vermeulen/Wiese, Etzebeth and de Jager that you need another big ball carrier, but that is the Bok way, I suppose. Would be great to see one or both of Kwagga and Fourie on the park in the last quarter to really up the ante!
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Rhys Webb bails out of Wales!
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Yeah, “They” are saying there are some really big issues in the Welsh camp.
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Ireland WC squad:
Forwards: Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Gavin Coombes, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Joe McCarthy, Peter O’Mahony, Tom O’Toole, Andrew Porter, Cian Prendergast, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Tom Stewart, Kieran Treadwell, Josh van der Flier.
Backs: Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Ross Byrne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Keith Earls, Ciaran Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Stuart McCloskey, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash, Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Garry Ringrose, Jonathan Sexton, Jacob Stockdale.
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Looks weak etc.
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Bazball up and running at Lord’s! England stuffing Ireland in one sport at least!
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Pretty settled squad when you can announce it 100 days before the event!
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The butler from Downtown Abbey pictured with a cup of tea in the Member’s Stand at Lord’s. Honestly, is this what Great Britain has come to?
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Stirling doing his own Bazball imitation with a run a ball 30 so far.
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Deebee takes Stirling’s wicket with that bit of jinxing.
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Houas needs help – he’s failing on all fronts it seems
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Well, finally found time to post.
URC win was great though at times I thought we surely can’t lose this…. crossing the line 5 times in the 1st half and only getting 2 tries, you begin to wonder. But they kept playing and winning try was great stuff. I knew no-one was stopping Hodnett from that close ….. and Crowley nailed an awkward conversion to put us out of range of a penalty.
And won without O’Mahony on the field – though Snyman is a handy sub …..
Got invited to an event at Thomond on Monday evening – took #1 son….. actually we didn’t really meet many of the players as we had to get back to Killarney ( work, school etc) – Hodnett was completely langers…. probably still is….but cute enough to start a “Munster….Munster!” chant when asked to speak…..
Ireland WC squad had a few strange choices – Kilcoyne over Loughman, the continued obsession with Frawley. No Hodnett or Kleyn even in a squad of 42 ( was meant to be 45). On a non Munster view – no Big Bob or Timoney but Jamie Osborne (who missed most of last months of the season) gets in, as does Stockdale who’s been out of form or injured for 2 years….
Winning the URC doesn’t get every Munster player a free pass to the squad but winning 3 away games on the trot and 4 away wins in a run of 5 games undefeated might have suggested a closer look at Haley, Frisch, Kendellen as well as previously mentioned.
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Trisk – Stockdale’s actually been very much coming back into form, much to my surprise.
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Oooh! A nice little Irish regional rivalry brewing, is it?
***Gets popcorn, munches loudly to piss off the people next to him in the theatre***
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What the hell is going on with Wales? Is that four players now who’ve opted out?
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Those eyes look creepy….
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So basically, you need to get a tattoo of your coach to be considered for selection? Or am I confusing Wales and Ireland here?
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What the hell is going on with Wales?
I asked the mister, and he doesn’t know either. Whatever it is, it must be toxic.
Ticht – please tell me that is not true.
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Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.
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Fijian Drua are hammering the Reds, 34-17 with 13 to go. Was 17-14 to the Reds at HT. Could have been worse but for a dubious obstruction call. Drua tackling has been ferocious, sending players and the ball scattering.
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Final score was 41-17, I think. Aussie rugby is rubbish. They’ll knock us out the World Cup. If we make it that far.
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Canes have come back from 19-3 down to lead 22-19 against the Crusaders. About ten to go. Other than a surprising scoreline, the most notable thing is that since Dane Coles was subbed, a game of rugby has broken out and the Canes have looked a lot better for it.
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Crusaders score after the hooter! With the conversion good, they’ve got 26! One short, a consolation try with the Canes finishing on 27. Great result for them!
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Crikey! Just tuned into the Tahs and Moana Pasifika and the Tahs are 14-21 down early in the 2nd half. MP haven’t won s game so far this season!
The question, I suppose, is if there isn’t anyone on Ovallyballs to see it, did it really happen?
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Still 14-21 nearing the end of the 3rd quarter. Some bone jarring taking going on and the Tahs are on the receiving end of most of it.
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Great try MP! 1st phase, quick hands and once over the advantage line, it was all over! Christian Leali’ifano adds the extras from out wide and its 14-28 into the last quarter!
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My feed froze from the kick off, but Moana Pasifika didn’t – 14-33 as Leali’ifano sends the conversion wide!
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Tahs have pulled one back, but a pretty easy conversion bounced off the upright! 19-33 with 7 to go!
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Scrum Pasifika. I think they’ll take their time. And win the penalty! Kick to touch and they have the lineout deep in Tahs turf, just where they want it. Double knock on and scrum Tahs on their own 5m line. 3 minutes to go. Free kick Tahs. The Pasifika forwards run back and then take their sweet time to get back for the inevitable reset. And my feed drops. Fuck! Dunno how, but the Tahs got it upfield, with the lineout and rumbled over. 24-33 with a crucial conversion to come. Wide! Game over! Tahs lose with a single bonus point! The Pasifika boys are understandably elated!
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Force 0-19 Chiefs. After 15 minutes. I’m not sensing an upset in this one. Even with my sensational powers of fuckupery, the Chiefs are safe.
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THE COMEBACK IS ON!!!!!!
The Force FORCE their way over, scattering the Chiefs defence to all corners! 7-19 and wind beneath their wings!
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THE COMEBACK IS
ONOFF!!!!!!Only lasted two minutes before the Chiefs found a galactic sized hole in the Force-field and sauntered through. 7-26
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7-36. Force are going to take 50+ today.
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14-36. That’s 50 points between them at least.
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Pita Gus Sowakula, who looks much older than his 28 years with his greying hair and beard, dives over and the Chiefs are up to 43.
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The question, I suppose, is if there isn’t anyone on Ovallyballs to see it, did it really happen?
No.
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Ah well, would’ve been nice. Lions leading the Sharks 14-7 in the Shark Tank with 6 minutes to thr break. Some great rugby along with some woeful shit. Feels a bit like a T20 version of rugby. Lions have to win to stay in the hunt for a Currie Cup semi spot.
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Lions with a great attacking move, looking dangerous, until a pass is floated out wide, picked off and it’s 7 points at the other end. 14-14. As soon as Fassi intercepted it was a try under the posts.
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