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 
Dab, Aus only took 18 wickets to win the Test. But yes, agreed – seems England are trying too hard to cram Bazballers into the side. There is an argument, I suppose that YJB has been out of action for a while so is rusty, but then he should be playing his way back in via county cricket.
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Dunno Deebee, he looked in decent nick, until he threw his wicket away. Until he broke himself, he was in outstanding form. stupid to drop a class batsmen who looks in good nick to keep a load of unproven youngsters in just because they can clatter a rapid 30 before getting themselves out.
I have a suspicion that the Aussies are just going to go from strength to strengh. Smith , Head and Labuchagne won’t go dry for long. We have probably thrown the Ashes away right there with a handful of stupid shots, and if we keep doing the same thing, it may end up a greenandgoldwash.
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Rugby news! (Not quite sure wtf has been going on here.)
Oh. That could be contentious.
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SBT, I was referring more to the rusty keeping than the batting. Foakes surely wouldn’t have been as sloppy behind the stumps? The trade off I suppose is the difference between Aussie wickets and England runs. On the rest of the series, the Aussie top order may get better, but both sides will likely have changes through form and fitness, so hopefully England can bounce back and keep it alive.
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What’s this rugby thing you’re talking about Thauma? And explain, please, what’s contentious about those sides in the same group? Genuinely don’t know!
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It’s the fact that the mister is from Cardiff, and … well, you know the rest!
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That could be fun, Thauma! Mrs Deebs is a Stormers fan, so I seldom get to gloat on that front.
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It’s certainly lucky the state Welsh rugby is in. Not sure where the fixtures are yet: if one’s in Cardiff, we could even go and watch it.
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Any experts on Belgian beer on here?
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The reason I ask, comrades, is that the English department at one of my schools had a wee farewell ‘do’ for me on Wednesday and they very kindly gave me a box (!) containing 12 bottles of Belgian beer. Thankfully for once I was diplomatic and DIDN’T say that I don’t drink beer.
However, as they went to the effort of buying the stuff, I think it’s only correct that I give them a go. (The only brand I’;ve heard of is Jupiler, as they sponsor the top Belgian football league). So I have:
Kasteel Xtra
Timmermans Kriek Lambicus
Brugse Zot Blond
Mangozo Premium Pilsner (Gluton Free)
Jupiler Pils
Chimay Pieres Trappistes (Red Label)
Westmalle Trappist Extra
Duvel Belgian Strong Blond
Leffe Blonde
St. Bernardus Extra 4
Blanche de Bruxelles
Vedett Extra Pilsner
So if anyone knows anything about these, let me know which ones I should try first (and perhaps which ones I should pour down the sink).
Also seems to be a lot alcoholic Belgian monks, judging by these beers. I suppose they needed something to do between prayers…
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I know nothing of Belgian beers, but congratulations, BB!
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@bb
Kasteel Xtra – not had it, looks weak
Timmermans Kriek Lambicus – classic cherry beer, very nice
Brugse Zot Blond – not had it, nice label
Mangozo Premium Pilsner (Gluton Free) – pilsner in Belgium is likely to be piss
Jupiler Pils – ok, nowt special
Chimay Pieres Trappistes (Red Label) – YES, YES, YES! Now that’s proper Belgian beer
Westmalle Trappist Extra – AND AGAIN! Great stuff – don’t drink it too quick or you might fall over
Duvel Belgian Strong Blond – pretty good
Leffe Blonde – mass produced ok beer
St. Bernardus Extra 4 – I have a sneaking suspicion this might be quite nice
Blanche de Bruxelles – think Hoegaarden, very nice in hot weather
Vedett Extra Pilsner – pilsner, see above
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Kasteel Xtra – not had it, looks weak
Our multi-tasking OT assesses Belgian beer and the England World Cup squad in one go!
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BB, the only thing I know about Belgian beers is that I’m overly fond of them.
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* not overly fond of them.
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OT – thanks. I’ll work my way through them. I’ll have plenty of time after next week.
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We’ve got Scott Quinnell on QoS this week. Had to be reminded who he was by the mister.
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He’s not very good.
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Although he did get a ground-shaggers question right.
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Chiefs Crusaders fun, but Chiefs would have been a man down for a head on head by lennart-Brown early on. eels Dolphins earlier was more fun tho.
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Mounga sneaks it over DMac. Sixty four year old England scrum half Willie Heinz played the second half and becomes a super rugby champion. Cool.
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Spoiled for rugby today. Pooper final to start and then the final of the Premier 15s and the start of the U20s WC.
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hot here ………………………………….
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Wales currently doing a number on NZ. 19-5 with half-time coming up.
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NZ have woken up in the second half. 19-17 after 50 mins.
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Wales made a comeback, but NZ won by a point. 26-27.
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Bloody hell, World Rugby need to get some new video editors for the U20s highlights. For the Italy/Argentina match, they start the video with Italy already having a red card and never show what happened. And for Aus/Fiji, they’ve showed Australia’s opening try after Fiji’s reply. And they also skipped Aus receiving a yellow in the second half.
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And now Aus have a red card. Dog know what happened for that.
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I watched a bit of the Arg-Italy game and the camerawork and director were appalling, frankly. The on-field cameraman kept trying to get exactly in line with the lineouts, despite that meaning all you could see was the linesman’s arse or back – you’d think the director would use a different angle or tell the idiot to move!
That’s about all I saw, as we had mates up from Cape Town for the weekend and spent most of it partying up a storm. I’m too old for this shit.
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So. Just imagine my surprise, if you will fellow bloggers, when I entered the library of my main school this morning for the final time, to discover that some ‘person’ had dismantled my desk, moved book shelves into that (completely useless) space, shoved my library computer into a corner (whereby I would be looking at a wall instead of overlooking the library) and also removed some of the wall shelving.
Thankfully (for him) said person, being a teacher, doesn’t lower himself to being in school during the holidays so he saved himself from a rant.
My last day with pupils in that school was last Wednesday – nothing was mentioned, although I heard mutterings that something ‘might’ happen. I didn’t think he would sneak in the following day and dismantle stuff.
What makes it worse is that my replacement visited the week before last to see the library, and is now going to walk into a building site. I told my boss and he’s not happy either, although what exactly can be done during the summer I don’t know.
Not the best way to end 21 years in that school.
Just hope nothing similar has been done in my other school or the explosion might just be felt throughout the country!
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Your poor replacement, BB!
You’ll have to console yourself with some Belgian beer.
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Exactly 14 years ago, South Africa fell in love with ROG. Saint Ronan John Ross O’Gara of San Diego, to give him his full title.
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Not a great way to end a long tenure BB, but I hope you enjoy retirement.
Good Luck.
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Ah, there we are
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“Chimay Pieres Trappistes (Red Label) – YES, YES, YES! Now that’s proper Belgian beer”
There was a bar in York that we used to go to when we got back from cricket tours with tour not being ‘over’ and nobody to leave until their fridge full of Chimay (Red, White and Blue) had been drunk. All very well as it’s great stuff, but it’s actually very hard to leave anywhere after drinking it as it’s the kind of stuff that you feel fine while drinking it until you try to stand up.
“Duvel Belgian Strong Blond – pretty good”
That’s what we went on to once the Chimay was done.
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On the cricket front they won’t be dropping Bairstow from the side as he averages something stupid with the bat since coming back into the team in Aus and even more since Stokes took over (70-odd). He looked in good nick in the game just gone too. The team was better balanced last year, but Foakes has effectively lost his place to Brook who while it’s early to say it looks like probably our second best batsman.
If Bairstow keeps like that again they’ll have to bring Foakes back in – I would probably drop one of the openers and shuffle everyone up one (well, Bairstow to 5 and Stokes still at 6). Duckett has the much better record, but I reckon Crawley is actually more likely to make significant contributions against a properly good attack.
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Read the article about Norm Hadley in The Guardian. Sad stuff, but it felt like it might be a case that those seeking action regarding concussion and CTE will be better off steering clear of.
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CMW, I think you’re probably right about the cricket (and the beer, to be fair), with Bairstow key to the approach England have adopted of late. I do wonder if Mark Wood’s express pace would have made the difference at Edgbaston when Australia were 8 down, though. Who would you drop to accommodate him, though? Surely not Jimmy or Broad? Robinson? He’s arguably been better than Jimmy, but Lord’s is a different pitch altogether and you’d expect Anderson to exploit the slope better than most. Go total Baz and not play a frontline spinner? That would be fun.
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@Deebee – They haven’t got a frontline spinner so if the pitch doesn’t completely rule it out I would go four seamers plus Root. Stokes to keep getting one big wicket each innings by magic if he can.
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Robinson did outbowl Jimmy and I think the Lord’s slope might suit him better than any of the others (not inconceivable though that Woakes might come in for one of them as he does very well there). It often suits Australian bowlers even more though!
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There was a time when Stella Artois out the tap was good beer, it probably still is in Belgium.
French beer out the tap in a little bar is usually really good.
I guess England is really good at producing Bitters and other Ales, but the lagers here suck big dug’s baws, as they say. I like cool drinks, so my preference is for lager or pilsner
Scotland used to be really bad at all beer, I believe things are changing.
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“Scotland used to be really bad at all beer, I believe things are changing.”
I really like some of the Orkney ones (bottled) and have done for quite a while. Also some Harviestoun stuff, Innis & Gunn lager and a few others. Round where I go the Loch Fyne ales are sometimes very good on tap and sometimes not so good.
Kind of think that in Scotland in general (and Wales for that matter) a lack of tradition of caring about the quality of beer doesn’t help. There are of course loads of pubs in England you can say that about too, just think it is disproportionately a thing in the other countries. In some ways life was easier when pubs that didn’t care about their beer didn’t have proper beer at all. These days they all seem to have one, you know it’s going to be crap, but the temptation to give it a try anyway remains no matter how many times you’ve made the same mistake.
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@CMW, yeah I agree on the ones you mention there.
I think I could happily live in Kirkwall, the brewery not too far away, two whisky distilleries, a couple of gin ones, a rugby club, viking stuff, a good fiddle tradition and no midges.
I suggested us moving to Inverness a few years ago and was met with a Paddington-like cold hard stare, so I think Orkney is out of the question unfortunately.
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I went to Orkney on a family holiday when I was about 12. Think I’d get more out of it now.
The last Scottish thing I drank was something very like gin (but not gin) from Nc’nean. Was pretty good.
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@Deebee – They have gone for the four seamers, but they’ve gone for Tongue. Haven’t seen much of him, just the highlights from the Ireland game really and once or twice watching county stuff. This is a big step up for him!
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they’ve gone for Tongue
Pardon me, but this is a family notablog!
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I think we’ve found out why so many players are dropping from the Wales squad
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@Thaum – Tongue and Root (for our antipodean friends) in the England team, but they haven’t got Wood this time.
The Australians give you Head and Cummins.
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No wonder that is such a critical report!
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