Grumpy? Moi? Well, perhaps still a little hung over after the agony of Ireland going out in the quarter-finals once again. Even if it’s what I expected ever since I first beheld The Draw From Hell, supposing we even made it out of the pool stage. Perhaps World Rugby, who surely can no longer be called Dublin-based, have learnt their lesson and will make the next draw within a millenium of the actual fucking tournament.
Still, there were some cracking matches last weekend, even if all the results were wrong (in my very humble opinion, of course). It’s safe to say that there is not much doubt about this weekend’s results. But who knows? Maybe we’ll get a big surprise and Argentina, despite their relatively poor form, will beat the All Blacks.
We’ve also got English Premiership matches, and the URC kicks off this weekend.
Onna telly this week
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates free-to-view.
Friday 20th October
| Argentina v New Zealand | 20:00 | ITV1 / STV / S4C / iPlayer |
Saturday 21st October
| Zebre v Ulster | 13:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Connacht v Ospreys | 15:00 | S4C / iPlayer / TG4 / Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Lions v Stormers | 15:05 | Viaplay Xtra |
| Dragons v Edinburgh | 15:05 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Leicester v Sale | 15:05 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Cardiff v Treviso | 17:15 | S4C / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Munster v Sharks | 17:15 | TG4 / Viaplay Xtra |
| England v South Africa | 20:00 | ITV1 / STV |
Sunday 22nd October
| Bulls v Scarlets | 14:00 | BBC1 Wales / Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Harlequins v Exeter | 15:00 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Glasgow v Leinster | 16:00 | RTÉ2 / Viaplay Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
Ulster’s driving maul gets stopped (!) by Zebre, but Stockdale goes over in the opposite corner, and Ulster are ahead for the first time.
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Doak misses his first, very similar to the other tricky one.
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And Stewart scores again, this time more or less from a line-out maul.
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Doak makes the conversion with maybe half a second to spare, putting Ulster more than a converted try ahead, and then drops the restart for no apparent reason. :-/
And then Zebre score off the scrum.
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Zebre miss the conversion again and there are four points in it with less than 8 minutes to go.
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Addison has been rubbish. Zebre now have a scrum in the Ulster 22 thanks to him.
I realise he’s just come back from being injured after something like two years, so maybe we’ll give him some time.
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Zebre win a scrum penalty but fail to score. Back for the penalty.
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Ulster scrum pulverised again. On a warning now.
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They lose again, and there’s a yellow.
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Ulster bring McGrath back on, and Zebre choose to go with a tap and go this time, and lose the ball – Ulster kick it off the pitch, and it’s game over!
That was a very entertaining match, and had Zebre won it, they would have fully deserved it. They got two LBPs anyway.
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Unfathomable decisions from Zebre, Ulster fans can breathe again now
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New season, new coach, Ticht. How do you think Embra will do?
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Oops, Finn tries a kick through for Bath, Christie charges it down and scores for Sarries.
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Double oops. Dragons score vs Embra.
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Ridiculous offload from Finn to winger and Bath score! The offload was longer than most passes.
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Dragons leading 14-3 at half time. Might be better to wait a while before I ask Ticht anything else about Edinburgh…
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Half time Prem scores:
Saints 19-18 Bristol
Saracens 13-20 Bath
Tigers 12-14 Sale
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Connacht 27-5 up against Ospreys as the second half begins.
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They’ve just showed a clip of Mack Hansen in the crowd, trying to look casual as he downs a beer. Unfortunately he spills half of it down himself. How Aussie.
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Thaum – just be thankful he’s not drinking it out of his shoe.
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:-D
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The Spanish language is having it in for me this weekend. My fag packet informs me that fumar provoca infartos. That must be better than outfartos, right?
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Really good win fro Edinburgh at Dragons, we did not play well at all but clawed out way back into the game and into the lead.
Healy got player of the match, it was certainly his boot that kept Edinburgh in the game.
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Full time Prem scores:
Saints 27-33 Bristol
Saracens 16-25 Bath
Tigers 17-24 Sale
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This is what BB mentioned
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Cardiff have just lost due to a completely mindless head-on-head clearout resulting in a winning penalty and red card.
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Now, can Tom Curry get through an entire match without doing something spectacularly dumb?
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I have no reason to think this, it’s just a feeling, I think England can win.
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Refit – no.
Ticht – get a grip, man.
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‘Thanks’ for reminding me that the URC exists.
*Waves Sad Leopard*
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Now, I am fully prepared for SA to do a proper number on England. But at the same time, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if England somehow won and ended up in the final (to be reduced to a fine mist by a peaking NZ team).
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I’ve got the same feeling as Ticht. And they always have a chance.
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Well, they do have a habit of choking all the joy out of a match and winning by boring everyone to death. So it’s possible.
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Quick cuppa and smoke and here we go. Trembling with fear.
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Who said there was any joy in this fixture to be choked.
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I kind of think that while England are as bad as people make out they don’t really have to be so there’s a chance they won’t.
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Na, thats not true, not fear, just hope the boys can bow out with grace and put up a good fight.
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Dayglo? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????
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At least we won’t be nilled.
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Who’s this Mitchell? Don’t think I’ve seen him before.
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There’s something weird going on. SA seem really disorganised and England don’t.
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“He would have loved that ball to stay in”
Well there was no winger to chase it and it would have probably gone dead so no.
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Come on now CMW, no-one ever accused Dayglo of being a good commentator.
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Is it full time yet?
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Erm … contact with the eye area?
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Refit – you are spot on about the disorganisation.
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Did SA have a 10 man lineout just then?
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I don’t think Lawes did give that pen away, all the backs were in front because Farrell delayed the kick and then didn’t chase himself.
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Farrell getting on well with the ref as usual.
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I don’t think I’ve seen the SA lineout/maul be less effective.
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