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 
Boks go ahead with less than 3 mins to go!
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South Africa in the lead!
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I think SA might have bought that pen.
And Pollard kicks the points and SA are in front for the first time. 2mins to play.
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Who knew the end of this match would be quite so tense?
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That was a squeaker!
I would say that on the balance of play in this match, England deserved to win, but when you take the wider context of the draw of the tournament, it would have been an injustice.
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Lost it with a knock-on, as Billy is tackled.
And it seems to be kicking off.
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Squeakist of squeaky bum time there.
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And the Boks are going to have to be a team transformed to beat the Blackness in the final. If they play like they just have, it will be the stuffing we thought we’d see tonight.
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Well done SA
There are some England players that are perhaps past their best, but the starting 15 did really well.
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England have been shite all tournament but that penalty that won the game for the Boks was absolute bullshit. And where was the penalty for the high tackle in that last sequence??
B O’K. Says it all.
(I know, I know.)
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Hard luck to England. Would have deserved the win had they held on at least as much as South Africa did. Had a lot in common with Wales’ defeats to the Boks in 2015 and 2019.
Really hope NZ win the thing.
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well done Deebs……….your 23 better than ours
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Well, that was closer than expected. Pollard put in some fantastic touch kicks there. England could have done with a touch more adventure on occasion. Think they were too confident to sit on a small lead.
Well played both sides.
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Who would have thought that Genge and Sinckler would have been a downgrade on Marler and Cole?
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Phew, well at least we don’t get to lose by 50 points in the final .
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BB – me
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Ox and Pollard made the difference, allied to the inevitable replacement of England’s props.
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Ox Nche won’t hat game, he’s the most important player in world rugby right now.
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It was kind of SA to keep kicking the high balls to Steward – really stupid (over confident) and eventually they realised.
Freddie was terrific
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It’s going to be interesting now to see who steps up (or is nurtured) to replace England’s retirees…..
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South Africa are just so strong mentally. Thought they’d maybe stuffed up by taking that scrum on their 22 and eating up a load of time only to have to kick it away anyway (must have caused some consternation among their supporters), but they always believe they’ll get one more chance. Sometimes that just comes down to getting the chance to make the referee make a decision, but so it goes. Tremendous kick to win it and of course they scored the only try so although it felt like England were slightly better for longer the winners are worth their win in these type of games.
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Slade – me too. I think Genge is good in the loose, but I’ve never really understood the hype about Sinckler.
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Bullshit penalty to give SA the lead, SA high tackle missed by the officials in a kickable position in the last minute. 6 point swing in a 1 point game.
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… just realised that the video referee wasn’t consulted at all………………..
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“just realised that the video referee wasn’t consulted at all”
Pretty sure he was at least a couple of times only without stopping the game. But in general if nobody makes any serious effort to score a try for most of the match it does cut his role down a bit. Surprising there were no reviews for foul play though, clean game I guess and that’s how it looked.
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Don’t know if SA had been tenderized by France but most of their players look knackered. But credit to England though, mediocre for the past year and yet very very close to reach the final. My, had they won, it’d be hilarious ATL and BTL!
To be honest, I’m glad I had recorded the game, thus using the fast forward switch … a lot!
One could blame the conditions, but the stubborn refusal to pass and run makes for a harsh viewing for the neutral.
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That was awful. Didn’t deserve to win. England were better in pretty much every facet, bar the final score. I’m not sure if the Boks had a hangover from the France match, but they looked ponderous and puffed from the outset. Retshegofaditswe Nche deserves medals galore for changing the game. Before the Ox made his entrance, the Boks looked like lambs to the slaughter. We have much to do in the next six days.
I really feel for the England supporters here, your side was the better by far.
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Spent an hour this morning tiptoeing around the house looking for my phone. Was worried I’d left it in our Uber. Mrs Deebee surfaced eventually and phoned it. It was in the kitchen sink. No, I have no idea.
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Been thinking about that final penalty. Yes, SA conned the ref over it, but if England had identified a weakness like that, they’d have done the same thing. Smart play by SA.
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Very gracious, Deebee.
I wonder how much difference in power thru the props there is between Martin and Chessum. Also Billy V at 8, who doesn’t seem to push much, altho you wouldnt think that Ben Earl would make much difference. It also strikes me that half the point of Sinkler and Genge is that they are quick and mobile with good hands, and if you are not using them in that way, maybe better to pick guys that are purely scrummagers.
Hope the bronze medal is something more of a spectacle for the neutral.
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I thought SA were a bit lucky in their win over France, some fortuitous bounces of the high balls etc…but then with Steward at 15 instead of Ramos, France would’ve won at a canter. Not my favourite fullback, but given the circumstances, he couldn’t’ve played better yesterday.
Had France won over SA, I’m not sure they’d’ve won over England, as they played so well the conditions. Not the most entertaining game, but gripping after the 50th minute.
Deebee, is your phone still working?
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Flair, yes, it is thanks – luckily the kitchen sink was empty. A bit like the Bok tank to be honest.
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Scarlets managing my expectations by getting their season off to a record defeat against the Bulls at Pretoria, 63-21.
The only way is up hopefully.
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Bloody hell, Glasgow have scored 4 tries against Leinster in the first half! I suppose it means we’ll get at least something out of this game.
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A confession. I’ve just seen on Twitter that Genge was penalised for a knee on the floor in the final scrum before the put in. There is a still where his knee is on the ground. If that’s what the penalty was for, fair enough. Not bullshit pen then. But why not blow up straight away? Ref said the drive wasn’t straight, but Genge was straighter than the SA LH on the overhead cam.
Congrats Deebee. The score board doesn’t lie. England picked the wrong players on the bench (in the squad as well) and got what they were asking for as a result.
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Wow! Glasgow beat Leinster 43-25! I know Leinster didn’t have a lot of their internationals and Glasgow did, but still. Great result!
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Feels weird to have club rugby starting whilst the World Cup is still on the go. No results count whilst internationals are still not playing. Cough. Not sure the Lions have any. Current or past! For a side based in the economic hub of South Africa it’s a disgrace.
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Oh FFS. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/22/tom-curry-accuses-south-africa-hooker-bongi-mbonambi-of-using-racial-slur\
Even if it’s true, does he not see the difference between centuries of actual racial oppression and one comment during a rugby match?
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@Thaum – if it was said, it’s not ok. But he might have just been referring to his shirt so…
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Dab – considering how much Curry bleeds during a match, wouldn’t that be ‘pink’ or ‘red’ c**t?
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@Refit haha true.
Watched a replay of that scrum. BOK was spot on and explained it clearly. Genge’s knee hits the floor at the moment Mbonambi’s brake foot goes back. George’s brake foot was nowhere to be seen.
England need to find some props who can scrummage with the best.
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It’s being speculated down here that what Mbonambi said was ‘wit kant’, meaning ‘white side’ to his own team that England had won the ball at the maul. I have no idea if this is true or not but I will say the following: Bongi Mbonambi has accumulated three yellow cards in 189 professional rugby matches across Super Rugby, URC and Tests (can’t find stats for Currie Cup), and not one red. I don’t know what the yellows were for, but imagine they’re technical infringements, rather than foul play – Mbonambi is just not that kind of player. He doesn’t start dust ups, has a very measured personality and is widely respected in the game. He also refused to shake Curry’s hand afterwards, suggesting that perhaps there’s more to this story than Curry is willing to admit. Curry, on the other hand, was in the thick of every niggly bit of play on Saturday.
From a linguistic viewpoint, the ‘C’ word isn’t widely used by South Africans either; it would seem unusual for Mbonambi to use a term that is usually only used by white, English-speaking South Africans, with the terms ‘poes’ and ‘doos’ much more widely used, since we’re getting to the nub of things. Even the direct Afrikaans version – ‘kont’ isn’t widely used in everyday speech.
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“Even the direct Afrikaans version – ‘kont’ isn’t widely used in everyday speech.”
What about somekont and anykont? Asking for a Glaswegian…
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I mean ‘wit kant’ seems quite encouraging on this front.
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I’ll have told this tale before, but my mind is taken back all the way to when my Philosophy/Politics degree was going down in flames. It mainly crashed and burned due to me getting completely stuck halfway through an essay I was trying to write about Kant’s political writings. My supervisor taught a different course on Kant which I had attended the previous year, he was a nice bloke, but very much had a plum in his mouth and had insisted that the correct pronunciation of the great man’s name was ‘Kunt’. When I kept getting summoned to see him to discuss whether I was getting thrown out I started getting a recurring dream in which I would tell him “I just can’t write this essay about Kant” to which he would reply with just one word: “Kunt!”
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If Mbonambi’s explanation is as suggested above, fair enough. Would like to think he and Curry could just have a beer and a laugh about it – sad to see the refusal of a handshake at the end of the match.
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I’ve just had a little look (because I can’t let it go just yet – sorry) and on the ITV coverage at 79:34 on the match clock, there is a high tackle by a Bok. BOK’s view was blocked, but the TMO should have spotted it. Inconsistency like that is unforgivable in my view, and is seriously undermining the game.
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I shall miss Courtney: a great player (who would have many more than 104 caps if not for injuries) a great, modest, sportsman and a fine family man.
A top role model.
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@Slade – he’s been a great servant for England. I know he occasionally was prone to to the odd late hit earlier in his career, but I think he’s been superb the last few years.
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Should we do a XV of those retiring/likely retiring after this world cup?
Vermeulen, Deon Fourie, Willie le Roux from the Boks. Big Trev? Mapimps?
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