Now that the anguish of the World Cup is behind us, we can all* pretend that it was all a horrific nightmare and concentrate on the leagues. Ulster have got their international players back at last, although very (very, very) sadly, Munster don’t have Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Tadhg Beirne or Dave Kilcoyne back yet.
*Except Deebee, obvs. I expect he’ll mention once or twice over the next four years that the Boks have won it twice in a row.
So sit back, pour yourself the beverage of your choice, and relax with a nice friendly match.
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 10th November
| Zebre v Sharks | 17:30 | Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Cardiff v Bulls | 19:35 | BBC2 Wales / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Ulster v Munster | 19:35 | BBC2 NI / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Gloucester v Bath | 19:45 | TNT Sports 1 |
Saturday 11th November
| Toulouse v Perpignan | 14:00 | Viaplay |
| Treviso v Stormers | 15:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Leicester v Harlequins | 15:05 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Lyon v Stade Français | 16:00 | Viaplay |
| Ospreys v Glasgow | 17:15 | Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Scarlets v Lions | 17:15 | S4C / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Edinburgh v Connacht | 19:35 | TG4 / Viaplay Sports 2 |
| La Rochelle v Bayonne | 20:00 | Viaplay |
Sunday 12th November
| Dragons v Leinster | 13:15 | S4C / RTÉ2 / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Northampton v Exeter | 15:00 | ITV1 / STV / TNT Sports 1 |
| Toulon v Racing 92 | 20:00 | Viaplay |
Ovally Balls 
Zebre get an 84th-minute draw with Cardiff.
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Cardiff had a conversion to go 9 points clear, but missed so obviously ended up with a draw as all the Welsh teams tend to do in such circumstances.
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Bath squeaked it by a point, 20-19. Good fightback by Bristol, looked like Bath were going to start running away with it, towards the end of the first half.
Sale humped Newcastle 40-22.
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Dear Mr Starmer, I have to admit that I am taken aback and shocked at your stance on banning the word ceasefire from the dictionary on the grounds that it is an anti-semitic term. I also think that you should refer to your dictionary concerning the word below:-
ter·ror·ist
/ˈterərəst/
noun
a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
By logical extension :-
It may well be that Hamas is indeed a terrorist organisation by this definition, but there is also pretty conclusive evidence that the current Israeli government and its military wing the IDF certainly fit that description, and as a former member ( or certainly associate ) of the RCP you damn well know that.
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Apologies to everyone for that, its a Saturday morning, and I am not into the second cup of coffee yet. Will try to keep my comments to rugby, or at least less caustic. You would be most welcome to delete that post if you want, Thaum.
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Hell, no, SBT, I agree with it entirely.
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Oof!
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Connacht up 5-10 at HT at the Sharks.
The SA commentator has a unique pronunciation of Connacht. He’s got the ‘ch’ sound right, but he’s putting the emphasis on the second syllable.
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It looks like someone’s washed Connacht’s kit with new red socks.
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ConnACHT win by one point.
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SBT
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/18/hundreds-march-through-keir-starmers-constituency-in-gaza-ceasefire-protest
Well said, those men.
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The rain at Thomond Park is even worse than it was at Ravenhill last night.
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Munster get a try just before HT. 10-0.
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@Thaum & SBT – it’s not just Jews in the UK protesting
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More power to them, Refit.
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Munster manage to win 10-3 despite stupidly kicking the ball away in the last minute.
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Scarlets 12 earns a yellow after half a minute for lifting Ringrose (off the ball) over the horizontal.
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Try Prendergast!
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Try O’Brien! This could get repetitive.
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Ha, the ref’s lost her cards out her pocket!
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Try Deegan.
Doesn’t seem to be raining in Dublin. There’s some rugby being played. Mostly by Leinster.
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Scarlets 12 scores after returning from the bin.
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19-5 at HT. Best match I’ve seen so far this weekend. Scarlets stopped being completely DOMINATED when they went back to 15.
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Scarlets’ Ciaran Hardy (sp?) makes a brilliant run down the pitch, but gets bundled into touch in the 22.
Leinster then score their BP try.
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@Deebs, I was particularly taken with the “but will not publicly acknowledge” line, allowing for total fabrication. In closely aligned matters, is it generally believed in northern climes that it is kiwis who are primarily responsible for the vile threats to Wayne Barnes & his family? It would be a fair assumption but I haven’t seen much to corroborate it – although, admittedly, I don’t read any rugby stuff apart from occasional forays lurking hereabouts.
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Exeter lock just got binned for head contact with a player he wasn’t even tackling – the Gloucester bloke joined a tackle already in progress and copped one. Don’t agree with that at all!
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SMG, I’m a bit lost on the quote above? As for the abuse, you’d assume it’s from Kiwis or those supporting the All Blacks, but given the demented nature of parts of social media it could have been from anyone. Beyond sad.
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@Deebs it was part of the article… claims that World Rugby had admitted it to the All Blacks but would not go public with it. It seemed like another version of “sources close to the family say…” conferring total deniability.
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Well, either way, Suavo, it wont make any difference. Shame, as it was a really nice try, and it is a pity when silly errors like that happen. Its bizarre that the tmo was brought in because of media coverage about reffing errors ( bound to happen, used to be an accepted part of the game ), and now we still get the same thing. Same crazies that used to moan about reffing bias or errors costing them the game before tmo are probably the same ones that send refs death threats. Social media barriers getting blurred. I guess it is something we have to get used to in the modern world.
I also wonder if when the tmo goes back a minute or so for foul play, or an advantage has been not gained after half a dozen phases, why they don’t then add that time back on.
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Also, congrats to Aussies on the pyjama cricket. They invented it, so fair play.
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What was it thst famous cricketer Gary Linekar said? Something about one day cricket being a simple game. 22 players stand around in a field all day and in the end the Australians win. Or something like that…
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Suavo, World Rugby in wink-wink, nudge-nudge shocker? Surely not?
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Fucking hell….
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/21/bbc-admits-it-may-not-be-able-to-afford-to-keep-six-nations-rugby
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If that happens I think I might be done with professional rugby Thaum, when I move back up next year I’ll stick to watching my old club.
In the meantime, Kinghorn to Toulouse is the big news emerging this evening. I’ve heard rumours for a few weeks but it’s apparently being announced tomorrow, it’s with immediate effect and he’s going to be there for another two years after this season.
It’s a pro game, these guys have to make their living and no doubt Toulouse has a great deal of pull for a player like Blair Kinghorn.
I’m gutted as an Edinburgh fan though, just as it looked like we were getting a steely edge and winning games we would have lost previously , we lose a big player like this. We will never win anything, it’s just the way of it, we can’t afford to win anything is the bottom line here.
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Ticht, welcome to my world! The Golden Lions have had two great sides over the last 25 years, and both were rapidly dismantled by players leaving for greener pastures. The last one we had, which reached 3 Super Finals in a row, had sixteen Springboks in the squad (at least), including Warren Whiteley (number 8), Ruan Combrinck (wing), Faf de Klerk (number 9), Rohan Janse van Rensburg (centre), Elton Jantjies (10), Jaco Kriel (flank), Lionel Mapoe (centre), Malcolm Marx (hooker), Kwagga Smith (flank), Franco Mostert (lock), Akker van der Merwe (hooker), Marvin Orie (lock), Andries Coetzee (fullback) Courtnall Skosan, Ross Cronje (9) and Aphiwe Dyanti (wing) There were a number of others who were on the fringes of selection as well.
The last two seasons, we’ve managed to scrape in one or two almost retired internationals like 39-year old Willem Alberts and 33-year olds in Andries Coetzee and Ruan Dreyer, none of whom has played for the Boks in at least five years, if not longer. The blazers must take some of the flak, obviously, for letting so many players go and not replacing them with similar quality, but many were snapped up by Japanese and European clubs in a single season, and our guys simply can’t compete with the cheque books in the NH.
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Make that 19, with Julian Redelinghuys and Ruan Dreyer (both props) and Marnitz Boshoff (1 Test flyhalf) also in the squad from that period from 2016 to 2018. And they played Flair-pleasing running rugby with the likes of Whiteley and Kriel as great ball carrying link runners, along with Marx and Kwagga Smith, Faf and Elton, and scoring some fantastic tries from all over the field. We still try to play enterprising rugby, but simply don’t have the depth of quality to play it for 80 minutes against sides packed with current internationals.
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Is that whiny? Yes. Do I care? No.
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Whiney? Can a Pom or an Aussie give me the correct spelling, please?
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Whiny.
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Sound the “good hands for a big lad” klaxon
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Winey probably about right for you, me old chum.
Happy Thanksgiving y’all.
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SBT – winey is certainly apt!
Happy Thanksgiving (*shudder*) to you; as you know, it’s not a thing here. ;-)
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Refit, that’s a great video, but the best bit is in the second sequence, when the fullback sees that he’s been done by an outrageous dummy from the prop he drops his head and slumps his shoulders
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@Trisk, Edinburgh are doing their annual “Club Appreciation Night” tomorrow whereby the players wear the socks of the clubs they grew up playing for or had some had to play in their development.
Ben Healy has chosen to wear Nenagh Ormond RFC socks – do you know of the club?
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Find myself listening to this album a little at the moment, not played it for a while.
Rather a beautiful song.
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@Ticht
That would be his first club…. north Tipperary. Red and white hoops They’ve been in the (lower regions of the ) AIL a while now. Formerly what is termed a junior club (not-AIL)
(We have these archaic stratifications)
Each Munster player is essentially “attached” to a more senior club – eg one in Div 1 of AIL and also one in the two urban centres – so that tends to mean Garryowen, Young Munster, Shannon in Limerick and Cork Con or Highfield in Cork city….
He’d have played most of his age grade rugby with the school Glenstal Abbey.
We also have this differentiation between “school” and “club” – schools players aren’t allowed to play club rugby as well (or only in limited circumstances – which I don’t pretend to understand), and it’s 10x worse in Leinster….
Most of the academy players – come out of the schools. Though there is a degree of recruitment – here’s a scholarship for the leaving cert (= A levels) and by the way you’re a handy 10 / prop / 2nd row
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Trisk
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FFS, it didn’t load first time
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Deleted the second one, Ticht.
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Healy has been very good this half, he is far more than a good boot. His pass selection is excellent and he chooses to go against the grain when it’s one where others would keep going open. We scored a really good try at the end of the first half because of that decision from Healy.
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