Close readers of this notablog will know that I am not Owen Farrell’s biggest fan. This is almost entirely down to his observed on-pitch behaviour: the shoulder barges punished and – more often – unpunished, the truculence, the disrespect of referees, etc. Saracens and England supporters will have much, much more to say about whether he is the best selection at either 10 or 12.
But I have found him more likeable in interviews, and can indeed recall the first time that I felt sympathy for him, which was during an interview with a rather vicious Sonja McLaughlan, who to my mind is too willing to twist the knife in post-match interviews, and who I felt at the time would have been delighted to see him cry. While the interview doesn’t seem too OTT in retrospect, in the immediate aftermath of a tense match, it seemed very tabloidy.
At the same time, McLaughlan herself was apparently the recipient of despicable abuse after the interview, and that is also wrong. You can feel – as I did, as a non-England, non-Farrell fan – that she went beyond the Pale, while not feeling the need to send her abusive messages. Perhaps a strongly-worded letter to the BBC with a return address of Tunbridge Wells would do the trick.
There is a sickness in our society. Watching the Covid-19 Inquiry this week, I was shocked by Professor Jonathan Van-Tam’s evidence regarding the threats to not only himself, but his family too:
Who in their right mind would threaten one of the most important people trying tirelessly to stop people from dying of a horrible disease? He had great Wendyball analogies and all.
Getting back to Owen Farrell, today we find out that he has made himself unavailable for the 2024 Six Nations “in order to prioritise his and his family’s mental wellbeing”. It’s not made clear whether this decision is due to on-line abuse, despair at England’s defeat, other factors, or some combination of the above, but it’s heartening to see that there is support from his club and country. Let’s hope that the ‘fans’ are equally supportive.
There’s also a soupçon or scintilla of suspicion that some of the abuse hurled in Farrell’s direction is because he’s got a not-posh northern accent. I think this is a disease particular to English, and perhaps also Dublinish, rugby, but feel free to correct me in the comments.
Without, obviously, threatening to cut my family’s* or hound’s throats, if you please.
*Although if you feel moved this way, I could give you a prioritised list. But lay off the hound.
Onna telly this week
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates free-to-view. Times are in the UK zone, so adjust as necessary.
Friday 1st December
| Munster v Glasgow | 19:35 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Harlequins v Sale | 19:45 | TNT Sports 1 |
Saturday 2nd December
| Bulls v Sharks | 13:00 | Viaplay Xtra |
| Bristol v Gloucester | 14:00 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Toulon v Pau | 14:00 | Viaplay |
| Cardiff v Scarlets | 15:00 | Viaplay Sports 2 |
| Bath v Exeter | 15:00 | TNT Spots Extra |
| Lions v Dragons | 15:05 | BBC2 Wales / iPlayer / Viaplay Xtra |
| Saracens v Northampton | 16:30 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Stormers v Zebre | 17:15 | Viaplay Xtra |
| Ulster v Edinburgh | 17:15 | BBC2 NI / TG4 / iPlayer / Viaplay 1 |
| Connacht v Leinster | 19:35 | RTÉ2 / Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Treviso v Ospreys | 19:35 | S4C / iPlayer / Viaplay Sports 2 |
Sunday 3rd December
| Leicester v Newcastle | 15:00 | TNT Sports 2 |
| Stade Français v Toulouse | 20:00 | Viaplay Sports 2 |
Ovally Balls 
6 tries for Bristol. Batley gets the ball over the line, after a lineout drive.
41-7
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LRZ gets a second. Great pass from Carreras and LRZ goes airborne in the corner. 41-12
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Lions-Dragons quite scrappy despite the ambition of both sides. 5-7 the Drags lead at the water break. Maybe it’s because of the ambition that it’s scrappy on second thoughts.
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Well that may be the softest red card of the season. Lions lock went for the charge down, braced himself for contact with the kicker and his elbow – tucked into his side made contact with the head. Could understand a yellow, perhaps, but red? Not seeing it.
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Dragons go close from the resulting penalty then lose it and the Lions go coast to coast to score! 15-7 to the home side after 30 minutes.
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I dozed off for a minute and it was 48-26 when I came too at 76mins. Penalty for Bristol in the 80th minute, under the posts. They take the points and it ends 51-26.
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Back from a very cold dog-walk to find Cardiff winning against the Scarlets 14-12, but with a red card.
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And Scarlets get a lovely try under the posts just before the clock goes red for HT.
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Lions knock over another penalty – Dragons getting done at the breakdown so far – and it’s 18-3 with five to the break. Tshituka has been brilliant there, and turns another one over. Lions lineout on the Drags 10m line. Dragons steal it and make some good yards before passing it into the ref.
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They win a penalty from the scrum and knock it over. 18-10 at the break.
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Cardiff briefly go ahead with a penalty, and then Scarlets score again. But don’t convert, so it’s still a four-point match.
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23-29 in the end. At least Cardiff got the LBP.
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I don’t know why we got that penalty, but I’ll take it, and … TRY Stewart!
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Missed the 2nd half of the Lions match fetching Mrs Deebee from a work function. Lions won 49-24 in the end, scoring a couple of late tries to put a bit of gloss on the score!
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Some fun rugby being played, although the ball seems to be hard to catch and hold on to! Maybe cold fingers at the beginning.
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That was not a knock on; it was kicked. Oh well.
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Kitshoff not impressing much at the scrum. Just got mullered.
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Healy slots a pen. 7-3.
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Try by Schoemann(?).
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No, it was the 9 who got it down.
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Stewart mauls over the line again! 20 metres, it went.
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This referee is really shit. Equal-opportunity shit, but … he don’t know what he’s doing.
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Embra get a penalty as the clock goes red, and it’s 12-13 at HT.
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Right, we are getting stuffed now.
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BALOCOUUUUNE!
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HUUUUME!
We are still losing, but at least we’ve got the TBP, and hopefully a LBP too!
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Oh, it’s 81 minutes, so both are guaranteed.
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Well at least one Scottish side seems to be able to win in Ireland. Well done Embra, hard luck Ulster.
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We were nearly as shit as the referee.
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Not trying to take anything away from Embra – they were very much the better team on the night!
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I’m just watching the game now, knowing the result.
The most pleasing thing for me so far, 20 mins in, is that Nel is battering Kitshoff and Shoeman is rag-dolling O’Toole at every scrum. We should have had more penalties there
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Ticht – yeah, I’m not at all convinced of Kitshoff’s value. He seems to be a bit of a penalty machine, and I thought he’d at least be good at scrummaging, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Looked to be burrowing in from the side half the time.
(Sorry, Deebs!)
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I’ve just reach the point where the Ulster winger knocks the ball forward before knocking it back to his own player – all in the time the ball is in the air and doesn’t touch the ground – before Ulster score, only to have it chalked off.
My understanding was that would be okay, but it was adjudged as a knock on. Edinburgh had a try disallowed last season for exactly the same reason where Jamie Ritchie did the exact same thing as Baloucoune. So I guess it is the correct ruling right enough.
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I don’t remember that bit, Ticht. Wasn’t watching the second half very closely, if you’ve got that far. The bit where I said ‘that wasn’t a knock-on’ involved Stockdale, not Baloucoune.
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Well that’s a pisser, the screen has gone blank and I have no pictures for the rest of the match.
I did record it on the tv box, though, so I’ll catch up with the rest of it tomorrow
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Thaum, yeah it was on about 55 minutes when that happened
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Thauma, Kitshoff has the luxury of Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Lood de Jager and company packing down behind him in a Bok jersey. That said, he’s been part of a very strong Stormers scrum through the years without the benefit of most of those blokes behind him. He did scrum down with Frans Malherbe and Bongi Mbonambi for most of his career though. Maybe it’s a technical issue getting used to new partners and technique (calm down, Karl). Maybe the rest of the Ulster front row is a puddle of piss, too?
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That said, I’ve always though he was more solid that destructive as a loosehead. You shoulda splashed for the Ox if you wanted someone to destroy his opposite number. There’s a technical thing around that too: Ox, Bongi and Nyakane are all around 5’7″ and provide massive power from a low centre of gravity.
The other Bok front row of Kitshoff, Marx and Malherbe are taller, but based on an immovable Malherbe and a superb scrummaging hooker in Marx. The two combinations have served us superbly in recent years.
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The rest of the front row was Tom O’Toole and Tom Stewart in the first half. Not Boks, but not terrible!
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Too many Tom’s.
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One of the things that Kitshoff is great at is turnover penalties, although I’m assuming it’s part of where he lines up and tackles in the Bok set up. He also does give away penalties in the tight loose.
Now, Nthlabakanye, there’s a prop who is immovable in the set piece and has delightful hands for a bloke clocking in at 150kg!
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Someone named Nthlabakanye ought to be immovable!
Same goes for Ox, of course.
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Oopsie. (Also, that looks bloody cold)
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Love that, Refit! My dad used to love telling us stories of when he played rugby in the UK whilst doing his engineering apprenticeship – one particular story was very much along these lines of the ball in the in-goal area but everyone slipping and sliding past it as it bobbled around on the frozen pitch.
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I’ve just done a comedy turn myself. It was dug-feeding time, and as I opened the door to the cupboard under the stairs where her food is kept, I managed to collide with it. Jumping back, I landed on the edge of her water bowl, which leapt in the air and soaked me. Now sitting in wet jeans and nursing a bruised knee.
I was NOT born on a Tuesday.
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Born on a Wednesday? As Harry Angel said in Angel Heart “Well you know what today is? It’s Wednesday, anything can happen day.”
PS – read this tomorrow, so that it is actually Wednesday.
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Good words, Thaum.
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Back from a very cold dog-walk to find Cardiff winning against the Scarlets 14-12, but with a red card.
Very impressed with how Whitehouse managed that – TMO was ignoring the question about the landing, then came up with a non-committal reply – Whitehouse replied “No – it’s dangerous. It’s red”
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My understanding was that would be okay, but it was adjudged as a knock on
Didn’t see the Ulster match, but vague recollection of the Ritchie one (vs Munster maybe) – seemed to be some interpretation that it wasn’t a knock on in terms of failing to gather a pass first time but fell under the “deliberate throw forward” even though you regather it.
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Munster win over Glasgow – much to like and some stuff to be concerned with … like conceding 4 tries from mauls.
Attacking game is good right now – interesting experiment with Ahern at 6…..
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