It’s here! The return that nobody expected (or wanted…)
Predict-A-Bear is back, along with his partner in crime, Shug (The Dug). Together, they will cast a beady eye over this week’s Six Nations games and decide the (probable) winner. All 3 games could be tight, and then again, all 3 games could be one-sided batterings.
As you will see, they have gone hi-tech for these predictions.
First up, Italy vs Scotland.
Italy have improved, and even though France were awful, they still could/should have beaten them. They ran England close, not that that’s saying much these days.
They didn’t run Ireland close, but then nobody will this year.
Unlike in previous years, they don’t seem to run out of steam in the last quarter: the pack is improving, and the backs can and probably will try to run the ball from everywhere.
Scotland are, apparently, the second-best team in the tournament. We were favourites to beat Wales (and we did! Just). We should have beaten France but fell asleep for parts of the second half, as did the TMO at the end. We were favourites to beat England, but it’s England….
We have a strong team and squad now, apart from a couple of places, mainly in the front row. Zander seems to have to play most of the 80 and thankfully has stopped giving away quite so many penalties. Famous last words, I know. We’ve gone for a 6-2 split on the bench.
Still uncomfortable with Scotland being favourites for anything, but that’s just part of our psyche.
Predict-A-Bear says:
Next, England vs Ireland.
Hmmm. Will we see the England of the first 20 minutes against Scotland, or the England of the following 60? They’ve had longer to work on their Rush Defence, but have they also worked on passing and offloading? If Mitchell and Smith (M) come in, that may well speed up their attack, plus it would be good to see Feyi-Waboso start. Still, we can always look forward to Ben Earl gurning away any time Ireland drop the ball. He should perhaps concentrate more on coping with the Irish back row.
Ireland have a system. They have players that fit into the system. They have a coach who makes sure everybody knows what they are doing within that system. A system doesn’t work as well if you don’t have bloody good players to work it. Ireland have lots of good players, with a fair smattering of world class players. And a deep squad. Andy Farrell is canny enough not to let any possible emotions about Ireland winning the championship a game early get into the player’s heads. So, no weaknesses then? Not many. Maybe the scrum? Andrew Porter may not get away with boring in against England. Clutching at straws there….
Predict-A-Bear says:
And so to Wales vs France on Sunday.
Which Wales will turn up? The Wales of the first half against Scotland, most of the game against Ireland and parts of the game against England? Or the Wales that played out of their skin for 20 minutes in the second half against Scotland? Who knows? Not sure Gatland does. This is definitely a rebuilding job and there looks to be some future stars in Winnett, Wainwright and Reffell.
Which France will turn up? Hopefully (for non-Welsh fans), NOT the one we’ve seen so far this tournament. It can’t just be down to Dupont. Yes, they’ve had injuries and poor discipline which means they’ve been without important players in each game. Perhaps the squad depth isn’t what we thought it was?
Predict-A-Bear is having serious thoughts about this one, but in the end he says:
BorderBoy accepts no liability for any upset these predictions may cause – it wisnae him!.
Onna telly this weekend
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates that it’s on a free to view channel. Times are in the UK zone, so adjust as necessary.
Friday 8th March
| Italy v Scotland U20s | 19:15 | iPlayer |
| England v Ireland U20s | 19:15 | RTÉ2 / iPlayer |
Saturday 9th March
| La Rochelle v Stade français | 14:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| Italy v Scotland | 14:15 | ITV1 / STV |
| Montpellier v Bordeaux Begles | 16:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
| England v Ireland | 16:45 | ITV1 / RTÉ2 / STV |
| Perpignan v Toulouse | 20:00 | Viaplay Sports 1 |
Sunday 10th March
| Wales v France | 15:00 | BBC1 / S4C / RTÉ2 |
| Racing 92 v Toulon | 20:00 | Viaplay online |
Ovally Balls 
Capuozzo gets his revenge.
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Flashback to second half against Wales here. Getting pinged all over the place.
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I actually want both sides to win this.
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@BB – I knew the Scotland giving away strings of penalties wasn’t (just) the ref being biased in our favour.
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TRY Italy! What a great passage of play!
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What the fucking hell happens to us in the second half of games?!?!?!?
We’ve just fallen right off the game.
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Italy didn’t half make hard work of finishing that off, but they got there in the end!
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6 and 8 want to be stopping the scrum half there really, it’s not as if he’s Big Mike.
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Ref shouting leave it and nobody knows which side he’s talking to.
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Shit! Got my times badly confused. Just tuned in. Not sure I can actually watch the last 15 now that I have!
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Not sure I can watch the last 15 either Deebs…
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If we played like all of our first halves, we’d be right on Ireland’s coattails.
If we played like all of our second halves, we’d be odds on for the Wooden Spoon.
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Revenge of Capuozzo II.
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Scottish discipline really letting them down now.
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The Pink Panther theme music for the TMO check is a stroke of (perhaps unintentional) genius.
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Try! But is it too late?
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And TRY Scotland! Two points in it, and two minutes.
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What a thriller! Best match of the tournament by far!!!
Forza Italia!
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Bloody hell!
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Well played Italy!
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What the hell were we trying for an offload there when we’d made ground keeping hold of it!
Well done Italy, but Scotland absolutely bolloxed that.
We’ll get hammered by Ireland playing like that. But then we’ll get hammered by Ireland anyway.
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Predict-A-Bear is looking a tad sheepish at the moment (if a bear can look sheepish).
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Stunning match! What a finish! Wanted Italy’s defence to hold out but also Scotland to finish an end to end 30 phase try! That’s great rugby! So sorry I missed the first 60-odd minutes!
And comiserations to our Scots contingent – such an attractive side to watch, just that couple of percent of steel missing?
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Well deserved by Italy, cracking game.
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Great heart from Italy – that’s the monkey off their back and they can now go on to greater things.
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First they need to go on to lesser things like beating us.
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We’re a bloody annoying side to watch Deebs.
Shot into a lead against Wales and had to hang on in the end.
Shot into the lead against France and lost.
Had to come from behind against England and looked comfortable (but then its England)
Shot into the lead against Italy and lost.
No doubt Toonie will witter on about lessons being learned for the enxt game.
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Reality check for Scotland, especially as they got a clear rub of the green.
Italy have a justified right to be part of the 6Ns in addition to their legal position.
I thought some of their players put in an extraordinary shift – non more so that Capuozzo
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“Predict-A-Bear is looking a tad sheepish at the moment”
Well at least there seems to be a Collie on hand.
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Scotland have discriminated against Wales this year. If they were going to finish the job against France and Italy why couldn’t they do it in Cardiff?
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Italy are looking to build some team. Lynagh is a cracking finisher, and showed up all over the pitch in defence, it was him who knocked DUhan into touch as Cappuozzo slipped off the tackle. Centres are superb, maybe the best in the championship, and the pack is buildingup nicely, they were wrecking the French scrum towards the end of that game too. They generally seem to get an unfortunate bounce of the ball, so a couple of reffing decisions the other way, and a couple of bobbles of the ball, and they could be looking at second place in the tournament. Wales beware. think I would be far happier as an Italian fan than an English one.
Scotland just being Scotland.
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Now that result does rather tighten our grip on last place, but win tomorrow and it throws it wide open. Much more exciting than the other end of the table, England need to get themselves stuffed today to get back involved and make it a four-way thing, I’m backing them to do it.
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Italy deserved the win today, they played that second half much better in every way, Scotland’s mental frailty showing up yet again.
The discipline went out of the window, yet again.
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Ironically we could still win the Triple Crown next week…..
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Triple Crowns should always be won ironically. Not sure Ireland understand at the moment though.
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We’ve got two chances of winning it.
Slim and nae.
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We won our last one by not being conclusively better than anyone we beat and then outplaying France for most of the match to miss out on the Slam. It’s a high bar, but a Scotland win next week would probably put them in the same league after today.
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Non posso parlare!
I can’t spake!
I wanted Scotland to score a length of the field try and at the same time Italy defended 24 phases without making a mistake. Chapeau.
Couldn’t believe Garbisi had the ball fall from the tee for his first penalty kick after his late miss vs France.
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Oh fucking hell. England score a try, and it looks like Nash has taken himself off, and we only have two backs on the bench (and the other’s a scrum-half).
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Looks like Lawrence is back up to speed.
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England Furget what they’re supposed to be doing and score a brilliant try!
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In what possible way was that forwards?
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Genge will want to attack that scrum…by taking a step back.
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England playing some very decent rugby – some of the best I’ve seen them play in a while. Still missing that last link (Bok supporters know this hymn sheet well), but looking very good so far. Can they keep it up for 80 minutes?*
*Karl says that would be a decent return.
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I think Chessum hurt himself in his little celebration after his tackle on Aki, not during it!
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Brave by England! But they’ve got a bot of swagger at the moment… and don’t protect the ball properly.
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Lawrence in for a second?
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Cheeky little pull back by Aki there.
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Ooh! Correct decision, but Ireland under the gun at the moment.
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Unlucky for England who look really good and would be worth a bigger lead, but it’s beyond me why we had to see such an obvious knock-on so many times.
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