Got caught napping by the bank holidays and have only just realised that today is Friday, and there is European Cup rugby on! So imagine a long and hilariously funny post here. Or just skip to the fixtures.
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.
David Kriel with the intercept and the Bulls are now out of sight. School of though in some circles here (largely in Pretoria kraals) that he should be a Bok this year. He’s been very good but is more rapier than the battering rams prefered by Rassie. He sets up another one, Chris Smith converting his own score. 54-19 with 8 left.
Clermont 27-15 up against the Cheetahs. Looks like Pienaar won’t make it to Ulster anyway.
Kurt-Lee Arendse may be the best in the business right now. Just has such balance, acceleration and an eye for space that defenders can’t read. Sets up another and it’s a thumping now, 59-19 into the final minute.
Stormers pick a 904kg scrum, bloody lightweights! LAR pack down at 957kg, with about half of that at TH! Stormers get the penalty though and attack down to the 5m line, but get pinged for hanging on. Showing plenty of enterprise but LA Rochelle are coping without too much fuss.
Barbeary almost Scottish-like in his failure to take a restart, Vintcent (Exeter No 8) picks it up and runs through for a try, just after Bath score. Wind causing havoc. Spencer’s conversion attempt almost ended up behind him!
Great try Stormers! Libbok slices through to set up a couple of big carries by the forwards and eventually Jantjies saunters over! As only a good 9 can! 13-0 after 30 minutes
They take the 3. Um. No. Possibly the worst penalty attempt I’ve seen in a decade! Scuffs it left – well wide – from less than 25m out. Skelton back on and the big boys are starting to rumble it up.
Stormers doing a lot of defending now, they’ll want to get off the park. La Rochelle come again and again, but they’re losing it at crucial times and the Stormers have a scrum to wind down the clock. Deon Fourie down again, don’t think he’ll play the full 80.
Stormers inexplicably move it wide and give La Rochelle a last lineout, but they can’t make anything of it. 13-0 to the home side at thr break. They’ll need to score plenty more after the break and La Rochelle seem to be hitting their straps…
Didn’t see Ben-Jason Dixon go off, so Stormers lose both flankers in the first half, partly explains La Rochelle’s strong finish to the half.
Skelton to Atonio on attack is quite something! But they fluff it. Penalty Stormers, but the wind won’t allow a shot from the halfway. Lineout in the LAR 22 and then another penalty in front – should be a routine 3.
16-0 early in the half. Think the idea is to move the ball wide away from the huge French pack, but they pretty much just wait for it to come back! Penalty against Roos in at the side. Lineout in the Stormers 22 and La Rochelle batter away with a penalty advantage. TMO looking at the grounding. It’s good! Game on! 16-7, with 30 to go.
Fuck, Dayimani had a headclash with his own player and is out of the match. Stormers down to replacement locks for the loose trio. 16-10 after LAR slotted a penalty eventually. This’ll be a horrible last 25 or so for the Stormers. They’re getting beaten up up front and won’t cope with the power in the last quarter.
La Rochelle batter their way over again and go ahead 17-16. Stormers then score a scorcher! But chalked off for a knock on at the base of the ruck. 15 to go. That was their first real shot in anger this half and now their scrum gets mullered. And another penalty. The count is mounting. And they’ve a mountain to climb.
Aaaah! Stormers blew it in the end. Got the try but wider out than they would have liked. Libbok fluffed the conversion – badly – and LA Rochelle hang on in the end, unlikely as that seemed with 15 or 20 to go. Revenge for thev1 point loss last time out to the Stormers. Well played!
Is there a more overrated second row than Will Skelton in world rugby? Spent the afternoon ambling from ruck to ruck and simply belly flopping on top of a Stormers player. Carried a few times, largely ineffectively for a guy his size but was largely a passenger. Doesn’t even provide the kind of ballast you’d expect in the scrums.
Ulster’s financial issues were well known I thought.
The talk of McCloskey to France was part of the need to reduce expenditure. Kitshoff leaving saves a purported €700k.
CEO Petrie has been removed - mainly for overseeing the financial implosion. The frozen game last season blew a €900k hole in finances between loss of match day income and cost of hiring Aviva etc, and there’s been other costly mistakes. Loosing Kingspan (and maybe the Grenfell connection was too much to bear) was also costly.
Caveat – all of this is second hand from TRK. But he – and his contacts – seem to spot on about a lot of stuff …
Whilst we wait for the big games, Benetton and the Lions are playing in the smaller cup. About 20 to go, and Benetton are 24-17 up in Treviso, and actually looking pretty good since their hooker was red carded for head contact at the ruck.
Lions initially took advantage to level it up at 17-17, but since then Benetton have dominated. Another penalty for Treviso straight through and back to a 10 point lead, with 16 to go.
Saracens score their first points of the match, against Bordeaux, in the 70th minute. Not a great day at the office for them, out-played almost all over the park, Maro in the bin 5mins either side of half-time and some very uncharacteristic, sloppy play.
Ovally Balls 
David Kriel with the intercept and the Bulls are now out of sight. School of though in some circles here (largely in Pretoria kraals) that he should be a Bok this year. He’s been very good but is more rapier than the battering rams prefered by Rassie. He sets up another one, Chris Smith converting his own score. 54-19 with 8 left.
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NINE tries now! Might be time for one or two more in the next two minutes….
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Clermont 27-15 up against the Cheetahs. Looks like Pienaar won’t make it to Ulster anyway.
Kurt-Lee Arendse may be the best in the business right now. Just has such balance, acceleration and an eye for space that defenders can’t read. Sets up another and it’s a thumping now, 59-19 into the final minute.
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Arendse gets Maro of the Match, to nobody’s surprise. Skipper Marcel Coetzee was pretty good too.
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Something tells me the Stormers won’t have it that easy against La Rochelle!
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I keep forgetting Russell plays for Bath and get surprised when I see him in the strip.
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Oh, and welcome DC! Hope you support a decent club. Affiliation to Refit suggests not.
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Are they showing Finn juggling the rugby balls again?
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Good link Refit ?
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Sorry Tim, can’t find one.
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Bummer, may have to watch La Rochelle Stormers.
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SBT – you can watch it on epcrugby if you don’t mind paying for it, I think.
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Had no luck with vip stuff this weekend.
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Thanks Thaum. Unfortunately my middle name is Parsimonious.
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Stormers pick a 904kg scrum, bloody lightweights! LAR pack down at 957kg, with about half of that at TH! Stormers get the penalty though and attack down to the 5m line, but get pinged for hanging on. Showing plenty of enterprise but LA Rochelle are coping without too much fuss.
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LAR take a quick throw on their 5m line and bollix it. Scrum Stormers under their posts!
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Bugger, Finn off injured.
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Skelton carded for repeated offences in the red zone. Stormers would’ve wanted more from that but settle for 3 more. 6-0 after 22 minutes.
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Barbeary almost Scottish-like in his failure to take a restart, Vintcent (Exeter No 8) picks it up and runs through for a try, just after Bath score. Wind causing havoc. Spencer’s conversion attempt almost ended up behind him!
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Great try Stormers! Libbok slices through to set up a couple of big carries by the forwards and eventually Jantjies saunters over! As only a good 9 can! 13-0 after 30 minutes
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Ted Hill runs in a try from MILES out for Bath.
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They take the 3. Um. No. Possibly the worst penalty attempt I’ve seen in a decade! Scuffs it left – well wide – from less than 25m out. Skelton back on and the big boys are starting to rumble it up.
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Stormers doing a lot of defending now, they’ll want to get off the park. La Rochelle come again and again, but they’re losing it at crucial times and the Stormers have a scrum to wind down the clock. Deon Fourie down again, don’t think he’ll play the full 80.
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Stormers inexplicably move it wide and give La Rochelle a last lineout, but they can’t make anything of it. 13-0 to the home side at thr break. They’ll need to score plenty more after the break and La Rochelle seem to be hitting their straps…
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Exeter get white line fever at the end of the first half and don’t score. Bath go in 12-7 up and will have the wind at their backs in the second half.
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Didn’t see Ben-Jason Dixon go off, so Stormers lose both flankers in the first half, partly explains La Rochelle’s strong finish to the half.
Skelton to Atonio on attack is quite something! But they fluff it. Penalty Stormers, but the wind won’t allow a shot from the halfway. Lineout in the LAR 22 and then another penalty in front – should be a routine 3.
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16-0 early in the half. Think the idea is to move the ball wide away from the huge French pack, but they pretty much just wait for it to come back! Penalty against Roos in at the side. Lineout in the Stormers 22 and La Rochelle batter away with a penalty advantage. TMO looking at the grounding. It’s good! Game on! 16-7, with 30 to go.
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Fuck, Dayimani had a headclash with his own player and is out of the match. Stormers down to replacement locks for the loose trio. 16-10 after LAR slotted a penalty eventually. This’ll be a horrible last 25 or so for the Stormers. They’re getting beaten up up front and won’t cope with the power in the last quarter.
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Another penalty for LAR – 16-10 now. How close to squeaky-bum time?
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Exeter get a converted try, 14-15
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Another Stormer with a knock to the head.
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Then the Stormers lose a man to the bin, and LAR score to go one point ahead with the conversion. 16-17 – not unlike the other match!
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But the Stormers strike back!
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Ah no, foot in touch.
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And before that, a knock-on at the ruck!
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La Rochelle batter their way over again and go ahead 17-16. Stormers then score a scorcher! But chalked off for a knock on at the base of the ruck. 15 to go. That was their first real shot in anger this half and now their scrum gets mullered. And another penalty. The count is mounting. And they’ve a mountain to climb.
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And it’s a try to LAR.
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And a third try battered over from close range. Game over, surely? 16-22 I’m not sure the Stormers have another 7 pointer in them.
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Exeter win! Deserved after their second half performance. They played into the wind better than Bath played with it.
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I’ll let Deebee tell you all what happened at the end.
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big, BIG win for Exeter………..
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In other news, Old Albanian lost 53 – 41 at Guernsey…………………………….who’d have predicted that?
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Aaaah! Stormers blew it in the end. Got the try but wider out than they would have liked. Libbok fluffed the conversion – badly – and LA Rochelle hang on in the end, unlikely as that seemed with 15 or 20 to go. Revenge for thev1 point loss last time out to the Stormers. Well played!
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****Controvery Alert****
Is there a more overrated second row than Will Skelton in world rugby? Spent the afternoon ambling from ruck to ruck and simply belly flopping on top of a Stormers player. Carried a few times, largely ineffectively for a guy his size but was largely a passenger. Doesn’t even provide the kind of ballast you’d expect in the scrums.
****Alert Over****
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When I say La Rochelle hung on unexpectedly, I mean I thought they’d run away with it.
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@thaum
Ulster’s financial issues were well known I thought.
The talk of McCloskey to France was part of the need to reduce expenditure. Kitshoff leaving saves a purported €700k.
CEO Petrie has been removed - mainly for overseeing the financial implosion. The frozen game last season blew a €900k hole in finances between loss of match day income and cost of hiring Aviva etc, and there’s been other costly mistakes. Loosing Kingspan (and maybe the Grenfell connection was too much to bear) was also costly.
Caveat – all of this is second hand from TRK. But he – and his contacts – seem to spot on about a lot of stuff …
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Trisk – dammit, I had successfully forgotten about the rumour about McCloskey and France. And the frozen pitch that wasn’t.
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Whilst we wait for the big games, Benetton and the Lions are playing in the smaller cup. About 20 to go, and Benetton are 24-17 up in Treviso, and actually looking pretty good since their hooker was red carded for head contact at the ruck.
Lions initially took advantage to level it up at 17-17, but since then Benetton have dominated. Another penalty for Treviso straight through and back to a 10 point lead, with 16 to go.
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The floodgates have opened in Bordeaux. It’s 38-0.
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Saracens score their first points of the match, against Bordeaux, in the 70th minute. Not a great day at the office for them, out-played almost all over the park, Maro in the bin 5mins either side of half-time and some very uncharacteristic, sloppy play.
38-5 with less than 10 to play.
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