Last night I was ‘forced’ (Mothership usage of term, meaning doing it quite voluntarily) to watch a Peter Green tribute show led by Mick Fleetwood.
There is a star-studded cast of musicians, mostly playing very well, but they insist on playing twelve-bar blues, which must be the most rigid and repetitive form of music in existence, except for the even more terrible ones.
It’s like watching endless pick-and-goes, only there might be a chance of something exciting and different happening as a result of those pick-and-goes. A try might be created, or a horrible mistake might occur that leads to an end-to-end score by the opposition.
No chance of anything like that with twelve-bar blues, even as played by expert musicians. It is going to have exactly the same key and rhythm, the same clichéd lyrical and musical tropes, everything completely predictable and boring. The musical ball gets recycled, stuffed up the jumper, and goes again. And again. And again.
It’s also like watching scrums being reset for what feels like hours, but is probably only about three or four minutes. And the same thing happens in every scrum, but the referee just calls for a reset again. And again. And again. A dystopian nightmare.
But rejoice! There is some rugby available to watch in the near future, and hopefully it will be much more exciting than that.
Onna telly in the next week or so
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 6th September
| Tonga v Fiji | 04:00 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Japan v USA | 11:05 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Scotland v Wales (women) | 19:35 | iPlayer |
Saturday 7th September
| Bayonne v Perpignan | 13:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
| England v France (women) | 15:30 | BBC1 |
| South Africa v New Zealand | 16:00 | Sky Sports Mix |
| Argentina v Australia | 20:00 | Sky Sports + |
| Bordeaux v Stade Français | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 8th September
| La Rochelle v Toulon | 16:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Vannes v Toulouse | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
That Bluesky thing requires a sign-in.
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It depends if the user has made their post fully public or not.
There are some good rugby people on there, so it might be worth having a look, if you’re a ‘social media’ person.
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Hi Refit – glad you’re on the mend. I’ve joined BlueSky as an antidote to Twitter. Not found too many rugby heads there
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Hey Trisk. This is me: https://bsky.app/profile/refitman.bsky.social
A good place to start might be Rugby News https://bsky.app/profile/rugbynewsplus.bsky.social
The Blood & Mud podcast and Josh Gardner are both on Bluesky too.
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Biggest talking point from Munster – Leinster (apart from the crowd) was the reffing.
Munster started badly conceding an early try – missed this due to a pick up /drop off, but hints of an obvious knock on missed. Second try soon follows – definite knock on Munster 10 – Busby doesn’t see it and the AR is off on a fag break or gone for coffee.. Leinster then get as penalty, kick to the corner and bundle over – Doris grounds short then rolls the ball over line. 14-0 and we’re done.
Third Leinster try comes – again – pen to corner and brute force form there. Munster get a try – but ref calls a forward pass. He could have waited and gone to TMO as Nash gets the ball on just before the 5m line. Ball does not travel forwards. Munster do finally get a try .
Just before halftime, Leinster knock the ball out of play and AR awards them the lineout – ends up with a try from Snyman.
Second half – we huff and puff get a neat try from a grubber from Coombes. No further scores.
Leinster are the better team – at one point the Munster front row is Archer, Scannell, Ryan – about 100 in combined age. All good technical scrummagers – in fact we get 3 scrum pens from Leinster, but lack the power in the loose that Porter and Furlong offer – and the obvious replacements for Munster are still in the academy or about 22 yo. There’s an issue with development coaching that goes back years….
Lineout – is a mess (again).
5 players go off with HIAs – at no point does the ref appear to ask TMO to review play.
Upside – Leinster didn’t score in 2nd half mainly because they didn’t get pens in the 22, and we burned a couple of good chances
Overall – my heart sinks when I see Busby down to ref – as someone neatly put it – he’s like a substitute teacher trying to give the impression he’s tough.
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I’m starting my first full week on the rehab ward. No idea how long it’s going to take, before I’m in a good enough state to move back home. But I’ve got coffee and salads coming out my ears, so I’m not complaining at the moment.
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Speaking of coffee, anyone want a machine to make you a cuppa in the morning?
https://joyresolve.com/products/barisieur-black-coffee-alarm-brewer
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Haven’t seen any of the rugby. Nothing on tele here in Cameroon and my subscription doesn’t work in this territory as the mercenary bastards call it. Might need to get a VPN thing to bypass that, but deeply suspicious of stuff like that.
Followed some on the internet, but it kept dropping, was deathly slow and deeply frustrating. Luckily, that was just the Sharks and Stormers, Lions were a bit better!
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Glad you’ve progessed to the rehab suite Refit! As Ox Nche noted, nobody ever won a scrum by eating salads.
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Some news from France.
Dupont is back in the T14 after a 3 months hiatus and scores a hat trick in 12 minutes as a sub.
Ntamack is crocked again, probably won’t play in November. But then it’s only the ABs and Argentina.
And finally the FFR, the T14 and the ProD2, and also the players’ union ( Provale) will all oppose the 20 minutes red card experiment, on the grounds of player safety. Won’t go down well with WR, but who’s the boss here?
Good luck Refit, get better.
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What’s the 20min red card? I seem to have missed this.
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If a player gets carded, after 20 mins they can be replaced by a sub. Stupid idea. Good for the French!
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Well, that sounds like a completely moronic idea. I’m with you Thaum, good on the French (this time).
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The French had good ideas about the monarchy as well. :-)
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I liked the reference to “encourage players to have greater technical mastery in contact”
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The Irish are lagging behind the French?
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Disappointing if we don’t line up with France.
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French statement also notes
” The implementation of this rule could …..create controversies related to the tactical exploitation of the rule, thus negatively impacting the image of rugby
Like injuring the only hooker on a team in first 3 mins of a game, and chancing you’ll only be down to 14 for 20 mins
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Either red cards needs to be reviewed and only dished out for foul play, or the 20 minute rule needs to stay to prevent every second match from becoming lopsided. A mistimed or clumsy tackle after 2 minutes and you’re down to 14 for the rest of the match. You need to find the balance somehow between player safety and spectator value, and what is realistic. I have no idea what that is.
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Hmm, Trisk, yip, except Frizzel didn’t even get a yellow! #JusticeforBongi
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Don’t agree, Deebee. Don’t do the crime if you can’t afford the time….
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Having said that, I’ve no problem with the system used during the WC where a card was reviewed within 10 mins to decide if it should be red or not.
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David Kriel was red carded after 49 minutes last weekend for dangerous play with his forearm making contact with the neck area according the officials who initially found nothing wrong until replays on the screen got the crowd baying for blood. He essentially mistimed a hand-off. The disciplinary panel found that it didn’t warrant a red and overturned it. However, the Bulls lost their shape without their kingpin 12 on the park – but luckily had a big enough lead to hang on.
They also conceded a yellow for an alleged deliberate knock on later which was also 50-50 at best, meaning they were down to 13 players, which is a helluva disadvantage. How red cards are judged and the thresholds they’re awarded on, need to be looked at. Did Sam Cane deserve red in the WC Final (obviously, yes), but should Siya Kolisi also have got one and not yellow (obviously no, imho), but how did Frizzell not get a straight red for his drop onto Mbonambi’s leg? That was foul play, the two cards were clumsy tackles. No idea how you overcome these inconsistencies though.
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Would love to watch that, Refit, but my bandwidth is narrower (and slower) than a Trump supporter’s view of human rights.
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I can guess this….. demographics – 1/3 of Irish population lives in Greater Dublin region, and money parents pour into fee paying schools
NB – Irish state pays teachers salaries irrespective of the school, so fees go directly to facilities, and payment of additional staff – rugby coaches etc
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WRT the 20 minutes RC: How do you prevent a cynical coach (aren’t they all?) to do something like this: start the game with his sub 2nd row. He takes out the opposite team’s best player after 3 minutes. Best player’s gone for good. Your shit sub is replaced 20 minutes later by your first choice 2nd row.
Leave the RC the way it is. There’ll be mistakes made by refs, but not that many.
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Gareth Davies retiring from international rugby
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c5y3jz35rwko
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Naughty
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Two ‘A’ games included – hence it says he misses 2 URC games
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They’ve just been interviewing Doak as he’s warming up, literally, he’s flinging passes and answering questions – wtf?
I’m also against the 20min red card, if someone makes a high tackle that isn’t a red card offence then they won’t get sent off. If they do deserve it then the player has let their team down as well and should sit out the rest of the match – the players and coaches have to learn this, it’s not that difficult, high tackles were actually rare when I played way back then
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Yes, I saw the interview too, Ticht! Very strange.
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Get well soon, Refit.
It sounds like Ospreys have selected a second string for this match, it could well be a hiding in that case
With that being the case I’m half tempted to watch Sale v Saints instead
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TRY Ulster through the maul!
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Cooney unaccountably misses the conversion, as he has a few times this season.
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TRY Stockdale!
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Cooney misses again from nearly the same place.
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Cheers Ticht.
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Bugger (from a Scottish point of view). Our newly capped hooker Robbie Smith has just gone off injured in the Saints Sale match. Might be him out of the AIs.
On the other hand, its been good to see Rory Hutchinson playing well for Saints. Always a really elegant player with the ball, but whether he’ll get any international time this autumn is doubtful.
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Ulster have scrambled more or less over the line, but it’s being checked.
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It’s a yellow card against Kieran Hardie and a penalty try! And then Stockdale scores again immediately after the restart!
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That’s a really fun try!
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Well, they said it was going to be rather one sided.
Ulster are running through Os at will
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Cooney makes the conversion this time and it’s 24-0.
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Ah shite, it’s been chalked off for a forward pass. It was a thing of beauty anyway.
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Cooney looked to have gone over, but it must have been held up because it was a goal-line drop-out (was feeding the dog).
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Well, Aidan Morgan has touched it down after some chaos, but again we are not sure!
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Nope, it’s a 5m line-out to Ulster.
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It’s a TRY! EOS, I think.
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