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 
Ah no, it was Marcus Rea. Cooney makes the conversion from more or less the same spot as the missed ones.
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Saints playing some lovely stuff here. 26-10 after 25 minutes.
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Ospreys finally score off a driving maul.
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Sorry, make that 33-10. Sale lost 21 points while they were down to 14.
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And it’s 24-7 at HT.
Ulster are playing with pleasing verve and ambition, but are giving away too many penalties and making other mistakes that will be more severely punished by better opposition.
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I only have Ulster by 6 on the ‘Bru. I clearly need to be more bold in future.
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Saints hit 40 points in 40 minutes.
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After multiple infringements by the Ospreys (and, to be fair, what looked liked an unremarked dropped ball by Ulster), Ulster choose the kick-and-go and score again through James McCormack.
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And Cooney misses what ought to have been an easy one!
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Harry Sheridan earns a yellow for indirect head contact.
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Ospreys start to play much, much better and score again. Ulster on a warning for another yellow in the run-up to it.
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Jack Walsh misses the conversion from the same place as most of Cooney’s misses. :-)
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Stockdale has – maybe?! – scored again in the corner in rather spectacular fashion.
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It’s a try! I don’t know how he managed to avoid putting any body parts into touch.
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And Doak makes no mistake from the Bad Place That Is The Bane Of All Other Goal-kickers.
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Doak has been fab since he’s come on: he’s made a try-saving tackle, nicked a line-out and made his kick.
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And it’s 36-12 at the final whistle. Ospreys played much better in the second half.
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Saints win 47-17 in the end. More even in the second half.
Falcons beat Exeter! Poor old Slade.
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Where is Slade? I hope he’s okay.
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What are the bumpy bits on players’ thigh bandages? Anyone know?
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The mister has a theory that’s they’re to help with the player being lifted.
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Thaum – yes, that’s what they’re for. Otherwise you’d just be sliding your hands up a lock’s thighs and getting a little too familiar with them 😳😳
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Refit – or perhaps the areas north of the thighs!
Thanks!
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Lions hung on in a grim encounter in Parma to pip Zebre 10-9 in the pouring rain. Sharks are 15-12 up at half time against Glasgow in Durban, with two tries apiece.
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Ibitoye with an outrageous back hand offload leading to Briz scoring thier bonus point try!
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18-12 Sharks. An overture to a more expansive last 30?
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The (Not So) Mighty Weedge getting shafted by the Sharks. Seems like we can only win in South Africa when it matters….
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Glasgow manage a TBP by scoring 2 tries in the last 2 mins.
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28-12 with a couple to go. Weege score a late try, but it’ll be too late. BB, better in the matches which matter.
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Stupid bloody Sharks! You can’t give away bonus points like that.
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Glasgow get two bonus points in the end. Could be crucial at the end of the season.
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The funny part is that the commentators were calling them ‘crazy’ for going to the corner before the third try.
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Glasgow ALWAYS go for the corner. We very rarely take a penalty shot for goal.
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So do we. That hasn’t worked out as well as it used to do, the last couple of seasons.
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Bugger, Saracens pipped Bristol by 2 points, 35-37.
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Refit – consider that post down-voted.
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Cardiff are unaccountably winning at HT (which ended in a flurry of handbags): 3-5. Glasgow have been much the better team, but Cardiff have managed to keep them out.
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Glasgow are obviously the better team. Shame they were in South Africa gallantly losing to the Sharks.
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The “Scottish Team” score again!
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Stormers storm to their first ever win over Munster! Eventually good value, but they really do give you palpitations. Some sublime angles and handling and recycling with ball in hand gets them huge metres – but roo often the ball carrier then gets isolated and turned over or penalised. So close to a scary team and yet so far.
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Good win for Embra.
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Final score, BB?
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The “Scottish Team” score again!
Izzat a bit like ‘the Scottish play’?
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27-8 Deebs.
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Deebs, Embra won 27 – 8 in a four try BP victory. They made heavy weather of it. I’m yet to be convinced of Everett as a coach. Sharks fans elsewhere don’t rate him at all. He’s supposedly an attack specialist but there is little evidence of that.
Edinburgh’s attack is based around very good individuals doing very good individual things, there’s no pattern
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Mon the Wesht
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Did you kiss of death them (and the blog) Ticht?
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This just feels rude somehow. But also so much fun
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He’s a talented kid, isn’t he? Reckon he’s one to watch.
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