I first remember watching the Five Nations as a teenager, back in the eighties. South Africa had only introduced television in 1976, with the apartheid government, in its Calvinist zeal, deeming it evil. Given the Kardashians and plethora of similar series, they may have had a point. My folks, bless ‘em only got a big, fat, shiny set replete with bunny ears and no remote in 1980, so my dad could watch the British Lions series.
‘White’ South Africa in those days was a shambles of ethno-nationalism, with Afrikaners dominating politically, English-speakers controlling much of the economy, a large Portuguese community that migrated here after Angolan and Mozambican independence, pockets of Italians who’d who stayed here after the Second World War (prisoners from North Africa were transferred here), very strong, if relatively small, Belgian (ex-Zaire), French (built our nuclear capacity and key dams, and gave us fighter jet and missile technology), German, Lebanese, Jewish, Zambian and Zimbabwean ‘whites’ (who still called themselves Rhodesian in the main), and a whole heap of first generation Brits, who came over in the sixties and seventies to work on the power stations, dams, mines, telecoms etc that the apartheid government was building.
The point? Amongst all these groups there was fierce sporting rivalry (and a fair amount of pub violence too), largely in football, which attracted huge whites-only crowds back then, but also spilling over into rugby. What of the rugby? The hair was big, the shorts were, er, not, the players largely looked normal-sized and there were no television match officials. It was glorious chaos. In South Africa, we had only the Currie Cup – a ferocious tournament at the time – and a handful of tours, with isolation starting to bite.
With an English mum and dad of English heritage, I naturally supported England in all matter sporting, so the early eighties were alright. Bill Beaumont led a grizzled pack full of policemen and other thugs magnificently! The Welsh wizardry of the 70s was waning, but still spoken of in hushed tones by our parents, Andy Irvine was my favourite Scot, Ollie Campbell and Tony Ward great Irishmen, but my oh my, it was Jean-Pierre Rives, the one and only J-PR, who stole hearts with his frenetic, fearless and gallant approach to rugby. It was a great time to be exposed to northern rugby. And Bill McLaren. The greatest sports commentator of all time? Certainly best UK one, in my books.
Watching those matches as the eighties meandered into the nineties, Scotland’s final hurrah in 1990 with the Grand Slam and a win over England (who I was backing, whilst my best mate rooted for Scotland) are some of my favourite sporting memories.
Fast forward to 2025, the Six Nations, the razzmatazz, the massive players, the huge squads, tactical subs, endless law changes, endless TMO reviews and endless bickering by fans on social media – it’s just not the same, is it? No. It’s completely different: and just as compelling. The skills on display, the crowds, the anthems (Flower of Scotland for me, just ahead of Land of Our Fathers and La Marseillaise) and the ancient rivalries, along with the addition of Rome and Italy make it a special tournament, to be treasured. Not to be fucked with. No relegation and promotion. No Springboks. Just as is. Progress and change be damned – the tournament is a beacon in a sea of endless repetition and tinkering.
And this year’s tournament promises to be a great one. France and Ireland or vice versa are favourites to win it, although most don’t expect a Slam, while Scotland (assuming they can keep 23 players fit) have a wonderful set of backs who can turn a Test on a tickey. The English media’s schizophrenic lurching between bombast and blubbering belies a side not far off being very, very good – capable, in my books, of beating any of the others on their day. In either hemisphere. Wales are rebuilding and will hope their arrested development turns the joke on someone else, whilst Italy have proven that on their day, they can play some magical stuff and trade it with the best. So as 2025 dawns, may young fans (of all ages) around the globe marvel at the likes of St Maro, Marcus Smith, Rabah Slimani, Julien Marchand, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Antoine Dupont(!), Damian Penaud, Sebastian Negri, Juan Ignacio Brex, Ange Capuzzo, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Rory Darge, Jamie Ritchie, Darcy Graham, Finn Russell, Christ Tshiunza, Jac Morgan, Liam and Tomos Williams amongst so many others. Let these names be spoken of in hushed and fond tones as arguments echo down the ages, rivalries remain, growing stronger and closer: let the Six Nations speak on the field. Let’s enjoy one of the great sporting spectacles!
Reminiscences by deebee7, of course.
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 31st January
| Scotland v Italy (U20s) | 19:15 | iPlayer |
| France v Wales | 20:15 | S4C, STV, ITV1 |
Saturday 1st February
| Scotland v Italy | 14:15 | BBC1 |
| Ireland v England | 16:45 | STV, ITV1 |
| France v Wales (U20s) | 20:10 | iPlayer, S4C |
Ovally Balls 
Had Deebee not come to rescue, I was just going to repurpose a text I got from my uncle recently. It went like this:
What are your thoughts on the 6 Nations? I have no idea how Ireland will do this time. It’s hard to predict how any of the teams will do. I think France may well be the team to beat. Scotland could do well. The Italian clubs seem to be doing better.
So Wales will probably win it.
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Thaum, before your comment I wrote a post that probably went into the spam.
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As Craigsman often said “words…. Deebee”
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Nothing in the spam bin, Flair!
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Managed to retrieve Flair’s comment. It’s below:
France will crush England and skewer the Irish! We shall dance on the corpse of Welsh rugby, and send the Scots home, to think again! And then lose to Italy, with Dupont scoring an own goal in the 83rd minute. Merde!
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Rough translation, obviously.
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Good stuff Deebs.
It’s the time of year where Predict-A-Bear raises his furry head from hibernation to give his wise and carefully thought out (after 5 minutes) predictions:
France vs Wales – France to eventually smite down brave Welsh resistance and win by 15.
Scotland vs Italy – I’ve got all my paws crossed for this one. Scotland should win comfortably, but this is a decent Italian team. No injuries and a bit of Finn/Duhan/Darcy magic to win by 10.
Ireland vs England – Borthwick’s Brave New England! Or are they? Ireland on the wane! Or are they? Don’t know why you’re asking me.
(You predict things)
Ah. So I do. Ireland to win by 5 through sheer bloodymindedness.
Of course, these could all be wrong, I’m still bloody half asleep….
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BB, I think your predictions are pretty accurate. Vanilla, but accurate! Almost exactly the same as mine.
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And now Wales are gonna blast France to pieces.
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Is it just me, or has time actually slowed down?
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Ulsterboy scores for Scotland in the U20s. :-/
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Ah hell, Lol back in his towel.
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CMW excitement level negligible.
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Is that due to the rugby, or Dallaglio inna towel?!
Anyway, good to see you back Clyde and hope things are OK with you and family.
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That’s quite an atmosphere!
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Slight stirring on the excitement-ometer with the French anthem.
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The mister (during the Welsh anthem): Too Slow.
Me: Bit like the Welsh attack.
You do wonder if sometimes anthems away from home are deliberately fucked up.
HERE WE GO!!!!
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Ooh, that was close.
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Dupont held up! Who’d’ve thunk it?
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Welsh defence holds up again against seriously scary attack.
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And then they drop the ball on the attack, when they had a chance.
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The look on the French prop’s face when the referee doesn’t like the scrum: Who, me, Ma? No, I didn’t do anything.
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Bit harsh from the ref there. 0-0 after 12 minutes though!
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Dupont made a mistake!!!!!!!
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Bloody hell, he makes it look so easy.
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Try France!
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The Welsh defence has been really good, but the inevitable has happened. Although we think on a previous play that the ball was held up over the line, so it should have been a goal-line drop-out to Wales. But hey-ho.
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He does. He’s thrown a couple of forward passes that he’s got away with so far though.
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It certainly looks a harder game when we’ve got the ball.
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That’s two.
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Oh dear.
When Dupont throws the ball, it seems to float in the air as if there’s some sort of spell on it, Harry Potter style, until the next player grabs it.
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Very nice pass that.
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Try was coming. Hell, it’d been coming for 18 minutes, but for some great Welsh defence. Can Wales keep it up though. Um, no, apparently. A bit too easy, but great hands by France!
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Owen Watkin’s done something quite serious-looking to himself. Shame.
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Something of a challenging situation for Dan Edwards to come on to.
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Adams should have taken a quick lineout.
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That’s going to make it even harder for Wales.
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Don’t think there’s too much in that one to be honest. Probably means it will be red.
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Welsh hooker lost to bin with review to come.
I think it’ll stay a yellow because the other Welsh player pushed the French one into the contact.
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Sublime.
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This Dupont’s quite handy, isn’t he?
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Great break, massive forward pass.
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Dupont, mon dieu!
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Sorry. nowhere near forward.
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Great break, but surely the pass was forward?
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Yellow stays yellow.
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No, I don’t think it was forward either.
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You’re right, BB; he passed it way in front of any forward!
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Commentator: France haven’t really opened up yet.
Scarily, I think he is right.
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@BB – the guy who caught it was several yards in front of him and he checked slightly before letting it go. People like to shout ‘PHYSICS’, but he would have to be going super fast straight for the line to make that not forward.
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