It’s the second weekend of the Six Nations, and this is where things get (even more) interesting!
Following on from his (unexpected, even by him) success last week, Predict-A-Bear is back! This time in full Technicolor! And with lots of exclamation marks!!!!
First up is Italy vs Wales. Italy looked decent in places last week despite losing. They’ll be hoping that being back home will give them a boost. Although they haven’t beaten Wales in Rome since 2007, but that was a very different Wales. Wales have Faletau back (again) and yet another centre partnership facing up to one of the best partnerships in the tournament in Brexoncello (sorry, not sorry). Predict-A-Bear is going for:
‘Second game on Saturday is England vs France. The Big One! Le Crunch! Even though it isn’t. Not this weekend. Anyway, England have an abundance of Smiths, plus a Willis (but perhaps not the correct one) and a large number of Saints in the backline. France have added a Jalibert and some guy called Penaud on the wing. England will have a good first half and not so good second half. France will have a good first half and a better second half.
Predict-A-Bear is going for:
And that’s it for this weekend!
What do you mean there’s a game on Sunday!? You mean I’ve got to preview it too?
Bugger.
Here goes then (and this is being AI’d before the teams come out). Scotland HAVE to beat Ireland. We haven’t since 2017. Ireland were (slightly) sub-par in Autumn. They have rather annoyingly got better since then (but they did only play England last week). Scotland have lost our captain (and all-round genius) Sione, plus the very underestimated Scott Cummings for the whole tournament. Toonie’s Tombola came up with Dave Cherry last week, and he actually played well! So expect him to be out of the 23 or something weird. Injuries permitting, the only change I would make is Jordan in for McDowall. Sadly, I think the James Lowe Smirk will be in evidence a lot come Sunday evening. Can’t even do the “heart says one thing, head says the other” result – mainly because P-A-B doesn’t have a heart….
Still, Predict-A-Bear is going for:
Predict-A-Bear’s prognostications transcribed by BorderBoy.
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 7th February
| Italy v Wales (U20s) | 19:15 | S4C, iPlayer |
| England v France (U20s) | 20:00 | iPlayer |
Saturday 8th February
| Stormers v Bulls | 12:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Italy v Wales | 14:15 | ITV1, S4C, STV |
| England v France | 16:45 | STV, ITV1 |
| Scotland v Ireland (U20s) | 19:45 | iPlayer, RTÉ2 |
Sunday 9th February
| Scotland v Ireland | 15:00 | BBC1, iPlayer, RTÉ2 |
Ovally Balls 
Cardiff robbed of their conversion by the non-existent shot clock!
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Stormers pressure is pretty relentless and they’ve got the bonus point. 24-12 after a Libbok cross kick and Hartzenberg scores. Cardiff creaking a bit, but not out of it, and suddenly get some quick hands and up to the Stormers 5m line! Stormers can’t get complacent, Cardiff have shown they’ve got plenty to offer.
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Getting scrappy, with both sides playing 7z. Sasha FM replaces Libbok with 25 to go.
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Lovely stuff Cardiff! They keep the ball in hand for phase after phase, not always going forward, but when the overlap came, they were on it like a flash! 24-17 with 22 to go. Or was it forward? No, shoulder to head-ish by Willemse? Could be red if the last one is anything to go by. Yip. Red.
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Sale vs Bristol. Reckon it could be a low scoring game. Probably only about 80 points in it.
Each.
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Should’ve been yellow for me, just like the Cardiff red, but letter of the law I suppose.
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Stormers smash the Cardiff scrum from 5m out! So much so they leave the ball behind and concede a knock on scrum. 14 to go and only 7 points in it. If Cardiff can clear and get some go forward ball, it’s still game on.
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Cardiff have the 50-22, exploiting the lack of a 15 at the back! SF-M, lauded for his silky skills, gets into the rough stuff and turns the ball over. Stormers over the halfway with a rolling maul and then showing silky skills out wide, but ultimately conceding a lineout in the Cardiff 22. For all their Harlem Globetrotter skillz, they’re just not killing off the game. Oh. Until replacement lock Connor Evans takes a pass from SF-M and ghosts under the posts.
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31-17 with about 6 to go. Cardiff lose another attacking lineout, the Stormers pour forward, but Cardiff jackal them on the ground again! Back to the Stormers 22, where it all started.
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Cardiff take the 5m lineout from another penalty from another superb jackal on the floor – they’ve been superb in that area – and maul it over! 31-24 and up to 7th on the log at the moment with the two points! A converted try and they could go up another spot, I think. Ah. Stormers penalty and they’re taking the shot. SF-M lines it up. And over. 34-24 as the hooter sounds. Can Cardiff get… no. Final score.
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Turned over to Ulster v Embra to find us 12-0 down, but then a penalty try (and yellow card) happened.
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And then Murphy puts a speculative kick in that looked like it was too far, but Embra missed it, and Kok gathered and scored! 12-12 as conversion missed.
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Embra scored while I was feeding the dog. 19-12.
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Sale are being horribly dynamic and the bastards have very good handling. Gits.
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Sale 20-5 up at half time.
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It’s 33-12 in Embra now. I really don’t know why Ulster bother staying on the pitch.
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Postlethwaite scores from about the Embra 22, but it’s far too little, far too late. First points of the second half.
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Embra score again. Oh well.
Some great shots earlier of McFuckface Sr celebrating Hamish’s brilliance.
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Well, Ulster has pretty much left the pitch. Darcy Graham gets a hat-trick in the 80th minute.
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Bristol have been thoroughly beaten by Sale, but they haven’t given up and have got the try BP, 41-27 with 10 seconds left. There is a chance for them to get the losing BP too, restart secured…
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Nope, knocked on and that’s the final whistle.
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Munster have won with the BPT, and are into the top 8.
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“Cardiff robbed of their conversion by the non-existent shot clock!”
Even a non-existent clock is right twice a day…
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The non-persistence of memory.
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What a bizarre end to Saints/Sarries. Saints score with the clock in the red to take the game, but it looked like there was a pretty obvious forward pass in the build up. However the TMO and the ref both went “nah, that’s fine, nothing to see here”.
It does mean that Bristol are in the play offs though 😁.
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Yeah, feel really bad for Sarries.
No.
Wait.
The other thing…
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Ollie Chessum’s a lucky boy. Smacked his shoulder straight into a Bath player’s head, but it was ruled chest contact first, so only a yellow.
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‘Mon ra Weedge!!!
Don’t get nilled!
Score points (any points will do)!
Don’t let anyone get injured (Sione’s just back).
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Sharks-Scarlets was one of the worst matches of the season. 12-3 to the Sharks in the end, but pretty dire all round. Switched over to Leinster-Weege now, just in time to see RG Snyman reach over the 22 from behind his tryline to effect a turnover
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FA Cup has finished and been replaced by Eurovision on my TV in Djibouti. Didn’t know it was still a thing! Estonia up now… I’m not sure what to make of it.
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Israel next. No comment.
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Think we’ve got Lithuania on now. Crap. Someone called Melody up next. Seems to lost most of her clothes between the 1st verse and the chorus. Finds a bunch of dancers for the next bit. And thank fuck the rugby’s back!
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Jesus christ, Eurovision? The horror!
One can only hope that Israel get nul points. And get replaced by Palestine in next year’s contest, supposing they can find enough people still alive to compete.
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Not nilled!
And Sione’s come through 40 minutes.
I’m declaring the moral victory now!
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And losing by less than 50 points!
Totally the moral victors! (Plus, it’s Leinster, so anyone playing them is a moral victor anyway).
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Austria win. No idea what the rest of the countries did.
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Seems to be a picture doing the rounds of Jordie Barrett with his hands on a Glasgow player’s face, very close to the eyes. Did anybody see it during the game?
I was wondering if he would be cited, then I remembered who he played for (both club and country…)
Still, it’s not as though he was trying to shift a prop off of him who was choking him at the time.
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Danny Care’s final home game for Quins. He’s getting a wonderful send-off from the fans.
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BB, Barrett seemed to get away with (slightly) late, but no-arms hit from behind as well.
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BB? Beauden Barrett? That’s a wee bit of self loathing going on there.
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Today’s ‘Messy Monday’ for the Lionz first meet up. Wonder what Jonny said to Finn when they met?
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Six Nations match on a THURSDAY and a rest weekend removed! What do we think of this?
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Actually, I think this deserves a ranty ATL.
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I spose it’s about time we had a new one: https://ovallyballs.sport.blog/2025/05/19/tampering-with-the-six-nations/
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