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 
Refit – just said to the mister, Watch him get red-carded in the first five minutes.
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Mcarthy in front too, penalty.
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Aki is a bloody big lump, isn’t he!
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Crowley got his boots on the wrong feet?
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Brilliant from Hansen. Think Sheehan possibly made that try as well as finishing it by rolling when he could have been turned over on the first carry.
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Crowley – lovely runner, crap kicker.
Prendergast – lovely kicker, crap runner.
Maybe they can find an amalgam of the two?
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That was magic from Capuozzo.
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@BB – Jordan Larmour?
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‘Bout time Capuozzo turned up!
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Capuozzo is a wee genius!
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Refit – LOL, as in crap runner and crap kicker?
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Well! What have we here? 17-22 with 15 to go!
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Refit – crap kicker and crap runner?
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Lucky bounce. Starting to think Italy could have really been in business but for their hopeless discipline though they have been kept in it partly bey poor place kicking.
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Ach, Thaum beat me to the breakdown. The auld knee…
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I’m old enough to remember when Larmour was touted as the future of Irish rugby.
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Anyone know what happened to Larmour, he clearly had some talent?
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Bonkers that this is only a 5 point game.
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I think Lowe actually avoided touch there before getting the ball away, but as the commentator said, the flag was up, so….
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Looked like a try.
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Clyde – he kept his talent well hidden from me.
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Definitely tiptoed down the line, but there will be few outside Ireland who won’t be laughing at that!
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Wales even when we were decent would lose a game like this to a last minute try. We’ve always understood the narrative of these sort of things better than Ireland though.
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Oh Italy…
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That has to be a straight red?
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Brilliant tap tackle from Aki – that could have been a match winning moment there!
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Why send that for review???????
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Well, Italy would have won this but for their discipline.
I don’t know why that wasn’t a straight red.
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Yet again, something stupid from an Italian.
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Italy will be wondering what could’ve been without the cards and injuries.
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Ooh, thats a red too.
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Really should have been a straight red, thought it was worse than the other one which was pretty straightforward too.
Terrible storytelling from the men in green, miserable gits.
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Mr. Pierce, you have had a great game, but that was a bit of coaching there to tell Prendegast he could tap it and finish the game.
Brilliant game, well played both sides, and great end for POM, he has maintained a world class standard of pain in the arse for a very long time. Legend.
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Ireland won, but that was scrappy and far from impressive. Possibly Italy’s best chance of beating Ireland – IF they’d kept their discipline and been a bit luckier with injuries.
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Ireland were piss-poor. I don’t enjoy watching this Ireland side, and found myself cheering on Italy there.
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Think Italy deserve a bit ore credit there, BB. Ireland scrappy because there was a blue tide washing over them for much of the game. On balance, the Italians were by far the better side, they dominated the gain line with their pack, Brex, and Menoncello, they constantly knocked Ireland back in the tackle, and backs looked slick, and both their 9s kicked really well too. If they keep on playing like that next season, they could well end up with 3 wins. Ireland won because of their wealth of experience, imho. Just dealt with the pressure with slightly cooler heads.
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To be fair , I should give bit of a nod to Murray and Healy too. Only a bit of a one tho.
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Cracking before-match show in Cardiff.
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What’s this. Andrew Cotter on the Wales game?
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BB – Scotland match is on ITV, Cotter’s a Beeb man.
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That didn’t take long.
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I know Refit, but I thought the BBC had the ‘consonants’ – Scotland, Wales and France, and ITV had the ‘vowels’ – Ireland, Italy and England. So I thought the BBC would have the France game, hence Cotter would have been on that.
Still, that didn’t take long.
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BB – tbh, we should start a petition for Cotter to do all matches.
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I think there was a Wales knock on before that try.
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Very opportunistic, but well taken by Wales. All a bit Keystone Cops by England.
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BB – me too, but it wasn’t!
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Oh, I think that’s unlucky for Wales.
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Well. That’s about as technical a disallowed try as you can get.
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Outrageous decision!
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