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 
Unnecessary tense finish for Italy, as they dominated most of the game but a bit like England lately, they went back inside their shell around the hour mark. Simple game plan, boring but executed better than Wales.
Don’t see either team winning another game.
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So Italy much improved, Wales’ worst performance in 20 years. Both of these things can’t be true judging by the scoreboard.
My view is that it was one of our worse ones in this run, but not really a standout compared to a number of others. Italy are still not very good though I think they were playing better last year than the last two weeks so maybe they can raise their game a bit and not lose their other games too heavily. Would be surprised if we get within 30 points of anyone else.
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Hahaha!
Dab were they talking about Dupont yet again?
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It was pissing down in Rome. For 70 minutes, Italy played the conditions far better than Wales. One bit of quality led to their try. Italy maybe panicked a wee bit in the last 10 minutes, but they were well ahead (and would have been out of sight if Tommy hadn’t missed those 2 kicks).
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@Flair you guessed it ha ha. He’s a great player, he really is, but the hype is ridiculous.
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@BB – though if Adams finished either of two chances similar to the one Capuozzo finished then it’s quite different. Ifs and buts I know, but it’s not as if Italy created much more than Wales (and they created sod all last week). Don’t think you should expect Tommy to hit 100%, he nailed some good ones as well as missing a couple. I don’t think we ‘deserved to win’ in any way, but Italy aren’t really far ahead of us. The pair of us are miles behind the rest though.
Even if we had beaten them if we lost the rest (and we will) it would still be a wooden spoon in all but name to me I’m afraid.
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Dickhead behaviour by Sleightholme, to match his haircut.
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There was a shot of a dead ringer for the girl with the pearl earring there.
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She’s carrying a microphone with a big fuzzy thing on it, at the side of the pitch.
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Yep, loved her expression when the two squared up.
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Frankly, it’s been the highlight of the match so far.
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It’s not often you see Lawrence stopped dead.
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Dupont’s human after all!
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Ooh, that was a bit more exciting! Not sure I’ve ever seen Dupont drop a ball before like that.
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It’s lucky that France have decided to play rucksy-dropsy, instead of rugby. We’d be in trouble otherwise.
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Benjamin [Kayser]’s just demolished the seat next to us in the commentary box.
Another bad drop!
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It’s rugby, Jim, but not as we know it.
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Ha! Itoje lobbing Penaud’s boot away, after the tackle.
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Fucking hell, France just decide to score then?
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Go the sporty cock!
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Going to be a long afternoon for England if they insist on kicking it to French back 3.
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There are fullbacks that wouldn’t have done that as well as Gros.
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10 out of 10 for Gros.
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Pack looks way better with an 8 at 8 in the set piece.
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Even with the pen advantage, I was sure we were going to turn that over somehow. Good try in the end, Ramos too high on Lawrence.
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Not terrible from England. Let’s see if we can make it more than 20mins into the second half, before giving up.
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Some good stuff and some mistakes from both teams. Makes for a good game.
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BOD smirking while Eddie Jones talks again.
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Well, that was an insane 30 seconds.
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Can you imagine if our lineout worked?
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It’s all gone bonkers! Very entertaining.
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Sag will be hating this…
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Think there’s maybe a case that France are overplaying for the conditions. Making for a highly entertaining game though.
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Now Earl with the amazing covering play.
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Well! There’s a turnip for the books.
I suppose it’s good for us if England win.
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Good finish!
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Bugger. Good try.
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Look what happens when England players take the ball while moving. It’s much more effective.
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David and Suzanne will be massively miffed about that tackle.
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A young child has scored for England!
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France almost fucked that like 10 times, but still managed to score at the end of it.
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And the pendulum swings again!
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Ok, who had Elliot Daly coming on and winning it for England?????
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Bloody hell, we’ve won 🤯🤯.
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Well! I thought France would do the slam this year. Well done, England.
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“Ok, who had Elliot Daly coming on and winning it for England?????”
Why, Giant Naked Peppa Pig of course.
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Got very lucky in the first half but that was a wonderful performance to snatch the win.
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Great game, well done England. GNPP is very excited, it’s not a pretty sight.
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Good grief, how the hell did that happen? Probably lose to Scotland, Wales and Italy now.
Thought the flood gates would open at some point, but England just kept getting better. All the subs were excellent, Finn my hero!
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Well done England. Am stunned.
Still don’t understand how France didn’t score 4 or 5 more tries. Was the ball greased or what?
Nevertheless, very entertaining.
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