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 
14-10! Bulls with a 22 drop and its sent back over the bar via a drop kick!
LikeLike
Bulls keep it a bit tighter and immediately make 40m and a penalty under the posts. They kick to touch for the 5m lineout. They win it cleanly but the offload is fumbled and Zebre clear beyond their 22. From the lineout the Bulls put Stravino Jacobs through a gap with some quick short passes. 21-10.
LikeLike
Watching with the sound off whilst Mrs Deebee indulges us both in some superb Talking Heads. I remember Sag was a big fan of David Byrne as a musician. Having a wee glass in Sag’s honour, and all the others who’ve graced our dinghies over the years. 🍷 🥂
LikeLiked by 3 people
28-10 with a bruising maul drive and try and the bonus point.
LikeLike
That’s half time. It’s been a bit sloppy at times, with passes and catches lacking accuracy and some poor decision-making, but good entertainment nonetheless. Zebre not coping with the Bulls power, when they deploy it, but they do look inventive ball in hand, regularly making 30m+ at a time. Just not quite clinical enough.
LikeLike
Zebre open the 2nd half with a great try from a counter, but the Bulls batter their way over for a 5th and restore their lead: 35-17 after 48 minutes.
LikeLike
Bulls lose a man to the bin whilst I was rescuing the pug from Mrs Deebee. Zebre bugger up the lineout from the penalty, but will have a man more in the scrum.
LikeLike
Bulls went into reverse at the scrum, but it’s the Zebre loose head who limps off with an ankle problem. It’s getting a wee bit testy out there in the Pretoria heat and both sides starting to ring the changes. Zebre with an intelligent grubber forcing the Bulls to hoof it out deep in their 22. Zebre go short, maul and keep enough momentum to eventually go over! Good conversion and its 35-24 after 55.
LikeLike
Bulls won’t be denied, forcing a 5m scrum and having Marcell Coetzee barging over. He’s had a big game today. 42-24 going into the final quarter. The Bulls look to get going again, but hands let them down after a good charge by Akker ‘Angry Warthog’ van der Merwe. Bulls winning the collisions now and marching the Zebre scrum back at will.
LikeLike
Bulls in again and its 49-24. Bulls next two URC matches are away to Munster and Glasgow, so racking up a few more points here wouldn’t do any harm.
LikeLike
Nizaam Carr bursts through on the halfway, offloads to the 9 who puts his wing in for another. Moments later, Zebre coxk it completely, allowing David Kriel to scoop it up and saunter in under the posts.
LikeLike
Bulls have one last go after the hooter, but it comes to nought. 63-24 the final score and (at least temporarily) up to 2nd on the log.
LikeLike
Munster 14 lucky not to get yellow for taking the man out in the air. No way he could get the ball and very lucky the receiver didn’t fall badly.
LikeLike
Someone really needs to start teaching players how to tackle properly. The Quins winger, Isgro, just knocked himself out trying to stop Joe Cokanasiga scoring, by being completely upright in the tackle. He’s also been given a yellow.
LikeLike
There’s an extended delay to the restart, because he’s still being treated in the deadball area.
They need to go back to red cards for any head contact, force the players/coaches to change behaviour.
LikeLike
There’s been a red card to Munster for an accidental head contact on Cian Prendergast, who has been stretchered off.
LikeLike
Bath are running rampant against Quins. Marcus Smith has just been binned for an infringement on his own line. Bath then score and then score again almost immediately from the restart.
26-0 on 23mins.
LikeLike
Bath get the BP try in 22 minutes. Marcus Smith off for a deliberate knock on just before try 3. Quins being pumped.
LikeLike
Ah, the auld knee…
LikeLiked by 3 people
Quins on the board! A long pass to the wing cuts out half the Bath defence. One of the big locks gets the ball on the wing and charges for the line, but makes the smart play to pass the ball inside to Northmore, who scores. 26-7
LikeLike
Jesus, Tom Dunn almost ran in a try from 40m! He was only tackled 10m out, but Bath got the ball wide to Muir, who did score. 33-14, nearly half time.
LikeLike
Proper filthy derby between Connacht and Munster. Munster hung on to win with 14 (and 13, twice) men.
We were both hoping for a draw.
LikeLike
Quins on the end of a bit of a humping (47-21 with 10 mins to play) and the camera cuts to Adam Jones in the stands, looking almost as shell-shocked as he did for the Wales game.
LikeLike
Wales scored early against England, in the W6N. This just seems to have annoyed England and they’ve just scored their 4th try in 20mins, which started from England pushing Wales off their own put-in at a scrum. 7-26 after 27mins.
LikeLike
Bristol not going quite as well as last week, Glaws two tries up already, with Carreras being instrumental in both. At least the strong wind is making his kicking from the tee rubbish. 10-0
LikeLike
Bugger, 3rd try for Glaws (and the conversion this time) 17-0.
The wind is so strong, the Bristol restart has just gone dead behind the Gloucester try line.
LikeLike
Ooh, Bristol have done something other than missing tackles. Randall popping through a gap in the line and Fitzharding on his shoulder to score. 24-7
LikeLike
Wade scores his second and Glaws 6th with the clock in the red. 34-21 at half time.
LikeLike
Oof, England have put 11 tries on Wales, 12-67 at the final whistle.
LikeLike
Bloody hell, I step out the room for a second and come back to find Wade had scored his 3rd. 48-21
LikeLike
Bit of a humbling for Bristol, after last week. Final score 53-28 (9 tries to 4)
LikeLike
Glasgow get their bonus try against Deebee’s Lions in 30 minutes. Deebee opens second bottle…
LikeLike
Finald score, Glasgow 45 Lions 0. Deebee opens another bottle…
LikeLike
Yikes! And I only had Glasgow by 5 on the ‘Bru.
LikeLike
Ah. Sorry, it was only 42-0. Apparently Glasgow were playing with the wind in the first half and against it in the second.
LikeLike
Real rugby update
ARNOLD CLARK EAST REGION LEAGUE DIVISION 2 (MEN’S)
Dunbar finished the season with a rearranged fixture against Penicuik. The visitors had struggled to get a team to travel even the short distance to the coast and it showed.
The referee called the captains in with a fair bit of time left and game was called to a halt with Dunbar leading 91 – 6.
It’s a real shame Penicuik were a good side back in my playing days.
Dunbar will face tougher challenges, one of which is fending off clubs much higher up the ladder circling for our players, two of them have been approached already but so far they are staying, preferring to play with their mates.
The majority of this team were in preschool playgroup together, they really are a cracking bunch of lads.
LikeLiked by 3 people
One more thing on Penicuik, they did something I’ve never seen before, as the home team ran out from the changing rooms Penicuik formed a tunnel and applauded the league champions on to the pitch. It happens at the end of every game of course, but I thought this was very classy from the visiting team.
Well played Penicuik.
LikeLiked by 6 people
BB, I was fortunate enough to miss the Lions mauling on Saturday. We went to a Fleetwood Mac tribute concert at a pub in Joburg called the Radium Beer Hall. It’s one of the oldest pubs in Joburg still in existence and a couple of blocks away from the flat my dad grew up in. He had his first pint there with his dad and uncle when he turned 18, almost 75 years to the day ago. Had a few pints in his honour, of course.
It’s an interesting part of Joburg, for anyone who’s interested. A very old part of Joburg (given the city was only established after gold was discovered in 1886, anything dating to the turn of the 20th century is considered old), largely white working class originally and settled by large groups of Italian migrants after the Second World War. Many were POWs in SA from North Africa and elected to stay and bring their families over. There’s still a fabulous Italian deli and shop that I buy flour, olive oil, cheeses and meats from, but the area has largely moved on and is now a cosmopolitan collection of people from the Horn of Africa (good restaurants), Nigeria, Congo, other parts of Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as remnants of the Italian, Jewish and Greek communities of yore.
As a kid in the 70s, I remember my uncle would come back from football matches on a Sunday afternoon when we were at my gran’s flat and tell us about them. You’d get upwards of 40,000 (whites only, given it was apartheid) fans attending a club match – if you tell that to people today they find it hard to believe, given that white Saffers are not generally associated with football.
LikeLike
Anyway, I’ve avoided the actual rugby for long enough. The Lions started the season with four wins from four. Hopes and expectation were high. Then came touring (talks of going toe to toe with Leinster were quickly stamped on), injuries and loss of form. From lofty ambitions of a top four place, to comments about ‘deserving’ a top 8 place, to sitting in 13th and desperately needing results to go our way, it’s been, well, shit. That said, whilst there are undoubtedly a lot of talented players, some on the fringes or cusp of Bok selection, there’s simply not enough depth or stardust to keep up with the big boys, week in and out. The shellacking in Glasgow was no real surprise. Ah well, we’ll always have Parys.*
*Parys, not Paris. Parys is a quaint little touristy town on the banks of the Vaal River, about 100km south of Joburg. The Vaal is not quite the Seine. Parys certainly ain’t Paris! And it’s not even in our province – it’s in the Free State. Sums up the Lions in one go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting thoughts from Simon Middleton, on head contact. He’s advocating for touchline coach bans.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cm2djrjy84eo
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sharks mascot would probably have done a better job than most of their players.
LikeLike
That made me laugh at the time.
LikeLike
As a kid in the 70s, I remember my uncle would come back from football matches
I can recall a few 70s players spending the odd “summer” playing SA. In the same way, some used to moonlight in the US.
Peter Withe of Forest and Villa played with Arcadia Shepherds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Munster are going to appeal against Nankivell’s red card.
When you look closely, it seems like he catches Prendergast with his knee as he tries to bind – and as Prendergast leans down….
Looks awful, Prendergast was spark out but not obvious foul play….not sure it can be deemed reckless.
LikeLike
Trisk, Arcadia Shepherds were one of the big sides, along with Germiston Callies, Highlands Park (my uncle’s side), Berea Park and a few ‘Cities’ from Durban, Cape Town etc. Hugely competitive, but basically dwindled when non-racial football emerged in the early 80s from memory. Jimmy Cook, the SA opening Test batsman from the 80s and very early 90s played as a central defender for Wits University, which was a strong side then. The true juggernauts of SA football like Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows and Kaizer Chiefs (the band named themselves after the team, inspired by Lucas Radebe at Leeds), and more recently Mamelodi Sundowns took the sport to new levels here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was announced on a local radio station this morning that Rassie Erasmus has been poached by Wales on a lucrative 3 year contract and was terminating his Bok contract with immediate effect. Mrs Deebee was outraged. I almost fell for it too, then remembered that apart from being April 1st, the WRU doesn’t have that kind of money. Sorry, CMW!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 1st stuff gets tedious – unless its the Guardian “San Seriffe” gag or “spaghetti trees” which were well crafted… I suppose I’m getting old….
LikeLike
of course the big game of the weekend (natch!) is Munster at La Rochelle.
LaR’s recent top 14 form is dire and Munster players are beginning to emerge – like 2023 and 2024 – from the injury room to drive on.
Loughman and Jager back, Kleyn played on Saturday – adds power where Munster were suffering in tight 5 – Casey back as well.
LikeLike
Trisk, most of the media down here don’t bother with April Fool’s jokes anymore, largely because it’s too difficult to outdo the daily news cycle anyway. I was also really hoping to wake up this mornign to President Harris jumping out of the Oval Office shouting “April Fool!”, but alas…
LikeLike