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 
Commentator on my feed is almost as sloppy as the Sharks! Doesn’t know half the Sharks players names, keeps calling Esterhuizen Etzebeth and just called the Sharks the Springboks!
Mapimpi in for his 2nd but called back for a forward pass. Looked flat to me.
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19-5 at the break and Ulster well worth it
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Stockdale thought there was no offside line because a ruck wasn’t formed, but he was wrong for some reason.
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Anyway, I’m a little distracted by the view.
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Wow! That’s stunning!
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This is why I quite like Robson. He was talking about squad depth, and said, It’s certainly nothing compared to Leinster’s Mariana Trench.
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Deebs – yep, that’s why we’ve come back for the third year in a row.
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Phew! Ulster just manage to defend what looked like a certain try.
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Now there’s something about better protection than pandas.
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Refit
Scarlett’s have beaten Leinster???
Fiddle-de-dee!
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Sharks are building a head of steam and Ulster have barely been out of their half this stanza. Phase after phase and finally over! 19-12 with 20 to go.
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Every time they mention Johnny Rae I sing the opening lines to “Come on Eileen” in my head
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And cock up the restart! An Ulster score here will make it very difficult for the Sharks to get back into it. But Ulster knock it on.
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Blimey – this is going to be quite the last ten minutes now
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Finally some decent hands by the Sharks and they’ve scrapped their way back to 19-all. There’s 10 minutes to go.
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Stockdale is playing his best rugby for a long time
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Stockdale having a storming game! This is getting tight! Penalty Sharks in front! With a couple of minutes to go, surely take the 3 and then see what you can do. Yip! 19-22. Sharks need to clear this restart
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I FUCKING TOLD YOU!
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With prediction skills like that Thaum, maybe a lottery ticket?
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Sharks lineout with 20 seconds to go. They manage to control it in a very messy way and hoof it into the grandstand to win the match! Tale of two halves, really.
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Crikey, Thaum, you weren’t kidding on the 19 point thing
That was the best result for Edinburgh as pretty much everything else has gone against us.
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^gone against us this weekend – we are where we are because of our own play and the league exposes teams for where they are
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Thaum, sorry I missed the post – where are you?
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It’s at least the third time this season we’ve gone up 19-0 in the first half and then not scored another point and lost.
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Ticht – Snowdonia.
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Er, Eryri, that is!
Have finally managed to learn to pronounce Dolgellau more or less passably.
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(It’s Dol-GEGH-lai, lai rhyming with bye. Sort of.)
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(You have to imagine Nigel Owens saying it.)
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Are there any err, streaming sites that still work?
I was thinking of having a gander at the Eubank Benn scrap tonight
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Just seen those pics on my laptop, and it’s even more stunning than on my phone’s screen (obviously). One of the lovely quirks of life is that Welsh names are actually not that tricky for Saffers to say, because of Zulu pronunciation: the double ‘l’ (ll) in Llandudnou is very similar to the ‘hl’ in something like Emalahleni (means place of coal, bringing our Welsh and Zulu breathren ever closer). Now just don’t be the smartarse and ask me to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
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It’s pronounced ‘Llanfairpigglywiggly’.
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Deebee – it looks even better with the naked eye! The camera phone doesn’t capture the light to perfection.
This place is completely amazing: there are several acres that are completely enclosed for the dog to run around in – and play with the owners’ lovely Labradoodle – and the water supply is from a spring on the property, from which he’s also built a series of waterways cascading down the hill through several ponds. There are solar-powered night lights for the rockery and the firepit, and the grounds are beautifully landscaped with unusual azaleas and rhododendrons, amongst other things. It’s bliss!
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Yikes, Exeter are getting a bit of a spanking at the moment. Half an hour gone and Glaws are 34-0 up. They’re making Anscombe look like the All Black he might once have been.
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Oh, Exeter have woken up and scored some points. 36-7 with 5mins left in the half.
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Exeter might consider it lucky that Carreras is only kicking at 50%, otherwise the score would be a lot worse than 53-7 (so far).
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10 tries up now and a nice, round 60 for Glaws, on the score board.
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Exeter are breaking up the pummling, by getting into a couple of scraps.
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79-7 now and Exeter’s lot isn’t going to be helped going down to 14. Still 10mins left to play.
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C’mon Refit! Don’t leave us hanging! Did Exeter make a comeback or not?
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Would you be amazed to hear that they lost? 79-17 in the end.
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So Exeter nilled Glaws in the last 10?
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I’ve a question for the blog mind. Why is the TMO the third match official? There’s the ref, and the two assistant refs running the line, so … ?
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The assistant refs are a hive mind?
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nothing compared to Leinster’s Mariana Trench
Well, I think Scarlets have indicated that the depth – at Leinster – isn’t quite at the level of what has gone before
We’re seeing good young players who (probably) will improve but we’re not seeing lads like Furlong, Porter, Ryan, Doris, Sheehan – who come in from the academy and are almost fully formed.
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So I just explained the difference in the cost of beer between London and Addis to my driver. He shot me a look of horror and surprise and exclaimed “But that is punishment!” The look on his face, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Then an American bloke called him looking for a driver for today and asking what the dollar rate would be, to which he responded, just WhatsApp me, we discuss. Makes me think I may have been slightly overcharged. The guy couldn’t understand my driver’s name, so Demi said “just call me James Bond!” He’s a character of note!
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Munster… well, 3rd game in a row line out imploded. 64% success vs Cardiff – it’s killing anything Munster try to do.
It had improved by borrowing Alex Codling from the Ireland women’s team but he was with the women this last two weeks and it’s distintegrated.
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Ulster – well 19-0 is a dangerous lead (as our seniors found out in the cup final last week)
Sharks upped it in the second half and Ulster couldn’t get out of their own half (to all intents and purposes) – that said it was probably 66 mins before Sharks got their 2nd try, but by that time the defence were worn down and defensice line was all over the place.
Based on Sat, if you could choose an opposition player for free for your own team – Esterhuizen would be the immediate choice, with a sidelong glance at Hooker
Siya came on to speak with the RTE panel after the game and gave a shout to Alan O’Connor (Ulster second row and captain who is leaving at the end of the season) and John Cooney – nice touch.
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TMO = Television Match Official
Not sure he/she would be in the chain of command if anything happened to the ref…. think it goes AR1, AR2, 4th official etc
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Television! Of course! Thanks, Trisk. :-)
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(I’m sure I’ve heard commentators refer to the ‘third match official’. ??)
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