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 
Lost count of the number of times Ireland seem to be in front at a ruck.
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Well done Ireland but we were bloody awful. Doesn’t help when our main 10 and best winger have to go off but still bloody awful.
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Thought Scotland improved quite a bit in the second half, but it was already done really.
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Think there needs to be a taxi for Toonie at the end of this 6N. Worryingly it might mean Franco Smith moving up to the national side (as he’s the best coach we have and he’s already in the system).
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Anyway, the bear’s smug ‘cos he nearly got the score right.
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BB: we can only dream of being “bloody awful” atm. Shame about all the injuries.
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I would hope Finn will be fit for the next match in a fortnight. Looks less likely for Darcy Graham, sadly.
Is there any chance of Sione being fit?
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Nope, Sione’s out for the whole tournament.
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That’s a shame.
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Nice to see that Scotland didn’t have the worst sporting performance of the weekend. Step forward the Kansas City Chiefs! They also know what it’s like to be battered by a Lean Green Mean Machine (and well done to the Philadelphia Eagles, by the way).
Honourable mention should also go to Liverpool, top of the Premier League who went to Plymouth Argyle, a team bottom of the Championship (so 44 places below them in the league system) and lost! Although they did send a team made up of babies and spare parts.
Finniest mention goes to Rangers! At home, playing Queen’s Park who hadn’t beaten them in something like 100 years (although they’ve rarely been in the same division, but still) and lost! Even with their habitual last minute penalty to try and get out of trouble. That did make me feel a bit better. Shame the other Ugly Sister didn’t lose too.
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Congratulations Ireland, the better team by a country mile.
The scoreline flattered Scotland.
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I suppose I was expecting a bit more from Scotland. Though not helped by the injuries to Graham and Russell.
I was watching it on a tablet over someone’s shoulder on a bus back from a U16 game in Cashel (disappointing – I ran the line and put in more effort than some of ours but there are days like that sometimes) I’ll have to try to re-watch in full to get a better feel – but seemed like Ireland started quick and really only let up for a few mins either side of half-time.
Only saw second half of Eng v France – thought France would eventually pull themselves together and stretch awasy but England stuck in there (which I suppose is the bare minimum expected).
Italy / Wales – I suppose final score flattered Wales. Wales were a bit unlucky with the two cross field kicks that the wingers couldn’t hold but not really the weather for that speculative play. Until Wainwright came on the forwards made no progress against the Italian defence. Italy got a bit conservative but while Wales were coughing up pens – why not take 3 instead of killing yourself… to be fair Wales defended quite well – tackled everything.
Also I liked Garbisi’s honesty on the Capuozzo try – wasn’t clear from behind/first viewing that the ball was still play, that Capuozzo got a hand to it, and wasn’t in touch himself. A great finish by Capuozzo.
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I caught 2 of the 3 U20 matches. In England/France, score probably flattered England bit – initially it looked like they’d run away with – then France came back – last minute try pushed out the score to 27-10 when France had been pushing to get a losing bonus. Shocking weather but I’m not sure that excused all the handling errors
Ireland/Scotland was weird – Ireland scored after 45 seconds, and the winger Molony had a hat trick by 25 mins (or so) – with Ireland 26-0 ahead.
Scotland then woke up and probably had better of the remainder. A couple of conversions might have made Ireland more edgy. Scotland got sucker punched by a lineout try from Oisín Minogue – nephew of Anthony Foley – which brought the score to 33-15 with 15 mins left.
Current Irish U20s aren’t as good as some of their predecessors – that said a few big players are missing.
Scotland’s sub 9 Hector Paterson (now, there’s a name from the ‘Monarch of the Glen’ name-generator) seemed a stand out and you’d wonder why he didn’t start…
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“Also I liked Garbisi’s honesty on the Capuozzo try”
I did too though given it was always going to be checked it was sort of neither here nor there, just likable behaviour really. ITV commentary team were critical of him for it which I really don’t understand.
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Happy for Italy, they showed admirable control to follow a plan in poor conditions and put Wales away easily. May well sneak at least another win somewhere. Poor Wales, apparently haven’t won since Zammo’s last game. Bring him home.
England France, what more can be said, a mugging. Was it just me, or did Sean Edwards seem unusually chipper for the defence coach of a side that had just been beaten by a team theoretically far below their standards at the post match interview?
Ireland Scotland, business as usual, shame about the HIA’s, end of contest right there, but it was already looking pretty bad, Ireland and Prendegast looked like they were on a training run.
Chiefs Eagles- ITV have worked out I am overseas, so blocked me, missed second quarter sourcing another stream, but most people here are rather happy that Patrick Mahomes boys got a kicking. In normal circumstances, such a one sided game would be a bit of a disappointment, but the City of Brotherly Love has had their team temporarily adopted by nearly all the neutrals. The defensive line have become national heroes.
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“Until Wainwright came on the forwards made no progress against the Italian defence”
Think that’s pretty fair. Morgan didn’t stand out in the way he normally has, Faletau worked really hard but didn’t make much ground very often, they went to Rowlands a fair bit and he dropped the ball every time in the first half though he did do a bit better later on. Hopefully Wainwright can start the next game with Morgan and possibly Faletau as well. Maybe not the best balance, but the three best players at least and by some margin to my eye.
Can’t help feeling that all our older players are actually past the point where they really ought to be getting selected if we had a team that was anything like. Adams looks shot, Liam W was off the pace the week before, Rowlands is miles off where he was a couple of years ago, Faletau even if he were to get back to his best almost certainly won’t stay fit long enough for his involvement to help the team grow. Could throw Anscombe into that as he’s never got back to where he was before his injury which is a long time ago now anyway. It would help a bit if we actually played an outside half though – Edwards needs to start next time out as the last two games have been completely unfair on Ben Thomas.
Obviously our problems go beyond individual players, but I do have some sympathy with Gatland in terms of selection as putting out a completely inexperienced team in the circumstances isn’t much of an option any more than keeping players going who are essentially past it.
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@cmw
I’d agree that Liam Williams, Adams, Faletau are there purely to ensure a few “wise” heads – otherwise it’s an inexperienced team – either in terms of youth or promotion of former understudies to leading roles.
It’s a tough situation
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@Trisk – Yes, some of the others are not all that young, but didn’t break into or manage to stay in the team when they were (Gareth Thomas, Dee, Nicky Smith come to mind) and in some cases (Tompkins, Watkin) were never really good enough anyway or haven’t ever really cracked international rugby in the way it looked like they would (Tomos Williams stands out). Our young team is weirdly quite old most of the time.
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Gats gone.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cpwrj451k95o
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“Glasgow coach Franco Smith”
Keep your bloody hands off Franco!
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@cmw
You’ve had a few misses alright – Nicky Smith was a pain every time Munster played the Ospreys… and when I first saw him I thought Patchell was nailed on 10 for years….
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Gats going has to be the right thing. Wouldn’t have minded if it had been at the end of the tournament though as I don’t imagine there’s anyone new or permanent lined up. Will be interesting to see who’s interested in taking it on – it’s potentially a thankless task and not likely to yield results that look good on a CV, but then again ‘some’ improvement should surely be possible so perhaps not everyone will see it as likely to completely ruin their career.
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@BB – Easterby is the one with the Welsh connections so perhaps he’ll save you!
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Or perhaps he’ll be the one most clued up when it comes to not touching it with a shitty stick, who can say?
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If Franco’s going anywhere, I want him to replace Toonie.
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@BB – Is there a vacancy?
Back on Easterby I wonder if having spent so much of his adult life in Llanelli might have given him the necessary level of delusion to think it might be a good idea. Something’s surely got to rub off…
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Not yet, but after the weekend, I think there should be. Toonie’s one of the longest serving Scottish coaches and while we have improved I’m not sure he’s capable of taking us to the next level of beating Ireland (or at least making them nervous – which they weren’t on Saturday) or getting to the latter stages of a RWC. And the time’s ticking on a few of these players.
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@BB – That doesn’t seem particularly unfair. Although Ireland were really impressive I found the Scotland match depressing – partly because I would just like Scotland to win something after so long and with having had a good team for a while, but also because Wales (and Italy) are currently a fair bit behind Scotland and Sunday showed (again) that even getting up to Scotland’s level is some way off challenging to win the tournament. Whether changing the man at the top would make a big difference to Scotland’s chances I’ve no idea, but I can see that it might be worth rolling the dice while you still have the players.
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Scotland have never troubled the top two sides in the world, whoever is ranked in those positions, and we’ve never beaten New Zealand.
South Africa and Ireland are two teams we just don’t have the pack to threaten them.
Glasgow have never beaten Leinster in a fully competitive knock out fixture when both sides field their first choices and Glasgow are way better than Edinburgh.
Ireland took to professional rugby well, Scotland did not, even now there are those who would dismantle the two teams we have.
I think it rankles with some because we definitely had their number in the 90s where Ireland didn’t win against us.
I’m sanguine enough with the fact we lost, but the manner of it where we really didn’t fire a shot bar Duhan’s wonderful finish, that is galling.
One thing I’m fairly sure of is that a new coach isn’t going to get bigger players for the pack, they aren’t going to turn Gilchrist into Eben Etzebeth nor Johnny Gray into a dynamic carrier who sits players down and makes 10m beyond the tackle.
Warburton and someone else were talking bollocks the other day in comms when they were on about being the best that requires no skill, ie getting up off the floor etc, rugby at the highest level more often than not is won by the team that beats the opposition up front – they make metres beyond the contact point, they get the upper hand at the scrum, they make a mess of the opposition lineout whilst securing their own, they knock you back, they keep you under constant pressure so you make mistakes. All of that means they are almost always on the front foot and yes that also means they are rewarded by the officials.
Scotland can play all the pretty rugby we like, but as the famous Mike Tyson quote goes, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face – Ireland metaphorically punch us in the face every time we play them.
For us to win every single facet of the game would have to go our way plus we would have to have all first choice players on the park and playing at their best, Ireland are not ranked No. 2 for nothing.
We came up woefully short.
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Well Pivac must be having a good old chuckle to himself today.
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Don’t really see why, seemed like a decent guy to be honest.
For that matter if he wanted to revel in Gats’ misery then he’d want him to carry on. And the only positive thing anyone’s got to say about Gats’ second go is that we did better in the World Cup than we were going to which isn’t exactly an endorsement of what was going on before.
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BB, I’d like Franco Smith to take the Scotland gig. Get him some exposure so he can take over at the Boks after the next World Cup. Nienaberwill move into Rassie’s role as DOR, and Rassie will be elevated to SARU President. Good continuity. Now all we need is some talent coming through the system.
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DeeBee, I seem to recall from somewhere that Franco wants the Springbok gig – it must be every Saffa coaches dream job.
There is a big difference from having your players all day every day to the situation as a national coach, but Franco has certainly earned the right to international coaching at a level, all due respect etc, above Italy.
One big thing he has done at Glasgow is bring on a lot of young forwards and made them ready to compete for Glasgow, the upshot now is that they have a full squad of young players, previously unfancied players and full current internationals in the pack who can step in and do the required job.
He hasn’t quite done the same with the backs yet.
That development part of his job is not part of an international coach’s remit. However, and I’m not saying Scotland are a huge step up from Italy, but we are ranked above them, I’d like Franco to have a run of the current cycle and the next RWC with Scotland. Smith and Townsend are both currently contracted to 2026 with the SRU, a year shy of the next RWC.
I don’t know how the timings with work out, if he gives six years to Scotland he’ll still only be fifty eight.
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Thanks, Ticht, I’d rather have him at 54. Jokes aside, ahem, I don’t think Rassie has another cycle in him after 2027 – it’s already taken a massive toll on his health and personal life, so I’d imagine he’ll move up the rungs. None of the current URC coaches in SA is smashing down the door for the top job, and I’m not sure if they’ll appoint from within the camp. Jerry Flannery and Tony Brown as defence and attack coaches respectively are fairly new to the set-up, and not South African, so that would be a massive departure.
The other key coaches are Mzwandile Stick (backline), Daan Human (scrum) and Deon Davids (assistant coach). Stick and Davids have been part of the current set-up for several years, so know the systems and players very well, and given our unique set-up here, there may well be pressure to have another ‘non-white’ coach.* Human is a farmer who eschews the limelight, so I can’t see him putting his hand up.
Nienaber would be an obvious choice to return after his stint at Leinster, but would he want to be coach again? I’m not so sure, because post-2027 there will be a massive rebuild: a bit of a poisoned chalice, to be honest. Franco Smith? Perhaps. The only other possible option I can see at this stage is Johan Ackermann, who oversaw the rise of the fabulous Lions side of the last decade, who also has experience as SA ‘A’ coach and now consulting to the Junior Boks, so back in the system after a number of years abroad.
Personally, I wouldn’t like either Stick or Davids given the gig, as it risks them being thrown under the bus by the more conservative (and some openly racist) elements down here, although a fresh broom with some of the younger talent coming through may be a great way to move through to 2031. It’ll require unearthing some world class forwards (especially at hooker and lock) and also getting continuity in what will be a fairly new backline.
*non-white is a horribly clunky term, but unfortunately it’s the one used here. That or ‘coach/player of colour’. You can pick whichever you find least offensive. ‘Black’ can be anyone not ‘white’, but then gets a bit more complex with ‘black’ versus ‘black African’ which excludes ‘Coloured’ and ‘Indian/Asian’ ‘black people’.
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@deebee – what about van Graan ?
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@CMW – do you think Wales wouldn’t have beaten Fiji or Georgia in the RWC if Pivac had been in charge?
I wasn’t suggesting Pivac would be revelling in Gatland’s misery – more that he might enjoy a little schadenfreude at his form employer’s discomfiture. Don’t think that would make him a bad person.
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@Dab – I don’t think Wales would have beaten Fiji or Australia, no.
Wales have been struggling ever since Gatland left the first time and most sensible people expected them to if not to the full extent that they have. If he enjoys them failing then he’s already had over a year to do so since the World Cup so don’t see what this changes.
I get that you’re enjoying it enough to want to project though.
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“Human is a farmer who eschews the limelight”
Poetry.
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Trisk, I forgot all about van Graan, to be honest. Yeah, I suppose he would be in the mix as well.
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rugby at the highest level more often than not is won by the team that beats the opposition up front
Yep, the old saw about making a big pack run around a lot still works at – say – age grade. Our U18.5s had a handy win before Xmas against a team with a bigger pack – in the 1st half they got 3 pens, kicked to our 22, won the lineout and barrelled over. We kicked long and chased, by the middle of the second half it began to work as we trapped their back three with no forward cover – picked off the pens.
That doesn’t happen at test or professional level….. Leinster don’t lose to teams with weaker packs.
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Poetry
I try. Most efforts are somewhere between Vogon and Fungus the Bogeyman.
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@CMW Yeah you got me. I am enjoying it. Living in Anyone but England land for 20 years will do that to a chap. But the gods of rugby will no doubt punish me with a Wales win when England visit Cardiff this year.
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@Dab – I think you’re safe for the time being and indeed for a good while yet, but we’ll catch up with you eventually I’m sure!
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More info: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c9d5w963n78o
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Apparently Dayglo is even shitter than we thought. Years of cheating are leading to his wife divorcing him.
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OK, it’s rumoured Wales will lose a club…. so Irish could step into the gap but they’re a RFU affiliate – whatever their name. Same way London French can’t offer to play in ProD2….
Unless it’s seen as a road to a merger of Prem and URC.
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Howley’s resigned from the Wales set up as well.
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As for Dayglo, twat.
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