Six Nations have announced that they are ringing the changes for next year’s tournament. OvallyBalls had an exclusive mole in the decision room.
Six Nations Clown Five: Listen, chaps, I’m awfully sorry we failed to get the Six Nations behind a paywall so that we could destroy the popularity of the only tournament that is broadly watched, but we’ll try again in a couple of years.
SNC2: I’m not a fookin’ chap.
SNC4: Ah, bellissima! Like me, you are wearing a molto clever disguise to our top-secret meeting in this luxury ristorante.
SNC2: Catch yerself on. I’m wearing what the boss told me to wear: blue.
SNC5: Can we just get back to our onions? We have a tournament to ruin here.
SNC6: Onions? Oignons? En France, we return to our moutons.
SNC3: We quite like our lovely sheep as well.
SNC1: Ach, can we knock the tired wee 70s jokes on the heid? We’ve two major things to discuss here: playing matches on a Thursday (a THURS-DEE!), and deep-sixing one rest weekend.
SNC3: Thursday matches! It was bad enough, look you, when the Friday ones started. Working people are not going to be able to get to these matches, or maybe even watch them on the telly.
SNC5: Surely they will just have their servants do anything necessary on those particular evenings?
SNC6: Bah, the British do not know how to live. They eat their dinner – and quelle horreur d’un repas – at a silly time. They are weaklings who cannot stay up to a reasonable hour.
SNC4: Sono d’accordo.
SNC1: I dinna like the Thursday match, but I’m a wee bit more concerned about losing the rest weekend. That’s 5 Test matches in six weeks. Do we not have a small concern about player welfare there?
SNC3: We’ve not got a huge squad to field from the valleys.
SNC4: È vero, this also concerns us.
SNC2: Agh, it’s all right, we’ll just call on Leinster’s academy if half the squad end up in the hospital.
SNC6: Eh ben oui, we have many teams in the Top14, and perhaps we can bend the rules on players being called up.
SNC5: No worries here either, chaps … heh, heh: and chapesses. So is it all settled, then?
SNCs 1, 3 and 4 (simultaneously): Fuck off / vaffanculo.
SNC5: Perhaps I have not yet properly explained the emoluments available to those who agree to these proposals.
[whispers]
All: Crack on!
Ovally Balls 
Bloody hell, Joe Launchbry’s on for Quins.
LikeLike
Munster monstered Ospreys, mostly in the first half.
Exciting snooker match. Young Chinese sensation Chang Bingyu playing our hero, Mark Allen. Chang just pots everything (he knocked out a very in-form Mark Selby in the last round). Allen fails to pot a single ball in the first two frames, and when he finally makes a red in the third, he runs around the table pumping his fists like he’s just won the world championship. Loses the frame, but wins the next one.
LikeLike
…And that was the only frame he won. Chang is superb; Allen really didn’t do much wrong until the last frame.
LikeLike
There was a glitch in the matrix just now and the page reloaded just after I read the first post, so I read,
“Bloody hell, Joe Launchbry’s on for Quins.”
“…And that was the only frame he won“
Which left me a little confused
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not as confused as our Joe, I’ll bet!
LikeLike
Bath starting to move clear of Newcastle in the 2nd half. Not sure Newcastle can pull back a 12 point deficit.
LikeLike
Bath bring all EIGHT subs on at the same time. They’re already leading 33-14.
LikeLike
14-33 and all but over.
LikeLike
What a list of names.
LikeLike
Ouch
LikeLike
Are you talking about the final score Deebee, or Dan Lydiate’s tackle on Dimitri Yachvili in the video (8mins51)?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just watched that! Both.
LikeLike
Baby fucking Rhino
LikeLiked by 1 person
“two songs have featured in Dublin tonight, Dirty Old Town and Fisherman’s Blues, both of which are Scottish.”
I realise Dirty Old Town is ‘Scottish-qualified’, but hard to call it anything other than English.
LikeLike
I just watched some Youtube highlights in which the Dragons won a URC game and scored 48 points. Not sure it was real, but there were some Ospreys highlights as well and I watched them too and they seemed real enough…
LikeLike
Dirty Old Town and Fisherman’s Blues
@ticht
I concede on “Dirty Old Town” in that Ewan McColl / James Miller was Scottish (apparently born in Manchester) and the song is supposedly based on Salford, and with exception of Belfast – there’s no industrial city in Ireland like the one evoked in the song. But for some reason – maybe because it was picked up early by Planxty and The Dubliners – it seems to have been “adopted” as being about Dublin.
Fisherman’s Blues – Mike Scott was living in Spiddal, Galway – a Gaeltacht area- when that was recorded and working with a lot of Irish musicians – Steve Wickham, Sharon Shannon. So, I think we share that one….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ryan gets a yellow for a pretty thuggish clearout
he’s been at this a while now – but suddenly refs are picking up on it. When he broke through in 2018 – we had him nailed on Lions captain from 2025. But he’s “plateaued”* – and as they tried to make him a THL – lost the snap he had but appears to be trying to make up for it by being an “enforcer”.
….and on plateauing – it seems like Leinster schools turn out these very well developed players but they are at 19/20 as good as they’ll ever get – there’s no scope for development
LikeLike
@cmw
I hadn’t read as far as your comment before I replied
LikeLike
Prendergast isn’t all that. The Munster laddie looks a better bet to me.
Prendergast was being talked up when he came into the U20s – and apparently, Ireland reaching the U20s final in 2023 was confirmation of his abilities.
Apart from the fact it built around a very powerful – for U20s – pack including current Leinster players Paddy McCarthy (who played in the recent AIs) and namesake Gus McCarthy, and Diarmaid Mangan; Munster players Evan O’Connnell, Ruadhan Quinn, and Brian Gleeson – who was in the Munster panel until injured vs Leinster last October, plus James McNabney – who was starting for Ulster but is recovering from an ACL -and Charlie Irvine
Pretty much all of the forwards have broken through to be – at minimum – regular panellists at the various provinces. With exception of Prendergast – it’s more patchy with the backs.
Prendergast has good qualities – decent long pass, good ability to delay a pass, and excellent (generally) kicker from hand with good distance.
Downsides – doesn’t like contact – not that he’s a bad defender like say O’Gara (or Quade Cooper or Bernard Foley or any number of past/present 10s) – but O’Gara would at least try. He’s had to try a bit this season as the whole world sees it – but he reminded me of U14s I’d coached who’d find any number of creative ways to avoid a tackle (and you don’t tend to see them at U16)
Because he doesn’t like contact – he will almost never “take it to the line” (sometimes Crowley is too eager to do this) – so teams work out that if you stand off him and don’t give Prendergast a passing target – he becomes indecisive and dies with the ball or he’ll shovel it off to 12 – who gets double tackled because you didn’t commit on Prendergast himself, or try the big looped pass – which is offering an interception.
Additionally, he’s not very athletic – quite quick when he gets up to speed but no real acceleration
Obviously, there’s been a lot of chat in Munster supporter circles as he’s “keeping our boy out” – but if we can pick out these issues – top analysis teams can’t have missed them.
Rumour has it there were a lot of harsh words after the Northampton game – and at times one feels sorry because he doesn’t pick himself and it seems like the main thing was to get a Leinster player at 10 for Ireland.
The obvious gaps in his game were ignored in a mad hurry to have any plausible blue player at 10 – Ross Byrne played in the 2023 6N ahead of Crowley but didn’t make it to the RWC. Harry Byrne played in 2024 6N, but by last season was shovelled off to Bristol, Frawley was the hero after the 2 dgs vs SA in 2024 but a dud performance vs NZ in the autumn saw hs cast into the “uttermost darkness”.
There’s lot of talk about the Austrian Caspar Gabriel as the next big thing (irrespective that his qualification for Ireland is sketchy – he’s been at at school here but not clear he’s done the requisite time yet)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sorry for the essay
LikeLike
@Trisk – I was once in a bar somewhere in the West of Ireland, I want to say Westport, and a French couple who had little English wanted to request Dirty Old Town. Mrs CMW had been conversing with them in French so went up and asked for them. Now I wouldn’t have requested anything, the old fella in charge of the band was a very serious looking individual and sure enough he refused. I was quite amused that he did so on the basis that the ‘The town isn’t dirty any more’ as it made me wonder if he knew where the song was from.
The Dubliners themselves were apparently under no illusions, Wiki tells us that Luke Kelly called it ‘a love song to Salford’.
My folkometer is refusing to read anything other than English for a song written about Salford and informed by the songwriter having been born and grown up there, his parentage and however he may have identified notwithstanding. Obviously the song has some universality though!
I seem to remember Sag making comments of a not entirely positive nature about the Waterboys guy having decided to be Irish, pretty sure at least one Scot was willing to let you have him.
LikeLike
@cmw
I didn’t know some of that background – and with Luke Kelly dead some 40 years (!) now there’s no-one (except you and me it seems) to remind us that it’s not technically a song about Ireland.
But as you say best songs have a universality about them that allows people to identify with them – no matter what the background.
Although, I’d say it’s an easier for Irish people associate with song from an English-born Scotsman than maybe stuff from other no less interesting but less familar cultures
LikeLike
Don’t know for certain, but I suspect it’s quite likely that ‘however he may have identified’ would be first and foremost as a member of the international working class!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I associate Dirty Old Town with the Pogues, so perhaps that’s where people get it from?
Re Irish 10s, young Murphy at Ulster is doing a fine job.
LikeLike
Chang just pots everything
I’m old enough (just) to remember when breaks of 30, 40 were regarded as great going, and the odd “long potter” was regarded as a unicorn.
It used to be pot 3 or 4 loose reds and the subsequent blacks and then back to baulk to dare your opponent to take on the long awkward pot. In the words of Ted Lowe, “a prolonged bout of safety play…..”
I guess modern tables, balls, and cues are so much better quality – not to mention better vision through contacts, glasses etc (and I suppose less double vision from a diet of pints)
LikeLiked by 2 people
young Murphy at Ulster is doing a fine job
Yeah, followed Prendergast at the 20s, and was much less heralded – maybe a suspicion he was only there as the coach’s son – but he was quietly impressive in that and since.
LikeLike
Frawley was the hero after the 2 dgs vs SA in 2024 but a dud performance vs NZ in the autumn saw him cast into the “uttermost darkness”.
Frawley off to Connacht…..about 3 years too late (you could have substituted Ulster in there -except with Stu, Postlethwaite, and Hume it would be pretty difficult to get time at centre)
LikeLike
Ah, Chris Rea gone….
I used to work with 2 lads from Recar who reckoned you coildn’t beat the ice cream from Rea’s family’s café
LikeLike
That should be Redcar…..
LikeLike
Bugger. Loved Chris Rea,, saw him live a couple of times, roundabout the Road To hell tour I think.
Favourite album of his is On The Beach. Perfect for putting on on a bloody miserable winter’s day.
LikeLike
Yeah, Chris Rea was great. Just understated and easy listening. Seems like he was a good bloke too.
LikeLike
Merry Christmas to one and all, if you’re celebrating today or tomorrow (or both!) May your days be happy, with family, friends and fun, mostly. And some very nice pressies. A whisk(e)y or two, too. 🥳🎅🤶🍾
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thanks Deebee
Happy Christmas – Nollaig Shona Dhaoibh to you all
LikeLiked by 4 people
Ha! I didn’t expect the push back on a lighthearted comment on the Scottishness of songs which was made after a couple of pints.
Neither song is Scottish, The Waterboys at that point were far more Irish than Scots, incidentally, I once met and played music with a beautiful Irish fiddle player when I lived in France, she knew Steve Wickham – she thought he was a brilliant player but not much cop at sessions as he didn’t actually know that many traditional tunes
Dirty Old Town is indeed about Salford but like all of the best songs, its universality is its greatest attribute.
Jimmy Miller was about as Scottish as can be, reading his autobiography shows him brought up in a community of Scots and that identity was a very strong part of his personality – right down to the steak pie on New Year’s Day.
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Nollaig Chridheil to all who celebrate and best wishes to those that don’t.
All I want for Christmas is for Edinburgh to not be completely rubbish for the next year, but I fear it might be like when I was around ten and wanted a puppy
LikeLiked by 6 people
Frawley is a guy I’ve been keeping tabs on as he is a Skerries lad, the team my hometown club have a very long standing fixture with – we go there for the 6N when Scotland are playing in Dublin and vice versa – we been going since 1952. The game is on the Friday, then pints and a dinner, then off up to Dublin, or Edinburgh, for the match the next day.
I hope he goes well with The Wesht
LikeLike
we[‘ve] been going since 1952
Impressive – my club – Killarney RFC – seemed to have a relationship in the 50s and into to the 60s and 70s with clubs in South Wales – Aberavon, Penarth – but I think that may have gotten lost with the pause until our refoundation in 1983
We wear now red/black hoops – like Aberavon – I’ve wondered if there’s connection as older photos show us with dark jerseys like navy blue*
[Wiki says In 1952 Aberavon RFC changed their shirt colours for the final time to red and black hoops – almost about the time we were visiting]
*nothing wrong with navy blue…. I might add
LikeLike
Merry Christmas everyone.
This is a great video to end the year. In amongst all the impressive plays and silly moments (Luku running into the post), I didn’t expect so many heart-felt moments.
LikeLike