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 
Love it, Thauma! Although I really think you’re giving the blazers too much credit here!
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1 thought on “Tampering with the Six Nations”
Not sure it was a whole thought, to be honest.
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@Deebee – That’s two thoughts now.
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I can’t keep up with these thoughts.
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Keep your thoughts to yourself! There were dreamy mumblings by the Welsh clown above about sheep.
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The other one, to be clear
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Thoughts only Deebs, it will all get too much if we’re allowed dreams as well.
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Main thing to be thankful for is that there’s no seventh Saffer clown involved for the time being. At least not above the line.
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😂 I’m sure there’s one lurking in the shadows!
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Thought I saw this lot before one time and there was a seventh one. Georgian I reckon, judging by the beard, tapping the Welsh one on the shoulder he was. Anyway he got a pie in the face for his trouble and they told him to do one and then all acted like it was funny even though it wasn’t. Clowns will be clowns I suppose. Could have been a dream of course…
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Apparently the Thursday match is to avoid a clash with the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics.
I don’t really have a problem with it to be honest, but then I’m not trying to get to the game and arranging work/family commitments around it.
The URC have released one fixture per team ahead of tomorrow’s full schedule for next season, Edinburgh have Ulster at home first up – I don’t see how that works since that exact fixture and venue was just played past weekend – Shirley it should be in Belfast?
Edinburgh went four season between playing Leinster at home, the pandemic had a bit part to play in that, but still, it was along time between games.
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Aye, but couldn’t they have moved it to Saturday instead? 6N should really only be on Saturdays and Sundays anyway. In fact, that goes for all rugby.
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“6N should really only be on Saturdays and Sundays anyway. In fact, that goes for all rugby.”
I really like Friday night pro rugby on tv.
I also really like going to support my local amateur club on Saturday afternoons.
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Refit: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/22/court-ruling-legal-definition-of-a-woman-misinterpreted-lady-hale
Am pretty shocked that Labour have cancelled their women’s conference based on some dodgy interpretation of the ruling. Although it might have been worse if they had chosen to go ahead but not allow trans women.
I get quite annoyed with the local women’s org, because almost all their agenda items revolve around parenthood. Not all women – cis or otherwise – are parents, and not all parents all women! It’s ridiculous.
If I were running it, it would focus on encouraging girls into STEM subjects or trades apprenticeships so that they never have to be financially dependent on a man, which solves all sorts of problems.
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At the airport in Addis after another week of travels and travails in Djibouti and Ethiopia. I love Ethiopia, but it’s got the most pathetically paranoid bureaucracy I’ve ever encountered. Went to the stats bureaucracy and asked for some basic population and economic data. “It’s on our website” was the reply. “Your website isn’t working, I told them.” Send us a mail they asked, off the contact page. “Your website isn’t working. Please can you email me the data?” Looks of panic. “You must send an official letter of request to the Ministry”, was the response. “But it’s freely available? ” “Yes, on the website, not by mail.” This was repeated in Mjnistry after Ministry, some going as far as demanding Ministry to Ministry contact between my client’s country and theirs. That’s a six month process. A $200 million decision needs to be made (for various reasons) in six weeks.
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And I found a fair amount of what I needed on the internet anyway.
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Time for kick off. Come on Bath!
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Bath’s my English side (at the moment, based purely on a fabulous visit there years ago), so c’mon Bath! Rinse the fuckers!
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Deebee – let me know if they need some help with their website administration. ;-)
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How the fuck was that not a red card? (Phrase repeated for the 453rd time.)
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Ooh, Bath down to 13 for a couple of minutes.
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Make that the 454th time.
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Okay, so we’ve called a head on head – against Lyon this time – and it’s not even getting looked at.
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Thauma, they definitely need website administration. Please send an official letter to the relevant Ministry in order to be processed for a potential application. You should hear back somewhere around the year 2525.
Some of you will now have an irritating earworm. My job here is done.
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Wassa score? I’m on the plane so be quick, please!
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If womankind is still alive … is that the one?
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27-12, to Bath, who have been absolutely filthy!
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Coming up to 60 mins.
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Hollie Davidson: Try and keep your feet under you even after sex.
Well, that’s the way I heard it. She probably said ‘set’.
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Lovely Bath try, if the pass wasn’t forwards.
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34-12.
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I’m still not quite sure why Ben Spencer never got an extended run in the England shirt.
And he scores under the posts, after a nice break by de Glanville. 34-12
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Deebs: does this help?
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ethiopia-population/
https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/ethiopia-gdp/
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Other sites are available….
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And I only had Bath by 5 on the ‘Bru.
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https://data.un.org/
https://ourworldindata.org/
https://databank.worldbank.org/databases/
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37-12 at FT.
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After a quick start by Lyon, it was pretty much all Bath after that.
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You, me and thousands of others, Refit. he has been the standout 9 in UK for most of the last decade. Personality clash with Jones to start with, maybe same with Borthwick.
Well played Bath, only saw the second half, not a great game but at least result went the right way. Good luck Northampton tomorrow, think they will need it.
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Now seem to have to log in for every post on laptop as well as ipad thing, so looks like will be around even less :)
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SBT – I have the same problem posting here. It’s weird, doesn’t happen on other WP sites I post on.
As mentioned in commentary, it would be nice for Spencer to get a run out for England, while the main players are away with the Lions.
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Good thread on why the ‘trial’ of 20min red cards is actually complete cobblers
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Someone has thoughts on the reffing
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Refit, I totally agree with the thread on the 20 minute red card.
Also, there is a reason Underhill was not sent off on a red card tonight and it has nothing to do with who was refereeing, and everything to do with “maintaining the spectacle”
Hollie Davidson will come in for severe criticism when all she did was adhere to the directive that referees have been handed down – to look for the slightest bit of mitigation to avoid sending a player off when it’s not a punch or gouge or bite.
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Playing half an hour away from home will always gets you a homer ref. Though Bath didn’t need one as they were the better team by some distance. I feel sorry for the ref as I think she’s quite a good one generally, but as Dupont once said, don’t talk about player safety anymore. Or act!
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Thanks for the datasets, Thauma – I do use some of them, and most use the same source data and put their own spin on it. I’m looking for slightly more granular data, down to local authority level to get a handle on our project. I’ve sourced some it – much to the annoyance of the guy who was trying to moonlight as a consultant to sell me the data that it’s his job to provide.
Back in SA now. It’s cold. Snowed during the week in higher parts of SA. Compared to 40⁰ in Djibouti and a balmy 28⁰ to 30⁰ in Ethiopia, it feels arctic!
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Ah – teaching granny to sucks eggs again!
Yes, BorderBadger is most likely correct.
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Don’t trust a BorderBadger..
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How about BorderBeagles? Should I trust them?
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