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 
Quite the start by Saints! Try inside 2 mins.
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Fucking hell, the Bordeaux FB kneed Furbank in the head, while trying to jump over him. That;s the 2nd Saints player leaving the pitch injured inside the first 5 mins. Accidental.
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Cool. The TV has just shown a Saints player getting a shoulder to the head, but Jonker, the TMO, is doing nowt.
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You can choke a player as long as you don’t twist – cool
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It’s a joke, isn’t it?
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Ooh, the TMO has spotted a shoulder to the head by Diaby, only took two instances. Somehow only a yellow.
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Well, this has flown by. It hasn’t wanted for incident.
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Enjoyable game in Cardiff.
20/20 at HT. Both teams a bit sloppy in defence make the game quite pulsating.
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Enjoyable game in Cardiff.
20/20 at HT. Both teams a bit sloppy in defence make the game quite pulsating.
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If you have access to S4C, the match is on there – with no Any Goode!!!
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Refit, considering Underhill only got a YC for what he did last night, it’s hard to think Diaby’ foul deserved more than a simple penalty.
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Flair, it should have been his second yellow for head contact.
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Now Marius Jonker sees an infringement.
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And a new head contact! Ouch!
Rugby is becoming really hard to ref.
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And a new head contact! Ouch!
Rugby is becoming really hard to ref.
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If Dylan Hartley was still playing, he would have exploded by now.
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Incredible maul defence by Saints.
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That was horrible by Moefana, round the neck and twisted while he pushed a Saints player backwards. Nothing though.
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Congratulations UBB
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Saints can possibly feel a little hard done by, for some of the reffing decisions (or lack thereof), but Bordeaux were just that little bit more accurate. Deserved winners and Luku deserved MotM.
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Best team won, no doubt but Northampton made them work hard for it. I thought Bordeaux would score more tries, they were unusually profligate but chapeau to Northampton with all the injuries they suffered. Excellent game.
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Love the fans dressed as grapes
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The second half was immensely more enjoyable, watching it on S4C. The commentators on there were having a great time watching the match.
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Ummm… What?
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Fantastic final, rearguard Dunkirk style action from Saints from 5 mins in, Lucu the difference. Noone lost.
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Test
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Test successful!
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Actually I couldn’t refresh. Thought the site went dead. Then I expected more reactions after the H cup and Challenge cup final.
Am a bit sad to see that minor incidents (Pollock post game and Underhill red/yellow card) end up being talked about more than the games themselves. Both excellent, full of twists and turns and great skill. Ach…
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Actually I couldn’t refresh. Thought the site went dead. Then I expected more reactions after the H cup and Challenge cup final.
Am a bit sad to see that minor incidents (Pollock post game and Underhill red/yellow card) end up being talked about more than the games themselves. Both excellent, full of twists and turns and great skill. Ach…
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I’ve only seen highlights of both games – was travelling last week…. reliving the interrail years of my youth with a few friends – travelling around France (Dijon, Montpellier, Bordeaux, La Rochelle) – was “in the air” flying back during the UBB/Saints game.
Timing was pretty bad – we were in Bordeaux on Tuesday and Wednesday – so missed the celebrations….
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@Ticht – not going to feel too sorry for you there as Bordeaux is lovely anyway. The time I went I attended a football match rather than rugby which is hardly ideal, but I couldn’t really complain!
For once I actually watched the European Cup final and was glad I did, was a really good game. Definitely think it’s a shame there’s so much talk elsewhere about refereeing decisions and nonsense at the end. Can’t see much need for it really though I get that there was stuff that is relevant to the wider debate about which cards are appropriate for high tackles. Northampton obviously unlucky with the injuries at the start, but Bordeaux looked the better side from about 5 minutes in and really Northampton did well to hang in there pretty much till the end. Bit surprised to see a team win one of these finals with the lack of ruthlessness that BB showed in the second half (and the last minute of the first), but that largely suggests to me that there is really quite a big gap between the teams. Didn’t see the semis, but it feels like Northampton must have played out of their skins to beat Leinster.
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Trisk not Ticht!
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Well, if they don’t want the refereeing decision to be a big topic of conversation, then they shouldn’t make such controversial ones!
Clyde – Northampton really did play well against Leinster.
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@Thaum – What did you think they got so wrong? All I can really think of is that there was a head contact early on that the ref and TMO missed that would probably have been another yellow for BB, but beyond that it seemed to be pretty consistent. I don’t think we can call the choice of yellow for the head contacts bad refereeing as it’s something that seems to have been decided outside this game. Perhaps a couple of penalty tries for Bordeaux – the tackle in the air near the line that Freeman got carded for and the maul where they dropped it over the line that went back for a pen though obviously those didn’t affect the result.
The disallowed tries all seemed fair enough though I can imagine a world in which the BB forward pass one was given and a load of people would then defend it on the grounds of ‘physics’. The knee to the head was pretty obviously accidental and the Moefana ‘knock on’ clearly went backwards.
There was so much going on in that first half. Things slowed down once BB decided to take a more pragmatic approach which was a shame though definitely the right thing for them to do. Thought Jalibert was absolutely outstanding.
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it feels like Northampton must have played out of their skins to beat Leinster
Yes, and no – they ran Leinster quite close in the semi last year after a first half marked by poor handling
Leinster – for all the rep as an exciting side basically work to get pens, kick to the corner and bulldoze over. They can do that against most teams, but they’re not terribly inventive in phase play and will quickly kick long – Northampton kicked it back and aimed at Sam P
Northampton also exploited Prendergast’s frailties – not just the Pollock try – but also finding him in the back field – when he kicks back he has to put everyone onside but at least 2 tries came from the runner skating past him and leavin g Saints with broken field.
Leinster were also guilty of dumb mistakes – 3pts down with 5 to play. Take the 3 – extra time is almost guaranteed and Saints have to kick back to you.
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Clyde – it was the fact that serious head contact was repeatedly made, and down-talked by the referees to a yellow or ‘just a penalty’. Now, I like Hollie Davidson and the bloke who refereed the final, and can only assume that they were acting according to instructions, ie don’t award red cards unless you can’t possibly help it.
It renders all the talk about player safety null and void if those are the instructions. It also seemed to encourage the teams to be reckless in contact as there was little penalty for it.
Trisk – I was quite excited about Prendergast for a while, but now I can’t remember why. He’s rubbish at kicking from the tee, and it is very important to take the points when you can, for one thing.
I think Murphy is perhaps the best 10 we have in Ireland at the moment, but as he’s a) playing for Ulster, and b) not playing for Leinster, he has little chance of getting picked. And he’s not that brilliant either, just the best of a bad bunch.
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Murphy might look better if he were playing behind an effective pack.
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@Thaum – So mostly the stuff that as far as I can tell neither you nor I think is really down to the ref in the sense that there seems to be a recent direction of travel away from giving so many red cards for these things in general. I don’t think discussing whether that’s a good or a bad thing is the same as criticising the referee. A lot of the noise to be found online is about other stuff (disallowed tries, knock-ons given and not given, knees to the head) but I can’t see that any of that has much substance.
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He’s rubbish at kicking from the tee
He was ok, and Crowley’s kicking has gone off a bit too – odd that happened after Sexton joined as “consultant”….
Murphy did well at U20 – although he got none of the attention that Prendergast got. I suppose there was a little of the “coach’s son” stuck to him, but he’s decent off the tee, brave in the tackle and a good tactical kicker
Ulster pack should be doing better – it’s a mixture of grizzled vets and youthful exuberance but seems to be in the wrong proportions
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I see Underhill has copped a ban which in a way goes against the idea that they’re being more lenient on head contacts, but I guess it also fits the sense that they’re punishing players with bans rather than their teams in the game in which they commit their offence (feels like that’s what 20min red cards are about anyway along with some of the decisions we’re getting). Perhaps in this instance they just think (with some justification) that the ref got it wrong though. Wonder if any of the Big Cup head contacts have been cited, I’m guessing not as they were less forceful.
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I caught a few minutes of an Aussie League match whilst away last week (literally nothing else on), and I got the impression that there are plenty more no-arm shots and head-high shots in League than Union. True or not? I have no idea? There didn’t seem to be any comment on the ‘tackles’ from the commentators (or ref) either. I’ve noted this on the odd ocassion I’ve seen League, largely because I’ve thought “oh, he’s in trouble here” and it’s just play on. Does League have tackle angst like Union?
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Pro D2 free-to-air in UK and Ireland
The broadcast rights for this season’s playoffs and all of next season’s matches have been acquired by a team led by the Eggchasers guy and will be shown on YouTube gratis, sans frais, for nowt.
Here’s the link to the channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6eZBm5mjAC8a0tS4JhEf1w
[/quote]
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DeeBee – “Does League have tackle angst like Union?”
Not yet, but there are a good few members of the class action against World Rugby on CTE and other brain injuries who are ex-League players and who will presumably go on to take action against their own governing body if the one against the Union authority is successful.
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I got the impression that there are plenty more no-arm shots and head-high shots in League than Union
Awww…let the boys plaaaay
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RL definitely seem to be less interested in doing anything about it.
Would be interesting to know what the relative typical tackle counts are these days. Obviously RL used to have far more, I imagine that’s still the case though it must be a lot closer than it was. I think we probably know that they have far more where there’s a realistic chance of the tackled player looking to pass out of the tackle which probably has some relevance.
I guess they might argue that League is safer as it’s missing the vast number of other collisions that Union has, but they do seem to have the same problem with players’ long term health. Don’t suppose anyone really knows whether that’s to the same extent or not.
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Hey Deebs, NRL particularly is fairly brutal compared to union. They have tightened up a lot in the last few years, but minor head contact and no arms tackles are not seen as much of an issue.The interpretations are different, a shoulder charge is illegal, but no wrap is policed lightly. The on report and sin bin is used much more now, and issues are dealt with after the fact, check out the NRL website for this weeks banned players and list of fines, https://www.nrl.com/news/2025/01/01/nrl-judiciary-report-2025/ .Crusher tackles and hip drops are seen as far more offensive than a good old fashioned forearm round the chops, but Tom Starling probably would not have been binned and banned for 1 game 5 years ago, for what in union would cause a very lengthy ban. Get a good view of the commentators feelings by watching an episode of 100% Footy, the weekly round up show on Oz channel 9. Its why players like Naulaugo at Bris spend a lot of time off the pitch, it has taken him years to correct his tackle technique after moving to Union, as upright tackles are seen as essential to prevent offloads in league.
Canberra Raiders, if you are asking.
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Thanks for all the feedback! Just felt it was weird, but not following league, I also have no idea if it’s talked about much.
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So, I’ve made my predictions for the QFs of the URC, with two fairly straightforward home wins, one home win based on momentum, and one away win on the same.
Leinster should batter the Scarlets by a score of their choosing, despite a decent run by the Welsh side in recent weeks, especially now they’ve got only the URC left to focus on. I know they’ve picked up a couple of badly timed injuries, but the beauty of the squad is that they can replace players with an almost like-for-like quality player. Certainly one who understands the systems well and fits in seamlessly.
I’d expect the Bulls to have too much for Edinburgh at Loftus, again despite the form of the Scottish lads. There’ll be some nerves at Loftus this weekend, no doubt, but I think they’ll have enough in the tank to ease away in the last quarter (or hold on if they start fast, as they often do at home). Not too many injuries either, so well placed. Edinburgh have improved quite a bit over the course of the season and won’t be pushovers by any means, but are still inconsistent and only have two wins on the road this season.
The other two matches are much harder to predict, in my view: Glasgow host the Stormers on the back of a somewhat alarming run of late. Three losses on the bounce, preceded by two narrow, scrappy wins against Zebre and a wobbly Munster, with only a thrashing of the hapless Lions in-between to show what they’re about. Seven wins from nine at home speaks of a side both capable of winning and a local fortress. The Stormers, on the other hand, have lost only once since the beginning of March, a narrow defeat in Belfast, with six wins either side of that and four on the bounce, admittedly all at home. They’re playing some fine rugby though (even without Damian Willemse to pull the strings from 15) and will be confident. I’ve gone for the Stormers by 3, but wouldn’t be surprised to see Glasgow win by 10+ either.
Lastly, the Sharks host Munster in Durban. The Sharks eventually finished 3rd on the log, with 13 wins – but fully ten of those wins were by 10 points or fewer, as were three of their five losses. Despite have Boks galore, they simply fail to close out matches properly and have lost a few that there for the taking. Glittering starters, bench not so much, and a loose trio that is pretty lightweight too. Munster haven’t had a stellar season themselves, having had to wait until the last round or two to be sure of qualification for the knockouts. A scant return of three away wins all season, beating only teams in the bottom four of the final standings (and losing to second bottom Zebre), suggests a side without travel pedigree this season. However, they’ve got plenty of decent players and if they can hang in until the final quarter, they could just grow in confidence as the Sharks nerves fray and the 50-50 passes falter. Again, should be a narrow Sharks win, but wouldn’t raise an eyebrow (or a glass, to be honest) if Munster pulled it off.
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Sione’s back! Glasgow by 100+
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