In the exciting battle for the wooden spoon between Ireland, Wales, Italy and England, coaches have not learninged much from their previous selection errors. To be fair to Italy, they don’t have a huge range of players from which to select, and they have played brilliantly; they could and possibly should have beaten Ireland, so we’ll let Quesada off.
As for Ireland, it seems that Farrell has at least learninged that the Prendergast experiment has woefully failed after watching him splash around in the shallow part of the pitch in the first match, and create his own wadi in the second. While Crowley, like his other possible replacements, is dubious with the kicking tee (and by the way, kicking points is only HALF YOUR FUCKING JOB as a fly-half), he’s clearly much more effective on the pitch.
The inclusion of more Ulster players made a clear difference in the second match with Player of the Match being narrowed down to a choice between McCloskey, Baloucoune, Fischetti and Zuliani: two Ulstermen, and two Italians. So of course Farrell drops Izuchukwu, who also performed well, and Timoney remains on the bench.
As for England, the inclusion of Stewart continues to please ABE supporters, and Genge is always on a hair trigger for a card. Maro is looking less saint-like these days. Boris Johnson’s illegitimate son, the Pillock, provides a figure one loves to hate, sadly also because, like most super-villains, he’s pretty effective.
On to Wales. Well. Their set-pieces are functioning well, and I reckon they can beat Ireland. Also first-week Scotland, but not brilliant second-week Scotland. Probably not Italy either, especially if they keep kicking possession away, although possession is often coughed up anyway.
France obviously don’t need any learnings*.
*Have I mentioned how much I hate this horrendous evisceration of the English language?
Bloody hell! BB Daughter No 1 is 35 today! Thirtybloodyfive! Where the hell did all that time go??!?!?!?!?
I feel old.
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HB to BB’s daughter!
I didn’t even realise that yesterday was 1st April and wondered what Deebee was going on about, until I saw your post!
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HB BBlet.
Our eldest turns 30 later this year, scary stuff
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Pffft!………………..mine are 46 and 44.
Further, we moved to France 20 years ago – where did that time go???
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Nearly time for Pollock to beat Castre.
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Ooh. Saints just made a horrible mess of Castre’s scrum.
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Castre make a horrible mess of Saints defence in reply. Twice. 0-12 in no time at all.
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It’s all kicking off Pru.
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Saints back in this, penalty try & yellow card for Castre’s 14.
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Castre player just launched himself over a ruck into Pollock’s head. That should be a straight red.
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Lucky it’s only a yellow for the 4.
Fucking Prem Sports comms going “yeah, but it’s only Pollock and he winds people up”.
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There’s so much sarcastic patting opposition players in this match. It’s great.
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Saints are full rucksy-dropsy tonight.
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I used to quite like Northampton*. But now I’m happy for even Castres to beat them, what with the Pillock.
*Their fans are great. They’ve always had one or two objectionable players.
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Ah shit, Castres try just written off.
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groan and then ‘Saints’ score again.
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It was a lovely try though Thaum.
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Refit – wasn’t actually really watching! Busy searching for the Bryan Ferry track involving saints and sinners that I didn’t find.
And now there’s another.
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Bonkers match. 6 tries to 4.
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3rd yellow for Castre, 2nd for head contact. Ref is allergic to referrals though.
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The Wesht did well tonight.
I wonder if Drop the Claw was watching. I hope so.
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Somehow that ended 7 tries to 6.
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Somehow that ended 7 tries to 6.
From discussions around sprog ages, I think only Slade would remember when that was the actual score. And chance you could share the newfangled PREM! era score?
PS – sorry Slade! 😁
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The final score was 49-41. Castres were brilliant in bursts, let down by their compulsion to shoulder people in the head. Saints spent large portions of the match unable to hold the simplest of catches and were lucky that Castres were blowing out their arses by the end.
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Oh, and Dayglo cemented himself as the worst commentator – at one point even admitting he hadn’t researched Castres prior to the match.
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Good win for The Wesht
I see the EPCR are using the URC editing team. They’ve learned to include the conversion kicks after tries, but are still cutting commentary off mid word.
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Impressive turn of pace from Slade, picking up a loose Munster ball and scoring under the posts. Racists 14-0 up.
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Oof, Manny F-W just ran through Crowley.
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Craig Casey caught on mic, exclaiming “Oh fuck!” at his passing choices from the ruck. Shortly after, Manny F-W runs either round or through half of Munster to score. Half time 31-0.
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Exeter going bonkers ……………… and Brown-Bampoe not on the scoresheet yet!
I predict a much quieter 2nd half but clearly Baxter has been waving his magic wand.
Slade still very good. He and Furbank are beautiful players to watch.
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Varney, Zambonin and Hooper have been terriffic signings
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Oof, Beirne has just been taken out the game by Brown-Bampoe.
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Oh no he hasn’t! Comeback is on!
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Beirne is gone, but for a yellow.
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Nice – always a good contest between those two teams
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It got quite exciting about 5 minutes before the end, and then wasn’t any more!
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The mister thinks Bath v Sarries will be a better match to watch. I don’t know why. Plus Dayglo is a commentator.
Hopefully he will see sense and switch to Toulon v Stormers.
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Re Dayglo and your earlier comment, Refit, it enrages me when commentators can’t even be bothered to learn how to pronounce players’ names. They’re getting fucking paid for it!
It’s particularly annoying when Italian players’ names are mispronounced, because there are very clear and simple rules for Italian, unlike English.
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Harrison and Dayglo for Sarries v Bath, what a dream team 😩.
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Thaum – Dayglo and Zebo seemed to be taking pride in both not being able to and also not even bothering to learn how to pronounce names. Utter bellends, the two of them.
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Oh, I forgot Finn played for Bath. That’s something.
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Yep, Zebo is a twat as well. Although I find myself forgiving him somewhat for that wonderful try he scored by kicking the ball up to himself behind his back. But I don’t want to hear him talk.
The Cardiff and Ulster matches are on iPlayer, so with any luck we’ll get Cotter on one or both.
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Oh, and Jim Hamilton on comms too. Aren’t we blessed today.
At least they haven’t inflicted Andy Goode on us too.
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Stormers getting battered by Toulon. Only some pretty wayward passing is keeping the score down.
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Oh, if people want to know where matches are being broadcast, in the UK, this is a very handy website: https://www.wheresthematch.com/rugby-union-today/
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That’s the one I use, Refit, and it’s also good for other sport.
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Pretty sure Rhys Carre’s name has been pronounced differently by everyone on comms. So it’s not just the French / Italians. It’s the Welsh too.
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You’d never know that Jim Hamilton used to play for Saracens. He’s so balanced in his commentary.
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Bielle-Biarrey is pronounced differently by every commentator (not counting Ben Kayser), and often the same commentator, every time he’s mentioned, which is obviously a lot.
For the record, it should be Bee-ell Bee-ar-ey. (French R, obvs.)
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I assume Carré has a French ancestor, because he does have the accent on his surname.
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