Not Heineken Cup 23/24

[Blake]

We could have the Final in the same stadium every year and use one of the existing competitors' grounds. To ensure that that a finalist never gets home advantage, I suggest we pick Durban.

I really dont think that concept will work in SA except if the home franchise is involved in the final. Its not like in Europe where the supporters can go to the stadium.

[Marylandolorian]

Just saw Bordeaux will meet the Bulls at Loftus this weekend. That will be their real test but then they will probably send a bunch of academy players.

Ja, this whole thing about sending weak teams for away fixtures is a bit weird.

It doesn’t make any difference who they are sending.

Bordeaux schedule as an example, they played Sunday night, can’t fly before Tuesday afternoon, arrive Wednesday afternoon, ( maybe a Safari tour Thursday, like they did last year lol) light practice on Friday , game on Saturday.

[laurent]

Just saw Bordeaux will meet the Bulls at Loftus this weekend. That will be their real test but then they will probably send a bunch of academy players.

Ja, this whole thing about sending weak teams for away fixtures is a bit weird.

It doesn’t make any difference who they are sending.

Bordeaux schedule as an example, they played Sunday night, can’t fly before Tuesday afternoon, arrive Wednesday afternoon, ( maybe a Safari tour Thursday, like they did last year lol) light practice on Friday , game on Saturday.

One more reason to kick the SAFA out.

[assfly]

One more reason to kick the SAFA out.

good luck with that

[OomStruisbaai]

One more reason to kick the SAFA out.

good luck with that

We provide the main sponsor for the Champions Cup.

[topofthemoon]

If anyone wants to have a go at trying out the various permutations for qualifying for the Round of 16, I've created a spreadsheet. Just need to populate predicted results for the final round of pool matches (+ tries scored and red cards) and it will update the pool tables and give a projected Round of 16.

[OomStruisbaai]

Great spreadsheet. The results dont look that great.

[PornDog]

That reminds me of the torture scene in Casino. To paraphrase -

Don't get me wrong, I respect what you did here, but you did it for this piece of shit competition!?

[OomStruisbaai]

Stormers – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Subs: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Hendre Stassen, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg.

Libbok's 50th

Date: Saturday, January 20
Venue: Stade Jean Bouin, Paris
Kick-off: 18.30 (19.30 SA time; 17.30 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Jamie Leahy (England), Mike Hudson (England)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)

[OomStruisbaai]

Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Reinhardt Ludwig, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Akker van der Merwe, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cornal
Hendricks.

Date: Saturday, January 20
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 French time; 13.00 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: John Meredith (England), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Hamish Smales (England)

[‘tsek]

Lions side for Ospreys on Sunday.

Interesting mix away from what we have seen most of the season.

Lions: 15. Quan Horn, 14. Richard Kriel, 13. Henco van Wyk, 12. Marius Louw(c), 11. Edwill van der Merwe, 10. Gianni Lombard, 9. Sanele Nohamba, 8. Francke Horn, 7. Emmanuel Tshituka, 6. JC Pretorius, 5. Reinhard Nothnagel, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 3. Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2. PJ Botha, 1. JP Smith.
Replacements: 16. Jaco Visagie, 17. Morgan Naude, 18. Ruan Dreyer, 19. Darrien Landsberg, 20. Hanru Sirgel, 21, Morne vd Berg, 22. Kade Wolhuter, 23. Erich Cronje

[fishfoodie]

Connacht v Bristol

Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Andrew Smith, David Hawkshaw, Bundee Aki, Shayne Bolton; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (capt); Denis Buckley, Tadhg McElroy, Finlay Bealham; Niall Murray, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Jarrad Butler

Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Peter Dooley, Jack Aungier, Oisin Dowling, Conor Oliver, Michael McDonald, Jack Carty, Oran McNulty

Bristol Bears: Max Malins; Kalaveti Ravouvou, Virimi Vakatawa, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Gabriel Ibitoye; AJ MacGinty, Harry Randall; Jake Woolmore, Gabriel Oghre, Kyle Sinckler; Josh Caulfield, Joe Batley; Steven Luatua, Fitz Harding (capt), Magnus Bradbury

Replacements: Will Capon, Sam Grahamslaw, Max Lahiff, Joe Owen, Dan Thomas, Kieran Marmion, 22. James William, Piers O'Conor

[ASMO]

Absolute joke shop red card

[fishfoodie]

Bristol lock just got sent off after standing on Bealhams head.

I haven't seen dirt like that for years, mostly because it takes a special kind of moron to do it with all those cameras

[sockwithaticket]

Looked like a nasty accident rather than foul play tbh.

[fishfoodie]

Looked like a nasty accident rather than foul play tbh.

Maybe he didn't, but its that old "Duty of care" thing, which has gotten loads of players sent off for colliding with players in the air

[sockwithaticket]

Looked like a nasty accident rather than foul play tbh.

Maybe he didn't, but its that old "Duty of care" thing, which has gotten loads of players sent off for colliding with players in the air

Sure, end result is still Bealham having had forceful contact between his head and some studs, just saying I don't think it's intentionally dirty.

[fishfoodie]

Now Sinckler in the bin for something in Connachts 2nd try

12 - 0 now

[fishfoodie]

Connacht absolutely butchering a two man advantage, because they're firing too many floaty passes, & allowing the defense time to adjust

[Uncle fester]

Looked like a nasty accident rather than foul play tbh.

Maybe he didn't, but its that old "Duty of care" thing, which has gotten loads of players sent off for colliding with players in the air

Sure, end result is still Bealham having had forceful contact between his head and some studs, just saying I don't think it's intentionally dirty.

Intent is for the panel to consider.
It was a shocker.

[fishfoodie]

I'd like to ask Conor Murray to officially change his name to, Conor "Fucking" Murray, because I'm sure I'm not the only person calling him that every time he appears on a Munster, let alone an Ireland squad sheet. Blade is so much better than him.

[sockwithaticket]

Bristol weather being down to 13 pretty well yet concede as soon as Sinckler waddles back onto the field. Coincidence? I think not.

[fishfoodie]

Bristol weather being down to 13 pretty well yet concede as soon as Sinckler waddles back onto the field. Coincidence? I think not.

He was more animated when he was sitting down on the naughty boy seat than he was on the pitch

[sockwithaticket]

Bristol weather being down to 13 pretty well yet concede as soon as Sinckler waddles back onto the field. Coincidence? I think not.

He was more animated when he was sitting down on the naughty boy seat than he was on the pitch

Shadow of the player he once was. Another Saviour World victim.

[fishfoodie]

17 - 3 HT

[Margin__Walker]

Maybe he didn't, but its that old "Duty of care" thing, which has gotten loads of players sent off for colliding with players in the air

Sure, end result is still Bealham having had forceful contact between his head and some studs, just saying I don't think it's intentionally dirty.

Intent is for the panel to consider.
It was a shocker.

He takes a boot to his face, which makes him put his foot down early. Really unlucky red card for me.

[Slick]

Sure, end result is still Bealham having had forceful contact between his head and some studs, just saying I don't think it's intentionally dirty.

Intent is for the panel to consider.
It was a shocker.

He takes a boot to his face, which makes him put his foot down early. Really unlucky red card for me.

Hmm, I think that’s a bit generous. It looks to me like he went for the stamp then tried to pull out at the last moment, and failed

[fishfoodie]

that's a shite decision. The side view you can always see the green to the side of the boot, the end on view is misleading

[Margin__Walker]

Hmm, I think that’s a bit generous. It looks to me like he went for the stamp then tried to pull out at the last moment, and failed

He didn't go for the stamp. He's looking to step over and the boot to the face makes him drop his foot early. The bloke's never even had a yellow card in his senior career, he's not suddenly going to start looking to stamp on heads.

You only have to get breathed on for it to count as mitigation for high shots these days, so I've no idea why none was applied here.

[PornDog]

that's a shite decision. The side view you can always see the green to the side of the boot, the end on view is misleading

Agreed. Phenomenal finish that deserved to be given

[fishfoodie]

Hmm, I think that’s a bit generous. It looks to me like he went for the stamp then tried to pull out at the last moment, and failed

He didn't go for the stamp. He's looking to step over and the boot to the face makes him drop his foot early. The bloke's never even had a yellow card in his senior career, he's not suddenly going to start looking to stamp on heads.

You only have to get breathed on for it to count as mitigation for high shots these days, so I've no idea why none was applied here.

Yeah, I think he was raising his foot high because he was trying to step over him, but he mis-judged, & when he got smacked the foot immediately came down on Bealham.

It was bad judgement to attempt the step in the first place, over a player on the ground

[Margin__Walker]

Hmm, I think that’s a bit generous. It looks to me like he went for the stamp then tried to pull out at the last moment, and failed

He didn't go for the stamp. He's looking to step over and the boot to the face makes him drop his foot early. The bloke's never even had a yellow card in his senior career, he's not suddenly going to start looking to stamp on heads.

You only have to get breathed on for it to count as mitigation for high shots these days, so I've no idea why none was applied here.

Yeah, I think he was raising his foot high because he was trying to step over him, but he mis-judged, & when he got smacked the foot immediately came down on Bealham.

It was bad judgement to attempt the step in the first place, over a player on the ground

Yeah, agree with that. It's a yellow for me as stepping over the someone's face is fundamentally reckless to an extent. Would just be really harsh to cop what presumably is going to be a long ban for something that was very unlikely to have been intentional and where there was probably a lot more mitigation than has been applied for other on field incidents recently.

[fishfoodie]

That was a brilliant try

[Edit] Ah feck, he dropped it

[sockwithaticket]

Thought he was covered, hell of a finish.

[sockwithaticket]

Ah. Maybe not.

[Slick]

Hmm, I think that’s a bit generous. It looks to me like he went for the stamp then tried to pull out at the last moment, and failed

He didn't go for the stamp. He's looking to step over and the boot to the face makes him drop his foot early. The bloke's never even had a yellow card in his senior career, he's not suddenly going to start looking to stamp on heads.

You only have to get breathed on for it to count as mitigation for high shots these days, so I've no idea why none was applied here.

Yeah, I think he was raising his foot high because he was trying to step over him, but he mis-judged, & when he got smacked the foot immediately came down on Bealham.

It was bad judgement to attempt the step in the first place, over a player on the ground

OK, maybe I’ll retract that. Still not 100% convinced it wasn’t a rush of blood

[sockwithaticket]

And that is why Ibitoye hasn't been considered for higher honours.

[dpedin]

He didn't go for the stamp. He's looking to step over and the boot to the face makes him drop his foot early. The bloke's never even had a yellow card in his senior career, he's not suddenly going to start looking to stamp on heads.

You only have to get breathed on for it to count as mitigation for high shots these days, so I've no idea why none was applied here.

Yeah, I think he was raising his foot high because he was trying to step over him, but he mis-judged, & when he got smacked the foot immediately came down on Bealham.

It was bad judgement to attempt the step in the first place, over a player on the ground

OK, maybe I’ll retract that. Still not 100% convinced it wasn’t a rush of blood

At best very careless and reckless. Player on his feet entering the ruck has to ensure he isn't reckless nor endangering another player on the ground. Whether he meant it or not, and the citing panel will decide that, he didn't take due care and attention of the player on the ground and it is a straight red given the degree of danger involved. Even if the player on the ground is interfering with play by not moving etc that is for the referee to decide and penalize and isn't an excuse for his actions.

My own view is that it wasn't an intentional stamp but neither was he all that bothered about trying to minimising any risk to the player on the ground and is responsible for his own actions and the injury and risk to them. He will be banned but reduced a little, as normal!

[LenCohen]

You been kicked in the face lately? Pretty sure you would also lose all sense of where your own feet might be

[fishfoodie]

FFS ULSTER !!!


Just take the coaching team out behind the barn, & put them out of our misery !

The bloviating bore in the bar at Ravenhill would do a better job.