Be proper funny if Wales win though, eh?

Well…let’s see it then!

Look, one weird stand that doesn't fit in with the rest of the bowl is true celtic rugby nation tradition. Glanmor's Gap, the East Stand at Murrayfield and that wee bike shed at Lansdowne Road all belong to the same great tradition of not thinking stuff through before decisions are taken.

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Demmo in. Stephen in. Walker in. Who’s out…? 👀

www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/... 👀

Are we going to see a decent performance this weekend from Wales, or did they have their World Cup Final against Scotland?

Chloe Rollie and Hollie McIntyre are in action for Toulon and Montpellier respectively when the two teams face each other in Elite 1 this afternoon

Kyle Rowe with two very well taken tries off two wonderfully balanced angled runs. But Glasgow slow to solve Connacht’s (frankly hilariously illegal) slowing of ruck by crowding cleaning channel, leaving them wide open to a late smash & grab. Alternate squad too ‘nice’ away from home this season.

Connacht with the old school Ireland rugby style refusal to clear the tackle zone. Weird to see it still being deployed. Even weirder to see it not be penalised! 🙄

Not sure there’s all that much to say about the first half. I suppose the weather is holding out, and the new Connacht stand looks nice. That’s about it.

Is the Welsh referee in the Connacht - Glasgow game still not over last weekend’s Test Match result? 👀

Increasingly leaning towards Kingo, Steyn Wing pairing, with e.g. Patterson at 15. Feel like Fra broken play first 60 gets better return than same effort final quarter. Would like Sco to avoid same style, keeping White’s control at Nine, and if no Demmo, Maggie (?) at Eight. Bayliss off bench late.

I'd agree if you had also said the cup has a hole in it that the shop refuse to replace, yet you still buy it...

The way Irish rugby journos write about Andy Farrell is indistinguishable from how a five year old would write about their dad if they could type.

Needlessly hard work against a poor Scarlets squad. All due to subpar handling & execution - again.

Wes just makes good choices.

Oooft. Maggie!

Awful stuff by Edinburgh.

Need to be better there. Pass behind/overran, and so dropped after several strong carries.

Strangest line to select.

Do you Demmo gamble, or do you not…?

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Matt Dawson effectively saying that England are losing because teams are treating England as a threat like they would the Boks or the All Blacks. INSANE levels of copium here.

Me listening to every rugby podcast I can get my hands on this week

Nigel Owens could barely contain himself during the game. Evidently swayed by his own national bias. I think it’s fair to say that moving forward, and to avoid further outright farce, any ‘expert opinion’ he’s asked to provide is kept separate from Wales related fixtures.

Good to know a provably dangerous and therefore explicitly outlawed threat to Rory Darge’s playing career is considered secondary to a Wales & England pundit’s desire to see a Scotland loss. Pair of scumbags.

Farrell already looking at the World Cup. The arrogance! 👀

With England sat on only one win & five points total, Wales & Italy have the opportunity to do the funniest thing!

GOOD MORNING It's Monday so it must be time for this:

A lot of good video analysis for Scotland’s defence to take from that game. Several strong defensive sets from Italy.

Again, poor by Shug. Seems to be attempting some kind of immediate dink over the tackling line, when boot to ball deep would have had Steyn running on to last man, with others following and a chance of a score.

Shuggy…unusually poor from such a clinical player. A walk in.

Scotland so, so slow to support the line break here. Compare that with last weekend where there were co stand options off the shoulder.

That round the neck tackle to deny Steyn surely needed greater scrutiny…

Just watching the pace of this France team through multi-phase, and the demands it makes upon the tackle zone, makes me weep at the prospect of Scotland going with Gilchrist, Cherry, and others.

Apologies to whomever has messaged me via this app. However, I don’t bother with age checks on social media, so I’m afraid it won’t be read.

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Forza!

Even the bad kicks are falling France’s way!

Filthy injection of intent there by Dupont.

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Much has been said about their scrum & wide play. But Italy’s work on the floor has arguably one of their most impactful improvements. Makes multiphase play so much more controllable & helps generate a true platform.

France’s broken field play is lovely to watch, but the shape that helps generate it also means on defence they’re heavily reliant upon everyone making their one-on-one tackles. Ride one of those out & it’s try time.

You can tell how badly Ed is hurting right now.

Never understood why in rugby union it’s illegal to get ahead of the ball carrier & take out the defender, unless the ball carrier is headed for the try line & the defender is set & waiting. Italy just did it, and Wales did it yesterday too.

Less than 20 mins in, and Garbisi already looks fatigued.

No surprise to hear it was Rory Darge who stepped up and spoke at halftime after Townsend had left. One hell of a rugby player - and leader!

Italy, that was not the start we all wanted to see!