Captain Carrot

Being reported that he's died https://twitter.com/GrahamSpiers/status/1673299583294734338

Looks like he was waiting on Ritchie going onto the ball and not the body, tbf the ref was consitent in that aspect all match as you can hear him say it to various players

Depends on what match, easiest tickets are probably Italy, they have a public sale on TicketOne, I've never not been able to get a number of Rome tickets, France have a similar setup so rugby club membership is normally not really needed. The most difficult ones are England, Ireland and Wales as these are usually at a premium so for those matches alone it could be worth joining your local club as they get a small number from the SRU. ALthough saying that I have heard of a good number getting tickets in the public sale for the weekend whilst Ireland are holding back tickets in case of further Covid restrictions.

I've heard that ticket holders from Scotland will be banned from all games. So in the interest of brotherly soldiarity, I'll gove you a tenner for wach of your tickets (being a Newcastle local its your best hope, honest)

Its a test match, the W is more important than entertaining the plebs (still pissed off as I should be in Cape Town tonight looking forward to Port Elizabeth and the 2nd Test)

Itoje is one of those players you hate but if he was in your teams shirt he'd be an absolute hero. FWIW I think that since he has stopped the obvious wind up stuff and just got on with his job, I've really warmed to him. Clear MOTM today but I reserve the right to boo him and call out all his illegal actions when he plays for Sarries again

To be honest, I cant remember seeing him with much ball in hand or being first man to the breakdown, which used to be a strength of his but to be fair England rarely broke the main defensive line so he may well have been just doing his job and all the ugly stuff that goes with it. Also accept that the commentators/cameras would have had more focus on Cam Redpath than Harris though. Still think the man is an ungrateful snake and will laugh my moobs off if Gloucester get relegated this season.

Personally I thought that Chris Harris was anonymous today, probably due to not being threatened down the 12/13 channel. The Judas snake has never been that effective on the front foot (just to clarify I'm Newcastle Falcons fan and Harris activated a relegation clause after defensively shitting the bed the season before last trying to protect himself so he could play for Scotland, I dont like calling rugby players cowards but he is the closest I have seen in the professional game (yes I am still bitter)).

Poster in I know nothing about top level rugby post shocker.. Scotland stopped England from getting to their 5m line, cemented their reputation as being a mean defence and put in the biggest 80 minute solid performance in 31 years, for the terminally hard of thinking that was the 1990 Grand Slam decider. How you can think that that performance was pish is beyond belief, it was a good example of what made Scotland rugby good to watch all those years ago, balls out concentration and playing to the natural strengths of organised chaos. What they need to do now is back it up against Wales next week to enable them to put down some serious credentials and then face up to Ireland for the Triple Crown, that would be a major step forward, IMO.

Exactly the conversation I had with the boy watching. We agreed the Hibs commentator was excellent, easily the best we have seen v streams but he said the exact same, ie I take it he normally does radio as it was that sort of commentary. None the worse for it and the input from the co commentator was good too. Glad I paid hee haw to hear them, Hesgoal is a godsend currently for away games. To defend Cliffs commentary slightly, UK based Hibs TV subscribers only get audio commentary on match days, so he is having to use that style to cater to both types of subscribers (ignoring the obvious work arounds for access the video stream)

You're lucky.. 74. 78, 82, 86, 90 and 98 World Cups plus being amongst a lot of England fans in 96. Too many what if moments in these tournaments for me, if we are going out just make it certain before the last game, it's the hope I can't stand

Why is it never easy, just once it would be nice to be 3 up in the 94th minute

We'd have been better bringing McCoist on instead of McBurnie

Should have been Griffiths instead of Patterson at that time in the match. Clarke would be out of his depth in the shallow end of a swimming pool

David Walsh was the leading voice on Armstrong IIRC, he certainly put his head above the parapet more than most, and 7 deadly sins is a really good account of his investigation and the way that Armstrong was treating those that accused him of doping. Honestly can't remember English being in amongst those doubting Armstrongs ethics at the beginning but then again I was reading the Times and Walsh's coverage of the tour for most of that period.