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RBS 6 Nations preview: Scotland vs France, Murrayfield, 15:00, Sunday
He's back! Lord of International Relations, Mathieu Bastareaud, finds himself back in the France team, look out for him headbutting a bagpiper and blaming it on a Buckfast-swilling local. Marc Lievremont has also suprised me by giving Ben Cohen Aurelien Rougerie a start ahead of Vincent Clerc.
However, this is by the by, as failing one those famous French collective brainfarts Scotland are going to lose. Their defeat of Australia in the Autumn was so heroic I wouldn't be surprised if Mel Gibson makes a film of it ("THEY CAN TAKE OUR RUCK BALL, BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR LINEOUT!"), but nine times out of ten, the Aussies would have won that game. By contrast the French beat and narrowly lost to the All Blacks in New Zealand in the summer.
The French back-row is immense, and in Yannick Jauzion they have, for my money the best 12 in the world. In contrast, the Scots have someone with a girl's first name at 6 and Phil Godman in the team. Nuff said.
I do always find myself being somewhat negative about the Scots, which some of you may feel is unreasonable. As a rugby nation I have a great deal of time and fondness for Scotland, but the fact is that they are not very good, and I only deal in facts.
b&m.com prediction: France by 12
Spotter's badge: Max Evans pointlessly sidesteps four times in the space of a square metre before being body clubbed by Bastareaud.
TEAMS
Scotland: 15-Chris Paterson, 14-Thom Evans, 13-Max Evans, 12-Graeme Morrison, 11-Sean Lamont, 10-Phil Godman, 9-Chris Cusiter (Captain), 8-Johnnie Beattie, 7-John Barclay, 6-Kelly Brown, 5-Alastair Kellock, 4-Nathan Hines, 3-Moray Low, 2-Ross Ford, 1-Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Allan Jacobsen, 18-Richie Gray, 19-Alan MacDonald, 20-Rory Lawson, 21-Alex Grove, 22-Hugo Southwell.
France: 15-Clement Poitrenaud, 14-Benjamin Fall, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Aurelien Rougerie, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra, 8-Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Pascal Pape, 4-Lionel Nallet, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-William Servat, 1-Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Luc Ducalcon, 18-Julien Pierre, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Frederic Michalak, 21-David Marty, 22-Vincent Clerc.
Ref: Nigel "Sarcastic Lecture" Owens
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February 5, 2010 in France, Scotland, Six Nations 2010 | Permalink|
Comments
Part of me wants to say that the time could be rife for an upset. However, that part is quickly squashed by the reasonable part of my brain, saying that France will win, although by a smaller margin. In fact, id be suprised if the total score is 12.
Posted by: ScrumGuru | Feb 6, 2010 10:43:28 AM
On the other hand, "THEY CAN TAKE OUR RUCK BALL, BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR LINEOUT!", is now in my status bar. Brilliant line.
Posted by: ScrumGuru | Feb 6, 2010 10:44:55 AM
Someone is going to get an awful fright from the Scottish forwards- could be the English fannies but I hope it will be those cheating gauging French gits !
Posted by: Big Shags | Feb 6, 2010 1:56:34 PM
Pinched this from 606 from a fellow Scot :- very apt re France !
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.
The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the frontline in the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability. It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose".
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.
New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "Shit, I hope Australia will come end rescue us". In the event of invasion, New Zealanders will be asked to gather together in a strategic defensive position called "Bondi".
Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be all right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain, "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend" and "The Barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level
Posted by: Big Shags | Feb 6, 2010 2:01:25 PM
That is seemingly quite irrelevant, but utterly brilliant. I shall "borrow" it, and use it when I am at my most witty.
Posted by: ScrumGuru | Feb 6, 2010 7:26:34 PM
Genius!!
What are the odds by the way that at least one newspaper has the headline "(In)glorious Bastareaud" tomorrow?
Posted by: NickC | Feb 7, 2010 6:07:27 PM
I thought Scotland was supposed to have a good scrum
Posted by: Andyin Brum | Feb 7, 2010 7:04:15 PM
Have you not seen Dickinson "scrummage" before, Andy?
Posted by: duncan | Feb 8, 2010 11:44:51 AM
AndyinBrum - they do when Euan Murray isn't in church
Posted by: Bam Bam | Feb 8, 2010 11:59:22 AM
