GLASGOW, SCOTLAND: Another weekend, another round of Heineken Cup action. As we have all season long, RugbyWrapUp will be providing some (highly dubious) picks for this weekend’s winners. This weekend is all about return fixtures, as clubs look to settle scores from last weekend’s action-packed slate of games. Highlights from the third round included Cardiff’s shellacking of Glasgow, and Toulouse’s truly shocking loss to Connacht. The Irish province will look to make it two from two on home ground, while the French giants will be keen to avoid further embarrassment.
Speaking of avoiding embarrassment, some of our columnists are doing a better job of it than others. As a quick reminder the Six Pack now consists of West Ghana’s Rugby Rain Man Junoir Blaber, England’s knight of the realm Jamie Loyd, The English East Midlands Machiavellian Rugger Nick Hall, the infamous Ireland National, Declan Yeats, the Irish Born-Castres residing, lean(ish), mean(ish) writing machine, James Harrington and contrived Kiwi Co-Host, Johnathan Wicklow Barberie.
JWB leads the pack at 28-8, proving the Kiwi knows a bit about Northern Hemispher rugby too. James dogs his heels at 27-9, while Declan has recovered from an poor performance last year to sit tied for second at the mid-point. Nick and Junoir trail at 25-11, while Jamie shows his league background at 24-12. All in all, a good week could make or break any of the Six Pack. This week’s most contentious fixture is Glasgow-Cardiff, as the panel is split straight down the middle.
Each week, the Six Pack provides their justification for their pick of the week. Here’s the convoluted logic that went into each of the panel’s picks…
Blaber: So nice, I picked them twice (in a row). Ulster at Treviso is just a definite based on form and pedigree
Harrington: Montipol are a fickle side and they seem to have their eye more on Top 14 and making the playoffs there so they will sacrifice the European front.
Yeats: Stand up for the Ulstermen!! They will go into Italy and show those Italians that Lasagne is no match for Bangers n’ Mash.
Hall: Toulon at home? Shouldn’t be many easier picks this year, but Exeter have looked good enough that I think it’ll be in the single digits.
Loyd: Saracens are in great form and are home to a very weak Zebre side, it will be ugly.
JWB: Sarries will welcome back freak of nature Hayden Smith back by taking turns working on their signature try-scoring moves. The Zebre will be spotty at best.
And now, an important public service announcement regarding last week’s picks from Senior Correspondent, Junoir Blaber
Hello RWU fans, Junoir Blaber here. As the leader of the RWU staff of writers, I wanted to update a clarify an issue from last week. Declan Yeats definitely did pick Connacht to beat Toulouse. We had to call in former 6-pack member, the quick witted Irish Fly-half Kevin Fegan, the only man Yeats would trust to do an independent investigation. Previously it was though that Yeats changed his pick from Connacht to Toulouse after unrepentant harassment from JWB that made Yeats change his pick. However, according to Fegan’s report, Yeats was on his farm and called in his picks to JWB. Like the children’s game telephone, where saying our going to the movies can end up being your moving when relayed enough times, Yeats had the same problem. Connacht to shock Toulouse somehow got relayed into Nick Hall as Connacht to be socked in Toulouse. We apologize to Declan for the mistake and thank JWB’s face for accepting the punishment on all our behalf.
That’s it for now… feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Cody Kuxmann, Jaime Loyd and Declan Yeats, respectively.
