The Six Pack is comprised of West Ghana’s Rugby Rain Man Junoir Blaber, England’s Jamie Loyd, East Midlands’ Machiavellian Rugger Nick Hall, the infamous Ireland National, Declan Yeats, the Irishman-In-Castres, James Harrington and contrived Kiwi Co-Host, Johnathan Wicklow Barberie.
TOULOUSE, FRANCE – The quarterfinal weekend of action has split our Heineken Cup Six Pack “Experts.” Half of them still have a realistic chance of winning it all, while the other half I fighting to avoid the dreaded Wooden Spoon.
The quarterfinals featured 3 Irish sides, 3 French sides and 2 English sides. The group all seemed to agree on a Munster victory. Beyond that they were divided as ever on the picks.
Here is the revised picks spreadsheet with the results of the match-ups. Incorrect predictions are in red.
JWB: 56-20, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 6-1. If it was not for Munster, the mighty JWB would have gone winless. His pick of the week of an Ulster romp was shattered as soon as Jared Payne got that yellow card.
Loyd: 55-21, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 4-3. The Knight shocked all and sundry by going perfect! All the big games that make most pundits to nervous to call, he called them and was flawless. The record week leaped him into second and only 1 game behind JWB. With the Pick of the Week as a tiebreaker, he even got that right to draw closer to the bespectacled one.
Hall: 54-22, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 4-3. Hanging on to be mathematically still eligible is the other Englishman. Hall has fought his way up the table and is able to be in touching distance. He also got his pick of the week right to emphasize that he shouldn’t be counted out.
Yeats: 52-24, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 6-1. Yeats’ famous Irish bias let him down again. If one asked him if he is bothered, he tells you “I have faced all types of dark arts and pressure in scrums over the years. At times, I popped out or pulled the thing down, but never have I and never will I take a step back.” Say what you will but that is the kind of talk that makes everyone love a tighthead. Yeats’ Irish bias did see him get his pick of the week right by backing the men of Munster.
Harrington: 52-24, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 4-3. The 6 Nations champion is in very big danger of finishing last in the Heineken Cup stakes. He did have a positive week to stay out of the last place slot. Only Ulster’s loss denied him a clean sweep. He even selected the pick of the week correct to give some momentum for the final 2 rounds.
Blaber: 51-25, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 7-0. The Mighty Junoirdamus is now fighting to avoid the wooden spoon. He has been unable to bounce back from a poor round 4 and that maybe his undoing. He had a solid week and if not for some flip flopping might have gone perfect. He bounced back and forth before picking Leinster to win. Hence his anger at Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor. He however has an unblemished Pick of the Week record as some consolation.
We are now into the Semifinals. There are 3 game left and JWB is in line for another title, will Hall or Loyd be able to catch him!?!. Stay tuned, don’t blink and the RWU Six Pack will see you in a few weeks.
That’s it for now. Feel free to comment below, please look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@:RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Jaime Loyd, DJ Eberle, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter, Jake Frechette and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs!
