The Six Pack is comprised of RWU staff members. West Ghana’s Rugby Rain Man Junoir Blaber, England’s Knight of the Realm Jamie Loyd, East Midlands’ Machiavellian Rugger Nick Hall, the infamous Ireland National, Declan Yeats, Englishman with Irish roots yet Castres-residing, James Harrington and contrived Kiwi Co-Host Johnathan Wicklow Barberie.
NEW YORK, NY – Every member of the Six Pack was banging their hands on the desk with joy or anger as Round Three of the European Champions Cup was filled with ups and downs in each game. Things got tight as 4 games separate first from last, with a two-way tie for 1st place and a two-way tie for 3rd. Our man in Castres, James Harrington, is still holding to the lead but has been joined at the top of the mountain by fellow Englishman Jamie Loyd. Our defending champ, Johnathon Wicklow Barberie, is now part of the chasing pack but he is still in striking distance. With all that said, let’s get to our European Cup Picks Review.
The theme of Round 3 was the frequency of the 4-2 split that sometimes threatened the civility of the Six Pack. With so little space between first and last, the competitive edge of the pack members meant that there were some very heated exchanges as the unexpected results came in.
A couple of games and results that impacted the table were Wasps at Castres and Clermont at Munster… Leicester against Toulon and Ospreys vs Racing also had huge impact.
Here is the revised picks spreadsheet with the results of the match-ups. Incorrect predictions are in red.
Loyd: 20-10, with with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right. The Englishman had a solid week to keep place with the Writing Machine, but was letdown by the French sides. Racing disappointed everyone by drawing against the Ospreys, while Toulon losing to Leicester hurt Loyd and the other 3 members that picked them to win. He was rewarded by the Aviva Premiership Champions, Northampton, as his Pick of the Week as they won convincingly against Treviso.
Harrington: 20-10, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right. The Castres-residing writing machine went 2 for 5 backing Top 14 sides which is disappointing for our Top 14 expert, but he did pick the historic win by Clermont at Munster. Beyond French rugby letting him down, he was flawless as he correctly picked matches like Harlequins over Leinster and Sale coming up short Saracens. He did at least succeed in picking Top 14 side Toulouse as his Pick of the Week and they fulfilled their duty.
Hall: 19-11, with with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong. Hall had a good weekend. Going against the rest of the pack and backing Wasps in their encounter with Castres was the correct call for Hall. He also bucked the group and sided with Junoir by picking his hometown side, Leicester, against Toulon. He was unfortunate with his Pick of the Week as Saracens did manage to beat Sale but did not cover the spread.
JWB: 17-13, but at least our reigning champ got his Pick of the Week right. JWB paid early for going with the crowd and not taking chances. He backed Munster against Clermont as well as picking Toulon against Leicester. Combine that with the disastrous tie by Racing which did everyone in. He was consoled by his Pick of the Week being correct and the thorough victory by Ulster.
Yeats: 17-13, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right. Yeats’ all-Ireland selections ended with him going 1-2. The one win was one of the three wins he got this round as this was a tough weekend for Declan. His picks may seem odd but you must remember he refuses to support the English, and to a lesser degree, the French, unless they’re playing the French. This convoluted logic meant he picked the out of form Montpellier against Bath and Ospreys against Racing. He did foresee an easy win by Northampton as his Pick of the Week, (he dislikes the English but has no faith in the Eye-ties) and they delivered.
Blaber: 16-14, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-2. Mssr. Blaber is yet not back to his Junoirdamus days but is improving and closing the gap. Junoir got burnt for going against the group and picking Sale against Saracens, but was rewarded by being in the minority and picking Leicester over Toulon. If not for the Sale pick he would be part of a three way tie for third. Unfortunately for Blaber, Racing Metro, his Pick of the Week, greatly disappointed him with a tie and not the comprehensive victory many expected.
Round 3 is in the books and we are half way through pool play. Anything can happen, so we will see if any of the other members can deny JWB another title. Stay tuned, don’t blink and the RWU Six Pack will have picks ready for round four this weekend.
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, Karen Ritter , Jamie Wall, Jake Frechette and Declan Yeats, respectively.
Please enjoy the narrator is this:
https://youtu.be/Un20W9fmscM
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
