Sports

[Roy Hunter]

Celtic 0: Juventus 3.

There were some genuinely bad refereeing decisions, and the Juve defenders liked Celtic so much they spent half the night cuddling their forwards.

But the refereeing decisions weren't three goals bad.

Juve could have won that fair & square and provided a thrilling and memorable game (in which Celtic got beaten), but they chose to play a dirty game and piss everybody off. I suspect the away leg may get ugly (since Celtic now have nothing to lose).

[black bart]

Very disappointing after Celtic's excellent qualifying campaign.

Only optimistic note I can find: Fulham were 3 - 1 down to Juventus a couple of years ago and then went to 4 -1 down at the start of the second leg but somehow they managed to put 4 goals past Juve and won 5 - 4!

[daftbeaker]

Wales - Italy was frankly poo. Heavy rain, lots of mistakes and almost all the match was kicking or scrapping for the ball. I just had to look at the results table to remind me of the score, 26-9 to Wales, as I fell asleep for the last 20 minutes.

In terms of gameplay the England-France match was a bit better but much more tense. A brilliant French try in the first half from a team that looked transformed from their first two games. The second half started with the French a point in the lead and looking dangerous, then 10 minutes in the French coach took off Trinh-Duc and Parra who had been working well together and generating most of the French chances. England seemed to notice this and upped their game, moving from mainly defence to attacking play after attacking play. Honestly, after the first half I was expecting the French to get a narrow win but, helpfully assisted by their coach making some bone-headed substitutions, England won comfortably 23-13.

The French press are (apparently) not keen on Les Bleus losing and tend to air their disappointment by blaming people. I wouldn't want to be their coach tomorrow morning with the team at the bottom of the table, no points and -25 score difference

Tomorrow could be interesting. If the weather is good I think the Irish will have a win with a reasonable lead of about 15-20 points. If it chucks it down then it could be a much closer game. If the Scots win then the French team are in with a real chance of getting the Wooden Spoon

[daftbeaker]

Tomorrow could be interesting. If the weather is good I think the Irish will have a win with a reasonable lead of about 15-20 points. If it chucks it down then it could be a much closer game. If the Scots win then the French team are in with a real chance of getting the Wooden Spoon

Well, I was wrong but for the right reasons. Good weather and a decent pitch, the Irish had about 75% possession and 80% territory in the first half, 3 try-scoring opportunities and 2 penalties. All Scotland managed to do was defend, I don't think they ever carried the ball past the half way line. Ireland should have been about 20 points ahead by half time.

Somehow (and I still don't quite understand how) they managed 3 points and missed the conversion of their second half try. Losing Jonathan Sexton to injury seems to have made a big difference to the Irish side and their scrum seems a bit weaker without Cian Healy who's still banned for that stamp against England. Scotland remembered they needed to attack and, while they never looked like they were going to score a try, put pressure on the Irish and took the penalties. 12-8 doesn't really do justice to such a tense game, especially the last 10 minutes or so.

France are in danger of getting the Wooden Spoon, especially if their coach continues taking all their best players off mid-match

[Rainswept]

Anyone see the UFC this weekend? Ronda Rousey. It's one thing to have an undefeated champion, but it's gotta count for more when no fighter has ever gotten out of the first round without submitting to this chick. 7 fights, 7 first round submissions to arm-bar.

Granted, we're not talking Iron Mike starting 37-0, but I'm pretty sure at least a few of Mike's opponents managed not to beg for mercy in the first round.

[black bart]

Swansea beat Bradford 5-0 in the League Cup final!

It's taken 101 years but Swansea City have finally won a major trophy...I am overjoyed.

[pieces o'nine]

Congratulations, Bart!

[black bart]

Thankee kindly...probably have to wait another 100 years for the next one!

[Rainswept]

In Denver now and I have to figure out how to embrace a team with a name like "Nuggets"

[PKMKII]

In Denver now and I have to figure out how to embrace a team with a name like "Nuggets"

You could follow baseball, but then instead of the name being the problem, you'd just have to deal with the Rockies being FSM-awful.

[PKMKII]

World Baseball Classic action: Asian powerhouses in trouble.

Netherlands beats S. Kora 5-0. Nice to see a European team doing well, build up more interest.

Japan beats Brazil 5-3. Yeah, they won, but that's the sort of match Japan should cakewalk through.

[ET, the Extra Terrestrial]

In Denver now and I have to figure out how to embrace a team with a name like "Nuggets"

Might I suggest the Avalanche? At least they play hockey that looks like hockey. The hockey the Nuggets play doesn't look like hockey at all. Same thing with the Rockies, actually.

[black bart]

I heard a woman tried out for mens professional American Football!

I think she got injured though.

[PKMKII]

Cuba destroys China so bad in WBC game, they invoked the mercy rule in the 7th inning. That's something that normally doesn't happen past the high school level.

[PKMKII]

Another European upset at the World Baseball Classic: Italy beats Mexico 6-5 with a 2-run, ninth inning rally.