Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

Generally, even if I don’t review them here as religiously as I should, I like a lot of Apple TV's tv shows ( Slow Horses, Silo and Severance in particular, but others too) but I’ve been less impressed by their film output. The Gorge changes that for me. Let me be clear, this is not a great piece of art. It’s unlikely to change your life on a deep, emotional level. I’ve seen a review that says “there are so many plot holes in The Gorge that…” and this might be true, but it’s missing the point. This is monster-slaying fun, very much in the mould of The Mummy , the one with Rachel Weisz in it. Both of them have plot, but that’s not really important, there’s just enough that as things bounce along the switches and changes have something to hang on, if you care. I paid enough attention to notice them, but I’d have been happy enough if they weren’t there. I need to say, before going on, this film is very dark. Maybe not Daredevil dark, but approaching it. Often it feels appropria...

Some big matches this week: the likely wooden spoon decider, an always nervy trip for France to London and a test of Scotland’s ambition at home against the Irish. Italy v Wales This match was played in the pouring rain and that certainly affected things. Adams missed two chances and, whilst you couldn’t say either of them were gold-plated, if it were dry you’d have expected him to get both of them. Equally Adams charged up, put a lot of pressure on Brex who gave Capuozzo a terrible pass. The Italian winger might have caught it despite the wet ball, but his feet went out from under him on the slippery surface and there was no chance. If he’d caught it, he would probably have scored. Both sides made mistakes down to the weather. That’s forgivable. Setting those aside, the battle up front was pretty close. Italy edged scrum penalties but overall the scrums were very close, edge to Italy. Lineouts, and mauls after lineout were definitely advantage Wales. Breakdowns were close, defensive...

It’s Sixmas! At the top of the table the heavyweights of France and Ireland are favourites at the bookies. Personally I lean towards France, expecting Ireland to continue their decline, but we shall see. Scotland are, as has become pretty normal for them, lurking as dark horses. Lower down, everyone is wondering whether Italy can build on last year’s successes, whether (and when) Wales will break their record losing streak and exactly what the new look England will produce. We’ve been promised a reworked defence and a freer attack, so who knows? Before I Start On The Matches I just want to begin by saying I thought the referees in all three matches were excellent. Odd little decisions that I’m not going to highlight that I thought could have been different but none that I thought were dramatically, clearly wrong. I know that will not be popular with a body of Welsh online trolls and probably others - I’ve seen an England fan’s YouTube review and he wasn’t happy about several decisio...

The last full weekend of matches and a number of relatively predictable games essentially topped and tailed by two good looking matchups. France v Argentina On paper this looked like a good game. France are transitioning in a number of positions and while their youth are good, they lack experience. Meanwhile, Argentina had a number of senior, valuable, players returning and looked stronger than the side that narrowly lost in Ireland. They will also have the anger of that defeat in their mind. The scoreboard would suggest it wasn’t all that close - France won by 14 points. In the sense that the game is about scoring points, more points than the opponents, it’s not lying. However, if you watch the game, it didn’t feel this unequal. The big difference between the sides was that France were more clinical, especially in the first half, and took their chances. Argentina were much more profligate with their chances, and ultimately that was the difference. Some of that was French brilliance...

After a southern hemisphere whitewash last week, can the northern hemisphere mount any sort of resistance? There are some interesting matchups, will Ireland bounce back or can Argentina claim the final Top Eight scalp and their first victory over Ireland at home? How will France and New Zealand and then Wales and Australia match up? One is a clash of two of the rugby elites, albeit both of them weakened by injury, the other is a match of teams trying to rebuild, one buoyed by a good win and the other becoming desperate after a record-equalling string of loses. Australia's win last week was unexpected, can England repeat that unlikely victory to upset the current world number one Springboks and also reverse their recent dismal record? Ireland v Argentina Despite what the (Irish) commentators would have you believe, this was not a good Irish performance that answered the questions hanging over them. It was, undeniably, a better Irish performance and there were moments when they lo...

The Matches This weekend mostly saw North v South (France v Japan was a rare exception) and quite a few new and old grudge matches lined up, with replays of various matches from the World Cup coming through. Ireland v New Zealand This game was a huge start to the weekend. It saw the number one v number three sides in the world facing off, but for around 100 years New Zealand never lost a game to Ireland. Over the last five years, Ireland have beaten the All Blacks no less than eight times, including a 2-1 series win in New Zealand but a quarterfinal loss in last year’s World Cup. This might not have the history of the rivalry between New Zealand and South Africa, but over the last few years it’s become just as intense. Defensively you can argue that the game lived up to expectations. There were some huge tackles, attacks were stymied, ball spilled under the weight of the tackles and so on. Both sides only scored one try. The All Blacks handled that better and played most of the game i...