Illuminati-R-Us

Completely missed this the other night:

Livingston 0 - 1 Rangers in the Wee Cup.

Played 47, won 27, drawn 5, lost 13.

Heid the Ba wrote:Played 47, won 27, drawn 5, lost 13.

27 + 5 + 13 = 45

What happened in the other 2?

Thanks for catching that, boss. The error happened ...late, luckily.

Updated tally:

Played 45, won 27, drawn 5, lost 13.

I iz A Idiot.

Big shocker today as Japan defeat Ireland.

Most likely Ireland still advance, although possibly in second place, not first. But the other slot is going to be hotly competed between Scotland and Japan.

Earlier, Argentina defeated Tonga, and South Africa currently seems to be defeating Namibia, although it's not even half time yet.

South Africa 50 - 3 Namibia with 18 minutes to go, I think South Africa could walk off the field at this point and still win.

Tomorrow we have Georgia - Uruguay, which doesn’t matter much, Australia - Wales, which is hugely important, and Scotland - Samoa, which, realistically, is a must-win for Scotland, given the Japan victory over Ireland.

Correction, Scotland play Samoa Monday.

Scotland have to win out from here, the last group game is against Japan and I’m not confident.

Heid the Ba wrote:Scotland have to win out from here, the last group game is against Japan and I’m not confident.

If Ireland recover and go on to defeat Russia and Samoa, and earn the bonus point both times (something I think is quite realistic), then they will have 16 table points. Scotland cannot match that no matter what happens, but the top two teams advance. Losing to Japan would leave Scotland with a maximum possible 12 table points, and Japan with at least 13. And if Japan defeat Samoa, then they will have at least 14 table points. So I think you are right, realistically, Scotland need to win all three remaining matches, and they need to score some bonus points as well.

Rangers 5 - 0 Sheepshaggers

Played 46, won 28, drawn 5, lost 13.

Kilmarnock 0 - 0 Ross County

Away point, always welcome.

Played 47, won 28, drawn 6, lost 13.

Surprised by the extent of your demolishing of the Sheepshaggers. They’re not having a great season, but are generally better than that!

It is usually a hard game for us, much closer than that. I think the needle has finally gone out of it, I suspect most players haven’t heard of Durrant never mind what Simpson did to him.

My predictions are not holding up so well.

Two matches today, both in Pool D. Georgia 33 - 7 Uruguay, and Australia 25 - 29 Wales.

Half the matches in this pool have now been played. In theory, the pool is wide open; even currently last place Fiji would win the pool. Realistically, it's a bit different. The next match is Georgia - Fiji; if Fiji lose, they must score both bonus points to stay alive. After that, Australia play Uruguay and Georgia, and Wales play Fiji and Uruguay. If we assume Australia and Wales win these matches, then Wales win the pool, but Australia also advance as runner-up. It's anyone's guess who will take third (and therefore qualify for 2023) out of Fiji, Uruguay, and Georgia.

Tomorrow, Scotland play Samoa, and then we have a day off.

Prdictions...

Hertha are away to a direct competitor for non-relegation tonight, a team that hasn't won in several games. I see a pattern here, so my prediction is 1. FC Cologne 4 - 0 Hertha BSC, or something in that range.

In other news,

SpVgg Greuther Fürth 0 - 3 Holstein Kiel

Similar pattern. Holstein had been touted as a promotion favourite but had instead completely fucked up the season's first games. Now they came to Fürth for satisfaction, and stisfaction they got.

I'll book that as

Played 49, won 28, drawn 6, lost 15

Don't worry, it will be correct in the evening.

Errm, that seems to have ben a correct prediction .... 180° reversed!

1. FC Köln 0 - 4 Hertha BSC

There's just nothing you can rely on these days.

Corrected tally:
Played 49, won 29, drawn 6, lost 14

Good old auntie!

She can be capricious at times.

Scotland draw first blood, scoring three points against Samoa during the first ten minutes.

Scotland have figured out how the game is played.

Scotland 20 - 0 Samoa at the half.

Two more tries for the bonus point, which will be really helpful for Scotland here.

Looks good, but we have lost games from here before . . .

Scotland just awarded a penalty try, 27-0 now.

With twenty three minutes left, Samoa is really going to have to catch fire to win this. Scotland have three tries, one more for the bonus point.

Also, Samoa is short-handed, yellow card.

Holy crap! Second penalty try for Scotland, red card for Samoa!

Still a couple of minutes left, but Scotland is going to win, get the bonus point, and Samoa will get no bonus points - the best possible outcome fort Scotland.

Amazing! Scotland 34 - 0 Samoa, four tries for Scotland, securing the bonus point.

Pool A is now half played - everyone has played twice. Table points:

Japan: 9
Ireland: 6
Scotland: 5
Samoa: 5
Russia: 0

The pool is wide open, even Russia has a theoretical possibility of advancing (although I do not consider it likely). However, things could change fast here. In three days, we have Ireland v Russia - Russia must win to stay alive. A draw, even with the bonus point, is not enough. Then two days after that, it is Japan v Samoa - under some scenarios, Samoa could eliminated then.

In two days, we have New Zealand v Canada in Pool B, and France v United States in Pool C.

I would suggest there will be comfortable wins for Ireland, Japan, NZ and France.