England 20
Wales 3
France 7

Still waiting on-
digsby
smurphy's paw
unc.si

I'm in. Eventually


England 22
Scotland 4
France 3

England 18
Scotland 10
France 7

England walk it - 3 up to murf
Scotland get walked over - 7 up to murf

So my lead of 10 can only get overturned with the exact pick bonus.

Digsby therefore needs France to win by exactly 7. Ave a banana did the exact pick in the final game to win last round, can it be done again????

I believe I'm 4 ahead, but if France win by more than 6, then it's a tie. I'd better go back and check the rules.

It is possible that I am still in positive numbers.
It's not possible for me to be in the quarter finals though.
Well done bluenosey and good luck in the next round, I'm waving the white flag already.

Now, having admitted defeat I can go back to wanting Ireland to beat France. It didn't feel natural backing the French, having represented Ireland at lacrosse

How bad are Scotland?

Maybe that lot should try football, and the footballers, RU?

(No shite jokes about XV on the football pitch).

I think that I'm edging Alchemist but can't be sure..

Ties go on best England game pick - which is you I think.

Well played Shaggy - unless I'm spot on with my French prediction, you are high and dry.

Cheers. Wales Scotland was the difficult one to predict.

At least Ireland are doing you proud at the moment.

France now 7 ahead

2nd ROUND RESULTS

10 of 16 home wins in Round 1. 6 of 8 this time - only me and Shaggy365 bucking the trend.

Commiserations to Smurphy's Paw and Rookster who still got a ton after a hard to predict saturday but still went out.

Not many predicted a Wales win and the only exact picks were France by 3. Big Bird got both and not surprisingly the best score with 116.

Knulpuk was lucky his opponent didn't show up as he only got 83 with Digsby being the only one to under-do him.

Round 3 draw tomorrow.

Richt 105 v 101 Rookster
Digsby 80 v 104 murf
chandler 103 v 83 Alchemist
bluenosey 108 v 104 Smurphy's Paw
Spinynorman 96 v 85 Spencer4
Big Bird 116 v 96 Ave a banana
stuboy 88 v 94 Shaggy365
Knulpuk 83 v 0 unc.si

Excellent. Another chance for Kylie to grab my warm balls, perhaps?

I knew I had quite a bit on Rookster after yesterday as I went for Wales and he went for Scotland. But listening to the French / Paddy game I wasn't sure on the rules, as Rookster got the prediction right didn't he? France by 3?

Dream on - she doesn't do egg chasers....

Yes, Rookster got the 10 bonus for being spot on but he also lost 10 bonus points for his pick (Scotland) losing so that cancelled it out.

Ignoring the bonuses - you were 2 closer for England and 6 better for Wales so the 4 swing today wasn't enough for him.

Well played Richt, the bonus for being spot on was not enough. I think this is the first time I have ever lost in this competition. I won it at the first attempt 2 years ago and didn't enter last year. I hope you go on and win it now.

Thanks Rookster - I am yet to win a competition out right on FISO, so I won't hold my breath, but this is a good comp.
At least our match up was a close one

Quarter Finalists - the Form Guide
Big Bird ( 135 116 ) 251
bluenosey ( 140 108 ) 248
Richt ( 141 105 ) 246
murf ( 139 104 ) 243
Shaggy365 ( 145 94 ) 239
chandler ( 132 103 ) 235
Spinynorman ( 136 96 ) 232
Knulpuk ( 143 83 ) 226

Not great predicting but I scraped through. Bad luck Spencer.

Well played. I take consolation from having got 6 right so far and winning 2 of 3 this weekend, never trust the French! I think I said something similar last year

Hmm.. I wonder what the odds are for each of us winning ...

Cheers Uncsi

That's my bad week out of the way.

Ask Kdub

QUARTER FINAL DRAW

Richt v Big Bird
Knulpuk v Shaggy365
murf v Spinynorman
bluenosey v chandler

24 people have now ended their annual obsession with odd shaped balls but for 8 of us, we'll have to start pondering on the subject again soon, albeit with this weekend off.

The first tie out of the hat sees the tie of the round (expected BBC coverage to be confirmed) with our 1st seed against the 3rd whilst the easiest tie based on the seedings seems to be number 2 bluenosey at home to number 6 chandler. But will the form book go out of the window or bounce off the frame and hit our thrower on the bridge of the nose?

If anybody wants to submit their picks by PM to me, now we are at the crucial QF stage, they can.

FIXTURES
Sat 26th Feb 11 14:30 Italy v Wales Stadio Flaminio
Sat 26th Feb 11 17:00 England v France Twickenham
Sun 27th Feb 11 15:00 Scotland v Ireland Murrayfield
deadline - Saturday 26th, 2:30pm (UK time)

TEMPLATE
Italy 7
England 66
Scotland 2

Chandler, bing it on

Oh dear, you've just made it personal! Predos PM'd.

Yes please. I wouldn't want that murf bloke to know what I've picked.