Whilst Twickenham served to extinguish hopes of fresh green shoots in the Irish side, The Cauldron of Cardiff couldn’t keep the French under 23’s down, despite a proud Welsh fightback. Scotland preserved their honour in Rome, so the 4th Weekend looks like it should set up France for a Grand Slam shot in Paris on the final evening, with Ireland their victims. Should France falter in either the preceding match in Murrayfield, or the finale in Paris, it will all come down to bonus points and points difference.
And of our own brave forecasters, how did you fare? Well Andrew remains out in front on 125 points, with Pat McGorr 7 points back and Tom Leacy 12 points adrift. 11 people have acquired 100 points or more at this stage – our 2020 F6NF Champion must surely lie among them.
| Table Toppers – After Round 3 | ||
| 1 | Andrew Callaghan | 125 |
| 2 | Pat Mcgorr | 118 |
| 3 | Thomas Leacy | 113 |
| 4 | Martin Mungovan | 112 |
| 5 | Michael Shalloe | 111 |
| 6 | Sinead Vaughan | 111 |
| 7 | Kieran Kelly | 109 |
| 8 | Philip McCone | 107 |
| 9 | Robin Horne | 101 |
| 10 | Brian DeLuge | 100 |
| 11 | Paul Wallace | 100 |
Martin Mungovan made a run up the table with 51 points this weekend, pushing into the challenging group.
“I’m just working on staying calm” said Callaghan from behind his slide rule and calculator in Linesight. “Its not easy, given what’s at stake, so I’m just trying to stay focused and take each match as it comes. Although I have put a deposit down on a penthouse in the Barclay Court on the basis of cleaning up”.
Prize Winners
| Weekend Leaders | ||
| Name | W/End Total | |
| 1 | John Pollock | 53 |
| 2 | Neil Doyle | 53 |
| 3 | Paul Nicholls | 52 |
| 4 | Martin Mungovan | 51 |
| 5 | Brendan Boyle | 50 |
John Pollock takes the Jones Engineering Welder of the Week Award for top scoring this weekend, together with Neil Doyle. As Doyle is not available for the 4 week residential Welding Course in Athlone, Pollock will be going alone, or alternatively taking the money. “That’s great” said Pollock from his seat in the stand at Thomond Park. “I’ve been meaning to improve my welding for some time now. I got a bad arc flash as a kid and never mastered buttering up my seams.”
“So that’s twice now I’ve missed out” quipped Doyle from his man shed in Seattle. “I’m beginning to think this is racist, but can’t decide whether its because I’m living in America and making it great again, or because I’m from Navan”.
The Kirby Engineering Better Bolted Award goes to the leader of the pack following the first 100, in other words the person in 101st position.
Ken Cribbin, largely by dint of the alphabet, pips Daire Lawlor and Lauren Sharpe to the prize. “Wow really? That’s brilliant” said Cribbin. “I must admit I always thought the whole competition was a fix, and I still have no idea how it works. That’s great, look forward to collecting my prize.” Cribbin wins a Mega Meccano Set, the type with the big nuts and bolts for big fingers.
Stewards Enquiry
Down at the bottom of the table and Enquiry has been launched into a forecast fixing attack on the competition. Tipped off by an entrant with a knowledge of cycling, Lantern Rouge (traditionally the guy at the back of the pack in the Tour de France) has been sanctioned for deliberately fixing his forecast to come in last each weekend. A hefty fine has been paid and added to the prize money, so justice is served. Lantern Rouge is also disqualified from receiving the Wooden Spoon, new entrant Tom Concannon is looking hot favourite for that.
