Italy vs Argentina
Two sides struggling to make an impact in recent times. Well, for Italy, pretty much forever despite one win over the Boks at our lowest ebb, for the pedants and pot stirrers who like to keep dredging that up. Argentina seemed to be on the up when they pasted the All Blacks last year (funny how competitive they were not having been beasted by the Boks beforehand), but have reverted to the mean (in a marshmallowy sort of way) this year. Can Italy use home ground advantage to eke out a win, or will the superior talent available to Argentina tell in the end? Tricky one this, but I’ll go for a Pumas win by about 9 as the Azzurri Fade to Grey.
Scotland vs South Africa
A fabulous match in store in this Currie Cup Clash, as Ticht called it. Much spoken about the four Saffas in the Scotland side, but in all honesty there’s plenty more for the Boks to worry about than a couple of down the pecking order forwards and backs who sought lucre over homeland. Scotland showed just how dangerous they can be ball in hand against the Aussies last weekend (one just past, keep up at the back), but couldn’t quite put it together as a complete package. The Scots forwards were excellent and showed some real grunt, which they’ll need on Saturday if they’re to get decent ball to Finn and Co. The Boks will surely try to batter them like a lonely Mars Bar on a Saturday night though and with a more settled back division, will probably squeak it in the end. The bench to do the job again, Boks by a score or thereabouts as they say it in Broken English.
Ireland vs New Zealand
The respective unsmiling sides of the two hemispheres go toe to toe, both having eased into the contest with little in the way of stern opposition: usually the Kiwis use this as an excuse for World Cup exits (along with Suzi, norovirus, referees, time zones, grass type and anything else rather than decent oppo), but both sides have had lopsided wins in the last week, with Ireland’s dismantling of Japan possibly slightly better than the Kiwis mangling of Italy with a reserve-ish side. Ireland will have a real go at the Kiwi pack at set pieces, where they were vulnerable against the Boks in both 4N matches this year and have been for a while now. The Kiwis will look to decimate Ireland out wide and in broken play and it should be a huge match. Kiwis are pretty confident at the moment, so I’m picking them (against the heart) to win by 4. Either way, it’ll be a Crowded House in Dublin, weather permitting.
Portugal vs Japan
Can Japan be as bad as they were against Ireland? I’ve no idea and writing this on the hoof not having seen the line-up for either side (not that that would make much difference, let’s be honest), it remains to be seen if they can bounce back. They’ve still got good players and should have too much nous for Portugal, despite the Iberians’ recent decent form at Tier Two level. Japan by 15. The House of the Rising Sun will once again shine. Tenuous link if ever!
England vs Australia
Keep feeling tempted to just write ‘looks weak’ and leave it at that. England have stormed out of the blocks with a hammering of hapless Tonga, which probably means little in reality, whilst the Wobblies duly wobbled after a five-match winning streak against stubborn Scotland last weekend. However, the result would probably have been very different but for the discipline issues they suffered from, that potentially cost them 14 points. They’re still a decent side, even without the J-League party-poopers and love nothing more than a crack at the Poms. But they’ll possibly be without Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou, leaving their improving front row in tatters. Dave Rennie will need to crack the discipline whip harder than a dominatrix at a Tory dinner party to keep them in the game. England, with a very good pack, Owen ‘Venus de Milo’ Farrell cleared of Covid and some good gas out wide should have too much for this now more disjointed Wallaby side. It’ll be tight and feisty, as always, but in the end, it’s England by 12. And as the man who sold the world, Eddie Jones will be smiling.
France vs Georgia
Doesn’t matter which France pitches up, Georgia are no match for them or as replacements for Italy in the 6N. That’s the Boks’ next target, ahem. A brutal mismatch that will put Georgia firmly back in their box. France may be distracted by the looming challenge of the All Blacks the following weekend, but even that shouldn’t see this being anything other than a training ground run for Les Bleus. Georgia’s last outing was a 40-9 thumping by a very rusty Bok side in July, although they’d be doing okay in the Tier 2 stuff before that. France by 35. You know I’m gonna say it, it’ll be a rainy night for Georgia, Randy Crawford to the fore.
Wales vs Fiji
Another mismatch in store, with Wales looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat against the Boks last weekend. Fiji, as everyone knows, have some superb individuals in their side, but haven’t been able to put it all together into a coherent package for a long while. Wales have had to re-jig their side a bit, with the Horse back on the wing and Adams moving into midfield, but you sense that won’t make much difference in the end. It’s Wales’ match to win by pretty much whatever score they’d like to, especially after Fiji struggled to subdue Spain last weekend. Fitness, structure, technique and a stronger bench will see Wales home comfortably in the end. Wales by 28. And as every Manic Street Preacher in Cardiff’ll tell you – if you tolerate this, your children will be next. You’ve been warned, Fiji.
Preview by the incomparable Deebee7
Onna telly this week
Friday 12th November
| Gloucester v Bath | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 13th November
| Wales v South Africa (women) | 12:15 | BBC2 Wales |
| Italy v Argentina | 13:00 | Prime |
| Scotland v South Africa | 13:00 | Prime |
| Ireland v New Zealand | 15:15 | Channel 4 / RTÉ2 |
| England v Australia | 17:30 | Prime |
Sunday 14th November
| England v Canada (women) | 14:30 | BBC2 / iPlayer | ||
| Wales v Fiji | 15:15 | Prime | ||
| Scotland v Japan (women) | 16:10 | BBC Alba / iPlayer |
Ovally Balls 
Well, doubtful that Faz will be playing next week, so we’ll see how Smith and Tuilagi go together.
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When Faz was potentially unavailable this week Ford was due to be called up. So Martin Gleeson’s dual RL-style halfback experiment might still be on.
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Final of the European Under 20 Champs today – Spain v Portugal. Portugal were winning 9-8 and awarded a penalty about 30 metres out with onscreen time at 80 and with scoreboard time at 80 but the ref saying there was still a bit to go.
The Lusitanians go for the sticks and miss and Spain try to run the ball out. One of the Spanish lads slips and is smashed into by a Portugese player on the Spanish . A fight breaks out and the Spanish number 8 lamps the Portugese number 20 in the face. The Portugese lad retaliates. When it all settles down, they both get red cards but Spain get the penalty because of the retaliation.
They run it but are going sideways until a break sets the left wing away and he cruises homr. The kick is converted. However, one of the Portugese players had landed on the Spaniard’s back after the try was scored and gives away a penalty to be taken at the re-start. So Spain decide to go for goal from half way. The ref has said there are still 30 seconds left. They go for the kick and it misses and Portugal run the ball back …
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TomP – that sounds bonkers! It’s been a great rugby weekend so far.
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Well done Ireland, that was tremendous. England less so, but still has to go down as a good win for them, think the scoreline was probably a fair reflection even if it only ended up so through the late breakaway try.
All very concerning from a Wales point of view of course, felt that keeping it close last week was encouraging, but what the Good Lord giveth with one hand etc.
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@OT – It’s hard not to wonder when England might experiment with giving another scrum half a proper go.
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Anyone else surprised NZ kicked the penalty after the try was disallowed for the forward pass? Felt to me that NZ teams of the past that ‘knew’ they wouldn’t lose to Ireland (/Wales/Scotland/others) would have taken the scrum or lineout and scored the try to go ahead. I even had the fleeting thought that it would be better for Ireland for the try to be given as it would give them more time to come back from a point down, but then suddenly NZ were settling for getting within three points.
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It was a brutal game, CMW, guess they were a bit shell shocked. Besides, they knew by then that Ireland weren’t that easy to cut apart. Surprised by the lack of Mounga influence, by the way, I think he is better all round than Beaudy, but he was really quie yesterday,
I wandered over the the Mothership yesterday searching for some sensible reasons to why England are playing like they are, and realised why this play started up in the first place.
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Having difficulty picking out a Welsh Album in the redundant vinyl, but I do have a copy of this, dreadful tho it may be, Saw man a couple of times on the crusty blues rock circuit in south London, memorably at the pub behind the Oval in Kennington, and I think also the Grey Horse in Kingston too. Maybe, Hazy days.https://youtu.be/rDmo34u732o
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Who’s Ireland playing next week? Wish it was South Africa.
That’d be the pinacle of the AI.
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I meant those are the two best teams I saw. May be England are better but I didn’t see their games as they are only shown on Amazone Prime.
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@sbt
I too am looking for some decent analysis about England’s tactics yesterday but think it might have to wait for Squidge to do something. At the moment I have a few ideas but I may be falling victim to confirmation bias about Gleeson’s influence. For example:
– is the Farrell-Smith partnership like a RL halfback pairing or is it just another RU dual playmaker approach?
– is Manu just running the same lines as Nowell does or is it a bit more like the way some powerful RL wingers run? He obviously isn’t defending on the wing so he might just be doing half the outside centre job, with the other half being covered by Slade
– is Steward just playing as a winger or is his partnership with Slade a bit like a RL back 2?
As you can see I could reckon that there’s RL all over the shop, or equally I could be talking out of my arse. We need someone clever to look at it.
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Flair – Ireland are playing Argentina next week.
Woke up dreaming of New Zealand!
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Well, I’ve just finished watching our game, it wasn’t as bad as I expected after reading some of the online comments about it, but it was a dominant performance from South Africa, they were very very good indeed.
Clichés are clichés for a reason, and the most-used one in rugby is about the set piece, they absolutely demolished us there, then there was so much pressure on us from their defence that the loose passes and almost panic mode set in.
I don’t think any other side in world rugby can do pressure like the Spring Boks can and we got them at their very best yesterday.
‘played Spring Boks
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Scotland did well to hang in as long as they did. Being able to score the kinds of tries they did certainly helps. They did quite a bit better in the scrums than Wales (it’s not really possible to do worse), but found the lineouts more of a struggle. It was a shame the comeback fell apart completely once they lost that lineout in their next attack after the try.
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Brazil v Zimbabwe live on Youtube at the moment:
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A fine ATL and good win for the Boks yesterday. Congrats on both counts. Hard luck Scottish ladz, you played some good rugby. In fairness I think the last 2 matches involving the Boks, particularly yesterday’s have been good to watch.
Congrats to the Englishers for a pretty good win, you had more quality across the whole team whereas Oz were carrying a few passengers. Excellent deboo from the full-back.
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Ah almost forgot. Good win for the Pumas, score looks more comfortable than I would have expected.
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Afternoon, Iks!
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Thauma spoiling my Ireland ruse. Afternoon Thauma, excellent win yesterday. I hope you realise I could have Karled about a dozen of your posts on readback.
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News from the big game in Dublin this morning. Old Belvedere Under 8s Red Pod were given a great battle by Terenure but managed to win 3 of the 4 matches and drew the other. Defensive alignment needs some work but the tackling was both enthusiastic and, more importantly, technically good. Some lovely tries scored by lots of kids from both clubs and lots of chances to run and pass. Much enjoyment expressed by our lads.
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France/Georgia soon to start. The Lelos sing their anthem loud and clear but completely out if tune. Great fun.
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French number 8 moved the ball back in the scrum with his hand there. Is he allowed to do that?
Where’s CJ when you need him?
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Shouldn’t handle the ball in the scrum. Shouldn’t put the ball back in the scrum once it’s come out – though is it still a scrum at that point?
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Don’t think he took it out, but he definitely lifted the ball back from the second row so the scrum half could lift it easier.
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Mediocre game in Bordeaux.
Fun fact: there are 58 professional players from Georgia in the T-14 or Pro-D2.
38 of them are props.
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Flair (and others)
I watched the games that were on Prime via Stopstream.tv
Works fine so long as you have good protections installed on your computer. Great picture but no sound
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Once again, well done Ireland.
I think that is the best I have seen a N Hemi team play in years. Intensity / accuracy / skills / few errors.
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Thanks Slade. Will try next week for Eng/SA.
HT in Bordeaux: France lead 24 to3.
After 20 sloppy minutes, France logically takes the lead with three tries. Georgia suffer even at the scrum. They received two YC and the ref does them no favours.
After yesterday’s wonderful games, today will be a bit of a let down. Too much difference between the teams. Same with Wales/Fiji.
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Final score in Bordeaux 41-15. Georgia scored two tries, including a beautiful one on the wing.
I doubt they’d be a great addition to the 6N though.
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Josh Adams out at the last minute.
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Hope the game in Cardiff will be better. Shouldn’t be difficult.
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Fiji in already!
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Great try by Fiji. Speed, power, vision. Wow.
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There have been better starts for Wales.
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Refit – you can say that again.
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Better now as they win a couple of penalties and maul over the line!
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Thaum – There have been…
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Phew – we win 2 line-outs in a row.
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Who can say if that’s a red or not?
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Well that’s a red.
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He was falling from a prone position on the ground.
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Can’t believe the TMO had to spell that out!
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Stupid red by Fijian wing. Game over . Merde.
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Straight red. Looked worse with every replay.
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I’m just amazed that a red was actually shown.
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Refit, straight stiff arm to the head.
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Not so sure it is game over: Fiji seem to be coping so far.
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Losing another player isn’t going to help, mind.
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@Flair – they managed to talk themselves out of a straight shoulder to the head yesterday. 🤷♂️
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