The following four fixtures will be shown on the World Rugby site, and they will be available to watch afterwards, so even the most fevered rugby fans will not be found wanting for action.
Saturday, 20th November
Brazil v Kenya: (3rd/4th place play-off Stellenbosch Challenge, Men’s) Markotter Field, Stellenbosch – 10:00 GMT)
Zimbabwe v Namibia: (Final Stellenbosch Challenge, Men’s) Markotter Field, Stellenbosch – 12:00 GMT)
Russia v Chile: (Men’s) Yug Sports Stadium, Sochi – 12:00 GMT
Georgia v Fiji: (Men’s) Estadio El Deleite, Aranjuez – 14:30 GMT
Now on to the main attractions.
Italy vs Uruguay
Uruguay have qualified for RWC ’23 as Americas 1; however, they fell to Romania last week. Italy did better than most commentators thought they would against the might of the All Blacks but a loss against Argentina will mean they will be looking to make amends. Italy are currently ranked 14 against Uruguay’s 17. The visitors will not be overawed, but I expect the home team to win.
Scotland vs Japan
Scotland were overpowered last week by a very good Springbok side. It would have been understandable if many of those players were stood down, but Toonie has gone for a strong selection as he welcomes Scott Cummings back into the second row. There is rotation on the loosehead side with Schoeman and Bhatti swapping the starting jersey, and there will be new caps: the large shape of Scarlets’ Javan Sebastian, and Dylan Richardson from the Sharks (not the Sale ones) débuting in the back row.
Japan haven’t had the best results, losing heavily in Dublin and beating Portugal by 13, suggesting that this is not the Japan of the last RWC.
Scotland to win.
England v South Africa
South Africa will be after a full house from their three fixtures in November. They have selected a strong side: you know what’s coming, it’s dealing with it that is the problem.
Rodd, Blamire (Blay-mire), Sinckler, Dolly, Marler and Stuart will be under the microscope: it’s a well-known fact of life that you don’t out-Bok the Boks, so unless England can run South Africa around and keep away from set pieces, one would think this is only going to go one way, which is counter-intuitive when talking about England.
Elsewhere, Marcus Smith will be looking to sprinkle a bit of fairy dust on the Battle of the Orcs going on in front of him; he can turn his own Orc outside him in the formidable shape of Manu Tuilagi.
On the other hand, De Allende and Am are a very good midfield partnership; this is a tough game to call because Twickenham is a difficult place to go to play rugby.
I’m going to go for a very tight away win here, less than 7. Unless England’s pack end up as roadkill, like Scotland’s, then it will be a bigger margin: the Boks will be well up for this.
Wales vs Australia
Wales have had a mixed series. Putting out a B team against New Zealanders is never a good idea, but their hand was forced due to the international window agreements. They were five points short of South Africa and overcame the all-singing and -dancing (and big-hitting) Fijians.
Australia have had also had a mixed run of results. After downing the World Champions as a highlight of their year, they beat Argentina twice but lost to Scotland and were thumped by England.
Tupo being back will help their scrum, but they will be without skipper and talisman Michael Hooper, which kind of cancels out AWJ missing from the Welsh boilerhouse.
Wales at home is never a team to bet against, even with a relatively unfamiliar midfield.
Another tough call, but I’m going for a home win here.
France vs New Zealand
New Zealand don’t often lose two in a row. They did last year, but it’s only happened five times since 2000 in around 250 tests (I was surprised at how many they’d played, but then they do tend to play almost all the games possible at the world cup as well as the RC and tours).
Fabien Galthié has chosen partnerships for this match: Dupont and Ntamack at half-back, and Danty joining his erstwhile colleague Fickou in the midfield, which means Jalibert drops to the bench.
Elsewhere there are changes with Mauvaka coming in to the front row with Willemse joining Woki in the locking positions
Is this rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?
I don’t think the current iteration of the All Blacks present as insurmountable a problem as before, but they are still the All Blacks.
The ABs side hasn’t been announced yet, so just for fun I’ll call this a draw.
Ireland v Argentina
Ireland were HUGE last week: a top-end performance full of fire, commitment, cool heads in the heat of the battle, and extraordinary focus. That is what it takes to beat the top teams, and Ireland had it all.
Can they back it up this week?
At the time of writing the teams have not been published, but everything points to a home win. For me, they have been the most impressive team over the series so far, and the only problem they may face is injuries, which will only serve to open the door for more Leinster players to make the step up to international level, the gits.
A comfortable home win.
Thanks to Tichtheid2 for the preview.
Onna telly this week
Friday 19th November
| London Irish v Saracens | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 20th November
| Italy v Uruguay | 13:00 | Prime |
| Scotland v Japan | 13:00 | Prime |
| Ireland v Japan (women) | 15:00 | RTÉ2 |
| England v South Africa | 15:15 | Prime |
| Wales v Australia | 17:30 | Prime |
| France v New Zealand | 20:00 | Prime |
Sunday 21st November
| Ireland v Argentina | 14:15 | Channel 4 / RTÉ2 | ||
| England v USA (women) | 14:45 | BBC2 / iPlayer | ||
| Wales v Canada (women) | 17:00 | BBC2 Wales |
Ovally Balls 
Are they trying to do a French victory haka?
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Magnifique. To ride the comeback and then get their momentum and confidence back.
For the first 20 of the 2nd half I thought they were handing it to the ABs by messing up almost everything.
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When was the last time the northern hemisphere teams all beat their southern hemisphere opponents? Not in my lifetime I don’t think.
Going to be a fantastic 6 nations at this rate.
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@Craigs – Ireland haven’t won yet.
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Going to be a fantastic 6 nations at this rate.
Nah. SH sides are all just shit.
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Caught some of the games yesterday.
Ireland’s women overcame a red card to beat Japan. Captain and local woman Ciara Griffin scored both Irish tries in her last game. Red card thoroughly deserved – head first and no wrap…. can’t recall how many pens were given away for high tackles. It’s a consistent issue across the matches I’ve seen. If they fixed just that – Ireland would play with 15 all the time and have better possession and territory stats.
Caught last 10 mins of Eng vs SA. Seemed…..spiteful. pictures on Amazon Prime lagged behind commentary.
Wales vs Australia….Valetini can have no complaint – never gets low and manages to head butt a guy who’s over 2m. Tompkins try – can’t say I’ve ever seen a ref not call a slapdown like that as anything other than a knock on. Still Oz shouldn’t have stopped playing…. you tell it to 10 year olds and you keep telling them at all age groups. Roberts yellow card – fortunate.
France / NZ – highly enjoyable. If a bit bonkers in 3rd quarter….like Ticht I thought we were going to see another “try from the end of the world”. And if Woki passes – they’re in….NZ looked gassed at end of the first half …. but came back well in 3rd quarter.
On domestic front – our 2 U14 teams lined out against each other yesterday. Very enjoyable – U14s (Red) have better individuals, better tacklers and a couple of deadly jackals. U13s (Black) have a better team mentality…. more likely to pass ….less likely to run into traffic. Red (aka U14) won 27 – 10.
Middle child played 10 for Red – got an intercept try and followed it with a drop goal conversion.
So, rugby from midday to 10pm…. how’s that for a day.
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I knew France were on an upward curve. I knew the ABs weren’t a great vintage and yet I didn’t want to consider such a result, a bit like a Scottish fan afflicted by hopefear.
France let slip half a dozen games at the last minute last year and I thought three key players missing (Marchand, hooker, Ollivon BR and captain, and Vakatawa ) was too much vs the ABs. Plus the wins vs Argentina and Georgia were unconvincing, as was the pairing of Ntamack and Jalibert.
The ABs may have been under par (though go and tell that to the French between the 45th and 60th minute!) but France still dismantled them just as thoroughly as Ireland a week ago, but in a different manner. And just like Ireland, France could easily have lost.
I was out for dîner so only watched the game in the middle of the night, fortunately not knowing the result. Found it hard to sleep afterwards but I didn’t mind.
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“France let slip half a dozen games at the last minute last year”
And they still couldn’t get this right when it mattered!
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Two Ulstermen on commentary!
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Please tell me one of them isn’t Robson.
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Neither of them is Robson. :-)
It’s Bowe & Ferris.
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Not sure who’s doing the match commentary, mind you.
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Lovely Pumas try!
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Oh, I just made some noises at Carreras’s step inside just then.
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Who’s winning?
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Far, far too easy.
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@Deebee – Arg 7-0 up inside 4 mins.
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Thanks Refit, in the countryside without rugby channel
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But Ireland win a penalty, then a couple more & maul over the line.
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Carbery adds the extras: 10-7.
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Rinse and repeat.
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Full team try this time!
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24-7 at HT.
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Argentine 8 has been binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 22.
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Where is the Argentina that beat the ABs?
They’re so fragile in defence and toothless in attack.
Giving away stupid penalties, not even kicking correctly at goal…
Ireland on the other hand …
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Another try after a maul and some pick ‘n’ go.
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Oh look, Lavanini being a shitehouse.
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Argentina seeing red now – quite rightly.
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Not much of a contest before but Lavanini ‘s fully deserved RC effectively ends the game.
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Healy goes over for another one.
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…. or doesn’t (lost the ball).
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Dan Sheehan gets it down instead.
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Another batch of pick ‘n’ go, and Healy does get his try.
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Beirne gets another….
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Final score: 53-7.
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So which two out of France and Ireland are favourites for the Six Nations then……
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Or even which one.
Or they could tie.
Or it could be I don’t know what I’m talking about…..
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I think the only side that won’t be competitive is poor old Italy.
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France have England and Ireland at home so I guess they should be favourites as at this point they look like the three best teams. Even then though it does depend though on whether Wales turn out to be competitive and we won’t know that until it gets going. And on whether or not Scotland can turn being competitive into winning.
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Regardless of who should be favourites I always still expect England to win it as that’s the only basis on which I can cope with the whole thing.
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Didn’t see any England game but their record this autumn isn’t bad, is it? I’d put them firmly in the favourite batch.
Plus they seem to be ready to ditch Farrell now that they have Smith. Have they found a young 9 though?
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Quirke, the substitute #9 yesterday plays for Sale, where he understudies Faf de Klerk and pairs up with McGinty at #10. Next year he will team up with George Ford. He seems to have all the skills and is smart so he has everything going for him. Perhaps he’ll be it
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They played very well in that game but it was a genuine ambush. It was a game they could focus on for ages before it took place and have a plan that everyone knew, and which they played to excellently. 2 weeks later they got smashed 38-0 by the All Blacks.
I can’t say they were unlucky, but they really failed to take their chances today. The two horror kicks at goal and then the missed chance from the winger after he made that great break. But they’re so flat in attack that players are taking the ball standing still so often and Ireland pretty easily snuffed out the threat.
Lavanini is a massive prick. Should get a massive ban – half for a horrible bit of play and half for utter stupidity.
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France vs Ireland has to be the tournament decider on this autumn’s showing. England and Scotland capable of beating anyone on their day, Wales much better than recent form suggests if first choices fit. An intriguing tournament awaits! (Italy still shit)
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@slade
With him being called “Raffi” and playing for Sale I had to check where he is from. OF COURSE he grew up in Chorlton and went to school in Altrincham. You don’t get many Raffis in Stalybridge.
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I do feel a bit sorry for Argentinian rugby as the SuperRugby thing has gone belly up and they’re back in the same situation as before with their better players having to play in Europe – with the odd one in Australia.
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“Didn’t see any England game but their record this autumn isn’t bad, is it? I’d put them firmly in the favourite batch.”
They still give away loads of needless penalties and against South Africa some forced ones too, but their attacking game yesterday was in such good order that they still managed a win. Other packs won’t duff them up like SA did so they are a big worry. Weren’t so good against Aus though so there’s hope. France looked inspired yesterday and Ireland were relentless against NZ. Scotland good in bits, but perhaps still a bit vulnerable. Wales looked like they were making it up as they go along (so do France a bit, but they make up much better things) and while I’d be surprised if Wales lose to Italy absolutely anything else could happen to them.
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We have to go to Dublin first up and it would take a really really good effort to win that. Next is Scotland on a high after retaining the Calcutta Cup. Twickenham third followed by France at home.
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@TomP – Well yes, it does normally involve playing the same teams and at the moment 3 of them look very good with another not far behind. We’re the mystery team at the moment and I guess England and Ireland might be hoping we come good enough to beat France at home as they could need it with them both having to go to Paris. If we’re good enough to do that though we might be good enough to win in Dublin or London though I guess the latter is more likely as we’re usually shit in the first game even if it turns out to be a good season. I certainly don’t rule out coming fifth with just the one win though!
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Same story last year, mind. England and France looked streets ahead of everyone else in that Autumn Nations Cup thing.
Plus, there are refereeing decisions that have a big impact on games or perhaps crowds’ll be limited again or a couple of fellas go down with Covid at an inopportune time.
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