It’s Christmas in July as the Northern behemoths head south to upside-down-world and a feast of rugby! With this being the last July tour before the World Cup next year in France, there are markers to be put down, there are points to be made and there are matches to be won! Not the usual ‘development tours’ we see, but full-blooded Tests, with a capital T and an exclamation mark to boot. So who’ll be the turkeys (not Türkiye, as they’re not playing anyway), who’ll get a stuffing and who’ll provide the trimmings and the sauce? A veritable smorgasbord awaits:
Romania v Italy
After slaying the Welsh dragon in February, there’ll be a sprightly step in the Italian dressing room before facing off with a Romanian side that lost its last two matches (narrowly to let’s-replace-Italy-with-Georgia, and more convincingly to Spain) to end a decent five match winning streak prior to that. Solid second tier, but not enough to get past Italy, who broke a 36-match losing streak at the Principality with THAT try. It won’t be a canter, but Italy should start their summer series with a fairly comfortable win: Italy by 15 over Romania
Australia ‘A’ v Samoa
Much talk around the improvement of Australian sides in Super Rugby this year, but frankly I’m not sure where that came from. A couple of wins against Kiwi sides masked the fact that they only got one side in the semis and propped up the bottom of the combined table along with the Samoan and Fijian sides. The Brumbies were the only consistent side in Australia, but they’ll have too much depth anyway to field an ‘A’ side that will see off Samoa easily enough. No idea what to expect from Samoa, or who they’ve selected, but history tells us they’ll be blood and thunder for 60 minutes, whilst still getting the wrong end of the scoreboard and cards, and fade away as the superior conditioning and game plan of the Aussies takes control: Australia ‘A’ by 23
Fiji v Tonga
A spicy affair for sure, although Fiji have emerged as the most consistent of the Pacific Island sides in recent years, combining some electric running from all 15 (or 23) players at times, with brutal defence and a set piece that’s better than most of their neighbours. It’ll be fierce, it’ll be fast, it’ll be fun to watch from afar, but ultimately Fiji will have too much: Fiji by 13
Japan v France
Two of the world’s great cultures and two of the world’s great cuisines. Most recent and next hosts of rugby’s great showpiece. Two sides renowned for silky skills and derring-do with ball in hand, but that’s where it ends, I’m afraid. France are building up a fearsome head of steam in the lead up to their home World Cup and have oodles of talent and power in most positions, led by Dupont and Ntamack at 9 and 10, behind a pack that won’t step back for anyone. Japan have been solid recently, with good wins over second-tier sides and running the likes of Scotland, Australia and Ireland relatively close (bar one blowout against Ireland), so they have the wherewithal to mix it with the big boys. However, this is a France on a mission and they should stroll away with it in the end: France by 33
New Zealand v Ireland
One of the most eagerly awaited July series, with Ireland having got the measure of the Kiwis in recent years. But not in New Zealand. Both sides come into the series with question marks hanging over them – the All Black pack got dusted in Dublin and flayed in France last year and they’ve gone with Scott Barrett at 6 in an effort to bolster the lineout and scrum. Worked a treat in the 2019 Semi against England, didn’t it? Ireland’s Leinster-dominated side has struggled against top packs, but they’ll probably fancy they’ve got the wood on the Kiwis up front. The AB backline has suffered some Covid disruptions, but such is the depth of talent in New Zealand, they’ll be fine there. The noises coming out of New Zealand are ominous and they’ll throw everything at Ireland this week. Perhaps overly generous, but it’s New Zealand by 17
Australia v England
Another hugely anticipated match as Eddie’s eagles got their wings clipped in the 6N, amidst rumblings around his sometimes leftfield selections. Australia have been building quietly under Dave Rennie and demolished a Bok scrum last year thought to be their key weapon. The Aussies always bring that mongrel spirit to matches like this and they won’t back down against England’s forwards. It’s an intriguing match-up with England’s centres – as ever – a topic of debate and the backs in general, from 9 to 15, with the exception perhaps of Marcus Smith being anything but nailed on. Both sides are actually a little unsettled and it could go either way, with the match-up between Smith and Cooper at 10 a key contest. Australia will look to run England around the park, whilst England will look to smother the Aussies before letting loose later on. Could go either way, I’m backing Rennie’s Roos to break some hoodoos: Australia by 2
South Africa v Wales
Everyone in Wales apparently thinks the Boks will smash Wales. So does everyone here. Except for the people who think it’ll be a tight, ugly affair. Of which I’m one. The Boks are generally slow out of the starting blocks in the international season and are probably most vulnerable in this first Test. That said, it’s a pretty settled squad, with most of the players in their prime, or near enough. They’ve all played together for a few seasons and so should be settled enough. Wales, on the other hand, have come off a horror 6 Nations, only winning one match and losing to Italy in the final match – but they also got three losing bonus points, so three tight defeats. Whatever the missing links are in the Welsh side, it’s not guts and defence and bloody-mindedness. And the matches between Wales and South Africa have been tight in recent years, so I expect another tight affair, with the Boks perhaps easing away at altitude later on: South Africa by 9
Argentina v Scotland
This has all the potential to be a cracker, with Argentina now under the tutelage of Michael Cheika and with some of the Euro-based players back in the fold. Having stunned the ABs in 2020 and played some fabulous rugby in the process, they slipped back badly in 2021, winning only one match, against Italy. Scotland’s all-new, all-singing, all-dancing style fell a bit flat in the 6 Nations after a promising start and the Scots once again failed to live up to expectations. That said, they have some wonderful, athletic forwards and some serious gas out wide that can blitz most defences on its day. This could be a great match. Would back Argentina’s 2020 version, but not the 2021 version, albeit they’ve changed management and got a few players back: Scotland by 5
Merrily foretold by Deebee7
Onna telly this week
Thursday 30th June
| Scotland v Italy (U20s) | 19:00 | YouTube |
| Wales v Georgia (U20s) | 19:00 | YouTube |
Saturday 2nd July
| Japan v France | 07:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| New Zealand v Ireland | 08:00 | Sky Sports Action |
| Australia v England | 10:55 | Sky Sports Action |
| South Africa v Wales | 16:05 | Sky Sports Action |
| Argentina v Scotland | 20:10 | Sky Sports Main Event |
Tuesday 5th July
| France v South Africa (U20s) | 16:00 | YouTube |
| England v Ireland (U20s) | 19:00 | YouTube |
Wednesday 6th July
| Scotland v Georgia (U20s) | 16:00 | YouTube |
| Wales v Italy (U20s) | 19:00 | YouTube |
Ovally Balls 
@Thaum – ref said hands in the ruck.
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Hmm, was looking for sins on the replay and didn’t see any. Perhaps I missed them.
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…is anything happening between SA and Wales????
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Wales in the lead with a minute to go!
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@Slade – a try. An honest to goodness try. Adams over in the corner. Anscombe converts and Wales lead with 1 minute left to play.
12-13
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… And SA win a scrum penalty.
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And when it all looks like going wrong, SA knock it on!
Well, that was a shit match, but well done, Wales!
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Wales have won.
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Well that was terribly dull but a great result for Wales. Probably deserved after the bad call with the yellow card.
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So that’s the Northern Hemisphere won all three games today! Just one more for a full house! Just need Scotland to w…. Ah.
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Fuck! Thought the Boks had done enough to win that. Really thought Wales would hammer the Boks before the match so not too upset (other than losing to Wales on home turf] but as the game went on I thought we’d win.
Wales were good though. Never a side to capitulate and worthy winners. Still fuck! but we’ll played Wales!
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Good lads!
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Hate to disagree*, Deebs, but well played nobody.
*Not really.
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…………..fancy having to rely on the Scottish XV
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Try relying on them all the time…
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‘mon boys!
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Ooh, ambient sound and commentary for Scotland this week, how fancy.
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Oh no, I spoke too soon. The audio is about 0.5 seconds ahead of the pictures.
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Just got home. Slightly pissed. Or a bit more. Think I’ll root for Scotland!
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‘Mish!
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Mister Bennett!
(For fans of Jane Austen who also follow rugby).
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That’s a shame. A wonderful try by ARG, scratched for a forward pass in the build-up.
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Well done Wales!
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Thought the highlights of the Lions games were grim, but the show I just watched on S4C raised the bar. Pretty clear we’ve got nothing much to offer against their defence, but as it seems SA had most of the ball I guess they didn’t have much either today.
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And well done Ireland and England too.
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And indeed Scotland.
Is Kitson back on track then? Either way he still wrote a terrible (or at least terribly hypocritical) article about unnecessary negativity about rugby online the other day.
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I can understand AWJ getting his card as the ref/touch judge will have thought he played it. I don’t understand why we get loads of tedious TMO replays to establish some yellow cards but not others as one replay would quickly have sorted that one out.
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“And indeed Scotland.”
Though weirdly the BBC now has the score at A-A of all things…
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They’ve settled on 29-6 now which sounds like a fairer reflection of what went on.
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CMW, the touch judge tried to tell Gardner that there wasn’t an infringement, but Gardner wasn’t having any of it, even though he was on the wrong side.
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@Refitman – Good effort on Gardner’s part!
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Despite Deebee’s support, Scotland win! That’s 4-4 now. All series deciders next week.
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“Hunt, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps announce leadership bids”
Good effort again, wish they could all win.
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Think it was nice that Wales and South Africa both got into the spirit of the barbarians type thing that that there Deebee was advertising. Good work all round.
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Now I’m very much of the belief that SA are almost invariably more to blame for their games against Wales descending into shitfests than Wales are. Admittedly this is almost entirely because they tend to have most of the ball and also have better players they refuse to use rather than not quite so good players that they’re not good enough to use. However, I did think it was rather negative of Wales to tap and then kick the ball out for half time when they had a penalty on their own 10m line. Surely every team that rates themselves at all kicks that into the opposition half and has a go? All the better sides seem to score most of the time when given that opportunity.
It still made the highlights…
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Ireland playing New Zealand again today! In 2 hours time! That’s fitness and commitment to get to Dublin for this. Oh, it’s cricket you say? Carry on then.
Speaking of Carry On, there is growing consensus down here that Nienaber is a busted flush as a coach and we’re wasting a seriously talented bunch of players on a ‘style’ that is too easy to read and counter. Carry On Up The Highveld may not have a snappy ring to it, but then neither does our rugby at the moment.
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I suppose the rest of you are too hungover to be reading or commenting. Don’t blame you! Next weekend is going to be massive.
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As I was on the road yesterday, I watched bits and parts of the games late at night, thank dog on fast forward for a couple of them. Am thinking of France vs Japan but mostly about Wales vs SA.
France lucky to escape a loss in Japan, Galthié’s team famed depth not that deep. Not a great watch except some wonderful moments from Japan.
Am quite happy for the home unions fans, especially the Welsh and Irish fans, for those historical wins, but is there a way both Wales ands SA could be forbiden to play international rugby? My, that was painful. On the Lions vs SA scale, not far from a ten.
Missed the first half of NZ vs Ireland, so I don’t know what to make of the final score, what with 2 YC and one RC? Only Eddie thinks it’s better to play with one man down. What I saw from Ireland was scarily good.
Didn’t see Scotland vs Argentina but there must’ve been more than a single try, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Brilliant half hour by England, followed by half an hour asleep at the wheel. Strange team, that should be better.
All these games at least promise great third tests.
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@deebee
I’m currently standing next to a cricket field at Felsted school watching the Essex u9s/10s player development group play a few matches and will be here till 5. This is after my lad had a match earlier starting at 9 so he’s got a very full day.
I predict I will have a few more freckles by the end of the day.
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Don’t forget the sunscreen! Just don’t ever, ever listen to that dumb song about it.
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Ireland made 300/9 in their 50 overs. Kiwis are off to a sluggish start at 19/2 in the 6th over. Can Ireland do the double?
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No.
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Good. Would not bode well for next week.
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Hmm……………………….Georgia 28 -19 taly
just sayin’………….
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Italy B.
Just saying.
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Had writtten a lenghty take on the week-end matches I saw with a 12 hours delay as I was on the road. Lost it in the internet limbo. Grrr… so let’s try again.
Anyway first, congrats to the home unions teams, mostly to Wales and Ireland for their historical wins.
In chronological order:
France were lucky to win over Japan. A 10th consecutive win isn’t to be sniffed at, but it was laborious. Galthié’s famed depth isn’t that deep. T14+6N+Hcups have left these players knackered. Yet, they reach, for the first time ever, the #1 spot with WR ranking.
Mostly thanks to:
First ever Ireland’s win in NZ. I missed the first half, so what with the 2YCs and the red one? What I saw from Ireland was scarylingly good. And no bullshit from Farrell about playing with an extra man being more difficult.
So next, Eddie’s boys:
A brilliant 30 minutes spell by England followed by half an hour asleep at the wheel. Could’ve gone the other way but for a missed line out throw. Momentum etc… English forwards and/ or their SH/FH still seem to have little faith in their backs. And yet…
Glad for the Welsh fans, but my, that was painful for the neutrals. Glad I could watch it on fast forward. What’s wrong with SA playing vs teams in red shirts? On the Lions vs SA boredom scale, that was a 10. Wish both teams weren’t allowed to play next week. RC for both without mitigation.
Didn’t see Argentina vs Scotland but at least it seems more than one try was scored. So they get a pass.
At least we get to watch third tests with something at stake.
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Test
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Italy boo, I picked them in the Bru
Speaking of which, looking through the results I see FirstDifference picked England to beat the Wallabies by 120.
I watched our game today
The quality of rugby and intensity on show was second division stuff compared to the earlier games.
However, the win is what counts, I suppose.
Fagerson jnr is turning into a good international 8, Darge WILL take the jersey off Watson, it’s only a matter or when.
Kinghorn can/could be world class at 10, the white heat of international rugby is a tough school for someone who had played two or three professional games at 10 this time last year.
We really miss Hogg.
Bennett is giving Harris a run for his money as our best 13.
FFS Finn and Toonie, kiss and make up, though I like Kinghorn at ten he is not an option for the world cup yet
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If Hastings hadn’t got injured, Kinghorn would have been nowhere near the 10 jersey.
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