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 
Marcus Smith! Got some toe that kid!
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I will take the jammy ones. Lawes spoils Aus lineout ball, the ball goes loose and Smith picks it up. He has enough gas to make it 50m to the try line.
10-21 Eng. 55 mins.
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Going Ok so far, VPFT looking good, Smith looking more comfortable. Would like to see WIllis and Isiekwe on.
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Aussies made a mess of England’s scrum there!almost certainly need to come away with points here. Not like that though.
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So a 5m lineout and the caption helpfully says ‘Distance to try line: 3.9m’
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Excellent defence from England on their line. Aussies go another 3.9m lineout. And get over! Conversion to get within 4!
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Would’ve been 1.1m short if they’d taken the 5m lineout. Smart play.
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Not smart kicking it through there. Thought a pass earlier on may have been the missing 1.1m forward from Aus.
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More good defence from England! Sands of time slipping away for Aus here.
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Wow! What a time to win the turnover penalty!
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Looks like it’s up to Boks to restore some SH pride. If we can.
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Gawd, that was a tough watch at times, as an England fan. But we got the win in the end.
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Wow! Another fine performance! Well played England. From what I saw, the forwards really made great yards ball in hand, defence was excellent and turned defence to attack with aplomb in the second 40.
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Good defence by England. Not exciting, but solid. Shame not to see a bit more of Arundel, Porter solid but not asked to show any more.
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Whoop! No pressure Wales 😉
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Fear not, we’re very generous hosts down here.
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“Just got a feed in time to see Genge in full flight! Quite the sight.”
Good to see you had your priorities right Deebee. And I agree it’s not something you’d want to see on an empty stomach.
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Congrats to Ireland and England.
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There will be lots of moaning about the non red card for Porter but that was a brilliant performance by Ireland. A team in total control of what they’re trying to achieve. NZ all at sea, particularly the line out. And where is that famed strenght in depth?
England ( and Oz, to a lesser extent) showing interesting promises. This should be a very interesting autumn tours.
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Almost a try to SA. With pen advantage, Am puts a chip into the 22 and Mapimpi just puts a foot in touch gathering the ball.
Pollard kicks the 3.
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SA looking a lot more dynamic so far, this week.
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Second almost-a-try.
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My dad, my sister and her wife are going to watch Bristol vs SA, when SA tour in November. I’m a little jealous.
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SA keep opting for scrums and getting pens. The 9 then opts to quick tap and SA go through the phases across the pitch, until Pollard actually hits the line with some speed and scores.
10-0
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Lydiate off for attention, after a head clash with his own hooker, trying to stop Pollard. AWJ on.
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A mixture of excellent and bloody awful passing seems to wrong-foot SA and Adams comes close to scoring, but passes to Reffell to score.
10-7
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Eben just absolutely creamed Hardy.
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Kolbe off with some kind of mouth injury. Le Roux on.
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Welsh passing game is atrocious.
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Interesting penalty. PSdT penalised for being ‘active’ as a guard at the ruck – he pushed the charging player. Biggar kicks the pen.
10-8
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Carley’s just done his ‘stern teacher’ bit to Adams and de Allende. Wales are on a penalty warning too.
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SA stick it in the corner and Mbonambi dives over after a rumbling maul.
17-8 38mins
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Thought we were really good in the first 15 minutes, should have had more points, Wales being their usual bloody minded selves kept us honest and the half time score is probably fair enough. Need to really up the ante after the break. Think Wales may be lucky to not have conceded a card or penalty try?
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When Wales have got a bit of ball they’ve looked dangerous. Boks need to snuff that out.
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That try knocked out the power, and then the laptop wouldn’t reconnect to the router without a reboot.
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Poor discipline by SA keeping Wales in the game.
Agree with Deebee, hard to understand how Wales didnt get a YC after so many penalties.
Tense stuff anyway.
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Wales get their final warning. “Next one’s in the bin”
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SA have got their timing of runs off ruck ball much better – hitting the line with speed and making ground. Eventually Kolisi gets over to score.
24-14
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The pitch isn’t helping South Africa’s scrum, it’s cutting up badly
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Refit, I never did get over to watch Bristol whilst my daughter was there.
She graduated last week, postponed from last year. The Hall looked a bit Hogwarts, my daughter said it all had “a bit of a Tory vibe”
We went for food in Clifton, where she lived as a student, it’s really nice area that.
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Was it on here that I read this game has the best two front rows in the world and they both wear green?
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@Ticht – congrats to your daughter. I used to live just down from Clifton, lovely middle-class area.
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Reft, she loves Bristol, a good few of her uni friends stayed on and got jobs so she visits every month.
I have to say, if I didn’t live in Brighton I’d be tempted by Bristol.
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Blimey South Africa are giving away lots of soft penalties today
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“How to braai a Wale: 40 mins a side”.
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I lolled at that, Thaum
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Liam Williams penalised for entering a ruck at the back foot – unfortunately it’s the SA back foot.
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Pollard kicks the penalty. Final score 30-14
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Only sawthe last few minutes there, hard luck Wlaes, and well done Sa. It does wind me up that the refs give so long to see if there is an advantage from a penalty, and then go back for the penalty maybe a minute later. If there is no advantage, the clock should be reset to when the penalty was first awarded.
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