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 
Ticht – yes, well done those Boks fans!
LikeLike
AWJ was exceptionally quiet today, I thought.
LikeLike
Mon Scotland
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gwaaan!
LikeLike
Bokke!
LikeLike
Oh. Argentina retaliate.
LikeLike
Never mind the rugby, we’ve had a baby hedgehog turn up. It’s tiny; about the size of my fist. We feed them, but never seen one this small before.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Have another GWAAAN!
LikeLike
The feed I’m watching has some weird double-layered audio on it. At the beginning it was an echo of the stadium/ref audio. It then cleared up for a bit, but towards the end of the half, it was the sound of someone scrubbing through the game footage, to pick out the highlights.
It’s all rather distracting.
LikeLike
Commentary thru the left speaker only here, some rather nice fiesta music coming thru the right , as well as crowd noise. The second layer on the left has the ref cam, and layer three is a Hawkwindesque sound chop.
LikeLike
Something weird in that half – Lavanini didn’t really incur the wrath of the ref.
LikeLike
GWAAAN yet again!
LikeLike
Well, this is just fucking grim
LikeLike
4th GWAAAN!
Oh hell, Refit, that is awful.
LikeLike
We were pondering earlier, while POM was getting treatment yet again, what sort of shape he’ll be in when he gets to our age – and that’s not even thinking about brain damage, just bone, sinew and muscle.
LikeLike
Chile have beaten USA 31-29!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh shit … sorry, Scotland fans!
LikeLike
Argentina have only gone and won. The stadium has gone bonkers.
LikeLike
Final score 34-31
LikeLike
Great game, great series, lots of positives for both sides.
LikeLike
Well, it was a very close contest. And, as an Ireland fan, I can say that there is no shame in losing to Argentina.
LikeLike
There is lots of shame in losing that game, we got over the line and didn’t ground it, we lost two tries at least from fucking up restarts.
Our line out was a shambles, it’s all the basics, we lost despite being 15 points up with about 20 mins to go, that is unforgivable.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, okay, you have some fair points. :-)
LikeLiked by 4 people
Ticht, you are being too hard on your boys. Line outs, yes, a shambles, but everything else was pretty positive, I thought. Every team makes the odd mistake in every game, and you have had a hatful of young guys get good experience. Argentina at home is a pretty big challenge, and they had a full strength squad.
LikeLike
Give Ticht a pat onna back
LikeLike
Sorry, please ignore my drunken snark.
LikeLike
Shit, Ryan Jones has early onset dementia.
LikeLike
Terrible news about Ryan Jones.
I’m starting to feel about rugby the way I felt about boxing before I stopped watching it.
The rugby authorities are not taking this subject seriously, they are more concerned with the spectacle than they are about the safety of the participants
LikeLiked by 2 people
Terrible re Ryan Jones – I was an admirer of him as a player.
Is he of the cadre that embraced the new professionalism and physicality that was established before new protective protocols started?
Would he have suffered as much now?
I need more information on the type of dementia he has before I can say for sure it is rugby related
LikeLike
Slade – early onset dementia. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t rugby related. He’s 41 (similar age to me) and has a long time left to live. I can’t imagine facing that knowing the decline is go to happen so soon.
LikeLike
In other news there is a heatwave apparently. The graun is fanatically logging each weather related news event in it’s ‘live coverage’ of the sun shining.
Sometimes I wonder if everyone just needs to calm the fuck down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Craigs – thanks
I found this useful………………
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/types-dementia/what-causes-young-onset-dementia
LikeLiked by 1 person
…………….over 40C here again today – quite a strong breeze blowing as well, which could be the indicator for thunderstorms later
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s sky with a video of the sun shining:
LikeLike
Bear in mind there is a cold front sitting over the Atlantic that will reach us in a couple of days, meaning this heatwave will be done and dusted by Wednesday.
I don’t remember this level of hysteria in the much longer heatwave in 2003
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
LikeLiked by 1 person
OT – 70k people died in that heatwave but since then they’ve managed to dramatically reduce fatalities.
It’s fair enough to have a page describing what lengths you can take to be healthy but live coverage including a poor kid drowning in a river is ridiculous.
LikeLike
@craigs
According to the Met Office app there is a massive fuck off rain cloud hitting Cornwall about 10am tomorrow. I doubt there will be record temperatures there.
LikeLike
OT – better send a camera crew in case they miss it.
LikeLike
OT – the difference is that this heatwave is supposed to break all previous records.
Ticht – the difference between boxing and rugby is that the whole point of boxing is to try to knock your opponent out. But yes, WR needs to do more.
LikeLike
@thaum
Well it started today and finishes Wednesday so that ain’t going to happen. The 2003 one lasted months.
And just about every year we have a big build up and people say “we MIGHT get record temperatures next week” and it never happens.
So let’s wait and see.
LikeLike
Yes, I meant just in terms of recorded temperature. Thank fuck it’s going to be short-lived, because I don’t like it when it goes over 20; this is horrendous.
It’s completely daft having a live blog on it, though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Live blog seems to have dried up a bit. On my way to Cape Town to spend some of your hard-earned tax money. Luckily for most of you, there’s no Business Class on this cattle truck with wings. Hoping the lobster isn’t finished when I arrive.
LikeLike
Was a fabulous week3nd to be South African and in South Africa. Rugby was passable, weather was stunning and the Johnny Clegg tribute concert was brilliant! Saw some bands I haven’t seen since I was a student. Some I’ve not seen before live and a host of brilliant regulars, so a day well spent.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Just back from Alicante where the temperature was regularly in the high 30s. Get to Glasgow and it’s an amazing 26 degrees! Due to be high temperatures tomorrow, then back to normal Scotland summer of cloudy skies and some rain.
Nice of the Tories to let us have a wee taste of summer though….
(They’ll claim credit for it anyway)
LikeLike
This is not ‘summer’. This is one of the deepest circles of hell.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Fofana has retired from rugby
LikeLike
Nah Thaum, that’s reserved for Glasgow Airport putting passengers for 3 departing flights together in one small area, while allowing passengers from an arriving flight to walk through them. You’d think all this Covid stuff has disappeared…
LikeLike
BB – of course Covid has disappeared, despite this week having (I think) the highest case rate ever? But just look around – no fucker wearing a mask or maintaining any kind of distance.
Oh, and hospitalisations are on a firm upward trajectory as well.
LikeLike
* * Assuming the National Period of Mourning is over… * *
Congratulations Ireland on an historic win and it’s great to see you kick on from those previous wins over the ABs.
(Well, it’s either that or call you all a pack of cunts and I know that’s not true just from this blog alone.)
NZ is now all of a tizzy and we will have a change of government at the next available opportunity if things aren’t turned around soon. Rugby-wise, that is.
We also have escalating Covid caseloads, no improvement in the medical facilities and a population that thinks being ‘over it’ is the way to go. I’m sure the govt wants to re-instate some preventative measures but there is very little support across the population and anti-government voices will be raised to a politically suicidal level if they do.
I am still quite gung-ho on the mask wearing; compulsory for me at work in the restaurant and I still haven’t been infected. Me and La Suava are in a minority here in the hinterland, and I understand the cities have a prevalence of bare faces. I wouldn’t be keen to be travelling from all accounts.
Hope you are all well and enjoying life.
LikeLike