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 
I missed the SA try, because all my feeds ran away :(
LikeLike
Me too
LikeLike
Hi there – can you share a link when it is back and working?
Thanks
LikeLike
Slade, the French feed I’m watching seems to be working fine – https://cricfree.top/rugby/south-africa-new-zealand-cfre80i8?l=1451275141
LikeLike
Marx is beasting the breakdown.
LikeLike
vip league dot st has a working hd link with audio, I can’t link it directly here because of browser issues
LikeLike
…in English
LikeLike
Yeah, VIP seems to have un-buggered itself https://www.vipbox.lc/south-africa-vs-new-zealand-1-live
LikeLike
Are New Zealand just not very good, or are the Boks really good ?
LikeLike
That was horrible.
LikeLike
That’s pretty clear cut
LikeLike
@SBT – yes
LikeLike
Beauden’s sitting up, so that’s good.
LikeLike
Arenas did everything wrong there
LikeLike
refit, whats the ad blocker thing you mentioned using a couple of weeks back?
LikeLike
SBT, I use Brave browser. It has built in adblock, that’s really good for streaming sites.
LikeLike
thanks. will check it out.
LikeLike
Of all the people to pull a try back for the ABs, it has to be the woman beater.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hell of a break by Clarke though.
LikeLike
The Boks defence deserved that try
LikeLike
@Ticht – and the man who punches women deserved to concede it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the link – ABs dismantled.
At least they are not peaking early for the WCup – so will probably beat France in the final…………………………
LikeLike
Hello from Brave. Boks defence looked awesome, does not bode well for next year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Link if needed https://cricfree.top/rugby/argentina-australia-cfre81ic?l=1451275141
LikeLiked by 1 person
Although it does have the weirdest commentary. It’s like two guys describing the game to each other, down the pub.
LikeLike
This is genuinely painful comms.
LikeLike
Refit, I don’t know, the commentary has a certain charm to it, and it beats the ridiculous one-eyed stuff we’ve been forced to listen to for a long time now.
Even the fans’ darlings like Flatman get on my wick because of their bias
LikeLike
We Embra fans aren’t going to see a whole lot of Boffelli for a while, unfortunately.
He’s been our best signing for a long time, possibly the best full back in our league.
(all world class hooker caveats apply) – speaking of which, I wonder how Tov is doing these days, I hope he’s okay
LikeLike
Ticht, did you see the Wickes float/stand at Brighton Pride?
LikeLike
I did see that Refit, I made an inappropriate joke about loft conversions that made my wife scowl at me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Refit, the parade had far more people in it that before, it took a good two hours for them all to pass us at our view point. Also we felt it was far busier than in previous years.
the other thing was that the trans element was far more prevalent than it has been in the past.
This is good.
Though from some of the stuff I read online I feel like we live on an island in Brighton
LikeLike
Vamos Pumas !
That was a corker of a try
LikeLike
Oh, that was a lovely try.
LikeLike
Creevy’s on, to lean on some rucks/
LikeLike
That lineout was soooo squint. Then ARG get penalised for offside, then 10 more for backchat and now AUS take the lead.
It’s a fix!
LikeLike
My steam died so I missed that, now back on VIP
LikeLike
Snap
LikeLike
:(
dead streams
LikeLike
You need to find some highlights. The last 3 mins (from 82-85) we bonkers.
Final score 41-26 to Aus
LikeLike
They game that try at the end, what a joke.
Aus got a BP from it, the pass was a mile forward
LikeLike
the autocorrect on this laptop is silly
game – gave
LikeLike
Refit, this just came up on my Facebook feed. I’ve heard of the guy and I’ve seen him on tv, but I didn’t know he did this stuff
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that’s a classic Acaster bit.
LikeLike
I just realised* that the Ballsax have lost 5 of their last 6 tests. Shirley this is the end of days**.
* read on the BBC website.
** let’s wait until they play Wales before we get carried away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Deebee sports weekend update:
The Boks were beastly in their dismantling of the Kiwis;
Ashleigh Buhai keeps the women’s flag flying high by winning the British Open golf to follow on from the success of our women’s footie team winning the Africa Cup of Nations;
I think we won a few more medals at the Commonwealth Games;
Liverpool were crap in their draw with Fulham;
Man Utd lost at home to Brighton for the first time ever, giving Pride Weekend an extra boost!
LikeLike
Craigs, I’m really hoping we make it six from seven this weekend. They’re already on their worst run in the professional era, I think. After us, they’ve got two Tests at home against Argentina to right the ship, before two against the Wobblies, one home and one away. I can see the Aussies winning at least one of those, so we’ll need to win in Australia as well – something we’ve found it painfully difficult to do over the years.
LikeLike
The ABs used to be the touchstone/ cornerstone/ benchmark/ acid test for any other rugby team. Now that they’ve been soundly beaten by France, Ireland and SA, the question whether they’re good or not is moot. They’ve never been as poor as now.
Which raises the question: how good are the three others?
Part of the answer in November, when France play SA. I can’t wait to see it.
LikeLike
Flair – they were soundly beaten by us last time round 😀
I’m hoping they don’t get a new coach until after the autumn.
LikeLike
Deebs – they’ve got a target on their back. Wouldn’t be surprised if Argentina tried to get one off them.
LikeLike
I’ve seen a few comments like this and I have to disagree. No sport NEEDS a particular team to be strong. We’ve seen a historical where the SH was dominant for so long but I can easily see a situation in the future where Fiji and the US are battling it out as no1 and 2. And rugby wouldn’t suffer if they were great teams. It feels like people like what they are used to.
LikeLiked by 1 person