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 
It’s the putting pineapple on pizza that’s shocking. Yuck.
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Anyone watch Better Call Saul? Feck me what an ending. Can’t think of a better one tbh.
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My cat got neutered today and now she is high as balls. Almost worth it, probably.
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Rather unfortunate turn of phrase their, Craigs.
Never got to the end of BCS, it went through a phase of drifting aimlessly and I got bored.
1st Test starts today at Lords! Can’t wait!
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And in two of the more hilarious sporting stories overnight, the All Blacks are sticking with Foster (for now, anyway) and Elon Musk has announced he’s buying Man United. A natural fit for them, I’d have thought.
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Fozzie in the job until the World Cup, apparently! Interesting. I think both the Boks and ABs will have learned an awful lot from the two matches, but whether the respective coaching units have the bravery to change things now is the key point. Both will point to convincing wins against the old enemy as reasons to keep going, but both sides were badly exposed in the two matches overall as well.
Neither has the depth they claim to have and both styles can be unpicked if they’re not at the top of their game. Both could – and should – tweak their sides sooner, rather than later, to ward off the unseemly horde from the north too.
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Deebs – yesterday she was all wide eyed, cuddly and into world peace. Now she just wants to kill and maim flies and rodents. And she just demands food without any return of affection at all. Give drugz a chance I say.
This last season of BCS, especially the second half has been awesome.
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I like butter more than most and am certainly part of the offending group that appal Flair by applying butter to the already butter-based croissant. Mrs CMW shares Thaum’s approach though (perhaps it’s a Norn-Irish thing) and while I’m happy with butter-drenched toast I do find that a sandwich is well and truly spoiled if what’s supposed to be the filling is inevitably thinner than either of the slabs of butter it finds itself between. When she also puts mayonnaise in I’m genuinely sickened.
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Particularly if I have to witness the making of the sandwich and see the mayo sliding hopelessly around on the smooth surface of the butter slab.
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In other food and drink news I discovered on Monday that should your car be rammed by a large wagon and pushed along the road and underneath the trailer of another wagon in the adjoining lane then, once you’ve got home a few hours later miraculously unscathed, a half-bottle of Jack Daniels will do just about as well as anything else for the situation.
I know Ticht will be disappointed I didn’t make it more palatable with the use of coke, but I’d already drunk the cans the police gave me at the roadside so didn’t have any left.
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Glad you’re okay, CMW – sounds bloody frightening!
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The appropriate way to test the correctness of butter layer on toast is of course whether you can see your teeth marks in it. If not, spread more!
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RIP Darius. Me must have been a good laugh as there is no way he wasn’t taking the piss when he did this:
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“sounds bloody frightening”
I’ll say yes to that. Even as the front of the car was being destroyed I was still thinking the driver of the vehicle pushing me was going to stop (the other one had stopped immediately or I’d be dead, all this happened at about 5mph from a stationary start). It was the split second when I properly realised he might not when he finally did.
In some ways it was scarier looking at it afterwards than when it was happening.
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CMW – bloody he’ll mate, glad you’re OK. And I thought my drivers side wheel replacement on the hard shoulder last Friday was all sorts of heroic.
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*hell
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That said, I find that butter provides an oil based barrier between the bread and mayo and therefore stops it becoming too soggy. Especially important when having a tuna and mayo sarnie. Also, I quite like the added saltiness.
Like the old sea dog I am.
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Mmm, oodles of butter on a hot croissant! Bliss!
I do not hold with the mixing of butter and mayo, though. One or the other. Usually mayo for a sandwich, for me.
I had a similar sort of accident many years ago, and found that time really does slow down. You have the opportunity to look at every detail and think, Oh, fuck!
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“And I thought my drivers side wheel replacement on the hard shoulder last Friday was all sorts of heroic.”
@Craigs – It depends how you look at it. You had to perform significant action to sort out the situation which definitely puts you in credit. You’ve achieved no more or less than I have in terms of travelling to Campbeltown to look after my mother-in-law and clear out her old house so that’s a draw. On the other hand you’re presumably still the owner of a large family car, a major road wasn’t shut for a couple of hours and you didn’t come within a couple of seconds or a few feet of certain death.
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you’re presumably still the owner of a large family car
Climate terrorist. Craigs, not CMW, who is a climate warrior for bringing this to our attention. Hero!
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CMW, glad you could down half a bottle of bourbon after that.
Too bad you didn’t have a hot croissant to go with. With butter on it? Why not? Am not really a food ayatollah, whatever people like is fine with me. But I’d rather skip a meal, and possibly two, if I don’t like what’s in my plate. I have enough reserves, so to speak.
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RUGBY:
Scott Sio joins Exeter……………………………….nice!
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Without wishing to sound like an old fart ™ please take care on the butter intake.
I love it too but have just spent the last month in and out of hospitals after a ‘scare’.
MRIs, coroscans and coroscopies later I am now enjoying a diet of statins and beta-blockers on top of everything else. I have a second stress test due next week.
All is fine really – but hospitals still don’t understandwhat happened. Tests show my arteries are clear (very good for my age) but under severe stress my heart goes into salvo mode.
It may be something I’ve had all my life – or not.
Anyway, thank goodness for seriously competitive sport in my teens, 20s and 30s.
I am currently banned from walking up hills and such like.
Down to 2 coffees per day, little alcohol and nothing else to excess. I’m glad it rained and thunderstormed last night and is now cooler -the excess heat may have been the last straw.
French medical system brilliant……………………….
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Slade – scary stuff. Take care of yourself.
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Blimey CMW, that is really scary, glad you’re okay
My preference for croissants is for them to be dunked unadulterated into fresh coffee
I was having trouble logging in earlier so tonight (this post) we take care of all family business, so to speak
Worcester have been served with a winding up order for an unpaid tax bill. This follows last week’s news of Wasps being in trouble
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Good luck Slade
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Bloody hell, that’s an extreme way of Wuss getting out of playing Glasgow in a pre-season friendly.
Clyde – that sounds horrific – glad you’re OK.
Slade – take care.
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Thanks guys – I’m fine – just older!!
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Anyone fancy nipping out for a pint?
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Santé, Slade!
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Jeez CMW and Slade, what a day. Glad both of you doing OK. By yourself in the car, CMW ? No minors with you I hope, or did they get the other half bottle of the JD ?
Croissants are not a thing the Yanks do amazingly well, unless you include Dunkin Donuts sausage egg and cheese on a ……. which in a pinch is sort of semi palatable. Oddly enough, am now hankering after a crunchy peanut butter and marmite croissant. or lemon curd, now thats nice too. Maybe blackcurrant jam. fromage de chevre.
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Ha, searching for a song about croissants I heard years ago, eh voila, how could I forget ?
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Slade, glad you’re okay and got hte excellent medical treatment that you needed. Stay safe folks!
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Did Barry Glendenning ever have an opinion on nesting comments on CiF?
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@SBT – “By yourself in the car, CMW ? ”
Thankfully yes. If anyone else had been there they would also have been physically OK, but I think it’s safe to say it would have presented some problems for future journeys. Speaking of which in the spirit of getting back on the horse and all that I drove the hire care from the insurance people to Campbeltown yesterday as I still needed to come here if I possibly could. Bit of a test of nerve at first and I didn’t tell my mother-in-law I was on my way till I got to my first stop near Penrith as when I set off I wasn’t entirely sure that I wouldn’t give up and turn around. A joy to see my tyre marks from Monday on the A66 of course.
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Can everyone stop with this please?
Glad to hear both of you are OK.
Although…
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CMW – something, something, but I chose to be a hero.
Nah, who am I kidding I’m just glad you’re OK.
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Refit – fuck those motherfuckers. Especially after recent revelations.
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This is brilliant:
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe is a very well respected musician. Without her there would have been no Elvis as he would have had to nick part of his schtick off someone else
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/tharpe.html
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe featured on Blues Birthdays on 20th of March.
The more I think about CMW’s “incident” the less I want to think about it.
Though I’m only doing so from the safety of my desk.
I’m glad only the car was hurt.
If it’s too early to speak about, that is absolutely fine, but presumably the lorry driver is facing some charges?
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This lorry crashed into a florist’s near the bottom of our street a few years back. How it didn’t kill any pedestrians is beyond me and Paul the shop owner had just locked up for the day and left. There was not fault on the lorry and it was entirely driver error.
The driver was never charged with anything.
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names from my past………….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbraham_Road_railway_station
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@Ticht – The police said they may well be looking at a prosecution. As far as they or I could tell he’d forgotten I was there having pulled to a stop up close to me and so barely able to see me due to the height of his cab. When the vehicles in front of me moved off he didn’t wait for me to do the same, didn’t notice he’d hit me and as a policeman put it pushed me further than he should have in any circumstances. Policeman also said he ‘had a very good idea what the driver was distracted by, but would never be able to prove it’, but didn’t say any more on that front.
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I remember Sister Rosetta well from the ‘Blus Birthdays’, watched a whole load of Youtubes of her as I wasn’t aware of her at all before that and she’s quite something.
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England doing ever so well in the cricket I see.
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had a similar sort of accident many years ago, and found that time really does slow down. You have the opportunity to look at every detail
Long ago, I was in an accident – my uncle was driving (too fast – we were late for a removal*) and skidded on loose chips – instead of hitting the grass verge, the car attempted to climb it and flipped upside down. Even more dangerously I wasn’t wearing a seat belt….I was aware of the loose change falling out of my pockets as we rotated….
I’d seen far too many movies where the car exploded after a crash…. so I was preparing to break the door window – but as the car landed on its roof, the door popped open and I quickly (read instantly) scrambled out. My uncle followed me – he said when he looked for me, and saw no-one there he I thought I’d been thrown clear ….
* removal – ceremony preceding funeral where people greet the bereaved family and relatives and then follow the coffin from undertakers to the church.
In this case, the undertakers and church were about 10 miles apart so as we were standing by the side of the road by an upturned car, every neighbour in a 10 mile radius passed by in a cortege behind the hearse taking the coffin to the church…..
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And CMW – glad to hear you suffered no physical damage … apart from the damage to the liver from the JD….
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