Ireland v South Africa
With Bundee Aki in detention for being a bad boy and Robbie Henshaw pulling a hamstring in training, Stuart McCloskey is at last getting a start in a big game. Fellow Ulsterman Flying Robert Baloucoune also starts on the wing, with Rob Herring and Kieran Treadwell on the bench. Springboks better be careful! Ireland by 5 (McCloskey try).
Italy v Samoa
Hard to predict as I’ve no idea what Samoa’s form is like, but they may benefit from some poached players returning. Draw.
Scotland v Fiji
Fiji are never a side to be discounted, but a strong Scotland will do the business, even without Finn’s flair. Scotland by 15.
Wales v New Zealand
With half the first-choice starters injured (and Halfpenny currently an injury doubt too), this can only go one way. NZ by 38. (It would have been 48, but talisman AWJ is on the bench.)
France v Australia
France have rediscovered Gallic flair and are currently a truly frightening side to face. They are also hosting the World Cup next year, and will want to put on a good display. Wobblies are wobbly. France by 15.
England v Argentina
Eddie Jones has named a tired side, albeit with Marcus Smith at fly-half and a new bloke. As astutely pointed out by the notablog denizens, Billy Vunipola is unlikely to last more than 20 minutes. Argentina by 2.
Onna telly this week
Friday 4th November
| Northampton v Exeter | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 5th November
| England v Canada (women) | 03:30 | ITV |
| France v New Zealand (women) | 06:30 | ITV |
| Scotland v Fiji | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Sale v Gloucester | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Italy v Samoa | 13:00 | Amazon Prime |
| Wales v New Zealand | 15:15 | Amazon Prime |
| Ireland v South Africa | 17:30 | Amazon Prime |
| France v Australia | 20:00 | Amazon Prime |
Sunday 6th November
| Pau v Bordeaux | 14:10 | Viaplay (formerly Premier Sports) |
| England v Argentina | 14:15 | Amazon Prime |
Ovally Balls 
@sbt
You know what I mean. Am still a bit shell shocked after watching that Aus v NZ semi last night. One of the best games I’ve ever seen.
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Only watched the last 20 minutes or so, OT, but am not surprised. I like watching the NRL and most of that Samoa team would be close to international honours with Autralia, and England have looked uninspiring for the most part in the nitty gritty, despite some high scoring by the outside backs.
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OT, worth a watch on the ITV player then?
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Now THAT’s a charge-down!
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With his butt! Hahahaha !
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Ha, how was that supporting your own weight ?
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Ooh, harsh yellow.
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Argentina seem a bit off compared to last week, the intensity of Sunday is not here today.
Wales are the better, more accurate, side tonight.
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Argentina really not at the races today. Wales have had them bottled up pretty well, and taken their chances.
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Or what Ticht said.
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very good win for exeter vs LI
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And Argentina get a try!
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First time the Pumas have got over the advantage line and not bottled it! They’ve lacked patience and accuracy tonight, but partly because the Welsh defence has been excellent.
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Not-so-Happy Yanto just got knocked on his arse twice in about a minute
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Ben O’Keefe has been a good ref tonight, he’s been clear and consistent
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Another fantastic charge-down by Williams!
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Falatau player of the match?
That’s a mate’s award, he looked fucked after a great run in the first five minutes.
Tips was the best Welsh player for me
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Not that Tips isn’t a mate, right enough
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Williams for the charge-downs.
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Well played Wales. Really good concentration in defence, impressive performance from the front 5 particularly, I thought. Beard and Rowlands are looking better and better. They really knocked Argentina off their stride. Poomas looked to have way more opportunitie than against England last week, and took virtually none of them because of defensive pressure.
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Good win for Wales, they defended superbly. First up tackles simply suffocated the Pumas. Took their chances, mostly and held on at the end. Really good display of how an organised team can prevail despite seemingly being under the cosh for long periods.
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opportunitie
That’s a very 16th-century spelling.
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Now for the Boks. So we’ve gone into the match without a recognized kicker, despite much of our game plan revolving around kicking the points on offer to keep scoreboard pressure going. Add to that a game plan that relies on forward dominance where tonight parity at best is likely and you wonder why I’m waiting up for the match. Just hope our outside backs don’t get frostbite standing on the fringes.
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“Really good display of how an organised team can prevail despite seemingly being under the cosh for long periods.”
It was very much like a late Gatland era performance, last slam, last WC, scrappy wins against poor Boks sides etc. I like watching us win more than watching us lose so I guess it will have to do!
Tips and Tomos Williams were our best players and one of them should have got MotM. Front five did well too for the most part. LRZ did surprisingly well out of position. Argentina were pretty poor. Yes it was our defence that made them look poor at times, but a lot of out and out mistakes too.
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@Deebee – I thought the kicking from hand was more of a problem than goal-kicking last week. Can’t see how Willemse at 10 fits with how your team insist on playing at all.
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I guess they’ll mostly be kicking from 9 tonight though so it won’t just be the outside backs suffering.
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CMW, absolutely. He’s been chucked in the deep end and into a game plan that simply doesn’t suit him. Our ‘tactics’ are increasingly being exposed as a busted flush that everyone else has worked out. Corne Krige was begging in our media for the Boks to play wide and adventurous rugby, but the side simply can’t do that for sustained periods because they’re not set up for it. So much skill being wasted by a management team that is dogmatic and inflexible and won’t admit it.
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I also think there’s a global conspiracy to talk up the size and scariness of the Boks so we keep falling into the trap of thinking we can simply batter sides into submission. It’s working a treat!
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I’m as excited about this as if it was the RWC final
My preference is France, bien sur, but I just hope it’s a great game
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Anyone else getting the ref’s mic bleeding through the comms, on Amazon?
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I was trying to work out what the weird voice was, then realised it was Westcountry-Wayne, speaking French to the players.
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Don’t think Faf’s kicked it yet! Nice kick from Willemse as well.
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Looked like Dante caught a shoulder to the head just then.
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Two French head bins coming up.
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Ooh, red.
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Red for PSdT.
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Ooh, should be two reds.
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As clear a red as you’ll get
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Barnesy looked genuinely – and rightly – furious at that.
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Barnsey may be furious, but why wasn’t the game stopped for the head injury? I could see it, you could see it, even if Barnes and the touch judge couldn’t see it then the TMO could.
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20m and the full width of the pitch, and that’s not an advantage??!??
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Absolutely straight red. What the fuck was du Toit thinking? No idea where we go from here, having started with ambition, if not accuracy. This could get embarrassing.
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I like this new adventurous Bok side that throws the ball around and loses their attacking lineouts. Shame they’re probably going to get hammered.
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Two lineouts lost and our third option off the park. Not protecting the ball at the breakdown. Headless chicken stuff. France haven’t even got into their stride properly and we’re looking panicked.
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Big Baille in for the try
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FFS France, don’t desert me
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@ticht
Definitely. It’s how RL should be.
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Well, given the red card and our sloppiness in that half, only being six down at the break is a victory of sorts. You feel the dam wall will break at some stage though. Impressive scrum penalty though!
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Bosh. Kolbe crashes into French 6 and knocks him down. Gonna be two bruised teams come tomorrow morning.
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Deebee, thought you said you didn’t have a kicker ?
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