The first week of November has come and gone – Diwali lit up the skies, Guy Fawkes (at least down here) Faded to Grey and Blondie wasn’t French Kissing in the USA, as she’d probably be pitchforked by the MAGA mob reprising their Halloween characters, whilst slobbering over their Freedom Fries and burning Kamala Harris in effigy, good, moral American-values folk that they are. So what next? Some Hemispheric Clashes, that’s what! Not just the usual North-South score settling, but some intriguing clashes between the emerging (or submerging in some cases) nations too. The Autumn Internationals are upon us, and we’ll be in the Joy Division, with plenty of Atmosphere:
Ireland v New Zealand
Kicking off proceedings on Friday night, two of the real heavyweights of world rugby at the moment in Ireland, ranked Number 1, and New Zealand, ranked number 3. If the Kiwis win and the Boks lose, the Blackness will be back on top of the world, improbable as that seemed a few short months ago. Ireland are a more settled side, at home, and desperate to avenge the loss in France last year and continue to be the best side between World Cups. Rest assured, nobody will walk away, in silence.
Score? Ireland by 5
Canada v Chile
A bit of a step down in class (difficult not to be!) with two sides trying to make it into the second tier of the global game. Canada have fallen Icarus-like from their heights of the 90s and are now scrapping it out with the likes of Chile below the second tier nations of Japan, Tonga, Samoa, Australia and the like. Chile, fairly battered at the World Cup last year (and by the ruthless, unsmiling Scots in July), have actually had a decent run in 2024, with only that loss so far to the Celtic Curmudgeons. Not much of a song, but Can-Canada do the Locomotion? Nope.
Score? Chile by 10
Spain v Uruguay
Another ‘emerging match’ between a Spanish side slowly making progress and getting the odd scalp (not as odd as Trump’s, mind), but also getting a bit battered by anyone decent. Good Spain beat Tonga and narrowly lost to Samoa on tour to the islands in July, and last year clobbered Canada, but got smashed by Argentina (nobody cried for them. Sorry) and the USA. Uruguay could be a growing side of note, having emerged from the World Cup with some credit – hammered by New Zealand, but not embarrassed by France or Italy and beating Namibia. They’ve built on that with decent displays against Scotland and France in July (although Argentina gave them a lovely, neighbourly beating). Should be a good match!
Score? Uruguay by 5
England v Australia
Ian Curtis coulda written Atmosphere for this match (if the respective fans stop singing Swing Low and Waltzing Matilda for a minute). Actually, it sums up the respective nations’ rugby philosophies at the moment:
Endless talking
Life rebuilding
Don’t walk away
Walk in silence
Don’t turn away, in silence
Your confusion
My illusion
However, the song is too beautifully painful and poignant to waste on this rabble, so Swing Low vs Waltzing Matila it’ll stay. Both sides are rebuilding (Sagrada Familia will be finished first) and bringing through stunning new talent like, um, Will Skelton and George Ford, so expect a clash of epic proportions, something akin to the Stonehenge set in Spinal Tap. No seriously, England will have too much for an Australian side playing with pride and mongrel and not much else.
Score? England by 10
Portugal v USA
Portugal were everyone’s second-favourite side after the Springboks last year, playing a brand of fearless, running rugby and delighting crowds along the way. They thumped the USA and drew with Georgia at the World Cup, and have beaten both Fiji and Namibia away this year. The USA, well, they’re crap. Not as crap as their election results, but pretty crap. And just to stick one to the Orange Furby, I’ll let Lou Reed get under his skin:
Donald came from Miami, F-L-A
Hitch-hiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows along the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, “Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side”
Score? Portugal by 12
Romania v Tonga
I’m flagging a bit, to be fair, at this point, with no secretary to make coffee[Ed: make your own damn coffee; are you Trump?], so it’ll be brief: Romania had a miserable World Cup, getting thrashed by the Boks (quite rightly) and then suffered the indignity of Scottish one-upmanship and shipping 80+ points. Tonga battered them too, before a consolation victory over the USA. Oh, and even Canada beat them this year. Tonga should have way too much for them, but I did my Bru prediction before looking at the form book. Fuck.
Score? Romania by 3
Italy v Argentina
Two sides that are – hopefully – very much on the up. Italy had a great 6N, beating Scotland and Wales, drawing with France and coming within a whisker of England, only getting humped by the Unsmiling Irish. Solid July wins over Tonga and Japan, but up against an Argentina that beat the Kiwis and Boks and hammered Australia in the RC (should’ve beaten them twice). On their day, they’re irresistible, with a beguiling and bewitching combination of power, pace and panache, and frankly, the best side in the world to watch when on song. Sometimes the Fat Lady has laryngitis though.
Score? Argentina by 4
France v Japan
This’ll be pretty one-sided, and a good leg stretch for the French before the serious matches to follow. No point in bemoaning Japan’s fall from grace; it is what it is. Eddie Jones will doubtless be pitching up in Europe with music on his mind, but even Alphaville can’t save him:
You did what you did to me
Now, it’s history I see
Here’s my comeback on the road again
Things will happen while they can
I will wait here for my man tonight
It’s easy when you’re big in Japan
Score? France by 30
Wales v Fiji
Can Wales continue to be as bad as they’ve been lately? To paraphrase the last decent US President “YES THEY CAN!” That said, there’s been some encouraging displays from a couple of their URC sides recently, so they have the ingredients for a decent side, but just seem to be struggling to make much more than a flapjack with them. Will they be luxuriating in the Green, Green Grass of Home, or frantically Holding Out for a Hero come the final whistle? The former, for me, against a frustrating Fiji, who just don’t seem to be able to transfer the brilliance of their 7z into 15z consistently enough.
Score? Wales by 15
Scotland v South Africa
Already getting twitchy for this Sunday afternoon clash. This is a high-quality Scotland side, brimming with quality, talent and intent throughout, but particularly in the back division and the back row. Their kryptonite may be the tight five, especially the replacement forwards, given what they’re up against, but Glasgow in particular have come to the spiritual home of rugby and smashed, grabbed and clubbed their way to wins, so won’t fear much. Will Finn Russell be back in the saddle? Bok fans will hope to go full circle and see him Lose Control; back to you Ian:
Confusion in her eyes that says it all
She’s lost control
And she’s clinging to the nearest passerby
She’s lost control
A titanic struggle, for sure, with the Bok defence scrambling to contain the Scots backs and keep them within sight, until the bomb squad tilts the match in our favour.
Score? South Africa by 6
Top Trumps and Tunes by deebee7
Onna telly in the next week or so
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates that it’s on a free to view channel. Times are in the UK zone, so adjust as necessary.
Friday 8th November
| Ireland v New Zealand | 20:10 | TNT Sports 1 |
Saturday 9th November
| England v Australia | 15:10 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Italy v Argentina | 17:40 | TNT Sports 2 |
| France v Japan | 20:10 | TNT Sports 2 |
Sunday 10th November
| Wales v Fiji | 13:40 | TNT Sports 1 |
| Scotland v South Africa | 16:10 | TNT Sports 1 |
Ovally Balls 
The England defence gets caught again, big gap opens up and Japan gallop through, with the 9 scoring in the end. 28-7
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England utterly dominant. 35-7 at half time.
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Update on the state of Welsh rugby
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59-14 in the end. That blitz defence is proper bobbins and needs to be binned
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Never mind Refit, England win, so all is right in the Rugby World….
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Been out this afternoon/evening, but caught some of the Scotland match until t’internet went down at our friends’. Didn’t see any of the England v Japan match, but sounds like it was missable.
The Harry Potter jokes were both extremely naff and quite funny!
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Re Welsh rugby, it might be best if the WRU took control, as long as they did it right. But since they seem to have been a big part of the problem in the last few years, maybe not. Have they changed?
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Thaum, from what I’ve heard on Blood & Mud and comments on Bluesky, WRU are still a basket case, so this might just make it worse.
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Oh. That’s a shame.
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It sounds very much like a ‘rock & a hard place’ situation.
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Not that I have any great understanding of what goes on, but I think it’s fair to say that the WRU often gets blamed for a lot of things that aren’t their fault as well as things that are. And any meaningful changes to how Welsh rugby is structured will probably take years to have full effect and in the meantime whoever brings them in will probably get lambasted from all sides and hounded out of their jobs before they get to see whether what they tried works out or not. Of course some changes would turn out to work better than others, but it’s far from clear that anyone really knows what to do, the proof of any pudding will be in the eating and outcomes will quite likely be as much down to luck as judgment.
I tend to think Wales was not well placed to cope with the game going professional and still isn’t. It was also probably always going to suffer more than some other places from the changes over time in British sport and society in general that have meant a decline in participation, a move away from the importance of local clubs, the ever increasing pre-eminence of private schools in sport etc. Things obviously could be better than they are for the national team, but it would be a big surprise if someone stumbles across a magic wand to solve the problems of the Regions even if they do manage to get them performing a little better on the field.
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disponible means ‘available’
“Diponible en Francais” on every English language document in Canada as I recall
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you can’t intentionally throw, pass or hit the ball out of play
Tommy Bowe got a yellow and PT vs NZ way back when – 2010?? – for batting the ball dead
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BOD’s becoming a bit of a whinger in his old age?
O’Driscoll probably still watches Leinster – maybe Premiership as he’s employed /been employed by UK channels. Doesn’t give the impression he knows anythign about other Irish provinces or their players.
He was on radio a day or two back sayng how Prendergast takes the ball “to the line” something Crowley never does – except Crowley scored a try vs Argentina by running with the ball.
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Frawley has surely proven that he’s not up to an international job. At least, not yet.
@thaum – he’s 27 – so when? He may well be a decent utility back – covering 10, 12, 15 – but as a starting 10 – no.
Cullen doesn’t play him as a “game manager” but as a rescue artist – who might as we saw vs SA in the summer just gone – pull something out of the fire (didn’t work vs Toulouse – but nearly did).
My view is that he doesn’t play percentages – everything is the “Hollywood” ball, all or nothing…
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he obliges with the panto villian stuff on occasion
@deebee
He’s very shrewd – lots of pulling the jersey collar but no raised hands, head well back – no possibility he could be accused of throwing a punch or the head.
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Overall, on the Irelanbd vs Fiji game – Fiji were poor enough really (Davidson seemed to give them a hard time). Fiji gave away a string of pens and ultimately that suits Ireland – get into the 22 and grind from there.
Prendergast was grand for a newbie – kicked a penalty dead (which Billy Burns still carries as a scar). Good pass, good long kicker – which we knew from U20s. Very lucky with the card – if that were a Fiji player on an Irish player there’d be a huge song and dance.
I saw a headline calling him the ‘new Sexton’ – what does that mean? He’ll play second fiddle to the Munster 10 until his mid/late-20s, then play on too long? He doesn’t have Sexton’s running ability – yet. We kept him Quade Coooper style at wing on defensive plays.
I’m not carried away yet – and the two words “Danny Cipriani” come to mind about a player who was hailed as the messiah and only really performed in fits and starts. We will see….
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Flair, I’m looking forward to the chance of meeting up :-)
Just a heads up for anyone who might be interested – there is a deal on with Premier Sports – 12 months for £69.99 under the promotion code BLACKFRIDAY.
That’s half what I was paying through my broadband provider.
Premier cover all the URC, Top 14 and Champions Cup matches, plus several Challenge Cup matches per weekend.
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Cheers for that, Ticht!
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Thanks for that Ticht! Woohoo! Oh, wait. Sod.
So PS du Toit got World Player for the 2nd time, even though I think Ox Nche should probably have got it (not even nominated). The team of the year is a bit of fun – who would you swap out? My first instinct was Damian McKenzie at 10, but couldn’t think of another 10 this year who has really dominated to any great degree. Centres? No doubt there would be an argument for possibly some Irish representation there, maybe even the Scots lads, but as a pairing, De Allende and Kriel have been superb. I think Marx may be a bit lucky to get the hooker berth, given that his lineout work has been horrible at times, but he’s just such a gamechanger in every other respect. Codie Taylor must have been pretty close. No Aussies and only Irish players for the Lions series next year.
World Rugby men’s 15s dream team of the year: 15. Will Jordan (New Zealand); 14. Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), 13. Jesse Kriel (South Africa), 12. Damian de Allende (South Africa), 11. James Lowe (Ireland); 10. Damian McKenzie (New Zealand), 9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); 1. Ox Nche (South Africa), 2. Malcolm Marx (South Africa), 3. Tyrel Lomax (New Zealand), 4. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), 5. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), 6. Pablo Matera (Argentina), 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa), 8. Caelan Doris (Ireland).
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Sadly, I don’t know enough about the women’s game to make informed comment. Even sadder, there’s doubtless a school of thought muttering that I don’t know enough about the men’s game to make informed comment on that either!
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Really not a lot you can argue about, with that team. Maybe Sione Tuipulotu at 13? He’s had a hell of a season.
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@cmw
Nice to hear from you.
There’s been talk of scrapping the regions (which were really “super” clubs) in favour of a proper geographical splits.
Yes, that worked for Ireland, but the 4 provinces were historical artefacts (even though the Irish word for a province cúige – means a 1/5th – we lost Meath somewhere and it became a county) – boundaries weren’t always fixed and war etc meant bits and pieces moved around. But in general the idea of one in the north, one east, one west and one south was recognisable, and luckily the cities sat neatly in them – Derry/Belfast; Dublin; Waterford/Cork/Limerick; Galway
So you had a geographical region with a defined “central” point (or points). The IRFU organised itself as 4 provincial branches – so did the GAA. I’d not be convinced that a “lift and shift” of the Irish model would work – not automagically anyway.
Ireland was lucky that club rivalries – Shannon hate Young Munster but both agree that they hate Garryowen – could be subsumed into a “region”/province that that all agreed on.
Clearly not worked in Wales – lately anyway – success of Ospreys in early days of ProXX/URC wasn’t built on
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Yeah, local club rivalries. Wouldn’t have had ANYTHING to do with the failure of the Border Reivers…
Ahem.
Although there was a lot more than that (SRU funding?), but it didn’t help.
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Good old Robert Kitson. About the Scotland vs Australia match:
“had it not been for a couple of belated Wallaby tries it could have been an even more emphatic statement.”
He doesn’t really watch rugby outside of England, does he?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/26/modern-rugby-test-margins-can-be-wafer-thin-but-winners-and-losers-are-clear-breakdown
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@BB – Pretty sure Kitson’s there more for the day out than anything even if England are playing.
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He doesn’t really watch rugby outside of England, does he?
Seems to be a theme with rugby writers – didn’t Stephen Jones write a scathign review of some sevens event a week before it took place – lack of atmosphere apparently.
Miscounting tries is one thing – and how Oz didn’t score from Valetini’s fly hack…. worst cross field kick ever from McDermott – but how you hang on to your job after that kind of thing…..
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@Trisk – The Ospreys’ success (or at least the back end of it) felt pretty fragile even at the time. Their last good team lost players (mostly to English clubs) very soon after winning the ProX.
I agree that the Irish model has no obvious equivalents in Wales. If they do go for geographical splits it will be interesting to see what they are as for a ‘national game’ it’s not all that national. There will definitely be dissenting voices whatever they go for! Reducing the number of regions gets mentioned quite a bit these days. It may well be necessary, but if it is then it’s acceptance of failure and a future of managed decline. Better than unmanaged decline of course. I don’t look at Scotland having only two teams as something to be envied and Wales should be aiming higher if it can at all be managed.
While I do think Ireland was fortunate to have the provincial thing available I also think they did well to keep to four teams as it’s not that difficult to imagine professional rugby in Connacht having been considered unviable at some point. I sometimes wonder how much Munster’s success fairly early in professional rugby helped things settle – and to some extent that must just have been down to having a great generation of players come through at the right time.
Wales has some pretty big disadvantages that sometimes get forgotten. The main ones being how small the country is and how poor it is. Not much likely to change there I’m afraid. Historically the former was made up for by there being a disproportionate amount of interest in the game relative to the other Six Nations countries, but that’s probably something that is also moving in the wrong direction from a Welsh point of view. As for the latter it’s compounded by the demographics of interest in rugby in Wales relative to our rivals. The decline in some aspects of ‘social capital’ (or however you like to put it) in the UK in the last few decades is bound to have affected Wales more than England/Ireland/Scotland in rugby terms.
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automagically
Love that, Trisk. Instantly done without any effort.
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it’s not that difficult to imagine professional rugby in Connacht having been considered unviable at some point
Yes, this was considered (2006??) but the push back was enough to make the IRFU think again. They’d have been dropped to development status – not entirely sure what that might have entailed – probably only fielding in A team games. Prospects from other provinces being “farmed out” (reverse generally happens now …lads who won’t break through at Leinster end up at Connacht)
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Liambility is going back to the Borg.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c5yply18vnro
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how much Munster’s success fairly early in professional rugby helped things settle
Early days 96-98 were pretty rough for Munster (IIRC), but Langford and Jim “Seamus” Williams brought a level of professionalism that pretty rapidly brough Munster to the 2000 Heino final.
Possibly, winning then or in 2002 might have seen an easing off – but the losses in 2000, 2002 and 2004 (Wasps semi) seemed to buld a momentum of “our day will come” (to appropriate a phrase from a radically different situation)
Obviously, as you say Munster found a generation – O’Gara, Stringer, Hayes, Horan, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Foley, Wallace (Older Munster heads would say their equivalents were around ever but got little recognition at national level)
Can’t ignore that Ulster won the Heino in 1999 – English clubs on one of their periodical “you’ll miss us when we’re gone…. Oh! Er, can we come back now?” moments – that and the upswing under Gatland – all put rugby back into the national focus as the success of the soccer team tailed off (Japan / Korea 2002 notwithstanding)
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@Trisk – The Ulster thing did turn out to be a bit of a flash in the pan though. I was pleased for them at the time and was a big fan of Humphreys as a player.
When Munster first got competitive Llanelli were knocking on the door to pretty much the same degree, they were horribly unlucky not to make at least one final (think they lost two semis and a quarter to last minute kicks that hit posts, bars and even players and dropped over), but they faded while Munster carried on. Who would have thought having your strength up front would be more of a recipe for consistent success…
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Who would have thought having your strength up front would be more of a recipe for consistent success…
@cmw
I saw a stat yesterday that Munster have conceded the fewest 22 entries this season in URC. So, generally good defensive system. However, they also conceded most tries from 22 entries.
Basically, when opposition get into the 22 – there’s no “stopping” power. They either grind forward to score or suck in so many to defend that there’s an easy score out wide.
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The fact that WR dream team of the year includes no Frenchman (and no Scot, no Georgian, no Italian, with just the lone Argentinian) probably shows they watch less rugby than I do. Alternatively, and that’d be great news in a team sport, France is more than the sum of its parts.
Ans so is Argentina who beat the three SH teams this summer, and had good games vs France B and Ireland. One does wonder how.
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Joe Marler retiring from rugby after Quins match on Friday. Always thought he was a good prop (maybe not exceptional, but on his day a very good player), it’s just a pity his non-rugby antics clouded his reputation. I wish him well, and hope that a new chapter will also allow him more peace of mind than he’s had in the past.
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Joe’s going to spend time with his podcasts.
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it’s just a pity his non-rugby antics clouded his reputation
And AWJ might say his rugby antics weren’t any better
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Ans so is Argentina who beat the three SH teams this summer
I think I’d put Albornoz at 10 – McKenzie was fine but Albornoz was part of a high achieving Argentina team. Could have shoe-horned one of the backs – Cinti, Chocobares, Mallia – in there with a bit of shuffling
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I’m going home
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I’m going home
Frank-N-Furter? Is that you?
Great news, Refit! You must be over the moon!
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Refit – hooray! Now be very, very careful…. :-)
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Not the biggest fan of Marler, mainly as I just don’t find him very funny, certainly not as much as he does and to be fair as quite a few people seem to. Good player. Suspect he’s one of those people that (if you do like his humour) is great to be around at their best and a nightmare at their worst. Bit of a way of giving apologies for things that are out of order that seem to be all about him and are not really apologies. But then I know people that I really like who share a lot of that and they do keep life interesting, so to some extent it’s just a matter of taste.
Don’t think I’ll be seeking out his podcasts or clicking on any that Youtube throws at me.
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Refit, don’t take unnecessary risks, stay out of bed.
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Ho-hum.
Ireland (v Australia):
15. Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster)(41)
14. Mack Hansen (Corinthians/Connacht)(24)
13. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster)(76)
12. Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht)(59)
11. James Lowe (Leinster)(35)
10. Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)(2)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)(37)
Replacements:
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Would like to have seen a lot more Munstermen in that side. Would give Australia and the Lions a better chance this weekend.
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Think everyone in the starting XV is from Leinster, Australia or NZ.
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Though some of the Leinster players could be from other parts of Ireland I guess and been picked up by the rugby schools or academy?
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Clyde – with the exception of Tadhg Beirne, I believe you’re right!
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Actually more players in that Irish team that qualify through residency than there were in the Scotland team vs Australia last week, 3 to 2.
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