New Zealand v England - Draw (1-1)
South Africa v Ireland - South Africa 2-0
Australia v Wales - Australia 2-0
Argentina v France - Draw (1-1)
Scotland in the Americas - Scotland (4-0
Here comes the avalanche for backing England to win a test in NZ. We won't get a better chance than this to upset the All Blacks in one of the matches. They've lost a number of stalwarts, they've got a new (albeit excellent) coach and it's their first test of the year where in the past NZ have been known to be rusty. I think a really aggressive start by us would make it interesting and would put some new combinations under pressure.
SA v Ireland will be two very close games and Ireland could easily win them both but even with injuries the Springboks have unbelievable depth and I think JGP and Keenan are massive misses for Ireland. They looked a bit laboured towards the end of the 6 Nations and teams were starting to disrupt their attacking pattern. Gut feeling is that it's the wrong tour at the wrong time for the Irish - the Boks have been waiting for this for months.
Wallabies/Wales will be a fascinating series to see who is worse. Surely under Schmidt Australia will be able to beat that Welsh side on home soil?. If they don't then I think that's worse than the RWC. Having said that I give Wales more of a chance in Oz than I would if they were playing Italy in Rome - that says a lot.
France don't take their top players on the summer tours but given the depth of French Rugby I would expect them to be very competitive in Argentina. They will probably unearth a couple more young superstars. Scotland shouldn't have any problems winning all their games against massively inferior opposition.
South Africa v Ireland - South Africa 2-0
Australia v Wales - Australia 2-0
Argentina v France - Draw (1-1)
Scotland in the Americas - Scotland (4-0
Here comes the avalanche for backing England to win a test in NZ. We won't get a better chance than this to upset the All Blacks in one of the matches. They've lost a number of stalwarts, they've got a new (albeit excellent) coach and it's their first test of the year where in the past NZ have been known to be rusty. I think a really aggressive start by us would make it interesting and would put some new combinations under pressure.
SA v Ireland will be two very close games and Ireland could easily win them both but even with injuries the Springboks have unbelievable depth and I think JGP and Keenan are massive misses for Ireland. They looked a bit laboured towards the end of the 6 Nations and teams were starting to disrupt their attacking pattern. Gut feeling is that it's the wrong tour at the wrong time for the Irish - the Boks have been waiting for this for months.
Wallabies/Wales will be a fascinating series to see who is worse. Surely under Schmidt Australia will be able to beat that Welsh side on home soil?. If they don't then I think that's worse than the RWC. Having said that I give Wales more of a chance in Oz than I would if they were playing Italy in Rome - that says a lot.
France don't take their top players on the summer tours but given the depth of French Rugby I would expect them to be very competitive in Argentina. They will probably unearth a couple more young superstars. Scotland shouldn't have any problems winning all their games against massively inferior opposition.
