NH Chances This Summer

[bushytop]

With the top three teams in the north touring the top three nations in the south this summer I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts on how the home nations might do.

During the world cup a few games (Ireland vs Australia, Wales vs South Africa, France vs New Zealand) proved that the hemispheric devide wasn't as wide as it has been at other times but tours are different and all British teams have been humbled on summer tours in the past.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I could see England and Wales getting one win vs their respective opponents.
Ireland will be lucky to keep it close in any of their matches vs the All Blacks, unfortunately.

Who have France got?

 

[Saintjay]

As has been said England might only win 1 or 2 games this summer and maybe into the autumn. I just hope the press and RFU do not then go into a blind panic and knee jerk reactions if the worst case is we lose nearly all the games and a few of these by heavy defeats. If Lancaster gets the job will we then see people saying we should go with experience, he has been found out etc,etc.

The RFU need to get a move on and sort out what they are going to do. I do believe they were thinking Lancaster would get 3 from 5 at best and then bring in someone new. Lancaster has caused them a problem and they also need to sort out what they are going to do with Farrell snr.

Wales will be interesting as Australia do seem to have the measure of them at the moment and it will be good to see how they get on. Beating Australia is a big ask but they have the ability. If they lose Warburton, Pocock could be key in the lose but up front I think Wales have the edge.

 

[psychic duck]

With the top three teams in the north touring the top three nations in the south this summer I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts on how the home nations might do.

During the world cup a few games (Ireland vs Australia, Wales vs South Africa, France vs New Zealand) proved that the hemispheric devide wasn't as wide as it has been at other times but tours are different and all British teams have been humbled on summer tours in the past.

the difference though compared to the World Cup is the tours are right off the back of a long domestic season, NH players are tired or injured nearly always for the June tours

I could see England and Wales getting one win vs their respective opponents.
Ireland will be lucky to keep it close in any of their matches vs the All Blacks, unfortunately.

Who have France got?

France play Argentina twice (without players involved in the Top 14 final, so those matches could be a joke)

Scotland play Australia (who will play a weakened side like they did against Samoa last year for this match), Fiji and Samoa (as well as Cook Islands in a midweek match)

 

[TRF_heineken]

It's interesting to see you guys saying that England will have a chance at winning some of their games here in SA in June...

It will be Heyneke Meyer's first stint as Springbok Coach and I'm eagerly waiting in anticipation the type of squad he's going to pick and how they're going to play.

If I was Heyneke, I would just get the 30 most hardened Afrikaans speaking boerseuns and give them a speech about the Boer-war, and let them run amok... Lol

 

[dunney77]

Ireland won't win any, may well depend on Heineken Cup success if they will be up for it. I don't want them to just roll over.

Australia when in the mood can run riot. Although it is a brilliant welsh side I am not going to rate it unless it does a job over Australia at least once out of the three.

I think England will be in for a nasty shock, but yet if they did lose I wouldn't be too disheartened if I was an England fan. They have already performed excellently in the 6 nations but the southern hemisphere sides are a step up. These new players will need to experience playing SA.

 

[Nicolaas]

i also cant wait for the internationals especially the england vs sa ones because of our new coach and the team that he might pick. he did say that, unlike jake and pdv, he will always pick the strongest possible team. c'mon august!!!

 

[Melhor Time]

The best tour, for me, is Italy´s. Matches vs Argentina, Canada and the USA. Could be really interesting.

 

[Me 1]

the difference though compared to the World Cup is the tours are right off the back of a long domestic season, NH players are tired or injured nearly always for the June tours



France play Argentina twice (without players involved in the Top 14 final, so those matches could be a joke)

Scotland play Australia (who will play a weakened side like they did against Samoa last year for this match), Fiji and Samoa (as well as Cook Islands in a midweek match)

Interesting, do you know if it will be fully capped?

 

[Feicarsinn]

My feelings about Ireland's tour, Ireland of course being represented by the always stylish (yes, yes, I know) Apollo Creed.

 

[psychic duck]

Interesting, do you know if it will be fully capped?

no, to be honest I just read it from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_mid-year_rugby_test_series

 

[bushytop]

i also cant wait for the internationals especially the england vs sa ones because of our new coach and the team that he might pick. he did say that, unlike jake and pdv, he will always pick the strongest possible team. c'mon august!!!

Whats the general feeling in SA?

You obviously lost a lot of experienced players after the RWC (as well as PDV which I assume everyone is happy about). Is there quality youthful talent coming through to replace the guys they've lost and if so, how do you think they'll perform internationally?

 

[Feicarsinn]

The best tour, for me, is Italy´s. Matches vs Argentina, Canada and the USA. Could be really interesting.

Italy vs Argentina is going to be great. As far as I know there's never been a genuine attempt at boring a large group of people to death before. The results should be quite interesting.

 

[j'nuh]

What would the best South African 22 look like atm? Same with Australia?

 

[gingergenius]

Well, Scotland play Australia in a midweek game - but it should be a full-strength Scotland vs. a weakened Australia, so potential for an upset here. They'll then beat the Cook Islands a week later - hopefully this will count as a capped international and may mark the start of an increased role for the Cook Islands in international rugby.

Italy have an interesting fixture list which I think will suit them well.

Wales will go to Australia hoping for a series win, but I don't think a 2-1 defeat would be a bad return for them.

The likelihood of Ireland getting anything better than 3-0 in New Zealand is very small. They'll have to hope they keep the scores close in each game.

As an England fan, I'd be happy with a 2-1 loss away to SA at this stage, with good performances and close results giving us a good springboard for the autumn. Obviously anything more than that would be a massive bonus, and even a 3-0 whitewash wouldn't be disastrous provided we never get stuffed. This tour should continue the learning curve that the 6N has been.

Otherwise, Georgia's tour of North America should be a really close contest and measure up where some of those sides actually stand. In world rugby. The more there's a crossover between Tiers, the more strength-in-depth international rugby will have.

 

[Teh Mite]

Italy vs Argentina is going to be great. As far as I know there's never been a genuine attempt at boring a large group of people to death before. The results should be quite interesting.

This. A thousand times, this!

 

[Feicarsinn]

I never said Ireland vs England was a good match, did I?

In the lashings of rain of course. Hardly surprising that England would use that as a weapon considering their dominance in that area. You could give Italy & and Argentina a dry pitch at 20 degrees and they'd still serve up absolute dross. I don't see the problem with admitting the two sides are very poor from a creative point of view?


Good to see you have a sense of humour though...

 

[SelimNiai]

My feelings about Ireland's tour, Ireland of course being represented by the always stylish (yes, yes, I know) Apollo Creed.

Own up, who did this themself in Drago's voice

*raises hand*

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Cook Islands ranked 55th in IRB rankings, surely even Scotland could put 100+ points on them? I wonder whether Stan Wright could play



I agree, normally they play the Tri Nations teams, but instead of playing them having obvious defeats, they could gain crucial ranking points, but it shouldn't make much difference at they are unlikely to reach top 8 winning all games anyway



I remember in 2007, Wales blew a 17-0 lead and Australia scored in the last minute because Gareth Cooper was stupid enough to kick the ball to them for a last play, Sam Norton-Knight was playing 10 in the match and threw an intercept pass but Dai Young clearly wasn't watching



unfortunately Georgia aren't going to be able to send a full strength side, it's likely they will be Gorgodze-less



not funny, the same joke could be made about England and Ireland which was just a million scrums

No offense but are you literally a robot!? P.S, neg-repping me will only prove my point.

 

[psychic duck]

I never said Ireland vs England was a good match, did I?

In the lashings of rain of course. Hardly surprising that England would use that as a weapon considering their dominance in that area. You could give Italy & and Argentina a dry pitch at 20 degrees and they'd still serve up absolute dross. I don't see the problem with admitting the two sides are very poor from a creative point of view?

in the past but Argentina are playing Sonny Bill at hooker these days ...