- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
This coming weekend sees the proper start to the month-long fest of rugby internationals – mainly between Northern and Southern Hemisphere foes.
The IRB have lined up 37 internationals for the month of November (and a little bit of December) for those unions looking to make an extra buck or two outside the international window.
We all like an upset, particularly when it’s not our own team on the receiving end.
The IRB have set themselves targets for the Tier Two nations with a development objective of getting one Tier Two into the quarter-finals of Rugby World Cup 2015, and two teams into the semi-finals of Rugby World Cup 2019.
Two of those line up on Saturday, with Georgia Lelos taking on Canada at the Dinamo Arena in their capital, Tblisi.
The Georgians are becoming more familiar faces in the top echelons of European club rugby, with their formidable props being sought after by the voracious Top 14 French teams.
Canada, ranked two places above the Georgians, are still licking their wounds from a fair New Zealand Maori tonking last weekend in Toronto. On their home turf, Georgia will be looking to get a Canuck scalp to move them up the rankings.
They have to overtake Japan, who take on Scotland in Murrayfield after being soundly beaten by New Zealand.
Scotland look to be comfortable favourites, but they’ve been known to start slow, and the Japanese will have their previous Test against the world champions as a good grounding for this match-up.
England, with a Wallaby scalp already on their belt, will be looking to continue their four wins on the bounce record against Argentina.
Los Pumas will be smarting from yet another winless Rugby Championship tournament, where they may have hoped to get at least a home victory.
Now with a new coach, Daniel Hourcade, and a new captain in Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Argentina need to make up ground on what has been a lacklustre 18 months since they joined the new Southern Hemisphere competition.
Pumas will be without talented fullback Juan Martin Hernandez Lobbe, who was injured recently. But Pablo Matera, recently signed for Leicester Tigers, is a promising young back rower who hopes to cause the English a lot of problems in the stead of his more well-known countrymen.
Fiji, perennial southern underachievers, find themselves pitted against 22nd-ranked Portugal at the Estadio Nacional.
While they may regularly struggle against Tier One opponents, this should be a relatively easy victory for the Islanders. Portugal would relish getting one over their betters.
It’ll be the USA’s turn to take on the Maori in the second match of the New Zealanders’ tour, while Chile host Spain at La Reina.
Wales look for their first win over South Africa since their only win in 1999. Will Gatlandball make an impression against a Springbok team on a good winning streak against all-comers that aren’t the All Blacks?
It would make for a good upset to the natural order.
Romania are decades away from their halcyon days in the 1980s, when they defeated the likes of Scotland, Wales and France and drew with Ireland. This weekend they’re up against Tonga, who will prove more formidable and dextrous opposition than the likes of their more regular ENC sparring partners, Georgia, Portugal and Spain.
Tonga should start as favourites, but the nine-times winners of the European Nations Cup may have something to say about that.
Italy now have four of their Six Nations allies as notches on their belt – Scotland, Wales, France and most recently Ireland. What price them taking advantage of the wounded Wallabies?
Samoa have also been squashing a number of Tier One egos and will have Ireland firmly in their sights this Saturday at Lansdowne Road.
Joe Schmidt gets his first international coaching colours with a lot to prove this autumn – not to mention Australia and New Zeland to face in the coming weeks.
The Irish are notoriously rusty in their opening game in November, so Samoa have probably the best chance of causing an upset – despite being ranked one place higher than Ireland.
Should be a good weekend of matches, with plenty of bets to keep the bookies happy and maybe the odd one miserable.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.