On Saturday, six teams from the southern hemisphere squared off against six teams from the northern hemisphere. The north came out on top 4 – 2.
The scores: Ireland 38, South Africa 3. England 21, Argentina 8. Scotland 44, Samoa 38. Italy 19, Fiji 10. All Blacks 38, France 18. Australia 29, Wales, 21.
It was an all-time record score for Ireland over the Boks with Sexton MOTM and the usual suspects having strong games and NZ-born Bundee Aki drawing raves in the midfield.
Eddie Jones was furious with Team England. They’d trained so well and played so ordinarily. Dull and lifeless summed it up although they unearthed a fine new seven in Sam Underhill who hits like a steam hammer. Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell will be back for Saturday’s game against the Wallabies which is not good news for Oz fans.
The Scots/Samoan game was described as bizarre. Eleven tries with both sides playing poorly. Scottish fans had hoped their team would show some maturity ahead of next week’s clash with the All Blacks. Instead, they’re battering down the hatches.
As for the All Blacks, few people feel they’re playing like the creme de la creme of world rugby. And it doesn’t help when Sonny Bill Williams gives away a penalty try by batting a French cross-kick dead from the in-goal area. Steve Hansen’s probably glad his guys are not going up against Ireland this trip.
Most Roarers will have seen the Wallabies being less than terrific against Wales. The Samu Kerevi experiment didn’t work so look for Michael Cheika to play Kurtley Beale at 12 against England to get some thrust into the attack. Or not. MC is hard to second guess. Oh, how we miss Israel Folau and David Pocock and one or two other players who don’t even exist.
The consensus re the weekend’s rugby is that it illustrated how cluttered the game has become, and how nothing has been done to fix the boring spectacle of scrum resets.
Also, it’s a little weird to see pros who’ve been playing since they were kids dropping simple passes. Yes, Test matches bring their own kind of pressure, but most of the guilty parties are hardly new to international rugby.
jeznez
Roar Guru
very good Poth.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Georgia aren't mugs - they are 13 in the world. Just behind Japan and ahead of Italy. Canada have definitely fallen further back but I think that is likely that they came up against a more professional side on the weekend. Georgia have had significant numbers of players in the French pro systems for a while. It's only wikipedia numbers but Canada look to have many more participants across the grades but the number of their players competing in pro comps isn't there. As an aside Russia have been an interesting one to watch develop (they've been coming down to HK to play for a little while now). Some massive units in their squad and look to be getting stronger all the time.
piru
Roar Rookie
Offloads aren't a magical skill - it's just passing in contact It's been going on as long as there's been rugby (and therefore before there was rugby league)
Ouch
Guest
"SH invented the offload" If by SH you mean NRL then that is correct. It is part of any league players repertoire. It wasn't "invented" by NZ or Oz rugby.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Close enough.
Taylorman
Guest
Its the same as the players, the locals do most of the donkey work as well, but they have to bring in the high salaried SHers to win the matches. That combination is what is making NH rugby stronger, the power of the dollar.
Taylorman
Guest
Yes, and its been that way for yonks, but who did it take to make the drastic change that it needed? And SH coaches arent going to take secondary roles in big numbers where they can get top dollar.
Taylorman
Guest
Yes well I prefer to watch the rugby, not the crowds but hey, whatever does it for you blossom.
Taylorman
Guest
Well thats obvious, look at the flocking of NHers into SH rugby for the experience.
In brief
Guest
Really negative article after a great weekend of rugby. One game disappointed but the rest showed a trend towards fast attacking rugby which was good to see. We are all playing the same sport, who cares if it's north or south?
FunBus
Roar Rookie
A little misleading. Four of the six nations head coaches are from the SH, but virtually all the specialist coaches in the national set-ups are from the NH. With England, you've got Jones, but the day to day coaching is done by Gustard, Borthwick and Hatley who are all English.
Taylorman
Guest
Yes its such a task finding a Wallaby performance as poor as that second half...oh wait...!
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Its the pay. Be serious. If they could get paid the same at home, they would stay at home. I think most people would.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Its fair to say they beat the ABs, and England, but not fair to say they do it consistently. Especially when you consider Irelands was their first ever win over the ABs, and then couldn't back it up a week later with at home. Consistency is key, in a 2 team game, anyone is capable of winning, the right bounce of the ball, a few bits of luck, a few injuries to key players, or an extremely weird referee interpretation of a ruling, all can change the outcome of a game. On a side note, the only team I can think of consistency beating the ABs was the Wallabies in the late 90s and early 00s. Holding the Bledisloe for 5 years. Bloody Gregan smashing Wilson as he dived... Eales slotting that penalty after the whistle...
potatojuice
Roar Rookie
"In Aviva , Sale are the least supported and they averaged over 20k attendance last season." Completely wrong. Sale Sharks play their home games at the AJ Bell Stadium with a maximum capacity of 12 000. The home attendance average was 6202 last season with the highest being 8828.
Cuw
Guest
@TAYLORMAN i will settle for a fair amount of leave for the SH players to go home and prepare for the tours/ matches. i am sure teams like Samoa Tonga Fiji will do much better if they can practice for 3 weeks and get physically ready also. and some of the SH teams like Saffas and Argies to select their best in Europe. false bravado is not a virtue.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Typical, if disagree, insult.
Uncle Eric
Guest
Yeah, Bundee Aki, quite the Irishman begorrah. Not sure why NZ allowed him to go.
rebel
Guest
No just a typical Conner comment.
Cuw
Guest
@ Highlander dont read much into these results against the island nations. they are basically the poor cousin u see once in a blue moon. i mean Samoa are bankrupt and still playing . Fiji also tho no bankrupt have little money. they get together for a week or so and then they play teams that have been together for 3 weeks. then they keep dropping the ball , throwing crazy passes running all over in defence and what not. all the best islanders are playing for clubs all year around - who can blame them coz they need money.