England will conquer the All Blacks in 2018 - Andy Goode
As the new year gets underway it’s a time to look ahead to what the next 12 months might bring, as well as reflect on the past year, and I’m looking forward to just a second England win over New Zealand in the last 15 years.
They might have lost 14 of their last 15 Tests against the All Blacks but England have closed the gap on the number one team in the world enormously of late and are ready to beat them again at Twickenham in November and potentially return to top spot in the world rankings for the first time since 2004 as well.
New Zealand are still the best team in the world at the moment but home advantage is crucial and England will have another 10 months of development and progress under their belt by then, so I think they’ll win by 10 points when the two sides meet on November 10.
Scotland will be a massive test away from home in February but I expect England’s experience and quality to tell at Murrayfield, I can’t see them having any problems away to Italy and France in the Six Nations and it’d be a shock if they didn’t win their home games.
So, I fully expect England to win a third straight Six Nations title and a second Grand Slam in three years.
Domestically, Wasps are improving and Saracens will be there at the business end of the season, despite their recent struggles, but it’s impossible to look past Exeter when it comes to picking the Premiership winner this season.
The Chiefs only won promotion from the Championship seven years ago and were playing in Courage League Division 4 as recently as 20 years ago but lost just two of 24 Premiership games in 2017 and I’m backing them to win back-to-back titles and add another chapter to their incredible story.
Rob Baxter’s men are still just about in the hunt in the Champions Cup but the team to beat in Europe this season are Leinster after beating them in back-to-back games last month.
The Dubliners have been in exceptional form in the PRO14 this season as well and I expect to see them in European rugby’s showpiece occasion in Bilbao in May fighting it out to win a fourth crown and a first since 2012.
Clermont are languishing in 10th place in the Top 14 at present but we saw at Allianz Park last month just how dangerous they can be and I think we could be set for a Leinster v Clermont final full of free-flowing attacking rugby in just over four months’ time.
The past year has seen a few stars emerge and rise to the top of the game, with Rieko Ioane at the top of that list after scoring 11 tries in 11 Test starts for the All Blacks in 2017.
It’ll be tough for anyone to match that for a breakthrough year in 2018 but I’m excited to see the development of Sam Simmonds. He is the standout young English player for me at the moment. He can play at six, seven or eight and I’d love to see him given a run of games in the Six Nations.
Jordan Larmour announced himself to the world with a late contender for the try of 2017 for Leinster against Munster on Boxing Day and the 20-year-old could well be one of the breakthrough players of this year after making a good start to his domestic career with four tries in his first nine PRO14 games.
With Rob Kearney getting a bit long in the tooth and Simon Zebo off to France, there are some spots up for grabs in that Ireland back three and he looks a really exciting prospect who might just be ready to seize the opportunity with both hands.
Steff Evans did play five times for Wales in 2017 but I expect him to explode onto the international scene this year. Wales could do with a spark and he’s scored five tries and set up another eight in his eight PRO14 appearances so far this season, so looks like just the man to provide it.
Huw Jones played in all of Scotland’s Six Nations games and their three autumn internationals, with a spell back in South Africa winning the Currie Cup in between, and most people are already aware of his talents but he’ll go from strength to strength this year.
He’s taken to international rugby like a duck to water and five tries in his last five Tests suggest he’s ready to have a big year in 2018.
This year looks set to be another blockbuster, albeit without the absolute pinnacle of a Lions tour or World Cup to look forward to, but if I had one wish for 2018 in rugby, it’d be that the sport continues to uphold the values of sportsmanship as opposed to gamesmanship.
We’re now seeing players being coached to bend the rules and taking it upon themselves to appeal for decisions and even attempt to get fellow players yellow-carded at times.
It’s something that’s creeping into the game and it’s up to all of us to make sure that we don’t follow football down that path and rugby continues to be a sport that people look at with respect for the values at its core as well as for the entertainment it undoubtedly provides.
Comments on RugbyPass
The author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
141 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
141 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
141 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
141 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
141 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
141 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
141 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
141 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
141 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
141 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
141 Go to commentsHo hum.
141 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
141 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
141 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
141 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
141 Go to comments