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Former All Blacks predict win tally for upcoming Northern Tour
By Henry Lee
With the end-of-year Northern Tour fast approaching for Scott Robertson and the All Blacks, it’s time to put the Rugby Championship in the rearview mirror and start looking ahead to a 2025 Grand Slam.
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The All Blacks will travel to Chicago to take on Ireland, before taking on Scotland in Edinburgh, England in London, and Wales in Cardiff to complete the Grand Slam.
Three former All Blacks have looked at the four fixtures, and predicted how many games they see the All Blacks winning, after what ended up being a mixed bag in the 2025 Rugby Championship campaign.
Former All Black centurion Mils Muliaina is very confident, and feels like Robertson’s side are at a reasonable spot currently.
“I reckon four from four, yeah, I reckon 100%, the starts the key. I mean, Ireland haven’t had a game together,” Muliaina said on The Breakdown.
“We’re coming off on the high and then the next one is Scotland, which for me is, I’m not sure because when they toured here and they played the Maori All Blacks up in Whangarei they looked good.”
“They look good, they look they’re playing a different sort of style. But that’s where I think the teams are at individually.”
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Former World Cup winning first-five and current Sky Sport analyst Stephen Donald agrees with Muliaina, but believes England will be the toughest Test.
“Yep, four from four, finishing in Cardiff, but sort of for other reasons. I think England would be the one that I think if you look at the British and Irish Lions and what players they had, when you put them all back in their home nations, I think England is probably the most complete.
“To give us a bit of a go at Twickenham, but no, four for four for me, it won’t be easy there at Chicago, but I anticipate we will get the job done.”
But for former All Black first-five Aaron Cruden, who was in the squad the last time the All Blacks played Ireland in Chicago, explains that he’s a bit less confident than the others.
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“Yeah, I’m probably going to go three wins, just law of averages, I reckon, yeah, it’ll be the first and the third game that I’d probably be most concerned about.
“Yeah, I understand Ireland wouldn’t have had a game and a lot of their Test players with the British and Irish Lions earlier this year, but yeah, going back to Chicago, they travel well, the Irish.
“But yeah, I’d probably put an asterisk between the first and the third.”
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