This week's biggest matches to watch on Rugby Pass
A bountiful schedule of internationals awaits us this weekend, including a Pacific doubleheader on Friday and the unofficial fourth Lions test – against the Maori All Blacks – on Saturday.
Tonga vs Wales (Friday, June 16, 1:30pm HKT)
New Zealand – and Auckland’s Eden Park in particular – is just brimming with international rugby teams this week. This isn’t just an undercard filler for the All Blacks game that follows. An experimental Wales, shorn of star players and key coaches are blooding three uncapped players in the starting line-up in Steff Evans, Seb Davies and Thomas Young, while another six could make their debuts off the bench. Tonga’s Sea Eagles will bring their unique brand of physical, brilliant rugby, and offer the sternest of tests.
New Zealand vs Samoa (Friday, June 16, 3pm HKT)
We’ve seen the Super Rugby sides in action already – but there has been one team – alright, two teams – missing from the Lions’ tour of New Zealand so far. We have to wait until Saturday to meet the Maori, when they play the Lions in Rotorua, but the other team get their first run-out of 2017 at Eden Park against the bruising Samoans. We already know, pretty much, what to expect from Steve Hansen’s All Blacks – so it’s time to get comfy in your favourite chair with the beverage of your choice and enjoy.
Australia vs Scotland (Saturday, June 17, 1pm HKT)
Scotland’s Gregor Townsend era kicked off in Singapore with a decent enough victory over Italy. But, for all that Michael Cheika’s Australia are a shadow of the side that made its way to the World Cup final 18 months ago, this is a serious step up in standard. The Wallabies carved up Fiji last weekend, despite missing 25 tackles, being turned over 20 times, and having only 43% possession and 37% territory. Townsend will have watched and rewatched that match in search of weaknesses to exploit. And his confident side will go all out to exploit them. Truth be told, this could be the match of the weekend.
NZ Maori vs Lions (Saturday, June 17, 3:35pm HKT)
All that has past is prologue. The unofficial fourth Test is the point at which the British and Irish Lions’ tour of New Zealand gets real. As in really real. The fact that the tourists edged a team of part-timers, then lost to the worst of New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises, then edged the best of them, before giving up a nine-point lead in a flurry of late penalties against the Highlanders on Tuesday counts for nothing from now. The Lions who take the field to face the Maori at Rotorua will, in all likelihood, be the ones who will face the full-fat, double-caffeinated All Blacks next weekend. And what happens here will be a barometer for the three-Test series to come.
South Africa vs France (Saturday, June 17, 10pm HKT)
Twenty minutes. That’s how long it took South Africa to melt French resistance at Loftus Versfeld last weekend. From the 59th minute, when the tourists’ Brice Dulin was sin-binned, the match was one-way traffic. But this weekend’s encounter in Durban is set to be a tougher challenge for the Springboks, with a number of French players who were rested in Pretoria set to return – including abrasive skipper Guilhem Guirado.
Argentina vs England (Sunday, June 18, 3:15am HKT)
Can we have two matches of the weekend? After the thoroughly entertaining thrill-fest in San Juan last weekend, Argentina and England meet again – this time in Santa Fe. The message from Eddie Jones has been simple: anyone who plays well in South America will force their way into his thinking for the next phase of his World Cup plans. It’s too early to be talking about who could be on the plane to Japan, but this tour could be the start of that journey for a number of England hopefuls.
Chiefs vs Lions (Tuesday, June 20, 3:35pm HKT)
The tourists are one from three against the Super Rugby franchises in New Zealand, and, this, their penultimate non-Test of the tour will be the hardest of them for the players out on the pitch at Waikato. It means they are set to miss out on the opening Test against the All Blacks. How they react to that bad news will have a major impact on whether they will feature in the three-match series that everyone’s travelled all that distance to be part of at all.
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
19 Go to comments