This Week’s Biggest Matches On Rugby Pass
We preview the best matches to catch on Rugby Pass this weekend as the Autumn Internationals season begins with Wales taking on the Wallabies in Cardiff and Ireland meeting the All Blacks in Chicago.
Autumn International: Wales vs Australia (Saturday November 5, 10:30pm HKT)
Wales will be looking for their first win over the Wallabies since 2008 when the Autumn Internationals kick off in Cardiff on Saturday. This is a closer rivalry than that makes it seem though – Australia have won the last ten encounters by an average winning margin of less than five points. A relatively injury-free Wales are a good shot to end that run this weekend if they keep up the promising form they showed on their June tour of New Zealand. They won’t find too much to worry about in the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship tapes; the Australians have been in a season-long rut since reaching the World Cup final last year.
Top 14: Racing 92 vs Montpellier (Saturday November 5, 11:00pm HKT)
Both these teams won ugly last weekend. Racing battled to a 16-3 win over bottom-of-the-table Bayonne in a game with 5 yellow cards, the only try (to Juan Imhoff, who else) taking until the 70th minute to arrive. Montpellier didn’t take the lead against La Rochelle until the 81st minute when a Ben Botica penalty saw them sneak a 12-11 win on the back of their trademark stone wall defence. Racing’s win lifted them back into the top half of the table for the first time in a while; a win over Montpellier could boost them into the playoff spots.
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Autumn International: Ireland vs New Zealand (Sunday November 6, 4:00am HKT)
Ireland have never beaten the All Blacks – a fact that’s unlikely to change at Chicago’s Soldier Field this weekend – but they have come agonisingly close on a few occasions. Last time the sides met in Dublin in 2013 it took a last-minute try, then a controversially retaken conversion, for the All Blacks to sneak home 24-22. Ireland showed signs of promise against South Africa in June, narrowly losing the test series 2-1, and if they hang in there with the All Blacks for the first 60 minutes the way Wales did, they could just get their miracle.
Four Nations: Australia vs New Zealand (Sunday November 6, 4:00am HKT)
Unless the final round sees the Kiwis lose to Scotland or England upset the Kangaroos – both of which seem equally unlikely – this match is a straight preview of the Four Nations final. Last weekend’s games didn’t give us much to go by, as the Kangaroos gave a bunch of their young players a burn in an easy 45-12 win over Scotland while the Kiwis laboured to a hard-earned win over England. They will be better served by that than the Australians were by their cakewalk, and the Kiwis should at the very least close the gap on last month’s disappointing 26-6 losing margin in Perth.
Comments on RugbyPass
RIP big man 🙏
1 Go to commentsThe GB coach. “Just because we don’t get together as much as other teams we don’t use that as an excuse for performances when we don’t hit the mark”. Why mention it at all then?
1 Go to commentsNo mention of the yellow card for Harlequins which really cost them.
3 Go to commentsThought you’d left us Nick. Good to have you back writing for us. So hunter ikitau works? I reckon wright kellaway as two of the back 3. Tim Ryan and Toole looking good for strike winger but I still want the power of korobeiti and figure our forwards still need him to help them out. Million dollar question is who plays 10? I’m thinking Noah for his kicking and combo with wright. Reckon the pair adds up to an attack and kellaway will help. Can you comment on Zac Lucas in Japan? How is he going?
1 Go to commentsMack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
3 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
5 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
3 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
8 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
2 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
3 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
5 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
5 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
5 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
16 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
16 Go to comments