Bumper Month Of Rugby Internationals

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All about building towards the World Cup as the teams will not change that much over the next 12 months. What players the teams are blooding now will take part next year and some teams have done very little which is not a good sign.

This month sees 5 of the top Northern Hemisphere rugby nations on tour visiting heir Southern Hemisphere rivals. This is very important for building the team squads for next years World Cup hosted in France.

Playing one off games at home in November doesn't tell you much about the players you have and the information gained over a 3 match tour cannot be underestimated.

National teams used to tour for two months at a time decades ago which was the highlight of any players career. Players bond creating lifetime friendships as you room with your team mates getting to know them on a more personal level.

Professionalism has taken the much loved tours away as television rights dictate the itenary each season. The ^Nation teams normally welcome the Southern hemisphere teams for one off games during the month of November each year so playing one opponent for 3 weekends i a row gives coaches time to adjust the team and to change tactics.

The results are not that important from the fist weekends results which we saw yesterday but it is how you finish the tour. If you lose the first two and win the last match improving each time that is positive growth. The home teams will want to win each game so this task will not be easy for the touring teams.

The Northern Hemisphere is not seen as that strong by those in the Southern Hemisphere and is seen as a poor result if they are beaten.

New Zealand playing Ireland showed us Ireland are looking at rebuilding and are lacking a key play maker. An Irish team with Johnny Sexton plays differently and they need him desperately. New Zealand look a little rusty and the scores should have been far closer if the Irish had taken their chances.

Australia at home to England squeaking home 30 - 28 and down to 14 men for a huge chunk of the match are equally matched. I don't rate any of these two teams as they are nothing special. England have recalled back old players which sends the wrong signals and surely they have better younger players. One can see why they are struggling as the team has nothing to offer.

South Africa at home To Wales was a game of two halves with Wales
leading 18-3 at half time. South Africa were rusty and only started to up the anti to sneak home by 3 points in the final minute. This will be noted and expect next week to be so different as there are plenty of new faces in the SA team. This is what the tour should be about by winning your games, but adding to the squad at the same time.

Argentina at home to Scotland was more about the Argentinians playing their first home game for nearly 3 years. The match went as expected with the Scots always trailing the scoreboard. The Scots are at least experimenting and expect the second match to be much closer and possibly the Scots to win the last game.

From what I have seen so far New Zealand, South Africa and Wales
are making the most of these matches as there are new players coming through. Scotland still has question marks but believe they will improve. The disappointments are definitely England and Australia as they have gone backwards by recalling the old players telling us nothing has changed.

France is touring Japan currently and no doubt will benefit from keeping the squad active and building a strong team bond. I still see South Africa and New Zealand as the teams to beat next year and was hoping for more from the other teams, but just don't see it.