New Zealand vs Wales Sat 8:35am ; Australia vs England Sat 11am; Both Sky Sports 1

Judgement Day

Australia: James O'Connor, Digby Ioane, Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Richard Brown, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (capt), Nathan Sharpe, Dean Mumm, Salesi Ma'afu, Saia Faingaa, Ben Daley. Replacements - Huia Edmonds, James Slipper, Mark Chisholm, Matt Hodgson, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Adam Ashley-Cooper.

England: Ben Foden, Mark Cueto, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Chris Ashton, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (captain), Tom Croft, Tom Palmer, Courteney Lawes, Dan Cole, Steve Thompson, Tim Payne. Replacements - George Chuter, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, James Haskell, Danny Care, Jonny Wilkinson, Delon Armitage.

Danny Care is dropped to the bench and Martin Johnson has persisted with Toby Flood at fly half while Jonny Wilkinson is also left to cool his heels. Let's hope that Johnson uses the bench properly this time.

Full preview here: http://www.scrum.com/englandtour2010/rugby/story/117810.html

toomevara

Be interesting to see if England can convert their overwhelming scrum dominance into try scoring. Starting to develop an alarming allergy to the try line paint....From an irish perspective, intersting to watch how the aussies, a team with no scrum whatsoever can still fashion wins using creativity and knowse, something we're going to have to develop.

thomond2006

I may as well save space and put two matches in one thread.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/8745241.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8741307.stm

NEW ZEALAND v WALES
Venue: Carisbrook, Dunedin Date: Saturday, 19 June Kick-off: 0835 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC Radio Wales MW & online, score updates online, live on Sky Sports 1

New Zealand:
Israel Dagg (Highlanders); Cory Jane (Hurricanes), Conrad Smith (Hurricanes), Benson Stanley (Blues), Joe Rokocoko (Blues); Daniel Carter (Crusaders), Jimmy Cowan (Highlanders); Ben Franks (Crusaders), Keven Mealamu (Blues), Owen Franks (Crusaders), Brad Thorn (Crusaders), Anthony Boric (Blues), Victor Vito (Hurricanes), Richie McCaw (Crusaders, capt), Kieran Read (Crusaders).

Replacements:
Aled de Malmanche (Chiefs), Tony Woodcock (Blues), Sam Whitelock (Crusaders), Adam Thomson (Highlanders), Piri Weepu (Hurricanes), Aaron Cruden (Hurricanes), Richard Kahui (Chiefs).

Wales:
Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Blues), Tom Prydie (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Ospreys); Paul James (Ospreys), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Blues), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Gavin Thomas (Newport Gwent Dragons), Ryan Jones (capt).

Replacements:
Huw Bennett (Ospreys), John Yapp (Blues), Deiniol Jones (Blues), Rob McCusker (Scarlets), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)

It should be an emotional night at Carisbrook ("The House of Pain") as this will be the last test match played before its closure. A new stadium is being developed for RWC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsyth_Barr_Stadium_at_University_Plaza

The All Blacks' XV shows just one change to the side that trounced Ireland at New Plymouth. Victor Vito plays at 6, replacing Jerome Kaino.

Gavin Thomas and Andrew Bishop start for Wales with Rob McCusker and Tavis Knoyle set to win their first caps from the bench.

I can't see past the ABs for this one. I don't think Wales can match the intensity and pace that all the Southern Hemisphere sides are able to play at. New Zealand by 15-20.

Head to Head:

Gavin Thomas gets an opportunity with Sam Warburton and Martyn Williams unavailable. He has been the form openside in the ML this season and is a menace at the breakdown and an excellent link-up player. However he comes up against probably the best number 7 ever in Richie McCaw. He always has his homework done on the referee and will make a nuisance of himself at the breakdown. Thomas has a lot of work to negate McCaw's influence on the game, so many have tried and failed.

---

Australia v England
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney Date: Saturday, 19 June Kick-off: 1100 BST
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles; live coverage on Sky Sports 1.

Australia:
James O'Connor; Digby Ioane, Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Ben Daley, Saia Faingaa, Salesi Ma'afu, Dean Mumm, Nathan Sharpe, Rocky Elsom (captain), David Pocock, Richard Brown.

Replacements:
Huia Edmonds, James Slipper, Mark Chisholm, Matt Hodgson, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Adam Ashley-Cooper.

England:
Ben Foden (Northampton); Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Mike Tindall (Gloucester), Shontayne Hape (Bath), Chris Ashton (Northampton); Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Youngs (Leicester); Tim Payne (Wasps), Steve Thompson (Brive), Dan Cole (Leicester), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tom Croft (Leicester), Lewis Moody (Leicester, capt), Nick Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements:
George Chuter (Leicester), David Wilson (Bath), Simon Shaw (Wasps), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Danny Care (Harlequins), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Delon Armitage (London Irish).

Matt Giteau and Will Genia return to the Wallaby side, who retain the same front row that was mangled last week after Tatafu Polota-Nau was ruled out.

Martin Johnson has finally seen sense and replaced Danny Care with Leicester's Ben Youngs. Courtney Lawes also starts in place of Simon Shaw.

I expect a similar result to last week. England to dominate the scrum and after that be dominated. A fit Matt Giteau brings a whole new dimension to the Australia backline. I'd go Australia by 10-15.

Head to Head:

This is intriguing to say the least. Both Genia and Youngs are the form scrum halves in their respective countries. Genia needs to have a big game as Luke Burgess was impressive last week. Youngs needs to play his own game and be a constant threat around the fringes. He will have to watch Genia carefully as he is quick and very strong. Whoever comes out on top here and lives up to their billing will go a long way to giving their side the win.

danthefan

Wales are going to get destroyed. Maybe not as badly as us, but it will be bad.

d'Oracle

Two home wins.

Judgement Day

Thomond are you trying to muscle in on my England/JW love in?

Much as I like this Welsh side I can't see past another All Blacks victory here and, if I'm totally honest, I'm relishing it.

redroar1942

Good post Thomond.

Gavin Thomas versus Ritchie McCaw has there ever been a bigger mis match between two top 8 teams?

I hope Australia destroy England in a triumph of running rugby. England for all they could be are playing some pathetic rugby under Johnson.

subfreq

Here's a great video that attempts to tackle the dark arts of the front row confrontation between Aus v Eng last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6A0YQA-3VM&feature=player_embedded

Of the most interest was how England persisted to infringe with their own binding for the entire match yet the Aussies were penalised. Eventually one was called against England but it was effectively the same type of binding as all the rest.

Their is no doubt England are far more street wise and were packing as a more organised unit but I think the ref didn't really know what was going on.

Good to see Gits and Ginea back. I actually think Australia will win more comfortably this time, especially if England try and play a more open game.

toomevara

subfreq wrote: »

Their is no doubt England are far more street wise and were packing as a more organised unit but I think the ref didn't really know what was going on.
.

Interesting piece, but not surprised. The refereeing of the scrum is an absolute joke in RU. Don't know how you sort it, attract more retired props/forwards to reffing? lord knows...but refs have no idea what's going on there. This wasn't always the case and really the binding issue isn't rocket science.

Judgement Day

I find the scrum embarrassing when trying to explain what is going, why has a penalty been awarded etc,etc., to casual rugby viewers down the pub - it makes bar stool enthusiasts like myself look complete idiots as you can never be certain of why decisions are being given.

Ciaran-Irl

I cannot believe that they are sticking with bloody Shontayne Hape at outside centre. He is an appallingly bad player. He is the second choice 12 in Bath for goodness sake.

Shocking.

(-) Can't make decisions, can't pass or catch the ball and possibly the worst outside centre at kicking that he could have chosen.

(+) Decent at line breaks. Can sort of tackle, but not at international standard.

thomond2006

He was poor last week alright, I remember one paper giving him 2/10.

He might have gone for Barkley at 12 (who is ahead of Hape at Bath), he's been in brilliant form.

Easter at 8 is wrong too, Dowson should be somewhere in that back row.

redroar1942

thomond2006 wrote: »

He was poor last week alright, I remember one paper giving him 2/10.

He might have gone for Barkley at 12 (who is ahead of Hape at Bath), he's been in brilliant form.

Easter at 8 is wrong too, Dowson should be somewhere in that back row.

Barkley had some sort of falling out with Wells in the 07 WC he still seems to be paying for it. He's not the answer to all their problems but in comparison to Hape he's Frank Bunce.

Easter is grand when playing on a bog in january but on the hard tracks he's a liability. Haskell is a bit of a head case but at least he has that explosive power that the Australian back row have in spades.

thomond2006

I don't think Haskell is the answer, he goes missing in a dogfight. Watch England v Ireland this year for proof.

redroar1942

thomond2006 wrote: »

I don't think Haskell is the answer, he goes missing in a dogfight. Watch England v Ireland this year for proof.

Probably not but at least he can make a few line breaks and score the odd try both of which England are severely lacking.

thomond2006

PP are predicting a 20 point win for New Zealand and an 11 point win for Australia.

I think that's about right.

There might be value in Wales +20 at 10/11 IMO. Might stick a few quid on it.

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

PP are predicting a 20 point win for New Zealand and an 11 point win for Australia.

I think that's about right.

There might be value in Wales +20 at 10/11 IMO. Might stick a few quid on it.

Then call me PhatyPower I'll give you +21 and you can bet as much as you want. I dont see how Wales can remain within four four tries of the AB's. The likes of Bishop,Prydie and Thomas will be destroyed.

Really hope the Australians get the victory their rugby deserves.

Judgement Day

Even an old fool like me gets sense eventually and both these matches have little to offer in the way of bets but given what I expect to happen to Wales I will probably go with AB try scorers - Rokococo @ 10/11; Cory Jane @ 10/11 and Conrad Smith @ 13/10.

England to win @ 10/3 looks tempting but given that they couldn't win the last time despite their dominance in the scrum I'll give it a miss.

ironingbored

Did Conrad Smith come in from the side for that try?

Judgement Day

All Blacks starting to pull away after 33 minutes - 15 to 6. Corry Jane with a great try brings home try one for me.

Judgement Day

ironingbored wrote: »

Did Conrad Smith come in from the side for that try?

Wish I could have seen - listening on radio - do you have a stream?

colman1212

Judgement Day wrote: »

Wish I could have seen - listening on radio - do you have a stream?

http://blackburnman04.yolasite.com/

working perfectly for me.

sock puppet

That passage of play was superb.

Judgement Day

Dan Carter just in for a great try. 25-9

Diamondmaker

Awesome DC. Class to follow that sprint up with that kick. 35 - 9.

All of a sudden our performance looks ok at least we scored 4 with 14 !
Perhaps we will never know how much that game may have been an opportunity missed. ABs improving by the minute to their usual form.

Another as I type

40-9 plus conversion under posts.

42-9

colman1212

Another try for carter - sheer class..

Judgement Day

Carter in for try #2 - what a class act!!!! Converts now 35-9.

webels

Carter back to his very very best what a try 35 : 9

colman1212

Kahui walks in for a try - poor welsh defense...

Judgement Day

Try #5 - Wales are being gutted.

Judgement Day

All Blacks win 42-9.

dromdrom

15 men wales beaten by 33 points, kinda makes our 38 point drubbing with 13/14 men not seem so bad.

thomond2006

Lost my bet (no surprise there ).

Who stood out for both sides?

SomeFool

thomond2006 wrote: »

Who stood out for both sides?

Carter for the kiwi's and 1/2p for the Welsh for me. Carter was awesome today.

Judgement Day

According to commentators Wilko looking good in pre-match kicking practice - hope he gets on early.

ongarite

nasty blood injury for england front row. Plenty of handbags already.

ongarite

much better by england in this game. Good chance ruined by silly pass.

Judgement Day

England have missed two good try scoring opportunities that they may regret.

ongarite

6-3 to australia.

Judgement Day

Great try by Young the new England scrumhalf - game on!

ongarite

what a bloody great try by ben youngs. Fantastic vision and pace.

Judgement Day

What is it with rugby union in Australia - the stadium appears half empty?

LeeroyJones

Beautiful try-Matt Giteau

ongarite

jesus, if australia do that to us next week we are screwed. Great try.

Judgement Day

Great try by Giteau 13-10 to Australia.

Dirty Frank

English scrum is impressive. Any predictions?

ongarite

cracking try. This is a great game, super off loading.

LeeroyJones

Try Ashton, lovely little step!

15-13 England, conversion missed

Judgement Day

Another great try from England (Ashton) . England look a very dangerous team - utterly different from last week.

Second miss by Flood - time for Jonny! 15-13 to England.

ongarite

15-13 to england.

sock puppet

Good to see England playing with confidence.