In Round 2 of the End Of Year Tours of 2013 there will be a lot more games on the weekend, compared to Round 1, last week. This weekend almost gives the impression of a Mini World Cup, as virtually all the top teams in the world are somehow involved in rugby this weekend.
Some teams are playing their first games on tour whilst others started their tours last weekend already. This weekend will feature quite a few games that has been hyped up to be classic clashes on the yearly calendar. Wales vs the Springboks from South Africa and France vs the New Zealand All Blacks are the two clashes most talked and speculated about during the week. Here are some head to head stats to help you pick your winners.
Here’s a Preview of the weekend’s matches:
Match 1
Georgia vs Canada
Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi
09 November 2013
k/o: 14:00 (EUROPE/MOSCOW) / 12:00 (SA)
These sides have met on only 3 previous occasions with Canada edging Georgia 2 to 1. The stats in this this clash still favour Canada and they should win this clash with a score line close to 29-15.
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Match 2
Italy vs Australia
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
09 November 2013
k/o: 15:00 (EUROPE/PARIS) / 16:00 (SA)
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benevenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (Captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Iannone.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (Captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Rob Simmons, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga’a, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Leali’ifano, 23 Joe Tomane.
These sides have met 15 times in the past with no recorded wins for Italy. The Italians will however feel good going into this clash, as they had a good 6 Nations tournament in 2013 whilst the Australian Wallabies have been battling for form of late. Italy should have the upperhand in the scrums and with enough go-forward ball could make it a long day for the Wallabies.
However, Australia still boast a classy backline and should take a win here with a scoreline close to 34-14.
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Match 3
England vs Argentina
Twickenham Stadium, London
09 November 2013
k/o: 14:30 (UK) / 16:30 (SA)
England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (Captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Alex Goode.
Argentina team: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon (Captain), 7 Julio Farias Cabello, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Santiago Iglesias, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Benjamín Macome, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Gonzalo Tiesi, 23 Santiago Cordero.
This a hard one to call. Argentina have quite a few players playing club rugby in Europe so they will be used to the conditions. Argentina also has the ability to draw games out of the hat and can cause upsets with the right amount of go-forward ball. Having said that I still recon that England are just too good for Argentina.
These sides have met on 18 previous occasions with England having won 13, Argentina only 4 and there was 1 draw. England at Twickenham is a hard side to beat for any visiting team. So a win here for England is the most likely result with a scoreline close to 25-14.
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Match 4
Scotland vs Japan
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
09 November 2013
k/o: 14:30 (UK) / 16:30 (SA)
Scotland: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 Kelly Brown (Captain), 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Al Dickinson, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Richie Gray, 20 John Barclay, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Duncan Taylor.
Japan: 15 Ayumu Goromar, 14 Toshiaki Hirose (Captain), 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Yusuke Nagae, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Takashi Kikutani, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita
Japan showed a lot of heart last weekend when they took on the All Blacks, also displaying some good skills in the process. If the Scotts are too complacent before this match, we might see Japan run this game close. Scotland, who are not a powerhouse side in current world rugby should still be able to win this clash easily enough, with a scoreline close to 35-9.
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Match 5
Portugal vs Fiji
Estádio Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon
09 November 2013
k/o: 15:00 (UK) / 17:00 (SA)
These sides have only met once in history and the outcome was that Portugal beat Fiji. This should be a good game to watch, if possible, and I would not write off Portugal at all. I cannot give an accurate assessment for this clash, as they have only met once. A scoreline close to 26-17 with the winner undecided is how I would go on this one, it is however up to you to pick the winner.
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Match 6
Wales vs South Africa
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
09 November 2013
k/o: 17:30 (UK) / 19:30 (SA)
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (Captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Ashley Beck.
South Africa: 15. Pat Lambie, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jaque Fourie, 12. Jean de Villiers (Captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Morné Steyn, 9. Fourie du Preez, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Flip van der Merwe, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malberhe, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18. Coenie Oosthuizen, 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20. Siya Kolisi, 21. Ruan Pienaar, 22. JJ Engelbrecht, 23. Willie le Roux.
Wales have approached this match with a very bullish attitude, making a lot of claims and statements in the media, whilst the South African Springboks virtually kept mumm with silent diplomacy.
Wales are the current 6 Nations champions and boast a large number of British & Irish Lions test veterans, whereas South Africa is the current No 2 side in the IRB World rankings. So, this one will be good, it will be hard and most likely not be too pretty on a heavy yet dry field (the roof of Millennium Stadium will be closed for the occasion).
These sides have met 26 times, South Africa have recorded 24 wins over the solitary 1 by Wales and there was 1 draw. It is doubtful that this stat will change in favour of Wales on the weekend and South Africa should take this one with a scoreline close to 28-14.
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Match 7
Romania vs Tonga
Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
09 November 2013
k/o: 18:30 (EUROPE/BUDAPEST) / 19:30 (SA)
This will be the first time that these sides meet. To predict a score here is extremely speculative. Both sides are small in the world of rugby so this should make for quite an interesting clash. I have a hunch that Tonga should have the edge here and will most probably take this one by a close margin.
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Match 8
Ireland vs Samoa
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
09 November 2013
k/o: 17:45 (UK) / 19:45 (SA)
These sides have met 5 times in the past with Ireland leading the stats 4 to 1 over Samoa. This is a stat that will most probably not change soon as I recon Ireland will just be too good for Samoa on the day. As we have come to know the Samoans, this clash will be a proper 80 minute battle filled with a lot of traditional Samoan tackling and a lot of bumps and bruises. Ireland should however still take this one quite easily with a scoreline close to 34-19.
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Match 9
France vs New Zealand
Stade de France, Paris
09 November 2013
k/o: 20:00 (EUROPE/PARIS) / 22:00 (SA)
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (Captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Gael Fickou.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (Captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ryan Crotty.
If there is one team in the world who knows how to get under the All Blacks skins it is France. They have this habit of pulling a rabbit out of the hat when least expected. Having said that New Zealand is the No 1 side in the world for a reason, reigning supreme at this juncture and aiming for a perfect season.
These sides have met on 52 previous occasions with New Zealand winning 39 against the 12 by France and only 1 draw ever recorded. I recon the All Blacks will make it win number 40 this weekend with a scoreline close to 24-14.
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Match 10
USA vs New Zealand Maori
PPL Park, Pennsylvania
09 November 2013
k/o: 19:30 (US/CENTRAL) / Sunday 10 Nov 03:30 (SA)
United States Eagles: 15 Adam Siddal, 14 Luke Hume, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Tim Maupin, 10 Toby L’Estrange, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Cameron Dolan, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Todd Clever (Captain), 5 Tai Tuisamoa, 4 Scott LaValla, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Nick Wallace.
Replacements: 16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Graham Harriman, 20 Kyle Sumsion, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Zach Pangelinan, 23 Folau Niua.
New Zealand Maori: 15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Tim Bateman (Captain), 11 Matt Proctor, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Shane Christie, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Ben Afeaki, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Joe Royal, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Luke Katene, 20 Elliot Dixon, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Jackson Willison, 23 Zac Guildford.
With only 2 matches ever recorded between these sides and both won by the Maoris, this will be a long day for the USA. It is highly unlikely that the USA will record a win here. The Maoris should take this clash quite easily with a score line close to 70-25.
Expecting big winning scores in most games this weekend
W’ll be going over the 8 Million Page Impression mark today / tonight, since 31 October 2009, here on Rugby-Talk!!
We have 7 711 Articles here on Rugby-Talk, a further 179 Pages and almost 292 000 Comments
@ grootblousmile:
Big milestone.
Where is Pietman lately?
4 @ superBul:
Ek weetie waar Pietman is nie… hy sal sekerlik kop uitsteek more gedurende die rugby.
@ grootblousmile:
Ek is ALTYD hier. ek praat net nie!
Werk net my ou mielie krom om nuwe leerplanne op te stel wat hierdie spul se armsalige lewens sal verder sal versuur en verpes…..en hulle moet my oortyd betaal vir dit boonop!
Praat more, tydens die wedstryde, wil klaarmaak met hierdie nonsens vandag.
Tjeers.
Ek is seker die enigste drol wat Frankryk gekies het…
Ag wat “Live a little”
@ MacroBull:
Might just be the wildcard that gets you the yellow cap, MB.
Good one Timothy bringing all the games together in one place, can appreciate the time and effort it takes to research and put these kind of articles together
A whole lot of games coming up think our webmonster will have his hands full with all the live match threads!
@ Bullscot:
Thats when the best comes out of him, he thrives on presure
In addition to these games in Africa we have two more internationals with Sengal taking on Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory coast) and Namibia hosting Zimbabwe today.
Then World Cup qualifying games on Saturday – Gemany v Poland and Moldova v Sweden.
Women’s international between England and France at Twickenham.
The two qualifying games also double up as ‘ENC’ games, with the following teams also playing ENC games on Saturday :
Malta v Croatia; Netherlands v Lithuania; Slovenia v Cyprus; Luxembourg v Bosnia and Hertzogovena
11 @ superBul:
yes I’m sure he can handle it
12 @ Bullscot:
Sorry maybe should have elaborated more on what ENC is – here it is thanks to trusty Wiki:
“European Nations Cup, or ENC – sometimes referred to as the Six Nations B – is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.
The tournament is split into 7 divisions, each with 4-6 teams. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away. Since 2009, the title is assigned according to a one-year ranking. The current champions are Georgia, who won the 2011 First Division…”
Anyone watching cricket?
I dont like Pakis that much they apeal far too much
but Tahir is a South African Paki and i like his South African way. He almost every time gives someone in the crowd a sign. He is a great asset to the Protea team
Hellloooooooooooooo
Skinder julle van my…. ek ruik ‘n rot…
Regarding the Live Games this weekend, the following:
We will concentrate on the BIG games, but will have a flavour of the others as well.
Unfortunately some of the games seriously overlap with the times of the IMPORTANT games, therefore we will have the IMPORTANT GAME Article… with score updates in the ARTICLE, for the overlapping and maybe less important game…
So, for instance you will see 3 scores on the England / Argentina game… that of the Italy / Wallabies game (which starts earlier (16:00 SA Time)), that of the Scotland / Japan game and of course the score for the England / Argentina game at the top.
During the Wales / Springboks game you will see 2 scores… that of the Ireland / Samoa game (on at the same time as the Wales / Bokke game) and of course that for the Wales / Springboks game at the top.
During the France / All Blacks game… it will only be the score for that game.
In summary, we will have 3 MAIN GAME ARTICLES…. with 3 more other game scores worked into the Article itself too.
15 @ superBul:
BlommieBul,
Ek en BonzaiGBS was daar by jou suster en swaer… het die kameras opgetel en jou ou Notebookie afgedrop daar, soos gereel.
BonzaiGBS is oorstelp van vreugde… ons sal jou netnou bel, vir hom om dankie te sê!
8 milion mark crossed
18 @ superBul:
Whoooooooooop WHOOOOOOOP!
Rugby-Talk is a lekker place!
Good tight bowling by the Ama-Blomme… Dale Steyn now demolishing the Pakistan tail.
Pakistan 231 / 8, 3 overs remain, Pakistan need 36 off only 18 balls.
Pakistan 232 / 9, 47.4 overs gone….
Ama-Blomme win… bowling Pakistan all out with about an over spare, Pakistan 238… a win by 28 runs
Proteas WIN
Dale Steyn the star with 10-ov -5 wickets for 25
Dale MOM
“Utterly magnificent from Dale. And note as well how Dale credited Morne and Lopsy for the pressure that helped him to get those last three wickets. Pak needed more than a run a ball, Morne and Lopsy kept it tight and tidy the two overs before Dale came back on – and the Pak batsmen felt they had to take chances against Dale. So they start swinging at everything and Dale knocks three of them over in six balls. That is what bowling in partnerships is all about – Dale creating scoreboard pressure to help them, them creating scoreboard pressure to help Dale”
Turning point had to be when rookie Sohaib Maqsood tried to slog sweep Dale Steyn.He was well set and Pakistan needed 92 from 81 deliveries with Akmal and Afridi still to come.
Lovely to see Shahid Afridi underestimating and trying to take on Faf for a quick single.He obviously had no idea how good Faf’s fielding skills were did you Afridi?
Pakistan have yet to score more than 250 runs in this series.Maybe Misbah and Umar Akmal should bat at no 3 and 4 respectively.Losing 5 wickets for just 10 runs ain’t so nice Pakistan.
16 @ grootblousmile:
Us skinder about you, no never
Team to face Samoa – Ireland: R Kearney; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, F McFadden; P Jackson, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best, M Ross; M McCarthy, D Toner; P O’Mahony, C Henry, J Heaslip.
Replacements: S Cronin, C Healy, D Fitzpatrick, P O’Connell, S O’Brien, E Reddan, I Madigan, D Kearney.
Namibia beat Zimbabwe in their game played tonight in Namibia, final score – Namibia 35/26 Zimbabwe
@ Bullscot:
Wonder who Mugabe will blame now?
There is a deep respect for the way the Boks are evolving under Heyneke Meyer, and rugby-mad Wales is whipping itself into a frenzy over this much-hyped showdown.
Wales have won the Six Nations two years in a row and in their last match at the Millennium Stadium, in March, they smashed their old enemy England 30-3 to defend their title.
A few months later, 16 Welshmen were picked to tour Australia with the Lions, 10 of whom started in the hammering of the Wallabies in the series-clinching third Test in Sydney.
The Red Dragons also provided the captain in Sam Warburton and coaches in Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards. No wonder there is genuine belief in the Welsh valleys that their rugby is lifting off into a bright new era.
Now the Welsh players are hungry for a southern-hemisphere scalp in the red jerseys of Wales.
Here’s something for you all to have a laugh at – take special note of Jaque Fourie in the third photo. Fukushima has had more of an effect than we thought!!!!
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/15-south-african-springboks-cute-6281405
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