What sort of nick are each of the NH teams in?

A month and a half or so until the autumn internationals begin and then a few months later the 6 nations. I thought this thread could be used as a guide for anyone who was wondering how each nation is currently shaping up via some good humoured rugby banter! So how is your nations side looking compared to how they performed in the 6 nations and summer tests? Any injury concerns? Potential new caps?



Fixture List:

Saturday 10th November 2012
Wales v Argentina at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 2:30pm
England v Fiji at Twickenham, London 2:30pm
Ireland v South Africa at Aviva Stadium, Dublin 5:30pm

Sunday 11th November 2012
Scotland v New Zealand at Murrayfield, Edinburgh 2:30pm

Friday 16th November 2012
Wales v Samoa at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 7:30pm

Saturday 17th November 2012
England v Australia at Twickenham, London 2:30pm
Scotland v South Africa at Murrayfield, Edinburgh 2:30pm
Ireland Wolfhounds v Fiji at Thomond Park, Limerick 5:30pm

Saturday 24th November 2012
Ireland v Argentina at Aviva Stadium, Dublin 2:00pm
England v South Africa at Twickenham, London 2:30pm
Scotland v Tonga at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen 3:00pm
Wales v New Zealand at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 5:15pm

Saturday 1st December 2012
Wales v Australia at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 2:30pm
England v New Zealand at Twickenham, London 2:30pm

I don't think anyone will beat the ABs.

Wales have the personnel but still seem to lack the final piece of the jigsaw. The best chance is a team effort by the NH. Scotland and Wales to put in brutal, bruising, lung-bursting performances that deplete the AB squad, so that England can have a chance that rates "slim" rather than "none". Until the Blacks unearth their next unheralded was-4th-string-at-the-start-of-the-tour superstar. Or recall Nick Evans, if they're really desperate.

None of the above.

TJ wrote:None of the above.

Agreed...

Why isn`t Italy included in the poll?arn`t they a NH side and don`t they play NZ before Wales or England?also I agree none of these.

One day the AB's will have to lose to one of us. If for nothing else then to keep things interesting.

Nope. Not seeing any side beating the AB's at the moment.

I hope that they will have lost to at least one NH team before the 2015 WC or else it's going to be a pretty depressing tournament.

Realistically it won't happen this year, but if they're peaking now could we see them slump over the next couple of seasons? Perhaps the NH can grab some wins around 2014?

What about Leinster?
Their attacking play could do it?
Sorry...wrong post...

Are NZ peaking or rebuilding towards a new peak?
Surely we peaked at the RWC in the semi final

Scotland are going up a graph
England are going up a graph
Wales are levelling out
NZ are on a straight line of 45 degrees...with a mile head start.

But to keep it interesting - I'll say Scotland have the best chance.

I seriously doubt any of the teams listed in the poll can realistically beat the All Blacks.

The ABs will only lose if there are some exceptional circumstances such as major injuries leading into their matches

NZ won't be beaten by dazzling backline play or an open game. When the game opens up, nobody can live with their pace and skillset. At least up north. Only Australia with all their frontline players can beat NZ at their own game.

So it's going to come down to the forwards. Who can disrupt NZ at the breakdown, who can slow down their ball, who can cut down their space to cut off the supply to the back three.

Well England, Scotland, Wales and Italy all have that game within them. They have forward packs who are solid at set piece and effective enough at the breakdown to get enough possession. What needs to happen is that they take all scoring opportunities and apply consistent pressure to NZ without opening the game up. Ireland did that in the second test in June but you need a phenomenal collective effort on defence and at the breakdown to pull it off.

Wales will beat them...

Blues I bet you a pint they do not

Maybe Leinster could arrange a midweek match vs the New Zealand team.

That would be a cracker of a game between the two best teams in the Northern Hemisphere.

The warning sign for Wales will be when the All Blacks come showering them with the usual praise - that they love playing against Wales because they are two sides that love to put width on the game and play with spirit and elan.

And Wales will be enchanted by the witching words and fall into the trap of trying to give the ABs that very game.

I say to Wales - like Odysseus' crew, block your ears with beeswax against the sweet singing of the AB sirens.

Pot Hale wrote:Maybe Leinster could arrange a midweek match vs the New Zealand team.

That would be a cracker of a game between the two best teams in the Northern Hemisphere.

It's a joke I know...but it might truly be a better spectacle than some of the games that are genuinely on the lists for the AIs! Come on, admit it - it's true.

England at twickenham have the best chance, they will be warmed up against the boks and ozzies and the all blacks will be cream crackered after a long season, tri nations and tour and likely depleted by injuries.

CJ

I have a thread dedicated to taking bets on Wales winning called 'NZ there for the taking' feel free to bet me a pint and then turn up match day!!!

sirtidychris wrote:England at twickenham have the best chance, they will be warmed up against the boks and ozzies and the all blacks will be cream crackered after a long season, tri nations and tour and likely depleted by injuries.

do you know if their are any timeshares for sale in this utopian fantasy land where you live?

SecretFly wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Maybe Leinster could arrange a midweek match vs the New Zealand team.

That would be a cracker of a game between the two best teams in the Northern Hemisphere.

It's a joke I know...but it might truly be a better spectacle than some of the games that are genuinely on the lists for the AIs! Come on, admit it - it's true.

I wasn't joking. I know it's true. New Zealand are actually a very good team and play some good rugby at times. I reckon they'd have a chance against them.

Taylorman wrote:What about Leinster?
Their attacking play could do it?
Sorry...wrong post...

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:NZ won't be beaten by dazzling backline play or an open game. When the game opens up, nobody can live with their pace and skillset. At least up north. Only Australia with all their frontline players can beat NZ at their own game.

So it's going to come down to the forwards. Who can disrupt NZ at the breakdown, who can slow down their ball, who can cut down their space to cut off the supply to the back three.

Well England, Scotland, Wales and Italy all have that game within them. They have forward packs who are solid at set piece and effective enough at the breakdown to get enough possession. What needs to happen is that they take all scoring opportunities and apply consistent pressure to NZ without opening the game up. Ireland did that in the second test in June but you need a phenomenal collective effort on defence and at the breakdown to pull it off.

As in 2007, only wayne barnes can stop them now...or a good bout of ecoli...

Barlinnie?
Wandsworth?
Wormwood scrubs?
Portlaoise?
Ile du Diable?

emack2 wrote:Why isn`t Italy included in the poll?arn`t they a NH side and don`t they play NZ before Wales or England?also I agree none of these.

Sorry I didn't realise NZ were playing Italy too.

My opinion on NH teams so far is that Scotland are improving, England are improving and Wales have peaked. I don't know what to think of Ireland though, They were thumped by England at twickers then had one good game against the AB's away. I'm expecting them to be competitive but would be good to hear Irish fans opinion.

From a Scottish perspective I think we have the right players to cause an upset, we just need the right tactics on the day and a strong defensive effort/no brain farts or else it will be another 3 - 49 pumping. I would just really like to see our backline working well, as it has been boosted considerably since the last time we played NZ. I'll fly up to Edinburgh in a month fully expecting Scotland to lose, but I'm relishing the contest, got a feeling it'll be a good game this time!

Given that Wales have never beaten the Blackness, the best Scotland managed was two draws in the late jurassic period and England have beaten them 6 times, including Eden Park and the Westpac in the past decade, it's a fairly straightforward answer to your question looking at the formbook.

The bigger answer is that the All Blacks would give a thorough wedgie to any international team in the world at present and they will sweep the Autumn tests if they pick anything approaching a full strength XXII.

Now if the question was, 'who is most likely to beat Australia', then clearly there is only one answer based on recent games:

Wales beat the Blackness in the 1970s GC which for some is indeed blackness as they weren't born. But it did happen.

SA also beat Australia at home recently but apart from that I think you're spot on. Well at least I hope so.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Wales beat the Blackness in the 1970s GC which for some is indeed blackness as they weren't born. But it did happen.

SA also beat Australia at home recently but apart from that I think you're spot on. Well at least I hope so.

1950s Kia. They only think they should have won in '78

Just making myself out to be younger than I really am Kiwi. Of course you have to go and ruin that...

George Carlin wrote:Given that Wales have never beaten the Blackness, the best Scotland managed was two draws in the late jurassic period and England have beaten them 6 times, including Eden Park and the Westpac in the past decade, it's a fairly straightforward answer to your question looking at the formbook.

The bigger answer is that the All Blacks would give a thorough wedgie to any international team in the world at present and they will sweep the Autumn tests if they pick anything approaching a full strength XXII.

Now if the question was, 'who is most likely to beat Australia', then clearly there is only one answer based on recent games:

Really I thought the answer would be England.

Against South Africa it would be Scotland though.

All it takes is a wet day in any of the four matches and we'll see what happens. Also I'm not swure what state the players will be in when they get to the last round.

The SH are slowly being brought down to our level as we show them the genius of money and the more you play the more you get and the less players you have.

You could almost say that Scotland are... dark horses this autumn.

I think with the help of the weather and a classic Murrayfield mudfest you might be right.

Shame it is on a Sunday and you lose EM

In my book no one is beating the AB's atm. They are just in tood good of nick to be challenged by any of the NH teams. There may be a few games where for a split second we feel our country may actually come out on top but in the last 20 mins the AB's just seem to kill teams off.

When they played Wales a couple of years back, and they went down to 14 men with what was it 15 mins to go? I genuinely thought Wales were going to win, they were in the ascendency and what happened, even down to 14 men the AB's killed us off in the last 15 mins and all we had to show was a late consolation try by Byrne I believe.

Wales will have to play smart rugby. For me, they have always been guilty of trying to beat NZ using a terrible kicking game, and every time the ball is run back at us and they just tear us to pieces. To beat the AB's atm, you need good 'ol fashioned forwards play. Take it up the middle, clear rucks out quickly to produce kick ball and then hit them out wide, with the likes of North, Roberts and Cuthbert. Also, Wales need to use them up the middle regularly for me if they stand a chance (Which I don't really think they do).

Scotland are not in good nick based on evidence this season.

Edinburgh have been poor, and Glasgow have yet to really impress, with their best players this season, Cusack and DTH both NSQs.

Our best forward, Richie Gray, hasn't been playing particularly well, neither has Denton, and Euan Murray can't play as it's on a Sunday. Cusiter, our only scrum half playing top level rugby, is injured, Laidlaw has had a very mixed season so far, and the centres Scott and De Luca haven't played a great deal together this season.

I suspect we'll be rusty, and improve as the game goes on, but the ABs will be too match hardened and polished, and will win comfortably.

All our hopes hinge on the HC. We need our star players to find form and confidence.

Llanelli ! or am I in the wrong year ?
Oh yes. 2012, so no, nobody can touch them this time.

The itinerary helps NZ too. Aussie will be the hardest and I'm still iffy about it. Then the two easy games are first. Hansen can rest and rotate and have them fresh for Wales and England-the last big push of a season that is frankly too bloody long.