Who do you want to win this weekend?

Saturday 1 December 2012
Wales v Australia (Millennium Stadium, Cardiff; 14:30 GMT) Coverage BBC Wales

Saturday 1 December 2012
England v New Zealand, (Twickenham, London; 14:30 GMT) Coverage Sky Sports 1

A massive finale coming up here.

Arch Rivals Australia and NZ, Wales and England all playing their counterparts.

Who do you really want to win and lose.

Ulster......

Aye, Scarlets rather depleted for a top of the table tussle their Rodders...! I hope you go easy on them.

at least scotland can't loose this weekend!

I dont want England to win luckily with a disjointed performance that isnt a major step up in their attacking play, because NZ were weak and sick and didnt care or the ref had a mare or they just got lucky.
That would make it too tempting to not fix the obvious long term problem s the side has and keep them improving.

The 1/8th of me wants Wales to win, but Im not sure I could put up with the insufferable smugness if they did.

Are AUS, NZ arch rivals??? Thought it would have been the boks myself.

Same with ENG & WAL... perhaps for the Welsh but probably not for the English.

Hope to see a performance from both home nations teams however.

I think Peter SW has a point though... a misguided win could be just that, misguided. Just as important as a win is a performance, play with no fear and an energy ENG haven't had under Lancaster. Young teams are meant to have a bit of an edge to them, a tear up the rule book type... but thus far its been a very cautious ENG. Mix it up and try new things.. you never know, they may just surprise themselves.

Oz and NZ are arch rivals in all sports (well Oz probably dismiss us in most of them) and we're in each others back yards so often.(though many Kiwis tend not to come home after a visit the weathers so nice).

Boks and NZ are the biggest rivalry in rugby historically the two strongest sides overall.

England and Wales are 1 game apart in historic standings. 55 to Wales 56 to England. NZ have won 99 to Australia's 41.

Wales have beaten the Aussies 10 times Aussies have won 24, including the last 7 encounters.

England have beaten the All Blacks six times to New Zealand's 27 total wins.

Kiwis are the best team in the world by some distance and are looking to finish their NH tour with Straight wins

Aussies are a mixed bag, with injuries and good and bad form, on their day they can beat anyone not on their day they are likely to fall to teams like Italy and Scotland. They nearly lost to Italy last weekend.

England are currently competitive against the Six nations sides but less so against the Rugby championship sides. Narrow defeats allude to the possibility that they are either a team about to come good, possibly very good.

Wales have gone from very good to not very good at all. Can they raise the spirit and play as we know they can, they have lost to Aus 7 times, with an average point margin of four points.

tch tch tch maesteg, you used that phrase... "on their day they can beat anyone.."


tch tch tch

I don't think Wales can win to be brutally honest, AUS have improved since the summer tour and Wales have gone backwards, big time.

for any side form can be erractic but when form has been poor for so long they're not going to suddenly put in a great performance.

The AUS scrum looks solid, Higginbottom improves the lineout and pocock is back. They're not going to get outmuscled and the backs for Wales just look too one dimensional to trouble a street smart AUS side... both Beale and Barnes are great readers of a game.

They must view this game with great importance though. They have to come away with something positive before the 6N as IRE and FRA are up first. Their current issues could easily push them into a nightmare scenario where they are fighting for the wooden spoon in Rome in the 3rd match.

This poll is a bit lethargic.

Wales and England please.

Wales have the best chance as frankly bar a decent(ish) show against England, Australia have been poor. Thrashed by France and should have lost to Italy.

England won't win, but I can hope.

Well a win for England and/or Wales will mean previous disappointments are quicky forgotten. If either or both win, the build up to the 6 nations will be very positive.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:I dont want England to win luckily with a disjointed performance that isnt a major step up in their attacking play, because NZ were weak and sick and didnt care or the ref had a mare or they just got lucky.
That would make it too tempting to not fix the obvious long term problem s the side has and keep them improving.

The 1/8th of me wants Wales to win, but Im not sure I could put up with the insufferable smugness if they did.

Why would you not want an England win regardless of how they do it? This is a pretty much full strength All Blacks beating them would be a hell of an achievement.

Obviously want England and Wales to win. Underdogs all the way!

It is quite amusing that despite this being a mainly NH message board, the results currently say that we want NZ and Aus to win!

Do we really want our neighbours to lose more than we want to win?

(Obviously the answer is no. What happens is that many people put e.g. Eng and Aus or Wal and NZ. These roughly balance out and then the SH posters push the Aus and NZ scores ahead)

Australia to win the Blyddyslow Cup for the seventh time on the bounce against Wales.

England to give the rugby world a lift and scrape home by 1 with a last minute penalty by Owen Farrell who receives the Player of the Year award.

maestegmafia wrote:England are currently competitive against the Six nations sides but less so against the Rugby championship sides. Narrow defeats allude to the possibility that they are either a team about to come good, possibly very good.

Is there an "or" in there to follow the "either"?

What England to win. Not too fussed about the Wales game. It would be great if both Samoa and Argentina were in the 2nd tier for the World Cup but not that important to me.

Pot Hale wrote:Australia to win the Blyddyslow Cup for the seventh time on the bounce against Wales.

England to give the rugby world a lift and scrape home by 1 with a last minute penalty by Owen Farrell who receives the Player of the Year award.

I take it your on more Pot than Hale mate

I can see PSW's point. It sounds as though he's disappointed with the England season after coming second in the 6N and all but pulling off their own Grand Slam. Then the tour to SA and a draw in the last game didn't really see England leave on a high note. More like a flat note.

Then so far in the Autumn series, they are competitive against the powerhouses Australia and SA who are more depleted with injury than England and they lose both. Beating Fiji is like saying I scored in a brothel.

So is a victory against NZ needed for England to put them on the right track? Do they have the right personnel but just lack the confidence? Or does there need to be significant changes in key areas? I'm not the one to judge the answers to those questions but I get the idea that a victory against NZ would end the year thinking that all is well with England and SL is on the right path and it's just a matter of time before these players are world beaters. Not saying that is the case but I am asking do you English posters think this is really the case for England?

If England do lose, I certainly don't think SL should lose his job. But I do get the feeling that something is not quite right with the balance of this side and normally a loss makes you more hungry to find where the problem is rather than a win. The only problem is too many losses and it turns into a witch hunt and the coach often becomes the scapegoat.

Regardless of what you think, here's hoping there are two good games of rugby this weekend. We have had close games with the heavyweights but none has come close to being engaging or compelling in their viewing. Test rugby needs a boost this year. There's an empty feeling for many who think the best rugby hasn't been on display. There have been an awful amount of injuries for some teams but defence seems to have won out over attack for much of test rugby this year. Great starts to England and Wales would be the best possible things for both games. NZ and Oz are too savvy controlling games.

Cheers Kia good read

Wales and England for me, I can't vote for NZ after last week. I think Aust and NZ will win.

Interesting that with time the vote evened up.

Well good luck to all teams fans. I may well wander past a few of you in Cardiff today. Should be a wonderfully day out.

Well, Being English i would of course like England to win.

Will they win??? I realy do not think so.

But, it is NZ's last match of the season, are they thinking lets get home?..( one foot on the plane?) just how bad was the stomach bug that they had in the week?

It will be a huge game. And i am hoping for an England win.

RubyGuby wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Australia to win the Blyddyslow Cup for the seventh time on the bounce against Wales.

England to give the rugby world a lift and scrape home by 1 with a last minute penalty by Owen Farrell who receives the Player of the Year award.

I take it your on more Pot than Hale mate

Well at halftime, Australia are winning 9-6. And England are up by 3 penalties and a droppie from.......

Owen Farrell.

Might be wrong about the one point margin though.

Yep could be wrong about the margin.

And Australia come through for me once again.

Excellent win.

Don't suppose that Owen Farrell could be given POTY?