The Autumn Internationals are in full swing this weekend with six matches to preview between the northern and southern hemispheres. Last weekend, an experimental New Zealand ran in eight tries in a scrappy match in Tokyo to beat Japan and Australia wilted to defeat against the English at Twickenham after another poor performance. The two key clashes this weekend will see the RBS 6 Nations champions Wales confront a confident Springbok team and France hosts the reigning world champion All Blacks at the Stade de France. A number of this week’s fixtures will impact on the IRB world rankings, and the true gap between the hemispheres will be determined. Last weekend, three out of my four best bets cashed for a handy profit and I am confident that my picks below will yield some winnings to play with over the next few weeks. Make sure you follow me on Twitter (@S15_TheProfits) for last minute tips, game coverage, expert insight or just for a chat. Good luck!
Best Bet 1: Australia -10.0 (vs Italy) @ $1.90 – Bet 365
Best Bet 2: Argentina +14.5 (vs England) @ $1.90 – Sportingbet
Best Bet 3: Scotland -18.5 (vs Japan) @ $1.91 – Sportingbet
Best Bet 4: South Africa -2.5 (vs Wales) @ $1.87 – Sportsbet (tweeted early in the week)
Best Bet 5: Ireland -8.5 (vs Samoa) @ $1.92 – Sportsbet
Best Bet 6: New Zealand -10.5 (vs France) @ $1.91 – Sportingbet
Italy ($5.40) versus Australia ($1.22)
The Stadio Olimpico di Torino will be the venue of the first clash of the weekend between the developing Italians and an Australian team that has had a year to forget. After a much-improved RBS 6 Nations campaign this year where Italy recorded two impressive victories over France and Ireland, the Azzurri will see this fixture as one of their best opportunities to record their first ever victory against the Wallabies. Australia on the other hand will be smarting after their controversial loss to England last week and NEED to turn their fortunes around with an improved performance. In this corresponding fixture last year, the Wallabies raced out to a 22 – 3 first have lead before Italy pegged them back, but fell short to Australia by three points.
Italy
After a positive RBS 6 Nations campaign, Italian rugby took a backward step suffering three defeats in South Africa against the Springboks, Samoa and an agonising one point loss to Italy in a high scoring match. Football has always been the dominant sport, but players like Sergio Parisse, their current captain and number eight and scrumming expert Martin Castrogiovanni provide a great deal of leadership for the youngsters coming through. Stern Italian coach Jacques Brunel has announced an understrength and somewhat inexperienced team for their clash with the Wallabies. Besides Castrogiovanni, the front row is relatively fresh to International rugby with Giazzon (hooker) and Rizzo (prop) having only played a combined 20 games for Italy. The second row of Pavanello and Bortolami are more seasoned, as are the industrious back row of Zanni (77 caps), Barbieri (30 caps) and Parisse (98 caps), who will become only the third Italian to reach 100 games next weekend against the Fijians, alongside Martin Castrogiovanni. Edoardo Gori is a lively scrum half and he will need to shoulder some of the kicking duties to take the pressure of Argentinian-convert Albert Di Barnardo in only his fourth match. The centres and wingers are relatively inexperienced, but a lot of attention will be on Australian-born and former teammate of Quade Cooper’s, Luke Maclean who will play his 50th match.
Australia
Australia’s hopes of winning the Grand Slam this year were dashed at Twickenham last week in controversial circumstances and Alan Jones’ 1984 Wallabies remain the only Australian side to ever win the coveted Grand Slam. In 2013, the Wallabies have lost eight out of 11 test matches and consequently slipped from second to fourth in the IRB world rankings. Put simply, the Wallabies have lost the knack of winning and they need to turn things around sooner rather than later, both from a results and financial standpoint. Quade Cooper produced another solid performance against the English, on the back of an impressive outing against the All Blacks. Many will remember Cooper made his debut against Italy in Padova in 2008, coming off the bench to slice and dice his way through a tired defence and secured a Wallabies victory after a lacklustre performance.
Flanker Scott Hardy suffered a sickening head clash last week and has been ruled out of this weekend’s game due to concussion. Ewen McKenzie has sprung a surprise selection with Rob Simmons being named as Fardy’s replacement in an attempt to turn Australia’s fortunes around. I personally don’t think this is the best decision because it appears to be just a door stop and it would be the perfect time to bring in Liam Gill or even give Dave Dennis one more opportunity, but instead they feature on the bench. Looking at the rest of the match day 15, McKenzie has opted for stability and given his players another chance against Italy this weekend.
Prediction
Australia will be desperate for a victory this weekend in Turin and the home side will be spurred on by their faithful to produce a famous victory. Four of the past five matches have seen Australia win by a margin of 13 or greater and I can see a similar score line this week given Australia’s hunger and Italy’s inexperience.
Predicted result: Australia to win @ $1.22 – Betfair
Best Bet 1: Australia -10.0 @ $1.90 – Bet 365
England ($1.16) versus Argentina ($7.20)
Twickenham will host it’s second match in succession when England host a travelling Argentinian side in London this weekend. England will be buoyed after their come from behind victory against the Wallabies last week, a match in which they easily could’ve lost. Conversely, Argentina will be looking for their first victory in ten matches after failing to win any of their Rugby Championship matches this season. An understrength England team has already beaten Argentina two times this year in June, but it must be said that Los Pumas were also fielding a team short of a number of their European stars.
England
England beat their old enemy Australia last week in a match that was poorly refereed and in all honesty, poorly played. Some early wayward kicking from Owen Farrell and a first half dominated by Australia, saw England return to the sheds down 6 – 13. England regrouped after the break and crossed the chalk two times courtesy of Chris Robshaw’s first ever first test try and Owen Farrell who slid through an obstructed gap shortly after. The 14-point turnaround was backed up by some solid defence and a woeful Wallabies attack that failed to score in the second half. Rampaging number eight Billy Vunipola and the skilfully slick fullback Mike Brown, were the standouts for the home team, but inside centre Billy Twelvetrees and half back Lee Dixon can count themselves lucky to feature this weekend after ordinary performances.
Coach Stuart Lancaster has rung the changes for the match against the Pumas this weekend with an entirely new front row of Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley and David Wilson set to face the might of the visitor’s scrum. It comes as somewhat of a surprise to see Dan Cole dropped having played 39 out of 41 on England’s last Internationals. Courtney Lawes remains the enforcer and he will pack down next to Joe Launchbury. The back row is unchanged after a successful stint against the Wallabies and captain Chris Robshaw will seek to build on last week’s impressive performance after being overlooked for the British & Irish Lions this year. The only change in the backline sees the lightning quick Marland Yarde replaced by Ben Foden, who has traditionally played in the fullback jersey for England. Lion’s tourist Alex Corbisiero will come off the bench and will look to target a tired Pumas scrum in the second half.
Argentina
After another pour Rugby Championship campaign that saw Argentina improve, but still fail to attain their first tournament win, Santiago Phelan announced his resignation, potentially before he got sacked, after a five-year stint with the Pumas. His replacement, Daniel Hourcade was promoted from the Argentina ‘A’ side and his experience as a Sevens coach (Portugal) could see the Pumas play a more expansive game. He has named five changes from the team that got thrashed against Australia in Rosario, most notably Juan Manuel Leguizamon being promoted to captain this week following an elbow injury to the world class Juan Martín Fernandez-Lobbe that has ruled him out of all November Internationals. The forward pack remains strong, but keep an eye out for young Leicester Tigers flanker Pablo Matera, who appears to have the skillset to become one of the best in the world. His no-nonsense attitude will bring a lot to the Pumas and if they can continue to dominate up front, they will remain a handful for anyone they come up against. The Argentinian back line looks dangerous, but somewhat undersized in comparison to England this weekend and the lightweight Nicolás Sanchez will need to shoulder a lot of the responsibility in terms of decision making if they are to compete at Twickenham.
Prediction
England really only played 30 minutes of rugby last weekend and they still managed to beat a struggling Australian side. In no way would their performance have instilled any anxiety into the All Black camp with the impending showdown scheduled for next weekend. England’s team still has some cracks and I’m not convinced with their current line up, particularly the centres and I think Argentina will show that their time spent in The Rugby Championship has really grown their game and made them a much tougher proposition. I expect them to cover the line in a seesaw affair, where England prevails by no more than a score or two.
Predicted result: England to win @ $1.16 – Betfair
Best Bet 2: Argentina +14.5 @ $1.90 – Sportingbet
Scotland ($1.07) versus Japan ($8.20)
Scotland kicks off their Autumn campaign at Murrayfield on Saturday when they face Japan for only their fourth time in history. Scotland had their most successful RBS 6 Nations this millennium by finishing third behind Wales and England, which was a vast improvement on winning the wooden spoon in 2012. Last week, Japan hosted the world champion All Blacks and put up a brave display against the Kiwis and they will take a lot of confidence out of that heading into this weekend. The last time these two teams clashed was in Scotland in 2004, when the home team notched up a century and held the Cherry Blossoms to a measly eight points.
Scotland
The memory of losing to Tonga last year for the first time ever will still be rife in the home team’s minds and should eradicate any chance of complacency that potentially could been prevalent this weekend. The mental and physical battering they took helped them prepare for the RBS 6 Nations this year and against a less physical Japanese, I have no doubt that they will play a very confrontational game. Head coach Scott Johnson has named a team featuring two Lions tourists in ex-Crusaders outside back Sean Maitland and prop Ryan Grant. A number of other players like captain Kelly Brown and half back and goal kicker Greg Laidlaw were ‘snubbed’, but they get the chance to show their talents this weekend. Unfortunately for the Scotland, Tim Visser one of their strongest backline players has been ruled out due to injury and it is a shame because he is always an ‘any try scorer’ option against weaker teams. The same goes for Lions star youngster Stuart Hogg who lit up this year’s RBS 6 Nations with a number of breathtaking runs.
Japan
Japan faced the world’s best last week in Tokyo, but it must be said against a developmental All Blacks team, they did show glimpses of what they are capable of and exemplified a lot of pride in their jerseys. Japan played aggressively on defence, competed at the set piece and their scramble defence prevented a number of additional tries, which will bode well for them and hopefully translate into more wins for them in future. Japan could easily have been overawed by the situation playing the All Blacks, but they fought well for the opening half an hour and even though they tried gallantly to cross New Zealand’s try line in the game, they simply couldn’t breach the visitors impenetrable defence. The Cherry Blossoms will be much better off for their showdown with the All Blacks last week and it will be interesting to see how that experience affects them this week in Edinburgh. Coach Scott Wisemantel has made three changes by bringing in Luke Thompson and Shinya Makabe who replace Hitoshi Ono and Shoji Ito in the second row, while Kosei Ono comes in at flyhalf in a straight swap with Harumichi Tatekawa. The side will be captained once again by winger Toshiaki Hirose.
Prediction
Scotland have produced some encouraging performances over the past few seasons beating the Springboks in 2010 and beating the Wallabies in torrid conditions in Newcastle in 2012. Wins over Italy and Ireland in this year’s RBS 6 Nations were tarnished with losses to England, Wales and wooden-spooners France, but they have shown enough to give their fans some confidence heading into this weekend. As aforementioned, Scotland has played Japan three times in their history for three wins, the last of those being a 100 – 8 thrashing in 2004 where they ran in 15 tries en route largest winning margin ever. The Cherry Blossoms of 2004 are only a small shadow of what they are now and the scores will be much closer, but Scotland will still inflict some punishment on the Japanese and I can’t see the far-east Asian tourists standing a chance this weekend.
Predicted result: Scotland to win @ $1.07 – Betfair
Best Bet 3: Scotland -18.5 (vs Japan) @ $1.91 – Sportingbet
Wales ($2.78) versus South Africa ($1.59)
The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, one of the most prestigious grounds in world rugby hosts a clash of epic proportions when the RBS 6 Nations champions face up against The Rugby Championship runners-up, South Africa. After succumbing to Ireland in round one of the RBS 6 Nations in February, the full-strength Welsh team are riding a five match win streak and are comprised of a large contingent of the successful British & Irish Lions team that toured Australia in June. South Africa have been building nicely and although they dropped both of their matches to New Zealand this year, they cemented their second spot on the IRB world rankings and look to be tough opposition heading towards the RWC in England in two years.
Wales
Wales are the reigning RBS 6 Nations champions and you don’t receive that title without having a well-balanced and well-drilled outfit and Warren Gatland has developed the state of the nation’s rugby program exponentially since he took charge in 2007. Two 6 Nations titles and a 4th placing at the RWC 2011 in New Zealand has propelled Wales to number six in the IRB world rankings and a few victories this Autumn should see them gain higher honours. Their success has translated into a successful British & Irish Lions tour of Australia this year, where a number of their famous sons featured heavily. Last year’s November internationals saw Wales lose uncharacteristically to Argentina and Samoa, as well as suffering defeats to the Wallabies and the All Blacks. I truly believe that Welsh rugby has come a long way from then and if that is the case, it will be showcased over the next few weekends.
Welsh and British & Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has named a star-studded team featuring twelve Lions tourists in the starting 15 and nine Welsh players that played South Africa in the round robin stages of the 2011 RWC in New Zealand. The front row is immense with Jenkins, Hibbard and the woolly Adam Jones, while Bradley Davies and Alun Wyn Jones round out the tight five. The back row of Dan Lydiate, the scavenging Sam Warburton and the tough-as-nails, Tongan-born Toby Faletau will give their opposition a serious test of their breakdown abilities. One of the tallest scrumhalves in world rugby Mike Phillips, who recently had his contract terminated at French club Bayonne, will partner fly half Rhys Priestland in the halves. The loss of Jamie Roberts at inside centre will be noticeable, but his replacement this week Scott Williams, has been the unsung hero for his club team Llanelli Scarlets over the past two seasons and should make a good account of himself. Lions outside centre Jonathan Davies fills the 13 jumper and he will have partial responsibility for setting his outside backs in Liam Williams, George North and Leigh Halfpenny loose against a structured South African defence. This outside backs combination looked extremely classy when the team was originally named, but winger Eli Walker was ruled out late with a hamstring injury. He has raw abundance of natural talent and could very much become the next Shane Williams of Welsh rugby and I am hoping that he recovers to play for his nation this series. Leigh Halfpenny was the man of the series for the Lions in Australia this year and he will need to ensure that his goal kicking is on target to put the pressure on the Springboks.
South Africa
This matchup could well be South Africa’s biggest test of the Autumn Internationals and with a strong Welsh team named, the Springboks will have to play near their best to topple the Dragons in Cardiff. South Africa has always been a superpower of world rugby, but since Heyneke Meyer took the reins after the last RWC, the rate of development has been rapid and they will be a force in England in two years time. Disregarding a couple of positions (tighthead prop and fullback), the Springboks have established a lot of depth in each position and with a good balance of youth and experience, Springbok fans around the world will be confident moving forwards. They have broken a number of records this year in beating Australia (twice) and Argentina (twice), but their two defeats to the All Blacks, both home and away signified that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Consistency has always been an issue for the Boks and if they really are the real deal, they will sweep their November test matches and generate some more momentum to build on next year.
With a number of players left in South Africa to recover from injuries, coach Heyneke Meyer has still named what I believe would be their best team of the season. The 21-year-old Frans Malherbe will earn his first international cap at tighthead prop in place of the injured Dr Jannie du Plessis. His brother, Bismarck du Plessis has been given a license to thrill and his usual front row compatriot loose head prop Tendai ‘the Beast’ Mtawarira will help bolster the front row. One of South Africa’s star youngsters Eben Etzebeth and serial yellow-card offender Flip van der Merwe will be in for a tough challenge, much like the back row of Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Duane Vermuelen who has now made the number eight jersey his own. Fourie du Preez, South Africa’s first choice half back will partner Morne Steyn who has been one of South Africa’s least praised players over the years despite his long list of accolades. Jacque Fourie returns to the number 13 jersey for the first time since the 2011 RWC, as a result of his Japanese club allowing him to play and he will reform the world record centre partnership with Springboks captain Jean de Villiers. JP Pietersen also returns to the international fray having played in Japan this year and Bryan Habana and Patrick Lambie make up the back three. It is a potent line up that has performed so well for so many years, but the biggest thing will be to see how the Japanese-based players fit back into the team at the highest level of the game. To add further confidence to this playing group, Springbok legend Victor Matfield has confirmed that he has been back in the gym aiming at featuring in next year’s Super Rugby campaign, with hopes of once again receiving higher honours en route to the RWC 2015 in England. The Springboks are on a mission and it all starts on Saturday night at the Millennium Stadium.
Prediction
For a number of years, Wales were the easy beats of European rugby, however, they have transformed into a world-class outfit and no team can afford take them lightly. The Springboks have only lost one test match to the home team, dating back to the opening of the Millennium Stadium in 1999. However, their last four clashes have been slim victories by one, four, three and five points respectively. It will be a gladiatorial battle and I can see the first half being an arm-wrestle, whilst both teams feel each other out, but when Alain Rolland blows the final whistle, I truly believe the Springboks will have too much power and class and will cover the line.
Predicted result: South Africa to win @ $1.59 – Betfair
Best Bet 4: South Africa -2.5 @ $1.87 – Sportsbet (tweeted early in the week)
Ireland ($1.29) versus Samoa ($4.60)
Ireland will confront Samoa this weekend at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in a match that will be highly entertaining from a physicality point of view. Ireland had a disastrous RBS 6 Nations campaign finishing in fifth position and only nine points away from the wooden spoon (France) on points differential. Samoa were involved in the Castle Lager Incoming Series in June and managed to beat Scotland and Italy before feeling the wrath of the Springboks 56 – 23 in Pretoria. These two teams last met three years ago at the same venue and on that occasion Ireland were victors 20 – 10.
Ireland
Ireland needs a solid Autumn campaign to make up for their disappointment in the RBS 6 Nations this year. There is a good blend of youth and experience and this series could see the last few caps that Brian O’Driscoll will receive after an illustrious career for Leinster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
The match against Samoa this weekend will be Joe Schmidt’s first assignment as head coach of Ireland since replacing former coach Declan Kidney after the RBS 6 Nations this year. Schmidt named one of Irish rugby’s veterans Paul O’Connell as captain for the November Internationals, however the big red head starts on the bench this weekend. Jamie Heaslip will wear the captain’s armband in his place alongside five of his 2013 British & Irish Lions teammates in Rory Best, Conor Murray, the evergreen Brian O’Driscoll, Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney. Three additional Lions compatriots are on the bench: Cian Healy, Sean O’Brien and the aforementioned Paul O’Connell. Loosehead prop Jack McGrath is in line to earn his first national cap after some strong displays for his club Leinster. The same goes for his provincial teammate Dave Kearney who is an outside back. It must be said that it will be a tough initiation against the Samoans for both of these players.
Samoa
Manu Samoa has to be one of the most exciting teams to watch in world rugby due to this physical approach and the nimbleness of their players from one to 15. They are always a threat come Rugby World Cup time when they can choose from their entire player pool, however, contractual issues have often prevented some of their players from turning out for the national team. One of Samoa’s most monumental victories occurred last year when they beat Wales in Cardiff 26 – 19, having to come from behind at half time and they scored three tries to one in the process. Before the team was released this week, I was a huge fan of taking Samoa with the handicap, however, injuries to key players such as their gigantic prop Census Johnston, overgrown Alesana Tuilagi, Mauri Fa’asavalu, usual captain Gavin Williams, David Lemi and Dan Leo will have a negative impact on the scoreboard. Former Crusaders scrum half Kahn Fotuali’I will lead the team from all calculations for the first time in his career. Players to watch out for include Hurricanes flanker Jack Lam, centres Johnny Leota and George Pisi, and Alapati Leiua. There are a lot of points in this Samoan outfit, but it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their structures and discipline without a lot of their older heads.
Prediction
Ireland have always been there or there abouts, but have always failed to get the chocolates when it has mattered most. With a new coach, it will be interesting to see what game plan they adopt, but they will know that they are coming up against a rock-hard and emotionally driven Samoan team. Samoan rugby great Peter Fatialofa, passed away midweek and both teams will show their respects with one minute of silence prior to kick-off and the visitors will wear black armbands. It has been stated by a number of players around the world that the Springboks and the Samoans inflict the most physical punishment on their opposition. Consequently, there will be a number of bruised Irish bodies on Sunday morning, but I don’t see them needing to call on their lucky four-leaf clovers this weekend against an understrength Pacific Islander team.
Predicted result: Ireland to win @ $1.29 – Betfair
Best Bet 5: Ireland -8.5 @ $1.92 – Sportsbet
France ($5.70) versus New Zealand ($1.22)
Stade de France, the home of French rugby will witness a blockbuster clash between France and the ‘unbeatable’ All Blacks in the final International fixture of the weekend. France has had a second-rate year by their standards having won one fixture (Scotland), drawn one (Ireland) and lost six. The All Blacks extended their unbeaten run this year to 11 victories in Tokyo courtesy of scoring eight tries and they will want to continue that momentum this weekend. Matches between these two rugby superpowers have always had extra sting, given their rich history and France’s two monumental Rugby World Cup knockout victories over the All Blacks in 1999 and 2007.
France
French coach Phillippe Saint-Andre has demanded more from his players after a year to forget having received the wooden spoon in the RBS 6 Nations and were swept 3 – 0 against the All Blacks in New Zealand in June. Many pundits feel that French rugby has lost it’s flair, however, their attention to detail and strength at the set-piece remain two of their strong points and they are a team that you can never count out, no matter how lob-sided the scoreboard might be. The French have a reputation of being incredibly hard to breakdown at home, however, this isn’t the case against the All Blacks, as they have failed to beat the visitors in the Paris since 1973 and they haven’t beaten the All Blacks at home since 2000. This week they will definitely be placing emphasis on their scrumming performance as the All Blacks front unit has been put under pressure over their last few fixtures. There is an old adage in French rugby that states ‘no scrum, no win’, hence the reason why they have caused so many of their opponents grief over the years.
Saint-Andre announced his squad to take on the All Blacks on Thursday, however notable absences include Francois Trinh Duc and and prolific number eight Louis Picamoles. Veteran prop Nicolas Mas is always a force to be reckoned with in the front row and bruising lock Pascal Pape enjoys the ‘enforcer’ tag and is seen more of a grafter than a leaping second rower. An area of the French game that is clearly under the microscope is in the halves combination, where this week Morgan Parra and Remi Tales have been selected, the ninth combination to be tested since the 2012 RBS 6 Nations. France’s best back over the past couple seasons and quite possibly the best inside centre in world rugby Wesley Fofana will mark Ma’a Nonu in a true test of his skillset and his partner in crime will be Florian Fritz, so Ben Smith’s decision-making will be under the microscope at outside centre. The slim fullback Brice Dulin who plies his trade for Castres in the Top 14 will get a lot of aerial attention this weekend and being in the last line of defence against the All Blacks is always an unenviable task.
New Zealand
New Zealand continued their dominance in world rugby last weekend with a victory over the Japanese in Tokyo. Although it was a scratchy performance, a number of their youngsters were exposed to the international stage for the first time and will be better players for it. Sam Cane produced yet another exceptional performance, scoring again and was tireless at the breakdown. Sensational fly half Dan Carter had a faultless night with the boot (5/5), his defence was solid and he made the most of his opportunities whilst he was on the park. Full back Charles Piutau received his first man-of-the-match accolade for the All Blacks thanks to a number of tireless runs and two superb tries. Additionally, his wing partner Frank Halai scored a try on debut and made some promising charges that weren’t always rewarded in a scrappy match. The one player that will be disappointed with their efforts was Francis Saili and the All Blacks coaching staff have chosen to give Crusaders inside centre Ryan Crotty the bench spot this week as they search for Ma’a Nonu’s eventual successor.
Coach Steve Hansen has named a near full-strength line up and the most capped All Black team ever (853 caps) by recalling his big guns in Tony Woodcock, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Liam Messam, Kieran Read, Aaron Smith and Israel Dagg, who were all rested last weekend against Japan. The only first choice player missing is Hurricanes winger Julian Savea, so Cory Jane’s reappearance in the All Blacks has been fast tracked and he will don the number 14 jersey. Stalwarts Richie McCaw and Dan Carter make up the spine of the team and Auckland Blues winger Charles Piutau standout performance against the Cherry Blossoms has seen him rewarded with a berth on the wing.
Prediction
Many will remember the epic clash at Eden Park in Auckland when the All Blacks beat the French 8 -7 in the RWC final in 2011. The All Blacks have had the wood over the French winning the last five matches in succession and 13 from the last 16 (with one of those a draw). There is a bit of uncertainty in the French camp and not many people will know what to expect from them this weekend. If Les Bleus are to have a chance this weekend, they will have to throw caution to the wind like the Springboks did, play with a lot of aggression and defend resolutely. However, it seems that nothing but a spectacular and spirited display from the home side could ruin the All Blacks perfect season and I can see them cantering to a win in the second half.
Predicted result: New Zealand to win @ $1.22 – Betfair
Best Bet 6: New Zealand -10.5 @ $1.91 – Sportingbet
