Weekend predictions …

And you thought it was tough to try and eyeball 7 Super Rugby matches in a single weekend? Try this International menu for size! Granted, there are a few lemons like USA vs Georgia, but to see all three SANZAR nations against the UK freaks on Saturday is pretty special, and then the icing on the cake is a little Baby Bok semi final action at Newlands on Sunday evening … What a weekend!

I am doing the build up to the Test, along with some commentary on the actual Test in Hatfield with Darren Scott, Simon Hill and John Walland of Ballz Radio … Should be good fun. Pop in if you “In da area”! Or tune in on www.ballz.co.za …

Righto, a look at the weekend’s mountain of rugby:

Saturday 16 June:
 
01:00 Canada v Italy                       
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistants: Stuart Berry (South Africa), tba (USA)
My prediction: Italy by 11

04:00 Fiji v Scotland                       
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistants: Ian Smith (Australia), Andrew Lees (Australia)
My prediction: Scotland by 9

09:30 New Zealand v Ireland     
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistants: Romain Poite (France), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
My prediction: New Zealand by 14

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Zac Guildford, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock
Bench: 16 Hikawera Elliott, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Sam Cane, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Ben Smith

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Bench: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Declan Fitzpatrick, 18 Donncha O’Callaghan, 19 Peter O’Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O’Gara, 22 Simon Zebo.

—–
12:00 Australia v Wales                                
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistants: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
TMO: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
My prediction: Australia by 7

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Cooper Vuna, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock (c), 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Bench: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dave Dennis, 19 Michael Hooper, 20 Nic White, 21 Anthony Fainga’a, 22 Mike Harris.

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Bench: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paul James, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Rhys Webb, 21 James Hook, 22 Scott Williams

—–
17:00 South Africa vs England, Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistants: Steve Walsh (Australia), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
My prediction: South Africa by 9

England have been forced into making five changes with London Irish centre Jonathan Joseph getting his starting debut. He comes in at 13 in place of Manu Tuilagi, who switches inside for Brad Barritt. Toby Flood replaces Owen Farrell at fly-half, Ben Foden moves to full-back for the injured Mike Brown and David Strettle comes on to the wing. The pack remains the same.

This while the Boks have only had to make one change to the starting XV, with Pat Lambie coming in at fullback in place of Zane Kirchner, to my mind strengthening the side! Werner Kruger is on the bench in place of Coenie Oosthuizen, which is also not a bad thing given that regular tighthead, Jannie du Plessis, is struggling with a slight niggle. Also, having Bjorn Basson on the bench gives the Boks an exciting option out wide in the second half …

Tuilagi is a man beast, but is better with a head of steam, and I think his impact will be reduced a little given his move toward the scrum. That said, Frans Steyn will need more than his wits about him to keep him in check. Skipper Jean de Villiers bore the tattoos of war last week after meeting the beast head on, and Steyn will need the same commitment on defence …

The Boks should take this one relatively easily, but the Poms will have learnt from that first Test. A lot of pressure will be put on both Hougaard and Steyn, and I just hope Meyer learnt from last week’s second half, where the Boks looked so much better when keeping the ball in hand rather than sending out the monster box kicks. Sure it’s a weapon that Meyer likes, but like all things in life, better used in moderation!

Beast and Jannie had the better of the Poms up front last week, but I am pretty sure Coles and Marler, who are not the worst scrummagers in the world, but were kept very quiet last week, will not be taking that lying down. I expect a bit of fire and brimstone up front! The Boks will need to be up for this.

Springboks: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Bench: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Werner Kruger , 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Bjorn Basson

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 David Strettle, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Bench: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Owen Farrell, 22 Alex Goode.

—–
22:00 USA v Georgia      
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Assistants: Jérôme Garces (France), Dave Smortchevsky (Canada)
My prediction: USA by 5

23:00 Argentina v France                             
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistants: Wayne Barnes (England), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
My prediction: France by 5

Sunday 17 June:

Samoa v Japan 17 Jun 07:10       
My prediction: Samoa by 11
 
 
Junior World Cup (All Sunday 17 June):

12:30 Scotland v Italy (UWC)     
My prediction: Scotland by 3

14:45 Fiji v Samoa (UWC)            
My prediction: Samoa by 7

14:45 France v Australia (Newlands)      
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistants: Sindile Mayende (South Africa), Rasta Rashivenga (South Africa)
Assessor: Tappe Henning
TMO: Clayton Thomas
My prediction: France by 4

17:00 Ireland v England (UWC) 
My prediction: Ireland by 5

17:00Wales v New Zealand (Newlands)               
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistants: Greg Garner (England), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assessor: Clayton Thomas
TMO: Tappe Henning
My prediction: New Zealand by 15

19:15 Argentina v South Africa (Newlands)
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistants: Greg Garner (England), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assessor: Clayton Thomas
TMO: JP Doyle (England)
My prediction: South Africa by 9

—-
And in closing, a Bok record watch …

• The Springboks have won the last eight consecutive Tests against England. This is a new record for South Africa against England.
• The last Test match at Coca-Cola Park was in 2009 when the Springboks lost the third Test against the British & Irish Lions in their biggest defeat at this venue (9-28).
• This will be the 44th Test at this venue. South Africa’s record here is: P 43; W 30; L 11; D 2; Win% 70.
• The biggest win by South Africa was against Argentina in 2008 (63-9). The Springboks have scored 140 tries and conceded 58 at Coca-Cola Park.
• South Africa and England played only two Tests at this venue before. In 1972 England won 18-9 and in 1984 South Africa won 35-9.
• The starting 15 boast a combined total of 470 Test caps – 168 amongst the forwards and 302 amongst the backs.
• Alain Rolland of Ireland is the referee. In the 13 Springbok Tests he’s handled, South Africa won seven and lost six. Rolland’s 13 Tests are the most Tests involving the Springboks by any international referee.
• Bryan Habana is South Africa’s most capped Springbok wing with 74 Tests and also most experienced player in the squad with 75 Test caps. He is the Springbok top try scorer with 40 career tries in Tests and all were scored as a wing. He also holds the Springbok record for most career tries in Tests against England – six. Bryan has played in nine Tests against England, together with Francois Steyn, the most of any player in this squad.
• With Morné Steyn’s try in the first Test in Durban, he became South Africa’s top try scorer as a flyhalf with seven career tries. Morné needs two more Tests as flyhalf to equal Butch James’ record of most capped Springbok flyhalf with 37 appearances. This Test will be Morne’s 24th consecutive Test of which only one Test was not at flyhalf.
• Bismarck du Plessis shares the Springbok record for most tries in Tests as a hooker of five with James Dalton and John Smit.
• Pierre Spies is now South Africa’s most capped No 8 with 43 Tests in this position. Pierre holds the record for most Test tries as a No 8. – seven.
• Jean de Villiers will become South Africa’s most capped Springbok centre with 59 caps in this position. Jean scored his 20th Test try for the Springboks last Saturday in Durban.
• Francois Steyn is the only player that has played in all eight consecutive wins against England and, together with Bryan Habana, the only other player in the squad with nine Test caps against England.
• Springbok career record holders at Ellis Park are: Percy Montgomery – 86 points and 18 penalty goals; Chester Williams – eight tries; Butch James – 12 conversions; Joel Stransky and Jannie de Beer – two drop goals each.
• Springbok Test match record holders at Ellis Park are: Gavin Johnson – 28 points; Chester Williams and Jongi Nokwe – four tries each; Butch James – nine conversions; Percy Montgomery and Louis Koen – six penalty goals each; Joel Stransky and Jannie de Beer – two drop goals each.
• The first successful penalty goal by South Africa in this Test will be the 800th Test penalty goal in Springbok history.
• Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis will play together in their record 22nd Test as brothers.