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Bledisloe 4
Well you would have to start with the top two rugby nations taking each other on, wouldn’t you? The Bledisloe Cup is competed for every year by the All Blacks and the Wallabies, three matches would guarantee a winner every year, so what’s the fourth match about – especially when you consider that for the last few years it hasn’t even been held in Australia or New Zealand. Well as the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy sang, this one’s all about the benjamins. Product. Cash. And what better place to host it than the haven to capitalism that is Hong Kong? Well, lots of better places actually, as they’ve only managed to sell 25000 tickets.
The Cup as a competition is long gone this year as it’s 3-0 to the AB’s. Still, they are both fielding full strength teams, and they both know it’s an ideal warm up before they brave the cold of the Northern Hemisphere. No Sonny Bill Williams yet, but I’m sure the All Blacks have packed ‘The Pain®’ and their normal bag of tricks, and are going to win this by more than 7 points. The Wallabies will at least give them a decent match, they beat the Springboks on their last outing and are a rising force again, especially as their pack is back to full force. The player to watch for me is Australian flank David Pocock, a superstar in the making. He’s not really that well known this side of the pond, but he’s a really smart target to be signing in the next few years.
While we’re on the Southern Hemisphere, this weekend also sees the climax of another classic competition of the South, started back in 1889, for a cup that began life as an Lions trophy (the British and Irish type, not the toothy kind.) This year’s finalists are the Sharks, my team, and Western Province. Both sides read like a who’s who of the Springboks, lots of big strapping men, and it’s likely to be a tight , brutal match. Look out for Patrick Lambie, the young Shark fly half who could well be starring for the Boks on their end of year tour. As it’s a home match for the Sharks in Durban, I’m backing them to win against this impressively strong WP team.
Magners League
It’s nappy time for the Magners League as all the seasoned internationals – get ready for the internationals. Ulster and Munster buck the trend slightly – Ulster have their full SA contingent which means they pretty damn strong, especially in the pack, while Munster have enough depth to lose a handful of internationals and still have a more than handy team. I’m going with Munster on recent results.
Leinster vs Edinburgh This is where the nappies are going to come in handy as Leinster ‘tests the depth of the squad’ and who passes to dunno. Edinburgh – who have been up to some unusual preparation - http://www.edinburghrugby.org/content/view/3238/87/ are going to be a tough nut to crack, even at the RDS and I’m backing them for a win unfortunately
Connacht are away to Treviso, and even at full strength, I reckon Treviso are going to be too much for them.
Aviva Premiership
Gloucester vs Leicester is the pick of the bunch here, could be a bit more evenly matched with the internationals out. And I reckon Leeds are going to get their first win of the season against Wasps.
On the Telly
FRI OCT 29
Ulster v Munster, ML, BBC2, 19:05
SAT OCT 30
New Zealand v Australia, SS1, 09:30
Sharks v Western Province, CC Final, SS4, 16:30
LEINSTER v EDINBURGH, ML, RTE2, 18:05
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