Huge international weekend Test preview

November 18, 2005

There are truckloads of huge internationals this weekend. If you want to watch live, check out Mediazone. You can purchase games in packages or individually. If you want to listen live, check out the BBC Sports streams and you can listen online for free.

The heavyweight contest of the weekend is the All Blacks versus England.

England are the World Cup holders, and New Zealand are currently the highest ranked team in the world.

New Zealand has just demolished Wales and Ireland by 38-point margins. If they win tomorrow, they will almost certainly wrap the Grand Slam, as the following week Scotland would be their only obstacle, and right now Scotland is a terrible side, and they'd have to turn around 100 years of losses against a formidable All Blacks squad.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Last week England's scrum dismantled Australia, and that's where the big battle is going to front -- at the forwards. If New Zealand can match England's behemoths, their superior backline speed and skills will probably see them home in a tight encounter.

But the most worrying sign for the All Blacks is the last-minute replacement of their best player Richie McCaw, who has a niggling head injury, perhaps an extension of his recurring concussions.

The South Africa Springboks start their northern hemisphere test series following a hard-fought battle against Argentina two weeks ago. The Boks front against Six Nations champs Wales, and should prevail easily after Wales was lucky to escape with a one-point victory over lowly Fiji last Friday.

The Wallabies are licking their wounds with a terrible six-or-seven test losing streak (even I'm losing count). They should turn it around with a victory against Ireland, but Aussie coach Eddie Jones must be biting his fingernails.

Romania host Canada in what should be an evenly matched test, certainly much closer than the thrashing Canada picked up at the hands of the French last weekend. Canada rebounds with a 2nd test against France next week, and this Romanian test should do them a world of good and see how their program is developing.

France awaits the 2nd Canadian test by hosting Tonga. It will be a bruisng contest with the Polynesian hardmen, but they are a shambles right now, and expect the French to give a training run and a good thrashing.

In other tests this weekend:

Scotland vs. Samoa.

Portugal vs. Fiji.

Spain vs. Moldova.

And in one of the weekend's tighest contests, Italy hosts the big pack from Argentina. Too close to call!