International summer rugby is almost upon us, 3 enthralling test series’
that promise rugby of the highest quality – I for one, am excited.
As I thought of the upcoming tours I tried to throw myself into the
shoes of Gatland, Kidney and Lancaster and imagine what all 3 teams will be
hoping to get out of their respective tours.
England – Building
Process
After a promising
6 Nations Championship, during which they proved a lot of doubters (including
yours truly) wrong the England squad and their newly appointed head coach will
be on high. This buzz will have only been enhanced by the way they dismantled
the Barbarians 2 weeks ago to win 57 – 26 at rugby HQ. During the
record-breaking victory there were tries from youngsters Christian Wade and
Jonathon Joseph which will please the England coaching staff as well as Chris
Ashton regaining form to score a hat-trick of tries.
Lancaster’s first
tour as national head coach takes him to South Africa, arguably the toughest
place to win in world rugby. England will be looking to use the momentum from
the win against Ireland and the rout against the Barbarians and throw
themselves into the lion’s den with no fears. I think this is a stage in the
rebuilding process since a calamitous world cup. Lancaster has named 13
un-capped players in the squad, and I believe he is trying to give a younger
generation a feel for what it’s like in the ‘deep end’ of international rugby,
he’s looking to the future.
Lancaster will
tell the press that England want to win every game etc. and as an international
coach that is how it should be. However, I think England fans should be
satisfied with victory in any of the three tests which I’m confident England
can achieve, however it isn’t likely; I believe winning the series is out of
the question.
I think an
acceptable outcome from this tour is the team performs well, doesn’t get
embarrassed, shows signs that they can take on SA physically and young players
in key positions handle the pressure well, such as Owen Farrell because if he
can do it in SA then he’ll have proved himself in my eyes. If England can
achieve that, then steps are being taken in the right direction.
Forwards: Botha (Saracens), Cole (Leicester), Corbisiero (London Irish), Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints), Dowson (Northampton), Fearns (Bath), Gray (Harlequins), Hartley (Northampton), Haskell (Otago Highlanders), Johnson (Exeter), Kitchener (Leicester), Launchbury (London Wasps), Marler (Harlequins), Mears (Bath), Morgan (Scarlets), Mullan (Worcester), Palmer (Stade Français), Parling (Leicester), Robshaw (capt, Harlequins), Robson (Harlequins), Stevens (Saracens), Waldrom (Leicester), Youngs (Leicester).
Backs Allen (Leicester), Ashton (Northampton), Barritt (Saracens), Brown (Harlequins), Care (Harlequins), Dickson (Northampton), Farrell (Saracens), Flood (Leicester), Foden (Northampton), Goode (Saracens), Hodgson (Saracens), Joseph (London Irish), Lowe (Harlequins), Monye (Harlequins), Strettle (Saracens), M Tuilagi (Leicester), Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Wade (London Wasps), Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
Ireland – Any Win
Will Do
After Ireland got
through their group well in the RWC I predicted the winner of the quarter final
between themselves and Wales would become serious contenders, however it wasn’t
to be and they were outplayed on the day. This disappointment became
inspiration to exact revenge on their Celtic counterparts at the start of the
2012 6 Nations, but a nation was left disappointed again. This set the tone for
an eventually disappointing tournament, climaxing in an embarrassing defeat to
the English. Ireland went down 29 – 28 to the Barbarians at Kingsholm during
the week however much like Wales had already sent the majority of their squad
to their summer destination. So I don’t expect them to be too disheartened by
this result.
Kidney takes his
team to the home of the world champions, New Zealand. I think the Irish fans
may be getting slightly cagey in light of their lack of recent international
success, especially considering that Leinster are European Champions and
domestic play-off finalists. This cageyness may turn ugly should the All Blacks
brush Ireland aside. This is why any win will do for Kidney and his men,
whether it be pretty, ugly, by 1 point or 50 points they just need to get a win
on this tour. Failure to do so will increase the pressure on Declan Kidney and
I think he could be made a scapegoat for Ireland’s poor displays, as is the
fickle nature of sport at the top level.
As well as a win,
Ireland may be looking for younger players to find their feet by including 7
newcomers to international rugby in their squad. In the centre Gordon D’arcy
and Brian O’Driscoll have been stalwarts for many years but they are coming to
the end of their careers; so now is the time for the likes of Ulsterman Darren
Cave to step up and show that he is the real deal.
The Irish should
expect no less than at least a win against New Zealand. With some experienced
heads in their team and class throughout the backline they have the firepower
to contend with the AB’s. A series whitewash could leave Kidney’s future in
doubt.
Forwards: R Best (Ulster), S Cronin (Leinster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Fitzpatrick (Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster), S O'Brien (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Mahony (Munster), M Ross (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), M Sherry (Munster), D Tuohy (Ulster).
Backs: D Cave (Ulster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster), R Kearney (Leinster), F McFadden (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster), S Zebo (Munster).
Wales – It’s Time
To Prove It
What an
outstanding year it has been for the Welsh team. After crashing out of the RWC
in 2007 to Fiji in the quarter finals the nation has become one of the major
forces in world rugby. On their way to winning the 2012 6 Nations, Triple Crown
and Grand Slam the Wales team proved they could win ugly and dog out victories
when they needed to. This was a sign that the 2011 RWC wasn’t just a one off;
they had evolved into the complete team. Wales eased past the Barbarians last
weekend with a 30 – 21 victory at the Millenium Stadium fielding a very much
second choice team. They’ll be looking to use this momentum and go in to the
series with Australia looking to make history as the tourists have not taken a
major southern hemisphere scalp since the 1987 RWC when they beat Australia.
Wales are being
talked up by a lot of people as one of the best teams in the world and now it’s
time to prove it. You can’t be considered a great team until you prove yourself
in the southern hemisphere, even though they are the form team in the northern
hemisphere it counts for nothing until you can win a test series in the
backyard of ‘the big three’.
The coaching staff
and players have made their intentions on this tour very clear and failure is
not an option. In a recent interview full back Leigh Halfpenny claimed that if
Wales did not win the series then the tour would be a failure, and that is the view
of the Welsh public.
For too long the
Welsh have continually underperformed when they have taken the field against
the tri nations and have failed to close out leads against all three in recent
years; the supporters are tired of being good losers or the nearly men.
If Wales don’t win
the series against the Wallabies then it isn’t quite a disaster but it would be
extremely disappointing for the fans, players and everyone involved with Wales.
This is Wales’
best chance in my lifetime to get the ‘W’ and I firmly believe they have a
better squad than their opponents this summer, many of which will still be angry
with the way their ‘nearly’ RWC cup finished, losing to Australia. The
potential is there, a nation expects, It’s now time for Wales to finally
deliver.
Backs: A Beck (Ospreys), A Bishop (Ospreys), A Brew (Newport Gwent Dragons), A Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Perpignan), G North (Scarlets), M Phillips (Bayonne), R Priestland (Scarlets), H Robinson (Cardiff Blues), R Webb (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Scarlets), Liam Williams (Scarlets).
Forwards: L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), I Evans (Ospreys), T Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Gill (Saracens), R Hibbard (Ospreys), P James (Ospreys), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), A-W Jones (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), K Owens (Scarlets), M Rees (Scarlets), A Shingler (Scarlets), J Tipuric (Ospreys), J Turnbull (Scarlets), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt)
If you subscribe to Sky Sports, make sure you check out The Rugby Club at 7pm on Sky Sports 2. They'll be previewing the summer tours with Jamie Roberts and Shane Horgan, should be a good watch.
Also, keep an eye out on twitter for the ever-growing rugby community #rugbyunited and meet rugby fans from all over the globe.