Tag: International Rugby

Kiwis Looking to End Poor Run of Form

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

In a first round Four Nations clash to savour, two newly appointed national coaches go head-to-head in Huddersfield.

However, the coaches couldn’t be any more different. England’s coach, Wayne Bennett, is one of Rugby League’s super coaches. A veteran of State of Origin, NRL and Super League, the Hall of Famer has won more NRL titles than any other coach (7). And while he’s only recently started working with England, he has more Rugby League IP than any one else on the planet. The transition should be seamless.

On the other hand, new Kiwis coach David Kidwell, hasn’t yet coached a club side in a head coaching capacity. While he’s worked as an assistant with the Storm and the Tigers in the NRL, his pedigree doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of Bennet’s.

Kidwell will therefore need a huge effort from his captain Jesse Bromwich and the rest of the leadership group to overcome a series loss to England the last time the two sides met. Especially considering the form England bring into the match after they destroyed France 40-6 in last week’s warm up.

Here’s how the teams shape up for the Round 1 match up, and our prediction as to what to expect:

Teams

New Zealand: Jordan Kahu; Jason Nightingale, Solomone Kata, Shaun Kenny- Dowall, Jordan Rapana; Thomas Leuluai, Shaun Johnson; Jesse Bromwich (capt), Issac Luke, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Kevin Proctor, Tohu Harris, Jason Taumalolo. Bench: Lewis Brown, Martin Taupau, Manu Ma’u, Adam Blair.

England: John Bateman, George Burgess, Sam Burgess, Tom Burgess, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Liam Farrell, Luke Gale, James Graham, Ryan Hall, Chris Hill, Josh Hodgson, Jonny Lomax, Jermaine McGillvary, Dan Sarginson, Kallum Watkins, Elliott Whitehead, Gareth Widdop, George Williams.

Team Selection Talking Points

New Zealand: No changes from the team that lost to Australia in Perth, as Kidwell keeps the faith. He’ll be looking for more out of his big forward pack at both ends of the field. He obviously needs them to make metres, but he also needs them to protect Shaun Johnson on defence -Johnson made 34 tackles against the Kangaroos, that’s too many for your chief playmaker. It will be interesting to see how Waerea-Hargreaves goes. He’s under a huge amount of pressure to keep his place after a disappointing stint last time out.

England: Bennett has made a number of changes to the side he used against France, notably, significantly shuffling the look of his interchange. He is no longer carrying three backs on the bench in order to accommodate more forward firepower. Luke Gale has been given the start in the number 7 number and will partner Widdop. Gale’s been rewarded for stellar club form that has seen him win the Albert Goldthorpe Medal for the last two years playing for Castleford. Utility Dan Sarginson makes his return after a two year hiatus.

Form

New Zealand: L, L, L, W, L, W (all against either Australia or England)

England: W, W, L, W, W, L (all against either New Zealand or France)

Odds

New Zealand: $1.80 at Luxbet and Betfair

England: $2.23 at Unibet

Prediction and Tips

Having earlier predicted an Australia / England Four Nations final, it would be counter-intuitive to predict anything other than an England win here. Games played in the Northern Hemisphere are usually close encounters and we’re not expecting anything different. With the home crowd support squeaking England home, the $6.50 offered by Sportsbet for an England win by 6-10 looks like great money.

Wallabies New Era Suffers Second Straight Loss

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Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was left asking fans to keep the faith after their second consecutive three point loss to European opponents on Sunday morning.  The Wallabies went down 26-23 to Ireland in a see-sawing battle that left many fans wondering if Cheika has enough time to mould his Wallabies squad together before next year’s Rugby World Cup.  Despite clearly identifiable positives in the performances of Matt Toomua, Nick Phipps, and debutant winger Speight, the Australian rugby public will still be questioning the make-up of their best side as well as looking for reasons why the Wallabies always seem to finish on the wrong side of close games.

On one end of the spectrum was the Nick Phipps try; a culmination of brilliant handling, clever offloading and committed support play.  But this was matched with general sloppiness when they fell 17 points behind early.  Yet, the fight back from that deficit was an encouraging aspect of the match, featuring some of the Wallabies best rugby of the tour.

The scintillating comeback saw the Wallabies respond to the 17 point Irish head-start with 20 unanswered points.  Three long range tries featured in the burst that make up most of the positives the team will take away.  The Wallabies will also take some satisfaction that they were not completely destroyed at set piece.  The side already has a soft reputation with teams thinking they can overpower them comfortably.  A similar performance would have been catastrophic to their future chances.  Instead, the forward pack were brave, staunch.

Unfortunately, World Rugby Player of the Year nominee Jonathan Sexton kicked well from both general play and at goal to ultimately resign the Wallabies to another end of season tour loss.  This time though, losing to the best team in Europe (one that is unbeaten in seven matches and will go into the Six Nations as favourites) won’t feel as bitter as losing to the inconsistent French.

The Wallabies need to bounce back quickly.  They have only five more matches to play before the Rugby World Cup.  A win against England at Twickenham this weekend will certainly help the confidence.

Strong Finish Sees All Blacks Home

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It feels like the same tagline could have been used to describe each of the All Blacks Northern Tour matches.  Terms like “scrape home’ and “survived a scare” could have been paired with “brave opposition” and “last minute show of class” to illustrate exactly what occurred against England, Scotland, and now Wales.

As it was, a brave Welsh defensive effort that last all of 60 minutes was eventually broken down by moments of individual brilliance from Beauden Barrett, Kieran Read, and Aaron Smith.  There were times, two to be exact (when the Welsh led by a single point), where the Welsh faithful would have dared to dream a first win against the All Blacks since 1953 was possible, only to have the dream quickly turn into nightmare as tries to Barrett (2) and Read rudely interrupted the local hope.

Both tries were typical moments of skill and composure.  Barrett’s effort to take the All Blacks into a 70th minute lead was an excellent individual chip and chase with a cruel bounce of the ball seeing him past an incoming Leigh Halfpenny.  Read’s on the other hand was a close range charge down and gather, upsetting a Mike Phillips box clearance.  Read showed tremendous nous and patience close to the line in scoring the decisive game winner.

Before the late breakaway, the contest was dominated by strong defensive efforts from both sides.  The Welsh effort to keep the All Blacks scoreless in the first half was as impressive as it was slightly negative.  Without really threatening the All Blacks, and using a large number of stoppages to give running repairs to their forward pack, the home side clearly felt a disruptive rather than expansive game plan gave them the best chance of victory.

The approach worked for most of the first half as the Welsh flat defensive line squeezed the All Blacks and prevented them from finding any consistent width or space in which to play at their fast paced best.  Barrett and Halfpenny were the only point scorers in what made for relatively dour and error prone rugby.

The half time break at least provided a hint of inspiration for the sides as both crossed for early second half tries (Julian Savea and Rhys Webb) that entertained the 77,000 strong crowd but quickly reinstated the deadlock.  As the pressure began to tell, the kicking games of the sides started to reflect the ambition of the teams, and would eventually prove the difference.  The Welsh chose a territorial game and continuously booted quality ball away in attempts to drive the All Blacks into their own half.  The men in black however, opted for more positive kicking often behind the fast approaching rush defence.  The ploy was successful with a cross field Barrett kick leading to a Jerome Kaino try and a chip and gather effort from Barrett sending the Kiwi’s back to NZ with another test win.

Wales should take some heart from a defensive effort that definitely unsettled the All Blacks but will also rue missing out on a treasured win against the All Blacks, a win that at half time seemed entirely plausible.

All Blacks: 34 (Julian Savea, Jerome Kaino, 2 Beauden Barrett, Kieran Read tries; Beauden Barrett con, pen; Colin Slade 2 con) 

Wales: 16 (Rhys Webb try; Leigh Halfpenny con, 3 pens)

All Blacks Change Plenty in Bid to Remain Perfect

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The All Backs have never lost to Scotland.  In 109 long years the brave Scottish are yet to break a duck that is beginning to resemble one of the most one-sided bi-lateral match ups in history.  Saturday’s Murrayfield encounter is the latest stanza in the meetings between the countries, and is a return to Scotland’s last resemblance of success against the All Blacks; a 23-23 draw in 1983.

However, the 2014 version shapes as an intriguing matchup between consistency and rotation.  The All Blacks escaped an England scare last week to reaffirm their position as World Cup favourites, and have made 13 changes to that side in an almost unrecognisable line-up.  Whereas, a much improved Scotland side dismantled a capable Argentinian side, scoring five tries in the process for the first time in a test in six years, and have made zero changes from that team.

The 13 changes made by Steve Hansen is the greatest number of changes he has made to a side from week to week in his tenure.  To an extent, that puts Scotland in the same vein as the USA, and opens the All Blacks up to complacency wobbles.  Leaving names such as Conrad Smith, Israel Dagg, Sonny Bill Williams, Julian Savea, Jerome Kaino, and Kieran Read have had many pundits questioning whether Hansen is treating the game with the requisite respect.  Complacency though, as a word, doesn’t exist in the All Blacks psyche, the team are too well organised and drilled to allow laziness to creep in.  Combine that with the depth in the All Blacks training squad and the versatility of a number of their players and the changes should have a minimal material impact to their performance.

Looking to exploit any potential All Black uncertainty is a Scotland side that under a new leadership group of captain Greig Laidlaw and coach Vern Cotter have drastically altered their game plan.  Last week’s effort was full of vigour and attacking intent, words that  much like the All Blacks example above, are rarely associated with Scotland.  Scotland looked dangerous with ball in hand throughout will look to tap into Cotter’s knowledge of All Black rugby or at the very least the absence of fear he brings to the environment.

Daniel Carter’s return to the All Blacks fold is an interesting aside to the main event.  That’s because even with three World class first fives (maybe four, if you count Colin Slade), the All Blacks are yet to settle on their number one option; durability concerns remain over Carter, and Barrett and Cruden have the goal-kicking yips.

With plenty of changes the All Blacks are obviously confident they can remain perfect against the Scots.  By no means however, does that mean it will be easy.  I’m picking the All Blacks by 16 in a scrappy match.

The Odds

New Zealand $1.04

Scotland $12.00

Odds courtesy of Sportingbet Australia.

The Teams

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (captain); 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Jonny Gray, 6 Rob Harley, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Adam Ashe.

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Johnnie Beattie, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Sean Lamont.

All Blacks: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Colin Slade, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Dan Carter, 9 TJ Perenara; 1 Joe Moody, 2 James Parsons, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 5 Dominic Bird, 6 Richie McCaw (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 8 Victor Vito.

Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Sonny Bill Williams, 23 Julian Savea.

International Rugby Preview

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Self-imploding Wallaby teams are nothing new. Quade Cooper has previously done his best to unsettle the national team; James O’Connor in the past too has brought it on himself to provide tabloid fuel.  This time though the train-wreck driver is the insidious Kurtley Beale. Beale’s recent indiscretions (and not so recent txts’s) have made the Wallabies task on Saturday night, when International Rugby returns with the third Bledisloe Cup match against the All Blacks, that much harder.

The All Blacks are not without their own challenges however. Aaron Cruden’s sleep-in continues to stop him from taking up his usual place at first five-eighth, and the side lost their last outing in Johannesburg. We don’t get many chances to watch the All Blacks respond to losing so Brisbane’s test, despite being a dead rubber, should still make for gripping viewing.

The All Blacks followed through on their promise to tinker with their line up; making five changes to the side that lost the final match of the Rugby Championship.   Liam Messam, Brodie Retallick, Wyatt Crockett and Dane Coles return to starting roles with Patrick Tuipulotu on the bench. Cory Jane is the only new face in the backline, replacing the rested Ben Smith.   Of the changes, Liam Messam’s elevation is the most exciting; the team lacked speed and aggression in South Africa, and Messam’s presence and awareness could exploit the Wallabies. Jane’s inclusion is an opportunity for the aging wing to prove he is still a viable wing option; many would argue otherwise.

The Wallabies will use Adam Ashley-Cooper’s 100th game as motivation for toppling the AB’s. The long serving outside back will become just the 6th player to reach the milestone. Ashley-Coopers uncomplicated game will serve the Wallabies well in Brisbane allowing flair players such as Israel Folau and Tevita Kuridrani to thrive.

On form the All Blacks will expect to win. Experimentation aside, it’s difficult to find any reason to back Australia. A dry Brisbane track suits NZ’s (and Julian Savea’s) running game, and the Wallabies will have exhausted a lot of energy in dealing with the media so extensively this week.

All Blacks by 20.

The Teams

WALLABIES TEAM: Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Leali’ifano, Joe Tomane, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps; Scott Higginbotham, Michael Hooper (capt), Scott Fardy, Rob Simmons, Sekope Kepu, Saia Fainga’a, James Slipper.

Reserves: Josh Mann-Rae, Benn Robinson, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Matt Hodgson, Nic White, Quade Cooper, Rob Horne.

ALL BLACKS: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Malakai Fekitoa, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c), Liam Messam, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crockett.

Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Sam Cane, TJ Perenara, Colin Slade, Charles Piutau 

Top Picks

New Zealand by 21-25 – $11 – Tom Waterhouse

First Scoring Play a NZ Try – $4.50 – Sportsbet

First Try Scorer Julian Savea – $7.50 – TAB