autumn internationals 14-11-14 fri

SATURDAY

ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA 2.30PM

Anthony Watson will start his first international for England in Saturday’s QBE International against South Africa at Twickenham.

Watson replaces Bath Rugby team-mate Semesa Rokoduguni on the right wing in the only change to the starting line-up from the match against New Zealand, the 20 year-old handed a chance to build on his cameo appearance from the bench in last weekend's 24-21 defeat.

Congratulations to Danny Care who will be winning his 50th cap. It’ll be a special moment for him and I am sure he will rise to the occasion."

England are on a run of four consecutive defeats and have not overturned the Springboks in 11 matches stretching back to 2006. Still, Lancaster highlighted the determination and diligence that has characterised this week's preparation

England team to face South Africa

15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 30 caps)

 14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)

 13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 19 caps)

 12. Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 5 caps)

 11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 8 caps)

 10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 26 caps)

 9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 49 caps)

1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 23 caps)

 2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 58 caps)

 3. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)

 4. Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 13 caps)

 5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 33 caps)

 6. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 31 caps)

 7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 29 caps, captain)

 8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 11 caps)

Replacements

16. Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 9 caps)

 17. Matt Mullan (Wasps, 6 caps)

 18. Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 3 caps)

 19. George Kruis (Saracens, 1 cap)

 20. Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 24 caps)

 21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 39 caps)

 22. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)

 23. Marland Yarde (Harlequins, 5 caps)

http://www.englandrugby.com/news/watson-wins-first-start-against-south-africa/

The five changes to the team are straight swaps between the starting line-up and the bench. Along with Pietersen and Burger, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has handed starts to hooker Adriaan Strauss and the halfback pair of Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie.

Cornal Hendricks, Handré Pollard, Francois Hougaard, Teboho Mohoje and Bismarck du Plessis will start on the bench.

“Adriaan, Schalk and JP have all started a number of Tests this year and they will slot in easily – we decided beforehand that we wanted to start all of these players in one of the first two Tests on tour.

“It’s a big occasion for Cobus but he would not have been here if we didn’t believe he could deliver the goods, and he’ll be next to his provincial team-mate in Pat

The Springbok team to face England in London is:

15 Willie le Roux 22 caps, 35 points

 14 JP Pietersen 57 caps, 90 points

 13 Jan Serfontein 17 caps, 5 points

 12 Jean de Villiers (captain, 103 caps, 135 points

 11 Bryan Habana 104 caps, 280 points

 10 Pat Lambie 37 caps, 81 points

 9 Cobus Reinach 3 caps, 0 points

 8 Duane Vermeulen 26 caps, 10 points

 7 Schalk Burger 74 caps, 65 points

 6 Marcell Coetzee 23 caps, 30 points

 5 Victor Matfield (vice-captain, 118 caps, 35 points

 4 Eben Etzebeth 30 caps, 0 points

 3 Jannie du Plessis 61 caps, 5 points

 2 Adriaan Strauss 41 caps, 25 points

 1 Tendai Mtawarira 62 caps, 10 points

Replacements:

 16 Bismarck du Plessis 67 caps, 45 points

 17 Trevor Nyakane 10 caps, 5 points

 18 Coenie Oosthuizen 18 caps, 10 points

 19 Bakkies Botha 84 caps, 35 points

 20 Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje 4 caps, 0 points

 21 Francois Hougaard 33 caps, 25 points

 22 Handré Pollard 7 caps, 61 points

 23 Cornal Hendricks 10 caps, 25 points

 A couple of interesting facts England v South Africa

South Africa and England have played each other 36 times since 1906, with the Springboks winning 22 Tests, losing 12 and two were drawn. The Springboks have scored 749 points and 69 tries and conceded 564 points and 39 tries for an average score of 21-16

Victor Matfield will extend his record as the most capped Springbok in history (118 Tests). He will also extend his record of 118 Tests as a lock and will also extend his record as the oldest Springbok ever at 37 years 181 days.

The referee is Steve Walsh of Australia. It will be his 18th Test involving South Africa. This is a new record for a referee in Tests involving SA, breaking the record of himself and Alain Rolland. Of the previous 17 Tests the Springboks have won 13, lost one and three were drawn. His last Test involving South Africa was in August this year against Argentina in Salta in the Rugby Championship - a game that the Springboks won 33-31.

Most points – 21 by Jannie de Beer (6p, 1d) against Australia on 30 October, 1999.

Most tries – two by Chester Williams against England on 18 November, 1995.

Most conversions – three by Ruan Pienaar against England on 22 November, 2008.

Most penalty goals – six by Jannie de Beer against Australia on 30 October, 1999.

Most drop goals – four by Andre Pretorius against England on 25 November, 2006

http://sarugby.net/article.aspx?category=sarugby/springboks&id=2728064

I have got a feeling that this match will be close I cannot call it and I think that South Africa will win but by no more than 3 .

SCOTLAND V NEW ZEALAND 2.30PM

Scotland team v New Zealand at BT Murrayfield

Saturday 15 November (kick-off 5.30pm)

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); 25 caps

14 Sean Maitland  (Glasgow Warriors); 14 caps

13 Mark Bennett  (Glasgow Warriors), 1 cap

12 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors); 9 caps

11 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors); 11 caps

10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors); 3 caps

9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester); 32 caps

1 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby); 37 caps

2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby); 78 caps

3 Euan Murray (Glasgow Warriors); 61 caps

4 Richie Gray (Castres); 40 caps

5 Jonny Gray  (Glasgow Warriors); 6 caps

6 Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors); 8 caps

7 Blair Cowan (London Irish); 4 caps

8 Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors); 2 caps

Substitutes

16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors); 1 cap

17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors); 4 caps

18 Geoff Cross (London Irish); 33 caps

19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors); 9 caps

20 Johnnie Beattie (Castres); 32 caps

21 Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks); 68 caps

22 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors); 16 caps

23 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); 89 caps

All 15 men that started the national team’s impressive 41-31 win over Argentina last weekend will once again kick off the second viagogo Autumn Test.

The reselection means that all five of the match-winning try-scorers – locks Jonny and Richie Gray and back-three trio Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour – all earn a return to the fold.

. http://www.scottishrugby.org/

The All Blacks play Scotland at Murrayfield this Saturday 15 November. (Kick-off: 5.30PM GMT, 6.30AM Sunday 16 November NZDT)

NEW ZEAAND TEAM V SCOTLAND

1. Joe Moody (6)

2. James Parsons *

3. Charlie Faumuina (25)

4. Jeremy Thrush (10)

5. Dominic Bird (1)

6. Richie McCaw - captain (135)

7. Sam Cane (21)

8. Victor Vito (25)

9. TJ Perenara (9)

10. Daniel Carter (101)

11. Charles Piutau (12)

12. Ryan Crotty (11)

13. Malakai Fekitoa (7)

14. Colin Slade (15)

15. Ben Smith (36)

Reserves:

16. Dane Coles (25)

17. Wyatt Crockett (34)

18. Ben Franks (40)

19. Luke Romano (16)

20. Liam Messam (38)

21. Augustine Pulu (1)

22. Sonny Bill Williams (21)

23. Julian Savea (31)

Two of the locks, Brodie Retallick (shoulder) and Patrick Tuipulotu (shoulder), were not considered for selection, due to injury. As a result, lock Dominic Bird, who, like Parsons, was called into the All Blacks as injury cover, will start, with Luke Romano coming off the bench. Loose forward Jerome Kaino (knee) was also not considered for selection.

I see this as a comfortable win for New Zealand if they respect their opponents

http://allblacks.com/News/26347/all-blacks-team-named-to-play-scotland

 SUN

IRELAND V GEORGIA 2.30PM

I see this match as an easy Ireland win by at least 20 points. This should be where Ireland experiment and see if there are players in the squad that they can use for next year’s world cup. Also they will look to find the perfect no 13 partnership. I feel that there may be a lot more needs to be worked on like finding another leader along with Paul O O'Connell in case he gets injured .  This type of a game is, in my opinion when they should be experimenting as the world cup is less than a year away.