International Rugby Predictions – Tips For The Weekend’s Key Clashes

Portugal should brace for a Springbok backlash when they collide with the back-to-back world champions in a historic Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

Also on Saturday, the All Blacks and Wallabies will look to build on their series wins over England and Wales when they face Fiji and Georgia in San Diego and Moore Park respectively.

New Zealand v Fiji

Saturday, 20 July – 4:30

Scott Robinson would be pleased with the results of the encounters against England and the composure his charges showed to edge out dramatic back-to-back wins, however, he won’t be satisfied with the performances overall.   

England’s kicking game caused the Kiwis a lot of problems, with both of their tries coming from pinpoint Marcus Smith dinks last weekend, something the Springboks would certainly have taken note of ahead of the Rugby Championship.

Fiji would’ve identified this as well, but as a traditionally ball in hand side, it remains to be seen to what degree they’ll be willing to go to the boot and how accurate they’ll be if they do so.

England did a masterful job disrupting the All-Blacks’ lineout, so New Zealand will relish the prospect of safer, cleaner ball to launch attacks from. That in addition to enjoying more time on the ball with Fiji set to be far off the pace compared to the Red Rose’s rush defence.

The Pacific Islanders, who have a new coach in Australian Mick Byrne, have split their two matches this season, rebounding from a 45-32 loss to the Barbarians with a 21-12 away win over Georgia. It’s a huge step up in competition for them, with their trip to the US set to turn into an American nightmare.

Prediction: New Zealand by 42.

Australia v Georgia

Saturday, 20 July – 7:45

Wales are no world-beaters, but the series win over them was the perfect start for Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies. They buried the disappointments of the Eddie Jones disaster and laid a solid platform to build on with back-to-back triumphs in testing contests.

That said, their maul defence is a serious cause for concern as Wales scored three tries across the two Tests using this form of rolling thunder. Again, this won’t be lost on South Africa, and it’s here where Georgia are likely to see a way over the try line.

They did improve greatly in the scrums last weekend, turning the table on the Welsh after the previous week’s hiding in the set piece. This is another area where they can expect a strong challenge from the Georgians.

The Lelos showed once again that they’re on another level than the other European Tier 2 nations when they clinched the Rugby Europe Championship for the eighth time in nine years in March and edged a 13-man Japan side 25-23 last weekend to make up for the previous week’s loss to Fiji.

They lost 35-15 to Australia at last year’s World Cup and it should be a similar margin on Saturday.

Prediction: Australia by 24.

South Africa v Portugal

Saturday, 20 July – 17:00

The Springboks are in a foul mood following their heart-breaking 25-24 loss to Ireland in Durban last weekend that saw them split the two-Test series.

An overhauled Bok team will take on the Portuguese, however, the mission will be to check the boxes, from intensity and intent to the fundamentals and overall strategy while making up for the sub-par performance at Kings Park.

The side selected make it clear the men in Green and Gold plan on running rampant but it would be pointless in the bigger picture if they don’t remain relatively structured.

The driving maul, such a traditional strength of South African rugby, has been neglected and as much as it’ll be entertaining to watch the Boks throw the ball around, it’ll be equally pleasing to purists to see them eat up metres and score a couple of tries with their maul.

Portugal showed their potential at last year’s World Cup, where they drew 18-all with Georgia and scored a famous 24-23 win over Fiji and have won four of their six matches this season.

A developing outfit, Os Lobos featured in the Rugby Europe Championship final in March, going down 36-10 to Georgia, and warmed up for their first-ever clash against the Boks with a 37-22 away win over Namibia last weekend.

Ranked 15th, they’ll be no match for the mighty and irked world’s number one team, though, with the Boks set to put them to the sword.

Prediction: South Africa by 55.