Last week’s Summer Tests saw the end of two long losing head-to-head runs, a last-gasp victory and a 17-minute period of exquisite rugby.
But unfortunately for the Home Nations, they were on the receiving end of these thrills, and definitely not in a good way.
Can any of them equalise this Saturday? Or will it be series defeats for all of them?
Japan vs France (Live on Premier Sports 1, KO 6:50am BST)
The one major fixture not involving any nations from the UK and Ireland sees Japan look to level the series against France as their three match series goes to Tokyo.
A ruthless second half display, after the two teams were level at the break, saw France through to a commanding 42-23 victory last week, and they’ll no doubt expecting the same again this week.
Japan captain Atsushi Sakate saw plenty of room for improvement from the disappointing loss last time out, and urged his fellow players to “get revenge” on France by making sure they made they put things right this time around.
It seems hard to bet against France earning another win here, but should Japan make those improvements and draw from their first half performance, they may be a tougher nut to crack.
New Zealand vs Ireland (Live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event, KO 8:05am BST)
Ireland made a brilliant start to the test series last week, as Keith Earls crossed early, but four tries in just over a quarter of an hour in a brilliant spell of attacking rugby from the All Blacks settled the contest.
The visitors competed relatively well throughout, but issues with their set-piece and missing chances – whilst New Zealand took almost all of theirs – left the final scoreline of 42-19 a pretty humiliating one.
They will expect to make the game to be much closer this time around, but have a lot of work to do to level the series as the tour heads to Dunedin.
Jonny Sexton has somewhat controversially been passed fit for the second test, despite suffering a blow to the head in last week’s game, but the news of his inclusion has improved Ireland’s odds significantly amongst bookmakers.
It will be of huge help to Ireland to have their captain available, and if the visitors are to have a bit more luck than last week, this could be a very tasty encounter.
Australia vs England (Live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event, KO 10:55am BST)
England’s defeat to Australia was a rollercoaster of emotions for their supporters, mostly negative, but their mood was helped significantly by late tries from debut duo Jack van Poortvliet and Henry Arundell.
Before that they had spurned the opportunity to beat a 14-man Australia, with Darcy Swain red-carded for a headbutt on Jonny Hill.
Swain is suspended, and there are a fair catalogue of injuries on the Australian side, but the return of tighthead prop Taniela Tupou will give them plenty of confidence.
Guy Porter, Tommy Freeman and van Poortvliet start for England, while Sam Underhill comes in to replace Tom Curry, who has been sent home with concussion.
The shake-up is a big roll of the dice from Eddie Jones, and if they suffer a defeat more disappointing than last week, it may be his last.
South Africa vs Wales (Live on Sky Sports Action, KO 4:05pm BST)
It’s hard to gauge what is coming in this test, with South Africa’s 14 changes out of 15 in their starting line-up, as well as fielding a bench packed with debutants, leaving pundits and bookmakers alike wary of calling this one.
Gareth Edwards branded the South African changes disrespectful, while Dan Biggar defended the Springboks’ selection, stating that he felt they had enough depth to follow up last week with another good performance.
South Africa showed real resilience to comeback in that first test, though Wales will be hurting when they look at their discipline in the second-half, and reflect on the card-happy performance of the referee.
It’s hard to predict what is coming next, and the reset of the Springbok line-up may benefit both teams, South Africa’s emotional energy still high after their fightback last time out, and Wales looking forward to a new challenge after last week’s disappointment.
If its half as thrilling as last week, it should be worth a watch.
Argentina vs Scotland (Live on Sky Sports Action, KO 8:10pm BST)
Scotland were lacklustre as they slipped to a 1-0 series deficit last week in Argentina, with repeated errors blighting any chance of their comeback from 18-6 down to 18-18 turning into a winning one.
Since they roared back in the second half to defeat England in the first round of the Six Nations, Scotland only have a victory against Italy from five games, and last week’s defeat to Argentina was their first in over a decade.
It appears worryingly that Townsend’s regime has reached a standstill, and if they lose this Saturday there will be no doubt the team is heading in completely the wrong direction.
Defeat would seal a first series defeat in Argentina since 1994, made all the worse when you consider the 2008 and 2010 Scottish tours of Argentina ended in a drawn and whitewash series win respectively, with both teams having come off the back of Six Nations tournaments where they had finished fifth and lost to Italy, and Argentina being hot off a World Cup they had finished third in.
Like last week, parallels can be drawn between the England and Scotland games. Both seemed hard to predict and intriguing to watch last week, but now that the two UK sides have gone 1-0 down, they both desperately need a win.
As do their coaches…
The Best of the Rest
The return of Tommy Allan inspired Italy to a thumping win in Romania last week, and following a victory against Portugal a fortnight ago they now have their biggest test against Georgia, in a game that will draw significant debate about the future structure of the Six Nations and European International Rugby.
That game is on Sunday, joined by Canada and Spain facing off – who have both heartbreakingly missed out on next year’s World Cup (albeit for different reasons – and Romania looking to make amends against Uruguay in Montevideo.
Portugal face an Argentina XV who beat Georgia last week, whilst the Pacific Nations Cup continued overnight with new-look Tonga suffering another defeat – this time to Samoa – and Fiji suffering a shock 32-18 defeat to Australia ‘A’.
But the biggest of these games are undoubtedly the two World cup qualifiers, as first Chile and the USA begin their two-legged tie for a place at France 2023 in Santiago on Saturday, before Namibia and Kenya do battle in their winner takes all game for the sole guaranteed African spot on Sunday.
It’s going to be an intriguing week across the world of rugby, and be sure to pick up Sunday’s edition of The Rugby Paper to keep up with all the action.
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