The Analyst Who Switched Sides | Springboks vs England, All Blacks vs France | It's The Weekend!

Welcome back to this Friday morning preview of this weekend's rugby. Mostly South Africa versus England and a bit of the All Blacks against France. I'm doing this English because I'm on a bit of a holiday in the Cape and my wife told me, Envia, you can do one or the other side to side. I'd rather do both. Speak to my Afrikaans friend in English.

So here we go. Welcome back, Ari. Yes, thanks, Envia. Yes, nice to speak. We're playing against England, so maybe it's appropriate.

um yeah we will try our best we'll try being assimilated there might be a few few funny words coming through but uh mostly uh the terminology is this is uh is uh version in english anyway so yeah luckily for that if our english runs out about this people we haven't had any wine yet they're still running on coffee we'll see how it goes you know english things to run out after a while but anyway first round of the nation's championship and a couple of weeks ago, we said nobody's really excited about it, but there does seem to be a bit of a buzz developing around this competition. People are saying they're excited about it. Goldia specifically said it. Bolfwick said it. Maybe they're just making the right noise.

Sorry, but there does seem to be something brewing there. People are getting a bit more excited. These aren't just your normal winter tests in November, your summer tests. There's actually something at stake here. And I don't think it will make a difference, especially once we get to the business at the end of the year.

Yes, it would be nice in November to be number one for the Southern Hemisphere and play the number one team of the Northern Hemisphere. So to achieve that, you need to win the first one. We don't want to play catch-up. And the one for the spin box against England is massive. So, yes, there's a big hype.

It's getting bigger. There was going to be games anyway. Normally they come for two, three tests, remember, in the wintertime, and now it's just a once-off. But then we play Scotland and Wales on consecutive weekends as well. But yes, I can see also from what we see from the commentary from England as well.

It's a good momentum towards that. Interesting what's happening. A lot's been made about Henry Pollock in the squad, of course. And everybody was kind of hoping for him to run on. Even Dwayne Vermeulen was prepared to come back from retirement to play against him for 15 minutes.

Yes. But I think he's a good player. but playing him off the bench, that's maybe the big news in this election. Besides a few other things we can talk about on the bench in the scrum that they're also preparing for the box. But Henry Pollock playing off the bench on Saturday, that's the big news.

I think it goes back a little bit to what happened in February in the Six Nations against Ireland. England lost that game 42-21 I think was the score in the alliance. And he didn't have a good game. He had one or two moments where he helped with the try, but mostly in starting at eight in that game, he battled in the trenches. So I think that's a challenge for Pollock.

A little bit with Bobby Skinskate as well, and he's starting off very good in open play. Not bad in the confrontational stuff as well. Pollock, not bad, but when it's an arm wrestle in the trenches against the spin box, maybe he's better off the bench. So anyway, they've got a seasoned lose to you there as well. Ben Ernst and Curry also in that and Chesham, so they've got big loose balls as well.

But I think for me it's kind of behind the scenes what is interesting building up to this game, Envia, and I'll say watch out for the man with the laptop. So that's what I'm going to say about the game on Saturday. And the man with the laptop is Joe Lewis is his name. A lot's been talked about. He just came over from England.

So he's a performance analyst. And he came over from England a very strong cv in performance analyst um analytics and and uh so he's with the spin box for the last five weeks um so uh that's the man with the laptop and in in performance analogy you typically do like video technology and you do statistical data data as well and you'll do stuff like tracking software and um so they say it's evidence evidence-based insight that he gives So hopefully there will be good insight into the box. I think the biggest advantage for the Springboks in this is that he's been analysing the Springboks to length for five years plus. He played two World Cups. He was analysing for England against the Springboks.

So obviously the 2019-2023 World Cups, also last year when we played against them. So he will know the Springboks. So I think there will be good discussions for Rossi and the team with him. what did he pick up, analysing South Africa weaknesses, strengths, etc. Apparently he's quite good in line-outs and line-outs and malls and stuff like that as well.

England's defence of malls was quite good for a long time. So I would say, watch out for the man with a laptop and that's going to be Joe Lewis. He's a new man in the building. You sort of downplayed it a bit but he's been with England for many years as their analyst and now suddenly he's with the Springboks right before a Springboks game. And I actually asked Yandek Gwinnang earlier this week, is he actually there?

Is he allowed to play or work for the Springboks? No, you just said, he's been there for five weeks. You know, a guy like Rossi will definitely not let that opportunity go by. And interestingly enough, you know, typically when you play against England, the newspapers in England started talking about Rossi as a Machiavellian figure, you know, a couple of adjectives attributed to him, but he's a genius at the end. You know, they call him all kinds of names and they call him a genius at the end as if that would make everything better now.

but typical playing the man and not the ball kind of a thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, well, you said it. Joe Lewis has been there since 2017 in that England set-up.

He's been with the Renaki Rugby in New Zealand as well. So he's well-respected. And interesting, Rashi Rasmus said that he wanted another analyst. And so he said Lewis was available. So that doesn't look good for Steve Borthwick and his team.

if somebody becomes available felix jones also was with england and came back to the spring box um and uh there was it was reported with felix jones that's back he was just doing the defense for england and he got frustrated quote unquote felix jones he said got frustrated he's just contributing on the defense and he thought defense is is is is about all the processes all the systems and all that all that happened on the field and he was kind of stuck in just defense and he didn't get along with Steve Borthwick and he's gone. So there's two people that, two coaches that knows quite a bit about the England rugby. So we still need to do it. But also it was other way around. Matt Proudfoot was with the Springboks at one stage and he went to England.

So he could give that information as well to England. So it's not all one way traffic, but I still think that's behind the closed doors. So that's something we don't see. We see it play out on the field and we don't realize that there's been lots of analyzing that's been done. So Joe Lewis is a good acquisition.

And there's Paddy Sullivan as well. He's also from Ireland. He's also in that system. Well, there's lots of Irish. There's Jerry Flannery as well.

There's Tony Brown from New Zealand. So there's lots of international. And Phoenix Jones. Most Irish of them all, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there's quite a bit. So that's interesting. But what's happening on the field, we can talk about that. I think it's settled Springbok 15. maybe we'll be tested a little bit on what's going to happen from the reserves and how he applies that.

England selected a very strong team very physical up front, strongest front rows that they could pick. Fairly settled in the back. There's a few new faces, younger players and then interesting for me is a new number nine not new but preferred. It's Van Port Flit. He's preferred to Mitchell and I'll discuss that now.

I think there's a reason for that. yeah from what I remember I remember Hugh Griffin telling me that from perfectly to slow that's the one thing that sticks you know stands into my mind I wanted to talk about that English composition before we move on to the specific players I'm worried about if I was an English supporter I would be worried about the lack of cohesion um a lot of this team hasn't really played look at the back line almost every player is from a different club kind of a thing you know they've played and they've been together for about a week or so but still coming up against a very very settled springbok side guys that have been playing together for ages with a younger team untested combinations at altitude and alice park you know a bit of on the back foot you've had a terrible six nations england must be under pressure here surely yeah i think they're under pressure they didn't have a good six nations um so they there was like record scores as well against them and didn do well uh at least for them they played quite recently so it a few months ago but they They had a full six nations I think the Springboks are gaining the same challenge they had when Australia came last year So Australia came the first test the Springboks haven't played for a long time. Strong team. We started off well 21-0 or something up and then Australia blew us away at Ellis Park. Remember, Australia came off the back of a very competitive Lions tour that was just completed and South Africa didn't have any tests.

The same is last. South Africa played seven months ago and that was on the European. They played against barbarians but not at all the team that's playing on saturday um so um that's something that russia russell's also addressed in the media he said that they must be wiki they must be um uh switched on from the the set go they they must have good attention to detail all those things and uh so he's concerned i think he's concerned about the seven months ago and england playing quite recently so um it's been a few months for england but they're probably more settled but that's going going to be the test for for russi rasmus to get all those players within that 23 as well there's players that haven't played much as well that's peter stef that played it against the barbarians but even it's a bit also very rusty so he must kind of come back and quickly get into the the these old even it's a bit mode um so that that is a bit untested so um um the other 15 know each other quite well obviously lots of test matches etc but then there's a few um players coming off the bench for the spring box that's um that one test or six tests and stuff like that so so that's going to be a little bit of a test and how that plays out um it plays out in two ways um injuries force you to to do certain things if no injuries i think rossi will be in a good position to be more strategic obviously with how he apply the his reserves um so hopefully there's not big challenges there specifically at lock um that we discussed previously a few days ago with uh no um let's say uh known lock that's on the reserve reserve bank but uh um on the reserves but it will be peter step to two that will probably double up uh to go in there if there's injury problem i'm talking about that england what did you what did you pick up about from poorfield being chosen at nine what's what's your thinking i think it's size and i think it's it's a fear for the physicality that they're going to get i mean it's 1.83 meters he's six feet he's an old old language is six feet so it's 1.83 so he's bigger but he's slower as you said previously so so he i think they want to they prepared for a grinding game maybe a slower game more kicks and and more of a premium on on being more physical in that defensive channels where where the the nine is needed as well so um mitchell is 1.

78 so he's not small he's not big he's just a normal number nine but i think they went for size there i think that's definitely because alex mitchell was their preferred number nine all through the six nations um so i think that's what they did uh they went for physical forwards as well obviously um there's no model it tells you so so they have to manage that um but they've got strong players on the bench as well you willson pepper and then pollock coming on as well uh but um i'll i think what what corner i was more the front row and the reserves often you don't only look at number one two and three you must look at 16 17 18. now that's that's where the whole scrum thing develops and so they've got ellis genge experience lots of caps very strong jamie george experienced captain as well then john john hayes is the tight end so they settled up front what's interesting when i look at the reserves uh envy are they're not well known not players that we know that players that we don't see that much so the lucette reserve they call him bino uhano so he plays for bath um but uh everybody that's watching now can have a look on saturday when he comes onto the field it's going to look like oxen chair running onto the field he looks exactly like oxen chair he's actually built like oxygen chair 1.76 as well short stocky 120 kgs so he plays for bath so he'll know thomas the toy but thomas will also know him um so that's quite interesting um so the other uh the title prop is asher apoko fordior so difficult to pronounce um he's got kandanian ancestors so he's he's a bit of an african link uh but he's only 21 he's played just six tests so he's going to come up on the tight edge side so so there's going to be pressure from steen come on him so um that's going to be interesting to see but apparently both of them good scrum scrummeters luke cohen dickie is the reserve hooker as well so he's quite experienced so that will be the the big battle um weather's going to be fine it's going to be cool 13, 16 to 13 degrees on sunset, so there's no rain, so it's just a cold, cool evening, so there's not a slippery pitch, hopefully. But Scrummage is going to be interesting. So they're kind of getting themselves ready for a physical bat, and I think that's the reason also why Pollock is waiting to come up in the second half.

I don't think they're prepared to put him into that arm wrestle physical slog in the first 20. Yeah, if he comes on, Let's talk about him a little bit. He's going to be a marked man. I'm sure when he runs out of the field, it's going to be a couple of boos maybe and a couple of cheers. He's just inviting it.

And he thrives on it. He gets his energy from it. You can see. Can you imagine him hyping up the crowd a little bit and then proving us all wrong and scoring a fantastic try? Or the opposite.

He gets taken out by microphone, starting in a bone crunch and tackle or something. You never know. But I'm looking forward to that, just for the almost theater of it. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of that in that game. And the question that arises, you talk about the crowd.

How big do you think the crowd is going to be? SA Rugby now sort of backpedaled, dropped the prices, and now saying, yeah, but the crisis being overblown in the papers, there's never been a crisis yet. At the same time, dropping prices and no refunds for the people who committed early. Yeah, it's a problem for them. I think they should have looked at the big picture.

Firstly, it is expensive. But secondly, I think the biggest issue is just there's an oversupply of big rugby coming up between Johannesburg, Pretoria and Soweto. So people look at that as well. You remember when the Spimox play at Johannesburg, there's about 20,000 people that probably go from Pretoria to watch it as well. But they say, oh, let's wait a little bit.

Next week, Scotland play at Loftus. Let's go and watch that game. So that's the influence there. You've got the All Blacks coming. I remember the All Blacks play against the Lions and the Blue Bulls.

They play test rugby there at Ellis Park as well. They play a test in Soweto, Soccer City as well. So there's a massive amount of rugby on the way. So it's kind of an oversupply for all the stadiums, all the rugby happening in that region. So I think that's got an influence as well.

I think first it is too expensive, but normally when England play against the Springboks at Ellis Park, even if it's expensive, you'll pack the stadium because it's such a big interest. But I think playing Scotland next week at Loftus has got a big influence. I think lots of thousands of people that would have driven through from Pretoria will just say, but let's just wait. Let's just save our money. Take the whole family and let's go watch them play Scotland.

Well, you can't say Alice Park. I really have to say 10 bet Alice Park. At last, a new naming sponsor. Five-year deal signed. Never heard of them before.

I don't bet or not gamble, but I suppose, you know, they must have the money to back it up. I hope. We know from Formula One days, a couple of big sponsor names that never materialized with the money. I'm not saying this can happen in this instance at all. please people, don't shoot me.

I'm just saying, I've never heard of these people before. I'm very happy that they actually have a naming sponsor. It took them a while, almost a year, or more than a year, I suppose. Yeah, it's good. And it's an economic capital of South Africa.

So there needs to be a strong sponsor there. But the rugby experience at Ellis Park remains a bit of a challenge. And that's just my personal experience. The last time I was watching rugby was a test that we also watched together. was italy um um that played against speed box in pretoria and i remember it's a great experience there's you can go just outside the stadium there's big screens and there's restaurants etc you can hang around and there's beer tents um alice park you kind of on the final whistle just uh take your jacket and run for your car so it it is it is it's it's a totally different experience so i think that that is a challenge in in just your it's it's it's a uh through the years alice park's been good to South African rugby from 95 onwards, etc.

Excuse me. But in recent times, also, we've lost big against Australia there. So it's not that fortress that can't be broken. We've had success, but we've also had challenges there. So it's not the be-all and end-all, the only place, only field in South Africa that we can beat big teams.

I mean, we've actually, playing in Cape Town and in Pretoria and Durban is just as good. But anyway, I think that total experience is a challenge at the moment. And that probably an influence as well on people buying tickets as well I think that that comes into play a little bit yeah i think what we have to keep in mind is fuel for example is double what it costs much more than it costs beginning of the year so people's disposable income is shrunk never mind how much how many tickets are available how big the the supply is and everything else people just don't have as much spendable money than they did before and as i have to sort of alluded to it when and I said it's down to the war against Iran, which directly affected fuel prices. I mean, like I said, everything is more expensive. And I think that's also playing a role there.

We'll see next week against Scotland where those ticket sales were. Because the unions can't tell us, because SRP is running it. The unions can't tell us how good the sales are or not, for that matter. So we'll see how that pans out. Just getting back to the rugby quickly.

Big talk about Marnie Libok being chosen. I think for me, it was a no-brainer. The best decision, yes, maybe last year wasn't such a good game, but so what? Everybody's got ups and downs. He looks like a very much more confident player.

The way he was looking at the press conference this week, he seems to have, I don't know, grown in stature a little bit, maybe being out of the limelight playing in Japan, maybe second league a little bit less pressure. I think I'm looking forward to how well he performs. Yes, and he's been under enough pressure to be able to experience what it's like to play international rugby, and he's had success and he's had challenges. But it happens to everybody. It's happened to Johnny Wilkinson, Dan Carter, even.

You know, every player, we look at the tens, they're under pressure, they need to kick all their conversions, they need to kick the penalties, they're pressure on that tactically run the show. But I like the way that he presented himself at the media. So he's saying, but I need to take responsibility and get the team to play in the right areas, to call the plays in the right moments, et cetera. So he knows the responsibility. There's lots of leaders around him as well.

So he's a few years on. He's always been a very attacking player. So if you put him in space, he's very good at that. He's good in those little kicks to the wings as well. But he'll play you.

He's not going to be just a link. If it's on, he'll play you. Tactically, kicking is a lot better as well. He's kicking to the balls, improved quite a bit as well. There was one season where he really battled, but that seemed to be a lot better.

He's been kicking in Japan quite a bit. I think under different pressure, I think he could get his technique and settle into that. It's like a golf swing as well. You know, sometimes it's better to go and play on your own in 9-0s and just get your swing right again. So it feels a little bit like that.

He's been playing in Japan out of the limelight a little bit and just do your thing. So hopefully it will be all okay, but there's going to be pressure. There's been pressure on Pollard as well. He missed a few kicks playing for the Bulls as well in some of the semis and et cetera in the UFC. So that happens.

They're all human. You're not going to kick 100% all the time. But in terms of his experience, he knows what it's like to play for the box. He knows the lending next to him. He knows Williams.

He knows the setup. He knows what's expected. So I agree. The media conference, they asked him all the tough questions about kicking, etc. They even asked him if he can speak a few Japanese words.

He could only manage to say two words. But that was enough. So maybe they speak mostly English. Two more than I can say. I think I can maybe say sushi.

I don't know if that's even a Japanese word. Samurai. Samurai something. But anyway, he's a settled player. I'm looking forward to see that they give him good ball as well.

If he get front foot ball on Saturday, he'll be a threat. Yeah, okay. Going back history, A2A, South Africa, the clear favours won 29 times. England's only won twice. England's last one in October in 1972, it looks like.

So, I mean, the odds are against them. So, what are you predicting? I see some of our rugby publications are predicting quite a big score for the box beating England, not just handsomely, but hands down almost. What are you thinking? No, I think it's going to be tough.

I think and I'm scared on what's happening because we haven't played in seven months. I'm scared because what happened against Australia at Ellis Park after they've played against the Lions. So I think it's been a few months that England didn't play as well. But remember, for them playing fairly recently, Six Nations is a big advantage. So they have got lots of easier, quicker for them to get together again.

So Rusty, in terms of a team, I'm a bit concerned. I think it's going to be an arm wrestle. Also, we need to look at the referee as well. Not that he's going to be the B and Endor, but James Dolman, he's from New Zealand. He's going to be a referee.

Some will remember the name all of a sudden because of what happened against Italy last year. He's the referee that sent off a mustard in the 12th minute against Italy for that red card. That was very shaky in terms. Well, it was so shaky that it was overturned to a yellow after the game. So that was, we were down to 13 at one stage as well.

I remember now. All the drama is coming back. Yeah, but he did have his game back after that at least. He was the referee when the Springboks played Australia in Cape Town after they lost against Australia in Ellis Park. that remember that game that was played in k-town uh not a big one 32 22 or something but it was um he was the referee in that game as well so we we've had a game that game wasn't too bad i think he was he was good in that game um so we don't look at that but it's interesting to see we've got a new zealand referee often i feel more comfortable with the southern hemisphere referees and the weather referee but we don't get exposure to them as much anymore as we did in the super rugby times.

So it was European referees, obviously, if you've got the Irishman or Welsh or Scottish referee, England will be more comfortable with them normally in the previous years. So New Zealand's Southern Hemisphere, it's not a big difference, but I feel a little bit more comfortable having a New Zealand referee than somebody from Europe. Well, we're used to the Northern Hemisphere referees now playing in the URC, like you just said. So we're almost in the the same boat as england and all those other well not england scotland and those teams because they used to the way that the urc for example is referee these guys come from super rugby you know super rugby is being played let's call it slightly differently the euphorismos definitely let's be gentle but there's a i think there might be a bit of an interpretation problem but yeah we'll get to that south african's the overwhelming favorite of the bookies as well like i said there's now 10-bet alice park so we have to talk about the odds so that's all i'm going to say about i'm not interested in betting so anyway right next game early tomorrow morning all blacks first game under dave reny after scott robinson was shown the door unceremoniously early and um interesting especially number 10 no bowden barrett in the entire 23 that that's a big upset the new you know maybe a new direction yeah it's it's um um ruben love um so he's exciting he's 25 years old so he's attacking fly off. We haven't seen much of him.

Well, if you watched all the games early on Saturday mornings, you would pick him up playing for the Hurricanes. So Hurricanes had a brilliant season. He's got McKenzie at 15 as well. So he's going for two very attacking players at 10 and 15. Will Jordan playing on the wing.

So I think that's the first intent he's showing that he wants to play more attacking rugby probably. So a new name to remember, Ruben Love. So we'll probably see a lot of him when the All Blacks come and play, if he stays healthy in the next few months. But yes, it's a big game for Rennie, picking his first team. I listened to Jordy Barrett in his interview with the media.

That's his fourth All Black coach just for him playing. That's incredible. So there's been lots of chopping and changing, settling in. he says it's small little adjustments. But he said that Rennie told them it's about getting off the floor quicker.

So that was an interesting statement that Dave Rennie, maybe it was commitment. I think he challenged the team and maybe challenged how the team played in the past few seasons in commitment. So he worded it as saying the lesson from Rennie was get off the floor quicker. So I think it's a little bit of commitment, a little better commitment. But yeah, Interesting team to see.

Roygaard still at number nine. So he's a big player at number nine for them as well. Ardis Abia starting at eight as captain as well. So there's a few injuries as well at lock, but a strong front row. So it will be Fletcher, Newell, Tyrell Lomax, and Ethan DeGroote.

They will be some of the forwards or the props there. Against France, just talking about that, they've got a problem at prop because they don't have to lose in Montpellier players. that's available. They got all the players from Bordeaux that playing So it almost like Bordeaux playing against the Hurricanes in different jerseys But they taken a prop from retirement He's 33 years old. His name is Jefferson Puro.

He's going to play prop. So they've got a problem at prop. So that's going to be the pressure. So how can they survive the onslaught of New Zealand? They're quite settled in the front row.

So that's going to be the challenge for them. But there's enough players from Bordeaux that can keep them busy. I mean, just look at 9-10. Maxime Luka, Jalibu at 10. You've got Pinot on the wing.

Just a pity that Louis Billy Biary, he's not playing. So he's been rested and Antoine de Pont also injured. So there's enough players, but I think they will keep New Zealand busy for 16 minutes. But I think New Zealand will be too strong. But it's interesting.

Antoine de Pont, they haven't played there since 2017 or something. So he doesn't like travelling to New Zealand. No. People are wondering whether he's going to make a pitch up there. But obviously last week was the final.

De Luz beating Montpellier in the top 14 final. What a game that was. So yeah, they're not available. But I mean, they didn't say he wasn't available. They said he was injured.

So I'm just interested to know why that was what the case really was. So V at 80 is actually I thought he was better at flank maybe. Moving it back to eight. I always thought he might be a bit small as an eight. Yeah, they had Satiti there most of the season last year.

Young, very exciting number eight. He's on the reserve bench. Sabir played between flank and eighth man. 2023 World Cup, I think he was mostly also, I can't remember if he was on the flank mostly in 2023. But he's obviously experienced captain, having been the captain of the World Cup in 2023.

So I think that's worth a lot to them. He's just been appointed as captain for a year quote unquote from the coach so seems like New Zealand's still kind of working in all these year two year sequences they've appointed Tony Brown even from two years out so they're a bit nervous how things are going to work in keeping the doors open but so we're a good player obviously he's more mobile we know how fast he is he's physical as well good ball player so from number eight he can play well but then again the super rugby that they've been playing was I still have doubt about the defensive pressure they get playing against the Australian teams it's a little bit better when they play the New Zealand teams but still the scores are big that final was a massive mismatch and big scores but I think the challenge for New Zealand might be they're not going to have the space and all the go forward that they normally get in all these franchise rugby. I think even the France team with just kind of Bordeaux players will test them a little bit bigger there. It's going to be more pressure, there's going to be less space, there's going to be less time. So yes, Xavier is a key player.

So he's the kind of player that you give him two, three moments in a game. It's like Pollock as well. So that's the same threat. He can create those moments where he can create something for you in its seven points. But he's a good player.

I think a good leader as well. So good choice for René to get him back again. I think the French team's ace up the sleeve is going to be Leucou and Johnny Bear, that 9-10 combination. I think, you know, Roygaard's a good number 9 experience, Ruben Lovison's almost a rookie kind of a thing at 10, specifically. I would watch that battle quite closely, and I wouldn't be surprised, because, you know, I just noticed that New Zealand lost one in Custures in 2016.

Won there in 10 years. so it's not like it's a fortress or anything yeah yeah they haven't played there much as well because of the earthquake so so it's kind of this new stadium it's the they call it the one new zealand stadium in christmas so 30 000 seater they can push it to 36 000 but it's interesting it's it's a solid closed roof it's always closed and so it's they call it the et double always closed okay yeah it's a it's a transparent roof they call it it's called the etfe roof and it allows natural grass to grow so um so it's always it's permanently closed so it's never going to be open so um so that's quite interesting um they still kind of putting bets on who's going to kick uh up and under into the roof who's going to be the first player seems like the roof is quite low as well so maybe it can happen this week they can get france standing for a game he'll show you quickly how to hit the roof without no sasha so i should i can keep that going to come down so it's going up very high out so your prediction what do you think what are you thinking Yeah, it's New Zealand. I think they will come out of the blocks flying. I think it's the new broom. They're going to sweep.

Yeah, I think Dave Rennie is a good coach. Good team, good players in there. They settled. I think France will give them a big go into the second half. But pressure in the tight five is going to tell in the end.

And there's good runners in the New Zealand team. Love and McKenzie is going to be difficult to keep them down for 80 minutes if they get good ball. So I think I'll say the All Blacks coming away with a win again. They play Italy next week as well. So I think he's going to be out of the blocks with two quick wins.

But it's going to be tough. Always when France go, there's kind of like a semi-beat team and they've been competitive in the third test last year, the first to the last quite far. But I think New Zealand will win. But it's going to be close for 50, 60 minutes and then they'll pull away. I think so.

Yeah, well, it's basically the top 14 champions against the Super Rugby Champions, like you just said, Ari Cain versus Bordeaux. Not entirely, but close. To watch out for. Just briefly, Ari, Joel Schmidt, these last three tests in charge of Australia, lots of rumours about him maybe going back to Leinster now that Leo Cullen has said that he's going to retire after or, you know, move on to greener pastures, I don't know where, after next year. But Joel Schmidt has denied that.

He said he's sort of basically done with coaching, sounds to me like. but you never know. He's been with Leicester, he was of Ireland for many years, playing against his old team now again in the form of Ireland. I'm just briefly looking forward to that, you know, the swan song kind of thing because he did sort of revitalise Australia rugby to a degree, don't you think? Oh yes, and he was a good coach for them in the Lions series.

He made them very competitive, a lot more competitive than we thought and he's a brilliant coach. He's well respected in Ireland. I would think that there will be a few phone calls going to and fro. I don't think, I think he's been, Ireland's been good to him. He's been good to Ireland.

So, so wouldn't be a surprise if that happens. You know, he's back in New Zealand for personal reasons, but those personal reasons sometimes change as well in a year or two. And you, you can make your way back again. Interesting. That is a very interesting game for me that just briefly on Australia Island because, because of what happened in the Lions series, because obviously we've got Farrell, that was the, that's a coach of Ireland.

he was the coach of the British and Irish Lions last year. So he's back again playing against Australia. So he knows Australia. I think he can just go back on his computer to all his analysis from last year mostly and he'll be spot on. So he respects Australia.

He's a bit nervous about what they offer, especially with Jorgensen and all those speeches on the wing. But it's going to be an interesting matchup. But yeah, it's two great coaches. I think two well-respected coaches in Farrell and Joe Smith matching up on that one. That's going to be played in Sydney, so a big test as well.

Lots of rugby to be played on Saturday. I saw someone saying 14 hours of rugby. I'll interrupt the kind of a thing this weekend coming up. I think just when we've had enough at 8pm on Saturday evening, then Argentina play as well against Scotland. By then, we're probably going to have had enough.

So, we'll see. We have to watch Scotland because we have to know what we're up against. So, yeah. So on that subject, next week I'll be talking to Franco Smith after the England game, before the Scotland game. So looking forward to that one.

So here's what he's got to say, both what South Africa did against England and what you expect against Scotland, I suppose, after their performance against Argentina. So don't miss that one. Harry, thank you, man. It wasn't bad for two Afrikaans Oki speaking English on a Friday morning. Thank you so much.

So I enjoyed it. Yes, all we can say is go Boca is universal. So, yes, it was nice. It's great that the Smilmux play again. Big test.

Hopefully there's a few more people that will sneak into the stadium and make it close to a full house, hopefully. Yeah, well, it's now so cheap you can't sell my bio ticket, apparently. So there you go. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Okay, Ari, thanks, man.

Have a good weekend. I'll talk to you soon. You too. Thanks. Bye-bye.

Transcript generated automatically — may contain errors.