Tri Nations and other internationals.....predictions

Preview: South Africa vs New Zealand
South Africa have opted to rotate their options as they look to return to winning ways against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Coach Peter de Villiers has made five changes in the wake of his side's reverse to Australia last weekend - their third in-a-row this year. Morne Steyn is recalled at fly-half at the expense of Butch James while back-row forward Willem Alberts, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and loose-head prop Gurthro Steenkamp all come back into the side to replace Danie Rossouw, John Smit and Tendai Mtawarira respectively. In the other change, versatile back Pat Lambie will start at fullback in place of the injured Frans Steyn.

Mtawarira, Rossouw and James are joined on the bench by CJ Van der Linde and Ashley Johnson, who was added to the Boks' squad earlier this week with Juan Smith sidelined through injury. Jean Deysel and Gerhard Mostert drop out of the match 22. In Smit's absence, Victor Matfield will captain the side for a 16th time.

New Zealand head coach Graham Henry has also made a number of personnel changes from their last outing, a victory against Australia in Auckland on August 6. Skipper and openside flanker Richie McCaw is being rested, as is fly-half Dan Carter, with Adam Thomson and Colin Slade named in their place. Veteran hooker Keven Mealamu will captain the team for the second time in a Test, after he led the All Blacks against Scotland in late 2008.

Slade is set for his second run-on start in his fifth Test, Jimmy Cowan is back at halfback, while in the forwards Liam Messam is at No.8, Sam Whitelock returns to lock alongside Ali Williams and John Afoa returns from his eye socket injury at tight-head prop.

The starting 15 also feature the return of a number of other recently injured All Blacks to the Test side for the first time this season. New Zealand's most capped prop, Tony Woodcock, is set to make his 75th Test appearance after an injury-enforced absence while fit-again back Richard Kahui is at centre, pairing with Sonny Bill Williams in the midfield for the first time. Isaia Toeava is on the right wing and Israel Dagg is at fullback.

This is a hard game to pick. IF SBW, Dagg, Kahui and Toeava click AND pack can match the brute force odf Saffies then it s All Blacks to win by 5.
Thats one hell of a Bok pack and 2 more brutes at center.....not alot of finesse but they will do well.
Blacks by 5 on superbru as this also allows for a draw to get 1/2 point bonus.

South Africa: Pat Lambie, JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez; Gurthro Steenkamp, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Heinrich Brussow, Willem Alberts, Pierre Spies

Replacements: John Smit, Tendai Mtawarira, CJ Van der Linde, Danie Rossouw, Ashley Johnson, Francois Hougaard, Butch James

New Zealand: Israel Dagg; Isaia Toeava, Richard Kahui, Sonny Bill Williams, Hosea Gear; Colin Slade, Jimmy Cowan; Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu (captain), John Afoa, Sam Whitelock, Ali Williams, Jerome Kaino, Adam Thomson, Liam Messam

Replacements: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Jarrad Hoeata, Victor Vito, Andy Ellis, Piri Weepu, Cory Jane.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)


Preview: Wales vs Argentina
Nice Welsh team strengthened by return of Byrne and Halfpenny.

Argies need the game.

If Wales can outscore England 3 tries to 1 with only 30% of the ball, think what they can do with 50%
Wales by 21

Teams:

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 James Hook, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Aled Brew.

Argentina: 15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Felipe Contepomi (captain), 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Julio Alfredo Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Martin Scelzo, 18 Mariano Galarza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Federico Sanches, 22 Juan Jose Imhoff.

Preview: Ireland vs France
BOD back for Ireland will make all the difference.
France looked like they had something in the first 20 mins last week then petered out.
It will be close but Ireland to win at home by 12

Ireland: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Stephen Ferris, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Luke Fitzgerald.

France: 15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Louis Picamoles, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Lionel Nallet (captain), 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Raphael Lakafia, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Vincent Clerc.

Preview: Scotland vs Italy
Scotland have a good team out.
Italy looked rather one dimensional against Japan last week.
Scots should win well.
Scotland by
Teams:

Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Moray Low, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Richie Gray, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Nikki Walker.

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Matteo Pratichetti.

Preview: Japan vs USA
USA have looked terrible thanks to the pedantic patterns of coach O'Sullivan.
They've lost Clever so they really have no chance.
Japan by 18.

Teams

Japan: 15 Taihei Ueda (Honda Heat), 14 Takehisa Usuzuki (Toshiba Brave Lupus), 13 Alisi Tupuailai (Canon Eagles), 12 Ryan Nicholas (Suntory Sungoliath), 11 Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory Sungoliath), 10 Murray Williams (Toyota Industries Shuttles), 9 Tomoki Yoshida (Toshiba Brave Lupus), 8 Takashi Kikutani (Toyota Verblitz), 7 Tadasuke Nishihara (Panasonic Wild Knights), 6 Sione Vatuvei (Panasonic Wild Knights), 5 Luke Thompson (Kintetsu Liners), 4 Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus), 3 Nozomu Fujita (Honda Heat), 2 Yusuke Aoki (Suntory Sungoliath), 1 Naoki Kawamata (Panasonic Wild Knights),
Replacements: 16 Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights), 17 Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory Sungoliath), 18 Toshizumi Kitagawa (Toyota Verblitz), 19 Itaru Taniguchi (Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers), 20 Atsushi Hiwasa (Suntory Sungoliath), 21 Koji Taira (Suntory Sungoliath), 22 Shaun Webb (Coca-Cola West Red Sparks)

USA Eagles: 15 Blaine Scully (Unattached), 14 Kevin Swiryn (Agen), 13 Tai Enosa (Belmont Shore), 12 Paul Emerick (Life University), 11 James Paterson (Otago), 10 Nese Malifa (Glendale), 9 Mike Petri (New York Athletic Club) (captain), 8 JJ Gagiano (University of Cape Town), 7 Louis Stanfill (Unattached), 6 Patrick Danahy (Life University), 5 Hayden Smith (Saracens), 4 Scott LaValla (Stade Français), 3 Eric Fry (Las Vegas Blackjacks), 2 Phillip Thiel (Life University), 1 Mike Macdonald (Leeds Carnegie)
Replacements: 16 Chris Biller (San Francisco Golden Gate), 17 Shawn Pittman (London Welsh), 18 Nic Johnson (Unattached), 19 Ryan Chapman (Utah Warriors), 20 Tim Usasz (Nottingham RFC), 21 Roland Suniula (Boston Rugby), 22 Andrew Suniula (Chicago Griffins)