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James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
International rugby is back! Somehow, it feels like a such a long time since we last saw the Home Nations play in their various tours over the summer. During that time, however, our southern hemisphere counterparts (South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) have played their own Tri-Nations tournament (with New Zealand completing the contest decidedly victorious). What happens now is that those three teams visit us to play a series of friendly matches; what usually results is an enjoyable month of rugby throughout November (even if we do often get beaten by the superior sides from down south!)
This weekend sees England face off against New Zealand (2.30pm Saturday), a match between Wales and Australia (also 2.30pm Saturday) and a clash between Ireland and South Africa (5.30pm Saturday). Because it’s been a while since the Home Nations have played any real rugby and the southern hemisphere teams may either be tired out or well-prepared by the Tri-Nations, I don’t feel that informed when making predictions as to the outcomes of the upcoming matches... However, I must say that, year-on-year, performances against the “the big three” have been steadily improving. There’s too often an air of negativity about playing these teams (especially South Africa and New Zealand) but I would urge fans to be positive; they’re most certainly beatable.
The only team announcement as of this moment (and the most important one to me) is England. Martin Johnson has picked a team which is almost identical to the side that narrowly secured a victory against Australia in June (which was a truly fantastic game). The only real change to the starting XV is that Andrew Sheridan has been brought in for Tim Payne. The bench has seen a few changes though, with newcomers Hendre Fourie (flanker) and David Attwood (lock) included and with Charlie Hodgson brought in as fly-half cover for the ever-injured Jonny Wilkinson.
Of course, this year is all about the World Cup, which makes this upcoming series of tests very important for all involved. This’ll be the last opportunity to play against the southern hemisphere teams before the World Cup’s warm-up matches. If any of the Home Nations want to prove their worth, they’ll be working their hardest to get a win. Likewise, with South Africa, New Zealand and Australia all considering themselves good enough to lift the Webb Ellis trophy come World Cup time, they’ll have to make it known that they can easily brush aside these challenges. There’s no doubt that the stakes are high for everyone.
So, here come the Autumn Internationals. One thing is clear - 2011 is going to be a pretty exciting year for rugby. These matches are going to be worth watching because there’s hopefully going to be some ambitious and exciting gameplay which will set the tone for both the upcoming Six Nations tournament and World Cup.
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