Whatever you may want to say or think about the Nations Championship that has been introduced ostensibly to give relevance to international matches that might have been regarded as one-off friendlies in the past, it does get off to a blockbusting start.
All six games will be played one after each other on Saturday, making it a Super Saturday of non-stop international rugby that isn’t even matched in a Rugby World Cup, and neither is the big game all South Africans are focusing on, the clash between the Springboks and England at Ellis Park, the only really big show in town.
Dave Rennie will be in charge of the All Blacks for the first time when they host France in Christchurch to start proceedings, with this game being the historical first ever Nations Championship fixture. It was in Wellington in July 1996 that the very first Tri-Nations game was ever played, with the All Blacks triumphing over the Wallabies 43-6, and a similar statement performance would certainly send shivers of apprehension through the rugby world, not least the Boks, who face the Kiwis in the Greatest Rivalry Series next month.
It is unlikely to happen because the rugby world has changed in the last 30 years, and France, when at full strength, are at least as good as New Zealand if not better. The World Rugby rankings reflect that this is the second ranked team against the fourth, but those rankings were skewed last year when France coach Fabien Galthie elected to take what was effectively a cross between a second and third team to New Zealand for a three match series in which they were competitive but lost 3-0.
DUPONT’S CV REMAINS SHORN OF SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE ENTRIES
The proximity to last weekend’s Top 14 final meant that Antoine Dupont, the undisputed best player in the world, at least to northern hemisphere eyes, before the injury that kept him out for the best part of a year and then the arrival on the scene of the Boks’ Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, was always going to miss this game.
However, an injury is now set to keep him out of France’s remaining fixtures in this leg of the Championship, which poses a question - Dupont has hardly played a big game south of the equator, something that was noted when Toulouse visited Durban for an Investec Champions Cup fixture last year. How can you be considered the best if you haven’t excelled against the strong southern hemisphere teams in their own territory?
On that theme, this is also a big game for France. They’ve achieved a lot under Galthie, and are the reigning Guinness Six Nations champions, therefore the European champions. But how often have they played in the southern hemisphere, let alone won here? When they were building up to their own World Cup in 2023 that question might have been considered moot, but the next World Cup is being played in the southern hemisphere - in Australia next year.
TOULOUSE PLAYERS ARE WATCHING FROM AUSTRALIA
Australia is funnily enough where several key French players find themselves right now, not in New Zealand. Toulouse provides a large portion of the first choice France match day squad, and were part of last week’s Top 14 final, which they won 28-20 against Montpellier, and Galthie really had little choice but to rest the Toulouse and Montpellier players.
But while they did not feature in the Top 14 knock-outs, Bordeaux-Begles are the European champions, for the second year running moreover, so it is unsurprising that they form the core of the team that will front the All Blacks. That makes them formidable opponents and Galthie will have an opportunity to properly assess his depth, which is also formidable, when they join up with the Top 14 final participants in Australia next week.
The All Black team is due to be announced on Thursday, ditto the French team, and all eyes in New Zealand are on what Rennie would come up with in his first selection, with as many as three rookies tipped to be part of the selection. It is anticipated that the Hurricanes, who won several of the big games by massive margins, including the final, where they won 60-5 against the Chiefs, will form the nucleus of the team.
ONE MORE LAST HURRAH FOR JOE SCHMIDT
Across the ditch, as they describe the Tasman Sea that separates the two nations in New Zealand and Australia, there is an equally big game, with the many Irishmen in last year’s British and Irish Lions tour party set to relive their closely fought rivalry with the Wallabies in that iconic series, which was edged 2-1 by the visitors.
The man who just doesn’t seem to go away is Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt. He was initially due to leave his post after last year’s Lions series, but stayed on for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, with the highlight being his team’s unexpected thumping win over the Boks at Ellis Park, and then the end of year tour. He is still in charge, with new coach Les Kiss only taking full charge after the three home Nations Championship games.
Ireland faltered in the last Six Nations but it was only really the opening game against France that did them. Their 42-21 win over England at Twickenham signalled to those who were predicting an Ireland demise that there is still life in them, and they arrived in Australia as the world’s third ranked team, only a ranking point behind second placed New Zealand.
Top place of course belongs to the Boks, who will begin this third season of the current four year World Cup cycle in a good place and with huge expectations on them, but who have a severe first examination to get through in the form of an England team that slumped to a second last finish in the Six Nations and are currently sixth on the world rankings but really are better than that.
WALES PLAY AWAY GAME IN…CARDIFF
In the other games, just as a reminder that it does seem that the big nations hold sway when it comes to determining where games are played, Japan get to actually play host of a Nations Cup clash. They are playing Italy in Tokyo. If they were playing Ireland or France would the game be played there? Unlikely. They are playing their “home” game against Ireland in Australia.
As for Fiji, where are they playing their home game against Wales? They are playing in Cardiff. Not at their normal home ground of Principality Stadium, but at the home ground of the Cardiff City football team. So in Cardiff nonetheless. So Wales are playing their home game not very far from home at all. And a sod of a long way from Fiji. Mind you, they need all the help they can get…
Next week Fiji are at home to England in Liverpool, which is as far away from Suva as Cardiff is. Well, take a few kilometres. And then England are off to Argentina, having flown to Liverpool from South Africa. Argentiina have managed to become a big nation now, they are currently ranked fifth in the world, so at least they avoid having to have a venue on the other side of the world as their home ground. They host Scotland in Cordoba in the last game of the weekend.
GIven that they are flying across the southern Atlantic to be in Pretoria for next week's game against the Boks, that game should be an interesting watch for South Africans.
It would be an understatement to suggest that the new competition faces teething problems and questions. There are plenty of them. But one thing is for sure, Saturday should be riveting.
WEEKEND NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
New Zealand v France (Christchurch, Saturday 09.10)
Japan v Italy (Tokyo, Saturday 10.40)
Australia v Ireland (Sydney, Saturday 12.10)
Fiji v Wales (Cardiff, Saturday 15.10)
South Africa v England (Johannesburg, Saturday 17.40)
Argentina v Scotland (Cordoba, Saturday 21.10)