**England in New Zealand** 1st June: England vs Barbarians, Twickenham 7th June: New Zealand vs England, Auckland 14th June: New Zealand vs England, Dunedin 17th June: Crusaders vs England, Christchurch 21st June: New Zealand vs England, Hamilton **Wales in South Africa** 7th June: South Africa vs 'World XV', Cape Town 10th June: Eastern Province Kings vs Wales, Port Elizabeth 14th June: South Africa vs Wales, Durban 21st June: South Africa vs Wales, Nelspruit **France in Australia** 7th June: Australia vs France, Brisbane 14th June: Australia vs France, Melbourne 21st June: Australia vs France, Sydney **Ireland in Argentina** 7th June: Argentina vs Ireland, Resistencia 14th June: Argentina vs Ireland, Tucumán **Scotland in World Tour Sort of Thing** 7th June: USA vs Scotland, Houston 14th June: Canada vs Scotland, Toronto 21st June: Argentina vs Scotland, Córdoba 28th June: South Africa vs Scotland, Port Elizabeth **Italy in the Pacific** 7th June: Fiji vs Italy, Suva 14th June: Samoa vs Italy, Apia 21st June: Japan vs Italy, Tokyo **Pacific Nations Cup** 7 June: Canada vs Japan, Burnaby 7 June: Samoa vs Tonga, Apia 14 June: United States vs Japan, Carson 14 June: Fiji vs Tonga, Lautoka 21 June: United States vs Canada, Sacramento 21st June: Fiji vs Samoa, Suva
I heard (on Planet-Rugby) that Michael Paterson might get a call-up for England. Firstly, what a bloody joke - secondly, I can't believe that England don't have a dozen better locks than Michael Paterson.
Haha. We do. Probably England's strongest position in terms of depth. You hear this from an ABs fan by any chance? Any excuse to humblebrag.
Who is going to be in that World XV to play South Africa? Surely the Barbarians is a more accurate if less appealing name.
Actually contains a lot of the Baabaas side that play England the week before. I reckon it was supposed to be a Barbarians game, but some sort sponsorship shenanigans happened.
Unless Paterson has a English granny (or granddad) he's not eligible. Only moved to Sale at the start of this season. Could see it tho as he covers blindside and (at a pinch) #8 as well as lock.
I heard Croft wasn't going to be fit. Also Wood had a great 6 nations, not sure its particularly fair to drop him now despite the obvious class of the former
Well Croft was originally out for the season but just came on as a sub. Also one of them will be in the prem final for the first test.
Fair call, actually. Quins making the last four gives us far more potential headaches than Bath (boo, hiss, etc) would've done. Sarries make the final and we lose the Vunipolas, Farrell, Ashton, Goode, Barrett and (to maybe stretch a point) Strettle, Botha and Wigglesworth, whereas with Quins we lose our two form 6N players in Care & Brown plus the captain & Marler (assuming fitness). Bath made it and we didn't lose any first XV picks & only really Ford, Attwood and Wilson would've been massively missed. Although Eastmond & Webber will probz tour. 3-0 NZ with England lucky to get 0, etc.
Surprised to see Burnaby listed like that. It is a city but is part of greater vancouver. Was just thinking about Burnaby Joe Sakic today. Thanks for posting this. England to lose every game on that tour to NZ. I don't think it is fair for international teams to play Super Rugby teams. The super teams are too good and it is basically like a test match against a team ranked 7th or 8th in the world (even if they are missing some ABs). Should get to play an NPC team even if it is out of season for them.
England's tour is a shambles already and I'd be very surprised to see them be competitive in any game. What I worry about is the effect that it might have on what has been a pretty positive run towards the World Cup. Oh and the locations are just copied from wikipedia.
Basically that. Apparently the only solution was to make the Earth's orbit slightly wider to add extra days to the rugby season. The NZRFU was up for it but the inhabitants of Alaska vetoed.
