Scotland v All Blacks @ Murrayfield

[Cardiffblue]

If you mean me - I don't necessarily think France are consistently better than Wales at the moment (but they are ranked ahead of them) but I'd back that AB B/C team as a better chance of beating Wales than beating France. Both of them are hugely inconsistent at the moment, to be honest.

We re consistently crap against Sh teams. That's what keeps our ranking down. France are consistently crap but once in a while someone from Sh plays straight into their hands

 

[Shelts89]

I would rate the Welsh as a better side than France right now. They're certainly more consistent, How can you not be consistent with gatball. Saying that I would rather play them in a big game than the French, I just don't trust the French to not play well. Sneaky Frenchies

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I don't disagree but old mate HJ was clearly fishing, as is his wont, almost took it myself but thought, nah, let someone else have at it.
<snip>.

Not really fishing. In the days when Aust Cricket ruled the world, I'd often thought that the States could have / maybe should have had International Status under ICC. Certainly QLD and the Vics would have beaten most of the (somewhat limited number of) International Test Cricket accredited Nations.

IOC and UN only recognise the UK of GB and NI as a sovereign state, yet in rugby, ENG, WAL, SCO get a gig as a "Test nation" in rugby, and NI combines with Eire to have the island of Ireland as a Rugby Test Nation under IRB rules.

After the Lords of Darkness select the top 23 players from the Shaky Isles for the main NZ representative team, NZ A would still beat most of the nations ranked >9 on IRB rankings. NZ Maori seem to do OK for themselves and probably wouldn't be too far off NZ A if they were given an international rank.

NZ vs Russia would result in a one sided farce of a game. NZ A or NZ Maori vs <insert country ranked > 9 > would be more of a contest for both teams, and contribute to the development of rugby in <insert country>.

 

[Highlander35]

8 is about bang on for us. And obviously on the mark for a NZ A side too.

Hopefully that's a bit higher after the 6 Nations.