Welcome fellow GAGRs and another week of rest before the main course arrives with the start of the Rugby Championship this weekend. The entree has been digested and while not totally to our satisfaction, it gave enough that we can believe the main course may also be to our liking.
The Wallabies take on South Africa at Johannesburg and the AB’s take on Argentina at Cordoba. Both games should be good and tight as we try to establish some dominance for the championship. It’s an interesting year with the Argentinians having beat the Lions in their opening game and the Wallabies beating them in the final game of the series. The ABs and Boks have been on a bit of a winning streak, however in both of the games this weekend either team could win, if a few things go their way. Discipline and making good decisions under pressure will be key to both these games and the teams that control their aggression and don’t give away penalties while making the right decisions will take them.
Some predictions on the Rugby Championship
Written here in Planet Rugby by Colin Newboult are five predictions for the Rugby Championship.
Springboks to win at Eden Park. After 50 unbeaten matches and 31 years, we think the All Blacks’ run at the famous old ground will come to an end when the back-to-back world champions visit in September. It has become an impregnable fortress for opposition teams but it must be breached at some point and Rassie Erasmus’ men are the ones to do it. Colin feels that New Zealand have been running scared of Boks through not having played them at Eden Park since 2013 and believes ithis game could be the biggest event between the World Cups given that the British and Irish Lions’ tour to Australia unfortunately turned out to be a rather underwhelming affair. (his words not mine)
He then goes on to cover himself by noting that in 2023 they were absolutely destroyed by Ian Foster’s All Blacks. He believes that the game at Eden Park this year is the big target for Erasmus and, with the All Blacks still not quite convincing under Scott Robertson, South Africa will end New Zealand’s remarkable streak.
Argentina to finish above the All Blacks. Doubling down on his anti-AB crying he then makes the bold prediction that Argentina will finish higher than the ABs. Given the Pumas’ continued inconsistency and their shoddy 2-0 series defeat to a second-string England in July this is a big call. However, as they demonstrated against the British and Irish Lions, they can rise to the occasion and beat the best teams in the world. Last year, they managed wins against the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks in the Rugby Championship to finish just two points behind the ABs, but this time he believes they could well usurp New Zealand. Oddly, Argentina’s three victories over the All Blacks have come either on neutral territory or away from home, but they will relish having the three-time world champions first-up in South America this season.
Simon Parker to become All Blacks’ first choice six. One thing poor performances can do is open the door for other players and Parker very much has an opportunity to put himself in the mix for the blindside flanker spot. Six has been a problem for NZ in recent years and Newbolt believes that the 25-year-old should be seen as the answer to these problems. Tupou Vaa’i took on the role for the first two Tests against France, with injury preventing him from taking to the field in the third game. While he played well, it showed that Robertson’s doesn’t completely trust Samipeni Finau, who also dropped behind Parker in the Chiefs pecking order during the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season. Had it not been for injury, the Parker probably would have been involved in July, which suggests that the All Blacks management rate him highly. Parker is your modern day archetypal blindside who at almost two metres tall adds another jumper in the lineout, while he hits hard, carries well and has a tremendous engine which gets him around the field. He is very much one to watch in the Rugby Championship.
Every Springboks player in the squad to feature. While we expect South Africa to go full bore in New Zealand for that double header, the other games offer a chance to rotate significantly, just like they did in the Rugby Championship last year. While he believes the Wallabies may have made some strides forwards and look at least a couple of levels above the team that were dominated at home by the Springboks in the 2024 tournament, he doesn’t think this will deter Erasmus from swapping his players around. After facing the All Blacks in NZ, the Boks then take on Argentina home and then in Twickenham and this could give them the opportunity to experiment. They were stung in Santiago del Estero last year, going down by a point in their only loss on their way to the title, but he believes the the South Africans have the depth to rotate and still win comfortably.
James O’Connor to have glorious match-winning moment. Despite receiving a call-up to the Wallabies squad following Noah Lolesio’s injury, Joe Schmidt decided to omit him from the 23 for the three British and Irish Lions Tests with Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson the preferred number 10s. Lynagh suffered a concussion in that third match against the Lions, however, and has duly been ruled out of the Springboks double header, which has logically moved O’Connor up the pecking order.
Of course, Schmidt, aware that a home Rugby World Cup is in two years’ time, may want to give experience to the younger Tane Edmed, but the 35-year-old remains the ideal bench option. It was a role he fulfilled with aplomb for the title-winning Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific, which included a match-winning penalty over their arch-rivals Blues, and it would be a wonderful story if he could do it in the gold of Australia.
Some interesting predictions here and while Robertson didn’t have a great first year in charge, he learnt a lot and will be much better this year. I think the Boks at Eden Park will be a fantastic game and absolutely it could go either way. I think he’s correct in Erasmus targeting this game, but I think that Robertson has learnt enough in his first year in charge to counter this and the ABs will take both games. Argentina showed a lot against the Lions, however they were poor against England and facing Australia in Brisbane and Sydney, I think they will struggle with both games.
My big bold prediction is in line with his last one. JOC will kick the Wallabies to a win in South Africa and the game against the ABs in Perth on the 4th of October will decide the Championship. I’m picking NZ to win this game and win the Rugby Championship. Wallabies 2nd, the Boks sinking to 3rd and Argentina struggling at the back.
Women’s Rugby World Cup to adopt flashing mouthguards to signal head impact
Reported here in Rugby.com.au Mouthguards that light up to indicate a player has suffered a significant head impact will be used at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, officials announced Monday.
IN a step up from the ones used by the men mouthguards will flash red if the impact is severe enough to potentially cause a concussion. The referee will then stop play and the player will leave the field for a head injury assessment. The aim is to introduce the system into all top-flight rugby.
Dr Eanna Falvey, the chief medical officer at World Rugby, said every player at the Women’s World Cup, which starts on August 22, will wear the mouthguards, apart from two who wear braces. The mouthguards measure how much a player’s head moves and rotates in a collision. When it registers an acceleration above a set limit, it will flash. World Rugby data indicates that while concussion rates are similar in women’s and men’s rugby, “head acceleration” events are significantly less likely for female players. World Rugby brought in the “instrumented mouthguard” at the women’s international tournament in 2023 before introducing it globally the following year.
Dr Lindsay Starling, World Rugby’s science and medical manager, speaking alongside Falvey at a Twickenham press conference on Monday, said the aim was to help players rather than merely accumulate information. “The data set that has grown over the last year is huge,” he said. “we actually understand what that data means and then start putting things in place for players such that they are actually benefiting from the data that’s being collected.”
Starling added mouthguards could help identify foul play, although she warned: “What everybody needs to understand that, in the same way, a player can get concussed from a pretty small head impact, foul play (can take place) without registering anything substantial.”
An interesting step up and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out in a match. While I like the idea of increasing player safety, I hope they have removed any bugs in the system as if it is set too conservatively and starts showing up after small hits, it could easily cause the system to lose faith in it and then have it removed.
Rugby Championship preview: ‘Room for optimism’ for Wallabies who will avoid unwanted three-peat
Written here in Planet Rugby by Adam Kyriacou is the a preview of the Wallabies for the Rugby Championship. First up in our set of previews ahead of the 2025 Rugby Championship, we examine the prospects of last year’s bottom-placed finishers in the standings, Australia.
Back-to-back wooden spoons in the competition are unheard of for the Wallabies, but that was the case when they could not better their 2023 campaign. That latter-mentioned season was one to forget, but under Schmidt, there have been signs of optimism, which have only increased after their recent series with the Lions. Last year with a record of one win out of six games was one to forget for the Wallabies as they ended up as the basement dwellers by some distance – nine points if we’re to be precise.
Schmidt’s tenure in charge of the Wallabies had earlier kicked off in positive fashion when they beat Wales in back-to-back matches in July. However, the Rugby Championship was hugely disappointing results-wise as they kicked off with successive defeats to South Africa, 33-7 in Brisbane and 30-12 in Perth. A week’s break and they returned with a morale-boosting 20-19 win over Argentina in La Plata, thanks to a late Ben Donaldson penalty. The backlash from Los Pumas was severe one week later as they inflicted a record Test loss on the Wallabies, cruising to a 67-27 win in Santa Fe in a body blow to Schmidt. Further losses, a narrow 31-28 result at home to New Zealand, before going down 33-13 in Wellington, brought down the curtain on the 2024 effort.
This year however, there’s room for optimism for a rejuvenated Wallabies team in 2025 as they performed admirably in the final two Tests of the British and Irish Lions series. They will be desperate to carry that momentum into their opener, but it does not get much tougher than the Boks at Ellis Park as Round One sees them head to South Africa. Such is the structure of the tournament, they will tackle the same opposition a week later as the two teams travel to Cape Town in a week that could define both sides’ title hopes.
After a week’s break, the Wallabies return with two home matches against Argentina, in Townsville and Sydney, as they look to exact revenge for that Santa Fe game. Another rest period then comes before the last two games of their campaign see them take on New Zealand, first at Eden Park before hosting them in Perth.
The Lions series shone a light on this Australia outfit and it’s fair to say that more positives than negatives came from the matches. The return to action in the second match of Will Skelton and powerful flanker Rob Valetini was only amplified when they came off around the interval mark. Australia’s performance notably dipped when they were off as they fell to an agonising loss in Melbourne. Elsewhere, while he might not be a locked-on starter, expect plenty of impact from Tate McDermott at the base, there is also a great deal of excitement over young wing Max Jorgensen, who has taken to Test rugby like a duck to water and is likely to have a strong Championship. A tough first couple of rounds, and while it’s hard to see them coming out on top against the world champions, they’ll relish the underdog tag and can hurt the Springboks.
Then comes the crucial period for the Wallabies as they face Argentina in rounds three and four, both on home soil, where they are more than capable of picking up points. If Australia can take positive results from those games, that will set them up for a Bledisloe Cup run-in with the All Blacks, who have failed to set the world alight in 2025. Assessing the fixtures and with the positive steps taken from the Lions series, we predict an improved campaign from the Wallabies after two dismal years. Third place.
Personally, I’m not as pessimistic on the Wallabies chances. I agree they will struggle in South Africa, but if a couple of things go their way they could easily take one of those games. They should beat Argentina in Australia, sure Jones team lost, but that just demonstrates his incompetence, not the Wallabies. Then against NZ – sorry team. I think NZ will beat the Boks in NZ and this will open the door for Australia to then compete for the championship. With my one-eyed bias that I have for the ABs I’m backing them to win, however that will have the Wallabies at 2nd and I’m also happy with that.
