International Weekend Preview

England VS Fiji (14.30)
A very inexperienced England side will hope to keep the score board ticking over early on, settle any nerves and open out and score a few tries. The set piece will be key for England and particularly debut man Tom Youngs role at hooker, his lineout throwing will be heavily scrutininsed, as it is his perceived weakness. You feel that if england get the set piece right they should win comfortably, but for many the nature of the performance is important too.
Fans want to see Lancasters england show some attacking flair, in this regard the performance of Alex Goode at full back (and 1st receiver during phase play) will be one to keep an eye on.

Wales Vs Argentina (14.30)
Wales have won their last three encounters with argentina but argentina have shown they are no pushovers in their first year in the Rugby Championship.
The Argentine pack looks to be a powerful one and with one or two missing from the wales pack it does look quite evenly matched. The difference though is in the backs and the bench for wales, I think this wales back line will cause the argentine defense all sorts of problems and I dont think the argentine backs will be able to cope at all. The welsh half backs will be the ones to keep an eye on, Knoyle and Preistland need to maintain composure and then i think we'll see a welsh win.

Ireland Vs South Africa (17.30)
Ireland fans remain confused as to why their national side has failed to perform recently when the provinces have been flying! The players available certainly seem to be capable of competing and winning at the highest level and I would say a fair few would be questioning the position of Kidney as head coach. Unfortunately for kidney, Ireland also have a few injuries to key players to worry about this autumn; bod, poc, kearney, o'brien and ferris.
SA have players missing too so its a difficult game to predict, Im going for a home win as ireland have a good record against SA in Dublin.

Scotland Vs New Zealand (14.30 Sunday)
Have you seen the Kiwi lineup! Just one or two names missing, (they're on the bench) they mean business. To Be fair I like the Scottish team, there are some good players in there; Hogg and Visser are exciting players in the backs and Gray, Rennie and Brown are al top players in the forwards. But if the kiwi's click it could be painful. Its the same for everyone against the all blacks I guess, good luck Scotland.

Also France v Australia - late 9pm kick off or have I got the time wrong?

England, Wales, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia to be this weekends winners.

On BBC it says 8pm LB but I never know if this is when the coverage starts or when the game starts. My policy is always to err on the side of the caution and if that means a few pints more then so be it!

It seems the weather is going to be benign this weekend. What I'd really like to see from the NH sides is a bit of attacking threat. That doesn't mean throwing the ball willy nilly to the wings at every chance. Taking it up through the forwards, punching gaps in midfield, astute kicking and running good lines. I'll be disappointed if there is a contain and punish mistakes policy. I think if you want to win against the SH teams, particularly the 3N sides, you have to take the game to them and ask questions of them in defence.

It seems France vs Australia and Ireland vs South Africa shape up to be the prize fights today. France were humiliated last time Australia visited and they will be keen to rectify Australia's impressive record against them in recent times. Conversely, Ireland will be looking to get a big scalp on the international scene and SA will be looking to improve on their poor showing against NZ in Soweto. Expect fireworks at the breakdown.

My predicitions on Biltong's thread were England, SA, NZ and France. May rugby be the real winner though.

Its 8pm UK time but 9pm our time

It's like the Goonies eirebilly. 8pm is their time, but 9pm is our time. It's OUR time. Baby Ruth.

I've always thought One Eyed Willy was a great name for a porn actor but makes a risible pirate's name. I'm sure all the pirate crew were packing themselves when One Eye Willy shot some seaman but most of the time they were laughing behind his back.

Man i love that film Kia, one of my all time favourites and up there with 'The lost boys'.