Unlucky Evans' Bad Run Continues

Evans is out, and Carter will start against England in the test match at Twickenham on Monday monring. Evans was apparently unable to pass the last minute fitness test he was given in order to determine if his minor hamstring injury has sufficiently repaired itself. His run of bad luck at international level continued and it seems that he will have to wait until later on in this tour to break the ice on his return to international rugby. Apparently there are no plans to replace Evans for the balance of the tour, and presumably he will be cover for the main man, Carter, for the rest of the tour. Given the level of the remaining games however, we can expect to see the strongest All Black team taking the field as the games against France are identified as being huge clashes that Henry and his men really want to take out.

The hype for the match against England continued to build in intensity today, with Anton Oliver's comments about arrogant English fans taking on a new level today. Aaron Mauger chimed in confirming that the main basis for the gripe against the English crowd stems from allegedly ethnic and racial slurs directed towards some members of the All Black team from the crowd in last year's grand slam test match win against the English side. At last there seems to be some venom coming to the fore, and there is speculation that 'hard man' Robinson has been picked to keep Danny Grewcock in check. Apparently the "steel" Robinson is bringing to the pack, and his undoubted reputation as a man not to take a backward step, is thought to be in response to Grewcock's inclusion in the English side. Obviously the pack will be an intense contest and if England are able to dominate the All Blacks in this area, the game will become difficult for New Zealand to win. Most punters are picking the New Zealand back line to dominate a much less experienced English back line, however without much ball this will be difficult. There must be concern over the lineout which will clearly be a target for England with a much taller back row combination than New Zealand.

The game is shaping up as a cracker, and the tour is at last getting underway. I myself cannot wait for the first real shots of the campaign to be fired on Monday morning on the field. All of the prematch hype has been good in building up the tension ahead of the clash, however we wont really have any final answers until the end of the game. And even if there is a New Zealand victory, most punters there will be expecting to see some considerable improvement in the style of game played by New Zealand and in particular a vast improvement at lineout time. If this does not occur for the All Blacks during the game, there will not be any peace in New Zealand in the lead up to RWC 2007.

Meanwhile in Aussie there seems to be a lack of confidence (very unusual) in the side ahead of the test match against Wales this weekend. The doubts about the pack and the ability to win ball continue to linger, and the defeat at the hands of a depleted provincial side are beginning to erode the previously thought to be impervious Aussie confidence in the national side. Against this, the return of Tuquiri from suspension, and the rejigged back line are offering some faint glimmers of hope. Mat Rogers returns to the unfamiliar role of first five, Larkham moves to second five, Giteau in at half back for the first time at test match level, Tuqiri returns to the centres, and Shepherd retains his sopt on the wing. The star studded nature of the back line is being suggested as cause to hope for a return to form for the Wallabies side in the clash this weekend.

However, on close analysis how much improvement can the public expect to see from a starting backline that has almost everyone playing out of their preferred position? Clearly this is evidence of the lack of depth in key positions that Australia has at the moment, and seems to suffer from most of the time. The only question is, how long can their first choice starting line up be expected to take the field at RWC 2007? My bet is that they will have their starting choice for the entire competition at least in the back line as they have proven in the past that they are able to rally and perform well at RWC comps. New Zealand and the rest of the world better be prepared for a tough ask against these guys, regardless of the outcome of this tour.

As for Wales...well, what can be said really. Put simply, there has been an almost total absence of coverage for the boyos over here in the lucky land. What a surprise. In any event, we can be sure that they are being made ready for a good crack at the Wallabies at the weekend. I am sure they would like nothing more than to compound the bad start to the tour that the Wallabies have had by handing them a 0 for 2 result this weekend. And if we can put any stock in the coverage of this game by Aussie media, the Welsh think that this will be a walk in the park...anyone see a theme emerging here? The mighty Wallabies love to be cast as the underdog, and this weekend is no exception.

The Welsh are going to be targetting the Aussie pack - no surprise there, and why not? They have played very poorly and did so in the tour last year getting a backwards view of most of the turf in each venue they played. This time they're also hitting the Wallabies where it hurts suggesting that their backline is classier, and that the Welsh have a good chance of winning RWC 2007 after accounting for the Wallaibes in pool play. According to media reports this has fired up Tuqiri who says all the pressure is on the Welsh. Yeah, right. Another loss this weekend will have the normally overconfident Wallabies supporters clutching at straws, and Knuckle might be reconsidering the wisdom of taking over from Jones last year, and the union may be reconsidering the decision to axe Jones who clearly had a plan to improve the Wallabies and build towards the RWC next year. Interesting times...

At least there is dleayed coverage of this test match on free to air tv in Aussie...what a farce. Why should people who want to watch games live be penalised so those who can handle the second rate delayed coverage of the free to air networks can be fooled by propaganda from these same networks about showing sport live on tv "for all Australians"? An outrage - end the monopoly on determination of what sport will be shown live and let the market decide by getting some competition in there.