June Internationals Round 3 Preview
New Zealand will be looking to make it a 3-0 series whitewash over England on Saturday
©PA
The June Internationals and Pacific Nations Cup are almost over for another year. The Southern Hemisphere teams still seem to hold the dominance with exception of an understrength Argentina team.
The major talking point in the All Blacks vs England third test is the centre position. Manu Tuilagi moves back to centre for England and will oppose Malakai Fekitoa in his first test start, replacing Conrad Smith who is out with a broken bone in his hand.
England have made seven changes for the third test in order to freshen up their squad, while the All Blacks have made just two, with Fekitoa and Kieran Read, the 2013 World Player of the Year, coming into the starting line-up.
I think that England will tire, while the All Blacks will improve and start gelling more than they have in the previous two tests.
In other matches, Japan host Italy. Japan have been hot to trot with wins over Samoa, Canada and USA recently, while Italy has struggled on tour losing twice in the Pacific Islands. Eddie Jones has his team firing and they should be too strong for Italy.
Australia have won their series against France after an ugly 6-0 win last week in the second Test. This week, again, Australia should be too strong, but expect a similar margin against this French team who have improved since the first Test.
South Africa should beat Wales, but it won’t be as easy as their win last weekend as the Welsh look to show that the gap between North and Southern Hemispheres is closing.
The Argentina vs Scotland match is the toughest one to pick. Scotland had two wins in North America, but somewhat struggled to beat Canada. Argentina is improving after losing both games to Ireland, but the winning margin in the second test against Ireland was narrow. So I am picking Argentina to sneak a win at home, but it will be close.
In the Pacific Nations Cup, Fiji emphatically thrashed Tonga last week, while Samoa only drew with Tonga the week before. Fiji’s professional players have shown better form than their Samoan counterparts and they should win at home over their neighbours.
Finally, the better ranked Canada should be too strong against the USA Eagles, but the home advantage for the USA will keep this game close.
Who are you picking to win June Internationals and Pacific Nations Cup Round 3?
