The All Blacks welcome Argentina to Auckland as huge competition favourites while the wounded Wallabies, who have not yet recorded a vicoty in the 2013 tournament, host South Africa on Saturday night.
New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith and Australia captain James Horwill look ahead to this weekend's New Zealand-Australia Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship clash in Wellington.
As an All Blacks supporter it's always interesting to see how opposition sides respond to the Haka, and Italy's response in Rome on the weekend spoke volumes about their sides' mindset going in to the match.
The ITM Cup has been labelled a "coach killer" by some coaches because of the lack of time not only for players to recover from injuries sustained during matches with short turnarounds, but also for the lack of opportunities for coaches to rectify poor performances because training time is so limited.
For the last few months rumours have been circulating that next year the All Blacks, South Africa and Australia could come together to create a SANZAR team.
The June International Matches leaves me wondering if there should be a Northern vs Southern Hemisphere rugby series at the end of the year, so some players who are injured now would still be available.