International predictions

As the summer tours draw to a (rather disappointing for everyone bar the Scots) close, its time for one last set of predictions. Scoring is as follows - 2pts for the right outcome, 1 for getting the margin to +/- 5 or less, 1 for being the closest predictor and 2 bonus points for getting all 6 outcomes correct

Samoa Vs Scotland - Actual Margin: Scotland by 1
Well, where has this come from, 2 games, 2 away wins, can the Scots do a southern hemisphere hattrick? With their tails up it would be hard to bet against them. I'd always imagined Fiji & Samoa to be about equal but in fact Fiji are 14th in the World and Samoa are 9th. Scotland are - you guessed it - 10th! Does that have any impact on the game, well who knows, but my punt is for momentum to carry Scotland over the (World Ranking) gain line - Scotland by 4

SARS - Scotland by 4 - 4pts
Sporty & Portly - Scotland by 10 - 2pts
Aristodemus - Scotland by 12 - 2pts

Australia Vs Wales - Actual Margin: Australia by 1
This was supposed to be it, an all singing (land of my fathers probably) Welsh side putting the Wallabies to the sword, an economic stimulus to the Valleys like a modern day gold rush - why then has it not happened? Is it Warburton not being fit, Gatland being absent physically, Priestland appearing to be absent mentally, something else? All of a sudden Wales look fallible and the Aussies ruthless and I do wonder whether Howley might make significant changes (Tipuric at 7?) which might unbalance things further. I'd love to see Wales win the series, or at least a match, which I think they deserve, but Australia looked energised so its Australia by 8 for me

SARS - Australia by 8 - 2pts
Sporty & Portly - Australia by 10 - 2pts
Aristodemus - Australia by 4 - 4pts

New Zealand vs Ireland - Actual margin: New Zealand by 60 (if this were the videprinter it'd spell it out just to make it worse!)
What to say eh? What to say? How close were Ireland last week, and given that the AVERAGE forecast on here was the All Blacks by 32! With the minimum the All Blacks by 30!!! what an achievement - I believe the best ever on Kiwi soil by the men in green. One has to wonder how they'll respond, will the narrowness fire up Ireland or have broken their hearts. Judging by the post match interviews you'd fear the latter.
I fear that the All Blacks will react to the closeness of last weeks game by being more ruthless, and that perhaps Ireland's chance has come and gone - New Zealand by 17

SARS - New Zealand by 17 - 2pts
Sporty & Portly - New Zealand by 20 - 2pts
Aristodemus - New Zealand by 30 - 3pts

South Africa vs England - Actual Margin: Draw!
Though less dramatic than New Zealand - Ireland it was another NH heroic failure for England on the high veldt, dead and buried in 20 minutes before a remarkable near resurrection ending with Pietersen's try 3 minutes from the end to seal the game. What now for the 3rd test, England won't have to face the altitude but will be without Robshaw and perhaps more crucially Ben Youngs who was outsanding this series. I think England will be more fired up and determined to win than Wales (who seem out of sorts) and Ireland (who no one expects to win) but I don't think it will be enough to edge South Africa, though I'd expect Corbisiero to start and reduce their scrum dominance - South Africa by 5

SARS - South Africa by 5 - 2pts
Sporty & Portly - South Africa by 7 - 0pts
Aristodemus - South Africa by 10 - 0pts

Argentina vs France - Actual Margin: France by 39
Plus ca change etc, I have to say I'm starting to worry for France, a bad Six Nations and a bad start to their tour must leave folks wondering what is going wrong under Saint-Andre - will people begin to long for the ugly Lievremont years
Having said that, this is usually where Les Bleus go on the rampage, but I just can't see it, whether its a long season at home, or something just not right internationally, things aren't clicking for the French and a bit of an on pitch meltdown remains a possibility - as does an utter annihilation of Argentina admittedly - Argentina by 7

SARS - Argentina by 7 - 0pts
Sporty & Portly - France by 5 - 2pts
Aristodemus - France by 12 - 3pts

USA vs Italy - Actual Margin: Italy by 20
Tempting to start this with some statement about Red 42 hut, hut etc. I can't say I know much about the US - they're ranked between Japan and Romania, but they do seem to be improving and I think they'll give the Italians a real run for their money, but not much more - Italy by 5

SARS - Italy by 5 - 2pts
Sporty & Portly - Italy by 10 - 2pts
Aristodemus - Italy by 15 - 4pts

Bonus points
SARS - 0
Sporty & Portly - 0
Aristodemus - 0

Totals
SARS - 12
Sporty & Portly - 10
Aristodemus - 16

Winner: ARISTODEMUS

Well done - a series win for you sir

Thanks for your predictions, more to come in the autumn