England begin the 2013 QBE autumn internationals against the Australian (Wallabies).
England will start their 2013 autumn international campaign against The Australian Wallabies on the 2 November with a 14:30 kick-off at Twickenham. This most certainly will be a good pointer and is a game they should win. Next up on the 9 November with kick-off at 14:30 again, is Argentina (Pumas) England played the second string Pumas in Argentina so this should be a much stiffer test. Though we do still expect an England win. So to the big one and the New Zealand All Blacks on 16 November at Twickenham. This again is a 14:30 kick-off and a game it is more than likely they will lose.
Rugby World Cup 2015 is now fast approaching and it will be useful to see how the current crop of players perform. That said we hope that England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster does not miss the opportunity to look at George Ford or Danny Cipriani as potentials for that competition. Farrell still looks more a 12 than 10 as does Toby Flood. Both of them look at ease in front of a strong pack but struggle when the pressure is on. They also have patch’s of poor kicking form, but that also applies to Ford and Cipriani .
Up front we hope Alex Corbisiero is fit to start, though you have to say the squad is blessed with strong props. Not something you can say about the second row where there is plenty of athleticism but not so much of the old power and grunt. backrow is another area with plenty of doubts about who is in the squad and who should be Armitage is certainly a big miss, though he does not appear to be quite the power this season he was last.
We reckon a ratio of two out of three wins for England this time out. Much better than 2012. So given all factors and those missing both for the hosts England and the visitors we should be in for some fantastic rugby and we have highlighted in Bold our picks to win:
QBE Internationals
Saturday, 02 November 2013 14:30 England v Australia Twickenham
Saturday, 09 November 2013 14:30 England v Argentina Twickenham
Saturday, 16 November 2013 14:30 England v New Zealand Twickenham
The weather looks like it will not be spoiling things too much, that is for the spectators or the players. So we will be looking for open play and plenty of tries. Though more and more defence seems to rule the day. Following on from the Autumn match’s the next test for England will be the Six Nations and can they deal any body blows to Wales we think yes but will expand more nearer the time.