Big chance for a clean sweep in the North

WALES are playing South Africa next week but for me the autumn programme effectively ends this weekend — and it goes out with a bang as all four home unions take on Southern Hemisphere opposition.

With all due respect to Samoa, anything other than a convincing England win at Twickenham would be a massive surprise, but the other three games should be very competitive and coaches in the Northern Hemisphere need to ram home what a great opportunity this weekend presents.

The Southern Hemisphere sides are out on their feet while our teams should be coming into prime form. Now is the time to strike ruthlessly.

WALES v NEW ZEALAND

WALES must believe they can win the weekend’s big match because the All Blacks look vulnerable, especially now Kieran Read has dropped out.

I wouldn’t quite say they are running on empty, but this is their final match in relentless run of Test rugby which began with that big win over Samoa ahead of the Lions series.

New Zealand were fragile and error prone against Scotland at Murrayfield last week and if Wales can crank up the pressure from the off, a first win in 64 years over the All Blacks is achievable.

It will need a relentless 80 minutes, though. Wales must not get discouraged if New Zealand get off to a decent start or if they don’t show any early signs of cracking. Wales showed plenty of attacking ambition against Australia but did not execute well. They also went AWOL defensively a couple of times against a very good Wallabies side.

They need to improve in both areas of their game against New Zealand but there is no reason why that can’t happen. Scotland demonstrated very clearly that the All Blacks are not supermen.

ENGLAND v SAMOA

ENGLAND have rung the changes to give squad members and young tyros a start but I would still be very disappointed with anything other than a comprehensive win.

The pack has an unfamiliar look but is rammed with strength, footballing ability and pace and they need to bring all that to bear to impose a stranglehold on the game and give an extremely inventive back division the platform they crave.

I am fascinated to see how the combination of Henry Slade and Alex Lozowski at centre works with Slade occupying the rested Owen Farrell’s slot at 12. Although Slade didn’t enjoy his finest game against Argentina, he is an outstanding talent with the same skill-set as Farrell and I want to see him command a game from 12. Lozowski is an interesting player. I had him pegged as a 10/12 but increasingly we have seen that he had serious wheels and can play at 13 or even wider.

He’s strong but slight and in many ways reminds me of Peter Preece, that very fine Coventry and sometimes England centre from just before my time. I’m not sure England ever quite realised what a talent Preece was, but Eddie seems to have clocked Lozowski’s talent early on.

SCOTLAND v AUSTRALIA

MANY people seemed surprised that Scotland played so well against New Zealand last week, especially after an untidy error-strewn win over Samoa the previous week. I wasn’t, and predicted in this column that Scotland fans would have plenty to cheer about.

They are not without weaknesses but they have some very strong cards to play — a backline containing Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, the excellent Huw Jones and Finn Russell can ask questions of any defence. Jones’ late try against the Kiwis was a peach.

Against Australia they must guard against a drop in intensity after the massive mental and physical effort against New Zealand.

There are a few injuries and tired bodies, so Gregor Townsend has made four changes and that’s no bad thing, it will bring some freshness into the team. Knowing the Aussie mentality, they will rev themselves up for this. There is a good deal of frustration to work off from last week’s defeat by England when no decisions went their way. This could be one of the best matches of the autumn.

IRELAND v ARGENTINA

IRELAND IRELAN played their second string last week and nearly paid the price against Fiji, but they should be in prime condition against a Pumas team that finally stopped the rot with a comprehensive win in Italy.

Matches between these two tend to be bad tempered, snarly and very physical — there is a lot of history — and that could ignite today. Ireland need to stay cool, though, because they are infinitely the better rugby team and need to bring that class to bear and simply play Argentina off the park.

A good win and Ireland will have every right to be confident for the Six Nations.