Four out of four would be great for everyone
IT is that time of the year coming around again. England have a shedload of injured players and are looking to four matches on consecutive Saturdays. South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia will be the guests at Twickenham but do not expect three of the four to bring along party presents.
Japan may not be strong enough to last for eighty minutes against any sort of team that England manage to scrape together from the physiotherapy treatment couch, but the other three will be raring to go and will be quite happy to add to Eddie Jones’ selection predicaments by denting a few more in their games against the red rose.
South Africa will be formidable and are perhaps the most improved of any national team anywhere on the planet.
They now look like worthy Springboks and the bad news for England is that Duane Vermeulen may be fit again and raring to go.
He is the South African talisman at No 8 and could well disrupt the best English back row available; with so many having an off-games note, he may just decide to wreck the entire English pack.
This first match is a crucial one and will set the tone for the three to come.
England simply have to get the collective act together and the full house at Twickenham will get behind them.
If things do not go so well, the supporters might just look at the price tag on their ticket and wonder why on earth they mortgaged the family home to get to the game.
A shaky start will also get the New Zealand gastric juices stirring and they will have no compassion if England stutter.
So the first encounter is vitally important to get some momentum and belief as the visitors will hardly have sympathy for a long injury list – they will simply play.
On the domestic front the directors of rugby and coaches have a very difficult balancing act to perform during these internationals.
Most teams have some sort of representation with the national squad and the cup games give the clubs the opportunity to blood younger, less experienced players.
But it is very much a balancing act – and it can go disastrously pear-shaped. Gloucester got it spot-on against Wasps last week and the blend of experience and youthfulness worked well.
The selection allowed some of the senior pros to have a bit of a rest but the performance must be a good one or all the rest for a few will count for nothing. The next-up cup match is one to savour. Bristol have not maintained their early promise with a win against Bath, but perhaps the Rec players underestimated Pat Lam’s outfit and paid the price.
Nobody is taking them lightly after their opening match in the Premiership and they may struggle to get into the winning habit.
They would be mad to rest too many against Gloucester as their squad needs to savour success to get more success.
It should be an intriguing game and Gloucester have shown what they are capable of when introducing a few players who will be shaving soon.
It is sad that the cup has been downgraded from what it was when cup rugby started in those bygone days.
In the amateur calendar the cup was the pinnacle of the season and giantkilling was a regular feature.
That is no more as a ‘junior’ team that won through many battles to face one of the big boys would suffer serious injuries now.
The professionals are simply too big and too fit for the minnows.
After Brizzle there are consecutive Premiership matches against Tigers and Exeter Chiefs.
Leicester will not be over confident at the thought of a visit to Kingsholm on the evening before th England v Japan encounter and a far harder test will come the following week against Exeter at Sandy Park.
The Wasps cup game suggested that Gloucester are on the right track and valuable experience has been given to a number of younger players who are not yet household names.
Four wins from the next four games would be a big ask, but success at Bristol might just get the team on a charge and three from four could be on; one more than that would deserve a national holiday.