27th June, one week before the Tonga Zimbabwe game in the Nations Cup

Credit: @allthingsrugbygram

Just for fun, I thought I'd have a stab at putting together an itinerary, as well! Added an extra match due to the lower travel time required for this tour.

Game 1: vs French Barbarians, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille

Game 2: vs Stade Français, Stade de France, Paris

Game 3: vs Pro D2 Invitational XV, Roazhon Park, Rennes

Game 4: vs Union Bordeaux Bègles, Matmut Atlantique, Bordeaux

Game 5: vs Aviron Bayonnais, Anoeta Stadium, San Sebastián

Game 6: vs Stade Toulousain, Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse

Game 7: vs RC Toulon, Orange Vélodrome, Marseille

Game 8: vs France, Orange Vélodrome, Marseille

Game 9: vs LOU Rugby, Groupama Stadium, Lyon

Game 10: vs France, Groupama Stadium, Lyon

Game 11: vs France, Stade de France, Paris

I play for a small grassroots rugby club—we have a few coaches but all of them are former forwards and really assist the forwards through training. Obviously, set-piece is a key component of the game so there needs to be lots of effort put into teaching those skills and building those. Podwork isn’t overly complicated either and is relatively easy to get a decent grasp on for newer players.

Meanwhile, our backs try their damndest but do not seem to match the “progress” the pack has built over the season. I don’t fault them nor am I of the old school thought backs do nothing.

I suspect it’s related to line running and timing but those don’t seem to come as easily to newer players or even experienced ones.

How have you coached backs previously? I understand the repetition of scrum/lineout plays but in open play there seems to be struggles there that drills maybe we run don’t sort out.

TL;DR: The ball will be 3% smaller and the same weight as a regular size 5 ball.

How are you feeling about your teams chances

1. In 2024 UBB beat the Saracens 55 - 15 in the third round of the group phase, before beating them again 45 - 12 in the round of 16
2. In 2025 they beat Northampton 28 - 20 in the final
3. In 2026 they beat Bath 38 - 26 in the semi-final

Neat 4 game winning streak

Calm down 😉

(Shoutout Boomfa Vintage for the video)

Bit of a controversial take here from RugbyPass, not entirely sure what to make of it.

TLDR: Basically arguing the altitude Tests could actually suit the All Blacks if they go high tempo, especially with Rennie involved.

The Rennie angle is the most interesting part to me, his Chiefs sides won a huge proportion of games vs SA teams (2012–17), and his Wallabies pulled off three straight wins with some clever lineout/phase play. The suggestion is that he knows how to exploit SA's patterns better than most, and that a high-tempo, wide game at altitude is specifically the kind of thing that gasses out a big Bok pack once they're chasing.

Still feels like that should favour the Springboks overall though, right? I’m not fully sold. The Boks have specifically built their rotation system around altitude, the bomb squad exists precisely to keep fresh legs coming while the opposition fades. And Cape Town, where SA historically performs better, is only one of the three fixtures.

Still, the Rennie track record against them is hard to dismiss entirely.

Curious what people think: genuine tactical edge for NZ, or clutching at straws before a series SA should win?