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Steve@Mose 
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 Topic: Summer Tours 2025
Posted: 25 Jun 2025 at 14:06 |
A repository for discussions about the other rugby taking place.
First up:
Will the Welsh regain some honour and pride against the Brave Blossoms?
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Raider999
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Posted: 25 Jun 2025 at 17:09 |
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Wales will be the strongest of the 4 home nations on their summer tours as they only have 2 Lions
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RAID ON
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Paul10
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Posted: 25 Jun 2025 at 17:14 |
 Raider999 wrote:
Wales will be the strongest of the 4 home nations on their summer tours as they only have 2 Lions |
👏
That is one way of looking at it..
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Raider999
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Posted: 26 Jun 2025 at 11:38 |
Paul10 wrote:
Raider999 wrote:
Wales will be the strongest of the 4 home nations on their summer tours as they only have 2 Lions |
👏
That is one way of looking at it.. |
By strongest, I meant nearest to full strength
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islander
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Posted: 26 Jun 2025 at 11:56 |
Realise the world rankings are skewed by the absence of 35+ Lions, but nevertheless interesting (IMHO) to look at world rankings ahead of summer tours...
Argentina (world ranked 5) & USA (15) v England (6) Japan (13) v Wales (12) Fiji (9) & Samoa (14) v Scotland (7) Georgia (11) and Portugal (18) v Ireland (3)
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: 26 Jun 2025 at 13:18 |
Raider999 wrote:
Paul10 wrote:
Raider999 wrote:
Wales will be the strongest of the 4 home nations on their summer tours as they only have 2 Lions |
👏
That is one way of looking at it.. |
By strongest, I meant nearest to full strength |
According to the article Wales have five in line to make their international debuts, but eleven unavailable/rested/not selected.
| Cardiff captain Liam Belcher, Dragons prop Chris Coleman, Ospreys trio Garyn Phillips, Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams and Scarlets back Macs Page are the fresh faces in Japan.
...
Some notable absentees are Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Will Rowlands, Henry Thomas, Ellis Mee, Gareth Anscombe, Max Llewellyn, Nick Tompkins, James Botham, Evan Lloyd and Morgan Morse, who are missing due to a combination of injuries, being rested and non-selection. |
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Paul10
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Posted: 26 Jun 2025 at 14:02 |
And that list doesn't include North, T Francis, Moriarty etc who have said "No thanks" to further involvement.
I'm hopeful but not confident things will get better.
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Raider999
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Posted: 27 Jun 2025 at 12:46 |
Paul10 wrote:
And that list doesn't include North, T Francis, Moriarty etc who have said "No thanks" to further involvement.
I'm hopeful but not confident things will get better. |
To be fair, they cannot get any worse
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Paul10
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Posted: 27 Jun 2025 at 13:21 |
Raider999 wrote:
Paul10 wrote:
And that list doesn't include North, T Francis, Moriarty etc who have said "No thanks" to further involvement.
I'm hopeful but not confident things will get better. |
To be fair, they cannot get any worse |
I wish
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: Yesterday at 09:44 |
Wales flankers Mann and Macleod return against Japan
Japan: Takuro Matsunaga; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Shogo Nakano, Malo Tuitama; Seungsin Lee, Shinobu Fujiwara; Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi, Epineri Uluiviti, Warner Deans, Michael Leitch (capt), Jack Cornelsen, Amato Fakatava.
Replacements: Hayate Era, Sena Kimura, Keijiro Tamefusa, Waisake Raratubua, Ben Gunter, Shuntaro Kitamura, Ichigo Nakakusu, Halatoa Vailea.
Wales: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Sam Costelow, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Ben Carter, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Liam Belcher, Gareth Thomas, Archie Griffin, James Ratti, Aaron Wainwright, Tommy Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Joe Roberts. |
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: Yesterday at 09:47 |
Ireland debuts for O'Brien and Murray in Georgia
Ireland: J O'Brien; T'OBrien; J Osborne, S McCloskey; J Stockdale; S Prendergast, C Casey (capt); J Boyle, G McCarthy, T Clarkson; C Izuchukwu, D Murray; R Baird, N Timoney, G Coombes.
Replacements: T Stewart, M Milne, J Aungier, T Ahern, C Prendergast, B Murphy, J Crowley, C Nash. |
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: Yesterday at 10:38 |
McDowall to lead Scotland against Maori All Blacks
Scotland XV: Smith, Paterson, Hutchinson, McDowall (c), Reed, Hastings, Horne; McBeth, Harrison, Richardson, Sykes, Henderson, Bayliss, Onyeama-Christie, Muncaster.
Replacements: Turner, Hepburn, Hurd, Williamson, Brown, Masibaka, Burke, Dobie. |
Edited by Steve@Mose - 23 hours 44 minutes ago at 18:08
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: 23 hours 40 minutes ago at 18:12 |
Ford to make 100th England appearance in Argentina opener
George Ford will become the seventh man to make 100 Test appearances for England when he starts at fly-half in the first Test against Argentina on Saturday.
Ford, 32, made his England debut against Wales in the 2014 Six Nations and was a key part of the side that reached the Rugby World Cup final in 2019.
Centre Seb Atkinson and wing Will Muir both win their first England caps, with uncapped Bath back row Guy Pepper on the bench.
Ford shares the captaincy with hooker Jamie George, with Northampton's Alex Coles partnering Charlie Ewels in the second row and flanker Sam Underhill making his Test comeback after missing the Six Nations with an ankle injury.
Ben Spencer is preferred to Jack van Poortvliet at scrum-half, while full-back Freddie Steward comes in for his first England appearance since February.
With 13 first-choice players missing on Lions duty, there is an inexperienced look to England's team - nine of the starting XV have fewer than 15 caps.
"It is not something you think about at the start of your career," Ford told BBC Sport of his milestone.
"You dream of playing for England, and when you get to do it once it is an unbelievably special moment - to achieve that was the proudest memory of my career.
"Then I suppose you get your head down to work as hard as you can and improve so you might gather a few caps together - that is all I have tried to do really, take each year and campaign as it comes, try to improve, develop and do the right thing for the team.
"I have the opportunity to hit quite a big milestone and it is something I will be very proud of."
Scrum-half Ben Youngs, who retired from international rugby at the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, won 127 caps for his country, the most of any man.
Dan Cole, Jason Leonard, Owen Farrell, Courtney Lawes and Danny Care have also passed the 100-Test mark for England.
Sarah Hunter retired in March 2023 having won 141 caps for England's women's team.
"George has been a standout player for over a decade," said head coach Steve Borthwick.
"Reaching 100 caps is a remarkable achievement, and it speaks volumes about both the professional and the person he is.
"Everyone in the squad is incredibly proud to share this moment with him."
Borthwick has said that Argentina will be favourites across the two-Test series after the Pumas' victory over the British and Irish Lions in Dublin last month continued their fine run of form.
Argentina are ranked fifth in the world, one place above England.
The second meeting between the two teams takes place in San Juan on 12 July.
England: Steward; Roebuck, Slade, S Atkinson, Muir; Ford, Spencer; Baxter, George, Heyes, Ewels, Coles, B Curry, Underhill, Willis.
Replacements: Dan, Rodd, Opoku-Fordjour, Cunningham-South, Pepper, Dombrandt, Van Poortvliet, Murley |
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Steve@Mose
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Posted: 2 hours 29 minutes ago at 15:23 |
Match live on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer - kick-off 6:00am.
Wales and Japan will be given water breaks and an extended half-time period to help the two sides deal with the heat and humidity in Kitakyushu on Saturday.
The match is being played at 14:00 local time with temperatures expected to reach 33C, while there will also be a high level of humidity.
There will be a three-minute break midway through each half, while half-time will be extended to 20 minutes from the original 15 minutes.
The measures are being taken under World Rugby's updated heat and air quality guidelines, which set out the measures to be taken to support players playing in hot conditions.
The half-time extension is the second most severe reading with the next step being to consider "delaying or suspending the game".
How hot is too hot for World Rugby?
The guidelines cover whether water breaks should be introduced, as well as measures such as extending the half-time break or if a game needs to be suspended.
Written by Dr Grant Lynch and Dr Olly Jay of the University of Sydney, the guidelines focus on a heat stress index rather than just basic air temperature.
The index runs between 0 and 250 with levels of heat stress determining what action will be taken.
World Rugby uses a number of devices which measure all the elements which go into calculating the heat stress Index, including air temperature, humidity, wind speed and ground radiation. The readings are then put into the following categories:
- Low (0-99 heat stress index) – teams follow standard practice
- Moderate (100 to 149) – players take on more fluids and reduce the amount of clothing worn
- High (150 to 199) – players to have a three-minute cooling break in each half. Team also to implement cooling strategies such as iced towels
- Very High (200 to 249) – half-time extended to 20 minutes
- Extreme (250+) – consider delaying or suspending the game.
In the extreme case of a game being suspended, the guidelines also set out exactly the conditions that need to be met for a game to begin or resume:
- The heat stress index must fall below 230 and remain below that level for 45 minutes
- Weather forecasts indicate a low risk of the heat stress Index rising above 250 for the next two hours if the game has started or three hours if it has not yet begun
- The match-day doctor is happy it is safe to play.
Preparations for heat and humidity
Wales have turned to ice towels and freezing flannel hats to combat the extreme conditions on this trip.
The thermometer has hovered around the 33C mark since the Wales squad touched down in Japan last Thursday for the two-Test series against the Brave Blossoms.
The draining humidity means the temperatures feel much hotter for Wales' players, who had eight ice baths at the side of the pitch during Tuesday's training session.
Each player in the 33-strong squad was required to spend a minimum of five minutes in an ice bath and 500 kilos of ice was used in the session.
Before Wales arrived in Japan, they prepared in a specially designated heat chamber at their Vale of Glamorgan training base, where they performed extensive exercises in extreme conditions.
Japan coach Eddie Jones says whoever deals with the conditions better will win the game and has previously commented he hopes for a hot day as the hosts try to "run Wales off their feet". |
Edited by Steve@Mose - 2 hours 27 minutes ago at 15:25
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