With the weekend quickly approaching, its time to make some predictions for this weekends Autumn Internationals! I will admit I feel like much of the excitement has already occurred with the double showdown between Ireland and New Zealand, personally a lot of the other matches have been lacking somewhat for me with some side like Wales and South Africa sputtering as of late.

Here are my predictions for this weekend!

Ireland vs. Australia – Ireland have suffered the wrath of the All Blacks this past weekend in tight game that might not be reflected from the scoreboard. Ireland were not able to capitalize on two yellow cards that saw the Kiwi’s play a man down for 20 minutes. The Irish have lost some key back players in Sexton and Henshaw, and potentially Rob Kearney and CJ Stander. However, the Green men will be charged to get their third win over another Southern Hemisphere rival in Australia. The Wallabies had a shaky start to their international season, look to have turned the tide as of late with a convincing win over Wales and a tight two over Scotland and France. This will be a tight match! and one of the more exciting events of the weekend. Prediction: Ireland by 3

Wales vs. South Africa – Wales has avoided failure at the start of their season with a 2-1 record thus far, with two rather uneventful wins over Argentina and Japan since their slow start against Australia a few weeks ago. South Africa on the other hand is the talk of the Rugby town recently and will be looking to mend some wounds from their disappointing season with a win over wales. Prediction: Wales by 7. South Africa will show up for the first 20 minutes like they did against England, but will eventually be put down by hopefully a preforming back line in Williams Halfpenny and North.

England vs. Argentina – Argentina have had two tough losses in a row and will be looking right the ship. But the performance displayed against Scotland this past week looked labored and tired at times, if Argentina are to win, they will have to show the offloading capabilities shown against the Southern Hemisphere teams this past Rugby Championship. However, I think England will prove to be to much for the Pumas and put their back lines ability for free flowing rugby on display. Prediction: England by 14

Italy vs. Tonga – Italy will be proud of their latest performance against the Boks and their talisman Captain Sergio Parisse will be looking to continue their winning ways in front of their 20,000 home ground stadium Stadio Euganeo in Padova. Tonga just nearly edged over the USA eagles last weekend with a 20-17. I think the Italians will be out to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with in the Six Nations and will beat the Pacific Islanders. Prediction: Italy by 5

Scotland vs. Georgia – Georgia have been looking to make a case for themselves entering the European top tier 6 Nations, but Scotland will be wanting to continue their winning ways. The passionate leader of Greg Laidlaw will be looking to lead his men to a solid victory over the 12th ranked Georgian side. Georgia narrowly beat 15th ranked Tonga this past weekend, where as Scotland have now entered the top eight nations in the world, leapfrogging France for 7th place. Prediction: Scotland by 5

France vs. New Zealand – France have been struggling to find their form, falling to 8th place in the world rankings this past weekend with a tough loss to Australia. France have the firepower to dismantle defenses with powerful runners in Vakatawa and Fofana. New Zealand seem to be back to their winning ways with a confident but controversial win over their new found rivals Ireland. The only hope France have is that the Kiwi’s are physically or emotionally drained from last weekends affair. But New Zealand will prove to powerful. Prediction: New Zealand by 20

Japan vs. Fiji – Fiji will be licking their wounds suffered from a massive defeat at the hands of the Red Rose last weekend at Twickenham. Japan lost in a tight but somewhat boring affair in Wales last weekend and will be wanting to prove that they can play with the best of them. This is a show down between the 10 and 11 spots in world rankings with Fiji currently sitting pretty at 10. I think the Brave Blossoms will be able to edge out the flying Fijians by a try, in what I can see as being a tight affair. Prediction: Japan by 7.

Canada vs. Samoa – Canada’s last win came against 19th placed Russia on June 18th in Calgary. However, Canada played a brave performance against Ireland in a 53-21 loss, but were put to the sword against a strong Romanian outfit last weekend in a 21-16 loss. The past two encounters by these two nations have seen Samoa come out on top in both situations with a 1 point advantage in 2015 and a 10 point advantage in 2014. Samoa currently sit at 14th place in the world rankings and lost their last weekends match to Georgia by 4. If Canada have any chance, they will have to play physically against this Samoan outfit. However, Samoa seem to be the favorites in this match. Prediction: Samoa by 14