Key Points For Every Team In Week 4 Of The 2025 July Rugby Internationals
Key Points For Every Team In Week 4 Of The 2025 July Rugby Internationals
Key insights for every international team in Week 2 of the 2025 July rugby internationals, with World Cup rankings and series wins on the line.
The decks are loaded, series are on the line and, more importantly, key ranking points that will go a long way towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup seeding are up for grabs.
Week 4 of the 2025 July Internationals (Week 2 for most teams) is bursting at the seams with talking points and potentially career-altering head-to-head matchups.
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First up, is one of the most explosive attacking pairings in test rugby today, as Fiji hosts Scotland for what, on paper, should be a points-scoring festival in Suva.
Hot on the heels of this clash will be arguably the highest-stakes clash of the weekend, with Wales hoping to end its historic losing streak in Kobe.
Almost unbelievably succumbing to a Japanese comeback in their first clash a week ago, Matt Sherratt’s men will be aiming to avoid a 19th consecutive defeat.
Diving south once more, New Zealand and France square off in what should be another ding-dong battle between two of the game’s top teams.
Scraping by a largely second-string French side by four points in the first test, the pressure is firmly on Scott Robertson’s side to rebound with a big performance.
Matching their greatest rival in looking far from convincing a week ago, the world champion Springboks renew acquaintances with Italy in Gqeberha.
Despite racing away to a big lead at Loftus Versfeld in the first test, the Boks were made to sweat it out against a resurgent Azzurri side as the famed 'Bomb Squad' fizzled.
Back in the European heat wave, Portugal hosts Ireland for what should be an attacking showcase similar to the Fiji vs Scotland match.
Paul O’Connell’s Ireland impressed massively in torrid conditions against an ultra-physical Georgia in Tbilisi last time out.
Overwhelming the hosts despite being short 16 British and Irish Lions players and a handful of first-string operators, Ireland’s next generation will look to lay down another marker this weekend.
Concluding the action is a do-or-die test for Argentina against England in San Juan.
Felipe Contepomi’s Pumas were blitzed by a second-half flurry from Steve Borthwick’s England in what was their worst performance since the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Adding to the impressive nature of England’s performance was that, like Ireland, the English team was missing a significant number of front-line players with the Lions.
With the stage set for an action-packed weekend, here is one key point for each team this weekend:
Argentina Rugby | Pride On The Line
Second best in every department in the first test, Los Pumas have work to do across the park to address this weekend.
Front and center of their issues was their total collapse in the physical stages, which was a completely un-Argentine showing.
Starting with the tackle, where England had 25 dominant tackles, which is about as high as we have seen in quite some time. Argentina, in contrast, had just eight dominant tackles to go with 28 missed for a disappointing 79% tackle completion rate.
While tackle completion has become a less important statistic in the era of the hard-blitz defense, Argentina’s misses were not down to pressure, but more individual errors, slipping off tackles, as England made five clean line breaks and beat 28 defenders (Tom Willis accounted for 11 of the 28).
Should Los Pumas have any designs on levelling the series, tidying up their contact work is a non-negotiable this weekend.
England Rugby | Doubling Down
Standing in stark contrast to the hosts, England did just about everything right in the first test.
Battening down the hatches and weathering Argentina’s best shots to lead 3-0 at the break, before exploding into action with three tries in nine minutes, Steve Borthwick’s side displayed their growth since the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
If there is one area that Borthwick’s side will be looking at, it is the relatively high post-contact meters of 288 that Argentina achieved.
Of course, this stat doesn’t always tell the full story; however, if Argentina get their accuracy correct this week, some of the passes and offloads that didn’t stick last time out will.
Overall, England’s biggest challenge this week will be containing the inevitable Argentina bounce back. To do so, England will need to get its big ball carriers, such as Tom Willis, Tom Roebuck, Ben Curry and company into the contest early and often.
Fiji Rugby | Time To Front Up
Denied back-to-back victories over Australia by the most dubious of refereeing decisions, the Flying Fijians face another stern test this week against Scotland.
Their path to victory is clear: they need to get parity at set-piece time.
Against the Wallabies, Fiji struggled to a 71% scrum win rate and a very poor 67% return at line-out time.
Against Scotland, this lack of set-piece efficiency simply won’t do with Gregor Townsend selecting an uber-physical pack and kick-heavy back line.
Should Mick Byrne’s side get some level of parity/minimize set-piece opportunities, then they undoubtedly will score points.
France Rugby | Bar Brawl In Wellington
Cohesion - that would’ve been the name of the game for Les Bleus this week. Instead, Fabien Galthié has opted to make ten changes to his side.
Bringing back Top 14 finalists, namely the center pairing of Pierre-Louis Barassi and Nicolas Depoortère, Galthie’s side now faces an uphill challenge to repeat its efforts of a week ago.
Other notable changes are the new-look back three of fullback Leo Barre, who is joined by last week’s fullback Théo Attissogbe and outside center Émilien Gailleton on the wings.
In the starting pack, Galthie has made seven changes, with just hooker and captain Gaetan Barlot remaining in the starting lineup.
Mixing a heavyweight tight-five with a big-time hitter in South African-born backrow Jacobus Van Tonder, Galthie will expect his pack to get after the All Blacks at set-piece time.
Joining Van Tonder in the back row are the relatively lightweight, but super quick, pairing of Esteban Abadie at No. 8 and Pierre Bochaton at blindside flank.
This duo will aim to cut down the high number of missed tackles Les Bleus had last time out (30) and, more importantly, get after the All Blacks' possession.
In the end, the first test came down to Les Bleus’ inability to get their hands on the ball, with the All Blacks having 62% of the possession, while making a whopping 425 post-contact meters to the French 167 meters.
Getting closer to their hosts in terms of possession will go a long way to securing a famous win for this dangerous new-look French outfit.
Japan Rugby | Blistering Blossoms
Picking up the signature win of Eddie Jones’ second stint in charge (so far), the Brave Blossoms dug deep to overcome a two-score deficit against Wales last time out.
Deserving all of the credit for pulling off the comeback, Japan showed glimpses of the framework Jones and his staff are putting in place.
Yet, what they cannot rely on is lightning striking twice.
Should they again slip behind by multiple scores, one would have to expect that Wales would manage the situation far better than last time.
Interestingly, neither side scored between the 21st and 58th minute, before Japan’s superior fitness told, and they scored the crucial 17 points in 12 minutes to go ahead and ultimately win.
Away from the momentary lapse of control that saw them concede two tries in two minutes, Japan was rock solid. However, given the team's dominance of possession in the final 10 minutes, Eddie Jones certainly will be looking for them to improve in shutting out the game by scoring, rather than playing conservatively.
Ireland Rugby | Chieftain Role Up For Grabs
Facing a polar opposite opponent this week, Ireland’s young guns will be relishing the opportunity to test themselves in the Lisbon heat against a Portuguese side stacked with top-level finishers.
Displaying their physical toughness by shutting down the heralded Georgian power game last week, Ireland likely will look to wear down Portugal with an intricate and process-driven game plan.
Avoiding a fast and loose game with their halfbacks pulling the strings will be the order of the day.
Above all others, two players really need to lay down a marker this weekend.
Starting at 10 ahead of Sam Prendergast, Munster’s Jack Crowley will be hell bent on laying down a marker that he is indeed the best outhalf currently available to Ireland.
Behind him, Ciaran Frawley, too, needs a statement performance, having been jettisoned from both the Leinster and Ireland matchday squads on the back of a bitterly disappointing end to 2024.
How Frawley will be deployed remains to be seen, but the prospect of a dual playmaking axis alongside Crowley is tantalizing to say the least.
On paper, this should be a relatively straightforward day out for Ireland, which likely will take ascendancy in the tight exchanges before bringing the lethal outside backs into the contest.
Among the many changes, Ireland’s three debutants this week include the Connacht duo of Shayne Bolton and Hugh Gavin, both of whom are highly rated by the Irish coaching staff and backed to be instant contributors.
Joining the pair is Munster’s Alex Kendellen, who gets the start at openside and is another player the Irish coaching staff believe can contribute as an alternative to Josh van der Flier in the near future.
New Zealand | Return To All Black Rugby
Clinical finishing, this has to be the order of the day for the All Blacks, who saw a handful of try-scoring opportunities flutter away last time out.
Dominating possession, territory and the post contact meters, Scott Robertson’s side should’ve been out of sight as the match wound down. Instead, the team nearly let the match slip away, with Les Bleus launching late attacks only to be turned over.
This lack of a clinical edge was distinctly un-All Black, and how much they improve this week will be a real marker of Robertson and his staff.
We expect a major improvement in this department, even without captain Scott Barrett, who has been ruled out through injury.
Portugal Rugby | Sizzling Lisbon
Can Portugal do what Georgia said it would and take advantage of the opportunity to put forward its case for future inclusion in the Six Nations?
To do so, Portugal will need to push Ireland right to the wire, which will require a mammoth effort from the pack.
Taking a less conventional route, Portugal’s best opportunity to hurt Ireland will be to drag the Irish into a loose running game in the heat.
While Ireland is renowned as being a very fit outfit, there is no secret that the heat will be an element the Portuguese players will be far more comfortable in.
To orchestrate this open game, the axis of Hugo Aubry, Tomas Appleton and Vincent Pinto will need to find grass when they kick.
Forcing Ireland to return the ball, rather than set up the line-out, is key to keeping up the tempo.
One thing that is for certain is that this is the type of fixture Portugal needs to continue developing ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2027.
Scotland Rugby | Aerial Raid
Overcoming a game Māori All Black outfit a week ago, Gregor Townsend’s charges were mightily impressive despite missing their key Lions backline operators.
Facing an altogether more challenging opponent this week against Fiji, Scotland cannot be lured into a glorified sevens match. Instead, Fiji needs to get the hosts into a set-piece arm wrestle and kick often and accurately.
Clearly indicating this to be the case, Townsend has picked two physical fly-halves in the 10 and 12 shirts in the Kiwi-born duo of Fergus Burke and Tom Jordan.
Both players are dominant defenders with educated boots that should cause the Fijians all sorts of bother.
Outside this pairing, Cameron Redpath is a top-notch striker of the ball and an equally solid defender who sprinkles in a top-notch distributing game.
For the back three of Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn and Kyle Rowe, the above gameplan will be the thing of nightmares with all three being lethal finishes who relish open space.
Irrespective of best-laid plans, there is little doubt that they will get their chances to attack, but crucially, they need to remain linked to support players.
Getting isolated and turned over or being loose with their handling no doubt will be punished by Fiji.
Sneak peeking ahead, Burke’s viability as a backup to Finn Russell is a huge narrative for Scottish Rugby, which has struggled to find a viable deputy to the playmaking maestro for nearly a decade.
South Africa Rugby | Tick,Tick, Boom
Ruthless Rassie was in force this week as the World Cup-winning coach ran the changes following a brutally poor second half by his charges at Loftus Versfeld.
Whether this was part of Rassie’s pre-arranged plans is hard to gauge, as, unlike most international coaches, he is confident in changing his side from week to week.
Based on his comments during the week, these changes more likely are down to performance with the Boks’ famed 'Bomb Squad' fizzling and failing to fire when called up last week.
The Boks got battered by a second-string Italian side they should’ve buried when leading 28-3 at halftime.
Instead, Italy closed the gap to 35-24 with less than 10 minutes to go, before Alessandro Izekor was sent to the sin bin.
This numerical advantage was capitalized on by the Boks, who scored the final try through Marco van Staden, who has been promoted to the starting lineup this week.
With Rassie’s words ringing in their ears, the Boks have to react with a big 80-minute performance.
For new caps Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese and Ethan Hooker, the opportunity to press their case for further inclusion is right there.
So, too, for the returning Evan Roos, who long has been heralded as a potential starting eight for the Boks but who has to date struggled to lock down his position in the squad.
Finally, the great Willie Le Roux making his 100th appearance for the Boks should be the final piece of motivation for the Boks to go the distance this week.
Should they not show the ruthless edge of last season, it could spell the end of several veteran players.
Wales Rugby | Future Rests Of Young Shoulders
Parking the potential of a 19th straight loss, given the losing streak is at the forefront of every Welsh fan’s mind.
This week’s clash is about more than just pride in the shirt; it is about showing a glimmer of hope that Welsh Rugby can get back on track over the next five years.
Front and center to any potential rise is the development of young fly-half Dan Edwards. Coming into this tour, Edwards was the consensus form fly-half in Welsh Rugby, making the selection of Sam Costelow in the first test, head scratching to say the least.
Gifted with all of the skills required of top 10s, what sets Edwards apart is that intangible and unquantifiable mental strength to boss a team around the park.
In the first test, Wales’ inability to shut down a very winnable contest with an accurate and well-thought-out kicking strategy was inexcusable.
In just his third cap, Edwards is tasked with fixing the Welsh kicking game and bossing his teammates into the right areas of the pitch.
For Welsh fans, this has to be the key talking point this week.
A win would be huge, but Edwards’ development is crucial to the Welsh getting back on track and avoiding a further slip down the World Rankings.
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