Autumn Internationals Review

World of Sport Reporter: @worldofsport

Ireland produced the performance of the weekend as they resoundlingy beat the Springboks 38-3 at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. It was a perfect start to the Autumn International series for Joe Schmidt’s men, but for South Africa, after some promising recent performances, it seems like they have to take stock again.

It couldn’t started any worse for the Springboks as they lost prop Coenie Oosthuizen in the second minute with a leg injury. And found themselves 3-0 down a minute later after a penalty from Johnny Sexton. Handling errors from the Boks allowed Ireland to gain advantage and a couple more penalties saw them extend their lead 9-0.

Ireland scored their first try in the 24th minute as Andrew Conway capitalised on an error to score his first try for his country. South Africa finally got on the scoreboard after 43 minutes. An Elton Jantjies penalty was slotted over, but that would be it for the Springboks on what turned out to be an embarrassing day. A Sexton penalty not long after made it 17-3.

And then Ireland ran the Boks ragged in the last quarter, and they scored three more tries through Ruddock, Herring and Stockdale in the last 10 minutes. And with Sexton as imperious as ever the scoreline kept rising, and a 38-3 win for Ireland is a big statement to the rugby world.

Australia punished Wales at the Principality to record a 13th straight win over Warren Gatland’s men. Wales took the lead on 8 minutes through a Leigh Halfpenny penalty, and gave the home side hope that they might finally beat the Wallabies.

Tatafu Polota-Nau put the Australians in front in the 12th minute, however, as he crossed the line, and the try was converted by Bernard Foley to make it 7-3 to Australia. Wales’ hope once again was lifted ass they scored a fantastic try. Steffan Evans capitalised on some excellence form Gareth Davies as he made it over the line to put Wales back in front, and Halfpenny added the extras.

Again, their hope was shortlived, as Adam Coleman responded with a try of his own and with Foley adding the conversion it was advantage Australia yet again. Reece Hodge kicked a long range penalty to extend Australia's lead but Halfpenny hit back to keep the score tight. But when Micahel Hooper touched down just before half time to give Australia a 13-22 lead, it seemed like they might go on and storm the second half.

Halfpenny put a penalty over the sticks to narrow the gap to six points, but then Kurtly Beale capitalised on a spill from Evans and ran in over the line to extend Australia’s lead. And with Foley adding the extras it gave Australia a commanding 16-29 lead.

Australia were temporarily down to 14 men after Hooper was yellow carded, but the home side couldn’t capitalise on their advantage. And it was until the last minute that Wales actually made the score line a more respectable one. Hallam Amos crossed the line for Wales, but it was too little too late, and their run of defeats against the Wallabies has extended to 13.

New Zealand overpowered France at the Stade de France in Paris and in doing so became the first international team to score 2,000 Test tries in history. An inexperienced French team can hold their heads high, but ultimately, the French are still looking for their first home win against the All Blacks since 2000.

The All Blacks dominated the first quarter with tries from Dan Coles and Waisake Naholo, and with Beauden Barrett converting both extras and a penalty to add, it gave the All Blacks a resounding 17-0 lead after just 20 minutes.

France hit back 6 minutes later with a try from teddy Thomas, to give them some hope. But a yellow card for Rabah Slimani was the invitation the All Blacks didn’t even need to add to their score. Ryan Crotty and Sam Cane both went over the line, and with Barrett adding the extras, the All Blacks put the game beyond doubt. At half time they lead 31-5.

Fly-half Anthony Belleau scored his first points for France with a penalty, and when Sonny B Williams was sinbinned for an intentional knock down and a penalty try awarded, it gave the French some hope. But All Blacks wing Naholo then touched down late on to complete New Zealand's victory and dominance.

England started their autumn campaign off with a hard fought stuttering win at Twickenham against a dogged Argentina. George Ford gave England the lead from the boot, but Emiliano Bofelli responded with a penalty of his own. Ford then regained the lead for England with another penalty.

The action was sparse at Twickenham as the weather and England’s lack of time together as a unit was telling. However, tries from Nathan Hughes and Semesa Rokoduguni sealed a win for the home side.

Hughes’ try came when Argentina were down to 14 men. A great looping pass from Ford found Hughes on the wing and he duly crashed over the line. Ford made no mistake from the conversion as England started to stretch their lead. Bofelli missed some easy penalties to close the gap and will be kicking himself as it could have given the game a different complexion.

Both the teams were sloppy in the second half, and it wasn’t until the 65th minute before points were added. Rokoduguni collected a pass from Slade and touched down, and with Ford's conversion it stretched England's lead to 21-3. The Pumas scored a hardworked try in the 78th minute to put some gloss on the score line, but it was a resounding defeat against a team who didn’t perform to their ability.

A highly entertaining game at Murrayfield saw Scotland hold on against a resurgent second half Samoan fight back. Scotland were in front in the 1st minute as Stuart Hogg met a kick from Finn Russell and duly ran in the try. A penalty from either fly-half made it 10-3 to Scotland with just 10 minutes gone.

Another penalty for Scotland extended their lead to 10 points before Josh Tyrell hit back for the Pacific Islanders. He crashed over the line after some pressing forward play, and the added conversion brought the scores to within 3 points.

Scotland made sure their lead was solid just before the break, however. Huw Jones crossed the line to make it a 10-point game again, and when Stuart McInally went over to give a half time 25-10 lead following a well driven line-out, Scotland looked to be heading to a comfortable win.

McInally scored his second try on 45 minutes and Russell added the extra 2 points to make it a one-sided score line. Samoa, weren’t down and out, however. Piula Faasalele scored a try on 49 minutes and when Nanai-Williams scored another try the game had a completely different outlook to it.

Scotland scored next through Alex Dunbar, but Samoa responded with their 4th try of the game as Kieron Fonotia closed the gap yet again, and that wasn’t the end of the scoring. Another try each - Horne for Scotland and Treviranus for Samoa - ensured the watching crowd were warmed up with a high scoring fluid match.