Rugby Autumn Nations: Week One Roundup
In the first week of the rugby Autumn Nations there have been both victories and defeats as the home nations took on some tough competition. But with week one done and dusted, let’s see how each of the home nations performed…
Scotland 28 – Fiji 12
Last week Australia trailed Scotland and the Wallerbys gained a last minute victory. This time Scotland trailed Fiji due to two tries from the Islanders, with the hosts managing to score a try before half time.
During the second half Scotland took advantage of Fiji’s Rotuisolia being sin binned, where they gained three tries in succession.
However, Scotland were giving penalties away during the whole game which Fiji took advantage of. This resulted in Scotland captain Stuart Hogg also being sin-binned because of Scotland’s consistent penalties, as well as Darcy Graham due to a bad tackle.
If past games are anything to go by, Scotland shouldn’t have struggled against Fiji the way they did and must work on their discipline if they are to stand a chance against the All Blacks.
England 29 – Argentina 30
It was another bitter pill to swallow for the England team as they were narrowly defeated at Twickenham by Argentina for the first time since 2006. It was Federico Todeschini who scored the winner 16 years ago, this time it was fly half Santiago Carreras.
However, the hero for the Pumas was Emiliano Boffelli who scored 25 out of the 30 points accumulated by Argentina. Despite the fight by England, Bofelli kept on running through the England defence, scoring all five tries.
At the 80th minute they had a chance with a scrum, but England caused a knock on which the Pumas kicked out of touch to end the game.
If Eddie Jones was trying to send a message that England were strong contenders this wasn’t it. He is running out of time and needs every win he can get. Hopefully this weekend’s game against Japan can get England back on track.
Ireland 19 – South Africa 16
This was one of the big games to watch and it didn’t disappoint as the Six Nations triple crown winners managed to gain a win over the Rugby World champions.
The Springboks scored two tries from the opening whistle which was expected by the World Cup champions. However, Ireland were not going to be caught out and scored two tries of their own.
It went from bad to worse for the Springboks as they squandered every penalty chance that they had.
This allowed Ireland to come back and score a couple more tries and although South Africa mounted a comeback it was too late.
In all honesty, South Africa could have played a better game, however, they made too many errors which Ireland were more than happy to take advantage of. Ireland were ready to go and they showed it with an impressive victory.
Wales 23 – New Zealand 55
Despite the heart and fighting passion of the Welsh, the All Blacks showed why they are the team to beat. Also, Wales were still reeling from their last game which was a 15-14 defeat to Italy in the Six Nations.
New Zealand were up 16-0 by the end of the first half, but only then did Wales score their first try of the match, followed by a conversion. The Welsh were starting to make a comeback only being down by seven points, however, New Zealand finished off the Welsh side by running in five more tries.
Wales had a tough game from the first whistle, however they played with a lot of heart and this defeat shouldn’t shake them.
There is a long way to go in the competition and the home nations need to work on different aspects. For Scotland, it is their discipline for the game, if they can hone in on that then they will be quite a strong team. For Wales, it is confidence and to not reel from previous defeats. For Ireland, they are going from strength to strength, but cannot afford to rest on their laurels, and for England this is the chance for Eddie Jones to prove his critics wrong.