Rugby Autumn Nations: Week Two Roundup
It’s been another great week with three victories and one unlucky defeat for the home nations. Let’s look at how they performed…
Scotland 23-31 New Zealand
What was not a shock to the fans was the result. What was one of two big shocks, was the fact that Scotland had the lead against the All Blacks for most of the game and were on their way to their first win against their opponents for the first time since 1965. The other shock was that the Scotland squad showed much better discipline on the pitch.
Scotland only gave away one penalty kick, which New Zealand's Jordie Barrett put away and no players were sin binned. On the other hand, New Zealand gave away three penalty kicks, all scored by Russell and had Lienert-Brown sin-binned for a bad tackle.
The first ten minutes was all New Zealand as they were leading 14-0, however, Scotland fired back and had a 23-14 lead up until the 60th minute, but were starting to tire which the All Blacks took advantage of to win the game.
The only defeat for the home nations, but Scotland should still hold their head up. They showed poise, discipline and proved that they can play a good game of rugby.
England 52-13 Japan
If there was a time for Eddie Jones to silence his critics, this was it. The England coach led the England team to a resounding victory over Japan. Having put last week’s defeat to Argentina past them, England ran in seven tries to beat the Battling Blossoms.
First-half tries from Freddie Steward, Marcus Smith and Guy Porter saw the home side take the lead 24-6 by the half time whistle. In the second half England continued to dominate the game with Ellis Genge getting on the scoreboard and Porter scoring his second try. Japan tried to get going, but Smith then scored his second try as England sealed their victory at Twickenham.
Wales 20-13 Argentina
Wales got their Autumn Nations campaign back on track with a great end to end game against Argentina.
Wales conceded two penalties against the Pumas which Boffelli scored with no difficulty. Boffelli was the reason for England’s defeat last week and was causing trouble for the Welsh side, however, Wales started to dominate the field territorially and their persistence was rewarded. A powerful lineout drive ended with a try for Faletau, Anscombe then kicked the conversion to gain Wales the lead just before half time.
Seven minutes into the second half, Pumas full-back Juan Cruz Mallia attempted a clearance and was charged down by Williams who ran in another try. Anscombe yet again converted to create an 11-point lead for Wales.
Argentina comfortably scored another penalty through Boffelli, but they could not find a way to penetrate the Welsh defence who managed to hold on for their first Autumn Nations victory.
Ireland 35-17 Fiji
Ireland managed a victory over the Islanders, despite a slow and poor start which was not their usual standard of play. Their victory was also helped when Fiji decided to adopt Scotland’s idea of discipline with three sin bins and numerous penalties.
The fourth minute saw Kalaveti Ravouvou get a try for the Islanders, this just fired up the Irish as two tries were scored by Nick Timoney and a third from Robert Baloucoune to take a halftime lead.
Albert Tuisue was sent off for Fiji in the early stages of the second half due to a dangerous high tackle on Joey Carbery. With two more Fijian sin bins on top of that, Ireland took advantage with Mack Hansen and Cian Healy scoring a try each.
Although Scotland got the only defeat this week, they played well and showed an impressive amount of discipline. If they can take what they have gained and improve on that then they can prove to be a formidable squad.
England may have silenced some negativity from fans and critics with their victory. Again, there is nowhere for Eddie Jones and his squad to go but up from here, they just need to take it one game at a time.
Wales showed heart during their game and it paid off for them. They took what they learned from last week and put it into play. Now they cannot afford to rest, they need to keep playing and improving.
Ireland were sloppy, despite getting a victory. They need to play each game with the skill and passion that they usually have, no matter the team they are facing.