Southern Hemisphere Rugby Dominates In Autumn Nations Series
Southern Hemisphere Rugby Dominates In Autumn Nations Series
Southern Hemisphere rugby teams dominated the weekend, with New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and South Africa defeating their Six Nations opponents.
Domination unlike any we have seen in recent years is the way to sum up the Southern Hemisphere’s weekend, as all five teams claimed wins over their Six Nations opponents.
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Kicking things off Friday evening were the All Blacks, who faced an out-of-sorts Ireland side at the Aviva Stadium.
Taking advantage of Irish ill-discipline, the All Blacks, led by five penalties from Damian McKenzie, handed Andy Farrell’s side a first loss at home in 20 matches.
The @AllBlacks have public enemy #1 Reiko Ioane lead the Haka - a challenge which @IrishRugby meet head on! The atmosphere in Dublin is electric!#AutumnNationsSeries #IREvNZL pic.twitter.com/7ChtTAkiUy
— FloRugby (@FloRugby) November 8, 2024
Saturday continued the Antipodean hot streak, as a seemingly down-and-out Wallabies side looked reinvigorated under head coach Joe Schmidt.
Following the lead, which was set by their marquee NRL signing Joseph Sua’ali’I, the Wallabies stunned England 42-37 with an overtime try by replacement Max Jorgensen.
As Allianz Stadium fell silent, save for the whooping and hollering of Wallabies fans, Australia’s return to the top table of international rugby was confirmed.
From London to Udine, where Argentina’s Pumas shredded their Latin counterpart Italy in one of the most lopsided scorelines of the weekend to emerge with 50-18 victory over a previously ascending Italian side.
In truth, this was a total mismatch, as Los Pumas dominated every aspect of the match, with fullback Juan Cruz Mallia gaining the best part of 150 meters in attack.
Concluding Saturday’s action was the lone win for the Six Nations sides, as France crushed Japan 52-12.
Mirroring the clash in Udine, this was a match between two sides that are in completely different classes from one another.
France rightly is one of the best teams in the world, while Japan, under Eddie Jones, is firmly a second-tier side that lacks the magic of the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cup giant slayers.
Finally, on Sunday, Fiji pulled off a historic first victory over Wales in Cardiff to relegate Warren Gatland’s men to yet another defeat.
This loss equaled Wales’ longest losing streak at 10 matches in what was a bitter blow for the proud rugby nation.
On the other side of the action, Fiji reaffirmed why many, including this writer, believe it should feature in The Rugby Championship in the not-so-distant future.
The Ireland head coach has challenged his team to rebound from arguably their worst performance in four years... Next up for the Irish is a red-hot Argentina team 🇮🇪⚔️🇦🇷#AutumnNationsSeries #IREvARG pic.twitter.com/u6weX0XnDz
— FloRugby (@FloRugby) November 11, 2024
Concluding the action for Week 2 was an 80-minute performance by reigning world champion South Africa, which started and ended the match with the strength of the two sides against Scotland.
Weathering a mid-match storm by their hosts, the Boks simply overpowered their hosts in what was a far-from-vintage performance.
In truth, the Boks looked a little rusty, while Scotland did exceptionally well at disrupting their flow at the breakdown.
For Rassie Erasmus, the win was not comprehensive enough, as he was visibly frustrated post-match.
Still, he will take comfort from the fact that his side once again played right up to the final whistle, when Jasper Wiese dotted down for a try at the back of a dominant scrum.
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