The final full round of Autumn Nations Series fixtures took place at the weekend. We pick through the major talking points from six comfortable wins.
The final full round of 2024 Autumn Nations Series fixtures saw some one-sided results, with 14 points the closest margin between any two sides this weekend. Our rugby experts at OptaJonny take a look at some of the key talking points from the action.
France vs Argentina
France completed a November clean sweep this weekend, avenging their July loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires. It was a display full of Gallic flair, as the French further established themselves as the form team going into the 2025 Six Nations.
Heading into half-time with a commanding 30-9 lead, Les Bleus could’ve been forgiven for expecting an equally comfortable second half.
As Ireland found out last week though, this Argentine side isn’t one to let their heads drop. While the final result was never in danger, the Pumas can take pride in the fact that they’ve now only conceded seven second-half points across their last two games – against Europe’s two highest-ranked teams no less.
When looking at the data, the difference between Argentina’s two halves was vast. The Pumas gained 406 metres from their 106 carries after the interval, compared to just 152 from their 51 carries in the opening 40, with their attacking stats improving across the board.
France’s persistence with Thomas Ramos at 10 continues to pay dividends, with the Toulouse star scoring a monumental 80 points across the five games he’s started at fly-half this year.
That tally includes 15 against Argentina, which saw him overtake Thierry Lacroix (367), Morgan Parra (370) and Dimitri Yachvili (373) to become France’s third all-time top points scorer (379).
Christophe Lamaison (380) and Frédéric Michalak (436) will be firmly in his sights come the Six Nations.
Ireland vs Fiji
After a couple of sub-par performances this autumn, Ireland reminded us what they’re capable of with a comfortable win over Fiji. With a heavily rotated team, Ireland’s attack clicked more than it had done in the previous two weeks as they recorded 13 line breaks, their most since making 21 against Romania at the Rugby World Cup last year.
However, Andy Farrell might be most pleased by the fact that Ireland’s discipline was much improved from the first two games of the series. After conceding 13 penalties against both New Zealand and Argentina, Ireland were penalised just eight times on Saturday. It was a much-needed improvement ahead of a sterner test against the Wallabies next weekend.
On an individual level, Gus McCarthy had an excellent start to life in the green jersey. Not only did he cross for a try on his debut, he also assisted three tries. McCarthy is just the third forward to manage that for a Tier 1 nation since Opta started recording this data in 2010.
All Blacks Dane Coles (vs South Africa in 2016) and Ardie Savea (vs Tonga in 2019) are the only two forwards to have managed it previously. That’s not bad company for the young Leinster hooker who looks set to win many more caps in the years to come.
Wales vs South Africa
2024 will go down as a chapter that many Welsh rugby fans may want to skip in future history books. South Africa condemned the Principality to their 11th loss from 11 games this year.
It’s the first time that Wales have finished a calendar year without a win since 1937 (L3), and just the second time that any Tier 1 side has done so in the professional era after Italy in 2020 (L8).
Even more worrying than the result, though, is just how toothless Warren Gatland’s side looked in both attack and defence. They averaged fractionally more than one metre gained per minute of the match, with their 82 metres the lowest output of any Tier 1 side since Opta have recorded this data.
While it’s true that it was a relatively inexperienced Wales side (334 caps vs South Africa’s 946), the manner of defeat will have the WRU scratching their heads as to how the ship can be steadied before a Six Nations opener against a France side firing on all cylinders.
From a Springbok perspective, Rassie Erasmus will be more than happy with his side’s work this month, having scored 4+ tries in all three of their victories.
Italy vs New Zealand
After a record loss to New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup last year, Italy put in a performance that was much more in line with the standards they’ve aspired to meet over the last few years during their clash at the weekend.
The Azzurri limited the All Blacks to fewer than 30 points in a Test for just the third time in their 17 meetings, while the 18-point margin of defeat was their third lowest against New Zealand (10 points in 1991, 14 points in 2009).
Ultimately, though, New Zealand were too strong for Italy and the contrast in the two teams was most evident in their work at the breakdown. New Zealand completed 64% of rucks in three seconds or fewer, compared to just 30% for Italy.
With Italy’s defence having so little time to reset, New Zealand were able to play with much more freedom, moving the ball wide on 55% of their attacking phases (Italy – 32%). This ultimately led to plenty of line breaks (9), defenders beaten (31) and four tries.
Beauden Barrett’s late try that put the icing on the cake was his 45th in a New Zealand jersey and puts him just one away from the top 10 try scorers in men’s Test rugby history.
In fact, if he can score five more in his career he would become the first All Black to reach a half century of five-pointers, surpassing Doug Howlett (49), Julian Savea, Christian Cullen and Joe Rokocoko (46 each) in the process.
Scotland vs Australia
With Australia beating both England and Wales already this autumn, the Wallabies might have been eying a possible grand slam against the British and Irish sides to lay down a marker for next year’s Lions tour.
However, Scotland’s strong second-half display ended those hopes. Gregor Townsend’s side made twice as many line breaks in the second half (6) as they did in the first (3), beating eight more defenders too (13 in the first-half, 21 in the second).
It was a costly second half from an Australian point of view – three of those line breaks in the final 40 minutes ended in a Scotland try, while there were 12 tackles missed in total immediately before the three second half five-pointers.
Individually, Duhan van der Merwe ended the autumn with the bragging rights over his club teammate Darcy Graham, the former scoring against Australia to become Scotland’s outright top try scorer in men’s Test rugby once again.
The towering winger also beat 10 defenders, the most by any player in an Autumn Nations Series match this year. It was also the sixth time Van der Merwe has hit double figures for defenders beaten in a Test match since his Scotland debut; no other player has managed that more than four times for a Tier 1 nation in that period.
England vs Japan
Eddie Jones’ return to Twickenham wasn’t one he’ll wish to remember as England snapped their five-game losing streak in style, crossing for nine tries in a resounding win. In the process they handed Japan a 12th straight defeat against European opposition.
While England’s five losses prior to Sunday could all have swung in their favour on another day, there was no doubting the victors here as Steve Borthwick’s side raced into an early lead and never looked back.
England’s forwards had a field day, scoring six of England’s tries, including a brace for both Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie. It was just the second time that both of a team’s hookers have crossed twice against a Tier 1 nation since Opta have recorded this data, alongside All Blacks’ pair Coles and Asafo Aumua vs Italy in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series.
While Japan have scored at least two tries in each of their matches since Jones’ return to the helm, their leaky defence will be of particular concern.
Jones had never seen one of his sides concede over 50 points across his first 151 Tests as a head coach, but the Brave Blossoms have now done so in four out of 11 in his second stint, including three times this Autumn.
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