Has there been a more gripping weekend of international rugby?
Between the Rugby World Cup semifinals in New Zealand and the Autumn Nations Series, the action was as evenly-contested as you could have hoped for.
Sure there were a couple of blowouts along the way, but from the two semis at Eden Park to Dublin, Paris and onto London, the cream of the international rugby crop turned on some thrilling encounters.
Read on as we wrap up the international action from the U.K. and Europe, and check out our coverage of Rugby World Cup 2021 here.
INTENSITY HIGH, BUT ENTERTAINMENT MIGHT BE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
One could have settled for an extended stint watching rugby on the couch, with a five-hour snooze in between, such was the rugby smorgasbord on offer on Saturday.
From the opening kick-off in New Zealand, where England and New Zealand would go on to defeat Canada and France respectively, through to the final whistle in Paris, there were six games in roughly 18 hours, and even more if you were prepared to switch channels or streaming services.
What stood out were the difference in spectacles between the women’s action in New Zealand, and the Test matches in the UK and Europe.
While it is a bit like comparing apples with oranges, or at least Royal Gala’s with Pink Lady’s, due to the complete professionalism of the men’s game for more than two decades and everything that goes with that in terms of skill, fitness and mental preparation; whereas the women’s game, where only three of the four teams in the semifinals are professional and only newly at that, produced two classic World Cup semis.
All four teams played some superb rugby, scoring tries from all over the paddock, while the lack of length on some of the kicking brought about helter-skelter moments of counterattack and extended periods of play where the ball was turned over multiple times.
In the end, both semifinals went down to the final minute and were rightfully lauded for the non-stop entertainment they dished up across the 80 minutes. Both matches weren’t over-refereed either, albeit with some controversial high tackle rulings in the Black Ferns’ heart-stopping win over France.
Up north, meanwhile, there was perhaps not the same level of entertainment, as the Tests in Paris, Dublin and then London on Sunday in particular, all featured a lot of kicking. But they were no less gripping nor short on intensity, while each match went down to the wire as well; the All Blacks’ 55-23 win over Wales clearly the outlier.
Certainly the Test between France and Australia in Paris had several extended passages of “forcings back” where neither team was prepared to chance their arm from inside their own half. However, in the same game, the Wallabies also scored a brilliant 95-metre team try that was likened to the Barbarians’ ‘try from the end of the world’ effort against the All Blacks.
Meanwhile, Wales and Argentina both scored set-play stunners through and Emiliano Boffelli respectively, while Ireland crossed on the counter following a Springboks turnover, among other eye-catching five-pointers for the weekend.
Perhaps we are too hard to please when it comes to entertainment from the men’s game, or at least that very entertainment might be an individual and subjective taste? And when the games are as close as the one-point margins from London and Paris, or the three points in Dublin, does it really even worry us?
Whatever the case, rugby fans should probably prepare themselves for more of the kicking duels we saw in Paris once we hit the knockout phase of Rugby World Cup 2023. Such is the closeness of the top 10, that penalty goals will be hugely important next year and teams won’t want to be putting themselves in a position of danger inside their own half.
And the four teams involved in the women’s RWC semifinals deserve all the plaudits they are getting — on the basis of those Test the final between England and New Zealand promises to be an enthralling and fitting conclusion.
DID RENNIE’S REPLACEMENT CALL HURT THE WALLABIES?
In the weird old psyche of the average Australian rugby fan, Saturday’s heart-breaking 30-29 loss to France will have almost felt like a win. After earning a fortunate victory in Edinburgh that felt more like a loss, getting so close to next year’s World Cup hosts France, who had won 10 straight, represents the smallest of hollow victories.
But the truth of the matter is that it was a seventh loss for 2022 and yet another Test they could — and probably should — have won.
The Wallabies had done incredibly well to duke it out with Les Bleus, scoring two superb tries — one of which may win World Rugby’s five-pointer of the year — defending stoutly, shutting down the French maul, and not getting sucked into a counterattack that wasn’t on.
While it didn’t make for the most attractive second half, Australia were determined not to play any rugby inside their own half and instead kicked better than perhaps ever before in the Rennie era. And that’s what will have made their poor late exit and two individual errors all the more frustrating.
While the post-match review will have been particularly ugly for both Tom Wright and Jock Campbell, who missed their tackle attempts on France’s hero Damian Penaud, Rennie’s decision to replace Bernard Foley with Reece Hodge when the game was on the line raised eyebrows back in Australia.
“I think it was a poor substitution taking Bernard Foley off,” former Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell said on Stan Sport.
“You’ve got seven minutes to play and you take your key decision maker off. (It’s) not so much (about) Reece Hodge — I’d get him on somewhere — but at 10 was a poor decision only because you’re taking your key decision maker in Bernard Foley off.
“The key communicator, the driver, the steerer of the ship. Having someone who’s not a (specialist) 10 come on to play 10 in the most crucial moment of the game?
“I thought that was a poor decision.”
While a Foley error had led directly to an opposition try for the second straight week, the veteran’s general playmaking has been solid while his goal-kicking has been outstanding. The 33-year-old missed just one of his seven shots at goal at the Stade de France, and also threw a perfect cut-out pass that put Campbell into space for the Wallabies’ second try.
The choice to introduce Hodge was not alone odd, with the utility again showing his long-range boot to convert the penalty that put Australia out to a 29-25 lead. But to put him at fly-half, where he has played sparing little Test rugby, did seem to be a risky ploy given the state of the game.
While the missed tackles on Penaud were far pivotal in match-sealing try, Hodge had earlier caught his clearing kick off the side of his boot and straight down Mathieu Jallibert’s throat, which started the sequence that led to the right winger’s try.
Still, the Wallabies had one final chance to force their own way back downfield and earn another penalty, but replacement hooker Folau Fainga’s couldn’t hit the target from the lineout.
1:30
New Zealand hold off a spirited first half showing from Wales before kicking away in the second half.
Rennie, meanwhile, pointed to any number of moments through the match that had put his side under pressure or directly led to French points.
“Errors are a common part of the game and both sides made a lot of errors,” Rennie said. “Unfortunately one bad error before halftime [Foley], I’m not sure if it was knocked on… it ended up being reasonably costly, likewise with Bobby’s [Valetini] kick, a charge-down that bounced to him, he’s probably the best back-row kicker I’ve ever seen, so he would normally nail that and back himself, and it wasn’t his best.
“But we’re not looking at two or three or four errors. There was a lot of heart tonight and we can look at a number of things that happened late in the game or early in the game, that were key moments in the end.”
Rennie says that while he will not disrespect an improving Italy, his intention is to freshen up his squad for the Test in Florence. The Wallabies coach has indicated that both Will Skelton and Jake Gordon will start, while Lalakai Foketi, who started and finished Australia’s sensational opening try in Paris, is returning home with a broken leg.
BEWARE THE SAVEA DUMMY; SMITH WINDS BACK THE CLOCK
While there was very little, almost nothing in the Tests in Dublin, Paris and London, there was one big blowout from the top-10 head-to-head battles of the weekend. That of course came in Cardiff, where Wales again had few answers for an All Blacks team who ran up 50+ points for the second straight year at the Principality.
New Zealand were never seriously headed after they opened up an early 17-0, as every time Wales were able to mount a mini resurgence the visitors quickly worked their way to the other end of the field and shut it down almost as soon as it had begun.
Certainly Aaron Smith delivered a dagger blow shortly after halftime, the veteran scrum-half winding back the clock with a darting 30-metre run to the line for the first of his two tries.
Sensing a mismatch while playing under advantage, Smith ducked out from a maul and slid his way between Tommy Reffell and Dillon Lewis, before he stepped inside Louis Rees-Zammit and avoided the chasing Alun Wyn Jones to dive over next to the sticks.
Smith was then the beneficiary of a play that has become all too familiar for those in Super Rugby Pacific, but one perhaps northern hemisphere players might not have seen a lot of: Ardie Savea’s trademark overly-elaborate dummy.
While the All Blacks back-rower seldom fools anyone in Super Rugby these days, he certainly caught Welsh replacement Nicky Smith napping, Savea able to poke his head through the line as a result and offload to Smith for the scrum-half’s second.
While the All Blacks ran in eight tries in total, they were also desperate in defence in Cardiff, a fact typified by a brilliant covering tackle from Richie Mo’unga.
Although New Zealand were well ahead 41-23 to the good with 12 minutes to play, Mo’unga charged back to deny Gareth Anscombe what looked like a certain five-pointer after the Wales fly-half had charged down and regathered a Beauden Barrett kick.
Wales’ drought against the All Blacks will extend for another year regardless, and on the strength of their efforts of the past two years Wayne Pivac’s side don’t appear to be getting any closer to ending it.
POLLARD INJURY CATCHING UP WITH SPRINGBOKS
The Springboks issues at No. 10 were always going to be a problem on their northern tour.
With Handre Pollard out injured and Damian Willemse having spent only sparing time in the role at Test level, the Stormers man more accustomed to playing fullback, the Boks have a problem on their hands – one amplified by their goalkicking woes in Saturday night’s 19-16 loss to Ireland.
Willemse began the Test as the goal kicker, only for Cheslin Kolbe to then take over and endure similar struggles from the tee.
“Most people who look back on this game will probably say it (kicking) was the difference between the two sides. Johnny (Sexton) missed a kick or two too, but he nailed the big ones,” South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber said after the three-point defeat.
“We missed a couple and that’s definitely something we’ll keep working on.
Tough test match, thanks for all the support from 🇿🇦, also thanks to the Ireland supporters at the Aviva, you definetly understand the game and its great to play in an atmosphere like yesterday ! Surely was a game of big battles,but small margins 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/Jcjci2Jlvo
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) November 6, 2022
“We are always measuring the goalkicking and they (the players) measure it too. It is something we pay attention to in training.
“Cheslin hit the posts with his one kick. When you hit the posts, it is 50/50 whether it will bounce out or bounced in. But you can never blame the player for the misses, just as you don’t blame the hooker for missing lineout throws.”
While Pollard was out of touch before injury in the Rugby Championship, the Leicester Tigers player has proven himself in the big moments of Test rugby.
He looms as the man most likely to return and pilot the Springboks in France next year, but No. 10 looks like being a problem for the Springboks in Europe in the meantime.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has wasted little time in firing up his editing software on return from his matchday suspension.