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Six Nations Autumn Report: Where all six sit after November Tests

By Jack Davies
England’s players sing the national anthem

Saturday’s clash between Wales and South Africa brought the curtain down on international rugby in 2017, the Springboks denied despite their epic fightback,

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With their autumn fixtures in the bag, focus for the northern hemisphere sides will turn to next year’s Six Nations, which kicks off in February.

Here we take a look at how the contenders for that title have fared over the past month and what their prospects are when they return to competition in 2018.

 

ENGLAND

The highlight of England’s autumn programme was a 30-6 victory over Australia at Twickenham. The result represented their biggest winning margin over the Wallabies and extended their run of triumphs in the fixture to five – their last defeat coming in the pool stage at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Eddie Jones’ men also collected wins against Argentina and a down-on-their-luck Samoa, but it is perhaps difficult to judge where England stand in their preparations for the 2019 World Cup. What is for certain is that 2018 will be a big year, as England chase a third successive Six Nations title and host the All Blacks in a long-anticipated autumn Test.

 

IRELAND

Six Nations winners in 2014 and 2015, Ireland prevented England from achieving back-to-back Grand Slams earlier this year, winning the final match of the championship 13-9 in Dublin to secure second place for themselves. Ireland kicked off their autumn campaign with a thumping 38-3 victory over South Africa, before a battling 23-20 win against Fiji and a 28-19 result when Argentina visited the Aviva Stadium. Joe Schmidt’s men may not have grabbed headlines in the same way they did last autumn, when they famously ended the All Blacks’ winning run in Chicago, but they remain a consistent force and should be considered England’s biggest rivals for Six Nations glory once more.

 

FRANCE

It has been a rotten autumn for France. A 38-18 defeat to the All Blacks can be forgiven, but they were subsequently edged 18-17 by a Springboks side who had been thumped by Ireland a week earlier and rounded off their campaign with a shock 23-23 draw against World Cup hosts Japan in Paris. Les Bleus were only spared defeat in the latter after Yu Tamura missed a conversion attempt at the death, and the pressure is mounting on coach Guy Noves. France are now ranked fifth of the northern hemisphere sides and, while they are often difficult to predict, it could be a long Six Nations campaign for Noves, if he makes it that far.

 

SCOTLAND

Scotland have continued to improve since Gregor Townsend took over from Vern Cotter as head coach after last year’s Six Nations and demonstrated during the autumn that they have the capacity to compete with the southern hemisphere’s best. After opening with 44-38 victory over Samoa, Scotland came agonisingly close to clinching what would have been a historic first win against the All Blacks – Stuart Hogg halted as he raced for the line in the closing moments. But they were not to be denied a famous victory as, a week later, they stunned Australia 53-24. The winning margin was their biggest against the Wallabies, surpassing the previous best of nine. Scotland last won the Six Nations – then the Five Nations – in 1999 but they now look most likely to trouble England and Ireland at the top of the table.

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WALES

It has been a difficult autumn to gauge for Wales. Warren Gatland’s men showed signs of promise with their new style of play but were ultimately left disappointed against Australia, before battling hard for a 13-6 victory against Georgia. Wales were brave against the All Blacks but unable to withstand their clinical force, losing 33-18, and they almost squandered a healthy advantage to lose against South Africa on Saturday – leading 21-3 shortly before half-time, they were left to rely on a Leigh Halfpenny penalty to settle the encounter 24-22. Gatland has, in his defence, had to cope with multiple injuries – stars such as George North and Sam Warburton played no part in this campaign, for example – but the Kiwi has welcomed the opportunity to try new things. However, with Scotland improving and England and Ireland still strong, Wales will have to be on their game to have a say in the Six Nations.

 

ITALY

Italy surprised everyone by beating South Africa during their 2016 autumn series, but they had no such luck this time around, beaten 35-6 by the Springboks in Padua. The campaign had started well for the Azzurri, thanks to a 19-10 win against Fiji, but they subsequently lost 31-15 to Argentina and haven’t shown anything to suggest they will haul themselves off the foot of the Six Nations table in 2018.

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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