Autumn Internationals 2025, Week 2

South Africa have named a hugely changed side from last week, Italy have to fancy their chances. Tandy et al will be hoping Wales can perform under new management, but missing Morgan thanks to a dislocated shoulder, and the disappointing Irish host the equally disappointing Australians. But some potentially exciting games too…

Georgia v Canada

Two relative minnows face off to start the weekend. However, Georgia are in 11th place, Canada in 24th, this is a huge mismatch. The commentators kept trying to big up the Canadians but, except for occasionally from set piece, and running empty metres after receiving a kick, they had the penetration of a wet noodle against a brick wall. The Georgian defence didn’t charge up fast by international standards, although faster than the Australians, concentrating on keeping their line straight, but the Canadians just bounced off it. The Georgian scrum was massively dominant, I’m not criticising the refereeing here, but a different referee could have awarded Georgia a scrum penalty every time, Williams - correctly in my opinion - told them to play it several times when the ball was already at the back.

Lineouts were more even, however important lineouts didn’t work for Canada. They applied pressure, won a penalty, kicked to the corner and promptly lost the 5m lineout. Moments later Georgia scored… The Canadian kicking game looked decent at first glance, quite a few kicks found grass, especially early on (the Georgian back three adjusted). The problem was that they achieved this by kicking much too long, the defenders could see this, turn, collect the ball and turn again with the kick chase typically 20+ metres away. Plenty of time to decide what to do and execute the plan well. Overall the Georgian kicking game wasn’t as precise as they’d have hoped, but was far more varied and, when accurate, far more dangerous too.

Unlike the Canadian attack, the Georgian attack was frequently lethal. It was largely only blunted by their own errors to be honest, knocks on and the like, although there were the occasional big tackles leading to turnovers too. But they sliced through the Canadian defence like a hot knife through butter three times in the first half, to go in 17-3 up.

The second half really continued in the same way. Canada applied a bit more pressure, especially in that disjointed period as the subs were coming on, and somehow managed to score a try over an extended period of not making any errors. However, a later period of pressure that saw two Georgians shown yellow fizzled out with a knock on. Canada scored a second try late, and rather against the run of play. Georgia were still down two players but pressing hard, spilled the ball and Canada hammered it down the pitch. A lone Canuck took off in pursuit, the Georgian chasing back fumbled and try.

Sadly for Canada, the Georgians quietly went about scoring three more tries in the second half and won comfortably.

Japan are travelling to Tbilisi next week, and on this showing they’ll lose.

Italy v South Africa

Italy went into this match basically unchanged from last week, South Africa went in with virtually a completely new 23. That’s not to say that they’re all fresh faces, Pollard is at 10 for example, Moodie, Kolisi and others are scattered around.

For the opening half an hour the Azzurri were all over the Bokke like a hot rash. This was helped by a dominant scrum, a misfiring South African lineout and a straight red card for Mostert for a hit to the head of Garbisi that was basically a carbon copy of the hit to the head of Ramos last week. There is clearly something wrong in the coaching in the Springboks system. After that there were a seemingly endless stream of replacements, a back row was sacrificed so there were two locks, then both props and then a centre. Sadly Garbisi had left his kicking boots at home, kicks into the 22 were hoovered up by Willemse, kicks for goal went wide.

After that first half an hour, the Bokke finally got into the Italian 22, a drop goal was called back for obstruction but they had a penalty advantage right in front and Pollard as the kicker… However, the flow continued to be largely in Italy’s favour, a third penalty and finally Garbisi slotted one.

Sadly the last word of the half went to the South Africans, a try under the posts. 10-3.

The second half started much like the first, except the card in the twelfth minute was yellow, for cynically killing the ball, and Garbisi was kicking his penalties. Sadly the Italians then conceded a yellow card, and first a penalty then a try.

At various points the Italians got close to the SA try line, it’s hard to say that they really threatened it though, even with a two man advantage. As they got closer to the line and the Bokke defence got tighter and shallower, the Italians seemed to run out of cutting edge. When they finally did penetrate and score, they’d had a lineout just outside the 5m line, been pushed back about 10m in successive phases, and suddenly there was just enough space for Capuozzo to slide through a tiny gap and score. At 20-14, when Garbisi missed again, the eight easy points he’d left out there looked really important. To balance that out, Willemse dropped a catch from a kick pass that he really should have taken, and he could have sauntered in under the sticks.

A nicely worked try from SA put it out of touch, a try in the last minute made it look comfortable. Italy will rue what might have been. The SA fans will be celebrating a decent win. The SA coaches will have some questions. Their starting props got pwned by the Italian front row, not really regarded as a power house in world rugby, even before Mostert was shown red. After that, they were both quickly replaced. That’s not good. And Mostert's tackle suggests that there’s something wrong in their tackle practice which needs to be addressed, and addressed seriously and quickly.

Some of the media, and I’m sure the SA fans on the internet are bleating that Mostert's card was controversial. They really need to understand the laws and the framework that applies. Garbisi was tackled and on his knees. Because he was brought to his knees across the pitch, like Ramos before him, you can’t sensibly argue that the tacklers were running at him and couldn’t adjust their lines, they changed direction from the obvious line to try and tackle him running to hit him kneeling. They had a few steps and a clear line of sight. It’s deliberate, they’re charging in and have made a choice to hit the other player. And, most importantly, they’ve tucked the arm back so it’s NOT a tackle, it’s an always illegal shoulder hit. That means no mitigation. Shoulder directly to the head, recklessly and with a high level of force. Straight red. We didn’t hear why the Canone card stayed yellow, but his challenge wasn’t reckless so it wasn’t going to be a straight red, and since he seemed to step back and yield in the challenge, low level of force and yellow card entry point even if there were no arms.

England v New Zealand

England started looking bright, their kicks from hand were causing chaos as their chasers were winning the contest most of the time and making it messy when the AB did. The AB passing when they had the ball was also a bit wayward, although this only slowed them down rather than giving easy possession to the English. And then suddenly it clicked, twice, for the AB, 12-0, all too easy.

During this period England couldn’t buy a lineout win, three different AB won lineouts on the first three England throws! England scrambled back in to the game. A bit of strength from Lawrence, two drop goals from Ford, two badly missed penalty kicks to touch from Barrett well, and the AB went in up 12-11 and probably feeling that they should have had more.

This game is very much up in the air still, but the AB won’t fear the Pom Squad in the same way some teams do.

The second half started with an odd decision, Taylor shown yellow for playing the ball on the floor in the middle of nowhere. Definitely a penalty every day, but nothing more. England scored from the subsequent lineout, and who can tell if they would if Taylor was there? England scored another try at the end of yellow card, opening up a 13 point lead on the back of a really odd decision, and before Borthwick went to the bench.

The return of Taylor coincided with England's mass substitutions. They had a good scrum but lost the subsequent lineout. NZ hopped up the field on penalties, got a few goes at the 5m lineout because of yet more penalties which eventually saw Earls shown yellow. It felt harsh, but maybe with the number of penalties as well as the location it was not that unreasonable. Jordan ran over untouched for another try in his remarkable tally.

England’s first try with the new front row yielded a penalty to them, which raised their spirits, but the next one was a penalty against them, and the next was won by the AB (although the commentators reckon England were lucky not to concede a penalty).

England scored a late try to make the scoreline look more convincing but it flatters them. Equally, they put out pretty much their strongest squad against a team with a rejigged second row, thanks to injury, and a rejigged centre partnership. Add in all their youngsters and, whilst a win would have been better for them, this is not a disaster for the AB. England are definitely building something special, sadly, but we need to see them play some fit, full-strength, experienced teams to get their true measure.

Wales v Japan

This match was frustrating to watch as a fan. Both teams strove, but made lots of mistakes in attack. Some of those came from defensive pressure, which was good to see from Wales after last week, although Japan are by far the weakest team they’ll face for a while. For both sides some came from little errors and whilst they were annoying, they feel more forgivable from the Welsh with lots of young players, new combinations and a new coaching set up. Japan might have less physical bulk, but they have quite a lot more caps, and more experienced combinations all over the pitch.

Japan lost two players to the bin in the first half, with a few minutes of overlap, and although Wales created chances during this period, spilt ball kept the Japanese involved and able to run the clock down. Just before the end of the half, Adam’s was shown yellow, upgraded to red for a stupid charge into a ruck.

All those frustrations have masked a lovely try from Edwards, skipping through the defence to score under the posts, and an equally nice try out wide to Ishida. That was it, 7-7 at half time.

Through the first 18 minutes of the second half, Wales were down a player, and they almost won it 7-6 with LRZ's first try back, possibly the shortest range try he’s ever scored; a catch, a stretch, a try. Not even a step. But literally with the time expired on the card, Japan rumbled over and scored a try. Wales scored essentially straight from the kickoff, there was a penalty, a kick to the corner, a couple of phases, but the next try was two minutes later. Wales fluffed their clearance drill and Japan kicked the penalty, taking a two point lead.

The last ten minutes were just a bit tense. But with barely any time on the clock the Japanese replacement lock shoulder-charged Mann (who had a pretty decent game as the replacement for Morgan) and was shown yellow. Wales kicked to just inside the 22, the maul advanced to inside the 5m line before stalling, but Japan offended again. Step up Evans to kick a penalty with the clock firmly in the red. All of Wales erupted as it went straight through and Wales win at home for the first time in over two years! They also, almost certainly, get into the second band of seeds for the draw for the World Cup in Australia in 2027.

France v Fiji

This game, a bit like the French flag, can be pretty reasonably divided into three phases. They’re not quite as even as the Tricolore though.

For the first 25 minutes, France were pretty much irresistible, and scored three lovely tries. For the next half an hour, all the rugby went the other way, Fiji were unstoppable and replied with three tries of their own. Then Fiji infringed within range of Ramos' boot and the momentum swung the other way. A rare Ramos miss followed, but then another penalty, and a late try made it look relatively comfortable.

Fiji have become a hard team to beat, both England and France struggled in successive weeks. France might have particular problems against Fiji because they both have a play style that thrives on exploiting chaos but, for the Fijians it’s in their blood, for too many of the French players it’s coached. It’s coached well, and they are very good at it, but the Fijians just flow into it automatically. The French did better when they went away from their jouer, jouer style into a more one-out, big forwards carrying, style that they certainly have as a Plan B, but it’s not what we’re used to seeing.

It’s worth noting that, although I’m not sure it’s causal, the shift in momentum from France to Fiji coincided with the second replacement in the 12 jersey. Barassi went off for an HIA, then Gailleton went off for an HIA, to be replaced by Boudehent. Talented, sure, inside centre? Not so much. He later went off injured too, I’m not sure what the Fijians running through that line were doing but that is a lot of injuries!

I was saying rude things about Ntamack, he had another very quiet game, which in the second half was probably inevitable with the tighter way the French were playing. But for the final try there was a lovely little run and pass from him that had his stardust sprinkled all over it. Could other 10’s have made it? Probably, but not that many.

I also want to say something about the Ramos yellow card. It was absolutely the correct decision, I’m not complaining about that. But at full speed, the only way Ramos could see it, the tackle is barely complete. In slow motion it clearly is, at full speed it’s not so obvious. Whilst it’s correct, it feels harsh that you’re getting yellow on such a split second decision. It’s not like reaching with one hand to attempt an intercept, you have to be aware of the fact the other player has been brought to ground and then that you’re not behind the back of the tackle. That’s a lot when a fraction of a second before, at the moment he started his moving his arm, he was perfectly legal.

Ireland v Australia

It’s fair to say that, so far, both these sides have had less than brilliant Autumn series. Ireland lost in Chicago and then struggled against Japan, Australia didn’t really perform well in beating Japan, then lost to England and Italy.

In the first ten to fifteen minutes Ireland played virtually flawless rugby and scored two lovely tries through their Australian import Mack Hansen. Wait a minute, that sounds familiar, and in many ways this did feel similar to the France v Fiji match, except Fiji played better rugby than Australia.

In attack it didn’t show that it was Hansen’s first time at fullback, in defence his positioning was pretty poor, and against kicks his speed plus poor Australian kick chase saved him, when Australia were close to the try line his unfamiliarity was more obvious but rarely critical - Australia went for power plays rather than exploiting the gap he was leaving. Better sides will do that though. Still, a hat trick with half an hour is some return.

In that half hour, Ireland got close to the line once, ran several phases, then Ikitau crashed over through the tackle of Prendergast. Although that one was his fault, he made a number of other good tackles that should be mentioned, he wasn’t an easy space to run at.

Ireland started by not contesting the Australian throws, the first two were not straight but play continued because of that. Then they contested, and stole, a lineout within their 22…

Suddenly the yips returned for Ireland. Australia weren’t playing any better, not clearly, but the Irish were leaking penalties like there was a closing down sale. That kept giving the Wallabies field position, every time they made an error and got forced back, until they scored a try with the final play of the half.

I don’t often talk about the kicking game here, but both JGP and Prendergast kicked beautifully all night, both for touch but even more impressively their kicks to be chased. They caused absolute chaos amongst the Australian defenders, because the timing was perfect and there was always a chaser competing and, increasingly important in the modern game, players around to mop up spilt ball. The Australian half backs probably kicked better than it seemed in fairness. But the chase was disjointed - one player rather than a cluster and usually arriving too late to compete.

I also wanted to talk about Lowe. I want to acknowledge first that he did have some positives, it would be suggest to say that he didn’t. But the amount of errors that he made, giving up penalties, dropping the ball, kicking it out on the full and so on was incredible. Even if you just kept a tally, I think he’d be in the negative, but he’s also directly responsible for costing Ireland a try and giving Australia the territory that led to a try. A 14 point swing against your team, impressive. Personally I hope Farrell keeps picking him, but he’s more and more of a liability.

Australia scored a third time when they got a penalty that was kicked to within 5m, but in the last five minutes Ireland responded by scoring two tries. It really was too easy.

Scotland v Argentina

This match can fairly be described as splitting into two, unequal, parts around the Kinghorn yellow card in the 53rd minute. Before that, Argentina couldn’t buy a point. You could see that they were trying, tempting Scotland offside then missing relatively easy penalties, taking lineouts deep in the 22, then stuffing up the next phase and so on. On the other side of the ball, Scotland were pretty efficient, three tries from five entries to the 22, and all their tries sliced the Pumas defence open easily.

But then we have that card. It happened because Scotland threw a loose ball whilst deep in the Argentina 22, a gather, a pass, a wonderful regather, and killing the ball 5m out to prevent a try, yellow card, no issues. Argentina scored twice during that period and suddenly the momentum completely shifted. Scotland scored a penalty, but that didn’t change anything, three tries for the Pumas more after that penalty.

Scotland have some questions to ask. They have some good stretches of play. They were dominant for 50+ minutes this week. They came back from 17-0 down to level it up against the AB last week. But in the last 25 minutes this week, a bit less last week, they certainly threw this game away. Last week you can argue a piece of DMac magic stole the win, but the AB were all over them for the last 15+ minutes and there was no way Scotland were winning that game.

I want to briefly touch on the Mallia yellow card. The commentators were saying that it should have been a penalty try too, but I disagree. Whilst they’re probably right that Oviedo (Argentina 8) is not catching Dobie (Scotland 9) he was right there. Asking the ref to guess the flight of the ball, would Dobie have to change path, break his stride etc is too much. The “there is cover, we can’t say a try would probably have been scored” seems harsh on this occasion, but it’s fair because there just are too many factors.

Looking Ahead

Again, these will be in the order they’re played, not necessarily the order I watch them.

• Wales v New Zealand. Much though I want Wales to win, this ought to be a win at the canter for the All Blacks
• Ireland v South Africa. Despite the improvement Ireland showed for large stretches of this game, the Bokke are playing at a different level.
• Italy v Samoa. Although Italy have some wounds to lick, they should be too good for Samoa.
• France v Australia. France are looking less than the complete team, and have a batch of injuries to contend with. But Australia look demoralised and beaten before they go out onto the pitch.
• Scotland v Tonga. Unless Townsend completely rings the changes, this should be an easy win for the Scots.
• England v Argentina. This is hard to call. England are full of confidence but Argentina have the capacity to run SA really close and proved their resilience and the impact of their subs this week. England have to start as favourites but I have a sneaky feeling that they’ll lose this one.