Autumn internationals: a team-by-team verdict of the tier-one nations
Australia
They have definitely got a rock under their towels when it comes to their holidays now. The red card against Scotland did make a difference but, as New Zealand showed against the Lions, you can make yourselves difficult to beat when that is the case. Australia’s autumn has been a mixed bag. It started off with an impressive win in Cardiff and things could have panned out a bit differently against England, but then they were thrashed in Scotland. The thing for Australia is that they need their strongest XV against the big boys or they will struggle. Reece Hodge impressed and, while they will miss Stephen Moore’s experience, they will welcome David Pocock back with open arms.
England
Satisfied is the word I would use to describe how Eddie Jones will be feeling. As expected, they went through unbeaten and Jones got to have a look at a few fringe players – Henry Slade, Sam Simmonds and Charlie Ewels – because two years out from the World Cup, that is what you want to do. For the last 20-30 minutes against Australia they were very good but they were patchy against Argentina and a few mistakes were inevitable against Samoa given the changes. Paul Gustard will be pretty happy with where England are defensively but in attack they were just a bit patchy. Eddie has shown that he is trying to play an attacking style but it is built around a really strong defence and set-piece. That is something England have traditionally had because that is what wins tournaments.
France
They did show some flashes of brilliance – a bit of that French flair – in the two matches against New Zealand, and if you are a supporter you would have to hang on to the fact that there are a lot of injuries and there are some very good young players coming through. With Guy Novès in charge, though, there does not seem to be a massive buy-in to what he is trying to do and a draw with Japan is a really disappointing result. They have lost at home as well against a very poor South Africa side and you wonder whether there needs to be a change. Would that get a reaction and allow someone else to push these youngsters through a bit more?
Ireland
The biggest game for Ireland was South Africa first up and they put a massive marker down there. What has impressed me most, though, is that they have blooded a few young players too – Jacob Stockdale has had a fantastic autumn – because the danger for Ireland was that they were becoming an ageing group. Without matches against New Zealand or Australia it means Joe Schmidt has gone quietly about his business. Ireland are a very hard team to play against and that bodes well for big tournaments. You still think of them as playing that territorial game through Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray but they can be very inventive as well.
New Zealand
We can safely say that Rieko Ioane has been the star find of the year for the All Blacks. It all started with the Blues against the Lions and he has massively kicked on from there. It was such a commanding performance from him against Wales – he looks beyond his years, just like Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko did. Steve Hansen has urged him to keep engaged in the game more and it is paying off. On the whole, New Zealand have managed this tour really well, with six or seven front line players back at home. Hansen can definitely be satisfied.
Scotland
Just a fantastic result against Australia and they will be gutted the Six Nations does not start next week. We have seen that scoring tries against 14 men can be difficult but Gregor Townsend has really added to the work Vern Cotter had done. There is huge attacking intent, massive work-rate and the skill levels have massively improved. They clearly learned a lot defensively from what happened in the Samoa game and they really tightened up – and the best thing about it is, against the All Blacks and Australia they were also a delight to watch. They have really got it right in this autumn.
South Africa
They are in a fair bit of trouble because the off-field problems are filtering down on to the pitch. They need to sort out the political stuff, who is running the team and who is in charge of selection, because they have had a really poor tour. They were beaten up by Ireland and that used to be South Africa’s bread and butter. If you can match them physically then you are 80% towards winning the match and there seems to be a bit of a soft underbelly if you get into them. They need to find their identity – are they going to play the expansive game with Elton Jantjies or the kicking game with Handré Pollard? But before anything else, the off-field problems need to be solved.
Wales
The question was whether Wales would revert to type in the face of New Zealand pressure, and all credit to them, they did not. Even though results have not gone the way they wanted, the way they have performed will give them a lot of optimism going into the South Africa game and then the Six Nations. But it still comes down to the skill level. They were in with a sniff against the All Blacks and then all of a sudden they are 12 points down and you are wondering how it happened. It was 33-18 at the end and you are thinking how did it get to that? But the attacking intent was there, the skill levels just need to improve.