Awards for the Autumn Series

Player of the Autumn: Beaduen Barrett may have won the World Rugby Player of the Year award but the All Black currently putting the fear of God into opponents and thrilling fans is Rieko Ioane, right. Best try: Triple tie between Beauden Barrett’s beauty against Scotland, Huw Jones’ ripper against the All Blacks and Rieko Ioane’s setpiece classic to kill off the Welsh challenge. Unexpected joy: The Tuesday night game between a France XV and a New Zealand XV. More midweek fun please. Welcome back: The Murrayfield roar. Lowlights: Sekope Kepu’s ‘clearout’ of Hamish Watson was a shocker and deserved a three-month man not three weeks; the scrum fiasco at the end of Wales’ game against Georgia. Best individual performance: I’m not sure anybody bettered Kwagga Smith’s tour de force for the Barbarians against New Zealand. Heart in the mouth moment: Just for a second it looked like Stuart Hogg, below, was going to make it 22-22 against New Zealand with the conversion to come. Quickest out of the blocks: Former England schools hurdler Jess Breach, above, bagged a staggering eleven tries in her first two Tests, against Canada.

Most deceptive scoreline: Never has a 30-6 win been closer. England’s margin of victory over Australia still nearly defies belief.

Get it sorted: I have no idea what the German players dispute was over which caused them to boycott their game against Chile, but get it sorted. German rugby is showing promise, but industrial action will kill it stone dead.