COTTER RUES A TOUGH BREAK

Fiji coach Vern Cotter – who was in charge of Scotland between 2014 and 2017 – rued the fact his side were unable to build on their first-half pressure by going in ahead at half-time – after Adam Hastings scored a try just before the break to swing the game back in the hosts’ favour.

“My thoughts are positive after that,” Cotter said.

“They scored first and we managed to score fairly quickly straight back.

“There was a missed opportunity about 10 minutes before halftime when they were down to 14 men and if we got a lift off the scrum, I think we could have walked over.

“If we had scored when we had that pressure before halftime and they hadn’t, it would have been a bit tighter.

“We didn’t really want that score but our objective is to progress through this threematch series and head ourselves towards the World Cup.

“It’s very hard to win a Test match with three yellow cards but I thought the guys defended well.”

• Mack Hansen scored a scintillating try as Ireland shrugged off a host of injury setbacks to cement their status as rugby’s top-ranked nation by holding on for a tense 19-16 win over world champions South Africa.

Connacht wing Hansen lit up a pulsating Dublin Test match by gleefully diving over early in the second half to cap a spellbinding Irish move from right to left.

The eye-catching score added to a bulldozing effort from Josh van der Flier as Andy Farrell’s in-form hosts laid down a marker ahead of next year’s World Cup poolstage meeting with the Springboks.

And New Zealand continued their long reign of dominance over Wales by winning a onesided Autumn Nations Series clash 55-23 in Cardiff. The All Blacks made it 33 successive victories against their hosts, who have still not toppled New Zealand since December 1953.