So the first round of Autumn Internationals left it as even on wins between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Though apart from France beating Australia the South will argue they won the harder fixtures.
First up Fiji had a mountain to climb playing England at Twickenham in front of over 80,000. They did compete for the first twenty minutes and then it was pretty much one way traffic as England went on to win 54-12. Big plus for England was no injuries and the new caps slotting in well and adding impact when they came on. Whilst the England game was on Wales had a major off day and Argentina an on. The Pumas were well worth their win and will look to continue though next up France will be a stern test. Score here was Wales 12-26 Argentina.
Ireland hosted South Africa in arguably the worst game of the weekend and although the home side had their chances they allowed South Africa to kick to the win Ireland 12-16 South Africa. This must give Scotland hope they can cause an upset next weekend. Italy was the other Saturday game and here they held on to beat Tonga 28-23, a much tighter result than early indications as the Italians took their foot of the gas.
Last up and the Scots were looking to break their duck against the All Blacks and for a while it looked like they just might be in with a shout. One thing with this Kiwi team, they can play some sublime rugby and rack up points in minutes. By half time it looked all over as the Blacks led 17-34, But Scotland kept battling and although the final score was 22-51. They did manage to put three tries past the All Blacks defence. One has to wonder just how many they will put past the Azzuri next week.
Round two next weekend and here are all the fixtures:
Fixtures
All Times UK
Fri 16 Nov 19:30 Wales v Samoa Millennium Stadium
Sat 17 Nov 14:30 England v Australia Twickenham
Sat 17 Nov 14:30 Scotland v South Africa Murrayfield
Sat 17 Nov 15:00 Italy v New Zealand
Sat 17 Nov 17:30 Ireland A v Fiji Aviva Stadium
Sat 17 Nov 21:00 France v Argentina