RUCK brings you the brutal truth from the final round of the Autumn Internationals — six big-name players who simply didn’t show up when it mattered most.
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Scores at a glance:
- Wales 26 – 52 New Zealand
- Ireland 13 – 24 South Africa
- France 48 – 33 Australia
- Italy 34 – 19 Chile
- Scotland 56 – 0 Tonga
- England 27 – 23 Argentina
ANDREW PORTER (IRELAND)
JOE 2, Rugby Pass 4.5, Planet Rugby 3, BALLS 4
Porter was repeatedly dominated in the scrum by South Africa’s powerful front row, conceding multiple penalties and eventually a yellow card. While he remained active in open play, his struggles in set pieces were critical, contributing to his team’s disadvantage. His defensive work and loose play were mixed, but the front-row weaknesses were too prominent to ignore.
Planet Rugby: ” Monstered in the scrums by Thomas du Toit and then Wilco Louw, conceding four first-half penalties, with the last of which earned him 10 minutes in the sin bin. Busy as ever around the park, but he is often shown up for his scrum illegalities when fronting up against powerful packs, and that was very much the case today.
Rugby Pass: “Up against the formidable 136kg frame of Thomas du Toit, and he came off second best. Not much better in the loose, where he ceded a penalty after getting isolated by Bok jackallers in the 3rd minute. In his defence, he was less at fault than Furlong and Du Toit’s clear boring in went unpunished. Ironically, it was to be Porter who suffered the first front-row yellow.”
JOE: “His scrum penalties firstly helped lead to a team yellow card, which sent S
BALLS: “Found himself on the wrong side of the referee (wasn’t the only one!!!). Struggled with the scrum power of South Africa and missed 10 minutes with a yellow card. 11 tackles/5 carries.”
RHYS CARRE (WALES)
Rugby Pass 3, RUCK 3, Wales Online 5, Planet Rugby 4
Solid in the scrum, some good carries, but missed key tackles and was penalized, leading to All Blacks’ tries.
Wales Online: “The Saracens prop put in 11 tackles and three carries. There was one big surge which very nearly yielded a try early in the first-half. Solid in the scrum but missed a tackle on All Blacks full-back Reuben Love for third All Blacks try.”
RUCK: “It’s been an underwhelming three games for the Saracens player, but the looshead prop could’ve scored after 20 minutes from close range, and was penalised for not releasing.
He then missed a tackle on Ruben Love, which the fullback punished by racing over the whitewash. No shock that he was replaced by Gareth Thomas early in the second half.”
Planet Rugby: “: Such a weapon with the ball in hand, and went agonisingly close to scoring in the first half before Pasilio Tosi pounced at the breakdown. However, defensively, it was a day to forget. Stood little chance against Love, who scorched past him to score in first half and probably could have done better to stop Tamaiti Williams for his try too.”
Rugby Pass: “Missed a tackle on Ruben Love for the All Blacks’ second try. He did have a bit of space to cover, but he will be disappointed with the effort he put in. At fault for the All Blacks’ third try as well – this time he was just outmuscled by Tamaiti Williams.”
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