Team of the Week: November Tests

Editor

After the first round of action in this year’s November Tests, we pick out who stood out across the games on Saturday.

After the first round of action in this year’s November Tests, we pick out who stood out across the games on Saturday.

Team of Week One

15 Rob Kearney (Ireland) – So tough to leave out Scott Spedding, who has a statistically rich debut against Fiji with two assists and close to 200 metres, but we’ve gone with Kearney. Immense under the high ball against the Boks and a constant running threat with four defenders beaten, the Leinster full-back was excellent. Israel Folau also racked up the stats on a good day for 15s.

14 Sean Maitland (Scotland)Ben Smith was his usual reliable self on the wing for New Zealand on his return to action, but Maitland flourished in an impressive Scottish performance. The half-backs set the tone which led to the Glasgow finisher picking up on all that was created, scoring one try and setting up another, as Scotland go into the week leading up to facing the All Blacks full of confidence.

13 Tevita Kuridrani (Australia) – Best number thirteen in Test rugby right now? We think so, as the devastating outside centre had Wales in pieces at times, notably for his try when he burst through Alex Cuthbert and Alun Wyn Jones. He made sixteen carries and ten tackles.

12 Sonny Bill Williams (New Zealand) – One poor decision aside, when he opted for an offload after breaking into England’s defence, Williams was back at his destructive best. In fact he looks better than ever, beating five defenders with a pair of offloads and clean breaks among 16 carries at Twickenham. Rock solid in defence too. Jamie Roberts went well for Wales, with 17 tackles against the Wallabies, while Kyle Eastmond caught the eye.

11 Teddy Thomas (France) – It doesn’t get much better than a hat-trick on your Test debut, but we hope Thomas shared a fair bit of his champagne with Spedding who set up two of his scores. Make no mistake though, the Racing M