David Campese’s Autumn Nations Series Team of the Week: All Blacks dominate as ‘deadly’ rookie stars, Marcus Smith misses out and Maro Itoje ‘back to his very best’
Split image of All Blacks flanker Wallace Sititi, England's Maro Itoje and fly-half Beauden Barrett.
After the first round of the Autumn Nations Series which saw a thrilling game at Twickenham and a romp at Murrayfield, Planet Rugby pundit and Wallaby great David Campese picks his Team of the Week.
“I was very impressed with the Scots in their defeat of Fiji. The Pacific Islanders are a much better side than the scoreline suggested and Gregor Townsend’s men did a hell of a job on them,” Campese said in his review.
“However, the real theatre was at Twickenham and I feel for the England pack who were absolutely immense in every way. I can’t fault the overall defence from the Poms either, other than the moments they got Ellis Genge out of position. But I do ask questions about penetration – the backline struggled to open up the Kiwi defence other than the intercept and whilst England had every chance of winning in the last moments, it really shouldn’t have been left that late.
“Only managing four visits into the New Zealand 22 tells a sorry tale of their threat with ball in hand and I feel that’ll be a focus for Steve Borthwick moving into the Wallaby Test next weekend.”
Here’s the Wallaby legend’s best XV from the action in his own words.
David Campese’s Team of the Week
15 Will Jordan (New Zealand): The moment he saw a mismatch against a prop it was game over. An incredibly balanced runner who strikes like a snake. Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula and Kyle Rowe both had decent outings for Fiji and Scotland respectively.
14 Darcy Graham (Scotland): Graham’s ability to open up average defences is outstanding and the man loves a hat-trick! He’s the rugby equivalent of a cricket batter scoring ‘daddy hundreds!’. A shout out for Manny Feyi-Waboso who was absolutely magnificent in defeat and England’s best three-quarter by a distance.
13 Huw Jones (Scotland): A big performance by the silky Scottish centre saw him creating havoc in midfield with some powerful carries and a couple of tries. Henry Slade gets a shout-out purely for his dog in defensive effort, but he’ll want to offer more with ball in hand in the next three Tests.
12 Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland): A classy display by the new Scottish skipper ensures his selection in my team, although I thought Ollie Lawrence really showed some application in his defensive work for England against another who impressed me, New Zealand’s Jordie Barrett.
11 Mark Tele’a (New Zealand): I’ve been a little cheeky here and moved Tele’a onto the left wing as I simply couldn’t leave him out. His ability to sidestep in traffic is quite exceptional. Duhan van der Merwe isn’t one to miss out on a cheap try opportunity and he scored again for Scotland towards the end of the match.
10 Beauden Barrett (New Zealand): I found it very difficult to pick between Marcus Smith and Beaudy, but the moment Barrett spotted the mismatch down the blindside, he made the killer blow for the Kiwis. A shout-out to Adam Hastings who had a great outing, but the quality of opposition in the other match was exceptional.
9 Ben Spencer (England): It wasn’t a vintage weekend for scrum-halves but Spencer was the best of the four on show with an honourable mention for Ali Price who went well at Murrayfield.
Loose forwards
8 Ardie Savea (New Zealand): The battle between Ben Earl and Savea was absolutely immense as two of the best four eights in the world went blow for blow. Earl lost a mark or two for his penalty, and I also thought Jack Dempsey was pretty solid for the Scots outside of his botched volley attempt.
7 Tom Curry (England): Considering he thought his career might be over a few months ago he can be mightily proud of his display. Sam Cane put in some huge hits, although Fiji’s Kitione Salawa also needs a shout-out – immense in defeat and he can hold his head high.
6 Wallace Sititi (New Zealand): The player of the weekend for me. Absolutely deadly with ball in hand, he reminds me of a young Ardie Savea. His opposite number Chandler Cunningham-South was outstanding too, with some huge bone-crunching hits.
Tight five
5 Patrick Tuipulotu (New Zealand): If you want to know why New Zealand grew in those last 20 minutes look no further than this guy. He had his best outing for the All Blacks, although George Martin also impressed me with some huge defensive work.
4 Maro Itoje (England): An absolutely massive shift from a man that occasionally goes missing. One of Itoje’s finest outings in defeat. Scott Barrett toiled all day against him and is my runner-up, but Itoje is back to his very best.
3 Will Stuart (England): He’s a lot more comfortable against tall loosehead props rather than smaller ones who can get under him and he had a very solid performance. Scotland’s Zander Fagerson goes under the radar but never lets his team down.
2 Asafo Aumua (New Zealand): He wasn’t expecting a 75-minute shift but gave it his all once Codie Taylor went off. Fiji’s Tevita Ikanivere grabbed a try in defeat and was one of their more impressive forwards.
1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi (New Zealand): Three scrum penalties from Tu’ungafasi’s work against Dan Cole were crucial in nailing the Kiwi win. He really impacted proceedings. Pierre Schoeman is a crowd favourite up at Murrayfield and he once again thundered around the pitch with ball in hand. Genge was also outstanding in the tight but his two missed tackles cost England a brace of tries. You have to wonder why the England prop found himself defending in the one-out position.
