Nations Championship Team of the Week: Five Springboks make the cut, including ‘sky-owning’ Damian Willemse, while All Blacks enjoy ‘lightning service’
South Africa's Damian Willemse and New Zealand's Cam Roigard are named in Planet Rugby's Team of the Weekend
Following the conclusion of the opening round of the new Nations Champions, here is the Planet Rugby Team of the Week!
The Nations Championship arrived with a bang rather than a whimper. Christchurch produced 66 points and a two-point thriller under the Te Kaha roof, Sydney delivered a seesaw classic settled by a 77th-minute try, an ice-cold conversion and a last-gasp penalty miss, and Ellis Park reminded everyone why the world champions remain the world champions.
In Tokyo, Eddie Jones watched from exile as his Japan side dismantled an Italy team fresh off their best Six Nations, while Wales found a maturity in Cardiff that has been missing for the best part of three years.
The opening weekend belonged to South Africa, though, whose 45-21 dismantling of England was the most complete performance of the round, and they dominate this Team of the Week selection.
Round One results: New Zealand 34 France 32, Japan 27 Italy 10, Australia 31 Ireland 33, Fiji 24 Wales 39, South Africa 45 England 21, Argentina 38 Scotland 47
Nations Championship Team of the Week
15. Damian Willemse (South Africa): On his 50th Test, Willemse owned the skies against an England side that arrived intending to contest it, nailing a 50/22 of the highest class and producing a try-saving tackle late in the first half when the game still had a pulse. Twelve carries and a linebreak completed a display of total full-back play. Ireland’s Hugo Keenan was magnificent in Sydney, saving two certain Australian tries with cover tackles before scoring one of his own, and Kyle Rowe ran for 155 metres in Cordoba, an influential counter-attacking display that gave Scotland front-foot ball all night. Takuro Matsunaga’s 17-point haul steered Japan home in Tokyo, but this was Willemse’s weekend.
14. Will Jordan (New Zealand): Two tries in Christchurch, taking him to 47 in 56 Tests, and the second of them won the match. His first was a superb finish in the corner while his side were down to 14, fighting off Théo Attissogbe to ground it, and his second came off Luke Jacobson’s fend down the right touchline with nine minutes to play. Dave Rennie’s decision to move him back to the wing already looks inspired. Cheslin Kolbe marked his own 50th cap with a trademark sidestep past Cadan Murley for a try, and he takes the runner-up spot.
13. Rory Hutchinson (Scotland): Handed the shirt in Huw Jones’ absence and fresh from winning the Premiership with Northampton, Hutchinson brought his club form straight to Cordoba. His footwork and distribution gave Scotland a creative edge in midfield on a night when composure away from home was everything. A player who had waited a long time for a sustained run at this level now looks ready to seize it. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was Australia’s most dangerous attacking weapon in Sydney, and he was denied a spectacular score by Keenan’s covering tackle. Jesse Kriel scored and organised the Bok defence with his usual authority, and Juan Ignacio Brex raced through inside five minutes in Tokyo for the try that briefly suggested Italy’s day might go differently.
12. Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland): The Scotland captain set the tone in Cordoba on a night when his side needed leadership more than anything, carrying with intent, defending his channel without fuss and steering the team around a hostile ground with the authority of a man utterly comfortable in the armband. His midfield partnership with Hutchinson gave Scotland a balance they have rarely found without Jones. Damian de Allende was mightily close to keeping this shirt, a vintage Ellis Park shift of line-bending carries, 14 tackles and a turnover being the quiet foundation on which the flashier Bok performances were built. He is desperately unlucky to miss out. Len Ikitau was excellent on his Wallabies return, and Yoram Moefana was his usual French brick wall in Christchurch.
11. Jiuta Wainiqolo (Fiji): Wales experienced a world of pain every time the ball found him. Three linebreaks, four defenders beaten and 127 running metres in a losing cause. It created the nagging sense that had Fiji found more ways to feed him, their afternoon in Cardiff might have ended differently. The Lyon flyer was the most electric ball-carrier anywhere in the world on Saturday. France’s Attissogbe pushes him close after a magnificent offload for Antoine Hastoy’s try and a superbly taken score of his own in Christchurch, and Dylan Pietsch’s early try set the tone for Australia’s fast start in Sydney.
10. Manie Libbok (South Africa): Nearly flawless. Freed from goal-kicking duty with Kolbe on the tee, Libbok controlled the match with a calm that has not always been his reputation, releasing his backline at will and producing a beautiful pass to send Kurt-Lee Arendse over. His line kicking was assured throughout. Matthieu Jalibert was the conductor of everything good France produced at Te Kaha, opening New Zealand up repeatedly with his running game and scoring the 78th-minute try that set up the frantic finish. On another weekend he walks into this side.
9. Cam Roigard (New Zealand): Man of the match in his team’s marquee fixture and quite possibly the most in-form player in the world. Two tries cut from the same cloth, both the product of a scrum-half reading the game a beat quicker than everyone else. The first arrived on the stroke of half-time as three French defenders swarmed Codie Taylor and left him in acres; the second was pure support play off Jordie Barrett’s freed left arm. His service was lightning, and his snipes kept France’s fringe defence in a state of permanent anxiety. Grant Williams was superb at Ellis Park with a stunning linebreak and a crucial second-half try for South Africa, and Ben White’s match management and kicking game for Scotland in Cordoba were of the highest order. On any other weekend either man takes the shirt.
The forwards
8. Ardie Savea (New Zealand): His first Test as the official All Blacks captain and, after pulling up with a minor niggle in the warm-up, he simply got on with being Ardie Savea. A momentum-swinging breakdown turnover during Ruben Love’s sin-binning, a team-high 13 carries, 16 tackles and defenders repeatedly turned away on strength and want alone. If there were questions about how quickly he would readjust to Test level, they lasted roughly 10 minutes. Jasper Wiese was at times unplayable for South Africa in the opening quarter at Ellis Park and won two breakdown penalties that led directly to tries, Aaron Wainwright put in a typically wholehearted shift for Wales and Ben Earl’s heroics in a heavy England defeat, 21 carries and a team-high tackle count, deserve recording.
7. Jac Morgan (Wales): Player of the match in Cardiff and the beating heart of the Welsh win. Two first-half tries, the second of them after Eddie James had won a penalty to put Wales in range, and the tackle count topped for good measure. Morgan’s captaincy carried a side that wobbled at 25-24 through to a mature, forward-driven finish, and Steve Tandy could not have asked for a better tone-setter for his first July window. Oscar Jegou was the pick of the French back row with a brilliant early lineout steal and relentless breakdown industry, while Fraser McReight was typically busy for Australia in Sydney.
6. Luke Jacobson (New Zealand): A tale of two halves that ended as one of the performances of the weekend. Penalised twice before the break and loose with one counter-attacking pass, Jacobson then produced a second-half masterclass, dominating French carriers in the contact area and fending off a defender to send Jordan away for the match-winning New Zealand try. His 21 tackles shared the game high, with one solitary miss across a full 80-minute shift. Paul de Villiers announced himself in the Springbok six shirt on debut, winning a breakdown penalty inside 60 seconds that led to a try and attacking every ruck in sight. A serious player has arrived. James Botham’s impact from the Welsh bench also deserves noting, adding energy and bite when the game in Cardiff was still in the balance.
5. Warner Dearns (Japan): The Japan captain responded to Brex’s early try by burrowing over within six minutes. He then spent the rest of the evening imposing himself on an Italian pack that had bullied England four months earlier. Fresh from a Super Rugby title with the Hurricanes, Dearns is playing like one of the best locks in the world and, on this evidence, the claim holds. His side forced Italy into more than 20 turnovers and he set the physical tone throughout. South Africa’s Ruan Nortje was excellent at Ellis Park, solid at lineout time and matching Marx with 17 tackles.
4. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa): A captain’s innings. Handed the armband and a positional reshuffle by Eben Etzebeth’s late withdrawal, he produced a tireless 80 minutes, making 14 tackles and shifting seamlessly between lock and his familiar blindside duties. He is the engine that never stops. Sam Darry was outstanding for New Zealand in his home city, stealing an early French lineout, running a near-seamless set-piece as the senior lock and sharing the game-high tackle count of 21.
3. Thomas du Toit (South Africa): The big man scored the opening try of South Africa’s campaign inside three minutes, cashing in De Villiers’ breakdown penalty. While Ellis Genge bumped him in the build-up to England’s first score and the scrum never reached its usual dominance, his 49 minutes had more influence than any other starting tighthead on a quiet weekend for the position. Zachary Porthen’s cameo as Du Toit’s cover strengthened the case for this jersey being shared, the youngster scrummaging solidly, manhandling Luke Cowan-Dickie and producing a storming late carry, while Tomás Rapetti brought real impact off the Pumas bench in Cordoba. Fletcher Newell’s 13 tackles in Christchurch for the All Blacks earn him a mention.
2. Malcolm Marx (South Africa): A joint team-high 17 tackles, a delicious set of hands to send Kriel over in the second half, a late try of his own to close the scoring and the usual menace at the breakdown. A couple of lineout darts went astray, which was the only blemish. Dewi Lake ran him close in Cardiff, hitting his lineout marks, scrummaging exceptionally and orchestrating the Welsh maul while adding 14 tackles in 62 minutes as skipper.
1. Rhys Carré (Wales): Blitzed Tim Hoyt at the very first scrum to hand Wales an attacking platform five metres out, then started the second half by powering over from close range for the try that broke Fiji’s resistance. His set-piece dominance underpinned the mauling game that became Wales‘ best attacking weapon in Cardiff. Ox Nché managed only nine minutes before injury struck at Ellis Park, but his linebreak through two England defenders in that time led directly to Kolbe’s try, which tells you everything about the standards the man sets. Pierre Schoeman marked his 50th Scotland cap with his customary snarl and set-piece graft in Cordoba, making a serious case of his own for this shirt.
Player of the Weekend – Willemse (South Africa): Starring in his 50th Test in the most complete team performance of the round settles it, although Roigard and Morgan both have a case.
Team split: South Africa 5, New Zealand 4, Scotland 2, Wales 2, Fiji 1, Japan 1