Ranked: The 11 players who matter most in this year’s Autumn Nations Series
Tadhg Beirne, Dan Sheehan and Ardie Savea make the list.
The Autumn Nations Series provides a clear measure of who is delivering at Test level.
With the World Cup cycle reset and northern hemisphere squads showing significant depth, the players arriving into this window with influence are those whose contributions are quantifiable, repeatable, and tactically decisive.
This list is built on verified Test match data from the past 12 months and these are the 11 players who statistically matter most in international rugby, right here, right now.
11. Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa)
- Test matches played: 12
- Tries: 7
- Defenders beaten: 34
- Line breaks: 6
- Kicking accuracy: 88%
Kolbe continues to deliver decisive moments in high-pressure environments. His ability to beat defenders, finish from broken field, and contribute with the boot gives South Africa flexibility across the back three. His influence remains central to the Springbok attacking structure.
10 Tom Curry (England / British & Irish Lions)
- Test matches played: 12
- Tries: 4
- Turnovers won: 14
- Tackle success: 95%
- Carries: 34
- Gainline success: 82%
- Minutes played: 520
Curry has returned to Test rugby with clarity and control and a new-found appetite for the try-line. Across 12 matches, including all three Lions Tests, he has delivered consistent defensive output, high breakdown efficiency, and a carrying profile that continues to offer gainline value, with a quite remarkable 95% tackle success rate. His ruck arrival and clearance physicality is near unmatched in the game, whilst his tackle success remains elite, and his ability to operate across both flanker roles has given England and the Lions flexibility in selection and structure. He remains one of the most tactically reliable forwards in the northern hemisphere and arrives into the Autumn Nations Series with form, fitness restored after an operation on his troubled wrist, and a defined role, despite starting the first Test v Australia off the bench.
9. Damian Penaud (France)
- Test matches played: 11
- Tries: 12
- Defenders beaten: 42
- Clean breaks: 9
Penaud leads all tier-one Northern Hemisphere backs in tries scored over the last 12 months. His capacity to finish from unstructured play, stretch defensive systems, and operate outside pattern makes him France’s primary strike runner. His numbers reflect impact, precision, and positional threat. Watch him or you’ll miss him – but never underestimate his ability to run down a blind alley, the only negative in his incredible talent set.
8. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa)
- Test matches played: 13
- Tackle success: 92%
- Lineout steals: 6
- Try assists: 3
The peerless Etzebeth continues to anchor South Africa’s pack and to set the global standard for second-row excellence. His lineout disruption, physical dominance, and leadership remain unmatched. He delivers in high-pressure environments and remains both a tactical and psychological presence in the second row. Greatest Bok ever? Well there’s a powerful argument – but it’s without question that he’s the spiritual heartbeat of this wonderful Springbok side.
7. Will Jordan (New Zealand)
- Test matches played: 13
- Tries: 14
- Clean breaks: 11
- Metres gained: 612
Jordan has scored more tries than any other player in the Test window, two ahead of Penaud. His ability to find space, convert overlaps, and finish with composure makes him New Zealand’s most dangerous back and his propensity to glide, unseen, into spaces around the centres make you wonder if he’s playing whilst wearing a Romulan Cloaking Device. His strike rate is heroic and his positional flexibility adds further value to the All Blacks’ backfield.
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6. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland / British & Irish Lions)
- Test matches played: 8
- Tries: 2
- Turnovers won: 4
- Tackle success: 88%
- Lineout takes: 2
- Carries: 21
- Metres carried: 64
Beirne has played twice as many Tests as Caelan Doris in the last 12 months and for that reason, sneaks in ahead of the injury plagued number eight. Importantly, he’s delivered consistent defensive output across multiple roles. His tackle efficiency, breakdown presence, and lineout contribution have been central to Ireland‘s structural integrity, particularly in matches where control and containment have taken priority over tempo. While his carrying numbers are lower than Doris, his availability and versatility across lock and blindside have made him a more influential figure in this cycle. His ability to slot into different systems and maintain performance levels under pressure continues to make him one of Ireland’s most reliable forwards.
5. Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
- Test matches played: 10
- Tries: 10
- Defenders beaten: 38
- Try assists: 5
Bielle-Biarrey has emerged as France’s breakout star. His acceleration, off-ball movement, and finishing composure have made him a constant threat. His kicking for self is exceptional and his ability to time runs and exploit mismatches is already elite. To witness some of his scores last season, and in the Top 14 this season to date, is to watch wing finishing out of the highest drawer; yes his aerial game was once suspect, but now he’s looking like the complete deal.
4. Ox Nche (South Africa)
- Test matches played: 8
- Tries: 0
- Turnovers won: 1
- Tackle success: 79%
- Dominant tackles: 5
- Metres carried: 68
- Scrum win rate (on field): 94%
- Scrum penalties won: 6
Nche has become the loosehead prop South Africa rely on when the game narrows and the scrum becomes the decisive battleground. Across eight Test matches in the last 12 months, he has delivered a 94% scrum win rate whilst forcing six penalties directly from set-piece engagements. His technical consistency, low body profile, and ability to destabilise opposition tightheads have made him the Springboks’ preferred option in closing phases, particularly when scoreboard pressure demands control. Nche’s impact is not measured by tries or metres (and it’s certainly not measured by salads consumed!), it’s measured by momentum shifts, referee decisions, and territorial gains that begin at the scrum – and, above all, the sheer emotional impact he has – positively on his side, and terrifyingly negative on his opponents. In matches where South Africa have turned the screw late, it is Nche who has anchored the platform. His influence is tactical, physical, and repeatable, and in short, he is a world class match-winner, arguably unmatched by any other in his position in the world right now.
Quiz: Can you name the Ireland team that defeated the All Blacks for the first time in 2016?
3. Dan Sheehan (Ireland / British & Irish Lions)
- Test matches played: 12
- Tries: 9
- Turnovers won: 4
- Lineout success: 87%
- Try assists: 2
Sheehan has become Ireland’s most productive forward. His acceleration in wide channels, finishing ability, and aerial control at set-piece have expanded his role beyond traditional hooker expectations. He is now a primary carrier and a consistent contributor to Ireland’s attacking shape, and has become the most effective try scorer by a forward in the history of Test rugby, averaging a score every 2.3 Tests. Remarkable.
2. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa)
- Test matches played: 13
- Tries: 2
- Turnovers won: 6
- Tackle success: 92%
- Try assists: 3
Man mountain Du Toit remains a key component of South Africa’s defensive system and seems to be ageing better than a fine Cape wine. His tackle efficiency, lineout presence, and ability to reset the gainline through collisions are embedded in the Springbok blueprint and his immense role is defined by control, consistency, and positional clarity. World class is an understatement; all time great is probably now wholly accurate.
1. Ardie Savea (New Zealand)
- Test matches played: 13
- Tries: 8
- Turnovers won: 11
- Tackle success: 94%
- Metres carried: 612
Savea continues to lead the global standard for back-row performance. His breakdown pressure, carrying output, and defensive consistency across multiple roles make him central to New Zealand‘s forward structure. He arrives in Europe with form, durability, and a clear capacity to influence matches, both sides of the ball and with incredible consistency.
Conclusion
The Autumn Nations Series brings into focus the players whose contributions over the last 12 months have been consistent, measurable, and tactically central to how their teams function.
Each of the 11 listed arrives with a defined role and a body of work that reflects not just form but repeatable influence across Test-level contests. With England continuing to refine their attacking shape, Curry returns to anchor the defensive spine, whilst Ben Earl, just outside our top 11, offers range, linking and acceleration in phase play in an incredibly balanced combination.
South Africa retain cohesion through the spine of Etzebeth, Kolbe, and Nche, with the latter increasingly trusted to close out tight matches through set-piece control, where he simply terrifies anyone he faces, but whilst smiling at them in the most charming manner.
France will stretch the field through Penaud and Bielle-Biarrey, both capable of breaking structure and exploiting mismatches, as they go through a clear period of self-regeneration, with icons like Francois Cros and Charles OIlivon not at full fitness yet, and others, such as Greg Alldritt, dropped.
Ireland continue to build around Sheehan’s carrying threat and Beirne’s versatility across lock and blindside, but there are serious concerns that the generational green machine is finally in need of a big overhaul.
New Zealand arrive with Jordan and Savea in rhythm, both delivering output that shifts momentum and resets tempo.
These are the 11 players who shape the way matches are played, the way opposition plans are built, and the way margins move; in a month where the margins will be paper thin, that matters – and these are the men that make a difference.