Team of the Week: November internationals, Week Three

Editor

With the dust having settled on the third weekend of the November internationals, we’ve studied the action to pick our standout players.

After an epic win over New Zealand, Ireland lead the way with eight players in our side. France are next best with two representatives while South Africa, Scotland, Wales, England and Japan each have one.

15 Rob Kearney (Ireland): Kearney is looking in better shape than ever at the ripe age of 32, which is promising for Ireland ahead of the World Cup. He was absolutely imperious in the air and safe as houses under the high ball, bringing a calmness and assuredness to those around him. The full-back beat four defenders from 12 carries. Australia’s Israel Folau, meanwhile, was unlucky to miss out on our XV after making 132 metres and beating four defenders against Italy.

14 Teddy Thomas (France): This was a difficult decision to make as Liam Williams scored a brace as well as grabbing a try assist in Wales’ demolition of Tonga. But we felt with a stronger opposition in Argentina, Les Bleus star Thomas’ showing holds more weight as he too notched up a double while he was a constant menace with ball in hand.

13 Huw Jones (Scotland): Scotland fans will be delighted to see Jones returning to the rampant form he showed in the Six Nations after a year blighted by injury. Jones produced two magical offloads out the back of the hand in the same movement leading to Pete Horne’s 20th-minute try against South Africa. On top of that, Jones made more metres than anyone else in the match. Beats out the Wallabies’ Samu Kerevi, who gets a mention.

12 Owen Farrell (England): Saturday was another example of just how over-reliant England have become on Farrell. Eddie Jones brought his co-captain on at half-time at 12 in place of Alex Lozowski. The Saracens man was the catalyst for England’s dramatic improvement as they came back from 15-10 down at half-time to emerge 35-15 victors. Elsewhere, Gael Fickou impressed for France.

11 Jacob Stockdale (Ireland): Sublime individual try as he chipped ahead and outsprinted the Kiwi cover defence to collect and dot down for the match-winning score. Stockdale beat five defenders and made three clean breaks for 76 metres on the day. The 22-year-old continues to maintain a terrific strike rate for the men from the Emerald Isle, with his latest effort seeing him having now dotted down 13 times in 15 matches. Beats out Japan’s Kenki Fukuoka and Wales’ Steff Evans.

10 Johnny Sexton (Ireland): A magnificent performance from the fly-half, who takes the position over South Africa’s Handre Pollard, after guiding Ireland to an outstanding victory. His kicking game out of hand was superb, helping the hosts to control possession and territory, while his conversion off the tee in the second half was crucial. Sexton was also typically ferocious in defence with his aggression and passion epitomising Joe Schmidt’s team.

9 Tomos Williams (Wales): Showed the excellent depth Wales have at scrum-half by producing an energetic performance against Tonga on Saturday. Displayed his sniping instincts by scoring one try and also set the tempo via his quick taps and slick passing. Did have one small blot on his copybook following an interception, which resulted in Sione Vailanu crossing the whitewash for the Pacific Islanders, but Williams did enough to edge out Japan’s Fumiaki Tanaka, Ireland’s Kieran Marmion and Embrose Papier of South Africa.

8 CJ Stander (Ireland): Another massive shift from the South African-born back-row, who made an exceptional 22 carries and often made it over the gain line. In total, he ran for 28 metres but all of those came in the tighter exchanges, which allowed Ireland to get on the front foot in Dublin. Also made a crucial turnover in the early exchanges to set to tone for the home side as they dominated the rest of the half. Elsewhere, Beka Gorgadze and Sione Vailanu stood out for Georgia and Tonga respectively, but Stander comfortably takes his place in the XV.

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7 Peter O’Mahony (Ireland): We couldn’t leave out Michael Leitch or O’Mahony so we’ve shifted the Irishman to openside due to his poaching instincts. At times, not everyone within Ireland have been particularly supportive of the Munster flanker’s inclusion for some bizarre reason, but he showed all of his qualities on Saturday. Won lineout ball, made a number of turnovers – one which led to the try – and was just an absolute nuisance to the world champions. Also carried very well, despite people believing it to be a weakness, as he ran for 23 metres.

6 Michael Leitch (Japan): An absolutely brilliant performance from the Sunwolves flanker, who caused England endless problems, particularly in the loose. Scored a wonderful try by powering through Danny Care before producing an audacious sidestep on Elliot Daly to score. Leitch ran for 88 metres in all, which included five clean breaks and seven defenders beaten, as Japan went into the interval 15-10 ahead. Was unfortunate not to receive the official man of the match award, but protocols dictate that it is usually given to a member of the winning team.

5 James Ryan (Ireland): The Leinsterman delivered an outstanding display in his side’s win over the All Blacks which was no mean feat as he was up against arguably the world’s best second-row pairing of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick. Ryan did well as a ball carrier, gaining 25 metres from 17 runs and beat two defenders but made his biggest impact on defence with a game-high 20 tackles.

4 Devin Toner (Ireland): Another Irishman who took the fight to the All Blacks and came out on top against the world champions. Toner did well in the tight exchanges with his lineout work particularly impressive and he also did his bit on defence and eventually made 11 tackles. Izack Rodda also played well for the Wallabies in their triumph over Italy in Padua.

3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland): The Wallabies’ Taniela Tupou is unlucky to miss out after shining in his side’s win over Italy but we’ve opted for Furlong, who was brilliant in Dublin. Furlong’s work-rate was excellent and he also got the better of Karl Tu’inukuafe in their duel at the scrums. Furlong finished with 21 metres gained from 12 carries with two defenders beaten. Also did his bit on defence with five hits.

2 Guilhem Guirado (France): Another excellent performance from France’s skipper and he makes our team for the second week in a row. Guirado impressed in executing his core duties especially his lineout throw-ins and was lively in the loose. Gained 22 metres from nine carries with three clean breaks, one defender beaten, two offloads and scored a try for his efforts. Also made 10 tackles.

1 Steven Kitshoff (South Africa): This was a difficult decision as Cian Healy was also superb for Ireland as was Japan’s Keita Inagaki but the Springbok gets the nod after another energetic display in his side’s win over Scotland at Murrayfield. Kitshoff’s offload to Sbu Nkosi in the build-up to Jesse Kriel’s try was a thing of beauty but he also did well in the scrums, carried with great intent and also defended well.