Tries, suspense, but few surprises… The rugby weekend was once again full of twists. Beyond France’s unconvincing win over Fiji (34-21) on Saturday, the European nations mostly shone.

Ireland first: ordinary against the Blacks and even against Japan, this time they thrashed Australia (46-19) thanks in particular to a hat-trick from wing Mack Hansen. The Wallabies, for their part, will have to pick themselves up quickly or risk finishing the tour with three defeats (Ireland, Italy). Next up, Saturday in Saint-Denis against France.

Disappointing Italy

England also confirmed their growing momentum. Led by an outstanding George Ford – 13 points scored (one disallowed) – England brought down the All Blacks (33-19) and beat the New Zealanders at Twickenham again, something they had not managed since 2012. Watch out for this England side…

Wales had a scare. A very big one, in fact. Thanks to a last-minute penalty, Wales edged out Japan (24-23) and reassured themselves (a little).Of the 21 matches played since the last World Cup in France, the Welsh had lost 20.

Italy, on the other hand, failed to beat a heavily rotated Springboks side (14-32). Ineffective against South Africans who were quickly down to 14 after the red card shown to Franco Mostert, the Nazionale fell away late on.

As a reminder, on Thursday, on the second day of the repechage tournament held in Dubai, Samoa had beaten a weak Namibia (26-8) and will therefore play for their 2027 World Cup qualification against Belgium. Also worth noting: Portugal’s logical demolition of Hong Kong China (58-12) and Spain’s narrow defeat to England “A” (25-29).