By Charlie Elliott
Wallace Sititi and Darcy Graham put in immense performances as New Zealand and Scotland showed their quality on the opening weekend of the Autumn Internationals.
After New Zealand’s tightly contested win against England, and Scotland’s resounding win over Fiji, there were plenty of players whose performances stood out.
Here is The Rugby Paper’s team of the week for the first weekend of the Autumn Nations Series:
Outside Backs
15 Kyle Rowe (Scotland):
Opened the scoring for Scotland, with it being his first Murrayfield try. His day ended right at the end of the first half with him getting injured after a collision, but his first-half performance was outstanding.
14 Darcy Graham (Scotland):
Four tries speaks for itself.
Graham announced himself back onto the world stage after over a year out, with his last international tries also coming four at once in a win against Romania.
A brilliant individual performance, and one which will be remembered for some time.
13 Huw Jones (Scotland):
Scored two and assisted two for the Scots, showing some great intelligence and ability both with and without the ball. Had a formidable partnership alongside his captain in midfield.
12 Ollie Lawrence (England):
Was defensively superb for England, notching a game-leading 22 tackles (88% completion).
People should be very excited to see him properly partner up with Henry Slade in future.
11 Mark Tele’a (New Zealand):
Would have got in this team in his actual position of 14 if not for a certain Scotsman scoring four tries, was impossible to leave Tele’a out altogether.
Scored New Zealand’s first try of the game after beating Ellis Genge for speed. His second try ended up being a crucial one in the 76th minute, powering over the line superbly to level the game before a conversion put them in the lead and ended up being enough to secure the victory.
Halfbacks
10 Marcus Smith (England):
The game changed as soon as Smith came off, although he missed two drop goals himself, his kicking was generally good.
One of the big what-ifs from this game as he was beginning to really gain momentum before coming off for George Ford. Made a quality interception which led to a Feyi-Waboso try.
9 Ali Price (Scotland):
Would not say any of the 9’s particularly stood out over the weekend, with Spencer and Ratima both being decent but unremarkable.
Surprise starter Ali Price had a decent game and was the best of a very average bunch in his position.
Back Row
8 Ardie Savea (New Zealand):
Wallace Sititi has given Ardie Savea heaps of praise following the All Blacks win for his mentorship, and rightly so.
Savea showed his experience and class to win the battle with Ben Earl, who also had a good game.
7 Tom Curry (England):
With Tom coming back from injury there were doubts as to whether picking him over Sam Underhill was the right choice, Curry proved why he was selected, and scored the most tackles for England when he came off in the 60th minute for his brother.
Executed what was asked of him by Borthwick to a tee.
6 Wallace Sititi (New Zealand):
Arguably the best player of the whole weekend, Sititi continued his amazing club form at test level and produced a lovely offload for the first try of the game.
At only 22 years old, this guy has the world at his feet and could end his career as one of the all-time greats. Chandler Cunningham-South deserves an honourable mention.
Second Row
5 Patrick Tuipulotu (New Zealand):
An absolute rock defensively with some huge hits after coming on in the 41st, his work with the ball left a lot to be desired but without his strong defensive work, the All Blacks may not have come away with the win.
4 Maro Itoje (England):
Set the tone for the day with a try-saving charge down in the first minute. Many are calling for Maro to be captain for the next test after this performance, and rightly so.
Front Row
3 Will Stuart (England):
In one of England’s most debated positions, Stuart did no harm for his case to make the number three jersey his own this weekend.
Won a couple of penalties at the scrum, which was probably his highlight, but was a very solid performer and good value for his start.
2 Tevita Ikanivere (Fiji):
Absolutely sent Darcy Graham with an incredible dummy to get Fiji’s third and final try.
Despite the heavy defeat was a standout performer for the losing side and was the best hooker over the weekend.
1 Pierre Schoeman (Scotland):
Despite Scotland’s dominance, Schoeman was solid and did what was required of him but was not really tested.
Both looseheads in the England- New Zealand game left a lot to be desired, so a solid performance is all Pierre needs to get into the TOTW.
READ MORE: Five key talking points from the Autumn Internationals
