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International Rugby

TALKING POINTS: 5 Big Hightlights from Week 1 of the 2024 Autumn Internationals

Check out our five biggest moments from the past weekend of Autumn international rugby that saw New Zealand pip England 24-22 in London and Scotland thump Fiji 57-17 in Edinburgh.
Darcy Graham of Scotland

Check out our five biggest moments from the past weekend of Autumn international rugby that saw New Zealand pip England 24-22 in London and Scotland thump Fiji 57-17 in Edinburgh.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

Haka standoff

Recently retired England loosehead Joe Marler stoked the flames ahead of the clash with the All Blacks at Twickenham by calling the haka, inarguably one of the game’s great hallmarks, “ridiculous”, and saying it “needs binning”. That certainly ramped up the anticipation for the clash on Saturday, with many eager to see how England would respond to the Kiwis’ tribal challenge. As it happened, Jamie George’s men, shoulder to shoulder, approached the New Zealanders during the chant, stopping on the halfway line. In turn, the ABs advanced towards the hosts, finally coming to within just five metres of their opponents which made for great viewing.

If Marler’s comments were intended to add some extra spice to the encounter, well played. If not, his opinions will not be missed.

Smith v Barrett

Former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes wrote a column in the build-up to the New Zealand Test in which he downplayed Beauden Barrett’s impact at No 10 for the ABs and said he’d instead opt for Marcus Smith “ten times out of ten”. While many might disagree with the opinionated pundit, the fact is that both players had cracking games on Saturday, with Barrett likely to continue in the role for the remainder of the month. For England, Steve Borthwick’s decision to hook Smith late on may well have cost his side the result.

Tele’a finish and late drama

Mark Tele’a proved again at Twickenham just how good his finishing is, with the Blues winger’s second try of the afternoon seeing him beat a number of cross-covering defenders to score what turned out to be the most crucial try of the contest. With just over three minutes to go, Damian McKenzie showed enormous chutzpah to add the extras and put the tourists into a 24-22 lead, but the drama wasn’t over. An ensuing George Ford penalty hit the post and was knocked on by New Zealand, and although Ford also had a late opportunity to sink a drop goal, the effort went wide, letting Scott Robertson and his team off the hook.

Darcy scores four for Scotland

Back in Scottish colours for the first time in over a year, Edinburgh right winger Darcy Graham managed to dot down four times during the big win over Fiji after reclaiming his place out wide from the injured Kyle Steyn. His second score truly underlined his pedigree: after doing well to field an Adam Hastings kick-pass, just about managing to snick the ball off his boot to grubber through, avoiding the Fijian cover defence in the process, regathering and then diving over.

He will be one for the Bok defence to keep an eye on next week.

Scottish and Fijian ill-discipline

There were a staggering 28 penalties in total in the Scotland/ Fiji game at Murrayfield, with the visitors receiving two yellow cards and the hosts copping one. In fact, Fiji gave away 10 penalties in the first half alone in a performance they would like to forget as quickly as possible. And while ill-discipline is something we have come to expect from the Pacific Islanders, Gregor Townsend will be furious that his side allowed themselves to be similarly guilty of so many offences and it’s something they will need to rectify soon ahead of their showdown with the Springboks.

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