The Wallabies earned a hard-fought win against Japan before the All Blacks demolished the USA. Meanwhile, Leinster are the only unbeaten side remaining in the URC after the latest round of matches. Shaun Goosen looks back at the weekend's rugby action.
New Zealand thrash USA in Maryland
The All Blacks scored 16 tries to decimate the United States 104-14 at FedEx Field in Maryland on Sunday. Will Jordan continued his great try-scoring record, bagging a hattrick on the day to take his tally to 15-tries in 10 Tests. The visitors were no match for the 17th-ranked Americans, who simply didn’t have enough quality or experience to deal with the second-best team on the planet. This is the second time this year that the Rugby Championship winners have racked up a century of points in a Test match, having outclassed a weakened Tonga outfit 102-0 in July.
For the Eagles, there was some (admittedly tiny) room for optimism in the fact that they managed their first-ever tries against the three-time World Champions. Ian Foster’s side’s year-end tour will continue this weekend as they next face Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Take a look at the Haka performed by the All Blacks below in which they paid tribute to Sean Wainui who sadly passed away last week.
Australia too good for Brave Blossoms
The Wallabies recorded a hard-fought 32-23 win over Japan at the Showa Denko Dome Oita on Saturday. The victory is a fifth in succession for Dave Rennie’s improving squad, who have bounced back magnificently from their dire Bledisloe Cup performances to play some solid rugga of late. The likes of Quade Cooper, Tom Wright and Taniela Tupou produced moments of real quality for the tourists, who next face Scotland in a fortnight.
Gone are the days when Japan were an easy beat. Nowadays they are a proper Test unit, with coach Jamie Joseph continuing to upskill his ambitious squad as they keep their eye on ascending world rugby’s pecking order. Having come close this weekend, they now turn their attention to their visit to Dublin on 6 November.
The Wallabies are the most fun team in World Rugby right now - discuss. pic.twitter.com/6k7EzFxiQJ
— Rucked Magazine (@rucked_mag) October 23, 2021
Leinster only unbeaten side left in URC
In a week that saw South Africa’s franchises enjoy a bye round, Leinster came out of the weekend as the only undefeated side left in the United Rugby Championship. Leo Cullen’s powerhouse team beat Glasgow 31-15 away as they stretched their lead at the summit of the standings to four-points. The only other unbeaten teams left in the competition ahead of round five, Ulster and Munster, succumbed to away losses to Connacht (36-11) and Ospreys (18-10) respectively.
In other results, there were home wins for Scarlets (34-18 over Benetton) and Cardiff (31-29 over the Dragons) while Edinburgh won 27-10 away against Zebre.
Hooker or Winger?
— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) October 22, 2021
Ronan Kelleher might be asking Leo Cullen for a position change for @leinsterrugby on Monday after an impressive finish out wide #URC | #GLALEI pic.twitter.com/JPxT6SfNB2
