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The Quilter Nations Series all but finished over the weekend, with only Wales against South Africa to come.
The Quilter Nations Series all but finished over the weekend, with only Wales against South Africa to come.
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus finally enjoyed a win in a card-riddled clash against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, New Zealand stirred themselves in the last hour to see off a dogged, but ragged Wales, and Fiji survived a scare against Spain.
Further east in Europe, Japan beat Georgia, and Uruguay defeated Romania. Then later on Saturday, France added another loss to Australia’s docket, and Italy did what they needed to do against Chile.
To wrap up the action on Sunday, Scotland thrashed Tonga 58-0, while England held off a late Argentina charge in a fiery ending at Allianz Stadium.
It was celebration time for Samoa who booked their place in Rugby World Cup 2027 in Dubai. They drew their third Final Qualification Tournament match against Belgium 13-13 to top the round robin table of four and qualify.
Staying in Dubia, the countdown was on for the first HSBC SVNS Series event of the season, with the LA2028 Olympics less than two years away, and Malcolm Marx was named World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year, and Fabian Holland was World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year as the World Rugby Awards were announced.
Oh, and the Top 14 and all its emotion returned.
Hear are ATR’s favourite soundbites of the week…
“I don’t know him, but I’m not happy with the situation. After breaking someone’s knee, you have to be humble enough and respectful to say, ‘I did something wrong and sorry’, but we went the opposite way. Maybe that’s his way of being a bully. Now, if they want bullies in this game, good for them.”
Sounds like Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi won’t be sending Tom Curry a Christmas card:
“It was a great win against a team like Ireland, who have dominated against us since we’ve been together as a group. If you look back at the last five games we’ve played, they are still three-two up against us, so we won’t get carried away with the result, but the beer tastes a little better.”
Rassie Erasmus has his priorities in order, win, then beer:
“There’s some places that we can obviously get better. We were talking the aftermath around our stats and where we sit to sort of compare and stuff, but there’s just so much good in the team. We feel like we’re just fine margins away and we’re just working on those fine margins.”
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson tries to stay positive after ending their tour with three wins from four:
“We've got to look at the penalty count. There were some early offsides where we could have been better. It’s smaller things in these Test matches. From kick-offs, when you score, you want to exit rather than fumble the ball. That's the game - being super clear in those areas of the field where the All Blacks will punish you.”
Steve Tandy knows there’s lots to work on after Wales lose to New Zealand:
“It wasn’t at all pretty, but we got the job done, so we'll take it. It's been a challenging year. It's been tough. The challenges that these boys face every year to get to this point, to get to wear this jersey, and it’s a small nation but we've got the ticket now (to RWC 2017), so I'm just proud, proud, of this team, this group, and it's only upward from here. We want to keep this momentum. We want to grow as a team.”
Samoa captain Theo McFarland is setting his team’s sights high:
“There were a lot of emotions before the match, especially during the national anthems. I expected to be moved. At school and college, we sang all the time. It's a bit strange to hear that anthem on the pitch at the Stade de France. “
Was the Australia-raised, France international Emmanuel Meafou tempted to sing both anthems?
“I think it is probably reflective of a lot of the games on the tour. We've been in every game at half-time, and we haven't finished them off well enough. There's a lot of learning about trying to manage big moments, trying to manage ourselves. When we start to just miss a couple of things, and you didn't have to miss much for some of the French athletes to get away from us tonight, they were very quick to do so.”
Australia coach Joe Schmidt knows what the problem is:
“Initially, I never thought I’d get there, but in the last couple of years, it’s definitely been a goal and a target to hit and seeing a lot of boys getting it and those special games and days have been really cool.”
Scotland hooker George Turner reflects on hitting his half century:
“During the game, they were going off about how brilliant this team was. They’ve gone through dark times, so for them to beat the All Blacks was great for the supporters and for the team, and for the commentators. But, to me, I thought they were saying ‘we can’t wait to get hold of South Africa’. It just seemed they were getting ahead of themselves.”
Former South Africa coach Nick Mallett thinks England fans need to pump the breaks a touch:
“I can honestly say we are ready for Dubai – we have been working so hard over the last couple of weeks, with a squad that are so strong in depth and competitive edge, that I believe we will be hard to beat.”
David Brits, captain of HSBC SVNS Series champions South Africa is champing at the bit:
“I’d like to think of myself as part Bostonian. Rain or sunshine, we just get on with it — no matter what. We always compete, and we always fight — with a smile on our faces.”
Namibia centre Le Roux Malan takes a piece of Boston with him, as he departs New England Free Jacks for The Sharks: