The RugbyPass Form XV: Chat back as 'les rosbifs' dominate
Form XV: After their match with Fiji was cancelled last week, France got their Autumn Nations Cup campaign started with a win over Scotland on Sunday.
Fabien Galthié’s side staked their claim for being the form side in Europe, with a final against England looking likely after their win over Ireland.
Meanwhile, Wales registered their second win of 2020 against Georgia and Argentina salvaged a draw against Australia after their heroics against the All Blacks the week before, as the Form XV sees plenty of new faces.
1 WYN JONES
Against a Georgia side famed for their love of the scrum, Wales’ Wyn Jones certainly came out on top, winning two early penalties and proving he is Wayne Pivac’s best scrummaging loosehead.
2 CAMILLE CHAT
In an attritional battle up front against Scotland, France’s Camille Chat tirelessly threw his weight around for the first 50 minutes.
3 KYLE SINCKLER
Kyle Sinckler’s tremendous workrate was exhibited against Ireland, as he made 20 tackles and proved to be a tough match for Cian Healy at the scrum.
4 MARO ITOJE
Another man of the match performance for Maro Itoje against Ireland, as the lock’s standards never seem to drop.
5 BERNARD LE ROUX
Bernard Le Roux typifies the new industrious and ferocious French defence under Shaun Edwards, topping the tackle count against Scotland.
6 PABLO MATERA
The Argentina captain Pablo Matera put in another shift against Australia, contributing in all aspects of the game for the Pumas.
7 SAM UNDERHILL
England’s tackling machine Sam Underhill shone in a monumental defensive effort by his team at Twickenham, whilst also proving to be a nuisance at the breakdown.
8 GRÉGORY ALLDRITT
A vital member of the France XV and part of this burgeoning new generation of players, Grégory Alldritt was happy to make the hard yards against a Scotland defence that proved hard to break down.
9 ANTOINE DUPONT
A quiet game by his usual high standards, but there are few players in better form than Antoine Dupont currently.
10 NICOLÁS SÁNCHEZ
The scorer of all of Argentina’s points so far in the Tri-Nations, Nicolás Sánchez’s boot has been the deciding factor in the win over the All Blacks and the draw with Australia.
11 JONNY MAY
Scorer of two tries against Ireland, including one of the great solo efforts seen this year, Jonny May is rightfully receiving plenty of plaudits from his coach Eddie Jones.
12 HUNTER PAISAMI
Argentina struggled to handle Australia’s midfield combo of Hunter Paisami and Jordan Petaia on Saturday, particularly in a dominant first half.
13 VIRIMI VAKATAWA
France’s Virimi Vakatawa was at the end of his team’s scything strike move at Murrayfield, but the outside centre had come close to scoring twice before as his purple patch continues.
14 LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT
A try and an assist for Wales’ Louis Rees-Zammit only tells half the story, as the 19-year-old came close to scoring again and showed on a number of occasions how dangerous he can be when given space.
15 TOM WRIGHT
Although on the wing against Argentina at the weekend, the rugby league convert Tom Wright showed in his second Test what a classy and dependable prospect he is for the Wallabies.
Latest Comments
Disagree.
The challenge for the All Blacks now that they have 7 of 8 starting forwards locked in and all but one bench forward (only one loose forward and bench loosie to settle on) is to sort out the starting backline as only 9 Roigard, 12 J. Barrett, 11 Clarke and 15 Jordan had good to outstanding seasons in 2024. All the other backs were inconsistent or poor and question marks going into 2025.
Go to commentshe should not be playing 12. He should be playing 10 and team managers should stop playing players out of position to accommodate libbok.
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