• South Africa dominated their Autumn Series, winning all matches, while England struggled, losing to New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.  

• Australia surprised everyone by almost defeating Ireland, turning next year’s British & Irish Lions tour into a must-watch event.

For international rugby, including Springbok rugby, the test match between England and Ireland on Saturday may have been the most important match of the Autumn Series.

South Africa won all three of their matches comfortably, beating Scotland by 17 points, England by nine points and Wales by a whopping 33 points. As great an achievement as it was – and it was – it was expected.

The biggest losers, of course, were England. They went down to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Sadly, this was also expected. England is at a low point, but they are not defeated. The Red Rose will rise again.

But the England management, officially leading the richest rugby-playing nation in the world, will have to answer some serious questions that English rugby fans are asking.

New Zealand beat England (everybody did), they beat Ireland and they lost to France by one point.

The pleasant surprise of the competition was the unexpected performance of Australia. They beat England, thrashed Wales, and then were taken apart by Scotland.

What made Saturday’s match so important was the way they fought back and almost achieved the unthinkable. They came so close to beating mighty Ireland in their backyard in Dublin and only lost the match in the last few minutes.

The British and Irish Lions’ tour to Australia in June next year, until last week a boring non-event, has turned into the event of the year.

The Lions play 11 matches, three of them test matches. Aussie coach Joe Schmidt has worked wonders with the Wallaby team. A runaway victory for the Lions is no longer a certainty.

Joe Schmidt has already performed the unthinkable. If he can deliver a series victory against the Lions, that would make him a miracle worker.

Wallabies v Lions 2025:

• 19 July, Brisbane
• 26 July, Melbourne
• 2 August, Sydney

Pictured above: Australia playing Ireland.

Source: Wallabies/X