2024 Autumn Nations Series: Week One Review

It was an entertaining weekend of action in the Autumn Nations, where England faced New Zealand, whilst Wales took on Fiji.

The opening weekend of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series was enthralling and full of action, with Steve Borthwick’s England and Gregor Townsend’s Scotland in action against New Zealand and Fiji respectively.

England were taking on the side ranked 3rd in the world, two places above them as of the time of writing at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. 81,910 fans were in attendance for what was a high profile match to get England’s Autumn Nations campaign underway, but it was an opportunity for Borthwick and his team to make a statement with a victory against the All Blacks on Saturday afternoon.

No less than 67,144 fans witnessed Scotland’s first Autumn Nations Series contest for 2024 against Fiji in Edinburgh at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium. Gregor Townsend’s team were looking to get their campaign off to the best of starts. It was a high profile tie with both nations occupying a place in the top ten of the World Rankings.

Here, we will review the action from both of the games that took place on Week One of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series at the weekend.

England 22 – 24 New Zealand (Allianz Stadium, Twickenham)

We begin with the game that was widely seen as the most high profile of the weekend, with Steve Borthwick’s England taking on a New Zealand side led by their Head Coach Scott Robertson at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

In the end, it was late heartbreak for England. The winning try for the All Blacks was scored by Mark Tele’a in the 76th minute of the contest, and there was further disappointment for the hosts when George Ford narrowly missed two late kicks to win the game just after the visitors had scored this try. This defeat meant that England failed to reclaim the Hillary Shield.

England got their only try of the game in the 44th minute when an unforced error from New Zealand allowed Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to score a crucial interception try. Marcus Smith was able to score a conversion, whilst he also scored 4 penalties. Ben Spencer was also able to score a penalty for the home team.

The winning try from Tele’a was his second of the afternoon, whilst there was also a try for Will Jordan. Beauden Barrett got 2 conversions, whilst Damian McKenzie was able to score a penalty as well as a conversion.

Scotland 57 – 17 Fiji (Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium)

The second and final game of the first weekend of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series saw Mick Byrne’s Fiji visit Murrayfield to take on a Scotland team led by their Head Coach Gregor Townsend later on Saturday afternoon.

Kyle Rowe and Darcy Graham got Scotland underway within just four minutes to put the home side ahead, with the latter crossing twice. Huw Jones was then on hand to score Scotland’s fourth try of the contest within 20 minutes.

However, Fiji were able to mount a comeback just before and just after half time through Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, Meli Derenalagi, and Tevita Ikanivere. To the relief of all the home fans and the Scottish team as a whole, they were able to show their ruthless side once again to eventually come away with what was a commanding and ruthless 57 – 17 victory against Fiji in Edinburgh on that memorable Saturday afternoon.

Overall, Townsend’s Scotland scored no less than 8 tries across the 80 minutes, with them coming from Kyle Rowe, Darcy Graham (4), Huw Jones (2), and Duhan van der Merwe. There were also 7 conversions for Adam Hastings, who was also able to score a penalty in this game.

Next Up for England and Scotland

The next game for Steve Borthwick’s England side will see them go toe to toe with Australia at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in what is a high profile clash between two fierce rivals on Saturday 9th November 2024. This game will be getting underway at 15:10pm that afternoon.

As for Scotland, they have an intense and high profile Autumn Nations Series tie of their own a day later on Sunday 10th November 2024 when they come face to face with World Number Two side and current World Champions South Africa at Murrayfield. This highly anticipated game will get underway in Edinburgh at 16:10 on that Sunday afternoon.

Other Week 2 Fixtures

Below are the other Autumn Nations Series Fixtures that are set to be played in the second week of matches, from Friday 8th November to Sunday 10th November 2024.

• Ireland v New Zealand (Aviva Stadium, Dublin – Friday 8th November at 20:10pm).
• Italy v Argentina (Stadio Friuli, Udine – Saturday 9th November at 17:40pm UK Time).
• France v Japan (Stade de France, Paris – Saturday 9th November at 20:10pm UK Time).
• Wales v Fiji (Principality Stadium, Cardiff – Sunday 10th November at 13:40pm).

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of the second week of action in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series that begins on Friday 8th November 2024.

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