Real test of England’s mettle due to come

The honeymoon is well and truly over for Eddie Jones as the depth of talent in England Rugby is now going to be put to its sternest test.

After losing big name players such as James Haskell, Anthony Watson and George Kruis for the Autumn Internationals already, he won’t have been best pleased to see Maro Itoje clasping his own hand as he walked from the field in the 46th minute of Saracens’ match against Scarlets at the weekend.

This is arguably the England Head Coach’s biggest loss to the squad as Itoje looked almost certain to cover the already growing back row crisis. Tough decisions lie ahead for Jones as to the makeup of the back row and who will partner Joe Launchbury in the second row.

Munster didn’t need 15th man – they already had 16

It was always going to be one of the most emotionally charged days at Thomond Park that there had ever been, but the tribute that the players gave Anthony Foley with their performance on the field was more than matched by the fans in the stands.

The emotions did seem to get the better of Keith Earls though as his tip tackle mid-way through the first half left Munster with 14 men on the field for the rest of the match.

You would never have noticed though as the Thomond roar was back to its best and a full house witnessed a quite incredible display of rugby from Munster that encapsulated the way that Foley himself used to play.

Lions’ only realistic hope of stopping Kiwi steam train

Warren Gatland’s sleepless nights must have already started before Saturday’s New Zealand v Australia fixture but now his insomnia must be at full throttle after the All Blacks broke their own consecutive win streak with a 37-10 victory of Australia on Saturday.

There is no sign of the juggernaut slowing down either as they travel to Europe to play Italy, Ireland and France. Ireland may be able to catch them out as they nearly did a couple of years ago but in reality their next big test will be against the British and Irish Lions next summer.

The problem for the Lions is that New Zealand don’t even seem to have hit top gear yet and with players such as Sonny Bill Williams chomping at the bit to get back into contention, Gatland’s job may well become the toughest that the tourists have ever attempted to undertake.

Exeter literally drop points

There must be something in the water in Northern Ireland at the moment as Ulster just keep scraping out wins by minimal points. The victims this time were Exeter as Paddy Jackson won the battle of the drop goals with Gareth Steenson in the final throws of the match.

Steenson edged Exeter in front in the 77th minute with a drop goal only for Jackson to reply moments later to snatch it back. Steenson then unbelievably had one last shot at glory but watched it fly agonisingly wide leaving them with one point from two games – a massive double header with Bordeaux-Begles up next to try and get their Champions Cup campaign back on track.

Carter suffers nasty Burns

The Jekyll and Hyde Leicester Tigers continued their up and down season with an impressive victory over the reigning Top 14 champions, Racing 92 at Welford Road. The win came just a week after their five try hammering at the hands of Glasgow in the same competition and it was Freddie Burns that stole the show over his most decorated opposite number, Dan Carter.

There was one moment of brilliance from Carter as he dived over for a score of his own but the last 20 minutes belonged to Burns as the substitute grabbed 16 points including a match winning intercept try and a late penalty that denied Racing a losing bonus point in the process.

Russia revolution and the fall of Rome

As the Italian teams struggle to gain any sort of foothold in any competition that they play in, it looks like there may be a fairytale story coming out of Russian rugby.

Zebre and Treviso shipped 89 points between them at the weekend and yet again raised the alarm bells as to why one of them gets an automatic place in the Champions Cup every season.

In Russia however, Enisei-STM were claiming their second major scalp in as many weeks as they didn’t just beat, but hammered the Newport Gwent Dragons 38 points to 18.

Last week they shocked the Premiership with a win over Worcester and the thought of having a Russian team in the quarter-finals of a European Competition in the near future is quite refreshing.

How they travel away remains to be seen but maybe keep a watchful eye on their results in the next round of fixtures.

Andy Daniel
Follow Andy on Twitter (@scrum5ive)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images