There was plenty of rugby to digest over the weekend, with both the club and international scene creating plenty of headlines. We round up the best talking points. From a data perspective, of course.
It was another action-packed weekend of rugby highlighted by the conclusion of The Rugby Championship and start of WXV. The big three European leagues also all saw another round packed full of quality, with the South African teams getting their first taste of action in the URC.
With so many storylines to digest, we picked out our favourite talking points with the help of Opta data.
Boks Backlash
South Africa made amends for their defeat against Argentina in the penultimate round of The Rugby Championship by comprehensively beating the Pumas on home soil to seal the title.
It was the first time the Springboks had lifted The Rugby Championship since 2019. In fact, it was the first time anyone other than New Zealand had won The Rugby Championship or Tri Nations in a non-Rugby World Cup year since South Africa claimed the title in 2009.
Since then, the three previous non-All Black titles had come in shortened editions of the championship (Australia in 2011 and 2015, South Africa in 2019), so this South African victory comes with no caveats or excuses from their Southern Hemisphere rivals.
WXV Kicks Off With a Bang
This weekend marked the start of the second edition of WXV, this year hosted in Canada. Ireland grabbed the headlines thanks to their shock win over reigning world champions New Zealand in Vancouver.
Given that Ireland have won two of their three meetings with New Zealand it means they’re now the only team to boast a win rate of 50% or better against the Black Ferns.
Erin King and Aoife Wafer both scored braces for Ireland and Dannah O’Brien’s nerveless conversion at the death sealed a remarkable result.
It’s hard to believe that Wafer is still only 21 years old, given the level of her performances since her debut for Ireland. No player made more carries than the Irish flanker in the opening round of WXV1 (17) as she beat five defenders, made three offloads and contributed in defence with 10 tackles.
Elsewhere England set about defending their WXV1 title by earning a convincing win over the USA, meaning they’ve won 48 of their last 49 matches, the exception being the Rugby World Cup final in 2022.
After beating Australia the week before in a friendly, Wales were dealt a sharp dose of reality and revenge as they were beaten 37-5 by the Wallaroos in WXV2. Meanwhile there were wins for Scotland and South Africa and hosts Canada notched up an impressive 46-24 victory over France.
Down But Not Out
The United Rugby Championship has seen plenty of comebacks already this season, with a quarter of games being won this season by the side who trailed at half-time.
However, few have been as impressive as Connacht’s comeback against the Sharks in Galway on Saturday night, having won despite trailing by 20 points at the break. Connacht had started brightly too, after the opening quarter they led 7-0 before a disastrous closing 20 minutes of the half saw the Sharks scored 27 unanswered points.
However, Connacht rallied in the final 40 minutes, scoring four tries and limiting the Sharks to just a consolation penalty goal with the final kick of the game to record a win that will live long in the memory.
In the last 10 years of the URC there has only been one other instance of a team winning a match after trailing by 20+ points at half-time. On that occasion it was Connacht who were on the wrong end as they lost against Scarlets, back in March 2021, after leading by 21 points at the break.
Wade Makes His Mark
Christian Wade, who featured in our Transfer XV ahead of the season, reminded Premiership fans he’s not lost his magic after his foray into NFL and a spell in the TOP 14.
Having left Wasps after scoring 82 tries in eight years it seemed like he’d missed his chance to chase down the all-time Premiership scoring record, a target which Chris Ashton extended to 101 tries in Wade’s absence.
However, thanks to a hat-trick in a high-scoring affair against Bristol Bears, Wade has shown he’s still very much capable of ending his career as the league’s all-time top try scorer. It’s very unlikely he can reach that tally this season, but there’s no reason to believe he can’t wrestle the record off Ashton if he can stay fit for another couple of campaigns.
Sweet Revenge
After an embarrassing defeat in the TOP 14 final last season, Bordeaux regained some dignity after defeating Toulouse in their first clash since that hammering.
That victory means that the TOP 14 champions have lost their next game against the team they defeated in the final in each of the last three campaigns, something that had happened just once in the previous 10 campaigns; that came back in 2014 when Castres beat Toulon after having lost to the same opponents in the final a few months earlier.
Of course, in the long run it will mean little if Bordeaux crumble in the play-offs, but for now they hold the bragging rights.
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