Byron McGuigan bagged a brace of tries to lead Scotland to a record 53-24 victory over Australia at BT Murrayfield while England swept aside Samoa at Twickenham.
Ireland got the better of Argentina but it wasn’t to be for Wales, unable to make history after New Zealand prevailed with a second-half flourish.
And Italy were unable to shock South Africa for the second time in a row as they were bested 35-6 on home soil on the third weekend of autumn international action.
SUPER SCOTLAND LET LOOSE
Scotland were rocked by the late withdrawal of star full-back Stuart Hogg, who limped off during the warm-up and was replaced in the starting line-up by McGuigan, who moved to the wing as Sean Maitland deputised for the injured 25-year-old.
The Scots started with plenty of intent and soon carved out an early 10-0 lead courtesy of a Finn Russell penalty and a superb turn score from McGuigan, who marked his first Scotland start in ideal fashion, dotting down after dribbling the ball forward with his foot.
Australia awoke from their slumber to devastating effect though, with Tevita Kuridrani charging over twice, his second try coming after a superb hack forward and offload from Bernard Foley, to turn the contest on its head.
But the pendulum swung back the other way as, after the Wallabies’ Sekope Kepu was red-carded for charging into Hamish Watson with his shoulder, the hosts went on the offensive from the resultant penalty, with Ali Price darting over the line to make it 17-12.
Kurtley Beale caught Scotland napping as he restored parity early in the second period but from there, Gregor Townsend’s troops kicked into overdrive, with Maitland, Jonny Gray, Huw Jones and McGuigan, for the second time, all scoring to humble a shell-shocked Australia.
Lopeti Timani hit back with a consolation try for the Wallabies but John Barclay and Stuart McInally, from a driving maul, put the cherry on the cake for Townsend’s men.
ENGLAND DISPLAY FEARSOME SQUAD STRENGTH
Eddie Jones chose to shuffle his pack as England took on Samoa at Twickenham and several new faces in the starting XV grasped their opportunity with both hands.
The Red Rose ran out 48-14 winners, with Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski, Charlie Ewels, Elliot Daly, Henry Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni all getting on the scoresheet.
Brown marked his return from injury in style as he scored with just two minutes on the clock.
Maro Itoje – on his first start of the autumn period – saw a gap from the base of a ruck and darted through it, putting the ball on a plate for the Harlequins full-back.
And it was 12-0 soon after when Daly pounced on a loose ball, and Jamie George was on his shoulder to gather and send recalled inside centre Lozowski over.
George was excellent throughout and put in a real shift on his first-ever start for the Red Rose in 20 appearances.
The hooker carried 11 times for 34 metres, although that was eclipsed by the immense No.8 Sam Simmonds, who made 95 metres from 17 carries and beat a whopping six defenders along the way.
Charlie Ewels was another who made the most of his opportunity to impress, burrowing over before the break to cap off an encouraging showing and give Eddie Jones yet another selection dilemma.
Slade scythed through Samoa’s tiring defences in the second half to make the result certain, sandwiched in-between two scores from winger Daly – the second of which was a stunning effort as he cut inside and beat several players on his way to the try-line.
Exeter’s Slade looked more at home in the No.13 shirt as the game wore on and there was still time for him to burst through and find Rokoduguni who rounded off the comfortable win, and a third triumph of the Autumn for Jones’ NatWest 6 Nations champions.
SOUTH AFRICA HAVE TOO MUCH FOR THE AZZURRI
A year on from their dramatic 20-18 victory over the Springboks in Florence, there was to be no repeat of Italy’s heroics at the Stadio Euganeo in Padua.
The Azzurri were beaten 35-6 as South Africa ran in five tries while fly-half Carlo Canna kicked the only Italian points in their final match before facing England in the Natwest 6 Nations next February.
Canna kicked the Azzurri into a 11th-minute lead before Francois Louw had the Springboks in front with the opening try, which was converted by Handre Pollard.
The Italian fly-half reduced the deficit to a point on 20 minutes but tries from Mbongeni Mbonami and Francois Venter had the tourists 21-6 up at the break.
Steven Kitshoff added a further try four minutes into the second half but the Italian defence held firm for the majority of the second period, withe Franco Mostert concluded the scoring.
WALES FALL SHORT IN EXCITING NEW ZEALAND CLASH
Not for 64 years had Wales beaten New Zealand, but an early flourish at the Principality Stadium suggested history could be repeated as Leigh Halfpenny kicked them into the lead.
But the visitors showed their clinical edge as two chances resulted in two tries, both excellent finishes from wing Waisake Naholo, punishing Wales with his fifth try in four head-to-heads.
Yet Warren Gatland’s charges – unlucky not to lead at the break – can produce stunning rugby of their own, demonstrated when Scott Williams finished off a wonderful team move to make the first-half deficit just one.
This Test match was nothing short of brilliant at times but the All Blacks continued their strong form, Rieko Ioane joining his fellow wing with a double while Anton Lienert-Brown also touched down with excellent running rugby.
Gareth Davies prompted the biggest cheer of the night, going blind from the back of the scrum to threaten a comeback, but in truth New Zealand proved just too strong in the 33-18 win, leaving Wales with a missed opportunity.
STOCKDALE ROCKS ARGENTINA AS IRELAND PREVAIL
Jacob Stockdale crossed for two tries as Ireland finished off an impressive autumn campaign with a hard-fought 28-19 win over Argentina.
This was the first time the two sides had met since the Pumas dumped Ireland out of the 2015 Rugby World Cup at the quarter-final stage.
But Joe Schmidt’s men led 13-0 at the interval as Stockdale – who now has four tries in four caps for his country – dotted down his first.
After the break the Ulsterman made it a double while CJ Stander also got on the scoresheet as Ireland’s forward pack turned the screw both in the tight and the loose.
But the Pumas – who beat Italy last week for their first victory of the year – refused to buckle and fought back gamely in the final quarter.
They crossed for three tries in all through Joaquin Tuculet, Juan Manuel Leguizamon and Ramiro Moyano but Daniel Hourcade’s side have now failed to win in eight attempts on Irish soil.
FRANCE HELD BY CHERRY BLOSSOMS
Guy Noves rang the changes in search of France’s first win of the autumn campaign, and his new-look backline almost delivered the goods as Japan clung on in Paris.
Baptiste Serin and Francois Trinh-Duc formed an all-new half-back pairing, and after an early penalty by Trinh-Duc, Serin led a charge towards the Cherry Blossoms’ line only for debutant Sekou Macalou to knock on.
Shota Horie’s try put Japan into the lead, but Trinh-Duc answered again from the tee and on the stroke of half-time Rabah Slimani finally put the hosts ahead for the first time in the game.
Lock Sebastien Vahaamahina was impressive in Les Blues’ engine room, while No.8 Louis Picamoles was typically hyper-effective all over the field, but again Japan went ahead just two minutes into the second half – Timothy Lafaele dotting down.
Trinh-Duc was at the heart of the action once more in the 49th minute, putting Gabriel Lacroix through to score a try on his France debut with a beautiful pass to retake the lead.
The France No.10 took his points tally to ten with the conversion, and Trinh-Duc was not finished there as he struck another penalty with 12 minutes remaining.
However, Yu Tamura’s penalty and then a try for Asaeli Ai Valu levelled the scores once more at 23-23, and that was how it stayed at the U Arena.
