Takeaways: Springboks torch Irish hoodoo and England wins 11 straight

By Canadian Press on November 24, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — South Africa left Dublin with a crushing victory over bogey Ireland and England extended its winning streak to 11 tests after surviving Argentina 27-23 in autumn rugby at the weekend.

The South Africans reaffirmed their undisputed top dog status with a 24-13 result after a chaotic match marked by seven yellow cards, with one upgraded and one rescinded.

France outlasted Australia 48-33, New Zealand’s fringe players gave Wales a 52-26 drubbing, Scotland beat overcooked Tonga 56-0 and Italy defeated Chile 34-19 in their first matchup.

Here’s the AP’s takeaways.

Winning streak

After 11 straight wins it’s easy to wonder whether England can equal its tier one world record streak of 18 set from 2015-17. The Six Nations is next and title-contending England has three away games including Scotland in round two and Antoine Dupont’s France in the final round. In any case, England has become devilishly tough to beat. In its last match of the year, leading Argentina 27-23, the Twickenham clock five minutes in the red, and defending a Pumas lineout up against its try-line, England got lucky. Franco Molina couldn’t control the throw-in and Ben Earl cleaned up the loose ball to secure England’s first autumn sweep since 2017. It’s a measure of England’s growth that it would have blown this game a year ago when defeat from the jaws of victory was a habit. Thanks to a brilliant performance by inside center Max Ojomoh in his second ever test, England always led the Pumas. But they just did enough. Credit England also for managing the emotional comedown in the past week from the rare and precious win over New Zealand. That was another difficult skill England has acquired on its learning curve. “It could have been very easy to go downhill,” England’s Ellis Genge told broadcaster TNT Sports. “How clear we are on what we want to do and how we want to play and what we put on the pitch, you can see that from the sideline. It’s been amazing.”

Ireland can’t stand the heat

Alarm bells are ringing in Ireland from the manner in which its discipline easily collapsed in the desperation to relieve South Africa pressure. The Irish bossed the Springboks in four of their five previous matchups but they lost the plot and couldn’t disagree with being issued one red card and four yellows. Two stood out: The dangerous clearout by James Ryan, a Lion with 76 Irish caps, wiped out a 5-5 try by Tadhg Beirne and his 20-minute red should have been permanent; and Andrew Porter, a Lion with 79 Irish caps, whose yellow was for repeated scrum infringements. The Springboks forced scrums to fatigue and burden Ireland. “Having that many scrums wasn’t pleasing on the neck,” Boks hooker Malcolm Marx said, “but … we had to grind it out to get the rewards from it.” Ireland is in obvious decline and Dublin is no longer a fortress. The Irish lost meekly to New Zealand 23-13 a year ago, were crushed by France 42-27 in the Six Nations, and the Springboks finally won there for the first time since 2012. Ireland was reduced on Saturday to praising itself for losing by only 11 points. “We showed some very good character,” captain Caelan Doris said, “but we’re here to show more than that.”

Mighty Marx

World player of the year Malcolm Marx is a two-time World Cup winner though both tournaments aren’t high points. He lost his starting spot after the 2019 opener. He also started the 2023 opener then injured his right knee in training and went home. He was inspired to return and the 10-season veteran became South Africa’s first-choice hooker again this year. While newcomers Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Johan Grobelaar have emerged, 31-year-old Marx has played more minutes than expected, an average of 62 in 11 of 13 tests. He hasn’t always excelled; there’s been misfiring lineouts, unnecessary penalties, a penalty try conceded. But he’s remained abrasive, carried with venom, pestered breakdowns and guided mauls. The longer the year went the better he got. His best match was the Rugby Championship title clincher against Argentina at Twickenham. His maul try put South Africa in front and his pick-and-go try gave them a key two-score lead. “None of this is achieved without the team environment that we have,” Marx said after the Ireland win. “We are a tight group.”

Schmidt appreciation

It’s easy to put the boot into the Wallabies following their first winless tour of Europe since 1958. They were unlocked by England’s high kicks, discipline cost them in Italy, Ireland pickpocketed their lineouts, and a combination of all let France slip away. Joe Schmidt believed his battered Wallabies were exhausted by the end of their 15-test season, their longest since 2016. Schmidt’s selections came in for criticism but there were 120 million reasons to be positive with where the Wallabies were at. That’s the reported windfall in Australian dollars from the British and Irish Lions tour, with no little credit to Schmidt. In his first four months in 2024 he transformed the view of the Wallabies from a World Cup laughingstock and a team British critics said was undeserving of a Lions tour into a worthy Lions rival. Ultimately, the Wallabies were just edged 2-1 and Rugby Australia was out of serious debt. The Wallabies then came back from 22-0 down to beat South Africa at Ellis Park for the first time since 1963. But since that high they have lost James Slipper, Nic White, Will Skelton and Tom Wright to retirement or injuries. Schmidt has handed out 22 new caps in his two years and they are learning in the deep end. “They’ll improve from the tour,” he said. “They’ll improve when they’ve had the chance to digest it and recharge.”

Tier two tours

Fiji, after giving scares to England and France, almost gave Spain its biggest win at sold-out Malaga. Spain led 15-14 at halftime and 33-31 until minutes to go before Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula engineered 10 points and a 41-33 win. Japan will join Wales after all in Band 2 of the 2027 World Cup draw next week in Sydney. Japan rebounded from the last-second 24-23 loss to Wales by beating Georgia 25-23 on a last-gasp penalty by Seungsin Lee. Japan replaced the Lelos in the top 12 rankings. Uruguay equaled its highest-ever ranking of 14th after beating Romania 31-21. The Oaks had two tries disallowed. Portugal lost to Uruguay this month but finished its autumn series with wins over Hong Kong (58-12) and Canada (33-27). Canada also lost to Romania and Georgia on tour and finished the year with one win in nine tests.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Foster Niumata, The Associated Press