Autumn Nations Cup

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Autumn Nations Cup
Date13 November 2020 – 6 December 2020
Countries England
 Fiji
 France
 Georgia
 Ireland
 Italy
 Scotland
 Wales
Final positions
Champions England
Runner-up France
Third place Ireland
Fourth place Scotland
Tournament statistics
Matches played13
Tries scored53 (4.08 per match)
Top scorer(s)England Owen Farrell (46)
Most triesEngland Jamie George
Fiji Nemani Nadolo (3)
Player of the tournamentFrance Brice Dulin[1]

The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight teams participated – the teams involved in the Six Nations Championship (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales) plus Georgia and Fiji – divided into two groups of four. Japan were originally going to take part but withdrew due to travel restrictions, resulting in them being replaced by Georgia and moving Fiji to Group B.[2]

Each team played the others in its group once to determine the final group standings; the teams in first place in each group then played each other, as did the teams in second, third, and fourth, to determine the overall standings. The tournament opened with a match between Ireland and Wales at the Aviva Stadium on 13 November 2020, and the final matches were hosted by the teams from Group A on the weekend of 5/6 December 2020 (Georgia's "home" match was played at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland).[3] Wales' home matches were played at Parc y Scarlets due to the Millennium Stadium being decommissioned as a COVID-19 hospital. Fiji were forced to concede all of their group games due to a COVID-19 outbreak in their team camp, but they were able to face Georgia in the 7th/8th-place playoff.[4]

England won the tournament after wins over Ireland, Wales, Georgia, and France.[5]

Overview

Participants

World Rugby rankings denoted in (parentheses) as per start of the tournament

Nation Head coach Captain
 England (3) Australia Eddie Jones Owen Farrell
 Fiji (11) New Zealand Vern Cotter Semi Radradra
 France (4) France Fabien Galthié Charles Ollivon
 Georgia (12) Georgia (country) Levan Maisashvili Merab Sharikadze
 Ireland (5) England Andy Farrell Johnny Sexton
 Italy (14) South Africa Franco Smith Luca Bigi
 Scotland (7) Scotland Gregor Townsend Stuart Hogg
 Wales (8) New Zealand Wayne Pivac Alun Wyn Jones

Venues

Stadium Capacity Location
England Twickenham Stadium 82,000 London
France Stade de France 80,698 Saint-Denis
France Stade de la Rabine[a] 9,500 Vannes
Ireland Aviva Stadium 51,700 Dublin
Scotland Murrayfield Stadium 67,144 Edinburgh
Italy Stadio Artemio Franchi 43,147 Florence
Italy Stadio del Conero[a] 23,967 Ancona
Wales Parc y Scarlets 14,870 Llanelli

Fixtures

Group A

Position Nation Games Points Tries Bonus points Table points
Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA Tries Loser
1  England 3 3 0 0 82 20 +62 10 2 1 0 13
2  Ireland 3 2 0 1 62 37 +25 5 3 0 0 8
3  Wales 3 1 0 2 40 56 –16 3 4 0 0 4
4  Georgia 3 0 0 3 10 81 –71 1 10 0 0 0

Round 1

13 November 2020
19:00
UTC+0)
Ireland 32–9 Wales
Try: Roux 23' c
Lowe 80+1' c
Con: Sexton (1/1) 24'
Murray (1/1) 80+2'
Pen: Sexton (2/2) 10', 28'
Burns (2/2) 36', 54'
Murray (2/2) 67', 72'
ReportPen: Halfpenny (3/5) 17', 31', 50'
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 0
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Notes:


14 November 2020
15:00
UTC+0)
(1 BP) England 40–0 Georgia
Try: Willis 15' c
George (3) 30' c, 34' m, 58' c
Daly 38' c
Robson 69' c
Con: Farrell (5/6) 17', 31', 39', 59', 70'
Report
Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance: 0
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Notes:

Round 2

21 November 2020
15:00
UTC+0)
England 18–7 Ireland
Try: May (2) 17' m, 21' c
Con: Farrell (1/2) 22'
Pen: Farrell (2/2) 46', 52'
ReportTry: Stockdale 74' c
Con: Burns (1/1) 75'
Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance: 0
Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)

21 November 2020
17:15
UTC+0)
Wales 18–0 Georgia
Try: Rees-Zammit 26' c
Webb 76' m
Con: Sheedy (1/2) 27'
Pen: Sheedy (2/3) 10', 52'
Report
Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Attendance: 0
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

Notes:

Round 3

28 November 2020
16:00
UTC+0)
Wales 13–24 England
Try: J. Williams 10' c
Con: Halfpenny (1/1) 12'
Pen: Biggar (2/2) 56', 59'
ReportTry: Slade 15' m
M. Vunipola 51' c
Con: Farrell (1/2) 52'
Pen: Farrell (4/6) 31', 40', 67', 73'
Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Attendance: 0
Referee: Romain Poite (France)

29 November 2020
14:00
UTC+0)
Ireland 23–10 Georgia
Try: Burns 9' c
Keenan 34' c
Con: Burns (2/2) 10', 35'
Pen: Burns (2/2) 14', 23'
Byrne (1/1) 59'
ReportTry: Kveseladze 17' c
Con: Abzhandadze (1/1) 18'
Pen: Abzhandadze (1/1) 48'
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 0
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Notes:

Group B

Position Nation Games Points Tries Bonus points Table points
Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA Tries Loser
1  France 3 3 0 0 86 20 +66 10 1 2 0 14
2  Scotland 3 2 0 1 71 39 +32 8 2 2 1 11
3  Italy 3 1 0 2 50 64 –14 6 9 1 0 5
4  Fiji 3 0 0 3 0 84 –84 0 12 0 0 0

Round 1

14 November 2020
13:45
UTC+01)
Italy 17–28 Scotland (1 BP)
Try: Minozzi 26' m
Pen: Garbisi (4/4) 7', 18', 43', 61'
ReportTry: Van der Merwe 24' c
Z. Fagerson 49 'c
Cummings 67' c
Turner 77' c
Con: Weir (4/4) 25', 50', 68', 78'
Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence
Attendance: 0
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

Notes:


15 November 2020
16:15
UTC+01)
(1 BP) France 28–0[10]
(Cancelled)[11]
 Fiji
Stade de la Rabine, Vannes
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

Round 2

21 November 2020
13:45
UTC+01)
(1 BP) Italy 28–0
(Cancelled)[12]
 Fiji
Stadio del Conero, Ancona
Referee: Romain Poite (France)

22 November 2020
15:15
UTC+0)
(1 BP) Scotland 15–22 France
Pen: Weir (5/5) 17', 21', 28', 38', 47'ReportTry: Vakatawa 42' c
Con: Ramos (1/1) 43'
Pen: Ramos (4/5) 4', 10', 30', 61'
Drop: Jalibert (1/1) 24'
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Attendance: 0
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Notes:

  • Scotland lost at home to France for the first time since 2014.[13]

Round 3

28 November 2020
13:45
UTC+0)
(1 BP) Scotland 28–0
(Cancelled)[14]
 Fiji
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

28 November 2020
21:10
UTC+01)
(1 BP) France 36–5 Italy
Try: Danty 36' c
Villière 55' c
Serin 61' c
Thomas 63' m
Macalou 80' c
Con: Jalibert (3/4) 37', 55', 62'
Carbonel (1/1) 80'
Pen: Jalibert (1/1) 3'
ReportTry: Canna 26' m
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 0
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Notes:

Finals

7th/8th place play-off

5 December 2020
12:00
Kunavula 54' c
Con: Volavola (4/6) 8', 19', 56', 64'
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Attendance: 0
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)

Notes:

5th/6th place play-off

5 December 2020
16:45
UTC+0)
Wales 38–18 Italy
Try: Hardy 7' c
Parry 17' c
G. Davies 58' c
North 69' c
Tipuric 76' c
Con: Sheedy (5/5) 8', 18', 59', 70', 77'
Pen: Sheedy (1/1) 46'
ReportTry: Zanon 33' c
Meyer 49' m
Con: Garbisi (1/2) 35'
Pen: Garbisi (2/2) 29', 39'
Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Attendance: 0
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Notes:

  • Monty Ioane (Italy) made his international debut.
  • Johnny Williams (Wales) was named to start at inside centre, but picked up an injury ahead of kick-off and Jonathan Davies replaced him in the starting XV.

3rd/4th place play-off

5 December 2020
14:15
UTC+0)
Ireland 31–16 Scotland
Try: Earls (2) 38' m, 50' c
Healy 44' c
Con: Sexton (2/3) 44', 51'
Pen: Sexton (2/3) 23', 32'
Byrne (2/2) 66', 76'
ReportTry: Van der Merwe 56' c
Con: Van der Walt (1/1) 57'
Pen: Van der Walt (3/4) 13', 20', 27'
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 0
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

Notes:

Final

6 December 2020
14:00
UTC+0)
England 22–19 (a.e.t.) France
Try: Cowan-Dickie 80' c
Con: Farrell (1/1) 80'
Pen: Farrell (4/8) 8', 48', 73', 96'
Daly (1/1) 19'
ReportTry: Dulin 15' c
Con: Jalibert (1/1) 16'
Pen: Jalibert (2/2) 28', 36'
Carbonel (2/2) 70', 76'
Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance: 2,000[b]
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Notes:

Final standings

Position Nation
1st  England
2nd  France
3rd  Ireland
4th  Scotland
5th  Wales
6th  Italy
7th  Fiji
8th  Georgia

Player statistics

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Originally scheduled to host cancelled match against Fiji
  2. local restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic
    .

References

  1. ^ "France's Brice Dulin voted Player of the Tournament". Autumn Nations Cup. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. ^ English, Tom (28 August 2020). "Georgia lined up to replace Japan in eight-team Autumn tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  3. ^ Jones, Chris (10 September 2020). "Autumn Nations Cup: Ireland v Wales to kick-off eight-team tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Fiji Covid-19 crisis forces cancellation of Scotland Autumn Nations Cup clash". The Guardian. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  5. ^ Henson, Mike (6 December 2020). "Autumn Nations Cup: England beat France in sudden death". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Ireland pile pressure on Pivac as Wales slip to sixth straight defeat". The 42. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. ^ Grey, Becky (14 November 2020). "England 40-0 Georgia: Jamie George scores hat-trick in six-try victory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  8. ^ Grey, Beck (13 November 2020). "England v Georgia: Jonny May on 'exciting' challenge of becoming best team ever". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  9. ^ Doyle, Owen (24 November 2020). "Owen Doyle: Ireland suffered from officiating of the breakdown". Irish Times. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  10. ^ "France awarded 28-0 score for cancelled match against Fiji". Autumn Nations Cup. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Autumn Nations Cup: France v Fiji – Cancelled". Autumn Nations Cup. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. ^ "Italy v Fiji Match cancellation". Autumn Nations Cup. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  13. ^ English, Tom. "Autumn Nations Cup: Scotland 15-22 France". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Scotland v Fiji - Cancelled". Autumn Nations Cup. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Nigel Owens: Welshman on becoming the first to referee 100 Tests". BBC Sport. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.

External links