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It was a bumper weekend of rugby, with six tests taking place over two days, the British and Irish Lions’ latest tour match, and a clash between the Maori All Blacks and Scotland.
It was a bumper weekend of rugby, with six tests taking place over two days, the British and Irish Lions’ latest tour match, and a clash between the Maori All Blacks and Scotland.
New Zealand squeezed past France 31-27, South Africa laboured to defeat Italy 42-24, Ireland beat 34-5, Japan heaped more misery on Wales with a 24-19 victory, and England ended the day’s tests by running out 35-12 victors over Argentina.
The Lions beat New South Wales Waratahs 21-10, and Scotland edged the Maori 29-26.
Australia rounded off the action by scoring a late Harry Wilson try to defeat Fiji 21-18.
It means those involved had plenty to say, so here’s the best from the post-match chat.
Andy Farrell, Lions Head Coach:
“We need to be better than that. When the ball is slow because of the pressure at the breakdown you can’t keep shovelling ball out wide and expecting to get on the front foot.”
Nolann Le Garrec - France scrumhalf :
“We were always there, and they never fell two scores behind. So yes, little by little, they must have been telling themselves that we were going to be there until the end. Now we know we're close. We'll try to fine-tune all these little points with a view to next week.”
Jason Ryan – New Zealand forwards coach (speaking on Sunday)
“There is an old saying, 'sometimes you have got to win in the mud’. Even though there was no mud out there, we just found a way. There was grit. There was a lot of blood in the shed. There were some guys with cut eyes, and they were sore this morning.”
George Ford – England flyhalf
“We're going to have to back this up next week - we know Argentina will come back at us, so this is another challenge but one we look forward to.”
Joe Schmidt – Australia Head Coach
“Some of it was frustration and some of it was relief to find ourselves in that situation (at halftime) after we built a nice lead early in the game. It was certainly a relief when Harry got over and dotted it down.”
Gonzalo Quesada – Italy Head Coach
“We must certainly expect their level to rise next week. I know they are not satisfied with this match. They will want to play better in the second match. However, we too can improve with an extra week of work.”
Rassie Erasmus – South Africa Head Coach
“You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break, but it’s a team that’s fit and passionate. We have to make sure next week’s team isn’t one that just goes 50 or 60 minutes – it must go 80.”
Paul O’Connell – Ireland coach
“A lot of players away with the Lions and we’ve got a load of guys who are just dying for an opportunity, and you wonder how they will take that opportunity, particularly as some of them hadn’t played games in a little while, so I’m very happy with how they went about their business.”
Eddie Jones – Japan Head Coach
“The state of rugby at the moment is that if you are not continually rebuilding and you allow your team to go the nth degree which has happened to Wales and Japan…then the next rebuilding period is tough.”