Tue 15 Nov 2016 | 12:16
Best Tries from week two of the End of Year Tests

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Another great weekend of international Rugby means another round of amazing tries. There was plenty of action to go around from a full slate of both tier one and tier two matches, including Wales bouncing back against Argentina, England continuing their winning streak, and yet another New Zealand team getting beat by a team from Ireland.

Things got off to a cracking start for the Maori All Blacks against Munster after a moving tribute and haka in honor of the late Anthony Foley. Ambrose Curtis touched down for the score after a lengthy team effort, only to be outdone by two kick and chase tries from Munster that had Thomond Park erupting at another stunning Irish victory.

Melani Nanai made a name for himself with the Barbarians, showing some lovely feet in the midweek match against the Czech Republic as part of their 71-0 romp in Prague, and they were at it again against Fiji, winning 40-7 on Friday night.

French flair was finally, once again on full display, with Virimi Vakatawa scoring a hat-trick to help run all over Samoa, 52-8. It was a comprehensive effort that France have been seeking for a long time.

Ireland had no trouble with Canada, seeing them off 52-21, and showed some great running and offloading for Tiernan O'Halloran's try. Ireland will definitely be looking for a repeat of Chicago this coming Saturday, as they appear to be firing on all cylinders.

WEEK ONE: View the best tries from week one

England have yet to lose under Eddie Jones' tenure and their winning ways continued at Twickenham as tries from Jonny May and George Ford helped push past South Africa 37-21.

Australia broke Scottish hearts once again as Tevita Kuridrani's strong run and score delivered the knock-out blow. Scotland had been leading in the 74th minute, based in part on a magnificent Huw Jones try, but once again came up just short against the Wallabies, 22-23.

Wales are once again in the win column with a 24-20 victory in what was a penalty-strewn affair, but the try of the match belonged to Juan Martin Hernandez.

Last but not least, the All Blacks were looking to send a message after their loss to Ireland and they did not disappoint, running in 10 tries to dismantle Italy 68-10.

The top score had to be Steven Luatua's try that began from Aaron Cruden's cross-kick to Codie Taylor, who then showed brilliant skill to send Elliot Dixon racing to the try line before he offloaded for the score.

Perhaps most refreshing to see was the incredibly spirited performances of the tier two nations, most notably the thrilling ending to the Germany vs Uruguay test. Germany were awarded a penalty in extra time and Chris Hilsenbeck nailed the subsequent penalty for the 24-21 win. 

Which try from week two is your favorite?

Credit: The Tight Five Rugby Union/getty

10 Comments

  • vladimir
    11:58 AM 18/11/2016

    Yes, i had a laugh with some english viewers in a pub. Referee:'Finally, a high tackle from Samoa, at last a yellow card! Wait, a tackle on a french... um, let the game continue.'

  • felipeg
    2:21 PM 16/11/2016

    I m biased all the same, don't worry.
    I think I was too focused on the french attack to really notice the samoan "toughness" :-)
    Nothing really "soccer-like" from the french, but I was afraid that it would happen.

  • oliver
    12:46 PM 16/11/2016

    legal ground would reckless/dangerous clearout. Hooper was cited and suspended during the WC for a similar move.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsd6Y4-p7w

    As for the "theatre", I'm surprised by your comment honestly. I did not see any of that, what I saw was the bone-cruncking tackles the Islanders are famous for! Trin-Duc received more than his share....

    https://twitter.com/YIPIKAII/status/797487570456297472

    Then again, I can't claim to be unbiased when it comes to France's games.....

  • felipeg
    11:25 AM 16/11/2016

    The samoan are capable of worst :-)
    Not sure the your second link = yellow. What would be the "legal" ground for a yellow?

    And I hate to say that there was a bit of theatre by the french on some occasion. Not real faking as you can see in soccer, but, let s say, not trying to resist and falling a bit quickly. Which can be seen as clever VS Samoa but still, i dont like it.
    If I remember correctly, it was vakatawa who kicked and chase once, the samoan defender goes shoulder to shoulder and vakatawa clearly didnt try to resist, but jumped like he was pushed with full force. Maybe it's not that obvious. But I 'd rather have him try to resist and outrun the defender. Surely he was capable to stay on his feet had he wanted to.

  • andinov
    10:35 AM 16/11/2016

    Great to see clips from some of the smaller games

  • oliver
    8:21 AM 16/11/2016

    I too was (very) pleased with the French attacking rugby, and worried about the injuries. But I don't agree about the cause. The referee was way too lenient with the Samoan's high/late tackles and other things. There were bound to be serious injuries (except for Trin Duc, that was sheer bad luck, la scoumoune....).

    First tackle of the game: wrapped around the neck
    https://twitter.com/JusticierOvale/status/797481729271459841

    and how about this? how on earth did it not warrant a yellow card at least?
    https://twitter.com/philousports/status/797504255343128577

  • mise
    1:30 AM 16/11/2016

    Thanks for compiling so many different games from around the world. Great - and rare - to see.

  • felipeg
    10:32 PM 15/11/2016

    Can't say if its due to the lack of rest but its bad news for sure. Wasnt it the first time they had more rest, for once?

    Regarding the "vote" its hard to choose. The full running speed of the first australian try really impressed me a lot. Love the romanian kick. The flying japanese. And of course, the last one, from the ABs, is just perfect.

  • colombes
    5:00 PM 15/11/2016

    I was pretty pleased to watch some running rugby during France-Samoa.
    But apart the rugby quality, this match showed why the FFF and Top14 must give more rest time to the internationals. Poirot, Goujon and Trinh-Duc (arm broken) are out for the next november matchs.

  • felipeg
    3:58 PM 15/11/2016

    So good to see the french playing like that! They seem to be finally able to play together. At first when I watched the other games' highlights I thought "yeah well, samoa was really poor, the french victory isn't that impressive". Then I had another look at the FR-SAM highlights and... maybe Samoa wasnt playing at its best, but there is nothing to say about those french attack moves. Nothing to be ashamed of.
    Let's see how things will go VS Australia. Looking forward!