This past month was the final chance for the best teams in international rugby to make forward strides before the year comes to a close. 

And in the last test matches before the international calendar changes wildly in 2026, we learned a lot about the state of world rugby. 

Here’s a look at who made moves — for the right and wrong reasons — as the test calendar wrapped up for 2025: 

Winner: England 

A first win over New Zealand in six years, a first flawless four-test autumn campaign in nine years made for a very, very good month for English rugby. 

England has won 11 games in a row dating back to the Six Nations in February — even with a chunk of the squad out in the summer with the British & Irish Lions — and with the benefit of playing all of its end-of-year internationals this time around at Twickenham, Steve Borthwick’s men closed out 2025 with flying colors. 

England rose to third in the World Rugby Rankings by rolling through Australia, Fiji, the All Blacks and Argentina in order, with several Lions returnees and new stars emerging throughout the month as England’s brilliant form continues. 

Usual names like Ben Earl, Maro Itoje and Sam Underhill were spectacular, but perhaps the player who saw his stock rise the highest this autumn was Bath center Max Ojomoh, who in his second cap in an England shirt after debuting in the summer against the United States, scored a try and put up a man-of-the-match performance in England’s pulsating victory against Argentina as the replacement for the injured Fraser Dingwall.   

Loser: Australia 

From beating South Africa in the summer to now, something has gone wildly wrong with the Wallabies. 

Less than two years out from holding the Rugby World Cup on home soil, Australia reached two infamous benchmarks following last weekend’s defeat to France – failing to win on a European tour for the first time in 67 years and losing 10 matches in a calendar year for the first time. 

And while coach Joe Schmidt already is confirmed to be leaving after July’s fixtures in the inaugural Nations Championship, there’s a long way to go for the Wallabies if they want to be competing among the rugby elite once again. 

Australia’s only win of the autumn was a shaky 19-15 victory in October over Japan in Tokyo, and then the wheels fell off from there; England battered Australia at Twickenham on Nov. 1, Italy erupted Nov. 8 for a second-half comeback in Udine to take back-to-back matches against the Wallabies for the first time, then Ireland beat Australia by its largest margin in history (46-19) a week later in Dublin. 

France then dumped another 40-plus points on the Wallabies in Paris to close out Australia’s miserable month, leaving the two-time world champions searching for answers going into 2026. 

Winner: Tom Rogers 

Though Wales hasn’t had a lot to celebrate after being battered by Argentina and New Zealand and only picking up a narrow win against Japan — with a date against world champion South Africa still looming at the weekend — Tom Rogers at least now has a claim to fame in terms of doing something against the All Blacks that hadn’t been done in 21 years. 

The longtime Scarlets wing became the first player since the Springboks’ Marius Joubert in the 2004 Tri Nations to score a hat trick against New Zealand, scoring in the ninth, 33rd and 43rd minutes in a historic performance that ended up being for nothing, as Wales lost to the All Blacks in Cardiff, 52-26. 

He became the first European player in history to pull off the feat, and it was a major bounce-back outing from the 26-year-old after he was dropped from the Wales squad a week earlier against Japan, being brought back into Steve Tandy’s XV following a Josh Adams red card in that match. 

Rogers will attempt to keep his good form going this weekend against the Springboks, something that will be much easier said than done against the far-and-away No. 1-ranked side in the world.

Loser: Gregor Townsend 

It’s less about this autumn’s record (2-2) that has Scotland’s boss in hot water to close out the year. It’s more about how those two defeats transpired. 

Not even Scotland’s dominant shutout victories over the United States (85-0) and Tonga (56-0) were enough to silence the recurring questions about whether Townsend, who has been Scotland’s coach since May 2017, is the right man for the job heading into 2026, and inconsistent performances in Scotland’s defeats against New Zealand and Argentina were big reasons why. 

Scotland’s troubles against the All Blacks have been well-documented, as the Scots have never beaten New Zealand in 33 tries.

In their Nov. 8 clash, after falling behind 17-0 at halftime only to fire back at tie it at 17 — before substitute Damian McKenzie crushed hearts with a late try — there’s the lingering wonder if Scotland let one of its best opportunities for a historic victory slip. 

And then there was the humiliating collapse against Argentina the next weekend, undoubtedly Scotland’s defining match of the autumn for all the wrong reasons. 

Up 21-0 with less than 25 minutes left, Scotland looked to be rolling to a comfortable win over Los Pumas, before completely botching it. Argentina erupted for five tries in the final 30 minutes, ending in Argentina’s first win in Scotland since 2009 and the hosts being booed off of their own pitch. 

The past month has been a microcosm of Townsend’s tenure in charge — promise at times, but with a glaring lack of performance when it counts. 

Winner: Belgium 

Though it failed to qualify for what could’ve been a historic first Rugby World Cup, Diables Noirs made major noise in the recently completed Final Qualification Tournament, pushing eventual winner (and final Australia 2027 qualifier) Samoa to the brink and stamping its claim as a force to be reckoned with among the world’s developmental sides. 

Taking fifth place at the Rugby Europe Championship earlier in the year to qualify for the tournament, Belgium spent months preparing for its opportunity to shine in Dubai and made the wait count.

It started with a bang by defeating Rugby World Cup regular Namibia and holding the Welwitschias try-less for 78 minutes along the way, then got a bonus-point victory against Brazil in the next match to set up a winner-take-all, de facto final with heavy favorite Samoa. 

The bad news for Belgium, however, was that there was no winner in the 13-13 draw, giving Samoa the edge and the bid to Australia thanks to its two bonus-point wins earlier in the tournament. Still, it was an immensely impressive performance from a team with largely amateur players, and though Belgium’s dreams came up just short, a statement has been made.

Loser: Namibia 

An expanded field did not help Namibia qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and for the first time since 1995, the Welwitschias will not be playing on the biggest stage in international rugby in what no doubt will be the biggest omission among teams going to Australia.

The trouble started for Namibia during the Rugby Africa Cup in July, when it was upset by Zimbabwe in the final in its first attempt to secure a 2027 Rugby World Cup bid, with Zimbabwe in turn qualifying for its first edition of the tournament since 1991. 

Namibia was given a lifeline by way of the playoff/Final Qualification Tournament path, and while it took care of business against the United Arab Emirates to get to the FQT, Namibia’s hopes were all but dashed when Belgium pulled off a stunning win during the opening day of play earlier this month in Dubai. 

A subsequent 26-8 loss to Samoa then officially eliminated Namibia from Rugby World Cup contention — and officially cemented the end of the era of Namibia being undoubtedly the second-strongest side in Africa. 

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