Nations Championship round 4: France regains northern lead

France and South Africa lead their tables

France regained the northern lead with 17 points from 4 matches. South Africa leads New Zealand on points difference in the south; both teams have won all 4 matches with bonus points. Scotland is fourth in the north with 2 wins and 2 defeats.

South Africa scored 9 tries in Turin. New Zealand led Scotland 24–21 at halftime at Murrayfield and outscored it 19–0 in the second half, scoring 7 tries to Scotland’s 3 overall. In Cardiff, Wales earned a bonus point for its 4 tries and held off Japan in the closing moments.

Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan scored a hat-trick against Argentina. Mateo Carreras opened the scoring, but two Keenan tries and one by captain Dan Sheehan put Ireland 21–5 ahead at halftime. Sam Prendergast scored his first international try within two minutes of the restart, securing the bonus point. Ireland provisionally topped the northern table before the other weekend matches. Tomas Albornoz’s kick to the corner set up Carreras’ opener; Craig Casey then won a turnover penalty that gave Ireland an attacking line-out. Rob Baloucoune broke through midfield and passed to Mack Hansen, who supplied Keenan’s first try; Nick Timoney put Sheehan through from a line-out move. Ryan Baird stole a line-out before Hansen supplied Keenan’s second and later offloaded for his third. Carreras scored again after a Santiago Chocobares run, while Ronan Kelleher scored Ireland’s final try from a maul. The BBC scorecard lists five Prendergast conversions and one by Ciaran Frawley; its two Carreras tries and one Albornoz conversion total 12 points, although a later RugbyPass report gave Argentina 21.

Argentina captain Julian Montoya failed a head injury assessment before halftime; replacement Leonel Oviedo was also withdrawn for assessment, forcing Boris Wenger to fill in at hooker. Justo Piccardo and Efraín Elias were sin-binned, the latter for a high hit on Keenan before Kelleher’s try. Ireland lost Sheehan to a head knock, and replacement Sam Illo was yellow-carded on the hour for driving early at a maul. Andy Farrell coached Ireland and Felipe Contepomi coached Argentina. Ireland’s third win in four championship matches followed July wins over Australia 33–31 and Japan 36–20 and a 40–21 loss to New Zealand. Argentina’s July results were a 47–38 loss to Scotland, a 35–21 win over Wales and a 31–24 loss to England. Ireland preserved its perfect home record against Argentina in 12 meetings; Argentina’s 2025 Aviva Stadium win was over Farrell’s British and Irish Lions, not Ireland. Before round four, France led the north with 12 points, Scotland had 11 and England and Ireland had 10 each.

South Africa, the defending world champion, maintained its perfect Nations Championship winning record by beating Italy and led 45–0 at halftime. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored its opening try and added 21 kicking points without a miss; Malcolm Marx scored two of its six first-half tries. RugbyPass reported that South Africa had a maximum 20 points after four rounds and, before New Zealand played Scotland, an 89-point advantage over it on points difference. New Zealand also reached 20 points with its fourth bonus-point win.

Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman scored all three of his tries before halftime, becoming the first Scot to score a Test hat-trick against New Zealand; RugbyPass reported he was only the fifth player to do so. His second and third came while Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi respectively were in the sin bin, the third following a line-out maul. Beauden Barrett scored twice, once in each half, and equaled Richie McCaw for the second-most Test appearances in All Blacks history, RugbyPass reported. Restored to 15 players, New Zealand pressured Scotland inside its 22, forcing errors and penalties. Josh Moorby and Barrett scored either side of Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu’s 51st-minute sin-binning for repeated team infringements; Asafo Aumua scored New Zealand’s final try from a line-out in the 68th minute. Scotland remains winless in 34 Tests against New Zealand since 1905, with 32 defeats and two draws.

Wales led Japan 21–14 at halftime through tries by Archie Griffin, Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit; Ben Gunter and Warner Dearns scored Japan’s first-half tries. Adams scored twice, his second securing the try bonus point, and later won a turnover penalty as Wales held on. Replacement Kenta Fukuda’s converted try five minutes from time brought Japan within seven points and earned it a losing bonus point. Wales lost possession on six of its own line-out throws. It remained fifth in the northern table after its second win in four matches, while Japan remained fifth in the south.

What comes next

Each team plays all 6 teams from the opposite hemisphere, with the results producing separate northern and southern rankings. At the finals event in Twickenham, teams with matching rankings will play each other; the table leaders will meet for the inaugural title on 29 November.

France hosts South Africa on 13 November. England plays Japan on 14 November, when Ireland hosts Fiji and Italy hosts Argentina. Australia next visits Scotland at Murrayfield, while Wales hosts New Zealand. Ireland then hosts South Africa and France hosts Argentina on 21 November; Wales finishes its regular campaign against Australia, and Japan also visits Scotland.