Prendergast to Pollock: winners and losers from rugby’s 72-hour TV blitz
Across a 72-hour stretch of televised rugby this weekend, Ireland and England emerged as clear winners while South Africa looked ominous, The Breakdown reported on 10 November 2026. The period featured a relentless schedule of international tests, club fixtures and secondary competitions broadcast across ITV, YouTube and specialist channels.
Friday night’s Ireland v Argentina fixture on ITV and England A’s meeting with Argentina on YouTube were early highlights, while Saturday saw South Africa 45-0 up against Italy by half-time. The weekend also included the haka at Murrayfield before Scotland v New Zealand, a Cornish Pirates v Richmond game on Clubber TV, Wales v Japan in Cardiff and an ITV evening shift from Lyon featuring France and Fiji, with Romain Ntamack wished a speedy recovery in coverage notes and Tom Staniforth’s mullet briefly attracting attention.
The international pecking order at fly-half was a central talking point ahead of Friday’s France v South Africa in Paris, with one suggestion that Maxime Lucu could wear 10 outside Antoine Dupont against the Boks and the wry proposal that France might still be short of options even with unconventional selections. The autumn list of Test-quality 10s was said to be unsettled with Matthieu Jalibert, Ntamack, Ruben Love, Richie Mo’unga and Jack Crowley all injured, and the 24-year-old Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu singled out as a player whose pace and eye for space could trouble defences.
Ireland drew praise for a composed display against a described sub-par Argentina, with Andy Farrell’s motivational alchemy said to be again doing its job and Sam Prendergast noted as looking more comfortable in the role of chief playmaker. England’s performance against Australia was highlighted by the absence of disciplinary sanctions and a defence described as impressive, and observers pointed to the domestic depth shown by England A.
That England depth prompted specific selection scenarios: with injury concerns over Seb Atkinson and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Steve Borthwick was suggested as able to put Max Ojomoh straight into midfield and pick Noah Caluori on the wing ahead of Will Joseph, Cadan Murley or Joe Marchant, or to continue with Henry Pollock out wide as a hybrid option. Even Japan’s head coach, Eddie Jones, was mentioned as likely to find such combinations difficult to counter.
On the losing side, Australia were characterised as listless and subdued, with their forthcoming match against Scotland in Edinburgh presented as suddenly pivotal for their season. Scotland failed to score a single second-half point against the All Blacks and head coach Gregor Townsend was reported to have hinted that no one is undroppable. Fiji and Italy remained without a victory or a bonus point between them, and the weekend’s average margin of victory across six Nations Championship matches was almost 30 points.
Coverage also touched on wider activity across the sport: the Rugby League World Cup, second-tier Nations Cup ties where Hong Kong came close to beating the United States, Vannes beating Bordeaux in the French Top 14, a sprinkling of Premiership Cup action and the ITV highlights show featuring Dan Biggar and Eddie Jones. There was, the column concluded, a substantial amount to process before France and South Africa meet in Paris this Friday.