David Havili, scoring one of the All Blacks XV's five tries against the Barbarians at Brentford on 1 November 2025. Photo: www.photosport.nz
The All Blacks XV's northern tour is off to a winning start, but not perhaps in the manner most were expecting.
They've beaten the Barbarians in London this morning 33-19, but had to fight back after a horror start which saw them trail 19-0.
The Jamie Joseph coached team scored five tries in all, two to Caleb Tangitau and one each for Xavier Roe, Kyle Preston and David Havili.
Prior to that impressive comeback, the South African laden Barbarians had dominated, with forwards Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Evan Roos and Bongi Mbonambi, all of who have played test rugby for the Springboks, scoring tries.
The All Blacks XV have two more games to come on their northern tour. They play England A in Bath next weekend, and then Uruguay in France in a fortnight.
Elsewhere, England got their Autumn International campaign off to a convincing start with a dominant 25-7 victory over a toothless Australia at Twickenham to make it eight wins in a row.
England were on top for much of the first half but had only a Ben Earl try and a penalty to show for it and led only 10-7 at the break after Harry Potter scored a length of the field interception try.
England threw on five British and Irish Lions forwards early in the second half and one of them, flanker Henry Pollock, galloped over for their second try.
England halfback Alex Mitchell scores the team's third try during their test against at Twickenham on November 1 2025. Photo: GLYN KIRK
Scrumhalf Alex Mitchell scored a clever third in the 72nd minute, sniping from the back of maul, and an unstoppable 30-metre maul then enabled replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie to mark his 50th appearance with the fourth to give the scoreboard a more accurate reflection of England's control.
And South Africa's thumped Japan 61-7 in a clash at Wembley.
The Springboks scored nine tries, with first-five Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, winger Kurt-Lee Arendse scoring two tries each.
Captain Siya Kolisi, Wilco Louw, Andre Esterhuizen and Jesse Kriel also scored five pointers, while there was also a penalty try.
Outside back Yoshitaka Yazaki was Japan's only try scorer, in a match where the Brave Blossoms were totally outplayed by the two-time defending World Cup champions.
- Reuters, with additional reporting by RNZ
