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After last week’s underwhelming win over Japan, Andy Farrell told his Ireland squad to “get over themselves” and start playing some proper rugby.

They listened.

Ireland faded late in the dispiriting loss to the All Blacks in Chicago and took 60 minutes to get going against Japan.

Against Australia, however, they flew out of the blocks, with Mack Hansen shining brightest in a 46-19 win that was Ireland’s best performance of the year.

In his first international start at full-back, Hansen scored a hat-trick of tries, contested brilliantly for high balls and was generally exceptional against the country of his birth.

“Look, I’ve had a pretty bang average run with injuries really,” Hansen told TNT Sports.

“I missed being in this team, I know there’s a lot of chat about me not necessarily being born here and I didn’t grow up here, but I love this team and this feels like home.

“Any time I get to play for Ireland it’s a privilege, if you don’t put in a performance you might not get that privilege again.

After 28 caps on the wing, Hansen was entrusted at full-back for the first time with Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne both injured.

For him, it was a case of picking up where he left off in the summer. The 28-year-old was in great form on the British and Irish Lions tour before injury wrecked his dream of making the Test team.

And having returned for Connacht last month, he picked up a foot problem that ruled him out of the All Blacks and Japan games.

After revealing his team on Thursday, Farrell said Hansen had “the bit between his teeth” and they were clearly not empty words as the former Brumbies player gave his head coach an intriguing selection headache in the near future.

“Well my first thoughts were, ‘You better play well in those two different coloured boots!’,” said Farrell, referring to Hansen’s decision to wear one black and one white boot.

“I actually thought that was how it should have been but apparently Mack just did that himself anyway. So he’s drawn attention to himself before he’s even started.

“I said to him before the game, ‘Good players don’t need excuses, they can get on with it and just be themselves, you can get the man of the match if you want,’ and he went, ‘Yeah, I agree.’

Hansen’s efforts also earned praise from Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt, who said he was the “standout Australian player” on the night.

“I thought he was super, his experience showed to the fore,” Schmidt, who coached Ireland from 2013 to 2019, said.

“Unfortunately, Mack was probably the standout Australian player on the field. He’s got a great skillset and he’s such a good competitor.”

Pressed on what makes Hansen a strong fit at full-back, Farrell added: “Popping up in the middle of the field is something that he does from the wing anyway, but I suppose he’s more in position for that more often.

“His high ball stuff was brilliant, wasn’t it? I thought we didn’t get bored of doing the right thing and that was putting the ball back on them to get the field position.

Outside of Hansen, there were myriad positives for Farrell. Sam Prendergast was excellent on his return to the 10 jersey, the scrum and line-out functioned smoothly and Paddy McCarthy did not look out of place in his first start in the front row.

But perhaps most pleasing for Farrell was Ireland bookending the game with two impressive spells.

Hansen’s first two tries came in the opening 11 minutes while Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw scored in the closing exchanges after Billy Pollard had crossed for the Wallabies to ensure the Irish finished on a high.

“I thought we really let ourselves go and attacked the game straight from the word go,” said Farrell.

“How we handled lots of bits throughout the game, especially them coming back just before half-time and regathering ourselves and giving a performance like we did in the second half, I thought as far as field position and being across most of our game in that second half was really pleasing.”

The might of South Africa are next up for Ireland, in what could be considered an unofficial decider to last year’s drawn two-Test series on Springbok soil.

Conor Benn got his revenge against Chris Eubank Jr with a unanimous decision victory in their rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Seven months on from a thrilling first fight which recreated the rivalry between their fathers at their maiden fight 35 years ago, Benn dominated throughout the 12 rounds.

Benn took control from the first round and dominated against Eubank in a fight completely different from the back-and-forth classic in April.

But what happens next for Eubank and Benn following two major fights against each other in 2025?

What does Benn’s future hold? Is Eubank about to retire? Will they meet for a third time?

Following his victory, Benn reiterated his intention to drop down to welterweight and take on the division’s world champions.

Before the rematch he called out Rolando Romero, Mario Barrios and Brian Norman Jr, who are the holders of the WBA, WBC and WBO welterweight titles respectively.

“I fancy Barrios for the WBC world title. Ryan Garcia, Romero, Devin Haney – all of them can get it,” Benn said.

Garcia has not fought since losing to Romero in May, while Haney will face Norman next Saturday for the WBO title in Riyadh.

In August Benn called out UFC fighter Ilia Topuria for a bare-knuckle fight.

Despite floating the idea of a potential retirement this week, Eubank said before the fight that he will not be putting his gloves up after the rematch.

Eubank remains among the highest-ranked fighters in the middleweight division and has intentions of a world title fight.

In the build-up to the rematch, Eubank’s promoter Ben Shalom said the aim was to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez next.

But Shalom stressed that those hopes rested on a Eubank victory.

At present, there are no plans for a trilogy fight between Eubank and Benn. The contract was for two fights.

Given Eubank’s ambitions at a higher weight division and Benn’s long-term intentions to win titles two weight classes below middleweight, this could be a natural conclusion to their rivalry.

Benn said after his victory that the rematch would be the end.

“This is the end of the Benn-Eubank saga. Over. Chris has twins coming and I have my boy, but this ends here,” he said.

Asked about a potential trilogy fight, Eubank said: “Who knows? It’s 1-1.

Minutes after the final whistle sounded in Piraeus, a roar went up from the Tartan Army packed into a corner of Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis. Undiluted euphoria. Proper jubilation.

The celebration of Ben Gannon-Doak scoring to make it 3-1 and Ryan Christie scoring to make it 3-2 were loud and lusty, but this was somehow different. Joy laced with relief and disbelief.

A gift from Copenhagen. Full-time, Denmark 2 Belarus 2. Scotland died a thrilling death in Greece but Belarus’ impossible draw resuscitated Scottish hopes of automatic qualification for the World Cup.

A win against Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday night and it’s done. An opportunity that looked like it had been trampled underfoot when the dismal visitors in Piraeus fell three goals down, was reborn thanks to Belarus, the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes of the night.

In the birthplace of Western drama, a classic night unfolded from around the hour-mark, in Greece and in Copenhagen, a tragicomedy and a mystery and a farce.

This wasn’t the ancient amphitheatre of Herodium down the road, but it was a sporting spectacle all the same, twisting and turning, bewildering and perplexing.

Before it all started to get trippy, Scotland were losing 3-0 and Denmark were winning 1-0, a series of results that made Scottish hopes of automatic qualification a dead duck. Hampden would not have its howitzer showdown. The play-offs beckoned. Oh well. Luck had run out. It was bound to in the end. And then. And then.

What madness was this coming down the line from the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Belarus, with a world ranking of 103, had scored a 62nd minute equaliser against Denmark with a world ranking of 20. Denmark, the top of the table thrusters, being held by Belarus, the bottom of the table whipping boys?

And now, three minutes later, a goal for Ben Gannon-Doak to make it 3-1, a just reward for all of Scotland’s pressure towards the end of the first half that saw Scott McTominay’s shot from distance come slapping back off Greece’s crossbar, that also saw Che Adams miss from close-range just before Gannon-Doak did likewise.

Noise and hope for the visiting fans. A draw in Denmark meant that Scotland could still qualify automatically with a win against the Danes at Hampden on Tuesday. Direct entry to the World Cup was back on. Cancel the sob stories. A dream was alive despite Greece lording it.

But hold up, what lunacy is this? Within seconds of Gannon-Doak’s goal, Denmark 1 Belarus 2. And five minutes after that, Greece 3 Scotland 2, Ryan Christie heading home. Goals flying around like snuff at a wake. The Tartan Army in delirium. Scotland driving at Greece’s heart in a bid to sicken them again after sickening them at Hampden earlier in the group.

In that moment the Greeks might have looked at Scotland as something from a Hollywood B movie, an evil creature in a lagoon, riddled with bullets, stake through the heart, as dead as dead can be only for a hand to come shooting out of the water to signify life and menace.

McTominay came within a Odysseas Vlachodimos wonder save from making it 3-2. Then, a red card from Tasos Bakasetas, the Greece captain. Then, more Scotland pressure. Then, a Denmark leveller. Then, a wait.

Some of the Scotland players hung about on the pitch to hear the final score from Copenhagen, A Denmark winner was the doomsday, the mood killer for Tuesday night when the sides come together.

Seconds went by and then confirmation. A draw, “Winner takes all at Hampden,” gushed Andy Robertson. Rarely in football has one man sounded so happy after losing a game of football that everyone thought they could not afford to lose.

Beforehand, we wondered if the luck that Scotland enjoyed in their two previous games in the group would hold and for the longest time it looked like Lady Luck had left the building, storming out in an almighty strop.

Greece were outrageously dominant and led 1-0. Only Craig Gordon’s excellence kept the score down, but time looked to be running out for Scotland. One became two and two became three – and it was a shambles. Defensively, Scotland were shocking. Grant Hanley and John Souttar looked like nervous kittens, spooked by the vision and accuracy and brilliance of Christos Tzolis and the coruscating teenager Konstantinos Karetsas.

Scotland conceded six shots on target in the opening 45 minutes, their highest total in a first half in more than nine years. They ceded space and time to Greece, who had it easy. Ahead of Tuesday night, Scotland’s limp beginning isn’t so much food for thought for Clarke, it’s a veritable feast, a banquet of things to fix, in tactics, in formation, in selection, in psychology.

Belarus broke Scotland out of jail. Just when you thought they had drained the well of good fortune they got the biggest and most unpredictable dollop of luck imaginable.

He called it a strange game and posited the theory that the 2-1 win against Belarus last month, when Scotland were booed off, was a better three points than people imagined. Freakishly, he might be right on that.

He didn’t hide from the fact that Scotland were blessed by the miracle of Belarus. How could he? But he also said something that has a deep relevance to the endgame in this group. “We have to believe in ourselves more,” he pointed out, before elaborating on Scotland’s dominance late on, the chances they created, the power and aggression they showed, the quality they put on the pitch that was invisible for too long.

“For the last 15-20 minutes we put a very good side on the back foot, we put them to the sword,” he said.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has told his players to avoid any needless red cards that could mean a World Cup ban.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card in Portugal’s defeat by the Republic of Ireland on Thursday means he will miss the start of their World Cup campaign if they qualify automatically.

England finish their qualifying campaign against Albania on Sunday.

England secured qualification to next year’s tournament with two games to spare and face an Albania side who have guaranteed a place in the play-offs regardless of Sunday’s result.

England have a 100% record with seven wins from seven in qualifying and, when asked if he would rather risk losing the game than getting a player sent off, Tuchel said: “It is an extreme example.

“If he goes in the last man example and if we can avoid it, no red card of course.

“I don’t want to make the subject too big speaking about it because then you have a cloud above you.

Along with Spain, England have won all of their games in qualifying without conceding and if the two sides win their final matches of the campaign and keep a clean sheet they will become the first European nations to play at least six qualifiers and win them all without conceding.

The Three Lions have scored 20 goals without reply but Tuchel said he has not spoken to his players about the record they could set and his only focus is to continue building towards the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

“I didn’t speak a single word about that,” Tuchel said when asked if he was using the possible achievement as motivation going into England’s final qualifier.

“We need to get the foundation right to have a chance to have these records.

“Just by thinking about it or by talking about it, nothing will change.

“We need to deliver again. The feeling and the trust is absolutely there because I witnessed this in camp. I trust my players to perform again.”

The match against Albania is the last that England will play this year and will mean there is only one more international break before Tuchel names his squad for the World Cup.

And he wants his side to deliver a performance that shows the developments made since he officially took charge in January.

“In general I just hope and I feel the hunger for us to win, and to achieve something is bigger than the fear of losing and the fear of maybe losing a record of clean sheets,” Tuchel said.

“These things just happen. We are well aware that we put a lot of effort in to defend as a team and it’s only possible to have so many clean sheets because we defend properly as a team, which is the case, but you also need a bit of luck in certain moments.

“We should not focus too much on what we have to lose. We should be more excited about the next possibility to show our quality and to have another exciting and intense match.”

Captain Harry Kane said remaining unbeaten without conceding provides extra motivation for players.

“The last game in an England shirt for the year is always important to win for momentum,” he said.

“We also know we have qualified and Albania are into the play-offs, but we still have not conceded and I think that is a great motivation.

“Not conceding any goals through the campaign would be special motivation.