Three Boks, four Englishmen – who makes Opta’s team of the autumn?

The autumn internationals always have great drama and storylines but, with the Rugby World Cup draw following hot on the heels of this year’s fixtures, there was an added layer of intrigue in 2025 as the best of the northern and southern hemispheres collided.

Reigning world champions South Africa solidified their number one status with a 100% record so far, albeit with a trip to Cardiff still to come, although few would bet against them rounding out their year with another victory.

Meanwhile, England enjoyed the most profitable autumn of the Six Nations sides, winning all four of their matches to extend their winning run to 11 and rise to third in the world rankings.

They were almost pipped to the post in their final outing by a resurgent Argentina however, who came close to spoiling the party and ending their European tour with a perfect record.

For the rest of the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides, the autumn was a mixed bag, ‘could do better’ being the key note on the report cards for the majority, particularly Australia – who went winless on their European tour for the first time in 67 years.

That hasn’t stopped the Rugby Championship sides taking the bragging rights though, winning eight of their 14 matches against Six Nations teams so far this month.

Throughout those games there were some incredible individual performances and, using the unique Opta Index – which objectively scores each player’s performances in each game, we can identify which players really shone this autumn, making their way into our XV as a result.

Perhaps not at his brilliant best this autumn, he was still our top performing full-back in November. He bagged tries against Scotland and England, taking his tally to 45 for New Zealand and within four of Doug Howlett’s All Blacks record.

The Exeter winger has showed no signs of being impacted by the shoulder injury which ruled him out of much of last season.

Of the 57 players to carry more than 20 times this month, Feyi-Waboso recorded the best gainline success rate (86%) and the highest average gain per carry (11.2m).

Perhaps the long-term successor to Gael Fickou for the France number 13 jersey, Depoortere scored four tries this month – only Scotland’s Ewan Ashman dotted down more often with five.

The two-time Rugby World Cup winner is still one of the most physical centres around.

Some players are great at making dominant carries, some are efficient at getting over the gainline and some have the ability to tie in multiple defenders at a time – few do all three quite like the Springbok number 12.

Of players to feature for more than 80 minutes this autumn, Carreras was the only one to average 100 or more metres gained per 80 minutes.

In fact, his average of 103 metres gained was a full 20 metres ahead of the next best player – Scotland’s Kyle Rowe on 83m.

Earmarked as a star for several years now, the Stormers fly-half has scored the most points this autumn and could build on his tally of 40 against Wales this weekend.

That total includes four tries – only Scotland’s Ashman has scored more in November.

Reinach is one of the best scrum-halves at sniping around the fringes of the ruck and he’s made more pick-and-go carries than any other player this month (12), gaining the most metres from such carries (43).

His kicking has been on point too – of the 13 scrum-halves to attempt more than 10 box kicks, Reinach had the highest rate of contested kicks (57%).

Ashman narrowly edged out this year’s World Rugby Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, for the number two jersey in our XV, thanks in part to his try-scoring exploits.

Ashman crossed for five tries in total, more than any other player this month.

After dismantling the Irish pack in Dublin at the weekend, you might be wondering where the Springboks props are, but Joe Heyes has quietly put in a great shift this autumn, including at the scrum.

While he may not be the most destructive scrummager in the world he is incredibly solid – he had 23 scrum involvements this autumn, in both attack and defence, and didn’t concede a single penalty.

No other prop was involved in as many scrums without conceding at least one.

The England skipper is as important as ever to Steve Borthwick’s side and has showcased his tireless work-rate once again this month.

The Saracens second row has made the most tackles of any player in November (61) and has done so with great accuracy, missing just one for a tackle success rate of 98%.

The newly crowned World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year looks set to have a bright future in black and has slotted seamlessly into the New Zealand pack since his debut in July.

So much so that he is one of their key men at the line-out, claiming seven line-outs per 80 minutes for New Zealand this month – no player has won more on their own team’s throw – while only Ryan Baird (1.3) has stolen more line-outs per 80 minutes this month than Holland (0.7).

Ryan Baird was one of Ireland’s most impressive performers this autumn and it looks like Andy Farrell has found his long-term successor to Peter O’Mahony for the Irish number six jersey, although a lower leg fracture suffered against the Springboks will give someone else the chance to stake their claim during next year’s Six Nations.

Regardless of how bad things are going for Australian rugby, they can always be relied on to produce a world-class number seven with a penchant for a pilfer.

This autumn Fraser McReight has been putting up numbers that David Pocock and Michael Hooper would be proud of.

Impactful on both sides of the ball, Earl has made the most carries of any player in November, both in terms of total (60) and on a per 80 minute average (15), while he proved to be a good link man in attack – with no forward bettering his three line break assists.