Autumn Internationals: Opta’s team of the series

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.

We go through each selection and back up their inclusion with some key statistics.