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25th November 2025
02:14pm GMT
The well-renowned sports stats platform, Opta, have released their team of the Autumn Nations Series, based off of their Opta Index, which uses a number of key factors to objectively score a players' performances in each game.
The breakdown of the team is as follows: 4 England, 3 South Africa, 2 New Zealand, 2 Australia, 1 Ireland, 1 Scotland, 1 Argentina, 1 France.
To nobody's surprise, Ireland's only inclusion is blindside Ryan Baird, who came of age as a world class international backrower over the past month.
His lineout steals were a particular highlight, but his carrying stats were even more impressive.
BBC Sport explained: "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.
"Like O'Mahony, Baird has been the key man for Ireland when defending line-outs, with his five steals being at least two more than any other player. He has been impressive in the loose too, recording the best gainline success rate of any forward with a minimum of 20 carries in November (85%)."
Other notable inclusions are Ulster-bound Aussie Angus Bell, and Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman, who gets in ahead of World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx.
Elsewhere, World Rugby released their Dream Team, with Tadhg Beirne Ireland's sole representative.
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