New Zealand turn on style to overcome Ireland

New Zealand’s All Blacks earned their Chicago revenge on Saturday with a 26-13 victory at Soldier Field after a highly controversial Tadhg Beirne 20-minute red card. Beirne was dismissed for a third-minute high tackle on Beauden Barrett, for which he was shown yellow on the field of play but saw it surprisingly upgraded to red after a bunker review. Andy Farrell’s side initially responded superbly but a second half fightback turned the game on its head.

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Leading nations issue international ban on R360 players

Rugby’s leading nations have united to announce a blanket ban on playing international matches for recruits to the proposed breakaway R360 league. England, New Zealand, Ireland and France are among those who currently either favour or exclusively pick players from their domestic competitions. That meant signing up to the globe-trotting R360 itinerary was always set to put their players’ Test careers on hold.

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Australia outplay the Lions to avoid series whitewash

On a foul night of torrential rain and threats of lightning strikes in Sydney that forced play to be suspended for 40 minutes, the Wallabies shocked the British and Irish Lions and won a riotous victory in the third and final Test at Stadium Australia. The hosts, and underdogs, were dominant for much of a dramatic evening, outscoring the Lions by three tries to two. They led the Sydney slugfest 8-0 through a Dylan Pietsch try and a Tom Lynagh penalty at the end of an intense first half.

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Keenan the hero as Lions seal series with epic comeback

Hugo Keenan wrote himself into the history books of the Lions, the Ireland and Leinster full-back’s try with the final play of the game sealing the 29-26 win and the series, and completing an incredible 18-point comeback against Joe Schmidt’s Australia side.

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Lions dominate Australia to win opening test

The British and Irish Lions beat the Wallabies 27-19 in the opening Test at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Leading 24-5 early in the second half and looking like they might threaten to record one of the biggest victories in their history, the Lions fell away in the last half-hour. A Finn Russell penalty and tries for Sione Tuipulotu and Tom Curry put them ahead by 12 points at the break.

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