July internationals Team of the Week: Ireland dominate after superb series win over the All Blacks

Ireland lead the way with five players in our XV after their victory over New Zealand, while South Africa are next best with three representatives.

: Easily the best player under the high ball in the world and showed why as the Red Rose edged to a series victory over Australia. Whether receiving kicks or chasing after them, the Leicester Tigers full-back continually won the aerial battle and got England on the front foot. He also displayed some nice touches in attack – with one particular effort seeing him dextrously off-loading for Tommy Freeman to sprint clear – and scored the team’s first try. Ireland’s Hugo Keenan was the next best.

Him and Ardie Savea are the shining lights in a pretty mediocre All Blacks team at the moment. The playmakers have hardly created space for their wide threats over the past month but Jordan did, to his credit, find a way to impact the game in Wellington. His line, pace and finish for New Zealand’s third try on Saturday was utterly majestic and saw him take the position from Australia flyer Tom Wright.

A true defensive linchpin for Andy Farrell’s men who switches between 12 and 13 effortlessly. With Garry Ringrose out of this clash, Henshaw was forced to move to outside centre but it did not hamper his performance at all. The 29-year-old is such an intelligent player as he consistently shut down All Blacks attacks and also got on the end of a sweeping Irish move at the end of the first half. Argentina’s Matias Orlando and Scotland’s Mark Bennett played well but could not displace the Irishman.

There was an excellent display by Matias Moroni in Los Pumas’ victory over Scotland but Aki takes it after standing out in his first Test start of the tour. Aki, who was born and raised in New