Gregor Townsend was bitterly disappointed after the chance to begin his tenure as the Scotland coach with an unbeaten tour was denied by the vibrant running and tackling of Fiji. The Scots scored three tries to Fiji’s two but were ripped apart by the brilliant handling of Leone Nakarawa. Scotland’s discipline was poor, and five penalties from Ben Volavola secured a 27-22 win for the hosts.

Hopes were high of another Scotland win after Townsend’s side followed up their defeat of Italy with a stunning victory over Australia last Saturday, but they were unable to make it a clean sweep. “We did not play as well as we have done on tour but credit to Fiji, they played some outstanding rugby, particularly in the second half and were tough to handle,” Townsend said.

Rugby union: Wallabies hold on for tight win over Italy Read more

“For us to win Test matches we have to play really well, as we showed last week, but we missed too many tackles and Fiji came alive when they broke those tackles. Also we have to look after the ball in our attack; too many balls were lost in contact with the wet ball. I’m really disappointed.”

Scotland were without the fly-half Finn Russell and the prop Allan Dell, called up by the Lions last week, and Townsend made several changes. Six of the seven replacements from the win in Sydney started the match, with only the captain John Barclay, Jonny Gray and Duncan Taylor starting both matches. This was an opportunity for Scotland to demonstrate their strength in depth, but it ended in a painful defeat.

There was a degree of irony in the fact Fiji’s standout player was Nakarawa, who Townsend plucked from their sevens team while he was at Glasgow Warriors, and turned him into one of the world’s great locks. “There were a number of Fijians who played really well and Leone was an outstanding example of that,” Townsend said.

“He is probably the best second row in the world, certainly the best offloading second row. At times we defended him really well, but at other times he kept his energy and offloading ability and he created a fantastic try.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Garry Ringrose breaks away to score for Ireland in Tokyo. Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA

The Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, admitted he was relieved to see his side clinch a hard-fought 35-13 victory over Japan at the Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo. Tries from Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Kieran Marmion and Rhys Ruddock established a commanding 28-8 half-time lead, but the visitors wilted in the heat and humidity after the break. Ireland were kept scoreless for the majority of the second half, until the substitute flanker Sean Reidy added a late try.

All Blacks surprised Lions by forgoing ‘champagne rugby,’ says Gatland Read more

The win completes a clean sweep on Ireland’s summer tour following a 55-19 victory over the US Eagles in New Jersey and a 50-22 win against Japan last Saturday.

“Having spoken to the players, that was very tough going,” Schmidt said. “The Japanese defence came very quick off the line, very effective in the tackle and made the day very hard work. It was very hot out there, the players were fatiguing early in the game, so it was great to get a good start and hang on at the finish.”

Ireland were looking on course to bring up another half-century against Japan thanks to another powerful first-half display, but the hosts came roaring back into the contest after the break.

Led by inspirational captain Michael Leitch, Japan were much improved in the second half with Kotaro Matsushima scoring a well-worked try to add to wing Akihito Yamada’s earlier effort. “I think we got exactly what we expected, it was very tough, very physical,” Schmidt added. “Leitch was enormous. Even when it looked like John Cooney was going to get away [at the end of the game], Leitch got back to tackle him. He does not give up.”

Eben Etzebeth scored a try that epitomised the revival of South Africa following their disastrous 2016 as the Springboks made a clean-sweep of their three-match home series with France with a 35-12 victory at Ellis Park.

Etzebeth, captaining the side after the late withdrawal of No8 Warren Whiteley, completed an excellent set-piece move to go with scores from centre Jesse Kriel, hooker Malcolm Marx and scrum-half Rudy Paige.

All of France’s points came via the boot of the fly-half Jules Plisson, who kicked four penalties as they struggled against the physicality of the home side in an error-strewn performance.

The victory is a first for the Springboks over France in five Tests at Ellis Park and comes after they lost eight of their 12 Tests last year in what was the worst season in the country’s history.PA, Reuters