Rugby takeaways: Ford fantastic for England and Carreras inspires Pumas comeback

LONDON (AP) — England earned a rare win over New Zealand and Argentina staged an incredible comeback from 21-0 down to beat Scotland 33-24 in autumn rugby at the weekend.

George Ford drove England to the 33-19 victory a year after being blamed for a loss to the All Blacks.

South Africa survived another red card in beating Italy 32-14, France overcame a scare from Fiji, Ireland thrashed Australia by a record 46-19 and Wales was let off by Japan for a first home win in more than two years.

Here's the AP's takeaways.

George Ford says England coach Steve Borthwick doesn't usually bring up drop goals much in pre-match plans. But before the All Blacks game Borthwick did. He told Ford to bring all the tools in his bag. Ford's two drop goals in the last two minutes of the first half were momentum-changing. Instead of going into halftime 12-5 down, England trailed only 12-11. For New Zealand, instead of feeling satisfied with a one-score lead, doubts were sowed because England was hanging on. Ford did the same thing to Argentina in the 2023 World Cup with three consecutive drop goals for a 12-3 halftime lead. Scoreboard pressure was big, Ford told the For the Love of Rugby podcast. When the All Blacks shot out to 12-0 England was anxious but Ford said team leaders Maro Itoje and Jamie George calmed them down and urged them to stick to their plan. They got a try from Ollie Lawrence. Ford missed the conversion. Ford said the All Blacks were exhausting England on attack and defense so, to save his teammates' legs, he took the pot shots knowing halftime was close and their strong bench was coming. Ford, often under-rated, was also at flyhalf in England's previous win over New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semifinals. For now, he's holding off Lions Fin Smith and Marcus Smith and trusted to wisely use 11 years and 104 caps of test experience. It doesn't always work. He was crucified a year ago for missing a late penalty and drop goal in a two-point home loss to the All Blacks. “Drop goals are funny things because you go for one and you miss and it's deemed negative, ‘England don’t know what they're doing, run out of ideas,'" Ford said. "But if you kick it, it's like, ‘This is brilliant.’ And if you miss the first one and go for a second one it's even worse. But if you kick the first one and the second one everyone's on your feed. It's bizarre. Either way it's the right thing to do.”

George Ford's performance was in vivid contrast to New Zealand counterpart Beauden Barrett's. Barrett was sharp early on and had a hand in both tries. But he faded like his team, not helping with missed touch-finders and tackles. He was replaced by Damian McKenzie in the 55th minute. Barrett has extended the history of great All Blacks flyhalves in the World Cup era including Grant Fox, Andrew Mehrtens, Dan Carter, and Richie Mo'unga. But two years out from the 2027 tournament in Australia the All Blacks can't be sure who their chief playmaker will be. That 34-year-old Barrett, the most capped back in test history, isn't already grooming an heir is an indictment on the New Zealand selectors including coach Scott Robertson. Robertson made McKenzie his 10 last year but eventually returned to Barrett, who is contracted through 2027. Barrett is still good but past his best and inconsistent like the All Blacks overall. He starred in the 2010s, winning a World Cup and two world's best player awards. But the mileage is showing. There's an unhealthy belief that all will be fixed when 31-year-old Mo'unga returns from Japan in mid-2026. That doesn't make him available to New Zealand for another year, after the All Blacks play four increasingly daunting tests against a South Africa brimming with three world-class 10s (Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Libbok, Pollard) under the tutelage of former All Blacks 10 Tony Brown.

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi reluctantly put Santiago Carreras on the bench for the Scotland game to manage his workload, give fullback Juan Cruz Mallía his 50th cap and keep blooding rookie flyhalf Geronimo Prisciantelli. But Mallía's goalkicking was awful and Prisciantelli drove the Pumas into a 21-0 hole. Carreras was substituted in along with props Thomas Gallo and Francisco Coria Marchetti, scrumhalf Agustín Moyano and the great Pablo Matera. They reestablished a platform and Carreras was able to do Carreras things with 34 minutes left. Two line breaks, two offloads, eight carries, four out of five conversions (12 out of 13 on tour) triggered the greatest comeback win in Pumas history. “When Santi came on,” Contepomi said, “the team got that shifting momentum and he took it really well.”

The confidence the Springboks are banking from their ability to win with 14 men keeps reaping profits. Three times this year they have been red-carded and in all three games they have finished on top. Convincingly so. In July, Jasper Wiese was sent off for headbutting against Italy in Gqeberha and the Springboks played 58 minutes short a man and won 45-0. A week ago, Lood de Jager was sent off for a dangerous high tackle against South Africa in Paris and 42 minutes later the Springboks were 32-17 winners. On Saturday, Franco Mostert was marched for a dangerous high tackle against Italy in Turin and 68 minutes later the Boks triumphed 32-14. All three forwards are World Cup champions. Wiese and de Jager were suspended for four matches each. The same tour-ending fate probably awaits Mostert. Like de Jager, Mostert's head contact forfeited mitigation from leading with his shoulder and not using his arms. Because they'd rested 11 players from the France win and Italy was close to full strength, Boks coach Rassie Erasmus called the win in Turin tougher than Paris. Erasmus said they were willing to rectify what they were doing wrong but lamented that they can't teach their two-meter-tall players to tackle any lower. The Springboks will be OK. Their second row stocks are impressive. For the remaining tour games against Ireland and Wales they still have RG Snyman, Ruan Nortje, Jean Kleyn and Eben Etzebeth.

Going by how the Wallabies are faring on a rapidly forgettable tour of Europe, there's a silver lining at their next stop: France has no Australian-heritage players. The closest is 145-kilogram lock Emmanuel Meafou, who was born in New Zealand to Samoan parents and raised in Australia, where he first played union and league until he left at 20. The Wallabies have suffered unusually at the hands of opponents with Australian bloodlines on this tour. It started with Eddie Jones' Japan, against which Australia barely held on 19-15 in driving rain. Japan had four players born or raised in Queensland; try-scoring flanker Ben Gunter, center Dylan Riley, lock Jack Cornelsen and replacement outside back Sam Greene. England beat Australia 25-7 without any Aussie help but Italy won 26-19 with late tries by wingers Louis Lynagh, the son of Wallabies great Michael Lynagh, and Melbourne-born Monty Ioane, the cousin of current Wallabies tourist Pete Samu. On Saturday in Dublin it was the turn of Canberra-born winger Mack Hansen, who scored three tries in the first 30 minutes of a record 46-19 win for Ireland. “Unfortunately,” Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said, “Mack was probably the standout Australian player on the field.”

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Ireland's Mack Hansen, top right, jumps for the ball during the rugby union Nations Series match between Ireland and Australia in Dublin, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

South Africa's Franco Mostert leaves the pitch after getting a red card during the rugby union Nations Series match between Italy and South Africa, in Turin, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Argentina's Santiago Carreras, left, and Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe challenge of a high ball during the rugby union Nations Series match between Scotland and Argentina in Edinburgh, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)

England George Ford, left, with teammates celebrates after Fraser Dingwall scored a try during the rugby union Nations Series match between England and New Zealand in London, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police forcibly entered the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem early Monday, escalating a campaign against an organization that has been banned from operating on Israeli territory.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said in a statement that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli forces, including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts, entered the compound in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.

“The unauthorized and forceful entry by Israeli security forces is an unacceptable violation of UNRWA’s privileges and immunities as a U.N. agency,” the statement read.

Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer show police erecting an Israeli flag on top of the compound, and police cars on the street. Photos provided by UNRWA staff show a group of Israeli police officers inside the compound.

Police said in a statement they entered for a “debt-collection procedure” initiated by Jerusalem's municipal government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The raid was the latest in Israel's campaign against the agency, which provides aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The agency was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of the Israeli state. UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee issue by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled outside its borders.

For more than a year since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA was the main lifeline for Gaza's population that largely relied on aid following the humanitarian crisis unleashed by heavy Israeli bombardment and blockades on the entry of goods.

Restrictions on goods have since eased after a US-brokered ceasefire was reached on Oct. 10.

Throughout the war, Israel has accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, allegations the U.N. has denied. After months of mounting attacks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, Israel formally banned it from operating on its territory in January.

The U.S., formerly the largest donor to UNRWA, halted funding to the agency in early 2024.

UNRWA has since struggled to continue its work in Gaza, with other U.N. agencies, including the World Food Program and UNICEF, stepping in to help compensate for a gap UNRWA says is unfillable.

“If you squeeze UNRWA out, what other agency can fill that void?” Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, told the AP in Doha.

Alrifai said UNRWA has been excluded from the talks.

The agency shut down its Jerusalem compound in May after far-right protesters, including at least one member of Israeli Parliament, overran its gate in the presence of the police. Israel’s far-right has pushed to turn the compound into a settlement.

Netanyahu met with the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Mike Walz and other officials on Monday in a visit the Trump administration said was aimed at pushing forward the 20-point plan for Gaza, suggested in September by President Donald Trump, that includes the current ceasefire and its following stages.

In a statement, the U.S. mission to the U.N. said it would “discuss shared priorities for regional security and humanitarian aid."

With most of the hostage bodies returned to Israel by Palestinian militants, Arab and Western officials have said they expect an international governing body in the Gaza Strip to be announced in the coming weeks.

At the same time, Hamas has said it's ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons as part of its ceasefire with Israel, offering a possible formula to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the U.S.-brokered agreement.

Netanyahu and Trump are expected to meet in the coming weeks.

The developments are significant steps toward peace in a region that has been devastated by two years of war that has killed at least 70,360 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that nearly half the dead have been women and children. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas government and its numbers are considered reliable by the U.N. and other international bodies. The Health Ministry also says over 370 Palestinians have been killed in continued Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect.

The war started when Hamas-led militants attacked Southern Israel, leaving around 1,200 people dead and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military shot and killed one man Sunday night in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Officials said he was throwing rocks at soldiers with two other people, one of whom was arrested. while Palestinian health officials said they shot and wounded the other man. The military said no soldiers were injured.

Palestinian authorities identified the man killed as a 19-year-old man from the northern city of Qalqilya.

Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.

Hamas militants and Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) head to Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City to search for the remains of deceased hostages, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

FILE - People carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)

FILE - Palestinians grab sacks of flour from a moving truck carrying World Food Programme aid as it drives through Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Israeli police and officials hang an Israeli flag on the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem, after Israel police forcibly entered the compound, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

FILE - Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)