They breed ‘em tough in the Pacific Islands

Not much to report from the weekend’s rugby union internationals. England had their shorts pulled down by the improving Aussies, New Zealand eased to a win over the Irish, Scotland played their tartan socks off but didn’t have enough in the tank to beat the world champion Springboks, and Wales looked thoroughly unconvincing in their defeat of Canada. Not a great weekend for northern-hemisphere rugby.

The most exciting moment happened during France’s routine win at home against the tough-tackling Pacific Islanders. Napolioni Nalaga was sent off for the visitors after a brutal high tackle which knocked out French scrum-half, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

It really was a disgracefully late tackle - for a minute or two it seemed that Elissalde was very seriously hurt. Happily, he regained consciousness in the dressing room and a scan showed no serious injury. However, he will miss France’s upcoming test against Australia, as IRB rules state that any player who has lost consciousness on the field of play can not return to action for 21 days.

Watch the crunching tackle after the click: