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Eyes across the world - weekend round-up

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With 19 players involved in international rugby across the globe, it was a busy weekend for Leicester Tigers players. Here's a round-up of who did what, and where.

British & Irish Lions

Harry Ellis and Tom Croft both played as the Lions stretched their winning run in South Africa to five matches with a 26-23 victory over Western Province in Cape Town.

Scrum-half Ellis came through 80 minutes, while flanker Tom Croft was used as a 69th-minute replacement.

The Lions play again on Tuesday before the team is announced for Saturday’s opening Test against South Africa.

Argentina v England

Marcos Ayerza ended the season on the winning side against six of his Tigers colleagues as the Pumas won 24-22 in Salta.

Dan Hipkiss started at centre for England but was replaced after just 18 minutes. Ben Kay replaced clubmate Louis Deacon in the 71st minute having spent a short spell on the pitch as a blood replacement for skipper Steve Borthwick just after half-time. Julian White started and was replaced by David Wilson but returned to the pitch just 10 minutes later when fellow prop Tom Payne was injured. George Chuter and Sam Vesty both appeared from the bench for the last 10 minutes after Dylan Hartley and Tom May were withdrawn.

France

Julien Dupuy had a dream start to his international career as France secured a first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 1994.

The Tigers scrum-half took less than three minutes to kick his first international points and added another penalty and converted each of the three tries as France recorded a 27-22 triumph in Dunedin.

Pacific Nations Cup

Seru Rabeni captained Fiji to a five-try 36-22 victory over Tonga in the opening game of the tournament, while Alesana Tuilagi was unable to prevent a 17-16 defeat for Samoa against tournament favourites the Junior All Blacks.

Churchill Cup

Tom Varndell was among six try-scorers as England Saxons booked a place in the Churchill Cup Final with a 56-17 victory over hosts USA on Sunday.

Tigers prop Dan Cole was given a late call-up to the starting XV after injury to Tom Mercey, while Varndell started on the wing and Ben Woods was named in the pack. Clubmate Matt Smith replaced Varndell from the bench with 10 minutes remaining.

The Saxons will now play Ireland A after they beat Georgia 40-5 in their final pool match.

Tigers wing Johne Murphy was among the try-scorers as the Irish reached the final for the first time.

Under-20 World Championships

Ben Youngs was among the try-scorers as England Under-20s booked their place in the IRB Toshiba World Championship semi-finals with a 52-7 win over Samoa in Tokyo.

Scrum-half Youngs played the full 80 minutes and was joined for the whole of the second half by Leicester Tigers full-back Greig Tonks who came off the bench to play at full-back.

England now play South Africa in the semi-finals on Wednesday.