England have flown out of the blocks in their opening two games of the autumn against New Zealand and Australia - but they are like Jekyll and Hyde.

I want them to back themselves for 80 minutes.

There are parts of their game I am unhappy with, but they are also playing some really good stuff.

You can tell they prepared very well for Saturday's game by the way they started and broke the Wallabies down. I cannot fault their endeavour, creativity and spirit, but it was Australia who came out on top in winning 42-37.

For some reason, one of England's defaults when they are ahead and in control of a game is to try and close it down with a very negative style of kicking.

That is not going to allow them to win games against top opposition. It hasn't happened once, or twice; it is relentless.

Unless it is hammering it down and the match is a proper arm-wrestle - like against South Africa in the rain in last year's World Cup semi-final in Paris - it will not be good enough to win these games.

England come unstuck when they go back to their offensive box-kicking rather than playing in a way that got them into that leading position. I find it odd.

Everyone changes how they play rugby depending on the score, the clock, the referee and the players at their disposal.

But England have continued to be in good positions with 15 men on the field and squander it by going to this low-risk rugby, which kills their momentum and gives the opposition a breather and an opportunity to counter-attack.

I am guessing it is a statistical method of coaching.

Coach Steve Borthwick seems to think it is going to increase the number of times you will get the ball back. But bear in mind you have the ball in the first place, and you have pressure and great players.

England are giving that away in return for the bounce of the ball, or a penalty they can capitalise on.

Ireland had won their past 19 home games and had lost just once at Aviva Stadium since round one of the 2019 Six Nations, but they were deservedly beaten in a game where indiscipline and errors proved their undoing.

Farrell refused to pinpoint Ireland's lack of games as a reason for his side's shortcomings.

Ireland had not played since their summer tour of South Africa, with New Zealand coming into the game having played eight fixtures in that time.

"We've always prided ourselves on getting up to speed and being as good as we possibly can be first game up because that is the cards we are dealt with," Farrell added.

"It doesn't matter if you have had three training sessions and 12 minutes of games or seven consecutive games and 50 training sessions, you try to be your best and we weren't."

Even after a below-par first half display, Farrell explained that he was calm at half-time as opposed to angry to try to help Ireland analyse where they had been going wrong.

"I didn't [shout], you pick and choose your moments [to do so], there were a few things to fix," Farrell continued.

"Getting those points over of how to get back in the game and give them an understanding of why they were feeling like they were important, and we came out of the blocks in a different manner."

Farrell also conceded that Ireland will need to cut out handling errors to get back to winning ways against Argentina, who thrashed Italy on Saturday evening.

"We had a bit of overplaying too much - in those conditions the quality of pass wasn't where it needed to be to be accurate."

Jude Bellingham blamed a change in his Real Madrid role for his lack of goals this season after scoring his first of the campaign in Saturday's 4-0 LaLiga win over Osasuna.

The England midfielder found the net in the 42nd minute at the Bernabéu -- running onto a long ball from defender Raúl Asencio and lobbing goalkeeper Sergio Herrera -- while Vinícius Júnior also scored a hat trick, although the victory was marred by injuries to Éder Militão, Rodrygo and Lucas Vázquez.

Prior to Saturday, Bellingham's last goal for Madrid was scored at the end of the 2023-24 campaign on May 14. He scored 19 league goals last season.

"I felt like I did what I normally do," Bellingham told Real Madrid TV after Saturday's game. "But the only difference is that I managed to add a goal. A lot of people were talking about it because last year I scored loads of goals, but I think I'm playing a different role this year.

"I'm doing different things in different parts of the pitch. It's one of those things, I'll do anything for the team. Maybe I've done a bit too much and been a little bit too nice. From now on I think I'll get a feeling for it and I'll try to carry on but if not I'll keep trying to help the team in any way I can."

Madrid's fans have supported Bellingham despite his lack of goals, and the player received a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 75th minute.

"I still feel like the most privileged person in the world to play for this club, even in the bad times, I'm still grateful to be here," Bellingham said. "Coming off with that ovation, I felt really proud. That's who you do it for. You want people to go home happy. It's a really good feeling."

Bellingham praised teammate Vinícius, whose hat trick made it eight goals in 12 LaLiga appearances for the Brazil forward, having missed out on the Ballon d'Or last week.

"He has such a strong mentality," Bellingham said. "We get on well, on and off the pitch. I'm proud of how he conducts himself. He's a leader for us. When he has those kind of games he's pretty unstoppable."

Did you ever have a nightmare that seemed so real it took every fiber of your being to wrench yourself back into consciousness, at which point the relief that it was just a dream washes over you? Then imagine what MLS commissioner Don Garber and the folks at MLS HQ are experiencing right now. Except in their case, there is no waking up from their worst-case MLS Cup playoff scenario.

Inter Miami and its band of stars -- including Lionel Messi -- were eliminated from the postseason by Atlanta United, 3-2; their chance at a Supporters Shield and MLS Cup double turned to dust by a heroic effort on all fronts from the Five Stripes.

In December, there will be no opportunities to party in South Beach, Miami Beach or even Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The chance to attract celebrities to the league's signature event is vastly diminished now that the chances of Messi gracing the event are zero (though if Los Angeles ends up hosting the final that will ease the sting a bit.) And more importantly, the viewership for the rest of the playoffs on Apple TV is bound to take a massive hit given the crater-like hole Miami's elimination has created.

When asked how the Miami locker room was after the match, manager Tata Martino said: "Sad ... as one should be when there are so many expectations, and the team cannot meet them. In this last part of the year we get used to achieving the objectives that we set for ourselves and we have not been able to achieve the most important one."

But honor is due to Atlanta. The Five Stripes were deserving of their win and were by no means intimidated by their opponents. They are now playing with a truckload of house money.

Just how big an "MLSCupset" was this? The fact that the Supporters Shield winners were ousted isn't that unusual in the MLS postseason. Only four teams in the last 20 years have managed to pull off a Shield/MLS Cup double. Upsets are common as well. The bracket in the Eastern Conference has been blown wide open this year, with the second-seeded Columbus Crew and third-seeded FC Cincinnati also eliminated.

That said, Atlanta's triumph is easily the biggest shock in MLS postseason history. The Five Stripes transferred two of its biggest stars -- Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis -- in midseason. They then barely squeezed into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season thanks to a 2-1 road win over Orlando -- the opponent in the next round -- combined with the Philadelphia Union and D.C. United both losing. That allowed Atlanta to finish ninth in the 15-team Eastern conference, and a whopping 34 points behind Messi's side. Then Atlanta had to survive a penalty shootout in the play-in round against CF Montreal. They were given next to no chance of getting past Miami, with its cast of stars, and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

All seemed to be going according to plan in Game 1, when Miami prevailed 2-1 at home. But Atlanta's 2-1 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last Saturday, thanks to a late winner from Xande Silva, kept them alive and then they finished the job in Ft. Lauderdale thanks to a pair of goals from Jamal Thiaré, some stellar goalkeeping from Brad Guzan and a 76th-minute winner from Bartosz Slisz.

All of this was accomplished under the leadership of interim manager Rob Valentino, who in postmatch interviews projected a vibe akin to a young Bob Bradley, complete with a steely visage and bald head. If Atlanta goes in a different direction for its permanent manager, Valentino should make sure his phone is on and fully charged. Given the way he's resurrected Atlanta's season, some team is bound to take interest.

As for Saturday's festivities, how precisely, did Atlanta get this done?

"Grinding, believing, resilience. I don't know," Guzan told Apple TV. "There's some fairydust in our locker room, man. And I couldn't be more proud of our guys."

Valentino added: "You can see the emotion in the players. We've got the ownership there, everybody. There's been some tough times in the club and I'm happy that everybody's getting a little bit of joy. But I hope we're not done now."

Miami is done, and in some respects only have themselves to blame. The team's defense was suspect all season; only once in the last 20 years had a Supporters Shield winner conceded more goals than the 49 goals the Herons let in. (That was Seattle's 50 back in 2014.)

But Miami was usually able to bury teams with an avalanche of creativity, led by the likes of Messi and Luis Suárez. Not this time, despite Matías Rojas putting Miami ahead in the 17th minute, as Thiaré got Atlanta on top with a pair of goals in a span of two minutes, and Miami knew it had a fight on its hands.

There also appeared to be something deeper at work. After claiming an MLS record 74 points in the regular season, the Herons seemed to have difficulty wrapping their collective head around the fact that this, by itself, wasn't enough to be crowned league champion. Instead, it had to go through the hard slog of a postseason. Intuitive to someone from Europe? No. But in MLS it's reality. Miami seemed unable to accept this.

"This format seems a little unfair to me," Miami defender Jordi Alba said. "It is clear that it has been done this way for many years, but if you ask me, I think that if it were up to me, I would have it be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible."

On the field, Miami's composure began to fray, with Suarez up to his old dark-arts antics. Even when Messi tied the match at 2-2 with a 65th-minute header, Leo Campana shoved goalkeeper Guzan into his own net in the aftermath. Miami was playing on the edge, but Atlanta had no compunctions about engaging in a street fight.

The capper came on Slisz's game winner. With Miami defender Tomás Avilés down with an apparent injury, the rest of the Miami players switched off, thinking that Atlanta or the referee would stop play. -- Martino said afterwards that Miami had done just that during Game 2 in Atlanta -- but that kind of professional courtesy, once common, simply can't be taken for granted these days. The old adage of playing to the whistle was ignored. Atlanta carried on, as is their right, and with Miami's defenders half asleep, Slisz's thumping header from Pedro Amador's cross easily beat Drake Callender.

What bordered on ironic overload was the fact that two of the key architects of Atlanta's win were a pair of lunch-bucket guys, long-time MLS veterans in midfielder Dax McCarty and Guzan. McCarty, who recently announced his intention to retire at the end of this season, assisted on both of Thiaré's goals and ran the show in midfield until fatigue set in at the 60th minute. In fact, Atlanta looked a little wobbly in the minutes after he left the match. Guzan delivered seven saves, some of the spectacular variety that drove Suarez insane. It's a reminder that for all of the star power the likes of Messi and Suarez have brought to the league, winning an MLS Cup still requires some local knowledge as well.

Afterwards, Guzan was hugging everyone in sight; McCarty settled for his two children. Martino and the Miami players were left to rue a missed opportunity.

"The comparison of the last game of last season, back in October with today's third game in the playoffs and this bitterness that we all have for not having passed, is clear that the club's objectives have been modified and I think there is no reason for the club not to continue trying next year," the Miami manager said. "What happened this year, the bad and the good in general have been better than everything that happened last year and I would say even from the [beginning] that the club has."

That is a generous reading of the situation given how Miami fell short in the face of high expectations. There is something else to think about as well: Messi has but one year left on his contract. While he always could extend his deal, the clock is ticking, not only on Messi's time in South Florida, but for the league's ability to capitalize on his presence.

Meanwhile, Atlanta's championship dreams are still very much alive.

Jordi Alba criticized the Major League Soccer postseason format, labeling the system "unfair," after Inter Miami was eliminated by Atlanta United when falling 3-2 at Chase Stadium on Saturday night in the decisive third match of the round one best-of-three playoff series.

Alba participated in the postseason for the first time this season, after Inter Miami failed to qualify in 2023 when concluding the season in 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

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"It was a good season, but what we wanted was to win this more. In my opinion, I am not the one who is going to change now. This format seems a little unfair to me," he said after the game.

"It is clear that it has been done this way for many years, but if you ask me, if it were up to me, I would have to be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible, that's how it is. I repeat, congratulations to the rival team. I think they competed very well against us, they knew their weapons, the goalkeeper was spectacular and good, I think that is what clearly marked the difference."

The 2024 MLS playoff format sees teams compete in a best-of-three series before moving on to a knockout style for the conference semifinals, finals and MLS Cup.

Inter Miami initially defeated Atlanta on October 25 at Chase Stadium before going on to lose the second match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to tie the series and force a decisive third game. Despite boasting dominant statistics and goals from Lionel Messi and Matías Rojas, the Herons struggled to overcome the team led by goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

"Today I think we have been superior, we have dominated, but they attacked four times and they scored three goals. And well, there's things to correct, clearly," Alba said.

Inter Miami qualified to the playoffs after concluding the 2024 MLS campaign as leaders of the Eastern Conference, and clinched home-field advantage by winning the Supporters' Shield. The team also managed to break the league record for most points recorded in a single season.

Still, head coach Gerardo Martino revealed he would not label this season a success. "No, success, no. When one is eliminated here in the quarterfinals, no. It had good things; it had bad things," he said in the post-match news conference.

"If you think about where we were in November last year, obviously there is progress as far as the club is concerned, not just the team. If you think about the expectations we had for these playoffs, obviously we have fallen short."

The team now heads into the offseason and will shift its focus to building out a roster for the 2025 campaign.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Much of the BYU football team was still on the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium celebrating a miraculous 22-21 win against rival Utah late Saturday night when Utes athletics director Mark Harlan made a surprise appearance at the postgame news conference.

In a fiery address, Harlan disparaged the officiating crew and challenged the validity of his school's loss.

"This game was absolutely stolen from us," Harlan said. "We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed.

"I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I'm disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight."

Jake Retzlaff engineered two fourth quarter scoring drives and Will Ferrin kicked a 44-yard field with four seconds remaining to keep No. 9 BYU's unbeaten season alive with a 22-21 win.

The Cougars' final drive was extended on a defensive holding penalty on fourth down when the largest crowd in Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium history (54,383) thought the game was over.

Retzlaff, who was 15-of-33 for 219 yards, passed for 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards to get BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in position for Ferrin's kick.

The Cougars remain the final undefeated team in the Big 12 and in prime position for a bid in the conference championship game.

Utah had won nine in a row in the series before dropping the 2021 game 26-17 and now this one.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Wales: Winnett; Grady, Llewellyn, B Thomas, Murray; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Lake (capt), Griffin, Rowlands, Beard, Plumtree, Reffell, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, N Smith, Assiratti, Tshiunza, Botham, J Morgan, Bevan, Costelow.

Fiji: Karawalevu; Wainiqolo, Nayacalevu (capt), Tuisova, Radradra; Muntz, Lomani; Mawi, Ikanivere, Tawake, Nasilasila, Mayanavanua, Derenalagi, Salawa, Canakaivata.

Replacements: Matavesi, Hetet, Koroiduadua, Vocevoce, Tuisue, Kuruvoli, Ravula, Maqala.

Match officials

Referee: Luc Ramos (France)

Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset (France), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)

Television match official (TMO): Eric Gauzins

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Alex Iafallo and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an assist, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Saturday to set an NHL record with 14 wins in their first 15 games this season.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Rasmus Kupari also scored for the Jets, who closed out a perfect four-game homestand. Cole Perfetti had two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.

Winnipeg went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, compared to 0-for-4 for Dallas.

Roope Hintz scored for the Stars with 1:22 remaining. It was his fifth this season.

Jake Oettinger stopped 11 of 15 shots for Dallas (8-5-0) before being replaced by Casey DeSmith midway through the second period. DeSmith made 10 saves.

Winnipeg jumped in front when Iafallo scored a power-play goal 7:28 into the first period. It was Iafallo's second goal of the season.

Ehlers added another power-play goal 7:14 into the second. Ehlers' ninth goal lifted the Jets to a 4-0 lead.