NORTHERN RUGBY STILL SECOND BEST.

Yesterday's rugby union internationals in the southern hemisphere produced a mixed bag of results with, perhaps, some encouragement for the northern sides.

Ireland, of course, seemed to be suffering from a huge hangover after their heroics of the previous week and went down to their heaviest ever defeat at the hands of a rampant All Blacks team that had clearly been stung by the coverage of their efforts in the previous test match. From the kick-off, Ireland were simply never in the game and were overwhelmed by a vastly superior team; the Irish looked exhausted, physically and mentally, and must have been very happy indeed to hear the final whistle.

Wales, on the other hand, came within a few minutes of beating the Wallabies just as they had done in the previous match. This time, the margin of defeat was even closer, just 1 point compared with the 2 of last week. By all accounts, Wales should have won and have only themselves to blame for their failure, exactly as they did before; last week, a lack of discipline produced a last minute penalty, this week it was the same, though a few minutes earlier. Notwithstanding a 3-0 series loss, the Welsh still showed themselves to be a side on the 'up' and will be strong contenders to retain their 'Six Nations' title next year.

England went to South Africa with great trepidation but will come home having made some real progress. Up to the halfway stage of the second test, they'd been largely outplayed by the home side, but from then on they knuckled down and did much better. The second test ended up as a loss, though England certainly won the second half; yesterday's final test was an altogether closer affair and England ended up with a well deserved draw. It may be that South Africa lacked the intensity of the previous match or perhaps England simply didn't let them play in the same way; it's certainly the case that South Africa could, and probably should, have won but for the poor kicking of Morné Steyn. Nonetheless, England will take great heart from this result and seem to be building a solid base for the future.

While England, Scotland and Wales have been engaged in battles with the principle southern nations, France have been in Argentina and Scotland have wandered around the assorted Pacific island nations. After losing last week, France bounced back with an emphatic 49-10 win in their match yesterday and will remain near the top of northern rugby. Scotland followed victories over Australia and Fiji with a narrow win over Samoa and will go home with the best record of any of the home nations; what this means in real terms we will only find out in the autumn and beyond.

What will happen when the southern nations come north in the autumn is anyone's guess.