Another autumn Test schedule is upon us as the southern hemisphere teams find themselves up north doing battle against the various Six Nations stalwarts. There has long been a healthy debate over which hemisphere houses the strongest teams, but this past weekend's results proved quite dramatically that the southern trio of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia remain leagues ahead of those in the north.

The gap has been there for years and it is growing on an annual basis. The Europeans talk themselves up every year, but they seldom actually put one over the southerners. I am not saying they never have, and truthfully there was a time when the countries up north could say they enjoyed a slight — very slight — advantage, but that was a long time ago.

(For the record — the Boks' win over England at Twickenham in November 2006 was their first victory at HQ over the Poms since their tour of Europe at the end of 1997!)

And from what was on show over the weekend, it is going to be even longer before they enjoy it again.

The All Blacks have long dominated the northern hemisphere teams and over the past five years can boast a 94.6% win ratio. The Australians, during the same period, can lay claim to a 74.6% ratio, which while not as impressive as the Kiwis, is still pretty impressive for a team that does not exactly boast a world-class pack of forwards.

The Boks, meanwhile, go slightly better than the Aussies with a 75% victory rate, which proves without a shadow of a doubt that in recent times the northern hemisphere heavyweights do not even come close. In fact, the best they can muster is a 46.7% win percentage from England...

What the northern hemisphere teams are winning, however, is the talking before the games. Wales, for example, had a lot to say about the inclusion of John Smit at tighthead and Ruan Pienaar at flyhalf for the Boks last week. They talked up their chances at every opportunity: they were fitter, stronger and more aggressive than before — in short the Boks were in deep trouble.

The Wallabies are having the usual questions asked about their scrumming prowess, while some UK pundits even claimed that a number of the current All Blacks would struggle to make some English Premiership teams!

But really, for all of Wales prop Gethin Jenkins' talk about how John Smit would struggle, it was pretty clear that Smit was not troubled by the Welshman. If anything, it was the other way around.

Ruan Pienaar can also safely say he passed his first test at flyhalf, outplaying the far more experienced Stephen Jones at the Millennium Stadium over the weekend.

The All Blacks, of course, showed exactly what their 'second-string' side could do when they dismantled Scotland, and while the Aussies were not convincing against Italy, I am betting they will smash England this weekend.

I will give credit to the Welsh for their improved showing against the Boks, but really, when you are dishing out credit to a team for not losing by as much as last time it clearly shows how far ahead the southern hemisphere teams actually are.

We should, of course, not forget that Wales are the Six Nations champions, holders of the Grand Slam, and were playing at home on Saturday.

Scotland were playing a decidedly weakened All Blacks side and still looked nowhere close to staging an upset. It may sound a bit harsh, but I am convinced the reason the Scots put on such big shows ahead of their game is because they know that if the fans were coming only to watch the rugby on offer, they might not even pitch up anymore...

Ireland, meanwhile, will be happy with their whitewash of the Canadians, but they will know that the Canucks have fallen off the pace in world rugby and are in desperate need of funding and some exposure back home. The Irish will have a far better idea of where they are when they meet the Kiwis this weekend.

France managed a drab win over 2007 World Cup darlings Argentina, but the latter continue to be ignored by the rest of the rugby-playing world and until they are included in an annual tournament of note, they will not hang onto their number four spot in the IRB rankings for long.

England scored a good win over the Pacific Islanders, but we will really only know if their new era under World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson is something to truly behold once they have faced the Aussies this weekend.

In truth, the only northern hemisphere team to have enhanced their reputation this past weekend was Italy. And it is no coincidence that the Azzurri did so with a loss and not a victory.

Again we are praising a team for losing — there seems to be a common theme there...

  • Do you agree with Rob's take? Leave a comment below!


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