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England, Ireland impress as Wales quickly peters out

England and Ireland continued their impressive end-of-season rugby union performances while Wales had the same old problem. France, meanwhile, will have another chance to redeem itself.

Northern and southern hemisphere teams split four matches on the weekend, with England's 25-14 win over Australia at Melbourne giving it 13 consecutive victories. Ireland, meanwhile, beat Samoa 40-14 at Apia, its 12th win in 14 internationals this season.

New Zealand, which lost by two points to England last weekend, beat Wales 55-3, continuing a 50-year win streak over the visitors, and ending a dismal season in which Wales finished last in the Six Nations and had ongoing player contract disputes.

Argentina beat France for the second time in a row, winning 33-32 at Buenos Aires on Friday on a last-minute drop goal by Gonzalo Quesada. After the loss, an upset French coach Bernard Laporte said several of the players won't be on its World Cup squad when it heads Down Under in October and November.

France, the defending Six Nations champions, finished third this year behind England and France. The news didn't improve following the Buenos Aires match when it was revealed that French center Thomas Castaignede has a thigh injury and will be replaced by Gerald Merceron for next Saturday's test against the All Blacks in Christchurch, New Zealand.

At Melbourne, England became the first European team to win back-to-back tests against the All Blacks and Wallabies in New Zealand and Australia and extended its winning run ahead of a pre-World Cup break.

The English will return in October as World Cup favorites.

"Today was nothing about the World Cup -- it was about England beating Australia," said England coach Clive Woodward. "It was a great game, it's a great win [but] England can play a lot better -- we'll be a lot, lot fresher and a lot, lot sharper come October.

"We have momentum and it's a good platform to work off -- it gives you a lot of confidence."

With man of the match and skipper Martin Johnson leading England, the visitors ran in three tries in front of a full house of 54,868 at Docklands Stadium.

Ireland will also be confident after losing only two matches this season -- to England and Australia. On Friday in Samoa, flyhalf Ronan O'Gara scored 32 points including two tries to lead the Irish.

Fears that Ireland might wilt in heat and thick Pacific Island humidity proved unfounded when the tourists overwhelmed Samoa with 31 second-half points after leading 9-7 at halftime. O'Gara scored two of Ireland's four tries and added two conversions, five penalties and a drop goal in a strong individual performance.

At Hamilton, New Zealand, midfield back Daniel Carter scored a try among 20 points on his test debut in the All Black win over Wales. The win, by eight tries to none, gave New Zealand its highest score against Wales, preserved a winning streak which dates back to 1953 and maintained the All Blacks' unbeaten record against the Welsh at home. Wales competed only in the first quarter when New Zealand, accommodating nine changes from last week's 15-13 loss to England, briefly struggled for combination.

When the home side clicked, Wales was swept aside by a relentless All Black wave.

"It was a much more accurate performance than against England and I think the guys will be pretty happy with that," said All Blacks captain Reuben Thorne.
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