Tri-Nations powerhouses Australia, New Zealand and South Africa beat Europe's best in rugby internationals on Saturday, and only a last-minute drop goal prevented Argentina from making it a Southern Hemisphere sweep.
Australia beat World Cup holder England 21-19 in a thriller, the All Blacks rubbed out Six Nations champion France 45-6, South Africa outplayed Scotland 45-10, and Argentina was edged by Ireland 21-19 after leading 19-9.
PHOTO: AP
Italy also beat the US 43-25 to complete Europe's monthlong test schedule. Only No. 1-ranked New Zealand of all the visitors, including Japan and Canada, went unbeaten.
PHOTO: AFP
"I think the southern nations have pulled ahead of the Northern Hemisphere," France manager Jo Maso said.
Matt Giteau set up two tries and kicked three penalties as the Wallabies, beaten by France two weeks ago, topped England for the second time in a row.
Coach Eddie Jones' team, which lost to England a year ago in the World Cup final at Sydney, won their previous meeting 51-15 at Brisbane in June. But this was even more satisfying against an England team rebuilding under new coach Andy Robinson.
Hooker Jeremy Paul and fullback Chris Latham both went over for Australian tries before halftime to open up a 15-0 lead. But England hit back with tries by Lewis Moody, Josh Lewsey and Mark Cueto to go ahead by four points before Giteau, who had set up both Australian scores, kicked two more penalties to clinch Australia's first victory at Twickenham in six years.
"That is one of the best games I've been involved in," Latham said. "It's been a tough tour and we just dug in. We've got the best defense in the world and when we had the ball we used it well.
"This is a quality English team and it means the world to beat them. They came back at us really hard in the second half but we stuck at it, defending our line against a side that can really punish you."
It was a first loss for Robinson, who took over England three months ago after Clive Woodward quit.
"At 19-15 up we had them on the rack and maybe we stopped playing a bit," he said. "You cannot afford to give sides like Australia a sniff and that's what we did."
New Zealand never gave France even a sniff at Stade de France, pouring in five tries to none to inflict their biggest defeat in France.
Flyhalf Daniel Carter kicked almost flawlessly -- making eight of nine goalkicks -- and scored one of four second-half tries in the bruising encounter. Rodney So'oialo, Jerry Collins, Byron Kelleher and replacement center Ma'a Nonu also dotted down. Carter converted four of them, and booted four penalties to send the All Blacks into halftime well in control at 19-6 ahead.
France's only points came from the boot of scrumhalf Frederic Michalak with two early penalties, as Les Bleus went tryless for the first time in 22 tests and 18 months.
"There are the Blacks and the rest of the world," said dejected France captain Fabien Pelous. He called them "an extraordinary team."
At Murrayfield, winger Bryan Habana scored two intercept tries in his first start for the Springboks and Jaco van der Westhuyzen collected a try and three drop goals as the Tri-Nations champion shaded Scotland.
Jacque Fourie and Solly Tyibilika also scored tries and the South Africans even crossed the Scottish line while locks Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha were in the sinbin for foul play.
"I think we silenced our critics," said Van der Westhuyzen, whose team had lost to Ireland and England. "All the frustration came out with that try and I was very happy with it."
Beaten twice by Australia in the last three weeks, Scotland managed only a penalty try and two Chris Paterson goalkicks in reply.
"That performance was not acceptable," said Scotland coach Matt Williams. "We are not looking for excuses or to pass the buck. There were too many individual errors made and too many dropped balls. We came here thinking we could win."
After last week's upset victory over France in Marseille, Argentina was on course for another famous triumph over an in-form Ireland in Dublin when the Pumas led by 10 points during the second half.
But after Pumas No. 8 Gonzalo Longo was sinbinned for the last eight minutes, Ireland flyhalf Ronan O'Gara kicked his fifth penalty to trail only 19-18. Then in the last minute, he booted a 40-meter drop goal to cap the comeback.
Pumas center Federico Martin Aramburu had scored what proved to be the only try of the game at Lansdowne Road but Argentina couldn't stop O'Gara, who also scored all of Ireland's points in a historic 17-12 victory over South Africa two weeks ago.
Italy beat the US 43-25 with Kaine Robertson scoring two tries in the first 22 minutes and flyhalf Luciano Orquera scoring an interception try and kicking three penalties and three conversions at Biella.
On Friday, Wales overwhelmed Japan 98-0 for its biggest ever victory margin with flanker Colin Charvis scoring four of its 14 tries for the most in one game by a Welsh forward. Gavin Henson converted all 14, another Welsh record.
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