New Zealand ended the year in their traditional position at the summit of world rugby, but several sides could look back on 2004 with satisfaction.
Whereas once the three southern hemisphere giants (South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) comfortably outstripped their traditional European rivals (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France), competition amongst the sport's oldest and still leading nations generally intensified.
PHOTO: AFP
Meanwhile Argentina's win over France -- in the Six Nations champions' once impregnable fortress of Marseille -- in November strengthened the Pumas' growing case for inclusion in an expanded Tri-Nations.
But the gap between the elite and the rest looked as wide as ever.
During one November weekend, Romania were thrashed 66-7 by Wales, Scotland -- struggling to beat anyone of note -- overwhelmed Japan 100-8 and world champions England disposed of Canada 70-0.
The best thing that happened to rugby in 2004 was the return of South Africa as a major force in the international game.
With so few teams up at the top level, the sport cannot afford to be without a competitive Springbok team and their revival is all the more welcome after the depths they plumbed on and off the field in previous seasons.
South Africa's triumph in the Tri-Nations, the exciting arrival of their double world player of the year Schalk Burger and the way new coach Jake White has turned round the team culture should be cause for celebration whatever one's allegiance.
However, South Africa's year was indicative of the underlying theme of 2004, summed up by Australia coach Eddie Jones's assertion that the top six teams were within one percent of each other on any given day.
The Springboks won two and lost two in the Tri-Nations but their dreams of a first grand slam since 1961 were ended by defeats against Ireland and England.
That thumping 32-16 Twickenham success was England's pinnacle after the world champions had earlier lost five out of six, including big away defeats by the All Blacks and the Wallabies.
But just when it looked as if new coach Andy Robinson had produced an instant turnaround, along came Australia to keep them humble with their own bounce-back win after defeat in France.
The French began the year with a Six Nations Grand slam but ended it by losing at home to Argentina and the All Blacks.
The Pumas followed their unprecedented Marseille success by losing in Dublin to an Ireland team who also beat South Africa and England during the year but lost twice to the Springboks in June.
WORLD RANKINGS
New Zealand recovered from finishing bottom of the Tri-Nations to end with possibly the result of the year -- their 45-6 thrashing of France in Paris.
It left them firmly on top of the world rankings and set the scene for what will be the highlight of 2005 -- the British Lions Tour.
Clive Woodward will be in charge of the Lions but he was still very much England coach when the international year began with the Six Nations.
His, and England's, world crown began to slip in March when Ireland secured a deserved 19-16 win at Twickenham.
It was England's first home defeat in 22 matches and Ireland's first there in 10 years, helping them to a first Triple Crown since 1985.
The best team in the tournament were undoubtedly France and they completed a clean sweep with a 24-21 Paris win over England.
Italy continued their steady progress with another win over Scotland but such is the current sorry state of the Scottish game that the 20-14 Rome victory was not even a surprise.
England finished third in the championship and then, worn out and without several key players, set off for an ill-advised southern hemisphere tour.
Two All-Black defeats and a 51-15 drubbing by Australia emphatically ended their run of 12 victories over the SANZAR nations and Woodward resigned shortly afterwards.
Attention then turned to the Tri-Nations, which turned out to be the most open and exciting edition in its nine-year history.
New Zealand, under new coach Graham Henry and new captain Tana Umaga, seemed on course for a third successive title when they won their home games against Australia (16-7) and South Africa (23-21).
But the Wallabies turned the tables in Sydney (23-18) then pip-ped South Africa (30-26) in Perth.
However, the bonus points South Africa received for twice losing by seven points or fewer proved decisive.
They crushed New Zealand 40-26 in Johannesburg to set up a winner-takes-all decider with Australia which they won 23-19.
White, the 10th Springbok coach in 13 years, has to take much of the credit for the resurgence as he swept away the culture of violence and racism that stained the nation and replaced it with a vibrant new attitude that paid dividends.
By the time the Springboks arrived in Europe for the November Tests, however, they found the fresh European forwards too stiff a challenge for their weary bodies.
It was a great month of rugby with exciting, intense match-ups but the physical strain on the players of all nations and over-familiarity of matches remains a major problem in the game.
England's World Cup-winning flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, player of the year in 2003, spent almost all of this year on the sidelines through injury and there were many others with similar problems.
The other major area of concern remains the lack of competitiveness of the "second-tier" nations.
But the year ended with a reminder that, come the 2007 World Cup, it is likely to be the same teams in the quarterfinals as Japan, Romania, Canada the US and even Scotland were all shown to be horribly off the pace.
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