New Zealand, Australia and South Africa opened their European tours with victories on Saturday to show that the northern hemisphere teams still trail their southern rivals, even though they may be closing the gap.
The All Blacks withstood a spirited second-half revival to beat England 26-16 at Twickenham, South Africa did the same to edge Ireland 23-21 and Australia weathered early resistance from Wales, before pulling clear in the second half for a 25-16 victory.
The Tri-Nations sides all made errors, but still look to be in better shape ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand in 10 months.
Hosea Gear and Kieran Read touched down in the first 21 minutes at Twickenham as the rampant All Blacks threatened to overwhelm the home side, but New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley reduced the deficit after halftime with the first try conceded by the All Blacks on tour in Europe since 2006.
England center Shontayne Hape, a New Zealand rugby league international before switching codes and allegiance, thought he had dragged England to within a single score with an 85th-minute try in the corner, but video replay showed replacement Isaia Toeava jolted the ball loose in the tackle.
Down to 14 men after a yellow card to Jerome Kaino, the southern hemisphere champions held on for a ninth straight win against England.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw blamed his team’s second-half wobble on a desire to be too expansive.
“The attitude we want to play with is spot on,” McCaw said. “When there’s space, you want to be able to use it. There’s times in the game when that’s the right thing to do and there’s times when there’s perhaps a slightly more conservative option when you could score a try, but to hold onto the ball for one more phase would actually guarantee a try.”
From 17-3 at halftime, New Zealand never seriously looked like losing another Grand Slam tour opener, but England showed signs of huge improvement on last year’s performances against the southern hemisphere giants.
Ben Foden was a threat going forward from fullback, prop Andrew Sheridan solidified the scrum on his return to the side after 20 months out and the backs usually had several options as they moved the ball at pace on the occasions they did have possession.
Ireland’s first match at the rebuilt Lansdowne Road ended in frustration with a fourth successive Test defeat as South Africa overpowered the home side to lead 23-9 with 15 minutes to play through tries from Juan Smith and Gio Aplon.
Smith scored in the 17th minute when he intercepted Eoin Reddan’s pass and stormed in from 65m, sliding the final few after an ankle tap by Rob Kearney.
Morne Steyn also hit three of four penalty attempts. His only miss early in the second half ended his streak of 41 straight goals.
Ireland struck back with tries from Tommy Bowe and Kearney, but Ronan O’Gara’s last conversion attempt with five minutes left bounced off the right post to deny Ireland a draw.
In Cardiff, the Wallabies went into the break only 7-6 ahead thanks to a try by flanker David Pocock, but added two more in the second half through fullback Kurtley Beale and prop Ben Alexander.
Winger James O’Connor, who set up the final two tries, kicked two conversions and two penalties to finish with 10 points for the tourists, who were thoroughly outmuscled at the scrum, but had a typical incisiveness out wide.
“We are delighted to get the result,” Australia coach Robbie Deans said. “We left a few points out there, but there was not a lot in it.”
Injury-ravaged Wales battled gamely, even edging the first half, but had to be content with three penalties by Stephen Jones and a late converted try by Richie Rees.
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