France 7 vs. New Zealand 8 23rd October 2011

How I wish I’d been wrong! I said France can beat New Zealand but won’t (see previous) and that’s exactly how it looked at Eden Park as New Zealand stood firm, Trinh-Duc missed his kick at goal and Craig Joubert remained reluctant to penalise All-blacks at the breakdown.

Australia 6 v New Zealand 20 16th October 2011

Southern Hemisphere rugby once again less exciting than (England aside) Northern. New Zealand, my perhaps not very interesting prediction as eventual world cup winners, grind out a hard, frenetic, highly competitive but essentially attritional victory over Australia.

Ireland 10 v Wales 22 8th October 2011

I think it was after Ireland beat Australia, when I read Eddie Butler describe Ireland as playing with a ‘passionate fury or a furious passion’. This morning, our time, Wales beat them at their own game.